A/N- When Jr made his stick figure Buddy, think of the kindergarten scene from Toy Story 4 when Bonnie made forky. It was my inspiration...Anyway enjoy the story
The next morning, Jr hummed as he brushed his teeth with a leaf and a stick, holding Buddy by his side. He took a bead of water and rinsed his mouth and left the bathroom. Then a little bark was heard.
"Aphie…" he looked down at the little green aphid wagging his tail. "Wanna play...Come on…" the little ant and the aphid run around the anthill. They chase each other as if they were playing tag. Aphie was it chasing after the young ant until Jr. bumped into his father.
"Hi Jr., Watch out little buddy…" Flik ruffled his son's antennas.
"Daddy...Can you please play with me and Buddy?" Jr asked, cuddling his stick
"Oh Son…" Flik then looked at the small adult ant called him
"The town hall meeting is coming up Flik…" Thorny called, heading inside a large hive.
"Maybe later son…" Jr. looked down disappointedly. "Hey, don't you worry...the meeting will be over before you know it...Why don't you go pick berries for gramma okay…"
"But she's asleep and Mr. Thorny said not to bother her when she's asleep...He was grumpy last time I did it…" Jr. protested
"Well…"
"Come on Flik…" Thorny called again
"Daddy will play with you later okay" Flik kissed his son's head and ran off to the council meeting, leaving the poor little ant alone.
Jr. went to his favorite stalk and decided to surprise his grandmother with breakfast in bed. He picked a berry out of the stalk and ran back to the anthill and to the familiar room.
"Gramma Wake up…" Flik Jr. called gently. He gently shook his grandmother and the elderly ant was still asleep. He sighed sadly and walked away until he was grabbed. It turns out his grandmother was pretending to be asleep.
"How's my grandbaby doing this morning…" The elderly ant said, tickling Jr. in her arms.
"I got you breakfast in bed…"
"You Did…" Jr. then gave her the berries. "Aww, Jr. You shouldn't have…"
"I waited so we could have breakfast together…"
"Aww, How sweet of you…" then the two ants ate the berries together
"Gramma, I want you to meet Buddy…" The small ant gave Buddy to his grandmother and she admired him from top to bottom. "I made him…"
"Aww, Nice to meet you, Buddy…" the two ants continued eating until Thorny came in to check on her
"Jr. let's leave her alone to rest…" Thorny tried to usher the boy out
"Now Thorny, Jr. just gave me breakfast in bed…"
"Not again with the berries…" Thorny scolded him.
"But It was for breakfast…" Jr. whined.
"Put them back…" Thorny yelled. Jr then mewled and ran into his grandmother's arms.
"Aww you scared my grandson…" the former queen said, comforting a whimpering Jr.
"I know but…" then the former queen gave Thorny a stern look and he went away to the council meeting again. Then she turned her attention back to the small ant.
"There there, my little prince….the grumpy Thorny is gone…"
"Gramma, why is Mr. Thorny so grumpy?" Jr asked.
"Maybe he hit the grumpy stalk today…" The duo gently laugh it off and finish breakfast.
Later on, Flik Jr. played with Buddy on top of a clover. He hummed sadly and was getting bored
"Boring…" he sang, swinging his legs back and forth while bouncing Buddy around. Then his antennae perked up when he heard talking from below. He looked upside down and saw two familiar faces and another ant with them
"Skeeter, Skipper, wait up…" He called, trying to get down from the clover but he ended up hitting his head and then followed after them
"Hey, Jr." Skipper called, seeing the boy come to them.
"What are you guys doing…"
"None of your business pipsqueak…" the taller blue ant barked.
"You should really watch who you're talking to Bucky…" Skipper told him
"I wasn't talking to you Skip, I was talking to Splotch here…" Bucky pointed at Jr.
"You do realize that this is the Queen's son…" Skeeter replied picked up Jr. in her arms
"Well, I apologize, your majesty…" Buck bowed with utter sarcasm.
"I'm Jr. It's nice to meet you Bucky…" Jr. held out his hand for Bucky to shake but he didn't take it.
"Come on...We're wasting time with Splotch…"
"But my name is Jr."
"Jr….Splotch...Does it matter, Don't you have somewhere to be…" Bucky grumbled
"No…" Jr. squeaked
"Come on Buck easy on him…" Skipper defended the boy along with her sister.
"Don't you guys want to know if the stories are true…" Bucky asked them
"What-What stories…" Jr whimpered
"Aww, poor baby doesn't know the stories...I guess Mommy and Daddy haven't been telling him the right ones…" Bucky mocked.
"Bucky…" Skeeter scolded.
"Okay okay...I heard legend has it...there was a war between grasshoppers and ants...and the ants won by sticking together and driving them away and the leader of the grasshoppers got eaten by a bird...and all that was left was his antenna…" Bucky told the story as they all walked to the edge of the island.
"Woah…" Jr said
"Mmhmm Woah…We're headed to the bird's nest now to see if we can find it…." then Jr. felt his stomach drop when he heard about the bird's nest.
"Find what…" Jr asked nervously.
"The antenna or maybe the bird's nest as a bonus…"
"But Mommy said not to go across the stream…"
"Well your mommy's not here…" Bucky told him. When they arrived on the edge of the island, there was nothing but water on the river bed.
"Great, there goes the walking idea…" Bucky sighed.
"What about a boat…" Flik Jr. suggested
"Nice try pipsqueak...there's no way someone can build-"
"All done…" Bucky had to eat his words when Jr. made a boat that was big enough for all of them. There was a lone green leaf as a base for the boat and large leftover sticks made the rest of the boat with a leftover leaf on top
"Wow…" Skeeter awed and Skipper gave Jr. a thumbs up for approval
"I call it SS Buddy…" Flik Jr. spoke cuddling his stick.
"Sweet…" Skipper brought her slingshot with a few pebbles and they all went onto the lake and sailed Jr.'s boat.
"Question...How are we going to row this-" Bucky stopped when Jr handed the three teenaged ants sticks as oars. "Huh...Your good…"
The sailing went on for a few minutes and then they gently crashed on some rocks.
"Well, ladies and pipsqueak...We're here…" the 4 kids got out of the boat and began to climb the rocks. With each climb, Jr started to slowly worry if it was a good idea to do this. Skipper looked back and took notice.
"Second thoughts?" Skipper asked him. Jr. nodded slightly, holding on tight to Buddy. "Same here…"
Then Bucky was the first to reach the top. "Well, guys I think we found something." Skeeter climbed up second and Skipper carried Jr. the rest of the way.
"Wow...I've never seen a bird's nest before…." Skipper said to Jr.
"Me neither…Let's not get too close…" Jr. replied.
"I...I don't like this…" Skeeter said nervously.
Bucky, trying to be the brave one ventures around until he finds a feather which he admires
"Come on...I thought you said we were going to look…" Flik Jr called, tapping into his anxious side he inherited from his mother.
"Relax, I just found this sweet feather, might take it as a souvenir…" Bucky said
Then a bird's shriek was heard from afar
"I don't like this Bucky let's get out of here…" Jr backed away
"Yeah man let's go…" Skeeter and Skipper called to him
"Don't worry...it's just a feather. Then Jr, Skeeter, and Skipper slowly backed away and began to take off.
"Where are you going you cowards…" then something dropped that made him shut his mouth. He slowly turned and saw a yellow and orange bird that tweeted in front of him. He immediately dropped the feather and followed his friends, only to stop when they were covering themselves with mud.
"What are you doing…"
"Cover yourself with mud…" Jr. said.
Skeeter and skipper quickly covered Bucky with mud and they ran back to the boat and quickly sailed back. Luckily, that leftover leaf covered them so the bird couldn't see them.
"Do you guys see it?" Skeeter asked
"Yo, where did it go…" Skipper added
"I don't know" Bucky panicked
"Guys be quiet…" Jr then pointed at the roof and they all looked up and they let go of the oars and stayed as quiet as they possibly could.
Meanwhile, Flik, Atta, and a few more ants were looking around for Flik Jr. and no one had seen him.
"Oh Flik it's my fault he ran away…" Atta cried.
"Now now sweetheart, he wouldn't run away...I bet he's probably in the wrong place…"
"Hey, I think I see a boat…" Dot pointed on the edge of a rock
"A boat?" Flik and Atta rushed to the scene and saw a leaf boat, floating adrift into the river bed and the bird swooping over it. Then Flik's eyes widened
"Jr. is in that boat…" then suddenly the wind began to blow, drifting the boat closer to the Ant island shore. "I hope he's doing okay."
Jr, Skeeter, Skipper, and Bucky looked around and felt the wind blowing
"The wind is drifting us to shore…" Skipper noticed
"What about the Birdie?" Jr asked
Then music was playing from afar. The kids peeked out of the holes of the leaf and saw a colorful box making its way to the island
"Wrong timing…" Bucky whispered. Then they heard tweeting and realized the bird was going after them
"Guys we need to do something…" Skeeter panicked.
"Wait guys, I have an idea…" Flik Jr. spoke up.
When the bird began to slowly charge after the circus bugs a yell was heard
"Hey big head…" the bird turned around and saw Skipper, Skeeter, and Bucky in a pyramid formation with A few of Skipper's pebbles
"Eat rocks Birdie…" the 3 teens throw pebbles at the bird.
The colony sees what the kids are doing and they join in with slingshots and rocks and a makeshift cannon and they begin to shoot the bird with the rocks, driving the angry bird away from the island and the circus bugs land safely on the island as do the kids on the boat.
"Phew, that was close…" Skipper sighed in relief
"It would be amazing if we didn't do it again…" Skeeter added.
The circus bugs greeted the ants and Atta quickly paced around the island to find her son with Flik following her
"Jr. oh Jr...Jr….Jr…"
"Mommy…" Jr called, running towards her.
"Aaah...My baby boy…" Atta shriek as Flik Jr ran into her arms "I'm so glad you're-" then she realized that Jr was covered in mud. "You're all dirty…"
Then Flik took a good look at his son and saw the mud
"Oh atta boy Jr. you outsmarted that birdie didn't ya…" Flik took Jr into his arms. "He camouflaged to trick the bird"
"Mommy I saw a birdie…" Jr cheered.
"Yes yes, I know you saw a birdie… Now come on we need to talk…" Atta was about to drag her son away until the 3 teens stepped up
"Your majesty of I may...it's our fault that we ran into that bird, so if you have someone to blame, blame us…" Skipper started
"Yeah, if we were to listen to Jr. none of this would have happened."
"Well, I'm just glad that my son is safe…"
"Yeah so are we…" Rosie the black widow came to both Atta and Flik jr. the small ant ducked away from her at first.
"Oh, sweetheart no need to be scared of me...I'm a good black widow…" then Jr peeked out of his mother's arms
"Oh there's little Jr. have you remembered Filia…" Gypsy walked over with her daughter who just looked at Jr.
"Hi, I'm Flik Jr. nice to meet you…" Jr tried to shake hands with Filia, but she backed away from him
"Augh, you're so filthy…" Filia gagged.
"Oh oh, I'm sorry…" then Jr. accidentally flicked a little bit of the mud onto Filia's right wing
"You even got my wing dirty,"
"Now Filia you be nice to the queen's young boy" Manny scolded her
"Oh the mud...that was to get the birdie to go away," Flik Jr said, looking down.
"Filia has a point you need a bath…" Atta carried Jr. to the lake.
While Atta cleaned up Jr. a buzzing sound came from afar and it was approaching fast.
"What's that noise Mama…" Jr whimpered.
"I don't know…" then screaming was heard. Then Jr.'s eyes widened.
"Gramma…Gramma…" Jr ran from his mother's grasp and back to the anthill.
He saw a bunch of grasshoppers scaring the ants and the ants running like crazy. Lots of them bumped into Jr. knocking him to the ground, but he still managed to get up and run toward the anthill where he saw a bunch of grasshoppers were going.
"They must be after Gramma…" Jr. thought as he was running. then Skipper, Skeeter, and Bucky saw him run and they followed after him
He also watched the chaos in the anthill too and as soon as he reached her room a few grasshoppers were there and the former queen was still and blood rushed down her body.
"GRAMMA!" He screamed to the top of his lungs and the grasshoppers turned to him. Then Flik Jr. saw a large stick and began to fight them off.
"Get the boy!" one of the grasshoppers instructed and two grasshoppers went in on the attack.
"NOO!" Skipper yelled, getting her slingshot ready and she shot one of the bugs in the eyes and one of them on the head with the pebbles as Skeeter and Bucky began to ambush the disoriented bugs.
Then a clearing throat was heard and all of the action stopped as they turned to a female grasshopper with a slash on her cheek and her four hands on her hips looking sternly at the grasshoppers and ants.
"Ma-ma-madam…" Jr. squeaked. Then she walked around the room and looked at the grasshopper holding Jr. by his antenna
"Drop him…" then the grasshopper dropped Jr. to the ground. She walked about the room some more and she whispered
"So who did it…" the 4 kids looked at each other in confusion. "WHO KILLED HOPPER?!" She this time yelled. There was nothing but silence.
"Hopper…" Jr mumbled. The grasshopper sharply turned to the boy
"What?!"
"Who is hopper-"
"Excuse me!" Jr jumped back every time her voice boomed at him as she approached him
"Nothing madam…." Jr could only stare at his grandmother's body and back at her. She too stared at the body.
"Get the body out of here...and your coming with me…" she grabbed Jr by the arm and led him outside of the anthill where everyone else was rounded up.
"Alright you ants I wanna know who did it...who killed hopper, or the boy gets it…"
"Or what punk," Bucky yelled as the three teens stepped out. The infuriated grasshoppers glanced at them
"Get those 3…" she ordered
"What are you going to do...shut us up…" Skipper added
"Even when you killed our retired queen…" Skeeter finished.
Everyone in the colony was shocked, even Atta, Flik, and Dot.
"What...she was bedridden…" Thorny called out. Everyone was yelling angrily. So many "how dare you" and others came out. Then the grasshopper ordered two of them to charge at the ants and Jr. took notice
"Stop it...STOP…" Jr yelled, pushing the female grasshopper, who knocked him down and kicked at him
This caused the angry ants to attack while the grasshoppers temporarily fled, leaving the leader at the hands of the ants, taking her to the cannon.
"This isn't over, when the last leaf falls, I'll be back with more grasshoppers…" then the grasshopper was stuck in the cannon and launched away by Dim. Flik Jr watched her fly, while she stared back at him with an evil stare, making him scared
"Jr. are you hurt!" Atta ran over to Jr looked at him and tightly wrapped her son.
"I'm okay mommy…"
Hey, I brought someone…" Flik brought the familiar stick to his son
"Buddy…" he wrapped his arms around the stick, smiling since the grasshoppers arrived. The parents glanced at each other and then at their son, pondering on what to do.
"What are we going to do about those grasshoppers…" Cornelious panicked. The ants had a quick meeting with the circus bugs in tow, figuring out what do to with
"What if they hurt the poor prince…" Mr. Soil added.
"Oh the poor boy…I bet he's so scared right now…" Dr. Flora spoke.
"Well I say we give those grasshoppers a taste of their own medicine, just like we did last time…" Thorny declared.
"Yes but what about Jr. I don't want him to be traumatized again…" Atta spoke looking at her son, currently showing Filia his latest invention, binoculars.
"The queen's right, the kid isn't safe here on the island…" Francis replied.
"Maybe we can take him to a safer place for the time being...So he can be out of that lady's grasp…" Flik suggested
"I hope somewhere not too far away…" Atta glared at her husband.
"Yes, I agree with the queen...The child will get homesick...the effects of taking a child away from its home has its consequences…" Dr. Flora pitched in.
"Well not far away...At least somewhere where he will be safe...and away from the grasshoppers…"
"Hey hey...What if he stays with us at the circus…" P.T Flea declared.
"That's perfect...the grasshoppers will never find the kid there…" Francis agreed
"Yeah...He'll make the perfect clown…" Heimlich said.
Then Manny and Gypsy approached Flik Jr. and Filia.
"Filia...You're going to have a new roommate…" Gypsy told
"The boy is going with us to the circus…" then Jr accidentally spits the water drop he was drinking in Filia's face, drenching her wings and fur collar. He shrieks as soon as he saw his mistake. Filia glared at Jr, who just shrank and chuckled nervously.
"Well, Filia will get along just fine with him…" Manny turned back to the royal council and the rest of the circus bugs.
Later in the middle of the night, Flik Jr. snuck out of his room with Buddy in his arms to get some water and heard sniffling and saw his mother and father in his grandmother's room.
"Oh, Flik how are we going to tell him that he's leaving in the morning…" Atta cried. Flik just placed his arms around his mate. Flik Jr tried to slip away but he made a small noise that gave him away.
"JR." Atta scolded as she wiped her tears. "You should be asleep!"
Jr. then cuddled Buddy tightly in his arms. "I was thirsty…" he looked down shamefully.
Atta was about to say another word until Flik calmly reassured her.
"Come mere son…" Flik silently called him. Jr smiled and ran to his parents and Atta placed him on her lap and gently rocked him back and forth
"Mama...Does this mean I'm being banished…" Atta looked down at him and tightly wrapped her arms around him. She felt horrible for letting her son think that she was banishing him to the circus. She gently kissed his forehead.
"Oh, Jr. Mommy would never banish you...You're just staying with the circus for a while...just until we deal with those grasshoppers okay…" Tears ran down her face as Atta talked to her son with Flik by her side.
"The Madam was scary...I...I'm really scared…"
"Well, son...You have nothing to worry about...You're in good hands...The circus bugs will take real good care of you...They'll never let you get hurt…"
"I don't think Filia likes me…" Jr. squeaked.
"She's just trying her best to adjust to the situation...but...You'll-You'll be okay…" Atta cupped her son's cheek. Jr. then spotted his mother's tears.
"Don't cry Mama…" Jr hugged his mother and Atta returned it graciously.
"Oh, Jr…" then Flik joined in on the hug, wrapping his arms around his little boy before he leaves in the morning.
The circus bugs were watching everything from afar and they felt just as bad, separating a child from his parents
"Poor baby…" Rosie whispered. They watch the family holding onto an embrace. No one wanted the morning to come but alas the time must come.