“LADIES AND GENTLEBUGS, ON MY RIGHT WE HAVE A NEWCOMER, WHO WAS BRAVE OR FOOLISH ENOUGH TO CHALLENGE MOTHEAS, THE SHINY!!! EVERYBODY, CLAP FOR THE BRAVE DAN!!!”, I enter the arena as I hear the announcer mention my name.

I hear the clapping and cheering of hundreds of spectators!

I feel the incredible feeling of empowerment growing with each step I take – with each clap hear.

This was the best feeling in the world… I was certain!!

“AND NOW – YOU KNOW HIM – YOU LOVE HIM – ON MY LEFT, MEET MOOOOOTHEASSSSS, THE SHIIIIINNYYY!!!”, the announcer shrieked as loudly as he could, as the crowd went mad over hearing Motheas making an appearance.

I didn’t know how popular he was until this moment…

The moment when he, with his shiny, beautiful wings, slowly emerged from the sky, posing.

I couldn’t help but bave at the sight of his beauty.

It was blinding…

I was disoriented for a few moments by this, but I quickly came to my senses… Since Motheas took his time to slowly come down from the sky, I decided to throw a quick look at Lucana in the crowd and…

She, like everyone else, stared at Motheas in amusement. Amusement and excitement…

I do not know why, but this made me angry… furious even… I wanted her to look at me that way…

I later found out that this was the feeling known as jealousy.

A very bad feeling to have… a very evil feeling…

A feeling that would lead to many, many troubles and mistakes…

But at that moment all I knew was that this new feeling… this new emotion drove me… drove me to want victory more than anything else…

I put up my charging pose… I was ready to charge at my full speed at Motheas as soon as he landed.

Motheas noticed me, but decided to land anyway.

And – as he put his wings on the ground – I charged… I rushed at him, ready to hit him with everything I got!

Just as I was about to hit him – just as my horn was about to meet Motheas’s chest – Motheas suddenly spread his wings and flew upwards, juuuuust enough for me to miss him and hit the wall behind him.

The wall turned to a hundred small pieces as soon as I came in contact with it.

“You’re strong, Dan.”, Motheas says to me, “But you lack something… something really important…”

I take the biggest piece of the wall, spin and throw it with all my might at the annoying moth yelling: “SHUT UP!!”

Motheas avoided the giant rock with ease, and the piece of the wall made it all the way to the crowd on the other side of the arena – the crowd, thankfully, avoided the rock, but just barely…

I tried catching the moth by his wings or his legs, but he evaded each of my attempts, until he decided to catch me himself!

He caught me with all six of his legs by my horn – he caught me and started rushing up the sky, higher and higher, until we reached above the very top seat of the arena.

“You lack experience.”, Motheas told me one of the most important lessons that I have ever learned...

“LET ME GO!!”, I screamed, struggling.

“As you wish.”, he said, then he started spinning in the air, building momentum before letting me go.

I started falling down much faster than I had hoped for, and I made it to the ground in almost no time at all!!

I made it to the ground, hitting it with a force that felt like the whole Castanean Tree fell on my head…

Before I lost consciousness, I heard the announcer say: “WELL, FOLKS, LOOKS LIKE MOTHEAS DOES IT AGAIN!!”

The last thing I saw was Lucana, looking at me… my vision was too blurry for me to be able to make her facial expression out… but I was certain that she was disappointed…

And if she wasn’t… I for sure was…

When I woke up, I decided to go home… I did not ask Lucana out… I did not win… I went home and spent a few days just… thinking… thinking about the battle I have had…

Thinking about the important lesson Motheas taught me…

He was correct…

I had the training. I had the power. The might.

But I lacked the most important thing someone bearing the title of a Great Knight needs… I lacked experience…

* * *

“Diablo, later nicknamed Diablo, the heavy, won the Ultimate Showdown a few days later… And the one who fought him in the finals was none other than Motheas, the shiny himself…

Diablo was too heavy for Motheas to lift, and also too sturdy for any attack to work on him… So it was only natural for Motheas to lose that day…

But, even tho he lost, he was still chosen to be one of the new generation of The Great Knights! And just like that, Diablo, the heavy; and Motheas, the shiny; both became the New Great Knights!”, the Crippled Knight finished a part of his story.

“I… I’m sorry for your father…”, was the first sentence Antonio said when Dan paused telling his story.

“Thank you, young ant…”, Dan said, “He died being a hero… Something that I cannot call myself…”

“What do you mean?! You helped kill Ozara!! TWICE!!”, Antonio tried to raise Dan’s mood, but it did not work.

“Oh, kid… You have no idea…”, Dan said in a tired tone.

“My… my father… ya mentioned my father…”, Hercules said.

“Yes. Your father had indeed fought in that Ultimate Showdown. He, too, was defeated by Diablo, may they both rest in peace…”, Dan confirmed.

“Yes… may they rest in peace…”, Hercules looked down, with a weird mix of emotions.

“So the affair was true, after all…”, Nanthan whispered to himself.

“Well… Do you have anything else to say or ask before I continue?”, Dan was curious.

The trio of heros thought for a few moments, then they all said ‘no’.

“Alright then… I guess I’ll continue…”

* * *

After I realized what Motheas told me… And after I’ve heard he had become one of the new Great Knights, I knew that he was right… And I also knew that, if I want to achieve my goal, I’ll have to change some things…

But there was one more thing on my mind… or should I say one more bug…

Lucana…

I couldn’t stop thinking of her…

But I knew I messed up…

I knew I needed to move on…

And I knew I had to change my type of training, if I wanted to succeed in winning the next Ultimate Showdown – and I had just under six seasons to prepare!!

BeetleField had nothing more to offer me… Everything in it was just memories… memories of my father… of Ozara… of the chaos… of Lucana…

Memories I needed to take my mind off of…

So I decided to move… To move and search for bugs to spar with… to search for warriors, like me, who were preparing for the upcoming tournament…

Now the question was where?

Where to move to?

Anthill?

No… Ants were brave, but ultimately they were weak…

The Webpit?

No… I did not like spiders…

The Hornest?

No… wasps were powerful, but… not powerful enough… I saw Nihil as proof…

This left only one place…

A place that would change the course of my life forever…

I decided to move to the Mantisian Tribe…

It was far from BeetleField, and it was filled with the second most powerful family of bugs – mantises… Second only to beetles, of course…

Little did I know that, not too far away from the Mantisian Tribe, in the Kingdom of Hornest, one young wasp had the exact same idea…

A young wasp, tired from its home… a young warrior, who had the power, but lacked experience…

A young cicada wasp named Caesar decided to move to the Mantisian Tribe, too, in order to prepare for the upcoming Showdown by gaining the only thing he lacked…

The very same thing I lacked…

Experience.

And so, it was inevitable that the two of us would meet there…

And me meeting Caesar…

It was the most important moment of my life. Perhaps the most important moment in the history of Castanea…

* * *