'Flik, after much deliberation we have decided to grant you your request.' I told him.

'Really?' he asked

'Really?' asked my mother

'Um, really.' I answered nervously wondering what reaction I was going to get. Flik raced up to me and shock my hand enthusiastically,

'Oh! Thank you, Princess, thank you so much for this chance! I won't let you down! I promise! I promise! I promise!'

'Forget it, forget it.' I said trying to calm him down.

'Shouldn't I help repair some of the damage before I go, don't you think?'

'No!' We all shouted at once.

'Just go!' I insisted,

'Just leave!'

The next day everybody stopped what they were doing. We watched Flik walk through the colony and into the distance to start his 'search'. As soon as he was out of sight, we all cheered. I couldn't help feeling ever so slightly guilty, but at least we could now get on with the harvesting without any extra problems.

Three days had past and what a three days they had been. They had droned on and on. The males and workers were totally exhausted. Many had fallen from their lack of energy and dehydration, and had had to be taken to the infirmary. The pile of food was small; it was getting harder all the time to find food. I was standing next to the offering stone, wringing my hands and watching the extremely slow process of the workers. As I watched, one of them fell. I quickly flew over and called for Dr Flora who ran over.

'Oh, not another one!' she cried. She gave the ant some water.

'This is insane!' said Thorny who had also come over along with Cornelius.

'Insane!' repeated Cornelius.

'There's simply not enough food left on the island,' continued Thorny, 'no way we can make double quarters before Hopper comes back!'

'Well, we have to try, Thorny,' I answered 'we don't have any choice.' I helped Dr Flora take the ant to the infirmary. Thorny was right. We would never be able to get enough food for the grasshoppers and we needed to eat ourselves.

When we got to the infirmary we sat the ant down on a leaf. Dr Flora ran off to get some more water.

'Feeling any better, now?' I asked the ant. He nodded then spoke,

'I'm Cotton; I think you know my young friend, Reed?'

'Yes, she's very sweet.' I answered. Reed was one of the Blueberry Scouts. The Blueberry Scouts seemed to be very keen on me especially Petal, who would go out of her way to talk to me if she spotted me. Dr Flora returned with water.

'You'd better get above ground, your highness, there's some sort of commotion going on.' I left them and headed for the tunnel entrance. Mr. Soil was at the top of it.

'Flik has returned.' He told me.

'He's back?' I cried out utterly amazed.

'And he's accompanied by savage insects.' He continued. I flew up to him. I was completely bemused.

'What! How! He wasn't actually supposed to find someone!' I said exasperated, looking down to see the rest of the colony emerging from hiding and surrounding a group of large bugs plus Flik.

I flew over the crowd and landed in front of it to get a clear view. There were nine of them: two pill bugs, a stick bug, a preying mantis, a ladybug, a black widow spider, a caterpillar, a rhino beetle and a gypsy moth.

'Oh, Princess Atta!' It was Flik. He came running over to me. 'Hey, guys! This is Princess Atta. She's the one that sent me to find you!' He told the big bugs.

'That beetle looks absolutely ferocious!' said Mr. Soil, impressed.

'They're our ticket out of this mess!' exclaimed Thorny.

'They came just in time too!' added Dr Flora.

'That's right!' remarked Cornelius. Flik turned to me, grinning,

'So, Princess Atta, what, what do you think?' I hesitated then turned to the others.

'Wait a minute, this was not supposed to happen!' my voice filled with anxiety; 'We don't fight grasshoppers!' I continued.

'We don't, but they will!' pointed out Thorny. Then the ladybug spoke,

'Your majesty, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls of all ages, our troupe here guarantees a performance like no other, why when your grasshopper friends get here, we are going to knock them dead!' Everybody cheered, everyone that was except me. I couldn't believe it. No, I mean I actually couldn't believe it. The way the ladybug had talked, how they looked. They looked more like a bunch of clowns! Clowns couldn't fight grasshoppers! And if they were clowns, what did Flik think he was doing? Probably one of his crazy schemes that never worked.

My mother arranged a party to celebrate the arrival of the 'Warrior' bugs, worrier bugs more like. Did they even know what they had come to supposedly do? Had Flik tricked them?

Some ants were playing some music but I wasn't really paying attention to them. I was looking suspiciously at the bugs and Flik, who was sitting next to me. No doubt enjoying the attention.

'Honey, relax,' said my mother, who was sitting on the other side of me, 'you should be proud of yourself. Your instinct on that boy went right on the money.' I gave a fake smile. Once she had looked away I dropped it and continued to look suspiciously at the bugs and Flik. The music ended and we all clapped. 'And to make our official welcome complete,' said my mother 'Mr. Soil,'

'Yes, your highness.' He answered.

'He's our resident thespian.' My mother told the gypsy moth, 'Last year he played the lead in Picnic!' She laughed.

'The children, and myself,' Mr. Soil began 'have quickly put together a little presentation in honor of our guests. Kevin, Reed, Daisy, Grub.' He beckoned four kids forward. Reed and Daisy carried a rolled up leaf. Grub stepped forward,

'The South Tunnel, Elementary School, Second Grade Class, would like to present you with this,' Daisy and Reed unrolled the leaf. 'a mirror we have drawn of you bugs helping us fight the grasshoppers away.' The picture involved a lot of blood, dead grasshoppers and one dead caterpillar. I was wondering how the 'Warrior' bugs would take to this.

'Oh, look at all the beautiful colors of the blood.' Said the spider sounding uncertain.

'I tell you a tale,' announced Mr. dramatically strumming on his lute, 'of heroes so bold who vanquished our grasshopper enemies of old!' Blossom and the others moved aside with the leaf to present three more children, one dressed up as a leaf. He fell backwards.

'Look! The last leaf has fallen!' said one of them. A group of children ran in,

'We are the grasshoppers!' They shouted 'Where's our food?'

'Who will come to save us poor ants?' Another group of children ran in,

'We are the warriors here to defend you!' Sometime later, the performance was almost at an end for almost all the 'grasshoppers' and 'warriors' were dead. The children who were putting on the play could probably fight better than the 'real' ones, I thought bitterly.

'And die, die,' everyone burst into applause. The play was at an end.

'Okay, honey, you're up,' my mother told me. I felt a feeling of dread.

'Oh . . . um . . .' I stood up. No one was actually listening or paying the slightest bit of attention to me.

'We are all very, very grateful to have the warriors . . .' suddenly my voice was much louder, everyone was looking at me. I looked down to see I was holding some kind of contraption which had somehow made my voice louder. I looked over at Flik. He gave me the thumbs us. 'Thanks,' I murmured then cleared my throat, 'First of all, I'd like to thank the warriors for helping us in our fight against the grasshoppers.' Everyone cheered, it made me feel more confident, 'Secondly, I'd like to thank, Flik, for his forthright thinking,' I felt I was being slightly sarcastic. Flik grabbed the megaphone.

'Thank you, your highness. Oh, sure, I'd like to take the credit for all of this but that wouldn't be right, 'cause it was you, Princess Atta,' My stomach gave a lurch, 'you believed in me and you sent me on my quest,' I felt a surge of something like guilt, I hadn't believed in him, never had, I had just sent on that quest to get rid of him! I had never expected him to come back, never mind succeed in the quest! And I didn't believe him now either! 'Now, I know that I've made a lot of mistakes in the past and I hope this will make up . . .' the spider was whispering to him. He paused then continued making his speech. 'Yeah, I truly believe that these bugs are the answer to our . . .' the spider had been whispering to him again. What had she been telling him?

Flik looked round at the bugs, then burst into action. He dropped his megaphone and ran over to me sending several things to the ground, 'Your highness,' he shock my hand rather hard, 'the warrior bugs have called for a secret meeting to plan for circus, um, circumventing so they trapeze, trap then with ease.'

'Well, shouldn't I come too?' I asked still trying to make sense of what he had just said.

'No!' then he laughed 'Sorry, classified in the D.M.T. gotta go A.S.A.P., you know strictly B.Y.O.B. Bye!' He was half walking, half running off, 'Sorry, sorry, I've got to take the warriors away so early but they have a lot to get done with the battle looming and all. So, please, everyone, do enjoy the party!'

'B.Y.O.B?' What was he on about? I knew what B.Y.O.B. meant; it meant Bring Your Own Booze! I got up and ran towards the stalks they had gone through. 'Flik!' I called 'I really do think I should be part of this meeting! Flik!' A blade of grass was pulled across to reveal Flik's face.

'Ah, Princess Atta! What a nice surprise.' He said rather awkwardly.

'Just what exactly is going on?' I asked, rather agitated, 'I'd like to speak with these so-called 'warriors.''

'Well, you can't,' he answered, fiddling with a blade of grass, 'I mean they're in the middle of a top secret meeting right now, and shouldn't be disturbed right now.' He turned his head. I was getting fed up with this nonsense. 'Right, guys?' No reply came. 'Could you excuse me please?' asked Flik before disappearing again. I put my hands on my hips, what was the point of all this? It was making me feel really stressed out. 'Wait! Wait! Please don't go!' came Flik's voice from some distance away.

'I'm not going anywhere! What is going on!' I pushed the blades of grass aside. No one in sight. 'Flik!' I shouted 'Flik!' I turned away, frustrated. 'Oh! I knew it!' I hesitated, not sure exactly what I should do. I could either run and tell my mother that I thought Flik was up to something or I could follow him and find out exactly what was going down.

I paused, then ran after him. Mother would think me a fool, but if I did find out what Flik was doing and everything, it would be well worth it. I took flight. There was no sign of Flik or the other bugs. I sighed. Maybe I should turn back . . .

Suddenly, I heard muffled shouts. I hurried towards the sound. I had reached the dry river bed. I dived down. I could see the various bugs were scattered. None of them noticed me. They were running and flying in all different directions. I spotted Flik. I landed behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned. He looked absolutely horrified.

'Alright, Flik what exactly . . .'

'Atta! Behind you!' he screamed in a panic. I heard a chirping sound. I rapidly turned. In front of me was a huge red bird.