//------------------------------// // The Adventure Begins // Story: Wild Kratts go to Camp Everfree // by kels805 //------------------------------// 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…”