"You're it!"
Laughs and joyful shouts could be heard from above as leaves came showering down from the branches. Chris leaped from tree to tree at incredible speed, with Aviva close to his tail, swinging from thick vines. The pair were currently in the Indonesian rainforest, engaged in another game of treetop tag, one of Chris' favorite outdoor activities, and a pastime they have often enjoyed ever since the arboreal creature adventurer had taught the inventor this game.
Several swings and evasive maneuvers had brought the Kratt in green almost within reach of a massive fig tree– the established base. From his place on top of a sturdy tree limb, he maintained awareness of his surroundings, eyes darting in all directions, ears listening for the faintest rustle that would betray his pursuer. Not a leaf was stirring, nor did a single twig snap.
Satisfied that the coast was clear, Chris got hold of a vine before flying towards the next forest giant that would lead him to the fig tree, pulling off his signature lemur landing. He was just about to make his next move when–"¡Te tengo!"– a voice sounded from the leaves directly above his head as Aviva's face dropped just inches from Chris' own as she dangled upside down, startling the tree climber half out of his wits. After a failed attempt at balancing himself on his perch, the screaming Kratt fell backwards, plummeting twenty feet until he landed on a convenient bush.
"You gotta admit; I'm getting better at treetop tag."said Aviva, sliding down to the ground with the help of a strong fig vine, joining him.
"Yup,"replied Chris with a chuckle, spitting out a few leaves. "You act more like a monkey everyday."
"Like a monkey?!"shrieked the inventor as though she were deeply offended. Chris sunk deeper into the shrubbery as his girlfriend stomped towards him with a glare. "Well, I never.. "– here Aviva's scowl melted into a smile– "heard such a sweet remark." As she helped him back on his feet, she planted a light peck on his cheek.
"Now how 'bout another round? You're it this time."said the inventor, playfully tapping Chris' nose. "Oho, you're on."replied the Kratt in green with an almost predatory smirk. "But don't think I'm gonna go easy on yo–"
"Hey look! It's Huge-O!"interjected Aviva, pointing behind him, earning the expected response as Chris immediately whirled around. "Where? I don't see–" but he turned back to her only to find the spot she occupied was now empty. Only loud rustling from above betrayed the fleeing girl's flight through the trees. "Base is back at the HQ!"he heard her yell.
"So that's how she wants to play it.." Almost instantaneously, the arboreal creature adventurer took to the trees, determined to catch his quarry. Unknown to Chris, a pair of golden eyes was watching his every move from its place in the undergrowth.
As the Kratt in green made his way up a good sized tree, he saw movement rustling among the leaves of a nearby branch. Slowly, silently, Chris advanced upon the tree's hidden occupant with an ever growing smirk. I got you now, Aviva.. On the count of three..
"One... two.. and.."
Before Chris could part the leafy veils, a reptilian head popped out of cover, uttering a loud shriek. "AGHHHHH!"
In his shock, the young Kratt struggled to maintain his balance, but it didn't take long before Chris found himself slipping off the branch. He instinctively grasped the branch to keep himself from falling to the understory thirty feet below.
"Amber!"he exclaimed with a chuckle. "You scared me!" The two month old Velociraptor warbled what resembled a guttural laugh.
"Real funny, girl.."murmured Chris with a mock glare, hauling himself back on the branch. Amber also provided assistance, grabbing the creature adventurer's shirt collar in an attempt to pull him up. "Thanks."said Chris once he was once again on his feet, kneeling down to pat the raptor's head that now stood two and a half feet tall.
"Wait." Chris looked back to his companion with a raised eyebrow. "How did you get up here? And what're you doing outside the H.Q?" As if to answer his first question, Amber sprang to the next tree limb before descending to a lower branch using her razor sharp claws to dig into the bark.
"I don't believe it! You're just as nimble in the treetops as you are on the ground! And those claws make the perfect grappling hooks. Maybe, just maybe, unlike adults, young raptors were able to climb trees, just like young T-devils and Komodo dragons." Then an idea hit him.
With a quick whistle, the Kratt in green was able to get the reptile's attention. "Hey, Amber. C'mere for a second." In that instant, she jumped onto Chris' respective branch as lightly as a feather, scarcely shaking the leaves. "How would you like to help me out?" As Amber nodded, the arboreal creature adventurer knelt down to her level, whispering into the young raptor's ear hole.
Meanwhile, Aviva raced along the tree roads, skillfully leaping from branch to branch, swinging vines to gain distance from her pursuer, determined to beat the climbing brother at his own game. Before long, the inventor was nearing the trail that led back to the glade where the Tortuga was parked.
Casting a glance back towards the direction she came, he inventor chuckled to herself. "Move over, Chris Kratt, there's a new treetop tag champion this time and she is one hundred percent pure Avi—" Aviva froze mid sentence upon seeing a flash of orange darting among the branches ahead of her. "What was that?" A moment of silence.
"Probably just a Proboscis monkey," With a shrug, the inventor continued her way along the tree roads until the Tortuga H.Q was just within her line of sight. Just as she prepared to make her leap for the balcony, a piercing shrieking sound was heard from behind, nearly scaring the young woman out of her skin. Instinctively she jumped onto a higher branch where she got a good look at her attacker. She giggled upon knowing what, or rather who it was.
"Oh! Hi, Amber! What are you doing here?"she greeted sweetly. Below her, the little dinosaur leaped vertically, snapping her jaws at the inventor, screeching in a threatening manner— or so she thought. It proved too much for Aviva as she laughed. "You are just too cute! Do you need help getting down?"
Suddenly a wild yell sounded from above, and Aviva had just enough time to jump down onto another tree limb, dodging Chris as he descended down from the forest canopy on a strong vine.
"Aww man! I missed!"exclaimed the young Kratt, landing on another branch opposite from his prey.
"Y'know, Cariño, sneak attacks don't work if you yell them out loud."said Aviva, crossing her arms with a smirk. "I'd love to hang around, but I still have a finish line to get to! Ciao!" But she didn't get too far when Amber sprang to the next branch, blocking the inventor's path.
"Hey! No fair!"she protested in mock anger.
"All's fair in love and war,"replied the Kratt in green with a smug grin, earning a deadpan stare from the inventor.
Aviva then smirked as she eyed both of her pursuers before suddenly exclaiming: "Then prepare to eat my bark!"
"Whoah!" Without warning, she fired a ripened mango straight at Chris, who instinctively ducked as the fruit splattered in a sticky mess just above his head. After that diversion, she was off!
"Get her!" But Chris had hardly needed to utter the command as Amber had already sprang into action like a bird dog flushing prey, taking off after Aviva. Chris followed not far behind, swinging among the vines. Try as Aviva might to evade her pursuers, the Velociraptor's agility and the young Kratt's arboreal expertise meant that they were soon closing in. But her competitive side refused to admit defeat. With fewer and fewer chances of escape, the inventor made her leap of faith as she launched herself out of the tree, grabbing an overhanging vine in midair as she flew for the balcony, missing her adversaries by a hair's length.
Time seemed to go in slow motion as the railing along the Tortuga balcony was just within Aviva's grasp, getting closer and closer when–
"Gotcha!" Next thing she knew, the young inventor felt a strong arm wrapped around her waist and turning to her right, she was met by Chris's gaze. His left arm held her securely while his right was hanging on to a durable vine. The arboreal Kratt also wore a triumphant smirk on his face.
"¡Té odió tanto, Christopher Fredrick Kra–mff !"she screamed furiously in her first language, squirming against his grip until he silenced her with a kiss on the lips. After a futile resistance, Aviva soon gave in, returning the kiss. The pair had barely parted when Amber's high pitched shrieks brought their wandering minds back to reality. Aviva's gray eyes widened upon seeing an oncoming obstacle straight ahead.
"Chris! Watch out for that–" Aviva's warning came too late as the Kratt in green collided headfirst against a stout tree trunk, causing him to relinquish his grasp on her, rendering him semiconscious before both fell to the forest floor below.
Thinking fast, Aviva grabbed hold of a nearby vine that allowed her to descend safely to the clearing.
"Not agaaaaaaaiiiiiin!"screamed the less fortunate creature adventurer as he fell, colliding with tree branch after tree branch, spitting out leaves accidentally collected in his mouth. One particularly robust limb struck him where the sun didn't shine, earning an agonized holler that frightened plumes of tropical birds that erupted out of the forest canopy. From her place among the branches, Amber quickly look away upon the moment of impact, wincing as though she felt Chris' pain.
"Oooh,"mumbled Aviva from her place on the ground, cringing as her clumsy boyfriend crashed into branch after branch until her gray eyes widened in a sudden realization as a shadow draped itself overhead, getting bigger and bigger. Thinking quickly, the inventor tossed a small box in the falling Kratt's anticipated landing spot. In seconds the box quickly materialized into an inflatable cushion intended to break Chris' fall. But the Kratt in green's momentum caused him to bounce right off the cushion upon impact, sending him flying like a green comet straight for Aviva!
"Incoming!"shouted Chris in warning. Unfortunately for Aviva, he was hurtling too fast to her to avoid.
"Uh-oh. Ahhh!" CRASH!
The dust settled to reveal the pair tangled in a dog pile, the Kratt in green lying on top of the inventor, both seeing stars go round. "Definitely not one of my better landings,"stated Chris groggily, shaking his head to be rid of the dizziness within.
"Get.. off.."mumbled Aviva.
"Say it.."said Chris in a singsong tone, looking down on her.
"Hmm. Okay, okay fine. You guys got me.."pouted Aviva, blowing a stray hair from her eyes.
"Don't feel too bad, Aviva."replied the young Kratt as he sat upright, while at the same time helping Aviva. "You're the first one to give me a decent workout,"
"What?! A decent workout?!"interjected the arboreal protege indignantly, punching the veteran's shoulder.
"Oww! Okay! Okay. All jokes aside, I haven't had this sort of challenge in some time."corrected the arboreal creature adventurer with a chuckle.
"Learned from the best."added Aviva with a wink.
In that moment, a certain young Velociraptor sprang out of the undergrowth, knocking Chris to the ground. The Kratt in green laughed uncontrollably as his 'attacker' playfully rubbed her snout against his face, all the while licking his ear. "No, stop! I'm ticklish!"
"Not to mention Amber had a lot of fun!"remarked the inventor, unable to control her own laughter as she wiped a few mirthful tears from her gray eyes.
"Amber!"
Upon hearing her name being called, the young dinosaur ceased her assault on Chris, wagging her tail excitedly. Chris and Aviva turned their attention to the source of the voice to see Martin emerging from the jungle's dense foliage. "There you are! Thank goodness,"
Almost before the Kratt in blue had reached them, Amber leaped into his arms, nuzzling and licking his face, earning a few laughs from Martin until he brought the baby raptor within his eye level.
"Don't you ever scare me like that again!"the older creature adventurer chided lightly. "You really had me worried when you weren't inside the Tortuga," he then added under his breath, "remind me to talk to Jimmy about leaving the windows open."
"Relax, MK. Amber was with us the whole time,"said Aviva, placing a hand upon the Kratt in blue's shoulder.
"Y'know, come to think of it, this just might be her first time outdoors."remarked Martin thoughtfully. "And it does get a little boring being inside the Tortuga all the time. No offense to Koki and Jimmy."
"And see? She's enjoying herself." At this point, the Kratt Brothers looked to where Aviva pointed and saw the little raptor chasing a colorful butterfly in circles, racing and rolling among the soft, green grass as she pursued her quarry, snapping her jaws.
"Quick, get the creaturepod!"whispered Chris. Martin quickly obliged, taking multiple snapshots of the Velociraptor in play.
"¡Awww, que linda!"cooed the inventor as she witnessed the scene unfold with puppy eyes. After several unsuccessful attempts, Amber decided that the winged insect was hardly worth her time and bolted back to where the trio were standing. The minute she stood before Chris, the little dinosaur chirped and warbled excitedly as she glanced up at the Kratt in green, her tail swishing side to side.
"Uhh Chris? I think Amber's trying to tell us something,"said the older Kratt. Chris chuckled as he answered: "I think she wants another round."
"Another round of what?"
"Treetop tag." This came from Aviva, who instantly made the connection.
"Huh?" The Kratt in blue raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"You should've seen her in action, bro!"interjected Chris with a wide grin. "She's a natural at treetop tag!"
"Really? Now that I definitely gotta see!"Martin declared, all smiles. Chris and Aviva exchanged sly glances as they slowly approached the older Kratt until–
"You're it!" The couple tapped the unsuspecting Martin before he realized he was bamboozled.
"Hey!"he called out upon recovering from his stupor.
"Run!" Aviva and Chris laughed as they wasted no time in hurrying over to the safety of the trees as Martin was in full pursuit. Amber had already scaled up the branches a convenient fig tree he moment she realized that the game was on. Once again that day, the jungle's usual chorus was joined by merry laughs and shouts as the three creature adventurers raced among the tangly labyrinth of leaves and branches, joined by the excited thrills and shrieks of their young raptorial friend.
**** SURPRISE! Sorry about the long wait; took me a while to come up with a solid idea for this chapter. Not to mention I kinda got caught up on some of my other stories. Anyway, Amber's had her very first outdoors experience with the WK team. Hope y'all enjoyed it!
P.S there's a huge surprise underway so stay tuned! (And no, I'm keeping my jaws shut..)
P.S.S please please please PLEASE be sure to check out me and LionKingAlex's Cadillacs and Wild Kratts! It's a great story we're working together on, and that dude's my best bud and an outstandingly talented author, and it would mean a whole bunch to me if he got just a bit more recognition..
Keep on creature adventuring! ;)
