Creature Comfort (Zach x Chris)

Part 3: Cornered

Not much else happened that night. Zach left after voicing his judgy opinion on Chris's work, claiming that he "needed to work in solitude". However, this chance meeting turned out to be far more important than either of them had ever imagined.

For one, the two now seemed to notice each other in the hallways and in classes far more often (as in Chris noticed Zach while Zach generally avoided eye contact and kept to his snooty self).

Secondly, despite his initial annoyance at not being alone in the engineering wing, Zach begrudgingly came to terms with the fact that he would have to share the workshop with Chris late at night, as he kept returning to work on his "silly" animal power suit. As Chris edited his sketches and began to construct a prototype, Zach was starting to wonder whether or not his idea was so awful after all.

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"Chris! Wherever you are, don't. Move."

Martin's voice was panicked, having noticed the Zachbot standing right next to their home base.

Chris feigned surprise at the sight of the robot minion that he most certainly did not know was there before nor what it possibly could be doing at the Tortuga HQ.

"Oh my heavens!! What is that Zachbot doing here?! That is so insane!"

Chris felt Zach cringe besides him, due to his oh-so-convincing display of mock fear. "Could you be any less subtle, Kratt?" he whispered angrily. Chris, tired of waiting, finally stepped out to where Martin could see him, hoping that his appearance could distract Martin from where Zach was hiding in the grass. However, in classic Chris fashion, he forgot about a few semi-important details.

"Chris, this Zachbot is definitely here to spy on the Tortu... why are you only wearing underwear?"

Great.

"I was feeling... stuffy?" Chris responded, which only earned him a confused look from Martin. Thankfully, Zach used this moment of distraction to attempt his escape, pulling the embarrassment away from Chris.

Zach had clearly changed tactics, no longer trying to go unnoticed, as he leapt out of the bushes and onto the Zachbot. He had thought ahead and actually clothed himself before making appearance, much to Chris's dismay. He sneered evilly down at the two brothers. "I think I've found everything I need to this evening... have a good night, boys!" He cackled as he revved up his minion and sped away into the distance, which definitely did not make Chris swoon.

The Kratt brothers, both not wearing their Creature Power Suits, had no way to prevent Zach from escaping into the night, watching wordlessly until the red glow of the robot's eyes could no longer be seen. Martin sighed before turning to his brother.

"Alright, you have a lot of explaining to do."

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"How could you not notice Zach snooping around our base when you were so conveniently sleeping outside tonight, Chris?"

Martin, deeming the idea of being spied on by their enemy a code red emergency, had woken up the entire crew of the Tortuga to discuss their next move. This meant that Aviva, who was already stressed out just by nature, was even more angry over being abruptly woken up for a reason she blamed entirely on Chris's dim-wittedness.

"And what could he have possibly been snooping for?!?! Are you really telling me you slept through a literal Zachbot?! Those things are so loud!" She was manically pacing back and forth in the common area of the Tortuga. Koki and Jimmy Z, both still groggy, rounded off their ragtag team as they sat in their seats trying their best not to fall back asleep.

Martin was acting bit more level-headed about the whole fiasco than Aviva was, but was still clearly very miffed. "Regardless of what in the world Zach was trying to do tonight, I think the main issue is how the location of the Tortuga was compromised. How could he have known where we were?" Chris shifted uncomfortably in his seat, knowing that a quick look through his text messages would reveal exactly how Zach discovered their location. Martin didn't notice this and continued, "Jimmy, I'm going to need you to fire up the Tortuga and move us elsewhere. We can't have Zach coming back. Even if he's managed to discover some way to track us down, staying on the move should keep us safe for now."

Jimmy Z mumbled something incoherent before practically sleepwalking to the cockpit. Koki followed him with a reassuring, "I'll keep him awake, don't you worry." Knowing Koki, that probably meant blasting trashy EDM. Chris felt sorry for Jimmy already.

Unfortunately, Aviva was not quick to let go of the issue. "Chris, why were you even outside in the first place?! The savanna is dangerous at night, you know that!"

"I just needed a bit of fresh air! I was having trouble sleeping, honest!"

He could tell that neither Martin nor Aviva was convinced, but he was spared from further questioning by an announcement from Koki over the Tortuga's intercom.

"Guys, get to the cockpit now. You're gonna wanna see this."

The three rushed through the sliding doors to where Jimmy Z and Koki stared concernedly at the ship's radar, which displayed one large red dot representing the Tortuga and a smaller red dot trailing closely behind. 

Looking out of the Tortuga's window, Chris saw a bright pink airplane following ominously in the sky - an airplane that could only belong to one person-

"Just fantastic!! First we get spied on by Zach and now we're being trailed by Donita Donata!? Could this day get any worse?"

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...stay tuned...