"I can't... I can't run anymore!" Conan gasped, his small legs finally giving out after their initial burst of adrenaline-fueled speed.
Among the three honey thieves, Conan was at a severe disadvantage. While Eiji and Sengoku maintained their conditioning through daily tennis training, he was trapped in a seven-year-old's body with corresponding lung capacity and stride length. After their initial sprint, his adult mind was writing checks his child's body simply couldn't cash.
"Come on, keep moving!" Eiji urged desperately, glancing back at the approaching swarm. "If you stop now, we're all bee food!"
"No, seriously, I need a break!" Conan wheezed, coming to a complete halt and bending over with his hands on his knees. "Just give me thirty seconds to catch my breath!"
The timing couldn't have been worse. Eiji stared at him in disbelief. Of all the moments to take a rest break, he picks NOW?
"Eiji, grab his other arm!" Sengoku commanded, seizing Conan's left hand without ceremony.
Understanding immediately, Eiji grabbed the boy's right hand, and both tennis players resumed running at full speed, now carrying their human cargo between them while clutching honey buckets with their free hands.
"AHHHHH!" Conan's scream echoed through the forest as he was dragged along like a reluctant suitcase.
The logistics were nightmarish. For every two strides Eiji and Sengoku took, Conan's shorter legs managed only one, leaving him bouncing and stumbling between them in a manner that was both undignified and deeply uncomfortable.
In their panic, the trio had completely lost their bearings, fleeing deeper into unfamiliar forest rather than toward their campsite. The mistake went unnoticed as survival instincts overrode navigation.
"There! There's a cave!" Sengoku shouted when he spotted a dark opening in a rocky outcrop ahead.
"Perfect!" Eiji agreed, both boys immediately changing direction.
"No, wait!" Conan tried to protest through his bouncing. "Caves are terrible for bee situations! They'll follow our scent right in and trap us!"
But his warning came too late. The tennis players had already hauled him into the shadowy interior, seeking shelter from their airborne pursuers.
Unfortunately, the cave was already occupied.
A massive shape stirred in the darkness, awakened by the commotion and immediately drawn by the familiar, maddening scent of wildflower honey. As the creature's eyes opened and focused on the intruders, recognition dawned on both sides.
It was the same black bear that had been an unwilling participant in Sengoku's previous honey-stealing operation - the one who'd been drenched in sticky sweetness and subsequently stung by dozens of furious bees.
The bear's expression managed to convey both recognition and deep, abiding resentment. If bears could talk, this one would have been delivering a lengthy speech about revenge and justice.
Instead, it roared.
"RUN AGAIN!" all three humans screamed in unison, immediately reversing course.
Despite its impressive bulk, the bear proved surprisingly motivated, lumbering after them with the determination of someone who'd been waiting months for payback. However, its size worked against it in terms of pure speed, and the three honey thieves managed to burst from the cave entrance with a slight head start.
The bear emerged a moment later, only to hear the ominous buzzing sound that had haunted its nightmares. Looking up, it saw the same swarm of bees that had tormented it before, now circling in obvious agitation.
The bear's face managed an almost human expression of outraged disbelief: These idiots are using me as a decoy AGAIN!
But this time, the bear had learned from experience. Instead of engaging the bees and allowing the real culprits to escape, it turned and followed the direction Eiji, Sengoku, and Conan had fled.
If I'm going down, we're ALL going down together!
The result was a bizarre forest procession: three panicked honey thieves in the lead, followed by one vengeful bear, all being pursued by a swarm of equally vengeful bees. Birds scattered from the treetops at the commotion, and small woodland creatures dove for cover.
Fortunately for the fleeing trio, Sengoku's legendary luck hadn't abandoned him. In their aimless flight, they stumbled directly into the mushroom-gathering expedition.
"Mama, look at this pretty mushroom!" Anya chirped excitedly, running toward Yor with a brightly colored specimen clutched in her small hands.
"Oh my, that is lovely!" Yor replied warmly, reaching out to accept the offering. "You're such a good little forager, Anya!"
"Wait!" Ai called out urgently. "Mrs. Yor, that mushroom is actually poisonous. The bright colors are a warning signal."
"Poisonous?" Yor immediately dropped the mushroom as if it had burst into flames.
Anya's face crumpled with disappointment. "Anya is useless... everything I picked was bad..."
"Oh no, sweetie, that's not true at all!" Yor immediately crouched down to comfort the dejected child. "Learning to identify mushrooms takes lots of practice. Even adults make mistakes!"
"You're already doing great, Anya," Ai added encouragingly. "The fact that you're trying means you're learning."
"Really?" Hope returned to Anya's eyes.
Both older girls nodded reassuringly, but their comfort session was interrupted by the sound of crashing vegetation nearby. Yor immediately stood and positioned herself protectively in front of the two children as the mushroom-picking team turned toward the disturbance.
Three figures burst from the underbrush like something from a wilderness survival show gone wrong. They were covered in leaves, twigs, and various plant matter, gasping for breath and looking utterly wild.
"Savages?" Anya whispered, wide-eyed.
"No, wait..." Ai peered more closely at the shortest figure. "That's Conan!"
"Conan?" Yor and Anya tried to reconcile the neat, polite little boy they knew with the leaf-covered creature currently wheezing in front of them.
"Run!" Sengoku managed to gasp out between breaths. "There's a black bear chasing us!"
"A black bear?" Yor's maternal instincts immediately shifted into high gear. "What on earth did you three do?"
Before anyone could explain, a thunderous roar answered her question. The massive black bear exploded from the same bushes, its eyes locked on the honey thieves with unmistakable intent.
"So scary!" Anya squeaked, taking a step backward.
That was all the provocation Yor needed.
Her body moved with fluid precision honed by years of assassination training. She launched herself into the air with a graceful leap, then delivered a devastating roundhouse kick directly to the bear's skull.
The unfortunate animal never knew what hit it. One moment it was charging forward with thoughts of revenge, the next it was sailing through the air before crashing unconscious into a nearby tree.
The silence that followed was profound.
Conan, Eiji, and Sengoku stood frozen with their mouths hanging open. Even Ai and Anya stared in shock at this display of seemingly impossible strength.
She's even stronger than Ran, Conan thought with genuine amazement. How is that possible?
Realizing that everyone was staring at her in stunned silence, Yor immediately reverted to her gentle, apologetic demeanor.
"Oh my, I'm so sorry!" she said, wringing her hands nervously. "That was far too violent of me! I hope I didn't frighten anyone!"
"That was SO COOL!" Anya exclaimed, her eyes shining with hero worship rather than fear.
"The bees!" Conan suddenly remembered their original problem. "There's still a whole swarm following the bear!"
As if summoned by his words, the angry buzz of wings filled the air as the bee colony emerged from the forest, ready to continue their pursuit of justice.
But Tu Shanyan chose that moment to arrive, having heard the commotion from deeper in the woods where she'd been hunting for rare mountain mushrooms.
The ancient fox spirit took one look at the situation - exhausted children, unconscious bear, and swarm of agitated insects - and sighed with the weary patience of someone dealing with particularly troublesome kindergarteners.
"Return home," she commanded simply, her voice carrying an otherworldly authority that seemed to resonate on frequencies beyond human hearing.
The effect was immediate and dramatic. The entire swarm, which moments before had been a writhing mass of righteous fury, suddenly went still. As one, they turned and flew back toward their distant hive without so much as a backward glance.
Sengoku's legendary luck had struck again. Not only had all three honey thieves escaped serious injury despite their harrowing adventure, but they'd also managed to secure two full buckets of precious wildflower honey.
Sometimes, Sengoku reflected as he examined their intact harvest, it really was better to be lucky than smart.
Though judging by Conan's current appearance - covered in leaves, gasping for breath, and sporting several small scratches from being dragged through the underbrush - the young detective might have preferred a bit more of the latter and a bit less of the former.