"Yes!" Kirie says. She jumps up and down with joy. "So what should we do first?"
"What have you been doing already?" I ask.
"Running, hiking, strategizing, you name it," Feona says.
"Have you tried going on an exploring? There's some things you can only learn out in the field," I say.
"Yeah, let's do it!" Kirie says.
"You do realize that it's raining, right? And what about Feona? If her tail's flame goes out, she dies, remember?" Ilias points out.
"Oh please. I'm not a kid anymore, my flame isn't going to go out just because of some rain," Feona says.
"Are you sure? It's a torrential downpour out there," Ilias says.
"Don't worry, I'll be fine," Feona says.
"Alright, but be sure to tell me if your fire starts to do down. I don't want you to die on us, you hear?"
"Yes, mother." The sarcasm in her voice is obvious. I should be careful, despite her confidence that she'll be fine. Maybe if we go to the forest, there should be tree cover there.
"So where are we going?" Kirie asks. She's still jumping up and down a bit. She must be excited.
"I was thinking the forest. I'm pretty sure there's one around here," I say.
"Yep, there is. Though most pokemon here don't go there. Too dirty for them. And too dangerous," Kirie says.
"Perfect. Then that's where we're going," I say.
"Yes! Forest adventure!" Kirie says.
It takes us ten minutes to get to the forest, the rain is still coming down fast, but the girls' flames seem fine. And their spirits remain high.
When we reach the forest, the first thing I notice is a tripwire in the entrance. Upon further inspection, I notice that there are tripwires scattered all over the path. Some on the ground, some at the level of my head, some higher.
"Stop," I tell the girls, "do you see anything wrong with the path?"
"There's tripwires everywhere. Someone wants to keep us out," Ilias says.
"Or keep someone in," Feona says.
"So what do we do?" Kirie asks.
"The first step is to evaluate what kind of traps these are. Kirie, please use swift on the wire closest to us," Ilias says. Kirie launches a star shaped form of energy from her mouth, hitting the wire. I've got to learn how to do that. At first it looks like nothing's going to happen, but eventually five arrows tipped with a purple liquid launch and hit trees near the location of the tripwire. I'm willing to bet the purple liquid is poison.
"What do we do now?" Kirie asks.
"There's no way in. The whole forest is probably covered in traps, if this path is," Ilias says. If someone went through all of the trouble of rigging the entire forest, they must have had a reason. There must be a way for this pokemon to get quick access to the forest, something most pokemon wouldn't think of. This could be a ghost pokemon we're dealing with, but I don't think so. Which means there must be a way in. So if the forest at ground level is blocked, and none of us can go above, the answer must be to go below. There must be some kind of trap door somewhere. I look around, eventually finding an odd looking patch of grass outside of the forest. I walk over to it, and tap it with my leg. It feels like paper. I swipe it, and the paper moves away to reveal a trapdoor. A large piece of paper painted to look like grass. Odd. Wouldn't the wind blow this away? Maybe it was stuck to something. Either way, that doesn't mater.
"If we can't go through, then we'll go under," I say.
"How did you know that was there?" Kirie says, her voice full of wonder.
"Deductive reasoning," I say.
"That's insane! Are all rescue team members this smart?" Feona asks. I blush.
"Some of us specialize in wit, and some of us specialize in other things. But everyone's good at something. As for me, figuring this kind of thing out is what I do. It makes up for my lack of strength," I say.
"Don't worry, I'll protect you if we get into a fight," Feona says. Having a newbie rescue team trainee protect me would be embarrassing, that's for sure.
"Thanks, but don't worry about that. Now come on, let's see what's through the trap door," I say.
I go though the trap door first. It's a dirt tunnel. It's large enough that it doesn't feel cramped, which is nice. But there isn't much light built in light. Luckily for me, both Feona and Ilias have flames, so we're able to see. We walk along the path of a good ten or so minutes before finding a door out, the path still goes past the door, though.
"What do you girls think, should we go through the door, or keep going?" I ask.
"Let's try the door!" Kirie says. So I open the door. It opens to a clearing in the forest. We all walk out and look around. There doesn't seem to be anything important here. Why would there be a point to stop off at unless there's something there? I look to my left and I see it. Arrows, tipped with the same poison as earlier, speeding towards me. There's no time to move, no time to react. But then an orange blur moves between me and the arrows. With a bit of fire on the back. Feona! No, no, not like this.
Several arrows sink into her body. The poison's probably in the process of killing her, we need to act fast. She falls to the ground, Kirie and Ilias run to her.
There must have been a tripwire attached to the door. And there are probably are more arrows coming. I look around. I can see a few tips of arrows, which seem to be aimed at the place where Kirie is now. They're bound to fire eventually. I run between the arrows and Kirie. Just as I arrive, they fire. Several arrows jab into me. I scream and fall to the ground.
"I only brought one antidotal herb," Ilias says.
"Wait, they're poisoned?" Kirie exclaims. This is my fault. I can't let them die because of it. I... I won't die. I can't die here. I'll live through this. I don't need the antidote. I'll be fine.
"Yes. It looks to be pretty severe, too. I'd give them an hour to live," Ilias says.
"Give it to Feona," I say.
"But what about you?" Kirie asks.
"Don't worry. Resisting poison is part of my training. Just give the antidote to Feona. I'll be fine," I say. Ilias places the herb in Feona's mouth. She reluctantly chews it.
But now there's the problem of this poison. I'm not actually resistant to poison. I can feel it acting upon me already. I'm getting dizzy. I try to move my legs, they feel like they're moving in slow-motion. I can't hold on to my consciousness for much longer... I don't want to die.
I don't want to die.
And then I'm unconscious.