Welcome one and all to the second ever Craig of The Creek fanfiction! (I would've been the first, but I'm slow like that. :P) I love this show a lot (Best show on CN right now) and I've been wanting to do a story for it for a while now but couldn't because there was no section for this cartoon. Luckily, the second I found out they added one, I went to work immediately! Hope you all enjoy and with that, we begin!

The sun had risen over the horizon to the east as the beginning of what was to be a clear and beautiful Saturday morning began. For the boy known as Craig Williams, it was the start of another adventure for him and his friends, Kelsey and JP. After waking up bright and early and having breakfast while watching his fill of Saturday morning cartoons, Craig got washed, dressed and left out the front door in a hurry, giving a rushed "Bye!" to his family as he ran towards The Stump to meet up with the gang.

As soon as each kid arrived, they began to make their plans for the day. However, just as they were finalizing what they were going to do, JP's stomach rumbled.

"Oops, sorry guys. I was in a bit of a rush to get here I forgot to finish breakfast," JP said, sheepishly scratching the back of his head.

"Are you mad, man!?" Kelsey exclaimed in her dramatic fashion, "You should never skip the most important meal of the day!"

"Relax, Kelsey," Craig cut in, "We'll just head over to the Trading Tree and pick up some snacks before heading out."

"Fine. But if JP tries to eat one of us on the way, he shall taste my steel!" Kelsey said, drawing her PVC pipe sword from its makeshift scabbard.

"I would argue with you about the fact you think I would try that, but I'm too hungry for it," JP said as the trio made their way to The Trading Tree.

"Two bags of chips, please," JP said as he set down a small green ball on Kit's counter. She tested its bounce by throwing it lightly against the table, causing it to bounce nearly twice the height it was dropped before she caught it in her hand once more.

"Very nice," She said, already thinking about what she can trade the ball for later on as she retrieved the pair of chip bags from the shelf behind her and gave them to JP.

"Thanks. See you around, Kit!" Craig said as the group took their leave and Kit served the next customer.

"So, where to next, Craig?" JP asked as he and Kelsey looked over their friend's shoulder as he took out his map.

However, as they read over the piece of paper, they began to hear a noise over the sounds from the trading post.

"Y'all hear that?" JP asked, ceasing his crunching as he and his friends listened closely.

It sounded like footsteps followed closely by the soft jingle-jangle of metal, and it seemed to be getting closer with each passing second.

Less than a minute after they started hearing the noise, they discovered the source of it as it come walking, or rather striding, out of the bushes.

Before them stood a boy of about eleven, maybe twelve years old by Craig's estimate. They were awestruck by his appearance as he was dressed head-to-toe in cowboy attire. He wore a black stetson hat atop his head, a red striped poncho over his midsection, blue jeans with small tears in the fabric, and finally, they found the source of the noise attached to his feet in the form of a pair of leather cowboy boots complete with spurs on the heels.

He looked up, revealing his face to the trio of children. He had fair features, but his eyes told of a boy who's seen a lot in his short life. He glanced around him before making his way forward, passing by the trio and tipping his hat as he did.

"Howdy," He said in a low tone of voice as he made his way towards the counter, drawing eyes toward this new arrival to the creek at large.

Everyone in the area around the tree looked in awe of this new kid. The way he carried himself emitted an aura of confidence the likes of which few of them have seen, if ever. The boy finally made it to the counter where Kit quickly shook off the shock and greeted her new customer.

"Well hey there, stranger," Kit said with a small smile, "Welcome to The Trading Tree. What can I get you?"

"Apple juice," He replied in a quiet, almost stoic tone, "Ice cold if you got it."

"You got anything to trade?" Kit asked.

Not saying a word, the kid reached into his pants pocket before placing its contents on the table. Moving his hand away, he revealed it to be two Quarters; a whole fifty cents.

"I hope that covers it," The boy said.

While Kit usually took items and such in exchange for her wares, it was rare to see someone pay with actual money. To say she was both happy and surprised would be an understatement.

"Here you go, kid. One frosty cold apple juice," Kit said, taking the juice box from the cooler and passing it to the boy, who promptly stuck the straw in and began to drink its contents.

After the initial shock of seeing this new creek kid had worn off, the other children began to whisper or talk among themselves, most of the chatter being different versions of the same three questions:

"Where was he from?"

"How long has he been in the neighborhood?"

And most importantly

"Who was he?"

And that ends the first chapter of my first Craig of The Creek story. I apologize if it's a bit short for you, but I wanted to get this out as quick as possible because I wanted to forge this story while the iron was hot (so to speak). Next chapter will introduce the new kid properly and give a little background on him, as well as introduce the Inciting Action of the story.

Until then, hope you all enjoyed, and I will see you all next time!