Looking into the creature's eyes before he nearly rocked its world and changed its perspective on life into concrete and dirt a few moments ago had reminded Wit of a specific organix trait.

He had skimmed through them in his days in the nest but didn't really understand most of what he was seeing when he selected each option. He wished that the Omnitrix would give a simple description rather than highlighting the respective organs, muscles, bones, and anything else on his body that the multiple organix use as a gateway for access.

Thinking back, Wit was pretty sure he survived that boiling sap pool at the heart of [Yggdrasil] due to his [exoBark] organix which when selected, highlights most of his body bones and all, he assumed it increased his overall durability. As interesting as that thought was to him, his current interest firmly lay in [hive].

When he selected [hive] it highlighted what Wit assumed was a second brain located in the base of his [exo] covered prehensile tail. It was connected to multiple nerve clusters located throughout the appendage, it was a freaky thing to look at but he found it very intriguing. He thought about the word hive, and what he knew it meant.

Looking at the now calm and somewhat curious-looking bug, Wit voiced his thoughts. “Hive, usually a reference to a bee's nest, urgo ‘beehive’. From what I remember it's a place where multiple worker insects follow the command of their singular leader.”

Tapping his chin and pacing in a tight circle he continued “So with that in mind, I can assume that [hive] has something to do with multiple bugs being controlled by the one in charge.”

Wit pursed his lips at the bug's non-answer. “Listen, number One my new friend, I'm not gonna apologize for what almost happened outside okay?

If it was the other way around you would have lasered me in half already, but luckily for both of us, it seems like you need some time to charge up. Now in the meantime, all we’re going to do is get a quick scan of your biology and possibly brainwash you a little. Nothing for you to be concerned about, my friend.”

Getting closer to the bug agitated it but the creature still allowed his slow approach, not like it had much of a choice with its head statically locked to the nucleus on the wall. Raising his right hand with the Omnitrix he pet the red helmet of the wispy creature, it curiously ran its antenna across his arm doing its own observations.

“Do your thing, Poindexter,” Wit said with excitement, touching a species of insect he’s never seen, heard or even dreamed of before. Though it’s not like he studied much about such things back in the day in the past Babel. Alas, he had only so much time previously in the tower and his tunnel vision focused on more technological pursuits.

Wit whistled a tune and shifted on his tiptoes while he waited for Poindexter to finish collecting his data. He also began testing his [hive] trait on the bug, not necessarily sure where to start—but knowing his arthropodic tail played a role he started there.

He brought the chitinous appendage over his shoulder and prodded the bug's head with his two feelers at the end of it. The bug was docile through the whole thing once it realized it wasn’t in any imminent danger, giving Wit ample time to do his experiments.

Feeling through his tail was an odd sensation of vibration that gave him a feeling of spatial awareness around himself. It was a barely perceived sense usually but when touching the bug directly it was like he could see more of the insect than what his eyes were showing.

It was weird and hard to explain, and Wit figured he could figure that stuff out later. Right now his instincts were somehow guiding him to the back of the bug's head underneath the red helmet. The rest of the bug's body began to squirm and it started clicking its mandibles rapidly but he held it down with his other hand, while his tail latched onto the back of its head.

Instinctively he squeezed the long chitinous muscle almost like flexing an arm, which then ejected a tiny needle directly into the creature's brain. All movement instantly stopped from the bug and his tail disengaged, trailing an almost invisible string connected to the insect.

Wit could feel some type of connection being formed between the two of them, but before he could make any observations Poindexter’s monotone voice alerted him of his completed scans.

“This species of bug is most closely related to the captured [Firefly] we have stored, a type of aerial beetle that uses its abdomen bioluminescent lights for communication and mating.”

Poindexter paused before continuing, making Wit feel like he was in for a Guide speech.

“Data from the [firefly] is being pulled from decrypted main memory cloud storage.”

“The [firefly] are part of a family of beetles with more than two thousand described species, many of which are light-emitting. They are soft-bodied beetles commonly called fireflies, lightning bugs, or glowworms for their conspicuous production of light, mainly during twilight, to attract mates. Light production is thought to have originated as an honest warning signal that the larvae were distasteful; this was co-opted in evolution as a mating signal in the adults.

“[Fireflies] are found in temperate and tropical climates. Many live in marshes or in wet, wooded areas where their larvae have abundant sources of food. While all known fireflies glow as larvae, only some species produce light in their adult stage, and the location of the light organ varies among species and between sexes of the same species.”

“Now the species of the one you just captured shares the majority of its genetic code to the [firefly] practically being a larger copy but as you've seen they do have quite a few additions to its genetic siblings, possibly due to its diet of [sapslugs] and [ambersnails] they have developed ways to process and utilize the high amounts of plasma energy located in the energy-rich creatures. They also..\”

Before Poindexter could continue Wit cut in. “Plasma again? So that's what that wispy energy beam was. Plasma being utilized in its raw form. Designate the name plasmawisp for these guys and save the rest for later. I think I just made some progress with the [hive] organix.”

That initial connection he made had grown more clear in the short time frame he wasn't paying attention to it. The now officially named [plasmawisp] was creepily quiet and still for a few minutes before resuming its normal docile behavior as if nothing happened. Wit wondered if he had it under his sway or not, only one way to find out.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

“Blink your light two times?” Wit tried.

Nothing happened, so he attempted a few more orders but nothing seemed to change with his many vocal attempts. What was he doing wrong? He went back to the connection they shared, he wondered if anything was coming from the [plasmawisps’] side of the newly formed bond that could shed some light on the problem.

Drifting his awareness to the literal back of his mind towards his second brain he eventually noticed that something was actually there, like a faint idea or concept echoing off the wire connecting the two; it was of curiosity, discomfort, and danger with the undercurrent of hunger maybe; he could surely relate.

It was like images and feelings were being mixed and translated into some form of recognition for his mind to grasp. Maybe that was how it worked both ways then.

He tried sending the feelings of safety and trust by conjuring up moments in his life when he felt the safest or when he felt like he could rely on someone. The notion of danger evaporated off the bug, to the point where it was visibly relaxed. Wit studied it to make sure it wasn't a trick but felt no real hostility from the wisp.

Wit smiled while petting the red helmet “You see, we’re friends, possibly even family now that I'm part bug just like you. So now that we have an understanding I'm gonna release you okay, and I don’t want any violence understood?”

Not waiting for a reply Wit unlocked the static hold and floated the nucleus back over to his shoulder, it was still glowing pretty bright from tanking all that plasma earlier. The wisp adjusted itself before crawling down the wall and to his side rubbing against his leg affectionately blinking its green lights in a slow rhythmic pattern.

Through the link, he could feel the safety and trust that he sent moments ago radiating back toward himself.

Wit happily got lost for the next hour playing and ordering around this admittedly cute wisp bug, he even figured out it takes around twenty minutes for it to recharge its plasma. The wisp took orders fairly easily if he made the idea and image clear enough, and while it did feel like brainwashing he didn't think the simple-minded creature cared too much.

Hunger and thirst were what eventually reminded him again that he needed to secure the basics before any more experiments, and he thought maybe with his new friend that the search might be a lot easier than previously anticipated. He sent the concept of water and thirst through the link, hoping that the wisp knew of a location to get a drink; everything needed water to survive, and that was a fact of life.

Without further prompting the bug started scuttling toward the exit, clicking its mandibles as if it was saying ‘Follow me.’

Having an escort alleviated some of his previous nerves on the idea of leaving his safety nook; though he's made a lot of progress here, it was time to leave it behind for good this time. The problem was his nucleus was glowing a bit too bright and he didn't want to draw any unnecessary attention to hungry wandering [plasmawisps].

Grabbing it with a squeeze he reabsorbed the sap and crystal core. Once the last drop entered his body Wit shuddered as tingling energy touched his every nerve and small warm rippling waves radiated from his heart. It probably only lasted a few seconds but damn did it feel good.

Blinking himself back into focus, he realized the wisp had already left. Shaking out his hands and rolling his shoulders he told himself he would figure out what that was all about later, he hurriedly followed behind the wisp into the dark. Luckily the bug hadn’t made it too far, —and Wit was on its heels in a few heartbeats.

He walked on all fours to stay as low as possible alongside the wisp, his head, and ears were on a swivel as he had to make sure he looked into every hidden corner and curving root arche. They navigated through the dense wreckage of the first floor, passing by multiple different-sized wisps that just waved their antenna in their direction curiously.

It seems that they were only interested in their natural food source, and otherwise, docile creatures as none prompted any attacks towards them.

The [ambersnails] were everywhere leaving their dim trails all over the first floor and Wit could see multiple wisps and [firefly] lights going off in different zones as the bugs roamed the area. Feeling less targeted allowed Wit to take in his surroundings with a more relaxed eye—allowing him to notice that they were actually following some faint trails themselves.

It was interesting how these seemingly random lines always started to converge toward his location; he figured he had the same goal as them to go higher up, forcing them both into alignment.

Trailing one of the many lines resulted in a minor electric jolt to his finger that made Wit wonder if the snails had a destination in mind for all this power or if this was just a random by-product of their slow journey through [Yggdrasil].

Gradually raising his head eventually showed all the lines racing up a wall at the far end of the room, which then led into a hole in the ceiling with sparse dilapidated scaffolding bridging across the entire ceiling. It took Wit a few seconds to connect the dots but he eventually realized he was looking at what used to be the elevator shaft with no elevator.

Fully engrossed in the destroyed path up, he hit his shin against something almost tripping over it.

Looking down had the young Omni gasping in horror. On the floor lay a dead [plasmawisp] hollowed out and covered in white mushrooms and green organic fuzz. Wit backed up and noticed that there was more than one carcass, there were mounds of them everywhere next to the elevator shaft, creating a lumpy fuzzy hill against its wall with the biggest mushrooms Wit has seen so far growing out of them.

The creepiest part was that their neon plasma bulbs still glowed even in death, making the mounds look more like lanterns than a burial sight.

It's like they just threw their dead down the hole in the ceiling, or at least Wit hoped they were dead before they were abandoned by their hive. Would really suck if this was how they got rid of the sick and weak. Looking at the wisp graveyard had him rethinking taking down his ‘dead-end’ sticker if he ever does find it, it ended up describing things to the letter.

Still, he finally felt like he had his bearings on where he was, he pet the first member of his [hive] One’s head in appreciation for guiding the way.

Through their, albeit forced connection he could interpret the ideas of trust and water echoing through the tether as they reached the wall side-stepping the burial mounds. The wisp started clicking its mandibles and flashing its light excitedly as it crawled in circles. The shell covering its wings opened and closed in anticipation.

“Someone’s confident huh? So far, so good little guy, but the job isn’t done yet. We need to keep going.” Wit said while trying to leave a sense of urgency in their connection.

The wisp didn’t hesitate to then open its wings fully and begin flying towards the second floor leaving Wit behind to play catchup.

The climb this time was a lot harder due to there being no tree roots he could easily grapple with his claws, only cracks and loose metal paneling he could wedge his fingers and toes into to help himself up. If it wasn't for his [physique] organix that enhanced his muscles and nervous system alongside his [nucleiamberius] to keep his energy reserves up, he didn't think he would’ve made it this far with no climbing training.

Even with all those organix boosting his performance, Wit still felt daunted at the continued climb; there was no pool of sap to catch his fall this time.

Only cold metal wreckage, broken concrete, and dead [plasmawisp] carapace waited with open arms down there, ready to hug him dead. He tried not to think about it too much, lest he make a mistake out of fear.

Shimming across a thin crimp on a metal panel with barely any foot holds tested the strength of his fingers and forearms like never before. He was reaching for a protruding rock further up when his keen senses picked up a cracking sound somewhere below his feet— with barely any time to adjust he threw the nucleus out and locked it to the wall as everything underneath him began to collapse.

“Oh flux!” He screamed as he fell with the debris.