To make a long story short-Martin's mission failed. Short and simple in a really sweet way. Not only did they reunite Miss Lucky with her flock in Bryant Park. They also gained two brand new Wild Kratt Kids in Fatima and Caleb. Then the blonde disgracefully got distracted from his initial goal of getting Chris to confess when he ended up playing "Guess The Migratory Bird" with their new eager friends. By the time they had identified eighteen different migratory avians at the park-the Tortuga appeared above them with the crew more than insistent that they had to leave. By the time Martin remembered what he had set out to do that day it was too late.

With the first signs of a vicious storm brewing in Chris surfacing up on their way to Charlotte, North Carolina…

In Tortuga HQ…..

Chris found himself to be in an upbeat mood. Not only did he and his brother successfully fulfill their assignments for the first event. The devious Divaz Duo had miraculously left them alone for the most part for their own work. (So they were true professionals and not just snobby stuck-ups after all! Hallelujah!) Not only that, but the first week alone snagged three willing big-time sponsors for Operation Frozen. The public had contributed a whopping 3.5 million for the cause before they moved on. The directors of the project were pleasantly surprised and Chris Fredrick James Kratt couldn't be more content.

The biologist hummed happily to himself as he reorganized his power disc collection. Martin and Koki are right. I'm guilty of overthinking these things. Maybe I should try to ease up on my paranoia a little… He self-reflected. As he placed down his peregrine falcon disc, he recalled that he and his brother had never even started the Falcon Tower Hunt before they had to leave NYC. Eh, there was always next time! Plus, nothing could stop them by altering the game a little to play while in Charlotte. Provided they wrapped up their fundraising duties first.

You know, even if yesterday didn't go as planned. I don't regret any of it. It was so worth it to sign up two new Wild Kratt Kids and witness Martin channeling his "Angry Inner Parent". Hee, hee! The look on those punks' faces! Although, something must be up in their home life if they are demonstrating just unacceptable behavior- His thought train screeched to a sudden thought when he heard the familiar beep! beep! of a message incoming from his creature pod.

He picked it up and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it was only Mikaya. His stupid, irritating paranoia of course waiting for Dr. Higgs to somehow contact him despite being blocked. However, what did his big bro's old city friend want? He answered the call and heard her say, "Hey…Kiddo, I'll try not to sugarcoat this. First off, Sunshine ain't into social media right?" Chris almost scoffed at the question. His brother may be a social butterfly but he for sure wasn't going to waste all day arguing with countless strangers when he could be chasing after much pleasanter creatures.

"Mikaya, social media isn't really our thing. I mean, we have our Wild Kratt Kids Network and Creature Adventurers Association for our older animal allies. But other than that we are too busy to be sending chirps or posting memes 24/7. Why? Did any negative press come up on Operation Frozen? I thought the paparazzi was going easy on us!" The logical brunette inquired with puzzlement. A heavy sigh that foretold bad news echoed from the other end.

"I'll just send you the link kid and see what you make of it." Mikaya replied tiredly before ending the call. Anxiety creeping back up his spine, Chris pulled up the link he was sent. He hesitated for a full minute before finally having the guts to open it. As soon as he did however-he wished he hadn't. Plastered as one of the top posts on Insta-Message was a enlarged image of Martin prancing about in wild pony powers with Fatima & Miss Lucky on his back. The glittery and bold caption below claiming: Screw Twilight & Her Friends! This Boy Is The Real My Little Pony!

Chris was more than ready to smash his trembling hands through the screen and strangle the idiot on the other end like a boa constrictor. Or better yet, become a human-sized and raging green boa constrictor to slither through the screen and squeeze that attention-seeking moron until he gave up social media CRAP for life. Suddenly, he let out a almost maniacal laughter. "Hah…hah, hah, hah! It's just ONE little post with several hundreds of thousands of views…not like it's going to spread faster than wildfire on the easily exploitable internet…."

He believed his own delusions….

For 6.3 seconds.

Before long he attacked the search bar of an unsuspecting browser with the tentative request: Martin Kratt as a brony?! "Please not a lot, please not a lot-OH OF COURSE IT DAMN IS!!!!" He nearly screamed as he saw 350 search results pop up with tons of pony loving content made on his big brother of all people! He scrolled in horror as he realized all the social media big names were parading Martin's innocent playtime with Fatima as the hottest MLP meme. Lil' Chirper, Disco Ball, Snappity Chatter, Redmix, TipToe, and even the old names like FaceSmack were brimming with shameless posts making fun of Martin. Christopher Fredrick James Kratt had never felt more fearful in his relentless life pursuit for answers than he did in that moment.

He was horribly tempted to ignore all the stupid online fuss on Martin just being Martin. After all, this sadly was not the first time someone caught the blonde goofball from doing something stupid and shared it with the internet for kicks. (And he doubted it would be the last.) Yet he had never seen one of his sibling's stunts land such a magnitude of online attention like THIS before. Considering that they would be stuck for the next three months for the sake of the creatures of both global poles. The already frazzled brunette sucked in a huge breath before bracing himself for countless strangers' unfiltered opinion on the man he cared for the most. He couldn't be more devastated with what he discovered:

#WTF IZ THIZ CR@P?!

#MegaBlueBronyLOL

#ManchildFRXD

#UltimateClownof2030

#ISWEARHE'SAPEDOPHILEINTHEMAKING!!!

#MartinKrattisajoke -_-

#PoorChrisSquad

The last one caught his attention. With trembling hands he dared to dive into the last hashtag. He found himself flooded with thousands of comments that were not making fun of Martin-but clamoring how supposedly unfair his lighthearted actions were for Chris himself. Somehow, the narrative has been twisted far from how he himself knew was the true tale. People were shaming his beloved big brother for acting like an absolute goofball. They assumed he was playing around while poor, hardworking, and responsible Chris was toiling away keeping the Wild Kratts together. All taken out of context because Chris wasn't even in the main trending post.

Sure, there was #GIANTGREENBIRD?!?!? that was taken on the same day. Alas, the internet was too busy having a field day with his brother just bonding with a new child friend to even put two and two together. Also, why did no one make a post about how they returned Miss Lucky to her flock?! There were a couple of folks present and he was pretty sure snapped photos. Why not the moment Martin rescued Caleb's pup friend Rocky?! Someone surely should have seen it… Why, why was it everyone always saw the negative and almost never the positive of Martin's own actions.

Every.

Single.

Damn.

Time.

As if that was not bad enough, if people were to see something good in a Kratt. It was usually in...himself. Gulping a bit, he typed up his name. Sure enough they were singing his praises about a adopt me fundraiser he agreed to partake in on behalf of his twin sisters. (Funny, how becoming adults and taking quite divergent paths on animal care resulted in almost never having enough time to see each other. Then again, absence made the heart fonder and ensured the other side forgot about that one time you tried to hide injured bullfrogs in their toy barn…) Besides the point, that fundraiser was freaking SIX MONTHS AGO. He could almost not believe people were still blabbering how "great", "self-sacrificing", & "noble" it was for him to show up to sign dog tags, take selfies with cats, & lure the crowds that would have never come to a humble fundraiser for homeless animals in the first place.

It irritated him to no end how people only cared for a cause if it was tied to a piece of entertainment engaging enough to capture their attention. Oh, as for #GIANTGREENBIRD?!?!, people did recognize the falcon as himself. Then proceeded to wrongly assume that he suited up to find his lost clueless, childish, clumsy- "Hello Christopher~" The owner of the name felt his heart drop. Did he just accidentally accept a call from-of course he did. Crap….

It took all of his patience to not scream bloody murder as Dina Divaz took over his screen. "Oh Christopher, we were so worried about you!" The snide woman tittered. "I'm sorry, you must be sorely mistaken." Chris began before he heard Aaron's signature scoff in the background. "Oh please Christopher, no need to cover up for your bumbling buffoon of a brother." The marine biologist snarked. "HEY! First off, that stupid post is taken way out of context!! The picture is just Martin hanging out with a new Wild Kratt Kid-" "Aaaawwwww, is it not sweet how little Cwis always comes to defend his big brother's honor?" Dina crooned mockingly.

Chris should have ended the call right then and there. He didn't. "Ooooohhh, like you wouldn't defend each other if the internet was slapping crap on either of you!! OR if a pair of elitist, arrogant, gilded, petty pricks were picking on one of you in college because they have a STUPID one-sided rivalry complex that inhibits them from accepting anyone even being remotely equal to them!!!" The brunette snapped furiously. A few moments of static silence almost convinced him that they finally got the message to shut up and leave him alone-

"It is always about him is it not?"

What…

Dina's eyes slightly glowed with amber fire as she lightly snarled, "Look, Kratt. We will not pretend that Martin actually has some merit to him. He is a genius in his own right."

"Method to his madness." Aaron quoted.

"Is a very excellent artist." Dina hissed.

"That foldable mural he made showcasing a prehistoric jungle slowly morphing into the modern day arctic blew all of the contestants of the art show out of the water." Aaron admitted begrudgingly.

"Is an even better swimmer than even my own brother."

"And eventually dear old coach, poor man never saw it coming."

"Charismatic and persuasive in tongue, can carry the room when he is not being a clown."

"Let's not forget he can easily take on foreign languages like Spanish or Mandarin. Ugh, no offense to any parties but I just can't for the life of me grasp Mandarin even if-"

"Then what in the name of the animal kingdom are you two envious punks getting at?!?!" Chris growled as dangerously as a Tasmanian devil. (Although the infamous T-devils were just hangry, lil gremlins that just needed their space and a couple of raw steaks left out after midnight.) The ecologist on the other end let out a long suffering sigh as if the message could not be more obvious. She said, "Martin has his flaws, yet on the other hand he is exceptionally talented. He always gets by, he always succeeds, and he always seems to have something to be damn cheerful about. He has it all, he can perfectly take care of himself without dragging anyone else into his whirlwind of mayhem." For once in his life, Chris was lost in the metaphor.

He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly as he asked, "This is going to sound embarrassing coming from someone who knows his words but…English please?" Dina and Aaron shared a look before the sister half of the Divaz Duo dropped the bomb, "He doesn't need you." Chris' eyes dilated. "He was just fine on his own, sure his first few jobs did not pan out and he did not gain as much recognition despite his work. Still, it was obvious from when we first met him he would be just fine." Aaron stated bluntly and perhaps a bit coldly. Chris' blood turned cold.

"Christopher, you were doing well on your own. Working at Artemis' Oasis and becoming a renowned speaker in the field of biology. You were well on your way to a wonderful solo career and a future of prestige. And yet, you did not hesitate to throw it all away the very second that crazy brother of yours came up with the Wild Kratts!" Dina groaned irritably. Chris' heart stopped. Aaron let out a scolding sneer, "You always give up everything for him even if he has it all. Friends, clubs, respect from teachers or peers, honors, opportunity, and even that sweet little miss from that upper-class family who would have happily married you despite your common background! And yet you gave it all-"

"YOUR JUST FREAKING JEALOUS AND THIS ENTIRE STUPID SPEECH OF RAMBLING ENVY ONLY PROVES IT!!!!!" Chris slammed his creature pod against the desk so hard it went CRACK!! Splintering into pieces as the glass shards of the screen frizzled with loose electricity. The sudden act of violence caused an unfortunate victim to come running to the ruckus. "Chris? Did you just break your pod?!" Jimmy Z exclaimed in shock as he anxiously stepped into the room.

Big mistake.

The unleashed beast whipped his head to Jimmy with brown eyes gleaming with rage. "So, what's it to you?! You damn lazy, gluttonous sloth that's not even worth his salt!! Go be USELESS somewhere else!!!" He lashed out as he chucked a shrapnel of his splintered creature pod at Jimmy. The poor redhead screamed as he ducked to avoid being pierced by metal still crackling with electricity. "What's the matter Jimmy? You're scared-LIKE ALWAYS!!" The beast suddenly cornered the hyperventilating pilot, the poor guy having no idea what kind of creature took over his friend's mind and how.

"HEY!! What's going on here?!" Another victim roller skated into the room. As soon as she saw Jimmy backed up by Chris she immediately stepped in. Not recognizing the beast that had been let out of its cage. "Chris!! What do you think you are doing?! Why is your creature pod in pieces!! I know Martin has a tendency to break my stuff and the last thing I need is-"

Big mistake.

The beast suddenly lunged forward and nearly smashed her against the wall. Jimmy, realizing that they were both dealing with a creature they had no expertise in. Hastily scrambled to his feet and slipped out of the room to fetch the one person who hopefully could, "Your inventions. IT'S ALWAYS ABOUT YOUR STUPID INVENTIONS!!! If you love your damn gadgets that malfunction half the time so much ALL THE TIME why even bother coming with us?!?! You could have joined some dumb little lab where they would force you to create new silly little toys all the DAMN TIME!!! I shouldn't let just a materialistic witch near MY brother in the first place!" The beast growled in growing anger, his eyes now more like brown earth slowly changing into molten magma.

The inventor found herself at a loss. Was it that bad she somewhat agreed to what this unknown animal of primal rage said? NO! It was not true! Sure, she could probably do much better in a traditional sense when it came to inventing. Still, she wouldn't give up her place on the Wild Kratts even for the highest position from the world famous Hikari Labs. Doing her best to speak to the trusted friend instead of this beast. "Look CK, I know you are angry right now. But that doesn't mean you take it out on anything or anyone-"

"Oooooohhhh!!! You're so smarter and better than everyone!! SHUT UP. I'm sick of it!! You think you are so great just because you happen to be a genius!! Well guess what Mrs. Smarty-Pants?!?! My brother doesn't need another stuck-up know-it-all telling him how useless, worthless, stupid, and hapless he is-" "Chris?!?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!" Yet another victim steps into the beast's den. Koki saw Jimmy screaming for Martin as the redhead sped past her in the hallway. She retracted his steps to where he fled to find the man she admired most pinning her best friend against the wall. Considering the community she once had the misfortune to endure, she was definitely not going to let this slide on their shared home on the Tortuga.

The communication specialist did not hesitate to walk straight up to the beast. Using her strength to remove him from Aviva. As she began pulling him away she snapped, "I don't know why the crud you are going feral but-" Almost in an instant she found herself flung to the floor. Her shock inhibited her from feeling the pain of being so violently slammed down. The beast's shadow hung over her like an ominous shadow. Its wrath is too fiery hot to be so easily counteracted by anything except water. Unfortunately, she was more earth than water. The beast, blind to everything but releasing its rage, was about to unleash its fury on the next victim.

"Chris!!!"

The creature of fiery anger whirled around to face the next idiot who dared to utter his name…Oh….Oh no….Crap. Jimmy has arrived in time with the water to put out the fire. Martin Kratt stood there, carefully approaching the beast as he had many times before. "Chris. It's me. Look at me." He gently ordered, slowly reaching out for his younger brother. The brunette before him blinked as it registered who exactly was in front of him. The rare times when the no-nonsense and strictly logical biologist was so blinded by emotion. It took someone who often indulged in them to get them out.

The blonde zoologist carefully stepped closer and closer, the beast just stood there nearly paralyzed. The elder of the Kratts did not dare remove his pacifying gaze from the glazed gaze of the younger. He was so close. He just needed to gently scoop up the little gremlin before him. Take him to his room to calm him down and maybe put him down for a calming nap. Or maybe just hold his little brother close for the rest of the evening. Martin's hand hovered around Chris' waist, their eyes still locked onto each other, and then he softly soothed, "Hey, it's okay I am here. You don't need to-"

He doesn't need you.

Suddenly the spell shattered into thousands of shards as Chris suddenly pushed back his brother. (Although not as hard as he did the girls. Then again, he should NOT have shoved them so harshly at all.) The crazed creature fled the room. Running madly throughout the Tortuga until he finally came to his room. Bolting inside and slamming the door shut. The beast, now fully rejuvenated by inner torment, let out a harrowing scream as it collapsed onto the bed in pain. A deep, concealed pain that no physical medicine or pain killer in the world could relieve.

"You don't need that idiot to always mess things up for you!!"

"Grow up Kratt! You can't cling to that damn brother of yours like you're still a baby!"

"Uuugghh, isn't it stupid at how dedicated you are to him? Like some little kid's dog."

"Dude, you act like you're going to die if you lose him. Heck, for your own good and everyone else's sanity maybe he should lose himself."

"Let me say this Christopher. Your brother will just be fine left alone and so will you."

No, no, no, no, no, no, no!!!

"Aaaaaaaaaauuuuuuuuggggghhhhhhhh!!!"