Skyline Gang: Trial of Darkness

Chapter 15

They had to be close now right?

It's been about twelve hours since the group was split in half, so they must have covered a fair amount of distance right now. So far, everything was fine. Blisters have been taken care of, food was eaten as sparingly as it could be and the four set off without too much trouble. Bud had started to become affected by the Sceptre. The problem was that since he had it overnight, that's when the draining became worse. He was almost completely exhausted before the trek even began. Against better judgement, Dude finally allowed Misty to handle the Sceptre of Shadows for now. At least until they meet up with the others and she can swap with one of the girls. Surprisingly enough, she didn't kick up a fuss of cause any trouble. It was quite the turn about. Guess she finally decided to behave herself. Considering how badly she wanted to hold it all this time, it was a wonder how she hasn't taken the Sceptre out of the container yet. Oh well. As long as she doesn't cause too much trouble, then everything should be smooth sailing from here.

"We've got to be close to the others by now." Dude thought out loud, peeking at the sunlight bursting through the canopy. How long have they been walking now? To come to think of it, he never bothered to check the time once since he woke up. He was walking up in front with Bud next to him, checking the map every twenty paces he took. Overkill? Probably, but it was better than getting lost somewhere. Sprout tried to keep as close as he could. He was still worried about getting lost but as long as he can see Dude and Bud in front of him, he had less of a reason to worry. Just had to resist daydreaming a bit more than normal. Misty was behind the boys. It was a bit different from her rushing yesterday. Maybe she came to her own conclusion that she didn't need to be in such a hurry. There was no more magic around her, but Dude still has his suspicions about her. Just don't bring up the issue until either they reunite with the girls and Rainbow, or something else strange happens.

"According to my calculations, if we keep going in this direction, we should be able to rendezvous with them in approximately ten minutes." Bud eagerly inputted. "I'm eight percent confident in this hypothesis." Eighty percent? Well, it's better than little to nothing. The odds were much better.

"We need more than a hippopotamus, Bud!" Sprout grumbled, but his tone sounded off. He knew what Bud said, but he couldn't resist a quick wind up. It's a perfect time to try to get a laugh or two.

"It's pronounced hy-po-the-sis." Bud sighed heavily. Why does he even bother to try to speak enthusiastically about his calculations with Sprout around?

"Whatever!" Sprout grinned. He had Bud right where he wanted him. Bud went silent for a minute before he sighed again, this time more quietly. Yep, he walked right into that one. Dude was laughing silently, trying to spare Bud from any further humiliation. His partial sympathy was gone when he heard a sharp wince behind him. That didn't come from Bud nor Sprout. It came from behind all three of them.

"Misty? Are you okay?" Dude asked, looking back at Misty. Was she getting affected now? She didn't appear to be. Then again it could be a front. But she was looking at her hand as she held it. She wasn't alarmed or in pain. She just looked...curious...

"Yeah...just...I'm turning red. Is that a bad thing?" She finally asked. The way that she said that was like a child. She was experiencing something new again. And turning red? What did she mean? The boys approached her, with Bud beckoning her to take a look. Misty cautiously showed her hand. Bud looked deeply intrigued as he readjusted his glasses. Running along Misty's hand was a long, jagged cut. Blood pooled out of it, starting to drip onto the forest floor, staining the greenery with red, splotchy targets.

"That's a nasty cut. How did you manage that?" Bud mused, eyebrow raised.

"I don't know!" Misty said, caught between excitement and something else. Worry? "Just felt this sharp pain and then this red stuff started coming out of me."

"It's nothing to be worried about." Bud spoke calmly, shrugging off his rucksack. "It's just that you're bleeding so we'll need to bandage that up."

"So this is blood?" Misty asked curiously, holding her hand a little closer to her face. She watched it with deep fascination. She was going to poke it with her finger but Dude gently stopped her from doing so. The last thing she needed right now was to make it any worse.

"Yep! Bet you didn't expect it to be as red as Bud." Sprout grinned, trying to bring another joke in at some point.

"I knew it was red...I just never had a cut before..." Misty said, not really paying that much attention. Dude meanwhile was curious himself. He looked around them. Trees. Plants. Fallen branches. None of them were sharp enough to cause a cut like Misty's.

"That's strange." He thought out loud again, examining the ground around Misty in case he missed something. Bud looked around as well before he worked on patching up Misty's hand with extreme care. "There isn't anything around here that you could've caught your hand on. This is bizzare."

"You sure that you don't remember how you got it?" Sprout asked, his laughing mood diminished. He scratched his head, trying to think back to how the cut could've appeared. "We were scrambling over rocks and stuff a minute ago."

"It's not from that Sprout. At least I think so." Misty shook her head, now confused herself. Dude glanced at the container strapped to her rucksack. Could the Sceptre have caused this? Maybe it was trying another way to slow them down. Experimenting on how it can injure people without being held or used directly. It has to have a mind of its own. What else could explain all that is happening?

"That should hold for now. We'll have a better look later on." Bud said after he finished his bout of first aid. Misty got curious again as she examined her bandaged hand. She glanced at it at all angles. She still looked like a child that was a little too curious., but at least she wasn't doing anything worse to her hand. "At least you won't have to get stitches."

A lightbulb suddenly went off in Sprout's head. Dude could tell by the sudden grin that had spawned on the green joker's face.

"Hey! Hey! What do stitches and Misty have in common?" Sprout started, his grin become wider from contained laughter.

"Sprout..." Dude cautioned, but it was already too late.

"They're unSEAMly!" Sprout laughed. He didn't care if he got a couple of groans. He just wanted to get this laugh out. He had it contained all this time. For his self control, he can't say that he hasn't earned this one small thing. Misty's eye twitched. She would've charged, if Dude didn't hold her back a bit. He then spotted something as Sprout started walking backwards. Something that the joker didn't pick up on as he was still letting out a belly laugh.

"Hey, Sprout. What do you and gravity have in common?" He smirked.

"I don't know, Dude." Sprout wheezed between laughter. 3...2...and... "What do I and grav-AH!" Sprout didn't know what happened. One second he was laughing, then the world spun all around him. Literally. He tumbled backwards, doing complete rolls down a hill. The others watched as he went uncontrollably downhill. He only stopped once he got to the bottom. He sat up, the world still spinning around him. He may as well have stars or birds circling around his head from how cartoonish he looked right now.

"You go well together. And are both spontaneous." Dude laughed, taking a page from Sprout's book of jokes.

"Leave the jokes to me, Dude!" Sprout shouted back as he finally stopped seeing stars, shaking his fist. It prompted everyone else to laugh as he was left scrambling back up the hill. Just a bit of laughter that was needed to help speed things along. Better get a move on. Time's wasting and they need to finally meet up with everyone. At least Sprout won't make too many jokes now at Misty's expense. Unless he starts asking for it.