Yellow melded seamlessly into the walls, her Aquitarian camouflage keeping her hidden as she observed Pink with mounting unease. Pink's body curled around Blue like a predator protecting its kill, her hands gripping him possessively, her face buried in the crook of his neck. This wasn't love—not the kind humans usually spoke of. Yellow recognized it for what it was: territoriality. A primal instinct to claim, to guard, to hold onto something precious at all costs.
It was a behavior Yellow had seen before, in the vast oceans of Aquitar. Among her people, such possessiveness was not unheard of, though it was rare and deeply private. It usually arose when bonds were tested by extreme stress or loss. But this? This display felt alien to her here, among humans, where boundaries were supposedly clearer. It struck her as both fascinating and deeply unsettling.
Her chest tightened as she shifted her weight slightly, her every movement careful to avoid detection. Pink whispered something into Blue's ear, her tone low and urgent, though Yellow couldn't make out the words. The scene unfolded like an ancient ritual: Pink's body language spoke of desperation, protectiveness, and dominance. It made sense in the animal kingdom or among tightly bonded Aquitarians, but here—between teammates—it was jarring.
Yellow remained still, her skin flickering faintly as doubt crept into her thoughts. She had trusted human boundaries to be firm, their emotions passionate yet controlled. But watching Pink now, she wondered if she had misunderstood them all along. Perhaps the barriers she thought existed between love, possession, and grief were far thinner than she had assumed.
Yellow felt the weight of her unease grow heavier as she lingered, her gaze fixed on Pink's possessive hold over Blue. It was territorial, yes, but there was a volatility to it that even the instincts Yellow understood couldn't fully explain. Among her people, such intensity was accompanied by mutuality—an understanding, an unspoken agreement between those involved. What she saw here was entirely one-sided. Blue was still, unresponsive, and utterly at Pink's mercy.
She exhaled slowly, her breath barely audible as her mind churned. The tribunal's memories surfaced again, sharper this time. She had believed herself justified then, certain that Blue's actions had marked him as a traitor. Yet now, standing in the thick of this moment, those certainties felt brittle. What if she had been wrong? What if the footage she'd seen, the betrayal she'd witnessed, had been twisted somehow? Her people valued clarity above all else, but her own judgment was beginning to feel murky, clouded by gaps she hadn't wanted to examine until now.
Pink stirred slightly, her body curling tighter around Blue as though sensing Yellow's doubt from across the room. Her voice, low and firm, broke the silence like a whip crack. "How long have you been there?" she asked, her tone devoid of warmth. Yellow stiffened, realizing that Pink hadn't even looked in her direction yet. She didn't need to. Her senses—animalistic, sharpened by grief and anger—seemed attuned to every ripple in the space around her. The question wasn't curious; it was a challenge.
Yellow stepped forward cautiously, letting her camouflage fade as she revealed herself. The room was thick with tension, the weight of Pink's presence pressing down on her like the ocean's depths. Pink's body tightened immediately over Blue, her fingers curling into his arm, her shoulders hunched protectively. Her head snapped toward Yellow, her gaze sharp and predatory, burning with a fury that rooted Yellow to the spot.
Yellow raised her hands slightly, palms open, her skin flickering with faint gray ripples as she tried to project calm. "I didn't mean to intrude," she said softly, her voice low and careful.
Pink didn't blink, her glare cutting through Yellow like a harpoon. Her lips pulled back into a sneer. "Then turn the fuck around and leave," she spat, her voice low and venomous. "Get the hell out."
Yellow froze, her chest tightening. She could feel her heart pounding in her ears, the heat of Pink's anger rolling over her like a tidal wave. Echo's voice slipped into her mind, steady but cautious. Her adrenaline is spiking. She's volatile, but not yet primed for physical action. Tread carefully, Yellow.
"I needed to see him," Yellow said quietly, her voice trembling slightly. Her skin flickered with a faint aquamarine hue, betraying the conflict twisting inside her. "To check on him. To make sure he's okay."
Pink let out a short, jagged laugh, sharp enough to cut. "To check on him?" she echoed, her words dripping with scorn. "Oh, that's rich. You needed to see if he's okay? What's the matter, Yellow? Did your slimy conscience finally decide to show up?"
Yellow flinched, her throat tightening as the weight of Pink's words hit her like a blow. "I didn't know they'd take him to the vault," she said quickly, her voice trembling. "I thought the medics were taking him to interrogation."
"Oh, of course," Pink snapped, her tone mocking as her sneer deepened. "Because that's so much better. You thought he'd just rot in a room for a while, is that it? You didn't give a single damn what happened to him, Yellow. You just wanted him gone." She leaned closer, her voice dropping to a low snarl. "And now you want to stand here, wagging your fins, pretending like you care? Like you didn't stab him in the back and toss him to the fucking sharks?"
Yellow's skin flickered with pale green as her emotions churned. "I thought he was going to morph," she said quickly, her words tumbling out in a rush. "At the tribunal. His hand moved, and I thought he was going to try to escape. I didn't know what else to do."
Pink's laugh was sudden and unhinged, filling the room with its jagged, bitter edges. "You didn't know what to do, so you stabbed him?" she snapped, her voice rising. "You're a slippery fucking coward, you know that? A damn eel pretending to be a Ranger. You saw an excuse, and you took it. Two strikes, clean and precise, and you handed him over without even blinking."
"I thought he was compromised," Yellow said, her voice trembling but determined. Her skin shifted to muted lavender, rippling with faint orange streaks as her emotions fought for control. "I saw him on Ceres. He was standing next to Blood Plague, laughing while our team was dying."
Pink's body went still, her head tilting slightly as her eyes narrowed further. Then she laughed again, a sharp, manic sound that cut through the suffocating air. "You thought..." Her laughter grew louder, darker, shaking her entire frame. "You actually thought Blue would betray humanity?" She leaned forward, her voice dropping to a deadly whisper. "Do you hear yourself? Do you even know what you're saying?"
Yellow faltered, her skin flickering faintly with aquamarine and gray. "I—"
"Don't fucking interrupt me," Pink snapped, her voice cracking with rage. "You think Blue—the same Blue who survived Countdown alone in the streets of Rome, watching aliens incinerate everything in their path—you think he would betray humanity? He didn't even have a body left to bury, Yellow. No parents to mourn, no goodbyes to say. And you think he'd turn on us? On anyone? You think he'd side with monsters like the ones who took everything from him?"
Yellow opened her mouth, but no words came out. Her skin rippled with streaks of dull green as guilt twisted inside her. Echo's voice broke the silence in her mind. She's losing control. Her stress levels are nearing their peak. Reinforce your position carefully, but tread lightly.
Yellow inhaled shakily, forcing herself to speak. "I didn't want to believe it," she said quietly, her voice trembling. "But he doesn't feel like the Blue I knew. He doesn't resonate the same way. Every time I'm near him, it's like he's out of sync with the Grid. Like he doesn't belong."
Pink's eyes snapped back to Yellow, her body stiffening further. "Out of sync?" she repeated, her voice low and venomous. "You stabbed him—and let him rot in total isolation—because he doesn't hum the way you like?"
Yellow froze mid-step as the air in the room shifted, growing heavy with something raw and electric. Pink's eyes weren't just filled with rage anymore—they burned. Tendrils of vivid pink energy swirled around her irises, churning like plasma in a storm. The morpher on her wrist pulsed in response, its glow deepening into the same searing hue. The very air shimmered with a static hum, crawling over Yellow's skin, raising goosebumps along her arms.
Echo's voice cut into Yellow's mind, sharp and urgent. She's channeling directly from the Grid. This is more than rage—she's overcharged. If you push her, she'll attack, and you won't be able to stop her. Back away, slowly.
Yellow's chest tightened as she stared at the energy radiating from Pink. The static in the air pressed down on her like a physical weight. "Pink," she began softly, her voice trembling. Her skin rippled with pale lavender streaks as she fought the urge to retreat too quickly. "Your morpher—it's glowing."
Pink didn't wait for her to finish. With an impossibly fluid motion, she pushed off from Blue's hips, springing forward in a single, powerful leap that carried her across the room. She landed directly in front of Yellow, their faces mere inches apart, her plasma-lit eyes burning with a fury so intense that Yellow recoiled instinctively. The glow from her morpher flared brighter, casting jagged, erratic shadows that danced across the walls as the space between them vibrated with crackling energy. The monitors and displays behind Pink sparked and distorted, collapsing into chaotic streaks of light before fading into static. Eye to eye with Yellow, Pink's presence loomed like a predator ready to strike.
"Don't," Pink hissed, her voice low and trembling with fury. Her body hovered with an almost predatory grace, the energy around her shimmering like heat waves. "Don't you dare try to explain yourself."
Yellow's skin flickered between aquamarine and gray, her instincts screaming at her to run, but she forced herself to stay still. "I didn't mean for—"
"You didn't mean?" Pink snarled, cutting her off. Her plasma-charged eyes flared brighter, the light within them swirling like a maelstrom. The energy in the room thickened, suffocating and hot. "You stabbed him, Yellow. You stabbed him and handed him over to those bottom-feeding bastards without a second thought. You didn't give a shit what happened to him."
Yellow flinched, her chest tightening as Echo's voice pressed into her mind again, firmer now. She's volatile, Yellow. This energy surge is like a tempest—she's caught in its eye, and you're the target. Back away, carefully, like you're soothing a wounded animal. If you make a wrong move, she won't just hesitate—she'll pounce.
"I'm sorry," Yellow whispered, her voice trembling as she took a step back. Her skin rippled with muted greens and grays, guilt bleeding through her controlled retreat. "I didn't mean for this to happen—"
"Dete ike," Pink said, her voice cold and measured, the fury in her tone sharp enough to cut. The energy in her eyes burned with an intense blaze, but her calm made it more terrifying. The room crackled violently, the monitors behind her sparking one final time before exploding into darkness. Her voice shifted, dropping into her native Japanese, each word deliberate and laced with venom: "Omae o Tako no Kasane-ni toshite tsukuriagete yaru—usuku kirikizami, yawarakaku nikonde, Kōshisai ni sasagete yaru."
Her body coiled tighter, every muscle primed, her plasma-lit eyes burning with unrelenting fury as if she were ready to turn her threat into action and personally serve Yellow to the High Priestess.
Yellow found herself frozen, mere inches from Pink, whose presence filled the room like an impending storm. The air between them crackled, and Yellow's body betrayed her instincts, trembling as if the tension alone might crush her. Pink's eyes burned with a fury that pinned Yellow in place, making her feel like prey caught in the unrelenting gaze of a predator.
Yellow's first step backward was tentative, her feet dragging against the floor as though weighted down by invisible chains. Her gaze stayed locked on Pink's, a mix of terror and primal survival instinct keeping her from turning away. Another step, slow and deliberate, then another, her back brushing the frame of the doorway. She dared not look away—couldn't risk it—not when the weight of Pink's rage coiled tight, like it might snap at the slightest provocation.
Her breaths came in shallow, panicked bursts as she finally crossed the threshold into the hallway. Even then, she didn't turn her back, inching away as though Pink might pounce if she made a sudden move. Her skin shimmered faintly, lavender and gray flickering like storm clouds over the horizon, her emotions bleeding through her control.
The door shut behind her with a quiet click, but the memory of Pink's fury stayed vivid, like the searing heat of a wildfire lingering in her mind. Even then, Yellow didn't dare exhale, her body still coiled tight, the imagined weight of Pink's eyes pressing into her back.
Echo's voice whispered, sharp yet curious, in her mind. "Do you feel it, Yellow? That wasn't just anger. It was a warning, primal and etched into her very core. When someone speaks from that place, they're no longer thinking—they're driven by something deeper, something raw. You're fortunate she didn't strike."