Welcome to Bugaria: Act 1

It wasn't too long after the group of four somehow managed to survive the spider incident. Though they were out of immediate danger, there was still a major obstacle in front of them:

They were... still a bit far from civilization. Not extremely far, but it might take a while to get back. This wasn't too big of a problem for Leif, he wasn't that hungry. He couldn't speak for the others, though.

Even if he wasn't hungry, he sure was exhausted. Part of him wanted to rest, but if he did just flop over and start sleeping, the others would immediately start chastising him. But he wasn't the only one that was tired. Anne had visible bags in her eyes, Vi walked with a bit less vigor than usual, and Kabbu stopped for a moment to yawn, closing his eye and stretching out his arms.

The fact that they were all this tired and out of it only made things more difficult for them, each step sluggish and slow, making the journey take much longer than necessary.

After another minute or two, things somehow got even worse. Up ahead, not too far from them was... a hill. A pretty steep one, at that.

Anne groaned loudly at this, overdramatically throwing her head back. "No... not a hill..." She threw her head back forward, hunching over. "I'm so tired..." Despite her words, Leif knew she wasn't that tired. She was just fine several minutes ago when she was showing them the music box, after all.

"Yeah, can't we sit down and rest for a bit? We deserve it!" Vi said with a huff. She did have a point.

Kabbu shook his head. "No, I'm afraid we can't." Darn.

"Oi, why not?" Vi questioned, crossing her arms.

"Well, we only just got up and started moving a few minutes ago." Kabbu explained. Leif turned his head around, the initial area they woke up in still in view. "Also, don't you see those Seedlings hiding in those bushes?"

Kabbu gestured to a nearby bush, where a few Seedlings were watching the others. It felt like forever since Leif had seen one of these, but even so... they were still so cute. Upon being noticed, the Seedlings scurried back into the bush, as if that would prevent them from being spotted.

"If we try and sleep here, those Seedlings could ambush us again like they did last time." Kabbu continued. Leif remembered the others telling him about something like that after he first woke up. If he were there, he would've just frozen all of them, but...

"Can we keep one?" Leif asked, so badly wanting to just run over to the bush and snatch a Seedling for himself. He couldn't help it. Even if it wasn't tamed, he could tame it... It would be worth it...

"No!" The other three yelled simultaneously in full agreement. Wow, they were really quick to respond.

Leif scoffed, knowing he was outvoted. He didn't press the issue further; he didn't want to come off as overly needy and a beggar. However, he did take one last look at the bush filled with Seedlings.

There was a Seedling partially sticking out of the bush, and unless his vision was messed up... it was staring right him, an almost longing look in its eyes. Leif stared back, almost as if the Seedling was calling out to him, beckoning Leif to take it home... Leif's eyes sparkled, already imagining his entire life and future with-

"Leif!" Anne called, snapped Leif out of his fantasy. Leif turned to her and realized that she and the other two were already making their way up the hill.

"Sorry, coming." Leif said, walking to catch up with them. A single tear fell from his eye as he had to leave his new best friend behind.

It didn't take much effort to climb up the hill, thankfully. The four of them did stop for a moment when they reached the top, admiring the view... even if there wasn't too much to see. Anne did take a picture of it, though.

"Ugh, can this get any more boring?" Vi groaned. There was pretty much nothing to do on their way back, but her complaining did feel like a bit of an over-exaggeration.

"Meh." Anne said with a shrug. "I'm just gonna watch a show I downloaded a year ago but haven't had the time to check out yet." And with that, she opened an app on her phone, walking forward again.

Leif looked down, seeing that Anne's shoes were untied. "Anne, uh-" Leif spoke up too late. As Anne took another step, her shoelace was caught under her other foot, causing her to lurch forward and yelp as she tumbled down the hill, dropping her phone.

"Oh no!" Kabbu yelled before catching Anne's phone, just before it would've hit the ground.

"Uh... is she alright?" Vi asked, before starting to run down the hill after Anne. Kabbu followed, Leif right behind him.

Fortunately, Anne didn't really appear harmed by the bumpy ride down the hill, landing at the bottom not much worse for wear. Anne groaned, getting up into a sitting position as the others caught up with her, Vi nearly tripping and tumbling down herself.

"Anne, are you-"

"Don't worry, I'm alright." Anne grumbled, interrupting Leif as she started to tie her shoes properly.

"...Maybe you shouldn't be using your phone right now." Kabbu said as he handed the device back to Anne. She stopped tying her shoes for a moment to grab her phone, stuffing it in her pocket. "I've said this before, but it might be more of a distraction than anything."

Anne let out a sigh of acceptance. "You're right." She finished tying her shoes before standing up. "Welp, if I'm not gonna be using my phone, what else can we do on our way back?"

At this point the four of them started walking again. With nothing to do until they get back, boredom was sure to strike quickly, especially if these repeated occurrences stopped. Anne tumbling down a hill was admittedly funny, after all. Leif smirked slightly at the thought of it.

"Something you wanna say?" Vi asked, noticing his change of expression. Oops.

"Um..." Leif paused, having been put on the spot. Normally he could handle stuff like this without a problem, so... "Maybe we could tell a few stories? To pass the time." Silence; the other three stared at him. "Well, it sounded like a good idea when we thought about it."

"Do you have any stories of your own?" Anne inquired. Leif thought for a moment; usually he wouldn't mind telling a tale or two... but that was just it. Usually. Ever since the moment he'd been rescued by the other three, he... couldn't put his finger on it.

Something was different about him, but what? He still felt the same... mostly. He wasn't 100% sure, now that he thought about it. It was weird, he still recognized himself as the bug he always had been for as long as he could remember, but there was just... something off. He didn't want to tell any stories right now because he was still a bit confused about all this; maybe getting back to civilization would provide some answers.

"No." Leif answered, not offering any further explanation.

"Then what was the point of that?!" Anne yelled, overly agitated. Geez, sorry.

"A-Anne, take it easy!" Kabbu tried to calm her down before things got out of hand. Thankfully, that was all it took. "Maybe you have a story of your own?"

At first, Leif thought Anne was going to say no like he did, but instead, the human teenager put a hand on her chin, thinking. Vi was next to her, silently pleading for something to curb her own boredom. Anne looked around a bit, keeping her hand on her chin. That is, until she suddenly snapped her fingers in realization.

"Got it!" Anne proclaimed. "I in fact do have a story, based on something I half-paid attention to in school once." Proud smugness reeked off her tone. This ought to be good.

"What's it called?" Kabbu asked, already interested.

Anne cleared her throat. "So, this is..."

…

Green Gables.

The entire world's colors were but a simple greyscale, focusing on a simple farm that was... somewhere. Two middle-age siblings worked tirelessly on the farm, lest all the crops die. However, it was more than difficult, and after a certain point, it became clear what needed to be done.

The younger of the two siblings, Kab, was the more hardworking one out of the duo. He was a short, plus-sized man that had all the work ethic of a thousand men. He was pretty nice, and his green getup was unmistakable, even wearing a green cape as if he were some sort of superhero.

And then there was Reef, the older of the two. He was a bit taller, his fast metabolism causing him to keep a slim figure. He loved animals, adopting any animal he could... even if it got a bit hectic. Reef's mannerisms were more than blunt, which could potentially scare people off. And for some reason, he always wore a blue and yellow jacket, no matter how hot it was.

"He's coming today, isn't he?" Reef asked Kab, as the former pulled some stray weeds out of the ground.

"He sure is!" Kab said, riding over in his red tractor. "It's a good thing they're sending that boy over to us, I don't think the two of us could keep this up much longer." He used a towel to wipe some of the sweat off his face, boy was he tired.

The local orphanage had let the two of them adopt a boy without a fee, on the condition that he helped the two siblings out on the farm. And so, a week had passed, and they should be getting him soon. Taking care of a child on top of a farm would be a tough task, but Kab had faith they could do it.

"Oh, here they come now." Reef said. Kab got off the tractor, watching as an old-fashioned car hurriedly drove up to the farm, carelessly driving over many of the stops before screeching to a halt. Without warning, the passenger door was flung open before a high-school age child was sent hurtling out of the car, tumbling across the ground.

Before Kab or Reef had time to process this, the passenger door closed and the car suddenly sped off, never to be seen again. The two siblings ran over to the child, making sure he- wait.

"Kab?" Reef asked, deadpan.

"Yeah?" Kab asked.

"This isn't the child we adopted."

"I know."

It was a completely different child entirely. This was a teenage girl, around sixteen or seventeen years old. Her name was Shirley, and she wore a yellow shirt, with black pants. Kab and Reef would come to see her as feisty, eventually.

And after a long introduction scene, they concluded that the adoption agency screwed up. It wasn't like they could call them; phones didn't exist yet. Shirley said she would work on the farm, but only if she was compensated. Kab and Reef asked if there was anything else she needed, and...

"Well, I need to go to school." Shirley said, all ready and everything. What time was it again? Oh yeah, morning. Early morning. The exact time that Shirley needed to go to school.

"...And how would we possibly get there on such short notice?" Reef questioned, raising an eyebrow.

Kab had an idea. "We could use my tractor!" He gestured to said vehicle. The other two shrugged, finding no better options themselves.

Taking Shirley to her high school went without incident, if they didn't count the numerous others staring at them for using a tractor on the road. Nevertheless, Kab parked the tractor in front of Saint Joe's High School, right on time.

"Well, here we are!" Kab said, gesturing to the school, the dark blue doors partially open. "Have a nice day!" Just then, shadows overtook the sky.

"Huh?" Reef said, looking up. Shirley freaked out and got off the tractor, and Kab got off as well, following her. There were UFOs in the sky, piloted by aliens. Well, this was a shock.

"Look out, Reef!" Shirley said, trying to warn him. However, it was too late. One of the UFOs flew down to him, before emitting an orange tractor beam, forcibly pulling Reef up into the UFO.

"NOOO!" Both Kab and Shirley screeched at the same time. It was without question that they had to get Reef back, no matter what. But how...

"Use that ladder!" Shirley pointed to a conveniently placed latter, leaning on the school. It was just tall enough to reach the roof, and with that they hastily climbed onto roof, with just enough room to reach the UFO that took Leif.

"How are we gonna get to him?" Kab asked in desperation. Shirley had an idea. She reached into her backpack, pulling out a large textbook, before hurtling it like a boomerang at the UFO.

It was a direct hit, and the UFO spazzed out, tilting slightly before abruptly falling to the ground. Kab and Shirley gasped, shielding themselves as the UFO crashed into the ground, forming a crater and kicking up a lot of smoke and dust. Kab and Shirley coughed, trying to wave the invading sensations away.

Despite all of that, the two of them were able to climb back down the ladder, searching for Reef. It was difficult, but among the smoke and wreckage... they eventually found him, not too far from the fallen UFO. He looked horrible, his jacket ripped into many pieces as there were cuts and bruises all over his face.

Reef tried to speak, but only coughed several times. Kab and Shirley tried to comfort him, but he pushed them back. "I-We... We're dying..." Reef slowly said. "But... before we go... there's... something... we need... to... tell you... it's...-"

"Wait a second, is that really how that story happened?" Record scratch.

…

Just when it was getting good, Kabbu had to ask that question, stopping everything. Leif thought the story was entertaining, despite the plot holes littered throughout.

"I thought the actiony part was neat." Vi commented. Leif did as well, it was a good change of pace to see a story get into action and drama so quickly, rather than spend time 'establishing' or 'setting things up' or 'foreshadowing'.

"Well..." Anne said sheepishly, looking away as she put a hand behind her head. "I might've mixed in some memories from that book with the game I was playing at the time."

"What?" Leif asked, confused as to how she could've possibly done that. To which Anne started telling another story, this one thankfully shorter than the last one.

…

It was the fourth period math class at Saint James Middle School. Mostly everyone was focused, paying attention as the teacher wrote semi-complex math equations while rattling off explanations for everything he was doing.

"Okay, so you carry the three, and..." The middle-aged teacher said, slowing to a stop as he heard noises behind him. He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. He knew exactly what the cause behind those pesky noises was. "Not again."

Setting the chalk down, he walked over to the desk of Anne Boonchuy, the girl appearing to be deeply entrenched in a large book, which obscured her face. However, anyone with a brain could see that it wasn't even a math textbook, it was a book titled Green Gables.

Wordlessly, the teacher lifted the book up, revealing that Anne wasn't even reading it at all. She instead was playing something on her gameboy, not even attempting to mask it by turning down the volume or something. Anne paused, slowly looking up at the math teacher as her ruse was discovered.

Beat.

"You'll never take me alive!" Anne declared, suddenly standing up off her seat before rushing out of the classroom, still trying to win whatever she was playing on her gameboy.

"Anne! Anne, get back here!" The teacher called, chasing after her.

…

"Now that I think about it, I'm not even sure if my English teacher even assigned that book." Anne realized after she finished her explanation. Apparently, that incident led to Anne getting detention... with her math teacher. Ironic.

There was a small pause as the others took in what Anne said. Leif knew very well that he should've expected behavior like that from the human girl. She was getting... very predictable.

"That was... certainly something." Kabbu admitted, after taking a bit to think about it. "But thank you, Anne. Anyone have any other stories they might want to share?"

"Still no." Leif shook his head. He said no again for the same reasons as earlier. He needed answers first...

Vi was in thought for a few moments, as if she had something to say. "...I could share a story I have, but I won't." She huffed. "So don't ask me again." What was her problem? Leif was initially going to suggest that she tell a story about the Hive she came from, but it might be better if he kept his mouth shut.

"Can't think of anything else." Anne answered with a shrug.

"Hmm..." Kabbu was thinking. "I..." Oh yeah, Kabbu would more than likely have something to share himself. "I don't have any either." Oh. That was... sudden. "Judging by how far we've traveled, I assume it might still be a bit before we reach civilization." Kabbu quickly changed the subject.

"Booooo!" Anne said, reacting with a thumbs down.

"We're gonna have to suck it up and deal with it." Leif said, shutting down most of any future complaints. He did remember having to do this sort of stuff while scouting, now that he thought about it. So it wasn't anything new to him.

Vi groaned out loud, voicing her frustration with all of this. "I wish there was like... a game or something we could play. Otherwise I will die of boredom." That was an obvious overexaggeration, but sure.

"Oh, I think I have just what you're looking for." Anne said, yet again coming to the rescue. Almost as if in a rush, she zipped open her backpack, fishing through it for several moments.

Her expression changing to one of happiness, she pulled out what looked to be some sort of multicolored block, separated into a bunch of smaller squares on each of its six sides. Leif was a bit confused, slightly tilting his head to the side. "What is that?" He asked.

"This is a Cubix Block." Anne answered, the other three now intently focused. "One of the greatest, most rewarding puzzles known to mankind. It's so easy to understand that even a toddler could try to solve it if they wanted to. Observe how it works." Anne grabbed the top part of the puzzle, twisting it. Now, all the colors on the top part of it were turned a bit to the right.

"Is that all?" Kabbu asked, a little confused himself. "You just turn it a bunch and the colors keep changing?" He scratched his head, trying to figure out the purpose of such a device.

Anne shook her head. "No, to solve it you have to get each side to have one singular color." She pointed at the different colors on the cube. "Six sides, six colors. Now, watch and learn." A smug look on her face, Anne began rapidly twisting and turning the cube in an attempt to solve it.

However, after a few minutes of this, Anne slowed down, giving up. "Wow, this puzzle is really hard."

"I thought you said a toddler could solve it?" Vi asked, echoing Anne's previous words back at her.

"Heyheyhey... I said a toddler could try to solve it." Anne clarified, defending herself. "That's why this is one of the greatest puzzles ever. Anyone can attempt it, but very few can solve it." She paused for a moment. "But I do know that Marcy would be able to solve this in like, five seconds. I've never been able to."

"Can we take a crack at it?" Leif asked. Such a simple but also complex puzzle sounded perfect for him.

Anne shrugged, tossing the cube to him. "Go for it, dude."

Leif caught the Cubix Block, feeling it around in his hands a bit. It was surprisingly light. He tested the turning mechanism; it felt really satisfying. Hmm... He looked around at all sides of the block, analyzing how to approach this. If the goal was to get all sides to a singular color each, then perhaps a good method would be to solve one color at a time.

With that approach in mind, Leif worked at it for a while. If anything, it did provide a temporary distraction from the other thoughts plaguing his mind. The moth focused all his thoughts on the cube, determining which side to solve first. ...Maybe the white side? That seemed like the easiest.

After several minutes, he finally got it, all nine parts of the white side being a unified white. At this rate, he'd have the rest of the cube solved within minutes... if he didn't run into a massive problem. In trying to solve another side, he'd inevitably ruin the white part. It was frustrating, trying to keep his work intact while also trying to make progress elsewhere. ...Was he missing something?

"May I try it out?" Kabbu asked, snapping Leif out of his thought process. On one hand, Leif wanted to see this puzzle through to the end. But it might be funny to see how others attempted this puzzle. Leif wordlessly handed Kabbu the cube, the beetle holding it carefully.

Kabbu certainly had a... unique approach to this. Instead of trying to solve one side at a time, he simply just matched colors together whenever he could. However, doing this didn't really get him much of anywhere, since he didn't realize that matching colors in one place could ruin another match somewhere else if he wasn't careful. He kept doing this for at least several minutes.

"Um..." Kabbu stopped trying to solve it. "I don't think I can do it. This one's a bit much for me." He admitted. The cube looked even more scrambled than when Leif gave it to him.

"Oi, give me that!" Vi yelled, swiping the cube from Kabbu. "If we could get through Snakemouth Den and get the artifact, there's no way some stupid CUBE can beat us!"

Her determination clear, Vi began trying to solve the puzzle for herself. Though it was obvious she didn't know what she was doing, she moved quickly, rapidly turning and twisting the cube in every which direction. She kept at it; Leif impressed at how much progress she was actually making. Though not one singular side was solved, she was matching colors to particular sides and getting them to stay there.

Eventually, she stopped for a break before her hands would cramp. Vi took another look at the cube she held and blinked a few times in disbelief at what she saw. Leif couldn't believe it either. Vi solved four sides. Four. Sides.

Vi gasped in happiness at her accomplishment, but then the worst possible thing happened. One of the pieces popped off, falling to the ground. Leif's eyes widened a bit, Kabbu clasped his hands together, and Anne held her hands over her mouth, stifling a gasp. Vi still stared at the cube, her smile slowly forming into a frown. Uh oh.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Screaming at the top of her lungs, Vi raised the cube above her head before slamming it onto the ground, the cube shattering into many pieces. It probably could be repaired, but without knowing which piece went where, it would be almost impossible.

"NOOO!" Anne yelled, seemingly deeply affected by Vi smashing the cube right in front of her, before Anne's attitude suddenly shifted. "Eh, it's not a big deal. Those things cost like, three dollars anyway. Especially if you get the cheap brand."

Leif got onto his hands and knees, picking up some of the pieces of the cube. Yet again, a single tear fell from his eye. "We were so close to solving you..."

"I'll get another one later." Anne said. ...Did they even have these types of puzzles here? Leif hoped so. With the promise in mind, Leif dumped the small pieces back onto the ground, before standing up again.

"Shouldn't we clean this up?" Kabbu asked, not wanting to leave litter on the ground.

"Oh, nobody's gonna notice." Anne answered. True, they were still a bit away from civilization. Nobody else would have any reason to come out here and see a destroyed cube.

After making sure that Vi wouldn't destroy anything else, the group of four moved on. It must've been at least an hour or so since they got up. Surely they weren't too much farther, right? After all, at the rate they'd been going, they had to be close by now.

"We'll admit, this is starting to be a drag." Leif said with a sigh. Walking could only be fun for so long.

"It shouldn't be too much longer, Leif." Kabbu said, trying to satiate the moth's worries.

"It better not be." Vi said, her arms crossed. She didn't appear to be completely calmed down after the Rubix Block incident.

Anne turned her head, glancing at the others one by one. She appeared to have a... concerned, almost worried look on her face? Hm. Leif admittedly was a bit restless, now that he thought about it. "Is there anything else that can occupy us?" Leif asked. "Like maybe another puzzle, or-"

"NO MORE PUZZLES!" Vi screamed, causing Leif to flinch. Kabbu was a bit taken aback, and Anne froze. Vi breathed heavily for several seconds, the others staring at her in disbelief. "We are DONE with puzzles, if any of you so much THINK about another puzzle then I'm gonna-"

Without warning, Anne put her hands on Vi's shoulders, stopping Vi in her tracks before she could freak out anymore. Strangely enough, Anne looked a bit disheveled, the bags in her eyes more pronounced than before.

"Look, I know that it's been a long journey so far," Anne began, not letting anyone else get a word in edgewise. "And I know how frustrating and tiring all this walking can be, but just please hang on a bit longer."

There was a short pause, Vi blinking a few times as she stared at Anne, confusion written all over her face. "Uh... are you okay, Anne?" Vi asked. "Like, genuinely."

Anne got her hands off of Vi, stepping back a bit before sighing. "I'm sorry, I just..." She looked away for a moment. "Look. I know how on-edge all of you dudes are after what we all went through, and I was trying to... I dunno, make you guys feel better?" Anne shrugged. That certainly did explain the puzzle and the stories.

Although, as Anne explained herself, Leif did start to... notice something in the distance. It was visible over everything else, but wasn't too tall. ...Although he wasn't sure if he recognized the place. Nevertheless... "Um... we think we see something. A building, perhaps?" Leif only then realized that this might've been a bad time.

"Wait, really?" Vi asked, almost forgetting completely about the previous conflict. Leif replied with a nod, and then Vi cheered. "Finally! Other bugs to talk to! ...Not that you all aren't cool, of course." She clarified.

"Well, that's a relief." Anne said, frowning slightly. "Guess you won't be needing anything else to curb your boredom, huh." She glanced at the ground, kicking a stray pebble away.

Vi paused, seeing that Anne was a bit upset. "Oi! ...Don't say that!" Vi said, getting Anne's attention. "I did want to... thank you. This walk back would've been much more boring without you." Leif could agree wholeheartedly with that. This bunch was neat to be around, part of the time.

"Indeed, Anne." Kabbu said. "I think I speak for us all when I say that in the short time we've known each other, I can already see that you're already putting in the effort to grow." Kabbu meant every bit of what he said. Leif didn't know all the details of what happened with them before he joined the group, but even he could see that Anne was beginning to grow and change... even if not by much yet.

"Aw, thanks." Anne said, a smile on her face as she blushed slightly. "Welp. Guess we better get going, there's nothing waiting for us out here." And with that, the group of four moved on, leaving behind the broken Rubix Block.

It was only around several more minutes of traveling before they finally made it. They made a slight left turn, reaching a much more open area, which was... hm. This was the outskirts, but...

"You know, it's great to finally be back here." Kabbu said, stretching his arms. "It's felt like ages! Whenever I get a chance, I'll have to catch up with everyone I know."

"I'm just thankful that I'm finally on some familiar ground." Anne added.

"I wonder what kind of reward I'm gonna get?" Vi asked, presumably already thinking up dozens of possibilities.

Leif didn't have much to say himself, to be honest. He still was trying to... take in everything. As the four of them crossed a leafy bridge that was above water, he heard the creaking of a door opening. It came from that building he saw earlier, which wasn't too far away from them.

A blue beetle Leif didn't recognize had opened the door, probably wondering what the noise outside was. It took a moment for the blue beetle's eyes to fall upon the group of four, but when they did, the beetle's eyes snapped all the way open.

"Oh! It's you guys!" The beetle said, tears of happiness forming in his eyes. Did the others know this beetle? The blue beetle turned around back inside the building, motioning for someone else to come out.

"Hey, it's Eetl." Anne pointed out. So his name was Eetl, and the other three did know him. ...How come Leif had never seen him before?

The group of four continued walking across the bridge, while Eetl, followed by two ants that once again Leif didn't recognize, walked down the flowery steps of the building. The two groups met up at the end of the bridge.

"Oh Goddesses! You're alright!" Eetl yelled, throwing his arms up into the air. "I couldn't stop worrying, ever since you left a few weeks back!"

"...Wait, has it really been a few weeks?" Anne asked, sounding a bit worried. She paused for a moment, thinking about this. "I must've really lost track of time, geez."

"Yes, it's been around half a moon cycle since you left." Eetl clarified, using his arm to wipe a few tears from his eyes. "Thankfully, Gen and Eri were here often to help with the wait." Oh, so that's who the two ants were.

"Yeah... Gen and I did have to console Eetl a few times." Eri explained. "...Actually I think it was multiple times. Probably several." At this, Eetl glared at the two ants for a moment.

"I'll admit, it was a bit of a... rocky journey, what with everything that happened." Kabbu said. The previous events weighed on the group's minds, several of them flashing through Leif's head in a second. "And the flood, too. Can't forget about that." Who could?

"I don't wanna see any rivers for a while!" Vi yelled, angered by the notion. Leif glanced at the river a bit away from them, he hoped she didn't see that one.

"No kidding, this felt like the longest trip of my life." Anne said. "What with all those puzzles everywhere, it felt like I was playing an Instructor Clayton game in real life." ...Leif didn't understand her analogy at all, but it probably made sense to her.

"We're glad to finally be out of there, at least." Leif added, trying to continue the conversation. Still... that feeling of something being a bit... off. He couldn't quite shake it. Was he just misremembering after being in Snakemouth for a few weeks?

"A flood?!" Eetl nearly screamed, before remembering to tone down his voice. "You all are extremely lucky to make it out of there alive! But uh..." As Eetl looked over at the group, a confused look popped up on his face as he stared at Leif. "Vi, Kabbu, Anne, who's this?"

"Oh, this is Leif." Anne introduced, gesturing to the blue moth. Leif was thankful that he didn't have to awkwardly introduce himself. "We found him in Snakemouth Den, some spider trapped him in its web. We beat it up, though." ...Of course she would leave out the part about how they ran away first.

"You know, you all really have a knack for finding new recruits for your team." Gen pointed out. That was true. "It started out with just Kabbu and Vi, and now your numbers have practically doubled!"

There was a short pause, as nobody really knew how to reply to that, until Eetl spoke up again. "So you DID actually make it through Snakemouth?!" He asked in disbelief.

"Um... yes?" Kabbu asked, confused. "What did you think we were doing all that time if we weren't traversing through Snakemouth..." Perhaps Eetl was just a bit confused.

"Honestly, I thought you would've bailed much earlier." Eri said. "Because going to Snakemouth is crazy!"

"In hindsight, bailing sounds like a good idea..." Leif muttered to himself. Well, it was way too late now. Maybe if he bailed before going on the scouting mission in the first place, then that stupid spider never would've had a chance to capture him. ...That entire memory was hard to recall, now that he had a moment to think about it properly. Like, it was almost there... but he couldn't quite reach it.

"Well, we DID make it ALL the way through Snakemouth Den!" Vi gloated, a smug look on her face. Oh, she was going to have fun with this. "And we even got the artifact!"

Eetl didn't say anything for a few moments, before letting out a hearty laugh, Vi giving him an incredulous look in response. "Nice one, Vi." Eetl said, clearly not believing her at all. Vi's expression morphed into slight anger as she began pulling something out of her pocket. "The river must've shaken up your hea-"

Once again, Eetl stopped, unable to look away as Vi got the mask artifact out, showing it off in front of everyone. Gen and Eri looked surprised as well, also in disbelief.

"I-I-IMPOSSIBLE!" Eetl screamed, causing Leif to flinch and Anne to cover her ears. "I-I'm sorry, I think I might pass out..." Eetl added, overwhelmed by this series of events.

"Yeah, we got the artifact!" Vi continued bragging, putting the artifact away. "In your face, Eetl!"

"How sportsbuglike." Leif deadpanned. He did have to admit that it felt good to gloat about a victory, but this felt like a bit much.

"Vi, it is folly to boast." Kabbu scolded.

Anne scoffed at this notion. "Come on, we deserve to celebrate, we found the ancient artifact!" She pulled her phone, going to one of the music videos she had downloaded, pushing play. Loud, funky music began blasting as Anne started doing some sort of incoherent dance, only to stop after several seconds before stopping the video. "...That was tiring." None of them really had the chance to recover after Snakemouth Den yet.

"Um..." Gen looked like she wanted to ask a question. "So is it like, the real deal?"

"It is quite like another artifact we've been looking into. That must be the genuine deal." Eetl replied, before putting a hand on his chin and turning his head to the side. "...It's just like Neolith was saying..." He whispered, barely audible.

Anne raised an eyebrow, curious. "So, who is this Neoli-"

"I was just thinking that you should go see the Queen right away!" Eetl interrupted, turning back to the group. Darn, Leif was curious as to who Neolith was too... Maybe another time. "She will be beyond ecstatic!" Eetl added.

"It has been some time since we last saw the Queen..." Leif said. It would be nice to see Elizant again. He remembered now nice she was... it almost felt like forever ago, but that couldn't be the case. ...He did need to confirm something, though.

"Also, a question." Leif got Eetl's attention. "Looking around, we don't recognize that structure over there." Leif pointed at the building that Eetl walked out of earlier. "Was it built recently?"

Appearing confused, Eetl turned to look at the building, as did Gen and Eri. The three of them turned back to the group, Eetl scratching his head as if trying to understand Leif's question. "What, you mean the Association? It's been there for many moons!"

Now it was Leif's turn to be confused. How could that possibly be? He went on this very path when he and his team went to Snakemouth Den, there's no way he could just... miss an entire building, right? His eyes scrunched up a little, trying to make sense of this impossible riddle; just what was going on? Anne saw this and frowned, feeling bad for the moth.

"You are not from around here, are you?" Eetl assumed, still confused himself.

"We are. We recognize this place." Leif clarified, before anymore false presumptions could be made. "We just..." He frowned, realizing that he probably sounded like some sort of lunatic. "Something feels a bit off..."

"Maybe a bit of rest might give you a clearer head?" Kabbu suggested.

"Yeah, you're probably just fuzzy from the cave!" Vi agreed. "That flood probably had something to do with it too, but it'll all come back to you!" Leif wasn't 100% sure about that, but he was willing to take the bee at her word for now.

After this, there was another short pause. "Sooo..." Anne spoke up, breaking the silence. "Is Leif allowed to join our exploration team?" She pointed a thumb in the moth's direction. "He can fight, by the way." Anne added, in case there was some sort of hidden requirement.

With the amount of time he's been gone, Leif did wonder what happened to his original team. Did they escape from Snakemouth? He didn't see the others anywhere in there, so... maybe he should meet back up with them? Although, the possibility of him being reported missing and taken off the team entered his head, and he decided not to say anything. For now.

"Hmm..." Eetl thought for a moment. "Exploration teams this large are incredibly rare, but I'll allow it." The blue beetle shrugged. "Consider this my thanks for the four of you conquering Snakemouth. It's been a goal for ages." ...Ages?

"I'll have to file the official paperwork later, but for now..." Eetl continued, before clearing his throat. "With my authority as the Association's caretaker, in honor of your brave and noble feat, I hereby dub the four of you, Vi, Kabbu, Anne, and Leif... Team Snakemouth!"

Gen and Eri clapped, congratulating the four of them on their accomplishment. To no one's surprise, Anne cheered, getting her phone back out and playing a triumphant theme on it in celebration.

"Team Snakemouth?" Kabbu asked, a little confused.

"It's a proper explorer team name!" Vi explained, to which Kabbu then understood.

"Oh, yay." Leif unenthusiastically said. wasn't too sure about the name Snakemouth... but it did represent the hardships they'd worked through so far in that cave. It showed how, no matter what happened, in the end they always stuck together, and helped each other out when they needed it, just like Anne was trying to on their way back here.

"Congratulations on your new title!" Eri said. The video on Anne's phone stopped.

"It's perfect!" Anne agreed. "But will I be able to put this on my job resume..."

"Okay, is there anything else you four need to take care of before we see the Queen?" Eetl asked, wanting to be absolutely sure.

"...I'd hate to delay this important meeting, but could we perhaps rest for a spell?" Kabbu asked. "The four of us are... understandably exhausted after the whole ordeal." Exhausted was an understatement. Standing in one place for so long led Leif to feel like he could pass out at any moment.

"Oh, that'll be fine." Eetl said as if it was no big deal. "We've got some spare beds in the Association you can use, free of charge."

"Hey, just wait one second!" Anne called out, pointing at Eetl. "I seem to remember there being only one bed last time I was in there, and it wasn't the best of quality either! What gives?"

"Um..." Eetl looked away, as if embarrassed. "A few days ago, Artis wanted to put a few more beds in the place. For reasons." He looked a bit flushed. What the heck was he thinking? ...And just who was Artis, anyway? He'd never heard of that bug either.

"...Okay then." Vi replied, a bit weirded out by that answer.

In the end, the newly formed Team Snakemouth went into the Explorer's Association, followed by Eetl. Gen and Eri said that they had something to do, before swiftly leaving. Artis was apparently busy with something as well, so he wasn't in the building. Nevertheless, Eetl went to get the beds for Team Snakemouth.

"Don't forget, guys," Anne said, reaching into her backpack and pulling out the music box. "When we meet with the Queen, we've gotta ask her about this. At this point, she's the only one I can think of who'd have any information about this."

"Right." Kabbu said with a nod, staring at the music box for a moment. The music box was another mystery on top of the other ones that kept piling up in Leif's mind, all of them seemingly scurrying off in their own directions.

"I still think that it's another artifact." Vi crossed her arms. It was a possibility. However, Leif had no idea how to discern the strange markings on the box.

"Okay, here's the first bed..." Eetl said, coming back as he dragged the large cushion over. He set the cushion down on the floor, turning around to Team Snakemouth, before pausing at seeing the music box in Anne's hands. "...What's that?"

"Oh, this?" Anne answered casually. "It's the music box. AKA what sent me here in the first place. You wouldn't happen to know anything about it, would you?"

There was a long, almost uncomfortable pause before Eetl let out an exasperated sigh. "You know what, I'm not even going to question it."