let the monster rise

didn't you say that you were different, didn't you?

The sharp jab of a twig against the boy’s back shocked him awake instantly. He scrambled around frantically, attempting to spot an enemy, but he was only met with an excited stare from two glowing eyes. 

“O-oh wow, he’s awake!” A small voice squeaked.

Gyororo shook his head before looking up to spot the small tadpole towering over him. It was the same mysterious boy he had seen yesterday! Careful not to completely let his guard down, he bore his fangs, but kept a calm stance. The one that had come to see him backed away at this act and even let out a yelp. 

“It’skay, I don’t bite.”

The purple and green tadpole seemed quite calmed by this. He slowly approached the feral looking Keronian and held his hand out to him, as if he were an animal. 

“I…I don’t bite either.” He replied with a smile.

The tadpole’s body eased as he sensed that this Keronian meant no harm, and maybe even could be trusted. He gently shook his hand before getting up to greet him.

“Don’t you have school today? Why are you always out here…?” The smaller tadpole asked.

Gyororo cocked his head. “School…?”

“You know, where you go to learn? If you don’t go, that means…oh, you’re one of those homeschooled kids!”

“…what is a school?”

The purple and green boy sighed and began to lead him out towards a barbed wire fence. Gyororo peered through to see a large field of vivid green grass and what seemed like a very large house, with lots of windows on the side. A flag hoisted on a high pole fluttered in the gentle breeze. 

“This is a school! I just left from there so I could go see you. We learn there from the morning until…about now. Its a fun place! I have lots of friends there.”

He smiled wide when he noticed the glimmer in the younger boy’s eyes as he gushed on and on about the details of this ‘school’. Gyororo himself was barely listening, but was instead captivated by the excitement and charisma of the kid. 

As he finished one final long winded sentence, he looked over at him and gave a wide smile. “See, isn’t it cool?”

“Y-yeah! Oh, yes, by the way…my name is Gyororo, what is yours?”

“My name? I’m Shirara! It’s nice to meet you, Gyororo!”

Shirara…

He repeated the name in his mind a few times before turning back towards him and smiling back. “Nice to meet you too!”

A loud buzzing noise came erupting from Shirara’s bag shortly after. He quickly retrieved a small object and placed it up close to one of his ears, beginning to talk into it.

“Ah, Momma! I’m sorry, I’ll be home soon. I was just talking to Pururu!” he frantically yelled into it before shoving it back in his backpack.

“S-sorry about that, Gyororo! I have to go home now…don’t you need to go home soon, too?”

Gyororo merely stared at his feet and shook his head. 

“Listen- it’s complicated, but I’m not goin’ home for a while. But since you have to, I’ll explain it to you some other time. I’ll be here until I can go somewhere else.”

“Oh…okay, well, goodbye then, Gyororo!” Shirara smiled as he lept up and began to dash on the path leading out behind the fence. 

That night, he laid down in his makeshift bed of shrubbery and twigs and gazed up at the stars twinkling brightly. He’d never seen them, and they seemed much brighter than what he was told they looked like. It made him feel awfully lonely though to see a sky packed full of stars, all huddled together and shining with an almost blinding light.

Maybe I can find my stars one day…