It was an ordinary day in Smilevile, Bobby Bearhug had gotten up and was excited. She was hoping to have a nice day out with her friends and maybe even have a picnic. "Oh, it's going to be a great day," the loving bear said. She looked up at the sunny sky without a cloud in sight. "I better stop by Picky's place, she can help me prepare the picnic."

Bobby left her hive-shaped home and headed off to meet her friends. She first decided to stop by Bubba Bubbaphant's house first, since he was pretty close to where she lived. Knocking on the door, she cheerfully waited for the elephant to answer. Once he did, he looked surprised to see the bear.

"Oh, hi, Bobby," he said, "What are you doing here?"

"I was planning on maybe having a picnic on a sunny day like this," Bobby explained. "Wanna come join me?"

"Um, thanks, but I was trying to set up my new seasoning machine."

"How does that work?"

"Well, if I can get it to function, it can give the perfect amount of any seasoning anyone wants. Salt, pepper, maybe even some spice."

"That sounds useful. I bet Picky would love it."

"Yeah, I'm just trying to get the timing right."

"Oh, do you need any help with that?"

"No, thanks, Bobby. You can do your own thing, I won't bore you with trial and error."

"Oh, okay. Well, good luck Bubba." With that exchange finished, the red bear left her smart friend to work on his invention. A little disappointed Bubba couldn't join in, Bobby carried on to find her other friends.

She decided to try Dogday next, he was a good leader so he should be able to find the time. When she got there, she found the critters' leader already outside. Surprised, Bobby went to meet him. "Hi Dogday," she said, "What are you doing?"

Dogday placed down his shovel before looking at his friend. "Hello, Bobby," he said, "Think you could give me a hand real quick?"

"Sure… What are you doing?"

"I found there were some weeds in my yard. I think I should get them out as soon as I can."

"That does sound important."

"Yeah, it shouldn't be too hard but it'll take me a while."

"Want some help with it?"

"Thanks, Bobby, but I don't want to ruin your day. I can handle it here."

"If you say so." Bobby simply walked away to leave her friend to his work. On her way out, she looked toward Catnap's house. Knowing the feline, he liked to sleep in, so Bobby thought it would be best to leave him alone.

With half her friends down, Bobby thought of trying Hoppy Hopscotch. They could probably play a game together. After a quick run, she got close to the carrot-shaped house, where she could see a soccer ball flying through the air.

Thankfully, the bear was able to catch it just as a chicken and rabbit came running to collect it. "Hey Bobby," they both said.

"Hi, guys," she responded, "What are you playing?"

"We're doing some challenges to figure out who's the iron critter," Kickin' proclaimed.

"So far we're tied," Hoppy explained, "But just wait until we get to a race." She and Kickin' gave competitive glares at each other as Bobby began to think of something.

"So I guess you two will be busy today," the bear guessed, sounding glum.

"Yeah, is there a problem with that?" Kickin' asked.

"No, not really. I'll…. Leave you two to your game." Bobby just simply walked away, looking down at her feet. Kickin' and Hoppy didn't understand why their friend suddenly sounded upset, but they wanted to get back to their game.

Five friends down, now there were only two left, Bobby was starting to worry. She managed to regain her smile as she saw she was approaching Craftcorn's home. However, similar to Dogday, she was outside and had her painting beret on.

Bobby knew that doubled as Crafty's thinking cap, so she must've been focused on something. "Um, Crafty," she called, "Are you…?"

"Sorry, busy," Crafty interrupted. Bobby sighed as she took a closer look and saw her artistic friend trying to paint a couple of butterflies that were on the bushes. Not wanting to ruin the picture or her friend's conversation, Bobby saw herself out.

Now there was only one friend left; Picky Piggy. Bobby held onto hope that Picky couldn't say no to a picnic or baking session together. She made it to the home of her piggy friend, but her hopes were quickly dashed once she saw a note on the front door.

"Sorry, not home right now. I've gone to get a couple of ingredients I've run low on. Be back soon," it read, along with "Signed, Picky Piggy."

Bobby sighed. That was everyone, all of her friends were busy. It looked like she was going to be on her own that day. Slowly she sadly started walking home. She had been looking forward to a friendly outing, but now it was already getting lonely.

"Maybe they wanted to be busy," she thought to herself. "Maybe no one wants to hang out with me today. Did I do something yesterday to upset them?" Bobby felt like she had done something wrong if there was no one to hang out with her.

She was so deep in thought she forgot to focus on where she was going. Bobby tripped on a rock, causing her to tumble down a hill and roll down it. This motion would cause her heart-shaped necklace to fly off her neck before the bear fell down a hole in the ground, leaving her necklace to land close by.

Later that day, Catnap had woken up and walked out of his house to head to where Dogday lived. The critters' leader was just tossing the last of the weeds he found into a trash can.

"Phew, I think that's all of it," he proclaimed, dusting off his hands after a job well done. Then he saw his best friend walk over to him. "Oh, hey Catnap. Glad to see you're awake."

The purple feline simply nodded before he pointed to the weed-filled trash can showing a confused expression. "Oh, that? Just a couple of weeds I needed to get rid of. You want to go and find Bobby, she was hoping to spend time with us today."

Catnap nodded with excitement and thus the two headed off to find their bear friend. Along the way, they found Bubba BubbaPhant pulling his seasoning machine on a wagon.

"Dogday," he called, "Have you seen Bobby?"

"I have. She said she was wanting to hang out, but I had to finish some yard work. What are you doing with that machine?"

"I was hoping to test it out at that picnic that Bobby wanted. I think she might be at Picky's."

"Then let's go there!" And that's what the three critters did.

Once they got there, they could find their piggy friend carrying in some groceries. She was carrying more than she could handle and would've fallen over if it wasn't for Catnap stretching his tail out to catch her.

"Oh, thanks," she spoke. Dogday walked over to take some of the bags from Picky and helped to carry them inside. Bubba also brought in his new seasoning machine, which the pig was amazed with. "Wow, Bubba, this looks great! Does it work?"

"I don't know," the elephant admitted, "I was wanting to test it in your kitchen, but first, have you seen Bobby?"

"Sorry, no," Picky answered, "I've been in town getting groceries. If Bobby was here she must've seen the note on the door." Catnap then showed the note that he grabbed from the front door.

After reading it, they were starting to get concerned. "Maybe Bobby went home," Dogday guessed.

"If she did, we would've seen her at some point," Bubba noted.

"We should probably check by her house just to be sure."

"Right, I'll just put these away and I'll join you guys," Picky stated as she took the food she got and quickly started putting them away. The boys thought it would help speed things up they gave her a hand.

Back with Bobby Bearhug, she groaned as she managed to stand up and look around. She was now in a dark tunnel, with the only source of light being from the sun shining through the hole she fell through.

"…Hello?" she called. Her voice echoed around the tunnel's walls. "Is anyone there?" The only response she could hear was the sound of her echo. "Where am I?"

Bobby looked up at the hole where the light shined in. She tried to jump up and reach for it, but the bear couldn't get close enough. After she stopped jumping, Bobby was now worried that she was stuck in this place.

"Can anyone hear me? Hello? I'm lost! …Anybody?!" There was no answer. No one was around to hear her. "There…. There has to be another way out of here." Desperate, Bobby began to wander deeper into the caves. The deeper she went, the darker it got until she had to feel the walls to try and figure out where she was going.

"My friends are sure to find me…. If they're even looking. Maybe they're too busy to even notice I'm gone." Bobby started to think negatively again, which was bad timing given her current situation. With her mind drifting and hardly being able to see, she didn't notice she was going downhill until she started losing her balance.

Despite her best efforts to keep her footing, Bobby slipped, tumbled, and even came to a stop with her leg suddenly felt like it was in a tight squeeze. After yelping in pain, Bobby felt two rocks, at least that's what they felt like, beside each other with her leg wedged between them.

The bear tried to pull her leg out, but it only hurt her more. It was no good, she was stuck. "Now I'm never getting out of here," Bobby sighed, "And they won't even know where I am." Worried and feeling hopeless, Bobby hugged her free knee as she started to cry.

Back on the surface, Hoppy and Kickin' were standing out of Bobby's house as the rest of the critters walked closer to them.

"I'm sorry, everyone," CraftyCorn said, "I only talked to her for about a minute before she left."

"And she read Picky's note," Dogday stated, "So the only place she could be is… Home?" They were a little perplexed to see Hoppy and Kickin' standing outside the building. "What are you two doing?"

"We're waiting on Bobby," Kickin' explained, "Hoppy and I need someone to help keep score."

"That and we were kind of guilty about leaving her out of the fun," Hoppy admitted. Kickin' nodded in agreement.

"Well, we haven't seen her, so we thought she'd come back here," Bubba explained.

"She hasn't answered the door," Kickin' noted. The windows looked a little dark, so Catnap peered inside for any sign of life. After searching around for a little bit, he looked at the other critters and shook his head.

"She's not there?" Dogday questioned.

"Then where could she be?" Crafycorn asked.

"I don't know. Maybe she got lost."

"That doesn't seem likely," Bubba proclaimed, "Most paths are pretty hard to miss and there aren't many locations in the valley to get lost in."

"The fact she hasn't shown up at home is concerning," Hoppy stated. "She has to be somewhere else."

"Then we'll split up into teams," Dogday proclaimed. "Hoppy, you, Kick, and Catnap will search around the valley with me. Bubba, you think Crafty and Picky can use the tower to get a bird's eye view?"

"Crafty's home is the tallest out of all of ours," Bubba said, "If we grab a couple of binoculars, we can have an easier time spotting her."

"Perfect! Let's go critter crew, we need to find our friend." With that, the search was on.

With Crafty, Bubba, and Picky using Crafty's home as a watch tower, the rest of the critters searched around the valley. Dogday sniffed around for Bobby's scent as Catnap looked around from treetop to treetop.

"Bobby!" Kickin' cried.

"Bobby Bearhug!" yelled Hoppy. There wasn't a response from their friend, and she was nowhere in sight.

At the tower, CraftyCorn was getting worried. "What if we never find her?" she questioned.

"Don't talk like that," Bubba said. "With the only place she could be in being Jolly Valley, she's bound to turn up eventually." He turned to Picky Piggy, who had been quiet for a while. "Did you find anything Picky?"

"No, I've just been looking for red stuff," Picky said. This made sense to the elephant and unicorn, as Bobby was red.

"What red things have you found?" Crafty asked.

"I see apples, butterflies, a couple of flowers, a…." Picky stopped talking which confused her friends a little bit.

"A what?" Bubba asked, waiting for the pig to finish her sentence. Picky simply just handed her binoculars to the elephant and pointed in the direction of what she spotted.

Taking a look for himself, Bubba looked around until he saw something red sitting next to a big hole. "What did you find?" Crafty asked, getting a little annoyed she was being left in the dark.

"I think Picky just found a clue on where Bobby is," Bubba announced. "If it is we should find the others."

After quickly gathering the critters along the way, the seven of them made it to the hole and found out what the red object was; a necklace with a red heart. "That's Bobby's!" Hoppy gasped.

"She must've fallen down that hole," Dogday guessed. He carefully peered down into the darkness of the cave, struggling to see anything inside. "Bobby! Are you down there?!"

There was no answer. "She must be pretty deep in there," Crafty commented. She felt a little intimidated looking in the darkness.

"If she's really down there, let's go get her!" Kickin' proclaimed.

"If we just dive in without a plan we could end up lost like her," Bubba stated. "I figured we might need some equipment so I stopped by my hut and picked up a couple of supplies." He opened his bag and showed a couple of flashlights and even a first aid kit.

"We brought some stuff too," Picky proclaimed, showing a couple of snacks while Crafty showed some chalk.

"How are those going to help?" Kickin' questioned.

"Well, the chalk could probably come in handy for helping us to keep track of where we've gone," Dogday guessed. "Plus who knows how long Bobby had been down there, she could be hungry."

"Yeah, I was having second thoughts about it too," Bubba said, "But the logic seems to work out. Now, we should get down there and find Bobby."

"Right! Catnap, can you help get us down there?" Dogday asked. The feline nodded and used his tail like a rope to help get the critters down. "Now stay up there until we get back!"

Catnap gave a thumbs up as CraftyCorn began drawing an X at their starting point. Bubba turned on one of his flashlights and looked around. The caves looked like they had different ways that Bobby could've gone.

"Dogday, can you try tracking her scent?" Bubba asked.

"We have her pendant now," Dogday replied, "So it should be easy." Sniffing the heart, the leader of the critters slowly started sniffing out the missing bear's scent. As he led the way, the other helped light the way with flashlights, kept a lookout for the bear, or in CraftyCorn's case, made a line of chalk to help lead them back to the exit.

"Bobby!" Kickin' called out.

"Are you in here?!" Picky shouted.

"Shout if you can hear us!" cried Hoppy.

The deeper they got into the cave, the more the critters could start making out some noise. It sounded like sniffling and sobbing. "Do you hear that?" Crafty asked.

"I hear it too," Bubba confirmed. They started approaching a fork in the road. They stopped to let Dogday find the scent when Hoppy's ears twitched as she heard the sobbing.

"We've gotta be getting closer," the minty rabbit stated. "Bobby Bearhug!" She was about to run off if it wasn't for Dogday stopping her. He would've told her not to be impulsive if it wasn't for something calling them.

"Hello? Who's there?" cried a voice.

"Did you hear that?

"It sounded like Bobby," Crafty commented.

"Can anyone hear me?" the voice called again.

"Bobby, can you hear us?!" Dogday called. The critters listened for a little bit until they heard the voice again.

"Dogday, is that you?"

"It sounds like it's coming from there," Bubba called, pointing down one of the tunnels. The critters followed the sound of the voice until they started reaching the slope.

It was fairly steep, making it hard for the critters to keep their footing. Still, they pressed on. Eventually, they could make out something in the darkness, or rather someone. A dusty, frightened, lonely bear that smelt of roses.

"Bobby!" the critters cried.

"Guys, you found me!" Bobby cheered. She wiped a couple of tears away as she was surrounded by her friends.

"Are you okay?" Bubba asked. "How did you get down here?"

"I wasn't watching where I was going and I tripped. The next thing I knew I was stuck down here. My leg is really stuck." They could see her leg wedged between the two rocks.

"Does it hurt?" Crafty asked. Bobby wasn't too sure until Picky tried applying pressure to it. With a wince and a whimper, they could clearly tell pain was a factor.

"I think we're going to have to pull it out," Bubba guessed. He felt nervous as he wasn't sure what else they could do.

"I tried to pull it out," Bobby informed, "But it's truly stuck."

"Maybe if we make it a group effort, we should get it out," Dogday proclaimed. The critters agreed to the plan, each one grabbing a hold of the stuck leg. "Okay, is everyone ready?"

Each critter confirmed they were ready, they just looked over to Bobby, who looked nervous about what she'd feel. "Ugh, just do it!" she cried, bracing herself.

"Okay. Three. Two. One, pull!" With a mighty lift, the critters lifted on the stuck leg as hard as they could. Bobby winced and groaned from the pain until finally her leg was freed from the rocks, looking like she was giving a great kick.

"Finally! I'm free!" Bobby tried to stand up, but a jolt of pain shot through her when she tried to stand on her leg. It nearly caused her to fall down again if Hoppy didn't catch her.

"How about I give you a lift until we get out of here?" Hoppy suggested.

"G…. Good idea…. Can we go home now?"

"Best idea I've heard all day," Dogday commented. Now that they found their missing friends, the smiling critters slowly headed home.

The sun was setting by the time Bobby made it home. She had gotten her necklace back and now had an ice pack on her leg that was stuck. Her friends stayed by her side to make sure she was alright.

"So you just tumbled into a cave?" Picky asked.

"Yeah, I just tripped and fell in," Bobby sighed. "I know it sounds pretty dumb."

"Tripping could happen to anyone," Bubba proclaimed.

"Yeah, have you seen how many times Kickin' and I trip up?" Hoppy asked. They shared a bit of laugh as they thought about this, though Crafty had one question.

"Didn't you say you were distracted when you tripped?" Crafty asked.

Bobby looked a little embarrassed when she was asked this. "Well, I was worrying about you guys not wanting to hang out with me."

"Oh, if this is about the chores we had to take care of, we're sorry Bobby."

"It's…. It's not just that. I thought you guys were trying to keep busy so you didn't have to hang out." The critters were just confused by this remark.

"Why would we do that?" Crafty questioned.

"I… I don't know. I just don't like it when I'm alone." Catnap placed his hand on the bear's shoulder to help comfort her. "Heh, thanks, Catnap."

"Listen, Bobby, we'll try and make it up to you somehow," Dogday proclaimed, "Once you're all healed up we can do whatever you want." This helped Bobby feel better. "We'll leave you to rest. Catnap, keep a good eye on her." The sleepy feline gave a thumbs-up as the rest of the critter left the room.

Bobby sighed as she petted Catnap's head. "I just wanted a fun time with everyone," she muttered. "So much for a fun picnic, huh?" Catnap gave a warm smile before he gave a comforting hug.

The bear and the cat stayed put for a little while until they had both fallen asleep. Eventually, they could hear some walking and chatting. Bobby woke from her slumber and managed to catch a glimpse of Picky carrying something into her kitchen. After doing her best to get off the couch without disturbing Catnap, which was easy since he was a heavy sleeper, Bobby walked into the kitchen to see what was going on.

"Okay, are you sure this is enough for us?" Crafty asked.

"We each picked one meal to have," Bubba reminded, "All we need to worry about is Bobby and her favorite."

"My favorite, what?" asked the bear. The critters were a bit surprised to see their friend was up.

"Hey, Bobby," Dogday said, "Did you enjoy your nap?"

"Yeah, it was nice." She looked at the table and could see all of the food that had been set out. "What's going on here?"

"We figured we'd have a special dinner to make up for what happened to you today," Picky explained. "We even got your favorite; Honey Butter Salmon." She showed the said meal to her friend, who already looked ready to have a bite.

"Wow, thank you guys!" Bobby beamed.

"We knew this would lighten your spirits," Bubba said. He pulled out a chair for Bobby to sit in. Once each critter grabbed a seat, even Catnap, the critters dig in to enjoy their meal. Bobby felt much better now that she had her friends with her and the confirmation they truly cared for her.