In case you're wondering, yes, Jimmy Sherlock and Todd Schultz are real. If you don't know them, search up Jerry Springer Jimmy Sherlock, and Todd Schultz. And every time you see the word "security" on this fic, I'm referring to Steve, Jimmy, Stabler, Manny and Gypsy. P.S. I just created a poll on whether or not Cornelius should be in this fic, so go check it out!
As the show returns from the commercial break, the camera panned at Angela and Mike, who looked at it for a brief second as the episode title appears. They then looked back at Dr. Flora, who the camera also panned to after a moment. As the audience chanted "Jerry" as the show's theme ends and the title disappears, the screen then fades to the host, who is standing on the second row of the audience as he looked at his card, recapping the situation for viewers who just joined as the audience quieted down.
"Thank you, welcome back! If you just joined us, we're talking here with Mike and his girlfriend, Angela, and the ant doctor, Dr. Flora. Here's the problem; Mike and Angela are both angry, not just because of how their friend was treated… but because… their friend… uhh, abandoned the colony after the princess told him the truth on why he was sent to find warriors." Jerry then gestured to Dr. Flora as he walked to the corner of the stage next to her. "Dr. Flora comes on the show, says she's sorry for what she did. Now, Dr. Flora, from what I've seen and heard, you seem genuinely regretful for treating their friend the way you did."
"Yes…" Dr. Flora softly replied, as she still had a few tears in her eyes.
"The question is where did all this vitriol for him begin to bubble up? How did this hate and your mistreatment of him come about?"
Dr. Flora sighed as her eyes faced the ground."I just… His inventions were causing accidents all the time and… every summer we were ordered to give the grasshoppers food and… Last summer he ended up destroying the offering stone with his harvester… and…" She sighed as she couldn't find any more words to explain herself.
"Yeah, and you sent him off to die trying to find warriors!" chided Angela.
Mike then added, "You KNEW you were basically signing his death warrant when you planned that!"
"I know that and I'm sorry! I want you to forgive me! Please!" Dr. Flora begged.
"No. Sorry don't cut it," Angela replied, glaring at the doctor. "It's not gonna make this any better.
"You really think by sending a fellow member off to die, we can just dance past this?!" Mike asked rhetorically.
Dr. Flora didn't answer, knowing the human couple were right. She, along with the other council members and the princess sent Flik to find warriors just so he would be out of the way to fulfill the double quota after the offering stone incident, which she didn't deny and felt more guilt over as more tears fell down her face.
After a moment of silence, the bell rang 3 times, sparking another physical fight with the two women. As the audience cheered for a few seconds, security managed to separate them quickly. Gypsy walked Angela to where her boyfriend was standing as the audience quieted down.
"Alright," Jerry spoke up as he looked at his card, then back up at the human couple. "Oh, you mentioned Mr. Soil earlier."
"Yeah," replied Mike.
The host then turned back to Dr. Flora. "And this is another council member of yours?"
Dr. Flora nodded. "Yes."
"Alright, well, let's meet him. Here's Mr. Soil!"
The audience booed as Mr. Soil appeared from the left door. It seemed like the audience had just as much vitriol towards him as they did towards Dr. Flora. Angela glared at him as she continued to breathe heavily, trying to compose herself after her earlier physical fight with the doctor.
As Mr. Soil appeared onto the stage, Mike quickly took offense to Mr. Soil appearing and immediately engaged in a physical fight with him. The audience erupted into cheers as security had to use more force to try and separate them. Meanwhile, Gypsy and Manny stood by, making sure the two women didn't fight each other. Another security guard known as Jimmy Sherlock ran up onto the stage to back up Steve and Stabler as the audience chanted "Jerry". Steve had his arms wrapped around Mike from behind, trying to pull him away, with Stabler doing the same with Mr. Soil and Jimmy trying to push Mike back. Mr. Soil and Mike fought each other for quite a long time now as the security guards still struggled to keep the two men separated from each other. The audience shouted even louder while watching the brutal battle between the two.
"Break, break, break, break, break!" commanded Stabler.
The security guards finally managed to get Mike and Mr. Soil away from each other, as the two men continued breathing hard from the fight. The audience cheered and whistled loudly, loving the fight that they just witnessed. Mr. Soil just stood there looking down, exhausted and guilty. Mike just glared at Mr. Soil in anger.
The audience started to quiet down for a second, then burst into an eruption of cheering and whistling as Mike took off his shirt, via pulling the collar over his head, revealing his impressive physique. The audience was completely on his side and they began to cheer even louder as he glared down at Mr. Soil with an intense look of anger and fury. Stabler, Steve, and Jimmy worked hard to keep them separated, and the audience seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the confrontation. The audience then died down for about 10 seconds, then the bell rang three times, triggering another round of fighting between Mike and Mr. Soil. The audience was completely engaged in the action once more, as the fight continued with increased intensity. The crowd was on the edge of their seats, excited to see how this confrontation would continue. Security was once again trying to separate the two men, but Mike was so full of rage and hatred that it was proving difficult.
It took a great level of strength and effort for security to finally separate both men, and the audience cheered loudly one last time before falling silent. Both Mike and Mr. Soil panted from the fights as they stood on their sides of the stage.
"I'm sorry about all of this, Mike!" Mr. Soil said.
"It's too late for sorries!" Angela shouted.
Mike then added, "You've completely destroyed our lives! And Flik's! We have absolutely nothing left now thanks to you!"
The human couple both continued to express how infuriated they were at Mr. Soil and Dr. Flora for all they have done. They both appeared to be completely consumed by anger and bitterness towards the members of the ant colony, and it seemed like there was no way for them to ever forgive or forget the way Flik was treated.
Angela glared at the two ants with pure rage and hatred as she shouted, "And it's not just because of everything you did to him, but also because you did absolutely nothing to support Flik's inventions! You know how much Flik meant to my man!"
"He was my best friend!" added Mike. "Along with Dot!"
"And you were too stubborn and ignorant to accept his inventions and ideas!" Angela added. "All he wanted to do was just help the colony!"
"And what did you do?! You pushed him away! EVERY… SINGLE… TIME!" Mike slammed his fist on his hand as he screamed those 3 words.
After the human couple paused for a moment, Angela then spoke up. "You refused to let him help with anything! All you ever did was just bring down his self-esteem and hurt his feelings with your constant criticism and rejection of all his work!"
"You, the colony, the princess, AND her!" Mike added as he gestured to Dr. Flora.
"We just didn't want to risk the safety of the colony with all his inventions!" Mr. Soil tried to argue.
"We were just trying to keep the colony safe! Flik's experiments were getting too risky and we felt like we couldn't allow that to continue!" Dr. Flora added.
The audience booed at their excuses.
"YOU SUCK! YOU SUCK! YOU SUCK! YOU SUCK! YOU SUCK!" chanted the audience.
The chanting died down as Angela and Mike continued her rant.
"You ants were basically like bullies to him!" the female human shouted. "All he needed was respect! Support! Praise! Appreciation! Gratitude! A chance to help! To make a difference for the colony! Instead you just treated him like he was some sort of nuisance instead of a friend or relative of yours! You destroyed him, took away all his confidence and passion for inventions!"
"And now he's gone! He abandoned us! And we'll NEVER see him again! EVER! ALL BECAUSE OF HOW YOU GUYS TREATED HIM!" her boyfriend screamed.
Both Mr. Soil and Dr. Flora looked incredibly disheartened and broken by those words, as they had never thought of the way they treated Flik as bullying him. They both seemed to be genuinely remorseful for their actions, as neither of them intended to be so hurtful to Flik. They just wanted to keep the colony safe and secure, but they had instead pushed away their brightest member in the process. They didn't know how to respond to this now, as the guilt was consuming both of them.
Jerry then spoke up to the two ants. "It is fair for them to say… that you did treat him unfairly and sent him on that quest just to get rid of him and wished he just died out there."
Mr. Soil and Dr. Flora took in those words, and they couldn't deny them.
"If you had just given him the respect and support he needed and deserved, then all of this wouldn't have happened in the first place!" Angela spoke up in an angry tone.
Mr. Soil looked at Angela and seemed utterly devastated by those words, as he realized that she was completely right. He had been unable to view their treatment of Flik as anything other than strictness and discipline, but now he saw the truth behind the words. They truly had treated Flik like a nuisance and a problem, rather than a friend, fellow colony member, and creative colleague. He was filled with intense regret and remorse, as was Dr. Flora.
"We're sorry. We really are," he tried to apologize.
"You're sorry?" huffed Mike. "You're sorry?!"
The audience was in full support of Mike as he started attacking Mr. Soil, and they cheered wildly in hopes of spurring him on further. Mike was completely overcome with rage and had no intention of letting Mr. Soil off without putting up a fierce fight. Stabler, Jimmy, and Steve were each trying to pull them apart, but they were clearly having a difficult time containing Mike's ferocity. The crowd's cheering continued to grow louder as the fight intensified.
Mike's incoherent yelling was almost completely drowned out by the roar of the audience, as they were so engaged with the intense battle happening in front of them. The fight was getting very physical and the crowd was ecstatic with how fiercely the two men were attacking each other. Security was struggling to contain the confrontation, as the two men were just too strong and angry to restrain. The volume of the crowd's cheering was growing louder by the second.
"JERRY! JERRY! JERRY! JERRY! JERRY! JERRY!" they chanted as Mike kept shouting incoherently, along with occasional expletives.
The crowd finally let out the last of their excitement as security managed to finally split the two men apart. Mike and Mr. Soil stood on their respective sides of the stage, both panting heavily and looking incredibly exhausted from the intense bout they had just engaged in. The crowd was still very pumped and thrilled from the confrontation, but had calmed down a bit as everyone was trying to catch their breath. Security was still monitoring the situation closely, in case the two women and men attempted to fight again.
"Huh, you're sorry!?" shouted Mike. "I told you about everything in my life! I shared my whole life story to you!"
Mike tried to get to Mr. Soil, but was held back by Steve, only gaining little reach at him as the audience cheered.
The bell rang 3 times as Mike kept repeating, "I shared my life story with you!" as he continued to try and get to Mr. Soil, with Angela fighting Dr. Flora again.
With the two women fighting next to each other once again, the crowd enjoyed every moment of the brutal fight. Gypsy and Manny also struggled to keep Angela away from Dr. Flora, but couldn't hold back the woman's rage and hatred anymore than her boyfriend's.
Mike eventually managed to calm down a bit, but the anger and hatred was still in him. The two ladies continued to fight as the audience chanted, "Jerry".
The security guards were doing their best to keep the two women from fighting each other again, but it was becoming harder and harder to restrain the two women. The audience stayed extremely loud while continuing to chant, still enjoying the fight between the two ladies.
Eventually, the two women finally broke apart, finally calming down a bit as they were exhausted from fighting. The security guards managed to keep them from getting too close to each other, not wanting the fight to restart. The audience was still extremely loud and kept chanting, "Jerry," wanting even more of the fight.
As the audience died down, the unit manager, Todd Schultz gave the 4 guests each a cup of water. Angela, Mike, Mr. Soil, and Dr. Flora each quietly took the cups of water from Todd, drinking from them. The human couple kept glaring at the two ants with all their rage and anger, not wanting to speak to them at all. While Mr Soil and Dr. Flora quietly looked down at the water in each of their hands, looking ashamed and guilty.
After a few seconds, Angela threw the rest of her water at Dr. Flora. The water flew at Dr. Flora and immediately splashed right into her face. The audience let out a loud cheer, loving every moment of the water being thrown at Dr. Flora's face. Dr. Flora was very startled and shocked at the water hitting her and just stared at it in disbelief. Mike then followed suit with Mr. Soil, and everyone started fighting again. While Gypsy and Manny were handling the two women, Steve, Stabler, and Jimmy were handling the two men.
"JERRY! JERRY! JERRY! JERRY! JERRY!" the audience chanted as security managed to finally split the two groups apart. The two parties stood on their respective sides of the stage, all panting heavily and looking incredibly exhausted from the intense bout they all had just engaged in. The audience was still very pumped and thrilled from the confrontation, but had calmed down a bit as everyone was trying to catch their breath. Security was still monitoring the situation closely, in case the two parties attempted to fight again.
"Alright," Jerry spoke up as he looked at his card, then looked back up at Angela and Mike. "Oh, you mentioned the princess earlier."
Angela and Mike nodded.
"And her name's Atta?" he asked.
"Yeah," answered Angela.
"Alright, well, let's meet her. Here's Princess Atta."
The audience applauded as Atta emerged from the right door with just as much guilt as Dr. Flora and Mr. Soil. As she appeared on the stage with the other ants, the audience died down as Angela spoke up.
"Why?!"
"Why did you and the colony treat Flik the way you did?!" added Mike.
"And for what?! Just because he was different and screwing up a lot and you wanted him to act like everyone else?!" Angela asked rhetorically in an angry tone.
"I'm sorry!" Atta tried to apologize.
Angela wasn't having any of her apologies. "Sorry isn't enough! Sorry doesn't change anything! Sorry doesn't fix anything! Sorry doesn't bring Flik back!"
Mike then added, "My best friend is gone! Dot's best friend is gone! My life is completely destroyed! Flik's life is completely destroyed! All because of you!"
"I'm genuinely remorseful!" argued Atta. "I truly do feel terrible about how we had treated Flik up till now! His treatment was unfair and unkind, I truly do believe that now…"
"You didn't feel that then!" countered Angela. "Or feel terrible then!"
"But I do now! I'm really, truly sorry!"
"Even worse, he left because you all treated him like a loser and an outcast!" shouted the angry human female. "You, your colony and your council were nothing more than bullies to him! You took away his passion and self-esteem!"
"You took away his confidence!" added Mike as he slammed his fist on his other hand as he pointed out the things Flik lost because of the colony's treatment. "His dignity! His self-respect! His happiness! And now, HIS LIFE! You've crushed his hopes and dreams! You destroyed his future! You pushed him to abandon the colony!"
"But I understand that now, okay!?" the princess argued. "I see the wrong in my actions!"
"Too little, too late!"
"Flik was our friend!" Angela added. "He needed us! ALL of us! All he wanted was to help and make a difference! Instead you all treated him like trash and pushed him away constantly, and the only one that ever stood by him was me!"
"And me!" her boyfriend added. "And you're sister!"
"Yeah, they mentioned her earlier. Dot… is it?" Jerry inquired to Atta.
"Yes," she answered.
Mike then continued his rant. "I saw how devastated your sister was when she tried to run after Flik when you freaking exiled him when you found out he found circus bugs instead of warriors, but your mother stopped her! You didn't give him the chance to explain himself! Or think about the bond we shared together!"
"I know that! I just wanted the best for the colony!" Atta tried to argue.
That excuse only triggered Angela's rage. "What's best for the colony?!" she huffed. "Best for the colony?!"
The female human then engaged in a physical brawl with the princess in front of the audience, and their excitement became even louder than before as the two guests exchanged blows. Security was completely unable to contain the fight, as Angela just wouldn't settle down.
Mr. Soil and Mike also engaged in a physical brawl once more in front of the audience. The crowd was growing more excited as the fight grew more intense and the guests exchanged increasingly vicious blows. Security was still trying to contain the fight, but it was clear that Mike just wouldn't stop until he had driven his opponent to the ground. The crowd's cheering grew louder in support of Mike.
"JERRY! JERRY! JERRY! JERRY! JERRY!" chanted the audience as the separate fights continued. Security was struggling to contain the bouts as the guests just wouldn't stop fighting each other, the crowd's enthusiasm reaching a fever pitch.
Gypsy and Manny managed to separate Angela and Atta, but now the female human and Dr. Flora engaged in a fierce fight in front of the audience. The crowd was cheering wildly now, as the fight between these two strong-willed opponents had become extremely intense. Security was still struggling to contain the fight, but the two parties just wouldn't back down from each other. The audience was extremely entertained from the fight, their cheers growing louder and louder with each passing second.
As the bell rang 3 times, Steve, Jimmy, and Stabler finally managed to separate Mike and Mr. Soil, but Angela and Dr. Flora continued to engage in a fierce physical fight as the other battling had seemingly concluded. The crowd was now cheering on the two intense guests, as the potential outcome of their fight was becoming increasingly clear given the ferocity of the bout.
Security finally managed to separate the two ladies. All of the guests were all panting heavily and looked completely exhausted and depleted from these intense fights. The audience was cheering loudly now that the bouts had finally ended.
The crowd had calmed down now that the human couple and the 3 ants had all been separated. The guests had all been exhausted and panting, and the excitement of the intense violence had subsided. Everyone was now just catching their breath and taking it all in.
"Talk. Just talk, okay?" Steve softly said to Mike as he walked him to where his girlfriend was standing.
Angela stood next to her boyfriend, also panting and glaring at the three ants. The two of them now stood together in front of the crowd, looking exhausted and angry at the insect trio.
"Alright," Jerry spoke up as he looked at his card, then back up at the 3 ants. "Oh, Thorny is another council member of yours, right?"
Atta nodded her head in affirmation to Jerry's question.
"The "short, easily-tempered ant?"" He remarked to Angela and Mike.
As the audience laughed, Angela and Mike both let out a bitter chuckle at Jerry's remark and nodded, feeling amused and irritated at how accurate the description of Thorny was.
"Well, let's bring him out, here's Thorny."
Thorny emerged from the right door, and the audience immediately let out a flurry of applause as he made his entrance. The applause only grew louder as Thorny made his way onto the stage to where Mike and the other ants were waiting for him. Mike immediately engaged in a fierce physical fight with Thorny.
As the intense brawl began between Mike and Thorny and security tried to pull them away from each other, the crowd's excitement reached a fever pitch. The two engaged in a fiery physical fight that kept the audience extremely engaged with its intensity. The two continued to attack each other with fierce and forceful blows, and the audience showed no signs of dying down in their level of interest in their fight.
Mike was screaming incoherently at the top of his lungs as he continued to exchange blows with Thorny. The expletives he shouted out only added to the intensity of the fight, and the audience was getting extremely excited by this intense physical showdown. The excitement of the fight was reaching new heights as both Mike and Thorny attacked each other with unrelenting ferocity, not willing to give an inch in the fight.
The audience chanted "Jerry" as Mike and Thorny were finally separated. The intense melee between the two men left them panting from their exertions.
"Stand right there," Stabler softly said as he pointed the shirtless male human to where his girlfriend was standing.
"I'm sorry, Mike!" Thorny spoke up.
"No, you're not sorry! At all! None of you ants are! At all!"
Thorny looked genuinely apologetic as he spoke to Mike, but his remarks only seemed to further enrage the human.
"I shared a special bond with Flik!" Mike continued. "Along with Dot, and my girl here!" The male human gestured to his girlfriend.
Thorny looked slightly ashamed and guilty as he heard Mike describe the bond between him, Flik and Dot as well as that with his girlfriend, but he remained adamant that he was apologetic and that he had genuinely felt guilty about the way Flik had been mistreated.
"And you all destroyed him with how you treated him!" added Angela.
The human couple continued to glare angrily at the ants, feeling the bitterness and hatred towards them for how they were responsible for Flik's mistreatment. Dr. Flora, Mr. Soil, Atta and Thorny all looked ashamed and humiliated by this statement and the angry expression of Angela and Mike.
The four ants stayed silent for a moment, then Atta finally spoke up next.
"I'm sorry, I really am! I just–"
"SHUT UP!" Angela interrupted. "You only say that now because of everything that's happened, but you didn't see it that way back then, did you?! If you're really so sorry now, why didn't you respect and support him back then?! Where were your apologies then, huh?!"
"You 4 only sent my bro off to find warrior bugs earlier after the darn offering stone incident so that you could get rid of him!" added Mike "I didn't think much of it at the time, Princess, but I saw your face when Flik returned, and I realized earlier that you'd wished he just died instead! Shame THAT didn't go as planned, huh?!"
The ants went completely silent once again. Angela continued to speak up in a sarcastic and angry tone.
"Oh, so now you're mad that you didn't successfully get Flik killed? Sorry, but your luck didn't work out the way you wanted it to!"
"No, we…" Dr. Flora tried to argue.
"That was when I saw how brave and willing he was to protect the colony…" Atta spoke up. "Especially when he stood up to Hopper and Thumper. I came to realize that the colony and I had mistreated him, and that he really did want to just help us–"
"That's what he's been SAYING ALL THE TIME, MORONS!" Angela interrupted.
"So, what, all those times that Flik spent hours, even days, weeks, months, YEARS, putting his blood, sweat and tears into perfecting a gadget that everyone could benefit from, meant NOTHING?!" yelled Mike. "Yet it takes him to almost DIE for you to actually see his intentions?!"
All four of the ants were silent, seemingly at a loss for words as Mike and Angela kept talking. The two guests had struck at the heart of the ants' own insecurities and regrets about their treatment of Flik, and they couldn't provide any counterpoints to the guests' arguments. Their expressions showed a mixture of guilt and shame as they remained silent and defeated. Atta stayed silent and began to look away awkwardly. Angela's facial expression went back to the same rage and hatred once again as she spoke in a sarcastic angry tone. "Oh, don't act all sorry and remorseful now! That wasn't how you felt earlier when you all were doing him so wrong!"
Atta was on the verge of tears. "I truly am sorry! I really am!
"Yeah, well it's too late for apologies!" Angela cut her off.
Mike's tone of voice lowered, still on the same level of anger and hatred. "Is this how you and the colony really see him? A nuisance? A burden?"
"A loser? Screw-up?" added his girlfriend with the same tone of voice. "A pawn you can use? A piece of last year's trash you can just toss aside like there's no meaning?!"
Atta remained silent and began to wipe the tears off her cheeks as Angela continued her statements.
"Is that all you viewed him as? A pathetic, worthless moron who should just be tossed away like last year's trash?!"
"You only sent Flik on that phony quest just so you would all be rid of him." Mike added. "All he ever wanted was to help the colony and invent gadgets that everyone could use and benefit from!"
"You made him believe that he could fix all the mistakes he's made, including the offering stone incident, by going on that search for help, so we could finally be free of those grasshoppers! But you lied to him!" Angela also added.
Atta just kept crying, feeling extremely guilty about what she and the colony did to Flik. Dr. Flora also let her own tears flow as Mike continued venting.
"And what's worse is that when he lied, you banished him, when you 4 are the ones who lied to him first!"
"He had his reasons for lying to the colony, but you?" Angela rhetorically asked.
Atta just looked down and continued crying, feeling even worse now than she did before. Angela and Mike continued to glare at her, looking even angrier than she was before.
"He risked his life to save the colony from the grasshoppers!" Angela continued. "And what was the answer?! Banish him without giving him a chance!"
After a moment of silence passed.
"Alright, we have the queen here." Jerry spoke up as he turned to all of the guests. "I tell you what, we're gonna take a break and we'll meet her when we come back."
The audience erupted into cheers as the show theme played and the host walked off the stage. The camera panned to the human couple, who looked at it for a brief second, then they looked back at the ants, who the camera also panned to after a few seconds. As the audience chanted "Jerry", the screen fades to black, then starts playing commercials.
TBC