Ash had his backpack on and one foot out the door. But the hook for his cap was empty. "No cap, no going out," said Ash, and he sat down on the step. Pikachu went out to look for it.
In the garden, the cap was walking across the grass all by itself. "There it goes!" shouted Pikachu. He ran like lightning, which was what he did best. The cap slipped down a hole and was gone.
Up out of the hole came Diglett, with the cap down to his eyes. "The sun really stings up here," said Diglett. Pikachu brought him the biggest leaf in the garden. He rubbed his cheeks and, zap!, the leaf stuck fast: a green hat.
Pikachu set the cap down on the bank of the stream to have a drink. When he lifted his head, the cap was sailing off downstream. "There it goes!" said Diglett. Inside sat Poliwag, paddling with his tail.
"I always wanted a boat," said Poliwag. Pikachu ran along the bank, but the stream ran just as fast as he did. So he stopped. He put a piece of bark on the water, with a little stick and a leaf for a sail.
Poliwag hopped onto the bark boat: it was bigger, and it had a sail. Pikachu hung the wet cap on a branch to dry. "There it goes!" said Diglett and Poliwag together. Pidgey was flying away with it.
Pikachu climbed the tallest tree in the garden. On the very last branch sat the cap, upside down. Inside slept three chicks, snug and warm, beak to beak. "My nest of twigs is prickly," whispered Pidgey.
Pikachu looked at the cap. He looked at the chicks. One of them yawned without opening its eyes. This time Pikachu did not look for anything to trade. He climbed down the tree very slowly, with empty hands.
"Where's my cap?" asked Ash. Pikachu pointed to the tree, and Ash looked up for a good long while. "There it stays," said Ash, very quietly. "But no cap, no going out." And he sat back down on the step.
Then Pikachu climbed up the backpack, sat on Ash's head, and tucked down his ears. Every hair on Ash's head stood straight up. "There it goes!" shouted Diglett, Poliwag and Pidgey. And off went Ash, in his yellow cap.
