Ch3-
True, Hunter wasn't thrilled to take advice from the giant spider who attacked him and was treating him so rudely. But what else was there to do?
"Oracle's power!" he called.
The next thing he realized, bright flashing lights appeared all around Hunter. Over his body, blue armor began to form.
"Cool!" was all he could think to say once it was done. He was just like Corona now, albeit with a color he liked better. He had wondered for a moment if he'd come out wearing pink too, but he supposed it was different for every Rider.
"You transformed too?!" Grasshop shouted. "Okay, now you guys are cheating! Can you at least wait your turn?"
"Shut up!" Hunter yelled, as he hopped onto Shadow's back. This was an annoying opponent, if anything.
The spider ran up to the machine. Hunter leapt to the air, and threw his weapon down at it, hoping to slash it. But all he managed was to make a slight dent. He was thrown down on his back. He did manage to land on Shadow at least.
"The only reason I partnered with this human was so that I could win!" Shadow yelled, annoyed. He attempted to ram the machine head-on. Although the Machine-Sector appeared to lose balance for a moment, it quickly caught itself, and swiped at Shadow with its pincers.
Witnessing this happen, though, gave Corona an idea.
"Venus! Shadow!" she called. "Try to bind it with your spider threads."
"Alright!" said Venus.
"Got it," Shadow followed.
"Spider Thread!" The two spiders launched webbing from either side. As it tried desperately to break loose, the Machine-Sector began to tilt around.
'They're trying to weaken its balance?' Hunter wondered.
"Now, Hunter! Attack with everything you've got!" Shadow yelled.
'With all I've got?' Hunter thought. Well what was that? His attack earlier really didn't do anything. But if he was a hero, he had to have a better move than that. Some sort of really cool finisher. Then, it suddenly came from him, as if it was something he'd known all along.
"Full Air!"
A powerful strike came from his pike. At the same time, one of Corona's arrows also hit the Machine-Sector. Unable to evade, it burst on impact and fell to pieces.
"Yeah, we did it!" Hunter exclaimed.
"Seeing that bug fall almost made teaming up with you worth it," replied Shadow, as a sort of backhanded compliment.
"Hey!" Hunter said. "You didn't even throw the finishing blow. I did."
"You guys…" Corona said, with a sigh. But she then turned her head to Grasshop, who was twitching in irritation.
"How dare you?! That Machine-Sector was really hard to make!"
"Grasshop, tell us! What are you Insectors doing in the Outer World?" she asked, ignoring his complaints.
"That's not any of your business," answered Grasshop. "But we're the ones with the right to be mad. You weren't supposed to follow us."
At that, Grasshop took off at light-speed. Any soldiers who were still able to followed behind him.
"Well, that didn't help us," said Corona with disappointment.
"Hey, what were those Insector things anyway?" asked Hunter. "I guess they were the bad guys, if we're the heroes, but… they're pretty weird looking."
"Yes, they're our enemies," Corona replied. "So it's up to humans… well, Spider Riders that is, and spiders to defeat them."
"But spiders are bugs too," Hunter said. "Why are they on our side?"
"Don't compare us to Insectors!" yelled Shadow. "We may be bugs, but we too want to defend our home and live peacefully. A home we can't even get back to now."
"Alright, I think I follow," Hunter said.
"Hunter, I'm sorry you had to get caught up in this," Corona spoke. She guessed this would be a lot for a newcomer to handle.
"Hey, don't apologize," said Hunter. "This is exactly the adventurous life I dreamed of having… minus actually being in the Inner World."
"By the way, how do you know about the Inner World?" began Corona. "Wait, I'm getting way ahead of myself, asking questions when we haven't even been properly introduced. I'm Corona, and this is my partner, Venus."
"Nice to meet you," said Venus.
"I'm Hunter Steele. Well, I told you that already. And the reason I know about the Inner World is because my grandfather went there before."
"I am Shadow, the strongest spider soldier, and I'm still not sold on this partner thing. Especially if I have to partner with an Earthen."
"You know, there are actually more of us here," Corona said. "Why don't I take you to meet them? They're probably getting worried now."
"Umm… alright," Hunter decided.
The Insectors were brought to a large gated mansion up in the mountains. It was probably at least near the size of their old castle, and certainly a lot more inviting-looking from the outside. Certainly, it would be roomy enough. There were places for all the soldiers to stay on the ground floor. A lab for developing Machine-Sectors, training grounds, even oddities no one really had a use for, like an indoor pool.
As for the Big Four, they were to live on the second floor. Buguese and Aqune were given a room to share. It was a very large room, and there was actually a near-opaque curtain dividing it. The logic behind this setup was so that Buguese could keep watch over Aqune, his servant. But both of them still found it a bit awkward, being of the opposite gender. Actually, 'a bit' might have been an understatement.
Aqune sat on the edge of her bed, wondering to herself. Rooming arrangements aside, was it appropriate for her to even be there? Her purpose was to chant, keeping the Insector world sustained. But now that she was far away from that world, what would happen to it? On top of that, she was even more worried with the knowledge that the Spider Riders were on the surface too. Fighting would be inevitable, and that would also make finding the Oracle Keys more difficult.
"Oh, Portia…" she stared down at the purple spider at her feet. "What is going to happen?"
Soon, Hunter's group arrived at the temple.
"Corona, you're safe!" Igneous exclaimed. He had been less hopeful than Lumen about ever seeing her again. But his mind shifted elsewhere when he noticed Hunter. "Who is this?"
"Let me introduce you to the newest Spider Rider," Corona said with a smile. "His name is Hunter Steele."
"A new Spider Rider?" Igneous asked. "But how?"
"He's an Earthen," Corona explained. "And right now, we're on Earth."
"Earth?!" Igneous wondered, a bit horrified.
"Well, this is a drag," Lumen commented. "By the way, Hunter Steele. If you're a Spider Rider, then where is your spider?"
"Oh," Hunter said. Staring at his manacle, he looked a bit embarrassed. "Hey, Corona, how do I get the spider out of the manacle?"
On the way there, Corona had taught him how to put the spider inside. It made transportation easier for the large spiders in the woods.
Hunter found the entire concept of manacle space puzzling, but he was glad to have a way to get Shadow away from him, even though it didn't succeed in shutting him up.
"'Spider out' of course," Corona answered. But the things she thought were straightforward probably weren't to him, she realized.
"Shadow, spider out!" Hunter said. And the giant blue spider emerged. "But for the record, he's not really my spider."
"Thank you," Shadow answered. "Smartest thing this human, who is not my partner, has said all day."
"Oh, it's you!" Lumen said. "Well, nice to meet you once again, Shadow. I am Prince Lumen of Arachna. And this is Igneous, a knight of Arachna. Our spiders are Ebony and Flame here, but don't expect them to say anything."
"Hey, why are you introducing yourself to Shadow and not me?" Hunter wondered.
"Oh. Well, hello," Lumen said. "Sorry, but a spider like this one is a lot more interesting than you. He looks very strong."
"Indeed I am," answered Shadow, as Hunter glared silently. "I'm powerful all on my own."
Igneous, who had said nothing to either Spider or Rider, could merely watch the two with concern.
'A spider and a Rider who don't see each other as partners…' he thought to himself. 'Teammates like that will only serve to hinder us.' He couldn't keep silent, he realized.
"Hunter Steele! Shadow! Flame and I challenge you to a duel. Prove to me that you're worthy of your title."
"So Grasshop was defeated?" A messenger bug hovered in front of Mantid. The Insector leader reached out, clasping the bug gently in his hands. "Deliver a message to Buguese. I must learn more about this new Spider Rider."
When Buguese finally received the bug's message, he was rather shocked by the contents. Nonetheless, he wasn't about to disobey any order that came from Mantid.
Buguese threw open the curtain, only realizing after that he likely should have told Aqune he was entering first. Aqune jumped, not really expecting this.
"Excuse me, Aqune," he said.
"No, it's fine," replied the girl. "There's something you need?"
"Yes," said Buguese. "Mantid-sama is requesting that you become close to the new Earthen Spider Rider. You are to serve as a spy, and deliver any information you can find that may help us. Thus, you must pretend to be an Earthen too, and start attending his school."
"What?" Aqune didn't mean to question Buguese, but she was certainly surprised by such an order. "Uhh.. I mean… yes. If you say so."
"I understand that this is strange. And that you should be focused on finding the remaining Oracle Keys. But hopefully, it will not be for long," Buguese answered. "And… I was ordered to accompany you."
Aqune could just stare in confusion.
"B-But… you're an Insector. How could you pretend to be an Earthen?"
"Given the proper disguise, it will be easy enough," he answered. Aqune could tell from his voice that he was very unhappy about the idea, however. "I will see you tomorrow, Aqune," he added, and walked out, closing the curtain behind him.
'Buguese as a human?' Aqune wondered to herself. It was true that Buguese did look more human than any other Insector she'd seen. But on the other hand, he did have blue skin, and antennae. He clearly wasn't human. It was kind of hard to picture.
At least thinking of that helped distract her from her growing list of concerns. Stressed, the girl laid down on the bed.
'Going to school… as a spy? Spirit Oracle, I hope this ends well, for both the humans and the Insectors.'
Neither Hunter nor Shadow were expecting Igneous' challenge.
"Hey, what do you mean? I beat a Machine-Sector just before," Hunter argued. "Doesn't that make me worthy?"
"I would have beaten that machine effortlessly if I was at full strength. I only teamed up with you out of desperation," Shadow said.
"Let's begin," Igneous declared, ignoring their banter. "Oracle's Spirit!" Now, he too was in battle armor. He jumped onto Flame's back.
"Alright, then take this!" Hunter ran at Igneous, swinging his pike. Flame quickly jumped to avoid the hit. Then Igneous knocked Hunter to the ground with a swing of his own sword.
Grunting, Hunter stood up.
"I'm not going to give up."
But before Hunter could even make another move, Shadow jumped in. However, a simple shot of web from Flame pushed him away.
"Hey! Get out of my way!" Hunter yelled to his not-partner, and charged in again, only to be repelled the same way as the last time.
"This time for sure!" he said in annoyance, trying again. Shadow also moved in. This time, Flame knocked away the both of them one at a time.
'H-how can I win?' Hunter thought.
In his head, he attempted to replay the fight with the Machine-Sector.
'Igneous isn't even giving me a chance to use that cool attack again.' He shook his head. 'It wasn't just that. The reason I won is because Shadow and I worked together… the way Igneous and Flame are now.'
"Hunter," Corona said worriedly, seeing the boy stand once more. It was a rather painful fight to watch.
"Shadow!" Hunter called. "Let's fight together!"
"Wh-what do you mean?!" asked Shadow.
"That's how we can win," Hunter said. "If we're gonna be fighting really dangerous enemies from now on, let's put our differences aside and work as partners."
Shadow quickly tried to think of an argument, but none came to him. He knew Hunter was right this time.
"Alright, Hunter. Let's be partners, and let's win!"
"Yeah!" Hunter hopped onto Shadow's back. The spider moved towards Igneous and Flame, ready to attack.
"Stop!" Igneous declared.
"Huh?" answered Hunter and Shadow in unison, but they did comply.
"This duel wasn't about winning or losing," Igneous stated. "Of course, that is what I wanted you to think." Smiling, he stepped off of Flame, and walked towards Hunter.
"Hunter Steele, Shadow. In this situation, we need your help more than anything. All I want is for the two of you to always fight as a team. We can't have you fighting each other in the middle of a battle against Insectors."
Hunter and Shadow stared at each other.
"We were tricked?" Shadow wondered.
"Yeah, but we both fell for it," said Hunter. "We kind of are alike. Guess the two of us really are partners."