Ash Ketchum: Battle of the Ampere

Ch. 2 Number Fifteen

   It took me a moment to remember where I was. Some kind of Amazonian jungle insect-beast was crawling on my face, and as soon as I realized it, I sat up, wildly brushing it off. Someone started laughing. A young native girl was on her knees on the ground next to me. She was wearing a dress made of tree bark and was holding something that looked like one of the dream catchers my mother used to hang on her wall. I also noticed that my foot had been packed in a dark dried mud, wrapped in leaves, and tied up with jute twine. Surprisingly, my ankle wasn't aching anymore. "Hey," I said to the girl.

   She gazed at me with dark, intense eyes. "Dzao an, hen keai."

  "I have no idea what you're saying," I said. "I have no idea what any of you have been saying."

   She smiled, then set down the dream catcher and ran out of my hut.

   Now what?  I thought. I lay there for a while, wondering what I should do. I still didn't know what the tribe had planned for me. It crossed my mind that I should try to escape. But where would I go? The jungle had to be at least as dangerous as this place, and I'd only get more lost—if that were possible.

   Out of nervousness, I sat up and started making electro-balls and throwing them against the wall, which wasn't exactly smart. You know how they say that people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones? They could also say, people in thatch huts shouldn't throw electro-balls, because the wall will catch on fire. It did. I had to use my shirt to beat the flames out. I had just extinguished them and was sitting back on my mat, pulling my shirt on, when the chief walked into my hut flanked by two warrior tribesmen. There was still a lot of smoke in the room, and the chief looked at the burned spots on the wall, then back at me. As usual, the warriors just started at me with angry expressions, like they wanted to skewer me with their spears, then eat me.

  "Good afternoon, Ash Ketchum," the chief said.

  "Uh, hi," I replied, not sure how I was supposed to talk to a tribal chief. My eye started twitching. I still didn't know how the guy knew my name. Just the fact that he spoke English freaked me out a little.

  "How is your ankle?" he asked.

  "It's not hurting like it was."

  "Stand," he said.

   I slowly stood. My ankle was still a little sore, but it was not nearly as painful as it had been the day before.

  "It feel better," I said.

   He nodded. "The jungle medicine is strong. By tonight it will be healed."

   I didn't know what medicine they had used, or even when they had wrapped my ankle—I had slept through it all—but whatever they'd done was nothing short of miraculous. "Thank you," I said.

   He stepped closer to me. "How did you dream?"

  "I had weird dreams."

   He looked concerned. "What did you dream?"

  "I dreamt about this guy called Dr. Cyrus. He said he would find me."

   The chief frowned. "Then he will find you."

   His saying that chilled me. Cyrus had found me twice before, and both times I had barely escaped with my life. I couldn't imagine being lucky three times. "It was just a nightmare," I said.

   The chief just looked at me gravely. "Wo syiwang jeiyang," he said. Then he said in English, "We can hope."

  "Do you know where my friends are?" I asked.

  "The woman with two boys is deep in the jungle. They are safe."