In response to the bright light, Chris shut his eyes and swatted the light out of Aviva's hand. Stepping behind one of the trees for the shade, he rubbed his eyes and blinked slowly. The flashlight wasn't picked up. The group was in too much shock from seeing a change that resonated in the green Kratt. His pupils had transformed into slits without the help from a suit.


"Chris!" Martin shouted after recovering from the initial astonishment.

"Mgh... Wh-what?" He responded, slowly moving out from behind the trunk.

"What did you do now, ya screwball?!" Koki yelled.

Aviva quickly grabbed Chris's wrist, pulling him closer to examine his eyes. If the rest weren't so distracted by the unusual phenomenon, they would've noticed how the younger Kratt's cheeks flushed.

"What's the matter, Aviva?" He questioned, perplexed.

"The last thing you transformed into was a wolf. Their pupils don't have the function of turning to slits, so why...?" She trailed off.

"Why what?"

"Bro, your eyes look like a cat's or fox's at the moment."

This news took a moment to register in Chris's mind. Remembering the strange deactivation, he bit his lip nervously. Feeling a sudden sharp pain, he pulled away from the inventor. He tasted blood. Wiping his mouth, he discovered a small cut on his lip.

"Where'd that come from-?" Martin was cut off as Aviva pulled the climber's mouth open and peeked into his mouth.

"Your teeth!"

"What about them?"

"Sharp canines! Like a wolf!"

Chris gently pulled Aviva's arms away from his face. "Hold on a minute!"

"Darn that Zachbot!" Martin cried.

Koki and Jimmy were surprised. The commotion caused the bros and inventor to forget about the attack.

"Is there maybe something you neglected to let us know about?" The technician asked intimidatingly.

"Oh... Yeah, that." The blue brother murmured quietly.

"The main thing that happened was-"

"There was a Zachbot by itself. It was easy to take down." Chris interrupted.

"Yeah, there wasn't much it could do about you ripping some wires out."

"He what now?" Koki asked.

"It's nothing." The green brother muttered, averting his gaze.

"Bro-" Martin reach to grab his sibling's arm. In response, Chris hissed and slashed Martins outreached limb with his newfound claws. Martin shouted in pain and retracted his wounded arm. The green Kratt, in realizing what he had done, took a few ragged breaths and disappeared out of the Tortuga. The older sibling deactivated and tried to chase after his brother, but the climber was nowhere to be found.

"I need a buzz bike." Martin stated.

"But your arm-"

"NOW." The harshness in Martin's tone and the cold glare he shot told the rest of the team that if they didn't fulfill his request in a flash, someone would be hurt.


Adrenaline fueled him as he sprinted. *What did I do? What have I done? Why would I hurt him?! That wasn't me!" These were the thoughts running through the younger Kratt's mind as he fled far away from the Tortuga to avoid harming anyone else. He knew to ignore the creature pod's ringtone.

After a while of non-stop running, Chris stopped and knelt down, panting. *How... how long was I running...? I never could've kept that up normally... And it was definitely faster than a human's average sprint, which reaches 28 miles per hour... Am I actually becoming a wolf?* He lightly ran his tongue over one of his sharpened teeth and observed his claws. *This is so weird... It shouldn't be possible. Hm... If I was running at a wolf's average speed of 35 miles per hour... I think I left about 10 minutes ago. That would be... 6 miles! Wait, what?! I'd be 6 miles away from the Tortuga...!*

His thoughts were interrupted by a voice.

"And do you remember how he so elegantly moved my pose beam as that lizard? Martino's color scheme is more popular, but I do believe that younger brother of his as a model would be absolutely divine. Besides, I've been low on inspiration."

*What the...? What's Donita doing in the middle of a forest-? HOLD ON! No way I'm being part of that show!*

"I quite agree, Donita."

"Now fetch Chrisangelo for me. I'll pay you handsomely, Varmitech."

"Yeah, of course. My last Zachbot found that Wild Rat a few miles away playing race with some big dogs."

Chris wasted no time in fleeing from the conspiring villains. He called Martin on the creature pod.

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?! The tracker was deactivated, Chris! Don't scare me like that!"

"Go back to the Tortuga. I'll be there in at least 10 minutes." The older brother sighed.

"Just send me your coordinates. I'll pick you up on the buzz bike."

"That wouldn't be a problem except, uh... I think I'm a few miles away-"

"BUT YOU WERE ONLY RUNNING!"

"Just go!"

"Fine. If you aren't back in 20 minutes, I'm gonna look for you again. And after that, you better hope Zach has you in a cage!"

*That might not be a problem...* "Okay, okay. I got it, bro." Chris hung up and made his way back to the Tortuga as quickly as his body let him. He was heaving large breaths as he half-collapsed on the floor.

"Chris!" Aviva shouted as she crouched down to him.

"Where have you been, nut-jobber?!"

"Donita... Zach... w-were talking." The younger Kratt choked out in between breaths.

"About what?" Martin asked as he climbed down and ran over.

"... Me..." He replied weakly.

"... What?"

"Donita wants Zach to capture me so she can use me as a model. It's like what happened to you during our Draco lizard adventure. That's why the Zachbot was there in the first place." Chris explained as he stood up.

"We're not letting that happen. It was an awful experience..." The blue brother shuddered at the memory.

After a pause of silence, the climbing Kratt dared to ask a question that had entered his mind.

"Would it really be so bad if they caught me-?"

"YES." The other four answered synchronically.

"Why would you ask that?" Aviva questioned angrily.

"It's nothing that hasn't happened before..." The green brother mumbled.

"That's the last thing that should happen to you with everything that's been going on." Martin answered.

The only reply he received was Chris hugging himself and turning away slightly with a pained expression on his face.