Molt flew along for as long as he could, a little too frightened to even touch the grass or the ground now. If neighbors were going to be liars and killers, he had lost some of his trust. Perhaps that was a good thing…. Times were tough now and food was no longer a given. He thought he had lost count of the days he had been lost, but it had to be a quarter of two weeks. He was a lone grasshopper now. It was hard to wrap his mind around that. It was always him and Hopper, one way or another. Hopper was always near, no matter what mood he was in.

He tried, but loneliness was hindering. He was the only grasshopper in this new territory. He wondered how he was going to make a new living here. One thing at a time though, he had to find a reasonable place to rest first. The grass looked like it went on forever before a set of soft looking hills. There was barely any green left for miles. But something else was out there in the distance. A single tree.

Little did this grasshopper know that this tree in particular had crowned a single island in the middle of a dried up river. From afar, it didn't seem all that big but it was home to an ant colony. They were a quaint, peace seeking colony of leaf cutters, that were now feeling like they were the brunt of the sun's intensity as of late. As usual, they thought ahead and gathered flowering seeds to keep safe inside their tunnels in case finding water would become an issue. Even with that, life was becoming harder. Water was scarce but they were managing, but finding food was a threat lately. There were nasty neighbors trying to move in, claiming ground and specific trees. Usually, this happened during the spring when wasps would get forceful and impatient…. Wasps, they could negotiate with without losing hapless workers to their hunger. But now there came a new insect with terrible motives and their Queen demanded a lot. Golden and crimson wasps had been coming close. All the while, there had been ants going missing.

These leaf cutters usually wished other kinds well and would help others, but enough was enough. The Queen of this colony was growing upset. Her daughter, the princess, Atta did not know how to keep these hornets at bay but the colony had been losing random foragers for a month straight. Something had to be done. When the alert was sound, the foraging teams had to be stopped for their own good. They dropped their spoils and just fled into the anthill before it was blocked out. These attacks were random, short lived and very quick. Witnesses to these had been accounted that these attackers were golden, red flyers with dangerously sharp barbs at the end of their abdomens.

Princess Atta rammed her gavel down against the stone to quiet down a council tunnel full of panicked workers and foragers.

"What are we going to do!?" cried one.

"Order! Order!" Atta rose her voice over the constant mutterings and worried conversing among the crowd. "The council has come to a decision that might lessen this fear of the hornets! Now we all know how dangerous it's getting. The fact that we're losing foragers is affecting our rations and the future of this colony."

The stress was getting to the young princess, whose mother was by her side, softly taking her hand the moment her voice began to crack a little.

"But we've been through worse. We survived a severe winter, so who says we can't survive through another summer? What we need to do is heighten our defenses. We can't let them pick us off one by one."

One of the workers eased forth to get a better listen. His blue eyes were bright with worry.

"But there aren't enough foragers to keep up with the rations. We'll starve!" cried a female worker.

"We'll lose even more ants!" countered another from the back.

Princess Atta began to get speechless as she tried to think of a way that could spare more lives. The old Queen took a stand to calm her subjects, having Atta come down.

"Listen! We are great in numbers. We have strength in our talents and what nature has given us. We will figure out a way to fend off these offenders. Just like before we work together to get through this. Now, we will stay calm and wait for the skies to clear."

That one worker backed away from the emotional crowd of ants, deep in thought. He listened.

"When there is a will … there is a way."

This one worker in particular was an underdog of sorts, whose talent was nothing of use to his own colony. His name was Flik, who was always flicked aside… so perhaps he was true to his name. He had seen these hornets as well… yellow with red jackets. With no words, they would pick up ants at random times during the day. He felt terribly helpless at what to do… but the sight of another panicked worker entering the council chamber wasn't much of a comfort either. It happened to be one of the sentries who did not sound the alarm again, particularly because this was a whole different matter. Only to the Queen and the Council, he whispered the news.

"A what? A grasshopper?" Thorny almost blurted out.

Atta looked to the gathered workers before speaking, looking rather worried.

"All right everyone, we have just received news of a newcomer who has just fallen unconscious on our island." she spoke, strongly. "It's only a grasshopper …" she enlightened when gasps were heard. " … who probably fell from the dry heat. We need a team to go find this grasshopper."

"Grasshoppers don't come out here in the summer…" muttered Dr. Flora.

"Apparently this one did. Dr. Flora … go with the team. You're going to need water."

"Not that we have much to go around…" murmured a crotchety Cornelius.

Flik bravely stepped forward, hoping this was a chance that he could actually help.

"Please, Your Highness! L-let me help out this time… please?"

The Queen softly smiled. Atta looked hesitant and worried. This was a risky job to just go out to find this fallen grasshopper before those hornets got to them.

"Flik … You know it's a risk to go out there."

"I know, Princess. I know."

Five other workers gathered, speaking behind Flik's back, also questioning but Atta's gavel shut them up.

"Beware and be swift. Locate the patient and escort them to the infirmary as soon as possible. We'll be waiting."

Flik and Dr. Flora and the rest bowed before the worried princess before they all began to follow the sentry officer. Above ground, the group carefully poked their heads out to check for any wings or sight of their apparent enemy. All they could make out was the clearing left in disarray with fallen twigs and spare grains.

"Where did you see them fall?" Flora asked the sentry.

"I saw them sway around for a while over the riverbed. It looked like they were struggling for a bit… until they fell down onto the collecting path over there." he pointed it out directly through the tree root bridge.

"The heat is getting pretty nasty lately…. I don't blame anyone." muttered one of the workers.

"We gotta hurry, guys…" Flik spoke up when he felt a jolt of nervousness. "Come on!"

Flik was pretty quick witted sometimes, despite his problems in the colony. He led the group to the covering clovers and they went alongside the collecting path, where a number of seeds were laid. There was the sound of hovering, so they stayed still for a moment before something golden brown caught their eyes.

"There it is…" the sentry whispered.

There, shrewn on the path, was a golden brown grasshopper, laying as still as the air itself. They looked positively lifeless from where they were. Everyone was uncertain, even Dr. Flora.

"The poor dear…" she pitied before Flik had an idea.

"I'm gonna go check it out. I hope they're alive…" Flik spoke.

"Lucky for them, they haven't been snatched yet." spoke the sentry.

"Do be careful, Flik." Dr. Flora whispered as Flik stepped out of their hiding place.

As to what Flik could see as he carefully approached the unconscious flyer, was that they were pretty stout, with a pair of long strong legs. Besides just gold and brown in colorization, which could play a good role in camouflage, there was a striped pattern along the legs likening to dirt or tree bark. Other than that, it seemed that this particular one was shedding their skin, by how one piece fell off with barely a touch. It was strange though, since grasshoppers usually stuck together in groups, whereas this one was all alone.

Flik was gentle with his voice when he neared the grasshopper's tensed face.

"… hey."

There was a sign of life when both antennae flickered for a mere second. Soon after, there was a weakened groan. There was also the sign of gradual breath.

"Ssh, it's okay." Flik said, not wanting to spook him.

The grasshopper could barely wake up all the way, but he sensed that he wasn't alone.

"…w-wh-where am I…?" he hoarsely groaned.

"A-ant Island…. N-now don't panic, we're gonna carry you out of this heat. Hang in there, buddy."

"S-so dry…."

At Flik's signal, Dr. Flora came with a small flower in her arms. At the stem, a small bead of nectar rich water appeared in her palm and she gave it to Flik.

"Take it slow…" she softly spoke to the grasshopper as he drank the bead. "… do you remember your name?" she asked, to make sure he was waking.

"… name… u-um… Molt. My name is Molt."

The dew drop seemed to help.

"Well, Molt, everything's going to be okay."

"True to your name, huh?" Flik smiled, to lighten the mood a little.

"His wings look all right. He's just winded." inspected one of the workers.

"Have him up on one, two and …" the sentry said after the others gathered around to pick Molt up. "… three!"

Rather easily, they were able to lift and move him away from the path and into the safety of the shade towards the anthill. The colony waiting for safety inside looked on as their guest was carefully carried into the tunnels where it was lit up by tiny fluorescent mushrooms. The chosen group was safe and this newcomer was so obviously a grasshopper and gladly, not a hornet. Poor Molt felt the strength to walk again, but he was still wobbly from his fall. Flik and Dr. Flora made sure he wasn't moving too fast, by making him stay low. He personally felt pain rise up through his wings and back from all the flying accompanying a wave of nausea. Nervousness set in when he saw two ants in particular standing right in front of him. His watery gaze began to focus on an old Queen ant and one fair other standing to her left. The flower crowns told him right off of what title they had. Unsure and thinking that he was in trouble, he slowly began to back up….

"I-I'm so sorry, I'm so so sorry! I-I was just trying to find somewhere to rest — I didn't mean to…"

"Relax." the Queen spoke first, smiling. "It's only rare that we see grasshoppers around here in the summer." she spoke as if he was a neighbor. "We welcome you, dear, so there's no need to worry."

Her voice sounded wise, sweet and kind… which was what he missed through out those tiresome days. The lightly purple female ant beside her began to smile as well, glad to have everyone returned and accounted for. Even for their guest who was still recovering.

"All that matters is that you're in here now, safe with us." she spoke. "This is the Queen of Ant Island. And I am Princess Atta."

"You didn't happen to see any of those snatchers, did ye?" Cornelius waved his cane, angrily.

"Huh…?" Molt failed to understand. He still felt hazy.

"Now, now, let's not stress him out more. What he needs now is water and rest." the Queen waved him off. "Dr. Flora, if you would be so kind?"

"Yes, your Highness." Dr. Flora obeyed, beginning to guide Molt before he would go weak again.

"Way to go, everyone…" Atta sighed in relief.

"… you guys just came … I …" Molt mused. "… I thought I was a goner …"

"You fell onto the right island, dear. Take it slow." Dr. Flora replied. Worry was just as exhausting as the summer sun was. "This heat is starting to hit everyone. Even you."

He was safe inside the tunnels of an anthill, with a colony that showed him kindness, unlike the other insects who had minds to eat him. Unless this was a lie too and they would kill him as soon as he fell asleep again, but he highly doubted that. His current focus was that he made it to the tree and got more than he bargained for. The more he woke up, the more he began to remember what that elderly ant went on about…. Snatchers? He was told to lay down for a little while, just so that heat caused haze would leave his head. Dr. Flora was a busy nursing ant, who kept track of everyone who got hurt or ill. Heat exhaustion was the usual these days. She spent most of her time getting to know her patients, and this grasshopper was no different to her.