Chapter 6
Eating with friends
[Hey!] Weedle said to Nidorina, [Look what I found!]
Nidorina looked at what he was rolling along.
[A marker?]
[Yep.]
She looked back and forth between the marker and Weedle, [What's so special about a marker?]
[We can write things!]
[Like what?]
Weedle didn't answer. He just looked slyly over at the seven Caterpies.
[You're not,] Nidorina said in disbelief.
[Nope,] he said, [You are. I can't write. I don't have hands.]
After quite a bit of arguing, Nidorina finally wrote 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 on top of the Caterpies' heads.
Eevee came rushing in.
[We were looking all over for you Eevee!] Pinkie called.
[I found food!] Eevee cried, [Lots! But we have to hurry!]
Before any one could say anything, Eevee put One and Two one Weedle's back; Goldeen in Seel's mouth; Butterfree in the hands of Pinkie; Three, four, and Five in Kangaskhan's pouch; Six and Seven on Nidorina's head, and Metapod in her mouth.
They ran along quickly. 15 minuets later, Pidgeot spotted them. He reported back to Ash.
Ash, Tracy, Misty, and Pikachu were a bit surprised. They expected two or three more Eevees.
Misty and Ash serving food faster than light. The 16 Pokémon ate faster.
"We'll have to get up and get this Butterfree to the Pokémon Center," Tracy said.
"Why do the Caterpies have numbers on their heads?" Misty asked.
"Wee-ee-ee," said Pinkie.
"Pika-pika," Pikachu said.
"This pink Butterfree was wondering the same thing," Ash said.
"Toe!"
Misty looked over Togepi was pouting. She gave him a bottle of liquid Pokémon food.
"Pika!" Pikachu was up in a tree with Pidgeot throwing down leaves as fast as they could for the starving Caterpies. The Caterpies would eat a leaf so fast they would have to wait a whole millisecond for the next one. They were beginning to run out of leaves.
"It just me or does that injured Butterfree seem familiar?" Ash asked.
Disbelief overcame Pikachu, who fell out of the tree. He knew who it was, but hadn't had time to welcome them.
Pikachu ran to Ash's backpack and released Bulbasaur, who finished Pikachu's job until each Caterpie burped.
During this, Pikachu walked up to Ash and shocked him.
"Pika-Pika!" Pikachu flapped his arms.
"What?" Ash asked, "You want to fly?"
Pikachu shook his head, "Pika! Pika! Ka-chu! Pika-Pika-chu-Ka-chu!"
"We do know the Butterfr—?"
Misty gasped, "We do! I suspected before, but I wasn't sure. Look!"
He pointed to the little scarf around Butterfree's neck.
"He's got a scarf," Ash said, pointing out the obvious.
"We gave him that scarf, remember?" Misty said, "So he could impress his girlfriend."
Pinkie flew over to Butterfree and hugged him.
"Guess it worked," Tracy said.
"Pika?" Pikachu asked.
Ash just stood there, his jaw hanging.
"Bulb?" Bulbasaur questioned. He came over and licked Butterfree's face.
Butterfree woke up long enough to give a weak "Wee-ee-ee-ee…" and smile at Ash. He slipped back into unconsciousness.
"We have to get him to the Pokémon Center now!" Ash cried, hugging his old friend.
"We'll head to Cerulean City!" Misty cried.
Ash knew Misty didn't like Cerulean City because she got in arguments with her sisters. But Butterfree was at stake.
"Put all these Pokémon in Poké-balls," Tracy demanded, having been covered with still-hungry Pokémon."
"But I don't have enough Poké-balls for them all," Ash said.
"We'll all get them all except the Caterpies and Metapod," Misty said.
Ash captured Eevee, and Weedle. Misty captured Seel and Kangaskhan. Tracy captured Nindorina and Pinkie. They put the Caterpies in their backpack pockets and Tracy carried Metapod under his arm until they reached the blue city.
"To the Center!" Ash cried, using the last ounce of voice energy he had.