Turning to Stone 3: Acceptance (Rewritten)

Chapter 2: The Plan

It had been a day or two since Jolthead had been banished, taken away from him, and Basilio hadn't left his room since.

The other monsters on Plant Island managed well enough, but second to Jolthead, Basilio was their leader. He took over most of the wubbox's duties, kept the monsters' spirits up and generally took care of the island and everyone on it. Not even Chomp could get through to him, he kept the door locked.

"Basilio?" It was Zoe, the bowgart who took care of Chomp when Basilio couldn't watch him. "I brought something for you, you haven't eaten for a while."

"It's alright Zoe, I'm not hungry." He weakly called back through the closed door. He didn't feel much like eating, or doing anything, really. "I'll just leave it here for when you get your appetite back." He heard her setting down a tray of something just outside his door, along with her footsteps slowly getting farther away.

The T-rox sighed, nearly shaking his own bed with the force of it. Everyone else was right. He couldn't shut himself off just because Jolthead was gone. Basilio slowly stood, legs almost collapsing from underneath him. It had been a while since he stood up.

He went to open the door, the smell of freshly baked bread and some sort of soup almost hypnotizing him. Opening the door, he looked around for other monsters (thankfully no one really wanted to go near his room right now) and dragged the tray back into his room. The door was shut again quickly after. Muffled sounds of chomping and slurping could be heard from behind it. So much for "I'm not hungry".

When he was done eating and had cleaned up the mess he made, he stepped outside once more. The halls were still empty, so he was able to walk down them without drawing attention.

He snuck out the back door of the castle, if he went out the front entrance he'd be bombarded with questions and curious monsters immediately. The minute he stepped outside he felt calmer. There was a slight breeze in the air, the trees swaying in the wind. The sun felt good on his rocky scales, and he was almost tempted to roll around on the grass beneath his feet. Although T-roxes had none of the Plant element within them, they were perfectly at home on Plant Island.

But the happy feelings wouldn't stick for long. His gaze drifted over to Jolthead's shack, a little run-down from the neglect since the wubbox had been banished. He couldn't hide from the truth forever, he supposed.

I wonder if there's anything more in there. He cautiously opened the door. It was dusty, just like always, and he held back a sneeze. It didn't work, and he just scattered the dust around when he sneezed.

The bedroom held no sign of any "clues" or interesting pieces of information that Basilio didn't already know. Aside from the rather large bed (for wubboxes were rather large monsters) and a small side table next to it, the room was practically empty. There was nothing here for him.

He moved onto the laboratory. If Jolthead could fit in here comfortably, I can too. Although both of them were bigger than most other monsters, Basilio was more wide than tall, and it made navigating the narrow spaces between the mess and junk lying around a challenge.

The most obvious thing in the room was the Wublin, the one that already had two eggs inside it. It was as cold as stone and still as a statue, for that is what it was. It hadn't been granted the spark of life, and with Jolthead gone, it never would.

Unless...

He went to look through the papers that were scattered about. Most of the notes were almost incomprehensible, but thankfully Jolthead had been thoughtful enough about the really important stuff. There was a small notebook, and the T-rox spent long enough turning the pages with his head to find more information.