Unknown Time and Place…
A hooded figure was supporting a young woman who wore clothing resembling ones worn by nurses in the 19th and 20th centuries of Europe and America as she also had blonde hair worn in a bun on the back of her head. She was being loaded up onto a small boat by the hooded figure, while she was unconscious.
"You have the power to save lives. More than any other." The hooded figure said. "That's why…you have to live." they said. "If anyone can create a cure…it's you… It's up to you now…" they finished as they casted the boat off.
The present day…
"So, this is how we're supposed to start the Apothecary's story this time? Stranded out at sea?" Flamberge asked, as the Shining Hope Squad were shown on a pretty sizable ship to hold them all, as they sat on the waters just outside their destination, Canalbrine.
"Not exactly the best place to start a journey…" Kaibara said.
"Hey, at least we're on a ship and not physically in the water." Hope said. "The best we can do is sail to port in Canalbrine and hope the apothecary is there, or…"
"Everyone! Nu sees something out on the water!" Nu called. Everyone looked over the side of the ship to see the skiff that the woman from before was on, with her still laying on it.
"A skiff… and there's someone on it!" Adora asked.
"Bet you guys that's our apothecary…. We'd better get her aboard." Lei K said.
"Read my mind, Lei. Mermista, do you think you could-?" Hope started to ask.
"I've got it." Mermista assured before diving into the water and swimming over to the skiff, before pushing towards the Hope Squad's ship and getting her aboard.
I hear waves… Where am I?
It was at this time that the woman finally started to stir. "Am I…on a ship?" the woman asked as she opened her eyes.
"Well look who's finally awake." Vashyron said. "You're pretty lucky, y'know. We spotted your boat with you unconscious on it. Rescued you as soon as we saw."
The woman then sat up but found she couldn't stand. "(Why…can't I stand? My throat… Too dry…)" she thought.
Ichiro walked over and helped her to her feet before lending her a glass of fresh water. "Easy there, you've had a rough time. Here, drink this."
The woman took it and drank it. "Thank you…for saving me."
"We couldn't just leave you out there." Xion said. "But how did you end up on that skiff?"
"Skiff…?" the woman repeated before shaking her head. "I don't know. I can't remember."
"(Amnesia… so everything checks out. She's our girl.)" Hope nodded to himself. "Don't worry, we believe you."
"You … you do?" the woman asked.
"Let's just say this isn't the first time we've seen a case of Amnesia. When someone says they can't remember anything to us, we can usually believe them." Hope said. "You might not know a thing, but we at least know your name. It's Castti, right?"
"Castti… How…how do you know that?" Castti asked.
"Uh… it's stitched onto your uniform." Flamberge said, noting her name was on her uniform, covering the fact they already knew her name as the Story Sage told it before they left. Castti had blonde hair worn in a bun at the back of her head. Her clothing resembled an outfit worn by nurses in the 19th and early 20th centuries in Europe and America, though her skirt is shorter. This consisted of a light blue dress with a high collar and sleeves worn rolled up and cuffed below the elbow, a full-length white apron with a blue stripe, and a white cap similar to historical nurse's caps, also with a single blue stripe, likely secured to her hair with one or more pins. She also wore a matching light blue capelet with a hood and a pocket on the left side. She carries a brown satchel resembling a messenger bag and has a smaller pouch on a belt at her waist. Continuing with the theme of pre-Industrial western womenswear, she also wore black stockings and brown boots.
"We were on our way to the Harborland port town of Canalbrine when we spotted you adrift at sea. We got you onto our ship pretty quick, and that's how you ended up here." Adora explained.
"I see… From my exhaustion and the severity of my dehydration, it's fair to estimate that I was adrift for several days." Castti said. "And based on the predominant currents in this region of the ocean… it's likely my skiff set sail from somewhere on the continent to the east."
"Whoa, for someone who's got no memory of who she is, you've got a big brain to figure all that out." Kaibara said.
"How do I know all this?" Castti asked. "Never mind that now. I should thank my lucky stars that you all rescued me. You said you were headed to Canalbrine… perhaps there's someone there who can shed a light on who I am."
"Hey guys! I just finished looking through her things!" Scorpia said, coming up on deck. "I found some medicinal herbs and a mortar and pestle. No doubt about it, she's the Apothecary we're supposed to travel with-!"
"Scorpia, quiet!" Catra chided, shutting her friend up.
"Sorry about her. We didn't mean to go through your stuff." Glimmer said.
"No, it's alright. That bit of exposition helped me. It seems from what your friend found in my satchel, I am— I was, an Apothecary." Castti said.
"That's what it looks like. Seeing as how were both heading to Canalbrine, mind if we tag along with you?" Hope said. "We might be able to help you figure out who you are, where you came from. Besides, it's not like us to leave someone alone out there without knowing anything."
"You'd all really help me?" Cassti asked.
"Of course we would. Helping people is kinda what we do." Glimmer nodded.
"Thank you all so much." Cassti smiled. "Any aches, pains or ills any of you have, I'll patch you right up. I'm sure you won't regret having me around."
It wasn't long before the Hope Squad's ship made landfall in Canalbrine. Mooring their ship, they disembarked at their destination.
"What a bustling little town…" Castti said.
"Yeah, nice place huh?" Zephyr asked.
A group of men suddenly laid eyes on the group, specifically Castti.
"Hey, get a load of the girl with those guys." one of them said.
"She's one of them, isn't she…" the second one said.
"Yeah, no mistaking it." the third added before the three left.
"I…appear to be causing quite a stir." Castti said.
"Not the good kind from the way those guys reacted. Let's hope the whole town isn't like that. We need to ask around to find out if anyone knows you." Roxas said.
The group ventured into the town a bit more, but found that the citizens were fleeing at the sight of Castti.
"You're not exactly the most popular girl around even though you just got here." Mermista stated.
"It seems I've been given the cold shoulder." Castti said. "In that case we'll just have to try my luck with someone else." she said before noticing a man walking in front of the inn as he looked sickly while he panted in exhaustion.
"Sesque…" the man groaned before collapsing to one knee as Castti and the squad rushed over.
"Excuse us! Are you all right?" Castti asked, kneeling down to the man's level as a woman ran over.
"What's going on here? Is something wrong with him?" the woman asked.
"He's burning up! We need to get him inside!" Castti said.
The group rushed him inside to the nearby house and laid him on a bed.
"He's vomiting, and he's got some kind of rash." Mikan said. "It has to be some kind of poison."
"It looks like sun fever." the woman said.
"I should have the herbs to treat this. Hold on for just a moment." Castti said.
Casttii quickly began whipping up a restorative medicine to give to the boy.
"Step one, lower the fever. Luckily, we caught this sickness in its early stages. A dash of lychanthe seed mixed with some of these herbs should do the trick… Good. I still remember my craft, at least." Castti said, concocting the medicine as the woman was silent, strangely enough, the group didn't seem to notice her. In fact, in their eyes there wasn't anyone else in the room besides them.
"Is there someone we can't see?" Xion asked.
"Nah, I think Castti's just having a mild hallucination. But let her do her job, she's doing good." Hope said.
"There, there, drink up. Slowly now, that's a good boy." Castti said as she treated the boy. "...Phew. The fever's receding. He's sleeping peacefully now."
"Your work was flawless, from diagnosis to treatment. The very model of an apothecary." the woman said as Castti turned to her.
"Thank you, miss… Er…" Castti tried to say.
"Malaya. I'm a traveling apothecary." the woman said.
"Thank you, Malaya. My name's Castti. And these are my companions, the Shining Hope Squad." Castti said, introducing herself and Hope's team. "Sorry to say I don't remember much else. I was an apothecary, but what kind I cannot say. I've…come down with a bad case of amnesia." she said, baffling Malaya.
"You sure you said you used to be an apothecary? The way you treated him, that wasn't the skills of some first timer." Catra said.
"It seems my hands still remember their craft. Strange, isn't it?" Castti asked.
"Trust me, we've seen stranger." Hope said.
Just then, a man entered the house and turned to the group.
"Who are you people?!" the man asked before eyeing Castti. "Wait… That blue uniform… It can't be… Get back! Don't you dare touch my brother!"
"What?" Castti asked as the man separated the group from the boy.
"Senah! Did any of them hurt you?!" he asked before turning to the group. "How'd you all sneak in here?! What did you do to him?!"
"Whoa, whoa, take it easy! This girl with us is an apothecary, and she just saved your brother's life!" Zephyr said.
"Out! She's one of them, isn't she? Eir's Apothecaries!" the man said.
"Eir's Apothecaries? What-" Castti asked in confusion.
"That blue uniform, that sigil! There's no mistaking it. The whole town's in an uproar about you, witch. Word is one of you pestilence-mongers have been lurking about." the man said.
"Pestilence-monger? I don't understand." Castti said.
"And I don't care! Out, all of you!"
"Yeah, we should probably go…" Charmy said as they left the house and stopped on a bridge.
"Well that just left us with more questions than answers. Like who these Eir's Apothecaries are." Kendo said.
"We can worry about all that later. I'm getting the feeling that Senah's case isn't the only one that's popped up here." Hope said.
"You're right. If we can't identify the root of this sickness, it could engulf the whole town. There's no time to waste." Castti said.
"You're going to help them? Even after how you've been treated? Would your time not be better spent treating your own woes?" Malaya asked.
"Saving these people comes first." Castti answered. "As long as I can heal the sick, who I am is ultimately trivial."
Malaya sighed. "The very model of an apothecary indeed. Very well. You have my aid. Let's split up and find the source of this sickness."
"Malaya…thank you." Castti thanked.
"So… when are we gonna tell her she's hallucinating?" Flamberge whispered.
"Let her be for now, it's not harmful. At least I don't think so." Hope said.
Separating from Malaya for now, Castti and the Squad went down the bridge before being cornered by a group of Canalbrine's townspeople.
"That woman with you people… she's one of those Eir's Apothecaries, isn't she?" the old man asked.
"Now hold on, there's no reason to jump to conclusions here, Castti's not-" Glimmer started.
"We won't let you fool us." a younger man said.
"Slow down a second, who even are these Apothecaries you're talking about anyway?" Gemini asked.
"Don't play dumb. Everyone knows what that little band of apothecaries have been up to on the eastern continent. They travel around charging only a pittance for services… But it's all a sham. Their medicine is poison, and they've killed more than they've helped! I even heard they butchered an entire town not long ago." the first young man said as Castti sighed.
"I don't know what dark purpose drives them, and I don't care. Word is one of them showed up in town, and you're the only strange apothecary 'round here. So…" the old man deduced.
"C'mon, Castti and us just got here! Do we look like the kinds of people to inadvertently kill people and not cure them?" Catra asked. "Besides, she doesn't even remember a thing about herself."
"A likely story! We're on to you people!" an old woman said. "Get off with you!"
"Who I was and what I've done I cannot say. Nevertheless…. Right now, all I want is to help the people of this down. These people and myself are looking for clues as to what is causing the people here to grow sick. Please, if you know anything, tell us." Castti said calmly.
The townspeople were silent, but suddenly the young man in the back collapsed all of a sudden as the three others rushed to him.
"Marlo! What's wrong?" the young man asked.
"Get back, quick!" Ichiro said as the group and Castti checked on him.
"What's the big idea?! He needs help! Or do you want me to leave him there to die?!" the man asked.
"He said, step away! He may be contagious!" Castti announced.
"C-contagious?!" the man asked as everyone stepped away.
"He's got the same symptoms as Senah…. This isn't a coincidence." Vashyron said. "Cass, you better heal him up. We'll go check to see if anybody else has been infected."
"Right." Castti said, carrying Marlo off. After she healed him, the Hope Squad reported in that a whole bunch of people were poisoned as well, so the apothecary quickly worked on them as well. It wasn't long before the situation was under control.
"There… I've done what I can for now." Castti reported.
"Whatever this sickness is, it's affecting the whole town. We gotta find out whatever's causing this and take it out, fast." Bow said.
"I asked around town. Senah told his brother that earlier today, the water tasted funny." Glimmer said. "There was another case with that guy's mom."
"Really? The old man who lashed at us boiled some water, and he didn't find anything wrong." Scorpia said.
"Maybe those who contracted the illness all drank the water without boiling it first?" Castti deduced.
"Of course… boiling water kills any toxic bacteria inside it!" Entrapta said. "That must mean there's something wrong with Canalbrine's local water supply!"
"We draw our water from a spring that flows out of a cavern south of town." one of the townspeople said.
"Then our course is clear." Castti said. "We must hurry to this cavern and cleanse the spring before this sickness spreads further."
And so, the group left Canalbrine in the care of its townspeople to head to the cave they spoke of. There inside, they found the water in the spring was colored a sickly green.
"Such a foul smell." Castti said. "It is true what they say: filth is the root of all illness. Now then… What is it that's made all this mess?"
"Dunno. Why don't we ask them?" Scorpia asked, pointing one of her claws to a pair of simian-like animals, but they were in a very sickly state. They looked completely different from each other. The one on the left was tall and slender with a disproportionately long tongue and green boils lining its stomach with fungus on its arms. The other was a bit shorter and robust, with a green slime producing from its left arm.
"I think you've found the source, Scorpia." Castti said. "So you're the ones causing all this trouble. Bloodshot eyes and jaws dripping with venomous foam. It's obvious that you're infected. Your very touch poisons the waters here, sickening all who drink it."
The slimmer monkey cried out in aggravation.
"Don't suppose we can convince you guys to leave peacefully? Lotta folks need this water more than you two." Glimmer said.
The shorter monkey cried out in aggravation as well.
"Worth a shot. I guess we'll have to do this the hard way!" Lei K said, pounding her firsts.
"This could get ugly, Castti. Can you hold your own in a fight?" Glimmer asked.
"Yes, don't worry about me." Castti said as she pulled out an axe. "Time to clean up this mess!"
"Let's work together!" Xion said as the two monkeys leaped down in challenge to their aggressors and cried out in defiance, everybody striking their combat stances.
Poisonous Primates
Veron & Doron
"Focus on them one at a time! Watch yourselves and try not to get poisoned!" Ichiro said.
The group took on Veron and Doron separately, doing their best to avoid their poisonous attacks.
"Dual Shot!" Roxas called, firing a spiraling projectile of both light and darkness at Veron. The dark shot did more damage to Veron than the light attack.
"That did some damage!" Glimmer said.
"Let's see what else he's weak to!" Entrapta said, scanning Veron. "He's also weak to axes!"
Hearing this, Castti chopped into Veron with her ax. Veron was weary,and seeing its own partner weakened, Doron shoved Veron to the ground and pounced on him, and started savagely eating him.
"Ew, gross…! It's eating its own partner!" Flamberge said.
"Uh… life finds a way…" Perfuma said in shock.
"To make me vomit!" Akane said.
"How deplorable!" Castti said as Doron cried out. "Ick… What a noisome odor… Did cannibalizing its own empower it somehow? How troublesome… We'll need to handle this quickly."
"Right." Aqua said, activating Spellweaver.
"Take this, you crazy monkey!" Frosta said, blasting Doron with an Ice ball, dealing a bit of big damage, which the ice princess noticed. "So you don't like the cold huh? That's too bad… for you!"
Frosta and Aqua rushed Doron, attacking him back to back and giving him no time to breathe or counterattack. Frosta then imprisoned Doron in a block of ice before shattering it with a good hard kick, leaving him stunned.
"All yours, Aqua!" Frosta said as Aqua pirouetted straight at Doron, going for her finisher.
"Stay there!" Aqua said as a cold wind spiraled around her, forming an ice crystal above her. "Enough!" she said, raising Stormfall to the air as the crystal erupted into a large snowflake, which killed Doron on the spot.
"...Don't think badly of us." Castti said. "That takes care of the root of this illness. Now we must purify the source of Canalbrine's water. The solution I have will take some time, however…"
"Don't worry Castti, I've got this." Flamberge assured. She walked over to the edge near the source, and then drew her sword. She then stabbed it straight into the toxic water, the immense heat from her blade boiling all the water in the cave as the toxic hue disappeared. "There we go. Let the water cool down through the day, and the people will be safe to drink again."
"Amazing work, Flamberge. Let's head back to town and relay the good news." Castti said.
Relaying the news to everyone in Canalbrine, the townspeople were grateful about what Castti and the Hope Squad did. Afterward, the time was finally now to tell Castti the truth about Malaya.
"Listen, Castti… about that girl you think you've been talking to?" Glimmer asked. "You've been imagining her. She's been a hallucination in your head this whole time."
"I… have?" Castti asked.
"In some cases of Amnesia, a person can sometimes hallucinate someone they've forgotten. This Malaya person was someone you knew before you lost your memory. And I think she has something to do with these Apothecaries the people were talking about before." Mikan said.
At that moment, Castti remembered something. The one who loaded her onto that skiff and set her out to sea during that time…was Malaya. She collapsed in remembrance.
"That woman… was Malaya. Then we've met before? What's going on? Malaya… what made you act as if you didn't know me? Why would you-" Castti struggled as Hope put a hand on her shoulder.
"Easy, Castti. We'll help you figure this all out." Hope said. "Let's start from the top with what we know."
"Right… it was Malaya who put me on that skiff you found me aboard. But from the way she was putting me on it… it seems like we were fleeting from someone. Who- what were we fleeing from?" Castti asked.
"Well…I've been reading through your journal. Maybe if we revisited some of the places you went, it might jog your memory." Entrapta said.
"What's the most recent place?" Catra asked.
"There's only two places. Winterbloom in the Winterlands and Sai in Hinoeuma." Entrapta said.
"Then we'll start by going to one of those towns first, and see what comes up." Hope said. "Where do you want to go first, Cass?"
"Hmm… currently we are on the western continent of Solistia. Winterbloom is to the east, and it will take perhaps a couple days at sea to get there." Castti said.
"And Sai is located in the desert but it's not too far away and on the same continent as us." Xion said.
"That settles it. We'll go to Sai first." Adora said.
"...It's time I went on my own journey. This journal is the only clue I have. I have to visit Sai and Winterbloom, and see what I can find. I need to rediscover who I am. And… there's something else. Something important I'm forgetting. I need to remember." Castti said.
"Well, it'll all come back to you eventually. But you won't be rediscovering yourself alone. Because we'll be with you every step of the way." Hope assured.
"Thank you. All of you." Castti said. "You've done so much for me already, I'm not sure how I could repay you."
"No repayment needed. Like we said when we first met, helping people is what we do." Glimmer smiled.
And so, Castti and the Shining Hope Squadron leave the port town. Why had Castti been set adrift on the open seas? What link does she have with Eir's Apothecaries? And who is the mysterious healer, Malaya? In order to reclaim her lost memories, Castti sets out on a journey together with her new comrades.