The Legend of Yellow
By: hydro-serpent58
Chapter 30: The Crimson Sands of Time
Water dripped down through the crevices of the wall in a repetitive rhythm. Drip drop drip drop. Reminiscent to a clock, it filled the dull silence. Shadows swallowed the room, the beginnings of dawn filtering in through the window. A lone figure sat on the hard, concrete floor.
His vermillion red hair tied back in a loose, low ponytail; he wore a black sleeveless shirt and dark brown cargo pants. Black hiking boots covered his feet and on his upper left arm, was a painted tattoo. It was the symbol of a golden sphere with the image of a golden wave curling around it. On the opposite arm, a black arm band was situated on his elbow. Dark brown leather gloves fit snugly over his palms, they made him feel secure. Without the feel of cloth covering his hands, it made him feel exposed. Insecure.
He supposed it originated around this time he first met Blue. Only she knew that the gloves were a security blanket. Without them his was naked, vulnerable to the world.
Sitting crossed legged, his stormy gray eyes watched the small figure wrapped in a animal-skinned blanket. Her dirty blonde hair was removed from its ponytail causing it to spill over her shoulders; her neck was bandaged covering the puncture marks from a bite.
The bite marks reminded him of their other patient, who was currently residing in another hut. What happened to them? He wondered, looking outside. Three days had passed, and neither girl showed signs of waking.
I better check on Crystal He thought getting up. Just as he started to walk away, the sound of the blanket shifting reached his ears.
"Ugh." A soft moan escaped Yellow's dry throat as she stretched her aching limbs. The sounds of bones popping into place filled the room, and then, her olive eyes fluttered open.
Huh? Curiously, the girl turned her head from side to side observing the room she was in. There were wooden shelves built into the mud wall, housing multiple items. On one side of the room there was a wooden table and a fire pit. Large boulders encircled the charred spot. Opposite of the room was where small pegs were nailed into the wall, holding various utensils. Above her dark yellow straw hung patching up the roof, the smell of dry clay clouded the air.
On her left side there was a window, it was just a carved square into the hut with no glass. Pinkish-yellow light fell through warming up the slightly cold atmosphere. It was then she noticed the silhouetted figure of someone against the morning light.
His hair glowed a brilliant flaming red, golden highlights flickering through. His pale skin shone like moonlight, contrasting the shadows of his dark clothes. Stormy gray orbs swirled like a vortex, Yellow felt as if she would get sucked into those steely depths.
The dawn's warm pinkish hue enveloped his frame like a halo, giving him the appearance of an angel. Yet, those eyes were unmistakable.
"Silver?"
The boy watched in mild amusement as the girl's eyes widened in astonishment. "Is…it really you?" She asked dazedly.
He grunted an affirmative before striding forward. Bending down, he grabbed a stone bowl and held it to her lips, "Drink." He ordered.
Supporting her back with one arm, Yellow sat up and obediently opened her lips. The rush of warm liquid slid down her parched throat soothing it immensely. After a few moments Silver pulled the nearly empty bowl away and set it on the low table.
Yellow sighed and laid back down on the matt. "Thanks."
He nodded silently and sat back down. Clearing his throat he spoke, "There's somet—"
Yellow gasped suddenly and stiffened dramatically. Grabbing the blanket she pulled it tightly around herself before jerking forward and wildly looking around. "What's wrong?" He asked emotionlessly, although inside he was confused.
"Where are my clothes?!" She asked in a panicked high voice whipping her gaze to him.
Silver silently lifted a finger and pointed to her right. Blinking, the blonde spotted a bundle a few feet away from her. Her hand shot out and snatched the small bundle before pulling the string. Her clothes fell out, folded neatly and smelling fresh, as if it was ironed.
"Your clothes were covered in blood, so we took the liberty of washing it for you." He said bluntly.
The blonde blushed heavily and hugged the bundle to her chest. "Oh uh, thank you. But…did you…?" She trailed off with her face turning a new shade of red that Silver didn't even know existed.
Raising an eyebrow Silver answered, "No. I didn't change your clothes, if that's what you're asking."
The girl breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh…" An awkward silence replaced the warmth that had been there a second ago.
"Um, where are we?" She finally asked, fidgeting as she felt Silver's cool gaze penetrating her.
"You're at a camp, this is a settlement basically." He leaned back on the palms of his hands. "You and Crystal have been out for three days. In the mean time we iced your back and wrapped it in a cast along with your neck. Just to let you know, that's one hell of a bruise."
The blonde winced. "I thought as much." She murmured before looking up from her lap. "Hey, you said 'we'. Who else is here?"
"They're called the Rota Tribe. Apparently their ancestors live in the Pokémon world, somewhere in Kanto. They migrated here to help keep things in balance."
"In balance?"
"There are millions of dimensions that exist in either world, only Palkia being able to traverse them. On this side, there are also millions, except instead of space, in order to access them you need to be able to cross time. Like Celebi can."
"Eh?" Swirls appeared in the blondes eyes. "There are millions of dimensions?! But—but, I thought there were only two!"
"You're forgetting the Distortion World as well as others that humans aren't aware of." Silver spoke dryly sweatdropping as the girl wobbled dizzily.
He sighed, grabbing her shoulders and gently pushing her down. "You need to rest, think about this later."
Yellow smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, you're right." Tucking the blanket under her chin she paused. "Wait, where's Crystal?"
"She's in another hut resting. After the procedure, I don't think she'll be waking up anytime soon."
"What procedure?"
Silver remained silent for so long, that Yellow almost thought he was ignoring her. "It's…pretty gruesome. Do you really want to hear it?" He asked staring her straight in the eye.
She faltered. "Why, is something wrong?"
He looked outside, watching the sky turn royal purple as the blue started setting in. "Yes." He responded, deciding to be frank with the girl.
"Tell me."
"She's suffering from hypothermia. Frost bit almost claimed her ears and fingers, but we were able to save them."
"I thought so, her lips were violet…" Yellow muttered.
"On her right leg," Silver continued as if he hadn't heard her, "was a mosquito bite."
Yellow blinked, "A mosquito?"
"It's an insect," he explained, "Mosquitoes are similar to Zubats, and they draw blood from their prey and can pass on disease through transfusion. Except, unlike the Zubats that drink the blood for nourishment, mosquitoes—the females—need the blood to form eggs."
Yellow stilled, her face slowly draining color. "Eggs?" She repeated faintly.
"Yes. It was red and swelling, we had to drain the excess fluid that had collected there. Rashes formed on her skin so we've been applying mashed herbs to soothe them."
"So…there are eggs in her bloodstream?"
"Yes, but they're not mosquito eggs."
"Then what are they?"
He sucked in a breath, and held eye contact. "They're botfly eggs."
"What?"
"Botflies are also bugs, except the females target blood-feeding arthropods, like mosquitoes or ticks. They capture the insect vector mid-flight and deposit their eggs on them before they're released. In this case, a mosquito was used. After being released the mosquito would go on its way and the next time it feeds on a human or animal, the botfly eggs react to the change in temperature and hatch. The larvae then burrow into the skin of their new host through the bite wound or hair follicles."
Silver stopped and watched as Yellow's face grew white, then whiter; for a moment she seemed milky and translucent as clouded glass.
"Yellow!" Silver spoke sharply. "Are you all right?"
"Yes," she said with a chilling placidity. Her color didn't improve. Her mouth moved in a horrid grimace that was perhaps intended to be a reassuring smile.
"I'm fine." She stood up pulling the blanket up with her, wrapping it around herself as if it were a towel.
"Where is the bathroom, please?"
"Go outside and turn right until you see a table. On it will be some buckets, most are empty but one will be filled with water."
Silver stopped speaking for a moment, "Yellow, you look awful." He spoke with almost painful, honesty.
"I'm going to vomit," she said in that same placid voice, and walked away.
She moved jerkily now, like a puppet, all the dancer's grace he'd had seen in her shadow when she'd saved Crys and him at the Fortress, now gone. She walked out of the hut slowly, but when she was out of sight the rhythm of her stride picked up; he heard the table rattle as buckets were thrown down in haste, and then the sounds. Silver leaned back against the wall and put his hands over his eyes.
(line separation)
When she came back she was still pale but had regained a touch of color. She had washed her face and there were still a few drops of water on her cheeks.
"I'm sorry." He said softly, so quietly that if she moved it would be lost in the sound of shifting footsteps.
"It's all right. It just…startled me." She smiled wanly.
She caught his eye. "Just tell me one thing. Silver. What you said. Is it true? Really true?"
"Yes," he replied. "It's true. And there's more, but do you really want to hear anymore?"
"No," she said, "But tell me anyway."
"We could drop it," he responded not really believing her. Her grave, distressed eyes held his. "It might be…safer…if we didn't," she said.
"The eggs hatched and poisoned her blood. Her body reacted and more white blood cells appeared, secreting puss. The larvae luckily, are still pretty small since they need to remain in her skin for a couple months before they grow really large."
"Did you remove them?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"Yellow—"
"How?"
So he told her—not just about botflies, but about the toxin Hornet Frogs release in their skin pores and how the bacteria in their saliva could really damage the immune system. He told her about the treatment, how a scalpel is used to cut a slit in the wound and then extract the insects. How the larvae breathe through small openings or spiracles that must be covered in order to coax them out of the host. He told her about how they covered the openings with petroleum jelly which blocked the entrance of air preventing them from breathing. The larvae then came up out of the pustule in order to breathe and were removed with forceps.
"We then wrapped up her leg in bandages and antibacterial cream was applied to stop the infection." He stopped, allowing the blonde to absorb the information.
"How is she?" Yellow asked, her olive eyes reflecting worry.
"She's asleep right now, but we gave her a red potion and some blanket dewdrops to help the healing process along."
Yellow nodded remembering them to from the menu Mist had explained to her. Speaking of Mist…
"OH MY ARCEUS! WHERE'S MIST?!"
Silver blinked. "Actually, I was wondering about that. Isn't she supposed to be your guide?"
Yellow froze, and a whole new wave of terror washed over her. Swallowing deeply, in a shaky voice she responded, "C—could you get my bag?"
Raising an eyebrow, the boy rose and strode over to the low table. A worn, yet polished sword laid on its flat surface next to Yellow's belt pack. Picking it up, he returned holding it out to her.
"Be prepared to cover your ears," she warned before pulling out a bottle. He watched in fascination as the pixie stood inside the glass bottle, arms crossed and glaring blatantly at Yellow.
With a mental countdown in her head, Yellow loosened the cork.
3…
2…
1—
"YELLOW! WHAT THE HELL DID I SAY ABOUT RUNNING WHEN I WAS INSIDE THIS FREAKIN' BOTTLE?! DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW IT FEELS TO BE THROWN CONSTANTLY INSIDE THIS GLASS CAGE?!" The pixie roared, her voice erupting as soon as the lid was off.
It was a wonder that the glass didn't break with the sheer intensity of her voice.
Yellow and Silver had their hands plugging their ears, the boy dimly wondered if her tantrum would wake up Crystal.
"I KNOW I WAS DEPRESSED OKAY? BUT DID YOU REALLY HAVE TO MAKE ME FEEL PHYSICALLY SICK WHEN I WAS ALREADY EMOTIONALLY TIRED? I KNOW SHOULD'VE STAYED OUTSIDE WITH YOU, BUT MAKING ME THINK I'M ABOUT TO DIE IS THE WRONG WAY TO DO IT!"
The pixie stopped and began to pant trying to replenish her air supply. In relief, the two Pokédex holders removed her hands from their ears.
"Mist please, you don't understand. If I had let you out you would've been in danger—"
"AS IF I WASN'T ABOUT TO DIE INSIDE THAT DAMN GLASS BOT—"
Suddenly Silver's hands shot out and grabbed the pixie. Maneuvering the bottle out of Yellow's lap, he shoved the pixie back inside the bottle and sealed it by using his gloved hand to block the exit.
Yellow gaped in disbelief. "S—silver?" She whispered uncertainly.
Silver glared, his narrowed stormy eyes turning steel gray. "Shut up. You're making my ears bleed." He growled darkly. The sunlight reflected off his eyes making them glow intensely while the rest of his face grew shadowed.
If Yellow was honest with herself, he looked f****** terrifying.
Mist shrank back from his murderous gaze. "I—I…uh, I'm s—sorry. Please. Silv, it won't happen again." She whimpered, unconsciously using the nickname she'd given him back in Oncore Village.
Staring her down for a couple more moments, the boy scoffed and lifted his hand. I'll hold you accountable to that. He thought.
Slowly, the very much subdued Mist hesitantly stepped out of the glass bottle. She cautiously observed her surroundings, as if the slightest movement would cause Silver's anger to come back with a vengeance.
"Where are we? And when did you meet up with Silver again?" She asked directing the last question at the blonde.
"We're in a settlement, and I just met Silver today." Yellow answered knowingly. She personally knew, that Silver's eyes could unnerve anyone, and that if he was glaring they glowed an unholy steel gray that promised pain to anyone they were directed to. It was something he used to keep the Rocket grunts in check.
"Okay," she nodded. "but where's—"
There was a knock on the wall. Looking over, they spotted a young woman standing by the entrance. She had copper skin and was dressed in an animal-skinned skirt and shirt. Her silky long, black hair cascaded down her shoulders and reached below her knees, around her neck was a feathered necklace. She wore no shoes, and had the most vibrant sky blue eyes Yellow had ever scene.
"Все в порядку?" She asked.
Yellow blinked, "Eh?"
"It's Aribous." Mist responded while watching the woman and trying to place what tribe she came from.
"Так, мій друг прокинувся. у нас є ще один гість." Silver replied shocking both girls.
The woman smiled, "я бачу. Скажу лідера." She then turned and left the hut.
Mist and Yellow stared at Silver, as if he'd grown another head. "What?" He asked, growing tired of their disbelief.
"You can speak Aribous?" Mist blurted.
"Yes."
"How?" Yellow asked amazed.
"I had to learn in order to communicate with them. Luckily they understood I was speaking Japanese so we could communicate to the bear minimum, but it's a lot easier to speak in Aribous."
"Wow…" Yellow murmured amazed. "Can you write it as well?"
"Reading, writing, and speaking are all different things." He said bluntly. "No, I can only speak it."
Shaking off her amazement, Mist spoke up, "Um, I don't mean to interrupt, but where's Crystal and Kitt?"
Yellow froze at the mention of the sparrowman while Silver furrowed his brow. "Kitt?"
"That's right!" The blonde cried startling the boy and pixie. She turned her imploring gaze to Silver, "Silver, have you seen a sparrowman around here by any chance? We were all traveling together, but stuff happened and…" She trailed off.
Silver looked at her silently while Mist began to panic. "What do you mean, 'stuff happened'? What's going on?!"
She was silenced when Silver's dark gaze turned to her. "Kitt started acting funny when we got halfway through the jungle, it was as if he was feeling someone elses pain or something." Yellow shivered.
"And then, he took off."
"Just like that?" Mist asked confused. Yellow shook her head, "No. You don't understand. We heard a scream; something was wailing its agony out on the wind. As soon as we heard it Kitt began to shake, and then we saw—we…oh. Oh gosh…his face.His face was identical to the sorrow the scream had expressed."
The trio stayed quiet for a moment, mulling over these words. "That doesn't explain why Crys was attacking you." Silver spoke up breaking the silence.
A startled expression crossed Mist's face while Yellow looked down, biting her lip. "I…I don't know what happened. She just started acting weird…"
"Like this Kitt you speak of?"
"Yes. But it was different…it was like, she—she—"
"She was going to kill you." Silver's blunt statement shocked both girls out of their thoughts.
"N—nani?"
"When I was out on patrol, we heard a commotion. We found a trail, it was like a wild animal had come through marking every piece of territory it could in a fit of rage. There were long scratches ripping through the bark like a showdown had taken place there."
Yellow stiffened while Mist furrowed her brow, "You don't think Crystal did that did you?"
"You didn't see her. Her eyes were wild and crazed with blood lust. She didn't have a shred of humanity left in her."
"It was the water wasn't it." Yellow murmured, "She drank the water and hallucinated…"
The boy and pixie shared a look. "Yellow, the water may be contaminated, but Crystal didn't swallow a large amount. In fact, all it would do is give her stomach poisoning and nothing more. Poison is different from hallucinogens."
"W—what? But then—"
"You can't blame it on the Botflies either," Silver spoke calmly. "They can cause their hosts to experience minor illusions, but it's a haze. After intense pain caused by the larvae moving around they would snap out of their spellbound state and probably, start screaming."
"But, I remember her eyes were foggy before." Yellow responded, cloudy blue eyes flashed in her memory.
"Then, the parasite did take control of her…at least for a little while." Mist mused.
"But not entirely."
"What do you mean?"
"You saw it yourself didn't you? Her eyes were crimson, and the pupils were slit. Those eyes weren't human. She had fangs Yellow, fangs. If she hadn't been snarling and growling like a Mightyena, she could've been mistaken for a vampire."
"Her movements were too animalistic," Yellow whispered, "I saw her shadow…it resembled a four-legged animal. But it was her shadow!"
"Something's not right," Mist muttered. "She may be an animorph, but her form is a bird. Her behavior is too canine-like."
"It was as if she was possessed by a creature from hell, like a demonic dog," Silver muttered. "They wanted to kill her, because of her blood lust. And they would've too if I hadn't stopped them."
-op-
A couple hours later, the group stood in front of a large hut on a hill overlooking the entire estate. Dressed in freshly smelling clothes with her hair tied back up, Yellow realized just how much longed for a bath. Her back was aching her, and she hadn't worn anything presentable or clean in a while.
As they passed through the entrance a guard inclined his head, "Ми чекали вас."
Silver simply nodded his head and led the way through into the Chief's domain. They entered a large, circular room. It was furnished and looked every bit as majestic as the inside of a castle would, much to Yellow's awe. It was crazy, considering it looked like nothing more than a medium sized hut from outside,
Silver suddenly stopped and got down on one knee, bowing his head. "Ви назвали, Лідер?"
And as if materializing from thin air, the girls spotted a throne the boy was kneeling a few feet away from. On the chair sat an old man. Long, shaggy dread locks fell past his shoulders, tied into a rather messy ponytail unlike Silver. Some strands escaping the band, beads hung interwoven into the braided hair along with beaded necklace hanging around his neck. His clothes were less than decent, barely hanging off his figure, yet despite his skinny, fragile appearance, Yellow could see wisdom and power radiating in those cobalt eyes. Slate grey orbs oh so similar to Silver's own stormy gray pools.
Dressed in a dark red garb, the old men clutched an old staff within his bony hands. Raising his staff, he tapped the ground twice with it.
"Greeting's Silver. I see your friend has woken up." He said with his gaze switching to the blonde, "And of course we now have a Royal Maiden amongst us. I welcome you, travelers. I am Don, chief of the Rota Tribe." He spoke with a deep rich voice, startling the girls. Given his appearance minus the eyes, they were not expecting such a grand voice to escape those chapped lips. [1]
It's strange Yellow thought. Since coming to this world she had met a lot of authoritative figures. People like the mayor of Pandium, or Queen Mizuchie of Fae, and the royal Dutch of the Larks, Rox. Many of those people were actual princesses and princes, real royalty.
Yet being spoken to by Don, made her feel as though she was being talked to by an actual ruler. Not someone who simply bore the title of royalty. Someone who actually was royalty, whose blood, was as blue as his charred lazuli eyes.
Unlike Rox and Aquatheina who were nobility due to being the royal Dutch and Queen, this man held himself in such a manner that made you believe that he was true royalty despite his haggard appearance, it was something about the air surrounding him.
Feeling self conscious, Yellow lowered her eyes fidgeting about the fact that she wasn't as presentable as she wished to be. Even though the man before her looked ten times worse than how she was right now.
Sensing the change in atmosphere, Mist immediately curtsied. "It is an honor to meet you sir," Mist spoke politely, "I am Mist and I represent the garden pixies. I am currently on a journey with Yellow," her eyes flickered to blonde drawing the man's attention back towards her, "I must thank you for your hospitality, I have no idea what would've happened to them if it weren't for you."
"You must not give me all the credit; it is Silver who found you. And judging by the way you said 'them', I assume the other girl is another traveling companion?"
Yellow swallowed the thick saliva that seemed to clog her throat. "Y—yes, her name is Crystal. We were traversing the jungle with a sparrowman named Kitt when we got separated from each other." She said shrinking back a little when those eyes trained themselves on her. For some reason, it felt like he knew she was purposefully being vague.
Thankfully, he seemed to let the matter go when his eyes returned to Mist. "A sparrowman you say?" He asked intrigued.
Mist bowed her head, "Yes. He ran off to Aquatheina knows where."
"Hmm, the jungle is vast. You will not be able to find him without a tracker." Mist looked up surprised while Don turned his head towards Silver, "We have trained you well. You were able to track down Crystal when she went on a rampage, I'm sure you're be able to do the same now."
Glancing at the two girls he asked, "Do either of you have something that belongs to him? Anything that he left behind?"
"Uh…" The girls shared a hopeless expression. "No. Not really, the only thing that he ever carried around was a canoe, but he took it with him."
"I see."
The decrepit man sat up straighter as he lapsed into silence, contemplating the situation. As if a trick of light, he suddenly looked a lot younger and stronger as those steely depths sharpened. Not a wrinkle to be seen, his white wispy hair suddenly shorter, and spiked. Dark dusty blue colored the strands made his incipient flawless, fair skin stand out. Looking untouched by the sun's rays.
They blinked.
And he was nothing more, but an old man again.
[1] Don's name is taken from the origin of Groudon's name. Groudon is the combination of ground and don (Spanish for lord). Don also means tooth in Ancient Greek and is commonly used in dinosaur names, which Groudon somewhat resembles. It may also involve 土 do (ground) or ドン don (onomatopoeia for a very loud crashing noise).
*A/N: Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I hope you had an awesome day, today at school I went around passing out chocolate and peanut butter hearts to everyone! xD My school's crazy, the day before you could actually pay to send someone a candy gram, and I mean ANYONE. In the morning these guys came in and read out loud poems the sender wrote (who paid extra for this) and gave her 16 cards, each one had several candy hearts attached to it, and then later someone else came to give roses, and then after that other delivery students arrived giving stuffed animals. And they all went to the same person. xD Man, the girl that sent her those gifts spent a lot of money doing that, but it was hilarious. I don't know if they do that kind of thing around the world, but it was a lot of fun. :3*
~hydro-serpent58