After walking for pretty much the entire day, the trio found themselves walking in nightfall by a trailer. Sora and Steven panted from exhaustion, but Flik was too full of energy. "How much farther, Flik?" Sora wheezed.

"Don't worry, guys," assured Flik. "We're getting close. I can feel it!"

"That's what you said while the sun was still up." groaned Steven.

"Trust me, we're almost there. But remember, try to blend in and don't attract attention." Flik said. "From what I've heard, the city is a dangerous place."

"Pfft! No problem!" snickered Steven. "Nothing's going to happen."

A large object dropped from above and landed on Steven. "Why'd I have to say something?" He pushed the object off with great difficulty. To his shock, it was a dead fly. He looked above to see a glowing bug zapper with a blue aura from the light.

After kicking the dead fly aside, they headed under the trailer. Nothing would prepare them for what they were about to see. Several tin cans and cardboard boxes were arranged in unimaginable fashions. So much that they actually resembled buildings. "Wow," murmured Flik. "The city!"

It wasn't the glamour it seemed to be, though. After a few seconds of marvel, they were caught in traffic and struggled to get to the sidewalk without getting run over by the taxi-bugs. Flik quickly struggled through the crowd until he saw a familiar form of a dead fly launched out of one of the buildings. A wasp buzzed. "And stay out!" The fly's wings vibrated once more before it went still.

They headed inside and split up, looking for tough bugs to help them out. After at least an hour, they regrouped by the counter. Flik's gear was now absent for no apparent reason. "Any luck, guys?" asked Flik.

Sora shook his head. "I found a pretty tough-looking mosquito, but he didn't even notice me. Then he ordered a Bloody-Mary and chugged it. Passed out right after." Sora looked to his companion. "What about you, Steven?"

"My luck's as good as yours," replied Steven. "I walked up to an intimidating looking centipede. But when it turned around, I saw that it was a woman. She gave me a pretty harsh look and...that's all I remember. I woke up leaning over a table, disoriented and in pain."

Flik sighed. "Well guys, we tried and we couldn't find anybody. Let's just go home and-"

"What?" said a bewildered Sora. "We can't give up. Me and Steven can't defend the colony by ourselves, Flik!"

"We can't?" said Steven, his face ridden with confusion. "I'll take them, no problem!"

Before the argument could progress further, a shout was heard from across the room. A ladybug wearing a leaf cap similiar to Flik's yelled across the bar to some flies that were apparently exiting. "Come back, cowards! Face worthy foes!"

Flik's face lit up immediately. "Warrior bugs!"

The ladybug, who actually sounded like a guy, pulled out a long object. "My sword!"

He held no sword, however. It was just a stick bug that monotoned. "Swish, swish. Clang, clang."

A fat, green caterpillar joined in the fight, holding a toothpick. Everybody quickly backed out of the bar, pushing the trio out of view. Flik attempted to make his way through the crowd. "Excuse me? I need to get through!"

All of a sudden, the can creaked, and then tipped off of its position and started rolling away. The trio frantically followed it as it rolled. To their relief, the can crashed into a wooden post before too long.

They peeked into the can to see every bug involved in the fight, except the flies, still standing. There were nine bugs. The ladybug, stick, and caterpillar they'd seen fighting before, and there was also an incredibly beautiful butterfly, a wise-looking praying mantis, two pill-bugs, a black widow spider, and a large, blue Hercules beetle. From outside, a light shone upon them. This……was a sign.

"You're perfect!"

The bugs turned to see Flik dropping to his knees and bowing. "Oh, great ones! Me and my companions have been looking for bugs with your exact talents!"

The butterfly murmured to the group. "Ooh, a talent scout." The bugs eagerly leaned in to hear more. "Our colony is in trouble. A gang of grasshoppers is coming and we're being forced to prepare a lot of food!"

The group's eyes lit up. "Dinner theatre!" said the praying mantis.

"Is there really food?" said the caterpillar in a heavy accent.

Sora put his hands together in a sort of begging pose. "You gotta help us!"

Steven followed suit. "Pleeeeeaaase?"

The bugs looked behind them and eyed the unconcious forms of the flies. After a few more seconds, they began to stir. Their blood froze for a second. The stick bug cried out "We'll take the job!"

Before they knew what happened, they were all pushed outside. The pill bugs, Tuck and Roll, Rosie, the black widow, and Flik rode on Dim, the beetle, who carried the caterpillar, Heimlich. Francis, the ladybug, carried Slim, the stick bug.

Sora and Steven eyed the arrangement with confused expressions. "Something wrong?" asked Francis.

Steven surveyed the current transportation circumstances. "Um, I don't see any room for us."

"No problem," said Rosie. She climbed off of Dim and quickly spun a couple of nets in the back for Sora and Steven, tying them around the giant beetle's hind legs. "Wow," marveled Sora. "Thanks."

Rosie smiled. "You're welcome." Steven nervously climbed into his net. "See? Even if you lose your balance, the web will stick and you won't fall out." As she spoke, Steven immediately felt the effect of the sticking lock him in.

"That's genius!" Steven said. After a second or so, a disturbing thought entered his head. "Uh.....you're not gonna eat us, right?"

Rosie laughed. "Honey, it's usually not a good idea to eat a client. Besides, ants are way too salty."

"Uh...thanks." mumbled Steven. He didn't know whether to be relieved or offended by that comment.

"Hold on, ants." rumbled Dim. His wings immediately started up, vibrating at tons of beats per second.

On the way there, they found out a bit about the bugs. "So Francis, you're a ladybug.....but you're a guy?"

Francis gave a small glare at Sora, who winced. "Sorry." Francis shrugged it off. "It's alright. I'm used to it. All my life, people think being a ladybug automatically makes me girl." Then he smiled, almost evilly. "But here's the problem with that theory; how would we reproduce if there's only females? Huh?"

Sora chuckled. "I guess you're right. What's you're story, Slim?"

"My story is one of humiliation," said a lamented stick bug. "No matter what we do, I'm always just a stick!"

Sora pondered this. "But you're a walking stick, aren't you?"

Slim sighed. "Why do I even bother?"

Meanwhile, Flik was having a great conversation with Tuck and Roll. "Everybody used to think I was a failure. But I'll show them! I'll show everyone! When Princess Atta sees you guys, she's be so happy!" He laughed wildy. Not really knowing what has going on, they laughed in response.

Back on Ant Island, Dot sat perched on a clover, looking through Flik's telescope to see if anybody was arriving. Only for the two boys who were with her on the day they left to come and put her down…again.

"Well, well, well," smirked the first. "Look who it is. Poor little Spat!"

She looked down, glaring daggers at them. "The name is Dot!"

"Well, Spot!" sneered the second. "You still looking for those losers?"

"You're wasting your time, Princess! They're never coming back!"

Dot resumed looking, and saw a strange variety of bugs heading towards her. And riding on the beetle was-

"FLIK! THEY DID IT!" cheered Dot.

She waved, and they waved back. The boy ants climbed up to the clover to see this. They looked at each other. "Cooooool."

A second later, their combined weight pushed the clover down and they fell to the ground.

Ants were walking in a single file line. One staggered for a few seconds, then collapsed under the massive amount of heat. Thorny, Cornelius, and Flora rushed for him. "Oh dear, not another one!" said Flora.

Thorny sighed. "It's the eighth one today. Face it, there's just not enough food on the island." He crossed his arms. "At least it can't get any worse from here."

At that moment, a loud buzzing was heard in the sky. The colony looked up and spied a strange variety of bugs flying towards the island. "RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" screamed Cornelius.

The colony frantically ducked behind the nearest blade of grass, rock, or whatever they could. One by one, the supposed invaders landed, Dim bringing up a small tremor. "Ta-da!" shouted Francis.

There was silence......a bird cheeped somewhere.

Manny sighed. "Our reputation precedes us yet again."

Flik jumped off of Dim. "Hey, everybody!" he announced. "We're back!"

Sora quickly freed himself from the makeshift web seat. "We brought back some bugs, guys!"

Steven tugged at the web attached to his legs. "Yeah, come see! And someone help me out of here!"

Dot rushed up to Flik. "You're back!" She jumped up into his arms. "I knew you could do it!"

The surprised colony slowly came out of hiding to see Flik and the others. Mr. Soil couldn't believe his eyes. "Your Majesty, Sora, Steven, and Flik have returned! And they are accompanied by savage insects!"

"What?!" yelled Atta, practically pulling her antennae out of her head. "How did this-? They weren't supposed to actually find someone!"

The troop was being well received by the colony. One of the frequently involved children walked up to Slim. "What're you supposed to be?" The other kid elbowed him. "He's a stick, you idiot! You hit bugs with him."

Slim chuckled. "Actually, I have quite an important part to-"

Francis grabbed Slim. "You're right, kids! Watch!"

He picked up the stick bug and swung Slim downward and smacked Heimlichs's head with him. "Ow...." whimpered Slim.

Several kids crawled under Dim. Rosie cautioned them immediately. "Be careful under there, kids! He's very ticklish!"

Oblivious to this, the kids walked under him, brushing his belly with their antennae. Dim chuckled, lightly at first, but he couldn't contain it. He started laughing and stomping everywhere and caused more tremors, as well as several frantic kids running back to the crowd.

The queen walked up, laughing as well. "Well done, my boys! You actually came through. I'm very impressed."

"Thanks, Your Highness," said Steven, still tugging at the web. "A little help here?"

A panicking Atta soon stumbled onto the scene. Flik quickly spotted her in the crowd. "Princess Atta!" He pointed quickly. "Hey guys, this is Princess Atta! She's the one who sent me to find you!" He turned back to Atta. "So, Princess Atta, what do you think?"

Atta turned to the council of royalty. "What's going on? This was not supposed to happen!"

Slim noticed them whispering and turned to Francis. "Mayday, mayday! we're losing the job!" Francis nodded. "You're right. We need to sweeten the deal a bit."

He flew on top of Dim's horn, in plain sight, to make a short speech. "Your Majesty! Ladies and gentlemen! Boys and girls of all ages! Our troupe here guarantees a performance like no other! Why, when your grasshopper friends get here, we are gonna knock! Them! Dead!"

The colony cheered. They were saved! "Okay, that's great," muttered Steven. He climbed on top of Dim. "Now that we've finished our mission," he pointed to his leg yet again and yelled. "Can someone help me out of this thing? She denies it, but I still think the spider wants to eat me!"

Their arrival was celebrated with a party consisting of ants playing very strange instruments. They sounded as authentic, though. Atta still had an angry look in her eyes though. The queen tapped her shoulder. "Lighten up, honey. Be proud of yourself. You had instincts about those boys and they were right on the money!"

Atta knew this wasn't true. The mission was a ploy to keep them off of the island and out of the way. Her expression softened a little bit though. Maybe this would be a good direction to go in.

The queen announced the colony, after the band stopped playing. "Now, we have a mural to show you, dedicated to our warriors!"

The troupe raised their eyebrows. Warriors? Weren't they being hired for dinner theatre?

Several small children ants stepped forward holding a large, rolled up leaf. They unrolled it to show what was depicted. It was quite graphic. Several crudely drawn images of grasshoppers were shown being torn apart by the bugs. Dot pointed to a certain point on the drawing, the one that depicted Heimlich, split in half. "Our teacher had us draw one of you dying because she said it would be more dramatic."

The troupe gasped. Heimlich started turning white. This wasn't dinner theatre. This was war! The presentation continued with a skit of kids playing the warriors and grasshoppers and everybody dying. Slim covered Heimlich's eyes before it was over. Francis fainted. Tuck and Roll clapped wildly, still not knowing what was going on.

Atta got to her feet and tried to project her voice to make a speech. "We're all very grateful to have-" Flik stuck an improvised megaphone in her hand. "THE WARRIORS-" The effect was instant, and soon the whole colony's eyes were on Atta. She covered the mouth of the object. "Thanks," she whispered.

"FIRST OF ALL, I'D LIKE TO THANK THE WARRIORS FOR HELPING US IN OUR FIGHT AGAINST THE GRASSHOPPPERS!" The colony let out a small cheer. "SECONDLY, I'D LIKE TO THANK THREE VERY IMPORTANT BUGS. WITHOUT THEM, THIS WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE; FLIK, SORA, AND STEVEN!"

The trio waved to the crowd with pride. Caught up in the moment, Flik grabbed the megaphone. "THANK YOU, YOUR HIGHNESS!" He jumped from his seat and began pacing around. "SURE, WE'D LIKE TO TAKE ALL THE CREDIT FOR THIS, BUT THAT WOULDN'T BE RIGHT."

Sora eagerly pulled the megaphone from him and began his own little speech. "THAT'S RIGHT! FOR IT WAS YOU, PRINCESS ATTA AND THE COUNCIL OF ELDERS, WHO BELIEVED IN OUR GOAL AND SENT US ON OUR QUEST!"

The colony cheered yet again. Steven was next to snatch the spotlight. "NOW, AS I RECALL, THE COUNCIL REFERRED TO ME AND SORA AS 'DAFT' FOR BELIEVING WE COULD TAKE ON THESE GRASSHOPPERS BY OURSELVES!"

A few gasps were heard and several surprised glances were cast towards the council, who shifted a little bit under these stares.

"BUT HAVING SOME TIME TO THINK ABOUT IT MADE ME REALIZE THIS," continued Steven. "THEY WERE RIGHT. TWO ANTS DON'T MAKE AN ARMY. AND THAT IS WHY YOU SELECTED THESE BUGS TO LEAD YOU GUYS, AND THAT IS WHY I AM STANDING HERE, COMMENDING THEM ON DOING A WONDERFUL JOB OF IT! GIVE 'EM A HAND, FOLKS!"

The glares were wiped from the faces of the colony and a loud uproar of applause was given. Rosie tapped Steven on the shoulder, frantically trying to tell him the bad news. "Steven, we have to talk. There's been a misunderstanding." she whispered.

Steven put his hand over the megaphone. "I'm sorry for thinking you wanted to eat me, but I have to make a speech right now." He uncovered the megaphone as Rosie continued to whisper to him. "NOW, I KNOW THAT IF WE ALL BAND TOGETHER-" He covered it again. "Rosie, there isn't even a circus around here." He continued. "SO, IN CONCLUSION-"

At that moment, Rosie's words hit him hard. He glanced over. Flik and Sora noticed this, so they looked as well. Francis juggled a few water droplets and he, Rosie, and Heimlich mimed "Ta-da!"

The trio's eyes grew wide and their heartbeats immediately quickened. Steven dropped the megaphone and rushed over to Atta. "AH! Your Highness! The warriors have called for a meeting to plan for a circus-"

Sora pushed him out of the way to cover up Steven's slip-up. "A circumventing so that we can trapeze-"

Flik pushed Sora aside to cover up that slip-up "trap the grasshoppers with ease!"

Atta shrugged. "Okay," Flik sighed in relief. Atta stood up. "But shouldn't I come too?"

"No!" interrupted Sora. "Sorry, but uh, you see, it's strictly classified in the DMC. You know, just uh-"

Steven stood up. "It's just strictly BYOB. Okay?"

The troupe shuffled towards the forest. "Sorry," apologized Flik. "Sorry that we have to take the warriors away so soon, but they got important business so, just enjoy the party!" After Dim had stumbled into the isolated area, the trio rushed in.

Much of the colony stared in silence at the events that had just occured.

"BYOB?" mused Atta.

"CIRCUS BUGS?" cried Flik. "How can you be circus bugs?"

Franics immediately fired back. "Hey, hey, hey! You said nothing about killing grasshoppers, pal. You lied to us."

"Yeah," agreed Heimlich.

"Are you kidding?" Flik grabbed his head in frustration. "Do you know what this is? This, my friends, is false advertising!"

Manny sent a vile glare at Flik. "How…dare you!" He stomped over to where Flik was standing. "You, sir, are the charlatan in this scenario, posing as a talent scout, preying upon the hungry souls of hapless artists, how could you? Good day to you, sir!"

Tuck and Roll walked up to Flik and smacked him across the face. Flik stood there, stunned, as they walked away before quickly running in front of them. "Please, I'm begging you, don't go! You've got to help me! I just need a little time to think of a plan."

Heimlich pointed back to the area where the colony was. "Go back and tell them the truth."

Flik grabbed Heimlich's face and shook it. "They can't know the truth, are you crazy? That would be terrible if they found out!"

"He'd be branded with this mistake for the rest of his life!" said Sora.

"His children's children will walk down the street and people will go 'Look! There goes the spawn of Flik, the loser!'" added Steven.

Flik glared at them, then sighed. "You know what? Alright, you can go. But if you could just do me a favor before you leave-" He lay down on the ground. He lifted Dim's foot and placed it on top of his head. "-if you could just squish me, that would be great, cause when they find out I'm as good as dead."

"Flik!"

Flik jolted when he heard Atta's voice in the distance. "Flik, I really think I should be a part of this meeting!"

Flik rushed away from the area and peeled back a blade of grass to see her angry face. "Ah! Princess Atta! What a nice.....er, surprise!"

Atta moved her head, trying to peer past him, but he moved in front of her every time. "Just what exactly is going on? I'd like to speak with these so-called warriors."

"They're in a top-secret meeting right now and really should not be disturbed." He turned back. "Right guys?"

He looked back to find the bugs running away. Steven and Sora had already begun to chase.

Flik turned back to the princess, chuckling nervously. "Would you excuse me for a minute?" He bolted towards the fleeing bugs. "Wait, wait, wait! Please, don't go!"

Atta lifted her arms in confusion. "I'm not going anywhere. Flik, what's going on?"

She peeked into the clearing to find…nobody. "Flik? FLIK!"

Back in the clearing, Sora, Steven, and Flik were desperately pleading to get the bugs to not leave. Flik went so far as to jump off the cliff and grab Slim's legs. "You can't go! I'm desperate!"

"Really?" said Slim, sarcastically. "I couldn't tell."

When they bugs were touching down on the other side, they tried to pull the ones who brought them here off of Slim's legs.

"Put the stick down!" said Rosie. "Boys, I mean it now, drop the stick." They trio just stared as they noticed a large feather in the vicinity. That's when Flik froze in fear and that's when Steven and Sora realized that being ants came with a drastic drop on the food chain.

Rosie twirled a small lasso made of her web. "I didn't wanna have to do this, but you leave me-"

The trio let go of Slim and headed for the riverbed. "-no choice?" finished a confused Rosie.

Flik turned back for barely a second. "No time! Just run!" And he kept running as if the bug-devil was on his heels.

Heimlich just watched. "They run really fast for little guys."

BOOM! The bugs turn around to find a large, orange and brown shaded bird peering down at them. The bird screeched loudly at this potential buffet.

Tuck and Roll screamed. "AH! Tweet, tweet! Tweet, tweet!"

With that, they started flying as fast as possible to get away from the bird.

The ant council was watching from a rock. "There they are." said Atta while pointing at the troupe. Suddenly, a feathery orange blur flew directly over the group. The elders gasped. "A BIRD!"

Then they heard a scream from in the air. They looked up to see a floating dandelion. And on that dandelion was someone who had been watching: Dot! "Flik!"

She looked up to find the bird heading straight for her. She did the only thing she could: she let go. She screamed as she began to plummet to her imminent doom. "Dot!" yelled Atta.

"My baby!" cried the queen.

Francis noticed the falling princess, fortunately. "Don't worry kid, I gotcha!"

He did catch her, but her weight brought them into a gorge. The bird pecked at the side, and brought an avalanche of rocks. One pinned Francis' leg, and the other hit his head, knocking him out cold. The bird kept pecking, knowing it would get down there eventually. But then it heard something else: Heimlich, Sora, and Steven taunting it.

"Yoo-hoo!" jeered Heimlich. "How about a nice tasty worm on a stick?"

"Your mother was a vulture!" yelled Sora.

"OH! BURN!" joined Steven.

Slim struggled to hold up the fat caterpillar. "I'm going to snap, I'm going to snap!"

The bird was swayed. It started hopping slowly towards Heimlich, Sora and Steven. The meal and the comments about its mother were too much to stay away from.

Fortunately, this was a distraction to allow everybody else to save Dot and Francis.

As the bird drew upon them, Slim yelled. "Now would be a good time!"

At that moment, Sora and Steven drew out their Keyblades and shot Firaga spells at the bird. The creature squealed in pain as the fireballs hit it and backed away. "Now!" shouted Sora.

They pulled Heimlich out of the crack and Dim flew over and grabbed him. Rosie attached two strands of webbing to Dim's legs, which Sora and Steven promptly grabbed. Once they were secure, Flik yelled. "Take off!"

Thought momentarily distracted, the bird was in hot pursuit. As Steven managed a brave glance backwards, he saw death inside that mouth....not a pretty sight. He looked up to see a rose bush. "In there!"

The bugs quickly retreated inside and, carefully avoiding the thorns, landed. The bird collided with the bush several times. It attempted to land. It's claws close around the thorny branch and it jolted from the pain. With a final screech, it took off back to its nest.

The bugs sighed in relief. Their ears perked up when they heard a sound. "What's that?" asked Rosie.

Manny's eyes grew wide as he realized it. "I don't believe it. We, my friends, are hearing the sound of applause!"

And it was true. The ants were completely amazed. They had seen what these bugs could do. They took on a bird! Not many can do that and live to tell the tale. Everybody just waved and bowed. This was what they'd wanted all these years: To be appreciated for their work.

Francis smiled. "Applause. I'm in heaven!"

In the aftermath, Francis lay in the medical chamber in the anthill. He rested on a flower with a bandaged leg as one of the children gave a short speech. "The Blueberry Scouts give you their gratitude for saving our youngest member, Princess Dot." he said. "And in honor of your valiant actions, we've changed our bandanas."

The entire troop turned around. Their leaf-shaped capes had been painted a light orange shade and splattered with black dots, resembling that of a ladybug. Dot turned and grinned. "We voted you Honorary Den-Mother!" The troop surrounded him, cheering. The smiling ladybug grumbled, the ladybug gender confusion kicking in yet again.

Atta peeked in from the entrance. "Flik, can we talk for a second?"

Flik was elevating Francis' leg when he heard. "Oh sure, no problem."

He walked away, leaving Francis' leg to thud against the flower. "Ow!" yelped Francis.

She led him into a massive intersection of paths in the anthill. "Are the warriors alright? Did I offend them? I'll be honest. When I first saw them, I thought you'd hired a bunch of clowns."

Flik chuckled nervously. "Haha, uh....you did?" He coughed a little bit.

Atta turned a little red out of foolishness. "Don't tell them I said that. Another royal blunder is the last thing I need."

Flik's nervousness vanished as he tried to reassure her. "Princess, I think you're doing a wonderful job."

Atta smiled. "Thanks, Flik. You're wrong, but you're sweet." She drooped her shoulders. "Believe me, I know what everyone really thinks."

"Who?"

"Everyone." Atta gestured to all the ants around her. "The whole colony. They don't think I can do this, but it's like.....it's like they're all watching me, just waiting-"

Flik nodded. "Waiting for you to screw up."

Atta gave a sympathetic glance at Flik. "I owe you an apology Flik. I haven't been all that nice to you, even though you've been doing so much for the colony lately. I'm sorry. If I can do anything to make it up to you-"

She gasped in realization. "I've got it! How would you, Sora, and Steven like to be the queen's Official Aid to the warriors?"

Flik smiled. "Really?"

Atta shrugged. "Oh, sure. You've got a great report going. Especially after that rescue. It was very brave."

Flik shook his head in modesty. "No, no, come on,"

Atta smacked him playfully. "Step up, Flik. Not many bugs would face a bird like that. I mean, come on! Even Hopper's afraid of 'em."

Flik nodded in agreement. "Yeah I guess I-"

He froze, trying to make sure he'd heard correctly. "Come again?"

"Even Hopper's afraid of birds," repeated Atta.

Flik froze. "Flik?" She waved her hand in front of his face. Before anything else happened, Flik quickly kissed her on the cheek. "Thank you." With that, he sped out of the room in a flash. Atta's hand slowly moved up to her cheek in surprise. But she just smiled.

Flik rushed back into the "warriors" chamber. "Hey guys! Hopper's afraid of birds!"

"Really?" asked Steven. "Well, I don't blame him!"

Flik began pacing excitedly. "This is perfect! We can get rid of Hopper, and no one has to say I messed up. You just keep pretending that you're warriors."

"We don't have to pretend that," said Sora.

Flik sighed. "I was talking to the circus bugs."

"Hold on, honey," protested Rosie. "We are not about to fight grasshoppers, okay?"

"You'll be gone before the grasshoppers ever arrive." Flik reassured. "It'll be easy! Now what we have to do is-"

"No!" said Manny. "Not another word. I don't know what you're thinking of in that ant brain of yours, but we'll have no part of it."

"Excuse me," the bugs looked at the entrance to see a couple of kids with leaves. "Could we get the warriors' autographs?"

The bugs' eyes widened. Nobody had ever asked them for an autograph before. They eagerly picked up some sticks and smeared their names, in ink, onto the leaves for the boys. They soon left the chamber, talking about how cool they were.

"You were saying, Flik?"

Flik turned to see the circus bugs with very determined looks on their faces. He smiled and immediately told them of his plan. "Alright, we are going to build a bird, a bird that we can operate from the inside-"

The plan was sound and Manny proceeded to explain it to the council of elders, a small-scale replica included. "-which will be hoisted above the anthill and hidden high in the tree. Then, when Hopper and his gang are below, we'll launch the bird-" He opened up his wings. "-and we'll scare off the grasshoppers!"

Soon, a colony meeting was called where Atta gave the orders to put the plan in motion, speaking with the megaphone Flik had made. "WE NEED EVERYONE'S HELP TO MAKE THIS PLAN A REALITY. I KNOW IT BREAKS TRADITION BY DOING THINGS DIFFERENTLY, BUT IF OUR ANCESTORS COULD BAND TOGETHER TO BUILD THIS ANTHILL, WE'LL RALLY TOGETHER TO BUILD THIS BIRD!"

This was met with cheering and applause. Steven clapped as he sat next to Sora. "I'm glad we didn't kill everybody when we got here."

Building began immediately. United, the colony could accomplish this with ease. It went through processing of putting sticks and leaves together, Heimlich eating food while the wings were tested, and Tuck and Roll nudging Flik every time he got in any form of communication with Atta.

Meanwhile, Franicis was still stuck as the Den Mother of the Blueberry Scouts. It was an unfortunate duty indeed. He was forced to play virtually anything they asked him to. And surprisingly, they were better, even at poker.

As construction continued, everyone climbed up the tree, which was filled with unfallen leaves. They jumped onto each one and floated down before using them for the bird. Sora and Steven climbed up several times. When the final batch was called for, they climbed up yet again.

"Hey Steven, feeling lucky?" asked Sora slyly. Steven eyed him with a predicting stare. He grinned evilly. "Are you challenging me to a race?" Sora struck a thinking pose. "Maybe," Steven smiled yet again. "Oh, it's on!" They both jumped, quite high and descended upon the final batch of leaves.

They did several tricks as they floated down. Sora stood on his hands as he descended while Steven twirled, flying upside down at times. But, as the laws of physics demanded, Steven had to hit something. As he did one final twirl, gravity kicked in and he fell towards the ground. He closed his eyes and collided and-

-bounced. He opened his eyes and unbelievably noticed that he had landed upon a web. He looked around and spotted a smiling Rosie. He nodded his head in thanks.

And then, it was finished. And with that, the colony hoisted it up. Dim pushed it into the highest hollow of the tree, and secured it so it could be released when the time was right. Tuck and Roll popped out of the beak when it was secure. "You're FIIIIRRRREEED!"

Everybody cheered. Especially Flik. His plan would work. He'd finally make a difference.

In a hot, dry desert, there was a sombrero leaning up against a cactus. This was Hopper's hangout. This head ornament is where he and his grasshoppers lived their morally corrupt lives. They had mosquitoes as all-purpose slaves. They were used as waiters, entertainers, and even darts.

Hopper, meanwhile, was getting an undeserved back massage. Meanwhile, Molt and the other grasshoppers had been thinking. So therefore, Molt walked over to Hopper to tell him their thoughts. "Hey ya, Hop!"

"Go away." mumbled Hopper.

"That's fine," shrugged Molt. "Then I won't tell ya my idea."

"Good."

Molt rushed back. "Okay, okay. I'll tell ya anyway. I've been thinking, which is something I do, being vice president of the gang and all. And just a thought; Why go back to Ant Island at all? We have plenty of food as it is. Besides, you don't even like grain."

Hopper overturned the tube he was on. "What!?"

He started backing Molt into a wall. "You're right; I didn't think it was such a good idea myself," whimpered Molt. "Actually, it wasn't even my idea. It was Axel and Loco's. They talked fancy to me. I got confused!"

Hopper suddenly stopped, thinking this over. He flew over to the center of the group. All the celebrating came to a sudden halt. "Guys," announced Hopper. "Order another round, because we're staying here!"

This was met with thunderous cheering from his gang. Hopper laughed. "I mean, come on! What was I thinking, going back to Ant Island? I mean we just got here, we have more than enough food for the winter, and we pretty much have an iron fist everywhere thanks to the Heartless from our dear friend Malificent, right? Why go back?"

He took a spot next to a giant dispenser full of grain. "Although, there were those ants that stood up to me,"

A couple of grasshoppers at the bar laughed. "Yeah, but we can forget about them!" said one.

"Yeah, just a few puny ants!" said another.

Hopper pondered this. "Hmm, puny. Say, let's pretend this grain is a puny little ant." He pulled out a single grain and tossed it lightly at one of the grasshoppers. It thumped against its chest. "Did that hurt?"

The grasshopper snorted. "No!"

Hopper laughed. "Well, how about this one?"

He threw another grain at another grasshopper. This one burst into laugher. "You kidding me, boss?"

Everybody laughed, including Hopper. "Well, how about this?"

He pulled the plug on the bottle of grain, unleashing a flood of the food. The grasshoppers at the bar screamed as they were buried under their food in mere seconds. Hopper climbed on top of the grain. "If even one ant would stand up to us, then they all might stand up, especially since they have the Keyblade Wielders on their side.

There was a murmur through the crowd. "Keyblades? What?

"The ones who killed our Heartless, you idiots! Even with the Heartless on our side, those puny, little ants outnumber us a hundred to one. And if they ever figure that out, there goes our way of life! It's not about food. It's about keeping those ants in line. That's why we're going back! Does anybody else wanna stay?"

Silence…..every grasshopper started up their wings. Hopper smiled, quite evilly. "Now.......LET'S RIDE!"

They flew out of the sombrero and changed direction. They formed a small green cloud of bugs as they headed for Ant Island.

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