Welcome to Bugaria: Act 1

"Alright Anne, you can do this."

It was a cloudy evening at the thrift shop, the occasional cars that passed by splashing water from the earlier rain onto the sidewalk. This evening was quiet, as the local thrift shop was nearly empty, save for the people inside.

And yet, one of those people was Anne Boonchuy. Despite the many other items in the small store, there was only one she focused on. It was a music box situated on a tall shelf, the shelf having some ant marking on the front of it; must've been exotic or something.

She took a cautious look behind her, making sure no one could see what she was doing. The old lady behind the counter was too busy sleeping to notice her, and the only other customer in the store aside from her was too busy trying to pick out some shirt to care.

Anne reached her hand up and grabbed the music box, inspecting its features to make sure it was the one she was supposed to get. It was nothing special, just with some weird markings and three gemstones embedded in it, colored blue, pink, and green.

The first question on her mind was; what was the big deal? It just looked like some dumb music box, but… She raised an eyebrow as she turned her head to glance out the large window where her two friends were standing outside, watching.

Sasha was the first of them; she was a German-American teenager with blond hair wrapped in a ponytail. She wore a similar school outfit like Anne's, though her skirt was pink. She smiled as she gave Anne two supportive thumbs ups.

Marcy stood next to Sasha, a smug look on her face. She was a Chinese-American teenager, sporting short and shiny black hair. She wore a jacket over her school clothing, her hands tucked into her jacket pockets. Her uniform was similar to Anne's and Sasha's, though she wore a green skirt with her's.

The looks Sasha and Marcy gave her were all the confirmation Anne needed. Quickly, Anne pulled her backpack she wore to her front and unzipped it, stuffing the music box in there, hurriedly zipping the backpack up afterward and putting it back on.

Her heart racing as she couldn't believe what she was doing, Anne briskly walked out of the store, slightly hunched over due to what felt like a ton of invisible weights being dropped on her all at once. She stole the music box.

…It was a little while later, closer to evening when the three friends gathered together at a small park. It was one they'd go to often, so they were pretty familiar with it. A plane flew overhead as Anne took the music box out of the backpack, ready to open it.

She was sat down on a bench, Sasha and Marcy standing on opposite sides of her, waiting in anticipation. Anne took a deep breath before grabbing the top of the music box, opening it. But as she did… she couldn't even describe what she saw inside.

It was… weird, rainbow magical energy, unlike anything she'd seen before. It looked wild, uncontrollable, like it'd been waiting inside the box, ready to burst. Sasha and Marcy leaned in a bit, Sasha's eyes widening while Marcy let out a tiny gasp.

The rainbow energy in the box couldn't be contained anymore; it began exploding outward, causing the three teens to flinch back a bit, but within seconds, a bright white light overtook them, and…

…

…

…

…

…

Anne's eyes shot open as she woke up instantly, shooting up into a sitting position as she screamed, beads of sweat pouring down her face. She took a few deep breaths, not fully realizing where she was yet as she started laughing a little.

"Guys guys guys," Anne began, thinking it was just gonna be another normal day. "I just had the craziest dream that I was trapped in a world filled with bug peo…" She slowly stopped talking as she took in her surroundings, seeing just where she was… and seeing Kabbu and Vi standing beside her makeshift bed, though they looked a bit taken aback by her sudden scream a few moments ago.

"Oh." Anne said, a little embarrassed. "Right." She tucked her legs up close to her. The last few days weren't just some extended dream she had. The last few days of her trying to survive in the wild of some unknown world before getting caught and captured by the inhabitants of the world weren't a dream. It was her reality, and one that for the foreseeable future… she was stuck in.

Well, at least last night was a bit better. Kabbu and Vi had gotten her something to eat, and it honestly wasn't that bad, plus at that point she would've eaten anything. Not having to fight for her life and hide from strange creatures was a bit refreshing… even though she could tell that Kabbu and Vi still looked at her weird sometimes, which made her a bit on edge.

"Good morning, Anne!" Kabbu greeted, looking down at her. "Did you have a good rest last night?"

"Well, it was better than the last few nights I had." Anne answered, remembering back to how on her first night here, she was trying to sleep in a small cave but couldn't due to the intense rain and strange noises, and when she had used the flashlight on her phone to see what was making the noises, she found herself surrounded by many creatures she'd never even heard of before. …That night was one with zero sleep.

"Plus, I actually have a mattress, and a blanket…" While Anne did have a mattress, her "blanket" was a huge leaf. "…Sorta." She pushed the leaf off of her, not wanting it on her anymore.

"Just making sure, you aren't going to eat us, are you?" Vi randomly asked.

"Vi!" Kabbu scolded.

"Ok, are you seriously still asking that?" Anne questioned.

"Um… yes. I just did." Vi answered, deadpan. "I needed to check-"

"Check what?" Anne snapped. "There's nothing to check! I've told you about hundred times by now that I really am not going to try to eat you, so stop asking! It's bad enough that I'm an outcast here, but now I have to deal with all this."

Though it felt good in the moment to say that, a second later a pit formed in her stomach, seeing how Vi took a tiny step away. Anne sighed, looking down at the floor. "Sorry. I'm just… really stressed out right now."

"Well, it's understandable." Kabbu said. "Being honest… I'm not too sure how I would react if I was in that sort of situation myself."

"…Yeah. Being stranded in a place you know nothing about doesn't sound too fun, I guess." Vi said. Was that supposed to be her apology?

"It's not." Anne said, looking back at them. "I miss my parents…" The thought of them trying desperately to look for her without knowing they had zero chance of finding her currently… it caused her heart to tighten a bit. Her phone had zero signal ever since she got here, so it wasn't like she could text them either…

"My home…" Anne wished that, even if it was for only a minute, she could walk into her home again. She missed the familiar smell, the familiar surroundings… "My stuff…" There was a diary she kept in her closet from when she was really young, complete with bad handwriting, misspellings everywhere, and the uncharted thoughts of a kindergartener… and she'd often go back to look at it. Maybe she should keep a diary here as well… "And especially…"

Anne reached into her backpack that was sitting beside her, pulling out a photo. "My friends." She stared at the photo intensely, frowning. "I miss them so much."

Before she knew it, Kabbu sat down next to her, and a few seconds later Vi did as well, sitting next to Kabbu. Both of the bugs frowned at hearing her woes, and now Anne did feel bad for dumping all that on them at once.

"May I see the photo?" Kabbu asked. Anne looked at the photo one more time before handing it to him, to which he held it carefully, while Vi also tried to look at it.

"These are your friends?" Vi asked.

"Yeeep." Anne answered. "Oh, by the way," She reached over and pointed at the photo. "In the middle is Sasha, and standing next to her is Marcy."

The photo depicted Anne, Sasha, and Marcy standing together outside somewhere on Earth. It was hard to tell where, though… the background was too blurry to tell. In the blank space of the photo at the bottom, the letters BFFS! were written in purple marker, with a heart right next to it. There was also a small tear at the top of the photo, between where Sasha and Marcy were.

In the photo, Anne stood on the left, her eyes closed as she smiled and held up a peace sign with one hand, while the other hand was on Sasha's waist. Sasha stood in the middle, her hands placed on Anne and Marcy's shoulders while she wore a soft smile. And finally, Marcy stood on the right, one of her eyebrows raised as she looked at her two friends with a smile. One of her hands was tucked into her jacket pocket, while the other was at her side, but not visible in the photo's frame.

Kabbu stared at the photo… a sort of… longing? Arising in him, seeing the three friends standing together cheerfully, without a care in the world. It reminded him of…

"Without them, I just feel… kinda lost." Anne explained, her arms out for emphasis. "You know?"

"What did you three do together?" Vi asked, curious.

"Well… pretty much everything, I guess." Anne shrugged before she listed off several things. "We'd marathon dumb TV shows…" The one about the teenagers who ran their own web show was always a classic. "Drink boba till we vomited…" Her mom was not happy about the times that happened. "Go to the beach…" Building sand castles was sooo much fun. She chuckled as she remembered one time she and her friends started jokingly stomping and attacking the water after it washed away a big sand castle they'd been working on.

…But then she frowned again, knowing that those times were most likely over. "But now I'm wondering where they are, or if they're even okay. I'd give anything to see them again."

The three of them were silent. Kabbu gave the photo back to Anne, and as she looked at it once more, she longed just to even hear their voices ag-

"I've got it!" Kabbu said suddenly, an idea forming in his head. "Anne, I haven't known you for long, but it's already clear to me what I must do. For the time being, why don't Vi and I be your friends?"

While a weird look appeared on Vi's face, Anne raised an eyebrow. "You?" She pointed at Kabbu. She took another look at the photo of her and her friends before looking back at Kabbu and Vi. They did attack her yesterday… but then they apologized for it… but then again Vi still made those rude remarks toward her…

"Kabbu, seriously?" Vi asked out of the blue.

Kabbu turned to look at Vi. "What, what did I do?"

"Well, you keep roping me into everything and making all the decisions for me!" Vi yelled, frustrated, though she was also half-jesting as well as she lightly pushed Kabbu.

"I'm sorry, I just thought as a team we should be doing stuff together!" Kabbu explained.

"But we aren't even officially a team yet, and anyway a team should make decisions as a group!" Vi crossed her arms and overdramatically huffed.

Anne couldn't help but giggle at seeing Kabbu and Vi banter with each other. It was a bit funny to see Kabbu getting called out for unintentionally controlling the team. It almost reminded her of… of…

"You know what. Sure." Anne wouldn't call Kabbu and Vi replacements for Sasha and Marcy, but for now, at least… "I'll be friends with you. Why not."

"Great!" Kabbu beamed, happy that Anne accepted.

"Hm… I'm sure it'll be fun." Vi smiled.

"So, how long have you two known each other?" Anne asked, hoping to get a conversation with her new friends going.

"Since yesterday." Kabbu answered.

"Wait, really?" Anne said. "Well, I guess since I've also known you two since yesterday, we're pretty much all even in terms of familiarity… or something like that. I dunno, I'm not really good with these types of things."

Before the discussion could continue any further, the three of them saw Maki walking up to them, his head ducked down a bit due to the low ceiling of the area under the stairs. "Vi, Kabbu, come with me. Your presence is required. Do not dilly-dally."

Kabbu nodded as Maki walked away. The beetle stood up and stretched, and Vi stood up a couple seconds later. "I have a pretty good idea of what Maki might want us for." Vi said, a smile creeping onto her face.

"Then let's go." Kabbu said, starting to walk away with Vi, but stopped after a few seconds to turn around and saw Anne still sitting on the mattress. "Come with us, Anne! We're all friends, you can tag along!"

"Oh right, yeah." Anne said, collecting her things into her backpack before standing up and walking over to them. "Thanks." She smiled.

"No problem!" Kabbu said. The three of them walked over to the other side of the Association, where not only Maki was waiting for them, but Eetl was too.

"So, what's going on?" Anne asked, curious.

Maki cleared his throat before he began speaking. "Vi, Kabbu…" He said, completely ignoring Anne's question. "I analyzed your fighting performance from yesterday. You performed well enough. I could feel your desire to see the world through your attacks against Anne."

"Um, I'm standing right here." Anne called out.

"I know." Maki answered, before getting back to his point. "Like I was saying, due to these circumstances, I will not be one to keep you from your Explorer's Permit. Eetl, you may grant it to them."

Anne was still a bit confused about the whole thing, but she decided to just stand and watch for now, since pretty much none of her questions were being answered. At the very least, her two new friends seemed happy about it, Vi especially.

"I get no say in this, huh?" Eetl sighed, already resigned to his fate. "…But Maki IS the Queen's Blade." He grabbed something from his pocket. "Here, you can have it. Out of the lot of you, I trust you the most with it." He handed it to Kabbu.

After Vi pouted a little after not being the one given the permit, Anne's curiosity piqued. "Oooo, lemme see." Anne said. While Kabbu didn't give her the permit, he did let her get a better look at it.

The permit looked like it could fit in her hand; it was gold on the top with two blue crystal markings, along with a symbol of an ant… that looked very familiar. Wasn't there something like that on the music box…? Eh.

"What's it for?" Anne asked. "Sorry for all the questions, I'm still really new to this place and all that junk."

"Well, I'd repeat to you what I told Maki yesterday, but you might find that boring." Kabbu admitted as he pocketed the permit. "But basically, Explorer's Permits are granted to groups of at least two bugs that have been able to prove themselves, and they're tasked to scout the lands in order to search for the Everlasting Sapling."

"An everlasting what?" Anne raised an eyebrow.

"It's pretty much this plant that has a legend where if you eat it, you'll live forever and be super strong. No one knows where it is, though." Vi explained in her own way.

"Huh." Anne said, taking in all this new information. Living forever… no. She didn't even know if that was true or not, and besides… her first priority was finding her friends and going home. But the promise of this "Everlasting Sapling" did sound alluring…

"But that's besides the point!" Vi added, pulling Anne out of her thoughts. "I've been itching to explore for a while now, and now that I finally have an explorer's permit, I finally have free reign to do whatever I want!"

"I wouldn't go that far…" Kabbu said.

Someone wanting to explore a world of fantasy without any other care in the world… it reminded Anne of… of… "Heck yeah, Vi!" Anne yelled, getting excited. "If I'm going to be stuck in this world, then I may as well make the most of it, so let's go exploring!"

Vi smiled as the two of them looked at each other, Anne's heart racing in excitement. Without warning, Anne and Vi both cheered as they turned to run out of the association, throwing caution to the wind. Kabbu was about to call after them, but someone else beat him to it, as Anne and Vi suddenly skidded to a stop when they saw Maki's blade in front of the exit.

"Whoa, that looks sharp." Anne quickly said. Maki had moved that fast in the moment she ran for the exit… yeah, she shouldn't underestimate him. "But what the heck, dude?" Anne questioned.

Maki brought his sword back near him as he shook his head. "You aren't going anywhere. I thought I made it perfectly clear; the Explorers' Permit was for Kabbu and Vi… not you."

"Hey, quit ruining our fun already!" Vi yelled, flailing her arms. "This is like, the eighth time it's happened!"

"Yeah, seriously?" Anne agreed. "What's your deal with me?"

"I don't have anything against you, personally." Maki said. "However, you're a… what's the best term for this… strange creature that I'm sure nobody here has even heard of before. For the best interests of this kingdom, you will stay here while I go discuss with the Ant Queen what to do about this… situation."

Anne only groaned loudly. All this was, boring, boring, boring. There were a million other things she could be doing right now.

"Vi, Kabbu, I trust that you will be able to watch over her a bit longer while I am gone." Maki added. "Once I return with news, then you will be permitted to leave."

"Very well, I am up to the task!" Kabbu said. Maki thought that was good enough, and then swiftly left.

"Well, this stinks." Vi huffed, her mood immediately soured. "And just when I was finally getting pumped to go, too."

"I know, right?" Anne agreed. "I know he said he doesn't have anything against me but I think he does."

"I apologize about this turn of events, Anne." Kabbu said, walking over to her. "But in hindsight, I think we probably should've seen this coming… After all, you know-"

"Yeah yeah, I know." Anne said. Human in a world of bugs, she's already gotten that figured out perfectly clearly, but even so… "Ugh, whether I'm back home or here, adults are all the same." Anne scoffed. "With their arbitrary rules, their curfews, their… being old, that's always how it is, especially with Maki."

"Anne! Maki is a highly respected warrior for Queen Elizant! He should not be taken lightly." Kabbu scolded. "While I would like for you to be able to adventure with us, I'm sure that Maki knows what he's doing."

"Well… maybe there's something we could do here?" Vi asked, hoping to scratch the itch that was her current boredom.

"Oh, hmm…" Kabbu thought for a moment. "Maybe we could try to help Artis with his taxes, he's probably swamped with thos-"

"Nopenopenopenope!" Anne shook her head fiercely, immediately shooting him down. "Taxes are an adult-only territory, so it is one I refuse to step on." Anne put her hand on her chin, thinking… before she snapped her fingers. "You know what I'd rather do?"

"What?" Vi asked.

Anne pointed to the exit. "I'd rather go outside and explore with you two!"

"Er… Maki told us not to do that, so we can't." Kabbu replied, a bit confused.

"Anne, I wanna go out there as much as you do… but I also don't wanna risk getting caught and facing Maki's wrath. You saw how sharp that sword was!" Vi added.

Anne shook her head. "No no no, you two aren't getting it." This was what she was taught, and it's worked flawlessly up until now, soo… "You guys wanna know the best thing about friendship?" Anne asked, gauging their reactions. Kabbu looked curious but a little worried, while Vi was a little more open to listening.

Anne continued. "When you've got your friends by your side, anything is possible. Whatever you want, a real friend will help you get." She smiled at the prospect of finally not being stuck in this building anymore. "And you know what I want?"

"Exploring!" Vi answered.

"Yeahuh!" Anne cheered. Vi was on-board now, but…

"Being perfectly honest, I highly advise against this!" Kabbu warned. "Anne, you do realize the consequences of what you're saying, right?"

Anne waved him off. If he wasn't going to be swayed so easily, then… "Okay, how about this:" She paused, trying to think of something on the spot. "So, I'm pretty new to this world, right? Aaaand that means from my point of view, even the most mundane of places would be a new and exciting adventure for me. For example, the little town you have around this place, right?"

"Well, yes…" Kabbu agreed.

"So, we could just hang out there for a little while!" Anne continued. "I'll get to do a bit of exploring, and we'll be back wayyy before Maki. It'll be like we never left! So how's that sound?"

Kabbu struggled to come up with an answer, and by the second, Anne was getting more impatient with his indecisiveness.

"Just so you know Anne, you've pretty much convinced me of this by now." Vi said before she turned to Kabbu. "So yeah, you're outnumbered."

"Wait a second!" Kabbu said, his pride hurt a bit. "Well… yes, even if Maki's gone, what about Eetl or Artis? They'd notice if we tried to leave!"

"Kabbu." Vi said.

"…Yes?"

"They're too busy with the taxes to notice us."

Kabbu looked at her quizzically before turning to look at the second floor, and true to Vi's word, while the three of them had been talking, Eetl went upstairs to help Artis fill out taxes, and they were too engrossed in it to pay attention to or care about what the three of them were saying.

"Great, so that means we can go!" Anne said, flashing both of them thumbs ups.

Defeated, Kabbu turned back around to Anne and Vi. "…Yes. If that's what you two want, then I suppose it wouldn't hurt to go out for a bit. But not too long, please."

"See, that's what I'm talking about." Anne said, walking over to Kabbu and draping an arm over his shoulder, pulling him close and pointing at him with her other hand. "Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it sooner or later, it just takes practice. So come on!" Anne let go of Kabbu, making sure her backpack was secure before she walked to the exit.

Vi followed closely behind, smiling brightly. Though Kabbu was still a bit uneasy about this, he too followed them. The three of them walked outside, Anne carefully going down the flowery steps, as she didn't know how sturdy they were.

When they reached the grass, Anne took a moment to take in a deep breath, looking at her surroundings. "Wow, this place looks wonderful. It really reminds me of back home."

"Maybe when you figure out a way to go home, we could stop by for a bit!" Vi suggested.

"Dude… that would be awesome." Anne said. "And maybe while I'm here, I could visit where you guys are from!" Though after she said that, Vi became quiet for some reason.

"If we have the time, perhaps!" Kabbu said. "The north is a much different place than Bugaria, I'll warn you."

"Well, this place is already different from home, so I think I'll be prepared." Anne said with a smirk on her face. At hearing what she just said, she couldn't help but start snickering, but she was able to stop herself a few moments later.

"Man, this is great!" Anne exclaimed, raising her arms into the air. "We're just three friends palling around and beating the odds to have some fun." She got an idea and reached into her pocket, pulling out her phone.

"Smile!" Anne quickly positioned herself so that she was standing in between Kabbu and Vi, and smiled brightly as she held her phone out at arm's length and took a photo of the three of them, the flash shining in their faces.

"Ow, what was that?" Vi asked, rubbing her eyes as Anne checked her phone.

"That, my friend, is a photo." Anne explained. "I took one so this moment could last forever, see?" Anne pulled up the photo on her phone, showing it to them. Though Anne was smiling in the photo, Vi and Kabbu were both making weird faces while squinting their eyes a bit. "Hey, this turned out great!"

"Anne, I must admit I am still very unfamiliar with your otherworldly technology." Kabbu said. "But in the future, I would prefer a bit of forewarning before you… take a photo? Is that right? Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's right."

"Eh, that's fair." Anne said, turning off her phone and pocketing it. She really needed to find a way to charge it sooner or later. Even with conserving the battery as much as she could, it was gonna run out sooner or later, and the prospect of not having it readily available worried her. Well… at least she had her new friends.

"Well, what are you dudes waiting for?" Anne asked. "Come on, the sooner we get started, the sooner we can get back before Maki does." She gestured for them to come along with her, and so the fun afternoon with her friends truly began.

While there didn't appear to be much to do at first glance, Anne made the most of what was available to her. The first thing that caught her glance was a big, yellow crystal jutting out of the ground, and before even being explained what it was, she wanted to touch it.

Of course, after learning that the crystal (which according to Kabbu was called an "Ancient Crystal) (and only the yellow variants, apparently) would revitalize her, that only incentivized her more. She poked it, and giggled when a tingly feeling washed over her. Though apparently Vi didn't feel any tingly feeling, but Kabbu did slightly. Weird.

There was some other stuff about how the Ant Queen authorized where they were put in public spaces and yada yada yada she was already not caring, though her attention did go to the rocks blocking a path up ahead.

It didn't take long for Anne to convince Kabbu and Vi to try to push these rocks away, but even with all their efforts, they couldn't even get one rock to budge. Kabbu fell on his face at one point while giving it is all, which did cause the three of them to break out into laughter.

Seeing as how that was a bust, Anne decided to try her luck with interacting with a few of the townsfolk. There weren't really many, but there were two ladybug siblings, named Leby and Dib. They were pleasant to talk to, and Anne almost was tempted to ask if they knew anything about her home, but it most likely would've been a waste of time.

But still, her lifted mood wouldn't go away no matter what. Though… she was getting hungry, which was why the three of them decided to head to the caravan after saying goodbye to Leby and Dib. This was the first time Anne saw the caravan for herself; it being powered by a huge snail.

And of course, seeing all the (hopefully edible) new food that wasn't available anywhere on Earth was a dream to her; she couldn't wait to try some of it… especially since she hasn't eaten all day. She couldn't help herself and squealed in joy, though that did cause the bug nearby to turn around and notice her, and that bug was…

…Huscada, who promptly fainted upon seeing her. Anne gulped nervously before slowly backing away.

For what seemed like forever, the three of them had fun, living in the moment and generally having a great time. By now, they were a bit tired, so they sat on the small rock that was right next to the flowery steps to the association, laughing at the good times they've had so far.

"Wow, that was great!" Anne said. "See, didn't I tell you guys this would be fun? There was nothing to worry about!"

"I suppose it was a bit silly of me to doubt you, Anne." Kabbu said. "You really knew what you were talking about! This afternoon with you two is one I'll remember forever, that's for sure."

"But the funniest moment had to be when you were trying to push that rock but fell on your face, Kabbu." Vi said, snickering a bit. "The face you made was hilarious."

"Well, sometimes there are battles you can't win." Kabbu replied.

"So the Ant Kingdom is past those rocks, right?" Anne asked for clarification, getting a nod from Kabbu and Vi. "Right, so now I'm wondering just how Maki was able to get past the rocks to even get into the Ant Kingdom."

"Eh, I'm sure he probably took a detour or something." Vi said.

"Yes, that does make the most sense." Kabbu agreed. "Oh! And speaking of that, we should definitely be getting back inside now. We've been out here for a while, so it would be better to get back sooner than later."

Anne was a second away from agreeing with him, but a split-second thought crossed her mind. When Maki got back… what was going to happen? There was still an unimaginable amount she didn't know about this world, and that included what the supposed "Ant Queen" was like.

Despite knowing almost nothing, countless scenarios ran through her head of what could happen, many of them including… being forcibly separated from her new friends. No. She wouldn't let that happen, so maybe…

She looked at the open gate, where she'd been brought here. The cogs turned in her brain, and she made a decision. "Hold on a second." Anne said. They'd already come this far, so… "There's just one more thing I wanna do, really really quickly."

They both looked at her quizzically, waiting for her to finish. Anne's arm outstretched, she pointed toward the open gate. "Why don't we go check out that place, you know, over there?" Of course they were going to say yes, they were all friends after all.

"Um… Anne?" Vi asked. "Isn't that where you were, you know… trying to survive on your own for a few days? Why do you wanna go back there?"

"Well, I wasn't in that one area the whole time." Anne clarified, since she hadn't really done that yet. "And you said it yourself! I was alone, but now I have you two with me, so it'll be a piece of cake!" Anne snapped her fingers. "And besides, I don't think either of you have had the chance to properly check it out for yourselves yet, so come on!"

Anne stood up, adjusting her backpack a little before she turned to walk, but only after a few steps she found her arm being pulled back a bit. Confused, she turned around. Kabbu was now standing up and he'd grabbed her arm, a bit of a worried expression on his face. Vi was also standing up, frowning.

"I thought you were trying to make a joke, but now that I see you're serious about this, I really don't think that's a good idea!" Kabbu warned.

Anne ripped her arm out of his grasp, and he made no attempt to grab it back. "Come on, stop being a buzzkill!" Anne sighed. "Come on Vi, isn't Kabbu totally ruining the mood right now?"

"Oi, Can you stop putting me on the spot already?" Vi yelled. "But um… yeah, I do have to agree with Kabbu on this one. You never know when Maki's gonna be back. Also, didn't we have a compromise or something?"

Anne scoffed, a pit growing in her stomach as she rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Ugh, I thought you guys were trying to be my friends."

"Wh-Anne, I am!" Kabbu said, a bit panicked and confused. "Am I doing something wrong?"

"Well, this is what friends do, remember?" Anne said. stay calm stay calm "They help each other get the things they want." This is right this is right "Look, if a friend likes a pencil case, you get it for them." She walked toward the two bugs as she began to list off her points. "If your friend likes your new shoes, you give them to her." She was speaking from experience, after all.

Experience… of this… and of- "And if your friend wants you to steal a crazy music box from a thrift store, even if you really don't want to…" Anne blurted out, as she turned around, unable to face them as the cracks from the world she's built up started to show. "You do it, okay? Because if you don't… they might not want to be your friend anymore."

Her fists were clenched as her arms were at her sides, her head tilted downward as she refused to let the tears that tried to trickle out of her eyes escape.

Vi looked at Kabbu, as if she expected him to say something. But he didn't either, his sadness and guilt apparent on his face.

As the silence grew, Anne clenched her fists fighter, to the point where it was starting to hurt.

Kabbu was still at arm's distance; he was about to reach out to her-

"Fine." Anne said as Kabbu jolted his arm back. "I see how it is." She took one last look at them; a brief one. Vi looked sad, Kabbu was a mixture of that and worried, but… no, they couldn't be real friends, could they…?

Before she could let her mind start to make her second-guess herself… she shut her eyes and ran. Ran away to the open gate, ran away from who she thought were her new friends for now, ran away ran away ran away ran away ran away-

She thought she heard Kabbu call out for her, but it was already far too late. She didn't know how long she ran for as the tears finally escaped her shut eyes, trying not to trip as she was still getting used to running with only one shoe… Where did that other shoe go, anyway?

When her racing heart made it too much for her to keep running, she slowed to a stop, opening her eyes and wiping the tears away. Well… she was back to square one, wasn't she? But… now that she wasn't starving, incredibly parched, or nearly as sleep-deprived as she was earlier, she got a chance to look around at the scenery without trying to fight for her life, and it was…

Beautiful.

She began to walk, taking in everything she saw around her. It did remind her of home a lot, but… it all was so… different. And bigger. It did look a lot bigger. But she still had to find a way home soon.

Man, if she was seeing this, what were her friends seeing righ- Her friends… Sasha, Marcy… Where were they? What were they doing? And her other… friends… she looked back to where she came from… Kabbu, Vi… did she make a mistake?

She thought that the two bugs were her friends; she made sure to teach them what friends do and everything, it's always what… she's known… and she learned it from… why was she so conflicted?

Anne knew how friends were supposed to treat each other, right? She and her two friends from home cared about each other deeply, that was an undeniable fact. But… her talks of "true" friendship she gave to Kabbu and Vi earlier…

…Was she wro-

She thought she saw something from the corner of her eye, distracting her entirely from her thoughts. She turned her head, and several yards away there was what she was pretty sure was an old wood-boring beetle.

The bug looked to be mildly distressed about something, and Anne couldn't help but wonder what exactly that something was, and she didn't have anything else to do right now, so… "Hey old dude, you need some help?" Anne asked as she walked over.

The old beetle turned to her, giving her a quizzical look. "Eh? What kind of strange creature are you?" He asked.

Anne sighed, only at that moment realizing that she was going to get asked that question so many different times during her stay here. "That doesn't matter right now." Anne answered. "I was walking around and I saw you over here, and you looked like you could use a bit of assistance."

"Well, if you're coming over to help me, then you probably don't mean any harm." The old beetle said. "Name's Chuck by the way, and don't call me old." Chuck started walking somewhere, and Anne followed him, but they stopped only after several feet. "You see, uh…"

"Anne."

"Yeah, so you see, Anne…" Chuck began. "Basically, I'm almost done arranging my cozy rest space for travelers going to Snakemouth Den, but I can't pull out this darn weed!" Chuck gestured to the weed, and as Anne laid her eyes on it, she wondered how she possibly didn't notice it before.

"Whoa." Anne said. The weed was a bit taller than she was. "Yeah, that's a big weed." She definitely wasn't strong enough to rip it out of the ground, and she wasn't just gonna leave Chuck hanging, so…

An idea came to her, and she rested her fist on her palm. "I got it." She took off her backpack, setting it down in front of her as she got down and kneeled on one knee, unzipping the backpack and fishing through it.

Her hand passed by snacks, pencils, her tennis racquet, the music box- and she found what she was looking for. She grabbed a spare pair of scissors out of her backpack. They were a pair of scissors that she… borrowed one day from one of her classes.

"These are all I've got, but they should do the trick." Anne said. She didn't need further prompting before she went up to the giant weed, making sure the scissors were as close to the ground as possible before she began cutting… well she attempted to at least.

She was able to cut it, but it was tough and progress was slow. "Geez, how long did you let this grow?" Anne asked, wiping the sweat off her brow.

"Not too long, probably half a moon or so." Chuck answered. Anne didn't know how long a "moon" was, but whatever, she was almost finished anyway.

Just another minute or two later, Anne took one last snip of her scissors as the last weed finally fell to the ground. "Yes!" Anne cheered. "Man, I need to get better scissors."

"Well I'll be!" Chuck said, a smile on his face. "You actually helped me, Anne! This made my week!"

"Hey, it was no trouble at all." Anne said, putting the scissors back in her backpack as she re-zipped it, standing up and putting it back on.

"Hm… I don't have much, but a helpful creature like you deserves gratitude." Chuck said. He reached into his pocket and grabbed several small blue berries, handing them to Anne, who took them with a small bit of confusion, but she accepted them anyway. "There you go, go buy yourself something nice with those."

"Thanks." Anne said, a small smile on her face. Chuck nodded as he turned around to walk away, and Anne stared at the berries in her hands before something clicked in her head. "Wait, all my money I have with me is worthless here, isn't it."

Well… that's what happens when you get trapped in a new world, huh. She pocketed the berries, hoping to find a store somewhere soon to buy stuff, but for now… What would she do?

Her mind wasn't nearly as clouded as several minutes ago, so… she was considering going back. It might be the most uncomfortable conversation of her life, but… what would she even say to them? She didn't even know if they would still want to be-

"Ahem."

Anne froze up, recognizing the voice that she heard behind her. She slowly turned around, dread filling her body, it only getting worse when her eyes confirmed what her ears heard. Maki stood multiple yards away from her, and he wasn't alone… Kabbu and Vi were with him.

Not knowing what else to do, Anne awkwardly laughed, hoping she could play this all off as some sort of joke. "Ohh, there you are." Anne said. Maki's face was a mix of anger and disappointment. "See, there's this really funny story about why I'm here, because I actually had to use the bathroom and got lost…" Kabbu looked sad, and Vi was ticked off, her arms crossed. "All the way out here? Oh forget it, that was the worst lie I've ever told."

"I'm sorry about all this, Anne." Kabbu apologized, his voice low. "Right after you ran off, Vi and I were about to go after you, but…"

"But then I arrived." Maki said, stern as ever.

"…We pretty much told him everything." Vi confirmed.

Before Maki spoke further, he shook his head. "This is the second time in two days the three of us have had to chase you in this place." Maki said, his eyes locked on Anne. "But…" He closed his eyes, sighing. "Kabbu, Vi, I am very disappointed in both of you."

Anne's heart twisted a bit, knowing exactly all the reasons why.

"I gave you a simple task, and yet you both disobeyed direct orders." Maki continued. "And I was thinking… that perhaps, it might've been a mistake to give you two an Explorer's Permit."

"W-What?" Vi asked, taken aback.

"Maki, wait!" Kabbu said, trying to come up with something to say "Er, uh-"

"No, hold on!" The guilt piled up more and more as Anne heard them talk, and she couldn't take it anymore. She ran up to them, stopping just a few feet away. "Maki, don't punish them for this, it's not their fault." Her eyes lowered a bit, her heart pounding, her body feeling a bit cold. "…It's mine. I'm the cause of this. All this."

Chills ran down her spine as she couldn't stop herself from confessing everything. "I tricked both of them into doing it, I gave them all these speeches to coerce them into doing what I wanted…" Anne felt so horrible about herself and the way she spoke to the bugs that wanted to say they were friends.

"And then when they didn't want to go along with it anymore, I continued acting selfish and then ran off." Anne wasn't sure if the weights on her chest were getting heavier or loosening. She managed to look back up at them, talking to Kabbu and Vi in particular now. "I should've realized that they were doing that because they were trying to be my friends."

Kabbu and Vi's faces softened, and Anne stuffed her hands into her pockets. "I won't be any trouble anymore." Anne said, directed at Maki this time. "I know I got myself here-" She stole the music box "So I have to face the consequences, whatever they may be. Compared to all of you, I'm some weird alien, so…" No matter what, she could always tell that someone here was giving her a weird look.

"Kabbu, Vi, it was fun hanging out with you, but you can go be explorers now without me holding you back." Anne said. "I'll… go where I have to go, Maki, wherever that may be." She would've probably had to say goodbye to them anyway, but… now it was just so much worse.

She almost couldn't bear to look at Kabbu and Vi; Kabbu was just about on the verge of crying, while Vi was speechless. Anne wanted to give them a thousand apologies, but… she couldn't. As far as she was concerned, their brief friendship was beyond repair.

"Anne, there's no need." Maki said. "You should've let me finish." A small, almost invisible smile appeared on his face. "Your apology is very well appreciated, although there was something important I was about to say." …What?

"I said that it might've been a mistake to take back the Explorer's Permit… in any other circumstance, I mean." Maki continued. The more Maki spoke, the more… unsure Anne became. "You see Anne, I've been given a special request to allow you to travel to Snakemouth Den with Kabbu and Vi. That's all."

Those words hung in the air as Anne allowed them to sink in… or at least she tried to. "Wait, what." She said, still trying to comprehend it all. The sudden turnaround from losing them to now… being able to… She still couldn't believe it.

"Really?" Kabbu asked, finding hard to put the words together himself. "I… Maki… Um… Thank you!"

"Hey, seriously?" Vi asked, happy herself, though it did look like she had something on her mind. "But, um… hang on, by special request did you m-"

In that moment, it all registered for Anne, as she let out a high-pitched squeal of happiness, unintentionally interrupting Vi. She would be able to stay with her new friends after all. She didn't care about anything else at all, only that she was very lucky to be able to stay with them after all. She squealed for several more seconds before finally stopping to take a few breaths.

"I never expected this to happen but now I'm really really happy it is!" Anne quickly added, now giddy as she couldn't help herself from giggling and lightly bouncing back and forth.

"Me too!" Kabbu said. Anne couldn't exactly see him smiling, but she could tell he was. "I'm… I'm glad all my friends are here to stay!" He still thought she was a friend…

"Yeah, high-five!" Anne said, raising her arm up. Kabbu's eye widened a little before he raised his arm up too, and their hands slapped together in mid-air. Kabbu giggled a little at doing so.

"Isn't this great, Vi?" Kabbu asked, turning to her, seeing as she was still standing some feet away from them, looking like there was something important on her mind.

"Mm…" A smile appeared on Vi's face. "Yeah! It is! Finally, no more delays!"

"I know, right?" Anne agreed, happy that she was finally going to hang out with her… friends… Anne sighed, the guilt from earlier creeping back up on her. "Guys, I'm really sorry, I just-"

"Hey, quit apologizing!" Vi interrupted. "That big speech you gave was already enough of an apology, you know."

"And even if you aren't perfect and make some mistakes, that's okay." Kabbu added. "Nobody's perfect, I know as much myself… But we'll be just fine as long as we stick together!"

A small smile appeared on Anne's face. "Yeah. From now on, the three of us are definitely sticking together. No matter what."

"Pardon me for cutting this short and sounding like a broken record," Maki cut in. "But for the night, perhaps we should go back to the Association to rest, and then you three can begin your quest in the morning."

"Sounds good to me." Anne said. At least this time, she'd be going there by choice. "And after everything that happened today, I need the rest." She laughed a bit nervously.

And so, with pretty much everything resolved, the four of them began the walk back to the Association, their spirits mostly lifted. Kabbu and Vi talked to each other about something, Maki stayed quiet as he led the pack, and Anne… she smiled, looking up at the sky.

It was getting late, so the stars were coming out. They looked beautiful. She unzipped her backpack and took the photo of her, Sasha, and Marcy. Despite all the mistakes she's made today… she feels fine.

She looked back at the photo before looking at Kabbu and Vi once more, and then back to the photo. She couldn't deny the similarities, but they were different people, or rather… bugs than her old friends, but still.

Anne looked back up at the sky as she held the photo close to her. "Sasha, Marcy, I hope you guys are okay… because I am."

(WTB-LINE-BREAK-WTB)

Storms didn't happen often, but when they did… it was strange. For being supposedly bug-sized, the water wasn't massive, but whatever. It didn't really matter anyway, right?

The storm happened late at night around the Wasp Kingdom. To say the least, the Wasp Kingdom was… much different nowadays. But that wasn't the issue at the moment.

Deep in the Wasp Kingdom's hive, there was a lone prison cell, separated from all the others. It was small, but it worked for the prisoner they'd kept in there for a few days now. Assigned to check on the cell at least once every few hours, General Ultimax walked back to it once more, this time holding something in one of his hands.

General Ultimax was the current military leader of the Wasp Kingdom, a large wasp, most of his body being covered by the red and black military uniform he wore. His head and limbs were brown, and he almost always had a stern look on his face, as appropriate for a leader like himself.

Interestingly enough, one of his antennae was slightly injured recently, which was why there was a bandage wrapped around it. He could thank the new prisoner for it… that prisoner was a feisty one, refusing to go down fighting upon first being captured. What's strange, though, is that he… did feel slightly different afterward, but he couldn't really explain it.

Whatever, it didn't matter. He was at the dark cell now, and he stared inside of it. "Take a look at this. And don't ignore me this time when I ask you something." Ultimax's tone was anything but nice as he held up what he'd been holding so the prisoner could get a better look at it.

Ultimax held a dirty, yellow shoe up by the shoelaces. The shoe was stained with mud, and generally worse for wear. "It was found far from here, in the Outskirts." It wasn't any shoe that a bug would wear. "Now we know that you've been lying to us." His words were like poison. "Now we all know that there are more of you."

Inside the cell, Sasha Waybright was sat down, her knees close to her chest and arms crossed on her knees as she stared with a look of intense hatred and malice at her kidnapper.