Chapter Four
"Lost Maps And Pokemon Fur."
Andrew and Hoshi continued to chat as they walked along.
"You remember the Academy that I mentioned to you earlier, Andrew?" Hoshi asked.
"Yes I do. What about it?" Andrew replied.
"Well, it's a private boarding school," she replied.
Why would your parents want to send you to a private boarding school when there's a perfectly good school in Vermillion City?" Andrew asked.
"It's because my parents thought that I was running around getting into trouble," Hoshi said.
"You, a troublemaker? I know you, and believe me, that's the last thing that you would do!" Andrew exclaimed.
"I know. Parents can be so bullheaded at times," she replied.
"Isn't that the truth," Andrew said.
"Let's talk about something else. I don't want to think about that Acedemy thing anymore," Hoshi said.
"No problem," Andrew replied.
"Thanks," she said.
"It's such a nice day," Andrew remarked.
"The weather is perfect," Hoshi replied as a breeze blew around them.
"Not a cloud in sight," Andrew said.
"You know, this is really odd," Hoshi said.
"What's odd?" Andrew asked.
"I haven't seen so much of a glimpse of a pokemon. Not even a Caterpie. I thought this forest was supposed to be crawling with pokemon," she said.
"Maybe all the pokemon are hiding and we're not looking hard enough for them," Andrew said laughing and trying to be funny.
"Very funny, Andrew," Hoshi replied, giving Andrew a funny look.
Andrew stopped laughing.
"I don't see any Pidgeys around here and they're supposed to be one of the most common pokemon that there is. Not that I need or want another Pidgey anyway. What gives?" Hoshi asked.
"I really don't know," Andrew answered.
"How am I supposed to be a pokemon trainer if I can't find any pokemon?" Hoshi said.
"Calm down, Hoshi. You'll find some pokemon in this forest. You just have to know where to look is all," Andrew told her.
"I need to stop and rest. I'm getting tired of walking," Hoshi said as sat on part of a fallen tree that was laying on the ground.
"Ok. I could use a rest, too," Andrew replied.
"I think we're lost, Andrew," Hoshi said as she looked around her. She took off her backpack and set it on the ground beside her.
"You don't need a map to figure that one out. Besides, we're not lost... we just don't know where we are..." he replied, placing his hand behind his head and laughing nervously.
"Way to go, Einstein! You got us lost!" Hoshi exclaimed.
"It's not my fault! You had the map!" he replied.
"I had the map until your Scyther ripped it!" Hoshi said.
"Scyther didn't do it!" Andrew protested.
Hoshi leaned too far back on the log that she was sitting on and fell off of it backwards.
Andrew bust out laughing when he saw Hoshi fall off the log backwards.
"It wasn't that funny, Andrew! Quit laughing!" Hoshi exclaimed as she jumped up from the ground, grabbed some pieces of bark from the log, and threw them in Andrew's direction. The bark didn't hit Andrew.
"Hey! Don't throw that stuff at me!" Andrew exclaimed.
"This arguing is not going to get us anywhere. It's late afternoon. Don't you think that we should be looking for a place to set up camp?" Hoshi asked as she picked up her backpack.
"That's a good point," Andrew replied.
They started looking for a big open spot to set up camp.
"I found a spot, Andrew!" Hoshi exclaimed.
"This is a nice place," Andrew commented as he looked at the place.
"Let's release our pokemon so that they can eat, too," Hoshi said. She released Rattata, Penny, Bulbasaur, and Spearow from their pokeballs.
Andrew released Scyther and a Rattata from their pokeballs.
"I'm going to take Spearow with me and look for some fire wood. You stay in camp and watch the other pokemon," she told Andrew.
"Why do I have to stay in camp and watch the pokemon?" Andrew asked.
"Because your Scyther was goofing around earlier and shredded our map to pieces. Besides, one of us has to set up camp and the other has to collect fire for the night," Hoshi reminded him.
"Being stuck in camp will be boring," Andrew replied.
"Stop complaining Andrew," Hoshi told him as she turned to leave.
Andrew made a face at Hoshi's back but Hoshi didn't see the face that Andrew made at her.
"Let's go, Spearow," Hoshi said.
While Hoshi was gone, Andrew got everything ready, including a space for the fire. Then he sat down. "This is boring. How long does it take for Hoshi to gather fire wood?" he said to the pokemon after he had sat there for awhile.
The pokemon looked at him.
Andrew starts twiddling his thumbs. 'Wait a minute! Why am I twiddling my thumbs?' he thought to himself. Andrew realized that he was talking to himself. 'Why am I talking to myself?" he asked himself. He continued to sit there and look at the pokemon. "Why did I answer myself? This is nuts!" he exclaimed. Andrew looks at Penny.
When Hoshi got back to the camp site, Andrew was sitting there picking fur off of his clothes. He looked up as Hoshi and her Spearow appeared. "It sure took you long enough to get fire wood!" he exclaimed.
"If you think that I was messing around out there in the woods, I wasn't. I didn't see any pokemon, either. I was too busy looking for fire wood. Do you know how hard it is to break branches off of dead trees? It's a wonder that I don't have any splinters!" Hoshi exclaimed as she looked at Andrew.
"Oh really," Andrew said.
"Was that a sarcastic remark?" Hoshi asked.
"No it wasn't. I wasn't trying to be sarcastic in the first place," Andrew replied.
"Andrew, what happened to you?" Hoshi asked trying to hold back her laughter so that she wouldn't drop the fire wood that was in her arms.
"I got bored while you were gone so I decided to brush Penny. Why didn't you tell me that she had a chronic hair problem?" Andrew asked.
"Oh, you mean the shedding part," Hoshi replied, setting the fire wood down.
"Now I have fur on my clothes!" Andrew exclaimed.
"Penny's a Meowth. It's natural for them to shed fur," Hoshi informed him.
"Now you tell me," Andrew groaned.
"I sure hope that you didn't use my hairbrush on pokemon," Hoshi replied.
"Oh course not! I found a pokemon brush and I used that!" Andrew exclaimed.
"If there's pokemon hair in my hairbrush...." Hoshi said as she went to look at her brush.
"Relax, there's no pokemon hair in your brush," Andrew said.
Hoshi got out her brush and looked at it but didn't see any pokemon hair in it.
"I'm thirsty. Got any water around here?" Andrew asked. He spotted a bottle of water sticking out of Hoshi's backpack.
"I don't think you want to drink that, Andrew," Hoshi said as she noticed him glancing at the water bottle.
"Why not? Water is water," he replied, grabbing the bottle from her backpack. He twisted off the cap, swigged a big mouthful, and cheeks bulging, looked around him frantically before swallowing the water. Andrew looks at the label on the bottle. "Eww! This is bottled mineral water! No wonder it tasted funny!" he exclaimed in disgust.
"I told you that you didn't want to drink that," Hoshi said. "I bought that bottle of mineral water when I stocked up on supplies in Viridian City. I didn't like the bottled mineral water either when I tried it so I decided to let the pokemon drink it," she continued.
"Ugh! I need to get this mineral water taste out of my mouth!" Andrew exclaimed, making faces. He reached into his backpack, pulled out a stick of gum, and chewed it for awhile.
Hoshi whirled around and disguised her laugh as a cough so Andrew wouldn't know that she found the scene to be amusing. She looked at the ground until she could quit laughing. "Wait a minute. Where are the pokemon?" she asked, looking around.
Penny was beside a nearby tree using it as a scratching post. She finished scratching her claws and started climbing up the tree.
Hoshi looked over at the tree that Penny was climbing and noticed a Pidgey in the branches. "Uh oh," she said. "Leave that Pidgey alone, Penny. I already have a Pidgey and I don't need another one," Hoshi told Penny, going over to the tree.
Penny kept on climbing up the tree.
"Pidgey," the wild Pidgey chirped and flapped its wings as if to object to Penny being in the same tree that it was in.
Both Rattatas were laying in the grass.
Bulbasuar was smelling some pretty flowers.
Spearow was taking a dust bath and stirring up dirt.
"Stop blowing that dirt everywhere, Spearow," Hoshi said.
"Yeah, it's getting in my eyes," Andrew replied.
Scyther was crawling through some bushes.
The two Rattatas exchanged glances with each other, then took off running in a large circle as though they were racing.
"Hey, come back here!" Andrew shouted at them.
"This is no time to be running around!" Hoshi exclaimed, chasing after the two racing Rattatas. "Help me catch them, Andrew. You go that way and I'll go this way," she told Andrew, pointing the other way.
"Ok," he replied, running in the direction that Hoshi pointed to.
Eventually, they got the Rattatas to stay in one place.
"You go find Scyther while I get Penny out of that tree," Hoshi said.
"Sure thing," he replied as he went to find Scyther.
Allright now Penny, you can stop chasing that Pidgey now," Hoshi said, looking up at the leafy branches of the tree.
"Meowth," Penny said as she started climbing down the tree. Penny reached the ground and jumped into her arms.
"Did you get Scyther yet, Andrew?" Hoshi asked.
Andrew came out of the bushes. "Yes I did," he replied.
Eventually, they got the pokemon to all stay in one place.
"All that running around has made me all hot and sweaty," Hoshi said, gasping for breathe.
"I know what you mean. I feel the same way," Andrew replied.
"I don't blame the pokemon for misbehaving. You can't expect them to be perfectly behaved all the time," Hoshi said.
"Yeah, they can be stubborn at times," Andrew replied.
"Very true," Hoshi said. "I guess they all got a little excited about this trip," she continued.
"It sure looked that way to me," Andrew replied.
"By the way, I found a nice little stream nearby while I was looking for fire wood," Hoshi informed Andrew.
"Where is it at?" Andrew asked.
"Come on. I'll show you," Hoshi replied.
"Watch the camp site while we're gone," Andrew said to the pokemon.
"Here's the stream," Hoshi pointed out.
"This is a nice stream for getting water from," Andrew said. "It's getting late. I think we should head back to camp now," he contined as he looked at his watch.
"Ok," Hoshi replied as they went back to camp.
"That running around has made me hungry," Andrew said going over to make a camp fire.
"Now that you mention it, I could use something to eat," Hoshi replied.
"Can you bring some of that wood over here, Hoshi?" Andrew asked as he was building the camp fire.
"Sure thing," she replied as she brought over some wood.
Within minutes, they had a nice fire going. Hoshi pulled out some beef stew and heated it up over the fire. While they waited for the stew to heat up, they gave the pokemon some pokemon food and the bottled mineral water that neither Andrew nor Hoshi had liked. The pokemon kept a safe distance from the fire and eagerly drank the mineral water.
"Look at that. Dusk is falling," Andrew said, looking at the moon in the sky.
"I like watching the sun set," Hoshi replied.
"Yeah, it's pretty," Andrew said.
Hoshi got up and checked the stew. "The stew is ready. Let's eat," she said, handing some stew to Andrew. They both sat on their sleeping bags and dug into their stew.
"This is really good stew, but what it really needs is some crackers. Got any on hand?" Andrew asked.
"Sure do. The crackers are right over there," Hoshi said pointing to the food supply as she took a drink of water.
"Thanks," Andrew replied as he got up and got some crackers. Then he sat back down, crushed the crackers, and added them to his stew.
Hoshi stared into the fire for a few minutes, thinking about something. Then she spoke. "I'm happy that I can finally fulfill my dream of being a pokemon trainer. I'm so excited to be on this trip. I thought that this day would never come," she said.
"It's nice to be able to fulfill your dreams," Andrew commented.
"It sure is!" Hoshi exclaimed, enthusiastically.
The pokemon were laying on the ground nearby as Andrew and Hoshi were talking.
Hoshi's thoughts turned toward her Pidgey. "As long as we're headed back to Viridian City to get my Pidgey, we might as well find the Vulpix that's missing from there," she said.
"A missing Vulpix, huh? This is going to be like looking for a needle in a haystack," Andrew replied. "Do you even have any idea who took this Vulpix or where they might be?" he continued.
"No I don't have any idea on who did it," Hoshi said.
"I don't like this sound of this. I don't think we should get involved in this," Andrew said.
"If that was your pokemon, wouldn't you want it back?" Hoshi asked him.
"I guess you're right. I'll help find that Vulpix," he said.
"It's getting late. Let's get some rest," Hoshi said, yawning.
"Ok. I'm tired, too," Andrew replied.
The next day.
"Wake up, Andrew. There are donuts for breakfast," Hoshi said, nudging Andrew with her foot.
"I'm up. Where are the donuts?" he asked.
"Right over there," Hoshi said pointing at the tree stump that they were using as a make shift table.
Andrew got up and helped himself to a couple of donuts to eat.
Hoshi went over to feed the pokemon.
"These are glazed dounts. Why didn't you get the powered sugar donuts instead?" he asked.
"I like the glazed donuts so that's what I bought," Hoshi said.
"But you only get six glazed dounts in a box. Powered sugar dounts come in twelve to a box. You get more donuts that way," Andrew pointed out.
"I know that. However, I wanted the glazed dounts," Hoshi said.
"I still think that you should have gotten the powered sugar donuts," he grumbled, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes with one hand.
Hoshi grabbed some dounts and sat down to eat them.
Andrew looked disappointed.
"Don't worry. We'll get the powered donuts next time," Hoshi told him.
"Thanks," he said as he smiled.
They ate in silence.
After breakfast, they packed up their stuff and recalled their pokemon.
"Are you ready, Andrew?" Hoshi asked as she finished kicking dirt over the fire to make sure that it was out.
"Yes I am. Let's hit the road again," he replied.
"Let's go find that missing Vulpix!" Hoshi exclaimed.
"All right!" Andrew said.
To Be Continued