The Green and the Violet

Treetop Tag

Deep in the Amazon rainforest of South America, the jungle was bustling with activity; troops of spider monkeys were swinging from tree to tree looking for ripe fruit, the booming calls of the male howler monkeys echoed across the canopy, and in the forest's understory, the local jaguar was on the prowl, in search of her next meal, her spotted coat blending perfectly with the dappled light. It was the rainy season, but on this day the sun's rays penetrated through the leafy curtains of the canopy, shimmering its light on the mighty Amazon river, making it seem as clear and as smooth as glass. For the denizens of the rainforest, it was business as usual as the tropical birds resumed their songs and the animals carried on with their daily routines.
Beneath the jungle canopy, Chris and Aviva strolled along a well used game trail, hand in hand.
Martin was somewhere in the highest branches having a bug-sized adventure with the various forms of insect life, while Jimmy and Koki were back in the Tortuga, the latter running much required maintenance, while the former was probably sleeping in. Or playing video games. Or eating lunch. Whichever of these came first. This left the couple with the entire day to themselves.
Three months, Chris thought happily, casting a glance at the beautiful young woman at his side. It's been three months. Aviva caught his gaze and smiled.
"So, what's the plan for today, Chris?"asked the inventor, knowing well that her boyfriend liked to have the day planned to the smallest detail. But if life, especially this one as a creature adventurer, had taught her anything, it was that it sometimes had a funny way of throwing in a surprise.
"Quite a lot actually,"the younger Kratt answered with a beaming smile, "Because there's so much to do in the Amazon. But first things first, maybe we can start the day with a bit of climbing practice, and a game. C'mon!"
The pair made their way up an ancient fig tree girdled by strands of low hanging vines and creepers. Fortunately for Aviva, the forest giant's limbs were thick and regularly spaced enough for her to climb with little difficulty. Unfortunately though, she was still new and wet behind the ears when it came to scaling trees. Chris was ahead of Aviva by a long shot, so it was scarcely surprising that he made it to the set goal without so much as breaking a sweat.
"Hurry up, slowpoke!" the younger Kratt called playfully.
He makes climbing look so easy, the inventor thought, straining and struggling, trying to keep up. She eventually caught up to the arboreal creature adventurer who waited patiently on a convenient tree limb. Hardly had Aviva taken another step when a dry branch beneath her suddenly gave way with a SNAP! causing her to lose her footing.
"Whoa! Whoah!"
"Gotcha!"
In that instant, Chris sprang to his feet and caught both of Aviva's hands before pulling her to his perch.
"Gracias, Cariño."she said, blowing away a few stray hairs from her eyes. "You must be really tired of doing that."
"Not really."he replied earnestly, all smiles.
  After making sure that she was firmly secured in her footing, the inventor took in her surroundings, taking note of the surrounding tree branches so closely woven together and covered by green, oval-shaped leaves, many of them draped over with plenty of strong vines, some hanging overhead, others coiled around their perspective limbs like long, fat snakes. And peering down, she could see that the forest understory was no more than twenty or thirty feet below them, and blanketed with bushes, ferns and other jungle foliage for added safety. Her boyfriend could not have chosen a better training field.
"Magnifico."she said, taking in the view.
"Ahh... Don't you just love fig trees?"stated Chris blissfully. "With over 850 species, all in the genus Ficus–" In that moment, a yellow flash scampered across the branches above their heads, rustling the leaves. "Whoah! What in the creature world?"
"¿Qué fue eso?"
Several more followed, startling the pair, whose eyes darted in many different directions in an attempt to find the unseen causes of the commotion. After nearly a minute of scanning above, Chris and Aviva found themselves face to face with a little black-and-white face staring back at them from its place on a tree limb a foot or two above them.
"A squirrel monkey!"exclaimed the Kratt in green with childlike excitement.
"Aww he's so cute!"said Aviva, completely mesmerized by the adorable appearance of the small primate who was no bigger than a cat. Little did the inventor or the creature adventurer know that they were in for a surprise: before too long, more and more rustling could be heard among the branches, and faster than the pair could tell, they found themselves surrounded by an entire troop.
The squirrel monkeys were equally as curious about these strange, two-legged visitors, some of them inching forward to gain a closer look.
  Try as she might, there was no way for Aviva to count them all. "There's so many of them."
The creature adventurer nodded. "Bands or troops can number anywhere from twelve to a hundred monkeys." Just then, one of the tiny primates landed on his backside, climbing onto the human's shoulder. Chris rolled his eyes playfully. "Just what I needed: a monkey on my back!"
  Several more squirrel monkeys followed, making themselves comfortable on their living green platform. The long tail of one monkey curled around Chris' face, giving him the appearance of a mustache. Aviva laughed, finding her boyfriend's predicament hilarious. Suddenly she felt something land on her own shoulder. The inventor looked to see a baby squirrel monkey staring back at her with innocent beady eyes. The infant tilted its head curiously.
"Oh hello, little one."she cooed. "You are the sweetest. You're number one creature power is that you are absolutely perfect and adorable!" The temptation to pet the baby proved too great to resist.
"I shoulda remembered that figs are a major component of the diets of more species of animals than any other tropical fruit."said the Kratt in green as he observed the squirrel monkeys feasting on the tree's ripe figs. "Since the fig trees fruit year round, many primates, birds and countless other species, feed exclusively on figs during seasons when other fruit is scarce." As he spoke, Chris plucked a pair of wild figs from a nearby branch. He then proceeded to juggle the fruits before tossing one to his girlfriend.
"Gracias, Cariño."she said sweetly, taking a bite before offering some for the baby on her shoulder. "Mmm. Delicioso. Y'know, I haven't eaten figs this good since our last adventure in the Indonesian rainforest."
Chris was just about to take a bite of his fig when a flash of yellow snatched it from his grasp.
"Hey!"cried the younger Kratt, addressing the mischievous monkey who now sat upon on his head, happily munching on the stolen fruit. At his side, the inventor giggled.
  The young Kratt cast her an unamused glance. "Really funny." Another giggle. Soon enough, he gave in, his deadpan stare melted into a smile and it wasn't long before he too laughed out loud. Even a few of the primates seemed to be screeching and howling in amusement at the green human's expense.
Lunchtime over, it was time to get airborne as Chris and Aviva both got hold of a couple of strong fig vines. The couple exchanged knowing glances, the same thought on both their minds.
(BG Music: Suddenly by Solveig Sandnes)
  Under the ever inquisitive eyes of the squirrel monkeys, Chris and Aviva practiced swings and drills along the branches. On occasion, the monkeys themselves would join the sessions, much to the joy and amusement of the pair. The more that the novice tree-climber leaped from the arboreal platforms and swung on the sturdy vines, the bolder and more confident she grew. And it wasn't long until that confidence was matched by know-how under Chris' expertise. Very soon she was able to master the basics. Aviva was a fast learner; that was one of the countless things that the younger Kratt loved about her.
As Aviva was swinging from one branch to the other, reveling in wind in her hair and the feeling of weightlessness, it was then that the tree-climbing specialist decided that it was time to take things to the next level.
"Wow! You're a natural, Aviva!"the creature adventurer praised, resting on a thick branch as they both took a moment to rest from their first workout.
The shining pupil shrugged. "What can I say? I learn fast."
"Now then. How about a game?"
"What kind of game?"
"Oh, just an old favorite of mine that me and Martin like to call 'treetop tag'."
"Oh, oh let me guess. It's exactly what it sounds like."said Aviva with a wide grin.
"You got it."he replied with a wink. He then continued with a sagely tone, "Now listen closely, grasshopper," Chris went on to explain the rules of the game, to which the beginner listened with rapt attention: firstly, one's feet must never touch the ground, the penalty of which was disqualification; second, the objective of the game was to make it to the established base before being tagged by the chaser.
After establishing the base, a neighboring fig tree just around the corner, it was now time to choose the chaser in question. And there was only one way to decide.
"Odds or evens?"asked Chris, raising his right hand in a fist.
Aviva did likewise. "Evens."
Bets having been made, the pair raised their hands right before swinging them down, chanting: "One, two, three. Shoot!"
The pair drew their fingers.
Aviva was ecstatic to say the very least. "Six! That's even! You're it!" The game was on!
"Hey!" Chris shouted indignantly as his girlfriend wasted no time in trying to escape, leaving him in the dust. Aviva screamed playfully as her arboreal boyfriend was hot on her tail. Everything around her seemed to pass her by like a blur as she swung along the vines, leaping from one tree limb to the next, her mind and body performing in perfect synchronization.
Chris had to admit; he had greatly underestimated his quarry as she was much faster than he thought, with agility to match. She's got talent alright, he thought, absentmindedly grabbing another vine. But this didn't deter the creature adventurer, who had experience on his side.
The inventor got hold of another vine before flying towards the next forest giant that would lead her to the old fig tree. Launching from her perch, she swung around the next bend when a green figure slid down the creeper directly in front of her.
"How's it going, Aviva?"
Aviva yelled out in surprise as she tried in vain to stop herself. Thinking quickly, the arboreal Kratt came to her side, his left hand slowing down the inventor's respective trailing plant while his right maintained its grasp on his own vine. The two vines then crossed and wrapped around each other, bringing the two closer to each other.
"Gotcha."he said cheekily.
Carrying the inventor bridal style, Chris brought them down to land in the middle of an abandoned Harpy eagle's nest to catch their breath and stretch their aching muscles.
After a moment of silence, Chris was the first to speak once he found his voice. "That was a good game,"
"I– I can see why you love it so much."she panted. "It's exhilarating."
"That's true. But you know what's even more exhilarating than treetop tag?"
"What?"
The younger Kratt answered not with words, but by cupping the young woman's cheeks, staring deep in her intelligent gray eyes before closing the distance with a passionate kiss on the inventor's lips. Aviva was taken by surprise at first, but wasted no time in returning the kiss. To her chagrin, it wasn't long before he parted and rose to his feet once more, heading towards the edge of the nest. Aviva gasped in shock as Chris allowed gravity to claim him, falling backwards out of the relative safety of their platform.
Concerned about his safety, her first impulse was to look down.
"Now it's your turn to catch me!"he called out, swinging out of sight before his green form seemed to melt  into the vast expanse of the ocean of green. "Base is at the kapok tree by the river! Don't worry; I'll be sure to go easy on you!" He was teasing her!
  "Go easy on me? Hmph! I'll show him,"
Not far ahead, Chris brachiated along the evenly spaced tree limbs at a much slower pace than he usually would. Once or twice, the creature adventurer stopped to greet the resident arboreal animals such as the cheeky capuchin monkeys and the lumbering sloths, as well as the myriads of tropical birds like the colorful parrots and toucans. And once he passed by a green iguana lazily basking in the sun's rays.
  The Kratt in green had just landed among the leafy branches of a towering forest giant, smelling the flowers, when a small harpoon buried itself just a few feet above his head, a long cable attached to it. Fortunately, he possessed the reflexes to duck on time. After recovering from his initial shock, the sight that greeted Chris' eyes was his chaser zip lining towards him at full speed!
  His eyes widened in dread. "Yikes!"he squeaked, bolting back among the foliage with Aviva hot on his tail.
For every sharp turn the Kratt in green made, the inventor countered. The chase went up to the forest canopy where Chris erupted out of one tree in an explosion of leaves and foliage, into another. Aviva followed not far behind, her competitive side goading her on, determined to beat the climbing brother at his own game. The younger Kratt slid down the length of a vertical tree trunk, the girl doing likewise.
With the skill and balance of a professional acrobat, Chris ran along the entire length of a massive tree limb, shouting hurried apologies to a startled flock of macaws before launching himself into the air and allowing gravity to take him, performing multiple flips in midair during the descent. A lower vine then broke his free fall as he swung effortlessly to the next forest giant more than twenty feet away.
Almost there, he thought after crossing the gap, hurrying on his way. Had the Kratt in green dared take the chance to look over his shoulder, he would have seen his pursuer sliding along the same tree road in her signature roller skates. The moment Aviva reached the end of the branch, the wheels of her skates retracted within her shoes, replaced by pogo springs which she used to cover the twenty-foot divide with a single bound.
In the heat of the chase, Chris hardly had time to think when he reached out for a curious looking creeper adorned with strange markings. He had just gotten a hold when the spotted vine gave a spine-chilling HISS! "Ahhhh!!!!!"screamed the Kratt in green, realizing too late that he had unwittingly disturbed an angry boa constrictor, his rounded brown eyes directly in contact with the snake's unblinking orbs. "I'msorryl'msorryl'msorry!" In his fright, Chris let go of the faux vine before he realized what he was doing. By then, his eyes widened in horror. "Yikes,"he squeaked, and the natural consequence was that he was free falling more than thirty feet to the ground.
"Chris!" he heard Aviva cry out above him.
As the forest understory came closer and closer, Chris closed his eyes in anticipation of the inevitable and painful crash landing.... which never came. Instead, the falling Kratt felt himself stop with a sudden jerk that nearly pulled his leg right out of the socket.
Forcing an eye open, the Kratt in green could see that he was suspended four or five feet above the jungle floor, hanging by the vine tangled up on his left leg. Chris heaved a sigh of relief. "That was a close one."
  In that moment, Aviva slid down to the ground with the help of a strong fig vine, joining Chris who was still dangling upside down.
"Are you alright?"she asked.
"I'm fine, just 'hanging around.'"
Hand to her forehead, the inventor couldn't help but giggle at the awful pun.
"Umm... a little help?"
The inventor didn't respond immediately, but instead gave the creature adventurer a devilish smirk, making him feel a little uneasy. What was she thinking? Maybe it's just all this blood rushing to his head. Suddenly, Chris began to feel his heart pounding and butterflies in his stomach as she made her way toward him, coming closer and closer until she was just a lip's distance away. A brief pause, not a word was spoken between them. In that moment, Aviva slowly pressed her lips against his own, her hands pressed tenderly to his cheeks, much to Chris' surprise.
However, it wasn't long before the Kratt in green relaxed into the kiss and began to return it. The kiss was slow and sweet, lasting until both had to part for air.
"You're it."she whispered before kissing him again.
I can get used to this, he thought, still dangling.
Unbeknownst to the affectionate couple, their antics were being watched by two almost microscopic figures somewhere among the surrounding leaves.
"Awww. That's a sweet sight to behold, wouldn't you agree Antony?"said the pint-sized Martin, sitting atop the back of a much larger bullet ant. The black colored insect simply clapped his mandibles in response, twitching his antennas. "C'mon, buddy. Let's let them be."
***** Warning: the stunts you've just read was performed by professional maniacs. Do not attempt this yourself. Just so y'all know, this chapter takes place probably just a few days before Jurassic Kratts, and is just the first part of a two part short story...
PS, Couldn't resist making those two Marvel references, especially after watching Ant Man while writing this... :P