Chapter 1:

The sun shone brightly in the afternoon sky, he walked through the tall grass a smile on his face as he took in the beautiful sights of the African Savannah. He held a hand up to shield his blue eyes from the bright sunlight as he looked for his best friend and younger brother. Still not seeing him, he ran a hand through his short, blond hair as he began to walk again. He was curious where his brother was, he was supposed to meet him a half hour ago so they could go exploring, but he never showed. He walked back to camp; as soon as he arrived he was met by his brother who kept looking behind him.

"Hey bro, forget something?" He asked smiling. "Like meeting up with me?"

"Uh, yeah. I'm really sorry bro!" His brother answered running a hand through his short, brown hair nervously. "We should go…now!"

"What? I just get back, and you want to leave?" He asked.

"Uh, yeah! We've still got plenty of daylight left!" His brother answered turning his brown eyes to the sky.

"Alright, what's going on?" He asked crossing his arms.

"Okay, okay…she found out about the Buzz Bikes!" His brother admitted.

"You're kidding right?"

"MARTIN AND CHRIS KRATT WHERE ARE YOU?" An angry female voice yelled.

"Nope!" Chris answered.

"You know Chris, you're right! Why waste this beautiful day inside? Come on, we've got exploring to do!" Martin said as they quickly left, running in the opposite direction of camp.

Meanwhile:

He stood outside his jet looking at the landscape before him, a look of disgust on his face as he ran a hand through his short, black hair. He hated nature; unless he could somehow use it for his own purposes! Using and manipulating people and things were two things he enjoyed; truthfully he was the best at both! He was an egotistical, self-centered, evil man who only cared about three things; himself, money, and power! He was an extremely rich and powerful man who had made it all by using people, not caring what he had to do, or who he had to destroy to get it! Of course to do that he had used his genius mind, but also the strength of his right hand thug. He had come to this oversized sandbox to search for a rare animal…a white lion! He had done his research and knew that a team of tree huggers had also come to the Savannah to study the lion. So, he decided to use them to find his lion for him, of course he knew they wouldn't just agree to help, he'd have to persuade them somehow. His thoughts were interrupted by his name being called from behind him, he turned around annoyed.

"What is it now?" He demanded annoyance in his green eyes.

"Sir, we've located the tree hugger's ship." The man answered his voice thick with a British accent.

"Good, good Carter! That's excellent news!" He said smiling.

"We're ready to go on your order Mr. Stone." Carter said smiling.

"You leave at daybreak tomorrow!" Stone said as Carter nodded. "Come on let's go over the plans again, I don't want any mistakes!" Stone said as they went inside the jet.

Meanwhile:

She ran across the Savannah a smile on her face that reached her blue eyes, her long, blond hair flying behind her. She raced towards her camp where her best friend and younger sister waited for her return. Suddenly movement out of the corner of her eye caused her to turn her head to the right. The movement was a giraffe coming out of the trees; her distraction though caused her to run into her sister knocking them both to the ground. She got up brushing the dirt off herself as she turned to help her sister up.

"Again! Really Emily!" Her sister said annoyed as she brushed the dirt off herself, before moving her long, brown hair out of her brown eyes. "What was it this time Em's?"

"Giraffe! Sorry Lainey, I didn't…"

"I know, you never do!" Lainey said smiling cutting her sister off. "Why were you running anyway?"

"Running? Oh yeah, I almost forgot! I found a pride of lions, they might be the ones were looking for!" Emily answered smiling.

"Really? That's awesome, we'll check it out after lunch!"

"Lane's, do you think we'll find the white lion?" Emily asked as they finished getting lunch ready. "I mean no one has ever been able find him before."

"You know Em, we've spent a lot of time researching and preparing for this. We may not be well known or very experienced, but I really believe we will find it, then everyone will know the name's Emily and Lainey Sutton!" Lainey answered smiling.

"You're right Lane, we're going to find that lion!" Emily agreed smiling.

"Stew's done, let's eat and you can tell me all about the pride." Lainey said serving their lunch before they sat down to eat.

The Next Day:

Clouds hung low in the sky, swollen with rain. Chris put his binoculars away, and turned to Martin who was looking in the opposite direction.

"I think we lost them bro." Chris said sighing frustrated.

"Yeah, I think you're right." Martin agreed putting his binoculars away too. "Maybe we should try back at the watering hole?" He suggested as they stood.

"Or we could try going back to where we first found them? Maybe they doubled back?"

"Maybe. Come on, I want to find them before the rain comes. You drive I'll keep look out this time." Martin said.

Twenty minutes later they were on their way back to the place they first saw the pride when Martin using the binoculars spotted something strange.

"Something's going on over there by those trees." Martin alerted Chris.

"What is it?" Chris asked stopping the Createrra.

"I don't know, looks like there's people over there." Martin answered. "It's hard to tell from here, but…crap! They have cages! Poachers!"

"Let's go!" Chris said angrily as he started the Createrra and drove to where the men were.

They pulled up and got out, they then walked towards the men. One of the men pointed them out to the others and the tallest man with a shaved head, huge muscles and many tattoos turned to face them smiling as he spoke.

"There a problem mates?" The man asked.

"Yeah, actually there is!" Martin answered angrily.

"Oh?" The man asked crossing his arms still smiling. "What's the problem?"

"Our problem is with people like you!" Chris answered angrily.

"People like us?" The guy said as he looked at his men all of them laughing, he held his hands up in front of his men as he continued. "What kind of people is that mate?"

"Poachers!" Martin answered.

"Poachers?" The man repeated as they acted shocked. "We aren't poachers!"

"Really? I guess those cages are just part of the landscape huh?" Chris asked.

"Alright, you caught us! So, what? You two tree huggers going to stop us?" The man asked smiling.

"Yep!" Martin said smiling.

"Get them!" The man ordered his five men.

The fight began, it went back and forth, none of the six men thought the brothers were as tough as they were. After a few minutes it looked like the brothers would win, until the man got involved attacking Chris first before going after Martin. The brothers managed to get a few hits on the man, but soon he had knocked both brothers down before he kicked each of them twice in the ribs knocking them onto their backs. Once both were down he crouched between them and smiling he grabbed their faces forcing them to look at him.

"Consider that your one and only warning mates! You get in Mr. Stone's way again, I will finish you!" He said as he let them go, patting their cheeks before he stood and walked back to the truck. "Let's go boys, Stone's waiting! See ya round Wild Ratts!"

Meanwhile:

Emily sat outside on a rock lost in thought, she was thinking about the video call the sisters had received 10 minutes earlier. The call had been from a strange man named Thomas Stone. He had told them he had come to the Savannah to find the white lion, he was a scientist and wanted to study it, but needed help. Unsure what they could do for him the sisters asked, and were told that even though he was a scientist he needed someone who knew about animals to find it for him. He also mentioned that another team, the Wild Kratts were after the lion too, and that was very bad for the animal. Hearing that the sisters agreed to meet with him at his jet to discuss everything further, he thanked them, gave them his location and ended the call. After the call ended the sisters talked about the situation, both had an uneasy feeling about the whole thing, but the lion needed help and they wouldn't turn their backs on any animal in need. Lainey came outside and sat beside her sister, neither spoke, suddenly Emily's watch beeped.

"It's time to go meet Mr. Stone." Emily said sighing as she turned her alarm off and stood. "Do you have the directions?"

"Right here." Lainey said holding up a piece of paper. "Em, I have a bad feeling about this!" She said as she stood too.

"I do too, but what if it's true? We need to at least hear him out, then we'll decide whether or not to help okay?" Emily suggested.

"Okay, there's no harm in talking." Lainey agreed.

"Right, come on let's go. You drive." Emily said as they headed for their jeep.

With Stone:

After Carter left, Stone sat at his computer re-reading the info on the tree huggers. He knew the brothers would cause problems for him and his men, so he needed to think of a way to get them to help him instead…but how? As he thought he scanned the area, suddenly something caught his eye on the radar, something not far from his location. Curious he sent one of his men to the location to check it out, minutes later the man sent him footage of two, young girls at their camp. He watched the girls, and became more curious when he learned they were after the white lion too. He called his man back, he then took one of the pictures of the girls and ran it through his computer to find out who they were. Finally 15 minutes later the computer finally came back with a match; their names Emily and Lainey Sutton…great, another set of tree hugging siblings! He wasn't worried they'd stop him, no he was worried they'd cause him more trouble along the way. After learning all he could about the sisters, he discovered they were not only unknown, but also inexperienced compared to the Wild Bratts crew. He decided to use their inexperience against them, he'd convince them he was the good guy and put tree hugger against tree hugger, making the Wild Kratts into the bad guys!

He called the sisters using their computers, and after talking for a few minutes he was convincing enough for the sisters to agree to come talk in person in an hour. He gave them the directions before ending the call, he then got right to work making fake evidence to show the sisters, he needed to be quick, but he also needed to be thorough! He was just finishing when Carter and his men returned, Carter joined him in the control room.

"The tree huggers ambushed us sir!" Carter said angrily as he checked his black eye in the mirror.

"I can see that." Stone said smiling. "Go get yourself cleaned up, our company will be here soon."

"Company?" Carter asked confused.

"That's right! You see, while you were gone I discovered there's another set of tree hugging siblings…sisters actually, here in the Savannah!" Stone said smiling.

"What? Another set? Great, as if one wasn't bad enough!" Carter said angrily.

"Oh Carter, don't sound so bitter! You see, we're going to use them to distract the brothers Kratt, while we capture my lion!" Stone explained smiling. "Now, go get cleaned up, and when they arrive just follow my lead!"

"Yes sir!" Carter said as he left the room hoping Stone knew what he was doing.

Later:

After their run-in with the mystery thugs, the brothers returned to the Tortuga. They found Aviva, Koki and Jimmy in the control room, Aviva saw them first she became concerned seeing them.

"Martin, Chris what happened?"

"We ran into some poachers!" Chris said angrily as they helped the brothers sit.

"Poachers? Did you catch them?" Jimmy asked.

"No, after we fought them they took off!" Martin answered as Aviva and Koki checked their injuries. "We did get their bosses name though."

"It's Stone." Chris added.

"That's it? Just his last name?" Koki asked as she finished checking Chris.

"That's it! They weren't really in a sharing kind of mood!" Martin said annoyed.

"Okay, you two go get cleaned up, while we try and see if we can find anything on Stone!" Aviva said.

A half hour later the five friends sat around the table going over the information they had on Stone, which wasn't much. The info told them he was a very, very rich and powerful man, making most of his fortune from real estate. He was also known for his brilliant mind, and quick, violent temper. He has many men working for him, but his right hand man was a large, equally violent tempered man named Carter. Chris sighed as he looked at a picture of Stone and Carter, they didn't know why they were here in the Savannah; none of the info said anything about him being interested in any kind of animals…ever! Frustrated Chris got up and went to the window looking outside, something felt wrong to him! Maybe Stone was after the white lion…but that didn't make any sense though, why would a businessman be after a lion?

"None of this makes any sense!" Martin said standing. "Why would a businessman come to the Savannah?"

"Maybe he's on vacation?" Jimmy suggested.

"No, Martin and I caught Carter poaching remember?" Chris reminded them as he turned to face them. "Stone's up to something, but what?"

"How are we going to figure it out? It's not like he's had previous situations with animals! We have no idea what he likes or how he works!" Aviva said frustrated.

"This is great! Stone's here to capture an animal, and we have no idea how to stop him because we know nothing about him! How do we fight a guy we know nothing about?"

"Don't go into panic mode yet MK!" Aviva said trying to calm Martin down. "He's obviously inexperienced, which is good for us! He'll make mistakes and we'll be able to stop him easier!"

"You're right Aviva! Koki, can you do a scan of the area to find Stone's jet please?"

"You got it MK!" Koki said going to her computer.

"Alright, let's think…what kind of animal would Stone be interested in? He's a rich and powerful man, so we can guess he'd be interested in animals that are similar to him that way!" Chris said.

"There's lots of powerful animals in the Savannah! How are we going to figure out what one he's after?" Jimmy asked.

"I think I know which one it is!" Martin said looking at all of them, before locking eyes with Chris.

"What?" Koki asked.

"The white lion!" The brothers said together.

TBC…