Upon returning to the cabin Katie and Whisper saw that everyone was standing idly outside.
"What's going on now?" She asked Alex.
"We all finished cleaning and Mr. Johnson said he had an announcement for us once he double-checked everything." Alex replied.
"He's probably just gonna thank us for all our hard work or somethin'." Bear scoffed. "Nothing special."
Mr. Johnson walked out of the cabin and sighed heavily before clearing his throat. "Thank you for all your hard work children."
Bear clicked his tongue. "Told ya."
"I'm sorry you all had to spend most of the afternoon cleaning, but I have the perfect activity to make up for it."
"Unless we're going to a hot spring, I don't think anything can make up for that." Megan sulked.
"I wanted to catch rhino beetles, not roaches." Grumbled Bear.
"Same." Eddie agreed.
"I wanted to go fishing." Groaned Nate.
"I was hoping to get in at least one good game of hide-and-seek." Alex shrugged with her eyes closed.
Eric was too lost in his own thoughts about Alex to even process what she said as he stared at her while blushing. Eventually he snapped out of it and hesitantly added: "Uh… Y-Yeah me too! All of that stuff! Especially what Alex wanted to do!"
"Hm?" Alex quietly expressed while giving him a slightly confused look.
"I know, I know, and we'll have plenty of time to do all of that tomorrow, minus the hot spring of course, but I know you're all going to enjoy this." Mr. Johnson assured. "Because the activity I have planned is…" He walked over to a large object covered by a tarp and swiftly unveiled it, revealing a barbecue pit. "A barbecue!"
"HUH!?" All the children exclaimed.
"That's right! Renting the cabin gives me access to all the amenities including this pit! I was going to save it for our last activity of the weekend but since you all did such an excellent job with cleaning the cabin, I figured having it now would be a suitable reward!"
"Hold on, does that mean we have to hunt game and pick wild vegetables?" questioned Eric.
Mr. Johnson chortled. "Of course not, Eric! I packed some fresh vegetables and meat for the occasion, so no wild animals or plants have to lose their lives today! I even brought ingredients to make s'mores for dessert!"
"That's awesome!" Alex beamed.
"I am so down for this!" Bear happily exclaimed with both his fists clenched.
"Yay!" Megan cheered. "Though I'd still rather go to the hot spring, honestly."
Everyone else shared similar sentiments. (Sans the hot spring.)
"In order to kick it off I am still going to need some assistance from everyone. That includes cleaning the grill off, washing the vegetables, doing the dishes afterwards, as well as gathering firewood for the s'mores."
"I volunteer Chelsea and I for dishwashing duty!" Megan immediately responded.
Chelsea quietly groaned at Megan. She knew she only volunteered to wash the dishes because it required the least amount of effort and was the very last job to do. "B-But I can also help wash the vegetables and prepare them if you'd like. I do a lot of cooking at home so it's not a problem."
"I always make sure our grill at home is spotless whenever my folks decide to use it, so I can take care of that!" Bear proudly stated while pointing at himself with his thumb.
"And I'll help!" Eddie chimed in.
"Eric and I can wash the vegetables together." Alex volunteered. Eric quickly nodded in agreement.
"So, all that's left is gathering the firewood. Can you both handle that Nate and Forester?" Mr. Johnson questioned.
"Of course!" assured Nate. "That way Katie can see what a strong dependable guy I am!" He then thought to himself.
"No problem!" Katie smiled.
"Actually Mr. Johnson, I don't think it would be a bad idea if Katie and Nate had an extra hand in gathering the firewood." Chelsea chimed in while smirking. "The sun will be setting soon so the faster we get everything set up the better. And since everyone but Meg has a job right now it only makes sense for her to help them out, wouldn't you agree?"
"Huh!?" Megan gasped.
"Indeed I do!" Nodded Mr. Johnson. "Is that okay with you Miss Jones?"
Megan tried her hardest to think of a way out of helping Katie and Nate, but soon realized she had no options and hung her head low. "Yes, Mr. Johnson." She glumly answered.
"Well in that case, let's all get to work to make this a great barbecue!" Mr. Johnson encouraged.
"Yeah!" All the children agreed in unison, with Megan's voice being the most monotone out of them all.
Soon after, everyone started doing their parts with Eddie and Bear using towels and wire brushes to clean the grill, Eric, Alex, and Chelsea washing the vegetables in a nearby washing station, and Mr. Johnson chopping the beef into chunks and preparing the sauce for it. Elsewhere in the woods Katie, Nate, and Megan were collecting the wood needed for the fire.
"Since we're just going to make a fire for s'mores, we don't need that much wood." Katie said to Whisper while gathering a small bundle of sticks and broken wood.
"Whis~." He nodded in agreement while collecting his own fair share.
Nate seemed to have other plans as he gathered a sizable chunk of sticks into one pile. "Alright, this is my chance!" He thought to himself. "When Katie sees me carry all this wood back to the cabin effortlessly, she'll be blown away by my manliness!"
Megan had little interest in helping either of them as her pile was the smallest out of the three. "Darn it Chelsea. Why'd you have to go and say that?" She mumbled to herself. "As if cleaning the cabin wasn't enough, now I have to get my hands dirty again by touching filthy sticks." She then looked at Nate and smiled deviously. "Unless…OWIE!" She shrieked drawing Nate and Katie's attention.
"Meg!" Katie exclaimed as she dropped her sticks to run to her.
"What's wrong!?" Nate shouted, running in the same direction.
When they made it to Megan she was on her knees while squeezing her right index finger with her free hand and whimpering. "I was holding those sticks, but I accidentally cut my finger on them and it hurts really bad!"
"Let me have a look." Nate insisted. Megan stuck her finger out towards him, showing the thin red incision that ran across it horizontally. "It doesn't look that bad. A bandage should do the trick when we get back to the cabin."
"Hmm." Katie examined the cut closer and put her fingers on her chin.
Megan then quickly wrapped her hand around her finger again and began to look pouty. "Still I don't think I'm going to be able to carry the wood like this." She then looked at Nate with sparkles in her eyes. "I-If it's not too much trouble Nate, could you perhaps lend me a hand?"
Nate, thinking he could score more points with Katie by helping someone in need, another girl specifically, stoically hit his chest with his fist while his eyes were closed and boldly responded with: "No problem! I'm here to help!" Steam then blew out of his nose.
"Thanks Nate! I knew I could rely on you!" Megan effused.
Nate rubbed his index finger under his nose while grinning.
"That's my master! Always willing to help those in need!" Smiled Whisper.
"Too bad it was a trick." Katie scoffed.
"Whis~?"
"That wasn't a cut. She drew on her finger with red eyeliner. I noticed it was the same shade of red as the kind my mom uses."
A sweat drop appeared on the back of Whisper's head. "So that means…"
"Meg just played him like a violin."
Whisper hung his head low in disappointment.
Nate's confident grin from a few minutes ago soon dissipated when he found himself struggling to carry the large heavy pile of wood made up of his and Megan's shares (enough to build a shelter for a small animal) as they all headed back to the cabin, with Megan happily humming to herself while her eyes were closed as if she wasn't in pain at all.
"Aren't you at least going to tell him that much wood isn't necessary?" Whisper asked.
"Nah, I wanna see if he can really carry it all back to the cabin without dropping it." Katie replied. "Besides, it's a suitable punishment for allowing himself to be manipulated so easily."
"I suppose. He seems to be doing quite well tho-"
Suddenly he was cut off by a loud scream from Megan that also shocked Nate causing him to fall back, with the wood he was carrying burying him under it.
Katie annoyedly sighed. "What is it this time Meg?"
"S-Someone's following us!" She stammered while pointing at a nearby tree grove. "I saw them for a split-second and then they disappeared!"
Katie's annoyed expression then turned serious. "Did you happen to notice anything peculiar about them?"
"Well they looked like they were bald for one thing. Oh no! What if it's some old pervert!?"
Nate quickly stood back up in a fighting stance with noticeable, but harmless, scratches on his face and arms from being buried under the sticks. "A pervert!? Where!? I-I'll teach him a lesson!"
"Hey hey calm down you two." Katie ordered. "It was probably just your imagination, Meg. Remember, Mr. Johnson said it's dangerous to let your mind play games with you while in the woods."
"Yeah… Yeah you're right, Katie." Megan chuckled nervously. "I'm probably just a little exhausted after all that cleaning today. A bath, a hot meal, and a good night's sleep should calm my nerves."
"Mhmm!" Katie nodded as Megan continued to walk ahead.
Nate, apparently forgetting about wanting to impress Katie with carrying the large pile of wood he had, followed Megan and shouted: "Wait up, Meg! It's dangerous to go alone!"
Katie then focused her attention to the tree groves.
"That was eerily similar to that post we read earlier." Whisper pointed out. "Right down to the creature being bald!"
"I know. And as much as I want to, we can't go searching for it right now. And I don't wanna put any of my Yo-kai friends at risk until we know what we're dealing with."
"Smart move." A voice behind them said.
They both looked back to see who it came from.
"Whis~? EEEEE!" Whisper squealed like a giddy teenage girl as he dropped the wood he was carrying.
"Huh? Oh, it's you!" Katie smiled.
Whisper flew close to her face with an angry expression. "His name's not "you", Katie! It's the great master Pittapatt!" He corrected with occasional spittle flying out of his mouth to Katie's dismay.
"I know that you dumb fanatic! We've met him before!" She snapped back, frightening Whisper a bit. "God, say it don't spray it."
"It's been a while hasn't it?" The one-eyed straw sandal specter broke in.
"Sure has! What brings you out here?"
"There's going to be a Classic Yo-kai mixer slash reunion party tonight at the abandoned house not too far from here and I'm in charge of bringing the snacks." He turned around to show the contents of the basket he was carrying on his back. It was full of different kinds of chips and Snow Pea Snacks.
"A Classic Yo-kai party!? That sounds absolutely wonderful!" burst Whisper.
Pittapatt closed his eye. "Well it would be if everyone was showing up like we thought."
"What do you mean?" asked Katie.
Pittapatt looked up to the sky. "You see in the past us Classic Yo-kai were always everywhere causing mayhem and scaring everyone in sight. Boy, what fun that was! But as time went on, the world began to change and so did people's feelings towards Yo-kai. They stopped being afraid of us, even children. So a lot of the Classic Yo-kai went into retirement…" He then looked back at Katie. "That is until you, Katie, befriended and helped out Boyclops, Pallysol, and Lady Longnek."
"Oh right! I remember that!" recalled Katie.
"Uhh, didn't I have a role in that as well?" cheekily asked Whisper.
"Who are you again?" Pittapatt asked, causing Whisper to fall to the ground in disenchantment. "Anyway Katie, word got out about what you did and more Classic Yo-kai began appearing again, myself included. Those of us you befriended so far got together and planned this party to bring out the others. Sounds like the perfect plan, right?"
Katie's eyes widened. "Wait every Classic Yo-kai I've befriended!? As in every one!?"
A sweat drop appeared in the corner of Pittapatt's head. "Uh, yeah. The three I previously mentioned, Kappa, Furdinand, Tublappa…"
"What about…" Katie began before glancing at Whisper. She then dropped her sticks, bent over towards Pittapatt, cupped her hand over where she thought his ear was and whispered something into it.
"Yeah. I did say every Classic Yo-kai you've befriended, did I not?"
Katie fist pumped. "Yes!"
Whisper looked at her in confusion.
"But back to what I was saying, everything was going well until that rumor about that Kunekune creature got spread around. Now only a few are coming from what I've heard, and I don't know who exactly."
Katie lost her balance out of disappointment. "Aw, darn it."
"Don't tell me the great Classic Yo-kai have gotten cold feet over such a petty rumor!" Whisper chided.
"I think they're just using that as an excuse to not come." Pittapatt replied. "Some of them are still wary about coming out of retirement. But even so, the stories I've heard about Kunekune are pretty frightening. Going blind just from looking at it for more than a second? Creepy. That's why I've been muting my footsteps this whole time on the off-chance that the rumor is true."
"Oh, so that's why we didn't hear you sneak up on us!" Katie reckoned.
"Correct."
"My poor Classic Yo-kai!" sobbed Whisper. "Feeling so unloved and irrelevant that they're willing to use an insignificant rumor as an excuse to not take the first step back into the limelight!"
"Well Furdinand did say we should've invited and advertised Katie as the guest of honor, but the others were against it saying they didn't want to inconvenience her. And seeing as you're both currently on a camping trip I guess they were right about that."
Whisper stopped crying. "Wait a minute! If Katie was going to be invited, then that means as her temporary butler I was going to be invited too!" He then aggressively grabbed Katie's pullover sweater and looked her in the eyes, with his bulging out of their sockets and being bloodshot. "KATIE! WE'VE GOTTA FIND AND STOP THIS KUNEKUNE RIGHT NOW SO YOU CAN ATTEND THE PARTY AND THE OTHER CLASSIC YO-KAI CAN COME OUT OF HIDING! BESIDES THAT I'VE NEVER BEEN INVITED TO A YO-KAI MIXER ESPECIALLY NOT ONE INVOLVING THE GREAT CLASSIC YO-KAI SO THIS IS A HUGE OPPORTUNITY FOR ME AND I REFUSE TO LOSE OUT ON IT, WHIS~!"
"Whisper calm down!" Katie yelled as she pulled out a paper fan and smacked Whisper into the ground with it, leaving a bump on his head. "Geez! You're just too much sometimes! We're probably not going to make the party because of the camping trip, but we are going to get to the bottom of this Kunekune fiasco at night when everyone's asleep. So you hurry and get to your party where you'll be safe, Pittapatt. We'll take care of this."
Pittapatt nodded. "Will do. See you later!" He then began to walk away.
"Buh-bye!" waved Katie.
"Must. Attend. Classic. Yo-kai. Party. Whis~." Whisper moaned as he struggled to get back up, with foam running out of his mouth.
"I see your priorities are straight." Katie sarcastically commented as she picked up the wood she dropped earlier. "Now get up, dumb-dumb. We've got a barbecue to get back to for now."
Whisper quickly shot back up after hearing that. "Oh right! I can't wait to sink my teeth into some yakiniku, whis~!"
"Me too! I didn't even know Mr. Johnson barbequed. I thought teachers only knew how to make cup ramen because that's all they could afford!"
Whisper paused for a second as a sweat drop appeared in the corner of his head and Katie continued walking. "That's… Rather mean. Veracious to some degree, but mean nonetheless."
—
Back at the cabin the barbecue was already in motion. Several yakiniku skewers lined with pieces of beef, mushrooms, lotus roots, onions, all three colors of bell peppers, baby corn, squash, and leeks were sizzling on the grill under Mr. Johnson's supervision. Also under his supervision was Chelsea, who amazed him and everyone else with her prodigious knife skills by chopping the vegetables with precision and ease.
"Chelsea that's amazing!" marveled Alex.
"My mom's not even that good!" complimented Eddie.
"Where'd you learn to cut like that!?" queried Bear.
"I learned from watching cooking shows on television." Chelsea responded as she stuck some vegetables and beef on a skewer using a pair of tongs. "I've been practicing for about two years now."
"TWO YEARS!?" everyone exclaimed.
"You wanna be a chef or somethin' when you grow up?" asked Bear.
"Not really. I just like helping out at home as much as possible whether it's cooking, laundry, or cleaning." Chelsea replied as she placed the skewers on the grill.
"So mature." Everyone thought.
In an area nearby with no grass, Katie and Nate were just about ready to start the fire. "Okay, that's the last of it." Katie said as she dropped the wood she was carrying in the stone circle they made.
Nate chuckled as if he had something planned. "Alright, stand back Katie. It's about to get hot!" He picked up two thick pieces of wood and started furiously rubbing them together. After about a minute and a half the wood showed no signs of even smoking and Nate began to break out in a sweat.
"Uh, Nate you know I can just ask Mr. Johnson if we could borrow his lighter, right?" Katie asked with a half-smile and a sweat drop in the corner of her head.
"No way!" huffed Nate. "This kind of wood just probably takes more time to burn than others! That's all!"
Katie groaned and looked at him with annoyance.
"I'll admit I admire his tenacity." Whisper commented. "But the barbecue's about to start soon and I don't want to miss out on getting the skewers with the most meat."
"Don't worry I've got this." Katie replied as she took a Brave Tribe medal out of her pocket. "Come on out my friend! Calling Blazion! Yo-kai Medal do your thing!"
"Summoning Brave!" The watch around her neck announced when she inserted the medal.
As the Brave Tribe's theme played, Blazion performed straight punches, side kicks, and did a mighty roar before standing in a fighting stance as the summoning process ended.
"Blazion!"
"Blazion could you please light the campfire for Nate, so we can attend the barbecue back there?" asked Katie.
"Blaze blaze, blaze? (A barbecue, huh?) Blaze blaze! (Alright then!)" He replied before quickly leaping forward and punching Nate in the back.
Suddenly Nate felt a burning sensation building up in his body. He stood up straight with fire in his eyes and shouted: "ALRIGHT! LET'S GET THIS CAMPFIRE GOING! THE SOONER WE LIGHT IT UP THE SOONER WE CAN EAT!" He then got back on his knees and started rubbing the sticks together even faster.
"He fired up Nate instead of the wood!" blurted Whisper.
"Yeah but look at it!" Katie pointed out. The wood was beginning to smoke from all the rapid friction and suddenly a fire sparked from it.
"Huff huff. See, Katie? I told you I had it." Nate panted while smiling and giving a thumbs up along with Blazion.
"You sure did! Nice work!"
"Even if it was only because of Blazion…" Whisper shrugged.
Soon afterwards, the barbecue was in full-force with everyone chowing down on the yakiniku skewers.
"So good!" exclaimed Eddie.
"Mr. Johnson and Chelsea are great cooks!" praised Megan.
"The meat is so tender and juicy!" complimented Bear who had a skewer with nothing but meat on it.
"Bear! Eat some vegetables too!" Chelsea chastised as she shoved a vegetable skewer in his face with him looking at her with surprise and concern.
"Mmm! Eric you've gotta try this baby corn it's delish!" Alex gushed as she took a piece of baby corn off her skewer and held it up to Eric's mouth. "Say 'aah.'" Eric's face turned completely red upon hearing her command. Not wanting to refuse her offer, he slowly opened his mouth so she could playfully feed him the cornlet. "Good, huh?" Eric rapidly nodded with hearts in his eyes and was barely able to stand up straight due to feeling amorous.
"Eat as much as you want children!" encouraged Mr. Johnson as he grilled more skewers. "There's plenty enough here!"
"In that case I'm gonna eat until I burst!" proclaimed Nate.
Katie giggled before turning her attention to Whisper and Blazion who apparently didn't hear what Mr. Johnson just said.
"Paws off, Blazion! I saw this skewer first!" Whisper bickered as he tried to take a meat skewer from Blazion.
"Blaze blaze! (No way!) Blaze blaze blaze blaze blaze blaze! (I earned this for helping Katie!)" He argued back.
"Well I'm her temporary butler so I deserve it more!"
"Blaze blaze blaze blaze blaze blaze blaze blaze blaze, blaze! (The only thing you deserve is a carrot stick, fatty!)"
"Oh how dare you! I'll have you know that I'm just naturally round!"
Katie frowned. "Will you both knock it off? Mr. Johnson just said-"
Before she could finish, the skewer slipped out of Blazion's paw and the force of his and Whisper's tug-of-war sent it flying into the woods.
"My meat!" they both shouted (Blazion in his own language) as they ran after it.
"Wait! Come back here!" Katie commanded as she followed them with no one noticing her leaving.