Panic tried to bloom in his chest attempting to overtake Wit's mind as he fell a few dozen feet alongside the debris down to the unforgiving ground.

Luckily right before he fell he pulled out his plan ‘B’ in case this exact thing happened. He knew this climb looked shaky as flux, but he had no other choice.

Desperately reaching out his hand he felt through the static force for his anchor point—feeling its solidity he grabbed it with a clenched fist; flaring the encrusted amber in his [exoBark] in the process.

His momentum instantly halted, giving him whiplash and almost yanking his arm out of the socket. Right below him, everything crashed making the loudest and most uncomfortable screeching noise Wit has ever heard.

With a yelp, he hung there in midair with a sore arm, and a frazzled headache pounding against his skull; he couldn’t keep this up much longer. He gradually loosened his firm, life-saving telekinetic grip on the static-locked nucleus, which allowed him to slowly descend back down on top of one of the giant mushroom caps.

Waving back the dust cloud with his other hand, he unlocked the nucleus and floated it to his shoulder while taking a breather on the soft springy organism while looking at the destruction around him.

The adrenaline from another near-death situation was still kicking through his system and Wit found that he kinda liked it. Something about that rush made everything more real, richer, more visceral; he couldn’t put his finger on what it was exactly but he thought he could get used to that dangerous feeling.

His link with the wisp showed that it hasn’t stopped its ascent toward the water, he debated if he should recall the creature to his side but dismissed the thought— he still needed to get up there somehow. Keeping his eyes and ears out for any predators that might have been attracted to the noise, he paced around the wall trying to figure out how he was gonna climb it.

Like a literal light bulb moment, the idea came to him when he looked at the glowing booger ball floating next to his head. Maybe if he held onto it in his hand, he could latch and unlatch it while he was making his way up, a surefire way to stay stuck to the wall. Without further thought, he grabbed the nucleus and tested it out.

“Of course, it’s that simple, I couldn’t have thought of this five minutes ago?” Wit berated himself with a displeased flick of his ears, though he was quite happy with the quick solution.

Not wasting any more time, and not wanting to be too far behind the wisp he started climbing again; this time with a sure grip due to the sticky sap. The climb seemed trivial at that point allowing him to reach the spot he fell in no time at all. He really lucked out when he encountered the phenomenon hidden away in the crystal amber, though in return he was almost burned to death in order to receive its adaption,

He shivered at the trauma that those memories invoked, remembering the feeling of his fur and skin being boiled off in what he wished he could say was unimaginable pain but now he could easily imagine it. Though oddly enough he found that it didn’t bother him all that much, it happened and Wit was one to never dwell on things that didn't help, at this point he figured it was a no pain no gain type of world; he just needed to adapt faster.

He was only distracted by his thoughts for what had to be less than a minute, but before he knew it he heard the flutter of wings right behind him. Urgently looking back he noticed one of the bigger [plasmawisp]’s was hovering in his direction, attracted to the sweet-smelling sap he's been using to climb no doubt.

Wit wasn't going to give it the chance to get the drop on him though, not again.

Quickly finding a few secure holds for his hands and feet, he then controlled the nucleus towards the large wisp— instantly grabbing its attention in the process. The wisp predictably took the bait, and with a clack of its mandibles increased its speed, clearly excited by the prospects of getting an easy meal. Keeping the ball steady, Wit waited for just the right moment.

The Wisps’ layered glowing end was charging with its characteristic neon green light and the familiar humming noise associated with its attack as it raced toward its goal. It flew like it was going to tackle the orb headfirst, but at the last second the wisp swooped up with an intimidating flare and beat its wings rapidly as it hovered in place over its opposed prey right before beaming the orb with a bright squirmy line of plasma.

Just like his first experience, the energy beam circled the orb twice before being absorbed. After a few seconds of bug butt booty energy, the amber core’s lumens steadily rose, and from this high up it illuminated some of the ancient scaffolding practically floating in the sky a distance away.

All connected to the center platformed pillar that Wit went through his rebirth evolution decision thirty-four years ago.

He somewhat recognized the broken platform covered in roots and plants that can only survive in the dark. If he squinted he could even make out some of the Grand Rubix squares hanging high above the pillar. He wanted to get a closer look, but he shook the thought and refocused on his current wisp problem at hand.

The plasma beam tampered out shortly after its release and the wisp looked delighted to dive in for a taste of hot amber. Wit’s logic was, if it worked once, it’ll probably work again. Twitching his finger and adjusting the poles had the orb zooming back in his direction, the large wisp didn't even question it and followed.

Are bugs really that dumb? Wit couldn’t help but ask himself as he sharply banked the orb to the left confusing the wisp before sweeping it under its jaw and latching it on with a static lock.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Before the wisp could realize something was amiss, Wit dragged the large creature toward the wall a foot away from him.

Like its smaller sibling, the bug scrambled around in confusion and panic, not being able to move its head in any direction. It tried to fly itself off the wall but did nothing but tire itself out, it kept blinking its lights and clicking its mandibles all the while not noticing Wit who was to its left and slightly down; seemingly in its blind spot.

When Wit took control of the first wisp not too long ago, one of the first questions that popped up in his head was, I wonder if there’s a limit to how many I can control?

Waiting for the creature to finally calm down, he silently snaked his chitinous tail toward the wisp's head. His [exo] tail hovered there poised, Wit could almost taste the tension that was building from the sneak attack. All at once he quickly forced his way under its red helmet and latched onto the back of its head— flexing the appendage released another needle that dug its way deep into the wisp's brain.

It didn't even have the chance to resist before all of its motor functions went still.

“It worked!” Wit exclaimed, already feeling the connection in the back of his mind being formed.

This wisp had the same general pesky feelings towards him as the other one did at first, such as confusion, danger, and fear. Wit began to smother those emotions with ideas of trust and protection, watching the bug visibly relax in the process. When he felt like he and the impressive specimen of a [plasmawisp] had a clear understanding he released the nucleus holding it in place.

The bug's behavior did a whole one-eighty, it began circling him multiple times on the wall before standing eerily still right next to him. Through the connection, he could feel the idea of protection ringing off the wire. Smirking at his new bodyguard he got back to the climb.

“Alright number Two, your brother ‘One’ is showing us the way towards the water. Your job is gonna be to protect me, but you already know that. I'm just saying it out loud so the point sticks and who knows, if you do a good job, you might have the honor of being called number One in the future. How does that sound eh?” Wit said with a continued smirk, happy to have a new member on the team.

Finally making it to the hole in the ceiling that led to the second floor he entered the dim tunnel with his personal handheld light bulb pushing away the darkness. The space was wide, damp, and airy, there were no [ambersnails] that he could see nearby but their remnant trails covered in green fuzz and mushrooms were all over the tunnel. His new companion stayed by his side as he slowly made his way up the long quiet expanse.

Wit remembered going down this dilapidated rundown elevator shaft what felt like days ago to him, with high hopes coupled with a bundle of nerves and jitters. It was surreal for him to be climbing it back up like this, with the power to magnetically control amber and the ability to take over the minds of insects.

Things were moving in a direction he never imagined, but he couldn’t deny that he was enjoying the unique experience.

It was suspicious how much damage the tower had gone through in his time away during gestation, almost like it was attacked at one point rather than abandoned. Then again these wisps were pretty destructive, who knows what other types of creatures have been through here in the last thirty-four years, breaking everything in their passing. Wit was just happy they didn’t break anything keeping him alive.

As he climbed higher and higher his thoughts drifting from one topic to another he realized the air had a different feel to it, prompting him to raise his nose and give the place a deep sniff; it smelt purer almost.

Guessing that he was getting closer to his destination reinvigorated the young [Omni], but still, he took his time. Which gave him the opportunity to get a closer look at the fuzzy plant that grew in line with the amber sap as he climbed. He hadn't really paid it much mind until now but looking at it this close up made him feel giddy.

In a sense, this and the mushrooms were the first real plant life he's ever seen in person. Wit wasn't sure why it took him so long to make that realization.

He couldn’t count that fabricated park on the thirteenth floor, or any of the visuals in the sandbox. But this little green fuzz was from the outside, something with true life. They grew in patches throughout the shaft but only on the amber lines, they seemed like regular green plants at first but touching it proved otherwise— not only did it shock him, the whole line lit up from top to bottom.

“That’s odd, why is just reacting to my touch? Run an analysis Dex.” Wit said flexing out two claws, he bore the brief jolt of electricity to gather a sample to feed into the Omnitrix.

With Poindexter on the task to identify the plant he kept his focus on climbing, noticing how the green fuzzy patches became fully straight lines reminiscent of a computer circuit the higher he went. He tried to avoid them as much as he could so he wouldn’t get electrocuted but it got to the point where they lined every corner.

Looking over at Wisp Two to see if he was alright, showed the bug actually enjoying the electric shocks tingling its carapace and hairy insectoid legs; checking through their link all but confirmed it.

Wit supposed the shocks didn’t hurt that much and he should be able to tolerate that level of discomfort for a while due to his [nucleiamberus] organix, and luckily he didn't have to worry about losing his grip with his static lock. There was also no option on the table for going down.

After successfully convincing himself, he began to move again. Carefully placing the handheld nucleus on a fuzzy line with the secret hope that it would absorb the energy as it did with the wisps plasma, but was immediately proven wrong as something completely unexpected happened.

The orb of sap in his hand was magnetically forced into alignment by the strong electric current running through the fuzz.

Then without his control or direction, he was forcefully dragged directly up at a speedy clip, hauling his lanky form from his safe holds on the wall and practically giving him whiplash from the instant jerking motion.

“Ahhhhhahahaha!” Wit's initial panicked scream turned into an unhinged laugh as he rushed up the tunnel, jerking left and right between circuit lines going faster and faster. The adrenaline flooded his system as he was forced to rise at a breakneck speed with zero control— it made Wit feel once again, truly alive.

But Wit learned his lesson in the air vents, he couldn’t allow his excitement to overtake his logic. He knew if this continued there was no way this would end without him being a stain on the wall. The tunnel was racing past him, becoming brighter and brighter the closer he got to what should be the second floor.