The Oracle (CONTINUING)

Chapter 1

Chirp opened her eyes with a sigh. The morning had come, and the little cricket knew she couldn't avoid it. Chirp hopped out of her den and turned to stare in the mirror for a couple seconds,  eyeing herself up and down. 

At first, Chirp hadn't seen anything wrong with her. It was just her, being, well, her. 

But her mother noticed. Her mother always noticed. 

Her eyes were a weird shade of blue, the color of her exoskeleton was off, her wings were too small and crooked, and her legs were too short.

Chirp huffed with amusement, ripping her gaze away from the mirror and herself. Chirp quietly entered the main room stealthily. Chirp was trying to avoid her mother. She could go on a walk and go hunt something before her mother woke up, enabling her to eat and stay out of her mother's wrath. Chirp liked the plan and exited her den quickly. The grass towered high above Chirp, but she paid it no mind, stalking through the grass until she came across a small leaf. It had delectable flowers on it and smelled just like her favorite food. Prunejup berries. The best in the world. Or well, Chirp's favorite food of all time.

Prunejup berries were hard to come by, and so Chirp thought of it as her lucky day as she started plucking the berries and nibbling on them slowly, trying to savor the taste. She jumped when she heard something shuffling in the grass just a couple feet behind her. Chirp twisted around to face the noise just as a little bug sprang right out of the grass and latched itself onto the Prunejup berry plant. 

"Ack!" Chirp yelped, falling backwards and tumbling into the grass, starting a terrible descent down the hill. Chirp crashed into the ground on several occasions and only managed to save herself by grabbing on to one of the thicker strands of grass. 

Chirp hung there for what felt like twenty ticks before her arms started to get tired. She tried pulling herself up, but it was slanted, so she would only just fall down even farther. 

Of course, Chirp could've just allowed this and went down the rest of the hill, but she had only a couple tastes of Prunejup berries and wasn't about to lose them to some random bug.

With a renewed sense of determination, Chirp swung her way off the grass and flapped her tiny wings to gain speed, it allowed her to soar through the air for a couple ticks before sending her back down towards the ground at an alarming speed.

Chirp cried out in fear and panic, and tried swerving away, sending her tumbling back to the Prunejup berry bush. A little bug watched her carefully as she regained focus. Once Chirp had regained all her dignity, she marched towards the little bug feasting away on her Prunejup berries.

Chirp stared at the bug for a couple awkward seconds, and it stared back at her with the same confused, glaring look.

"What was THAT for?!" Chirp finally cried. "I could've DIED!" 

"No you couldn't've!" The little bug yelped in indignation. "I was watching you!"

"You weren't the one who nearly got surprised to death and just barely survived tumbling to their death!" Chirp retorted. 

"True, but it's your own fault for falling." The bug huffed. 

Chirp huffed in reply and grabbed a handful of Prunejup berries. "What were you doing anyways? You looked like you were running from something." Chirp questioned. 

"You don't know what's going on right now?! Well, what could I suspect! This place is in the middle of nowhere." The bug muttered. 

"I guess my mother is pretty secluded. And I haven't seen another bug around these parts. But that doesn't mean I don't know anything." Chirp admitted. 

"Well, clearly you know nothing if you're oblivious to the war that's going on. And has been going on for the past five TICKS!" 

"War?! What war?!" Chirp yelled.

The little bug sighed in exasperation. "Do I really need to explain this to you?" She put a paw on her head. 

Chirp nodded her head wildly. "If there's a war going on I need to know about it." She said urgently. 

"Well I guess I can spare a few ticks to tell you the whole story. But after that, I'm LEAVING. Got that?" 

"Yes, I understand." Chirp put a paw to her chest and crossed it along her chest. "I cross my heart  and hope to die." 

"Okay, good." The little bug leaned in closer. "This story is awfully long. And some of the parts you may not understand. But I assure you, it's all true."