Ep4: The Imp goes camping with us!

"So that imp huh?" Kadien started, popping open a can of beer. He had taken Brad out to chill at the baseball park. It was practically a public space on the weekends and while everyone else took to the diamond to mess around, he and Brad always sat up in the bleachers, under the overhang, and hidden away from the sun. Besides them was Kadien's cooler, filled with an assortment of drinks he had taken from the vending machine, along with enough ice to last the whole day.

Kadien took a sip of his can while waiting for an answer, but Brad just stewed outward towards the field. "Dude?" Brad jerked his head towards his friend as if he had been distracted by something else. "Yeah yeah, monsters and stuff."

"Tell me about it! Told pop about it and he said in a real grunty voice 'that's the devil's tongue boy, focus on baseball!'" Kadien added his finger over his nose to simulate the stash. "Hur hur hur, what am I gonna tell Martha now?"

"How is your mom anyway?" Brad asked. Kaiden shrugged and took another sip of his beer. "You know, they're better….."

"Cool..."

"But yeah, about this imp. Best thing to happen this fall I tell you. First, we get this, purple storm or Arora Borealis or something, then the fricken government does a whole investigation, then this? Man his food is good!" Kadien said ecstatically. "Only thing that could make this better is if I start throwing heaters constantly!"

"I wouldn't say the best thing to happen…" Kaiden shot Brad a weary look after he had uttered those words. "What?"

"I just saying, Leana was right about him coming out of nowhere, and now all of a sudden they are just buddy with each other?" Brad draws invisible lines as he talks as if he was connecting the dots on a conspiracy. "It's not right."

"Oh, so it's this type of conversation…."

"What do you mean by that?" Brad asked, getting annoyed out of the blue.

"You're jealous of him aren't you?"

"No, why would I be jealous of him? I'm not even into Leana like that anymore," he said.

"If you say so bro." Kaiden picked up another beer from the case and handed it to Brad. "You think he can make homemade coca-cola?"

"He's not some sort of culinary genius alright?!" Brad suddenly yelled. "Heck, if all I did was watch cooking shows all day I could make something good."

"So that's a no on the question then…." Kaiden put down the beer and continued drinking his own in silence. It was obvious Brad had beef, which he could care less about. But now it had cut into their sacred bro time in the rafters. Guess it's time to herd a bull, he thought. His brain kicked into overtime to figure out what could bring Brad and Mortoii within each other's good graces before he lost the good food he been eating all week, and his baseball buddy. Think Kade, what would dad do…

His mind drifted back to whenever he and Damien had an argument. Pops would always make them go camping until they made up, or at least played along to be back before dinner…

"Camping….Camping. Brad, I'm feeling a nice hike into the woods with the gang."

"Oh, the two of us?"

"No no no you know, me, you, that hottie Becky, Leana…"

"Sounds good," Brad answerd, nodding approvingly.

"...and Mortoii." Brad's head stopped moving as the name came through Kaiden's mouth. "The five of us, and a night under the stars. What do you say?"

"Well…" Brad tapped his knee, unsure of how to turn Kaiden down. "It's just...someone has to watch the cat."

"That's what little bros are for. I'll just call Dame."

"Right, glad he happens to be free," Brad said through gritted teeth. Kaiden could feel the resentment ooze out of his voice, but if he was going to pull this off, he needed the both of them in a situation they couldn't avoid each other in. Come on Pops, don't fail me now, he thought.

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The news had traveled quickly, and to Kaiden's luck (and Brad's resentment) everyone was available for a nice road trip. He drove up to the house with Damien, seeing Becky and Leana already carrying camping supplies out. "This is going to be great! Just me and Kaiden, out under the moon. It's so romantic Leana, I can just feel it now!"

"What if there are clouds?" Leana said, dropping the basket of food down out of the front door. "Then cozying up by a campfire would be a nice second. Seriously, you're so negative sometimes…."

"Oh? And what if it rains?"

"Sex in the tent," Becky replied, staring coldly into Leana's eyes. "Is that what you wanted to hear?"

"The wind!"

"Then the sex will get kinky. I'm not letting your negative nancy-ess ruined this for me!" Becky whined. Kaiden honked his car horn to get Becky's attention, waving from the inside of the car. "Speaking of which…" Becky started. "I have a romantic outing to begin. Hi Kaiden!"

"Sup!" Kaiden turned back to his brother, who was scrolling on his phone. "You know how to take care of a cat right?"

"Feed it cat food and don't let it outside," Damien said, barely listening back. "Good enough," Kaiden said, parking the car to the side and getting out with his brother. While pushing Damien into the house, he passed Brad, looking over a map on his phone. "Got somewhere good in mind?" Damien asked, Brad shrugging. "I'm thinkin the place near my house. It's a good hour drive on the interstate, but I promise, it will be worth it."

"Isn't that all the way down in Pennsylvania?" Brad asked.

"Trust me, once we hit the interstate it is a straight shot. Now then, we're missing a fifth…" Kadien looked around for Mortoii, spotting him coming down the stairs with a cat in hand. His hooded jacket hid away his horns, and his wings and tail looked tucked under his clothing. He still wore his skirt, but now, black pantyhoses covered his skin. "Mortoii!"

"Leana said I had to 'dress for the occasion'. On a positive note, I can at least take my things with me." He patted the satchel at his side. "Are all the other things already done?"

"Depends on who has the tent," Kaiden asked back, seeing the catwalk up to him. "Oh, he there Lil fella." The cat hissed and went to Damien instead, hopping on the couch beside him while he played away on his phone. "Fine, be that way."

"You did wrestle it to the ground to see its balls…" Brad murmured.

"I heard that! And it was peer pressure's fault. The cat just has to get over it, that's all." Mortoii chuckled, coming down the rest of the stairs. "So, we are taking two cars this time? Who is in which?"

"Well, I was thinking that me and Leana and ride in mine, while Brad takes Becky and you." Mortoii looked at Brad, who was pulling the phone over his face. "How does that sound?"

"Why don't you and Becky travel together? It seems better for couples to stick together no?" Brad put down his phone, standing up with the best poker face he could manage. "No, I think this way works fine. Come on imp," Brad said, marching out of the door then slamming the door behind him. Mortoii scratched his head at the sudden movement, looking up at Kaiden. "He knows I can't follow effectively if the door is shut-"

"I think he knows," Kaiden said, opening the door for Mortoii to come through. "Damien, we going." He shrugged and kept using his phone, the cat yawning while moving onto his lap. "Jesus, if you're going to use that all day at least have your charger. You know moms hate it when your phone has no battery."

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The two cars flew down the highway, steadily making their way to Kaiden's old neighborhood. Kaiden's car was mostly silent as Leana had fallen asleep. Brad, with Becky on board, had less luck.

"So that's how I found not two, but like, five parties in one night," Becky said, finishing up one of her stories. "My party-dar was just on a roll that night!"

"If you weren't a lady getting an education, I would have thought you were the reincarnation of Dionysus when I met you," Mortoii commented, looking at all the cars that passed them to the left.

"Is that a compliment?" Becky asked, turning around from the front passenger seat. Mortoii smiled and nodded. "Aye! Did you hear that Brad, Mortoii thinks I'm a party god."

"Well...I think she's a party goddess," Brad said, seeing Kaiden changing lanes and following suit. There was an awkward silence after he said that, Becky giving a small chuckle after a while. "Well, I guess that's more accurate."

"Y-yeah…" Brad trailed off. "So Mortoii, how about Leana huh?"

"Oh, she is just beautiful. Don't get me wrong Becky, but there is just something about her imperfections that just make my heart flutter."

"Non-taken. Leana always told me I had a perfect body," Becky said, poking her breasts.

"You would have been highly sought after back in my world, by men or women alike."

"You think so?" Becky said smugly. "I have a bit of smartness too."

"Of course!"

"Aww, Brad he said I was cute. Brad?" Becky looked at him, hunched over and gripping the steering wheel. "I know I don't drive, but you seem really stressed out about this."

"Oh, really?" Brad said. "I guess...something here kind of sets me off." His eyes momentarily shifted towards the backset, where Mortoii stared forward with a concerned face. "I need to relax though…"

"Maybe it is the air blowing in," Mortoii suggested. He moved his finger towards the panel on the back of the central glovebox, but he got confused by the dials and buttons. "It is this right?" Mortoii said, turning the dial from the red side to blue. Instantly, more air started blowing in, hitting all three of them by surprise.

"Ahhh!"

"That just turned up the flow!"

"I thought it was the temperature!" Brad hurried and turned off the A/C completely, breathing a sigh of relief once he could put both hands back on the steering wheel. "If it was a temperature gauge, how would have that helped?"

"It could work like the thermostat at home," Mortoii replied. "If you double touched a button, it will change the flow instead of changing the degrees."

"You know wha-" Brad squeezed the bridge of his nose, catching himself before he said anything offensive. "Just, don't touch anything before we crash. Becky, can you do this instead?" Becky nodded and turned the A/C back on, this time lowering it from the front dash. "Thank you Beck. I should have just asked you in the first place. Since you know, you've lived in this world and all."

"Do you have an issue with me?" Mortoii asked with a glare

"Not at all. I just made the mistake of thinking you knew how to work a car. It won't happen again," Brad said, opening his window to let the air make noise before Mortoii could respond.

The trip got short once they were done traveling down the interstate, as Kaiden took then down a road before coming to a turn down an unpaved path. "We are leaving civilization," Mortoii said as he watched the road disappear behind him. "That's what I said when Kaiden first brought me here too!" Becky said.

"What, do they not have forests where you are from?" Brad asked sarcastically.

"Of course, I was just surprised that we had to travel an hour before seeing nature."

"Aha, Brad got burned." Becky lol'ed in her seat, causing Brad to scowl in silence. Not much longer, they arrived at a parking circle, surrounding a fountain made out of cobblestone. Off to the right was wheat as far as the eye I can see, and to the left was shrubbery as far as the eye can see. Becky immediately went over to Kaiden as soon as the car stopped, nearly picking him up in an attempt to embrace him. "I should have known we would come to your daddy's house the moment we left."

"I wouldn't keep such a good place to ourselves would I? Besides…" he waited till Leana was out of earshot to tell her. "...this is more important than raiding my pops corn stash."

"Oh? Oh I mean….oh?" she lowered her volume to a whisper. "Are we...doing a surprise?"

"No hot stuff. It's...it's Brad. He's been feeling off all day."

"Tell me about it. I think Mortoii and Brad have-"

"Beef?"

"As juicy as teriyaki." They both slyly peaked out of their hug, watching Leana and Mortoii chat with each other. Sitting on the hood of his car was Brad, awkwardly rubbing his shoulder while looking anywhere but them. "Oooo, is this one of those times like when your dad kicked you out for using the crop harvester?"

"That was a honest mistake."

"I still can't believe you thought your dad was gonna let you fly a plane..." Kaiden's head twitched away before refocusing himself. "Hey, we are on business. Look, you take Leana and do whatever girls do. I'll pull Mortoii and Brad away to go cave huntin."

"Deal!" With a plan in mind, Becky and Kaiden went ahead. "Leeaaaana!" she said, hopping in front of her and grabbing her shoulders. "Kade said to go find firewood."

"Oh, well, I was going to show the imp around the farm."

"I am definitely sure he has agriculture in his world."

"But-"

"Nottakingnoforananswerwewillbebackbynight!" She forcefully pulled Leana with her, disappearing into the forestry.

"Well well well then, looks like it's just us boys," Kaiden said, walking up to Mortoii and Brad. "Hey Brad, ever throw a baseball at a stalagmite?"

"No, why?"

"Because that is exactly what we are gonna do."

"We're going to play around in a cave," Mortoii asked.

"Exactly."

__________________________________________________________________________

While Leana was off doing who knows what, Kaiden led the two on a trek through the forest. "You ever just take it all in?" he has them as he made another scratch on a tree. "Feel all the breezes and the leaves?"

"I actually live in a place that has this ambiance," Mortoii said, flying up to sit on a tree branch. "There are alot more mamono though."

"It's peaceful ain't it? Blame my pops and moms for me likin the farm." Brad only nodded and hopped up onto a branch, pulling himself up the tree to relax as well.

"That was pretty nice," Mortoii said, looking at Brad from an above tree. "Whateves, I just, pfft, do this all the time."

"Yeah, I've never seen someone so muscular yet so limber. Well, aside from those fueled with mana."

"You've never seen Shaq?"

"From another world, remember?" Mortoii reminded.

"Oh yeah….oh." Brad looked away, remembering the thing he did before. "Dude, I…"

"Guys!" Kaiden yelled from below. "If y'all done playing with the birds, we got sum cave baseball to do." Mortoii looked down at Kaiden then back at Brad. Brad sighed and hopped down, going into a roll so he didn't break his legs. Mortoii followed suit, and the group continued their search for a cave. A conspicuously placed one came into view after some more walking, built into the face of a steep wall. "Found one!"

"This feels more like a mineshaft than a cave," Brad noted.

"That would make sense. Folks always thought this was a place for coal mining" Kaiden knocked on the interior walls, seeing dust fall from the ceiling. "Mortoii, you got one of them magic things to keep us safe?"

"We can always go find another cave," he suggested. "I don't think I'm fond of this one."

"For once I'm with the little guy," Brad added.

"For once?"

"No! This is farmland in Pennsylvania, we probably won't find another one for miles." Kaiden stepped inside, then turned around. "We can just fuck around here. Sure there are stalagmites that we can use…"

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"Are you sure this is how Kaiden said to fish?" Leana asked, taking out a ground stake with a fishing rod holder. She pressed as has as she could into the ground while Becky carried the bundle of fishing rods out. "Of course!" He always uses the best bait first. Said that you use bait to draw them out, then use the good bait to reel them in.

"I think that would imply to use the older worms, Beck."

"Yeah, but…" she opened the bag of fishing stuff they brought, taking out a case full of small fish. "This will pretty much guarantee us fish." Leana picked up a fish, shrugging and taking one out of the case and hooking it on the fish hook. "Now then...swing!" Leana swung her rod as hard as she could, but the line just dropped a few yards in front of them. "I feel like there is a certain technique to this…"

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"Alright, now the key to getting a good swing in is posture and follow throw," Kaiden coached as Mortoii held a baseball. He faced a minecart to his side, tail out and hoodie down for vision. "Is this much put into throwing a ball?" he asked as Kaiden made micro-adjustments to his leg stance and shoulders. "Do you wanna throw fastballs or not?"

"Sorry, I should have known it wouldn't be that easy…" Mortoii jumped when Kaiden took off his jacket, leaving his wings free to stretch out. "I've never worked with a tail before, but this might actually be good. So are dem wings."

"What? O-oh-" Kaiden lifted his right up and turned him on his left. "This is more or less the next position ya here? The key is to give that ball as much motion as you can fore you let go. With ur tail and wings though, you can probably get some more in since you can save urself from faceplanting."

"How?"

"Do I look like a devil boy to you? I don't know how you use your wings." Kaiden stepped away and hung out against the wall with Brad. Mortoii shuffled around, whispering to himself as he got himself ready for the first pitch. "You think he's gonna bust the side of the cart?" Brad asked. Kaiden shrugged.

Finally, Mortoii decided he was ready to let the ball loose. Following the steps, he lifted his leg and turned on his heel, zipping his throwing arm out until he had reached the end of the arc. The ball zipped out of his hand, spinning wildly into the cart. It put a dent into the side, making a large crunch sound before it fell down in front of it. "How was that?"

Kaiden nodded approvingly before picking up the baseball and going to where Mortoii was standing. He leisurely stood about, whistling like he was sitting on a lawn before stepping into a hell of a throw. Within a blink it had gone from in his hand through crashing through the corner of the cart, breaking a piece of wood clean off.

"That wasn't the posture you showed," noted Mortoii. "You didn't lift your leg at all."

"I never said I was gonna teach you the serious pitch," Kaiden jested picking up the piece of wood and ball together. "Besides, I wasn't trying that much either. Brad?"

"You know I'm gonna break that wooden piece right?" He stepped up, catching a toss from Kaiden. "Besides, I thought we were just throwing."

"Just in case you get into it." Kaiden then tossed Brad the ball, who proceeded to promptly catapult it into the cart. While Kaiden had the precision to break apart wood, Brad's was just sheer power into the general area. It was enough to completely break the cart, watching it fall to pieces and just the metal once its foundation had been rocked. "What was that, 80? 85?" he bragged, going to get the ball.

"That is it, give me another go," Mortoii said sternly, not wanting his first pitch to get left behind. As Brad tossed it to him, he took a couple of practice pitches to get down Kaiden's technique, then unleashed a fastball into a stalagmite. The ball ended up obliterating the pointy rock, the ball bouncing on as broken pieces of the cave fell down to the ground. "Well spread me on bread and call me butter," Kaiden said, turning back to Mortoii. "You're mad aren't ya?"

"Oh, I'm not mad," he said back, grinning evilly. "I'm just not going to hold back now~"

"Wow, I'm so scared. Let's see if you can keep up," Kaiden said. The next hour was nothing but fastballs and dick-measuring, as Mortoii and Kade ramped up the power behind each swing. After a while, Brad switched from pitching to home-run hitting, using any he could find that could be a bat to crack tosses into the poor objects in the way of the ball's path. Mortoii eventually pulled away once Kaiden had reached the limit on his body, but then he was giving new challenges to top him at. The first was a curveball, which he demonstrated by shoving brad in front of the next rock he was aiming for.

"You are going to kill him," Mortoii thought, having no idea what his intention was. Kaiden smirked and threw slightly to the side, watching the ball careen back into the rock right behind him. "Am I? Am I really?" Kaiden said, making an explosion effect with his mouth and bouncing backward.

__________________________________________________________________________

While a cave was slowly getting destroyed, Becky and Leana were finishing up their fishing by a river. Becky's advice had worked in a while, have they had garnered enough fish for everyone to eat for an entire week. "Aren't we supposed to clean this?" Leana asked while putting the last fish in the bucket.

"Kaiden says that he'll clean it for us. Plus, he looks so hot when cleaning fish on a log," Becky said, picking up the fishing rods.

"Oddly specific but alright." As Leana went back to the river to rinse her hands off, she spotted a bear watching them from a distance. A growl emanates from the bear before it disappeared back into the forest, now lost behind the mass of trees. "Becky, do bears live in here?" she asked, picking up the buckets once all the fishing equipment was packed. "Not too many! They are just so nice when we watch one from a bush."

"Do they attack?"

"Oh, only a few times, but as long as they aren't hungry or don't see anything they want from us." As if she didn't process that the bucket of fish could attract a bear, she smiled and continued on her way, humming while Leana started worrying.

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The three in the cave laid out front, watching the lack of anything happening before them. Broken rocks and a baseball littered the mineshaft ground behind them, and the three of them had varying degrees of sweat on their body. "We did everything shy of playing the game," Brad said with a satisfied smile. "We should have brought a flashlight with us,"

"Yeah, but this works just as well," Kaiden says while catching a leaf that came to him. "Glad you guys had fun!"

"Why did you have a baseball with you? I must ask," Mortoii said.

"Don't you know? I always keep one on me. Pops always sayin to get practice in, so I just, started carryin it around." Kaiden shrugged. "It's how I can aim so well."

"Your pops sounds nice," the imp responded.

"He's alright. I guess I wouldn't be as good without all his...hurdurdurdurdur, dame my boy! You gotta reach dem triple digits! You do that, and I'll get your brother to do all the chorin for a week!" Brad and Mortoii laughed at his dad impression and broke down into full laughter the more noises he made. His impression broke after a bit, and he started laughing right with them.

"Oh, wow….your dad sounds way more fun than mine!" Brad said. "He just works in an office and !"

"Definitely not my father either," Mortoii added, wiping a tear from his eye. "Mine is lewder than I am, much less without a mustache."

"Haha, yeah.." Kaiden took a deep breath before his face went red with how much he had hooted. "Man, you two wanna talk bout girls? We don't have the drinks with us either, so..."

"We don't have anything with us, also I'm good," Brad said.

"What about all the flirting you always get bro? There has got to be someone."

"They just flirt because I used to be a baseball player. I tell you if they didn't know-"

"The freshmen that see you tell a different story~"

"Oho?~" Mortoii added. "Do I sense a harem?"

"I wouldn't be able to handle a harem. I guess there is this one girl though. I was a bit down last week, but I just met her in one of my classes. I think she's also into me."

"Into you you?" Brad nodded excitedly. "Yeah…..wow, I actually might have a girlfriend."

"That's my man!" Kaiden exclaimed, slapping his chest.

"Thanks man! I…." While thinking about what could happen if he asked her out, he started questioning why he was so upset over Leana. The air was cleared between them, yet he kept feeling sorry over her turning him down, and pushing his feelings out onto Mortoii. He sat up and looked at him, catching him gazing back. "O-oh, should I go now?"

"I mean...Mortoii I'm real sorry."

"Huh?" Both the imp and Kaiden look at Brad, confused and interested respectively.

"I was just salty that Leana didn't want to go out with me, and I may have been pushing that stuff onto you. You two just got so close so recently and I thought she didn't want me, because you just came into her life. Looking back, it was really stupid and petty."

"You think I'm going to forget about what you did because you want a second chance?" Mortoii asked with a blank stare.

"Well no, but you're cool to hang out with, so, I thought that this would be the time to do it." The imp thought about it for a while, leaving Brad wondering if the apology would work. However, nature had other plans for Mortoii's answer. The sound of a bear roar turned everyone to the side, where a brown bear was watching from the distance. "Did we stumble on her den?" Brad asked, noticing that in the blink of an eye, Mortoii had disappeared from beside them. "Son of a-"

The bear roared again to bring their attention back to her, getting ready to charge at the two. "Alright, Kaiden you're the expert r-right?"

"Usually we would just lay down, but errr, I think we walked into her cave," Kaiden said, shuffling backward while keeping an eye on the bear. "'If it's brown lies down' doesn't work!" Brad said, near panicking. "What if it thinks we're food and eats us!?"

"Maybe it's just a mom, and we just need to move away from the area….back up," Kaiden whispered, the two of them going back step by step away from the bear. It plays along at first, moving one foot for every foot they backed away. "Wait," Brad said. "Didn't we leave some stuff in the cave?" Kaiden's eyes widened, remembering the mess they had done to the ground. The bear saw it as well, turning back with a more agitated growl than before. "Alright then, new plan. We wait for it to dive into us, split, then run like hell."

"We're gonna wait!?" Brad exclaimed, the bear going into a thunderous charge at them. "One…." Kaiden started counting as if that would make anything better. "Two…." the bear opened its maw, getting ready to lunge as it rapidly got closer. Brad got his heel turned, preparing for his invisible, or to reach the car by the time he stopped running. Whatever came first; hopefully the latter.

Right as they dived, a large stick went swinging smack into the bear's head, breaking on impact as the animal staggered back. He shook off the strike, but not before a second stick that was halfway to becoming a tree truck hit him square on the end again. The bear was finally knocked out, crumbling down onto the floor. Mortoii appeared on the incapacitated imp, legs crossed, and shining a satisfied smile at both Brad and Kaiden. "Waiting was a good call. Gave me time to break off a backup weapon," he said, looking at how bent the second stick was from the swing. "Oh, if you think this is bad, you should see the bear."

"I thought you left us, thank god…" Brad said, sitting down on the ground to catch his breath.

"Why would I leave you and Kaiden?" the imp asked. "I just needed a strategy to knock out the bear. However…" Mortoii pointed the stick at Brad's head. "...If you ever talk badly to me again, your god won't be around to save you." Brad gave a nod, knowing the power behind the small body firsthand.

"You know, what I don't get is why the bear attacked us," Kaiden said. "I'm glad that we're safe and all, but the only bear that would even get close to us is-"

"Charmander, No!" Yelled Becky as she came to the bear's side. The bear gave a somber moan as Becky comforted his head and patted its check. "What did Brad do to you?"

"Why assume it was me?" Brad asked distraughtly.

"Kaiden would never do such a thing to Charman, and Mortoii's too cute to hurt this fluffball, isn't that right Charmander?" The bear snorted in agreement.

"Mortoii, is literally holding a-"

"Ah, ah ah. What exactly am I holding?" the imp asked, his lavender eyes flashing brightly as a warning.

"....Nothing." Brad narrowed his own pair of gazers but took the stick in hand. "He was holding nothing."

"That's right mo-[bleeped out sound]."

"What?" went everyone else, even the groaning bear in a confused moan.

"Nothing."