Family
Chapter 412 Tagalong
By: Major144
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. This is just a story for fun.
Back in the Underground, the heroes and the explorers were still chilling at Toriel's house waiting for San's arrival. Finn and the other heroes were getting a bit restless with all the waiting. Inside Finn's backpack, which was currently lying a few feet away from Finn, Insecto Knight was also getting incredibly board and decided to go and stretch his legs. Insecto Knight carefully undid the zipper and hopped out of the backpack. He then snuck past everyone and to the back of the house to stretch and be alone. This spying job was proving to have it's ups and downs. It started out fun at first, but then it got really boring. Hopefully things would get back to being interesting soon. Insecto Knight was finishing up his stretches and was fixing to head back to the backpack, when he felt a slight vibration in the ground close to him. The ground a few inches in front of Insecto Knight burst open and Flowey the Flower came out and looked down at the tiny form of Insecto Knight with a big smile on his face.
"Well hello there little one. I'm Flowey the Flower. It's so rare for me to find anyone smaller then myself. This calls for a special occasion! Let's play a game!" Said Flowey.
"What kind of game?" Asked Insecto Knight tensing up and ready to spring into action.
"Squish the bug!" Laughed Flowey with a sinister smile on his face as several of his pellets appeared hovering around him.
Insecto Knight pulled out his sword as Flowey fired the pellets at him. He jumped and dodged a few of them and then he jumped onto one of the pellets and used a technique he learned from Shovel Knight and Black Knight by using his sword as a makeshift pogo stick to jump from one pellet to the next. Insecto Knight preformed this move a few more times, until he reached Flowey and swung his sword at him. Flowey managed to dodge out of the way, but Insecto Knight's sword managed to slice off a tiny bit off of a petal on Flowey's left side. Insecto Knight landed on the ground as Flowey yelled in both pain and anger. The ground near Flowey burst open as a vine shot out and slammed into into Insecto Knight sending him crashing to the ground. Flowey swung a vine down at Insecto Knight, who quickly rolled out of the way and jumped to his feet. Another vine swung at Insecto Knight, who leaped over it and then landed on it. Insecto Knight began to run down the vine towards a very surprised Flowey. He reached Flowey and delivered a dropkick to his rocking the murderous flower back. Insecto Knight landed on the ground and looked up at Flowey, who had tiny footprints in the middle of his face and a look of absolute rage on his face.
"Why you little brat! I'll kill you!" Yelled Flowey.
Insecto Knight prepared himself for Flowey's next attack, but before the foul flower could attack, Hornet suddenly appeared Flowey and kicked the flower sending him flying away. Flowey screamed as he vanished into the distance. Hornet turned her eyes to Insecto Knight and a look of confusion and recognition appeared in her eyes.
"Beetle...?" Said Hornet.
Insecto Knight didn't know what Hornet was saying, but he knew his cover was basically blown and he needed to escape. He quickly turned and took off running and jumping. Hornet took off after the tiny warrior and tried to grab him. She came close a few times, but Insecto Knight would always manage to escape her grasp her grasp. The little chase continued on for several more seconds. Hornet was so focused on catching Insecto Knight, she failed to see that she was racing towards Heckapoo, until she crashed into and the two of them fell into a tangle of limbs on the ground getting everyone's attention. Insecto Knight took this opportunity to change to his full and ran towards the nearby tunnel. Toriel managed to see Insecto Knight enter the cave before he disappeared and her eyes went wide in recognition and disbelief. A few minutes later Hornet managed to get herself untangled from Heckapoo and she went over to Toriel.
"Was that who I think it was?" Asked Toriel.
"It was mom. That was Beetle!" Said Hornet.
"Who is Beetle?" Asked Finn.
"Beetle is another one of Ballos's warrior creations. He was my adopted son and Hornet's little brother." Said Toriel.
"Why are we hearing about him now?" Asked Gata.
"Because up until now we thought he was dead." Said Hornet.
"Why did you think he was dead?" Asked Jake.
"A few years back, Beetle and I were just little kids. Beetle had the unique power to shrink himself down to a very small size and the two of us would use his power to come up with games and adventures. One day we came across this little stream and decided we wanted to play pirates. I made this little boat and Beetle hopped onto it before I placed it in the water. The boat went down the stream and I ran alongside it. Everything was going good, until we came across some rapids that lead to a whirlpool between some rocks. The boat got pulled in with Beetle still on it. I jumped into the stream and tried to grab the boat, but the current was too fast and I watched helplessly as the boat got sucked down the whirlpool and disappeared. I almost got sucked down by the whirlpool as well, but Sly showed up and saved me." Said Hornet.
"Now Beetle is back." Said Toriel.
Everyone was silent for several seconds and then Hornet spoke.
"Beetle...must hate me now. I failed to save him!"
"Hornet no. It was an accident. If anyone is to blame it's me. I should have kept a better eye on the two of you." Said Toriel.
"Hey don't go blaming yourselves. Sometimes bad things happen to the people we love and you can't always be there to protect or save them. I've seen several bad things happen to my siblings and I couldn't do a thing to stop any of it. I got mad at myself for a bit and I realized that wasn't going to help anyone. I pushed my anger and self doubt away and I focused on what I could do and that was to help the people I cared about and comfort them. It may not seem like much, but trust me it helps." Said Jake.
"But...what if Beetle hates us and doesn't want our help?" Asked Hornet.
"Well you won't know, until you try." Said Finn.
"I suppose you're right. Beetle is our family after all and families look out for each other." Said Toriel looking at Hornet and giving her a reassuring nod.
Hornet nodded back.
"Now then. We need to focus and search all our packs and belongings." Said Huntress Wizard.
"What for?" Asked Pacifica.
"Well there is a chance Beetle may have been hitching a ride in one of our bags and he may have been spying on us for Crimson, Castle Lemongrab, or some other enemy faction." Said Huntress Wizard.
The explorers began to check their bags and a few minutes later Finn found the tiny communication crystal in his bag. The crystal was handed over to Brain Wiz and Rock Wizard who planned to use their magic on it to figure out who Insecto Knight was communicating with. The others waited on the results and for the arrival of Sans.
In the tunnel Insecto Knight continued running as fast as he could. Insecto Knight was both furious and a little confused. He was mad due to his cover being blown and being forced to flee from the scene leaving his communication crystal behind, so he couldn't get in contact with Jordan and the rest of the Castle Lemongrab team. Insecto Knight was also confused about the being called Hornet. He felt like he saw her face before, but he just couldn't figure out where. Insecto Knight's earliest memory was about being found on the side of a river by Shovel Knight, Shield, and Black Knight. He continued on pondering the puzzle of Hornet, when he heard the sounds of approaching footsteps up head. Not knowing who it was Insecto Knight shrank down and hid himself in a crack in the wall to the right and waited. A figure, who Insecto Knight figured to be Sans walked by. Sans was a short, paunchy skeleton with a wide toothy grin, glove-like hands and large eye sockets. He wore an unzipped blue hoodie, a white shirt, black shorts with white lining, and a pair of slippers. Insecto Knight watched Sans disappear and then he got out of his hiding spot and continued down the tunnel.
Back at Toriel's house, Brain Wiz and Rock Wizard had used their magic on the communication crystal to figure out it was used to get in contact with Jordan. They told the others the news.
"So Castle Lemongrab is involved. They might be down here already." Said Huntress Wizard.
"But what are they doing here?" Asked Heckapoo.
"Well whatever it is it can't be good." Said Hunter Wizard.
"Then we just have to stop them. Just another thing to do on our quest." Said Finn.
It was then that Sans arrived and approached the house. Toriel greeted him.
"Hello Sans."
"So this is our guide." Said Gata eyeing Sans.
"I'm Sans. Sans the skeleton." Greeted Sans.
Introductions were made and the explorers grabbed their bags. Jenka approached Finn and handed him a green crystal star the size of a basketball.
"What's this?" Asked Finn.
"That is one of the seven Crystal Stars. I figured it will safer with you then being here. Plus you're going to need all the magical help you can get." Said Jenka.
"Thanks. I promise we will keep it safe." Said Finn as he placed the magical object in his bag.
Hornet and Ser Manuel approached the explorers with backpacks strapped onto their backs.
"I want to come with. I figure if Beetle is with these Castle Lemongrab guys and you're after them then there's a good chance you'll encounter Beetle. I want to find him and bring him home." Said Hornet.
"And I'm coming to help you deal with Asgore's Royal Guards. I trained and taught the Vice Captain of the guards, so he'll listen to me if we encounter him or any other Royal Guards." Said Ser Manuel.
"Alright you can come." Said Huntress Wizard.
Six also approached the explorers with her own pack.
"Six you can't go with them, it's far too dangerous!" Said Toriel.
Six just shook her head.
"It's ok she can come with us. Will make sure nothing happens to her." Said Gata.
"Ok I trust. Just come back home safely." Said Toriel looking at Six.
Six just nodded her head.
"Alright you lazy bones let's get moving." Said Sans.
With that said the group headed into the tunnel and went deeper into the Underground.
To be continued.