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.
VoiceUnheard98: Thanks :D The tension makes it more interesting and fun to read.
WolfeAnimation: Like I said, I had fun writing his POV. I'm only assuming the sombrero isn't their real home since the directors, in the commentary, said they went to it every summer. Plus, especially in winter, nights in the desert get cold. After writing the chapter, and trying to figure out what kind of bug he is, he seems, to me, like an interesting character to write.
I'm still baffled at how I missed that mistake XD
Guest: Yeah, it WAS pretty sad.
All of the ants, and Kimberly, gathered as much food as they could find all through the night and well into morning. When morning came, it brought a thick, eerie fog, as if signaling the grasshoppers were on their way.
The last remaining ants ran and threw their load into the meager pile on the offering stone, and ran into the crowd. Kimberly stood with the queen down on the ground, listening as Atta exclaimed, "That's it?! There's gotta be more food on the island!"
"If we give up more, we'll starve." Thorny said solemnly, as if already accepting the inevitable.
"Hopper won't accept this!"
Kimberly glanced worriedly from the princess to the offering. She was right. The pile wasn't double the usual amount, as the gang leader had requested; it wasn't even as big as the one they originally picked last spring. Time was nearly up, and they didn't fulfill the greedy grasshopper's demand.
Everyone gasped as the familiar roaring buzzing sounded. It sounded more fearful than before because everyone knew the grasshoppers were coming and wouldn't be happy with the barely half-finished demand, the sound came without the shell warning everyone that they were coming, and because of the fog, they couldn't see them coming.
Atta ran to her mother. "Mother, it's not enough!" She whispered. "What do we do?!"
"I-I don't know." Phyllis sighed.
Kimberly's antennae drooped, then sat up almost straight, which was saying something, since they were always almost bent directly in half: the buzzing stopped.
Everyone stood their ground, gasping and gulping nervously. Heavy footsteps sounded, each one prompting the ants to flinch. Then, out of the thick fog, the grasshoppers came walking, looking like big hulking monsters. They surrounded the ants, all silent, save for the scrawny, twisted grasshopper named Thumper, who growled and screeched. Kimberly stood by Phyllis and Atta, glaring bravely at the grasshoppers.
"You little termites!" Everyone gasped and whipped around to see Hopper hovering in the air, carrying the leaf full of food over his head with his top hands. Kimberly's jaw dropped slightly. Great Arthropoda, he's strong!
"I give you a second chance, and this is all I get?!" Hopper shouted angrily, throwing the leaf-full of food at the colony.
The ants ran away, screaming, as the food scattered on the ground. "But Hopper, we ran out of time!" Atta exclaimed.
"Have mercy, you brute!" Kimberly couldn't help yelling.
"Have you ants been playing all summer?" Hopper asked rhetorically, ignoring the yellowish grasshopper, and still hovering. "You think this is a game?!"
"No, no, please!" Atta pleaded.
"Well, guess what: you just lost." He glowered.
The grasshoppers closed in on the ants. "Kimberly, run!" Phyllis whispered.
"What? What about-"
"We'll be fine! Hopper will be looking for you, just run! Fly away if you must!"
"I'm not leaving you," Kimberly promised. "Not yet." She leapt away, somehow dodging the grasshoppers as they advanced on the ants, herding them into a tighter ball. As she leapt away, behind her, Kimberly heard Hopper roar over the terrified screams of the ants, "Not one ant sleeps until we get every scrap of food on. This. Island!"
Kimberly dove into the grass and hid, shaking. "I'm not afraid…I'm not afraid…what a liar I am." She muttered. Why am I so afraid? I wasn't scared the last time they were here, or even when Hopper offered to accept me into his gang. Buck up, Kimberly. Be brave. For the ants. For Phyllis, Atta, and Dot. For Flik and the circus bugs. You need to stand up to Hopper. You did it twice, you can do it again.
She held her breath as she heard some grasshoppers walking around. "C'mon, she's gotta be around here somewhere." One said.
Her eyes widened, realizing that Hopper knew she was missing. "Maybe she's already gone?" Another grasshopper suggested.
"If she is gone, Hopper's gonna be pissed."
"Why are we even looking for her? Before we left, Hopper gave us specific instructions: stay away from her; don't talk to her, touch her, or even look at her. If we're searching for her, wouldn't that violate the rules?"
Kimberly didn't hear the first grasshopper's response as they walked farther away. She gulped nervously, but put on a brave face. "I'm gonna march right up to that one-eyed cretin, and tell him he shouldn't be treating the ants like this. I don't care if I get smacked around or even killed." She stood up, glancing around. She then realized she was standing near a snakeskin; the same one Dot had found months before, though it was considerably smaller from decay and being chewed on by other creatures.
She screamed in fright upon seeing the snakeskin, jumping back. She clapped her hands over her mouth, but it was too late. She heard voices and footsteps; someone heard her.
She ran away from the snakeskin, not sure if she was headed for the anthill. Suddenly, two grasshoppers popped out of nowhere, making her skid to a stop. "Goin' somewhere, girly?" One grinned. "You ain't goin' nowhere! The grasshoppers are in control of the island now!"
"Leave me alone!" Kimberly snapped.
"No can do, sweetwings." The other grasshopper chuckled. "You're coming with us."
"Don't you remember what Hopper said?" The first grasshopper asked. "He said-"
"What he doesn't know won't hurt him."
"But he said don't talk to her, don't touch her-"
"And don't even look at her." A voice behind them finished.
All three grasshoppers jumped. Hopper was standing behind them, all four arms crossed, and not looking very happy.
"B-Boss!" The second grasshopper grinned. "We found her!"
"Good. I trust you were leaving her alone?" The one-eyed grasshopper raised an eyebrow.
Both grasshoppers nodded feverishly, both grinning widely and innocently. "Since I'm in such a good mood, I'll believe that." Hopper said sarcastically. He then turned to Kimberly, grinning. "Hello again, dear Kimberly. I did say we would meet again in autumn."
Scowling darkly, Kimberly made to slap Hopper across the face again. This time, however, he grabbed her wrist, squeezing tightly. "Slap me once, shame on me. Slap me twice," He bent her hand back, making her cry out in pain. "Shame on you." He let her wrist go.
"You're a vicious, cold-hearted brute!" She yelled.
"Why, thank you." He chuckled. "I saw you trying to run away. Unfortunately, you're going nowhere but back to the anthill, with me."
"Like hell I am!" She snarled.
"Hey, Boss!" The two grasshoppers who were looking for Kimberly earlier appeared. "We didn't fin-oh, you found her!" One grasshopper said.
"Guess we're not violating the rules after all." The other grasshopper remarked, adjusting a leaf on his head.
Kimberly's eyes widened in realization and horror, recognizing the leaf. She grabbed it off of the grasshopper's head. "Hey, that's mine!" He yelled.
Kimberly examined the small leaf. It was a Blueberry Scout bandanna. More specifically, it was Dot's; she recognize the spots, since the youngest princess showed them to her, and explained that she copied the yellowish grasshopper's leg spots for the bandanna. "Where did you find this?" Kimberly growled.
"Huh?"
She grabbed the grasshopper by the exoskeleton and shook him hard. "Where did you find this?!" She screamed.
"I-I dunno! It was by some g-grass stalk!"
Before any grasshopper could say anything, there was the sound of pants and growls. Thumper came flying up through the grass and landed, grinning maniacally. "Thumper? What have you been up to?" Hopper asked.
"Tiny princess fall down!" The scrawny grasshopper said in a screechy and scratchy voice. Then, he waved a hand down, whistling, cackling afterwards.
Kimberly's eyes widened in horror as she dropped the bandanna, realizing that Thumper had chased Dot and pushed her off of the cliff. Her legs began shaking, and she could feel tears starting to sting her eyes. The sounds of the other grasshoppers talking and laughing slowly faded away as her horrified expression twisted into one of ugly rage. With a roar, she attacked Thumper, catching him off guard.
The grasshoppers' eyes widened at Kimberly tackling Thumper. They stood still, watching the two grasshoppers fight, snarling and growling. They were a blur of light-green and yellow.
Hopper shook his head and snapped, "Don't just stand there! Grab her!"
The four grasshoppers glanced at each other, not wanting to get between the fighting insects. Hopper rolled his eyes with a heavy sigh. If you want something done right, you gotta to do it yourself. Whistling loudly, he snapped his fingers.
Thumper jumped back and kicked Kimberly away. Two grasshoppers quickly grabbed her arms, holding the snarling insect back. Thumper, Hopper, and the other two grasshoppers stared at her in shock.
Kimberly had changed. Her hands were tensed into claws. Her pupils had shrunk so small, they were nearly invisible, leaving brown orbs with blue-green outlines. Her lips were curled back, revealing long, sharp teeth, and her eyebrows were furrowed into a nasty, hateful, wild glare. She was panting heavily, sounding almost animalistic. She was still struggling to break loose and attack again.
She resembled Thumper; in fact, save for the yellowish exoskeleton and hazel eyes, she looked like a female version of the scrawny grasshopper.
Hopper blinked out of his stupor as Kimberly's pants slowly subsided, and her pupils slowly grew back to normal, though she still glared hatefully. He approached her, still on his guard in case she attacked again. "I admire your wild side, Kimberly. It almost competes with Thumper as a whole. However, I think I prefer your tame side. Don't think your little outburst will allow me to let you leave the island, because you're not going anywhere. You're staying on this island. You'll not leave my sight nor side unless I say otherwise, understand?"
She growled at the grasshopper, either not completely back to her sane self, or was simply rebelling against him. Scowling, Hopper cupped her chin and squeezed her cheeks with his fingers and thumb. "Do you understand me?" He whispered harshly.
She blinked, and her eyes returned to normal. "Yes." She whispered hoarsely, relaxing.
"Good girl." Hopper let her face go and stepped back, nodding at the grasshoppers. They let her arms go. She didn't fall, but she didn't run either. She let her head hang depressed. Dot was gone; she had failed her job as her royal guardian.
"No need for the sad face, my dear," Hopper smiled patronizingly, tilting her chin up with his fingers. "You'll finally be with your own kind again. And if you promise to not try anything stupid, I won't hurt you, though I can't say the same for your ant friends." He and the other grasshoppers chuckled as they walked back to the anthill. Kimberly followed solemnly, still hanging her head.
As they came upon the group of ants and grasshoppers, Molt exclaimed, "Hey, ya found her! Good for you, Hoppy!"
"Don't call me that!" He snapped. "Is the food being gathered?"
"As you requested." Molt nodded. Kimberly finally noticed that the only ants around were Phyllis, Atta, and the council members. She glanced sadly at them, turning away when they looked at her in surprise, never having seen her so depressed.
Kimberly didn't have the heart to tell them the youngest princess was gone, and it was all her fault.
A/N With 48 reviews, Toxic Wings is now the most reviewed A Bug's Life fanfic, beating A bug's life fanfic by Neko-Salosa. Not really a goal I was planning on having, but still pretty cool...I have no life, I need offline friends XD
I'm assuming the fog when the ants were hurriedly gathering food was in the morning. That means the grasshoppers stayed on the island and had the ants under their thumb for a whole day, since the final showdown was at night...what's gonna happen in one day? XD I'll think of something.
I'm not sure if that snakeskin would really stay there, and even still be whole, after over three months. But I knew it would have decayed and been chewed on (I recently read that some squirrels chew a snakeskin, and lick their fur immediately after)
I always planned for Kimberly to see the grasshopper with Dot's bandanna (that guy looks like a funny character XD His buddy too) and go into mama bear mode, thinking they hurt her. ESPECIALLY when Thumper implied (he was able to talk in the movie [not just in the bloopers] while the grasshoppers were flying to Ant Island [and while Molt was on "Thumper Duty" XD Poor guy] you can hear Thumper yell "Get those bugs!" though it's kinda hard to make out) he pushed her off a cliff.
Kimberly going totally berserk and attacking Thumper is one of her "badass plot points" that I couldn't wait on writing. I guess it was kinda inspired by Prof. Ratigan, in The Great Mouse Detective, going feral in the Big Ben sequence. Plus, Kimmy in Insane Mode is so scary-looking, especially in contrast to her normally-mellow self, eve Hopper is startled.
I know when Hopper did the "shame on me" thing, the "me" and "you" were mixed up. Firstly, I was mixed up on how the original saying went, and thought it went like that. I researched afterwards, but decided to keep it like that. This is why: Hopper didn't expect to be slapped the first time, ergo, "shame on me"; however, he expected it again, and Kimberly shouldn't have tried to slap him again, but should have anticipated that he would expect it "shame on you".
Also, Kimberly doesn't know that Dot saved herself by flying. She only knows that Thumper pushed her off of the cliff, and thinks she didn't make it. Since it was her job to be Dot's babysitter/guardian, she feels she failed. That's why she's so glum.