Tanith

In the morning when I had woken up, I was going about my normal day, eating and all that. It was slow at first but around 2:15, I got a visitor. It was none other than the King Of Atlantis himself, but he wasn't here with good news.

My first sign of that was the fact that he was being held up by the Mad Scientist.

Professor Pikalus had his regular green shirt, blue pants, black shoes with a lab coat on, though his black hair was messed up more than normal. He had a couple cuts but looked fine. As for the king himself, his normal black and white feathers seemed to be... Off. Almost like they were fading. His eyes were closed at the time, as if they were desperate for rest, rarely fluttering open, but when they did, his eyes seemed hazy and out of place. He was really out of it. Both looked exhausted. They were dirty and one thing I noticed after examining them was the bite mark in Cody's side. For reasons I hoped to learn, Cody was fatigued and couldn't walk on his own.

"Hey Tanith" Pikalus greeted me surprisingly causal. "Mind if we come in? I need a little help here."

My eyes widened and I nodded, getting Cody's arm around my neck and shoulder and helping the scientist carry the king over to the couch. "What's wrong with him?" I asked placing my hand on his forehead and checking the temperature. It seemed... Cold.

"We fought some hostile animals and one of them bit him. It's been about an hour since then. I think he was poisoned." I blinked. "Wait... Doesn't Atlantis have a hospital?" He hesitated but nodded eventually. "Well, yes but don't you have like, healing powers?" I sighed. "Yes but Poison is a hard thing to heal. I can fix up all sorts of wounds and sometimes infections if I do it right but Poison is much harder and I can only heal certain types." The Professor rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Oh. Well I don't think we can really move him now..."

 Both of us turned to the king before sharing a worried look. "You did bring him here so I might as well go through with it. Now," I hummed, trying to think. "What might help us.... Oh!" A though occurred and I rushed to the bookcase, pulling out one of its contaminants and opening it. Flipping through it, I found the Table Of Contents and showed it off to him. "Professor, do you remember the animal? It's pretty important."

Snatching it out of my hands, he turned page after page. Minutes passed by until he got something. "This one! Definitely this one. I remember the creepy looks in their eyes. There was only one of them but." He chuckled. "It was dangerous. Even in Hulk form It was hard to hit it."

I took it back and scanned the page. "Amphisbaena? A snake with heads at both ends of itself and wings. I've never seen one of these." I scanned the page full of different myths and legends about it. "Most of these stories are pretty different but one thing is the same. They all are known for nasty bites. Sometimes killing the victim slowly while others, upon the bite." I shot a look at the dizzy Penguin. His eyes were dazed and by the looks of it, he wasn't processing anything I said.

"He's still alive but... I fear he has little time left." I scanned the book again, looking for some sort of cure.

"Oh thank heavens! There's a cure!" The Professor left out a relieved breath and tilted his head so he could see the book. "Well what do we need?" He inquired. I read each ingredient carefully, taking in what was needed before handing it off to the human and getting up. I checked through everything that was needed and checked that I had the amounted needed. I had almost everything.

"I have most of it but." I paused.

"But what?"
"We are missing some Forget-Me-Not's for the petals and." I stared it down and sighed.

"What?"
"The venom from the beast that bit him in the first place. The flowers will take five minutes or less. Who knows how long this will take!" I exclaimed, slamming the book on the table. The Professor huffed. "Well, might as well leave now. That thing could be anywhere." I glanced back at the king. "Who's going to take care of him while we're gone?" I asked. The Mad Scientist made a 'Hmm...' sound before snapping his fingers. "Oh! I can call Pebbleteen! She's a general for our army and hopefully she won't mind helping out with this for a while."

"Do you think she can do it?"
"I'd trust her with my life."
"Good candidate then. Call her and let's go. We're on a deadline."

As he dialed in her number, I snorted loudly. He spared a side look. "What's so funny?" I stifled another laugh. "I accidentally made a pun. DEADline! Gettit?" I winked badly on purpose. Pikalus giggled. "Dang it Tanith! I'm trying to be professional here!" I chuckled. "So was I!"

Pebbleteen accepted the job and we set off soon after.

"So what happened anyways?" I wondered out loud. "Well, we were helping out some farmers with their pest problem. Normally Cody would handle it on his own but he wanted me to make some pest resistance, so naturally, I did." He told me. "We took care of the animals, bothering them quickly so they would leave and doing our best not to kill them. Then that thing showed up and bit him. I got a hit on it before it fled from the farm." I nodded along with the story, taking in the information.

We arrived at the farm soon after. It was full of lush plants, though some areas were bare, most likely from the pests Pikalus was talking about. Searching around, nothing too interesting was found so we did the natural thing and split up.

I had gone right and found myself in a garden of coral. The spacious plants were everywhere and all had bright colors, lighting up the sea. Though it took a while, I had managed to look through them, but nothing useful was found.

Minutes passed before a voice called out, one that I recognized to be the Professor. "I got nothing. You?" I shook my head. He sighed. "I don't know what to do." Something flicked behind him, getting my attention. He didn't seem to notice. "Cody is dying," A strange white thing was coming closer. It looked a lot like a stick at first, but it wasn't. Sticks don't move on their own. "And if we don't cure him in time... We're screwed." The Scientist was too busy stressing to realize I wasn't looking at him anymore, much less listening.

The white blur was close enough for me to see it, speeding up. It seemed like a snake, having the same properties as one. It was an Albino too, it's eyes glittering with criminal intent. It had white wings on it's back and instead of a tail was another head. The Amphisbaena.

"This thing could be anywhere by now!" The way it was moving was too familiar. It was planning on attacking, and I had five seconds to act. Instincts kicked in and as the two headed snake lashed out, I swung my arms, knocking the male away, but in the process put myself in danger. The snake lashed out and hit a different mark then the intended.

After getting hit, I backed out, out of range. The Mad Scientist was at my side soon enough. "What? WHY DID YOU DO THAT?" He flipped out at me. I shrugged it off, despite the mild stinging in my stomach. "I acted. Besides, my kind should be immune to such poison. It takes a lot more than that to beat my immune system. I'll be fine." I smiled as reassuringly as possible, then took out my staff. The double headed snake retracted a bit, most likely a little spooked.

"Probably should have had this out in the first place but that's okay. I'm going to do something real quick." He stared at me. "Uh, okay? Go for it." I nodded and felt the power rush through me once again. "Been awhile since I've done this but it should work the same... Probably." Feel the power. I closed my eyes. Let it rush through you. Deep breaths in and out, ignoring all problems. The Professor mumbled something but I couldn't hear it. You are nothing but a vessel for this power now. Breath in. A warm red glow started up. I could hear the Professor let out a tiny gasp but said nothing. Let the power fill you up and,

Breath out

A pulse was released from my body, spreading as far as it could, but not a harmful one. In a single moment, I could feel so many feelings, feeling that weren't mine, and let them all fade away into the air around me. Though for just a moment, rage was filling my whole body. For just one single moment, I almost was lost.

But suddenly everything was okay again and it faded.

I opened my eyes again and glanced at the staff in my hand. The red gem on top of the coiling snake was glowing, as usual, and it faded. The other two gems were dormant. For some reason, they always were.

"What'd you do?" Professor Pikalus asked me, interest was in his voice. I shot a look at the winged snake, now dormant and peaceful. "Calming spell. I let out a wave of peace while taking in everything negative from everything within a mile is feeling. Once that is done, I let all those feelings fade out of existence." I grinned and bent down to the creature, taking out a skinny test tube and applying pressure to the corners of the snake's mouth causing it to open. "It was the best way to calm the snake down." I decided to leave out the fact that I almost failed.

As I began to retrieve the snake's poison, he asked another thing. "Why didn't you use it at the fight with the Killer Whales? That would have ended it!" I sighed and shook my head. "I thought about it but it would have never worked. You see, magic has consequences, no matter who or what you are. For example," I held up my Staff. "This item is magic, but for it to work, it relies on my magic. If I wanted it to put up a shield, then it could, provided I gave it magic to feed off of. Think of it like my magic is a battery, giving some of it to my staff will power it for a while before more is needed. Another thing is, if I used too much magic, I become exhausted and might even pass out." I explained to him. Pikalus nodded along, taking in everything I said with a high level of interest.

"Now some spells are dangerous like, believe it or not, the Calming Spell. If try to expand it outside of its normal radius, I use more magic increasing my possibilities of passing out. Also, it does have a possibility to fail. If the things I am trying to calm are too out of hand, then it might not work. If it gets to the extreme factor, I could take in the emotions such as Rage and Blood-lust and not be able to get rid of them, losing myself in emotions that are not mine. Even then, I might not have calmed everyone else down completely." Out of the corner of my eye, he shifted, almost in an awkward way. Ignoring it, I continued.

"There are so many factors and rules to magic and some risks aren't worth it. This one however, was."

I popped a cork on the test tube and examined the liquid inside. It was bright yellow and almost, dazzling. "Magic is more complicated than I though. I should look into it, perhaps I could learn some things." He commented. An idea sparked in my head. "You know, if you ever need help, I'm happy to teach you a thing or two!" I offered to him. He told me he would keep it in mind.

We rushed back to the City and to the house with more red than any other, also known as, mine.

Inside were two people: The King of Atlantis, and who I could only assume to be Pebbleteen.

It was a female, dressed in the blue outfit of a warrior and appeared to have wings, gentle flapping behind her. Her shoulder pads were buffed out, her skin was white, and her hair was blonde, though she was wearing a blue helmet. She was clearly taking care of the poisoned King and advanced to us once we arrive.

"Do you have it?" She asked us. I nodded and made a beeline for my kitchen, setting up everything. Time passed and soon, I was stirring the concoction together, nervously glancing in Cody's direction. He didn't have much time left. His breaths were shallow and his body was getting colder. I couldn't tell if he was even conscious anymore.

"Done!" I announced and pulled out something new. Professor Pikalus instantly reacted when I did. "Whoa! No! Don't do that!" I blinked at him. "What?"

"Cody hates needles."

"Don't we all? He's unconscious anyways."

"Don't matter, he won't like it."

"Well he doesn't have a choice right now. Either Death or Needle for him."

"Yeah, he would definitely take death."

I blinked at him. "Really? That bad?" He nodded. I thought for a moment, staring at the needle, filled with the cure. "Well..." The Professor huffed in relief thinking he had changed my mind and would find another way.

"Grin and bare it." Swiftly, I inserted the needle into his wrist and pushed in the contents. "What? HEY!" He screeched at me. "I THOUGH I SAID NO!" I smiled and shrugged. "Sorry, Doctor's orders." I winked at him getting a slight groan. "I can't believe you." I applied a band aid where the needle once was. "See? All better. He'll be fine." Hopefully.

We sent Pebbleteen off, thanking her as we did. She replied with, "No Problem, always happy to help." and left. She seemed nice, even if I barely knew her. Within the hour, both the Mad Scientist and I had crashed on the table, fast asleep.

"Hey... Tanith?"

A male voice woke me up. Shaking off the sleepy daze, I focused in on who it was. A familiar black and white body was before me, not standing fully but leaning on the couch.

"Cody?" I squinted at him. My eyes focused in, confirming my suspicions. "Yeah. Uh," He looked around at where he was. Confusion was written all over his face. "What happened?" I yawned. "You were poisoned. I cured you." I told him. He blinked. "Why not take me to the hospital?" I waved my hand as if to wave his questions away. "We didn't want to move you too much. Plus, you're fine now."

The sleeping Scientist began to slowly wake up on the chair next to mine. "So, I have to ask, what's this?" The Penguin gestured to the band aid. I blinked slowly, processing what he was talking about before nodding. "Oh, that's where I injected the cure into you with the needle." His face paled.

"YOU DID WHAT?"

His loud wail of protest woke me fully up and upright. The being next to be stirred.

"Told you he wouldn't like it."

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Here we go! Chapter six! WOO! Hope you liked it! This was going to be a shorter chapter but it turned out longer than I thought. Despite how weird it sounds, the creature I used technically exists. It's mythical of course but it's not something I created. The more you know! Tell me what you think of the chapter! Byeeee!

--JustAnAtlantisWriter