Chapter 7: A Mountain of Trouble
"I'm hot!" Angel exclaimed. We had been hiking for an hour now and hadn't found anything. Angel and Gazzy were complaining, Eugene and Parfait were arguing with Iggy and Fang, and Nudge was being well, Nudge.
"MAX, I'M HOT! Also, my bag is really really heavy." Angle complained.
I dropped my bag on the ground. "Oh, just shut up and deal with it!" I screamed. Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at me. I took a deep breath.
"I'm sorry, Angel. Look, we have twenty days to find some stupid chocolate fountain and all that we've been doing is going around in circles for the past hour." I sighed and shooed a fly.
"Actually, we've been traveling in ellipses…but I'm just saying." I gave Eugene a dirty look.
"Now, where do you propose that this chocolate fountain could be? We could make a probability chart. Perhaps we could even use the topography of the area and create a map. That would be useful- and fun!" Parfait smiled eagerly, but Fang rolled his eyes.
"Oh sure! Math, and top-whatever that will be very fun!" Eugene slapped Fang on the arm and he fell down. I kept forgetting how strong Eugene and Parfait were.
"While you wallow in your ignorance, the rest of us will devise a safety procedure that will actually do good for us! We should start by making an inventory on the supplies provided in our bags." Parfait sat down on a log and searched her bag.
"Oh wonderful! I have a notebook, three pens, and another notebook which we could use as a log for the quest!" Parfait put those aside and continued searching.
"I also have a compass, and a hat." She put the hat on. We all snickered under our breaths. The hat, a sombrero to be exact, made her look ridiculous. Parfait gave us dirty looks.
"Now search your bags and tell me what items you posses after you are finished." I looked in my bag. I had ten empty plastic bottles and a resealable plastic bag. I handed them to Parfait, who took note of them.
After everyone searched, Parfait read what we had. "Two notebooks, three pens, a compass, a hat, ten empty plastic bottles, a resealeable plastic bag, some fabrics, a sleeping bag, four blankets, two long ropes, a pocket knife which for some reason was put in Iggy's bag, binoculars, two flashlights, two extra shirts and pairs of pants, a lighter, a watch, a first aid kit, and two protein bar."
"Everyone will be held accountable for carrying the particular things assigned to you. It is about 14:24 now, or in standard time 2:24. Any questions?" Eugene asked.
"Yeah, why are we assigned stuff by you guys, we can't we just pick what we want to take. I want to carry the lighter and pocket knife." Fang protested.
"Because, we do not wish for anyone to ignite the forest, or kill anyone! That is the reason, and it is a legitimate one. Let's create our map of the area at the present time." Eugene replied.
Parfait and Eugene created a map in Parfait's notebook based on the natural features of the area. After exploring around, Parfait managed to find and navigate an old trail that would lead us to an abandoned rest area.
I looked around. The rotten picnic tables and benches were covered in cobwebs. There was an old outhouse, but I didn't even dare check it out. "Now what?" Nudge asked, stomping on some bugs crawling over the picnic table.
"Now we use our common sense and logic skills to find the most probable places for this chocolate fountain to be. Now, it must be around here somewhere, at least according to Bob. I'd suggest using a thirty mile radius." Parfait took out a pen and her notebook.
We were able no narrow searching places a little. We assumed that the man would keep the chocolate fountain out of the sun and in the weather to protect it and that he'd probably try to keep it where no one else would look.
We assumed that he'd probably build a shelter on a high mountain that no one would bother to climb or find refuge in a dark cave. We started off with a rocky, steep mountain and began.
We all started off okay, but after thirty minutes, only Eugene and Parfait remained standing. They were really in shape and to them mountain climbing was easy, for us it was one of the most physically exhausting thing we'd ever attempted.
"I need to stop. Can't- hike- anymore." I panted. Euggene rolled his eyes.
"Max, come on, you're making a mountain out of a molehill!"
"No, this is not a molehill! This mountain is huge. You guys expect us to climb this thing! I think Eugene and Parfait are spies trained my the army." Fang said.
"Very logical conclusion, Fang." Eugene said sarcastically. Fang muttered something. I could tell that he wasn't kidding. He really did not trust those two.
"Can't we just fly up the mountain, it would be a lot easier." Gazzy said. Why hadn't we thought of that?
"We can't split up. Since we can't fly, I'm afraid you're grounded. I think that you need to hydrate yourselves."
"Yeah, but we don't have any water! Duh!" Nudge said in a scratchy voice. I think the blistering heat and extreme thirst was getting to all of us. It really would've been smart of Bob to bring some water for us and perhaps a cooler, too!
"How are we supposed to get water?" I finally asked.
"I guess, we have to wait for it to rain and collect it in the empty water bottles. Which really sucks! I mean just give us full water bottles. Is that so hard?! Jeez!" Iggy exclaimed.
"We could rest for a few minutes, I believe that would be beneficial, but seriously, we need to get going. There are many mountains here and Eugene and I plan to scale seven of them today."
"SEVEN!" I collapsed where I was sitting. Where these people crazy? One thing's for sure. There was no way on earth that I was climbing seven mountains in one day! No wonder they were so thin…
"Come on, Max! We're heading up the mountain." Nudge pulled me up. After two hours o f Eugene and Parfait screaming at us for being so slow, we finally reached the top of the mountain.
There was nothing that special. I heard a scream. "Max, Max, come quick!" Nudge called. I hurried over.
