Chapter Text
Wild Kratts Fanfiction Chapter 1
It was a warm summer day. The trees were full of green and the green brother, Chris Kratt began his first day of Kindergarten in the New Jersey public school system. Warren Township Elementary was huge as Chris seemed to bob and weave under towering teachers and students. Students were funneled into the cafetria-gymnasium. Chris's big blue brother Martin was one of those towering students, a 4th grader nearing the top of the WT Elementary food chain.
"Don't worry Chris, stick with me. Your big bro will get you through your first day at WT."
"Thanks, Martin." Chris flashed a sheepish smile.
"Excuse us, pardon us. The brothers Kratt coming through." The protective Martin, with his dazed brother in tow bobbed and weaved his way to his 4th grade friends.
"Martin, where are we going?"
"To the fourth graders." Martin flashed a smile at his little bro.
"Hey Sam, Parker. What's shaking?"
"MK! Who's shorty?"
"Hey, lay off Sam. This is Chris, my little brother."
"Sorry, how was I supposed to know?"
"Uh...I talk about him every week."
"Hey guys, the school year just started. Can we cool it?" Parker interjected.
"Hey little guy. I'm Parker." The peace making 4th grader shook Chris's hand. Confused by the tension, Chris returned the handshake with innocence.
"I'm Chris, but my brother said that already."
Sam lined up next to Parker. "I'm Sam. Sorry about that. Guess we all have some first-day jitters. You got your brother though, so you'll be fine. Everyone in the 4th grade knows he'll look out for you."
"Thank you..." Chris returned a more relaxed, assured handshake.
Martin smiled at Chris. "Come on guys. It's gonna be a great year."
***
School could not be more different from home for the Kratt brothers. Chris was used to playing with Martin anytime he wanted. Now, at school, he didn't even see Martin at lunch. Chris struggled to make friends with his peers, and the older kids he'd see in the hallway at times weren't his brother, so he wasn't comfortable with them either. Sure there were times when he played with the other kids, and, sure he had fun. But Chris didn't have any younger siblings that he played with at home. The blue brother had four years on him. Playing with kids his age was totally new to Chris.
Chris and Martin played together and learned together. After dinner, the brothers would play outside, and their parents would tell them all about nature. The animals, the plants, creeksides, and ponds. Every day was an adventure at home. But at school, students were confined to the playground. Their parents would let them run in the hills. At school, they couldn't go beyond the fenced in play set.
"Do I at least get to play with my brother?"
"No, he's a big 4th grader. He could hurt someone." His teacher scolded.
These adults who weren't his parents seemed to always have excuses." In his nearly six years of life, Chris didn't recall his brother ever deliberately hurting him. However, Chris was mature for his age, especially for a boy, and didn't make a fuss. He knew that any scene he caused could have a negative effect on his brother's day at school. If Chris felt the need to cry, he would wait until a bathroom break and cry as silently as possible in a stall. As far as he could tell, no one heard him.
The playground did have one up-side to it. There was a tree beyond the wood chip entrenched playground equipment. If the four Kindergarden teachers and their Instructional Assistants were chatting, Chris could sneak and play around the tree and sometimes even climb on the lower branches if they were really in a deep conversation. One afternoon recess break, Chris discovered someone else playing near this lone tree.
"Hmmm....They just about fit...Eh...I need that super sticky glue stuff."
Chris peaked around the tree to find a 1st grade boy clad in black. The boy about 1 year older than Chris tried putting a few pieces of metal together. Where did he even find those?
"Uh...Hello?" The green-clad boy poked his head out from around the tree. "Whoa! Don't sneak up on me....I mean I'm not doing anything." Zach hid the metal pieces behind his back, and Chris returned a raised eyebrow. "You think I would tattle on you? I love playing around this tree too. Don't worry." Chris winked with a smile.
"Oh..." Zach tried to hide his embarssment, "In that case, wanna help me fit these metal pieces together? I found them in my parent's garage. Don't tell them I snuk them to school. I'm Zach, by the way."
"No worries", Chris smiled. I don't even know your parents. "But my mom and dad would think that was pretty cool that you were trying to make something. I'm Chris." Chris bent down to help Zach fit the metal together.
"Let's see..." Chris tried shaping some dirt with his hands, but it crumbled apart. The ground was just too dry.
"Hmm..." He tried putting some small twigs in the dirt and spitting in it to help reinforce the earth into mud.
"Eww...." Zach turned away in disgust, but resigned to peek back at the horror. "But thanks." The disgruntled 1st grader turned grateful when he saw Chris put the metal with the mud backing.
"Wow, thanks. How'd you think to do that?" Zach tried to hide his disgust for ettiquet's sake. He wasn't sure exactly what the word meant, but it was important to his parents. They seemed to hark about it non-stop with him.
"Where did you learn to do that?" Zach asked concerning the salaiva mud. He wasn't truly interested in such gross construction, but it was the polite question to ask.
"My big brother, Martin taught me." Chris beamed.
"Martin...Martin Kratt? You're Martin Rats brother?"
"Hey! That's Martin Kratt with a "K." Chris folded his little arms over his chest.
"Sorry, Chris was it? But your brother calls me "the triangle tyrant" all the time. It's just a little tit-for-tat...At least, that's what my parents call it."
Chris's eyes widened. What? His brother was 9 going on 10. Why would he bully a boy in the first grade that his little bro didn't even know. It wasn't as if this Zach kid had been bullying his little brother. Martin would never do that....But Zach just met Chris too. It's not like he had any reason to lie to him.
"There's no way Martin would do that! You're not in the same classroom! You don't even eat lunch with him!"
"Whoa! I'm just telling you what happened." Zach held up his hands in defense. The green eyed Varmitech was an only child, and he didn't expect the brown-eyed Kratt to take up for his older brother just like that.
Chris blushed from embarrassment, and his eyes started to water. He didn't want to hear that his brother picked on smaller kids. It had to be his friends. Yes. They were the ones putting him up to it.
It was obvious to Zach that Chris was about to cry, and the upper classman didn't want to get in trouble. In all honesty, he felt a little bad for hurting him....just a little.
Zach reached out to touch Chris's shoulder. "Hey, Sorry...I-"
Chris knocked the first grader's hand away and ran back to the school building with the ringing bell.
***
Chris met his big brother during school dismissal. Martin noticed his brother's glum face.
"Hey, Chris...What's wrong?" Martin stared down at his brother's gloomy face.
Chris bent down and twirled his shoe laces. "I...don't really want to talk about it right now."
"Oh, okay." Martin ruffled his brother's hair. He wanted to cheer him up. "Come on, when we get home, we'll search for animals in our backyard!"
"Yeah..." Chris gave his brother a half-hearted smile, and the little brother hated it. He felt like he was lying to Martin.
The bus ride home helped lighten the mood. Chris asked Martin how his school day went, and Martin asked Chris about his.
"Mrs. Smith is teaching us to use letters in math. They're called variables. Pretty tough, but we're all getting there." Martin spread his left arm on the top of the bus seat. He grasped his little brother's shoulder and patted him on the back.
"At lunch, Sam laughed so hard at his own joke that milk shot out of his nose. Heh! Ha!" Martin slapped his knee.
"That is funny!" Chris smiled up at his brother. "Listen, today, we danced and pretended to be dinosaurs with Mrs. Perkins!" Chris swung his head around and clawed at his brother like a T-Rex.
"Whoa, easy Chris...." Martin put his palm on his brother's swinging forehead.
"We can play make believe when we get home. Heh, heh!"
"No way! We're going to find real animals." Chris would make sure of it. The brothers Kratt joked on the bus ride all the way home. Memories of recess with Zach were tucked away in the back of Chris's mind.
"Whoa, Martin check it out!"
"What is it bro?"
Martin walked over to his jumping brother.
"A snapping turtle!"
"In our backyard? Cool!"
The blue brother turned to the green one. "The snapping turtle is a freshwater turtle." Martin lifted a hand to his brow and scanned his surroundings. "There! He must have come from the pond across the road." Chris bent down and picked up the snapping turtle. "We gotta take him back there!" Chris looked up at his brother. Martin smiled and rubbed his little brother's hair. "Yeah, we'll get him there. We're the Kratt brothers! We got this."
Snapping turtle in hand, the Kratt brothers marched to the pond.
"So, Chris...What happened at school today?" Chris looked up at his big brother who was staring forward.
"Well...there was a kid in the first grade, Zach, Zach Varmitech, and he said you were bullying him...and, well....It made me mad." I just know that...there's no way that's true."
The brothers Kratt made their way to the pond. They released the snapping turtle, and he crawled into the water with a ker-splunk. The claw-footed reptile swam out into the pond's center.
"Listen, Chris..." Martin bent down to look at Chris in the eyes. "It's not that that Zach guy is a bad person...it's just that his parents were known for animal testing when they were in school, and we have to protect animals...so..."
"But he didn't do that! His mom and dad did!"
"Chris...." Martin restrained himself...."There's just more to it.... His parents don't think well of our parents."
"Well, They aren't him!" A frustrated Chris sat his little body in the grass by the pond.
Martin sat down next to his brother. He placed a hand on his brother's shoulder.
"Listen, Chris. I know I'm your big brother, but I don't have all the answers to everything. You're right about some things. I should be nicer to him, but...life can get more complicated as you get older."
"Maybe you should start." Chris mumbled into his knees as he stared out across the pond.
Martin looked out across the pond and pointed to the snapping turtle.
"I think I'm gonna name him Little Snapper, Chris. How's that for a start? Think your bro can turn over a new leaf?"
Chris grabbed Martin's hand and stood up from the ground. "Yeah, we'll see." He smirked up at his big brother.