Welcome to Bugaria: Act 1

It was astounding how much a simple, proper bed could improve ones quality of sleep. After Anne changed into her pajamas and closed her eyes, she'd gone to sleep within minutes. Her dream was pretty boring, though. She dreamt about some random day at school, where the teacher went on and on about history stuff that she didn't care about. Boring...

Then, there was an alarm. Loud, blaring, right in her ear-her eyes bulged open and her heart rate quickened, but in the seconds that passed... oh yeah. That was her phone alarm.

It took Anne a few moments to realize where she was. In a bed- not at home in LA, but still in a bed that she could call her own, nonetheless. It always took any normal person a minute or two to adjust to their surroundings when they woke up; Anne was no different.

Looking around, the others were still asleep. Kabbu was curled up into a ball on his bed, still sleeping soundly. Vi had the blanket halfway off of her, the bee drooling a little onto her pillow. And Leif laid on his back, snoring loudly. Though not nearly as loud as Anne's alarm, which almost drowned him out.

Oh yeah, her alarm was still blaring. Sitting up, Anne turned off her alarm, making sure not to hit the snooze button by accident like she'd done so many times before. Now, it was quiet. Until...

"WOOHOO!" Anne cheered, thrusting her arms up to the ceiling as she balled her hands into fists.

Almost instantly, the others woke up. Vi's fur stood on end as she yelped and nearly fell off the bed, only to scramble back on at the last second. Leif blinked a few times, groaning as he lazily sat up. And finally, Kabbu appeared the most tired, his eye slowly opening as he got up, only half-awake.

"Oi, can you quiet down?!" Vi yelled. "You don't need to announce when you're awake!"

"Sorry!" Anne apologized, realizing she was getting ahead of herself as she lowered her arms. ...Wait, what time did she set her alarm to? Anne glanced to her phone. "It's 7 o' clock?" Huh.

"That early?" Kabbu asked, standing up off the bed. For a few moments, he seemed to struggle to keep his eye open. However, he shook it off, yawning and stretching his arms out a moment later. That seemed to do the trick.

"We didn't think a teenager would want to wake up so early." Leif commented, his usual sarcasm evident.

Even if Anne hadn't originally intended to get up this early, she did come up with a pretty good reason for it. "Well, while Queen Elizant is researching information about the music box, I have all the free time in the world to relax and do whatever..." Anne could hardly remember the last time where she had next to no responsibilities whatsoever, even during summer vacation. She did have to work at her family's restaurant, after all.

Anne paused, thinking about everything she could do now that nobody expected her to do anything. It was a dream come true for someone her age, and she hoped that Sasha and Marcy were being afforded the same luxury right now.

"Which is why I'm gonna lay back down and watching mindless television on my phone." Anne finished, laying down again as she pulled the blanket over her. She grabbed her phone, finding a random TV show among her backlog she hadn't watched yet before pressing play. It was some sort of loud action show; this was exactly what she wanted to watch right now.

"Why'd you get up and wake all of us up if you were just gonna lay back down?!" Vi questioned, frustrated. Come on, she and the others had to have gotten a full night's rest. It was no big deal.

"Figured." Leif said, shaking his head.

"Well, I was going to go out for a while to re-acquaint myself with the townsbugs." Kabbu said, changing the topic. "Would anyone like to come with me?"

"Fine." Vi crossed her arms. "I don't really have anything else to do, anyway."

"We'll join you." Leif said, getting up. "It'd likely... benefit us. Just to see what's changed in the time we were gone."

Kabbu nodded in response, before turning his head slightly. "Anne?"

To tell the truth, she'd only been half-paying attention to the conversation, but she got the general gist of it. "Pass. Sorry, but I'm already way too deep in my mantra of doing nothing." Plus, the show she was watching was getting more exciting by the second; she just had to know what happened next!

"Just leave her. She's not going to budge." Vi added before Kabbu could say anything. With that, the beetle shrugged before walking to the door, Vi and Leif following him.

Kabbu opened the door, allowing Vi and Leif to exit first. Before he left, he turned back to wave to Anne. "Goodbye! Come find us if you need anything!"

"Okay." Anne said, her eyes still glued to the screen as she waved back to Kabbu. A few seconds later, the door shut, indicating she was alone.

And now... Anne could relax, uninterrupted as she watched mindless television. This show was on her phone for so long; how come she had never watched it before? Well, a few minutes later she figured out why. After several minutes of action scenes, it suddenly transitioned to a slow school scene, much to her disappointment.

Seriously, school? Anne groaned, turning off the show immediately. When the main character was getting tutored on his essay it almost made her fall asleep, and she didn't want to waste all her free time snoozing away. Hm... what could she do now?

Before long, she decided to do an old classic: jumping on the bed. Kabbu would never approve of it, but he wasn't here to stop her. Anne jumped on her own bed for a few minutes; it was a bit firmer than her bed at home, but she couldn't complain.

Hm... how could she spice this up? The other beds weren't too far away, so maybe... Putting a bit more effort into her next bounce, she leapt to the closest bed, cheering and striking a pose as she did so, before making sure she could land safely on the next bed.

Anne repeated this pattern many times, jumping from bed to bed without a care in the world. She was imagining herself as if this was an Olympic sport, narrating commentary in her head as she performed increasingly more dangerous stunts until she thought of her finishing move that would surely win her the "gold medal:" jumping from a bed all the way to the couch.

Without thinking, she tried to do exactly that, letting out some mix of a war cry and a cheer. Time slowed as she made her mighty leap... and just barely, she managed to land on the couch, breathing a sigh of relief. The Olympic sport fantasy quickly faded as she realized just how tiring this was. Maybe Anne could do something that's engaging but not tiring?

It wasn't long before Anne figured out something else to do. Getting her phone back out, she scrolled through the images she'd taken so far while in Bugaria, laughing at most of the memories but then grimacing when she came across the picture she took of the spider several days back. Oh yeah, that was when she distracted it so she and the others would gain some distance from it.

Thinking about it, she never found a reason that the spider was residing in Snakemouth Den in the first place. ...Meh, it probably didn't matter. There was something much funnier she could do instead. Pulling up her image editing app, Anne gave the spider a large beard, overly angry eyes, a top hat, and a magic wand with sparkles coming out of it. Anne snickered to herself, proud of her handiwork.

She gave similar treatment to some other pictures, most notably doctoring a group photo of Team Snakemouth to give everyone comically large mustaches. Now that was comedy. She didn't want to edit every photo, though.

With her rudimentary video editing skills, Anne took a little bit to make an AMV of Suspicion Island set to a fitting song. She'd been wanting to do this for so long; she'd imagined in her head so many times exactly how it'd play out, and now it could be a reality. Once it was finished, she watched it over several times, while correcting any mistakes she might've made. When she was able to, she had to show this to Sasha and Marcy.

Although... now that she was finished with that, what else could she do? Anne was quickly running out of stuff to do; restlessness creeping up from within her. She was almost reminded of when she was forbidden from leaving the Association weeks ago, but this time was different.

Anne loudly groaned, before looking up at the ceiling. "I'm bored!" She yelled, her frustrations echoing a few times throughout the house. Having nothing to do led her to getting bored and irritable so fast, who knew?

"I wonder how long that music box research is gonna take?" Anne asked to nobody in particular. She figured it would take more than one day, but... how long after that? Weeks? Months? Years? No, surely not that long. Great, her restlessness was causing her thoughts to spiral out of control. She didn't feel like sitting and waiting the entire time, so...

Anne overdramatically gasped at realizing what she'd have to do. "I'll have to go..." She looked at the door. "Outside." It wasn't nearly as big of a deal as she made it out to be. Still, some fresh air would be a nice change of pace.

And there was an entire town out there! So many sights to see, and Anne would actually be able to take it in for herself rather than be stuck in her mom's car, looking longingly at everything she wanted to visit but couldn't. Anne was much younger at the time, but still.

With that, Anne wasted no time in getting up and changing into her usual school clothes. Putting her backpack on, she opened the door and stepped outside, striking a pose-her fists on her hips as she looked up, her form radiating with confidence. ...Then she closed the door, wincing when she slammed it just a bit too loudly.

Readjusting her backpack, Anne took a look around. Kabbu, Vi, and Leif weren't anywhere nearby; they must be somewhere else. Anne shrugged; she didn't need any of them to guide her through town. She could do this completely on her own.

The young teen girl made her way through Ant City, now getting a chance to properly marvel at everything she didn't have a chance to before. A few stores, a salon (she'd definitely have to go there later) and there was that statue of an ant she had seen before. …She still didn't know what it meant. Meh, she could ask about it later. Right now, she was more focused on trying to get herself acquainted with Ant City. She was going to be living here for a while, after all.

It was a few minutes later when she noticed that something was a bit... off. Anne saw a bug family walking around nearby, so she waved to them; a simple friendly gesture. However, as soon as the bug family noticed her, the mother gasped, the child started crying, and the dad rushed the rest of the family away from Anne. ...That was odd.

And then almost right after that, two lady bugs that were holding hands ducked away behind the side of the building. One of the bugs poked their head out to watch Anne with a fearful look in their eyes. With a grimace on her face, Anne hurried away from those two, now even more confused.

This pattern only seemed to get worse. Some bugs gave her weird looks, others were whispering gossip Anne couldn't make out, and even when Anne tried to talk to a bug to figure out what was going on, all she got was some kind of rushed response before the bug speed-walked away into a house, the door clicking shut.

Throughout all of this, Anne's expression slowly turned from happiness, to confusion, all the way to a deep frown. Of course. Of course. She should've seen it earlier. Anne was an outsider here. An alien from another world. The natives here were nothing like her, and without Kabbu, Vi, and Leif, she was all on her own. But she couldn't help it, could she?

"You're a… what's the best term for this… strange creature that I'm sure nobody here has even heard of before." "Are you some kind of weird stick-bug or something?" "And what kind of freak of nature is that?"

All these comments and more dug through her skull, her very being. It didn't seem so bad before; but now that there was an entire community who treated her like this without sparing a second glance... it made her feel ill. It was as if she was going through xenophobia all over again, and a part of her almost wanted to run back into the house and never ever leave again.

But... she couldn't just do that. She'd faced similar prejudice back home and managed to get through it, so why should Bugaria be any different? Anne looked at her hands, a newfound confidence in what she had to do swimming within her. "I'm gonna be the number one outcast on my first day here, unless I do something, and fast." She balled her hands into fists before looking forward; looking ahead.

Now... how was she going to do this? Anne needed to prove that she wasn't just some weirdo-that she actually could fit in with the rest of them. But what would... Anne turned her head, noticing something in the distance. Wasn't that the large board she saw yesterday? She never really got a chance to figure out what it was for, so...

Anne jogged over to the board, and it wasn't long before she reached it. There was a butterfly manning the board, and thankfully he didn't react negatively to her presence. Anne looked at the board quizzically, trying to figure out what the leaves and notes on it were for... but she drew a blank. Having no other options, Anne turned to the butterfly, jabbing her thumb at the board. "What's this for?"

The butterfly gave her an odd look. "Are you new here?" He asked.

"Uh, yes?" Anne retorted. "That's why I asked?"

There was a beat of silence, and Anne feared she might've already screwed things up. But come on, it was an incredibly obvious question to ask.

"Well, alright then." The butterfly replied, not too phased by her comment. "I'm Utter, and this is the quest board." He gestured to the board next to him, and Anne took another look at it, making sure to soak in all the information Utter would give her.

"This is where bugs who are in need of help, need assistance on something, or generally just need a job done can put out a request for any verified explorer to take." Utter explained. "It's a pretty nifty system, if I do say so myself. Do you have a request to put out, miss uh... miss?"

Anne didn't answer right away, thinking for a few moments. An idea sparked in her head; she could put out a request to help her not be an outcast in this place! ...That spark fizzled when she realized that only Kabbu, Vi, and Leif would take it. That wouldn't do her any good, those three had already accepted her.

But then, she had another idea. Anne fished into her backpack, pulling out her Explorer Permit. Earlier, she and the others had decided that it'd be safest to store it in her backpack. "I'm part of Team Snakemouth, aka I'm an official certified explorer." Anne waited for Utter to say anything before she continued. "And as an explorer, I'm going to take every single available quest!"

"What?" Utter asked, taken aback by Anne's declaration.

"You heard me. This is to prove that just because I'm not a bug like everyone else here is, that doesn't mean I can't do what other explorers can!" Anne argued. How else could she prove herself other than doing tasks for everyone so they'd like her?

"Well, I never said you couldn't." Utter replied. No matter what, he always seemed to have a jolly attitude.

"You were probably thinking it." Anne said. Even if Utter appeared jolly, Anne did notice when Utter almost unconsciously stepped back when she initially walked up to him. Even those who tolerated her seemed to be wary of her... she had to change that.

"Well..." Utter nervously looked away for a moment. "Are you sure you want to take every open quest? I won't stop you, but there are several open at the moment. And you won't be able to take the quests back here, so..."

"I've already made up my mind, there's no way I'm going back." Anne said, confident. She wore a slightly smug smile on her face, already envisioning how this would play out. She would successfully fulfill everyone's requests and then be the talk of the town- this time in a good way.

"Plus, this will help curb my boredom." Anne added. That was the reason she'd gone outside in the first place overall. Utter shrugged, before beginning the necessary paperwork to assign Team Snakemouth to all the requests.

(WTB-LINE-BREAK-WTB)

It took several minutes, but at last, Anne had a list of all the quests she'd taken. Utter had written them down on a long piece of leafy paper, as well as a small description with each quest to help Anne out. And that was all the help she was going to need.

Anne walked away from the quest board, satisfied. She looked over each and every quest written down, furrowing her brow a little. She recognized a few of the names, but not all of them. And there were five or six quests written down... "Wow, this is a lot." Anne commented, a small hint of worry creeping up inside her. She shook her head, quelling that fear so far down she couldn't sense it anymore. "I can do this!"

"You can do what?"

Vi's voice rang out as she, Kabbu, and Leif walked up to Anne. The three of them carried breakfast in their hands, Leif already almost finished with his food. Anne waved to them as she walked up, now aware that she hadn't even eaten anything yet. That could wait though.

"Oh, hey dudes!" Anne greeted her friends.

"Hello, Anne! Glad to see you up and about, are you enjoying Ant City?" Kabbu asked before taking a bite of his breakfast. ...Anne wasn't really sure if she should answer that question.

"And what's that piece of leaf paper you have?" Leif added, curious.

Anne ignored the first question, more focused on her accomplishment. "Well..." She held up the piece of paper so the others could see it properly. "I just took every single request on the quest board!" Anne triumphantly exclaimed, expecting the other three to be proud of her.

But when she noticed their reactions, she was... confused. Kabbu was a little surprised, Leif looked very skeptical, and Vi... Anne couldn't read Vi's expression.

"Oh, cool." Vi said. "You want some help with any of those...?" The bee paused, Anne looking at her expectantly. "Mainly so I can get part of the reward, okay?!" Some things never change.

"That does look like a lot, Anne." Kabbu said. Oh, it wasn't that bad... sure, the long descriptions made it look like a lot, but it really was fine. "Maybe help from us would do you some good!"

For a split second, Anne considered saying yes. After all, the four of them have been through a lot together already. Working together, they could easily breeze through these quests, and... There should be nothing wrong with asking a friend for help without being expected to do anything in return. But then Anne remembered the reason she took these quests in the first place; to prove herself.

All the other townsbugs wouldn't come close to respecting her or even acknowledging her as a person if she had the others help her. And Anne needed to fix this now, before it stuck. Otherwise, nothing would ever change. And with that, Anne shook her head, declining their offer.

"I can do these all on my own, guys. Trust me." Anne declared, confident in her abilities.

"We don't think anyone's gonna change her mind." Leif commented, deadpan. "Suit yourself, Anne." He then swallowed the last of his breakfast.

"If that's what you want to do, then good luck! If you do need help, we'll be around." Kabbu said. Dang, he really wanted to help...

"Next time I'm gonna get those requests AND the rewards!" Vi said, before grumbling a little to herself. She also wanted to help, but for entirely different reasons.

"I know I can do this. I promise." Anne reassured them one last time... a small, almost insignificant part of her knowing she was trying to reassure herself as well.

With that, Kabbu, Vi, and Leif started to head back to the house, Anne waving them goodbye. The three bugs couldn't see it, but Anne frowned for just a moment, wondering if she really made the right decision by choosing to take these quests on her own. After all, did she really need the approval of an entire town? ...Yes, she did. It was less about approval, and more about them not seeing her as an outright monster.

...How was Huscada doing, by the way?

Focus. She needed to focus.

Anne looked at the list again, quickly scanning through the requests. How should she approach this? Going in order from top to bottom made the most sense, so she'd do that. The first request on the leafy paper was...

It was titled "I Want A New Taste"; it sounded interesting enough. Her eyes flickered in recognition and surprise at seeing that it was Chuck of all bugs that sent this out. It'd been a while since Anne heard that name, but Anne would never forget that name. She was a little disappointed that it was already someone she was familiar with, but maybe she could ask Chuck to put a good word in for her, since this wouldn't be the first time she helped him out.

The quest description was pretty short. It just described that Chuck wanted something called a Hearty Breakfast. Anne figured it was the name of a food item and not just a descriptor due to the way the words were capitalized. This sounded easy enough... but there was only one problem.

"What's a Hearty Breakfast?" Anne asked, nobody around to answer her question.

(WTB-LINE-BREAK-WTB)

Anne casually walked over to where Chuck lived in the outskirts, whistling to pass the time. There was only one bug she was willing to ask for help, and she didn't consider this to be cheating or anything else. After all, if she needed a little more information to properly complete the request, then there was nothing wrong with asking, right?

On the way to Chuck's place, Anne did notice that at some point, the path to Snakemouth Den was blocked off with a gate. That didn't seem too out of the ordinary. After all, they'd already gotten the artifact from it, and there were no other secrets or anything within the sprawling caves.

Before long, Anne made it to Chuck's rocky house, remembering when she, Kabbu, and Vi initially stopped for a rest here on their way to Snakemouth Den. Good times...

Chuck almost immediately spotted Anne as she walked up to the house, going up to her as fast as his cane would let him. "Anne! It's been a while." He greeted.

"Yo." Anne also greeted. She wanted to try to cut to the chase so that she didn't keep anyone else waiting too long. "Sooo... I took your request, and-"

"Oh, you did?" Chuck asked, curious. "Well how about that! Do you have the Hearty Breakfast for me?"

By his tone, it was clear how delighted Chuck was, which made this all the more awkward. "Well, it's real funny you ask that." Anne sweatdropped in nervousness. "Because I came over here to ask you, uhh..." Come on, just spit it out already! "How would one... make a Hearty Breakfast?"

She winced in preparation for his reaction, but then Anne almost immediately feared the worst and began to defend herself. "Since you know... I'm not from here." In her world, if someone said they wanted a "hearty breakfast", Anne would assume they just wanted a lot of filling food for breakfast.

Chuck sighed in exasperation. "Well, you came all the way out here to ask me, so I'll tell you once, but only once!" With these words in mind, Anne got one of her pens out, ready to write down the important information so she wouldn't forget.

"It's pretty simple, so I'm sure you can do it. All you need to do is cook an Aphid Egg and a Mushroom together to make one." Chuck explained. Anne wrote down the basic gist of it, just cook an Aphid Egg and a Mushroom together. Got it. She wrote it down as a note next to Chuck's request so it wouldn't get too confusing.

"Thanks." Anne said with a nod. "Okayyyyyy gotta run!" She had to be efficient and fast if she wanted to get all the requests done in a reasonable matter, so Anne put her pen away before running off, her new goal in mind.

Chuck shook his head. "Kids these days." He muttered, before walking back into his rock house.

Anne wasted no time in running back to where she came from; getting a Mushroom and an Aphid Egg was her top priority. She looked at the quest list again, trying to keep the other requests in mind. Before long, she ran past the Association-

Wait! Although she was just skimming the list earlier, she vaguely remembered seeing that there was a request from Eetl. That was two for two so far in bugs she already knew, but maybe the Association's influence could help shift things in her favor?

Looking over the list again, Anne confirmed that yes, there was a request from Eetl. It was titled "Parts Delivery." There wasn't much other information than that, other than that Eetl would give whoever took the request more info once they met up with him. Sounded a bit shady, but whatever.

With no further hesitation, Anne ran up the flowery steps to the Assocation, slamming the door open before dramatically stepping inside. "Eetl! I have..." Her grand entrance she planned out slowly fizzled away as Anne was baffled by the bizarre scene before her.

Only two bugs were in there; Eetl and Artis. Anne was thankful that Eetl was here, but... Eetl was sitting in Artis's lap, as the two appeared to be working on taxes together. The two stared at her as Anne stared back at them, unsure of how to reply. "Uhhh..." Anne looked away.

"Anne!" Eetl chastised, a mix of flustered and angry as he stood up, stepping away from Artis. "Do you know what knocking is?"

"Ugh, fine." Anne rolled her eyes before reaching over to the open door, giving it a few heavy knocks, adding a bit of space in between each one to further exemplify how much sarcasm was laced within her actions.

"It's a bit late for that, I think." Artis commented.

"...Whatever." Eetl groaned, before turning to Anne. "Why are you here so... suddenly?" Oh, he definitely sounded annoyed.

"Well, I took your request." Anne explained as she walked up to him, pointing to the leafy paper she held.

Eetl's eyes widened a bit. "O-Oh, you did?" That was a weird reaction.

"Yeah. Is... that bad?" Anne couldn't wrap her head around why Eetl would react that way. "I hope it's not a bad thing..."

Eetl shook his head, ridding Anne of her worries. "No, um... I just thought you were busy with more important stuff." Eetl admitted.

"It looks like you were busy as well." Anne muttered to herself with a sly grin on her face, imagining many things based on what she saw when she initially walked in.

"What?"

"Nothing."

Beat.

"Eetl, just give her the package already." Artis sighed; his tone light-hearted. Package? That was more than likely related to Eetl's request.

"Okay, fine." Eetl walked over to a desk before crawling under it, appearing to tinker with something before pulling out a large, orange package. He stood up, walking back over to Anne.

"Oooo, what's in it?" Anne asked, immediately curious as she reached out to the package.

"Don't open it!" Eetl snapped, moving the package out of her reach for a moment. Party pooper. "Just deliver it, alright? It's going to a friend of mine, a diver ant in the Bugaria Pier east of the Association. You can reach it if you just keep walking."

Anne had already gotten her pen back out, writing down an abridged version of what Eetl explained next to his request. Diver ant, Bugaria Pier, east. Got it. With a nod in confirmation, Anne reached her arms out to take the package, and Eetl set it down in her hands...

Only for Anne to immediately realize how heavy it was. It took her a few seconds to adjust to the weight, but even still, wow. Just what was in this thing? It only made her want to take a peek inside of it even more, but no matter how much she wanted to, she wouldn't. ...Even if it was really tempting.

Even though she'd only started two out of the several requests on her list, Anne was already getting tired. Running back and forth was exhausting, and carrying the heavy package would be bound to make things worse. So, after saying a quick goodbye to Eetl and Artis, Anne swiftly left the small building, shutting the door behind her on her way to go back to the house to take a rest.

...After several seconds passed to make sure nobody else would suddenly intrude on them, Artis cleared his throat, getting Eetl's attention before gesturing the beetle to come back. Eetl's face became a bit flush as he walked back over to sit in Artis's lap, hoping nobody would interrupt the two of them this time.

(WTB-LINE-BREAK-WTB)

Eventually, Anne made it back to the house, sweating from how exhausting it was to carry that package around. The others were home too, but first Anne needed a moment to rest. Without acknowledging the greetings she got, Anne haphazardly tossed the package onto the dresser before sitting down on her bed, taking her backpack off. ...Before she leaves, she should definitely put that package in her backpack, it might make things easier for herself.

"Someone seems tired." Leif commented, to which Anne glared at him. Getting tired happens to literally everybody ever. She could still do this, no problem. Anne rolled her eyes; she'd heard that type of comment so many times before when she was back home.

"That package looks heavy, Anne." Kabbu said, a bit worried. He walked over to her, sitting down on his own bed. "Do you need any help? I'm sure I could carry something like that without much issue."

Anne remembered back to how Eetl picked up the package like it was nothing. Wow, were all beetles really that strong? Huh. Still, though... "Nope, I can do it." Anne reassured him, appearing more confident than ever as she denied his help.

"Oi, you're stubborn." Vi said from the other side of the room, fiddling around with her beemerang to see if there were any scratches on it.

"That's because stubbornness is always the key to success." Anne explained as she stood up, for some reason already itching to go back to fulfilling the requests. Anne put her backpack on, hurrying to walk out the door as she took the leafy paper out of her pocket.

Anne waved goodbye to the others, a part of her realizing that if she stayed any longer, she might be convinced to ask them for help, and the whole point of what she's trying to accomplish would be ruined. Although... there was just one thing she wanted to ask. That should be fine, right?

"Real quick, where's the most convenient place to get a Mushroom and an Aphid Egg?" Anne asked, hoping for a quick answer.

"Oh, you can get them at Madame's store." Leif answered. "We can get one for you if-"

"Kthanksbyeeeee!" Anne said in a rush, already stepping outside and closing the door behind her before anyone else could say anything. She had the information she needed, and with her new destination in mind, Anne rushed off.

It only took a few minutes to Madame's store, though that was because Anne was running so fast, not stopping or slowing down until she saw said store. Only then did she realize that she was getting a bit out of breath, but that didn't matter.

Anne opened the door and walked into the small store, almost immediately finding Madame the butterfly. The store was nothing special, but it did get straight to the point, having all the merchandise out on display directly where Anne could see it. No wonder Madame could run the place so easily.

Madame turned to face Anne, a look of concern appearing on the butterfly's face as soon as she saw the teenage girl. Anne was still breathing heavily from her short run; it was obvious how tired she was even if she tried (and failed) to hide it. "What's up?" Anne asked in-between breaths.

"Are you... alright?" Madame asked, sounding worried.

"Look, I need two things." Anne ignored the question, holding up two fingers. "A Mushroom and an Aphid Egg."

Without much trouble, Madame gave her the two items, Anne giving the shopkeeper the necessary payment before thanking her, rushing back out of the store. All in less than a minute.

Madame was just left confused.

Now that Anne had the food she needed, the next step was to cook them together. Thankfully, she already knew of a place thanks to Kabbu mentioning it to her sometime earlier. There was a chef in the commercial district who could do exactly what she needed. Fry was his name, wasn't it?

Wasting no time, Anne sped over there, taking care not to drop the food she bought, lest she have to go back and buy more to replace it. The chef's place was easy to spot; it was populated with several bugs eating something or another. There wasn't anyone busy with Fry, so Anne took her chance.

"Yo, Fry." Anne addressed the tall, muscular fly as if she knew him well.

"Young miss!" Fry greeted, his boisterous and welcoming attitude surprising Anne just a tad as he waved his large wooden spoon around. "Are you ready for the chow of your life?"

"You bet I am!" Anne cheered, matching Fry's energy.

"Bring me ingredients, and I will make you some chow!" Fry continued.

"I've got two ingredients for ya, Fry!"

"Chop chop, come on, let's get messy! Give me what you want to cook!"

"Here you go, dude!" Anne handed Fry the Mushroom and Aphid Egg, and without missing a beat, Fry took the two ingredients, tossing them into the large cauldron he used to cook, stirring them around with his wooden spoon, stars in Anne's eyes as she watched the chef work his magic.

Beat.

"So, when's it going to be ready?" Anne asked, now in a much more casual tone.

"Oh, in a little while or so." Fry answered just as casually.

"Gotcha." Anne replied with a nod. She couldn't do anything to make the cooking go by faster, so she walked a few feet away, deciding to just wait until the Hearty Breakfast was ready.

Although, just like earlier that morning, Anne quickly got bored, itching to do more than just sit around. She checked her nails over, trying to remember if there was any nail polish in her backpack. Maybe she should check? ...Nah, she'll do that later. She does need to finish these requests, though.

Anne brought out the list of requests again, looking over them. She was in the middle of Chuck's request, and she had the package for Eetl's request... wow, all this time passed and she only started on two of the several requests? ...Not good enough. While Anne was waiting, she may as well start on another request, right? What was the next one on the list?

It was a request from a cicada named Ali, titled "Book Return." This one sounded pretty simple. Ali only needed an overdue book to be returned to the palace library. …Wait, why couldn't he return it himself? Eh, Anne wasn't going to complain if it meant that another bug would see her as someone valuable, rather than a perceived threat.

Listed alongside the request was the place Ali lived, making things that much easier. Anne could return the book and be back here by the time Fry was finished cooking; it would be that easy. Her goal in mind, Anne nodded to herself as she turned to leave. "I'll be back later!" She called out to Fry, hoping the fly acknowledged her.

Anne was at the house in a matter of minutes, reaching the upside-down teacup shaped house without too much trouble. It wasn't a large house by any means, but it was the one. And so, without even thinking, Anne barged into the small house, slamming the door open.

"I'm here to take on your request, my good man!" Anne proclaimed, pointing a finger at the cicada that she just unintentionally frightened. Ali was in the middle of sweeping the floor when she came in, but he stopped in his tracks, freezing in place as if the police had just busted down his door.

Anne stood there in place, waiting for him to say something. After a few seconds, Ali eventually adjusted his glasses, the momentary scare passing. "Well, I presume that you're an explorer, judging by your sudden entrance." Ali said as he walked over to a table.

"I really, really need you to return this book to the palace library for me." Ali picked up a blue book off the table before walking over to Anne. "It's... quite past the return date. I'd return it myself, but I'm much too busy with my work."

"What work?" Anne asked, curious.

"You don't need to know." Ali answered as he handed the book to Anne. The girl thought about this for a moment before shrugging. He was right, she didn't need to know.

"Fair enough. I'll have this book returned before you know it!" Anne declared, rushing back out of the house and slamming the door.

Confidence oozing within her, Anne checked the request list again, just to make sure she knew where the book had to be returned to. Although, while looking at the list again... she saw another book-related request? Hm, she better see what it is, maybe it also had to do with the library.

The request was titled "Awful's Beauty", from a wasp named Reeves. Apparently, Reeves wanted a bad book that was located somewhere in Ant City, and to give it to him in the palace library. Anne looked at the request in disbelief for multiple reasons. First of all, who in their right mind would just have a book lying around in a random place? It was bound to get lost or stolen that way.

Second of all... why would anyone want to intentionally read something that was bad? …Then again, Anne did remember a time where she found an awful Cynthia Coven fanfiction and read it together with Sasha and Marcy. It was called... Never Undying, wasn't it?

Poorly written fanfiction aside, Anne yet again had a new objective. ...Look around until she found some random book, and hope that said book is the one she's actually looking for... sounded easy enough. Anne scoured through the surrounding area, looking in bushes, behind bugs, and just about anywhere she could think of, but without any luck whatsoever.

But there were still a few places she'd yet to check, namely... on top of a building?! Anne almost thought it was a joke at this point, but one of the houses had a ladder on the side that she could climb up, allowing her onto the roof... and then she saw it. One house over, there was a purple book on the roof. Was it worth the risk?

...Yes, yes it absolutely was.

Being as careful as she possibly could, Anne jumped the short distance from one building to another. Sure, she easily leapt from mushroom to mushroom back in Snakemouth Den, but that was when she was running for her life away from Vi and Leif, who at the time had gotten drugged out from her energy drink. ...Never again. It was different when this wasn't a potential life-or-death situation.

Once she made it to the other building, Anne breathed a sigh of relief as she opened the book, only needing to read a paragraph to understand how bad it was. Yep, this was the bad book alright. She stuffed it into her backpack, as she did with the blue book earlier. Now, all she had to do was return them both to their respective places at the library.

Taking a few deep breaths to steady herself, Anne looked at the list again to confirm where she had to take the books, only for something else on the list to catch her eye. Right under the previous request was yet another one, titled "Lost Toy" by a young moth named Tod.

Anne's heart sank as she read over the request, realizing what she'd have to do. The request wanted her to go searching through Ant City for a ball that Tod lost. AKA, she'd have to do yet another scavenger hunt...

"Oh, come on!" Anne voiced her frustrations to the world before begrudgingly going on another search.

This one was much more frantic. What if Anne saw the ball already during her search for the bad book but she just passed it over. Anne couldn't say for sure whether she'd already seen it or not, and retracing her steps might be a waste of time. Speaking of a waste of time, how much time had she spent on these requests? Hadn't Chuck been waiting for a while? Or Eetl? She needed to take care of this as fast as she possibly could. It'd just make her look worse if she took a request and never got around to completing it.

Anne didn't keep track of how much time passed while she desperately searched for Tod's ball. She looked everywhere she possibly could but turned up no results. That couldn't be right, maybe she overlooked something?

Without warning, as Anne ran through some particularly tall grass, her foot landed on something that definitely was not grass. It was rubbery and slippery, and Anne couldn't stop her foot from lurching forward, causing her to yell out as she slipped onto her back. Dazed for a few moments, Anne tried to figure out the culprit behind her accident as she managed to sit up... only for her eyes to lower in a look that just screamed "Are you kidding me?"

She'd slipped on Tod's ball.

Anne wordlessly got up, picking up the dotted red ball before putting it in her... open backpack. Did she forget to close it when putting the books in earlier? Just to make sure, Anne looked down in the area where she fell, and saw the two books that she'd collected earlier. She picked up the blue and purple book, and... which one was which, again? Meh, she'd remember.

Putting the books in her backpack (and making sure that she actually zipped it up this time) Anne prepared to continue fulfilling the requests, as she took a step forward... only to cringe in pain, realizing how sore and tired she was. The fall, her constant marathons without much of any breaks, the desperation as she tried to fulfill everyone's requests at once... it was starting to get to her, and she still hadn't finished even a single one of those requests.

"Man, this is exhausting." Anne had to stop for a few moments to catch her breath. If she wasn't careful, she would extend herself beyond her physical limits, but she didn't care about that. No matter how many requests she'd taken, she'd complete them all.

Looking at the list yet again, Anne re-confirmed everything. She'd gotten started on all the requests... except for the last one. Well, she was already in this deep, she may as well get started on this last one too. It wasn't going to be that bad, right?

The request was titled "Inn Review Required." Huh, sounded simple enough. The innkeeper, an ant named Iyn, wanted someone to review her inn. That was it.

...Anne knew where she had to go next.

(WTB-LINE-BREAK-WTB)

It must've barely been a minute before Anne reached the inn, running at top speed. Her surroundings passed by her in a blur, almost taking on some sort of invisible blue tint as she ran. She slowed down as she reached the inn, her heart pounding, her entire body begging for rest. Soon enough... soon enough...

After stopping for just a moment to catch her breath, Anne casually swung open the door to the inn, the bell above the door chiming as she walked into the building. This alerted the bug sitting at the front 'desk' (which was pretty much just a large log), almost immediately straightening up to face Anne.

"Oh, a customer... Welcome." The innkeeper, Iyn said. She sounded a bit... dull.

"Hey, dude." Anne said, pointing at Iyn as she walked up to the log. "I'm here to write a review for ya."

"Oh, by the Queen! Really?" That got Iyn to perk up a bit, the ant looking mildly surprised. "I am so glad you've come!" Iyn paused for a moment, and Anne nodded her head for the innkeeper to continue. "Well, the standard fare here is three berries per night, but since you're writing a review, you can stay here for free tonight."

"Trying to butter me up already, eh?" Anne raised an eyebrow. "I like your style." This was going to be the easiest request yet. It wasn't long before Iyn handed Anne her room key, and then directed Anne to where to go.

Anne strolled up the steps to her room, which matched the number that was on her key. She unlocked it, opening the door to her room. It was small, only had one bed, and the painting on the wall was just grass. Who would want to paint grass?

Nevertheless, Anne settled down onto her soft, comfy bed... ah, she really needed this. A chance to relax in the midst of the chaos of trying to complete all these requests. Well, she'd already done most of the grunt work already, and once she rested here for a bit, then all she had to do was return everything to the correct places. She'd looked at the list enough times by now to know where everything had to go; this would be a piece of cake.

Her eyes fluttered a bit, her body aching for sleep. Hmm... maybe she could spare a few minutes to sleep. That wouldn't hurt anyone, right? Anne reached into her pocket to pull out her phone to set an alarm for 20 minutes... only for her stomach to growl. And then, it hit her.

She still had to pick up the Hearty Breakfast from Fry.

Anne's eyes bulged open, and almost instantaneously, she stood up, rushing out of the room. Food was a time-sensitive issue, she couldn't waste another second. Anne raced down the stairs, only making a detour to slam her room key onto the log before charging out of the building, all in a matter of seconds.

"THAT WAS ONE OF THE BEST BEDS I'VE EVER SLEPT ON!" Anne called out as she left. That had to suffice as a review for now, but it did have truth to it. Iyn was left stunned, the ant blinking a few times. Eventually, she let out a sigh of relief, even if she was a little confused.

Though Anne only got a few measly minutes of rest, it did wonders for her body, allowing her another quick burst of strength that would hopefully carry her to Fry. That was her one and only goal. Get to Fry, get to Fry, get to Fry-

"Miss?" Hearing the child's voice, Anne stopped in her tracks, as if someone just pushed the pause button on their television. There was a young moth a bit over half her size standing near her, his eyes full of wonder.

"What is it? Cause I really gotta-" Anne started to say before being interrupted.

"I heard you took my request! Do you have my ball?" The orange moth child asked.

It took a few seconds for the cogs in her brain to turn, but she eventually connected the dots. "Oh! You're Tod, aren't you!" Anne asked. Tod nodded excitedly, looking up at Anne. "Well, I have just the thing for you." A wave of accomplishment washed over Anne's body as she saw the look on Tod's face when she reached into her backpack, pulling out the red dotted ball.

Tod gasped out loud before jumping up and down, excitement written all over his body. "That's it! That's it that's it that's it!" He reached up for the ball, and Anne happily placed it in his hands, stars in the young moth's eyes as he stared at the ball before looking back up at Anne. "Thank you, nice lady!"

"You're welcome, and I gotta run!" Anne said, giving Tod a quick wave goodbye before resuming her original goal. Get to Fry as fast as she could.

Anne brought out the list again, also bringing out a pen to strike out the two requests she'd just completed. After all this running around, she finally was making some progress. And to make matters even better, she was making a tangible impact on the bugs around her. Tod was more than proof of that; he would definitely tell his friends about her!

She could already sense her reputation here starting to improve. The thought of that alone drove her to keep running, even if the slight amount of energy she got from her short rest was already starting to dwindle. Anne couldn't stop now, all she had to was complete Chuck's request, and then go to the library, and then-

A random thought zipped through head. It was dumb, but she had to check. Yet again, Anne skidded to a stop, deciding to check the time on her phone. It was still running off of the Earth's clock, but it seemed to be mostly accurate here, and it was... Saturday, a bit after 4pm. So... what time did the library close?

"Does the library even close here?" Anne wondered out loud; there was always the possibility of it being open 24/7. But she had no idea if that was the case; and back home the library always closed really early on weekends.

Anne looked in the direction of Fry's place; it wasn't that far away, she could get the food and give it to Chuck in no time. But then Anne looked back in the direction of the Anthill Palace; for all she knew the library was already setting up for closing today. Anne looked back and forth in both directions, audibly starting to panic, not knowing where to go.

Fry? Or the library? She had to pick one, now. Sweat poured down her body as she struggled to make a decision; she was already wasting time by trying to deliberate over this for so long. Anne shut her eyes and raised her arm up before pointing in a random direction, opening her eyes a few seconds later to see where she pointed.

...Toward the library.

(WTB-LINE-BREAK-WTB)

Anne just couldn't risk the library being closed for the day by the time she got there. It was like she was being pulled in a thousand different directions at once, not having a single clue of where to go. She had to think on the spot, and this was the best choice. Within minutes, she'd arrived at the library inside the palace, slowing her pace down so she didn't look suspicious.

She wanted to take a few minutes to rest; the sweat pouring down her body was evidence enough of that. Anne shook her head at the notion, knowing that no matter what, she couldn't stop. Even though this was her first time in the library, she didn't take any time at all to look around, barely even noticing the large painting of Elizant I on the wall.

Instead, Anne made her way over to a wasp she saw in the corner of the small library. He was tall, wearing sunglasses and a long scarf. He was Reeves, wasn't he? Anne fished into her backpack, pulling out one of the two books... was it the blue book or the purple book Reeves wanted?

Hoping that the blue book was correct, Anne walked over to Reeves. "Yo!" She got his attention and held the book out to him. "I took your request, here's your bad book." Fast and without any chit-chat afterward, that's how she needed to do this.

Anne gave him the book and turned around, about to take the other book out to-

"Hey!" Reeves' voice called out.

Confused, Anne turned back around, only to be met with the blue book thrown at her face. She yelled in pain, somehow managing to catch the book before it hit the ground as she yelled in pain. "What was that for?" Great, as soon as she made progress, it was literally thrown back in her face.

"That book you gave me..." Reeves hissed, scorn laced in his tone. "It is WAY too average to be a bad book!" He huffed, crossing his arms.

"Huh?" Anne took a closer look at the book, forgetting about the pain of that book being thrown in her face. She opened the book, flipping through a few of the pages before realizing her mistake. ...This was the book she was supposed to return for Ali, not the bad book. In her rush, she had made a huge error.

Swallowing the feelings of embarrassment so she could focus on what was important, Anne took the correct book out of her backpack, giving Reeves the purple book. "Sorry. That was just a mix-up." Anne apologized, a nervous smile on her face.

"Everyone makes mistakes." Reeves replied, before he began to skim through the book. Anne watched for just several seconds as Reeves skimmed through the pages, a disgusted look forming on his face. Was that a good thing, or... "This was supposed to be a murder mystery! The REAL mystery is how this got published! UGH!" ...Good thing.

With that out of the way, Anne rushed over to the other side of the library, carrying the blue book. The red ant manning the front desk gave Anne a confused look, which shifted into being surprised as Anne ran up and slammed the book on the desk (which yet again, was just a log).

"This book is from Ali and I'm doing a request to return it for him!" Anne hurriedly said all in one breath.

The red ant librarian had a skeptical look on her face, picking up the book and opening it, checking when it was initially taken out. "Wait, this book is WAY overdue!" She said incredulously.

"Well it's not my problem!" Anne said in exasperation. Shouldn't the librarian be discussing that with Ali or something? It wasn't Anne's fault someone didn't return a book, especially when that someone was busy with work. "I can't stay and chat about this, I gotta go!"

And with that, Anne practically zoomed out of the library, leaving a trail of dust behind her in her wake. The librarian sighed, marking the book as returned.

(WTB-LINE-BREAK-WTB)

Anne jogged out of the library and out of the Ant Palace, her breaths long and drawn-out as she tried to keep a consistent pace. Keep going, she had to keep moving, that's what she told herself. Even when she misjudged one of her steps and nearly tripped over her own two feet, she stumbled forward before managing to correct her balance and shake off her near-accident, continuing to move forward.

Before she forgot, Anne pulled out the list of requests again, this time using her pen to mark off the two book-related quests she'd just completed. "Four down, only... two more to go!" Anne cheered, making sure to take a breath. Two left. Only two left. She couldn't stop now, not while she was on the home stretch.

"First, I really have to get that food from Fry." Anne made a mental note of where to go next. No more confusing herself with last-second spontaneous decisions on this, she had a clear path to follow. And with all the stuff she's returned, her backpack has been... really light now. Huh.

Anne ran across the bridge, making it to Fry's place several minutes later. Her pace slowed considerably compared to earlier, the young teen feeling more tired than she'd ever been in her life. She told herself she could rest eventually, she just had to finish all this first.

As she approached, she saw Fry staring at her, his arms crossed. Uh oh. Anne stopped several feet away from the large fly, her body hunched over from how tired she was as she weakly waved at him. "Hi..." Anne tried to act casually about it.

"It's been a while." Fry said, his tone blunt. Anne gulped, about to try and explain before Fry walked over to a table, picking up a plate of food. "But I did keep the Hearty Breakfast warm for you, because I knew you needed it." He walked over to Anne, the plate of food in hand.

Anne got a clear view of the plate of food, seeing the two fried eggs as well as the cooked blue mushroom on it. Wow, that looked tasty... but it was for Chuck. And now that she thought about it, Anne couldn't remember if she ate breakfast this morning... oops. Still, getting the Hearty Breakfast means she'd made more progress.

"Thank you so much." Anne said, expressing her full gratitude as Fry handed her the plate of food.

"No problem!" Fry replied, chuckling heartily for several seconds before leaning down slightly to Anne's level. "If you make me wait this long again then you'll be banned permanently."

Anne froze for several seconds at this threat, realizing that she... did indeed make Fry wait a while. A few hours, at least. ...She'll remember not to do that next time. Anne laughed nervously, giving Fry a grin as she slowly backed away, being careful to not drop the food. That would be the worst possible outcome.

Now came the last part of the quest. Actually delivering the food to Chuck. It sounded easy on paper, but... there was one major problem Anne forgot to factor in. The only way she could carry the food was on the plate; she didn't have a bag or any wrapping to safely store it in. And she had to carry it through the outskirts, where Anne knew that many monsters would be lurking, potentially hungry ones at that.

Hungry monsters that would want the food she needed to deliver to Chuck.

"...FOR ACCEPTANCE!" Anne declared as she began running through the path to Snakemouth Den, trying to remember exactly where Chuck's house is.

As she expected, a few Seedlings and other creatures were attracted to the scent of the Hearty Breakfast, and she did her best to ward them off, even if some of them were really trying to get the food. And several minutes later, after a few new injuries and almost dropping the food at least a dozen times, Anne made it to Chuck's place mostly unscathed, practically wheezing with each breath.

Anne walked up to Chuck's place, Chuck himself walking outside of his house as she approached. "Well, it's about time." He said, thankfully not sounding too mad or angry. "I should be calling this a Hearty Brunch by now!"

"I'm so sorry for how long I took." Anne apologized as she handed the food to Chuck. Great, what if she had accidentally ruined the good standings she had with Chuck because of this? She was so close to being finished; she didn't want it to be ruined at the last second.

"Don't worry about it." Chuck waved off her worries. "It's no trouble, you got it to me in the end, and that's what matters." Chuck took a bite of his food, nodding afterward. "Mmmm. Pretty good, but just a little chewy. ...Just the way I like it."

And with that, it was another request finished.

Just one more to go.

With no time to waste, Anne ran back the way she came from in a flash, at this point ignoring all the signs her body was giving her to rest. Before she even realized it, she ran past the Association, when-

"Anne!"

The girl in question suddenly yelled out in surprise for several seconds, her brain slowing back down to normal to properly process what was going on. It was just Artis, walking down the flowery steps of the Association and wow, Artis was tall.

"What's up?" Anne asked.

"Did you deliver that part for Eetl yet?" Artis asked. "He's been worried about it all day; he's... been a real handful because of it."

Anne gulped; that was the last thing she needed to do. She didn't even have to look at the quest list anymore, she knew exactly where to deliver the package. "I'm right on it." Anne gave Artis a weak thumbs up, refusing to rest, not when she could almost taste victory.

"Great, thank you. I'll let him know." Artis said, giving Anne a nod before starting to turn around. He paused, before turning back around. "Oh, and please don't spread around what you saw earlier. Eetl and I are... trying to keep it under wraps."

Anne nodded, hardly paying attention to what he was saying. Artis began walking away, and Anne began running to the pier, hopefully in the right direction. She was too focused on what she needed to do; any extraneous comments flew right over her head.

It never occurred to Anne until this very moment that she had no idea where she was going aside from just a general direction; east. This wouldn't be hard, right? Even if she was running on practically empty at this point, she at least had to try. Even with the stronger monsters that occupied the path, Anne weaved around them, brute-forcing her way through the area. At any moment it was as if she might pass out, but she didn't give up. Foot by foot, inch by inch, she... could make it. Just a bit more, she told herself.

Even if by the end she had to practically drag herself there, she didn't stop. After what felt like a million years... Anne finally made it. The pier was right there. She straightened herself up as she approached, trying to appear as if she hadn't been on a frenzied hunt for about multiple hours now.

"There she is." Anne said, able to spot the diver ant Div mingling within the pier. The pier itself looked lively, but Anne had no time to look around. She had a mission to finish. Anne's body shook in anticipation, the thought of being MOMENTS away from finishing all these requests and proving herself bubbling her up with a new kind of energy.

"Now all I have to do is..." Anne brought her backpack in front of her, zipping it open and fishing through it. She dug her hand through it for several seconds, getting confused. "All I have to do is..." Anne grit her teeth, becoming frustrated. "Come on, where is it?!"

Her frustration turned into panic as an outcome she didn't even consider before became close to becoming the truth. No, no she couldn't have lost the package somewhere. Her backpack had been open for a while- But she never remembered anything heavy dropping- But her backpack had felt pretty light for a while- No, no no no it was probably just tucked in her backpack somewhere deep.

In desperation, Anne turned her backpack upside down, shaking it repeatedly as all the contents within fell to the ground. The music box, a bath bomb, many other assorted items... but no package. "It has to be here somewhere!" Anne yelled, the realization slowly dawning on her that she very well may have lost the package.

She still didn't give up, dropping to her hands and knees to scour through her pile of stuff, setting her backpack aside. However, even as she pushed stuff around, even as she stuck her head in her backpack to see if anything else was in there... she couldn't deny it. "No..." Anne could no longer deny that she'd lost the package.

The moment she'd lost that package-whenever that had been, she'd doomed herself. The embarrassment and ridicule she'd surely face, especially after she came so far... she couldn't face it. Anne couldn't even retrace her steps to try and find the package. She'd been all over the city, and by now some thief had probably picked up the package and stolen it, just like she selfishly stole the music box multiple weeks ago. If that had never happened, if she had never made that stupid decision, she wouldn't be in this situation right now, she just knew it.

Fully defeated, Anne's head dropped to the ground, her mind swimming with all the possible outcomes that could stem from her awful error. It was too much to bear; tears welling up in her eyes-

"You need this, Anne?"

It was as if it was a voice straight from the heavens themselves. Anne instantly shot her head up, seeing Kabbu standing next to her... holding the very package she lost. Vi and Leif were with him, but all Anne could focus on was the package. The package. The package. The package.

Kabbu was about to say something, but Anne gasped in surprise, standing up completely, not bothering to wipe away the tears in her eyes. "Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you THANK YOU!" Anne repeatedly said as she took the package from Kabbu, a mixture of elation and confusion coursing through her body. "Where'd you find it?"

"You brought it to the house and then left it there." Leif explained. Oh.

"Yeah, and you left in a rush, so Kabbu wanted to bring it to you, but we had a hard time finding you!" Vi continued. "...Until I saw you running in this direction in a mad dash."

Anne could hardly process their explanation, but it was pretty stupid of her to just leave it back at the house. She was so preoccupied that she didn't realize she had left it there.

But it's not like that mattered now. Anne had the package, so she knew what she had to do. Turning around, she walked over to Div, carrying the package. "Hey, this is for you. It's from Eetl."

"Ah!" Div said in slight surprise. "He got the thing, finally." Div took the package from Anne. "Thank you. Oh, and you should thank Eetl for me too."

The human teen only replied with a thumbs up before immediately walking back to Kabbu, Vi, and Leif, the pulling the quest list back out of her pocket. A smirk formed on her face as she then pulled her pen out, striking out one of the remaining requests. "That one's done..." She looked down at the other request, it was the one for Chuck she already completed. "And there!" Anne marked out the other request, and just like that...

Anne blinked a few times, trying to make sure that she was seeing correctly. The quest list she held... all the quests... they were finished. Completed. Not a single one remained. After all her efforts, struggles, and marathons, she'd done it.

"WOOHOO!" Anne cheered, before thrusting the completed list in the direction of her teammates. "And there you have it! All six quests finished, completed by yours truly!" Any second now, they'd be cheering for her, giving their congratulations, holding some sort of celebration... but that never happened.

The seconds passed, and the silence remained. "Why is nobody cheering?" She asked, taking another look at their faces, only for them to be... worried. Concerned. ...For her.

"Anne, why are you pushing yourself so hard?" Kabbu asked, sounding almost heartbroken. "I mean this in the nicest way possible, but... you look awful." Did she?

Then again, as she stood there, all the aches and pains from running around without much of a break caught up to her, as well as the sheer exhaustion from sprinting what felt like the length of a marathon. Not to mention any of the injuries from her travels in Snakemouth Den that hadn't fully healed yet. All of that added up... it didn't paint a pretty picture. Wow, she'd been running herself ragged.

"Oi, yeah!" Vi agreed. "Even I wouldn't go crazy like that trying to take a million requests at once!"

"B-But you don't understand!" Anne said, trying to defend herself. "You should've seen how everyone was treating me! I'm just some outcast here, and I need to do stuff for them so they'll like me!" It was perfect, unshakeable logic in her eyes.

"Anne, you know I like you!" Kabbu reasoned. "Leif and Vi like you, we all like you Anne, you're not an outcast to us!"

This only made Anne frown, the girl partially turning away from her friends. "I know, but to everyone else I am." Did anybody else get it? That if she didn't do something to prove that she could be useful, then she'd be tossed aside, with nobody to defend her or be by her side.

"Listen." Leif stated, his tone unusually stern. "If you keep trying to please everyone around you without regard for your own safety, then you're gonna drop dead one day. Take care of yourself!"

"I-I wouldn't put it that bluntly, but yes." Kabbu agreed with a nod. "Anne, you shouldn't sacrifice your own health to please others! You always come first! Remember that we're all here for each other!"

...She always came first? Before anyone else? Such a concept was foreign to her; Anne couldn't count how many times she took the blame for her friends back home whenever they got in trouble. She was always used to making sure others were happy before herself, always trying to make sure nobody was mad at her, always trying to make up for any mistakes she made...

It was so confusing. Anne almost wanted to deny everything they'd just said, but she knew she couldn't. At any point, she could've gone to them for help, to spread the requests between them all so she didn't have to carry such a heavy burden herself. And she didn't. ...It was pretty selfish of her, wasn't it. Making her friends worry about her while she endlessly tried to prove a point that she wasn't even sure was worth it anymore.

Others would always find some reason to discriminate, after all.

"...Thanks." Anne said. This whole ordeal left her tired, hungry, thirsty, and outright ready to just collapse in bed for an entire day. And she was sure that nobody would blame her for it. She could properly process all this later.

"So, how much of a reward did you get from doing all that?" Vi asked, incredibly curious. "I bet it was HUGE!"

Another realization. A pretty silly one, at that. "Oh, oops. I never got the rewards from any of them." Anne explained. It was pretty funny in hindsight, now that she thought about it. She'd completely forgotten about that aspect of taking bugs' requests up until now.

Vi froze, her expression etched in horror. She didn't say anything.

Anne sweatdropped a little. "Oh no." Her mistake was more than clear; what had she done?

"YOU WHAT?!"