CHAPTER FOUR

Logan rolled over, his mouth hanging open and his eyes wide.

“Did it bite you?” asked Maddy, rushing to his side.

Marco tried to run to Logan, too, but his legs were frozen. Did I just send my friend into a cave to get attacked by a bat?

He was relieved when Logan suddenly burst out laughing. He never lets anything get to him for long, thought Marco, wishing he could laugh off his fears as easily.

As Maddy sat beside Logan, patting his leg, his laughter turned into hiccups. He rolled to his knees and held up a hand. “I’m g-good,” he said to Maddy. “R-really. I mean except for these annoying h-hiccups.”

“Okay,” said Maddy sweetly. But instead of getting off the ground, she leaned forward and peered into the cave. “Hey… .” she whispered. “Look what I found!”

Everyone craned their necks to see inside the cave. As Marco’s eyes adjusted, he spotted it, too. Charmander grinned at them from a wooden signpost.

“Good job spotting that, Maddy!” said Nisha.

“Hey, what about me?” joked Logan. “Didn’t I do a good job wiping out right in front of Charmander?”

Marco patted Logan’s back. “Yeah, good job, buddy.” But he felt another twinge of guilt. If not for me, you wouldn’t have wiped out in the first place. Or nearly gotten bitten by a bat!

As Logan snapped a picture of Charmander, Nisha and Maddy studied the map, looking for the last Pokémon.

“Fletchling is by the lake,” Nisha announced. “This way. C’mon!”

Marco hurried after them, trying to shake off his guilt and focus on the competition. We have a good chance of winning this thing, he thought—especially when Logan nearly tripped over the “hidden item” growing on a tree stump near the path.

“Mushrooms!” said Maddy. “Oh, you look just like little Shroomish.” She talked to the mushrooms as if they were tiny pets she could take home with her.

“You’d better hope they’re not Shroomish,” said Nisha. “They release toxic spores when they’re scared, and I’m pretty sure that when Logan nearly trampled them, it gave them a good scare.”

“That scared me,” said Logan. “I think I released some toxic spores, too. Everybody run!”

Nobody ran, but everybody laughed. After getting a picture of the “Shroomish,” they hurried on down the path.

Marco glanced upside down at the stopwatch dangling from his neck. “Eleven minutes!” he announced. “We have to hurry!”

“It’s not far now!” called Nisha, who was in the lead. “It’s by the zip line!”

Her words jolted Marco like an electric shock. As the trees thinned out, he could see it. The wooden zip line tower loomed at the water’s edge—a tall platform with a zigzagging staircase that led up, up, up.

As Marco searched for the top, his stomach dropped and he stopped running.

“Are you coming?” Nisha called to him. But he couldn’t speak. It felt like he had a lump in his throat the size of a Shroomish.

Think of something funny! he told himself. Make a joke, like Logan would.

But he couldn’t think either—his mind went blank.

“Let’s go!” shouted Logan, racing toward the stairs. “I’ll bet Fletchling is hidden at the top!” But a hanging sign at the base of the stairs stopped him in his tracks.

“Aw, man,” he called back to his friends. “We’re not supposed to climb on it yet.”

Marco felt a wave of relief, but Logan wouldn’t stop talking about the zip line. “It’ll feel like flying on Latios, the dragon Pokémon in the video game,” he said excitedly. “Soaring faster than a jet plane over the water. I can’t wait!”

“Me neither,” agreed Nisha. “It’s probably the coolest thing we’ve done here at Camp Pikachu. I wish I’d invented it!” She quickly studied the ropes and pulleys stretching toward the little island.

At least my teammates are excited about it, Marco told himself. So if I’m a big baby and chicken out, there’ll be someone from Team Treecko to cross over.

That thought made him feel slightly better, but he still couldn’t look at the zip line. He looked past it, above it, and around it, finally zeroing in on his stopwatch. “We have to go,” he said, lifting the timer so others could see. “Only six minutes left. Fletchling isn’t here. The sign must be farther down by the pier!”

His teammates followed him, like they always did. But as he ran, he felt less sure of himself with every step. He hadn’t even looked at the map. Where exactly was he going?

Just keep running, he told himself. The farther away from the zip line, the better.

But as Marco and his friends searched the tall grass near the lakeshore, time ticked away—faster than quicksand. Five minutes. Three minutes. One minute. Every time he checked the stopwatch, they were getting nearer and nearer to… .

Thweet! Professor Birch’s whistle cut through the air.

“Game over,” said Nisha sadly. “At least this part of it.”

“Fletchling must be here somewhere, though,” said Marco, still searching. “Keep looking!”

“Yeah, don’t stop!” shouted Logan, who was crouched down inspecting a hollowed-out log.

Then Marco heard a cheer erupt from behind him. Yes! “Who found it?” he asked, whirling around to see if it was Nisha or Maddy.

But the cheer hadn’t come from one of the girls. It hadn’t come from Team Treecko at all.

A cluster of kids in bright yellow tees were racing away from the zip line toward Team Treecko. They found Fletchling! thought Marco. He was sure of it. They found Fletchling right where my teammates were looking—before I told them the Pokémon wasn’t there.

As Team Torchic passed by, triumphant smiles on their faces, Marco caught Logan’s eye.

“Let’s go!” mouthed Logan. He raced back toward the zip line.

“But the whistle blew!” Maddy protested.

Marco ignored her—and shrugged Nisha’s hand off his arm. He had to get back to the zip line to find Fletchling, before it was too late.

As they neared the wooden tower, Marco scanned it for any sign of the red bird-like Pokémon. “There!” he shouted to Logan. “Is that a Poké Ball?” Something dangled just below the bottom platform of the tower.

But before he could check it out, another thweet! cut through the air. And Officer Jenny stepped from the woods, blocking Marco’s path. She was the sternest counselor at camp. And when she saw which direction the boys were running in, her eyes narrowed.

“Time’s up,” she said firmly, holding her hand like a stop sign. “You know the rules, boys. If you keep searching after the whistle, you lose points instead of gaining them.”

Marco’s legs wobbled like wet noodles beneath him. I blew it with Fletchling, he thought, fighting back hot tears. Did I just get my team in trouble, too?