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sunstone-smiles · 1 year ago

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Exuberant Ecosystem - Chapter 1

Author’s Note: After working on and off on this project for nearly a year (more so off because life got a bit busy), the first chapter of my original series is finally finished!!! Thank you to everyone who helped me reach (over) 100 followers. I’ve said this before—but I’ll say it again—I’m so glad that so many of you have enjoyed my fun, little stories. Seeing the interactions with them and the joy that they’ve brought warms my heart, and I hope to be able to continue delivering that same joy in the future. So, without further ado, I give you the start of Exuberant Ecosystem!

Exuberant Ecosystem is an original series created by Sunstone-Smiles. Please don’t repost, but likes and reblogs are appreciated!

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Chapter 1: Peculiar Findings

Word count: 5,813 (Approx. 14 pages)

The beating of a creature’s wings disturbs the low resting leaves. The foliage shakes as a flash of blue darts past, weaving in and out of the trunks of the closely aligned trees. The sun barely peers through the shadowy canopy of green. Something is wrong. Something is terribly wrong. A new predator has appeared, one that can swipe down trees to make them come crashing to the ground. Seclusion should keep their home from danger, yet it’s come. A little heart pumps faster than its wings can. The flying creature looks behind their shoulder to spot any sign of the menace, until they slam head first into an unseen tree trunk.

***

The canopy shades the leaf piled ground below as a silver stake pole is pounded into the soft dirt. Metal dings with every swing from a sledge hammer, causing the nearby birds and their songs to rustle within the trees. Similar to the yappy canine, the heat in the state of Chihuahua in the country of Mexico nips at the air, but doesn’t bite down hard enough to disturb the visitors of the forest.

“Pull it a little more to the left,” Tate signals with his free hand while the other holds on to a sledge hammer. The rounded tent shifts in the desired direction. “That’s good,” Tate communicates with an open palm and hammers the steak down, until only the hook-like top is sticking out of the dirt.

“There we go,” Tate dusts off his hands after leaning the hammer on the tent. He stands, readjusts his blue and black paracord survival bracelet, then retucks the upper half of his uniform—which consists of a blue, long sleeved shirt beneath a shorter sleeved, beige cargo shirt—into his green cargo pants with a matching belt secured at the waist. The bangs of his brown hair flow off the side of his lightly, freckled face like three waves. “One out of three tents done.”

Tate’s uniformed co-worker lifts himself from behind the tent and dusts off his clothes with his olive toned hands. He wears the same colored cargo shirt, pants, and belt as Tate, except with a leaf green colored, long sleeve turtleneck beneath. His dark hair that falls just below his ears is spiked with tips of dark green, like the spines of a bearded dragon. “We would be done faster if we had our third person to help.” He throws the empty tent bags into the back of their open top jeep.

“Come on, Gareth. You and I both know that she was excited to get out here.” Tate walks around the other flattened tents, like deflated balloons, in his hiking boots. He reaches their outdoor desk, where they perched a water cooler at its legs.

“She couldn’t have waited to explore until after we finished setting up the tents?”

Tate chuckles. He pulls out a bag of grapes, the color of miniature limes, from the cooler and places the sealed fruit on the desk above before gaining access to his and Gareth’s water bottles. “I guess not,” he hands the other container to his friend and they both take sips from their bottles.

The I.S.S.E.C Corporation, also known as the International Study and Save the Ecosystem Conservation Corporation, relies on plenty of field research to learn about different types of habitats for plants and animals. Tate Pallder (zoologist), Gareth Bargmy, (wildlife biologist), and their third partner and friend, Phoebe Lilona (ecologist) all work for the corporation as indicated by the embroidery of an earth and shield, with the corporation’s abbreviations across it, nesting in a bed of leaves above the left pocket of their uniforms. Their job this time is located in the forests of Chihuahua in Mexico, where they are tasked with further studying how animals in this environment interact with the plant life, specifically, species of bats.

“Guys!” a female voice yelling from within the trees draws their attention. A woman dashes towards their camp with gloved hands cupped in front of her. Her braid of purple hair trails behind her, along with a hair pin decorated with green and blue lilac feathers that holds tightly to the side of her head. Her golden-bronze face has a look of alarm, as if it wasn’t apparent already from her vivid amber eyes. She wears the same beige cargo shirt and green cargo pants as the two men, but her long sleeved undershirt has a striking purple, a bit lighter in color than her hair.

“Phoebe?” Tate places his bottle on the desk and runs up to her with Gareth following close behind.

“Phoebe, what’s wrong?” Gareth asks when the three reach each other.

Phoebe looks up from her hands, the worry in her eyes already telling half of the story. “I was gathering samples from below one of the trees and found this little guy down there with them.” She holds out her yellow gloved hands, like those that are usually seen for gardening.

Cupped in her palms, a bat with sky blue fur that resembles a shaggy children’s puppet, lies still against the contrast of dim yellow. The creature's eyes are closed and its head is slightly turned to the side, resting on one of its pointed ears. The faint push of air in its chest reveals some sign of life.

“Here, put him down on the desk,” Tate says with haste and clears a spot. Phoebe carefully slides the bat onto the table, while Tate pulls on a pair of his own rubber gloves. It’s clear that this creature is a bat, but what kind or what dangers it may carry are unknown.

With Phoebe hovering over, and Gareth able to see a few steps back due to his taller height, Tate gently examines the little creature. He outstretches the bat’s wing and carefully runs his fingers over the joints to check for any broken bones. The prominent blue coloration of the bat is already unusual, but the skin of the wing is layered with pink fuzz that, by looks, shares the same texture as a decorative feather boa.

“Is it okay?” Phoebe asks over Tate’s shoulder.

Tate inspects the bat’s other wing, repeating the same movements. “He doesn’t seem to have anything broken.” Tate then checks the little bat’s head and runs a thumb over their three tufts of cowlicked fur, also comforting the creature. “Just a little bump on the head.” He pauses to move his hand away and observe the bat’s notable features. “Look at his coloration though. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Gareth steps forward to take a closer look. “Maybe it’s a genetic mutation.”

“Possibly. It wouldn’t be a shock if a new species originated from a mutation,” Tate responds and removes his gloves, “I’m just surprised by the drastic difference. What would cause this bat to mutate from usual darker fur, like blacks and browns that help it camouflage, to a light blue? Not to mention the pink fur around and on the edge of the wings.”

Attentively watching the creature for any sign of movement, Phoebe sees the bat’s ear twitch. “Guys, look,” Phoebe whispers. The bat’s ear twitches again. Its head starts to lift from the desk. “I think it’s waking up.”

As predicted, the little creature's eyes begin to flutter open, revealing two large pupils of green. The three researchers stand completely still as the bat fully awakens.

The little creature stretches his limbs as he regains consciousness. He rolls back his shoulders and fluffs out his wings. When he notices the monster-sized strangers, however, the creature squeaks in terror and scrambles itself under the shadow of a backpack lying on the desk. It curls into a ball with its wings tightened to its sides, staring at the strangers with shaking emerald eyes and folded down ears.

Tate puts his hands up to show his empty palms. “Hey, it’s okay,” he says in a soft voice. “Gareth, grab me one of those grapes.”

Gareth nods. Without any sudden movements to avoid startling the small creature, he slowly opens the bag of fruit and reaches in, then hands the zoologist a green grape into his palm.

Tate holds the grape out to the shivering creature. “Here,” his blue eyes, like a soothing mist from a waterfall, reach the creature’s level, “You can have it.”

The little bat glances up at him, then to the grape, then back to Tate. With caution, the bat pokes his head out from his curled up state and crawls from underneath the bag’s shadow to approach the rounded fruit. To make sure it isn’t a trap, the bat sniffs the grape. He warily takes a small bite, tearing the soft flesh of the fruit with his small, rounded fangs. Sensing that the food is safe, the bat takes another bite. He then grabs the rounded fruit into its own lap to nibble on it, lapping up the sweet juice with his tongue after every bite.

The three researchers relax once they see the bat become more at ease. “Luckily, this one is a fruit eater,” Tate says with a breath of relief.

“Aww!” Phoebe takes a step closer to the desk. “He’s so cute! You know, when he’s not unconscious.”

“He’s oddly trusting regarding he just met us, don’t you think?” Gareth questions.

“Any trust is a good sign,” Tate replies. He looks at the bat and puts his hand on the desk. “Are you feeling better little guy?”

The bat places his half-eaten grape down on the surface and crawls over to Tate’s hand, sniffing it curiously. Tate stays completely still so he doesn’t frighten the creature, but the bat instead frightens him when it suddenly jumps up his arm.

“Whoa!” Tate takes a few steps back from the abrupt action of the bat scurrying up and around his body with surprisingly fast movements. The bat then hops onto his shoulder and nuzzles his fluffy head right above the collar of Tate’s uniform, acting much more friendly than it was a few seconds ago.

“Hey!” Tate carefully lifts his shoulders to defend himself from the creature’s feather soft fur grazing against his neck. A smile tugs at the corner of Tate’s mouth. “That…that tickles!” the zoologist lets out a few giggles at the bat’s shenanigans. The bat instantly perks his ears up, as if he heard a recognizable sound. With a little grin showing the bat’s fangs, the peculiar creature squeaks and nuzzles his head at Tate’s neck again like he’s purposely trying to elicit more laughter out of him.

Tate gasps and scrunches up his shoulders again, careful not to hurt the little creature who seems to be playing by his neck. The zoologist’s giggles increase when the bat skitters from shoulder to shoulder, honing in on any available space to nuzzle. “A little help plehehease!” Tate calls for assistance from his research partners.

Phoebe giggles and makes her way over to Tate and the squeaking bat. “Alright, come here little guy,” she carefully reaches over, scoops the creature in her gloved hands, and tries to gently pry them off, but the little bat clings on tighter than expected to Tate’s collar.

“You’re a strong little guy, aren’t ya?” Phoebe observes. “Come on,” she delicately wraps a hand around the bat’s middle and squeezes his side. The small creature lets out a high-pitched squeak, followed by other melodious chirps that sound like their own tiny giggles. The bat unhooks from Tate’s shoulder and Phoebe successfully pulls the bat off into her arms.

“Oh! Sorry little guy,” Phoebe repositions her hands to hold below the bat’s wings, realizing why the bat was releasing squeaky giggles. “I guess you must be ticklish too.”

“Thanks, Phoebe,” Tate rubs the side of his neck. As a precaution, Gareth slides on his gloves and inspects Tate’s neck for any injuries during the unexpected scuffle. “What was all that about?” the zoologist shrugs.

“I’m not sure,” Gareth responds as he finishes his examination, “But he didn’t leave a mark on you. No scratches, no bites. Like he was purposely being careful not to hurt you.” He then removes his gloves as quickly as he had put them on.

“Like the bat just wanted to snuggle,” Tate jokes.

“Maybe that’s what we should name him then!” Phoebe chimes in with a different topic, “Snuggles!”

The little bat squeaks in approval.

Gareth shakes his head. “Snuggles? Really?”

“I don’t see you coming up with anything better, Mr. Wildlife Biologist,” Phoebe smiles to throw the tease his way, “Besides, I think he likes it.”

The little creature gives another approving squeak in her arms.

“What about you, Tate?” Phoebe continues, “Do you like the name?”

The zoologist chuckles, “It does fit him pretty well.”

Gareth rolls his eyes and walks over to Phoebe. “More importantly, we need to figure out what species of bat he is, or if he really is a new species.” He glances down at the bat staring up at him with a big-eyed expression, like a small puppy excited to be with new friends. Gareth sighs. “Alright…but I will admit he is pretty cute.”

“Yay! Gareth approves!” Phoebe cheers, “Snuggles it is then!”

“What? I didn’t say that,” Gareth argues back.

Snuggles glances at the two humans about to verbally clash, then wriggles in Phoebe's hold.

The woman grins at Gareth, “You implied it.”

“I did not!”

In that moment, Snuggles pops out of Phoebe’s hands and takes off flying down the open path of the forest.

“Hey! Wait little guy!” Phoebe yanks her gloves off and tosses them to the desk, now running after the creature.

“Phoebe!” Tate yells and chases after her, with Gareth running right behind him.

The three dash through the trees of the forest. Leaves and twigs crush beneath their boots as they follow the flash of the little blue creature through the foliage. The bat takes a sharp right and heads into an entrance of a rocky cave. Without losing speed, Phoebe drifts on her feet and turns the corner to make the same sharp right into the cave. Tate almost trips when he turns for the entrance, but Gareth saves his balance by catching his arm by the sleeve so they both can keep the pace with the two in front of them.

Faint light from the entrance helps the researchers dodge the large protrusions of rock from the ground so they can catch up with the bat flapping ahead. But the deeper they go, the less light that reaches the unknown. The flying animal pulls forward, fading into the dark and out of the researchers’ view. By the time the three catch up to where the bat should be, a large wall of rock greets them instead.

“A dead end?!” Gareth catches his breath from the chase.

Phoebe scans the area around her. “Where did he go then?”

A squeak as if to respond to the researchers echoes from nearby. Following the source of the noise with his eyes, Tate quickly spots a tunnel that’s barely peering out from behind a large rock.

“I think it’s coming from this way! Come on!” Tate takes the lead and starts down the hidden path with his other two partners behind him. This path is much darker than where they just were, but a sliver of light protrudes at the end through strips of foliage covering the exit. Tate speeds ahead and pushes past the screen of leaves, running into a bright field that momentarily blinds him. He slows down to a stop and uses his hand as a visor to adjust his eyes to the light. Blurs of green and yellow take over his vision, until he can focus on the area revealed to him. His eyes fill with wonder.

Phoebe and Gareth come out of the exit soon after, also stopping with wonder-filled eyes when they see the reality of the area around them.

The forest canopy has a beauty that’s only seen in dreams. The leaves are yellow-green, but a pink hue surrounds the edges with fluff like cotton candy. Multicolored parrots create single file curves through the sky before swooping into the branches of the trees. Sprays of mist glide over the back of the researchers' ears from a rushing waterfall behind them as it splashes into a nearby basin.

The three of them keep their eyes on the trees—awestruck. “Wow…” Tate speaks after absorbing the view, “What kind of trees are they?”

Phoebe steps forward, her sight mesmerized by the splendor of the patterns. She shakes her head. “I don’t know…”

Gareth notices some movement beneath the trees at the forest floor, draped in yellow-green grass. A deer, with antlers that circle downward like gentle arms that could carry a baby, plays with a rabbit who has ears that splay out like bird wings.

“Look,” Gareth signals to his partners without taking his vision off the creatures, “there are animals over there too.”

Tate rotates his body to see the rest of his surroundings, taking in the magnificence from every angle. “Everything here feels so…vibrant.”

Phoebe kneels down to a patch of blue flowers specked in pink. Grains of what look to be reflective rock are infused inside of the petals to give the pink blemishes a sparkle.

“These flowers have a vibrant coloring too…” she says as she touches the blanket smooth petals. A flicker of weakened color then catches her eye. She gently pushes a flower to the side and finds another plant—wilting, dry, and crumbling at the edges. It’s drained of what nutrients that made it as dazzling as the other flowers around it.

“Strange…” Phoebe reaches out to examine it, but a familiar squeak diverts her attention back towards Tate and Gareth.

“Whoa!” Tate flinches back when Snuggles swoops in close to his face, flapping his feathery wings. “Hey, it’s the bat!”

“It’s Snuggles!” Phoebe calls out in excitement and walks over to them.

Gareth narrows his eyes at her. “You’re really sticking to that name, aren’t you?”

Phoebe smiles at him, “I know it’s growing on you, Gareth.”

Snuggles squeaks again to show his fangs, wings still flapping to keep him in the air. He tilts his head multiple times towards the direction of the rest of the forest.

Tate pauses for a moment to observe the creature’s actions. “I think Snuggles wants us to follow him.”

Snuggles lets out another squeak, then flaps his way towards the forest path. The three researchers look at one another. They can’t believe what they are seeing, but they each silently agree they should follow the creature who wants to guide them through this peculiar environment.

They’re led through more yellow-green grass with specks of pink that cover the forest floor. The trees are nearly parallel to one another on each side of the path as the environment brims with life. New creatures, also with unusual features, appear among the flora as the three researchers continue walking. Two coatis, an animal that has a similar body type to raccoons, playfully wrestle in a patch of flowers. Their tails that are usually thin like a lemur’s are instead puffed and rounded like a feather duster with purple rings of fur. Peach and cream dotted woodpeckers with red crests tap tap tap on tree bark. Small lizards of geckoes and green anoles, both with feather-tipped tails, scatter across the grounded leaves. An iguana is perched on top of a rock to sunbathe in the crisp light; where its spines should be are instead made out of pointed feathers. All of these creatures appear to coexist with one another in this strange area of land.

“I still can’t believe this was part of the forest we were in,” Phoebe marvels at her surroundings while following the path. “I know separate sections of the forest are expected to have a few differences, but this feels like we stepped foot into a whole other world.”

“It’s possible that geographic isolation is still occurring,” Gareth suggests. “The small cave we entered from and the clifftop location seem to keep this place secluded enough to where this ecosystem could have evolved huge differences. That would explain many of the mutations into these likely new species as well.”

“Speaking of mutations…” Tate stops walking and arches his neck to stare upwards. Phoebe and Gareth stall next to him, their mouths agape.

Horizontal waves of dark reds, browns, and pale pinks make up the bark of a large tree, standing tall like a leader. Its leaves puff from their branches like a green cloud on a stick. Each color of the bark is layered on top of one another like neapolitan ice cream, separated by a thin wave of marble white in between each layer. On the bark’s surface, nearly transparent, pink mushrooms grow across the trunk. This is only one tree in a grove of many that reside behind it. Snuggles flaps around the big tree in a spiral to signal that this is what he wants them to see. The researchers soak in the reality of the specimen with astonishment.

Snuggles swoops back toward the three humans. He flaps around and behind Tate before coming in for a landing on the zoologist’s shoulder. Then, he waddles over to rub his fluffy head into Tate’s neck again.

Tate snaps out of his awestruck daze into another fit of giggles. “Hehey!” Tate lifts his shoulders to shield his neck, but he and his co-workers flinch back when the mushrooms on the tree begin to glow a soft red.

“That’s definitely not what trees are supposed to do!” Gareth exclaims almost in fright at the unusual specimen. The light that was once captured in the mushrooms fades, as if its power source has gone out. Snuggles flaps off of Tate’s shoulder to go elsewhere.

With cautious steps, Phoebe approaches the tree, observing its strange design. “Wait a minute…I’ve seen this pattern before.”

“You have?” Tate asks.

“Yeah. My grandma has a gemstone with this same pattern that’s usually found in this area of Mexico. She uses it to decorate her centerpieces with. What were they called again? Crazy…Crazy ace? No…” she mumbles to herself with a finger to her chin. Her face suddenly lights up with a flash of remembrance. “Ah ha! It’s crazy lace agate!”

“How does a gemstone explain what we just saw?” Gareth inquires, trying to come to terms with his disbelief.

“Well, crazy lace agate has another name,” Phoebe explains, “It’s also known…as the laughter stone.”

What Phoebe is implying clicks for Tate. He moves closer to the tree. “So are you saying the mushrooms on the tree reacted…because I laughed?”

“Maybe. Some plants do have the ability to sense different vibrations from sound. Maybe these bioluminescent mushrooms reacted to the vibrations of your laughter.”

“You said that this area of Mexico is where crazy lace agate can be found, right?” Gareth ponders, “What if the presence of the gemstone in the environment is one of the factors that made this entire ecosystem evolve the way it did?”

“Exactly,” Phoebe agrees. “How it all came to be is only a hypothesis for now, but the fact that all these species evolved new traits is still an amazing discovery!” The woman overflows with excitement. She turns back to the tree to observe its details closer, wanting to know every secret that it holds right away.

“Yeah it is!” Tate shouts, then bashfully reels himself in from his delighted exclamation about their findings. Gareth lets out a small chuckle at his partners’ reactions, also experiencing his own internal excitement.

While trying to celebrate their discovery, the sound of quiet, squeaky chatter from behind catches Gareth’s and Tate’s ears. Unsure of the cause of the noise, the boys turn around to investigate. They immediately gasp and take small steps back towards the protection of the tree.

“Ph-Phoebe?” Tate stutters to warn her of the approaching situation. Phoebe is still silently mesmerized by the tree.

“Phoebe!” Gareth exclaims louder to get her attention.

“Yeah?” she finally turns around and inhales a startled gasp.

A crowd of animals have created a half-circle to surround them. The furry mammals of rabbits, coatis, and deers cautiously approach. The vibrant parrots and woodpeckers tilt their heads to get a glimpse. The feather tailed reptiles of iguanas, geckos, and anoles blink at the three strangers.

“No need to panic,” Tate says quietly as he takes another step back from the unknown creatures. “Most of these animal species aren’t known for doing harm.”

“But we don’t know what these species can do,” Gareth whispers. He’s right. Though the creatures may share similar features with already known species, those from an unknown environment could bring certain risks of their own.

Snuggles flaps through the crowd of animals and towards the researchers. All the eyes of the surrounding creatures lock on to Snuggles as he, for a third time, latches onto Tate's shoulder and nuzzles into the side of his neck.

“Hehey!” Despite the current possibility of danger, Tate can’t hold in his giggles, “Cohohome on!”

Reacting to the sound, the mushrooms on the tree light up behind them. When Snuggles stops and Tate refocuses on the situation, the zoologist tenses up after seeing all of the animals' intrigued expressions. If he’s reading the creatures’ behaviors correctly, he has a feeling he knows why Snuggles decided to do that again.

Tate takes another step back. “Uh oh-”

In an instant, a few of the wing-eared rabbits and fluffy tailed coatis pounce onto him.

“Whoa!” Tate stumbles back as the creatures race around his body—the rabbits climb onto his belt to press their ears into his sides, while a coati slips into his shirt to glide its tail across Tate’s skin.

“Ah-Hehehey! Wahahait a mihihihinute!” Tate breaks out into full blown laughter with a big smile illuminating his freckled face as the animals deliver a full on tickle attack. Even Snuggles joins in again with head nuzzles to his neck. Before Tate knows it, he’s giggling up a storm; the mushrooms behind him glow even brighter than before.

“Aww!” Phoebe clasps her hands together, “They’re all tickling him! How cute!”

“Are we sure that’s necessarily a good thing in this case?!” Gareth responds in a frantic tone, like he was watching someone getting mauled by tickling.

Unable to keep his balance any longer, Tate falls to the ground, still giggling as the creatures tickle him silly.

“Oh, Tate!” Phoebe exclaims in concern when he falls, but she lets out a shriek when a deer throws its antlers around her like a hug from behind and rubs its fluffy snout into her neck. Her own giggles follow soon after as she tries to scrunch up her shoulders. As if on cue, her laughter summons parrots and woodpeckers to flutter from the ground, flock around her, and attack her with tickles.

“AH! Nohohot mehehehehe!” she holds her hands out in a futile attempt at defense. The parrots use their curved beaks to gently scratch at her ribs, while the woodpeckers cling onto her shirt to use their own beaks like fingers that were delivering pokes to her sides. Through her laughter, she slides down to the forest floor, meeting the same outcome as Tate.

“Phoebe!” Gareth calls out to her, but he jolts from the sudden feeling of scaly toe pads and tiny lizard claws crawling up the outside of his pant legs and towards his body. Some of the reptiles quickly reach the top of his shoulders and sneak down the collar of his shirt, causing him to twitch from each poke from their unexpectedly fuzzy claws. A wobbly smile forms on Gareth’s face as he tries to hold in his laughter, purposely not giving the animals what they're hunting for, but a large iguana wrapping around his middle aims to change that. The iguana looks Gareth directly in the eye and sticks its forked tongue out at him like a child planning some mischief. Gareth growls through his teeth, having a standoff with the iguana.

“Gotcha!” Gareth quickly swings his arms down to catch it, “Huh?!” but the iguana avoids capture by running a lap around his middle, before coming back around and hopping into an opening at the bottom of his cargo shirt. “Ahack!” Gareth yelps when the feather-spined iguana finds a way under his turtleneck and wiggles their feathery tail across his stomach. “Ohohoho nohohoho!” Gareth bursts into deep laughter alongside his other two teammates and wraps his arms around himself, “Gehehet ohohout of thehehere!”

Due to his squirming, Gareth leans forward and eventually collapses to his knees. He props himself on one arm while the other stays wrapped around his torso as the reptiles make swift work of releasing his laughter.

Behind the three giggling researchers, the rest of the trees in the grove with mushrooms growing from their bark begin to glow. Each one gradually lights up the space around them, like the spotlights of a stage bringing focus to the star of the show. The dark shade produced by the canopy of the trees is dyed by the pink hue.

When they see how healthy the vitality of the trees’ glowing are, the animals halt their attack on the researchers and cheer with squeaks, chatters, and chirps.

The furry mammals hop off of Tate so he can sit up, the deer carefully removes its antlers from around Phoebe while the birds perch by her side, and the feathered reptiles climb out of Gareth’s clothes so that the creatures allow their new friends a rest. As the three researchers catch their breath, the animals they had previously been ambushed by now cuddle close to comfort them.

Gareth is the first to speak. He repositions himself to take a seat on the ground, still with an arm clutched around his tummy. “That was a…warm welcome.”

“So the animals weren’t trying to hurt us,” Tate says and pets a gentle coati leaning on his thigh, “They were just playing.”

Noticing glittering pink light in their field of vision, the researchers turn and see the rows of trees behind them still illuminated.

Phoebe’s expression eases to a warm glow. “It may sound strange, but it looks like laughter is one of the energy sources of this ecosystem. The plants, the animals, the environment…all of it thrives because of laughter.”

Gareth glances down at the reptiles gathered around him. “That could also explain the animals’ behavior to make us laugh, as well as the traits they evolved, like feathers or extra tufts of fur, to reach that goal. They were just doing their part in the ecosystem.”

The woman nods. “Meaning that there are so many more mysteries to uncover here.”

Tate turns to Snuggles, who is perched on his shoulder. The little bat squeaks at him with his two little fangs showing a smile, just like when they were first united earlier in the day.

The zoologist looks at his teammates with a gaze of confidence. “So what do you say, team? Should we move our research into a new direction?” Tate asks his partners, but he already knows their answers.

“Are you kidding? Of course!” Phoebe’s voice rises with joy. “There’s no way we can miss this opportunity!”

Gareth shrugs. “Well, if you two are doing it, then I’m in too. We’re a team after all,” he ends his sentence with a soft smile, showing that he was in from the start.

“Then it’s settled!” Tate finalizes his team’s unanimous decision.

All the animals around them cheer again in celebration, as if they knew what the three were saying by the excited tone of their voices. The researchers chuckle at the creatures’ reactions. They’re sure to expect a handful from these new species during their research for this ecosystem.

Snuggles shows Tate, Gareth, and Phoebe a second way out of the exuberant section of the secluded forest, guiding them between two walls of thick foliage with enough room that the researchers can still easily maneuver their equipment through. When they return to their campsite, Tate makes a call to the I.S.S.E.C Corporation about the team’s findings. Although the corporation is skeptical at first hearing about an ecosystem fueled by a gemstone and laughter, the team gains their approval to switch their research towards a new objective. They repack their half-made campsite, hop in the jeep, then head down the same path lined to the sides with trees and past the cave that had originally shown them to an unexpected world.

When they reach their destination, they unload all of their equipment and place it in a small pile right outside the second hidden entrance. Afterwards, Gareth securely parks the vehicle in between two trees to the side of the main path.

Tate places a bag in the pile and rests his arms for a moment. “Alright, that should be the last of them.” He leans over to pick up their equipment again to carry it through the veil of foliage, but a faint thump in the distance draws his attention. He turns his head towards the sound, which came from the end of the main path. Another faint thump is heard in the same direction. Curious of the source, Tate walks towards the end of the path. Snuggles joins as his companion by landing on his shoulder.

“Tate?” Phoebe asks after seeing him walk by her, like he was focused on searching for something. She looks to Gareth, who has the same worry on his face after seeing Tate wordlessly pass him while he finished securing a protective cover for their vehicle. Concerned about their friend, the other two researchers stop what they're doing and follow Tate.

The end of the forest path, only a few steps away from the second entrance of the newly discovered ecosystem, leads to a grassy cliff. Tate is unmoving as he looks over the edge. When Gareth and Phoebe come to his sides, they suddenly share the same shocked stiffness.

Phoebe puts her hands up to her mouth and gasps in silence. “Oh no…”

Below the cliff, what once were grand sections of green forest trees and grass have been stripped from the earth’s floor. A large patch of rocky dirt, like a pulled off strip of wax removal for flora, remains from where grass once grew. The trees that created a canopy before are chopped, leaving only a stump in its place. Yellow construction machines lurk motionless by freshly dug dirt nearby the soulless, leftovers of the trees.

Snuggles lets out a shaky squeak and cowers behind Tate’s collar. The three researchers silently stare out at the destruction. One thing is clear: they’re not the only ones who are looking for something in this forest.

#Sunstone's OCs #Exuberant Ecosystem #Tate Pallder #Phoebe Lilona #Gareth Bargmy #Snuggles the bat #original series #original character #sfw tickling community #sfw tickle community #sfw tickling #sfw tickle fic #tickle fic

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