Bug Fables: The Ever-Expanding Hive Mind

Chapter 1: You're Invited

After their long adventure and joyous celebration, Team Snakemouth was relaxing within their new house in the plaza. Chompy was napping in her bed, Vi was anticipating the berries that would come with their fame, Kabbu was sitting on the bottom bed and Lief was standing near Chompy.

"Say, we're hungry, let's get something from Fry." Said Leif as his stomach roared furiously. "I would love a leaf omelette!" Added Vi, raising her beemerang into the air. "Then we go to Fry's!" Declared Kabbu, leading the way as they headed towards the commercial area of the ant kingdom. However, it was weirdly empty as only merchants   remained.

They walked over to Fry. "Fry, do you have any idea where everyone else went?" Asked Kabbu, visibly confused. "I don't know, they said they were headed to some sort of party but they all acted in the same way and walked at the same time. They tried to invite me to it but I said no and they all got offended and tried to pressure me into it. Then they yelled at me to go and left." Explained Fry.

"So everyone is going to some sort of party and acting abnormally as well as in unison." Summarized Kabbu. "Seems like we should find one of those guys and follow them to see where they're heading." Suggested Vi. "After eating." Added Leif, his stomach growling once again. "Alright then, what'll it be?" Asked Fry excitedly. "We'd like a two ingredient dish." Answered Leif. "Ohohoho! What a hungry guys!" Laughed Fry.

"Leaf omelette." Added Leif. "No refunds!" Said Fry as he tossed in the ingredients. Later, they got their leaf omelette and they shared it a loud banging nearby. They hurried to it as Leif finished the omelette. "Where did that come from?" Questioned Kabbu, looking around for any signs of damage. Then, it was replaced with a scream.

"YOU ARE INVITED!" Shouted an unknown bug somewhere in the direction of the adventurers association. They ran there immediately and burst in to find a lone bug disarming Maki by taking his sword away and throwing it out of the building. It was an ant, although it was considerably larger than the average ant and despite a lack of any weapons or armor, it clearly had quite the advantage over Maki. Kabbu blocked the sword as it hit him before entering the fray.

"Oh hey it's you three, you're invited too!" Said the ant as it whipped around to look at them. "And what is the nature of this party?" Questioned Kabbu. "You wanna go? Alright! It's a great big festival and all your friends will be there, everyone." Explained the ant excitedly. The ant turned and walked towards Maki, pulling out a dagger covered in a grey liquid. "You're not going to hurt my brother!" Yelled Kina as she charged towards the attacker.

He grabbed her and impaled her with his dagger. "Wanna go to a party?" Asked the ant, letting go of her. "Maki, I wanna go so badly but I would just die without you there!" Squealed Kina, shaking and crying as she pointed her weapon at herself. "How dare you do such a thing!" Shouted Maki as Kina grabbed him.

"Moving on, it's about time you experienced the festivities as well. Trust me, it'll be fun." Said the ant and Kina as they headed towards Kabbu, Vi and Leif. "It's time we took you down." Commented Leif, preparing for battle. "What if they stab us with that icky gunk and we lose ourselves too?" Asked Vi, backing away.

"We must fight valiantly to stop them from infecting more innocent bugs, team! I'm sure we can hold them at bay long enough to vanquish these scoundrels!" Declared Kabbu dramatically. "I promise you'll be fine, I ran out of the stuff while giving invitations. They were so excited to go that they just left, notice how empty it feels around here." Explained the ant as Kina left.

"If they left Fry alone then we they why would stay here?" Pondered Leif. "You three are very, let's say...interesting. You'd be so swood at the party!" Hollered the ant. "What does swood mean?" Questioned Vi, confused. "Look you'd just be really cool as your normal self so you should go, everybody would be so excited!" Pressured the ant before performing a knee strike on Kabbu.