*A/N: Once again, thank you, my wonderful readers, for the encouragement and for the fun comments! This story was kinda tough, but we made it! Thanks for sticking with me! You guys rock! ;)

Chapter 10

Revenge of the Meerkats

"Aw, look!" sneered Gourmand. "If it ain't another little MeerKratt here t'rescue his big brother!"

"Chris!" Martin shouted, smiling with relief as he craned his head around to see past the chef. "Glad you could make it! Where ya been?"

Chris, still in his meerkat suit, was standing on the very edge of the fold-out restaurant area of Gourmand's kitchen with his arms crossed.

"Well, it's kind of a long story…"

"I ain't in the mood for story-time, Green Grape, so you better stay outta my way!"

"You've got to stop'im bro!" yelped Martin as Gourmand started dragging him off once more. "We're on our way to the river so he can throw me in with the hippos! And then he's gonna turn the meerkats into a meatloaf—"

Gourmand let the chair fall all the way over with a thud.

"Ow."

"Hang tight, Martin," Chris called. "I've got this all figured out."

"Oh yeah?" The chef unsheathed his ever-handy rolling pin and took a few menacing steps toward the younger Kratt. "And what's one little green meerkat gonna do against me, huh?"

"Oh, I didn't come by myself. I brought along some friends. Hope you don't mind." With that, Chris let out a shrill barking noise. A few seconds later, a seemingly endless torrent of fuzzy little tan animals hopped up and over the ledge and charged the chef. "Go get'em, gang!"

"AAAAIIIIEEEE—WHOA!" Startled at the unexpected onslaught, Gourmand staggered back, tripping over Martin in the process. Arms flailing, he went down with a heavy thud just as the meerkats began to swarm around him, chirping and barking with their tails held high in the air as a sign of aggression. "What're they doin'?! They're gonna eat me!"

"They're not trying to eat you," Chris answered, barely keeping back a laugh, "you're just on our home turf and we want you out! You also happen to have something we'd really, really like back."

The villain jumped up and hopped over to the bag on the counter as the little animals continued their attack. "Alright, alright! You can have yer scrawny kittens back! Here!" He put it on the floor and bolted out the rear exit, still howling to high heaven.

"Ha-ha! See ya, Gourmand!" Martin called from the ground.

The meerkats stood up on their tails to watch the chef leave, then crowded around the knapsack, eager for the return of their missing family members. Chris deactivated his suit and hurried over to lend a hand.

"There ya go," he said as he opened the bag and the tiny pups tumbled out on top of each other, followed closely by the two helpers. The rest of the grateful meerkats looked up at him, purring their thanks. "Hey, no prob! Glad I could help."

"Little help over here would be nice," Martin hinted from behind him.

"Oh yeah." Chris hauled the chair back to its upright position and got to work on the knot.

"What happened back there, bro? I thought you were on sentry duty?"

Chris cleared his throat nervously. "Ah-hem…about that…I kinda…"

"You kinda what?"

"I got a little…that is…"

Martin narrowed his eyes in suspicion, but he couldn't look his brother in the eye since he was behind him at the moment. "Chris…" he said slowly.

"Wow, this knot is really tight!"

"Chris, what did you do?"

Chris coughed and covered his mouth. "Uhgmmhmfgh…" he mumbled into a hand.

"Uh…mind running that by me again?"

It was no use delaying any longer. The time had come to fess up. Taking a deep breath, Chris prepared himself for the chewing out he was sure would follow.

"Ok, ok!" he blurted, squeezing his eyes shut and grabbing a fistful of his hair in each hand. "I admit! I got really hungry and left my post to eat a bug!"

There was a second or two of awkward silence.

"You did what?!"

"Sorry, sorry, sorry!"

The legs of the chair scraped against the floor as Martin attempted to turn himself around to face his guilty brother.

"I was almost dumped into a river full of hippos because you—WHOA!" the chair tipped over sideways and Martin again found himself on the ground.

Chris flinched, then hurried to help his older sibling. "You ok?"

"Ow," Martin answered, then sighed. " Look, I guess I can forgive you if you'll please just hurry up and untie me from this stupid chair!"

"I'm on it."

xxxx

Chris, Martin, and the rest of the Wild Kratts crew were seated under the three scrubby trees by the meerkat den. Evening was falling fast and the clan was busy trying to herd the rambunctious pups underground for the night.

"I've gotta hand it to you, Chris" commented Koki, "that was a pretty impressive rescue, even if it was a little late." She winked at him.

Martin threw an arm around Chris's shoulders. "Well, he did owe me for saving him from the snake."

"It's lucky you showed up with the whole family, CK," added Jimmy. "Just one little meerkat could never defend his territory all by himself."

"And that's exactly how meerkats are able to survive in the Kalahari," Aviva chimed in. "They work together!"

"Right," agreed Martin. "The whole gang depends on one another other for food, shelter, and protection. Everybody has a job to do."

"And if that job isn't carried out properly…" Aviva said as she and the others turned to look at Chris, "…things go very, very wrong."

Chris sighed, cheeks flushing as he dropped his eyes to stare at the dirt at his feet. "I know, I know. I promise nothing like that will ever happen again."

Martin smiled and gave him a slap on the back. "Good. And I already told you it's ok. I'm still here and the so are the meerkats." He paused, seeming to ponder something for a second or two. "One question…"

"Yeah?"

"Was that bug any good? I'm starving."

The End