I apologize in advance if this chapter isn't as exciting or interesting as the last few, but I promise it will pick up again soon. Anyway, Star vs the Forces of Evil is owned by Disney and Stands are the creation of the brilliant and talented Hirohiko Araki. Blah. Blah. Blah. Enjoy.
Flowers and Brimstone: Chapter 11.
(Mysterious Island: the next day)
Jackie stood at the base of an ancient willow tree.
She had no memory of how she got there or even where 'there' was, but for some reason that didn't seem to bother her.
No, all that mattered to her was the music.
That haunting, yet soothing melody that filled the air and dulled her senses.
It was sort of like a lullaby, only instead of making her sleepy, it just sort of made her feel… at peace.
As if the last few weeks were nothing but a bad dream.
All was right with the world.
On a whim, the young skateboarder looked up towards the source of the music and, to her surprise, she saw a man relaxing on one of the high branches. Only, he wasn't an ordinary man. He had the face and upper body of a man, but the legs and horns of a goat.
Jackie recognized him from a picture in a book Janna had once shown her.
His name was Pan.
The ancient God of the Wild.
A character straight out of mythology and yet there he sat.
Playing his entrancing melody on his enchanted pipe.
Yes…. All was right with the world.
Suddenly, Jackie's eyes snapped open and she was back in the damp, smelly cave she'd been forced to sleep in for the last three nights.
Her back was aching, and her side was still sore from when she pulled out that chunk of wood.
And on top of all that, she was going to be murdered tomorrow by a deranged lunatic unless she could somehow defeat a different deranged lunatic who had already kicked her butt five ways to Sunday.
Everything was terrible again.
"Morning, Jackie." Said Kelly warmly as she entered the mouth of the cave; a large dead boar slung over her back. "Check it out. I caught us some breakfast."
"Oh goodie." She replied sarcastically. "Roast boar… again."
A bit rude, perhaps, but perfectly understandable. For you see, dear reader, aside from some birds and a few poisonous snakes, boars were the only creatures indigenous to this island. Which, as I'm sure you can imagine, severely limited the girls' dining options during their little 'vacation'.
"Yeah, I know. I'm sick of it too. But hey, it beats starving to death." The bush-girl said casually as she tossed the dead behemoth to the ground. "So, you just getting up?"
"Yeah, I had that dream again. You know, the one with Pan and the old willow tree."
"Wow, that's weird. The same dream every night since we got here. Wonder if that means something."
"Yeah, it means that eating pork three times a day will give you weird dreams."
"Hey, now don't go getting all crabby on me, Ms…. uh… Crabby Crabberson. I'm just trying to lighten the mood."
"Sigh. I know. I'm sorry, Kelly. I just… tomorrow…"
"Hey, now don't you worry about that. It's still early and we've got all day today and… most of tomorrow to figure out a way out of this mess. Trust me. Everything is gonna be just fine.
Kelly was obviously lying, but something about her cheerful disposition made Jackie feel a little bit better. But alas, that still didn't change anything. Tomorrow was still looming over them and they were seriously short on options.
Danni had already exposed Pin Ball Wizard's glaring weakness and demonstrated her proficiency at exploiting it. So, fighting her head on was out.
Running away wasn't an option either. For, even if they could successfully build a boat without alerting Danni to their location, the island had no beach. It was surrounded on all sides by steep cliffs and it was a ninety-foot drop into the ocean. No way to survive that.
Kelly suggested stockpiling some food and hiding out in the cave for a few weeks in the hopes that after killing Danni, Chemical Romance would lose interest. A risky gamble, and even if it worked, it wouldn't solve anything. No one knew where they were, so they'd just be stuck on that island for the rest of their lives. Growing fat and lazy like the boars they were forced to eat.
Shudder.
Nope, no matter how she looked at it, there was no happy ending in sight.
Rip.
Oh, right. I forgot to mention. Although her wound had all but completely healed, the area was still pretty tender. So, every so often, Jackie would get a sudden jolt of unbearable pain in her side. And when I say unbearable, I mean seriously unbearable. The kind of pain that makes your eyes roll into the back of your head. Imagine being stabbed in the stomach by a long, jagged knife made of frozen acid.
Are you imagining it?
Good.
Anyway…
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Jackie howled in agony as she was suddenly overcome by the pain I just described to you a second ago.
"Oh dear." Kelly said concernedly. "Is your wound acting up again?"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"
"I'll take that as a yes. Hold on, I've got just the thing."
And with that, the young bush-head reached into her back pocket and pulled out a small brown bag. Then, from out of said bag, she pulled a little black mushroom and held it up for her friend to see.
"See this, Jackie? This is a Morpheus Mushroom. This'll fix you up in no time."
"UGH! Where did you get that?"
"In the woods. I found a bunch of them growing on a rotting tree stump."
"EWW! I'm not putting that in my mouth! AAAAAAH!"
"It's either that, or I can chew it up for you and force-feed it to you like a momma bird."
Not liking Option B, Jackie quickly snatched the disgusting fungus and shoved it into her mouth.
However, the instant the offensive spore touched her tongue the young skateboarder's senses were overwhelmed by a strange and wonderful euphoria. Suddenly, all the pain and anxiety of the last few days just disappeared; leaving behind only fluffy clouds and sugar rainbows.
"Whoa…" said Jackie, not realizing that she'd already swallowed the funky fungus.
"Well, do you feel any better?"
"Whoa…"
"I'll take that as a yes."
"Whoa… what was that?"
"It's called a Morpheus Mushroom. It's a rare fungus from my home dimension that, when consumed, induces a mild euphoria and, in certain humanoid species, can accelerate the healing process tenfold."
"Whoa-wait, wait! Your home dimension? I thought you said you found these in the woods?"
"I did."
"But what's a mushroom from your dimension doing on Earth?"
"Yeah… listen, Jackie. Don't take this the wrong way or anything, but Earth isn't all that special. I mean, there's nothing here that can't be found in at least a dozen other places in the universe. And most of the things you think your species invented, stuff like vending machines, the internet, and instant coffee, have actually been around for thousands of years on like a million other worlds. Hell, this isn't even the only planet with humans on it. So, if anything, Earth is just one big grab bag of other planets' leftover crap. No offense."
"How the hell am I not supposed to be offended by that?" the young skateboarder asked irritably. "And why am I so cranky all of a sudden? How come I'm not happy anymore?"
"The euphoria from the mushrooms only lasts about a minute. You're probably going through withdrawl."
"Well, then give me some more."
"No way, Jose." Kelly replied adamantly, before stuffing the bag back in her pocket. "One mushroom's good for a quick painkiller. But eat too many and they can really mess you up."
"Oh, come on. One more can't hurt."
"No! I've seen what happens when people OD on these things. It messes with their brain chemistry. No more mushrooms for you. That's final."
"Ugh… fine."
And with that, Jackie crossed her arms and started to pout.
"Aww~ Don't be like that. It's just a fungus."
"Yeah, a fungus that briefly made me forget that we're gonna die tomorrow."
"Will you stop saying that. We're not gonna die. We'll figure a way out of this mess and then we're both gonna go home. Okay?"
"Kelly… how can you be so positive? This whole week's been like a nightmare."
"Easy, death just doesn't scare me." The bush-girl answered bluntly. "And besides, it hasn't been all bad. I mean, aside from the crazy people trying to kill us, hanging out with you has been a lot of fun. Way more fun than I ever had with Tad."
Jackie couldn't help but blush a little at the compliment.
"Gee, I… uh, I don't know what to say. Thanks, Kelly."
"Don't mention it. But listen, let's not talk about all that stuff until after breakfast. Let's talk about something else. Like… why are you so scared of blood?"
A lump suddenly formed in Jackie's throat.
"Wh-What makes you think…."
"Jackie, I was there. I saw that look in your eyes. You were terrified, and not just of Danni. So, what's the deal?"
"Sigh. It's… kind of a long story."
"Well, you might as well tell me. I mean, we're obviously not going anywhere."
"Alright, Alright…" she said reluctantly. "I guess it all goes back to when I was four. That's about as far back as I can remember. My dad used to take me to the park every Saturday. One day, there were these kids playing with a soccer ball and they asked me if I wanted to play too. Dad said it was fine, so I ran over to join them. But while I was running, one of the other kids tried to kick the ball over to me and he ended up hitting me right in the forehead. Next thing I knew, I was screaming my lungs out. Blood running down my face and getting in my eyes. Shudder. It was… it was awful."
"Good Lord. And you were only four years old?"
"Yeah… I think that was the first time I ever saw my own blood. Or at least that much of it. And ever since, I can't even smell the stuff without freaking out."
"Oh, you poor thing. But wait, if you're so afraid of blood, why did you take up skateboarding? People get hurt doing that all the time."
"Actually, that was my mom's idea. She's a psychiatrist. She thought it might be a good way to help me overcome my fears. I never really understood her reasoning, but I guess it worked. I'm a lot better than I used to be, and skateboarding became a huge part of my life. But still… blood… it just… Shudder."
"I get it. Some things never go away. At least not completely."
"Yeah… tell me about it."
An awkward silence fell over the cave.
"So… what do we do now?" asked Jackie after what felt like an eternity.
"First, we eat breakfast. Then we try to come up with a game plan."
And with that, the young bush-girl went over to prepare a hardy, but ultimately unappetizing meal for herself and her injured companion.
End Notes:
Well, that's the end of this chapter.
Again, sorry if it wasn't that exciting.
The next one should be much better.
Anyway, thanks for reading and I'll see you all next time.
Peace.
BTW, are their any OK KO or Storm Hawks fans out there?
Because I've got ideas for stories about those series' and I was wondering if anyone is interested.