Welcome to Bugaria: Act 1

Team Snakemouth managed to get a few hours of sleep in the Explorer's Association before Eetl woke them up, telling the four of them that he didn't want to keep the Queen waiting any longer. And so, with mixed reactions, the group of four got up off their cushions.

But before they left, they had to make sure they didn't forget anything.

"Music box?" Anne asked, as if she was holding a list. She in fact was not holding a list.

"Check!" Kabbu called, holding up the ever-elusive music box before carefully placing it into Anne's backpack.

"My extra clothes?" Anne asked. She mainly only wore her school clothes while she was here (so far), but Anne was lucky that there were a few spare articles of clothing in her backpack before she got transported here.

"Check." Leif answered, a bit bewildered by the selection of clothing Anne wore, before carelessly stuffing it into her backpack.

Anne nodded. "Scissors?"

"Check!" Vi proclaimed, holding up said scissors. Kabbu snatched them from her before she could do anything dangerous with them, causing Vi to groan as Kabbu dropped the scissors into the backpack.

"Artifact?" Anne asked. This was something they could not afford to lose.

Vi perked up again, getting the mask artifact out. "Check!"

Anne couldn't help but stare at the artifact for a moment before she shook her head, snapping back into reality. She gave Vi a thumbs up, and the bee put the artifact away again.

"Ahem?" Eetl said, standing several feet away. His arms were crossed as he impatiently tapped his foot against the floor. "Are you quite ready yet?" He'd been waiting for at least several minutes by now.

"Uhhh..." Anne didn't have a good answer to that. She looked at the rest of her stuff that was still on the floor. "Everything else, check!" Anne hurriedly scooped everything else into her backpack, before zipping it up and putting it on.

"...I think we're ready now." Kabbu answered. Hopefully nothing was misplaced.

"Yep, everything is accounted for." Anne agreed, reaching behind herself to pat her backpack a few times, only to hear a weird crack and freeze. "...I'm sure that's nothing."

"We feel... alright." Leif himself wasn't sure if he was lying or not. Regardless, he shook his head. "A walk through the plaza should help us." To tell the truth, he still needed more information...

"Well, what's the holdup?" Vi asked. "Oi, let's go! That reward's just waiting for me!"

Without much further delay, they left the Association, Eetl leading the way. It was around midday; the sun practically beating down on the bugs overhead. Everyone went about their usual daily lives, nothing really out of the ordinary.

"You know, it's nice to be back in the outskirts." Vi said, stretching her arms before mindlessly starting to play with her beemerang.

"Indeed." Kabbu agreed. "It's a relief to return to the Association safely and relatively unharmed."

"Was this area built pretty recently?" Leif asked, looking to the others before his eyes fell upon Anne.

"How should I know?" Anne shrugged. She obviously didn't know too much about this place, so she had no idea.

"Regardless, it does make me pretty nostalgic." Kabbu said, starting to reminisce as he looked at the few houses they walked past.

"Actually, yeah." Anne realized. "This place looks just how I remember it from a few weeks ago! ...Well, if you don't count the rocks that've been cleared away by now."

"And back then, everyone thought Anne was some kind of monster!" Vi said, trying to resist the urge to giggle.

Anne immediately grew flustered and embarrassed at this, her face a bright red as the memories of being dragged away into the Association swam back into her mind. "Okay, this nostalgia trip is over!" She yelled, shutting that topic down. By now, Vi couldn't stop herself from going into a laughing fit.

Eetl groaned, rolling his eyes at the insanity behind him. Looking ahead, there was a sign held up by multiple large vines on each side, so they were definitely going in the right direction. Team Snakemouth followed him as they walked past the sign, right into...

Ant City.

Eetl stopped, moving to the side to allow the other four to take in the sights. Kabbu and Vi were already familiar with the place, albeit in different ways. Leif paused, his eyes straining as he glanced over everything before him. He muttered to himself, something about the walls looking older.

Anne, however, wasn't focused on any of that. "Whoa..." Stars in her eyes, she looked around, many new sights passing over her eyes all at once. There were a number of bugs walking around, going about their daily lives. A yellow moth with a green eyepatch, a bee with a flat tophat... the townpeople- towns...townsbugs? The townbugs here were thriving!

From what Anne could see, there was a theater, an inn, a house with a weirdly large lock, another one of those large blue crystals, a large board of some kind, and... a statue. The statue had an engraving on it, and above it depicted an ant, their foot planted on a rock as they looked to the sky, leaning on a tall stick they held.

"Hey, what's that statue supposed to be?" Anne asked. She couldn't really tell who the statue was depicting, just that it was an unnamed ant. Yet another mystery of this strange world.

Kabbu was about to answer, but Eetl spoke up first, inadvertently interrupting him. "You can check later. Right now we need to get to the palace before you make the Queen wait any longer!" Harsh, but fair. "But anyway, the palace is through that gate ahead, everyone."

Eetl pointed toward a gate on the other end of the area. There was a large, tall wall on either side of the gate, and it looked pretty much impossible to climb up. It worked well enough as security.

"Let's hurry it up then!" Vi said, appearing chipper. "It's big reward time!"

Leif was still a little distracted, eyeing everything he could in the area. There was stuff to the left and right he couldn't see from where he was, but if he were to walk over to those areas, he would likely find that... that...

"Ready to go, Leif?" Kabbu asked, breaking the blue moth from his thoughts. "You seem a bit pale. ...More than usual."

Leif paused for a moment before replying, turning to face Kabbu. "You don't need to worry. Let's go..."

Eetl and Team Snakemouth walked through Ant City, making their way to the gate. Along the way, Kabbu wanted to try and introduce his friends to some of the bugs he'd gotten acquainted with during his previous visit to Ant City.

"...And that bug over there is Ann!" Kabbu listed off yet another one of the bugs he'd met. He was tempted to wave her over, but didn't want to incur Eetl's wrath. "I used to babysit her a lot."

"Oh, huh." Anne said, glancing over at the small, pudgy child ant in the distance. "Wait, that might get pretty confusing." She realized, the reason why being obvious. But she shrugged it off; surely that wouldn't come up at all in the future.

It wasn't long before the five of them made it past the gate, Eetl nodding at the Ant Guard standing nearby as they walked past. Upon getting past the gate, they were met with a bit of a wider area, a massive bridge ahead. Though, that wasn't the spectacle to focus on.

Beyond the bridge was an outright massive anthill, the size easily dwarfing a large castle. This must've been Anthill Palace. The entrance was adorned with the Ant Kingdom symbol, a symbol that Anne swore looked familiar from somewhere... meh. While the anthill looked unassuming on the outside, surely it looked much better on the inside. Heck, Anne almost wished she lived here.

Coincidentally, at the same time that Eetl and Team Snakemouth walked through the gate, Maki was walking off the bridge, toward the gate. When he saw the group of five, he immediately made his way toward them.

"Oh, if it isn't Eetl. Vi, Kabbu, and Anne too." Maki said in his usual tone, stopping a fair bit away from the others. ...Even with some time away from him, Anne still didn't like Maki. Rightfully so, in her own justifications.

"Maki! Perfect timing!" Eetl exclaimed, waving to the mantis, to which he only acknowledged with a nod.

"The news spread quickly." Maki said. Guess that's what happens when you stop to rest for a few hours. "So, you three succeeded? You conquered Snakemouth?" He was referring to Anne, Kabbu, and Vi. Maki then noticed Leif's presence. "You made a friend, even."

Leif turned away, not bothering to reply.

"You BET we conquered Snakemouth Den!" Anne cheered triumphantly, smug at getting some kind of 'victory' over Maki.

"Yeah, you were all worried for nothing!" Vi added.

Maki paused for a moment before finally replying. "It seems my intuition was correct. I'm quite relieved..." He closed his eyes in thought for a few seconds, opening them again when he had to clear his throat. "I have arranged a meeting with the Queen for you. She is expecting us right now." He added, suddenly switching topics.

"Well, since Maki is going with you, I guess it's back to... work for me. Yeah, work." Eetl said, glancing away for a moment. Why was he faintly blushing?

"Thank you for accompanying us, Eetl." Kabbu said, being polite.

"No problem." Eetl said with a nod, before starting to walk off as he turned back to wave to the group. "Stay out of trouble, alright?"

"Uh, I don't think we'll be able to keep that promise." Vi commented.

"Considering our track record so far, I'm very inclined to agree with you." Anne added, remembering some of their past adventures.

Before long, Eetl was completely out of view, having gone back to whatever he was doing before. Maki cleared his throat again, getting the attention of Team Snakemouth. "Well then, we should get going. I'll lead the way." And with that, Maki walked back across the bridge, Team Snakemouth following him.

Anne looked up at the Anthill Palace again, still partially in disbelief. She remembered seeing an anthill for the first time outside her house when she was young, briefly wondering what it was before she tried to use one of her toy race cars to destroy it. Good times...

The five of them made it across the bridge, coming up to the entrance, which was guarded by two ants who looked similar to the one who guarded the gate. Maki nodded at the two ants, and they nodded back, allowing him and Team Snakemouth to pass without issue. They then walked into the palace, and...

The main room wasn't massive, but it was pretty spacious all things considered. Anne looked around, trying to take in all the sights. She was standing on a fancy carpet; it must've been cleaned every day from the looks of it. In front of her was a stairway leading down somewhere, but it was blocked off. Beyond the staircase was a huge blue crystal jutting out of the ground that was also blocked off by a cordon, the kind that would be seen to direct people where to go in a queue. Anne wasn't sure what the practicality of the blue crystal was, though.

As Maki led them through the main room of the palace, Anne noticed a large door on each side of the room, an ant guard standing in front of each one. "What's behind those doors?" Anne asked, curious.

"Only palace dwellers are permitted beyond them." Maki said, not missing a beat. ...And Anne certainly didn't live here, so there's no way she was getting access. That was disappointing.

"Wow, that's lame." Vi said with a huff.

As they continued through the main room, Anne noticed more entrances; although these weren't blocked off. One of them appeared to lead to a library due to the entrance having a sign depicting an open book. Anne couldn't tell where the entrance led to, though.

Between those two entrances was a much larger entranceway, two medium-sized blue crystals jutting out of the wall on either side of it. This palace really liked using crystals for decorations, huh? There were also chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, yet again the light source being blue crystals. It gave the area a faint bluish hue, which made it seem just a tad bit... calming?

Nevertheless, as Maki led Team Snakemouth to the end of the hallway, there was yet another ant guard, this one standing in front of the large entrance. She looked a bit different than the other guards, sporting bulkier armor and having a more... menacing appearance overall.

"Maki. There you are." The ant guard said, her tone reeking of impatience. "You know the Queen hates waiting."

"Please forgive us for the delay, Lieutenant." Kabbu apologized. Ah, she was the Lieutenant.

"We're ready, though!" Vi added, also sounding slightly impatient.

"Then you wouldn't mind if we stepped right in?" Maki asked the group, just to make sure.

"No objections." Leif put it bluntly, speaking up again after being quiet for a while. "The sooner we answer our doubts, the better."

"Right." Anne agreed with a nod. "I really would appreciate some answers right now." She thought about the mysterious music box yet again, becoming a bit anxious to learn at least something about it.

The Lieutenant nodded. "That'll do. Let us proceed, then." She then turned around, walking into the next room. Maki followed her, and Anne took a deep breath, balling her hands into fists to try to steel her nerves as she and the rest of Team Snakemouth made their way into the next room; the throne room.

Upon walking in, the first thing that caught Anne's eye was the throne at the very back of the hallway-like room, a figure she couldn't quite see sitting upon it. Along the walls were many green banners depicting that same Ant logo Anne's seen many times before, and leading up to the throne, the ground was raised a bit, acting as a sort of steps to make whoever sat on the throne more powerful, perhaps even intimidating.

The Lieutenant and Maki continued walking, leading Team Snakemouth closer to the throne. Anne turned her head to one of the walls, and saw multiple stained-glass paintings, all in a line. Though... she could only see two of them. The other two appeared to be hidden, a curtain draped over them. Why? She didn't know. Before she could properly register the two she could see, she nearly bumped into Maki, the mantis having stopped walking.

Anne gulped, nervousness making her sweat a little. It didn't help that several feet away from the throne, a large, imposing figure stood there, causally holding a shield as if it were nothing. Her face was hidden, making it impossible to read her expression. Anne sure didn't want to get on her bad side, that's for sure.

The Lieutenant cleared her throat, getting everyone's attention. "You now stand before Your Majesty, Queen Elizant II."

With those simple words, it was if Anne could now properly see who sat on that throne. Queen Elizant herself... Within seconds, she stood up with such grace that it could be compared to some animated movie Anne saw one time. Elizant took a few steps toward them, but not any further than that.

Queen Elizant was a tall ant, wearing purple and lavender clothing fit for a queen. The most striking feature had to be the white mask she wore; a black line down the middle with two thick diagonal black lines on either side of it. On her head was a delicate, flower-like crown, with a tiny red jewels lining it. There was a pin with the Ant Kingdom logo on her chest, and she also wore a necklace, a small blue crystal attached to it.

"So it's true." Leif whispered to himself, aside.

Elizant stared at the four of them, her mask making it impossible to read any of her expressions. "Hmm." Her voice was a bit deep, seemingly youthful and yet a little somber at the same time. "So you're the brave ones who've found the Snakemouth artifact?" Elizant asked, addressing Team Snakemouth.

...Silence. Nobody said anything. Was she expecting an answer? Anne was going to speak up, but- "Wonderful. So very wonderful!" Elizant spoke with joy. She sure was enthusiastic. Elizant turned her head slightly to the Lieutenant. "You are dismissed, Lieutenant. You have your own business to attend to."

The Lieutenant nodded. "As you wish, my Queen." With that, she turned around and left, almost in a rush.

Elizant then lightly clasped her hands together, getting right to the point. "Time is precious. Let us not waste it. The artifact. You may hand it over. Zaryant will collect it." ...Who was Zaryant? Anne glanced at that imposing figure by the throne again, and put two and two together.

"Hey, what about the re-" Vi started to say until Anne elbowed her, shutting her up.

"Don't screw this up!" Anne whisper-hissed to the bee, not wanting to immediately incur the wrath of this kingdom's royalty.

"...Meh. Fine." Vi grumbled, sighing as she hesitantly got the mask artifact out. It was still as pristine as when they'd first gotten it. Zaryant began walking over to Vi.

"I hope Vi didn't think she could keep it..." Kabbu whispered to himself.

"We would expect that from her." Leif whispered back.

Zaryant made it to Vi, expectantly holding her hand out. The bee held out the mask artifact, before Zaryant snatched it away from her, then walking over to Elizant. She handed the artifact to the Queen before walking back to her usual spot.

Elizant gracefully held the artifact in her hands, her head tilted downward a bit to look at the mask in all its glory. "Ah... A clue into the Everlasting Sapling my mother spent her life looking for..." Elizant stared at the mask longingly, her grip on it tightening just a bit. "Such beauty. Beauty which should belong to Ant Kingdom..."

Seeing as how the Queen now had the artifact, Zaryant walked over to a large burlap bag sitting by the throne, picking it up and throwing it over her shoulder as if it was nothing. She then walked over to Team Snakemouth, bag in hand. "Your reward. You've earned it."

Zaryant practically threw the bag on the ground in front of them, causing Anne to jump slightly. The bag was open slightly, allowing Team Snakemouth to see what was inside.

Kabbu's eye bulged at seeing what it was. "T-That's a lot of berries!" He yelped, stammering a little. Indeed, inside the burlap bag was a whole mound of berries, colored red, blue, and yellow. Did the different colors have different values? Most likely.

Vi gasped out loud, having never seen so many berries in one place before. The sheer shock of the reward temporarily overtook her excitement for it.

"Whoa MAMMA!" Anne yelled, slapping her hands onto her face in disbelief. Who knows how much stuff she could buy with all this?!

Zaryant yet again walked back to her post, leaving Team Snakemouth with their reward. Shortly after, Elizant put the artifact away, having looked at it long enough.

"Brave explorers!" Elizant called attention to Team Snakemouth, making sure they were listening. "You've performed a valiant task. Your place in the history of our kingdom is assured."

"Congratulations, you four." Maki cut in. "This is praise well-earned."

"O-Of course!" Kabbu struggled to find the right words to say. "Thank you, your Highness!"

Vi giggled a little, unable to contain herself. "First bee in the hall of fame!"

Anne was about to join in on the praises, but then she remembered. Before she missed her chance, she had to ask, even if being in the presence of Elizant did make her a bit uneasy. "Oh, wait! Your, uh... Majesty, I have something important I need to show you." It didn't really occur to Anne that Elizant never called her out for being a human.

"...Very well." Elizant said, listening. "You may bring it out. But be quick about it." She didn't appear to be too troubled.

Anne took a few steps forward, making sure to not overstep her boundaries, since Zaryant was right there. Her heart pounded a bit as she wondered if this was even the right choice to make, but... she looked back at Kabbu, Vi, and Leif, getting supporting looks from all three of them. Knowing that she could count on her friends, she made her decision.

With a deep breath, she zipped open her backpack, fishing around for a few seconds before pulling out the music box. Anne held up the strange box, making sure that Elizant could see it. "This is how I got to this world in this first place, because of this weird music box." Anne explained, to which Elizant stood there, listening.

"How does the... music box work?" Elizant eventually asked, her tone calm.

"Well..." Anne thought for a moment. "The first time I used it, it just activated and sent me where when I opened it up. But now..." Anne demonstrated by opening and closing the box several times. "It's busted, and I don't know how or why." Anne hoped her explanation was good enough. She didn't know anything else about the music box at all. "I really just want to go back home, do you know anything about this?"

Elizant stood there, putting a hand on her chin as if in thought. Anne waited in anticipation, hoping for any sort of saving grace that could come from someone with such a high caliber, but... "If the music box doesn't work, then I'm afraid I can't think of any other way to get you home." Elizant explained.

Anne's heart sank almost instantly at hearing the news. Of course. Of course. Massive waves of disappointment coursed through her, crashing down on her in seconds. She shouldn't have expected anything, but... someone somewhere had to know something about the music box, right? That was just the logical thing to assume. Anne sighed and turned her head away, putting the music box away. What a waste of time-

"But there HAS to be a way to get Anne and her friends home!" Kabbu yelled, not happy at all with the outcome. "I... I can't let her be stuck here forever!"

While Anne was glad that Kabbu stuck up for her, she hoped that it wouldn't make Zaryant or Elizant angry. Thankfully, it didn't. Instead, Elizant took her hand off her chin. "Friends?" Elizant asked, wanting Anne to elaborate.

Since Kabbu inadvertently brought it up, Anne may as well explain. "When I initially opened the music box, my two friends Sasha and Marcy were with me. Since they were standing right next to me, they might've been sent here too? I'm not 100% sure, but I don't want to take any chances and risk leaving them behind." She frowned at the very thought of that, of disappointing either of them in any way. That was the last thing she needed.

"Hm." Elizant said. She stood there, unmoving for several moments. What, did the mention of 'friends' suddenly change something? "I will assign several of my scholars to do research on the music box. Perhaps then we will find something."

There it was. Anne's spark of hope. It was small, but there. Something tangible, something that was sure to work. Some of the smartest minds in this place would surely be able to figure out something! "Do you need the music box for the research?" Anne asked, about ready to get the box back out of her backpack.

Elizant shook her head. "No need. It would be safest if you kept it for the duration of this." Hm, that made enough sense. "In the meantime, relax. Take some downtime in Ant City for a while; get to know the locals. I can take care of this."

"Uh, there's just one problem with that." Vi said. "We don't have anywhere to live here!" ...That was true. Anne hoped Elizant didn't expect the four of them to live in the inn or something.

"There's a vacant house here in Ant City. It'll be perfect for you." Elizant explained. "The owner used to be a member of the bee kingdom, but she sold it recently. I'll allow you to move in, but you'll have to pay rent. Weekly."

Hm... fair enough. Anne was finally getting a place to live, after all. "That's fine. I'll do whatever if it helps me get back home. ...Should I go ahead and pay some of the rent in advance?"

"Anne!" Vi yelled in protest as Anne reached into the large burlap bag, grabbing a handful of berries out of it. Of course Vi would react that way to Anne spending some of the berries so soon, but she had to do this.

"Hmm..." Anne looked at the berries she held, realizing she had absolutely zero idea what value they were. "Is this enough?" It was a bit ironic that she was giving back a small part of their reward so soon... but still.

"I'm sure it's fine. Zaryant, give her the house key." Elizant commanded. Zaryant reached into her pocket, pulling out a flower-like key. She walked over to Anne, the human girl giving her the berries without much hesitation. Zaryant then dropped the key in her open hands.

"Ooooo..." The key wasn't really anything too special, but for Anne, it was the first step to her key back home... both figuratively and literally.

"The Lieutenant will be returning to lead you to your place." Elizant explained. "You will be notified with periodic updates on how my scholars' research is progressing." That was also a relief to hear.

"Uh. Thanks." Leif said abruptly, cutting in. "Could we ask something, though?"

Elizant paused in thought for a moment, before nodding. "I suppose we could afford time for one more question. What would it be?"

Leif opened his mouth to say-

"YOUR HIGHNESS!"

Catching nearly everyone off-guard, an ear-piercing shriek filled the room. The culprit was evident moments later, as an ant guard rushed into the room, looking slightly out of breath as she stopped, leaning on her spear. Seriously? What was going on now?

"What? What is this fuss about!?" Elizant demanded, her tone harsh.

"U-Urgent news! Confidential information!" The ant guard tried to explain, tripping over her own words. "It's about..." She glanced to her left and right, before then lowering her voice a tad. "That!"

Anne raised an eyebrow. "That?" She questioned, completely out of the loop. Vi simply shrugged, also having no idea what that could be.

"That, you say?" Elizant asked in confirmation, to which the ant guard quickly nodded. Elizant's posture stiffened a little. "Come hither."

The ant guard walked up to Elizant, before muttering something to the Queen. Her voice was too low for anyone except Elizant to understand what she was saying. After about a half a minute, the ant guard stopped talking, the room filling with silence. What was this all about? Why were they being all secretive now?

"I see..." Elizant said to herself. She nodded, and the ant guard turned around and left. "Maki. I leave you to your mission." Elizant directed her attention to the mantis, who Anne almost forgot was still in the room. "While you're at it, inform Artis that the next expedition is confirmed."

Maki nodded in confirmation. "Of course. I shall move out at once, Your Highness." With that, he swiftly exited the room. Where was he going? ...Anne certainly didn't know.

"You four..." Elizant addressed Team Snakemouth. "I'll bless you with a head start." Oh? "Zaryant, brief them about the Golden Hills expedition." This was getting interesting.

"Heed me." Zaryant said, her voice booming. "Reports state that an ancient artifact lurks in the Golden Hills. This is a small rural settlement behind our kingdom. It can be reached through a tunnel south from the Explorers' Association." ...Would that be the same tunnel that Anne and the others woke up in after Snakemouth Den flooded?

"Uh, isn't that Bee Kingdom territory?" Vi asked, sounding a bit apprehensive.

"Do not dare interrupt us again, child." Elizant spat. Vi crossed her arms and huffed, clearly ticked off as Elizant continued speaking.

"The Bee Kingdom is our close ally. They are, of course, aware of our expedition. But... due to the current circumstances, you will be afforded time to rest at the house provided to you." Elizant must've been referring to the music box research. "And in the meantime, talk to the locals, and obtain information that could aid in seizing the artifact. No matter the cost."

Anne let out a sigh of relief. For a moment, she thought she would've had to go on yet another weeks long journey, and if the one through Snakemouth Den proved anything... it was exhausting. "Thank you... Your Highness." She was still trying to get used to calling Elizant that. "I really do need the time to rest. I've never not been in one place for so long for like... ever." Anne paused.

"Take this map." Zaryant said, now getting out some old, rolled-up map. "Bugaria is a large and vast place. We can't have explorers like you getting lost." She walked over to Team Snakemouth, Kabbu taking the map. A part of Anne wanted to open up the map to get a better picture of Bugaria, but maybe right now wouldn't be the best time to be impulsive.

"Err, thanks." Leif said, trying to move past the subject and get things back on track. "So, about our question..."

"Whatever it was, I am sure it can wait." Elizant interrupted. "This and the music box are of the upmost importance." She stretched her arm out to the group of four. "Head out!"

"Tch..." Leif was understandably frustrated. A part of Anne wondered if Leif would've had time if she didn't ask about the music box.

"Do not make Your Majesty repeat herself." Zaryant demanded. "Move out!" Geez, that was harsh. Anne got the message and turned around to leave, pocketing the flower key.

"Geez, alright!" Vi said, a bit freaked out. She looked like she wanted to bolt out of the room.

"Indeed. It'd be unwise to anger our Queen." Kabbu said. Being the strongest of the bunch, he grabbed the burlap bag filled with berries, dragging it behind him.

And as they made their way out of the room, Anne was able to get another look at the two stained-glass paintings on the wall. One of them depicted Elizant II, while another... depicting someone she didn't know. A bee queen, perhaps? So many thoughts were rushing through Anne's head from this meeting that she didn't know what to think, to be honest.

Team Snakemouth exited the room, making it back to the main hallway out of the palace. Vi reached into the burlap bag, pulling out a few of the berries. "Alright, we did it!" She cheered. "Look at all these berries!" Vi giggled a little.

"Whoa Vi, don't spend them all at once." Anne warned, having a feeling of what Vi might do with so much money. "Because anytime someone in any TV show gets rich, they always blow all their money in one day and then end up broke on the streets!" In Anne's eyes, it was one of the most infuriating and predictable tropes imaginable.

Kabbu chuckled a little at how exaggerated Anne's comment sounded. "I did have a big scare earlier, but I have to admit... We did really well!" He cheered.

"We've gotta do something to celebrate!" Vi suggested.

Anne could definitely agree with that. "Yeah, we should throw some kind of party or... something!" She realized how expensive a party might be, plus... "Right after I take a really long nap." Even if it went well, the stress of meeting an important political figure did take a toll on her. She still felt a bit anxious, even though it was over now.

"Do you think the music box research will be fruitful, Anne?" Kabbu asked, changing the subject.

"I hope so." Anne admitted. "I mean, they've gotta come up with some kind of lead, right? I don't want to let Sasha and Marcy down." She worried that if she couldn't do this, then there'd be no way to make it up to them. And when you had to keep making up to your friends for every mistake you made so that they'd keep being your friends... she didn't even want to think about it.

Which is why Anne chose to not even consider it not working out. "But there's a bright side!"

"...What's the bright side?" Vi asked, curious.

"I have a bed to sleep in..." Anne was more than tired of having to sleep in caves and the elements outside almost every night for the past few weeks. Her body would thank her for a proper bed, too. "A roof over my head..." She didn't have to worry about the unpredictable weather anymore.

"And I don't have to watch out for random monsters attacking me in my sleep!" Anne remembered an incident not too long after she first got here, where she was trying to rest, only for a Seedling to crash into her, causing her to scream and wake up abruptly. ...She didn't expect to punch a Seedling in the face that day.

Throughout all of this light-hearted positivity, a certain someone stayed quiet, standing a bit away from the others. This wasn't lost on Vi, the bee frowning at seeing the state Leif was in. "Uh, Leif?" She called him out. "You could at least pretend to be happy or something."

And now, all eyes were on Leif. He stood toward the back of the room, closer to the throne room than the others. He appeared a bit shaken, resisting the urge to lean against the wall. "Vi...Kabbu...Anne... May we confess something?" Leif asked.

"Yeah, what is it?" Anne replied, unsure of what Leif was going to say. Kabbu gave the moth a nod, while Vi simply shrugged. And... for some reason Anne couldn't quite explain, the atmosphere in the room... changed. A low pit formed in her stomach, similar to right before she first walked into the throne room.

"When our team left for Snakemouth Den..." Leif began, but paused for a moment, hesitating. "The Queen was Elizant the First."

...Wait. But didn't the Lieutenant introduce Elizant as Elizant the Second?

"WHAT!?" Vi immediately screamed in shock, before slapping her hands over her mouth. Geez, at this rate Vi was going to attract everyone in the palace to them!

"W-What?!" Kabbu questioned. Both he and Vi were more surprised at this revelation than Anne was. "Leif, that is not possible!"

"Uhh..." Anne wasn't too sure what to say at first. "I'm still sorta confused about the timeline of all this." She admitted.

"A-Anne, I wasn't even born yet when the new Queen took the throne!" Vi attempted to explain. Vi was... sixteen, wasn't she? ...Oh.

"It's...it's the truth." Leif said. ...Remembering how much she doubted him when she first met him, Anne decided to believe Leif on this one. "The plaza has changed, there's a new Queen, we can't find our team anywhere..." Leif listed his reasons for his extraordinary claim. To be fair, they hadn't had much time to look around for Leif's original team, but... Anne had a feeling they wouldn't find them.

"We've been trapped for...decades? We don't even know." Leif continued, his voice straining further with each additional sentence. "We hoped we were just fuzzy, but walking around has confirmed it."

"Leif..." Kabbu said, unsure of how to respond. Anne was speechless; she didn't expect any of... this. Despite that, the questions kept racking up, trying to figure out just how such a thing like this could be possible.

"And this new Queen..." Leif added. "She feels a little odd, she rubs us the wrong wa-"

"S-SHH!" Vi interrupted, waving her arms while shaking her head, trying to get Leif to stop. "You can't just say that in here!"

"Right. Leif, you must be careful with what you say!" Kabbu agreed, glancing around to make sure that nobody else was listening in.

"Elizant the First was kind and understanding..." Leif explained. "This new Queen doesn't quite live up to her."

If someone asked Anne what she thought of Elizant II, she wouldn't quite know how to respond. Actually meeting with the Queen took away a lot of the mystery and intrigue surrounding her; allowing Anne to form a clearer picture of who she was. At the same time, if what Leif said was true, then Elizant II's mannerisms left a lot to be desired. Unless there was some context she was missing, then Anne didn't think Elizant II was that bad of a queen, but... hm.

The silence after Leif finished speaking only further darkened the already tense atmosphere. All this information at once was a lot to take in, but... what was Anne supposed to do with it? It's not like any of it would help her find a way home.

"...Sorry." Leif turned around, unable to face the others. "Too much has happened. We didn't get a chance to ask anything, either."

"Yikes..." Vi grew uncomfortable, glancing away for a split second. "What should we do? This isn't normal at all..." That probably wasn't helping.

Kabbu was close to shedding a tear, but he wiped it away. "Leif... I cannot understand the pain you are feeling. I'm not sure if there's anyone who can."

As Anne thought about it more, the situation did seem... hopeless, didn't it? Someone who went to explore Snakemouth Den, only to somehow get stuck for many, many years... lost to time, everything he knew and loved having left him behind. A crushing, guilty conscience bubbled deep within Anne; why did this have to happen to him? Was there any way to fix it? She didn't want Leif to be upset and depressed forever, so she had to do something...

Straightening up a bit, Anne forced herself to be a bit more upbeat. "Well, hey." She got the moth's attention. "I believe that as long as we stick together, we're sure to find the truth." Anne gave a confident smile, hoping she found the right words to motivate Leif. ...She had first-experience with this sorta stuff, after all.

"The truth..." Leif whispered. It was working, Leif was believing her!

"Right! After all, look what we've managed to accomplish so far!" Anne continued, trying to get Leif to remember past adventures. Even if the two had gotten off to a... more than rocky start, they were eventually able to pull it together. Despite all the major bumps in the road, they'd still been able to get the artifact, a goal that sounded seemingly impossible at the time.

Even though at first Anne was mainly saying this just to motivate Leif, she... she started to actually believe it herself. Even if just a little bit, that spark lit up within her. She could do anything; conquer the world if she wanted to! …Yeah that was too far. But she could still do anything!

"Uh, yeah!" Vi agreed with Anne, trying to help Leif feel better. "Maybe there's clues around, or something..."

Leif thought on all of this, closing his eyes. Then... eventually, he let out a small sigh, his eyes opening again as he turned back to the others. "...Alright. Once again, we're left with little choice. You're fun to be around, at least." Though it was hard to see, a soft smile formed on his face. "And..." Leif turned to Anne.

"Thank you for believing in us." The moth walked over to her, holding his hand out for a handshake. "We promise that in return for your help, we'll help you find your friends and get you home safe." Leif sounded genuine, there wasn't a hint of sarcasm or irony in his tone.

"You're welcome." Anne reached her hand out, accepting Leif's. "And thank you, too." Relief washed over her... as well as an intense cold from Leif's hand. Yeah, she should've figured that would happen. After several seconds, they both broke away from the handshake, Anne rubbing her hands together to try to warm her hand up again.

"Um..." Leif said, getting everyone else's attention. "This might sound a bit awkward, but..." He cleared his throat. "Can we group hug? We're feeling very grateful for you all right now."

Beat.

"Sure!" Kabbu said, giggling. "Team hug, everyone!"

"Alright, fine." Vi said. She sounded unhappy, but she was willing to do this. "You better not be too cold, or I'm backing out!"

Anne shrugged. She hugged her other friends often; this wasn't any different. "Why not? Come on guys, bring it in." She gestured for all four of them to come together.

Without much waiting, the four of them piled in for the group hug. It was immediately evident how cold Leif was, to which the moth apologized. However, the warmth from the others did cancel it out, making the embrace enjoyable for everyone.

After a minute or two, they broke off the hug; the first of hopefully many to come in the future. Anne loudly yawned, stretching her arms. "Hoo boy, a lot's happened. Can we go to our new home now? ...I'm pretty sure the bags in my eyes have bags." She pointed at her eyes. While she didn't feel like she was going to pass out right then and there, she still was very tired, her body screaming for sleep.

(WTB-LINE-BREAK-WTB)

Only a minute or two later the Lieutenant showed up, telling them to follow her to their house. She led them out of the Anthill Palace and back into Ant City, and...

"Here we are." the Lieutenant said, standing in front of the house. It was the same house from earlier, the one with the weirdly large lock. It was a red house, and the shape did look familiar... but Anne couldn't quite put her finger on it. The house wasn't that tall, so it likely didn't have multiple floors.

"This is the house?" Leif asked, looking up at it. "It doesn't look too bad... on the outside." To be fair, hopefully Elizant wouldn't give them a run-down house or something.

"Right." the Lieutenant nodded. "Just be sure to pay your rent each week, and there shouldn't be any issues. Have a good day." With that, she began to leave.

"Does it really have to be every week?!" Vi called after the Lieutenant.

"Not my problem!" the Lieutenant called back, before quickening her pace, quickly getting out of range.

"Whatever." Vi rolled her eyes. "Let's just go in already, I need to store these berries away before something happens to them!" She stole a look at the burlap bag of berries Kabbu was still carrying.

"Anne, you have the key, don't you?" Kabbu asked. "Open the door, I'm eager to see what our house looks like!"

"Hurry up. The anticipation is killing us." Leif deadpanned, back to his usual sarcastic self.

"Alright, alright!" Anne said, feeling rushed with all the comments thrown her way. She reached into her pocket to get the key, only to feel nothing... oh yeah, she put it in her other pocket.

She grabbed the flower key, pulling it out and inspecting it once more, before she looked at the large lock on the door, giving it a curious look. Was that how she was supposed to open it? Shrugging, Anne inserted the key into the keyhole, turned it... only for the lock to immediately fall off, hitting the ground.

Anne yelped in surprise, yanking the key back before looking at the lock, now lying on the ground. "I'm sure someone will pick that up later." Anne said, sweating a little. She looked at the door again, and saw a smaller keyhole on the doorknob. ...Wait, what was the point of the big lock then?

Meh. Anne unlocked the door for real this time, taking the key out and pocketing it before turning the knob, opening the front door. ...Inside was nothing special, but it worked.

Team Snakemouth walked into their new house, looking and glancing around at everything. Just like Anne suspected, the house was only one story tall; and it wasn't nearly as big as her own house back home. It was bigger than those tiny college dorms she saw online sometimes, though.

The main room functioned as both the living room and bedroom, having a couch, shelves, and exactly four beds. ...Huh. There was a door that led to a bathroom, but Anne didn't need to use that right now. Yellow crystals acted as the lights, there was also a small, rudimentary kitchen to the side, as well as a few other essentials. The house wasn't big in the slightest, but it would get the job done.

"Well, I can say I'm satisfied with this." Kabbu said, content. "What do you all want to do now?"

"I..." Anne started, intentionally pausing for dramatic effect. "Am going straight for the bed." Without missing a beat, she walked over to the nearest bed, claiming it as her own before laying her backpack down beside it before sitting down on the soft cushion.

When Anne woke up earlier, she was unbelievably anxious about meeting with the literal Queen of this kingdom, but now... she felt much, much better. She was bonding with her new friends, had a new place to live, and most important of all... she was finally one tangible step closer to finding Sasha and Marcy and finding a way home.

Overall... things were looking bright.

(WTB-LINE-BREAK-WTB)

…

It was the middle of the night. Anne had changed into her pajamas before properly going to sleep, and Vi had stored all the berries away in a safe place. Everyone was sleeping soundly in their own bed... all except for one of them.

Kabbu was more than used to faking being asleep. He'd done it only several nights ago to watch more Suspicion Island, after all. But this time... it was for a much more important reason.

After a particular event, a horrible feeling deep within kept tugging at him, distracting him. It ate away at him, filling up his thoughts, the unknown of it all making him want to scream. But he didn't. He stuffed all deep down, making sure nobody could notice anything was wrong. He stayed up this late because... he had to check something.

Kabbu had initially moved into Ant City almost two moons ago, and while he didn't have a proper home then, he was able to crash at the inn. He'd spent a good chunk of his time pouring over the books in the palace's library, the reading material serving as a good distraction.

He remembered... something. In one of the books. And to be sure that nobody would follow him, he had to check in the middle of the night, when most bugs were asleep. So, being as quiet as he possibly could, he carefully got out of his bed, tiptoeing over to the front door. Kabbu slowly reached his hand out, turning the knob to open it...

Only for a harsh squeaking sound to emerge as the door creaked open. Kabbu glanced back... good, everyone was still asleep. He had to do this on his own, after all. He exited the house, softly closing the door before walking to the Anthill Palace.

Since he'd been there so many times, none of the guards batted an eye as he walked in, even if it was the middle of the night. He gave the guard that stood in front of the library entrance a nod, and the guard nodded back at him. So far, Kabbu was in the clear.

When he walked into the library, it was just as he remembered it. The front desk was empty; the two ants that normally worked there were asleep. There were multiple shelves lined with books, a few tables, and...

Hanging on the wall was a large painting of Elizant... the First. Kabbu never saw her in person, but she (obviously) bared a striking resemblance to Elizant II. Her most striking feature was that white mask of hers; a black line down the middle and three diagonal black lines on each side. If what Leif said was true, then Kabbu wished he could've perhaps... met Elizant I at some point. If only.

Ack, he was getting distracted... he tended to do that a lot. Shaking his head, he resumed his previous goal. Kabbu combed over the bookshelves, praying to Venus that somebody else didn't check out the book he was looking for... he pushed several books aside, and found what he was searching for.

It was an old, thick, unassuming book. It was tucked into the back of the shelf at an odd angle, and Kabbu wasn't sure if he was the one who left it like that. As long as it was what he was looking for... Without much trouble, he pulled the unmarked book out. It was very inconspicuous, anyone else would've assumed it was just something dumb or boring. But not Kabbu.

Letting out a sigh, he carried the book to a table, sitting down and flipping through it. The dread deep within him burned brighter, inspiring him to flip past the pages faster. In truth, a part of him hoped he was wrong. That maybe he just... misremembered or something. Or that it was something his mind conjured up in one of his many nightmares.

But of course, things were rarely that simple.

Two pages in the middle of the book. Kabbu didn't care about the rest of the pages, it was just these that mattered, and for one simple reason. Ever since he saw that object, he knew he'd seen it somewhere before. And it was here, labeled as a Calamity Box.

All his suspicions and fears were confirmed. The two pages explained how the Calamity Box was a massive danger, but the wording was... incredibly vague. The page on the right had an illustration of the box itself, which is how he instantly recognized it when Anne showed it to him. She... she had the box... the box that this book told him to beware of. Something was destroyed by this box; it was all right here in this book.

And just as the Calamity Box itself was dangerous, so was the information in this book. Thoughts whirled past him, his anxiety and fears causing him to visibly shake as he stared at the two pages... He had to do something.

After what happened last time, he couldn't afford any more loss.

No matter what.

Kabbu almost thought about destroying the book, but... no. Hiding it on his person, he swiftly exited the library, none of the guards suspecting anything as he kept the book tucked away. He didn't care whether this would affect research on the musi-Calamity Box.

If he kept the book away from everyone, then the danger would stay away.

Nobody else could know.

At all costs.