Act 1 – Welcome to Bugaria
Episode 12a - A Shortcut to Disaster
Author Note: The power went out a week ago when I sent my beta-reader the chapter, and the power went out for a few hours today when I planned to upload this. Is this chapter cursed or something? Anyway, enjoy!
Even though Team Snakemouth had to take a bit of a detour due to the incident with Anne's pimples, Kabbu led the way as they walked back to the main path, still intent on completing their mission and going to the Golden Settlement.
Over a day had passed since then, Kabbu hoping that they were close. Because if they weren't... then they'd miss the Golden Festival, and Kabbu would never forgive himself if that happened! There was no way they'd be able to wait an entire moon cycle for the next festival, so the only thing they could do was hope.
The path ahead was thankfully lacking much of any lesser bugs at this time of day, the afternoon sun shimming down, bathing them all in a warm breeze. It was a nice change, compared to how cold it usually got in this area. But still, there was a pleasant aura wrapped around them all, despite the minor disagreements they made in the last day or so... disagreements that Kabbu hoped they'd put behind them.
Before long, they found a sign off to the side, the four of them taking a break to stop and look at it. There weren't many signs out here, so this meant it might be important.
Anne stepped forward and peered at the sign, reading it aloud. "Congratulations! You're almost at the Golden Settlement!"
There was a beat of silence as Team Snakemouth realized what this meant, all four of them cheering, Anne pumping her uninjured arm in the air. Kabbu couldn't believe it; they were almost there? This had to be too good to be true!
A particularly large gust of wind blew through the area, the sign creaking before it fell over in front of them, revealing some sort of note stuck on the back of it. The group stopped cheering, Vi picking up the leafy note and reading it aloud.
"Note: Move sign later."
Beat.
Team Snakemouth collectively groaned, their hopes dashed as soon as they'd been brought up again. Indeed, it was too good to be true... Kabbu wondered just how incompetent the bugs around here were; first the cable car guy slept on the job, and now this?!
Vi hung her head back in exasperation before crinkling up the note, tossing it to the side and forgetting about it completely. "That sign is a liar and a jerk."
"Signs aren't alive." Leif said. "But yes, we agree. If they were trying to make a joke, it wasn't particularly funny."
"Just how much longer is this gonna take?!" Anne groaned, gesturing at the fallen sign with her good arm, as if it would hold the answers she needed.
"I do wonder that myself..." Kabbu said, a bit weary. He initially predicted that it would take less than a week, and this was the... fifth? Sixth day on the expedition, and while so far, it was easier than the journey through Snakemouth Den, they were on a much stricter time limit this time.
And to make matters even worse, with no actual way to determine how close they were to the Golden Settlement, they were left to guesstimate, which wasn't the most... reliable method in these circumstances. Nevertheless, Kabbu knew that if they pushed through, then everything would turn out fine.
"Maybe if someone hadn't gotten us lost..." Vi muttered to herself, loud enough for everyone else to hear.
All eyes were on the bee, Anne raising an eyebrow. "What was that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing." Vi quickly said, a knowing smile on her face.
Oh no... Kabbu knew exactly where this was going, and he really did not want it to go in this direction. After all, Anne and Vi wanted them all to stop arguing as much, and Kabbu tried to fulfill their wish to the best of his ability, but today... that would prove to be more difficult than it was worth.
"She said you got us lost, Anne." Leif answered, to which Anne scoffed, rolling her eyes.
"Now hold on a second!" Kabbu cut in before it could escalate any further, trying to diffuse the situation lest it turn into another disaster. "We've all moved past that already! We forgave Anne for the pimple incident, the-"
"It wasn't just the pimple incident." Leif interrupted, his tone stern.
"What are you talking about?" Anne asked, raising an eyebrow.
Beat.
There was a long, almost awkward pause, everyone waiting as if someone was going to explain. ...But nobody did.
"See?" Anne exclaimed, as if that proved her point.
"No, there was something else that happened right after that." Vi clarified, her arms crossed.
Things were already getting out of hand. "Just because Anne might've incorrectly used her so-called 'wilderness direction' techniques and got us off-course for a little while, but that doesn't mean she wasn't trying to help!" Kabbu said.
That whole thing happened right after the previous incident ended; Kabbu remembered Anne trying to use her techniques she learned from the internet in order to get everyone back on the main path, only for it not to work, leading Kabbu to get everyone back instead. It had caused even more of a delay, and now, more than ever... time was of the essence.
"It already happened. There's nothing we can do about it now." Leif said, shaking his head.
"So quit bringing it up!" Vi said. Didn't she bring attention to it in the first place?! "We have to hurry up and go, there's NO way I'm missing the Golden Festival!"
"Same here." Leif nodded. "We may as well keel over if we miss it." That was a bit... extreme. Kabbu understood where he was coming from, but...
"I want to arrive on time too! But we also need to be careful!" Kabbu warned. After all, time and time again, whenever they tried rushing into anything, it always made things so much worse, the most obvious example of this being Anne's injured arm.
All because she wanted to go home. Kabbu knew how much it meant to her, but at the same time, it worried him how much she was showing that Calamity Box around to everyone, unaware of the true danger it held within. She didn't show it to the wasps, did she? Kabbu couldn't remember if she had, but no matter what... if she showed it to the wrong bug or asked the wrong questions... it could spell complete and utter disaster, which was why Kabbu knew something had to be done about the Calamity Box sooner or later. For everyone's safety.
"Look, I know my handy dandy survival directions didn't really work out last time," Anne said, snapping Kabbu out of his thoughts. "But maybe this time-"
"No." Vi and Leif said at the same time, shutting that down.
"I suggest that we keep trekking forward for now." Kabbu said, trying to get his mind off the Calamity Box before he did something drastic. "And if we find a landmark along the way, we should use it to keep track of our progress." Where had Kabbu heard something like that before...
"Aha!" Anne said. "See! That was part of my survival directions!"
Vi rolled her eyes, Leif groaning at the same time. Kabbu was sure that Anne's survival directions weren't all for nothing! He wanted to hear her out, see what she had to offer... even if she couldn't properly fight right now with her injured arm, there were still other ways she could contribute!
And so, Team Snakemouth continued their journey through the Golden Path, hoping that they would reach the Golden Settlement soon, no matter how hopeless it might seem.
...
Thirty minutes went by with nothing really happening, Leif completely bored out of his mind. Soon... the Golden Festival would be soon... when it occurred, he'd have all the time in the world to live it up. And along the way, could he perhaps get any answers about himself? The mystery was something he just couldn't shake, wishing he had at least another clue aside from the weird time discrepancy.
But he wouldn't have time to think about that much now, as Vi walked over to him, elbowing him lightly to get his attention.
"This is getting tedious. We gotta get to the Golden Settlement as fast as possible or I'm gonna flip!" Vi said to Leif, her voice low enough that Kabbu and Anne wouldn't hear them, the two of them leading the pack.
"Just fly up and get a better view; see how far away we are." Leif suggested. It was a good enough plan, Vi was able to fly after all.
Vi crossed her arms, glaring at Leif. "I'm not doing that."
"Why?" Leif asked.
"I'm not going to talk about it, that's why." Vi said with a huff, ending that line of conversation. Why was she so evasive about that subject sometimes? "Anyway, we should try and find a shortcut or something! Otherwise we're all gonna miss the Golden Festival and then complain about it until the next one!"
"...A shortcut?" Leif wasn't sure if such a thing existed, since the path was mostly straight. But on the other hand, Leif was bored out of his mind. Doing something like this would lead to shenanigans, which would probably start a chaotic series of events that they could've easily avoided in the first place.
Eh, Leif wanted to spice things up a bit. "Sure, we'll help you out." He gave Vi a nod.
...
A few feet up ahead, Kabbu and Anne were wrapped up in their own conversation, Kabbu still interested in Anne's techniques. According to her, she didn't have much time to practice them back home, but now was where her skills shined. ...So why didn't she mention any of this before today?
"I'll admit, you were on the right track earlier about the landmarks." Anne continued, acting like a teacher. "They're pretty much the number one way to remember where you're going, until the invention of the map app. Huh, that has a nice ring to it. Map app. ...Map app. Map app-"
"Anne, I hope I'm not undermining you, but this feels a bit... basic." Kabbu said. After all, he had more than his fair share of experience with surviving in the wilderness for... multiple reasons.
"As they say, everyone has to start somewhere!" Anne said, snapping her fingers with her good arm.
Kabbu stared at her, confused. "Who said that?" In response to his question, Anne let out an exasperated sigh, Kabbu hoping he wasn't bothering her too much. "...Oh, I get what you mean!" Kabbu was a fool for misinterpreting her statement to such a degree!
"...Why don't we put what we've talked about into action?" Anne asked, changing the subject. "Try and find something that could be a landmark."
The beetle nodded, trying to find anything along the path as they walked. Though... he did question what the use of it would be, maybe on the way back after they got the artifact? Anne was getting impatient, so Kabbu hurried up, grabbing the first thing he saw- a tiny rock.
"Like this?" Kabbu asked incredulously, upon realizing how he wouldn't be able to tell that rock apart from a million others.
Anne gave him a quizzical look. "...Sort of?" She answered, Kabbu tossing the rock aside afterward. "We're talking about something bigger. Something easily recognizable!"
"A cave!" Vi blurted out, pointing in a specific direction.
"Yes, exactly!" Anne replied, stopping in her tracks when she realized who said that. "Wait a minute."
Everyone stopped walking to see where Vi was pointing. Off to the side, there was a cave entrance several yards away, off the beaten path. The cave was down a hill, and it would be easy to walk over to... if it weren't for the thorny vines covering every inch of the ground, leaving no path to walk to the cave at all. There was also a tall tree near the group, casting a shadow over them as the orange leaves slowly fell from it.
"That... looks ominous." Leif said, giving the cave a look.
Just what could lay inside that cave? After Snakemouth Den, Kabbu would rather not take any chances with caves, but that didn't mean this couldn't serve a different purpose. "That cave could be a good landmark!" Kabbu said, turning to Anne.
"Hm..." Anne thought for a moment, putting a hand on her chin, thinking... Before she shrugged. "Yeah, sure. Good job." With that, Anne and Kabbu were ready to move on, already starting to walk past the cave. Leif joined them-
"Oi, wait a second!" Vi exclaimed, stopping everyone before they went too far. "That cave isn't some dumb landmark! It's actually a... a shortcut!"
Kabbu's eye lit up, immediately focusing on what this shortcut would entail. It meant that they'd get to the Golden Settlement with plenty of time to spare! Crisis averted!
Anne raised an eyebrow, skeptical about this. "A shortcut? Are you sure?"
"Mhm." Vi said, nodding her head several times. "Yes yes yes, it's a shortcut!" She not-so-subtly glanced at Leif, nudging him a few times so he would back her up.
"Oh, uh..." Leif jolted upright, trying to think of something. "Uhmmmmm..." Anne gave him a cautious glare, while Kabbu waited patiently, wondering what Leif had to say. "Er... Yes!" Leif said with a nod. "It's a shortcut because... it'll lead us directly to the Golden Settlement?" Leif shrugged.
Kabbu gasped, ignoring how unsure how Leif was. "Really?"
"No, not really!" Anne retorted.
"Aw." Kabbu deflated, disappointed.
"Oh, come on!" Vi yelled, insistent about the elusive 'shortcut'. "What makes you so sure it isn't a shortcut?"
"What makes you sure it is?!" Anne said, glaring at her.
"Anne! Vi! Stop fighting! We promised, remember?" Kabbu said, hoping this wouldn't escalate any further. With this much fighting, it was all but guaranteed they wouldn't reach their destination on time! Maybe if he could smooth things out between them... "Vi, can you explain why the cave is a shortcut?"
"It's easy!" Vi said, stopping for a moment to think of something. "I've heard that past this cave is a HUGE winding path that's really difficult to navigate, and the cave skips all that! So THERE!"
Kabbu wasn't sure if Vi was telling the truth, or if she just made this all up on the spot. ...But arguing with her about this would waste more time than necessary, and going through a short cave didn't sound so bad. Sure, a lot of good and bad happened in Snakemouth Den, but on the other hand, Kabbu's sickness never would've been cured if Anne hadn't gone into that one cave... Kabbu never really could recall much from that day.
"Yeah... I don't know about this." Anne shook her head. "It just sounds too good to be true, ya know?" At least she was being more civil now.
"Oh come ON!" Vi loudly groaned. "Give me proof that there's no shortcut and I'll shut up about it!"
Anne wore a smug look on her face, more than ready to give what would've been a well-thought-out rebuttal. "You see..." She paused, trying to think of something. "When you consider the..." Anne's smile slowly faded. "But when you take into account..." The others stared at her expectantly, but Anne eventually sighed, frowning. "I've got nothing."
"We're sure it's a shortcut." Leif added.
"If you say so, then I believe you." Kabbu nodded. Anything to get them to the Golden Settlement faster...
"Fine, whatever." Anne said, still not convinced. "So I guess we'll just jump on in that cave and then haaaaang on a second!" Anne overdramatically gasped, pointing at the red, thorny vines covering the ground. "We can't get across! Welp, we tried our best. Guess we'll have to just forget about this and move on."
With that, Anne hummed as she casually walked away from the cave. She was right, if they couldn't get to the cave in the first place, then it wouldn't make for a very good shortcut, would it? But at the same time, Kabbu saw the looks on Vi and Leif's faces, both bugs staring at each other, not knowing what to do.
No... Kabbu really wanted to get to the Golden Settlement; he racked his brain, trying to think of something, anything- "Aha!" Kabbu said triumphantly, remembering something a certain someone told her recently. "If there's no available path, forge your own!"
"Let's do that." Leif immediately agreed.
"Hey, you remembered one of my survival directions!" Anne said, walking back over to the others.
"Thank you!" Kabbu said, resisting the urge to giggle. All this made him so giddy; he couldn't help it! "So, any ideas?" The four of them looked around the surrounding area, not having any luck in finding anything. Even if he remembered what Anne had told him, it wouldn't do him any good if he couldn't put it into action!
"Let's just knock down this huge tree!" Vi said, leaning on the tree in question. "Then it'll fall over and create a path for us! Simple as that!" The others walked up to the tree, sizing it up. Kabbu wasn't sure about the exact measurements, but if they knocked the tree over in just the right way, it would be exactly long enough for them to walk across and get to the cave!
"I dunno..." Anne raised an eyebrow. She was skeptical of just about everything today, wasn't she?
"Come on, you have to at least give it a try." Leif said. "If you don't, then you'll never know..."
"And I wanna know!" Vi added.
"Well, I can certainly lend my assistance if it's needed!" Kabbu decided, wanting to go ahead with this plan. He made a mental note to come back here later and plant another tree to replace the one he was about to topple over.
"Wait, don't!" Anne yelled before anyone could do anything. Vi was about to voice her complaints, but Anne pointed at a sign near the tree, directing everyone's attention to it. "Look!"
Indeed, a tall sign stood next to the tree. What was this for? Kabbu walked up to the sign and read it aloud to everyone. "Hello! The tree next to you has a carving made in honor of my special someone! Love you, R~" Beat. Kabbu turned to the tree, seeing that there was such a carving imprinted on it.
"That's sweet." Leif commented.
"Yeahhhh, we shouldn't knock this tree down." Anne said. "Otherwise, we might destroy their love, or something like that."
"I concur, this doesn't feel right..." Kabbu sighed. He didn't want to mess with another bug's love... he of all bugs knew how fickle it could be. "I guess we can't-" The sign creaked a little before falling over, Kabbu jumping back in surprise. "Ah!"
"There's a note on the back of this sign too!" Vi said, walking over and picking up the leafy note. "This says... 'Turns out my 'special someone' was actual a serial robber and she is now locked in the Rubber Prison. Do whatever you want with the tree.'" ...Love was fickle indeed.
Anne raised an eyebrow at the sheer ridiculousness of this, Vi sighing and tossing the sign aside, never to be seen again. "So! We're all up for using the tree to make a path?" The bee asked.
"Absolutely." Leif gave a thumbs up.
"If anything goes wrong, I'm blaming both of you." Anne said, directed at Vi and Leif.
Now was Kabbu's moment to shine. "Stand back, everyone!" He called. Vi, Leif, and Anne stepped out of the path of the tree as Kabbu walked backward to the opposite side of the path, lowering his stance... before charging forward, his horn aimed at the tree.
Within seconds, he made contact, Kabbu letting out some sort of battle cry as he rammed the tree, upstriking it in the process. The tall tree stood still for a moment, but it then slowly tipped over... before falling over with a CRASH! that nearly took Kabbu off his feet, the beetle closing his eye in anticipation.
"Whoa..." Anne let out a short gasp.
Kabbu tentatively opened his eye... he couldn't believe it. The fallen tree made a perfect path across the thorny vines, the top of the tree directly in front of the cave. The beetle didn't know whether it was luck or skill that let this happen... but he did it!
...
With the tree downed, there wasn't much debate on the order they'd walk across it. Leif elected to go first, with Vi right behind them. Anne wanted to go next, but Kabbu offered to help her out because of the state of her arm, which meant that they were pretty far behind as Leif and Vi carefully walked across the tree over to the cave.
"So, what's the next part of the plan?" Vi whispered to Leif, so Kabbu and Anne wouldn't overhear. Those two were near the base of the fallen tree while Leif and Vi were near the top, but it was always good to be careful about this sort of stuff.
"Did you not think that far ahead?" Leif turned his head and gave Vi a quizzical look, to which she shook her head. Leif sighed as he turned back around. "...Well, we didn't either."
"Don't bail out on me now!" Vi said, glaring at Leif.
"We won't, don't worry." Leif said.
The two of them reached the cave entrance, hopping off the tree and looking around. A nearby blue crystal illuminated the area, as well as the light that shined in from small cracks above them, giving an almost mysterious, strange aura to the cave ahead.
Nearby, there was a huge Chomper wandering around, bigger than anyone in the group. It hadn't noticed them yet, but as soon as Leif laid his eyes on it... "That's cute... it might be too big to fit through the door, though." Leif's fantasy of taking a big Chomper back to the house was already starting to show its problems.
"I think we have bigger issues, Leif!" Vi said. "If Anne and Kabbu see that huge thing, they're going to want to turn around and then this will all have been for nothing!"
She was right. As much as it pained Leif to do this... "Then we have to get rid of it." Kabbu and Anne were already halfway across the tree, so they had to make this quick.
Vi swung her beemerang at the large Chomper, hitting it on the side of the head. Leif winced at it let out a screech, the Chomper redirecting its attention to the two of them, but Leif acted fast, summoning an ice crystal in the air before throwing it at the massive Chomper, completely encasing it in ice.
It would likely be a few minutes before it broke out, so the two had to act fast. There wasn't much room to hide the frozen Chomper along the cave's path, so Vi and Leif did what they could and pushed it to the side as much as they could, the two finishing up as soon as Kabbu and Anne arrived in the cave.
"Well, this is giving me better vibes than Snakemouth Den." Anne commented as she walked in, Vi and Leif spinning around to face her. "I am starting to not regret this. Huh."
"As long as there isn't anything too dangerous here, then this shouldn't take too much time." Kabbu said. He looked over and saw the giant, frozen Chomper, staring at it. "...I'm not going to ask any questions."
Team Snakemouth journeyed deep into the cave, Leif unofficially dubbing it the 'Chomper Cave'. He reassured everyone that they just had to get through here to find an exit, Vi wholeheartedly agreeing with him. But after several minutes of searching the cave, it became clear that it was a dead end. There were several places it looked like they could go, but they were too high up for them to scale.
"I don't think this is getting us anywhere, team." Kabbu said. Leif let out a huff; maybe Kabbu was right.
Anne perked up, getting an idea. "You know what this means!" Oh no. "It's time for another one of my survival directions!"
"No!" Vi let out a loud groan, leaning her head back.
But it was too late, Anne was determined to do this. "So, we all agree that the only way we can go is up, right?" Anne asked, pointing at the upper path. True, that was the only way to go. "And if we can't find a traditional way up, then we'll have to think outside the box."
"Before you ask, I am not gonna carry everyone up there." Vi said. "So don't even think about it."
"I wasn't planning on it." Anne said, shaking her head. "It's very simple. We just have to ask for help from the locals!" She jabbed her thumb at one of the Chompers far away. The others gave her weird looks, all of them confused in different ways.
"...How would you go about talking to a wild Chomper?" Kabbu asked. "I don't think this is a good idea."
At first, Leif agreed, but after thinking about it for a few seconds, his tune changed. "We'll talk to one." Within moments, he was in his own little fantasy world, as if he were already preparing to take a cute little pet Chomper home with him. "We'll get it to love us, and we'll care for it, snuggle it..."
"Seriously?!" Anne yelled, Leif's eyes snapping open as his fantasy bubble popped, ruining everything he'd been planning. "I've watched all the survival videos and junk, so I'll do it."
Leif narrowed his eyes; he would not stand for this. "You have no idea how a wild Chomper acts." he said, pointing an accusatory finger at Anne. "We'll take care of this." Leif couldn't stand the thought of backing down, especially after his fantasy was ruined.
"Do you even know how to talk to one?" Anne questioned, raising an eyebrow.
"We'll figure it out." Leif replied, choosing to ignore any obvious problems Anne pointed out. He didn't realize it, but the loud argument attracted the attention of a couple large Chompers; the wild plants confused at the new noise.
Kabbu grimaced, knowing that this would get them nowhere. "Um, didn't we agree not to argue-"
"Oi, keep it down!" Vi yelled, being the loudest of them all. Her words were ignored, Anne and Leif too wrapped up in their argument to care.
"There's no time to 'figure it out', dude!" Anne said, the fist of her good arm clenched. "We have to be at the Golden Settlement TONIGHT! There's no time for more shenanigans!" At the same time, the large Chompers grew irritated with the noise
"You haven't given us a chance." Leif said. Why couldn't Anne see it his way?
"You haven't given ME a chance!" Anne yelled, beyond frustrated.
She wasn't the only one that was frustrated, as proven when one of the large Chompers let out a roar, freezing the four in their tracks. Leif turned, seeing two large Chompers shake with anger- Before they charged forward, their heads lowered. Nobody had time to react before the large Chompers reached them, slamming their heads upward into them, causing the four of them to go soaring through the air.
For a moment, it was as if Leif could float through the air... but gravity took hold, sending him and everyone else crashing back to the ground, all of them letting out screams. Leif landed on the ground with a grunt, everyone else landing in a similar manner... ouch. That hurt. A lot.
...
Despite the pain he was in from that brutal assault, Kabbu stood up as soon as he could, immediately checking on the others. "I-Is everyone okay?" He couldn't stop himself from flailing his arms, his mind immediately going to the worst possibilities. Why would the Chompers attack them like that? Was it because of all the noise they were making?
The others stood up one by one, Vi shaking herself off. "Yeah, but what the heck?! This is why you have to be quiet sometimes!"
"We're guessing that's a 'no' on taking one home..." Leif sighed, deeply saddened. Poor Leif... Kabbu wasn't keen on taking one of those wild Chompers home anyway, especially one that huge.
Anne winced as she stood up, adjusting her backpack with her good arm. "Ack, good thing I didn't land on my bad arm- Oh hey!" She interrupted herself, apparently realizing something. "Look! They thew us all the way to the upper level!"
All it took was one look over the edge, and yep, Anne was right. Kabbu couldn't believe they'd gotten up here, even in such an... unconventional manner. "...That was lucky. But also extremely dangerous." The beetle commented.
"Thank you, oh so wonderful creatures!" Anne said, looking down at the two large Chompers and waving goodbye to them with her good arm. The large Chompers didn't care, turning around and walking away. "Well, that takes care of that!"
With nothing else to do, Team Snakemouth continued along the new path, all of them much more careful to look out for any Chomper attacks. Thankfully, the area was relatively clear of them; it was just the same orange cave, adorned with its large flowers along the wall. Kabbu could appreciate the beauty of it, and if there weren't wild Chompers living here, it could almost be a place to get together! Hm...
Before long, Anne grew impatient, looking around for any sort of exit. When her eyes landed on what she could see of the lower level, she raised an eyebrow, but chose not to say anything. Kabbu didn't press her, the beetle waiting to see if any more of Anne's survival directions would come in handy.
"How much longer?" Anne asked, hoping for an answer.
"We're almost there!" Vi said with a faux aura of confidence. "...Right?" She not-so-subtly nudged Leif, getting the moth's attention. He gave a small nod of confirmation.
Kabbu nodded in response, more reassured that they were actually getting somewhere with this. "As long as we get to the Golden Settlement, everything will turn out okay."
"Are you kidding me?!" Anne yelled all of a sudden, frustrated as she gestured to the lower level. "We're back where we started!" True to her word, on the lower level lay... the very same entrance they used to come into the cave, marked by the blue crystal. ...Oh.
"No we're not!" Vi argued, furiously shaking her head. "We're on a higher level now! That's progress!"
"That doesn't matter!" Anne said. Oh no, they were all arguing again... "How does THIS lead to the Golden Settlement!?" Granted, caves could loop back around to where they started, but this wasn't a particularly big cave either, so would this even take them anywhere useful?
"Back off!" Leif jumped in to defend Vi. "What do you know about this place?!"
Without even realizing it, the team still walked along as they became trapped in their own argument, all of them except Kabbu walking toward the next room.
"What do I know?" Anne challenged, glaring at Leif. "I know that this was just a huge waste of time!"
"H-Hey!" Kabbu caught up with them, trying to stop them before it was too late. "We all promised! No more arguing!"
"Arguments happen!" Vi yelled, surprising the beetle. "It's part of life, deal with it!"
"What if I don't want to deal with it?!" Kabbu questioned. He was already riled up, and now there was no turning back, all four of them unknowingly walking to the next room without even looking.
"We know what we're doing!"
"The only thing you know how to do is make us all go around in circles!"
It got to the point where they all continually talked and yelled over each other, none of them knowing that anything was wrong until Kabbu noticed a sudden lighting change as they entered the next room. He lost focus on wherever the argument was going, his heart skipping a beat as he turned to see what was ahead-
"QUIET!" Kabbu whisper-shouted, thankfully getting the attention of his friends, their argument ceasing instantly. Kabbu pointed ahead, and they all froze, seeing just what they'd wandered into.
It was a large, circular room, with a hole at the top, as evident by the light shining down and the orange leaves falling. There were also a bunch of rocks at the end of the room, placed as if they were blocking something. But most importantly, and terrifying... a Mother Chomper was right under the hole, rooted to the ground. Several smaller Chompers circled around her, taking part in some kind of dance, perhaps? Kabbu had never seen a Mother Chomper for himself before now...
"How do we keep running into all these plant monsters?" Vi asked, only to yelp when Kabbu immediately shushed her. Even standing here was incredibly dangerous. Mother Chompers especially were sensitive to sound, and anything could set them off; they had to protect their young, after all.
Anne shook ever so slightly, the teen furious.
"We wish we could keep her..." Leif whispered to himself, Kabbu thankful that Leif at least tried to be quiet.
"This is another dead end!" Anne yelled, frustrated. Kabbu tried to shush her, but it was already too late. "I knew it!" She turned on Leif and Vi, the culprits behind the decision to come here. "I had a feeling something was off about all this, there never was any shortcut, was there?!"
Leif and Vi didn't say a word, trying to come up with something. Anne didn't have the time for that, her rage bubbling to a point where she couldn't keep it in anymore. "What were you thinking, bringing us here?"
Her last word echoed throughout the room. Kabbu flinched, praying to Venus that the Mother Chomper wouldn't- The Mother Chomper let out a roar, everyone freezing up. The ground shook at the sheer intensity of the roar, and the Chompers circling the ground wasted no time, all of them staring at Team Snakemouth.
Kabbu sensed it. There wouldn't be any getting out of this; it wasn't a battle they could run from. "Team! We must defend ourselves!" Kabbu yelled, the others nodding in confirmation. "Stay together and we'll-"
Anne yelped as a Chomper neared her, the teen running while trying to pull her tennis racquet out, clearly having issues with only one available arm.
"...be fine." Kabbu finished, exasperated. He steeled himself; maybe if they could take down the regular Chompers, then they'd be able to take down the Mother with ease. He didn't like having to do this... but did he have any other choice?
Vi went after Anne, and Kabbu ended up on his own as a Chomper attacked him, Kabbu immediately sidestepping before he retaliated with a mighty upstrike, sending the Chomper flying backward. The others weren't doing too bad themselves, Leif using his ice magic to summon an icicle that hit the Mother Chomper and another Chomper nearby, causing it to fall over.
...
With Anne and Vi, Anne had finally managed to get her tennis racquet out while Vi stood by her, throwing her beemerang at any nearby Chompers to fend them off.
"Thanks a lot, Vi. Just look where your 'shortcut' got us!" Anne said, using her tennis racquet to swat a Chomper back.
"Seriously? Your survival directions didn't do much either!" Vi said, trying not to lose focus.
"I get it I get it, both of us did something wrong, we both move on, and everything becomes happily ever after until we have another disagreement!" Anne said all at once, trying to get it over with. "Now let's just get rid of these things before we turn into their dinner!"
"That I can agree with!" Vi nodded, too heated to try and reply to the first part of what Anne said. "Oh! Let's do that move again!" It came to mind in an instant, though Vi wondered if Anne would be able to do it with only one usable arm.
"Huh?" Anne asked.
"Remember! Back when we took care of all those Seedlings?" Vi asked, hoping Anne would remember sooner than later.
Thankfully, recognition flashed across the human teen's face, Anne nodding a few seconds later. "Let's do it."
Anne stood back, her tennis racquet ready, holding it as steady as she could with one arm. Vi prepared herself, swinging her beemerang. It was a bit sloppy, but Anne managed to strike it, just as she did an entire moon cycle ago. The beemerang spun in a wide circle, striking several Chompers, even landing a hit on the Mother Chomper.
Unfortunately, this only proved to redirect her attention to Vi and Anne, the Mother Chomper wasting no time in spitting out pollen from her mouth, aimed directly at the two of them. Anne managed to swat one away with her tennis racquet before ducking under a second one, only for the third one to hit Vi, catching her off-guard.
"Ack!" Vi tried to wave it away, but the effects already took hold, washing over her like a huge blanket. So sleepy... Vi blinked a few times, unable to resist the overwhelming urge to close her eyes and take a little nap... after all, she worked hard today, she deserved it...
...
Kabbu had to focus and not get distracted by Anne's attempts to wake Vi up as he tried to find an opening to attack without getting blocked by the smaller Chompers. Luckily, Leif was nearby, unleashing another ice attack on the Chompers, scattering them and giving him the chance he needed.
With a shout, Kabbu charged forward, upstriking the Mother Chomper on her stem, dealing a hefty hit. The Mother Chomper reeled back, Kabbu tensing up as he prepared for whatever may happen next.
Without warning, the Mother Chomper's head darted toward him, Kabbu ducking to the side and clumsily rolling away, only to hear a CRASH from right behind him a second later. Confused, he looked in the direction of the loud noise, barely registering that Vi had just woken up.
To his surprise, the Mother Chomper had crashed right into large the pile of rocks at the end of the room, causing them to scatter, but also... The Mother Chomper didn't move. Was it...?
Kabbu's suspicions were confirmed as the Mother Chomper slowly withered away into nothingness, the others watching as well. The remaining Chompers ran away as fast as possible, Kabbu standing up and watching them all leave through the entrance Team Snakemouth came in.
"We did it!" Vi cheered with a yawn, still waking back up as the four of them gathered in the middle of the large room.
"Thank goodness we survived..." Leif said, exhausted from the ordeal. Kabbu felt the same, especially since he'd been this close to having the Mother Chomper bite him like he was some beetle snack!
"Hey, it dropped something!" Anne said, pointing to the ground with her good arm. She picked it up, holding it out and letting the others see. It must've been a Chomper Seed, because of the uncanny resemblance to the Mother Chomper the small seed had.
"Whoa..." Leif said.
Vi shrugged. "Meh, this isn't really a good reward."
"Did you think there would be a reward...?" Kabbu asked, wilting ever-so-slightly as Vi nodded. Anne put the Chomper Seed in her backpack, Kabbu wondering if it would ever be of any use later. "In any case... that was close."
"Definitely." Anne agreed, before she gave Vi a knowing look.
The bee frowned, remembering their short conversation earlier. "Yeah... it sure was, huh."
The following silence soon became apparent, Kabbu brushing off a leaf that happened to land on him from above.
"Fine." Vi sighed. "I'm sorry for tricking you guys into thinking there was a shortcut or whatever."
"Er... yeah." Leif added, wincing. "That was our bad. We do want to get to the Golden Settlement as fast as possible, and..."
"Look, I get it." Anne spoke up. She paused, as if wanting to add something along the lines of her perhaps being able to relate to cooking up a scheme like this, but decided not to. "Just... don't do anything like that again."
Another short pause. Kabbu wondered if he was missing anything.
"Right." Vi nodded.
"Understood. ...We should get out of this cave." Leif said. ...Yes, that should be their first priority. Hopefully, they'll still make it to the Golden Settlement even after all this...
Kabbu turned his head back to the way he came, but the fallen pile of rocks caught his attention once again. He didn't notice it before, but now that the rocks weren't in a pile... "Hold on, look!" Kabbu said, directing everyone's attention.
With the rocks no longer in a pile, it revealed another passageway at the back of the room. Why were the rocks stacked up like that in the first place? And where did the path lead?
"Whoa, was that there before?" Anne asked, shocked. "We should've just run right through here if it was!"
"I don't think so." Kabbu shook his head.
"The Mother Chomper must've done this." Leif explained. "...Breaking up those rocks, we mean."
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Vi said, already running over to the newly opened path. Though Kabbu still had several questions, he didn't think his friends had any of the answers, so he simply kept them in the back of his mind for now.
The new pathway was narrow, forcing the four of them to go in single file, Kabbu going first while using Anne's phone as a flashlight. They moved slowly and carefully up the winding path as it got pretty steep, using the walls to steady themselves.
After several minutes, it ended abruptly, making it seem as if they'd have to turn back, though... Kabbu did notice that the ceiling was different from the usual cave ceiling. Handing the phone to Vi, Kabbu gave the ceiling a push, the ceiling moving up ever so slightly. Hang on... this wasn't a ceiling, but rather...
Kabbu gave it a few more tries, and he was able to push the rock covering the exit out of the way; just how heavy was that rock? Regardless, he climbed out, the exit leading back to the Golden Path. It took a few minutes for him to then help everyone else out of there, Kabbu then covering the entrance once again so that nobody would accidentally fall in.
"So... where on the Golden Path are we?" Anne asked as she reclaimed her phone, pocketing it. ...If this put them further back, Kabbu would probably cry.
"There's another sign here, I'll read it!" Vi said, walking over to the sign a few feet away. "This says... 'Apologies, but from where you're standing, the Golden Settlement is still several hours away." Aaaand of course.
Team Snakemouth collectively groaned; they were tired but still had so much more work to do- until a convenient gust of wind blew the sign down, revealing a leafy note on the back of it. Anne picked it up, reading it aloud. "Note: swap positions with the other progress sign later."
Beat.
Once it settled in, Team Snakemouth cheered.
If the signs hadn't been swapped yet, then the first sign they saw was supposed to go here, which meant that they were almost at the Golden Settlement after all! Kabbu couldn't believe it; this was nothing short of a miracle!
"This is certainly a pleasant surprise!" Kabbu beamed, turning to the others. "Now, I'm sure we've all learned a valuable lesson from this, right?"
"Oooh, oooh!" Anne waved her good arm. "Always trust the survival directions!" Not exactly...
"Believe in the shortcuts!" Vi said, proud. That wasn't it either.
Leif closed his eyes. "Communication is not always verbal. Sometimes... you can sense what someone is trying to say." ...No.
Kabbu stared at the three of them, hoping they'd say something else. They didn't, which led Kabbu to the inevitable conclusion that they all learned the wrong lesson from this, Kabbu letting out a mix of a groan and sigh in acceptance.