Chapter Three
"You can't be serious, Andrew. You got us lost!" my sister scolded.
"Uh, don't look at me. Whose bloody idea was it to send mere children out into the world on their own!" I replied.
"As far as I can remember, you wanted to go. Heck, you said you were ready for this!"
"Doesn't mean it's my fault!"
"Uh, yeah, it kinda does!"
"Karp!" my Magikarp said.
"Tch, whatever. We still gotta find our way outta here, and arguing certainly isn't going to help." I said.
"For the love of Arceus, just get us out, Andrew," Caitlin muttered.
After what was probably half an hour, we got up, brushed ourselves, and aimlessly wandered through the forest one more time. We eventually got so deep into the forest that neither of us could tell if it was day or night. It got so dark that Caitlin started squeezing Magikarp out of fear. The constant scuttling of the bug Pokémon certainly didn't help. After what felt like hours, the three of us became extremely exhausted and took another break. We sat against a couple of trees and rested. After a brief nap, Caitlin burst out of nowhere.
"Andrew, I'm huuuuuungry," she whined.
"Ugh...so am I," I said back.
"Go get us something."
"Um, you remember when I said I got us lost?"
"Yeah?"
"I meant it."
Caitlin groaned loudly.
"Just find us something to eeeeeeeat."
"Kate, we're in the middle of a dense forest with no maps and no way of getting out anytime soon. How do you suppose I do that?"
"We roam around."
"Oh, like that got us anywhere."
"Come oooon, you gotta try!"
"No."
"Pleeeaaaase? I'm starving!"
"...fine."
After another two wasted hours, we found a small clearing and just laid on the grass.
"...told you that wouldn't get us anywhere," I muttered.
"Karp!" Magikarp said.
"Well, we tried," Caitlin said.
"Caitlin, come on. Like we were going to find anything."
"Stop being so pessimistic!"
"Stop acting as if we were in a cartoon, then! Stop acting like we're going to suddenly find something out of sheer luck!"
"Fine."
Caitlin opened my backpack and started rifling through it.
"Uh, Kate? What do you think you're doing?"
"Searchin' through your sack."
"I didn't bring anything with me. There is literally no reason why you should—"
"If you didn't bring anything, then what the heck is this!"
She pulled out a bent-up box, reading "Linnen's Gourmet".
"...oh crap, "I muttered."
"Thought about hiding this, didn't you?" Caitlin yelled.
"No! I was supposed to give those to Professor Maple!"
"Then why didn't you, Smarty Pants?"
"Because I'm forgetful and I was mad at not getting my first Pokémon!"
"Riiiight."
There was a minute of silence.
"...since we're stuck here, can we eat these?" my sister asked.
"Mom and Professor Maple wouldn't like it—"
"I'm well aware of that, but as you keep saying, we're in the middle of a forest with no food to be found anywhere. It's either this or starving, bro."
"...pass me the one with the sprinkles," I reluctantly sighed.
She tossed me a chocolate as she nibbled one. I ate mine in one bite.
"Coconut," she said.
"Cherry."
We sat there, staring at Magikarp. He didn't respond.
"...you sleepy?" I asked Caitlin.
"...yeah..." she yawned.
"Alright, let's go to sleep and see if nobody finds us during the morning, or whatever time it is right now. Not like we can do anything else."
We laid down in the grass and sat there. Despite the fact that neither of us had blankets nor pillows, we fell asleep pretty quickly. At least, I did. I slept pretty soundly, too.
•••••
My dreams weren't really all that special. And after I discovered lucid dreaming, my dreams started to become more and more plain. They're boring, really. Except this one. I'm not sure why.
I was floating. I didn't know why, and I certainly didn't know where. I was hovering in the middle of a blank space. Out of nowhere, a giant, dark sphere appeared out of nowhere. There were people in there, doing weird things. They were holding weird devices to their ears, inside giant contraptions and going down dark colored roads. They were wearing fancy suits and going to giant skyscrapers and...burger restaurants everywhere. They were holding cups full of coffee. I dubbed this place...this city, Subspace, for reasons unknown to me even now. I floated there, observing this weird place.
•••••
"Andrew!"
"...mpf."
"Andrew! Wake up!"
"I don't wanna. I wanna go back to sleep."
"Andrew! Wake the hell up!"
"Do I have to?"
"If you wanna get out of this fire alive!"
"...what in blazes are you talking about, Kate!"
I scrubbed my eyes and opened them.
"Oh, dear Arceus!" I screamed.
All of the forest surrounding Route 1 was on fire. And we were lost in it.