Disclaimer: I don't own The Ant Bully or any of its characters.
Senya, a young female ant, took a breath before leaving towards the organized horde of wasps. If you're an ant, it takes a lot of guts to come near one of these giant, and lethal, insects. In her hands was a pudgy green larva called a Silk-Shooter. This was her weapon against the terrible Cloud Breather that threatens her entire colony.
Pausing every other step or two, she looked for a wasp that she could ride. It wasn't easy for her. Every time she gathered the courage to approach one, it would look at her with those huge green eyes. She would back away and rush off to find another...Only for the cycle to repeat itself. They just looked so intimidating with their shiny blue and purple, almost metallic shell and orange wings...not to mention the stinger on the end of their abdomens.
Her reactions to them was starting to become a ritual that went on for a bit until she was close to giving up. Maybe she should just go into the anthill and wait the whole situation out. She was about to leave when a wasp suddenly landed in front of her, not noticing the smaller bug. Startled, Senya jumped back and bumped into another wasp.
"Hey, watch it!" it exclaimed indignantly in its deep voice with an almost New Jersey-like accent, twitching its wings. The ant immediatly turned to face him.
"Oops. Sorry." she apologized, backing away. The wasp cocked his head one way, then another...crouching like he was about to pounce on her. However, he didn't.
"Need a ride?" he asked, narrowing his eyes. Despite the fact that that was exactly what she was looking for in the first place, she shook her head.
"Nah, I was about to leave anyway..." she replied almost nervously, turning away. The wasp would've grinned...
"Nonsense."
Before she knew it, Senya felt herself being thrown into the air and she landed in a comfortable sitting position on the other insect's back. "Whoa, okay..." was the only thing that left her mouth. Finding no other choice, as the wasp isn't likely to let her off, she climbed onto his head. She held her larva weapon in one hand and took the wasp's antennae in the other. She then settled back on his thorax, still holding tight to the antennae...
The larger bug flinched. "Loosen up a bit, those are sensitive, you know." Senya's face took up a sheepish expression.
"Right..."
The wasp grunted in relief as her grip grew more gentle. He turned his head to a higher platform where the leader of his group was, waiting for orders. He saw one of his fellow wasps begin to thrash around. The ant on it was holding on too tightly...Of course, the ant didn't know this and only complained, saying that he wants to switch since his was 'broken'.
"Alright boys!" He heard from his leader. He braced himself. "Heat em up!"
Senya startled when her wasp buzzed his wings in preparation for take-off. She gave a sigh, not sure if she's ready for this.
"Can I get off?" she mumbled to herself softly. She was surprised when the wasp answered.
"No." He chuckled, and at an order, took to the air with the rest of the army. Flying over the anthill, Senya looked down at the crowd of ground-bound insects. This could be the last time saw her colony. She would've waved goodbye had her hands not been full.
Her carrier looked at the ant colony as well. This is the first time they were cheering him and his fellows on. He was used to them either running in terror or trying to fight back. This was, undoubtedly, a pleasant, if not unusual, change. Again, he would've smiled if he could.
Up ahead was the Cloud Breather.
"Is there a chance for us to change our minds and go back home?" Senya asked as the giant human sprayed out his deadly black clouds.
"No, little ant. It's too late for that." Her partner said, flying above the cloud. Senya looked at the Cloud Breather, gasping as wasps and their ant riders, engulfed in the cloud, dropped to the ground, dead. "It's alright, kid. We all die someday..."
Is he crazy...Am I crazy? Senya thought to herself. She couldn't believe that she was here. What possessed her to go along with this anyhow? There was no way they could beat him...No way...
"I don't think we can do this..." she moaned as more insects fell. Her wasp twitched his stinger. He was a little anxious too, but he wasn't going to back off so easily.
"Yes we can. We just have to find a weak spot..." Senya hesitated, trying to feel confident, but failing miserably.
"In case we don't get out of this alive, my name's Senya." At first, the wasp hovered silently, as if deep in thought.
"Ace." he said, returning the favor. Then, he himself took a deep breath. "Well, here goes nothing..."
He zoomed to the towering creature from behind, landing on the red covering. Without hesitation, he stabbed his stinger into the fabric...but there was no reaction. He tried again and again, but nothing came out of it.
"It's useless, he's covered in a barrier." Senya pointed out. Ace cursed in a wasp language before walking forward a little and trying again. That didn't work either.
"We'll look for a way in." he strategized. He crawled further up the Cloud Breather, looking for some point of weakness. Suddenly, the giant human grabbed his wings between his thumb and finger. Ace cried out in agony and struggled to free himself from the painful grip, making failed attempts to sting him.
"Oh, I'm poor little bug." The Cloud Breater taunted in a babyish voice. "Help me. Help me. I can't defend myself against the big scary human."
Senya squirted the finger with her larva's thread, but it did no good. Defenseless, she and Ace was flicked away. Senya hung on tightly, trying not to scream as they neared the ground. Ace attempted to fly, but his wings were too horribly damaged. They collided with the dirt, skidding and rolling, the impact separating the two.
Upon coming to a rest, both were motionless, Senya laying on her front, Ace on his side. Around them, other insects from aphids to beetles were fleeing. Senya groaned as she recovered enough to wake up from her semi-unconscious state.
"Ow..." she grunted, rubbing her head. She was definitely going to feel this in the morning...if she lived that long. She glanced around for her lost larva and saw it inch-worming away with the rest of the fleeing insects. "...Typical..."
There was a cough nearby and she looked over to see Ace, wings visibly crippled. She made an effort to stand, but felt a horrible pain on three of her four legs. The fall must have broken her limbs. Using her arms and one useful leg to pull herself along, she settled beside her wasp comrade.
"Well Ace...I guess it comes down to this..." she mumbled. She could hear her companion's heavy, labored breathing. His antenna twitched as did an injured wing. Almost shaking with the strain, he looked over at the smaller bug.
"...You're okay...for an ant..." he muttered. Senya managed a smile.
"...And you're pretty nice...for a wasp..." she returned. Ace opened and closed his pincer-like jaws, as if to say something else. However he only let out another cough and started to go into an insect fetal position, drawing his legs to his thorax and curling in his abdomen.
Senya said nothing. She knew what the position meant. Ants also took up the same posture for the same reason...in preparation for death. She struggled to follow his example, ignoring her pain in doing so. To her mild surprise, Ace spoke again.
"I'm sorry...for everything we wasps did...I'm sorry for stealing your colony's caterpillars...We had no right..."
"It's okay...You had to eat something, I guess..." she attempted to bring some comfort. Ace forced himself to disagree by shaking his head.
"No...We didn't have to do what we did...There's plenty of other bugs here..." He hesitated. "...I guess not anymore..." He gave another cough and went on with his list of apologies. "...And I'm sorry for dragging you to a fate like this...It's just..."
When he trailed off, Senya looked up at him, waiting for him to continue.
"It's just...I always dreamed I'll die with a friend..." He paused for a moment, thinking for one last thing to say. He wasn't exactly sure whether his dream came true or not. After all, wasps and ants were natural enemies...but yet, here he was...When it came down to it, he figured- "And I did."
Senya smiled. "Me too..." When she got no response, she became concerned. "Ace?" Nothing. She knew the wasp was dead, but she couldn't believe it yet. She never figured that a life could end so soon...right in front of her. And as a black cloud from the Cloud Breather's machine rapidly approached, she knew it would be her turn.
She pressed herself tighter against the motionless insect, closing her eyes and lowering her antennae. "...Me too..." Then, cold silence as the cloud engulfed her.
I just watched The Ant Bully just yesterday for the first time. And I knew almost immediately what would be my favorite characters: The Wasps! They look and act quite menacing, and that's what I love. With this fic, I figured I'll reveal a bit of a softer side to them. And what's a better way to do that than with on of my fav genres: Angst...Please Review and tell me what's what...