'What If...' No. 1

Chapter 8 - Round Em' Up!

Once I made it to Floofty, I opened my back and carefully took out the Cinnasnail. Floofty looked at me and the Bugsnax before picking it up and examining it. "It appears you are not completely incapable of completing a task." I was quite confused whether this was meant to be an insult or a compliment, so I just smiled a bit.

As I took all the things out of my bag to clean up the Cinnasnail's trail, Floofty took out a glass box with some holes and carefully placed the Cinnasnail inside. They then put the lid down on it and placed the box onto an empty table. "Next time," Floofty began, not even looking at me, "Bring back more than one. You still have approximately 2 hours left before you will lose the daylight, so I would recommend using that to catch a couple more Bugsnax."

"How do you expect me to catch more Bugsnax? Most of them take hours to catch!" I said with a hint of annoyance. "Simple." They said, walking over to a table covered in glass bottles with slightly torn and faded labels on them, "There is still some Bugsnax living in Gramble's barn. Since those ones are already caught and seem to be enjoying the comfort of the barn, simply take them and bring them back here." I nodded my head slowly as I walked towards Grambles's barn.

The inside had a nice and comforting feeling to it, with bits of hay scattered across the floor, wooden pens against the walls, the grassy outside area surrounded by fence and the stairs leading up to Gramble's room. I looked in each of the pens, and sure enough, Floofty was right... Again. I simply opened my bag, walked to each of the pens, and picked up the Bugsnax inside of them.

As I walked back over to Floofty, I kept looking down at the Bugsnax I had in my bag- a Flamin' Cheepoof, a pair of Grapeskeetos, a BBQ Bunger and a Kweeble. Placing my bag down onto an empty space on the table, they looked inside, seeming very slightly impressed. "Much better." Floofty said, picking up the Cheepoof and placing it into another glass box, "However, you will need to gather up a variety of different Snax, and it most certainly will not be as easy of a task as it was right now."

"Yeah. I know." I said, sounding a bit annoyed. "I'll get you some others." The table now had five glass boxes on it with the Bugsnax inside, almost all of the space was gone. "Good. Until then, your incompetent presence is no longer needed." Annoyed, I walked away, adding a slight stomp to my walk to emphasise my attitude towards Floofty, who seemed either to not notice or just didn't care.

I made it back into my house and sighed. "That Grumpus really gets on my nerves." I thought, laying down on my bed. I stared up at the ceiling as I closed my eyes. Something nuzzled into me, so I stroked it, before realising there was something there. I quickly opened my eyes and sat up with speed. There was a small thud and I realised that I had just flung off whatever it was that was on the bed. I looked over the end he and saw that it was a small Bugsnax, with a brown layer of skin and a green, seedy inside, with its nose being a spoon that stuck out the front of its... face?

I picked up the Kweeble and stared into its small eyes. This was the Kweeble from the barn, which must have hid itself in my bag. But then again, who wouldn't hide if Floofty was gonna do some research on them? "Sorry about that." I said, patting it before placing down on the floor, "You can go home now." The Kweeble just stared at me, bobbing from side to side. I then picked it up, walked outside of my house and placed it on the floor, waving it off. But the Kweeble continued to stare. I sighed.

"Fine." I said, walking back into my house, "Stay there for all I care." I laid back down in my bed, and stared at the ceiling for a moment. Eventually, I closed my eyes. Laying there with my eyes closed, I didn't think about anything at all. It took a while, but i drifted off, falling into the realm of sleep.

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Walking through the lush green grass, I gaze around at the strange creatures surrounding me - Bugsnax. Sweetiflies hovered in the air. Bungers bounced up and down as they trodded along. On the ground in front of me, was something unique and indescribable, the mystery I was looking for. I quickly leaned down and picked it up, holding it in a closed hand.

Smiling, I went to open my hand, only to have a swarm of Bugsnax surrounded me, closing in on me like predators. Quickly, I fled, running as fast as my legs would take me. I kept on running until I reached the edge of a cliff. I didn't have time to stop and I fell off the edge. I fell for a moment, and I was about to hit the floor...

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I shot up, my heart racing. I always hated dreams where you felt like you were falling, but this was at another level. As I slowly began to calm down, I felt something in my lap. I looked down and sighed at what I saw. It was the Kweeble again. "Why won't you leave me alone?!" I groaned, looking up at the ceiling. The Kweeble just stared, bobbing from side to side.

Moving the Kweeble off of my lap, I stood up. I picked up my bag and the Kweeble quickly jumped into it, and I sighed. "If you're gonna follow me everywhere, don't go in the bag." I took the bag off, and picked the Kweeble up out of it. It stared at me. "Look, I'll put you in my pocket, ok? I'm sure it'll be much more comfortable in there." I placed the Kweeble in my pocket and began to walk out of my house.

Looking up into the sky, I stared into the white dots flickering in the darkness of night. It was late, but I didn't feel like sleeping. Walking out of Snaxburg, I walked into the desert known as Scorched Gorge. There was some Cheepoofs fluttering in the air and some Popticks shuffled about. I checked on the Kweeble before walking around, ready to catch any Bugsnax that I could.

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After what seemed like hours, I had a variety of Bugsnax sitting in my bag. There was mainly Ribblepedes, Popticks and Cheepoofs, but I did catch a BBQ Bunger and a Spuddy too. Catching the Shy Weenyworm was quite hard, but a bit of ketchup did the trick. I stayed far away from the Scorpenyo though, I wasn't in the mood to be set on fire whilst trying to catch it.

With the Bugsnax in my bag, I went back into Snaxburg, thinking to myself, "I'll give these to Floofty later. At least then they won't get on my case about not having enough specimens." Once I made it back into my house, the Kweeble jumped out of my pocket and walked around. I sat down on my bed, took out my journal and wrote in it,

"The search so far has been unlucky, with all trails leading to dead ends and all clues being useless. This trip hasn't been that useful at all, especially with Floofty sneaking aboard and then having the audacity to get me to round Bugsnax up for them to study! Hopefully, I will find something before I run out of food, I only have a day's supply left, so I better find a clue soon."

Once I finished writing, a thought came to my head, "If I have been eating all the food to survive, then what has Floofty been eating?..." Before I could put all the pieces together, the Kweeble came running back in, a triangular key on its back. The key came from Broken Tooth- the island with the giant Bugsnax. I picked up the key and stared at it.

I continued to stare, but then an idea came to me, and I smiled. Looking at the Kweeble, I spoke, "I think you've just found me a lead little one." Picking up the Kweeble. "If you're gonna be staying with me, I should at least give you a name huh?" I stared at the Kweeble and the Kweeble stared at me. After a moment, an idea came to me.

"How about I call you Key? It's simple, but you did bring me that key after all." I smiled at the Kweeble, now named Key by me. "Well, I'll just say you agree with me." I stood up, holding the triangle key in my hand. "Now we've just got to figure out where this leads, and I'm sure it will lead us straight to that mystery I've been looking for."

Walking out of my house with Key in my pocket, I began hoping the story would be worth writing. There is something somewhere, and I will find it. This story is what I have been preparing for, and this moment isn't one I will miss. I continued walking, staring at the triangle key as I left Snaxburg, ready to search this island from head to toe.