Ch6-

On the balcony of Arachna Castle, a young girl stood, staring out into the horizon. She could see nothing ahead of her but the sky and sand.

"Brother…" she said. "Everyone, where could you be?"

"Kyu…" the small spider next to her didn't talk, but she was sympathetic to the princess' feelings.

"Oh, Hotarla…" said Sparkle, as she hugged the spider.

Ever since that day, Sparkle had been worried and confused. But that was inevitable. Igneous and Lumen had run out promptly on Corona's request, for an important mission. They and their spiders never came back. They didn't even try and contact her.

What made the situation more confusing was that no one had found the bodies of the missing Spider Riders. If they weren't dead (Sparkle refused to believe that would happen anyway), then where were they?

"Princess Sparkle, you're still out here?" Lily was concerned, but not surprised. The girl had been spending a lot of time outside, hoping to spot them returning.

Sparkle nodded. "Lily, what has your crystal ball told you? Do you think Lumen and the others will be back soon?"

"Well…" Lily paused. Lately, she'd seen nothing but bad omens. But certainly, she didn't want to write off the Spider Riders as dead yet either, nor crush Sparkle's hopes.

"I've seen a lot of things, but I've yet to understand what they mean," the seer finally answered.

"Oh," said Sparkle. "Alright."

"Don't give up hope," replied Lily.

In Mantid's new chambers, the Big Four were gathered, as well as Aqune. It was early in the morning.

"Grasshop, Beerain and Buguese…" the man spoke. "Not one of you, my best generals, managed to beat the Earthen Spider Rider?"

All of them wore frustrated expressions, but only Grasshop chose to speak up.

"Mantid-sama, please give me another chance," he said. "You kinda put me on the spot, so I didn't have the chance to come up with a genius plan."

"Not today, Grasshop," replied Mantid.

"Umm… tomorrow then?" he asked, hopeful.

"This task may not even matter come tomorrow," Mantid responded. "Do not forget, there is still one general who has yet to have his turn." He held his arm out, pointing to the purple beetle.

"I, Stags, will defeat the Earthen," he responded, his voice confident.

"Good. This I look forward to," said Mantid. "But do not fail me."

He began to laugh.

"Hotarla," Sparkle said, her voice determined. "Let's go find them."

"Kyu?" replied the spider, confused. But skeptical as she was, she would go wherever Sparkle went anyway.

"I know I'll make Lily worry about me too." She did feel bad about this. "But I'll come back. All of us will."

As she really wasn't allowed to leave the castle much, even under normal circumstances, Sparkle was already aware of some escape methods. It didn't take long for her to make it outside of the grounds, undetected.

"We did it, Hotarla!" she exclaimed.

"Kyu, kyu!"

"Now, to find them."

It didn't quite dawn on her yet that she had the entire Inner World to search. Even Arachna itself was pretty large.

Sparkle's first stop was a nearby village. She noticed there was a crowd of people there. There was a man who was trying to get the attention of the others. As she was curious, and not watching where she was going, Sparkle accidentally walked right into him.

That morning, Hunter and everyone else in his school finally had to go back. Supposedly, nothing was discovered in the damage investigations. However, it was decided that the students shouldn't be missing classes either way. Entrance to the damaged classroom itself would be completely prohibited, though.

That day, Hunter wandered over towards that room, curious. There was yellow police tape all around the entrance. Of course, due to the lack of door, one could still peek inside. The aforementioned door was left leaning up against a wall. There didn't seem to be any Buzzrays left that they missed accidentally, at least not in Hunter's line of sight.

"What are you doing here?" It was the principal's voice.

"Oh… I was just interested," Hunter answered nervously. "Come on, I can't be the only one who's tried to sneak a peek."

"No," said the principal. "There have been others. Well, I suppose this means you don't have any idea of what actually happened?" He looked at Hunter with a stare that could almost pierce through him.

"N-no, I had nothing to do with it," Hunter answered.

"If you say so, delinquent boy," the principal answered. "Now get to class! First period started already."

"Right!" said Hunter, who darted off.

Even after he had made it a distance away, Hunter could still feel himself sweating. The principal was one scary man.

"Hey, watch it!" The man who Sparkle hit didn't fall, but he did stumble a bit.

"S-sorry," said Sparkle, cringing.

"Well, I guess it's alright," said the man. "This could be a fated meeting. I can see you're a Spider Rider, so perhaps you've seen a purple spider?"

"Purple?" Sparkle wondered. It sounded pretty, but that coloring didn't fit any of the spiders she knew. "No, I don't think so."

"Then, you're of no help to me," he answered.

"Wait!" Sparkle called, surprised by his response. "If you're looking for spiders, then have you seen Ebony, Venus or Flame?"

"Huh? Aren't those the spiders of Arachna Castle?" The names sounded a bit familiar to him, but it wasn't as if he'd ever met them.

"Yes!" said Sparkle. "They're all missing, and their Riders too. My brother… Prince Lumen is one of them. I have to find them."

"So you're a princess?" he wondered out loud. Either way, she was just a little girl. Not particularly interesting, even if she was royalty. "Sorry," he said. "I've got nothing to do with those Riders."

The man was a bit taken aback when he saw that Sparkle's eyes were getting teary.

"Hey, don't cry…" he said. "Alright. I guess… since we are both looking for people, I can help you out for a little while. This village doesn't seem to have any good information anyway."

"Thank you!" Sparkle exclaimed. "I'll be glad to help you too…" she paused, realizing she didn't even know who she was talking to. "What's your name?"

"Magma," he said.

"I'm Princess Sparkle," replied the girl. "And this is my partner, Hotarla."

"Hey, Aqune!" Hunter and Corona caught sight of her after classes.

"Oh, hi!" Aqune called.

"You seemed kind of quiet during lunch," Corona said. "Are you alright?"

"Y-yeah," she answered. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be quiet."

"It's okay," Hunter said. "So, are we studying today?" It wasn't that Hunter was anxious to get better grades. Hanging out with the other two is what he enjoyed about it.

"Sorry, I can't today," Aqune said. "I have some things to take care of."

Yes, that was a lie, and she felt bad to resorting to that. Especially because that's what she'd been doing a lot lately. But she was aware that Stags would be attacking. If her options were to lie and ditch them here, or watch the fight and do nothing again, it was certainly the former that made her feel less guilty.

"Well, alright!" said Hunter. "There's always tomorrow."

Sparkle and Magma arrived at the next closest village.

"Everyone!" Magma called as loudly as he could. "Listen to me!"

Sparkle found it rather impressive that he was actually drawing the people's attention so quickly. It made her wish she had a deeper voice.

"What is this?" an elderly man asked, as he stepped out from his nearby house.

"The princess is here?!" a woman who was shopping exclaimed. This caused others nearby to turn their heads.

"Tell me. Has anyone seen a purple spider? Her name is Portia."

"Purple? Beats me," a man replied.

"The princess' spider is much cuter, I'm sure," someone mentioned.

Magma received similar doubt and shrugs from others.

"Have you seen any of the Spider Riders at all recently?" Sparkle asked, hopeful.

"Spider Riders?" a man said. "Nope. Not one, besides you."

"But there's no need for them anymore," a woman added. "Believe it or not, the Insectors haven't been seen around either. There have been no reported attacks for days! Thanks to that, Arachna is finally safe!"

"Really?" This seemed rather suspicious to Magma. Insectors were always causing trouble. They probably lived for it. "Do you know where they were last seen?"

"Well…" spoke the old man. "I heard a large amount of Insectors were traveling west the other day. No clue as to where they were headed, but I don't think anyone got hurt this time."

"I see," said Magma. "Then I'm heading west!"

"A-Alright," said Sparkle. "But how come? Do you think my brother and the rest were captured by the Insectors?"

"I have no idea," Magma answered. "But maybe we'll find a clue." He honestly wasn't sure how this would help his mission at all, but at least maybe he could help another pair of siblings reunite.

Hunter and Corona had returned to the mountains, where they regrouped with Lumen and Igneous. They were sitting at a small pond.

"School is so boring," Hunter sighed. "You guys are lucky that you don't have to go."

"Perhaps," Igneous said. "But it's not like living in the woods is fun either. There are even wild animals here."

"Like over there?" Hunter could hear noises in the bushes.

"It sounds like something big," Corona said, nervously.

To their shock, it wasn't an animal at all that emerged, but a large Insector.

"That's Stags!" said Igneous in shock.

"Is he tough?" Hunter asked.

"Very," replied Igneous.

"What's this temple?" Following a trail of dead Insectors, Sparkle and Magma finally saw it up ahead.

"I've never seen it before," Magma said. "Let's check it out. But be careful. We don't know who's hiding in there."

"Right!" Sparkle said.

"Kyu…" Hotarla was rather nervous. Still, the three entered.

"I will make this quick!" Stags announced. "I came here for a one-on-one fight with Hunter Steele. None of you will interfere."

"So you expect us to just watch?" Corona asked, concerned.

"You can leave if you'd prefer," answered Stags. "But you will not involve yourselves in our duel."

"It's fine," Hunter said. "I've beat other Insectors, so I'll just do the same to this one."

"No," Igneous said. "Stags is the only member of the Big Four that none of us have beaten before."

"Do it, Hunter!" Shadow said. "You'll just have to be the first."

"I will," Hunter agreed. "Oracle's power!"

"Where are we?" Sparkle and Magma found themselves inside a distinctly different temple.

"This might have been a bad idea," Magma said, as he peered outside. "This doesn't look like anywhere I've seen in the Inner World."

Hunter jumped at Stags, swinging his blade horizontally. Stags countered with his enormous sword, causing the boy to fly back.

"Hunter!" yelled Corona.

Just as soon as Hunter stood up, Stags was right in front of him, and knocked him back down.

"He really is tough," Hunter groaned. He wanted to use Shadow. That might have given him a chance. But Hunter did agree to one-on-one.

"I thought you would put up a better fight," Stags said, as he pushed Hunter right up to the water's edge.

Not wanting a bath, the Rider tried his best to stand. But already, he was in serious pain. He wasn't even hit many times, but each strike from Stags had tremendous force.

"Never give up," he told himself. As if he found his second wind, Hunter stood. Charging at Stags with a quick swipe of his blade, he pushed the Insector general a few steps back.

"So you do have some talent," Stags said. Still, he was then able to bat Hunter right back down.

"Stop it!"

Magma charged in, throwing his fist at Stags. However, the beetle merely caught it.

"I thought I said no interferences!" Stags shouted, glaring at Magma with disdain.

"Well I didn't hear it," replied Magma. "Now what are you Insectors doing here?"

"That's our own concern," Stags said. "Hunter Steele, we will finish this match another time." He then disappeared into the trees.

"Who are you?" Igneous asked.

"My name is Magma," he said. "A Spider Rider." He removed the bandages covering his arm, revealing a manacle.

"Lumen!" Before anyone could question Magma further, they received another shock. Sparkle ran up to them.

"Sparkle! Is it really you?!" Lumen yelled. But he knew it was her, and embraced her as soon as she was close enough.

"What happened to you all?" Sparkle asked.

"We were sent to the Outer World," Corona said. She was kneeling by Hunter's side, who was conscious but still on the floor in pain. "Unfortunately, we haven't managed to find a way to return home yet."

"The Outer World?" Sparkle asked, amazed.

"Then, looks like I'll never find Portia here." Magma sighed to himself. "What a waste coming here was."

"Portia?" Igneous asked.

"A purple spider," Magma answered. "She's the little sister of my Spider, Brutus. I guess you don't know her."

Igneous shook his head.

"Hey, who's this?" Sparkle asked, taking notice of Hunter.

"The new Spider Rider, Hunter Steele," Lumen answered. "And Magma, I wouldn't rule out finding your spider here. Everyone, this is becoming more and more complicated, so I think it's time for a long talk."

AN: So, in this version of the story, I was thinking either Magma never went into the Forest of Bewilderment, or he got himself out somehow. Because it would be kind of cruel to leave him there to rot forever, if Hunter isn't around to help.