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The leaflings were certainly a curious bunch, the abundance of leaves covering their faces piqued the doctor’s interest when he first saw them. Despite the mysterious circumstances around these fellows and the lost time due to Yonny’s late rescue, he had managed to study their anatomy at length, a sort of uncanny valley between starfolk and pikmin. The more they found out about the leaflings, the more questions had been raised.
With their spacesuits mostly intact, he would check their vitals any chance he got.
Much like the pikmin, the leaflings were not alive, at least not in the traditional sense.
After a long night of investigation, Yonny was unable to find a pulse or any signs that their organs were functioning correctly. Yet somehow, mere moments ago, they had been prancing around and raving about Dandori.
They found that the leaves served much more than a cosmetic purpose, offering the body nutrients through a sort of photosynthesis. On top of that, the large sprout appeared to be deeply rooted in the subject’s scalp, as if a parasitic entity had been using the anchor point to take over the brain. The entity, though mostly obscured among the leaves, seemed to be the cause of their zombie-like trance. Unlike the shambling, rotting corpses one would find in film, the leaflings were constantly in movement, like their swaying dance, and looked more lively and even refreshed.
It was truly an odd sight when, upon further inspection of their bodies, Yonny found bunches of leaves and thorny vines almost acting like stitching in places. The marks were unique to each individual and served as an indication of the injuries they suffered before their leafification, similarly to how some believe birthmarks allude to one’s passing in a previous life.
The red leafling that Pom had been chasing mentioned something of the sort. “Those who do not embrace the leaves cannot survive.”
Is it possible that the castaways were already deceased by the time they had transformed?
Perhaps the connection they made to zombies wasn’t so far off.
No matter, he still had to figure out a way to cure their ailments and pray that their bodies would remain intact. The safest option he could think of in the moment was the glowing sap they had found while they braved the dangers of the night, surely the degradative qualities could remove their leaf growth, hopefully the sprout as well. It was truly a shame that Dingo had stumbled upon their only sample. Seems they needed to rely on the new blood for this mission.
Another all-nighter of tinkering and failed trials. A cure had finally been found after experimenting with a mixture of glow sap and drugs they had on hand, at the cost of the newest sample and Yonny’s sanity. It was all worth it to save a life, or bring a body back from the dead, they hadn’t quite figured out the right descriptor.
Either way, that morning his work was put to the test. As the crew, save for their missing pilot, gathered around the body, Yonny was given the order to administer the cure. He had a spare helmet on hand to replace the one that was either lost or shattered in the leafification process.
Yonny was relieved to see the leaves shrivel up and fall away, and quickly plucked the weakened sprout from their head before putting on their helmet. He looked down at the withered roots while the others tended to the unconscious castaway. How interesting… Amidst their pink hair, a scarred patch sat on top of Jin’s head where the sprout once stood tall. In fact, small pink marks, matching the hue of the leaves, painted their cheek. One could only imagine what happened to them.
The thrill of this discovery left his hands shaking. He had single-handedly, save for the new blood’s help, cured Jin of his leafy condition! And there was much more to come, if the pileup of bodies told them anything. Moreover, with the newly cured castaways, he could further his research into the process of becoming a leafling. But he didn’t want to hound them too early, they still needed ample time to recover of course.
Safe to say, the lab was lively night and day as Yonny worked on further cures, between small breaks where they’d check on their new patients.
This back-and-forth went on for another week before they struck gold, or rather, purple, as the next in line to be cured just happened to be Bernard! It was a bittersweet discovery though, as the abundance of injuries the pilot had sustained was downright disturbing, even if they had long since healed from the onion’s effects.
Yonny ran a hand through their hair as they looked over their extensive notes. Purple scarring trailed down his arms and legs in hatched lines, as if he had been running through a bush of brambles. Curiously, a cluster of vines was deeply woven into his right leg, as if to mend bone; it hadn’t withered when the cure was administered, Yonny feared that attempting to remove it would do more harm than good.
As the pilot was still unconscious, they gently rested a hand on his chest, where the largest mark sat. Sure, they had seen their fair share of blood and guts in their line of work, but just imagining the gorey scene was enough to make them feel nauseous. It must have been the pilot’s involvement that made it so difficult.
Despite his assurances to the crew that he felt ‘A-OKAY!’ he was still recovering after being cured, thus he was confined to a bed in the medical bay. Yonny allowed the others to visit while the pilot was awake, he knew how much they worried. This day in particular, Dingo had been in and out to check on his fellow crewmate’s condition, almost treating the heavy door as a turnstile.
When the ranger entered again, Yonny flinched away and quickly sat the clipboard face down. After he came to them one night and explained the circumstances surrounding their separation, they didn’t want to subject him to further grief by showing him their findings.
Dingo shuffled over to Bernard’s bedside, looking down at the pilot with an unreadable expression. Well, unreadable if one hadn’t been close to him for most of his life. Anger and guilt swirled in his bleary eyes, they could practically see his forlorn expression even as his back was turned to them. They put a hand on his shoulder, giving him a reassuring squeeze. It didn’t seem to do much though. Dingo bit the inside of his cheek and whispered under his breath.
“How is he?”
“With plenty of rest, he’ll be fit as a fiddle in no time! Though, I do understand your concern.”
He didn’t respond, so they prodded a little further.
“You don’t have to blame yourself. I know you were scared, we were all scared.”
“Scared? D-dunno what you’re on about, a ranger is never scared!”
They didn’t miss the way he dabbed at his eyes with the collar of his tank top.
“Dee…”
“I’m fine, Yon.”
“You’re clearly not,” they murmured, rubbing his tense back, “If it makes you feel better, you can stay with me. Be my assistant for the day?”
His voice broke, “...Yeah, yeah alright.”
They pulled him into a hug, his eyes still locked on Bernard’s sleeping form.
“Things are going to be okay, I promise.”