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.

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

able to work properly moving at these sorts of speeds, an investment that she didn't regret. In fact, it only

the six kilometres needed to reach the next checkpoint and arrived in a cloud of dust that blanketed the general standing at

guttered in the sharp breeze that blew

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

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

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

her balance could fail, she snapped down her second leg and managed to

even her highly developed sense of balance wasn't enough to save Vibrant from going

CRASH!

end over end and slammed

"What the… hey!"

time for the net to drop down from the

Vibrant," came a scent she knew all too well, "how nice to see you

"You!"

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

helping the Colony! I haven't even been avoiding

Vibrant on the ground, looking down at her

rest," the nameless one said, "but according to the Eldest, there is something

once,