To view a version of this story with illustrations and music, visit my website (link in bio.)
Prologue
"Hey guys! No, wait. Ahem. HEY guys! Sorry for posting so late. Things have gotten SO crazy with League season wrapping up!" The boy smiled into the camera. Trees and ice whirled behind him as he spun the joystick controlling the camera drone and it wheeled around him.
"Buuuuut…! Here I am in the beautiful Ice Pass, serving up summer snow realness. We got your pristine snowy views, we got your pine trees, we got your Mountain Man boots in red by Devon Climbing Co. Look at that color contrast between the boots and the snow—so good. I love how they cushion my arches. Things like that really matter when you're on the trail, and Devon gets that. For me, it can be hard to find a boot that gives me that good cushion. So be sure to check out Devon on PokeBook for their full range of hiking and camping gear.
"Today I'm going to be hunting for sneasels. I've never seen one in person, so I'm really looking forward to hopefully getting to see one while I'm here. I love their little faces! So I won't be able to talk too, too much. I'll have to be bit of a sneaky sneakster. A sneasel sneakster!
"But first I— hold on." A mitten momentarily obscured the screen as the boy reached up to adjust the camera's tilt.
"There we go. First I just want to share a few thoughts I've been having about—wha—ahhh!"
The scream was followed by a series of crashes as the image on screen spun and bounced. Then there was only static, and then the video ended.
The ranger found the camera in a pile of rock and snow at the bottom of the slope, not far from where the body lay. He closed the viewfinder and zipped both the camera and the drone in a plastic bag. "I guess that makes determining cause of death real simple," he said.
"It usually is. There's always another careless trainer," said the other ranger. "Come help me with this."
Together they rolled the body into the unzipped body bag and slid it into place on the stretcher. The dead trainer's personal locater beacon lay crushed in the snow where he had fallen—lucky, in a way, or his body would've lain there much longer before even a missing person report was filed. Even with the emergency service team's espeon tracking auras gleaned from sweaters or childhood toys mailed by concerned family members, there were limits to what they could do without a little luck.
One ranger stood and put his hands on his hips. "It looks like the sneasels found him."
"Yup."
They looked at the body. They looked at each other. Without another word, she zipped his face out of sight.
The espeon's handler directed it to levitate the stretcher into the helicopter. Popping a lozenge into his mouth, he said to his partner, "These kids. It's sad. They're literally killing themselves for fifteen seconds of fame."