Ah man. Ah jeez. Ah man. Ah jeez.

Even if fireworks were mostly visual entertainment, Hideo could still enjoy smelling the smoke or hearing the booms from the ones flying through the sky. When his brother told him he’d gotten fireworks they could try out, he’d assumed they were simple things like sparklers. Something small that they could just play around with.

He didn’t expect him to get an actual firework. He didn’t expect him to just light it. And he didn’t expect it to have been placed improperly, and fly further into the forest instead of in the sky.

Predictably, his brother ran off, leaving Hideo behind when the younger boy insisted on making sure they didn’t damage anything.

Hideo had to walk there by himself, with only his Ambipom’s aid to guide him there. It took them a while, and to his distress, the scent of smoke that lead them there was getting stronger.

Once they reached the temple, they could hear the ensuing blaze.

“Ah shit,” the boy muttered. He was going to get in so much trouble for this.

If his parents found out.

At least he’d brought some water-types with him. Maybe he could contain this before it got out of hand. And it sounded like he wasn’t the only one here trying to contain the blaze. He didn’t know how much it had spread, but they had to stop it now.

He let out his Bibarel and Seismitoad, the two seeing the issue immediately. “Bibble, Swimcoach, you two gotta do what you can to stop that fire from spreading. Me and Pom are gonna go talk to that guy who’s helping.” The two water-types nodded, approaching the flames and letting loose with their respective water-attacks.

Hideo approached the other trainer, guided by Pom. He heard the water splashing nearby pretty quickly, and caught on to what the man was about to attempt. “Are you going in there?” he asked - fairly obvious he was, but he just had to make sure. “Be careful, mister. Me and my Pokemon can try to help put it out from outside.”

The weather was starting to change - it was beginning to rain, thanks to his Seismitoad’s Rain Dance. But that was only going to slow the blaze down.

Noelani Kekoa

Hideo’s heart skipped a beat when he heard there was someone in there. “Ah jeez. I hope they’re alright.” He’d feel awful if this fire actually killed someone. Even just hurting them would make him feel bad.

But there wasn’t much he could do about it; he knew way better than to try and wander around a burning building; even with the help of his Pokemon, he’d get himself burnt and lost very quickly, if he didn’t pass out from the smoke first. “Be careful, mister,” was all Hideo could say before the man ran in there.

Hideo hoped there wouldn’t be two people he’d have to save in there.

Bibble and Swimcoach were doing their best to help control the blaze, but it was clear which one was doing the better job; Bibble’s Water Gun paled in comparison to Swimcoach’s Hydro Pump. But neither were trying to compete, and they were making progress at controlling the fire from the outside.

Hideo could hear some arguing from inside the temple, though he couldn’t tell exactly what was being said. But he received a pretty good summary once they were outside again.

Unfortunately, the only Pokemon he had with him that was strong enough to lift larger statues, was busy keeping the blaze from getting any larger. But for the smaller things even he could carry? He had the perfect Pokemon for the job. “Pom, you heard her; there’s stuff we need to grab. She can tell what stuff you need to get, ok?”

The Ambipom’s grin couldn’t be any larger, saluting the boy as she ran off. She had two hand-tails perfect for grabbing shiny stuff off walls, and she had the dexterity to do so without causing much damage. “Ok, miss, you can show us what we need to get. We can grab the smaller stuff.”

The woman sighed, folding her arms as she looked at the burning temple once more. “Fine. I can show you what we need to save outside. But I’m going back in the second we’re done out here, so let’s be quick.”

Hideo nodded, ready to follow her, Pom staying close-by as his other Pokemon kept blasting water at the blaze.

At least the rain was starting to intensify. It was making progress, but it wasn’t enough to stop the fire on its own.

Noelani Kekoa

All that practice Pom had “picking up” stuff when she was still an Aipom was paying off; she was able to pluck the ornaments off as easily as she moved, flowing around the temple as if she were dancing through it. The wide smile on her face would make it clear that she enjoying this, completely disregarding what was at stake. Whenever she would reach her carrying limit, she’d move a good deal away from the temple, dropping her “loot” with just a small degree of care before dashing off to gather another haul.

Hideo himself wasn’t able to help that much; his lack of sight made it very difficult for him to find what needed to be saved, and he didn’t want to risk getting himself caught in the burning temple. The woman had caught on to his disability rather quickly, avoiding scolding him for his inaction.

Fortunately, he was about to get some help. “Bewear…” He knew those as big strong bear Pokemon infamous for breaking people’s backs by hugging them. “...alright. We do need someone to help with the statues anyways.” Hopefully, this guy trained him well enough to stick to just hugging statues.

Of course, Hideo would have trouble directing him. But he did have a way around that issue: he took out another Pokeball, letting out his tiny Ribombee. “Pinky, I need you to help that Bewear find all the statues he needs to move away. Have him put them by where Pom’s dropping off those smaller pieces. Tap my finger if you understand.”

He raised his index finger - and sure enough, the little bug tapped at it with his tiny “hands”. Pinky flew over to the Bewear, ready to direct him to each statue and guide him to where they had to be placed.

Hideo breathed a small sigh of relief, glad that much was getting done. He didn’t even mind that he was starting to get a bit soaked by the rain; a small price to pay for having a hand in causing this, even if unintentional.

All the while, Bibble and Swimcoach were doing their best to smother the flames. While Bibble still resorted to his modest Water Gun, Swimcoach was getting a little more creative, tossing mud at the temple. It was actually working, smothering the flames and preventing them from spreading back; it was easier to clean some dirt than to rebuild the entire thing, after all.

Noelani Kekoa

Pom was more than sufficient at taking down whatever looked valuable enough - and the few things that weren’t that she was told to save anyways. And as for the heavy stuff, Pinky was doing a very good job directing the Bewear, barely even needing to move around on his own; the big bear was a nice big seat for him to sit on most of the time.

They’d managed to save just about everything they were asked to. All that was left was to actually quell the flames. Which, unfortunately, they weren’t managing to do well; Bibble just couldn’t get out enough waterpower to make a big difference, and Swimcoach’s methods were effective, but not enough to stop it on her own.

Hideo had no way of telling how they were doing with the fire, but he could tell it was still going on. “Come on, guys,” he muttered to himself. They had to stop it here, because he hadn’t thought to bring more water-types with him. It was his fault this place was on fire, and he was dumb enough to only bring two Pokemon that could deal with a mistake like this.

He balled up a fist. Dammit. He felt like such an idiot. Whatever Pokemon this shrine was dedicated to was gonna be pissed at him.

But just before he could really get down in the dumps, he could hear the arrival of many Pokemon. He’d completely missed that the other trainer here was responsible for these reinforcements, instead assuming it was some last-second miracle.

He could hear the other trainer order some of them to split off. Hideo wasn’t sure which ones he’d been sent, but he could only assume they knew some water attacks; they had to, or else they wouldn’t stop this fire in time.

He pointed over to where he heard his Pokemon hard at work. “Help them put out the flames. They may be able to give you all a better idea of where to aim.” The Quagsire and Ludicolo saluted him, rushing over to his Bibarel and Seismitoad to get a better assessment of the situation - and to know where to work best.

The combined effort of all the Pokemon would finally be enough; the blaze would start to recede, and if they kept this up, they could put it out. Sure, there’d be quite a bit of water (and mud) damage on top of what the fire did, but at least the temple would still be standing. Easier to fix a part of the building than rebuild the entire thing, right?

Noelani Kekoa

There was an undeniable fact that this whole situation proved: Hideo didn’t have much idea of what he was doing. When it came to taking care of Pokemon or battling, he was told he was pretty good. But in a less conventional situation, like a fire? All he could really do was relay what others told him and let his Pokemon act on their own.

He’d just been standing there the entire time, waiting for everyone else to fix this. Even if it was working, it was frustrating.

He was also listening, and though he couldn’t hear what the other trainer and the priestess lady were talking about, he could definitely hear the latter crying. That knot in his chest was getting tighter; this was his fault. He was the reason she was crying. If he’d just been a little more careful, told his brother not to fire that firework, none of this would’ve happened.

But if word got out he was responsible (even tangentially), his parents would never let him go out until he was an adult.

He couldn’t let them know.

Nobody could know.

Only once he couldn’t hear the sound of crackling fire could he finally let his guard down and relax, just a little bit. There was probably a ton of damage, but they’d managed to save a lot of stuff at least. And nobody got hurt or died.

But he still felt sick.

And yet the man approached him, telling him he did a good job. And that he was acting so cool under pressure. He had to, or he’d break down and just get in the way. “Th-thanks,” Hideo stammered out, “It’s...it’s good that we were able to save what we could. And we’re all ok-”

He nearly froze up when the man openly pondered who was responsible. It took him a few seconds to respond. “I’m...uh..uh...sure whoever did this ran off by now. Not a good idea to stay around the scene, right?” Anything to deflect any potential blame from himself. “I wouldn’t know where to look. Not that I’d be much help with that.”

To be honest, now that the problem was dealt with, he just wanted to get out of here.

Noelani Kekoa