CHAPTER XXIV: THE POWER OF ONE
The Queen of the ant colony had decided to have a brief welcome party to celebrate our arrival. Since we had arrived, we'd been able to learn the names of those noticeable ants – the tall council ant was Mr. Soil, the really short one was Thorny, the female ant with a voice like that of Berry's was Dr. Flora, and the frail, old ant who clutched a walking stick was Cornelius. Also, Flik's purple-shaded kid friend was Dot. She was kinda cute, rather like one of my kids... No, wait – I mustn't go there!
Right now, several talented ants were playing a musical instrument that consisted of blow horns, a long, thick grass stalk with cut holes, so it was played rather like a flute, and a special flower to let out the music. It was so big that six ants were required to play it. They did so in perfect harmony, almost like they were trained to do so all their lives.
All of us, along with several important ants, were sitting on a special bench, made out of a stretched out leaf laid on small pebbles for support, with a corn plant in the middle. I was at the very end of the row, smiling in tune to the music, which was a cross between that of Scottish bagpipes and American pop tunes, except it sounded way more traditional and old-fashioned.
Next to me were Roll and Tuck (in that order) who, like me, were standing on the ground, rather than sitting on small pebbles. After them came Manny and Gypsy, who were sitting on rocks about the height of the pill bugs (you'd never actually notice how short they were, but a smaller body sure helped for doing gymnastics!). After Gypsy was the Queen, along with her pet aphid, who was messing about on the corn plant, followed by Flik, who was beating his hands in time to the music. Finally, after them was Rosie, Francis, Slim and Heimlich, none of whom (except for Slim) required a rock to sit on. The rest of the colony was standing in a circle around the musical instrument, numbering about 400 or so ants now.
It all seemed very... strange, somehow, that all of us expected such great things out of this. I could understand the colony's delight in satisfying these grasshoppers Flik referred to, but it was weird that we felt great about it. Maybe it was just the feeling of helping out a fellow colony worker, or something... For hymenopterans, these ants were alright!
The music stopped, and we all clapped for applause. Once this was over, we could get on to the actual show for these grasshoppers. And then... Then the good stuff could happen...
'And to make out official welcome complete,' said the Queen, reaching out with a hand, 'Mr. Soil!'
'Yes, your highness,' responded Mr. Soil, coming forward, just as the musical ants pushed the grass instrument aside.
'He's out resident thespian,' said the Queen to Gypsy. 'Last year he played the lead in Picnic!' She then laughed it off, while Gypsy smiled thoughtfully, clasping her hands around her knees.
'The children,' said Mr. Soil, for four kid ants, including Dot, waited behind with a rolled-up leaf, 'and myself, have quickly put together a little presentation in honour of our guests.' He stepped to the side, while clapping, as the kids came forward. 'Dot, Reed, Daisy, Grub.'
'Oh aren't they adorable,' remarked Gypsy in her nice, graceful voice.
'Oh, they're cute!' said Rosie cutely. While Reed and Daisy kept their female hands clasped on the leaf, and Dot waited, Grub stepped forward nervously.
'The South Tunnel Elementary School, Second Grade Class,' he said, as Reed and Daisy began to unroll the leaf, 'would like to present you with this – a mural we have drawn, of you bugs helping us fight the grasshoppers away.'
The mural showed grasshoppers running everywhere, while Francis stuck a sword through one grasshopper, Slim chased several, Rosie stomped over one, and I chewed on one. Two grasshoppers lay dead, and so did Heimlich, who had been decapitated between his thorax and abdomen. The other circus bugs were lacking from the mural entirely. This certainly changes our mission – and our outlook on the situation.
'Oh...' said Rosie slowly, as all our smiles turned to frowns faster than an atomic explosion, 'look at all the beautiful colors of the blood...'
In front of the mural, Dot gestured to the bleeding Heimlich.
'We drew one of you dying because our teacher said it would be more dramatic...' she stammered.
The circus bugs on Flik's right all let out small gasps and looked at Heimlich, whose body had turned from green to red instantly. And it didn't stop there. Within seconds it was the creamy white of old porridge.
Before anything else happened, Mr. Soil jumped back in front of the mural, playing a note on a harp made from a leaf.
'I tell you a tale,' he stated dramatically, 'of heroes so bold – who vanquished our grasshopper enemies of old!'
He moved off to the side, as the kid ants pulled the mural leaf with them. There stood one kid ants dressed up in a leaf, along with two other kid ants. The colony stayed silent, although ants watching moved here and there. The kid ant in-a-leaf rolled his eyes and fell backwards onto the ground.
'Look,' said one of the other two kid ants, pointing at the fallen leaf-kid, 'the last leaf has fallen.'
All of a sudden, eight kid ants wearing leaf decorated to look like menacing faces ran onto the stage.
'We are the grasshoppers!' they chimed angrily. 'Where's our food?'
Who will come to save us poor ants,' wondered the second normal kid ant in a bored tone. Another eight kid ants, holding fake swords and shields that looked as though they were made from an acorn lid, ran onstage from the other side.
'We are the warriors!' they chimed in. 'Here to defend you!'
We all watched, with horrified expressions, as they play continued to progress.
By the end of the play, Slim was covering Heimlich's eyes, Francis eyes were wider than mine, Rosie had her hands over her mouth, Manny was patting Gypsy sympathetically on the back while she looked down, and Tuck, Roll and myself were just staring with open mouths.
'I die!' said the only warrior ant left, for all the other "warriors" and "grasshoppers" were dead. 'Die! Die!' He fell down onto the ground, and the colony clapped applause straight away.
Francis keeled backwards onto his shell, clearly having suffered trauma. Tuck and Roll clapped along with the colony. I could tell they hadn't understood a word of the whole play.
Mr. Soil leaped in front of the stage kids as they got up, picking up their equipment. He and they all bowed, while he said 'Thank you, thank you. Oh, thank you!'
As the clapping started to die down, myself, Manny and Gypsy glanced over at the others, who were on the other side of Flik. Rosie helped Francis up, as they began frantically talking among each other. We couldn't hear what they were saying, and I bet my soul Flik couldn't either.
'Okay, honey, you're up, said the Queen to Atta.
'Oh, um... stalled Atta, realizing that attention was now drawn to her. She seemed very much of a nervous wreck but, then again, training to be a Queen was quite an ordeal.
'Um...' began Atta, 'we're all very, very grateful to have –' Flik slipped a megaphone made of a stick stuck through a wound-up grass stalk into Atta hands, which magnified her voice so that the whole colony could hear '– the warriors...' She received brief cheers of amusement, while she glanced down at the megaphone, then at Flik. He backed away slowly, giving her a double thumbs-up.
'Thanks...' she said out of the side of her mouth to him. She then readied the grass megaphone again.
'First of all,' she said to the crowd, 'I'd like to thank the warriors –' on the other side, Heimlich, Slim, Francis and Rosie were frantically talking together, clearly worried '– for helping us in our fight against the grasshoppers.' The crowd clapped briefly, and then Atta continued.
'Secondly,' she said, 'I'd like to thank FLIK –' she directed her attention to Flik, who waved enthusiastically '– for his forthright thinking.' Flik then swiped the megaphone out of Atta's grasp, speaking himself.
'Thank you, your highness,' he said, leaping over the grass bench. 'Oh sure, I'd like to take credit for all of this, but, well that wouldn't be right. Because it was you Princess Atta,' he said, gesturing to her, 'you believed in me, and you sent me on my quest.' I noticed that Atta squirmed slightly at these words. It was almost as though she felt guilt. Had she sent him off just to get rid of him? Was this all a mistake? Over on the other side, the others seemed to have reached a conclusion, as Rosie said what seemed to be "OK" to the others, and then walked over to Flik.
'Now,' continued Flik, 'I know I've made a lot of mistakes in the past, and I hope this will make up –' Rosie tapped him the shoulder and said "Flik!" rather angrily. He whispered back 'not right now Rosie, I-I'm making a speech.' Rosie sighed angrily (she was as hot and sexy as ever!) and leaned up to whisper something in his ear.
'Now I truly believe that these bugs are the answer to our –' he then whispered something back to Rosie, who then crept back to the other circus bugs '– so, I... huh?' He stopped short, and then looked over at the clown trio and Rosie.
Francis juggled several hand-sized pebbles briefly, and then the four of them all adopted a "Ta-Da" pose.
I almost could have sworn Flik felt as though something from far away smacked him in the face at a tremendous speed. He paused briefly in humongous shock, before he burst into action.
'Your highness!' he said, tossing the megaphone into the air, and, while knocking over several objects, scrambling over the grass bench to Atta again. 'The warriors have called for a secret meeting for circus-um, circumventing, the oncoming horror so they can trapeze-trap them with ease!'
'Shouldn't I come too?' questioned Atta.
'No!' he said, letting out a brief forced laugh. While he was talking, the other circus bugs, along with my group, made out way around the grass bench. 'Sorry, see, it's classified in the D.M.C., gotta go A.S.A.P. You know, strictly, B.Y.O.B., bye!' He then scuttled around with us, clearly nervous, but at least he was hiding it well – the rest of looked extremely shifty.
'Sorry,' he said as we walked through the crowd, 'sorry that I've got to take the warriors away so early, but uh... you know they have a lot to get done, with the battle looming and all. So please, everyone enjoy the party!'
We had made our way through the crowd by now (Flik was saying 'Thanks again, bye, bye-bye!'), and we quickly jogged to a path off the clearing. All the other circus bugs quickly ran into the grass stalks, until only Flik and I were left. I wasn't sure we should be doing this...
'Just-just get in there,' Flik said pushing on me, 'go, go-go-go!' Without giving it a second thought, I scuttled in after the others. We had only just turned to face Flik when he jumped in.
'Circus bugs!' Flik gasped, coming up to us. 'How can you be circus bugs?' We all returned words of resent and similar surprise.
'Hey,' interjected Francis, 'you said nothing about killing grasshoppers, pal – you lied to us!'
'Ja!' agreed Heimlich. We all looked pretty angry, but Rosie the most. After all, she was a fiery and sexy black widow spider!
'Are you kidding?' Flik responded. 'Do you know what this is? This, my friends, is false advertising!'
'How dare you!' said Manny angrily, stepping forwards.
'You, sir,' Manny hissed angrily at Flik, 'are the characin of this scenario, touting your wares as a talent scout –' Manny gestures to us as he said the next part '– praying upon the hungry souls of hapless artistes!
'Good day to you sir,' he finished. We all turned away and walked off, Tuck and Roll hanging back for a second before they rolled beside us. We had only walked about two paces before –
'Wait! No-no, wait-wait-wait-wait-wait, you can't go!' breathed Flik, catching up to us. He ran in front of us, and we stopped walking.
'You have got to help me! Give me some time; I'll come up with a plan!'
'Just go tell dem ze truth!' shrugged Heimlich.
'They can't! They can't know the truth; the truth-you-see-is-bad!' he said, shaking Heimlich's head briefly. 'I will be branded with this mistake for the rest of my life!' As he talked, he moved in between us, now at Rosie, Gypsy and Manny.
'My children's CHILDREN will walk down the street and people will point and say "look! There goes the spawn of Flik, the loser!"' He was now next to me, and seemed really defeated.
'Oh, you know, all right, fine. Yeah, OK. Just go.' He crawled down near my feet. 'But if you could – just do me a little favor before you leave, um...
'If you could just –' he placed himself under one of my feet '– squish me.' I moved my eyes left and right as he spoke, wondering what on earth he was doing.
'That would be great, because, uh... when they find out, I'm as good as dead...'
'Flik?' said a voice from far off that I recognized as Atta's. Flik got himself up from under my front right foot, and ran back to the others. We all looked at each other.
'Let's go now!' hissed Francis. All the others nodded, but I didn't. I felt that, for once, it was my time to actually speak.
'But he needs help...' I stammered. It wasn't just that – it was also a futile-seeming attempt to reprise my dignity again.
'You want to duel some 20 grasshoppers?' asked Rosie impatiently. I instantly stopped talking at these words.
Without arguing, we all turned and jogged away quickly. That was it. It had all been a mistake. We'd leave, and forget all about this, and just split up like we had planned.
We had only just started to walk away, when we heard Flik's voice again.
'Wait! Wait-wait-wait, please, don't go!' he yelled. He was catching up, but we had reached a boulder handing off the edge of Ant Island. Rosie, Tuck & Roll quickly scrambled aboard me, and Francis grabbed Slim. Gypsy and Manny braced their wings.
'Wait! Wait-wait-wait, please, don't go! Nooo!' he yelled, as I picked up Heimlich with my wings, and took off, Gypsy and Manny beside me, Francis and Slim behind me.
'You can't go!' Flik cried, grabbing onto Slim as Francis flew him over the edge. 'I'm desperate!'
'Really,' responded Slim, looking down at Flik, 'I couldn't tell!'
We flew over the riverbed, Flik swinging back and forth on Slim's legs. He whined as we approached a small clearing on the other side.
'No!' he cried as we lost altitude. I wanted to say something, but now was not my time. The others weren't so nice.
'OK, Flik, time to put you down now,' said Slim. 'Get him off me,' he strained, as Francis struggled with Slim, 'he's cutting off the circulation to my foot!'
Manny, in the shadow of Ant Island's tree, grabbed Flik from the ground and pulled on his legs. 'Let go!' he said, as Flik maintained his grip. Francis struggled to pull Slim off Flik from above, while Manny did the same from below. All the time, Flik was moaning, 'no-no-no, please, don't go...'
'Put the stick down,' said Rosie irritably to Flik from on top of me, 'Flik, I mean it now! Drop the stick...' Panic suddenly spread over Flik's face, and just as Rosie said 'Drop it...' again, Flik, yelling, let go of Slim (sending Manny to the ground) and ran off at a tremendous speed.
'Run!' he said as he started to run back across the riverbed. We all landed down again, watching him as he got smaller. Rosie still seemed irritated at him, but he was now gone.
'Boy,' remarked Heimlich, 'he runs fast fur a little guy –' and then SOMETHING landed behind us. Almost jumping, we slowly turned around as it made a "squawk."
It was a bright, orange bird, about ten times bigger than even me. No wonder Flik had run. It stared at us, flexing its talons. It let out a loud cry that pierced the air.
'Tweet tweet! Tweet tweet!' cried Tuck and Roll, pointing at it.
We all immediately ran for it; me, Francis, Gypsy and Manny were flying, Slim and Rosie were running, Tuck & Roll were rolling, and Heimlich was leaping his huge leaps. As we yelled and ran, we heard it cry again, leaping forward a pace or two. We could see Flik, and he was just ahead of us. Tuck and Roll were still yelling 'Tweet tweet! Tweet tweet!'
As we started to cross the riverbed, we heard the bird flying right behind us. But it flew upwards instead. Looking up as we kept running, we saw it aiming straight for a dandelion stalk floating in the air. I could just about make out someone clinging to it.
'Flik!' cried the figure. I realized who it was – it was Dot.
As we ran further, the bird made straight for Dot. It yelled, and she screamed. She let go just as the bird got the dandelion stalk. She fell through the air, yelling and screaming.
Behind me, I heard Francis suddenly yelling 'Wow! I gotcha, I gotcha! I gotcha, I gotcha – and then a thump, followed by the bird cawing. Francis yelled before moaning, and then brief silence fell.
We finally all reached a big rock. Scuttling, we all ducked behind it. Flik, Slim and Manny leaned over the rock, watching the bird trying to reach inside the creek in the riverbed where Dot and Flik were trapped. I kept hearing her yelling 'Flik!'
'Good heavens, they're in trouble!' remarked Manny.
'Francis-Francis-Francis-Francis-Francis-Francis-Francis-Francis,' chimed Slim over and over, before Flik grabbed a hand of both of them each.
'You guys, I've got an idea!'
Flik quickly explained the plan to us. I thought it was risky, but, given the circumstances, I'm game!
Slim, Gypsy and Heimlich sneaked off to where they would do their part. While we were waiting, Flik and Manny readied themselves on top of me. I grasped Rosie with my legs, while she quickly wound a net of web. Tuck and Roll grasped it by the sides. We were ready – all we needed was Heimlich's signal.
Slim held Heimlich above his head a good distance away from the bird.
'Yoo Hoo!' cried Heimlich to the bird, drawing its attention away from Dot and Francis. 'Mr. Early Bird! Haw about a nice, tasty worm on a stick?' Slim was straining with the weight – under his breath, he muttered 'I'm going to snap, I'm going to snap...'
The bird cawed, and started to make its way over to the pair of them.
'Come catch de juicy, succulent, tender...' The bird was now past the rock we were hiding behind.
'Let's go!' said Flik, and I took flight. I flew upwards, not straining with the weight of the numerous bugs I was carrying. As we approached, Flik pointed to them, and I drew closer.
'There they are!' he said, climbing down me into the net with Tuck and Roll. Dot cried 'Flik, help!'
'OK!' said Flik to Rosie. She lowered the net down with a creek. As soon as it reached ground level, Tuck and Roll dragged Francis into the net, while Dot ran into Flik's arms, saying 'Flik!' again.
'It's going to be OK, Dot,' he said, as they all got in the net.
As Rosie reeled the net up again, I watched what was happening with Slim and Heimlich.
Woo, woo, woo-woo!' he said, as the bird drew closer to him and Slim.
'Bye bye, birdie,' he waved, as Slim jumped in the crack, bringing in Heimlich – only he stuck fast.
'Help! I'm stuck!' he moaned, waving his chubby arms frantically. The bird drew closer, as he squirmed.
'Pull me down! Schnell, schnell, schnell!' he yelled, as the bird approached him.
He let out one, long, continuous yell as the bird reached him. It hesitated briefly, before opening its mouth and reaching down – only for Gypsy to appear out of nowhere, opening her wing wide. She floated in front of the bird, showing off her wing pattern. It followed her, looking confused.
'Dim!' cried Rosie from below. I had got distracted from watching, and forgot out part of the mission.
Regaining my sense, I flew past the bird, just as Heimlich managed to squeeze himself inside the gap. I kept my legs secure on Rosie, not willing to let all the bugs she was carrying go down.
Suddenly, Francis awoke down in the net.
'Wha... My leg!' He tumbled backwards, tossing Flik and Dot out of the net. Flik maintained a grip on Dot and grabbed Francis' antenna, while Tuck and Roll held onto Francis, while keeping their other arms entangled in the net.
I strained with the added pressure, almost losing my grip on Rosie. Francis was letting out one, long, continuous yell, and I flew upwards as we started to approach the island.
'Flik!' said Dot from below. He looked back and gasped. I heard the sound of talons opening wide, and a cry. The bird was after us.
'Ah!' cried Tuck and Roll. 'Up-a, up-a, up-a, up-a, up-a!'
Looking forward again, I saw that there was a solid cliff wall right in front of us. I changed tactic and flew upwards, aiming for a small gap in the middle of some thorny plants. Tuck and Roll were still yelling, and Flik, Dot and Francis were screaming. But I was almost there.
The gap approached – and, all of a sudden, we were through! We all let down, and looked behind us.
The bird was clawing, trying to find a way in. It then put its feet right in the thorns of one vine. Crying out in pain, it quickly flew off. Its cries died away briskly.
We all sighed in both relief and victory. A second later, we heard a weird noise from below. We looked up wondering what it was.
'What is that?' said Rosie, looking up. Manny suddenly had his mysterious aura about him. He stood up.
'That, my friends, is the sound of applause!' Looking down, we saw the colony cheering for us. This was great!
As Gypsy flew in with Slim and Heimlich, Manny brought Francis down, and I came down with Rosie, Tuck & Roll – along with Flik and Dot, who clung to my face. They let go as we landed. Rosie got off me to my right, and Tuck and Roll rolled over to Francis, popping open in a victory.
At the front of the crowd, Thorny, Mr. Soil, Dr. Flora, Cornelius, the Queen and Atta clapped incredibly enthusiastically.
I smiled as Dot, Slim, Rosie and Heimlich waved. Manny and Gypsy bowed, while Tuck and Roll supported Francis as he waved too.
This showed our power. This wasn't a miracle, not by the least of chances. This was our power, the power of one.
For we are one – as a team of amazing insects. Together – we can do anything.
'Applause,' chuckled Francis, 'I'm in heaven!' We all felt great as the applause continued. This was the way to be...
Approximate Movie Running Time: 34:29-43:26