"I'm not putting my hand in that!"

"You're a good person. I don't understand why you have to hide it."

Protector of Silence

Chapter Thirty-Two - WHAT HAPPENED?!

You read the chapter title. Those were Kate's first words on the matter.

"Starlight...WHAT HAPPENED?!" she shrieked, rushing over to the unconscious boy and the teenager carrying him.

"I don't know!" Starlight was obviously panicking "I just found him and ran back here!"

"MURDER!" Shadow came racing up the stairs and spinning in a frighted and confused circle "There's been a murder! There's been a murder! There's been a...!"

Shadow was stopped as Luna jumped up the steps behind him and whacked him over the head with her tails. Shadow staggered on the spot for a second before crashing onto his face in his disorientation.

"There's no murder you blithering idiot!" she hissed "He's still alive!"

Unfortunately, out of the three humans conscious, only one could understand what Luna was saying. And it was not Keith.

"A'right, whadda we 'ave 'here?" Keith jumped out of nowhere, wearing a tan knee-length coat, a detective hat and a fake pipe in his mouth "Seems to be a clear case of murder by strangulation!"

Kate smacked him over the head.

"Don't talk like that!" she hissed as Starlight carried Kellyn over to the sofa to set him down "You'll jinx it!"

"Not to defeat the purpose of your coat and pipe, Mr Homes" Starlight spoke up, leaning over Kellyn "But he's not been murdered and I believe he's just got a fever."

"Okay" Kate took a deep breath "Right. First things first," she whirled around and glared at Keith "Keith! Take that bloody outfit off before I force it down your throat!"

Her eyes were full with a cold fire, and it was so rare for Kate to swear that Keith obeyed immediately.

"Yes ma'am!" Keith took off his outfit and...threw it out the open window. No one commented. "So. Whadda we do?"

"Does anyone watch Casualty?" Starlight tried.

No answer.

"Nurse Joy 91210?"

Still no answer.

"Well, Sorrel got sick once" Kate finally spoke up "And he had a fever. Percy put a flannel on his forehead to cool him down."

"Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!" Keith jumped up and down on the spot, waving his arm in the air "I can do that! I can do that!"

"Alright" Starlight nodded "See if you can find a rag or a towel or something in the kitchen."

Keith gave him a thumbs-up and raced off down the steps. Kate remembered something and quickly jogged to the top of the steps.

"Keith!" she called down to him, making him turn around in the courtyard "It has to be wet! Preferably soaked in icy water!"

"Ice! Got it!" Keith gave her another thumbs-up and ran out of the courtyard in the direction of the cafeteria.

Nodding once, Kate walked back over to the sofa.

"He'll need blankets" she spoke up "As many as we can find."

"Blankets?" Starlight blinked "You just sent Keith to get a cold rag."

"For his head" Kate pointed out "He'll be cold everywhere else."

Starlight looked at her blankly.

"Look, it's me, or you can ask Keith for advice. Your call" Kate stared him down.

"And you learnt this from?" Starlight inquired.

"I told you before - Percy" Kate reminded him "A fully-fledged ranger and not an incorrigible psycho like Dr Ginger-Snapped down there."

Starlight paused for a minute, but then walked into the boys' dorm without a word. He returned several seconds later with a pile of neatly folded blankets. The two of them laid the blankets on top of Kellyn, tucking them in at the side that bordered with the back of the sofa.

"Are you sure about this?" Starlight asked, looking at Kate.

"You wanna know the truth?" she requested. Starlight nodded. "I haven't got a clue."

As Starlight groaned, Kate took in a deep shuddering breath and curled a fist against her chest. "But I really wish I did."

"..." Starlight also stood up straight, looking at Kate with a wise but not overpowering gaze. "You really care about him, don't you?"

Kate turned her head away, but said nothing.

"Kate! Kate! I brought the rag and ice!" Keith came racing up the stairs with a bucket in one hand and a rag in the other.

"What?" Kate blinked as Keith set the bucket down on the floor. Peering inside, she facepalmed. "Keith. I asked you to get me a rag soaked in icy water. NOT a rag and a bucket of ICE!"

"Well it is icy water!" Keith folded his arms "Just more leaning towards the ice bit."

Now Starlight facepalmed.

"Argh! You're so useless!" Kate practically yowled "Give that here! I'll do it myself!"

She grabbed the bucket and stomped down the steps. Keith looked a bit offended.

"And I thought everyone liked me" he muttered.

"She's just stressed" Starlight reassured him "She's freaking out inside 'cos of Kellyn dropping dead like this."

"Huh?" Keith blinked "You mean he really is dead?"

Starlight reintroduced his face to his palm.

Then Keith grinned. "She really likes him. Doesn't she?"

"Congratulations genius, yeah duh" Starlight groaned.

"Okay, what is with you?" Keith's grin faded and he folded his arms "Seriously, all you ever do is grumble and groan. I haven't seen you smile in like a month. And you're not exactly panicking now your 'best friend' is on Giratina's road."

Starlight sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm not good at expressing emotions." He looked Keith dead in the eye. "But I am worried. Really. I'm just not good at showing it."

Keith stretched and folded his arms behind his head. "Why not?"

Starlight shrugged. "I dunno. Everything from before I met you guys is a mystery. My lack of knowledge on how to deal with emotions too."

Keith would have continued, but at that moment Kate came back into the room and he decided not to push it.

"Here!" she heaved the bucket over to the sofa. It was now two-third filled with water with withering ice cubes floating on the surface. The rag was soaking in the water.

Keith wrinkled his nose at the ice cubes.

"I'm not putting my hand in that" he declared.

Kate rolled her eyes and rolled up the sleeve of her shirt. She plunged her hand in, wincing at the cold, before drawing it back with the rag clenched in her fist. She wrung it out before placing it over Kellyn's forehead. It had no immediate obvious effect, other than calming Kate down a notch.

"Anything else?" Starlight asked, inwardly anxious to do something to help.

"Hmmmm" Keith tapped his chin with his finger "Maybe we can feed him an Oran berry?"

Starlight groaned with exasperation.

"Great idea Keith!" Starlight blinked with surprise at Kate, who was surprisingly looking over her shoulder and smiling "Why don't you go and find some and put them in the blender? We can make Oran berry soup!"

Keith practically grinned his face off. "I go get some now!"

He was racing off drown the steps before he even finished the sentence.

Starlight folded his arms at Kate.

"There are no Oran berries on Ranger School grounds" he pointed out.

Kate shrugged. "I know" she told him "But there are blueberries."

Starlight raised a silver eyebrow. "You seriously think Keith's gonna mistake Oran berries for blueberries?"

"This is Keith" Kate pointed out.

Starlight said nothing on that tangent.

"Why are you being so hard on him?" he finally asked "I know you and Rhythmi get kicks out of bossing Keith around, but this is ridiculous. Just slap him or something; get the anger out will ya?"

Kate sighed, her eyes never leaving Kellyn's face.

"I'm sorry" she apologised "It's just, I know he's trying to help, which I appreciate, but..." she swallowed "If anything were to happen to Kellyn, I...I couldn't..." she looked at Starlight "Was he in pain when you found him?"

"Pain?" Starlight sighed, arms still folded, looking out the window "I don't know. When I found him by the woods, he was was unconscious with his arms wrapped around his stomach. There were some Pokémon gathered around him, but they weren't talking and..." he took a deep breath. "I thought he was dead, that he'd been stabbed or something. But there was no blood. It was Luna who screamed at me to bring him back here."

Kate's head turned to look at the white Espeon. She was curled up, nestled between Kellyn's body and sofa back, with her little nose in the boy's palm, apparently asleep.

"Amazing huh?" Kate wore a small smile on her face "How close an Espeon he found in the wild several months ago really is to him."

Starlight said nothing about that.

"You see" he said instead "You don't have to worry. Kellyn has three amazing people watching out for him."

Kate blushed beet-red at being called amazing. But then she looked confused.

"Hang on, you said three" she frowned "Me, Luna, who's the third?"

Did he mean himself? Kate wasn't sure - Starlight wasn't the type of person who would refer to himself as amazing.

"Lunick" Starlight answered simply, leaning against the wall, eyes on the window.

Kate was rather startled by that - she thought she and Kellyn were the only ones who knew about his siblings. Maybe Kellyn had told Starlight too?

Kate didn't have much time to dwell on it, for at that moment Luna shifted, letting out a little feline sigh. Kate whirled around, Starlight forgotten, hoping it was Kellyn waking up that had caused Luna to stir. But no, Kellyn hadn't moved an inch. Sighing, Kate pulled a chair over to the edge of the sofa and sat down on it, gently clutching Kellyn's little hand in her own.

After a minute or so of watching them, Starlight decided he would be more use in the kitchen - making sure Keith didn't blow the blender up. With a grunt, he pushed himself off the wall, joints cricking with protest.

"Come on Shadow" he called.

Shadow, who had previously been staring at Kellyn as if he was the remains of Mary Kelly, squeaked with alarm and high-tailed it to Starlight's side. Kate didn't even look up, oblivious to anything but the occupant of the sofa she was staring at. Shaking his head, Starlight made his way out of the common room, the dull thudding of the soles of his boots on the concrete steps the only sound in the hot noon air.

The whole world seemed to be holding it's breath, scared and silent...

...that is, until a loud boom resonated from the cafeteria.

"What an ape" Starlight muttered, throwing the broken blender pieces into the bin. Neither Janice nor Cook would be happy about this, but at least they could blame it on Keith. It was Keith's fault after all. Honestly, who puts gravel in the blender?! "Moron."

"I can hear you, ya know" Keith grumbled from where he was leaning against the opposite counter.

Starlight shook his head and dumped the oily bundles of paper towels he had used to mop up the damaged work surface in the bin too.

"Whatever, just don't touch anything electrical in here again, okay?" he sighed, heading for the door "I'll check on the invalid."

Keith watched Starlight leave, and then starting to get bored. He couldn't go back to the common room or Kate would disembowel him - and therefore couldn't get to his dorm. He could go outside, but there was nothing to do there. So he had essentially built himself a psychological prison cell...inside the cafeteria kitchen...at the one time he wasn't hungry.

Has someone checked his brain lately? When Kellyn woke up, he should probably check that.

Finally, the boredom got too much for him and he felt the excessive need to do something. He settled on making some hot chocolate. He wasn't really thirsty and it wasn't hot or anything - but it would involve physically doing something.

He set a mug on the counter, but then realised a problem. Starlight had told him him not to touch anything electrical - and even Keith knew a kettle was electrical. The little gauge thing showed him there more than enough water in the kettle, but he didn't know how to turn it on without touching it. So, being the utter moron he was, Keith picked up a fork - a fork of all things! - and tried to use that to push down the little plastic lever. And, as if just to make himself look even more stupid, the fork missed the lever and instead scraped the open socket behind the kettle. The electrical jolt was enough to make Keith yelp and fall onto his back - sprawled out on the plastic floor of the kitchen.

'Great' he thought, sarcasm dripping from his mind 'First Kellyn lands on his head, and now I turned myself into a giant battery! This is just not a good day to leave us unsupervised! Stupid kettle!'

"Keith?"

'Oh great! As if this couldn't get any worse!'

Keith twisted his head to the right and saw Kate in the kitchen doorway. Rather than looking like she about to punch him like before, she was now looking at him rather concerned. Not Ah!-Kellyn's-ill-and-we-don't-know-what's-wrong-so-I'm-freaking out! concern. More Why's-Keith-lying-on-the-kitchen-floor-like-a-dead-Wingull? concern. But it was an improvement over wanting him dead for joking around.

"What happened?" Kate blinked.

Keith raised one hand and pointed at the kettle.

"The kettle vaporised me" he told her "I was making hot chocolate...without touching anything electrical."

Kate facepalmed. She stepped into the kitchen and extended a hand to help him. Once Keith was on his feet and the electrical buzz was out of his system, Kate sighed and walked over to the kettle.

"I'll make you ya hot chocolate" she sighed "Just don't touch anything else."

So Keith was now back to square one, leaning against the opposite counter and watching Kate make hot chocolate. He was now officially bored again since Kate had taken away his initial source of entertainment - even if it was only making a mug of hot chocolate.

"Here ya go!" Kate turned around, bearing two steaming mugs. She held one out to Keith.

Keith stared at the mug suspiciously.

"Why are you suddenly being nice of me?" he asked. He was a little concerned Kate may have 'accidentally' poured antifreeze into his hot chocolate.

Kate shrugged. "Because I was acting weird before" she told him "I was stressed, and I'm hoping hot chocolate will unstressed me." She took a sip from her mug, the hand in which she held Keith's mug starting to shiver slightly. "Now take it before I drop it."

Rather cautiously, Keith accepted the mug and took a sip. Even though the hot chocolate burnt his throat slightly, everything seemed fine so he relaxed.

"You're not bad you know" Keith commented, tapping his fingernails against the side of his mug in some sort of rhythm "Not really my type, but I see why Kellyn's fond of you."

Kate's cheeks went a light pink, and it wasn't from her hot chocolate.

"Does that mean you're over the crush you had on me?" she asked.

Keith awkwardly scuffed the floor with the side of his trainer sole.

"Nope" he admitted "But I know you prefer Kellyn, and you deserve him more than you do me. Besides, I couldn't break his heart, not that kid. He's far too much like Lind for his own good."

Kate smiled. Keith turned away from her to look out the window, mainly so he didn't have to meet her gaze.

"You're a good person Keith" she told him "I don't understand why you have to hide it."

Keith didn't answer for a long time.

"I'll tell you why, if you can answer a question - truthfully" he decided, looking over his shoulder at her.

Kate raised her mug to her lips and nodded - it was the least she could do for him.

"Do you like Kellyn? As in like like?"

Now Kate went beat-red. She stopped mid-sip and her eyes went slightly spacey. It took a long time for her to respond.

"This might sound strange, but it makes sense to me" she heaved a huge sigh "I think I see Kellyn the same way Leilani sees Percy. My best friend and colleague, but there's a feeling of something else. I'm not sure what it is yet, or what to do about it; but I'll figure it out eventually."

Keith smirked and looked about to say something, but he was stopped by a third voice.

"Er, guys" they turned to see Starlight at the outside of the kitchen window, looking rather green "We need a bucket."

"What d'ya spill?" Keith asked.

Starlight shook his head. "Nothing. Kellyn threw up. Sort of. He's still unconscious but his last meal is all over the common room floor."

"Thanks for that description" Keith wrinkled his nose.

Kate sighed and removed a bucket from the cupboard below the sink. She handed it to Starlight through the window; he smiled his thanks and left the window.

"Poor guy" Keith whistled.

"Who?" Kate inquired "Kellyn or Starlight?"

"Starlight of course" Keith grunted "Kellyn's unconscious. Star's the one that's gonna clean up his mess."

Kate rolled her eyes. "We can't manage" she muttered.

"Eh?" Keith took another swig of hot chocolate, but regretted it as the hot liquid burnt his throat. Coughing relentlessly, he shoved his face under the cold tap and tried to twist his head awkwardly under the water so he could sooth his burning throat. Kate rolled her eyes at his stupid display. When Keith was done being a complete and utter nut-job, he added: "What did you say?"

"Idiot" Kate muttered, before speaking up "We can't manage by ourselves. We need help. We need Janice or..." Her eyes lit up "Rhythmi!"

"Where?!" Keith stared out the window, evidently expecting Rhythmi to come waltzing up the path.

Kate groaned and smacked him upside the head again.

"No, you moron!" she hissed "We need Rhythmi! She's not here! But we need someone with medical knowledge to be here, and Operator training requires them to know first aid! We need Rhythmi!"

"But she's in Vientown" Keith pointed out, rather stupidly.

Kate grabbed the front of his jumper in tight fists, dragging his face down to her level.

"I know that, idiot!" she yelled "But you're going to run down to Vientown and drag her back!"

"Me?" Keith pointed at himself, still acting stupid. Then he realised what he was saying and shook his head furiously, wrenching himself free of Kate's grip "I can't! Janice said she'd tattle on me to Kincaid and get me suspended if I so much as walk out the front gates!"

He gestured at his leg as if it was a great spectacle to stare at. Kate frowned and jabbed him in the shoulder, though there didn't seem to be an obvious reason for her to do so other than to annoy Keith.

"Why can't you go?!" Keith protested.

"I promised Janice I'd stay here and babysit you and Kellyn!" Kate shot back. They were both yelling now.

"Alright, why not Starlight?" Keith tried.

"He's cleaning up poor Kellyn's stomach acid - I'm not sending him into town after that!" Kate responded. She thought for a second, then looked pensive "Did Janice say she'd get you suspended of you walked out the front gates?"

"Yeah" Keith nodded.

Kate wore a wicked smile on her face, one that made a single thought stir in Keith's head:

'I'm gonna die.'

Starlight, who had just finished mopping up the mess on the floor, was curious as to why Kate was grinning as she skipped into the common room, with no regard for her personal safety.

"Kate! Look out!" he cried out.

Kate skidded to a halt, slipping on the wet floor for a second before putting on the brakes and grinning at him.

"Rhythmi's gonna be here soon!" she grinned "She'll sort everything out!"

"Rhythmi's in Vientown" Starlight pointed out.

Kate rolled her eyes and sighed. "Yes, we've established that. Keith's gone to get her."

"Keith?" Starlight blinked again "Keith's not allowed to leave school."

"Correction: Keith's not allowed to walk out the front gates" Kate corrected him "So he didn't."

Starlight was now really confused. "So, what, he swam off the island? Or teleported?"

Kate grinned slyly "One word: Staraptor."

"Stara..." Starlight stopped himself and blinked again. "And he agreed to this."

Kate nodded with her wicked grin.

Starlight looked around to check the coast was clear before saying: "Y'know Shadow?"

"Kinda hard to live here and not" Kate nodded.

"Well you know what his mental state's like" Starlight pointed out, Kate agreeing. "And yet, Keith is still the dumbest one in the party."

Rhythmi shifted her backpack into a more comfortable position. She just had a few more stalls to check out before she headed back to the school. She was at the very edge of the market, planning on checking out a berry stall, when she heard a very loud and actually rather terrified voice screech:

"RHYYYYYTHMIIIIIIIII!"

Rhythmi turned towards the sky and, to her alarm, saw something with long flailing limbs waving about clinging to the foot of a disgruntled Staraptor. When it was almost on top of her, it let go and crashed her into the dirt ground.

"Ow..." she groaned, sitting up.

"GET BACK HERE YOU DARN STARAPTOR!"

The thing that collided with her started chasing...correction, limping after the disappearing Staraptor. That was when she recognised it.

"Keith?"

Keith spun around, looked confused for a few seconds and then grinned.

"Rhythmi! You're here!" He cheered, punching the air "I did it! I held on all the way to Vientown! Ha! That's five dollars for me Kate!"

Rhythmi just stared at him strangely as she got to her feet.

"Keith, what have you blown up?" she asked, dead serious.

Keith gasped dramatically, reaching forward and grabbing both her hands. "No no no!" he gabbled "Kel's really really really really really really really sick! Gasp! He could even be dead!"

Rhythmi frowned and was about to ask why he said the word gasp rather than gasping it, but decided she would just get another strange answer, so she tried something else.

"Keith" she sighed "What have we told you about accepting white powder from strange men?"

Keith looked highly offended and yelped: "I'm not on narcotics! Kel's seriously ill!"

Now Rhythmi seemed to take him a little more seriously. "What's wrong with him?"

"I don't know! I'm not a medic!" Keith threw his hands into the air.

"Well neither am I" Rhythmi pointed out "I just know first aid."

Keith paused for a second before lowering his hands. "Good point" he admitted "Well, I dunno. He's unconscious and got a fever. And Starlight claimed he was throwing up before I left. I decided against checking."

"How noble of you" Rhythmi sighed, shifting her backpack and hoping everything in it wasn't crushed by Keith landing on her "Alright. If he's that bad I'll come back now. He needs someone other than the Three Stooges playing nurse."

Keith just nodded hurriedly, grabbed her wrist and dragging her back towards the school, not even noticing she'd called him a stooge. But soon Rhythmi was able to overtake him, for a simple reason.

"You're limping" she commented.

As if he had just realised this, Keith looked down at his leg and frowned.

"Ah Mew!" he groaned "Janice is gonna kill me!"

Rhythmi sighed and took the arm on the 'injured' side, looping it around her shoulders. "Happy now?"

Keith furiously shook his head.

"Well too bad! Start hopping!"

The method worked...for several steps...well, maybe more like three.

"Sorry" Keith groaned, helping Rhythmi to her feet after he'd fallen on top of her again.

Rhythmi sighed and decided to make an offer. "You know what, how about I just go ahead? You can come back in your own time."

Keith looked like he wanted object, but then he stopped short and sighed. "Fine" he grumbled "Just make sure he gets better, okay?"

Rhythmi nodded determinedly, running down the path by herself with her high heels clack clack clacking on the ground.

Keith watched her go before sighing and attempting to hop after her. Key word: attempting.

Rhythmi was at the ranger school's gates in less than five minutes. The door to the courtyard was locked for some reason, so Rhythmi had to frantically bang on it and hope everything was okay in there. It took at least three nerve-wracking minutes for someone to open the door.

"Kate!" Rhythmi jumped to her feet (she'd been sitting on the doorstep like a random homeless person) and whirled around to face the ginger who was partially hidden by the half-opened door. "Where's Kellyn?! Is he okay?!"

"I guess Keith found you" Kate was strangely quiet "That's good. Kelly's okay. He's stopped throwing up, but we don't know if that's good or not. So, er..." Kate nervously stretched the back of her head. "That's why we need someone who knows something about first aid."

Rhythmi folded her arms. "How much are you paying for my services?"

"Er...well, I'm broke" Kate reasoned rather slowly "Don't suppose I can pay you in shortbread?"

Rhythmi blinked, then realised Kate was holding a bar of shortbread and there were crumbs around her mouth.

"Leftovers" Kate clarified "Starlight and I were having them."

Rhythmi just nodded, rather slowly, unsure of what to say. Have everyone gone mad? Was Kellyn dying from lunie disease?

"Now will you help us?" Kate requested.

"For shortbread, no. For the good of Kellyn's health, yes." Rhythmi tried to push open the door to get in, but Kate blocked her path.

"I-I don't know if you should" she said nervously "W-We don't know if it's contagious."

Rhythmi sighed. "Well can you guys come out here?" she tried.

Kate paused for a moment before calling over her shoulder: "Starlight! Rhythmi's here!"

Mere seconds later, Starlight poked his head out the door. After checking the outside world was 'safe', he stepped out fully. There was a clothes line peg on his nose and his silver hair was tied up in a higher ponytail than usual. His hands and cuffs were wet and he wore some of those dispensable shoe-covers you get at swimming pools over his boots.

"Oh thank Arceus" he muttered. He quickly shed his strange attire, throwing the shoe-covers and peg through the door behind him before closing it.

"Dare I ask?" Rhythmi blinked.

"I'm gonna go and say it's antifreeze" Starlight decided "Whatever he's eaten, I swear it's toxic!"

"So, you think he's eaten something?" Rhythmi asked.

Starlight nodded.

"He had been throwing up a lot" Kate agreed.

"That's good" Rhythmi told them "If he has been poisoned, throwing up means the body's trying to get rid of it. You know, like how people throw up if they've had too much alcohol." Starlight and Kate eagerly fixed their eyes on her, drinking in the information. "When was the last time he ate?"

"Er, well, Mr Kincaid kept him, Keith and Ponte in an all-day detention yesterday" Kate pondered out loud "So it would've been yesterday breakfast. Poor guy." Then she frowned. "Why was Kellyn in all-day detention yesterday anyway?"

"It was all Keith and Ponte" Starlight sighed "Kellyn was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Kate seemed to accept this explanation.

"So he hasn't eaten for over a day?" Rhythmi asked, trying to get them back on topic. She knew Kate was capable of starting a conversation about Luxrays and end it on jam and pancakes; even Kate herself wasn't sure where that trail of thought came from.

"Well" Starlight pondered "He was on his own for half-an-hour before I found him unconscious."

"Hmmm" Rhythmi tapped her chin, her head on a side angle "Can you show me where you found him?"

Starlight nodded and turned to head up the bank towards the forest. Rhythmi followed him and, after once last worried glance towards the common room building, so did Kate. The three headed up the bank to the fringe of the forest, and beside a bush with dark-blue berries, he stopped.

"Here" he explained "I found him by this blueberry bush."

Rhythmi frowned and picked one of berries off the bush. She examined it and shook her head.

"This isn't a blueberry" she frowned "It's a Nea berry."

Kate and Starlight blinked.

"How can you tell?" the latter asked.

"See the green dots?" Rhythmi handed them the berry sure enough, when you looked closely, you could see small green dots pin-pricking the surface. "Ladies and gentleman, I believe we've found our culprit." When the others stared at her in confusion, she sighed and explained further: "Nea berries are poisonous when ingested by humans. But just as you say, they look a lot like blueberries. So lots of people get poisoned by them every year. They're not fatal - but they might cause a bit of discomfort. Eating a few of them could knock you out like a light. The thing is..." Rhythmi trailed off.

"Thing is what?" Kate prompted.

Rhythmi exhaled. "Nea berries don't grow in Southern Almia."

Kate and Starlight some-what stared at her - but they'd been doing that for a while so it was hardly any different.

"You find a few around the northern edge of Pueltown and Union Road" Rhythmi added "But there shouldn't be any here. Too warm."

"So" Starlight paused as tried to find a way to ask this bluntly, but not scare Kate off her wits end "You're saying this bush was purposely planted here?"

An awkward silence passed between the three of them as they took in this information.

"You guys don't think...Kellyn was purposely poisoned...do you?" Kate's voice was just above a whisper.

No one answered.

However, after a few seconds, Starlight dipped down and started picking all the Nea berries off the bush. No words were spoken, but the girls both moved to help him. Before long, all the Nea berries had been picked off the bush and were collected in a bundle in Starlight's arms.

"What do we do with them?" Kate asked in a small voice.

"I'm gonna burn 'em" Starlight explained.

He headed back down the bank, Rhythmi and Kate just behind him.

"He'll be okay, won't he?" Kate asked the blonde beside her "Kelly?"

"Uh-huh!" Rhythmi smiled at her "The antidote's simple - all the berries needed are in here!" She patted her backpack, then frowned. "Now I just have to hope they're not all squished, not thanks to Keith."

That promised a laugh out of Kate. She wasn't completely cheered up again - she wouldn't until Kellyn was awake and smiling again - but it was dose enough for Rhythmi.

And as the sun started to set, everything was peacef...

"Wait a minute!" Kate gasped "We forgot Keith!"

The others looked at each other in panic.

On the path to Ranger School, Keith was still hopping along...or should I say failing to hop along. As the sun started to set, he tripped again and landed on his face. Finally he scrunched his face and threw his head back towards the pale sky whilst he lay pitifully on the ground.

"WHY ME?!