Turning to Stone (Rewritten)

Epilogue: Overcoming

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Pickle asked, holding a four-year-old Galvana in his arms, or rather, attempting to. The celestial was trying her very best to wiggle away. "I'm sure. Remember, I can't let you be smarter than me, after all." Thrum playfully poked his boyfriend's nose.

The three had moved into the creator's room with Wubbox on Wublin Island. Pickle's old house on Celestial Island was torn down, and the materials would be put to good use elsewhere. Wubbox didn't mind sharing a room with their child, technical son-in-law, and granddaughter, so it was a nice arrangement. (Having a wubbox around made taking care of Galvana a lot easier. She absolutely adored her grandpa.)

Since school had reopened, it was becoming more organized. There were now grades, and lots of different classrooms. The werdos and wubboxes weren't the only teachers, "regular" monsters had started to volunteer too.

For those that wanted more education, like Thrum, Gold Island College had recently opened up as well. Now, the skyship taking the new students was landing on Wublin Island.

Emur was a great leader, far better than Brump had ever been. He offered the position to Thrum or Pickle multiple times, but they refused. After all, Emur was the one who completely changed Wublin Island for the better. He attended meetings with the other leaders, and allowed monsters to leave and talk with other islands as they wished.

"Remember, don't look down." Pickle held Thrum's hand tightly as they watched the ship land. "Good luck! Write to me when you can!" They waved frantically. "I will, don't let Galvana destroy our room while I'm gone." He joked, giving Pickle a kiss while he still had the opportunity. (It wasn't that much of a joke, he had tried to take care of her while Pickle finished up his last year of school and she was definitely a handful.)

Stepping on board, he took a deep breath. "Hey Thrum, over here!" He heard a voice, and turned to look. It was that purple bird monster again, he forgot her name, but she was one of Pickle's friends from school. Sitting near her were a plant monster and a volcano monster. Why was he so bad with names?

"Uh, hi..." His voice trailed off, and thankfully La got the hint. "I'm La, that's Bap, and that's Matatum." Thrum sat down, grateful for the introduction.

The ship rose, and so did his anxiety. You're gonna be fine, it's just a skyship. A skyship that is rising into the sky oh Galvana why did I choose this-

"Hey." La rested her wing on his shoulder. "You'll be okay. If you fall, then I will personally fly down and grab you before you can get hurt."

"Yeah, that went really well the last time." Bap said sarcastically. "Oh shut it, Bap, you weren't even there! And besides, if Pickle didn't fall, then I wouldn't have seen you and Poof."

"Wait, Pickle fell from a skyship?" Thrum asked. They'd never told him that story. "Yeah, it was on our way to Earth Island. Pickle, Loola, and I were all in a ship, and they leaned too far out over the edge. I tried to grab them, but I missed. Thankfully, Water Island was right below us, so no harm done."

Now that he thought about it, there was a pretty good reason why Pickle didn't tell him that. It would have only made Thrum's fear worse. "What other sorts of things did Pickle do?" He asked, suddenly curious.

"Well, there was this one asshole, Julian," La began. At the mention of his name, Matatum growled under her breath. Her volcanic head spewed out smoke, causing Bap to cough. "He kept being a creep towards Matatum and was also a dick to Pickle, since according to him, natural elementals were the best. Pickle decided to try and stand up to him, and if it weren't for me, he would've gotten his ass kicked."

Thrum laughed, talking with the others made him feel a lot safer. Before he knew it, Gold Island was within sight. "The Gold Island castle actually has infinite room, no one really knows how, but it's made hosting a college in the same spot where high-class monsters sleep a whole lot easier." La explained. "She'll tell you random facts a lot. Be prepared." Matatum whispered to him when La couldn't hear.