Fly By

It was chaos all around. Her colony scrambled every which way, panicking until its members one by one would think to run for the anthill. Drops of rain fell indiscriminately on ants both young and old and all afraid. It was out of control, overwhelming. The only thing grounding Atta had been her having found Flik on the ground yet relatively safe. Everything would be alright once she helped him underground, she'd thought.

She may forever blame herself for what happened next.

There was a snarl, Flik's relieved expression turned to terror, and pain flared in Atta's right arm as it yanked. She landed roughly on the ground before she even realized she'd been off it, barely making a noise in her shock. Flik's screams soon rang through the air, more than making up for her silence. His flailing form became smaller the further away he was taken.

"Flik!" Atta cried and reached as if she could pull him back to her, but it was all futile.

I should have been more careful. Her mind flooded her panicked thoughts, her regrets. I should have helped him up right away! Why didn't I hold on tighter? How could I forget about Hopper? What can I do? What can I do?!

What am I gonna do?!

"Quick! After them!"

Atta couldn't explain how she'd managed to hear, but those words somehow cut through to her like a thorn. She spotted the circus bugs taking off toward the tree where Flik was taken, in the rain, without a plan, without hesitation.

How? she thought, and no sooner had she wondered that she got up on her feet and her wings fluttered.

Because now she understood.

It was raining, so dangerous and frightening. Her adversary was many times larger and stronger, with a hostage to boot. In the air, not many could help her when she needed it; many in her colony couldn't fly and she regrettably didn't know the circus bugs well enough to work with them. It was ultimately safer and easier for her to go to the anthill and hope everything turned out okay.

But how could she go back when there was a very real chance a certain inventor's room may stay empty forever? When she thought of that dazed look she sometimes caught him giving her, how she might never see that again, her chest twisted in fear. She grit her teeth and pushed her instincts down when she realized Flik's wide, pleading eyes would be the last expression she'd see of him if she did nothing.

I can fly, she thought. I can help.

She took off.

Atta pushed her wings to the limit to make up for wasted time. The tree grew closer in mere seconds until its branches passed all around her in blurs. Somehow, despite the darkness of night and the rain drops falling, she managed to spot Hopper and Flik with the circus bugs in pursuit. She followed them, dodging and weaving between the gaps of the branches, steadily closing in—

—only to lurch to the side to narrowly dodge one of the circus bugs suddenly turning back.

The distraction was brief, but the red blur was enough for Atta to lose her focus. She flitted her gaze from space to space, trying to find Hopper and Flik again, hoping to distinguish their colors from the branches. It was only thanks to the green of one of the circus bugs that Atta managed to get back on track and start gaining back the distance she lost.

Then Hopper veered upwards.

Atta frowned, still following yet she felt herself falter. This… wasn't going to work, was it? If she'd blinked just a second ago, she would have lost sight of Hopper again, and would have lost her shot at saving Flik. Even now, all it could take was a wrong twitch and it could all be over.

What Atta needed was an idea, an unusual one, much like Flik's; and that meant she needed to take a page from his book. But Flik was an inventor, a trailblazer, crazy. How could Atta begin to think like him? How could she match the mind of an ant who could use other bugs' abilities to fend off a bird? How could she plan like that ant who thought to make a fake just because he learned Hopper was afraid of birds?

Learned, there's a thought. Flik had to build off of what he knew.

So what did Atta know? She was currently at a disadvantage: all her focus was on dodging branches and keeping her eye on barely distinct brown and blue. Meanwhile, Hopper only needed to outfly his pursuers and get out of the tree.

That's it! He couldn't stay in the tree forever. He should be easier to spot once he was out, and he might be so focused on what's behind him that he wouldn't expect any tricks from the front.

But that meant Atta needed to fly ahead, she would have to take her eyes off him and hope that he would keep to the same or similar direction. It was risky, but if it meant she could help get Flik home…

"I have to take it." Atta steeled herself and picked up speed.

Escaping the tree was ultimately much easier than chasing Hopper, with its fewer twists and turns. Flying a distance away, with only rain drops to dodge, put a little less strain on her focus. Watching and waiting gave her just that bit of rest after pushing her wings so far for so long.

And it made all the difference when her target finally emerged. It was now or never.

Atta dove at him, biting her lip to avoid making unnecessary sounds and giving herself away. Seeing the distance close so quickly, so smoothly, gave her a catharsis that melted the strain off her wings. She reached out, ready to grab Flik and hold on securely.

So many things could go wrong: getting spotted at the last minute, missing Flik by even a handwidth, having him slip away again. It took all of Atta's will to keep these thoughts from causing her to falter.

"Whoa!"

It was actually his weight of all things that disrupted her flying, but how could Atta feel anything but relief?


One of the things that makes the chase scene at the end of the movie my favorite scene is not only that Atta rescues Flik, but how she does it. She had to think to go ahead of Hopper and loop back around to grab Flik. That's some out-of-the-box thinking, I'd say!

Thank you all for reading this piece, and I hope you enjoyed my little overanalysis of a rather cool princess!