Spider Riders Fan Fiction ❯ Buguese's Test ❯ The Problem With Portia ( Chapter 3 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Somehow, day one had passed. Buguese was surprised by just how simple it was. The hardest part was surviving Aqune's drawing lessons. She was a tough critic. It really didn't matter to Buguese if his drawing looked precisely like Hunter. It was going to become full of holes anyway. Buguese began pacing around the base, looking for something to do. He hoped greatly that Mantid had new orders for him. He made his way to Mantid's room.

“Oh, great Mantid,” announced Buguese. “I am deeply sorry if I am imposing on your greatness right now.”

“You are not,” said Mantid. “Just speak! What do you want?”

“What do I want?” asked Buguese. “Why I want nothing but to serve you. I was wondering if you had anything in mind for me to do for you.”

“Not at this time,” said Mantid. “I will, of course need you to crush the Spider Riders, but first I'd like to investigate further on their plans to travel to Numa.”

“As you wish Mantid,” said Buguese. “I shall wait.”

Buguese trudged out of the room in disappointment. It took him a moment to notice Aqune running toward him in panic.

“Buguese, what have you done!?” she yelled.

“What do you mean?” Buguese asked.

“You hurt Portia!” declared Aqune. “It seems you did try to steal the mask and glue back after all.”

“I swear to you that I did not do such a thing,” denied Buguese.

“I have little reason to believe you,” said Aqune. “However, the items are at least still with her. Why don't we investigate further? Come with me.”

“If I had the mask, it would be so much easier to snap some logic into her,” Buguese thought to himself.” He headed off to Portia's location.

“Aqune…” said Portia weakly.

“See, Buguese? Look at how hurt she is! It seems as if Portia has developed a fever from working so hard to defend your things.”

“That doesn't prove I did anything,” argued Buguese, getting ready to take out the mask. “Oh, right,” he said. “It's gone because that annoying spider has it.”

“See! The way you talk about Portia proves that you never cared for her! Okay, time for that Grasshop tale. It began on a cool winter night…”

“No, make it stop!” yelled Buguese. “I have a solution to help save Portia. Can't you use the Oracle to heal her?”

“Certainly. I can use it to ease her pain, but I couldn't heal the emotional scars that you've probably given her. I have an idea though.”

“Another idea?!” shouted Buguese.

“Don't worry,” said Aqune. “It's not another challenge. After I heal Portia, I'd just like you to spend some time with her. Maybe the two of you can become closer. Also, if you avoid the easy temptation to steal the mask and crazy glue then it will prove to me that you're innocent.”

“Alright,” said Buguese. “Wait, where are you going? Mask or not, you're still technically my subordinate.”

“Of course I'll come back and forth periodically to check on my spider, but something important came up,” replied Aqune. She healed Portia and then walked off.

Aqune went over to a small control panel and pressed a button.

“So Grasshop's invention worked,” she stated. “Good. Now I can watch Buguese and Portia through this monitor, thanks to Grasshop's hidden cameras.

She sighed. “I feel bad for having Portia pretend to be sick, but it's the only way I can teach Buiguese a lesson. When I came to Grasshop for advice on how to get Buguese to show affection the right way, I was surprised by what an elaborate and useful idea he came up with. I really hope this keeps working.”

Aqune looked through the monitor and laughed to herself. Buguese was petting Portia, and seemed to be cringing heavily while doing it. “He really has no clue how to care for a battle spider. They're not like kittens,” she stated. “At least he's trying though.”