"You have gotta be kidding me..."
From the open doors of the Tortuga HQ, Martin and Chris looked down upon a bird's eye view of the Amazon rainforest.
Several days prior, the Wild Kratts team had been alerted by the local children and authorities of a massive forest fire raging across the Brazilian jungles for weeks on end. But nothing could prepare them for what they were about to see; The normally pristine and beautiful forests were now a blazing inferno as the fire continued to burn, leaving blackened waste in their wake. The trees burned like torches. Plumes of black smoke billowed into the sky, blanketing the afternoon sun with ash and smog, and covering the land in a shroud of darkness. This truly was hell on earth.
Never had the seasoned creature adventurers seen such a catastrophe.
"Oh no..." Even the usually free spirited and easygoing Kratt in blue was finding it extremely difficult to be optimistic at a time like this. Alongside the Kratt bros, the rest of the team was equally appalled and horrified.
"Que terrible."said Aviva, her voice barely above a whisper.
"This is most horrible."warbled Amber, golden eyes widened in stark terror; as all creatures shared a deadly fear of fire, Velociraptors were no exception.
Koki nodded in agreement, having seen satellite images that could be seen from space. "You said it."
"There is no curse in English, Swahili, or the tongues of beasts for this horror."murmured Laura solemnly. Even the occasional brush fires in Africa looked like small campfires in comparison.
"Anybody wanna toast some marshmallows?" Jimmy Z asked. He was met with rueful glares from his peers. "What? Forest fires make me hungry."
To say that Martin and Chris were shocked was a grave understatement. Various emotions welled up in the Kratt Brothers: great sadness for countless acres of pristine rainforest going up in flames, displacing the various species who call them home; sheer horror at the fact that this had been going on for almost three weeks and only now were they notified about it; and outright anger at the irresponsibility, actions and inactions of both those who were responsible and the government who decided to do absolutely nothing to even address the problem.
But now was neither the time nor the place for lamentation. Action was required to prevent any further damage and to rescue any surviving animals caught up in the line of fire. Literally.
"Koki, Jimmy, you guys take the Tortuga and put out these fires!"said Chris, immediately taking charge; to the team, he was more than just a member, he was also seen as their leader, the one who's intelligence and levelheadedness kept everyone together, and brought everyone to action in dire situations as this.
"You got it, CK!" Koki replied, now donned in a firefighter's helmet before she and Jimmy raced to the cockpit.
"Amber, Martin, Laura and I will search for any survivors."
"You got it, bro."
"Umeipata."
"Yes, Chris."
"Aviva, you will–" here the Kratt in green froze, for Aviva was nowhere to be seen. "Aviva?"
Just then his Creaturepod rang, startling him. The moment Chris answered, Aviva appeared on the holographic screen. "Come to the inventions garage. I've got something to show you!"
**** Several Minutes Later...****
"Aviva, you know I love you and your inventions, but is now really the best time for a presentation?"
"With all due respect Aviva, time is short."
"Yeah, please try to hurry this up!"
Chris, Martin, Laura and Amber waited expectantly before Aviva, who stood before a rather large object covered by a veil. The unveiling of a new invention would normally bring about excitement from the two creature adventurers, but with the Amazon rainforest at stake, time was of the essence.
Amber crept closer to the mysterious new gadget, her head lowered as she tried to get a peek underneath the veil.
"What is it?"
"Ah ah! No peeking."the inventor scolded playfully, tapping the raptor's nose. She then addressed the rest of the company present. "I present to you, my latest invention," with that came the moment of truth as Aviva removed the veil. "Ta-da!"
"Wow!"
"What is it?"asked the older Kratt cluelessly while Amber tilted her head.
"It's a drone!"said Laura, having seen them before, albeit much smaller for covert operations in the battle against poachers. This particular drone was massive, about thirty feet across each of its four limbs, each end housing a rather large helicopter propulsion as well as what appeared to be water valves on the bottom. And in its center sat a crystal clear glass tank especially designed to carry multiple gallons of water.
"It is so much more than that."replied the inventor proudly. "Say hello to the Modular Airborne FireFighting System, or MAFFS for short. It's self-contained unit used for aerial firefighting which can be operated independently of the HQ. And it's solar powered."
"But there's no water in the tank." Martin observed with a puzzled expression.
"That's the beauty of the MAFFS. It doesn't need to be filled. I've modified it to absorb moisture from the surrounding air. And all of that collected moisture fills up the tank which will then be used as water released from these four valves to put out the fire.
"It's also a cloud-seeder which releases iodine particles to help boost rainfall. It's a work in progress, but give me another hour and it'll be up and running."
"Impressive." Laura remarked.
"Aviva, you've really outdone yourself this time." Chris commended proudly before planting a quick peck on his girlfriend's cheek. This earned a giggle from the inventor.
The Kratt in green promptly turned his attention to the rest of the team, notably the blonde ranger and the Velociraptor.
"Laura, you and Amber do a ground search. We'll cover the sky."
"Ndio."the ranger answered with a nod while the young raptor bobbed her head in a gesture of agreement.
"And these guys will lend a few extra hands."added Martin with a smug look as he walked out of what looked to be a red telephone booth.
"Huh?" Chris was confused.
At this, the young Velociraptor tilted her head curiously. "Who?"
In answer to Amber's question, the Kratt in blue was soon followed by fifteen more of him, also appearing from the booth. "Them."
The raptor jolted back, surprise evident on her face. "Wow! There are more of you!"
Her curiosity got the better of her as she approached the Martin lookalikes, occasionally sniffing and tapping them with her snout. Amber was soon rewarded by the strokes and pets from dozens of hands, causing her to gently plop on the floor as she purred in bliss, giggles sounding from her Creature Thought Translator. She could really get used to this.
Laura was puzzled to say the least. "Okay... what just happened?"
Chris facepalmed. "Oh brother,"
Aviva gasped in sudden realization and excitement, hand on her forehead. "The Duplicator! Of course! How could I have forgotten?"
"The Duplicator? Looks like a phone booth to me."the ranger remarked, raising an eyebrow.
"It's like a real life 3D copier of things." Aviva replied. "I've made some serious upgrades. Last time, we could only duplicate objects for a few seconds before fading. Now they should be able to last for two hours."
"Sweet,"said the African ranger when her attention was drawn by Martin's voice. "Hey, Laura! Check this out!"
She turned to see not one, but two of them standing in close proximity, arms wrapped around their shoulders. "The more Martins,"the original began.
"The merrier!"the duplicate added, not that anyone could tell them apart. The two Martins shared laughs, followed by a high five. "Yeah!"
Laura rolled her eyes in amusement. Mildly annoyed though he was, Chris complimented Martin's genius. "Good thinking, bro! We're gonna need all the help we can get!" Without another word, the younger Kratt darted into the Duplicator, sealing the door shut. Several bright flashes could be seen from the windows until they stopped altogether. Chris promptly emerged, joined by a dozen plus identical clones, determination etched on all of their faces.
"Let's do this!"exclaimed the sixteen duplicates.
"Good luck, Cariño."said Aviva as she planted her lips against those of Chris, earning a blush from the creature adventurer.
"Uhhh... Aviva? I'm over here."
Aviva's eyes widened as she turned to look behind her, seeing the real Chris standing with his arms crossed, a scandalized look on his face.
It was the inventor's turn to blush as she was quick to apologize to her real boyfriend. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, Chris!"
"It's okay, Aviva. I'm not really the jealous type."he reassured with a smile. She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before racing off to make much needed upgrades on her inventions. After making sure that Aviva was out of sight, the Kratt in green sternly marched up to the clone, who wore a dopey expression on his face. The real Chris grabbed him by the collar of his shirt before slapping him repeatedly.
Some time later found the squadron of Wild Kratts clones all standing shoulder to shoulder, standing absolutely still as the original Chris paced before them with the air of a drill sergeant.
"Listen up, men."he began seriously. "This could be our most important mission yet. The Brazilian government has decided to stand by passively and let the Amazon rainforest go up in flames without doing anything about it. What that means is that there are countless creatures out there in need of our help! We will divide into four teams. Team Green, you're in charge of rescuing the arboreal animals. The tree climbing animals, invertebrates, birds, sloths and primates." This was told to a squadron of Chris lookalikes.
"Yessir!"
The real Chris marched up to an army of Martin duplicates. "Team Blue will deal with the amphibians and the reptiles."
"Yessir!"
"Amber and her squad will be herding the much larger animals away from the flames. Animals like deer, peccaries, tapirs and jaguars."
Standing before him was a dozen or more identical looking raptors led by Amber herself.
"Yes, Chris!"she responded with a chirp before giving a barking call to her subordinates. Behind her, the cloned dinosaurs answered with shrieks and high pitched screams that echoed within the turtle ship.
"Martin! Chris! Tuko tayari!" The two creature adventurers turned to the direction of the new voice to see Laura approaching them, followed by over fifteen identical looking women, all armed with a pair of mambele axes.
For a second or two, the Kratt Brothers could only stare blankly at the throng of armed warriors.
"Wow. Just... wow."said a wide eyed Martin.
Chris quickly composed himself. "Laura, you will be in charge of the Lioness Squadron. Your job is to help the other teams as best you can and use your axes to clear away any obstacles in your path. Think you can handle that?"
In answer, the battle-hardened ranger gave Chris a punch on the shoulder. "You bet!"
"Oww! Martin and I will take to the skies, while Koki, Jimmy and Aviva will stay aboard the Tortuga to put out the fires."
In that moment, Aviva walked up to the meeting, carrying a box of small spheres. "Each of you will be armed with these special biodegradable grenades. Just pull the pin and release it." The inventor then gave a demonstration of her latest gadget by pulling the pin from a grenade she held before throwing it into a clear plastic box sitting on the Tortuga's main platform. In it was a raging fire. The instant the sphere made contact with the blazing inferno, it quickly evaporated into a thick cloud of cooling mist, swallowing up the flames. Martin and Chris looked in amazement as there was no tail of smoke or any evidence that the fire ever existed.
"Wow!"
"The grenades will dissolve into a cloud of concentrated mist on contact with any fire you may come across."she explained. "There's a mixture of water and nitrogen, which are non-hazardous, environmentally friendly, and they leave no residues. But I only have a limited amount. So use them sparingly."
"No problem!"cried Martin cheekily, taking the box of grenades from the inventor. ("Hey!") He walked over to the Dhole Duplicator and tossed it in almost carelessly. "Just load them in the Duplicator to make more!"
"Oh yeah..." she said sheepishly before smacking her palm to her forehead. "We keep forgetting about that invention,"
"Am I on a role or what?"Martin said with his arms folded, obviously proud of himself.
"And wear these masks at all times."warned Aviva, passing down special air masks. "People may think that the burning is bad, but it's the carbon monoxide you wanna watch out for. Smoke and toxic gases kill more people than flames do. Now everyone take a mask. They're especially designed to help you breathe while you're out there."
And after winning over Amber's cooperation, each of the raptors were also fitted with customized breathing apparatuses which Jimmy commented looked like plague doctor masks. The air-filter masks were also engineered in a way as to utilize the dinosaurs' senses of smell, even in the thickest smoke.
"The fate of the Amazon rests in our hands."stated Chris urgently. "Is everyone ready?"
"Sir, yes sir!"came the perfectly synchronized response from the clone army.
"I must warn you: some of you may not return."said the younger Kratt grimly; he wasn't about to tell them that they only had a two hour lifeline.
"No pressure." Martin added with a forced smile.
"Today's a good day to die!"yelled one of Martin's clones with a fist in the air.
"Iwe hivyo!"cried one of the Lioness Squadron, raising an axe, followed by all the rest of the ranger's special forces. So be it.
"That's the spirit!"exclaimed the Kratt Brothers cheerfully. This crew was perfect!
"Guys! Jimmy's found us a big enough clearing to land the Tortuga!" Koki announced over the intercom. "We'll be making landfall shortly."
The Kratt Brothers exchanged knowing glances. It was time. Without skipping a beat, the younger of the two pulled out a large eagle's feather from his person.
"Activate Harpy Eagle Power!"
In vibrant flashes of blue and green light, the two creature adventurers transformed into the likeness of the powerful lords of the Amazon skies.
The minute the Tortuga hovered directly over a untouched clearing, legions of clones poured out of the turtle ship, filled with determination as each team scattered to a different corner of the jungle to carry out their mission, braving the flames and the searing heat.
The Kratt Brothers soared overhead to oversee their movements, like two generals overseeing the advances of their armies. Surely this was to be their biggest mission yet.
"To the Creature Rescue!"
**** Happy Earth Day everyone! Now I started writing this story when I first heard of the Amazon disaster a couple years back, (may I add, the most horrifying event of that year IMO...) but it was abandoned over time, and only now did I find it in my archives. But no time like the present, and here it is...
The second part might take a while, given all the other stories that need working on, not to mention I haven't really planned too far ahead... so I might need some time to brainstorm a little... :P
See y'all on the Creature Trail, and don't forget to do your part in making the earth a better place!