"Ok, now we're gonna put the bait on the hook", said Roy. He reached down and picked up what appeared to be just an ordinary can.
"What kinda sandwich do you think fishes like to eat?" asked Marth.
"No, silly! Fishes don't eat sandwiches; they eat this!" Roy opened the can and pulled out a long, thin object.
"Fishes eat pasta? Wow, they have good taste!" said Marth.
"You really need to get out more often..." Roy sighed while narrowing his eyes at Marth. "No, this ain't pasta. Here, hold it in your hands."
Roy dropped the object onto Marth's small hands and backed up a bit. Marth looked closely at it and the object began to move a bit. It started to squirm and crawl and wiggle around in the Altean prince's hands. Marth suddenly looked quite ill as his very pale face began to turn slightly green.
"Fishes eat worms!" said Roy.
"Oh... my... God..." Marth suddenly felt quite weak and his knees gave out. Roy caught Marth before he fell to the ground. The worm fell out of Marth's hand and took cover underneath the dirt.
"Marth? Maaaarth? Wake up!" shouted Roy. He shook Marth a few times to wake him up.
Marth stirred a bit and groaned before regaining consciousness. He blinked a few times and looked up at Roy. "I... don't like... worms..."
"Why not? They're not gonna hurt you! Plus fishes think that they're quite tasty! Here, I'll prove it to you!" Roy took a couple worms out of the can and held his head back with his mouth wide open.
"DON'T!" cried Marth.
Roy dropped the worms onto his tongue and swallowed. He looked at Marth and stuck his tongue out to show the shocked boy that the worms were now gone. "Ta da! See? They're good! No wonder fishes love 'im!"
Marth looked even more sick after witnessing that. His lips quivered slightly, as if he wanted to cry out loud but couldn't. Suddenly, he keeled over and vomited. Roy went over to Marth and patted him slightly on the back. After a few minutes, Marth finally stood upright and fixed his clothes while gasping for air.
"I'm sorry 'bout that! I was just fooling around..." Roy muttered.
"W-w-worms are yucky... and they're covered in... g-g-germs! I j-j-just can't believe you did th-th-that!" cried Marth.
"...I'll go bait your hook for you, since you don't like 'im," Roy headed back to their spot and began to bait the hooks.
The two boys were sitting back down now, waiting to get a bite. Marth was looking quite impatient while the younger pyromaniac looked very calm. The very spoiled prince kept lifting the rod up and down, hoping that the fish would bite it quickly.
"Why am I not getting a bite?!" Marth whined angrily.
"The fishes ain't gonna come if you keep moving the rod", Roy answered back. He suddenly felt his fishing rod jerk with great force. Roy stood up and pulled back while reeling it in quickly. After a few minutes, Roy reeled in a fish.
"WOW! LOOK AT THAT!" Marth shouted happily.
"Cool! I got a catfish! And just look at the size of 'im, too!" Roy cried out. He was grinning from ear to ear as he held up the line. The catch of the day was flopping and wiggling like crazy as it was making a futile attempt to get free.
"I wanna get a fish too! It's taking forev-- Gah!"
"What's wrong?!" asked Roy.
"I felt something pull very hard! It almost pulled the rod outta my hands", Marth answered back. "Strange, it wasn't pulling that hard earlier--"
"YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT YOU FELT IT BEFORE?!" Roy exclaimed.
"Ugh... yeah? It's been doing that for quite a while, now that I think about it--" Marth answered timidly.
"Well, don't just sit there! PULL IT IN, DUMMY!" Roy shouted angrily.
"Don't call me 'dummy'! I didn't know!" Marth whined. He started to reel in the fish, but it proved to be far stronger than he anticipated.
Roy rushed over to help Marth with the wily fish. Together, they finally managed to pull in a large fish. Marth tried to pick it up, but he kept backing away because he was afraid of it. Roy had to go over to pick it up for Marth. He wrapped his arms around the fish and walked over to the cowering Marth to show him his catch.
"If I'm not mistaking, looks like you've caught a large catfish!" said Roy.
"Really?! A large catfish! YAY!" he cheered.
"Sw-sw-sw-swimming?!" exclaimed Marth. His mouth was hanging open and his eyes were wide with fear.
"Yeah! Why are you scared? ...Don't tell me; you forgot to bring something to swim in, right?" Roy asked flatly.
"I did bring something. It's just that... I'm really scared!" Marth replied.
"C'mon! It's not bad! What's to be scared of? I'll go change, ok?" Roy walked back into the tent to change his clothes, leaving Marth standing at the water's edge.
Marth looked down at the calm water, anxiety running throughout his body. He kept trying to repress a memory, an unpleasant one of an incident that occurred when he was younger. It kept resurfacing more and more as Marth tried to prevent it from doing so. As he was struggling with his thoughts, a sudden slap on the back brought him back to reality. Marth yelp with fear and spun around. Roy was standing there, grinning at him.
"Whoops! Didn't mean to scare you! You can go get changed", said Roy. He was in his swimming trunks, which happened to his favorite color, red.
"Oh... Um... Sure...", Marth grumbled. He went into the tent to change as well.
Roy dipped his hand into the water and quickly pulled it out. The water was fairly cool, but it felt more like it was Artic-cold to Roy. He rubbed his freezing cold hand repeatedly and decided to go in anyway. Gingerly, Roy placed one foot then the other one into the water. He flinched each time, feeling the painfully cold water make contact with his warm body. Roy waded further out until the water was waist-high. As if he suddenly got marooned out in the tundra without a heavy parka, the Pheraen started to shiver uncontrollably. He finally lowered himself further down until the water reached his chin. Now his teeth were chattering loudly.
"Roy... I dunno if this is such a good idea..." Marth said very timidly.
"Wuh-wuh-what-tuh-tuh are yuh-yuh-you tuh-tuh-talkih-kih-king abuh-buh-bout-tuh-tuh?" Roy stuttered while his teeth continued to chatter.
"What if someone sees me?! I... I just feel real bad right now... Maybe swimming's not a good idea. We can do something else, ok?" Marth was hiding behind a tree with only his head and fingers visible.
"F-f-for goo-goo-goodneh-neh-ness s-s-sakes! I-I-I'm fo-fo-freezing t-to deh-deh-death here ah-ah-and yuh-yuh-you d-d-don't-t-t wanna swih-wih-wim?! Wuh-wuh-why nuh-nuh-not?!" snapped Roy.
"Don't laugh, ok?" Marth asked quietly. Roy nodded his head vigorously in response. "Uhh... erm... I don't know how to swim... at all."
That's the DUMBEST thing I've ever heard! Ol' Tiara Boy can't swim?! That's what he gets for never ever playing outside. Roy thought to himself. He was about to start laughing at Marth, but poor Roy ended up sneezing instead.
"Can I just go change back into my clothes?" whined the spoiled Altean prince.
"How cuh-cuh-come you're hiding behind that chur-chur-tree?" asked Roy. His chattering was starting to slow down, allowing him to speak a little better without the very bad stuttering.
"Well... I guess I'll come over..." Marth walked to the water's edge and stopped right there. His swimming trunks were a bright blue, but he looked even more thinner than he did when he was fully clothed. Marth noticed Roy staring at him and he suddenly felt very uneasy.
"When we get back, I'm soooo gonna force you eat cakes, ice cream, and other snacks", joked Roy. "Hop on it! Water's nice... unless you like to shiver like crazy!"
Marth placed one foot into the water and quickly took it out. He walked away from the water's edge and headed for slightly higher ground. Roy just shrugged until he heard the most unusual sound. It sounded like a really young girl screaming with sheer joy. The voice was followed by a "ka-splosh!" afterwards.
"What was that?!" exclaimed Roy. He looked around and saw Marth emerge from the water.
"Yeow! Aw, man! That felt nice!" shouted Marth. He shook his head several times and some water went all over the place, like a soaked dog shaking to get the water off of its fur.
"Hey, hey! Water fight!" Roy swam over to Marth and splashed him in the face. Marth countered by splashing Roy back. Both children were splashing each other while laughing. Their camping trip was going quite well for them. Nothing would go wrong... Or would it?