The next day, the whole gang was silent around the Kratt brothers. And, the brothers were silent around the gang.
And Jimmy was shown the episode of Zoboomafoo in secret, luckily, because Aviva had recorded it.
"Like, what's so wrong about this tape? Why does it make Chris and Martin be all touchy?" said Jimmy after the episode finished, "It's like, perfectly fine!"
"We know that Jims..." said Koki, "That's what we're all trying to figure out!"
"Chris and Martin are definitely hiding something, that's for sure..." said Aviva, fast forwarding through the episode, seeing if they missed anything.
"We should get them to spill the beans..." said Koki, getting a determined look on her face, "Martin and Chris are our friends, and don't need to keep secrets from us..."
"Or cassettes..." said Jimmy, "Did you hear all the awesome movies Kitty found in Chris's room? He's hording all the good tapes!"
"Jimmy. Get back to the subject." said Aviva, still not taking her eyes off the computer screen as she fast forwarded.
"Sorry..." said Jimmy sitting up straight, "Anyway, how are we going to make them tell? Force?"
"Jimmy, what kinda idiot, would think force would work against those two brothers?" said Koki blinking.
"I meant 'The Force', you know, like in Star Wars?" said Jimmy smiling, pretending he had a light saber or something, "Speaking of Star Wars, I bet that's another awesome movie Chris is keeping away from me..."
At this point, Koki rolled up the daily newspaper and smacked Jimmy upside the head with it, and Jimmy fell over off his chair. "Ow..."
"We can't force them..." Kitty spoke finally. She had been silent in thought, as all the others had been talking, "It wouldn't be right, since we're their friends..."
"She's right..." said Aviva, turning off the computer, "We'll all have to ease in with asking them..."
Jimmy stood up, off the floor and nodded, "Okay. Cool... so who's going to try first?"
Everyone went silent, and exchanged glances. No one wanted to ask. It wasn't that the brothers were scary or anything, it was just the fact of asking about something private of theirs, was scary.
"Um, I vote Kitty..." said Aviva finally, "It's fair enough, since she's the one that started all this..."
"By accident!" said Kitty offended, "Anyway, if I go, you all have to stay nearby and watch or something. I'm not willing to go alone..."
"Fine..." The rest of the team said, with a bit of a groan.
Martin and Chris were in the garage of the Tortuga, looking for there mountain bikes through the piles of boxes, when Kitty came down the stairs.
The garage was a dim lighted room, and was large, but, you wouldn't be able to tell because of all the boxes piled up to the ceiling.
At first, Kitty didn't even know if they were still down there, because she couldn't them past all the things. But, she soon saw them moving around the boxes, and calling over to one another. Aviva, Koki, and Jimmy all hid around the corner of the stairs, ready to listen carefully.
Kitty took a deep breath, hoping she could start a conversation leading slowly to her question, "Hi guys!"
Martin looked up and smiled, "Oh hey Kit! Wanna go mountain biking with us?"
"That is if she can find a bike... or ours for that matter..." said Chris to his brother, while moving a box larger then himself.
"Well, actually, I was coming down to apologize, but sure!" Kitty smiled slowly.
Martin and Chris both stopped with what they were doing and looked up at her, "Apologize for what?" asked Martin confused.
"Oh, just for taking that cassette without asking... I didn't know, and I'm sorry..." she then started looking behind boxes with them.
Chris and Martin exchanged glances, "It's alright Kitty... you didn't know, like you said..." said Chris.
"So..." Kitty started, as Martin and Chris went back to work searching for the bikes, "Not to impose or anything, but, why haven't you two told us, you guys did a show at one time?" she held her breath, as did everyone on the stairs.
The Kratts froze. Kitty now wasn't sure if she had worded her sentence right or not. The brothers both gave her a look, that almost seemed sad.
"I'm sorry... I probably shouldn't of asked... I'll go... now..." she turned around starting back to the stairs in embarrassment.
"Kitty wait!" Martin called after her.
Kitty blinked and stopped, and turned to face him, "Yes?"
"We didn't tell you guys because-..." Martin started, but, he seemed a bit upset in some way.
"Because," Chris finished, "We didn't want to remember..."
"What? Why wouldn't you want to remember it? You two were amazing! That show was great!" questions filled Kitty's mind quicker then a broken dam could pour out water.
"It be easier if we just showed you..." said Chris, "We'll fly there now, if Jimmy wants to turn the Tortuga around..."
"DO I!" Jimmy's voice came from around the stairs. Martin and Chris blinked, and looked at Kitty who was laughing nervously.
The Tortuga landed in a nice little forest shortly after. Chris and Martin had instructed Jimmy where to go, but made sure he wouldn't tell anyone one else the location.
They whole gang soon set out into the woods, following Martin and Chris.
Aviva whispered to Kitty, "Doesn't it look like that episode we saw? With the bros going through the woods?" Aviva clearly was excited.
"Yeah, it does..." Kitty said, and actually wasn't very excited at all. She was worried, the brothers didn't seemed like themselves, as in, their usually happy-go-lucky self's.
Chris and Martin suddenly both stopped, and looked back to the gang, "Animal Junction's right around the corner... you guys can go first..." said Martin, with a mellon collie tone to his voice.
The rest of the team nodded, and went on.
"I can't wait to see Animal Junction! It looked really fun on the tape!" said Jimmy, stuffing his hands in his pockets.
"Me too!" said Koki, "And I wonder if any animals are still there?"
"Or maybe that lemur Zoboomafoo might be there." said Aviva smiling lightly.
Kitty suddenly stopped dead in her tracks, and just stared ahead of them, "Or... maybe none of that stuff will be there..."
"What would make you think that?" Koki asked.
Kitty simply pointed ahead, with a sad look in her eyes. The team followed her finger, and soon saw it; Animal Junction, or at least, what was left of it.
Animal Junction was not completely torn down, but, it looked all black and wrecked. It seemed weak, and as if it could fall over with the next strong wind.
The team slowly went over to the door, and went in. There was no animals, or lemur named Zoboomafoo inside. There was hardly anything inside, and the stuff that was there, was destroyed into dust or wood piles. Vines overgrew a few parts, and there was barely any roof left.
Kitty walked around, and felt a supporter beam gently, "It's as if it was all... all-"
"Burnt..." Chris voice came from behind them. Chris and Martin walked in, and only looked at the ground. They didn't want to look at the old remains of what their Junction use to be.
"You mean, there was a fire?" asked Aviva.
"Yeah..." said Martin, "A fire that took out everything, except us Kratt brothers..."
"Now you guys know why we don't like talking about the show Zoboomafoo anymore..." Said Chris, "It brings back painful memories..."
Kitty looked down, and went over and hugged the brothers, "I'm sorry... how did the fire start anyway?"
Martin shrugged, "We don't know... it just all happened one day during a show..."
Chris sighed, "We don't even know if Zoboo made it out..."
"Though, we have searched for him many times, and called for him and everything, but, he's just not anywhere to be found..." Martin said.
"We don't even know if he died of old age by now..." Chris said, kicking the dirt with his foot a little.
"Wow... that is one sad story..." said Jimmy, looking as if he would burst out in tears.
Aviva nodded, "I'm really sorry that all that happened, guys..."
Chris smiled lightly to Aviva, "It's alright. What's in the past, stays in the past..."
But, even though it happened all in the past, Kitty was looking to the future, ready to find out some answers to some mysteries.
