It was a fairly decent day in Littlebark Grove. Some clouds here and there, but didn't block out the sun by much. And since it was the weekend, everybody was out doing something. Some went swimming at Wetbark Lake. Some went on balloon rides. And some went to see the Chance Parade going through Big Bark Woods.

Today, Kratz was on his way to go pick up a picture frame. A recent family picture of them was taken, and his parents asked if he could go pick one up. He stopped at a nearby store where they had picture frames and coincidentally ran into Mikey in there.

"Hey dude! What are you doing here?" asked Mikey. "Oh hey," Kratz replied, "I'm just picking up a picture frame for a family picture. What about you?" "My mom wanted me to go outside," Mikey said with a sigh, "But I guess she isn't wrong about getting out either. That aside, I'm just checking this store out."

While Mikey looked around, Kratz went to cash out. Shortly after Kratz was done and made his way towards the exit, Mikey was also done since nothing inside the store peaked his interest. "Eh, this isn't my place," he said, deciding to make his way towards the exit.

Kratz had just exit the store when he suddenly tripped and out came the change he had leftover. "Not again," he said, as he picked up his change. The bag that had the picture frame inside had also fallen, but it wasn't damaged in any way. Good thing Kratz got a bag to come with that.

Unknown to him however, some bug with wings eyed from above while on a tree. It knew Kratz was distracted and it had it's eyes on something. It had it's eyes on the bag that was no longer being held. The bug's wings started flapping as it had it's eyes locked on target.

Kratz had just finished putting his change in his pockets when the bug swooped in and grabbed the bag. He saw this and said, "Oh no!" Mikey had just gotten out of the store when he saw the commotion. "You alright Kratz?" he asked. "That bug took my bag!" Kratz replied, pointing it out flying away with the bag, before dashing after it. Mikey believed Kratz could use assistance, so he went along, before saying, "Wait for me!"

The bug contined flying, not knowing that Kratz and Mikey were chasing him. "How did he get your bag?" Mikey asked. "I fell, dropped my change, went to get that, and then he got it!" Kratz replied. "Not sure what a bug would want a bag for," said Mikey, "He doesn't even know what's inside it." Several friends and those who knew the two friends watched them in surprise as they ran, not knowing why they were.

Admittedly, both the skunk and frog had no idea of where the bug was going. Heck, they didn't know where they were going either. The only thing they could do was follow wherever it was flying to. However, they were gonna be stopped momentarily with what they'd run into next.

Kratz and Mikey ended up getting stuck where they were, due to the crowds and the fact the Chance Parade was going through Little Bark Grove. "Oh yeah, I forgot they were coming through today," Kratz said with disappointment. "They could have done it at night like they normally would, if we weren't getting rain at that time," said Mikey, which explained why they were out doing this in the daytime.

Once the parade had officially passed on by, Kratz and Mikey continued onward. It took some time, but they were back to being as close as they could to the bug. It continued flying as if it didn't see the skunk and frog following him. They went up a hill and it looked like Kratz and Mikey would get the bag from him. It helped that the bug wasn't going higher in altitude either.

However, the two friends didn't notice they were getting close to danger. They only came to this realization when it was already too late. As they were about to grab the bag, they fell off the hill they had been running up. Turned out the hill had ended as a sharp cliff. Kratz and Mikey screamed, before landing in a recycling container the size of one of those wide dumpsters. It was next to some industrial building and filled with plastic bottles.

Mikey came out where he had landed, as plastic bottles scattered. "Thank goodness we landed in this," he said. Kratz came out of where he landed too. "Oddly convenient," Kratz added, with his pants somehow missing. Mikey noticed this, "Aww dude! Your pants are missing!" Kratz noticed this and quickly dug around where he had landed, until he found his pants and put them back on.

They then saw the bug continuing to fly wherever it was headed. But now they were officially exiting Little Bark, and entering Fog Bark. Kratz and Mikey knew this, but they knew they'd have to enter if they wanted to get that picture frame back. Once they were in Fog Bark though, they had seemingly lost sight of where the bug was and where it was headed.

"Just so happened to go through Fog Bark!" said Mikey sarcastically. Kratz sighed in frustration, "Now we'll never know where it is!" They then heard the sounds of twigs breaking feet ahead of them. They slowly went over to wherever it was coming from, as they wanted to make sure it wasn't a monster. To the boy's luck, it was the bug landing.

The bug went into the bag and pulled out the picture frame. It had a hungry expression as it looked like it would eat it. Not wanting to waste any more time, Kratz went towards the bug. "Dude, wait!" warned Mikey, not wanting his friend to find out what the bug was likely capable of the hard way.

Kratz grabbed the picture frame, until the bug knocked him down, hissing right in his face. He got really nervous, not knowing what the bug was going to do next. It was at this moment Mikey came in with a stick and hit the bug off of him. "Let's get the picture frame and get out of here!" he suggested. So they did and ran out of there as quickly as they could.

Kratz and Mikey were quick to get out of Fog Bark and re-enter Little Bark. "Thanks for the hand," said Kratz, "This should be in good hands now." "Anything to help out a friend in need," Mikey replied, "But we should watch our backs, that bug might be after US this time." Right as he said that, the bug came out of the fog and after them. The two saw this and were about to do whatever they could to get out of the sight of the bug. This would be a far from easy task, as the bug reached speeds the two friends hadn't seen before.

"He's literally tailing us!" said Mikey, "How do we get away from him now?" "I don't know!" replied Kratz, "We keep running?" The strategy seemed reasonable, but could only work for so long. The bug nearly got to Kratz and Mikey several times, but they were able to dodge the bug. All the while, folks in Little Bark looked on in confusion not knowing what was going on.

Luck was looking to run out for the two friends as the bug closed in on them. That was until something got ahold of the bug, and who got ahold of it was Fee. "Whoa! Look at this Foo!" she said. Foo chuckled, "Hehe, funny bug!" The bug was able to escape Fee's grasp and continued onward.

The bug went back on track, but couldn't find Kratz and Mikey anywhere. Meanwhile, the two hid behind a massive tree, hoping the bug wouldn't spot them. Thankfully, the bug wouldn't spot them again. At some point, it'd just give up anyway.

"Geez, what made it want a picture frame so badly?" asked Kratz. "Like they say, you're not you when you're hungry," replied Mikey, "Looked like it wanted to eat it, but I guess we'll never know it's reason." The two decided it was best to get the picture frame to it's destination.

Kratz arrived back to his house, with Mikey accompanying him on the way, just in case the bug came back. "Well, I'm back home," said Kratz, "I appreciate you accompanying me on the way home. I think the bug gave up trying to find us." "Your welcome," replied Mikey, "I'm sure your family will like the picture frame. I'll see you again soon!" "Yeah, see you soon!" With that, Mikey walked off while Kratz entered his house.

Later on, the family photo was in the picture frame now, as it stood on the counter above the fire place in the living room. The photo was of him, his siblings, and his parents at the beach where they were on vacation. It wasn't known where they went, but the picture was taken sometime during 4th of July.

Kratz' parents looked at the picture from where they were, with Kratz behind them. "Ah, how beautiful!" said Maria. "Nice choice of frame kiddo," added Glenn. "Yeah..." Kratz replied, "It umm, wasn't easy to get. There were a lot of frames to choose, I mean." This did confuse Glenn and Maria, until Kratz mentioned the many frames to choose from. While it was partially true, they obviously didn't know the trouble their son went through after it got taken and the stress he and Mikey went through to get it back.

Regardless though, the picture looked very nice above the fire place. The picture frame also suited the picture itself very well. Not a stratch was noticed on the picture frame by some surprise. Since it didn't leave the bag except for when the bug took it out, that's the most likely reason as to why it didn't seemingly have any damage to it. However, that was very much a good thing, as the journey it went through wouldn't be noticed.

The end!

This is planned to be 1 out of 6 episodes surrounding around Kratz and his family. Also, special thanks to DenouncingWhalesofVenice for having a part in writing this story too!

One more thing, Happy New Year at the time of when this story is being released!