The ants; having now cleared the drop zone of drowning water, continue their march at warrior pace, covering ground in the yard you could no longer fathom. In a few minutes they reach one of the sand stacked entrances to their underground maze, joining their brethren by assuming positions that required more bodies. The group you were traveling with divide, some joining the guards that surrounded the ant hill, while others took to delivering crumbs down to the tunnels. Your trusty steed, was among the ants that stood watch. Positioning itself within the outskirts of the tall grass. It chittered and sensed around within the cover of the deep greens, searching for threats much like its fellow soldiers did close by. Thier radius expanded far and wide to protect their anthill, offering little opportunity for any predators to come sneaking by, however, one ant became distracted, sensing a source of food closeby its searchzone. The adolescent ant strode off, breaking rank in order to investigate while still carrying an unconcious rider on its back.
The ant rounded a small kickup of dirt most likely caused by Luna's gallavanting around the yard, and found itself approaching a cracked apart bird seed! Throwing caution to the wind, the ant hurried over and climbed onto the tough morsel, breaking a chunk off with its mandibles. It could feel the strange harmless creature on its back begin to slide as it carried on. It proved to be no bother. The ant of course, could hardly tell the weightless body was draped over its back and so long as it stayed out of the ant's way, there was really no need to harm it. So when the little creature finally fell from its back and yelped out painful "Oof", the ant simply left it alone.
The moment you woke, you immediately braced your tail bone against your knuckles. When your ride with the ant came to end, you had fallen ass first onto to rock hard surface of the seed before tumbling into the dirt. You knew your ass was going to be sporting a killer bruise for the next few days, but what concerned you now was the sight of the friendly ant that rescued you scavenging from a the corpse of a half eaten bird seed. The ant worked diligently, completely ignoring you despite you being directly within its line of sight. You smile up at it. In all your time here, you and the ants had come to set mutual boundaries. Since you amounted to little more than a couple mouthfuls, the ants never really bothered you, unless it was to pick the leftovers of a kill you needed two trips to completely clean the meat off of. And for their part, as long as stayed did it in moderation, every one of then payed you no mind when you followed their trail to do a little scavenging of your own on a corpse they claimed. Perhaps it was because you were a solitary hunter and perhaps it was because you were pint sized to them, but the ants treated you as if you were a stray dog. Which after a period of self-realization and humbling, you were kind of grateful for.
This ant in particular seemed to be on the younger side. You found it odd that it was out here by itself but you had seen it happen before. This enthusiastic rascal would probably be getting joined by his comrades in a few moments, so with a little more nursing rubs to your sore tailbone, you get up and start hacking away at the exposed interior of the seed, breaking slivers off to carry home in bundles. You had produced atleast three tied off bundles when you noticed the ant had stopped dead and was sniffing the air, its antennae poking and prodding its surroundings as a foreign scent alerted it to potential danger. You follow its lead and stand to attention, eyes peeled in every direction, eager to find out what had the ant so riled up. You step off the boulder sized piece of seed you had been working and place yourself in with the ant in a defensive line. At breakneck speed, a shape you hadnt recognized as a living being broke through the grass. It was just as towering and green as the foliage, and moved like a runaway mac truck despite its tall stature. This monster was a mantis.
The bane of any denizen of the yard was coming straight for you and your ant-ally. Its arms outstretched to snag one or both of you and drag you into its jaws. These bastards hardly made it easy on their prey. You remembered days when you would watch one of them catch a beetle, an ant, a bird, and slowly munch away with the poor creature spasming in its grasp. Obviously, one young ant and its so outmatched it might aswell be a complete invalid-buddy were not going to be defeating it.
The mantis lunged at you first, expecting an easy catch, but needless to say it didnt have much experience catching humans, so when you dived beneath its pincer towards its legs, the beast didnt know what to do but move on to the next target. As much as you wanted to book it out if here, your kinship (as one sided as it may be) with these ants made you hesitate. You looked on with concern when the ant raised its jaws and front legs trying to ward off the mantis, slowing its advance but not for long. Without thinking, you chuck your machete, aiming for the mantises proportionally smaller head and actually striking it! The blade lodged its pointed edge loosely into the mantises bulging left eye, rearing the monster's head forward where the ant resolutely latches on with its jaws and legs. The insects battle it out, causing a chaotic effect on their surroundings. Blades of grass were trampled, dirt rolled this way and that as they crashed and dragged themselves in a frenzied battle to the death. It wasnt long before the commotion attracted the ant's comrades, spilling out from the grass in waves and dogpiling their larger foe. The mantis loses a leg first, causing it to stumble enough for the horde to grab its arm and drag it to the ground to be finished off. The mantis was torn apart in short order. The ants bloodlusted demeanor switching back to the devoted workers you knew and loved. However, when the numbers settled and the mantis had been cleaned, you saw the ant from before struggling in the dirt where it landed. Its right mandible had been broken in half and its exoskeleton was dented and battered.
So when the brave little ant stood on its weakened legs and started in the direction of its comrades only to collapse, you quickly rushed over to see what you could do. Performing first-aid on insects wasn't in your skill set, and the damage on the poor thing looked extensive.
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