"What are they doing?" he asked, and watched as the man seemed to instruct the younger children.

"I don’t know," Keith replied. "But let’s walk around them." The two boys started to pass by to one side, trying to look inconspicuous, though Keith smiled at the kids, but both abruptly halted as the man called out to them,

"You there!" Nick and Keith turned to look at him.

"You’re the one who beat the Allison, aren’t you?" he smiled. Keith looked puzzled and ventured,

"Er, yes... but how did you know?"

"Hold on," the man said to the group of kids, some no older than six. He walked out of the crowd up to Keith, the inquisitive eyes of the group of children following the man’s approach. "She told me about it.  I ate lunch with her today."

"Oh," Keith replied, still perplexed and not sure how he was to respond. "But how did you..." he broke off. The man pointed to the Tornado Badge pinned on Keith’s shirt.

"It caught my eye. Anyway, listen boys," he smiled to both, including Nick. "Well, wait. First, what are your names?"

"I’m Keith," he replied. Nick broke in,

"I’m Nick. I think Allison beat me right before Keith." The man stopped to think for a moment, the children behind him whispering to themselves, then he breathed in deeply and asked,

"Well, as you’re both trainers, do you think you could help me out here?" Met with no immediate answer to the negative, he took courage. "You see," the man continued, eyeing the two boys. "I sort of have a little problem. The thing is, I’ve promised these kids and their parents that I would take them into the forest so they could try to catch some pokémon, - their parents let them even at their age," he smiled at the kids. "And, well, when I said that, I was just sure that I would have some help. But my friends, the people I had thought would jump at this opportunity, were all too busy to come with me - but, you see, I had already promised all of these kids and well..." he broke off and shrugged. "Frankly," the man continued. "There’s just no way I’m going to be able to keep up with them all by myself, and with that many of them all together, they’d scare any pokémon in the area away anyway, so," he paused for a moment, assessing how Nick and Keith were taking the matter, then finished, "Do you think you could watch a few for a while? -I really don’t have any other option," he quickly pleaded. Keith was momentarily at a loss, so Nick took command, surprising his friend, and assured confidently,

"Sure, we’d love to." The man breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thanks a lot. I really needed the help, and I really owe you one!" he jabbered rapidly, then turned and yelled, "Kids! This is Keith and Nick. He’s the one I was telling you about," he continued, meaning Keith. "These two boys are the trainers who are going to help you in the forest. Now remember, keep your radios turned on," he emphasized. "And if any of you gets in trouble, tell me right away." The kids remained quiet as he instructed,

"Now whatever you do, don’t take off those pins. They let me know where you are at all times," he spoke clearly, taking out a hand-held device from his left pocket, with a screen that showed eleven red, blinking dots all together in a small area of the screen. "Oh, and," he turned to Nick and Keith. "You’ll need one of these too," the man handed each one a small pin. He lowered his voice, "Boys, make sure that all of the kids keep them on - they’ll be blinking green while they are - and don’t let them get into any trouble. Their really young. I’ll know where you two are also, Nick, Keith," he told them both, looking them in eye. "So..." he broke off, searching for words, and a little undecided as to whether he really was going to so quickly place trust in the boys. But his difficult situation had pushed him to a point where he had little choice. "Just don’t give the kids’ parents any reason for being mad at me, OK?" he warned.

"OK," Keith responded, finally on top of the situation. "You can count on us," he spoke for both. This could be fun, both boys were thinking, though they were still surprised and amused at being so quickly drafted. Nick, however, added the afterthought, "could be fun."

"Good! Do you have watches or a computer with you, or anything that will tell you the time? Yes, I see you do," he didn’t wait for an answer. "Meet back here with the five kids I send with you in an hour and a half." He hesitated. "If some of them don’t catch anything, - and some probably won’t," the man explained. "Then can you do your best to keep their spirits up?" Keith nodded. The man was about to say something else, but decided against it and instead started to walk back to the impatient group of children to select five to go with the boys. Before he reached them, he stopped and turned.

"And thanks, Nick and Keith," he said warmly. "I owe you one. You just got me out of a real scrape." The man returned to the group and Nick whispered to Keith, starting to feel uneasy about the whole situation,

"I hope we haven’t just gotten in over our heads!"

"Naaa," Keith replied. "It’ll be just like babysitting for the Brackmiens. - Only this time, there’ll be only five, and I’ll have your help."

"Only five?" Nick asked in disbelief. Keith nodded to the affirmative. Meanwhile, the man, for the boys realized that he had never even told them his name, sent five youngsters over to Keith and Nick. They seemed to be mainly the older ones, eight and nine-year-olds, except for one who was much smaller. As Nick caught the eye of the group, an uncertain flash of anxiety passed through his mind. The group obediently walked over to the boys uncertain, except for the little boy, who immediately dashed up to Keith, looked up, and greeted,

"Hi! Nick!" Keith laughed, which seemed to ease the others and replied to the small six-year-old child,

"I’m Keith. That’s Nick."

"Hi! Keith!" the boy continued in much the same way, completely undaunted. The atmosphere of uneasiness lifted from both parties. Nick told himself, with the leader Keith was, the two could handle the children, and dismissed his nervousness from his mind.

"What are your names?" He asked of the kids. It was strange to be trusted with command so quickly from a total stranger, Nick thought. Then he remembered the tracking pins and the radios. No, he realized, that man would know about everything that went on. All parties involved seemed safe.

The group of four, for the younger one wasn’t with them, seemed to talk for a quick moment among themselves, laughing a little, and delegated a brown-haired boy wearing a baseball cap on his head and goofy grin with a chipped tooth on his face to say,

"I’m Josh, that’s Sarah," he pointed to a taller girl with straight blond hair. "There’s Casey," he motioned to a shorter, much rounder boy. "That’s Jenna," a small girl with short red hair was indicated. "He’s Sam," he pointed to the last remaining boy, tall and wiry. "Oh, and that’s Robbie," he added almost teasingly, pointing to the little boy in a shirt too big for him who had run up to Nick and Keith earlier. Robbie promptly stuck out his tongue at Josh, who responded to the insult by explaining matter-of-factly to Nick and Keith as if as an afterthought, "He’s the squirt." Nick was silent; he was thinking that the red-headed girl designated as Jenna looked strangely familiar, but Keith looked at the whole group, unsure of whether or not he should intercede between Josh and Robbie, and said to all,

"Well, Josh, Sarah, Casey, Jenna, Sam, and Robbie," - Nick was amazed that Keith remembered them all - "let’s go into the woods!" A cheer was sent up by the children as they gathered around Nick and Keith, the kids’ individual voices each competing to be heard above the others, and they entered the forest. Keith very quickly became popular among his charge.

"Tell me about beating Allie!" Robbie enthusiastically asked.