Wild Kratts - ONE SHOTS

Sinking in the Deep End

Summary: The "Whale of a Squid" episode, but angstier...

The Kratt brothers were witnessing the ultimate battle between a giant squid and a sperm whale, a never-before-seen creature moment.

"This is unbelievable!" Chris exclaimed from excitement.

"We have to get footage!" Martin pulled out his creaturepod, but just as he was about to film, the two enormous animals suddenly bumped into the Amphi-Sub, shooting them through the water before coming to a stop, far away from the combat.

They groaned as they got up from the floor, then Chris' creaturepod started ringing. He answered the call to find Aviva and Koki's worried faces.

"Are you guys alright?" Aviva asked.

"Yeah, we're good," Martin rubbed his head while giving a thumb up, forcing a chuckle.

Suddenly, Chris felt his boot getting wet, and when he looked down, his eyes widened at the sight of...WATER!

He panically looked up to find a big whole in the end of the wall, water pouring inside like a waterfall. This was bad, really bad.

"Oh no!" Chris pointed at the damage, Martin gasping at the situation. "We need to get back to the surface, and fast!" He let out, trying to hide his panic.

"I'm on it!" Chris rushed to the sub controls and started pressing various buttons before pulling the levers... But nothing happened, they remained in their spot, unmoving.

"Uh oh," Chris swallowed.

"What do you mean uh oh?" Martin couldn't hide his panic anymore.

"I have no controls, must've been lost in battle. We're sinking!" Chris' voice cracked as they felt themselves sinking deeper and deeper into the water.

"Fifteen meters until collapse step. Fourteen. Thirteen..." Koki started the countdown, her voice filled with fret.

"Why would the sub collapse if they go deeper?" Jimmy asked anxiously, genuinely clueless.

"It's the pressure."

"What pressure?"

"The water pressure," she then pointed at the screen, showing a 2D sub sinking much like the brothers', "the deeper the sub goes, the more water is on top, the heavier that water gets, pushing in on the sub. That's pressure." The sub on the screen was getting crushed by an arrow pushing down on it. "If there's too much water weight pushing down on the sub, or pressure, the sub will be crushed!" The sub got completely crushed by the arrow, leaving Jimmy frozen with panic as to what might happen to the brothers.

"Gotta pull them outta there!" Without a moment to lose, Aviva pulled out a remote and pressed its button hard, sending her robot arm to fish the brothers out of their misery, before it was too late.

It was dark. It was scary. It felt hopeless.

The Kratt brothers sucked tightly into the corner of the sub, water still pouring in.

Chris was breathing shakily. He suddenly felt a hand squeeze his shoulder, and looked up to meet Martin's eyes, who forced a sad smile. "Hey."

"Hey." Chris' voice sounded as though he had a sore throat. But the soreness wasn't there, it was on the inside.

Silence, broken only by the ever-lasting burble.

The water level reached their hips.

"I can't believe this is how it ends," Chris scoffed from self-pity.

All the adventures they could've gone on. All the creatures they could've met. Gone.

They both winced at the sub giving up to the water pressure, beginning to crush under its weight.

"Don't say that, bro. At least we had a good run," Martin said in an attempt to cheer up his hopeless brother. Though, he couldn't even convince his own self.

Sniff. Sniff.

Without warning, Chris' eyes began to well with tears of pain. Martin couldn't bear the sight, unaware of his eyes forming tears of their own.

"Chris, look at me." He lifted his brother's chin, and their watery eyes met. "We started this journey together, and we will finish it together."

More tears flew down from Chris' eyes now, before shoving his face in his brother's chest and breaking into sobs, arms wrapped tight around him, so tight that it made him gasp. But he said nothing, and simply returned the sorrowful hug.

The Amphi-Sub kept getting crushed by the pressure.

The water level reached their necks.

"I'll miss you," Chris said weakly.

"Me too," Martin whispered in his ear.

At last, the water level reached their heads.

Both brothers held their breaths as they held onto each other. They were so deep that light was nearly inexistent. In the darkness, they squeezed each other's hands, despite no longer being able to see one another, their last tears amalgamating with the water.

Finally, they succumbed to their fate.

The instant Aviva's robot arm reached the tip of the sub, they let out their breaths, their lungs filling with water faster than she could say-

"I got them!"

She quickly pulled a lever, and the robot arm immediately started rising back up to the surface, the sub in its grip.

Nothing but complete darkness.

But then, a sudden pressure on the chest made them feel more alive than ever, followed by strange indistinct noises. No. Voices, growing more familiar by the second.

"Keep up the compressions, Koki!" Aviva's voice resonated in their heads.

"I'm doing the best I can," Koki's voice echoed in turn.

"I hope it's not too late," they heard Jimmy say with a trembling voice.

Next thing they new, they were coughing out water. A lot of water. The pain was indescribable, but pain meant they were alive. Alive.

"Yes!" Aviva cried.

Through their vague vision, the only thing they were able to distinguish were three blurry shapes, agitating in front of their half-opened eyes. The voices slowly started fading away.

Then, darkness reigned once again...

Some time later, maybe even hours, they started coming back to the world of living, somehow at the same time.

They turned their achy heads toward each other, only to find that they were both lying in their beds, within the safety of the Tortuga. Home sweet home.

Their tired eyes met. All the trauma from earlier felt like a smack in the face.

Not a single word came out from neither of their mouths, but their weak smiles spoke more than a thousand words ever could. They saw their whole lives flashing before their eyes, they nearly had to say goodbye to each other, nearly lost each other, but they didn't. And even after a near death experience of such, they would never give up creature adventuring, because that's what makes them what they are, it's who they are.

They are the Kratt brothers, and they will stick together until the very end.

Eventually, they closed their eyes with two quivering sighs of pure relief, allowing themselves to get some much needed rest, now that they were by each other's side, finally safe and sound.