I have a confession to make. I was a little afraid of those mandibles that the beetle had. So much so, that I, very carefully, pried the beetle free of the hole I’d locked it in, and made sure to grapple it when it was out.

It was already quite clear to me that my weight was more than they could handle, so when I had the beetle trapped underneath me, angrily snapping it’s pincers, I did the best thing I could think of.

I grabbed them by the base with my mouth, and snapped them off his head.

A loud high-pitched tone accompanied my actions, and after the deed was done, I managed to hook a claw under his the hard shell covering his wings, the elytra. I popped open the elytra covering of the beetle, and tore out the wings.

I actually felt a little bad about everything I’d done to him.

Then again, he did try to crush my lungs just because I slipped down a hill into his home.

Hey, I get that somebody bursting in your front door is kind of spooky, but do I pull out a katana, and go ham on the guy without a second thought?

Maybe.

But most likely, if that guy looked super confused, like he’d just fallen through the floor of the apartment above me, we’d have a discussion first.

A nice, calm discussion.

And nobody would try and kill the other person.

Then again, what can you expect from uncivilized insects like this?

So while he was now unable to fly, and unable to bite, I got off of him and crouched down to hide myself from him, letting let him walk around for a minute.

Your [Grapple] has leveled up. It is now level 2.

The beetle moved his elytra a couple times, seemingly not understanding that his wings were gone, before he started to walk around the cliff. He investigated the bodies of the other beetles for a minute, while I watched, then saw the light above us. As he started wandering towards the bridge instead of staying in the area, I sneaked up towards him, and kicked him back towards the wall.

You can’t leave. I’m not done with you.

While he regained his senses, I flipped him onto his back. Then I piled the other beetles on top of him, for good measure, in a dogpile.

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Yeah. You’ll probably be stuck like that for a while.

Then I squeezed my body back through the hole in the wall, towards the Dino Cave.

Danananananana!

I hustled down the cave once the opening was large enough for me to crouch, and sniffed around for the bitter smell of the medicine-covered leaf. Eventually, I felt, more than saw, a small opening in the wall, about the height of Frieda. I could smell the leaf there, and by dragging my hand along the wall, located the dip.

She has a shelf?

Following my nose, I located the leaf, and held it delicately in my mouth, turning back down the tunnel, and heading back towards the beetle.

Pulling myself out of the hole revealed that the beetle was well on his way to freeing himself, and he rocked back and forth on his shell, slowly sending the dead beetles slipping away. He actually almost flipping himself over before I arrived, with a foot on his chest.

I was quite lucky that his legs didn’t have enough inward reach to get to me, otherwise he might’ve hurt me with those hooked talons. I would’ve removed them, but I didn’t want to risk accidentally bleeding him out. The floor was already covered with a decent amount of his green blood, as it was.

I put the leaf down in front of him, and then quickly flipped him over, not letting him react with his legs. Then I watched as he investigated the leaf.

Did you enjoy the dogpile of your dead friends? Who am I kidding, of corpse you didn’t!

See? Humor can make the best of even the most gruesome circumstances!

…

Beetle? I mentally asked, as he moved his gaze from the leaf to me, the stubs of his mandibles moving open and closed.

Oh right. This guy had some crappy taste in food.

Then he looked back towards the ceiling, and I remembered that these guys were basically hypnotized by the light.

Well, if you won’t eat it...I thought as I scooped up the leaf in one of my clawed hands. Then you’ll have to ingest it another way!

I stepped on his back as he began to walk back towards the light, and slammed my hand towards his mouth, shoving the leaf firmly in.

I might’ve broken his nose or some beetle equivalent of it.

Eat!

The leaf went down the hole that I imagined was his mouth and, after some beetle-choking sounds, it disappeared.

That’s probably as close as I’ll get.

I watched the bleeding beetle back, noting it was already bleeding less than before. Either my force-medicine worked, or he was healing naturally.

Both options worked for me.

I grappled the beetle once again, awkward as it was to do with my hands, and sort of drag-carried him back to the hole. As I entered backwards, which is a lot more awkward than you might think, I plugged up the exit with his exit.

Heh.

Now he’d be trapped for me to come back and play more with, and nothing could come through the other side if it had been planning on it.

One of those bees probably could’ve fit through the hole with ease, if they wanted to.

I made my way back to the front of the cave, noticing that the outside world was still dark.

But man was I exhausted. That physical exercise had left me quite tired. It was probably time for me to sleep, anyway, and hopefully I wouldn’t mess up my day-night cycle.

After all, I needed to keep an eye on the watering hole during the day for when Rex came back.

I wonder what he’s up to now.