Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from A Bug's Life or Let's Go Jungle!: Lost on the Island of Spice. They belong to Disney Pixar and Sega respectively.
Prologue: New Hope
Flik gazed over the edge of Ant Island, gazing nostalgically at the gorge he sailed across by a dandelion seed, marking the first leg of his journey to the big city, as well as saving the entire colony from the evil grasshoppers. Granted this took place several months ago, but the memories of the friends he made, the emancipation of his brethren and the starting of his relationship with his wife always gave him a warm fuzzy feeling that no dew or sap could provide. He smiled; what more could an ant ask for?
He headed back to the nest, ready for another day's work. As Atta's right hand ant and head engineer of the colony, Flik had a lot of duties to attend to. He met up with Queen Atta on the top of the hill, where she was overlooking her busy subjects working their butts off for the colony.
Atta smiled at Flik. "Ready to start working yet, you lazy bum?"
Flik pretended to be hurt by the remark. "I got the harvesters fixed yesterday… Don't you think I deserve a little break?"
They smiled at each other. Their hands met. "Things can't get any better."
"Yeah," replied Atta.
The sound of an explosion ripped through the air above them. Every insect on the island froze. A few weak hearted ones collapsed on the spot.
Flik instinctively grabbed his wife close to him.
A second explosion, nearer to them this time, blew half the colony right off the island. Flik and Atta managed to hold on to a blade of grass, watching helplessly as the other ants flew past them, screaming to their deaths. To Atta's horror, Dot was one of the unlucky ones caused in the gale. Her eyes widened in horror as her sister was swept into oblivion, the screams lost in the noise.
The explosions were now constantly set off, beating deafeningly into the ground. Bangs and booms echoed around - the footsteps of giants. Towering flames surrounded the survivors, preventing any form of escape. Disorientation set in as the hundredth explosion overloaded Flik's senses, but he fought it, if only to try and save the one he loved most in the world.
Struggling, he turned to Atta, who was also fighting unconsciousness. With the last breaths he will ever take, he managed to whisper, "Atta…"
The queen of the now destroyed colony could not answer, but gazed into his eyes longingly.
"I love you."
Atta smiled tearfully. It was all the response he needed.
A bomb landed directly in the middle of the island, killing the pair instantly.
Ant Island, as it is known to its insect inhabitants, happened to be a small island on a rather larger island. As such, the onslaught that destroyed Ant Island was a fraction of the damage experienced by the whole land mass. On the other side, several days later, a circus troupe slowly wandered out of the cave it hid in when the first explosions started. The wreckage they saw stopped them in their tracks, leaving them silent from several moments. Smoke still billowed from the destruction. A void of life choked the atmosphere. Death was in the air.
Manny was first to speak. "What in Houdini's name happened here?" muttered the praying mantis.
"It looks like a plague of locusts hit us," said Slim. The stick insect said no more.
Manny's gypsy moth wife sobbed gently. Heimlich let out a sigh and daintily fainted. Francis and Rosie were still lost for words, while Molt wailed for his dead brother. Dim, the aptly named rhinoceros beetle, blurted out, "Where's the food?"
It was a reasonable question for once. The destruction had rendered all food sources nonexistent. Survival was now a priority, and their options were limited. They had to act quickly.
"Let's go," P.T. Flea said, and the group walked out into the open.
And so, the circus troupe trudged across the island, searching for food and survivors (sometimes they were the same thing). Most of the vegetation had been wiped out, and the animal life was left scarce. Fish and frog corpses floated in the river. Even insects that had tried to burrow to safety were annihilated by the explosions; they had effectively dug their own graves. It was a miracle that the circus had survived the carnage.
Several weeks passed. The party of survivors trudged on, but it seemed inevitable that their demise was near. While the carnivorous bugs controlled themselves from eating their friends, eventually the desire to survive would take over. Then it would be every insect for him/herself.
It was quiet as usual. Clouds shaded the area from the sun, creating an even more depressing mood. No one had spoken for days. Hope was but a passing dream.
Suddenly, Tuck and Roll the pill bugs cocked their heads up. They sniffed the air.
"What's wrong?" enquired Manny. He knew the twins had a sixth sense, which was what allowed them to escape death in the first place.
Smiles crept upon the faces of the weary pill bugs.
A green mist floated down upon them. The group stared up, entranced. The mist floated down slowly, its movements graceful like the aurora. It contacted the ground and the insects, and they winced in surprise. A few of them prayed it was poison, a respite from their life of misery.
An instantaneous jolt of power shot through the troupe like electricity. It was as if God's hands themselves blessed every creature that touched the mist with omnipotence. The invigoration swept through every limb, wing and mind of our heroes, their pain washed away, their tiredness forgotten. Life began anew as the mist continued its path further and further away, bringing the survivors back from the darkness into the warm light.
The clouds parted, revealing a sunny sky. Hope had returned to the Island of Spice.