Chapter 10: Serval Powers, Sokolov Style

Chris and Martin stood defiantly on the shore as Vermilion, Zach, and two Zachbots appeared at the starboard side of the yacht. Just behind them were Aviva, Koki, and Jimmy. Leaning against the railing, Vermilion smirked and called in a vitriolic tone, "Well, well, look who joined the party."

"Cut the talk, Sokolov," Martin threatened. "There's nowhere for you to run."

Chris added, "Vermilion, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. Your choice."

Vermilion crossed her arms boldly and declared, "You two look mighty brave mouthing me off all the way down from the shore! Why don't you come up here and say 'f―k you' to my face!?" She laughed maniacally.

All the Wild Kratts gasped. They've never heard somebody swear like that! Zach turned to her in shock. Vermilion just said the f-word at the Kratt brothers! A thousand times he had thought of cursing at the Wild Rats like that, but all these years, he's never had the nerve to do it. Vermilion? She's only met them today, and she's already spewing trash at them! How brave of her! Zach thought.

Aviva was alarmed. The audacity of this woman! None of the other villains―not even Zach!―has ever mouthed off like that before!

Martin yelled, "Fine! We'll come up there! With serval powers!" He and Chris bunched up their legs and leaped with all their might. Sailing through the air, they passed the shore and crossed the railing before landing on their feet on Zach's deck. Vermilion stepped back and took a good look at their creature power suits. Zach spat, "Oh, wonderful! Now they're the kitty Kratts! Why do we have to listen to anyone wearing stupid animal costumes!?"

Vermilion eyed the creature power suits from head to toe. Martin's was blue, and Chris' was green. Just like the serval, they had long, slender legs that enabled them to leap high into the air. Tall, oval ears poked out from their heads, and their claws glistened in the sunlight. She demanded, "You two mind telling me what the heck you're wearing?"

Chris proudly announced, "These are the Wild Kratts' creature power suits! Our friend, Aviva Corcovado, invented them! Every time we meet an awesome new creature, she studies it and programs computer discs according to the animal's DNA. We insert the discs into our suit and touch the animal. Then, we activate it to inherit all the amazing qualities of the animal kingdom. Aviva's made us serval power discs, so now we're going to beat you with the power of the serval!"

After Chris finished, Vermilion stared blankly at the brothers for a couple of seconds. Suddenly, she started laughing. Chris and Martin gazed at her in confusion. Chris asked, "Was it something I said?"

Vermilion kept laughing hysterically. "Creature power suits!" she giggled. After laughing some more, she asked, "How long did it take you all to build those?"

Aviva, summoning all her courage, called from the shore, "It took me eleven months, six days, and four hours!"

Vermilion chuckled, "Eleven months, Aviva!? It took you almost a year to create those sorry-looking pajamas?" To Aviva's aversion, Vermilion hooted loudly.

Vermilion reached into the front pocket of her backpack and pulled out the syringe labeled SERVAL. She then took her burlap sack pulled out Skyfall, who was still under some amount of tranquilizer.

Suddenly, she stuck the needle into Skyfall's neck.

Skyfall whined in pain.

Martin gasped. "What are you doing!?"

Vermilion remained silent as dark red blood spurted into the syringe. The hypodermic quickly filled up with the rich, red liquid. She drew out the needle and threw Skyfall back into the sack.

She held up the syringe. A drop of blood trickled from the sharp end of the needle and onto Vermilion's fingers.

"I'll show y'all what real creature powers look like."

Vermilion stuck the needle into the dot on her DNA mark. As Skyfall's blood drained into Vermilion's veins, the mark began to glow gold again. When the syringe was completely empty, Vermilion grinned from ear to ear.

She shouted, "Vermilion metamorphosis!"

The double-helix on her upper arm illuminated. The gold blaze of light spread up and down her arm rapidly and consumed her entire body. On her skin, the familiar pattern of black lines and blotches on golden fur formed. Her fingers and nails shape-shifted into claws unsheathed from part human, part serval paws. Whiskers sprouted from her face, and her nose blackened and became wet. Her teeth sharpened into pointed fangs. Her face began to grow black-and-gold fur, but her hair remained the same. Popping up from under the red curls, though, were two good-sized, oval-shaped ears that swiveled from side to side like a satellite dish. A tail unfurled out from behind her.

The gold light disappeared to reveal something that was half Vermilion, half Skyfall. She walked and talked like a human, but with the fur, the claws, and the teeth, the brothers felt like they were in front of a werewolf.

Or, should we say, a wereserval?

Aviva gaped at the powerful transformation. Never before had she seen anything like this with her own eyes (except, of course, with the brothers). But…but…that's impossible! she thought. You can't just stick a needle of another animal's blood into your skin and turn into something like that! But she did! But how? She mentally listed any possible cause for this scientific wonder. Nanobots? Genetic engineering? Nuclear decay?

Jimmy and Koki were speechless. Jimmy whispered, "Is…is she, like, a witch or something?"

Vermilion, hearing Jimmy's low voice with her new serval hearing powers, answered, "Not really, but I do know a certain witch to thank for this. Well, technically she was a voodoo priestess, but I guess some people consider them witches."

Aviva gasped and yelled, "Stop lying, snitch! There's no such thing as witches! Tell us how you really got creature powers, Vermilion!"

Vermilion rolled her eyes and groaned, "Oh, don't tell me you're one of those 'I-only-believe-in-science' people. Don't get me wrong, Aviva, I use chemistry and physics all the time in my adventures, but please keep an open mind, da?"

Examining her claws casually, she continued, "Nyet, if it wasn't for that deal I made with Mademoiselle Lafayette, you Wild Kratts would be pretty lucky. She cast this spectacular spell on me, and all I had to do was bring some unfortunate man's heart to her to keep my powers."

Vermilion thought nostalgically, I remember it like it was yesterday…