The Tortuga was heading to the Brazilian Amazonic Forest. Inside the HQ, Koki talked with the apparently first Wild Kratts Teens.
"Well, we're nearly there, Isa," Koki informed an olive skin girl with long brown hair and a white flower in it on the screen. "I'm always happy to know there are more people wanting to help us protect our planet."
"And we're glad you guys are coming. The situation is very worrying." By her side, there was a taller girl with brown hair and glasses.
"Yeah… just wait till you get here to see what we mean. The situation is NOT good."
"Jimmy, land in that clearing over there," M.A.T.I. told the Tortuga pilot. "That's the WKT's treehouse location."
"Roger that," the redhead said.
Nearby the clearing was exactly a treehouse with blue and green WK symbols painted on it, on the top of a tree.
A different girl walked out onto the balcony. She looked younger and shorter than the two other ones, with dark brown hair in a ponytail and maroon colored glasses.
"Wild Kratts, you're actually here!" she cheered, once she saw the team coming out of the Tortuga. "I can't believe it! I'm Tami. I just recently joined the team."
"A newbie, huh? Me too," Sam commented.
"Whoa, you're huge. And you have a tail!" she primarily noticed. "A shark tail!"
"Eh..."
"Are you from the future?" The mutant's eyes widened. "O-or an alternate timeline with an apocalypse that made people part animal? Whenever did you become capable of time traveling?"
"Uh…" He had no way to explain how right she was, or how to answer her questions.
"Tami!" The tallest brunette lightly scolded. "Don't suffocate them with questions like this. Give them time, okay?"
"Sorry, Yara, boss..."
The team walked up the stairs that snaked around the base. Once inside the treehouse, they saw a tunnel with a slide.
"Where does this lead?" Martin asked.
"You'll see." Yara didn't hesitate to jump down the slide, and Tami followed a bit after.
Down the tree trunk, in the undergrounds, there was a huge place, decorated with posters, pictures, images of animals and many colors. The team was astonished.
"What do you think? Nothing like a Britain show and model heroes to inspire from," Yara commented proudly.
"We were thinking about putting up more posters, but Isa insisted there was enough for years of WKTs," Tami commented.
"Wow…" Chris commented.
"The macaws are right there, in our Creature Clinic." Tami pointed to a door built in nearby. The room inside was brightly lit despite the dirt walls and Isa was there too. "We take care of every little thing we find around these woods. Some of them rarely don't survive, but we keep trying. Luckily, Lauren and little Martin here survived. And we've been taking care of them ever since."
"You named the chick Martin?" Aviva asked.
"It was Yara's idea," Isa explained.
"What? I like Martin." Yara blushed.
"Teen crush alert..." Elsa whispered to Aviva.
"*gasp* Do you know what kind of macaw this is?!" Martin practically squealed. "It's a hyacinth macaw! One of the most endangered species in the world."
"When we found Lauren, her wing was wounded. Unlike other creatures, she wasn't so hostile with us at first." Isa explained.
"Well, macaws are very intelligent. They're social birds that often gather in flocks of 10 to 30 individuals. But these two were all by themselves?"
"Yup. Groups of macaws are simply disappearing from the forest. Their colors aren't cheering up the forest skies anymore..."
"Macaws are some of the most colorful birds in the world," Koki said. "There are only 17 species of macaws, and several are endangered. They make popular pets in North America, and many are illegally trapped for that trade."
"You don't think someone is stealing them to sell as pets, are you?" Tami asked. "I saw this in a movie, but never thought someone could be that cruel."
"That's taking wild animals out of their habitat. We've got to solve this mystery. The Mystery of the Rainbows of the Forest!" Ventus exclaimed.
"Hey!" Martin complained. "Can you guys stop stealing my mind's ideas?! How will we afford to fix that wall?"
The team laughed as they walked outside to start investigating. Yara, Tami and Isa looked at each other.
"Wall?" Isa questioned. Her teammates shrugged.
Somewhere else in the forest, hundreds of cages full of macaws were being loaded onto an airplane.
"Mother, I could not have better news. Soon, you'll make the most beautiful living feather hats ever!" Klaus explained via screen.
"Aww, that's my little man. I'll be waiting for the delivery. Love you, my little artist." Donita waved, as Dabio pouted in the background.
Klaus turned off the phone. "Brilliant. My great return to the fashion world could not be in a better way than this. I just hope THEY don't come here to ruin everything..."
The team sat around the round table in the center of the underground treehouse. Nearby Martin, Yara tried not to look shy in front of her hero. Tami had to snap in her face to regain her attention. Yara noticed the younger girl drawing something in a sketchbook. She smirked.
"What's this I see?" Tami blushed and guarded her sketch of a certain brunette brother.
"I can't help it. He's standing right there." Yara just chuckled.
"Hm… those wings are pretty impressive," Ventus said. Then, he gasped. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"I think I'm thinking what you're thinking, bro," Martin commented.
"I think I'm thinking what you both are thinking," Chris said.
"What are you thinking?" Isa wondered.
"Macaw Power disks!" the three of them said, giving a special handshake.
"Wow," Yara said. "That's what I call synchrony."
"Look at her feet. They're almost raptor like," Elsa commented.
"Exactly. Macaws also have gripping toes that they use to latch onto branches and to grab, hold, and examine things," Koki explained. "Due to their feeding habit, it's not a surprise."
"What do they eat?" Mina wanted to know.
"Macaws are herbivores. They have those large, powerful beaks that easily crack nuts and seeds, and their dry, scaly tongues have a bone inside them that makes them an effective tool for tapping into fruits," Aviva said, showing it on her Creaturepod. "That's why her beak is shaped like that."
Lauren gave a little squawk.
"She said that she should be teaching him how to fly in a week. Hopefully, her wing will be healed by then," Elsa translated.
"Uh, why didn't we think about this before?" Aviva sighed. "The Animal Comprehension. It's been too long since we used it." The team facepalmed. How could they forget about one of their first powers as Nature Guardians?
"Wow… you can talk with creatures now?" Yara asked. "We have a lot of questions to make, but the most important perhaps is What exactly have you been doing this whole time?"
"Read this, you'll know." Mina gave them the Wild Kratts Diary.
"Oooh…" The three stared at the book in awe.
"So you were picking food to your baby until your friends were starting to get caught?" Aviva used her Animal comprehension to understand Lauren.
"Precisely," the macaw answered. "My husband wasn't lucky enough. Whoever is capturing our fellow macaws is responsible for his fall."
"Who could ever dare to do that?!" Mina wanted to know. "Killing one poor macaw and arresting these wonderful birds in cold cages..."
"Well, we have four enemies now. It's probably any of them," Aviva commented.
"Four? Weren't there three?" Yara counted on her fingers.
"Not until a few months ago. Donita's son Klaus joined the bad guy team."
"Wow… I didn't know Donita had a son," Tami commented.
"I didn't know she had a LIFE," Yara commented, receiving lots of shocked stares. "Sorry, not discreet."
"Look… why don't you show them where the macaws used to be? This could be a good way to find clues to solve the mystery." Isa suggested.
"You're sure? It could be dangerous three cute girls like you out there by yourselves," Martin told them.
"Cute? *giggle* Trust us, the worse possible thing that happened all along is the dengue fever Isa had once. Now she's much better," Tami said.
"Besides, we know this forest like we know our treehouse, or the palm of our hands," Yara added. "Wait, this mark's new." She pointed to her hand.
"Besides, Yara's like a babysitter to us, so whenever danger's near, you would not like to touch her nerves," Isa pointed out. "Neither Tami's."
"But such young and pretty girls? What can they do?"
"Imagine facing a predatory mouse lemur miniaturized," Isa whispered to them. The two brothers gulped.
"That gave me nightmares for two weeks," Chris said, shivering. "And we wouldn't use the Miniaturizer for a month."
"Okay, w-we should probably go. The sooner we find the location, the sooner we find clues for the mystery," Martin decided, not wanting to remember that day. "Good luck you guys, we're off to find clues."
Tami led the brothers through the woods, and as any fan, asked millions of things about the current situation. Yara simply kept her eyes open for anything.
"And how does it feel to have a new brother? And about that guy with fangs and shark tail? And about that voice inside the Tortuga HQ? And about-"
"Whoa whoa, looks like someone had too much sugar this morning," Chris said, covering Tami's mouth with a finger. She quickly turned to hide her blush.
"He touched me..." she silently squealed.
"Uh, so, where do the macaws usually go?" Ventus quickly asked.
"Not much farther. We usually see lots of macaws on this side of the cliff," Yara pointed out. "It's where the branches are the most firm. We know because we used all the ones that fell first to build our treehouse's prime base."
"Yeah, flocks of macaws do like to hang out on rocky cliffs like this," Martin informed. "It's pretty cool how they can cling to these rigid, vertical walls. It's like they're mountain climbing without a rope and safety gear,"
"The perks of having raptorial claws," Chris commented. "Even though they don't hunt. Hey… what's this?" The Kratt in green saw some feathers on the forest floor and some tacks.
"Tacks? It's normal seeing this near our treehouse, 'cause we're almost always adding stuff to it, but not here." Tami thought.
"I highly doubt that any locals would come out this far," Martin pointed out. "We better split up. You girls go that way and keep contact with the Creaturepod."
"Uh-oh... I forgot my Creaturepod back home," Yara lamented.
"Again, boss? Looks like Isa owes me a request again," Tami cheered.
"Huh?" the brothers asked.
"We lose one thing, we draw one thing. It's kind of deal between us three."
"That explains the drawings around your base. Anyway, keep my Creaturepod, and call us when needed." Martin gave Yara his Creaturepod.
"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh..." she muttered. Tami gave her a hard pat on the back. "Um-ahem, good idea. We'll keep searching for clues, and call you if we find something suspicious."
"Okay then. We'll see you later then." The three headed back to the treehouse. Once the three were gone, the two of them squealed of happiness.
"I can't believe this! We were SOOO close to them!" Yara's eyes glowed in excitement.
"I know! I know! I can't believe HE touched me!" Tami jumped up and down. Then, she saw something on the forest floor.
"And, oh my goodness, I have HIS Creaturepod in my h-"
"Fan squeal later, boss! I found something over here!" Tami called for her friend. She found something strange.
"It's… a helmet. Though much too small for any of us." Yara took out her Creaturepod and started scanning it. "Actually… it's practically the size of a bird head."
Tami then heard a strange noise.
"Tool noises… Uh, Yara?"
"Hold on, Tami. I'm scanning this thing for Aviva," her leader brushed off.
"B-but… Yara..." The younger girl groaned in frustration and went to investigate herself.
"There we go. You got this, Aviva?"
"Affirmative," Aviva commented via Creaturepod. "This helmet and its symbol could not be more familiar. This is 100% Klaus Donata."
"You hear that, Tam-Tami?" Yara saw that her friend had vanished. "Oh, boy… not again. Uh, I'll call you guys later!" She turned off the Creaturepod. "Tami? Where are you?"
"So… she's the eldest of you three?" Jimmy asked.
"She looks really young, actually," Koki commented.
"She's 18. One to two years older than us. But this was what made her sad because grown-ups can't join the Wild Kratts Kids," Isa sighed.
"I know how that feels," Clarissa pointed out, remembering that was just the reason why she gained her own CPS.
"Unfortunately, our parents sometimes don't understand. They think we're too old to be fans… or too young to do things so "dangerous"..." Isa muttered.
"You're never too old to do the right thing, or to help how you can. Whoever invented this is a quitter," Chris taught Isa. She chuckled.
"Just what Yara always says," Isa pointed out. "Anyway, back to Lauren here. Hm… looks like her wing will heal sooner than I thought."
"Well, got programmed raptorial claws, powerful beaks and the tongue feature is nearly done," Aviva informed. "The macaw disks will be done in a few minutes."
The brothers entered with the clues they gathered.
"Did someone said the macaw disks were nearly ready? Because macaw powers would be good to further investigation," Chris said.
"Where's Tami and Yara?"
"Don't worry about them," Isa assured. "Yara knows this place better than any of the three of us. Not to mention since Tami is from the U.S., she won't wander far. Usually."
"Usually?" Jimmy questioned.
"Well… let's just say she can get easily distracted."
"Story of my life," Martin commented. The team wondered how the girls were doing by themselves.
Yara looked around, a little scared of what could have happened.
"Tami? Tami? Where are you?" Then, she heard the tool noises Tami heard before, and rushed to a certain spot in the middle of the woods.
"Augh! Let me go!" Yara gasped at seeing Tami being held by the arm by Klaus Donata, and being shoved into a cage. "Let me out, you snake! Uh, no offense to snakes."
"Let her go," Yara ordered at the young Donata.
"Says who?"
"Says me," Yara said, sternly. "Klaus Dumb-ata, huh? Pretty cowardly of you hurting a girl."
"And pretty silly of you caring for dumb kid things."
"Dumb… kid things?" Yara felt her eye twitch.
"Oh, no," Tami squeaked in worry.
"Dumb kid things?! Do you have any notion of how important the planet is to everyone, and how much bad you're doing to it?!" Yara started to get angry.
"Don't know, don't care," Klaus ignorantly said. "Now, move along, overgrown pipsqueak. I have a delivery for my mother."
"Oh, no," Tami repeated.
Yara growled, and rushed against Klaus, giving him a tough pushy to the floor, allowing Tami to escape.
"Nice shot, big girl," Tami commented.
"Go, go, go, go, GO!" Yara told Tami, as they ran back to the treehouse. Klaus stood up.
"So, one tough kid, huh? Not so fast," he muttered, pressing a button on his device.
Yara and Tami found their way back to the treehouse.
"Phew. We made it. Let's go in and warn the team."
"Right, boss," Tami said, until she saw something coming from the horizon. "Wait… what's that?" She picked up a telescope to take a better look.
"What? What are you seeing?"
Tami started to step back in fear, and pushed Yara inside the treehouse. As they stepped in, Tami slammed the door behind them.
"Now there you girls are. We were worried." Isa pointed out. "Wow, Tami, what's wrong? You're white as a sheet."
Their answer was got once claws and beaks started to attack the front door and the treehouse walls. The two girls shrieked.
"Birds?" Isa looked out the window. "The macaws!" Then, she was pulled to the slide by her friends.
"Mind-controlled macaws!" Tami warned the team down the slide. "Birds attacking our treehouse!"
"And I thought Mr. Hitchcock was just kidding when he made that flick," Yara said.
"Mind-controlled macaws?" Chris asked. "Looks like Klaus isn't wasting time in creating an army before attempting his mother's needs."
"Luckily, we can now fight equally. The macaw disks are ready to go. Ven, would you like to go first?" Aviva asked, showing them one disk done.
"Oh, boy, would I?" he questioned, as if it was obvious. He gently stroked Lauren's wing. "Activate macaw powers!" There was a white glow, and Ventus looked like a white macaw with blue and black patterned wings.
"Wow…" Isa mumbled in awe. Her two friends smirked at her. "Wh-what?"
"Someone likes a certain brother in white," Yara teased. Isa glared at her with blush across her face.
Then, there was the sound of scraping closer.
"*gasp* Did they..." Tami feared. Isa looked up the slide and heard flaps of wings.
"Yup," she answered.
"Prepare to evacuate the base!" Yara announced. "All to the secret passage!"
Tami pulled a rope, opening a staircase that led to somewhere else.
"And you said this was a bad idea..." the two commented at Isa. She crossed her arms in annoyance, as the team climbed up.
Outside the underground lair, Tami pushed a rock that covered the exit.
"Wow, you're pretty strong for being the youngest," Chris commented. "Just like me." He showed her his arm strength. She blushed.
"W-well, I played lacrosse when I lived in America," the teen explained.
"That's a cool sport."
"Oh, my gosh." Yara stared in horror. The walls were destroyed, the door was crumbled and the posters in front of it were ruined. "Look what they did to our treehouse. It'll take months to fix everything." Tami put a hand in her shoulder.
"Don't be so pessimist. I would say two or three weeks."
"Okay! Time to rescue some feathered fellows! To the macaw rescue!"
"Ventus, flock at 3'o clock!"
Ventus flew with his macaw powers. With his claws, he managed to break some of the helmets, freeing the birds.
"Uh, guys. There are more than I could expect. I don't think I can handle this all by myself!"
"Hang on, cariño. It won't take long now." Aviva worked as quick as she could in the M.I.K.
"Oh, no. Lauren and Little Martin!" Chris gasped, remembering about the mother and her baby.
"One step ahead, guys!" Mina showed the team the best with the family in it.
"Sister, you're the best," Koki commented, as Mina squeed with a smile.
"GUYS! I'm losing here!" Ventus's voice was heard, as he was practically being pummeled by the flock.
"Here they come!" Aviva pointed to the sky. Millions of mind-controlled birds were coming to get the team.
"We may need a bigger refuge."
"Or one big angry turtle!" M.A.T.I. called via Creaturepod. "Activating Angry Turtle Mode!"
*BG music: Cheap Trick - Mighty Wings*
The Tortuga flew up and roared with red eyes. The wind that blew dispersed the flock in many directions.
"Now the groups are smaller! We can help too!"
"Four new macaw disks are ready!" Aviva threw the disks to the younger brothers, David and Koki.
"Alright! Hang on, big bro, we're on our way!" Martin shouted. Once the four activated, they took to the skies. By that moment, Ventus was knocked down with an injured wing.
"Mayday! Mayday! I'm falling!" he shrieked, in pure terror. Quickly, Martin and Chris caught him with their claws.
"Got you, bro!"
"Alright! No more Mr. Nice-Birdy!" Ventus deactivated and brought out his wind wings. The team continued the assault, freeing the colorful birds.
"Wow! This is SO going to our blog!" Yara took a picture of the team rescuing the macaws.
"Look at them! This is the highlight of our dreams, girls!" Isa squealed.
After the last macaw was freed, the team landed back in the ground.
"You guys were awesome!" Tami cheered.
"Part of the job," Chris joked.
"I have never seen wings like these before," Isa commented Ven's magic.
"Takes lots of training."
"Oh, you Wild Kratts!" Klaus grunted, showing up with Donita and Dabio. "Why do you have to ruin everything?!"
"To save the creatures of the world!" Yara exclaimed. "And so do we!"
"Ha! You think these brats here can really help you?" Donita chuckled.
"Don't underestimate the Wild Kratts Teens, Lady Crazy-Clothes!" Tami accused.
"Aren't you all a little old to be nature saps anyway?" she questioned. "Not to mention the really shrimpy one."
"What did you say?" she growled.
"Oh boy, they're in for it now," Yara commented. Isa nodded in agreement.
"What? I mean, it's not nice to ask such a thing, but-" Chris started, but then, Tami tackled Donita.
The team watched with wide eyes as the young teen messed up the fashionista's hair. Afterwards, she huffed with her arms crossed with herself seated on her.
"Mom?" Klaus called.
"One little rule, Klaus: NEVER tease Tami about her height," Yara chuckled.
"Dabio, what are you waiting for?! Get our mother and let get out of here!" Klaus ordered. "My brilliant plan… foiled! It all could have gone well, if it weren't for those meddling kids!" he complained, as they rushed to the plane.
"What does he think we are?" Isa asked.
"Just a casanova. Ignore him," Ventus assured, as Yara tapped Tami's shoulders. They all looked up to see the macaw families flying back to the skies.
"Welcome home, feathered friends," Martin commented.
Later, as the team prepared to leave, Lauren's wing was a lot better and she was ready to fly.
"Thanks again for the help, Wild Kratts. We really wish you could stay a little more," Yara admitted.
"Yeah, your team is very unique," Chris commented. "And just one thing: remind us not to get on your bad side." The girls chuckled in response.
"We'll help you as we can with these Predators you told about," Isa proclaimed. "Yara has been developing some kind of "special fortress"..."
"Spoilers, girl! *grunt* I was just gonna say that!"
Mina picked up a small tag and placed it on Lauren's leg.
"There. This way we can monitor the hyacinth macaws and her friends, preventing them from extinction for as long as we can."
There was a thud. Make that two thuds.
"And K.O," Koki joked, seeing the brothers (at least the younger two) in their "Extinct Species Trance". The three teens stared down at the two, surprised.
"Oops," Mina said. The team chuckled, as the macaws flew happily around the forest.
