This is based on something that pretty much happened to me, give or take a few details. I was pretty upset about it though...and somehow, managed to write a story about it. It just seemed fitting to use the Kratt Bros for the experience I had.

Takes place with the Kratts as kids, because it seemed to work better that way. And I took some liberties with the Kratts' past with Zach, since we know that they knew Zach as a kid but never really mentioned for how long. Or how old Zach is compared to them. For some reason, I got the impression that Zach was at least older than Chris, yet still younger than Martin. I could be wrong though.

Anyway, enough out of me. Here we go.

Competition

The first thing that Martin noticed that afternoon when he got home was that Chris wasn't there. He was used to nearly tripping over his younger brother, who waited at the door for him every day to come home from school. Being too young to go to school himself, Chris liked to ask Martin about the stuff he learned, what he did with the other kids, or just whatever questions the four-year-old could think of. He didn't mind telling Chris about school, but the constant questions could get annoying sometimes – especially when he was trying to do his homework.

But when he didn't find Chris in the kitchen, even with their mother there, Martin began to wonder.

As he dropped his backpack on the floor, his mother turned from the dishes she was washing to look at him. "Hi, sweetheart," she greeted with a bright smile. "How was school?"

Martin shrugged, grabbing a cookie from the plate waiting for him on the table. "Okay," he said. "Where's Chris?"

He couldn't help but notice his mom's smile fade – just a bit – before she returned her attention to the dishes in the sink. "He's out back. Would you go get him, though? Tell him it's time to come back inside."

"Okay." Quickly finishing off the cookie, he wiped the crumbs away and started to head out.

"Oh, Martin?" His mother's voice called him back, and he turned to see her looking at him with an almost stern expression. "Try to be nice to your brother, all right? He's…had a rough day."

Martin blinked, but his mother didn't explain and simply continued washing the dishes. So the eight-year-old continued on, slightly puzzled. What kind of rough day could his baby brother have had?

"Hey, Chris!" he called as he stepped outside, closing the door behind him. "Mom says it's time to come back in now." A quick glance around the backyard, though, revealed no signs of Chris. Thinking for a moment, he then crossed the grassy yard, heading toward the big tree in by the back wall. He climbed up the ladder to the treehouse their father built for them.

"Chris?" Martin called, poking his head up through the door. As soon as he looked in, he found his brother sitting in the corner of the treehouse, hugging his knees and resting his chin on them. But even though the younger boy was looking at him, he didn't even seem to notice he was there.

Martin frowned, noting how red the other's eyes were. "Chris?" he said again, softer this time.

Chris blinked, his gaze coming back to focus. Seeing his older brother, he quickly looked away and rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, trying to hide his face.

"Chris, are you…are you crying?"

"No," Chris retorted, his shaky voice dulling his sharp tone.

The older boy knew Chris was acting this way because he didn't want to get teased. But even without their mother's warning, Martin wouldn't have made fun of Chris since he was clearly upset about something. Pulling himself into the treehouse, he crawled closer and sat next to smaller boy. "What's wrong, Chris?" he asked, trying to sound as nice as he could.

Wiping his eyes one more time, Chris then glanced up at Martin hesitantly. When he was sure the older boy wasn't going to make fun of him, he sniffled and uncurled himself. "When...wh-when you were at school…" he hiccupped, "I-I went outside t' play…"

"Okay…" Martin said slowly, letting him continue.

"And…" Chris sniffled again. "And I s-saw Zach sitting in front a' his house."

Martin frowned. Even though Zach lived around the neighborhood, neither of the Kratt brothers really knew much about the other boy. Zach usually kept to himself and didn't seem to like playing with others. All Martin really knew was that Zach was a little younger than himself, but still a little older than Chris.

Suddenly a protective surge coursed through him. "Was he picking on you?" he asked Chris.

Chris looked at him curiously. "No."

Martin sighed, relieved. He didn't really think the pale boy would pick on Chris, but he had to make sure. Zach could get kind of mean sometimes, and Martin was the only one allowed to pick on his little brother. "So what happened?"

"Well…I guess Zach was buildin' something, but he was lookin' around like he lost a piece. A-and I wanted to help, but he told me to go away."

Martin couldn't help rolling his eyes. That sounded like Zach.

"So…Zach was lookin', and he looked under some bushes…and then he yelled and jumped back, just as a skunk ran out!"

"A skunk? Really?" Martin couldn't believe it; he didn't even know that skunks lived around their area. "You saw the skunk come out?"

Chris nodded.

"Wow! That musta been pretty cool, huh?"

This time, the younger boy's only response was another sniffle.

Martin's frown deepened. Usually Chris would've been excited about seeing a cool animal, especially one that neither of them had seen before. "What happened after that?"

"Well…Zach got scared and ran back inside, and the skunk went back under the bushes. And I followed it and found its home…and I saw it lying there next to a hole in the ground, looking at me."

"It didn't spray you?" Martin knew it hadn't, since there was no bad smell, but he couldn't help but ask.

Chris shook his head. "I didn't wanna hurt it. I just wanted t' look."

Martin nodded. They both had been taught to be careful around animals, but that didn't stop them from being curious. "Then what?"

"I was just watching the skunk for a little bit, and then Zach's mom came and told me to go 'cuz she called some people to get the skunk."

"What kinda people?" Martin asked.

"I dunno…she just told me to go home. But I didn't wanna leave, 'cuz I felt bad for the skunk. So I stayed kinda nearby so I could watch."

"Mom didn't come looking for you?"

Chris began playing with his shoe a little. "Yeah, she did, sometime after the guys came to find the skunk. When I told her what happened, she took me with her to talk to Zach's mom."

Martin leaned back on his hands, trying to get comfortable. "What'd they talk about?"

Chris shrugged. "Dunno. While they talked, me 'n' Zach were watchin' the guys trying to catch the skunk."

"Did they catch it?"

"Yeah…but then they found another one!"

Martin's eyes grew wide. "Two skunks?"

"Yeah!" Chris said, his voice rising with pent-up excitement.

"Whoa! I bet they were mates or something! So what happened?"

The younger boy's enthusiasm quickly faded as he thought back to the event. "One of the guys came to talk to Zach's mom. I dunno what they said, but I remember Mom getting really mad at Zach's mom later."

Martin blinked. "Really?"

"Yeah. She was fighting with Zach's mom for a while."

The older boy frowned. Their mom was hardly ever angry, and he could never remember her fighting with anyone. What could she have been arguing about with Zach's mom?

"I think we were supposed t' leave," Chris went on, "but me 'n' Mom couldn't go while those guys were chasing the other skunk. Mom kept trying t' keep me from watching, but I always went to watch when she was talking to Zach's mom."

Noticing that his brother was starting to tense up, like he was going to start crying again, Martin sat up and placed a hand on Chris' shoulder. "Did they catch the other skunk?"

Chris sniffled, tears filling his eyes again. "They…they found it, but…b-but they didn't have any more traps to catch it."

"So what'd they do?"

"They…" Chris looked up at his brother as the tears rolled down his face. "They killed it."

Martin's eyes widened, and a gasp stifled his throat. "Wh-what…? N…no way! They…they couldn't really've…killed it…Could they?"

Chris hiccupped. "They hit it with a shovel."

"What?" Martin cried, horrified. "They hit it with a shovel?"

The younger boy nodded. "They…they had to hit it a few times 'fore it…stopped movin'."

"Oh man…" Martin murmured, running fingers through his hair. His stomach tightened, sending a wave of nausea coursing through him. He felt sick just at the thought of what happened. He couldn't imagine being there and seeing it for himself…like his baby brother had.

So he swallowed down his own feelings, knowing that Chris needed him now. Hesitantly he put his arm around the smaller boy, hoping to be comforting. "The poor skunk…" he said, unsure of what he else to say.

"Poor skunks," Chris sniffled.

"Whaddya mean?"

"They…they caught the first skunk, 'member?"

Martin nodded, a sense of dread rising in him again. "Right…"

"Well, even though they caught it, Zach said they were gonna kill that skunk, too."

"What?" Martin said. "Why?"

"I dunno. B-but Zach's mom said so too, so…so…" Chris hiccupped again, cutting off the rest of his words.

As his little brother began crying again, Martin tried to think of something to say but came up with nothing. But he was spared from it when their mother's voice called up, "Martin? Chris? It's time to come inside."

Chris quickly pulled away from Martin then, sliding towards the opening and quickly heading down the ladder. Left by himself, Martin took a moment to calm his own emotions down, swallowing hard before heading down the ladder himself.

When he finally reached the ground, he found Chris hugging their mother's legs, crying quietly as she tried to comfort him. And the look on her face as he came closer showed that she knew exactly what they had talked about.

"Is it true? About the skunk they caught?" Martin wondered, looking at his mother. And he knew it had to be, at least what Chris saw because his brother wouldn't make up something like that. But he had to know about the rest of it. "Are they really gonna…kill that one too?"

The woman sighed softly, but said nothing else as she picked up the younger boy. Yet her silence was answer enough.

"But why?" he demanded, anger coloring his tone. "Why do they hafta kill it? Why couldn't they just release it somewhere else?"

But their mom only shook her head. "Come on," she said. "Let's go back inside."

With a frown, Martin slowly shuffled along behind her, watching his little brother continue to cry.

Tapping his pencil on his desk, Martin sighed as he realized that he couldn't concentrate on his homework. He tried reading through his book for whatever answer he needed, but he couldn't help glancing behind him at his younger brother, lying on the floor of his room.

He knew Chris was still thinking about the talk that their dad gave them earlier. Before dinner, when he'd gotten home from work, their dad sat with them and explained the possible reasons why the skunks had to be put down. And though their dad admitted that it probably wasn't the best way to deal with the problem, it might have been necessary. He tried to help them understand the kinds of health risks the skunks brought, and why it would have been difficult to simply let them go. Then he told the boys that sometimes…it was just hard for people and animals to live together.

Martin wasn't sure how much of his father's words he believed, and he thought that Chris was having some trouble accepting them too. But the talk at least calmed Chris down a little. He didn't seem as upset as he'd been when Martin first got home.

But he was still worried about his younger brother. He never thought he'd miss Chris constantly talking and bothering him with questions, or pestering him to play even though he was busy. Yet he would have preferred all that now over the strained silence that currently filled the room.

He glanced back at Chris again, watching the smaller boy lying on his stomach and listlessly rolling a toy car back and forth. If only there was something he could do to help. After all, he was the older brother, and their dad said he was always supposed to help and take care of Chris. But what was he supposed to do? He wasn't even there when it happened. And even if he had been, how could he protect Chris from something like that? What could he have done to make something like this better?

Still, as he watched Chris roll the toy car away, he knew he had to try something.

Pushing himself away from his desk, he then went and sat next to where Chris was laying. "Hey, Chris," he said. "You okay?"

Chris simply shrugged.

Martin frowned. He didn't like Chris being so quiet; he was so used to his little brother always talking, telling him about everything. "C'mon, Chris, talk to me. Whatcha thinking about?"

The little boy sighed, looking up at Martin. "It happens a lot, doesn't it?"

The older one blinked. "What does?"

Chris rested his chin on his hands. "People killing animals."

Martin tensed; he wasn't expecting his brother to say something like that. And it was such a harsh and upsetting thought that he was tempted to lie about it, to deny it. But remembering what their dad said about lying, and knowing that Chris had to learn the truth eventually, he replied, "Yeah, I guess so."

Somehow, Chris didn't seem surprised by the answer. He simply asked, "How come?"

Martin shrugged. "You heard what Dad said. Sometimes it's hard for people and animals to live together."

Suddenly Chris pushed himself up, an angry pout on his face as he sat on his knees. "Well, it's not fair!" he declared, clenching little fists. "The animals weren't doing nothing wrong! They're just trying t' live too!"

"I know," Martin agreed. "But some people just don't know about animals, so they think it's easier to just get rid of them."

Chris huffed. "Well, i's still not fair…"

Martin laughed a little, glad to see his little brother back to normal. He preferred seeing Chris angry than acting like nothing was wrong. "I know. But hey, not everyone's like that."

Chris blinked curiously. "Really?"

"'Course! There're people who help animals too." Martin began counting on his fingers as he listed them. "See, there're people who rescue animals, people who study animals, and even people who teach others about animals."

The smaller boy was silent for a moment, and he seemed to consider the things his older brother said. Then with a look of determination on his little face, he said, "Well, when I grow up, I'm gonna do all those things!"

Martin laughed again. He had trouble taking his baby brother seriously when he knew that Chris was still afraid of the dark.

"S'true!" Chris insisted. "You should do it, too! Then we can be a team!"

Martin shrugged. "I guess," he replied, deciding to humor the younger one.

"And then…and then…" Chris looked up at him with hopeful brown eyes. "Then…we could save animals too, right?"

With a grin, Martin ruffled his brother's dark hair. "Sure. It could happen someday."

The End