Poisoning

Sky moaned tiredly. "Blade…turn off the stupid alarm."

Blade wearily blinked his eyes open, pressing the button on his radio alarm clock to stop the music. He yawned. "Okay, it's off. Time to get up."

Sky gave another tired moan. "Blade, you don't wake up early on a Saturday."

"You do when you're in fire season." Blade reminded her, eyeing the young woman where she slept in a hammock suspended several feet off the floor. "Come on, if I'm up you are too." Sky groaned, but started pushing herself upright. Blade yawned again. He could understand Sky's reluctance to get up that morning; the both of them had been up most of the night before because of a search-and-rescue operation with Jammer and the rangers that turned out to be a false alarm.

Ever since their certification, Dusty and Sky found their lives dramatically changed. Being both racers and firefighters certainly made life interesting. They also found that Piston Peak held a special place in their hearts, especially since discovering Sky's Soul Connection with Blade. So Mayday and Blade worked out a deal that allowed Sky and Dusty to spend at least half of fire season up at Piston Peak. They had already been up there for a few weeks, battling fires and hanging out with their comrades-in-arms. The air attack team welcomed the pair back warmly, happy to have their SEAT and "Lil' Raven" back on the base.

Blade noticed Sky still trying to pull herself from the hammock, moving rather slowly. "Come on, Raven. I thought you were the daughter of a Navy Commander."

Sky's eyes were still closed, even when she stretched to wake up her muscles. "Blade, there is not a force in this world that can make me wake up any faster than a cup of tea and breakfast."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Sky's eyes shot open and she and Blade nearly jumped through the roof at the sound of Maru's enraged shout. "How about that?" Blade asked.

"Yeah, that'll work too." Sky hurried out of her hammock, jumping to a platform nearby and sliding down the ladder to the ground. Though she was still in her pajamas, she and Blade hurried out of the hanger and towards the source of the shout. The rest of the team joined them as they rushed to the kitchen area. Maru was already at the kitchen door, fuming with anger.

"Maru?" Blade called as everyone gathered around. "What happened?"

Maru turned to Blade, his eyes set in a furious glare. "I'll tell ya what happened! Someone left the door to the kitchen open all night!"

Blade groaned. "You're kidding."

Sky stepped forward and peered into the kitchen and dining area of the base. She slapped her hands over her mouth to hide her laughter, mostly failing but not caring. The entire inside of the eating area was trashed: the table overturned, the cabinets pulled open, the fridge and freezer doors ajar, and most of the food completely gone or all over the floor.

"I thought I told you to lock the kitchen when you were done in there!" Maru shouted at the Smokejumpers, seeing how they were the last ones out of the kitchen last night.

"We did!" Drip said.

"Yeah, honest!" Pinecone agreed.

"Doesn't look like it!" Maru growled.

"Maru, I personally locked the door after we left." Dynamite said. "I swear."

"Then how did this happen?" Blade asked, sounding more curious than anything else.

Sky took a look at the door, noticing some dents and scratch marks in the wood. "Maru, I'm pretty sure they did lock the door. Look." She pointed to the scratches and dents. "Those were made by an animal, most likely a bear. Jammer has been warning us that there's been quite a few sightings of bears in the park lately. One of them must've broken in looking for food and then some other animals foraged for what was left."

"Aw man!" Maru groaned. "I just ordered that food yesterday! That was supposed to last us until next month!"

"We can order more groceries." Cabbie assured. "Good news is we finally have the budget for it." That was true; since Jammer's promotion to superintendent, the firefighters found their budget increased greatly to give them the resources they need, i.e. food.

"Yeah, but Jammer won't be too pleased that we gotta send someone to go shopping again." Maru sighed.

"You just worry about making the grocery list." Sky assured, stepping into the kitchen and surveying what was left of the food. Luckily, it seemed like the fridge's contents were mostly intact. "You guys go about your business; I'll make us all breakfast."

"With what?" Dusty asked curiously.

"Whatever I can find." Sky shrugged, inspecting the carton of eggs. "If Sparky taught me anything, it was how to be a medic and how to cook with whatever you got. Now go on, shoo. I'll take care of this." The Air Attack team exchanged glances, but found no reason to argue. So they moved on with their morning routines while Sky rummaged around for ingredients to use. Only one of the dozen eggs didn't survive, and while most of the food was on the floor there were still some clean vegetables left. Carefully stepping over the mess, Sky brought the vegetables and eggs to the counter and cleared a space for her to work. She managed to find a large pan and set it to warm up on the stove. While she waited, she thoroughly cleaned the vegetables, whisked the eggs' innards into a frothy yellow mix, and cut up the vegetables to toss into the mixture. Then she poured it all in the pan to cook. She took the eggshells, righted the tipped over trashcan, and tossed them inside.

By the time everyone gathered back around the kitchen for breakfast, Sky emerged holding a pan full of veggie scrambled eggs for everyone. It was more egg than veggie, but it was good enough for the team as everyone ate.

"Not bad, kid." Maru admitted. "Not bad at all."

"Thanks." Sky looked proud, spooning more of her breakfast into her mouth. "What's the word on getting more groceries? I can only keep this up for so long."

"Jammer said it's gonna be a few days." Maru sighed. "You were right about the bear thing. All of the rangers are surveying the trails for the next few days to make sure the bears aren't coming too close to the campers and the campers are staying away from the bears. But that means we may have to wait a day or two for someone to be free enough to run to the store."

"We'll make it work." Blade assured. "We have in the past, we can now."


The Smokejumpers and Sky worked to clean up the mess of the eating area, carefully sorting out the food that could be salvaged and throwing out everything else. The animals that broke in must've been hungry, because there was barely anything left. But there was just enough for Sky to make everyone breakfast and dinner for the next few days. Lunch was either skipped or eaten down at the lodge café. Maru sometimes cooked, sharing with Sky recipes he learned from the years of bad budget and cheap groceries. He finally managed to get the grocery list down to Jammer and a couple of the rangers offered to take a drive to the next town for the food.

Blade went about his usual business on the base. He thought about going scouting for spot fires, but for some reason the thought of flying only made him irritable. There was a terrible churning in his stomach that just wouldn't go away, and Blade had to wonder if he somehow injured himself and didn't know it. After an hour of miserable meandering around the base, the fire chief decided he could stand to rest in his hanger for a while. Sky voiced her concerns, but Blade dismissed it as simply being tired and he disappeared into his hanger. Sky didn't know if she believed Blade, but decided to leave him alone for now.

An hour later, Sky decided to check on Blade and see if he was truly all right. Blade didn't often take naps, and when he did they were only for about twenty minutes, tops. Biting her lip a bit in concern, Sky raised her fist and knocked on the door of the hanger. She heard no response from inside. "Hey Blade?" She called. "You okay? You've been in there for a while." Sky still didn't hear anything for a moment, and she wondered if he went out scouting. Then she gasped softly at the sound of someone retching, and she hurriedly pulled the door to the hanger open. She looked inside and grimaced in disgust and sympathy. Blade stood near dead-center of the room, slumped down on his landing gear. On the ground below his mouth rested a small pile of yellow-brown vomit with chunks of…..something….in it. If vehicles could look pale, Sky would guess Blade would be right now. He cast her a look.

"Get Maru." Blade grumbled, sounding absolutely terrible.

Sky turned and sprinted off, practically dragging Maru back to the fire chief's hanger. Maru made a face at the sight of the vomit, but nonetheless cleaned it up and checked Blade out.

Maru took the thermometer out of Blade's mouth, the fire chief looking rather disgruntled over what was happening. Maru huffed. "100. Not too bad, but significant enough. Yep, I'm afraid you're sick, Chief."

Blade sighed. "Great." If there was one thing Blade absolutely hated, it was getting sick. Not only did it force him to sit out on his own job, it simply made him miserable. Blade's immune system was generally pretty strong, so the few times he ever did get sick were pure torture for him.

"What could've happened to him?" Sky asked worriedly, placing a comforting hand on Blade's side. He definitely felt warm as his body fought whatever virus was inside him.

"No idea." Maru admitted. "What was the last thing ya ate, Blade?"

"That soup you made." Blade cast Maru a pointed glare. "What the heck did you put in that stuff?"

"Nothin'." Maru shrugged his forks. "It was just canned chicken noodle soup."

Sky narrowed her eyes. "It wasn't one of those cans of soup on the kitchen counter, was it?"

"Yeah, why?" Maru asked.

Sky face palmed. "Maru, those cans of soup were expired! Most of them went bad last year. I was going to find a can opener to empty them out and recycle the cans, but Dusty called for me to help him with a jam in his pontoon scoops. I must've left them on the counter."

"You fed me expired soup?" Blade growled.

"I didn't know it was expired!" Maru said defensively.

"Ever heard of reading the expiration date?!" Blade snapped. "If I didn't feel like hell right now, I'd kill you."

"You didn't feed that to the rest of the team, did you?" Sky demanded.

"No, I just made the one can for Blade because he can't cook to save his life." Maru said. He yelped when Blade growled again, and the forklift shot off before the fire chief could shout at him anymore.

Sky shook her head. "Well, the good news is it's just a bit of food poisoning. The bad news is you're going to be stuck in your hanger until it clears up."

"Wonderful." Blade droned sarcastically.

Sky patted his side. "Hey, just take it easy. Get some sleep; it'll help. And hopefully you won't throw up anymore."

Blade sighed, but settled down to hopefully sleep off his sickness. Sky left the hanger, quietly closing the doors and letting Blade rest. She sighed as she made her way down the path to the runway. She hated seeing someone she cared about so miserable, even from such a little thing like food poisoning. Clearly Blade wasn't exactly thrilled by staying in his hanger for even a few days. Depending on just how old that soup was, he could be in there longer. Sky glanced back towards the hanger, frowning in determination. Settling into her decision, she hurried off to the kitchen. She spied the cans of expired food and grabbed a large butcher knife from one of the drawers. It seemed almost barbaric, but if she waited to do it someone else could get sick and she couldn't find the can opener anywhere. So she stabbed the lids of the cans several times each, dumping out the expired food and tossing the cans in the recycling bins. Then she started rummaging into the cabinets for the herbs and spices. Finding very little of what she wanted, she hurried out the door again and made a beeline for Windlifter's hanger. Dusty moved out of her way, knowing better than to stop her.

Skylar Amelia Riley was a girl on a mission.


Blade wasn't sure how long he slept, but it didn't really matter. When he woke up, it was still daytime and he was still sick as a dog. It felt like someone kicked his stomach repeatedly, not giving him a moment's peace. But he fought to not throw up again. The sensation of upchucking one's stomach contents was one of the reasons Blade hated getting sick.

A soft knocking caught his attention, and Blade looked towards the hanger doors. "Come in."

Sky opened the doors, smiling. "Hey. How are you feeling?"

"How do you think?" Blade grumbled.

Sky smiled sympathetically. "I think I have something to help with that."

Blade cast her a strange look. "What do you mean?"

Sky lifted up her hand to reveal a strange object in her palm. It was round in shape, looking like it was made from a variety of leaves, herbs, and other greenery, all stuck together with a little water. "It's a medicinal herb. Sparky taught me how to make it."

"So what do you want me to do with it?" Blade asked, almost afraid of the answer.

"You gotta eat it." Sky replied simply, stepping closer to Blade.

"No." Blade said bluntly.

Sky put a hand on her hip. "And why not?"

"Because I hate taking medicine." Blade replied simply.

"Come on, it'll make you feel better a lot faster." Sky insisted, standing next to Blade's nose. "Sparky's had to use this on quite a few Jolly Wrenches who gave themselves a stomach bug. The fastest way for you to get better is to get that bug outta your stomach."

"Not happening." Blade huffed.

Sky rolled her eyes. "So you'd rather sit in your hanger all week and be sick instead of taking some medicine, be miserably ill for just a day, and be better in a few days?"

"Yes." Blade replied without hesitation.

"Blade August Ranger—"

"You know, I hate that Maru told you my full name."

"Irrelevant. Now open up."

"No."

"Blade."

The fire chief pursed his lips, intent on not putting the medicine in his mouth.

Sky narrowed her eyes. "Last chance, Blade. You either eat this willingly or I force feed you."

Blade narrowed his eyes back, and then stuck his nose up a little in defiance. Then, to his great surprise, Sky suddenly kicked his jaw. Not enough to leave a dent or a scratch, but plenty enough pain to shock Blade. He shouted in pain and irritation, and in a split-second Sky knelt down beside his nose and thrust her arm into his mouth, pushing the herb into the back of his mouth. Blade made a strange choking sound, going a little cross-eyed at the feeling of Sky's arm in his mouth. Good Ford did that herb taste awful; almost as bad as Sky's arm still on his tongue. Her skin tasted like a mix of sweat and the cherry blossom perfume she sometimes wore. Sky pulled her arm out and quickly slapped her hands over Blade's nose and jaw, keeping his mouth shut. Blade made muffled complaining noises, but Sky was firm.

"Swallow it, Blade." Sky ordered, matching his glare. "Swallow it." The two continued to glare at each other until Blade finally gulped, forcing the entire herb down his esophagus. Sky released his mouth, and he let out a sound of disgust as he stuck his tongue out. Mother of Dodge, that herb was just disgusting! Sky, however, peered into Blade's mouth and nodded in satisfaction to see the entire herb gone. "There, see? Was that so hard?"

"Shut up." Blade growled. "Just tell me how long until this stuff starts to kick in."

"It'll only be a minute or so." Sky replied, moving to the doors of the hanger. "It's a pretty fast-acting herb; the ingredients will break out of their mold and start reacting when they hit the stomach acid. It'll neutralize any toxins and absorb the bad acid."

"And then what?" Blade asked.

Sky didn't answer for a minute, pulling a deep and wide pot from outside the doors and pushing it under Blade's nose. "Let's just say it's all gotta come out."

Blade caught on. "Skylar Amelia—"

"Bye!" Sky took off running, closing the hanger doors behind her. Blade opened his mouth to shout at her, but he felt that awful churning in his stomach again. After several tense seconds, Blade felt it all come up and he vomited into the pot.

"I'm gonna kill her." Blade grumbled.


Sky didn't return to the hanger until dinnertime, carrying a bowl of soup and some water. Most of the team sat around a small bonfire chatting happily, but Sky wanted to check on her "patient." She set the soup and water down before opening the doors to the hanger. She tentatively peered inside, half-expecting Blade to throw something at her head. Instead, she found him fast asleep right where she left him. She looked to the pot to find it half full of Blade's stomach contents. Sky smiled pitifully. That couldn't have felt good coming up. She silently crept over to the pot and dragged it outside, dumping the watery vomit over the edge of the platform and to the grass below. Leaving the pot behind, Sky picked up the soup and water and returned to the hanger's interior. Blade had woken up, staring at Sky with a disgruntled expression.

"Hey. How do you feel now?" Sky asked with a small smile. Blade didn't answer, and if Sky didn't know any better she would've thought she saw him pouting. She set the soup and water down again, walking over to Blade and pressing her hand to his side, close to his eyes. "Hmm. You're still a little feverish. But hey, that means you're getting better a lot faster than I thought you would. That's good."

Blade mumbled something incoherent. Something along the lines of "Yeah, whatever."

Sky giggled softly. "Here. Drink up." She pushed the soup and water closer to Blade, each of the bowls having a straw stuck in it. Blade cast her a look. "Relax. It's just a light tomato soup and water. You need something in your stomach to help it settle. Be grateful I'm not spoon-feeding you; I figured you needed some sense of dignity."

Blade rolled his eyes. But for the first time all day the smell of food actually made him hungry. He begrudgingly and tentatively took a sip of the soup. It was good. It was really good. Blade continued to drink, going slowly to make sure he didn't get another relapse of vomiting. Sky sat cross-legged on the ground beside him, watching him eat. She seemed rather attentive, ready to spring into action. Blade realized she wasn't going to leave him alone, but he found he rather liked her company right now despite his previous irritation. He took a couple swallows of water, feeling his stomach settle. The helicopter and the human sat in silence for a while.

"Where'd you learn so much about medicine?" Blade finally asked.

"Sparky." Sky replied. "You know, he's the medic who adopted me along with Skipper. He learned a lot about medicine, especially natural remedies. Anything to help the Jolly Wrenches while on missions."

"And he taught you all of it?" Blade looked surprised and impressed.

"I asked him to." Sky shrugged. "I wanted to know all that I could should I ever need it. I've had to help quite a few of my friends with their sickness spells in the past."

"He did all that, and he taught you how to cook?" Blade asked.

"Why so surprised?" Sky asked, laughing.

"Well, that seems like something your mother would…." Blade paused. "Oh, right. Sorry."

"Nah, it's okay." Sky shrugged. "Sometimes even I forget I was once an orphan."

Blade stared at Sky. She didn't exactly seem affected by the mention of her parents, so Blade tried his luck. "Be honest with me: did your parents really abandon you? Just because you're a psyche human?"

"Yep." Sky nodded. "Why is that so hard to believe?"

"It's just hard to understand, I guess." Blade said. "I can't understand why they would abandon you just because of how you were born. It wasn't your fault or their fault or anyone's fault. And nobody ever said it was a problem. How could they just leave you?"

Sky shrugged a little, staring at the ground. "I dunno. I guess they don't like psyche humans."

"But they gave up their chance to raise a pretty amazing person." Blade said, noticing Sky's demeanor begin to change. Sky slouched a bit, still staring at the ground. She shifted a little to not directly face him anymore. Blade looked down. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be prying."

"No, no it's okay." Sky assured. The two of them were silent for a while. Blade drank more of the water, his soup abandoned. He glanced to Sky, noticing she was fiddling with her raven hair; it was an action Blade recognized as something Sky did when she thought really hard about something.

Blade rolled a few inches closer to the girl. "Sky?"

Sky didn't say anything for a moment. "Did you know that orphan children aren't allowed to search for their birth parents until they're eighteen? That rule used to really bug me; why did I have to wait so long? But there was nothing I could do. I didn't think too much about it for a while. But after Dusty and I won the Wings Around the Globe Rally, I started thinking about my birth parents again. Were they watching the rally? Did they see me and Dusty win? What were they thinking? I still couldn't do anything for another year, but when I finally turned eighteen I asked Sparky and Skipper to help me track down my parents. I wanted to show them what they missed out on when they gave me up. I wanted to show them that they abandoned a girl who turned out to be pretty amazing. Sparky was able to help me find out where my parents lived, and Dusty took me to go see them. I was planning to approach them alone, to show them the brave and strong young woman they gave up on.

"When I found them, they were at an amphitheater attending a high school graduation. At first, I thought they were there to celebrate the graduation of a friend's kid. But I was wrong; they were there celebrating the high school graduation of their new, non-psyche human daughter. They had moved on a long time ago. Their new daughter was barely a year younger than me. That means, after they gave me up, they immediately started trying for another daughter. Another normal daughter. And they got it. Anything and everything I was going to say to them seemed so meaningless. I didn't bother confronting them. What was the point? They clearly looked happy with their new life without me in it. What right did I have to bug them if they were so happy?

"Dusty didn't question me when I told him we were leaving. We never spoke about the incident, and I never went looking for my parents again." Sky was glaring now, her fists clenched. "After our win at the Wings Around the Globe Rally, I thought for sure my parents would come crawling back to me, begging for forgiveness or trying to get some credit by reclaiming me as their daughter. They didn't. But…I actually wanted them to. I wanted to see them come crawling back, just so I could shoot them down and discredit them as my family. I wanted to see the defeated looks on their faces when I abandoned them like they abandoned me. I wanted nothing more than to show them the consequences of giving me up." Sky sighed, as though in defeat, and her fists unclenched. "I know, that sounds so petty and stupid."

"No, not at all." Blade assured. "You just wanted justice. You wanted them to know how you felt. It's understandable. I can't imagine being shunned just for being yourself."

Sky closed her eyes in painful remembrance. "It's not a good feeling."

"Then don't think about it." Blade said. "Who cares about your birth parents? How can you even call them your parents anymore? When they gave you up, they gave up every right to call you their daughter." Sky didn't answer, opening her eyes just to continue staring at the ground. Blade moved a little closer, his nose mere inches from Sky. "You haven't let that bring you down. Maybe your life in that orphanage wasn't perfect, but look at how your life has turned out. You still have a family. Think about Skipper and Sparky and everyone in Propwash Junction. They're your family. And you know what? You have an entire team of firefighters ready to help you with anything you need. They're your family too." Blade looked down a bit, but allowed himself to smile softly at Sky. "You have me, Sky. You're my Soul Connect partner. I'll be your family." Sky still didn't look at him, but she was starting to turn her head towards him. "Sky. Raven." Now Sky looked up at her nickname, and she locked her eyes with Blade's. The fire chief continued to smile warmly at her. "I'm not going to leave you alone with your pain. You don't deserve that."

Sky sighed, looking down. Blade moved forward and nuzzled her head, and she leaned into his touch.

After a few days, Blade was back to normal and fighting wildfires with his team. Sky was with him for every flight, per the usual. As she walked around the base, she couldn't help but think to what Blade told her before. She looked around, taking a mental inventory of everyone on the base.

Windlifter. The wise and watchful eye of the base.

Maru. Sarcastic and snarky, kind of like Sky herself.

Dusty. Her racing partner. The one who never gave up on her.

Dipper. The one who always knew how to make Sky smile.

Cabbie. Tough he may be, he definitely had a soft spot for the Honorary Jolly Wrench human.

The Smokejumpers. The wild ones, yet loyal to their cores.

Patch. Always open to talk.

Blade. Her Soul Connect partner. Her friend. Her family.

Sky smiled warmly. Boy am I lucky girl.