 Welcome to Microterrorz. Scary stories for kids, where it's always the spooky season, full of chills, thrills, and spine-tingling spooks. Microterrorz are family-friendly frights for those ages 8 and up. And while our stories are for younger years, we are still talking about things that go bump in the night, and some children may not be able to handle what others can. Parental consent is recommended. Now for tonight's Microterrorz. The Cricket by Scott Donnelly In the middle of the woods, with warm sunbeams shining down through the gaps in the canopy, uh, wait, no, deep in the woods where the sun doesn't dare invade, a cricket sat perched upon a mossy rock. In the coldness of the woods that surrounded it, the cricket knew he had committed a crime against nature, and chirped nervously without, no, scratch that, the cricket didn't care one bit that he committed the ultimate crime against nature. He scoffed at nature. Nature didn't control him. He was a rebel cricket. A rebel cricket with no one to tell him what he could do and could not do. If he wanted to commit atrocities, then he would commit atrocities. The cricket looked around as he chirped. His legs rubbed together arrogantly. He made the only sound for miles, and that's the way he liked it. Out of nowhere, the leaves rustled nearby. The cricket went silent. He gawked at the location of the disturbance. Leaves and bushes moved, eventually giving way to a bushy groundhog. Wait, no. It was a Wolverine with sharp teeth and anger in his eyes that emerged from the brush. He'd heard the rumors around the woods. Some rebel cricket had committed crimes and atrocities against nature, and that cricket had escaped to these shadowy parts of the forest, the forbidden forest. The Wolverine had heard the chirps. They're what led him to this location. The Wolverine lowered himself into a stealthy crawl and kept his eye peeled. That cricket could be anywhere, the Wolverine thought. I'll be the hero of the woods if I can put a stop to his little reign of terror. As the Wolverine slunk through the tall grass and weeds, scanning the forest floor for any sign of the cricket, he suddenly stopped. Something wasn't right. Something felt wrong. It felt like he was being watched from above. No, wait. He was being watched from everywhere, out of thin air, an army of grasshoppers. Praying mantises materialized in a circle around him, shedding away unprecedented invisibility cloaks. They stood on their back legs, their arms creeping outward, each with a bow staff and their sticky grips. One of the mantises took large steps towards the Wolverine. Who do you think you are to cross into the territory of the mantis? It said. The Wolverine rose up from its stealth crawl and looked around. He was trapped by the bow staff wielding army of mantises. He gulped hard, knowing his fate might have already been sealed. I was searching for a cricket, the Wolverine said. I didn't mean to trespass. The mantises all looked at each other and then the lead mantis said, There are no crickets here. There he is. The Wolverine replied, I've tracked him to this location. I've heard his chirps. You are all in the presence of a cricket, a rebel cricket, guilty of the most heinous natural crimes you could imagine. The mantises all laughed. You think a cricket on that level of corruption could sneak by our security lasers? The lead mantis said. The Wolverine rose to its hind legs and flashed its teeth at the mantises. Wait, no. The Wolverine rose up and pulled a hidden weapon from underneath a fold in its fur. It was a musket. The Wolverine smirked. If I could, then how could a cricket not? The army of mantises were all on guard now. They held their bow staffs all ready for a fight. The lead mantis held his ground, swirling his tongue around inside of his mouth. With his beady black eyes, he studied the Wolverine. If you're here for the cricket, he said, then why pull that impressive musket on us? Because you're not listening to me. I needed to show you. Wait, wait. The Wolverine said. Because you're in my way. I am on a secret mission and not even an army of invisible grasshoppers can stop me. That cricket must be stopped at all costs. We're not grasshoppers. The lead mantis said. Clearly offended by such a common understandable mistake. We're mantises. Praying mantises. And you'd better pray we don't resort to. The Wolverine was tired of talking. He aimed the musket and held down the trigger. A barrage of acorns fired out from the barrel. Wait, no. Boomerangs, flaming Boomerangs fired out the barrel, pelting the mantises who had all been caught off guard. Some were clipped in the head. Some had their bow staffs knocked out of their grip. The lead mantis charged the Wolverine, exhibiting a brave howl. Or better yet, an ancient war cry that summoned the mantises' tyrannosaurus rex god, waking him from his billion year slumber. The ground split open and a massive tyrannosaurus rex rose up from underneath, lava spewing up all around it like liquid fireworks. The army of mantises fought off the barrage of flaming Boomerangs and the Wolverine continued to relentlessly fire them. The roar of the prehistoric beast rumbled through the chests and hearts of the warriors. The lava flowed, threatening to... Uh, no. Threatening to... Completely engulfing the mantises. The Wolverine refocused his aim on the tyrannosaurus rex, firing the fire-enhanced Boomerangs at its face. As the random, bizarre battle in the Forbidden Forest played out, eventually causing a catastrophic collapse of the Earth's crust, which sent earthquakes across the... No. Which, um... Which split the planet in half, the crickets continued to just sit upon its mossy rock, smirking and chirping, going down the ship. The ship in a devastating state that he was responsible for. The ultimate atrocity against nature! The cricket laughed as the two halves of Earth drifted away into the... Wait, as the two halves of Earth exploded and destroyed the universe. Thank you for listening to Microterrorz. Join us each Saturday for another scary story. For more fun, visit our website at Microterrorz.com, where we will also have spooky games you can print out and play, like Wicked Word Searches, Mysterious Mises, and more. Microterrorz.com is also where you can find us on your favorite social media, and even send in your own scary story for us to tell. Plus, you'll learn more about our author, Scott Donnelly, who has other horrors for both young and old. I hope you'll join me again soon. From Microterrorz, scary stories for kids. Also with someone you know who loves all things strange and macabre. If you want to listen to the podcast, you can find it at WeirdDarkness.com.