Chapter Ten: Wash it Off
When the seven stepped through the portal and into the beautiful grove of olive trees, the glitter of gold between the clusters of oblong leaves and round, ripe olives was unmistakable, especially when struck by the shining rays of sunlight. As they stepped through the clusters of fertile, living trees, the shine of the glittering gold ones became brighter and brighter to the point of near blindness.
It took quite a bit of careful maneuvering down and around the sharp, unbreakable twigs of gold in their attempt to find whatever lay beyond the trees. Some of the razor-like leaves were unavoidable, though.
"OUCH!" Joey yelped in shock as he pulled his hand away from a thin branch which he'd absentmindedly swatted at. He turned it over and saw a tiny gash forming in the middle of his palm. "Geez, where de heck did all a dese trees come from?!"
Téa stared up at the twisted, gnarled trees rather sadly. "It's strange…" she murmured, "the gold is beautiful, but…" She glanced back towards the towering verdure they'd just stepped through. "If these were once real trees, then…now they've become really…lifeless…"
Finally, after the seven stepped over a flowing stream twisting all around the gold trees, they arrived in the midst of a clearing adorned with a Grecian temple, also made entirely out of the precious metal. Some clusters of the grass in the clearing had been turned to gold as well, while others remained part of the fertile greenery.
Standing by the final, untouched tree closest to the clearing was Spencer and Yuri, the former reaching out towards a tiny branch sticking out near the bottom of its trunk while the latter pulled desperately on his outstretched arm.
"Spencer, stop this!" Yuri was screaming angrily right into Spencer's ear. "Don't you realize that you've been afflicted by an immortal with a gold touch and a fever to go with it?! You've got to snap out of it!"
"Shut up!" Spencer jabbed his elbow straight into Yuri's chest, sending him down onto the green and gold earth. The young one glanced up into his terrifying golden eyes and could only listen in shock as he said: "Don't you dare try to distract me while I'm creating my fortune!"
With that, he looked back towards the lush olive tree and touched the tip of the branch he'd been aiming for. Almost immediately it became shrouded in a glimmering gold aura and transformed into the same shining material the trees around it were made of, blending in perfectly with the scenery. The seven couldn't help but back up one step as Spencer threw back his head and let out a crazed, almost maniacal laugh at the sight of the gold.
Yuri slowly brought himself back to his feet. It was almost unbearable to look at his former father. No, this wasn't his former father; he was certainly not this crazed, wealth-hungry man.
My stars, he's in this far too deep…For the first time since he'd regained his powers, he felt completely helpless. How in the world am I going to snap him out of this…?
"Grandpa!"
Like an answer to a prayer, the voice of his grandchild's alter-ego rung in his ears. He snuck a hopeful glance behind him and saw, indeed, he and all of his friends were standing by the edge of the clearing. They'd arrived almost like magic.
"Oh, thank God!" Yuri hurried to the group of seven. "I really need some help here; Spencer has apparently been afflicted with some sort of gold fever thanks to a divinity who cast a spell upon him, and I've been trying to snap him out of it with reminders of why exactly we were supposed to come here, how some queen could possibly be harming all of you at the moment, how-"
"Wait one moment!" Pharaoh held up one hand to cease his meandering. "You know of where we are and who has brought us here?"
"Ye-es, we have a sense of the who and where in all of this, but Spencer could possibly have more information which he didn't get the chance to tell me." He looked back at the king, now kneeling down to the ground and touching every last little blade of grass which he had yet to turn to gold. "Now it's unlikely that we'll ever find out what he knows…"
"Grandpa, calm down," Pharaoh placed his hands reassuringly onto the youth's shoulders. "I realize that Spencer's situation appears bad at the moment, but we, too, have just gone through what seemed like inescapable ordeals, and we've managed to get through them with all that we have." He smiled wanly. "Come now, you said that a divinity gave Spencer the golden illness, correct? Do you have any idea which one it was?"
"Hmm…" Yuri frowned as he focused his thoughts on the god who'd made his father go insane. "He wasn't one of the Egyptian gods, I'm quite certain of that…though my knowledge of them isn't as extensive as them, I believe he was Greek…gold hair, leopard pelt, pinecone-tipped staff…which one is that…?"
"Perhaps it would help to recall which story this is as well," Pharaoh suggested. "Thus far, I believe all of the various situations we've been in have been based upon various fairy tales and folklore of long ago, so perhaps this one is of Greek mythology. Do you recall any of their myths, by chance, involving one with a golden touch?"
The moment he said the last two words, Yuri's violet eyes lit up with realization. "That's it! Now I recall; this is the popular myth of the golden touch!"
He excitedly started letting the story flow out of his mouth more and more quickly as it came back to his mind. "There was a Greek king by the name of Midas who received the golden touch from the god called Pan-yes, that's definitely who that was-as a reward for saving his teacher. The man was already afflicted with a gold fever, and once he received the golden touch, it became even worse. He started transforming almost everything in sight into the substance."
"Wait a sec…if he turned everyting dat he touched inta gold, how de heck could he eat anyting?" Joey asked.
"He couldn't," Yuri smiled. "That was one of the reasons why he got Pan to give him a way to get rid of the 'gift'; it was becoming far more of a curse."
"Um, I don't think that's the way we're going to get him to give it up." Tristan stared pointedly at Spencer, who kept letting out laughs of sheer delight with each piece of verdure that turned to gold with a mere tap of his finger. "He doesn't look the least bit hungry right now."
"No, but there must be something else…" Pharaoh replied. "Something which, if Spencer turned it to gold, would force him to realize his new 'gift' is a curse that he needs to rid himself of…but what would that be?"
He and Yuri focused their thoughts on the means to Spencer's end of his affliction for a little while, trying to figure out what could possibly cure him of it, while the rest simply stared and watched as he turned in a circle around his spot and kept tapping more and more blades of grass, transforming them from green to gold with a hysterical giggle.
Slowly, Yuri's eyes widened with a slightly perturbed look, and the corners of his mouth curled down into a frown. He'd just figured out a possible solution, but…could he really bring himself to go through with it?
Pharaoh noticed the change in his countenance and asked, "Do you know of a way which we could finally bring Spencer to his senses?"
Yuri considered the thought which had crossed his mind for a few more moments. Finally, he took in a deep breath and replied, "Yes, I do. And when he does so, tell him to simply remember the river Pactolus. Therein is the cure."
With a determined look in his eyes, he spun around and marched straight back towards Spencer, undeterred in any way by his crazed cackles of joy. When he reached Spencer, he folded his arms and snapped, "Spencer, listen to me."
Spencer rolled his eyes at the sound of the annoying kid's voice. He turned around and said with clear exasperation in his voice, "What do you want now?"
"So is this really all that you care about now? Gold, gold, and nothing but gold?" Yuri spread his arms out to indicate the grove of golden olive trees before them.
"Maybe it is. What's it matter to you?" This kid was really getting on his nerves; couldn't he leave and let him get back to his gold-turning spree?
"Fine. If that's all that matters, then allow for me to add one more piece to your collection. I hope you enjoy it."
He suddenly reached out, grabbed Spencer's arm, and pressed it up against his chest. His aura became surrounded by a soft, golden glow, and in an instant his entire body had been transformed into the precious substance, his golden eyes locked in a nasty glare aimed directly at the king.
"Grandpa!" Pharaoh cried out in shock.
"Idiotic old man…" Kaiba muttered.
No one else could speak; they were far too dumbstruck by Yuri's action.
Spencer fixed his gaze upon the golden child before him, arm still stuck in the metallic grasp. Slowly, the gold shining through his eyes faded away as they widened in horror, and his breathing became quick bursts of heavy, gasping air filled with terror.
"By the gods…" he finally managed to get out. Little tears formed in the corners of his eyes, trickling down his cheeks and splattering onto his outstretched arm. "I…by the gods, what have I done…?"
He reached out with his other arm and wrapped it around his former child's neck, pressing the side of his face up against his cold, metallic chest and staining the gold with salty water. "Y…Yuri…I'm so sorry…"
The seven sadly watched and allowed him to let his tears flow, just to ascertain that he had truly come back to his senses. Finally, Pharaoh stepped forward and, as he approached, murmured, "We apologize, Spencer, but Grandpa believed this was the only way to relieve you of your insanity."
Spencer glanced up at him, eyes shining from the salty water spreading around them, and sobbed, "But…why the heck would he resort to this? I know there's a cure for the golden touch, but…" He hung his head in shame. "I can't remember it at the moment…not when he's…"
"Calm down, Spencer," Pharaoh insisted. "Yuri specifically instructed us to tell you something once you'd been relieved of your illness, and I'm quite certain it pertains to the cure. He said to remind you of the river Pactolus."
"Pactolus?" Spencer shut his eyes and tried to think through a mind clouded with anger and despair. "I know that name…" He absentmindedly reached up to tap his forehead in order to hurry his thoughts along, but he quickly stopped from fear of turning himself to gold by accident. "C'mon, Spencer, it's from some Greek myth you've heard before…"
"The myth of King Midas?" Pharaoh suggested.
Spencer's eyes snapped open and glanced up at Pharaoh in shock. "Yeah, that was it! But how did you…"
Before he could finish the question, the brush of his hand up against the gold of his former child's body, chilly to the touch, answered it for him. He glanced towards the statue, eyes locking with its defiant stare, and smiled wanly at it. "Your knowledge of ancient myths extends a little beyond those from Egypt, huh? Very impressive."
Spencer brought himself to his feet. "Now, then…" He glanced around the grove mixed with green, pointed blades of grass and sparkling gold olive trees, his gaze eventually falling upon the beautiful stream running under and around the roots and trunks of precious metal.
As he made his way to the flowing blue liquid, he murmured aloud his slowly returning recollection of the Greek myth. "King Midas' gift started out as a blessing, giving him all of the riches he desired…eventually, however, he found that it was becoming a nuisance, what with being unable to eat anything without it turning into the inedible substance…"
He stopped by the side of the water's bank. "Thus, Midas went over to Pan and asked him how he could get rid of the annoying gift…" He got down to his knees. "And his response was to wash his hands off in the river Pactolus, whose water would heal them of their given curse…"
He reached out and sank his arms into the water all the way up to their elbows. The liquid wrapped itself around his hands in a cool, healing touch, washing the disease which the Greek god had inflicted upon him away with the flow of the stream.
Once he felt he was cured, he pulled his hands out of the stream and flapped them a little, flicking droplets of water everywhere. "Let's see if this truly worked…" he murmured to himself.
He stood up and turned towards one of the golden olive trees. With a stretch into the air and some flexing of his fingers, he reached out before him and wrapped his hands around a low branch of the sparkling tree.
The tree became surrounded with a soft, hazy aura of an evergreen color. Every last bit of its gold slowly pulled away from the bark, leaves, and roots and flowed down its trunk to the ground like melted metal, leaving behind only rugged brown bark and the pure green of springtime foliage.
Téa smiled happily at the sight of the tree, restored to its former, living glory. "It's like it's been reborn…" she murmured to herself.
"Thank the gods…" Spencer pulled his hand away from the branch he clasped as its aura faded away and made his way towards the next golden olive tree with quick determination in his every step, arm stretched out to touch it and return it to its former state of greenery.
The seven watched as Spencer darted from one tree to another, tapping each one by its trunk or a branch, if it came within his reach. With each piece of the grove, he waited impatiently as the soft green aura surrounded it and the gold slid off of it, flowing deep into some unknown within the earth, and made his way towards the next one the moment he saw the aura start to wane. Once every last tree had been restored to lush, fertile verdure again, he quickly turned his attention to the ground beneath his feet and scanned the array of dark green blades for glitters of gold. The instant his eyes fell upon one golden piece of grass, he pounced upon it and tapped its very tip with his finger, also surrounding it with the magical aura that brought it back to its former state of living greenery.
Finally, not one tree statue of glistening gold remained. Life had been restored to the grove, even more beautiful with its dark green, oblong leaves, and round, black olives than in its previous, lifeless state of metal. All that remained of Spencer's gold fever was the statue of Yuri, stuck with a look of false anger and hands clutching fiercely onto an invisible arm.
The moment Spencer saw that only his former child remained in a golden state, he quickly went to the statue and smiled down into its defiant eyes. "Lo siento that you had to sacrifice yourself in order to finally snap me to my senses. I greatly thank you for finding the strength to do so, though." He paused. "Although perhaps I should say so when I'm certain you can actually hear me."
He reached out and placed his hand onto the former prince's shoulder. Shining wisps of green surrounded his outline as the soft, healing touch flowed down into his body. Like the trees and blades of grass, the gold he'd become went sliding down in thick, flowing masses to the ground, leaving behind only the soft pink flesh and solid white bone of a living being.
When the gold had vanished into the earth and the greenish aura had dissipated into the air, at first Yuri could only blink twice, his eyes widening with evident shock. "What…oh!" He lowered his hands and glanced up at Spencer, the corners of his mouth turning upwards. "You finally got back to your senses, correct?"
"Sí, I did," Spencer smiled. "Lo siento for screaming at you before."
"There's no need to apologize," Yuri shook his head. "I understand it was your gold fever talking."
"Even so, I should have known better than to just let myself fall straight into the trap that whichever queen brought us here set up for me." He rose up one hand and clenched it into a tight fist. "And so help me gods, when I get my hands on her…"
"Excuse me, Spencer," Pharaoh stepped forward, "but who exactly is this queen you've been referring to?"
Spencer glanced towards him with wide eyes. "Wait-Grandpa didn't tell you?"
"I thought you were better suited for informing them of the situation," Yuri explained.
"Well, I'm flattered, then."
Spencer proceeded to give them a quick summary of the events believed to have occurred, as deduced by The Three of his dimension. The idea of an evil queen from a fairy tale realm having sent them away wasn't too insane or shocking for them to believe after all they'd been through as heroes; it was the idea that they were being watched without knowledge of it that sent a shiver or two down their spines.
"Dose guys were spyin' on us wit deir portal-machine ting??" Joey cried in disbelief.
"What makes them believe that they can watch over our every move like some sort of psychopathic dictatorship?" Kaiba snapped.
"They don't do it all the time," Spencer assured them, "they only do so when they want to see if any sort of calamitous event is going on in your world, which usually happens after a lull in your time as heroes. Besides, it's not like they've ever seen you guys doing anything too interesting."
"Oh, well, that makes it so much better," Kaiba rolled his eyes.
"Spencer, were they absolutely certain that it was an evil queen who brought us here?" Téa questioned. "It doesn't really make sense to me; what would she gain from kicking us out of our own world?"
"I'm guessing, Téa, that perhaps she sent us out of our world so that she could establish herself within it," Pharaoh suggested. "If she's as powerful as The Three believe she is, then she could easily establish her reign over our realm, provided that we weren't in it to stop her."
So when we get back home, we're gonna find it turned almost completely upside down, right?" Joey said in exasperation.
As though in response, a tiny orb of white light appeared in their midst and once more grew into a portal surrounded by a glimmering aura. The image within showed them the sight of a rather gloomy castle, although perhaps the word 'prison' would have been more appropriate to describe it. The place was made entirely of thick grey stone, with a multitude of black-capped towers reinforcing it. The few windows carved into the walls were all protected by heavy iron bars, ensuring that no one could get in or out through them. What appeared to be actual grey-stoned gargoyles, complete with sneering bat-like faces and violet-glowing eyes, were soaring in the air above the place, roaring angrily at anything and everything that neared it, and a moat around the perimeter, though it first appeared peaceful, had the snapping jaws of sharp-toothed crocodiles bursting up and down on occasion from the liquid's surface with crashes of raging waves.
Only Spencer, Yuri, and Mokuba appeared awestruck by the sight of the glistening palace. The others wore looks of exasperation and disgust on their faces, for surrounding the castle was a very familiar white-stoned wall with cast-iron gates built in for an opening. They did, after all, have to walk through the gates nearly every day in order to enter the grounds of what used to be their school.
"Dat's Domino High, isn't it?" Joey said rather flatly.
"Yep," Tristan replied.
"So de queen or witch or whatever de heck she is decided ta use it as her home base?"
"Uh-huh."
Silence. Then, Joey finally said, "I gotta give her credit for dis: She's finally made school look as depressin' as it really is."
"Even so, we must force her to transform it back into the way it was before," Pharaoh said. "Come now, everyone; let's return home and force this queen to leave it for all eternity…"