A Bug's Life: The Ant Queen
Chapter 9
Coming Together (Part I)
"And the rest is history..." after being told the whole story by his new friend, an ant princess no less, Charlie pushed out a breath through his pursed lips, feeling his head heavy with a lot to take in, "Wow, 'tis quite a story." "Well, didn't say I told you so," Atta replied in a rather sarcastic manner, making Charlie roll his eyes with a playful scoff.
However, something didn't sit right with him: Atta's description of Flik sounded like he was a genuinely clever guy, albeit a little clumsy at times, who only ever wanted to benefit his colony with his gadgets, which Charlie found brilliant. So why had she pushed him away, in spite of all that being said?
Why had she thrown away the only hope she had to free her colony of their nearly-impossible debt to those pesky grasshoppers? Was it all because of his lie about the circus troupe being a band of fighters, even though it was her who tricked him into thinking he could right his wrongs by making him venture out to seek help in the first place?
"So let me get this right: when this "Flik" feller tipped over your stone full of grub, ya sent yonder to find fighters, not 'cause ya wanted to be rid of those grasshops, but of him? And when he came back with 'em, only to be a bunch of clowns, ya got upset by his lie and gave him the boot? And when he came back again, and that time the grasshops got the boot, he left by himself, after ya told him the truth of that bootless errand?" despite feeling more disheartened as she listened to Charlie attempting to make sense of what she'd laid on him, Atta merely gave a nod of the head nonetheless.
"Tut-tut, if that ain't the snail callin' the slug slimy," Atta lifted her downcast head back up at him with an eyebrow raised, as Charlie went on, "Like, think 'bout it. When Flik lied, ya flicked him away as if he were nothin'. But when it was ya who lied to him first, no one batted an eye! All this just don't add up; he seemed like a nice fellow, so why do that to him? Like, didn't ya want those hopping miscreants off ya back?"
"Well... Training to be the next queen sort of got in the way, and Flik... Became more of an interference, if anything," any excuse Atta had tried to conjure up at that point wasn't about to be bought into one bit by Charlie, as he pointed out, "Y'know, with all those ideas stuffed in that big brain of his, wouldn't it made sense to have him as your partner? 'Cause if ya ask me, an inventor and a queen would make for a great team, doncha think?"
This rhetorical statement lingered in Atta's mind and soon resonated, because it raised an interesting point; why hadn't she thought of that before? Although he may have had been an awkward goofball at times, he was still that one oddball of an ant who always had the best of intentions regarding his inventions.
Come to think of it, Atta herself was similar to Flik, because she too was well-intentioned, concerning her wanting to lead her colony in the best direction possible. However, the only obstacle holding her back was her meticulous search for even the tiniest of details, which ironically degraded her confidence of becoming the queen she aspired and was expected to be.
Maybe, just perhaps Thistle was right, when she'd reminded her, "How can you be queen, if all you do is mess everything up?" As her taunting voice echoed throughout her mind, all Atta could do was lower her head in sorrow and let out a soft defeated sigh, muttering to herself, "How could I've been such a fool?"
Unbeknownst to her, however, Charlie's antennas had caught onto what she had muttered, "That's 'cause ya heeded the wrong peeps; this "council" of yours sounded like they don't like change, which is what life is all 'bout, a bug's life if ya will: changin' for the better."
Hearing those words had suddenly sparked flashbacks of being given similar words by the one ant Atta not only had as a mother, but also considered the wisest figure in her life. "Just like how a tree can heal after being consumed by fire, so can you too heal from your mistakes," Thistle's malicious taunts were now drowned out by the Queen's encouraging words of wisdom, drawing a small warming smile across Atta's face, almost as if her mother's spirit had come down from the heavens above, just to steer her in where she needed to go.
Like how time can heal and help a tree regrow after it had been struck by lightning and overwhelmed by blazing flames, time can give one a chance to repent for their misdeeds and better themself as a result.
Remembering her mother's guidance had rekindled an ember of confidence within herself; Atta knew she had to figure a way out somehow, but how was she about to escape the growling belly of the amphibious beast? If she couldn't exit through the mouth, as Charlie explained it would just swallow her back in, so why not the rear end? The back door, as the old cricket would put it.
"Wait, if you said we can't use the front door, why not use the back door?" Atta suggested, only to have Charlie gawking at her with his mouth slightly agape and an eyebrow lifted merely a bit, uttering a "Huh?" as if it was a ludicrous idea to even begin with suggesting. "Are ya sure 'bout that, Curlin's? 'Cause we'd have to swim through all... That," explained Charlie, pointing to the bubbling pool of acid, "Through this blob's insides and then out of its bum. Look, even if the acid won't melt ya away, it'll for sure uglify ya. Heck, perhaps for life. So-"
"I'll do whatever it takes to save my colony and my family. No one should have to fix my mistakes but me," Atta chimed in, feeling there was no time for any mumbo jumbo. "Aight, c'mere," Charlie relented with a mild groan, beckoning Atta over, before then taking hold of her waist, "Hold your breath, and close your eyes!"
Taking heed, Atta puffed out her cheeks, as she shut her eyes tight. Holding his breath in, Charlie with Atta in his grasp dived into the sizzling acid pool with a splash, and used his spiny long legs as a turbine to painfully swim through it swiftly. It was now or never: escape, or drown and be digested.
Outside, it was a dark night; darkened was the sky, the crickets were chirping, the beaming fireflies were flying about, and the shining sun had long since disappeared from the sky and replaced by the gleaming moon, the only thing providing light to brighten up the darkness.
Hopping amongst the grass from one spot to another was the gigantic bullfrog, minding its own business, until it felt something crawling in its bowels; it bulged out its big eyes and pushed whatever it was out of its bottom, letting out a soft croak of relief, before disappearing off into the reeds, hopefully to never be encountered by any other insect again.
It was a brief yet relieving moment for Atta and Charlie, as they could at last breathe in the fresh air of the outside, rather than the putrid fumes of the stomach's inside. "I... I'm out... I'm out..." Atta rolled over onto her back and placed a hand on her chest, which arose with every breath coming in and out, putting herself at ease knowing she wouldn't have had to succumb to being digested.
"C'mon Curlin's," taking the hand offered by Charlie, and Atta was suddenly pulled right up and then back onto her feet, "Ya aight?" Atta looked she was about to reply, only to then stare down at her hands, now discoloured deep purple, and then felt her body, wrinkled and blistered with scars, after swimming through all that burning acid; she would definitely have to pay Dr. Flora a visit, once this was all over.
Although her mother's bellflower hat was unfortunately lost to the stomach acid, the leaf satchel that Atta made herself was still hanging over her shoulder; however, because it was almost eaten away, she discarded it, feeling no need for it anymore.
"Let's just agree to never speak of this again," said Atta, not wanting to ponder anymore on what she and Charlie had to endure whilst escaping the bullfrog's stomach, to which the latter followed up with, "Agreed."
"So... What's the plan now, Curlin's?" Atta had already known she needed to rescue the ants from the growling bellies of Thistle and her limitless army of mindless drones, but how would she go about it exactly?
She wasn't an island, only a mere ant, whether she was a princess or not; if she couldn't do it alone, then perhaps she could with allies? That question then quickly painted a picture of the circus bugs within her head, and with them in mind, Atta figured out her next course of action: travel to the city to search for the circus bugs there, recruit them once more, and then concoct a plan to save Flik, her baby sister and the rest of her colony.
"The city... I have to go to the city; I have some friends there who can help me. Although where it is, I don't know, as I've never been there before," immediately recognising the place she mentioned, Charlie retorted, "Well, lucky for ya. I just happen to know where it is!" Of course he'd been to it, a couple of times actually, whether that be him on the streets singing his songs, or just having a bead of dew or any other droplet at the Bug Bar.
"Really? Then let's wing it. Oh, can you take me there? Like, actually take me there? My wings are a bit... Damaged," Atta pointed to her wings, which were crooked and chewed away slightly.
"Sure! In fact, imma goin' to help ya on your mission! It's only fair I pay ya back for gettin' myself outta there!" Atta felt herself in luck, as now she had this cricket she just met, not only having the knowledge of Bug City's whereabouts, but was willing to tag along as her companion as well.
"Thanks, Charlie," after expressing her gratitude sincerely, Atta felt her waist being taken hold again, causing her to clutch onto Charlie hands tight. "To Bug City, away! Yee-haw!" Charlie hollered with ecstasy, bending down his long spiny legs and made a long jump over the reeds.
Much time had passed, after making leap after leap over the long blades of grass, and the two bugs had finally made it to what resembled a gigantic metal trailer, and a colossal truck parked right next to it, painted bright yellow with a white camper on the back and a small plastic white rocket situated on its roof with red writing that read "Pizza Planet". Amongst the littered bunch of cardboard boxes and empty bottles and cans underneath the trailer was a brightly lit gap, crawling and flying in and out with various insects.
"We here. Now try to blend in; these city folks ain't your typical country bugs. Heck, some of 'em haven't seen a female in a long while, ya with me?" Charlie explained to Atta, to which she gave him an affirming nod, already understanding this was a new environment for a bug like her, and therefore had to be careful. "Good," Charlie ushered Atta in through the illuminated gap.
"Curlin's, welcome to Bug City!" after being proudly presented the city by Charlie with a sway of his hand, Atta found herself awe-stricken by what she witnessed with her very own eyes; her speechless look had expressed more words than actual words could ever describe, as many of the fireflies' glowing rears, serving as the city's lights, as well as some of the tiny fairy lights strung above, dazzled her sparkled eyes.
Never had Atta felt she'd missed so much, due to being isolated on Ant Island since her hatching, just from having never seen insects of different kinds, types, shapes and sizes all teeming in one place before in her whole life; the only other bugs she had known apart from her own kind were grasshoppers, hornets, the circus bugs and now Charlie, a bush cricket.
Because she let herself be distracted by the dazzling lights of Bug City, Atta was unaware of being on the earthy road where all the beetles would be scurrying past and through her like cars. Lucky for her, though, as Charlie was there to pull Atta onto the cardboard side-walk right in the nick of time, just before she was about to be trampled on by the rushing speed demons those large beetles were.
"Stay off the roads, will ya? Wanna get run over?" Charlie warned Atta, before a huge brown beetle had come by, announcing as one of the city's buses, whilst having their carapace being boarded by bug passengers, "Making all stops to the septic tank, including standing water, empty TV and can, and dead rat! Watch your stingers, all aboard!"
Before they knew it, both Atta and Charlie were being pushed around by several insects passing by, hearing them shout things like, "Move it or lose it!", "Hey!", "Out of my way!", "I'm walking here!", "You think you own this street?", before the former would accidentally bump into one of the passing snail's eyestalks, causing it to recoil, as the snail exclaimed, "Ow! Watch where you're going!" "Oh, sorry!" Atta apologised to the snail, not meaning to bump into them; it was just the street was littered with crawling bugs, it was simply difficult to be out of their way.
"Yeah, ya gotta keep moving; ya don't wanna to get on their feet," Charlie reminded, but before Atta could utter a response, they were both approached by a wandering brown weevil, whose snout was elongated and ending with red lips. "'Scuse me sir? Free sample?" fluttering her eyelashes at him, the weevil offered Charlie a cake crumb, to which he gladly took after a quick sniff, "Oh! Don't mind if I do!"
As Charlie happily munched on his sweet sample, the weevil turned to Atta with another crumb in hand, "What about you missy? Free sample?" "Um... No thanks, I'm good," Atta politely declined the sample, not feeling too hungry at the moment, as she already had some grain along the way.
"Bah!" the weevil scoffed in a rather rude manner, not much to Atta's surprise, though, since it was to be expected from a city bug. Letting Atta and Charlie be, off the weevil wandered, as around she went offering more samples to other bugs passing by.
"So, where'd your friends be?" Charlie inquired as he nibbled on the crumb, and Atta responded, "Well, from what Flik told me, he found them in a bar, but I don't know where..."
What caught her attention was a random black millipede, with their face painted white and lips red, miming a bunch of gestures and motions, even copying her own movements, as well as Charlie's; Atta was visibly getting annoyed, so she asked them rather irritably, "Do you mind?" The mime millipede then dropped all their arms at their sides, plastering on an exaggerated upset face, before wiping off non-existent tears, as if pretending to be crying. Aloft was her eyebrow, as Atta turned to Charlie with a confused look, only to be met with a simple shrug of the shoulders in reply.
Suddenly, they both heard a glass break and a gruff voice from afar shouting out, "Hey tough guy! I thought I told you to stay out!" They were watching a brutish wasp giving a small housefly the kick in the abdomen, threatening them with, "Come back here again, and I'll snap you like a damn twig!", before flying back into an entrance of an empty tin can with its end pulled open. "That must be it!" Atta realised that this must've been the bar Flik once spoke to her about, when asked where he'd first met the circus bugs.
"Hold on, is that..?" before she could make her way to it, Atta saw a familiar blue ant not far off in the distance, being dropped off and accompanied by what seemed a small black hornet with a white face and a striped abdomen; they were definitely not Thistle, as she was much bigger than that hornet there, so who were they exactly?
"Flik!" Atta gasped sharply, as she began running towards those two bugs like there was no tomorrow, one of whom she recognised them to be the one who left her and the colony not too long ago. "Curlin's, wait up!" Charlie yelled, catching up not too far behind, as he had longer legs than Atta.
One question remained, however: how was Flik going to react upon meeting her again, ever since that night where he'd stormed off on her and the colony? Would he still be angry with her for lying to him about that mission Atta herself had deemed a lost cause? Or would he have had realised the error of his ways and consider forgiving her? In any case, either of them could imagine that it'd be an awkward reencounter, as it had been a while since they last saw each other, face to face...
To be continued...
Quick Author's Note:
Hey guys, FireAntKing2311 here. So chapter 9 ended up being longer than I thought it'd be, so once again it's split up into two parts, like the previous chapter.
Yeah, in this chapter, Atta and Charlie had finally escaped the bullfrog's stomach, and have made it to Bug City to hopefully find the circus bugs for help once again, only to then run into Flik and Nettle, who the former also had the same plan; however, just to give a bit of a heads up, although the circus bugs are in this story and will return in the next part of this chapter, and help out in the rescue of Dot and the worker ants from Thistle and the hornets, they're not as prominent as they were in the original film and would only be there to assist Atta, Flik, Charlie and Nettle with rescuing the ants and, depending on the outcome, aid them on their way back home to Ant Island.
You could say that since their role in this story is so minor compared to the original movie and aren't as prominent, I only brought them back as fanservice, but believe me when I say that they still serve a purpose in the story, every member of the circus troupe will have a role to play in the rescue plan, and they'd still have some moments.
With all that said, expect the circus bugs to return, but don't expect them to have such a prominent role.
That's all I have for now, so I'll see you in the next part of this chapter.
FireAntKing2311, out.