Chapter Text
Zach Varmitech had to change his business model, that much he was sure of. His business was struggling, nobody wanted animal-powered machines anymore. Nothing was selling and the board at Varmitech Industries were urging him to go green and animal friendly. With the risk of his company going bankrupt looming, Zach had agreed.
So, he resigned to changing almost everything, joining social media, and getting a therapist. The last one was literally assigned to him by his doctor. They were, "worried about his mental health," because apparently he was, "a raging narcissist with sociopathic tendencies." Like what was he paying them anyway.
He assumed the board thought social media would make him seem like more of a sympathetic character. Not wanting to witness Aviva and the Wild Rats gushing over his change of heart, he had kept his distance from them for the past few months.
Though he did notice Chris had followed him on Twitter, which was confusing. Probably because he was "No longer evil." It was quite naive of Chris to assume that. Zach had hardly any guilt for his actions and his therapist, Dr. Reynard, was working on that. He couldn't tell if the Kratts would forgive him or want to be friends and he definitely didn't want them to.
When really looking and considering his actions, Zach had found them somewhat embarrassing for the "world's greatest mind," at least from a "moral" standpoint. The animals were living organisms and felt pain just like he did. Sure he wasn't about to go vegan but he could recognize how inhumane some of his machines were.
As it turned out, some of them didn't even need animals to function and could work just fine without them so Zach recalled lots of his devices and set the animals back to their natural habitats. He had also been advised to cut back on pollution and donate to organizations that used to oppose his actions. The Wild Rats would be proud of him. With some hesitancy, he had also stopped using all the hair gel and wore more colors in an attempt to change his "ghastly" appearance.
One afternoon in early October, Zach decided to go for a walk outside of his forest home. He had cut down on most of everything now, barely using his Zach-bots and only having one home, one small yacht, and one jet that he wouldn't take out often. He had, of course, never liked nature before but he didn't seem to absolutely loathe it now.
And maybe he was hoping to run into the Kratts, whose Tortuga was parked nearby, but he would obviously never admit that. Nor would he admit his extreme loneliness and anxiousness regarding human interaction. The Autumn wind chilled him through his coat and green long sleeved shirt (he bought one of every color) and tussled his wavy, black hair. Zach continued on the path, mumbling to himself, and saw the Tortuga in the distance.
Nearing the vehicle, Zach smiled mischievously as he remembered all of his schemes. He'd always loved fighting and messing with the Kratts more than even the money from the inventions. Donita and Gourmand, who were still animal world criminals, had always teased him for being some "two dimensional cartoon villain" and maybe they were right.
Those villainous adventures were really just hobbies. Lost in thought, Zach didn't even notice Chris and Martin looking at him curiously. He was now mere yards from the familiar Tortuga and it's inhabitants. Chris's eyes locked onto his and Zach, feeling suddenly embarrassed, turned on his heel and began walking back home.
But of course the damage was done and Chris seemed to appear next to him. "You've changed." Chris stated matter-of-factly. "Yeah, what of it?" Zach snipped, uncomfortable with how Chris was eyeing him. "I like it, and I've heard you've changed your business. That's good. Maybe you could pay reparations too."
Zach shrugged, his face suddenly warm, and wished Chris would stop walking next to him. "Well, the board advised me to go green or something. I've been donating and lots of my machines didn't need the animals anyway." "Green does look good on you." Chris quipped playfully. Zach was confused by Chris's compliment and sheepishly looked away. "Thanks." "You're welcome."
"We haven't seen or heard from you for some time, does this mean that you are going to stop messing with our power suits, trying to steal Aviva's inventions, and almost killing us?" Zach hesitated, "I think so, I always did find messing with you guys entertaining. I don't really know why though."
They continued on the path in an awkward silence that Zach felt like he had to break but didn't know how. "Well, glad to see you're not a villain anymore." Chris smiled across at Zach, a pleased look in his eyes. Something flared up in Zach after months of goody-two-shoes boredom and he reached over and grabbed Chris by the wrist.
"Just because I can't afford any bad publicity or animal cruelty charges doesn't mean I'm some boring, perfect tree-hugger. Don't forget that either, or I might have to do something really bad to remind you." Chris, now a few inches away, grinned at his adversary. "I won't but I doubt that you'd do something bad. You mentioned your therapist on Twitter and I think their helping.
It seems like you're getting better." Chris calmly pulled Zach's hand off of him and smiled. Zach stood there embarrassed and insulted, and started to defend himself. "There's nothing wrong with that. I think I like you better like this." Chris cut in, ruffling Zach's hair.
Zach was extremely mortified and Chris watched his old enemy's face turn red. Why was Chris being NICE to him? Was it because Zach hadn't acted up in months? The green Kratt felt his creature pod beep and checked it. "Well I have to go. Stay green, Zach!" With that, Chris jogged off in the direction of the Tortuga.
"Yeah, whatever Wild Rat!" Zach shouted slightly annoyed. "That's wild Kratt!" Chris shouted over his shoulder. Composing himself, the inventor turned and speed walked back home. He had to figure out a new Eco friendly invention and didn't need the Kratts distracting him. Zach couldn't help but wonder if he was getting better and if he should be happy about that.
***
Zach sighed as he stared at his blank notebook paper. He let the book fall from his fingers and onto the floor as he leaned back across his couch. The day was horribly draining and he couldn't come up with a single Eco-friendly invention. His eyelids started to drift shut when his phone began to ring in an incredibly annoying fashion. "Ugh!" Zach exclaimed, rubbing his eyes and grabbing his phone. "What does he want this time?!"
"Hey Zach, how's it hanging?" Gourmand asked on the other side of the phone. "What do you want?" Zach questioned with a yawn. "I was wondering if you could help me find a certain bird for my stew?" "Seriously? You know I've been ordered to be more animal friendly OR WHATEVER recently. Like is your stew this important?"
Zach groaned and rolled his eyes. "You're near the Tortuga, right? I do recall you telling me a few days ago you're on better terms with those two." Gourmand responded, amusement in his voice.
Zach cringed and regretted telling Gourmand anything about his run in with Chris. "Get on with it." "The bird I want is more often than not, found in Canada. You're closer to there than I am and I don't think the Kratts would be suspicious if they see your jet. So I want you to help find it and I can pick it up later."
"Fine! It better not take forever to find though. Which bird is it?" Zach asked, already done with this conversation. "Uh it's a Bald Eagle." "Are you serious," Zach chuckled, "What are you having an America themed dinner party?" "No, you know how I feel about American Nationalism. So will you help?"
"I already said I could! But if the Wild Rats scold me then I'm blaming you!" "I bet the green one will be forgiving." Gourmand teased.
Groaning, Zach hung up the phone and slowly got up from the couch. He definitely did not want to hop in his jet and go searching for some stupid bird. Dr. Reynard was encouraging him to get out more but still. He grabbed his black bag and slung it over his shoulder, regretting many life decisions, and walked into his large master bedroom.
The walls were a dark grey and the flooring was dark wood. Zach pulled his trench coat on over his red turtleneck and put his laptop into his bag. Lost in thought, he also strolled into the kitchen to grab a sandwich. His doctor had also encouraged him to eat more and drink less coffee. Like what's wrong with ten cups a day?
When he was in his jet, he set up autopilot and leaned back on one of his chairs. He had decided to head towards British Columbia which, according to his single google search, has the highest concentrated population of Bald Eagles in Canada. Gourmand was right about it not being super far. Zach buckled himself in and, as the jet took off, thought back to his therapy session from the day prior.
Dr. Reynard, as always, had greeted him with a smile and asked Zach about his day. He had filled them in about his meetings and shared some new invention ideas. They then asked the inventor how he felt about the recent changes in his company. Per usual, Zach had many complaints about how boring it was to not be toying with the Kratts and doing whatever he wanted.
Dr. Reynard continued to ask questions that Zach couldn't answer. Like, "Why do you enjoy tormenting those biologists so much?" And, "Are you sure this need to compete with Aviva doesn't stem from insecurity about your intellect?" He did compete with Aviva but that didn't make him insecure, being the world's greatest mind and all. They'd also ask how he felt about his childhood and if he felt remorseful for his cruelty to animals and pollution.
Zach's answers were remarkably unsatisfying and Dr. Reynard encouraged him to think more about these things. His relationship with his, now deceased, parents had nothing to do with his "mental health issues," well at least according to him. He did feel a little bad when confronted with how horrible his previous behavior was but also confused. He didn't know if he should feel more guilty. All in all, the session wasn't awful and Dr. Reynard had gotten him thinking.
Suddenly, Zach was shaken out of his thoughts by the beeping of his jet console. Unbuckling, he stood up and walked over to it. The GPS showed that he had arrived so he set the jet to move around the cold forest area slowly so he could watch for Eagles.
His jet had an opening for zach-bots that he decided to use, so he opened it up, grabbed binoculars, and stood a yard or two from the opening. Pulling the binoculars over his eyes, Zach began to search the trees for an Eagle. After almost twenty minutes of looking Zach exclaimed to himself, "Stupid Gourmand! Making me find some bird!"
A noise from behind him, near the storage containers, shocked him. One of the crates with mechanical parts had fallen to the ground and there was Chris Kratt in his signature green jacket. "Ah! Where did you come from?" Zach squeaked.
"I snuck on here to figure out what you're up to. What bird are you looking for, Zach?" "None of your business, Wild Rat!" Zach exclaimed as he fixed his binoculars. "Where's the blue one? Are you both going to annoy me today?" He asked in a tired way.
"No. The gang sent me to make sure you weren't going to take another helpless animal. But I guess you are, what a shame." Chris explained with a strange look in his eyes. Like a disappointed parent would look at a child. "Gourmand asked me to find a Bald Eagle, so take it up with him."
Zach scoffed with an uninterested wave of his hand. "A Bald Eagle? Why?" Chris asked with a curious tone. "I don't know." "Well, Zach I can't exactly let you find him one. They deserve to be living free and in the wild!" The green Kratt said as he started to approach the inventor. "I know, I know."
Chris reached for Zach's binoculars which caused him to recoil towards the jets opening. Zach screeched as he almost fell out of the aircraft and dropped his binoculars. Chris reacted fast and grabbed his old enemy by the waist and pulled him back onto the vehicle. "Oh my Gosh!" Zach gasped as they fell back onto the floor side by side.
In silence the two gathered their breath and Zach began to scold himself internally. "Nice one, Zach!" Chris laughed as he stood up and helped the shivering inventor. "Whatever... Now thanks for stopping by Chris. You can leave now." Zach responded sarcastically.
"Not so fast," Chris said as he pulled Zach away from the opening by the shoulder. "You're going to help us stop Gourmand."