Sora felt himself being drawn from the sweet ecstasy of sleep. His mind began to drift from its state of numb consciousness, and he felt himself returning to the real world. The keybearer's senses began to return to him; he felt the warmth of the sun beating at the backs of his eyelids, heard the wind whistling in his ears. 'When I get up, I'll go down to the shore with Kairi. We'll run through the crashing waves, chasing those little fish she always liked...just like the old times. Destiny Islands has never been so beautiful...' he thought dreamily. His eyes opened, slowly, letting the beams of sunlight briefly blind him. But it was not the sky that greeted him. Sora saw two twin bug faces, wide-eyed, their focus trained on him. He screamed, startling the creatures. This was not Destiny Islands.

Sora jumped to his feet, reminding himself of his horrific appearance and where exactly he was. "I hate bugs..." he grumbled. Sora turned to face the two pill bugs responsible for his rude awakening. They stood at his knee level, wide-eyed and trembling.

"Sorry, guys, I didn't mean to scare you..." The twins looked at him blankly, their fear fading, and then exchanged a few words of unintelligible conversation.

"Sora!" came a chipper voice. The keybearer drew his focus away from the stout creatures to see Flik coming toward him, waving an arm in the air. "Sorry if these guys frightened you...they like to wander. This is Tuck and Roll. Tuck and Roll, this is Sora." One of the bugs muttered something to Sora, extending one of his arms. Sora shook it hesitantly.

"Do they speak—"

"English? No, I'm afraid not. But it seems like they understand us pretty well...so it works...if you like one-sided conversations. Anyway, the others are through those grasses over there, if you'll just follow me," Flik finished, turning back the way the came. The pill bugs hobbled after him.

Sora looked about him, realizing his friends were gone. He followed Flik, forcefully pushing through a few thick, supple blades of grass into a clearing, where a whole parade of bugs of all shapes and sizes greeted his awaiting eyes. Flik shouted to get their attention.

"Everyone, this is Sora. He's the other warrior bug I was talking to you about. I guess we'll start introductions over again." The group nodded unanimously, mumbling amongst themselves. Flick motioned first to a relatively tall, gangly green insect with bulging eyes and a serious composure. "This is Manny." From the name and the appearance, Sora could only assume the creature was a praying mantis. The impassive insect gave a polite nod. "Gypsy, his wife." She was a delicate, beautiful moth, with wings as bright as Kairi's folded at her pack, a pleasant mix of blues and purples. Light gold hair bloomed at her chest and coated her body, giving her a soft appearance. She batted her long eyelashes.

"Pleased to meet you," Gypsy stated sweetly.

"Dim," Flik continued, pointing to a fierce looking rhinocerous beetle, which was the same species of insect as Goofy but was at least twice as large and colored a deep blue. "Slim, Heimlich, Francis, and Rosie," he finished, picking out an extremely tall, slender stick bug, a gluttonous pale green caterpillar, a ladybug, and a black widow spider. Sora struggled trying to remember the names and faces of all these new acquaintances. He looked around, spotting Kairi and the others casually chatting with the bugs. He gave the group a once over. Short of the rhinocerous beetle, this motley group of creatures did not give the impression of warrior bugs. Were these the bugs Flik really hoped would save his colony?

Sora walked over to Donald, who was chatting with the lady bug. "So how does it feel?" Donald was saying.

"How does what feel?" Francis replied in a surprisingly deep voice.

"Oh, you know. Being one of the only female warriors in this grou—"

"Female?!" the bug roared, the masculinity of the voice more apparent now. "Why I oughta... Let me make this clear to you, buddy. Just because I am in fact, a ladybug, it does not make me a girl!" He gave Donald a forceful whack across one of his pincers. Donald flinched, stepping back. Sora stepped in, resting a hand on the insect's heaving shoulders.

"Woah, woah, woah. Relax...Mr...uh..Francis," Sora stated, proud that he remembered the name. "I'm sure Donald didn't mean to offend you. Right Donald?"

"Right!" Donald affirmed, refusing to step any closer to the furious scarlet insect. Francis gave Donald another glare, but then composed himself.

"You're right, kid. You just don't know how many times I've been mistaken for a girl. It gets to you after a while," Francis said to Sora. Donald mustered the courage to continue to speak to Francis, and Sora joined in, finding the ladybug to be quite a character.

Kairi spoke nearby with the glossy, onyx spider by the name of Rosie. Her white face stood in stark contrast to her otherwise black body. She waved her arms this way and that as she spoke, and Kairi noticed that unlike Donald, she actually had two arms in addition to her other six legs.

"That's quite a handsome friend you got there," the sassy spider was saying. "You two like each other?" she said suggestively. She cast a glance at Sora, who was talking eagerly with Donald and the ladybug. Kairi felt her face turn hot, but her otherwise reddened face was concealed by her black exoskeleton.

"I guess you could say that," Kairi said, smiling. "So what about you, Rosie? Any love interests?"

"I had twelve husbands, honey. But one of them recently passed away, so I guess that makes me a widow. A black widow widow actually," she stated, laughing. Kairi laughed despite herself, but figured that if the spider was so open about the topic it should not make her feel uncomfortable.

"So, how do you feel about this whole thing with Flik's colony?" Kairi stated, changing the subject.

"Honestly? I really don't know. I have no idea how we all got dragged into this mess. I suppose we're obliged to help but..." She leaned in to meet Kairi, and Kairi bent to meet her at eye level. The spider cupped a hand over the spot where Kairi's ear should have been. "Just between you and me, we're not warriors at all. We're circus bugs."

"Cir--!" Kairi began. Rosie put a finger to Kairi's lips. "Shhh. Don't say anything to Flik. He mistook us for warrior bugs, and we never got a chance to explain... It would break Flik's heart if he ever found out."

"But, Rosie, you'll get yourself killed..." Kairi stated.

"We've grown to love Flik, honey. And if fighting will save his colony and bring a little more peace to this world, then I think that's a cause worth dying for," Rosie said simply, without a trace of regret in her words.

1Kairi was astonished. Here was a ragtag group of bugs with no fighting experience willing to lay their lives on the line for a stranger. And here she was, strong and young, without even half of the courage and nobility they had. Clearly, Kairi had much growing to do.

"That was...beautifully said, Rosie," Kairi finally choked out. The widow beamed with pride. Kairi felt a warm hand fall on her shoulder. She turned, seeing Sora's smiling face.

"Flik said we should get going. Ready?" Sora said. Kairi merely smiled in response.