Chapter 728 - Need to work fast!
"Dammit, Vibrant! Get back here!" Advant yelled, her scent filled with impotent rage.
"No chance!" laughed Vibrant as she raced away.
"We're trying to make you stronger!" the exasperated soldier tried to reason with the fast vanishing form of her fellow council member.
"I-can-do-that-myself-okay-so-I-don't-need-your-help-bye!" Vibrant replied with rapid fire speed, her scent fading almost as fast as she did.
In the end, all that remained in the section of tunnel was Advant and her escort, slumped in defeat as they tried to catch their breath.
"Damn that Vibrant!" she growled, "why does she have to make everything so difficult?"
She had been tasked with finding the second most powerful warrior in the Colony and bringing her back to the nest so they could pour their collective resources into her and raise Vibrant as the second powerhouse of the Colony, but so far she just wasn't cooperating. She'd heard out Advant well enough when she'd first caught up to explain the idea, but had flatly rejected the Colony helping her in any way, insisting that she would do it her own way before speeding off into the distance. Everytime Advant managed to catch up to her, the same scene repeated itself, with Vibrant slipping away no matter how hard they tried to pin her down.
With nothing else for it, she gathered her energy and pushed herself back to her legs, following along the trail of the speeding ant at a more sedate pace. Vibrant would have to stop and fight at some point, which was when they would next catch up to her. Hopefully the next time would go better…
Further down the tunnel, Vibrant raced away having already put her latest encounter with Advant out of her head. Who had time to worry about that sort of thing? There was so much fighting to do! And it was everywhere! No matter how fast she managed to get from one checkpoint to the next, it always felt like she should have gone faster, which was exciting! No matter how fast she was able to run around, it wasn't fast enough! This was a novel situation for the fast moving ant and she was loving it.
For a brief moment she wondered where all of her followers were, only to remember a moment later that they'd given up on chasing her because she'd run even them into the ground. Instead, one of the generals had organised them into roaming packs spread across the territory of the Colony, doing much the same thing Vibrant herself was doing: rushing from one flashpoint to the next, just on a smaller scale than their leader.
The air rushed through her antennae and over her carapace and for a long moment, she just indulged herself in experiencing the joy of running at full speed. She didn't know exactly when she'd begun to love moving fast, as far back as she could remember she'd had too much energy, to the point that the Eldest had claimed she'd been hyperactive even as a grub! Whatever the reason, it just felt right to run and so run she did! As fast and as often as possible.
The territory of the Colony whizzed by, a blur on the edge of her vision. She'd had to mutate her eyes to be able to work properly moving at these sorts of speeds, an investment that she didn't regret. In fact, it only ignited her desire to go faster! On and on she raced through the tunnels, several times passing by a soldier busy grappling with a freshly spawned shadow creature, but she didn't stop, couldn't afford to stop! The Colony needed her!
In less than five minutes, she had covered the six kilometres needed to reach the next checkpoint and arrived in a cloud of dust that blanketed the general standing at the rear of the skirmish.
"What the heck!?" her scent guttered in the sharp breeze that blew through.
"Hi-hi! Just here to help out but no need to thank me I'll get right to work and then get going okay byeeeeee!"
So saying, the large soldier threw herself into the fray, dodging and weaving through the hordes, working her mandibles with relentless energy, cleaving legs, shattering hides and piercing demon flesh. She was a whirlwind more than an ant, never ceasing her rapid paced movement, finding ways to dodge and slide through gaps that an ant half her size would never attempt. Seizing on the momentum that her intervention had brought them, the rest of the ants leapt forward into battle, shoving back the wave and thinning out the monsters, buying them precious time to rest.
The moment the tide of the battle changed, Vibrant turned around and dashed away, leaving nothing but the scent of her "Have a nice dayyyyy!" lingering on the antennae of the ants who momentarily had to wonder if she had ever been there at all. There was need! She was needed! And so, she had to go. All over the territory the Colony had claimed there were checkpoints that needed help, needed someone to come and relieve the pressure, just so they could catch their breath. Vibrant was ready! Vibrant was willing! She couldn't be everywhere at once, but she could sure as heck try!
Just as she was picking up the pace and her heart was really starting to race, she suddenly felt her front right leg snag on something she hadn't seen. Before her balance could fail, she snapped down her second leg and managed to catch herself just in time to avoid losing any of her speed. A perfect recovery. Except for the second, then third snag she hit. What the heck was going on?!
With two of her legs snarled in some kind of invisible obstruction, even her highly developed sense of balance wasn't enough to save Vibrant from going down.
CRASH!
With a loud thump, she tumbled end over end and slammed into the tunnel wall heavily, stunning her for a moment,.
"What the… hey!"
Which gave just enough time for the net to drop down from the ceiling.
"Hello, Vibrant," came a scent she knew all too well, "how nice to see you again."
"You!"
Descending from the ceiling like a filthy spider came the small ant who had captured Vibrant last time, but only with the help of Crinis! She'd forced Vibrant to sleep, for hours! She might have been able to run faster afterwards, but she still resented being made to be still!
"What do you want?! I'm busy helping the Colony! I haven't even been avoiding sleep!"
More ants emerged from the shadows and they surrounded Vibrant on the ground, looking down at her with glee.
"You have not been avoiding rest," the nameless one said, "but according to the Eldest, there is something else you have been avoiding, is there not?"
Vibrant, for once, grew still.
"I'm not sure what you mean, you probably don't mean anything, right? Why not just let me go and be on my way? There's plenty of ants out there that need help and I can help them! I want to help them! You wouldn't want them to not be helped, right? So let me up and I'll get to rushing over and you don't need to worry about me or anything that I might be avoiding, which is nothing because I'm not avoiding anything!"
"Did she take a mutation to help her talk that fast?" a nearby ant wondered.
The nameless one wasn't distracted.
"The Eldest believes you've been ready to evolve to tier five for some time, but have been holding back because you don't want to be stuck in one place. You've been avoiding it for weeks now, haven't you? Well look at what we have here."
The nameless one drew out a precious rare core and placed it on the ground in front of Vibrant.
"Everything we need to help you evolve in the best possible condition. You want to help the Colony? Time to be the best Vibrant you can be."
Vibrant thrashed her legs for a moment before giving up.
"You won't let me go until I evolve, will you?" she said miserably.
In response, the nameless one reached over and patted her on the head.
"We absolutely won't," she said.