Terra's Qualification

It didn't take long until everyone had smelled what was in the air. They all reacted similarly except for Minty who just turned her head towards the fire.

"So it begins," she whispered.

Terra ran towards her and shouted, "Minty, Minty, there's a fire. Some of the dry trees over there have been caught in a fire but the strange thing is, it doesn't feel natural."

"It seems someone around here may have started a forest fire nearby and decided to burn all the trees," Minty replied.

"What!? Then we have to stop them. We have to put out the fire Minty!" Terra exclaimed.

"We?" Minty asked, "I won't be doing anything"

Terra was shocked and blinked his eyes over and over again in surprise, hoping he was hearing things. As he went back and forth with her, the rest of the crew had gathered and were watching in silence nearby. Well, not all of them were.

"So this was your plan? Start a forest fire and have Terra try and solve it. It's this a bit much?" Dawn asked as he pulled Cyrus a little away from the group to whisper to him.

"I didn't start the fire. But I also didn't help prevent it. I figured that this was the only way to test and see if Terra could handle a situation where he needed to act as soon as possible. It will serve as a demonstration of where his strengths and weaknesses lie," Cyrus answered as he pulled his hand back from Dawn.

"And don't pull me so hard next time, you will knock off my glasses and what will you do if I lose my sight? Mhm?" Cyrus asked as he fixed himself.

Dawn kept staring at Cyrus and asked, "But why go this far? Was it for him? For us? Or for yourself? There is something on your mind Cyrus. I don't know what it is but you are not being your usual obnoxious self when you are teasing somebody. It looks to me like you have a more personal reason for doing this."

Cyrus was shocked to hear this coming from Dawn of all people, could he himself have been more resonated on finding a reason to believe in Terra than he had to help prove Terra capable before them? He was at a pause at Dawn's suggestion but he soon brought his face back up towards him.

"I am doing this for the sake that he will be the one we have to put our faith in when he leaves. If we can't put our faith in him now when he is on Earth then how can we trust him to win when he goes to space? Let's just sit back and watch what he will do," and with a smile, Cyrus turned back to look at Terra.

After receiving his reply, Dawn had decided that perhaps he was imagining things and only looking at the negatives. "Maybe he truly does wish for only the best for Terra, I mean he was the one who saved him from Vito that one time, from what I've heard from Alex."

"I need to learn to stop being so distrustful of others," Dawn said to himself as he scratched his head and went back to the group.

Meanwhile, Cyrus had his fist clenched as he watched Terra stand still at a loss for words, he was hesitating and trying to focus, closing his eyes and thinking about what to do.

"Come on Terra, you got this," Cyrus whispered. "Think of it like a puzzle, put on the important pieces on the board first then solve for all the rest, it will be easy."

Terra had his head hanging low, he was trying to think about the situation that had been brought forth to him, it was too sudden. After a while of seeing no reply from Terra, Minty decided to take charge but before she could say anything Terra interrupted her.

"We will save the forest!" Terra yelled, "Without your help!" he added.

Everyone in the background was listening intently to what he had to say.

"Everyone, remember the buckets we brought with us!?" Terra asked, "Take out the tree saplings in them and fill them up with dirt to smother the flames, Cyrus how far is the stream of water that you traced down away from here!?" he asked hurriedly.

Cyrus replied, "Not far, about a good five-minute walk, less than a minute of running if we use our powers."

"Good, me and you will go and grab buckets of water to help put out the flame, everyone else will stop it from spreading by smothering the flames by the edge of the fire."

As Cyrus went to go and get the bucket Terra stopped him, "Actually, I am in charge now since Minty is not helping, I can't leave. I need to make sure the fire doesn't spread, Cyrus go with Vito! You both went down the stream earlier that means that you know where it is."

Hearing Terra correct his decision so quickly put a smirk on Cyrus's face. "That guy, so he does know how to solve a puzzle," he whispered.

Minty then asked Terra, "What about the culprits who caused the fire? While you are out here putting it off, they will surely return to set it off again sooner rather than later. That is if they don't realize that someone is trying to stop their hard work and come trying to stop you all now."

Terra looked her earnestly in the eye as he said, "If they try to stop us, then we will take care of them but it is highly unlikely they would know that we are putting out their fire, if they did then they would have come to stop us before setting it off in the first place."

"And if they run, then good. We should focus on what's more important first, we can always track down those guys just like Cyrus tracked down Vito, but we can't save the forest and keep the fire from spreading unless we start now!"

Minty liked his resolve and asked him another question, "And what about the smoke from the fire? What will you do about that? It will get into your eyes and lungs and that will affect your breathing and eyesight. What's your solution for that?"

Terra went to grab a bucket while answering her question, "When Cyrus and Vito get back we can tear off a piece of our clothing and dip it in water and then cover our mouths with it. That should reduce the effects of the smoke on our breathing and as for our eyes, we can wash them a little and heal them with our powers."

"And what will you do before that!? You will still feel the full effects of it before the two of them get back. Any plans for that!?" Minty asked.

Terra who had now ensured that everyone had a bucket in their hand and was filling up his own with dirt answered, "We are representatives. We will be fine."

When Minty heard this, the shock of hearing her own words used against her so soon into their training had put a smile on her face. She had let up her interrogation and let Terra put the others to work.

As she watched the group work diligently to put out the fire and save as many trees as possible she couldn't help but admire him from behind, "Well Alex, it looks like we don't have to worry too much about this kid. He is talented in fighting and knows how to handle himself in a tough situation. Apart from not wanting to fight other humans, he seems to have most of himself figured out."

"You ended up with a good successor on your hands."

"Well, while these kids are working hard to put off all the flames, I should go and look for the culprits who started all of this. I will be damned if I have to change my schedule for a bunch of nobodies just because they got away now."

With that being said Minty vanished from the group without being noticed.

After a good 45 minutes, the kids had managed to put out all of the flames that they had seen in the forest, Terra acknowledged that despite having a plan and doing what needed to be done to stop the fire, it was tougher than he hoped it would be.

The flames just didn't die as easily as they should have even when they were being smothered.

As the group rested Terra said to them, "Guys, I think someone poured oil on some of these trees, that fire was relentless."

"I agree," Edith said. "I have seen my fair share of barbeques and wood doesn't burn like that."

"Wood?" Vito asked, "Don't they use coal when making barbeques?"

*Argh* "And where do you think coal comes from?" Edith answered.

"Alright Edith, enough about you and your obsession with food!" Dawn answered annoyed, "Has anyone seen Minty?"

"Gee, I don't know! Maybe if I wasn't starving out in these woods, I could have paid attention to her. I haven't eaten in 10 hours now. And if Minty comes along and says the reason she hasn't given us food is because "we are representatives, we will be fine," then I am so staying home tomorrow!" Edith yelled as she laid onto of a broken tree.

"Edith, don't lay there, it is disrespectful to the tree," Cyrus snickered as he walked his way to Terra. Edith hissed in his direction when he said that.

"You did good," he said as he fist-bumped him. 

"We all did well. It was a group effort and one I couldn't have done alone. I just wanna go home now, I smell like smoke and could use a nice warm bubble bath," Terra answered.

Cyrus kept quiet hearing this and Terra looked at him and asked him, "What?"

"Do you want a rubber duck with that as well?" he asked.

"Oh, you!" Terra pushed him lightly as the two of them laughed.

*Thud* *Ouch* "Don't you go yanking us so damn hard!"

The group had brought their attention to certain screams and cries they were hearing from a distance. As the voices got louder it became apparent what they were. Minty had been pulling away a group of people who were tied together by a rope and for some reason, she had changed her outfit.

Minty had on some black jeans, grey boots, a blue smart shirt, and a small red scarf tied around her neck. She was also wearing a cowboy hat. All in all, she was dressed like a cowgirl pulling with her a haul of bandits she had caught lacking.

"Uhm, Minty? What is this?" Terra asked stunned by what he was seeing.

"I brought in the culprits who set the forest on fire. After some questioning I might hand them over to the authorities, that is if I don't decide what I should do with them first," Minty answered as she placed her boot on one of their heads.

"No, I mean why are you dressed like a cowgirl? And when did you have time to change?" Terra asked.

Minty then turned her head and replied, "Because it looks cool and these folks are Southerners. Figured it would be appropriate to tie em' up this way."

The group was wondering if this was her way of displaying humor.

The girl who was tied up spoke up and yelled, "We ain't southern but even if we were that don't mean y'all can tie us up like this against our rights, now step off and let us go and we'll sue y'all for trespassing in these here woods."

Minty then pulled the rope harder and it tightened up around their bodies as she replied, "Aren't you guys the ones trespassing?"

Cyrus then walked up front and said, "Actually, they are right, they aren't southern, their accent is fake. If you would allow me Minty, I would like to personally interrogate them. It will be good for building my character and helping me grow my skills to become a better detective."

Minty smiled as she heard this boy lying so blatantly to her face, he already had tons of experience doing similar interrogations before and just wanted an excuse to do another one like this. Probably to show off in front of his friends.

"By all means," Minty said as she stepped backward, "Be my guest."