Chapter 5

"Gah!" Umaki awoke in a sweat. He started gasping for air. "Dammit!" He said to himself. He sat up on the bed clenching his hands. 'She's invading my dreams. All I see is her!' he thought to himself. 'Her, her. Dammit all I see is her!' He stood up from his bed and walked across his small hotel room to the sink. Gently he rinsed his face and tried to get his mind complete. He glanced at the clock on the table across the room. Alé told him that the group would be arriving at five in the morning. It was three thirty. Umaki decided he should go to the airport to meet up with Alé and the group. He looked at himself, tidied up his black hair, straightened his necklaces, and threw on some jeans, a black shirt and a black coat. He loaded his gun and holstered it at his ankle and put some blades in little slots inside of his coat. "Ready or not, here I come," he said and walked out of the door.

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Surge grumbled as he lost a verbal fight with the attendant. Everybody jeered right afterwards. He asked an attendant for a Heineken to calm him down so he could try again later. 'Okay, calm down. Remember, no catch phrases or sharing beer, its not polite. Screw being polite!! Doh! Calm down...' He thought to himself. He clenched his hands, blood surged to his face. He could tell he was loosing it. Brock glanced around the cabin and saw Surge.

"Hey, need a little of that Brock charm to help you out?" Brock whispered. Surge looks at Brock in an insulting way.

"Your still single, aren't you? I don't think that'll work against this bitch." Surge snickered. The flight attendant that Surge was hitting on bends over the intercom and makes an announcement that they will be landing in five minutes. "Perfect position!" Surge tells Brock, "No more beer, don't want to look like a drunken boxer, now do we?" Surge grinned and got up, he licked his hand and straightened his hair a bit. He walked over to the attendant and tells her that was a good fight. He grabs an onion ring out of the trash and yells, "Will you marry me!?!?" Everyone fell over laughing. Brock got up and said, "Oh my god.... you're worse than me!" Surge went back to his seat and buckled his seat belt. They landed and everyone walked towards the terminal. The group walked over to a burger joint and ate some burgers for a while.

"I can't believe you did that Surge," Sabrina said failing to suppress a grin.

"Yes, I expected you to act more mature," Grey said. Surge laughed, he sighed then took a swig of some Sprite.

"Well, this expedition is too damn boring. If Brock won't spice it up, I will."

"Hey! I'm just getting warmed up!" Brock exclaimed, he winked as he saw a cute Mexican girl walk by. He stood up and strolled over to her. "Hola senorita. Como estas este buen dia?"

"Hola, bien gracias, y tu?"

"Bien bien. Ud. quiere ir conmigo para un caminar en la playa?" The girl gave Brock a strange look. She grinned.

"Si, pero la playa es mas para alli, no esta cerca del aeropuerto."

"Ah, no es importante. Pues, quieres ir a mi hotel? Yo no soy Fred Flinstone, pero yo puedo hacer tu Bedrock." With that, the girl gasped and slapped Brock across the face. She turned around and stormed across the hall. Brock yelled after her, "Yo tengo tele de cable!" The girl glanced back and flipped him off.

"What the hell did you say?" Ash said. Gary, Jenny, Oak, and Surge were too busy laughing their heads off.

"He told her that he sure wasn't Fred Flinstone, but he could sure make her Bedrock!" Surge tried to say in-between laughs, "He then yelled, 'I have cable TV!' as a last ditch effort!" Surge fell on the floor laughing until tears rolled down his cheeks.

"Laugh it up, laugh it up," Brock sighed as he rubbed his sore cheek.

Two men walked up to Professor Oak. One was short, dressed in khaki pants and a cheap dress shirt, a vest was pulled over it and an Indiana Jones hat was perched on his head, a bright multicolored feather in it. The man stepped forward, his dirty face in a grin. "Hola, Professor Oak?" he said in a heavy Mexican accent, "I am Alé Cano, your expedition leader. This is Umaki, a former associate of mine. He heard about our little journey and asked if he could come along." Umaki stepped forward shaking Oak's hand, he did the same for everyone. When he got to Misty, he paused, took off his hat and bowed, he gently lifted her hand and kissed it. He grinned and stepped back next to Alé.

"Jeez. vat a showoff," Ragen mumbled to Yeti. Yeti grunted in approval.

"Well, could you please follow me out front?" Alé turned around and headed towards the entrance of the airport. The group followed him.

"So Misty, looks like you have a new admirer," Brock winked and nudged Misty. Misty glared at him.

"Well, at least I don't resort to cheesy pick up lines," Misty said, she grinned and jogged up ahead towards Ash. Brock sarcastically laughed, he sped up a bit and walked next to Ragen. "So, Ragen, what do you think about that character?"

"Umaki? Vell, he looks like a snake, ready to bite. I vouldn't trust him vone bit." Ragen said, he continued talking to Brock.

Yeti saw a snow cone vendor, he saw snow coming out of a block of ice. 'What the hell?' he wondered. He then saw some people eating the snow, it was different colors, red, green, pink! Yeti glanced around making sure no one was looking, he quickly ran to the vendor, while smoothly picking up someone's wallet, he looked in it took out a green piece of paper and put the wallet back in the pocket. All Yeti knew was that this green stuff was used to get more stuff. Yeti's mind was set on getting that snow cone. He hobbled up to the counter and pointed at a large cone that displayed the sizes. The vendor looked at him strangely then shrugged. Yeti pointed to a large snow cone and a red colored liquid. He had no clue what the hell he was doing, so he repeated the gesture and handed the vendor the green paper. The vendor took a cone and filled it with the crushed ice, he put some strawberry flavoring in it and handed it to the strange little thing. The vendor took the money and glanced at it, a ten peso bill, wow not bad. Before the vendor could give Yeti the change Yeti was already hauling across the airport terminal towards Ragen.

At the front of the airport, in a small secluded area, a bunch of people were gathered around several vans and cars. 'The expedition members,' Vlad thought. Vlad sighed, they looked more like a band of ragtag hobos than seasoned expedition members. The man called Alé stopped right in front of the band of people, he quickly told them to line up and shut up. "Well, friends. Let me introduce you to the other members of our little expedition," Alé said clearing his throat. "You've already met Umaki. Next to him, is Armi the Earthquake, we call him Geoff, this guy knows everything and anything on geology, basically you give him the toughest mountain, he'll have it reduced to rubble in a matter of minuets."

'Hmph, no wonder they call him the Earthquake.' Vlad thought. 'He's small, and fat. Ok, chubby. He's very, uhh compact. Yeah, well, beggars can't be choosers.' Armi, grinned at Alé's commentary.

"Next, we have Zezk, call this guy foolish, but once you see him on the battlefield, you'll regret every word." Zezk waved and winked at Sabrina.

'Oh, Lord, not another flirt. Well, he doesn't look like much. Kinda small, thin, scruffy. He looks a bit loose too. Well, let's hope he can track and hold down Matarae.' Vlad thought to himself again. Alé continued introducing the members, there were eight in all. Talon, a female marksman, Rhino, a male power plant, Ghost, the computer hacker, male, Angel, a male martial arts expert, and Sereena, a female goth, who can track anything down with ease. Alé started to conclude his introduction, when a voice came from behind one of the vans. A man, around 27 years of age, walked out. He was tall, and thin, but he had some muscle on him, so he didn't look too frail. "Yo, Alé. Don't forget about me," he said in a fairly normal tone. The man, with a flourish, pulled out a cigarette and lit it, and took a couple puffs.

"Hawk, how many times do I have to tell you, you can't smoke that out here! Not in the open! Put that out!"

"Yes, yes, whatever," Hawk sighed. He took the joint, took a couple more puffs, and put it out on the ground with his foot. Hawk rolled his neck and stretched his arms out. "Forgive Alé, he doesn't seem to like me much."

"Well, with a name like Captain Weasel, what the hell were you smoking!?" Rhino retorted.

"Rhino, Rhino, Rhino. All muscle and no brains. You see, Captain Weasel is my nickname man! You call me Hawk, how's that?"

"Well, umm Hawk. Are you just a drug addict, or do you have any qualities?" Surge said, a bit cautiously. Hawk rolled his eyes.

"Yes, there is more to my life than drugs. I'm an amature with the sword, I can do some fighting, but I'm not all Bruce Lee style. But, my best talent, is what me and my sister have. Both of us are marksmen. Talon and I can shoot a field mouse in the middle of a field, a hundred feet away." Ragen raised his eyebrows, impressed, but still skeptical. Hawk lit a cigarette (a legal one this time) and pulled out his rifle. He loaded it with one shot. "See, that statue over there? Well, right next to it is a nest. I will fire, this bullet at that nest. The bullet hole will be directly above one of the eggs in the nest, in that tree. The eggs will not be touched or scratched." With that, Hawk jumped to the top of one of the vans. He set his rifle and cocked it. "Ready? You guys may want to cover your ears." Several people heeded to his advice and did so. Hawk aimed carefully and fired the rifle. Ash and co. went to the tree to check out if it was a good shot. When they looked, it was perfect. Just as he said.

"Well, I'll be dammed," Surge and Ragen muttered. Vlad couldn't help suppressing a smile. He and the others ran to the expedition. Oak and Grey walked up to Alé.

"Alé, are you ready to got hunt some Matarae?" Grey said grinning.

"Si, senor!" Alé shouted. Enthusiastically Alé grabbed both of their hands and shook them vigorously.