A Bug's Life: The Ant Queen
Chapter 9
Coming Together (Part II)
"You sure this is the place?" Nettle inquired with the look of uncertainty on her face, unsure if the Bug Bar was the kind of place where a bunch of circus performers would hang out and drink together, due to its unfriendly appearance and atmosphere. "Yep! And it seems the place's all fixed up," Flik noticed how the Bug Bar was restored to when he'd first spotted it, after witnessing a commotion happening outside of it.
The last time he saw the tavern itself was when the tin can it was built inside of rolled, and once he came to see if the circus bugs were alright, he found them on top of a mountain of many bugs knocked out cold, possibly even dead, with Francis standing on its peak, holding Slim as if he was a sword, surrounded by his fellow troupe members; it was at that particular moment where Flik was convinced they were the warriors he was searching for.
Flik then picked up a voice calling out his name, which he simply muttered, "Atta?" Although he knew that unmistakable voice from anywhere, he slowly turned to the direction of where it was hollering from, wanting to ensure it wasn't just his mind playing games with his feelings; he then found himself in mere shock, once he recognised the ant rushing towards him to be none other than Princess Atta.
Just to be certain it was really her, Flik asked, "Atta? I-i-is it... Really you?" "Yes, Flik. It's really me," confirmed Atta. A brief yet awkward moment between them, which felt more like a while, feeling unable to conjure a single sentence to say to each other, would fly by, when Atta was the first to speak, "Look, I know I'm probably the last bug you want to see right now, but I just want you to know that I-"
Atta was taken by surprise, when Flik had suddenly thrown his arms around her and pulled her in for a hug; this was the last thing she expected from him, as Atta had mentally prepared herself to be met with him chastising her, even yelling at her, all of which she wouldn't blame him for, considering everything she had put him through.
"But... B-b-but why? I thought you'd still be mad with me! A-a-after everything I-" the confused Atta was cut off when she felt Flik's hands gently grabbing her shoulders, as he explained, "That doesn't matter, Atta. What matters is that we're together again; right here, right now. To save our colony, and Dot." Atta only gave him an understanding nod, before noticing Nettle behind him; her presence alone was enough to alarm Atta a little, "Flik? W-w-why is there a-"
"No, no, no! Atta, it's okay! Princess Nettle here helped me escape the Hornets' Nest!" after being introduced to Nettle by Flik, the alarm in her eyes were gradually drained away and refilled with genuine curiosity, though with a tiny pinch of wariness, as Atta asked her, "You helped him? Why?" Nettle sighed softly, before she finally answered, "Because he saved me from... My mother..."
"...Your mother? Who do you..?" Atta tilted her head to the side in confusion, before it quickly dawned on her on whom Nettle was referring to; the pale face with slanted eyes, the brow ridges of the head shaped like small horns going up to the back of her head, the slender figure, the fairly rounded abdomen, and especially the curled antennas, all created an image that morphed into Thistle in her mind, "Wait... Thistle?"
Nettle nodded to that, following up with, "When I found out she was planning to leave my workers to starve, after being put through so much abuse, she tried to get rid of me with... The nutcracker..." "It's true, Atta. I saw what happened," hearing this only left Atta mildly disgusted, not putting it past Thistle that she'd do something this despicable, even to her own kin.
"Nettle, I... I'm sorry that happened to you," despite offering Nettle her sympathy, Atta was still a little apprehensive of her, since this was her first time meeting the daughter of Thistle, as with most princesses, they would take up after their mothers; Atta would know, since she was taking up after hers.
Although appreciative of her compassionate words, Nettle waved them off with a hand, feeling there was no time for pity and more important matters were at stake here, "What we need to focus on right now is your workers, and your sister; they're about to become dinner if we don't hurry." "Hey! Everyone forgettin' 'bout little ol' me?" Charlie decided to chide in, feeling ignored and left out of the conversation.
"Oh sorry! Um... Flik, Nettle, this is Charlie; I met him along the way," after being introduced by Atta, Charlie greeted the two bugs standing in front by tipping his acorn cap, whilst offering a small smirk, "Thanks, Curlin's." "Curlings? What..?" Flik gawked at Atta, bemused by what he'd just called her, which made her scoff amusingly with an eye-roll, "It's just a nickname." "Aight, 'nough beatin' round the bush, let's go find those clowns," said Charlie, as he entered the tavern, followed not too far behind by Nettle. With his eyes still on the chunky cricket, Flik then turned his face towards Atta, "How'd you two meet? And what happened to you?"
Flik noticing her blistered body and scarred face was the last thing Atta wanted to be reminded of at this moment, refusing to let that disgusting memory of finding herself in that monstrous amphibian's stomach back into her head, "I'd rather not think about it, let alone talk about it. Now, come on."
As Atta and Flik caught up with Charlie and Nettle, they saw the entire bar packed with insects of varying types from all over the countryside. The air inside was polluted with loud chitter-chattering between bugs, talking about trivial matters since nothing much went on in their short lives, "I heard an old man almost swatting a fly", "Buzz off before I squash you!", "I flew up, just to get to the bottle's top; I went inside, tasted the wine, and holy smokes did it burn! It was sweet too," "Dunno why he was shooing me away; I just wanted to have some of that delicious, juicy blood of his! Mmm!"
"So this is where you found the circus bugs?" Atta raised her voice a little so Flik could hear her over the noisy atmosphere, to which he spoke up in response, "Indeed it is, but exactly where they'd be, that I've no idea!"
"Is that 'em there?" Charlie pointed his finger at a ladybug arguing with a cockroach bartender, accompanied by a pudgy caterpillar, a tall walking stick, two short pill-bugs, a black widow spider, a huge rhino beetle, an elderly praying mantis and a gypsy moth. After immediately recognised that group of bugs as the circus troupe, with Charlie and Nettle behind, both Flik and Atta wasted no time in approaching them, all the while trying to squeeze through the crowd of drunken bugs.
"C'mon pal, it was just that one time!" Francis argued with the bartender, assuring that that incident where he and his fellow troupe members had caused the can to roll from within, wrecking the Bug Bar in the process, was only an accident, as they were just trying to run from the Fly Brothers, along with their brutish horsefly bodyguard, Thud, who were bullying him after he'd thrown an insult at them for how they must've been buzzing around a heap of steaming dung, judging from their foul-smelling breaths.
"Yah! It was those mean flies that were being poo-poo heads to Francis here!" Heimlich insisted, standing up for his ladybug friend who was being harassed by those flies for looking like a girl, due to his feminine facial and body traits.
"Sorry, but you and your cronies are barred from here; just can't be having that "one time" becoming another time," the bartender explained in an unbothered tone, whilst wiping down the counter, which was a switch-blade, offering the performers not even a single glance.
Infuriated, Slim slammed a hand onto the counter, as he asserted, "This is preposterous! We've been your most loyal patrons for time longer than I could tell!" The bartender merely gave him a deadpan look, not bothered by Slim's furious expression, simply stating, "Listen, stick. It's nothing personal, just business. Now buzz off."
Placing hands on his friends' shoulders in understanding, before they were met with his defeated look, was Manny, or as he was known by his circus alias, Manto the Magnificent, who affirmed them, "Come along, my friends. It's become apparent we're no longer welcome in this establishment."
And the old, wise praying mantis was right; there was no point in dwelling on being banned from the Bug Bar indefinitely, after all they could just find another place to hang out in, together as friends.
"Manny's right. Let's go, everyone," Gypsy agreed, the moth who happened to be Manny's lovely wife and assistant. However, before they could make their leave, the circus bugs had picked up a familiar voice amongst the loud crowd, hollering out to them, "Guys!" Wondering who that was, it was Dim, the rhino beetle, who would be the one to first notice Flik approaching the troupe, shouting, "Mr. Ant!" Turning in Dim's direction, and they'd found themselves surprised, realising that it was their ant friend, whom they thought wouldn't see again, since that night he abandoned Ant Island and the colony.
"Flik, my boy! Is that you?" an astonished Manny exclaimed, to which Flik proudly announced with an odd sense of flamboyance, "The "Flik" you all know and love is here, everyone!" "Oh my gosh! It is you!" beamed Heimlich, and soon every one of the circus bugs gathered around Flik, welcoming him back with hugs; Tuck and Roll, the pill-bug twins, swiftly rolled up to Flik and each gave him big smooches on the cheeks, showing their delight in being with their friend once more, leaving the ant scratching the back of his head, while blushing scarlet, abashed.
"We didn't think we'd see you again after you left!" added Rosie, a black widow who was Dim's trainer, happily surprised to see her ant friend like everyone else was. "Well, I'm here now. But, I didn't come here alone," with a show of hand, Flik introduced them to Nettle giving them a friendly wave and a little smile, and Charlie touching his acorn cap, as he greeted them with, "Howdy y'all", and finally Atta, who the circus bugs as well did not expect meeting again.
It wasn't the fact that she was there at all that left them in shock, however, it was seeing Atta in the absolute state she was in: barely-visible bags under her reddened eyes, deprived of sleep, and skin wrinkled with blistered scars and acid burns.
What seemed like a long moment of being taken aback had passed, when Gypsy first spoke up, "Your highness? Is that..?" "Yes, everyone. It's me..." sighed Atta, already feeling the awkwardness of being in the same presence as them. "Jeez, you look like a shrivelled-up prune," Francis remarked, and before he knew it, everyone grimaced at him for that insensitive comment, to which he sheepishly retorted, "What? I'm just saying what my eyes tell me, is all!"
"Look, all that matters is that we're here and need your help," listening to Atta's reasoning for being there with Flik, Nettle and Charlie, had Rosie asking, "Why? Have the grasshoppers come back to get revenge on your colony?" "No, its worse," Flik replied with a change of tone from being cheerful to now serious.
"Worse? What could possibly be worse than a bunch of grasshoppers?" wondered Slim; Atta and Flik both gave each other a look, knowing they had a lot of catching up to do, before they uttered only one word in unison, "Hornets."
Moments later, and both ants were now outside the circus tent, a broken red and white umbrella, filling the troupe on everything that had happened since that fateful night, where they had managed to fend off the grasshoppers, and Hopper vanquished when he was led to that bird's nest, where he was torn apart and eaten alive by those adorably terrifying hatchlings.
"Not long after Hopper was defeated and his gang driven away, the hornets returned to the island with full force, and a grudge, kidnapping almost everyone, even my sister... And they plan to have them all for their banquet, before they come and take over Ant Island as their own," listening to Atta's exposition had every one of the circus bugs passing glances and murmurs to one another, after they'd been hit with the full realisation of the seriousness of the situation.
"That's not all," Flik continued, "Their queen, Thistle, had murdered the queen, right in front of her and the colony. And is conspiring to abandon her own dying workers, leaving them to starve."
To say the circus bugs were stunned into silence by what they'd just heard would be quite the understatement; this was their first time being described this "Thistle" character, and already they regarded her an insect more horrible and diabolical than Hopper ever was.
"Oh nein! Not the queen!", "We have to do something!", "How? We're speaking of hornets here, for crying out loud!", "Come on, you guys! Think!", "But these are hornets! Worse than a bunch of grasshoppers!", "Yah! And why is there a hornet with them? She already scares me by just standing there!", as the worried circus bugs argued amongst themselves, Atta lowered her head slightly and closed her eyes, as she turned in another direction and walked away.
Internally, Atta was hearing doubtful thoughts, coming back to tell her that maybe this was all a big mistake in having to find help she thought she needed from the circus bugs.
Unknowingly, Atta was being trailed behind by a concerned Flik and Charlie; they had made it this far to have everyone come together and conjure up a plan to save the colony and Dot from those hornets, so what could be bothering her right now at this moment? Was she having doubts about herself again? They both intend to find out...
To be continued...
Quick Author's Note:
Hey guys, FireAntKing2311 here. The second part to chapter 9 is finally here; I'm telling you, sometimes life just gets in the way, but what matters is that its here.
Welp, this is it guys, only two chapters left, with the next chapter being the longest one in the entire story, because: 1. it's the story's climax. 2. I have some loose ends I need to tie up with this one. and 3. there will be a lot going on.
I just want to say thank you to all of you for taking the time to read this story, and leaving some reviews along the way. When I first started this story, I was editing the first few uploaded chapters a lot, as I wanted to get them out there. Also, what was brought to my attention was the fact that I rip-offed someone else's fanfic for the beginning chapters, and plagiarism was the last thing I wanted to do, so I went back and changed them to make them different. Hopefully by now, it's all water under the bridge.
I hope you're all ready for chapter 10: Long Live The Queen, as we're going to follow Atta, Flik and company, trying to rescue the ants and Dot from being eaten by the hornets, and this will be the final confrontation between Atta and Thistle; spent some time building it up, and now it's finally going to pay off. However, I am going to go on a bit of a hiatus, ensuring to have everything planned out and have the chapter written as best as it could be; I really want this to be a satisfying enough finale. So, it'll take a while.
That's all I got for now, so stay tuned.
FireAntKing2311, out.