BEFOREMATH (SJSM fanfic)

One on Many

Jeli sighed and slumped down onto the floor, for once it actually looked tired an defeated, as if someone had finally bested them, to all the others this was both a relief and a bad omen. Jeli is known for being hyper, mischievous, and restless, being unfazed by most others's attempts to calm it or beat it, it annoyed most of the others, so seeing it unable to cause them misery was a blessing, but knowing there's something worse or stronger than it is a curse.

Sam sheepishly approached it and nudged it, Jeli simply turned it's face to them, letting them better so it's exhausted, annoyed expression, making Sam frown in worry.
Jeli pushed itself up with it's tentacles, Sam backed up a little and just watched whatever it was doing, too afraid to say or do much else.

" ... what ? " Jeli asked sternly, sighing a little, it's tentacles just drooping on the floor as if they were lifeless sacks of gelatin. Sam blinked and looked around, trying to find the words to their thoughts. The awkward silence seemed to annoy Jeli further.

" ... are you ok ? "
" oh fuck off !! " Jeli let out an anger filled groan and slumped back down on the floor, Sam could see it better now, it's eye bags were quite visible.
The others observed it from a safe distance, all wondering what else to say or to do at the moment, watching someone like Jeli be so tuckered out is a blessing and a curse..

Sam bravely tried nudging it again, but it simply just weakly pushed them away, Sam sighed and looked around at the others to see if they'd do anything.
Nope, not even a rustle, exept for one..

She floated over and picked it up by the head, Bubs gave it a look of both annoyance and worry, a rare sight indeed, even Jeli's eyes ever so slightly widened at that.

" what.. happened ? " even her tone was the same as her face. Jeli's eyes wandered around, it seems it was taken aback by the sudden, rarely seen care coming from her, especially towards it.
" it's not like you to get so tired so easily, unless something really big happened ? " Bubs tilted her head, Jeli just shrugged in response

" come on now, you have to tell us ! "
" whyyyyy,,, !? "
" because if YOU can get fucked over like that, then so can most of us. You're hyper and you love fucking around with your powers, rarely is there ever anything that can make you seem so demotivated ".
Jeli groaned and grumbled, " ffffine,, "
" so ?! Spit it out !! "
" those scientists.. "
" hm ? "

Jeli tried pathetically to wriggle and thrash out of Bubs' grasp, she just let them go and drop on the floor like a water balloon
" those scientists are SOOOO ANNOYING !! "
" what happened now ? "
Jeli made angered noises through its gritted teeth, " I don't break easily,, but they've gotten good, too good. They know my tricks too well, they're adapting too fast, it was interesting at first but now it's annoying and boring, and they've grown a bir morw violent too, I barely ripped myseld outta that damn cardboard ! "

Worried murmurs and whispers sparked upon hearing Jeli, even Bubs looks worried, Sam simply scooted away back into the crowd.
" I guess I can't blame them, but you're still in your rights to be annoyed.. this is bad.. " " really, sherlocke !? " " hey, asshole, I'm just trying to help you !! " " making no brainer statements doesn't help !! " " well you've barely got one so why are you surprise- "
" SHUT IT "

Tree roots sprouted from below and entangled them both, breaking up the arguing.
Gasps came up, and some tried looking around for the source of the roots
So in other words.. they were looking for me

" augh- Stural- what the hell !?- " Bubs struggled and squirmed, trying to break free from the roots, I just rolled my eyes and rubbed my temples, " you understand that you're bickering doesn't help either, right ?! "
Jeli huffed, Bubs sighed and leaned her head back

I pulled them farther apart and got between them, all eyes now being on me.
" you heard what the green octopus said " " you can refer to me by my fucking name- " " " we need to be careful. If we go too far, we'll destroy the mansion or do something else we might regret, but if we don't do anything at all, we're all screwed "
Someone raised a hand, I looked over to them, " yes ? "
" why would it be bad if the mansion was destroyed ? "
" then EARTH might be destroyed, our purpose is to dominate, not destroy entire planets, besides, some of you have grown atrached, and planet earth can be quite interesting.. "
" I see.. "
" if earth was destroyed or taken over by something else, then who knows if we'll still have our advantages ? Our powers ? Ourselves !? And moving to a different planet isn't always easy, moving to other dimensions is annoying as well, we'll want to keep Earth for as long as we can. All we need is a plan to finally outsmart the scientists.. " I then realized something. I turned to Jeli and raised a judgemental brow, poking them with the tips of the roots, " was it just you who were borhered by them, or does anyone else have problems ? "
" augh- how dare you think so lowly of me ! "
" well ? " I turned to the others, there were indeee some who modded and confirmed it

I nodded and let the other two go, they went away in opposite directions while I stood still, still being the center of everyone's attention, like a true king should be

" what's the plan ? " " we just learned of this ! How the fuck are we meant to know !? "
" what if it's hopeless ? "
" what if they're listening to us right now !? "
I sighed again, crossing my arms and rollong my eyes at everyone, " I highly doubt that they're listening, and if they are then oh well, maybe things are hopeless, but we must still try anyway "
" can't we jusr kill them all ? "
" the cardboard is cursed, remember ? If one of us kills a scientist, the killer will be killed as well ! Ough,, we should've done that back before the curse was implanted.. "

Yes.. that's our own fault, thinking those scientists were interesting, and they still sort of are, but had we known they'd give us such pain, we wouldn't have bothered.
Come to think of it, a few of the lot have yhe ability to sense bad omens, but they never reported anything, could it be that they had been interfering with our powers long ago ?

" ... anyone ? Any ideas ? "
Silence
Hmph.. this won't be easy, if they can outdo us so easily then this plan needs to be well thought out, not something that just popped up in your head on a whim, even if the idea is good, the planning will need a good amount of time
Hhhh,,
Good luck ? Whatever. We can only hope..