Chrysalis

"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.

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

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

checkpoint and arrived in a cloud of dust that blanketed the general standing at the rear

her scent guttered in the sharp

here to help out but no need to thank me I'll get right to work and then

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

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

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

kind of invisible obstruction, even her highly developed

CRASH!

a loud thump, she tumbled end over end and slammed into the tunnel wall

"What the… hey!"

for the net

Vibrant," came a scent she knew all too well, "how

"You!"

Vibrant last time, but only with the help of Crinis! She'd forced Vibrant

you want?! I'm busy helping the Colony! I haven't

ants emerged from the shadows and they surrounded Vibrant on the ground, looking down at her with

avoiding rest," the nameless one said, "but according to the

once, grew