Submission (#1027) Approved

15 shards claim

Story below
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In the eyes of many humans, these weird looking creatures are enough to make them wonder, speculate and look in awe. Some tense up in fear, some cringe and snarl in disgust, while others- well, they want to know anything and everything about them.

Where did these guys come from? How'd they come to be? Were they artificially created? Did they evolve into existence somehow? Were they here all along and we never knew? Who knew! And because of that, it peaked the interest and curiosity of those who encountered them world wide.

Years and years of research, experimentation and scientific journals published to the world. As time went on, many used this research to help said little creatures, especially the ones that were artificially created, with everyone calling them jellheads. And while research doesn't say where exactly they came from, and why their heads are blobs of goop with gelatin-like consistency, everyone still loved them and wanted to know them.

Decades pass, and humans slowly lose interest in jellheads, eventually cramming everything into old technology and parts of an abandoned library to save space, and not long after- becoming forgotten themselves. Though, it seems like the hype lasted long past the initial "death" of the interest, as other forms of intelligent life have picked up where humans left off.

Creatures of all species, intelligence and capability have come across jellheads once more, accepting them back into their society without a care about what they are, finding the old books and online specific research within the beautifully large library, and doing everything they can to understand what they are.

But, none of these creatures know who first discovered the library, only figuring it out once an annual day of pride was made to celebrate right near it. And so....

[20 years back]

Within a large forest, birds chirp away loudly, fish swim in the bodies of water, and other large animals run around nature looking for food and shelter.

Branches and leaves shift, twigs and gravel crunch on the dirt floor, and heavy breathing comes from a creature out of breath. It seems as though someone is approaching from afar.

"AGH! These branches and prickly bushes are absolutely horrible..!" An odd and booming voice said, annoyed and scowling away at nature.

"Calm down, Emperor... You can't get annoyed at something so stupid, besides- this nature is beautiful!" Another voice said, smaller and softer than the first one, seemingly trying to comfort it.

"That's what you say, Coquí, you're always out here anyways! I'm also tired from walking this far, why do you get to ride on my back?" The creature says, getting more frustrated and loud as it speaks, spooking a flock of birds as they fly away.

"Hey! I'm tinier than you, remember? I'd get lost in this forest without you, you big doofus!" The quiet voice says, clearly frustrated at the rising tension between the two, and frustrated that the creature- seemingly named Emperor -is complaining so much. "Besides, you agreed to this in the first place, you have no- OH MY GOODNESS!"

"What? What's going on???" The creature says, suddenly panicking at the random shock the quiet voice- seemingly named Coquí -has gone through.

"Look ahead, through that opening! We're here! We finally found it!"

Through the opening they push, and after adjusting to the bright light, they come to find that within the large opening they've come across is a large, gothic library that looks like it came out of a 1800's vampire castle.

And the two creatures that were talking within the forest? The loud and boisterous one named Emperor was a tall, feral creature called a Kiku. This one was pink, white and black with a 1990s inspired mask. The soft spoken one named Coquí was a small, plump creature called a Pacapillar. This one was all sorts of green, with pastel red cheeks and mist constantly coming from its body.

The two carefully walk to the front of the library, with Coquí looking down at the Kiku with a worried expression. They were hesitant to open the large wooden doors, as they were really imposing and super spooky, but they had to do it. They had friends who knew jellheads, but everyone had very little information on how they lived and cared for themselves, so onwards they pushed.

Pushing open the doors, they find a lavish and amazingly put together library. While it was dusty, covered in cobwebs and unkempt in certain ways, it was still as beautiful as ever- holding what humans left behind all those years ago. Old computers and hard drives, bookmarks and old papers stacked up on tables, and shelves upon shelves filled with literature of every kind.

"Wow... Never expected it to be this big.." Emperor says, his voice and steps resounding across the building. He was quite fascinated, but at the same time was quite nervous.

"I know... Legends never expanded on how... Grand this place was..." Coquí croaked, gulping as he looked around at the ghost building, and jumping at every sound he heard. "It's quite scary... Seeing it all empty like this... And knowing it's just us-"

Just then, the sound of books falling down and pages flying all over the place echoes through the library, spooking the two friends as both of them yelp and fall to the ground. Though, a sudden chirping noise and something hitting the shelves makes Coquí interested, as he slides off of Emperor's back and hesitantly walks to where the sounds were coming from.

Peeking around the corner of a shelf, he quizzically looks at a pile of books and pages on the ground, with a small, baby-like jellhead sitting on the ground- chirping over a gold dollar it seemingly found within the library's shelves.

"Oh... Come look at this Emperor.." Coquí called out, slowly walking closer to the jellhead so as to not scare it. "There's a baby jellhead here with a gold coin."

"Huh, would you look at that..." Emperor says, tilting his head as he looked on at the scene and grabbing some of the books. "It also seems as though he unintentionally stumbled into the section based on his kind... Look at the titles of the books..."

"You're right... Hmm..." Coquí thinks for some time, looking around at the long hallway, at the books and at the little jellhead chirping away. "Hey, you still have the bag stored away in your fur hood, right?"

"Yes, why?"

"Start stacking up books that may be important to our research... Also, can you put me up on that table over there? I want to read some while we gather up important information on them."

"Well.. Alright then."

Grabbing the small green creature, Emperor hoists him up onto the table with the books he previously grabbed. While near the table, he stacks a couple of books on the floor before carefully setting the jellhead on them, patting its gelatin-like head and walking to the large pile of books.

As time passes, both Emperor and Coquí read books while watching the little jellhead, with Coquí rattling off information from the books he reads as Emperor stacks the ones into multiple piles. The jellhead? Well, as soon as the two take small breaks in between reading, it'll show off its coin and put on a huge show- making the two laugh.

As soon as the research is finished, it's late at night and pretty dark out, with the two extremely tired and the jellhead asleep on top of the books.

"You think we should go back tonight..?" Coquí asked, yawning as he slowly moved towards the edge of the table. "Everybody is waiting for us, probably worried..."

"Eehhh..." Emperor groaned, scratching his head before stretching. "I think they understand that it would take a while.. We should rest up and go as soon as day breaks, besides- this little guy is already asleep."

"Mm... Alright." Coquí nods, sleepily smiling at the sight of the jellhead. "Hey, what do you think we should call him...?"

"What do you think about Warlo...?"

"Like the scientist who started the research..? Dr. Warlo?"

"Yeah..."

"That sounds nice... Anyways... Good.. night.."

"Night.."

The two friends sleep off their tiring research, and within the morning, they bring back what they found- including the little Warlo and its gold coin they found. And in the eyes of everyone they knew, they were wonderful heroes.