Chapter II

"Hopper!..Hoppy?"

Molt landed heavily on a cloverleaf. After waiting out the rain the night before, he alone had returned to Ant Island to look for Hopper - only he hadn't found anything, and he was well worn out, not to mention hoarse from shouting.

The grasshopper distractedly scratched an elbow, and proceeded pacing back and forth, muttering to himself.

"Hopper's gonna kill me...flyin' away like that...he's probably just waitin' for me to show up and then am I gonna get it...But I've looked everywhere already...Unless - " Here Molt gripped the leaf's stem as a breeze picked up. " - Unless he isn't here, and he's waitin' for me somewhere else...and when I don't show up...Oh boy, this is bad...So should I go, or keep lookin'? Gee I hate makin' decisions..."

Frustrated, Molt took to the air again, flying in a slow circle towards the Tree which towered over the Anthill. He scanned his surroundings hastily, looking for any sign of his brother in the ground's sparse vegetation. Below him, he could see the worker ants moving about, laying soil around the Hill - and at the base of the Hill, he could see a table made of leaves at which many larger insects sat.

He stared at the congregation, forgetting to watch where he was headed. Those bugs looked familiar...

Suddenly his flight was cut short when he rammed into some spongy, sticky stuff stretched between a few of the branches of the Tree. Nearby, a couple of voices cried out in surprise.

"Ack!" shouted Flash, throwing all his Lizard Encounter cards in the air. "Air Raid! We're bein' invaded!"

"Get your foot out of my eye!" responded Blip.

Molt thrashed in a panic, trying to figure out what had happened. Then it clicked. He had flown straight into a spider's web! He shouted and wailed, struggling madly, which only served to tangle him more hopelessly.

Ymri, who had managed to jump clear, held back and watched in surprise as Molt's struggles succeeded in entangling the grasshopper and the two fireflies into a sticky, webby mess. Ymri grabbed a thread of the web - one that connected it to the Tree - in an attempt to steady it. "Take it easy my friend," he told Molt. "Do not be kicking so much. I will get you out."

Molt ceased his flailing long enough to twist around and get a good look at the speaker. He went pale. It was a big wolf spider, which, judging by his appearance, was capable of dispatching any grasshopper he managed to snare in his web - if he chose to. Molt was hoping he didn't.

"Oh geez," whined Molt nervously. "I - I didn't see your web! Please don't eat me - You don't want me anyways, I'm uh...I'm..."

"You're squashin' me!" complained Flash, his voice muffled in the webbing.

"Help!" cried Blip, on the other side. "I'm runnin' outta air!"

Ymri knew he had to work fast, so he began tugging on the strands of web quickly and a bit haphazardly. Unfortunately, the grasshopper weighed more than what the web was originally constructed to hold.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

"What is that sound?" wondered Manny, looking about.

Gypsy frowned. "It sounds like...screams - "

Everyone yelled and jumped in surprise as a large, shrieking bundle plummeted from above to crash-land in the center of the breakfast table. Food, ants, and circus bugs scattered everywhere.

Flik was the first to uncover his eyes. "It's a grasshopper!" he cried. "I...think."

Francis frowned. "Since when do grasshoppers have left and right turn signals?"

"It's Blip and Flash!" observed Slim as the fireflies blinked their abdomens on and off feebly.

Dot, frightened but excited, flew up to the top of a torn piece of grass to watch.

"Ow...Ooh..." moaned Molt, who had landed squarely on his back. His wings felt pinned in unnatural position and his center of gravity seemed to have been left behind in the Tree. He blinked at the sky in confusion as Aphie yapped furiously somewhere out of his line of sight.

Just then Ymri arrived from above on a long strand of thread. He dropped down and approached the broken breakfast table. "Pardon me, please," he said distractedly to no one in particular, righting Molt and beginning to untie him just as if nothing had happened. Rosie, after a brief glance at the others, quickly joined him.

The surrounding workers, who had not only heard the crash but also the cry of 'grasshopper', began to gather around curiously.

Atta was quite flustered by the whole affair, and turned to her mother for council. The Queen merely gave her a prodding look, so Atta cleared her throat and took charge of the situation.

"You have some nerve coming back here," she addressed Molt, who was just beginning to get over his initial daze. She spread her wings and hovered threateningly over the grasshopper's head. "As soon as you're free from that web, I want you to leave, and never return. Do you understand?"

Molt, who was well aware that not only was he helpless while tangled in the webbing, but that he was also surrounded by scores of insects who weren't very fond of him, drew back from the Princess in fear. "I'm sorry - I'm sorry," he stammered weakly. Rosie managed to free one of the grasshopper's upper arms and he put it between himself and Atta as if to fend off a blow. "I only came back 'cause I wanted to look for Hopper. I'll get out of here as soon as I find him."

At the mention of Hopper, Atta drew back, and landed on the ground. She, her mother, Flik, and the circus bugs glanced at eachother. "Hopper?" she repeated to the grasshopper at last.

"Yeah." Molt lowered his arm. "Didja see where he went? I've been lookin' all night - well, after the rain stopped." He paused, but there was no immediate reply, so he went on: "I'm sure Hopper'll wanna leave too, he'll probably wanna get back to - " He stopped when he noticed everyone looking very uncomfortable and fidgeting. "What's goin' on?"

Flik couldn't stand it. After all the seasons of the grasshopper gang stealing the Colony's food, he had become familiar enough with Hopper's brother to know that he was an uncomplicated, almost childlike sort who would probably react badly to the news that Hopper had been eaten by a bird. Although Flik knew that he really shouldn't feel guilty...he did.

As the two spiders managed to free Blip and Flash as well as another of Molt's arms from the webbing, Flik stepped forward. Knowing what Flik was about to say, the Queen quickly shooed the curious workers away. "Hopper," began Flik, attempting to keep his gaze from dropping, "is not here...anymore."

"Ya mean he left already?" Molt began to really worry. "Oh geez...I gotta catch up to him. He probably went back south. We had a nice set-up down there. If I hurry, I can get there before - "

"No, he didn't leave," interrupted Flik.

Molt was confused. "But you said he was gone," he reminded the ant.

"Well I didn't mean, gone like that, I meant..." Flik trailed off.

Atta, who hadn't yet lost the edge of her anger, took over. "He means Hopper is dead," she told Molt. As soon as the words left her mouth she cringed inwardly at her own bluntness.

Molt just stared at her, his eyes round as her words sank in. "Hopper's...Hopper's...dead? He's dead?"

"I'm sorry," said Atta quietly, lowering her eyes.

"But he's...he's dead?" repeated Molt, shock giving way to mortification. "How could he be dead?" he demanded.

"It was a bird," explained Flik.

"A bird," moaned Molt, slumping forward and using his two free hands to cover his face. "Poor Hoppy. It's all my fault."

Dot, up on her piece of grass, watched silently.

"It's not your fault - " said Rosie.

"It is. I shouldn'ta flown away like that. I shouldn'ta left him. We were supposed to look out for eachother. We promised Ma..." Unable to speak any longer, Molt crumpled, gulping back tears.

"Oh..." said Atta, putting a hand on her chest. "I feel terrible," she whispered to Flik.

"So do I."

"What do we do?"

"I don't know." Flik looked around. The circus bugs were huddled together sadly, and even the Royal Council looked at a loss.

As Rosie pulled the last bit of webbing from Molt's back, she frowned. "Dr. Flora," she called. "I think you need to see this."

Dr. Flora, confused, walked up to Rosie. "What's the prob - Oh my," she remarked.

"What is it?" asked the Queen.

"Well the poor dear's wing is broken; just snapped in two," answered Dr. Flora with her usual bedside manner. "Must have landed on it when he fell out of the Tree. It'll need a splint."

"Mom," said Dot, finally flying down to stand next to Atta. "We gotta help him. Please?"

Her mother merely inclined her head. "Go on and take him to the Infirmary," she told Dr. Flora.

The two spiders helped Molt, who hadn't nearly composed himself, to stand, then Ymri and Dr. Flora led the grasshopper into the Anthill. They were closely followed by a curious Blip and Flash.

"All right then," Cornelius huffed. "We fix his wing and he leaves! We can't have a grasshopper here."

"But he wouldn't be able to fly for weeks," said Gypsy, and she turned to her husband. "Do you remember dear, the time you broke your wing?"

"Ah yes," mused Manny thoughtfully. "The Amazing Submersible Capsule Disappearing Act. I was merely distracted that performance."

"That's because you were about to propose to me."

"But of course."

Thorny frowned. "It will be the dead of winter in a few weeks."

Cornelius sputtered. "We must get rid of him somehow!" he insisted.

Atta was offended. "How can you say that, Corny?" she challenged the elderly head of the Agriculture Department.

"Yeah," agreed Flik. "The poor guy just found out his brother was eaten by a bird."

"Served that assassin right!" went on Cornelius, waving his cane like a flag.

"All right, all right," cut in the Queen. "After Dr. Flora takes care of his wing, we'll have a private hearing tonight in the Colony Courtroom. We'll decide what to do then."

"I'm afraid that's not the only thing that needs deciding," announced Thorny, a bit timidly. "I've been surveying the damage to the Hill, and I found something disturbing."

"Oh not that," complained Cornelius gruffly. "I still say you're overreacting."

Thorny barely glanced at Cornelius. "And who is Head of Engineering around here?" said the short ant dryly.

"Will you excuse us?" said the Queen to Flik and the circus bugs, taking Atta's arm. The two Royal Ants followed Thorny and Cornelius towards a pile of stones a yard or so away from the Hill.

"Well," said Francis to Flik after a moment. "You guys sure throw some interesting get-togethers."

Flik rolled his eyes at the sky. "And this place used to be so boring."