The FT Squad's Adventures in A Bug's Life P1

It was a bright and sunny summer day at a dry riverbed near a grassy field.  There was barely any water left, for the hot season had dried most of it up.  But at a nearby island surrounded by the dried up riverbed, it was a big day for its inhabitants.  Covered with tall grass and a single tree, this island has been the home to a colony of ants, who every year gather food and stack it on a stone on the edge of the island.  Some ants climbed up the grass stems, picked food and dropped it down to their fellow ants below.  The ants on the ground caught the food and carried it in a single file line, entering a clearing and heading for a stone with a large leaf, containing a large amount of food.  This stone, standing on an edge of the island, is where the ants store food each season.  This year, the ants have gathered an extraordinary amount of food.  From grains, to berries, to grapes, this pile of food reached a decent height.  The gatherer ants continued their jobs while other ants minded their own business.  

Nearby, a portal opened up and out came the Future Time Travel Squadron.  After pulling themselves together, they looked around them and saw the towering blades of grass reaching high into the sky like tall buildings in a city.  “Wow,” exclaimed Daizy, “where are we?”

“Either everything suddenly grew to big sizes, or we shrunk,” said Donkey.

Kyle and Hathi went ahead and examined the area.  They hid behind a rock and after looking around, they spotted the colony of ants.  “Ah-ha,” said Hathi, “just as we thought Kyle.”

“That’s right Colonel,” said Kyle, “hey guys, over here.”

The rest of the team hid behind the same rock and saw the colony too.  “Wow, wow,” said Wubbzy, “look at those ants.”

“It looks like we really did shrink,” said Kaytlin.

“Actually Kaytlin, we’re still our normal size,” said Hathi, “this is a realm where bugs and other insects are about your size.”

“Hathi and I did some research on this realm and we’re gonna call it the Bug Realm,” said Kyle.

“The Bug Realm,” asked Rex, “ah, that makes a lot of sense.  We can make friends with these ants.”

“Let’s not rush in so quickly yet Rex,” said Kyle, “these ants might not know who we are, and we don’t want to scare them.”

“Compared to other insects, I wouldn’t consider ants a brave bunch,” said Cassidy.

Back with the ants, they were oblivious to the squad observing them.  As the line of ants marched to the stone, one ant spotted a shadow moving across the ground.  He looked up and gasped.  A leaf was falling from the overhead tree.  “Oh no, oh no, oh no,” he whimpered before the leaf landed right in front of him, separating him from the line in front of him, “I’M LOST!  Where’s the line?”

The ants behind him stopped and saw the leaf themselves.  They started panicking too.  “It just went away!”

“WHAT DO WE DO?!”

“HELP!”

“We’ll be stuck here forever.”

But as the ants stood where they were, one ant, Mr. Soil, approached them and said, “do not panic.  Do not panic.  We are trained professionals.  Now stay calm.  We are going around the leaf.”

“A-around the leaf,” asked one of the ants, “I-I don’t think we can do that.”

“Oh nonsense,” said Mr. Soil, “this is nothing compared to the twig of 93.”

Mr. Soil gestured for the line of nervous ants to come towards him.  “That’s it, that’s it.  Good,” said Mr. Soil as he guided the ants around the leaf, “you’re doing great.  There you go!  There you go!  Watch my eyes!  Don’t look away.  And here’s the line again.”

The ants walked across the leaf and resumed their march towards the food stone upon seeing their path unblocked.  “Thank you,” said one of the ants, “thank you Mr. Soil.”

“Good job everybody,” said a proud Mr. Soil.

Alongside Mr. Soil was another ant, Dr. Flora, the medic of the colony.  “Oh my, there’s quite a gap Mr. Soil.  Shouldn’t we tell the
queen?”

“I don’t think we need to involve the queen in this,” said Mr. Soil, “she’s got enough on her plate already: training her daughter.”

“Oh yes, Princess Atta,” said Dr. Flora, “the poor dear.”

“Those ants panicked over one leaf getting in their way,” asked Widget.

“They must be a strict and efficient species,” said Rudy, “just like how Rafiki described the meerkats in the Pride Lands.”

“One mistake, and they’re left disoriented,” added Kaytlin.

“Oh come on guys,” said Kimmy, “it was just a leaf and they got around it and are back on track.”

“But they did leave quite a gap in their line,” said Woog.

Near the food stone, some ants shaded the queen of the colony and her daughter Princess Atta from the bright sun.  While the Queen was calm and petting her pet aphid Aphie, Atta was pacing nervously back and forth.  “Oh, winds died down,” she said nervously, “they’ll be here soon.”

“Just be confident dear,” said her mother, “you’ll be fine.”

Suddenly, Atta spotted the gap in the line and freaked out once more.  “AH!  There’s a gap.  THERE’S A GAP IN THE LINE,” she cried, “WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO?!”

“It’s ok Your Highness,” said Thorny, an ant who was counting the food gathered on the stone with his clipboard, “gaps happen.  We just lost a few inches, that’s all.”

“Oh right,” said Atta who calmed down.

Atta nervous hovered above Thorny, trying to look at his clipboard and see how much was put on the stone.  “Your Highness, I can’t count when you hover like that,” said Thorny.

“Oh,” said Atta who quickly got back on the ground, “of course.  I’m sorry.  Go ahead.”

“Guys, go shade someone else for a while,” said the Queen to her servants, “ok Atta.  Now what do we do?”

“Uh…oh don’t tell me, I know it, I know it, what is it,” she asked herself.

“We relax.”

Atta chuckled nervously.  “Right.”

“Oh it’ll be fine.  It’s the same year after year.  They come, they eat, they leave.  That’s our lot in life.  It’s not a lot, but it’s our life,” said the Queen before turning to Aphie and putting her on the ground, “Isn’t that right Aphie?  Oh you’re such a cute little aphid.”

Suddenly, the ground underneath Aphie moved and burst apart.  Out came two young ants, who were trying to get away from someone.  “Ditch Dot!”

“Yeah, yeah!”

“HEY, COME BACK HERE,” shouted Dot, Atta’s younger sister as she tried catching up to the two.

Like Atta, Dot also had wings and tried getting airborne.  She managed to get off the ground, but wasn’t able to fly efficiently.  As she landed on the ground, the Queen scolded her.  “Dot!”

“Yes mother,” asked Dot who was guilty.

“What did I tell you about trying to fly?”

“Not until my wings grow in,” said Dot dryly.

“Right.”

“But Mom…”

“Dot, you’re a young queen ant and your wings are too little to be…” said Atta.

“I was talking to Mother,” complained Dot to Atta, “you’re not the Queen yet Atta.”

“Now Dot, be nice to your sister,” said Queen.

“It’s not my fault she’s so stressed out,” said Dot.

Atta groaned and said, “I know, I know.  I’m always acting like the sky is falling.”

“LOOK OUT,” shouted Mr. Soil.

Suddenly, before Atta could see what was going on, a stem came out of nowhere and landed right on Atta.  Mr. Soil, Dr. Flora, Thorny and Cornelius, Thorny’s elderly friend, approached Atta with concern.  “ATTA!  PRINCESS ATTA!”

“Whoa, where did that come from,” asked Ling.

“Looks like the world jinxed her, like how it jinxes me,” said Dennis.

“You might wanna think twice about that Dennis,” said Widget who pointed towards the grass forest, “look.”

Everyone looked and saw an arm-like mechanism gripping onto a grass blade.  Another mechanism started sawing the blade a few inches below the arm.  These were belonging to a strange, but operational invention that was being used by another ant.  The grass blade was sawed off the stem and the ant pulled the stem forward, collecting all the grain attached to it and putting it in a wagon attached to the machine.  With the grain stripped of grain, the ant pulled a switch and the stem was sent flying towards the clearing, unintentionally landing on Atta again.  “HEY,” shouted Dr. Flora, “STOP THAT!”

“What do you think you’re doing,” added Mr. Soil.

“You’re gonna kill somebody over here.”

The ant, seeing that his grass stem has been landing on Atta, quickly became worried himself and rushed to her aid.  “I’m sorry.  I’m sorry.”

Thorny, Cornelius and Mr. Soil saw him coming, but became annoyed, for they knew whom this guy was.  “Oh, it’s Flik,” complained Thorny.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, please forgive me, I’m sorry,” said Flik as he helped move the stem off Atta.

Atta coughed for air as Flik recognized that the stem landed on her.  “Princess Atta,” he exclaimed.

“Flik, what are you doing,” asked Atta who pulled herself together.

“Oh, oh this?  This is my new idea for harvesting grain.  No more picking individual cornels, so you can just cut down the entire stock,” said Flik as he showed Atta his invention, the harvester.

“Flik, we don’t have time for this,” said Atta who was annoyed.

“Exactly,” said Flik, “we never have time to collect food for ourselves, ‘cause we spend all summer harvesting for the offering, but my invention will speed up production.”

“Augh, another invention,” complained Atta.

“Yeah, and I’ve got something for you too,” said Flik as he started making another invention with a blade of grass.

“Flik…”

“Since you’re gonna be queen soon, you can use this to oversee production,” said Flik, who then took a tiny drop of water from Dr. Flora’s flower, “Dr. Flora, if I may.”

Thorny and Cornelius glared at Flik as he began introducing his new idea to Atta.  “What?”

“Oh very nice,” commented Atta nervously.

“Just an ordinary blade of grass and a bead of dew, right,” asked Flik.

“Flik, please…”

“Wrong.  It is in fact,” said Flik as he put the dew in the big end of the invention, “…A TELESCOPE!”

Dot and Queen chuckled at Flik’s behavior.  “It’s very clever Flik,” said Atta nervously.

“Hello Princess,” said Flik as he looked at Atta through the telescope, “my, aren’t you looking lovely this morning.  Not of course that you’d need a telescope to see that.”

Having had enough, Thorny took the telescope and tossed it aside before shouting at Flik.  “ALRIGHT, LISTEN!  Princess doesn’t have time for this.  You wanna help us build this thing?  Then get rid of that machine, get back in line, AND PICK GRAIN LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE!”

“Like everybody else,” added Cornelius.

“Please Flik, just go,” suggested Atta.

“I’m sorry, I was really just trying…” Flik tried negotiating before getting pointed towards the grass forest by Thorny and Cornelius
again, “…trying to help.”

Flik slowly headed towards the grass as everyone watched.  But while Atta, Mr. Soil, Thorny, Dr. Flora and Cornelius glared at Flik with disapproving eyes, Dot felt bad for Flik.  She looked at the telescope, which landed near her feet.  “Harvester,” commented Cornelius, “why, we harvested the same way since I was a pupa.”

Atta groaned as she and the others went back to their business.  As for Dot, she took the telescope and ran after Flik.  As for the squad, they also felt bad for Flik.  “Poor guy,” commented Chien Po, “he was only trying to help.  Then again, his efforts weren’t doing any good for the princess.”

“Yeah, considering she was getting rained on by oversized blades of grass,” added Donkey, “he oughta rethink his strategy.”

“I for one think those inventions of his were mighty handy,” said Widget, “what those ants said wasn’t so nice.”

“Yes, yes, yes,” added Walden, “he’s trying to be unique amongst them by gathering food in a different way.”

“Why do you think they’re gathering all this food anyway,” asked Rex.

“He said something about an offering,” said Daizy, “maybe it’s for another colony of ants coming to visit.”

“Hmm…well either way, he tried, but didn’t really get a good reception,” said Kyle.

“Maybe we should introduce ourselves and offer some good encouragement,” suggested Kimmy.

Back with Flik, he walked a distance from the clearing, but stopped when he heard Dot calling for him.  “HEY FLIK,” she called, “Flik wait up!”

“Oh…hello Princess,” said Flik quietly.

“You can call me Dot,” said Dot as she offered Flik his telescope, “here.  You forgot this.”

“Thanks, you can keep it.  I can make another one.”

“I like your invention,” said Dot.

“Really.  Well you’re the first,” said Flik, “I’m beginning to think nothing I make works.”

“This works,” said Dot as she looked through the telescope.

“Great,” said Flik dryly, “one success.  I’m never gonna make a difference.”

“Me neither,” said Dot, “I’m a royal ant, and I can’t even fly yet.  I’m too little.”

“Actually, being little isn’t such a bad thing,” said Wubbzy as he and the other squad members approached the two ants.

Flik and Dot noticed the team and were shocked.  Dot gasped and slowly backed away.  “Did we scare you,” asked Cassidy, “if we did, we didn’t mean to.  Sorry about that.”

“Uh…who are you,” asked Dot.

“You must be new around here,” said Flik.

“We are,” said Kyle, “my name is Kyle, and this is the FT Squad.  We come in peace.”

“We wanted to say that your inventions really are interesting,” said Cassidy, “I don’t care what those ants say but I…”

“No, it’s alright,” said Flik, “they may be right about me.  I’m Flik by the way and this is Princess Dot.”

“Hello,” said Dot as she approached the team.

“The name’s Rex,” said Rex, “nice to meet you.”

“I’m Woog,” said Woog.

“I’m Elsa,” said Elsa.

“Hey there, my name’s Dweeb,” said Dweeb.

“Colonel Hathi at your service,” said Hathi.

“And I’m Rudy, and these guys are Dennis, Cassidy, Kimmy, Kaytlin, Wubbzy, Daizy, Widget, Walden, Yao, Ling, Chien Po, and Donkey,” said Rudy.

“Wow…nice to meet you all,” said Dot.

“Right back at you girl,” said Donkey.

“So…what’re you doing here,” asked Dot.

“We are an exploration group that’s part of Future Time Travel, an organization dedicated to adventure,” said Walden.

“This is our first trip here, and we couldn’t help but notice that you guys were gathering food for some kind of offering,” said Yao.

“But we also noticed his invention, which he tried using to get more food with littler effort,” said Widget, “I think that’s a great invention.”

“Thanks,” said Flik, who was still down about what happened with Atta and the other ants, “looks like I’ve got some admirers.”

“Well…I wouldn’t say that,” said Dennis, “I’d say supporters of your inventions.”

Flik sighed and said, “I doubt I’ll get more at this rate.”

“You sure,” asked Cassidy, “we think you can succeed, like how we think Dot can fly.”

“I don’t know about that ma’am,” said Dot, “I can’t fly, and yet I’m a royal ant.  I’m not gonna fly if I’m too little.”

“Being little’s not such a bad thing,” said Flik.

“Yes it is,” said Dot.

“No it’s not.”

“Is too.”

“Is not.”

“Is too.”

“Is not.”

They kept this argument coming, but it was brief.  “Guys, cut it out,” said Kimmy, “Cassidy’s right.  Dot’s gonna fly, whether she’s little or not.”

Flik quickly thought for a moment before having an idea.  “A seed…I…I need a seed.”

Flik looked at the back of his invention and tried reaching for one of the grains.  But as he tried reaching, he spun himself around in circles.  Flik groaned with frustration as Kaytlin said, “you know, we can get it for you.”

“Actually, wait,” said Flik, not wanting to waste time, “here.”

Flik took a small rock and gave it to Dot.  “Pretend, pretend that that’s a seed.”

“It’s a rock.”

“Oh I know it’s a rock, I know, but let’s just pretend for a minute that it’s a seed.  We’ll use our imaginations,” said Flik.

“Ooh, imagination,” said Dennis, “I like that a lot.”

“So do I,” said Flik before turning to the tree, “now do you see our tree?  Everything that made that giant tree is already contained inside this tiny little seed.  All it needs is some time, a little bit of sunshine and rain and voila!”

Dot looked at the rock and was still confused.  “This rock will be a tree?”

“Seed to tree, you’ve gotta work with me, alright,” said Flik as he knelt down to Dot, “ok, you might not feel like you can do much now…well that’s just because, well you’re not a tree yet.  You just have to give yourself some time.  You’re still a seed.”

Dot, still not understanding said, “but it’s a rock.”

“I KNOW IT’S A ROCK,” shouted Flik, “DON’T YOU THINK I KNOW A ROCK WHEN I SEE A ROCK?  I’VE SPENT A LOT OF TIME AROUND ROCKS!”

Flik’s outburst made the squad laugh.  “You’re weird…but I like you,” said Dot as she took the telescope, “…and you guys too.”

“Aw, thank you Dot,” said Kyle, “I understand what Flik’s trying to say.”

“So do I,” said Cassidy, “I’ve been there before…and believe me, it wasn’t a pretty story.”

Suddenly, everyone heard a loud trumpet-like sound.  Flik and Dot recognized this sound and became worried.  “They’re here,” Flik gasped.

As for the other ants, they heard the sound and became worried as well.  On the tree, two ants were blowing into a trumpet made out of a snail shell.  Understanding what was going on, the ants began scurrying around in panic.  “THEY’RE HERE!”

“Who’s here Flik,” asked Elsa.

“Oh, you must be talking about the offering,” said Wubbzy who wasn’t worried.

“Maybe it’s another ant colony,” added Daizy.

“NO GUYS,” exclaimed Flik, “GET TO THE ANTHILL AND HIDE!  QUICK!”

“MOM, WHERE ARE YOU,” cried Dot as she ran to her mother.

Flik started following her, but his invention got stuck in a blade of grass, sending him flying backwards.  The squad was confused as to why the ants were suddenly all frightened.  They helped Flik get to his feet while the other ants ran in different directions, frantically panicking over the visitors.  “DOT,” called Queen, “DOT!”

“MOM,” cried Dot as she rushed through the panicking crowd of ants, “MOM!”

“Thank heavens,” said Queen as she hugged her daughter.

“Single file,” said Atta, trying to calm everyone down, “food to the offering stone.”

But Atta’s efforts were in vain.  Queen let out a whistle that stopped everyone.  “Ok everyone,” she instructed, “single file; food to the offering stone and into the anthill.  NOW LET’S GO!”

The ants followed the queen’s orders, put their food on the offering stone and rushed to the anthill in a single file line.  They got into the anthill and went down a spiral path leading underground.  Beneath the ground was a huge series of pathways and caverns.  This was like a secret lair for the ants and a place where they could hide in times of danger.  They rushed into the council chamber, and settled down.  Outside, Atta guided the remaining ants into the anthill.  “Come on, keep moving, keep moving,” she said before turning to the offering stone and seeing if there was anyone remaining outside, “ok…that’s everyone.”

Atta flew into the anthill to meet up with the rest of the colony, unaware that Flik was the only ant left outside.  “HEY,” he shouted, “HEY WAIT FOR ME!”

“Flik, what do we do,” asked Donkey, “what do we do?”

“Leave it to me guys,” said Flik, “get the food to the offering stone, then into the anthill.”

“Alright, good enough,” said Kyle, “let’s go.”

The squad started heading into the anthill while Flik rushed to the offering stone.  Unable to put the grains on the stone one by one, Flik detached his invention and dropped it on the stone, near the food leaf.  But the harvester, still running, slowly slid to the side of the stone and fell off.  One of the mechanisms burst out, hitting one of the tiny rocks holding up the stone.  This caused the stone to lose balance and come crashing down.  Flik heard the crash and turned around.  To his horror, the food was sliding down the stone and into the riverbed.  “AAH,” he screamed.

“Guys, the food’s sliding off the stone,” exclaimed Dweeb.

“STOP THAT FOOD,” shouted Kyle as he and the others rushed to stop the sliding food fall.  

“AAH,” cried Flik as he watched the food slide over the edge of the island, “NO!  NONONONONONO!  NO!”

“COME ON,” shouted Yao, “WE GOTTA HELP!”

They grabbed the stem of the leaf and tried pulling it back up.  But this wasn’t working well.  There was nothing to grab onto to stop themselves from sliding down as well.  “KEEP PULLING,” shouted Hathi, “WE CAN STOP IT FROM FALLING OVER THE EDGE!”

“TOO LATE,” cried Rudy as he watched the food slide off the island.

Every last bit of food slid off the leaf.  Everyone looked and saw the last piece of grain falling into a tiny part of the river that hadn’t dried up yet.  Flik and the squad stood completely shocked at what had become of all the ants’ hard work.  “Oops,” said Widget, “that wasn’t supposed to happen.”

“All that hard work and it disappears like an avalanche of…unexpectedness,” said Dennis.

“What are we gonna do now,” asked Wubbzy.

As everyone nervously looked down at the riverbed, Rex noticed something coming from the horizon.  After looking carefully, he said, “guys…we’ve got company.”

Flik looked himself and became even more horrified.  “Oh no,” he said nervously before frantically rushing towards the anthill, “PRINCESS ATTA!  PRINCESS ATTA!  PRINCESS ATTA!”

“FLIK, WAIT FOR US,” cried Cassidy as she and the others ran after Flik.

They all entered the anthill and rushed to the council chamber.  As they ran, they heard loud plane-like sounds approaching the island.  Several shadows approached the island as one figure, having noticed the squad run into the anthill, glared as the arriving visitors surrounded the island.