Snippet #2414650

Tapu led Achak and Kahl well through the thick of the jungle, pausing only briefly to look overhead as jets passed them by. A moment later the trees shook from the napalm bombing that swept through the distant trees in a fiery inferno.

"That can't be good..." Tapu remarked.

What came next was staggering as the heat of the distant inferno tore through the jungle to engulf the trio in its suffocating grasp. They were downwind from the fires and the smoke and fumes of the burning foliage mingled with the distinctive stench of ozone left Tapu catching himself against a low hanging tree branch to cough into his arm. The fires in the distance were swallowing up the oxygen and leaving the air suffocatingly thin.

"Nothing like a summer stroll, eh?" Tapu asked before he quirked a grin.

The mischievous Mira never did seem to lose spirit.

"Come on, this way," he added before he redoubled their pace to lead Achak deeper into the jungle away from the stifling heat that licked at their backs and left the pair of them panting heavily.

Despite his apparent light-hearted remarks, there was a pinch of worry to his eyes.