Jurassic Kratts

Velociraptors In The Kitchen

  After Alan and the Kratt Brothers departed the restaurant in their search for the others, Jimmy, Lex and Tim were enjoying their time filling their bellies with as much dessert as they could eat, while at the same time, the newly recruited Wild Kratts kid asked the Tortuga pilot question after question about the duties and responsibilities he had of being part of the team, about previous creature adventures which the latter answered with much enthusiasm.
"So what's it like to be a Wild Kratts kid?"asked the ten-year old.
"Oh, you're gonna love it, little buddy,"replied JZ with his mouth full of cheesecake. "Soon you'll get a brand new Creaturepod like mine, and you'll be able to inform us Wild Kratts abou–what's the matter, dudette? You're shaking like a leaf."
  The duo's attention turned to Lex, who's eyes suddenly widened, a spoonful of lime jell-o quivering in her shaking hand. Both Jimmy and Timmy turned around, looking at the transparent mural painted in the background, which depicted a scene from a primordial jungle in a time long past, before their eyes fell on a Velociraptor painted in a hunting pose. As they continued to stare, a shadowy figure suddenly moved from behind the illustration, slowly creeping their way. A real Velociraptor.
    A quiet gasp escaped Tim's lips upon seeing the eminent threat while Jimmy's blood ran cold, heart racing in terror. The Tortuga pilot's eyes darted in all directions before spying a steel  door with a circular window which led to the kitchen.
"Follow me!"JZ whispered. Without another moment to lose, the trio made their way to the kitchen as swiftly and silently as possible. The moment both Murphy siblings passed through the door, Jimmy quietly shut the metal door before killing the lights, submerging them in semidarkness. They walked down one of the kitchen aisles before taking cover behind a counter, breathing hard.
"Call for help."murmured Lex, gesturing towards the pilot's Creaturepod.
  Regaining his breath, Jimmy pulled out his Creaturepod, quickly calling Martin's contact. C'mon. Pick up, pick up, pick up, the redhead thought before a holographic screen materialized out of thin air, revealing Martin and Chris on the other end.
"M-Martin? Chris? Guys?" he whispered before being answered by a loud chorus of excited voices which could only mean the rest of the Wild Kratts team.
"Jimmy!" Too loud for his liking.
"Shhh! Not so loud! She'll hear us."he cautioned, finger against his lips.
  "Who will hear you, Jimmy? What's going on?"whispered Chris.
"As soon as you guys left, this Velociraptor showed up."
"Oh no! Where are you? Are the kids okay?"asked Martin in obvious concern.
"The kids are fine. They're with me. We're hiding in the kitchen and–" he paused upon spying a reptilian head pop into view at the window, peering into the darkness for a moment, its hot breath fogging up the glass. "she's at the door! Wherever you guys are, get over here asap! Zap out!" And he hung up.
"They'll be on their way."he whispered reassuringly. "Don't worry, guys; so long as she's out there, nothing wil–" but Jimmy's optimism was short lived as he heard a faint thumping as the raptor pushed its head against the door, followed by a soft click. The trio then watched in shock as the door handle started to turn, before the metal barrier was swung open, flooding the kitchen with light as the predator stood stood at the doorway, drawing itself to its full height, looking around.
The world loves to prove me wrong, doesn't it?
After a moment of dead silence, a series of sharp barks echoed across the kitchen, causing the trio to cover their ears to block out the awful sound. A moment later, a second guttural growl told them that a another raptor had arrived on the scene. Escaping the kitchen was going to be no easy task.
Oh, snap..
Hearing that the two dinosaurs started stalking slowly in their direction, Jimmy motioned with his head, whispering, "This way."
  He carefully crawled down the aisle between the second and third set of the metal counters, with the kids in tow, following each movement of the raptors, which were going in the opposite direction. The pilot shuddered, as he could see one set of feet, each foot armed with formidable talons, through the open cabinets with the pots and pans. But he didn't stare for very long before he continued leading the children away.
All of a sudden, the Velociraptor closest to them knocked over some pans onto the floor with its long tail, and causing the trio to sprint crawl to the next island counter to hide, just seconds before the raptor's head jutted through an open cabinet, investigating the scene suspiciously.
The trio reached the end of the aisle and around the corner, but Tim was falling behind, and unwittingly brushes against a rack of hanging kitchen utensils, causing a metallic ladle to fall to the ground with a loud clatter. Both raptors turned their heads towards the direction of the strange sound. One jumped onto the counter to get a better view, while the other remained on the ground, both closing in on the hidden boy.
Noticing the two theropods approaching the ten-year old's hiding place, JZ motioned for Lex to remain silent as the pilot made his way slowly back for Tim. For a brief moment, he froze, almost held back by sheer terror, but he quickly banished his fear, and focused on the task at hand, and the consequences if he wasn't successful. Halfway across the aisle, he got hold of a large metal spoon. Peering over the counter, while remaining hidden from view, he spied the two Velociraptors, one of them just a hair's length away from the boy. Hands, don't fail me now, thought the pilot.
The predator on the floor was just about to turn the corner where Tim sat, exposed and exhausted, when a loud crash was heard from the other end of the kitchen. Both reptilian heads shot up at the noise before the raptor on the counter leaped over to the scene to investigate, briefly disappearing behind the first aisle. The raptor reappeared, with a metal spoon in its teeth. Tim took advantage of the distraction to crawl over to where Jimmy was waiting. Both were about to make it back to the other end when they halted upon hearing a clicking sound coming from that general direction.
   It was Lex. The twelve-year old was tapping a gravy spatula on the tile floor, attracting the other carnivore's attention. She then climbed inside an open steel cabinet and frantically tried closing it. But it was jammed! The boys looked on in horror as the Velociraptor uttered a bloodcurdling screech, charging straight for the trapped girl. She screamed, seeing the raptor was coming for her, but instead of reaching her, it lunged at the metal cabinets in front of her. It had chased the wrong image. Seeing the predator fall to the floor, semiconscious from the impact, Lex took the advantage to hide elsewhere.
  "One down, another to go."whispered JZ. "But how to get rid of her.."
While Jimmy was busy pondering, Tim spied a walk-in freezer at the end of the kitchen. With that, he formed a plan of his own. If we could just lure the raptor in there, we could trap it, he thought. Taking a few breaths and a quick peek at the standing dinosaur, the new Wild Kratts kid darted for the freezer at full speed. The second Velociraptor quickly spotted the fleeing boy, and with a tremendous leap, it landed right in Tim's path, blocking off his escape.
"Timmy!/ Little dude!"cried Lex and Jimmy simultaneously, seeing the deadly carnivore slowly advance upon his quarry, who was paralyzed with fear.
With his back against the counter, Tim shut his eyes tightly, turning his head as he waited for the raptor to make a swift end of him. But the teeth never came, nor the slashing claws. Only a metallic clang and a heavy thud was heard. Forcing his eyes open, the ten-year old spied Jimmy Z standing over the fallen raptor, frying pan held in both hands. The vicious carnivore was knocked out cold.
"I'll take that one to go."remarked the redhead jokingly before, to his surprise, he felt two pairs of arms wrapped around him.
"Thank you, Jimmy Z."said the Murphy siblings in unison, grateful to the redhead for saving them from a potentially deadly situation.
"Anytime, kids."replied the Tortuga pilot, returning the hug before taking another glance at the unconscious raptors. Soft snorts and groans told the trio that it wouldn't be long before the voracious predators would be awakening soon. "Now let's get on outta here."
  But no sooner had the trio bolted out of the kitchen when they literally crashed into two more raptors! The children and the pilot screamed in terror while their new assailants uttered humanlike screams of shock and surprise before the blue one screeched, "Why are we all yelling?!"
Soon the screaming came to a halt, fear being replaced by surprise. "Martin? Chris? Is that you?"asked a wide eyed Tim. The two Kratts in raptor form simply nodded.
"Yes, Timmy. It's them."answered a voice behind the Raptor Brothers. The three looked to see none other than Dr. Alan Grant with Ellie Sattler at his side.
"Where's the raptor?"asked Chris.
"In there."answered Lex, pointing back to the kitchen they had just left.
"Two of 'em. Both unconscious."added the pilot before he asked, "Where are Koki and Aviva? Where's everybody else?"
"They're both in the control room as we speak, trying to reconnect the phones."answered Martin. "Hammond and Dr. Malcolm are in the emergency bun–" but the blue raptor was cut off by piercing shrieks from within the kitchen. The two Velociraptors were now fully awake.
  "Let's get to the control room, now!"said the paleobotanist.
"You guys head to the control room. Martin and I will hold them off."growled Chris. No one needed to be told twice. The moment the rest of the procession evacuated the restaurant, the two Velociraptors poured out of the kitchen in a killing rage, only to come to a full stop before the Raptor Brothers, tilting their heads in curiosity. They had never seen the likes of these two raptors before.
  "Check out their movement."whispered the green raptor to his brother. "It's very birdlike." Martin nodded in agreement.
  "Well the word raptor does mean 'bird of prey.'"
All of a sudden, the predator closest to them began hissing at the pair in hostility, teeth bared, tail swishing in agitation. The second raptor did likewise. They will not take kindly to these strange newcomers.
  "It's a territorial threat display."whispered Martin in recognition. "These guys think we're trespassing on their turf. It doesn't look like we'll receive a very warm welcome from them."
"But we can't let them escape."replied Chris. "Who knows what they'd do to the others?"
  The two theropods then went into a pre attack crouch, yellow eyes glaring at their would-be victims. At that very moment, Martin and Chris assumed their fighting stances. "If that's how you two want to play it–" but Chris was cut off by a bloodcurdling screech from his adversary, as it readied its killing claws to deliver a lethal blow. "Very well."said the blue raptor, staring right back at their opponents before preparing his own claws. His brother did likewise.
   "Let's dance."