Chapters Wild Kratts go to Camp Everfree
Counselors Chris and Martin Kratt
“How amazing is it that we get to be counselors at this great camp, bro?” Chris asked.
“Yeah, I’m so glad Gloriosa asked us. Too bad Koki, Aviva, and Jimmy can’t see it. We brought our creature pods for pictures, though!” Martin responded.
“Alright, everyone. The campers should be here in just a couple minutes,” Gloriosa called. As the bus pulled in and everyone got settled, Gloriosa decided to start the camp session off with a nature hike.
“Martin and Chris, why don’t you go with the girls that saved this camp last year since you don’t know them as well,” Gloriosa asked. Martin and Chris nodded, slightly intimidated that they were going to be two guys among a bunch of teenage girls.
“Hello, everyone. We’re the new counselors. I’m Chris.”
“And I’m Martin.”
“The Kratt Brothers? I remember you guys! Zoboomafoo was one of my favorite shows growing up!” Twilight said excitedly. “In fact, it was got me into science in the first place. I’m Twilight.”
“Oh yes, I love animals so much, too,” Fluttershy chimed in. “I’m Fluttershy.”
“Well, while the rest of us here aren’t quite into science and animals as much as Twilight and Fluttershy, it’s awfully nice what you two do. Helping wildlife and all that. We’re happy you’re here at Camp Everfree. I’m Applejack.”
“I’m Rainbow Dash. I love when you talk about animals that go really, really fast like me!!! Nice to meetcha!”
“Ah yes, it is wonderful to meet you indeed, darlings. I’m Rarity.”
“Yes, I’m so happy to meet you I’ve never been so happy to meet anyone in my entire life!!!” shouted Pinkie Pie in here usual fast speed. “I’m Pinkie!”
“And well… I’m Sunset Shimmer. The newest of the crew.”
“It’s great to meet the girls we’ve heard so much about, too,” Chris smiled.
“I can see we’re going to have a great time. You can show us what this camp has to offer. Let’s go!” Martin said.
“Everything okay there, Fluttershy?”
“Oh yes, everything’s fine Martin. I don’t live life quite as fast paced as my friends.”
“I can relate. We both like adventure, but Chris is definitely more of a daredevil.”
“My little brother is like that, too. He sometimes thinks he knows better when he doesn’t.”
“Oh, those younger siblings. It’s a good thing they have us to protect them, don’t they?” Fluttershy giggled and nodded. “Come, we don’t want to get too behind the rest of the group.”
“So Fluttershy, I see you’ve chosen my brother as your personal wildlife expert,” Chris noticed.
“You could say that, yes,” Fluttershy responded looking at Martin with a smile.
“He’s a good teacher. I’d know. I’ve been his younger brother all my life.”
“Well, you seem like quite the teacher yourself,” Martin said. “Right, girls?”
“Oh yeah!” Rainbow exclaimed. “He told me that moose can run up to 35 miles per hour. I had no idea they were that fast! I thought they just ate tree branches all day.”
“I’m glad you all had fun. Let’s do this again before camp gets out,” Chris said laughing a little at Rainbow’s comment. “Now, go and wash up for dinner. We’ll meet you there.”
“Man, I always thought teenagers weren’t active or energetic. I had fun, but I feel like I’ve been playing with my sons,” Chris said when the girls had gone to dinner.
Martin laughed. “You can hang out with Fluttershy next time and I’ll take care of those effervescent teenagers.”
The next day, Martin and Gloriosa sat at the counselor dinner table.
“Oh hey, it looks like Chris and the crew are back from canoeing,” Martin said. “I must say, it’s amazing how much they’ve taken a liking to him. Even Fluttershy went along with his crazy antics a little bit this morning.”
“I guess canoeing was a little too crazy. It’s nice to have some bird feeders and hummingbird nectar around. And she, I, and the rest of the campers sure enjoyed learning about hummingbirds. Life with you two must never be boring, huh?”
“Well, knowing a lot about animals can sometimes be nice during trivia games,” Martin laughed.
“Hey everyone,” Chris said as he sat down.
“Hi Chris,” Martin responded.
“I’m glad you and the campers have been getting along so well. Both of you. I’m assuming you’re enjoying yourselves?”
“Well, children can be a little pesky. But it’s all in good fun,” Chis said with a little bit of a nervous laughter at the end.
“Aw, come on, Chris. I know it’s tiring, but they’re anything but pesky,” Martin said. Chris made a little eye roll.
“So, Gloriosa, what do you have planned for this evening?” Martin asked.
“Well, I gathered up some flashlights and I thought you and Chris could lead some of the campers in a night creature expedition.”
“Sounds great!”
“Eh, I don’t know. That seems like a lot of… work. I mean a bunch of teenagers in the dark?”
“Come on, Chris. We’ve sacrificed a consistent sleep schedule for nocturnal animals, what’s the harm in having some nighttime fun. And besides. It’s supposed to be work of some sort. We are being paid after all.” Chris rolled his eyes a little again.
Being the younger brother, Chris had rolled his eyes often at Martin, but not since they were in high school or college. And pesky? Since when did Chris call teenagers pesky? He seemed to be having great fun yesterday. And for him to blow of a work task like that? Chris wouldn’t do that. And it wasn’t just what he said that bothered Martin. It was the way he said it. It just seemed… off. Something about the tone sounded strangely familiar, but it certainly wasn’t like Chris. Martin ate his dinner in silence unable to pay attention to any more conversation around him. Perhaps his older brother instincts were being too strong. Maybe Chris was just tired. But Martin couldn’t help but wonder…
Gloriosa also noticed that Chris wasn’t quite the person she knew when she hired him. But she wasn’t mad as much as worried. She didn’t want Martin and Chris to fight. But she figured it was all part of being siblings, and she told Martin so.
“Hey Gloriosa. Sorry if Chris and I made you uncomfortable at dinner tonight,” Martin said.
“Oh, it’s no problem. I’m a sibling, too. I know how it is.”
Gloriosa trusted Martin, but she decided to ask Pinkie how Chris was canoeing.
“Oh, yeah. Chris. Chris was… fine. No problems here.”
Did Pinkie just have a hard time remembering Chris? She had spent plenty of time with him, didn't she? And didn’t Pinkie know everyone?
Wild Kratts go to Camp Everfree
Author's Note
Another part is here! I'm happy with how this story is going and I hope you are, too. :)
The Adventure Begins
The brothers didn’t speak much to one another during the night creature expedition. Martin took one group and Chris took another. The seven girls were in Martin’s group. He was glad that he had some familiar faces to ease his mind about what had happened at dinner a bit. The first thing the campers saw when going outside were fireflies
“Woah, it’s like there’s a galaxy on the ground!” Fluttershy said.
“Twilight, get a jar and catch these for me, will ya?” Applejack ordered.
“Why me?” Twilight asked.
“I don’t know. You were the closest to me.”
“Why doesn’t Rainbow Dash catch them? She’s the active one.”
“Ugh, but that’s so much WORK,” Rainbow said in an exasperated tone.
“Girls, girls, why don’t we ALL get jars and catch them,” Martin said. The girls groaned and went inside to get jars.
“Sorry about that, Martin. I don’t know what got into them,” Fluttershy said.
“It’s okay,” Martin said. On the surface, it was. Martin gave a solution to their argument and the girls obliged to do what he said. But was it just Martin, or did they sort of sound like Chris did at dinner? Stuck-up. Not wanting to do any unnecessary work. It all reminded him of someone, but he couldn’t figure out who. None of the girls he met during the nature hike seemed like themselves that night. Except for Fluttershy, anyway. She wouldn’t have apologized if she weren’t herself. He had so many pieces to the puzzle, but couldn’t put any of them together. The answer was just under his nose and he hated he couldn’t figure it out.
It was pretty late when Martin and Chris got to their cabins. They didn’t get a chance to talk much until after breakfast when it was time for arts and crafts. They decided to make some lanterns. Martin had finished his and decided to sit and read for the rest of the time.
“Alright, everyone. I’m off to lunch,” Chris called out. “Toodles!”
Toodles? Martin had only heard Chris say that once when they were working the rhinos. Well, it wasn’t Chris, really. It was a… the realization hit Martin so hard that he couldn’t finish the sentence he had in his head. He bolted up the stairs in the building and ran towards Gloriosa’s desk.
“You’re going to think I’m crazy but… but…” Martin said to her panting.
“Calm down, Martin. What’s going on?”
“Chris and the girls that saved this camp? It’s not really them. Well, Fluttershy seemed okay…”
“Hang on, hang on,” Gloriosa cut Martin off. “What do you mean, ‘not really them’?”
“It’s not really them. They’re a special kind of robot called Zachbots disguised as them.”
“Zachbots? Special kind of robots?” Gloriosa asked trying to process the information.
“A guy named Zach Varmitech made them to be his servants. He likes to use animals to power his inventions.”
“Yeesh, so you know him.”
“We know him too well.”
“But if they’re Zachbots… where are your brother and the others?”
“He must have captured them while they were canoeing.”
Yesterday…
“Hey look, Chris. It’s a turtle family on shore! Can we paddle in and take a look?” Twilight asked.
“Sure!”
As everyone parked the canoes, the turtle family started to move. The others followed them as quietly as possible. Chris got a glimpse of the turtles’ heads and he noticed something strange. The eyes were flashing red.
“Girls, stop,” he said suddenly, but he was too late. The turtles turned into the robots Chris knew all too well. Zachbots. “They going to trap us. Run!” he shouted. They tried to outrun the Zachbots, but the Zachbots’ long arms were faster. Zach landed his jet nearby and walked out to talk to the people he captured. Chris noticed a cage of some wildlife Zach was going to use for his robots.
“Zach, let us and the animals that live in Camp Everfree go!” Chris shouted.
“Where’s Blue Boy?” Zach asked ignoring Chris’s plea for freedom.
“He’s not here,” Chris said with a satisfied smirk on his face.
“UGH!! You always have to make things so DIFFICULT. But no matter. I saw a nice place to keep you while I figure out how to capture the other pesky Wild Rat.”
“Wild Rat?” Appejack asked with a scorn.
“Just go with it,” Chris said to her.
“Zachbots, put them into the cave and use a boulder to keep them there! And make sure they can’t contact Blue Boy or anyone when you arrive,” Zach commanded. The cave wasn’t too far away, so there wasn’t much of a chance to break free. With a thud, the Zachbots threw the seven they had trapped into the cave and pushed a boulder to the entrance. Zach gave a big evil laugh as the seven victims heard the jet fly away.
“Hey, we’re in the crystal cave where we had that fundraiser,” Twilight noticed. “Good thing there are some gems in here that give us at least some light.”
“I wonder if there’s still Equestrian magic here. If only we had our geodes,” Sunset said. She then laughed a little at Chris’s confused face. “It’s a… long story,” she said.
“Maybe you can tell it later. Now, if the seven of us can push out this boulder, we won’t need any magic,” Chris said. Everyone put in their best effort, but the boulder didn’t budge. Everyone plummeted to the ground and groaned.
“So who is this Zach guy and why does he hate us so much?” Applejack said.
“Well, he’s jealous of our friend Aviva because she’s a better inventor than he is. I wish I could use some of her inventions now. It seems like the Zachbots put an anti-communication net around here, like Zach ordered. I knew I should have brought my creature power suit,” Chris lamented.
“Wait, creature power suit?” Rainbow asked.
“It’s an invention Aviva made for us. With my creature souvenir collection, we’d be able to get some animal abilities to get us out of here,” Chris said. “But there’s the whole rest of the camp out there. Someone has to notice we’re gone soon…”
Wild Kratts go to Camp Everfree
“How are we gonna find them?” Gloriosa asked in dismay.
“You know this camp better than anyone. Can you think of any good hiding place that Zach might have put them?”
“Hm… there are many,” Gloriosa said sounding a little worried. “There’s a big cave across the lake. You could try there as a start.” Martin nodded.
“Thanks Gloriosa. I better get going.” Martin walked to his cabin and got his creature powersuit and his backpack. He figured it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have some creature powers to help him on this adventure. He also came across Chris’s power suit and souvenir collection. A wave of sadness came over him. He felt lonely not creature adventuring without his brother and more importantly, he had no idea what kind of danger Chris and the others might be in. But then an idea struck him. He didn’t need to be alone. Fluttershy wasn’t a Zachbot and she knew a lot about animals. She could help. And Martin was sure she was just as curious and worried about what was going on as he was.
“So Chris and my friends are… robots? And the real ones are trapped somewhere?”
“That’s what I’m guessing. I need your help to find out.”
“Well, sure, I know a lot about animals but… I wouldn’t be much use to you. I could never do what you and Chris do.”
“Sure you can. You’ve proved to me in the short time that you can. Being shy doesn’t mean that you’re weak. Chris and your friends need you just as they need me.”
“Alright. Alright, I’ll do it. I can help you find the cave Gloriosa was talking about.”
“I knew you’d come through. I brought some stuff for you,” Martin said.
“Oh, that reminds me. I should go and get something. I’ll meet you back here.”
Meanwhile…
“How has no one noticed we’re gone?” Rainbow asked.
“Maybe someone has and they just can’t find us. This is a big patch of wilderness,” Chris said.
“I’m glad this cave is so big. At least we found some clean water,” Applejack said.
“And we brought some bread and fruit in case we missed dinner. But that’s still all we’ve had in 24 hours. I’m STARVING,” Rainbow said. All the others nodded in sympathy and agreement.
“Martin has always been there to look out for me. He has to find us,” Chris said. He wanted to believe his own words, but he was losing faith, too.
Back at camp…
“The vest and gloves I’m wearing aren’t just any vest and gloves. With the disk inserted here, the DNA sensing pads of the gloves can give me animal abilities if I touch something from them. I brought Chris’s for you.”
“What animals are you thinking of?”
“Hm… Chris collected a purple martin feather!” Martin said looking through the collection.
“There’s a bird called purple martin?” Fluttershy asked.
“Indeed! I’m a lucky guy. There are two animals with ‘martin’ in them. The other one is called a pine martin because it loves to climb in pine trees. But anyway, I think with purple martin powers, we can fly across the lake. We can figure things out from there. Here’s a disk.” Fluttershy and Martin the disks and Fluttershy watched intently as Martin activated the suit. She took a deep breath she made her body move her hand to the button in the middle of the vest.
“Activate purple martin powers…” she said. Immediately, all her insecurities went away. She felt like she never had. She felt like the world belonged to her as she soared across Camp Everfree. She was a purple martin! Or rather, a green martin since she was in Chris’s suit.
“Looking good, Fluttershy! Now, lead me to the cave!”
At the cave, Fluttershy and Martin deactivated.
“Hello! Is anyone in there? It’s Martin and Fluttershy!” they called.
“Someone’s yelling outside the cave!” Chris shouted. “They found us!” Everyone got up and ran towards the boulder. “We’re in here!”
“Girls, I brought the geodes,” Fluttershy said.
“They won’t do us any good if they’re out there and we’re in here,” Rarity said.
“No… Martin, do you think that I could use creature powers to make in in the small cracks between the cave and the boulder?”
“Maybe… how about a dragonfly?” Martin said as he saw a couple fly not too far away.
“Perfect,” Fluttershy said taking the disk. She walked over carefully and managed to touch the dragonfly and activated the suit. But then she remembered something else.
“The geodes are too big for me to carry!”
Martin took the miniaturizer and threw the geodes on the surface. Fluttershy used her dragonfly legs and before she knew it, she was in the cave. She deactivated and greeted all her friends.
“I must say, green is a good color on you!” Chris said.
“I brought your geodes. Applejack, you should be able to push the boulder out with your super strength. They’re small, but they should still work.” Luckily for the girls, they did work, and Applejack was able to push the boulder easily. But just as everyone was about to greet Martin, Zach’s jet suddenly landed before them.
“Ha, you fell for my trick!” Zach said.
“What trick?” Martin asked.
“I knew you’d recognize that your brother and the others weren’t real and you’d come to save them and I’d capture you, too!”
“But we have creature powers that can stop you!” Fluttershy said. “And we have something a bit… magical in store.”
“Ugh, Zachbots, trap them,” Zach ordered. But Rainbow Dash activated her super speed and destroyed them in two seconds.
“You’ll have to do better than that, Zach,” she shouted. More Zachbots arrived, and Applejack punched them with her super strength. Twilight then noticed the cages was able to pry them open.
“Chase Zach and his Zachbots far away from here!” Fluttershy ordered the animals with the animal communication abilities. The animals did what they were told.
“I’LL GET YOU SOMEDAY WILD RATS,” Zach shouted.
“He’ll never stop using that ‘clever’ pun with our last name, will he?” Chris asked.
“Nah. But I almost am getting used to it. Zach wouldn’t be Zach without it.”
“Yeah, I guess not,” Chris admitted.
“But enough yakking. Let’s get all of you back so you can recover from being trapped in a cave for 24 hours!”
Fluttershy called some fish to help push the kayaks that were still ashore and then she and Martin used the creature power suits to help, too.
Chris and the girls had a nice meal from the camp, and good shower, got some clean clothes on, and everything in the camp went back to normal. After an eventful day, Chris and Martin decided to have a nice relaxing evening in their cabin.
“So, Martin… when did you realize it wasn’t me?” Chris wondered.
“I’d like to say it was older brother instinct, and I guess it was a little. But the difference was so staggering, I’d think anyone would notice if they spent enough time with you.”
“Well, that older brother instinct sure has helped me a lot throughout the years. Thanks, bro.”
“Don’t mention it. It’s what we do.”
“Good night, Martin.”
‘Night, Chris!”
Author's Note
Here were are! It's finished! I had a lot of fun writing it and I can't wait to write more fanfictions in the future. 😊