8 – Old friend, new adversary...

“Who dares to crawl here?!”, a deep, shivering voice could be heard echoing throughout the house…

“He… He’s alive…”, Nanthan’s eyes teared up as the words left his mouth. “HERCULEEEESSS!!!”, he screamed.

Hercules, who was in another room, appeared in the hall entrance, where the other 3 bugs stood. He appeared much more beat up, older and… sadder than he was when Nanthan last saw him. He was long past his prime as a fighter. His claw-jaw was a little bent… injured, you could say…

“Who the hell-”, he froze in place when he recognized two of the bugs. “Well I’ll be damned… Is… Is that really ye… Nanthan? Nanthan, the sturdy?”, Hercules’s eye widened and he felt something he had not felt in seasons… happiness…

“It’s me, Hercules… I’m so glad to see you again, friend…”, Nanthan came closer to his old friend and hugged him.

“I… I did not expect to ever see ya again… heh…”, Hercules said and hugged Nanthan back.

“Tell me… what are ya doin’ here in ol’ BeetleField? There ain’t nothin’ good here happening in a looong time… and what is…”, Hercules looked towards Darra, who was standing behind Antonio at the very entrance of the house, “… she… doing here with ya?”

“Listen… I – No - We are here on a mission… Our first stop was BeetleField, so I… I wanted to check in on you… Man, I’m so glad you’re… you’re alive, friend!”

“Hah! I wasn’t plannin’ on dying any time soon!”

“And Darra… well… I think she should tell you…”, Nanthan looked at Darra, who got a bit closer to Hercules.

There was a few unsettling moments of silence before Darra said: “H...Hercules… I… I know that we have had an unpleasant past together… I… I was a different bug back then,,, I left you as soon as you lost a battle… I left you when you needed someone beside you the most… When you were injured on the outside, I was the one who hurt you on the inside… And I’m sorry… sorry for everything I’ve done… for how I have acted in the past… Antonio is right… I’ve done terrible things before… I was an evil bug in the past… and I regret it all… But I… I’ve learned! I have changed, I promise!! Please… f-forgive me, Hercules…”

More of the unsettling silence followed before Hercules made a sound: “Hmpf… The truth is… I… I wasn’t much better than ya, neither, Darra… I was fine with ya acting like that as long as I could show that I was stronger than other bugs… I was losing my temper too easily… And I was a cold-hearted warrior… I’ve killed bugs when I had a chance to spare them... And the worst part is that I… I enjoyed it at the moment! I enjoyed ripping my opponents apart… But… after Nanthan showed me mercy even when I had no plans of doing so for him, I saw that my old ways of fighting – no – old ways of living were… were wrong… I regret all of it… all of the opponents I’ve killed… But… that, too, is in the past… And the past is where our memories live… memories from which we learn… we change… That is why I believe ya, Darra… I believe that ye mean the words you say… Because I’ve seen ya on the streets a few times from afar… I known that ya, too, have struggled… Just like my old ways of living made me lose an eye, yer old ways made you become a beggar… And in both situations, the same bug came to show us the right path… to give us another chance…”, Hercules looked towards Nanthan, “Nanthan… Ya showed both me and Darra your good heart… And if that was enough to change me…”, Hercules looked back at Darra, “… then I think it’s enough to change Darra, too…

I forgive ya, Darra.”

Tears formed in Darra’s eyes as she said: “T-Thank you! Thank you…”

“But enough of that…”, Hercules turned back towards Nanthan, “I wanna know more about this… mission yer on… and also…”, he looked at Antonio, “About ye, young fella…”

“I-I’m Antonio! Nice to finally meet you, sir!”, Antonio nervously said.

“Hahah! No need for formalities! We’re all pals, here! It’s nice to meet ya, too, Antonio…”, Hercules smiled.

“We’re on a mission to find the Great Knights.”, Nanthan exclaimed loud and proud.

When he heard this, his eye widened in surprise, “The Knights?!?! Are ya insane?? The Knights are dead!”, Hercules said confidently.

“N-No! I-I’m sure they’re there somewhere! Th-They have to be training for the fight against Ozara!!”, Antonio refused to believe Hercules’s words.

“… I see, kid… ya must’ve been the one to put this idea into place… Unfortunately I, as well as most of Castanea at this point, believe that all – or at least most of them are long gone, kid… But who knows… a few of them might still be around…”, Hercules said calmly.

“That’s exactly what we want to find out… we want to know what happened to them! Neither they nor the MasterKing Dabir had appeared in public ever since Lucana won the Ultimate Showdown over 10 seasons ago!”, Nanthan explained.

“… I see…”, Hercules was stunned. He never – no – probably the entire Castanean Kingdom never thought of actually searching for the Knights! It seemed as if everybody just… accepted that they’re gone. Like everyone has given up any hope, even tho nobody ever tried to find the Knights… even tho nobody actually confirmed that the Knights are truly gone… “I have to admit…”, Hercules’s eye shined as he looked at the young ant, “Ye might actually be right, kid! There might be some hope lef-”

Suddenly, the front doors of the house crashed with a loud ‘thug’ sound. Just a moment later, the roof of the house got ripped apart. Some pieces of the roof came crashing down at the four bugs that were inside, but most of the roof fell outside. Fortunately, none of our heros were hurt, but all of them were startled by the sudden chaos…

“WHO DARES DO THIS TO MY HOUSE??!!!”, Hercules screamed in rage.

“W-What is g-going on?!”, Darra said in fear.

“ANTONIO! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!”, Nanthan seemed to be the calmest out of the four.

“I-I’m fine! But what happened-”, Antonio was shaking. He never experienced something like this… something… this unexpected… this dangerous…

The entire house was in ruin. The entrance – gone! The rooftop – gone! Most of the walls – crushed!

“David! You take on the hercules beetle!”, an unfamiliar voice could be heard from the outside.

“On it!”, a low-pitched, disturbing voice could be heard from above, as one giant leg almost hit Antonio, who fell on his back, as it crushed down.

Another enormous leg swung downwards, destroying the remaining few walls that were still standing up…

It was a titan beetle.

An enormous, gigantic titan beetle.

“ANTONIO!!”, Nanthan was worried.

“I’LL END YA!!!”, Hercules was enraged by his whole house being destroyed.

“AAAAAHH!!!!”, Darra yelled as she laid on the ground in fear.

Two figures could be seen behind the gigantic beetle. One of them was the one who ordered David to attack. The other, a smaller bug, seemed to be waiting for something.

“Gregory!! Now! The blade!!”, the bigger bug told the smaller one. The smaller bug then rushed towards Antonio, who was still laying on his back. The smaller bug was a cockroach. A very fast, agile cockroach.

“ANTONIO, WATCH OUT-”, Nanthan yelled, but then he received a powerful punch from the titan beetle. Nanthan was sent backwards, hitting the remainder of the wall that was behind him.

“AH!”, he lost his breath.

“PICK SOMEONE YER OWN SIZE!!”, Hercules’s wings buzzed for the first time in seasons. He flew as fast as he could aiming his bent claw-jaw directly at David’s head.

David expected this, and succeeded in avoiding Hercules, but in doing so he lost his balance, which was precisely what Hercules wanted.

He suddenly did a loopty loop mid-air, and caught David by his top right leg.

“HOW DARE YA DESTROY MY HOME?!! HOW DARE YA ATTACK MY FRIENDS?!!”, Hercules used all of his might to put as much pressure on David’s leg as he could.

And, even tho Hercules was now an old beetle… even tho, in the many battles he’s been to, his claw-jaw was bent and weakened… nothing like it used to be… even with him being rusty and out of shape… Hercules managed to do what he thought was impossible…

He managed to bite David’s leg off.

“RAAAAAHHH!!!”, David squealed in pain and anger, as his top right leg hit fell down. Green blood was dripping from the now amputated leg…

Hercules, who did not expect to succeed in this maneuver, fell alongside the cut leg, hitting his head...

Meanwhile, Gregory, the cockroach grabbed Antonio’s blade, which was still held by the belt Antonio was wearing.

“GIVE ME!!”, the cockroach demanded.

“NO!!”, Antonio was trying to push Gregory away from him, but the stubborn cockroach did not surrender.

It spit in Antonio’s eyes.

“AH!”, Antonio was caught off-guard by this, and he reflexively let go of the blade and covered his eyes.

Gregory used this opportunity to snatch the blade away from Antonio.

“I GOT IT, BOSS!!”, he said with a devious grin on his face.

“Good jo-WATCH OUT!”, the third bug, who seemed to be the leader of the trio, warned Gregory.

But before Gregory had time to react, he got hit in the head by a piece of the earlier broken wall.

It was Darra.

She snuck up on the cockroach when she saw that it took Antonio’s blade.

The hit made Gregory’s head spin. He dropped the blade and fell on the ground, unconscious.

“NOOO!!!”, the boss of the three let out a disappointed shriek. He then turned to the other side just to see David greatly wounded, with the hercules beetle laying on the floor next to a severed leg.

“T-This did not go according to the plan…”, the boss said in a frightened tone.

“RRRAAAAAAA!!!!”, Nanthan roared as he dashed towards the enraged David. He poked one of the still-attached David’s legs with his blade.

“AAAAHH!!!”, David reacted, and the poked leg jerked in response to the new wound. It kicked Nanthan, but the ant did not move. It kicked him again… then again… then again… but to no avail. The ant did not move even a millimeter! He kept poking his opponent’s leg until David couldn’t bear it any more.

The titan stepped backwards, screaming.

“S-STOP!! RETREAT!!”, the boss yelled, “Take Gregory! We’re leaving!!”, the boss ordered.

David listened, and, trying to sustain the unbearable pain he felt, he proceeded to pick up the unconscious Gregory, but before they could retreat Nanthan shouted: “WAIT!!! Who. The hell. Are you?”

The boss emerged from the shadows he was hiding in. It was the dung beetle that was at Gregor’s bar when Nanthan, Darra and Antonio entered BeetleField.

“You!”, Nanthan recognized the dung beetle, “You were at Gregor’s place!”

“And I have overheard that those blades you’re carrying are quite the treasure… But... I seem to have underestimated you… But alas! I, Edgar, the leader of the CoTiDu Trio[1], promise you that we shall meet again! We will get your blades – and our revenge!!”, Edgar tried to sound menacing, but miserably failed to do so.

The CoTiDu Trio retreated, and all that was left was the ruin that was once Hercules’s house…

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