AN: A Halloween story that's definitely off the beaten path for me. Well, not specifically Halloween, but it's still a good creepy story. Based on a few friends' lotus series. Oh, and I feel like I should put a Disclaimer: this story deals with Trypophobia, so be advised. Look it up if you don't know what it is, and if you're cool with it, enjoy!
Tasuku let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. His body was on fire, and his arms burned with a bizarre stinging sensation. He managed to find the strength to open his eyes and grimaced when he saw a familiar background.
The lab was in pristine condition, not of trace of any previous occupants having used it. In act, the room was devoid of proper furnishing for a lab, save for what looked like an operation table in the middle of the room. A small tray of medical tools lay on it, all arranged neatly and shining in the florescent light.
It all dredged up a frightening familiar scenario that had Tasuku's stomach doing flips.
He'd had this dream more times than he'd care to count, but he could never remember any of what happened. At least, not with any amount of specificity. Most of the time, the morning after, his mind would be a dense fog, with nothing to explain it but stress. Now though, as the enigmatic doctor, Kakeru, became closer to their group, he'd started to recall his dreams with frightening clarity. And they'd always started like this.
Out of instinct, Tasuku tried to move his arms forward and found them securely bound in metal casings. Any grogginess he'd had eroded away once he felt all his limbs bound in a smilier state and became aware of his own position. He was suspended on the wall, or what felt like it as it wasn't aligned with the rest of the paneling. More than likely, it was its own panel in the middle of the room, and he shuddered to think of what deranged madman would have him strung up like this.
"Oh, Tasuku-san! You're finally awake!"
The Buddy Cop turned his head to face the voice, and glared at Kakeru Futaboshi's smiling face as he approached.
"My, my, that's certainly the fierce look," Kakeru said with a smile. "You really should be taking it easy, you know. Who knows what could happen if you exert yourself too much in your condition."
"My condition?" Tasuku asked, accusation lacing his voice.
His tone hadn't escaped the doctor's notice, and his cordial smile seemed to turn just a bit sharper because of it. "Oh, yes. Don't you remember? You came to me looking for help!" He walked behind the boy, out of sight, the sounds of rattling jars filling the quiet air.
"I get a screening every year from the Buddy Police," Tasuku retorted. "I'm in perfect health!"
He wanted to believe that, but as soon as he said it, a memory flashed in his mind. He found himself short of breath as he, in fact, remembered asking the young doctor for help. It had been such a strange condition, and there were no other doctors on the island who wouldn't just suggest he pull out from the tournament.
"I'm sure your health benefits are great," Kakeru teased, though Tasuku couldn't help but think he meant it as an insult. He noticed a subtle shift in the doctor's tone, one that brought with it a familiarity all its own.
His musings were interrupted when the doctor stepped back in front of him, his placid smile as prominent as ever. But it wasn't Kakeru that had his attention, it was what he was holding. It was an unassuming jar, no doubt used to contain specimen samples when a test tube wouldn't cut it, and it was filled with such a sample.
Tasuku felt his stomach drop when he recognized what was inside.
Large, black pods were held in suspension in what looked like a jelly-like substance. This time, Tasuku was sure he remembered seeing those seeds, remembered feeling the doctor in front of him slowly extract them from his…body. His mind swam as he tried to recall how it all started. He knew there had to have been a starting point, but it always seemed so out of reach…
"Really now, Tasuku-san," Kakeru's voice brought his attention back. "It isn't wise to go against doctor's orders. I worked hard on doing my best to treat you, but it'll all go to waste if you don't follow my wellness plan."
This time, Tasuku was sure he'd heard the doctor's voice turn more aggressive. Every syllable seemed to be laced with a sharp edge so unlike the doctor's usual demeanor. Yet even this sparked a sense of familiarity in him, prodding that memory just out of reach…
"I…am fine," Tasuku asserted, though even he had to admit the effect was lost when he was so short of breath.
"I'm sure," the remark came from the still calm looking doctor, the contrast so clear it almost hurt. "Still, there's no harm in having a physical," he continued, setting the jar down on the operation table. "Who knows what sort of nasty disease you might've caught in the jungle."
Kakeru moved with the efficiency of any professionally trained medical practitioner, and with twice the enthusiasm. He brought out a stethoscope, his voice a gentle lull once again. "Now, this may feel cold."
Adrenaline surged through the boy as the ice-cold device pressed against his sensitive skin, and for the first time, he noticed that he was shirtless, his torso bared before the doctor. His mind, already buzzing from the bizarre circumstances, feared the worst, and he willed himself to look down to his lower body. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw that he was still wearing the bottom half of his uniform, his dignity spared that much.
"Your heart seems to be working in perfect order," Kakeru said after a while, and Tasuku couldn't help but notice the odd word choice.
"My heart?"
"Yes, your cardiovascular system is performing at optimum efficiency," he reiterated. "Your blood flow is fine, if a little heightened." He gave a small laugh before he continued. "I really couldn't have found a better subject than you, Tasuku-kun."
Tasuku's head was giving him all kinds of warnings, intuition from his years on the Buddypolice and just flat out common sense all warned him of impending danger.
"What do you mean 'subject'?" he managed to ask, and was proud of himself that he kept his voice from shaking.
Kakeru seemed to notice this as well, his smile becoming unnervingly sharp once again. "I mean that I've been having so much fun seeing my experiment progress so smoothly!" He turned away and went behind the panel again, rummaging through what Tasuku could only guess was a medical kit. "I really owe you a lot. Without you, this experiment would never have reached its," he took a moment to chuckle. "Final Phase."
The doctor returned to face him, now holding a small syringe in his hand. He smiled congenially, wiping a portion of Tasuku's neck with antiseptic. Cleaning the area, Tasuku realized. The motion was almost calming, bizarrely normal but calming. He watched Kakeru uncap the needle in his gloved hands, give it a flick to test for any stray liquids and move to inject it.
It was one second too late that Tasuku realized who was doing his impromptu vaccination, and he tensed his neck muscles as much as he could, trying to make the doctor's aim miss.
"Well, aren't you the stubborn one!" Kakeru's voice - or was it really Kakeru's since it took on that aggressive tone - rang out, the boy so close to his ear. "And I even took the time to make sure it wouldn't hurt at the start."
Tasuku's breath hitched, and he tried to break free of his bindings again. He pulled and moved his body as much as he could, anything to keep the demented doctor from accomplishing his task.
"Well I can't say I didn't try," Kakeru said with a shrug. For a moment, Tasuku entertained the idea that he might've called it quits, but he was jolted back to reality when Kakeru grabbed his hair and slammed his head back against the panel, making his vision swim. "Now…!" he said, voice laced with barely contained excitement as he exposed Tasuku's neck. "Time to take your medicine, Buddy Cop!"
He brought the needle down, and it pierced the boy's skin with ease. Pain flared through Tasuku's neck, followed by a strange burning sensation when Kakeru injected him with the syringe's contents. The boy found himself unable to think, his vision blurring as the foreign substance ran through his system.
"You don't know how long I've wanted to do that!" Kakeru said, a manic derangement coating his words.
It was that voice that brought the full weight of what happened down on Tasuku, and he shuddered at what it meant for him.
"You're not Kakeru…" he managed out.
"Oh, but I am!" The doctor continued, "At least technically, anyway! But I see what you're getting at, so let me congratulate the slowest horse for finally crossing the finish line!" He gave one last smirk and threw off his lab coat, and Tasuku didn't have the strength to gasp as the young doctor's true identity was revealed. It was almost ridiculous how the man before him managed to conceal the entirety of his outerwear with such a tepid facade, but he somehow managed it.
"Doctor Gara…" he rasped out, doing his best to leer at the criminal fighter. "What did you do to me?"
"Well, if you're really that curious," Gara said with a sneer as he took out a lollipop and nursed on it. "I may as well tell you. Those seeds need something special for them to grow," he pointed to the jar of black pods floating in their incubation tank. "Something that you seem to posses in abundance."
"And what's that…?" Tasuku asked, trying to sound defiant, but only managed to seem desperate with how sparse a commodity air soon became.
"Beats the heck outta me!" the mad doctor fully admitted. "Even the great genius that is myself couldn't manage to figure out what made these things tick… at least, not until few weeks ago."
Tasuku could barely feel the muscles on his face, but he knew he had a panic stricken look from how gleefully Gara was smiling.
"Yes! That memory at the back of your mind…" he cackled out a laugh. "I can't believe you still don't fully remember. I'd almost be insulted if it was anyone else!" He grasped Tasuku's chin, raising his head up and jammed his spit covered sucker into the boy's mouth.
For a brief moment, Tasuku registered that the candy was a different flavor than before, a harsh taste of artificial cherry and what he could only imagine was the doctor's spit, coating his taste buds. He tried to spit out the obstructing object, but found his jaw muscles were too tight to allow that, something that immediately made his pulse quicken.
"There's not a lot you can do when the better half of your muscles are locked up," Gara commented snidely, as if he knew what the boy had intended to do. "But don't worry, all your vital organs will remain in tact…" he gave a shrug, as he happily admit. "More or less."
It took everything Tasuku had to make his mouth work enough to call out one last question. "But why!?"
"Science, of course!" came the doctor's retort. "This is the first positive result I've seen in months, and I'm curious to know how it'll play out!"
Tasuku tried to form a retort of his own, but instead had to hold back a scream when he felt his body lurch forward, his head bowed as whatever was in the syringe finally started to take effect.
For a long, tense moment, the room was silent, save for Tasuku's panting gasps. In fact, he felt what happened next before he heard Gara laugh at it. An oddly familiar creeping sensation tingled right on his neck, where the injection took place. He felt liquid run down his body and couldn't bare to look at what color it was. It was oddly surreal that he fervently hoped it was red.
"It's starting!" Gara said what he was thinking, though the doctor's voice held a mad glee that might've been endearing had it not come from a deranged madman. "And it's so much bigger than before!" he continued. "Take a look, dear Tasuku! It really is quite a sight!"
In hindsight, Tasuku was glad that his jaw muscles were restricted. The newest sensation of something solid creeping out of his neck made him want to scream. But he would not give Gara that satisfaction. At the very least, he'd keep his dignity.
"I had no idea you were an autumn, little Tasuku!" Gara said with a surprisingly subdued amusement.
The statement was so jarring that Tasuku opened his eyes on reflex, and then desperately wished he hadn't. A black mass out of the corner of his eye caught his attention, and he was drawn to the odd protrusion that came from his body. What could only be described as small vines were creeping out of holes that had seemed to open out from his neck. He stomach dropped when he saw black ichor run down his body, as if his pores were sweating out the stuff.
Even more disturbing was the fact that the vines were advancing over him, some curling along his forcibly outstretched arm while the rest crept down his chest. As his eyes watched the vines on his arms creep past his elbow, he found out what Gara had meant; a honey-yellow flower, or what looked like one at least, had sprouted from the collage of plant life now on his person.
He forced his eyes down to his body, hoping it would have better results. At first, things looked hopeful; the vines had stopped at his stomach, and Tasuku was about to breath a sigh of relief until he felt another, much more centralized pain lance through his body. It felt like the vines on his stomach had embedded themselves in his skin, digging around in his body for something to nourish them.
"Looks like you're still as popular as ever!" Gara's voice jolted him out of his haze. The mad doctor was chewing on a fresh sucker, a gleeful smile showing off the purple candy. "I think it likes you, Buddy Cop!"
Tasuku couldn't respond even if he wanted to, the vines had defiantly pierced his stomach, and, with his head bowed, as it was every time a new sensation ran through his body, he witnessed his abdomen turn a disturbing shade of black. More vines surrounded the encroaching blackness, as if giving the horrific picture a suitable frame.
Gara was beside himself, his fists clenched tight as he pumped them up and down, chanting excitedly, "Grow, grow, grow!" over and over as the vines did their thing.
Time seemed to slow for the Buddy Cop. His entire body was on fire, but the scene playing out before him had left his mind in such a state of shock that he barely even paid it any mind. His stomach, now completely black to match the vines that surrounded it, seemed to sprout a small pod, so similar to the ones still floating in that jar, right where his belly button was. He tried to clench his eyes shut as he felt the protrusion steadily grow, as if it were feeding off of him.
In the back of his mind, he remembered how he used the sucker's foul taste to give him the barest amount of distractions from what Gara had done to him, and he used every last bit of muscle control he had to lick at the terrible cherry flavoring.
But all the cherries in the world could never prepare him for what happened next.
Pain lanced through his stomach, and the pod was followed by another, smaller pod… and another… and another…
Something in Tasuku's stomach lurched and he felt a rush of bile flood his mouth. Miraculously, his jaw parted enough for him to hack up the ichorous black fluid… right onto the pods that littered his stomach. The growths surged and almost seemed to meld into one, each of them opening up to reveal more black vines that intertwined with each other.
Even Gara looked shocked at that development, his chanting stopped at the phenomenon occurring.
Before long, the vines had managed to grow out of the boy's stomach by a significant portion, creating one, larger protrusion that loomed over Tasuku. The boy watched as the mass of vines separates at the sides, forming two thicker limbs from the stalk. It felt odd referring to them as such, but the comparison became more apt when the 'head' of the protrusion finally solidified and took form.
But it wasn't one that either of them expected.
"Hello, Tasuku," Kyoya Gaen's smiling face, marred slightly from the vines that coated the rest of his body, greeted the Buddy Cop. "It seems you've found yourself in quite a pickle."
Tasuku couldn't even begin to make sense of what he was seeing. His voice had abandoned him, and it was all he could do to not to break into uncontrollable sobs.
His stomach had no such loss, and it lurched violently, causing him to vomit up more black ichor onto the mass of vines that masqueraded as the former corporate mogul.
"It's a pleasure to see you too," 'Kyoya' said, looking nonplussed at the boy's action.
Tasuku raised his head up shakily, desperately wanting to ask why he was here, how was any of this happening…anything!
And in a surreal moment, one where Tasuku let out another strangled sob as he realized how happy he was for it to have happened, Kyoya answered him without a single word passed between the two.
"I'm here to help you," he said, his voice a calming rock in the storm that was his mind.
"I don't need you're help!" Tasuku wanted to shout, but only choked on more bile as it flooded his mouth.
"I think you do," the Kyoya plant answered with a teasing affection. "I'd even go so far as to say, you need my help more than ever."
He wanted to deny that statement, wanted to believe his friends would come bursting in through the walls at any second to stop this torture.
"No one, beside me, is going to save you," 'Kyoya' asserted as he cupped Tasuku's head in his newly formed hands, and Tasuku squirmed as he still felt a few vines wriggle against his skin. "Not the Buddypolice, not Gao," he smirked and whispered into his ear for the last name. "And certainly not Jack."
Tasuku didn't have an answer to that. He never had an answer to that.
"What an ugly weed," Gaara snorted, reasserting his existence. He now held a bright, red chainsaw, and looked incredibly displeased. "I can't believe I used tainted soil!" he said, sounding irritated at the current turn of events more than anything. "Ahh, well. That's science for you," he lamented. "Always unpredictable. And there's only one thing to do with a spoiled batch."
He let his statement trail off and revved up the chainsaw, letting the machine make his point for him as he slowly approached the pair.
"Join me, Tasuku," 'Kyoya' started up again, even with the hum of the chainsaw filling the air. "You know it's the only way to save yourself." His eyes were wide and manic, complimented by Gara's insanity filled ones.
Tasuku never got the chance to answer before Gara brought the chainsaw down on the stalk. Despite the severe laceration the mass of vines had sustained, it was Tasuku who screamed the loudest. 'Kyoya' never moved at all, seemingly unaffected by the pruning the mad doctor was giving him.
But Tasuku felt it. He felt every blade rip through the mass of vines protruding from him, felt as they shredded them to ribbons, slowly advancing to his actual body.
"Thank you for your cooperation, little Tasuku," Gara said, the chainsaw's blade almost complete through cutting off the 'Kyoya' stalk. "Science thanks you, and the world thanks you!"
He felt the tip of something metal hit his stomach, and all he knew was pain.
Tasuku woke up with a loud shriek, throwing his Buddy off the bed as he sat up in a panic. He didn't hear Jack grunt as he hit the floor, he was too busy clutching his stomach, another scream making its way out of his system before something from his stomach did likewise. The boy leaned over the bed, grabbing the trash bin and vomited the bile in his throat. He heaved for a moment, sobs wracking his body as his dream played in his mind.
This time, he remembered everything, and he couldn't tell what was real or not anymore.
"Tasuku!" Jack's voice brought his mind back, and he looked over to the little dragon. "Speak to me! What happened!"
"I…" Tasuku started, but paused when he felt warm liquid on his stomach. Breath hitching, he ripped open his night shirt, sending the buttons flying haphazardly as he desperately looked at his stomach.
It was with a relieved breath that he saw a speck of red dotted near his navel, a small trail of red blood trickling down. Not black…
"You're… you're hurt!" Jack roared, flying in front of his Buddy and scanning the room. "Don't worry, Tasuku," he said in a furious growl. "I wont let anyone harm you."
Kyoya's words echoed in the boy's head, and he clutched the sheets tight at what it had implied. Tasuku looked up to his Buddy, not knowing what to say but desperate to have something fill in the void.
That's when something caught his eye. Something that brought a bizarre amount of comfort to him.
"Jack," he said softly, and had to smile when his Buddy rounded on him, concern etched in his small snout. "Your knife…"
Alarmed, Jack flew to the bathroom to examine his trademark weapon. A frantic gasp followed, Jack came out looking thoroughly defeated.
'He saw it too,' Tasuku noted, smiling somberly when he realized that Jack hadn't cleaned up.
On the tip of Jack's knife was a small smear of red, and Tasuku was familiar enough to recognize it as his own blood.
Tasuku hugged his Buddy's small body tight, taking comfort in feeling his warm scales against his skin. He knew the green dragon would go on a tangent about how he felt awful for harming him and punish himself for doing it, but Tasuku wouldn't have it. They could both put two and two together to know it was an accident, just a small poke from an unfortunate sleeping position.
More importantly, he recognized it as that final jab before Gara's blade hit him, and that it had saved him from that nightmare.
His Buddy had saved him. Just like he always would.
"Thank you, Jack," Tasuku said, his voice cracking as he fell to his knees, bringing his Buddy with him. "Thank you for protecting me."
Jack didn't know what to say, so he did the only thing he could do, and leaned into the human's embrace.
"I'll always be there for you, Tasuku," he said quietly. "That's what Buddies are for."
Hearing his Buddy say that, instead of the horrific amalgamation of vines that had been Kyoya Gaen, made Tasuku sob even harder, but it still brought a genuine smile to his face now that he knew his Buddy was right.