No-One But You

Chapter 4: Non-enemies? Yeah!

Zach stood by the trees, completely frozen on the spot. What the hell had just happened!? He watched as the adventurer was greeted by his friends and went inside. It took Zach a moment before he turned and ran back to his ship.
Along the way, his head was buzzing with emotions and thoughts. What had Zach done to earn the kiss? Why was Chris Kratt so nice all of a sudden? It confused him, yet he was so happy. Why?
Zach Varmitech barely slept that night. And when he did, he kept getting dreams about his step-sisters. What had they done? He just couldn't remember.

WITH THE WILD KRATTS

|MARTIN POV|
"I am so glad you're back, Chris!" said Aviva, hugging him. I was worried too, but I felt a pang of jealousy towards my brother. I was also wondering, why had he left in the first place? Jimmy came bursting in through the door of the cockpit and was saying something urgently, but we couldn't understand it.
"Woah, JZ! Slow yourself!" said Koki, putting a reassuring arm around him. Jimmy nodded and took a breath before speaking.
"Somebody broke in, knocked me out and stole all of our stuff!" he cried. "And I think that Chris tried to help get out stuff back; I saw you chasing someone!" I glanced at my brother. He had a deadly serious face, I know what this meant. He was nervous. He caught my glance and I asked him to speak.
"Well... Yes. I wasn't successful though and I got lost," he responded.
"If someone was and is trying to steal our tech, it's Zach Varmitech. I'm glad you're back. What if you met him? That would be disastrous," said Aviva, worried. My brother was about to say something but caught himself. He nodded and went to bed. I tried to get him to talk, but he stayed quiet. He had never been that distant. What was wrong?

|READER POV|
In the morning, Chris woke up more tired than ever. He had stayed up all night, disturbed by something. Like memories haunting him. But the memories were vague and distorted. He had breakfast in silence, then Aviva gave Chris something. He smiled. The power disc. Martin called him to go on an adventure. Although the younger brother really just wanted to stay inside, he had to go. He didn't want Martin worrying more. "I'll be there soon!" he said, smiling tiredly.

WITH ZACH AND COMPANY

"Where the f*ck were you, Zach!? We were worried sick! Kit had to go searching for you! I can't believe you would just leave unannounced! Not even calling us...I thought you were dead! You're already doing all of this shit of not eating, we don't need you running off!" Francesca screamed. She was raging after she saw the inventor standing in front of the Spybot's monitor.
"SPEAK!" she yelled, grabbing Zach's turtleneck and pulling him close. She was generally the shortest person in the room, but she had unrivalled strength. The shock of Francesca's abrupt action made a tear slip from Zach's emerald eyes. He had never seen Fran so angry. She would normally smile and greet him without any questions. She was still boiling with rage but seeing Zach's reaction, she loosened her grip. "Listen here, Zachary," she hissed. "If you ever do something like this again..." she drew a finger across her throat.
"FRANCESCA!" came a voice.
"What?" she replied, letting go of Zach, who was trembling. Kit stood at the doorway, hands on hips.
"Well?" said Fran. Kit teleported beside Zach.
"Stop it. You're just making the situation worse."
Kit put a hand on Zach's shoulder.
"I saw Zach last night. You never let me tell you where he was, Chessie, you were ranting too much."
Francesca gasped. Realising what she had done, she threw herself around Zach, crying and apologising profusely.
"Let's go back home," Zach said, smiling.

WITH THE WILD KRATTS AGAIN

After Martin and Chris helped some wild animals with their new creature powers, it was time to go back to the city for supplies.
"How awesome was that? And when we headbutted Paisley's steamroller...wow!!" Martin laughed. Chris laughed along, keeping his façade. Though this time, Martin asked Chris if he was okay. He suspected that the older brother was realising what was going on.
"Hey, I'm okay. Just chill bro! Hey, we're gonna go back to the city to see if Aviva can remake her inventions and get supplies for our next adventure, so let's see if we can find Fluffball, the peregrine falcon!" replied Chris, trying to sound happy. Martin smiled at his brother sympathetically.
"You can tell me anything that's on your mind."
Chris nodded. 'I don't think I can...' he thought.