Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Getting a notification in the middle of the night was not the most bizarre thing that Cross has ever experienced in his life. But getting the same notification two nights in a row while patrolling outside the Termite Kingdom was rather odd and unusual.

Cross pulled out the phone from his bag, reading the message he had just received.

“What does it say?” Poi asked, suddenly at his side, looking over his shoulder to catch a glimpse of the bright screen.

Cross read the message once more, before putting it away. “Scientists say that the radar has picked up a Weevil not too far from here.”

“Another one?”

“Yeah. Should we investigate it?”

A moment passed in silence as Poi contemplated his question. He finally responded, nodding his head as he pulled out his sword from his sheath. “We should. The King wouldn’t be happy if he found out we let it get away.”

Cross gripped his weapon, and followed as Poi led the way.

They walked together, going down the narrow path that led to the Forsaken Lands. They traveled light, carrying the bare essentials. It was basic knowledge for every soldier, one of the most important rules drilled into their minds during the first few days of training. Anything extra would only slow them down, or worse, they would risk catching a dangerous lesser bug’s attention.

It wasn’t long before they reached their destination. The ground was dusty and the nighttime air engulfed in thick fog, making it hard to see. An area mostly covered with mushrooms and broken glass, sticking out of the ground at unnatural angles.

Cross stood still, arms rigid, trying to investigate his surroundings. Other than the light cool breeze, he couldn't see or hear anything out of the ordinary. He relaxed his shoulders once he determined they were alone. He turned to look at Poi. “You think it ran off?”

Poi shrugged, looking out into the distance, his attention elsewhere. “I’m not sure, but keep your eyes open anyways.”

Cross did as he was told. They paced around the area for a minute. Then another. Cross fought back the urge to sigh. The longer they stood there, the more he felt like a sitting target. He just wanted to get this over with.

More time passed, but there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary in the area. There were zero clues. No signs of a weevil. There was absolutely nothing. Nothing but a dead end.

“Alright, there’s nothing here,” Poi called out. “Let's head on back.”

Cross couldn’t help himself. He let out a sigh of relief, and started to follow, heading back to where they came from. “What time does our shift end?”

“Shift ends at sunrise.” Poi said. “If you're not busy, we can stop for burgers later.”

Cross chuckled. The simple thought of warm food almost made his mouth water.  “I thought you'd ever ask.”

“Alright, but you're paying. I covered for your bill last time we went to–” Poi began.

At that moment, a terrifying growl echoed through the Forsaken Lands. Cross and Poi stared at one other, both of them instinctively reaching for their weapons. They put their backs against one another, their faces turning deadly serious.

“It’s still here…” Poi muttered.

Cross eyes darted all over the place, trying to see through the thick fog. “Do you see it?”

“No.”

Cross was about to ask another question when the Weevil growled a second time, louder than before. It was getting closer. Startled, Cross swung around, and aimed his crossbow in the direction of the noise. With just the starry night sky illuminating the ground, he squinted, trying to locate the creature in the darkness. Taking a deep breath, he took a couple of steps forward, trying to control the panic crawling up inside of him.

“Cross, don’t go too far,” Poi said through gritted mandibles. “We need to stay together.”

Something snapped, echoing loudly behind Cross. A feeling of dread washed over him, realizing that something was different. Before he could turn around, he saw it, out of the corner of his eye.

What he originally thought was a large rock had suddenly moved.

The silhouette began to take shape. It growled, the only thing visible were its eyes staring right back at him.

It was a Primal Weevil.

And Poi was right in front of it.

“Behind you!”

He had no time to react. Poi twisted around, blindly swinging his sword. The Weevil dodged. Claws in the air, the Weevil swung down.

Cross helplessly watched as the Weevil’s claws made a horrible thud, sending Poi flying in the air, his sword spinning out of his hands.

“Poi!”

Cross screamed, the sound of his voice being drowned out by the Weevil’s piercing roar. He didn’t have to think twice about it. Immediately, he swept up his crossbow, aimed the arrow at the only thing that was visible, and fired.

The arrow flashed through the air. The Weevil let out a painful yelp, the tip burying itself inside one of its eyes.

There was no reason to reload. With the Weevil distracted, Cross took the opportunity and surged forward. He rushed to where Poi was left faced down and started to imagine the worst.

Many questions ran through his mind. Is he unconscious? Is he injured? If he is, then just how bad is it?

“Are you alright?” He kneeled next to him and got all of his questions answered when Poi didn’t respond. He rolled him over, immediately noticing the long deep slash going across his friend’s chest plate.

Cross silently cursed to himself. He looked up, expecting to still see the Weevil there, howling in pain. But all there was in front of him was darkness.

Adrenaline still rushing inside of him, he fumbled his hand into his pocket, and pulled out his phone. He dialed a number. It rang for a moment, before it finally clicked on the other end.

What’s your emergency?

“I got a soldier down,” Cross said. “I need medic.”

The voice on the other end of the line was silent for a long moment before responding once more.

Stay on the line so we can find you. We’re on our way.

Cross put the phone down. He pulled his friend’s limp body towards him, and applied pressure to the wound on his chest. He closed his eyes, feeling the cool wet sensation seeping into his hands, desperately wishing for this nightmare to end.

Chapter Text

There are many things in life that should never be combined with one another:

Water and oil. An abomihoney with any kind of bomb. Children and heavy machinery. Anyone with common sense would know to keep these things separated as far apart as possible, unless they wanted to suffer a terrible fate.

But some things in life are sadly unavoidable. Unfortunately for Leif and Kabbu, they had in their possession a submarine. And the bee refused to listen once they hopped inside.

“Vi, watch out!” Kabbu yelled at the top of his lungs. He held on to his chair’s armrest with so much force that he was sure he accidentally crushed it.

Driving, Vi narrowly dodged a rock that was just about as big as the sub itself. Adjusting the steering wheel back to its original position, she turned her head around to face Kabbu with a cheeky grin. “Relax Kabbu! I know how to drive this giant metal contraption.”

“Well can you at least pay attention to where you're going?” Leif said, looking through the sub’s periscope. “You're about to hit a Water Strider.”

Vi let out a small gasp as she suddenly slammed on the brakes, sending everyone lunging forwards in their seats. Leif groaned as he hit his head on the periscope, and shot Vi an angry glare in her direction.

“Whoops,” Vi nervously laughed. “I-I meant to do that.”

Leif created a small block of ice with his hand and leaned back into his chair as far as he could, grumbling underneath his breath as he applied the chunk of ice to his face. “Of course you did.”

They spent the rest of their trip in silence. Every now and then they would look out the submarine’s window, admiring the sunlight pouring into the water’s surface, the rays reflecting pieces of the rainbow. The colors didn’t last long, as they began to fade the closer they got to their destination, slowly being replaced with dull grays.

Vi stopped the sub, turning it off as they reached the docks.

“Ta-da, we made it!” Satisfied with her parking skills, she unbuckled her seatbelt. “Ah… I never felt so alive.”

Leif stood up from his seat, spreading his arms and wings into a big stretch. “Well that’s good to hear, because with your driving skills we were certain we weren’t going to be alive for much longer.”

Ignoring his comment, Vi flew upwards towards the ceiling. After tugging on the watertight handle for a moment, the hatch finally spun open. Vi continued to fly as she let herself out first.

“Why did we let her drive?” An exasperated Leif asked Kabbu.

“Well, since it’s our last time using it before we return it to the Termite Royals, we agreed to give Vi one final moment to enjoy the submarine.” Kabbu proudly exclaimed, reaching for the ladder to get out. He paused, seemingly no longer content with the answer he gave. “... And because you get nervous driving it and I don’t have the best depth perception.”

Leif took a deep breath, looking more annoyed than he was earlier ago. “We take it back. Our anxiety gets worse with her behind the wheel.”

Hearing the conversation down below, Vi poked her head back into the sub. “Come on guys, let’s go! We’re burning daylight!”

“Daylight? Here?” Leif grabbed onto the ladder and began to climb out. “Now that’s a joke.”

All three members of Team Snakemouth exited the submarine, for there was nothing humorous about the Termite Kingdom’s lack of light. A place in perpetual darkness, completely covered in solid gray walls that the Termites called their home. It was a magnificent structure, a large dome that protected them from nature’s harsh and severe weather.

Kabbu led the team to the center of the city, where many Termites are currently walking about, either heading to work or taking care of their daily errands. Vi is the first to step on one of the many conveyor belts the city has installed, and the team took in the gloomy atmosphere of the town as the conveyor belts automatically moved them straight toward the plaza.

“It’s a shame we had to leave Chompy back home.” Leif said, a hint of sadness in his voice.

“You know it’s for the best,” Kabbu focused on one of the city’s many neon signs, trying to read the business’s name. “The poor thing started to wilt the last time we brought her here.”

Vi sighed, remembering how the last time they came here, they had to rush back to the Hive to get their pet chomper medical treatment. After being scolded by the Professor for bringing in a plant to a place with no sunlight and bad air quality, they swore to never do it again. 

“Hey, Kabbu?” She turned around to face him, changing the topic of the conversation. “What exactly are we here for? You really didn’t tell us this morning before we came here.”

Kabbu shrugged, looking just as confused as Vi. “I’m afraid Eetl didn’t give me much information. I didn’t even have the chance to ask him any further questions. But I do believe he was trying to contact the other explorers.”

“Sounds pretty serious if the Termites are asking the Ant Kingdom for help,” Leif said.

Kabbu nodded in agreement. “Well, we are allies after all. Especially after they helped us out when the Wasp King attacked. All I know is that we have to report to Sir Maki near the plaza.”

“Ugh, I don’t want to work with Kina,” Vi whined.

“Vi–” Kabbu tried to reprimand her before she interrupted him again.

“Kabbu, she’s the worst! She’s just a walking mood swing getting ready to explode at any moment!”

“Vi, that’s enough.”

Vi continued her rant, subconsciously stepping down as she reached the end of the conveyor belt’s journey. “Oh come on, you know I’m telling the truth. Who’s going to stop me? Maki? I'd like to see him try and…” Vi’s voice trailed off, realizing the look of horror on Kabbu’s eyes as he was no longer staring at her, but rather straight ahead, off into the distance behind her. Leif on the other hand facepalmed so hard she was sure he was going to form an even bigger bruise across his face.

Antennae dropped down, she let out a long sigh. “They’re standing right behind me, aren’t they?”

“Yup,” Kabbu and Leif said simultaneously.

Accepting the fact that she had screwed up, Vi turned to face the consequences of her actions. Right in front of her was Team Maki, and neither Maki and Kina looked amused.

“H-hey guys, how are you?” Vi smiled innocently.

Neither of them respond. Maki let the tip of his sword drop in front of him and Kina crossed her arms with an angry glare.

Vi dropped the friendly act. She looked down, digging her foot aimlessly on the ground. “So how much of that did you hear?”

“We heard enough,” Kina muttered, her tone suggesting she was trying to keep her cool. She was failing miserably.

Luckily for Vi, she didn't manage to offend everyone in Maki’s team.

Hiding behind them, Yin shoved her way between the two. With a big smile, she stretched her arms out, pushing herself towards Kabbu for a big hug.

“Yin,” Kina sighed. “You can’t start hugging other bugs without asking them first. It’s rude.”

Frightened, Yin immediately lets go. “Sorry!”

Kabbu chuckled, giving Yin a soft pat on the back. “It's ok, I don’t mind!”

After a quick short apology, Vi asked Maki the question that’s been bothering her all morning. “Soooo, what’s the mission?”

“From what I’ve gathered, the Termite’s are having some sort of pest problem,” Maki said.

“Pest problem, huh? Let me guess, we’re the exterminators?”

Maki nodded. He lifted his sword back up, balancing the heavy weapon on his shoulder. “I have a meeting with the King and Queen right now, but you're welcome to join us since the other explorers aren’t here yet.”

“Absolutely, thank you Sir Maki!” Kabbu said. “Please, lead the way!”

Inside of the throne room, the Termite King paced around like a windup toy in a frenzy, grumbling underneath his breath.

“Calm yourself dear,” the Queen said. “You're going to wrinkle up the carpet.”

The King stopped pacing, and met her gaze. “Then we’ll replace it. I never liked it anyways.” He looked away, continuing his endless walk, going up and down between the two thrones at an even faster rate.

The Queen sighed. “Are you still upset?”

“Of course I am!” The King shouted. He raised an angry fist in her direction, shaking it back and forth in the air. “Layra, you went behind my back and contacted Elizant the II! Do you have any idea how bad that makes our Kingdom look!?”

Layra calmly waved her hand at him, dismissing his question. “Hector, I will not be sending any more of our kind into the Forsaken Lands until this has been taken care of. Besides, Elizant owes us a favor, and I figured now is a good time to ask for her help. She has plenty of explorers that are willing to help.”

“We don’t need those explorers! We have plenty of soldiers capable of doing their jobs!”

“The same soldiers that got attacked last night?” Layra reminded him. “You know Cross and Poi aren't easily beaten.” She pointed at the only Termite soldier in the room. Despite his stoic facial expression, the dark muddied stains plastered on his uniform told a much different story. He clearly wasn’t paying attention to their conversation, for he didn’t budge when she mentioned him by name.

Hector didn’t say anything back. Reluctantly, he sat back down on his throne. He avoided staring at his wife, not because he was angry at her, but because deep down he knew that she was right.

The Throne room was quiet for a while until one of the Queen’s caretakers walked in, her light footsteps breaking the silence. “Your Majesty, the Ant Kingdom’s explorer’s are here.”

“Wonderful, send them in!” Layra said joyfully.

The caretaker gave them a quick curtsy and promptly left the room. Acting like a child, Hector slouched further into his seat. Layra turned her head and snapped, raising her voice. “And would you please sit up straight! I don’t want to hear from you later that your back hurts.”

Incoherent grumbling hardly audible, Hector straightened up, adjusting his oversized crown. “I only do this for you…”

The caretaker eventually came back, ushering the group of explorers inside. Her tone was soft, but confident as she spoke. “Ladies and gentlebugs, you now stand in front of his and her royal majesty.”

Layra smiled and clasped her hands together. “Ah, you’ve finally arrived. Thank you for arriving on such short notice.”

Maki was the first to bow. “It is an honor, King Hector IV and Queen Layra II.”

The rest of the explorer’s followed Maki’s lead and also bowed. Hector’s sour mood lightened up a little after hearing someone finally use his full name. “Well Maki, it’s been a long time since the last time I saw you. For a moment I thought Elizant II had decided to replace you,” he said that last part, motioning his head in Team Snakemouth’s direction.

“I’m afraid last time I was injured,” Maki said. “But I’m doing much better now.” When King Hector didn’t respond to his comment, Maki continued on. “I was briefed on the situation this morning, but perhaps hearing it from you can give the rest of us some clarity on what’s been going on.”

“The situation is that there’s a monster terrorizing our kingdom’s border.” Hector said sharply.

“Monster?” Yin repeated. She stepped closer towards Maki, hiding behind him.

“While I would usually reprimand my husband for exaggerating, I’m afraid what attacked last night wasn’t any normal creature.” Layra added. “These last two weeks we’ve been having an unusual increase in Weevil activity. Although it isn’t uncommon for them to attack travelers in the Forsaken Lands, these reports have been getting out of hand, even for us. It even put one of our best soldiers in the hospital.”

Leif stared at the soldier that was standing by himself. Despite the termite soldiers of this kingdom using the exact same uniforms, he recognized him from their fight at the Colosseum from a couple of moons ago. It was Cross, but his partner was missing. “Did this creature attack Poi?” Leif asked him.

“Uhm… yes,” Cross said, baffled that they were talking directly to him. “It just happened last night.”

“You are the very best of Bugaria,” Layra went on. “I’m sure that this will be a quick and easy mission for the likes of you. If you need any resources, please feel free to let us know before you take your leave.”

“Thank you.” Maki said. “We’ll report back once we’re done.”

After another bow, the explorer’s walked out of the throne room. Maki’s gaze drifted to the giant art statue, his expression slightly changing, perhaps trying to decipher what exactly he was looking at. “Is there anything else that you can tell us about this Weevil that you encountered?” he asked Cross.

Cross shook his head. “Afraid not. It was too dark to see and everything happened so fast. There’s a radar that tracks the Weevils, but it hasn’t picked up anything since last night.”

“Very well, then perhaps we should wait till nightfall for this creature to appear again.” Maki shifted his attention towards Cross. “Would you be willing to accompany us?”

Cross looked at him blankly. “Me?”

“Having a guide would be useful so we don’t get lost,” he said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “That is, if you wish to join us.”

Maki gestured with his head to Team Snakemouth. “Gather any items that you need, we’ll meet back at the plaza before the sun sets. That should be enough time for us to come up with a plan, and for the other explorers to show up.”

As Team Maki left and exited the room, Vi looked at Cross, staring at his uniform for far too long. “Hey no offense, but you look terrible.”

Cross flinched, not expecting the sudden comment. “I know,” he groaned, rubbing his eyes.

“Have you slept at all since yesterday?” Kabbu asked.

“No!” Cross snapped back, and instantly regretted it the moment all three bugs took a step back. He was exhausted. Too tired to think straight. And he definitely didn’t feel like apologizing to them either. He took a step forward, and started to walk away. “I have to go. I have some things to take care of.”

Kabbu tilted his head. “Where are you going?”

“To the hospital,” Cross blurted out, hoping that they would stop asking him so many questions. “I’m going to visit Poi.”

“We’ll go with you!”

Cross stopped dead in his tracks and hesitated, left at a loss for words.

“Yeah! We can even ask him if he was able to see the Weevil last night,” Vi added. “It might give us some clues at catching this thing.”

Cross turned around and stared at the three explorers, trying to figure out if they’re joking. But they seemed so genuine with their responses. He wanted to tell them to get lost, that they shouldn’t worry about it, that his stupid feelings don’t matter, to mind their own damn business…

But he didn’t say any of that. He opened his mouth, the one word that stumbled out betraying his racing thoughts.

“Alright.”

Chapter Text

How are you?

Cross read the message on his phone, the one that he sent to Poi shortly after the soldiers found them and took him away. A while went by before he received a picture of Poi all bandaged up, sitting in one of the hospital beds, forcing a smile despite the pain he’s clearly trying to suppress. The caption of the photo read:

I told you to stay close.

Sorry…

You better come visit.

I will.

I’ll figure out a way to make it up to you later.

Flowers sound nice.

No

Bring me the biggest bouquet that you can find.

Absolutely not.

Add in a couple of balloons for dramatic effect.

What room are you in?

5-060

Fine.

I’ll send them to your room later.

Need anything else?

You still there?

Poi?

Hours have passed by and he still hasn’t responded back. He was tempted to send another message, letting him know that he was on his way. That Team Snakemouth wanted to stop by and say hello, ask him some questions. Speaking of Team Snakemouth…

Cross had assumed that after they left the palace, they would follow him. And sure enough, they were right behind him.

Smiling, Kabbu was attempting to speak with someone from the other side of the conveyor belt.

“What are you doing?” Cross asked Kabbu, who was currently holding his arm up in the air in the middle of a wave like an imbecile.

Kabbu stared at his arm like he'd just discovered it for the first time. “Um… saying hello to the locals?”

Cross groaned, hopping off the conveyor belt. “Don’t act like a tourist. Unless you're trying to set a new record on how fast you can get mugged.”

Realizing how ridiculous he looked, Kabbu slowly dropped his arm in defeat.

Leif nudged Kabbu on the shoulder and leaned towards him to whisper. “We told you it was a bad idea.”

“Hush…” Kabbu whispered back in defeat.

Cross wondered where on Earth did these bugs come from. No one greeted each other in the Termite Kingdom. Everyone kept to themselves, walking down the streets with their heads hung low, dodging anyone that looked remotely suspicious. Ignoring one another in this Kingdom was as natural as breathing in the puffs of smoke that polluted the city’s air.

He walked through the crowded streets, on their way to the hospital. After so many accidents in the Colosseum and an increase in street fights, what used to be a small clinic expanded even larger, getting its own building right between the Colosseum and the residential district.

Cross stood in front of the hospital’s entrance, the sliding doors opening to let them in. He stepped inside, expecting all three members of Team Snakemouth to follow him in. After all, they were the ones that wanted to accompany him in the first place.

But only Vi and Kabbu followed him in.

He turned around, watching Leif as he stood still outside of the hospital, reading the sign on the window. There’s a picture of a cartoon termite wearing a lab coat, smiling as they remind everyone to schedule their regular check ups to stay fit and healthy.

“Are you coming in or what?” Cross asked, annoyance rising in his voice.

Leif took a step back, wrapping his wings closer to himself.

“You okay?” Vi asked calmly.

A moment passed before Leif eventually looked at them, and for a second, Cross could have sworn that his trademark blank expression twisted with terror.

“Our back hurts,” Leif quickly responded. “We’ll just wait outside.” He didn’t bother to elaborate any further as he made his way to a nearby bench, immediately sitting down.

Kabbu and Vi shared a worried glance at each other. And without any words, Kabbu made a motion with his head that only Vi understood.

“Hey, I’ll join you! I’m also tired!” Vi shouted. She ran with haste, reaching the bench where Leif was sitting. “Kabbu, you don’t mind going by yourself with Cross, right?”

Kabbu gave a light chuckle. “No, not at all. No worries team, I’ll see you guys later.”

Cross watched as they waved at each other, until the doors closed shut.

“What was that all about?” Cross asked Kabbu.

Kabbu hesitated for a moment, his gaze still focused on his teammates that were outside. “Don’t tell anyone that I told you this, but Leif gets extremely uncomfortable with doctors and medical stuff.”

“Is that so?” For such a powerful bug, he’d never imagined that Leif would struggle with anything. Not only is he one of the few sorcerers in Bugaria, he’s also managed to replace the champion of the Colosseum and defeat the Wasp King.

Footsteps were approaching them, and Kabbu shuffled to the side to give the upcoming nurse some space as she walked on by. “Where to Cross?”

Cross looked around. The lobby hasn’t changed a bit since the last time he’s been in here. White tiles covered the ground, making the place feel even more sterile and colder than it probably was. There's a receptionist sitting behind her desk, completely ignoring everyone as she was distracted with a stack of paperwork.

Seeing as she didn’t ask for them to sign in, Cross turned to the left. He walked down the hallway, entered the elevator, and pressed the button.

When the doors opened to the fifth floor, it was more or less the same decor as the lobby. He followed the signs, twisting and turning through the hallway. He read the numbers on each door, the numbers gradually increasing, until he reached the room that he was looking for. He reached for the door handle. He turned the handle. He stopped.

As if it was covered in glue, Cross couldn’t bring himself to let go. He couldn’t force his feet to move. Snippets of last night flashed in his mind. The roar of the Weevil. Poi collapsing, hitting the ground hard. The arrow flying in the air. The blood. He gripped the handle tighter.

“I’m sure he'll be happy to see you.” Kabbu said. “It’s okay if you need a moment.”

Cross blinked, snapping back to reality. Despite his deep voice, Kabbu spoke softly, like a gentle giant. But the hint of pity in his tone only managed to flare a terrible anger deep inside of him. 

He scowled as he looked up at him. “I don’t need your sympathy. If it wasn’t for my recklessness, he wouldn’t even be here.”

Kabbu's eyes widened and before he could speak again, Cross pushed the door wide open. Perhaps he should have knocked or announced that he was here before entering. But he quickly realized that none of that was necessary.

It was unnaturally quiet inside. There was an empty bed, its pillow and blankets crumpled up on the floor. Right next to it, a used syringe that still hasn’t been put away rested on top of the nightstand. But that wasn’t what bothered him. A chill went up his back as he saw in the opposite end of the room a broken chair resting on its side, one of its legs clearly missing.

“Is everything alright?” Kabbu asked. He stood outside near the door, not daring to enter before being invited in.

Cross pushed him out of the way, checking the sign at the door, hoping he entered the wrong room. But the room number was correct. And there was no sign of Poi in sight.

“Nurse!” Cross yelled, his voice echoing down the hallway. He glanced around, trying to find anyone nearby. Luckily a nurse heard him, poking her head out from one of the rooms nearby.

“Hi! How can I help you?” she beamed a smile.

“I’m here to visit a patient but he’s not in his room.”

The nurse walked towards him, pulling out a small tablet from her pocket. “Oh, no worries! Sometimes patients get transferred to other rooms. It happens all the time!” She pressed a button, the screen flashing on. “What’s their name and room number?”

“Poi, room 5-060. He was dropped here last night.”

The nurse happily hummed a tune he didn't recognize as she entered the information. A moment passed before the device finally beeped. And then her smile disappeared.

“What’s wrong?” Cross asked.

The nurse ignored him, looking inside the room Cross had just exited, and she gasped once she saw the mess. “Where on earth is the janitor? I told him to clean this up hours ago.”

“What’s wrong!?” Cross demanded, sounding like a loud broken record.

The nurse checked her tablet once more, her bubbly personality completely gone. “Let me get the doctor.”

“Is he alright?”

“Just let me get the doctor, I’m sure she can explain–”

Cross slammed his fist on the wall, causing the nurse to yelp. She dropped the tablet on the ground, the screen breaking upon impact.

“Is he dead!?” he yelled. “Just tell me if he’s dead!”

“Cross!” Kabbu placed his hand on his shoulder, trying to help him calm down.

The kind gesture was in vain, the scene from last night playing again in Cross’s mind. Cross reacted instinctively, grabbing Kabbu’s wrist painfully.

Frightened, the nurse backed away from him. Due to the commotion, a security guard made his way down the hall. “What’s going on down there?” The guard shouted.

Cross, Kabbu and the nurse froze, staring at the security guard. Realizing he was still holding on to Kabbu, Cross panicked. The broken tablet. The scared nurse. His stained uniform. It looked like he initiated a fight. He immediately lets go of Kabbu. He raised his arms up in surrender as the guard quickly marched towards him. “It’s not what it looks like-” he began to explain.

But the guard tackled him to the ground before he could say anything else.

Two bugs waited in the waiting room, sitting awkwardly, waiting for the nurse to come back with the doctor. The beetle, who isn’t quite sure on what to do in this situation, clasped his hands nervously, apologizing profusely every ten seconds. The termite would also clasp his hand together nervously if he could. He tried to move with little success, failing every single time he shuffled in his seat. If only his hands weren't handcuffed behind his back.

“Cross, I am so sorry.”

“Kabbu, I’m so fired.”

“From the bottom of my heart, I am truly, terribly sorry. I should have been there in your hour of need–”

“Poi is gone, I’m going to lose my job–”

“It wasn’t your fault, I shouldn’t have tried to grab you…”

“My life is ruined, I’m probably going to get evicted…”

“Do you think the security guard will believe me if I tried talking to him?”

“Will the homeless accept me as one of their own?”

“...W-what?”

“What?”

They were drawing a couple of stares from other bugs that were walking about in the hospital. The older Termite that sat across from them grabbed their own personal belongings and stood up from their seat, sitting in a completely different chair that was much farther away from them. Cross shifted uncomfortably in his chair. Kabbu cleared his throat. Neither Cross or Kabbu spoke after that, allowing the silence to settle between the two.

Cross lost track of time as they waited. It wasn’t till much later when the nurse came back with both the doctor and the security guard.

“Get up,” the guard ordered. Cross did as he was told, and the guard grabbed his keys. “You're lucky that she insisted I check the security footage,” the guard grumbled as he freed Cross from his handcuffs.

Cross rubbed his wrists, and looked at the nurse who gave him a sad smile. With an irritated huff, the guard left, leaving them alone in the waiting room.

“I apologize for the unnecessary delay,” the doctor spoke gently. “Are you the patrol guard that brought Poi in last night?”

“Yes, why?”

“I wanted to let you know that he’s stable for now.”

Relief washed over Cross for a moment, but it didn’t last long, for he noticed that the nurse was still giving him that same smile. The way she kept looking at him reminded him of how one gives condolences to someone at a funeral.

“Would you mind answering some questions about Poi?” the doctor asked.

Cross nodded, unsure of where this was going.

“Has Poi ever shown any signs of excessive aggression during or after work?”

Cross raised a brow in confusion. “N-no?”

“Any mood swings, hallucinations–”

“No, never.” Cross responded, not liking where the conversation was heading. “Look, you got the wrong guy, Poi would never–”

“He attacked one of the nurses shortly after being dropped here.” The doctor’s face was serious, dropping the friendly bedside manner. “I’m afraid we had to sedate him."

The silence that the doctor created after saying that was deafening. Cross was at a loss of words. It didn’t make sense. Compared to some of the other soldiers in the Kingdom, Poi was the kindest bug he’s ever known. The kind of bug to step out of his way and sacrifice his time to help out others, to only fight unless absolutely necessary…

“He’s currently asleep, but you can still see him if you want. The decision’s up to you.”

Cross was overwhelmed. He wasn’t expecting everything in his life to suddenly change. He knew he had a choice to make, but the longer he stood there, the more he felt a maddening painful sensation creeping up the back of his throat.

“I’ll think about it,” he said hoarsely.

The doctor nodded. “Alright then. If you want to come back and visit him just let us know.”

Kabbu got up on his feet as the doctor and nurse walked away. Having no desire to talk, Cross made his way towards the elevator.

“Cross, wait!”

Cross picked up the pace, ignoring him as he quickly reached the elevator, slamming his hand on the button. The doors opened and he stepped inside. He pressed the button for the first floor repeatedly. The doors began to close, but Kabbu stuck his arm in the nick of time. He slid right in, and stood as far as he could on the other end. They both stared straight ahead as the door closed, the elevator beginning to make its slow descent.

“I apologize for wasting your time.” Cross muttered. “I should have called before coming here.”

“You didn’t waste my time!” Kabbu exclaimed. “Cross, you had no idea! Had I known how serious his condition was I wouldn’t have insisted on coming here.”

Cross pressed the side of his head against the wall, letting out a deep sigh. “It’s all my fault.”

The elevator suddenly stopped and Cross stumbled to the side. Did the elevator break? he thought to himself as he looked around. His eyes wandered towards the button panel, and noticed that Kabbu’s hand was on the emergency stop switch.

“What are you doing?” Cross questioned.

Kabbu turned his head so quickly that it caught Cross off guard. There was a flash of anger in his eyes. “Don’t ever say that.”

Cross stood stunned, never seeing this side of him before. “I don’t understand?”

Kabbu raised his voice. “Don’t you ever blame yourself for what happened last night!

“Alright, fine. I won’t.”

“Promise me you’ll never say it again!”

“I promise!” Cross shouted back.

After the world’s most intense staring contest, Kabbu nodded as if declaring himself the winner. He pressed the button and the elevator began to move again. He crossed his arms, looking down at the floor as he tried to regain his composure. There was a crack in his voice as he continued. “I promise you that we will find this beast.”

The doors opened and Kabbu didn’t move, clearly waiting for him to leave the elevator first. “Thank you,” was all that Cross could manage to say after all that. And as he took a step out, Cross began to respect the beetle more than ever before. 

Once they’ve exited the hospital, they made their way to the bench where Leif and Vi were sitting. They seemed to be playing a card game, and judging by their facial expressions, Vi was losing. She was the first to notice them, raising her head up in curiosity. “Hey, we're just about to finish our second game. What took you guys so long?”

“We assume you were able to talk to him, correct?” Leif said as he shuffled a couple of cards from his deck.

Kabbu exhaled a short breath. “No, we didn’t.”

“What?” Vi put her pair of cards on her lap. “Why not? What happened?”

Cross groaned, not ready to explain how he got knocked over and detained by a security guard. But it seemed like Kabbu always had an answer ready. “Team, my back hurts.”

Vi gave him a confused look, and Cross could see an imaginary lightbulb lighting up on the top of her head once she managed to process his words. “Huh… oh, okay!”

Leif quickly picked up the cards, ending the game prematurely. “We’re sorry you didn’t have any success.” He stood up from the bench. “We still got some time before our mission starts. Perhaps we should all try to get some sleep, it’s probably going to be an all-nighter.”

Cross scoffed, the concept of resting sounded absurd at the moment. “I don’t think I can sleep.”

Vi reached out for her bag and pulled out some sort of pink pastry, proudly showing it off. “That’s what these are for! They’re drowsy cakes; they do the sleeping for us!”

Kabbu nodded in approval, happy with their suggestions. “You’re more than welcome to stay at the inn and hang out with us.”

The offer was tempting, for Cross hasn’t eaten anything since last night. He looked down at his uniform, still smeared with dirt and blood stains. “I appreciate the offer, but I think I’ll head back to my apartment.” He made a gesture with his hands, signaling towards his body. “I should probably change.”

“Alright then,” Leif gave him a small smile. “Take care.”

Team Snakemouth began to walk away, when Vi suddenly stumbled, brushing up against him. “Whoops, sorry.” She gave him a wink before heading back with her teammates, quickly disappearing into the crowd. Cross stared back in confusion, trying to process if it was a poor attempt at flirting with him. He pushed the thought aside, telling himself that she’s probably just clumsy.

He took a couple of steps forward, heading to his apartment, and shoved his hand in his pocket. But the small foreign object in his pocket made him stop dead in his tracks. It was sticky, like a used sponge. He looked down at his hand, and stared at the pink frosting at his fingertips.

“Wait!” he shouted, trying to find the bee through the crowd of bugs.

But Team Snakemouth were already gone.

Chapter Text

The alarm on his phone goes off.

Cross groaned, blindly extending his arm into the darkness, trying to reach the end table. He finally grabbed it and turned off the incessant beeping. Still half-asleep, he laid there for a moment, wondering why the alarm went off so soon. He turned it on and checked the time:

5:00 pm

He put the phone down, and pressed his pillow over his head. His stiff shoulder complained with the movement, like he’s just finished an entire day's worth of training exercises. Surely a couple of minutes in bed wouldn’t hurt. It’s not like he had to go anywhere tonight.

As he rolled over to the side, he sensed something stuck on the roof of his mouth. It tasted artificially sweet. That was odd. It was rare for him to eat any desserts, since when does he like-

Cross shot right up in a sitting position, dramatically throwing his pillow in the air. The sleepy haze that clouded his thoughts finally lifted and in an instance, everything came back to him. The explorers told him to regroup at the plaza. He looked back at his phone:

5:12 pm

Shoot!

Cross slid out of the bed, sprinting to the closet on the other end of the room, hastily throwing on one of his uniforms. As he’s fastening a part of his armor, a light knock causes him to lift his head to the source of the sound.

Right outside his window, a young termite stood on the rusty stairway used as a fire escape. She’s recently moved in on the eighth floor, living in the apartment right above him. His mind drew a blank as he tried to remember her name. All he could remember was that she’s a rookie, still in her first year of training.

Cross cautiously went towards the window. “What is it?”

The rookie spoke out loud, but Cross couldn’t hear a word of what she was saying. “I can’t hear you!” he yelled, shaking his head as he tapped the side of his helmet.

She frowned, but managed to recover as she pulled out her own phone. She typed her message, and turned it around, pressing it against the glass so that the screen was visible:

General Trent is downstairs.

Cross swallowed hard. After everything that happened last night, he completely forgot to report back. There was no doubt in his mind that he was looking for him.

“Thanks for letting me know,” he said, failing to remember that they can’t hear each other.

Before he had the chance to move, the rookie tapped on the window again, getting his attention once more. There was something new written on her phone:

I heard what happened last night. Sorry.

His heart felt heavier after reading the message. The news had spread around like wildfire, and yet no one has bothered to ask him the details of the situation. Perhaps it was for the best. It’s not like he wanted to talk about it in the first place.

Cross didn’t say anything as he responded back to her with a thumbs up. That was all that he could manage at the moment. The rookie’s expression was bittersweet as she returned the gesture with a small wave.

He turned around; listening to the creaking sounds of metal as her footsteps slowly disappeared above him. Despite her kind words, the vague warning that she originally wrote lingered in his mind.

Springing back to action, he grabbed all of his stuff and headed out the door. Perhaps if he’s quick enough, he can avoid another confrontation with the General–

Cross swung the door open, only to reveal General Trent standing right in front of the doorway, appearing like he was just about to knock. He was a tall, muscular bug, wearing his usual army uniform. Trent didn’t look happy to see him. The feeling was mutual.

“Ah, Cross. I’m glad to see you,” he said coldly.

“General.” Cross gave him the usual salute. “How can I help you?”

“I just wanted to check up on you, that’s all.”

Cross resisted the urge to frown. “I’m fine. Thank you for your concern.” He took a step forward, attempting to leave. “If you’ll excuse me sir, I’m afraid I’m in a hurry. Duty calls–”

Trent moved closer to the door frame, blocking his way out. “And just where do you think you’re going?”

Don’t you have anything better to do? Cross wanted to yell at him. He briefly glanced out the hallway, pretending to be interested in the outside view. “Just going out for a walk.”

“A walk?”

“Yes sir.”

There was a brief pause as the two of them locked eyes with one another, neither of them believing each other’s words. 

“Very well.” There was zero emotion in Trent’s voice as he leaned toward Cross. “Then you wouldn’t mind turning in your weapon before you head out.”

Cross stared at him in disbelief. “Turn in my what?”

“You know the rules just like everyone else,” Trent went on. “You're off duty until further notice. We can't risk another soldier snapping under stress.”

“That's not fair,” he protested. “I haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Really?” Trent almost said with a sarcastic laugh. “Then perhaps you'd like to explain your behavior earlier today at the hospital?”

Cross opened his mouth to speak, but any argument that was forming dissolved in an instance. There wasn't a reasonable explanation that he could give without sounding insane. A rush of emotions swept over him. Shock, anger, but most of all, despair at his lack of power in this situation. He looked down at his crossbow, the one that he’s been carrying around for years. How is he supposed to help the Ant Kingdom’s explorers without it?

Trent sighed, his hostile expression softening a bit. “Look, kid… I know none of this has been easy for you. But this is just a safety precaution, that’s all. I promise that if you cooperate you’ll get it back in no time.”

Not fast enough, he thought to himself. He looked at Trent, then at the window, then back at Trent. Many ideas raced through his mind. But the idea that stuck was probably the stupidest one out of all of them. He tried to shake it off. But if he played his cards right, he might be able to pull it off. It just might work.

“Don’t make this harder than it needs to be,” Trent warned, going back to his usual military tone. He extended an open hand towards him. “Turn in your weapon, soldier. That’s an order.”

Cross looked at Trent carefully, and began to take out his crossbow. “Yes sir. Understood.”

As soon as Trent went over to reach for his crossbow, Cross flinched, stepping back as he pulled the crossbow closer to himself. “Actually… I just realized that I have some extra arrows lying around in the closet. Do you mind if I grab them?”

Trent studied him, confusion written across his face as he relaxed his posture. “I don’t see the reason why you need to-”

Cross pushed the door forward. Fast. He slammed the door, locking it before Trent could react on time.

“Cross!”

He backed away from the door, the knob violently rattling as Trent tried to twist it around.

“Don’t you dare!”

Cross ran to the other end of the room, racing to open up the window. He pulled upward, ready to bolt out via the fire escape. But it wouldn’t budge. When was the last time he even opened this window? Has he ever used it?

A loud bang erupted on the door, shaking the walls of the apartment.

Gripping the edge of the window, Cross pulled with all his might. He heard Trent shout something off in the distance, the never-ending thunderous boom becoming louder and louder. He ignored it. The window finally moved, barely, the small gap getting bigger with each pull.

A loud crash went off behind him, and Cross could hear him entering. Acting quickly, he squeezed his way through the gap. He was almost out, almost free; when he suddenly felt something grab his foot, dragging him back inside.

Trent’s face was bright red, filled with hatred and rage. “What the hell do you think you're doing!?”

With his free foot, Cross kicked, striking him hard in the face. Trent let go of him as he fell backwards, wincing in pain. Cross also lost his balance, and yelped as he collapsed on the other side, landing face down on the fire escape’s metallic floor.

He quickly stumbled onto his feet, and ran as fast as he could. As he reached the bottom of the staircase, he leaned over the railing and looked down.

Currently he’s on the sixth floor. He panicked, realizing that he’s not going to reach the bottom of the building in time before Trent would somehow catch up to him. He leaned further out, noticing an open window a couple of floors below him. It’s his only shot.

He didn’t look back, sprinting as fast as he could.

Fifth floor.

He kept going, running down the stairs two steps at a time.

Fourth floor.

He panted, adrenaline rushing through his body, his heart pounding out of his chest. He could hear the general above him, shouting his name, his metal steps joining his own into a rhythmic beat.

Third floor!

Cross jumped into the open window, crashing on a large couch. He quickly scrambled back up, accidentally knocking down a small table lamp onto the ground. Reaching out with both hands toward the window, he slammed it shut, locked it, and pulled the old dusty curtains over them.

Cross collapsed on the couch and laid there for a moment, breathing heavily. He can’t believe he just managed to pull that off. After a moment, he had the dawning realization that he’s trespassing into someone’s home. Cross immediately sat up, analyzing where he was.

The air was warm and cozy. Every corner of the small apartment was filled with old, mismatching furniture. The vast collection of chairs, tables and knickknacks were reminiscent of an antique shop. There’s another couch in front of him. And there’s another termite.

“Well, that’s quite the dramatic entrance.”

Cross stared back at her, unsure of what to say.

The elderly termite sitting in front of him let out a dry chuckle. “You know, most bugs usually use the front door when they stop by to visit. Why are you here?”

“B-broken pipes!” Cross stuttered, trying to bullshit his way out of another difficult situation. He bent over and grabbed the lamp he knocked over, adjusting its crooked shade. “You see, my apartment, it… uh, started to flood! Yeah! And I couldn’t use the door. It wouldn’t open! So I used the fire escape and came all the way downstairs to escape!”

The elderly termite tilted her head, not entirely convinced. “So let me get this straight. You jumped through my window, broke into my apartment, and crashed on my furniture because of some broken pipes?

Cross placed the lamp back on the end table and forced a wide smile, the kind of smile that children use when they're telling an adult that a vase magically landed on the floor and cracked on its own. He nodded, shaking his head up and down like his life depended on it.

Just as he’s about to say more, the elderly termite suddenly let out a disappointed sigh. “Not again… that’s the second time this moon.”

A kettle in the kitchen started to whistle loudly, and she reached over to grab her cane. “Would you like some tea? You must be starving!” She walked towards the kitchen, and grabbed a dainty little teacup from the cupboard.

Cross let out a shaky exhale. He quietly contemplated all of his life decisions, wondering how he’s made it this far in life without getting himself killed.

“Cross!”

He jumped right out of his seat as he recognized the sound of that voice. There’s a large shadow over the curtains. He stumbled his way towards the kitchen.

The older termite raised her head as she finished pouring a cup of tea for him. “Did you say something?”

Cross shook his head. “I believe that’s the sound of the water rushing out. It’s best that you keep your window closed for the rest of the day until they get it fixed.” He silently prayed to the gods that she’s also hard of hearing.

The termite handed him the tea. Cross grabbed it and drank it down in one swell gulp like it’s a shot. He immediately regretted it, for the tea was extremely hot and spicy, burning his throat.

She took the cup back from him. “Well it looks like I’ll have to call management again.”

“No!” Cross shouted a bit too loudly, confusing the older termite for a moment. “I-I mean, I’ll do it. I wouldn’t want to bother you.”

“Really dear, it’s no bother to me–”

“I insist!”

He began to shuffle his way through the maze of furniture, making his way out. “I appreciate your hospitality ma’am, but I’m afraid I’m running late for work.”

The older termite looked slightly disappointed. Judging by the place, she doesn’t get that many visitors too often. “Oh, alright then. You young bugs are always on the move. Don’t push yourself too hard, you hear me?”

“Thank you ma’am. I won’t!” Cross said. After unlocking the door, he let himself out and finally made it out into the hallway, running as far away as he could from the window that’s still screaming his name.

Chapter Text

Vi gawked at the weird food in her hands. The bizarre concoction was filled to the brim with many different ingredients she didn’t quite recognize. She lifted the paper wrapping and sniffed it, expecting a revolting smell, but even she had to admit it smelled amazing. She hesitated, trying to figure out where exactly she should start. Should she begin from the top, peeling off each individual layer, or go straight to the center, savoring it all at once?

“Are you going to eat it or are you just gonna stare at it all night?”

Both Team Snakemouth and Team Maki are standing outside the Dine-Mite restaurant, enjoying the local cuisine that the Termites call a burger.

Maki leaned against the building, wrinkling one of the paper posters plastered on the wall. “Come on Vi, try it,” Maki said as he took another bite of his burger. “Even Yin likes it.”

Yin sat on the floor right next to him, perking up when she heard her name. Her meal was smaller in size, even coming with a little action figure to go along with it. Already finished with her food, Yin played with her prize, twirling it around in the air.

Kabbu munched on his own, savoring every bite. “This is marvelous! It reminds me of the food that they served back in the North!” He looked upward, trying to grasp a long forgotten memory. “But I can’t quite remember what it was…”

Leif tapped Vi on the shoulder. “You have ten seconds to try it or we’re going to eat it.”

“Oi!” Vi took a step away from Leif, accidentally bumping into Kabbu. “You already ate yours, this one’s mine!” She grabbed it with both hands, imitating the way Kabbu was holding his, and took a big bite. After chewing for a moment, she widened her eyes, the flavors overwhelming her all at once. “Hey, not bad. This is pretty good!”

Leif sarcastically clapped. “Congratulations, you are no longer a picky eater.”

After finishing up with his food, Kabbu finally recalled what he previously wanted to say. “Oh, I remember now! The fishermen back in my village prepare this incredible dish with roasted herbs. Then they would chop up the worms and combine it-”

“Worms!?” Vi immediately started to gag, coughing hard as she tried to spit out what she had already swallowed. “Worms!? Gross! Why would anyone eat worms?”

Kina rolled her eyes as she sipped the final drops of her drink. “And she’s still a picky eater.”

The whole group chuckled at Vi’s dismay. She wrapped up the burger and shoved it towards Leif. “Here, I don’t want it anymore.”

Leif looked down, analyzing the half eaten burger in his hands. After a brief moment of consideration, he gave a nonchalant shrug and unwrapped it. He turned it around and took a bite from the other end.

Vi went into her secret stash of honey drops and popped one into her mouth, trying to mask the flavor of cooked worms. She was almost done, when she saw Cross running towards them. “Hey, look who finally made it!” Vi waved at him.

Cross skidded to a stop, and caught his breath. “My apologies for being late.” He’s holding a bag with the logo of one of the nearby stores. Reaching into the bag, he pulled out a small device. “I realized on my way here that if we are to venture into the Forsaken Lands, it would be in everyone’s interest to have one of these.”

“What the heck is that?” Kina asked.

Cross turned it on, passing it towards Kina. “According to the King it’s a Termanet mobile smart touch-screen portable telephone.” He grabbed another one, this time passing it to Vi. “But to the Queen and everyone else in the Kingdom, it's simply just a phone.”

Vi pressed a button on the screen, with Leif and Kabbu staring at it with curiosity from behind.

“Fascinating,” Leif said. “What does it do?”

Cross pulled out his own phone, holding it upward, demonstrating what to do. “Tap here and it will take you to your contacts. I already installed them, so just select my name or one of the team names and it will send a call. That way if we split up or there’s an emergency we can still communicate with each other.”

“Cool!” Vi exclaimed. “It’s like the walkie-talkies back at the factory!”

Wanting to make sure that they understood, Cross made each team test their brand new phones. Everyone got the basics rather quickly except for Yin, for Maki simply didn’t let her try it out. 

“Is she coming with us?” Cross asked, pointing at Yin.

“No–” Maki started to speak until his sister rudely cut him off.

“Maki, I am not staying back with her again!”

Maki took a deep breath. “Kina, this is exactly why I told you to stay at the association.”

“How old is she?” Cross question, worried about the response he’ll receive. Despite the moth’s height, she looked so young, staring at her environment with childlike wonder.

“I don’t know…about two?” Kina blurted out.

“She actually turned three recently,” Maki corrected his sister.

Cross freaked out, expecting the answer to be slightly higher. “She’s only three years old?”

“Preposterous,” Leif said, interrupting the conversation as he casually threw the burger wrapper into a nearby trash can. “Yin’s not even a year old.”

Cross blinked, mouth agape in shock. They weren’t talking about years. They were talking about moons. Moons. 

Maki lowered his head, pressing a hand between his eyes, as if trying to calm down a painful headache. “Kina, please–”

“No!”

Maki sighed as he picked up his sword. “Kina, we’ll talk about this later.” They made their way towards the large metal doors that separated the Termite Kingdom from the outside world. “I received word that only one more team is going to join us tonight,” Maki announced to the group.

Vi raised her hand, jumping up and down with excitement. “Oh, oh, let me guess! I bet it’s Team Slacker!”

Kina’s gaze went down as she adjusted her bandana. “Pfft…I wish.”

“Then perhaps it's Team Celia?” Kabbu said, also trying to guess the correct answer.

“No,” Maki said in a low voice, his patience slowly diminishing.

As the group of explorers continued their conversation, Cross approached one of the Termite soldiers that’s on guard duty and asked him to open the doors. With a quick nod, the soldier reached towards a large lever and pulled. The gears above them began to turn, causing the walls to vibrate with a loud mechanical hum.

Despite the harsh creaking sound that the doors were making, Cross was still able to hear Vi’s voice in the background as she quickly began to lose all hope.

“Please let it be Gen and Eri,” she pleaded.

No one answered back, the doors finally wide open to greet them to the Forsaken Lands. As they walked out, Cross noticed in the distance the silhouette of two bugs getting closer to them.

Cross pulled his crossbow closer to himself, expecting one of those mimic spiders to suddenly jump out at them and attack. But as soon as the two bugs walked past through the fog, Cross relaxed his grip on his weapon.

It was no other than that famous popstar Mothiva and her bodyguard.

“Hey guys!” Mothiva said cheerfully, with a spring in her step. She twirled around, striking a flashy pose. “Did you miss me?”

There was a sudden awkward moment of silence as everyone stared at Mothiva, the tension in the air becoming more intense than the fizz contained inside of a can of Mega-Rush. 

Leif let out a deep sigh, expressing what almost everyone in the group was thinking at that moment.

“...Oh dear.”

Chapter Text

Cross pulled out his phone. Despite lowering the volume, the constant short vibrations going off every other moment was enough to distract him. He turned it on, and a reminder popped up with giant flashy letters, covering the entire screen:

Place your bets for tonight’s upcoming fight at the one and only Colosseum!

He looked at the screen. He read it once, then twice, then scrolled down and stared at the link that would take him to check out tonight’s contestants.

The first time he made a bet was a few years ago, right after getting his first paycheck as a border guard.

“Who should I place a bet on?” Cross had asked Poi that night after their shift ended. 

Poi had only looked at the two choices in front of him for a split-second before responding. “There’s no way the Mothsfly’s going to win. Pick the Ironnail.”

“Pick the Ironnail,” Poi reminded him again as he made the wager, already inside the Colosseum.

“There’s no way it’ll lose,” Poi said when they sat down on the stadium’s bleachers.

“What is the snail doing?” Poi asked, leaning forward in his seat when the Mothfly suddenly got the upper hand in the fight.

“It’s rigged!” Poi shouted, his voice dying out with the rest of the screaming rowdy crowd as the Ironnail collapsed.

“How much did you lose?” Poi sighed as they left the Colosseum. “I’ll pay you back the difference.”

“Not much,” he’d lied. “Don’t worry about it.”

He didn’t have the heart to tell him that he dropped all the berries he earned that week on that fight. It was probably the biggest waste of money he’d ever made in his life. He never regretted that decision.

Before that night, Cross didn’t really care about going to the Colosseum. Now he always puts a little bit of how much he makes off to the side just for the fun of it. It didn’t matter if he won or lost.  Just having someone to discuss the different fights after a late night shift made his job much more bearable.

A shame he didn’t get the chance to ask him last night on who he should pick, before everything went from bad to worse.

“I think I found something.”

Cross glanced up from his phone, noticing that Zasp was in a crouched position, waving him over to check out something on the ground.

After explaining the mission to Team Mothiva, the explorer’s agreed to split up into three groups, heading out in different directions. He decided to revisit the same area from last night, hoping to perhaps find some clues.

Not bothering to check on the competition for tonight, Cross quickly closed the ad, making his way towards Zasp and Mothiva. And that’s when he noticed the imprint left behind in the dirt. Weevil tracks.

Zasp placed a hand on it, inspecting the tracks. “Seems like it ran off. We can go ahead and follow it, unless you have any better ideas.”

Cross shrugged. “Not really. There’s a radar, but it’s still a work in progress. Scientists are still trying to patch out all the glitches.” He paused, looking around the area. “This doesn’t make any sense…”

“What do you mean?”

“Primal Weevils are territorial creatures,” Cross began to explain. “Once they find a place to hunt and live, they mark it and claim that area as their own. They usually stay in one spot. So why is this one roaming all over the Forsaken Lands?”

“No idea.” As Zasp got up, he shifted his attention to Mothiva. “You ready to go?”

Mothiva stared down at the tracks on the ground like they’ve personally insulted her. “I can’t believe I’m wasting my time chasing Were Weevils all night long,” she mumbled.

“A Were-what-now?” Cross turned to face her, making sure he heard her correctly.

“Were. Weevils.” Mothiva repeated, emphasizing each word bitterly. “You know, those silly campfire stories that they tell kids to keep them from running off in the middle of the night.”

It was a surprise for Cross to hear Mothiva talk about Were Weevils. The first time he’s ever heard of them was back in the early days of the Termanet. Blog forums with blurry photos, describing cryptic stories of bugs transforming into unspeakable monsters. At least that's what was posted back then. But everyone knows those creatures aren’t real. Just like how last year there were travelers spreading rumors about Zombiants attacking them during their travels.

“Let’s get this over with. I have a show tomorrow and I don’t want to cancel it,”  Mothiva said, ending the conversation as all three of them marched on.

Cross rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. This was going to be a long night.

“So when do we get paid?”

Vi kicked a small pebble in her way, bouncing off into the chasm in front of her. She stood at the edge, staring at the pebble as it became swallowed up by the dark abyss. She counted up the seconds, waiting for it to reach the bottom. But when she never heard the ‘thump’, she quickly got a rough idea on how deep it truly was. Her gaze went up. She was grateful that she didn’t have to carry Kabbu across, for the gap wasn’t too wide.

Kabbu took a running start and jumped across, sticking the landing on the other side. “Vi, the Termite Royals are not paying us.” As much as he’s witnessed Vi growing into a kind and honorable bug during their adventures, he admitted that she still acted like a spoiled kid every time the topic of berries was brought up in a conversation.

Vi’s wings fluttered, helping her reach the other side with ease. “What? That’s so not fair. Elizant always pays us.”

“Are you seriously going to quit because of the lack of some berries?” Leif formed a giant block of ice, hovering it between the gap to form a bridge for himself. “You have plenty at the bank, not to mention your own personal savings that you keep on you at all times,” he said as he walked over the ice block.

“No, I'm not quitting.” Vi pouted, crossing her arms. “I’ll do the mission, but I’m going to complain the whole time.”

They continued their trek through the Forsaken Lands. The limited sun that they had disappeared into the horizon, slowly being replaced by the moon and stars. After a couple of quick battles with some lesser bugs they found along the way, they found themselves close to Patton's Hut. They were originally going to pass by, but all three of them caught sight of the deep claw marks on Patton’s wooden door. It seemed like something was trying to force itself in.

Kabbu went over to investigate, examining the marks. He failed to notice that the door wasn’t locked, and was surprised when he accidentally pushed it in, cracking it slightly open. There was a faint noise coming from the inside. He pressed his head against the door and listened, the gentle clinking of glass becoming more obvious with each passing second.

“Maybe now isn’t the best time...” Kabbu wondered out loud. He suddenly flinched when Vi began to yell at the top of her lungs.

“Yo, Patton! Are you in there?”

Leif grumbled, his fluff and antennas completely frazzled after her outburst. “Can you please give us a warning next time if you’re going to alert everyone in the area of our presence?”

There was a sudden silence as Kabbu imagined Patton on the other side stopping whatever experiment he was working on.

“I’m not interested,” Patton finally shouted after a long moment. “Go away.”

Vi rolled her eyes. “Seriously, you’re not even a little curious about who’s knocking at this hour? You’re the only one that lives in this dump!”

Realizing that she wasn’t helping at all, Leif gently pushed Vi out of the way, taking over for her. “This is Team Snakemouth. A while back you offered us your services after we escorted Elizant II to the Termite Capitol. Do you remember us?”

Another long moment of silence, and Team Snakemouth suddenly heard a loud crash from the inside.

“I’m afraid I can’t help you, my fr-friends,” Patton said with a shaky voice. “I’m uhm… busy tonight! Come back another time.”

Kabbu pushed the door slightly more open, trying to get Patton’s attention. “I can guarantee you that we’re not looking for any trouble, Patton. We simply only want to ask you some questions. It won’t take more than a minute. May we come in?”

Team Snakemouth turned their heads and peeked inside, trying to get a better look through the small gap that Kabbu created. What they saw was no doubt an accident that they’ve caused with their presence, for Patton was cleaning up a broken beaker on the floor with a small brush, sweeping it into a dustpan.

Despite Patton’s face hiding behind his mask and hood, he seemed extremely irritated as he swiftly finished cleaning up. “How many times do I have to tell you, I can’t help you tonight! I’m on a strict schedule–!”

He stopped cleaning and stared at Team Snakemouth, who were all hunched over at his door. Patton was wearing his usual long gray cloak, but as soon as he stood up, Kabbu saw that his left side was completely torn apart, as if it was shredded with a blunt knife. His mask also suffered a similar fate, for it had a large crack going right across the side.

Patton pointed the brush at them as if it were a deadly weapon. “Out.”

Kabbu began to back away. “We’re sorry, we didn’t mean to–”

“Get out!” Patton yelled, throwing the brush in their direction.

Team Snakemouth jumped back in shock, and Kabbu grabbed the door and slammed it shut, just before the brush had the chance of hitting them. They stood there awkwardly for a moment, unsure of what to do, until they suddenly heard a loud click from inside Patton’s Hut, the door finally being locked.

“Well that went well,” Leif deadpanned.

Vi tossed her beemerang in the air, catching it before it hit the ground. “Yeesh, what’s his problem?”

“I’m afraid we did trespass into his own home in the middle of the night.” Kabbu pointed out.

Vi nodded, even though she wasn’t entirely convinced. “Well I still don’t trust him. Is it just me, or is he acting weirder than usual?”

“We agree with Vi,” Leif said. He fiddled with a piece of his fluff that was sticking out, brushing it back into place. “But perhaps we should spend our time more wisely and continue our investigation elsewhere.”

Kabbu was about to suggest that they explore another area when he heard a rustling sound coming from the cave that led to the Ant Kingdom’s Outskirts.

“What was that?” Vi panicked, no longer throwing her weapon in the air. She took a battle stance and gripped her beemerang, ready to attack at any moment.

Kabbu glanced at the cave, silently wishing that it’s nothing more than a couple of innocent mothsflies or midges. It wasn’t exactly where he wanted to begin, but it’s at least a start. “Team, behind me,” he whispered.

Leif pulled out his hand from underneath his wings, preparing to cast his magic at whatever threats lie ahead.

All three members of Team Snakemouth moved towards the cave. Something strange was happening in the Forsaken Lands, and neither Vi, Leif, or Kabbu were thrilled to know the answer. They weren’t thrilled at all.

Chapter Text

Kina let out a sharp exhale. Her breath was visible as a puff of smoke, making its way into the air. She crossed her arms over her chest and shivered, clutching the bandana that’s around her neck even tighter. It was cold. It’s been a long time since she’s had to explore this area, and had completely forgotten the sudden drop in temperature that happens at night.

Somehow she was the only one that was even bothered by the weather. It didn’t seem to affect Yin, probably due to her fluffy fur. And as for Maki, even if he was cold, he didn’t vocally complain about it. In fact, he hadn’t said a word since they began to travel further south.

As they passed a pumpkin patch, the uneven ground that they were walking on eventually turned flat. Pumpkins were replaced with mushrooms, and the fog became even more dense in this area. She fell back, keeping an eye on both Yin and her brother.

“Are we lost?” Kina asked.

“We’re not lost,” Maki answered, never taking his eyes off from the path he was apparently following. Figures that’s all he had to say. Small talk has never been his strong suit.

He kept walking forward and reluctantly, Kina followed. She tried to look around once more, but the lack of direction gave her a strong deja-vu feeling, as if they’re walking in the same spot over and over again, never making any progress.

Sensing that they were in the clear from any danger, Kina cleared her throat. If she wanted to talk to her brother, then this was probably going to be her only opportunity to do so.

“Maki, can we talk?”

“About what?”

“You know,” she said, signaling her hand towards Yin as she tried to find the right words. “Her.”

Maki glanced back behind, catching a quick glimpse of her and Yin. “What about her?”

Kina resisted the urge to pull on her antennae. This conversation was going nowhere. “What’s your plan with her?”

“Kina, can we not do this right now?”

Kina, can we talk about this later? Kina, can we save it for we're not in the middle of a mission? Kina, this isn’t a good time… Kina, can we… Kina…

It was always the same excuse. The same excuses that she’s been hearing from him ever since they’ve started their careers as explorers. Not a single mission goes by that she doesn’t get ignored. She’s always being pushed aside. Left behind. Forgotten. And now with this child that he found, everything was getting worse. The nerve of him for even thinking that this was even acceptable!

“No,” she said, raising her voice. “We’re not leaving this for later!”

Maki stopped dead in his tracks and Kina almost collided into Yin. He quickly turned around to face her. “Kina–” he said, but not with the voice of authority that he normally would use when speaking with the royals, or with the other explorers, but with the voice of an annoyed older brother. “That’s enough.”

Yin's wings tensed up, realizing that she was sandwiched in between the two of them. “M-maki is angry?”

“Maki is not-” Maki began, but stopped with a defeated sigh. “I’m not mad,” he said, looking at Yin to reassure her. He turned his gaze back towards Kina, a slight frown flickering across his face. “I’m just disappointed. That’s all.”

Kina scoffed, resting her hands on her hip. “Fine, be disappointed in me. I don’t care. But you can’t keep dodging the question forever.”

Maki took a deep breath as he dropped the end of his sword on the ground, regaining his composure. “Very well. You're probably wondering if I’m going to try to find her birth parents?”

“Well, yeah,” she said with a nod, taken aback as the words were taken right out of her mouth. “That’s a part of it-”

“And do you truly believe that I haven’t already tried that?” Maki questioned her, trying to keep the irritation out of his voice. “What did you think I was doing when the Queen sent me to spy on the Wasps?”

That was the question that she constantly asked herself during those couple of days that he disappeared without her.

It’s just a quick mission , she repeated to herself to ease her nerves. It’ll take him at least a day to finish and come back. Maybe two if there were any unexpected delays. Surely it wouldn’t take him more time than that, right?

In the end she decided to wait for him in Defiant Root’s bar; the likeliest place that he would stop by after finishing the mission. But as the days went on, Kina found herself sitting on a barstool by herself, staring numbly at a cup full of berry juice, hoping that the quest board would update with his whereabouts. She was always the first one to enter when the bar owner would open his doors to the public. She was always the last customer to leave.

“I happened to stumble upon her on my way back home,” Maki said, no longer waiting for her to answer. “I didn’t know what it was at first, but when I heard the shouting, curiosity got the better of me. I just had to figure out what all the commotion was about. Once I got there, I saw maybe about five or six Leaf Bugs trying to capture her.”

He seemed lost in thought, as if debating whether to continue or not, but he eventually went on, speaking quieter than before. “I don’t know how long they were attacking her, but I knew I couldn't leave her alone, knowing that something worse could have happened. After I rescued her, I spent days looking for someone- anyone that might be looking for her.”

“But this isn’t your fault,” Kina said.

“You’re right. It’s not my fault. But it is my responsibility.” Despite not raising his voice, Maki stared at her with a harsh look in his eyes. “There isn’t a return policy on a child. She’s mine now, whether you like it or not.”

Kina looked down, trying to avoid his gaze. But a sudden pang of guilt hit her once she saw Yin. The usual happy sparkle in her eyes wasn’t there. Something deep inside told her that Yin understood every word that was being spoken between them.

“This isn’t about Yin… is it?” Maki asked. All traces of irritation that she detected in him earlier were all gone. “What is it?”

A brief strong gust of wind hit her on the side, and Kina couldn’t help but wrap her arms around herself, shivering once more. She forced herself to look up, refusing to appear so vulnerable in front of her brother. “Why do you always leave without me?”

Maki had the audacity to look shocked. “To keep you safe-” he began, but Kina couldn’t take it anymore.

“But I’m not a child anymore!” she snapped at him, cutting off his words. “Every single mission, you take off without me and you don’t even bother in letting me know! Don’t you realize how much that hurts!?”

Maki darted his eyes behind her for a second, gripping his sword tight. “Kina, you need to calm down-"

“Calm down!” she shouted. “How am I supposed to calm down when all you do is ignore me all the time!? It’s like you don’t care and I no longer exist. Is that how you’re eventually going to treat Yin? How long is it going to be until you start ignoring her also? Is that how-”

“Watch out!”

Kina didn't even have a second to process his words when Maki suddenly lunged towards her and Yin, pinning them to the ground. A gush of cold air passed by as something leaped over them, barely missing its attack.

Maki scrambled back up on his feet, finally letting them go. “Is everyone alright?”

Kina pulled out two darts from her bag as she got up. “Yeah, fine!” She couldn’t exactly make out Yin’s mumbling, but her excessive nodding was enough to let her know that she wasn’t injured.

Movement caught her eye, and Kina jerked her head in its direction. The Primal Weevil that they were tasked to hunt down stood before them, snarling its fangs at her like a predator that’s caught its next meal by surprise. It got down on all fours and crouched, getting ready to pounce on them again.

“Kina, with me!”

There was no time to argue. As the Weevil launched itself, Maki dashed towards it head on. He swung his sword and struck, his attack connecting with the Weevil’s claws. It let out a terrible screech as it took a step back and dropped its arms down, seemingly dazed as it swayed side to side.

Before it had the chance to recover, Kina jumped. She sensed a sudden wave of power inside of her, Yin’s magic coursing through her like a powerful storm. Gathering all her strength, she kicked the Weevil right between the eyes, causing it to topple backwards.

She started to raise her hand in the air, getting ready to throw one of her darts at it, when Maki suddenly grabbed her by the wrist.

“We need to retreat,” he hissed. “Now.”

She was going to ask why, but he forcefully dragged her back with no explanation. They ran, dodging mushrooms left and right, leaving the Weevil behind as its painful howls echoed behind her. Her heart pounded with every step she took, and as soon as she felt like she couldn’t go on any more, Maki found a hiding spot. He stopped behind a boulder, big enough to cover the three of them.

“Why... did we leave?” Kina asked between breaths. “We almost had it.”

She was expecting her brother to say something, but it was Yin that ultimately gave her the answer.

“M-maki’s hurt.”

Maki dropped his sword on the ground and placed a hand underneath his uniform, pressing on the back of his shoulder. “...It’s just a scratch.”

If he wasn’t injured, Kina wouldn’t have hesitated to punch him for saying something so stupid. “Let me see it.”

“Kina, please. I’m fine-”

“I SAID, LET ME SEE!”

Maki hesitantly lifted his hand back up, and Kina felt her blood run cold when she saw the light color staining his hand. “You're bleeding,” she whispered. “Does it hurt?”

He quickly lowered his arm, forming a tight fist to hide his hand. “I’ll live.”

Kina noticed for the first time that Yin was keeping her head hung low, refusing to look at either of them.

“You can heal him,” Kina said, more as a statement rather than a question.

Yin took a step back, shaking her head. “I… tried.”

“What do you mean you tried?”

She immediately regretted asking. Yin lowered her head down even further and rubbed her eyes, sniffling quietly.

Maki looked up at her, his glare more deadly than the Primal Weevil’s claws. With his free hand, he reached into his bag and gave her the rectangular device. “Let the others know what happened,” he ordered. “I’ll keep an eye out in case it decides to ambush us again.”

Kina stood there for a moment, staring at him, unsure of what to say.

“Maki...”

“I’m fine,” he said. “Don’t worry about it.”

Don’t worry about it.

The phrase repeated in her mind as she pressed the button, the device shining bright, springing to life.

Don’t worry about it.

But how was she supposed to believe her brother, when he never bothered to pick back up his sword?

Chapter Text

Found the stupid thing

Oh, great

Maki’s hurt

Shoot

How bad is it?

Kina put the device down, shifting her attention to Maki.

To be completely honest, she’s seen worse. Her stomach was in knots at just the thought of some of the things that she’s seen in the past. She hated how she’s gotten used to her brother sneaking off in the middle of the day to do solo missions, only to come back home later in the evening with a brand new scar, bruise, or dislocated limb. Sometimes it was all of the above. Over and over she tried to convince him to see a doctor, but every single time he would dismiss all of her concerns. After the fifth mission, she gave up. Trying to treat Maki’s injuries was like trying to fight a dead lander with a stick.

But answering back that everything’s alright would have been a lie. Even if he wouldn’t admit it, she could tell that something was wrong.

Back resting heavily against the boulder, Maki stood perfectly still, his labored breathing the only signs of life as he looked out in the distance. He hardly noticed that Yin was next to him, still trying to heal him with no success. At least the tears in her eyes were no longer there.

“Yin, you can stop now,” Kina said, gently stepping in between the two. She raised her hands behind her neck, loosening the knot that held her bandana in place. “Here, this should help.”

Maki hissed in pain as she tied the bandana tight around his wound.

“Sorry,” she whispered.

Maki blinked, as if he just woke up and didn’t know where he was for a moment. “It’s alright. I just wasn’t expecting it to be so tight.”

Kina looked at his shoulder, the tiny dark speck in the makeshift bandage unfortunately growing bigger. “That’s not what I’m apologizing for.”

There was a small tug on her arm, and Kina noticed that Yin’s trying to get her attention. She’s holding the device, showing her the new message:

Can you make it to Patton’s? Team Snakemouth wanted to show us something.

Normally, Kina would groan at an inconvenience like this. But something inside of her knew that she couldn’t fall apart. At least not yet. She needed everyone in the group to stay in one piece and not turn into a complete emotional wreck.

“Maki,” Kina said, after a moment, “the others want to regroup. Do you think you can walk for a bit?”

With a nod, Maki attempted to reach for his sword, but a grimace of pain crossed his face after making the quick sudden movement. “Perhaps with some assistance.”

She bent over to grab it, but immediately noticed that the thing was too heavy for her to lift it up in the air. “Oh gods, how do you carry this thing?”

“Very carefully,” Maki said dryly.

“Have you ever thought about changing weapons?”

Maki gave her a look as if she suggested they should abandon the mission and jump off a cliff.

“I'm kidding!” she exclaimed. She tried again with difficulty, but decided that the only way that they were going to make any progress was by simply dragging it across the ground.

After making sure that the coast was clear, all four of them stepped out of their hiding spot: Maki, her, Yin, and the giant green letter opener that her brother calls a sword.

Every step was an effort.

Kina shifted and changed her posture, getting a better grip on the sword as they continued down on the rough path. The lack of any sound as they walked made her feel uneasy, the lingering moment of silence lasting too long for her comfort. But when Maki finally decided to break that silence, she deeply wished that he would just shut up.

“Do you remember our first mission?”

Kina almost dropped the sword. She cringed, forgetting about her current worries as the old memory suddenly reappeared in her mind before she could stop it. “I really don’t want to talk about this.”

“Fir-first mission?” Yin asked, suddenly wanting to participate in the conversation.

Maki chuckled lightly, finding her curiosity amusing. “I wasn’t even the Queen’s Royal Blade at that time.”

Kina felt a sudden heat rising on her face. They swore to never tell anyone, and she intended to keep that promise all the way to her grave. “Maki, please. Just stop. Please stop talking. She doesn’t need to know.”

“Why not?”

“Because!” she hissed, but immediately stopped, not knowing what else to say. The memory tried to escape once more, and Kina tried to come up with a good enough reason to keep it locked up. ”Because… it’s embarrassing!”

“All explorers at the association were once mere novives. And we can all learn from each other's mistakes.” He laughed, but his voice rang hollow, lacking its usual warmth. “Surely you haven’t forgotten, right?”

A waterfall of emotions suddenly came crashing down, threatening to break free. Memories of their first mission, the initial excitement of receiving such an honor, completely unaware of the dangers that lied ahead as they willingly went inside the jaws of the snake.

How stupid and naive they were.

“That happened so many years ago,” she said, no longer having the energy to change the subject. “Why are you bringing this up now?”

Maki hesitated for a second, as if the question itself managed to inflict a deeper wound than the one he already had. “When that spider lunged forward and managed to pin you down and you weren’t moving… I thought that was it. I thought you weren’t going to make it that day...”

His voice trailed off, and despite being right next to him, Kina couldn’t hear the rest of it. It was quiet once more, the sound of their footsteps slowing down until they reached a stop. She waited for him to continue, but he seemed to zone out all of a sudden.

“What is it?” she asked. When he didn’t respond, Kina glanced up ahead. She could barely make out the blurry outlines of the other explorers huddled together in front of a bottled shaped house. They weren’t too far away, but at the rate they’re going it might as well take them the whole night to get there.

“Yin, can you go-?” but before she had the chance to finish, Yin was already on the run, getting the other’s attention. She waited until Yin was safely out of earshot before speaking to Maki in the softest voice she could muster. “You know it wasn’t your fault.”

“I know,” he said, swaying slightly on his feet.

“And even if it was, you know perfectly well that I can take care of myself.”

“I know.”

“You know what, forget it. First thing first, you’re getting that shoulder checked out. I don’t care what anyone else says, but you can do the mission later.”

“Mm-hmm.” He leaned into her, and it horribly occurred to Kina that he was losing consciousness.

There was a flicker of movement, and Zasp was suddenly by their side, slinging Maki’s arm over his shoulder before he had the chance to hit the ground.

“Guess splitting up was a mistake,” Zasp said as he struggled to keep Maki standing upright.

If Maki heard him, he didn’t bother to react. He doesn’t even attempt to raise his head to acknowledge his existence. Instead, he just slumped down like one of those Mender bots at the honey factory when they ran out of power and shut down for the day.

“Do you have any medicine?” Kina asked, hating how desperate she sounded.

Zasp raised a brow at her. “But don’t you have-” but managed to stop himself mid-sentence by clearing his throat. “Just basic first aid. I’m not a medic, but I could take a look at him if you want.”

“But didn’t you find a literal magical moth the other day that can cure and heal all illnesses in the span of a second?” is what he probably wanted to ask her, but she’s grateful when he doesn’t press on any further.

She helped Zasp lower Maki to the ground, propping his back up against one of the many ancient relics that are scattered around the place. Zasp crouched down, his expression unreadable as he rummaged through the inside of his bag. “Give me a couple of minutes to patch up the wound.” He found one of his needles, and used it to rip the bandana she had tied on earlier in half.

Kina nodded, swallowing the panic bubbling up inside of her. “Yeah… sure thing.”

The others eventually show up, probably wondering what was taking so long. Once they saw the state that Maki was in, all idle chit-chat was turned to stunned silence. Even Mothiva had managed to keep her mouth shut, refraining from her usual insults.

Kina gently laid his sword right next to him, and stepped back, giving Zasp the space he needed to do his work.

“Care to explain why Yin hasn’t healed him?” someone asked from behind her.

Kina twisted around, noticing Leif’s fixed gaze on her. She grabbed him by the arm and shoved her way to the back of the crowd, putting some distance between her and the other explorers. “Yin couldn’t heal him,” she whispered. ”After the fight, she tried a couple of times, but it didn’t do anything.”

Leif didn’t seem surprised by her answer. “We’ve never seen her struggle with her magic before.” He thought for a moment, and it looked like an idea crossed his mind. “We might know of someone that could help.”

“Patton,” she sighed, finishing the sentence. Patton has the honor of being the only living bug that has managed to make Elizant curse out loud back when he was still conducting his research in the Ant Kingdom. He was the last bug that she wanted to talk to tonight. But when she looked over at her brother once more, she saw him slip in and out of consciousness, like he’s fighting to stay awake. If she wanted to help out, then she couldn't stay standing there doing nothing.

Kina took a deep breath and marched off. “Keep an eye on Yin.”

“He doesn't want any visitors,” Leif shouted at her as she left.

Sure enough, as she approached Patton’s door, she found out that it was closed and firmly locked. She banged on the door, hoping to get his attention. “Patton, open up!”

“I told you to leave me alone!” Patton's muffled voice yelled back at her.

Out of frustration, Kina brought up one leg and kicked with all her might. The door swung wide open, the broken padlock barely holding on by a thread.

Patton jumped from his seat, the stool tipping over with his frazzled movement. “What the- you can’t break in here! This is private property-!” he began to shout, only to immediately recognize who was at his doorway. He gulped, backing away as an angry Kina stormed into his direction. “Kina, is that you? My, I haven’t seen you and your brother since my banishment. What’s it been? One… Two years?”

“Shut it.” Kina snapped, forcing him into a corner of the room. “Maki’s hurt. Do you have any medicine?”

“Do you have any idea how little that narrows it down?” Patton made a quick glance at all the chemicals at the table that are in his workstation. “You're going to have to be a bit more specific. Is he paralyzed? Poisoned? Can't offer you anything unless you give me details, can I?”

“He got scratched. It’s probably infected.”

“...Scratched?”

“Yeah, scratched. What are you, deaf?”

Patton peered behind Kina, and stammered for a moment as his gaze kept going between Kina and the busted clawed down door. “Scratched by what, exactly?”

“Primal Weevil,” Kina said.

Patton didn’t respond, letting the words slowly sink in. He stood there silently, and with a shaky hand, Patton finally had the courage to move, and made his way back to his workstation. “Look, I’ll help you, but I need to finish a couple of things first.”

Kina tightened her hands into fists. “Patton, I swear I will personally banish you to the Northern Kingdom if you don’t help me out right now!”

“I am trying to help!” Patton yelled, losing any fear he had of her a minute ago. “You don’t get it, do you? You explorers can’t grasp the simple concept that I’m running out of time. If you don’t let me finish, then you might as well accept the fact that you're never going to see your brother again!”

Kina stood still, horrified by Patton's words, unsure if she heard correctly. “What did you say?” she whispered.

A frigid hand suddenly slammed against her shoulder from behind, snapping her out of her thoughts. She gasped and turned around, only to see Leif once again.

“We have a problem,” Leif muttered, his voice filled with concern.

Kina sucked in a quick gulp of air, trying to recover from the sudden heart attack Leif just gave her. “Please tell me that you have a solution.”

Any hope that she was desperately trying to cling on to immediately vanished the moment they were interrupted by a terrible scream. It sounded like Mothiva.

It only lasted a second, but it was enough time for Patton to take advantage of the situation. He pushed Kina out of his way, stumbling his way between the two of them before he finally made a run for it.

Kina chased after him, attempting to snatch him by the collar of his coat before he could get any further away from her. He quickly turned to the right, avoiding her grasp as he fled, heading to the closest cave. She stepped outside, but Leif managed to get in front of her, spreading his arms and wings wide as if to stop her. “Leave him,” he said.

“He’s getting away!” she yelled.

Leif lowered his arms, but didn't budge from where he was standing. “Kina, your brother is attacking us.”

Kina’s mouth goes dry, the flurry of anger that was inside of her gone in an instant. The scream she heard earlier suddenly came back, echoing behind her. Before she knew what she was doing, Kina turned around and took off.

She kept going, closing the gap between her and the frantic yelling as fast as she could, hoping that it wasn’t real, that it was all a misunderstanding. But what she saw next was somehow far worse than what she had imagined.

She didn't think it was him at first. Her brother could hardly move, let alone carry a weapon, when she had left him earlier. And yet, Maki was now standing, back on his feet, completely alert as he swung at Vi, who lay unconscious on the ground. Kabbu leaped in front of her and raised his arms to block the attack, grabbing onto the sword that’s now over his head.

“Sir Maki, pull yourself together!” Kabbu shouted, trying to pry it out of Maki’s hands.

To her far left, Zasp has grabbed on to both Mothiva and Yin, pulling them away from the fight. Cross was right next to them, reloading his bow, but he didn’t take a step back, backing away like everyone else. He stepped forward.

“Stand down!” Cross brought up his bow, aiming the arrow at the ongoing struggle. “Stand down or I’ll shoot!”

Maki didn’t listen. He and Kabbu were locked together, completely focused on one another as they fought for control. There was a slight tremble on Kabbu’s arm as it briefly dropped down.

For a moment, Cross broke eye contact at his target and looked at Kina, as if hesitating. And that’s when Kina realized something important. From his current position, Cross doesn’t have a clear shot. Maki and Kabbu were too close to one another to safely fire an arrow. He can’t do anything until one of them gives up. Kabbu isn’t going to be able to hold on for much longer, and as soon as that happens, Cross will…

Kina ran at Maki. She swung her arm in the air and struck, feeling the dart slamming against his back.

Taken by surprise, Maki jerked forward, eyes widening in surprise as he finally let go. Breathing hard, Kina pulled out another dart and attempted to strike again.

But Maki has always been a better fighter than her. He was much stronger than her. And faster. With a snarl, Maki spun around and lashed out. She tried to avoid it, but his fist hit her hard on the side of her head.

Kina heard multiple frightened gasps as she cried out and collapsed. The world seemed to sway underneath as her vision blurs. With no strength to push herself back up, Kina curled her arms over her head to shield herself and closed her eyes, waiting for another attack.

A second passed.

Then another.

But nothing happened. The blow never came down upon her.

Kina opened her eyes and looked up.

Maki stared at her as if seeing her for the first time, a moment of clarity suddenly reaching him.

“...Kina?” he whispered.

Before she could provide an answer, his eyes rolled back as he crumpled instantly, the sleepy dart in his back finally taking effect on him.

Chapter Text

Time seemed to stop as Cross stared at Maki’s lifeless body on the ground. Silence settled around them like a dense fog, the atmosphere so tense that it felt like he had lost his hearing. He expected there to be a shouting match between the explorers. But no one dared to move, unsure of what to do. He looked around, trying to find answers in the area, until his gaze landed on Kina. It was impossible to tell just what exactly she was feeling, but it was clear that she needed help.

Carefully, he half walked, half tiptoed around Maki and headed towards Kina. He offered her a hand to get up, but she simply remained seated, unable to keep the fear out of her eyes. Kina’s hand hovered over the area where she’d been hit, almost as if as long as she didn't touch her face, then the last minute of her life was nothing but a scene from a horrible nightmare.

“Vi?”

Kabbu’s voice rose in panic as he dropped down on his knees, getting closer at Vi to examine her. When she didn’t respond, he placed a trembling hand on her shoulders and shook her gently. “Vi, come on. Get up!”

“Kabbu… turn it down a notch.” With a groan, Vi slowly raised her hands, forming a time out gesture. “I’m fine, just give me a minute… I forgot how hard he hits.”

Despite her protests, Kabbu helped her as she pushed herself into a sitting position. Vi rubbed the back of her neck to soothe a sore spot as she looked around, taking in the aftermath of the fight. “What do we do now?”

“I’m not sure,” Kabbu said, eyes locked onto Maki. “And to think that this has already happened twice so far.”

The words had barely slipped out, and Kabbu quickly realized his mistake. Mothiva's reaction was immediate. One moment, she had her arms wrapped around Yin in a hug, trying to comfort the shivering moth. The next second she raised her head and glared at him, her eyes digging into his soul like sharp daggers.

“Twice!?” Mothiva shouted, her voice raw. “What do you mean twice? You mean to tell me that this isn’t the first time this has happened? When were you going to tell us!?”

“Shut it, Mothiva.” Kina said in a calm tone, surprising everyone in the group. Cross took a step to the side as she got up. Kina went on, never taking her eyes off of her. “We need a new plan. And fast. I may have bought us some time, but that sleepy dart isn’t going to last forever. So I’d suggest you keep your voice down.”

Cross watched as worry crept back into Mothiva’s expresion, the fire in her eyes suddenly extinguished. She somehow managed to pull Yin closer to her, hugging her tighter than before.

“She’s got a point,” Zasp hissed, crossing his arms over his chest. “Start talking Team Snakemouth. What else do you know?”

Kabbu doesn’t answer right away. When he realized that Zasp was still waiting for a response, he stammered, backtracking his previous statement. “Well… It’s not my story to tell.”

Somehow, Cross wasn’t surprised by what he said. He let out a frustrated groan, rubbing a hand over his eyes. It doesn’t make sense. It shouldn’t make sense. But all at once, the past couple of hours suddenly flooded his mind, a part of the puzzle finally falling into place.

“Last night… we got ambushed by a Primal Weevil,” Cross finally admitted. There was no point in lying to them. They needed to hear his point of view if they were going to help out. So he started from the beginning, how they’ve been dealing with more weevils than usual, the news he heard about Poi once he went to visit him, how he wanted to help out and find out the truth. He explained everything he knew- (conveniently skipping over the part where he attacked the General. He can deal with the consequences of that later.)

“...Believe me, I never knew that this would happen. I didn’t think too much about it at first, but I knew something was seriously wrong when they told me he’d snapped. It’s just not like him.”

When Cross finally looked up, Zasp dropped his arms to his side, mumbling something that he couldn’t quite hear. He’s still holding on to one of his needles, but at least he no longer looked like he was going to use it against him.

“Alright, that answers some of my questions,” Zasp said. “But that doesn’t explain why this is even happening in the first place.”

“We have a few possible theories.” Leif’s voice cut through the conversation as he approached them, rejoining the group. “We don’t want to jump into any conclusions, but the only way to confirm them is to ask Patton.”

Kina’s eyes went wide. “You caught him?”

Leif nodded. “With a little bit of help.”

Vi got up, brushing the dust off her fur. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go and-” 

Before Vi could finish, Maki moved. The weak subtle flicker of his wings was enough to send everyone’s nerves back on edge. For a terrible moment, it seemed that he was going to wake up. But just as it seemed that Maki was about to, his shoulders sank. His entire body relaxed, dozing off once more.

Cross let out a sigh of relief, knowing that Maki wouldn't regain consciousness just yet. “What should we do about him?” he asked.

Zasp raised his needle again, still stressed out and on guard. “I can shock him.”

“You are not shocking my brother!” Kina hissed.

Zasp threw his arms out, hissing back an octave higher. “Do you have any better ideas!?”

While the two continued their argument, Cross looked over to Team Snakemouth. They were already muttering amongst themselves, moving away as they discussed their next move. He considered whether he should stay or leave with them. He tried to make sense of it all, but didn’t get the chance to make a decision before Mothiva interrupted his thoughts.

“Go.”

Cross turned around at that. He must have looked confused, because Mothiva let out a long sigh. She stopped stroking Yin’s back and pointed in Team Snakemouth direction. “What the heck are you waiting for? Just go already. Well take it from here.”

She was right. Cross spun into action, twisting around as he hurried forward, catching up with Team Snakemouth.

True to Leif’s words, Patton was waiting for them when he walked into the cave. It took a moment, but once Cross heard the commotion up towards the ceiling, he found him. Somewhere between the numerous large stalactites, there was Patton hanging upside down inside of a net. He thrashed his arms and legs in a chaotic frenzy, like a bug caught in a spiderweb.

Cross couldn’t help but smirk. “You set up a trap. Smart.”

Vi briefly glanced at him, then turned back towards Patton. “As much as I’d like to take the credit for this, we didn’t do anything.”

Kabbu signaled and on cue, two bugs popped out from behind a bush; an ant and a ladybug. The ladybug walked up towards Cross and held out a hand. “I don’t believe we had a chance to introduce ourselves. The name’s Levi, and this is my partner Celia.”

They shook.

“So you two are behind this?” asked Cross.

“We found Team Celia by accident,” Kabbu explained with a smile. “They're here on another mission, but were more than happy to lend a hand once they were finished.”

Celia rolled her eyes. “Can’t believe we spent a whole hour with the wonder twins setting this up just to capture the wrong guy. Instead of a dangerous criminal, we ended up with some wanna be mad scientist.”

“You know I can still hear you,” Patton said, finally reorienting himself so that he’s somewhat facing the right way up.

“Great!” Vi shouted. “Since you've got nothing better else to do, want to start by explaining what you’re up to?”

Patton shrugged. He continued to examine the net, tugging on it as if that might help him escape. “Oh, you know… just hanging around.”

Leif looked at him with narrow eyes. “Do you think this is a game?”

Patton stopped struggling, pondering over the question. “Well, theoretically speaking-”

An arrow whipped over Patton’s head, slightly grazing the rope that’s keeping him suspended in the air. The arrow pierced the stalactite right behind him, causing it to shatter like an icicle upon impact.

“Are you crazy!?” Patton screamed. The net spun out of control. “That almost hit me!”

Voices erupted all over the place, the explorer’s yelling drowning out Patton’s panic from high above.

“Oi! We need him alive!” Vi yelled.

“Consider that first arrow a warning,” Cross said, ignoring the sounds of protest as he reloaded. He’s decided he’s had enough. “I’m going to count to three, and I better start hearing an explanation before I reach the end.”

Patton thrashed his arms again, but immediately stopped once he noticed how much the frayed rope above him had already begun to unravel. “W-what type of explorers are you? Elizant wouldn’t allow this!”

Cross’s face darkens. “I’m not an explorer.” He raised the crossbow and took aim, right in the center of the net. “One.”

The temperature seemed to dramatically drop inside the cave. He hesitated briefly when he sensed Leif’s magic; the shadow underneath him becoming darker with every second.

“Don’t do it,” Leif said, his voice colder than ever. “He’s the only one that has answers.”

He couldn’t back out. Not now. The stakes were too high. But this interrogation was going nowhere, because he was one hundred percent certain that the plague doctor wasn’t going to talk unless his own life was on the line.

“Two!” Cross tried to sound more confident by yelling, but he could hear the doubt in his own voice. The ground got colder.

Kabbu looked at the standoff between the moth and the termite, trying to calm things down. “I’m sure we can figure something out if we work together-”

“Not now!” Cross and Leif shouted.

“QUIET!”

The unexpected scream diverted everyone’s attention to Levi. He clearly had something to say, but the words wouldn’t come out once he was under the spotlight.

Celia was standing right behind him, when she smacked his back so hard that he took an involuntary step forward. “Well come on Levi, spit it out! You got everyone’s attention. Might as well share what’s on your mind!”

Even though the majority of his face was covered by his helmet, Levi couldn’t hide his embarrassment. “Well, I umh…” he whispered, lowering his head to avoid their stares. “...I was just afraid that, you know, you would say three…”

Patton, in the meantime, held his breath as he cautiously peered below him, looking at them all in complete silence for a long time. It was only when he heard the word ‘three’ that he finally relaxed. At first, the only sound that came out of him was a series of short coughs before he eventually broke down into a fit of laughter.

“That had to be the worst ‘good bug, bad bug’ routine I have ever seen.”

All of the explorers collectively shook their heads and groaned at this. Everyone except Cross. He lowered the crossbow, giving up with this method of interrogation.

Patton seemed to think of something important once he noticed their despair. “Now friends, why the long face? After all, I believe that with my services and your cooperation we’ll be able to help each other out.”

“Help you?” Vi asked. “Why on earth should we help you?”

Patton took in a deep breath and was suddenly calm. He continued carefully, knowing fully well that he was the one now in control.

“Because I’m the only one that has the solution to all of your problems.”

Once they lowered him back to the ground, Celia grabbed him by the arm and dragged him back to his house. Patton didn't resist, and went willingly with them this time. They managed to round up the majority of them inside, with the exception of Team Mothiva, for they wanted to keep an eye on Maki in an area that wasn’t so cramped, so they stood outside by the doorway. It wasn’t until Patton settled down on his stool that he started to talk. But rather than starting with a story, he began with asking them a question.

“Do you know what the day of awakening is?”

Everyone nodded, muttering over each other the basic knowledge of how bugs have ‘evolved’ throughout the years. Patton took it as a sign that they understood and kept going.

“I’ve been researching for quite a while now on the differences between us and the lesser bugs. And I believe that the lesser bugs in this area have already shown early signs of sentience. I wanted to test my hypothesis and study these changes, so I started my experiments a few weeks ago, to see if I could accelerate the process of a bug’s awakening. And what better test subjects than a couple of weevils. They're so close to fully awaken. I figured, why not. Why shouldn't I give them that final push so that they can reach their full potential.”

Kabbu was lost in thought as he took in his words. “It’s safe to assume that the experiment didn’t give you the results you wanted, right?”

“I’m afraid so,” Patton said. He reached over to the desk, grabbing a syringe. “The serum was supposed to tame them, make them more gentle. But in reality it did quite the opposite. According to my analysis, once the affected weevils felt threatened, they became even more aggressive than usual. They began to lash out uncontrollably at all bugs, fighting back until they perceive that the threat is gone.”

Vi nodded, letting it sink in. “Huh, you just described every single interaction we’ve ever had with Mothiva. You sure she wasn’t one of your test subjects?”

“I heard that!” Mothiva yelled, her voice muffled by the walls.

“Great, so you doomed all bugkind with your stupidity.” Kina interjected, the anger in her tone noted by everyone.

“Call me whatever you want,” Patton said, insulted. “I may be mad, but I’m not an idiot.” Patton rotated the syringe around with his hand, the red liquid inside shimmering with the motion. He raised it above his head so that everyone could see it. “I created this. It reverses the symptoms of anyone that’s been affected. It’s an antidote.”

“An antidote?” Cross repeated, a small bit of hope building up inside his chest. He took a step forward, but Kina grabbed him before he could reach for it.

“Don’t believe everything you hear,” Kina warned, tugging him back to his spot. She lets go of him, returning her glance back at Patton. “And you seriously expect us to trust you? How do we even know that you're telling the truth?”

Patton shifted in his seat and hesitated. He lowered his arm, hiding the antidote on the side of his cloak that wasn’t all tattered and torn. “I… already tested it on myself. Believe me, it works.” He turns hopefully to Team Snakemouth, the only ones in the room that didn’t look like they were planning on how to kill him. “Now, with that out of the way… I was hoping that we’ll be able to make a deal.”

“You’re not in a good position to make demands.” Leif said.

“Yeah, and we’re not paying to fix your mistakes!” Vi added.

Patton nodded in agreement. “I’m aware. But I only have a limited amount of antidotes. It would be redundant of me to hand it over to you unless I eliminate the source of the problem. If you help me capture the remaining Primal Weevils, then I’ll cure your friends.”

He leaned forward, pressing his hands together until they formed a steeple. “So… do we have a deal?”

The offer got everyone’s attention, but Levi gave Team Snakemouth a strange look, as if everyone was missing something quite obvious. “Despite the risks, me and Celia will be honored to help. But I thought you were hunting a Primal Weevil?”

“We are,” Kabbu said. “But what’s on your mind?”

“I’m just thinking that he mentioned Primal Weevils… as in, plural. I didn’t know that there was more than one…”

It took several seconds for everyone to collect themselves after that massive bombshell piece of information was suddenly revealed.

Vi broke the silence, exclaiming everyone’s feelings with just one word. “What!?”

“There’s only two left,” Patton said, with a tone that suggests that he’s only asking for them to make a quick stop at the store and check off two more items out of a shopping list. “I already did most of the work. This task should be fairly simple for you explorer types.”

“Easy for you to say,” Kina hissed. “Comments like that are the reason you’re in this mess in the first place, you-!”

She probably could have come up with a more creative insult for Patton, if it wasn’t for the electronic chime blasting at full volume, drowning out her words. Cross must have forgotten to lower it before he handed them out to them earlier.

“Can someone turn off that obnoxious sound?” Patton groaned, rubbing the back of his head painfully. “I don’t care who it is, just please make it stop.”

Kina doesn’t bother to look at her phone as she passes it over to Cross. “Here you go. I have no clue how to do that.”

“Are there any other questions?” Patton asked.

A series of questions broke out as everyone tried to make their voices heard over the phone’s notification sound.

Cross accepted the phone, wanting to deal with it as quickly as possible so that he doesn’t miss a single word of the ongoing conversation. He turned the volume down, and was about to press the button to turn it off, when he noticed the familiar pop-up ad flashing on the screen:

Place your bets for tonight’s upcoming fight at the one and only Colosseum!

Almost absent-mindedly, he scrolled down and pressed on the link, waiting for it to load properly. He didn't know why, but something about the event gave him a sneaking suspicion on who everyone betted on tonight. And this time he didn’t ignore it.

Kina looked over his shoulder when she noticed that he was taking longer than expected to give the phone back. “I don’t think this is a good time to admit that you have a gambling addiction,” she whispered.

“It’s just a hunch…” he muttered, ignoring the snarky remark. He continued swiping down, until he finally found it. The final match for tonight.

“Bingo,” he said, turning the phone so that Kina could see that his gut feeling was correct.

Kina gasped. “You’ve got to be kidding me…”

Displayed in the middle of the screen, there was an image of a Primal Weevil.

It was the same Primal Weevil that Cross helped Poi capture a few nights ago.

Chapter Text

“Why the heck did you catch it?” is what Kina asked Cross, a while later after she and the others found out that the other weevil was inside the Termite Kingdom.

The two of them were currently trying to get the door to Patton’s home back into place, though adjusting it so that it actually stayed upright was becoming a harder job than they originally anticipated.

Cross shrugged, dismissing the question. What he really wanted to say was that the Primal Weevil was acting lethargic at the time, and that it hardly put up a fight when they encountered it.

Yet giving a history lesson about his culture wasn’t something that he wanted to explain at the moment. He could already imagine her judgemental stare if he went on and explained how the violent fights at the Colosseum are seen as nothing but a form of entertainment in his kingdom.

Slowly, he tested the crooked door, swinging it back and forth to make sure that it wouldn’t fall over. “This is as good as it’s going to get.” He held it open, waiting for Kina to go through, but she was too busy looking elsewhere to notice the kind gesture. He waved a hand in front of her, catching her attention. “...Uhm, hello?”

Kina blinked, realizing that he had been talking to her and looked up.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked.

Kina considered. “The same thing that’s on your mind”, she finally responded. “Whether or not we’ll be able to pull this off.”

Cross didn’t want to admit how awful that sounded, but he couldn’t come up with a different way to finish that thought. With the limited supply of antidotes, the odds were against them. And what happened earlier to her brother was a stark reminder of what would happen if they were to fail the mission.

Sensing his concern, Kina patted him on the shoulder. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound like a total downer. I’m sure this will be over soon.” She began to back out of the room, stepping outside. “Thanks for the help. I’m gonna go ahead and check up on Zasp and Maki.”

Cross was quiet once he was left alone. After eating a quick snack and getting his things ready, he closed the door behind him. He made his way to the large group of explorers, in time to hear Mothiva’s words as she gave an annoyed look to Vi. “Ugh, whatever… I rather work with them than with a runt like you.”

Vi huffed as she crossed her arms. “Yeah, yeah. Just do your job so we can stop the un-awakening!”

“The un-awakening?” Cross asked, stepping into the middle of the ongoing conversation.

“Cool name, right?” Vi exclaimed in triumph. “Gotta give the mission a brand new name now that we’re dealing with something else.”

“The name’s stupid, like you,” Mothiva said. She looked from Vi to Cross, changing the subject before the bee could get another word in. “Are you finally done? Because you're joining Team Snakemouth to the Colosseum.”

Cross choked when she mentioned where they were planning on sending him. “Wait… what!?”

It was just now that he realized that both Levi and Kabbu were each holding a syringe. Patton must have given it to them earlier when he wasn’t paying attention.

“We’re dividing up our efforts into three teams,” Levi began to explain. “Kina will stay here with her team, keeping an eye on Maki and making sure Patton keeps up his end of the deal. Meanwhile, me, Celia, Mothiva and Zasp were going to continue our search out here while you and Team Snakemouth go into the Colosseum-”

Cross held up a hand, interrupting him. “Yeah, sorry. That’s not happening. I can’t go back. Not yet.”

Team Snakemouth stared back at him, the expressions on their faces ranging from confusion to utter disbelief.

“Oh, come on. Why not?” Vi asked. “You’re a termite. Can’t you sneak us into the Colosseum without making a scene?”

Cross groaned. “I have no idea how I’ll be able to get in there without making a scene.”

“What did you do?” Leif asked, sighing.

Cross made a so-so gesture. “I did… a thing,” he said, wincing at the cryptic ridiculous answer he gave.

A mischievous grin crossed Vi’s face as she responded back. “Ok, but like, on a scale of one to ten, how stupid was it?”

“Vi, you can’t ask that!” Kabbu scolded.

“Why not? It’s obvious that he did something stupid!”

Mothiva let out the longest exhale as she shook her head tiredly, as if she were counting down to ten in her mind. “Oh, gods. I’m surrounded by idiots.” With a single quick movement, Mothiva twisted around and grabbed Celia by the arm. “Zasp! Change of plans, we’re going to the Colosseum! Hurry up!”

“Hey, let me go!… What are you… You can’t just… LEVI!” Celia stuttered. She tried to break free from Mothiva’s grasp as she was forcefully dragged towards the path that led to the Termite Kingdom.

Levi nervously watched them struggle, contemplating on whether or not he should intervene and separate the two. “I guess we’re leaving now...”

“Be careful out there,” Kabbu said at last. “It would be a shame if more of us got hurt.”

Levi nodded in agreement. “I will. I wish you the best of luck!” And with that, Levi set off in pursuit of his teammates.

Team Snakemouth and Cross watched as Levi quickened his pace, until he disappeared into the nighttime fog.

“Hey, Vi?” Cross asked once the four of them were alone. “Let’s pretend that you got into a fight with your boss. How high would you rate it on that scale of yours?”

“Oh that’s easy,” Vi said without missing a beat. “I would give it a six.”

Leif turned to glance at her. “We thought your fight with Malbee would have been rated higher.”

Cross could only grin at her. “So I’m not the only trouble maker here. Tell you what, I’ll tell you what I did if you share your story first.”

Vi doesn’t say anything. Instead she made a face and stuck her tongue out at Leif. “Stop being such a snitch!”

“Lighten up,” Leif said. “It’s not fun being on the receiving end, huh?”

Vi looked like she was going to snap back at him, but it seemed that she no longer had the time nor the energy to do it. “Why do you always have to ruin all the fun?”

Leif playfully shoved her as he passed her, heading south. “We find it quite entertaining being able to tease you.”

Still pouting, Vi walked behind. “Forget I asked… let’s get a move on.”

Cross struggled to keep a straight face as he followed. It was tempting to keep pestering her about the topic, but he decided against it. If there’s one thing that he has definitely learned tonight, it’s that Team Snakemouth sure knew how to take the edge off things.

Celia looked back one last time as the giant doors closed shut.

Suddenly, she had the dawning realization that during her many travels with Levi as explorers, she’s never stepped foot inside this kingdom. She’s been to the Golden Settlement, Defiant Root, the Bee Kingdom… heck, she’s even been into the Giant's Lair and made it out alive to tell the tale. But never here.

She was quite young when the alliance that the Ants had with the Termites had officially ended. The only moment in her life where she had met a termite was back home in the shopping district, where they recently opened an arcade. The two termite twins working there always greeted her kindly, their personalities always reminding her of how much they acted like Gen and Eri.

It was late in the evening by the time they entered the Termite Kingdom, and from what Celia could tell, the Colosseum was still quite far from where they were located. And unlike the Anthill with its maze-like tunnels, they would have to get there by going through the large open area packed with bugs.

“Why are there so many bugs out here?” Celia wondered out loud. She bobbed and weaved through the crowd as her and Levi tried to keep up with Team Mothiva.

Surprisingly, Zasp heard her and raised his voice to give her an answer. “Most termites only need a few hours of sleep. And since they rarely go outside, they don’t follow our typical day and night cycle.”

“Makes it an absolute pain to schedule concerts here,” Mothiva muttered. She turned left, walking right past a pair of soldiers that were talking to one another, standing underneath a streetlight.

It was the younger termite soldier that recognized her first.

He glanced at her, then did a double take as Mothiva passed by them. The older soldier noticed his voice trailing off and followed his gaze.

“Woah, is that…” the older soldier was about to say, until Celia walked by him, and they stared at one another for a few seconds. The awestruck expression on his face was washed away, and Celia immediately saw the anger flooding into his eyes.

“Hey, Ant!” he shouted at her, saying the word ‘ant’ as if it were a swear word. “What do you think you’re doing here?”

Celia gripped the straps of her shield hard, fuming. She recognized the type of bug before he’d even said anything to her; selfish, hateful, and too arrogant to learn from their own mistakes. Avoiding eye contact, she kept going, pretending that she hadn’t heard him. She only managed to take a few more steps before he yelled behind her once again. “You don’t belong here!”

“What a jerk,” Levi mumbled underneath his breath. “Sorry you had to go through that.”

Even though the soldier’s words made her feel like she’d been slapped across the face, Levi’s comment seemed so out of character that she couldn’t help but laugh. She smiled, glad to have Levi by her side. She was going to speak, but stopped short at the sight of Levi’s horrified expression.

“Celia, behind you!”

His warning came too late.

Celia suddenly felt something smack her on the side of her head, popping like a water balloon. The soldiers howled with laughter as she raised the palm of her hand, wiping off one of the berry chunks that splattered across her face.

Welp. So much for not making a scene. Now she’s definitely fighting him.

Clenching her fist, Celia allowed her rage to carry her toward the termite. When she was about to strike them with her shield, someone stepped right in front of her. If someone had asked her that morning which bug she would pick to have her back during a fight, then she would have obviously picked her partner Levi. Maybe Zasp. Or someone from Team Snakemouth.

Never in a million years did she expect it to be Mothiva.

“Oh, how terrible!” Mothiva let out an exaggerated gasp, loud enough so that everyone near them could hear her. She placed a hand near her mouth, feigning shock. “You poor thing! Are you alright?”

Stunned, Celia stared at her with her mouth wide open. “What are you-”

Mothiva threw her arms around her and gave her a hug, cutting her off. Celia was about to shove her out of the embrace until Mothiva started to whisper harshly, her words fast.

“He’s trying to provoke you, so that it looks like you were the one that initiated the fight. Hey, I get it, but I need you to trust me and let me deal with this creep before you make the situation any worse. I’ll be over before you know it.”

Mothiva finally lets go of her, offering her a pink handkerchief. “Got it?” she asked gently.

Celia nodded, accepting it. When she noticed the small crowd forming around them, she retreated to a nearby building, no longer wanting to be on display. As she leaned back against the wall, Levi approached her, hunched over as if trying to make himself smaller. “Hey… are you hurt?”

“Relax. I’m alright.” Celia finished cleaning herself up with the handkerchief, ignoring the pain in his voice. She brushed his concerns off by giving him a wink, not wanting him to worry so much about her. “All they did was hurt my ego.”

The two of them stood silently after that, watching the scene play out. The confrontation ended in less than a minute. Mothiva glared at the older soldier, pointing an accusatory finger close to his face, saying something that Celia couldn’t quite understand from where she was standing. By this point, the younger soldier was trying to convince his colleague to back away and leave.

That was when the older soldier swatted Mothiva’s hand away.

And then Zasp hit him.

He swooped in, landing a single punch. No more, no less. Mothiva turned on her heel, leaving before the older soldier had the chance to collapse, hitting the ground hard.

Zasp glared at the remaining onlookers, his wing’s buzzing in a threatening manner. “That’s it. Show’s over. Go on, scram!”

While Zasp was left dealing with crowd control, Mothiva went over to Celia and Levi. 

Celia fidgeted with the handkerchief, seeking out the right words. “Wow… That was awesome. Thanks for stepping in… I appreciate it.” 

Mothiva showed a slight hint of surprise, until she shook her head, changing her expression. “You seriously think I did it for you?” She laughed, shaking her head again. “Please! The stupid teenagers in this kingdom record everything. Do you have any idea how hard I’ve worked to get here? I couldn’t take the risk of you ruining my reputation!”

Celia rolled her eyes. Figures she can’t handle a compliment. And yet, somehow, Mothiva’s response was without a doubt the kindest thing that she had ever said to her.

A while later, Celia finally crossed the threshold into the Colosseum. Unlike the shiny high-tech that was all over the city, the lobby seemed outdated with its simple yellow lighting and brown decor.

Levi gave her a quick elbow jab on the side to get her attention. “Looks like Mothiva isn’t the only celebrity in this kingdom.” He motioned with his head at the large portrait that’s hanging in the middle of the room, and Celia smirked in amusement when she recognized Team Snakemouth.

Mothiva (refusing to acknowledge the portrait's existence) strutted her way to the front desk, and the three of them stopped a short distance away from her, letting her do all of the talking.

“Hello!” Mothiva said to the receptionist cheerfully. “Four tickets please!”

The receptionist doesn’t even bother to lift his head as he’s too busy reading a book. “I’m sorry, but we're no longer selling any tickets for tonight.” He lifted a finger, pointing at the digital clock on top of the counter. “The Colosseum closes soon.”

Mothiva cleared her throat, finally catching the receptionist’s attention. “Oh, Mothiva! What a pleasant surprise to see you here. I’m such a big fan!”

“Aww, why thank you! It’s so nice to be able to meet my adoring fans in person!” She leaned against the counter, charming her way through the conversation as she got closer to him. “I’m so sorry to be a bother, but do you think we can purchase some tickets and go in?”

The receptionist nervously adjusted his glasses. “Well, I’m afraid I wasn’t lying about the show ending soon.”

“Oh really… that’s too bad.” Mothiva made a quick nod towards their direction. “My friends and I traveled all the way from the Ant Kingdom to watch the show tonight. We’ve been planning this trip for a while now.”

Unsure on how to react, Celia gave the receptionist an awkward wave. Meanwhile, Levi stole a quick glance behind him, unaware that Mothiva brought along her friends.

“They’ve never been to the colosseum…” Mothiva sighed, tapping her gloved hand on the desk as if she were contemplating hard on something. “It seems like we’re too late. Oh, well. I guess we’ll have to head back home-”

“Wait!”

The receptionist slammed his book shut. He picked up the clock, making sure the time was correct. “Tell you what, it doesn’t really matter at this point. If you hurry, you can probably watch the final match. And don’t worry about the berries, just go on right ahead!”

“That’s so sweet of you! Thank you, you’re the best!” Mothiva straightened up, and as she headed to the doorway on the far right, she blew a kiss at the receptionist. The receptionist let out a long sigh. He sunk deep in his seat, the invisible airborne kiss melting him like an ice cube left outside on a sunny day.

Mothiva waved him a final goodbye as she walked away, and as soon as she’s away from the receptionist, her face twisted as if she smelled something rotten.

Zasp was immediately at her side. “Nice going,” he whispered.

“I know,” Mothiva snapped back, her lovely personality gone in an instant. She turned around, shooting Celia and Levi an icy glare. “Oh and by the way, if anyone asks… We. Aren’t. Friends. Got it!?”

Celia cracked a smile, her voice filled with all the sarcasm that she could muster. “Yeah, yeah… love you too.”

The roar of the crowd got louder and louder with every step they took, and Celia could feel their energy vibrating through every part of her armour. They made it to the bleachers, and as she drew closer to the railing, she finally got to see what all the fuss was about. Right in the center of the arena, a Plumping was fighting a Mimic Spider. Or rather… the Plumping was making an attempt to fight back.

With a sickening sound, the spider spat out a sticky glob of saliva, causing the pumpkin-like creature to tumble backward, landing on its back. It tried to wiggle itself free as the spider crawled on top of it, but the spider snarled its fangs, biting down on the Plumping. The spider refused to let go even as the Plumping thrashed around, doing all that it could do to get back up. Eventually, the Plumping’s movements slowed down, until it finally stopped.

The cheering crowd gave a thunderous round of applause. They were all standing, confirming the end of the fight and the spider’s victory.

Levi leaned against the railing, craning his neck to get a better look. A couple of soldiers began to herd the spider back to its cage, and he felt sick when one of them dragged the seedling’s stiff body away. He shuddered, knowing that they were going to be dealing with something much worse than a spider. “Primal Weevil is coming up shortly. Do you think there’s a way to sneak in before the next match?”

Mothiva avoided his question and stared at Zasp. There was a devilish twinkle in her eyes. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

As if expecting her to say that, Zasp nodded with a reluctant sigh. He reached into his travel bag and took out a smoke bomb. “Same as last time?”

“Same as last time.”

Just as Celia was about to ask what they were planning on doing, Mothiva turned to face the crowd, her voice traveling throughout the stadium. “Is that all you have to offer? It’s a shame, I was hoping for a real challenge tonight!”

There was a collective gasp from the crowd. Most of the spectators got quiet, muttering amongst themselves as they searched in every direction for the source of the voice.

Suddenly and without any warning, Zasp smashed the bomb onto the ground. The thick puff of smoke made it impossible to see anything, and when Celia tried to call out, she began to cough. Levi fanned the air out with his hand, clearing away the smoke, improving their visibility.

“What was that for?” Celia said through her fading coughs. She looked around, realizing that Zasp and Mothiva had vanished.

Levi gulped, pointing at the arena. “Uhm, Celia? I think we missed our cue…”

Celia screamed in frustration. Somehow, Zasp and Mothiva had teleported right in the freaking center of the arena. Mothiva struck a pose, and the crowd went wild.

“Hello, Termite Kingdom! It’s me, your one and only Mothiva! How’s everyone doing tonight?”

A couple of responses were shouted, but the overall bug in the crowd seemed content as they continued their applause, cheering the idol’s name.

Celia paced back and forth, shaking her head in denial. This whole day started with her asking Gen and Eri for tips on how to set up a booby trap to capture Scarlet. It was supposed to be a boring stakeout. How did she let this get out of control?

“Let’s go Celia!”

Celia whipped her head around, and watched in horror as Levi climbed over the railing, his back facing the arena. She crossed the distance between them in two steps, grabbing his hand before he had the chance to jump off.

“Have you lost your mind!?” Celia yelled.

Levi shook his head. “I know that this isn’t like our usual covert missions, but we promised that we would help. Come on, Zasp and Mothiva are waiting for us down there. Don’t you trust me?”

Celia’s beginning to believe that her partner had a death wish. But something about the way he kept staring at her calmed the swelling panic she was feeling deep inside. “You better not die tonight, because if you do, I will personally kill you in front of everyone.”

Levi laughed, and Celia knew that he’s grinning like a fool underneath his helmet. She was still extremely anxious about the whole thing, but she at least knew what she had to do. Finally, she let him go, and Levi disappeared from her line of sight.

Taking a deep breath, Celia vaulted over the railing, landing hard on the rugged ground. As she and Levi walked to the center, Mothiva waited for the noise to die down before she went on.

“Well I just so happened to be in town, and I heard a rumor that there’s a vicious beast here in this very colosseum!” She paused for dramatic effect and flashed an award winning smile. “So what do you think? Do you think I have what it takes to fight it?”

The question was greeted with more applause, and Mothiva cupped a hand beside her face, hyping up the crowd. “What was that? I can’t hear you?”

“YES!” The crowd shouted enthusiastically.

Celia saw movement out of the corner of her eye, and she noticed the Termite King and Queen for the first time, sitting in the top center row.

The King stood up from his seat, addressing everyone in the stadium. “Very well. If that's what you want, then so be it. Release the Primal Weevil!”

There was hardly any time to react when the gate unexpectedly opened. The infamous Primal Weevil that Celia’s been hearing about all night was charging straight at them. Just as it was about to pounce on them, all four of them leaped to the side, dodging the attack. They fanned out, circling the Weevil as they decided on their next move.

Celia raised her shield, searching for a clear opening. “Ok, any idea on how to fight this thing?”

“Zasp defeated one a while back,” Mothiva said. She mimed a kick, making the dust on her heels scatter about. “Although I doubt that this one’s going down so easily. Looks like we’ll have to improvise… Break a leg.”

Levi drew his sword and lunged forward, striking hard against the Weevil’s back. He immediately realized that he underestimated the Weevil’s strength as his sword snapped in half. Dumbfounded, Levi stared at his sword, or at least what was left of it.

Celia had just enough time to see the Weevil raise its spiky abdomen as she sprinted towards Levi. Diving right in front of him, she blocked the oncoming tail swipe with her shield, but the force of the blow threw her off her feet. A combination of gasps and laughter rippled throughout the stadium as she crashed down onto the ground, knocking the wind out of her.

As she tried to regain her breath, Celia rolled to her side, expecting the Primal Weevil to finish her off. But it was no longer interested in her. Instead it went to the other side of the arena, aiming for Zasp and Mothiva.

“Seriously Celia?” Mothiva shouted. She managed to get out of the way with a backflip, avoiding the flurry of attacks. “Get up already!”

Celia shot her a dirty look. Out of spite, she got up, but staggered as she tried to walk. She’s pretty sure that she would have fallen over if Levi wasn’t next to her, holding her up by the arm.

“You okay?” Levi asked.

She dropped down on one knee, gasping for air. “This is… the worst day of my life… and I’ve been to the Dead Lands,” she said between breaths, then examined her shield. There were a couple of scuff marks and dents on it, but at least they weren’t on her exoskeleton.

Celia looked up, and she couldn’t help but notice how both Zasp and Mothiva were in sync despite the clear difference in fighting styles. While Zasp threw his needles and fought like a trained soldier, Mothiva moved around with fluid movements, as if she were dancing at a stage performance.

Celia forced herself to concentrate. There must be something she could do.

As if reading her thoughts, Levi tapped her on the shoulder. He’s holding on to a cherry bomb on his dominant hand. “I don’t know if this will be useful, but it’s better than nothing. If you’re feeling up to it, I could use a hand.”

Even though she was still winded, Celia stood up. “Alright… let’s show them what we've got.”

Levi started to run, surprising the majority of the spectators. Everyone was yelling, and Mothiva and Zasp backed off once they saw him coming at them at full speed. Before the Weevil had the chance to turn around, Levi took aim and tossed the bomb. Although the powerful explosive injured the Weevil, it wasn’t enough to bring it down.

They had to finish this now. Celia grabbed onto her shield like it were a discus. She swung it around, spinning once, then twice, and threw it. Her shield flew across the arena and managed to hit the Weevil before ricocheting back to her direction. As she caught back her shield, the Weevil let out a howl that sounded both pitiful and exhausted. It toppled over and at long last, it laid still.

Breathing heavily, Celia bent over and placed her hands on her knees. All around her, bugs were clapping and cheering. She smiled. They won and it was over. It was finally over.

She glanced at Levi. Already he was next to the unconscious Weevil, and with zero hesitation he jabbed the Weevil with the syringe. Just as he was about done, Celia turned her head, wondering if Mothiva was going to address the crowd again. But even from a distance, she could tell that something was wrong.

Mothiva was still as a statue while Zasp frantically inspected her hand. Her glove had been sliced open.

“It barely nicked you,” Zasp tried to reassure her.

Mothiva didn’t say anything. Celia and Levi drew near the two, and could only see the defeat in her eyes.

Whatever Zasp was feeling he didn’t show it in his face. “I hope you're ready this time,” he said as he showed them all a new smoke bomb.

From the crowd’s perspective, they have all just finished watching an amazing show. Their applause rang all over the colosseum, hoping that their shouts for an encore didn’t go ignored. Then in a split-second, a white cloud of smoke went off the center of the arena. The four explorers had suddenly disappeared.

Chapter Text

With a strong gust of wind, the metal pipe threatened to blow them away once their path came to an abrupt end. Kabbu has never explored this area in the middle of the night, and he’s beginning to realize why. Darkness engulfed him in every direction he looked, making it difficult to see the edge of the cliff clearly. He cautiously moved backwards. Better to keep a safe distance than to slip and plummet to his death. He wasn’t able to shake those pesky thoughts away until he noticed the fuzzy black cloud heading in their direction. It wasn’t until it got closer that Kabbu saw that the cloud was actually a swarm of Mothflies. And they didn’t show any signs of slowing down.

Vi shifted her feet into a battle stance once she saw the Mothflies. “Finally, time to kick some butt! Come on Leif, let’s finish this fight with a quick-!”

Her battlecry was rudely interrupted as the swarm of Mothflies flew right past them, almost as if they hadn’t seen Vi or the others standing right there.

“...Frost relay,” Vi finished saying. Her antennae dropped down, disappointed at how anticlimactic the situation was.

Leif went dangerously close to the edge, and Kabbu tensed, resisting the urge to pull him back to safer ground. “They're acting more frantic than usual,” Leif said. He looked west, the same direction that the Mothflies had come from. It was in the same direction as the abandoned campsite. “Do you think they were running away from the Weevil?”

Kabbu hummed. It was a possibility, and to be quite honest, they didn’t have any other leads to go off of. He had no issues checking that area first, but there was no way he was going to ask Vi or Leif to fly across in these terrible conditions; he’s not going to endanger their lives like that again…

“Hey, Cross?” Kabbbu began to ask. “I’m quite curious, how do you easily traverse through the Forsaken Lands? From what I’ve read at the library, termites can’t fly.”

Cross, however, didn’t seem concerned being questioned about this. He chuckled at himself, eyes flickering from the dark abyss down below, all the way to the other clifftop way above them. “Well, we have our ways. With some trial and error, one of the soldiers in my kingdom invented… a thing that helps us fly through the air.”

Kabbu nervously looked up at him, taking a mental note on how he paused before saying ‘thing.’ It was in the same tone of voice that Vi would use when she was about to do something incredibly stupid; like that one time she had an ‘idea’ to earn more berries, so she equipped the Hard Hits and Luckier Day medal onto herself before diving head first into a golden seedling.

Cross took off, leading the group to another area with the help of a bounce-shroom. Kabbu stayed back at the end of line when they began to climb up, keeping an eye out for any potential dangers. As they made their way up there, Cross took the opportunity to explain to them how it all works. But the more he talked, the more Kabbu felt himself frown.

“We’ve been doing this for about a few moons now and it’s been really helpful at creating new shortcuts,” Cross said brightly as he pulled himself over the edge of the cliff. “We even use it to deliver meals if we know someone’s going to be staying at their post working overtime.”

“Are there any risks?” Leif asked. “It almost sounds too good to be true.”

“I mean… there shouldn’t be any problems as long as you don’t let go. If it makes you feel any better, we haven’t had any accidents so far!”

This piece of information does not make Kabbu feel better; it only raises more red flags regarding how safe it is. It wasn’t until he heaved himself over the ledge that Kabbu saw the contraption that would surely haunt his dreams for the next couple of nights.

He didn’t know what he was expecting, but he was hoping for something a little more sophisticated than the trams at the honey factory. Instead of an electric vehicle guided by rails, Kabbu found a single steel cable dangling over his head, slightly above his horn. One end was mounted on a metal post. The other end sloped down, descending into the foggy abyss below. Kabbu watched as Cross went over to the metal post, unlocking a hidden compartment. He was surprised by how much stuff they were able to neatly cram in there. A brief look revealed that it was filled with rope, bitesize food, and other miscellaneous objects that Kabbu couldn’t immediately recognize.

Vi got closer to Cross, her curiosity getting the better of her as she wondered what’s inside. “Have you given this thing a name yet?”

“We call it a zipline. This one in particular will take you straight to the campsite,” Cross announced casually. He finally found what he was searching for, and took out four pulleys with built-in handlebars. “This gets restocked every other day, so feel free to take anything if you want it. It will be difficult to come back up here once you go down.”

Vi eagerly took one from him, her wings buzzing briefly as if it was having difficulties containing all of her excitement. “Awesome! Hurry up and give us a demonstration so I can try it already!”

Cross passed the remainder to Leif and Kabbu, then fixed his own handlebar onto the cable. “It’s pretty simple. Just twist this thing in, and you’ll know it’s secured when it locks into place. Once that’s all set, you’re ready to go.”

It all happened so fast that Kabbu didn’t have the chance to stop Cross when he broke out into a run, leaping off the cliff.

“See you on the other side!” Cross shouted, his voice gradually fading until he vanished from his sight.

Kabbu gazed back in awe, until the reality of the situation made him realize that he would be expected to do the same thing pretty soon. He then heard the familiar sounds of his friends bickering in the background and turned around to check to see what’s going on. Vi had taken out the coiled rope from the hidden compartment and placed it on one of her shoulders, wearing it around her body like it was a sash.

“Vi... Listen to us. Put the rope back where it came from-”

“But he said we could use it!”

“But you don’t need it.”

“I don’t care, I’m bringing it with me.”

“Vi-”

“Maybe we could make a trap like the one Celia made!”

“Do you even know how to make a trap?”

Vi didn’t respond as she secured her handlebar to the zipline. “Do you think you can give me a boost?”

Leif sighed as he placed a hand on her back, because even Leif understood that this was a once in a lifetime experience, and he wasn’t going to ruin her brief moment of fun by continuing the petty argument. “Ready?”

Vi curled up, putting her knees together as Leif pushed her off. It was impossible for her to hide her smile as she shrieked with delight, and Kabbu desperately wished he had a fraction of her self-confidence as she also disappeared into the night.

Two down, two to go.

“Do you also want us to give you a boost?” Leif asked him.

A bubble of panic swelled up inside Kabbu, wanting to burst into a scream. He looked at Leif, who met his eyes. They stared at one another for far too long, and Kabbu was beginning to feel ashamed of himself when he failed to give him an answer.

“It was a joke,” Leif said, deadpan.

Kabbu tried to laugh it off, to show that he understood, but the noise that came out of him sounded more like a wheeze. He was struggling to breathe correctly.

“Kabbu?”

“...Y-yeah?”

“Are you scared?”

“Petrified,” he answered, apparently losing his ability to speak full sentences.

Leif nodded to himself. “To be perfectly honest, this thing is probably safer than us floating around on a slippery chunk of ice.”

Kabbu attempted to think of a counterargument, but once again, Leif had a brutal yet fair point. He took in a deep breath, doing his best to stay calm.

“If you prefer it, we could go next-” Leif was about to suggest, but Kabbu shut that idea down before he could finish speaking.

“No! That's not necessary, I’ll go!”

Kabbu swung his arms up, fumbling with the handlebar as he struggled to get it into place. This task would be so much easier if his hands could stop shaking for a minute. He wanted to go last. He would love to go after Leif, but deep down Kabbu knew that he would never do it unless someone was behind him, waiting for their turn to go next. Screw his fear of heights, he thought. If Vi can do it, then so can he! He just had to do this as soon as possible before he had the chance to change his mind.

He white knuckled gripped the handlebar once he was certain that it wouldn’t fall off. He shuddered as he placed a foot off the ledge, feeling the vast emptiness underneath the steep drop and jumped.

Two different thoughts immediately flooded Kabbu’s mind once he started to slide down, accelerating at an alarming rate. One was that he’s never experienced anything like this before in his life. The other was that he had been lied to. This wasn’t flying. This was falling. Plummeting to an early grave. And he’s never going to do this ever again for the rest of his life.

Everything was a blur. Flecks of grays, blacks and browns flew past him as his chest pounded wildly, the wind smacking into his face. Holding on to the handlebar for dear life, he screamed the entire way down. It wasn’t until he forced himself to look down that he saw the ground racing towards him, hurling straight at Vi. He shouted at her, to get her to move out of the way, but by the time she noticed, he smashed right into her. The two of them let out a surprised yelp as Kabbu tackled her, sending the two of them to the ground, rolling over and over and over until they finally stopped.

Kabbu laid face down, digging his hands into the soil like he was hugging a long-lost friend. Every part of him was numb; the tingling sensation coursing through his body made him feel like he was still floating in the air. For a moment, he did nothing except listen to Vi’s laugh as she hurried over to his side.

Despite the rough landing, Vi acted like the last couple of seconds had never happened. She pushed him on the side until he eventually flipped over. “That was amazing!” she said with the biggest smile on her face. “Let’s do that again!”

There was no hesitation as Kabbu looked deep into her eyes. “By the holy spikes of Venus, I most certainly will not!”

Cross winced as he watched from a short distance the two explorer’s in front of him, lying on the ground. Vi’s light laughter was only met with a harsh glare from Kabbu, but his mood quickly changed once he stood up, checking to see if he'd caused her any harm.

“You know better than anyone else that it takes more than that to knock me down,” Vi said, annoyed at the unexpected physical exam. “Quit it, you’re acting like Jaune.”

Kabbu withdrew upon hearing that name, but did his best either way to cover up his embarrassment. He stopped fussing and gave his attention to Vi, hoping to change the subject. “Very well, I trust you. Now let’s hurry and move out of the way so that Leif doesn’t repeat the same mistake that I’ve made.”

As if the thought had summoned him, Leif zipped by as the two of them backed away, giving him room to land safely. He stumbled for a bit as he let go, but otherwise, he had the smoothest landing out of all three of them.

Cross went over to join them, making sure that everyone was fine to continue. “Well then, glad to see that everyone made it in one piece,” he finally said. “We’re here.”

The old and weathered banners decorated with the Ant Kingdom’s crest swayed lazily in the wind, greeting them into the ancient campsite. It was an area that Cross rarely visited. There was never anything to report back in a place with buildings that have been in ruins long before he was even born; littered with debris, rubble, and oddly shaped masks. It was always deserted. Except for tonight.

The four of them snuck behind one of the crumbling walls, peeking over the wall to watch the Weevil in the center of the plaza. It had managed to find a comfortable spot near the broken fountain, licking the insides of an Ironnail’s shell completely clean.

“Gross,” Vi whispered, carefully lowering herself into a sitting position. “At least we don’t have to waste more time searching for it.”

Kabbu kneeled down, huddling with the rest of the group. “This is going to be harder than I thought. Anyone got any ideas?”

Three hands suddenly went right up into the air. Kabbu was about to point at one of them, but then he stopped himself with a disappointed sigh. “Any ideas that doesn't involve killing the Primal Weevil?”

The same three hands dropped just as quickly as they went up, and Cross could see the half dozen reactions that went across Kabbu’s face. Cross was almost impressed at Kabbu’s ability to not blurt out the first thing that popped into his mind.

Vi wrestled with the rope around her body like it was a live worm as she pulled it over her head. “Can we do something with this?” she asked as the rope flopped into the ground.

Kabbu stared at it, thinking long and hard as he weighed his options. “Have you ever had the chance to read issue number 17 of the Bug Rangers comics?”

Vi scratched the side of her head. “Nope.”

“Is that the one where they had to stop the giant seedling from destroying the local village?” Cross asked.

Excitement lit up Kabbu’s eyes. “Yes, that’s the one!”

Leif slumped down as he buried his face into the palm of his hand. “Oh no… there’s two of them.”

“Just hear me out,” Kabbu went on, much to Leif’s annoyance. “What I’m trying to say is that to prevent the seedling from doing any more damage, the Bug Rangers used a lasso to wrangle it up. I bet we could do the same thing as well.”

Leif looked back at Kabbu, straightening up his posture with a bit more confidence than before. “Alright then, guess we don’t have much of a choice. Let’s see where the night takes us.”

They had a plan. A non-lethal plan based on a children’s story, but nevertheless a plan. Now all they had to do was follow it. Easier said than done.

Cross assisted Vi in making a lasso once he realized that she didn’t have the ability to do it. He still remembered when Poi taught him a few basic knots, insisting that he memorized three or four of them until he could do them with his eyes closed. It wasn’t the most thrilling thing to do, but he was now grateful that Poi was patient enough to teach him the skill. As he tightened the rope to the best of his abilities, he listened carefully to Kabbu and Leif’s conversation about their roles in the upcoming fight. The two of them stood off to the side, staring at the Weevil as it enjoyed its late night supper.

“Last time it was hard to cast magic while keeping up with blocking its attacks,” Leif muttered.

“Then perhaps you should stick to defense for tonight,” Kabbu suggested. “We’ll focus on the long range attacks.”

Leif lifted his arm, and Cross caught a glimpse of something shiny attached to the inside of his wing.

“What’s that?” he asked.

Leif paused, then pointed at the shiny object. It was in the shape of an arrow. “Oh, this? It's a medal.”

This caught Vi off guard. She twisted her head to face Cross. “You don’t have any medals in the Termite Kingdom?”

“A few,” Cross said with a shrug. “But I’ve never seen that one before.”

Vi bent over and grabbed the lasso, holding it up in the air to admire his craftsmanship. “Yeesh, no wonder we had to go easy on you at the Colosseum.”

Kabbu gave her an exasperated look. “It was a fair and honorable battle. Everyone that competed that day did their very best.”

Cross fell silent. It was slightly concerning that nobody corrected her when she mentioned that they had to go easy on him. Not wanting to appear completely useless, he took the lasso from Vi hands, double checking that the knot wouldn’t come undone. “Vi, are you certain that you’ll be able to aim this properly?”

“I totally got this,” she said with zero hesitation in her voice. “They don’t call me the master of Whack-A-Worm for nothing!”

Cross blinked. He’s not exactly sure what those words meant in that order, but she seemed pretty confident in herself so he’s willing to give her a shot. He passed it back to her. “Good luck, you’ll need it.”

“Thanks!” With a grunt, Vi got up and glanced over the wall. “Now sit back and watch as I-”

Vi stopped. She went rigid, her cocky personality immediately disappeared. “Guys… where is it?”

All four of them looked at the center of the plaza. Unfortunately, Vi was right. It was gone. The only signs of life was the snail’s shell twirling around like a spinning top until it hit the edge of the fountain’s base, falling over with a soft thud. The evening breeze gently blew behind them, warning them of what’s to come.

A shadow shifted and Cross swiveled around, only to find the Weevil looming over the group. By the time he’d recognized that it had snuck up on them, Leif created an icy sphere, shielding everyone from the oncoming ambush.

Vi flinched, letting out a high pitch squeak as the Weevil relentlessly slashed at the shield with its claws. “So much for a surprise attack!”

For a moment, Cross was painfully aware that Leif was straining to keep the shield up. Any second now and it would burst. Looking for an alternative way to escape, Cross took a step back, and almost fell into a beetle-shaped hole. With all of the commotion, he didn’t even notice that Kabbu had dug his way out of here.

The protective bubble began to crack in a spider-web pattern, growing larger with every hit that landed. Cross and the others braced themselves as it finally broke, rolling out of the way as the bubble shattered into millions of pieces. Just as he was about to raise his crossbow to shoot at it, the Weevil got hit by a large chunk of stone.

At that moment, Kabbu appeared behind the Weevil, keeping a good distance from it to avoid getting pounced on. Using all his strength, Kabbu threw another stone, this time aiming right at its face. “Hey ugly!” he yelled, waving his arms in the air. “Over here! I’m standing right over here!”

The taunt worked. Kabbu managed to grab its attention. He turned and fled in the opposite direction, and the Weevil gave chase, hunting him instead.

Cross glanced from the Weevil to Leif, noticing that the moth was shaking and had dropped down on his hands and knees, breathing heavily. He felt bad for leaving him alone, but he knew that the priority was to help the other explorers. He can check in on him later.

Vi ran ahead, and Cross followed. They had worked out earlier what they were going to do. But the doubts began to creep up in his mind. Would they be able to do it?

Vi swung the rope as she aimed and tossed the lasso around the Weevil’s neck like a true expert. Cross timed his move exactly, lunging forward as he grabbed the other end of the rope. What they didn’t take into consideration was that even with both of them holding on to the rope, the Weevil wouldn’t stop running.

The two of them were sent flying across the campsite as the Weevil continued to chase after Kabbu. Desperately, Cross lurched to his feet and managed to plant himself firmly to the ground. He wasn’t going to give this creature the chance to break free before they were done with it. He wrapped the end of the rope around his arm in an attempt to anchor himself and pulled. This time, the rope went taut, stopping the Weevil before it could leave the campsite.

“I got it!” Cross looked at Vi, and gave her a nod of encouragement. “Go!”

Vi let go and took off, flying into the sky. She had been expecting this. Out of the four of them, she had the better odds of being able to inject the Weevil with the serum without getting hurt. It was the final step in their plan.

Cross pulled once more, but the Weevil pulled back harder, escalating into a rough game of tug of war. The Weevil no longer had any interest in them; it just wanted to escape. Cross tightened his grip, but he could feel the rope digging into his arm, painfully slipping off. The Weevil gave one final yank and Cross lost his footing, accidentally letting go.

Cross swore once he made the mistake. He watched as the Weevil fled, dragging the rope with it. He was so preoccupied by his negative thoughts that he didn’t even notice that Vi was standing by his side, offering a hand to help him up. Her fuzzy fur was all mangled and sticking out in random directions.

“Good job out there!” she said as she pulled him back up.

Cross kept an eye on her, not entirely convinced by the sudden praise. “Wait… really?” 

She raised her arm, excited to show off the empty syringe in her hands. “Mission accomplished!”

He could feel the tightness in his body lessen, relieved by the good news. But all thoughts about the Weevil left once he remembered Leif. They both turned around and ran, stumbling back to their original hiding spot. Relief washed over him when he saw that Kabbu was already there, checking in on the moth.

“Any injuries?” Kabbu wanted to know.

Leif shook his head. “Just a bit shaken… but otherwise fine.”

No one said anything else. Simultaneously, they all dropped down and collapsed, leaning against the wall.

Cross took in a deep breath, taking in the moment to relax. For the first time, the future doesn’t seem so bleak. Maybe things will get better after all.

Chapter Text

“MOTHIVA!”

Celia glanced back as she ran, only to see a bunch of bugs running after them. Thanks to Zasp’s smoke bombs, they managed to escape the arena undetected. But the sweet taste of freedom only lasted them a few minutes. As soon as they made it out of the Colosseum, a group of screaming teenagers came out of nowhere, chasing them into the heart of the city, attempting to get their hands on Mothiva. Celia wasn't sure which one was more rabid – the Weevil they’ve just fought or Mothiva’s fanbase. Not wanting to know the answer, she continued forward, picking up the pace.

Zasp took the lead as the four of them ran into the crowded streets. He plowed his way through a group of tourists, bumping and shoving anyone that was in his way, and Celia felt like she was going through an obstacle course as she jumped over a conveyor belt, trying to keep up with him. Eventually, Zasp rounded a corner to his right, slipping into a dark secluded alleyway. Then Mothiva followed suit. Then Levi. Before Celia had a chance to do the same, a pair of hands stuck out and grabbed her by the upper arm.

“Dude!” Celia began to protest as she was yanked in by Zasp. “What is your problem!?”

“Shhh!” Zasp hissed. “Just shut it!”

Celia snatched her arm back. Even though she was feeling frustrated, Celia immediately realized that she could no longer hear Mothiva’s fanbase anymore. They were in the clear.

Pressing himself against the wall, Levi peered around the corner to take a look. “I think we lost them,” he whispered. He then turned his attention to Mothiva. “How are you holding up?”

Mothiva was wringing her hands as a nervous laugh escaped her. “W-what do you think? Everything is just splendid! I’m living the dream! All I’ve got to figure out now is how to get out of this stupid kingdom before I…” She stopped, hesitant to finish that sentence out loud. Despite the joking tone, Mothiva’s forced bravado couldn’t hide the fact that she was terrified. White paint had more color than her face.

Celia looked over to Zasp, who seemed just as pale as Mothiva. He was already halfway down the alley when he unexpectedly reached a back door and started banging on it with his fist.

“Tally, open up! I need help!”

“Who’s Tally?” Celia asked as she and the rest of them drew closer to Zasp.

“In case you nitwits can’t read the sign, the bar is already closed!” The door shouted at them in a very aggressive manner. “And how many times do I gotta tell you, the back door’s for emergencies only!”

Mothiva raised a shaky arm, lightly knocking on the doorframe. “Tally… It’s me, Mothiva. I know you weren’t expecting me till next week, but I was wondering if you could spare some time and escort us out of the-”

All of a sudden the door clicked from the inside and opened, revealing a termite wearing an apron that looked slightly too big on her. Her eyes were wide with concern once she spotted Mothiva. “Goodness gracious child, you look like you're about to pass out!”

Mothiva nodded anxiously, squeezing past her as she made her way in. “Yeah… I’m just feeling a little under the weather.”

Zasp walked in, but as soon as Celia tried to follow, Tally blocked her path, eyeing her and Levi suspiciously. “And you are?”

“They’re with us,” Zasp's voice shouted from inside the bar. “They’re helping us out for tonight.”

After hearing this, Tally took a step back. Her expression didn’t change as she waved them to come in. “...It’s about time she hired more bodyguards.”

Celia let her shoulders relax, grateful for the lukewarm welcome and the fact that she didn’t have to deal with another altercation with a termite. Once she got in, Celia found herself inside a bar with tables spread out throughout the entire establishment. The place was dimly lit by a couple of small chandeliers, pretty similar to the ones back home in the underground tavern. The only main difference between the two places was the staircase on the far side, probably leading down to a basement.

Mothiva was already sitting down on a barstool, hunched over the countertop as if she was waiting for someone to take her order. Zasp stood right behind Mothiva, gently caressing the back of her neck fluff. They both glanced up when Tally practically ran over behind the bar, picking up the dirty plates in front of Mothiva.

“Sorry about the mess,” Tally said as she pushed the plates off to the side. “Had I known you were coming over I would have already had your stuff packed up and ready to go. Do you guys want anything to drink?”

Celia could definitely use a strong drink right about now, but the death stare that Zasp shot her was enough information for her to back off and keep her mouth shut. Instead, she made a gesture to Levi, inviting him to sit down with her at a nearby table.

Mothiva forced a smile and shook her head, rejecting Tally’s offer. “I’m afraid we’re on a tight schedule and can’t stay for too long. Do you think you can grab my disguise and get us out of here?”

“Anything for my favorite customer.” Tally took off her apron, flinging it across her shoulder as she made her way down the flight of stairs. “Give me a few minutes to check,” she yelled. “I should have a couple of spare cloaks for your friends. Just give me a holler if you need anything else.”

Mothiva muttered a quick “thank you”, then waited until Tally was out of sight to drop the fake smile. She swiveled the stool around and turned to face Zasp. After a moment, she looked down and drew in a sharp breath, followed by a shaky exhale. “Do you still have those shock needles on you?”

Zasp scowled, uncomfortable with the pointed question. “I don’t know what you're talking about.”

“Don’t play dumb,” she said, sounding a little like her usual self. “You know exactly what I’m referring to.”

Zasp looked at her with somber eyes. He reached over for her uninjured hand, squeezing it tight. “Mothiva, this is ridiculous. I’m not using that on you.”

Mothiva raised her head and finally looked at him. Tears made her eyes seem bigger as she tried to control her breathing. “You know very well that I’m a ticking time bomb. It didn’t take long for Maki to lose control of himself, and I don’t know how much time I have left. I don’t want to end up like him. I don’t want to hurt anyone…” She sniffled, the tears beginning to flow down her face. “...I don’t want to hurt you.”

What little composure was left in Mothiva vanished in an instant as she began to cry, her sobs muffled as she buried her head into his chest.

“You’re not going to hurt anyone,” Zasp said softly. His hand stroked the back of her fluff, trying to sooth her, but it only caused her to react more intensely. “It’s okay… It’s going to be okay.” Pain filled his eyes as Mothiva continued to cry her heart out.

Celia glanced at Levi, realizing that they should probably do something. Both of them stood up and rushed over to help, but deep inside, Celia had no clue how they would be able to help.

Levi found the courage to speak up first. “W-what should we do?”

Zasp slowly looked between Levi and Celia. His thoughts seemed to be elsewhere. “Do you think you can buy me some time and stall Tally for a minute?”

“Yeah, sure thing,” Levi said, heading straight towards the stairs. “Come on Celia, let’s go.”

Celia followed closely behind him, but she hesitated once she reached the second step. This whole thing seemed like a bad plan. Any second and this could turn into an ugly fight with Mothiva. And she had no idea if Zasp would become an ally or an enemy during that fight.

But as she turned around to voice her concerns, she saw Zasp lean forward, reaching behind Mothiva’s neck. The movement was subtle enough that it went unnoticed by Mothiva. He spoke barely above a whisper.

“...Forgive me.”

Celia watched in stunned disbelief as Zasp shocked her. Mothiva gasped, her cries cut short as she went limp, collapsing into his arms.

Chapter Text

Entry Number XXX:

I’ve finally found it, the perfect spot to continue my research! At least, the best place that I’ve been able to find after being exiled from the Ant Kingdom. My options are severely limited. It was either staying here, or heading out north towards the swamp.

But oh well, beggars can’t be choosers.

The most frustrating part will be cleaning up the surrounding area and setting up all of my stuff. It will probably take a couple of days to clear out the surrounding trash. I’ll worry about that tomorrow. I need to go to bed. This trip has left me quite exhausted.

Entry Number YXZ:

There’s a fine line between us and the lesser bugs, and I’m determined to figure out what makes us so different from one another. I need to know what caused us to change forms, when madness transformed into intelligence. I need to know why I’m the only one of my kind to gain sentience. And I cannot wait for another day of awakening.

I do not know how much longer I’ll hide away here, but it’s too late to change my mind. Only time can prove if my theories are correct.

Entry Number ZZX:

After careful consideration, I have chosen the perfect candidates. Taming them has taken far more time than I originally anticipated, but at last, I was able to start the experiment today. So far there hasn’t been any noticeable behavioral differences in the two test subjects.

I’ve made a few antidotes just in case this doesn’t work, but with my calculations, that’s not something that I’m concerned about. All there’s left to do is wait and watch the results. I’ll update my findings tomorrow.

Entry Number ZZY:

both of them are mising

where are they? shouldn’t they be right here?

it’s getting late - will have to continue my search some other time

what have i done?

Kina flipped to the next page, only to see that the next entry was illegible. Patton’s handwriting shifted from an educated scholar to messy scribbles that resembled a child’s first attempt at writing. She attempted to read the rest of it, but the few words that she could make out that weren't crossed out or misspelled were failure, Venus, and a string of expletives that she promised her brother to never say out loud near Yin.

Raising a hand to her mouth, Kina stifled a yawn. It’s dark. Patton had given her a few candles earlier and she lit them before she started pacing around the room, eyes glued to his research notes. She doesn’t know how long she’s been standing there - probably an hour or two if she had to guess. The only reason she’d even bothered to check the notebook out was to keep her mind occupied on something other than the impending doom that was constantly looming over her head. But there was another part of her that hoped to find something important inside it. In the end, all she found were scientific entries that grew more and more concerning the further she continued reading, leaving her with more questions than answers.

Kina closed the notebook. She surveyed the area, glancing over to the corner of the room. Propped up against the edge of the wall, breathing steadily in his sleep, was Maki. He’s alive, but still unconscious. Even in his sleep, Maki looked worn out and just downright miserable. The dark circles underneath his eyes gave the impression that he was much older than his actual age.

“You should probably get some rest.”

Patton stood by her side, and there was a hint of something in his voice, something akin to regret. It’s the first thing he’s said to her since the other explorers had left.

“Also, the little one just fell asleep.” He jerked his head to the other end of the room. “I wasn’t sure what to do, so I let her be.”

Kina nodded silently. She stepped around him and headed towards Yin, who was sitting on a stool and slumped over the table, resting her head in her arms. There was that familiar stab of guilt as Kina listened to Yin’s soft snores. Yin shouldn’t even be here. She should be home, laying down in a comfy bed, listening to bedtime stories as her parents tucked her in and kissed her goodnight. 

Instead, she’s out here in the middle of nowhere because Kina couldn’t accept no for an answer.

Forcing herself to look away, Kina studied the three syringes at the edge of the table. Only two of them were filled with the red-colored solution that was supposed to fix everything. The other one was empty, already used up earlier for Maki’s sake.

“That’s an alarmingly low amount of antidotes,” Kina whispered as she handed back the notebook to Patton. “And you’re absolutely sure that you can’t make more?”

Patton shuffled awkwardly, flipping to a random page. “I’m out of materials. Your friends can probably help out and find more, but realistically these three doses are the last ones for tonight.”

“You made three, and now there’s two left,” Kina corrected him. “Or did you also forget how to count?”

Patton tilted his head in a puzzled manner. He mumbled to himself as he counted the remaining two doses, then recounted them to prove that his counting abilities are in fact, nonexistent. “I could have sworn that there was one more…”

“And yet somehow, you’re surprised at the outcome of your actions,” Kina muttered. “Seriously Patton, what is wrong with you?”

“Do you want me to give you the bullet point list or the essay?”

Kina shook her head in disbelief. This is exactly why he was banished. But for once, both of them were on the same page. He hasn’t put up a fight, and although Kina would never admit it out loud, she was grateful for his cooperation. It was one less thing that she had to worry about.

Something fell, and both Kina and Patton turned around to see that Maki was awake. By accident, he knocked over one of the candles as he shifted, trying to get up.

“Stay right where you are and don’t move.” There was a dart in Kina’s hand before she’d even finished the sentence. “What’s your name?”

Maki met her gaze, but didn’t give her a response. He froze, and for a while, all he did was stare at Kina with an intensity that frightened her underneath the flickering candlelight.

“I asked for your name,” Kina said more urgently. “Answer me!”

He recoiled, as though the sound of her voice had physically shoved him farther into the corner of the room. Eventually, he broke eye contact and lowered his head, as if he could no longer bear to look at her. “Maki,” he whispered at long last. “And you're my sister Kina.”

It was strange, how the simple acknowledgement managed to change everything. How all the words that she had been rehearsing in her mind all night long seemed so irrelevant now. Kina waited for a moment and slowly inched closer, crouching right across from him. She doesn’t want to set him off again, but she also knows very well that she can’t back off just yet. Putting the dart away, she tried to keep her voice low and steady, hoping that her nervousness didn’t show. “Do you know where we are?”

Maki nodded his head.

There’s a brief silence.

“What’s the last thing you remember?”

“I-” Maki said, then stopped himself, looking everywhere but at her.

“Kina, about earlier-” he started to say, but stopped once more.

There’s so much shame and pain in his expression that it crushed Kina’s heart. For a moment, all she could focus on was that terrible ache inside her that continued to grow until she could barely breathe. The feeling became so unbearable that she couldn't stop herself from dropping to the ground, pulling herself close to him. Maki went rigid, but Kina ignored the shocked look on his face as she continued to hug him. Neither of them are good at this -the whole ‘showing lovingly affection’ at one another- but she no longer cares if it's rude or awkward and does it anyways.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “Gods, I’m so sorry. I’m such a horrible sister and I swear I’ll listen to you from now on and I won’t ever complain and- I just didn’t want you to leave. Please promise me that you’ll never leave me again. Please...”

She paused long enough to take in a gulp of air. Whatever she was planning to say next, she immediately forgot once Maki wrapped his arms around her.

“You have my word,” he whispered.

Maybe it’s the way that he’s embracing her so tightly; like she’s the only life preserver out in the middle of a lake. Maybe it's the way that she knew that Maki always told the truth; fulfilling every promise that he made. Or maybe it’s the way that when he spoke, she could hear him swallowing back his own tears.

It wasn’t until they let go of one another that Kina realized she was crying.

Kina must have dozed off, because the next thing she knew the door gave way with a loud bang, jolting her awake. Her eyes snapped open to see what she could only assume were two hooded cult members rushing into the room at full speed, as if they were escaping a heavy downpour. She jumped up in an instant, ready to defend herself, until she recognized the obvious giant shield that one of them was carrying.

Celia pulled back her hood, looking at each bug in the room until her eyes landed on Patton. “Alright, we finished doing all of the dirty work. Is Maki still trying to bite everyone’s heads off or is he-?”

“He’s fine!” Kina blurted out way too loudly, stopping Celia before she could mention even more cannibalistic tendencies that were nothing but horrible myths. Kina looked back and watched Yin rub the sleep out of her eyes, making sure that the moth hadn't overheard Celia. “I talked to him a while ago and he’s fine. The antidote works.”

Upon hearing this, Yin stared at her like she couldn’t believe what she just heard, then looked at Maki with great caution. Even with all of the commotion, Maki slept like the dead.

“You can sit next to him if you want,” Kina reassured her. “Just be careful... he’s still tired.”

Yin nodded at Kina as she timidly went over toward Maki, ducking her head to hide the smile on her face as she settled down next to him.

“That’s a relief,” Levi said, even though it didn’t sound convincing. “It’s a good thing it works, because we're going to need you to give us another one.”

Groaning, Patton got up from his spot on the floor as he cracked his back. “Another one?” he repeated. “Which one of you needs it this time?”

Levi didn’t get the chance to say anything else when Zasp barged in, cradling an unconscious Mothiva in his arms. The two of them are also wearing the same ridiculous cult-like outfits that Team Celia have on. Zasp‘s panting so hard that it took him a few seconds to collect himself before he was able to speak out. “Hand it over,” he said suddenly.

When no one bothered to make the slightest move in helping him out, the little bit of self-control that Zasp had vanished in an instant. He shoved everyone out of the way, approaching Patton with an intensity that could rival a chomper’s fury.

“DAMN IT, FIX HER!”

There comes a time in a bug's life where their fight-or-flight instincts kick in, and Kina was shocked at her own reaction when she ran out of the tiny cramped hut as fast as she could. Angry wasp sounds continued as Kina made it outside, because apparently, if Mothiva isn’t available to yell at her enemies and annihilate their self-esteem for good, then Zasp wouldn’t hesitate to finish the job on her behalf. Kina hasn’t seen him this frazzled since the Wasp Kingdom invaded their home.

She wasn’t the only one that chose ‘flight’, for Celia and Levi stumbled into her on the way out. Kina frowned at them. She was about to ask where on earth they got their clothes from, until Celia revealed a bottle hidden in a pocket inside of her cloak, leaving Kina absolutely bewildered.

“How?” Kina asked, because the thought of saying why didn’t seem like a reasonable question to be asking the well-known alcoholic ant.

“Don’t ask.” Celia twisted the cork out of the bottle, and the strong scent of berry juice that Kina could suddenly sense confirmed her suspicions. “One thing led to another, and this was the only way I could make a distraction.”

Celia took a large swig, and Kina can’t help but feel slightly insulted at the fact that she didn’t offer the berry juice to anyone else. She’ll have to catch up with them some other time so that they can explain what was supposedly a long story.

“Hey don’t drink it all up! Save some for the rest of us!”

Kina turned around to the source of the voice. She didn’t have to look too far to see the bee and the rest of her teammates strolling up to them. They were all covered up in dirt from head to toe as if they got run over by a tank. They were also silently staring at her, and Kina felt the frown on her face growing deeper when she realized that they were awaiting orders. And if there’s anything in this world that Kina hated the most, it was giving out orders to other bugs like she’s some sort of drill sergeant.

“I’m glad to see that all of you are safe,” Kina said, and could only hear Maki’s words echoing in her own voice. She doesn’t bother to ask how the mission went, it was clear that they succeeded by the way Vi carried herself; head held high like she’s about to receive a reward. But before she could congratulate them, they should probably deal with the mad scientist first. “Do the Termites have a prison?” she asked Cross.

Cross shifted his weight from one foot to the other, since his response seemed to require more than a simple yes or no. “We do, but your Queen was recently given this plot of land as a gift. The crimes that Patton committed were on Ant Kingdom territory, so he’s technically your problem, not mine.”

At first Kina wanted to tell him how much she hates him for being absolutely correct. However, she decided to take out her anger at Celia instead, swiping the bottle from her grasp before she had the chance to chug the entire thing down.

“Hey! Give it back-” Celia began, but Kina’s too quick and passed the half-empty bottle to Levi.

“I need you to stop celebrating so you can take out your handcuffs and arrest Patton.”

“Why do you always assume that I have handcuffs?” Celia snapped back.

Kina took a deep breath, trying to overlook her childish outburst. “Do you have them or not?”

Celia immediately pulled out a pair of handcuffs, dangling the metallic restraints in front of her face. “Of course I do.”

And with that, Kina made the decision that her brief moment of leading this entire fiasco was officially over. Against her better judgment, she turned from the group to go back inside (stopping the wasp before he ends up getting slapped with a murder charge). She heard Kabbu call her name, but she ignored it. Kina could feel this entire night catching up to her and she no longer had the energy to make any more decisions for them. It was time for someone else to be in charge.

Cross was exhausted. He was sore all over and his arm still stung from the rope burn that he received a while back. But the pain that he felt was a small price to pay for everything to go back to the way things were. Once they handed him the antidote, Cross held it in his hand and looked at it carefully, wondering how he’s going to sneak it into the hospital without raising any alarms. However, now was not the time to figure out a plan. A silence fell over as he stood outside with Team Snakemouth. He cleared his throat to get their attention, and the three bugs turned around to listen.

“Thank you,” he said. “There are no words to describe how grateful I am for your help tonight.”

Even with his disheveled appearance, Kabbu stood triumphantly and smiled at the praise. “It was our pleasure! I’m just glad that we were able to help your friend in the end.”

Cross chuckled at his enthusiasm. “I don’t know how I could ever repay you.”

“I can think of a couple ways-” Vi said automatically, until a hand came flying behind her head, smacking her so hard that she yelped.

“Not now!” Kabbu hissed.

Cross didn’t mean to do it on purpose, but he laughed before he could stop himself. When Vi scowled up at him, he decided to lighten up the mood and added: “I’m heading back home. If you're planning on grabbing a bite to eat, I could cover the bill for you if you want.”

Vi waited for a second, expecting him to go on. When he didn’t, the tension in her face eased and she simply sighed. “Fine, I’ll take the reward. At least it’s better than nothing.”

Then, as if on cue, the door behind them was thrown open. They turned to look just as Celia and Levi came out of the hut with Patton under-arrest.

Hands cuffed behind his back, Patton lost his balance and stumbled on the way out. “Is all of this really necessary? It's not like I can outrun you.”

“Sorry… but I’m afraid rules are rules,” Levi explained sympathetically.

“Don’t apologize to the criminal!” Celia yelled. “Besides, he’s the one that started all of this!”

Patton somehow managed to shrug his shoulders. “Ehh, it was worth a shot.”

Celia gave Patton a firm push, urging him to go on. “Alright, let’s get out of here. I don’t want to spend my precious time filling up paperwork till the crack of dawn. See ya later Team Snakemouth.”

Cross stayed where he was as they said their goodbyes. Much to his relief, he watched Team Celia disappear into the nearby cave entrance, taking Patton away with them. This should have been the moment where he also said goodbye and ran back into the opposite direction. But without thinking, he knocked on the door, because something on the back of his mind told him to check on the other explorers.

“He’s gone,” Cross shouted to no one in particular.

Kina interprets this as an invitation to finally come back out, then stopped at the doorway with Yin by her side. “Good, because I need you to do me a huge favor.” Vi opened her mouth like she’s about to protest, until Kina pointed at Yin, clearing up the misunderstanding. “Yin’s hungry, and I overheard your conversation earlier. All I need is that you get her some food and I’ll meet up with you later at the inn.”

“You're not coming with us?” Kabbu asked.

Zasp had stepped up behind Kina and shook his head. “Not until these two wake up. Mothiva will kill me if the public finds out I dragged her back into town out cold.”

Cross counted the bugs that would be joining him on the return trip, mentally calculating the amount of berries he’ll inevitably spend. Then he doubled the total when he glanced over at Leif, remembering his ravenous appetite. Although, now that he stopped to think about it, the moth had been silent this entire time, barely noticeable.

Vi nudged Leif on the side, trying to get a reaction out of him. “Hey, are you still on Earth with us?”

Leif blinked and stared right back at her. He seemed completely unfazed. “Sorry, lost in thought.”

His answer didn’t seem enough to satisfy Vi. “Are you sure? You’re usually the first one to get excited when someone mentions something to eat.”

“I already told you I’m fine,” Leif said as he slipped past her. “Let’s go.”

“Lift your wings up.”

Cross was surprised by the sudden shift in conversation. He looked back and forth between them, and immediately saw that Vi had taken a step back, splitting up her boomerang into two parts, resembling a pair of needles. Kabbu held out a hand as if to stop her, but panic had spread all over his face.

Leif doesn’t stop, but he slowed down once he noticed that no one else was following him. Cross waited for him to turn around, but it never came. All he heard was dead silence. Something has gone terribly wrong.

“No one is accusing you of anything… but if something’s troubling you, then please tell us!” Kabbu pleaded. “We’ll listen!”

Leif’s steps came to a sudden halt. And yet he still wouldn’t say anything, refusing to look back at his teammates.

The only movement that Cross could sense was way over by the door. Kina reached out to grab Yin, trying to slowly pull her away from the scene.

A shard of ice flew from the ground up, painfully separating the entire group in different directions. 

And then all hell broke loose.

Cross was thrown about, tumbling into the foggy darkness until his body slammed against something hard. He cried out, feeling the impact upon landing, and a fresh new wave of pain exploded on the side of his leg once he scrambled to sit back up. Every instinct told him to run, but he couldn't get up. His crossbow was gone, knocked out from his grasp. All he could do was helplessly watch the silhouettes of everyone fighting against Leif; listening to the distant shouts until an ear-piercing screech filled the air.

The unnatural sound was enough to send a chill down his back, freezing him to the spot.

Someone reached out and grabbed his trembling hand, and it took all his willpower to not lash out and scream, since it took him way too long to recognize that the bug that grabbed his hand was Yin. The sounds of the battle intensified as she plopped down next to him. Her eyes were wide, stuttering a few times before she managed to say what was on her mind.

“Ma…Maki hugs me when I’m scared.”

Cross tensed. Nothing in his training has prepared him for dealing with children. He doesn’t hate them. He just doesn’t have a clue on how to take care of them. Especially when he’s feeling more terrified than the actual child he has to comfort.

“I’m sure your dad will wake up soon,” Cross said through struggling breaths. “Just try to hang on for a little longer.”

He wished that he hadn’t said that, because Yin yanked his hand with surprising strength, grabbing his attention once more. She sighed and shook her head, clearly frustrated by her limited vocabulary.

“Scared,” she repeated with more emphasis as she pointed at the ongoing fight. “H-help him.”

If only he could read her mind.

Cross wondered what she was trying to tell him, but all his thoughts were interrupted once hail started pouring from the sky. Powerless to stop it, he lunged towards Yin, shielding her with his body from the oncoming attack. The very last thing Cross thought about before blacking out was that Team Snakemouth were truly going easy on him back in the Colosseum.

They were telling the truth.