Hey guys! I finally managed to finish this, and it got longer than I expected. But the only way I was able to type regularly, was my work experience in London during the last two weeks. I had the afternoons off, and so I had enough time to finish this chapter.
I highly suggest you listen to the Background Music I put in the text, these were the things I listened to while writing, amongst others, and these songs fitted the best.
Well, I just hope you enjoy the newest chapter, and please just leave me a quick review on how you thought it was, and how I could improve it. Also, special thanks to the guest "Story maker". If you are one person, I'm really happy you enjoy this, and if you are many people using the same name, that's amazing, too.
I rated this story 16 years or older because there is violence, gore, and some swearing.
Disclaimer: I do NOT own the Wild Kratts, they belong to the Kratt brothers. I also do not own any of the songs I suggested, they belong to their rightful owners. I DO own Yami, though, so please ask me if you want to use her for anything.
A perfect plan
The Wild Kratts were having a great day. Martin and Chris were trying out some of the new Ultimate Power Modes and had a lot of fun.
"Hey, Martin! Did you already try that one?" Chris yelled, tossing over a purple disk.
"Aardvark Power? No, not yet, but I can't wait to do it!" His brother caught the disk, put it in his suit and went looking for a DNA sample.
"I know I had one somewhere..." he murmured, searching through his backpack for the broken claw he had found during their Aardvark adventure. But before he could find it, he heard Aviva's voice calling for him and his brother.
"Guys, come here, quick!"
"What is it, Aviva?" Chris asked, running up to her.
"Zach is back. He is in the Amazon rainforest and many creatures have already disappeared, but he doesn't seem to be concentrating on one type of animal as he does usually. We have to stop him!" she said. Chris instantly started asking her about his location, but Martin remembered what happened some weeks ago.
'So he survived the crash.' he thought. 'But we still don't know why he freed the tigers, and how he managed to improve his technology. We'll have to be careful.'
"OK, I've found his exact location, but we will land a bit further away so he doesn't notice us." the engineer explained while they were flying towards their new destination. "You will get there with the buzz-bikes and try to free the animals as fast as you can, Koki, Jimmy and myself will stay here. But if you need us, we will come as soon as we can." Aviva gave them the coordinates for their Creature-pods and some extra disks before Chris went to get the buzz-bikes.
Aviva took Martin's hand in hers and looked in his eyes. "Promise me you'll be careful, OK?"
"I promise." he answered, and gave her a peck on the cheek.
A few minutes later, Chris and Martin were sitting on their buzz-bikes and flew towards Zach's location. The trees were standing very closely together, so they had to be careful not to hit any of them.
They concentrated so much that they didn't notice the group of Zachbots flying into the direction they came from, only a few feet away from them.
Soon, they could see a clearing, but in its centre stood a huge building, similar to a storage house. Only the fact that trees were growing on its roof prevented it from being seen by any planes.
The two brothers stopped about a yard away from it, got off their bikes and hid them in the bushes. Then, they looked for an entrance.
"Can you find any?" Chris asked his brother.
"Not yet." Martin said, pushing aside some bushes. "But it has to be somewhere around...here!"
Chris ran over to him as soon as he heard his call, and helped him force open the door.
The inside of the building was dark, but they could make out some more doors leading further inside and many pipes running along the walls and ceiling. There were some windows, but they were all smudgy and most of them were broken.
BG music: Undertale - Megalovania (Metal music cover by Natewantstobattle)
They instantly started looking around to try and find traces of the animals, but there seemed to be nothing useful in the main room itself, so they decided to split up and explore the hallways behind the doors. But before they could open a single door, they heard a voice calling them over loudspeakers.
"So you found me again, Wild Rats. But that doesn't matter, because you will never be able to free your beloved animals. And you will never be able to leave, either!" the voice ended, laughing.
"Zach!" Martin hissed. "What does he have planned this time?"
"I don't know, but we have to be careful. Who knows, perhaps he has filled this place with traps?" Chris looked around, ready to protect his brother if he saw anything suspicious.
Suddenly, he heard a sound that was way too familiar. He turned his head, only to see a huge mass of Zachbots flying into their direction!
"Martin, look out!" he yelled, just in time for his bother to hear him and dive out of reach.
Instantly, he transformed and attacked the closest group of robots. Martin looked in his pocket and pulled out the Wolf Disk, but this time, it had a silver wolf on it instead of a black one. He put it in his suit and ran to touch Chris' shoulder.
"Activate: Ultimate Wolf Power!" he yelled and pressed the button, feeling the suit power up. His limbs became stronger, his heart bigger and his teeth grew longer to become fangs just as blue fur covered his body.
"Oh, yeah!" he grinned, and proceeded to dig his claws into the first robot that flew too close, then throwing it away. That was the kind of fight he loved, even if they tried not to fight too often, but you just couldn't reason with a Zachbot. He loved the adrenaline flowing through his veins, filling his body with energy, and the feeling of the animal's powers becoming his own. These suits really were the best invention ever!
"Hey, Zachbots! Over here!" he teased, and a big group of robots came over to attack him. He jumped on top of the first one and used it to fly into the other ones, jumping off just in time so the explosion wouldn't catch up with him. That already destroyed about a dozen of them, but there were still hundreds more floating around them, searching for a weak point, and others kept rushing in through several of the doors.
'Martin, I don't think we're gonna make it!' Chris thought, trying to hold off some robots by biting through the protection of their control centre.
"Don't say that, Chris! There may be a lot of robots, perhaps even more than last time, but they still have no strategy. I know we can beat them!" Martin encouraged him, crashing two robots together "comic style".
'Yeah, you're right.' Chris shook his head to get rid of his thoughts, bared his teeth and ran to destroy more of their enemies.
Meanwhile, in the Tortuga, Aviva prepared an emergency plan in case the brothers needed help.
"Koki, can you prepare the blasters, please? I already repaired them, but they still need to be loaded."
The Afro-American woman nodded and walked into the garage to look for them. During this time, Jimmy prepared all of their suits in case they would need them, he also went to look for useful disks and matching DNA-samples.
None of them noticed the Zachbots flying towards the ship and positioning themselves at the ventilation exits. Then, all at the same time, they sprayed an invisible and odourless gas inside them.
In the garage, Koki was loading the electro-magnetic blasters when she suddenly felt herself falling asleep.
'No, I can't sleep now, they guys may need us!' she thought, rubbing her eyes. But when she felt more and more tired, she suddenly realized.
'Oh, no! That must be an anaesthetic, I have to warn the others!' She stumbled outside, holding onto the table to prevent herself from falling over, while she pulled her sweatshirt over her nose and mouth so she wouldn't breathe in more of the gas, but as she left the garage, she saw that she was already too late. Aviva was lying across the table and Jimmy was sleeping in one of the hovering chairs.
'The brothers, I...I have to tell them...' Koki held her breath and pulled out her Creature-pod, ready to dial the guys' number, but she only heard a recording of Chris' voice:
"Hello, Chris Kratt speaking. If this wasn't a mistake, please leave a message after the signal, thanks!"
But Koki couldn't hear it anymore, she had already collapsed on the floor, the Creature-pod slowly sliding out of her hand.
As soon as they didn't get any signal strong enough to be a human that was awake from inside the ship, the robots gathered outside the main entrance and melted a hole inside it with lasers they had gotten from Zach's new partner. When it was big enough, some of them flew through and grabbed the first person that they could detect, who happened to be a young adult in a sweater, jeans, with red hair and a goatee. They lifted him outside, high enough so he wouldn't be burned by the liquid metal, then flew off towards Zach's new hideout.
In the storage house, Martin and Chris were still fighting off robots, but there were already less of them. Martin had been right: The robots had no strategy, so it was easy to take many of them out with one move, and thanks to the wolves great stamina both of the brothers were just panting a bit. After what seemed to be hours of fighting, only about a dozen robots remained, and Martin took them out by whirling one of them around and hitting all of the others, sending them flying into the walls and exploding on impact. The last one was ripped apart by sharp claws and fangs and there was a loud sound when the scrap metal hit the floor.
"Done already?" Martin said, looking around surprised. "Well, we're getting better."
'Yes, but we don't know if Zach prepared anything else. There might be something even more dangerous in here.' Chris told him as he transformed back.
Just when he stood back on his two legs, they heard Zach's voice out of the loudspeakers again.
"Well, well, you became good fighters, you two. You managed to take out all of my Zachbots without getting injured. But don't rejoice too soon. I have gotten something that I think you would want back."
Chris was confused. Zach already mentioned the animals, was there something else? But before he could ask Martin, they both heard a scream, blood-curling, filled with panic and fear. The brothers froze. They knew this voice!
"Jimmy!" they both yelled.
"What have you done to him?" Chris roared, his eyes getting darker with anger. But Martin was sweating. If Zach managed to get inside the Tortuga, Aviva might be in danger as well! He just hoped that Zach didn't remember their relationship and that the others were alright.
"You will never find him, my personal guard will destroy you now!" with these words, he ended, and a hidden door that was bigger than the others opened, releasing two dozen robots that were a lot larger than normal Zachbots.
"Martin, one of us has to find Jimmy, he might be hurt!" Chris said, preparing to fight again.
"Yes, but I'm not leaving you alone again. I already lost you once, I won't let it happen this time!" Martin walked in front of him, and instantly, the robots surrounded them.
"Are you sure you can do it? We have already been tired out by that first fight, and these new robots look way more dangerous."
"Chris, don't worry. Remember, I've been able to hold off animals that were more dangerous than these piles of scrap metal, and there aren't as many of them here. With the Ultimate Wolf Power, I'm sure I'll be able to take them out."
Chris sighed. He knew that if his brother had an idea, he wouldn't stop working on it until it became reality.
"OK then, be careful!" he said, ready to burst through the circle of robots around them. He charged, but instead of trying to stop him, they just tightened their circle around Martin, who had already destroyed one and was attacking the next.
'Please, don't get hurt.' he thought, before opening the first door and leaving his brother behind.
Martin was doing great. The robots were indeed stronger than all the other robots Zach had made until now, but he could quickly recognize the pattern in their attacks and was able to dodge them beforehand. Even if he was tired from the first fight, his blows were still powerful and he was able to destroy one robot with a couple of hits.
"Come on, Zach, is this all you've got?" Martin taunted. He didn't know if Zach could hear him, but if he did, he would soon try to attack him personally, and that was what the brother in blue wanted. It would buy enough time for Chris to free Jimmy and the animals they were looking for, and perhaps he would even be able to capture him and deliver him to the police, finally ending this nightmare.
He was concentrating so much on his enemies that he didn't notice the dark figure climbing out of a vent on the ceiling and hiding behind it, but watching his every move, trying to see what he was able to do.
'Irregular moves, no clear fighting style. He seems to try to use the animal's powers as much as he can. Well, if that's the case, that's how I'm going to beat him.' she thought.
Repelling another robot that had come too close to him and swirling around to take out one of the regular Zachbots that had come in with the Guardbots, as Martin had named them, he suddenly felt something weird. He didn't know if it was a different smell that was in the air, a sound, or some kind of sixth sense, but he knew that somebody, or something, had entered the room and was watching him. He stopped fighting and scanned his surroundings, trying to see what had awoken this feeling inside him.
Suddenly, there was a sharp pain at the back of his head and his vision became blurry. One of his attackers had used his moment of carelessness to land a blow, but that didn't stop the human-wolf-hybrid, it did rather the opposite: With new-found strength and anger beyond measure, he started tearing apart all of the robots, the fear for Aviva, Chris, Jimmy and Koki was the thing driving him, giving him the power to defeat anything that was in his way.
A few minutes later, he stood in the middle of another pile of scrap metal and still sparking wires, panting, but victorious. He just hoped that this was all Zach had in store for him, because even the wolf's stamina was going to end eventually, and he didn't know how much he could take. The adrenaline rush he had earlier had stopped, and it was replaced by pain. Moaning, he reached for the back of his head, only to twitch when it started stinging. It was hot and sticky. He retrieved his hand and looked at it, only to see that dark red blood was slowly running down his fingers.
"Cr...crap! I have nothing to stop the bleeding here..." he hissed in pain, while looking around for a piece of cloth, a plant, or anything that would stop him from losing more blood. He didn't know how deep the wound was, of if he needed medical care, but it didn't matter anyway, because he heard Zach's voice over the loudspeaker again:
"I see, so even my special guard wasn't able to defeat you." He sounded frustrated, but not as much as Martin had hoped. "But that doesn't matter. You think that these robots were the strongest ones I had, right? Well, think again!" Martin sank to his knees. It wasn't the end. There was something else waiting, another enemy, another weapon ready to destroy him. He felt that he started losing hope.
"Prepare, my Ninja-bot!" Zach screamed excitedly.
No! He couldn't give up, not now! His brother needed him, Jimmy needed him, Aviva needed him. If he gave up now, they would all be in danger, at the mercy of this insane inventor. He punched the ground and got up again, quickly regaining his balance. Zach only mentioned one robot, and if it was fighting the same way as the others, he would be able to defeat it. The only thing that irritated him was the odd name, but he shook his head, trying to get rid of that thought. Anything that distracted him could be his downfall, and probably the end of the Wild Kratts. The responsibility for his team now rested upon his shoulders.
BG music: Audiomachine – Blitzkrieg
With newly regained power and ignoring the stinging in his wound, he scanned the entire room, but unable to make out what was supposed to attack him. For some time, there wasn't a single sound in the building, only the rustling of the leaves that came from outside broke the deafening silence. Martin was confused. Was there really something waiting for him, or was Zach trying to put him under psychic pressure? Going backwards until he hit the wall, he tried to get hold of something that would serve him as a weapon. He would have taken a part of one of the robots, but Zach had used a new feature that, once the robots was destroyed, made what was left dissolve in a special kind of acid.
He let his guard down only for one second, but that was enough for the dark figure that was still hiding behind the vent.
Only one precise throw, and five shuriken pinned him to the wall. Martin groaned as he felt the sharp blades slicing through his skin. He didn't know why they didn't bounce off the wall, but either way, he couldn't move. Only with a big amount of strength was he able to free one arm, leaving behind some bunches of blue fur. After he had freed his other arm and his legs, he stared into the darkness from where the metal stars had come from, but again, there was nothing.
Suddenly, he saw something rush past him, only a blur, but before he could see what it was, he felt a horrible pain in his shoulder. Hissing, he tried to reach the source of it, as he felt hot blood flowing down his back and dripping to the ground. He soon found the weapon that was still stuck in the wound, a small dagger, but before he could retrieve it, he saw another blur and something hit his leg, shattering his shin bone.
He screamed in agony as he fell to the ground, unable to stand on his injured leg. His vision became darker and darker, and he was tempted to give in to the darkness and the unconsciousness that would relieve his pain, but he forced himself to stay awake, breathing heavily as the loss of blood slowly started to get to him.
Using the wall to hold his weight, he slowly stood back up, careful not to put any pressure on his broken leg, when he heard a sound coming from not very far from him. He couldn't see much, and his blurry vision didn't help him, but he was able to make out a dark figure, perhaps a bit smaller than him. If it hadn't been for the glowing red eyes, Martin might have thought that it was an animal hiding in the building, but they showed that it probably was the Ninja-bot Zach had sent to destroy him.
The Kratt in blue wanted to attack it, but he was unable to fight in that state. He whimpered, thinking about everything he would lose if that robot defeated him. But suddenly, he heard another sound.
Even when knowing exactly that it was dangerous, he lifted his head, only to see a small animal flying into the building via a hole in one of the windows. It was a bulldog bat.
'Exactly what I needed!' Martin thought, and with the last bit of strength he had, he took out the bat disk, praying that, even if it wasn't the right species, he would still be able to activate, and slipped it behind the activation button.
The bat was flying around, looking for an exit, and once it was close enough to him, he touched it and pressed the button.
"Activate: Ultimate Bat Power!" he yelled, instantly feeling power rushing through him. The fur on his arms became shorter and his fingers longer, as they were all connected by thin, but strong skin. His ears grew larger and became more sharp, able to detect any sound, even the heartbeat of the animals that were roaming outside.
He silently thanked Aviva and her inventing skills when he noticed the newest feature she had told him about: When in Ultimate Power Mode, any activation with another animal would heal wounds and broken bones, a feature that would help them to survive the battles against their worst enemies. Zach, Donita and Gourmand had become more ruthless, so they had to increase their defence to still be able to defeat them and save all animals that were in danger or, in this case, all teammates.
With the power came another feeling, something that ignited the fire in his eyes which would help him fight his enemy. The thought that not everything was lost, that he could still be able to win, that he would save his friends...
...it filled him with DETERMINATION!
Spreading his wings, he took off, towards the spot where he had last seen the robot. He let out high pitched screams, and with the help of echolocation, he was able to create a perfect map of the room inside his head. He knew exactly where the pipes were he had to watch out for, or where the vents had an opening which would change the air around him, both things that would influence the way he had to fly. But the most important thing it let him see were the small knives flying towards him. Only his newly gained reflexes and agility prevented them from piercing through his wings and destroying them, and so he was able to fly on, dodging every single obstacle.
He didn't stop searching, and finally, he found what he was looking for: a shape that resembled that of a big cat, sitting on top of one of the pipes.
Flapping his wings faster and faster, he flew higher until he reached the ceiling. Then, when he was above his enemy, he placed his wings next to his body and started spiralling downwards towards him, getting faster by the second. The robot didn't move, just stared at him as he got closer.
At the last moment, he rotated upside-down and fell towards it, claws first. But then, just as Martin got a hold of it and was ready to tear it apart, it suddenly clung onto him and pulled itself up. He stared into its eyes and froze. He didn't see what he had thought he would see.
All the other robots had dead, cold, soulless eyes, there were no feelings that they could show. But this robot's eyes were different: They were not cold, it was quite the opposite! They were full of hatred. Hatred, blood-lust and an insatiable thirst for revenge, for death.
Whatever this was, it wasn't a robot, and Zach hadn't built it, either. Sure, the evil inventor hated them, but Martin knew the extent of his feelings. He somehow had the ability to read the people's feelings through their eyes, and Zach's feelings didn't match those of this – this thing!
He shook his head to get back into reality, just in time to see his enemy draw back its arm to strike him. He managed to dodge the blow, but since they were fighting so close to each other, his wings were constantly getting in the way. And as long as he was that high above the ground, deactivating was always a bad idea.
Now, the figure before him was getting ready for its second attack and suddenly, sharp claws were growing out of the spaces between its fingers. Martin's eyes widened. If he got hit with these claws, he would be dead. They would just slice through his suit, pierce his skin and tear his flesh apart, probably also ripping his heart and lungs to pieces in the process.
'Alright Aviva, let's see what this suit of yours is able to do!' he thought, took a deep breath, and screamed at the top of his lungs.
In any other suit, or with the normal bat mode, this would have probably deafened his opponent, at least irritated him or her long enough for him to strike a more powerful blow. But in the Ultimate Bat Mode, the consequences were different.
The sound of his scream was amplified, and instead of travelling in a shock-wave, it concentrated into one single beam with so much power it blasted the figure away. It was smashed against one of the vents, but reacted quickly before it could plummet to the ground and held onto a pipe, then swung around to land on top of it.
"So these are your abilities...Interesting." the figure murmured. With his sharp hearing, Martin was able to understand it. Its voice sent a shiver down his spine: It was female, but cold, metallic, even if it still had modulations, just like the voice of a normal human being.
Before he could react again, the figure had started charging towards him, jumping from pipe to pipe, trying to build up enough momentum to knock him right off the spot where he was sitting. He noticed it just in time and took off again, letting the figure dig her claws into the pipe where he had been only seconds ago. But she still wasn't finished and kept following him, it didn't matter where he went. This thing really wanted to kill him.
He didn't know how it could have happened, perhaps he had been distracted for a second, but the next thing he knew, was that he was falling, the extra weight being too much for his wings to bear. The figure had somehow been able to jump right on top of him, knocking the air out of his lungs in the process.
Martin wasn't even able to move as his opponent beat him with all of her limbs, he just felt a sharp pain whenever she hit a vital part of his body. Then, he felt some ribs shatter, and for a second, everything was black. The next thing he noticed, was that he was human again, the impact with the ground had caused his already damaged suit to shatter completely. But he didn't have time to think about it. His enemy was sitting only a few yards away from him, regaining her balance.
BG music: Audiomachine – Pandora's Box
She shook her head, her armour having been slightly damaged by the fall, but that wasn't a problem. Her prey was lying on the ground, having finally lost his last protection. Now was the time to land the final blow, which would perhaps finally give her the peace she had been seeking for the past year.
The brother in blue stood up using his last bit of strength, and ignoring the pain in his chest. He knew that the only reason he was still alive was that he wanted to protect the family that had merely been his team for the first few months he had been working with them. Without them, his life didn't make sense, but he knew that he had to stay alive for them, no matter the cost. Ever since Chris had disappeared, he knew that a live without even a single member of their team was almost impossible. This thought gave him the power to walk over towards the figure in front of him, one shard of his broken suit in hand that he could perhaps use as a weapon.
His enemy didn't move, just stared at him with these hatred-filled eyes. He suddenly felt the urge to grin.
"Pathetic, isn't it?" he panted. "I know that you want to kill me at all cost, I can see it and I can feel it." Then, he jumped onto her. It wasn't really planned, he just followed his instincts, even if he knew exactly that she was stronger than him. But somehow, he was able to hold her down with his weight, or she had just gotten weaker after their battle in the air. He stood up, holding back her arms and twisting them in a way that he knew would prevent her from freeing herself. Any human that was in this position would be in incredible pain, so he was surprised to hear her answering.
"But you are holding onto life, as if it was something worth suffering for. And you just won't give up, whatever I try to throw at you, or how many times I have to injure you."
He felt her body go limb for a short time, and reinforced his grip on her arms, prepared for whatever she tried to get free. But she started chuckling, a chuckle that became laughter, cold, emotionless laughter. Martin froze, and his heart almost stopped. Whatever his enemy was, she was truly evil!
"But you," she said, after her laughter had died down, "you don't have any more strength left. I, on the other hand, have only used a fraction of my true power!"
With these words, she held on to Martin. Even if he had wanted to, he couldn't let go of her or get away. Then, with almost no sound, spikes grew out of her back and pierced his chest.
Chris was running, through many hallways and past countless doors, but everything looked the same. This building had seemed small from the outside, there should have only been space for the big hall where he had come from. The only explanation he had for this, was that he was underneath the building, inside a huge maze. There was no way Zach had managed to build this all by himself, there had to be somebody else involved.
He shook his head. There was no time for him to think about that, he had to find Jimmy and then go and help his brother. He already started to regret their choice to split up, but it was too late to turn back now. The sooner he found Jimmy, the better it was. With Jimmy in a safe place, he would be able to go and help Martin.
Only relying on his keen sense of smell, he tried to make his way through the maze, but the wet and moss-covered stones that had replaced the concrete way behind him were destroying every smell there was, and soon he had lost Jimmy's trace.
"Darn!" he cursed, punching the wall in anger. That was when he heard a scream. It clearly was Jimmy's voice!
He listened carefully, and this time, he was sure. The voice didn't come from one of the loudspeakers that were hidden in every corner, even down here. Jimmy was behind one of the doors close to him. Then, the young man screamed again, and Chris was able to localize him exactly. He went towards the door, put his ear next to it and listened for any other person that may be inside. But the only thing he heard was Jimmy's panicked breathing, so he too a few steps back, charged and forced open the thick wooden door. He was glad for the protection he got from his suit or else his arm would have taken damage.
Inside the relatively large room, he could see a regular Zachbot as a guard, but the brother in green was able to take him out before he could alarm the others. Further back, in the darkness, he could see a chair connected to the wall by many wires and on it, was Jimmy, weak and in pain, but alive.
"Jimmy, I finally found you! Don't worry, you'll be alright once we get out of here." Chris said, cutting through the leather straps holding his friend with his sharp claws.
"Koki..." Jimmy murmured, on the verge of unconsciousness. Chris noticed that some parts of his skin were burned, and when he touched the chair by mistake, a strong electric charge made him twitch and stumble back. The red-haired man didn't even react, already too weak to scream. The younger brother quickly pulled him off the chair and onto the ground just in time, before he saw the chair being activated again. He clenched his fists in anger. Zach must have been torturing him for the whole time he had been here. It was a wonder he was still alive!
Suddenly, Jimmy moved next to him. Instantly, Chris held his head up as he started coughing, finally opening his eyes and recognizing him.
"Chr..Chris? Is that really you?" he asked weakly.
"Yes Jimmy, you're safe now." he answered, glad that his friend was still able to talk.
"Where's Martin?" Jimmy asked, his eyes darting around the room looking for the older brother.
"He's fighting the Zachbots to assure that I free you and that we get out of here safely."
"You left him behind?" he almost screeched, fear and panic slowly draining the colour from his face.
Chris froze. What was there that he didn't know? Was there something that had scared Jimmy that much, something that was attacking his brother right now? "What is it, Jimmy?" he asked, his heart beating faster.
Jimmy took a deep breath, trying to calm down just like Aviva had taught him.
"Zachbots aren't the only things here. There is something else in here, much more powerful than any Zachbot."
He woke up in a big room. He didn't know where he was, but he remembered suddenly becoming very sleepy and then...nothing.
"Ah, so you're finally awake!" a cold voice said. His heart almost stopped.
"Zach!" he hissed, trying to hit the man who had just walked in front of him, but he realized that he was tied to a chair, unable to move.
"Yes, the one and only. I'm glad you didn't forget me while I was gone!" the pale man grinned.
"What have you done to my friends?" Jimmy felt his anger boiling inside him, but sadly it didn't make him strong enough to free himself.
"Calm down, they're alright – for now. My Zachbots only brought you here, but that's already enough for me. Those pesky brothers are already here, looking for animals they will never find. But soon, I will have gotten rid of them, forever!" Zach started laughing maniacally, then continued. "I have found an ally, somebody who is strong enough to finally defeat all of you and make me the one deciding nature's fate! And you will be the first one of my enemies to witness her power. You should be honoured." he stopped for a moment, tapping his chin in thought. "I don't know, perhaps I will make you suffer and die, or I will let you live in the knowledge that you have lost the battle, and that everything you have ever done to stop me is now meaningless, but it doesn't matter anyway. Behold: my newest weapon!"
On his signal, Jimmy saw about fifty Zachbots enter the room, but before they could even move another inch, a figure cloaked in dark armour jumped out of the shadows and started to take them out at such an amazing speed that even Jimmy, whose eyes had been trained by years of playing video-games, couldn't see her clearly. In a matter of ten seconds, all Zachbots were destroyed and lying on the ground, slowly dissolved by acid that came out of their smashed torsos.
The young man started trembling. Were the bros going to fight this thing? Even with the suits and their skills, they didn't stand a single chance against it! But before he could do anything, he heard Zach's new ally speak.
"Remember, it's Martin that I want alive. You can do with the others what you want, but if he dies, you're gonna have a bad time!"
His breaths became shorter. What did this mean? Why was Martin so important to her? Suddenly, Zach spoke to him again.
"Well, I think you have seen enough. Now, it's time for you to suffer!" With these words, he pressed a button on the wall.
A powerful electric discharge made Jimmy twitch and scream in pain. It stopped for a short time, leaving him panting, but started again a few seconds later. It then came back and stopped again in irregular intervals, so the young man couldn't prepare himself mentally. Zach laughed at his suffering, and walked outside with his new ally, locking the door behind him.
Jimmy just sat there, the last thing that came to his mind was his girlfriend.
"Koki..." he whispered, and a small smile crept onto his face. Yes, the thought of her would help him to keep his sanity.
He kept whispering her name, like a mantra, only interrupted by the pain caused by the electric chair he was sitting on. His screams filled the hallways, but he was the only one hearing her name.
"What did this ally look like? Was it a human or a robot?" Chris asked, breaking the silence that had followed Jimmy's story.
"I – I don't know, it was really dark..." Jimmy stammered out, while Chris helped him to get back up. For a second, it looked like he was about to fall over again, but with Chris' help, he was able to stand and even walk.
'Martin, can you hear me? Martin!' Chris tried to contact his brother, but to no avail. Something was blocking his message. He tensed up, realizing that he had to go back instantly, without letting Jimmy get strong enough to get out.
"Are you able to come with me?" the younger brother asked carefully. He knew that he had to act fast to save his brother, but he just couldn't leave Jimmy alone here, either.
The red-haired man gritted his teeth. "Give me your suit and the wolf disk, Aviva told me about the healing feature. I just hope it'll also help now."
The Kratt in green didn't say anything, he just gave him the suit and the disk he was asking for, and transformed, so his friend would be able to activate.
After he had activated, Jimmy felt his strength flowing back into his body, and so he was able to follow Chris without a problem all the way back into the entrance hall. The only reason why they didn't get lost was that, even if Jimmy's scent had been rather faint because it had been so long, Chris' smell was still strong, and they could follow it with their strong sense of smell.
In the last hallway before the big hall where he had left his brother, Chris could already smell Martin's scent, mixed with the odour of metal and oil that always accompanied the Zachbots they had to fight. But he also started to detect something else. A small gasp next to him showed him that Jimmy had also noticed it. It was the metallic scent of blood. They both doubled their speed, even if they didn't hear any fighting sounds. In the hall, they both froze.
BG music: Atis Freivalds – For her
Parts of the ground were covered in blood, and at the back of the hall, their good eyes made out something blue, which looked like fur, but Martin was nowhere to be seen. Chris wanted to run towards it, when he suddenly felt something break under his paw, and sharp pieces of glass and metal cut his skin open. He lift his paw, only to see what remained of a blue sign of the Wild Kratts Team.
'Martin's suit...he would have never taken it off in battle!' Chris thought, slowly losing hope. 'We're too late...' He closed his eyes, hot tears slowly rolling down his cheeks.
Was this how it would end? There were still so many things left undone, so many adventures to share, so many new friends to meet. All of this, all of his dreams, had now shattered, just like his brother's suit. He would never see him smiling, or hear him laughing, ever again. He looked onto the ground, where his falling tears started mixing with Martin's blood, and saw his reflection in the thick, red liquid.
That was the moment when his heart broke, and he let himself fall down onto the ground, his fur slowly getting soaked in blood. That was how it was supposed to be. He had left his brother alone, that was the reason he died. He was responsible for his brother's death.
"It's not your fault, you know?" Jimmy said, laying a hand on his shoulder. Chris hadn't heard him approaching. He just looked at him with his brown eyes, now dark with sadness. It was as if he could read his mind. "What you're thinking right now...it's the same things Martin thought when we assumed that you were...gone. But don't take the blame for something you didn't do." He then stopped, unsure about what to say. He might have lost a teammate and friend, but Chris had lost so much more than that. He didn't even know what he would do if he ever lost Koki.
After some minutes of silence, Chris stood back up. 'I want to look for his body, so we can give him a proper burial.' he told his friend, and started looking for a trace.
Soon, they found a trail of blood that was leading away from them, towards a door none of them had noticed before. Actually, it wasn't even a door, it was a part of the wall that they could rotate. The only reason they knew it was there, was the blood trail that just stopped right in front of it. But after they went through, the door suddenly shut, blocking their only exit.
Instantly, they both started clawing at the door and pushing against it, but to no avail: the door stayed closed.
"Well, we might as well go forward, right?" Jimmy said dryly. Chris sighed and turned around, slowly making his way through the hallway that had opened before them. He didn't say anything, he just tried to prepare himself mentally for the things he was about to see. Judging from the loss of blood, there had to be a big wound in his brother's body, or he had even lost some limbs.
Concentrating on these thoughts, he didn't notice he had started taking the lead again, but suddenly, he heard a scream behind him, and the sound of a body collapsing on the floor. He turned around, just in time to see some kind of glowing barrier appearing between him and Jimmy, who had fallen to the ground.
'Jimmy!' Chris ran over to him, stopping just in time before he could hit the purple barrier. He was still able to see his friend, and after he tried touching him, he knew could still pass through. But apparently, it didn't let his friend pass, it had shocked him instead, making him go unconscious. The dark brown wolf passed the barrier again and carried him off, pulling him by the fur on his neck. He hid him in a small hole in the wall and first, he wanted to stay with him until he woke up again to make sure that he was alright.
But then, he felt something strange. He didn't know what it was exactly, perhaps a mental connection or the overall link that he had always felt between him and his brother, and he knew exactly how irrational that idea was, but he somehow had the feeling that Martin was still alive!
'Impossible! Nobody can lose that much blood and still be alive.' everything in his body screamed, but he didn't listen. If there was even the slightest chance that he could save his brother, he would do it.
BG music: iNsAnItY – KAITO and SF-A2 Miki
With a last glance at Jimmy, he ran back through the barrier and towards the place where he thought his brother was.
After a minute of non-stop running, he finally slowed down. For the entire way, the walls had been changing, shifting from ordinary stone walls to hyper-modern technology and synthetic material. Many purple-glowing wires covered the walls, and the pulsations that ran through them seemed to culminate in a room at the end of the hallway. It had a door made out of glass, but even if he didn't know if it was more stable or not, it didn't matter, because he saw his brother in the room, tied onto an operating table. Doubling his speed, he burst through the glass with all of his might, all while letting out a feral roar.
The first thing he saw while his momentum smashed him against the wall was his unconscious, but apparently still breathing brother. The next thing was the figure next to him that had just tightened his straps and was holding a syringe in her hands. But before he could do anything against it, she had already sunk it in his right arm and emptied the content inside his veins.
Martin's POV:
He thought it had been the end.
After he had felt the metal spikes penetrating his flesh, his vision had exploded in a red whirlwind that engulfed everything around him. Then, he had slipped into unconsciousness.
Some time later, he woke up again. The light was blinding him, and at first, he thought that he had died. But the pain in his chest proved the opposite.
He felt that somebody had closed his wounds and stopped the bleeding, but he didn't know why. He also noticed that he couldn't move a muscle, something was holding him down. But his senses were sharpened, and so was his sense of pain.
A shadow moved next to him, tightening what seemed to be straps that were holding him down. As soon as he could see its face, he gasped: It was the thing that had tried to kill him! But before he could ask what was going on, he heard the sound of glass shattering and a roar that he knew very well.
"Chris!" he tried to scream, but his vocal chords didn't seem to listen yet. All that came out was a moan that was drowned out by the noise. He wasn't able to show his brother that he was still alive, even their mental connection had somehow been weakened.
Suddenly, he felt a small sting in his right arm and a liquid entered his bloodstream. And then, everything exploded.
It was the most horrible pain he had ever felt in his life. It felt as if his bones were breaking, his flesh was burning and being dissolved in acid, and as if his skin was being ripped from his body in small straps, all at the same time.
He forgot everything around him, the pain was the only thing that was still there, destroying his body and tugging at his sanity. For a short instant, he was able to see himself: thrashing about and screaming, screams that were almost inhuman.
He tried in vain to slip back into unconsciousness, but something had taken hold of him and was not going to let him go until it had taken everything from him: his strength, his sanity, and his life.
3rd person's POV:
Chris watched in horror as he saw his brother twitching violently and screaming in pain, only the straps preventing him from trashing the room. Whatever this figure had injected into his arm, it was destroying him from the inside.
'What are you doing to him? Stop it, NOW!" he roared in his mind, concentrating on the person in front of him. He saw her flinch for a second, but she calmed down again instantly.
"Leave! I'm not interested in you." she said, facing Martin again who was still screaming. But Chris didn't think about that for a single moment. If there was any chance he could save his brother, he would take it!
He jumped on top of her, trying to take her down, but she was too strong. She just smashed him onto the ground, almost without problem. Then, she pushed his body away with her foot.
Chris got up again, shaking his head to get rid of the dizziness. He didn't even check his body for injuries, he charged again instantly. This time, she wasn't prepared, being too concentrated on his brother, so he managed to hold onto her, mobilising all strength he had, even when she tried to shake him off. He tried to bite through her protection, but his sharp canines didn't even leave a single mark.
'Wait, why can't I destroy her with my teeth? No material should be that hard!' he thought, stopping his attack. She noticed his confusion, managed to grab him and pulled him off her armour, then threw him on the ground again.
'What are you?' he asked, sweat starting to form on his forehead.
She stared at him with hatred-filled eyes, but trembling with excitement. "The strength of both human and animal, and an infinite supply of energy, both fused together in the finest technology that even the best scientists could only dream of! I'm your biggest fear, and your worst nightmare. I'm the enemy you won't defeat, and I'm here to take my revenge!" she yelled, attacking him. Chris managed to dodge just in time, her newly-formed claws only missing him by a few inches.
'She's a cyborg! That's why Martin couldn't defeat her, a human doesn't follow attack patterns.' Chris thought, while trying to dodge her other attacks, but he wasn't always fast enough. She had already managed to tear apart the skin on his shoulder, and he felt his own blood slowly running down and soaking the fur on his leg and back. 'My only chance of beating her is distracting her. Perhaps that'll give me enough time to find her weak spot.'
'What revenge?' he asked her again, lifting his paw to lessen the pressure and stop the blood from rushing out of the wound. He saw her red eyes flash for a second.
"Revenge for the pain he has brought upon me!" she screamed, preparing herself for her next attack. This time, she threw three small knives at him. He was able to dodge two, and using his lightning-fast reflexes, grabbed the last one with his teeth and threw it back at her. She dodged it without a problem, and within a fraction of a second, she was behind him.
"I tried to protect both of you when you were weak, but your brother attacked me instead. Since then, this poison" she pointed towards the now empty syringes, "had been flowing through my veins and destroyed my body, bit by bit. Somehow, I have been able to develop an antidote to stop my body from disappearing, and I replaced what was already lost with technology I found and then perfected, but the pain remained."
'Protect us?' Chris asked himself confusedly. 'Wait, animal strength – was SHE the lioness that Martin told me about?' But he had no time thinking about it any longer. He was barely able to jump out of the way when his opponent crushed the ground where he had been standing just a second ago with her fists.
"The pain is tugging at my sanity, draining more and more of it every day. The only thing that has kept me from going completely insane was my thirst for revenge. It was the thing driving me, my hate gave me more and more power, until even Martin couldn't stop me." She started giggling, and suddenly, long and thin spikes were growing out of her arms, legs and back. "But now that I have almost achieved my goal, nothing can stop the insanity anymore. Once this is over, I'm going to wipe out most of humanity, or I'll just explode, destroying half of this planet in the process. Nobody can predict insanity!"
'Perhaps you're right, perhaps you really are stronger than all of us,' Chris thought, 'but that doesn't matter. You hurt my family, and whoever does that, is going to have a bad time! If you think I would just stand here and watch while you kill my brother, you were wrong!' He bared his teeth, growling, and gathered his strength for his next and probably last attack, all while ignoring the pain in his shoulder. He would either manage to defeat her and somehow save Martin, or he would be killed by the mixture of loss of blood and his enemy's attacks. Either way, he wouldn't leave this place without his brother.
BG music: Fired Earth Music – Rainmaker (just replay it as often as you need)
Yami's POV:
Yami looked at him, and started to wonder. Why was he so determined to save his brother? He was already hurt and would die here if he kept battling her, but he still didn't leave. There had to be something she didn't understand. But she started feeling weird around him.
'What is this?' she thought to herself. 'It isn't hate, but I haven't felt anything else than this one feeling for months, so what is this here right now?'
And suddenly, she felt a huge wave of energy washing over her. She gripped her head, all of this was just too much, as her vision faded into white.
Chris' POV:
He had just prepared himself and leaped forward to attack her, when he suddenly saw her grip her head and stumble backwards. But before he could ask himself what was going on, a white sphere of light appeared around her, repelling him. He was thrown backwards by the energy and smashed against the wall, and the only had one last thought before he blacked out.
'Martin...I'm sorry...'
Yami's POV:
She woke up in an empty, white space. The only thing she somehow was able to distinguish in the blinding light was a figure that started walking towards her.
"Who are you?" she asked, instantly touching her throat in shock. She was able to speak with her normal voice, without having to use the computer that had pretty much replaced her destroyed vocal chords. Looking at her hands, she saw that they were still normal, only covered in the familiar scars she had gotten in the years of her captivity. It was just as if none of the things that had destroyed her had ever happened.
Then, the figure stopped right in front of her, and suddenly, she recognized him. It was the first guardian of the stone, the one who she had already seen at the end of her vision!
"Where am I, and what am I doing here?" She looked around, but the only things she could see were still just the man and her own body. Finally, the man spoke up.
"Do you remember what I told you last time we saw each other?" His voice was soft and calming.
She nodded. "Only the ones who have balance can use the full power of the Stone. But I still don't really understand what it means."
He closed his eyes in compassion. "Yes, what I said was something I had to learn for myself, because I had no teacher there. But many painful years have paid off, and the Clan prospered, until this evil man got hold of the Stone." he sighed, but then, he opened his eyes again. "Here, let me show you something."
Suddenly, she saw a black orb appearing before her. She tried to touch it, and she felt something inside her echo it's vibrations.
"What is it?" she wondered, making it levitate above her hand.
"This represents your feelings. Well, the one feeling you had until a few moments ago."
"Hate." Yami whispered, and the man nodded.
"But see what changes now." Yami looked closer, and there really was something changing. The hard outside of the orb began to crack in one place, and the light from outside began to enter it, forming a smaller, brightly glowing sphere inside it.
"This light all around us represents the opposite feeling, love. And that is the thing you have felt earlier, you have fallen in love with someone."
"Chris Kratt." Yami closed her eyes, remembering his voice in her head. Yes, he was right, she had fallen in love with Chris.
"And now that you have finally gotten the balance between these two extreme feelings you needed, you can use the Stone's full power. It can't heal you completely, so you won't get your body back, but most of the pain will disappear. There will only be short times where you'll have to feel again, but it will be gone for most of the time. Also, your sanity will be mostly restored. But I'm afraid that, because you have only used the dark part of the stone for such a long time, the remaining insanity and the pain will fuse together to become a second personality that will sometimes take over. But another thing that will come back to you are your emotions. They have been destroyed by your hate, but now that you have balance, you will be able to feel everything else again."
First, she didn't say anything, she was only able to cry tears of joy. It would finally be over! All the pain and the tormenting, her fading sanity, it would just disappear. Even if there was a second personality, she didn't care, because she would finally be able to live a normal life. Well, as normal as a cyborg's life could get. But then, she got serious again.
"Now that my pain has disappeared, I have almost no reason to get my revenge. But I can't just tell Chris: 'I'm sorry, this was all a big mistake. Let's just have a drink and everything will be OK.' I have caused irreparable damage, and no words will be able to fix that!"
"Perhaps you can't fix everything. Martin will lose his arm, and a bit of the poison has gotten in Chris' bloodstream when you hit him." the man told her, and she gasped. This would cause him the same pain she had felt for all those months!
But the man put a hand on her shoulder, comforting her. "But you can still save both of them. If you give Martin the antidote now, the poison will not be able to enter the rest of his body, and you can replace his arm with the same technology you are using. And the second half of the Stone that you can't use yourself was actually meant for him. Your part represents hate, his part represents love, the feeling that is driving him forward. But since he had already felt hate at least once, he will be able to use it completely right away." The orb in front of Yami disappeared.
"This will prevent him from feeling the same amount of pain as you, and the amount of poison in Chris' bloodstream is so small that he won't have that problem in the first place." She had a sigh of relief, before the man continued. "But sadly, both of them will have a second personality that contains the insanity and the pain, and it will also take over sometimes. Martin's will be similar to yours, but Chris' will be dominated by the Werewolf inside him." He helped her get up again. "But now, you have to go and save them. Please take care of the other young man further outside as well."
Yami nodded. She had seen him being repelled by her security system. It only let herself and whatever she was carrying inside, any other human that tried to get in would get an electric shock, but animals could pass it. That was also the only reason because Chris had been able to enter without a problem. But now, she had to heal both Chris and Martin.
She thanked the guardian and closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, she was back in her laboratory. Looking around, she saw that Chris had collapsed in one corner. Instantly, she rushed towards him to feel his pulse, and gave a sigh of relief when she felt a weak, but constant pumping beneath her fingers. As soon as she had made sure that he would be alright, she fetched a syringe filled with the antidote she had developed many months ago and injected it into Martin's shoulder, because his arm had already been mostly dissolved.
He instantly stopped screaming in pain and finally blacked out, since the poison didn't stop him from losing his conciousness anymore. But he was still sweating, and he kept whispering Aviva's name.
Yami turned away, trying to forget that she had caused all of this. Why had she been so selfish? What she had wanted didn't make any sense in the first place. Sure, getting her revenge had been the thing driving her forward and keeping her from going insane, but doing it didn't help anyone. She had only caused pain, and now was the moment to fix as much as she could.
She went into another part of her laboratory and towards a glass tube filled with a special liquid and connected to an energy source. Inside, there was a model of her own body, but the only thing that was technology was the right arm. A robot arm of her invention made out of dark grey metal. This had been for the absolute emergency case, the time when she would lose the last part of her body that was still human flesh. But with the antidote, she had been able to stop the dissolving at her shoulder, and so the only thing she had to protect her arm was special armour that that was similar to the rest of her robot-body.
She didn't need it herself, but she knew Martin would need it, and from what the guardian had told her, she deduced that Martin would be able to use the other half of the sphere to power the arm. It would take some time to connect it to his body in a way where he would be able to use the arm without problems, but she hoped it was possible. So she carefully took it out and carried it towards the unconscious man, thinking about what she would need to perform the surgery at the same time, and put it down on a small table next to him.
Then, she went to tend Chris' wound, and replaced the blood he had lost with a special liquid that would adapt itself to his body after a few hours, something she had developed before knowing that she wouldn't be able to save her body and that she had to live as a cyborg.
He started to breathe normally again and his heartbeat got more steady, but he still seemed to have nightmares. Yami knew she had to finish before he woke up, so she also gave him a small dose of anaesthetic, not strong enough to hurt him, but it would still give her an extra five hours, enough time to do everything she needed. But before she did anything else, she put the entire building into lock-down-mode to make sure Zach didn't do something to hurt the other Wild Kratts.
When she was sure nobody and nothing could leave the building, she went back to Martin and started surgery.
'I just hope his body will accept it.' she whispered, while removing the decomposed flesh and cleaning the wound.
A few hours of concentrated working later, she connected the last nerve to the electronic arm and watched the wires fuse with Martin's shoulder, before she closed the metal cover. She knew the metal wouldn't let the wound get infected, but before the older of the brothers could use the arm, it would need something else, something very important. From the small table, she took a small titanium case and opened it, revealing the other half of her orb. She took it into her hand, but instead of it just sitting in her hand, it started to glow slightly when it got closer to Martin's new arm.
She hesitated a bit before putting it into the case where it would become the arm's energy source. When she had inserted her own half of the Stone into her body, the metal's grey colour had disappeared and it was replaced by pitch black with a small hint of purple, and the cables that let the energy run through her body also started to glow purple.
As soon as she put the smooth stone into the robotic arm, Martin's whole body started glowing in a light blue colour and the grey became lighter and lighter, until it was silver, the sparkling metal only interrupted by bright blue-glowing cables. Then, the light disappeared, only the energy was still seen pulsating through the technology.
Yami turned around, running back through the hallway towards the security gate, where she believed Jimmy still was. Now that her feelings had returned, she also felt guilt in her heart for the things she had let Zach do to him. He had done absolutely nothing to her, and it was then that she decided.
It had been bothering her for the entire time she worked on Martin: what would she do once it was over? Of course, she could just bring all of them to the Tortuga while they were still asleep and disappear, but that just didn't feel right. Also, there was no way she could live without Chris, even if he hated her. But now, she knew. She would come with them and tell all of them what she had done. They would decide what to do with her, she would take any punishment they had in store, because she deserved it. Even if it meant them destroying her, she would take it. At least, she would be able to atone for her sins.
Before her lied the young man, still in the wolf suit. She deactivated it and checked his pulse. It was weak, but steady, sign that he was only unconscious. Relieved, she carried him back into her laboratory, and prepared all three of them for travel.
'Well, all set. I hope the others in the Tortuga are still OK.' she thought, and started the journey through the jungle and towards the ship.
This turned out way longer than I expected! This was pretty much the only chapter I had originally planned out in detail (but I still ended up changing a ton of things, PM me if you want to read the entire planning of 'A new power' and 'A new enemy' in it's raw form.), and when I got to the middle of the battle between Martin and Yami I was just "Damn, I'm already at nineteen pages and I still want to write a lot!", but then I just kept going. This whole thing took me about twenty-five hours, with breaks, of course :-) .
Also, you probably noticed that I became an Undertale Fan. I highly recommend playing it, it is amazing!
And this is probably going to be the last really dark chapter in this story. There will be one more flashback into Yami's past that is pretty dark, but I'm not sure how dark that's going to be. Anyway, before there is going to be another chapter, I'm sorry I have to tell you that you'll probably have to wait. I still have to write a long essay for school due at the end of February, and I barely started!
Until then, I hope you all have a nice Valentine's day. Bye!
GreenxLady