Black, White and an Eyesore

Black, White and an Eyesore

   The Sun was already scorching hot when Pinknator saw the small village appearing behind the sand dune she was climbing on. This made her release a soft sigh of relief, as around the village were multiple scattered stunted trees to offer shade. Not that she’d allow herself to laze around for a few minutes after a long journey here, oh no, it just meant that she has at least some options to try making her ridiculously bright pink coat a tiny bit less of an eyesore while completing her task. Namely, back in the capital she received a trial - to take care of an abnormal leader of a relatively small but vicious cackle and upon succeeding, she’d be recognized as a Soldier. With a perkier trot, she approached the vegetation and immediately began searching for the freshest tracks.

   What Pinknator didn’t know was that the same Taskmaster had assigned another student of his to keep an eye on her progress as a part of his own trials. From a safe distance, a completely white Runner progressed over the sand fields. This Vayron, simply known as Valge, had arrived at Thedale prior to the heavy winter storms hitting his home country Roenden. He had faced the rough seasons there multiple times, so to make the environment more challenging he headed to the land of heat and sand to complete an important task there for a change. And what was better than to stalk a native while remaining hidden in completely unfamiliar surroundings? Valge was really pleased with this challenge and managed to remain completely undetected by Pinknator’s keen senses so far.

   While Pinknator was vigilantly sniffing the ground to search for signs of the troublesome bunch of hyenas, Valge managed to slip behind some rocks big enough to hide him from Pinknator’s view and in the perfect direction regarding the slight breeze. As he did that, he heard a soft rustle coming higher up on the ascent close to him. Having eyes immediately pinned there for spotting a potential threat, he saw a pair of perfectly round blue eyes staring right back at him. Up there, behind a bush of cacti, was a pitch-black Vayron with an exceptionally shiny coat. It stood completely still, eyes locked with Valge’s without blinking even once. Valge’s eyes slightly narrowed - this must be the infamous desert creature called Ink that the Taskmaster warned him about. Nobody was sure if it’s a real Vayron or some magical monster that had attempted to take the shape of one, and seeing it up close, Valge realized why it was so - Ink looked way off and was gently probing his mind, and that felt uncomfortable. Who knows how deep the creature’s prodding would’ve reached if Valge hadn’t snapped out of it and directed his gaze back towards Pinknator’s direction. It looked like Pink had picked up a fresh scent already and was heading deeper into the thin thirsty forest, which forced Valge to abandon the hiding spot to follow the target, still keeping a careful eye on Ink as it had decided to follow him from a safe distance, non-blinking eyes with barely noticeable slits only locked on Valge.

   Fortunately for Valges stealth mission, Ink moved silently, which made Valge realize that the rustling before was made on purpose to get his attention. The critter’s presence was also gone from Valge’s mind, so it obviously needed eye contact to properly burrow into someone’s head. During this chain of stalking, Pinknator occasionally stopped to have a proper look around, as she had this tingling feeling in the back of her head that she’s being followed. Writing it off as a side-effect from walking in the Sun for too long, she carried on. That meant Ink didn’t give Valge away as it somehow stayed out of the eyeburning Vayron’s sight, but this already tricky mission was now even tougher for Valge as he had no idea of Ink’s intentions.

   When Pinknator reached a small watering hole and Valge pulled behind a thick bush to hide himself, Ink dared to get closer and hid behind another row of bushes. Its concentration from Valge snapped to Pink when Pinknator sneezed at some of the sand getting in her nose as she checked the pawprints in the mud around the hole. From the corner of his eye, Valge noticed how Ink’s focus was now on the bright-colored Runner. In a way, it felt like Ink now understood the situation and sneakily chose another position near the two so it could observe the both of them without getting in the way. Valge wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.

   Pinknator moved on with determination and it didn’t take long till she stopped, tail raised like a little war flag as her muscles tensed up. Not too far away, the infamous hyena clan was having their daily beauty nap under the shade of an acacia tree. Valge took his position up in the nearby rock formation to judge Pinknator’s performance, while Ink’s dark head popped out from a different hiding spot. Ink’s attention shifted between Valge and Pinknator, but it seemed a bit more interested in Valge.

“SLEEPING TIME IS OVER, LADIES! I’M HERE TO BRING ORDER BY ENDING YOUR SHENANIGANS!”

   Absolutely every single soul in the radius, other than Pinknator, was surprised by this loud and bold statement. As the hyenas jumped up, trying to figure out what and why was happening, a couple of gazelles leaped from the bushes and took off together with the birds that had been perching in the trees. Both Valge and Ink were closely watching how the hyenas started to get agitated, cackling and growling at the intruder while staying quite a few meters away as they still tried to assess the threat Pinknator possessed. Pinknator recognized the alpha thanks to her impressive size and strange glimmer in her eyes. Without losing the momentum of surprise completely, she dashed right at her with incredible speed. The matriarch of the cackle had probably never experienced an idiotically bold attack like that, so she took the full blow from Pinknator as she rammed into her, sending both tumbling on the dusty ground. Ink and Valge simultaneously stood up to have a better view of the unfolding chaos, where in the middle of a dust cloud a flashy pink shape was fighting off the multiple surrounding dark brown shapes. The hyenas were noisy and active in the heat of the fight, but after a couple of minutes they started to break off, running further away between the trees to get away from Pinknator. When the dust started to settle again, a scratched and bitten Pinknator appeared with the twitching matriarch’s throat locked between her jaws. 

   Valge suddenly remembered Ink’s presence, so after quickly looking for it, he saw Ink slouch on the higher ground next to the hyenas’ sleeping spot, watching after the fleeing leaderless clan. It made sense - Ink had probably used its mind piercing powers to get the hyenas turn their tails and run from Pinknator, but focusing on several minds at once must’ve been taxing. Believing that Pinknator is busy enough securing a souvenir off the matriarch as proof of her achievements, Valge sneaked off his spot and carefully approached Ink’s location to check up on it. 

      Ink seemed to have trouble maintaining its shape. Its body seemed to be melting or slowly collapsing into a pitch-black puddle of thick tar. By the time Valge had it back in his sight, there was barely a figure of a sitting Vayron remaining above the puddle, which soon gave in and plopped down, dissolving with the rest of the mysterious material. Valge crawled closer, still perfectly hidden from Pinknator who actively dealt with her kill, and stopped before the thick muck. He decided to wait there before Pink headed back.

   Some time passed, but the tarry substance remained motionless. Valge sighed as Pinknator was done with her mission to salvage something off the hyena, which meant that she started to head back to the big city. Valge wasn’t sure yet whether she’ll camp in the desert for the night or this lady is crazy enough to pull off the long journey without proper rest twice in a row, but given his task, he was forced to follow her.

   The Sun started to drop closer to the horizon. When Pinknator had cleared the area, Valge heaved himself up, looked at the puddle just a little longer before turning around to leave. It was then when a strange softly crackling sound made him look back again, which came from Ink’s remains. Odd blue sparks jumped out from the puddle, after which it began to move and swiftly reshaped back into Ink. Valge held his breath as Ink opened eyes. It seemingly wasn’t startled by Valge being so close, so instead it stood up, tilted its head in a playful manner and began wagging its foxy tail. Feeling Ink’s presence in his mind again made Valge sense that the creature wasn’t a threat and it had realized that Valge isn’t one either. Thanks to this mutual understanding, Valge gave Ink a slight polite bow before he jumped off to the ground to rush after Pinknator. To that, confused Ink blinked a couple of times before taking off itself, still after Valge as it wanted to learn more about this kind-souled Runner.

   The row made of a misunderstood being, a shining white stealthy stalker and a victorious soon-to-be Soldier of an eyesore left their tracks in the desert once again, so one day the hot winds can cover those up with the beautiful golden sand.