That Smells Like Smoke
"One more! Push! Push! *Argh* ha, ha, we did it! We got all the stumps out!" Edith grunted as she lay on the ground sweating. It had been over 5 hours since they started working and Cyrus and Vito had been gone for over two hours now.
"Those guys just up and left after getting chased by bees. And we had to do all the work. Can you believe that?" she asked facing toward Terra.
"I mean we didn't do much to help Vito in the first place, so we can't blame the fact that he got chased and never came back. I hope he is not lost. But he must have gone far if Dawn already got back and they still haven't returned," Terra answered watching over at Dawn who was resting a little bit further away from them.
Dawn was sick of this work, he and Terra had been throwing away the stumps while Edith would rest while waiting for them to get back. The reason being that Terra was part of the reason that the bee situation started in the first place and that Dawn was gone for about an hour and didn't do much work compared to her.
Dawn was intently watching Minty who was reading a magazine and had a nice pair of sunglasses, a sun hat, and some orange juice with a twirly straw and some ice in it. She was also on a beach chair. It was as though this mission was a vacation for her.
Dawn could not believe that this was the treatment he was getting, but he wasn't going to argue with her about it. He already lost to John once when he detained him from trying to kill Terra that one time and if she is anything on his skill level then that just means she could beat him up for speaking out.
As his eyes wandered around he saw two figures step out from the woods and were coming closer to them.
"It's about time they showed up," he said as he clicked his tongue.
Vito and Cyrus were walking into the field and when Edith saw them she rolled her eyes as she whispered, "Nice of them to join in when the work is all done. They probably ran away or just hid for a while after getting rid of the bees. Still, it's nice to know that nothing bad happened to them."
"Did something good happen? You are smiling quite a lot, Edith," Terra said as he looked keenly at her.
"It's nothing! And don't forget that it was partly your fault that the bees chased everyone here and we lost a part of our manpower," she said while punching him lightly.
"Ouch, it's okay to be happy that they got back safely, you didn't have to punch me about it. And why did you use your powers when you did?" Terra asked as he didn't mean to tease her, he was just asking genuinely.
Vito joined the group while Cyrus went to have a conversation with Minty. Dawn simply thought he was reporting to her what happened when he left.
"I see, so that was how your mission ended up? Well if that is the case then you could have surely taken them down by yourself and brought them over to me. I've read your file, Cyrus, I am well aware that such situations are nothing new to you and I do not doubt your capabilities. So why didn't you?"
"I feel like you have more to say on this," Minty added as she looked down from her magazine at Cyrus.
"There is something I want you to do, not just for me but for Terra. He is the one who will fight after all, so if you will hear out my plan then I believe you might agree with what I have to say."
A few minutes later Minty replied, "It is not a bad idea, though I am surprised. Why would you want to go that far with it?"
Cyrus merely nodded his head and responded, "I want the others to see what I see when I look at Terra. So I want this to serve as a demonstration, one that would ease any hidden doubts that they might still have within them."
Hearing Cyrus say this brought a smile to Minty's face as she responded, "You are a good friend Cyrus and you might even make it to be a good instructor one day. If we get to live that is."
"Please Minty, those types of jokes bring more worry than relief," Cyrus said, not because he was concerned about the planet blowing up but because he saw the minimal effort that Minty put in today for their mission and it had convinced him that anyone could be an instructor if they just knew Alex well enough.
Although he may have said that this idea of his was to ease up the worries that anyone else within the group may have, he neglected to say that the same statement also applied to him.
"Edith, Dawn, Vito, Terra! Get up! We are going on a little detour," Minty yelled as she placed her items throw a portal and cleaned herself up.
Vito walked up to her and asked, "Minty, before we head out could I please get something to wear? It's not exactly comfortable in these clothes anymore and I don't want to catch a cold."
Minty tilted her head as she looked him up and down, "You can't catch a cold, you are a representative. You will be fine, now let's go!" And with that, they headed out.
Vito was stunned in shock, he didn't expect to hear such a reply against a request so simple. Even John had given him a change of clothing that one time so it shouldn't have been a problem for her. In the end, he put his head down and decided to push through it.
"Where are we going to all of a sudden?" Edith asked from behind her.
"Oh! That's right. Carry some buckets, everyone, we are going to plant some trees in another area and then come back to continue planting them here." That was the excuse that Minty had decided to go with so as to not reveal more than what was needed.
"But we just got down uprooting all those stumps and now we are not even planting the trees here anymore!? This makes no sense. And why should we carry the buckets? Can't you just teleport us there?" Edith asked.
Her complaints seemed valid and Minty didn't have a good enough response to that. If she was, to be honest, Edith's questions were putting her actions as kind of strange. Not wanting to say much she replied, "It is part of the mission to get used to unique situations like these on the fly, how will you learn to adapt to anything if you get too comfortable in one area? Now let's go!"
Edith was confused at the surprising emphasis that Minty was putting out there but she followed regardless with Vito right beside her. She just had to get used to situations like these.
Terra turned his back and looked at Dawn and Cyrus who hadn't left yet and asked the two, "Are you coming or not? Don't forget to grab the buckets."
Terra started off on his way so as to not let the crew get too far off from him which left Dawn and Cyrus alone for just a little while.
"You know something about this, actually you might have started it. Mind telling me what you said to get Minty to finally get off her chair and lead us somewhere?" Dawn asked.
Cyrus grabbed two buckets and said, "Nothing too serious. Now grab some buckets, we have trees to take care of." He smiled as he walked off.
Dawn couldn't understand Cyrus's unique nature but he grabbed some buckets and followed after regardless, lest he wanted to be all alone in the forest.
The group had been walking and talking for about half an hour when they finally came to a cross-point with barely any trees around it. The soil was good in this area and it was very fertile, still, it was surprising to see that most of the trees here were dry and placed quite a distance away from each other.
"This is the spot, everyone you can plant a tree wherever you feel like planting, let us fill this area with trees and then go back and get more," Minty said.
'We have to go back?' Edith asked herself. 'Again, what is stopping her from teleporting us? She has the means to do so.' Edith was complaining not because she had worked hard, she was more than used to working hard with her father in the workshop. It was due to the fact that more than 7 hours had passed and she hadn't eaten yet.
She felt as though she was being starved right now, either that or Minty was thinking that the representatives didn't need food or something. She would have been a bit more complaint had she been given something good to eat.
Right now all she could think about was having a barbecue and seeing Minty drink that orange juice earlier all by herself only soiled her mood more.
Everyone went to work planting a tree somewhere of their choosing, each to their own position, though despite doing so Cyrus and Vito were oddly close to one another when planting their trees.
Dawn only noticed this because he had been staring at Cyrus for a while and he found it strange that Vito was next to him instead of Edith right now. "Just what are they planning?" he wondered.
"You think they will do it now? we did beat up that one member of there's and if they found out about us then they might change their plans and decide to leave instead," Vito whispered.
"They won't. They need to get it over with today. They had a vehicle and everything placed not too far from here and it seemed like it took them a lot of effort to bring out that oil, hearing about one little kid out in the forest might not bother their plans. That is if they believe there was one in the first place."
"Besides, the guy is a drunk, they will think that he was seeing things because why would someone that looks like they are in high school be all alone in the woods?"
"And lastly, they have guns. I don't think they are too worried about potential witnesses that might not have the ability to speak about what they saw after they are done with them."
"Right now it is a matter of when they will do it, not if," Cyrus answered as planted his tree.
"I hope you are right," Vito answered.
"When have I ever been wrong?" Cyrus smirked.
Planting the trees in the most scarce area he could find, Terra happily placed the sapling into the soil. He was glad he got to do this.
In the past, he would do community work and help out as often as he could after dropping out of school and planting trees out here reminded him about the service he would do to try and make the world a better place. If not for himself then for others.
He was minding his own business and wondering where to plant the second tree when he suddenly caught the smell of oil brimming through the air. "Is that oil? it can't be." The next thing he knew, the smell of oil was replaced with the heavy smell of smoke.
Terra couldn't believe it, his body was shaking a bit but it was not because of his own accord, this was a reaction from something in him that wanted to stop this madness that was happening.
As Terra looked to the sky with his eyes and shoulder glowing green, he saw a pillow of smoke that signaled that a forest fire was happening nearby.