Choices:

By: Taralynn Wakelin

The tall, skinny man with salt and pepper hair paced the length of the large room he was in waiting for one of his three computer's to finish its work and give him the result's he had been waiting for. The room was a plain white, devoid of any color on any of the wall's, it resembled a laboratory with its many test tube's full of unknown liquid's and other scientific tool's like microscope's and syringes and other equipment. He stopped pacing when he heard the computer beep signalling the results were finally finished. He read the screen and with each word, his smile grew wider until he began to laugh loudly.

"FINALLY!" He yelled between laughs. "Finally, I have the formula figured out!" He said as he walked over to a table that held a large jar that contained a pink liquid. He picked up a syringe and filled it with the liquid before going over to a cage in the corner of the room. "Hello, my little friend!" He said smiling at the chimpanzee sitting in the darkest corner not making a sound it never moved, it just starred blankly at the man. "I finally have the formula perfected thanks to you! Now I can get my revenge and show those fool's who laughed at me that I' am truly a genius!"

An hour later, he was aboard his jet he scanned the computer screen that took up most of the wall looking for any sign of the people he was tracking. Finally he spotted something on his screen and smiled he knew it was them, so he got the coordinate's and flew towards them. He landed in a clearing far enough away he wouldn't be spotted, but close enough he could send a remote camera to spy on them without anyone knowing he was there. He sent his camera and within a half hour the computer screen beeped and came to life with image's of five laughing people and he glared at them as he spoke to the screen.

"Enjoy yourselves now! Soon I will have my revenge and no one will stop me…not even you five!" He said as he began to laugh before he went over to one of the cabinets, opened it taking out a small, black briefcase, sat the case on the table, and opened it. He brushed his hands over the vials as he thought of how he would finally show everyone who had ever laughed at him and called him crazy that he truly was a genius and he'd have the last laugh.

Meanwhile:

The sun finished setting as the blond haired, blue eyed Martin Kratt made his way outside to join his friend's at their campfire, he sighed as he sat down next to the pretty, dark skinned woman and smiled as she handed him a cup of hot chocolate. As he sat there surrounded by his friend's, he thought back to their adventure's they had had that day involving a pride of lion's that they had been observing for two day's now. They had gotten closer to the pride, than they had ever gotten before and observed how they interacted with each other and even though he had been interacting with animal's his entire life seeing the way animal's acted still brought him the same excitement it did the first time. He smiled as he looked around at the other's and his blue eye's met the brown eye's of the one person who felt the same as he did about animal's, his younger brother Chris. They sat around the campfire and began laughing at a story their friend Jimmy was telling, when Martin got up and walked away from the small group, as he looked out across the Savannah he smiled. He never noticed his brother join him until he felt a hand squeeze his shoulder gently, he turned smiling to see him and Chris spoke quietly.

"You okay bro?"

"Me? I'm fine Chris, just tired I guess." Martin said sighing looking away from him.

"You guess?" Chris asked concerned, normally his older brother was full of endless energy and excitement he wasn't used to seeing him so quiet. "What's going on?"

"Nothing's wrong Chris really!" Martin said forcing a smile as he looked at his brother who knew he was lying, sometimes it really sucked that they knew each other so well. "Fine, I'm just tired okay? Is that a better answer?" Martin said sighing.

"Tired? That's it?" Chris questioned unsure.

"Yes, now can we just enjoy the Savannah at night please?" Martin asked as he nudged Chris gently. Neither of the brother's noticed a small robot equipped with a camera watching and listening to their conversation, waiting patiently to give their operator the moment they had been waiting for…the moment when one of them would be alone.

Later That Night:

He tossed and turned in his hammock unable to get to sleep, he was exhausted mentally and physically, but he couldn't get his mind to shut off. He decided to get up and go for a walk outside in the dark; maybe a little fresh air would help him. He threw his clothes on over his t-shirt and boxers and after his shoes were on he quietly tiptoed out of the room he shared with his brother. After getting out of his room undetected, he tried to do it again as to not disturb his sleeping crew member's Aviva, Koki, and Jimmy on his way out. Finally making it outside the Tortuga, he took a deep breath as he began to walk towards the spot where the campfire was, its flame's long since been extinguished, he didn't mind it wasn't cool out, and his blue jacket kept him warm enough. He sat on one of the log's that encircled the fire and ran his hand's over his face, he couldn't stop his mind from wondering when the next attack on an animal would happen and which of the team's three enemies it would be who attacked. It had been like this for a month now, but he had managed to keep it from the other's especially Chris knowing he would worry, so Martin had to fake being his usually happy and upbeat self not wanting them to worry. He heard a noise behind him and turned in time to see a strange looking man standing there a hovering camera beside him. He didn't have a chance to say or do anything before he was hit across the side of his head with a large rock, he fell onto the ground on his stomach, pain exploded throughout his whole body, his vision growing dark around the edge's as he tried to speak. He passed out before he could even open his mouth; the man picked his lifeless body up and took him back to the large jet waiting their arrival.

Chris tossed and turned in his hammock in the grips of a nightmare of his brother being hurt and he was unable to stop the unknown attacker or help his brother. He sat up stifling a scream that tried to escape, he was covered in a thin sheen of sweat, he rubbed his hands shakily over his face and then up through his short, brown hair before he sighed. Realizing it was nothing more than a nightmare he sat there for a few minute's trying to calm himself down. He decided as childish as it was the only way he would be able to calm down was to actually see that Martin was in fact safe and unharmed asleep in his hammock. He got up and quietly made his way over to his brother's hammock, but stopped seeing it empty! He fought the panic that wanted to overtake him as he remembered his nightmare and forced himself to remain calm; he probably just went outside for a walk? So, Chris threw his pants on over his boxers, he put his shoe's on before grabbing his green shirt and put it on as he made his way out into the dark hallway. He walked through the quiet ship, listening for any noise that would tell him where his brother was, not hearing anything inside he made his way outside, the sun was slowly rising making the outside bright enough now he could see everything clearly. He wandered around looking for Martin, but there was no sign of him anywhere and something just didn't feel right to him, he didn't know what it was and he felt his panic clawing at his heart as he began calling for his brother. Not getting any response, he went to go back inside to get his Creature Pod, to try contacting his brother when he noticed something over by the fire. He was positive it hadn't been there earlier that evening and he rushed over to it and knelt, it was a small puddle of some kind the sand mixing with it at first made it impossible to tell what it was. He put his finger in it and rubbed them together before he brought his hand closer to his face, and froze there was no mistaking what it was…it was blood! More importantly, it was his brother's blood! He stood and went to go inside when the door's opened and Aviva, Koki, and Jimmy having been awakened by Chris' call's for Martin came out to see what was wrong, he spoke.

"Martin's gone!"

"What? Where did he go?" Koki asked all of them confused.

"I don't know! I woke up and he wasn't in bed, so I came looking for him, but found this instead!" Chris said upset as he showed them the puddle.

"Is…is that blood?" Jimmy asked his eye's wide with fear.

"It's Martin's!" Chris answered his voice shaking.

"How are you so sure? It could be from an injured animal?" Aviva said not wanting to believe it came from Martin. "Martin could have gone after the animal to help it?"

"There's only one way to find out…we test it!" Chris said going over to the puddle, Aviva rushed inside and grabbed a small bottle to put the sample in before she came back out and handed it to Chris who took a sample and put it in the bottle before they all went back inside. Once inside Aviva took the sample from him before he went to their room and grabbed Martin's toothbrush and gave it to Aviva. She took the sample and toothbrush began to do the DNA test, she worked on it for a half hour, Chris paced while the others sat nervously waiting for the result's no one spoke as they waited.

"How much longer Aviva?" Chris asked as he passed her again chewing on his nails.

"I told you 10 minute's ago, it's not a simple DNA test anymore Chris the sand has compromised it. I'm trying the best I can!" Aviva answered frustrated, but she knew Chris was just scared so she tried to be patient with him, but it was getting harder.

"I know you're nervous Chris we all are, but…" The sound of the computer cut Koki off.

"Well?" Chris asked as everyone gathered behind her as she read the results.

"It's definitely Martin's!" Aviva said sadly looking directly at Chris.

"I knew it! Something happened and I need to find out what!" He said as he turned to leave the room, Aviva jumped up out of her chair and grabbed his arm stopping him.

"Chris, wait!" She called.

"What?"

"You can't just run off like that!"

"Why not? My brother is out there somewhere hurt and you won't let me go find him!"

"Chris it's too dangerous! We have no idea what happened or why? You could get hurt too! We need to think this through first please?" Aviva said hoping he'd listen.

"CK, she's right we need to be smart about this or you could end up hurt like Martin and then what?" Koki added gently.

"Fine! What do we do first?" Chris sighed finally giving in.

With Martin:

His head throbbed as he slowly came to; he kept his eye's closed trying to make the pain lessen. He couldn't remember what happened, the last thing he remembered was going outside, after that it was all a blank, and the more he tried to force himself to remember the more his head pounded. He gave up when he felt his stomach flip, the pain making him nauseous, he rolled his head gently to the side and opened his eye's, but quickly regretted it when the bright light made his head hurt more! He quickly squeezed his eye's shut and went to cover his face with his hand's, but his heart beat wildly with fear when he realized he couldn't move his arms. He lifted his head and looked down at his wrist's and saw they were held down by leather strap's, he began pulling on them trying to free himself. He pulled as hard as he could, but nothing worked the struggling only made the straps tighter, he gave up and laid his head down in frustration a little too hard.

"Not my greatest idea!" He said to himself as he closed his eye's his head pounding.

"Finally gave up did you Mr. Kratt?" A voice he didn't know came from beside him.

"Who are you? Why am I here?" Martin demanded angrily despite his headache.

"Now, now no need to get angry Martin! First off my name is Thomas Kincaid, and you are going to help me my young friend!"

"Help you? Forget it! You kidnap me, then you strap me to a table and you think I'm going to help you? You're a special kind of crazy aren't you?" Martin said angry.

"You have no choice in this matter Martin, haven't you figured that out already?"

"What do you want?" Martin said as he struggled against his restraints again.

"Revenge!" Thomas said simply, as he went to a table where a black briefcase sat.

"For what?" Martin asked confused his eye's never leaving Thomas.

"You are going to help me prove to the world that I' am a genius!" Thomas said smiling as he picked up a vial of pink liquid, and a syringe. "I hope you're not afraid of needles?" Thomas said laughing a bit, as he filled the syringe with the liquid.

"What…what is that?" Martin asked nervously as he watched Thomas come towards him with the syringe he fought harder to get free. "Get away from me you psycho!"

"Now hold still Martin, this will only hurt for a second!" Thomas said smiling as he held Martin's arm down as he stuck the needle in his arm injecting all of the liquid into him. "Goodnight Martin, sleep well! When you wake up the fun will begin!" Thomas said as Martin fell asleep, once he was out Thomas called two of his men to take him to another room, and stitch up his wound while he made a call. As soon as Martin was gone Thomas stood in front of his computer and after pushing a series of button's he waited as the screen came to life with the image's of four face's Martin knew all too well, he smiled at them as he spoke.

"Thank you all for taking my call!" Thomas said as he stood with his hands behind his back. "I' am sure all of you know each other?"

"Yeah, yeah we know each other! We don't however know who you are?"

"Allow me to introduce myself! Mr. Zach Varmitech, Miss. Donita Donata, Dabio, and Mr. Gaston Gourmand, my name is Thomas Kincaid! I would like to invite all of you to come visit my humble jet and allow me to show you how I plan to once and for all destroy those pesky vermin the Wild Kratt's!"

"How do you propose to do that Mr. Kincaid? We all have tried and failed!" Donita said.

"Ah, but I have a secret weapon that will help me do it!" Thomas said smiling.

"Fine! We'll be there in two hour's, just send us the coordinate's and you better not disappoint us Kincaid or you will be sorry!" Zach said as the call ended.

"Oh, don't worry, Mr. Varmitech this plan will not fail!" Thomas said smiling as he pushed a button and the screen came to life with the image of a sleeping Martin. "I think it's time for our friend to wake! Men! Go and see if our guest of honour is awake and bring him here if he is!" Thomas yelled as two of his men went to get Martin.

"Here he is Mr. Kincaid!" One of the men said as they returned with Martin.

"Good! Now leave us we have to get ready for our guest's!" Thomas said as the men left them alone. "Hello again Martin! Do you remember me?"

"No…should I?" Martin asked starring at Thomas.

"My name is Thomas Kincaid! Martin from now on you will do exactly as I say without question or hesitation do we understand?"

"Yes, Mr. Kincaid!" Martin said.

"Good, good, that's very good Martin!" Thomas said smiling as he turned back to his computer and pushed a button causing pictures of Chris, Aviva, Koki, and Jimmy to appear on the screen. "Martin, you see those four people on the screen?"

"Yes, Mr. Kincaid!" Martin answered with no emotion in his voice.

"Those four people are my enemies, and the enemies of our four friend's coming here soon. Do you know what that make's them to you?"

"My enemies too!" Martin answered.

"Correct! These four vermin have been interfering with our plan's to use stupid animals however, we want too! That is unacceptable, isn't it Martin?"

"Yes, Mr. Kincaid it is!"

"Now Martin, what is it one does to vermin?"

"You exterminate it! You want me to exterminate these four?" Martin asked.

"In due time, first you get rid of this one!" Thomas said pointing at Chris. "He is their leader and if you dispose of him, you can dispose of the other's later! He is your primary target Martin, his name is Chris Kratt and you need to get rid of him for good!"

"Yes sir, Mr. Kincaid! Destroy Chris Kratt!" Martin said smiling evilly.

"Very good Martin!" Thomas said smiling at him as he patted his back. "Now come along we have to get ready for our guest's!" Thomas said as he left the room followed by Martin.

Back With Chris:

After agreeing with the other's to wait and discuss things and come up with a plan, Chris found himself unable to pay attention to the conversation. He stood by the window starring out it as horrible image's, and thought's of what happened to Martin played in his head like some horror movie stuck on repeat. He felt trapped, he knew his brother was hurt and instead of looking for him, he was stuck in the Tortuga talking. He needed to get out of the ship and begin to search and find Martin before dark, or his brother might not make it. The only problem; how was he going to get out without the other's trying to stop him? He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard his name being called by Jimmy, he turned and joined them at the table and asked him to repeat what he had said.

"Sorry JZ I wasn't listening what did you say?" Chris asked sighing.

"I asked you if Martin had his Creature Pod with him?"

"No, I checked before Aviva ran the DNA test." Chris answered.

"Okay, so we have no way of calling him, or tracking him using his GPS! What do we do now?" Koki asked.

"Guy's, I'm going to go and see if Martin took his Creature suit with him."

"Why would he take his suit, but not his pod?" Jimmy asked confused.

"Martin could have seen an animal and went after it not remembering to take his pod with him?" Chris said hoping they'd buy his excuse so he could make his break.

"Chris is right! Martin has forgotten it in the past; you know how forgetful he can be when he's chasing animals!" Aviva spoke up.

"I'll be back in a few minute's." Chris said quickly leaving thankful they believed his story, he already knew Martin didn't take his suit or pod. So he stopped long enough to put his suit on and then grabbed Martin's, and both Creature Pod's before he left the Tortuga quietly.

Once outside he took off running in the direction, he hoped would lead him to Martin, or at the very least give him some clue that he had even been that way. He had no idea how long he had run before he needed to stop and rest, so he used this time to look around and see if there were trace's of Martin left behind, but he saw nothing and he sat on a rock. He had no idea where Martin was it was as if he had disappeared completely and Chris was terrified they'd never find him. Pushing those thought's into the back of his mind he got up and continued his search calling out to him, praying he'd answer, but the only reply was his echo and occasional animal call. After being gone an hour, his Creature Pod beeped alerting him to an incoming call, he stopped running and sighed before answering.

"Chris! Where are you?" Aviva demanded angrily.

"I…I'm looking for Martin!" Chris answered.

"We know that! What happened to our plan?"

"You mean your plan?" Chris corrected.

"CK, you agreed to dis…" Chris cut her off.

"Look, Aviva! Martin is my brother, he's out here somewhere hurt and sitting around talking won't bring him home!" Chris said upset.

"Chris, I understand you're worried about Martin…we all are! Chris we all trust you and Martin with our lives, and we hope you guy's feel the same about us?"

"Aviva you know we do!" Chris answered.

"Then we need to work together to find him please?" Aviva said gently.

"Aviva I need to find him! I know something's wrong with him I can feel it!"

"Okay CK, what do you want to do?"

"I'm going to keep looking; I'll let you know if I find something!" Chris said.

"What should we do?"

"See if any of the usual suspect's are around and you should probably check in on the animal's we've already tagged, maybe something happened to one of them?"

"We're on it CK! Be careful okay?" Aviva said as she ended the call.

After ending the call Chris looked around him, hoping something…anything would stand out and he'd be able to find Martin before it was too late!

Back With Martin:

An hour after Martin woke he stood looking at the picture's of Chris and the other's while Thomas was busy making sure everything was ready for their guest's who were arriving in a few minute's. Martin had been told by Thomas that these four were the enemy, and whatever he said was the truth as far as Martin could tell, Thomas had told him everything about those do-gooder's! When Martin had noticed the large cut on his head, he asked Thomas about it and he told him Chris had done it to him, and that Thomas had been the one to stitch him up! He starred at the picture, his fist's clenched at his side's he knew he had to destroy Chris, Thomas had told him too and whatever Thomas said to do he had no choice, but to do it! He had to do what Thomas told him to, it was like he couldn't say no, but that didn't stop his instinct's from telling him something didn't feel right about any of this! His thought's were interrupted when Thomas came into the room, and spoke smiling letting him know their guest's had arrived.

"There you are Martin! Our guest's just landed; I want to surprise them with you! Wait in the other room until I give you the signal, it will be the word's my secret weapon! Do you understand?"

"Yes, Mr. Kincaid!" Martin answered smiling.

"Good, now go wait for the signal." Thomas said as Martin left the room.

"Mr. Kincaid, here are your visitor's!" One of Thomas' men said as he came into the room followed by Donita, Dabio, Gourmand, and Zach, he then left them alone.

"Ah, thank you all for coming!" Thomas said smiling; none of the four looked impressed. "Please sit down!" He said smiling.

"Why did you drag us all out here Kincaid? For a tea party?" Zach demanded once they were all sitting. "You better not…"

"Mr. Varmitech, allow me to get right to my point! Everyone of us here have had our brilliant plan's ruined by those vermin the Wild Kratt's! I have come up with an ingenious plan to finally destroy them once and for all!"

"Really? What make's you so sure you will destroy them? We have never been able to, so what make's you different?" Donita asked.

"It's rather simple really!" Thomas said smiling as he stood. "It's all thanks to my secret weapon!" He finished as Martin suddenly appeared, the other's were shocked and angry.

"It's a Wild Ratt! That's Blue Boy!" Zach yelled preparing to run from a fight.

"Look's like your plan fell apart before you even told us what it was!" Gourmand said.

"Please sit down he's harmless!" Thomas said going up to Martin who still hadn't moved or spoken. "As you can see, he will not do anything without my saying so first…observe! Martin get our guest's some coffee!" Thomas ordered as Martin went to the table and began pouring everyone a cup. "Very good! Now, go see if everything is ready for our little expedition!" He ordered as Martin left the room without saying a word.

"That's a robot clone isn't it?" Donita asked.

"I' am afraid Miss. Donata you would be wrong! That is the true, living and breathing Martin Kratt!"

"He's your secret weapon?" Gourmand questioned still unsure.

"He is!"

"Mind control? That's your big plan? We've all had our try at using mind control on the Wild Ratt's, and we failed! Just like you will!" Zach spoke smiling.

"That's where you're wrong Mr. Varmitech! You see when you attempted it you all used mechanical device's of some sort that could either be broken or removed. Mine can not, you see I have perfected a drug which, used with brain washing can put anyone you choose under your control! So I' am going to put brother against brother and they will destroy each other along with the rest of their team in the best case scenario, the worst case scenario would be that Martin destroys them and he survives!"

"A drug? Are you some kind of doctor?" Donita asked.

"No, I' am a scientist, and I assure you all that with Martin under my control we will finally stop the Wild Kratt's!" Thomas said smiling raising his glass of wine. "Are you in?"

"I'm in!" Donita said smiling as she and Dabio stood.

"Me too, my friend!" Gourmand said smiling too.

"Mr. Varmitech?" Thomas asked.

"Fine, whatever I'm in too!" Zach said as he stood.

"To our new future without the Wild Kratt's!" Thomas said leading them in a toast.

TBC…