Poképocalypse

So That's a No on the Firewood?

An hour later, Axel met Jordan at the gate. Jordan glared at the former.

"I told you a few minutes, not a damn hour."

Axel produced the axe. "You say that like it's easy to steal an axe from someone."

"I would've been in and out in a few minutes."

"Well, I'm not you. Can we just get this firewood?"

Jordan huffed and turned around. She signaled for the gate to be opened, and walked out with Axel trailing behind her.

"It's a good thing you're known around here for recon," said Axel, "that way, we don't have to explain ourselves to the guys on gate duty."

"Everyone knows I can handle myself. I won't die that easily."

"That means you won't let me die easily either!" Axel chuckled after receiving a glare from Jordan. "I'm only joking. I can hold my own too."

"I know." Jordan rolled her eyes. "That's the only reason I let you come with me."

Axel frowned and kept walking. He let his hand rest on the hilt of his sword and frowned. He would always do his best to survive.

The duo kept walking until they found an area on the route that had a lot of trees. Jordan stepped forward and looked around.

"This should be good. We can look for fallen branches and then start chopping."

Axel nodded, and they started to walk around, picking up fallen branches along the way. Jordan grabbed some extra rope from her pocket and tied it around ten branches that she had found, securing them so they wouldn't come apart.

"I think we've picked up everything off the ground."

Jordan looked at Axel and nodded. "Then let's find an acceptable tree around her to chop down."

"We should bring as much as we can for the others too." Axel smiled, causing Jordan to roll her eyes.

"I'm not getting killed out here just for everyone else. The point of coming out here was to find firewood so I can cook up that pokémon."

"Don't be stingy," said Axel. "Besides, you're the one who said she can handle herself out there."

Jordan opened her mouth, but then closed it again, repacking her neutral expression with a scowl. Axel laughed again.

"Don't give me that look."

"Don't use my words against me."

"Okay, fine." Axel held up his hands in surrender with a smirk. "Let's just get out of here before the pokémon notice us."

Jordan nodded, and found a tree that was a little tall and had a trunk that was a little on the thin side. "This one should work. I don't think it'll be too heavy for the two of us to take back."

Axel nodded. "You keep watch, and I'll chop it down. You're more experienced in fighting pokémon."

"I was hoping you'd say that." Jordan placed the bundle of branches on the ground next to her and readied her bow. She took an arrow out of her quiver and knocked it in the bow. There must have been some pokémon around that already heard them talking. Axel chopping down the tree would only draw more attention. After all, pokémon didn't chop down trees.

Jordan focused on her surroundings, paying attention to any extra noises aside from the thump of the axe against the base of the tree.

Jordan noticed movement in her peripheral vision, immediately turning to the left. She scanned the area until she saw a small white figure hiding behind a tree. She squinted so she could focus on it better. It wasn't until the unidentified object blinked that she realized what it was.