Following Meowth's Footprints Read online

  “Wait, what?” said Ethan. He suddenly wasn’t feeling so shy anymore. “Brayden, you said you thought that cat was Max!”

  As the iron gate swung open, Brayden was the first one through it. He didn’t show off his scar. He didn’t even respond to Ethan. He just started running, all the way to his bike, which was hidden in a clump of bushes.

  As Ethan watched him go, the puzzle pieces started falling into place.

  Brayden hadn’t come to the cemetery to hunt Pokémon. Of course he didn’t, thought Ethan. There aren’t any here!

  No, Brayden had come to spy on Team Mystic, to see if they believed his little lie about the black cat. And to try to scare us, Ethan realized, remembering the moaning noise he’d heard over by the tomb.

  But the worst part was, he’d gotten their hopes up about Max—especially Devin’s. And for that, Ethan couldn’t forgive him.

  He balled his hands up into fists and took off through the gate, determined to catch up with Brayden. But Carlo stepped in his path.

  “Whoa, take it easy,” he said. “It’s not worth it—just let him go.”

  Fine, thought Ethan, his heart thudding in his ears. I’ll let him go. But then I don’t ever want to see his face again. Not ever.

  CHAPTER 11

  “We should show Mrs. Applegate the photo of the cat anyway,” said Devin. “Just in case it was Max!”

  “It wasn’t Max. It was a mean old stray that Brayden was trying to trick us into thinking was Max.” Ethan wondered how many times he was going to have to tell Devin that. The girl never seemed to give up hope.

  She studied the picture on her phone one more time. “I don’t care what you think,” she said. “I’m going to show Mrs. Applegate, just in case.”

  “Fine,” he said. “But I’m not going with you into the library when you do.”

  “Fine, Krabby. Do what you want.”

  It was Tuesday morning, and Ethan and Devin had been fighting like six-year-olds ever since their sleepover last night at Carlo and Gianna’s. Ethan knew he wasn’t really mad at Devin. He was just so mad at Brayden, he didn’t know what to do with himself.

  Yes, you do, the voice in his head argued. You need to take a break from this missing-cat thing. You need to go to Dottie’s, eat a couple of doughnuts, and fight a few battles.

  So that’s what he did—while Devin was across the street at the library.

  At least, he went to Dottie’s planning to battle. He sat down in his favorite booth at Dottie’s and pulled out his phone. He tapped on the blue Team Mystic gym, and he prepared Raticate for battle.

  “Power up, little buddy,” he said, making sure the Pokémon was healthy. Then he flagged down Dottie for a doughnut. As a Trainer, he needed to power up, too.

  “One Mankey, please,” he said. “And a tall glass of chocolate milk.”

  “Coming right up!” said Dottie with a smile.

  But while he was waiting for his doughnut, Ethan’s phone buzzed. He spun his map to find the nearby Pokéman, and grimaced when he saw a pair of dark, flapping wings.

  “Bring it on, Zubat,” he muttered under his breath. “Bring. It. On.”

  He started firing Poké Balls at the screeching, fluttering, batlike Pokémon. He shot them off rapid fire. The Zubat squeaked and squawked and dodged every ball, but Ethan didn’t let up. He fired more.

  After a while, he didn’t even wait until the yellow circle around the bat had shrunk. He just flung more Poké Balls, pinging them off the bat’s head and slinging them into the corners of the screen.

  When the app seemed to freeze up, he shook his phone. He tapped the screen, trying to get another Poké Ball.

  And then he saw the message.

  “No more Poké Balls.”

  He stared at it in disbelief.

  Then he dropped his head to the table.

  When Ethan felt a hand on his shoulder, he turned his face just far enough to see. It wasn’t Dottie holding out the Mankey on a plate. It was Carlo.

  Ethan sat straight up. “When did you get here?” he asked.

  “Just in time to see you go nutso on Zubat,” said Carlo. “Dottie was afraid to come over, so she sent me instead. Doughnut?” He grinned and held out the plate. The he slid into the booth across from Ethan.

  Ethan took a bite of the Mankey, and instantly felt a giant blob of banana-cream filling fall into his lap. Perfect.

  Carlo waited until Ethan had wiped his shorts clean. Then he asked, “So what was that all about? Did Zubat do you wrong in a past life or something?”

  Ethan couldn’t even smile. “I can’t catch him,” he said. “Just like I can’t find Max. Or Mew. Or Mewtwo. Or even Meowth.” He counted them off on his fingers—five fat failures.

  Carlo nodded. “Well, I don’t know if this will make you feel better or worse, but I don’t think anybody has found Mew or Mewtwo. They may not even exist yet.”

  “What do you mean?” said Ethan. “They’re in the Pokédex.”

  “Yeah, but I don’t think they’re in the real world yet,” said Carlo. “Maybe soon—but not yet. So you’re off the hook on those two.”

  Ethan sighed. “So there’s only two cats I can’t find. And a crazy bat I can’t catch.”

  “I might be able to help you with Zubat, too,” said Carlo. “Want me to show you a trick?”

  He reached for Ethan’s phone and flipped it over, and there was Zubat—fluttering around, waiting for round two.

  Ethan grimaced. “Ugh. Why is he still there?”

  “Because he wants you to try to capture him, of course. What else does a Zubat have to live for?”

  “Can’t I just hit the run button?” Ethan whined.

  “You could,” said Carlo. “But Zubat aren’t really that tough, once you get the hang of them. I think you should just face ’em head-on.”

  Carlo held the phone toward the window to collect a few Poké Balls from the PokéStop out front. Then he hit Ethan’s items list and grabbed a Razz Berry.

  “Okay, back to you,” he said, handing Ethan the phone. “Tap on the Razz Berry to feed it to Zubat.”

  Ethan did, even though he didn’t want to. When little hearts popped up around Zubat, he almost gagged.

  “Now, this is the most important part,” said Carlo. “Instead of aiming for the center of the yellow circle the way you usually do, aim for the top of it. Sometimes you just need to come at Zubat from a different angle.”

  Carlo made it sound so simple, but Ethan was pretty sure it wasn’t. He flung the Poké Ball, and it sailed right over Zubat’s head.

  “Not bad,” said Carlo. “Try again, a little lower.”

  So Ethan did. When the ball pinged against Zubat’s forehead and swallowed him up, Ethan just about fell out of the booth.

  “I did it!” he said.

  “Awesome!” said Carlo. “And that Razz Berry will help him stay caught, too.”

  Ethan held his breath while the ball wiggled. But it didn’t open back up. Instead, a puff of stars floated up around the Poké Ball.

  “You caught your first Zubat,” said Carlo, giving Ethan a high-five. “Now you should give that annoying pest a nickname. Make it something good.”

  Ethan stared out the window, thinking of the most annoying name he could come up with.

  Brayden.

  He smiled and tapped the pencil next to the Zubat.

  When Carlo saw what Ethan was entering, he chuckled. “Brayden’s not so tough, either,” he said. “You just have to figure out a way to deal with him, like you did with Zubat today.”

  Ethan nodded. Carlo’s a pretty smart guy, he thought. Brayden, on the other hand? He’s just an annoying little Zubat.

  CHAPTER 12

  By the time Devin showed up, Ethan was grinning from ear to ear. Maybe it was capturing Brayden the Zubat. Or maybe it was the sugar rush from his second Mankey.

  “What took you so long?” he asked.

  She blew the hair out of her face. “I was helping Mrs. Appleg
ate with a project. I figure if we can’t find her cat, maybe there are other ways we can help her out at the library.”

  “Really?” said Ethan. He didn’t like the way she used the word we in that sentence. He was curious about this “project,” but if he asked too many questions, he might get roped into helping out, too. “So what did Mrs. Applegate say about the cat in your photo?” he asked instead.

  “You were right. It wasn’t Max—not even close. So I need a doughnut with sprinkles, and I need it fast.” Her eyes scanned the shop for Dottie.

  “The Mankey was pretty good,” said Ethan. “At least, the part that made it into my mouth instead of my lap. Hey, have we caught any Mankey yet?”

  “I don’t think so,” said Devin. “Where would we even find them here in Newville? In Pheasant Ranch? I think monkeys live in trees.” She waved her hand to flag down Dottie.

  “Maybe,” he said. Then he had another thought. “How about in playgrounds? Maybe Mankey live in parks and playgrounds—places that have monkey bars.”

  “You mean Mankey bars?” Devin joked.

  Ethan just shook his head. Sometimes Devin’s jokes were as bad as Dad’s.

  “What do you think?” he said. “Do you want to take a break from cat hunting today and hit a couple of parks with me to look for Mankey?”

  “Sure. Why not?” When Dottie came over, Devin asked if she could please order a doughnut with sprinkles for the road.

  “Sounds serious,” said Dottie, sliding her pencil behind her ear. “One sprinkled doughnut, one paper bag. Coming right up.” She winked and took Ethan’s empty plate.

  Ten minutes later, they were biking toward the park. As Ethan rode behind Devin, he saw purple sprinkles bouncing off her tires. She was leaving a little trail of them.

  “If you were a lost cat, you’d be easy to track,” he joked.

  But she was too into her doughnut to even hear him.

  Ethan made sure they stopped at every PokéStop between the doughnut shop and the park. But by the time they rode through the park gates and pulled into the bike rack, he’d only collected nine Poké Balls.

  He quickly popped an egg into an incubator, just for backup. If he couldn’t catch a lot of Pokémon today, maybe he could hatch some.

  Then he showed Devin how low he was on Poké Balls. “I wish I could borrow some from you,” he said. He knew Devin was a good saver. She always had a good supply of Poké Balls, not to mention a full piggy bank on her desk in her bedroom.

  “Can you buy some with your Defender bonus?” she asked.

  “Nah,” he confessed. “I already blew that on more incense and a Lucky Egg. What if I run into a Meowth today and don’t have enough ammunition to catch him?”

  “Maybe you could beam him in the head with your Lucky Egg,” she joked. Then she glanced over her shoulder and added, “Anyway, I’m pretty sure you’re going to run into something else first.”

  Ethan heard the low buzzing noise, too, growing louder and closer. Brayden was coming on his stupid scooter. “Hide!” said Ethan. “Quick!”

  Devin looked around. “Where? Behind the curly slide?”

  “Good idea,” said Ethan. Then he realized she was kidding. While he dove for cover, Devin stood perfectly still, facing Brayden head-on.

  “What are you doing here?” asked Brayden as he buzzed to a stop on the sidewalk.

  “What’s it to you?” asked Devin.

  Ooh, thought Ethan. She’s in sassy mode. Good!

  “Are you still mad about that cat thing?” asked Brayden. “Is that why your brother is hiding behind the curly slide?”

  Oof. Busted.

  Still, Ethan stayed hidden, pretending to search the grass for Weedle and Caterpie. He wished he could press the run button and make Brayden go away. But he wouldn’t go away. He’d just hang around like an annoying Zubat, waiting for me to come back.

  Brayden finally did leave, but it took forever. Ethan’s legs were sore from squatting when Devin came over to get him out of hiding.

  “He sure wants to hang out with you,” she said.

  “What do you mean?” he asked, wiping the grass off his knees. “He wants to annoy me, that’s all.”

  She shook her head. “I think he wants to hang out with you. You used to be friends, remember?”

  That seems like a long time ago, thought Ethan. And he didn’t really want to talk about Brayden right now. “C’mon,” he said. “Let’s go check out the Mankey bars.”

  The search for Mankey at the park turned up nothing, but it was fun to be out with Devin and not thinking about cats. Ethan lifted his face to the breeze as they pedaled down the street. “Do you want to hit the school playground next?” he asked.

  “Sure,” said Devin. “Race you there!”

  “You’re on!”

  Ethan had to admit it—Devin was pretty fast for an eight-year-old. He had to pedal his hardest and ignore every PokéStop they passed to beat her. There wasn’t time to stop, and like Mom sometimes said, “Don’t Pokémon GO while you pedal.” Ethan tried not to think about all the Poké Balls and Razz Berries he was missing out on!

  He pulled into the school playground just seconds before Devin, and then flopped down on the grass, laughing. “That was some serious exercise. Mom would be proud of us.”

  “Yeah,” said Devin, breathing hard. “But there’s a slight problem.”

  “What?” Ethan sat up.

  Then he heard the buzzing sound. “Oh, man. He followed us here?”

  Devin nodded. “We flew by him really fast a couple of blocks ago. He must think we’re hot on the trail of a rare Pokémon.”

  Figures, thought Ethan. Old Brayden the Zubat can’t stand being left out of anything. He just follows us around, yapping and flapping his wings.

  “So, what are you going to hide behind this time?” asked Devin. “The water fountain?”

  Ethan knew she was kidding. But he also knew it was time to stop hiding.

  You could run, Carlo had said about the Zubats. But I think you should just face ’em head-on.

  So Ethan stood up and walked to the curb just as Brayden pulled up.

  “What are you guys hunting for?” Brayden came right out and asked.

  “Mankey,” said Ethan. “We’re hunting for Mankey.” He decided to try honesty this time. After all, they hadn’t found any yet. And even if they did, maybe Brayden would just capture one and then be on his way.

  “Here? I don’t believe you,” said Brayden. “Monkeys live in trees, not in school playgrounds. I’ll bet you’re looking for Meowth like you were in the cemetery. Did you see him somewhere?” He looked toward Devin as if she were going to pull Meowth up on her phone and tell him exactly where to find the Pokémon.

  “Cats live in trees too, Einstein,” Ethan shot back. “So why don’t you go find some. Why don’t you just get lost.”

  His words came out sounding harsh. But Brayden deserves it. Doesn’t he? thought Ethan.

  Brayden shrugged. “Whatever.” He turned his scooter around and performed a fancy little burnout.

  He’s probably been practicing that move for days, thought Ethan with a smirk. Just waiting to show it off.

  But Brayden’s next move wasn’t so impressive. He hit a patch of gravel, slid sideways, and flew right off his scooter.

  He squealed as he flew through the air.

  Then he hit the ground with a thud.

  CHAPTER 13

  Ethan ran toward Brayden, who was lying perfectly still.

  “Is he okay?” called Devin from the sidewalk. She covered her eyes, as if she was afraid to look.

  “He’s fine,” said Ethan. At least I hope he’s fine.

  Brayden blinked and stared up at Ethan from the ground. “Am I bleeding?”

  Ethan saw the bloody knee and a trickle of blood coming from Brayden’s elbow. “Not really,” he fibbed. “Does anything hurt? Can you get up?” He helped Brayden slowly stand and limp out of the road.

  Then Brayden
caught sight of his scooter, which had skidded to the opposite curb. It looked worse off than he did. It had a long scratch on the side, but at least the wheels were still spinning.

  That’s when Brayden started to cry.

  Oh, man, thought Ethan. Here we go.

  “My p-parents spent a lot of money on that!” said Brayden. He started to walk toward the scooter, but Ethan made him sit on the curb instead.

  “I’m sure it’s fine,” said Ethan. “I’ll get it.” He pulled the scooter upright, shut it off, and wheeled it toward Brayden.

  “Do you want us to walk you home?” Devin asked sweetly. “Maybe we’ll spot a Meowth along the way.”

  Ethan wished she’d consulted him first on that one, but she had a soft spot for anything that was sad or injured. And Brayden looked pretty darn sad right now.

  So they walked their bikes while Brayden limped along the sidewalk, pushing his scratched scooter. He sniffled and said, “Cats don’t live in trees, you know. They live in houses.”

  “What?”

  “You said back at the playground that cats live in trees.”

  Ethan shot a glance at Devin. Can you believe this kid? he wanted to say. Even all beat up like this, he still has to be right about everything.

  But Devin didn’t seem irritated. She just let him have his way. “You’re right. Cats live in houses.”

  Most cats, anyway, Ethan almost said. But he’d just been struck by an idea, as sudden and powerful as Jolteon’s Thunder Shock in the middle of battle.

  “Cats live in houses,” he repeated.

  “Right,” said Devin. “That’s what we just said.”

  “So isn’t that Mrs. Applegate’s house over there?” He pointed toward a baby-blue house with a large wraparound porch.

  “Yeah,” said Devin. “But she’s at the library right now, remember?”

  Ethan started jogging toward the porch.

  “Wait up!” he heard Devin call. “What are you doing?”

  He stopped just long enough to explain. “We looked for Max near the library. We looked in the nature preserve, because of all the trees. We even looked in the cemetery!” He shot Brayden a look after that one—he couldn’t help himself.