Ash Ketchum: The Prisoner Of Cell 25

Ch. 12 The First Meeting

   About an hour after my mother left for work, Clemont knocked on my door. He was carrying the multimeter and his notebook. He noticed the can of whipped cream on the counter. "Dude, did you have crepes?"

  "Yes."

  "Any left?"

  "In the fridge. You can microwave them."

   He heated up the remaining crepes, then piled them high with powdered sugar and whipped cream while I played a video game.

  "That was a cool party last night," he said.

   I nodded, intent on my game. "Yeah, it was."

  "Especially when you knocked Corky over."

   I didn't say anything.

  "Serena's really a babe. You know she likes you."

  "She likes everyone."

  "I don't mean it like that. I mean she likes you. I read this book on body language. And I was watching her body."

  "Yeah, I bet you were."

  "No, for scientific purposes."

  "I bet."

   When he'd finished eating the last of the crepes, he came over to the table. "Okay, let's see if there's been a change in your electrical status."

   I paused the game. After the cell phone incident I was curious to find out myself. "Let's do it."

  "What, what's that?" he said pointing to my new watch.

   I held up my arm. "It's a watch my mom gave me this morning for my birthday."

  "What's it made of?"

  "I think silver."

  "Hmm," he said. "Silver has high conductivity, even more than copper. That's why they use it in satellites and computer keyboards." Clemont  always vomited up everything he knew about a subject.

  "So?"

  "Well, you should probably take it off. It might throw off our readings."

  "All right." I unclamped it and laid it across the kitchen counter. Then I clipped the multimeter's cables to the ends of my fingers.

   Clemont looked down at the machine. "Ready? Three, two, one, go!"

   I surged.

   Electricity sparked from the copper ends. "Whoa!" Clemont cried. He set down the machine and began scribbling in his notebook.

   I unhooked the clips. "What was I?"

  "Dude, you're not going to believe it."

  "What?"

  "This thing goes to a thousand volts and it's saying ERROR. You're definitely becoming more electric."

   I sat down on one of the kitchen bar stools and put my watch back on. I wondered what that meant: more electric. "Do you think it will stop."

  "I don't know. No wonder Serena's cell phone didn't work." He set down his notebook. "So is Serena really coming over for cake and ice cream?"

  "She said she was. Then afterward we can have our first official meeting of the Electroclan."

  "That's sick," Clemont said. "Real sick."

   Clemont and I played video games most of the day except when we took a break and walked to the 7-Eleven for Slurpees.