A/N: Wow! I was totally not expecting so many suggestions on where to send them next! Thanks guys, and keep them coming, because I don't know how long it'll take me to think up other places after this. I have just recently watched this Pixar production for the first time in a while, and I absolutely got a brilliant idea for it, so I hope you really enjoy it.

After all…They come, they eat, they leave.

Harvesting season was a very busy time of year for the ants. Most people would think that they would harvest for themselves, and for themselves only. Sadly, it was not the case for this colony of ants. You see, these ants had to harvest twice as much food.

These ants don't know how to stand up for themselves, but all of that is about to change, for two saviors will fly down from the sky and help them.

Actually…

"I'm always acting like the sky is falling."

"Look out!"

Hope and Axel fell to the ground with a loud thud, both of them landing in a pile. Hope opened her eyes to find a whole bunch of people running towards them, all of them seeming to shout in panic. "Princess Atta! Princess Atta!"

"Huh?"

"Oh, no! LOOK OUT!"

This time, a large stalk of grain fell from the sky, landing on top of Hope and Axel. It was quickly removed, Axel and Hope both rolling out of the way before another stalk could hit them, this time, hitting someone else, who Hope realized they had fallen on, feeling very bad immediately. Hope stared at the group as they all panicked again as they saw the second stalk fall on top of the person that had landed on. That's when she realized they were no longer human, once again. Instead, she and Axel had two antennae on their heads. Hope had lightish pink skin, while Axel had tannish red. They were-

"BUGS?" Hope exclaimed loudly, the small group of ants currently yelling, ignoring her.

"Stop that! You could've killed someone over here!"

Hope looked over to the direction they were all yelling at, Hope cocking her head to the side in confusion as an ant that seemed to be wearing…some type of machine on his back and a welder like mask on his face, turned around, shutting off the machine and lifting the helmet up some to look back at everyone. When the ant realized what had happened, he let out a gasp. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" He exclaimed, running over to them.

"Oh, man…rough landing and a giant stick of grain falling from the sky and squishing us. What more could happen?" Axel grumbled as he was helped up.

An ant that held a flower in her arms moved over to Hope and Axel, immediately looking over Hope. "Oh, good gracious, dears! Are you okay?"

Hope smiled at her kindness, standing up and brushing herself off. "No need to worry, I'm okay! We both are!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

"Oh, it's Flik." Thorny, the head in keeping track of how much time they had for harvesting, groaned.

Hope watched as the light, navy blue ant with the strange contraption on his back ran over to them all. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! Please forgive me, I'm sorry!" The other ants lifted the stalk off an ant that wore a little grass woven tiara upon her head, Hope realizing that she was Princess Atta. Atta sat up, coughing a bit, causing Flik to gasp and yell in surprise. "Princess Atta!"

"Flik, what're you doing?" Atta asked, frowning up at him slightly.

"Oh! OH, this? This is my new idea for harvesting grain! No more picking individual kernels, you can just cut down the entire stalk!"

Hope, stared at the machine that was strapped to Flik's back, marveling at it. Sure, the ant had just squished her and Axel with a giant stalk of grass, but he was actually really smart. Of course, the Princess didn't seem to quite agree with that. "We don't have time for this, Flik!"

"Exactly!" Flik began, sticking a finger up in the air. "We never have time to collect food for ourselves because we spend all summer harvesting for the offering-But my invention will speed up both production and efficiency!"

"Ugh, another invention?" Atta grumbled.

Flik nodded his head. "Yeah, and I got something for you too. Since you're gonna be queen soon, you could use this to oversee production," Flik explained, grabbing a blade of grass and rolling it up. He smiled widely, looking around and before spotting the ant that had the flower in her arms, the bottom of it leaking a bit of water. Flik ran over to her. "Dr. Flora, if I may!" Flik asked, grabbing a drop of water, running back over to Atta, while Dr. Flora, hugged her flower to her. "Just an ordinary blade of grass and a bead of dew, right? Wrong! It is in fact-" Flik said, placing the dew drop inside the rolled up blade of grass, "A telescope!"

"Cool." Hope mumbled to herself quietly, watching as Flik tested out the telescope, jumping in surprise when Thorny yelled.

"Alright, listen!" Thorny yelled, grabbing the telescope from Flik's hands and chucking it aside, the little invention rolling front of Hope's feet, and a little ant. "The princess doesn't have time for this! You wanna help us fill this thing, then get rid of this machine, get back in line, and pick grain like everybody else!"

"Especially get rid of that machine! Just look what it did to these two?" Dr. Flora exclaimed, gesturing to Hope and Axel.

"No, we're perfectly fine!" Hope exclaimed, waving her arms around dismissively, only to be ignored.

"Please, Flik. Just go." Atta quietly ordered

"I'm sorry, I was just trying-" Flik began to apologize, stopping when Thorny and Cornelius pointed in the other direction, Flik lowering his gaze to the ground. "-trying to help." He mumbled, solemnly walking away.

"That ant and his crazy inventions…Why, we harvested the same way since I was a pupa." Cornelius grumbled.

Hope moved over to Atta, tapping her on the shoulder and gaining her attention. "Um, excuse me? I'm sorry about landing on you when we fell. It was an accident that we couldn't really prevent."

"Oh, it's ok. I don't believe I've seen you two around here in the colony before." Atta said.

"Oh, that's because we just got here! I'm Hope, and this Axel." Hope introduced herself, gesturing to Axel.

"Nice to meet you two. I'm Princess Atta."

Hope and Axel both bowed. "It's nice to meet you."

"Well, newbies, eh?" An older looking ant asked, carrying around a little aphid in her arms asked, a flower crown atop her head. "Well, the more ants we have, the more work we get done. Welcome to Ant Island and to our colony, Axel and Hope." The queen said, before she and Atta walked off, leaving Hope and Axel behind. Hope and Axel watched as Flik disappeared into the grass, before following after him, Dot, the youngest princess, picking up the telescope and following after them.

"Hey, Flik! Wait up!" Dot called out as they neared Flik.

Flik turned around upon hearing his name being called, stopping when he saw that it was Dot. "Oh, hello, princess." He glanced up and stared at Hope and Axel. "Who're you?"

Hope smiled. "I'm Hope. We're new to the colony."

"Name's Axel. Got it memorized?" Axel introduced and asked, putting a finger to his temple, earning a smile out of Flik.

"I do now. Well, Hope and Axel-Welcome to Ant Island. Oh, and sorry about hitting you guys with those grain stalks I launched."

Hope waved it off. "It's alright. No harm done anyway."

Dot held up the telescope. "Here. You forgot this."

"Thanks, but you can keep it. I can just make another one."

"Aw, Flik. Cheer up! Me and Axel like you're inventions." Hope said, a grin on her face while Axel nodded with her in agreement.

"Yeah, me too!" Dot exclaimed.

"Really?" Flik asked, crossing his arms and smiling slightly. "Well, you guys are the first. I'm beginning to think nothing I do works."

"This works." Dot said, holding the telescope up.

"Great. One success." Flik said, sighing. "I'm never gonna make a difference."

"Me neither. I'm a royal ant and I cant even fly yet! I'm too little…" Dot sighed.

"Being little isn't such a bad thing." Flik stated.

"Yes it is!" Dot retorted.

"No it's not." Flik shook his head.

"Is too!"

"Is not!

"Is too!"

"Is no-Y'know what? Here," Flik picked up something from the ground, handing it to Dot. "Pretend that this is a seed."

Dot stared at it for a moment before looking up at Flik skeptically. "It's a rock."

"Oh, I know it's a rock, but, let's just pretend for a minute that it's a seed, alright? Let's just use our imaginations. Now," Flik began, pointing up the large tree. "Do you see our tree? Everything that made that giant tree is already contained inside this tiny little seed. All it needs is some time, and a little sunshine and rain and…voila!"

"This rock will be a tree?" Dot deadpanned, staring at the rock skeptically.

Flik quickly bent down to Dot's level, taking the rock from her hands. "Seed to tree, you've gotta work with me here. Alright? Ok, I think you might not feel like you can't do much now, but that's just because….well, you're not a tree yet. You just have to give yourself some time. You're still a seed."

Hope and Axel watched in silence, Hope covering her mouth as the fits of laughter threatened to come out as Dot stated the next thing. "But it's a rock."

"I know it's a rock! Don't you think I know a rock when I see a rock? I've spent a lot of time around rocks!"

Dot began to giggle along with Hope. "You're weird. But I like you."

Flik grinned, only to have it disappear as the sound of a horn was sounded, Flik turning around and dropping the rock. "They're here."

"Who's here?" Hope asked.

"The grasshoppers. Hurry! Get to the anthill!" Flik exclaimed, Dot grabbing Hope's hand and running off back to the colony with her

Flik's machine got caught on a piece of grass, causing him to fall back, Axel running back to help him up before they took off once again.

It was absolute mayhem as Dot and I made our way back, finding everyone running around in panic and screaming. I lead Dot to her mom when I saw the queen searching for her frantically, running over and letting Dot go to her, the queen hugging her when she saw her. Poor Atta was trying to get everyone to remain calm, but it just wasn't working out too well. Finally, the queen gave a loud whistle, everyone's attention going to her. "Ok, everyone! Single file, food to the offering stone, and into the anthill. Now let's go!"

As everyone began to do as the queen ordered, I realized that Axel and Flik were not here, so I ran back into the forest, finding them quickly, all of us making our way back to the anthill. "Hey! Hey, wait for me!" Flik exclaimed, panting heavily. "Get the food to the offering stone and into the ant hill." Was the last thing I heard him say before I ran inside and joined the others

0o0o0o0o0

Axel and Flik moved to the stone, Axel helping Flik deposit what he had, throwing off his machine and heading back to the anthill, not even aware that the machine was still running. It slid off the edge of the rock platform, the catapult going off and dislodging a small pebble that held up the platform. And with that one little pebble no longer there, the platform was unbalanced and it began to slide backwards. Hearing the loud rumble, Axel and Flik turned around, their eyes widening slightly when they saw the food falling into the little stream below. "AHHH!" They screamed, running back and trying to stop the food from all falling in by pulling the leaf back, but despite all the theories of ants being able to lift objects heavier than their body mass, it just wasn't happening. Flik, of course, panicked. "N-n-n-n-n-nooooooo!"

The two of them watched as the last grain fell into the pound, Flik shaking his head in shock while he shivered. "Oh, no…."

Axel stared at the pond before looking at Flik, Axel breaking the silence. "Oops?"

Quickly, they rushed into the anthill. "PRINCESS ATTA! PRINCESS ATTA! PRINCESS AAAATTTAAA!" Flik yelled as he and Axel ran inside, making it in just before a dark shadow could land.

Inside a chamber in the anthill, everyone was gathered there, Hope stood with the other ants, most of them shuddering in fear. Hope knelt down next to two children as they both whimpered, opening her arms and allowing them to jump in her arms, hugging them and holding them gently while they shook in fear, rubbing their backs to sooth them.

"They come, they eat, they leave. They come, they eat, they leave." Atta whispered worriedly.

Axel made his way to Hope easily, kneeling down next to her while she continued to comfort the two children, staring at the ceiling of the ant hill in concentration, while Flik made his way to Atta.

"Princess Atta, there's something that I need to tell you." Flik said, Atta cutting him off.

"Not now, Flik!"

"But your Highness! It's about the offering!" Flik shout-whispered, Atta only shushing him, everyone silent as the buzzing sound from above abruptly stopped, being replaced with the sound of footsteps hitting the ground, and then voices could be heard.

"Hey, what's going on?"

"Yeah, where's the food?"

Everyone gasped, including Hope and excluding Axel, who only winced as the whereabouts of the food was mentioned. Atta turned around, the anger clear in her tone of voice and by her face. "What did you do?"

Seeing as how Axel had come in with Flik, everyone turned to stare at him, Flik, and even Hope, who only stared at Axel, the confusion clear on her face. "Axel?"

"Um, this isn't what it looks like?" Axel offered.

"It was an accident?" Flik squeaked.

Suddenly, a foot with spikes on the sides of it came crashing through the top of the ceiling, light flooding inside. Several more followed, and green blurs came falling through, cackling as they landed, sending everyone into panic mode, everyone running around, screaming in terror.

Grasshoppers.

Hope grabbed one of the kids, while Axel grabbed the other, both carrying the two with them as they ran to get away from the grasshoppers, merging into the crowd, stopping when another and final grasshopper landed in front of Flik and two other ants, staring down at them while they stared back at him, shaking in fear. "H-H-Hopper."

Hopper stepped over them and made his way around, everyone make room for him as he walked through the crowd, staring at everyone. Hope and Axel had set the two children down long ago, the kids now hiding behind them. Hope and Axel knew they could summon their weapons, but in a crowd this large, someone would know that they were definitely not from this world.

"So, where is it?" Hopper asked, stopping and standing under the light. When no one answered, he got mad. "WHERE'S MY FOOD?"

"I-isn't it up there?" Atta asked, pointing up to the surface.

Hopper stared at Atta with an angry look. "What?"

"T-the food was in a leaf sitting on-"

"Excuse me?"

"You're sure it's not up there?" Atta asked, cowering back some as Hopper stopped right in front of her.

"Are you saying I'm stupid?" Hopper asked calmly.

Atta shook her head. "No-"

"Do I look like I'm stupid to you?" Hopper interrupted, "Let's just think about the logic, shall we? Let's just think about it for a second. If it was up there, would I be coming down here to your level, looking for it?" Hopper asked, getting right into Atta's face. "Why am I even talking to you? You're not the queen. You don't smell like the queen."

"She-she's learning to take over for me, Hopper." The queen interjected.

"Ah, I see! Under new management?" Hopper said, smiling slightly before it disappeared and he glared down at Atta. "So, it's your fault."

Atta shook her head vigorously. "No! No, it wasn't me, it was-"

"Uh-uh-uh! First rule of leadership: EVERYTHING, is your fault. It's a bug eat bug world out there, princess. One of those, circle of life kind of things. Now, let me tell you how things are supposed to work: The sun grows the food, the ants pick the food, the grasshoppers eat the food-"

"And the birds eat the grasshoppers! Hey, like the one that nearly ate you! Remember, remember?" A large grasshopper asked, Hope sighing at how annoying his voice was.

Hopper tried to get him to be quiet. "Molt-" He was ignored, Molt continuing to explain the story to his friends, until Hopper grabbed him and slammed him into a wall. "I swear, if I hadn't promised to Mother on her deathbed, that I wouldn't kill you…I would kill you!"

"And believe me, no one appreciates it more than I do."

"Shut-up!" Hopper exclaimed, "I don't wanna hear another word out of you while we're on this island, do you understand me?" Molt whimpered, Hopper getting more angry. "I said do you understand me?"

"How can I answer? You said I couldn't say another word!" Molt exclaimed, screaming when Hopper raised a fist. "Ah! Remember Ma!"

Hopper growled loudly, punching another grasshopper standing close by instead, looking up and finding everyone else staring at him, calming down a smiling. "Hey, I'm a compassionate insect. There's still another few months before the rains come, so you can all just try again."

"But, how will we gather enough for ourselves?" Hope asked, frowning at the grasshopper as he stared over at her.

"Listen, if you ants don't keep your end of the bargain, then I can't guarantee your safety, and there are insects out there, that will take advantage of you; Someone…could get hurt." He snapped, and the sound of growling could be heard, everyone looking behind him as three grasshoppers held another on a long leash, this one acting like an insane monster, startling Hope as it shrieked like on.

That's when it happened. Axel had just happened to glance up, his eyes widening when the familiar glowing yellow eyes stared back at him. He growled quietly, summoning his Chakrams, Hope following him, both of them slashing at the shadows, Hopper growling when he saw them. He grabbed Dot and moved towards the crazed grasshopper. "What's the matter? You scared of grasshoppers?"

Dot whimpered frantically, wishing to go anywhere but near Thumper. Hope growled slightly, pointing Hope's sky at Hopper. "Put her down!"

He ignored her. "You don't like Thumper?" Dot began crying as she was held right in front of Thumper.

"Leave her alone!"

This time, Hopper stopped, turning to stare at Flik, who had been the one who had yelled. He stomped over and held Dot out. "You want her? Go ahead. Take her." When Flik did nothing, Hopper frowned harder. "No? Then get back in line!" Flik did as he was told, Hopper dropping Dot, who ran back to her mother. "It seems to me that you ants are forgetting your place. So that's double, the order of food."

Everyone gasped as Hopper began to moved back to the center, Atta pleading. "No, but-but-"

"We'll be back at the end of the season." He said, pulling a piece of skin off of Molt, letting it fall to the ground. "When the last leaf falls. You ants have a nice summer. LET'S RIDE!"

With that said, they took off, leaving through the holes they had made. Once the were gone, everyone turned to look at Flik, Axel, and Hope, Flik chuckling miserably. Poor Hope was so confused as to why they were all staring at her, until she realized they thought she was to blame for the accident as well. Slowly, she glared up at Axel, who on grinned sheepishly.

"Heh-heh…I'm in trouble, aren't I?"

"You better believe it."

A/N: Ah, I love A Bugs Life. Hope you guys enjoyed it! Keep on sending in suggestions! LATER TATERS!