Chapter 2 is up and ready for you guys. Please let me know what you think and as always, hope you enjoy.


No change.

Koki looked at the results of the system reboot on her screen, not liking what she was seeing. Any other time she would have been ecstatic to see all of the Tortuga's systems online and functioning like they were supposed to, but this was the one time she wished they malfunctioned.

Because that would mean it wasn't an error that made them lose the signals.

"Do the systems look okay?" Aviva asked, coming up behind her.

"I rebooted the entire system. The Tortuga's internal computers, the GPS, everything. Nothing's wrong," Koki said, tugging at her hair out of frustration. "First we lost Chris' creature pod signal, then tag number seven. It's like they just vanished off the map."

"It's not like the bros haven't broken their creature pods before..." Aviva said hesitantly, taking over the controls and pulling up the current GPS map. There were thirteen blinking dots on the screen in total, twelve tags for the gorillas and Martin's own creature pod. "But we lost a tag just afterwards too."

"If it was just Chris, I'd understand," Koki said. "But between losing the signal on the tag and Martin finding those animal traps, I'm kinda worried something might be going on."

"I'm starting to get worried too. If it was a person who removed the tag, then they must've been watching Chris beforehand..." Aviva commented. "And you said none of the villains are in the area?"

Koki shook her head. "I checked again just in case, and they haven't moved. Are you sure someone could have gotten in the park? I mean, it took us weeks of paperwork to get access."

"If they snuck in, they wouldn't have to go though the processing we did. The park is huge, I'm sure it could be easy to sneak in without the park rangers noticing."

If Chris and the gorillas went missing, they could be anywhere. Koki shuddered at the implication. "You really think someone... that someone might be behind this?"

Aviva studied the screen for another moment, before grabbing her violet creature power suit. "You stay here with Jimmy and keep an eye on things in the Tortuga," she said as she slipped in a peregrine falcon disk. "I'll go join Martin and figure out what's going on."

"You sure you're gonna be okay out there by yourself?" Koki questioned.

"I'll be fine," Aviva reassured her as she activated the creature power suit using a falcon feather from Chris' collection. "It'll only take me a few minutes to catch up to Martin with these powers. I'll let you know what we find out."

"Well you better bring Chris back with you," Koki attempted to joke, but her half smile fell as she watched Aviva leave the Tortuga.

Underneath it all she was concerned. Koki didn't like that Chris was somewhere out there (hopefully still in the same spot), unable to be reached, and she also didn't like that everyone was now so spread out. They already lost Chris and a tag as it was.

I'm sure we're all making a big deal out of nothing, but it's always better to be safe than sorry.

And Koki already knew Martin was not going to like this update. Better to tell him now than later. Pulling up his communication line, she dialed out to his creature pod. He answered on the second ring.

"Did you get Chris' signal back yet?" Martin asked before Koki got a chance to say something.

Koki shook her head. "I finished the system reboot and the GPS systems are working fine," she said, watching Martin's face fall from the news. "I still don't have a signal from his creature pod, and so far Chris hasn't tried to reach us."

"I'm only about a half mile away. I'll check it out and see what's going on. Don't worry, I'll find Chris."

Koki knew Martin enough that he wore his emotions on his sleeve; despite the smile on his face, she could see the lines of worry on his forehead. It wasn't the first time one of the bros went missing, but before it always involved their villains, and they were always together when it happened, so they normally at least had an idea what was going on.

Now it almost felt like they were dealing with a whole new territory.

"Be careful out there, and keep us posted on anything that happens," Koki reminded the elder brother. "Aviva's on her way to you now to help. It's gonna be dark soon, so find Chris and bring him back here."

Oh, was she was going to give Chris a new one for worrying them like this once she saw him.


Chris woke up to what seemed like the worst headache of his life. He felt like he had overslept, his brain groggy as his senses came back one by one.

The memories from before, however, hit him hard, as vivid flashes of being attacked woke him up the rest of the way. The dreaded hood they had put on his head earlier was thankfully gone, although the smell still lingered in his nose, leaving him still feeling slightly dizzy.

They had taken his jacket while he was unconscious, which left him with the little bit of warmth his shorts and undershirt provided. He assumed they must have taken his pocket knife as well, which left him limited on what he could use as potential escape.

Testing the ropes binding him, Chris found they cut off his circulation enough to be painful, and were too well tied to work off himself. His wrists and ankles were still bound like before, but now he had additional rope around his chest tying him directly to the chair. Whoever these people were, they did not mess around; they were an entirely new league above their usual villains they dealt with.

It was not the first time he had been caught in the middle of the villains while investigating animal disappearances, but at least the first time it had been by a robot controlled by Zach. These people seemed to be actual animal traffickers who knew exactly what they were doing, and that was scary.

As much as he hated to admit it, Chris started to feel afraid. He had been essentially kidnapped and was currently God knows where, with no way to contact the crew. Did they even know he was missing yet? How long had he been out for? Chris debated why they would even want to take him, although all the possible reasons only made him feel worse.

He only hoped Martin and the rest of the crew were safe. They could be walking into the same trap he did, and he had no way to warn them now.

Looking around at his surroundings, Chris noticed the stacks of several cages on the other side of the room, filled not only with the gorillas he had been searching for, but other equally as rare and endangered animals from the nearby surrounding areas.

So I was right... While Chris was happy to find where the gorillas went, his heart clenched in fear as he continued to wonder what was going to happen to them. It was obvious they were taken, most likely by Hector, but for what purpose he was not sure why.

His gaze shifted over to see Hector standing near him, his arms crossed with a distasteful expression on his face. Another man Chris did not recognize stood further back by the cages in a similar stance. Chris assumed he was the other person who helped kidnap him. Both of them were tall and burly, taller than himself by several inches, and most likely European. Hector had a more angular jaw and darker features than the other one.

"So you're the one who's been stealing the gorillas," Chris exclaimed, his anger growing. He had trusted this man, showed him the maps and data he had collected about their locations. Now it was most likely going to be used to steal the rest of them. "Well? What are you going to do with them? You better let those gorillas go, along with the rest of the animals too. They belong living free and in the wild, not locked up in cages!"

Hector's expression didn't change, and it made Chris start to feel unnerved at the way he was staring him down. What exactly did they want from him?

"You seem to know a lot about these gorillas, Mr. Kratt." Hector spoke as if Chris was an old friend, his tone casual, but there was an undertone of something that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

"I told you, I'm a research biologist," Chris said, his gaze following as Hector slowly trailed around him. "Who the hell are you, anyway? You're not a park ra-"

Hector suddenly lurched forward, roughly grabbing his hair into his fist and pulling his head back against the chair, his neck strained against the top rail. Chris let out a cry of surprise when his words were cut off.

"I believe I was asking the questions, Mr. Kratt. I'll start over," Hector said, finally letting go. Chris had to suppress the sigh of relief when he did. "You know a lot about these gorillas going missing. So you and I and Tomas-" Hector pointed his thumb towards the man standing behind him. "-are going to have a little talk about who you are working for and how you found out."

What was this guy trying to get out of him? "I don't work for anyone," Chris answered. He was now hesitant to remind them that he was actually a part of the Wild Kratts, not wanting to bring his brother and friends into this and potentially put them in danger as well. "All I was doing is researching the gorillas for-"

Chris was cut off yet again, this time by a heavy punch to the face. His cheek throbbed as he worried a loose tooth with his tongue.

"It's the truth! I was just counting the gorillas to keep track of them for the park, I wasn't hired by anyone," Chris repeated, flinching when Hector's hand shifted towards him.

"I will tell you one thing, Mr. Kratt. We run a very tight business here, and I do not let spies compromise it," Hector threatened as he grabbed Chris tightly by the chin. "Your cooperation will determine whether you die quick with a bullet between your eyes-" he jabbed a rough finger to his forehead. "Or you'll be begging to die to if you refuse to talk. So do not get your hopes up that you will walk out of here alive.

"Now I don't have a lot of patience, and I don't like to keep repeating myself. Let's do this the easy way, hmm? I'll ask you again, who are you working for?"


Martin, and later Aviva when she joined him, had spent a good several hours in the forest looking for Chris with no luck. When he had first gotten there his brother was no where to be seen, which only made him even more distressed. And as the day wore on, the feeling only got worse.

It had gotten well past dark at that point, even though that hadn't stopped Martin when he put on his night goggles. He had searched a good few mile radius from the original coordinates of the creature pod's last signal, but they had not even found so much as a clue.

Koki and Jimmy had checked in with them several times throughout the evening, although neither group had any updates. Good news was that no additional tags were lost, but that came with the bad news that there was still a missing gorilla and Kratt brother.

"Chris!" Martin yelled, cupping his hands around his mouth. He was starting to lose his voice after calling for his brother for the past several hours, but that was the least of his concerns. "Chris, where are you brother? Chris!"

Why'd you have to go and pick green, bro?

His eyes scanned the upper layers of the trees as he climbed up a few branches for what seemed the tenth time that night, hoping to catch a glimpse or something of Chris. Martin tried to think like his brother and retrace what his steps might have been, but that was difficult to do when he didn't know what happened to him in the first place.

"Christopher!" Martin yelled again, trying with his brother's full name in one last desperate effort to get his attention, but his only response was startled birds and the remaining troop of gorillas being woken up. "CHRIS!"

Nothing. Martin felt a lump in his throat as he slid down from the tree and leaned against the trunk, checking his creature pod to see if Koki had sent him anything since the last time they checked in. Nothing there either. Chris was simply gone, and they had nothing to go on.

"Martin, over here!"

Martin stood back up and turned around to see Aviva several yards away reach down and pick up something small, green, and awfully familiar. Oh no. Is that...? Running up next to her, the blond pulled off his goggles and gently took the object from her and gazed at it with trembling hands.

It was Chris' crushed creature pod.

"Chris..."

Martin pressed his lips together, trying not to cry as he stared at his cascaded reflection in the cracked screen. He was starting to feel like a failure, first leaving Chris by himself and letting him get into this situation to begin with, and now not being able to find him.

"It was all I could find," Aviva whispered. "I couldn't find his bag or the other buzz bike Chris took out here. I found this by accident in a pile of leaves."

Martin wasn't sure if he wanted to know why it was broken, or why it was practically hidden away. All he wanted to know was where Chris was, and that he and the missing gorillas were safe. "It's been five hours, Aviva," he said quietly, his hand tightening against the creature pod as if afraid that would disappear too. "We're three miles away from Chris' last signal."

What was his creature pod even doing so far away? Chris knew better than to wander away if he lost contact with the crew. He would have headed back to the Tortuga, not three miles in the other direction.

"Don't worry, Martin," Aviva said, giving the man a gentle hug. His mind barely registered it. "I can access the creature pod's core data when we get back to the Tortuga. That might give us some more clues as to what happened before it broke." Aviva released the hug, but kept her hands firm on each shoulder. "We'll find him."

"What if Chris is hurt, or in trouble, or-" Martin swallowed as he ran a nervous hand through his hair, each scenario playing through his mind. "And Fizz's missing too. What if someone took them, Aviva?"

Martin debated the reasons why someone would want to kidnap Chris, his stomach tightening with worry.

"Chris is a creature adventurer, he knows how to take care of himself. I'm sure he'll try and find a way to contact us," Aviva reassured him.

He can't if he's not able to, Martin thought to himself, worry starting to seep through.

"But it's getting too dark to see, and the goggles won't last much longer. We should head back and let Jimmy and Koki know what we found."

Martin's eyes went wide at the suggestion. "We can't just leave," he protested, standing in front of Aviva when she started to move towards the buzz bike. "You go back to the Tortuga, I'll stay out here and keep looking."

"If you don't take a break and get some rest, you're gonna make yourself sick. Then you won't be able to keep looking at all," Aviva said softly, gently nudging Martin's shoulder towards the buzz bike. "Jimmy's flycam has enough charge to last over twelve hours. We can take turns controlling it overnight."

Pocketing Chris' creature pod, Martin silently climbed into the passenger side of the buzz bike, giving one last look through the forest for any sign of his brother.