A Wild World (Wild Kratts Story)

Deep Sea Soup

You stared out across the sea nervously, then sighed in relief when you saw Chris and Martin swimming up. Martin nodded to you, then changed direction to swim over to the net. Chris came over to talk to you.

"What happened?" Chris asked, you could tell he was more concerned about your injury than about the whale. You wanted to smile at the thought, but the baby animal was too important.

"I was just playing with this little whale," You gestured to the poor creature trapped in the net. "When a net snatched it."

You saw Martin about to test the rope durability with a knife, and was instantly at his side, yanking him away. You winced at the searing pain in your hand as the burned skin on your palm touched Martin's arm. Still, you ignored it and forced Martin back.

"Don't. Touch. That. Net." You told Martin, expression dead serious. Chris swam up, and he and Martin exchanged confused glances.

"Why not?" Chris asked you slowly. You turned to him, and saw concern in his eyes.

"It's electrified. Trust me, you don't want to touch it." You said. Martin seemed to notice the burn for the first time, and stared in horror at the net. After a few minutes, Chris's eyes lit up, and you knew he had an idea.

Chris swam up to the surface, and you were starting to get his plan. You pulled Martin, who was still in shock, along with you. You glanced back at the baby whale, and fear jabbed at you when you noticed streams of blood in some of the places where the net was strained.

Chris reached the surface, and you watched as he easily cut the rope that was pulling the net up. With nothing holding up the net, it started drifting down. You stared at the net, and noticed a tiny metal thing on it. You went over, and saw it was some kind of computer. Using your left hand, you struck at the piece of technology until it broke.

After watching the metal fall to the bottom of the ocean, you gingerly touched the net. It was no longer electrified! You grabbed it with both hands, then pulled away your right hand. You saw a small trickle of blood where the force of pulling the rope broke the raw skin. You held on to the net with your left hand, and kept it up until Martin and Chris came to help you.

"We should get this little guy back to the boat." Chris suggested. Martin stared at the cute baby whale, which they had brought back to the surface for air.

"Yeah." Martin agreed. "Silver really needs medical help."

"Silver? We've barely even saved him, and you already gave him a name?" Chris asked, smiling. Martin laughed, and you knew why. Of course Martin would name the creature!

"You guys go ahead. I'm going to check things out." You told your brothers. Martin stared at you in surprise, and Chris seemed a little concerned. Eventually, you convinced them that you were fine on your own.

After Martin and Chris had gone, you took a closer look at the boat. What fisherman would even attempt to capture a baby whale? Now that you were thinking about it, where was Silver's mother? Before you could think anything else, you sensed a presence behind you, and smelled dough. It also sounded like the person was trying to creep up on you.

I'm starting to see why the kids at the orphanage called me Wild Cat. You thought. Just as the person was about to grab you, you whipped around and punched the person's arm.

"Ow!" The stranger shouted, standing up and rubbing their arm in pain. You saw it was a short, plump man wearing a chef's hat and outfit. He stared at you furiously.

"Uh... hi." You said sheepishly. For some reason you felt like you should recognize him. He growled and yanked you out of the ocean by your arm. You cried out in pain as he twisted it behind you and shoved you further onto the boat.

"First you ruin my Deep Sea Soup, then you come and hit me!" The man complained. Suddenly, you realized where you remembered him from. His name was mentioned when Chris was teaching you all of the Wild Kratt's enemies.

"G-gourmand!" You stuttered. He snapped his eyes from the bruise forming on his arm to you.

"Do you think you can get away with this, you little rat?" Chef Gourmand snapped at you. As you were getting to your feet, you smirked at him.

"Actually, my friends call me a cat. There's a big difference." You told him smugly. Gourmand snarled at you like some kind of beast and lounged at you. You agilely leapt out of the way. From there it was muscle memory. You remembered a time when you went with the thieves, and had practiced many gymnastics moves beforehand.

You did a front handspring and landed behind the cruel chef. You quickly dialed the team, but said nothing when they answered. Instead, you hopped out of the way of another wild attempt to catch you, and pointed the camera at Gourmand. You sent the team your coordinates, then hung up.

When you started to get tired, you cartwheeled over to the edge of the boat, smiled and waved at Gourmand, then back-flipped into the water. You decided it would be safer to wait underwater for everyone.

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"(____)!" You heard Aviva's muffled voice. You swam up to the surface and poked your head out of the water. A rope ladder fell down to hang in front of your face. On the boat, you saw Martin giving Gourmand a piece of his mind. You smiled, and using your good hand to pull yourself up, climbed onto the Tortuga.

"So... how'd your little 'chat' with Gourmand go?" You asked Martin while tending to your hand. Martin shrugged.

"He drove off, shouting that he would be back." Your older brother replied casually. You nodded, then winced when you pulled the bandage wrap too tight on your hand. Just then, Chris ran in, holding a flyer.

"You'll never believe what I just found!" He said, more excited than usual. You and Martin stared at him.

"What'd you find, bro?" Martin finally asked. Chris handed the flyer to him.

"It's a month-long hike." Chris said happily. "All the way across the United States! It goes from California, through Arizona and Texas, and all along the gulf, south, and east coasts to Virginia!"

"Okay." You said slowly, thinking about the idea. Finally, you spoke again. "I'm in. When is it?"

"This says its a whole year away." Martin answered, his eyes on the paper.

"That's to give contestants plenty of time to sign up and gather supplies." Chris explained. "We aren't allowed to take any vehicles or stop in any towns along the way, so I guess there needs to be time to train as well."

Soon, you and Chris convinced Martin, and the three of you started making plans. A year from now, you were going to hike halfway across North America, and you would be ready for it.