As the others waited for the Tortuga, WordGirl kept her eyes firmly glued to Aviva.
Something wrong?
"Yeah, I'm wondering why nobody has ever put me in a crossover with that My Little Pony show," WordGirl explained "I mean, it has unicorns in it and I love unicorns!"
That's true.
"But I also can't shake the feeling that something's wrong," she continued "I don't know what, but I suspect that lady isn't who she appears to be.
Don't look at me; I'm not allowed to give away any plot details.
"Deep in thought, huh?" Chris asked, breaking her from her revelry.
"Huh? Yeah."
"Hey that reminds me, you've never met the rest of our crew; they'd sure be happy to meet the girl who helped us get Aviva back."
"About that," WordGirl began "don't you think that was just a little too easy? I mean, there were only a few robots and that Zach fellow wasn't even there."
"Come to think of it, that did seem a little easy," Chris thought "almost like Zach wanted us to get Aviva back…but why?"
"I wish I knew" WordGirl told him.
But neither one had the chance to explore that thought any further, as the massive Tortuga base finally landed.
"All right! Now we can get back on track," Martin said happily.
"C'mon, we'll introduce you to the others," Chris said.
"Okay, I suppose I could stay a few minutes longer," WordGirl told him. It'll give me a chance to see if my suspicions are correct, she thought.
"Hey guys, guess who's back?" Martin said, before moving aside to reveal Aviva beside him.
"Aviva! Thank goodness you're all right!" Koki replied happily "what happened?"
"Turns out, Zach kidnapped her, although we're still not sure why," Martin explained.
"Hang on, Zach's in the area?" Koki asked "and he didn't do anything? That doesn't sound like him."
"Yeah, that dude's always got some gnarly scheme up his sleeve," Jimmy added.
"Well, not this time," Aviva replied "he just kidnapped me; but I'm safe now, so he's not even worth worrying about."
"How'd you guys manage to rescue her?" Koki wondered.
"We had a little help, from a very unusual new friend," Martin explained "guys, I'd like you to meet WordGirl, and her pet monkey Captain Huggy Face."
Martin moved aside and WordGirl flew into view, carrying Huggy "hi there," she said, waving.
"Wow! A real life superhero, just like in my comics!" Jimmy replied happily.
"Oh yeah, I remember seeing you earlier when I contacted Chris," Koki noted "It's nice to meet you in person."
"WordGirl, this is Koki, she watches our computers and helps maintain our equipment," Chris explained "and that's Jimmy Z, his joystick abilities are a big help."
"Can you shoot lasers from your eyes?" Jimmy asked WordGirl.
"Sorry, no."
"Freeze breath?"
"Nope."
"How about…"
"Look, I don't know what powers you were about to suggest, but I don't have them, okay?!" WordGirl replied angrily "all I have is super strength, flight, super hearing and the ability to define words."
"Okay, it's cool," Jimmy replied "It's just…I've never met a real life superhero before."
"I guess that's understandable," WordGirl replied "I apologize for snapping at you."
"Come on, we'll give you a lift back to your parents," Chris told her.
"Yeah, it's the least we can do for all your help," Martin added.
"Well thank you, I'd appreciate that," WordGirl replied.
"I don't feel right leaving Zach out there on the loose," Martin said "we should at least call the Brazilian authorities."
"Didn't I tell you to forget about that?" Aviva said, slightly angry "he wasn't doing anything, so drop it."
"Well, he did kidnap you Aviva, that at least warrants a…"
"Just forget about Zach, okay!" Aviva shouted "I'm fine now, that's all that matters."
"I don't mean to complain Aviva, but you're a little angry for someone who was just kidnapped," Martin told her.
"I just don't like people accusing Zach when he didn't do anything," Aviva told them.
"Are you feeling okay?" Chris asked "usually you love to dump on Zach. Maybe you need some rest."
"No, I'm fine!" Aviva said "let's just get out of here."
Okay, that outburst was definitely the sign that something is up with her, WordGirl thought and I think I know just how to find out what.
"She's right you guys," WordGirl said "let's go and forget all about that pathetic loser Zach. After all, if the guy couldn't even put up a proper guard around his hostage, how smart can he possibly be?"
"He's very smart," Aviva countered "smart enough to plan my kidnapping."
"Yeah, but not smart enough to make sure you stayed kidnapped," WordGirl replied "I've never met this guy before, but that doesn't sound like a genius to me, that sounds like an ignoramus."
"Is that like a hippopotamus?" Jimmy asked.
"No, 'ignoramus' means someone who is very stupid or lacks intelligence," WordGirl explained "when I said he's an ignoramus, I meant he's not smart enough to do much of anything."
"You'd better watch what you say!" Aviva replied "Zach is a genius inventor."
"Okay, now I know something's wrong," Chris said "Aviva would never praise Zach like that."
"Maybe I've changed my mind about him, you ever think of that?!" Aviva shouted "now, can we please stop talking about this?"
"Talking about what? How inferior this Zach character is?" WordGirl asked "and what is up with his robots? Believe me, I've fought robots that are far superior to his, and a little kid made them."
"Whuh oh, Aviva's steaming mad, literally!" Martin said, noticing steam coming out of the female inventor's ears.
"That doesn't make any sense!" Koki said "people don't make steam when they get mad, unless…"
The gang watched as Aviva began to steam and clench her fists angrily. Suddenly, the young Latina disappeared and was replaced by a different form.
"A Zach Bot! Oh man, we should've guessed!" Martin replied.
"I knew something wasn't right!" WordGirl exclaimed "Huggy, time for maneuver 47!"
She tossed her monkey sidekick unto the robot's face, and while it grappled to remove him, she zoomed forward and smashed its' chest, destroying it.
"Zach must have set up a Zach Bot disguised as Aviva so we'd rescue it instead of her," Chris explained.
"And then it would throw us off his trail until he did whatever he was planning," Martin added "and we fell for it, hook, line, & sinker."
"That means Zach still has the real Aviva," Koki said "and we have no way of knowing what he's up to."
"True, but Zach doesn't know we've exposed his robot" Chris said "which buys us a little time. Koki, get the Octopod sub ready. We're gonna pay Zach a little visit."
"Man, it's a good thing Aviva never gets rid of any of her inventions," Martin commented, as the octopus-shaped submarine cruised the Amazon river.
"Yup, that's Aviva; she always knows what we'll need for any emergency," Chris said "and now we're gonna repay the favor."
"That was pretty clever of you, getting the Zach Bot mad enough so it would reveal its' true identity," Martin told WordGirl "how'd you think of that?"
"Easy; after her little outburst, I noticed she didn't want anyone badmouthing Zach," WordGirl explained "so I suspected the reason was due to her being created by Zach and therefore loyal to him. So, I knew all I had to do was get the robot so angry it would fry its' circuits."
"Good thing you did," Martin said, "who knows how long that thing would've kept us from finding out Zach's true goal. I wonder what it is?"
"With any luck, we'll be able to stop it before he can carry it out," Chris replied.
Meanwhile, not to too far from their location, Zach's yacht came to a halt.
"Okay, one of those pink dolphins should be right below us" he said "time to catch my new star attraction!" Then he activated a lever from the cockpit.
"It sure is beautiful down here, isn't it?" Chris asked, as he watched the various creatures swim by.
"I'll say," Martin replied "the Amazon river is home to some of the most varied animals in the world."
"Gentle creatures, like the giant otter or the Amazonian manatee, call the Amazon home," Chris chimed in "as well as dangerous ones like bull sharks, electric eels, piranha, and of course, the caiman."
"What's a caiman?" WordGirl asked.
"They're a member of the crocodile family," Martin explained "they're smaller than their croc cousins, but no less mean."
"Hey, check it out!" Chris commented, pointing towards the window "it's an Amazon river dolphin, otherwise known as the pink dolphin."
"Hang on a minute. You're saying there are actual pink dolphins?!" WordGirl asked excitedly. "Where is it, where?!"
"Right outside," Martin replied, pointing out the window of the sub "though sometimes called the 'pink dolphin', adults are either pink or white in color."
"They can grow up to 8 feet in length, and have special vertebrae that allow them to move their heads at 180 degrees," Chris added.
"Not to mention, they have long snouts, to reach into hard to get areas so they can get at the fish that live there," Martin explained, as he watched the dolphin swim by "their jaws are lined with at least 24 teeth, allowing them to easily devour their prey."
"Sadly, they're endangered," Chris continued "overfishing and human pollution have cut down the populations of these majestic creatures, and now there's only a handful left."
"Aww, it's sooo cute!" WordGirl exclaimed happily "isn't he just the cutest thing ever Huggy?" Huggy responded with some monkey chatter. "Well, maybe you don't think he's cute, but I do."
"I think I'll call him Pinky," Martin replied.
"Not your most original name bro, but appropriate," Chris said.
Just then, the heroes noticed a large metal claw grab the dolphin around its' midsection & begin pulling it upwards.
"Someone's stealing Pinky!" Martin exclaimed.
"And if I had to take a guess, I'd say that someone is Zach," Chris replied "well at least we know what he's here for."
"But why does he want Pinky?" Martin asked.
"Probably plans to make him the star of some water park he's building," Chris guessed.
"We can't let him get away with that!" WordGirl exclaimed "we need to rescue that super adorable dolphin from that jerk."
"Oh, we're planning on it!" Chris told her "hang on, it's time to surface."
Meanwhile, Zach was on the deck of his yacht, celebrating his success.
"Ha, I managed to steal one of those pink dolphins right under the Wild Ratts' noses," he said happily "and now that I have it, I don't need you anymore Aviva."
On the stern of the yacht, a still bound & gagged Aviva glared at Zach and uttered some muffled threats at him.
"By the time Chris & Martin figure out that they've rescued a Zach Bot instead of you, I'll be long gone," he said "but, since you came all this way to explore the Amazon, it would be cruel of me to not let you."
Despite her struggles, Aviva was grabbed by nearby Zach Bots, who tied a long length of rope around the ropes already secured around her torso. Aviva noticed the rope led to a large winch attached to the stern, and she was very worried about what this meant.
"You're about to take a nice little dip in the Amazon river," Zack explained "or rather, be food for those bitey fish things that live in there, the name of which escapes me."
They're called piranha, Aviva thought and you call yourself a genius.
"Lower her in!" Zach ordered and one of his Zach Bots started up the winch. Aviva was dangled over the side of the yacht, and struggled and squirmed for all she was worth as she was slowly lowered into the waiting water.
Okay Chris and Martin, if you guys are planning something, now would be the time to do it!
Uh oh, things don't look good for Aviva. Can Chris, Martin, & WordGirl rescue her before she becomes piranha food? You'll have to read the next chapter to find out.
