Kipo and the world beyond

A strange turn

After a little rest from the big fight between everyone, Benson, Rook and Dave all ride on the mega mantis back to shore. "...So...you and the mantis... how did that happen?" Benson breaks the silence. "Oh you know how it is." Dave replied. "It started back after she ate me."

(Flashback)

After the group had escaped into the ant tunnels, the mantis screeched as it tried to reopen the tunnels after the cave in. After a while of struggle it gives up and crawls back into the shookshroom valley, it was half way back in when gurgling sounds starting coming from it's body. The mantis looks down and starts shaking, as the sounds travel up its body and the mantis begins to regurgitate the contents of it's stomach, which was very little. 

"Turns out Bella's stomach wasn't able to digest me, it rejected me and spat me right out. At first I was scared and ran. Bella tried to get me, but she was weak."

The mantis screeched and tried to chased Dave, only to fall to the ground, weak from hunger. 

"I could have ran away, but something in me didn't let me"

Dave approached to mega mantis, seeing it weak and hungry left a bad sinking feeling in his stomach. 

"As one bug to another, I couldn't let it go, so I decided to be a hero."

Dave molts into his muscular form and flies into the trees, collecting fruit and a few other bugs.

"It took a few trips and a lot of convincing, but eventually-" 

Dave tries to feed the mantis, but it doesn't open it's mouth, after a few more tries he gets frustrated and throws the bug away, throwing into a shookshroom and electrocuting it. The smell of the fried insect made the mantis react and it tries to reach for it. 

"Turns out Bella likes her food extra crispy." 

Dave, despite the pain, collected the mushrooms and used them to cook the food he collected and started to feed the mantis. After getting some food into it's body it was able to stand up again.

"After giving her some food, we became buds, and I helped her get some more food. Turns out, she had never been outside the valley before, so after some guiding, I was able to help her get out of her comfort zone. Literally. That's when we started to talk, and we have a lot in common, she been around for a long time... and she's watched her follow bugs go to a better place, until she was the last one. After that, I knew we had bonded to something bigger than friendship, we fell in love and I named her Bella."

(End of flashback)

"...Wow... I didn't know it was in such pain..." Rook says as he pets the mantis. "Yep, but don't worry, Bella is feeling better now, right baby girl?" Bella chirps in response. "...Um...well congrats on your new relationship Dave." "Thank you brother." They continue in a awkward silence. "Well the mood just died." Dave commented.

(Back on the boat)

Everyone waits anxiously for Rook to get back with Benson. Kipo has be... preoccupied with her thoughts, she's been lost in thought about finding out that the jaguar basically had a crush on Rook. She looks down at her hands still concerned about her abilities. "Kipo?" Wolf came up, startling Kipo, causing her paws to form. "Woah! Easy there, it's just me." Kipo looks at her with a "sorry" expression and take a deep breath. "Herbs out!" Kipo pulls her paws back in. "You alright?" Wolf asked. "I'm just... lost..." Kipo pulls her legs up and hugs her knees. Wolf sits next to her and pats her shoulder. "It's ok to feel lost. It just means you can find you path again." Kipo looks at her with a skeptical look. "I've been spending a lot of time with Dave." She added, to which Kipo nods in understanding.