Nymph sat content in the wild foliage of the Garden's with the ghost of Dryya at his side.
"You ever considered meeting the rest of them?" Dryya said after silence had washed in from the depature of his family.
"Who?" he replied genuinly confused.
"Your other family, the vessels"
"And risk actually having to see him!? No way! I wasn't who he wanted me to be but now I'm who I want to be!"
"You think I of all bugs wouldn't know how annoying he is?" Nymph then burst out lughing at that.
"You-you had to serve him!" he cackled at the scowling ghost.
"Yes but really I was the Lady's guard"
"Oh no! Am I taking your role?" he said in mock distress, "Oh wait you can't do that job anymore anyway."
"I don't know how or why I put up with you sometimes"
"Cause we're friends" Nymph dragged to tease her.
"Don't go pulling that cheesy junk on me, mister"
"Oh and why is that? I don't think a ghost can-" Nymph stopped suddenly and stood stoically in silence.
"Nymph? You alright there?" He cursed under his breath and picked up the blade resting beside him. "I have to go. Someone down there needs me" Dryya frowned concerned at him before ushering him off.
He dove into the bushes and used the shorter ways from the passages he'd made to get around easier. He'd never admit their existense to someone like Ghost, it was too funny to watch them attemopt to get through the platforming. Especially now they had proper thoughts and emotions to express.
He had heard the call for help through his attuned senses and could easily locate its source from the layout of the area printed in his mind. He slowed and watched once he arrived at the sight of the bugs in need. A small group of Mossflies were huddled together in a corner surrounded by a dirtcarver looming over them. He grinned. This was the type of situation he could deal with.
Nymph's leafy wings spread wide and he swooped down behing the predator. He raised his long pin and pounced. The weapon struck through the gaps in the beast's shell, killing in instantly. he wasn't sure what an inhabitant of Deepnest was doing in the Gardens but he didn't like it. Its species maybe stupid and animilistic infection or not bt they should no better than to try and hunt here.
"Are you ok?" he asked the poor mossflies he had saved.
"Y-yes thank y-you" one stuutered obviously still in shock. "Good, will you be okay if I leave now?"
"Probably" one answered with a litte more confidence.
"Good bye then"
With that Nymph leapt back into his tunnels. On his journey back however, he noticed something out of place. Glimmering below was a journel barely visible from foliage covering it that seemed to have been knocked recently. He frowned and went to examine it more closely.
It was written on a smooth stone tablet with markings etched in with somekind of dark liquid that was clearly not ink. He had never seen it before so was intrigued and started to read it.
I'm infected. I should have seen it coming before but I failed at that. She came to me in my dreams in such subtle ways that I didn't notice until too late. I saw the orange this morning. I can already feel the instincts returning...
I should have resisted better like the rest of my tribe. They still stood strong even after everything we've been through. I guess I'm not a strong as them.
I've not much hope. They haven't found a cure in all this time and no one's really left to find one. They say the Archives shut after something happened to the Teacher. No one even goes in anymore, they think its haunted. Well I guess you can excuse those who actually survived to be paranoid...
The words swam in Nymph's head as he tried to process them. What really stuck out in the end was the language it was written in. It was not in the ancient glyphs most writings were found in but the more modern way. This bug was only infected late on! That meant that they could still be alive somewhere around here. Nymph would find them. He would help them.
It was his duty.
It was time now. All the planning their group had done was coming to use. It was time for the first big hoorah of the Triple Trouble Team.
Eve was stood by Ogrim and Fizz not far from the enterance to the Archives in Fog Canyon. Who better to prank first than the one who helped start them up. But this was much more complex. First they had to get in undetected.
They clambered up into the beetles arm ready for the first phase of the plan. Ogrim was going to launch the two vessels up above the building whre they would use their void abilities to phase in. The wind rushed past them as they soared high above the ground. Eve took a deep breath before allowing their essence to dissolve into an inky black substance. It seeped throught the roof and as planned got them into a vent high in the ceiling.
There was a soft thud as Fizz landed next to them. The two then crawled to the room containing a machine adept at powering the whole building. One misalignment from someone would take out all the systems. And that would definetly cause enough panic for them to all round up in the same spot there.
Fizz just gently prodded a wire out of place with their nail before leaping back into the ven with Eve. They then got out their pranking equipment from their bag ready for use. Now all they had to do was wait.
Sure enough Quirrel rushed in the room in panic before dashing out to find everybody for help and warning. Each bug filed in as Quirrel began to babble about what was going on. That was then they let out their first trick. A fine powder was sprinkled down from high above onto the unsuspecting victims below. Of course they had more though as this wouldn't paffect Wanda or Shadow.
Once most of the bugs were sneezing uncontrollably and in even more panic, part two was dropped. Small colourful pellets -not too dissimilar to the ones used by the Daring Embers- were also let loose below. They exploded outwards into a mess of bright paint in a multitude of random colours everywhere.
So now the group was sneezing and covered in messy paint. Shadow looked rather unamused but also not really annoyed while Wanda was trying not to laugh at their companions. Monomon was in a fit of giggles in between sneezes, Quirrel was looking around for the offender and Myla looked terrrifed.
Wait.
Their pranks weren't supposed to be harmful yet Myla was still clearly extremely frightened by it. The victims were supposed to laugh or at least not mind not be hurt in anyway!
"Ok, Fizz and- ACHOO Eve I know you're- ACHOO somewhere here so- ACHOO would you mind-ACHOO coming out?" Quirrel's voice rang. The pair of prankers exchanged glances before sliding out of their hiding place above. "All I want to- ACHOO know is how-ACHOO you did it" he asked them. So Eve sat back as Fizz explained the plan that they had come up with. Monomon commended their effort and Quirrel praised their originality before they all wandered out except Quirrel who stayed to fix the wire.
Fizz strode out to the exit but Eve hng behind. They still weren't sure about Myla's reaction. "What kind of a pranker are you if you can't even keep your audience happy" a sharp voice spoke. It was a pitch black figure floating menacingly next to them.
"I'm not sure..." they said miserably. "So much for that 'marvelous' plan of yours then" it cackled. Eve felt extremly down trodden. This was their purpose! This was their role! This was them! How could they be bad at it!
"So what you gonna do now then? Can't be Triple Trouble Team anymore if there's only two of them! Who am I kidding, its not like it matters to you anymore"
"Stop..." they tried meekly. It blinked and disappeared before reappearing behind them and shicking them.
"Gotcha! Oh wait your not laughing... I guess my pranks can only be as bad as yours then!" Eve started to miserably walk down the corridor to the exit but wasn't looking where they were going and ended up bashing into someone.
"sorry..." they mumbled.
"Its ok its my fault as- the voice stopped and squeaked. Eve looked up to see Myla. Great, now she was traumatized cause of them...
"Wow! You put on that prank didn't you! it was so good! I mean it was kind of scary at the time but also really exhilerating!" They perked uo at that.
"You liked it?" "No! Of course she didn't! She just said she was scared didn't she!"
"Liked it? I loved it! Thank you for putting it on!" Eve glanced around at the 'shade' after hearing this and feeling significantly better. It was writhing in pain and the more pride swelled in their chest, the more it faded until a glowing white form of it sighed and laughed. It then joined back with them.
"No, thank you Myla"
Thorn looked up at the large bug near them as her advice swirled in their head. The silk and needle in their grap shined too them and they let thmself start. They were sat in a cozy room in the Distant Village with Queen Herrah herself taking lessons on weaving.
"That's it! Let the threads entwine but be careful, they might knot" she encouraged. They emitted soul into the material letting it glow and twist together in soft pretty patterns. They kept working it at it until a long peice of fabric perfect for a scarf set before them. It was a smooth silver and shined when it hit the light of the lumafly in the lantern on the ceiling. Thorn knew what they were going to do with it.
"Here, for you" they smiled.
"You want to give me your first work?"
"I can make more now that you've taught me now!"
"Thank you Thorn! Hornet wasn't like this when she was young"
"Really?" they laughed.
"Oh yes! I could barely ever get her to sit still enough to weave let alone gift it to someone else."
"Doesn't sound like Hornet now" Herrah's expression saddened slightly.
"She" Herrah paused for a moment, "matured in her time alone to protect herself."
"Oh"
"But its fine now cause that sibling of yours took down that ridiculous moth. Good riddance I say! Was about to smack 'er down myself!" Thorn laughed at that.
"And how were you going to do that"
"I said I was about to not that I had a plan how to"
Thorn looked around uncomfortable before asking the thing bugging them, "Could you s-see her?"
"She came by sometimes. Tried to convince me to help her break out of the vessel. Quite taunting actually..."
"Well your not there anymore. Now your awake and here with me, Hornet and Lili."
"Now that is true little Thorn"
"But now that you've told me about Hornet... I think I know how I should be acting..."they said mischieviously.
"Then I think I'll need to put you in check."
"You wouldn't..."
"I think I would..." Herrah leapt up and scooped Thorn up into a pair of her many arms.
Ghost scowled as they faced through the harsh winds of the Kingdom's Edge. They had to keep reminding themselves of their reason to be here. It wasn't far to Oro now...
They could just about make out the hut Oro lived in and rushed to it. Before entering, they sat on the bench to restore their health. They then got into the warm as quickly as possible.
"Oh its you, what do you want?..." the gruff voice of Oro asked.
"Well I was going to help but I'm not sure if I want to now..." Ghost teased.
"Help with what..."
"Fixing Mato's nail!"
"You know about that!?"
"Yes and I can say I have way more than enough geo at this point to afford this. And I have requested to meet a particularly good nail smith I know in the City. You in or not?"
Oro hesitated and muttered to himself before agreeing, "Yes, yes please I would like your help but this better not be some kind of set up."
"Trust me its not"
"Trust the random bug with strange powers that can now miraculously talk.." he mumbled but Ghost was already leaving.
The pair begin to make the climbup to the entrance to the City of Tears. it was long and tedious and they both made it in very different ways butit was eventually completed. Ghost then lead the way through the City to the hut where the Nailsmith used to work. He had moved in with Sheo but he would need his oldworkspace for this job.
"Hi there!" they started brightly, "My friend here would like you to fix this nail."
"You know I'm doing this as a favour for allowing to create the pure nail right?"
"Yes, Oro get out the remains" Oro reached into his bag and brought out the nail split cleanly.
"Quite a nasty break, will cost quite a lot for me to restore this"
"How much?"
"I'd say about 5000" Ghost brought out here massive geo bag for him then. Oro's jaw dropped as he saw its size.
"What?"
"That bag is literally twice as tall as you! How do you have so much!?"
"Furious vengefly's carry a lot of geo"
"I don't even want to know how many died for this"
"Here's your money"
"Thank you, it will take a while though so would you mind coming back tommorow?"
"Sure"