"KELLY!" Luke shouted when she screamed out.

"SOMEONE! ANYONE! HELP!" he then yelled.

And then, as if on cue, someone launched out from the surrounding trees.

It was Ash.

And he raced towards the creature, slamming his fist into the side of its head, causing it to become dazed slightly, and loosen its grip on Kelly.

"LEAVE MY DAUGHTER ALONE!" he declared.

"G-got it!" Luke managed to yell back.

Ash, meanwhile, was doing his best to keep the creature at bay. Because of the heavy rain, and the creature being in its element... along with Ash being a fire mage... it almost had the upper hand.

Ash was pinned to the ground, but had his hands above and below the creature's snout and jaw, keeping its head away from him... it was clear that Ash was at a disadvantage, though.

"Well, get the thing OFF me!" he told Ashleigh.

The thing was agile, and it was strong. It was truly something that was a threat.

"...and make sure you kill it." he added, exerting more force and pushing the creature up and away from him a little more.

For the briefest of moments, there was a flash of PTSD in Ash's eyes, but it was gone as quickly as it came, and he accepted her hand, getting to his feet.

"Don't take long." he told her.

"It feels like this thing's gonna get even WORSE before it gets better." he warned.

"I'll see you back at home." he finished, before they shared a brief kiss, and he returned to Kelly and Luke.

"You kids ready?" he asked.

"Cuz we're going." he told them, before the 3 of them vanished in a burst of black flames, appearing on the floor of the kitchen in their home.

Ash just sighed.

"We need to get the both of you taken care of." he told her.

"I'm calling Rene." he said.

"I'm getting him here to patch you up, and potentially take a look at Sammy." he went on.

"...why Sammy?" Luke asked.

"Can't she just regenerate?" he asked further.

"...River Wolves are venomous to fire mages and fire creatures." Ash told him in response.

"Yep, already doing so." Ash responded, phone to his ear.

"...." Luke was silent, before sighing.

"Sorry." he apologised.

"I... wasn't able to do much against that thing." he said further.

"Sorry you got hurt." he told Kelly.

"Don't worry about it." Ash interjected, having heard that.

"Those things are considered an SS-level threat."

"...yeah, ASAP." Ash then said into the phone.

"And I mean 2 minutes ago." he went on.

"...right, got it. See ya REAL soon." he finished, before hanging up.

"He'll be here in about 2 minutes." he told Kelly.

"And he'll be bringing an antitoxin to help with what's in your system." he went on.

"For now..." he continued, before a ring of black fire erupted around Kelly. It wasn't anything particularly intense, but it was at least countering the freezing she was feeling.

"This should keep you decently all right until he gets here."

There was silence from the three of them for a moment, before Ash cleared his throat.

"He'll be here in less than 2 minutes." he told her.

"And a buncha teeth, eh? Rene'll love that." he said.

"....." he was then silent for another moment, thinking about something.

"Oh... oh, I hope..." he mumbled, almost looking ready to drool.

"Let's hope, Ashleigh." he said to his wife.

"I want it to SO be usable..."

"Got a 40/60 chance of that meat still being good." Ash responded.

"I'll have to check it ASAP." he continued, as Rene suddenly appeared.

"I'm here and ready." he told them.

"Good." Ash responded, removing the ring of fire from around Kelly.

Rene then approached her, a syringe in his hand.

"This is gonna sting." he warned her.

"....right, now those coordinates?" Ash asked Ashleigh.

"I need to get there 2 minutes ago, I would guess, and we know everyone'll be fine now that Rene's here." he reasoned.

Ash nodded in response, before disappearing.

As he did, Rene jabbed the syringe in Kelly's upper arm... and an immediate sharp stinging pain was felt. Which started to spread out quickly.

"If you can feel it, give it 10 seconds." Rene said.

"After it goes away, I'll patch you up." he continued.

"And you say Samantha was bitten as well?" he asked Ashleigh.

"Yes." Ashleigh replied.

"I'll take a look at her after." Rene said.

"They'll only be able to do so much." Rene commented.

He then waited until she finished flinching, and then set to work stopping her bleeding.

"All right then." he said.

"I'll deal with YOU, now." he told Luke, starting to work on him.

"And you guys will both need to take it easy for a week or so." he continued.

"You get hurt at all, Ashleigh?" he then asked Ashleigh.