Welcome to Bugaria: Act 1

It'd been about a day or two since the phone incident, the group of four having mostly recovered from it. Thankfully, Kabbu's aches and pains had mostly faded away, the beetle being able to bounce back to his original state fairly quickly.

Despite the little progress they'd made, that didn't deter the group from their goal, especially as they delved deeper into Snakemouth Den. It was getting to the point where it was a bit... boring. At least, that's what Vi thought, as she was absentmindedly twirling her beemerang around in her hands as they walked through the caves.

But before too long, they did find something of interest. "Hey, look at that!" Vi said, getting everyone else's attention. Near the wall to the side of them were what appeared to be some sort of old, gray structures, the likes of which Vi has never seen before.

"Whoa..." Anne said, taking her phone out and snapping a pic. "Just how old is all this stuff?" On the left was what looked like the remains of an old, tiny house, the ceiling and door completely non-existent. The small building looked like it would fall apart at any moment, not that it would cause them any trouble.

To the right of it was something just slightly more familiar; one of those tablets that Vi saw occasionally. Though there was a large statue on top of it, depicting a bug that Vi didn't recognize. A large, hefty... roach? That was probably it. She'd never seen one in person before, for the obvious reasons.

"I'm not sure, but they look like they've been here for quite a long time!" Kabbu said, looking over the old structures. Vi internally sighed; Kabbu yet again was about to lead the whole discussion. "I don't know too much about this, but this does appear to be pretty ancient."

Vi had to admit, she still had lingering feelings from the spider and the phone incident... and every other incident so far, but the overall lack of discussion or follow-up to any of them allowed her to brush them aside. When she'd first met Kabbu, she saw him as this... sort of warrior type, but now that she'd gotten to know him a little better, she was starting to see him for who he really was. Was that good or bad? ...It was okay, most likely.

"Wow, Kabbu." Leif commented. "You sure do know your stuff, huh." Leif gave Kabbu a small smile. "We like that confidence." At this, Kabbu blushed a little, looking away.

"Well, it doesn't look nearly as old as Leif does!" Vi said with a laugh, amused at her own joke. Surely, this would get everyone's attention off of Kabbu. It did, but... not in the way she liked. The others just stared at her for several seconds, Anne's coughing the only thing breaking the silence.

Vi's smiled turned to a frown, realizing that nobody was laughing. She heard a sound from the ceiling, but before she could look up to see what it was, she felt it. A huge droplet of water fell on her, soaking her completely. "EEP!" She shrieked, the large amount of water jumpscaring her.

It took a moment to register just how cold the water was, making her unconsciously shiver to her very core. The water got all over her fuzzy body, thankfully not much of it getting on her wings- That would be very bad. Still, she was left shaken by the situation, especially as the other three continued to just stare at her.

"Karma." Leif said only one word in response, a smug smirk on his face. It only took a few seconds before Anne snickered a little, and then she nearly doubled over, unable to contain her laughter. Leif laughed a bit too, and even Kabbu got in on it as well, chuckling to himself.

Frustrated, Vi shook as much water off her as she could, intentionally trying to get some of it onto the others. Once she was finished, she crossed her arms with a huff. "It's not funny! I'm all soaked now!" Vi gestured to herself, a bit of water still dripping off her.

Thankfully, the laughter was already dying down. There was a frown on Kabbu's face, the beetle already feeling a bit guilty. "S-Sorry, Vi. I couldn't help it." He apologized. Sure he couldn't. Yeah it sure was hard to avoid laughing when it was at her expense, huh.

"Dude, you gotta admit that the timing of that was pretty hilarious." Anne said, wiping a tear of laughter from her eye. "Like, it was really ironic." She added for emphasis. Leif nodded in agreement.

Kabbu looked up at the ceiling, squinting his eye a little. "Yep, the ceiling is in fact dripping!" He said, getting Anne and Leif to look up for a moment. Oh, they looked up when he pointed it out.

"Wow, I guess this place really is super old then." Anne said, a hand on her chin as if in serious thought, before she just shrugged it off a moment later. "Well, it's not my problem."

"Ugh, why does this place have so much water?!" Vi complained, flailing her arms about. "Above us, under us... I just don't want any more water to drip down on me, is that too much to ask?"

"Hmm..." Leif pondered, watching another large droplet of water fall from the ceiling, this time thankfully not on Vi. "Actually, we think all this water coming down could be good for us." Leif said, which caused Vi to get a skeptical look on her face. What, was he just really thirsty and hoping to catch a random drop of water in his mouth or something?

"What do you mean?" Kabbu asked, also confused.

"Watch." Leif began, looking out for the next large droplet of water to fall. When he saw it, he walked over to it, waiting patiently. "If it's water..." He paused, waiting for the right moment. Vi backed up a bit, not wanting to get caught in any potential crossfire.

The droplet of water fell, rapidly approaching the floor. When the droplet was just at the right height, Leif quickly flung his arm outward, and the water transformed into a big block of ice. "Then it can be frozen." Leif finished. Ah. That was what he wanted to show.

At this display of a new ability, Anne clapped, clearly impressed. "Whoa, awesome, dude! All that ice just from one thing of water?"

"Er, sort of." Leif clarified. "We can produce ice without water, but if presented with water, we are able to freeze it and create... this." He gestured to the block of ice, which was slowly starting to melt.

"Impressive!" Kabbu said. "If you can do that, it opens a lot of options for us! Hm... I bet I'd be able to move them with my horn, as well." He added, pointing up to said horn.

Leif nodded. "Mhm. You likely could." He placed a hand on the large ice cube he created, not bothered at all by how freezing it was. "Enemies, the water around us..." He looked around. "Even though they seem like obstacles, we can exploit them for our own benefit, if we need."

Kabbu and Leif began discussing the various ways they could use this new ability, Anne joining in with her own ideas. During this, the ice cube melted even more, just like how Vi's annoyance rose even more, the bee standing off to the side, fuming. She was still very much soaking wet despite her efforts to get the water off her, a bit of it dripping to the floor still.

Yet again, she'd been pushed aside, in favor of everyone else. Or, as a matter of fact, in favor of Kabbu. The small incident from back when they entered Snakemouth Den popped back into the forefront of her mind, how Kabbu took control of the team and it led to disaster. Sure, things were fine now, but that's the same way it started back then.

Why should he be the one to lead everyone else? After all, she was the one who defeated the "beast", she was the one who saved them from those Seedlings, and she was the one who rescued Kabbu from that spider. Vi put out so much effort saving everyone else, and what did she get? Nothing.

"Vi, come on!" Kabbu said, snapping Vi out of her thoughts. Her silent anger still lingered, festering within her. The others had already cleared out a lone Inichas blocking the way, so really there was no other excuse for her to move it along.

With a sigh, Vi walked forward, meeting up with the others. She was still trying desperately to completely dry herself off, even if that was proving to be a near-impossible task- which just frustrated her even more. She couldn't even have the decency of being dry?

It wasn't long before the group stopped yet again, this time to analyze a new situation before them. "...Huh." Leif mused. "We should probably approach this slowly."

Before them was a series of grayish broken structures, not dissimilar from the old, faded house they saw earlier. However, these were arranged in a peculiar manner, each piece increasing in height a bit, stopping near a wall just as tall as the highest pillar.

"Yeah, this does look a bit... dangerous." Anne admitted. "Probably should be careful with this, as much as I'd like to take a flying leap of faith."

"We wonder how more of this stuff got over here... Someone here really must've been upset about something." Leif commented.

"Whatever the case is, we need to be careful here!" Kabbu said, yet again taking control of the situation. "I don't want any of us getting hurt, after all!" Yeah, not any more than any of them already had been hurt. "So, we'll need to be slow in order to cross these safely."

That was something that pretty much all of them could agree on; no use in getting yourself hurt or injured over something like this. Still, that was something Vi could've easily figured out on her own. She sized up how much she'd have to climb, and already decided that she didn't feel like flying up. Sure, by now her wings were pretty much dry, but she plainly didn't feel like it.

"We'll go first." Leif said. "Some of those jumps look a bit tight, but we can help with that." Without missing a beat, Leif began making his way up the broken structures, using the dripping water to make a few ice blocks that'd help everyone get across. Within a minute or two, Leif had completed the "challenge", now looking expectantly at everyone else, waiting for them to cross.

Anne was next, taking a minute to prepare herself. Vi thought she was going to screw it up, but surprisingly, the human teen did take her time, especially making sure that her backpack stayed on her. She did take a bit longer than Leif, but she made it, unscathed. Kabbu was mostly the same way, taking it very slow and steady, reaching the upper floor in about a few minutes, exchanging high-fives with Anne and Leif once he made it.

And now, it was Vi's turn.

She grumbled, hoping that she could get this stupid thing over with as soon as possible. She knew how quick the ice from earlier melted, so the ice blocks Leif created here surely wouldn't last much longer. Without missing a beat, she jumped onto the first small structure, before using her momentum to immediately jump onto the next one.

Vi continued this pattern onto the next structure, throwing all caution to the wind as she did so. She saw the large ice cube on the structure in front of her, making that her next goal. She jumped, preparing to land directly in the middle of the ice... forgetting one very crucial detail.

That ice was slippery.

The moment her foot made contact, she immediately slid forward, yelping in surprise. She tried to re-adjust herself, planting her other foot on the ice cube, only for that foot to practically slide off as well. And in a matter of seconds, she'd slipped off completely, falling onto the floor below. Vi was in such a state of shock and surprise that she couldn't react before she roughly hit the dirt floor on her side, grunting as she did so.

"Vi!" Kabbu's voice rang out. It took her a second, but Vi did pick herself up, looking up to see that her three friends were staring down at her. Kabbu's face wrought with worry. Next to him, Anne cringed, and Leif looked a bit surprised.

"Are you-"

"I'm fine!" Vi harshly yelled up to Kabbu. Ugh, there was a bit of pain from the landing she took... but she's fine. It would go away sooner or later.

She looked back up at the structures, dreading having to try and go up them again. ...Which is why she didn't. With a sigh, her wings began flapping as she lazily flew up to meet the others, half-heartedly trying to hide just how annoyed and over this she was. How much longer would it be before they got to the treasure?

After Kabbu made sure again that she was okay, the group continued on, Vi hoping that things would be much smoother from here on out. A hope that she wasn't sure would be true, given everyone's track record here so far.

It was only a minute or two before the group came to their next obstacle: one that made Vi freeze up for the slightest of moments, due to the memories the obstacle brought with it. "Seriously? Another one of those big doors?" It was nearly identical to the one from a few days ago, down to the exact same design being used.

"...Vi. It's just a door." Leif deadpanned.

"Yeah, but the last time we found one of these doors, it turned out to be a trap!" Anne explained to the moth. "And with our luck, this one's going to be the same way." Anne gave a quick glare at the door, as if it was able to understand her thoughts.

"Leif, you must've fallen for that trap too when you were scouting Snakemouth Den, no? Was that door there before?" Kabbu asked.

Leif paused for a second, before scratching his head in confusion. "...Sorry, we can't quite recall. It's... very foggy to us." Wow, Leif really was getting more mysterious by the day, huh.

"That's alright. There's no rush to remember if you can't!" Kabbu reassured. "Hm..." Kabbu looked at the area ahead. There didn't appear to really be anything of note, and the door was still several yards away from them. "There doesn't look to be any sort of trapdoor this time, so I think we're all good on that front. And if this door is anything like the last one, then we probably won't be able to open it."

Vi only then realized that Kabbu was taking control of the discussion again, her previous frustrations now amplified. She tried to speak up, only for Kabbu to continue speaking before she could. "So, we should probably go an alternative route."

"Uh, which way should we go then?" Anne asked. ...Somehow Vi didn't realize this earlier, but the path didn't end at the door. Instead, it split off into two separate paths, one to the left and one to the right.

"One thing's for sure." Leif said matter-of-factly. "We are not splitting up."

"Oh, for sure!" Kabbu agreed.

"Absolutely." Vi added. Finally, something she could agree with Kabbu on. ...It wasn't going to last, though, was it.

"Yeah, definitely." Anne said, before going on a tangent. "Because in literally every single horror movie I've seen, whenever a group of characters decides they're going to split up, it always goes horribly, horribly wrong!"

"I've never seen a movie before, but I'll take your word for it." Kabbu said, before shifting gears slightly. "We're all in agreement on this, so I'll see which direction would be safest to go." He'd done it again. Vi saw right through him this time, and she wasn't going to have any of it. "Hm, I think-"

"Really?" Vi yelled, surprising everyone else into silence. Sure, it probably was a small little thing that got her so worked up, but it was after a series of other "small little things", so could she really blame herself? "There you again, taking control of everything like you own the place, as usual!" Vi let out an overdramatic sigh, crossing her arms.

"W-What?" Kabbu said, flabbergasted by this. "I-I'm not! I have no idea what you're even talking about!" While his tone sounded genuine, Vi honestly didn't care at this point. She knew she was right, so she wasn't going to stop until Kabbu admitted it.

"Stop acting like you don't know anything!" Vi practically screamed, flailing her arms. Kabbu instinctively stepped back a little. At this, it began devolving into a full-on argument between the two of them, Vi not letting up for a second. She was not going to let the same thing happen again, despite Kabbu's repeated attempts to defend himself.

Aside, Anne and Leif could only watch as the two verbally duked it out.

"Do those two really argue this... often?" Leif asked, tilting his head a little.

"Ohhhh yeah." Anne replied with a quick nod.

The argument went on for another minute or so before Kabbu shook his head, trying to make some sense of what was going on. "Vi, can you at least explain yourself?" He pleaded. "I'm just doing what I always do!"

"That's just it!" Vi angrily responded. Finally, she was making some kind of progress! "You're always saying what everyone else can't do!" She was practically spilling out all her frustrations, her mind having already been made up on this a long time ago.

Kabbu didn't respond, only staring at Vi, a look of silent realization in his eye. It opened up as far as it could, and, though it was hard to see, Kabbu was shaking just a tiny bit. Vi's face grew smug, having finally called him out. He must've realized by now that he was falling back into old habits, and hopefully this would be the last time Vi would have to bring attention to it.

After several more seconds of awkward silence, Kabbu closed his eye for a moment, letting out a long sigh. Was he finally giving in? "Alright Vi... you win. You can lead us for a bit, if you want to."

...What? Vi paused for a moment, trying to process what he just said. She... she would get to be the boss? Her? Vi? This... this was even better than she expected! To be honest, she'd just expected Kabbu to apologize and then they'd have some sort of sappy discussion afterward.

Being in charge... it was admittedly a daunting role. Having to lead everyone else... though, there weren't too many others here, so this should be easy. And after all the frustrations Vi's had, there's no way she wasn't going to take advantage of this.

After all the time she'd spent with others telling her what she couldn't do, demeaning her, making her feel like she was confined to one singular purpose that she couldn't escape from, no matter how hard she tried... that time was over, and nothing would ever compel her to even want to go back to it. It was Vi's time to shine, and she was going to do things her way. Nobody would ever tell her what to do ever again.

"Sure." Vi replied, having thought it over for a minute. "I know I can be a better leader than you! Just watch!" This was going to be fun. For a split second, she'd thought about going absolutely full-on dictator on everyone, but that wouldn't prove her point at all. Nah, she'd rather take a... different approach.

Clearing her throat to get everyone else's attention, Vi walked several steps ahead of the others, before turning around to face them. Kabbu stared at her expectantly, while Anne and Leif gave each other a look, wondering where this was going.

"So!" Vi began, overdramatically raising a finger. Everyone looked at her, wondering what she'd say next. "I'm your new leader!" Vi clapped her hands together, her tune changing to a much more positive one.

"And my first order of business as leader is that I'm taking all suggestions! Also, remember that there are no bad suggestions!" Vi briefly gave Kabbu a sly look; this'll show him! It obviously made sense, being a better leader would mean doing the exact opposite of what he did.

Leif raised his hand, and Vi looked at him, giving him a nod and permission to speak. "Could we have a food break?" He asked.

"That..." Vi began. "Is an excellent suggestion." It'd been a few hours since she'd eaten anything, so she was starting to be just a little hungry. Still, it was better to be a bit full, rather than too empty. Vi glanced at the others to see how they felt, and while Anne seemed to be okay with this, Kabbu frowned, wanting to say something... but he kept quiet.

With that settled, it was time to eat. The four of them sat around in a circle, Anne getting a tablecloth from her backpack and laying it out in the middle of the circle. She also got some snacks out of her backpack, laying them out on the tablecloth. The others also got out a bit of food they had with them, spreading it out evenly.

Vi looked at the spread of food laying out on the tablecloth, her mouth already watering. Yes... things were already looking much, much better. "Let's eat!" Vi exclaimed, giving the go-ahead.

And with that, the group of four took several minutes to eat food both familiar and unfamiliar to all of them. Vi mostly stayed away from the food Anne laid out, wanting to stick to stuff she knew was good for now... even if a few things did look tempting. Leif had a little bit of everything, Anne ate most of her snacks while having a tiny bit of what everyone else brought, and Kabbu ate the least, but still a good amount.

For a bit, it really did seem as if their problems and worries had been washed away, replaced with them simply having a good time sharing a meal. When Vi realized this, she did grow just a bit more smug, because it due to her that this was even able to happen.

All of them did end up clearing out the tablecloth; Anne folding it and putting it back into her backpack when they were finished. Her backpack still did look pretty full... what else did she have in there? Eh, it wasn't important. What was important was that now everyone was surely re-energized from their meals, and ready to continue on for good multiple hours or so.

"Boy, am I pumped!" Anne exclaimed. She began jogging in place for a moment as if to get some of her energy out, before striking a weird pose... didn't Anne tell them earlier that was called a 'dab'? Well, she sure did have a lot of energy, that was for sure.

"U-Uh, okay everyone!" Vi said, getting their attention before any of them could get too distracted. "Now that we've eaten, we should be good to go for a while, right?" She paused briefly to collect her thoughts before continuing, trying to figure out how to say this in a 'professional' manner.

"So, since there are two paths ahead..." Vi gestured to the left path for a moment, before shifting her hand to the right path, hoping that the others got a good look at both. "I'm listening to your suggestions on which way to go, so... what do you think?" Vi shrugged, not having much else to say. She'd listen to what they had to say, and then make her own decision based on it. It wasn't that difficult.

"Perhaps the left path?" Kabbu said, immediately chiming in. Of course he would be the first one to speak up. Still, Vi couldn't be biased, she did say she would listen to all suggestions.

"Yeah, left sounds like a good idea." Anne agreed with a nod. Hm, two votes for left so far...

"Meh. We'd rather go right." Leif blurted out. "No reason in particular, we just feel like it."

Vi frowned, the differing answers making her the slightest bit hesitant. "Uhm... thank you for your input, guys." She replaced her frown with a smile, trying to be the best leader she could be. Vi then turned around, looking at the two paths and trying to decide for herself which one would be best.

Two votes for left, and one vote for right... On one hand, the left path contained a bunch more of those structures that she'd inevitably have to climb up. And after the incident earlier, she... really wanted to delay or avoid that if possible.

She looked to the right path; there were no structures to climb, but instead there was a Zombiant with a few other monsters blocking the path. She'd have to clear them out to move on, but... she really didn't want to do that either. Sure, Vi had a lot of energy now, but she wanted to conserve it in case.

Ack, this wasn't looking so good... Vi looked back to the left path, trying to stall as much as possible. She needed to pick soon, this was what being the leader was all about, right? Her eyes falling on the right path again, she was trying to figure out whether she'd rather risk the Zombiant or risk the structures, finding it impossible to pick one. She kept going back and forth at an increasingly rapid pace, trying to tell herself to pick something-

"Are we going to actually be able to move soon?" Leif asked, snapping Vi out of it.

With a yelp, Vi turned around, meeting the expectant looks of the others. "Uh..." She needed to think of something now, no matter how stupid it was. "Right is... right?" Vi said, shrugging. Thankfully, that seemed to work well enough. The others looked at each other, shrugging themselves.

"You're the boss." Anne said with an enthusiastic nod.

The boss... Vi should be happy with that title. So why, for the briefest of moments, did she subconsciously hesitate just now? ...She just had to prove herself, that's all. Sure, she was doing a good job so far, but she needed to show that she could do this, no matter what.

...Not knowing how much of a disaster it would turn out to be.

To start, their first obstacle immediately became obvious. A Zombiant, Inichas, and Jellyshroom were blocking the path, and Vi knew if she or anyone else got close enough, the monsters would immediately start attacking. So, what would Vi's grand plan as leader be?

"Uh... just attack them wildly, they're weak anyway!" Vi commanded. There wasn't any arguing with that, so the group charged forward, ready on the offensive... however, they didn't coordinate whatsoever who would be taking care of what, leading to what could only be described as chaos.

Kabbu and Anne ended up trying to go after the Inichas at the same time, causing the two to crash into each other, allowing the Inichas to get a free hit in on them. At the same time, Leif tried to attack the Jellyshroom by throwing ice at it, only to get distracted when Vi yelled out as the Zombiant swung at her, which caused Leif to throw ice in the wrong direction, hitting Kabbu as he finally was able to steady himself.

All in all, their attempts to fight off the monsters took much more exertion and effort than they realized, trying desperately to get rid of them. There were just three of them, how was it so difficult? In the end, though, after a bunch of accidental friendly fire, they did all manage to defeat the monsters...

Until a few more showed up, and Vi told everyone to run, lest they gain more bruises on top of the ones they already have.

Things didn't get easier after that either, much to Vi's detriment. The area ahead was filled with switches and platforms over large gaps, which almost made Vi want to turn around... but she didn't. Despite the hiccups so far, this would work, she would be a better leader than anyone else.

So, she tried her best to instruct everyone on what to do. Everyone was already tired, but Vi wouldn't give up, no matter what. She knew... pretty much nothing on how the switches here worked, but trial and error was necessary when doing pretty much anything, right?

It already started off wrong when Vi hit the switch and jumped on the platform, only to realize when she was halfway across that Anne was the only one on with her. It only got worse from here, Vi not being able to communicate who should stay or go ahead or leave or-

"Anne, stop pressing it!" Vi yelled at one point, trying to get the platform to go a certain way, the erratic motion from the conflicting button presses nearly causing her and Kabbu to fall off. She didn't pay much attention to it, but Leif smirked slightly at seeing the chaos.

The platforms started crashing into each other, everyone kept getting separated, and worst of all, someone nearly fell multiple times. Needless to say, this was not ideal.

Eventually, the four of them somehow managed to reach the end of it, stopping at a giant, dull crystal. They were all groaning, beyond tired from all they've been through, covered in bumps and bruises. Vi was ever so slightly swaying from side to side, trying to keep herself steady.

"We... we did it..." Vi managed to say, blinking several times from exhaustion. She did her best to sound enthusiastic, though it understandably was difficult after the numerous close calls she just had.

Without warning, Leif suddenly fell forward, landing flat on his face, turning all eyes to him. "L-LEIF!" Kabbu screamed, already hurrying to help the moth up.

Anne let out a long yawn, weakly holding her tennis racquet. "I guess we have to hit that crystal, huh?" She asked, her voice low. Vi gave her a nod, which prompted Anne to slowly walk up to the crystal, raising her tennis racquet... before letting out a sigh, hitting the crystal without much effort.

As soon as she did, the crystal turned a bright blue, letting off a powerful glow. At the same time, the ground started shaking, Vi noticing a wall behind them sinking into the ground. As soon as it was gone, the ground stopped shaking.

...Well, that certainly woke her up.

And despite how... rough that'd been, she did it! Waves of accomplishment washed over her; Vi smiled brightly, beaming with a newfound confidence at her own abilities as leader. If she could get the team through this, who knows what else she could do?

"Okay, what's next?" Anne asked, voicing the question that was likely on everyone else's mind.

Hm, this should be easy... Vi was still tired after that whole escapade, and it took a while... which means that she and everyone else would've worked up an appetite! Yeah, that made sense. It was pretty obvious, after all.

"We eat some food?" Vi said, shrugging as she for some reason became the slightest bit unsure of herself. "I mean, I'm pretty hungry after... all that."

"We know we're hungry." Leif replied, still just the tiniest bit dazed after having fallen over. "Perhaps some food could do us some good."

So, a moment later, Anne unzipped her backpack, reaching into it. She dug around for several seconds, her expression slowly growing more confused. "That's weird..." At this, Anne dug around more frantically, Vi able to hear the sound of stuff moving around inside the backpack... until Anne suddenly stopped, looking back up at the others. "There's no food in here."

"Wait, what?" Vi asked, bits of fear creeping up on her. That couldn't be right! They had a lot of food earlier, before... they'd eaten... oh no.

"N-No food?!" Kabbu asked, sounding a bit distressed. "Oh... if only I'd saved some..." His eye lowered a bit, and then Vi realized that she should've saved some from earlier. Stupid! As the leader, she was supposed to help her teammates get out of a bind!

"Well. This is troubling." Leif deadpanned.

"I'm getting hangry!" Anne yelled overdramatically, balling her hands into fists as she shouted up into the air.

Within moments, things were already starting to get out of control, Vi struggling to think of how to compensate for this. She hadn't planned for this at all, so she had to hurry and think of something before the situation got worse. "Uh, uh... emergency team meeting!" Vi called out, getting everyone's attention. Anne stole a glance at her, looking as if she was moments away from tearing her teeth into her backpack.

Thankfully it was easier than Vi thought to organize the group, all of them now sitting in a semi-circle as Vi stood in front of them. Vi grabbed a random stick she found to use as a sort of pointer to further cement her current authority over the others.

"So, I've called this meeting today for... obvious reasons." Vi said, briefly glancing away from the others. A split-second later she straightened her stance, giving the others a stern but understanding look.

"Mhm, we're out of food." Anne said, before realizing there was still a crumb from one of her snacks earlier stuck to her face, grabbing it and popping it into her mouth.

"And we were very un-coordinated back there." Leif added, causing Vi to flash back to a few terrifying moments from earlier. Kabbu nodded and agreed with the other two, not having anything to add himself.

"Mhm, mhm." Vi said, closing her eyes and also nodding, holding a hand against her chin. She opened her eyes, waving her stick around. "Luckily for us, we have the power of great suggestions and a leader that listens." Vi twirled the stick in her hands as she spoke.

"So, lemme hear it guys. What should we do? Remember that there are no bad suggestions!" Vi's face lit up with a smile, appearing to finally get things back on track.

The response was only silence at first; Anne and Leif giving each other a quick look, their minds already made up. "Let's put Kabbu back in charge." They both said, Kabbu's eye lighting up in surprise before he blushed a little.

Vi froze, immediately tensing up at such a... suggestion, if it even could be called that. Her anger boiled within her, festering quickly as she gripped her stick so tightly that it snapped in half, the two pieces falling onto the floor. "And why would we do that?"

"Well, Kabbu knew how to manage our food." Leif answered. "We're still not really that hungry, but eating would be nice." ...Geez, was Leif ever hungry? Still, Vi only depleted them of their food (by accident) one time!

"And he kept us organized." Anne pointed out. "...And you're really starting to look angry at us."

Why wouldn't she be angry!? "I will not go back to that life!" Vi yelled, frustrated and desperate. After all she's done for them, this is how they repay her? "Don't you like being listened to?"

"I don't exactly feel 'listened to' right now." Anne said nervously, looking away. In the heat of the moment, Vi's own hypocrisy was entirely lost on her.

Kabbu scooted back a bit, completely at a loss for words.

"We don't either." Leif agreed, shaking his head. "And to be completely honest, you really aren't cut out for this. You're a child; a teenager, you have no idea what you're doing."

...What did he just say. Vi's eyes opened a bit wider, her anger still very much present, but also morphing, changing, twisting into something else as a result of the words Leif spoke.

'You're a child.' 'You have no idea what you're doing.' And it was far from the first time she'd been told something like this. 'As I said, we cannot allow children to explore!' 'You need to stop complaining and do your job.' 'You're being selfish. Quit thinking of yourself and your idiotic fantasies-'

Vi had enough, beyond frustrated and tired of being reminded of all the reasons why she was doing this in the first place. She visibly shook, her fists balled so tightly that it caused a bit of pain. After all this, she still was treated the exact same way, no matter who she was with, no matter what she tried to do, it all lead to one, singular outcome.

"Vi-"

"FINE!" Vi snapped, screaming as loud as she possibly could. She didn't even care who she'd interrupted, she was beyond any reason at this point. "I'll just do everything myself!"

Without taking a moment to think, Vi turned on a dime and raced off, only barely registering Anne standing up and calling after her. But Vi didn't care; she needed to get away now. She blindly ran past the crystal, nearly bumping into the wall as she exited the room.

She'd prove herself to everyone; she IS capable of exploring, she IS capable of being her own bug, she's not just some cog in the machine-

Vi yelped as she nearly fell off the floor she was running on, barely stopping in time right before a... very, extremely steep drop. Yikes... it was a really good thing she was a bee. Still, she had to put some more distance between herself and the... others; she couldn't stand to be around any of them right now.

As fast she could, she jumped off the ledge, her wings buzzing as to slow her fall. However, she still landed a bit roughly, crashing down to the ground a bit faster than she'd anticipated. Without missing a beat, she got up, stumbling forward before breaking back into a full-on run.

She struggled to keep tears from flowing out of her eyes, still trying to prove that she was capable of doing this, no matter what. When she passed by the large door from earlier, she just barely noticed that the right side was glowing blue... and putting two and two together, anyone could figure out what had to be done next.

Vi ran without stopping for anything, no matter what. Ahead of her, there were several structures, positioned similarly to the ones from a little while ago; and climbing them would be the only way to move forward.

Visions of what happened the last time she tried to climb up a set of structures like these flashed through Vi's head, and with that, all logical thought and reason went out the window, not even caring that her behavior could easily be compared to that of a lesser bug. She barely slowed down the tiniest bit, only so she could climb up onto the first part of the structure, before immediately making her way to the next part...

Only to, in her haste, trip on her own two feet and fall down, roughly hitting a part of the structure before tumbling down back onto the ground. Despite the pain, she picked herself back up, frustration and anger boiling to the surface as she had to prove to herself that she could do this. No matter how many times she slipped and fell. No matter how erratic her movements became, making any kind of substantial progress impossible, constantly falling and slipping and hurting herself.

No matter how much she tried, she simply couldn't do it. Vi couldn't cope with that; how was she even going to begin to do that? A few tears escaped her eyes, despite how much she tried to hold them back. She looked at a piece of the structure next to her and kicked it as hard as she could. Instead of some sort of satisfaction like she'd hoped, it only caused her to recoil and hold her foot in pain, internally cursing all the while.

...To be honest, at this point she was so tired, exhausted, and hungry, she just couldn't find it in her to vent her frustrations physically anymore. Which was why she instead chose to sit down, leaning against the wall. Her emotions were still running haywire, so many conflicting thoughts and feelings clashing against each other, at this point impossible for her to have one, singular, clear thought.

Being careful so that she didn't damage her abdomen, Vi scooted her legs up a bit, pulling them as close as she could with her arms before she buried her face in her knees, staring at the ground before adjusting her arms so that she was crossing them, making it obvious that she was sulking.

Not that anyone was around to see her.

...Not yet, at least.

Even if it might've been multiple minutes, it felt like almost no time at all passed before she heard footsteps... slowly, but surely, they approached her. They didn't appear to be the erratic steps from a lesser bug or other monster from what she heard, so... oh great, one of the others was coming over to her.

Who was it? Leif, who'd give her yet another speech on how she was acting like a child? Or Anne, who was younger and definitely not as mature as her, and would likely rope her into some kind of scheme?

The footsteps came to a stop when they were about a few feet away, filling the room with silence once more. Vi waited for whoever it was to say something to identify themself, and yet that never came. Grumbling, Vi raised her head to see... Kabbu.

"What do you want?" Vi reluctantly asked, immediately looking away. From the few seconds she saw him, Kabbu didn't look angry or disappointed, but rather... sad.

"Vi, if you please, I would like to talk to you for a minute." Kabbu answered, his tone calm and slow. "...Just you and me. One on one."

A singular, miniscule, tiny part of Vi did feel a pang of guilt upon hearing this... it wouldn't make her feel any better if she demanded that he go away, but she also dreaded the idea of talking to him. ...May as well get it over with.

"Fine." Vi said, accompanied with a loud sigh. The footsteps then resumed, Kabbu walking over and sitting next to Vi, on her left. Vi closed her eyes, already imagining any number of things that Kabbu would say. The silence was agonizing, her anxiety once again slowly rising, until...

"So... was I really doing that again?" Kabbu asked, genuine. "Being all... controlling, I mean. Bossing everyone around. Did I fall back into doing that again?"

"I..." At this point, how was she even supposed to answer? She thought it was obvious, but thinking about it, deep down... "I don't even know anymore, it was just..." Was she really in over her head? Was she really just finding excuses to try to get her way?

Vi let out a sigh, pausing for a moment. "Leif was right. I'm just some stupid teenager that doesn't know what she's doing and always screws things up. Just like always."

"No, that's not true!" Kabbu suddenly yelled, causing Vi to jump a little, finally turning her head toward the beetle. Whoa, he was very quick to refute that. Kabbu appeared determined, his aura of confidence and re-assurance not lost on Vi.

"...Why?" Vi asked, not understanding. Her voice stayed low, not having any clue in the slightest what Kabbu was talking about. She was just a nuisance, wasn't she?

"Well sure, you are a teenager..." Kabbu began. Yeah, wasn't that the truth. There was literally nothing she could do about it. "But that doesn't mean your idea are stupid!" ...What?

"Sure, you're still growing, and you might make a few mistakes, but you do contribute real value to the team!" Kabbu continued. "And yeah, your ideas might need a bit of fine-tuning sometimes, but... isn't that the case for everyone? I know... that I've made my fair share of mistakes." Kabbu then looked away, sighing deeply.

Vi thought about this, considering everything that Kabbu said. She closed her eyes, letting out a long sigh. "You... you weren't being controlling." It felt bitter to say, but it was true. Kabbu had just been trying to look out for everyone, just as he always had.

"I'm sorry?" Kabbu turned back to face Vi.

"I was just being stupid; you weren't being controlling like you were that one time." Vi shuddered a little at remembering that incident, but it was behind them all now. "I was feeling a little... jealous of you, honestly. You were able to lead us and make good choices for all of us, and..." Vi shut her eyes, shivering a little. ...Not that she was going to fully admit how guilty she felt. It was just super cold here, that's all.

Kabbu frowned, nervously putting a hand on the back of his head. "I... do have something to admit myself, to be honest?" ...Hm? That piqued Vi's interest.

"Well, I... I should've made more of an effort to communicate with you and the others on what we should be doing." Kabbu explained. "Because in a team, everyone deserves to have input in what happens! You even did a better job of that than I did..." Hm. She did, didn't she.

"And in fact, that's what I'm going to do now!" Kabbu finished. "We're a team, so all of us should act like it!" He looked determined, focused... then again, Vi remembered when Kabbu apologized for being too controlling, and in the end, he did make an effort to change. But still...

"Do you promise?" Vi asked. She already knew what he was going to say, but she had to be sure.

"Of course." Kabbu said, nodding a few times. "I promise, Vi. From the bottom of my heart." The beetle turned his body a bit to face Vi better, before silently extending his arms out toward her. Vi was confused for a moment as to what he was doing, until she realized... oh yeah. He was offering her a hug.

...One that she really needed, to be quite honest. She rarely, if ever accepted a hug, but she didn't want to come off as a jerk again right as the two of them were sorting things out. So, before she kept Kabbu waiting too long, she extended her arms out as well.

Only a second or two later did Kabbu reach over to Vi, pulling her over and scooping her up into a hug, being careful to watch for her wings and abdomen as he wrapped his arms around her. Vi hugged him back, part of her not expecting the hug to be... this warm. And comforting.

Most of the time, Vi didn't like being hugged, and that sorta still applied right now. Not that she hated physical touch, she just wasn't used to bugs going out of their way to comfort her, because... she was too used to the way she always lived, it seemed. She wouldn't mind if Kabbu hugged more, though. Probably. The thought of being teased and mocked for accepting affection from a friend entered her head, and she suddenly was a bit more hesitant.

All too soon, Kabbu gently broke away from the hug. Vi quickly retracted her arms, not wanting to come off as needy, especially after everything that'd just happened. Kabbu rested his hand against the wall beside him, using it to help push himself up so he could stand. Once he was standing, he reached a hand out to Vi.

"Need a little help? You are a bit... bruised up." Kabbu grimaced a little at getting another look at her. "How'd that happen?" He sounded... understandably worried.

"...I might've slipped several times." Was all Vi said before she accepted Kabbu's hand, the beetle tightening his grip shortly after before pulling her to her feet, helping her stand up. "I guess I should be more careful."

Vi let go of Kabbu's hand, looking him in the eye. ...Wow, he was very forgiving. A part of her felt guilty about all of this, but with his re-assurance, it mostly melted away, but she still couldn't help but internally hate how all of it escalated, because of her own actions. It was icky, but she couldn't do anything to stop it, but-

"Oh, there you two are." Leif's voice rang out in the otherwise quiet area, disrupting Vi's spiral of thoughts. Vi and Kabbu turned to the source of the noise, seeing Leif and Anne walking up to them. "We'd been wondering where you two were."

"Yeah, Kabbu ran off like, a second after you did, Vi." Anne added. Vi half-heartedly waved to the two of them, not so sure if, even after Kabbu's speech to her... that it was all resolved. "So..." Anne glanced at Vi and then Kabbu. "Is everything alright?"

When Vi didn't reply after a few seconds, Kabbu stepped in. "Mhm." He said with a nod, glancing at Vi to get her input too, to which she also gave a nod. One that was just a little less enthusiastic. "Vi and I talked and worked everything out, so there's nothing to be worried about!"

"That's a big relief." Anne said. "So, uhh... who's the leader of the group now?" She asked, a bit confused on the matter. "You know, so I know who to listen to." Despite it getting a little more awkward by the second, nobody spoke up. That is, until...

"I... don't think there has to be a single leader between all of us." Vi stated, saying what needed to be said. It wasn't what she ideally wanted, but she more than figured out by now that whenever someone was put in charge of all of them, it ended in disaster, and that was something she just couldn't take anymore. "We're just... a team, you know?"

"Oh. Well, I guess that makes sense." Anne said, hopefully understanding the concept.

"Neat." Leif said, a tinge of sarcasm in his tone. Vi paused, remembering what he'd said to her earlier, right before she ran off.

But... what matter right now is that once more, they were yet again finally united. After all the bickering and yelling, they'd managed to once again get back on their feet and pick up where they left off. And now, what Vi was originally aiming for was once again at the forefront of her mind: the treasure.

Sure, she absolutely could push any other clouded feelings within her aside for now, finally getting out of this godforsaken cave and finding the treasure is what mattered most. She'd come this far; she certainly wasn't going to stop now! ...Especially since she couldn't, since otherwise she'd be stuck in this cave.

That aside, it was very clear to the four of them what they needed to do next. Hitting the switch on the right path activated half of the door, so logic dictates that the same thing would happen on the left side, right? Well, there was only one way to find out.

The team navigated their way through the left path, solving all the tricks and puzzles within. They took their time, not rushing anything, and make sure to think over what they were doing, even if there were still a few miscalculations here and there. They were hardly perfect, after all. Still, with clever use of Leif's ability to freeze falling raindrops and other water, plus everyone's combined efforts, they were eventually able to make it through after a while.

And when they saw the large crystal within their sights, they knew they'd done it; Vi immediately running up to the crystal in excitement. Not missing a beat, she took out her beemerang and smacked the crystal, the large object gaining a bright blue glow as she did so. The floor rumbled a bit, just as it did when they hit the first one. Which could only mean one thing.

Sure enough, when they eventually got back to where they came from, both halves of the door glowing. As they approached, the ground rumbled for a third time, the door slowly opening, creaking loudly. ...Wow, it must've been a while since that door last opened, huh.

Even if that were the case, the important thing was that they were at last another step closer to what they'd been trying to achieve for days now. Would this be the last step? ...Likely not, but it was still progress, nevertheless.

The team looked pumped, Kabbu with a determined expression on his face as he looked up at the open door, Leif's eyes a bit narrowed, watching out for anything that might attack them, and Anne spinning her tennis racquet around, ready to use it when necessary. And Vi... simply smiled, accepting how she felt about it all, the four of them finally walking through the open door.