At the Golden Settlement, inside the Golden Sunset Inn, Zasp and Mothiva were sharing a room. It was raining heavily outside. Mothiva was looking at Zasp very angrily.
"Why did you let this happen?!" Mothiva shouted, "This concert was my worst one ever!"
"Look, things can go wrong all the time," Zasp said.
"EVERYTHING WENT WRONG!" Mothiva said, "I was unable to sing properly, I kept falling over, everyone started booing at me for no reason, and then this rainstorm comes in and ruins everything!"
"Look, you NEVER told me you were allergic to certain ingredients in the dish I got Kut to make for us," stated Zasp, "And it was your decision to still do the concert despite the allergic reaction you got... and also utter the term 'Venus be damned' through the mic to the town that worships her the most. We should learn from our mistakes and let this concert be a lesson for the both of us."
Mothiva said nothing, and continued to glare at Zasp.
"Look, you bring me with you because you need assistance with your concerts," said Zasp, "That's what I'm trying to do. Assisting doesn't just mean helping setting up stuff, it also means trying to make sure things don't go wrong in the future. I'm trying to do the best I can."
"You know what, you clearly don't do enough!" Mothiva said, "Everything bad that happened tonight and in the past could not have if you actually did enough! I could be chilling at the poolside of a luxurious mansion with millions of berries this very moment, but I'm not, because you didn't do enough. I'm sure I would be better off with someone who did enough to make sure nothing went wrong. In fact, I probably didn't need anyone at all, I could have done the stuff myself and nothing would have ever went wrong."
Mothiva pointed towards the door of their room. "Your services are no longer required. Get out."
"Umm... what?"
Mothiva took a deep breath, pointed at Zasp, and started to scream.
"YOU HEARD ME, ZASP. GET OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT!"
The big "out" was punctuated with a giant flash of white that engulfed the room, the sound of a large explosion, and a rumbling like an earthquake of high magnitude. Zasp and everything that was not secured was sent flying to the ground.
Once everything became silent, Zasp looked up to see Mothiva still sitting on the bed pointing at him, but she had a confused expression.
There was a knock at the door. Zasp got up and opened it. The innkeeper, Sunny, was on the other side, looking worried.
"Are you two okay?" she asked.
"I'm not!" Mothiva said, obviously referencing her career.
"Um, both of us are fine," Zasp said.
"Just checking," Sunny said, "I don't know what just happened, but it was as scary as the Dead Lands!"
"The giant earthquake and the flash?" Zasp asked. Sunny nodded.
"I'll leave you two alone while I check on the other rooms," the innkeeper beetle said.
"Uh, no," Mothiva interjected, "You will leave ME alone and drag that useless pile of trash wasp out of here."
"What?!" Zasp said, "Actually now that I think of it, I could use a little time to clear my head. So much going on."
"I would advise not doing that," said Sunny, "it's too dangerous out there,"
"It's not like I have anything better to do."
Zasp sat outside the Sunset Inn, holding a leaf umbrella to protect himself from the huge drops of rain. The rain did seem to be slowing down, though.
"I can't believe Mothiva rejected me like that," Zasp said to himself, "I did everything I could to support her, and THIS is how she treats me? Were her critics actually right about her?"
Zasp looked up. "Maybe it's because she doesn't understand my usefulness. Maybe she isn't looking deep enough."
In a mental sense, there were two sides to Zasp. There was a "normal" Zasp on one side who tried to actually grow and walk along the paths of life, and then there was "super into Mothiva person" Zasp, who strongly believed Mothiva was the end-all-be-all and would do anything to make her be his significant other. The two halves warred every hour of the day, and most of the time, S.I.M.P. Zasp trampled over regular Zasp. The next war was happening right now, and it was the biggest one yet.
Deciding just sitting would do little to aid his pains, Zasp got up and began to walk. He came to the exit leading to the Lost Sands when the rain finally came to a stop.
Setting aside the leaf umbrella, Zasp looked toward the vast dunes. He decided the isolation the Lost Sands provide would probably help him actually clear his head.
Zasp stepped into the Lost Sands. While he was trekking throuh the sands, he noticed something peculiar on the horizon. It looked like a tall tower of rock, colored just like the sand he walked on. The odd thing is that Zasp didn't remember seeing this tower on previous treks through the Lost Sands.
Zasp approached the tower. After a few minutes, he found himself at the large quicksand pit. On an island in the center of the pit rose the very tower Zasp has been approaching. Being to this exact area many times, Zasp was now certain this tower was not here before.
Zasp saw what looked like a hole at the base of the tower. He decided to make himself useful and examine it.
Zasp made his way to the tower's base, then entered the hole, which led him inside the structure. While walking through, He noticed the rocklike walls seemed to quickly "melt" into what looked like glass. This glass looked similar to the glass a few of the Giant's artifacts were made of.
Zasp soon came to a giant chamber at the tower's center. the ceiling of the chamber extended for a good distance, and seemed to be as high as the actual exterior of the tower. The floor sloped downwards from the glassy walls, before suddenly rising upwards into a thin, crystalline spike at the center of the room. The crystal spike glowed a bright yellow that flickered every so often.
Zasp began to walk to the spike. Despite the normal half of his mind knowing this was probably dangerous, S.I.M.P. Zasp disagreed strongly. Perhaps if they gave a giant chunk of the crystal to Mothiva as a gift, she will HAVE to respect Zasp.
Zasp placed both his hands on the spike, and its glow suddenly multiplied to where it nearly blinded the wasp.
Before he had time to remove his hands, Zasp felt a surge pierce his body. He began to scream. His nerves howled in pain, his muscles went limp, his vision crackled and a loud ringing dominated his hearing. The wasp dropped to the floor, completely paralyzed.
After a few moments of grueling torture, the pain subsided, and Zasp's senses began to clear up. The first thing he was able to notice was that the crystal spike had stopped glowing.
Then he saw and heard the glass walls of the chamber cracking, and chunks of glass beginning to fall from the ceiling.
Zasp had no idea what he just did, but he knew he needed to get out of here. Even though his nerves still felt like they were on fire, he managed to lift himself up and use his legs to escape the collapsing tower. He leaped out of the hole he entered from just as the rocks above him gave way.
Zasp laid in the sand as the tower turned to rubble behind him. Having used all his strength to escape and not having much left, Zasp dropped his head and blacked out.
Zasp awoke to the sound of faint voices.
"Heh, these are so small that guy won't even know his fluffy balls are missing!"
"Hahahaha! That's actually a good one."
Tilting his head to the side, he could see who was talking: A dragonfly thief, and a ladybug burglar.
The burglar was holding two antennae ties with hot pink pom-poms, or "fluffy balls" if you will. It is a fashion accessory famously worn by Mothiva. Since Zasp is a big super-into-Mothiva-person, he wears two of them himself, albeit on his knee. Not many bugs seem to notice him wearing them, curiously.
Zasp looked at the knee his ties are on, only to notice them missing. And then he realized where the burglar must have gotten the ties in the first place. Zasp quickly leaped up.
"Hey, you! Give those back!" Zasp shouted at the two bugs.
"Make me!" the burglar said as he blew a raspberry.
"Or how about you buy new ones?" said the thief, "they're pretty cheap."
An angry Zasp walked over to the burglar to try and snatch the ties from their hands, only for the burglar to kick him in the crotch. The two laughed as Zasp went down clutching himself.
"I should steal that bag he keeps the rest of these fluffy balls in." the bandit joked.
"Oh yeah, and don't forget that long vegetable he keeps on top!" the thief added.
As the two continued to laugh at their own horrible jokes, Zasp managed to get up again, this time clenching his fists.
"Okay, what kind of sick satisfaction do you get stealing items from helpless people?" Zasp said angrily, "If those ties were as cheap as you said, why don't YOU take your own statements into consideration and get, heck, steal, them from the places that sell them?"
"Maybe you should not question the ones in power here!" The burglar said as he gave Zasp the empodium.
"Aww, do you not want to steal from the markets because it's more of a challenge for you?" Zasp taunted.
"Umm..." said the burglar.
"Oh, is that why? You know what that makes you?" Zasp continued as he walked up to the burglar, pushing his claw against their chest, "It makes you a total cow-"
Inexplicably and without warning, a loud snapping noise hit Zasp's ears, Followed by the burglar shrieking loudly. The burglar stumbled backwards, dropping the ties to the ground, before he himself dropped too.
Zasp looked at the fallen burglar in confusion. After a few moments, the burglar slowly picked himself up. He was breathing heavily.
"You know what, have your fluffy balls back!" The burglar said, "I'm getting out of here!" The burglar ran off into the distance as his partner reluctantly followed.
Zasp picked up the ties and put them back on his knee. He then scratched his head.
"What the heck just happened?" he thought to himself.
Feeling he had nothing better to do, for the second time that day, Zasp decided to return to the Golden Settlement.
Zasp walked through the gates of the Golden Settlement. Sunny, who was sitting outside the Sunset Inn, noticed him.
"You were gone for quite a while," she said.
"I know," replied Zasp, "Things happened. Is Mothiva still inside?"
"No, she checked out a while ago."
Zasp went silent. The two halves of his brain were beginning to spar again.
"You look terrible, here, have something to eat." The beetle pulled out an aphid egg and handed it to Zasp, who absentmindedly gripped it in both hands. Sunny then went back inside the inn.
Zasp's mind was racing.
"Mothiva threw me out, then left without notifying me, does she not care for me?"
"No. She needs to care. I tried my hardest to assist her in the past."
"But was trying to assist her really worth it? She only has a tolerance like this steaming egg-"
The fact the aphid egg he held was suddenly steaming snapped Zasp back to reality. He looked down at the egg. There was no way this egg should be heating up, especially since it was still cloudy outside.
Zasp plopped the egg in his mouth and chewed with his mandibles. This was definitely hard-boiled aphid egg he was eating. No question about it. But how did...
Zasp noticed the bottom of his vision suddenly light up, and a buzzing noise pierced his ears. The wasp looked down. What he saw was shocking, almost literally.
A large bolt of electricity was arcing between his hands.