Chapter 15

Have a Nice Day

Aviva opened first one eye, then the other, not even daring to breathe as she stared dumbstruck at the timer. Her split-second decision to cut the orange wire instead of the blue had done the trick. How she ever came to that conclusion, whether it was pure luck or gut instinct, she couldn't be sure. The important thing was they were all still in one piece. She stood and spun around to face the other crew members.

"WE'RE ALIIIIIIIVE!" Jimmy screamed in sheer happiness and flung his arms around a stunned Koki, squeezing her so hard her eyes bugged out.

"AACK!" she squawked.

Aviva couldn't help feeling a bit ecstatic herself. "I…I don't believe it! We did it! We got past Zach's defense system and stopped the bomb! Woo hoooo!" She jumped up and down a couple times.

"Oh yeah!" Jimmy let go of Koki to fist-pump the air.

"Uh-huh!" Koki echoed the celebratory sentiments. "Savin' the day with tech crew powers! That's right!"

"Hmmmph!" Martin protested from behind them.

The three teammates stopped high-fiving and turned to see the brothers glaring at them expectantly. In their moment of triumph, they'd almost forgotten they were still sitting there waiting.

"Oops!" Aviva said as they rushed to untie them. "Sorry…" She pulled the material away from Martin's mouth.

"I told you it was a bomb!" he said.

Aviva sighed, rolling her eyes and smiling slightly. "Yeah, thanks for the tip, Martin."

"You're welcome."

"Blech!" Chris spat, trying to get the taste of the cloth out of his mouth as Koki slid it off his face. "Thanks, Koki!" He craned his head around to scowl at Martin. "Ok, bro. I'm coming up with the plan next time we run into trouble! Can we not do anything like this again? Please?"

Martin hung his head. "I know, I know. The whole 'being the villain' thing was a stupid idea. I get it already. Worst creature adventure ever!"

"But you guys kept all these animals from being eaten!" Aviva said, trying to cheer him up. "That's pretty impressive!"

"Yeah, I guess you're right…"

"And now we can put them back in the wild where they belong!" Jimmy added as he finally managed to loosen the knot in the ropes with a little help from Koki.

"Oh, by the way, Jimmy," Chris asked, rubbing his arms as the ropes fell away, "what's with the new hairstyle?"

Koki and Aviva giggled behind hands as Jimmy pouted.

"He did us a favor and found out what was wrong with the Tortuga," Aviva snorted.

"Yeah, by becoming a human power plant!" Koki finished.

Martin stood up and ruffled Jimmy's orange frizz. "Cool. It's really hip…in a weird…'staticky' sort of way."

"Since when are you a top fashion consultant?" Chris asked, grinning as he nudged his brother in the side.

"Ow! Hey, I had to hang out with Donita, ok?!"

"Huh, better than what I had to go through in the kitchen with Gourmand."

"How did you sabotage the banquet and that guy's ridiculous sense of smell?"

Chris shrugged. "I came up with a recipe for homemade lava. And the food? Well, it was just a bunch of trash from the dumpster outside."

"Wait, are you saying you went dumpster-diving for dinner?"

"Yup."

"Then that explains the smell—ow!" Martin got another jab from Chris's elbow. "What was that for?! How could I not notice that when I've been sitting here tied to you for who knows how long?"

"Ok, break it up, guys," Aviva intervened before Chris could get in another elbow. "We should start moving if we want to take all these creatures back to their homes."

"Guess you're right," Chris agreed, but then a thought visibly occurred to him. "Aviva, how did you find us and get down here with a whole convention of bad guys upstairs?"

"Yeah," Martin chimed in. "We didn't even last a full day against them and yet you just waltz in under their noses! What's your secret?"

Koki put an arm around Aviva's shoulder, throwing them a sly grin. "Tech crew powers, bros, tech crew powers."

"And pizza!" Jimmy added.

xxxx

Zach opened the bottom door to the basement, having finally managed to pry his way out of the pitch-dark ballroom and escape from the horde of angry villains. He hadn't heard any explosion…and that was because there hadn't been one. He stared disbelievingly into the room. It was completely empty except for a pair of overturned chairs and a pile of limp ropes in the center. All the animals had vanished. So had those annoying Wild Rats.

He was about to start ripping out his hair when a small scrap of lined paper attached to one of the chairs caught his eye. Quickly, he stepped over and picked it up. It was a note.

Greetings, genius!

Looks like your new defense system still needs some work. Good luck with that! Oh, and Chris and Martin say you have mold in your basement. Thought you might want to know so you can get it taken care of. And by the way, it's Wild KRATTS. Have a nice day!

Sincerely,

The Wild Kratts Team

Zach dropped the paper in total shock. After a few seconds, he commenced kicking one of the chairs in an angry tantrum.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid—" he stopped as his eyes started to water. Then he grabbed his foot, hopping around on one leg. "MOMMMYYYY! OW, OW, OW, OW!"

The End