Tang Ri Shan

The Wild Krew

(Kratts Creatures, Zoboomafoo, Wild Kratts, I love 'em all! I'm a big Kratts Brothers fan, and this story is made to tribute them. It'll mostly follow Wild Kratts, but I'll be incorporating elements from their other shows as well. I do not own the Kratt Brothers or any other characters in this story. Enjoy and PLEASE COMMENT! Let me know you guys are still reading!)

Prologue

The owl called out once from its branch, its dark eyes gazing serenely at its surroundings. It twisted its head completely around, scanning the surrounding woods for prey. It paused, its head gazing over its shoulder. Its eyes widened and it blinked. A faint humming had reached its sensitive ears. Its eyes gazed skyward, following the sound. The sky was filled with clouds, there was the faint outline of a silvery moon trying, without success, to break through the cloud barrier. Suddenly there was a little disturbance in the clouds, a small hole appeared for a fraction of a second. The owl blinked again, but when it looked back up, the hole had closed. Curious, the owl spread its wings and flew upwards, leaving the tree canopy behind. As it flew higher, the humming sound became louder. The owl suddenly came to a halt and screeched a warning. The humming got louder and the owl noticed a see-through, blurred outline moving straight towards it. The owl screeched again and dove, just in time as it felt something brush against its tail feathers. The owl flew in a circle and watched as the blurred shape came to a stop, hovering above the edge of a small meadow ringed by forest.

Inside

"JZ, Report!" A shrill voice called out. "How far away are we?"

"Range to assigned coordinates, 5 miles" A scraggy voice replied. "I've spotted a meadow below. It's big enough, isolated, would make an ideal recovery zone. Scanning now" A minute passed. "Scans reveal only insects and small mammals in said zone. Touching down"

Outside

The owl narrowed its eyes as the hum suddenly got louder. The blurred outline settled down, whipping the grass and leaves in the meadow. There was a quiet thump, and then the humming died away. The owl landed on a branch and studied the field. The blurred outline had stopped moving and was now completely invisible, and now that the humming had stopped, the owl couldn't hear anything. It was just thinking of leaving when it heard a hiss. A second one followed the first and a square of light appeared out of nowhere, briefly illuminating the field. The owl blinked twice as two figures emerged from the circle of light. They looked like humans, they were both thin, but muscular, one was taller than the other. Both were wearing black suits with colored markings on them, one had green, the other blue. Both of them wore helmets that were oblong, and covered their entire heads, with two antennae slicing out the top. The owl cocked its head, it had learned to avoid humans, but these humans, while strange looking, didn't appear dangerous. The owl lifted its wings and flew closer.

"MK, CK, listen carefully. The location in question is about 5 miles away, to the East. Your job is to get in, free the animals, and get out, preferable without anyone noticing. We can't get any closer than this without being detected. Good luck"

"Copy that KO, out" One of the humans tapped his wrist. "But how are we going to sneak in there?"

"If only we had some creature help." The other human sighed, looking around. The owl, who had been listening, felt a sudden rush to help. It lifted its wings and flew towards the two strange humans. The green one noticed the owl and held out an arm as a perch. "Well, hello there" He said as the owl alightened on his arm.

"A barn owl!" The other human in blue exclaimed. "Perfect!"

"Yeah" The first human agreed. "With the powers of silent flight, awesome eyesight, and amazing hearing. Perfect for sneaking and entering." The blue human reached out and gently touched the owl's feathers with one hand, both humans used their other hands to press a glowing spot on their chests, and there was a flash of blue-green light. The owl felt its perch shrink beneath it, lifted itself into the air, and stared. Where there had been two tall humans, where now two odd-looking barn owls like itself. Instead of tan and cream feathers, they had deep brown feathers, a tan face and green or blue highlights.

"Thanks for the assist" The blue owl whispered as the two owls flew away through the trees. As the barn owl flew in the other direction, the square of light disappeared and it heard someone yell the words

"To the Creature Rescue!"