Welcome to Bugaria: Act 1

When you first get to know someone, you don't quite know too much about them. Over time, you learn more and more, each new fact or interaction having the potential to make or break the relationship. Of course, most of the time it wasn't that simple. 

...Most of the time. 

But enough about that. Despite a rocky start with her two teammates, things were finally starting to look up for her. It was nowhere near close to any sense of normalcy, but... was something. Vi didn't know everything about Kabbu and Anne, but at this point she trusted them enough. 

"Okay, what crazy challenge does this place have in store for us next?" Anne asked, spelling out her thoughts out loud. The three of them were walking through the place for a bit, the occasional obstacle not much of any trouble at all for them. 

"Maybe those legends were wrong, and the real reason nobody got through this place was because it was so boring." Vi said, making a joke. Really, though, getting through this place was much easier than she anticipated so far. 

"...I don't think anything could get that lost in translation." Kabbu replied, missing the point entirely. 

It wasn't long before they did reach something of interest. The path ended, and front of them... for one, it was a dead end. But that wasn't the important part. There was a gigantic, almost ominous door at the end of the path. It looked incredibly heavy, with two dull, grey parts along the middle. 

The three stared in awe for several seconds, almost caught off-guard. "That looks super important!" Vi said, before running up to the door, completely missing everything else on the way. "Hey, maybe the artifact is behind this door!" 

Kabbu and Anne walked up after her, both of them getting a closer look at the door. "It's... not out of the realm of possibility." Kabbu said. 

"Well, only one way to find out." Anne said, cracking her knuckles. She strolled past Vi, before grabbing at both sides of the separation in the middle of the door. With all her might, she pulled as hard as she could, groaning out loud at her efforts. But after several seconds, the door didn't even budge at all, and she turned back to the others. 

"Yeah, it's not happening. I think we've reached a..." Anne gasped overdramatically. "Dead end." 

"Anne, these are some kind of ancient ruins! There's no way this is a dead end!" Vi said. There was no way that kind of big door just happened in this place naturally. That was proof there was at least some kind of treasure here. 

"Right." Kabbu nodded in agreement. "If we leave no stone unturned, we will open a path!" As he said that, Vi was looking around, already trying to find another way out of the room. And now that she was actually taking a look at her surroundings, she might've just found it. 

"Kabbu, that's it!" Vi said, pointing at the puzzle they literally walked over a minute ago. There was a big mossy rock, two large and circular switches, and in between those switches was some kind of metal platform embedded a couple inches into the ground. 

"This... is child's play." Anne scoffed, gesturing to one of the switches. "You obviously just have to get that rock onto that switch, and then..." She gestured to the other switch, nervous and unsure of what to say next. "Oh! We use our combined weight to activate the other switch!" 

"But what about when we need to get off the switch?" Kabbu asked. Anne didn't have an answer. 

"There's obviously another rock somewhere. We just have to find it." Vi explained. "First, we have to find a way to move this rock." She walked over to the rock, already realizing that there's no way she'd be able to move it on her own. 

"Allow me!" Kabbu said. Vi watched as Kabbu walked over to the rock, bowing his head down before suddenly using his horn to upstrike the rock, sending it flying toward the switch. The rock didn't quite land on the switch, but if Kabbu did that one or two more times, it would eventually reach the switch. 

"Vi, Anne, try to find the other rock!" Kabbu said. The two girls nodded before beginning their search. 

"Is there even anywhere in this place another rock like that could be?" Vi asked as she looked around, starting to consider trying Anne's combined weight idea. Her eyes scanned the area for a minute before she stopped, noticing something of interest. Near one of the walls, there was a suspicious-looking bush. "Hey Anne, check this out!" 

After she got Anne's attention, both of them walked over to the bush, parting it to see what was on the other side. A spring, and next to that an incredibly tall structure. "Whoa." Anne said, a bit hesitant. "That looks a bit... unsafe." 

Vi sighed. "Don't worry, I'll see what's up there." She was the only one out of the three of them that could safely fly down from a high place. Vi walked up to the spring, looking between the spring and how tall the rocky structure was. 

With the thought of treasure fresh in her mind, Vi didn't hesitate before jumping onto the spring. When she made contact, it launched her much higher in the air than she initially expected, and she flailed her limbs around, trying to steady herself before landing onto the structure. ...But it didn't work. She grunted as she landed flat on her face, the rest of her body absorbing most of the impact. 

"...That could've been more graceful." Vi groaned. Eh, whatever. It's not like she was some princess that needed to be overly graceful to swoon prince charming. "Eh, whatever." She picked herself up, trying to hurry this along. "That rock has to be here somewhere..." 

It didn't take long at all for her to find it, but not exactly in the place she expected. Not far from the structure, there was a thick vine hanging from the ceiling, and wrapped up on it was exactly what she needed. And she knew just how to get to it. 

Vi took out her beemerang, taking a couple seconds to aim it precisely. She threw it, watching as the weapon spun toward the vine. It made direct contact, and the rock fell loose from the vine, the beemerang flying back to her. 

What she didn't realize, is where the rock was falling. After Kabbu had gotten the first switch activated, he and Anne started idly chatting with each other, passing the time. The rock roughly landed on the ground in between them, surprising them both. 

Vi looked down at the two of them, and they looked back up at her. "Sorry about that!" She yelled, loud enough so they could hear her. She internally grimaced, the thought of either of her teammates crushed not a pleasant image. 

"It's alright!" Kabbu called back up to her. Vi breathed a sigh of relief, putting the beemerang away before jumping off the structure and fluttering back down safely, thankful that she had her wings. As she did that, Kabbu began upstriking the rock onto the other switch. 

Vi landed safely on the ground, next to Anne. If there wasn't anything that any of them missed, then that should be it for this area. And following that would be... the door. 

"You know, I think we make a pretty great team." Anne said. Vi looked at her, and then at Kabbu. ...You know what? She was right. The three of them were great together. Finally, she would prove them wrong... 

Kabbu got the rock onto the switch, and the ground began rumbling. Vi gasped, only standing still for another second before running to meet Kabbu, Anne right behind her. When the three of them met up, staring at the door in anticipation for... 

For disappointment. The ground stopped rumbling, and the door never opened. Their efforts weren't all for naught, though, because something dropped down from the ceiling, landing on the metal part of the floor and rolling a little. And when they took a look at what it was... 

"A mushroom?" Kabbu asked, confused. A... A mushroom. Just some random blue mushroom. 

"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me!" Anne yelled in frustration, throwing her arms up in the air. "We did all this for that ?" She then threw her arms in the direction of the mushroom. 

"I know, right!" Vi's internal fury and rage increased by the second. "It wasn't even a rare item! Heck, it wasn't even a rare mushroom!" What were any of them supposed to do now? She contributed, she helped, she got the rock down... all for a mushroom ? Did whoever build this take her for a fool? 

"Uh, that wasn't the point I was trying to-" Anne tried to cut in, but Vi started up again. 

"Who designed this place?" Vi yelled. "I'll sting them in the face! I'll tear the place DOWN!" Her rage was unparalleled, the sheer fact that she came all this way just for this was almost enough to get her to go berserk. 

"Vi, remember what you said earlier?" Kabbu asked. Vi had absolutely no idea where he was going with this, but she'd listen anyway. "These are ancient ruins, so there can't be a dead end. Maybe the mushroom is just a clue to the next piece of the puzzle." 

"Kabbu, I know you're optimistic, but I think that's pushing it a little." Anne said, walking over to the metal part of the floor. "I mean, come on , how is this little mushroom supposed to help us go through that huge door?" She gestured to the mushroom and then the door, trying to illustrate her argument. 

By now, Vi was... a bit calmer. Kabbu did have a point. The mushroom wouldn't just show up for no reason, that's just dumb. "Just to be sure, we should... I dunno, examine the mushroom? Maybe it's a key or something." She walked over to Anne, shivering a little as she transitioned from the dirt floor to the almost downright freezing metal floor. Man, that was cold. 

Kabbu walked over too, standing next to Anne. "I don't see what the big deal is." Anne sighed, bending down and picking up the mushroom. "It's just some weird-" She paused, the ground starting to rumble again. 

Maybe the mushroom was a key after all. The three of them spun around, facing the door, and after several seconds... the shaking stopped, and the metal floor they all stood on opened up, giving them no time to react before they abruptly fell down, plummeting to who knows where. 

The three of them screamed, and it only took half a second before Vi reacted, her wings flapping wildly on their own. Her fall slowed until it stopped completely, before she flew back up, back into the room she and the others were just in. 

"Phew. That was close." Was all Vi could say as she took in the severity of what just happened, fluttering in place. 

...That was a trapdoor. And they fell for the trap, hook, line, and sinker. ...Unbelievable. She looked down, hearing a groan from below. ...Oh yeah, she was the only one who could fly. "Kabbu! Anne! Are you two okay?" She called out. She heard another groan. "I guess they are. Hmm..." 

She stayed there for a few, pondering to herself. On one hand, there was bound to be treasure or something else ahead if it was hidden by a trapdoor of all things. On the other hand... whatever was down there, it gave her a bad feeling thinking about it. 

Right now would be the perfect time to go home, if she really wanted to. Over the past several days, she had to face off against some unknown "beast", defend herself against a horde of Seedlings, and got into several unfortunate arguments. ...Would going back home really be that bad? She was already struggling a bit as is, but... 

But even though she was struggling, she still had her teammates. Anne's words from earlier rung in her mind. "We make a pretty great team." The human girl had said. Plus, three of them stuck by each other this far. It wouldn't be fair to leave them to fend for themselves in this cave, and then if anyone questioned her and she lied... no. She wasn't going to spiral far down that path of "what ifs". She was going to do the right thing. Even if she hated it. 

"I'm going to regret this..." She sighed out loud, before slowly flying down to meet the two of them. 

… 

Almost conveniently right as Vi went out of view, the ground rumbled once more. The grey, unlit markings on the door glowed a bright blue as the door creaked open, stopping with just enough room for anyone to enter if they chose. 

… 

To Vi's relief, Kabbu and Anne had landed on a gigantic, soft, blue mushroom, which for the most part broke their fall. However, they were still lying face down on the ground, occasionally groaning. Vi landed next to them. 

"No rush. I can wait." She said, when after a few seconds they didn't get up. 

It wasn't too much longer before they finally stood up, Anne getting to her feet first as she looked behind herself at her backpack. "I really hope nothing in here got broken." She grimaced. 

Kabbu stood up next, breathing heavily. "Oof... I am lucky this mushroom broke my fall." 

"I would've tried to carry you, but..." Vi said, already trying to come up with an excuse. "Kabbu, you seem really heavy, and I can't carry more than one at a time." 

"I assure you I am lighter than I seem." Kabbu explained. Uh huh. 

"Whatever the case, we need to find another way out. I'm already getting a bad feeling from this place." Anne said, shivering a little. That much was true. This place did feel... really creepy. 

"I must agree, Anne." Kabbu said with a nod. "And there doesn't seem to be a way out for either of us, so we will have to look around." 

"Let's be careful, okay?" Vi asked. "You two were almost goners!" Hm... She was already starting to regret this. Just a little bit. 

The three of them carefully got off the huge mushroom, using the huge sticks and rocks as stepping stones. They idly chatted amongst themselves as they walked forward, not paying attention to what lie ahead until Vi shivered, a huge wave of cold washing over her. 

"Hey, is it just me or-" Vi began, but stopped when she saw something out of the corner of her eye, looking ahead to see what it was. When she turned to look, the other two did as well. 

"Whoa. That was quick." Anne remarked. 

In front of the three of them was a gigantic spider web, a tall rock on either side supporting the web. The web went all the way up to the ceiling, and there was no way to pass through otherwise. But if it was just that, then it wouldn't be anywhere near noteworthy. No... this was much bigger than any treasure Vi could've imagined. 

Wrapped up tightly in the middle of the web with only his head and part of his fluff sticking out was... a moth. A blue one, strangely enough, with thick, black, and fluffy antennae drooping down. She recognized him as a geometer moth, but why was he blue? 

Anne made a face of disgust looking at him. "Yuck. Is he dead?" 

"Yikes..." Vi said. Looks like Kabbu's warning wasn't an exaggeration after all. 

"By the Queen! What a terrible fate..." Kabbu said, a bit somber. "A moment of silence, in solidarity for a fallen explorer." 

Out of respect, the three of them stayed silent, and only then did the reality of the situation hit Vi. This was the proof. The proof that this place was dangerous, and that she might've bitten off more than she could chew. A previous explorer died here . How? She didn't know, but there he was right in front of her. If she was alone, she definitely would've high-tailed it out of here by now. 

But she reminded herself that she was with her friends, her teammates, and there was no immediate danger... wait, what was that noise? It sounded like... low rumbling. Not the kind from earlier when they were doing the puzzles, but... 

"Is that snoring?" Anne asked. The sound was coming from... the web. The web.  

"Wait! He's alive!" Vi screamed the moment that it registered in her head. 

"Quick! We must free him!" Kabbu commanded. Vi was going through a whirlwind of emotions, so much was happening at once. 

"Right!" Anne agreed, unzipping her backpack to presumably grab a weapon to help cut the web. 

"I'm gonna see if the beemerang can cut through the web!" Vi called out, getting the beemerang back out. At the same time, Anne got her tennis racquet out of her backpack before zipping it back up. The two of them walked closer to the web. 

Kabbu nodded, before turning around. "Okay, I'm going to make sure there are no other surviv-" He suddenly stopped, turning back around. "Watch out!" With no time to process what was going on, Vi yelled as she and Anne were pushed out of the way of something, both of them landing clumsily on the ground. 

Vi turned her head just in time to see a string shot fly through the web, just inches off hitting Kabbu, who managed to jump out of the way. Next to her, Anne groaned as she got up, freezing as a booming ROAR shook the room. Vi almost mindlessly got up, at this point her body just following the motions of what it was supposed to do as she subconsciously put her beemerang away. 

In all the chaos that was going on, Vi forgot one crucial detail. If there was a web, chances were high that nearby, there would be a... a spider... 

The ferocious beast advanced upon them, only stopping several feet away. Even if the spider wasn't as big as she thought it'd be, it still was a terrifying sight. Its eight limbs were just waiting to spring into action, and its eyes and mouth looked hungry . 

Although... if she really wanted to, there was a clear shot of her escaping. There was room to the side, if she ran she'd have only a straight shot back to the mushroom before flying up and out of this place, never to look back. But... but... 

"How could a beast so huge sneak up on us?" Kabbu yelled. That was a good point, but it was getting increasingly hard for Vi to think straight. Right now, her life was in real danger. This is what she was getting herself into when she decided to come all this way... just for this . 

The spider roared once more, the sound reverberating throughout the room. Anne gripped her tennis racquet tightly, preparing herself for a fight. "We've got to take this thing down!" Anne yelled, Kabbu right by her side. 

"What are you doing!?" Vi practically screamed. "We have to run! Treasure ain't worth this!" Every second she stood there was another second wasted, in clear range of the spider. 

"But this place might help me find a way back home!" Anne argued. "We can't just leave!" 

"Yes we CAN!" Vi shouted. "There are tons of places here, maybe it's somewhere else!" Please listen to her please listen to her please listen to her- 

"We can't abandon this poor moth to his fate either!" Kabbu added. Despite the fact that if Vi didn't get out of here now , she might share the same fate as that moth. 

Leave. Stay to help. Leave. Stay to help. She couldn't decide. She needed to decide right now. "I... I..." So much has happened, everything progressively getting more and more dangerous. Was she really in over her head after all? Anne and Kabbu stared at her, probably wondering why she was acting like this. They'd never understand. 

And as she made her decision, they wouldn't get a chance to. Vi took just one small step back, briefly thinking about reconsidering... and then she turned around and booked it out of there. 

She ran. 

… 

She ran. 

Anne couldn't believe what she was seeing. Just several minutes ago the three of them were having fun, cracking jokes and getting along pretty well. And now, Vi decided to run . Run while they were in complete and total danger. Her grip on her tennis racquet tightened, rage building faster than Vi could run. 

"What the heck, dude!" Anne called after her, but the bee was dead-set on not coming back. Anne groaned in frustration, shaking her head. At least Kabbu wouldn't leave or betray her. 

"Vi! Vi, wait!" Kabbu also called, but Vi was long gone, completely out of sight. "Curses!" 

The spider then roared a third time, advancing toward them a bit more. It must've gotten more confident now that there were only two potential targets instead of three. Kabbu and Anne backed up a bit, a bit too close to the spider web for comfort. 

"Urgh... this has to be some cruel irony..." Kabbu said, Anne not too sure what exactly he meant. 

"Don't worry, I'm not abandoning you." Anne said, trying to keep his hopes up. What "irony" was he even talking about? It didn't matter right now. 

"Thank you... We can't give up!" Kabbu said. Anne nodded, before looking back at the spider. Just a few more seconds, and... 

"CHAAARGE!" Anne yelled, rushing at the spider, Kabbu right by her side. The spider screeched as they ran at it, and Anne wasted no time in swinging her tennis racquet at the side of the spider's head. She landed a direct hit, stunning the spider for a brief moment. 

A split second later, Kabbu landed a hit on the spider's body with a quick upstrike of his horn, causing the spider to screech in pain. Anne stepped back to try and briefly see if there was a weak point she could hit, quickly looking over the spider's body. 

The spider tried to bite Kabbu, but the beetle jumped backward out of the way. Then the spider tried to swipe at Kabbu with one of its limbs, but Kabbu narrowly ducked under that too, nearly losing his balance. Frustrated with the persistence of its target, the spider changed tactics, suddenly swiping one of its limbs at Anne from the side. 

Anne just barely managed to block it with her tennis racquet, ducking down and using the racquet to knock the limb off course. "Ha ha!" Anne laughed triumphantly, but her victory was short-lived as a second limb swung at her harder and faster than she ever expected. Then again, this was an entirely different world, after all. 

The spider's large limb hit her right in the chest, and before she even knew it, the force of it sent her flying back to the side wall, crashing into it before falling onto the ground. She only barely registered any of it, the sheer shock of it all putting her in a daze. 

"Anne!" Kabbu yelled. Anne barely lifted her head in time to see Kabbu about to try to run after her, but the spider hit him with one of its limbs, knocking him away from her. 

"Kabbu!" Anne called out, her voice strained and weak. Urgh, she was going to feel all this at full-blast later, she just knew it. She grunted, trying to stand up, managing to barely push off the ground onto her feet only to collapse back onto her knees, holding her lower chest in agony. ...Pretty sure she had the wind knocked out of her when the spider knocked her back. 

Still, Anne had to do something. She couldn't just sit here while Kabbu had to deal with the spider all on his own! She fumbled around for her tennis racquet, only to see that it was lying on the ground near the spider and Kabbu, way too far away for her to reach. Dangit. 

The pain was already catching up to her, and there was no way she could feasibly continue fighting unless she got a bit of rest. But she had to help! Even so, she couldn't help but only watch as Kabbu faced the spider all by himself, trying his best to dodge the attacks the spider dished out. 

However, it was short-lived. Only moments later, now only needing to focus on one target, the spider reached its head down to try and bite Kabbu again, only for its head to unexpectedly crash into Kabbu's, causing Kabbu to scream as he fell backward onto the ground. 

"Urk..." Kabbu groaned, trying to get up off his back. "This thing is... too much by myself..." 

Anne internally cursed, trying desperately to force her body up. If she could just reach her tennis racquet... Grunting in desperation, she tried to crawl over, only to completely collapse on all fours after several seconds. ...She couldn't do it. There's no way she'd be able to reach Kabbu in time. 

Before Kabbu could get up or react or really do anything, the spider jumped on top of him, much to Anne's horror. It was hard to see much of what was happening, but there definitely was a struggle. Kabbu tried to get out from underneath the spider, but due to its sheer size that proved impossible. 

"Get off me, you-" Kabbu stopped and froze, having not much choice because the spider was already starting to wrap him up in its spider silk. Kabbu panicked, trying to break free, but whatever part of him was already wrapped up he couldn't so much as even move. The silk was that strong. And if Anne couldn't do something , she would be next. 

It took only seconds for the spider to finish its work, having wrapped up Kabbu completely, save for his head. The large arachnid stepped back, almost as if to admire its work. The look in Kabbu's eye... it was clear as day. Complete and utter failure. 

"Everyone, I...I failed." Kabbu said, his voice low and his eye closing shut. "You wasted your hopes on me..." 

Something in Anne broke that moment. She wasn't sure 100% exactly what it was, but what she did know... was that seeing someone she'd grown to care about, who'd always been so jolly, so adventurous, now reduced to tears, despair. The situation made her... angry. 

Angry that she'd gotten trapped in another world, her only way back out not working for whatever reason. That one of the bugs she thought was a friend abandoned her. That her other new friend was about to suffer a fate similar to that moth. Something began bubbling up inside of her, from a place she didn't quite know where. 

And then, what happened was perhaps the last thing she would've expected. From out of nowhere, the beemerang hit the spider in the back, before returning to its original owner. ...It couldn't be... This distracted her from her vision turning slightly bluish for just the briefest of moments, which she already brushed aside and forgot about. 

Much more pressing matters were at hand. The spider turned around, trying to determine the source of the sneak attack. It saw something, running toward it. Anne didn't even look to see where the spider was going, she already knew the source. 

With the mysterious rush of adrenaline giving her a boost, Anne gasped and stood up, wasting zero time before rushing over to Kabbu. The spider was distracted, this was her chance. She picked up her tennis racquet along the way, the air rushing past her as she ran faster than she ever did before in her life. 

Kabbu was trying to struggle out of his bindings, but to no avail. It was only moments before Anne reached him, thankfully managing to slow to a stop just in time to avoid a potential crash. "Don't worry, I'll get you out!" Anne said, turning her head in the spider's direction for a split second to make sure it wasn't coming back. 

Anne grabbed near the top of the webbing, and pulled . With strength she didn't know she had, she yanked a big piece of it off, tossing it onto the ground, before pulling off more. When she got enough of it off, Kabbu managed to free one of his arms, allowing him and Anne to get the rest of it off with ease, most of it essentially falling to the ground in a big heap. 

Kabbu stepped off of it before kicking it to the side, wanting nothing more to do with it. The two of them breathed heavily, knowing this wasn't close to over. They heard footsteps rapidly coming closer, and for a second they expected to turn around and face the spider, only to see... 

"Vi!?" Kabbu questioned. Vi must've slipped past the spider while she was distracting it. 

"Look, I-" Vi began, but immediately got interrupted. Anne was about to lay into her, but Kabbu was faster. 

"By the holy jaws of the Queen, Vi! You left us to our fates! You are vile!" Kabbu was absolutely 100% right in every single way. 

"H-Hey! I was going to apologize!" Vi tried and failed to defend herself. "And I came back, right!" No excuse. She shouldn't have left in the first place. After seeing they weren't convinced, she continued. "You pushed me away from the web, but I still left, so-" 

She was interrupted again, but this time by the spider's roar. Vi turned around to face the creature, backing up several steps much closer to Anne and Kabbu. The spider advanced toward the three of them, the large web blocking their only way out. 

"Dude, there's no way we can beat this thing!" Anne said, forcing herself to put aside her anger for now. 

"We don't have to; I have a plan!" Kabbu spoke up, Anne making sure to listen to every word. "If we can take down the web, then we can get the moth out of here and run to safety!" 

"How are we going to have time? The spider's closing in!" Vi yelled. Her words were true, in a matter of moments the spider would be upon them. 

Then something clicked in Anne's head. 

"Hold on!" As fast as she could, Anne fished her phone out of her pocket, turning it on and scrambling to find the camera app. With how sweaty her hands were, the small device was much harder to navigate, the sweat messing up the touch screen detection a bit. "Come on, come on..." But in the end, she opened the app she needed, pointing the phone at the spider and taking a photo. 

The camera flash activated, right in the spider's eyes. The large arachnid screeched, turning partially to the side and shutting its eyes, before beginning to blink multiple times, the invasive light clearly causing some damage. 

"Quick, now's our chance!" Anne yelled. She and her teammates turned around to face the web, before immediately slashing at it with their weapons. There wasn't any rhyme or reason to what they did, but in a matter of moments, with the use of Kabbu's horn, Vi's beemerang, and Anne's tennis racquet, they practically destroyed the entire web. 

Once part of the web's structure was gone, the rest of it came tumbling down, also freeing the moth from the webbing he was tightly wrapped up in... but at the cost of him abruptly falling smack down on the floor. He appeared to still be asleep, so Kabbu ran over, bending down to pick up the moth and carry him over his shoulder. 

"Let's get out of here already!" Vi all but screamed, now that the web was gone. Kabbu nodded and began to run, just a tad slower than he usually would with the extra weight he was carrying. Vi ran after him, and Anne was just moments away from following, but she still had one more thing to do. 

Taking out her phone again, Anne snapped one more picture, blinding the spider again to buy them several more seconds. With that taken care of, she put her phone back in her pocket before following Vi and Kabbu, running as fast as she could with the remaining adrenaline she had left. 

She caught up to them faster than she expected, and the three of them ran . After several seconds or so, they heard a screech, along with the fast-approaching pitter-patter of many limbs, and there was a pretty good guess as to what those belonged to. 

"What's it going to take for that thing to stop?" Anne asked, not daring to look behind her to see how close the spider was to them. 

"Maybe if you didn't taunt it with your phone again, it wouldn't be so angry!" Vi yelled. Anne only scoffed in response. Really? She was just trying to help buy them some time! 

"Stop arguing, we need to focus!" Kabbu told both of them, trying not to trip himself up over the added weight of the moth. Something caught his eye, and he turned his head slightly. "Look at that!" There was a small crevice ahead, not narrow but very short. "Jump through there!" That was their only chance. 

Vi was first; she slid through with ease, making it inside the other area. Next was Anne, and as the crevice fast approached, she tried to think of it as if she was trying to slide to home base to win a baseball game, and not fleeing for her life from a bloodthirsty arachnid. 

Her aim was true, and she slid through the crevice, her hair brushing up against the opening as she went in , eventually sliding to a stop. "I did it!" Anne cheered. 

Moments later, Kabbu slid in head first, holding the moth at his side with one arm. Er, well he at least tried to slide in. He got stuck halfway through, his girth proving to be his biggest obstacle. Blushing a little from embarrassment, he planted his free arm on the ground, trying to use it as an anchor to pull himself in. 

When after a few seconds he still was struggling, Anne and Vi rushed to help him, grabbing his arm and pulling as hard as they could. Just in time, he popped through the hole, causing the two girls to suddenly fly backward onto the ground as Kabbu crashed into them, accidentally letting go of the moth with the three of them landing in a heap. 

It was a good thing they all got through when they did, because only moments later did the spider attempt to get through the crevice too, sticking its head and an arm through, the limb thrashing about as the spider snarled in its desperate attempts to reach them. 

"Leave us alone already, you monster!" Kabbu yelled, getting up and running at the spider, dodging an attack from its limb before striking the spider with his horn. The spider screeched in pain, before scooching out of the crevice and scuttling away. 

Anne stood up, the only noise she heard being Kabbu's deep breaths and the spider scuttling away. She walked over to one of the nearby walls, wanting to not be near Vi. ...Anne hoped that she wouldn't have to deal with that spider ever again. 

But... they were safe now! No more life-threatening danger... for now. Anne groaned, attempting to lean her back against the wall, even with her backpack partially stopping her. She absolutely desperately needed a breather after that, it all went by so fast she barely knew what was going on. She just... needed a minute to breathe... 

"Um... I'm glad everyone's alright, and that we all made it through." Vi spoke up, her voice a bit timid. "...Uh, I think someone should check on that moth." She frowned, looking over at said moth who was lying face-down on the floor. 

"Oh, seriously ?!" Anne's harsh voice cut through the air, right as Kabbu was about to move to check on the moth. " Now you suddenly care about us, when a few minutes ago you abandoned us and ran away?" Anne was tired of this, and she wasn't going to let it slide for one second as she walked toward Vi, her anger made very clear. 

"You nearly got us killed!" Anne continued. Vi had no idea what to say, stepping back a little. "I almost died! He almost died too!" Anne pointed to Kabbu, who had no idea what to say either. "All because you thought it was a good idea to ditch us!" 

Anne sighed, cooling down a little as she turned away from Vi, crossing her arms. "You know, I thought we were all finally starting to get along, and we were able to work to work together as a team." Her eyes scrunched into anger. "But I guess I was wrong." She walked away. 

Maybe it wasn't the best idea to trust random strangers from another world, even if they claim they'll be your friends. At least she knew who her real friends were. She closed her eyes, hoping once again that she would find Sasha or Marcy sooner or later, and things would go back to how they used to be. 

"Anne, wait!" Vi called out from behind her before she got too far. Anne rolled her eyes before turning around, just dying to hear what excuse she'd have next. "I know I panicked and ran, b-but I came back! I just didn't know what to do-" 

"But you suddenly did a few minutes later?" Anne called her out, knowing how dumb that reasoning was. "I'm tired of hearing your excuses." 

"I-I... well..." Vi stammered, unsure of what she could say. To be quite frank, there was nothing she could say or do to get her out of facing the music for this. 

Well, nothing Vi could do, anyway. They heard two coughs, both of them looking over to see it came from the direction of the moth. ...Oh yeah. In her anger, she completely forgot about the moth they rescued. And Anne never got a good look at him before, either. 

Just like his skin, his wings were blue, though said wings were of a bit darker shade. The wings had goldish-yellow highlights, a similar color to his fluffy collar. Also, even just standing near him made her a bit cold. Overall... there was something just a tiny bit strange about him, but Anne couldn't quite put her finger on it. 

"Vi, Anne, I know we all still have things to work out, but for the time being our priority is this moth." Kabbu explained to them. "Vi, what you did was extremely reckless, but-" 

"Yeah yeah, we have to focus on the moth for now, I get it." Anne huffed, walking over to the moth, Vi awkwardly following. Kabbu's heart was in the right place, she wasn't mad at him. She just wanted to get all this over with, to be honest. 

The three of them stood a fair distance away from the moth, his coldness very apparent now. Anne gave a short glare to Vi; she really couldn't help how furious she was with the bee right now. 

Kabbu was about to start walking over to the moth to check on him, but the moth's head snapped upward, causing Kabbu to jump back a little in surprise. Anne watched as the moth slowly rose to his feet... or at least tried to. The moth looked a bit dazed, kneeling down a bit as he rested one hand against his chest and the other on the ground. 

"You're awake!" Kabbu said to the moth. The moth blinked a few times, as if to try and process what was going on. And then... 

". ..Mjaj? " What. " Adjeukx, yrdiuf." The moth was speaking some sort of gibberish that Anne would never understand in a million years, and admittedly she was a bit taken aback by this, and so were the other two. "... Ghsiaoenbx?" He continued, as if anyone could understand him. 

His voice was lower than anyone else's in the room, and he looked to be in pain while speaking this inane gibberish. Anne's brow furrowed a bit, something weird was going on here. "Are you... alri-" 

" Jsgsn." The moth turned to her and Vi, interrupting Anne with more gibberish. " Sjaika? Hsjaosidjs...?" He was trying to say something, but nobody could discern what it was. 

"Could this moth be speaking in an ancient tongue?" Kabbu wondered out loud. "Perhaps he might be of the fabled tribes lurking underground." Well, that was just something to blurt out. Wait... maybe he might know something about the music box, if that was the case. Finally, Anne would be getting some answers about this! 

"...N-no." Oh. "We can speak Bugnish." The moth said, returning to his original position of kneeling down slightly. Wait, did he say we ? What, was he royalty or something? Also... Bugnish? Weren't they all speaking English??? Hm. Maybe it was better to not think about it too much. 

"Do you like, need a minute?" Vi asked. The moth stayed there for several seconds, as if contemplating in deep thought. 

"...No." The moth eventually answered, finding the strength to stand up all the way. "We are fine now." Well, that was quick. At full height, he definitely was the tallest of the group. 

"Thank goodness, you had us quite worried." Kabbu said, breathing a sigh of relief. 

The moth glanced around a bit, surveying the area and the group that rescued him. "Where are we? Where is the spider?" His eyes fell upon Anne. "And what kind of freak of nature is that?" 

"Hey!" Anne called out, crossing her arms in annoyance. Was that comment really necessary? "I'll be ignoring that." 

"Hm... Maybe it's best that we get you up to speed." Kabbu suggested. ...Yeah, that would be for the best. The moth nodded, allowing them to begin. 

And so, Anne, Kabbu, & Vi began explaining a quick rundown of what had happened up to this point. It started with Kabbu and Vi meeting each other, then meeting Anne, becoming an exploration team and traveling to Snakemouth Den, and then them finding the moth. Taking advantage of this, Vi decided to ham up her side of the story a bit, making what she did sound much more exciting. The three of them didn't dwell too much on the details, and didn't go into any of the more personal events that happened either. Just simple and straightforward, even if it still took them several minutes to explain. 

"That's truly what happened?" The moth asked once everyone was finished. "It seems we owe you our life, Vi." Kabbu had an incredulous look on his face, entirely in shock that the moth even believed what Vi said. Anne felt the same way. 

The moth then turned to Anne. "And as for you..." There was an uncomfortably long pause. "Welcome to Bugaria." His tone was laced with absolute sarcasm. 

"Oh harde-har-har." Anne fake-laughed, having a feeling that what the moth said was some reference she didn't get. "May I remind you that right now, we're all trapped down here." Anne wasn't sure where she was going with this, but it was important to not make unnecessary jokes for no reason. 

"Err, were you looking for treasure as well, alongside fellow explorers?" Kabbu asked, steering the conversation before any arguments could take place. 

"Also, knowing your name would be nice too." Vi added in her usual tone. 

"Leif is fine. And somewhat. A scouting mission, in fact." The moth, now known as Leif answered. Judging from the series of events they'd all been through here, he was very lucky to be alive right now. 

"Well, did you learn anything about this place while you were scouting?" Anne asked, trying to goad some info out of him. "Like about the..." Anne paused, catching herself before she accidentally blurted out that she had the music box. "The artifact!" She finished after too long of a pause, hoping she didn't look too suspicious. "Right, the artifact, haha..." ...That was definitely too much. 

"Artifact?" Leif had a slightly skeptical look on his face. "If it is here, it's probably ahead." Well, obviously? Anne really hoped they didn't miss it already. 

"If we work together, we will surely find both the artifact and the exit!" Kabbu said, optimistic as ever. Did he just say we ? As in the three of them and Leif? 

Leif sighed, his options clear. "We have little choice. We will accompany you." Wait, was this really going to happen? 

To be quite honest, Anne wasn't too sure about this. Ever since she saw Leif, even all the way back when he was trapped in the web, there's been this air of... weirdness about him that she couldn't quite shake off, and the more she learned the weirder things become. 

"Uh, Kabbu, can I talk to you for a second?" Anne asked, walking over to him. She glanced back at Vi and Leif, not talking to the latter about this for obvious reasons and the former because she really didn't want to talk to her right now if she could help it. "Privately?" She added, knowing the other two were going to butt in otherwise. 

"What's up, Anne?" Kabbu asked as the two walked a bit away from Vi and Leif. 

Anne lowered her voice to a whisper. "Are we sure we can trust that guy?" She asked, glancing at Leif to illustrate her point. "I mean, come on. He was speaking in that weird gibberish language, he's so unnaturally cold, he-" 

"Anne, I'm not leaving him behind!" Kabbu whispered back, cutting off any further reasons she may have had. "Especially at the mercy of that spider, who knows if it'll find a way in here!" Kabbu sounded both miffed at Anne for even suggesting a concept, and worried for Leif's sake. 

Already knowing that arguing with Kabbu in this case would be useless, Anne groaned, giving up. There's no way she'd be able to change his mind on this, he was too nice for that. Anne sighed, walking away from Kabbu. "Fine." She said, trying not to sound too harsh to make him worry. 

"So, Leif," Kabbu said, once again steering the conversation. "Can you fight?" You know what, that was a valid question to ask. 

"...Not really part of scouting." Leif answered, hopefully honestly. 

"Seriously?!" Vi yelled after not speaking up for a bit. "You came into this place without knowing how to fight?" 

"Make sure to stay behind us, that way we can protect you." Kabbu added. 

"How reassuring." Leif said. It felt like literally everything he said was filled with some sort of sarcasm, and it was already getting old. Still, the fact that he didn't know how to fight was... odd. Though it did make some sense too, since they found him asleep in that spider web. Hm. 

"Ok. We've spent way too much time here." Vi said. "Let's look for the exit!" With that declaration, Kabbu and Leif nodded, going ahead and resuming their journey once more, walking ahead. 

Anne stayed back a bit, suspicion written all over her face as she stared at Leif, not taking her eyes off the back of his head. Sure, Kabbu may have shot her down, but that didn't erase the doubts she had as she walked forward too- 

"You too?" 

Anne's head jerked to the right, seeing Vi standing next to her. Anne stopped moving, partly in surprise that Vi would even want to talk to her after earlier. Well, Anne didn't really want to talk to Vi either, to be fair, but... 

"You think he's, uh..." Vi continued, keeping her voice low, trying to avoid saying it out loud. 

Despite how unbelievably angry Anne still was at Vi for literally abandoning them, at least there was someone who agreed with her on how suspicious Leif's entire presence was. And she would get to the bottom of it, no matter what. 

"...Yeah."