Welcome to Bugaria: Act 1

Despite never having seen it for herself before now, Anne would've thought the entrance to Snakemouth Den might've been a bit more… grandeur. Everyone she's talked to built up the place so much, anyone would think it'd be a massive spectacle, with this being an entirely different world and all. But…

"This is it?" Anne asked, the disappointment evident in her voice. The massive, grey cave entrance looked so incredibly dull compared to what she'd imagined in her head. Guess there were plenty of boring things in this place as well.

"Mhm." Kabbu nodded next to her. "This is Snakemouth Den." The many large bushes and weeds in front of the cave obscured it a bit, and the yellow crystal right by the entrance gave off a warm light, as if inviting the three of them to walk inside.

"It really doesn't look that scary." Vi commented, a bit bored. She let out a small huff, which was understandable.

"Now now, don't get ahead of yourselves." Kabbu warned. "According to rumors I've heard, it is the grave of a thousand explorers. Having ended countless journeys, many a song have been written about its dangers." It did slightly unnerve Anne just how casually he said that.

"F-For real?" Vi asked, now much more afraid than bored.

"Okay, that sounds like a really big exaggeration." Anne said, but admittedly she did start sweating a little. Sure, Snakemouth Den might sound dangerous… but there was no way it could cause so many casualties or tragedies. It just didn't make sense.

"Those are the words of someone that's still ignorant." Vi said.

"Listen, you two." Kabbu said, trying to get them to focus. "The interior of this place most likely is riddled with monsters and death traps. We must be extremely cautious."

"Geez, way to sell it to us, Kabbu." Vi said, sarcasm laced in her voice. "Buuuut the higher the danger, the better the treasure!"

"Come on, what even are you expecting to be in there?" Anne questioned, wondering what Vi was fantasizing in her head. "Well, aside from that artifact." There were already multiple scenarios in her own head based on many Creatures and Caverns games she played with Sasha and Marcy back home, and many of them weren't looking that great.

"I dunno." Vi shrugged. "Berries?"

"Hm. It's true that the artifact is likely to be inside." Kabbu said. "But are simple riches worth such a risk to you, Vi?"

"Stop trying to scare me off. We're in this together, you know." Vi said.

"That's right." Anne agreed, gaining a bit more confidence in herself. "In fact, with the three of us working together, I bet we could overcome any obstacle that cave throws at us." Especially after yesterday's incident, she wanted to be absolutely sure they weren't unintentionally trying to work against each other with miscommunication or anything like that.

"And in fact…" Anne added, the gears turning in her head, trying to butter up her new friends. "If we might be in there for a bit, I know a few skills myself that could help us all out with getting food and stuff like that."

"…Really?" Vi asked, skeptical.

Anne nodded, already imagining how it would go. She saw herself in all-black hunting gear, running through the woods with a bow in her hand as she hunted for prey. She stood atop a cliff, scanning the area for food. It didn't take long before she found what she was looking for… a gigantic cooked turkey, one of the many natural inhabitants of the area, aimlessly running around.

Not wasting a second, she leapt high into air, grabbing one of the many arrows on her back, putting it onto the bow. The arrow gave off an intense blue glow as she made sure to take careful aim at her target, and before it could run away, she fired. The arrow whizzed through the air for several seconds before hitting the turkey, causing a gigantic blue explosion upon impact.

Anne landed on the ground as the explosion dissipated, leaving behind only a giant, unmoving turkey leg. Anne stood smugly as she crossed her arms, proud of her catch as not too far behind her, Kabbu and Vi stared at her in awe, surely amazed at her prowess and skill.

…And back in the real world, Anne stood there looking up at the sky, lost in her wild imagination. "…Yeah." Her little fantasy sequence ended, and she looked back to her friends.

"I think you're the one over-exaggerating now." Vi said.

"Oh, who cares about those little details." Anne shrugged it off, already getting a bit antsy. The thought of Snakemouth Den maybe having a way for her to return home filled her with energy; there had to at least be a clue or hint somewhere around here after all. "Now come on, I know you're itching to go in that cave too."

"Yeah you're right I wanna go in right now!" Vi yelled, already running ahead toward the cave.

"Hey, wait for me!" Anne yelled, laughing a little before running after her…

…

…Leaving Kabbu behind.

He'd been quiet for a bit, of course. Both of his friends were already super eager and excited, it'd be rude to interrupt them. …But at the same time, they didn't appear to take his warning seriously. They were younger than him; very naïve… like he used to be. They both were going to rush head-first into Snakemouth Den, while both for different reasons, he knew that it wouldn't end well.

But then he thought back to what Anne said; how if they all worked together, they could get through Snakemouth Den. She sounded so overconfident, and Kabbu would absolutely love to believe her without question. He would love to… but he couldn't. Urk.

"…I must make sure they stay safe." Kabbu whispered under his breath before walking after them. Luckily they didn't go too far ahead, stopping only right at the entrance.

"Geez, what happened to ya slowpoke?" Anne joked as Kabbu caught up with them.

"Er, nothing." Kabbu said, trying to push down his other thoughts. "Just didn't want to overexert myself too quickly. You might want to slow down too."

"Good man." Anne nodded. "See, that's the kind of advice that friends should give each other." …At least she listened to some of what he had to say. Hm…

"Come on, let's go inside already!" Vi said, already getting impatient. …That might be a problem, though it's not like that hasn't shown itself already. "I KNOW I'm gonna get that treasure!" She also sounded so overconfident, just like Anne did… though in a completely different way.

She was right though, there was no point to them standing around out here anymore. The three of them entered Snakemouth Den; one step of their journey down… a bunch more to go.

They looked around, the light brown interior combined with the open space giving off a less oppressive vibe than he would've thought. Just like outside, many large rocks, vines and weeds were scattered about, though in here they were mainly along the walls.

"Yeeep. Boring on the outside and inside." Anne commented, dully examining the rocks.

Kabbu walked around, noticing the large light shining in the middle of the room. It wasn't so bright that he'd need to shield his eye from it, but it was… interesting. "Look here, there's much more light in this area." He looked back to Anne and Vi, gesturing to them.

"This room must be quite near the cracked ceiling; what a surprisingly cozy entrance!" Kabbu added. Despite the place seeming 'dull' and 'boring', there really was a lot to say about it, at least in his eyes.

"Uh huh…" Vi said, clearly disinterested. "Hey, Kabbu? Do you really have to comment on every small thing?"

That small comment was almost a stab to his heart. He couldn't help it, he was just so talkative! "I…I'm sorry." But still, it could distract them or get them off-track or worse-

"Hey, ease up on him!" Anne defended. "He's given some great advice so far, there's no reason to tell him to stop. Just give him a chance."

"But it's boring." Vi complained.

"But it's useful." Anne countered. "Also, I can really use all the information I could get right now. Since, you know." …Right, her situation.

"Thank you, Anne." Kabbu said, his mood raised a bit. …Huh. That was very nice of her. To be honest, he didn't expect that from her. "In the future, if you wanna know more about something, just lemme know."

"Gotcha." Anne said. "Hm…" She put a hand to her chin, as if contemplating something. "You know what, Kabbu. This is an incredibly spontaneous decision, but you should lead the team."

"Excuse me?" Kabbu asked, just a bit taken aback, but also willing to listen to her reasoning.

"Yeah!" Anne began. "Listen, you're really good at this. Like… really, really good at this. It's almost like you have this aura of leadership and knowledge around you! Trust me, you're perfect for it."

The overwhelming amount of sudden compliments gave him an incredibly warm, fuzzy feeling inside. Kabbu did like it, but in a strange sense, it was… he couldn't put his claw on it, but there was something just different about these compared to others.

Nevertheless, he'd taken it upon himself to protect his friends, no matter what. And leading the group would help him do exactly that.

"Very well!" Kabbu declared. "Er, Vi, you've been quiet, do you have any objections to this?"

"As long as you don't start going on monologues every five minutes, then no." Vi answered.

Did she really have to remind him of that again? "R-Right. Well then!" He looked ahead, not moving forward yet. His eye quickly scanned the upcoming surroundings, trying to deduce if there was potentially anything dangerous.

Anne and Vi were about to walk forward, though Kabbu extended his arms out in front of them, stopping them. "Hold on, I should scout the area ahead first." As the new leader, he had to be absolutely sure there was zero danger.

Making sure the two wouldn't follow him, Kabbu walked a bit deeper into the cave. Hm… there were two tall pillars, and then a large wall ahead with a spring to get up. Nope. Nothing here he could see. He turned around to his friends. "Alright, everything's clear!"

But instead of the reaction he expected, Vi looked a bit surprised while Anne gasped and pointed… at him?

"Look out!" Anne yelled.

No, it was at something behind him. Kabbu swiftly turned around to see an Inichas rushing at him. He had zero time to dodge, so he tried to shield himself against the attack instead, reducing the impact it would have on him. He had zero time to wonder where the caterpillar-like creature came from, though his first guess would be behind the pillar.

Within a second, Anne and Vi charged forward, their respective weapons raised. Kabbu stepped backward away from the Inichas, ready to dodge an attack if need-be, but for now he was on the offensive.

The Inichas stopped in place for a moment, trying to decide its next target. Vi threw her boomerang, making contact and angering it. It curled up into a ball, before spinning and charging forward at the nearest target. Vi side-stepped, allowing Anne to get a clear shot.

With a yell, Anne swung her tennis racquet, knocking the Inichas backward with more force than she or anyone else expected. It crashed into the back wall, kicking up a bit of dust as well as making a frightening CRACK sound.

It didn't take long for the dust to settle, but when it did, the three of them could see that… the Inichas was just fine. The caterpillar-like creature scurried away, not wanting to deal with them anymore.

"Yeah, you better run!" Anne called out, before focusing back on the others. "Kabbu, great job distracting that thing for us. Totally genius, I never would've thought of it myself."

Another compliment! …But, this one didn't feel as… earned. "I-uh… thank you?" Kabbu said. The sudden increasing amount of compliments he received… they were in good faith. Anne was just cheering him on, like a friend would. "Now that we've dealt with that, we should get a move on."

"Uhhh… there's a small problem with that." Vi said. Kabbu turned to see what she was talking about, and… oh. When the Inichas crashed into the wall, it also crashed into the spring, mangling it beyond recognition and rendering it unusable.

"…That was the only way to scale the cliff." Kabbu said, pointing out the obvious.

"Well hang on a second, we can't give up that easily!" Anne said to the two of them. "Come on, we can think of a plan. Hm…" She thought for just a moment before reaching a conclusion. "Oh! Vi!"

"Me?" Vi asked, not following.

"Yeah! You! You're a bee, you can fly us up there!" Anne suggested. …Of course, Kabbu should've thought of that earlier! Bees never evolved past the need to fly, after all.

"Because you're a bee!" Anne continued. Vi didn't look enthusiastic. "And bees can fly, so I thought…" Anne frowned, seeing Vi's unhappy expression. "There's a problem with this, isn't there?"

"Uh, yeah." Vi answered with a huff. "First of all, I doubt I have the strength to carry either of you, especially Kabbu." Ouch. "Second of all, I don't feel like flying right now. Unless I absolutely have to, I won't."

Anne sighed, disappointed that her plan was shot down so quick. "Alright, if you say so." Though that disappointment had a quick turnaround time. "Kabbu, what do we do next?"

"W-well, uh…" Truth be told, Kabbu did not have any idea what to do off the top of his head, but… he had to think of something! He didn't want to disappoint Anne, and… he had to prove he could be successful, that he could help the team out in a pinch! …And he might be wanting to get complimented again.

He scanned the area once more, trying to find anything that could help them. Come on, come on… Anne and Vi were counting on him! Uh… err… oh! That could work! Yeah, definitely!

Kabbu ran over to where there were a bunch of large, albeit slightly prickly vines on the ground. "Help me pull these out!" He called out.

"Um, why do we need these?" Vi asked, a bit skeptical.

"I have a plan, and we need these for it!" Kabbu explained. The three of them took several minutes pull out multiple vines, making sure to avoid the thorns. Once Kabbu was satisfied with the amount they had, he went to the next part of his plan.

He carefully tied each vine together, making a large rope-like vine in the process. This took a bit, but Anne and Vi waited patiently. He made a lasso out of it, pulling on the vines to make sure they would be stable. These skills were sort of… second nature to him by now.

Kabbu stepped back a bit, the lasso in hand. He got some momentum on it, swinging around several times before throwing it up the cliff, and… yes! The lasso snagged on a rock, perfect! He ran over to the wall and pulled on the vines as a test. The lasso didn't get loose. Just as he planned.

"There we go!" Kabbu said, admiring his handiwork. He turned back to Anne and Vi. "We can use the vine to climb up the cliff!" Kabbu gestured to the vine that extended to the ground, his heart racing a bit as he anticipated their reactions. One second, then another, and…

Anne clapped a few times, a smile on her face. "That's perfect!" She beamed. Yes, the validation! "Really, you did a great job." Anne added. The giddiness in Kabbu momentarily spiked; he was proving himself! If he just kept this up for… a while, then… then he'd able to protect them from anything!

"This doesn't look safe at all." Vi said, her arms crossed. Agh… now Kabbu wasn't as sure of him- "You try it first." She added.

"Y-Yes!" Kabbu beamed without any hesitation. "Absolutely, I'll show you that it's perfectly safe!" He came up with the plan, he just now had to prove it worked. Hm… Looking at it again, he did think about the possibility it might not support his weight… but if it did, then it would definitely support the other two! Yes, a perfect idea for him to go up first!

He walked over to the vine, gripping it with both hands while watching out for the prickly parts. Then, he carefully planted one foot on the wall, gulping a little. This would be the point of no return… He planted the other foot on the wall, and… everything remained stable. Whew.

Now that he was sure everything would be okay, Kabbu carefully climbed up the wall, making sure to be careful. It took a few minutes, but he did manage to get to the top without issue. Anne cheered for him once he made it, which by now he expected to happen but was happy about.

Kabbu turned around to look down at the other two. "It's good! Come up, you'll be okay!"

"Well, it worked after all." Vi said. Was she expecting it not to? "Guess I'll go next. And no, I still don't feel like flying." With a sigh, she walked over to the vine and began to climb up herself. She wasn't being nearly as careful as Kabbu was, but in the end she got up to the top within a minute or so.

"Okay, Anne!" Kabbu called out. "Take your time, don't rush!"

Anne looked up, taking in a deep breath as she prepared herself for what she had to do next. "Alright Anne, let's hope those gymnastics classes paid off… even if I didn't pay attention that much." She cracked her knuckles, preparing herself.

Kabbu watched as she carefully climbed up the vine, using the same technique that he did. She was slow, but it was also the safest way to go about this. However, despite how safe she was, there was one small thing Kabbu forgot to account for.

And that was when he initially used the vine, the strain of his weight weakened it a bit… and then when Vi climbed up, her's added to it. And now that Anne was trying to climb up, and she was taking a while to, well…

Anne stopped for a moment to shake some sweat off her head. She was so close to the top, "Just a little bit more, and-" In a second, a tear on the vine grew, leading to the vine snapping off entirely. She screamed as she was about to fall, but…

In that same second, Kabbu realized what was happening. The adrenaline in his body shot up in an instant as he reached down, grabbing Anne's hand before she could fall too far. The vine fell to the ground below her, and both of them stayed there for a few moments, trying to process what was happening.

"Anne! I won't let you fall, I promise!" Kabbu yelled. The look in Anne's eyes had shifted completely from confident to terrified in a split second when the vine snapped, and now it was up to Kabbu to make sure she remained safe.

Making sure he was stable enough that he himself wouldn't fall, Kabbu reached down with his other hand, grabbing Anne's wrist tightly. Straining himself a bit, he closed his eye as he desperately tried to pull Anne up, though having a bit of difficulty doing so.

No! He couldn't fail, especially… not… not now! A brief burst of strength overtook him, and with it, Kabbu yelled out as he finally managed to pull Anne up onto the cliff, letting go of her and stumbling back a bit as he did so. He ended up tripping back and falling, landing clumsily in a sitting position.

Anne fell to her knees, taking deep breaths as she looked at the ground. "…I think I almost died. Thanks, Kabb-"

"Why are you thanking him?" Vi yelled, up until now having been too transfixed on what happened to do anything. "Look, his stupid plan ended up backfiring! It almost got you killed or seriously injured!"

"I-It wasn't stupid…" Kabbu said, now unwilling to stand up. He thought he was so close to victory, to his friends trusting him, but…

"Well, how would you have fixed it?" Anne countered… defending him? Why was she still defending him after he… no, don't question it. If Anne was still defending him, then he did good, right?

"I-I don't know!" Vi answered. "Maybe like… make the vines more durable? Listen, I'm not an expert at this!"

"Listen." Anne said, standing up. "Even if he might've made a mistake, that doesn't mean he can't make up for it later. And besides, he's trying his best."

…Make up for it later? A concept foreign to him, and yet… in a weird sort of way, it made sense. For every mistake he made, he had to doubly pay them back in some sort of way. It was the only way Kabbu could keep them safe, after all. They… needed to be watched over. Protected. They had to trust him to do so, so from now on he couldn't afford to make even a tiny mistake.

Kabbu stood up, already trying to figure out a way to make up for his mishap. "Team!" He called to the other two. "Even with a few… difficulties, we made it up here! Now all we have to do is…" He looked behind him, just to check and make sure. "Go back down the other side."

"We're not doing the vine thing again." Vi said.

"Understood." Kabbu replied. He had an idea of what he shouldn't try to work with, so… he just needed to think of something, and-

"Hey, we can slide down that huge weed!" Anne said. Kabbu's heart sunk a bit as he looked in the direction that Anne pointed in and… she was right. There was a weed growing out of the ground, stretching up far enough that they would all be to grab it and slide down to the ground safely.

"Nice one, Anne!" Vi said with a smile, already walking over to it.

Kabbu was happy with it too, but… maybe if he was a bit faster, the team would've praised him for finding it out, and he already would've made progress in fixing the near-disastrous mistake he made. It's okay… he just… had to find another opportunity!

Yeah, that was it. There were still many chances to redeem himself, he just… had to wait for his chance. And not screw up and make any more mistakes. He repeated this so much in his head, but it was what had to be done if he could protect them.

Without much hesitation, Anne grabbed onto the giant weed, sliding down safely to the lower ground. A bit reckless, but it did work out in the end. Vi slid down moments later, apparently not wanting to use her wings even for this. Once the weed was clear, Kabbu cautiously walked over to it, carefully grabbing it firmly before pressing his entire body against it, allowing himself to slide down semi-gracefully.

"Okay, that should be the last impasse." Anne said as Kabbu reached the bottom, a hopeful tone in her voice. "Which means we should be smoo-" But when she turned around to the path ahead, it was clear as day that there would be another problem. "Oh come on!"

There was a steadily flowing river ahead, and there was a bridge to get across, the only issue was that the bridge was raised up way too high in the air for them to reasonably walk across. The three walked up to it, trying to get a better view.

"The bridge seems to be out." Kabbu noted, thinking out loud. "How are we going to cross?"

"Well, that's it." Vi overdramatically sighed, preparing to turn around. "Game over. Let's go back."

"This is way too early for that, there has to be a way across." Anne said, putting a hand on her chin as if trying to think of something. She then snapped her fingers. "Got it. Kabbu, you find a way across." Wait, wha-

"Anne, I was obviously joking, of course there's a way across." Vi sighed, and it wasn't immediately obvious if she was being truthful or backpedaling. "…Kabbu, you can find a way across."

Being put on the spot by both of his friends, Kabbu froze up for a moment. Now they were both relying on him…? Wait, what was he thinking, this was his chance!

"Of course!" Kabbu said, although a bit too loudly. "Of course I can! Just, uh…" He hurriedly scanned the area, uh let's see… the water level on the river was way too low, there's no way they could try and swim across. And Vi wasn't willing to try and fly them across, so…

Oh! He got it! "Anne, Vi, you see that?" Kabbu called out. He pointed to the other side of the river flow, where there was a wooden board with a glow blue switch on it, as well as a rope attached to the wooden board, and that same rope was attached to the bridge.

"What's that?" Anne asked, inquiring about the blue switch.

"That's one of those ancient switches." Vi answered. "So, we just need to hit it?"

"Yes, exactly!" Kabbu said. "Vi, if you used your beemerang, you could hit the switch, and it should gently lower the bridge so we can all safely cross!" Yes, yes, this was working… he would be making up for his past mistakes, one step at a time… everything was going smoothly, back on track.

"Hear you loud and clear." Vi said, a determined look on her face as she brought out her beemerang. She walked a bit closer to the edge and prepared herself before she swung her beemerang.

Kabbu watched as it spun through the air, but… it didn't reach the switch before it flew back to her. She grabbed it, and grew impatient. "Come on, you stupid little…" Vi threw it again with much more force, but then this is where everything started to go wrong.

Because of Vi's frustration, she inadvertedly threw the beemerang at an odd angle, and instead of hitting the switch like Kabbu wanted, the beemerang hit the rope, cutting through it. The rope flew upward, and then the bridge creaked, tilting to one side before haphazardly falling.

Thankfully, the bridge did land on the ground properly, but not before causing shockwaves thanks to how hard each side slammed down. Anne yelped, falling down, but that wasn't the end of it. Vi wasn't prepared for the beemerang to come back, so it hit her in the face, causing her to yell out.

And to make matters even worse, the shockwaves and vibrations caused a sudden increase in water flow, which in turn caused some of it to splash over the three of them, getting them completely drenched and soaked.

…It took a minute for Kabbu to register what happened. So much in the span of several seconds, he needed to replay it in his head a few times to process it properly. …Why did he feel colder than usual? Oh yeah, he was soaking wet.

"…That… could've gone better." Anne said after an uncomfortably long silence. She stood up, checking her backpack as water dripped off of her. "Oh good, my backpack is still mostly dry." She sounded very concerned about that.

"Agh, my fur is all wet!" Vi complained, trying to furiously shake the water off of her. The water sprayed everywhere, getting more of it on Anne and Kabbu. Vi grumbled, picking up her beemerang off the ground, and without warning, she spun to face Kabbu, pointing the beemerang at him. "I blame you for this!"

"Wh-why?" Kabbu asked, putting his hands up and backing away a few steps. How was he supposed to predict what would happen when he gave that suggestion?

"You're the one that told me to do this in the first place!" Vi yelled. "And looked what happened!" She gestured to herself and Anne, the latter starting to shiver a little from the cold wetness.

"But I didn't mean for it to turn out this way!" Kabbu defended himself. He could easily rationalize himself out of this, after all there was ZERO chance that he'd do something that would end up hurting his friends… intentionally, at least. "I just wanted to help you all! You're all my friends, I-I-"

"Kabbu, buddy, it's alright." Anne said, in that same tone from earlier. "It's okay to make mistakes!" …That was a relief to hear. "Because your friends know that no matter how long it takes, you'll make it up to them and pay them back." …Wait- "And no matter how many mistakes you make and how much debt you end up in, you still have like, a lot of chances."

The beetle stayed silent, the information digging its way deep into his head, taking root throughout some of his deepest, darkest memories, this new, added context changing perhaps everything. It'd been hammered into his head multiple times now, so it had to be true. One of his friends told him this, so it had to be true. There's no way one of his friends would lead him astray.

"Um… can we cross the bridge before anything else goes wrong?" Vi asked. Yes, that made sense, after all who knows what else could happen as a result of the accident that… that he caused. Even if it was an accident, it was his fault.

Anne said something in response to Vi, and the two girls began to cross the large bridge, Kabbu trailing off behind them. Now hyper-aware of everything around him, Kabbu needed to stay vigilant; more than he ever had been in his entire life.

The more mistakes he made, then the more debt he'd end up in with his friends, so he'd need to pay them back even more but in trying to do so he might make more mistakes so he has to work even harder to make sure he doesn't make those mistakes and-

His thoughts zipped by him so fast; too fast. He shut his eyes and tried to think of anything else, but his mind was stuck hyperfocusing on this. Just… try and do this one step at a time, all you have to do is protect your friends AND try and get rid of the accumulating debt with them…

Kabbu opened his eyes, and he was still on the bridge.

Vi and Anne were not.

Shoot-they'd already gotten a bit ahead, exploring the area ahead. Kabbu hurriedly walked to the end of the bridge, hopping off of it and trying to make sure that the two weren't doing anything stupid, but- oh no.

Kabbu turned his head when he heard Vi's voice; she was reading off of a leaf sign that she found. "Leave this place, for beyond this point lies great danger." Vi read. "We have already lost of ours to this wretched place…"

That ominous message sent chills through Kabbu's body, the apparent danger of this place becoming less of a rumor and more of an undeniable fact. There was written proof of a bug dying.

"Heh, this isn't gonna get in my way!" Vi proclaimed, getting her beemerang back out. She was really going to take this as a challenge? "Danger's just an obstacle I'll overcome!" Nononono-

And as if to make matters even worse, out of the corner of his eye, Kabbu saw Anne pick something up off the ground, and when he spun around to get a better look, in her hand was a purple mushroom.

"I wonder what would happen if I ate this mushroom I found…" Anne wondered out loud. "Well, only one way to find out. Getting kinda hungry, anyway."

It took a moment for Kabbu to register what exactly the purple mushroom was, but when remembered that it was a Danger Shroom, that's when his brain went into overdrive.

Vi and Anne were just… throwing themselves into danger, and if he didn't protect them from it then it would be his fault and then he'd be in more debt with them and he couldn't afford to have that happen so he needed to protect them and keep them out of danger so he'd need to stop making mistakes but by standing here and doing nothing he was making plenty of mistakes and-

He couldn't take it.

…

"STOP!"

…Despite all the times she may have been yelled at, Anne had never heard someone scream so loudly, much less one of her friends. She froze in place, slowly turning to stare at Kabbu. She didn't have much time to react before Kabbu rushed over to her, slapping the mushroom out of her hand.

"Ow-hey!" Anne yelped, the mushroom flying to the ground somewhere out of her sight. "What the heck, dude?" She was trying to ration out the remaining food in her backpack as long as possible, but this was not helping.

"You can't just eat anything you find off the ground!" Kabbu yelled. Anne was going to try and argue back but Kabbu already refocused his attention onto Vi, running over to her and pulling her away from the sign.

"What the heck?" Vi yelled, her anger and confusion entirely justified as Kabbu practically dragged her away, only stopping when she was near Anne.

"You have to take stuff like that seriously!" Kabbu said. "This place really is dangerous, so we have to be absolutely careful at all costs! No unnecessary risks!" Vi flinched a little as he said that.

Anne's confusion and low frustration only grew as Kabbu began pacing, walking back and forth while muttering something to himself that she couldn't hear. This behavior not only confused her, but also was a bit… worrying.

Kabbu stopped, facing the two of them. "Stay right there!" His eye briefly twitched. "I need to… check ahead! Make sure the area's secure! Yeah, yeah… so don't move!" Kabbu slowly stepped away, keeping his eyes on them before turning around entirely.

Not moving like he told her to, Anne watched as Kabbu checked every little crevice and spot he could think of. His movements were rushed, panicked, as if his entire life depended on this. She hoped this wouldn't take too long, but as the minutes slowly crawled by her hopes began to dwindle.

Vi groaned out loud, crossing her arms and stamping her foot. "What the heck is he doing?"

"I don't know!" Anne shrugged. "He just started… acting like this." She looked back him, and she could've sworn he was scouring a place he already did a few moments ago.

"Well I'm tired of it!" Vi said. "Oi! Kabbu!" He didn't even acknowledge her; he was too wrapped up in what he was doing. "Hurry up and stop wasting our time, this isn't that dire!"

Now Kabbu turned around, finally paying attention. "Yes it is! I'm trying to protect you and make up for my past mistakes so I won't hurt you again!" His voice rose, trying desperately to get his point across.

"You're being way too overdramatic right now!" Vi yelled back. Anne looked back and forth between the two bugs, unable to figure out how to stop the growing argument between them. "Really, it's not as big of a deal as you're making it out to be!" Vi stepped forward, closer to him.

"It is a big deal!" Kabbu argued, stepping toward her. "I… I-I have to do this! For you, for Anne, for-" He stopped himself. For? For what? "Just don't argue with me on this, okay!"

Despite what he said, Vi did continue to argue, walking away from Anne and toward Kabbu, not getting too up close to him but just enough. Kabbu stood his ground, trying to not let anything further slip as his tone made his anger and panicked state extremely clear.

But in spite of all that, Anne could no longer focus on what they were saying, her head choosing to echo some of what Kabbu said. That's… hold on. Anne looked away, trying to drive her focus away from the argument.

Kabbu specifically said that he had to do this. That he had to make up for his past mistakes. Well… it was true… that's what she's known from her own friendships, it's how she's always lived life; if she forgot something such as bringing an extra lunch for one of her friends one day, then she'd have to pay them back later somehow, and she couldn't make any other mistakes. It was stressful and kept her on her toes, but she had to if she wanted to keep those friendships.

…And yet, when that same logic was applied here, it had a completely different, entirely unexpected result. She never intended to be malicious when giving Kabbu the advice, but it was only after he took the advice that everything made a turn for the worse.

It was a contradiction of what she knew, of what she knew was the correct thing to do. She'd been able to keep up her friendship with Sasha and Marcy so long because of it, and now look where it's gotten her in her new friendship. Her two friends she met a few days ago are now arguing with each other…

…All because of this foundation she'd built up for herself, slowly but surely starting to show a crack or two, though it might not be noticeable at first… it was there.

But as she heard something above her, the metaphorical cracks she didn't even know about now turned into physical cracks she somehow managed to hear over the argument. She heard the cracks again, and looked up.

Hanging from the ceiling were multiple stalactites, a few of them a bit loose thanks to what happened with the bridge earlier. Only one of them was cracking, close to breaking off entirely. And when Anne looked down to see where it would land… oh no. Right on top of Kabbu.

The stalactite was a big one, too. Anne quickly looked back and forth at it and Kabbu multiple times, trying to figure out a good way to tell him to move. But in her panic, she took too long and the stalactite broke off. Kabbu nor Vi even noticed.

Anne gasped out loud; there was no time to tell Kabbu to get out of the way. But… as if on instinct, Anne charged forward, her vision briefly gaining a bluish hue even if she didn't notice it. She dashed forward at lighting speed, time seemingly slowing down as she ran.

Within moments she was upon Kabbu, the beetle only barely having enough time to look at her before she tackled him, causing both of them to go tumbling to the ground several feet away. The stalactite crashed to the ground where Kabbu once stood, splitting into many pieces that scattered across the cave floor.

Kabbu and Anne landed next to each other, far away from the danger of the now-broken stalactite. They took a few seconds to breathe, Anne's heart racing a million miles per hour. Kabbu turned to look back at where the stalactite fell, his eye scanning the area a bit.

"…Oh… oh my." Kabbu said, his voice low and a bit hoarse from the yelling. "Thank you for saving me, Anne." He took a few deep breaths before standing up, extending out a hand to help Anne up too.

"It's nothing, dude." Anne said in between breaths, letting Kabbu help her stand up. Geez, her adrenaline must've run out quick; she was already feeling extremely tired. …But not enough to pass out.

The two of them looked back at the wreckage, and only in that moment did Anne remember that Vi existed. The bee's face had a shocked expression on her; it was understandable. At least she'd been out of the way of the danger… mostly.

There were bits of the stalactite still on Vi, but she was easily able to shake them off and brush away any of the remaining stragglers. "That… was really close." She said, walking over to them while trying to avoid stepping on any remaining pieces on the ground.

"Well Kabbu, looks like you have even more debt to pay back now that Anne saved you." Vi joked as she reached them, giggling a bit. Although it was obvious to Anne it was a joke, when she saw Kabbu's reaction her heart dropped.

His eye widened a little in anxiousness, and that confirmed all her suspicions.

…No, she couldn't keep things going like this.

"Guys, wait a second." Anne said, getting both of them to listen to her. A part of her told herself to be quiet, that everything would be easier if she didn't say anything. But when she got reminded of how Kabbu reacted earlier, the other part of her won out. She had to say this… to appease them.

Yeah, that was it after all. She just had to find the right words and say the right things… just like how it always was back home. With her best friends. They were all friends for a reason, after all.

"Kabbu, look." Anne began. The beetle turned to face her, his expression still a bit panicked. "We all know you did some stuff wrong, you might've miscalculated how tough those vines were, or messed up the bridge thing, or…" Anne shook her head. "But that's besides the point.

"Look, you don't owe me or Vi or anyone else anything." Anne paused for a moment, hoping she didn't accidentally make things worse. "Friends… friends shouldn't have to keep a constant tally of their debts and mistakes, that's dumb. They should just be able to be… friends."

For a moment, what she said sounded… right. Almost soothing, in fact. …But this was just supposed to be so Kabbu wouldn't get upset over it anymore. "Everyone makes mistakes sometimes." Anne knew she'd made more than her fair share of them herself. "And friends should always have each other's backs, no matter what."

…There. That should be enough. Everything that was the antithesis of what she told him earlier. Hopefully, it was enough to convince him. But… was there some part of her, deep inside… trying to convince herself of this too? …No… at least that's what she wanted to say.

At the end of the day, she shouldn't have tried to force her own habits on people from another world; that was just plain stupid. Ah well, she knew better now. In the future, she'll try to be better about it.

"I… thanks Anne, that… helped." Kabbu said, sounding a bit more relaxed. Good. It worked. "I suppose you're right, then." He held his hands together, looking away, blushing a little.

"Kabbu, you want a hug, don't you?" Vi asked, reading the beetle's mind.

"After that near-death experience, it… would be appreciated, yes." Kabbu answered.

"Oh, bring it in you two." Anne said. Friends also deserved to hug each other. That was something nobody could argue against.

The three of them went in for a group hug, all of them cherishing the moment and embrace. There were still very brief doubts in Anne's head, but they were squashed almost immediately. Friends were… friends, and that was that.

"I think we should get a move on before anything else falls on us." Vi said, deadpan. She had a good point.

They broke off the hug, all of them muttering in agreement before making sure they had all their things before quickly moving forward, Anne taking one last look at the stalactites while reflecting on everything that happened over the past several minutes.

…Everything was fine.