Epic of Bee

The men left us to head to the surface to prepare to transform into the ship they had promised. While they did that, Shiva transformed back to the platform, and I floated us back on.

Thanos and Tigra both shrank back down, taking their customary perches on my shoulder, cuddling into my neck fur. Atom was trying to scan around to find one more bug to complete the mission that we had started but was having no luck.

"I don't understand how there are no bugs left inside this mountain! I mean, we haven't searched the entire place, but the more I can with the OpsBees, the more I am convinced that we aren't going to find any," Atom complained from inside my head.

We had sent out all the OpsBees that I had and the ones at Tigra's disposal, and I could see what Atom was seeing. I agreed with him about the search being frustrating and fruitless, but there had to be at least one left!

It was more than just the bugs though, there was nothing left down here. I had also gotten a brief scan of the insect thing I had tried to fight with Sakura, and it wasn't an insect.

While I don't know if I needed to finish the quest, every time I had gotten a task in the past, I received rewards that helped me immensely. So, leaving this quest unfinished was not a choice, plus it would just eat me up inside if I didn't know what the reward was, not when I had come so far.

"Sakura, do you know anything about this mountain or Helaina? I have been scanning, but I can't seem to find a single insect to finish my given task. While I don't know if I need to complete it, not finishing it will leave a bad taste in my mouth. Is there a reason that either of you knows why I can't find the last one, or why there are no other monsters?" I asked the girls, but both of them looked confused.

"I really don't know too much about this mountain; the Meccat were the ones that controlled it, so we never bothered with it. For us, The mountain was nothing more than a border," Sakura explained, and I sighed, looking at Helaina, but the look was the same.

"I don't know a lot about the Meccat, but some of my teachings were cut short because of the assault on my Hive. I only knew that this mountain was close to me, and it was our destination because of its complexity of tunnels for me to try and hide," Helaina explained to me, but then Shiva spoke up, as I was about to facepalm.

"This is used by Heroes and is one of three of Kadeon's great mysteries. Legend says that this place, Mount Katchima, The Deep, and the Reverse Flying Mountain, were created when the world was. Each one of them has special prosperity that is rewarded with the rarest of rewards to Help the Heroes. While a hero is inside of one of these dungeons, the environment also changes and gives them a task, but they can be vague and very tricky sometimes," Shiva explained as we were coming up to the Flower Garden, and I directed her to turn down the tunnel for it, instead then go straight to the vampires.

So, this was something like a dungeon for Heroes, but it also gave out rare rewards with tricky quests. With this in mind, I thought about everything that had happened since I was teleported here.

I had woken up in the cave and then left… fighting a bug! I had never bothered to send OpsBees to go back and check the monsters I had killed!

I could feel the excitement start to build as Atom called a group of OpsBees back to go check to save us the trip. If I was right, then we could get out of here with a clear conscience and with whatever reward was waiting!

It would probably be my luck and the spite of Murphy's Law that would get me some kind of silly and ridiculous reward. So far, I had got nothing like that, but knowing that Tyler had been in this area quite a bit left me less than hopeful.

"Thank you! That was a great suggestion, and while we don't know yet if it is what I thought, this is better than nothing!" I said with excitement as we arrived at the Crystal Flower Garden.

I asked Shiva to stop, and I used my Nectargey to create three large cups that I filled for my girls and me. I had offered Shiva some Nectar, but she told me that she wasn't that hungry.

That made me wonder just what a Meccat ate or what they absorbed to nourish them? Shiva had explicitly said that she wasn't hungry and not that she didn't eat food, leading me to think they must eat something.

After handing out the cups and getting about halfway through my Nectar, Atom started to get excited. I paused as he pulled up the scans of the area where I had killed the first insect, and the Blood Sac was there.

I had gotten worried when we checked out the Monstrapede, and we had found nothing there. Now I was pumped up and excited to get this show on the road!

"I found the last Blood Sac; it is back where I was teleported to when I arrived, so we can get out of here! Shiva, if you don't mind taking us down there so we can pick it up, then we can head back and finish this quest. After that, we just have to get the vampires and then leave this dark and confusing giant rock!" I said with a feeling of relief that it was all almost over.

Once I had everything that I needed, I would be heading directly to save my people, and the Sky Folk had better be ready.

I wasn't coming to talk.