Fiery Pursuit

Fire season, the death of the old to make way for the new. The forest razed to the ground only to nourish the fresh new buds once spring came back around. It was almost beautiful if you weren't the one being burned.

Raspberry kept her head low to the ground as she rushed through the burning woods. She and Miku had been by the lake at its centre, not realising their way back had been set alight in the meantime. As if that wasn't bad enough, they were being pursued through this forest fire by an enormous Acro that seemed determined to secure a cooked dinner. She was mindful to not leave her slower friend too far behind, whatever chance they had in a pair would be cut in half if they split up. Shunos weren't known for their top speed but her blue friend was doing an admirable job at ducking and weaving through the smoked out forest. She seemed to be splitting her time between holding her breath and trying to peer above the smoke and taking deep gulps of air close to the ground where the smoke was thinner. In that regard she was doing better than Raspberry, who struggled to keep the balance between running and not scorching her lungs. The loud groaning of a tree falling behind them made the Para yelp and look over her shoulder.

---

She was running, that was all she could think to do. The forest had caught alight during her afternoon nap and when she had woken the air was thick with smoke and her feathers were withering under the heat. The smoke made her eyes water and she had collided with trees a number of times as she fled, forcing her to frequently slow down and pick her way around them. There were others fleeing the fire in front of her, she could just about hear their cries of fear and their footsteps as she ran. She followed them as best as she could, hoping they had better optics than her and actually knew where they were going. The trees would occasionally crumble as they burned, tipping over with almost pained sounding groans behind them. When she heard another one fall, she was suspicious of how close it sounded, but no amount of preparation would've helped her dodge the flaming trunk that came crashing down onto her back.

The pain was instant, the blunt force alone nearly knocked her off her feet and she had to brace herself to avoid being pinned under it completely while flat on her back. The flames crept along the old wood, catching light on her feathers and beginning to spread quickly across their dry surface. Still standing, just about, she forced herself to stand up straight, back screaming against the effort. She could feel skin peeling away as the truck rolled down her back and off her tail as she whipped it away from under it. She barely allowed herself a moment to breathe after the exertion before taking off again. She couldn't lose her only guides out of this hell.

---

"Holy fuck, holy fuck Miku, it just fucking shrugged off a whole tree," Raspberry shrieked, facing forward again and trying to not her blind panic steer her.

"Stop talking, keep breathing," the Shuno said in her sing-song voice, unable to sound firm if her life depended on it.

"I am, I am," Raspeberry retorted sharply, focusing on the obscured path again. Think Raspberry, think. How were they supposed to shake this Acro while fleeing the fire at the same time? It was coming after them with the determination of some fictional monster, the kind of thing the elders used to tell stories about to keep the kids out of the woods at night. Miku was still snaking her long neck downwards, giving up on seeing over the smoke and trying to see under it instead.

"Nearly there!" she sang, to Raspberry's surprise. She decided to fall in line behind her friend, still running as fast as she could. The light broke suddenly and brilliantly through the smoke, trees clearing in a near instant to reveal the steep cliffs and rocky terrain of the highlands lakes. Raspberry stopped suddenly, the shock of reaching safety setting in before she could even think about their pursuer. She was only brought back to reality when the large, black Acro nearly ran over both her and Miku as it bulldozed past them.

"Ah, thirsty," the blue Shuno said peacefully as they both watched the Acro plunge itself into the freezing cold lake and disappear below the surface.

"Yeah, I guess so," Raspberry said weakly. SHe kept watching until the Acro appeared again, looking like it wasn't planning on moving from the water any time soon.

"Shall we walk to the other side? Put the lake between us and the fire?" Miku sang at her, gently prodding her with her tail. 

"Y-yeah, let's go, I feel like soaking some of these burns too," Raspberry admitted, keeping her head down as she trudged behind Miku to the far side of the lake.