A/N I don't own A Bug's Life or its characters; they are owned by Disney and Pixar. What I DO own are my OC, Kimberly, and any other characters that weren't in the movie.
The Queen of Water: Thanks.
hellgirl-fan1: Thanks.
Guest: Yep, they're becoming good friends :)
WolfeAnimation: I liked writing that part :D
Eventually, two small nut shells were found to be used for the bird's eyes. The leaves on the huge tree were starting to turn orange, red, and yellow, and began to fall. The best-looking leaves were gathered to be used for the bird's feathers.
While the bird was being built, Kimberly found herself especially befriending Gypsy and Manny. The older couple thought of her as the daughter they couldn't have, and set to work teaching her to be a fine and fair performing lady. At first, Kimberly politely declined the lessons, especially when they mentioned she would be able to impress a male if she wished. "I'm not looking for romance." She said.
"But someday you'll meet a special male, who will set your heart aflutter," Gypsy countered. "And even if you don't want to know, you will want to impress and woo him. These lessons aren't strictly for romance. Everyone loves a proper young lady."
"She's right, Kimberly, dear." Manny nodded. "And if you wish to perform beneath the spotlight, you'll know how to impress a crowd."
"Well…I have expressed an interest in singing in the past." Kimberly said. "All grasshoppers are musically-talented, though some are better at making music than singing."
"Oh, lovely!" Gypsy grinned. "Let's hear it, just some basic vocals."
Clearing her throat, Kimberly sang under her breath, "La-la-la," And then vocalized, increasing her voice's volume. She smiled modestly, "How was it?"
"Beautiful." Gypsy answered. "You were right about grasshoppers being musically-talented. When you sing, stand up straight, shoulders back and down, and chest high." She gently pushed Kimberly into the positions she mentioned.
"And above all, practice, be confident, and keep your head up." Manny added, tilting Kimberly's head up.
On Gypsy's word, Kimberly began vocalizing, barely noticing the gypsy moth and mantis's hands leave her.
As more leaves began to fall, the ants took to climbing the tree and gathering leaves that got caught in the large hole in the tree. Some, including Flik, stood on the leaves as they fell. Flik had the most fun out of all the ants "surfing" whooping and laughing as he fell and sailed around.
The ants and insects gathered the fallen leaves and began attaching them to the bird's frame. Once the head's feathers were attached, the eyes were attached. A steering mechanism was also installed. Two sticks were attached to another stick on the back of the bird, where a long, strong vine was attached. The pilot of the bird would use the steering sticks to help turn the bird left or right as it swung on the vine. The large shell was kept inside so someone could shout into it and make the bird sound like it was screeching.
One day, Kimberly was spending time with Gypsy and Manny. "Stand up straight, with your shoulders back," Gypsy advised. "Posture is everything in performing and casting a good impression."
"Keep your head up, and always try to smile." Manny added.
"And show off those beautiful eyes of yours."
"Beautiful eyes?" Kimberly cocked an antenna. She never thought her eyes were beautiful. She always thought they looked odd, being brown with a ring of blue-green around the outside edge. She always wondered if before she was born, Arthropoda, the insect god, couldn't decide whether to make her eyes brown or blue-green, and decided to give her both.
"Kimberly!" Flik yelled, running up to the three insects, holding two leaves behind his back. "Kimberly! Kimberly!"
"Excuse me, please?" Kimberly grinned at Gypsy and Manny. She turned to Flik. "What are you screaming about?"
"I found out how to solve your problem!"
"What problem? I don't have a problem. What's my problem?"
"You don't have wings. But I got an idea! Ta-da!" He held out the leaves. One was orange with a bit of red in the middle, and the other was red with orange edges. Half of each leaf had been sliced off, leaving the spine and the other half of the leaf.
"Flik…they're leaves."
"Technically, they're leaf-halves."
"All right, then. They're leaf-halves." Kimberly said patiently. "But how do they solve my wing 'problem'?"
"We glue the leaves to your wing stumps and make new wings! I-I don't know if you'll be able to fly, but hey, we're building a bird to scare off grasshoppers. Anything's possible."
"Yeah, that's true." Kimberly nodded.
"Anyway, Rosie will be gluing the leaves to your wing stumps." Flik nodded at the spider, who had came up to join the two insects.
"It won't hurt me, will it?" The grasshopper asked. "The spider silk, I mean."
"Oh, no, of course not." Rosie shook her head, gesturing for Kimberly to turn around. She turned and spread her hardened wings, revealing her membrane wing stumps. Flik held the leave stems against her wing stumps, and Rosie wrapped some silk string around, attaching the leaves. "It won't hurt at all, and it's incredibly light, yet very strong. They'll stay on good if and when you're flapping them to fly, yet if they're pulled hard enough, they'll pull off, though your wing stumps will hurt."
Kimberly spread both pairs of wings, revealing her new fake wings. "Ooh, Kimmy!" Gypsy squealed. "They look so beautiful!"
"The orange and red go wonderfully with your yellow complexion, my dear." Manny nodded in agreement. "And the light-green tint to your skin is the piéce de résistance."
Kimberly smiled as she gently fluttered her wings, making a blue of red and orange. She looked over her shoulder, her smile growing. "Thank you so much, Flik!" She exclaimed, hugging the ant. "Even if I won't be able to fly again, they're beautiful. Thank you so much!"
"Heh, it was nothing, Kim." Flik grinned modestly.
"You've done so many great things: you found these bugs to help chase away the grasshoppers, we're building this bird to scare them away for good, and even gave me my wings back. It's no wonder Atta's turning over a new leaf."
"What do you mean?"
"She's changed her mind about you. She's growing fond of you."
"Really?" His eyes lit up.
"Yeah." Kimberly nodded. "You've proven to her that you're more than a klutzy goofball. Maybe you'll even be able to prove yourself further when we chase away the grasshoppers."
"Yeah," Rosie agreed. "Maybe you could pilot the bird?"
"Great idea!" Flik grinned. "I never thought I'd say this, but I can't wait for the grasshoppers to come!"
Finally, after several weeks of hard work, the bird was finally done. Early one morning, rows of ants, circus bugs, and Kimberly held the three vines attached to the bird, waiting on Atta's signal to pull the bird and hide it in the tree.
Atta flew out, observed the bird, and landed on the large root behind the anthill. "Okay!" She yelled.
All of the bugs began pulling the vines, slowly lifting the bird up into the air. Atta joined in raising the bird. Once it was in front of the large hole, Dim flew out and pushed it into the hole. Four ants pushed a forked stick underneath, keeping the bird inside the hole. Once they were ready, the stick would be pushed away, letting the bird slide out and swing around on its vine.
Finally, the bird was set in place. "You fired!" Tuck and Roll shouted, popping out of the bird's mouth, opening it in the process.
The insects, both in the tree and on the ground, laughed and applauded. After all their hard work, the bird was finally finished. Soon, the grasshoppers would never dare return to Ant Island.
"When Hopper and his gang return, they're not gonna know what hit 'em!" Kimberly yelled, hoisting Dot onto her shoulder.
A/N I feel this chapter's kinda rushed...ah well, I'm posting anyway :3
After rediscovering ABL, I found myself growing fond of Gypsy and Manny. They're one of the few canon interspecies couples (another of my favorites is Donkey and Dragon from Shrek; those dronkeys are to DIE FOR! X3) It's a shame ABL didn't go more in depth with their relationship. It would have been pretty interesting to see how they got together. (Fun fact: Gypsy is voiced by Madeline Kahn, the singer from Blazing Saddles. I've seen it a few times [it's one of my favorite movies] and I was kinda surprised that Kahn was in ABL. It was apparently her last role in an animated kids' movie before her death in 1999)
Since grasshoppers are known to make chirping noises, and of course, Mr. Grasshopper in James and the Giant Peach played music, I decided to make it DxC-canon (means canon in my universe :3) that all grasshoppers are musically-talented, whether it's singing or playing any kind of music. Makes ya kinda wonder what Hopper and Molt's music talents would be. Richard Kind, voice of Molt, played a singing alligator in The Penguins of Madagascar and uses the same voice for Molt, so Molt's definitely a singer. Last month, I learned that Kevin Spacey, voice of Hopper, did some singing, one song being "That Old Black Magic." I'm not sure if it sounds like Hopper (look it up on YouTube; be sure to put Kevin Spacey's name in, as that song's been covered by other people) but it's worth noting that Hoppy could be a singer.
Kimberly's musical talent is singing. She's one of those people who have a natural singing voice; plus, as she and I said before, all grasshoppers have some form of musical talent. Also, I've decided a voice actress for her: Liz Callaway, who's provided many singing voices to animated characters, such as Kiara in The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, Anastasia in the film of the same name, and Princess Odette in The Swan Princess. She hasn't done any regular voice acting though, so I can't really think of how Kimmy would sound when she's just talking, as some people sound different when they're singing than when they're just talking. But we CANimagine how she would sound singing Once Upon a December and Love Will Find a Way.
I always planned for Kimberly to have fake wings. I went through several designs, the first being the leaves were whole, instead of having half the leaf and the stem, and they were attached with a sort of harness made from green leaves and twigs. That was a little too complex (and grasshoppers were already hard to draw to begin with) so I changed it so they were tied on with spider silk. She WILL fly eventually; I'm a little nervous about writing it, since leaves don't really make you fly in real life. But Kimmy flying with wings is part of something I like to call "cartoon physics." So, I'll try not to worry about it too much.
The next chapter's POV will be VERY interesting ;)