"I wish Stormcloud would have never went her own way." Treek says. "She could have fulfilled his wish of moving on."

"Who's Stormcloud?" Nina asks as a response.

"Oh. I guess you don't know. Some time ago, probably around the time you were just learning how to use your abilities, we had another member called Stormcloud. She was a Vaporeon, but she left when Cyder disbanded the old team to raise the kids on his own. - It's a touchy subject and it was a bad time for us, so try not to mention it to him."

After listening to the conversation for a while and not even knowing what the first thing that I was able to grasp was, my attempts at creating a sound finally succeed. "Ugh..."

"Oh!" Treek speaks up, instantly aware of me having returned to consciousness. "Move aside. I need to check it he's OK."

A moment of silence passes, and even before Treek starts speaking to me I start checking up on my body. A mistake in hindsight as the pain I get as my answer reminds me of what happened.

"Cyder?" Treek asks me for my attention.

"Yah..." I respond, surprising myself in being able to communicate using something different than moans.

"What is your name when we're in public?" Treek asks, surprising me with such a random question.

But I realize that he wants to make sure that I still remember my name after pulling such a stupid stunt. "Qu...ill..." I weakly respond, getting stuck on the first syllable for a moment.

'Why did I pull that stunt?' I wonder to myself. 'Why would I just walk around in the rain? - ...Oh no!'

I rip open my eyes, which immediately start to burn from pain before I see the Treecko staring at me.

"Kids." I croak, barely able to formulate this single word.

"Now don't be mad." Treek answers. "But we couldn't just let you die in the rain, so I patched together a quick little tent out of the sticks and leaves lying around."

'I could have guessed that part.' I think to myself, as I remember Treek's ability of commanding plants.

"And before you ask." He continues. "It's still raining and even if it wasn't I don't think you'd be able to do anything."

I don't understand what it is he's referring to as I continue to analyze the feelings of my body. Everything feels numb, with pain littered all over every part of it, and while there is still the possibility of something being wrong with me, I feel a considerable portion of strength and control over my muscles returning, as Treek continues to talk to me.

"Please don't try to run off on your own again, unless you want to commit suicide." He states. "Because you came extremely close to killing yourself, you know that?"

I don't understand what he is referring to. And with the miniscule amount of pain remaining and strength and willpower to do so, I manage to stand up if not mostly to the surprise of Nina.

"Cyder. Sit down again." Treek asks of me before I try speak up, only to be interrupted by an absolutely surprised Nina.

"How can he move?" She simply states, while I glance over to her without understanding what the problem could be.

"Cyder." Treek tells. "Please sit down and I'll explain to you why it is of the upmost importance that you remain still."

"Why? I feel great." I simply state, lying a bit as I can still feel the pain, but honestly do lack most of the determination I previously held towards my goal of saving the kids.

"Sure. I'll wait until the storm passes, but why should I stay huddled on the ground? Let's play cards or... right: Treek lost his bag. But no point to boring ourselves in the meantime."

Nina just can't help herself and begins spilling her questions. "How can you feel like playing cards? What is happening? Is that even the same Cyder?"

Treek interrupts her before returning to me and starting to speak. "Cyder. Remember telling when you learned about fizzing after one of your fire lessons?"

I think for a moment before it hits me what must be happening.

"Are you saying that I'm..." I try to ask, wanting to sound surprised and afraid, but finding myself to only be able to speak with a monotone, almost robotic voice before getting interrupted by Treek.

"Yes." He simply states, answering my question even though I already knew the answer.

I waste no time and carefully lie myself back down to the ground as I remember what I have to do in order to keep myself from dying within the next couple of hours.

"What is fizzing?" Nina asks while I close my eyes and begin focusing on finding my spark.

"It's when the ember of a Fire Elemental extinguishes after being exposed to too harsh conditions." Treek begins explaining. "It's not something that happens too often, but fire-types actually have a slim state between live and death during which they are still alive and can actually manage to return to health."

I do my best to concentrate on where my ember should be, but only find the lack thereof combined with a feeling I never felt before. It hinders my actions and delays every move I try to take while feeling much the same as being chained up. But instead of only hindering the motion of my arms and legs, it makes it hard for every drop of blood to flow through my body.

'This must be what being cold feels like...' I simply think to myself while not finding any pleasure from having learned something new. Not just because I'm unable to feel emotions without my ember, but also because I know that this would be something unenjoyable.

"You don't hear about it too often because if a Fire Elemental exposes itself to an environment that would cause this, it is unlikely that they can get out of there in time before it's too late."

'Right: the spark.' I think to myself, concentrating on remembering what I was taught in that lesson.

"Is there anything we can do to help him?" Nina asks, obviously directing the question at Treek.

"Sadly no." He responds. "Besides not being a distraction, this is something he has to get through on his own."

-

"How great for you to actually show up today." Flare greets me before I even manage to enter the school court.

He is the Flareon that was assigned to me as the fire master that should teach me control over my ember.

I forget how many times we've already met, but this one sure wasn't one that I've been looking forward to.

"I'm sorry sensei." I greet the impatient Flareon as I carefully take the first step into the court, fully expecting him to launch a surprise attack like he has already done so often in the past.

He always says that you have to use your ember out of reflex, but I honestly never agreed with him. I was a fire type from the very first breath of air I took. Unlike him I might add, as he was given the choice of embracing the fire culture. So unlike him, I should have been born with these so-called fire reflexes I've been having so much trouble grasping since my first lesson with him.

Since then I definitely became much better at controlling my ember, but not without my own share of setbacks. Most notably when I lit up the school's cafeteria. But at the core, he is a truly good 'mon, since he even took the blame for my fiery slip-up before paying for all the damages.

"'You mind explaining to me why you didn't show up the last. - what?"

After a short pause during which I feel more and more ashamed of myself, he finally continues. "Oh right! Four times! Four times you simple failed to show up. I was just about to leave for good and your next task would have been to look for a new master."

"I'm sorry sensei. But I was preoccupied." I try to explain myself, keeping my head low while still not daring to set a foot on the ground of the courtyard.

"Preoccupied with what?" He simply responds, eyeballing me but with the anger in his voice already fading.

"It's... it's complicated." I babble, before finding the grip on my voice and quickly adding to my statement. "But it won't happen again, promised."

Master Flare lets out a sigh before continuing to talk to me. "Then stop wasting both of our time and get over here. And don't worry: today we're only going to go through some of the more theoretical situations you might find yourself in. Then I'll tell you what you have to do to survive."

"Yes, sensei!" I exclaim respectfully before stepping into the court and quickly dashing over to him while being careful not to lose my hat during the sprint.

It's actually a wonder he has never asked me to take it off, but I guess Asselia made it quite clear to him that I was to keep it on at all times.

"Good." He begins speaking in regular volume once I reach him. "Now I won't have to shout loud enough to have every 'mon living from here to the other end of the mountain range hear me."

Not knowing how to respond, I simply give a nod before Flare continues.

"As you know, there are a few things you have to stay away from as a fire type. Let's start today's lesson by you listing them to me."

"Erm." I begin, honestly not having prepared for an exam but from my previous encounters with it immediately remembering the first correct answer. "Water."

"Correct." Sensei responds. "What else?"

"Ah..." I continue to think back to previous lessons and the other painful encounters I had in the past.

'Of course!' I think to myself as I remember the correct answers. "Ground and Rock."

"Yes, you are correct." Flare nods to me. "But you're still missing one."

"Huh?" I can't help myself from wondering out loudly. "I'm pretty sure that's all of them, Flare."

"That's sensei for you, mister. And no: you're still missing one."

I fret myself over my inability to remember what the forth weakness could be. But after some time of me thinking about the answer passes, the Flareon grows impatient and interrupts by thought process.

"That OK." He says laughingly. "If you're ever confronted with it out there, you can just die knowing that you were too lazy to study."

"No, sensei!" I shout out frightened. "Please tell me. I want to learn!"

"That's the right attitude. And I hope you keep that determination when you eventually stop skipping school."

He gives a hearty chuckle before continuing. "Because I actually never told you of a Fire Type's forth weakness."

I angrily scowl at him while he laughs and isn't looking, but I can't stay mad at him before he falls silent and finally begins explaining.

"It's something you probably never encountered before, or even knew existed. Mainly because your ember usually does quite a good job at protecting you from it."

I intently continue to listen to sensei's words while I sit down on the hard cobblestone floor of the courtyard.

"But you may have heard other 'mons mention something called ~cold~."

I did actually hear other 'mons speak about such a thing, but like the Flareon is implying, I never actually understood what they were talking about.

"The sensation of cold is hard to explain to someone who naturally can't feel it, but it doesn't really matter what it feels like. When I was still an Eevee, I remember always shivering during the season of solid water, which was one of the main reasons I worked as hard as I did to get my paws on a fire stone... but I digress."

"There is something called ~fizzing~ which could potentially make you feel the cold as well. If you're in a terrain so harsh that it has the potential to kill you, like a storm or a blizzard, there is a chance that it manages to extinguish your flame."

"But sensei." I interrupt, not understanding. "You taught me that I'd die the second my ember would go out."

Not being bothered by my interruption and actually proud that I remember him telling that to me, he answers my question. "And you'd be correct with that assessment. Except for a very minor detail: just before you die there is a small timeframe during which your ember will have already gone out but you'll still be alive. It's complicated and gets even more complicated when you consider all the things your ember is actually responsible for in your body."

"The first thing you might notice is the absence of your emotions, as your ember is the main source of all the feelings that only us sentient 'mons have. And I sadly can't tell you how long you will remain in that state. But in order to reach it at all, you have to stop yourself from being exposed to whatever it is that is killing you. And what I'm about to explain to you right now, is how you can reignite your ember once the fire was extinguished."