Chapter 3
Pikachu Hunting
"Don, is that you?" I whispered as a shadowy figure approached from down the street.
"Yeah, I'm here." he said.
"What are you wearing, a facemask?" I asked, observing the black mask he had pulled over his face.
"Yeah."
"Don, we're hunting an animal, not robbing a house. Now, where should we start?"
Don thought a moment. "Well, you said you saw the light coming from the bush by your house. Let's check there first."
"Good thinking," I said. We stole cautiously up the hill and gently parted the leaves of the bush. "Well, there's a bees nest," I said, "I'll have to spray it tomorrow… but no sign of a Pikachu."
"Wait!" Don cried, "Look!"
"What have we here?" I whispered as he pointed to a trail of small footprints leading away from the bush.
"Tracks!" I whispered excitedly. "Let's follow them!"
We followed the footprints down the hill, across the large, sidewalk-less patch near Sanford Ave.
"Careful," I whispered as we dodged the muddy puddles. We reached the corner, and the trail stopped dead.
"Why did the trail stop?" Don wondered.
"Well, he's obviously not going to leave footprints on the pavement," I said, "Unless he's Godzilla."
"So what should we do?"
"Search the corners!" I declared. We split up andsearched the grass and dirt around each of the four corners of the intersection, and then regrouped in the middle of the street.
"I found nothing," he said, out of breath.
"Me neither," I said. "Wait, Don, didn't you say you saw the yellow light at your house too?"
"Yeah, in the backyard."
"Then let's make that our next destination."
"Okay." he said. We crossed over Sanford Avenue and crept into his backyard, and sure enough, we found the trail, which led to the small, plastic kids slide in the corner.
"Hey Don! Look at this!" I pointed to several small lumps on the ground, glowing faintly.
"Pikachu droppings," he mused. "And they glow. Pikachu must be near."
"Look," I whispered, "There's another trail that leads away from here." We followed the new trail, which led back away from the slide, down Sanford Avenue and, surprisingly led back down First Street…. Right up my front lawn!
"This is too weird," I said. The tracks led up the hill, and past the closed gate dividing my house and the neighbors.
"Open the gate," I said. Don gently eased the gate open, and we crept into the little alley.
Suddenly, a blinding light rained from above, putting us right in the spotlight.
"Shit!" I exclaimed, "I forgot about the motion sensor…" Suddenly I realized… "If the motion sensor went off… then the alarm upstairs must be going off too!" I spun around. "Don, get out of here!"
Don took a step back. "But what about Pikachu?"
"It'll have to wait! My dad's going to be out here in seconds! Let me deal with this!"
Don nodded, took a few steps backward, and then took off, disappearing into the shadows.