A Bug's Life: The Ant Queen
Chapter 10
Long Live the Queen (Part IV)
Atta writhed as she desperately tried to no avail in releasing herself from the clutches of a seething Thistle, struggling to breathe with several fingers wrapped around her neck, squeezing it firm. Even when she resorted to using her fists, those two large hands on her neck wouldn't budge an inch; to Thistle, they felt more like strong taps if anything. No matter how hard her efforts were, Atta simply couldn't get away from the unfortunate realisation that she was about to meet the same tragic end her mother had endured.
With all the pent-up rage filling up to the brim more and more, Thistle could feel herself about to erupt the longer her eyes of blackness glared into Atta's, alight with irises encircling fiery green. Feeling sick and tired of looking into the face of whom she now deemed an annoying, loathsome pest, Thistle growled through her clenched teeth as she unsheathed her jagged stinger, oozing with dripping venom, which induced a gasp from everyone in the hall close to Atta.
Most notably, Dot's eyes broadened upon quickly recognising what was ought to become of her elder sister. "ATTA!" Dot mewled at the top of her lungs, welled up with tears, before she felt a hand smothering her mouth and claws digging into her squishy cheeks, belonging to the brutish guard she was handed over by Thistle to.
Taking upon notice of how Atta's little sister cried out to her with much worry, as well as many of the distressed looks on the other ants' faces, especially Flik's included, Charlie knew he had to act fast. So, he wasted not even a split second in dismantling himself from the drones' hold when their eyes weren't focused on him; by headbutting the hornet straight to the face, knocking them back dazzled, Charlie used his freed arm to then hurl an enclosed fist towards the other hornet, afflicting a nasty blow to their chin.
Utilising the combined force of his long powerful spiky legs, as well as his drive in saving the very ant he befriended, Charlie leaped forward with a grunt and caught onto Thistle's back, throwing her off balance, which in turn caused her to drop Atta to the floor with a thud. Before Thistle could see who it was that tackled her, her antennas were grabbed and pulled from behind by Charlie, making her roar out in pain; thrown out of her own control, Thistle started flailing her arms everywhere, as she was being rode around like a ticked off bull.
Witnessing the chaotic display happening right before everyone's eyes, Flik saw this as the perfect opportunity to elicit a charge against Thistle's army of drones when he turned and raised his stone club in the air, calling out to every ant and hornet worker with much grit and a surprising amount of ferocity in his voice, "CHARGE!"
All the ants let out a collective battle cry as they began charging forward with nutcrackers in hand and Flik in the lead; flying overhead and running alongside them were the workers, led by Nettle, screeching and all out with their talons ready to slash, teeth to bite, and stingers primed with venom to pierce and inject. As for the drones, however, altogether they pointed their spears toward them and held steadfast, left with no choice but to defend and fight till they tire and succumb to however many wounds may be inflicted upon them.
In the blink of an eye, all the drones turned feral as soon as they clashed with the ants, as they were being pounced upon by the rabid workers; the next minute, the entire hall was in disarray: spears and stingers stabbed, claws scratched at, teeth sunk into, nutcrackers swung and busting heads, and many wings buzzing all around the place.
Distraction seemed to have taken over Thistle's bodyguard, since their attention was very much fixated upon everything taking place surrounding them; in a moment's haste, Dot seized the chance in liberating herself from the hornet's strong grip when she bit their hand over her mouth, causing them to blurt out in hurt, giving her up in the process.
Before Dot could get far enough away from them, though, a drone crashed in front of her, evoking a shriek; once the pointy tip of the spear was at her neck, she merely whimpered, frozen like a statue. Suddenly, a blunt thwack flashed across the drone's face, striking them down cold.
Looking up at her saviour and Dot's face had shone the brightest upon seeing Flik with his stone club, kneeling down to match his eye level with hers as he placed a hand on her shoulder, concerned, "You good, Dot?" "Uh-huh!" she nodded happily, until her eyes bugged out in alarm as she pointed towards something behind Flik and shouted, "LOOK OUT!"
When he turned his head over his shoulder, Flik let out a sharp gasp, before scooping Dot up into his arms, hurtling her and himself out of the way of an oncoming attack from a spear, and there stood the same burly hornet that Dot freed herself from, irate and showing teeth. Motivated by the instinctive urge to protect his best friend, let alone a child, Flik hastily rose back up to his feet and held onto his improvised weapon, standing ahead of a now terrified Dot; although the hornet was a powerhouse in comparison, Flik still gave them a glare that could be read as "Leave her alone..."
The drones surrounding Rosie had their backs turned on her, forcing themselves on the offensive as their heads jerked from side to side and their spears aimed at whatever may come at them; this gave Rosie enough time to capitalise, shooting a string of web from her abdomen towards one of them. Yanking the drone in her direction from their rear and Rosie swivelled them right across the others' heads, knocking them all into the ground. However, when her eyes were met with the perilous sight of Dim, overturned on his carapace and his feet tied together, wailing for help, Rosie felt as if her motherly instincts had kicked in; at this very minute, she thought of no one nor anything else but rescuing the beetle that she took in herself and raised as her own.
With all her might and anger, Rosie once again spun the incapacitated hornet around with her silken strand and hurled them at the unsuspecting drone, pushing them off Dim screaming. Immediately, she hurried towards Dim and undid the grass blades binding his feet and flipped his back over through immense struggle, because of his size, before gently cupping his massive pudgy cheek, "Dim? Dim, honey? Are you alright?" Recognising her endearing voice and the benign touch of her petite hand, Dim nuzzled his cheek against it and softly replied: "Dim okay..." This made Rosie sigh with relief, as she and Dim touched cheeks, comforting each other.
Their warm embrace would be interrupted by a shrill voice, calling amidst the harsh battle drowning out the air of the spacious hall, "FLIK!" Facing the direction of its origin, and there they saw the parlous scene of Flik in a choke hold at the hands of that monstrous hornet, with his stone club tossed to the side and Dot panic-stricken; with no second to spare, Rosie climbed onto Dim's back, as he crumpled up his face and gnashed his teeth together, shaking his head into a frenzy.
With Flik in their grasp by the neck, the hornet was right about to penetrate their spear through his chest, before feeling what felt like several feet rumbling the ground all at once. Averting their eyes to discern what was coming their way, Dim rammed into them hard just from the sheer tip of his horn, dropping Flik and leaving only behind their spiked chestnut shell helm.
Seeing Flik on the floor, trying to regain himself, had Rosie dismount and run up to look after him; Dot, on the other hand, skipped towards the helmet and picked it up in curiosity, giving it a brief study. She thought to herself: since there was an intense battle happening around her, she might as well have something on that can protect her. After donning it, because it fit her head well, surprisingly, counting how she wouldn't have to deal with being grabbed by her scalp again, Dot giggled a little. "Dot!" hearing her name called made her snap around to see Flik with his stone club and Rosie, both on top of Dim and ready to go, "Come on, we gotta find Atta before Thistle does!"
As for Francis, him thrashing in the hornet's arms turned out useless, until his sights were locked with what would make him shout: "AH! SLIM!" There he saw another one of Thistle's guards lifting Slim above their head, his abdomen and legs now held together tightly and his neck still within their grasp, pushing out their knee as they were going to snap him in half like an insignificant twig. This prompted Francis to throw his head backwards, sending a hard bonk right into the hornet's nasal bridge, which had them recoil in pain; his membrane wings shot out of his elytra and as fast as they could help him, Francis dashed towards the larger hornet with his fist balling up, ready to punch them straight to the face.
Just when the hornet was about to bring Slim down onto their kneecap, the next second, their cheek was bashed in by what appeared to be a swift blur, relinquishing their skinny captive. Slim laid there on the ground, coughing as he took a moment in trying to catch his breath after being in stranglehold for what felt longer than he anticipated, as per allowed thanks to Francis, who had a hand placed on his top shoulder in comfort, standing by him like a true comrade. After regaining his breath finally, Slim gave Francis a thankful smile, to which he welcomely returned with a nod of the head.
For a brief moment, Francis reminisced a time when he was the butt of every one of those flies' jokes, not mentioning the pair he had found especially bothersome, having to bear their incessant barrage of remarks, constantly comparing his appearance to that of an attractive woman, due to him being a ladybug. Now, he actually punched a hornet of all insects, much bigger than himself and frankly, more intimidating than even a horsefly like Thud, who was full of brawn; this should make Francis proud if he wasn't already, seeing how far he had come since then.
"HILFE! HILFE!" their antennas stood upon hearing those cries, and the two scanned across the chaos before Slim blurted, "HEIMLICH!" Following the direction of his finger and Francis' eyes were immediately caught by the troubling sight of their pulpous friend, trapped by all the drones closing around him at spearpoint. "Oh crud!" Slim cursed to himself, panicking, "What do we do?!" "Use your head!" exclaimed Francis, but then he paused for a moment, as he conjured up an idea that would paint a mischievous smirk that Slim knew all too well.
Catching onto what sounded like a war cry, the drones surrounding Heimlich ceased, but when they turned, all their faces dropped the instant they were met with Francis running towards them, hollering like an enraged warrior charging into battle, whilst carrying Slim as if he were a battering ram, never mind him screaming. In a matter of seconds, Francis ploughed them all, before he at last delivered the final blow to the remaining drone with a single swish, much to the caterpillar's joy, "Oh dankeschön!" "Okay! You had your fun, now can you please put me down?" demanded Slim, only to have Francis reply with such cheek, "Now where's the "fun" in that?"
"Uh... Francis?" worried Heimlich, pointing at some of the other drones advancing toward them at a threateningly slow pace. Giving himself a moment to ponder, Francis piped up, "Hey, you guys thinking what I'm thinking?" Noting him brandish Slim like a sword, his suggestion quickly resonated, reminded of how they once re-enacted Robin Hood to fend those pesky flies off their backs, which that alone excited Heimlich, "Oh yah!", whereas Slim merely rolled his eyes, groaning, "Oh great, here we go again..."
After a while of being treated like a rodeo, Thistle eventually grabbed hold of Charlie's arms, to his eyes popping out, and flung him overhead with much aggression, retaking freedom of her body once again. Though one of her curly antennas was torn off, owing to Charlie, she didn't seem to notice nor had she given a darn about it, because she was in such a rage. Her mind was ablaze with being dead set on killing Atta and her alone, ignoring everything else; Thistle would have to rip her own wings off and then chuck herself down to her bitter end if she were to let that insolent ant get away with the gall in trying to humiliate her in front of the entire swarm, she thought.
Using his wings, Charlie attempted to gain control of his trajectory from where he was hurled, but that was right before he crashed into a nearby pillar hard and fell onto his back. Turning himself over by a bit and he recoiled as he clutched his stomach and grumbled in pain. "Manny!? MANNY!?" he barely lifted his head and not far away was Gypsy still bound in grass blades, shouting for her husband as she was being dragged, kept hostage by the drone behind her. Feeling as though he was being pestered by his own instincts to save her, Charlie struggled as he hoisted himself back onto his feet and jumped up the same pillar he collided with.
Having already calculated the precision of where he would have to land the perfect kick, Charlie took off from the pillar with much force and somersaulted, arms tucking into his sides and a leg extended with a foot protruding, meeting the drone's face with a splintering impact, which sent them flying. Quickly, he untied the grass blades binding Gypsy and the two bugs exchanged looks of affirmation and gratitude, before picking up what sounded like "Hi-yah! Wha-cha!" among the tempest raging on around them.
"Yonder!" Charlie pointed, and there Manny was spinning the spear like a circus baton as well as a bo-staff, much to Gypsy's surprise; he was actually holding his own against the hornets, in spite of his age slowing him down. Just watching him fight like an old kung fu master and the praying mantis he was made her heart flutter. Never had she felt more attracted to him than she already was.
However, it seemed that Manny's age had finally caught up with him, as he couldn't properly counter the oncoming attack from the side and thus received a whack across the face and fell to the ground. Seeing her dear husband in trouble had Gypsy fired up; she turned towards Charlie and she earned herself a knowing nod in response.
Manny could only crawl farther before a foot weighed him down in place. Feeling its claws dig into his back caused him to wince as the same hornet that struck him raised their spear above their head, ready to put an end to his life.
Unexpectedly, Gypsy landed in front of them and flat-out spread her wings, stunning them with patterns beautifully highlighted in fiery reds brought out by the autumn browns, a gold-rimmed black spot resembling an eye on each forewing, complemented by triangular markings coloured in yellow on her hindwings; all of these elements put together helped create the face of a ferocious-looking animal, which would petrify any unsuspecting bug, even scare off a preying bird looking for a potential bite.
With them dumbfounded, Gypsy immediately retracted her wings as she twirled out of the way for Charlie to come rushing towards them and throw a punch right at their jaw. Still on the ground, Manny faced up and there stood his beloved wife and wasn't she a sight for sore eyes? His lit up with relief and delight upon seeing her alright, "Gypsy!" "Oh Manny!" Gypsy beamed as she helped him get back up and the two wasted no time in pulling one another into a tight embrace as they closed their eyes and gently pressed each other's lips, wanting to forget about everything for a brief moment.
That was until Charlie piped up, cutting their reunion short: "Hey! I hate to stop ya kissin', but we've got a fight to win here!" A hornet appeared behind him, but without looking he sprung up his arm with a back fist to their face and spun his body around, performing a roundhouse kick; he caught their spear mid-air and tossed it, aiming straight for a random drone zipping by, impaling them in the chest as they gave out a painful shriek and fell.
Amidst the strife, there Atta laid, motionless, though still breathing, albeit hardly; even opening her eyes proved difficult, as in one of them she felt her eyelids were heavy to lift and the other was blackened, scratched, and inflamed. Nevertheless, she managed to unfurl her now-only good eye ever so slightly; upon witnessing the maelstrom that was the battle, it peeled all the way, giving her the push to get back onto her feet, but not without struggle. Because she was in no state to defend herself, Atta made a break for a place to hide, limping as she tried dodging everything she could.
Meanwhile, Thistle was in a frenzy as she massacred many ants and even her own workers with no shred of hesitation or remorse. Any bug in her sight would suffer her wrath in the worst ways possible: faces struck with claws, backs broken over the knee, necks snapped like a stick, limbs torn as well as eaten.
Some of them would receive the sharp end of her stinger in their chests, gargling as venom coursed through their bodies. Thistle even used the spear from that same drone that Charlie took down to aid her in the slaughter. For her, it had been a while since she last fought; before, it was against Hopper and his grasshopper gang in her attempt to claim Ant Island as hers and the swarm's.
A familiar speck of purple crossed the corner of her eye, appearing to be an ant, but not like any other. "You..!" Thistle seethed upon recognising that ant in particular to be Atta when she locked eyes with hers. Atta felt her chest tightening as her heart sunk with absolute dread; seeing Thistle alone could only mean that death was coming straight for her.
With all her remaining strength and the help of adrenaline kicking in, Atta fled. Before Thistle could give chase, however, the other ants in proximity seemed to have noticed Atta too, as together they all began dog-piling Thistle at once, overwhelming her; no matter, Atta kept on running, not looking back.
The more Thistle scuffled, the more ants engaged as they successfully brought her down, pinning her arms and legs; as much as she thrashed and squirmed, there were just too many ants. An ant climbed on top of her with a nutcracker in hand, about to use it on her the same way she had it done on one of their own back at Ant Island. The scowl on their face not only expressed their desire for revenge against her for murdering their once-beloved queen, but the ant that Thistle had liquidated as well, suggesting that they may been their friend, perhaps their best friend or mate.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a drone swooped in and snatched the ant away. This gave Thistle enough time to throw some of the other ants off her as she broke out her massive dragon-like wings and flew into the air, spinning and her arms flailing. Finally free, mid-air, Thistle erupted with a loud, monstrous roar; her frenzied eyes scanned across the turbulent sea of various bugs fighting each other, but as soon as she spotted Atta among them, she dove in after her.
Just when Atta thought she had lost the hornet queen gone mad as she ran, Thistle landed in her tracks with a crash. "Th-Th-Thistle!" Atta stammered as she backed away, terrified for her life. "You dare escape me?! No!" Thistle lunged at her with talons out, though Atta hastily jumped out of the way, thanks to her smaller size; she immediately pushed herself back up, but Thistle wasn't far behind, so she tried picking up speed.
Knocking over dried leaf tables and brushing any bugs in her way aside, including her own drones, Thistle's eyes were fixed on her target while screaming, "My beautiful banquet... WRECKED! Years of planning... RUINED! All because of YOU!" Notwithstanding being tripped a few times, Atta pressed on galloping.
On the other side of the ongoing battle, with his large horn, Dim ploughed through the hornets like it was a cakewalk, while Flik and Rosie defended by tackling any coming from above or the rear; perched atop the beetle's head was Dot, keeping an eye out for her elder sister. A drone touched down and snarled at her, provoking a yelp, before being bonked in the face when she headbutted with her chestnut helmet, leaving them disoriented. Using his stone club, Flik bashed them hard across the cheek, before having their abdomen grabbed by Rosie's silken string and swung around, colliding with another drone. "Where's Atta?!" Flik called out to Rosie, and she shouted back, answering, "I don't know!"
Exerting every ounce of strength she had left, Atta tried her hardest to escape Thistle's fury but was unfortunately caught when she was yanked from behind. With her neck being taken hold, now at Thistle's mercy, it was at this moment that Atta knew she was done for; her only hope was that someone would come and deliver her from the inescapable fate she was about to meet. "The story of Princess Atta ends now!" Thistle declared with such rancour and venom in her voice, raising Atta off the ground until her feet could no longer reach it.
Dot noticed this as she cried out: "Flik! LOOK!" Following where her finger was pointing, Flik and the others' eyes widened upon Atta in danger, once again finding herself within custody of Thistle's grasp. Just seeing that stinger jut in an instant had them racing towards her desperate aid, compelled by their hearts to act quick. But that was until the lightning struck...
To be continued...
Quick Author's Note
Hey guys, FireAntKing2311 here, and the fourth part of Chapter 10 is finished at last. This took longer than expected, so I apologise for the long wait, especially when it has been a couple of months. I know I said that this was going to be the last part of chapter 10 before I write the ending and epilogue, but because there's a lot going on, as you can see from reading it, and considering how it took longer than anticipated like I mentioned, I've decided to split the fourth part into two parts, so expect the fifth part of Chapter 10 coming. Fortunately, according to the outline I have laid out for myself, the fifth part is going to be a bit shorter than this one, so it'll be the real final part of Chapter 10. For now, this is what I have written.
Because summertime is over and I'm going back to college, as well as having to deal with work, learning how to drive, and other things going on in my life, I don't know when the fifth part will be released exactly; but I will be writing it as I go. Whether it'd be weeks or months, the next part or chapter will come. Since this part of the chapter is pretty much the final battle taking place inside the Hornet's Nest, there is so much happening, so that's the main reason why I took that long in planning it and writing it. I had a bit of a writer's block in between, so another reason why this part came late.
This is actually my first attempt at writing a battle sequence, switching to various characters and see how they're all contributing to the battle (well, most of them), and I wanted it to be as believable as it could be.
I hope you all understand and again I'm sorry for the wait. Anyway, that's all I have to say for now. Thank you all for getting this far into the story and stay tuned for part 5.
FireAntKing2311, out.