Once again it's Scarlet's time to shine

Chapter 28: My Brother Holds the Cure

(Scarlet's POV)

I was already off before anyone could notice my current state. I felt as light headed as a Slowpoke and at this rate, one could beat me in a race. I tried to pick up the pace, but damnation I was exhausted.

"No, don't stop now, you're going to get there, find out about the cure, and get your ass back and then you can sneer at Crazefire and tell him he was just being a worrywart," I told myself. I kept on, my eyes resting upon the dead tree that stood near the forest. It had outgrown all the others, and now it stood there proudly as if to say "dead or not, I'm still touching the clouds". I saw something sitting up upon one of its barren branches. It was hard to see from where I was standing, but a faint golden glow was around the appendages. The last time I checked Umbreon had rings that glowed, so that was most likely Mark watching me up there. The Umbreon seemed to nod before leaping down. As soon as its paws hit the ground it went behind the tree trunk, turned human and returned. He stood there, placid, as if this was some hum-drum occasion. His bright red hair and appearance was a constant reminder to me that, despite how much we didn't want to be, we were still siblings. As soon as I was within earshot he narrowed his eyes and snarled.

"You're late."

"I'm tired," I snapped back. Tired and pissed was more like it. He walked around me, eying my weakened form.

"Looks like this has been going on longer than I thought, I'll bet you started feeling this way no more than five months after you escaped." I shrugged.

"I don't know, mind filling me in?" He seemed to revel in the fact that he was under my skin, agitating the Hell out of me. I felt my anger flare, but I was so weary. He glared daggers at me, leaning down so he was nearly nose to muzzle with me.

"You're lucky you are this far gone. If you were up to par I'd fight and kill you right here right now. But to fight your pathetic yellow-furred form would be unsatisfying given your current state." I glared back, unwilling to reply to his insults. I knew now that if I showed my anger openly would only give him satisfaction.

"So?" He mulled, eying me carelessly. He stepped away and sat down, still eying me.

"So what?"

"I see you came, so you must want answers." Rolling my eyes I said, "No duh, how long did it take for you to catch on, jerk face?" He smirked.

"What do you want to know?"

"Well," I said, my voice becoming overly cheery to the point it was obvious I was blatantly being a smart ass, "I want to know the meaning of life, what happens to our souls, and why the FUCK I'm like this!" He leaned back and laughed sardonically, oh how I wanted to ring his neck.

"Well, aren't you bubbly today." I turned away.

"Either you tell me now or I'll limp my way home," I threatened. He sobered instantly, eyes hardening.

"You suffer from the same thing I suffered from. Your Shifter half is at war with your human half." I turned and stared at him.

"Why?" He pulled out two pictures, they were like the kind you see in science magazines where the bacteria are magnified ten thousand times their usual size or whatever. In both of them red dots and blue dots were present, but in the first one they were pressed together, like as though they were joined at the hip. The other one showed the blue dots enveloping the red ones and turning purple.

"This," he pointed to the one where they were joined together, "is what a normal Shifter's DNA looks like. Red is human, blue is the Pokémon. That other picture is a sample of my DNA when I first lost my ability to switch between my forms."

"None of my friends have had this problem though, why am I the only one?" He shook his head.

"It's a special defect. You and I are perhaps the only two who have it, there has never been any other Shifters who have shown this genetic defect."

"Why us?" He grinned and snatched the pictures from my paws, waving them as though I had made them unnecessarily filthy.

"Our DNA is unique because it submits to the Pokémon we're destined to shift into. Unlike other Shifters, our genetic code is passive, so it's easily dominated. If I hadn't of been under Giovanni's care I would have suffered the consequences."

"Consequences?" I echoed. "This is so unreal, what's up with our DNA?" I wondered to myself silently.

"Yes. If you stay stuck in your Pokémon form too long when your affected by this defect, you won't be able to shift back to normal. You'll still speak and act human, but you'll be stuck in a Pokémon's body for the rest of your life." I shook my head in disbelief.

"No way! How can that be possible? … But I can't change my form anymore, and I am really weak, so does that mean he's telling the truth?" He reached into his pocket, pulling out a syringe.

"This is the cure, but it will only work for a year at a time,""How does that work?" He shrugged.

"I'm not sure. They told me it strengthens the DNA and makes it so they only stay joined with the Pokémon's, that way they coexist without being overtaken." I stared at him. How could I trust him about that? What if that was really some type of poison? What would happen then?

"You expect me to believe you?" He gave me a look.

"There's no reason for you to, but I expect you to know that the fact that you don't have much of a choice." He sat the syringe down.

"Besides, I want an epic fight, and right now," he pointed at me as though I was a prime example, "you'd fall over right now if the wind was blowing any harder."

"Hey!"

"Don't bother denying the truth," he said, placid and he almost seemed bored by my outbursts now.

"So, how long?"

"Hmm?"

"How long will it take to work?" He mulled the numbers in his head, before finally answering.

"For you, I'd say an hour, maybe two. I was lucky. I only took half an hour to recover." I wanted to ask him a few things, but the less time I was around him the better. If he was going to kill me in a fight, I couldn't allow myself to associate with him too much, otherwise… I would care about him. I picked up the syringe.

"Thank you." He turned away, waving me off.

"Gratitude isn't necessary, just don't disappoint me when we finally fight." I watched him walk off, seeming to have a path chosen, but I couldn't tell where he was heading.

"He hates me enough to try and kill me, but he won't kill me if I'm unfit to fight back. What kind of twisted relationship do we have?" I wondered. I grabbed the cap of the syringe in my teeth and removed it, the needle glinted in the light and I shivered. I hated shots, absolutely hated them. I leaned against the tree's trunk and felt my left arm for a vein. Once I found one I shut my eyes a bit and pushed the point in. Pushing down I felt a fiery burning sensation shoot through my veins. The plunger went down, until there was nothing left in the syringe. A few seconds later the burning intensified. I groaned. He had lied and poisoned me! The bastard had gone ahead and poisoned me! I started home, hoping to at least drop dead among my friends. A little less than an hour later I stumbled into my room and curled up beneath the sheets. I felt weary, but a little bit better now. Without realizing it, my body glowed and expanded, and I found myself laying there, entirely human. A small pair of concerned eyes stared at me and I stared back at them.

"(Are you okay?)" Shocky asked, pressing his nose against my cheek. I realized then that Mark hadn't been lying. I was human and it had been almost an hour since I had injected myself with the cure. I smiled thinly.

"I'm fine, what's Crazefire doing?"

"(Trying to avoid that Cubone, she sure does like to follow him.)" he said. It was cute how naive he was.

"Yeah, she's always in his hair."

"(Damn it Morse! Let go of my leg!)" The Monferno's shout reached my ears.

"(But Craze-ey, I want you to stay out here.)" Her reply was laced with charm.

"(No, no, no! A thousand times no! And stop calling me that, it sounds like you're calling my crazy!)" He yelled, rage apparent in his voice. I tried not to laugh. Shocky giggled a bit. Suddenly, the Monferno bolted inside and slammed the door shut. There was a scratching and a lot of banging on the other side of it, Morse wasn't finished trying to follow him yet.

"Hey there, Craze-ey." I said, making him gawp at me in surprise.

"(Not you too? Ugh, what happened to just calling me Craze?)" I moved a bit, glancing around before looking for something to wear.

"I'm just teasing you, the name isn't really becoming."

"(Tell that to my personal stalker. Could you put her in her ball or something for a while?)" He then caught sight of me, "(Oh… I take it he didn't kill you and cured you instead?)"

"Yeah, uh, where are all my clothes at?" I asked.

"(…)" Shocky glanced away, his eyes getting a look I recognized well. It meant that something had been broken, gotten lost, or any other possible unfortunate event had taken place in my absence.

"What happened?"

"(Sonar was bored, so she kind of hid your clothes,)" Shocky said. I gave him a curious look before bursting out laughing.

"(What's so funny?)" Crazefire asked, eying me as if I were a mad woman.

"I just realize I saw a pair of undergarments hanging from a tree branch on the way here! I thought they looked familiar!"


Just what kind of relationship does Scarlet have with her brother? He wants to kill her, and yet he's here helping her? Maybe we'll get some answers (while Scarlet searches for the rest of her clothes) soon, so stick around for the next chapter of The Shifter Chronicles!

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