The freaking fireball

"I'm not giving you false hopes!" Ruby flew down as she eagerly persuaded Ionna to come with her, "I swear!"

Misemi's eyebrows furrowed and she cocked her head to the side as she faced Ionna, confused, "Wait, what does she mean by false hopes? Ionna, is something wrong?"

Ionna stared hesitantly at the red haired fairy, clenching and hugging her right hand as she stepped backwards.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, gathering whatever amount of courage that existed within her, readying herself to surrender to fate.

She was ready to give up.

Her lips parted as she started, "I…"

But her statement was drowned by an even louder screeching from a distance that seemed to get louder and louder as the seconds pass by.

Everyone in the center of the forest blinked in confusion and curiosity, then, after a few seconds, all eyes were immediately on a pink-haired youngster screaming for dear life as what seems like a fireball twice his size chased after him.

As soon as everyone realized that this boy was running towards their direction, the crowd stirred in panic and started running in random directions while screaming.

Misemi and Ruby had their share of silent screaming as they watched the ball ablaze come closer by every second with wide eyes.

Ionna's attention and awkward smile however was directed towards the one in front of this ball and the cause of today's conundrum: The pink haired boy.

She squinted her eyes and asked, "Hey, is it just me or doesn't that boy look too young to be he—"

Ionna couldn't finish her statement because Ruby suddenly pulled her up into the air with her in order to avoid clashing with the ball ablaze.

Misemi squeaked as she leaped out of the pink haired culprit and the fire ball's way and landed on the now-dry grass.

As Ruby and Ionna safely landed back to the ground, the two stared at the streak of flames that the fire ball left behind, frightened.

Without a second thought, Ionna determinedly chased after the flames, leaving Misemi and Ruby startled.

Misemi called out frantically as she staggered up to her feet, "Ionna, what are you doing?!"

Ionna looked back as she ran and yelled, "That thing's gonna kill that kid!"

Misemi furrowed her eyebrows, murmuring, "I can tell, but how are we supposed to…" She shrieked when Ruby suddenly grabbed her hand and then flew up to the air with her, "Hey—wait!"

The fairy ignored her and just dragged her along, following after Ionna.

The pink haired boy panted as he ran as fast as he could to get away from the fire ball but the thing kept following him.

It was obviously targeting him. The boy threw his right arm forward as he ran and his hand immediately shifted form and cut the tree in his way as if it was mere paper.

Ionna blinked in surprise, "Magic?"

The boy leaped and slid down a slope that led to the end of the forest, huffing and puffing all the way. He then let himself free fall on a small cliff and hid under it, taking the risk of being cornered.

The fire ball leaped up in an angle off the cliff and hit a giant tree.

The boy took this opportunity to start running away once again, back to the center of the forest, by propelling himself back up the cliff using a branch.

He ran past Ionna and the fairy who blinked in surprise.

Ionna skid to a stop and readied herself to chase after the boy, but then she heard a moan from under the cliff.

Curious, she looked down and saw a green haired fairy sitting on the forest floor in front of a tree that seemed to have been a little bit burned by the flames.

The fairy rubbed his head while hissing, "Ow, ow, ow, ow…"

Ionna blinked and then she twitched in realization.

The fireball was an angry fairy!

The fairy stood up, growling, "That little…"

He then burst into flames and then flew up, hovering several feet above Ionna who was lying low for stealth. Ionna watched with her mouth open as the fairy zoomed away, in pursuit of the pink haired boy.

She shuffled to her feet and then started running back to the center of the forest to stop the fire ball from chasing after the boy.

Little did she know, however, that something was chasing after her as well.

"Dano!" Honey called out as she carefully ran while pulling her gown up in order to avoid tripping on it. She's tripped on it several times today and she'd rather not suffer another more several times.

She looked around frantically and then saw trails of fire on the forest floor. She screamed, "Damn it… Dano!!!!"

She was about to take another cautious step forward but a small figure fell on the part of the ground she was going to step on so she withdrew her foot. She stared at the small girl who winced in the attempt of standing up.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry…" Ruby descended from the air in panic. She accidentally let go of Misemi in mid-air.

Misemi pushed her face off the soil and angrily hissed, "You better be! That fall probably flattened my nose, you know?"

Ruby furrowed her eyebrows, "I did say I was. What's with the attitude?"

"How about try falling several feet off the ground to answer that question? Geez."

"I can't do that. That's dangerous."

"WELL YOU SHOULD HAVE THOUGHT OF THAT BEFORE YOU LET GO OF ME IN MID-AIR!"

"I SAID I WAS SORRY!!!"

The two girls continued arguing, not even noticing that Ionna already ran past them in the attempt to stop the fire ball.

Honey Faith saw Ionna and chased after her however, guessing that she had an idea on what was happening.

Honey pursed her lips together, wishing she was in the right condition to fly, but the bash on the head she suffered earlier was making it hard for her to control her flight so she was forced to travel through the forest floor.

Sooner or later, Ionna caught a glimpse of a fire ball at the corner of her eye.

She sighed and relief, knowing the pink haired boy hasn't turned to a fried meal yet, but then she realized she actually had no plan on stopping the fire ball.

She frowned as she ran as the thought of dying because she tried to stop a fire ball came into her mind.

She was so occupied by her thoughts that she ended up stubbing her toe because of tripping on a rock.

Her eyes widened as she felt gravity pull her down now that her sense of balance was thrown into entropy.

But before she could land on the ground, something so fast that only a blur of its features could be seen suddenly hit her in the stomach area and threw her backwards as if it was as easy as hitting a baseball.

Honey Faith watched in shock as Ionna coughed as she landed on the damp soil and rolled around a little.

She ran towards the human, immediately discarding her mission to stop the fire ball now that a stranger event occurred.

She squatted and shook Ionna's shoulders in panic, "Are you okay?"

Ionna struggled to open her eyes and she blinked, "Who the hell are you…?"

Honey Faith discarded that question too. She's met lots of strangers today. She opened her palms and produced a bandage from between both of her hands while comfortingly saying, "Don't worry, I'll get you fixed up just in case there's internal bleeding or broken bones. Tell me, where does it hu…"

The end of her sentence wandered off as she spotted a choker on Ionna.

She stared at Ionna and asked, "Is it okay if I take off your choker?"

Ionna blinked, "I don't have a choker…"

"Yes, you do. It's right here…" Honey poked the choker around Ionna's neck, expecting to feel the solid black material of the ornament.

She jerked her hand back in surprise however when she felt nothing but skin and warmth on the spot where the choker should be.

She raised an eyebrow, "A tattoo…?"

"Ionna!" Misemi and Ruby caught up and witnessed Ionna lying on the floor, barely able to stand up.

Ionna frowned, "I feel like I'm gonna throw my breakfast up…"

The other children who had run away after catching sight of the fire ball suddenly started appearing one by one, asking if the fire ball was already gone. They all started whispering about how terrifying the fire ball looked like while Misemi and Ruby helped Ionna back to her feet.

Misemi couldn't help but get triggered by the attitude of the children however and ended up yelling out loud, "Morons! You already have magic and yet you still falter in the face of danger! You're making it look like the gifts of the kind fairies are useless and weak compared to a measly fire ball!"

Ruby and Ionna stared at her in awe as she spoke.

Not because she was inspiring for a moment. But because they thought, "Didn't you also scream when you saw the fire ball?"

The other children did not see the hypocrisy in her words however and looked at one another.

Then, one of the boys Misemi bumped into this morning spoke up, "She's right! We've got magic now! If we aren't going to use it here, then where will we use it?"

"But we just got this magic!" One of the children protested, "I'm not very confident that it's within our control, yet…"

Ionna could see the point in that child's concern and she looked at Misemi, waiting for her to respond.

"Then, let's not use it." Misemi suddenly said, contradicting what she said earlier.

The children looked at her in confusion.

She continued, "There's more than one way to do something and that applies in this situation as well. We are in a forest loaded with magical fairies who are experts in magic, unlike us!"

Ruby blinked and gaped, "Ooooh… Okay, I get it."

Misemi grinned as she put one of her feet on top of a stone and nobly said, "As uncool as this is, this is the only safe and useful thing we can do to contribute in stopping this situation! That fireball can burn the entire forest so this is worth the fairies' concern! We have to find as many capable fairies and bring them here to help get rid of the fire ball and the flames!"

Honey Faith squeaked in panic thinking, "Get rid of the flames? Get rid of Dano???"

Ruby on the other hand raised her eyebrow as she echoed the word, "Capable?"

Misemi yelled out loud, "So, who's with me??? Who here is heroic enough to actually do something in this situation??!"

The children yelled back in agreement, "WE ARE!!!!"

"THEN GET YOUR BUTTS OUT OF WHERE YOU ARE STANDING AND FIND A CAPABLE FAIRY!!!" Misemi yelled out loud.

The children did so and dispersed into the forest in the search of capable fairies. Misemi ran off to who knows where as well.

Ruby echoed again, "Capable…?"

Ionna blinked in awe at how Misemi handled the situation and she chuckled.

Yes, this is truly the kind of extroverted introvert she wished to be.