The walk to the Giant's Lair's exit was a long one. But it wasn't done. There was ferry next, where after handing over some berries, the five could take to Bugaria Pier. Everyone was excited for what's to come next, all looking forward to a life without deadlanders. Second enjoyed the ride greately, relishing in the breeze in his fur and especially the sky. He remained glued to the edge the entire trip, staring at the Sun's reflection in the water, all while Green stood next to him and began prepping him for everything he needed to know. The boat eventually slowed to a stop, finally finding the pier, and Second had fallen asleep.
Green picked up Second and carried the bee on his back, and they all headed to the Ant Kingdom. The sky was already beginning to dim, so with a slight sting, Red had to walk straight pass the Explorer's Association, so they could ensure they could get a room at the kingdom's inn. Handing over the berries, they got a room with three beds for a decent deal, and they prepared to settle in early for the night. Green and Second shared a bed, Red took another, and Yellow and Blue shared the last.
Green and Yellow were the first to wake up. At some point in the night, Blue had fallen to the floor, but she didn't seem to mind it. Since nobody else seemed to be awake, Green decided it was the perfect time to ask about the "souvenir" Yellow had brought with her. Yellow denied, but all it took was Green to reach under her bed to find the ancient key she had decided to bring with him. The two went back and forth for a while, Yellow defending with how he only wanted to study it and then she'd return it, and Green claiming it wasn't his to pick apart and that he should return it now.
By the time Blue stirred awake, they ended up on the agreement that the time Second decided to go back to the Deadlands, Yellow would put it back where the Roaches could find it. Blue decided not to intervene, and with the three awake they decided to find breakfast to kill time while Red and Second continued sleeping. An hour later, and with some food in their bags, they returned to the inn with Second and Red awake. They all ate some cheap breakfast before heading for the Association.
Red set into the Association, both excited and anxious, heading towards the paper bug and asked to be an explorer. The paper bug, Ochre, informed him that explorers could only be in teams of 2 to 3. He needs a partner. His friends were instant to jump in though, Green electing to be his partner, with Second adding on he also would like to join. Blue and Yellow glanced at each other before deciding it would be fun to join, so they asked if they could form their own team.
Ochre smiled, and after a light spar to test if the young bugs could handle themselves, they were able to choose their team names. Blue and Yellow decided on "Team Sunset," and after some thought Red, Green, and Second decided on "Team Pepper." They were handed their permits, and were free to do whatever they wanted. Red immediately jumped to taking a request, clearly excited, and two teams took a few requests to make their first berries.
The requests were going well. It wasn't much other than simple fetch quests, so when they got a request to clear out a cave of some easy enemies, they didn't think much of it. They resupplied, picked out some medals to ensure they'd last longer, and headed off. The cave was relatively still when they got there, not much life, all the enemies were deeper in, and so they followed. Yellow was enjoying the quest, since meaning it was in a cave where there weren't any other bugs, she had an excuse to test out the key's abilities.
They were halfway through the cave when they started seeing webs across the rock. They all moved carefully, making sure to watch their backs, since none of them wanted to be caught off guard by a spider. Second kept watch of all sides, Green kept in front and cut through any webs blocking their path, with Red watching all sides, and Yellow keeping her key close. As they moved, Red began idly itching at his arms, before he felt something close around his throat.
He tried saying something, but he couldn't get a noise out. Whatever was clasped around his throat felt like it was strangling him, even if he could still get just enough air in to breathe. She tried stopping to pull at whatever was choking him, but he couldn't get his arms to move. Whenever he tried, he could feel something digging into his wrists, cutting him, and keeping his arms at his side. In an attempt to get her friends' attention, she tried forcing her body to stop, but nothing happened. Whatever was on his throat was all over his body, puppeting him.
Red failed to stop her body from tackling Yellow, catching the poor caddisly off guard. He knocked Yellow to the ground, and he tried saying he was sorry, but he couldn't get a sound out, nor could he stop himself from reaching for the key. Yellow struggled and shouted for him to stop playing around, and it didn't take long for the others to realize something was wrong. Red looked distressed, and even if he was trying to keep Yellow pinned, his expression didn't match the actions.
Second and Green grabbed at the lady bug, holding him back just long enough for Yellow to scramble away and getting the realization that something was wrong. It didn't take long for Red to break free of his friends' grip, and the fight started. Nobody wanted to hurt Red, but they couldn't dodge and simply try to restrain her. Whatever was messing him, it was making him stronger, stronger than his body could handle. His expression quickly looked pained and exhausted, just within the first few minutes of the fight, and he could only mouth that he's sorry as he felt himself strike another friend to the ground.
Whatever was controlling him, it seemed to mostly want the key, and Yellow wasn't willing to give it up. Not when she knew what it could do. The fight pulled them deeper into the cave, and instead of getting darker, the cave only seemed to get... lighter? After another tackle from Red, Second groaned as he pulled himself back to his feet. He shook off whatever dust and grime had gathered in his fur from his meeting with the ground, and he couldn't help but squint at the light. There was a tiny opening in the cave, one just small enough to allow sunlight to peek through.
He looked back at the fight. Red was still fighting their friends, now trying to force Blue away from Yellow, and they were fighting under the light. And just for a moment, the bee could spot the sun lighting up thin threads of silk leading to Red's joints, as well as thin streaks of blood the silk was leaving. Without a second thought, Second flew up and grabbed at the silk. He winced as he did, this wasn't like a regular web, it was sharp, but regardless of how much it hurt, he yanked the threads down with as much strength he had left.
A bug fell from the roof of the cave. It struck the ground harshly, pausing the fight for a moment. In that brief second as the cloaked bug began to stand, Green had put the pieces together and began cutting away at the thread, separating Red from it, allowing the exhausted ladybug to finally rest. Blue and Yellow pulled her away from the bug and stood protectively in front of her. Second demanded to know who the other bug was, furious it attacked his friends.
The bug scoffed, and the others realized what it was. Underneath the cloak was a spider, but it was awakened. It was clearly sapient and aware, which only served to make Second more angry. Despite it not seeming to take them seriously, it referred to itself as Herobrine and said it was merely collecting a tool. Yellow snapped, claiming it was her's, earning a look from Green, but Second said he didn't care why. He hurt their friend when it could've just asked.
Herobrine claimed he knew the answer already. He was just skipping the obvious, besides, they came into his home looking for a fight. Second didn't say anything back. Blue mentioned how they had Red back, they still have the key, and they've probably finished the request already. They should just go home.
Although reluctant, that would be for the best. They wanted to make sure Red was okay. Thankfully, Herobrine didn't stop them. Green picked up Red and let him rest on the walk back, and they began the walk back to the Ant Kingdom Plaza. By the time they made it to the kingdom, Red was awake and wanted to walk. Green let her, even if he was still worried, and the group decided to take a detour to hopefully take Red's mind off of everything.
They brought him to the plaza. In the plaza was a Mother Chomper curled around a house, and a lot of friendly chompers running around. Red immediately brightened up, and unsurprisingly the ladybug immediately went off to go pet and say hi to the little plants. It was nice to see their friend who had just went through a lot immediately spring back to life upon seeing the chompers. It was less nice to see her come back with a baby brute tailing her.
When asked, she said with the dumbest smile and the proudest voice, that it imprinted on her. Before anyone could say anything, he declared its name as "Reuben." Nobody had the heart to tell her no, and Reuben was devastatingly cute. Even as the chomper wandered to Yellow, and immediately began teething on her wings. Red laughed and said that he was just a baby as he picked up the plant, and almost immmediately it curled up and started resting in his arms.
They were all relieved that he was feeling better, so they went back to the Inn. They earned a break after that entire disaster.
Victim was taken back to the Wasp Kingdom. He spent a week in its castle, under constant surveillance within the medical room. He spent that week teetering between unconscious and awake, never fully one or the other. Mitsi, one of the original wasps on that scouting mission who found him, offered to guard him. They weren’t entirely sure if he would turn, since he was a locust, and a quick x-ray proved he was a cordyceps. The worst of both worlds.
Mitsi couldn’t help but be curious. She spent her entire life either on scouting missions or within the Wasp Kingdom’s borders. Victim was a rarity, and she wanted to know more. Thankfully after the week had passed, the locust would awake and remain in that state.
When he first woke up, he was terrified of everyone and everything around him. It was all entirely new for him and unlike anything he’d seen, but his injuries kept him restrained to the cot and forced him to adjust. He eventually got used to Mitsi being around, and the two would talk.
And they talked a lot. At first, Victim would speak in broken Bugnish, due to only being around awakened bugs as an egg, and would often mimic her to better his speech. Conversation was easy between the two, with Mitsi venting about wanting to leave the Wasp Kingdom and her duty, and Victim learning more about how to survive in this world through her. Once Victim was healed, he had to go through military training before being considered a Wasp citizen, and Mitsi found many excuses to visit him during (even if it was mostly him complaining about being sore).
As the two tolerated the Wasp Kingdom, the environment of the hive was not ideal. While Mitsi had learned to brush it off, Victim found the idea of revenge and consequence from the other wasps extremely intriguing. However, Mitsi held no interest in the past, and she would ground Victim and steer his mind away from such things. Eventually, Mitsi got stationed at an outpost on the borders of Bugaria, where they kept tabs on an area that somehow remained free of Deadlanders, despite being outside the borders.
Mitsi, Victim, and the few wasps stationed there found the outpost as a needed breath of fresh air. It was relatively empty and wasn’t under any kingdom. The only other people they got were travellers either passing by or looking for Bugaria, more often than not mentioning escaping from fires and sorcery. The group always welcomed these bugs, but soon found themselves running out of space to keep everyone. They decided on expanding, and the nickname of “the Blindspot” managed to stick for the newborn settlement.
As more bugs stayed rather than went, more bugs were able to defend and Mitsi officially stepped down as a scout. Having one of the leading places in expanding the village helped her realize handiwork, whether carpentry or technology, was where she thrived. Victim also was a natural at designing the blueprints, the two slotting together perfectly with this newfound foundation, and they decided to keep making a difference.
They officially founded the Rocket Corporation. At first it only started as a small stand in the Blindspot that offered repairs to equipment, technology, or whatever bugs brought in. But more people were charmed and inclined to stay, resulting in more help, and Rocket’s name was becoming more well known even outside the Blindspot. They even hired their first security, in the form of a dragonfly named Agent, since being outside any borders brought trouble with gray legality.
Agent was the third piece that slotted in so perfectly they never knew they needed him. At first he was brought in by his own curiosity, but something about Victim and Mitsi he couldn’t place made him stay, and he found himself thriving alongside them. The three enabled Rocket Corp to flourish, especially since it stood out as the only modern tech company that didn’t utilize Roach Crystals, due to an excess of them bringing Victim painful migraines.
But after a few years, it wouldn’t last. The Blindspot caught the attention of two wasp sorcerers, Dark Lord and Chosen One. Smithed from the same Hell as Victim, but never given guidance, the two failed to understand anything about the lives these bugs lived. Fueled by bitterness and a need for an outlet, the two sorcerers found burning down whatever was around the perfect pastime. They started from far outside Bugaria, and it led them to its borders, the Blindspot being the bridge.
Reinforcements couldn’t be sent out in time. The fire spread like a virus, consuming the entire town and many of the bugs within. The smoke acted as a natural warning, begging people to not even try. If the climbing fires weren’t bad enough, the collapsing buildings and environments were just as bad, brought on by the explosive projectiles the Dark Lord loved throwing at anything that moved.
Victim managed to get out alongside Agent, but Mitsi ducked back into the flames to save what people she could. Agent followed after her, only going alone because Victim couldn’t return due to a splitting headache and slipping sense of lucidity that came from the fires laced in magic. He waited outside the smoke, waiting for his two partners to return.
Only Agent came back out, and when pressed for an answer, all he said was that Mitsi was gone. Crushed under falling rubble, Agent couldn’t get close enough before there was an explosion and black and white wasp landed between them, the fire fading from his hands. He couldn’t do anything, so he ran. He said it like he didn’t believe himself. They were forced to evacuate alongside the small percentage that remained, forced back into Bugaria, where they stuck around the Termite Kingdom.
It took hours before reinforcements could arrive and even do anything. Team Pincer was one of the teams sent out for a technical search, and Ochre and Bronze found only bodies. With the smoke finally fading, they were able to aid in the removal and logging of the victims, until Ochre spotted Mitsi under some debri. Something was wrong, and after a single Spy, Ochre found out what.
Mitsi was still alive. Although critically injured and trapped between rubble. They had to treat her injuries on the spot, and could only free her after amputating her stinger. They took her back to the Wasp Kingdom to recover, where she lied unresponsive for weeks.
Victim and Agent were both oblivious to this. Victim never wanted to think about the Wasp Kingdom or the Blindspot again, and without Mitsi to steer him away, he entirely tunnel visioned on finding that wasp and Omega again. Agent, desperate to keep Victim safe after his failure of Mitsi, indirectly encouraged him. Rocket Corp was rebuilt and relocated to the Termite Kingdom, with a brand new focus: making the Deadlands habitable. Although the public image meant nothing to Victim, it got them the publicity and money they needed to expand.
The old friends and employees of Rocket did not return. It wasn’t the same. Not just the new CEO and Agent, but the company itself. There was no focus on fixing things and helping the people. It was apathetic and violent. They even switched to Roach Crystals when before they prided themselves on using traditional electricity. Victim even hired an infamous explorer team that most bugs referred to as Mercenaries, at Agent’s suggestion. Victim wanted nothing more than to kill the wasp who took Mitsi and his second chance at a life from him, while also getting rid of the Omega who ruined his first chance at a life. Agent swore to never leave his side and redeem himself where he failed Mitsi.
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