CHAPTER XLVIII
FUNNY BUSINESS
After waiting a few minutes to make sure that the bird wasn't coming back, Sora and his bug friends all flew over to the clearing on Ant Island and landed amidst the hundreds of ants who were still clapping and cheering for them.
"Princess Atta, we've returned with reinforcements…" Sora said, sliding off of Dim's back. The hustle and bustle was too loud to talk over, as all the ants crowded around the newcomers. Some marveled at how large Dim was, while others looked up at Rosie and commented on how intimidating she looked. Princess Atta gave Sora a wary look as she grabbed his hand and shook it wildly.
"You're sure you guys can defend us from the grasshoppers?" she said, still unsure of the plan.
"Of course! Riku, Kairi, Donald, Goofy and I could do it ourselves…but with the help of these guys, it'll be a piece of cake!" he said, scratching the back of his head and smiling. "What's going on over there?" Sora asked, pointing to a small group of ants who were cheering.
The small group of ants were holding up pieces of grain and grass as if it were currency, and next to them was a much larger group of ants with sour looks on their faces.
"Uh…" Atta searched for her words. "They were kind of betting that you wouldn't make it past the riverbed…"
The sour looking ants all marched past Sora, and he could have sworn he heard one of them say 'thanks a lot…' with more than a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
"Gee, that's good to know…" Sora said.
"I'm sorry, its not like any of us wished you any harm…"
"I get it…no problem, Princess," he said, trying to get off the topic. "I think the warriors need to rest, though…especially after that fight with the bird…"
"Of course! Come this way…" she said, leading Sora down into the anthill. The other warrior bugs, including Kairi, Riku, Donald and Goofy, followed them through the hole.
The underground caves of the anthill were amazing – they had barely gotten a glimpse of it before the grasshoppers came the first time they were down below. A massive, spiraling root was carved to be the stairway out of and into the anthill, and all along the walls there were glowing, green mushrooms giving the area some much needed light. As they weaved through the long, spiraling tunnels, they occasionally saw bigger rooms with flower petals and leaves as beds and other furniture inside. Atta stopped as she opened two large leaf-shaped doors, leading them into a large room that had many large beds made from moss.
"You warriors get some rest…the way the leaves have been falling recently, the last one may fall any day now…" she said, closing the doors behind her.
Manny took a step in front of his friends from the tin can. "Excuse me, Sora…what did that ant just call us?" he said with a perplexed look on his face.
"The warriors! Geez…" Sora replied.
"WARRIORS!" the bugs all exclaimed, staring at Sora in disbelief.
"Yeah…you are warriors…aren't you?" Riku asked. "We came to bug city searching for warriors to help us defend Ant Island from the grasshoppers…"
The motley crew of bugs had worried expressions on their faces. Without words, Slim bent over and picked up a few rocks from the ground and started juggling them. Rosie started to use her web like a whip, slapping at Dim, who playfully charged at her. Tuck and Roll did some interesting flips, Tuck landing on Roll's shoulders. At the end of this strange display, they reached their arms out in all directions.
"TA-DAA!" they shouted.
"Circus bugs? Sora, you were supposed to get warriors, not clowns!" Kairi yelled, buzzing involuntarily.
"I…I did! I got warriors! These guys beat up an entire tin can full of tough bugs back in Bug City!" he said, trying to defend himself. "You guys didn't tell me you were circus bugs!"
"It was you who didn't tell us we were being contracted for war, my little ant friend! This is what we call false advertising!" Manny shouted back.
"Just shut up for a minute!" Riku yelled, causing everyone to be quiet. He paced up and down in the room, staring at the floor and tapping his finger on his head.
"Look…I'm sorry if there was a little miscommunication…but we're not fighting any grasshoppers, kids. We're not about to commit suicide…" Rosie said softly, not trying to start another shouting match.
"I know. It's a lot to ask of you, guys…we're sorry Sora didn't take the time to fully explain…" Riku said, shooting Sora a sideways glace.
"That's
not fair! I did explain! I told Tuck and Roll the whole thing!" he
squeaked.
"Honey, Tuck and Roll don't speak any English…"
said Gypsy, trying not to laugh.
Tuck and Roll shouted another bit of gibberish as Sora hung his head in shame, plopping down on a pile of moss.
"You all heard what Atta said…the last leaf could fall any day now. Manny – we're not asking your group to fight with us…but if you left now, Atta and the rest of the colony would just give up all hope…so…" Riku trailed off.
"Just stay until the grasshoppers come, and you can sneak off while we fight them. It's the only option, guys," Kairi said matter-of-factly.
The circus bugs looked at each other in dismay. One by one, they all nodded and sat on their piles of moss, relaxing for the first time since after they had escaped from the bird. Sora, Riku, Kairi, Donald and Goofy walked away from the circus bugs to talk in a slightly more private corner of the sleeping tunnel.
"There were a lot of grasshoppers here, Sora…at least twenty of them. If they were half as strong as Hopper…" Kairi said nervously.
"I know…but we're going to have to take 'em out ourselves. It's not like we can force the circus bugs to fight…" said Sora, trying to ignore the fact that it was him who had gotten them all in such trouble. He sighed and stood up, leaving Riku, Kairi, Donald and Goofy to get some sleep.
Sora aimlessly walked through the tunnels, not looking for anyone in particular. When he passed a large, ornate archway, he walked through it, ending up in a small hallway leading into a huge cavern. The walls were decorated with broken twigs and nuts, making a lovely mosaic pattern. He peeked through the 'windows' that were cut into the leaf doors, and saw a very interesting sight…
A large pedestal jutted out from a small pool of water. It was almost taller than Sora, and atop it sat a beautiful, but rusty, bronze statue. The statue was of a gorgeous butterfly, wings fully extended, each bearing a small tornado-shaped gust of wind. For the eyes of the butterfly there were two small gray gems. For a moment, he thought about running in and grabbing the statue, waking up his friends and leaving without another word…
But he shook the dark thought from his head. Instead, he just continued to stare at the statue as a small purple hand came to rest on his shoulder.
"Ahh!" he yelled, turning to see the smiling face of Princess Atta.
"I see you've gone and ruined the surprise…" she said, escorting Sora into the chamber that held the Wind Butterfly. "We were planning to give this treasure to your group as a token of our appreciation, after you drove off the grasshoppers…"
Sora was dumbfounded…Riku and the others would be ecstatic to know that he had redeemed himself by finding the Wind Butterfly so soon…
"Are the rest of the warriors asleep?" Atta asked, slamming Sora back into reality as he realized that the warriors were nothing more than circus bugs. He stared into Atta's eyes as he said, "yeah. I should get some rest too…"
He walked out of the chamber and sprinted back to the sleeping quarters…though his head hit the pillow immediately, it took him more than an hour to get to sleep, his mind racing with thoughts of the looming battle…
