Of Raptors and Kratts

Changes of Plan

   As the storm raged across the darkening sky, strong winds howled through the night, causing the great trees to sway and dance to their movement and torrents of rain descended from above. Trees that weren't strong enough to endure the tempest came crashing down to the forest floor, their mighty downfalls blending with the rolling thunder. The creatures unable to evacuate on time took shelter in any nook or cranny available. Few parts of the Costa Rican rainforest, however, were untouched by the tropical storm, especially in a wide clearing where a large turtle-shaped vessel was situated, its head and other appendages tucked away within its shell, waiting for Nature's fury to pass. The Tortuga was put on lockdown hours before the storm, especially since the Wild Kratts team had been alerted about reports of a powerful hurricane sweeping across Central America on a westerly route towards the Pacific. With strong winds powerful enough to carry a cow away and heavy rain pounding on the Tortuga's outer shell like tiny arrows, it was obviously not a good day for creature adventuring.
Confined inside the safety of their terrapin stronghold, the team found other ways to pass the time: Jimmy Z was playing another round of Chris Kratt's Climbing Extreme; Aviva was hard at work on a new invention; Koki was checking in on the status of the hurricane; Martin and Chris were playing Raptor in the Middle, the raptor in question leaping high, her jaws snapping as she tried to catch the rubber ball from in between the two creature adventurers. At three weeks old, she was now about the size of a cat and her legs were starting to become more developed. Given her leaping prowess, even at such a young age, the Kratt brothers had thought this game would be perfect for stimulating her legs and muscles as she got older.
After two or three more tosses, Amber vertically sprang more than twice her height, finally catching the ball in her teeth, causing both creature adventures to jump back in surprise.
"Whoa!"
Having won her prize, the young raptor sat there, chewing on the rubber ball, oftentimes rolling around, laying on her back while balancing the sphere on her hind legs in the air, tapping it with her tiny hand claws.
Aviva and Koki took a moment from their work to glance over at the playful dinosaur's antics. Both found themselves unable to control the giggles erupting from their lips.
"She's just so cute."said Aviva. The technician nodded in agreement, muffling another laugh.
  Soon Martin reached out to recover the ball only for his hand to freeze in midair upon receiving a warning hiss from the little theropod who held unto it possessively before retreating to a corner to make off with her plaything, thrashing it in her teeth like a terrier shaking a rat.
Long pause.
"Guess that means 'game over', bro."said the Kratt in blue after a moment's pause, shrugging.
"Well, she won fair and square."added Chris. "How 'bout we play something else? I don't think she's gonna let go of that ball any time soon." The younger Kratt pointed to where Amber continued to play with her toy, nudging it with her snout prompting it to bounce and roll across the HQ. She soon followed after it.
  Without warning, all the lights went out, earning a petrified yelp from the pilot.
"Aww man! The lights went out again."said the Kratt in blue, walking blindly in the darkness before bumping into Chris, causing both Kratt brothers to crash to the floor.
"Hold on. I got a flashlight around somewhere." The inventor was digging through the drawers by Koki's data base when she felt a nudge on her leg. Glancing down, she spied Amber with the flashlight held between her little teeth. "Aww. Thanks, sweetie."
   "Must be the power generator needs rebooting."said Koki. "But that'll take a few hours."
"No problem. That's why we have these lanterns anyway."replied Aviva, turning on a pair of electric lanterns on the circular platform.
"And these cool night vision goggles."added Martin, wearing a pair of robust blue goggles over his eyes. Chris wore a similar pair, only his was green. "And check this out! Looks like Amber has night vision too." The young raptor seemed to have no problem seeing in the dark as she casually walked around the main room as though it was bright as day, looking for her ball.
"Cool."remarked the pilot.
Suddenly, a crack of lightning flashed from the sunroof, followed by the sound of the rolling thunder, earning another yelp from JZ, only this time joined by a terrified shriek from the baby Velociraptor as she darted under the database, startling the technician as she looked for somewhere to hide from the terrifying bright light.
Everyone's attention was drawn by the commotion from under the desk. Pulling back from her panel, Koki found a petrified raptor huddled in the farthest corner of the database, pale with fear. The others soon joined once she managed to coax the reptile out of hiding.
"Ay, pobrecita."cooed the inventor, cradling the terrified infant in her arms. Amber shivered, burying herself further into Aviva's embrace. The younger Kratt soon joined in comforting the fearful little dinosaur, running two fingers along her head before wrapping his arms around his girlfriend's shoulders, forming a group hug. Aviva smiled at the gesture.
"What's the matter, girl?"asked Martin in genuine concern.
"She must be afraid of the lightning."said Chris over his shoulder, glancing up at the sunroof.
"Is that it?"questioned the Kratt in blue in a baby voice. "Are you afraid of lightning?" Another flash. The young raptor whined and whimpered in fear. "Hmm. I'll take that as a yes." He then noticed something off. "Amber, you're yellow!" In her fright, the dinosaur's bright orange skin paled to a pale, deathly yellow. Everyone else stared in shock.
"That's alright; I'm afraid of a lot of things. Lightning too sometimes."added Jimmy, gently stroking her neck. Before long the rest of the team joined the group hug, creating a protective shield around the baby Velociraptor.
"There, there, Amber. It's okay."murmured Chris.
"We're here. We're here."reassured Martin.
"It's alright, sweetie; you're safe."said Koki.
"We won't let anything happen to you."whispered Aviva.
"Yeah. We promise."added JZ with a wink.
  Hearing the soothing tones of the team, the baby raptor seemed to understand and her fear slowly left her, colour slowly returning to her skin, the youngling's whimpers gradually replaced by gentle purring as she nuzzled every head surrounding her, doubtless protecting her from the flashing terror outside. She truly loved her adopted family even if she looked nothing like them.
Bedtime, however, was another issue; the young raptor had calmed significantly, but did not want to be left alone in her pet pillow adjacent to the brothers' bunk bed. Even when Martin volunteered to let her sleep on his bottom bunk, Amber was still restless, eyes darting about in all directions as the thunder rumbled from outside. Around her, the rest of the team looked on with no little worry.
"Can't we just go to bed already?"whined JZ. "I'm tired. And we've been watching Amber for almost an hour."
"She's still scared."answered Chris from his place on top bunk. "If we leave now, she'll be crying up a storm. But don't worry; she'll fall asleep soon. I think." Everyone else cast him blank stares that said: You think?
"I like staying up late as much as the next guy, but,"– here Martin stifled a yawn– "I'm sure not feeling so nocturnal tonight."
"I hear ya, bro."
"At this rate, were gonna be up all night."mumbled Aviva, rubbing her eyes. "Unless– I got it! Koki!" She then whispered something to her friend's ear to which the technician nodded.
"Worth a shot."she replied, walking up to the anxious little theropod before crouching down to meet her eye level. Gently stroking Amber's head, Koki hummed softly before eventually hums gradually gave way to song.
"Night time creeping,"she sang. "it is time for sleeping,
The starlight at the window cast a glow upon your pillow
  I'll keep watch on you, keep the bad dreams off you,
So drift off into slumber
  As your dreams bring endless wonder
And when you wake, the sun and it's light, will warm your days as you grow, and all its goodness you will know
So let sleep overtake you, only sweet dreams wake you
Tomorrow will be waiting, for the joy you'll be creating..." Amber soon felt at ease as she listened to Koki's song, her eyelids slowly giving way to tiredness, accompanied by a soft yawn that sounded similar to a chirp.
"...And when you wake, the sun and it's light, will warm your days as you grow, and all its goodness you will know
So let sleep overtake you, only sweet dreams wake you
Tomorrow will be waiting, for the joy you'll be creating.." As Koki finished her lullaby, she glanced back to the baby Velociraptor, now curled up in a ball, breathing steadily as she slept, now deaf to the storm raging outside. "Goodnight, Amber." she whispered, planting a soft kiss on her head.
The technician then turned to face the incredulous looks of the others minus Aviva, their eyes widened in surprise, mouths agape.
"What?"
"I never knew you could sing!"said Martin in amazement. "And I mean, really sing!"
"Yeah."added Chris, no less astonished.
"Oh that? It's just a song my mom used to sing to me when I was little."answered Koki as though it were no big deal.
"You have a beautiful singing voice, and I don't say that to everyone."complimented the redhead. The singer in question flushed red at his praise. "Thanks, Jimmy."
"You still got it."congratulated Aviva with a wink.
"And you knew about this, Aviva?"asked the younger Kratt.
"Of course. Koki used to be in chorus back in high school. And countless musicals in drama."
"Yup. I always liked being on stage. Or in the back which I was when I played a tree in Hamlet."added the technician with a chuckle, soon joined by everyone else.
"Well, it's getting pretty late. I think I'm gonna–" but JZ never finished as he collapsed to the ground, immediately snoring.
"I think I'll hit the hay too."yawned Koki, dragging a sleeping Jimmy with her out of the room. After goodnights were exchanged, the Wild Kratts team (not including the Kratts themselves..) departed for their designated quarters, all the while as Amber dozed peacefully on Martin's bed, not even disturbed in the least as the Kratt in blue carefully made himself comfortable.
"Goodnight, little Amber."
....
The next morning, and first light filtered down through the canopy, revealing the devastation left in the storm's wake: bamboo shoots, palm leaves and other foliage were uprooted and littered the forest floor, the jungle's dark soil was scattered abroad, and ancient trees succumbed to the mighty winds, often blocking the forest trails. But for the creatures of the rainforest, it was business as usual as the tropical birds resumed their songs and the animals carried on with their daily routines.
  Meanwhile inside the turtle ship, still in lockdown mode, Aviva, with Creaturepod in hand, was running scans on her latest patient, the baby Velociraptor. As Amber stood on the main platform, she was kept busy by the bowl of ground meat mixed with a special dietary supplement rich in lysine, keeping her healthy. But the inventor had more on her mind than a routine health check. Intrigued by the raptor's sudden colour change the night before, the scientist in her wanted to dig deeper, to uncover what it was that caused that phenomenon. Because it happened so rapidly, the fact that everyone had seen it with their own two eyes, and the absence of any side effects or symptoms, illness could be ruled out. Something else was at work.
"Interesting."murmured the inventor once the results came in. On the other side of the table, the Kratt bros waited expectantly.
"So what's the verdict?"asked Chris.
"Amber's skin is covered with hundreds of pigments and chromatophores, just like those on an octopus or a chameleon."
The bros were stunned beyond words. "Whoa. That's so cool!"exclaimed the older Kratt, wide grin on his face.
"Colour change in dinosaurs? Now this is a first of possibly many dinosaur discoveries!"added Chris, beaming a wide grin at the possibilities. "Who knows just what else we might find?"
"Not so fast there, CK."interjected Koki, turning from her place by the database. "There's more. I analysed that blood sample you sent, Aviva. It appears that in addition to frog DNA, Amber also has a hint of chameleon DNA too."
"Chameleon DNA?"repeated Chris, raising his eyebrow a bit.
"Really?"asked Martin, absentmindedly stroking the feeding dinosaur until she decided to wander off. The computer whizz nodded. "Mm-hmm."
"Now that explains it."mumbled the Tortuga designer thoughtfully.
"Remember, the animals of Jurassic Park were not purebred; the scientists used the genes of other creatures to fill in gene sequence gaps to obstruct any holes in the dino genetic code."
"So if their DNA was pure, many of them would've looked different."theorized Aviva.
"Exactly."
"So Amber has camouflage abilities?"asked JZ from his place on his chair, munching on a slice of pizza before noticing that the baby Velociraptor was making off with another slice. "Hey!"
"Not exactly, Jimmy."answered the inventor. "It's more involuntary, only triggered by certain emotions. Whenever she's scared–"
"Gimme that! That's mine!" But as Jimmy tried to snatch the pizza from Amber's jaws, to his shock, the little reptile stared hard into his eyes before turning almost bright red, growling as she held firmly unto her prize. Needless to say, the pilot jumped back in fright, surrendering the pizza slice to which the baby raptor chewed happily, once again her usual shade of orange.
"Okay okay. You win. Jeez"
"Or angry."finished Aviva as everyone else stared blankly at the scene.
"It's true that chameleons are famous for their camouflage abilities, but it says here that color change is more commonly used in social signaling and in reactions to temperature and other conditions in their environment."informed Koki, pulling up a clip on the main computer panel, showing a large lizard flushing bright red.
"Whoa. He sure looks mad."remarked the pizza-eating pilot, glancing at the screen.
"Male chameleons tend to show brighter colors when displaying aggressively to other chameleons, saying:" – here Martin lowered the pitch of his voice– "'I'm tougher than you, so don't mess with me!'"
Chris then finished for his brother. "And darker colors when they submit, which says: 'Uncle! Uncle! I surrender! This territory's yours.'"
Suddenly the chameleon footage was cut short as the Tortuga's phone began ringing, mildly startling the crew.
"Incoming call."announced Koki. "It's Mr. Hammond." Everyone tensed, exchanging glances until the two creature adventurers nodded their okay for Koki to answer. Once the computer whizz answered, InGen's CEO appeared on the screen.
"Greetings, Wild Kratts."greeted the old man.
"Good morning, Mr. Hammond." Even Amber sweetly warbled a greeting as she ran up to the old man's image just as enthusiastically as a child would greet their grandfather.
Hammond chuckled. "And good morning to you too, little one." To the Wild Kratts team, he added, "By Jove, how she has grown!"
"Aww man. Is it time for you guys to take Amber already?"said Martin, his voice laced with disappointment, similar to a kid's once recess was over.
"About that.. I'm afraid I bring grave news," the old man answered, rubbing the back of his neck. "our Embryonics Laboratories on Site B are no longer in service." Needless to say, everyone was shocked minus the young raptor who tilted her head in confusion.
"What? Why?"asked Aviva.
"Our facilities have been wiped out by Hurricane Clarissa. Call it an act of God if you will."
"That hurricane from last night?"asked the Tortuga technician. "It was pretty bad." Hammond nodded. "That's right."
"Hold on. Wait a minute. Time out. I don't believe you ever told us much about Site B."said Chris rather seriously, arms folded.
"Yeah. What is Site B anyway?"asked the older Kratt. Soon all eyes were on the old man.
"Oh yes. I forgot. It's time you knew. Isla Nublar was only just a showroom. Something for the tourists. Site B is our factory floor; on Isla Sorna, eighty miles from Nublar if I remember correctly. We bred the animals there and nurtured them for a few months before we moved them into the park. That is until today."
"So Wrecksy, Frillina, Gingko, Barbara, Katana, Bloody Mary and many of the dinosaurs we met in Jurassic Park all came from Site B?"asked Martin, counting off each dinosaur name with his fingers. The entrepreneur nodded. "Yes. That is correct."
"Were there any staff over at Site B when the hurricane hit?"asked the inventor, fearing the worst. Chris put a comforting arm around her shoulder.
"Oh no, everyone's been evacuated beforehand, thank goodness."assured the CEO, to which everyone sighed in relief until Martin asked: "And the animals?"
"They had to be released to mature on their own, living free and in the wild."
"Hey, that's my line!"exclaimed Chris, feigning offense, causing an uproar of laughter. Once all laughing ceased, the Kratt in green regained his composure and asked: "Do you think that they'll will make it?" He and Martin exchanged sad glances; not long ago, the tech crew had told both brothers of the Lysine Contingency and the long term side effects it had on the animals, but part of them refused to accept what seemed inevitable.
"Truly, I don't know."answered the entrepreneur with a sigh, fingering his bamboo cane. "I guess only time will tell."
Long pause.
"So... we can't take Amber over?"asked the pilot.
"I'm afraid not, which, for now at least, leaves us all out of alternatives."
After exchanging glances with the rest of his team, Chris then decided it was time to voice out their opinions. "In truth, sir, we were kinda hoping you'd say that."
"Oh?"
"We've grown really attached to her these past three weeks, and it's been a joy to see her grow and explore new things."– here he rubbed under the raptor's chin, causing her to purr in bliss–"She's become like a member of the family."
"And we're just about the only family she knows."added the older Kratt.
"We love her so much."chirped Aviva, now cradling the little reptile in her arms before saying in a baby voice: "Yes we do. Yes we do." Amber clearly enjoyed the attention, evident from the purrs rumbling in her throat, eyes closed in bliss, rather like a happy kitten, albeit having scales rather than fur.
"I see. Very well. She may stay amongst you for as long as you like. I have the utmost confidence in your work."
"By then I'm sure we'll come up with a solution if she ever went–" the Kratt in blue paused for lack of a better word. "well, you know.."
"Savage?"finished Jimmy, earning glares from the others, along with a thwack behind the head from Aviva, followed by a punch to the gut from Koki. "Y'OWW!" That came about from the baby dinosaur biting his hindquarters. Obviously she understood what the pilot was saying.
"Mature."corrected Chris, still casting the redhead an unamused glance. Hammond visibly winced at this exchange of violence before clearing his throat.
"Now,"said the CEO of InGen in mock severity, addressing the two creature adventurers. "I do believe the two of you owe me an explanation as to how the animals were breeding right under our noses."
Martin and Chris exchanged sheepish glances.
"Oops."
**** Hey everyone! Sorry about the wait, I had some technical difficulties with my old phone. Hurricane Clarissa happened, which will eventually be setting the stage for TLW. Just so y'all know, the idea of Amber being able to change color was inspired by the first JP book by Michael Crichton where a wild raptor named Clarence had that trait. I'm sure you've also noticed a slight reference of Jurassic World, explaining why the dinosaurs don't look like their real life counterparts. (Those paleontological rants drive me crazy. It's a movie for crying out loud!) That's mentioned in the books too if I'm not mistaken. And Koki's song can be found on YouTube. It's called Night Night, Smiley by Heather Bambrick (Koki's VA).
BTW I also wanna thank you guys for your ideas regarding TLW, to which I'm in the middle of brainstorming. They're all wonderful and I'll definitely put them into consideration. *note: JK took months of planning before any actual writing took place. So it may take a while.
Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and stay tuned..