Preservation - Ch. 2
Title: Preservation
Chapter: 2
Fandom: Wild Kratts
Character(s): Martin Kratt, Chris Kratt
Genre: Drama, family, some action
Rating: K+/PG
Disclaimers: Wild Kratts © Martin and Chris Kratt
Notes: I had a bit of a difficult time writing this, but it got better after all those new episodes that premiered a while ago. Those really gave me some inspiration, and I was able to finish this up.
Summary: The only thing stronger than the Kratt Brothers' desire to protect the animals...is their desire to protect each other.
[Chapter 1]
~*~*~*~
Suddenly shoving the empty box and green Creature Pod into Aviva's hands, Martin stormed towards Zach, his body tense with anger. Unfortunately he couldn't get very far before the Zachbot blocked his path, hovering between him and its creator.
Clenching his fists, Martin forced himself to calm down before he tried taking a swing at the robot. If he at least had a creature power, it would have been much easier to take the robot out and get to Zach. But on his own, he didn't have much of a chance against the machine.
So he simply glared at the Zachbot before him. But his next words were addressed to Zach. "Where is he?"
Just passed the robot, he could see Zach smirk. "He who?" he taunted.
Martin's eyes narrowed. He hated the idea of playing along with Zach, but he had a feeling that the other man wouldn't say anything unless he did so. So he slowly grounded out, "Where's Chris?"
Zach laughed. "Oh yeah, him. I might've seen the little birdie boy somewhere."
"What did you do to him, Zach?" Aviva demanded.
"Relax." He waved his hand in a careless manner. "I haven't really done anything that bad…yet."
The implication made Martin bristle, and the anger quickly gave way to fear when he considered what the other might do. "What do you want, Zach?"
"I already told you," the pale man huffed. "I'm planning on making an army of animals, and I want you guys to get the strongest, toughest ones for me."
Aviva shook her head. "I knew it. All that nonsense about asking us for a favor and helping us in return -"
"Oh, no, I meant that." Zach's smirk seemed to grow. "Help me gather some critters for my army…and I'll make sure Green Guy gets back to you in one piece."
Something cold settled in Martin's stomach as he caught the threat in Zach's words, and he realized that the other man fully intended to carry it out. He swallowed hard. He knew he had to save Chris, but…could he really surrender the freedom and well-being of animals in order to do so?
"L…let me see Chris," he said suddenly, glaring over the robot at Zach.
The pale inventor frowned. "What?"
"I need to see Chris. I mean, how do we even know you have Chris?" Martin shrugged. "Chris and I drop our Creature Pods all the time…"
"That's for sure," Koki agreed.
"So how do we know that you didn't just find Chris' somewhere and are just bluffing?" Martin crossed his arms. "Let me see him."
Zach scoffed. "What, you think I'm stupid enough to risk bringing him with me while I'm trying to negotiate with you?"
Martin's fingers drummed against his arm impatiently. To tell the truth, he had only asked to stall for time. He was hoping to come up with a plan, to find a way to save Chris without giving in to Zach's demands. Whatever suspicions Zach mentioned never even crossed his mind. Quickly glancing at Aviva, though, he could see that she clearly seemed to confirm those thoughts.
Noticing this as well, Zach glowered. "Well too bad, but he's not here. He's not even on the jet, so there."
Before Martin had time to wonder how much time it would have taken Zach to capture Chris and transport him somewhere else before coming back to confront them like this, Aviva countered, "Well then, how do we know if you're telling the truth?"
With a glare, Zach released an annoyed exhale. "Will you settle for a broadcasted image?" He snapped his fingers, and the Zachbot in front of Martin responded with a series of beeps. Then its eyes began to glow red as a beam of light shot out from them past Martin.
He spun around, looking up at the image that the robot projected. The light made the picture a little fuzzy, as if they were looking at it on an old screen. But even so, the brown hair, the face…the features of the figure projected were undeniable.
"Chris!" Martin's eyes were wide as he stared at the image of his younger brother, unconscious and appearing to be lying back on something. He scanned the picture, trying to see if his brother had any noticeable injuries. It was difficult to do, though, since the projection only showed Chris' upper body, but there didn't seem to be any major wounds.
He looked towards Aviva and noticed how slowly and carefully she pulled out her Creature Pod, doing her best to keep it hidden. And realizing what she was trying to do, he knew that she needed enough time in order to do it. He racked his brain, trying to think of a way to distract Zach.
"Wait a second," he said. "How do we know that's the real Chris? How do we know it's not just a projection and you're just trying to fake us out?"
Zach's brow rose in question, but he smirked. "What's a' matter? You mean you still can't tell the difference between your own brother and a hologram?"
Martin winced at the mocking question, suddenly flooded with memories of the exact moment Zach was talking about. No matter how long ago that had been, and no matter how much both Chris and he laughed and played off the incident, the guilt he felt for being unable to recognize his younger brother continued to linger in the back of his mind. The knowledge that he had failed to protect his brother tore at him, and he had promised himself that he would do better…except now, it seemed it was happening all over again.
With a smug chuckle, Zach snapped his fingers again, and the image of Chris flicked and disappeared. Martin turned to Aviva, hoping that it had been enough for her to track the signal of the broadcast and find Chris' location. But judging by the frustrated expression on her face, he knew that she hadn't had enough time.
"So, Wild Rat," Zach said, forcing Martin's attention back to him. All traces of his faked formality were gone now that his hand was played, and he was back to his usual dark self. "What's it gonna be? You gonna help me or what?"
Martin hesitated, running his fingers through his hair as his mind and heart raced. Part of him was ready to jump at the chance, to agree to whatever the other wanted in order to find Chris and get him back safely. But knowing that would mean putting animals at risk, leaving them to someone who didn't care what would happen to them and letting him do who-knows-what with them…he just couldn't bring himself to do it.
"Martin?" Koki said, voicing the surprise they all felt that he was taking this long to decide.
"But…uh…Oh!" He looked towards Zach again. "We don't even have equipment to capture animals! How're we supposed to help you with that?"
Zach rolled his eyes. "Figures. But that's easy enough to fix with a couple of my Zachbots. I'll just send a couple over whenever I need some critters, and they'll help you capture the animals I need."
A chill ran down Martin's spine as the words echoed through his head. If Zach would send his robots to them 'whenever he needed animals', that meant that Zach planned to make them find animals - to imprison animals - more than once. How many times would he force them to help him, and how many animals would he enslave for his army before he was finished? There was just no way…no way he could agree to help Zach.
"Martin?"
He turned towards Aviva, meeting her uncertain eyes. "What's the hold up?" she asked.
And he realized, as he looked between her and Koki and Jimmy, that they had already given up. The decision was made to go along with Zach, and they weren't going to fight this. Somehow, he couldn't help the anger that began to bubble inside him.
"Think of what he's saying," he said, his voice a low hiss. "Think of what he's making us do…of what he wants!"
"I understand," Aviva replied, and he knew that she really did. "But what choice do we have?"
Martin shook his head. "I can't…I can't just…"
"Y'know," Zach suddenly piped up, "I guess I really shouldn't be surprised."
Turning towards him, Martin frowned. "Huh?"
The pale man examined his fingernails casually, a twisted smile spreading across his lips. "I mean, I should've known that you couldn't make a decision like this, since people aren't really important to you."
Martin's eyes widened, and his breath was caught in his throat. "Wh…wh-what's that supposed to mean?"
Zach shrugged. "It's only so obvious that you care more about stupid animals than about humans. Then again, I guess I always kinda figured that you Wild Rats just didn't care about people. But I never thought that worthless little critters were more important to you than your own brother."
"I…Th-that's not…" Martin floundered.
"Don't listen to him, Martin," Aviva said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "He's just trying to mess with your head."
But it was hard for Martin to pay attention to her over the shame echoing in his ears. He had been called a lot of things due to his life as a Creature Adventurer, and he was used to hearing some mean and sometimes weird things. But no one had ever accused him of not caring about people before. Sure, protecting animals was important to him, but…it wasn't because he considered people less important…right?
But then…why couldn't he have been like the others, who were all ready to save Chris? Chris was his brother, and he should have been the first one to do whatever he could to help him, no matter what. So did his hesitation mean that Zach was right? That he cared more about protecting animals than helping his brother?
"Well," Zach said suddenly, "I guess if you don't wanna help me, then I should just get going. I've got some…useless things that I need to get rid of."
Fear once again gripped Martin's heart. "Wait, Zach!" he called.
Zach paused, looking towards Martin expectantly.
Still, Martin hesitated. "You…you have to promise that Chris will be okay."
The younger man rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, whatever."
"I mean it." Martin's eyes narrowed. "If anything happens…"
"All right, I get it." Zach approached the Wild Kratts team again, standing beside his Zachbot. "Like I said, help me with my animal army, and Green Guy will get back to you, all safe and sound."
Studying the other for a moment, Martin then sighed, a defeated slump in his shoulders. "All right."
Zach smirked, holding his hand out. "So we have a deal?"
Martin eyed the pale hand, as though it might attack him. But swallowing down the lump in his throat, he accepted the offered handshake to seal the deal.
It was hard to ignore the feeling, though, that he was going to regret this in the end.
The pounding in the back of his head was what first roused him from the dark unconsciousness. But when he tried to rub the tender spot, it was the fact that he couldn't move his arms that really woke him up.
Eyes snapping open, Chris looked down to see the restraints around his wrists and ankles, holding him down to the metal table he was lying on. A few hard tugs proved that the bonds would not break easily, and he soon gave up when the throbbing in his head worsened.
He took slow, deep breaths to calm the rising fear in his chest, distracting himself by examining the room he was in. The dim lighting made it difficult to see more than shadowed shapes, but he soon discovered that the light was coming from a computer monitor, the screen dark from idleness and taking up the entire length of one wall.
Closing his eyes, he exhaled through his nose as he tried to recall how he ended up in such a predicament. He remembered horses…being in his pigeon suit…a stampede…smoke…a familiar ship, and…
"Zach," he muttered, his voice dry and raspy.
"You called?"
Chris would have jumped had he not been bound to the table, but he winced when light suddenly flooded the room. Blinking rapidly, he finally managed to open his eyes and see the spacious room he was in, lined with metal from corner to corner and filled with machines that he had no idea what they did.
And to his right, on the opposite side of the room from the monitor, stood Zach at the doorway, with a smug grin on his face.
Chris glared. "Zach, what are you up to now?" he demanded.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Zach taunted, striding into the room at a leisurely pace.
The green-clad man futilely tried at his restraints once more. "You better not have done anything to those horses!"
"Oh please," the inventor said, pausing at the table to look down at Chris. "What is it with you guys and those horses? I am so not interested."
Chris looked up at him, but from his angle Zach looked upside-down. "Well, whatever you're planning, it won't work."
Zach laughed. "It already has. I just need to get a few things ready before I ask that brother of yours to capture some animals for me."
"Wh…what?" He blinked. His headache must be worse than he thought, because he couldn't have heard right. It just wasn't possible. "What did you say?"
Zach's smirk deepened. "Exactly what I said, Green Guy. With just one call, I can get whatever animal I want, trapped and delivered to me by Blue Boy himself."
Chris' eyes widened, and he shook his head. "No way…no way! Martin would never…!"
With an amused look, Zach continued past the table and towards the monitor. "If you don't think he'd give up a bunch of dumb creatures for your sake, then you clearly don't know him as well as you think."
His head began pounding again, and this time it wasn't because of the bump back there. 'For my sake…' A cold numbing wave swept throughout his entire body as the words echoed in his mind, quickly putting the pieces together. Zach had captured him while he'd been looking for the horse herd, and was now using him as leverage to get his older brother to capture animals for him. But for what? Just what was Zach up to?
Swallowing thickly, he glanced up to see the pale man typing commands on the computer consol. "Where…where's Martin now?"
Zach hummed, pretending to think. "They were heading to Africa last I checked…or at least they better be, since that's where I told them to go. Then again, that was a few hours ago, so they might already be there."
Another wave of panic rushed through Chris as he wondered just how long he'd been out. "Why Africa?" he asked. It felt weird to keep talking, and part of him did it because he felt nervous. But Chris also knew that Zach was pretty boastful, and no matter how hard the inventor tried to act mysterious, he would take any opportunity he could to gloat about his plan.
"Seemed like a good place to start," Zach replied, looking between the monitor and typing on the consol. "There always seems to be plenty of animals running around there."
Chris frowned. That may have been true, but a good number of those animals were endangered and needed protection. "And what animal are you looking for there?"
Zach paused, this time taking the moment to actually consider his answer. "Dunno." He glanced back towards the Kratt with that small smirk of his. "Got any suggestions?"
Chris glared at him. He knew he should try asking more questions, try to wear Zach down first before he could really find out Zach's plan, but the words were out of his mouth before he could stop them. "If Martin does catch animals for you, what are you going to do with them? What's gonna happen then?"
Zach turned back to the monitor, so Chris never got the chance to see his smirk across his face grow ever wider. "That's…when the fun begins."
TBC
[Chapter 3]
Chapter: 2
Fandom: Wild Kratts
Character(s): Martin Kratt, Chris Kratt
Genre: Drama, family, some action
Rating: K+/PG
Disclaimers: Wild Kratts © Martin and Chris Kratt
Notes: I had a bit of a difficult time writing this, but it got better after all those new episodes that premiered a while ago. Those really gave me some inspiration, and I was able to finish this up.
Summary: The only thing stronger than the Kratt Brothers' desire to protect the animals...is their desire to protect each other.
[Chapter 1]
~*~*~*~
Suddenly shoving the empty box and green Creature Pod into Aviva's hands, Martin stormed towards Zach, his body tense with anger. Unfortunately he couldn't get very far before the Zachbot blocked his path, hovering between him and its creator.
Clenching his fists, Martin forced himself to calm down before he tried taking a swing at the robot. If he at least had a creature power, it would have been much easier to take the robot out and get to Zach. But on his own, he didn't have much of a chance against the machine.
So he simply glared at the Zachbot before him. But his next words were addressed to Zach. "Where is he?"
Just passed the robot, he could see Zach smirk. "He who?" he taunted.
Martin's eyes narrowed. He hated the idea of playing along with Zach, but he had a feeling that the other man wouldn't say anything unless he did so. So he slowly grounded out, "Where's Chris?"
Zach laughed. "Oh yeah, him. I might've seen the little birdie boy somewhere."
"What did you do to him, Zach?" Aviva demanded.
"Relax." He waved his hand in a careless manner. "I haven't really done anything that bad…yet."
The implication made Martin bristle, and the anger quickly gave way to fear when he considered what the other might do. "What do you want, Zach?"
"I already told you," the pale man huffed. "I'm planning on making an army of animals, and I want you guys to get the strongest, toughest ones for me."
Aviva shook her head. "I knew it. All that nonsense about asking us for a favor and helping us in return -"
"Oh, no, I meant that." Zach's smirk seemed to grow. "Help me gather some critters for my army…and I'll make sure Green Guy gets back to you in one piece."
Something cold settled in Martin's stomach as he caught the threat in Zach's words, and he realized that the other man fully intended to carry it out. He swallowed hard. He knew he had to save Chris, but…could he really surrender the freedom and well-being of animals in order to do so?
"L…let me see Chris," he said suddenly, glaring over the robot at Zach.
The pale inventor frowned. "What?"
"I need to see Chris. I mean, how do we even know you have Chris?" Martin shrugged. "Chris and I drop our Creature Pods all the time…"
"That's for sure," Koki agreed.
"So how do we know that you didn't just find Chris' somewhere and are just bluffing?" Martin crossed his arms. "Let me see him."
Zach scoffed. "What, you think I'm stupid enough to risk bringing him with me while I'm trying to negotiate with you?"
Martin's fingers drummed against his arm impatiently. To tell the truth, he had only asked to stall for time. He was hoping to come up with a plan, to find a way to save Chris without giving in to Zach's demands. Whatever suspicions Zach mentioned never even crossed his mind. Quickly glancing at Aviva, though, he could see that she clearly seemed to confirm those thoughts.
Noticing this as well, Zach glowered. "Well too bad, but he's not here. He's not even on the jet, so there."
Before Martin had time to wonder how much time it would have taken Zach to capture Chris and transport him somewhere else before coming back to confront them like this, Aviva countered, "Well then, how do we know if you're telling the truth?"
With a glare, Zach released an annoyed exhale. "Will you settle for a broadcasted image?" He snapped his fingers, and the Zachbot in front of Martin responded with a series of beeps. Then its eyes began to glow red as a beam of light shot out from them past Martin.
He spun around, looking up at the image that the robot projected. The light made the picture a little fuzzy, as if they were looking at it on an old screen. But even so, the brown hair, the face…the features of the figure projected were undeniable.
"Chris!" Martin's eyes were wide as he stared at the image of his younger brother, unconscious and appearing to be lying back on something. He scanned the picture, trying to see if his brother had any noticeable injuries. It was difficult to do, though, since the projection only showed Chris' upper body, but there didn't seem to be any major wounds.
He looked towards Aviva and noticed how slowly and carefully she pulled out her Creature Pod, doing her best to keep it hidden. And realizing what she was trying to do, he knew that she needed enough time in order to do it. He racked his brain, trying to think of a way to distract Zach.
"Wait a second," he said. "How do we know that's the real Chris? How do we know it's not just a projection and you're just trying to fake us out?"
Zach's brow rose in question, but he smirked. "What's a' matter? You mean you still can't tell the difference between your own brother and a hologram?"
Martin winced at the mocking question, suddenly flooded with memories of the exact moment Zach was talking about. No matter how long ago that had been, and no matter how much both Chris and he laughed and played off the incident, the guilt he felt for being unable to recognize his younger brother continued to linger in the back of his mind. The knowledge that he had failed to protect his brother tore at him, and he had promised himself that he would do better…except now, it seemed it was happening all over again.
With a smug chuckle, Zach snapped his fingers again, and the image of Chris flicked and disappeared. Martin turned to Aviva, hoping that it had been enough for her to track the signal of the broadcast and find Chris' location. But judging by the frustrated expression on her face, he knew that she hadn't had enough time.
"So, Wild Rat," Zach said, forcing Martin's attention back to him. All traces of his faked formality were gone now that his hand was played, and he was back to his usual dark self. "What's it gonna be? You gonna help me or what?"
Martin hesitated, running his fingers through his hair as his mind and heart raced. Part of him was ready to jump at the chance, to agree to whatever the other wanted in order to find Chris and get him back safely. But knowing that would mean putting animals at risk, leaving them to someone who didn't care what would happen to them and letting him do who-knows-what with them…he just couldn't bring himself to do it.
"Martin?" Koki said, voicing the surprise they all felt that he was taking this long to decide.
"But…uh…Oh!" He looked towards Zach again. "We don't even have equipment to capture animals! How're we supposed to help you with that?"
Zach rolled his eyes. "Figures. But that's easy enough to fix with a couple of my Zachbots. I'll just send a couple over whenever I need some critters, and they'll help you capture the animals I need."
A chill ran down Martin's spine as the words echoed through his head. If Zach would send his robots to them 'whenever he needed animals', that meant that Zach planned to make them find animals - to imprison animals - more than once. How many times would he force them to help him, and how many animals would he enslave for his army before he was finished? There was just no way…no way he could agree to help Zach.
"Martin?"
He turned towards Aviva, meeting her uncertain eyes. "What's the hold up?" she asked.
And he realized, as he looked between her and Koki and Jimmy, that they had already given up. The decision was made to go along with Zach, and they weren't going to fight this. Somehow, he couldn't help the anger that began to bubble inside him.
"Think of what he's saying," he said, his voice a low hiss. "Think of what he's making us do…of what he wants!"
"I understand," Aviva replied, and he knew that she really did. "But what choice do we have?"
Martin shook his head. "I can't…I can't just…"
"Y'know," Zach suddenly piped up, "I guess I really shouldn't be surprised."
Turning towards him, Martin frowned. "Huh?"
The pale man examined his fingernails casually, a twisted smile spreading across his lips. "I mean, I should've known that you couldn't make a decision like this, since people aren't really important to you."
Martin's eyes widened, and his breath was caught in his throat. "Wh…wh-what's that supposed to mean?"
Zach shrugged. "It's only so obvious that you care more about stupid animals than about humans. Then again, I guess I always kinda figured that you Wild Rats just didn't care about people. But I never thought that worthless little critters were more important to you than your own brother."
"I…Th-that's not…" Martin floundered.
"Don't listen to him, Martin," Aviva said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "He's just trying to mess with your head."
But it was hard for Martin to pay attention to her over the shame echoing in his ears. He had been called a lot of things due to his life as a Creature Adventurer, and he was used to hearing some mean and sometimes weird things. But no one had ever accused him of not caring about people before. Sure, protecting animals was important to him, but…it wasn't because he considered people less important…right?
But then…why couldn't he have been like the others, who were all ready to save Chris? Chris was his brother, and he should have been the first one to do whatever he could to help him, no matter what. So did his hesitation mean that Zach was right? That he cared more about protecting animals than helping his brother?
"Well," Zach said suddenly, "I guess if you don't wanna help me, then I should just get going. I've got some…useless things that I need to get rid of."
Fear once again gripped Martin's heart. "Wait, Zach!" he called.
Zach paused, looking towards Martin expectantly.
Still, Martin hesitated. "You…you have to promise that Chris will be okay."
The younger man rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, whatever."
"I mean it." Martin's eyes narrowed. "If anything happens…"
"All right, I get it." Zach approached the Wild Kratts team again, standing beside his Zachbot. "Like I said, help me with my animal army, and Green Guy will get back to you, all safe and sound."
Studying the other for a moment, Martin then sighed, a defeated slump in his shoulders. "All right."
Zach smirked, holding his hand out. "So we have a deal?"
Martin eyed the pale hand, as though it might attack him. But swallowing down the lump in his throat, he accepted the offered handshake to seal the deal.
It was hard to ignore the feeling, though, that he was going to regret this in the end.
The pounding in the back of his head was what first roused him from the dark unconsciousness. But when he tried to rub the tender spot, it was the fact that he couldn't move his arms that really woke him up.
Eyes snapping open, Chris looked down to see the restraints around his wrists and ankles, holding him down to the metal table he was lying on. A few hard tugs proved that the bonds would not break easily, and he soon gave up when the throbbing in his head worsened.
He took slow, deep breaths to calm the rising fear in his chest, distracting himself by examining the room he was in. The dim lighting made it difficult to see more than shadowed shapes, but he soon discovered that the light was coming from a computer monitor, the screen dark from idleness and taking up the entire length of one wall.
Closing his eyes, he exhaled through his nose as he tried to recall how he ended up in such a predicament. He remembered horses…being in his pigeon suit…a stampede…smoke…a familiar ship, and…
"Zach," he muttered, his voice dry and raspy.
"You called?"
Chris would have jumped had he not been bound to the table, but he winced when light suddenly flooded the room. Blinking rapidly, he finally managed to open his eyes and see the spacious room he was in, lined with metal from corner to corner and filled with machines that he had no idea what they did.
And to his right, on the opposite side of the room from the monitor, stood Zach at the doorway, with a smug grin on his face.
Chris glared. "Zach, what are you up to now?" he demanded.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Zach taunted, striding into the room at a leisurely pace.
The green-clad man futilely tried at his restraints once more. "You better not have done anything to those horses!"
"Oh please," the inventor said, pausing at the table to look down at Chris. "What is it with you guys and those horses? I am so not interested."
Chris looked up at him, but from his angle Zach looked upside-down. "Well, whatever you're planning, it won't work."
Zach laughed. "It already has. I just need to get a few things ready before I ask that brother of yours to capture some animals for me."
"Wh…what?" He blinked. His headache must be worse than he thought, because he couldn't have heard right. It just wasn't possible. "What did you say?"
Zach's smirk deepened. "Exactly what I said, Green Guy. With just one call, I can get whatever animal I want, trapped and delivered to me by Blue Boy himself."
Chris' eyes widened, and he shook his head. "No way…no way! Martin would never…!"
With an amused look, Zach continued past the table and towards the monitor. "If you don't think he'd give up a bunch of dumb creatures for your sake, then you clearly don't know him as well as you think."
His head began pounding again, and this time it wasn't because of the bump back there. 'For my sake…' A cold numbing wave swept throughout his entire body as the words echoed in his mind, quickly putting the pieces together. Zach had captured him while he'd been looking for the horse herd, and was now using him as leverage to get his older brother to capture animals for him. But for what? Just what was Zach up to?
Swallowing thickly, he glanced up to see the pale man typing commands on the computer consol. "Where…where's Martin now?"
Zach hummed, pretending to think. "They were heading to Africa last I checked…or at least they better be, since that's where I told them to go. Then again, that was a few hours ago, so they might already be there."
Another wave of panic rushed through Chris as he wondered just how long he'd been out. "Why Africa?" he asked. It felt weird to keep talking, and part of him did it because he felt nervous. But Chris also knew that Zach was pretty boastful, and no matter how hard the inventor tried to act mysterious, he would take any opportunity he could to gloat about his plan.
"Seemed like a good place to start," Zach replied, looking between the monitor and typing on the consol. "There always seems to be plenty of animals running around there."
Chris frowned. That may have been true, but a good number of those animals were endangered and needed protection. "And what animal are you looking for there?"
Zach paused, this time taking the moment to actually consider his answer. "Dunno." He glanced back towards the Kratt with that small smirk of his. "Got any suggestions?"
Chris glared at him. He knew he should try asking more questions, try to wear Zach down first before he could really find out Zach's plan, but the words were out of his mouth before he could stop them. "If Martin does catch animals for you, what are you going to do with them? What's gonna happen then?"
Zach turned back to the monitor, so Chris never got the chance to see his smirk across his face grow ever wider. "That's…when the fun begins."
TBC
[Chapter 3]