> Find a jar inside the house, and put some of that weird fire inside the jar and keep it as your protector-pet-thingy. :3
You go back inside the Guide Gent's house, but the fire has got past the kitchen tiles and has started on the floorboards, and you don't feel it would be wise to plunge through it just to look for a jar.
Next door, however, you find a large, sturdy jam jar, and you tap your Spooky Flaming Torch on its rim, knocking a couple of cinders into it. You put the lid on, and watch in stupefaction as the inside of the glass catches fire. Without air.
Man. You're beginning to think that even hiding in that pond wouldn't have done anything to protect you from this stuff.
Still, the jar doesn't seem to be melting, and in fact seems to be burning at the rate of continental drift, so the fire in there will probably last for the foreseeable future.
Othodox obtained one Jar of Sentient Fire! Othodox put the Jar of Sentient Fire in the Epic-Tier Loot Pocket.
Oh, sweet. Something else to go in there.
>Should probably start moving on up to Violet City. Because that's the logical next step? Also, check the state of the dress I assume is still on, is it in good enough condition to continue protect your modesty?
> Head back up route 30, go grab another berry. Check your inventory and Spooky Torch Mark 2's burn level.
The dress is perfect, dahlink. Just perfect.
You walk on up Route 30, newly invigorated by your recently-gained position of Fire Hero (for such, in your state of sublimely inflated ego, you have decided to dub yourself). You regard the flaming wreck of the Lonesome House with pitiless disdain; hah! Eldritch Cyndaquil, indeed. You'd like to see who comes off worse between you now.
Actually, you think, coming to your sense for a moment, no you wouldn't.
You'd like to gather a Berry, but the tree is on fire and the Berries are exploding in the heat with little high-pitched screams that are totally unexpected and not a little disturbing. Hum. It seems they can feel pain.
It's probably best if you didn't think about that too much.
The path forks here. You could either continue up the log leading up the ledge to the path, where there are certain signs of disturbance, or go north through the long grass to the east by the pond. Now that Eldritch Cyndaquil is back in your mind, you don't feel confident about making a decision until told what to do by the voices in your head.
Huh. So much for the Fire Hero, then.
You decide to take the path above the ledge, since that's where you're mysterious saviour dropped you off, and also because the trees by the long grass are on fire.
Scrambling up the log onto the path, you note that, as before, there are signs of some kind of struggle here: a couple of toppled trees, a few huge claw-marks in the dust, a single human femur.
Aaaaaagh!
You start so violently you almost fall backwards off the ledge. There's no mistaking it: there, by that log, is a sun-bleached bone that most definitely belongs on the inside of a human leg.
You feel a little woozy, and have to sit down for a while. Christ. The first physical contact with another human since you got here, and they're dead. It says a lot about this place – or about the Narrator.
In the middle of these thoughts, you are struck by a peculiar noise – something like a crackling hiss, emanating from somewhere rather more close by than you're comfortable with. For one heart-stopping moment, you consider the possibility of the bone having an attendant ghost – and then a scarcely less disquieting revelation hits you: the sound is coming from your Bag.
You shudder, and grip your Dangerous Makeshift Knife more tightly. It's time to check your Inventory.
Inventory:
Adamantine Spider Silk x7
Beauteous Ring x1
Berry x1
Bloodstained Mail x1
Bulging Wallet x1
Dangerous Makeshift Knife x1
Decayed Potion x1
Delicious Meat Bits x6
Elm's Key x1
Flowery Wreath x1
Glass Shards x5
Green Apricorn x1
Half a Cup of Cold Coffee x1
Half a Roll of Gaffer Tape x1
Hambone x1
Hyper Potion x2
Jar of Sentient Fire x1
Lava Cookie x7
Lithium Batteries x4
Long-Range Scanner Attachment x1
Machine Pistol Magazine x6
Miracle Seed x1
Mysterious Note x1
Novelty Giraffe Shoe x1
Poké Ball x1
Potion x2
Powerless Tablet Computer x1
Rare Bone x1
Rocks x12
Shiny Stone x1
Spooky Flaming Torch x1
Stale Baguette x1
Stylish Dress x1
Togepi Egg Shard x2
Weird Shrivelled Thing x1
Nothing. No invading creatures; no eldritch beasties. What on earth could be...?
You frown, and pick up the Jar of Sentient Fire.
sss, crackle the flames, drybonesssburnssticksshungry...
Jesus Christ. The thing can talk.
You almost drop the Jar in astonishment. OK, so it is named the Jar of Sentient Fire, but still... you weren't expecting that.
Is this what makes the Cyndaquil so hungry, you wonder. The constant clamouring of its flames for food, neverending, driving it onwards in search of something, anything that can be digested and burned?
All right, time to forget that. There's no need to make the monster any creepier than it already is.
sss, the flames insist, feedussburnburnhungryy...
You look at the fire, and then at the bone.
"That?" you ask uncertainly, unable to quite believe you're talking to a jar full of fire.
deadflesshbonemeatburn, the fire replies.
You think that might be a yes, and with some trepidation you unscrew the lid of the jar and pour a little of the fire out onto the femur. It flares down its length and consumes it in seconds, roaring hungrily like a tiny tiger – and, much to your surprise, proceeds to crawl back into the jar, where it burns down low and emits strangely rhythmic popping noises.
If you didn't know that it was impossible, you'd say it was snoring.
You replace the lid carefully and stand up, staring at your fire.
Perhaps it's because you lit it, but it seems to be tame.
Now that could be useful.
OK, so it isn't really a Pokémon, but if you hold it up to the light and squint at it a bit, it might be a kind of green fiery Grimer without eyes. And therefore you, as a Pokémon Trainer, have just acquired a new 'Pokémon': your first in quite some time.
You grin, and decide the most logical thing to do now is to give her – you have arbitrarily decided your fire is female – a nickname.
Also to do something about the way her searing-hot jar is burning your hands.
Spooky Flaming Torch is 5% burned out.
Othodox is a Really Really Tiny Little Bit Wounded!