Chapter 147 - 147. Throw Them Out

Garnet had a huge challenge keeping up with the rushing Laura. She noted that Laura was moving much better now that she was fully focused on making it back to her friends. There was almost no wasted movement and she could react at a much faster speed. She also saw that Laura wasn't going too fast for her to stop herself when she went to turn or make it around an obstacle.

Garnet finally managed to make it to the little camp the group had set up and found the same scene that Laura had realized was before her. The only change had been that Asher was now running around without a shirt and that Sammy had somehow made it in to a half upside down position trying to straighten out the world. The lucky part was that Jane and Jackson were more or less stuck in place and that Louis was too focused on zapping leaves to go anywhere.

"Yup, rainbow mushrooms. Just give it an hour and they will be fine. They will be very thirsty, but fine." Garnet had seen this happen plenty of times when the campers had tried to forage for themselves or accidentally touched the rainbow mushrooms.

"They will be fine? But they aren't OK! They need medicine." Laura was still too freaked out to do anything other than freak out.

Garnet gave her a hard look then realized that Laura had also inhaled some of the smoke while she was there. "Your eyes are bloodshot and you are very paranoid. Trust me, you and them will be fine. Just fin yourself a snack and relax. The fire is pretty much out and you are all healthy enough to work this out of your system without worry. Just drink some water and wait it out. With your metabolism, you should have it gone in a few more minutes."

Laura was getting more and more paranoid by the second and was soon sitting in a tight ball watching everyone for any possible turn of events. However, after fifteen minutes she started to feel extremely thirsty and the stress started to subside. It was just like Garnet had told her.

"See, you already look better. Those rainbow mushrooms are a huge pain. My staff is able to clear out the death bells and the purple rot mushrooms. But these rainbow mushrooms just can't be dealt with. But they are very mild and at worst cause minor dehydration. I just wish that campers wouldn't pick them so eagerly. First time someone has burned them though."

"Cloudy rain day on mars!" Art shouted to everyone while pulling away the skillet with the cookies.

"Art might really have lost his mind…" Laura was a little more worried about him since he had been next to the fire the entire time.

"No, that is a normal side effect. He had no clue what he is saying. To him, he probably shouted something about the cookies being done and cooked. Speaking of cookies, you all should throw them away. They got a full dose of the smoke and will cause the same effects of the mushrooms." Laura heard this and realized just how dangerous the cookies had become.

"Bur Asher spent so many points to make them. Everyone has been talking about them since the start of the day when I saw them. Probably even before that…" Laura had always put on the airs that she was not so caring, but with her newfound friends and she wanted to be a little more real. Not to mention she could only imagine how crushed they would all be.

"Then go and make some points and start them over. It's not like the day is over. You still have a few hours before the sun sets and we stop the activities for the night. There isn't even night training tonight so you don't have to worry about getting a ticket for that."

"I have some puzzles…" Laura looked at the four puzzles she had left and thought about the forty points she had gotten from the first. Her new goal became clear, she was going to place her best on getting the puzzles open and getting all new ingredients.

"That's a good training for you, just keep focused and think about helping your friends." Garnet gave this small hint and watched as Laura grabbed the first wooden puzzle. She looked at the girl as she tried to move the pieces faster and faster exhausting every possible pathway to get it open.

"Stupid thing, you have this and this to move but you don't go anywhere." Laura tried again and again but was still stuck, however, she had exhausted the simplest means in just a few moments compared to anyone else who would have taken triple the time. Garnet knew it was not a brilliant method, but it was a very effective one.

The time passed while Garnet watched and soon Laura had found the trick to popping the wooden puzzle open. "Yes, how many points?...Four! Just four? Ugh, next one." She had wanted a great pay out like the first and was crushed to see such a low number. She grabbed the next puzzle and immediately started in on to it.

There was no way to stop here, the more she worked the more her focus grew and the third puzzle was open in half the time as the second. "One point! Rip off, you are a rip off." She became furious after seeing this and grabbed the fourth puzzle to tear in to it.

"Two! Only two points in this one…" She thought that the only one that was of any use was the first but she still had the fifth. This was the one Asher had handed her first and she was about to place all her bets on it or nothing. She had no more reservations and started in on the puzzle like there was nothing else in the world to focus on.

Garnet just smiled while she watched Laura work. It wasn't that Laura had lacked the mental processing speed, this had been a false assumption. It was that she lacked the drive to focus properly on her actions.