The Tortuga was flying around the North American forest. Jimmy was preparing once again his famous brownies.
Koki looked around, while piloting. She landed the Tortuga and looked around in the window.
"Come on… where are you?" She seemed worried with something or someone.
In the Garage, the Kratt Bros were fixing the Createrra XT, while Mina read the Wild Kratts Diary.
Some mosquitoes were entering the Garage and bothering them.
Martin tried catching some, until he felt a slap on his neck.
"Ouch! Hey!"
"Sorry. There was one right there," Chris said.
Suddenly, Mina and her brothers smelled something good.
"Ooo! Looks like Jimmy made his famous brownies again," Martin recognized that sweet smell anywhere.
"Too bad I'll never be able to taste them. You know, there is milk on the recipe, and I'm a vegan," Mina said. Koki entered the Garage, tip-toeing until Mina noticed her.
"Oh, hi, Koki. What are you doing?"
"Um… well…" She grabbed something and left the Garage. "Sorry, gotta go!"
"Geez, she sure left in a hurry," Martin observed.
"What's up with her?" Chris wondered. "Not only on this moment, but during all day. I mean, she insisted in bringing the Tortuga to the forest. Just when a storm is coming. Why?"
Martin's belly rumbled. "Can we find out later? The only storm I want to prevent now is the one in my stomach." He headed to the main room, being followed by Mina.
"Hey, wait for me!" Chris shouted.
In the Tortuga's shell, Koki observed the sky. She seemed very worried. Gray clouds approached as the sun set on the horizon. Jimmy Z brought some brownies for her, being followed by the crew.
"Wow. I can see the sunset from here. It's beautiful," Mina said.
"The best place in the forest. It brings me lots of memories," Jimmy said, while putting the brownie dish on the floor. Suddenly, when no one was looking, something entered the Tortuga and hid in the brownies. Jimmy just noticed when he saw something moving in the dish.
"Yikes! Something is moving in the brownies!" he shouted.
They all gathered around the dish. Koki knelt to take a better look, and smiled at what she saw.
"Oh, get out of here, Bite-Size. Brownie dish isn't a place for a bat." She extended her hand to the dish.
Who was hiding in there WAS Bite-Size, who recognized the Tortuga and was searching for a place to stay. He flew to Koki's hands, squeaking.
The crew gathered around her, cheering and saying hello and "hola" to the little brown bat.
"Welcome back, little buddy," Martin said.
"Oh… so that's why you brought us here," Chris understood, looking at Koki. She blushed. "I should have known better."
"Mina, this is Bite-Size. He's a brown bat." Koki showed the brown bat to her little sister. "Don't need to be scared."
"Scared? Hello! I'm a nymph!" Mina chuckled. "I don't get scared with animals. Well, not always. Besides, he's too adorable to be scary," she said in a baby voice, caressing his head with her thumb.
"I saw about the storm, and then I thought we should come to the forest to see how's he doing. You know… I really love him," Koki said.
"That's not what she said bef…" Jimmy was saying, until Aviva shut his mouth.
"Don't bring that up!" she said.
"It's sure good to see you're doing fine," Chris said. The mosquitoes appeared again and Bite-Size started flying around the crew, eating the bugs.
"Wow. He's pretty fast," Mina noticed, while spinning around to follow his movements. Suddenly, they all heard a thunder. Mina and Bite-Size stopped, and hid behind Martin and Koki, scared.
"Uh-oh. Storm coming!" Koki said. "Everybody in, now! Close the windows and doors!"
They all entered the Tortuga and locked everything before it started raining.
"There you go, Bite-Size." Koki showed him his bat box. Now, it was painted orange and brown.
"Oooh! Pretty!" Mina said, while the bat stopped in front of his bat box.
"How did you guys meet him?" Mina asked. "I just noticed that this story isn't in the Wild Kratts Diary."
"Um…" Koki hesitated in telling what happened, but then she looked at Bite-Size. "Well… you would end up knowing anyway. I haven't wrote the story… cause I was feeling guilty."
"Guilty? Why?" Mina asked, surprised.
"Well…" Koki started telling everything, while Bite-Size flew to her shoulder.
"We met him while we were driving our buzz bikes around the forest. He was hunting mosquitoes, and ended up hiding in Jimmy's brownies, just like today.
When we discovered him, we all got scared. Well, except for the Kratt brothers.
Jimmy and Aviva changed their minds about bats quickly… but not me. During all that story, I was mean, stubborn and a total jerk!
I just realized how awful I was being when the Bats lost their lair during a storm. If only I haven't acted like that… maybe Bite-Size and the boys wouldn't have to run the risk of getting hurt … or worse.
Luckily, the boys were a step ahead of us. We sent a bat box plan for all the Wild Kratts Kids around, and the bats ended up safe and sound."
She finished the tale, looking at her bat box. "And even after everything i did and said… Bite-Size came to live with me… with us."
"Wow…" Mina was shocked.
"I know… I still feel a little guilty about all that incident. I refused to give a chance to bats, and I ended up getting them into trouble." Koki said. "But not anymore. Bite-Size here will be safe and sound with us."
Suddenly, another thunder was heard. Mina freaked out and ran to her brothers' protective arms, while Bite-Size hid in the bat box, shivering in fear.
"Wow. It's raining pretty hard," Aviva observed through the window. Martin and Chris comforted Mina by howling lowly and caressing her hair.
Koki looked at the brown bat. He seemed really scared. "The last time must have left him traumatized." She kissed her thumb and caressed Bite-Size's head.
"It's okay, my little Bite-Size. I'm here. I'll never let anything happen to you. Ever."
Far away from there, Donita's pink plane landed in the forest.
"Rain… it had to rain?! It was bad enough not having anything new to show in Paris, now it's raining and we can't even go there," Donita complained, while Dabio closed the windows.
A brown bat entered when Dabio wasn't looking and landed on Donita's hair.
"AAAGH! Dabio, get this monster off me! Get it off!" she yelled, panicking.
The bat got scared and started flying around. Dabio tried to get it, destroying everything in his way. Soon, Donita got tired of that and used her pose beam to stop the bat.
She looked at the animal, and it didn't took long for her to have an idea.
"Wait… that's it!" she shouted. "Bat barettes! A brand new Donita design!" She chuckled evilly.
Back in the Tortuga, Mina yawned. The rain outside, plus the warmness of her big brothers' hug quickly made her sleep.
"Awww… can she get even cuter than this?" Martin said, while playing with her hair.
Jimmy held her carefully. Mina was light as a feather and pretty as a flower.
"*giggle* I always wanted to know what it's like to have siblings…" he said, chuckling.
Koki knocked on the bat box. Bite-Size looked outside to see his friend holding a jar with mosquitoes that she caught around the HQ.
"Dinner time, Bite-Size," she said with a baby voice, and opened the jar, releasing the mosquitoes. Bite-Size flew around her, eating all of them.
"You were starving, weren't you?"
Chris looked at Koki. Suddenly, she seemed to be a little too worried about their bat friend.
"Call me silly, but I think this thing with Bite-Size might be going to Koki's head."
"You may be right… silly," Martin agreed, secretly mocking Chris.
"Uh, Koki… you really think you should feed him like this?" the Kratt in green asked.
"Why not?" she asked.
"Well, he could get the mosquitoes by himself. He can echolocate them, you know."
"Yeah, maybe… but…"
"It's stopping to rain. Should we let Bite-Size go now?" Aviva asked.
"No! I-I mean, not now. It's still raining and…there might be predators and…" Koki tried to argument.
"And he has nature's know-how. He always finds a way to make it out there," Martin said.
Koki thought about that. Even though the boys had a point… she still felt guilty about last time, and she didn't wanted anything to happen to him again.
"No. I can't let him go! My little Bite-Size can get hurt, and i'm not letting this happen!"
"Okay, Koki Bambrick! That's enough!" Chris shouted, really upset. "Bite-Size may be your friend, but he's still a wild creature, that must live free and the wild! That's where he belongs! Honestly…someone that doesn't understand the value of freedom shouldn't be even a member of this team!"
Koki gasped at that words. Aviva and Martin gasped as well. Jimmy's gasp made Mina wake up.
Chris looked back at the shocked stares. "Uh-oh…"
Koki didn't knew what to say. She just left the place crying. The gang angrily stared at Chris after she left, except for Mina, who didn't understood what just happened.
Aviva turned her back to him and started working again on the Bat disk, and Jimmy kept polishing his controller, while Martin turned around to look around the forest.
"Nice job…Christopher." Martin said seriously.
Chris gulped. If his own brother called him by his full name, it surely meant he did something veeery wrong.
"Uh…what happened?" Mina asked. Chris looked at Mina, his eyes filled with guilt.
Meanwhile, in the garage, Koki was sitting on the floor, hugging her knees and sobbing. Suddenly, she heard a squeak. Bite-Size found a way to enter the Garage and landed on Koki's knee.
She stared at him, her eyes filled with tears. "You…came to see how i was?"
Bite-Size flew to her face and touched her cheek with his muzzle, tasting one of her tears. It felt like he wanted to give his friend some comfort.
"Oh, sweetie…" She stood up and caressed the brown bat's head, once he stopped on her hand.
"Chris thinks that i don't respect your freedom…and that i shouldn't even be a member on the team." She said, with a sad tone. "Just because i want you to live with us. In the Tortuga, where you would never lose your lair again…"
Suddenly, something came to her mind. "Hmm…you know, that's a good question: how do you survive on a place where you can lose your lair so quickly?" This gave her an idea.
Once she was certain that Jimmy was the only one in the room, Koki sneaked in and grabbed her Creature Power Suit and the Bat Power Disk. She was sure that Aviva had finished upgrading it. Then, she returned to the Garage, where she left her backpack.
"If you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen." She said, activating the Miniaturizer.
Once she was miniaturized along with her backpack, she activated her Bat Power Suit.
"Wow…i do look cool as a bat." She said. "Well, let's get going, bat friend! Show me the way!" They escaped through a window and ran away from the Tortuga. But in the hurry to leave, Koki forgot her Creaturepod on the Garage.
Chris was lying on his hammock, while speaking with Mina.
"Oh, Mimi…i said something unforgivable. What Mom said once sure was right: words can hurt. I guess Koki will never speak to me again."
"There, there…" Mina patted her big brother's head. "You're tecnically right about the wild creatures' freedom rights, but Bite-Size really seemed to like living with Koki. They surely share a bond like i never saw on my life."
"You may be right…still, i wish i haven't said that." Chris felt terrible, as he left the hammock and entered the HQ, followed by his little sister.
"Speak with her. I'm sure she'll forgive you." She assured him.
At that moment, Aviva entered the room, and saw that her Bat Power Disk was gone.
"Hey! Where's the Bat Power Disk? I haven't finished upgrading it yet!"
"Don't look at me. I just got in." Chris said. "Wait, where's Koki's…Creature Power Suit?"
They looked at each other. Something told them that they needed to find Koki.
Aviva, Chris and Mina entered the Garage to search for Koki, but they only found her Creaturepod…and the Miniturizer, still activated.
"Oh, no. OH, NO! She ran away! With Bite-Size!" Aviva shouted desperately, once she saw the opened window.
"And she left the Creaturepod here…so we couldn't find her…" Chris felt his legs tremble, and knelt on the floor. "This is all my fault…if only i hadn't said that…" Mina looked at the opened window, then she heard another thunder.
Koki flew around, admiring the view.
"Woo-hoo! Bat powers are awesome! Can't believe I didn't wanted to try it before." She heard a thunder. "Wow. Is it going to rain again?"
Bite-Size flew down to a tree, and Koki followed him.
"Good idea. How about a break?" She stopped close to him.
"There! BATS! GET THEM!" A voice was heard by them. Koki gasped. She recognized that voice.
"Uh-oh!" Koki said, once she saw Donita and Dabio running against her and Bite-Size. "Trouble! RUN!"
They flew away from there quickly, allowing Dabio to knock his head on the tree.
"Get them! I want that bats!" Donita shouted.
"Phew! That was a close one." Koki said, landing on another tree. Then, she saw her belly was rumbling. "I'm hungry. But no way i'm eating mosquitoes. Hmmm…this asks for some echolocation."
She used her echolocation power and found some berries to eat.
Later, in a branch, Bite-Size was flying around eating bugs, and Koki was eating all the berries she could get.
"Ah…that's surely a life for me." Koki said. "Flying around the forest, eating fruits...and not being judged in any way. No complains...no bossing around..." She rested her head on her backpack and a photo of the team came out of it.
She looked at the picture: The whole team seemed so…happy…
"No friends...no family...no...home..."
Koki sighed sadly. Maybe running away to live with Bite-Size wasn't such a good idea after all…
"Guess I was really impulsive, huh?" Bite-Size looked at her, receiving a calm rub on his head.
A "hoo hoo" interrupted Koki's thoughts. A barn owl just spotted the two bats in the branch and it was flying toward them.
"*gasp* Run, Bite-Size!" Koki looked up just to see that he wasn't in the branch anymore. She flew away from there before the owl could grab her.
"Bite-Size! Where are you?!" She looked for her friend, while the owl flied after her.
Koki heard a squeak and spotted Bite-Size, in a hole in an old tree. She flew to there, escaping from the owl.
"Phew! That was REALLY a close one! Being chased by Donita is easy, but by a barn owl…" She said, breathless. Then, she looked around: there, staring at her, were lots of bats. They were all females with pups.
She heard another thunder, and looked outside. "Wow. It really did start raining again! Bite-Size? Where are you going?" She asked, looking back and seeing her bat friend flying toward a certain spot on the place.
Then, Koki remembered something. "Oh, duh! Why i haven't thought about this before?" She grabbed her orange necklace, and activated her power of understanding animals.
Bite-Size landed close to two female bats and a little pup.
"So…how are you today, little one?" Bite-Size asked.
"*yawn*…i'm okay." The pup said, in a cute girl voice.
"Awww…cute! She's your daughter?" Koki asked.
"No…she's an orphan." Bite-Size answered sadly.
"Her mother was hunted by that owl!" One of the females said. "We're taking care of her until she's strong enough to fly for herself."
"Poor little one…" Koki felt sad about her, and caressed the little one's head. Bite-Size wrapped his wings around the little one, as she held tightly on his body.
"Yeah...definately wasn't a good idea." Koki sighed, as she looked outside. It was starting to rain.
In the Tortuga, Aviva worked on something to help Chris find Koki.
"There." Aviva said, showing the crew her new invention. "The Batronicus XT is done! I built it based on the Butterflier, with a few adaptations."
"Are you sure you don't want me to go with you?" Martin asked Chris.
"No, bro. It was my fault that Koki and Bite-Size ran away from the HQ. I acted like a jerk with them. So i'm the only one who can fix this." Chris said, determinated.
"Guys!" Jimmy called. "There's a weird signal coming from North! It's Donita's plane!"
"Oh, no! I don't know what she's planning, but as soon as i find Koki, we'll find out!" Chris said, while the Miniturizer worked.
"Good luck, bro." Martin said, saluting him and seeing him flying toward the door in the Batronicus XT.
"Watch out with the rain!" Aviva warned
Meanwhile, hanging upside down, Koki and Bite-Size slept comfortably, with Chirpelle (the name Koki gave to the bat pup) by their side.
Suddenly, they heard a thunder, and felt the tree tremble.
"Huh? Wha…what's that sound?!" Koki felt the tremors and woke up.
"Uh-oh. please don't be what i think it is…" Bite-Size and Koki looked from the hole, and saw that a lightning hit the tree.
"We're gonna fall!" Bite-Size shouted. Koki gasped. The other bats, who had woken up with the conversation, got scared and fell from where they were. Koki held Chirpelle firmly, as she leapt to fly, being followed by Bite-Size. They succeded in landing safely, before half of the tree fell on the ground.
"Oh, no. Not again." Koki said, staring at the homeless moms and at Bite-Size and Chirpelle. "Where you'll all live now?"
"There! Get them!" Donita's voice was heard by them.
"Oh, no! Donita's here"! Quick, moms and pups! Fly for your lives!" Koki shouted, as she started flying with her bat friend by her side, but they were all surprised by a pose beam.
"It might had costed me my beautiful hair…" Donita stared at her wet hair. "But i finally found the living jewels for my brand new collection!" She laughed evily, while Koki stared in terror.
Piloting the Batronicus, Chris searched for Koki around the forest.
"Gladly it stopped raining. But nothing yet. If only she hadn't left her Creaturepod back home…" Chris said.
"But she did took her Creature Power Suit with her. They all have a GPS." Aviva said.
"And we just detected her location!" Jimmy said. "*gasp* Uh-oh!" He said, as he sent the location to Chris's Creaturepod.
"Oh, no! Donita got her! I hope i'm not too late!" Chris said, accelerating the Batronicus.
Donita placed some glitter and little jewels on the paralyzed bats, while Koki tried to free herself from that pose beam and also free Bite-Size and Chirpelle.
"How can you be sad, when i'm gonna be the star on Paris? This gives me lots of ideas! Bat dresses, bat necklaces…even bat belts!" Donita chuckled evily, while Dabio brought more jewels. A bat squeaked, scaring him.
Koki saw that…and that scene gave her an idea.
"Wait…that's it! The upgrade Aviva made on the Creature Power Suit: amplified echolocation waves! Higher sounds, bigger waves…crushed pose beams!"
She took advantage of being paralyzed lying on her back and gave a really loud squeak. The echolocation waves came amplified and destroyed the pose beam, freeing her, Bite-Size and Chirpelle.
"Woo-hoo! It worked!" She celebrated.
"What?!" Donita heard Koki's voice and turned around. Koki used her echolocation noise to break all the pose beams, and free all the bat moms. They all flew away, letting the jewels and glitter Donita putted on them fall on the floor.
"No! My barettes! Don't let them escape!" She yeleed, running around to get the bats. At that moment, Chris entered the plane in the Batronicus.
"What the…" Chris looked around, seeing bats flying and Donita chasing them.
After flying in Bite-Size's direction, to see if Chirpelle was okay, Koki's suit started glitching and she ended up returning to normal in mid-air.
"Uh-oh!" She started falling. Bite-Size tried to reach her, but Chris's hand grabbed her quickly. Bite-Size flied toward the Batronicus, with Chirpelle holding his body. He was relieved that Koki was okay.
"You…came after me?" Koki asked.
"Sure i did. After all…you are a member of the team." Chris said, looking at her. Koki smiled. She tried to reactivate her suit, but it wasn't working.
"Aviva hadn't finished upgrading the Bat Power Disk. She needed to fix some bugs yet." Chris explained.
"I noticed. Look, Chris…i'm…" Koki was about to say something, until Donita tried to grab the Batronicus XT.
"Get…that…BATS!"
"*gasp* Hold on!" Chris said, piloting the Batronicus away from Donita.
"We need to open the plane's door, so the bats can escape!" Koki said.
"Oh…but i forgot the Miniaturizer back in the Tortuga. We're so tiny we're won't be able to…" Chris was saying, until he saw the Miniturizer appearing. Jimmy had teleport it to them.
"Nevermind. Thanks, Jimmy!"
"No problemo!" Jimmy said. Koki and Chris returned to normal size and opened the door.
"Fly away, little buddies!" Koki said. "Let's get out of here!"
All the bats escaped through the door, and Chris and Koki followed them. Donita stared at the open door angrily.
"That's it, fellas! Run back to your…lair…" Koki stopped. "I forgot. They don't have a lair anymore. Once again, a lightning destroyed it."
"Not for long. I'll call the Wild Kratts Kids and tell them to leave the bat boxes ready." Chris assured her.
"You two!" Donita shouted, freezing them with a pose beam. "You haven't destroyed ALL of my pose beams, kids. Now, Chris-angelo and Mrs. Bambrick, you shall be now my new models! I'm gonna take back my bats."
Bite-Size saw his friends in danger and that was enough for him to turn around to save them. He pressed a button on the Miniaturizer with his muzzle, when Donita wasn't looking.
"You're gonna be sorry if you touch any of them!" Koki shouted. "No way i'll wear any of your ugly designs!"
They heard a loud squeak and looked around. Bite-Size was a giant bat now. He squeaked loudly, breaking the pose beam and freeing Chris and Koki with his echolocation.
Donita stammered a bit, then fainted. Dabio carried her back to the plane, afraid of the giant bat. The pink plane lifted off, leaving the forest.
Koki and Chris laughed. "Jerks." She said. "Scared of a cute little bat. Better saying, a BIG cute little bat!" She chuckled as she readjusted the Miniaturizer to return Bite-Size to his normal size. Once she did, the brown bat flew around her, landing on her hands.
"Thanks, Bite-Size. You're my hero." She said, kissing her thumb and touching his head. Chris observed everything. He saw how much Bite-Size loved Koki.
"Chris…i'm really sorry." Koki said. "It wasn't really a good idea running away from my problems."
"I'm sorry too, Koki. If only i hadn't said those horrible things…" Chris hugged her. "I'm so glad you're okay. This was all my fault."
"Nevermind, Chris. Bite-Size and the other bats are okay, and that's what matters now." Koki said. "Now, let's get back home. We have another mission to accomplish."
In the Tortuga, Aviva sent a message to all the Wild Kratts Kids around the world.
"Leave your bat boxes ready, kids! You'll have visits!"
"Dear Mother Nature…" Chris started saying, as Luna started writing. "Today, an old friend of ours came for a visit. A very special friend that Koki didn't wanted to leave. I had to learn, in the hard way, that sometimes, words CAN hurt."
"And i learned why bats, even with all danger around them, remain on their habitat." Koki continued. "They have nature's know-how and with that, they always find a way to protect themselves, even finding places to hide quickly."
Their sppech were interrupted once Mina called their attention whistling. She pointed up to show…that Bite-Size returned to the HQ with Chirpelle.
"Hey, buddy! I'm glad you're okay. And Chirpelle, you're flying!" Koki said.
"Chirpelle just came to say "good-bye"." Mother Nature said, floating down to meet the Nature Guardians.
"Good-bye? They're leaving?"
"No, no, no…SHE's leaving. I think, even after everything…Bite-Size wants to live with you, Koki."
"*gasp* Really? But…but he's…"
"A wild animal. I know. But you show for him the same love and sense of responsibility that he shows for you. Both want to protect each other .It is a sense of loyalty like i never seen since the age of Gaia."
"Still don't know who's this Gaia…" Martin whispered to Mina.
"I'll tell you someday." Mina whispered back.
"A friendship that powerful should never be separated. Not even by me." Mother Nature smiled, as Bite-Size flew to her hand. "I need somebody with such loyalty between the Nature Guardians. And if you accept, little one, in return … I can give you the right to stay with the team. I guarantee you I will give you all the protection you need. What do you think?"
Bite-Size nodded, as Mother Nature touched his head with her hand.
"I must go now. I have some things to do in my temple. Good luck, young Bite-Size." Mother Nature waved to the team and the bat, before leaving through a portal, being followed by Luna, that was holding the letter that Koki and Chris just stamped their symbols.
"Well, Koki…looks like you just won a pet." Chris said.
"More than a pet, Chris. We have a new member on the team." Koki said, smiling. "Oh, Bite-Size, i'm such a lucky girl for having you as my friend."
"I'm the one who's lucky!" Bite-Size said, surprising them all and himself. Even Chirpelle was surprised. "Wait…did you guys heard that?"
"Bite-Size…you can TALK!" Koki said, cheerfully.
"We don't need our medallions to understand you now. You can speak human language!" Martin was as impressed as Koki.
"This just makes him even more special! Oh, my litlle Bite-Size…" Koki said, as he rubbed his head on her cheek.
"Well, your BATtitude really made a difference;" Jimmy said, pointing to the ceiling. They all went to the Tortuga's shell to say good-bye to Chirpelle and the other female bats. the bat pup chirped to them and turned around to follow the others.
"There's where they belong. Living free and in the wild." Koki said.
"Hey, that's my line!" Chris said.
"Not today." Koki answered. They all laughed, even Bite-Size.
The Tortuga crew just won a new member…and Koki finally eliminated all the guilt she had.
It was time to look at the future…to see what kind of adventures would be brought for the Nature Guardians.
