Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The throne room was cozy in its own way. Maybe because Zasp knew every bun here, even the guard ant near the tall doors of the throne room. Or maybe the feeling of comfort came from nostalgia. About two moons have passed since the Wasp King was defeated, but Queen Elizant II has not given a single order to the Explorers’ Association or personally to Team Mothiva since then. He suspected she continued working with Team Snakemouth. Zasp’s noticed these three sometimes while he was on tours with Mothiva, but somehow never had an opportunity to talk to them.

Besides Zasp and Mothiva, all the leading teams of the Explorers’ Association were present in the throne room: Team Snakemouth, Team Celia and Team Maki. Maki's team seemed to have a new member, a small moth that looked somewhat familiar, but Zasp couldn't remember where he could see her.

Apparently, Gen and Eri weren't invited. Maybe it's for the best.

Professor Neolith was standing against the wall between the stained glass windows, and Team Snakemouth gathered next to him. Kabbu was quietly talking to the professor. Both of them looked relaxed, probably just discussing some routine stuff. Leif stood nearby and listened. As always, it was difficult to recognize any emotion on his face, but Zasp saw a barely noticeable spark of interest in his gaze turned to Neolith and Kabbu. And Vi seemed to participate in their conversation a bit, sometimes saying something that sounded rather irritated.

Zasp turned to Mothiva. She wasn't in a very good mood today. She had to cancel a concers that was supposed to be today, and now she was snapping at everyone who tried to talk to her. Right now she was standing next to him, puffed up, with her arms crossed. Zasp was trying not to look at her too often, so she didn't start hissing at him. He had enough of that earlier this morning.

“Teams,” Queen Elizant spoke, her voice ringing off walls. She watched the bugs until evetyone focused their attention on her. Then she continued. “It’s been a while since the Wasp King was defeated. I hope you all had time to get some rest.”

Zasp crossed his arms without realizing it. He would’ve liked to rest, he really would. After the Wasp King and the Everlasting Sapling events, Zasp and Mothiva went to Metal Island, but only for three days: Mothiva went there only for her tour, she gave a couple concerts, and after that she immediately began planning a tour to the Hive.

Zasp hoped to get some rest and distract himself from missions and obligations during that time. He knew there was some card tournament on Metal Island, but then he learned he wasn’t allowed to play there, so that was disappointing. Apart from the tournament, there was little to occupy himself with: the island was not too big, and the main part of it was the market, but Zasp didn’t find anything interesting there. On the last day of their stay on the island, Zasp discovered a local sailor giving boat rides, but the boat sank due to an attack by water striders just earlier today so he didn’t get a ride. That was disappointing as well. He did have a lot of time to lie on the bed in their hotel room, doing nothing.

So that was a very short and boring vacation. Annoyed by his complaints, Mothiva suggested him to stay on the Island, but how could he leave her? Oh, and she knew there was no way he would do that, but that didn't make this any better. So for the last couple of moons they have been traveling all over Bugaria again, giving concerts in different cities and kingdoms.

Zasp was tired. He just needs a vacation. Longer than three days. More interesting and distracting, than lying in bed all time.

“Meanwhile, Professor Neolith and Team Slacker have conducted research, as a result of which we have drawn up a plan for the near future,” the queen said menwhile. “The borders of Bugaria have expanded significantly since we established relations with the kingdoms of Termites and Wasps, and also discovered a village of roaches in the Giant's Lair. Now we have opened new horizons in conducting scientific research, which is why I have gathered you all here today.”

Zasp just sighed. They would probably send the teams to explore some dangerous areas like Swamps or Deadlands. Mothiva will be angry and irritated again because she will have to cancel some of her concerts.

"We need to study the technologies of ancient roaches," Queen Elizant continued her speech. “And to explore the dangerous lands around Bugaria, so we can expand our cities safely. Professor Neolith, introduce them to our new project.”

The queen stepped back, and professor Neolith walked to the center of the throne room. He looked rather excited about all these studies and projects. Suspiciously excited. Zasp didn’t like it.

"Thank you, Your Majesty.” Neolith nodded to the queen, then turned to the teams. “Together with the best strategists of the Ant Kingdom, we analyzed the entire system of organizing work in the Explorers’ Association and identified several points that should be changed. We have determined that each team has its own weaknesses and strengths.”

Zasp heard Vi snort at the last statenment.

"For example, Team Celia has the main advantage of Levi's strength and Celia's shield,” Neolith continued. Levi and Celia exchanged glances and stood up proudly. "However, the enemy can easily outwit them. You lack agility and speed.”

"Well, y’know, this shield may be sturdy, but it is quite heavy!" Celia said cheerfully and hit the shield with her fist. A loud buzzing sound echoed through the throne room.

Elizant stepped forward again and stood next to Neolith.

"Team Celia has its own balance," she said. “But it isn’t absolutely perfect.”

“Therefore, one of the changes that we are going to add to the Explorers’ Association system is the number of participants in one team, which we are going to increase,” Neolith said. “But... so far this is an innovation in development, it requires additional research.”

“At least Team Maki and Team Snakemouth managed to prove that three members in a team is not a bad idea.” Elizant added.

“Yep!” Hearing the name of her team, Vi instantly perked up.

Kabbu shushed her, and Vi shushed back. But she fell silent, scowling and crossing her arms.

"...Anyway, it's still in development." Neolith continued. “Another planned innovation is a system for supporting relationships between teams. You see..." Professor Neolith suddenly hesitated, glancing sideways at Zasp and Mothiva. “There was an incident in the Termite Kingdom that almost ruined our plan to establish peaceful relations with the termites... but in the end everything turned out well. However, in order to prevent such accidents from happening again, we need to prevent conflicts within the Association.”

Zasp didn't look at anyone in the room. Mothiva was really trying her best to hide her irritation.

If Zasp had known that back then, at the Colosseum, the future of the entire Bugaria depended on Team Snakemouth, he wouldn’t have come on the arena. He would’ve talked Mothiva out of it, he would’ve just gone somewhere far away from the Termite Kingdom. 

“How are you going to implement this?” Maki asked.

"We had a lot of ideas," the professor said, “but I think the best way would be to mix the teams.”

After these words, the throne room fell silent. Zasp looked up in surprise to make sure that the other teams were as unsure of the idea as he was. Zasp met Vi’s eyes, and she was glaring daggers at him. He shivered.

He didn't think mixing the teams was a good idea. At best, it will go badly, at worst, someone will get injured.

No one said anything, and the determined smile on Neolith's face faded into an uncertain one. He turned to the queen as if seeking support. She had already stepped forward and was going to say something, but Celia suddenly said loudly: “Why, I would love to work with someone from Team Maki!”

“Or Team Snakemouth!" Levi added.

Vi huffed. “And what if you had to work with Mothiva?" she asked.

“Yeah, she’s right.” Leif nodded. “We don't think anything will come of it.”

“Yeeeeah.” Mothiva said mockingly, looking at Vi. “Not everyone will want deal with some individuals here. What if you had to work with someone weak?”

Vi clenched her fists and took a step towards her.

“Weak!?” she exclaimed. “Your team gave up after two hits of my Beemerang in the Colosseum!!”

Mothiva rolled her eyes and looked somewhere past Vi.

“Oh? What’s that tiny squeaking there?" She asked and made a thoughtful face.

“Oh, you'll know what that squeaking is after I stick my Beemerang in your–”

“Vi.” Leif put his hands on her shoulder. “You're in the throne room."

Zasp just watched this scene in silence. He had already run out of energy to react to Vi and her insults, even towards Mothiva, so he just hoped that Mothiva would somehow sort it out on her own.

He was wondering why Kabbu didn't tell Vi to watch her mouth or did anything to prevent the quarrel. He just stood behind, watching silently, like Zasp. He must be tired of it as well.

"What a terrible behavior for an exploration team!" Mothiva said, taking a step towards Vi. Zasp wanted to stop her and say that it’s too much, that she shouldn’t spend her energy on the bee. But he remained silent for now. “I still can't imagine why such a young, immature child like you was allowed to join an exploration team.”

“I can't imagine why you’re still in the Explorers’ Association when your team is so weak!”

“Enough!”

Vi and Mothiva fell silent as soon as the queen raised her voice. Vi retreated closer to Kabbu and Leif. Mothiva stared at the bee for another minute, but eventually turned around and walked back to Zasp’s side.

“That bee..." She muttered.

“Does anyone else have opinions about the professor’s project?” Elizant asked, giving everyone present a stern look.

Zasp stepped forward.

"I'd like to say something.” He spoke. “The idea makes sense. But I don't think it will be easy to implement with established teams. Maybe it's better to try it out with new teams?”

"I admit, he’s right." Maki began before Zasp could take a step back. “As you said yourself, Your Majesty, the teams already have their balance. But we don't know the members of the other teams that well and we won't be able to establish a proper balance with them.”

“Exactly!” Neolith said. “But as the latest events show us, we really need to establish that balance. I know it'll take time, but in the end, it'll be worth it. You will be stronger when you get to know each other's strengths and weaknesses.”

"Ooh, I know one of Mothiva’s weaknesses.” Vi began with an evil grin, but Kabbu put his hand on her shoulder, just like Leif did a few minutes before.

“Don’t start it again,” he said quietly. Vi frowned, but didn't continue.

"But Your Majesty, you can see it right now, our teams cannot work together." Maki said, pointing towards Team Snakemouth and Team Mothiva. VI and Mothiva seemed to be frowning even more.

"Then you'll have to learn how to work together, then,” the queen said, her voice cold and firm.

Zasp sighed heavily again. Well, apparently, they really will have to work with some other team. It's going to be difficult if they’ll have to work with Team Snakemouth.

Neolith turned over some pages in his notebook.

"We have prepared various missions for this project,” he said. “I have divided them into several stages. The first stage is the most simple one, you will need to go on an exploration mission. We have already chosen future exploration teams based on... well, the relationship between the teams.

Well, that's it. Zasp and Mothiva will definitely have to go exploring with Team Snakemouth.

"Celia, Yin and Kabbu are going to the Golden Path to explore–” Neolith began, but was interrupted by several voices at once.

“Yin?” Maki exclaimed, stepping forward in front of the moth teammate. Wasn't that the name of the caterpillar Maki was taking care of for a while before the Wasp King was defeated? So she had already turned into a moth.

“How’s that, me? Without Levi?” Celia asked, a little confused.

"Are we... not going with our teammates?" Zasp asked, even more confused. He thought they just wanted to… merge teams? For some reason he didn’t even think that mixing teams actually meant, well, mixing.

And that was horrible. He can't leave Mothiva. Even with the other teams. No. Nonononono.

"Uh, yes." Neolith replied, also losing confidence.

"This will allow you to get to know each other better," queen Elizant said. “For the next missions the teams will be mixed again. Objections are not accepted. This is an order.”

No.

“C-can I continue?” Neolith asked cautiously.

“Of course.” Elizant nodded.

“Uh, as I was saying... Celia, Yin and Kabbu are going to the Golden Path. The population of wild chompers has decreased significantly, so now this place is much safer. We need the three of you to clear this place of the remaining wild chompers. They are weakened now, so this mission is safe enough. If possible, catch them alive, they are requested by scientists from the Hive. Also you need to explore all the mapped caves on the Path, and collect information about all kinds of danger. We are planning to expand the Golden Settlement. Any questions?”

“Gotcha, Neolith!” Celia replied, raising her shield.

“No questions, thank you, Neolith.” Kabbu nodded.

“When do they leave?” Maki asked.

"All missions start tomorrow.” The professor replied.

Kina poked her brother in the shoulder.

"Stop whining, Yin can take care of herself." she grumbled.

Maybe she could take care of herself, but Yin didn't look very adult to Zasp. But also she looked barely younger than Vi. Yin seemed much more quiet than the bee though.

“The next team is Kina, Vi, and Mothiva." Neolith said.

“No!” Zasp and Mothiva exclaimed at the same time. Mothiva’s voice sounded irritated, and Zasp’s was rather scared.

“Is there any way to get onto the same team as Mothiva?” Zasp asked. He did his best ignoring Vi’s derisive smile.

“Can I join Celia's team? There’s at least no bees.” Mothiva said disgustedly.

“I don’t want to be on the same team with Mothiva.” Vi said. “I wouldn't even mind Zasp, really.”

"The t-teams have already been assigned." Neolith muttered nervously.

Of course, no one argued. Maybe because Elizant was starting to look more and more menacing and dangerous. Zasp was just trying to emotionally deal with the fact that he’ll have to leave Mothiva for this mission.

“Kina, Vi, and Mothiva, you’re going to explore the Metal Lake." Neolith continued. “We received a third report that the boat had been sunk by water striders. We need to decrease the number of citizens dying or getting injured on their vacations. If possible, exterminate the water striders and collect their eggs. We need them for one of our projects. For the trip, take the submarine, which is currently in use by Team Snakemouth.”

They have a submarine? Zasp was jealous. Maybe it's a good idea to bond with the other teams. With team Snakemouth at least. Maybe Kabbu would let him ride the submarine if they were friends.

“Any questions?” Meanwhile, Neolith asked.

“No questions!” Vi grabbed her boomerang energetically. “I’m ready to beat the crap out of those stupid water bugs!!”

“Good luck with that. I’m sure I’ll kill them all before you throw your silly toy.” Mothiva really couldn’t stop provoking the bee today, huh.

“Oh, we'll see about that." Vi grinned.

Kina sighed heavily as she looked at the two of them. "Being on the same team with Yin doesn’t seem as bad anymore."

"Next, Maki and Levi, you will explore the southern and eastern parts of the Swamps." Neolith continued. “You don’t have to fight the leaf bugs, we just need to find out how many of them there are, and the place where they’re based. Moreover, at the moment the southeastern part of the Swamps is the safest, so the two of you will be enough for this job. But if something goes wrong, retreat immediately, we’ll send a bigger team.”

“Got it.” Maki nodded. “Going on a mission with Levi is an honor for me.”

"Yes, it's going to be a nice adventure!" Levi chuckled. It seems these two were the first team whose members were actually happy to travel together.

“The next team is Leif and Zasp.”

Zasp blinked. He only now realized that it was only him and the moth from Team Snakemouth left. He turned to Leif. He was staring at Zasp intently, and the wasp wasn’t sure, was that a neutral or threatening stare. In any case, Zasp didn’t really mind Leif’s company. Probably. Well, it is better than going on a mission with Vi, right?

"You're going on an exploration mission as well." Neolith continued. ”You need to collect any information about roaches and their experiments and research you can find in Snakemouth Den, as well as books and any artifacts.”

Zasp never visited this den. They planned to go there at some point after him and Mothiva joined the Association, but they were putting it off because of different reasons, and eventually Team Snakemouth went in there, returned alive and with the artifact. Zasp didn’t care much about the den, but still, it’ll be interesting to visit this place.

However, Leif looked worried.

“Elizant?” Leif said rather quietly. “Are you sure it's us who should go to the lab? We... have already been there.”

"That's why you should accompany Zasp there." Elizant nodded. “You know the place and the enemies perfectly, you two will finish the mission in no time.”

Leif exchanged glances with his teammates. Vi and Kabbu looked worried for some reason. Zasp wondered why he was so hesitant.

"Anyway, there's nothing dangerous left there, right?” The queen asked.

Leif was silent for a few seconds, but eventually nodded: “Yes. Yes, you're right.”

"If something goes wrong, you can also return before the mission is completed." Neolith added. "However, I don't think anything can go wrong. Leif knows the place, and Zasp is strong and has good experience in battles. You two can handle it.”

“Of course.” Zasp nodded.

“Can we go now?” Mothiva asked with obvious irritation in her voice. “I need to prepare for tomorrow's mission.”

“Yes, the meeting’s over.” Queen Elizant replied.

Mothiva grabbed Zasp’s hand and pulled him out of the throne room. After leaving the castle, she stopped, looking really irritated.

“I can't believe it!” Mothiva exclaimed, crossing her arms. “I have to be on the same team with that annoying little bee! How could Neolith put us on the same team!”

“It’ll be okay.” Zasp tried to calm her down. “This is just one mission, right? It probably won’t take longer than a day.”

Vi jumped out of the castle the moment after he said that, and Mothiva started clenching her fists again. Zasp sighed. These two will kill each other even before the mission starts.

"Hey, Mothiva, I have a cool idea!” Vi said. “How about I break your legs with my Beemerang, so the queen will have to send you to the hospital, so you won’t have to go on a mission with me?”

Zasp winced, and Mothiva hissed. It will never end.

“Which one of them do you think will return from the mission alive?”

Zasp jumped, startled. He didn't notice Leif standing next to him. Why does this moth have to be so creepy?

“Where will we meet tomorrow?” Zasp asked, ignoring Leif’s question.

“Outside of the Association building.” He replied. “We hope you won't accidentally go with the wrong team."

Zasp turned to him, trying to figure out if Leif was making fun of him. It was impossible to tell from his voice or facial expression.

"...If something happens to Mothiva because of the bee, she won't get out of it easily." Zasp said after a pause. Leif stared at him with the same unreadable expression.

"And if something happens to Vi because of Mothiva, Kabbu and us won't forgive it either." Leif echoed coldly.

“Alright then. See you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow.”

Zasp called out to Mothiva, before she and Vi injured each other, and headed towards the Main Plaza. Mothiva huffed angrily all the way, but Zasp didn't have any strength left to calm her down. Thoughts were spinning in his head. He will have to leave Mothiva with bugs from other teams, and he couldn’t stop worrying. He had never traveled without her before. He never let her travel without him as well. And he’s going to leave her with Vi and Kina, the two most chaotic bugs he’s ever known, and both of them aren’t fond of Mothiva. This won’t go well.

They returned to the inn. The innkeeper in the lobby greeted them with a tired, bored look. The inn was quite small, but one of the best in Bugaria, in Zasp’s opinion. There weren't many tourists in the Ant Kingdom, so usually there were no other bugs sharing the room with them. But Mothiva rarely gave concerts in the Ant Kingdom, so most of the time they had to stay in larger inns and hotels, where they always had neighbors.

Mothiva spent the rest of the day grumbling about the mission. Zasp hoped that the results of these missions would prove to Neolith and the queen that this project was a bad idea. It’ll end soon, surely.

However, Zasp wasn't really worried about his mission with Leif. Most likely, everything will go well, they just need to rummage around the corners of an old cave. It shouldn't be that hard, right?

***

In the morning, Zasp accompanied Mothiva to the pier. Kina and Vi were already there. Vi was annoying Kina, probably because the bee was bored, and the mantis was clearly losing patience. A submarine was parked near the shore. Oh, Zasp wanted to take a ride on it so much. He wouldn't even mind swapping places with Mothiva and going on a mission with Vi and Kina.

Zasp actually thought about it, but more like swapping places with Vi, so he can go with Mothiva. But he figured it would be risky, it was the queen’s order for him to go with Leif after all.

He made sure that Mothiva had brought a supply of food and a weapon with her just in case, even she grumbled that she would not need it all. She might even be right, but Zasp wanted to make sure she can defend herself if anything happens.

Ignoring Vi’s mocking, Zasp headed back to the Explorers’ Association building.

Leif was already there, standing next to the crystal, almost merging with its cold blue light. When Zasp noticed him, Leif was already looking at him with his emotionless eyes. Quickening his pace, Zasp approached the moth.

“...Hello." Zasp said after a moment's silence.

“Let's get going,” Leif said without greeting him. “Earlier we leave, earlier we’ll be home”

Zasp nodded and followed the moth. Leif obviously wasn't in the mood for talking today, so Zasp didn't even try to. He adjusted the bag on his shoulder, that he took in case they’ll have to collect and carry back any artifacts. On his belt he had a couple of daggers in case of any danger: he made sure tp sharpen them tonight. Zasp was fully prepared for this mission.

Soon they were near the den. For some reason, Leif stopped in front of the entrance, and Zasp stopped as well, right behind him.

He remembered that Leif, for some reason, didn’t really want to go to the Snakemouth Den, and Zasp was a little curious about why exactly he was so hesitant about this place, but he wasn’t going to ask. It was probably something personal, he thought, most likely Zasp wasn't supposed to know about it.

"...Have you ever been here before?" Leif asked suddenly.

"No.”

Leif nodded and stepped inside. Zasp hurried after him. It was rather light in the den. There were many holes in the ceiling, sunlight and fresh air were getting in through them freely. Bushes and grass patches grew on the muddy ground, they didn’t seem any less alive and green than the bushes outside. Even the dangers were not visible yet: Zasp noticed only a few wild bugs hiding in the shadows of the bushes, watching the travelers with hungry eyes.

They crossed a river and went into the next cave. The first thing that caught Zasp's eye was a huge hole in the ground, the bottom of which was lost somewhere in the darkness. Then he noticed tall stone gates in the wall opposite of the hole. They were slightly ajar, but bugs like him and Leif wouldn’t have any issue passing through them.

Zasp stopped at the edge of the dark abyss.

“Should we go in there?" he asked, pointing down.

 "Unfortunately, no." Leif replied evenly, also stopping at the edge.

 "’Unfortunately’"?

 "It's safer down there than in the lab.”

Zasp looked back at the gates. "Should I prepare my daggers?"

“Yeah.”

Leif turned around and walked towards the gate, and Zasp followed after him. Cold air was flowing through out of the darkness of the caverns ahead, and Zasp shivered.

“What exactly should I prepare for?” He asked, clutching the daggers in his hands as they crossed the gates.

It was eerily quiet here. The sounds of the river were barely audible, lines of pale blue light flickered on the walls. Maybe those lines were pipes with some blue liquid flowing through them, Zasp wasn't sure. He could see mold and fungi growing in the corners of the room, covering the rocky cave with pale sprouts and mushrooms. It was so much colder here, and the air was damp.

"You'll see.” Leif smirked for some reason, and it bothered Zasp.

After passing through what looked like a doorway, they entered the next cave. It was huge and overgrown with mushrooms.

Zasp noticed movement out of the corner of his eye and immediately drew his daggers, preparing to repel an attack, but…

It was just an ant. Probably someone from the city wandered in here? The ant was standing on the other side of the platform, very close to the edge, staring into the water. Was this ant admiring their reflection or something?

“Uh…” Zasp hummed in confusion. “Excuse me, are you…”

“Shhh!” Leif hissed, elbowing him in the side. “We better go.”

“What?” Zasp looked down at him indignantly. “It's dangerous for a citizen to be here, we should lead them outside.”

Leif raised his eyebrows in surprise and seemed about to say something, but then the ant turned around sharply, and Zasp froze, staring at them. A strange pale appendage poked out from the ant's forehead. The ant was hunched over, their arms hung limply down, and their legs seemed to barely hold the body. There were more similar small pale sprouts all over their body, that Zasp didn’t notice at first.

“What’s–” Zasp began, but Leif stepped forward. Cold air – much colder than the air in the cave – was surrounding the moth, and tiny flakes of snow were swirling around his hands. His eyes seemed to shine slightly with an icy light.

"We were asked to avoid fighting," said Leif.

"Is this... an enemy?" Zasp was completely confused, but Leif did not answer.

Despite the fact that the ant seemed to barely stand on their feet, they quickly got closer and were going to attack, but for some reason Zasp couldn’t move. Before the strange ant could attack, Leif tried to freeze it. The ant swiftly jumped back, dodging a wave of icy air. Then Leif, staring intently at the enemy, clenched his fists, and a big icicle appeared from the ground, piercing right through the ant’s chest. Their limbs finally went limp and hung lifeless.

 Leif sighed with relief and turned to Zasp.

“You could have helped.”

Zasp collected himself. He straightened up and gripped the daggers tighter.

“That was an enemy?” Zasp asked again and crossed his arms. “You could have warned me.”

“We expected your reaction to the local zombies to be entertaining, but we didn't think you'd take them for a citizen."

Zasp blinked.

“...Zombies?”

Leif nodded and stepped closer to the dead ant, still hanging from the slowly melting ice spike.

“Cordyceps is a fungus that can bring the dead back to life or sometimes possess living bugs.” He said. "There are a lot of other bugs in this lab, but they're all dead. These are not the inhabitants of the kingdom anymore.”

Zasp shivered, unconsciously taking a step back.

“You... really should have warned me.” Zasp muttered.

Leif smirked coldly. “Scared?”

“Not scared.” Zasp grimaced. “it's just… wrong to kill ants.”

“Was it wrong to kill wasps too?”

"...Let’s keep going.” Zasp turned his back to him and walked forward, deeper into the cave.

He would’ve left if he could. If he was alone, without Leif. He would’ve told the queen that he couldn’t defeat the enemies, or that there was nothing of value here. Zasp wasn't scared, he was terrified. He was attacked by a living dead bug. That’s why it felt wrong.

This place suddenly became so much creepier.

"We can understand you." Leif said, catching up with him. “But we don't need to engage in battle with them, we'll just take whatever notebooks and artifacts we can find, and then go home. Don’t worry too much about the cordyceps.”

Zasp muttered something in agreement, but didn’t put the daggers away.

They thoroughly searched every corner of this room. Leif found some notes written on old wrinkled leaves, while Zasp was trying to avoid the zombies. He was really surprised by Leif's calmness. The moth didn't even seem to mind the zombies at all, either avoiding them, or, when he was cornered, quickly throwing them into the water or piercing them with icicles. Maybe the magic was giving him so much confidence? Zasp only had his daggers.

Zasp wondered how Mothiva was doing. Her mission was definitely not this scary. Although, Zasp thought, if Mothiva was here right now, she wouldn't be afraid of the dead. She would probably say something like "they're already dead enough, why are you scared?" She would have accused Zasp of cowardice and called him a softie. Because it's Mothiva.

“What do you think would happen if Mothiva and Vi got along?”  Leif asked, as if reading his mind.

They had finished exploring this room and were now heading towards the opening leading to the next one.

“That... would be good, I think," Zasp said thoughtfully.

“You think?” Leif smiled faintly. “We think it would be horrible. The two of them would destroy Bugaria.”

Zasp let out a short laugh.

"You're right.” He agreed. “I'm so used to their constant quarrels.”

"So are we."

"They'll never get along." Zasp said. “Mothiva doesn’t have many friends. I guess it’s difficult to make friends when you’re as popular as she is.”

“She has you.”

"We've been through a lot together." Zasp shrugged. “We have been friends before she even learned to sing.”

"Dating a childhood friend." Leif nodded. 

Zasp turned his head to him in surprise. “Dating? No, we’re not dating. Absolutely not. We're friends.”

“Hmm." Leif muttered a little puzzled. "But it really looks like you do. Why are you always trying to stay by her side then? You were obviously very opposed to the fact that Mothiva was going on a mission without you.”

“We are friends, but I still care for her." Zasp replied, a little more coldly than he intended. "She might get hurt. You probably know she's not really made for battle.”

Leif smirked. “Yeah, we can tell, Vi beat her easily back at the Colosseum.”

Zasp looked at him, a little annoyed. The Colosseum incident is being brought up too often lately.

The next room had even more water than the previous one. The cave was flooded. On a small island ahead Zasp could already see a table with some documents and notebooks on it. Next to it, inside a huge broken capsule, a crystal shone with a cold light. They only need to cross the water somehow.

"We can get us across the water." Leif said, and chill air surrounded him again.

“Are you going to freeze the river?” asked the wasp. “I have wings.”

Leif looked at him curiously.

“You can lift us?" He asked.

Zasp nodded and, wrapping his arms around Leif's waist, suddenly jumped into the air, buzzing with his wings, and almost immediately landed onto the platform with the crystal. He always did that with Mothiva. Leif was much lighter than Mothiva though. Zasp put the moth on the ground.

He glanced back at him. “Not bad. Vi can't do that.” Leif walked over to the table, looking at the text on the old sheet. He took them and put them in his bag.

Meanwhile, Zasp looked around. A lot of water, but also he could see more entrances in the walls. This lab was really massive. And flooded. He will have to carry Leif across the gaps some more today.

This thought made him think that when he grabbed Leif, he felt bandages on his stomach. Has he still not healed that strange wound? Back then, in the desert, Zasp saved Leif purely by accident. He had heard from travelers passing through the sands about a huge scorpion hiding somewhere in the southern part of the Lost Sands. As soon as he realized that Team Snakemouth was heading towards that part, he flew there just in case, just to make sure they’re okay. As it turned out, he was almost too late.

Kabbu and Vi were very worried about Leif, and Zasp was just glad that he was on time. He had almost forgotten about the strange things that had appeared from his open wound. He didn't ask questions back then, it was none of his business.

Now that it was just the two of them, he kinda wanted to know. But he really doubted Leif would want to talk about it.

Meanwhile Leif had collected all the documents on the table and now looked around the cave. “We can go there first.” He pointed towards the entrance in the southern part of the cave. This passage was the only one connected to the island they were currently on. “But there's a bee there.”

Zasp looked more closely in that direction, and yes, a short figure was wandering near the edge of the platform. He didn't notice it in the dark at first.

Zasp shuddered. Unfortunately, Leif noticed it.

"It's okay, if you stay close, we can make a shield and it won't touch us." He said, putting his hand on Zasp's shoulder.

"I'm fine.” He looked away, shrugging the moth's hand off his shoulder. His fingers are cold. “Make the shield.”

Leif nodded and, spreading his arms to the sides, froze. A second later, ice walls began to form around them. They looked rather thin for something that would be called a shield, but the wasp wasn’t going to complain. Zasp stepped a bit closer to Leif, just in case.

"But we can't run with this shield.” The moth warned. “We have to focus so it doesn't break. We’ll go slowly.”

Zasp nodded. He tried not to look at the bee as they passed by it. Leif removed the shield as soon as they were far enough away from the bee.

"Maybe it's not even that bad that cordyceps brought them to life.” Leif said suddenly, looking away.

“Not bad? Zasp repeated in confusion.

“The scientists at this lab have been looking for ways to live forever." Leif explained. "We guess you can say they've succeeded. Those guys can keep the remnants of their minds and memories to some degree. The only question is whether cordyceps will allow you to keep these memories.”

Zasp looked at him, puzzled.

“What do you mean?” The wasp asked. “Can it depend on something?”

 "In this laboratory, yes.” Leif nodded. "They must have been trying to create an intelligent form of cordyceps. Perhaps they even succeeded at this as well: the local zombies can talk to each other in their own language, it’s a bit like the ancient language of roaches. But we don't think it's the... bugs that are talking. Cordyceps are talking. They are failed experiments, aggressive forms of cordyceps. Most likely, they are guarding their territory, so they attack strangers... living bugs.

Zasp nodded. He didn't answer, digesting the information.

“Okay, let's move on.”

“No, wait." Zasp stopped him. Leif turned to him and slightly tilted his head to the side. “How do you know all this?”

“We've already been here. We read these notes and documents. And the rest is our theories.”

Zasp nodded, still a bit puzzled. He looked around, realizing he got distracted with the conversation. The cave was really tall, its ceiling was high above, disappearing into the darkness, and a system of floating platforms led up somewhere.

Leif sighed. "Roaches were great scientists, but we don't understand why they needed to make these complex systems with platforms and switches. There was a small ruined office upstairs. When we were there with Vi and Kabbu, we only found a hologram there. But we suspect that there must be notebooks there.”

"I can get us up there.” Zasp said.

Leif perked up his antennae. He probably was glad to skip all the jumping on platforms part.

Zasp picked up Leif and immediately flew to a small ledge under the ceiling. He was about to land there when he saw another zombie beetle. For some reason, he couldn't. He couldn't just land in front of it and fight. So the only idea he had at the moment was to cling to the wall a little below the ledge, holding Leif with one hand across his waist and clinging onto the rocky wall with the other hand and legs. He was flapping his wings as hard as he could to make sure he wasn’t going to fall from here if his fingers slipped from the rock.

Leif gripped his shoulders.

“What–" he began, but Zasp hissed at him.

“A beetle. Up there.”

Leif nodded. He looked kind of nervous, which was fair, Zasp also didn’t want to hang above the abyss that much. "Then don't buzz like that.” The moth said. “It'll hear you. We can make a shield if we land.”

“Are you sure you'll make it in time?” Zasp asked, looking up doubtfully and calculating how many seconds it would take him to land safely.

“We have to make it." Leif replied. “We don’t like hanging out here.”

"I wouldn’t let you fall."

Before Leif could reply, he took off and landed on the platform. Quite fast and agile even for him.

The beetle immediately noticed them. It bent down, pointing its horn at the intruders, the cordyceps sprouts on its back were squirming violently. Leif began to form a shield, and Zasp stood behind him, watching the beetle intently. His hands he had unconsciously placed on Leif's shoulders, were shaking.

The zombie charged towards them, and Zasp realized that Leif would not have time to make a shield.

Drawing his daggers, he rushed towards the zombie beetle. It stopped and prepared for Zasp's attack, exposing its horn, but Zasp jumped behind it and stabbed the beetle in the back of its neck with both daggers. The beetle froze for a second. Zasp pulled out his daggers – his hands were still shaking – and took a step back. Through the tears in its chitin, he could see the same tangled sprouts of cordyceps.

He expected the beetle to fall, but it didn’t move. Zasp also stood there, behind it, confused, not sure what exactly he should do now. Is this thing dead? He stabbed it in the neck, it should be fatal, shouldn't it? Or how do zombies work? Zasp wasn’t sure. Leif, still standing at the edge of the ledge, also froze tensely. He stopped trying to form a shield, now he just stood there, and the moisture in the air was turning into snowflakes around his hands.

The beetle suddenly turned to Zasp and he almost yelped, but managed to hold it back. Some kind of hungry, creepy light flashed in the zombie's eyes. Zasp stepped back, but there wasn’t too much space between him and the wall. He tightened his grip on his daggers.

The zombie was about to make a dash in his direction, but then Zasp felt a cold breeze. Leif sent a wave of cold air at the beetle, and small icy crystals of frost covered the zombie's chitin. Leif managed to freeze him.

“Strike now!” The moth commanded.

Zasp lunged forward, slashing both daggers at the zombie's chest. The beetle fell, the fire in its eyes slowly disappeared, and Zasp exhaled with relief.

He pulled out his daggers and straightened up, looking at the fallen beetle with horror. Those pale sprouts were emerging from the wounds again: more and more…

“Come on.” Leif said abruptly. "There's nothing here, let's go."

Zasp couldn't take his eyes off the corpse. These fungus sprouts...

“Zasp. Let's go.”

...reminded of…

“Zasp.”

...oh.

“Zas–”

“Leif." Zasp interrupted, not looking at the moth. “Can I ask you a question?”

Leif was silent, and Zasp, still not looking at him, moved away from the corpse.

“No." Leif finally replied.

Zasp nodded. He understood.

He understood.

Looking around the office, Zasp really didn’t notice anything that could contain information or be an ancient artifact. A broken closet, a screen on the wall, shards on the floor, but no notes or books. He walked over to Leif and before the moth could take a step back from him, Zasp lifted him in the air and flew down, letting go of Leif when they landed.

“Let’s go somewhere else.”  Zasp muttered.

“Yes.” Leif nodded cautiously.

But Leif just stood there. So Zasp went ahead, thinking about everything that had happened.

Leif doesn't want to answer questions, Leif didn't want Zasp to see cordyceps, Leif knows a lot about this place. If Zasp remembered correctly, Vi and Kabbu found Leif here, in Snakemouth Den. The answer to his question was pretty much obvious.

Leif was walking behind him. Zasp didn’t look at him, but he could hear his steps close behind. He wanted to look at him, to confirm or contradict his thoughts.

Was this moth also a dead bug, like these bees, ants and beetles that were walking around the caves aimlessly?..

For some reason, Zasp didn’t feel like he was afraid of Leif, even though he knew that this moth was stronger than all these walking corpses possessed by cordyceps. He knew that Leif would easily defeat Zasp if he wanted. And, well, he did that already a couple of times before with his team.

So Zasp wasn’t afraid. He just felt a little... offended?

He blinked, realizing this. They weren't even friends, so he doesn’t even have the right to be offended. And Leif has every right to keep his secret.

They came out of the cave and before he realized what his surroundings were, Leif darted towards him, standing close, forming a shield. The bee threw needles in their direction, but they bounced off the ice.

“Come on,” Leif said softly, and Zasp walked slowly forward, following the moth, looking at the zombie bee that was still blindly trying to harm them.

Moving to the central platform, Zasp stopped near the crystal. Sighing heavily, he sat down, leaning his back against the cold surface of the rare stone. Zasp looked up at Leif, who just froze standing next to him. Finally, he didn't look so emotionless, now he just looked guilty.

“Do you want an omelet?” Zasp asked.

Leif nodded and sat down next to him, also leaning against the crystal. Zasp took an omelet out of his bag and broke it in two halves, handing one to Leif.

“What did you want to ask?” Leif sighed.

Zasp shrugged.

"I don't know,” he replied. “Maybe something like ‘what are you’ or ‘are you one of the zombies by any chance’. I know the answer.”

Leif nodded.

"We didn't want you to be afraid of us, so we wanted to avoid this subject as much as we could,” he said. Zasp didn’t say anything, chewing into his omelet.

The moth sat quietly for some time, then also took a bite of his omelet.

“This mission was going quite well and fun,” he continued after a long pause. “We enjoyed it. We kinda started getting along, we even thought that Neolith’s idea was not so bad. But we didn’t want to scare you.”

Zasp turned his head, meeting Leif’s eyes. “I'm not afraid of you. I just... didn't think about it.”

He looked at the omelet in his hands. He wasn't particularly hungry, especially after all the events.

"So did you die too?" he asked, maybe a bit too straight forward.

“Leif died.” Leif nodded. He paused, took another bite of the omelet, and then continued. "He was caught by a spider during a research mission a long time ago, during the reign of queen Elizant I. A cordyceps sprout - me - accidentally saved him. It was also a failed experiment, but it didn't become aggressive when it brought Leif back to life. We don’t really know why.”

Zasp nodded, processing Leif's words.

“I forgot what I was for a while.” Leif continued. “I even forgot that I'm not actually Leif. I only remembered about it... when Vi, Kabbu and us explored these places.”

Zasp nodded again, but did not answer, even though Leif sounded like he finished his speech. Zasp needed to think.

“But we're fine.” Leif added. “None of us mind it. Leif wouldn't regret coming back to life, even when our... when his family had long since passed away. Now we have Kabbu and Vi.”  Leif smiled softly.

Another pause.

"It all sounds... complicated.” Zasp said. He could hardly fit it all in his head. “How many people know about… this?”

“Vi, Kabbu.” Leif replied. “And now you.”

"You don't look dead at all, by the way." Zasp said. He felt the warmth of the moth’s body when he carried him over the gaps and rivers.

"Thanks, we make sure to remove rotting parts,” Leif said with a serious face. Zasp’s eyes widened, and the moth chuckled. “We’re just kidding, we aren’t rotting. We think maybe it’s because we're not dead anymore. Alive again. We’re just not exactly like everyone else.”

“Yeah, probably,” Zasp nodded. He finished his omelet and stood up. "Well... should we go back to the surface or continue exploring?"

He held out his hand, offering to help Leif up. Zasp didn't know exactly why he did it, although he suspected he wanted to feel the warmth of the moth’s hand again, to make sure that Leif was really alive.

…And not rotting and stuff.

The moth grabbed Zasp’s hand and stood up. His hand was warm.

"We should finish collecting materials for Neolith," he said.

Zasp nodded.

“Where do we go now?” he asked. Zasp counted about five entrances in the walls of this cave they hadn't visited yet.

"In that room over there, we remember some notes on the table." Leif said, pointing toward the entrance in the corner of the south wall.

Without warning, Zasp picked up Leif and carried him to a platform next to that entrance.

"We want to admit, your way of traveling saves a lot of time." Leif said when Zasp landed. “When we were here with our team, we had to freeze water all day.”

They entered the next room. It was also huge, a river flowed through it in a rapid stream, and on the other side there was a cell closed with a grating. Leif went to the table and took all the pages, notebooks and items into his bag.

“What's on the other side?” Zasp asked.

"There’s another beetle behind the bars, and some records as well, but they don't contain anything useful." Leif replied. "Just some bizarre letters and a lot of broken furniture. We think roaches experimented with cordyceps on living bugs. This is unnatural for both bugs and cordyceps.”

Zasp shivered. The scientists in this lab were crazy.

They spent a couple of hours exploring the rest of the caves. They collected everything they could find, and they did it surprisingly quickly. Zasp and Leif sat down next to the crystal again, looking through everything they had collected.

"There are even more records here than we found on our last trip here," Leif said, flipping through some notebook pages. “However, they only confirm our theories.”

"We can go back now, I think." Zasp said.

"Yeah.” Leif agreed. “It was a good mission. We are glad to be on the same team with you, Zasp.”

Zasp slightly smiled. "We should do this again sometime."

***

When Leif and Zasp took everything they collected to professor Neolith, he was delighted with the results of their mission. He thanked them and said that they’re free for the rest of the day. So Leif and Zasp returned to the Explorers’ Association building, waiting for Vi and Mothiva. Leif stopped by Fry's on his way to the outskirts and cooked a bunch of omelets. Zasp only raised his eyebrows when he saw him with an armful of omelets wrapped in a large leaf.

“You want some?” Leif handed Zasp one of the omelets. Zasp wasn't hungry, but he took it anyway.

“Thanks.”

They sat on the bottom step of the Association building, chewing on omelets in silence. Zasp thought that if Elizant wanted to make the Explorers’ Association better, she should have considered installing some benches around the building. That would be much more convenient and probably bond different teams as well: they'd at least have a place to relax and talk about missions, enemies, places, share some experience.

“So, who do you think will survive this mission, Vi or Mothiva?” Leif asked.

“Definitely Vi.” Zasp laughed shortly.

Leif nodded. “We agree.” He took a bite of the omelet. “Or Kina would drown them both. Oh, look.”

Zasp turned his head in the direction Leif was pointing: Vi and Kina were walking from the pier. Mothiva was nowhere to be seen. His heart skipped a beat.

"We were joking about who was going to survive, of course, but..." muttered Leif.

Zasp jumped up and rushed to Vi and Kina. They immediately noticed him, Vi waved her hand with an excited look on her face. They both seemed to be in a good mood.

“Where's Mothiva!?” Zasp exclaimed anxiously. His hands were starting to shake again.

Vi and Kina exchanged amused looks.

“We made a unanimous decision and drowned Mothiva!” Vi said, smiling widely.

Zasp stared at her blankly. Before he could gather his thoughts, he felt cold fingers on his forearm, and then a warm palm.

"Don't scare him like that, Vi." Leif said sternly. The bee giggled.

"She's fine, we dropped her off on Metal Island." Kina said. “Mothiva was getting on our nerves, and she asked to leave on the island.”

“Yeah, how could we say no to that?” Vi shrugged.

Zasp sighed in relief. He cast a grateful look at Leif, and the moth nodded in acknowledgement.

“Vi." Zasp said, looking strictly at her, barely able to contain his irritation.

...But he couldn't find any more words.

“Yeah, Zasp?” Vi smiled at him with an evil look.

"Anyways, Mothiva took some of the water strider eggs with her." Kina said with annoyance. "She said she'll scramble them."

“Okay, I'll go find her,” sighed Zasp. “I hope the eggs are at least tasty. Thanks for the omelet, Leif.”

Zasp went to the inn. Most likely, Mothiva has already returned. And he was right, at least that's what the innkeeper said. The ant also said that she had seen her leaving the inn not that long ago, and Zasp decided to check Fry's kitchen. And Mothiva was there, sitting at a table, looking bored. Zasp came over and sat on a chair on the opposite side of the table. 

“Oh, Zasp,” Mothiva said, brightening up a little. “You're finally back. How was the mission?”

"It was surprisingly nice to work with Leif." Zasp shrugged. “I met Vi, she said you got off on Metal Island.”

Motif crossed her arms with annoyance.

“These two are just the worst!” she said. “Vi is the worst, I can't stand her. I left whenever I had a chance. Also I took some eggs we had to collect from the water on this mission. That was not the nicest experience, and actually it was really boring.”

"Are you hurt?" Zasp asked, just in case.

“What? Zasp, of course not. You think some pathetic water bugs could hurt me? They had soft bodies, so that wasn’t an issue to get rid of them. They are persistent though. Anyways, it was the easiest mission in my life. Queen Elizant could have sent me alone to do it.”

Fry came up to their table. The bulky fly was holding two trays with so many plates that they were almost falling off. Zasp watched in horror as Fry put the trays on their table. How many eggs did Mothiva take with her? They won’t be able to finish so many eggs in a week.

“Ha-ha!” Exclaimed the fly, proudly looking down at his work. “Thank you for the fresh ingredients, young lady! Your dinner’s ready! Ahahahahaha!”

“Ohohoho, thanks!” Mothiva cooed.

When Fry left, she picked up a bit of the scrambled eggs from a plate using a fork. She lifted it up at the same level of her eyes and squinted suspiciously.

"I've never tried scrambled water strider eggs," she said doubtfully. And then she looked up at Zasp. “Don't you want to try it first, Zasp?”

He shook his head.

"I've already eaten some omelets today,” he said.

Mothiva huffed with annoyance.

"You could’ve waited for me before you had lunch,” she said. “Tomorrow there will be another meeting at the castle and, apparently, the next mission. You just have no idea, Zasp, how much I hate this! It’s impossible to work with some bugs from other teams! It’s horrible!” She put the piece of scrambled eggs in her mouth and chewed it. “Hmmm, it's delicious, by the way. I don't even want to know who I have to go on the next mission with! I hope I’ll never have to go with Vi or Kina again. They’re the worst explorers of this Association!”

“Mothiva, are we really going to eat all this?” Zasp asked cautiously. That was what worried him the most at the moment. “There’s a lot here.”

"Are you suggesting I throw them away?"  She frowned.

“No, but... they'll go bad by tomorrow.”

"Then eat them today.” Mothiva huffed.

“Okay,” sighed Zasp. “By the way... how about a little rest after all these missions? Two weeks of vacation?”

“No way, Zasp!” Mothiva looked indignant, starting the second plate. “I'm already missing so many concerts because of these stupid missions. My fans will forget me!”

“You are not so easy to forget!”

Zasp jumped when he heard Vi’s loud voice. She ran up to their table, followed by Leif and Kina. Vi noticed the plates with scrambled eggs and looked at them with interest.

“Woah, are these the water strider eggs?” she asked, looking at Mothiva. “Are they tasty? Can I try some?”

“This is just unbearable!” Mothiva slammed her hands on the table and got up from her chair. “I don't want to see any more bees today! Zasp!” She hissed at him. “Don't let them eat it! Take it to the inn!”

Stomping angrily, Mothiva went off in an unknown direction. Zasp sighed heavily. Mothiva was on the edge today. He had no doubt that Vi was the reason.

The bee sat down on Mothiva’s chair.

“Can I try it, Zasp?" she asked, narrowing her eyes slyly.

“Sure,” he shrugged. He looked up at Kina and Leif, both of them had stopped next to the table. “You can eat some too. Mothiva said they turned out tasty.”

“Thanks!” Vi said, immediately grabbing one of the plates.

“Huh, she took quite a lot of eggs, it seems." Kina muttered.

Leif sat down next to Zasp and took a plate. Zasp only raised his eyebrows slightly: this moth just ate several omelets, and now he's going to eat the eggs too?

"I don't think Mothiva will be excited to know that you shared your food with us." Leif admitted.

"The two of us can't eat this much alone anyway," Zasp shrugged. "They'll just go bad by tomorrow."

“Fair enough,” Leif nodded, stuffing a big piece of scrambled eggs in his mouth. “Can we have one more plate?”

Zasp let out a short laugh.

“Go ahead,” he replied. “How do you even fit so much food in you?…”

Leif leaned a bit closer and quietly said: "You always feel hungry after you die.”

“Are you going to joke about it now?”

"You see, neither VI nor Kabbu appreciate my jokes,” the moth shrugged.

“Since when did Leif and Zasp become so friendly to each other?” Vi said loudly, pointing at them.

Zasp avoided looking at the bee, insteead focusing on his plate. He thought that it's really unusual for him to be so… chatty. No wonder Vi noticed it. He should probably stop acting like this.

"How can you not get along with someone who offers free food?" Leif shrugged.

VI nodded in agreement. "If Mothiva were to buy me a dinner or sonething, I wouldn't have bullied her for five whole minutes.”

Leif smiled and looked to the side, his antennae tilting forward. "Oh, there's Maki," he said, watching Maki and Levi passing by. They probably didn’t notice the explorers, gathered at Fry’s.

“Maki!” standing up on her chair, Vi called out to him. The mantis stopped and turned his head in their direction. He told something to Levi and both of them headed to Fry’s.

Kina stood up from her chair and crossed her arms, staring at her brother.

“Maki!! What took you so long again!?”

“Hello, Kina.” Maki said calmly. “The mission took a while.”

"Huh, and I thought we were done pretty quickly!” Levi said, scratching his head in confusion.

They didn't look very good right now: Maki's armor was all stained with dirt, and Levi's cape was torn and wrinkled, leaves and thorns clung to it. But the beetle looked quite cheered up.

“Would you like a dish made of water strider eggs?” Zasp asked. After thinking about it, he came to the conclusion that it’s better to share the food, so he won’t have to carry too many plates back to the inn. Mothiva probably won’t be very happy about it if she finds out… but for some reason this wasn’t bothering Zasp too much at the moment.

“Oh!” Levi took a plate. “Thank you!”

But Maki looked at the wasp in surprise.

“Water strider eggs?” he asked.

“Yeah!” Vi nodded energetically. “We wanted to drown Mothiva, but then we just left her on Metal island. But she took some of the eggs we collected on this mission and cooked them!”

"Scandalous." Maki nodded, calm as always, and also took a plate. He looked closer, examining the dish. “How interesting, I've never tried anything like this.”

"It's surprisingly not bad.” Kina grumbled.

Almost a half of the whole Explorers' Association had gathered here, Zasp thought. And for some reason, Zasp liked it. No, he wasn’t the socializing type. Normally, he would’ve tried to stay away from the crowd, even if there were bugs he knew. Today it was different for some reason. He didn’t feel uncomfortable to be here, he also had no desire to leave as soon as possible. Next to him, Leif was already eating his third plate, probably thinking that Zasp didn't noticed.

Anyway, Zasp was a little worried about all these new feelings. Not too much at the moment though.

“Has Yin returned yet?” Maki asked meanwhile.

“No,” Leif replied.

“Hmm,” Maki muttered and didn’t continue talking.

"Nothing's going to happen to her," Kina rolled her eyes.

"She's a child, Kina,” Maki said sternly.

"Don't worry, buddy,” Levi put his hand on the mantis’ shoulder. "She’s with Kabbu and Celia, they are the two most reliable bugs I know!"

“Yep!” Vi nodded. “Kabbu won't let anyone get in trouble. Even if someone wants to get in trouble.”

Leif hummed and leaned closer to Zasp again. "Kabbu doesn’t let her use poison medals because it’s unhealthy. Though those are probably very effective.”

Zasp thought that he wouldn’t like to let Mothiva use those medals as well. Not like she’d listen to him.

Kabbu, Celia, and Yin returned about twenty minutes later. By the time they arrived, there weren't many plates of scrambled eggs left, but enough for the three of them. And Zasp knew that Leif had secretly eaten at least one more plate at this point.

Kabbu was very grateful to Zasp. The three of them returned to the Ant Kingdom "hungry like wild chompers", according to Celia. Maki finally calmed down: Yin was back and unharmed. Soon, team Maki left. After them Celia and Levi went seemingly to the underground tavern. Vi also eventually got bored and decided to go home. And now only Leif and Kabbu were at Fry’s with Zasp.

The green beetle told Zasp how to get to the spy card tournament on the Metal Island. Turns out, Leif had already won this tournament many times. Zasp was surprised. For some reason he had never thought that someone like Leif would play cards.

“Zasp.” Leif called quietly. “Can we eat the last plate?”

Among the empty plates, there was a last one with scrambled eggs, already cold and probably not as tasty anymore.

"You've already eaten, like, five plates," Zasp said with a short laugh.

“We ate six.” Leif corrected him.

Kabbu chuckled. "He eats all our supplies when we go on missions together."

“So can we have the last one?” Leif asked again, ignoring Kabbu’s comment.

“Of course,” Zasp nodded.

Leif immediately grabbed the plate.

“Why don't you eat, Zasp?” Kabbu asked.

"I ate omelets today," he shrugged.

Leif’s hand, that was about to stick a fork into the eggs, froze. He glanced at Zasp.

"You haven't eaten?"  Leif asked. He sounded surprised.

"Those omelets were enough for me." Zasp smiled slightly.

But Leif put his fork on the plate and pushed it towards Zasp. "It's really tasty, you should try it. We mean, when else are you going to have scrambled water strider eggs next time?" He stood up. “Thanks for dinner and a nice mission, Zasp.”

“I'm really not hungry–”

“No-no, it's only fair if you also try it for yourself!” Kabbu said, getting up from the table. “It's unusual to see you socialize like this, by the way. But we’re all very grateful for the dinner!”

“Oh." Zasp muttered and looked down at his plate. “Thanks.”

Kabbu and Leif said goodbye and went home. Zasp was left alone with a plate of cold eggs, thinking about his “socializing”. The eggs were still tasty though.

Mothiva had completely forgotten about the eggs she technically stole and then cooked. Zasp returned to the inn quite late, Mothiva was sitting on her bed and combing her fluff when he went up to their floor. She gave him an annoyed look.

“Thought you weren’t going to return today at all.” She grumbled.

"Sorry, I'm late.” Zasp said. He went to his bed and flopped onto it. He was so tired, he realized that only when he returned to the inn. It was a very long day. Now all he wanted is a long nice sleep, especially considering that there was going to be another mission discussed tomorrow.

Zasp curled up on his bed under a soft blanket, just to hear another complaint from Mothiva.

"Since when do you go to bed so early?" She grumbled again.

Zasp sighed and pulled the blanket over his head. She was right, he never went to bed early. The sun outside the window of their room was just setting, painting the walls with soft golden light.

"Mothiva, it was a very long day." He muttered into the pillow.

"Okay, okay." She said with annoyance in her voice. Zasp couldn’t see her, but he was sure she rolled her eyes. “I'll try not to make any noise then.”

“Thanks.” 

However, he couldn't fall asleep for a long time. He was really tired, but everything that happened today was swirling in his head and didn’t let him rest. He was also thinking about Leif.

Today Zasp learned that this weird magic wielding moth from their rival team was very much long dead, but still living. Zasp still didn't know how to react to this. He wasn't afraid of him though, and for some reason wasn’t too shocked? It didn’t change anything about Leif for Zasp. Probably Zasp just got used to him.

It just doesn’t make too much difference, thought Zasp. Why would it matter what this moth got beneath his chitin? He doesn't stop being the same Leif he saved in the Lost Sands. The same Leif who fought alongside him in the Deadlands. But he isn’t like those zombies from Snakemouth Den.

He has cold fingers and warm palms. His stomach is still bandaged tightly, his chitin feels so thin and fragile to the touch, covered with short fluff. Leif probably either doesn’t comb it, or combs it very rarely, because his fluff is a little tangled, not like Mothiva’s. Zasp probably could run his fingers through his fluff so it straightens a bit, and–

…Uh.

That’s some weird thoughts he’s having there. Zasp rolled on the other side and pulled the blanket over his head. Why is he even thinking about it?

Chapter Text

The next morning, Zasp and Mothiva were preparing for the meeting with Queen Elizant II. Mothiva took a while to get ready. Zasp just stood against the wall in their room and has been waiting for her for about a half an hour now. On the table by Mothiva's bed the wasp left her breakfast. He insisted that she eats before they go, but Mothiva refused, and Zasp had no choice but to give up.

Mothiva has not changed at all since she was a kid, Zasp thought. He knew, if she doesn’t eat now, she’ll complain about being hungry later. There was an omelet in Zasp's bag, he got it when he was getting breakfast. Just in case, if Mothiva starts complaining, she will be able to have a snack.

Finally, she finished combing her fluff, stood for a bit in front of the mirror and, apparently satisfied with how she looks, headed towards the exit. Zasp, gripping his bag tighter, followed her.

They were late, of course. The rest of the teams had already gathered at the doors of the throne room. Levi and Celia were sitting in a corner behind a pillar, and seemed to be playing spy cards. The guard ant nearby suspiciously looked at them, but did nothing. Maki and Kina just stood against the wall, silently watching as Vi showed Yin her favorite medals and told her which ones worked best in battle. Kabbu and Leif were also standing nearby, talking quietly. Leif was chewing on something again, and for some reason the thought of it made Zasp smile a little. He tilted his head down, so no one sees him smiling with seemingly no reason.

“Alright,” Mothiva clapped her hands, and everyone turned to her. “It's time for an audience with Her Majesty!”

Oh, she knew she was late.

"Wow, she’s finally here," Vi said, rolling her eyes. Today she was apparently so involved in showing her medals to Yin that she didn't even try to annoy Mothiva much. At least for now.

A guard ant opened the doors to the throne room, letting the teams in.

Professor Neolith was already there. When the teams entered in the throne room, he was showing the queen some huge piece of paper and was enthusiastically explaining something, not loud enough to overhear though. But as soon as all the teams gathered, he rolled up the paper sheet and stepped aside. Queen Elizant rose from her throne.

“Greetings, exploration teams!” She said. “I have to admit, the missions were quite effective, for that I owe you my gratitude. You have collected a lot of useful information, and the best scientists of the kingdom will use it to make everyone's life in Bugaria better. We also started preparing for the project of Golden Settlement expansion and sent engineers there. If not for your effort, this wouldn't be possible.”

The teams started chattering among each other. Zasp silently waited for the queen to continue speaking. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Neolith looking through some papers, standing against the wall.

"But we still have quite a few projects that need to be done in the near future," Elizant continued. “As I mentioned yesterday, we are currently conducting an experiment, the essence of which is to mix the team members. Professor Neolith, announce the following missions and teams, please.”

Neolith perked up and stepped to the center of the throne room, dropping some papers as he walked. The moth cleared his throat.

“As part of the second stage of the experiment, an important project concerning the Sand Castle will be touched upon,” he said. “We have decided on a team that will accompany me and other Ant kingdom scientists to the castle. Leif, Maki, Yin and Celia, you need to prepare for this mission as soon as possible, because we're heading out this evening. We need to do in-depth research, so we will stay there for the night and the next day.”

“Oooh, exciting! I've been wanting to see this castle for quite a long time!” Celia said enthusiastically.

Leif and Maki only nodded in response.

"This is an important mission, so I recommend that you prepare properly,” Elizant added.

"We decided to send small teams on the rest of the missions," Neolith continued. “First team, Zasp and Vi. You need to explore the eastern part of the swamps. Maki and Levi have not found any settlements of the leaf bugs, so we need to continue exploring the swamps. Again, do not engage in battle. If anything happens, return here.”

“Got it,” Zasp nodded. Then he looked at Vi.

She narrowed her eyes, staring at him. Yeah, this won't be an easy mission.

Neolith assigned the rest of the teams, but Zasp wasn’t paying much attention. Mothiva got in the team with Kabbu, and both were not particularly happy about it. At first Zasp thought Kabbu is a much better teammate for her than Vi and Kina, but then he thought about all the previous experience they had with Team Snakemouth and Kabbu in particular, Zasp wasn’t so sure about it anymore. The beetle is usually polite and kind to everyone... but not to Mothiva. So that was a little worrying.

For some reason, Vi stared at Zasp for the rest of the meeting. Well, he knew the reason: that's just normal Vi behavior. She was waiting for him to turn to say something about it. And then she would start a fight in the middle of the meeting. So Zasp did his best trying to ignore the bee.

Eventually the meeting was over, and Mothiva said that she needed to buy gel for her fluff or something like that. She went, basically ran into the ant mines, completely ignoring Zasp. Maybe she was deliberately avoiding the teams, but Zasp wasn’t sure why. She’s just being Mothiva, perhaps. He wanted to go after her, but then something hit him on the knee, catching him off guard and completely distracting from Mothiva. He looked down.

It was Vi. Yeah. Who else.

“Leif said you’re fine,” she said, intently staring up at him with her eyes narrowed. “You wanna see my medals then? We can make a cool build for tomorrow if you’re not being mean and annoying.”

She looked at him, her eyes narrowed defensively, caution in her voice. That was… surprising. She obviously didn’t trust him, but she also didn't try to start a fight. Probably the bee knew she had to spend the next day with the wasp, and both of them had to get things done. That’s suddenly very mature and reasonable of her.

Zasp blinked at Vi, still a bit confused. The ant mines were right there, and the bee was blosking the way, and he didn't know whether he should go down to hopefully join Mothiva, or look at these medals the bee is talking about.

Mothiva wasn’t in the mood and didn't ask him to come with her anyway…

He crouched so that he was about the same height as Vi. He didn't want to be rude to her, especially since she was trying to be friendly.

"I don't use medals very often..." he began, but Vi interrupted him.

“And I use them constantly!” She said, loud and still defensive. ”And I will never go to the swamps without my medals! That's why you'll have to wear them as well!”

Zasp was taken aback again, and now stared at her in confusion.

"You'd better not argue," he heard Leif's voice next to him. Zasp looked up: the moth stood just behind him. Zasp didn't hear him approach, again.

“Yeah, you better not to!” Vi confirmed with a smug smile and crossed her arms.

“Okay," Zasp shrugged. He didn't want to argue anyway, not with this bee.

Vi opened her backpack.

"I only have my favorite medals here, but the rest are at home," she said, looking through the backpack contents. “But I'll show them too, I think there will be a lot that you could use. Leif, where's Kabbu?”

The moth looked around.

"We think he left with Maki," he said.

"Poor guy, he'll have to go with Mothiva," Vi sighed.

Zasp silently agreed. These two did not combine into a team at all.

“Okay, let's go!” Vi said and ran out of the castle, rather excited.

Zasp got up and looked at Leif. As always, he stood with an emotionless face. Catching Zasp looking at him, he raised an eyebrow.

"If no one intentionally provokes or irritates her, Vi is a very good teammate," Leif said. “She's kind of fun.”

Zasp hummed doubtfully, but nodded. He decided it’s better to keep up with the bee. Zasp headed out of the castle; he could hear Leif following right behind him.

They found Vi on the main plaza. She was next to Team Snakemouth’s house and talking to Kabbu. Leif caught up with Zasp and, leaning slightly in his direction, said quietly: “Look. She asks for poison medals.”

“What?” Zasp looked at him.

“You’ll see,” Leif smiled slightly.

When they got to the house, Vi looked extremely offended while Kabbu lectured her on how important her health is. When Vi noticed Zasp, the offense disappeared from her face, getting completely distracted.

“I won't be able to show you my best medals today, but I have other good ones!” She said, grabbing his finger and dragging Zasp inside the house. Zasp heard Leif's short laugh.

Team Snakemouth’s house wasn't big. The entire wall near the bunk bed was covered with trophies. Somewhat impressive. On the other side of the room was a small kitchen and dining area. He saw a package on the table seemingly with some candies and other sweets.

Vi let go of Zasp's finger and opened a small closet in the dinning area of the room and began rummaging through some boxes.

Zasp just froze near the door. He rarely visited other bugs’ houses, he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to act.

Then he felt something touch his leg. Zasp looked down and jumped with a small yelp: a little chomper sniffed, then bared its teeth and hissed at Zasp.

"Shh, Chompy,” Leif said, picking up the chomper in his arms. The plant creature seemed to relax immediately, its leafs laying back against its head. “Meet Zasp. You can't bite him this time.”

Now Zasp remembered. It looks like this was that chomper that fought next to Team Snakemouth when Zasp and Mothiva met them in the Colosseum. Back then Zasp barely noticed it, in battle it was more of an annoying pest, than an opponent.

Zasp had to admit, this chomper looked different from those he saw in Golden Paths. Much smaller, a bit different proportionally. Perhaps, a different species? A blue ribbon was neatly tied on the fluffy crown of golden leaves on the chomper's head. Sitting in Leif's arms, the chomper began to make a sound vaguely resembling a purr that some pillbugs make when pet.

Leif stroked the chomper’s head and put it down on a pillow in the other corner of the room. The chomper settled itself comfortably on it, but kept its head pointed in Zasp’s direction. A very interesting choice of pet, Zasp thought.

“She's a good girl, but she can bite," Leif said. "She sometimes bites Vi when she bothers her too much.”

“Actually, she doesn't bite, that’s just her play-fighting with me!” Vi said. She pulled a box out of the closet and put it on the table, pushing the bag with sweets to the side. “Look, Zasp.”

Zasp sat down on a chair near the table. Vi shook the medals out of the box and began arranging them. Meanwhile, Zasp saw Leif preparing for his mission. Looked like he was packing food and weapons in his bag. When Kabbu entered the house, Leif turned to him.

“Can you walk Chompy?” The moth asked. “We need to get to the palace in an hour, and we still need to dress our wound.”

“Sure!” Kabbu replied. "Do you want to take Chompy with you on the mission?"

“We're worried she'd run away," Leif said, shaking his head. "And we can't fit her food in the bag."

Kabbu nodded, and called Chompy. She jumped up excitedly, as Kabbu put a collar across her stem. They left soon, with Chompy almost dragging Kabbu out of the house.

“Oooh, Leif! Can I take Chompy on my mission!?” Vi asked, excited.

Leif looked at her doubtfully.

"Vi, you're not going to fight there, you’re supposed to explore," he said. "You won't need Chompy there."

Vi leaned back in her chair resentfully.

“Fine, whatever," she grumbled. “Wait a bit, Zasp, I need to find one of my best medals.”

She rushed to the closet again. With nothing to do, Zasp awkwardly turned to Leif. He was pulling out coils of bandages from a small bag.

"Your wound hasn’t healed yet?" he asked.

"It's healed up a bit," Leif hummed, still focused on the fresh bandages, "but there’s still a risk it can open up during battle. We try to dress it when we go on missions or quests. Would you like to help us, Zasp?”

“Sure, what do I need to do?”

Leif handed him a bandage. The moth raised his wings, revealing his wound and making it easier for him to put the bandage over it. The wound on his stomach was rather huge, but it looked like it was mostly healed, turning into a scar. The chitin of the scar was still thin and soft, easily breakable, and fluff wasn’t covering the scar. 

Zasp carefully wrapped the bandage around the moth's stomach several times, covering the scar. As to make sure the bandage was securing it properly, he carefully ran his thumb over the scar and thick layer of bandage on it.

“Thanks,”  Leif said, checking the bandage as well. “We couldn't have tied it so well on our own.”

“I found it!!” Vi exclaimed, holding up a medal in her hands. “Now you’re gonna learn how powerful my medals are, Zasp!

Leif let out a short, faint laugh. "Good luck carrying her medal collection.”

Zasp looked at all the trinkets the bee put on the table. Some of the medals looked familiar. He never really used medals, preferring to rely on his own skills and strength, but he had read and heard things about them. He recognized some rare ones among Vi’s medals.

"When we fight, I usually take all the medals for myself to make me stronger, and I give Kabbu and Leif whatever is left so they can support me and survive also.” Vi said. “Since I like this strategy, here, have these.” She shoved a bunch of medals in his hands. Zasp wasn’t sure if he recognized any of these though. Meanwhile, Vi was still talking: ”See, with these you literally don't have to do anything except taunting enemies so they attack you, I know you’re pretty used to it, I’ve seen you do it. And while you're doing that I will destroy them with my Beemerang!!”

"Kabbu hates this strategy,” Leif commented.

“But it works so well!” Vi protested, and then turned to Zasp. “With this build, we defeat you and Mothiva in the simulator at the Hive in thirty seconds!”

Zasp stared at her, and Leif chuckled softly.

"She loves fighting you two," he said.

"There's nothing better than watching Mothiva suffer," Vi giggled. "Even if it's just a hologram of her."

This bee is really not okay, Zasp thought.

Vi continued to show her medals and talk about different combinations of them, but all the combinations she was excited about were mainly raising her attack power while the rest of the team was supposed to defend or keep boosting her. Zasp didn't really like any of these strategies. He knew that he was stronger than Vi, so probably it would be wise if Zasp attacks and Vi supported him. He suggested that, but the bee didn't ever consider it, refusing immediately.

They argued about the medals for quite a while. Kabbu had returned with Chompy, and Leif had gone on his mission. Eventually Zasp and Vi agreed that they’ll just divide attack boost medals and any that give additional abilities between them. After all, they aren't really supposed to fight anyone during this mission.

Zasp returned to the inn rather late again: Kabbu insisted that he stays for dinner. Mothiva was already in their room: she was lying on her bed, flipping pages of a magazine. She looked up at him over the pages.

“Where have you been for so long again?” she asked, sounding annoyed.

"Vi suggested that we prepare for the mission, we were trying to come up with a strategy," he replied.

Mothiva rolled her eyes.

“Your ability to get along with those three fascinates me, how are you even doing that? They always find ways to get on my nerves. Especially Vi. She's the worst.”

"They're not so bad if you work with them instead of fighting them," Zasp shrugged. He walked into the room and sat down on the edge of Mothiva's bed.

“Well, what about you?” The wasp asked. “You just ran away back then in the palace.”

“I didn’t run away . I had places to be instead of being stuck with the other teams. They should know, I don't have free time for useless small talks.” 

“I don't think they understood that.”

“I don't care!” Mothiva huffed. “If I don't want to be in their company, I leave them. And for some reason you're not coming with me.”

Her voice sounded almost like she was genuinely offended.

Zasp was quiet for a bit, and Mothiva’s frown deepened.

“You know, after going on a mission with Leif, I started thinking the idea of developing teamwork and friendship between teams wasn't such a bad idea," he said, not looking at the moth. “All these bugs from the Association are different, but they aren't bad. They aren’t trying to take away victory and glory, they just help the Ant kingdom and Bugaria. There’s nothing wrong with that, I think.”

Mothiva huffed again and threw the magazine on the bed next to her.

“Whose side are you on anyway?" She asked, irritated. “Have you forgotten? Our main goal is my popularity!”

”No,” Zasp shook his head. “When we joined the Association, you said that we were doing this for the Ant kingdom. To help them make this place better for bugs.”

“Exactly. When you do something for a kingdom, your popularity and reputation increases!“ Mothiva crossed her arms and glared at Zasp.

"Just try to be more... attentive to your teammates, alright?" He said, ignoring her words. “Maybe it will boost your reputation too. Because you're not very, uh... well liked among the teams right now.”

Mothiva made an angry noise, but didn’t say anything.

"After all, even I somehow managed to get along with Vi today," Zasp muttered.

Although he had a feeling that it was mostly because of Leif. Vi mentioned something about Leif telling her that Zasp’s fine . He wasn’t sure what kind of “fine” she or Leif meant, but that’s probably nice that both of them find him fine .

In the morning, Zasp left the inn before Mothiva woke up. Maybe he should have not gone to bed that early in the evening. The wasp didn’t really have much to keep himself busy at the inn, so he could as well go for a walk before the mission. Yesterday, he and Vi agreed that they will meet outside Team Snakemouth’s house. It wasn't far from the imm anyway, they were literally neighbors right now.

So that was where he went. Expecting an empty plaza, Zasp was surprised to see Kabbu outside: looked like he was walking the chomper. Zasp came up to him.

“Oh, hello, Zasp,” Kabbu said, his tone friendly. Chompy froze for a second, staring intently at Zasp for a few seconds. But then she turned away, distracted by something. “You're early.”

"Is Vi still asleep?" Zasp asked.

“Yeah,” Kabbu nodded. "At least she was asleep when I left."

Zasp nodded. As he expected.

“Are you ready for the mission with Mothiva?” he asked.

Kabbu was silent for a couple seconds, and then sighed.

"I know what to expect, so I am probably ready," he said. "Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to her.”

Zasp nodded. He knew that. For some reason, he was more worried about Kabbu now.

He wandered with Kabbu along the outskirts of the Ant Kingdom for about twenty minutes, walking Chompy, and when they returned, Vi had already woken up and looked ready for the mission. She had a small backpack on her shoulders.

“I'm ready for the mission!!” She exclaimed, for some reason sounding unusually cheerful. “Right now! Super ready! Come on, Zasp!”

She stepped towards the exit of the house, but Kabbu stopped her.

“Are you sure you took everything?” he asked thoughtfully.

“Super sure!” She replied.

“Did you put food into your bag?”

“Yep!”

“Medals?”

“Yep!”

Kabbu was silent for a moment, staring at the bee.

"...And didn't take any of the forbidden medals?" he asked.

“What? Forbidden medals? I would never! There’s nothing that would poison me in my bag! Absolutely not a single one!”

Zasp blinked and looked at Kabbu. He's aware that she's clearly lying, right?

However, Kabbu either didn't realize that or decided to ignore it. He just nodded.

"Alright, good luck to you two, then," he said.

“Okay bye!!” Vi grabbed Zasp's finger and dragged him away from the house. For some reason not towards the Ant mines, but towards the Association.

“Where are we going?” he asked.

“I don't want to go through the mines when I have the opportunity to ride the submarine alone!” She said. “Well, almost alone.”

Zasp almost couldn't believe his ears. His dream of riding the submarine was about to come true much earlier than he had expected.

"Besides, Kabbu and Leif never let me drive it," she said. “Leif is usually at the helm. Kabbu says it's because he knows how to drive a submarine, but how can he know anything about it if this submarine is the first of its kind? I think Leif just doesn't want to share, that would sound like him. And on the previous mission Kina wouldn't let me drive either, she said I’m too short.”

"What makes you think I'm going to let you drive it?”  Zasp asked, not really being serious right now.

Vi glared daggers at him.

"I took the paralyzing needles with me,” she said. "If you try to take the steering wheel away from me, I'll paralyze you!"

“Fair enough,” Zasp nodded. “Then why didn't you paralyze Kina?”

"She'd kill me for that later,” Vi said seriously. “Have you ever dealt with team Maki? Kina is crazy. But she's no harder to beat than you, by the way.”

Zasp crossed his arms.

"You’ve got a lot of nerve saying this when you're without your team, Vi,” he remarked. “I can easily defeat you in a one-on-one battle.”

Vi wanted to say something, but apparently changed her mind.

“Whatever,” she grumbled. "But if I'd brought Chompy with me, we would have beaten you!!"

“You sure would.”

“By the way!” Vi suddenly exclaimed. “I was able to steal my best medals from Kabbu! And he didn't even notice!”

He surely didn't notice.

“So I can give you whatever medals I picked yesterday," she continued, "‘cuz I'll wear my poison medals! I even took a poisoned cake to be sure!”

“A poison what?” Zasp winced. "Are you sure it's safe?"

“Of course! I've used them a million times before! You know, with these medals, I can just one shot Mothiva!”

It was really disturbing that this bee measured her strength in the amount of attacks she could defeat Mothiva with. That definitely didn't make Zasp feel very safe right now.

All the way to the pier, Vi chatted about her medals, Zasp barely listened to her. But he was really excited about the upcoming trip on the submarine. He didn't mind if Vi was at the helm at all. He was more interested in looking at what it is like underwater. Maybe he’d be able to look at the Metal Island from under it or something. If there’s any life that can survive under water, he wanted to see it too.

The submarine was moored at the pier. Vi ran up to it and jumped on the submarine right from the shore, splashing her feet through the water. Zasp chose to fly to it. As soon as he got inside, Vi closed the hatch and took the helm.

“Let’s go!” She commanded herself and took the submarine out into the Metal Lake.

Meanwhile, Zasp stuck to the window. He could see the Metal Island from afar. It seemed so small from here. On the horizon, he could see a towering dark silhouette of the Rubber prison. Some tiny sandy island was on the right side.

“Have you never swum here before?” Vi asked, noticing his interest.

"No,” Zasp replied.

"Then I'll give you a tour around the Metal Lake!" She said.

"I would like that,” Zasp responded politely.

Vi grinned and twisted the steering wheel, and the submarine turned sharply to the right and rocked violently on the waves. Zasp could barely stand on his feet.

“Wow, I probably shouldn't have done that,” she muttered to herself. "We're heading to Peacock Island!"

“Peacock Island?” Zasp asked. He was sure he’d never heard this name.

“Yeah, it was named after the peacock spider that lived there for a long time, It used to kill travelers and stuff." Vi said. "But then I killed that spider. Or well, I mean, Kabbu and Leif and me. So now it's just an empty island with a cool waterfall.”

They neared the island pretty quickly. Vi guided the submarine around the island so Zasp could see every corner of it. Since they hadn't dived yet, he decided to open the hatch and climb out onto the roof of the submarine.

Outside, the air was humid and cool, but Zasp didn't mind it. But something that surprised him was the silence. The only thing he could hear was the sound of small waves gently hitting the exterior of the submarine.

So peaceful.

Vi stopped the submarine not far from the island and also got out, looking rather annoyed.

"You know what, driving this thing isn't so cool when I can't sit on the roof," she said.

Zasp chuckled. "I'm not going to take the helm now," he said.

“Fine,” Vi grumbled.

She sat down next to Zasp. They dodn't speak, only watched the waterfall, both in thoughts. He would enjoy a vacation here, Zasp thought. It would be nice to just stop somewhere in the middle of the lake and listen to the quiet sound of waves. But Mothiva will never have that much free time.

“You can just fly here, you know?” Vi said.

“It's not that interesting, I guess,” shrugged Zasp. “It can be dangerous, I don’t know what enemies I may face flying above the water.”

"Well, Kina, Mothiva, and I seem to have wiped out the entire population of water striders," Vi said. “And the peacock spider is dead too. You can fly.”

"I suppose that’s fair,” Zasp said thoughtfully. “I wouldn’t have a boat to stop in the middle of the lake like this though.”

Vi nodded. She was silent for a moment, and then turned to him.

"Well, maybe you can borrow our submarine from time to time, I think." She said. "Leif said you're cool, and you don't seem bad to me yet.”

"Leif said I’m cool?” Zasp looked at the bee out of the corner of his eye.

“Yeah, kinda,” Vi nodded. “The day of the first mission we stayed up late at night, we played spy cards. I won all of Leif's cookies! But then he won them back. He told me that you were really cool on the mission, and I told him that Mothiva was as unbearable as always. Kabbu also said that he enjoyed working with a different team. You know what I think? I wonder if the teams are at risk of breaking apart because of these experiments. What if all of a sudden I decide to be in a team with you, and Kabbu and Leif are left without me? I mean, no, I'm not that stupid to leave the best teammates ever, but just think about it.”

Vi sounded weirdly serious. Maybe she was actually worried about it. Zasp smiled softly.

"I don't think that's going to happen," he said. “Your teammates are nice bugs, I doubt any of them would leave the team for another.”

“Yeah,” Vi muttered.

But Vi is right, Zasp thought. Some teams might break apart, and Zasp was worried it could be his team. Maybe not even because of this experiment. Mothiva can simply give up exploration, she and her songs are very popular now, sometimes she has concerts several times a week, the whole Bugaria loves her. And now she has to cancel concerts because of these missions. And this experiment, as well as the possibility that in the future the queen will continue to mix the teams… Mothiva would definitely not like it.

Zasp didn't want to admit it, but he was tired too. He liked working in the Association, he liked his role of Mothiva’s bodyguard and teammate, but he needed some rest. Maybe he could just fly over to this island in the middle of the lake on his own and stay here for a few days or something. Without Mothiva. Mothiva can probably take care of herself for a bit, it's not as dangerous in Bugaria as it used to be.

Zasp shook his head slightly. No, he just thinks that because he's tired. He won't leave Mothiva’s side for this long.

“When Kina and I took the water strider eggs to Neolith, he told me that Elizant wanted to tame them and use them as a water transport,” Vi said meanwhile. “But then I told Kabbu about it, and he said it sounded more like a dangerous sport. So now I want my own water strider! Imagine a deadly water race on water striders! Win those who didn’t die!”

Zasp stared at her, and she rolled her eyes.

“Okay, but I mean, it does sound very exciting! I wouldn't die, by the way, I have wings!”

Zasp didn't say anything, just shook his head. The day only just started, but he already liked Vi. She wasn't mean or anything, but rather funny... in her own way. And sometimes a little scary, but that didn't make her bad.

“Alright, let’s get going,” suggested Zasp. “We have a mission to complete.”

"That's true, but I also wanted to take you to Rubber prison," Vi nodded. “We might get in trouble later, when the Queen finds out, but it would be fun to sneak into the prison, right?”

Sometimes she's too scary.

“Uh, no, I think I’m good,” said Zasp nervously. “I've already been there, I don't want to go back.”

“Woah, you’ve been a prisoner??”  Vi turned to him. Her eyes were shining with excitement and admiration. “Cool! I always knew it!”

“What? I was there when we were chasing the Wasp King, Vi.”

“Oh.” Now she sounded disappointed. “Nevermind then.”

She jumped down the hatch. Zasp just shook his head and also went down inside the submarine, closing the hatch behind him.

"Can we dive?" Zasp asked.

“Sure!”

She looked thoughtfully at the control panel, and then pulled a lever. The submarine began to sink. Zasp stuck to the window again.

The water was rather clear, Zasp could even see the bottom deep below them. There were some aquatic plants tangled among massive pebbles and other weirdly shaped rocks at the bottom. Zasp didn't see any creatures around, except for some tiny larvae-looking things aimlessly drifting in the water.

“Can we go deeper?” Zasp asked, not looking away from the window.

“Looks like we can't,” Vi replied. She left the helm and joined him at the window. “Cool, right? Kabbu said that those strange things over there are grubs of wild flies and mosquitoes. There are probably water strider grubs as well here.”

"I never thought this lake was so deep,” Zasp muttered to himself.

"Kabbu also said that there are lakes even deeper than this. In the north where Kabbu lived most of his life, children would throw rocks with strings attached to them into a lake. He said, no matter how long the string was, there was never enough length to have a rock hit the bottom. Children there have strange ways to entertain themselves, right?”

"I wonder if it's possible to catch those larvae." Zasp said, looking at one floating close to the glass.

“Nah, Kina and I tried, we didn't succeed," she shrugged. “They look slow and sleepy right now, but they're really fast when they sense danger.” Vi returned to the helm. “Okay, let's go!”

Vi decided not to surface just yet, and Zasp couldn’t stop looking into the window. They went past the Metal island, past some other strange islands that no one lived on. Vi went too close to the prison, making Zasp throw suspicious looks at her. Then, despite Zasp's protests, Vi surfaced the submatine. The prison guard followed the submarine with intense stares as it started to drift away. With mischivious grin Vi stared back at the guards through the window, turning the submarine toward the Grasslands shore, away from the prison. Zasp commented how she almost got them both in trouble, but Vi only gave him an evil laugh.

The shore they were nearing was overgrown with grass, but Zasp could see a small wooden pier there.

"Do Far Grasslands have a pier?" Zasp asked in surprise.

"Not really, it's just a small fishing village," Vi replied. “There are not very friendly guys living there, but I think when they see that you’re with me, they won’t attack you.”

Zasp stared intently at the shore, trying to see anyone. He had his daggers ready just in case.

"Relax,” Vi snorted. "Even if they attack, I have my poison medals!"

"Are you going to put them on?" Zasp asked.

“Nah,” Vi replied. "They won't attack us.”

She moored to the pier and opened the hatch. Zasp got out after her. He looked around: there was a simple hut near the shore. First he noticed an old damselfly sitting on the wooden planks with a fishing rod. He didn’t seem to care that someone had docked at their home. Or maybe he just didn’t hear them. Then Zasp noticed a little girl, she was collecting pebbles and shells on the shore.

“Hey, Rizza!” Vi called, looking in the direction of the girl.

She looked up and waved her hand, then headed towards them, dropping her pebbles.

Vi took off her backpack and fished a bag of cookies out of it.

"Look, we never brought you these," the bee said, handing her the cookies.

“Oh, thank you!” With her eyes shining, Rizza whispered in pure joy. Then she glanced at Zasp, suddenly looking startled. "Who is that with you, Vi? Where are the moth and the beetle?”

“Today I'm traveling with Zasp!” Vi said. “He looks scary, but he's actually very nice.”

“Hi,” the girl said, looking up at him.

“Hello,” Zasp tried to say it as friendly as possible. He looks scary?

 “Is Riz here?” Vi asked.

“Yes, he was in the hut," Rizza said.

“Come on, Zasp, we need to let him know that we passed just in case," Vi said, grabbed him by a finger and pulled him towards the hut.

It was so quiet and peaceful here, Zasp thought as Vi led him to the hut. He probably wouldn’t mind staying here a little longer.

Suddenly a boy jumped out of the hut with a spear in his hands. He was also a damselfly, probably the little girl’s sibling. He looked pretty young, especially for carrying that large spear.

“Hi, Riz!” Vi exclaimed.

"Go away from my village, wasp," the boy hissed, pointing the metal tip of the spear at Zasp’s chest.

With his free hand, Zasp pulled out one of the daggers, ready to deflect a blow at any moment. The boy noticed the dagger and gripped the spear tighter.

“Heeeeey, Riz?” Vi waved her hands. “This is my friend. We just stopped by to say hello.”

The boy seems to have noticed the bee only now. He looked at her, but didn’t lower his spear.

“Vi, why did you drag a wasp into my village?” Riz said through his teeth.

"Calm down, he's not with the wasp kingdom," she said. “Today we are on a mission for the Queen, exploring the swamps.”

The boy lowered his spear. But he still watched Zasp intently. Zasp responded with the same stare, but he put the dagger away as well.

"Have a good trip, then," Riz said. "But if I feel something wrong, I'll cut off the wasp's wings."

“His name is Zasp by the way! He’s my friend.”

“Mhm,” Riz muttered.

Vi, still holding his finger, pulled him towards the thicket of grass behind the hut. Zasp could feel Riz staring at him until they both disappeared into the grass. Vi breathed a sigh of relief and finally let go of Zasp's hand.

"He's just anxious," she said. “It's hard to live here.”

"Is this kid strong or something?"  Zasp asked. “Points his silly spear at much more experienced bugs.”

"Stronger than you for sure,” Vi snorted. “When we first came here, it was a tugh fight against him. He uses homemade explosives to protect his village. So yeah, be careful not to step on one.”

“Hmm.” Zasp muttered.

Honestly, he wanted to challenge the boy and show why he shouldn’t swing his little toy at bugs, but if Vi says he's strong, then probably he should listen to her.

"There are still so many wild creatures here," Vi kept talking meanwhile. “It's so annoying. We usually come here with Leif, and he protects us with his shield, but now we have to run. Just keep up with me, okay?”

Zasp huffed and rolled his eyes.

"You keep up with me with those short little legs," he said.

“My legs aren’t short!!”

Soon they reached the Swamps. They were lucky they both could fly, it was really difficult to walk here. Vi said that it would be even more difficult when they go deeper into the swamps.

"So much water and annoying enemies. We’ll have to fly.” Vi said, sounding disappointed.

“Do you not fly well?” Zasp asked.

“No, it just wastes a lot of energy!” She sounded annoyed. “Don't your flights make your wings sore?”

“Not really," Zasp shrugged. "I can carry you if you want."

"I can handle it,” Vi grumbled.

Vi was right about enemies. They were fast, strong and could hide in the grass. Zasp tried to keep low and go through the grass instead of open paths, but it didn't help much. Vi kept talking and talking non-stop, so any hostile bug that happened to be nearby could easily find them and attack. How do Kabbu and Leif deal with her constant chatter?

Eventually Zasp couldn't stand it and told her to shut up. Vi looked offended, but at least now they walked in silence. So now Zasp felt quitly for snapping at her.

They moved along the eastern part of the swamp, trying to keep close to somewhat trodden paths so they don’t get lost in the grass. Zasp didn't think it would be a big problem if they do get lost, they both could fly up and look around for a path to take. But so far they hadn’t come across anything that even remotely resembles a leafbug village. These bugs seemed to constantly appear out of nowhere and from all directions. Zasp was already tired of wandering around here. He was cold and hungry, but they really shouldn’t stop here, they risk getting ambushed.

However, it didn’t stop Vi from chewing on some sweets from her backpack right on the move.

"We haven't seen a really large gathering of the leafbugs yet," Zasp said. His voice sounded hoarse. They’ve been walking in silence for at least half an hour. "I think there should be more guards near their village."

"Either we're not making any progress at all, or leafbugs don’t live in communities.”

Zasp shook his head. “They definitely live in communities. Think about how they get angrier when you attack their allies.”

“Fair enough," Vi nodded. “Let's take a break, whaddaya think? You're walking too fast, I’m tired.”

Zasp stopped and looked around. He didn't see anything moving or looking like leaf bugs. It was quiet and still now, but he knew he shouldn’t trust it.

He was also tired though. Maybe it would be safe to stop now.

“Okay, but be careful, they can attack us any moment,” Zasp said, sitting down on the ground near a huge stone.

“Yay!!”

She sat down next to Zasp and shook everything out of her backpack. Medals, some candies and cookies, a couple of omelets and a very horribly smelling cake wrapped in a couple layers of leaves.

Vi put the cake back in her backpack, and gathered all the medals in her hands. Zasp had already noticed that they were all of different sizes, but one of them was really big: he hadn't seen this one on Vi yesterday. She took it and put it on her head like a hat.

"I'm going to show you my best build," she said, attaching more poison medals to her belts she also pulled out of her backpack. She fastened her boomerang to a belt, and took the poisoned needles. “Tadaaah!”

She looked very... strange. Most of the medals were designed to look like angry faces. Vi grinned when she saw Zasp's concerned look.

“I look scary, right?” She asked smugly.

“That's one way to put it,” he said. “And how strong are you now with these medals?”

"After I eat the cake, I'll be very strong," Vi said. “Do you want me to punch you? I mean, just so you can check out the power.”

Zasp moved slightly away from her.

“Uh, no,” he muttered. “Go punch leaf bugs”

"Fine," Vi said, and sat down against the boulder. She unwrapped her cake. “I would share the cake with you, but it's poisoned.”

Zasp now understood why Kabbu didn’t want to give her these medals.

He tried not to look at Vi while she was eating the cake. Even sitting some distance away, he could smell the sourness of the cake. Zasp didn’t feel that hungry anymore.

“How do you think Mothiva and Kabbu are doing now?” Vi asked, seemingly enjoying her cake.

"I think they're both tired of each other,” Zasp sighed.

"Yeah," she nodded. “Why are you dating her at all? No offense, just asking in case Mothiva have some secret good side no one except you knows about.”

Zasp turned to her with an annoyed face. “Why does everyone think we’re dating?”

“Wait, you’re not??” Vi’s eyes widened. “Whoops. That just kinda looks like it, sorry. Then why are you, like..." Vi shrugged in confusion. “I dunno, you kinda seem to be close.”

“We've been friends since childhood, of course we’re close,” Zasp sighed. He looked down at the bee. “Maybe you want to hear a story about how we started traveling together? Just so you don't make your assumptions.”

“Of course!!”

Zasp was quiet for a couple seconds, renewing memories in his head.

"We lived in a town outside Bugaria. There was a small village near the town. When Mothiva was a teen, she used to travel there to sing in a park and get some cash from that. It was dangerous travelling there though, so she needed someone for company and protection. She never had many friends, there was me and a couple of other kids from our neighborhood. I don’t really know if she even asked the other kids, but I was the one to agree to accompany her to the village, it seemed so fun to sneak out of the town back then.”

“Cool!” Vi’s eyes shined with curiosity. “What happened then?”

Zasp shrugged. “We just traveled there together sometimes. It wasn’t that dangerous, I remember scaring away some wild creatures with a stick.”

“Really, that’s the whole story?” Vi looked disappointed. “Thought you were going to tell about some epic journey where Mothiva almost died, and then you saved her and then she decided to keep you around.”

Actually, what’s wrong with this bee.

“No, that was pretty much the whole story,” he shrugged. “When Mothiva decided she wanted to build a career with her songs, we moved here. She learned about the Explorer Association, learned it requires you to receive orders from the queen herself, and probably she thought it would make her more popular among the locals. I didn’t really think about it.”

“You do everything Mothiva asks you to do. Why?” Vi asked bluntly.

Zapped opened his mouth…

And closed it, processing the bee’s question.

“I– I don’t really.”

“Uh huh, sure, sure.”

“Okay, look, that’s just the best way to work with Mothiva, alright? She hates it if someone else bosses her around.”

“That’s not really an answer, Zasp. You seem to be totally okay with her bossing you around!”

“I am fine with it.”

“Why? It doesn’t look like a healthy friendship or whatever you two got there.”

Zasp sighed. This is not a conversation he wanted to have with Vi.

“You may be right, but I’m comfortable enough with the way it is right now,” he said. He was lying, but he didn’t want to talk about it with the bee.

“Fine,” she rolled her eyes, stuffing the rest of the cake into her mouth. “Anyways, that’s sad you two aren’t dating. I could make fun of Mothiva about it. That could be interesting. Maybe she's dating someone else?”

"If she does, I’m not aware of it," Zasp said. "Are you done with your... uh, lunch?"

“Yeah!” Vi said. “We can move now! By the way, are you sure you don’t want me to punch you?”

“I don’t.”

They went deeper to the east: the grass became thicker, going through it was more difficult now, and they didn’t really encounter any bugs here. At all.

"I think we should go back,” Zasp said.

"Yeah, this mission turned out to be completely unsuccessful,” Vi agreed. “Let's go to the desert through the Wasp territory?”

“Why?” Zasp asked, puzzled.

“Maybe Leif and the others are still in the Sand Castle.”

Right, you can get to the desert through the Wasp kingdom. Zasp nodded. He didn't mind going to the Sand Castle. He never really got a chance to see what’s inside of it.

And also he thought it would be nice to see Leif. He did not want to think of reasons why he wanted to see him.

They headed towards the Wasp Kingdom. Zasp thought that it would be nice to try to fly over the swamps, but he changed his mind. He wasn’t sure he would be able to fly well through this tall grass.

As soon as they got back into the more grass-free part of the swamp, they began to encounter leaf bugs much more often. Vi seemed rather happy about it though: she got her chance to demonstrate the power of her medals to Zasp, and... well, he was kind of impressed. Despite the fact that the poison medals sounded horrible and looked creepy, they were effective. Vi seemed to be faster and more agile, and her boomerang throws seemed to be a bit more accurate and so much stronger. The poison, instead of draining her strength, seemed to heal wounds and scratches.

Eventually they got out of the swamps and walked through the Far Grasslands to the Lost Sands. Even though they were told not to engage in battle, Vi left a trail of poisoned corpses of leaf bugs behind her.

Another thing that was surprising to Zasp, is how well members of team Snakemouth knew Bugaria. Vi was leading him through the desert and chatting, she didn’t seem to be bothered by searching for the right direction, she just went like she knew there roads her whole life. And this is a desert, it doesn’t have many landmarks to help remembering the way.

Back in Snakemouth Den Leif even memorized where they could find any documents and notes, as if he’d gone through these caves dozens of times before. Also Vi was navigating the lake, swamps and grasslands without any problem. This team must have visited every corner of Bugaria and beyond it several dozens of times.

Maybe, if Zasp and Mothiva traveled more, they would know Bugaria as well as team Snakemouth. But that would never happen. Mothiva couldn’t give up her concerts for traveling. Come to think of it, she didn’t really like traveling at all. Zasp liked it though. Maybe, if he asked Kabbu, he’d agree to take Zasp with his team on some exploration mission one day…

Meanwhile Vi led him right to the Sand Castle. She was talking about something the whole time they were walking, and Zasp realized he wasn’t listening at all. He hoped she wasn’t offended by that.

As they came closer to the Castle, Zasp noticed bugs near the entrance to the castle – judging by the familiar armor, they were guards from the Ant kingdom. So Neolith hadn't finished exploring the castle yet. They might find Leif there then.

The guards looked at Zasp and Vi suspiciously as they approached.

"Scientific work is underway in the Sand Castle,” one of the ants said, clearing his throat first. “For what purpose are you here?”

“Uh,” Vi said. “To join the exploration team?”

"I can show you my exploration pass if that helps," Zasp said.

The ants exchanged glances.

“We weren't given any orders about other exploration teams, were we?" The other ant asked.

“Yeah, I think we can let them through," the first one shrugged.

"Thanks," Zasp nodded as Vi climbed the stairs.

They entered the castle. Zasp looked around with interest while Vi stretched her wings. Zasp realized that when they were going here, he did catch her saying something about this place being not so easy to traverse if they don’t have wings or ice magic. That must be why Leif was the one to join Neolith’s group.

"Honestly, I hate this place," Vi admitted. “A lot of difficult paths to get to the next room, a lot of puzzles, weird collapsed parts of the castle causing a lot of difficult to cross gaps, and aggressive robots. Horrible place.”

“Robots?” Zasp echoed.

"Kinda like those constructs that we saw in the Roach village,” Vi explained. “Annoying, but fortunately weak. Especially for me!”

The first collapsed floor they found literally in the very first room they went in, but Vi and Zasp easily flew over it. But after that they didn’t really have to use their wings anymore: someone made little bridges out of wood planks. Those looked a little wobbly though. They hardly encountered any constructs or any hostile creatures here. Probably Neolith’s team and ant guards made sure to get rid of any danger. And most likely they were the ones who made those bridges.

Vi led him through the castle. She probably knew where to go here as well. Somehow she quickly figured out where Leif and the rest of the team might be. The bee was just theorizing, but turned out her guess was very accurate: they walked through several rooms, and in the next huge hall they notives a bunch of small tents and bugs gathering there. A camp.

Vi rushed in the direction of the camp, and Zasp followed her.

There were quite a few bugs here. Besides the assigned exploration team and Neolith, Zasp noticed some ants. They were rushing back and forth with tools, papers and books. They must be those best scientists of the Ant Kingdom Neolith had been talking about yesterday.

Everyone was surprised when Vi bursted into the camp. Leif immediately noticed Zasp and raised an eyebrow slightly, as if asking, what were they doing here. Zasp had no answer to that. Technically they shouldn’t be here.

"We've already returned from our mission, Leif!" exclaimed Vi, sitting down on the bench next to the moth.

"Oh, hi, Vi!" Celia greeted her. "Did you skip your mission?”

Zasp walked past the table where the scientists were working with a pile of papers, and proceeded to join Leif and Vi. He didn’t really think there would be so many bugs here, and now he felt really out of place with all these ants running around, busy.

“We have already completed our mission!” Vi responded to Celia. “That was boring, we didn't find much at all.”

Leif shifted slightly on the bench to make room for Zasp. The wasp sat down.

The whole team assigned for this mission was gathered in this little spot of the camp. Celia was the closest to them. She placed her shield against a broken piece of an old column, and leaned back on it, sitting on the floor. Maki and Yin were scribbling something on paper sheets together at a nearby table. They didn’t even seem to notice to the newcomers. Or perhaps just ignored them. Maki only looked shortly at Vi when she passed him, and then returned to the papers.

Professor Neolith was on the other side of the room, sketching something on a piece of paper. He somehow noticed Zasp and Vi and hurried back to the camp.

“Oh, that’s so nice of you two came here!” He said. “We will need any help we can get carrying the found materials back to the kingdom.”

And Neolith immediately left them. Zasp and Vi didn’t even get a chance to object.

“Aww, I didn’t come here to do more work,” Vi said, disappointed. "How have you been doing here, Leif?"

The moth shrugged. "It’s been boring. They won't even let us look at all the things they've found here.”

“Wow, so you're just sitting there doing nothing?” Vi asked in pure disbelief. “I want to do this kind of mission full time if I get paid!”

“Hey, Vi, you wanna play Spy cards?” Celia asked. “I don't want to play with Leif, he always wins. I think he cheats, but he denies it.”

“Sure!” Vi jumped off the bench. “Yeah, I hate playing with Leif too.”

Leif smirked at her and turned to Zasp. "Vi found those medals, didn't she? So, what do you think about them?"

Zasp just shook his head.

"This is not healthy,” he muttered. "But those medals are effective."

Leif chuckled softly, and for some reason Zasp smiled too.

“And the mission?” The moth asked. “Have you found the settlement?”

“No. We went deep into eastern grasslands, but there were no leaf bugs there at all. On out way back Vi killed about thirty of these bugs. So I guess we somewhat contributed to getting rid of the leaf bugs. That was quite a… disturbing sight. Don’t know if I would want to travel with the bee again though.” Zasp shivered.

"She acts like that because no one told her to stop," Leif said. "Most likely she wanted to show off her favorite medals.”

“Yes, I wanted to!” Vi said, adjusting the belt with the medals hanging on it. She was sitting on the floor a few steps away from them, opposite Celia, and she held cards in her hands. “And I heard everything, Zasp.”

Leif shushed at her, and she shushed back at him.

"Anyway, would you like to share lunch with us?" Leif asked Zasp. “If you have any food. We’re running low on supplies here.”

That’s kind of bold to ask it like that, but Leif’s voice sounded as if he was joking. If he did, Zasp had no doubt he’d like to have some food anyway, so he took his bag off his shoulder and placed it on Leif's lap.

"You can eat whatever you find there," he smiled slightly at the moth and leaned back against the wall, relaxing. Zasp had last eaten early in the morning, but he wasn't too hungry yet. The image of Vi eating that poison cake was still stuck in his head and made him feel nauseous when he thought of food. 

“Thanks," Leif said, taking an omelet out of his bag.

Zasp was beginning to doubt that coming here was a good idea. It really did look like everyone from the Explorer Association here was doing nothing. He wasn't going to leave though.

“Leif?” Zasp called. Leif turned to him, still chewing on the omelet. “Are you or your team planning any vacation in the near future?”

Leif put down his food and slightly tilted his head.

“Why are you asking? Do you want to invite us somewhere?”

Zasp shrugged, looking away. He didn't know why he even asked this in the first place.

"Just thought a vacation would be nice,” he said. “I don't want to leave alone.”

“Why not with Mothiva?”

“She has concerts,” sighed Zasp. “Because of them, we haven't been on an actual vacation for... two years I think.”

Leif nodded.

"Now we see why she acts like an…" Leif cut himself out, throwing a quick look at the wasp next to him. “...a very tired bug that had no proper rest in two years. But yeah, sure, we don't mind if you’re inviting. Kabbu and Vi would join in even if we don’t ask them.”

“Thanks,” Zasp smiled slightly.

***

Zasp returned to the inn quite late again, this time because professor Neolith didn’t want to leave the Sand Castle. Vi suggested they could just kidnap Neolith back to the kingdom, and Leif suggested to leave the scientists here and go home, they would come back when they starve. Fortunately, they didn't have to do anythink like that, because Neolith called it a day when the sky started to darken, and they headed back to the kingdom.

This time, Mothiva just rolled her eyes when Zasp entered their room, reminding him of the time. He kinda felt bad for being back so late for a third day.

Mothiva didn’t seem to plan on sleeping anyway; she was flipping pages of magazines until almost midnight. Then she told Zasp that she was hungry and wanted a salad. At this point Zasp didn't want to leave the inn, he was tired and sleepy at this point. He tried to object, but it didn’t help much. Mothiva would be very angry with him the next day if he doesn’t get her what she wants now. So he got up from his bed and left the inn.

He was surprised that madame Butterfly's store was still open. He bought the leaves, but he had to cut them himself: Fry's kitchen was closed, obviously.

Zasp was now heading back. There is a small kinchen in the inn that he never really used, he’d probably find a knife in there to cut the leaves. Or actually he could use his own daggers for this purpose.

He was passing by team Snakemouth’s house, when a noise startled him.

“Psst, Zasp!”

The wasp stopped, trying to see through the darkness if there was anyone next to the house. He couldn’t really see anything moving, and he didn’t really want to check out whatever was lurking there. So he stared for a moment longer, then proceeded walking to the inn.

“Hey, where are you going??” he heard the whisper again. “I’m here!!”

Okay, now he recognized the bee’s voice. Vi stuck her arms outside the window and waved them at the wasp. Zasp walked up closer to the house.

“You're still awake,” Zasp said, stopping next to the window.

“So are you!!” Vi seemed irritated. Although, she’s quite often irritated. But the next phrase she said sounded more calm: "I just remembered, we forgot the submarine at the Grasslands dock…”

Zasp blinked. He had completely forgotten about it as well.

"You said you fly well,” Vi continued. “Can you fly there with me real quick? If Leif and Kabbu find out that I took the submarine without asking…”

“Wait, we weren’t supposed to use it?” He crossed his arms.

“I know, I know! I wasn’t sure if they would let us use it, so I didn’t even try to ask! But you enjoyed the ride, so you gotta help me!”

Mothiva will be so angry with him later.

“Alright, let's go then," Zasp nodded.

Vi disappeared from the window and ran out the door.

"Can you carry me?" She asked. “You offered that last time!”

Zasp sighed and handed her the leaves.

"You can have these," he said, and picked the bee up. He held her out at arm’s length for a second. Oh gods. So tiny and light. Vi, clutching the leaves tightly in her hand, frowned at him.

“Don't hold me like that! And yeah, if you tell anyone about this, I will destroy you! I'll come to you with my collection of poison medals, you hear me!? I'm going to punch you so hard! I'll strangle you while you're asleep!! I will stab you!”

Adorable.

“Quit complaining if you want my help,” Zasp said and unfolded his wings, preparing for a flight. “If you feel like you're falling, scream.”

“What do you mean!?” Vi looked up at him, concerned, but Zasp already took off.

He rarely flew too high above the grass. The air was completely different here: cold, windy, uncomfortable. The wind was blowing into his face, his wings were freezing, too used to the still warm air under the grass level. Uncomfortable, but not too bad.

Zasp looked down for a second to make sure Vi was okay – and she was more than okay. It looked like the wind blowing into her face didn’t bother her at all, she was enthusiastically chewing the leaves.

“Hey, what were these leaves for anyways? Got hungry in the middle of the night?” Vi asked, probably because noticed the wasp looking down at her. She was practically yelling, to her voice doesn't get swallowed by the roaring wind.

Zasp looked down at her again, but immediately returned to staring forward. It’s better not to get distracted, or he risks crashing into something, or worse – getting lost.

“I meant to cook a leaf salad,” Zasp responded.

Vi let out a short laugh for some reason. “Maybe a Leif salad could be better?”

It took a while for Zasp to get the pun. He slowed down and looked at the bee disapprovingly. Vi rolled her eyes.

“Oh come on, why does no one like this joke? It's funny!!” She complained, as Zasp focused on flying again.

He flew across the Metal Lake in no more than ten minutes. He had never crossed the lake by his wings before. His wings felt heavier with the moisture, but somewhat warmer than the air abowe the Ant kingdom. Maybe he should use his wings more often to get used to different air in different parts of Bugaria. Just in case he would ever have to fly like this again.

He landed gently on the pier when they got to the shore of the Far Grasslands. Vi broke out of his hands and rushed to the submarine.

“Yay!” She jumped onto the exterior. “I don't know about you, but I'm only going back by submarine.”

“Didn’t like the flight?” Zasp scoffed, also approaching the submarine.

Vi opened the hatch and jumped in.

"I only fly by my own wings," she said from the submarine, her voice muffled.

“Sure,” Zasp climbed into the submarine, closing the hatch tightly behind him.

Vi was already starting the submarine. She easily led it out of the pier of the village and headed straight south.

“Can I take the helm?” Zasp asked. He couldn’t see anything outside the window anyway, the entire Metal Lake was dark.

“Nah."

"But you didn’t let me drive it during the day,” That was the only argument Zasp could come up with, and it sounded pathetic. He was sleepy, that's the excuse he came up with.

“This is my submarine, so I drive it when I want to!”

“This is your team's submarine. And you took it without permission.”

Vi didn’t respond. Zasp started to feel a bit more confident.

“And I helped you get the submarine back, so your teammates don’t find out.”

Vi was still silent. Zasp was already starting to come up with new arguments, but then she took a step aside, leaving the steering wheel.

"But don't you ever mention that again!" Vi pointed a finger at him.

“Okay, okay,” Zasp nodded. “I just want to try driving this thing for a little bit.”

He carefully turned the wheel. The submarine obeyed easily, slightly changing its course. Surprisingly, controlling the submarine wasn’t difficult at all. While Zasp swam around the Metal Island, Vi was sitting in a corner of the submarine, bored.

“Hey, we actually need to get home soon,” Vi reminded him. "What if Kabbu or Leif notice I'm not at home."

"They're asleep,” Zasp shrugged.

"They might wake up," the bee insisted.

Zasp sighed and turned the submarine towards the Bugaria Pier.

There was no one at the pier, which isn’t surprising, it was very late at night now. Only the lanterns hanging on the wall of the building slightly illuminated the path. Vi rushed in the direction of the city, and Zasp could barely keep up with her.

When they got to the main plaza, Vi cautiously looked through the window of her house. She didn't seem to find anyone awake, so she walked back to Zasp, standing a few steps away from their house.

“It's alright, I won't get in trouble! Probably." Vi said, keeping her voice low. “Thanks, Zasp!”

"You're welcome,” Zasp shrugged.

“Good night! And yeah, Zasp, you are really cool actually!”

Zasp just looked back at the bee with a faint smile, not knowing what to say to that. Vi immediately disappeared into her team’s house. Zasp stood there for a couple more minutes, processing the events of this night, but soon he returned to the inn.

Mothiva was already asleep, and Zasp only hoped she forgot about the leaf salad.

Chapter Text

The next day the throne room was crowded with Exploration Teams yet again. It was only the third day, but Zasp was already tired of this "experiment". These short, one-day missions made it all seem pointless, it was hard to take these tasks seriously. Their work was rushed and the missions felt incomplete most of the time. Queen Elizant could have simply assigned one team to explore the entire swamp instead of sending different teams every day, only to have them return empty-handed.

Yesterday Zasp reported to the queen about his mission with Vi, that they found nothing in the eastern part of the swamps. Elizant didn’t look really pleased with the result of the mission, but said nothing.

Neolith walked to the center of the hall, ready for his speech. Seems like Elizant had her speech before him, but Zasp completely missed it.

"Today I'd like to introduce you to some of our new projects!" Neolith announced. "First, we've decided to build benches next to the Explorers' Association building. The project will be completed within a week."

Finally.

"Secondly, Her Majesty and I have been reflecting on the ongoing experiment," Neolith continued. "And we've discovered that mixing teams didn’t turn out to be the most effective method. Furthermore, each team has its own balance, developed over time through numerous missions and battles. That is why we decided to reduce the number of stages of this experiment to three. Today’s mission being the last one"

Finally. They've figured it out. Zasp crossed his arms.

"So today will be a little different. We have a few unfinished projects, which we'll distribute among the teams. But this time, you're free to choose your own teams. But there's a rule: each team must have at least one member from another team, but only one member from their own."

Zasp frowned.

"Why?" Celia asked, articulating Zasp's own question. "No, I enjoyed traveling with Kabbu on the first mission, but I'm used to Levi, I find him easier to work with. Why do we need anyone else in our team?"

"We're still pursuing the main goal of this experiment: to establish teamwork within the Association." Neolith replied.

Zasp heard Vi’s scoff, as she quietly said, "Why didn't they invite Jen and Eri then?"

Zasp didn’t really think about the absence of the two until now, and the thought was amusing. Vi was right. Not inviting them looks kind of rude considering what Neolith just said.

"What if someone can't find a member from another team?" Maki asked.

"Then you'll need to join another group yourself." Neolith replied.

Zasp glanced at the queen. She was simply standing off to the side. Zasp had a feeling she wasn't too keen on the idea either.

"What if Mothiva ends up alone, and no one wants to accept her into their team?" Vi grinned mischievously from behind Kabbu.

Mothiva hissed. She looked like she was about to either respond to Vi with something sarcastic or just attack her here and now, but Zasp grabbed her forearm, stopping the moth. She glared at him but said nothing, turning away, offended.

"Uh..." Neolith muttered. "I don't think something like that could happen..."

Zasp hummed, somewhat amused, not even trying to hide it. Mothiva shot him another murderous glare. He wasn't really laughing at Mothiva, it was Neolith and his experiment that was collapsing in his own hands.

"W-well, as I was saying." The professor coughed, his voice no longer as confident as before. "As well as choosing your team, you’ll be allowed to choose a mission for tomorrow. Zaryant will show you the list of missions, feel free to take one whenever you’re ready."

Zasp sighed heavily. At least Mothiva would be with him, but he doubted anyone else would want to join them, Zasp was worried Vi might be right about that. Oh, why do Neolith have to make this all even more complicated?

The teams were dismissed, and everyone exited the throne room, quietly conversing among themselves. Mothiva was still sulking and didn't speak to Zasp, just walking alongside him. Zasp glanced at the other teams, trying to see if anyone was standing alone or had a small group. He noticed Leif walking in their direction.

"Are you staying in Mothiva's team?" Leif asked.

"Of course he's staying in my team!" Mothiva declared, folding her arms.

Zasp shrugged, and Leif nodded.

"Mind if we join you on the next mission?" Leif asked.

Oh. Oh, Zasp would love that.

"No!" Mothiva hissed at the moth. "No way!"

Zasp turned to her.

"You heard Neolith." He said. "We need a member from another team."

"Not one from Snakemouth, no!" She hissed angrily.

Zasp took a deep breath and exhaled.

"You're welcome to join us, Leif." He said, completely ignoring Mothiva.

Leif narrowed his eyes slightly, glancing sideways at Mothiva.

"Are you sure?" He asked. "We can join Kabbu, Maki, and Yin. They won't mind."

"I am sure." Zasp said firmly. Mothiva is going to kill him for this.

Leif nodded.

"We'll let Neo know and we’ll grab a mission." He said. "Don’t wait for us."

Leif turned and went toward the throne room, leaving Zasp alone with Mothiva.

He was so tired.

"Zasp." Mothiva said menacingly. "What was that?"

"I want to go on vacation, Mothiva." He sighed, turning to face her.

"What? Don't avoid the question! And we were on vacation two months ago!”

"It wasn't a vacation." Zasp said. "I might request a few weeks off soon."

"Well, you'll have to go on your vacation without me then!" Mothiva hissed at him, her eyes were narrowed with irritation.

"Fair enough," nodded Zasp. He turned and walked toward the castle exit. He was so so so tired of this. "You know, you'll like Leif. He's... cool."

Mothiva said nothing. Maybe they both needed rest.

Zasp wanted to wait for Leif, at least to find out what mission he'd take on for them. Although Zasp didn't care that much what the mission will be. It was the last one anyway.

He was also a little worried about Mothiva. It wasn’t nice to ignore her opinion about accepting Leif into their team, but he didn't feel particularly guilty about it right now for some reason. Couldn't he just allow himself to do what he wanted for once? Perhaps Zasp was just trying to calm his nerves down.

He waited for Leif on a bench in the plaza. Mothiva stormed away into the inn, so Zasp sat alone, watching some kid playing with a ball. Leif arrived soon enough, followed by Chompy. Apparently, Zasp missed Leif passing him on his way to Snakemouth’s house.

Zasp shifted on the bench, silently inviting Leif to sit.

"How's Mothiva?" Leif asked, sitting down on the bench next to him. "We saw her near the inn, she clearly wasn't in the mood."

Zasp sighed.

"She’ll be fine. At some point." He said. "It all became so difficult after we started traveling together. Especially in Bugaria."

Leif called out to Chompy when she ran off too far. She returned back to the moth and he gently petted her petals.

"How long have you been traveling together?" Leif asked.

"Not for too long, we left our home town three or four years ago maybe. But it wasn’t as bad before she became popular in Bugaria. Having both concerts and missions to attend to is not that easy. But lately her concerts are almost daily and all over Bugaria. She often complains about how the mission wasn't worth the concerts she missed. Perhaps she needs a rest too."

"Have you ever told her that?" Leif asked, picking Chompy up and holding her in his lap. She seemed to like that, immediately purring and curling up in his arms.

"She doesn't listen," Zasp shrugged. "It was more bearable before, but now all her tours are so exhausting for me."

"Did you think of just skipping some of her concerts? To have a couple days off?"

“Sometimes my presence isn’t required, and it’s nice and stuff, but it doesn’t feel enough to me.” Zasp shrugged. “I keep thinking I need to distract myself from both tours and exploration missions the queen sends. It’s just- Mothiva probably wouldn’t like it if I went missing for weeks.”

Leif hummed thoughtfully, still petting the chomper.

"Sad. Vi and Kabbu wouldn’t mind if we decided to take a vacation."

"They'd probably join you," Zasp hummed. "Vi certainly would."

"Probably," Leif smiled slightly. Zasp suddenly realized he enjoyed catching moments when Leif showed emotions. It was such a rare occasion. Leif was silent for a bit, looking at the chomper in his lap. "Is it okay if we take Chompy with us tomorrow?" He looked up at Zasp. "Neolith said these missions can take longer than the previous ones, so we don’t know if we, Vi or Kabbu will be back today. We don’t want to leave Chompy all alone for so long."

"I don't mind," Zasp shrugged.

He reached his hand to pet the chomper as well, but immediately jumped back as Chompy swiftly turned around and almost bit his fingers.

"Chompy!" Leif put her down on the ground and stared at her, sternly. "We told you not to bite him!"

But Chompy only hissed in response, her leaves ruffled.

“She’ll figure it out, she just needs time to get used to you”. Leif said with a sigh. “Here, let’s try this. Give me your hand, Zasp.”

He looked at Leif in surprise and confusion. "What?"

"Your hand."

Zasp held out his hand, and Leif placed his palm on the back of Zasp’s and tugged on it in Chompy’s direction. She tilted her head, sniffing cautiously, then hesitantly pulled away a bit.

“C’mon,” Leif murmured. Zasp was staring at Chompy, at their hands, at Leif. Then at Chompy again, slightly worried she might try to bite again. 

But she didn't. After a little bit of hesitant sniffing, she seemed to lose any interest in Zasp’s hand, getting distracted by some tiny worm she noticed in the sand.

"Alright, now you can try petting her," Leif said, letting go of his hand.

Zasp reached out to pet Chompy's leaves on her head, but she dodged his hand and ran to the side.

"It didn't work," Leif sighed. "At least she didn't bite you. You’ll get along sooner or later"

Zasp just nodded. He couldn’t stop thinking about the sensation of Leif’s hand on his. How could his fingers be so cold when his palm was warm?

"By the way, we took a mission to the swamps," Leif said, watching Chompy run back and forth, rolling around in the grass and sand.

Right. Zasp already forgot he wanted to ask about the mission.

"Why the swamps?" he asked, curious.

"There weren't many options. There was a task to explore Snakemouth Den, but we don't want to go back there anytime soon." Leif shivered slightly. "And there was a request from the Bee Kingdom to clear their factory of some aggressive bugs, but we also don't really like that place."

Zasp wasn't eager to go to both the factory and the den either.

"I suppose the swamps sound like the best option." He agreed. "A mission to find the leaf bug village?"

"Yes. We'll have to try and find them, that is the goal of the mission. So if we’re unlucky, it might take several days.”

"It probably won't be that difficult," Zasp remarked. "We already know there's no settlement in the south and east of the swamps. All that remains is to explore the northern and western parts of it."

Leif nodded. They sat in silence for a couple of minutes, but Zasp didn't feel awkward. He liked it. He liked having Leif around. Somehow his presence comforted him.

"...And one more thing, Zasp?" Leif spoke again.

"Hm?"

"Can you come by tomorrow morning and help us with dressing our wound?" Leif asked, looking away. "You did a very good job last time. Kabbu and Vi could help with that, but whatever you did last time worked the best, the bandages almost didn’t loosen during the day."

"Sure." Zasp nodded.

"Then we’ll be going now," Leif said, rising from the bench and calling Chompy.

"See you tomorrow.”

"See you."

When Zasp returned to the inn, Mothiva was there. She gave him an intense look as he entered the room, and didn’t speak to the wasp for the rest of the day. Ignoring the guilty pressure of the silence in their room, Zasp began packing their bags for tomorrow. Leif said the mission might take several days, so Zasp prepared more weapons, packed some medical supplies and a small tent in his backpack. And he should also get some food supplies from Fry’s, but he planned to do that either in the evening or tomorrow in the morning, so the food is as fresh as possible.

Meanwhile, Mothiva had been staring so intently at her magazine this whole time that Zasp could almost hear it.

It was lunch time. Zasp slung his bag over his shoulder, grabbed some berries and turned to Mothiva. She glared at him.

"...When you want to talk about it, let me know," Zasp sighed. "I'm going to get lunch."

Mothiva didn't respond, so he went downstairs and left the inn.

At lunchtime, there's usually a fairly long line at Fry's, so Zasp usually gets his lunch half an hour earlier than most bugs in the city. So when he entered Fry’s, there was already a line, but not that long.

After the defeat of the Wasp King, bugs from all over Bugaria and even beyond would come to the Ant Kingdom. Everyone wanted to visit it. Zasp started noticing small shops around the city selling overpriced merchandise. Walking by one of them Zasp thought he saw a wasp plushie, suspiciously resembling himself.

He definitely needed to save up for one of those. For his collection, of course.

But the influx of tourists in the Ant Kingdom had caused problems with long lines everywhere. Zasp had heard that Elizant planned to turn the entire outskirts of the kingdom into a market area. He only hoped they'd invite at least one more chef, because sometimes bugs would stand for hours in a line to get a leaf salad.

Zasp had to wait only about ten minutes for Fry to get to his order. The fly chef prepared two servings of mushroom salad and a couple of honey leaves for Zasp. Simple, but good lunch.

He returned to the inn and set the two plates on the table. Mothiva finally put down her magazine and joined Zasp at the dining table for lunch.

"You could have bought something more interesting," Mothiva grimaced.

Zasp didn't answer. Personally, he was quite satisfied with his mushroom salad.

"So, why did you take Leif into the team?" Mothiva finally asked. There wasn’t as much venom in her voice anymore, just disappointment.

She hasn't touched her food yet.

"He asked to join, it would have been rude to refuse." He responded. "I don’t think anyone else would welcome us into their teams. We don’t really have friends or allies in any of the other teams, do we?"

Mothiva sighed, irritated.

"Why wouldn't they want to?" She turned away. "They would have had to take us in, Neolith made that clear."

"If no one wanted us in their teams, Neolith would have to put us into a team that had the smallest number of participants. Or he could just separate us again. What if you ended up in Vi's team?"

Mothiva murmured something incoherent, but didn't answer.

"And Leif… we already were on a mission together. He’s easy to work with," Zasp continued. "And his magic can be both a powerful weapon and a reliable defense. And he’s just nice for conversations. Polite and observant."

"I don't recall him having such qualities," Mothiva grumbled. "How do you even know that? You've only been on one mission with him!"

Zasp shrugged. “I suppose one mission is enough to get to know a bug.”

"Whatever. What's our mission? Do you know what he took?"

"The Wild Swamplands," Zasp replied. "We will need to fully explore the area and find leafbug settlement.

"A terrible mission!" Mothiva huffed. "Couldn’t he pick something different?"

“Other missions were worse."

Mothiva huffed again in response and finally started on her salad.

***

As he promised, Zasp stopped by Leif's house in the morning. But before that, he stopped by Fry's and prepared a whole backpack of omelets and salads. That should be enough for a couple of days.

The whole team was still at home, preparing for their missions. Vi was sitting on the top of the bunk bed and thoughtfully looking through her medal collection, picking some and putting them in her backpack. Kabbu was eating breakfast, and Leif was packing his bag. Zasp shyly knocked on the doorframe, hesitating to come in.

"Oh, Zasp!" Vi perked up.

"Hello, Zasp, come in!" Kabbu said, genuinely smiling.

Zasp stepped inside, and Chompy immediately hissed at him from her corner.

"No, Chompy," Leif said calmly, then glanced at Zasp. "We’re glad you came."

"I promised I’d help."

Chompy continued to watch Zasp's every move from her pillow, but didn't attack him. Zasp sat down at the table, unsure of what else to do.

"Okay, I'm off," Vi said, jumping off the bed. "Don’t forget, whoever's the first to return from their mission will be free from house chores for two weeks! And I’ll be the one to return first by the way!"

"Wait, Vi! I didn’t-" Kabbu called after her, but Vi already ran away with an evil laugh.

"Don't worry, you’ll probably be the first one to return," Leif said, putting a loaf of bread wrapped in a leaf into his backpack. "Do you have a tent or something we could use as a shelter?" He asked, turning to Zasp.

"Yes, I have one."

"More room for food then…" Leif muttered, barely audible, but Zasp heard it.

"Leif told me you were looking for companions to go on vacation with?" Kabbu asked.

Zasp nodded cautiously.

"Well, you can count on us then!" The beetle smiled.

"Yes, Kabbu and Vi are absolutely thrilled at the prospect of another vacation," Leif said with a bit of amusement in his voice. He walked over and placed a box with medical supplies on the table. "Could you help me with the bandages?"

Leif handed Zasp the roll.

"You could use a vacation too, Leif," Kabbu said, while Zasp was messing with the bandage. "You need to let your wound heal."

"It is mostly healed, it just takes a while for the chitin to harden," Leif shrugged. "But we’re down for a vacation either way."

Meanwhile Zasp couldn't stop thinking about how soft the fluff on Leif's body was. He didn't understand what was wrong with him and why he couldn't get those thoughts out of his head. For some reason, he didn't even... want to get those thoughts out of his head.

Zasp felt that strange comfort again, being near Leif. He didn’t want to go anywhere right now really, he would like to stay here, in Snakemouth’s house, not worrying about any missions, tours and concerts…

"Zasp? Isn’t that a bit too much bandage?" Leif asked.

The wasp snapped out of his thoughts, realizing he was applying quite a thick layer of bandage, unconsciously. He felt his face burn with embarrassment. The wasp adjusted the bandage a little and tied the ends into a neat knot.

"...Just to be safe, it wouldn’t hurt to have an additional layer." He muttered. "The mission might take a while."

He was even proud of how quickly he'd managed to come up with an excuse for taking a while with the bandage. Leif let out a nervous laugh.

"Thanks." He said. "But we don't have an endless supply of bandages."

Zasp stood up and handed him the rest of the bandage.

"I'll get you some."

Leif blinked.

"We were joking, mostly," he said softly. Zasp didn't respond, and Leif continued, louder, "Alright, we think we're done with our preparation. Is Mothiva ready to go?"

"I hope so," Zasp said, because Mothiva was barely awake when he left the inn. Zasp only hoped she actually woke up by this point.

***

Leaving Leif and Chompy outside, Zasp entered the inn. Mothiva was combing her fluff in front of the mirror with a bored look on her face.

"Ready?" asked Zasp. "Leif's waiting outside."

"He can wait," Mothiva said coldly.

Zasp only sighed. Of course, she was still mad at him.

"Then we'll wait for you outside." He said, picking up the backpack he'd packed the tent into yesterday. "Try not to take too long. The sooner we start, the sooner we'll be done."

He went downstairs and left the inn.

"We'll have to wait; she's still upset," Zasp said to Leif. The moth nodded.

"We're pretty happy to go on a mission with you, Zasp, but shouldn't you have gone with another group if Mothiva doesn't like our team so much?" Leif asked.

He held Chompy in his arms and stroked her leaves.

"Vi was right about the other teams not agreeing to go with Mothiva," Zasp muttered. "Mothiva isn't that bad, really, but the competition makes her more... um..."

"Cruel and vain?" Leif prompted.

Zasp winced but nodded. Leif can be too blunt sometimes.

"Something like that."

"Sorry, that was rude," Leif said, looking down. "We really don't want to get into a fight with Mothiva on this mission. We'll try our best."

"Thank you."

Mothiva showed up soon. Zasp was about to head toward the ant mines when Mothiva yelped.

"What is that!?" She pointed in Leif's direction.

Zasp looked at Leif in confusion, and then at Mothiva, trying to understand what she was talking about. 

"This is Chompy," Leif said, gently petting Chompy's head. "She doesn't bite. Most of the time."

Thas didn't seem to reassure Mothiva.

"If that thing touches me, I'll…" She began, but Zasp interrupted her.

"We're supposed to be a team, remember?" He asked. Zasp had never thought he'd have to say that. "Let's not fight."

"Chompy won't bite if you don't touch her," Leif said.

Mothiva huffed to that and crossed her arms. She stared at Zasp for a few seconds, looking like she was about to say something, but apparently she decided against it. She went ahead of them, quickly, as if to keep distance from the rest of her team. Zasp didn't have the strength to catch up.

"We expected that she wouldn’t like Chompy," Leif said quietly. "But now we're a little worried Mothiva would harm her."

Well, this time their mission won’t be an easy one for sure.

They reached their destination - the grasslands - quite quickly. They were lucky that Leif was with them, he seemed to know the place really well, so soon they were going through the swamps. No one attacked them on their way there, and if there was any danger nearby, Leif would make his ice shield around the team.

Zasp noticed that his ice shields were taking a lot of his energy and time to make. He didn’t really paid attention to that back when they were in Snakemouth Den. And this time there were three of them, so the shield had to be large.

Mothiva deliberately didn't speak to them no matter how much Zasp tried to get her to open up a little. Eventually, he gave up and just listened as Leif talked about Chompy. He really liked to talk about his pet.

As soon as they got deeper into the swamps, they were attacked by one of the leafbugs armed with a bow. The leafbug wasn’t sneaky really, so it wasn’t that much of a danger for their team. Zasp deftly deflected an arrow fired at them while Leif fashioned a shield for them. He released Chompy, and she pounced on the archer. The leafbug probably didn’t immediately realize the small chomper was a potential threat, and that was its mistake.

Chomty sunk her teeth into the leafbug’s leg, taking it off-guard. The archer tried to shake her off, losing balance, but it didn’t work: the chomper was still latched on its leg, snarling at any movement the leafbug did.

"Is she going to be okay?" Zasp asked, watching her from behind the icy walls of the shield.

"She's very agile and strong enough to take on a single bug," Leif said. His expression was focused as he held the shield around them.

"Why are we hiding like cowards?" Mothiva huffed, crossing her arms. "I can knock that bug out myself!"

"We need to save our strength and avoid battle as long as we can," Leif said. “We just entered the swamplands, it’s probably a long way to the village of these bugs.”

"Then why did you send your plant monster at that bug?" Mothiva persisted.

"We haven’t fed Chompy today yet."

Zasp’s eyes widened and Mothiva immediately fell silent. They both stared at Leif. He looked puzzled by all this attention.

"...What?" he asked.

"Your Chompy... eats bugs?" Zasp asked.

"Oh, no. She eats berries. There are lots of those on that bush."

Zasp looked over to where the leafbug stood just a minute ago. The bush was moving, a blue ribbon flickering in it. Indeed, there were lots of small red berries hanging from its branches.

Leif removed his shield and called Chompy back, and proceeded moving on. Zasp and Mothiva exchanged glances. For some reason, Mothiva looked angry again.

"So what's our plan?" Zasp asked, catching up with Leif. "Are we going to explore the entire swamp?"

"It'll take a long time. We think it's better to start with the areas no one explored yet," he replied. Zasp nodded. Leif glanced at him. "You're more talkative today than on our first mission."

"We didn’t know each other on our first mission," Zasp shrugged.

Leif nodded.

"But we’re glad we got to know each other, Zasp." He said after a couple of minutes. Leif’s face was still hiding his emotions quite well. “You are a good friend.”

Zasp nodded, feeling his heart rate quicken.

They walked along the western side of the swamp. Navigating this area wasn’t easy. Somehow it was way more difficult than when he was here last time with Vi: now Zasp had two non-flying companions with him. So they had to take the long way, by their legs. But still just in case Zasp sometimes flew over the area they passed, to make sure they hadn't missed anything.

…It didn’t really help that much, most of the ground was hidden under a thick layer of plantlife. Somehow it was even worse than the eastern part of the swamps. Perhaps due to the plants having larger and wider leaves here.

So most of the time Zasp walked alongside Mothiva and Leif.

"They're pretty cute, huh?" Leif suddenly remarked.

"Who?" Zasp and Mothiva asked in unison.

"The leafbugs," Leif replied.

"Cute?" She asked in disbelief.

Zasp didn’t think the leafbugs were cute either, but he said nothing.

"Cute, until they attack, of course." Leif added.

"All of you from team Snakemouth speak absolute nonsense sometimes!" She hissed.

"Mothiva," Zasp warned her.

"What, Zasp?" Mothiva snapped at him. "I should have joined another team."

Zasp sighed, trying to think of a response to avoid a conflict, but then he felt cold fingers on his forearm. "Maybe we should stop, rest, and have lunch?" Leif suggested. "We've been walking for quite a bit."

"No!" Mothiva hissed immediately. "If you and your team are so weak that you can't walk for more than a couple hours, then how did you even make it to the Everlasting Sapling alive!?"

Sometimes, Zasp thought Mothiva was deliberately causing arguments with other teams.

"Somehow, we did," Leif noted, his voice cold.

"A little rest wouldn’t be a bad idea," Zasp agreed.

"Whose side are you on, anyway?" Mothiva glared at him.. "I don’t know about you, but I’m not stopping now."

And she turned around, angrily stomping away. Zasp merely shook his head. She knew they wouldn't let her go alone.

"So no rest, I guess." He muttered.

"Come on, Chompy." Leif sighed.

However, they hadn't found anything during that day. Zasp was exhausted. He was dead tired and felt like he was about to collapse at any second. Leif was probably the same, though he didn't show it that much. For the last couple of hours before it started getting dark he carried Chompy in his arms: she was also tired from running around. But Mothiva still seemed full of energy, surprisingly.

They'd eaten omelets on the go, but now Zasp was hungry again.

Finally, he stopped, simply unable to go on any further. Leif and Mothiva glanced back at him.

"It's getting dark," said Zasp. "We're stopping for the night."

Zasp didn't even want to hear any arguments right now. He took off his backpack, placing it on the ground. His back was aching badly from the weight of the bag.

"It's quite cozy here," Leif remarked, looking around.

A ridge of huge rocks and thick patches of grass shielded a small clearing, providing good shelter from the wind and any hopefully leafbugs. Zasp immediately unpacked the tent and started assembling it, placing it against the rock wall.

"Chompy and I can bring some wood for a fire," said Leif.

"Why you!?" Mothiva hissed.

Leif gave her an expressionless look.

"If we run into an enemy, we have higher chances of returning unscathed," he said.

“Oh, so…”

“Mothiva, please.” Zasp was so so so tired. “You’re going to attract the leafbugs with your quarreling. Just let him go. If you get in trouble, I don’t have the strength to get you out of it.”

“What makes you think I’m going to get in trouble?" Mothiva stared at Zasp.

Leif quietly called Chompy over to him and left, probably to look for any burning materials. Leaving Zasp and Mothiva alone. He sat down on the ground, securing the tent.

“It’s dangerous here,” he said wearily. “Why don’t you want Leif to get branches?”

“Because it irritates me that you’re bossing me around!” Mothiva hissed.

Zasp looked up at her in surprise.

“I’m bossing you around?” He repeated. Zasp hadn’t even considered it. “I didn’t even try to.”

“It still looks as if you’re in charge here,” she said. "Stop it."

"I'm just expressing my opinions. Leif and you do that too."

"No, you don’t get it! You’ve been making yourself look like you’re the leader of the team this whole day. It's my role, not yours!"

Ah, so that's what she was so worried about.

"It is yours.” Zasp hummed, returning to assembling and securing the tent. ”Until we get lost in some forest. Or until we got locked in the bee factory store rooms, if you remember. Or..."

"Enough! Are you now laughing at me!?"

"You're just tired, Mothiva," Zasp said softly. “So am I.”

"I'm not tired, Zasp. You know what else is annoying? That you talk to Leif. The way you talk to him."

"Well, we are a team, we’re supposed to talk to each other. Would you prefer not to communicate with your teammates?"

"You are my teammate. And Leif shouldn’t be here at all. You talk to him more than you talk to me.”

"You don't talk to me either, by the way. You were silent this whole day."

Mothiva looked like she was about to growl. "He is from team Snakemouth. Did you forget about it? They ruined my reputation. They've been ruining it throughout the entire mission for the Everlasting Sapling, wherever we stopped for the concert! Do you expect me to forget that?"

"They just did their job. Your reputation is fine now. You have concerts four days per week and sometimes more often." Zasp arranged some pebbles he found around the clearing in a small circle, marking the spot where the fire will be. "If you want to talk about it more, I’m down for it, but not today. I'm really tired."

Mothiva just hissed resentfully and sat down on a rock away from Zasp.

Leif soon arrived with an armful of branches. Chompy was also carrying some twigs in her mouth, and it looked rather charming. Leif put the branches in the spot Zasp chose for the fire, and Zasp struck a spark with dry rocks he found near the clearing. They dragged a large log they found in a nearby thicket of grass and placed it next to the fire to keep them from sitting on the cold ground. After a while, Mothiva finally decided to sit closer to the fire as well.

Zasp handed her an omelet, but she turned away.

"I'm not hungry."

He no longer had the strength to argue, so he didn't even insist.

"Can I have her omelet then?" Leif asked cautiously.

Zasp handed him the omelet. Chompy nestled next to Leif, between the moth and the wasp. She was eating berries from a bowl and looked so harmless. Zasp thought maybe she’d now be friendly enough to let him pet her, but then changed his mind. He probably shouldn’t touch her while she eats.

"Want to feed her?" Leif asked, apparently noticing Zasp glancing at the chomper.

Zasp thought for a second, but then nodded.

Leif turned to his backpack and pulled out a small paper bag.

"These are her favorite," Leif explained. "A treat of sorts. Give me your hand."

Zasp extended his hand, and Leif poured some blue berries from the bag onto it.

"Try offering her these."

Zasp held his hand with berries out to Chompy. She perked up, probably smelling the treat, but then took a step back, hissing softly at Zasp. After a minute of hesitation, she finally approached the wasp’s hand and nibbled on the berries. After she'd eaten them all, Chompy shied away from Zasp's hand again.

Leif laughed and gently stroked his pet's head.

"It'll take her a little while to get used to you," he remarked. "But… It's a good sign she didn't bite your whole arm off.”

Zasp stared at him.

"...She wouldn't have done that anyway," Leif added. “We were joking, Zasp.”

"Zasp, stop messing with a wild animal," Mothiva hissed at him.

Chompy hissed at her too, and Mothiva flinched.

"Chompy isn’t a wild animal." Leif said, picking his pet up and letting the chomper curl up in his lap. "She's very smart and affectionate."

"Is it a dangerous animal... or a plant, no idea."

"Mean to my plant."

"Enough," Zasp grimaced. His head was starting to ache.

Mothiva huffed dismissively and rose from the log.

"I'm going to bed," she announced, turning and heading toward the tent.

Neither Leif nor Zasp said anything. They remained sitting by the fire. Zasp glanced at the sky – part of it was obscured by the dark silhouette of the tree foliage.

"What if the leafbugs live in the tree canopy and simply come down here?" Zasp asked.

Leif also looked up.

"Unlikely," he said. "The bees would probably notice them right away. They guard the hive well."

"You're right," Zasp agreed. "I don't see where they could be based then... ah, I also forgot to mention. Someone's going to have to stay awake to keep us safe. Should I take the first watch?"

Leif glanced at him thoughtfully.

"Chompy's alert; if anyone approaches us, she'll wake up," he said.

"Are you sure?" Zasp asked doubtfully.

"Absolutely," Leif nodded. "She saved us many times when Kabbu, Vi, and us were traveling."

"Good then," Zasp sighed with relief. "Then we'll get some sleep."

Zasp stood up and began to put out the fire, throwing rocks and dirt into it. When he finished, he straightened up and stretched.

“It’s kind of cold without the fire.” He noticed.

“Is it?” Leif looked thoughtful. “We suppose it must be. We don’t really feel cold often.”

“Because of your ice powers?”

“Most likely.” Leif shrugged.

Zasp nodded.

"I'm so tired," he said, yawning. "Are you going to stay up for long?"

"No, we’re probably going to sleep now as well." Leif said, also rising from the log.

The moth grabbed their backpacks and carried them into the tent, crawling in as well with Chompy close behind him. After standing outside for a couple more minutes and looking around just in case, Zasp also got into the tent. Mothiva was already asleep, curled up in a corner by the far wall. Leif settled into the opposite corner, using his backpack as a pillow to lean against. Chompy sat at his feet, not looking like she was going to sleep.

Zasp sat between them, closer to Mothiva, and leaned against the stone wall. Not a really comfortable position, but he also didn’t want to lie on the cold ground.

"If you're cold, we can sit next to you," Leif said quietly.

Zasp paused, staring at Leif in confusion. He wasn’t sure how to respond. He could refuse to avoid thinking about how soft Leif's wings were, or agree, because he was cold and also he wouldn’t mind having Leif next to him.

Zasp shifted slightly, making room next to him, and Leif scooted to the spot next to Zasp. He shivered when he felt Leif’s warmth against his side. Zasp's face burned from such closeness.

Why why why did he feel that?

Zasp wasn't sure he was ready to think of an answer for this question.

"Better?" Leif asked with a smirk in his voice.

"Yes," Zasp muttered. "Thank you."

Leif's wings were soft. No wonder he's not cold. Zasp felt Leif rest his head on his shoulder. He did that to help warm up, right? Not that Zasp minded...

But he couldn't fall asleep for a long time.

***

In the morning, Zasp woke up with Chompy in his arms. He blinked in surprise and froze, trying not to move. Leif was still asleep, his head still resting on his shoulder. And Chompy was curled up, dozing in his lap. There’s no way he stirs now, he didn’t want to startle her.

Mothiva was still asleep too, but it was already light enough outside the tent. Zasp could have woken them all up. The earlier they start working on the mission, the sooner they will be back home. But… perhaps just a few minutes more?

Zasp eventually dozed off. He woke up when someone gently shook his shoulder. It was Leif. He waited for Zasp to open his eyes and silently pointed to Chompy, still lying in his lap.

"Now pet her." The moth whispered softly, leaning toward his ear.

With his free hand, Zasp gently stroked the petals on her head. Chompy made a low growling sound and stirred, waking up, but didn't run away immediately. She reluctantly pressed her head against Zasp's palm.

Zasp couldn't hold back his smile.

"Congratulations, you're now friends with Chompy," Leif said with a chuckle.

Chompy apparently heard it. She growled again, dodged Zasp's hand and climbed into Leif's arms. He petted her affectionately.

"We should get up for the mission, shouldn’t we?" Leif asked.

"Yes. I’m going to see what we’ve got for breakfast," Zasp nodded. He really didn't want to get up, it was weirdly cozy here. But Leif stood up first, and Zasp quietly sighed in disappointment. He felt a bit colder now.

Zasp woke Mothiva and packed the tent into his backpack. Mothiva grumbled that they slept too long while Leif was consuming his second omelet for this morning. They decided to eat breakfast on the go, so they don’t waste too much time. Despite the moment he had with Leif and Chompy, Zasp didn't really want to spend any more nights in a tent. They were lucky they weren’t attacked during the night.

So yesterday they explored the entire western part of the swamps, and today they only had the northern part to cover. If they still didn't find the leafbug settlement, they'd have to stay here for a few more days, exploring everything they can. And if they didn't find it at all, they wouldn't receive any reward for their efforts. It didn’t really matter to Zasp that much, not right now at least, but it would be a shame if they wasted so much time in the swamps for nothing.

Leif was walking a little behind them, and Zasp knew why. He was quietly eating his supplies while no one was looking. Zasp didn't mind: the northern part had an exit to the Wasp kingdom, so they could buy more food there today. Or they could just take a bit to get to Defiant Root and then to the Ant kingdom and rest there for a bit before continuing their mission. So Zasp wasn't particularly worried about running low on food.

Meanwhile Mothiva walked a few steps ahead of the rest of the team. Zasp remembered her scolding him for bossing her around last night, so today he decided to let her lead the way. Maybe that would calm her nerves.

Also Zasp noticed that Chompy almost stopped hissing at him. She even allowed him to pet her and purred when Zasp stroked the leaves on her head. For some reason this made Zasp feel somewhat happy. Only Mothiva still shied away from Chompy, yelling at her and demanding that Leif not let her run near Mothiva. She suggested he carry the chomper in his arms, but Leif refused coldly.

At some point during the morning, Mothiva somehow provoked Chompy, and the plant creature chased her around for a couple minutes. Leif couldn’t call his pet back, saying that he had no treats to distract her with. Zasp didn’t believe that. Leif definitely was enjoying the scene. In the end, Mothiva was very angry and Chompy was incredibly happy. And Zasp had to endure Mothiva’s complaining for the next couple hours.

Besides that, Zasp was also thinking about Leif. No matter how much he tried to find answers to the question of why he felt so strange around him, he couldn't find a single logical one. He was afraid that he, well… liked Leif? Like, yes, of course he liked Leif, they were friends. But he just couldn't figure out how exactly he liked him. He didn't remember ever feeling anything like this.

For some reason, thinking about this was confusing his brain. This was the same Leif who suddenly appeared in the Association one day during the Everlasting Sapling mission, the same Leif who wielded magic, the same Leif who defeated Zasp and Mothiva twice together with his team. Leif, whom Zasp saved from the dune scorpion.

Leif always had an emotionless cold gaze, but Zasp heard him laugh, saw him smile. He remembered how peaceful and soft his face was in his sleep, leaned against Zasp's shoulder. He'd seen him gently petting Chompy, and something about that made Zasp happy.

Zasp wasn't sure how to interpret all that and his feelings.

They walked through the swamps, trying to avoid the leafbugs but still searching for their settlement. It didn’t look like they were on the right track at all.

"Lunch on the move again?" Leif asked, turning to Mothiva and Zasp.

Zasp knew he had finished his bread just half an hour ago.

"I wouldn’t mind stopping for lunch," Zasp suggested, looking at Mothiva.

She remained silent, Zasp and Leif waited for her opinion in silence.

"We can stop," Mothiva finally said.

Thank gods.

They stopped near a giant branch lying across the road. Zasp got small leaf bags with salads out of his backpack and handed them to Leif and Mothiva. Leif sent Chompy out to find food on her own, and she seemed rather happy about it: for the next ten minutes, the bushes around the clearing stirred, one after another. Zasp only hoped it was Chompy, and that no leafbugs were about to sneak up on them.

During their stop, and the whole day really, Mothiva barely spoke with Zasp or Leif. He had no doubt she was still sulking: her grudges could linger for weeks, and usually Zasp felt miserable during those times because he had no one to talk to. But right now he could talk to Leif, so it wasn’t bad at all. He even felt somewhat bad for Mothiva. Zasp and Leif told each other stories, joked, and laughed, while Mothiva stood some distance away from them. But whenever Zasp tried to get her into the conversation, she didn’t speak to him, mostly ignoring his invitations. Zasp gave up eventually.

They spent about half an hour on lunch. When they were finishing their salads, Leif became quieter, more anxious for some reason.

"What’s up?" Zasp finally asked, worried.

Leif looked at him for a second, hesitating.

"Chompy's not back yet."

Zasp glanced around. Right, the bushes were still, and no one rustled anywhere nearby.

"Good," Mothiva said.

Leif stared at her coldly for a few seconds. He was probably going to say something, but decided not to waste his energy. He stood up, looking around. "Chompy? Chompy, c’mere, Chompy!"

Zasp slung his backpack over his shoulders.

"Alright, let’s go look for Chompy." He said. Leif gave him a grateful look. "Where do we start?"

"We don't really know," Leif said. "We didn't see where she went."

"Hmm, no, I pass." Mothiva said. She was still sitting on the branch, leaning back on her hands. "I'm not going to waste a day looking for some plant monster."

"You can stay here or go home," Zasp said, probably a bit more sharply than he intended.

Mothiva hissed at him, irritated.

"Why do you even care so much about this plant?"

"Mothiva…" Zasp signed, lost for words for a second. “We’ve talked about it before. Please, either help or wait for us. We’ll be back when we find Chompy.” Zasp turned away and followed Leif from the clearing. "I don't think there's anywhere else to go west; there's a river and the road to Wasp kingdom’s nest." He said to the moth. "We can look east."

"What if she comes back here?" Leif muttered thoughtfully. "She usually does. If we all leave, she'll definitely get lost."

Zasp glanced around again. He dropped his backpack and buzzed his wings, warming them up for flight.

"I'll look from above, maybe she's nearby," he said and took off.

His wings were built for fast flight, so it was a little difficult to fly slowly, especially above the grass, where the air was different. Zasp looked down, trying to spot any movement in the grass. He saw nothing but some wild lesser bugs. He noticed a few leafbugs nearby, but not near enough to their temporary camp to be a threat.

After ten minutes of circling the swamps, he descended to the clearing where Leif and Mothiva were waiting. Leif was sitting on the branch, shifting anxiously.

"I didn’t notice anything." Zasp said. "Maybe we should split up and search by legs, not wings?"

"No, it’s dangerous." Leif shook his head. "Alone, we’ll be easy prey for the leafbugs." The moth fell silent for a second, thoughtful. “Or… perhaps we’d be able to handle it alone with our ice powers. You two can continue the mission - I’ll join you when I find Chompy.”

"No." Zasp said sternly. He didn’t doubt Leif was powerful with his magic, but it still was dangerous.

"Yes!" Mothiva perked up.

"Mothiva, please.”

Leif sighed, staring down into the ground.

"Maybe we'll go get Kabbu and Vi when their missions are over and we'll search together," he said.

Zasp didn't answer. He stared at the ground too, wondering what the best course of action would be now.

And then Leif suddenly jumped off the branch and ran off somewhere. Zasp looked up, trying to figure out where he was going.

"Chompy!" Leif exclaimed, falling on his knees in front of the chomper. She happily chirped as Leif lifted her up for a hug.

Zasp breathed a sigh of relief as he walked over to the moth. He wouldn't have to leave Leif here. That's good.

"There you are..." Leif muttered in relief, placing her back on the ground. Now Zasp noticed, the chomper had something clutched in her teeth. Leif seemed to notice it too.

"What did you bring?" Leif asked gently, holding out his hand.

Chompy spat some debris onto his hand.

"What is this?" Zasp asked, crouching next to Leif.

It was a piece of some kind of tablet or a sign. Unfamiliar letters or symbols were scratched all over it. Zasp couldn’t tell what kind of language it was.

"Is this one of those roach tablets?" He asked Leif.

"No, we don't recognize these letters," Leif shook his head. "Maybe... maybe Chompy found the leafbug settlement?"

Zasp looked first at Leif, then back at the tablet.

"Maybe." He said. There weren't any other settlements that would have signs in an unknown language in the swamps.

"Chompy, will you take us to where you found this?" Leif asked, showing her the tablet.

Chompy looked at it, then turned and ran. Leif immediately jumped up and ran after her.

"Come on, Mothiva," Zasp called, grabbing his backpack and running after Leif and Chompy.

He only hoped Mothiva would follow them and not get lost.

Chompy led them through the densest thickets of grass Zasp had ever seen. He almost got lost, constantly losing sight of Leif and Chompy as they ran. He found his way only by the rustling of the grass ahead, trying to follow the sound. Behind him, he could hear the same rustling noise and Mothiva's curses. Zasp was relieved she was okay.

Suddenly Leif stopped, crouching in the cover of a bush, and Zasp almost bumped into him. Mothiva froze, cautiously looking around. Chompy stopped and started eating berries from the bush they were hiding behind. Zasp also lowered himself, peering through the leaves and branches.

He saw nothing, only more grass. Zasp wanted to ask Leif where he was looking, but the moth looked so tense that Zasp decided against it for now.

But Mothiva, after looking around for a bit, stood up and glared at Leif.

"What was that?" She hissed, rather loudly. "Why did you make us run across the swamps like that!?"

Leif looked back at her with fear in his eyes. Zasp involuntarily tensed. The moth darted closer to them and immediately began to form a shield. But before he finished, a leafbug lunged at them from somewhere above. Zasp pushed Mothiva and Leif to the ground, dodging the leafbug. He pulled out his daggers, preparing to strike at the attacker.

The leafbug lunged again, nearly knocking Zasp down, but he caught his balance, immediately striking a blow on the bug. With a cut across its mask, the leafbug darted away and disappeared in the grass.

"Zasp!" Mothiva shrieked, tugging at his arm and pointing in the opposite direction.

Zasp barely managed to deflect an archer's arrow in time. The leafbug archer, realizing it’d been spotted, disappeared into the grass. Zasp saw another one rush past, but this one didn’t seem to be that interested in attacking the intruders: it was running away with Chompy chasing it close behind, hissing dangerously and fluffing the leaves on her head. Meanwhile Leif was attempting to form a shield, crouching close to the ground. Mothiva, though looking determined and ready for battle, huddled closer to Zasp. She was frightened.

But it seemed like leafbugs disappeared. Zasp heard the rustling of grass somewhere nearby, but couldn't pinpoint its source.

"Just a moment..." Leif muttered. He had almost formed a shield. Zasp could already see the icy edge appearing in the glow around them.

Zasp watched the grass around them tensely. It seemed he heard the noise all around him at once. They were surrounded.

Leif stood up. The shield around them had finally formed and looked sturdy enough to keep them safe for a while, and Leif looked much calmer. Several arrows were fired at them from various directions, but they simply bounced off the shield.

"It was a bad idea to shout while near the leafbug settlement," Leif remarked.

Mothiva hissed angrily, but didn’t say anything.

"Where’s the settlement?" Zasp looked around again. He didn't see a single hut, or anything that would suggest that someone lived here.

"Look up."

Zasp looked up. In the tall grass, at the very top of the thick stems was something that looked like clusters of large hanging pods.

"Their settlement," Leif said. "Near the Wasp Kingdom and high above the ground. Who would have guessed."

"So let's just cut down the stems they live on?" Mothiva suggested.

"No," Leif shook his head. "We're going back. We were supposed to find their village, nothing more. Besides, there are a lot of them around."

Zasp looked around: he didn’t see any except for the archers high up on the stems and leaves, but the grass around them was still rustling.

"They're smart, they don't attack while we’re behind a shield" Leif noted. "We're curious if they can be tamed... it would be a shame if they were all destroyed."

"Yeah, that sounds cruel." Zasp agreed.

"Are you kidding me!?" Mothiva exclaimed hysterically. "Every single one of them wants to kill us! Let's get out of here!"

Leif nodded and slowly moved back the way came here. Walking with a shield was actually a little easier than running through the grass. It wasn’t that much of an obstacle anymore, and Zasp could now see every branch and root sticking out of the ground. But they were moving very slowly. Looking around, Zasp saw the leafbugs in the tall grass, squinting at intruders with hatred, but not attacking. They disappeared back into the grass if Zasp looked at them for too long.

Chompy was running through the bushes outside the shield. For some reason, the leafbugs didn’t attack her, probably not seeing much danger in the tiny chomper. Maybe they mistook her for one of the wild bugs or plants they just didn’t pay attention to usually.

After what seemed like an eternity, they reached one of the roads, but Leif didn't remove his shield, continuing on toward the Wasp kingdom.

"How long are we going to go this slowly?" Mothiva whined.

"We can let you out of the shield," Leif said coldly. "The leafbugs are following us because we know where they live now. They will make sure to get rid of us should we let our guard down. Or maybe they see us as their prey."

Zasp didn’t see a single leafbug around, but he decided to trust Leif and not test their luck.

"And when are you planning to remove your shield?" Mothiva asked.

"As soon as we enter Wasp territory," Leif replied. He didn't even turn to look at her, just stared ahead, focused. "We’re going to reach it soon."

Mothiva didn’t look satisfied with that answer, but she said nothing. Zasp wasn't in the mood for conversation either.

They reached the Wasp Kingdom after what seemed like another eternity. Approaching Wasp Castle, Leif finally removed his shield and leaned tiredly against the castle wall. Chompy ran up to him, and Leif looked at her with a smile.

"Good job today, Chompy.” He said.

"Finally, I can move like a normal bug!" Mothiva clapped her hands, then proceeded to head toward the main gate of the Wasp kingdom castle. "Hey, Zasp, are you coming?"

"We're waiting for Leif to catch his breath, Mothiva," Zasp said, slightly annoyed.

Mothiva rolled her eyes but waited a little distance away. Zasp approached Leif.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"We’re fine, just a little tired." Leif replied. He looked up at Zasp. "We might not be able to make another shield until we rest."

"Okay." Zasp nodded. "We'll cover you. If you want..." Zasp hesitated. "...I can carry you. Or something."

"No, thank you." Leif said with a chuckle. "We're not that exhausted."

Leif took a few deep breaths, then straightened up and headed toward the main gate.

"By the way, we don't have to go through the grasslands." He added. "There are mines near here."

Zasp didn't remember there being the Ant mines anywhere near here, but he nodded and followed Leif. Mothiva walked a little distance away. She’s probably going to complain so much later, when they’re back in the inn. Leif led them through the castle grounds to the western wall, where they found a tear in the wall, overgrown with bushes. Leif went through the tear, squeezing through the bushes, followed by Zasp and Mothiva.

"It's hard without Kabbu. He would have easily cut this grass." Leif muttered.

They emerged into a tunnel. Leif confidently led them through into a small cave. And there was the entrance to the Ant mines. An ant dozed near the entrance, but they immediately jumped awake when they heard footsteps.

"Where do the other passages lead?" Zasp asked the moth. He was sure he saw this tunnel continuing in other directions. 

"One leads through the power plant to the Golden Settlement, the other back to the grasslands." Leif replied.

Zasp was still amazed at how well team Snakemouth knew Bugaria.

They returned to the Ant Kingdom through the Ant mines. Finally. Mothiva immediately announced she is going home. Leif and Zasp went into the castle to report the mission's results to the queen. At first Leif suggested he would pay the queen a visit on his own, but Zasp insisted on going with him. The wasp didn’t really want to go into their room in the inn right now. He’ll give Mothiva some time alone to calm down after the mission. It was really stressful for her.

After they described the location of the leafbug settlement to the queen, Leif insisted that Elizant won’t exterminate the leafbugs. She agreed to simply drive them out, and together with Queen Vanessa they would send a group to clear the swamps. She said they will drain the area and drive out not only the leafbugs but also other monsters accustomed to living in damp, swampy areas.

Leif also asked if it was possible to try taming the leafbugs, but the queen looked really confused by the question. She said they will consider it. To Zasp it sounded like she was probably never going to do that.

In the end of their small meeting the queen thanked them for their work and gave them their reward.

"It was a great mission," Leif said on their way out of the castle. "We guess we're free for now. Are you still thinking about taking vacation?"

"Yes. I think I’ll leave Artis a request for a few weeks off tomorrow."

"Alright, we’ll do that too then. The team and I are ready to rest." Leif smiled slightly.

Zasp decided to stop by Fry’s before heading in the inn. It was getting dark, he should probably get something for dinner. He walked with Leif to team Snakemouth’s house on the way to the Fry’s. Chompy immediately darted into the house and climbed onto her pillow and fell asleep. No one else was in the house, meaning Leif turned out to be the first to return home, and… what did Vi say back then? Whoever’s the first to return home doesn’t do chores? Good for Leif then.

He said goodbye to Leif and on his way to Fry’s he was thinking.

He was thinking about Leif. He was thinking about him too much lately. But for now Zasp didn't know what to do with it. He was just glad he'd get to spend the vacation with Leif. And with his team, of course.

Chapter Text

It felt nice to spend the night under the open sky, confident that no one would attack you while you sleep.

Laying on his back, Zasp watched the dark sky dotted with millions of bright stars. He wondered if it was possible to count them all. He also wondered if professor Neolith ever tried to do that. The sun set just about a couple hours ago, so the sky seemed slightly brighter to the west, but that didn't dim the stars much.

It was so quiet. The only sound was the peaceful whisper of the waves rolling onto the shore and the waterfall nearby. It would be nice to fall asleep to the sound of waves, but now Zasp didn’t feel like sleeping at all yet. Kabbu and Vi lay in their sleeping bags nearby: next to sleeping Vi was Chompy, curled up and softly purring, and Kabbu slept soundly using his backpack as a pillow. Leif's sleeping bag was empty. Zasp knew this because he heard the moth leave about half an hour ago. Zasp wasn't worried about him, the Peacock Island was safe: together with Vi, Zasp confirmed that during the day when the two of them were exploring the place.

Zasp crawled out of his sleeping bag, stretched and looked around. He still didn’t feel sleepy, and Leif hadn't returned for a while now, so Zasp wanted to check on him. He didn’t have anything else to do anyway.

The sand was still warm. Zasp wandered around for about five minutes and eventually spotted a familiar figure on the top of the dune in the middle of the small island. Trying not to buzz too loudly, Zasp flew to the top, landing next to Leif. The moth looked up at him with his usual emotionless gaze.

"We climbed all the way up here on foot." He commented, watching Zasp folding his wings. "It's so unfair we don't have wings like yours."

Zasp stood silently for a moment, then he sat next to Leif.

"You could have asked me, I would have carried you up," he said.

"We thought you were asleep."

Zasp didn't answer. He just stared somewhere into the vast lake at nothing in particular, as did Leif. Glowing with faint lights there was Metal Island. It looked so tiny from here. Its lights and the stars reflected in the endless, mirror-like surface of the calm lake. So quiet...

Leif moved closer and rested his head on Zasp's shoulder. The moth had been doing that quite often now, and Zasp was getting used to it. He enjoyed it.

"So why aren't you sleeping?" Leif asked.

"I don't know," Zasp replied. "I don’t feel that tired yet."

Leif hummed. "You and Vi were running around the island all day. She literally passed out the moment she got into her bag."

"She's little."

"She's not much younger than you as far as we know."

Zasp didn’t respond, re-playing the events of the day in his head. Vi is a really fun companion for exploration. She had so many ideas they could do on this island, it seemed like they would have something fun to do for at least a week. Today they explored the island and the cave system of it, and Vi offered Zasp to make their secret camp inside the caves. Zasp wasn’t sure it would be a very secret camp, considering that everyone heard her saying that. But he didn’t mind, it sounded like fun. He didn’t do things like that in a long, long while. He wasn’t sure how they were going to do that, but he was sure Vi would come up with something.

"Why aren't you sleeping then?" Zasp asked in turn.

"We don't like sleeping on warm sand," Leif replied. "We’ll wait for it to cool a little."

"You can just freeze the sand, can't you?" Zasp asked.

"We can, but it would melt quickly and become wet."

"Fair enough."

Up here at the top of the dune, it was a little cooler than down below. It's not that Zasp didn't like the warm sand, but the cool breeze felt nice too.

"Are you worried about Mothiva?" Leif asked.

"A little." Zasp shrugged. "I know nothing will happen to her, but I still feel a little bad for leaving her alone with all those fans and concerts."

“Hmm, does she often need assistance dealing with fans?”

“Some bold or persistent individuals show up sometimes, not often though. So she should be fine, I hope.”

Leif nodded. Zasp leaned back on his arms, looking up into the sky.

"But I wish she would let herself get some rest too.” He added. ”She’s a much nicer person than she looks, she’s just under a lot of stress lately."

"We would have invited her, but we doubt we’d handle her presence for long." Leif commented.

Zasp hummed. Leif’s statement was fair considering everything, but also he felt like the moth wasn’t really serious — or at least he wasn't trying to insult Mothiva. Over the past week of vacation with team Snakemouth he realized there was little point in being offended or reacting to their jokes, especially jokes about Mothiva. Vi says things without thinking, even seemingly offensive ones. Leif can’t always control his bluntness. Kabbu constantly scolded them for speaking in not-so-nice terms about Mothiva, especially when Zasp was around.

"...But we're somewhat curious to see what Mothiva is like when she's not under stress." Leif added after a pause.

"She's just… way more calm, I guess." Zasp replied. "Perhaps she could even ignore Vi's jokes."

"That sounds impossible." Leif smiled slightly.

They just didn't know Mothiva as well as he did, and Zasp couldn't blame them for it. And he also understands why they don't like her.

They fell silent again. Zasp listened to the distant sound of waves rolling onto the shore and Leif's even breathing. Well, somehow all this calmness made him feel a bit more sleepy, so perhaps it was a good idea that he got up.

"How's your wound, by the way?" Zasp asked.

"We don't know," Leif shrugged. "It’s been aching less, that’s for sure."

"You haven’t been bandaging it this whole time." Zasp noticed.

"We aren’t in any danger now, so we should be fine. We're thinking we'll bandage it whenever we go on missions."

"Then I'm not too late."

Leif looked questioningly at Zasp, raising his head from the wasp’s shoulder. Zasp reached for his belt pouch he got a couple of days ago, and so far it was very useful. He could carry multiple weapons in the pouch that didn't hinder his movements at all.

Zasp pulled out a bundle and handed it to Leif.

"I promised to get you more bandages, remember?" Zasp said.

Leif held two rolls of bandage in his hands, staring at them as if it were a treasure. "We were just joking back then," Leif said, a hint of surprise in his voice. "But thank you."

He pressed his body against Zasp's again, resting his head on Zasp's shoulder once more. They sat there, on the top of the dune, for a while longer. Zasp wasn't even sure how much time passed, but soon Leif rose to his feet, saying it was getting late and the sand should have cooled by now.

And Leif was right: it was getting cold and late, they should really go to bed.

So far this vacation went well for Zasp. He was glad team Snakemouth agreed to tag along. They were fun to be around. Vi turned out to be a great friend, it was fun exploring new places with her. Kabbu was very responsible. It’s thanks to him, they didn't get lost anywhere, even though Vi tried to stray off the path so many times as they went camping in Golden Path last week. Kabbu was a good friend, too.

And Leif... Zasp felt so comfortable around him. Maybe Zasp just didn't want to discover the true reason why he was so drawn to this moth. He allowed himself not to think about it while he was on vacation.