Chapter 9: Survival

Prince Cornelius flew on his bumblebee, Buzzbee, fighting against the fierce, cold wind.

"Thumbelina!" the fairy prince cried, "Thumbelina, where are you?"

Suddenly, he was knocked backward by the strong gust of wind off Buzzbee and landed on something liquid.

He took off his helmet and wiped his face to find mud on it and scowled as he found himself in a mud puddle.

Before he could take another moment to process, a familiar buzzing sound buzzed behind him, scooping him up, causing him to shout "whoa" in shock. Cornelius put his helmet back on as he sat on his steed and coughed a bit as they continued flying through the gale.

The fairy prince steered his bumble to a hollow log. Maybe someone in the log knew where Thumbelina was. Inside the log, Cornelius dismounted from Buzzbee and saw a group of jitterbugs.

"I-I'm looking for a beautiful young woman," the fairy prince said to the jitterbugs, "Her name is-is Thumbelina."

"Are you the fairy prince?" asked Gnatty.

Cornelius smiled. "I am."

"Thumbelina and her friend, Poppy are gone."

The fairy prince's smile vanished. "Gone? Where? Where did they go? And who's Poppy?"

"A mouse with blonde hair. The beetle took them away." Gnatty looked away sadly.

"They're out there, somewhere," a butterfly jitterbug said with a shrug.

"They're out there in that?" Cornelius asked, gesturing to the cold gust of wind.

"There's a big toad after them, too," Gnatty added.

Cornelius placed his hand on his face. "Oh, no! I've got to find them! Winter's almost here!" He put his helmet back on and hopped on Buzzbee and they took off in the wind. "Hurry, Buzz! My father can't hold back the frost much longer!"

…

Berkeley Beetle was walking out of the Beetle Ball for a nice stroll and flew down to the ground in the tall grass, where he met Thumbelina and Poppy.

He sighed. "Glad to be rid of those women," he said to himself.

All of a sudden, someone jumped in his way, making him gasp and look fearfully up to the creature who stood before him. The hulking creature glowered at him as if to say, "We need talk."

"Uh, oh."

Before the beetle could process what was happening, the toad grabbed him by the collar, fleeing away with him.

…

In the dark, decaying woods, Grundle was strangling Berkeley Beetle, hoping to get information from him.

"Okay! Okay!" the beetle gasped as he coughed loudly, "Can-can I explain something?"

"WHAT?" Grundle Toad demanded impatiently.

The beetle coughed. "Look, I don't. Know. Where. She. Is. We didn't hit it off too good. So, I uh, I let her go after her mouse friend attacked me. She's not my type. She's an ugly type. I don't like ugly."

Hearing this about Thumbelina, Grundle pounded him on the head, making the beetle fall forward.

"She is BEAUTIFUL!" Grundle snapped as he stepped on Berkeley Beetle's foot while the beetle tried standing up.

"Whatever you say," Berkeley Beetle replied in a croaking voice as he started to stand up while Grundle removed his own condescendingly. The Beetle coughed a bit. He returned to his con-man self, adding, "Look, I got an idea. I hear that she loves the fairy prince, right?"

However, Berkley Beetle didn't count on the fact that when he said that, it resulted in the infuriated toad growling in anger and pounding his head with both fists before stomping on him.

"I CRUSH fairy prince!" Grundle shouted, clashing both fists.

"Okay, okay. Shut up and listen," the beetle said, getting up from the ground and straightening his mustache. "Why don't you nab the prince and you set up a trap for the girl, using him as the bait? You know, get her to come to you. As for the mouse girl, separate her from the girl."

"Nab the prince," Grundle said, scratching his chin, deep in thought.

"And set up a trap. Then separate the girl's mouse friend from the girl."

"Nab the prince." Grundle smirked with that thought in mind.

"Yes. Nab the prince and set up a trap. Then separate the girl's mouse friend from the girl." Suddenly, the beetle was beginning to lose patience with the toad's incompetence, so he grabbed him by the collar and shook him. "Do you speak English? Try to keep up, Grundle, okay?"

"Don't shout!" Grundle yelled as he covered his face and ears with his hat.

"You're making me very nervous here!"

Then, Grundle started to have enough, so he grabbed him by the crook of his neck. "You, go capture prince!" The toad grabbed the beetle's wings from behind.

"Ah! My wings!" The beetle cried, upon seeing his wings in Grundle's hand and jumped to get his wings back. "You took my wings! You can't do that!"

"Yeah? I keep wings until you nab prince," Grundle said with a grin as he placed his hand in Berkeley's face.

This was the last straw for the beetle. "Listen, pal! This harassment has gone far enough and I know my rights! I'll report you to the pond patrol!" That was until he felt the toad's hand around his neck. "Okay, okay. Cool it! Cool it!"

Grundle set the coughing creature down, but his fist remained in a threatening position.

"Where's your sense of humor?" the beetle demanded, but unable to take another beating, he gave in, "Alright! I'll nab the prince." To his beetle gang, he added, "Come on, guys. Mind the wings. I'll be back."

As he walked away, the beetles in white watched him go.

…

Autumn would not last long. Soon enough, the atmosphere's warm temperature dropped to a chilling skin piercing freezing cold, most of the lakes have frozen in ice, and the ground was covered in a blanket of white snow.

At this point, Thumbelina and Poppy continued to walk together in the snowy grass, shivering as the cold wind blew. Luckily, Poppy was wearing her grass green cloak. Not wanting her friend to suffer, she offered her a cloak, but the tiny girl declined, thinking they'll be home very soon.

Ever since Jacquimo left them, so he could find the Vale of the Fairies, they did their best to find their way to Thumbelina's house, where Poppy would soon become her new roommate.

Food was scarce at this time of year, but autumn was decent because they had nuts, berries, and Poppy's homemade cookies to fill them up.

As they continued walking in the snow, they pushed aside some tall grass, only to slide down on ice.

Splash!

The girls gasped as the ice beneath their feet began to melt, which turned into water. They coughed as they crawled out of the water onto a snowy bank. They were not only cold, but their clothes and hair became damp from the water, weighing them down a little that they tripped on a snowy bank.

They shivered as they sat down. Suddenly, they saw something above them that caught their eye. On top of a hill was an old boot. The two started to walk up to the hill. It was close and better than no shelter at all.

When they got up there, they scrambled inside the open hole in the boot and wrapped themselves up with a sock.

"Jacquimo was wrong," Thumbelina lamented, "I will never find my way home. It's impossible." She huddled herself in the sock with Poppy to wrap her arms around her. "Oh, Mother. Where can you be?" Then Thumbelina began to sob.

"Oh, Thumbelina," Poppy said sympathetically, "I know how you feel. I could have asked Jacquimo if he could give us a ride."

"But he doesn't know where I live."

Poppy sighed. "Hopefully, when we get out of this stinking boot, we'll find a different place to stay." Thumbelina continued to cry in her arms. "Shh…it's okay."