The Colony

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Plot
A colony of meat ants is threatened by an approaching colony of fire ants. The meat ants know that the fight will not be easy, because of the Fire Ants' poison, but if they relent the Fire Ants will be able to take over the whole Park (they are already a dominant species). However, an old Scout named Thatcher tells the protagonist, Ari, about a great Warrior, Aranen, who, according to legend, likewise hates the Fire Ants and will defend the Meat Ants if they were ever threatened. However, no one knows where Aranen lives, except for a mysterious set of instructions which Thatcher heard once from a Praying Mantis while on Scout duty:
 * ''Across the Streambed, travel north through the Jungle and over the great Black Flats, travel light to find the Great Desert. In the midst of this terrible waste, you will find Aranen, who dwells in the dust. Simply tell him that The Admiral sent you, and he will come to your aid."

Because Thatcher is so old, he cannot travel far anymore, so Ari takes it upon himself to find Aranen.

(Hint: The "Black Flats" is a parking lot, and the "Great Desert" is a sand pit. The "Jungle" simply refers to the dense grass and weeds that cover the ground in front of the parking lot.)

Story
At the bottom of a rocky streambed that ran through the middle of a nature preserve park, there was a colony of ants. The ants had lived in their anthill in the Streambed for longer than most of them could remember. It seemed a fairly safe place, for there were few other insects around and therefore no need to defend against other, hostile creatures (except of rare occasions, of course).

So the ants dwelled peacefully here, harvesting food from the plants on the side of the Streambed, diggin tunnels and looking after the Queen.

The Queen was very old, some speculated the oldest in the colony. She had lain at least a billion eggs by now, and she was wearing down slowly but surely. Her husband, the King, was rather young yet, because the Queen usually outlived those she married. At any rate, the two were still deciding who would succeed her as Queen. She had at least a billion children, and it would be quite a job deciding who would be the next Egglayer.

Now amongst the Workers, there was a young ant, who had just a few weeks ago finished his metamorphosis into an adult. As soon as this was done, Mr. A, the head of the Working Class, had set him about going across the Streambed to the Bank to gather grain from the plants that grew there. Needless to say, he wasn't too fond of this job, because the grains were huge and very heavy, and he wasn't exactly the srongest ant in the Colony. However, he did as he was told, for the survival of the Colony was vital to his own.

This ant was called "Number 1,595,678,900", because he was the one-billion, five hundred and ninety-fifth million, six hundred and seventy-eight thousand, nine hundredth ant to be hatched. This was not his real name, of course, but that was what Mr. A called him. His real name was Ari.