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it was early morning in goiky, the warm glow of the sun mixing with the hazy blue sky. greenish yellow streaks grazed itself through the rising atmosphere with not a cloud in sight. a golden glow painted across the yellow grass and the green trees gave the impression of peace throughout the lands.
most of the contestants were outside already, basking in the common warmth that the morning brought and having comfortable conversations with one another. calm, cooling, spring wind flew overhead every now and then. it was a pleasant day so far, and if you asked some of the objects around, they would most likely agree.
along the plains, not so far away from the flourishing objects, a garden barricaded with short, wooden slabs bloomed in the sunlight, flowers and plants of many kinds flailing in the wind. tree kneeled in front of the garden, admiring his work. he picked up a green watering can that was near his side, holding it by its slightly bumpy plastic handle, slowly and delicately pouring water on some of the plants.
the leaves and petals glistened brightly as water sprinkled on them, bending down ever so slightly by the weight, but immediately sprung back up as his arm moved to water the flowers next to the ones he had just watered. when he was done, he set the plastic watering can on the grass, a small, hollow slosh emitting out of the opening.
tree enjoyed gardening. maybe it was because he was a plant, or maybe he just liked creating life in his own way. he felt satisfied whenever he did so, beaming every time he saw one of his flowers blooming. it was sort of a stress reliever for him in a way he couldn't explain why. he snapped out of his thoughts as he saw a bee that had landed on his plant, beginning to burrow inside of it.
he leaned over, not too close, watching as it crawled around, flower by flower. it was a bumblebee, and tree could tell by it's fuzzy body. he was genuinely fascinated by bugs. yet again, it was probably because he was a plant, and fragile bugs like these helped plants live. he watched as its hind legs got covered in yellow pollen, and once it was done, it quickly flew off with a buzz.
he let out a long sigh. he was practically done with his work here, so he concluded to go check up on his teammates. but, he flinched as he heard his name being loudly screamed by a voice behind him, taking him a second to turn his body around, his surprise fading off slowly.
the object behind him was golf ball, adjusting her goggles, the yellow-green lenses blaring in the sunlight, causing tree to squint. she looked determined in a way, though not showing it through her face. next to her was tennis ball, a small smile forming on his face one tree turned around. he stammered in confusion- why would golf ball and tennis ball, of all people, want to talk to him?
golf ball and tree didn't have the best of relationships, mostly on golf ball's side. he remembers the time she slapped him over and over while he was in his giant, regenerated form.. even though he was big, it still hurt, like being clawed by a cat. those were bad times, and not just because of golf ball. he was pretty sure he had a permanent fear of heights now because of that form.
"uh.. hey, what are you two doing here?" he asked with a suspicious tone to his voice, standing up and brushing some dirt off of his knees. some of his leaves ruffling in the wind, a quiet crinkling sound following suit. "i'm busy here, as you can see." his arms folded on his trunk, grazing against intricate carvings, sighing softly.
"well, tree!" golf ball started straightening her posture proudly, "i've been calling you for a minute or two, but you were so distracted by that bug- but that's beside the point. look, i've seen those regeneration skills of yours, and-" she stamped her foot, "i want to run some tests on you, just to see how it really works."
tree stared in confusion, processing the announcement that golf ball had stated. "tests?" he eventually asked, his mind stammering slightly as his mind raced at the possibilities of what was going to happen if he did agree to these tests. "are you going to.. kill me?" his assumption was wrong, with tennis ball denying it repeatedly, stepping forward to explain.
"no, no, no, no, not at all- we're actually going to be using machines that are kind of like your gardening techniques to simulate that sort of regeneration process, except it's on a monitor, so you won't actually be growing," he replied, the classic giddy tone in his voice never fading off as he explained. "it's a bit hard to explain, but you'll see once or if you agree."
"so!" golf ball beamed, her voice demanding. "do you agree?" she stood straight and proudly, a cheeky smile spreading on her face. "i'll explain the details further once we get to my laboratory." she raised one of her legs, gesturing as she talked.
tree stood still, his face still as he considered the idea. he didn't really know about this whole regeneration ability he had, and research about it would most likely help him learn about it more- but at the same time, he didn't like the idea of being hooked up to some sort of machinery, or whatever tennis ball mentioned.
he sighed, nervously fidgeting with his hands, though his face remained calm. a sense of uneasiness filled his mind, but eventually, he let out a long and heavy sigh. "well.." he began, his voice trailing off as his mind blanked out. "i guess so." golf ball let out a small, hissed whisper of triumph.
"yess! okay, follow me, we need to make haste!" golf ball exclaimed, immediately running over to her underground labratory a little far off in the distance, tennis ball and tree following through behind her. the golden sun reflected off of the metal border, creating a bright aura on the burnt grass surrounding awkwardly jagged around the metal, contrasting the yellow grass flowing with the wind underneath it.
tree cringed at the feeling of the warm spring temperatures being replaced with cold, unsettling air as he stepped foot into the lab's stairway, getting warmer as they approached downstairs. the steps were unusually cold, as if the whole labratory was permanently in a cold state. red light surrounded the stairwell, covering the three in a red-orange glare. he had been in the laboratory multiple times before, but this was the only time he was really needed by golf ball.
he had considered going back up, gazing at the metal walls plastered with moving gears, fanblades, pipes, and all sorts of other machinery. he wanted to go back to gardening, for forest's sake, but in all honesty, he too wanted to know about these regeneration skills that he had, so he followed through with the plan.
they eventually made it downstairs after climbing down flights of steps. it had suddenly gotten way warmer, similar to temperatures of the summer season, but cranked up by a notch. the laboratory smelled like hot metal, which was unsurprising, since golf ball had a literal incinerator inside, but tree still tensed up by the smell. he disliked being in places that were too warm, and it was clear by his body language.
not too far off from the staircase, various machines and gadgets were wired up in a circle, the quiet humming of the fans echoing gently in the laboratory. one machine in particular had several wires running from it, hooked up to a generator as tall as an average person a few feet away. four rows of openings bore themselves on the top of the machine the shape of red disposable cups. in the center of each and every opening, clear, odd sized crystals jutted out like plants, glowing in the time of a heartbeat. a small desk was next to it with dual monitors, displaying several tabs of studies and more scientific stuff tree couldn't understand. the very middle of the circle of unsettling machinery was a small, circular, dark grey pad that was clearly designed for someone to stand in the middle, to be accessible for tests..
tree could feel his heart pounding in his throat by this point. seeing all of this stuff made him want to vomit, and he didn't know why. but, he couldn't go back up and change his mind. a weird feeling made him want to stay, as if he was forcing himself to stay. he listened to his mind, though, not his gut, and continued to follow golf ball.
golf ball snickered as she led tree towards the machinery, tennis ball lingering in the back. "this'll be the equipment we'll be using to do these experiments!" she beamed, adjusting the goggles on her head as she suddenly stopped in her tracks, causing tree to stumble a bit. they had stopped in front of the machine with the crystals, the multicolor prisms blaring every so often. "these crystals will power up the machines to the hilt, allowing us to get an accurate simulation of your regrowth skills!" gesturing her foot towards them, she seemed to proudly puff up as she expained. tennis ball eventually came up to her side, a similar pair of goggles looped around his leg, except the colors were green and blue.
golf ball continued explaining her plan, but in all honesty, tree wasn't listening. his eyes were fixed on the four crystals. all of them were different sizes, being barely noticable at first glance. they were perfectly seethrough despite the white light emitting from each and every one of them. they looked so smooth, and yet, they looked so jagged at the same time. tree thought, how could a crystal be this pretty? with hesitation, he reached out his hand towards the second crystal. he just wanted to know what it felt like. the urge pooled inside of him like a bucket slowly being filled up, and eventually overflowing.
as his finger touched the surface of the clear crystal, a quick yet soft burning sensation filled his digit, as if he had just gotten a papercut. this caused him to flinch, accidentally moving the crystal slightly out of place when he did so. he winced, looking at the fresh cut he had gained. it did look like a papercut, except slightly thicker, causing a little more blood to dribble down than usual. he sighed, glaring at the crystal. it almost looked as if it hadn't moved a centimeter, so tree had let it off. holding his hand in his palm to hide the tiny injury, he looked over to golf ball once more, who seemed to be wrapping up her explanation.
"and, that's pretty much it!" she stated, confidence rising in her voice. she kneeled down a bit, whispering under her breath, but a little louder for the two in the room to hear. "this is going to be amazing, my biggest experiment yet!.." with a sudden burst, she exclaimed, "come on, there's no time to waste!" she gripped tree's arm, an uncomfortable feeling washing over the plant at the touch, dragging and practically throwing him onto the grey pad as tennis ball slid his goggles onto his eyes, heading over to the monitors.
"i'm.. not quite sure about this," tree whispered with an anxious rise, watching as golf ball slid on a bracelet-like machine onto his wrist, wired into the monitors. golf ball ran back to the machine with the crystals jutting out of it, chattering commands to tennis ball as she did so. the pounding in his throat came back, the twisting of his stomach, everything. every single noise in the room seemed to get louder and louder by the second, and tree felt as if he was going to wilt if this were to continue.
"it's too late to back out now!!" golf ball loudly retorted, and an instant after she said that, a button was pressed. the room went loud, filled with whirrs and beeps and buzzes and zaps overlapping one another in several tones. he felt the stinging in his finger grow stronger, his surroundings becoming a blur, his hearing becoming a smudge.. from afar, he could see tennis ball and golf ball's faces go from enthusiastic to appalled. their heads whipping over towards the crystal machine. watching the crystals vibrate in their place.
and then it exploded.
pieces of crystal and technology flew everywhere, smoke spewing out of the machine's remains, casting the entire room in a hazy, gray cloud that made it nearly impossible to see. tree could hear tennis ball's terrified, short scream. then, glass breaking, crashing onto the floor. unintelligible noises, the blare of alarms. and then he felt himself growing.
wait, growing?
didn't tennis ball say that he wasn't going to be regenerating himself? didn't he say it was on the computer? didn't he.. his thoughts were cut off by excruciating pain in his back, causing him to grasp at his head, gripping onto the leaves tightly. large, thick branches quickly began jutting out of his back painfully, sprouting a plethora of leaves in a matter of seconds. his limbs turned into the same material as his trunk- wood spreading on his body like wildfire, and so did the dark green vines, beginning to tangle around his twigs and branches. his legs and arms seemed to explode with root-like lumps, alongside twigs, branches, leaves.. the branch near the bottom of his back had completely outgrown itself, the leaf spreading largely and dragging onto the floor.
the mind numbing pain had eventually come to a stop, but it only seemed to make it worse. he became nauseous from how weirdly tall he had
become- shorter than his giant form, but taller than his original form. staring at his hands, his breath caught, seeing both the wood that had spreaded to his arms and the newly formed crystal-like claw on his index finger.
his first instinct was to run. the heavy smoke had lingered into the air, veiling himself from the two scientists. this would be his chance. the word repeated in his head. run. run. with a short yet aggressive tug, he pulled himself free from the wires of his bracelet contraption, allowing him to run over to the stairs, climbing it as if he was running for his life. his claw-like fingers scratched onto the metal stairs, creaking, banging and scratching noises following in suit with every step.
the light from the outside was getting so close to his face, he could practically feel the warm, refreshing air on his entire body. his panic rose, though, once he suddenly stopped in his tracks. a grinding sensation bit down on one of his overgrown branches caused by a gear in the wall, making him yelp in pain. he dug his legs into the ground, pulling forward to try and pull away from the gear. the branch crackled, twisting off with a sharp crunch once tree pulled hard enough, a hurt noise escaping his throat. the gear stopped moving, making jittery movements as it held the branch inside of it's jaws. tree whimpered at the pain, clenching his eyes to prevent any unwanted tears from escaping. he continued to climb up the stairs, powering through the sharp pain jutting out his back.
eventually (and thankfully,) he had made it back to the warm breeze outside, turning his exhausted pants into a sigh of relief. by now, the sky had turned into a light blue, and the white sun rose higher than where it was before, casting a bright, welcoming glow over the hotel and the ground around it. it was serene to tree, sending a wave of calm over his once trembling body.
but once he had scanned the area, the feeling of peace dissipated. almost everyone was outside by now, and tree was in clear view. he couldn't be seen like this. quickly, he perked his head up, scanning the area for a possible hiding spot, until something clicked inside of his head.
there was a forest that was near his garden, and from the look of it, it was filled to the brim with trees, bushes, the typical stuff you'd expect to find in a forest. that's when he realized- if he was fast enough, yet out of sight at the same time,