After the brief pause by the bunnies and Dude, the movie resumed...
The crystal tree from before reappeared in the middle of the lake. It changed as seasons passed, developing root roads and vines that connected the cusp of the tree with the smaller sprouts in the water-drained plain’s grounds. Transport varied with vines working to transfer things towards the outside and the roots of the tree usually served as the way to its inside.
The king’s words described the events as time took its course changing the tree’s color little by little following the king’s words. The transparent white crystals became yellow and then orange. The branches, leaves, and roots glowed with green light every now and then. It was accompanied by the mystical beep of life energy.
“It all started when a massive amount of energy arrived at my plains. It was too much for me to absorb and I decided to create a countermeasure for it.
The strange rise in energy altered my whole ecosystem and creations. It made my helpers unable to survive to it until only the current specimens survived. I only had my fruit cutter ants and the seed weaver spiders. The events made me delve into making them stronger and giving them a more resistant exterior. However, the situation went downwards the more I thought of countermeasures.
The reconstruction of the hydrogen molecules caused an alteration in the molecular bonds. It changed the sweet structure towards something I couldn't understand. In fact, the way to make them resistant was turning them untasteful; a domain outside sweet knowledge.
It was innovative and the whole process ended up creating the other species of ants and spiders that you already saw. The ones with the glowing masks that live underground. They weren’t that aggressive before and worked in unison with the other helpers. At that time, I divided them into two big groups: vegetables and fruits.
The difference was based on their sweetness and origin. The veggies were more work tolerable, they only needed to be in contact with the soil to be able to satisfy their necessities. Instead, their fruit counterparts needed my cusp’s shade or they will enter fall like my leaves. There were special ‘fruits’ that didn’t need my direct protection. I found Artace and some others, - like the jugger-melons- to be resistant to the weird energy. ‘Why?’ I asked myself, yet I couldn’t find the answer.
Fruits and Veggies worked together, there wasn’t any sort of trouble at first. But I knew, that without a solution to the strange energy phenomena, none of us would survive. As a great tree, I am unable to move without sufficient preparation. Even If I had prepared, I wouldn't be able to do so, secondary to an aging effect of the strange energy.
"Aging?" Asked one of the heroes in the movie.
"I thought wrong and tried to be greedy, which indulged me in trying to control such interesting energy. Instead of achieving that, I felt a prickling pain. It was as if my ants crunched upon me. I tried creating something which I couldn't. It was an innovative experiment with life. Sadly, I didn’t have the right direction and made a mistake I regret. The big mistake cursed me as I started to enter ‘the fall'.
Fall came. My leaves started to become brown-orange, they fell as if snow towards the extensive plains. The overwhelming amount of food made the helpers fight over it. It was then that I found... That they couldn't hear my voice anymore."
At that moment the video paused and Dude appeared with a rocking sigh. "The anxiousness you feel when you can't be heard or understood is overwhelming."
"Tell me about it..." Jasper murmured.
“Bunnies, I decided to stop the current video. Now we can finally say ciao to those weird rabbits.” Dude levitated as the majestic glow surrounding its rock-body overwhelmed the whole room.
“That’s for the better,” Cinna scoffed while Nick looked flustered because he lost his crabby friend.
"Awh!" Nick expressed and made small bye-bye and 'lep' murmurs to the crab.
Sweet remained silent but smirked at the funny expressions of his friends.
"Hey dude... Can I have a poster of that bunny?" Jasper whispered to the rock and the rock nodded silently. Good thing Cinna didn't catch the event.
----------------------------------------
With Dude’s commands, the images in the spherical screen changed and a huge tree with leaves of different colors appeared. It was a tree similar to those seen in the fall season. It had orange tinges in its color-varied leaves, yet it still blinked with green lights.
Spoiler: Spoiler
tree [https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/600707826469306406/617230315815174155/Proyecto_2_1-01.jpeg]
"Bunnies, what you see outside is my current self. I have become weakened. My tree palace is like a second body for me. If anything happens I can feel it. Whatever happens to it and any of the roots far away can give me pain or a growing sensation. I am accustomed to the pain now, but it’s like having a headache every morning. My beautiful domain was infected by incertitude and anxiousness as I waited to watch for something. A signal from the glassy sky or the once overpopulated city surrounding my trunk.” Dude laments resounded across the room. “I wanted to explain to you all the cultures that araised, the heroes and the technologies. But we don’t have much time and it’s not good giving you bunnies’ more homework, as you won’t do it. So look here, let me show you guys something.”
“Wow!” The four bunnies’ stared emotionally at the scene displayed. They moved and gazed at the once towering city as it showed a scene of its past and how it became darker. It didn’t use the light from the sky but the glow from the tree. It had part of it carved in its trunk, with many buildings that looked like cave-ins and others like terraces in the form of dryad stump mushrooms. In the surrounding trunk, many roots formed tunnels and streets whilst bigger sprouts made for buildings like a city. It didn’t take much to recognize that those living inside the tree were having a better lifestyle than those outside of it. Like a sign of royalty, the caves and terraces of the trunk had a brighter green glow.
“The Root Kingdom… It’s the place where the Veggies resided. Above it, in the tree’s cusp, are the Fruits. Their kingdom was called the White Moon Empire. When the glow started to turn dim, the city near the roots didn’t have enough energy, thus making its population disperse towards other areas. Even the royal bloodline left; like children should leave their fathers to seek new growth. I didn’t stop them because I couldn’t. The veggies were different from the fruits, they could leave. I had no other option because my remaining energy was needed to provide for the cycle. With cycle, I mean that without leaves in the tree, no new energy would develop. Hence, indirectly, my approach from the veggies perspective appeared to be taking the fruit's side and throwing them out,” Dude explained but had a calm tone. It gave the feeling of a teacher or maybe a ‘father’ when a decision didn’t have a choice. Like telling a kid that they should repeat a year. (Ok, maybe not. But you guys reading get the idea, right?)
Stolen novel; please report.
“So they left you to chase for their dreams?” Jasper asked but seemed thoughtful about the events. He had his bunny hand supporting his chin while sorting the information and saying. “There is more right? Why would they attack us, why did you give us the ninja suits and have Artace tell us they were enemies?”
“Hey, that’s right! How did you know about the secret passage if that place is their turf and they are supposed to be cut off of your vigilance?” Cinna snapped as if remembering Sweet’s and Nick’s rescue from the ‘blender’.
Sweet and Nick looked at each other. They knew the other two were more informed than them. However, it wasn’t much as compared to the things Dude was explaining. So they just waited for the answers.
“Don’t worry, I will get there in no time,” Dude replied and continued. “With time I found that the veggies had a bigger difference than just sweetness. In fact, some veggies and fruits were in the middle, like a species of their own, half fruit and half veggie.
The difference was their seeds. I found out that seeds played a mayor recipient of green energy in fruits. It was like something that needed to be grown by an endless supply of green energy. Contrary to this, veggies didn’t have a seed in them. They were roots, stems or leaves that separated from me. Like smaller clones, they obeyed me, but had more of their consciousness.” Dude tried to deliver the information to the heroes in a descriptive manner with pictures and real-time movies.
“So fruits are obeying your orders?” Sweet asked.
“Indeed. Fruits are extremely obedient. They need me because they need to mature. Artace matured thanks to the energy and her sugar structure matured. It went from simple to complex. If you ask me, it can be described as having a drunk or confusing effect. It attracts like the queen she is, but also makes the followers a bit drunk when near her. Something to do with pheromones or alcohol.
Veggies don’t follow orders like fruits. They want to have recognition by fruits and that’s what drives them to work hard. It took me a while to see this. Veggies at first were like a part of me, but as they matured and separated their minds became more independent.” Dude showed the growth of both races to the bunnies and showed difficult drawings that made them close their eyes. Good for them, the video was cool enough and grabbed their attention.
“Woah so cool!” Nick who almost fell asleep yelled when seeing flowers bloom like 'sakuras' and falling to the ground. The flowers were a step before creating fruits and they attracted the attention of the mischievous bunny.
“So veggies don’t have seeds… A seed needs the tree’s domain and energy. Then a veggie can have its own energy system?” Jasper made a step by step thought before asking.
“Exactly. Veggies can do sugar-synthesis. They have special sugar formation inside of them. Veggies can thus become independent of me. Yet this explanation might seem simple but it’s not all. I am just giving you a way to understand how it works without the difficult concepts and science behind it. You could say that even with all their independence veggies have respect towards me and the fruits. The reason is already given. They are a part of me, so they won’t hurt me or disobey me. They are independent, but nothing is holding them from attacking themselves.” Dude gave more information while he hovered and created some weird couch that spun him in the air.
“So veggies are also obedient children?!” Sweet asked.
“I am a good boy!” Nick exclaimed and Cinna hugged him while murmuring. “Yes, yes you are…”
“If they are obedient then something must have happened that made them-“ Jasper added to Sweet’s question as if finding an answer.
“Heh! You amaze me 'weird rabbit'.” Dude’s spinning stopped with surprise and petrification. He didn’t expect a bunny to find a clue to his present guide course.
“I am not weird!” Jasper rebutted with anger. He felt the rock was taunting them to see how far could they be ‘tested’.
“Well, you guys deserve a second first. That’s surprising.” Dude’s quotation mark rolled in its x-axis in amusement. A big ‘First’ word appeared over Jasper giving a weird glow. “Ok done. You are also a first to do something here. You are the first to catch on the lecture and ask a great question.”
“What does a first do?” Jasper and Sweet asked. At the same time, Cinna and Nick were talking about something totally different from them.
“It means you are recognized.” Dude replied momentously.
“Just that?” Jasper questioned.
“Yeah. It’s like the mark of excellence and coolness. Everyone wants some respect like being the best of their class and species,” Dude answered making the prize sound more important. Cinna seemed to catch up on that, as her ears twitched.
“Is my little nick here not good enough to receive such mark?!” Cinna glared at Dude with a mysterious gaze.
“Ehm…” Dude’s surface seemed to release a bit of nervous rock dust.
“Look at him so cute and chubby. I think he deserves it. At least he doesn’t make mistakes when doing a movie with those-“ Cinna who was calm at first was now reprimanding the floating rock and driving it into a corner.
“Yay! I want a happy smile mark!” Nick shouted. Although they couldn’t move too much in their seats the bunny moved its legs and arms with enthusiasm.
Dude rotated with staggering as it flew over the bunnies and giving Nick an instruction to show his hand he pressed over its extensor surface leaving a mark in the form of a smiley. “There happy?!”
Nick stared at the back of his hand that glowed with a green smiley. “Wooooooaaahhhh! Coooollll!”
Cinna smiled and asked him. “Do you like it?”
The other bunnies and the floating rock made weird movements or expressions that delivered an obvious message: ‘Why is she asking such a stupid and obvious question?’
The small bunny answered in a single slang. “LEP.”
Omitting the interruption Dude decided to resume his story. “Okay bunnies, pay attention to this.”
“The veggies started to turn weird when a fifth of my cusp became orange. The excessive amount of cleaning and work on the ground made them require more green energy. I had it in excess because of extra production. But I needed that energy to create a way to ‘move’ outside my domain. A new source of green that didn’t depend directly on me. Like a reservoir or battery. It will give my domain a pulse of life when I am outside, giving me the privilege of time to explore.
The weirdness was simple they didn’t listen to my orders and tried to dig under the plains ground. I made the veggie king explain the situation but he couldn’t arrive at an answer. The weird veggies couldn’t talk and avoided places outside the underground. It seems they needed the conditions of the soil to mature or develop.
With time I found it. It was all the environment’s change that affected them. The conditions of humidity and temperature were wrong. It was perfect for this energy to develop. A virus or bacteria. Something that couldn’t be seen!”
“Wirus?” Nick asked.
“It’s a small thing that steals life from others. Like a parasite,” Dude explained as the video was paused with every interruption.
“Are you sure it was a virus?” Jasper asked.
“Not completely, but my next action worked… Well, it turned out different from what I expected but… It reduced their madness,” Dude mentioned then resumed the video with a small sound.
----------------------------------------
“Treeureka! I found a way to move outside of my domain and search for a cure!” Dude’s movie figure exclaimed with blissfulness.
The ‘anchor’ was a special stone that resembled me. There was a difference in that its texture was more like a blob. Like a balloon filled with water. The green energy shined inside of the odd gelatinous crystal. I connected it to the master circuit inside my main chamber and it… Worked!!!
“Artace!! Artace!!!”
“What is it, father?” A white silhouette emerged from the crystal elevators door.
“Take me outside!” A flustered red rock yelled with anxiousness.
“Eh?! Did you finally-“ Artace questioned with a surprised look in her female-moth exterior.
“YES!” The rock hovered and landed over its ‘daughter’. It trembled in its riding seat showing its excitement.
“Great!” Artace declared reading her pearl white wings.
“Normal, you are in charge. Protect the mainland, make sure to quarantine anyone with the mentioned symptoms!” The rock and moth flew to the fires in the skies leaving the green domain and exploring the various lands in the world. There was no time to pack, they left leaving all their big toys there. As they said moths are attracted to the fires of adventure whilst rocks dream of returning to their origins.
The movie continued with the many adventures of a white and cute moth and a weird teachy rock. It was funny, exciting and light-hearted. The bunnies and the invisible rock that hid in the background cried, laughed and yelled. They learned many things about the lands and their customs. The pair didn’t stop in places they wished to know but went over the Cheese Mountains showing how some ducks trained on the milky river and its waters. A little glimpse of what they expected to see in a few days. Cinna’s expectations weren’t answered as they didn’t fly above the Piñata ‘Dessert’.