Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was the beginning of the evening in Wartwood. As the Sun lowered itself down across the horizon, the citizens of the small frog village had already begun to illuminate their home, in the way of turning the lightshrooms on within their houses and business establishments, as well as lighting the streets with lamps containing fireflies.

It was around that time that two, young frogs had returned from their first date on the outskirts of the village. Their date was not unlike what they usually do together when they were simply friends, such as trying to out-ambush each other and adventuring into the unknown for the thrill of it. The big difference was that they were going out as a highly-anticipated couple.

As they stopped in front of Felicia’s Tea Shoppe, Sprig Plantar and Ivy Sundew turned to each other to share how they feel about their hang-out before they split from there.

“Today’s been pretty fun, Sprig.” Ivy said.

“Yeah, I had a real blast hanging out with you, Ivy.” said the grinning Sprig.

“Ditto. Although, when you think about it, our date isn’t that too different from our usual thing back then. I mean, we still tried to ambush one another at our first meeting, explored the forest to find new and exciting stuff and fended off vicious wildlife together.” Ivy remarked.

“Yeah, you’re right.” Sprig nodded, having realized the lack of difference between their date and their friendly outings in the past. “But I guess today’s different, ‘cause… You know… We’re going out not as friends, but as an item. To me, that was even more fun.” He blushed.

The yellow frog smiled. However, compared to the smiles that she had shown throughout their date together, this one was strained. Furthermore, she had her gaze away from the pink frog, as if she was unsure how to approach a certain topic. “It was, huh…?”

“Ivy, I… I’m really glad that you asked me out the other day.” Sprig expressed his gratitude. “I mean, ever since the night Hop Pop and your mom tried to hook us up, I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I mean, you’re my first friend for, like, ever. The idea of us being a thing didn’t cross my mind before, and now that I thought about it, it’s like… I dunno, like, it’s meant to be? You know, like how Alastair and Constance had that going on with each other in Love Choice?”

Ivy nodded, as the uneasy feeling that she had before started to grow slowly as Sprig continued to speak to her.

“I mean, I know it sounds kinda cheesy, but that’s how I really feel.” Sprig continued, as his pink cheeks grew hotter by the second. “Ivy, I… I’m so glad that you gave me this chance. You can definitely count on me to give you as much love and respect as you deserve. I’ll be the best boyfriend that you’ll ever have.”

“Sprig, I…”

Guilt filled every fibre of her being. It was clear that the pink frog’s feelings for the young Sundew were strong, and his beliefs were very hopeful. And it pained her to do what she was about to do next.

“Sprig… You’re the bestest friend that a gal like me could ever ask for. Really. But…” Ivy frowned as she gazed down in shame. “But… I think we should stay friends.”

All hope that appeared on Sprig’s face instantly diminished, as he processed what Ivy just told him.

“… Huh? W-what do you mean?”

“I’m so sorry, Sprig…” Ivy apologized, unable to look at the pink frog in the eye after stating her desire. “I don’t think I’m ready for our bond to go up the next level. I feel like I’m more content with us staying friends as we are now.”

“You mean… You don’t want us to be boyfriend and girlfriend?” Sprig asked, as he could hardly believe what he just heard from her. His heart was slowly sinking from within.

Ivy reluctantly nodded.

“B-but what about our date? Doesn’t us going out mean that you and I are a thing? I mean, heck, you’re the one who asked me out!”

“I know, Sprig. I thought so too, at first.” she replied. “Believe me, Sprig, I really do want this to work, and me asking you out the other night was proof that that was what I wanted. But our date today… It was telling me a different story…”

“B-but… But…!” Sprig stuttered as he struggled to comprehend Ivy’s intent.

He thought that, having known her for a long time, he got Ivy figured out. Then suddenly, she threw a curve bugball at him that completely messed up everything he knew. In his head, all he could think was what went wrong between them during their first date.

“Did I do something wrong, Ivy?” he asked in desperation and distraught. “Did I insult you or something? Did I do something stupid that made you feel embarrassed? Whatever it is, I promise that I’ll make up for it! Please, Ivy!”

Ivy finally looked at her friend in the eye, and the sight of him broke her heart. Sprig looked like he had his heart shattered to pieces, as he was hyperventilating and his eyes were close to tearing up. No matter how much she wanted to be proven wrong about the whole thing, she knew that the puzzle piece just would not fit, and attempting to do so would go against everything that they believe in.

“Sprig, please listen.” Ivy pleaded. “The problem ain’t you. It’s…”

“Ivy! About time that you got back home safely!” A new voice was heard just as the front entrance of the tea shop was swung open. The two young frogs turned their attention to the entrance to see Ivy’s mother standing there, as she was expecting her daughter to return from their date.

“Now come on back inside, sweetie. It’s gonna be dark out soon. And I just finished making you supper.” said Felicia.

“C-coming, mom!” Ivy shouted out to her mother.

With a nod, Felicia retreated back inside of their house, leaving the door open for her daughter to walk in.

The young Sundew turned her attention back to her distraught pink friend whose expression and behaviour hadn’t change. Ivy was rendered unable to do anything to ease Sprig’s pain. Reluctantly, she turned away from him as she began to march back home. “I’m sorry, Sprig… I’ll talk to you later…”

Sprig could only watch as his supposed soulmate walked back inside of her home. He tried to stop her by reaching his hand out to her, but it was in vain, as she entered the tea shop without looking back at him and closed the door.

The young Plantar was left standing in front of the Sundew household. He stood there for half a minute until he felt everything crashing down on him like a huge wave.

His tears soon fell freely from his eyes, as he turned his heel and sprinted away from the tea shop.

BAM!

It was not even a second before he suddenly collided into someone in his haste. Both he and that person fell on their backs. In the case of the latter, though, the collision also made them toss numerous of flasks that they had in their possession up in the air.

Sprig recovered and wiped his tears off with his forearm. When his vision cleared up, he recognized that the person that he bumped into was his friend and ex-fiancee.

“Maddie?”

“Urgh…” Maddie Flour groaned as she rubbed her back that took the blunt of the fall. After nursing the back injury, she realized what she just did and quickly searched her surroundings for her flasks.

When she found her flasks, she saw that they were still in the air and were falling towards the unsuspecting pink frog. “Sprig! Look out!”

Her warnings came too late, as each and every flask hit the poor frog in a splash of different colours. The blue frog had her head turned away and her arms up to shield herself from the splash of various liquid concoctions. When the sounds of flasks breaking stopped, she lowered her arms down and opened an eye up to see the results of the accident.

The poor boy was soaked head to toe in various fluids that all formed into a mix-match of different colours that are painful to look with the naked eye. Sprig looked down at himself and saw how pathetic he looked, which soured his mood even further.

“Oh frog… Sprig, I’m really sorry about this.” Maddie apologized as she quickly stood up and dusted the dirt off her tunic, before she had her hand search for something within her possession to fix the problem on their hands. “Don’t move. I’m going to try and nullify the potions’ effect before it happens.”

“I-I’m fine! I-I’m just gonna w-walk it off!” Sprig choked, as he stood up from the ground himself and attempted to wipe the liquid substance off of him. The last thing that he needed was to stay there, seconds away from his disastrous breakdown.

“Sprig, if we leave this alone for even a second, who knows what might happen to you.” Maddie explained as she managed to pull out a small pouch containing some sort of powdered antidote against the accidental concoction. She approached the boy as she was about the sprinkle the powder on him. “Just hold still until I-“

“I SAID I’M FINE!” Sprig yelled as he slapped the pouch out of Maddie’s hand, as it dispersed itself across the ground.

Maddie immediately reeled her hand back in shock. Sprig realized what he just did and, unable to contain his sadness any longer, hoped away from the blue frog and the household of his supposed love. “I’m sorry, Maddie!”

“Sprig, wait!” Maddie tried to stop the fleeing pink frog, but her cries fell on death ears, as he continued to hop towards the direction of his home.

The blue frog was left confused. Not only was she worried about the unintended effect of the potions, it was the first time that she ever saw her friend looking outright miserable. From what she knew about him, he was always a very cheerful frog who managed to cater the favour of almost everyone in Wartwood. It would take a lot to make him sad, which was why it came as a shock to her that he behaved very poorly around her.

She turned her head towards the tea shop where she encountered him and could only take a shot in the dark as to what might have occurred there.

“Did something happen between him and Ivy…?”

It was incredibly dark outside when Sprig stopped hastily hopping and saw that the Plantar house was within sight. He bent down to try to catch his breath, after realizing that he had not stopped fleeing since he left the main square.

His tears had gone dry and the potions that were splashed on him back there had either dried up or flew off of him during his sprint. Either way, it still remained that he was a mess and his sadness had yet to be shed off of him.

Staring at his illuminated house from a distance, he dreaded having to speak to his Hop Pop and his sister, Polly, about how his date went. The last thing that he needed was his grandfather lecturing him about a failed relationship and Polly teasing him about how much he screwed up. He considered hopping up to his bedroom window to avoid the confrontation, though it would only delay the inevitable.

With a sigh, he was about to march towards his house, when he noticed something from the corner of his eyes. Turning his attention towards a lone light source located at the ruin remains of a small, stoned wall, he found a familiar, long-limbed creature with brown, bush-liked hair sitting against the stoned wall with a candle lighting her surroundings.

“Anne…”

The young frog was surprised that his human best friend was already at their favourite spot where they usually read books together or looked at the evening stars. Usually, if either one of them decided to go there, they would both go together. He wondered if there was a reason why she was there in the first place.

He then thought that, if he was ever willing to talk to someone about how terrible of a day that he was having, it would be with her. Better than having to suffer in embarrassment with Hop Pop or Polly.

After weighing his options, he decided to join his human friend at their resting spot.

“Hey, Anne…” The boy said as he climbed over the wall before sitting next to her.

“Oh, hey, Sprig. What’s up?” Anne Boonchuy greeted him with a smile, somewhat surprised that her frog best friend came to join her. She stashed away a picture that she was holding in her hand in the pocket of her skirt.

She was taken aback by Sprig’s messy appearance and noticed that he looked depressed. “Whoa, dude! What happened?”

Sprig sighed, as he looked down at the ground. “Well, a lot of stuff happened tonight…”

“Oh yeah? Like what?”

“Um… It’s kinda hard to talk about it, actually…”

“That bad, huh? I mean, I was expecting you to be having a time of your life, since you were going on your first date with Ivy.” Anne said, wondering what happened that could have soured his day in the end. Then, she gasped in horror, as it dawned on her about the cause of her friend’s misfortune, based on what she just said.

“No! Please don’t tell me that your date went horribly!”

“No, actually, our date went pretty great.” Sprig replied. “Ivy and I had a lot of fun trying to outdo each other in the ambush department. We explored the forest and found some cool stuff, and we fought against monsters as an awesome couple.”

“But if your date was awesome, why do you look so down in the dumps?” Anne asked.

Sprig shut his eyes closed, not wanting to tear up again in front of his best friend. “I… At the end of our date, Ivy told me that… that she wants us to stay friends…”

Anne gasped as she covered her mouth with both of her hands in a shocked manner. “Seriously? After everything you guys have been through, she decided to call it quits just like that?”

Sprig nodded, turning his head away from her slightly.

“I can’t believe it… She sank the Sprivy ship herself before it had time to shine…” Anne mumbled to herself, unable to comprehend how her highly anticipated pairing could fail despite the signs of its success being made apparent to her.

She turned her attention back to Sprig after hearing him sadly sniffed, his face turned away from her so that she would not see that he was close to crying.

“Oh Sprig… I’m so sorry, dude…” Anne apologized, feeling sad for him for not being able to hook up with Ivy like they wanted to.

“I-it’s not your fault, Anne…” Sprig said. “I’m the one who decided to make a move on her in the first place. It’s just that… I-I don’t get it! She and I were awesome together! I feel that things could really, really work between us! So why did she say all of that to me? What went wrong during our date?”

Anne watched as Sprig mentally beat himself up over what happened between him and Ivy. She searched in her head for ways that she could use to remedy the situation, to revitalize the Sprivy ship. But nothing came into mind, and she felt helpless.

“Anne…” Sprig finally turned his head back towards Thai-American human, giving her a full view of his overwhelmingly miserable expression on his face. “Did I… Did I do something wrong…?”

Unable to sit still any longer, she leaned forward and enveloped her frog friend in a strong, comforting hug. Sprig reciprocated it, burying his face against her shoulder as he quietly broke down.

“Sprig… I dunno what made her say that things wouldn’t work between you two, but one thing is for sure, you didn’t do anything wrong, buddy…” Anne reassured him, rubbing his back gently as she let him sob all over her shoulder.

“You’re an awesome friend, Sprig. It’s not that hard to believe. I mean, everybody in Wartwood love you for who you are… Well, except Mrs. Croaker, but I think she’s just hiding the fact that she’s taking a shine to you. Not even she’s immune to your cute and fun Sprig magic, whether she likes it or not.” Anne joked.

She felt a little bit of relief when Sprig chuckled through his tears.

“The point is that it’ll take a lot for you to mess up and make people hate you, Sprig. Sure, you might cause problems here and there, but you can never make a serious enough problem that people will think twice about befriending you. I know that it sucks that Ivy only wants to be friends with you, but she would never hate you, no matter what you do.”

“Anne…” Sprig pulled his face away from her shoulder to look at her, as couple of tears escaped from his eyes. Her words started to take an effect on him, as his heart felt a bit lighter. “Y-you really think so?” he sniffed.

“Totally!” Anne smiled. “And if you want a big enough proof as to you being awesome, the fact that I’m sitting here with you at our favourite spot outside of the house is more than enough.”

For the first time since the start of the evening, Sprig smiled. Anne was glad that she was able to get through to him and shake off his bummed state. She continued to express her appreciation of him regardless.

“I’m really glad that you’re my first friend since I’ve been to Amphibia. You really helped me a lot when things were looking bleak for me. Especially during…”

The memory of the incident at Toad Tower flashed in her mind. For a brief moment, Anne felt regret before she brushed it off in favour of supporting Sprig.

“I can tell you a hundred percent that you’ll never do anything wrong to make us hate you. You’re amazing in every way you are, Sprig.”

With that, Anne was able to dispel any worries that the pink frog had about himself. He wiped away the remaining tears that he had on his face and flashed a huge smile at his human friend. “Thanks, Anne. I think I feel better now.”

“Good to know.” Anne nodded. “Don’t worry about Ivy, dude. If you ask me, I think she’s missing out. If your chance with her isn’t happening because she isn’t interested, then you’re better off with someone else.”

“Yeah, maybe…”

“I mean, you can even try your luck with Maddie again, so long as you’re willing to sacrifice a hair or something.” Anne joked.

“Hah… Funny you should mention her, Anne.” Sprig chuckled nervously, as he thought back at his brief encounter with the frog witch. “I might have bumped into her and accidentally made her spill some stuff on me.”

“Really? Does that explain why you looked like you took a swim in a rainbow mud or something?”

“Yep.” Sprig nodded. “But don’t worry. Most of the stuff were gone by the time I got here. I just need to take a really nice bath and I’ll be good as news.”

“You sure, dude?” Anne asked worryingly. “We both know what Maddie’s deal is. What if the stuff that she spilled on you were super dangerous potions? Like a potion that makes your eyes pop out of their sockets? Or one that melts your skin? Or one that makes you grow hair all over your body?”

“Wouldn’t be the first time with that last one, but eh, I doubt that.” Sprig shrugged, as he motioned his hand in a manner of showing off his body. “I mean, look at me! I’m still the most lovable, cute-looking frog in the whole, wide world!”

“Hmm… I guess so.” Anne relented after she observed Sprig’s appearance closely and saw that nothing seemed amiss, besides all the dirt that he had on him.

“But anyway,” Sprig stood up from the ground, as he patted himself off. “Thanks for cheering me up, Anne. I think I really needed it.”

“Anytime, dude.” she replied.

“I sure hope that I get to return the favour, someday. If there’s anything that gets you down, I’ll be here to help you deal with it together. Okay, Anne?”

Anne averted her gaze slightly, as she thought about the implications behind his statement. It had gone unnoticed by the frog. “Yeah… I appreciate it, buddy.”

Sprig extended his hand out to her. “Spranne against the world?”

“Spranne against the world.”

The two proceeded to perform a special handshake that was shared between them.

A slap on one hand of each person. Another slap on the other. And finally, they intertwined each other’s hand in front of them as they drummed their fingers against each other before sliding away.

“Well, I’m gonna go back inside.” Sprig said. “Wanna come with, Anne?”

“It’s okay, Sprig.” Anne declined his offer. “I’ll just stay here for just a bit longer.”

“Okay, whatever you say. Don’t stay out for too long. Or keep the candle lit. Remember the giant fireflies?”

“Don’t worry, dude. I got it.” Anne waved off the obvious perils of the night with a confident smile.

“Okay! See ya back inside!”

With that, Sprig began to walk back to the house on his own, trusting Anne enough to take care of herself in spite of the danger that may lurk during the night time. After about 10 seconds of walking, he stopped and turned back to look at his friend one more time.

Anne had been watching him leave to make sure that nothing bad happens to him, and when he threw a glance at her, she simply waved her hand at him to reassure him that everything was fine on her side.

He returned her wave with his own and continued his march towards the house.

Sprig was right to confine his troubles with Anne. He always believed that she would be the one to get him out of his funk in one way or another. Maybe that was one of the perks of being a human from another world, being able to empathize with people easily? Or maybe Anne was naturally good at listening to people and offering them aid?

Regardless of her skills, Sprig was truly glad that she was his friend. And he would not exchange it for anything else in the world.

Once he was at close proximity of the house, he noticed that his body was getting sore. Actually, it started to feel sore when he left Anne at their usual spot. He figured that he must have overextended his body during his sprint back there, thought it led to him wondering why it affected not just his legs, but his whole body. Maybe there was some products in their possession that could help treat it.

At the same time, as soon as she made sure that Sprig arrived home safely, the brown-haired girl shifted her focus back at what was plaguing her mind for the past few weeks, as her gentle smile was replaced with a frown filled with regret.

She pulled out a picture that she put away when Sprig came a short while ago and looked down upon it.

It was a polaroid picture of herself and her two best friends, Sasha Waybright and Marcy Wu, taken during their first day in school back on Earth. The letters ‘BFFS!!’ were written in pink marker next to a scribbled heart on the white border underneath the picture.

She set her sights on Sasha in the picture, and the haunting memories of Toad Tower came rushing back. Scenes of her fight against her former best friend kept playing over and over in her head, repeating after Sasha almost fell to her death despite Anne’s best efforts to save her.

Sprig said that he was willing to help her out whenever she feels down. But this was one problem that neither him nor her would be able to solve no matter what they do. Especially when she felt that everything that occurred back there might be her own fault.

“Oh Sasha…” she whispered, gripping the picture tightly in her hand. “What should I’ve done differently…?”

When Sprig opened his eyes and analyzed his surroundings, he found himself floating in the night sky, surrounded by bright stars. Looking down, there wasn’t any ground anywhere in sight Or perhaps there was, only that it was so far below him that it looked minuscule to him as a result.

At first, the young frog was content on just floating there, watching the stars around him glimmer endlessly in the night, each of them lighting up in tandem with the other as if they were making a rhythm.

Then, he was caught by surprise by four stars shooting past him from behind. Each shooting star was leaving a trail of a different colour.

Blue. Green. Red. And Yellow.

Sprig decided to chase after the shooting stars by flying across the sky, the ability of flight coming natural to him.

Despite the distance between him and the shooting stars being the same no matter how fast he flew, the chase gave him the opportunity to enjoy the sights of the stationary stars as he flew past them, giving him the impression that he was on a highway in space.

Just when he thought the chase would become endless and monotonous, one of the shooting stars leaving a yellow trail suddenly shifted course down below. Like a kid attracted by a shiny object, Sprig dove down to chase after the falling star.

The more he followed it, the more he could see the ground below them. He noticed that the ground was dispersed into small lands that floated in the void. Some of the lands held a few houses whose appearances and structures reminded him of Wartwood.

The falling star reached one of the lands, as it bounced off the earth in the process. Once Sprig reached the land himself, he launched his tongue out and was able to catch the shimmering star in his hold.

“Gotcha!” he exclaimed, as he pulled his tongue back and took hold of the star in his hands. He felt proud of himself for managing to accomplish what he believed to be a difficult task. But just when he was about to examine the star closely, it suddenly turned into shiny, yellow dust that fell apart in his hands. “Oh come on!”

He sighed, as all of his efforts had gone down the drain. He was about to fly back up in the sky to start his chase over again, when he noticed what was on the land that he was standing on.

He found himself standing in front of what looked to be the Plantars’ House. But it looked different in a variety of ways. Namely, it was much smaller and only had a single floor. The stones that made up the walls looked like they were assembled very recently, due to the lack of moss that covered some areas of the wall, and the wooden roof seemed to be freshly carved.

Despite how different the house looked compared to what he remembered what it usually looked like, he felt a sense of familiarity radiating from it. But it also came with a foreboding feeling.

His curiosity got the best of him and he slowly walked towards the small house, stopping at the front door. He looked down at the doorknob and was debating on whether he should proceed forward or just fly away.

And yet, something about the place was pulling him in. Like it was calling to him.

His hand grasped the doorknob. He slowly turned it. And he opened the front door, as the light from inside engulfed the young frog.

“NOOOOOOO!!!”

Sprig was awoken from his dream by the horrified scream of his human friend coming from the basement.

“Anne?!”

Fearing that Anne might be in grave danger, he quickly got out of his hammock bed and hopped his way outside of his bedroom.

Only for his head to somehow hit the top of the doorframe in the process.

“Oww!” he groaned as he crouched down and massaged his injured forehead. That was the first time that he accidentally hit the doorframe, though it might be because he was moving in a hurry.

Brushing off the pain, he continued to move swiftly to his friend’s aid, foregoing the stairs in favour of hopping over the rails to reach the ground floor.

The floor shook when he landed.

He ran towards the basement bulkhead located in the living room and pulled it wide open. He peered through the entrance for any sign of danger that may lurk inside, but his brief glance showed him no such thing. Anne’s bedroom looked completely fine. Nothing seemed to be tampered with. No monster was made apparent.

The only alarming sight was Anne, sitting up from her bed and visibly crying on her hands.

“Anne!” he shouted, as he attempted to climb down the stairs, only for him to miss a step which caused him to tumble down the staircase and crashed flat on his back with a noticeable thud. “Ouch…!”

“Sprig?!” Anne exclaimed, surprised to hear his voice which signalled his sudden appearance. She quickly wiped away the tears from her eyes and attempted to recompose herself before looking at a vague, shadowy silhouette of her frog friend in the darkness of her room. “W-what’re you doing here?”

“I heard you scream!” Sprig replied as he stood up from the floor, rubbing the injury on the back of his head. “Are you in trouble?!”

“N-no, no! It’s nothing, Sprig!” Anne said as she waved both of her hands to show that she was okay. “I… I just had a nightmare. That’s all.”

“A nightmare?” Sprig approached the bed, still worried about the Thai-American girl’s alarmed state from a second ago. “If that’s the case, then it must’ve been a really horrifying one.”

“Y-yeah… It was…”

Sprig sat down on the corner of her bed, on the opposite end of where she was sitting. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

Anne stared at him for a moment, her eyes red from crying. The young frog waited for her to respond, and what he got was a reassured smile and a shake of the head. “It’s fine, buddy. It’s just a stupid nightmare.”

“Are you sure?” he asked, unconvinced. “Remember what I said earlier? If there’s anything that gets you down, I’m always here to help you out. You sure you don’t wanna talk about it?”

Anne shifted her gaze away from him for a moment, as if she was contemplating on whether or not she should talk to him. When she looked back to him, she reassured him once again with a smile. “I really appreciate it, Sprig.” she said. “But like I said. It’s just a stupid nightmare anyway. No reason why we should waste our time talking about it.”

“Well… Okay.” Sprig was still unconvinced, but this time, he will take her by her words. It did not stop him from wondering what the nightmare was all about, and why Anne was looking incredibly miserable as the result.

“But thanks anyway, dude.” Anne said, as she rubbed her eyes when they started to sting for a bit. “You coming for my help when you thought that I was in trouble really cheered me up…”

Sprig blushed slightly at her compliment. “Hehe… Anything for my best friend, Anne.”

After she rubbed off the sting in her eyes, she looked at the shadow silhouette of her friend once more.

Then she blinked a couple of times, as her face adopted a perplexed look.

“… Sprig?”

“Yeah?”

“Is… Is that really you?”

“Uh, yeah? Why wouldn’t I be me?”

“Um, well… It’s just that you look… taller?”

“Uh… You lost me there, Anne. What do you mean?”

Anne proceeded to turn and reach for the lightshroom next to her bed. When she turned it on and shifted herself back towards Sprig, she immediately gasped in shock. “Holy…!”

“What? What is it, Anne?” Sprig asked, alarmed by her shocked reaction.

“Sprig! You… You’re…!” Anne had trouble finding the words, causing the young frog to be even more confused.

When no more words seemed to leave from her mouth, Anne quickly grabbed her smartphone next to her, turned it on, tapped and swiped on the screen a few times, before turning the phone around to show him the screen.

“Huh? What am I supposed to look at?” Sprig asked, as he took a look at the screen of her phone.

The screen showed a picture of a person. The person looked really similar to Anne, with the only difference being that their skin was lighter and they have short, orange hair. Sprig assumed that the person was someone that Anne knew from back in her world.

… Only to notice that the person in the picture was moving. And they were mirroring Sprig’s movements.

“Anne, who is…?” He was about to ask her about the mysterious person, only for the cogs in his brain to start turning, and realization was slowly sinking in.

He looked down on his hands and saw that they were completely different from usual. Namely, he has five fingers on each hand instead of four. His fingers are no longer webbed. And his skin are not pink, but beige.

He looked down at himself, then back to the phone screen. He came to a horrifying realization.

Giant head. Spindly limbs. Head bumps.

The person on the screen was him.

Sprig became a human.

“AAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!”

Chapter Text

“Where am I…?”

That was the first question that Anne asked herself after she was awoken to the sight of complete darkness as far as the eyes could see, surrounded by fog.

The last thing that she remembered was that she was returning home after having stayed out for some time, contemplating about the events that occurred in the past. The next thing that she knew, she was standing inside of a dark void, in the middle of frog knows where, with not even a shred of light to be seen.

“Sprig?! Hop Pop?! Polly?!” she tried calling out to her adopted family, to see if they were nearby. She received no reply after a few seconds. “Anyone here?! Hello!” she tried calling out anybody else, but the result was the same.

Anne concluded that she was alone in the darkness.

Seeing as standing around and doing nothing would not help her in the slightest, and it would most likely invite danger to herself, she decided move forward, in hopes of finding a way out of the darkness.

But as soon as she took the first step forward, the floor underneath her suddenly glowed in a bright, ominous light that engulfed the young girl entirely, nearly blinding her if she did not shut her eyes closed and shielded her face with her hands.

When the light seemed to have subsided, Anne slowly opened her eyes, and she gasped at what she saw next.

She suddenly found herself standing on top of tall, stone tower with large horns located on both sides. A red flag with what resembled a toad’s face imprinted on it was raised on a tall pole on one corner of the floor. It was night time, but the sky had a red hue due to the red moon being full and large.

“This is… Toad Tower?” Anne recognized the place. It was the very last place that she ever wanted to be at.

Looking down at herself, she was shocked that a chest armour and a left shoulder pad was currently on her person, as well a sword being held in her hand. She was certain that she never had any of those a moment ago.

“What’s going on…?”

Before she had time to ponder on the mystery, she heard a battle cry coming from behind. She quickly turned around and was met with the sight of another human girl with blond hair tied into a ponytail, lunging forward to strike Anne with her crimson sword.

“Sasha?!”

Her shock at seeing her former best friend alive and well did not last long, as her survival instincts forced her to intercept Sasha’s sword with her own, resulting in the two blades clashing against one another.

“Sasha, wait!” Anne exclaimed as she struggled to maintain her guard against the blond girl.

“What’s the matter, Anne? Afraid of fighting back?!” Sasha yelled as she pulled her sword back and swung it once more at Anne who blocked the attack.

“Stop, Sasha!” Anne shouted as she pushed Sasha off of her, actively seeking a peaceful resolution between them. “I don’t want to fight you!”

Sasha seemingly ignored her plea as she launched a series of sword slash from every possible angle. Anne was barely able to block every single one of them, scared of moving onto the offensive out of concern for her friend’s safety.

“If you want me to stop,” Sasha said as the two girls entered another sword struggle. “Then you know what to do. Be the good little obedient girl that you really are and listen to the one gal who’s always sticking up for you whenever you’re in a jam, starting by dropping your sword down for me.”

The two girls jumped back a good distance from each other. Sasha was determined to keep on fighting, as evident when she still maintained her fighting stance. Anne, on the other hand, simply wanted to stop fighting her dear friend, and was considering her proposal. 

The brown-haired girl slowly lowered her sword down.

“There you go! Now that’s more like it!” Sasha congratulated her, as she flashed a satisfied smile. “See, Anne? I knew you care too much about me to keep fighting.”

“I… I don’t want to hurt you…” Anne stated her reason, as she shut her eyes closed and averted her face slightly to the side. “You’re my best friend… I never, ever want us to fight each other again…"

“Oh Anne… You’re always so considerate for others. Especially me.”

Anne listened as Sasha presumably approached her, according to the sound of her footsteps getting closer and closer. She winced as she felt a hand cupping her chin, as her head was being turned slightly so it was facing her friend once more.

As Anne slowly opened her eyes again to look at the blond girl, she was presented with a smile that should have been familiar and reassuring, but was in reality sinister and sadistic.

“In fact, you’re so considerate that you’re willing to sacrifice an old frog for my sake.”

“What…?”

“Lieutenant!” A new, gruff voice was heard, causing Anne to turn her head towards the source of the voice.

Standing on the pointed end of one of the stone horns was a large, fierce-looking toad with a scarred right eye, grinning menacingly as he held an orange, elderly frog by the collar and had him dangled over the abyss down below.

“I believe it’s time for us to end this, don’t you think?!” Captain Grime shouted.

“Help me, Anne!” screamed the old frog.

“Hop Pop?!” Anne was shocked that she never noticed that Hop Pop was there with them all along and his life was in grave danger. When she shifted her gaze back at Sasha, the latter was still staring at her with a wicked smile on her face that never seemed to go away.

“Just stay put while I go over there and kill Hopediah right in front of your very eyes.” Sasha told her. “And then we can be BFFs again. Just like you wanted, Anne…” 

Her declaration triggered something within Anne.

“NO!” Anne screamed as she threw a surprised slash at Sasha.

SLASH!

“ARGH!” Sasha yelped in pain as she stumbled back until she was at the edge of the tower, holding her cheek where the Thai-American girl managed to cut across.

Anne gasped in horror, realizing what she had done. “Oh my gosh! Sasha!” She immediately dropped her sword. “I… I didn’t mean to-!”

BOOM!

Suddenly, the entire tower shook violently, as an explosion had occurred from the inside. Parts of the floor started to crumble as the result of the quake.

Anne struggled to keep a steady hold of the ground as everything vibrated underneath her. When she gazed over to where Sasha was, still standing on the edge of the tower and grasping on her injured cheek, the floor under her feet started to crack.

“Sasha!” Anne quickly rushed towards her friend, just as the floor collapsed.

She dove forward and slid across the floor to reach Sasha, barely managing to catch her hand before she dropped down into the foggy abyss below.

“Hold on, Sasha!” Anne yelled as she tried to pull Sasha up with as much strength as she could possible muster, determined to save her this time around. “Just hold on!”

“… Don’t bother, Anne…” 

Anne gazed down at Sasha and was met with the sight of her staring up at Anne with a sad look on her face, her right cheek bleeding from the wound created by the Thai-American girl.

“You’ve already made your choice…” Sasha said. “You saved an old man that you barely knew. And in exchange… You killed me…”

Sasha let go of her hand.

“SASHA!!!” Anne cried out for her, as Sasha was falling down freely towards the deep void below, disappearing into the ominous fog.

She was in the state of complete shock, her hand still reaching out for her fallen friend. Some time passed and she slowly sat up on the floor, looking at her hand that failed to rescue a dear friend once again.

“I… This isn’t supposed to be like this…!” Anne choked as she wrapped her arms around herself, her body trembling due to the intense emotion bubbling within her. “I… All I wanted was to…! Why, Sasha…?!” She closed her eyes shut as she breathed sharply, on the verge of crying for the fallen blond girl.

“… Anne?”

Anne was taken out of her shocked state when she heard a very familiar voice. Turning herself around, her eyes encountered the sight of another young girl with short, black hair equipped with a green hair clip who wasn’t supposed to be there at all, standing on the opposite end of the tower with a terrified look on her face.

“Marcy?!” Anne shouted as she quickly rose up from the floor. “H-how did you get here?!”

“Anne… What have you done?” Marcy asked, as she slowly backed away in fear.

“Marcy…?” Anne was confused as to why the Taiwanese girl was behaving strangely. it only took her a second to realize that Marcy might have watched her fight against Sasha, up to the point where the latter fell to her death. “Wait, no! Marcy, this isn’t what it looks like!”

“Sasha was our friend...” Marcy said, never stopping her slow, backwards pacing towards the edge. “She was always here for us… Always taking care of us… How could you have hurt her, Anne? Why didn’t you save her?”

“I didn’t want to hurt her at all!” Anne explained. “I tried to save her, but she… She…!”

As Anne stumbled on her words in a vain attempt to explain her case to the black-haired girl, she noticed that Marcy was moving too close to the edge, just one step away from falling off the tower.

“Marcy, look out behind you!” she yelled as she ran towards Marcy in an attempt to save her from dropping to her doom.

Only to notice that, no matter how fast she ran, no matter how hard she tried, she could not seem to close the gap between them.

“You’ve changed, Anne…” Marcy said as tears fell from her eyes. “You couldn’t save Sasha… And you can’t save me…”

Anne watched helplessly, as the Taiwanese girl took another step back, resulting in her falling back and joining their friend down below.

“NOOOOOOO!!!”

Anne screamed as she thrusted her arm forward in a desperate attempt to reach Marcy.

Only to notice that the scenery around her had changed.

She found herself staring up at the ceiling with her back resting on a soft mattress and her hand reaching out for nobody in particular. Unsure of where she was currently, she began to look at her surroundings.

She spotted a set of stairs leading up to a wooden hatch separating the living room from the basement. Next to the stairs was a furnace. Underneath the stairs was a barrel resting sideways on a wooden rack. A couple of pipes were placed along the walls and ceiling of the room, alongside some tree roots.

She was back inside of her room.

She slowly sat up from the bed and lowered her hand down. She stared at her shaking hand that failed to save her best friends from their doom in her nightmare, scenes of how it transpired replaying on loop in her head over and over.

“You’ve already made your choice… You saved an old man that you barely knew. And in exchange… You killed me…”

“You’ve changed, Anne… You couldn’t save Sasha… And you can’t save me…”

Tears fell on her blankets. She did not noticed until now that she was crying.

“Sasha… Marcy…” Anne placed her hands over her face, as she cried in her lonesome.

“Anne!” Her crying state was cut short when she heard the voice of her frog friend suddenly calling out to her, followed by the sounds of him tumbling down the staircase and crashing flat on the ground with an audible thud. “Ouch…!”

“Sprig?!” she exclaimed, not expecting him to show up around this time of the night. Though she suspected that it was because she woke up screaming, which anyone would wake up to, especially when the walls of the house are surprisingly thin.

She quickly wiped away the tears from her eyes and attempted to recompose herself before turning her gaze towards a vague, shadowy silhouette of Sprig in the darkness of her room.

“W-what’re you doing here?”

“I heard you scream!” Sprig replied as he stood up from the floor, rubbing the injury on the back of his head. “Are you in trouble?!”

“N-no, no! It’s nothing, Sprig!” Anne said as she waved both of her hands to show that she was okay. “I… I just had a nightmare. That’s all.”

“A nightmare?” Sprig approached the bed, apparently still worried. “If that’s the case, then it must’ve been a really horrifying one.”

“Y-yeah… It was…” She felt really bad for startling her friend awake like that. She could not help it, however, as the subject of her nightmare really was horrifying, just as he said.

Sprig sat down on the corner of her bed, on the opposite end of where she was sitting. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

Anne stared at him for a moment, her eyes red from crying.

Should she tell him about what she had experienced in her nightmare? About how she dreamt about that one dreadful night at Toad Tower, where everyone in Wartwood was basically taken hostage because Hop Pop was mistakenly believed to be a revolutionist against toads? Where Sprig and Hop Pop almost lost their lives if she didn’t step in and confront Sasha and the toad army?

She doubt that Sprig would want to hear about that again. No one in Wartwood would, anyway.

She tried her best to give him a convincing, reassuring smile, as she shook her head. “It’s fine, buddy. It’s just a stupid nightmare.”

“Are you sure?” he asked, sounding unconvinced. “Remember what I said earlier? If there’s anything that gets you down, I’m always here to help you out. You sure you don’t wanna talk about it?”

Anne shifted her gaze away from him for a moment. She felt guilty. Sprig really wanted to help her out during her time of need, because that was what being a friend was supposed to be, in the truest definition of the term.

But no matter how much she wanted to accept his offer, talking about her issues would only complicate things and he would not understand them. Especially since she was crying for Sasha, the same person who almost got Hop Pop executed and almost killed Sprig for standing up for Anne.

She looked back to him and attempted to reassure him once again with a smile. “I really appreciate it, Sprig.” she said. “But like I said. It’s just a stupid nightmare anyway. No reason why we should waste our time talking about it.”

“Well… Okay.” Sprig still sounded unconvinced, but it looked like he was going to leave it alone this time.

Perhaps one day, when things settle down for a bit and the night at Toad Tower becomes somewhat of a distant memory, she could come back to him about it. It was the least that she could do for turning down his help this time.

Regardless, the fact that Sprig came to her aid and tried his hardest to help her by having her talk about her worries made her happy. She thought back to when he stood up for her at Toad Tower, looking resolute as he claimed to know more about her being a friend than Sasha by listing a few aspects that makes her great. If that was what being best friends was supposed to be, then she was glad to have him as her best friend.

“But thanks anyway, dude.” Anne said, as she rubbed her eyes when they started to sting for a bit. “You coming for my help when you thought that I was in trouble really cheered me up…”

“Hehe… Anything for my best friend, Anne.” Sprig chuckled.

After she rubbed off the sting in her eyes, she looked at the shadow silhouette of her friend once more.

It was then that she noticed that something seemed different about Sprig. Namely, the shape of his silhouette did not correspond to how she remembered his body looking like basically.

“… Sprig?”

“Yeah?”

“Is… Is that really you?”

“Uh, yeah? Why wouldn’t I be me?”

“Um, well… It’s just that you look… taller?“

“Uh… You lost me there, Anne. What do you mean?”

In order to confirm her suspicions, Anne proceeded to turn around and reach for the lightshroom next to her bed. When she turned it on and shifted herself back towards Sprig, she gasped in shock. “Holy…!”

“What? What is it, Anne?” Sprig asked.

“Sprig! You… You’re…!”

Anne was startled that, once the lightshroom shined upon them and the room around them, the appearance of her friend was completely different than normal.

The person sitting on the corner of her bed was not a small, young pink frog, but a tall, full-fledged human with light skin, as well as short, messy, orange hair with bangs hanging down on one side of his face.

If she was being hasty in her conclusion, she would believe that the person in front of her was not Sprig, if it weren’t for two things:

1. As far as she knew, only three humans, being her, Sasha and Marcy, are supposed to be in Amphibia.

2. The human was wearing Sprig’s clothes, which looked way too small for his tall body.

Words failed to escape from her mouth, preventing her from properly explaining to Sprig. After a few seconds of her failing to speak out, she decided to go for the next best thing to explain.

She grabbed her smartphone next to her, turned it on, tapped and swiped on the screen a few times until she activated the camera app with the camera flipped so that it was looking at her, and finally turned the phone around to show him the screen.

“Huh? What am I supposed to look at?” Sprig asked, as he took a look at the screen of her phone.

Anne stared intently at Sprig for some kind of reaction from him. For the first few seconds, Sprig was looking confused, but didn’t seemed alarmed.

“Anne, who is…?”

Then, his eyes began to widen, as it seemed that realization was starting to sink in. He looked down on his hands for a moment, then he looked down on his own body, then back at the phone screen.

His expression changed into horror, as he fully realized what he was looking at.

“AAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!”

As Sprig screamed in absolute horror, an alarmed, elderly, orange frog showed up at the top of the stairs. “Kids! What the heck is going on down there?!” A worried Hop Pop exclaimed.

“Hop Pop?!” Sprig was startled by his grandfather’s sudden appearance. It only fuelled his horror as the thought of Hop Pop being freakout by his terrifying look came into mind. He jumped out of Anne’s bed, as he swiftly moved to the corner of the room and got into a fetal position, while desperately trying to hide himself. “No! Don’t look at me, Hop Pop! Don’t look at meeeee!”

Then a pink tadpole with a yellow bow on her head hopped into scene, joining their grandpa by his side before letting out a disgruntled groan as she lifted her sleep mask that revealed her very annoyed and tired face. “Urgh… Alright, which one of you had the brilliant idea of screaming like a maniac in the middle of the night?! Some of us are trying to sleep up here!” Polly yelled.

As Polly glared down at her suspected culprits in the basement, her attention was shifted towards the person that she never saw before, crouching at the corner of the room.

Her tiredness was replaced by a sense of alarm. “INTRUDER!!!” she shouted as she suddenly pulled out a rolling pin from out of nowhere before jumping at the strange creature and bashing the pin against him.

“Ow! Ow! Polly, stop!” Sprig yelped out in pain, as he tried to shield himself against his sister’s assault with his arms.

“What are you?! Who sent you?! Why are you in a girl’s room?! Tell me everything and I’ll beat you up until you see stars!”

“Oww! Don’t you mean ‘tell me everything OR I’ll beat you up’?!”

“I know what I said!”

Polly continued her relentless attack on her unfamiliar brother until she was grabbed by Anne who pulled her off of him. “Cut it out, Polly! That’s your bro right here!” Anne said.

“Wait, come again?” Hop Pop raised a confused eyebrow at what Anne said, as he climbed down to the bottom of the stairs.

“Anne, what’re you talking about?!” Polly asked as she stopped flailing her pin around to look at the brown-haired human with a facial expression that showed disbelief. “Sprig doesn’t look anything like this guy!” She pointed the rolling pin at him. “My brother is obviously a frog, and this one is… I dunno what he is! Kinda looks like you, now that I look at him close enough!”

“Look, I know it sounds crazy, but I really think that this guy is Sprig.” Anne explained, as she looked over the orange-haired human, more than certain that he is her best friend. “I don’t know how, but… He got turned into a human being.”

“A human being? Like what you are, Anne?” Hop Pop asked Anne.

She nodded in confirmation.

The elderly frog looked over the horrified human boy who moved himself closer to the corner in response. He slowly approached him in order to take a closer look, trying to find out for himself if what Anne said about him being his grandson is true.

“Sprig?”

“Y… Yeah, Hop Pop…” Sprig replied, his face hidden by his hands.

“Is it really you?”

Sprig nodded his head as he whimpered.

“Move your hands down, boy. I want to see your face for a bit.”

Sprig hesitated, unsure if he wanted to show his grandfather his horrifying face. But eventually, he did what Hop Pop told him and slowly lowered his hands, revealing his human-like face, face bump and all.

Hop Pop examined his grandson’s face closely, trying to spot anything that might show that he is what he said he is. Everything about the boy was completely different, so a regular person would assume that he is a different person. But one deep look in Sprig’s eyes told the elderly frog everything that he needed to know.

“Hmm… You certainly have gone through a lot of big changes, boy.” Hop Pop said. “But I can definitely say for certain that you’re my grandson.”

“Y-you really think so?” Sprig asked.

“Of course.” Hop Pop smiled.

“B-but I’m not a cute, adorable pink frog anymore! I-I’m a monster! An ugly, ugly, ugly monster!”

Anne felt offended by Sprig’s description of his transformed self.

“True, true.” Hop Pop agreed. “But I wouldn’t call myself your grandpa if I didn’t recognize my own grandchildren beyond just their looks, right?”

His grandfather’s comment gave the former frog boy a small amount of relief, as he managed to smile.

“Well, I ain’t buying it!” Polly exclaimed. “He’s definitely not Sprig! You can’t just say that’s him just by looking at him, Hop Pop! That goes for you too, Anne!”

“Well, why don’t you find out for yourself, Polly?” Hop Pop asked his granddaughter.

“Okay, fine! If that’s what it takes to prove all of you wrong!” Polly nudged herself out of Anne’s hold as she hopped towards the human stranger. “Ok, you weirdo! Do something that only the real Sprig can do!” she threatened him as she tapped her rolling pin against her hand in rhythm.

“Um…” Sprig searched through his head of the many ways that he could do to convince his young sister that it is really him. After a few seconds of mind-searching, he settled for one thing.

He cleared his throat for a bit and spoke in a completely different voice, sounding identical to Polly. “Hi! I’m Polly, the little pink and cute tadpole who’s gonna beat the snot outta you if you even look at me funny!”

“Oh my frog, you really are Sprig.” Polly said in a deadpanned tone, completely convinced.

“Well, now that we’ve solved this piece of the mystery,” Hop Pop turned his attention back at his now-human grandson. “What in the world happened to you, Sprig?”

“I-I don’t know!” said the panicked Sprig as he looked down at his human hands again. “I-I think I just woke up like this! I didn’t know that I got turned into a human until Anne pointed it out to me!”

“Do you know anything about this, Anne?” Hop Pop asked Anne.

Anne shook her head. “He showed up in my room looking like this already, Hop Pop. I don’t know much more than he does.”

“I’m really freaking out here, guys!” Sprig shouted. “How could I have been transformed from my small, lovable frog body into a tall, hideous human one overnight?! I just don’t get it!”

“Sprig…” Anne glared at Sprig as he unknowingly offended her kind once more.

Polly shrugged. “I dunno. Sounds to me that you just got cursed. Again.”

Sprig gasped. “That’s it, Polly! That’s gotta be the only explanation!”

“Now hold on there, Sprig.” Hop Pop said. “I took a good look at you and, unfortunately, there’s nothing on you that indicates that you’ve been cursed. Sure, your whole body has completely changed, but you lack the obvious signs of a curse.”

“B-but if it’s not a curse, then what is it, then?!”

“While it may not have been a curse, I’m fairly certain that magic is involved, at the very least. The only question is, what kind of magic is it?”

At the mention of magic being involved, Anne gasped, as she remembered what happened to Sprig earlier. “Sprig! Remember what you told me a few hours ago? How you got Maddie’s potions spilled all over you?”

“Maddie’s potions?” it took Sprig a few seconds before he too remembered what happened to him back at the main square. All of the sudden, everything clicked inside of his head. “Oh, you’re right! That explains everything!”

“Wait, what is it about Maddie’s potions?” Hop Pop asked, feeling that he was out of loop from what happened between Anne and Sprig.

“Well, the thing is, last night, I accidentally bumped into Maddie while she was carrying a lot of potions, and she ended up spilling all of them all over me. I dunno what kind of potions those are, but that’s the only explanation that we could think of that might explain why I don’t look like my usual cute self.”

“Well, if you’re absolutely certain that Maddie is at least involved in this, then I’ll have to take your word for it, boy.”

“Alright! Now that we got a good idea, we’ll need Maddie’s help! Let’s go, Anne!” Determined to fix his human magic problem, Sprig was about to leave to find the local witch frog, starting by hopping over his grandfather to make his way towards the wooden door leading to the outside.

However, since he was not accustomed to his taller form yet, his legs ended up bumping Hop Pop along the way, and thus the both of them fell down on the floor together. “Ouch…! Sorry, Hop Pop!” Sprig apologized, as he quickly stood up from the floor and helped his grandfather up in the process.

“Now wait just a moment, Sprig.” Hop Pop said, stopping his grandson from leaving. “I know how important it is for you to return back to normal, but in case that you’ve forgotten, it’s still the middle of the night here. People are still sleeping around this time.”

“Especially me…” Polly said, as she slammed her rolling pin on her hand once more to make it clear how frustrated she was to be woken up like that.

“B-but Hop Pop, I-“

“Calm down and think this through, Sprig.” Hop Pop instructed. “You think it’s a good idea for you go out in the middle of the night and have everyone see you as you are now? Remember what happened to Anne the first time that she came to Wartwood?”

“Ohh… Now that you mention it…”

“Yeah, that’s pretty dumb what you’re trying to do, Sprig.” Polly said, not missing her chance on dissing her brother. “Especially since we just dealt with Sasha and the toad army, and none of us want to go through that again.”

Anne winced at the mention of Sasha and the incident at Toad Tower, as she turned her head away from the family. Sprig and Hop Pop were the only people who noticed her reaction, Sprig especially.

After considering his situation and Hop Pop’s warning, Sprig decided that his grandfather was speaking sense about his predicament, even though he was feeling impatient to resolve it. “You’re right, Hop Pop… Now that I think about it, I don’t want people to find out that I’m no longer the cute frog that everybody loves anymore. This is as bad as people freaking out about me turned into this…”

Hop Pop nodded. “I’m glad to hear it. Now, don’t you worry about going out and risk having people see you like this. You can always wait inside the house while I send a letter to Maddie explaining your situation so that she can come to us herself. It’ll be the first thing that I’ll do in the morning.”

“Okay, Hop Pop…”

Polly yawned. “We’re done here, right? Good. Then let me get my beauty sleep already!” she exclaimed as she began to jump up the stairs, step by step, intending to go back to sleep. “If I stay up for another minute, I’ma lose it! Seriously! So don’t you dare, alright?!”

“Polly’s got a point. We all still need a bit more sleep.” Hop Pop said before he yawned in his turn. “We’ll settle this matter in the morning as soon as possible, Sprig. Get some shuteye until then.”

Sprig sighed. “Yeah, you’re right… Good night, Hop Pop. Sorry for waking you up like this.” he said as he waved his grandfather goodnight, as the latter started to climb up the stairs.

“Good night, Sprig.” Hop Pop returned his wave with his own. He then turned his attention at Anne, who still had her forlorn gaze averted from the family for a good while. “Good night to you too, Anne.”

That brought Anne back to reality, as she looked at Hop Pop and realized that he was leaving, with Polly already gone to sleep, presumably. “Oh… Good night, Hop Pop.”

With a nod, the orange, elderly frog climbed back up the living room, leaving the wooden hatch open for Sprig to leave in his turn.

Sprig once again let out a sigh, as he looked down at his new human body once more, disgusted at the idea that he would have to stay like this until later in the morning. “This really sucks…”

“Hey, it’s gonna be okay.” Anne tried to reassure her best friend with a smile. “Maddie’s gonna solve everything in the morning. You just have to wait a few hours more.”

“Yeah, I guess…” Sprig said. Although his predicament could be resolved in the morning, he could not help but think about the worst possible scenario. “But… But what if Maddie can’t fix my problem? What if I’m stuck like this forever?!”

“Come on, dude. Let’s not think like that. Maddie is an expert when it comes to magic, right? She’ll definitely turn you back to normal, no problem.”

“I mean, even if she can fix this, what if it’ll take a long time before I turn back into a normal frog?”

“Well… I guess when the time comes, you’ll have to stick with me, another human in Wartwood.” She approached the human Sprig and gave him a friendly slap on the back. “It’ll be fine, dude. I’ll vouch for you, if anybody looks at you funny.”

Sprig smiled at Anne’s attempt at alleviating his worries. “I guess… Thanks, Anne. I know I can count on you.”

“Anytime, dude. Now let’s go back to sleep, alright?”

“Sure, Anne.” Sprig nodded as he stretched his back, although he felt weirded out by how his human back felt as the result. “See you in the morning.”

“Right back at ya.” Anne replied as she sat back down on her bed, watching her best friend climb up on the stairs.

Sprig stopped midway through his climb, as if something came into mind. The Thai-American human raised an eyebrow as she wondered why the former frog boy paused in the middle of his climb.

“You… You sure you don’t wanna talk?” Sprig asked as he turned his head back towards his friend. “About, you know… Anything?”

Anne knew what Sprig was trying to do. Still unwilling to divulge her own worries to him, she simply shook her head. “Nah, it’s fine. Just get some sleep already, buddy.”

“Well… Okay. Good night then.” Sprig smiled at her as he resumed his climb up the stairs.

As soon as he turned his head from Anne, his smile turned into a frown.

He felt useless. It was really clear that a certain event involving a dear friend of hers was bothering Anne a lot, which would explain why he heard her wake up screaming and why he found her crying on her bed. But no matter how much he tried to help her out with her problems, she always declined his help, pretending that everything is fine. While the whole time, she was helping out with his problems instead. It felt unfair, but trying to force the issue would do them no good either.

He wondered if it was because she was human that she didn’t want to accept any help with her issues. If that was the case, then humans must be complicated to understand.

Speaking of which, he had a more pressing issue at hand: Turning himself from a human being back to his precious frog form.

“Well… One thing at a time, I suppose…” Sprig sighed, as he was about to climb the stairs leading to the second floor, where his room was located, trying very careful not to miss his step due to his taller form.

Until Maddie arrives to turn him back to normal, he had hoped that everything would go smoothly and that he would not encounter any more problems.

He then stretched his arms back to shrug off the stress on his bones.

RIIIIIIP!

He widened his eyes in shock, as he realized what caused that ripping sound.

“… This really, really sucks…”

Chapter Text

“Please… Come to our farm… As soon as possible… Signed, Hopadiah Plantar…” Hop Pop read out loud as he wrote, finishing his letter with his distinguishable signature on the bottom corner of the page. “That about does it.”

When the elderly Planter woke up to the first sight of the rising Sun in the morning, his first course of action was to write a letter to the witch frog addressing his grandson’s predicament, just as he said that he intended to do to his family earlier. Usually, he would make breakfast for his grandchildren to start off the day, especially when they have work at the vegetable stand. But Sprig’s woes were more urgent, hence why Hop Pop decided that it was best to write the letter first so that they can deal with it sooner than later.

He put aside his plume pen and stretched his back to shake off any remaining rust that he had on his bones from his slumber, then at the sight of a butterfly flying past the window of his room, he looked up to the sky while still seated at his desk. The beautiful green sky was mostly clear, occupied by small clouds that were few and far between, as well as a group of dragonflies soaring through as part of their daily routine.

One of the dragonflies was noticeably carrying a frog who had been abducted from the main plaza for almost three months, as far as Hop Pop knew. One has to wonder if that poor frog was ever going to be freed from the dragonfly’s clutches… Not that anyone would bother to help, for some reason. Not even his supposed beloved.

After a bit of sightseeing from within the comfort of his own room, he inserted the letter inside of an envelop, sealed it with a stamp, got up from his desk and left the bedroom with the letter in his possession, making his way to the front door.

“It’s a good thing that I finished writing the letter this early in the morning, so Sprig wouldn’t have to wait that long.” Hop Pop said to nobody in particular. “But if my memory serves me correctly, little Maddie might be busy helping her father open up the bakery around this time. So she might not come until sometime later. Well, better to send this letter now.”

He reached the front door as he placed his hand on the handle, right after he unlocked it. “Now to call in the mosquito messenger.” He then opened the door, and upon doing so…

“AAAAAHHH!!!” He screamed and jumped at the sight of a creepy creature.

“Hi, Mr. Plantar.” greeted Maddie, standing right in front of the entrance.

“Oh, hi, Maddie. Didn’t expect to see you here.” Hop Pop returned the greeting with smile, instantly recovered from his freakout upon realizing who it is. “My apologies for screaming my lungs out right in your face.”

“It’s fine, Mr. Plantar, sir.” Maddie reassured him, having gotten used to people freaking out at the sight of her, especially when she shows up out of nowhere.

“You know, you tend to show up where we least expect it. Have you been using some kind of teleportation magic, perhaps?” Hop Pop asked.

“Don’t be silly, sir.” Maddie replied. “… That’s a spell reserved only to Level 3 witches and above.”

As the two frogs began to talk to each other, a human girl emerged out of the basement, looking like she had gotten little sleep since a few hours ago. “Mm… Hey, Hop Pop.” Anne yawned as she rubbed off the dust that accumulated in the corner of her eyes. “What’s with all the screaming?”

When she gazed at Hop Pop at the entrance of the house, she was taken by surprise by the appearance of a familiar blue frog standing at the door. “Whoa, Maddie? Is that you?” Anne asked as she quickly joined the two frogs.

“Good morning, Anne.” Maddie said with a wave. “You didn’t get much sleep last night, did you?”

“Uh… How do you figure?”

“Because you’re wearing the same look as I do after a long night of practicing the dark arts, well into the dawn of the day. Last night is no different.” Maddie replied.

“Oh really?” Anne scratched the back of her head as she tried to look for some signs of tiredness from the witch frog. “But… You don’t look tired.”

“A result of a spell that I casted on myself to keep myself awake.” Maddie replied. “It’ll last for at least three days, by the way.”

“Starting to question how healthy this is. Then again, it’s the dark arts, so…”

“Sorry if I cut this chitchat short, girls.” Hop Pop cut in, as he attempted to steer the conversation towards what matters currently. “But we have some urgent matter that needs attending to. In fact, it’s good that you’re here already, Maddie, because we could really use your help here.”

“I think I already know what it is that you need help with.” Maddie said. “It’s why I came here this early in the morning in the first place.”

“Oh cool!” Anne exclaimed. “So that means you know that Sprig got turned into a human being!”

The witch frog raised a confused eyebrow. “Wait… A human being?”

“Yeah, like me! Isn’t that why you’re here? To turn him back to normal?”

Maddie lowered her head and placed a hand on her chin, as she began to process what Anne told her about what happened to the young boy. “That’s strange… In theory, he’s supposed to transform into a mess of an abomination. If you said that he’s been turned into a human being like you, then…”

She could only spare a few seconds to contemplate the information before deciding that it was best to deal with it first hand. “Do you mind if I go see Sprig right now? I want to see what he looks like myself.”

“Certainly. Follow me, Maddie.” Hop Pop obliged, as he was about to lead the older Flour child up the stairs where his grandson was located.

As the three of them turned towards the stairs, they were met with the sight of a small, pink tadpole jumping down the steps, looking like she had woken up some time ago already. “Morning, family! What’s happening down here?” Polly shouted, looking more energized than the last time that she was awake. “Oh hey, Maddie.”

“Hi, Polly.” Maddie waved at the pink tadpole.

“Good morning, Polly.” Hop Pop greeted his granddaughter. “Say, do you know if Sprig is awake right now? Maddie here wants to see what’s been going on with him.”

“Oh yeah, he’s up.” Polly replied. “… Sorta.”

“What do you mean?” Anne asked.

“I mean, I took a look at his room a minute ago, and yeesh! It’s like a jungle in there. Like Sprig was wrestling with himself and sent a bunch of stuff flying across the room, ripped clothes and all. It’s kinda funny, in a sad way.”

“Oh, that doesn’t sound good.” Hop Pop said, worried about Sprig’s state of being based on what Polly told them. “Let’s go check up on him quickly, then.”

The group of four people quickly made their way up the stairs and towards Sprig’s room.  As they stood in front of the door with the tapped sign that says ‘Sprig’s room’, Anne was the first person to step in and opened the door slowly.

“Hey, Sprig, buddy?” asked the worried human. “Are you okay in heeeeeooooh wow, you’re not kidding about this, Polly.”

Once the door was fully opened, the group were presented with the sight of a completely untidy mess that is Sprig’s bedroom. Well, more untidy than usual, that is.

Numerous of clothes were scattered across the room, each of them having varied amount of tears in the fabric ranging from small tears to big ones that completely destroyed them. Some of the objects that were hanging from the ceiling fell on the floor, as if someone had thrown something at them, which resulted in the rope keeping them suspended in the air to give out. Even Sprig’s precious action figures that he had displayed on the shelves over his bed had fallen off, joining the rest of the jumbled mess on the floor.

A person was found laying flat on the floor with blankets covering his entire body and a large cloth sprawling underneath him. It used to be the hammock bed, but the hooks keeping it up were unable to support his weight, which resulted in the hammock becoming no more than a large, unraveled rug on the floor

Anne quickly went to where Sprig was and got down on her knees next to him, carefully pulling the blankets down to reveal his now-human head, which was still something that she had trouble getting used to.

Sprig squinted as a ray of light hit him through his closed eyes, which only soured his already foul mood. He slowly opened his eyes and tirelessly turned his head towards his best friend.

“Hey, dude.” Anne spoke to him softly. “You, uh… You doing alright?”

“Ngh… Not really…” Sprig groaned.

“Mind telling me what happened here?”

“Urgh… It all started when I got back up to my room…” Sprig began to explain. “My clothes started to rip, which sucks a lot, because they were my favourite. I tried going through the rest of my clothes, but one by one, they all got teared apart because they didn’t fit me anymore. Then I tried to sleep it off, but, well… You see what happened to my bed, right? Then I got frustrated and just threw a bunch of stuff on the wall and before I know it, it’s morning already. So, you know…”

“Jeez. Sorry, Sprig. That really sucks…” Anne said, feeling sorry for her best friend having a terrible experience during his first few hours of being a transformed human that is different in shape and weight from his usual frog self. “But hey! You don’t have to worry about it anymore! ‘Cause guess who’s here to see you~?”

“Huh?” At first, Sprig had no idea what Anne was talking about. But once he looked at who’s behind her, besides his grandfather and sister, there was another person standing  at the doorway, wearing a black tunic and her hair covering her right eye.

He perked up when he realized who it was. “Oh my frog! Maddie!” he shouted as he sat up from the floor, his blankets falling off from his upper body. Just as he was about to stand up next…

“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!” A blushing Anne stopped him.

“Huh? What is it, Anne?” The confused boy asked.

“Uh… W-when you said that all of your clothes got ripped, does that mean…?” Anne had trouble finishing what she wanted to ask Sprig, as she looked up and down at his body partial covered by the blankets. “A-are you wearing something under there?”

“Um, no.” Sprig replied. “Why?”

Her blush deepened, as she instantly stood up from the floor. “You know what? Let me get you my spare clothes! Pretty sure that they’re gonna fit you perfectly! Just stay right here and don’t move, okay? Seriously!” She quickly said as she made her way out of the room, slipping past the three Amphibians standing at the doorway. “‘Kay, be right back!”

Sprig watched the Thai-American girl fleeing the scene quickly in confusion. He could only wonder why she asked him if he was wearing clothes and why she told him to not move from his spot. Hop Pop, Polly and Maddie shared the same feeling as him.

The frog-turned-human boy let out a loud yawn, the strength of it causing him to close his eyes. It was very evident that he did not get any sleep at all after the revelation of his transformation. “Mm… This is seriously the worst…” he groaned.

When he opened his eyes, he nearly jumped out of the covers when Maddie suddenly showed up on her knees next to him. The witch frog stared intently at the uncomfortable boy, as if to study his new appearance. She then grabbed hold of his head, turned it around to one side for one moment, then shifted it to the other side. Next, she picked up one of his arms that were laying besides him and leaned her face closer, as she analyzed every inch of the skin, down to the pores.

“Incredible…” she said as she let go of his arm, having her curiosity satisfied for the time being. “It’s just like Anne said. You somehow got turned into a human being like her.”

“It’s horrible, isn’t it?” Sprig frowned. “I’m not a cute and cuddly pink frog that everyone loves anymore. Now I’m just an ugly human being with absolutely no endearing qualities. Even Hop Pop and Polly are disgusted by me…”

“Uh, Anne’s been living with us for almost three months, remember?” Polly reminded her overreacting brother. “At least stop acting like such a cry baby. That’s usually my role in the family, except for the crying part.”

“Easy for you to say, Polly…” Sprig bemoaned, as he seemed to the only one of the family to be distraught over his sudden change. Then suddenly, Maddie plucked a bit of his orange hair from his head. “Ow! What was that for?” he asked as he rubbed his head.

“Sorry. I need a sample from you that might help me concoct some kind of cure for your situation.” Maddie explained.

“So does that mean you can turn me back to normal?”

“I said ‘it might’. I don’t know for sure if there is a way to turn you back to normal, unless I consult my spell book.”

“Oh please, Maddie! I beg of you!” Sprig desperately pleaded as he brought his hands together and shook them in front of the witch frog. “I can’t live like this! I don’t wanna be stuck as horrible, horrible monster who walks around and scares people away! Being human sucks!”

“Hop Pop,” Polly started to speak to their grandfather. “You think Anne is gonna be mad that he keeps dissing her species each and every second?”

“Oh, absolutely.” Hop Pop replied. “Here’s hoping that he realizes this before it’s too late.”

“Calm down, Sprig.” Maddie attempted to alleviate the poor boy. “This is exactly why I’m here. To find a way to turn you back to normal after what happened last night. But to do that, I’ll need to go back to my house and search through my books for some answer. I’ll need you to come with me for this one.”

“W-wait, you mean you want me out of the house?! Out in public with everyone in Wartwood?!” Sprig asked. He received a nod from the blue frog, which caused him to panic even more. “No! I can’t go out there! I don’t want people to see me like this!”

“You’re gonna have to.” she said. “I need you with me so I can compare your changes to what is written in the books. It’ll be much faster than just taking a shot in the dark.”

“You don’t understand, Maddie! I have a reputation to keep out there! I can’t afford to let my cute image go south in everyone’s minds!”

Sprig let out a frustrated groan as he furiously scratched his head with both hands, unable to comprehend how everything led to this. “Dang it, Maddie! This is your fault, you know!” He glared at the witch frog. “If you hadn’t splashed me with your stupid, magic potions, none of this would have happened! I’d still be me, Sprig Plantar the cute frog of Wartwood!”

“In case that you’ve forgotten, I spilled my potions on you because you crashed into me without looking!” Maddie shouted as she glared back. “If you had been in your right mind back there, then for sure, none of this would’ve ever happened! So don’t you shift the blame on me, you stuck-up idiot!”

Sprig was taken aback by Maddie’s sudden outburst at him, which was a first for him. He then took a second to process what she said and realized that she was right. If he hadn’t reacted poorly to Ivy’s decision for the two of them to stay friends, then he would not have bumped into Maddie in his haste, which led to his human transformation overnight. Maddie being there at all was just a complete coincidence. It was outside of either of their control.

“Maddie, I… I’m sorry.” He apologized as he looked down in shame.

Maddie’s expression softened, as if she realized that her exploding at him was inappropriate. “No, I’m the one who should be sorry.” she said. “I shouldn’t be mad at you for behaving the way you did last night. Especially not after what happened between you and Ivy…”

The young boy was shocked to hear what she just said. He looked up to her and saw that she was staring at him with a sympathetic look, hinting that she had a good idea on what occurred between him and Ivy last night. She said nothing else afterwards, as if she knew that it was a sore subject for him, and he would not want his family to find out about it.

After considering everything that she said, Sprig decided that there are no other alternatives to the solution to his predicament. “Okay… I’ll come with you back to your place, Maddie…”

The blue frog smiled. “That’s good to know.”

“Hey, Sprig!” Polly called out to her brother, managing to attract his attention towards her. “If you don’t want people to see you like this, just wear a cloak or something! You might get weird looks, but at least you can hide your face!”

“That’s a good idea, Polly.” Hop Pop said, praising his granddaughter’s quick thinking. “What is also a good idea is that you should bring Anne along with you. She might offer a bit more help to this, since she is a natural human being.”

“I was just about to suggest that, sir.” Maddie said as she turned her attention towards the elderly orange frog. “With both Sprig and Anne with me, I might be able to figure out what to do to fix his problem sooner than later.”

“Great. We’ll tell Anne all about it, as soon as she comes back with some spare clothes.”

“Hey, Hop Pop?” Sprig gazed at his grandfather as their eyes meet. “We’re supposed to work at the vegetable stand today, right? Is it really okay to leave you and Polly alone over there?”

“Oh, I’m sure that we’ll manage, boy.” Hop Pop reassured him with a smile. “Besides, today will most likely be a slow day at the stand. And even if it’s not, Polly is surprisingly very good at attracting people to the stand as of late.”

“The trick is to guilt-trip them into buying our vegetables by showing them your sad eyes.” Polly explained. “That, or threaten them to come by destroying everything and everyone that they love. Too bad Hop Pop wouldn’t let me do that.”

“For good reason, Polly.” Hop Pop clarified. “And while we’re at it, we should stop by the tailor shop and ask them to make new clothes for you, Sprig. Just in case your human problem doesn’t get solved on the same day.”

“Thanks, Hop Pop.” Sprig smiled.

“Well, in any case, I should start making breakfast for all of us. Have you eaten yet, Maddie?”

“Just a piece of bread, Mr. Plantar.” The blue frog replied. “But if you don’t mind having me for breakfast, then I wouldn’t object to eating your food, sir.”

“Alright then. You’re welcome to join us.” Hop Pop smiled at Maddie.

“That way, I can use your terrible food as a potential ingredient for my spells…” She murmured under her breath.

“What was that?”

“Nothing, sir.”

Once everything was said and done, with each person having an idea on what they should do for the day, Hop Pop left the room in order to start cooking breakfast for the whole family plus one, with Polly coming along with him as they made their way to the stairs, leaving Sprig and Maddie alone in the former’s bedroom.

Sprig looked down at his human hands once again, as he let out a huge sigh. “I hope everything goes well today…”

“We won’t know until we find out for ourselves.” Maddie said before placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. “But I’ll definitely try my best to help you deal with your problem, Sprig.”

“Thanks, Maddie…”

Meanwhile, as Hop Pop and Polly climbed down the stairs, a thought came to the latter’s mind, considering what they were planning to do.

“Hey, Hop Pop? We’ve been going to that tailor shop a lot lately, right?” she asked.

“Indeed we did.” Hop Pop replied with a smile. “Ever since Anne came here, because she only brought a few set of clothes with her, getting new clothes for her is something that I consider to be necessary. Sprig’s case is no different. I’m not surprised that we’ve gone to that shop a lot often for the past three months. Why do you ask?”

“Oh, I was just wondering… How much copper did you spend getting those clothes made?”

“A word of advice, Polly: Nudging people into exposing their crippling pain and sorrow can only lead to disaster.” Hop Pop gave a rather cryptic response as his smile became strained and his eye twitched.

Chapter Text

Inside of Maddie Flour's bedroom, located on the second floor of the Flour family's house/bakery simply called 'Flour and Daughters Bakery', the witch frog was sitting at her desk with her spell book opened in front of her, as well as a few other assorted books placed near the corner.

Since her return home with the human Sprig and Anne at her side, she had spent about an hour searching through her spell book, flipping through its pages, jotting down notes, switching to the other books for supplementary materials, rinse and repeat.

Meanwhile, Sprig and Anne were sitting on the blue frog's bed, watching her doing her research through the tools that she had at her disposal. The orange-haired frog-turned-human was wearing a spare set of clothes that his best friend had given to him in her haste: A black hoodie and a pair of dark brown shorts with a violet waistband. He was also wearing a cloak that served to mostly hide his human features from the public eye.

The two humans briefly glanced at each other, as if they were telekinetically asking each other if Maddie is doing alright and if their presence are actually needed, since it already had been while that she started doing it without them having to do anything yet.

Some more time had passed and Maddie seemed to have stopped her search through her books, as she let out a tired sigh, closed her eyes and rubbed her temples with her fingers.

"Um… Everything okay over there, Maddie?" Anne asked, wondering if the older Flour child somehow found an answer to her best friend's problems.

"Sort of." Maddie replied as she turned towards the two humans sitting on her bed.

"Please tell me that you found something that can fix this." Sprig pleaded.

"I might have a rough idea." Maddie said as she got off her chair and stood in front of Sprig and Anne. "But before I get to that, I think I owe you an explanation, since I'm part of the reason that Sprig has been transformed in the first place."

"You're talking about your potions, right?"

The witch frog nodded. "In case that you were wondering, the potions that I carried with me last night were very complex concoctions containing ingredients that are hard to find here in the valley." she explained as she went to grab her book from the desk and started to flip through the pages to find a visual example of what she was talking about. "These potions don't do anything by themselves, but they are core ingredients for a recipe to create a single, most potent potion capable of healing major injuries, such as scars and bone fractures."

Maddie found the page that she was looking for and showed it to the two humans. The page contained a picture of the potion in question, as well as the various steps required to create it, including the materials involved. "Completing this recipe means that I can proceed to the next level as a witch, if not for the fact that a certain someone made me spill all of the potions on him without looking."

"Sorry, Maddie…" Sprig sheepishly apologized once more.

"So all those potions that you used… It was to make a healing potion?" Anne asked for clarification.

Maddie nodded.

"So if it's just that, then how come all those potions mixed together changed Sprig's body instead?"

"Because the recipe asks that we follow a very strict, step-by-step procedure." Maddie explained, as she pointed with her finger the set of instructions written on the book. "Mixing the potions all at once without proper care often leads to disastrous results. The most common result is that the person will change into a hideous monstrosity that is often an amalgamation of the various creatures and natural flora that exist here in Amphibia, as well as some that is alien to us."

"You mean I could have turned out to be even more hideous than I am now?!" The freaked-out boy asked.

"Yep. Except this time, it's not the case. Instead of becoming an abomination, you transformed into a human, the same as Anne." she said, as she closed the spell book. "And I'm still racking my brain as to how that's even possible."

"Yeah, that is weird, after everything you just said." Anne commented as she looked over Sprig's human body. "I mean, why a human, of all things? He could just have been turned into something else, like a mantis or a grubhog or something."

Sprig shivered at the thought of being turned into a wild creature of the woods. "Yeesh… I dunno if I consider myself lucky or not for being transformed into a human instead of anything else…"

"Sprig," Maddie spoke. "When you fled after our accident yesterday, did you do something to yourself?"

"Um… Not really." He replied. "I just ran straight back home, that's all. Oh, but I did took a bath to wash off the potion, if that counts."

"Hmm… Anything else that happened in between?"

"Well… I did ran into Anne near the farm." Sprig turned his head towards Anne, crossing his gaze with hers. "But that's about it, really. I can't see anything else that could be a factor."

Anne thought about her conversation with Sprig last night, trying to figure out if there really isn't anything that could explain his sudden change. Then, she let out a gasp when something from her interaction with him crossed her mind. "Wait a minute! Sprig, I think me hugging you might have changed the effect of the potions!"

"Huh? Really?" Sprig considered what she said, then realization hit him, as if everything seemed to align that would explain the leadup to his situation. "Oh yeah! I think you might be right, Anne!"

"Hold on. You believe Anne hugging you is what caused the disastrous recipe to change?" Maddie asked.

"I mean, how else can we explain it? All I did was running away until I met up with Anne before I went back home. Nothing else besides that."

Maddie lowered her gaze and began to tap her chin with her finger in rhythm, as she processed what the two humans told her. "Hmm… This is interesting…"

After much consideration, she raised her head up and walked up to Anne, letting her eyes study the native human girl's body intently.

Anne knew what the witch frog was doing, but it didn't make her feel any less uncomfortable as a result.

Maddie then grabbed hold of Anne's head, turned it around to one side for one moment, then shifted it to the other side. Next, she picked up one of her arms that were resting next to her on the bed and leaned her face closer, as she analyzed each inch of the skin, down to the pores. Finally, after letting go of her arm, Maddie quickly plucked some of Anne's brown hair.

"Ow! A little bit of warning next time?" Anne complained as she rubbed the part of her head that had its hair plucked.

"Sorry. I need a sample from you that might help me with finding a cure for Sprig." Maddie explained her rough action.

"Fine. So… Got anything after treating me like an ant under a magnifying glass?"

"Well… It's interesting." The blue frog said. "After comparing your body to Sprig's, besides some obvious differences, his body type seems to be identical to yours. Maybe his age has changed as well, to be the same as yours."

"So… You're saying that I'm currently older than 10?" Sprig asked, as he looked down his own human body.

"Wait, you were 10 years old?" Anne asked, surprised to hear her best friend's age when he was his regular old frog self.

"Yeah. I didn't tell you that before?"

Anne shrugged. "A first for me. Which reminds me, you gotta tell me when's your birthday, dude."

"It's just an assumption, but that's what I got based on my observation." Maddie said. She then turned her attention towards the Thai-American girl. "Were you carrying anything when you interacted with Sprig last night?"

"Not really. Just the clothes on my back, is all." Anne replied. "Oh, but I also had a picture with me, but I don't think that has anything to do with it."

"Hm… This isn't enough for me to go on. I'll have to look more into this later."

Maddie considered every single piece of information that was given to her before she stated her case. "Well, in any case, I think the information that you've given me helped me understand a bit more on what we're dealing here."

"So does that mean that you can solve my problem now, Maddie?!" Sprig asked, hoping that his woes could be fixed instantly.

"Well, that depends, really." Maddie pulled out a pouch containing a powdered concoction. "Before I get to that, I want to try out one thing first."

"What's that?" Anne asked, pointing at the pouch in Maddie's hand.

"It's a magic powder typically used to dispel one's own magic. Since my potions are responsible for Sprig's transformation, technically, it's my magic that we're dealing with here."

"You think it's gonna work?" Sprig asked, still hopeful.

"Only one way to find out."

Without giving the boy time to prepare, Maddie threw the pouch at him, as it hit him straight in the face before exploding into colourful smoke that shrouded his entire body.

Sprig coughed as the smoke got in his lungs, while Anne, who was sitting next to him, coughed as well, fanning the smoke away from her face with her hand.

Once the smoke cleared and Sprig was able to see and breathe again, he quickly turned to Anne with eyes full of hope. "Well? Did it work, Anne?"

When her best friend asked her, Anne looked over his whole body to see if anything happened to him.

He was still a tall, light-skinned human.

"Nope. Sorry, dude." Anne shook her head.

Sprig looked down on his hands to see that they were still five-fingered human hands. He then let out a disappointed groan.

"Well, it's to be expected." Maddie said. "If a basic dispelling magic isn't enough to fix this, then this calls for a cure in a form of a complex spell."

"What do you need to do?" Anne asked.

"I'm still working on it. But based on what I've read so far from my spell book and all other supplementary books, to create a cure, I'll need to make a potion that is the complete opposite in nature from what it was used that turned Sprig into this. All the potions that were spilled on him? I'll have to create their dynamic opposites in order to make that one, crucial potion."

"So making that potion is going to be a piece of cake… Right?" Sprig asked, still having hope in his heart, but it was clear that the size of it was very small, as if the boy may already knew the answer to his own question.

Maddie sighed, as she had no choice but to dash the boy's hopes no matter how sad it may be. "Sprig, the potions that I had yesterday took about three months to make, due to how hard it is to find the core ingredients of each. Making their polar opposites would take even more time. And…" She turned her gaze away from the boy, unable to look at him in the eye as she dropped the news on him. "It may even be… impossible to make. Because as far as I know, those core ingredients might not even exist here."

With that, what remaining hope that the Plantar boy had within him had shattered. It was bad enough that the potions from the other day were hard to make, but to be told from an expect magic user like Maddie that making that exact cure for his human predicament would be virtually impossible…

He let himself fall back, as his back hit the mattress while the expression on his face was full of despair. "So… I'm stuck like this… forever…?" he slowly asked the question that he already knew the answer for.

"I'm sorry, Sprig…" Maddie sadly apologized. "I want to help you. I really do. But this is beyond what all of us can really do."

Anne frowned as she watched her best friend slip into despair after hearing the terrible news. This is the most that she saw him being incredibly depressed, and she didn't think that anything would top his reaction to Ivy turning him down. It hurt her to see the always-cheerful Sprig Plantar like that. She wanted to cheer him up somehow, but how can you cheer up someone who's faced the possibility that he is forced to become a completely different person? The only way to do so was to find the ingredients for the cure, but as Maddie said, it is likely impossible to find those ingredients here in the valley.

In the valley…

"Wait a minute…" Anne started to speak, as she might have found a possibility that could turn things around. "Maddie, you said that finding the ingredients would be impossible to find, right? Do you mean it's impossible to find here in the valley?"

"Well, yes, that's what I was saying." Maddie replied.

Sprig looked over at Anne with a look of confusion. "Anne, what are you getting at…?"

Anne turned to Sprig with a huge smile on her face. "What if we can find those ingredients outside of the valley? You know, out there in the world of Amphibia?"

Sprig's eyes started to light up as soon as Anne's words started to sink in, hope slowly returning in his heart. "Wait, you mean…?"

"What do you think, Maddie?" Anne asked as she turned her attention back at the witch frog. "It's not impossible to say that those seemingly impossible ingredients can be found somewhere else in the rest of the world, right?"

"Hmm…" Maddie contemplated the human girl's words and realized that her own knowledge was only limited to her home region. She had not consider putting the outside world into the equation. "I haven't been outside of the valley at all… So there is a chance that you might be right about this, Anne."

Anne turned back towards the orange-haired boy. "And Sprig, remind me. When do the mountains surrounding the valley start to clear up?"

Sprig sat up from the bed. "Um… In a few days, I think?"

"And what are we going to do in a few days?"

"To explore the outside world and help you find a way to get you back home?"

"Right. And what else?"

Sprig gasped. "And we can try and find the ingredients for the potions along the way at the same time!"

Anne snapped her fingers. "Now you're getting it!"

Once the idea was fully shared to everyone in the room, Anne and Sprig cheered, as they pumped their fists up to the ceiling. "Spranne against the world!"

"That's incredible, Anne!" Sprig exclaimed as he leaned forward and wrapped his best friend around in a huge hug. "Thank you!"

"Haha! Anytime, dude!" Anne grinned as she returned the hug.

Maddie could not resist smiling at a rather adorable display between the two humans. Although it was nice to see them full of hope, she felt that it was too early to celebrate.

"Now hold on." The witch frog said. "You said that the ingredients can be found outside of the valley, but you don't exactly have any proof that it's the case."

"Well, I could say the same thing to you about the ingredients not existing anywhere." Anne threw Maddie's statement back at her, as she pulled away from the hug.

"True. I admit, you got me convinced. I'm going to have to research what's beyond the valley to find some proof as to whether or not the ingredients that we're looking for exist. But how am I going to get access to that information?"

"Oh! You can always go to the town archives!" Sprig suggested. "They gotta have tons of boring stuff about the whole world in there!"

"Oh, the Historic Wartwood Town Archives. That's a good idea, Sprig."

"Uh, Sprig? The entrance to the archives is busted, remember?" Anne reminded Sprig. "And I'm pretty sure that it's still busted, since we still haven't told anyone about it."

"Oh right." The young boy said, as he remembered what occurred the last time they went to the archives. "I mean, she can still go through the pipes to get there."

"Do you really want to suggest her that?" Anne asked.

"No." Sprig shuddered, as the horrific memories of going through the toilet pipes came rushing back in.

"I'm sure I can get inside somehow." Maddie said. "The only thing that I'm going to worry about is finding the time to get there and search through archives in its entirety, but it shouldn't be a problem in the slightest."

"So you think you can manage it?" Anne asked the blue frog.

"It really depends if we find what we need. And even if we do, I still need time to research both a cure for Sprig and what the outside world has to offer. When do you think you guys will be coming back from your trip outside of the valley?"

"Umm… I think in a month or two?" Sprig replied with uncertainty.

"Well, if everything goes well and you manage to find the ingredients, I'll still need about a month worth of preparation to create the cure."

"Meaning… I'm stuck like this for a few months, at least." Sprig summed up his situation based on the hypothetical scenario, as he looked down at his human hands for a moment.

Maddie nodded.

"Well, I guess it beats being stuck like this forever. We're counting on you, Maddie."

"You got it."

Chapter Text

"Oohhh~! The town of Wartwood, such a sight! With its colourful characters, dim and bright! They're all singing and dancing, day and night! 'Til a giant fly take them off for a flight!"

The air surrounding the main plaza was filled to the brim by Wartwood's local loon who sang and played his accordion to his heart's content. The cyan frog in tattered clothes with a dark grey hat holding a cattail was leaping and dancing around the fountain for all passing eyes to see, seemingly in a trance. Some people were amused by his antics. Others were annoyed. And there were some that looked on with indifference. Regardless, he could not care less of what people think of him, so long as he was doing what he loved.

"If darkness looms over to make us gloomy, one chap shall come to bring light with hilarity! A jester? A kook? Of course not, silly! It's none other than the old One-Eyed Wally!"

Just as he was about to begin the next verse of his improvised song with another leap forward, he instead slammed himself face first into a tall individual. "Oof!" The old bum fell back on his behind as he was snapped out of his trance, opening his right eye to look up at the person that he suddenly bumped into.

"Oh sorry, Wally! Didn't mean to bump into you like this!" apologized the brown-haired human, as she bent down and lent a helping hand to the bard. "You okay there?"

"Oh! Well, if it isn't Anne!" One-Eyed Wally cheerfully exclaimed, as he enthusiastically took Anne's hand and got back up on his feet with her help. "Fancy meeting you here, love! How have you been?"

"I'm doing good, thanks." Anne smiled. "Looks like you're up to your usual antics around here."

"Ha! Right you are!" Wally replied as he played a rising note from his accordion as evidence of his activity. "This is how I like to spend my day, every day! If I ain't singing, dancing and playing with my accordion, I'm telling extraordinary stories to the townsfolk here! If not, then I'm fooling around the village in many ways imaginable! It depends on my mood, really!"

"Yep. And I definitely have first-hand experience of your quirky ways, dude." Anne nodded.

"Say, weren't you suppose to be helping out at the Plantars' vegetable stand right now?"

"Oh, well, I actually had something important to take care of first, so that's why I'm not with Hop Pop and the others right now." Anne replied, as she took a quick glance at the person next to her.

"Oh really?"

Wally was wondering about the important thing that Anne was talking about, but upon seeing her glancing to the side for a brief moment, he allowed his right eye to follow what she was looking at and noticed that she was not alone.

Next to her, there was another tall fellow whose appearance was mostly obscured by the large cloak that they were wearing. Even their face was entirely hidden under the shade of the hood. The only features that were visible were their bare feet.

"Oi, Anne. Who's this strange fellow here?" Wally asked.

The cloaked individual seemed to get startled when the bard took notice of them. Anne sensed their alarm and recognized the urgent matter that they were dealing with.

"Oh, him? He's, uh… One of the villagers who needed my help with the important stuff that I just told you about."

"One of the villagers?" Wally raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Are you sure, love? I don't recall ever seeing this bloke before in Wartwood, and I tend to remember every single face who ever live here."

"Oh, uh… That's because…" Realizing how faulty her initial description of the person was, Anne searched her mind to find a better explanation to her acquaintance's presence in Wartwood. "Uh… It's because he just moved here! Yeah! We just got finished talking with the mayor about his moving here, and now, I'm helping him out with the actual move and stuff!"

"Oh! That makes sense!" Wally said, satisfied with the answer that he was given. "In that case, welcome to Wartwood, my good man! The name's Wally! But everyone calls me One-Eyed Wally because I have one good eye!" He extended his hand out to the cloaked person with the intent of shaking the latter's own hand. "A pleasure to meet you!"

The individual simply looked at the cyan frog's hand and did nothing else, not even attempting to take the friendly hand that was offered to him. "Uh… L-likewise, Wally."

"Ah, not the touchy-kind of person, are you?" Wally reasoned the cloaked person's inaction and retracted his hand back. "Fine with me! I wouldn't grab the hand of a stranger either, if I don't know where it came from. Then again, we're talking about me, so I wouldn't care in the slightest! Haha!"

The hooded newcomer let out a nervous chuckle before he turned his head towards Anne and nudged her on the arm. "Anne, can we please go? Like, right now?" he whispered to her.

"Yeah, sure, buddy." Anne nodded, realizing that they have been standing in one place for too long. She turned her attention back towards the old bum to excuse themselves. "Sorry, Wally. But this guy and I should really be going and start doing the moving stuff already. See you around, okay?"

"Oh alright then. Until we meet again!"

The cloaked figure let out a sigh of relief, as it seemed like their conversation with the local loon was over. He and Anne were about to walk past Wally to be on their way.

… But the cyan frog suddenly stepped in front of them, blocking their path. "Oh, but first, just one thing! I make it my personal business to remember every single face here in Wartwood. Since you're new here, I would like to see what you look like so I can remember. So let's start by taking your hood off, lad."

"No!" The individual suddenly shouted, as he took a step back while holding his hood securely in place, frightened by Wally's suggestion.

"Huh. That's oddly sudden." Wally said, confused by the newcomer's startled reaction.

Realizing that his reaction might be suspect, the cloaked person urgently turned to Anne for help.

The Thai-American human recognized it and attempted to explain to the bard. "Sorry about this, Wally. This guy here is, um… Really sensitive about his looks. It's kinda why he's wearing the cloak in the first place, because he's too scared to show himself off to people."

"Ohh! I see!" Wally exclaimed, as he came to understand the newcomer's peculiar problem. "Don't worry, mate! Even this loon here knows not to overstep any boundaries! But let me tell you that there's no shame in looking like an odd fella in this village full of fun characters, if you just let us know your own character! I would have chosen myself as an example, but we have a better one right here!"

Wally motioned his hands towards Anne. "When Anne first appeared here, we all considered her to be a horrendous monster because of how she looks. No offence, love. But then, she helped the lot of us with our problems, showed us compassion and even saved us from brutes eager to rain on our parade. Heck, because of all that, she was chosen as Frog of the Year!"

Wally jumped up and wrapped an arm around Anne's shoulders before landing back down, causing the brown-haired girl to bend down to accommodate their difference in height. "Hey, easy there, dude!" she chuckled.

"Long story short, she's one of us now! From then on, we feel at ease knowing that her kind is not as terrible as we imagined." Wally continued. "… Uh, at least it's true for Anne. There was one other person who is similar to her. A lass named Sasha. She was every bit as terrible as we imagined. The other night, she took the lot of us hostage and almost killed one of our own."

Anne turned her head away and frowned at the mention of the blond girl and her terrible deeds. The hooded figure was quick to notice her somber reaction.

"But that's neither here nor there!" Wally removed his arm from Anne's shoulders, as he approached the cloaked person. "Trust this old bum when I say that there's no shame in looking even a bit odd, as long we get to know each other!"

He looked over the newcomer's appearance, from head to toe. "Why, even now, I don't mind that you're as tall as Anne here. Even your bare feet, with their five toes, aren't enough to turn this eccentric bard away from getting to know you!"

For a moment, the cyan frog was looking proud after stating that he had no problem with the mysterious person's outward appearance at first glance.

Then he blinked with his right eye when he realized the last thing that he said. "Wait a tick…" He looked down at the mysterious individual's feet and squinted his eye, just to see if he wasn't imagining things. True enough, he saw fives toes on each foot, meaning there was no discrepancies between what he said and what he saw.

"Five toes on each foot…? But the only people who have those are from the same kind as Anne and that Sasha girl…"

As soon as he said that, Wally slowly widened his eye, realization slowly dawning on him. He looked up at the newcomer's hidden face. "Are you…?"

The hooded figure visibly panicked, as it seemed like his identity was about to be exposed. "Anne, we gotta go! Now!" Not wanting to stay there for one more second, he quickly rushed forward, pushing the local bard out of the way in the process.

"Wait, dude! Look out in front of you!" Anne shouted out to the fleeing person.

He did not have enough time to heed her warnings before he suddenly collided with a large object in front of him, causing him to fall backwards on his back. "Oof!"

"Hey! Watch where you're going, idiot!" A frog riding a large snail yelled at the mysterious individual, after the latter crashed himself into the shell of his snail without looking. "You almost broke my poor Delilah's shell!"

"Ngh…!" The newcomer groaned as he sat up on the ground, rubbing the part of his head that took the most damage from the collision. "Sorry… My bad…"

"Dude!" He heard Anne shouting out to him in alarm. "Your hood!"

It was then that the orange-haired boy realized that his hood was down, and thus, his entire head was exposed. In his moment of panic, he quickly lifted the hood back on, but by then, it was already too late, because one person was able to get a good eye on his exposed face for a brief moment.

"Holy smokes!" Wally shouted as he pointed at the cloaked boy. "This fella here is a human!"

The surrounding people passing by all turned their heads towards the hooded person, surely alarmed from hearing the word 'human' coming from the mouth of the old bard. They then slowly approached him, as the boy looked at his surroundings with panic in his eyes.

They started to chat amongst themselves, each person expressing their own feelings and opinions about the suspected human boy, but all of them shared the same overall feeling: Fear.

"Did I hear him right? Did he say 'human'?"

"I hear it too. Is he referring to this person right here?"

"Isn't that just One-Eyed Wally saying it? Just another one of his crazy, made-up stories as always."

"But look at the boy. Doesn't he look similar to Anne?"

"You're right. Comparing the two, they look somewhat the same."

"Is he a friend of hers?"

"Maybe. Or maybe he's friends with that other human with the blond hair. What's her name again? Sasha?"

"Mommy, I'm scared!"

"Shouldn't we contact the authorities? There's another human on the loose in Wartwood!"

"Where's the sheriff?! Get him over here already! I don't wanna go through the same nightmare again!"

The human Sprig could feel the fear radiating in everybody's eyes. The more he looked at the approaching, fearful crowd, the more his own fears of being exposed as a human was about to be realized. He could hardly blame them for being very wary of another human who is not Anne, especially after the whole ordeal with Sasha. He'd shared the same feeling too if he were in their shoes. He just wished that he wasn't the human that they are afraid of, and that his identity wasn't exposed on his first day as a transformed human.

The crowd was about to close in on the frightened boy, when Anne quickly stepped in to shield him from the townsfolk. "Ok, guys! Just calm down and let me explain!"

"Anne, what's going on?" Wally asked. "This lad here is a human like you, right? How did he get here?"

"It's a long story, Wally, and I promise that whatever I have to say to you guys will clear up all the misunderstanding that we might be having right now!"

"What misunderstanding?!" shouted the frog riding his snail, Delilah. "I think it's pretty clear that this guy is human! Anybody can plainly see that!"

"I-is he working with that other, terrible human girl?" asked one of the fearful frogs among the crowd. "D-does that mean that he's here to wreck havoc on our poor little town, under her orders?"

"No, no, you're wrong!" Anne said. "This guy's a really good friend! Promise!"

"You said the same thing about that Sasha gal." Another frog from the crowd reminded her. "You know, before she turned out to be a psychopath like those Toad soldiers."

"Listen! He's not as terrible as…"

Anne stopped herself short before the name of her blond best friend escape her lips. She was forced to think back to the night at the Toad Tower, specifically when Sasha revealed her true plans to her involving Hop Pop and their ensuing fight. She frowned once again at the memory.

The people of Wartwood were right to claim that Sasha had done them wrong. But Anne felt that if she admit that fact herself, she would betray their friendship in a way, no matter how toxic it turned out to be. Her mind then drifted towards the nightmare that she had last night.

She tried to shake away her thoughts and feelings to focus entirely on convincing everyone that her transformed friend meant no harm.

"Look," she continued. "You guys must have heard what Wally said about getting to know someone new, right? If you just give him a chance, then maybe you'll see that he really is a good friend just as I said, and that he'll never do anything that's even remotely suspicious-"

"He's running away from us." A frog pointed out.

"Wait, what?"

Anne quickly turned around just in time to see that Sprig was fleeing from the crowd as they speak.

"Seriously?! Sprig! Wait!"

Sprig ignored his best friend's shout, as he let his fears of being exposed choose his actions for him, the first one being to run as far away from the public crowd as possible, not daring to look back to see if they start chasing after him.

He ran towards a small alleyway located between two tall buildings, in hopes that he could somehow lose the crowd along the way. As soon as he reached the narrow passageway, he took advantage of his thin form to squeeze through, knowing that most of the people in Wartwood would not be able to pass through like he could.

Once he got through the alleyway, he turned to the right to continue his run. However, he immediately screeched to a halt upon seeing that there were quite a few people standing in his way, at the corner of one of the buildings. The villagers there became alarmed at the sight of the human boy.

He turned to the opposite direction and, to his dismay, there were another group of people standing on the other end, all looking at him with confusion and fear.

"Hey!" A voice belonging to a nearby villager was heard, grabbing the attention of everyone involved. "Someone catch this guy! I think he's up to no good!"

The villager's message was understood by the two groups from each end of the passageway, and they began to approach the orange-haired boy with caution.

Alarmed by the approaching villagers, Sprig looked around himself to see if there was a way for him to escape from there. His sight rested on the wall of the tall building next to him, and he decided that his only option was to jump up to the roof.

Sprig bended his knees down and sprung himself up towards the roof.

Only for his jump to fall short when he barely reached the middle height of the building.

"Huh?" The orange-haired boy looked down on himself in disbelief after he landed back down on the ground. He then tried to jump up the roof once more, following the same motions as before. However, just like last time, the highest that he could reach was around the middle point.

He once again looked down at himself incredulously. He was certain that he was able to jump at the height of the building before. So how come he could only reach halfway?

Glancing at both sides, the approaching villagers were getting too close to his liking. He decided that the next best thing to reach the roof was to climb up the wall of the building. He leaped up and dug his hands and feet against the wall mid-jump and proceeded to climb.

Sprig noticed that he was having a harder time climbing up the wall than usual, as his hands and feet weren't glued to the wall as well as they should. At one point, one of his feet even slipped up and he barely managed to hang on to dear life. Did it have anything to do with him being a human instead of a frog?

After much difficulty, he managed to get up to the roof. He stood up and allowed himself to catch his breath, noting that his climb took a lot out of him. "Hah…! That… That kinda sucks…!"

Just when he thought that he was safe up there for the time being, a couple of frogs managed to jump up to the roof with relative ease. The young boy looked at the newly-arrived frogs with shock. "Are you kidding me?!"

"Stay where you are, buddy!" said one of the frogs, as he cautiously approached the boy. "We're taking you in!"

The Plantar boy shook his head and ran forward until he reached the edge of the roof. He looked around to see if there was another place that he could escape to, and his eyes came across a flagpole located at some distance from where he was.

Choosing that as his escape point, he launched his tongue out to grab the faraway flagpole.

But then, he noticed that nothing was flying towards the flagpole. He looked down and saw that his tongue was still near his mouth, sticking out to nothing in particular.

"What the frog?!" he exclaimed in disbelief. He tried to launch his tongue out again, only to find that it still remained at the same place as before. He felt that his tongue was fully extended, even though it was not going at a long distance as usual.

Feeling that the two frogs behind him were within arms' reach, Sprig had no time to think about his next move before he proceeded to leap forward off the roof.

Normally, the furthest that he could do in a single leap forward was about the length of a large centipede. In that case, however, he only managed to get as far as the length of a cow-a-pillar before gravity started to pull him down towards the ground.

"AAAHH!!!" Sprig screamed as he fell from a great height. Thankfully, he was spared from a great amount of pain when he crashed into a cart full of hay that cushioned his fall. The take-back was that, due to his human-like weight and how fast he fell, he ended up destroying the hay cart in the process, with the wheels popping out and the wooden structure making up the cart collapsing to the ground.

It took about a moment before the young boy emerged out of the haystack, spitting out some of the hay that went in his mouth. He groaned as he massaged his chest that took most of the impact from the fall. As soon he raised his head up, he realized that there was a huge crowd surrounding him all around, staring at him with a mixture of curiosity, confusion, fear and wonder in their faces.

"Dude! Are you okay?!" He heard the voice of his best friend crying out to him. Looking at the direction of the voice, he saw that Anne was at the far back of the crowd, trying to squeeze herself through to reach him, but to no avail. "Urgh! Come on, guys! Let me through already!"

Just when Sprig thought that it could not get any worse, a couple of people stepped forward from the crowd to confront him personally. One of them was a large toad wearing a fancy uniform adorned with a cravat, especially in comparison to everyone else wearing simple garments fitting of their agricultural status.

"Now what in the blazes is going on here?" asked Mayor Frodrick Toadstool, annoyed that he had to stop his money-counting activity and leave his estate to find out what was causing the commotion in the first place.

He looked down at the obvious culprit covered in hay, as two pairs of eyes crossed paths with one another.

"… Toadie?" The mayor spoke to his small frog assistant with neatly-combed hair standing next to him. "Is this what I think it is?"

"I think so, sir." Toadie nodded. "This boy here might be a human being."

"Oh terrific… So we're dealing with yet another human problem, huh?"

"It looks to be the case, sir." The assistant replied. "Your orders?"

"Well, after what happened with the last human who came here, there's only one thing to do."

The mayor shifted his attention to the huge, surrounding crowd. "Well, folks! Pick up your torches and pitchforks! It's time we chase out that human boy before he can do any harm to this peaceful, little town!"

"Yeah!" The villagers all shouted out before they each pulled out a torch and a pitchfork from seemingly out of nowhere. They then proceeded to march towards the human Sprig, who watched them helplessly as they were about to chase him out of Wartwood.

"Guys! Wait just a minute!" Anne shouted, trying to defuse the entire situation with no apparent success. "Aren't you going way overboard with this?! Just calm down and listen!"

With no sign of the menacing mob stopping, Sprig could only put up his cloak in a useless attempt to hide and protect himself. Just as the mob was about to reach him…

"YAAAAAHH!!!"

A familiar, purple tadpole with a yellow bow on her head suddenly hopped in between the boy and the mob, swinging her flail around to scare away the armed villagers. "Back off, you paranoid maniacs! Don't even lay a finger on him!"

"Polly!" Sprig shouted.

"Little Polly Plantar?!" Mayor Toadstool exclaimed, shocked that the youngest of the Plantar siblings showed up to defend the boy. "Wait, if you're here, then that means…"

"Just what in the name of Heaven is all the commotion over there?!"

Everyone all turned themselves towards the direction of the voice belonging to an elderly man. The villagers then spread themselves apart to create a path for a certain, orange frog standing next to the brown-haired human.

"Hop Pop!" Sprig cried out in relief from seeing his grandfather coming to his rescue.

"Urgh… Should have known that you're somehow involved in this mess, Hopadiah Plantar." said the annoyed mayor. "You better have a good explanation for all of this!"

"In a minute, mayor." said Hop Pop, as he walked through the path provided by the crowd alongside Anne. As soon as he reached the fallen boy, he kneeled down and brushed off some of the hay that was on Sprig's shoulders, while he gave the boy a concerned look. "Are you hurt, boy?"

Sprig shook his head. "Just a bit, but I'm okay, Hop Pop. Thanks."

Hop Pop smiled. "As long as you're safe and sound." He held his hand out to his grandson who gladly took it, as he helped him stand up from the ground.

"Hop Pop, Polly, I'm really sorry about all of this." Anne apologized. "We really tried to get this whole thing under control."

"Ah, you don't have to apologize for anything, Anne." Hop Pop reassured. "It's a good thing Polly warned me about the townsfolk forming a mob right around here moments ago, or otherwise, this situation would get even more messy."

Polly nodded. "It looked kinda fun, especially when they start pulling out the torches and pitchforks, so I wanted to join in on whatever they were doing. Then when I found out what's actually going on here, well, we had to do something."

The impatient mayor stomped his foot on the ground, attracting the attention of the Plantar family. "Alright! If you're done whispering secrets with each other, it's high time that you start talking, Hopadiah!" Mayor Toadstool exclaimed. He then pointed his finger at the orange-haired boy. "Mind telling us why there's another human here?"

"Well, mayor," Hop Pop started. "If you're that eager to know, I'm taking care of this poor, lost boy and giving him shelter at our farm. Just like with Anne when she first came here months ago."

"Have you finally lost your marbles, old frog?" The mayor asked with exasperation. "In case that you've forgotten, you almost got killed by the Toad Army led by Captain Grime and the last human girl who came here!"

"Oh, I still remember that awful night." Hop Pop replied. "And I appreciate if you don't constantly remind me of it."

"The point is that you're setting yourself up for yet another deathtrap, Hopadiah! And you're putting all of us in danger too! Why should we trust a human that we know nothing about after what happened in Toad Tower?!"

Most of the townsfolk agreed with what the mayor said, someone of them even voicing their own apprehension to the matter at hand.

It was clear to the elderly frog that he had to put on an even bigger effort to dissuade the villagers from chasing out his transformed grandson. After taking a deep breath and recollecting his thoughts, he began to state his argument on it. "I understand what you're saying, but I'm willing to trust this boy because-"

"Because he's my best friend."

Hop Pop turned his head towards Anne who cut him off to voice her own argument. Everyone else all shifted their attention to her.

The Thai-American girl looked at the crowd with a sincere and sympathetic expression on her face. "I know that this isn't much of a good reason to keep him around, but believe me when I say that he's really a great guy. I know that I said the same thing about Sasha, before, well…"

She trailed off from what she was about to say about her blond best friend's true nature, unwilling to dwell upon it.

"But this guy right here," She turned her head towards the orange-haired boy, as she continued her explanation. "He's not like Sasha at all. He's kind, brave, considerate and, well… What else can I say about him?" The brown-haired girl gave the young boy a wide smile of gratitude. "He's the first friend who made me recognize the good parts of myself. And I'm grateful for him."

Hearing her expressing her gratitude towards him, the human Sprig returned her cherished smile with his own.

Anne's speech seemed to be enough for most, if not all of the villagers to have second thoughts about their original intent on what to do with the human boy, as they all started to speak amongst themselves.

Even Mayor Toadstool seemed to be convinced, though not fully. He crossed his arms, closed his eyes and lowered his head down as he began to think through the ups and downs of keeping the human boy around, all while he grunted.

"Hold up, everyone!" Polly shouted, garnering the attention of everyone around her. "Before you make up your minds, let me show you my reason for keeping this guy around."

CRASH!

The purple tadpole then slammed her flail on the ground, creating a small, but noticeable crater from the impact.

"… That's it. You guys can figure out the rest." Polly said with a smile that feigned innocence.

Her threat was more than enough to make most of the villagers side with the Plantars. After all, fear is a terrifying weapon that wins arguments.

"Grr… Fine!" Mayor Toadstool reluctantly decided. "I don't like this one bit, but I'll allow this kid to stay here in Wartwood, as long as you keep him in your close watch, Hopadiah."

"I appreciate it, mayor." Hop Pop replied.

"But if he does any funny business, we'll kick him out on the spot. Understand?"

"You got it, dude." Anne nodded.

The mayor grunted. Then he glared at the orange-haired boy standing behind the Plantars. "You got all of this, kid? What's your name, anyway?"

"M-my name?" Sprig asked.

"Yeah, your name. I need it so I can write it down as a reminder on what to do if you start going on a murder spree, for example." The mayor explained.

Sprig was not expecting anyone to ask his name. Obviously, if he gives out his actual name, then everyone would figure out that the pink, adorable frog that everyone knew about got turned into an ugly human. That was the last thing that he wanted to happen.

He quickly searched his mind to find a suitable, convincing name for himself, but he came up short. And the mayor looked like he was not willing to wait any longer for his response and might change his mind.

"It's, uh… Um…"

"Twig!" Anne suddenly answered for him.

"… Twig?" The mayor repeated, looking at the brown-haired girl with a raised, unconvinced eyebrow.

"Yeah! That's his name!" Anne replied. "It's Twig… Uh… Lantern! Twig Lantern! That's it!"

"Twig Lantern, eh?" Mayor Toadstool seemed to be satisfied with Anne's answer for the orange-haired boy. He then looked back at the human boy named 'Twig'. "Okay, Twig. You're lucky that the Plantars vouched for you, the baby girl especially. Otherwise you'd be gone from here five minutes ago. You better not do anything suspicious that'll make us regret keeping you here."

"Uh… Got it, sir." said 'Twig'.

The mayor massaged his forehead with the palm of his hand to nurse the headache that he had to deal with since the start of the commotion surrounding the orange-haired human. "I swear, you Plantars always find a way to cause trouble in this poor, little town. Whether it's Hopadiah handing out IOUs that are no good, the baby girl's penchant for mayhem, and even the little boy's mischief in certain days…"

At his own mention of the little Plantar boy, Mayor Toadstool realized, upon looking over the family, that they seemed to be one person short. "Wait a minute. Where is your grandson, Hopadiah? I don't see the little kid anywhere."

"Oh, don't you worry about Sprig, mayor." Hop Pop replied while throwing a brief glance at the orange-haired boy to reassure him that he got it under control. "He's feeling a bit under the weather this morning, so he's staying inside for today."

"Is that so? Hm. Alright then." The mayor nodded, satisfied with the answer. "One last warning, Plantars! This human boy is your responsibility! Keep a close eye on him, or else!"

"You have my word." Hop Pop said.

"Got it." Anne said.

"You're not the boss of me!" Polly said.

Once everything was said and done, Mayor Toadstool turned away from the Plantar family and began to walk away from them, just as the crowd started to disperse once the situation was resolved. "Urgh, my day has definitely gone south. I'm not even in the mood to continue counting my money…"

"Want me to give you a back massage, sir?" Toadie asked as he walked alongside the mayor.

"Ooh, sounds lovely, Toadie. And bring me those scented candles while you're at it."

As he watched the crowd diminishing itself little by little, Sprig let out a sigh of relief. His family managed to get him out of a very sticky situation, and while his human identity was revealed to the world, his true identity remained hidden. He took solace in knowing that fact.

The crowd was reduced into a small group of people standing far apart from one another. Just when Sprig was about to avert his gaze from them, he caught a glimpse of someone rather familiar in a distance.

His heart skipped a beat when he saw that a yellow frog with a patched-up beanie was standing among the disappearing crowd, staring at him with an unfamiliar expression on her face.

Sprig and Ivy crossed gaze with one another, never moving from their spot. The boy's heart ache when he remembered the end of their first date, where Ivy told him that they were better off as friends instead of romantic partners. It was no wonder why he kept staring at her, thinking about numerous, hypothetical scenarios that would lead to them making their romance work. He started to wonder if the reason why Ivy was looking at him for a long time was because she might have recognized who he is under his human form.

Their crossing gazes got interrupted when Ivy's mother, Felicia, came to her side. "Come along, Ivy." The floral crown-wearing woman said, taking her daughter's hand with her own as they started to walk away from the area. "We need to get back to your training."

"Okay, mom…" Ivy replied, taking one last look at the orange-haired human before she accompanied her mother back to their house.

Sprig found himself watching his supposed soulmate disappear from his sights, his lingering feelings for her still remained.

"Really, Anne? 'Twig Lantern'? That's the best that you could come up with?" Polly confronted the brown-haired girl about latter's questionable choice of names for her brother.

"Hey, don't give me flak about it, dude. It's either that or Weed." Anne defended herself. "Try and come up with a name under a huge amount of pressure, then get back to me on that."

"Well, I'm just glad that we managed to avoid the worst possible scenario." Hop Pop said. He then turned towards his grandson and patted off any remaining dirt and hay that was still on him. "Are you sure that you're okay, boy?"

Sprig snapped out of his staring at his supposed beloved who already disappeared inside of her house seconds ago, as he looked at his grandfather. "Y-yeah, Hop Pop. I'm okay." he replied. "Hop Pop, Polly, Anne… I'm really sorry for all of this. When Wally was about to find out what I am under my disguise, I didn't know what to do to handle it, and I ended up revealing myself to everybody…"

"Well, you running away before I get the chance to explain to everyone didn't exactly help us one bit." Anne remarked. "But that's fine, dude. At least we managed to get out of it safely."

"And now, everyone thinks that you're a different person named Twig, for better or worse." Polly said, still criticizing Anne's choice of names in a subdued matter. "That means you don't have to hide yourself anymore with your real identity still a complete mystery that no one actually realizes."

"Yeah… You're right, Polly." Sprig said, as he discarded the cloak that hid most of his body. Once the reality of his situation started to set in, he allowed himself to sit down on the haystack, letting out a tired sigh. "Man, what a day… I can't believe everything happened during my first day as a human…"

"You've certainly gone through a lot today, boy." Hop Pop said. "You should go back home and get some rest. Meanwhile, Polly and I will go back to the vegetable stand and continue our usual business there."

"Good idea, Hop Pop."

Anne sat down next to her best friend on the haystack and placed a comforting hand on his back. "You mind if I stick around until we get back inside, Sprig? Just wanna make sure that nobody else is going to attack you on my watch."

"That'll be great, Anne. Thanks."

"Well, it looks like everything is settled between us." Hop Pop said as he was about to leave his grandson and adopted granddaughter to return to attending the stand alongside the bow-wearing tadpole. "We'll see you back in the farm, boy! Stay out of any more trouble!"

"See ya, Hop Pop!" Both Sprig and Anne waved the elderly frog and the purple tadpole goodbye, as they walked back towards the stand.

Once they disappeared from their sights, Sprig decided to take the time to look up at the green sky, letting himself relax for a bit after having gone through a strenuous ordeal. Anne followed suit.

There was a moment of silence between the two best friends as they watched the clouds move slowly across the sky. Then, Sprig's stomach started to rumble, as the boy was starting to get hungry.

While he was wondering what he could eat once they get back home, a small fly made itself apparent to the human boy, flying and buzzing around his head. Sprig licked his lips, as he considered the fly to be his snack. He launched his tongue towards the fly. And then, just like last time, he realized that his tongue barely left his mouth.

He then watched as the small fly flew away from him. He groaned in frustration, as he put his face down on the palm of his hands.

"Hey, what's the matter, buddy?" Anne asked, concerned for her frustrated friend.

"Urgh… I feel like I'm out of my element." Sprig replied, turning his head towards her. "When I was running away from the townsfolk, I noticed that I couldn't do what I could normally do. I couldn't jump very high or far, I have a hard time climbing up walls, and my tongue just doesn't go as far as I wanted it to anymore."

"Well, yeah, because that's as far as humans can do." she said. "Believe it or not, for us human beings, that's pretty normal."

"Urgh… I hate this…" he groaned. "It almost feels like I'd get killed the second I come across something dangerous, like a wild creature or a boobytrap or something. It's a miracle that you managed to survive this long with a weak, human body like yours, Anne. No offence."

"I wouldn't say that it's a miracle. After all, I had you guys to guide me through all the usual schtick that you normally do."

"I guess so. Still, I… Urgh!" He let out another frustrated groan, as he allowed his face to fall back down on his palms, still unable to process the limitations of a human body compared to a frog.

Anne averted her gaze from the boy, as she could not find a subject that might improve his mood. A brief moment of silent was setting in between the two, as they were left to their own thoughts.

Then, the Thai-American girl thought of an idea. A rather flimsy idea, but an idea nonetheless.

"Hey, Sprig? What do you think of me teaching you what being a human is all about?"

"Hm?" Sprig turned his head back towards his friend. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, sure, if we compare the two, we humans don't really have much going on that trumps over frogs practically. Except us being warmblooded and being able to survive through the cold, that is. But if nothing else… I could teach you how things work back in my world."

"Um… How would that help me out exactly?" he asked.

"Honestly, not a lot." Anne admitted.

"Then why bother teaching me if there's nothing special about humans compared to frogs?"

"Well… Remember how out of my element I was during my first few months here in Amphibia? You, Hop Pop and Polly helped me out by guiding me through your usual activities and having me learn the ropes on how to survive through this crazy world." Anne explained. "I thought that maybe I could return the favour by teaching you a thing or two about my world. Sure, who knows when I'll be able to go back home to Earth, but if you guys somehow come along with me for the ride…"

After hearing what Anne had to say about her offering to teach him, Sprig took a bit of time to process her exact words.

It was true that there was no practical advantage that a human being had over frogs. But in terms of human knowledge, culture and technology, among other things, there was a lot to learn from them. If he himself somehow got transported to Anne's world, he would be better off because he would already learn stuff about her kind thanks to her teachings. Also, he would be lying if he told himself that he was not the least bit interested in her kind.

Sprig made up his mind about Anne's offer. "You know what, Anne? That sounds like a good idea."

"Really?" Anne asked, surprised to hear his response.

"Yeah." he replied. "I thought a lot about you said, and I think you teaching me would help me out a bit."

"Whoa, sounds like you're actually serious." she said. "I always thought that my idea is a bit of a stretch, so even I don't know if it'll help much."

"Believe me. I don't know if it'll help either. But honestly, even though I'm still gonna be sad over the fact that I can't do stuff as a frog anymore, and also the fact that I'm an ugly hu-"

Sprig stopped himself short when he noticed that Anne was giving him a death glare. He got the hint and refrained from speaking anymore about a human's basic appearance. At least, only when he is around her.

"Anyways, Anne, you're giving me the opportunity to learn more about you and your kind. I'd be stupid not to take up on your offer. And who knows? Maybe somewhere along the way, I might find something that a human has an advantage over frogs that you might not even thought about before. So… What do you say, Anne?"

Seeing that her best friend was feeling a bit more enthusiastic about her idea, in spite of how flimsy it turned out to be, Anne found herself smiling at him. "Okay, dude. But let me tell you. I might do a terrible job as your human teacher."

"That's fine. I wouldn't have it any other way."

The brown-haired girl stood up from the haystack, as she lended a hand to her orange-haired best friend. "Then let's do this! Spranne against the world?"

"Spranne against the world!" Sprig exclaimed as he took her hand with his own and stood up from the haystack himself with her help. The two humans smiled at each other.

"Well, before we get started, let's go back home already, dude." Anne said. "Pretty sure that you're gonna crash if you stay up more than you should."

"Haha! You're right, Anne." Sprig chuckled. "I'll lead the way. Come on."

Anne and Sprig then began to walk towards the direction of the Plantar farm, the latter having gone through quite the experience for the past several hours or so.

While his human woes would not go away any time soon, at least he had something to look forward to together with Anne in the meanwhile. So far, it was the first positive thing that he had experienced all day.

"By the way, Anne, can I ask you about a thing?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"Can you tell me how I'm supposed to use that horn organ?"

"Horn organ?"

"Yeah. You know, the part of the body that's found between your legs? And attached to it is a pair of-"

"Nope! You're on your own with this one!"

"Huh?! How come?!"

"Here's your first lesson about what being a human is all about: They care about their private parts much more than frogs do. And that's all that I'm gonna say about it."

"Oh… This thing is gonna bother me all week…"

Chapter Text

Deep inside of the forest, far from Wartwood, dangerous creatures can be found wandering around the area, each of them seeking out a particular objective. Some want to be left alone and to live in peace. Others are searching for food. And some wish to occupy territories, and will wrestle control of them against opposing species for the sake of it. What drives them to do so is their survival instinct, such is nature.

And if a regular person, who sees no action for most of their life, finds themself in the middle of it all? They either get torn to shreds by the wild creatures, become food for them, both, or worse. All part of their survival instinct.

Needless to say, the Wartwood townsfolk tend to steer clear away from wildlife territory. The few people daring enough to enter such a deathtrap are hunters trying to obtain exotic food, people who have profound knowledge of the area to traverse past places where danger might lurk…

… And of course, people seeking out adventurous thrills. A certain, pink frog belonging to a family of farmers is one such example of an adventure-seeking rascal.

The pink frog leaped out of the bushes before landing in the middle of a wide area deep within the forest. He looked around himself to see if he could find a rare fruit that was said to only appear once every decade, near the end of the current season. It was the sole reason why he was travelling deep inside of the forest, far away from the town, in spite of the danger. If he could find that fruit and bring it back to his family, they might benefit from it by somehow growing it and selling the produce to the public for a handsome sum of money.

Although, if he was honest with himself, he was using that as an excuse to venture into the wild, as he himself believed that the rare fruit was only a myth, a fact that his grandfather told him a few times over the course of the year. He could always find a random fruit that he deems to be uncommon and bring it back to his family at the end of his adventure, not caring if it's worth a copper or two.

As he paced himself around the wide area, his stomach started to growl.

"Oof." Sprig said as he placed his hands on his belly. "Guess I should have packed up some lunch first."

He debated on whether or not he should continue forward or stop and forage for some food, when his eyes rested on the sight of bushes full of green and red berries growing from them.

"Oooh!" The young boy licked his lips as he hopped over to the berry-grown bushes. Before he could satiate his hunger by picking them one by one, he recalled one of Hop Pop's warnings about the berries.

"What was it that Hop Pop said again…?" Sprig asked himself, trying to remember what it was that his grandfather told him. "Green and red, be well fed. Blue and red, instantly dead… Or is it the other way around? Or is it green and purple, spleen goes… garble? Or… Ah, whatever!"

He proceeded to pick each and every berry and toss them in his mouth, happily munching and savouring each of them before swallowing down the hatch. He planned to keep on doing it until either the bushes are rid of any berries or his belly becomes full of them.

As he continued to pick the berries, he came across one that was harder to pull out compared to the others. He increased the strength of his pull bit by bit while trying not to pull too hard to the point where he ends up popping the berry in the process.

"Ngh…! Come on, you stupid berry…! Come… to… papa!"

After a few tries, Sprig managed to pull out the stubborn berry, though not without him falling to the ground on his back due to the amount of force that he had to exert to accomplish the task. "Haha!" he cheered as he sat up before enjoying his reward by taking the berry in his mouth.

That is, until he noticed that the berry was still somehow connected to the branch of the bush.

And the branch somehow got extended from the bush to where Sprig was sitting.

And the branch was strangely moving.

"… That doesn't look good."

His concerns were proven correct when the branch lifted itself up to the sky, and the bushes were shaking until something emerged out of them. Looking up, he was met with the sight of a large, tree-like monstrosity walking on four pairs of root-like legs, two large branches that serve as arms with multiple, smaller branches protruding across, all holding berries, and a terrifying face that stared down at its prey who did not know any better.

"Oh boy, that really doesn't look good."

The tree monster roared in Sprig's small face before it swung its arm down on him. The pink frog yelped as he put his arms up in an attempt to protect himself from the monster's attack.

"YAAAHH!"

POW!

Before its arm could reach the boy, an unexpected person came swinging towards it on a vine and delivered a hard kick on its face, causing it stumble back away from Sprig.

Realizing that the monster's attack never came, Sprig moved his arms down just in time for his mysterious saviour to land in front of him. He gasped when he instantly recognized who it was. Who would ever forget a small, yellow frog in a patched-up beanie that mostly covered her orange hair, wearing a seafoam green shirt with dark-grey overall skirt.

"Ivy!" he happily shouted out the name of his childhood friend.

"You okay there, Sprig?" Ivy asked as she lent him a helping hand, which he was too eager to take it to pull himself up from the ground.

"Yeah!" he nodded. "Boy, am I really glad to see you, Ivy!"

"Same here." she said.

The tree monster recovered from the kick to the face and let out a ferocious roar towards the sky, alerting the two young frogs and reminding them that they're not out of the woods yet.

"No time to talk, Sprig!" Ivy exclaimed as she pulled out an axe and tossed it to Sprig.

"Right!" he said as he caught the axe in his hands. "Huh. Where did you pull the axe from?"

"I said no time to talk!" Ivy armed herself with a second axe that she also pulled from out of nowhere. "It's time for a comeback!"

"Oh right!" Sprig heeded her words and readied himself for combat with axe in hand.

The tree monster roared out one more time before it charged itself at the two young frogs. Sprig and Ivy yelled out in retaliation, as both of them ran at the monster with their axes raised above their heads.

What resulted was basically a one-sided fight where the monster was gradually getting bits and pieces of its limbs chopped off by the young couple, unable to get a hit on them due to their smaller size and speed.

Sprig and Ivy relentlessly attacked their opponent with no sign of stopping, until they eventually managed to cut off a few of its legs and even one of its arms, not to mention the numerous cuts that it received which exposed its vulnerable flesh hidden beneath its bark exterior.

The monster realized that it was fighting a losing battle, and with a distressed roar, it immediately retreated from the two frogs, fearing for its life.

Sprig and Ivy both let out a loud cheer, dropping their axes and pumped their fists up to the sky, before giving each other a high-five.

"That was incredible!" Ivy shouted. "Definitely one of the most satisfying fights that I ever had!"

"Yeah!" Sprig agreed. "Did you see that tree abomination running away like a wimp?! I didn't think I've ever seen monsters like that acting like a big loser!"

"Yeah! It was pretty funny! And sad in a way!"

"Haha! It really was!"

The two young frogs both laughed with each other as another form of them celebrating their victory, as well as the fact that they were enjoying each other's company. Once they had exhausted their laughter, Ivy turned herself around and began to march towards one direction chosen randomly, presumably to search for more adventurous thrills.

"Come on, Sprig! The Sun's still up and we have a lot more exploring to do in this dense forest filled with exciting danger!" she said

"You got it!" Sprig said as he began to follow his childhood friend, as they traversed deep inside of the forest.

Ever since she showed up to his rescue, Sprig could not stop himself from looking fondly at Ivy. How strong she looked when she effortless chopped away the monster's limbs, how excited she was when they celebrated their win, how cute she presented herself when she laughed alongside him…

He loved everything about her. Her strength, her enthusiasm, her tendency to spring into action, everything. He also loved the fact that both of them shared a lot in common with one another. He could not believe that it took him until the failed, arranged courtship to realize that he has feelings for Ivy Sundew. And he was certain that she shared the same feeling.

When he thought about the possibility of sharing a lifetime with her, he was surprised at how a hundred percent certain he was about that future. Does that mean that it was time for them to enter in a relationship with one another? He knew that he wanted to. And if he knew his childhood friend well, then she would share the same mindset as him.

There was no reason for him to fear rejection, when that possibility does not exist. All he had to do was speak his mind to Ivy.

"Ivy," Sprig spoke to her, causing the two frogs to stop where they were. "I'm really glad that you and I met each other when we were tadpoles. I feel like I got to know a lot about you, and I'm pretty sure that it's the same for you. The time that we spent together, the playful fights that we had, the adventures that we've gone through side by side… It made me realize just how much I want you in my life."

The yellow frog did not turn around to face him. But he was sure that she was listening, at least.

"You might think that I'm going way to fast with it, but to tell you the truth, I've never been that sure about it in my whole life, so…"

Sprig took a deep breath, as he was about to speak out his declaration of love to his childhood friend.

"Ivy… I love you." he said. "Would you go out on a date with me?"

"…Sprig."

That was it. The point of no return. The point where Sprig and Ivy's lives were about to change drastically. Numerous thoughts came in the young boy's mind. How would they celebrate their hook-up? How would they inform their families about it? How long would they spend time with each other until they feel ready to move on to the next level? When would they start a family of their own? How many children should they have?

Perhaps he was getting ahead of himself with those thoughts. But one thing is for certain, the idea of him and Ivy being a couple was a sure thing. Everyone was expecting it. Even he was expecting it. That was how sure he was that they would become a thing no problem. From that point forward, Sprig and Ivy are now a-.

"Sorry… But no."

"… Huh?"

Just a few words from her caused everything to crumble in his mind and soul. A simple 'no' was enough to blow up every expectations that he had about his future with her. A simple rejection betrayed everything that he ever knew about her and their bond with one another.

"N… No?" he repeated, in state of disbelief. "I-is that what you just said?"

"Yeah. Sorry, Sprig." she apologized, her back still facing the shocked boy.

"B-but why?!" he asked, his heart feeling like it was sinking down into his stomach. "W-we went through a lot together ever since we were really young! We've known each other like the back of our hand! I… I don't get it!"

The pink frog fell on his knees, his legs feeling like they could not handle the invisible weight that they were forcefully chained to by the yellow frog's words. He struggled with all of his might to not burst out crying. He wanted to know why she rejected him so easily like that. He had to know.

"Ivy, tell me! What did I do wrong?!"

"Isn't it obvious, Sprig?" Ivy said, finally turning herself around to look at the distraught boy with a look of disgust in her eyes.

"… I don't date ugly humans."

"W… what? What are you…?"

He was confused by the answer that he got from her. It was not until he looked down at himself that he noticed that something was different about him. Namely, his entire body had changed.

His hands had an extra finger each, and were not webbed. The colour of his skin was changed from pink to beige. His feet had five toes instead of two. His body felt taller than usual. And, upon examining his face with his hands, it was structurally different and had a face bump in the middle.

The reality of her words became apparent to him. He was no longer a frog, but a human being.

"W-what? B-but how did I…?" Sprig struggled to comprehend exactly when was it that he turned into a human being.

Before he could organize his thoughts, jumbled by that revelation, he saw that Ivy had turned her back on him once more and began to walk away from him.

"Looks like you don't know me as much as you think." Ivy said. "Otherwise, you'd have known that we're never a good fit for each other."

"W-wait! Ivy, please!" Sprig cried out to her as he got up on his feet with all of his might and ran after her, seeking to find a way around their species-related issue.

Despite her simply walking, while he was running, the distance between them became larger and larger by the second. Not only that, but the forest that they were in slowly disappeared into darkness, leaving only the human boy and the frog girl visible in the dark void. Everything went unnoticed by the despairing boy, as he focused entirely on her.

"Goodbye, Sprig." Ivy said, as she became far away enough from him to essentially disappearing from his sight. "I don't ever want to see you again."

"No! Don't go, Ivy!" he cried, tears freely falling from his eyes. "I can fix this! I can fix all of this! Just give me a chance, Ivy! Please! Ivy!"

His focus on Ivy got interrupted, when his next step forward nearly caused him to slip over the edge.

"Aah!"

He barely saved himself from falling when he leaned back and fell on his butt, with his legs dangling on the edge of a cliff. One glimpse past the edge was enough for him to know that what awaited down below was a bottomless void.

"Ivy?!" He looked up to where he last saw the yellow frog, and to his dismay, his childhood friend had disappeared. Instead, all that he saw in front of him were a few, small islands floating aimlessly in the night sky, surrounded by stars.

"… Wait… What?"

Sprig realized that something was different. Looking around him, he saw the scenery had changed. He was no longer in the forest located far away from Wartwood. He was instead sitting on the edge of one of the floating islands in the middle of nowhere in the sky. When he looked up, all he saw were a few more islands floating far above him, as well as the many stars glimmering endlessly in the night.

A moment had passed, and four stars suddenly appeared among the many stars, every one of them moving in one direction across the night sky, each leaving a trail of a different colour.

Blue. Green. Red. And Yellow.

Everything about it seemed familiar to him, somehow…

As he watched the four shooting stars moving through the sky, one of the shooting stars that was leaving a yellow trail suddenly changed course. It was instead moving towards the young boy, its appearance growing larger and larger the more closer it was to where he was.

Sprig thought that the shooting star was about to hit him. But instead, it flew past him. He let his eyes follow the star just in time for it to turn into shiny, yellow dust, dispersing itself around the island that he was at, especially the house.

The house that looked suspiciously like the Plantars' house.

"Wait… This house…" he whispered to himself, as he stood up from the ground. "I… I think I saw it before…"

Everything about what he saw seemed very familiar to him. As in, he had a very similar dream like that before. Is it even possible to have the same dream twice?

He set his gaze on the house that looked like the Plantars' house. Before he even realized it, he found himself walking towards the house, specifically towards the front door. Approaching the house never crossed his mind even once, and never once did his curiosity lingered on it. Yet, there he was, moving step-by-step towards the house.

He could not explain it, but something about the place was pulling him in. Like it was calling to him.

He was certain that it was not the first time that it happened.

As soon as he found himself standing in front of the door, he looked down at the doorknob and, before his mind began to process his next course of action, his hand was already grasping on it. He figured that there was no point in trying to stop himself, since somehow, his body was moving on its own. Might as well find out what's inside.

He slowly turned the doorknob and pushed the front door open, as the light from the inside engulfed the young boy.

He had his other hand up to shield his eyes from the blinding light. As soon as the light began to fade, he slowly moved his hand down and was presented with what was behind the front door.

It was a large, empty room. Empty, as in there was not even a single item that could tell him what kind of room it was or that could give the room a sense of identity.

No furniture. No curtains. No carpet. No lamps, despite there being some form of lighting in the room. No nothing.

It was simply a large, empty room with stoned walls with two windows, one on each side walls, a wooden floor and a triangular roof. It was completely empty.

… Except for a single person, sitting in the middle of the room. A person wearing a short cloak with a hood, and a tunic.

Sprig was unsure what to do next. It did not seem like that person was alerted of his presence, despite the front door being opened. He was basically barging in on someone's propriety without knowing. He felt that the smart thing to do was to leave quietly before the person in the room even realized that someone invaded their home.

Yet… An unknown force was beckoning him to make his presence known.

"Um… Hello?"

The owner of the house got startled by the sound of his voice. They turned their head around to have their gaze crossed with his, and it was there that he got a good look of their face.

It seemed to be a pink, female frog with short, orange hair that stopped at the length of her neck. On top of wearing the cloak and tunic, she also had a brooch shaped like a leaf keeping the cloak together.

She… looked like Sprig when he was a frog.

"Sorry. I, uh, didn't really mean to startle you, miss." Sprig apologized. "Uh… I sorta got lost trying to chase a friend, and I, uh… I was wondering if you could help me." He took a step forward.

Suddenly, the hooded frog quickly stood up from the floor, becoming alarmed as she took a step away from the boy.

"Whoa! I-it's okay, miss!" Sprig tried to reassure her, as he raised his hands up. "I'm not going to-"

He trailed off when he saw that the young girl did something strange. She had her eyes closed for one second, and for the next second, she opened them up again. Somehow, her eyes changed to what he could only describe as…

"Glowing, blue eyes…?"

For a split second, the female frog suddenly appeared right in front of him. Sprig barely had time to look down and saw the look of fear in the young girl's eyes, before she forcefully shoved the boy back with unnatural strength.

He screamed as he was being sent flying back through the door, unable to comprehend what happened a second ago.

Sprig woke up in a cold sweat, sitting up from his bed.

He was panting and clutching his chest with one hand in an attempt to calm his fast-beating heart. He looked around himself and saw that he was inside of his room, now relatively clean after he cleaned up all of his torn clothes and had all the fallen objects hanged from the ceiling again. And since his hammock bed was still out of commission, he was resting on a simple mattress.

He let out a relieved sigh, once he managed to calm his heart down. "Whoa… That was one, crazy dream." he said.

He tried to recall what happened in his dream. He was in a forest, searching for a fruit, and came across a monster. Then Ivy came along and she and Sprig fought the monster together until it ran away, crying for mommy. Then Sprig confessed his love for Ivy, but she rejected him because he was a human being, which he suddenly turned into. Which led to Ivy walking away from him, and he attempted to reach out to her, begging her to come back. And then…

And then…

"… Wait. What happened after that…?"

He knew that something else occurred in his dream, but the scenes following him chasing after Ivy became a blur. He could not recall what happened afterwards no matter how hard he worked his brain to remember. The most that he could make out of was one, small notable image.

Glowing, blue eyes…

"Argh… What am I doing? I shouldn't be invested in that dream." he said to himself, as he used his left hand to wipe the sweat off of his face. "I should be glad that it's over…"

When he moved his hand down, his gaze fell on it, as he noted the extra finger and how it was not webbed. He frowned, as it was a reminder that he was still a transformed human being.

Shifting his gaze from the left hand to the right, he realized that his right hand was clutching something in its hold.

"My hat…"

His green hat and goggles were the only things still intact since he became human. It was gift given to him by his parents when he was a tadpole, and he had been wearing it ever since. It was difficult for anyone to imagine him without it. You could even say that it became his iconic hat.

He smiled as he had his thumb brushing on the lens of his goggles. Seeing his hat perfectly fine, it was like a part of his true, frog self can still be found on him, in spite of his human transformation.

"Hey, Sprig!" His baby sister made her presence known by swinging the door to his bedroom open before entering with a hop. "You awake yet?"

"Morning, Polly." Sprig greeted her, as he put down his hat next to him. "Yeah, I just got up."

"Okay, good. Hop Pop just got done making breakfast for us. You coming or not?"

"Yeah, in a sec, Polly."

Polly nodded before she hopped out of his room through the door.

His reminiscing over his hat, and his sister's sudden intrusion helped him stop worrying about him not being able to remember all of his dream. A good thing too, since he was not in the mood to have the scene where Ivy coldly rejected him replay on loop in his head.

He got up from his temporary bed and left his bedroom to join the rest of his family downstairs to eat breakfast, closing the door behind him in the process.

… A small spark of electricity ran itself across Sprig's goggles before dissipating.

Chapter Text

The first day of spring had arrived in Wartwood. For many people, the second season of the year opens up a slew of new opportunities, such as growing crops that are seasonal specific, participating in activities that take advantage of the warm and serene atmosphere, seeing the sights where the flora, especially the flowers, are at their most graceful state in order to spread their blossomed beauty across the land, and so much more.

For the Plantars, and especially for Anne, the arrival of spring meant that they are now able to proceed what they were supposed to be doing since the Thai-American human's arrival in Amphibia: To journey outside of Frog Valley and into the whole of Amphibia to find a way to get Anne back home.

It was the middle of the day in the Plantars' farm. Anne was sitting on the roof on top of the front door, enjoying the sights of the flowers blooming around the farm while listening to her music on her smartphone. Her phone had started playing one of her favourite K-Pop songs, leading to her bobbing her head to the beat of the music.

She was in the middle of her zone, when she caught a sight of the Plantars family snail, Bessie, entering the farm with Hop Pop and Polly at the reins, pulling what seemed to be a large, house-looking wagon.

"Whoa." Anne simply said as she removed her earphones, put away her smartphone and attempted to drop down from the roof to the ground safely, only to slip up and fall on her butt in the process.

"Ow…!" she moaned as she stood up and rubbed her sore behind, while walking towards Bessie who stopped in front of the house. "Hey, Hop Pop. Whatcha got there?" she asked, pointing at the wagon behind Bessie.

"Impressive, huh?" Hop Pop said as he and Polly got off of Bessie to join the brown-haired human. "This here's an all-terrain, custom-modeled family wagon. Calling it the fwagon. Hehe."

"Fwagon? Really?" Anne said, unamused.

"Cheap too." Hop Pop added.

"The previous owner died in it." Polly interjected in a spooky tone, though it failed to scare anyone.

"Where's Sprig, by the way?" Hop Pop asked, as he noticed that his grandson was nowhere to be seen outside. "Is he still inside of the house?"

"Oh yeah." Anne replied. "He's been sorting through all the clothes that you got for him yesterday. He's definitely taking his sweet time with it, now that I think about it."

"Ah, I don't fault him for that. Trying to find a new look for someone his age can be quite a challenge in this day and age. Is it something that happens in your world as well, Anne?"

"Oh definitely." Anne confirmed. "Girls can take forever to decide what to wear, based on how cute, pretty and dependable they want to present themselves."

"Is it the same for you?" Polly asked.

"Eh." Anne shrugged. "I usually don't worry too much over how I look. I just wear anything that feels comfy to me."

"I guess that explains why you're still wearing that same shirt and skirt from when you got here. And still missing a shoe, for some weird reason."

As the three of them discussed the intricacies of an individual's looks, the front door of the house got swung open and a certain, orange-haired human stepped out from there, earning the attention of the rest of the Plantars family. They were pleasantly surprised by what they were seeing from him.

Sprig made his appearance wearing a new set of clothes that fit his human form, instead of the temporary one provided by his best friend. To begin, his bottom clothing consisted of a pair of brown, leather boots with white socks, and a pair of black shorts with a brown leather pouch strapped around the right pant leg where he stored his slingshot.

For the upper clothing, he wore a white shirt and a short-sleeved green jacket with a hood. He had just finished adjusting the pair of brown, fingerless leather gloves on his hands. And to complete his new look, he pulled out his iconic green hat and goggles and put them on his head, hiding most of his orange hair in the process while leaving the bangs sticking out.

"Whoa…" It was the first sound that came out of Anne's mouth to express her reaction to his new appearance.

"Okay, not gonna lie. I'm digging this new look." Polly admitted.

Hop Pop chuckled. "Once again, the tailor outdid herself with this one. Definitely worth every copper."

"Hey, guys!" Sprig waved at his family.

"Hey, Sprig!" Anne said as she approached her best friend. "Loving the new look there!"

"Thanks, Anne. I wasn't sure if the new clothes would work out for me, but now that I got dressed and took a good look at myself, it almost looks like I'm back in my old, favourite clothes from back when I was my usual frog self. With a few tweaks here and there, of course."

Anne took a closer look at Sprig's new clothes, moving herself around him to inspect every small detail on him to see if there was nothing that betrayed what she saw. After spending a short amount of time doing that, the Thai-American girl made her conclusion. "What else can I say, other than it suits you nicely, dude?"

Sprig blushed at her compliment. "Hehe. Thanks."

The boy then noticed the wagon near his grandfather and littler sister. He let out an astonished gasp. "Whoa, Hop Pop! What is this thing?" he asked, walking towards the wagon.

"You like it, boy? I just bought ourselves a cheap, family wagon. Fwagon for short." Hop Pop replied.

"Wow! A fwagon!" Sprig exclaimed.

"Sprig, you can't be seriously calling it that." Anne said, still unamused by the shortened name for family wagon.

"So wait, why did you bought it in the first place, Hop Pop?"

"Well," Hop Pop started. "With the snow melted and the mountain pass open, we can finally travel outside the valley! To Newtopia!"

"Oh my frog!" Sprig exclaimed once again, expressing excitement. "We're going to Newtopia?!"

"What's in Newtopia?" Anne asked.

"I'll show you." Hop Pop said. "Let's go inside of the fwagon. You two can check and see for yourselves what it has to offer first."

Sprig and Anne nodded, as they followed Hop Pop and Polly inside of the fwagon. Once inside, they looked around and were impressed with what they saw in there.

In Anne's point of view, the inside of the fwagon resembled an RV. Aside from the entrance that they entered from, there was another set of doors that lead to the back of the fwagon. The fwagon contained two beds, one at a corner left to the entrance, the other on the platform above. There was a table with benches located on the right of the door. And on the opposite side, there was the kitchen and a few assortment of furnitures, such as a bookshelf, for one.

Once they had enough time to look over the interior of the fwagon, Anne and Sprig joined Hop Pop and Polly at the table. Once everyone had gathered, Hop Pop pulled out a map and spread it open on the table, the map showing a diagram of the entire land of Amphibia.

"To answer your question, Anne," Hop Pop started, as he pointed at the castle located at the center of the land. "It's the beating heart of Amphibia. A bustling metropolis full of ancient knowledge, run by the wisest of newts. If anyone can help you get home, it's them!"

"Really? You think that Newtopia might hold the key to get me back home?" Anne asked, feeling hopeful from what she had been told.

"It's highly possible. There's only one way to find out for sure."

"I can't believe it. After three months of being stranded in Amphibia, we're finally starting to get somewhere! Not only that, but maybe out on the road, we'll find Marcy." Anne turned her head towards the orange-haired boy. "And at the same time, we'll find the core ingredients for Maddie's potion to turn you back to normal."

"Yeah, you're right, Anne." Sprig nodded. At the mention of the witch frog, the boy remembered that they have yet to receive any news from her concerning the ingredients for the potion. "Oh right! I probably should check up on Maddie and see if she found anything about it!" he said as he stood up from the table and was about to leave the fwagon. "Be back soon, guys!"

"Hold on just a minute, boy!" Hop Pop stopped him from leaving by grabbing him by the wrist. "You do realize that you'll be going to the main square to get to Maddie, right? I'm worried because it's only been a couple of days since the townsfolk almost kicked you out of town, and it's still possible that they might do it again."

"I know, Hop Pop. Not gonna lie, I still don't feel a hundred percent safe walking around town with everyone looking at me like I'm some kind of a criminal. But I need to know from Maddie what kind of things that we need to find before we leave the valley. Plus, staying cooped up in the house gets a bit boring after a while. This growing boy needs some fresh air, you know?"

"I understand, Sprig. But I can't help but worry for your safety. Maybe I should come with you, just to make sure."

"No need, Hop Pop!" Polly said, as she hopped on her big brother's head. "I can tag along with him to town. You know how good I am at fending people off if they even look at me funny. When I'm around, you can be sure that no one's gonna lay a finger on him."

"Feels kinda weird to have my little sister look out for me, instead of the other way around…" Sprig commented.

"Well, alright then. I'll leave Sprig's wellbeing in your hands, Polly." Hop Pop conceded. "Oh, now that I think about it, while you're at it, can you kids go and buy some supplies for us? I feel like what we've got here might not be enough to last us the whole trip to Newtopia."

"Sure, Hop Pop." Sprig nodded, as he was handed some money from his grandfather, as well as a list of items that they need to get.

"Now, be back before sunset, so that you have time to pack your things, kids. Because tonight, we leave for Newtopia!"

"You got it!" Polly said. "Let's go already, Sprig!"

"Right!" Sprig nodded as he and Polly left the fwagon to depart towards the main square of Wartwood to accomplish the tasks of getting supplies for the road, and especially to inquire Maddie about what she might have found about what they need for the cure.

Anne looked through the window of the fwagon and watched the two siblings disappearing towards the village. "Hm. Maybe I should come along with him too. Wouldn't hurt to have another pair of helping hands, right?"

"I thought so too, but I'm sure having Polly around is more than plentiful, in my opinion." Hop Pop said. "Besides, you and I should start preparing things on our end."

"Yeah, true." Anne nodded. "So, what do you want me to do, Hop Pop?"

"Well, Anne, since you don't have a lot to pack, could you give Chuck the spare key when he swings by?" The elderly frog asked, as he handed out the key to the house to the brown-haired girl.

"Who's Chuck?"

"We played bugball together, remember?"

"Umm…" Anne tried to remember if she ever met that Chuck person before.

"He grows tulips." Hop Pop added.

"Mmmm… Nope, not ringing a bell." Anne said, having given up on remembering Chuck no matter how hard she tried. "Why does he need a key?"

"Because I hired him to protect the house from all the things waiting to destroy it."

"Wait, what?!"

The Plantars siblings reached the main square of Wartwood. They figured that they should go and see Maddie first before getting supplies for the trip at the Grub & Go store. Around that time, the witch frog should be helping out her father at the bakery, so there should not be any issue with crossing paths with her.

Along the way, Sprig and Polly started discussing together about how they should prepare for the trip.

"So, Sprig," Polly spoke. "Since you probably only need to pack in your new clothes, while the only thing I'm packing is my bucket, what else do you think you wanna bring along for the trip?"

"Good question, Polly." Sprig replied. "It's gonna be our first trip outside of the valley. So whatever I'm bringing with me, I'll have to think about it with a huge amount of consideration."

"I know I'm definitely bringing my good old flail. I wouldn't ever pass up the chance of whacking my foes right in their stupid faces and send them running home like crybabies, especially if they're from outside of the valley. Fear me, infidels!"

"Well, if we're talking about weapons," The orange-haired boy pulled out his slingshot from the leather pouch. "My trusty slingshot never failed me before. I can always rely on Old Reliable to get the job done. Isn't that right, baby?"

"You bet it is, Sprig! I'm always here to save your skin, no matter what!" said his slingshot, which is just Sprig speaking in a high-pitched voice to simulate that it has sentience.

"Aww, Old Reliable! You're always my favourite!" Sprig affectionately rubbed his cheek against his slingshot. "Oh, who's a good girl? Who's a good girl? You are! You are!"

"Ahem!" The annoyed tadpole loudly cleared her throat.

"Oh! Sorry, Polly." The orange-haired boy apologized, as he put his slingshot back in the pouch. "Getting way ahead of myself, there."

"You think? I hope that you don't act like this with all of your other slingshots back home."

"Haha… Of course not." Sprig denied, as he nervously averted his eyes to the side. "I'm not some kind of weirdo who thinks talking to his slingshots is normal and cool. That's crazy…"

As they continued to make their way towards the bakery, the Plantar boy overheard whispers from nearby. Turning his head towards the sound of the whispers, he saw a few frogs standing nearby, and they all looked at him with distrust.

"Hey, it's that human boy from the other day."

"What was the mayor thinking, keeping him here? It's no wonder why we didn't vote for him during the last election."

"I don't care if Anne trusts this guy. We don't want another Sasha incident on our hands, here."

Sprig frowned as he listened to the frogs voicing their distrust behind his back. Then, he heard different whispers from another source, causing him to turn his attention towards it and his gaze fell on another group of frogs talking amongst themselves.

"Is it a good idea letting this Twig person walk around freely?"

"Anne is a sweet girl. But I question her choice of friends back in her world."

"Hey, he's looking our way. Let's get out of here."

The group of frogs scattered from the spot. When Sprig turned his head back towards the front, he noticed that a mother and her child were walking in their direction.

The mother noticed the boy and led her child around the Plantars sibling, keeping their distance as far away from them as possible. "Don't look, Timmy. This suspicious boy is nothing but trouble."

Sprig watched as the mother and child fled from him, as he slowed his pace to a stop. He let out a despondent sigh, as he sadly gazed down on the ground. He was expecting it, but it didn't help him feel even a little bit better about his situation. His only consolation was that he now understood how Anne felt during her first month in Wartwood.

"Ah, who cares what they think?" Polly said, tapping her brother on the forehead in an attempt to snap him out of his misery. "Give them a month, and they'll eventually have to accept you as one of their own, as long as you do the boring thing of staying out of trouble."

"Polly, you know our town motto is 'slow to accept, even slower to respect,' right?" Sprig reminded her.

"Well, yeah. But if you really want to earn their trust early on, then you're gonna have to do it your own way. That's how Anne did it, a couple of months ago, using her own Anne way."

"Easy for you to say… I feel like the only way that I can get people to stop being scared of me is if I turn back to normal. Taking any other way's gonna drag me down until my whole spirit gets crumbled into dust before anyone can even begin to accept me."

The Plantar boy let out another sigh. "Let's just go and be done with it so we can get back home faster. Makes me glad that we're leaving the valley tonight…"

He turned himself towards the direction of the bakery. But once he had done so…

"AAAAAAHH!!!" Both Sprig and Polly screamed and jumped at the sudden sight of a creepy creature.

"Hi, you two." greeted Maddie, standing in front of the siblings.

"Oh hey, Maddie." Sprig instantly recovered from his fright and greeted back the witch frog.

"Hey, Maddie!" Polly waved at the blue frog. "We were just about to come and see you!"

"I had a feeling, judging from how you guys looked like you're going to the direction of my place." Maddie said.

"So did you find out where we might find those core ingredients?" The human boy asked.

"I did." The witch frog confirmed.

Before she could elaborate on it, Maddie took a look at her surroundings and noticed that quite a few people around them were looking at them, specifically at the boy they know as 'Twig,' with some form of hostility.

"But it might be safer if we talk about it at the bakery, if it's alright with you."

The Plantar siblings in their turn noticed the weird looks that they have gotten from the townsfolk, and decided that it was a good idea to take up on Maddie's offer.

"Sure, Maddie. Lead the way." Sprig said.

Maddie nodded before she, Sprig and Polly began to walk towards the direction of the Flour and Daughters Bakery, both to shake off the townsfolk's gaze and to discuss the cure to turn the Plantar boy back to normal without anyone finding out about the true circumstances behind the human newcomer 'Twig Lantern.'

Some time had passed since the trio had started walking towards their destination. The bakery was within sight, so they did not have to walk much further before they get down to business.

"So," Maddie began to ask Sprig. "I heard that you go under the name 'Twig Lantern' recently, right? Is it an attempt to separate your human self from your real self in public?"

"That's right." Sprig confirmed. "Anne's the one who came up with it, so you can thank her for that. I never thought about giving myself a fake name until the mayor asked for it, so thank goodness that Anne came to my rescue."

"I still think it's a dumb name, honestly." Polly interjected. "'Twig Lantern' sounds way too close to his actual name. I'm surprised that everyone didn't make the connection between the two in the first place."

"I think 'Twig' is a good name." Maddie said.

"Same here." Sprig said. "It kinda has an outdoor, nature-like feel to it. Like, it gives the impression that I have a big knack at exploring whatever nature has in store for me and stuff."

"Well, it certainly suits you." The blue frog smiled at the boy.

"You two can't be serious." The bow-wearing tadpole stared at the human and frog with sheer disbelief after hearing their opinion on the name. "Well, whatever. Let's agree to disagree. But if I get turned into a human somehow, don't you dare give me a stupid name like 'Molly Lantern,' or something like that."

"No promises." Sprig simply said. His sister could only grumble at his response.

The trio reached the vicinity of the bakery. Maddie continued to lead the Plantar siblings further down the path, until they got to the back of her house.

"This should do it." Maddie said as she stopped and turned to the siblings. "We won't have to worry about anyone overhearing our conversation from this point forward."

"So did you went to the Historic Wartwood Town Archives?" Sprig asked.

"I did." she nodded.

"And I'm guessing you went the same way as we do by dropping down from the skylight, right?" Polly asked.

"Huh. Actually, I never realized that there was another way to get inside of the archives. I just went through the entrance, like normal."

"Wait, really?" Sprig raised a confused eyebrow. "But the door to the archives is practically busted. How did you get in from there?"

"Well, after trying and failing to use some of the spells that I know on the door, the gate is surprisingly resilient, I might add," Maddie explained. "I just say 'frog this' and blew it open using boomshrooms."

"Oooh, I like the way you think, girl!" Polly complimented the witch frog's chaotic and unorthodox method of getting inside of the archives.

"Ok, we're getting a bit sidetracked here." Sprig noted, attempting to steer the conversation towards what was important. "Maddie, what did you find in there?"

"After I spent a couple of days reading all of the necessary information in the archives, I managed to get a good grasp on what the core ingredients should be and where we might find them." Maddie explained as she pulled out a paper scroll containing what she had documented and gave it to the orange-haired boy. "There are seven ingredients listed here, and I wrote down the approximate location of each and who or what is most likely to have them."

"For real?" Sprig quickly took the scroll from the blue frog's hands and opened it up to look through its contents, his spirits becoming more positive after hearing what she had to say. "Oh, thank you, Maddie! We might have a real shot at turning me back to my normal, cute frog self! You're the best!"

Maddie slightly blushed at the boy's compliment, shifting her gaze away from him as she cleared her throat. "Hm. I-it's no big deal."

"Wow, there's a lot of names and places that I don't recognize." Polly commented as she skimmed through the list, until she spotted one particular ingredient whose location seemed noteworthy. "Hey! It says here that we might find one of the ingredients somewhere in Newtopia! We're going to Newtopia!" she pointed at the info of that specific ingredient.

"Oh yeah! You're right, Polly!" Sprig exclaimed.

"You guys are going to Newtopia? That's convenient." Maddie said.

"Yeah. We didn't know that we're going there until Hop Pop told us earlier today. So we're definitely going to be on the lookout for the ingredient when we get there."

Sprig continued to look through the list in an attempt to memorize what he was supposed to be looking for. Then, he noticed one small piece of information that goes against what the witch frog had told them.

"Hey, Maddie? You said that there are seven ingredients in total, right?" Sprig asked. "Well, I counted and there's actually eight in there."

"Oh right." Maddie said, as she realized what he meant. "You must be talking about the ingredient that has a lot of question marks on it."

The Plantar boy searched through the scroll for what she was talking about and found the information of an ingredient that, as she said, had a lot of question marks written all over it.

"The Moss Man's Flower?" he read outloud before he looked at Maddie with a skeptical look on his face. "Maddie, you don't seriously believe that the Moss Man exists, do you?"

"I don't." Maddie replied. "Everyone knows that the Moss Man is merely a myth. But I added that particular info anyway because it seemed interesting. According to what I've read so far, the Moss Man's Flower has an effect that allows magical concoctions of any kind to unleash its true potential, in theory."

"So… What does that mean?"

"Well, if we take the cure that we're trying to make, for example, the flower would accelerate the process of turning you back into a frog, from about a day to instant."

"Ahh, gotcha." Sprig nodded in understanding.

"In any case, the flower is just an optional ingredient to add. There's no point in stressing yourselves over it, since it most likely doesn't exist anymore."

"Got it."

"And before I forget," The blue frog pulled out a map and spread it open for the Plantar siblings to see. "I'm also giving you the map of Amphibia and marked down the locations of where you might find the ingredients on it. It wouldn't hurt to have a visual guide for your troubles."

"Thanks, Maddie!" Polly took the map from Maddie's hand and started to analyze everything that she had marked. "Oh wow. Some of those places are pretty far from where we are. You think Hop Pop can take us there during the trip?"

"I dunno, Polly." Sprig replied as he took a peak at the map. "I mean, I would really like to go to those places and find what we need, but isn't the harvest happening in a month or so? I don't think Hop Pop would want us to stay outside of Wartwood for too long."

"Ah, we'll figure it out later." Polly shrugged. "At worst, you'll have to wait a bit longer before you can turn back to normal."

"Hrmm… The last thing that I want is to wait any longer than I should…" Sprig groaned. He turned his attention back to Maddie. "Maddie, thank you so much for your help with finding what ingredients that we need to be on the lookout for."

"Like I said, it's no big deal." Maddie said. "I've done everything I can with the short amount of time that we got before you leave. Now, it's all up to you to find what you're looking for. Hopefully, you're not going to just forget about your task during your trip, are you?"

"Not this time." Sprig shook his head as he stashed away both the list and the map on his person. "I may have a short attention span, but this is too important for me to just let it slip out of my mind. We're going to find those ingredients, and when we do, I can go back to being Sprig Plantar the cute frog of Wartwood in no time."

"Alright." the witch frog nodded. "In the meantime, I'm going to continue to research my books to find out what I'm supposed to do and what method I should be using to create the cure."

She looked up to the sky and noted the position of the Sun, as if she was using it as a measure of time. "But not today. Because if I got this right, the spell that I used to keep myself awake for three days should be wearing off in a second."

"Say what now?"

Before Sprig could ask what she meant by that, Maddie suddenly dropped to the ground.

"Maddie?!" Both Sprig and Polly shouted her name, as the alarmed boy quickly went and picked her up in his arms.

They both checked for some worrisome signs on the blue frog, but the only thing that they found, besides the sore forehead, was that she was sleeping soundly. They let out a sigh of relief, now that they knew that Maddie was fine.

"Man, the dark arts is no joke." Sprig commented.

"Tell me about it." Polly agreed. "So what should we do with her?"

"I'll take it from here." A gruff voice was heard. Turning their attention towards the voice, they were met with the sight of Maddie's father standing nearby.

Mr. Flour walked up to the young children and took Maddie from Sprig's arms to his own. "I'll bring Maddie back up to her room so that she can sleep. You two go ahead and handle whatever it is that you're about to do."

"Got it. Thanks, Mr. Flour."

Mr. Flour grunted before he proceeded to get back inside of the bakery with his eldest daughter in his arms.

"Well, we got what we need from Maddie." Polly said. "Now let's go and get some supplies for the trip, Sprig!"

"You got it!"

The Plantar siblings left the bakery after getting the necessary tools and information from the witch frog. With their remaining task being to gather supplies from the Grub & Go store, they only needed to walk back to the main square and go from there.

On their way back to the main square, Sprig pulled out the two scrolls and looked over their contents.

"Not that I doubt her, but you think Maddie got it right with the stuff that she told us about?" The purple tadpole asked her brother.

"She's the magic expert, so I trust her with this one." The orange-haired boy replied. "Also, I can't really explain it, but she looked really determined to turn me back to normal. I mean, this whole thing is my fault, but I think she feels a bit responsible for what happened to me."

"I guess that might be it." Polly was content with settling with Sprig's assumptions. Though, she cannot help but think that Maddie might have another reason for helping the boy out. One that Polly found to be too icky for a child her age.

Her train of thought got interrupted when she caught a sight of something coming their way at full speed. Realizing that her brother hadn't stopped walking, she looked down and saw that he was too preoccupied with the two scrolls to notice his surroundings.

"Sprig, watch where you're going!"

"Huh?" The older brother put down the map and finally noticed that something was charging at him from the side. "Whoa!" He quickly took a step back before the charging object could collide into him. He and Polly managed to take a glimpse of what it might be.

It was a person carrying a bag of tools and weapons on their back, on top of pushing a large barrel containing an ominous green liquid on its side. It only took the sight of the person's bush-like brown hair for the siblings to recognize who it was.

"Anne?"

"Oh hey, you guys!" Anne shouted, waving at Sprig and Polly once she recognized who she ran past by. She showed no sign of stopping, however, as she continued to push the large barrel towards the direction of the Plantar farm. "Sorry, can't chat right now! There's a lot of prep that I need to do back home! See you there! Byeee!"

Sprig and Polly only had time to wave her goodbye, before she quickly disappeared from their sight.

"Huh. Wonder what brings her here, in the first place?" Sprig wondered.

"Maybe Hop Pop asked her to get even more supplies." Polly assumed. "Can't be too sure when we're off on a big adventure away from home."

"Yeah, you're right. Let's not make them wait any longer, okay?"

Brushing off Anne's sudden appearance as Hop Pop asking more of his grandchildren's assistance, the Plantar siblings resumed their pace towards Grub & Go without further delay.

Little did the Plantars know, by the time Sprig and Polly return home, chaos would ensue, of the vegetable variety.

Chapter Text

"Okay, Polly. Time for a supply check. Hopefully, we didn't miss anything."

"You got it, Sprig!"

"Mushroom bars."

"Counted 80 of them."

"Beetle jerky."

"10 bags. Pretty sure most of them are for Anne."

"Wooden planks."

"20 of them all accounted for."

"Uh… Olde Creame?"

"That stinky old cream? Eww… Why does Hop Pop need this anyway?"

"I dunno. Something about an itchy butt, I heard?"

"Well, I'ma toss it in the trash instead."

"Don't throw it out, Polly! We paid for this, remember?"

Sprig and Polly were on their way home after finishing what they were set out to do. The orange-haired Plantar was pushing a wooden cart full of supplies that their grandfather wanted them to get, while the purple tadpole was inside of the cart, checking to see if they got everything that was on the list.

In spite of them getting weird looks from the townsfolk while they were shopping for supplies, they were relieved that the whole experience was rather smooth, so they were able to get what they needed with no issues and no one approached them with hostile intent. As much as Sprig would like to think that everyday would be like that, it's possible that he was simply lucky today, and he wouldn't be so lucky the next day and beyond.

"Aaaaand that's all of them!" Sprig said, as he scratched off the last item on the list.

"Great!" Polly shouted, as she popped out form the mountain of supplies in the cart. "Good thing too, because we barely have any copper left to buy any more stuff. And I'm pretty sure that's all that's left of Hop Pop's life savings."

"Now, all that's left to do is take these supplies back home, and we can finally start packing up for our trip to Newtopia!"

"Wooo!" The Plantar siblings both cheered at the fact that they were getting closer to starting their journey outside of the valley.

Sprig continued to push the cart towards the Plantar farm, as there was silence between the siblings, besides the sound of the wheels turning over the earth and the creaking of the wooden cart. That allowed each of them to think over their own thoughts.

For Sprig, he thought about the list of ingredients that Maddie gave them. He was definitely going to talk to Hop Pop about it, but he was trying to figure out what was the fastest way to get to the location of each ingredient without burdening everyone else. Even though the logical path to take was to wait until the opportunity to get to those locations presents itself, he was not sure if he was willing to wait that much longer. Perhaps Newtopia might have a solution for his problems.

As for Polly, the only thing that came to mind was Anne's sudden appearance from a while ago. Sure, she was the one who chalked it up as Hop Pop asking Anne to get more stuff for the trip, but the more she thought about it, the more it didn't make sense. Did Hop Pop really needed that many swords, shovels, rakes, sickles and arrows? And what about that large barrel? The barrel which seemingly contained an ominous, glowing, green substance leaking out of it…

"Sprig," she started to speak to her brother. "Remember when we bumped into Anne while she was pushing that large barrel?"

"Yeah? What about it?" Sprig asked.

"What do think it's inside?"

"Uhh…" Sprig tried to recall what the barrel looked like, but he could not get a clear image forming in his head. "I dunno. Maybe it's full of those drinks that Hop Pop sometimes takes at night."

"Yeah, I doubt that." Polly shook her head. "What kind of drink looks like it came from a bog in the most weirdest place in Amphibia?"

"Well, maybe it's a new brew that just came out."

"With a biohazard label glued on the barrel?"

"Really?"

Polly nodded with certainty.

"Huh. Okay, I see what you're saying." Sprig said, as he took his sister's words to heart. "Maybe we'll ask Anne once we get back to the fa-."

The cart suddenly bumped into something.

SNAP!

"AHH!" Sprig and Polly yelped as some sort of contraption swung its metal part down on itself before making a short jump as a result. Looking over, the siblings saw that they had the cart bump into a giant ta-rat-tula trap and activated it by accident.

Looking around themselves, they saw that there are several of those traps laying around the area.

"What in the world is going on here?!" Polly exclaimed. "Why are there so many ta-rat-tula traps?!"

"Hey, guys!" They heard Anne's voice calling out to them. Looking up from the ground full with traps, they saw the brown-haired girl running towards them, carefully maneuvering herself past the traps without tripping them up. "Careful, there. There's not a lot of room to move around here, especially with what you're bringing home."

"Anne, what's going on here?" Sprig asked. "Why are there so many traaaaoooh wow, what happened to the farm?"

Looking past the human girl, Sprig and Polly realized that they had already reached the farm, and noticed that there were various changes applied to it since the last time that they were there.

On top of the many ta-rat-tula traps surrounding the farm, there are barbed fences installed around it. Barb wires can be found on various parts of the farm, including the outdoor shed, the mailbox, and even the giant dandelion. The house itself is fitted with spikes all around it, as well as an axe placed on top of the chimney, a cannon installed on the roof, and even a giant knife that was sticking out of the tree branch of the house. And in some areas, various weapons are sticking out from the ground, as if someone had buried them in a poor attempt of turning them into spike traps.

"Wow…" Polly looked in awe at the farm's heavily armoured appearance. Everything about it just hit the right spots for the weapon-crazed baby.

"Anne, did you do all of this?" Sprig asked his best friend, assumed that she was the one responsible for that.

"Oh, well, yeah. But it wasn't my idea." Anne replied. "It's all Chuck's. He figured that the house needed a huge makeover while we're gone."

"Really? That's crazy…"

The orange, elderly frog came out from the front door of the house, carrying a suitcase in hand. "Anne, did you see if Sprig and Polly are back home yet?" he asked as he was about to approach the human girl, until he was met with the sight of the farm's new look.

"Wow!" Hop Pop expressed his amazement. "Chuck really outdid himself! Ain't nothing happening to this place while we're gone!"

Anne chuckled to herself, as if she knew something that the others don't.

"Well, since you two are back home, go ahead and pack your things."

"Sure, Hop Pop!" Sprig said as he started to unload some of the supplies from the wooden cart. "Anne, Polly, you guys mind giving me a hand here?"

"Not a problem, buddy." Anne complied, as she began to help out the orange-haired boy with the supplies.

"In a minute, Sprig." Polly said, as she hopped off the cart and made her way towards the farm. "Right now, this girl needs to see what kind of deathtrap this place has in store!"

After hopping past the ta-rat-tula traps and went through the entrance of the farm, Polly's first stop was the house itself, to see if it had any hidden contraption that contained even more traps that could not be visible to the naked eye.

However, she stopped herself short when she noticed a large barrel laying on its side next to the crops of vegetables. She immediately recognized the barrel as the one that Anne was bringing with her back at the main square, the greenish stains on the wood being more than enough to identify it as such.

"Huh. I wonder what's in it?" she asked herself, as she approached the barrel. When she took a peek inside, she saw that there was barely anything left inside, barring a very small amount of green liquid still stuck at the bottom of the barrel.

She noted the position of the barrel, and how the opened top was aiming towards the crops. She moved herself around to see if there was anything else noteworthy about it, and stumbled across a sign stuck on it. She started reading what was on the sign.

Give your crops a fighting chance with Loggle's Miracle Glop!

*Just be careful not to use too much.

"… Uh oh." Polly simply said, realizing the implications behind the matter at hand.

BrumBrumBrumBrumBrum…

"Uh… Guys? Why is the ground shaking?" asked the worried Sprig, trying to keep himself steady as the earth shook underneath them.

"What the…! What's going on?!" Hop Pop exclaimed.

As the Plantar family tried their best to not lose their footing, a hand suddenly popped out of the ground near Polly.

"AAH!" she screamed, as she quickly retreated back to her family.

Once their attention was brought towards the hand at the vegetable crops, they watched as another hand came out next to the first one, then both hands brought themselves down against the ground and something emerged from there. It turned out to be one of the turnips that the family had been growing, suddenly growing a pair of arms and letting out a terrifying cry.

"What the heck?!" Anne shouted.

Then, one by one, each crop pulled itself out of the ground, all of them turning out to be monsters with their own unique appearance. A pumpkin with a large mouth and an eye sticking out from there. A potato with several eyes. An eggplant that grew a body that made it look alien-like. Another turnip that looked like a small person with a big bump.

"Veggie monsters! Just like in one of my nightmares!" Polly yelled.

"Wait, wait! Maybe they're friendly monsters!" Anne reasoned.

"What makes you think that?!" Sprig asked his best friend with skepticism.

"Well, uh… Call it a hunch?" The human girl offered a rather flimsy response, despite looking certain about the nature of the monsters.

She slowly approached one of them and extended a friendly hand in an attempt to prove her point. "Look, these monsters used to be the crops that we grew, right? Maybe they see us as their family, so that means that they're actually really friendly-."

The alien eggplant tried to snap its maw on Anne's hand, who quickly pulled away at the last second.

"AH! Okay, not friendly! Not friendly!" Anne admitted her error in judgment, as she backed away and rejoined the family.

The veggie monsters slowly moved towards the Plantar family, snarling at them and with the full intent of tearing each of them apart to satiate their bloodlust.

"They're not going to let us leave!" Hop Pop said. "We need to fend ourselves against them!"

"Way ahead of you, Hop Pop!" Sprig quickly pulled out his slingshot from his pouch, grabbed a decently-sized rock on the ground, readied his slingshot and aimed it at the veggie monsters. "Okay, you freaks of nature! Me and Old Reliable are gonna show you not to mess with-!"

CRACK!

Sprig blinked.

He thought that he heard and saw something that was inconceivable.

He blinked.

He saw that he was holding the handle of the slingshot with one hand, like usual.

He blinked.

He saw that he was holding the band back with the other hand, with the rock settling firmly at the center, like usual.

He blinked.

He saw that the fork of the slingshot broke apart, and its broken pieces had fallen to the ground. It was unusual.

"… Good job, Sprig." Polly said sarcastically, as she witnessed her brother somehow destroying his trusty old slingshot by accident.

"AAAAHH!" Sprig screamed, as he got down on his knees and picked up the broken pieces in his hand, pressing his broken slingshot against his cheek in distraught. "Old Reliable! What happened to you, girl?! Stay with me! Stay with me, please!" he cried.

He then lowered his hands down so he could look at the poor, severed state of his beloved weapon. He wondered how he could have broken it, since he didn't do anything different to it, compared to all the other times that he used it.

It was there that he caught a glimpse of a small spark of electricity running itself along the broken pieces before dissipating.

"… Huh?"

"Boy, look out!"

Hop Pop's shout snapped him out of his distraction, as he looked up from his slingshot just in time to see the big turnip monster diving at him with its mouth open. He quickly put his arms up to defend himself from the attack.

SLASH!

At the sound of a sword slash and an object falling on the ground twice, Sprig lowered his arms and noticed that Anne was standing in front of him with her back facing him, her sword and tennis racket both drawn in each hand. She saved him by slicing the turnip monster into two.

"Pull yourself together, dude!" Anne said, as she turned her head around to look at the boy.

"R-right! Sorry!" Sprig quickly apologized, as he stood up from the ground and put away his broken slingshot.

Regardless of seeing one of their brethren slain right before them, the veggie monsters' approach continued undeterred.

"You guys want some too, huh? Fine then!" Anne said. "Alright, everyone! Action time!"

"Yeah!"

The Plantar family split up so that each member handles some of the monsters of their choosing. Anne rushed towards her part of the group, slicing some of them with her sword, and bashing others with her tennis racket. Hop Pop pulled out an unbelievably large cheese grater from his suitcase, as he tackled each of the monsters and reduced them into bits and pieces.

Sprig, meanwhile, was standing his ground, observing his surroundings carefully. The first thing that he thought of was to find an opening through the veggie monster horde so he can slip past them and get inside of the house to get one of his many slingshots. While he waited for the opportunity to present itself, he heard a ferocious roar from behind. He quickly turned around and he was introduced with the sight of a giant pumpkin monster who was about to sink its fangs on him.

He intercepted the attack by having his hands hold its mouth open, each hand pressing against each jaw. A power struggle ensued, as Sprig tried to keep the pumpkin monster's mouth open so it doesn't munch on him, while the pumpkin forced its jaws down with all its might towards the boy.

The struggle got interrupted when the pumpkin monster tripped from having its legs slammed by a flail. Once the monster had fallen on the ground, Polly hopped on top of it and swung her flail on it multiple times until it became mush.

"Nice going, Polly!" Sprig shouted.

"Yeah, keep the praise coming, brother!" said the confident tadpole.

"HASHBROWNS!"

They heard their grandfather shouting a battlecry, turning their attention towards where he was, as he mercilessly grated a potato monster down to pieces.

However, he was oblivious to another giant, turnip monster approaching him from behind, as it was about to get its hands on the elderly frog.

"Hop Pop!" Sprig yelled out to his grandfather, who was too preoccupied with his assault to hear him. The orange-haired boy was about to run to his aid, when he nearly bumped into one of the many ta-rat-tula traps lying around the area. He then had an idea.

With all of his might, he kicked the trap forward, sending it flying towards the sneaking monster. The turnip monster only had time to turn around before the trap collided against its face, setting off the trap, as the metal bar snapped onto the monster, splitting it into two.

"Nice!" Sprig pumped his fist victoriously at his successful saving of his grandfather.

"Here comes some more, at 6 o'clock!"

Polly pointed at what was behind her brother, and the latter turned around just in time to see a few more monsters coming at them in a straight line, one behind the other.

"Got some ideas, Polly?" Sprig asked.

"I got one!" Polly then hopped on her brother's hands, as she readied her flail. "Throw me at them!"

Sprig nodded and proceeded to throw his sister like a ball, sending her flying towards the monsters at a fast speed. Polly spun herself around while holding her flail in front of her, as she basically turned herself into a flying, circular saw blade that ripped through the whole line of monsters.

The purple tadpole landed on the ground afterwards, stumbling as she became dizzy from spinning around so much. "Whooaa…! Everything is spinning…!"

"You okay, Polly?!" Sprig asked his sister, shaping his hands like a blow-horn around his mouth to make himself heard from afar.

Once her senses had nearly recovered, she turned towards Sprig and raised her hand up as a sign that she was alright. "When did you get so good at throwing stuff?"

When she asked him that, Sprig looked at his hands and realized that he had done some impressive feat that he hadn't done before. He was able to hold off the pumpkin's attack with his own strength, kicked the ta-rat-tula trap so hard that it reached a monster from far away, and he was able to throw his sister pretty far. He never achieved that kind of effort when he was a frog.

"Whoa… I didn't know that I have it in me." Sprig commented in astonishment. "Is this a human thing?"

A nasty cry alerted the boy, as he turned his head towards the sound and spotted an alien eggplant running at him on all four at full speed.

He assumed a defensive stance and was preparing to intercept its attack, when Anne suddenly slid right in front of him. "I got your back, buddy!" she said right before she charged at the running monster, crossing her arms and pulling her weapons behind in preparation for a strike.

Once the opposing fighters were at very close proximity of each other, the brown-haired human swung her weapons forward, while the alien eggplant threw its claws at her at the same time. After a split second, the two of them found themselves directly behind one another. A moment had passed, and the alien eggplant's head fell off of its shoulders just before its body collapsed to the ground, while Anne was left unscathed.

"Thanks, Anne!' Sprig shouted to her, as he jogged to where she was. "I think that's twice that I owe you for saving my skin!"

"Don't worry about it, Sprig!" Anne smiled at him. "It's what friends do, right?"

"Are you kids alright?!" Hop Pop cried out to his grandchildren, as he ran towards Anne and Sprig while wiping the small pieces of the monsters that he grated into nothing off of him.

"I'm doing great!" Polly replied, joining the others by hopping their way.

"Anne and I are fine, Hop Pop!" Sprig said with a thumbs-up.

Anne looked around and saw that all of the veggie monsters had been dealt with. All, except for the turnip with the big behind, who simply dropped to the ground face first.

"We did it!" she cheered. "And the house is undamaged!"

BrumBrumBrumBrumBrum…

The ground shook once more before the Plantar family had the chance to celebrate.

As they tried to figure out what was causing it, the corpses of the veggie monsters sprung back to life, shocking the family of four. Then, the bodies all gathered together, as they began to form into something gigantic.

"Whaaa?"

The Plantar family watched as the monsters formed up to become a single, gigantic vegetable monster with a red, two-horned head and two arms and legs, with three root-like tentacles taking the spot where the left hand was supposed to be. It let out a mighty roar once it was fully formed.

"Cool!" said the impressed Polly, right before the giant monster punched her, Sprig and Hop Pop with its huge fist, sending them crashing into the stone fence.

"Guys!" Anne cried out to them. However, she could only spare them a quick look before her focus shifted towards the fused veggie monstrosity who was slowly approaching her step-by-step.

She was left with only a few seconds to think of a way to take it down before it makes its move, but she was uncertain how. As the monster became dangerously close…

SNAP!

It cried out in pain as it lifted up its foot that accidentally stepped on one of the ta-rat-tula traps.

"Yes!" Anne cheered, as her trap placement actually paid off.

However, her cheerful expression changed into a horrified one when the fused monster stumbled towards the house.

"Wait, no! Don't go that way! That's towards the house!"

Whether the monster didn't understand her at all or it was too preoccupied with trying not to fall, Anne's plea was for naught either way. The monster continued to stumble until it finally started to fall on top of the house.

"NOOOO!"

The Plantar house. First built by the first Plantar generations ago, it was the crucial home in the Plantars' history. It remained intact for several centuries, passed on to each generation up until Hop Pop, Sprig and Polly. You can even say that it was a part of the family.

And now, it was completely demolished by the gigantic veggie monster basically sitting on the entire structure.

Anne watched helplessly, as the home of the family who took her in when she was lost in a strange, new world was reduced to rubble. "The house… Everything I worked hard to protect…" She lowered her head, tears falling from her eyes.

The gigantic monster recovered, as it removed the trap off of its foot and stood up from the destroyed house. It closed in on the brown-haired human once more and lifted its foot up with the intent of squashing her. The tearful human did not move from where she was standing.

The monster brought its foot down, and at the very last second, someone pushed her out of the way of its attack, as they both fell to the ground a couple of feet away from the giant foot.

"Anne!" Sprig shouted to her, having just saved his best friend from being stomped. "What's the matter?! Are you hurt?!"

"… This thing…"

"Huh?"

"… It just made a huge mistake…" Anne's voice was low with a threatening tone, her sadness replaced by anger, her tears already dried as she lifted her head up and glared at the monster responsible for destroying the house.

At a single glance of her eyes, the orange-haired boy widened his own eyes. A strange sense of familiarity came into him, as he noticed that what he was seeing from Anne was…

'Glowing, blue eyes…?!'

The fused veggie monster roared, as it pulled its fist back before thrusting it towards the two humans. Anne stood up from the ground, stepped in front of Sprig, and blocked the giant fist with her sword and tennis racket effortlessly. The monster let out a confused sound from its mouth as a result.

Anne let out a battlecry, as she pushed the huge fist off and ran towards the monster. The vegetable monstrosity responded by sending its root-like tentacles flying at her to intercept. Anne quickly cut them off before they could even touch her.

She leaped forward and pulled her sword back before stabbing one of the monster's foot when she reached it. The veggie monster roared in pain as a result, as it quickly lifted its injured foot up. The momentum sent the human girl flying up in the sky, and she took advantage of it by diving down towards the monster.

The two-horned fiend lifted its hand up in attempt to catch her in her descent. However, she dodged its hand and proceeded to plunge her sword into its arm, as she slid down across the arm while leaving a cutting trail.

Once she reached the shoulder, she jumped off the arm and towards the red head. With a loud yell, she skewered the red-headed monster's eyes with both her sword and tennis racket.

The fiend fell backwards before crashing down to the ground, pulling Anne along with it and creating a large smoke that covered the two of them.

When the smoke cleared, all that was left of the monster were chunks and pieces of vegetables lying around the ground. Anne stood where the monster used to be, spitting out a piece of its remains.

"Eat your vegetables."

"… Awesome…" Sprig looked in awe at his victorious best friend.

"Woo! That's what I'm talking about, girl!" Polly cheered as she walked near the Thai-American girl, alongside her grandfather and her brother. "You show that veggie monster who's boss!"

"Once again, Anne, you said our tails." Hop Pop praised his adopted granddaughter with a smile.

"Yeah, but the house…" Anne sadly said, as she looked at the destroyed Plantar house.

"It's okay, Anne." Sprig reassured her, as he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "We're all safe here, thanks to you. Sure, the house is completely wrecked, but it sure beats getting my bones turned into dust."

"Oh Sprig…" The brown-haired human smiled at her friend.

"Besides, Anne," Hop Pop added. "It's not your fault a mysterious green energy turned the crops evil."

"Actually, it is…" Anne confessed.

"Say what?!"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Sprig asked in confusion.

"You're talking about that barrel, right?" Polly said, as she pointed at the large, empty barrel next to the crop field. "The one that you bought from Loggle and it contained that weird, green juice?"

"You got it, Polly…" Anne confirmed. "Truth is, Chuck wasn't the one who came up with the idea of fortifying the house. It was all me. I got rid of Chuck because I was afraid for the house's safety."

"Hm. That explains it." Hop Pop remarked. "I did find it strange that Chuck fortified the house when he hadn't done so before."

"And the veggie monsters that we just fought," Sprig said, as he tried to figure out the source of the monsters. "You created them using Loggle's potion?"

Anne nodded in shame. "I'm sorry, guys… I just wanted the house to be safe while you guys were taking this big trip for me…"

Once they heard the entire truth from the Thai-American girl, Sprig, Polly and Hop Pop all smiled sympathetically at her.

"Anne, we're not taking this trip for you." Hop Pop clarified. "We're taking it with you."

"We've got your back, no matter what." Sprig said, squeezing her shoulder a bit harder to show his support.

Anne looked at the Plantar family with gratitude, as tears started to form in her eyes. "Thanks, fam…" she said, wiping the tears away with her finger. "That means a lot to me…"

She looked over once more at the destroyed house. Even though the family forgave her for taking such drastic measures, she still felt that it was her responsibility to fix her own mess, starting with rebuilding the house. "We can hold off on Newtopia. I'll fix the house." she said, as she was about to get started on the rebuilding process.

"No need!" Hop Pop suddenly stopped her. He pulled out a horn that was shaped like a tulip and blew on it.

Not even a second had passed before a large ball of smoke was approaching the farm at high speed. Before Anne had time to process what was happening, the ball of smoke tackled the entirety of the farm, seamlessly rebuilding the house back to normal, cleaned up the chunks of vegetables and removed every single trap, tool, weapon and other protective gear around the farm.

It took only a few seconds for the entire farm to be back to the way it used to be. The ball of smoke stopped in front of the house and vanished, revealing a short frog with a straw hat and overalls standing where it used to be, holding a hammer in one hand and a saw in the other.

"I grow tulips." said Chuck.

"Hoopa da boopa!" A flabbergasted Anne exclaimed, slapping her forehead.

"Hehehe! Why do you think I hired Chuck in the first place?" Hop Pop asked the brown-haired human, after showing the short frog's skills right before her eyes.

"Sorry I doubted you, dude!" Anne apologized to Chuck.

"I grow tulips." Chuck simply said.

"Yes, he does." Hop Pop confirmed. "Well, now that everything is settled, all that's left is for you two to pack your things already, and we're off for our two-week trip to Newtopia!"

"Woo! Finally! We're going to Newtopia!" Polly shouted as she hopped back inside of the house to prepare her things.

"Alright! My most important journey of my life is almost here! I ain't gonna rush this!" Sprig said, as he walked towards the front door. He then took out his broken slingshot from the pouch and rubbed his cheek against it. "And while we're at it, we're gonna fix you up back to normal, Old Reliable. Oh who needs a good fix? Who needs a good fix? You are! You are!"

Anne and Hop Pop watched in amusement at Sprig interacting with his slingshot like it was his child before disappearing inside of the house.

"That's kinda creepy." Anne commented.

"Yes, well, it wouldn't be Sprig if he didn't act like this towards his slingshots on a regular basis." Hop Pop said.

Anne nodded in agreement.

Some time had passed after the entire family finished preparing themselves for the trip outside of the valley. The Plantars were sitting on the bench seat of the fwagon, with Hop Pop taking the reins driving Bessie who was carrying the entire fwagon behind her. They had just left Wartwood, and they were on their way towards the mountain pass where the world beyond the valley was waiting for them.

"Alright, kids!" Hop Pop announced. "In just a couple of hours, we'll officially leave the Frog Valley and into the entirety of Amphibia! No turning back now!"

"Hop Pop, I hope that you didn't forget about anything else, like giving Chuck the key to the house." Polly said.

"Of course not, Polly! I made triply sure that nothing else is missing even before we left Wartwood!"

While the fwagon was moving towards their destination, Sprig nudged Anne on the arm, gaining the brown-haired girl's attention. "Hey, Anne? I didn't get the chance to say this back at the farm, but you were really amazing back there." he praised her.

"Thanks, buddy." Anne appreciated his compliment. "But you know that everything that happened back there was my fault, right?"

"Well, sure. But that didn't stop you from kicking some major butt." Sprig insisted

"Not gonna lie, I didn't think I had it in me. I was mad when that monster destroyed the house, and I sorta, you know… went with the flow, if that makes any sense."

"I gotcha, Anne. Seriously, though. You blocked that monster's punch like it was nothing. The way that you dove down at it and ran your sword across its arm is nothing short of excellence. Oh, and let's not forget how your eyes were glowing before you went hard on it."

"… Wait, glowing?" Anne raised a confused eyebrow.

"Yeah. Your eyes were glowing blue, right?"

"Dude, what are you talking about?" she asked Sprig as if he was talking nonsense. "My eyes have always been brown. And they definitely don't glow like you said they are."

"Wait… That's not a human thing?"

Anne shook her head. "Are you okay, dude? Did you get knocked on the head and started seeing things?"

"Well, he did get punched by the monster's huge fist." Polly said, joining in on the conversation.

"You and I also got punched along with Sprig, Polly." Hop Pop clarified. "Though, in his case, he might have been affected by that a lot more than any of us."

"You guys think that I'm hallucinating? No way!"

Sprig refused to believe that he was seeing things. He knew what he saw, and he definitely saw that Anne's eyes were glowing blue during their fight against the veggie monster. And if they were talking about strange phenomenons, then the fact that he saw sparks of electricity on his slingshot was also a thing that he definitely saw. Not to mention that, while he was fixing his slingshot, he saw that it grew a mouth and it was crying out in pain the whole time that he was-.

"Okay, now that I think about it, maybe you're right." Sprig conceded. "I think I'm gonna lie down on the bed inside. Maybe some shuteye will do me good."

"Take as much rest as you need to, Sprig." Anne said. "We have a long road ahead of us before we get to Newtopia."

"Thanks, Anne." Sprig hopped over behind the bench and opened the fwagon's rooftop hatch leading to the inside. "Can you give me a heads-up when we're about to leave the valley?"

"Sure can, buddy. Have a nice nap!"

"Thanks."

With a nod, Sprig entered the fwagon from the hatch and stretched his arms up, as he walked towards the lower bed, where he proceeded to lie down on his back.

He sighed as he looked at the ceiling for a short moment. He then pulled out the scrolls that Maddie had given him from his person and opened them up, reading its contents as he familiarized with it.

Not only was the trip to Newtopia served to find a way to get Anne back home to Earth, it also served to collect the ingredients needed to turn himself back into a frog. He was determined to find what he needed, because his livelihood was riding upon it.

Drowsiness slowly overtook his psyche, as his body became accustomed to the softness of the bed. The orange-haired closed his eyes, as he allowed himself to fall into a short slumber…

When Sprig opened his eyes next, he was expecting to see the ceiling of the fwagon above him. Instead, however, his eyes were gazing up at the dark, starry skies.

"Huh?"

The Plantar boy sat up from the grass, which was not the mattress that he remembered resting on last. Looking around himself, he realized that he was no longer inside of the fwagon, but on an island floating aimlessly into space, alongside many other floating islands from a distance.

"This place… Isn't this…?"

When he came to a realization that everything around him seemed awfully familiar, he turned himself around, expecting to find some sort of house on the island that he was standing on.

And sure enough, there really was one. A small house that looked suspiciously like his own.

"I'm back here? Again?"

That was the third time that he came to this place. How could this be? Having the same dream 3 times seemed impossible. He wanted to brush it off as just another enigmatic function of a dream, but it just did not make sense, even for him. Could magic be involved somehow?

As much as he would like to figure this dream out, he instead found himself being drawn towards the house for inexplicable reason.

He remembered that he was not alone on the island. There was someone else with him. A pink, female frog who was sitting all alone inside of the house. Would she still be there when he inevitably check the house again?

As he stood right at the front door, and his hand was grasping on the doorknob, ready to turn it and push the door open, he decided against fighting his own body, which was moving on its own.

The door opened. Light from the inside engulfed the boy, who had his hand shielding his eyes from it. When the light began to fade, he lowered his hand and was presented with the interior of the house.

It was the same as last time. The house was completely empty. All, except for a single, hooded individual sitting in the middle of the room.

It had to be the same person that he met last time.

Sprig remembered their last encounter. In his attempt to ask for her help, he only managed to scare her, which led to her pushing him back through the door, which was when the dream ended. He wondered if there was another way to talk to her without getting kicked out.

He figured that he should start by making his presence known to her.

"Um… Hi there."

Like last time, the hooded person got startled by his voice, as she turned around and crossed gazes with him. She seemed to recognize him immediately, as she quickly stood up from the ground in alarm, closed her eyes and opened them up again to reveal her glowing, blue eyes.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Sprig quickly said as he lifted his hand up in defence. "I'm not here to hurt you! Honest!"

"… Who are you?" The female frog asked cautiously, her eyes still glowing blue. "How did you get here?"

"I-I don't know! I was just taking a nap back at the fwagon and, uh… I end up here!" Sprig explained himself.

"… Get out. Now." she warned him.

"I'm serious! This is the third time that I dreamt of this place! I literally don't know anything else about how I got here, besides dreaming of being here!"

The pink frog girl stared at the boy with skepticism. She had every reason to believe that he was hiding his true reason for being there, since as far as she knew, she was supposed to be the only person standing on the island.

And yet, there was something within her telling her that he was speaking the truth.

"You… really don't know how you got here? Besides dreaming?" she asked.

Sprig shook his head as a response.

"Then… Are you in the same boat as I am?"

"Wait, you mean… You're also dreaming of being here?" Sprig asked in his turn.

The girl shook her head. "No… As far as I can tell, I'm not dreaming. In fact… I've been in this place for as long as I can remember…"

"Really?"

Witnessing his dumbfounded reaction, the frog girl was convinced that the boy had no ulterior motive for being in the same place as her. She still kept her guard up in case she was wrong about that assumption.

"I've been on my own in this place for a really long time. Maybe even my whole life. Seeing another person who came here, like you… Well, I have my reasons for thinking that you're nothing but trouble."

"But you don't know who I am." Sprig said, as he lowered his hands down. "And admittedly, I don't know who you are either. Still, you don't have a good reason to think that I'm a bad guy."

"You're right. I don't." she admitted. "But I would feel a lot better if you leave this place."

Sprig could not believe how hostile she was acting towards him, when he was nothing but nice to her. Was it really because that she was alone for so long, anything new that she came across, she would immediately label as a threat? What more could he do to convince her that he was harmless?

He could just heed her warning and leave her alone. However, the idea of leaving her in her lonesome, which lasted as long as she could remember, as she claimed, it did not sit well for the boy. He decided to do one last try before calling it quits.

"Well, how about we just talk?" he suggested.

"Talk? Really?"

"Yeah, this way, we might get to know each other. Then you'll see that I'm not such a bad guy."

"I don't think that I want to talk."

"Aren't you doing it right now, though?"

The frog girl widened her eyes. He was right. She was talking to him and judging his character through their conversation without even realizing it. And so far, the boy showed no sign of hostile intent. Perhaps he really was speaking the truth.

Seeing that she was close to being convinced, Sprig proceeded forward with the current method. "How about we start by introducing ourselves?" He took a couple of steps forward, offering the girl a handshake. "Hi. My name is Sprig. Sprig Plantar. What's yours?" he asked while flashing a smile at her.

The frog girl looked at the boy's face, then at his extended hand, and went back and forth between them for a short moment. Nothing about the boy was screaming danger to her. Everything he did, there was nothing but benevolent intent behind his actions. And when she looked at his smile, she could not explain it, but… she felt at ease.

She closed her eyes, as she took a deep breath. When she opened them up again, her eyes were no longer glowing blue. They were back to their normal colours.

She accepted his friendly gesture and grasped his hand with her own.

"I'm… Leif."

Chapter Text

"Wait… You don't remember anything?" The orange-haired boy asked, perplexed.

"No, I don't." The pink frog girl shook her head.

"Seriously? Nothing at all?"

"None." She shook her head once more.

"And how long were you like this?"

"Ever since I found myself here."

"No frogging way…!"

Sprig and Leif were sitting on the floor of the empty house, facing each other, as they agreed to converse with one another in order to know who the other person is. The Plantar boy was the first person to initiate a series of questions to the frog girl, eager to know who she was and her reason for being in that strange, floating island in the first place.

His first question to her was where she was from. His second was if she had any friends or family. And the third was what her hobbies were.

She replied all of his questions with the same answer: She doesn't know.

It was then that he discovered that Leif had amnesia. Meaning, no matter how much she tried to search her mind, she was unable to recall anything about herself. The only thing that she remembered was her name.

"And… And you're sure about this? Really sure?" Sprig asked.

"You're free to take my word for it." Leif said, as she lowered her gaze and closed her eyes. "But this is honestly all that I can tell you about myself, as far as my memory serves."

"And you've been stuck in this place for how long, again?"

"… I lost track of time myself. It's possible that it's been centuries. I don't know."

"Oh my frog…" Sprig placed his palm on his head, as he had a hard time processing the reality of Leif's situation. "I'm so sorry, Leif. I… I can't imagine how it must've felt, going this long without remembering who you are."

"It wasn't a pleasant experience early on, I can tell you that much. But eventually, I just stopped thinking about everything and just sat here, in this empty house. Maybe I convinced myself that it's a way to pass the time. Well, it sort of helped. Now, I don't even know how long I've been sitting like this."

"Oh Leif…" Sprig was sadden by the circumstances surrounding her.

"Now you know that it's pointless for us to talk." Leif stated, as she moved her gazed back up to look at the boy. "I have nothing to share with you. No life experiences to speak of. No apparent quirks that I can show. No nothing. I think it's better if you just leave, so neither of us can waste any more time."

Once again, the frog girl was all too willing to have him leave her alone. It was astonishing to see her give up so easily, when they just started to make progress on become friends, or at the very least, tolerable acquaintances.

Sprig was not one to give up that easily. Not by a long shot.

"Well, to you, maybe it is pointless for me to ask you stuff, when you have no memories." he said. "But you're forgetting one little thing."

"And what's that?"

He pointed both of his thumbs towards him, as he flashed her a grin. "This guy! You haven't asked me a thing yet!"

Leif sighed. The boy's insistence on conversing with her was starting to get tiresome. "Can't you just take a hint? I don't want to talk."

"Come on, Leif! You're talking to a guy who has loads of life experiences, tons of quirks that people fawn over, and more! You gotta be at least curious about me, right?"

"What does it matter? It's not like I can leave this place and apply what I learn from you anyway. It's just completely pointless."

"Oh, so you really ARE curious about me! We're getting somewhere!"

Leif threw an annoyed glare at Sprig. "You're really asking to get kicked out of here, aren't you?"

"No, but I'm definitely sensing that you want to force me out, if I don't stop nudging you to do what I want you to do."

"You're asking for it." Leif stood up from the ground and her eyes turned blue once more with a single blink, as she prepared to shove the boy through the door.

"Ok, ok, I get it!" Sprig rapidly waved his hands defensively in front of him in an attempt to alleviate the tension between them. "You want me out. I get it. I swear that I'll be out of your hair in a second."

"I'm sensing a 'but' coming right about now." Leif noted.

"But," Sprig continued, proving the frog girl correct. "Before I go, please. Just ask me just one, tiny question. And after that, I'm gone. Can you at least do that, Leif?"

Leif's glare at the boy intensified. "… Why are you so insistent? Nothing is going to change, whether I learn a bit about you or not. What do you want from me, anyway?"

"Isn't it obvious? I want us to be friends!" Sprig replied. He then turned his head away, as his expression became solemn. "And… I wanna help you."

"I didn't ask for your help."

"You say that, but you already showed me that you need help."

"When?"

"When you bothered to answer my questions."

Leif widened her eyes, silently reacting in shock at the boy somehow managing to see through her facade.

Sprig turned his head back towards her, as his eyes showed how serious he was about it. "You don't like me, that's clear to see. It hurts pretty bad, to be honest, but it can't be helped. But I know when someone needs help, and I'm willing to do whatever it takes to help a person in need."

He lowered his gaze, as he thought about the most important person in his life and how she constantly avoided talking about her troubles so that the people she cared about wouldn't worry, no matter how painful it could get. "One of the things that I hate the most is not being allowed to do anything to help the people that you care about."

Leif stared at the orange-haired boy with a look of sympathy. "… You're speaking from experience, right?"

Sprig nodded.

Leif turned away, as she contemplated the options that was presented to her. On one hand, neither of them would gain anything from learning one another, one person more so than the other. It was a waste of time, so it would be better if they just stop there and leave each other be.

On the other hand, she could not deny that, on the back of her mind, she was at the very least curious about the boy who suddenly showed up out of nowhere after she had spent an eternity alone in that place. It was clear that he was not looking for trouble, and he had a great desire to help out a person in need, even when said person never asked for it, or probably did not realize that they needed it in the first place.

Regardless, even if she were to kick him out of there, just as she did before, she had a feeling that he would return with the same desire to help her.

She let out a resigned sigh. She blinked her eyes as they returned to normal, and she sat back down on the floor.

"Fine." she said.

Sprig instantly perked up at her finally going through with his suggestion.

"Just one question, right?" she asked. "And you swear that you'll leave?"

"Yep." Sprig nodded, as he raised his hand up. "Honesty first. It's a code that we Plantars live by. And sure, you can't taste honesty. But if you could, it'd taste like a Plantar vegetable stand."

Leif blinked her eyes with indifference. "… I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh, sorry." Sprig chuckled sheepishly, as he scratched the back of his head. "It's something that my Hop Pop always tells me and my little sister. But that's besides the point. Shoot me with a question, Leif!"

"Hm. Fine. I'll go with this." She slowly pointed at him. "… What are you?"

Sprig chuckled at the obviousness of the question. "That's a silly thing to ask. But I'll take it." He proudly pointed his thumb at himself, as his lips formed a wide grin. "I'm a frog! Just like you!"

Leif stared at him with an unamused expression on her face.

It took the boy a few seconds to wonder what was wrong with what he said before realizing the contradiction. "Oh. Right. Human magic." he said, as he looked at his human hand.

"What's this about magic?" Leif asked, becoming very slightly interested.

"Well, it's a long story. But I'm not kidding when I said that I'm a frog." Sprig explained. "It's just that, a few days ago, I accidentally got splashed with a magic potion made by a friend of mine. It transformed me into a completely different species overnight, and now, I look like this. A human being." He spread his arms apart to present his human form to the frog girl.

"A human being…" Leif repeated the boy's last few words in whisper. She started to examine with her eyes the Plantar boy's human appearance a bit more closely, and noted the differences between a frog and a human, such as their contrasting height, their anatomy, their skin colour, anything that she could identify while comparing herself to him.

"Hmm… Humans have an interesting look to them." she concluded her thoughts.

"I know, they look hideous!" Sprig gave his bias opinion. "That's not the only thing that upsets me! They can't jump high or far, they can't climb up walls easily, they don't even have long tongues! The only thing that they got going for them, compared to frogs, is that they're warmblooded! How lame is that!"

"From how you describe them, humans don't seem all that amazing, in terms of survival."

"I know, right! That's why I wanna find a way to turn myself back into my adorable, beloved frog self! Right now, I'm on a journey to do just that!"

Sprig's rant about how terrible being a human being is came to an end, as he exhausted his complaints to Leif. All that was left, however, was his positive view about being turned into a human, as his facial expression softened.

"But I'm not gonna lie… Even though being human sucks, I kinda wanna know what it's really like. Like, what makes human special in the same way that frogs are special."

Leif raised a curious eyebrow. "And what propels you to think that?"

"It's my best friend. She's a human being." he replied.

The surprised frog girl widened her eyes. "You have a human friend? How?"

"It's another long story. But basically, she came from another world, where humans are." he explained. "My family and I met her when she was lost and alone, after she got transported to our world. We decided to take her in, gave her shelter until she finds a way back home. Nobody could ever imagine that she'd gone on to become a part of the family, and that she and I became best buds."

Sprig lowered his gaze and smiled, looking fondly at the memories that he shared with his best friend.

"She helped me a lot when I was in trouble. She was there for me whenever I feel like total crud. She's… She's the greatest friend that anyone could ever asked for." he said. He then frowned, as he recalled the night that emotionally devastated his friend. "And… I still don't get why she's trying so hard to hide how miserable she is about a lot of things. Doesn't she realize that we're all here for her…?"

Leif watched as the boy let out his feelings about his best friend, intrigued by the variety of emotions that he exhibited when talking about his experience with her. His friend must have been a very special person, for him to talk about her in great length.

Sprig snapped out of his reminiscing, when he realized just how long he went on during the conversation. "Oh, sorry, Leif. I kinda went on a tangent, didn't I?" he smiled bashfully at the frog girl.

"You did." Leif said.

"Well, anyway, you asked me a question, and I answered. So… That means we're done." There was a pause between the two, before a teasing smile appeared on his face. "Unless you changed your mind and wanted me to stay here for a little while-."

"You swore, remember?" she bluntly reminded him. "What was it that you told me before? Something about honesty first or something?"

"Well, it was worth a try." Sprig shrugged as he backed down. He stood up from the floor and patted off the dirt from his shorts. "It's not much, but I'm really glad that I got to know you like this, Leif."

"I assure you that the feelings aren't mutual." Leif said. She turned her head away to avoid having the boy see that her face might betray what she said. "But… It's interesting, to say the least."

"Okay, cool." Sprig smiled. "Well, I guess this is the part where I get out of your hair." He looked around to see if there was something that he could do to respect the frog girl's wishes. He then looked back at her with an awkward smile. "Except… I don't know how."

"… You don't know how to leave?" she asked with exasperation.

"I mean, I am dreaming of being in this place, right?" he pondered for the both of them. "If so, then I'll be able to leave when I wake up, at some point. But I can't figure out when the time comes. So… Guess that means I'll have to stick around until then." he shrugged, as he found his predicament to be less bothersome, since it meant he'll interact with Leif some more.

"Or I may have another way for you to leave." Leif suggested.

"Please don't kick me out. It kinda hurts last time."

"I'm not going to do that. Not this time anyway." Leif pointed at the entrance behind Sprig. "See the door, there? When I shoved you through the door, the last time you came here, you somehow disappeared into the light. I figured that's how you managed to leave this place."

"Now that you mention it, I think this is when I woke up last time too." Sprig said, as he remembered how his last visit went. "So, if I walk through the door, I leave and wake up from my dream?"

"It's possible. There's only one way to find out."

"Well, if you say so."

Sprig turned around to face the door, as he only needed to take a few steps forward to be in reach of the entrance. As he had his hand on the doorknob, he looked back at the pink frog girl one more time.

"You think we'll see each other again?"

"I hope not." Leif said. "But since you claimed that this is the third time you showed up in this place out of nowhere, and there's apparently no pattern as to how you'll appear the next time, I don't think neither of us have a choice in the matter."

"Well, in that case…" Sprig threw a smile in her way, as he waved farewell to her with his free hand. "See you next time, Leif!"

He turned his head back towards the door, as he turned the doorknob and pulled the door open. He shielded his eyes with his hand, as he was met with a blinding light coming from the outside.

The orange-haired boy slowly moved his hand towards the light, and when he saw that nothing happened to it past the doorway, he proceeded to walk forward, until his entire being was enveloped by the light.

The light became brighter as a result. Leif shielded her own eyes with her hands, when it happened. And once the light gradually dimmed into nothing, she lowered her hands down and saw that the boy had disappeared. There was no sign of him past the front door, from where she was sitting. It seemed to confirm her suspicions on how he was able to leave the island.

"Sprig Plantar…" she whispered his name to herself, as she was left wondering just what kind of person he was. "Such an irritating, yet interesting boy…"

Sprig woke up from his nap, his first sight upon opening his eyes being the ceiling of the fwagon.

He sat up from the bed, stretched his arms back and let out a yawn, as he wondered how long he was out for.

"Mm… What a dream I just had…" he moaned, as he rubbed his eyes. His latest dream was quite an interesting experience, as he remembered finding himself in a strange place, where he…

Where he…

"… Huh? Why can't I remember…?"

He realized that his recollection of his dream was a complete blur. No matter how hard he tried to focus on remembering it, it was impossible to make out what happened. The only thing that he could recall was that he was talking to someone, and that was all that he could decipher.

In fact, that was the second time that he had a dream that he could not remember.

"Hey, Sprig!" He heard Anne's voice calling to him. He raised his head up and saw his best friend poking her head through the hatch. "You still napping, dude?"

"No, no, I just woke up." he replied. He decided to push aside his concerns over not remembering his dream for another time.

"Ok, cool." Anne said. "Just wanna tell you that we're about to pass the sign that says we're leaving the valley."

Sprig gasped with excitement. "Does that mean what I think it means?!"

"See for yourself. Come on!" Anne pulled her head from the hatch, but kept it open for her friend to leave through there.

The orange-haired boy shot out of the bed, jumped towards the hatch and climbed up from there, before he and Anne rejoined their family at the bench with Hop Pop still at the reins and driving Bessie.

The family were currently traversing through the mountain pass. Just as Anne said, they had just passed a sign that says 'Now leaving the valley.' Sprig's excitement grew exponentially, as his first big journey was about to begin shortly. He was so excited that he easily disregarded the next sign that says 'May frog help you.'

"Here it is, kids!" Hop Pop announced. "The world outside of the valley is just beyond the mountains over there!"

"Oh my frog! This is exciting!" Sprig exclaimed, raising both fists up in the air. "This is the most exciting thing that's ever happened to anyone!" He shook his grandfather by the shoulders. "Hop Pop, aren't you excited?!"

"Careful, boy! I'm still driving here!" Hop Pop warned him.

Sprig picked up his sister from the bench, as he looked at her face to face. "What about you, Polly?! Are you excited?!"

"You bet I am!" Polly replied. "… Now put me down before I leave a permanent bite mark on your arms."

Sprig did so and proceeded to shake his best friend by the shoulders as well. "And Anne! You should be more excited, shouldn't you?!"

"I'm excited." Anne said, as she gently removed the boy's hands from her shoulders, keeping her excitement in check compared to him. "You know, it's just, there's a lot riding on this trip for me. It's the same for you too, remember?"

"I know, Anne." Sprig assured her, as his quest to turn himself back to normal was still a priority for him, in spite of his high burst of energy over their situation. "But I just can't help it!"

"I get it, dude. In any case, I wanna keep my expectations in- Whaaaaaaaa!"

Anne trailed off once they had exited through the mountain pass and she was presented with the scenery in front of her that left her looking awestruck and speechless with her jaw hanging from her mouth. It was the same thing for both Sprig and Polly.

Their first look at the world beyond Frog Valley was a large and beautiful landscape full of life, touched by the ray of the Sun. Across the path that extended into the far horizon, the grass had never been so lively before, there were large field crops everywhere near villages, big and small, and the flora were majestic, especially so during spring time.

Far from where they were, there was a large, magnificent lake that reflected the Sun ray off the surface to give it a blinding glow. Clean rivers flowed undisturbed across the land, splitting at a certain point and travelling towards a destination that is equally comparable. And to top it all off, when compared to the environment of the valley, there was an enormous volcano located at the far distance to where they were, truly giving them the impression that it was a whole new world starting from there.

Hop Pop had Bessie stopped some distance past the mountain pass exit. He allowed his grandchildren to bask in the wonders of Amphibia.

"Whoa…" Anne, Sprig and Polly all expressed their amazement of what they had witnessed.

"It's amazing. It's majestic." Anne commented. "It's… hurting my eyes." She rubbed her eyes that became strained from the blinding sight of the landscape.

"It's even better than I could've dreamed." Sprig said. He had a good feeling that his first trip outside of the valley would be magical, in every sense imaginable. "Let's go, Hop Pop! Keep driving and never look back!"

"Hold on, Sprig." Hop Pop said. "Before we proceed forward, I can't stress enough just how dangerous things are gonna get from here on out."

"I mean, we're already kinda expecting it, Hop Pop." Polly said. "It's why we went to the archives in the first place."

"Yes, you're right, Polly. But for your first experience in the outside world, you all still need to be on the lookout for any and all danger that might lurk beneath our feet. Relax even for a second, and you'll lose more than just your limbs. Thankfully, I have just the thing to keep ourselves safe."

"What exactly do you have in mind?" Anne asked.

"Let me guess. Is it a book? Please tell me it's not that." Polly plead, having a bad feeling about what's to come.

"Oh, not just any book…"

"… It's Hop Pop's Rules of the Road! Written by me, Hop Pop!" The elderly frog introduced a massive book to his grandchildren by slamming it down on the dining table inside of the fwagon.

Anne, Sprig and Polly all groaned.

"Now don't you start complaining about books, kids! They are an important asset to our livelihood! Why, without books…"

"… Our civilization would crumble into nothingness." Anne, Sprig and Polly all repeated in a bored tone what Hop Pop had told them over and over for the past few months.

"Exactly, disregarding your tone, there." Hop Pop said. "Now, the only way we'll get to Newtopia in one piece is if we follow these rules."

The elderly frog picked up the book and flipped through its pages before stopping at one page by random that he would use as an example.

"Like this one here. Rule number 98: 'Never strike a heroic pose on the fwagon.' It's a sign of hubris that invites disaster." he explained, eying at his grandson who was doing just that, standing on the bench heroically with one foot on the table and his hand positioned above his eyes, as he looked keenly outside through the window. His pose was identical to the picture example from the book.

Hop Pop pulled the curtains down to block the beautiful scenery outside.

"Hey, I was looking at it!" Sprig complained.

"Sorry, Sprig, but I'm going to have to ask you to behave and keep your sense of adventure in check. You're lucky that I didn't decide to bring in the booster seat with very sturdy belts to make sure of that. But on the bright side, I brought some colouring books for you to keep yourself busy."

"I dunno how I feel about this…"

"Now, here's another example." Hop Pop flipped some more pages from his book until he arrived at one that he deemed to be especially relevant. "Rule number 117: 'Never show your weapon to anyone.' We're not here to scare people, and scaring people is a sure way to have them chase us down and turn us into scarecrows."

"So I don't show them my weapon. Big deal." Polly shrugged. "At least I still have my weapon."

"Rule number 118: 'Never have a weapon, period.'"

"Hey!"

"This is starting to sound insane." Anne noted, feeling an overwhelming tiredness from hearing only a few of the rules spoken. "Hop Pop, how many rules did you wrote?"

"I'm up to rule number 344! And there are more to come!" Hop Pop proudly claimed.

"344?! That's totally unfair!" Sprig exclaimed.

"Watch your tongue, boy, because you're breaking rule number 345: 'No complaining.'"

"You just made that up just now!"

"In any case," Hop Pop ignored his grandson's accusation. "This book will help us survive this entire trip. We just need to stick to its rules."

With the rule book in hand, he climbed up through the ceiling hatch in order to get back to driving Bessie, but not before he looked back at his grandchildren inside one more time.

"Once we follow them religiously, we should have a safe and completely uneventful trip ahead of us. Okay, thanks, byeeee!" He then left them alone.

Sprig groaned in frustration. "A completely uneventful trip?! Hop Pop is missing the whole point!" He pulled the curtains back up so that the beautiful scenery of the outside world can be viewed once more. "All those adventures out there! The excitement of discovering the unknown! The thrill of experiencing a life outside of our own! We'll never be able to enjoy all of this because of these dumb rules!"

"Not much we can do." Anne spoke, having experienced that kind of restriction involving trips back then. "My dad was the same way back home. One time we drove to the Grand Canyon and didn't stop once."

"Well, I ain't gonna let this keep me down!" Polly shouted. "Just because we need to follow these rules doesn't mean that we can't have fun! There's still a lot of ways that we can do to make this trip worthwhile!"

"You know what, Polly? You're right!" Sprig said. "If anyone can figure out how to have fun with these rules, it's us! No way are we going to spend this whole trip to Newtopia doing nothing! We're gonna make this into something we'll never forget!"

"Right behind you, dude!" Anne said.

"Same here, brother!" Polly said.

"Newtopia, here we come!" The three of them all shouted, as they raised their fists towards the ceiling, all determined to make their first trip into the wonderful world of Amphibia into an everlasting memory that they can all look back fondly.

"Road rule number 29: 'No shouting!'" Hop Pop yelled from outside of the fwagon. "Marauders will follow the sound and steal your skin!"

Anne, Sprig and Polly all sighed in frustration.

This is going to be a long journey…

Chapter Text

The past couple of days on the road had been devastating in terms of hype, to say the least. The Plantar kids all expected that Hop Pop's Rules of the Road would put a damper on their enjoyment. They never realized until now just how worse and soul-sapping it could get as time went by.

It always seemed like, every time they passed by an area, establishment or an activity that seemed fun and interesting, well worth stopping to check out, there was always a rule that prevented them from experiencing it and they continued to travel non-stop. And each rule ranged from somewhat reasonable to utterly ridiculous.

They encountered a beautiful rainbow waterfall? Rule number 243: 'All natural phenomena lead to an unnatural death.'

They passed by a zone called Zoom Dunes, where people can ride their snails at fast speed across dunes, with no speed limit? Rule number 149: 'Never drive faster than a june bug can fly.'

They came across a restaurant called 'Amphibia's Best Diner!' where they also sell crickets-and-cream ice cream? Rule number 193: 'Don't stop anywhere claiming to be the best.' and rule number 194: 'No ice cream in the fwagon.'

And Hop Pop was adamant in following the rules because they were logically sound. Despite the fact that the logic came from Hop Pop himself, so it was more bias than anything.

Inside of the fwagon, Sprig was at the dining table, his upper body sprawling across the surface as he helplessly watched every single exciting location passed by through the window.

Anne was resting on the sofa, looking up her smartphone which, much to her dismay, was the most interesting thing to look at for much of their uneventful trip.

Polly was in her bucket, sleeping with a mask on, since she decided that her dreams would be much more fun to experience than anything that the trip had to offer with all those rules set in place.

Suddenly, the orange-haired boy slammed both of his fists on the table, as he raised his body up with his back straight. "Aaargh! This really frogging sucks! All of these once-in-a-lifetime experiences are literally passing us by!"

"I know, right?" Anne agreed. "There's only so much my phone can do to keep me busy before it gets boring way before we get to Newtopia. And this is gonna be the first time that this ever happens!"

"Can you two be quiet…?" asked the drowsy Polly, as she moved around slightly in her bucket to try to get back to sleep. "You just dragged me out of my fun dream where I went to the past to go to the future with a weird animal with bulky arms coming out of his two mouths that I called Aoshima who shoots rainbow beams from the mouths of his hands…"

Sprig and Anne both looked bewilderedly at the purple tadpole, weirded out by the description of her strange dream.

"… You know what? If I get bored looking at my phone, I'll follow Polly's example." Anne said.

"Same here." Sprig concurred. "But still… Dang it!" He slammed his face against the table surface, as he let out a disheartened groan. "This trip is an absolute nightmare… I don't believe this…"

The brown-haired human looked over at her best friend and felt bad for him. The trip to Newtopia must have been the very first time that he and Polly had ever gone on a trip before, considering their excitement. Now, because of Hop Pop's ridiculous rules, their first experience had been tainted with boredom, and if this continues, Sprig and Polly would never want to go on a trip ever again.

Anne tried to think of a way to make the trip worthwhile for the Plantar siblings, distract them just enough until they reached Newtopia, but her options were limited. What could she do to keep Sprig, Polly and herself busy for two weeks until they get to their destination? Perhaps she should start with something small and go up from there.

Then, she remembered her offer to Sprig the other day. She promised him that she would teach him a bit about the human world, to help him get used to his human form and stop worrying about his predicament until they found a solution.

She got up from the sofa, walked over to the table and sat next to her friend who was too preoccupied with his torment of boredom. "Hey, Sprig. Remember what I told you the other day? About me teaching you stuff?"

"Hm?" He turned his head towards Anne. At first, he did not know what she was talking about, but after a bit of searching in his mind, he immediately sat up straight, becoming more interested. "Oh! You mean the whole 'teaching me how to be human' thing?"

"Yep." Anne nodded. "I think it's a good time as any for us to do this thing, right?"

"Well, we got nothing better to do at the moment, so sounds like a good idea, Anne!"

"Cool." Anne smiled. "Although, granted, I haven't really come up with a good subject to talk about yet. I was hoping to do that when we stop by a couple of places, but you know well as I do that that's not an option. Desperate times call for desperate measures, I guess."

"It's okay, Anne." Sprig reassured her. "I can wait until you find something. We have all the time in the world, for better or worse."

"Okay then."

The Thai-American girl began to ponder on what kind of subject that she could talk about to her friend. Her first thought was her experiences back on Earth, but which one? It had to be a story with a good message to reflect upon, and that it showed some of the things that humans could do that differ from what frogs could do.

Then, she thought about her passing comment related to the trip from a couple of days ago.

"Remember when I mentioned how my dad drove us to the Grand Canyon and didn't stop at all?" she asked.

"Yeah? What about it?" Sprig said.

"Well, there's more to it than just that. Let me tell you all about it…"

I was 5 years old when my family and I went on a trip to go visit some friends in Colorado, in the middle of nowhere. The reason why we were on that trip in the first place, as far as I know, was because my parents' friends had some pretty nifty antiques that they want to give us that could be worth giving to the Thai community, and they weren't willing to ship them to us. Try and make sense out of that.

I was pretty excited about that trip, because that meant that we get to see all those amazing touristic spots on our way there. It was also my first time going on a trip, period.

But I found out later down the road that my dad wasn't planning on stopping at anything that's not a gas station. So we ended up driving past all those spots that I was dying to see for myself. And it was the same thing when we were driving back home.

But then, on our way back home, I saw a sign saying that we're almost at the Grand Canyon, and I was jumping in my seat with excitement! I can't believe that this is happening!

On Earth, the Grand Canyon was one of the many famous touristic locations in the world. If you want me to give you an idea on what it is, try and think of a big, awesome-looking mountain that you can imagine, split it apart in a few places just enough that a single river can flow through, give it a bit of a shine on the walls, and there you go! That's the Grand Canyon to you!

When I first heard about it, I was stoked. A canyon where you can climb up to the top and see everything from far away and experience the coolest looking scenery that you'll ever see in your whole life? That sounds like a blast! And it's literally right in front of us! I'm about to experience the famous place in the States for the first time!

But silly 5-year-old me. I should have known that my dad would never stop at the Grand Canyon either. And that was the last straw for me.

I remembered that I was sitting on the back seat, watching the Grand Canyon through the back window, as it became smaller and smaller as we drove farther and farther away from the cool-looking mountains. I was really sad that we never stopped even once to check out what might be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

"Anne, please sit back down." My dad told me, looking at me through the rearview mirror. "It's dangerous for you to be standing on your knees like this."

"Dad," I said as I turned my head around, looking at my dad sadly. "Why couldn't we stop at the Grand Canyon?"

"I'm sorry, sweetheart, but I'm afraid we can't afford to stop." My dad replied. "Your mom and I closed the restaurant for the weekend, and we need to get back just in time to reopen it, as expected."

"But it's boring!" I complained. "We never stop at anywhere fun! What's the point of driving so far away just for some dumb old statues?"

"It's not just any statue. It's full of history related to our culture, Anne. It's worth getting for the community, don't you think?"

"But you never liked history! You like playing video games!"

"Uh… Ahaha… That's true." My dad sheepishly admitted. "But your mom likes the history of our culture. She's the one who said that those statues are interesting in the first place."

"I did say that." My mom said, sitting on the passenger seat next to my dad. "But it is your idea that we should drive for 12 hours to Colorado, and then back."

"Well, you know me. I always want to please you when the opportunity presents itself." Dad said, looking at mom with love in his eyes.

I turned away and pretended to gag at the sight of my parents being all lovey-dovey with each other, a normal reaction for a little kid too young to understand love.

"You are so sweet, thi rak (my dear)." Mom seemed to appreciate the gesture, but I could feel that she was disappointed for me. "But you must think about our daughter as well. It is her first trip, and she is unhappy. We can afford to have the restaurant closed for an extra day."

"Hmm… I'm sorry, but I worry too much about the restaurant. Especially since we are always too close to comfort to pay the rent each month."

"You always worry, yet we always manage to get through. Would I agree to us going on this trip if it was not the case?"

"Well, no. But that is besides the point. We are going home before the end of the day, and that's that."

Mom sighed. "Oh Bee…"

The car stuttered a bit before it went back to normal.

"Bee, this is the tenth time during this trip that the car acts like this." Mom said worryingly. "Did you get it checked before we left?"

"Well, uh, no." Dad replied. "But it's good! The car behaves like this every once in a while, and it still works fine! Trust me on this, Oum!"

"I have some doubts about this…"

It looked like my dad wasn't budging from his stance about this trip, so no amount of complaining that I do would even put a dent on it. I sat back down on my seat and looked out through the side window. My arms were crossed and I was on the verge of tears, knowing that I'll never get to experience all the cool stuff that we came across.

Some time later, I dunno how long, I eventually saw a huge sign that says that a restaurant called 'The Grand Canyon Deserts' is located at the next stop a few miles away from there. I got a bit excited, since there was another place related to the Grand Canyon in our way. But knowing my dad, he'll never stop at that place, just like with all the other touristic spots that we drove past.

Then, I had an idea. One that can guarantee that we'll stop at that restaurant.

"Dad! I have to pee!"

"Really? Right now?" Dad asked, surprised. "But we just went to the bathroom an hour ago."

"You know that she is still young, Bee." Mom reasoned. "You are not going to ignore Anne's needs just because we already went, are you?"

"Hm… You have a point. Okay. We will go to the next stop and you can go pee over there, Anne. But after that, no stopping until we get back."

"Thank you, dad!" I smiled widely. It worked! I actually convinced my dad to go to the next stop! I wasn't going to miss my chance in experiencing what the Grand Canyon has to offer! Putting aside the fact that it's just a regular old restaurant and that the name is false advertisement, but can you blame 5-year-old me?

So my parents and I stopped at 'The Grand Canyon Deserts.' It looked like one of those retro diners from the 50s, with a big fancy-looking sign to give it an impression that it's much more impressive than it actually is. Mom and I were the only ones going to that diner, while dad stayed behind.

When we went inside, the first thing that I did was look around the place in awe, knowing that I just stepped inside of a building with deep connections to the Grand Canyon. Like I said, though, it was just a regular diner, in hindsight.

I remembered that there were quite a few people inside. There were a couple of tourists, some family who were travelling the same way we do, some sad-looking people who were alone, and for some reason, a scary-looking biker gang sitting at the far corner of the diner. That last one was weird.

Anyways, I was able to go to the bathroom (And before you ask, I really did feel the need to pee before the idea of stopping at the diner came to mind), but not before we had to order something before we could even use it.

Mom wasn't sure what to pick, so I just stepped in and ordered one item on the menu that had the name 'Grand Canyon' on it (If you're wondering what it is, it's a huge plate of cut, roasted pork with sunny side up eggs and fries with honey drizzled on them. Oh wait, you might not know what I'm talking about. What's the equivalent of a pork in Amphibia? Uh… It's like a slice of roasted grubhog? With cooked spider eggs and some potatoes on the side, dipped in… fish chum? Urgh, I think I grossed myself out.)

After my trip to the bathroom, while we were waiting for our order to come, I had the brilliant idea of asking everyone in the diner about the Grand Canyon, oblivious to the fact that I might've been a bother.

What's it like, being on top of the Grand Canyon? How pretty is it? Do the walls feel smooth? Can we walk inside of the walls? Can you create a human-shaped hole on the ground if we jump off from the canyon, just like with that coyote from that cartoon?

Mom had to apologize for me barging in on them out of nowhere and asking them questions. Especially the last one.

After I was a bit satisfied with the diner, thanks in no small part to the Grand Canyon special, mom and I went back to the car where dad was waiting for us. We both got back to our usual seats.

"You two sure took your time." Dad remarked. "Was there a big line up to the bathroom?"

"No, no. We had to order food and eat at the diner to be allowed to use the bathroom." Mom explained. "You can thank Anne for taking up so much time by talking to most of the customers in there."

"I learned a lot about the Grand Canyon!" I proudly said, smiling.

Dad laughed. "It sounds like you had a good time, Anne. Well, now that you're done, it's time for us to go home. No more wasting any more time."

Dad turned the ignition on to start up the car. The car stuttered as a result.

"Uh… Hold on. Let me try again." he said, turning the ignition on again.

The car stuttered like last time.

"Bee…" Mom spoke to him, worried.

"It's okay! Just a couple of false starts is all!" Dad tried to reassure us, laughing nervously. "Ok, the third time is the charm!" He turned on the ignition for the third time.

The car stuttered again and…

POW!

"Oh no!"

The huge sound nearly made us jump out of our seat. If the sound wasn't worrying enough, then the smoke coming out of the hood of the car definitely was.

My parents and I quickly got out of the car. My dad moved to the front and opened up the hood, where even more smoke came spewing right in his face, making him cough while he fanned it out and covered his mouth and nose.

Mom and I watched as dad was inspecting what was going on with the car. I saw that the expression on his face was becoming more and more distressed, like he just realized that he's in serious trouble.

"But… But the car was working just fine, a moment ago! It kept us going for several hours straight! How could it have waited until now to break down on us?!" Dad shouted, scratching his head anxiously.

"Thi rak, forgive me if I add more to your frustration," Mom apologized preemptively. "But I did tell you before to get the car checked every once in a while, especially during a long trip like this one."

"I-It's okay! Everything is going to be okay!" Dad tried to reassure all of us, especially himself, as he started working on the car engine, even if it looked like he had no idea where to look in there. "Let me try and fix the car! I promise that I'll get it done just in time for us to get back home!"

This is one of my dad's flaws, at least back when I was a little kid. Whenever my dad causes a huge stink, he'll always try to own up to it by fixing the problem on his own, and he's too stubborn and anxious to just take a minute and think, or even listen to other people's suggestions. Most of the time, it was my mom who has to bail him out when that happens.

My mom sighed, knowing that it was another one of those situations, and pulled out her cellphone. "I am going to call the nearest towing company. It will be faster this way." she said, dialling the number before putting her phone in her ear.

I looked back and forth between my mom and dad. Seeing each of them trying to solve our car problem in their own way, I wanted to pitch in as well.

"I'm gonna get help!" I yelled before I ran towards the diner, my first idea being to ask the people in there for help. By the time that I got inside, my mom cried out for me to come back, but I was too focused to even listen.

"Help! Help us!" I screamed on top of my child lungs. For the first few seconds, I was able to get everyone's attention. But immediately afterwards, they all went back to what they were doing before.

"Please! Mom and dad need help!" I screamed one more time, hoping that someone, anyone would answer my cry for help.

It sort of worked, because the really nice brunette waitress with a bob haircut came to me, bending down to meet me face to face. "Aw, what's the matter, hun? You say that you need help?" she asked me.

I quickly nodded and pointed at my parents and the car outside of the restaurant. "Our car broke! We can't leave! Can you help us?"

The waitress looked at where I was pointing and silently gasped. "Oh dear. That looks like trouble. Where do you live?"

"California!"

"Ooh, that's definitely some ways away. That's no good." The waitress remarked. "Give me a second, darling. I'll call for help right away."

"Hold it."

The waitress and I heard a tough-sounding voice from the opposite side of the restaurant. I looked over to the direction of the voice, trying to see who it belonged to from the people sitting far from where I was.

Then, someone stood up from the table. It was a large, tough-looking old man with grey hair tied into a ponytail. He was wearing a black leather vest with a crazy logo on the back, as well as a pair of ripped jeans. When he looked my way, I saw that he had a moustache and a stylized goatee and was wearing some shades.

I froze up because I recognized him as part of the scary-looking biker gang sitting at the far corner of the diner. The only people who I never asked about the Grand Canyon a while ago.

He started to walk towards me, causing the nice waitress to take severals steps back, probably because she was as scared of him as I was. Once he was standing right in front of me, that was when I found out just how big and towering the guy was compared to little me, which didn't help with calming my nerves at all.

The biker dude was staring down at me, like he was looking straight into my soul. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't say a thing. I couldn't move from where I was standing. I just froze up on the spot, helpless in the face of the guy who looked like he came straight out of a crime show.

"Anne!" I heard my mom's voice.

I quickly turned around just in time to see her enter the diner. I didn't hesitate to hug her legs as soon as she showed up. "Mommy!"

"Anne, please do not run off on your own!" Mom said, wrapping her arms around me. "I was scared that you might get hurt somehow!"

Mom kept hugging me for a few seconds, before she looked up and saw the scary-looking biker guy herself. She immediately stood up with her back straight, mostly likely because she got spooked like I did.

"O-oh! H-hello!" she stuttered. "C-can I help you, mister?"

The biker dude stared at my mom the same way that he stared at me, a moment ago. He then turned his head towards the car outside, where dad was still trying and failing to fix the engine by himself. Then, he changed his sight back to me. I could only look at the guy's face, scared out of my mind and unable to say a thing. He kept his eyes on me for a moment.

And I could have sworn that his eyes softened, behind his sunglasses.

"… Wade!" He shouted a name.

One of those gang members came running as a result. It was a pretty slim guy with spike mohawk hair dyed in green, wearing the same clothes as the big guy. Kinda looked off on him, to be honest.

"Yo! What's the hubbub, boss?" The guy named Wade asked, looking at both me and my mom. "Want me to take care of this lady and the kid?"

My mom instinctively pulled me in her arms, protecting me from whatever that guy was planning to do.

"No." The big boss said. "See that smoking car over there?" He motioned his head towards our car outside.

"Yeah?" Wade said.

"Get the tools from your bike and fix it for them." The boss ordered.

My mom and I were shocked by what he just said.

"Are you kidding me, boss?" The slim gang member sounded just as shock as we were. "You want me to fix the car of a couple of strangers?"

"Yes. Just do it already."

"No way! I ain't gonna waste my talents as a mechanic for some nobodies! What's in it for me, anyway?"

"How about we hit one of the most famous bars in Arizona later tonight? My treat."

"Oooh…! You're hitting me where I'm weak, boss!"

The Wade guy turned around with his back facing us and his arms crossing into one another. He was considering about the boss' offer, since his leg was bouncing in place in a way that helped him focus on a thing. After a bit of time passed up, he let out a shout and turned back towards us.

"Fine! I'll do it! It's the busted-looking car over there, right? Let me get my tools and get this over with!"

He then walked past us and got out of the diner.

Mom and I were still shocked. The big scary gang leader was actually offering to help us out. That really defeated everything I know about the kind of guy he was for my 5-year-old mind.

"I… I do not know what to say." My mom said, facing the boss. "Thank you, sir."

"Hm." The boss grunted. "Let's go check up on your car. I'll need to make sure that Wade isn't fooling around with it.

Mom slowly nodded.

The three of us all left the diner to go see my dad, who was still trying and failing to look into the car engine until we showed up. He had the same reaction as us when he first saw the biker gang leader, freezing up in place and stuttering. Mom barely managed to calm him down by explaining the whole deal with the guy, even though she wasn't sure about him herself.

Not long after, Wade showed up with a toolbox in hand. It took a bit of convincing from mom for my dad to step aside and let Wade take a look at the car engine himself.

"Oof. This car here looks like it hasn't gone through maintenance for a long time." he noted after barely a minute of looking into it. "Not sure if I'll get the job done, but it wouldn't hurt to try."

"A-are you really willing to fix it?" Dad nervously asked. "N-not that I find worrisome or anything…"

"Well, if it were up to me, I wouldn't bother wasting my time with you folks." Wade harshly said. "But I got orders from the boss here, so not much I can do about it."

After he opened up the toolbox and pulled out a couple of tools in his hand, Wade started to dig into the engine. My parents and I watched him work, still worried if the car's really gonna get fixed or if the guy was good on his word. At least, that was how I felt.

Meanwhile, I noticed that the boss was slowly making a full lap around the car, taking a look at it for himself. He did stopped for a moment behind it, presumably to check the license plate, before he finished his lap.

The boss then turned his head towards dad, startling him as a result.

"California, huh?" he said.

"Um, y-yes. We are from California, sir." Dad replied.

"You folks are a long way from home. What brings you here?"

"W-we, uh… We, um…" Dad stuttered before he cleared his throat to try to get a hold of himself in front of the gang leader. "We were visiting a friend in Colorado the other day. Now, we're on our way back home when our car broke down on us here."

"That so? Hm."

When the boss looked down at me, I got startled the same way as my dad. Just like back at the diner, it was like he saw staring deep into my soul, and I didn't know what to do.

Even though his shades made it hard to see, I was certain that his expression softened, juts like last time.

"… Cute little kid you got here." he spoke. "How old is she?"

"Anne? Um, she's five." Dad replied.

The big guy chuckled. Somehow, I could feel a hint of sadness in his voice. "Five, huh? Reminds me of my own kid…"

Dad looked confusion.

The gang leader turned around and stared at the road that stretched down as far as the eyes could see. "When I looked at your kid, she had the same pure and innocent look on her face as my own back then. Not to mention that her way of asking around in the diner inside was so full of energy and eagerness, it's almost scary just how similar your kid is to my Sandy. I haven't seen all of that in a long time."

He sighed, as he put his hands on his hips, with his head lowered towards the ground. "… Makes me wonder how she's doing after all these years…"

Mom and dad both shared a brief look at each other. I think they were as curious as I was about the gang leader's deal with his daughter.

"E-excuse me if I pry too much, sir." Mom cautiously said. "But about your daughter, you have not seen her in a long time?"

"No." he replied. "Not ever since she was in her mom's custody after our divorce."

I flinched from hearing the word 'divorce.' Even as a little kid, I knew what it meant. After all, I knew another person who had to experience that…

"I am sorry to hear about it, sir." Mom apologized sympathetically.

"You know it had nothing to do with you." The boss said, turning his head towards mom. "Besides, I was the one who got my family in this mess in the first place. All because I was exchanging their happiness for work."

He fully turned around to face us once more. "You know, you folks going on a roadtrip reminded me of a similar thing that my family and I went through. One day, we were travelling a long way from home for a family reunion. I didn't stop at any touristic spots, because I was focusing more on getting that family reunion over with, then returning home as soon as possible so I can go back to work. My daughter was complaining about how I was doing things during the trip, and even my wife had issues with it."

His situation sounded really familiar. Looking at my parents, they both had a look that suggested that his story sounded familiar to them too.

The leader looked at the canyons far away from where we were. "The Grand Canyon was the final straw. Me driving past there was when my relationship with my family became strained. It all escalated from there, up until the divorce. I couldn't believe that it took me until then to realize how much I screwed up."

He let out a sad sigh, as he took off his sunglasses to reveal his blue eyes. They looked really tired, so I assumed it was because he was growing old. Thinking about it now, I think it's also because he had years to think about what he had done.

"You know what's ironic? I prioritized work over my family because I wanted to secure my daughter's happiness, to make sure she becomes successful when she grows up. I was so hellbent on making sure of that that I lost sight of what really mattered. And to pour salt on the wound, I ended up losing my job not long after the divorce. So everything I did for my kid was all for nothing…"

I didn't understand a lot of his words, but I did get the feelings behind his story. It made me really sad, having to hear him go through all of that for his family, only to lose it all in the end. And I think his story had an even bigger impact on my dad, who looked like he was thinking really hard about it.

The boss chuckled. "Well, that's not something that I do often. Me telling my life story to a couple of nobodies." He turned his head towards us, as he scratched his nose with his finger. "Sorry that I talked your ears off."

"No, actually. I'm grateful that you told us." Dad said, no longer sounding nervous in front of the guy. "I can sort of relate to your story."

"That so? Hm." The boss had his hand down on my dad's shoulder, who flinched because of how hard he slammed his hand on him. "Take it from me, then. Just because you're working hard for your kid's future, doesn't mean that you can just ignore the present. No loving family should go through what I've gone through."

"I understand." Dad nodded. "Thank you."

We then heard the sound of the hood being closed, as we all turned our heads towards the slim gang member. He let out a sigh of relief and wiped his forehead with his arm, before he turned around to see us.

"Alright! I managed to fix up a bit of the engine." Wade said, putting away his tools back inside of the box. "Your car should last for another day or two. Just get it checked by a professional when you get back, unless you want a car that's good for scraps. Got it?"

"Thank you so much, mister." Mom thanked the slim dude. "Is there anything that we can do to repay for your service?"

"No need. The boss already got it covered with his offer." he said. "But if it weren't for him, I would've charged you folks a pretty penny."

"Um… How much, out of curiosity?" Dad asked.

"10 000 dollars, give or take."

"WHAT?!"

"Hey, we're a biker gang, if it ain't obvious. We're not running a charity here. The gas, our bikes and our stomach ain't paying for themselves, you know."

There was a moment of silence between us. Then, dad let out a nervous laugh. "Hahaha! You're a funny man! You almost had us believe that you're the kind of people who would resort to extortion!" He turned his head towards the boss dude. "He is quite the comedian, right?"

The boss didn't say a thing.

"Anyway, we're done here, right?" Wade asked. "'Cause I'm really in the mood to drink 'til I drop at Arizona's finest bar! You're paying for the drinks, right, boss?"

"Sure thing." The big guy replied. "Go get the boys back in the diner and meet me at our bikes. We'll leave in no time."

"Woo! Let's do this thing!"

Wade quickly went back inside of the diner to get the other gang members.

"Well, that's my cue to leave." The boss said, putting his sunglasses back on. "Oh right. I didn't catch your name."

"Oh, you can call me Bee. My wife is called Oum, and our daughter is Anne." Dad replied. "And you are?"

"Name's Pete. A pleasure to meet you." The boss named Pete offered my dad a handshake, and dad gladly took it. "You folks go and enjoy the rest of your trip back home, you hear?"

"We will. Thank you, Pete."

"Thank you so much for all that you have done for us, Mr. Pete." My mom bowed her head to him in gratitude.

The big guy looked down at me. I wasn't as afraid as before, since I got to witness how nice of a guy he was after he helped us out. For the first time since we met, he smiled warmly at me and gently patted my head. "You have fun too, little Annie."

"T-thank you, mister!" I said my thanks.

And then, Pete left us alone.

After that, my parents and I simply drove away from the diner, our car somewhat fixed just enough for us to get back home safely, at least according to that Wade guy. We spent half an hour in complete silence, besides the sound of the car engine and the radio keeping us entertained.

I didn't know what my parents thought about the whole experience back there, but for me, I was glad that I got us to stop at the diner. Not only did I get to experience a tiny bit of what the Grand Canyon had to offer - Again, that was how 5-year-old me thought at the time - I managed to have us avoid the worst possible scenario of having the car break down in the middle of nowhere, and got some help from people that we didn't think would help us. I was proud of what I did, even though it was a complete accident.

But unfortunately, that was all it was. My dad was still going to drive us all the way back home without stopping at anything, like usual. Our stop at the diner was my last-ditch effort see what a touristic spot outside of our state had to offer. Now that we were done with it, all that was left was a non-stop drive back home.

At least, that was what I thought.

"Anne?" My dad suddenly called out to me, looking at me through the rearview mirror.

"Yes, dad?"

"Do you remember that one place with the giant apple that we drove by yesterday?"

I nodded.

Dad then smiled. "What do you say that we take a visit this time?"

I let out a huge gasp of surprise. "Can we?!"

"Haha! Of course!"

I couldn't believe it! My dad, who just moments ago was so adamant in not stopping at anything, was actually offering to stop at one of the places that I wanted to see during this whole trip! I squeed out of joy and was bouncing up and down in my seat constantly, ignoring my dad's plea to keep myself still.

"What is with the change of heart, Bee?" My mom asked, smiling presumably because she was happy with my dad back-pedalling on his initial stance.

"Well, I have been thinking a lot about everything." Dad explained. "And I realized that you're right, Oum. What is the point of doing all of this if our daughter is unhappy? Especially for her first trip? I admit, I was being too strict this whole time…"

"I am happy for you, thi rak."

"Thank you, Oum. I'm also glad to know that I didn't miss my chance to please you with this one." Dad gave her a loving smile. Catching the sight of my parents being all lovey-dovey again got me to stop bouncing in my seat, and I pretended to gag like last time. "But if we are going to close the restaurant for an extra day, we'll need to work extra hard to recuperate the cost. The rent is still a problem…"

"I can think of one way for us to get what we need before the deadline."

"What's that?"

"You should cancel your preorder of that controller that you had your eyes on earlier this month."

Dad dramatically gasped. "Not my one-of-the-kind limited edition controller! I was looking forward to that!"

"If you want to stop worrying about the rent, sacrificing that controller that costs a fortune will be the way to go." Mom stated, as she crossed her arms.

"But…! But…!"

"No arguing with me, thi rak. You know in your heart that I am right, as always."

Dad whined. "Yes, my love…"

I giggled at my mom and dad's harmless bantering.

My parents and I then took our sweet time visiting all the places that we came across during our drive back home, which were also the places that I wanted to go since the start of our trip.

"… And that's the end of my little adventure involving the Grand Canyon." Anne concluded.

When she finished telling her story, she looked over to the smiling Sprig who was staring at her with wide eyes full of wonder, with his face resting on the palm of his hand while the elbow was on the table, keeping the hand up.

"So, got anything to say about it, dude?" she asked, her lips forming a smirk from how her friend looked.

That caused him to snap out of his trance, as he blinked his eyes twice and lightly shook his head. "Oh! Well, that was a really nice story you just told me, Anne." he said. "I'm really glad that your dad changed his mind about the whole 'not stopping at anything' business."

"Yeah. I'm glad too."

She gazed out through the window next to the dining table, as she reminisced about what she went through with her parents during their misadventures in Arizona.

"You know, it's funny. Up until I started talking about my story, I always thought that my dad was so stuck-up about a lot of stuff that he never tried to understand my feelings. I almost forgot that he's willing to change how he does things when it really matters, especially for my sake."

A sincerely sad smile appeared on her face, as her heart ached from remembering her father. "I wonder… if it's because it's been so long since I've seen my dad…"

"Anne…" Sprig grew concerned for his best friend.

When she noticed how the orange-haired boy looked at her, she quickly shook away the sadness in her smile and wiped off any trace of tears that might have formed in the corner of her eyes. "Sorry. Didn't mean to get a bit emotional for a second there."

"Hey, I don't mind." Sprig reassured her. "I mean, you've been stuck in Amphibia for three months. No one's gonna judge you for missing your family."

"Thanks, Sprig. Really appreciate it." Anne said, happy that her friend was very understanding of her situation.

"So… What's the lesson in your story, Anne?" he asked.

"Oh right! The lesson!" the brown-haired human exclaimed, having remembered the whole point of her telling her story to her friend. "Okay, so the deal with that is, uh… Well, it goes something like, um… Oh geez. This is a really bad time to not remember what the point of my story is…"

Anne switched her focus to trying to figure out the moral of her own story, tapping her head with her finger as a method of helping her get to the bottom of it.

However, her concentration got interrupted by Hop Pop opening the ceiling hatch from outside to loudly make an announcement.

"Red alert, kids! We're coming up on the Ruins of Despair!"

Just the name alone piqued the two humans' interest. They quickly went to the door, opened the top of it, and stuck their heads out to get a clear view of where they were. They both let out an astonished gasp.

Surrounding the road that they were travelling on were several mysterious stone forts that looked like they had been there for a very long time, as evident of the moss growing on some of the forts, as well as others looking like they were sunk into the ground that they were on. Every single one of them were strangely shaped like frogs, with two large domes serving as eyes, and the large gate acting as the mouth. There were even a pair of arms sculpted onto the structures.

"Whoa! What are those weird structures?" Anne asked.

"No one knows, Anne." Hop Pop replied from the bench on the roof. "They've been here long before any written history. Just a mystery better left unsolved, as far as I'm concerned."

"So, Hop Pop, any rules that you got about this one?" Sprig sarcastically asked.

"A few. But just looking at it should tell you all you need to know about how we should approach this."

The Plantar boy let out a frustrated groan, retreating his head back inside of the fwagon, along with Anne.

"I can't take it anymore!" he yelled, shaking his fists up towards the ceiling. "What's the point of traveling this far away from home without experiencing what the world has to offer?!"

"I'm with you, dude." Anne agreed. "No offence to Hop Pop, but his rules of the road can just kiss the bottom of my shoe. It's total nonsense!"

Sprig sighed in exasperation, as he sat back down at the table while he watched the mysterious forts passing by from the window. "Man! If only Hop Pop does what your dad did at the end of your story! He should know by now how bored out of our minds we are 'cause of his stupid rules!"

"Yeah, but my dad only changed his mind because we had to stop at the diner where we met those nice biker dudes who showed us what happens if he sticks to his guns. I don't see a single soul around these parts of the world."

"Still, though!" Sprig crossed his arms and put them down on the table before resting his chin on them. "Hop Pop needs to know how wrong he is! But I really don't know where to start from here! It's not like we can just come up to him and get him to stop the fwagon because we really… have to… go…"

Sprig trailed off and widened his eyes when he got an idea from what he had just said. He turned his head towards Anne to see that she was also looking at him with eyes widened from realization. It was safe to say that they both had the same idea.

"Hey, Anne," said the mischievous Sprig. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Oh, you bet I do, Sprig." confirmed the conniving Anne. "Let's take a page out of my own book."

The two humans nodded to each other before they went up to the ceiling, opened the hatch and poked their heads through there.

"Hey, Hop Pop?" Sprig said.

"What is it, boy?" Hop Pop asked, turning his head around to look at the two humans.

"I, uh… I have to pee!"

"Pee?!" The elderly frog shouted in disbelief. "Right now?! But we just went on a bathroom break an hour ago!"

"Come on, Hop Pop!" Anne implored him. "You know that Sprig is still getting used to his human body. You're not gonna ignore his needs just because we already went, are you?"

"Hmm… Well, you have a point." Hop Pop conceded. "Whoa, Bessie!"

He pulled on the reins to bring Bessie and the entire fwagon to a halt.

"Alright, fine. Go and find a place to do your business, Sprig. And make it quick, understand?"

"Got it, Hop Pop!" Sprig said.

"I'll come along with him." Anne said. "You know, just to make sure that he knows what he's doing."

"If it makes things go faster, then go right on ahead."

"Got it! Thanks, Hop Pop!" Both Sprig and Anne expressed their gratitude to the elderly frog, before they proceeded to quickly exit the fwagon from the back door.

The two humans both laughed with each other as they ran across the road, their plan to have Hop Pop stop the fwagon in the middle of one of the most interesting and peculiar parts of Amphibia ended up working in their favour.

"Haha! I can't believe that we're finally doing this!" Sprig exclaimed. "Thanks, Anne! You taught me a really good lesson from your story!"

"Don't thank me just yet, buddy!" Anne said. "The best part is just around the corner!"

And so, Sprig and Anne began to explore the mysterious Ruins of Despair without the careful eye of their grandfather watching their every move, ignorant of the dangers that the ruins have in store for them.

Chapter Text

Sprig and Anne were laughing and running through the Ruins of Despair, having successfully tricked Hop Pop into stopping in the middle of the area to allow the two humans to go on a quick bathroom break, or so he was lead to believe. Without their grandfather and his ridiculous road rules chaining them down, at least for a good while, they were free to explore the ruins to their hearts' content.

They eventually stopped at one of the large forts that they chose to go to, standing in front of its mouth-like gate.

"Okay, Sprig." Anne spoke to her friend. "We've got a little bit of time to ourselves before Hop Pop figures out what we're actually doing. So we're gonna have to make every second count."

"You got it, Anne!" Sprig gave her a thumbs-up. "So what should we do first?"

"I've got an idea." she replied. "We should start with taking a few quick selfies in front of this building."

"Sounds like a plan!"

The two humans quickly positioned themselves at the gate, leaning their backs against it. Anne pulled out her smartphone, activated its camera app and aimed it towards both of them, making sure to position it properly so that her and Sprig, as well as a large part of the fort's gate, were within frame.

"Okay! Smile!"

The two humans formed a large grin right before Anne took the shot, with the flash serving as proof of the photo being taken at that very moment.

The brown-haired girl pulled her phone back, as she and the orange-haired boy took a look at the picture.

"Nice, Anne!" Sprig complimented her.

"Appreciate it, buddy!" Anne said. "Let's take another picture. This time, let's go for a cooler look."

As Anne aimed her phone at both of them once more, she adopted a look where she pursed her lips a bit and her free hand formed a pistol pointing at the camera. Sprig followed her lead by pursing his lips as well and crossing his arms over his chest.

They both leaned their backs a bit harder against the gate.

A flash from the camera immediately occurred afterwards, and Anne pulled her phone back once more.

"We're looking pretty sweet here!" Sprig commented on their cool shot.

"You got that right!" Anne concurred. "One more! We're going free-styling for this one!"

"Gotcha!"

For the third shot, Anne stuck her tongue out and was winking at the camera, while her hand formed a peace sign. Sprig's lips formed a wide grin, as he gave the camera two thumbs-up.

They pressed their backs even further against the gate…

FFRRM!

… And from the phone screen, they saw that the gate behind them just slid open.

"… Sprig?"

"Yeah?"

"Is it just me, or does it look like the door just opened behind us?"

Sprig moved his hand behind him to try and see if he could feel something, but came up with nothing as a result.

"… I checked and yeah, the door really did open behind us."

"Ok, cool. Glad that I wasn't seeing things."

"… We're gonna fall, aren't we?"

"Oh yeah."

Sprig and Anne both screamed as they fell through the opened gate, sliding down the slope leading to the inside of the fort.

Meanwhile, at the fwagon, Hop Pop was waiting impatiently for the two humans to return from their break, as he drummed his fingers against the cushion of the bench. He mentally counted the amount of seconds passed that they've been gone, and he had reached the five-minute mark.

"… Frog dangit!" Hop Pop cursed, having realized that he had been played. "Those no-good, disrespectful little kids… The one time that I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt, they went and took advantage of it!"

The roof hatch flipped open, and Polly jumped out from there, letting out a yawn as she had just woke up from her slumber. "Mm… Morning, Hop Pop." she groggily said. She looked at her surroundings and noticed that the fwagon was not moving. "Hey, why did we stop? And where's Anne and Sprig?"

"They're supposed to be back from their bathroom break minutes ago." Hop Pop replied. "But knowing them, they're most likely off exploring the Ruins of Despair despite me warning them against it!"

His response removed all of the grogginess that Polly had from her sleep. "You mean they went on an adventure without me?! While I was asleep?! Curse you, Aoshima!"

"Polly, watch Bessie and the fwagon for me and stay where you are!" Hop Pop ordered, as he jumped off the fwagon with the rule book in hand. "I'm going to find those two and get to the bottom of this!"

"Okay, Hop Pop!"

The elderly frog then marched into the ruins by himself, spouting out curses and mumbling how he was going to give the two humans an earful when he gets his hands on them.

As soon as her grandfather disappeared from her sights, realizing that she was on her own without any supervision, she let out a mischievous smile. She then hopped on top of Bessie's head and whispered into the family snail's ears.

"Hey, Bessie. You wanna drive faster than a june bug can fly?" she asked.

Bessie happily chirped.

"AAAAAAAHHH!!!"

Sprig and Anne continued to fall down the slope which was taking them further and further down the interior of the ruins. After about half a minute of sliding down, they finally reached an even floor, where they rolled a couple of feet forward before stopping.

"Ow…! That smarts…!" Sprig groaned as he picked himself up on his hands and knees with his eyes shut, rubbing a sore spot on the back of his head. "Are you okay, Anne?"

"Y-yeah, I think so…" He heard Anne replying to him from the front. "Uh… Sprig?"

When he opened his eyes, expecting to see the cold floor underneath him, he was instead met with the sight of his best friend lying on her back below him. From there, he realized that they had fallen into one another when they reached the even floor, and he found himself straddling on top of Anne.

Both of them stared at each other for a short while, as they had difficulty processing the very awkward position that they found themselves in.

"Uh, sorry! Sorry!" Sprig quickly apologized, as he got off of Anne before things became too awkward. "I didn't mean to crash into you like this!"

"It's cool, dude. Don't sweat it." Anne reassured him, as she understood that it was all involuntary on both of their parts.

After Sprig helped Anne by pulling her up from the floor, the two of them looked around the underground interior of the fort, to see what was waiting for them down there. For the first time in their whole lives, or in Anne's case, since she had been in Amphibia, they bared witness to a room that was not like anything that they had seen before.

The room was filled with machines of advanced technology. There were computers located in certain areas. There was a conveyor belt that extended through a large hole leading to a different section of the underground space. Various of similar-looking machines connected by cables were stationed all over the place, with some of them having some sort of rods mounted onto them.

And the most prominent machine of them all was one that is very large compared to everything else. It even resembled a frog, just like with the fort outside. A symbol of a frog's foot can be found on its chest.

Despite its advanced technological designs, it looked like the chamber was ancient and had been out of use for centuries, as evident of plants, roots and moss growing throughout the area, with broken, rusted machine parts laying around the floor, and even the local wildlife taking up territory in some parts of the room.

"What is all of this…?" asked the astonished Sprig.

"I don't know…" Anne replied, sharing the same feeling as her friend. "But this is weird. I thought that you guys are pastoral or whatever. This place has computers, machines and all of that futuristic junk."

"I dunno what any of that means, but you know what I'm gonna do?"

"What?"

The eager, smiling boy raised his hands up and made a grabbing motion with them, his eyes gleaming with wonder. "I'm gonna touch everything!"

He then proceeded to zip from one spot to the next, laughing and touching everything that the room had to offer and appreciating its slick and unfamiliar design and materials. For the first time during the whole trip, he could finally experience the unknown adventure that he was seeking out from the very beginning.

Anne smiled from seeing the orange-haired boy having the time of his life. He desperately needed it. It was a good thing that they came up with an excuse to explore the outside world without their grandfather dictating what they should and should not do.

Then she remembered that they might have been out for too long, more than enough for Hop Pop to realize that something was amiss.

"Sorry, Sprig, but can you hurry up and be done with your touch fest?" she said. "We need to get back before Hop Pop gets suspicious and tries to find us!"

"AAAAAHHH!!!"

As if on cue, the elderly frog made his appearance by screaming while sliding down the slope leading to the underground chamber before crashing to the floor below.

"… Too late."

Hop Pop groaned as he stood up from the floor after his fall. When his eyes caught the sight of the two humans who both turned to him after his sudden appearance, he was filled with anger.

"I knew that I would find you ungrateful kids in this frog-forsaken place!" he yelled. "Not only did you trick your grandpa with an excuse like 'going peeing like a human would,' but you also broke several rules getting here! Want to know how many? Exactly enough to get yourself killed ten times over!"

"Are you kidding me, Hop Pop?" Sprig said, as he became more and more ticked-off by Hop Pop's insistence in following his rules. "The only thing that is close to killing me with boredom is your stupid rules!"

"And what does that suppose to mean?"

"Take a look around you!" Sprig exclaimed as he spread his arms wide, showing Hop Pop the amazing, futuristic look of the underground chamber. "This place is awesome! This is exactly what this trip desperately needs to make it a memorable experience! If only you didn't enforce your rules to everything and make this trip so forgettable that we had to ask what's the point!"

"You know that I wrote the rules to keep us safe! What you're saying is a bunch of malarkey!" Hop Pop retorted.

"Right back at you, Hop Pop!" Sprig yelled. "Can't you appreciate everything wonderful about this place? The cool atmosphere. The implied historical significance…"

Sprig turned around to look at the large, frog-like machine behind him, and while he was inspecting the machine with his eyes, he became drawn by one part of it that fuelled his curiosity to the fullest.

"… Levers." He let out a sly smile, pointing at the lever located between the eyes of the frog machine.

"Don't you dare!" Hop Pop warned him. "Rule number 68: 'Never, ever pull a lever!'"

The annoyed Sprig threw a fierce glare at his grandfather. "Hop Pop… You know how much I love pulling levers."

"That's why I wrote it. Because no good will come from your lever-pulling tendencies." Hop Pop glared back.

That was the last straw for Sprig.

"… I'm gonna pull it." The boy began to climb up the frog machine.

"I'm warning you, boy! Don't you pull that lever!"

"I'm gonna pull the lever." The boy stood up next to the lever after his climb.

"Sprig," The worried Anne spoke. "Hate to be a downer after everything we've gone through, but maybe he has a point with this one. Can you not pull the lever this time?"

"I'ma do it." The boy placed his hand on the lever, fully intending to pull it down.

"If you dare to pull even an inch of that lever," Hop Pop warned him for the last time. "You're going to be in so much-!"

Sprig pulled the lever down.

Anne and Hop Pop quickly protected themselves with the arms and the rule book respectively from whatever might come in their way as a result.

However, they soon lowered their guard when they realized nothing happened, after a moment had passed.

Sprig looked around himself to see if anything had changed when he pulled the lever. So far, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. So in his own conclusion, the lever did not trigger anything life-threatening. And it was a good opportunity for him to rub it in Hop Pop's face.

"Well, look at that. I broke rule number 68, and we're all still alive." Sprig smugly said, as he hopped off the frog machine to rejoin Anne and Hop Pop on the floor. "See? I told you that your rules are stupid. Not to mention unnecessary."

"You think that you can get off that easy just because that lever happened to not do a dang thing?" Hop Pop angrily said. "You wouldn't be smiling if it happened otherwise!"

"Whatever. The point is, you're completely wrong about everything, Hop Pop." The orange-haired boy bent down to confront his grandfather face-to-face, taking advantage of his taller human form to make himself seem superior while the smug look on his face still remained. "Maybe it's time for you to start thinking where you went wrong instead of scolding me just because I happened to prove you wro-"

"Guys?" Anne interrupted him, as she pointed at the face of the frog machine. "The lever just went inside of the machine."

Both Sprig and Hop Pop looked at what the human girl was pointing and noticed that the lever had disappeared.

As soon as they took notice of that, the room around them began to shake and illuminate in a blue light. Specifically, the eyes and the frog foot symbol of the large machine began to glow, as do the circular symbols surrounding it and some of the other machines. The illuminated chamber also revealed that there were windows along the walls, showing a hallway where the rest of the conveyor belt can be found, alongside many other machinery.

Steam came out from the back of the large machine's head, as it opened its mouth to reveal a large computer behind it, with the screen showing various schematics.

"Start-up engaged." A robotic, female voice was heard all around the chamber, surprising everyone.

"Whoa! The building can talk!" Sprig exclaimed, at first showing amazement at discovering something new and unbelievable, before he immediately dropped it when he considered the implications. "Um… Starting to have a bad feeling about this, though."

"Assembly line activated. Routine protocols engaged."

"Assembly line?" Anne repeated the robotic voice's words.

She then noticed that the conveyor belt had began to move, and through the windows around them, she saw that objects had been placed on the conveyor belt and moved along the path, where various machinery worked on the each individual material once it entered their work section.

"Guys, I think this is a factory." Anne said, full recognizing the chamber to be the case. "But what the heck is it making?"

"Wow! It is mighty impressive." Hop Pop said, as he watched the machine doing its work.

"Additional materials required." announced the voice. "Please place them on the glowing access point."

"Glowing access point?" Sprig repeated its words. "Huh. I wonder what that is."

"Uh… Sprig?" Anne pointed at what was below him.

When he followed where she was pointing, he noticed that a blue circle was glowing beneath his feet. Suddenly, metal binds captured his feet, preventing him from moving from that spot.

"Wait, what's going on?" Sprig asked worryingly.

Before he could get an answer, the floor below him immediately dropped down, pulling him along as he yelped.

"Sprig!" Anne and Hop Pop shouted his name. The hole where the boy disappeared into closed up before the two of them could even make a move.

A moment later, Sprig popped out in the assembly line chamber with the conveyor belt and other machinery. He was then being moved along the belt's path through the hallway, his feet still bound by the metal binds.

"Uh, guys? A little bit of help, please?" Sprig said as he tried to pull his feet from the binds to no avail. "I don't like where this is going!"

"What did I tell you!" Hop Pop shouted with vindication. "I said that you wouldn't be smiling if anything happened, and this is exactly the kind of situation that you're in!"

"Hop Pop, now's not the time to rub it in his face!" Anne said.

"She's got a point!" Sprig anxiously agreed. "I-I'm looking at what's waiting for me over there and, uh… It's not looking good!"

Along the belt's path, there was a pair of mechanical arms with some sort of cannon mounted on top of them aiming at whatever comes within their sights. Seeing the cannon-looking machines was worrying enough, but what alarmed the boy the most was what was waiting for him far along the path:

A large device that crushes anything that stood in its path.

"Don't worry, Sprig! We're getting you outta here!" Anne shouted. "Hop Pop, you go and get to him! I'll get to the computer up there and shut this whole thing down!"

"Do you know how to work this contraption?" Hop Pop asked.

"Nope." she replied with blunt honesty. "But if it's anything like surfing through the web or play video games, turning the factory off should be a snap! … I think."

"That's not reassuring to hear."

"Let's just go already!"

Both Anne and Hop Pop split up to perform their respective task, the former getting to the computer on top of the large frog machine, and the latter getting to his grandson by entering the assembly line chamber through the entryway.

Sprig, meanwhile, was still trying to liberate his feet from the metal binds. But no matter how much he tried to pull, the binds never budged an inch. And he was not keen on pulling even harder and risking tearing his ankles in the process.

"Grrr! Let go of my feet already, you stupid thing!" he shouted.

His focus on trying to free himself got interrupted when the conveyor belt suddenly stopped. Wondering why it stopped, he looked around to see that he was standing within the cannon-like machines' sight, their nozzles aiming at the boy.

He tried to protect himself by holding his arms up, expecting something painful like lava or acid shooting from the cannons. However, he was caught by surprise when the machines instead shot jets of water, soaking him from head to toe on all sides.

After a few seconds, the machines stopped spraying him with water, giving him time to wipe his face with his hands and spit out some of the water that went in his mouth.

"Pew… Okay, that wasn't so bad." Sprig said, relieved that what he had just experienced was harmless.

As if to toy with him, the machines resumed their act of shooting water at him, this time directly in his face.

"Hang on, Sprig!" Hop Pop shouted from way behind the boy, as he hopped across the conveyor belt and leaping as far as his old legs could take him. "Hop Pop is coming for you!"

Back in the main chamber, Anne managed to climb up the frog machine and found herself standing in front of the large computer.

"Okay, Anne!" she began to psych herself up, stretching her fingers out as she prepared to tackle the computer. "Time to show them your internet web surfing ski…"

She trailed off the moment that she looked down at the keyboard panel.

The panel contained several, unlabelled buttons each serving different functions, a few circular meters which calculated something, and the keys, the basic aspects of a keyboard, each had symbols that seemed ancient and foreign to the human girl.

"… You know, in hindsight, I probably should've expected this." she noted.

"If you wish to cancel the operation, please insert new disk." instructed the computer voice.

A slot located below the screen opened up, as if it was waiting for a disk to be inserted inside, just as the computer said.

"Disk? What the heck is a disk?!" The perplexed Anne asked both the computer and herself, having been born in an age where digital media became the norm.

Meanwhile, back in the assembly line chamber, the water pistol machines ceased their function after several sessions of soaking the boy with water.

Sprig spat out more water from his mouth, as he wiped his face off for the umpteenth time. "Okay… It stopped being fun after a while…"

Just when he was expecting no more surprises, the panel beneath him suddenly flipped forward, bringing his back against it. Another set of metal binds seized his wrists. Then the panel spun itself around with the screaming boy still bound to it, presumably to dry him off. Once the panel stopped, it reinstalled itself to the conveyor belt before the belt's movement resumed, leaving the boy with his senses scrambled while staring at the ceiling.

"Urgh…! I think I'm gonna barf…!" he moaned.

"Sprig!"

Hop Pop managed to reach the boy, landing next to his lying body.

"Hop Pop!" Sprig exclaimed, relieved to see his grandfather coming for his aid. "Oh man, I'm glad that you got here just in time! Can you get these things off of me?"

"In a second, boy!" Hop Pop said, crossing his arms as he stared down at his grandson with a look on his face that spelled 'I told your so.' "See the kind of mess that you put yourself in? This is why we follow the rules!"

"Is this really the time to be talking about this?!" Sprig shouted, straining against the binds on his hands and feet.

"I warned you that no good will come from your lever-pulling tendencies, hence why I wrote rule number 68 in this dang book in the first place! Here's hoping that this whole thing serves as a wake-up call for your rebellious attitude, otherwise you and I are going to be spending a whole day talking about the importance of following the-!"

"Hop Pop, get me outta here before we get crushed by that huge thing over there!" the boy cried as he pointed with his face the large device coming in their way.

Hop Pop turned his head and saw for himself the machine that Sprig was talking about, stomping down in full force against the conveyor belt in a repeated fashion. With the situation looking very dire, he decided to save his scolding for later and to focus on freeing his grandson.

"Right! I'm on it!" he said as he got down on his knees and began to fiddle with one of metal binds on Sprig's wrists. "D'oh…! How do you open up this blasted thing?"

Back to Anne and her struggle against the computer and its complex controls…

"Okay… Calm down and think this through, Anne…" The brown-haired girl took a deep breath. "Remember how Marcy does it when she programmed stuff in her computer… Try and copy her ways and everything should be fine… I hope."

She looked down at the control panel once more. After a few seconds of mentally encouraging herself, she placed her hands on the keyboard and pressed a series of keys out of random. Afterwards, the moment she thought that she might have done it…

"Security violation detected." said the computer, as the screen flashed red.

The frog machine suddenly shook for an instance, and a giant pair of robotic arms rose up from each side. Its glowing, red eyes glared down at the intruder standing in front of its face, after she failed to try to infiltrate its system.

"Oh geez."

The giant machine slammed its hands down in an attempt to flatten the human girl. Anne quickly dodged out of the way of its attack. It lifted its hands up and proceeded to perform the same attack as before, and just like last time, Anne managed to evade it.

When its initial attempt failed, a giant circular saw held by a robotic arm emerged out from the slot between the giant machine's eyes, spinning dangerously as it was raised up before diving down towards Anne.

"Whoa!" Anne narrowly avoided the saw by jumping to the side. "Who the heck programmed this deathtrap in the first place?! All of this because I got it wrong just once?!"

Meanwhile, Hop Pop was still working on undoing the binds on Sprig's wrists. Since his hands failed to do the job, he resorted to bashing his rule book against the binds, hoping to damage them just enough to break them open.

"I think you're gonna end up breaking my hands before you can break these things, Hop Pop!" shouted the worried Sprig.

"Hang on just a little longer, boy!" Hop Pop said, as he slammed his book against the metal bind once more. "I think I almost got it!"

As he raised the book once more for another go at breaking the binds, a shadow suddenly loomed over the two of them. Sprig looked up in horror, while Hop Pop raised his head up and was met with the sight of the flat bottom of the crushing machine above their heads.

The device dropped itself down towards the boy and the elderly man, as the latter screamed, and the former could only watch helplessly.

… For a split second, sparks of electricity suddenly formed around Sprig's wrists. The metal binds snapped open as a result.

Quickly realizing that his hands were free, Sprig immediately sat up and stopped the flattening machine's descent by pressing his hands up against it.

Hop Pop looked at the boy with shock, as he did not realize that he was that close to breaking Sprig's hands free. However, he remembered that he only worked on one metal bind, and not the other. So how come both binds had opened up?

He was taken out of his thoughts when he saw that Sprig was struggling against the crushing device, his body slowly lowering under its artificial force. The elderly frog lend him a hand by pushing his arms against the machine alongside him, hoping that their combined strength would be enough to stop it completely.

It turned out not to be the case. The flattening machine's power proved to be too much for both Sprig and Hop Pop to handle. They found themselves slowly being pushed down by the machine, and no amount of power that they could muster could turn the tide.

"I… I can't… keep this up…!" Sprig groaned.

"ANNE!" Hop Pop screamed the human girl's name.

After dodging another saw attack, Anne quickly turned to where Sprig and Hop Pop were and looked in horror at the sight of them slowly being crushed.

"SPRIG! HOP POP!"

Left with very little time left to save them, Anne charged back towards the control panel, slipping and sliding past the frog machine's hands and saw as they came in her way. As soon as she reached the board, she pressed several keys and buttons in panic in attempt to find whatever to stop the whole operation.

"Insert disk."

"Come on! Don't give me that crud!" Anne yelled as she kept typing away on the keyboard. "Sprig and Hop Pop's lives are on the line! Just stop!"

"Insert disk. Insert disk. Insert disk."

Anne's stress reached the breaking point, from the combination of seeing Sprig and Hop Pop just seconds away from becoming pancakes, and the computer repeating the same instructions over and over.

"RAAAAAAAHHH!!!" she screamed, pulling out her tennis racket in her hands. "SCREW THIS!!!"

As a last resort, she struck hard against the control panel several times, sending bits and pieces flying in the process. She then shifted her target towards the computer screen, where she gave it the same treatment as with the board. Then she switched back and forth between the two.

"Bzzzt! Error! Error! Bzzzt!"

The broken computer screen started going into a frizz, as smoke and electricity emerged from several busted parts of the computer.

Just as Sprig and Hop Pop were about to collapse under the weight of the flattening machine, the large device stopped moving. And the remaining metal binds unlatched themselves from Sprig's feet.

"Hey! I'm free!" Sprig exclaimed, as he and Hop Pop quickly dropped off the conveyor belt.

"Anne! Sprig's alright over here!" Hop Pop shouted to the Thai-American girl, waving his arms around to have her notice them.

Anne was panting after she bashed her racket against the computer one last time, when Hop Pop called out to her. Gazing over to where the two of them were, Anne was relieved to see both of them safe and sound. "Oh thank frog!"

BOOM!

An explosion occurred in the corner of the main chamber. The whole room started to shake, as smoke and electricity began to form all around it. It seemed that Anne's relentless assault on the computer caused everything to blow up around them.

"Oh boy! Time to go, fam!" Anne said, as she dropped down from the frog machine and ran for the exit.

Sprig and Hop Pop followed suit, running behind the human girl as they fled the exploding factory, dodging past the debris falling from the ceiling.

The trio ran as fast as they could, and before they know it, they managed to get past the the fort's entrance and reached the outside grounds.

Seeing the greenery around them and the Sun still shining down on them, Sprig and Anne both cheered, as they raised their fists up.

"Woo! We did it!" Sprig said.

"Heck yeah, we did!" Anne shouted. "And it was a close call too!"

"What are you kids doing?!" Hop Pop yelled at the two humans, throwing his hands up in exasperation. "Did you forget about road rule number 2?! 'Don't celebrate till you're completely out of-!'"

BOOOOOOM!

The fort behind them exploded. The blast wave sent Anne, Sprig and Hop Pop flying away before they fell down on their tails several feet away from the explosion.

"'… danger.'" Hop Pop finished, covered in ash, along with Sprig and Anne.

The trio took a moment to recuperate from that life-threatening experience before they stood up from the ground and turned around to look at what remained of the factory, which became a huge flame that swallowed everything from the inside and out, surrounded by several debris.

"Well," Sprig spoke. "That was a thing."

"Yeah." Anne nodded. "You know, after everything is said and done, I'm still left wondering what that factory was making in the first place."

"I know that feeling. I guess we'll never know, huh?"

"Yep."

The group continued to watch the flames where the fort used to be, the mystery of its true purpose remained unsolved despite their discovery.

Sprig stretched his arms up and dusted off the ash from his skin and clothes, smiling as he felt satisfied with what he had experienced. "Welp! Another day in the life of the Plantars, I guess! Here's hoping that we get to go through something like that the next day!"

"Are… you… SERIOUS?!" Hop Pop suddenly yelled at the boy, startling him. "Did you just forget that you almost got killed in there, Sprig?! All because you went and pulled that lever?!"

"Well, sure, it was pretty scary back there, not gonna lie." Sprig said. "But it's not like we haven't gone through something like that back in the valley."

"Back in the…! This isn't like in the valley!" Hop Pop took a couple step towards the boy, closing the distance as he glared at him. "Back there, you had the advantage of being familiar of the area since you were born! This is a completely new territory! There are new, unfamiliar dangers lurking around every corner!"

"I know, but that's what make this exciting!" Sprig shouted back. "There's a whole new world waiting for us out here! New opportunities to learn! You'd be crazy to think that we should sit out during this whole trip and not get some hands-on experience of what the world has to offer! That's just lame!"

"Of course it's lame! But it also helps with keeping ourselves safe!"

"Are you for real, Hop Pop?! You're just gonna pretend that you didn't feel any thrill back there?!"

"Hey, guys," Anne tried to step in between the two, seeing that their arguments were beginning to escalate. "How about we just calm down for a second and hear each other out in a civilized matter?"

They both ignored the Thai-American girl.

"What the heck is your deal, Hop Pop?!" Sprig asked. "Why are you so obsessed with keeping us safe?! You didn't have that problem back in the valley! So what gives?!"

"I told you already! The outside world is even more dangerous than anything that you have experienced back home!" Hop Pop replied. "How much more can I say to you until it's jammed right into your skull?!"

"We're not stupid kids! We know what we're doing! We can handle any kinds of danger!"

"You don't know what you're saying!"

"And it sounds like you don't have a clue about what we want!"

"Guys, seriously!" The worried human girl tried another attempt at easing the tension between the two. "This is getting too much! Just calm down already!"

She was ignored once more.

"I'm going to tell you just this once, Sprig!" Hop Pop said. "If you value your life, you need to follow the rules! It's for your own good!"

"Aaargh! Again with the rules!" Sprig growled. "You care more about your stupid rules than you care about us!"

"I do care more about you kids! I wrote the rules to protect you!"

"Even if it's suffocating for us?!"

"If it means that you'll be safe!"

"Why are you being such a butt about all of this?!"

"BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TO LOSE ANY MORE FAMILY!!!"

Atmosphere around them became silent.

Sprig and Anne looked at their grandfather with wide, shocked eyes from hearing the true reason behind his over-controlling nature.

Hop Pop lowered his head down and shut his eyes, as tears began to form. He gritted his teeth and clenched his hands into fists, as memories of a painful past resurfaced in his mind.

"… Not again… I don't want to outlive my own children ever again…"

The orange-haired boy could only stare at his grandfather. From his outburst, the boy finally realized why Hop Pop was so painstakingly insistent in having them follow his rules, which served to protect them from harm.

It was all because of what happened when he and Polly were very young.

Sprig slowly removed his green hat from his head and looked down upon it for a long while. The hat was significant because it was a gift from his parents. A gift from Hop Pop's children.

The ones that he failed to protect.

Sprig felt ashamed. He was so excited about this trip being the first time that he ever stepped foot outside of the valley, that he had never considered why Hop Pop wrote the rules in the first place. He forgot why Hop Pop was so overprotective of his grandchildren to begin with.

Lifting his gaze up from his hat to his grandfather, the latter was still in an internal struggle with himself. Despite his best efforts to remain strong, a single tear escaped from the corner of the elderly frog's eyes.

"… I'm sorry…" Sprig finally apologized, causing Hop Pop to finally open his eyes to him. "I… I completely forgot about what you've been through back then…"

Taking a few steps forward, the Planter boy pulled his grandfather into a hug. Hop Pop returned the gesture by wrapping his own arms around his grandson.

Anne watched as the two of them settled their differences with a hug. Despite not knowing everything behind Hop Pop's actions, having joined the family for only three months, from what she heard during their heated argument, she had an idea what the reason might be. But out of respect for the family, she decided not pry into it.

Sprig slowly pulled himself away from the hug, as he looked at Hop Pop while crossing gaze with one another. "Hop Pop… I'm not gonna put myself in any more danger." he stated. "From now on, I'll listen to everything you say. I'll follow the rules that you wrote for us."

"Sprig…"

"Same here, Hop Pop." Anne spoke out, taking a step forward. "Now I know that you're doing all of this for our sakes, you won't be hearing any more complaints from me. Rule number 345, right?"

Hop Pop looked at the two humans. He detected no lies or half-truths in their statements. He felt content that they recognized what was at stake and were willing to respect his decisions for the family for the first time during the whole trip.

"Thank you, Sprig, Anne…" he expressed his gratitude to his grandchildren.

For the first time in a long while, he was able to get a child of his to listen to him during an important matter such as that. He was sure that no more danger would befall them from that point forward.

And yet, when he thought back to the past, he was reminded of one other reason why he failed to protect his family.

Pulling out the rule book in his hands, he looked down upon it and began to reflect back on the events that led to their current predicament. After some time passed, he let out a sigh.

"But… I can't ignore that my logic in all of this is flawed."

Anne and Sprig both raised a confused eyebrow and briefly exchanged looks with one another. Another moment of silent fell upon the three of them.

"WOOHOO!!!"

They all heard the voice belonging to a certain purple tadpole coming from a distance. They all turned their heads to see their family snail and the fwagon moving at high speed across the ruins and leaving trails of fire behind them, with Polly at the reins, having the time of her life.

"Oh yeah! Let's go, Bessie!" Polly shouted, striking the reins to have Bessie run at top speed.

What ensued was a rather impressive display of skill from the family snail, as Bessie ran up to each fort that she came across and performed a series of outstanding tricks in midair before landing back down on the ground with no sign of stopping.

For the last fort, which looked especially large, Polly had Bessie move as fast as she could just before she jumped off the fort at its peak. While in the air, Bessie spun herself around alongside the fwagon behind her and stopping just before they touched the ground, conveniently landing next to Sprig, Anne and Hop Pop.

"Boom, baby!" Polly exclaimed as she struck a pose. She then found the rest of her family standing next to where she landed. "Oh hey, fam! What took you so long?"

"Polly, didn't I tell you to stay where you are while I'm gone?" Hop Pop asked, reacting in disbelief at the purple tadpole disobeying his orders.

"Uh… I forgot?" Polly offered a flimsy response, shrugging.

Hop Pop grunted and crossed his arms, as he threw a glare in her way.

"… Okay, okay! I'm sorry!" Polly apologized. "That's the last time that I break a rule, I swear!"

Hop Pop was about to give the purple tadpole an earful, but then he remembered his conversation that he just had with Sprig. Glancing at the two humans by his side, he sighed, as he was about to rectify where he might have gone wrong.

"Okay, kids. Gather around for just a bit."

Anne, Sprig and Polly complied, gathering around their grandfather as they prepared to listen to what he had to say.

Hop Pop took a deep breath, recollecting his thoughts before he started to speak about his intent for the family.

"Listen, kids," he started to speak. "You should know by now that the reason why I have so many rules in place for all of us is because I worry that you will end up hurt if things go horribly wrong. All I want for all of us is to be safe and sound, away from whatever danger might lurk around us. Even if it means that this trip ends up being completely uneventful."

He looked down at his rule book once more.

"But… That's no excuse for me to stunt your growth. I know that now."

He lifted his gaze back up to his grandchildren.

"All of you are still young, still full of energy and curiosity. At your age, it's only natural for you to want to discover the wonders of the unknown by yourselves. It feeds the mind. It satisfies the heart. And it builds up the strength. Each of you has the opportunity to go on a journey towards self-fulfilment. I have no right to stop you from doing so. Yet still, I worry that your journey would end abruptly by life's many trials."

"Hop Pop, what are you trying to say?" Anne asked.

"Well, all I'm asking you is this." Hop Pop said. "Sprig, Anne, Polly, if you promise to be responsible for yourselves, and to not carelessly put yourselves in danger that you might not leave unscathed… Then we won't be needing this dang old rule book from now on."

"Hop Pop… I promised." Sprig smiled.

"Ditto." Anne followed suit.

"Yeah, starting to feel like I missed out on a lot of drama." Polly commented. "But whatever. You can count on us, Hop Pop."

"Thank you, kids."

With everything said and done, Hop Pop took one last look at the rule book in his hand. He then tossed it aside to have it joined with some of the rubble that came from the destroyed factory.

"Well then," Hop Pop said. "That's enough adventuring for one day. Let's get back on the road, everyone!"

"You got it!" Anne said. "Actually, I'm starting to get a bit hungry. Got any ideas on what to cook for supper?"

"I have a better idea. How about we stop at the next restaurant that we come across?"

"For real, Hop Pop?" Sprig asked, surprised by his suggestion.

"Yep." Hop Pop confirmed. "For real, boy."

"Does that mean that we can eat ice cream in the fwagon?" Polly asked.

"Hehe! Of course! Let's make this trip a worthwhile experience for the Plantars! No unreasonable rules to be had here!"

The entire family cheered at their new approach to their trip into the unfamiliar world of Amphibia.

"Alright, kids! Time to get a move on!" Hop Pop announced, as he hopped up to the bench on top of the fwagon and took on the reins.

"Finally! We're getting somewhere with this trip!" Polly shouted as she entered the fwagon. "Sorry, Aoshima, but I'm looking forward to this more than my own wild dreams!"

"Well, at least I don't have to drain the batteries of my phone any more than I should." Anne said as she herself stepped inside of the fwagon after Polly. "Not that I need to worry about it, since I still got thousands of percentage of juice left, somehow."

With Hop Pop, Polly and Anne returning to the fwagon, Sprig was the last Plantar left standing outside. Before he could rejoin his family, he turned around and took one last look at the burning remains of the factory.

He thought back to everything that occurred inside. The whole experience was definitely insane, as he had quite a few close calls. If it weren't for Anne and Hop Pop, he was not sure if he would still be standing around as he was currently.

But if there was one thing that he found especially noteworthy about his adventures in there, it would be the moment that he and Hop Pop were about to get crushed by the machine.

Namely, the fact that he saw sparks of electricity around his wrists, which might have been the reason why the metal binds became undone.

At first, he thought that he might be seeing things. However, he remembered that it was not the first time that electric sparks formed in his hands. The first time, he assumed that their battle against the veggie monsters messed with his sights. The second time, however, he was certain that he was in his right mind, and he definitely saw something going on with his hands.

Raising his hand up to his face, there was only one question that lingered in his mind for a good while.

"… Do I have lightning powers…?"

Chapter Text

"Hmmmm! Magic Lightning Fingers… Activate!"

After channeling as much energy from within as he could, the orange-haired boy thrusted his arms forward, with his fingers spread apart from one another. What occurred afterwards was a fantastic display of power, as energy gathered around his fingertips before it bounced off in a form of lightning that struck anything within range. The boy had unleashed a magnificent, lightning magic given to him by the gods! A power so great that it threatens the stability of the mortal realm, the underworld and the heavenly skies above!

… At least, that was what he had hoped would happen. But upon opening one of his eyes to check for himself, he was left disappointed when everything in front of him seemed to have remained the same. No lightning coming out of his fingertips. No energy forming in the palm of his hands. No nothing.

"Hm… Maybe I'm doing it wrong?" Sprig asked himself, as he pulled his arms back and looked down at his hands.

He took a few seconds to think about what he should have done differently, and when a few ideas came to mind, he decided to execute each and every single one of them to find the results that he was looking for.

He closed his eyes once more, as he took another deep breath. He focused on gathering energy inside of himself, whatever that might be, and when he felt the time was right, he proceeded to thrust his arms forward once again.

"Unleash the lightning!" he shouted.

… Nothing happened, just like last time.

"Hrrm… Come on, lightning powers. Work with me here…"

He repeated the same steps as before, and he tried again a third time.

"Thunderbolt attack!"

… Then a fourth time.

"Unlimited power!"

… Then a fifth time.

"Sprinkled on the bones of the beast! Sharp tower, red crystal, steel ring. Move and become the wind, stop and become the calm. The sound of warring spears fills the empty cas-!"

"Dude, what are you doing?" asked the brown-haired girl who suddenly stepped out from behind a tree next to him.

Her sudden appearance caused the boy to accidentally bite his tongue in the middle of his incantation.

"Ow!" he shouted in pain, sticking his tongue out as he massaged it with his fingers in an attempt to soothe out the pain.

"Oh, sorry, Sprig!" Anne apologized. "Didn't mean to startle you while you were doing… whatever it is that you're doing. Seriously, what's all this about?"

"Mm…! I'm trying to activate my magic lightning powers here, Anne." he explained.

"Your magic what now?" She tilted her head in confusion.

"My magic lightning powers. I'm trying to shoot lightning from my fingers." he further explained his actions, imitating his movements from his attempts at using his newfound powers.

"… Sprig, did you somehow snuck off with my phone while I wasn't looking and watched too many anime videos or something?" Anne asked, finding the idea that Sprig has magic powers to be a complete fantasy. "Come to think of it, some of the stuff that you just said sounded like it came straight out of an anime too."

"I'm serious, Anne! I really do have lightning powers!" he insisted. "If I could just find a away to use it somehow…!"

"Sure, buddy. You have lightning powers. I believe you." she said in an unenthusiastic tone, not even trying to sound like she believed her friend even for a second.

The Plantar boy sighed. "You know what? Never mind all of that." he said, putting aside the subject of his powers for now, since his best friend would continue to not believe his words as long as there is no proof.

It had been several days since the incident at the Ruins of Despairs. The Plantars continued their trek through the unfamiliar land of Amphibia to get to the capital city of Newtopia, both to find a way to get Anne back to her home world and to find the ingredients for the cure to Sprig's human transformation.

Along the way, they stopped by their first town called Bittyburg, an average small town - read it as a very small town that a person as tall as Anne could easily tower over - that looked like it came straight from the wild west, inhabited by tiny frogs. The townspeople were being terrorized by the Hasselback gang, a family of malicious amphibians who loved to conquer over the weak.

Hop Pop, surprisingly, stepped in to liberate the Bitties from their ruthless rulers. His motive for doing so was that, when recounting the events at Toad Tower, the elderly frog had done nothing heroic compared to Anne and the rest of the family. He sought to change that by becoming a hero to the people of Bittyburg, someone who will be remembered for years to come.

In the process of doing so, however, even though he was able to hold his own against the notorious family at first, it was clear that they were simply too much for him, and he almost had his life cut short.

The sight of their hero being beaten to a pulp, as well as suffering years of abuse under the gang's tyranny, caused the Bitties to snap and tear the Hasselback gang to pieces, in a shocking display that was just too gruesome to describe.

Needless to say, the Plantars skedaddled out of town.

Days later, they found themselves in a middle of a tropical forest, where they were facing a shortage of food supplies. Despite packing more than they needed back when they were preparing for the trip, the trip itself proved to be more arduous than they initially thought.

However, it was no concern for the Plantar family, for when they run out of food, the next logical step is to go on a hunt.

Anne offered to go hunting for them, taking it as an opportunity to return the Plantars' kindness the entire time that she was in Amphibia. Sprig intended to tag along in hopes of teaching her a thing or two on how the Plantars hunt. And so, the two humans marched through the forest in search for food, fully embracing their roles as hunters.

"Anyway, did you find anything around here, Anne?" Sprig asked.

Anne shook her head. "Nope. No sign of wildlife here." she said.

"Hmm… Okay. Then we'll just have to do some more tracking!" The boy immediately got down on all four, as he eagerly took the dirt in his mouth and munched on it. "Mm! Come on, Anne! Help me out so that we can more accurately pinpoint where our prey is!"

"Seriously? Urgh…" Anne shuddered at the thought of following her friend's lead surrounding that disgusting method. "I'll pass, thanks."

Sprig spat out the dirt from his mouth. "What's wrong? Didn't you say yourself that you wanna help us out by going hunting?"

"Well, yeah, but I thought that hunting would be less… icky than this." she replied. "I was expecting thrills! Action! Explosions happening at every corner as we chase down the biggest animal that we could find!"

"Now who's been watching too many videos?" he asked with a smirk.

"Hey, don't appreciate you dissing me, dude." she frowned, resenting the fact that he used her own words against her about something that she deemed more believable than whatever he was doing a moment ago.

"Hate to break it to you, Anne, but hunting is more than just thrills. It's about becoming one with nature." he explained as he picked up a chunk of soil in his hand. "As soon as you attune yourself to nature, you'll feel like you can locate anything that it has to offer with just a finger snap. Like so." He proceeded to shove the handful of soil in his mouth.

"Ok, sure, but do you really need to do the whole eating the dirt thing? That's a little much."

"Never doubt the expert, rookie!"

Sprig chewed on the piece of earth for some signs from within that could guide them to their goal in finding some food. When he found nothing to discern from it, he spat out the soil from his mouth, crawled to a different spot, take a handful of some new soil and out it in his mouth, where he began to chew on it. He would repeat the same process over and over as long as there was nothing to be found.

Anne watched him work from the side, still disgusted at Sprig's method to even partake in the act herself. Some time had passed, and it did not seem like Sprig was making process with it, wearing Anne's patience thin over the practicality of the technique.

"Okay, this is going nowhere." she spoke her doubts. "No offence, dude, but I don't think your hunting way is helping. You've been savouring the 'buffet of clues' for a bit longer than we would like. Maybe it's time that we switch gears and find some others ways to-."

"Wait!" Sprig suddenly raised a finger up, stopping his friend from continuing her speech. The boy found some sort of clue within the soil: a flavour on one part of it that was different from the rest. To pinpoint exactly what the clue was, he slowly and carefully chewed on the soil, juggled it around for a bit, until he finally detected what he was searching for.

"Got it!" he declared while spitting out the dirt, as he stood up from the ground.

"Wait, seriously?" Anne asked with a raised eyebrow, still having doubts about the method.

"Yeah! According to this, there's a set of fresh tracks left behind by our prey! Like, really fresh! Meaning they're really close! Like… There!"

Sprig immediately pointed at one of the nearby bushes.

Anne followed where he was pointing and, at first glance, it did not seem like much. The bush did not look like it was hiding much of anything.

Until it started to shake, surprising the human girl. Then came popping out a reasonably-sized insect that resembled a larva, but it looked like an eclair pastry, with bumps on top that looked like cream toppings.

"Whoa! There really is something in there!" Anne expressed her surprise.

"See? Step 1 of hunting the Plantar way is a success! We found some grubbles!" he proudly announced with his fists placed on his hips. "Still think that it's just crazy talk?"

"Honestly, still just a bit." Anne admitted, as seeing her friend's effort paid off did not completely dispel her doubts in her mind. "But never mind that! Let's get those things!" She quickly pulled out a wooden spear that she carved out a while back, and was about to run towards the grubbles.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" The orange-haired boy stopped her from taking immediate action. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Uh, trying to catch food. Duh." she replied to him like it was blatantly obvious.

"Not with that bombastic attitude! And didn't I say that we don't need weapons?" Sprig snatched the wooden spear off of Anne's hands and casually tossed them aside.

"Hey!"

"If you charge at them like that, you're gonna scare them off, and we have to track them down all over again."

"I mean, I don't think that they're gonna run much. Just look at them."

She pointed at the grubble that was sticking out of the bushes, before it fell off and landed face-first on the ground, helplessly moving its tiny limbs in the air.

"Well, sure, that's not exactly the case for the grubbles." Sprig admitted. "But with any other species, that's a different story. So if I'm going to teach you how to hunt properly, then following the Plantar way is a sure way to go!"

She sighed. "Okay, fine. Let's get this over with. So what do we do next?"

"Great! Next up, we use our surroundings!"

The boy looked over at where the grubble was and inspected the surrounding area with his eyes. The two humans were currently in the middle of one of the few wide-open areas of the deep forest, and the grubble was located at the very edge of the area, and everything beyond there was dense flora.

He figured that it would do them no good to have the grubble escape into the dense part of the forest from behind, where it would be hard to go after it with the many branches, vines and other plants slowing their movement. So their best bet would be to lead them into the wide-open area.

"Hmm… Luckily, we have a lot of options to consider." he noted. He turned his head towards Anne. "Quick! The first thing that comes to mind! What trap should we make for the grubbles?"

"Oh, uh… I guess we dig a big hole and cover it up with leaves and stuff?" Anne shrugged, unsure if her suggestion was viable.

"Then that's what we'll do! I'll dig up a hole near where the grubbles are and you go get some leaves to cover it up!"

"Ok, sure."

Sprig and Anne split up to perform their respective duties. The brown-haired girl went into the deep part of the forest to gather some leaves, while the orange-haired boy moved closer to the grubbles, but not too close to signal his presence to them. He then proceeded to dig up a sizeable hole, making sure that he did not dig too deep that it would be difficult to reach anything that might fall into the hole.

He finished creating the hole in the ground, and Anne came in just in time with a large amount of leaves in her hands. The two humans then used them to cover the hole.

"Here we go! That does it for step 2!" Sprig said after they have finished with the task at hand.

"Ok, so now what?" Anne asked.

"Now for the third and final step of hunting the Plantar way! And this is the most important one of all! The Dance!"

"The dance?" She tilted her head in confusion. "So, what, is it like one of those ritual dances that indigenous people perform from way back when?"

"Well, I could tell you what it is, but I think it's better if I show you. Take a step back, and feast your eyes on this."

Anne complied with Sprig's instruction and stepped back a bit.

Once he had enough space to perform the dance, the boy closed his eyes, slid his foot to the side, and crouched down with knees bent and palms rested on the ground in front of him. Then he focused his hearing.

He listened intently to the sounds provided by nature, the area around him. For the first instance, he heard noises from a variety of sources, from the plants, the wildlife near and far, the wind, anything that resided within the deep forest. All of those noises combined created a chaotic, unsynchronized sound so powerful that it disrupts the senses. It was like going through a fog that offered no end in sight.

Then, he heard the drums. From there, his hearing was focusing solely on the beat of the drums played by not a living being, but nature itself. Then gradually, the chaotic noises from a moment ago suddenly followed the beat of the drums, one by one, until it became a harmony that invigorated the senses.

He bopped his head to the rhythm. He let the music of nature flow through him. He allowed nature's energy penetrate his very being.

"Uh, Sprig?" Anne spoke to him, after noticing that the boy was seemingly doing nothing for a minute or two. "What exactly are you waiting for- Oh my gosh, no."

Her question had been answered, but she was left embarrassed when the boy finally began to move, by shaking his butt around.

From that point forward, Sprig allowed his body to move to the beat of nature's music. His butt spun around in the air. His arms swayed from side to side. His feet, spread apart from one another, hopped alternatively from each other. He slapped his cheeks while his lips formed an O-shape. His body flopped on the ground like a fish. And finally, while standing up, he slammed his face down against the earth multiple times. All while following the beat.

Anne had her hands shielding her eyes, as she felt discomfort in watching her friend dance in a very strange way because she was expected to follow his ways. Her doubts about how feasible the Plantar way of the hunt is came back in full force, thanks to the dance.

In a moment, she peeked her eyes through her fingers to see if Sprig was done with his dance. Instead, however, she was shocked to see the grubble's behaviour towards the dance.

The grubble bounced its body up and down in rhythm for the first few seconds, before it started to crawl towards the two humans' trap without missing the beat. Then, a few more grubbles popped out from the bushes, all bouncing up and down, before they followed the first one towards the trap, also moving to the beat.

They all gathered on top of the piles of leaves where the hole was hidden underneath, and once the last one reached the spot, the leaves fell in, pulling the group along down the hole.

As soon as their trap was set off successfully, Sprig stopped dancing, which included slamming his face against the ground.

"And that, my friend, is the Plantar way of the hunt!" he said as he turned his head towards Anne, smiling at her in spite of the bruises on his face that he gave himself.

"I… see…" Anne slowly nodded, still embarrassed by what she had witnessed. "Uh… You're gonna have to tell me exactly what this is all about, dude."

"Gladly." Sprig complied, quickly shaking his head to somehow remove all of the facial injury from a moment ago. "The sacred Plantar hunting dance has been in our family for generations. It's designed to both entice and disorient. All it takes to do it is to connect to the harmony of nature, listen to its beats, and move your body to its rhythm."

"And you're telling me that funny little dance that you just did seriously works?"

"There's nothing funny about it. Besides, the results speak for themselves, right?" he asked, motioning his hands over to the grubbles that unwittingly fell into the trap. "Now you know how we Plantars do the hunt! It's time for you to partake in the hunt yourself and use our ways to get what you deserve! Track down food! Use your surroundings! And most of all, ensnare your prey with the sacred dance!"

"Yeah, no." Anne declined.

"Huh? But why not?"

"No offence, dude, but this seems a bit too silly for me." she said. "For one, even if I want to, I'm not sure if I'll pull this off. It might work for frogs like you guys, but it probably won't work for a human like me."

"Anne, I'm a frog who has been turned into a human for the past few weeks, and my human form can do all of this just fine." Sprig shot down her reasoning in a bland tone.

"Ok, you got me there. But second of all, do we really to do all of this, especially the dance? I mean, these little guys seem pretty easy to catch." Anne picked up one of the grubbles from the hole and presented their harmless-ness to her friend.

"Well, sure." he agreed to her assessment this time. "But like I said, that's only the case for the grubbles. Other prey are going to be much more challenging than them. If you're gonna stand a chance against the hostile wildlife, then you gotta become one with nature. Listen to its music. And let your body move with the flow."

"Yeah, sure, whatever." Anne said with little care.

She looked up in the sky, past the branches and vines that occupied the air above them, and noticed that the sky was starting to turn into a shade of orange.

"Looks like it's gonna get late soon." she said, as she picked up a few more grubbles in her possession. "How about you and I split up? That way, we can catch double the amount of food than when we're together in one place. What do you think?"

"I dunno, Anne." Sprig expressed his worries. "We're still in uncharted, hostile territory. We still don't know what's out there. How about we come back to the camp where Hop Pop and Polly are waiting?"

"With this amount of food that we have here? No way!" she disagreed to his suggestion. "We need to catch a lot more to last us the whole trip! I'm not going back until I'm sure that we have everything that we need! Besides, if we split up, it'll make things go a lot faster!"

"Yeah, I see your point. But Anne, if you go on your own, how exactly are you going to do the hunting, if you're clearly not gonna do the Plantar way?"

"No worries. I've done a lot of research back home on how to hunt." she reassured him. "So I'm pretty sure I'm gonna be fine on that front."

"I seem to recall you saying the same thing about parasailing back at the valley." Sprig reminded her with skepticism. "And we both know how that ended up for you."

"Geez, dude. What's with the sass, lately?"

"Just stating the facts." he defended while raising his hands up in front of him. "But I'm serious, Anne. The Plantar way of the hunt works wonders in this kind of environment. Heck, it's even gonna save your life."

"Yeah, I can do without." she rejected his proposal. "Now come on! There's no time to waste! Our family and this whole trip are riding on us doing this thing!"

Anne then sprinted off deep inside of the forest in search for more food.

"Anne, wait just a second!" Sprig tried to stop her by shouting out to her, but his words did not seem to reach her ears, as she disappeared deeper and deeper into the forest.

With Anne gone, the boy could only let a tired sigh. "Anne, come on… Why do you always have to make it so hard?"

There were actually two reasons why Sprig wanted to tag along with Anne on the whole hunting business. While the primary reason was to teach her how to hunt, the second reason was that it was a once in a while opportunity for him to pay her back for all of the times that she helped him since they first met. If he was not allowed to help her in her long, emotional struggle, then the least that he could instead was to help her in a more practical kind of way.

Seeing her blow off his attempts to help her with even that was disheartening. He wondered if humans were that complicated of a living being in that regard.

He probably could live with that fact, but there was another thing that bothered him the most: his presumed lightning powers.

The boy turned around and took a few steps forward. Then, he started doing the same process that he did before Anne showed up a while ago. He took a deep breath, focused on gathering energy from within, and then thrusted his arms forward to unleash his powers.

Only for nothing to happen, just like before.

He let out another depressed sigh, as he pulled his arms back and looked down at his hands. "Come on… I know I'm not just seeing things. So what's the problem?" he asked himself, wondering what exactly he was supposed to do to active his problems.

A loud, scared squeal was heard from behind, before it was suddenly silenced and replaced by the sound of chomping.

"What the…?" Sprig turned around to see what was going on, and he froze in place.

Standing over the trap hole, where it took the remaining grubbles in its red mandibles before tossing them into its large mouth, was a very large, grey-furred, ferocious-looking beast. It chewed on the grubbles for a bit before it swallowed them down into its stomach. Immediately after the action, it opened its two pairs of glowing eyes and crossed its gaze with the scared boy in front of it.

Sprig stared at the enormous beast with fear in his eyes, staying still in hopes that, by pretending to be a statue, the monster would ignore him and leave him alone. But as soon as it opened its jaws, showing several of its sharp fangs as it let out a hot breath that blew in the boy's face, he instinctively took a step back.

The beast then approached the boy slowly and menacingly, taking a few large steps with its pair of front feline legs and its pair of back insect legs.

"N-n-n-nice little fella…!" Sprig stuttered, trying and failing to pacify the beast. "I-I-I'm just passing by…! Y-you don't want to eat me…!"

He continued to walk backwards away from the beast, but the large monster got closer to him with just a single, large step. The boy, in a state of fear, could not help but look at two prominent parts of the beast that he deemed to be dangerous: Its large, gaping mouth consisting of sharp fangs and two red mandibles, and its large tail stinger that most likely capable to spewing out some sort of venom.

"… Wait… A tail stinger…?"

He was hit with a sense of familiarity. After quickly considering the beast's appearance, he could of swore that he saw that beast before. But how? He never went outside of the valley until recently, so by all accounts, that should have been the first time that he encountered the large creature. So why did he felt that way about it?

Then he remembered.

He quickly pulled out a scroll from under his jacket, opened it up, quickly looked over its content until he found a section that contained pertinent information.

The Scorpileo's Venom

A poisonous and acidic substance from a dangerous beast called a Scorpileo that is said to be capable of consuming a living being's flesh from the inside out once injected. Even a single, outside touch from the venom can cause one's flesh to disintegrate, and the only way to stop it from spreading further across is to cut it off.

In other words, don't touch the venom. Ever. And you might be wondering how you're supposed to get the venom, then. I found that you don't have to collect the venom in its pure, liquid state. You only need to bring the object that contained traces of the venom, preferably one that has been inflicted very recently, and we can use that as an ingredient to create the cure.

And in case that you don't know what a Scorpileo is, I drew a picture of it down below.

A crude drawing of the beast can be found underneath the section.

Sprig let out a huge gasp.

"Wait… That means…"

Lowering the scroll down, he looked over the large beast's entire appearance once more, to make sure that he was not mistaken. After going over it a few times, he was left with no doubt in his mind about what the beast in front of him really was, and what it held in its large, tail stinger.

"Oh my frog!" he shouted, as he formed a wide smile on his face, and any trace of fear that he had a second ago was replaced by joy. "I can't believe it! I actually found the first ingredient! The first step to turning me back to-!"

BAMF!

Sprig was unable to finish his words, when the Scorpileo swung its paw at him, sending him flying towards a nearby tree where he hit his head hard against.

As he fell down on the ground, the boy lost consciousness.

Chapter Text

SMACK!

"Huh?! Wha?!"

Sprig abruptly regained consciousness when he was suddenly slapped across the face. The first things that he saw when he opened his eyes were the worried faces of his grandfather sitting besides him and his little sister standing on his chest.

"Sprig!" Both Hop Pop and Polly shouted out his name, relieved to see him awake.

"Hop Pop? Polly?"

"Oh thank goodness that you're okay!" Hop Pop exclaimed.

"Yeah! I was this close to singing right in your ears if the slap didn't work!" Polly said, as she jumped off from her brother's chest.

The Plantar boy sat up from the ground and was immediately hit by a wave of pain located in his head. "Urgh… My head…" he groaned, rubbing his aching head with his hand. "It feels like I got hit by something really hard…"

"Well, what do you expect from a slap like that?" Polly said.

"No, no. I think it came from something else before that…" Sprig shook his head. "Argh… Whatever it was, it really did a number on my head… Did we packed in some medicines for headaches? 'Cause I'm gonna go get some back in the fwagon…"

"Sprig," The grim-faced elderly frog spoke. "I'm afraid that we're not in the best kind of place to be doing that right now."

"Huh? Why not?" the boy asked, confused. It was only when he looked at his surroundings that he realized that they were not in the camp with the fwagon and Bessie. In fact, where they were currently set off quite a few alarms in his head.

Looking outside from underneath the hollow trunk of a large tree, surrounded by rafflesia, several frog skeletons can be found everywhere in the area located deep within the forest. Some of them had scattered across the ground. Others were hanged in the air, held by vines that somehow tied themselves onto the bones through the gaps. The sight of the unfortunate frogs' remains alone was unnerving enough. But to make matters worse, several parts of the area sported huge claw marks created by some sort of a large beast.

"W-what is all of this?! Where are we?!" Sprig asked.

"We're inside of that monster's lair, if I have to presume." Hop Pop answered.

"Monster?"

"That huge furry creature with the big maw, four eyes and the long tail stinger, remember?" Polly described the monster's appearance to her brother.

At the mention of the tail stinger, Sprig gasped, as he remembered everything that happened before he blacked out. He recalled that he and Anne split up to hunt for food at different parts of the forest, when he suddenly encountered a large, ferocious-looking creature eating some of the grubbles that they caught before it knocked him out cold.

"The Scorpileo!" he shouted.

"Ah! That's the name that I was searching for in this old noggin of mine!" Hop Pop said. "Indeed, it was the Scorpileo that snatched us away from camp and brought us into its corpse-riddled territory. I'm impressed that you recognized what it is, boy."

"Well, there's a reason, actually." Sprig said. He took another look around himself and noticed that they were one person short in the family. "Wait, where's Anne? Did she get caught too?"

"Luckily, she somehow went beneath the beast's notice." Hop Pop explained. "In fact, she arrived at the camp a little bit after it struck, presumably because she heard our screams of terror. The beast decided to leave her be instead of taking her with it as well."

"So, she's okay?"

Hop Pop nodded. "For now, at least. Here's hoping that Anne comes and saves us all before the monster eats us… Or she could easily run for her life and leave us to become part of its collection of rotting bones. I won't hold it against her and would even encourage her to save her own skin."

"Come on, Hop Pop! You know Anne would never abandon us like that!" Sprig reprimanded his grandfather.

"I know, Sprig, don't worry. I'm just pulling your leg, is all."

"Is now really a good time to be telling jokes?"

"When it serves to help you cope with facing your impending demise, yes!"

"Enough chitchatting!" Polly shouted. "In case you didn't know, the Scorpileo isn't around right now! Let's get off of our butts and skedaddle out of here before it comes back and we really become dinner!"

THUD!

Unfortunately for the Plantars, the Scorpileo signalled its swift return by landing front paws first in the middle of its territory, startling the family and causing them to close into each other for safety.

"What?! It came back already?!" Polly expressed her disbelief.

"I'm starting to believe that the Scorpileo might really be psychic!" Hop Pop exclaimed

With its four glowing eyes setting their sights on the three of them, the large predator slowly approached them while growling through its closed jaws. The Plantars responded to its approach by scooting backwards as much as they could, all while clinging to one another.

The Scorpileo then paused its approach, when its eyes detected something very small entering its lair from the side. Sprig, Polly and Hop Pop slowly followed the beast's gaze before their sights came upon a lone grubble crawling towards them very slowly.

Both the predator and its prey watched as the pastry-looking insect moved in-between them, completely unaware of the presence of the other beings in the area. Once the grubble reached the middle point between the two parties, the Scorpileo decided that it waited long enough and plunged its tail stinger down into the small insect, causing it to squeal in pain.

The Plantars yelped in fear from witnessing the grubble getting stabbed.

The Scorpileo lifted with its tail the skewered insect right up to its face, watching the grubble squirming around from the combination of trying to free itself from the stinger and its body reacting negatively to what was injected inside.

The beast lost interest in its victim and swung its tail to the side, sending the fatally-wounded grubble flying towards a nearby tree where it crashed and slid down across the bark, leaving a visible green splatter and trail.

The horrific scene further fuelled the family's terror, and it got even worse when the beast set its sights on them once more. Except it was not looking at the entire family, but rather at one member in particular. A small, purple tadpole who looked like a tasty appetizer before the main course.

"Uh, it's looking at me funny! I don't like it!" Polly exclaimed.

"Back off, beast!" Hop Pop yelled as he stepped in front of his granddaughter with his arms and legs spread apart to protect her in spite of his fright. "You might be too much for me to handle, but I'll be darned if I let you lay a single claw on any of my kids!"

The Scorpileo responded to Hop Pop's protective stand by roaring right in his face, trying to deter the elderly frog from standing in the way of its appetizer. Hop Pop maintained his footing regardless, fully intended to lose a limb or two for Polly's safety.

Before the monster could follow up on its threat, a small rock suddenly hit the side of its head. Turning his head towards that side, standing a small distance from it was a tall, green-clad boy who had just shot a pebble with his drawn slingshot.

"Hey, big guy!" Sprig shouted as he grabbed another rock from the ground and readied his weapon with it. "Get away from my family! Or else, have another taste of this!"

He shot the rock from his slingshot, striking the beast right on its snout. The Scorpileo shifted its aggression towards the boy, snarling at him as it turned itself towards him before lunging forward, its maw opening to catch the human boy with its fangs.

Sprig quickly jumped to the side to evade its attack. The monster repeated its previous action of turning itself towards the boy and lunging at him once more. Sprig dodged the attack the same way as last time. The Scorpileo went for him a third time, and the boy's response has gone unchanged.

That is, until he inadvertently tripped on one of the bones half-buried in the ground, when he took a step back after landing. With a yelp, he fell to the ground on his back, and just before he could recover, the Scorpileo reached him and pinned his whole body down with its paws, knocking the air out of the boy's lungs.

"SPRIG!" Both Hop Pop and Polly cried out his name, upon seeing him getting caught by the beast.

Sprig groaned as he struggled to free himself from the monster's hold, only managing to liberate his hands which he used to try and push its paws off of him. The Scorpileo watched the trapped boy trying and failing to slip out of its hold for a few seconds, before it lowered its head down while opening its maw to get a bit out of the human boy.

Sprig stopped his struggles upon seeing the beast's fangs and mandibles getting closer and closer to his face, with saliva dripping down on him. He began hyperventilating, his mind going haywire as it seemed like he was about to reach death's door once the Scorpileo's fangs touch him.

But just as he was about to meet his end, sparks of electricity had formed around his hands before extending over to the beast's paws.

Feeling a lightning shock in its front feet, the Scorpileo shouted with alarm, jumping off of the boy and landing several feet back. It proceeded to quickly drag its paws against the dirt in an attempt to get rid of the shock.

The human boy sat up and looked at the distressed beast in confusion. He then raised his hands up to his face and saw electric sparks travelling around his hands before dissipating.

Once he realized what had happened a moment ago, his lips slowly formed a grin, and he began to chuckle upon seeing clear proof of his hidden power. "Ha… Hahaha! I knew it!"

He looked back at the monster, who seemed to have managed to bring relief to his paws before it set its sights back at the boy, growling at him. Full of confidence in his abilities, the grinning boy rose up from the ground and adopted an offensive stance.

"Okay, big guy! You better back off before I have to teach you why you shouldn't mess with me or my family!" he warned it.

The Scorpileo responded by roaring at him.

"You asked for it!"

Forming his hands into fists, he concentrated on building up energy within his hands until he felt some sort of tingle in his palms, which served as an indication that his attack was ready.

"Take this! Magic Lightning Fingers! Activate!"

He thrusted his arms forward with wide-open hands, as he unleashed the awesome power of lightning from his fingertips that he was finally able to harness during his time of need, striking down the ferocious monster with the might of a lightning god!

… Or so he wished. In reality, the moment that he initiated his attack, nothing came out of it.

The beast tilted its head in confusion, wondering what the boy was trying to accomplish.

"Uh… Huh?" Sprig expressed his own confusion, looking at his hands that had not done anything remotely close to shooting out lightning from his fingers.

"Sprig! What the heck are you doing?!" Polly shouted from a distance.

"Uh, I…! I was trying to…! I thought that I…!" The boy stumbled upon his words, pulling his hands back as he looked down on them in sheer confusion and panic. "But it worked a second ago! How come it didn't work this time?! What in the world am I doing wro-!"

He was unable to finish his sentence when the beast swung its tail at him, sending him flying and crashing into a slope. His body rolled down until it reached the even ground, the boy groaning in pain as he struggled to get back up.

Once it deemed that he was no longer a threat, it turned its attention towards the remain members of the family. Hop Pop and Polly recognized that they were next.

"Run, Polly!" Hop Pop told his granddaughter before he ran towards the beast and leaped forward. Once he grabbed onto its face, he repeatedly bashed its snout with his fists with all the strength that he could muster, which ultimately did little to get it to flinch.

The Scorpileo violently shook its head to get the elderly frog off of its face, sending him flying some distance away. When it turned its attention towards the purple tadpole, the little one was in the middle of hopping away for dear life. It only needed to propelled itself right in her way to stop her in her tracks.

"AHH!" Polly cried as she hurriedly turned the other way and tried to flee from the beast. However, the Scorpileo slammed its paw on her to pin her down to the ground. "Nggh! Let go of me, you ugly abomination to frogkind!"

"Polly!" Sprig shouted, trying his hardest to get back up and come to his sister's aid, only for his body to fail him as he collapsed back down to the ground.

The monster pierced the purple tadpole's bow with one of its claw and picked her up from the ground that way. Polly tried to wiggle herself out of its hold to no avail, and to her inconvenience, her bow decided not to detach itself from her during that moment.

Sprig and Hop Pop helplessly watched in horror, as the beast moved Polly right above its opened jaws, ready to drop her at any moment to satisfy its hunger.

"Hey! Furball!"

An unknown voice alerted the beast of their presence, as it paused itself from trying to eat Polly. The monster turned its head towards the source of the voice.

At the same time, the Plantars all looked towards the direction of the voice as well, and they saw a tall person with familiar bush-like brown hair standing at a distance.

"ANNE!" They all shouted out the name of the newly-arrived human girl, relieved to see her coming to their rescue.

The Scorpileo growled at Anne, observing her to see what kind of tricks that she was going to pull.

"Yeah, that's right! Keep your eyes on me!" Anne taunted the beast. "'Cause I got something to show you!"

Once she made sure that the monster was looking at her intently, she took a deep breath in preparation for her next plan of attack.

"Okay, Anne… You can do this…" she muttered to herself. "You managed to track down that thing… You set up a trap for it a minute ago… Now all that's left to do is…" She gulped. "… The dance…"

After a moment of psyching herself up, with fists tightened and cheeks puffed, Anne performed her next action that, in theory, should bait the beast into falling to her trap.

… By awkwardly hopping in place on alternating foot with her body completely stiffed during the whole process.

Sprig, Polly and Hop Pop blankly stared at her. Even the Scorpileo had a look of confusion upon watching her. None of them had any clue as to what the human girl was trying to accomplish.

"Anne," Hop Pop spoke. "What in heaven's name are you doing? Are you having some kind of episode?"

"No, Hop Pop!" she corrected him while still doing a poor excuse of a dance. "Don't you see that I'm trying to bait that thing by doing the dance that you guys do while hunting?"

"That's supposed to be the Plantar hunting dance?!" Sprig exclaimed, flabbergasted.

After barely a minute, what little interest that the beast had towards Anne's half-hearted showing had completely faded, turning its attention back towards the snack still hanging on its claw.

"Wait! No, no, no! Don't look away! I'm not done yet!" The panicked Anne implored the monster.

The Scorpileo ignored her plea, as it was too preoccupied with finishing its task in trying to get the screaming tadpole to fall into its mouth.

"Argh! Come on!" Anne stopped dancing once it was clear that it had no effect on it. "Why isn't the dance working?!"

"That's because you're not putting your heart into it, Anne!" shouted Sprig who was barely able to sit up from the ground before resting his back on the slope behind. "Ngh…! Darn, that really smarts…!"

"I-I'm trying my best here! What else do I have to do?!"

"Are you listening to nature's music?" Hop Pop asked.

"What music?! What am I supposed to be on the lookout for?!"

"AAAHH!" Polly continued to scream for dear life, as her bow finally slipped off the Scorpileo's claw, only for her to barely grab on to it right before she fell. That prompted the beast to increase the intensity of shaking the purple tadpole off. "Anne, quit making excuses and do something already! I can't hang on for much longer!"

"POLLY!" Anne shouted in horror from seeing the baby girl getting closer and closer to become food for the monster. She furiously scratched her head, trying to think of another solution with what little time that she had left. "Aaargh! What am I supposed to do?!"

Sprig looked at his friend struggling to figure out a way to beat the monster. WIth the boy himself too injured to do anything about the situation as quickly as possible, and his grandfather too weak to stop the monster by himself, they could only rely on Anne to put a stop to it. And the only way for her to do so, Sprig thought, was to do the dance properly. All she need was to get rid of the doubt within her.

"Anne! You have to dance!" Sprig yelled.

"I did! But it's just not-!"

"It wasn't working because you think the dance is too silly! That's really the only reason!"

"I…! I mean…!" Anne stumbled on her words trying to explain her apparent inability to do the dance.

"Anne, I get it." Sprig said, understanding her hesitation. "You're not the first person who thinks our dance looks stupid. A lot of people told us that they wouldn't be caught dead doing it. Believe me when I say that I know where you're coming from."

"Sprig, I…"

"But with all things considered, we Plantars don't care how weird our dance looks to some people, because it helped us survive in the wild for generations. And it doesn't exist just to help us with the hunt, it also serves to save ourselves and others from harm's way. And right now, Polly needs saving! So please! Save her!"

Anne widened her eyes in realization after hearing what the boy had to say.

He was right. What would be the point of her staying apprehensive of doing the silly hunting dance if people's lives are at stake? She was so embarrassed about it that she forgot that the beauty of dancing came from expressing one's self without a care in the world. The Plantar hunting dance was nothing different. So really, when it really matters, Anne should not be ashamed because she too is a member of the Plantar family.

The human girl closed her eyes and took a deep breath, as she steeled herself for another attempt at the dance. "Guys… Tell me what I need to do."

"Believe in yourself, Anne!" Sprig said.

"Listen to nature's rhythm all around you!" Hop Pop pitched in.

"AAHH! Let your body do its thing!" Polly contributed in spite of being inches away from slipping off.

"Believe in myself… Listen to nature's music… Let my body move with the flow… And dance like nobody's watching…" Anne repeated the family's advice.

She slid her foot to the side, crouched down with knees bent and palms rested on the ground in front of her, and focused her hearing.

Since it was still vague as to what nature's music was supposed to sound like, she could only hear noises from a large variety of sources around her, the biggest one being Polly's scream of terror. The various noises sounded so chaotic and unsynchronized to her that she almost felt that it would be impossible to figure out what exactly that she was supposed to be listening to, especially since it was the first time that she ever tried it.

Then, to her surprise, she heard the drums. The first noise that stood out to her. She focused her hearing on that. Then, from there, she let different noises, one after the other, entered her ears, all of them keeping the rhythm provided by the drums.

From dew falling and splashing onto mushrooms, to a bee-woodpecker pecking against the tree trunk, to even a beetle somehow beating its appendages against a piece of wood. All following the initial rhythm, which escalated into natural harmony.

Anne found herself bopping her head to the rhythm. Her body was slowing moving on its own, as if it was driven by the music of nature flowing through it. She could now feel nature's very essence fuelling her very being.

Once she became familiar with the atmosphere around her, Anne began to perform the Plantar hunting dance, by shaking her butt around as the starting act. And from there, she let nature take control of her body.

The Scorpileo felt an unknown energy coming from behind it, causing it stop shaking Polly off its claw. It turned its head around to bare witness to Anne doing a completely different kind of dance from before, as evident of the rhythmic heat wave coming out of her body.

With the beast completely distracted, Polly took the opportunity to finally swing away from it and land on the ground safely, before she quickly hopped right into Hop Pop's arms.

The Scorpileo had not noticed that its prey had fled from its grasp, too curious by the human girl's hypnotic dance.

"I am the leaves…" Anne spoke in a trance-like tone, her body swaying from side to side while her arms jabbed the air like a mantis. "I am the morning dew…" She then rose her upper body up before leaning it down to the ground and slamming her fists in front of her. Her confidence in her ability became heightened, and she finally felt like the kind of person that she was trying to become during the whole ordeal.

"I am… The hunter!"

Anne took it up a notch by doing a series of different body movement, such as flopping on the ground like a fish, jumping backwards then forward, slapping her cheeks while her lips formed an O-shape, walking in place as she moved her arms up and down in alternation, slammed her face against a tree trunk, and so on.

The Scorpileo stared at the dancing girl, intrigued enough as to put its entire focus solely on her, unaware that the everything around the two became a blur.

The Plantars watched as Anne's dancing managed to attract the beast's full attention in a matter that showed that the Plantar hunting dance was doing its intended purpose.

"It's working! She's nailing the dance!" Sprig shouted, overjoyed that his teachings actually paid off.

Looking over at the human girl and noting how her take on the dance seemed to have a bigger effect than usual, he himself became enticed by her without being aware of it, almost as if the dance had an effect on him as well.

"And… She looks so beautiful doing it…"

From that point forward, the Scorpileo became completely hypnotized by Anne, its eyes continuing to follow her movements endlessly, and its body swaying side to side in conjunction with her movements as well. It remained distracted until Anne suddenly kicked some dirt right into its face.

The beast snapped out of its hypnotized state, and it was quickly replaced by a state of rage towards the human girl. Growling, the monster lunged at her with its maw wide open to sink its fangs onto the seemingly unsuspecting girl.

Just as it was about to reach her, Anne suddenly bent forward, narrowly dodging its attack as it ended up leaping over her.

And right into the large trap that Anne set up a while ago: A giant hole covered by leaves. The beast caterwauled as it fell through the trap hole.

Anne's dance continued uninterrupted, the girl unaware that she succeeded in accomplishing the final step to the Plantars' way of the hunt.

The Plantars all cheered while pumping their fists in the air. "Woo! We're saved!" Polly shouted.

"Anne, you did it!" Sprig said, as he recovered just enough to barely stand up from the ground.

"Huh? What?" Anne snapped out of her trance and realized that the Scorpileo was nowhere to be seen. Looking behind her, she took notice of the giant hole that was no longer covered by leaves. She leaned her head over the hole and saw the giant beast stuck at the bottom.

"I… I did it?" she asked herself in disbelief which lasted for a second before the results dawned on her. "Woohoo! I really did it! Danced right in your face!"

The beast growled up at her before it began to climb up the hole with relative ease.

"Oh boy! Time to go, guys!" Anne quickly told the family, seeing that there was no time to celebrate her victory.

"You don't have to tell us twice!" Polly shouted.

"Anne, give Sprig a hand!" Hop Pop instructed her, as he began to flee the area with his granddaughter in his arms. "He might still be winded by that monster's attack!"

"On it!" Anne complied. She quickly ran up to the human boy to give him support. "You okay, dude?"

"I think so…" Sprig replied, holding the side of his ribs that previously took the blunt of the beast's tail attack. "I don't think I can run fast, though."

"Here. Put your arm around my shoulders."

The boy followed her instructions and placed his arm over her shoulders, while still clutching his side with the other hand. Both of them began to move as fast as they could and follow Hop Pop and Polly from behind, hoping that they could flee fast enough before the beast could climb out of the hole.

They moved past the border of the lair and into the dense part of the forest, when Sprig suddenly remembered one important thing. "Hold on, Anne! We need to go back!"

"Are you nuts, dude?!" Anne looked at him as if he was talking crazy. "That thing is still back there! We need to move before it can get out and catch up to us!"

"That's just it! The Scorpileo's got something that I need!" Sprig explained.

"What are you talking about?!"

"The stinger venom! It's one of the ingredients for Maddie's cure!"

Anne widened her eyes in shock. "For real?" she asked. She received a nod from him as an answer.

Anne turned her head back towards the beast's lair, where the Scorpileo was nearly out of the hole. Turning Sprig back to normal was always important for the family, especially for him, but if they valued their own lives, then getting the venom from the Scorpileo was just asking to get killed, and none of them were in any condition to fend it off.

"Sprig, do you think the Plantar hunting dance works the second time against that thing?" she asked.

"W-well, I haven't really tried using it twice against the same creature before." he replied to her with uncertainty.

"Then we're not risking it! Sorry, buddy, but unless you wanna get mauled trying to get the ingredient, our lives take top priority right now! We need to keep moving!"

"But…!" Sprig tried to argue with her, but even he could not deny that coming back for the venom would be suicide. The thought of leaving without getting the ingredient was painful for him, but if he wanted to stay in one piece, he had no other choice.

Just as he was about to consider abandoning his goal, looking to the side, he noticed a tree with a noticeable green splatter on its bark and a trail that went down towards the ground. He had his eyes follow the trail, where he spotted the body of a grubble, sporting a huge wound with green stains around it. He recognized the grubble being the one that the Scorpileo had mercilessly stabbed with its tail stinger and tossed aside.

Then, he remembered an important tidbit from Maddie's notes about the venom. One that would spare them the trouble of getting what they needed.

Some time had passed, and Hop Pop and Polly emerged out of the thick part of the woods and into another one of the wide-open areas of the forest. The elderly frog stopped running and bent down, trying to catch his breath from running as fast as he could with his old legs.

"Hah…! Hah…! These lungs of mine have definitely seen better days…!" he panted.

"Did we lose that monster?" Polly asked.

"Hah…! I'm not sure…!" Hop Pop turned around to see if he could spot the large form of the monster behind them. Thankfully, no such creature could be found anywhere. However, he realized that two members of the family were missing within the immediate vicinity. "Wait a minute… I don't see Anne or Sprig anywhere! I mean, it is a given that they might be moving a bit slower than us, but…"

"Oh no… You don't think that thing caught up to them back there, do you?" Polly asked worriedly.

"Oh dear lord…!" The thought of his two grandchildren getting easily captured by the Scorpileo just because they were under a handicap in terms of speed scared the elderly frog out of his wits.

Polly jumped out of her grandfather's hold and hopped a few feet towards the back. "ANNE! SPRIG! CAN YOU HEAR ME BACK THERE?!" she shouted as loud as she could.

"… Loud and clear, dude!" They were taken by surprised from hearing Anne's voice responding to her.

Anne and Sprig popped out from the bushes some distance away from Hop Pop and Polly, and they proceeded to slowly make their way towards the rest of the family to rejoin them.

"Oh thank goodness!" Hop Pop let out a sigh of relief. "The Plantars are all safe and sound!"

"Yeah, for now." Polly said, as she looked behind the two humans for any sign of the beast. "That thing still isn't chasing you guys or anything, is it?"

"We really didn't notice." Sprig replied. "And I don't think we want to stick around and find out either."

"You're right about that, boy." Hop Pop concurred. He then let out an exhausted breath, as he sat down on the ground. "Hah… Just give me a minute to catch my breath, if you don't mind…"

"I think we all need a bit of a rest here." Anne said, looking at the boy with his still around her shoulders. "Carrying this guy around this far really takes a lot out of you."

"Thanks for that, by the way, Anne." Sprig expressed his gratitude, as he removed his arm from her. "I think I'm good enough to go the rest of the way from here."

"Alright, but don't be shy if you want to lean on me some more some time later." Anne said. She received a nod from him in return.

Since they were currently in a moment of respite, Anne felt that it was just enough time to ask him about what he did back there that puzzled her. "Mind telling us what's the deal with the grubble that you got in your hands there?"

"This?" Sprig looked down at the body of the grubble that he carried under his arm. He picked it up when they were trying to flee from the Scorpileo, but he did not get to the chance to explain his actions to the Thai-American girl.

"Oh yeah! I didn't notice it until you pointed that out, Anne." Polly said, intrigued by the grubble. "It looks dead. And it's got this weird stain that definitely raises a few bells, if you ask me."

"Sprig, isn't that the grubble that the Scorpileo killed right before our eyes a while ago?" Hop Pop asked. "If you're thinking that we should eat it, then I advise against it. I'm sure that it was poisoned from the stinger and consuming it will do more harm than good."

"Of course we're not eating it." Sprig said, lifting the grubble's body up to show the family. "I didn't have time to talk about this, but guys… I finally found the first ingredient."

"The first ingredient?"

"Apparently, it's the Scorpileo's Venom." Anne said, as she recalled what Sprig told her while they were escaping from the monster. "It's one of the main ingredients for the cure to turn him back into a frog."

"Oh! I think I remember reading about it in Maddie's notes!" Polly remarked.

"The Scorpileo's Venom, eh?" Hop Pop scratched his chin, absorbing the information given to him by the kids. "But what does the grubble have anything to do with it? If we're talking about the venom, then I would've expected a liquid substance instead."

"Yeah, what's up with that, Sprig?" Anne asked.

"Well, it doesn't have to be the pure liquid venom that we need to get." Sprig explained. "According to what Maddie wrote, anything that got inflicted by the venom will do as a material for the cure. And since this grubble here definitely got poisoned by the venom, it'll work just fine as is."

"Oh! That explains it!" Anne exclaimed. "I wouldn't have guessed that we can do it this way!"

"So does that mean that we're finally getting somewhere with your magic human transformation?" Polly asked.

"I think so." Sprig nodded, smiling as the first step into getting himself back to normal has been taken, meaning that his desire was less of a pipe dream than initially thought. "I'm really glad…"

"I'm glad for you, dude." Anne said, as she gently patted her friend on the back to show that she shared the same sentiment. "One down, six more to go, right?"

"Right."

Hop Pop stood up while grunting, patting the dirt off of his pants. "Ok, kids. I think we've rested enough. Let's keep going and get back to Bessie and the fwagon, then we can hightail it out of here before we invite any more danger to ourselves."

"Wait, what about food?" Polly asked, remembering the whole reason why they stayed in the forest in the first place.

"We'll grab anything that we can find on the way there." Hop Pop replied. "No time to do our usual hunting tricks, so you can forget about trying to catch anything more than a grubble, I'm afraid."

"I guess it's better than nothing."

"Right. Let's get a move on, people! No time to waste!" Hop Pop began to move towards the direction of the fwagon, confident that his sense of direction was good enough that he could tell where the fwagon might be. Polly followed him closely from behind.

Just as Sprig was about to follow suit, his best friend's voice stopped him in his tracks.

"Hey, Sprig?" Anne spoke. "About what happened between us earlier today…"

"Hm? What about it?" Sprig asked, looking at the human girl.

"I just wanna say I'm sorry." she apologized while looking at the ground in shame.

"Anne?"

"You were trying to teach me how you guys usually tackle this kind of stuff, and I just… blew you off because I didn't believe in it. I thought that this whole thing was too disgusting and stupid for me, and… I might have hurt your feelings telling you all of that."

"Hey, it's okay. It's water under the bridge." he reassured her. "I did say that I get where you're coming from, right? I'm not gonna lie and say that the Plantar way isn't weird."

"Still, that doesn't change the fact that I was being a huge butt about it." Anne insisted. "I thought that I could do just fine without it and rely on what I've learned back in my world. But when you guys got taken by the Scorpileo, I realized just how wrong I was."

Anne turned her head behind her towards the direction of the Scorpileo's lair and where they last saw the beast. "I couldn't figure out what to do when I lost track of you guys, and none of the things that I've learned back home did me any good. I was completely lost, until I got some help."

"From who?" he asked.

"A stress-induced hallucination of your floating frog head, that's all." she replied like it was a matter of fact.

"Oh. Does… Does that mean that you snapped?"

"Oh, like you wouldn't believe."

The boy looked at their surroundings. "Uhh… Is my floating head still around?" he asked out of curiosity.

"Oh yeah. Right over here." She pointed her finger next to her, which looked like a whole bundle of nothing to a sane person. "Not sure for how long he's gonna stick around, though. Right now, he's kinda looking at us funny, like he's waiting for something to happen."

"Uh… huh…" Sprig slowly nodded, unsure how he was supposed to process that piece of information. "Okay, can we get back to what you're trying to tell me?"

"Right, right." Anne said, realizing that she was going off-track by talking about the existence of the Sprig head hallucination. "Anyways, with some help, I finally tried to apply the Plantar hunting way that you were trying to teach me, and it really worked! I managed to track you guys down by eating the dirt, used my surroundings to set up the trap for the Scorpileo, became one with nature and finally did the dance to trick that thing and saved you guys!"

"And you looked amazing doing it." Sprig commented, feeling the need to mention it to her.

"Thanks, buddy." Anne smiled. "But I couldn't have done any of this without you. So really, you deserve way more than that."

She then pulled her friend into a hug. The boy responded in kind by wrapping his free arm around her waist.

"Thank you, Sprig. For helping me when I need it most."

Sprig smiled warmly upon hearing her expressing her appreciation to him. A warmth feeling was bubbling up from within, when he realized that he was finally able to help her in a meaningful way since that dreadful night at Toad Tower. It was not much, but it was better than nothing.

"Anytime, Anne. Anytime." he said, intending to do a lot more of that for his best friend.

The two humans broke off from the hug. "Alright! Let's go follow the others on the way back already!" Anne said.

"Right!" Sprig said, as they both turned themselves towards the direction of the fwagon where Hop Pop and Polly were going to.

Until they realized that they had no idea where the fwagon was located, and they lost track of the others.

"Uh… I think we might have talked for way too long than we should have." Sprig sheepishly noted.

"Yep. Looks like it." Anne nodded, sharing the same feeling as the boy. "Well, guess there's only one thing to do when we're lost."

"Track them down the Plantar way?"

"You betcha!" Anne smiled. She picked up a chunk of the dirt beneath her and threw it in her mouth where she proceeded to chew on it for some sort of hint. "Hmmm… Hey, did you know that Polly was hoarding some biscuits on her?"

"She was? That little sneak…"

"Well, it's what helped me track you guys down in the first place. And surprisingly enough, looks like this time's no different, because she's still leaving behind a trail of crumbs." She began to walk towards one direction as revealed by the dirt in her mouth that she proceeded to spit out afterwards. "Let's get moving, dude!"

"Right behind you!" Sprig said.

He spent a short amount of time watching Anne lead the way with full confidence in her abilities. He could only smile proudly upon seeing that she took his lessons to heart.

Despite having gone through a very rough time in the forest, what with them having exhausted their supplies and encountered the Scorpileo in very poor circumstances, as well as his failed attempt at bringing out his magic powers, he felt that they made a huge progress today in terms of getting to certain objectives.

They finally acquired their very first core ingredient to the cure for Sprig's human transformation, even if it was by accident. And not only that, but Sprig was able to help Anne in his own way, even if it might not have done much to get her to move on from what happened that dreadful night.

And as a bonus, he bear witness to the culmination of what he taught her in the form of her doing the hunting dance that she succeeded with flying colours, even more so when he remarked that her version of the dance was way more effective than what any of the other family members could do. His admiration of the human girl continued to grow, with seemingly no end in sight.

"You really are amazing, Anne…" he whispered. "… And still look so beautiful…"

He then blinked a few times and shook his head. "Whoa… Did I really just said that? Huh… I guess her dance did way more than confuse the Scorpileo. I wonder how long does the effect last…?"

Chapter Text

Isolation. Timeless. Endless. Questions.

Those were the four words that came to Leif's mind when she described her entire experience isolated inside of the empty house, on the isle floating among the stars, in a realm with an enigmatic existence. An experience where time did not seem to exist, but the world goes on with no end in sight. It left her with questions as to the existence of that place, and why she was there in the first place.

Despite it all, she resigned herself long ago to her fate of being imprisoned for all eternity, as decreed by an unknown, superior power, especially when compared to what she went through very early on.

When she first awakened inside of that house, she was completely lost and confused. She had no idea how she got there and why she was there in the first place, let alone remembering anything prior. Searching through the empty house and the floating isle did little to provide her an answer to her questions. And although there were other isles floating alongside the one that she was standing on, getting to them was impossible. Not because they were too far, but somehow, she could not physically leave, as if there was an invisible barrier that kept her in.

At first, she convinced herself that she was dreaming. The world seemed too unbelievable to even exist in reality, so she must be still asleep in the comfort of her own room, inside of her own house, in an ordinary world. She only needed to wake up in order to leave the place. She waited for a very, very, very long time, until it dawned on her that it was no dream, and she was fully awake.

She became frustrated. She became angry. Without even a tiny clue as to why she was there, she could only lash out at nothing in particular. She kicked off the dirt and tore out the grass around the isle. She punched and kicked the walls of the house. She threw rocks at the windows. She clawed into the floor of the house. But no matter how much she exerted her rage, not only did she found that the house was impervious to any kind of damage, her actions did little to bring her peace. Her only consolation, however, was that she discovered that she had supernatural powers, when she saw her eyes glow blue from looking at her own reflection through the window.

It led her to believe she had a purpose there. Perhaps the whole reason for her being stranded on that isle was because she was on a mission. And until she accomplish the task at hand, she would remain presumably for all eternity. It made sense. Why else would she be on the isle? All she needed to do was utilize her mysterious blue powers to thoroughly search through the entirety of the isle to find whatever it was that she was supposed to do. She searched for a very, very, very long time, until the reality that there was nothing to be found there sunk in. No task to speak of. No clue. No nothing. There was no reason for her being there, yet she was confined nonetheless.

She did not remember how long she cried. She was lost. Confused. Terrified. Alone. There was no one beside her. No living beings anywhere. Nothing that could keep her busy. At one point, she contemplated ending her own life, unable to withstand anymore endless loneliness. But she never went through with it. Not because of her own will, but some kind of superior power was preventing her from committing to it.

After a very, very, very long time, she simply accepted her fate. She sat down in the middle of the room and did nothing. And since then, that was all she did. She no longer expected anything different happening any time soon. It was just her, the house and the isle. Nothing else. She accepted all of that.

"Hello?"

Leif nearly jumped from her spot on the floor upon hearing a voice coming from behind her. She frantically stood up and turned around to confront the unexpected owner of the voice, her eyes glowing bright blue.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! It's okay!" The orange-haired boy at the front quickly said, raising his hands up defensively, as if he was going to intercept an attack from her. "It's just me! Uh, you remember me, right?"

She recognized the boy right away, her fear replaced by a combination of relief and irritation.

"Sprig Plantar…" she spoke his name, her eyes returning back to normal with a single blink.

It was only recently that the boy in front of her disrupted the constant state of loneliness that she had to endure for eternity, when he suddenly showed up with little to no knowledge as to how he got to the isle, besides his explanation that he dreamt himself there. Leif had every reason to be wary of the boy who served as an anomaly to the rules set by the mysterious realm that led her to believe that she was the only person residing in there. Whatever purpose that he had there, she convinced herself that he was up to no good.

But when she gauged his nature the last time she interacted with him, she found no sign of malicious intent coming from him. In fact, he exhibited a strong desire to form a bond with her despite her hostility towards him, and he even offered to help her once he learned of her plight. Despite still putting her guard up around him, his kind nature brought a form of relief that she had not felt since she first awakened there.

"Oh good! That's a relief!" Sprig let out a sigh of relief, fully entering the house through the front door. "I mean, it's been a while since the last time I came here, so I was worried that you might've forgotten about me."

"Hmph. How could I forget about you? You're literally the second person who came on this isle besides me." Leif said, as she sat back down on the floor.

"Yeah, that's true." Sprig said, scratching the back of his head. "So did you miss me?"

"I'll let you guess as to what my answer will be." Leif said.

"Um… Is that a no?"

"Bingo. Congratulations. For guessing right the first time, you get nothing. So technically, you lose. Good day, sir." she sarcastically praised him while motioning her hands over to the empty room to hammer in the fact that there was no reward waiting for him there. "Unless you think my reward for you is living on this isle with me."

"Sounds like you're insinuating something, Leif." Sprig remarked with a teasing smile.

"As if." she scoffed while crossing her arms. "Don't get your hopes up. Besides, you wouldn't like it here anyway."

"Okay, okay. I can take a hint." he relented, as he sat down on the floor in front of the frog girl. "Speaking of which, what is this place, anyway?"

"This world that we're in?" she asked for clarification.

"Yeah! It's weird!" he said as he looked around the room. "A single house on a floating isle in the middle of the night sky? And you're the only person living here, for some reason? It really makes my head spin just trying to make sense out of all of this."

"Hm. I can see where you're coming from."

"So, I've been wondering. Do you know what this whole place is supposed to be? You know, since you've been living here for basically all of your life? Not that I think it's a good thing or anything…"

The frog girl frowned, as she shifted her gaze away from the boy. "… I wish I could tell you. But believe it or not, I don't know any more than you do."

"Really?"

"It is as you say." she continued. "I've basically been on my own in this strange world for what seems like an eternity. But no matter much time has passed, and how much I tried to look into this place as closely as possible, I still have absolutely no clue about it all."

"So you don't know either, huh?" Sprig commented. If the sole resident of the floating isle claimed to not know anything about the world that they were currently on, then there was not much that they could do at the moment. "Man, now I'm just dying to know what the whole deal about this place is. It would help a bunch if I talk about this to the family, a friend or someone else back in the real world."

"Hm. Now there's an idea." Leif said. "You should do just that when you leave this place. You just might be able to put a dent in this eternal mystery."

"Um… The thing is…" Sprig rubbed the back of his neck. "I can't."

"… What do you mean?" she asked, tilting her head.

"I mean, don't get me wrong! I do wanna tell the others about the world that I keep dreaming myself in!" he clarified while waving his hands in front of him. "It's just that… Well, when I woke up in the real world, every time I tried to remember what happened in here, I… I drew a complete blank."

"You couldn't remember?"

He nodded. "Yeah. It's weird. If this is like any other dream, I could remember most of it just fine. But I could barely remember anything that happened here. It's like all of my memories of this place get left behind when I wake up, and when I come back here, it all comes back to me, like nothing happened. Um, does it make any sense?"

Leif lowered her gaze, as she thought hard about what the boy had explained to her. Sprig was unable to recall his experience in this realm when he returned to the real world? If what he said was true, then there truly was no way for them to discover the strange world's true purpose even from the outside. It was as if some unknown higher power was keeping the existence of the realm a secret to everyone. Once again, the mysterious world left her with more questions than answers.

"The mystery thickens, huh?" Leif said. "But… it is to be expected, sadly."

"Wait, it sounds like you're giving up on trying to figure this out." Sprig said.

"I've already given up on it a long time ago. Like I said before, I couldn't find anything about this place even if I searched thoroughly. It's not like this place is going to give us an answer any time soon. So what's the point? I might as well just sit still and do nothing for all of eternity. It's how I live my life, up to this point."

"But… Aren't you sad? About everything?"

"I was. But I already ran out of tears long ago." Leif closed her eyes. "No need for you to sympathize with me. I've already accepted my fate of being stuck here forever. At least, in your case, you're free to leave any time you want. So consider yourself lucky that you don't share the same fate as me."

"Leif…"

Sprig could only think about how devastatingly upsetting Leif's situation was. Not only did she have amnesia, but she was trapped in there for such a long time without knowing why she was there in the first place. Was there even an end to her torment? He truly wanted to help her, but how exactly does he go about it? He was essentially backed into a corner by all of the misfortune that befell the frog girl.

"If you're done here, then it's time for you to leave before something unexpected happens." Leif said, as she turned her head away from him. "I appreciate your help in trying to uncover this world's purpose. But as you can see for yourself, we're getting nowhere with this."

"Well… Maybe I can't help with trying to figure this whole thing out." Sprig spoke. "But there is one thing that I can definitely help with."

"With what?"

"Bringing a bit of joy in your life." he smiled.

"And… How do you plan on doing that? I mean, what is there to be happy about?" she asked, confused by what he meant by it.

"You're forgetting that you're talking to the first person that you've ever met in your life!" he said as he pointed his thumb at himself. "So you must be curious about me and have a ton of questions to ask me about!"

"This again?" Leif sighed, having remembered going through the same scenario the last time they spoke. "I thought that we're done with me asking you questions last time."

"Come on, Leif! You don't think that we're gonna stop with just one question, do you?"

"It's a waste of time, in case that you have forgotten."

"Maybe. But it'll make things a little less boring, right?"

"Hmm…" The frog girl wanted to argue with him, but she could not deny that his presence did bring a very small amount of life into the eternal torment that she had to endure.

"How about this, Leif?" Sprig spoke. "You just need to ask me one question, and that's it. If you don't, I'm just gonna stay here until you reconsider. Heck, I'll just keep on talking to you, if that's what it takes to get you to give in!"

"You know I can still push you out of here, right?" Leif reminded him, her eyes glowing blue for a moment as proof that it was not an empty threat.

"Oh… That's an option too, I guess…" he sheepishly said, as he had not consider she could do just that. He rubbed the back of his neck once more. "Yeah… Feels like I'm really out of luck here…"

Leif would prefer to cut their conversation short and get him out of there so that peace, however agonizing it may be, could return to her. But at the same time, she did not know when it will be the next time that she would talk to him like that. Against her better judgement, perhaps knowing a little bit more about the irritating boy would not hurt.

"Fine." she sighed.

Sprig instantly perked up, smiling. "So you'll do it?"

"Yes. I'll ask you a question." she said. "Just one, right? Will you leave this place afterwards?"

"Sure! I promise!" he vowed with his hand raised.

"… You're going to make this a regular thing between us, aren't you?"

"Maybe." The boy cheekily shrugged, his smile betraying his attempt to hide his true intention of making it a recurring thing each time he visits her. There was not much Leif could do about it, however.

"Alright… Let's go for this one." she said. "You mentioned a family earlier. Who are they, exactly?"

"Ah! Wanna know what the Plantar family is all about, huh? You're asking the right question here!" He gave the frog girl a thumbs-up.

"Just answer me and get this over with, will you?" she asked him exasperatedly, placing a palm over her face as she pondered if she should have reconsider.

"Right. Gotcha." He nodded, clearing his throat as he prepared to give his answer to Leif. "So us Plantars are a family of farmers, just like everyone else back in our hometown, Wartwood. But we're not just a farm family. We're a family with a penchant for adventure, mischief, and attracting danger to ourselves way more than others while still kicking and in one piece!"

"There's a lot to unpack related to the last part…" she noted.

"In my family, there's Hopadiah Plantar." he continued. "He's my Hop Pop, which means 'grandpa.' We tend to call him that cause it rolls off the tongue better. Hop Pop's pretty old-fashioned. Shocker, right? He's also strict and sometimes a worrywart to the point that he'll take matters into his own hands just so everything goes exactly as it should. And he's also a bit selfish."

"So he's an overbearing grandfather pursuing his own interests. Got it." Leif nodded in understanding.

"But besides that, he's a welcoming and really caring person towards us, and he can be understanding when things really matter. While he's always trying to get us to follow his example to a T, he also recognizes where he gets things wrong and makes up for it."

His interaction with Hop Pop after the Ruins of Despair incident came to mind. "So at the end of the day, Hop Pop is a great parent figure when the whole family really comes together for a common goal."

"Well, at least he sets a good example on how a parent should raise their children." Leif spoke her opinion on the elderly frog, based on what the boy had explained to her.

"Then there's my little sister, Polly." Sprig continued. "She might be a baby pollywog, but you're in for a surprise if you expect her to act anything like a regular baby. She's pretty tough and scary, 'cause in a lot of situations, she almost always resorts to violence and conquer over others when she's given the chance, so much so that we kinda have to reel her in before she goes too far."

Sprig chuckled for a bit, when he recalled what the family had gone through a day or two ago. "The funny thing is, she always acts so tough that we almost forgot that she's still a baby girl who needs to be cared for. Now that I know better, looking out for her is still one of my top priorities as her big brother."

"A very young girl with a complex character, huh?" Leif commented on the boy's description of his baby sister. "It does sound like she's one in a million."

"And finally, there's our latest member of the family!" Sprig said, his mood noticeably lightened up as he thought about the next person that he was going to talk about. "I think I told you about her before, the last time we talked to each other."

"Oh, you mean your human friend?" she asked.

"Yep! Anne Boonchuy! My best friend in the whole world!" he exclaimed, smiling widely. "You might be thinking that it's weird for a human being to be part of a frog family, but the thing about us is that blood isn't what makes you a Plantar. The bonds that you formed with the family, the time that you spent with them, and the lengths that you'd go for them is what makes you an honorary member of the Plantar family. And Anne proved to us time and again that she has more than earned her place with us."

"So that's how your family functions, huh? Intriguing." Leif said, fascinated by what was considered family for the boy.

"And that's pretty much it! To sum it up, our family consists of Hop Pop, Polly, Anne and me, of course! It would've been nice if I can somehow get you to meet them in person, but this will do for now." Sprig concluded his answer to the frog girl's question.

"Hm… I wonder…" she murmured, as she noticed that Sprig seemed to have left out something essential. "Is that really your entire family?"

"Well, yeah." Sprig confirmed, a bit confused by her question. "What, did I say something funny?"

"So you have your grandfather, your baby sister, and your adopted sister who is also your best friend…" Leif listed the family members. "But what about your parents? Your mother and father?"

"… Oh."

At that moment, Sprig's enthusiasm took a dip. He was not expecting her, or anyone in particular, to ask about his parents. That was the second time that the subject of his parents was brought up to him recently. And he was not sure how he should proceed with that.

He moved his hand up to grasp his green hat, as he thought about what to say without making things more awkward than necessary between them.

"They're… not around anymore."

"Oh…" Leif simply said, immediately understanding what he meant. In hindsight, she should have known why the boy left out his parents in the first place, and she felt bad bringing it up. "I'm sorry…"

"It's okay. I mean, you couldn't have known, since we've only seen each other three times now." Sprig reassured her, lowering his hand from his hat. "You don't have to feel bad about me. I was only a little tadpole when I lost my parents, so I don't remember much about them. And like I told you before, Hop Pop has been a great parent figure to us."

He smiled once more to make his point. "I'm happy with the people that I call family. And I wouldn't give them up for anything in the world."

"… If you say so." Leif said, as they put an end to that particular topic. However, she could not help but wonder if Sprig really was fine with the way things are for him. After all, she did saw some regret in his eyes when talking about losing his parents.

THUD!

Before they could move forward with their conversation, the front door suddenly slammed open, the doorway shining a bright light over the two people sitting in the room.

Sprig turned his head around to look at the opened door. "Uh, Leif? Was that you who did that just now?" he asked.

"Why did you assume that it was me?" Leif asked him in turn, baffled at how he came to that conclusion. "I'm sitting right in front of you and nowhere near the door."

"Well, you have that weird power of yours, right?" he explained himself, turning his head back to her. "Granted, I don't know how it works, but I just thought that you might have the ability to move things with your brain."

Leif shook her head. "That's definitely not how my powers work."

"Then how did the door-?"

Before they could figure out what really happened, the light from the doorway intensified, expending to envelop the entirety of the room, along with the human boy and the frog girl.

Leif shielded her eyes from the blinding light by raising her arm over them. The light shined brightly for a few seconds before it quickly dimmed down until it disappeared completely from the room. At that moment, Leif slowly lowered her arm down and opened her eyes.

Only to realize that the boy in front of her had disappeared.

"Sprig?" She called out his name, but she received no response. She looked around the empty room to see if he was somewhere else in there, but there was no sign of the orange-haired human anywhere.

She then looked at the opened door in front of her, as it slowly closed onto itself. She connected the phenomenon of the blinding light and Sprig's disappearance together, and came to a single conclusion.

By some kind of mystical intervention, Sprig was forced out of the strange world.

"… Huh."

The harsh vibration of the fwagon as it moved in high speed over a rough terrain stirred the orange-haired boy awake.

He winced as he slowly opened his eyes, the ceiling being the first thing that he saw. Looking around, he found himself lying down on the bed located on the platform just above the backdoor of the fwagon, remembering that he must have fallen asleep some time ago.

His body involuntarily bounced on the bed, when another sudden vibration spread across the fwagon.

"Aargh! Come on! I was almost there!"

He heard the voice of his best friend shouting in frustration. Looking down at the bottom floor, he noticed that several small pieces of a puzzle were spread out across the floor. Anne could be found sitting at the table, scratching her head in vexation, as she stared at a few puzzle pieces laying on the table next to an opened box whose cover portrayed a couple of strange creatures known as koalas standing on a boat.

"Huh… What happened down here?" he wondered, in the process of getting out of bed by moving his legs over to the edge.

Then the fwagon suddenly shook a third time, causing the boy to bounce of the bed while catching him off-guard. He yelped right as he fell to the floor face-first. "Oww…!"

"Sprig!" Anne gasped as she quickly came to her friend's side as soon as she saw him fall off the bed hard. "You okay, dude?" she asked him while lending him a hand.

"Ngh…! I think so…" he groaned as he took her helping hand and pulled himself up from the floor. "What the heck is going on out here?" he asked while rubbing the sore spot on his face that took the blunt of the fall.

"Urgh! You tell me!" Anne frowned. "The fwagon's been moving so much like this ever since we left the last town! I mean, I know that they have a schedule to keep, but would it kill them to just take it easy every now and then?!"

She motioned her hands over to the puzzle pieces that were sprawled all over the floor beneath their feet. "All this shaking and turning and stuff pretty much made me lose all of the progress on my jigsaw puzzle! And I was only a dozen of pieces away from finishing it!"

"Oof… That sucks, Anne." he expressed his sympathies. "Still, I wonder why we're moving so much, anyway?"

He walked over to the window next to the table, with Anne accompanying him. They opened the window and poked their heads out to see what was going on outside.

At the front, they saw two trailers interconnected to one another, alongside the fwagon, being pulled by a giant beetle. There was not much to see that could answer their question.

Looking at the back, they saw another wagon bound to the fwagon in the back…

… As well as a giant sandworm chasing after the linked caravans from close behind, snarling as it tried to take hold of them with its large mouth, only for the wagons to narrowly avoid its attack by zigzagging at high speed.

"Well, I guess we now know what's causing all the ruckus." Sprig said, as he and Anne pulled their heads back inside before closing the window. "Not much else they can do to escape that huge thing chasing us."

"Yeah, I guess…" Anne said as she sat back down at the table and placed her palms over her face, groaning in frustration. "Urgh! I was so close! This puzzle took me almost a day to complete! And now, I have to restart it all over again!"

"That really sucks, huh?" The boy said, understanding her frustration.

The brown-haired girl sighed, as she stood up from the table. "I'm gonna go pick up the pieces on the floor. Mind helping me out a bit, buddy?"

"Sure thing." he complied, as they began to collect all of the puzzle pieces that fell off.

It took them a while to pick up everything, mostly because the fwagon kept moving so abruptly that the pieces kept sliding and bouncing across the interior, which did not help with easing the human girl's irritation. After they managed to find what they believed to be every single piece, they put them all back on the table, as they sat down.

"Thanks, Sprig." Anne sighed. "Here's hoping that we didn't miss any…"

"So you really worked on this puzzle for almost a whole day?" Sprig asked, surprised to learned how long putting the puzzle together took.

"Yeah, believe it or not." she replied. "I mean, I know that there are a lot of pieces to put together, but I didn't think that it would take me this long. And knowing that I have to go back to square one just because of what we had to deal with? Giving up on it seems really tempting, right about now…"

"And you were by yourself?"

"Yep, since Hop Pop is pretty busy performing with Renee's acting troupe, Polly is hanging out with the theatre kids, and you were sleeping for quite a bit." she said. "Which reminds me. You never told me why you weren't with Polly and the others. Didn't you say that it would be cool to hang out with that Francois kid, or something along those lines?"

Sprig let out a despondent sigh, as he remembered what caused him to not join up with the theatre kids. "I don't wanna talk about it…"

"You sure? You know that I'm all ears 24/7, dude."

"I know, Anne. But I'm really not in the mood. Thanks, anyway."

Anne shrugged. "Okay. Whatever you say." she said, as she began to search through the pile of pieces, trying to determine which ones that she should start with. "So what are you planning on doing in a meantime?"

"Good question…" Sprig replied as he thought about what he should do to kill time. Since they'll be with the acting troupe for some time, at least until they reach the next area leading to Newtopia, doing basically nothing for the rest of the trip would be a death sentence for his mind.

But as soon as he saw Anne putting two puzzle pieces together, he had an idea on what to do.

"Hey, what do you think of having another person work on the puzzle together with you?" he asked, as he picked up a piece from the pile.

"Really? You wanna help me out with putting this all together?" Anne asked, surprised by the boy's suggestion.

"Why not?" he shrugged, smiling. "I have nothing else to do, and you seemed really eager to finish your puzzle, so this looks like a no brainer to me."

"Aww, Sprig…" The Thai-American girl smiled at her friend, touched by his offer. "Yeah, sure. That would help a lot."

"Okay! Then let's do this thing!"

"Spranne against the world!" Both Sprig and Anne shouted while throwing their fists into the air, before they set their sights back on the matter at hand.

With two people working together, finishing that huge puzzle before night falls would be a cinch. As long as there are no other outside factors that could delay or undo all of their efforts.

Chapter Text

The Dry Swamp, true to half of its name, is a large desert wasteland that is home to many kinds of dangerous creatures, such as bandits, vagabonds, and giant frog-eating sandworms. Travellers who dare to cross the desert not only need to constantly hydrate themselves due to the intense heat during the day, they also need to be on the lookout for any danger that they might stumble across.

When the Plantar family reached the Dry Swamp, not even a minute had passed before they were attacked by a sandworm. They managed to survive due to the timely intervention by a woman named Renee Frodgers, director and manager of a relatively-known acting troupe currently on tour around the area.

Hop Pop, being an aspiring actor himself, was more than thrilled to have the whole family accompany Renee's troupe on their tour while they're there, even more so when he got the leading role for her play after proving his worth during an audition.

While the elderly frog was busy with the play, the Plantar kids were left doing their own things in the meanwhile. Polly was hanging out with a boy named Francois and the theatre kids at their wagon, and Anne stayed in the fwagon to work on a complicated jigsaw puzzle called 'Koalas of Passion', her reason for not wanting to join the theatre kids was because of an incident at a stage play that she performed back when she was little.

As for Sprig, despite initially wanting to join Francois and the others because he found Francois to be cool, he ended up staying at the fwagon with Anne as well, where he slept in until recently. When he saw that Anne had trouble completing the puzzle, due to outside factors causing her to lose most of her progress, he decided to give her a hand in doing the puzzle.

With two people working together, they believed that they would be finished with the jigsaw puzzle before the day is done.

Of course, it was easier say than done. Their progress kept getting interrupted because the group was constantly on a move due to a combination of getting to the scheduled locations on time and being chased by all manner of hostile creatures on the way there.

A day had passed since Anne and Sprig started working together on the puzzle…

"Dang it…! The missing pieces aren't here either…" Anne silently cursed as she looked underneath the kitchen table. "Any luck on your end, Sprig?"

"Still looking." Sprig replied as he checked the bookshelf on the other side of the room. "Oh wait! I found some! Inside of Polly's bucket!"

The orange-haired boy scooped out two puzzle pieces from inside of a bucket stationed on the outer corner of the bookshelf. After swinging them around to dry them off, he tossed the pieces back on the table. "There are only two of them, though, but it's better than nothing, right?"

"I guess…" Anne sighed, moving from the kitchen table to the top bed. "I'm still gonna keep looking for the others, wherever they might be. Mind putting in the pieces that you found, in the meanwhile?"

"Sure. I can do that." Sprig nodded, sitting back down at the table while his best friend was still searching around the fwagon. He picked up one of the two pieces, looked over the assembled puzzle so far, and inserted the piece in once he found the right spot for it. "Okay. Next one." he said, as he picked up the second piece.

Then he blinked his eyes a few times after looking over once more the assembled puzzle.

"Hey, Anne?"

"Yeah, dude?" Anne replied while lifting the covers and pillows of the top bed.

"Call me crazy, but… It kinda looks like we're one piece away from completing the puzzle."

"FOR REAL?!" The human girl exclaimed, as she immediately dropped herself from the top bed and quickly rejoined her friend at the table. She scanned her eyes over the puzzle multiple times, and indeed, they only needed to add one last piece in before they reached their goal.

"Holy cow! Is this really happening?!" she shouted, grinning ear to ear as she barely contained her excitement. Then she dropped her grin when she considered the possibility of them not having the piece that they needed in the first place. "But wait a sec! Do we even have the last piece? Argh, we might still need to find it somewhere in this mess!"

"Actually, there's no need." Sprig showed her a puzzle piece in his hand, causing her to gasp with a gleam in her eyes. "It's one of the two pieces that I found a second ago."

"YES! Finally!" The grinning girl fist-pumped in the air. At long last, the task of finishing the complicated jigsaw puzzle that she started over a day ago was at its end.

The boy smiled widely at how happy his friend looked. After all the times that he saw her with a tired and frustrated expression on her face since working on the puzzle, it felt cathartic to see her filled with joy for once. "Here. You should have the honour of putting the final piece."

He handed her the puzzle piece, which she gladly took. "Thanks, Sprig. Okay! Let's finish this thing already!"

With the last piece in her fingers, hovering over the nearly completed image of the two koalas on the boat, she slowly lowered the piece towards the last hole with a toothy grin.

Sprig watched with bated breath. Once the final piece was put in, their long and arduous quest of assembling the 'Koalas of Passion' puzzle that lasted for over a day, mainly because outside factors kept messing things up for them, would finally be finished.

Anne was just a couple of inches away from putting it in, when…

SLAM!

"ANNE!" Hop Pop suddenly made his appearance by slamming the backdoors open, startling the two humans. "The play's a distraction for a bank robbery!" he shouted as he walked over to the table and slammed his fists down upon it.

The vibration that he created on the table caused some of the pieces of the nearly assembled puzzle to pop off, which had not gone unnoticed by the peeved Thai-American girl.

"Come again, Hop Pop?" Sprig asked.

"The entire tour is a sham! A front for a heinous crime against the poor townsfolk of the Dry Swamp!" Hop Pop elaborated, slamming his fists on the table again and unknowingly sending more puzzle pieces flying.

"Is that true?"

"Yes! Renee herself told me all about it, in fact!" The distraught frog replied. "Moments ago, I accidentally stumbled across her planning her next move on the next town where we'll be performing, and that's when she revealed to me the real purpose of the tour! She's been robbing every single town that we've gone to while everyone was taken in by our show! It's all a setup!"

"So Renee is really a bad frog? That's awful, Hop Pop!" exclaimed the shocked boy.

"I know, right?!" Hop Pop shouted, as he slammed his fists on the table twice, as more pieces bounced off.

"Hop Pop," Anne finally spoke, fed up with watching their work being undone right before her eyes. "Can you please stop doing that?"

"Oh, sorry, Anne." Hop Pop apologized, removing his hands from the table. It did not look like he even noticed the puzzle on the table. "But seriously! What are we supposed to do about it?!"

"Obviously, we're stopping Renee and her crimes." Anne said.

"Well, yes, normally I'd agree with you." Hop Pop said hesitatingly. "But Renee also told me why she did all of this in the first place."

"Wait, you're sympathizing with her, Hop Pop?" Sprig asked incredulously.

"It's complicated, see! She said that nowadays, theatre art is on a verge of dying out, and straight plays like the one that we're doing barely recuperate the costs of making it. So while robbing the bank is terrible, it also helps with preserving the arts, and to an extent, saving our dreams."

Hop Pop lowered his head and placed his hands on it, as he struggled to find the correct path to take for his ordeal. "I don't know, Anne! I feel like I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place! What do I do?!"

"Hop Pop, it's obvious that she's taking advantage of you!" Anne told him. "She's using your love for theatre acting to get you to turn a blind eye to her crimes, while helping her get away with it scot-free! You can't just pretend that you don't know that!"

The elderly frog stroked his chin, as he pondered what the girl had told him, until he came to a decision. "Hmm… So what you're saying is that I should pretend that I don't know anything about her true crimes, as if all I did so far is really for the sake of the arts. And at the same time, I won't feel bad about helping with her schemes, if I hadn't got a clue about it in the first place. That's brilliant, Anne! That's really something a very good actor like me can pull off!"

"Uh, that's not what I'm going for-."

"Thanks, Anne! You really got me out of a jam!" Hop Pop expressed his appreciation for her, while he was already in the process of leaving the fwagon. "Now if you'll excuse, I have a play that I must lead! For the arts!"

He exited the fwagon and closed the backdoors behind him, leaving Anne and Sprig alone once again.

"… We should probably deal with Renee ourselves, before things get really hairy for us." Sprig suggested.

Anne let out a frustrated sigh, placing her palm over her forehead. "Actually, let's leave it to Hop Pop. Hopefully, he snaps out of it and realizes what's really at stake here."

Sprig was about to voice his objection, until he looked down at the puzzle and noticed that about half of the pieces came off since Hop Pop's sudden arrival. Then he looked up to the human girl and noted the furious expression on her face. "… You're mad at Hop Pop, aren't you?"

"Maybe." Anne said while exhaling through her nose, barely hiding how she felt towards the elderly frog. "Look, if things start to get really bad, we'll go and deal with it. But right now, I just want to get this dang puzzle over and done with already."

"Okay, if you say so…" Sprig said, still having doubts in his mind.

Once she was certain that they will not get interrupted from that point forward, Anne was about to reach for one of the loose puzzle pieces, when…

SLAM!

"HEY, ANNE! WHAT UP, GIRL!" Polly suddenly announced her appearance by slamming the window next to the table open and hopped onto the table.

Landing directly on the puzzle and further disassembled it. Anne's irritation continued to grow.

The purple tadpole turned around and noticed that her brother was also sitting at the table with the human girl. "Oh hey, Sprig! Whatcha been doing lately?"

Sprig had a look of horror upon witnessing the puzzle basically being completely undone, then looking at the further-frustrated Anne. "Uh… Polly…" he slowly said while pointing down at the puzzle that Polly was standing on.

Polly followed where his finger was pointing and realized what she did. "Oh! You two are still working on it?" she asked while hopping off the puzzle. "Kinda funny that you're still not done after more than a day. What's taking you so long?"

"Um… We did mention that the whole moving from town to town messed up our progress a bit." The boy said. "And we were almost done with it, when…"

"… Oh." Polly connected the dots and realized one of the reasons why Anne and Sprig's work remained unfinished. Even more so when she looked at Anne who had her vexed face turned away from the small tadpole. "Sorry, Anne… I didn't mean to mess things up for you guys." she apologized sheepishly.

"It's fine, Polly…" Anne said as she looked back at Polly, barely managing to form a smile to convince her. "I'm not mad at you. I'm just mad at the universe for throwing things our way and keep us from doing this stupid puzzle. Like we haven't had enough problems as is…"

"Still, I'm trying to be responsible for myself." Polly said, as she picked up two pieces in her hand and attempted to connect them without much success. "Especially after I made a huge mess at that truck stop, a while ago. Not to mention the whole switching myself with an egg of a killer bird without you knowing…"

"Hey, you didn't know about the egg either. And that whole thing wasn't entirely your fault, remember?" Anne reminded her. "I know that you're trying your best, and each of us are doing our part in making up for not giving you enough love."

"She's right, Polly." Sprig nodded. "Hey, let's agree to put what happened at the truck stop behind us, as long as we keep taking care of each other the way we are now. Okay?"

"Okay. Thanks, guys." Polly smiled at the two humans. "Hey, why don't I stay here for a bit and help you guys with the puzzle? Sounds like a good idea, right?"

"Yeah, it sure does. Appreciate the help, dude." Anne said before the Plantar siblings began to tackle the arduous task at hand, determined to finish the puzzle before any more series of unfortunate events stop them from doing so.

For the next few minutes of so, there was silence between them, as they each performed their duty to assemble one part of the puzzle. Then, the boy's curiosity got the better of him, as he asked his little sister about what she did lately.

"So, Polly… How's it going with the theatre kids?"

"Oh, it was pretty great!" Polly replied. "It's not every day that I get to act as a completely different character than my usual self!"

"Oh yeah?" Anne said, her own curiosity demanding her to learn more about the bow-wearing tadpole's experience. "Which character are you playing as?"

"I'm glad you ask!"

Polly stopped working on the puzzle for the moment. She quickly switched out her yellow, polka-dotted bow for a black one with spiderweb patterns, roughened up her face so that it was dirty and carried a scar on the cheek, and wore an eyepatch over her left eye, as well as a beard on her chin.

"Top in the morning, governor! It is I, Lydia Davenport, the black widow!" Polly introduced her character with an English accent.

"Neat. Any background with this character?" Anne asked.

"I certainly have! As I have told you, I am a widow of a very rich noble with a dark secret, and anyone who comes to learn of such secret, I personally lure them into a trap and imprison them in my personal torture room, where I slowly torment them for days on end until they wish for death, which I deliver upon them as excruciatingly slow as I please."

Anne let out an impressed whistle. "Nice one, Polly. Even though your outfit right now doesn't really match your character in the slightest."

Polly shrugged, dropping her pretend character to reassume her usual self. "I'm still workshopping this one. But anyway, hanging out with the theatre kids has been pretty fun so far!"

"Yeah… It must've been, huh?" Sprig spoke under his breath, as he turned away from Polly, which had not gone unnoticed by her.

"Hey, you're not upset that I botched your chance with Francois, are you?"

"I mean, kinda?" he replied with uncertainty. "But it doesn't matter anyway. After what he said to me, I lost all interest in hanging out with the others."

"Ohh… Right, I forgot." Polly said, remembering the whole reason why Sprig didn't join in the first place. "Well, if it makes you feel any better, Francois is a great actor, but he's a bit of a jerk and treats everyone like they're dirt. I'm surprised that he treats me with any kind of respect."

"Like it wasn't obvious already…"

Anne looked back and forth between Sprig and Polly as they discussed what occurred between them and the Francois kid when they first joined up Renee's acting troupe earlier. Despite wanting to respect the boy's decision, seeing him looking downright depressed because of Francois fuelled her desire to know what was going on so that she could help her best friend.

"Okay, now I need to know what's up with you and that kid." Anne said. "Sorry, Sprig, but do you mind telling me what Francois said to you?"

Both Sprig and Polly glanced at each other, unsure if they should tell their adopted sister any details about their first interaction with the young actor.

"Um… Well…" Sprig trailed off.

"He, uh… He said that Sprig doesn't have enough character." Polly explained. "Right, big brother?"

"Uh, yeah. That's right." he nodded. It was technically true, so that should be enough explanation.

"… That's all?" Anne asked.

"Yep. Let's leave it at that." Polly formed a strained smile on her lips, as she said nothing else afterwards.

Anne looked at the purple tadpole and narrowed her eyes. She was skeptically that that was all there was to the reason why Sprig did not join the theatre kids. And neither Sprig nor Polly were convincing enough to satisfy her curiosity. She needed to pull more information out of them, and she might have found a way to do just that.

"Polly, if you tell me everything, I'll give you all of the candy that I got in my bag." she negotiated.

Polly gasped at the mention of Anne's human candy, her mind bombarded by the thoughts of eating such strange, but delectable treat. "All of them?!"

"Polly, no!" Sprig shouted.

The purple tadpole snapped out of her food-induced trance and quickly turned her eyes away while crossing her arms. "I-I'm not saying anything more to you!"

"Are you sure~?" Anne asked in a taunting manner, pulling out her bag from underneath the table and shoved her hand inside.

Polly closed her eyes shut so she did not have to see what the human girl was pulling from her bag. However, images of Anne's candy invaded her thoughts, tempting her just enough to slightly open one eye.

She gasped at the sight of a smiling Anne waving three pieces of candy in her hand.

A lollipop.

A bubblegum.

And a chocolate bar.

Polly found herself drooling at the three candy pieces before stopping herself and closing her eyes tighter than before. "Y-you're not getting to me t-that easily!"

"I dunno, Polly. 'Cause you look like you're dying to get your hands on them." Anne teased her. "Are you sure you don't want any candy?"

"Y-yeah, I'm sure!" Polly said unconvincingly.

"Oh well." Anne shrugged, as she proceeded to remove the wrapping of the chocolate bar. "Guess I'll have to eat all of this candy myself. And I'm not gonna share it with anyone else, since nobody wants it."

Polly slightly opened an eye once more, and she was presented with the view of the human girl removing half of the wrapping before she slowly moved the chocolate bar towards herself in an agonizing way. The sweating tadpole watched as the candy was approaching Anne's open mouth where she would savour its tasty goodness by herself.

And just as the chocolate was about to make contact with her tongue…

"OFFER ACCEPTED!" Polly screamed, giving in to temptation.

"POLLY!" Her big brother shouted in horror.

"Francois called Sprig an oversized, strange-colored, horrible-looking, sad excuse of a frog whose only good at playing trees meant to be chopped into lumber like the rest of his kind!"

Anne dropped the candies in her hand and stood up from her seat with a blank expression on her face. The purple tadpole realized that she said too much and could only look anxiously at her adopted sister, alongside Sprig.

"Uh… Anne? Are you okay?" Sprig asked nervously.

"Yeah. I am." Anne simply replied, her tone suspiciously calm. "Mind if I step out for a bit?" she asked while slowly making her way towards the side entrance of the fwagon.

"W-wait, where are you going?"

"I'm going to go meet Francois in person, that's all." she replied, stopping right in front of the door, as she looked at Sprig and Polly with an eerie smile on her face. "After hearing so much about him, I want to let him know that there's a new, incredible role that's perfect for him in the really near future."

As she explained, she slowly lifted up her tennis racket in her hand, revealing her true intentions for the young actor with her smile never leaving her face.

"He'll be great playing the role of the ground that's meant to be trampled on. Right after I smash some senses into him."

That was enough red flags for Sprig and Polly.

"Polly, get some rope!" Sprig quickly tackled Anne to the floor and pinned her down.

"On it!" Polly nodded as she hopped across the room to get the item needed.

"Let me go, Sprig!" Anne yelled as she struggled to get her best friend off of her. "I'm gonna give that pompous, spoiled kid a piece of my mind!"

"It's not worth it, Anne! It's just not worth it!" Sprig shouted as he pressed Anne further against the floor with all of his might. Thank goodness that he was in human form, otherwise she would easily kick him across the fwagon in his frog form.

"Good at playing chopped trees, huh?! I'll show you what happens when you mess with my folks! Give him a taste of his own medicine! RRAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-!"

Anne panted heavily in her seat at the table, as she tried her best to calm herself down. Especially since her body was tied up in a rope, courtesy of Sprig and Polly.

The orange-haired boy and the purple tadpole carefully observed the brown-haired girl on the opposite end of the table for any remaining sign of her hostile intention from a moment ago.

"Anne? Are you really okay?" Sprig asked cautiously.

"Yeah… Yeah, I'm okay…" Anne panted, no longer struggling in her binds. "I think… I'm tapped out from wanting to destroy that kid…"

"We're gonna undo the rope." The boy told her. "Promise that you won't go after Francois after this?"

"Yeah, don't worry... Seriously…" Anne nodded in affirmation.

Both Sprig and Polly nodded to each other, as the latter hopped her way towards the human girl to undo the restraints on her.

The rope fell off, and Anne regained control of her limbs, massaging her hands and flexing her joints. She let out a relieved sigh. "Thanks, Polly…"

"You can thank me by giving me all of your candy." Polly said. "Uh… I can still have your candy, right?"

"Yeah, of course. It's, uh… somewhere under the table. Pretty sure."

"On it!" Polly shouted as she dove underneath the table in search for the candies that Anne dropped a while ago.

"Okay, now that's out of the way…" Anne took a deep breath as a way to collect herself. Then she slammed both fists down on the table. "Screw that Francois jerk and whatever posse that he might have! Why do people put up with that guy anyway?!"

"Your guess is as good as mine." Sprig said, lowering his gaze as he recalled how their conversation went. "It… It really stings, what he said to me. If he just said that I don't have any character, then I'd probably try and convince that I do have what it takes to be on the same level as him. But then he called me… You know."

"Oh Sprig…" Anne understood his disappointment.

She was painfully aware how much hostility he received during his first days as a human being back home, due to being the third human after Sasha. And even though he was free of that hostility once they left the valley, the stigma of being a strange creature from another world still remained. If he was still a frog, then it would be a different story altogether.

"It's not your fault, you know?" Anne tried to reassure him. "I mean, if I came along with you guys from the start, he would also call me an ugly all-that too. So don't beat yourself up just because you've been turned into a human by accident."

"That's the thing." He looked at his best friend straight in the eye. "He insulted you, Anne."

She raised an eyebrow at what he said. "Wait, you mean… You didn't hang out with him because…"

"I mean, sure. I still think that being turned into a human sucks, because everyone sees me like I'm some sort of monster." he elaborated. "But that's nothing compared to how he insulted humans overall. I don't want to have anything to do with a guy who indirectly treats my best friend like complete garbage."

"Sprig…" The Thai-American girl could not resist smiling at her best friend's reasons. She was touched upon hearing how he stood up for her when she was being mistreated behind her back, even though in that case, the mistreatment was towards humans in general.

"That's not all he did." Polly said, hopping back on the table while she chewed on a piece of the chocolate bar before swallowing. "I mentioned how he treated me with any kind of respect, right? Well, he was so impressed with me that he started asking me questions that… Well, I have no idea how to answer."

"Like what?"

Polly took a quick glance at her brother before fully looking at the human girl. "I… I don't know if I should say it."

"Come on, Polly." Anne implored her. "If he's just asking about stuff that you don't know about, then it couldn't have been that bad, right?"

"The thing is…"

Polly then turned to look at Sprig, who stared at her with slight confusion. The bow-wearing tadpole was debating internally whether or not she should reveal what Francois asked her. Especially since…

Well, perhaps it was better to tell them. After all, it was just her, Sprig and Anne inside of the fwagon, and no one else. And Anne should know a little bit about what made her hesitant to reveal what the question was.

"He… He asked me if he could meet our parental guardians."

"What, like Hop Pop?" Anne chuckled at how seemingly simple the question was. "What's the problem with that? He's already involving in Renee's play, for better or worse."

"Not Hop Pop, Anne." Polly shook her head, her eyes not leaving her brother.

"He was talking about… Our mom and dad."

…

…

…

Silence fell upon the atmosphere inside of the fwagon.

A quiet realization appeared on Sprig and Anne's faces, as they learned the exact reason why Polly had difficulty answering that question.

Even though a minute had passed, it felt like hours since there was silence between the siblings.

"Lady Lydia!" A female voice from the outside suddenly called out to Polly using her character's name, breaking the silent atmosphere. "Where might thou be? The appointed time of our reunion is almost upon us!"

"Oh, uh… Fret not! I will be there shortly!" Polly shouted through the opened window. She looked back at the two humans who were still quiet from the revelation. "I really hate to leave it at that, but there's a tiny bit of something that I need to do first. I'll come back after I'm done, okay?"

"Sure, Polly." Anne said. "But, uh… Don't worry about it. Take your time."

"If you say so. I'll still come back anyway. So, uh… See you guys in a bit!"

The purple tadpole left the fwagon through the window, leaving Anne and Sprig alone inside with the silent air between them returning.

Neither of them had any idea how much time had passed since it was just the two of them left. None of them found any opportunity or desire to start a conversation out of fear that they might be disrespectful. Even resuming their work on the puzzle seemed inappropriate. What other option do they have for the time being?

Anne shifted her eyes towards the corner of her room, fidgeting her thumbs underneath the table. What could she do to follow up on that was revealed to them? Should she stay quiet? Should she ask Sprig about it? Should she step out of the fwagon to get some fresh air and come back once she feels that enough time had passed to start another conversation? What should she do?

"Anne," Sprig suddenly spoke, bringing his best friend's attention back towards him. "You must've been wondering about it all this time, right?"

"Uh, about what?" she asked, feigning ignorance.

"You know… About our parents."

"I…" Anne gazed down on the ground, unsure how she should proceed with it. "I… didn't wanna pry. It seems really heavy, you know? I didn't want to make you feel awful talking about it…"

"It's okay." Sprig reassured her by giving her a small smile. "To be fair, you did find it kinda weird, right? You've been with us for a few months, and we didn't talk about our mom and dad even once."

"Well… I was kinda curious about it, honestly. Even more so when Hop Pop told us why he went overboard with the rules back at the Ruins of Despair." Anne explained herself. "But like I said, I don't wanna pry if you don't want to talk about it. I'll understand, no problem."

"Anne…"

Sprig felt immense gratitude towards Anne. Even if she was dying to know what the whole deal was, she respected his privacy just enough to not follow through with her curiosity. She was an honorary member of Plantar family for long enough, but she knew where to draw a line in terms of the kind of history that they had to deal with. He was thankful for her.

But even so, he felt that she must know that piece of tragic history.

"Mom and dad… They both died when Polly and I were really young." he started to speak.

Anne looked at her best friend attentively.

"I don't remember much about it. Only what Hop Pop told us about how they died."

Sprig closed his eyes, as he tried to recall the exact story that Hop Pop told them a long time ago. When he opened his eyes again, his first sight was on a lone puzzle piece that was placed far from the others.

"He was on a long journey away from Wartwood. One night, when he came back home, the town was under attack by monsters. Two giant herons with blood-red eyes and razor-sharp teeth."

He shifted his gaze from the single piece to a bunch of pieces, some of them were connected together, while others were not and they were scattered around the connected pieces.

"They've been attacking the valley for years. Wartwood became one of their targets that night. According to Hop Pop, it was a terrifying sight to witness. The first thing that he did when he came back was to check on the Plantar house. But when he got there… It was covered in flames. And… Mom and dad… His children were in there…"

Anne silently gasped in horror and covered her mouth with her hands.

"After he and the rest of the surviving townsfolk fend off the herons, and the flames died down, Hop Pop went back to the house to get a closer look. He… confirmed that mom and dad were really there, and they died that night."

Sprig lowered his sight towards the two connected pieces found below.

"But then he found Polly and me, all scared and hidden in the basement, away from danger. Mom and dad must have put us in there right before the fire got to them. So we're both alive, thanks to them…"

He closed his eyes.

"… And now you know. About why Hop Pop was so overprotective of us in the first place. What happened to our parents. And why it's hard for us to talk about it in the first place…"

"… I'm so sorry…" Anne sincerely apologized, nearly on the verge of tears.

"Don't be." he said as he opened his eyes and lifted his gaze up towards the human girl. "Like I said, I don't remember much about it. Not even about my parents. So… It's really hard to be sad about it, honestly."

"You sure about it?" Anne asked with some doubts in her mind.

The boy took a few seconds to think of a reply to her question.

"Yeah. I'm sure." he nodded while smiling at her. "Sure, not having a mom or a dad sucks. But Hop Pop has been a great parent figure to us, so it doesn't sting as much as it should. And you know what? I'm completely okay with this."

He looked at the scenery through the window next to them, noting how happy and lively the people in the caravan looked, barring the fact that they were participating in a terrible scheme.

"I'm happy with the people that I call family. I have Hop Pop, Polly… And now you, Anne. And I wouldn't give you guys up for anything in the world."

"Sprig…"

If she was not an observant type of person, then she would take Sprig's words at face value and leave it at that. But she knew him just enough to see past the smile that he wanted to show her, to see that there was some sort of lingering regret underneath.

Should she confront him about it? Should she try to have him admit that he was truly sad about the circumstances behind the lost of his parents?

Maybe not today. Maybe not ever.

For the time being, she should be content that Sprig confined that piece of tragic history to her because he trusted her that much. And that said a lot about how much they valued her as a member of the Plantar family.

"Thank you, Sprig." She smiled warmly at him. "For telling me all of this."

He smiled back. "Anytime, Anne."

When he looked at her smile, he was not sure why, but something about it stirred some kind of emotion within him. He could not figure out what, though. Not only that, but his face felt a bit warmer than usual. Though for that one, he assumed that it was because of the heat from the Dry Swamp.

But if he thought hard about it, he might find it somewhat familiar. In fact, the last time that he felt something like that was back when he and Ivy…

"Welp! I think we've talked long enough, right?" Anne said as she stretched her arms up and arched her back. "What do you say that we finally finish this stupid puzzle already?"

"Sounds like a plan!" Sprig nodded, more than ready to get back to the task at hand. "Let's get this done before we start moving again! Uh, although, our chances are kinda low, in this case."

"Whatever! Let the universe keep throwing stuff at us! 'Cause you and I, we're definitely going to finish this, no matter what!" she exclaimed while throwing her fist into her open palm.

"I've always got your back, Anne!"

"Right back at ya, Sprig!"

"Spranne against the world!" They both shouted while throwing their fists in the air, before they resumed their work on the complicated jigsaw puzzle.

Come what may, there was nothing stopping the Spranne duo from completing what they were set out to do. Not a giant sandworm that keeps chasing after them each time they were on the move, nor a bank robbery under the guise of a stage play. With Sprig and Anne together, nothing is impossible.

Chapter Text

"Okay, everybody! You ready for some more stuff from this freak right here?!" Anne announced as she pointed at herself with both thumbs.

"Yeah!" cheered the townsfolk who have gathered in the middle of the main plaza to bear witness to the human girl's performance.

"Cool! Ask and you shall received!" Anne nodded, as she began to prepare for her next act. "Quick question! Do any of you know what techno music is?"

There was some confused chattering among the townsfolk, as they wondered what is the 'techno music' that the strange creature spoke of, or what the word 'techno' even means.

"Sounds like that's a no." Anne deduced based on their reactions, though she already knew that no one had any idea on what she was talking about. "That's okay! You're in for a treat, 'cause I'm about to show you the magic of techno music!"

"Yay! More magic!" exclaimed one of the villagers among the cheering crowd.

Anne turned her head towards her family who stood a few feet behind her.

"Mind helping me with the setup, fam?" she asked as she tossed her smartphone to her best friend.

Sprig tried to catch it, but he missed his shot and ended up getting hit in the face with it before it fell on his hands.

"Ow." he voiced his pain before he started to fiddle with the phone like nothing happened. "Um, I think I'm supposed to touch here… Then here… Okay, now to find the techno music, whatever that is…"

"Got the bucket right here, Anne!" shouted Polly who quickly hopped back to the fwagon stationed just outside of town, then returned with a metal bucket on her head, complete with a cushion.

By the time Polly put down the bucket on its side, Sprig managed to find what he believed to be one of the songs that Anne was talking about, and placed the phone inside of the bucket to turn it into a makeshift boombox. He then pressed the play button.

"Alright, it's starting, Anne!" he said while giving the brown-haired girl a thumbs-up.

As soon as the song started playing, beginning with the rhythmic techno beats, Anne bopped her head to the beat in order to psych herself up for what's to come.

The audience standing in front of her watched in anticipation for what kind of performance that she was about to do, listening to the beat despite not understanding what it was supposed to be.

Once the song reached the point where it truly began, Anne started to move her body to the music. The way that her body moved seemed robotic, but it had an expressive energy to it that, combined with how she was following the rhythm, made it mesmerizing to watch. It also helped that the human girl was in the zone, allowing for her dancing to be done the way she liked without worrying about what the audience thinks.

Her dance managed to easily sway the crowd, as they all cheered at her latest performance while throwing their copper coins in the wooden bucket placed between her and the townsfolk.

"Incredible!" Hop Pop expressed his amazement at what he had witnessed in front of him. "I was worried that the people would chase Anne off like she's a terrible beast, but she managed to turn their perception around and make a show out of her talents! Plus, she's raking up a lot of money!"

"Yeah! We won't need to worry about being short on cash, if she keeps up!" Polly shared the same feeling of surprise as their grandfather. She then patted her brother on the back of his leg, as if to urge him to do something himself. "Hey, how about you join in and make us double the money?"

"Yeah, I'll pass." Sprig declined while pulling the hood of his jacket down to further hide his human face. "Still self-conscious about my human form and all."

"Well, I guess it can't be helped." Polly shrugged. "In that case, let's go, Anne! Work it, girl!"

The rest of the family continued to watch Anne dancing to the music, while the audience kept on cheering and giving her lots of tips.

The orange-haired boy looked on as his best friend cheerfully danced with a huge grin on her face. He could not help but note the wonderful and energetic aura that she exuberated all the while. It made her look even more radiant than usual, and it seemed like he was the only person to see her that way.

A warm, admiring smile appeared on his face.

"So amazing…"

Some time had passed since the Plantars left the Dry Swamp, after Hop Pop thwarted Renee Frodger's crime to rob the towns blind while using the theatre play as a distraction, and narrowly avoided the authorities who questioned his involvement with said crime. The remaining trip to Newtopia from that point on had been relatively smooth, barring some bumps down the road.

The biggest obstacle that they came across so far was when Bessie's reins snapped in the middle of their travels, forcing the Plantars to stop by the nearest town to replace the reins. The town in question was Ribbitvale, the most expensive town in all of Amphibia, where the richest nobles and business men lived.

They encountered a man named Wigbert Ribbiton, creator of Ribbiton's Ribbons, the finest web crusty floss in all of Amphibia. He was accompanied by his son and heir to the Ribbiton family empire, Walliam Ribbiton.

Who the Plantars knew as One-Eyed Wally.

They were completely shocked to find out that Wally, the same Wally who up until now was a complete loon, was actually the son of a very rich business man, and when they confronted him about it, he confined to them that he was living as a bum in Wartwood because it was what he wanted.

When he was living with his family in Ribbitvale, it was suffocating because there were so many restrictions that he had to be mindful of, not to mention the expectations that his family placed on him as the heir. His life as a bum was his escape from all of that. He kept what he was really doing outside of Ribbitvale a secret from his family out of fear that they would disown him and reject his true self.

Anne, under the belief that his family would accept him no matter what, took matters into her own hands and revealed to them Wally's real self by showing them videos of him fooling around in Wartwood and being happy about it. She ended up causing more harm than good, when Wigbert proved his son's fears by rejecting the true him and forbidding him from leaving Ribbitvale.

That led to Wally challenging his father to a duel, where if he wins, he would leave Ribbitvale and live however he pleases, and if he loses, he would take over the family business and remain in Ribbitvale forever.

Feeling responsible for barging into Wally's mess, Anne offered to help him win the family challenge, and together, they barely managed to conquer over his father. Wally was allowed to live however he wanted, but he clarified to his father that he had no intention of leaving Ribbitvale for good, only wanting him to accept his son for who he is. Wigbert finally understood his desire and came to accept all of him.

All the while, Wally was wondering where Sprig was, as in Sprig the frog, since he only ever saw Anne, Hop Pop, Polly, and the new human 'Twig' around. The family managed to convince him that Sprig came down with an illness and that he was resting inside of the fwagon, and they warned him that Sprig must not be bothered.

After finding new replacement reins for Bessie, the Plantars left Ribbitvale to continue their journey to Newtopia. A few days had passed before they stopped by a small, traveller-friendly town called Stony Gulch, where they were facing a shortage of money. In hindsight, they probably should have asked Wally if he could spare them a bit of cash.

Anne accidentally revealed herself to the townsfolk, forgetting that no one outside of the Wartwood have ever seen a human before or knew what they are. In her attempt to calm them down, she ended up doing a series of acts that entertained the people, earning tips from them in the process. That solved the family's money problems, and at the rate that they were going, they would good for the rest of the trip.

The Sun was setting when Anne finished her show. The human girl was picking up the last remaining coppers from the ground and putting them in the bucket with the rest, while the townsfolk had already dispersed from the plaza, and the stores around them were closing.

"Woo! That went really well!" Anne shouted, as she turned to her founded family with the bucket of money in her arms. "You know, if I had known that making a show out of my talents will make people like me, then my first few months in the valley would have gone a lot smoother than what actually happened."

"Maybe, but you think you could handle being called a freak most of the time, in that case?" Sprig asked.

"Uh… Kinda?" she replied with uncertainty, twisting her hand in front of her in a 'so-so' motion.

"Well, either way," Hop Pop spoke. "Thanks to you, Anne, this much money that you have here will definitely keep us going for the remaining trip to Newtopia, as well as the trip back to Wartwood! I think it'll even last us a couple of months in terms of the rent for the vegetable stand!"

"Watch yourself, Hop Pop, because you're basically asking us to blow all of our hard-earned money on some random junk after what you said." Polly warned her grandfather. "No joke. We're probably gonna spend it all before you even know it."

"Speaking of spending on stuff," Anne said as she looked around the plaza. "Where do you guys think we should go first?"

The rest of the family joined in on the search around the area to see what would be a suitable place for them to spend their money on. At a single glance, it looked like all of the shops around them were closed, as evident of the light inside of the stores being shut off, and there was even a person who just flipped the sign on the front door of a shop from 'open' to 'closed.'

"Hmm… Not much options to pick from around here, unfortunately." Hop Pop said. "We'll have to wait until tomorrow if we want to shop here before we move on."

"You're right about that, Hop Pop." Sprig concurred.

"Oh! What about that restaurant that we passed by a bit ago?" Polly asked, pointing at the direction of the place that she was talking about. "It looked kinda neat, and some people were talking about it like it was the best place to hang out and have a good time!"

"Well, it sounds like a good place to have supper, then." Hop Pop nodded. "Let's go, everyone! Time's a wasting!"

Sprig, Polly and Hop Pop all turned around and were about to move towards their next destination, when they heard Anne gasped loudly.

"Oh hey! What about this one?" she said as she pointed at one place in particular.

The rest of the family followed where she was pointing and were presented with the sight of a large hut surrounded by pine trees. That hut in particular greatly stood out from the rest of the buildings around it, maybe even in the whole town.

For one, the hut was the only building to be made in wood, while all the other buildings were constructed with stones. It was also built in a peculiarly triangular shape. On top of the large, cardboard cutout of a caterpillar on the roof, there was one, stained-glass window located at the top of the front wall of the hut that was circular and resembled an eye. It gave people the impression that it was watching them as they passed by.

Needless to say, at first glance, everything about that wooden hut seemed mysterious. And Sprig, Polly and Hop Pop were rather unsettled by it.

"'The Curiosity Hut?'" Sprig read out loud the huge sign positioned on top of the front door. "You want us to go there, Anne?"

"I mean, why not?" Anne replied. "One of the guys mentioned that creepy oddities museum a while back. So I'm actually kinda curious about it. Not to mention that it looks like it's the only place around here that's still open. So how about it?"

"Well, you made the money in the first place, so you have the say on the matter." Hop Pop said, despite his reservations about the hut. "But keep your hood up, will you? We don't want you attracting any more unwanted attention to yourself."

"You got it!" Anne complied by putting the hood of her cloak back up, obscuring her head from plain view. "Let's do it!"

The Thai-American girl marched onwards to the triangular-shaped building, while the rest of the Plantars followed her from close behind, with varying amount of uncertainty in their movements.

Once they reached the front door of the hut, Anne opened the door without pause and stepped inside of the building with earnest. The three remaining family members could only peak their heads through the doorway to see what was waiting for them inside. A single look into the main lobby barely did anything to assuage their worries.

Aside from a few assortment of objects stationed here and there, like a wall-mounted clothes rail holding shirts with a large question mark on them, and a huge carpet that depicted a large triangle with an eye emitting a bright light like it was some kind of a god, the lobby also contained realistic-looking statues of creepy monsters that were lined up on both sides of the room.

"Uh, I think this place is closed. Let's leave and never come back." Polly hastily said, not wanting to take another hop forward inside the hut. Her brother and grandfather shared similar feelings.

"Are you kidding? Come on!" Anne proceeded to walk further in, seemingly undisturbed by the contents of the lobby.

Feeling too scared to follow the human girl on her own, Polly opted to hop onto Sprig's hands, catching him off-guard.

"Uh, Polly?" Sprig looked down at his sister.

"Don't question me! You're the next person after Anne who can protect us from whatever is gonna jump at us soon!" Polly explained herself.

"Uh, I might be human right now, but that doesn't mean that I'm invincible!"

Hop Pop suddenly jumped onto his grandson's back.

"No, no, she's got the point." the elderly frog said. "If we happen to get separated from Anne, you're the next best person who can handle anything that comes in our way. So do your best to protect us, boy!"

"Is nobody being considerate of my psychological wellbeing?"

Seeing that Polly and Hop Pop were unwilling to get themselves off of him, Sprig did a nervous gulp before he slowly walked into the lobby, looking around the place with tensed eyes.

Simply looking at the monster statues was bad enough, but just walking through the hallway full of them and being at close proximity of them made the boy, his sister and his grandfather feel even more anxious than before. They could not help but take notice of some of the statues that caught their eyes.

That included a two-headed love dove, a mantis playing bugball, a strange fish whose tongue looked like a person, and a group of frog gnomes called 'fromes,' among other things.

And when they looked up, they nearly jumped at the sight of a statue of a huge, two-legged aquatic behemoth with two large fangs, with one that seemed to be broken, just standing on the beams on top of one of the doors with a red curtain, looking like it was watching them from above.

"I hate this place." Sprig voiced his overall feelings about the place. "And I especially don't like that thing up there."

As much as he would like to look away from the sight of that monster, something about it seemed familiar to him…

"Chill out, dude!" Anne reassured her friend, turning herself around to face him with a relaxed smile on her face. "They look scary, sure, but that's all they're here for! Remember, they're just statues, so they're not even real."

To show that they were truly what she said they were, she approached one of the statues and put her hand into its mouth. Sure enough, not a single sign of movement was made apparent from the statue.

"See?"

"Real or not, they're doing a really good job at giving me nightmares!" Polly exclaimed, shaking in her brother's hold. "Can we just keep moving so we don't have to look at them anymore?!"

"Alright, alright." Anne appealed to Polly's request, once it was made abundantly clear that the family were really scared out of their wits. "Let's keep walking through this place and before you know it, we'll be out of this hut in no time."

As the brown-haired girl turned around and was about to continue her trek through the hall, one statue located next to the fromes caught her eye.

"Whoa! Check out this hot mess!" Anne pointed at that particular statue, as she began to walk towards it.

The orange-haired boy followed his best friend with the purple tadpole and the elderly frog closely clinging onto him for safety.

The statue in question was of a large, grinning, orange frog with a wide chin and grey, bushy eyebrows. The frog statue was wearing a black suit with a red bowtie, a fez hat with the symbol of a frog's footprint, and a black eyepatch over his right eye. He was holding a cane with a black billiard ball with the number eight as a handle.

"Well, it's certainly the least frightening thing that we've seen so far." Hop Pop noted.

"I'm impressed. It looks pretty lifelike." Anne commented.

"And it smells real too." Polly said after taking a whiff of the statue from the comfort of Sprig's hands. "Kinda smells like Mayor Toadstool, but even more greedier and older."

"Ok, colour me curious, for once." Sprig said as he got himself closer to the statue, standing next to his best friend. "You think the owner of this place wouldn't mind if we touch it just this one time?"

"Well, normally, touching stuff in the museum is a big fat nope." Anne replied. "But then again, there doesn't seem to be any rails keeping us from getting too close. So knock yourself out, dude."

"Ok then…"

The orange-haired boy raised his hand up and slowly moved a finger in to touch the frog statue on the cheek to determine just how lifelike it turned out to be.

SMACK!

"Hands off the merchandise!" yelled the frog statue after slapping the boy's hand away.

"AAAAAAAHHHH!" The family all screamed as they jumped back from the statue who suddenly came to life.

"AAAHH!" The frog statue also let out a scream before it turned into laughter a second later. "Hahaha! The ol' 'mistaken for a grotesque, lifeless being!' Works every time!"

"Y-y-you're alive?!" Polly asked in shock.

"Yep! Alive and ready to do business with ya!" The eyepatch-wearing statue replied as he stepped off the display stand, flipping his eyepatch from his right eye to his left.

"Welcome to my Museum of Oddities! The name's Stan Ponds!" he introduced himself to the family. "But I go by many other names! Mr. Oddity, The Man with the All-seeing Eye, The Old Frog, which might sound lame, but there's a hidden meaning behind it if you think hard enough, and I'm not saying that because I ran out of ideas on the names and I'm trying to pass it off as a mystery to you folks. But my favourite happens to be…"

He tossed his cane high up in the air, making it twirl on itself before catching it as soon as it fell back down.

"… The Curator!"

"A little on the nose, but okay." The purple tadpole shrugged while she got off her brother's hold, once the initial shock of seeing the statue being brought to life wore off after they learned that he was an actual person.

"So you're really the owner of this place?" Sprig asked the Curator.

"Indeed I am, squeeky-sounding kiddo! And I'll gladly be your host and give you a tour around the museum and experience all the amazing oddities these parts have to offer! To start things off right, here's the next oddity that will puzzle the mind!"

The fez-wearing frog pulled out from behind him a brown sack with a question mark on it and held it up in front of him.

"This here is the incredible Sack of Oddity!" he said. "When you chuck your money in it, it oddly disappears!"

"Wow! That sounds fascinating." Hop Pop expressed his intrigued at the Curator's claim, getting off of his grandson's back in the process.

"Uh, sounds more like a scam to me than anything else." Polly remarked incredulously.

"Ah, lighten up, dude. Let's just play along with the guy's schtick." said the amused Anne. She took out a bit of money from her possession and tossed it into the brown sack. "Here you go, sir! Think of it as thanks in advance!"

"Pleasure's all mine, honey!" said the smirked owner of the museum. "But if you really wanna thank me, you and your just-as-tall fella will show me what's under your hoods. What, are you hiding some ugly birthmarks on your faces or something?"

Sprig frowned as he pulled his hood down over his face once more.

"Hmm, I'll let you keep guessing." Anne teased as she pulled her own hood down, deciding to play up the mystery of their appearances.

"Oh ho! A mystery! I love it!" exclaimed the amused Curator while he put away the Sack of Oddity. "But enough chitchat. Walk with me." He then walked towards one of the statues, expecting the others to follow him.

"… So, are you not gonna show us if the money really disappeared from the bag, or…?" Polly asked him. She was ignored.

"I've traveled all over Amphibia, collecting rare and elusive artifacts that the world has to offer." The Curator explained himself, looking back to make sure that everyone was following him. "Frightening monsters being one of my favourite things to collect. And let me tell ya, there were a lot of those monsters running around before I came around and showed them all who's boss! Take this two-headed love dove right here!"

He stopped at the statue in question.

"This thing came to be because it wants to love itself. Like, REALLY love itself. It even set up a wedding ceremony before I crashed in and put an end to the whole thing. Was it trying to marry itself? Kinda? I mean, we're talking about a love dove, so anything's possible. If that's not narcissism taken to a weird extreme, I dunno what is! Then again, who doesn't love themselves, am I right? Just ask shaky right here!" He raised his left hand as he said it.

"Hop Pop, why are you covering my eyes?" asked the confused tadpole whose grandfather placed his hands over her eyes.

"I'm… not sure myself, Polly." Hop Pop replied with equal amount of confusion, as his body seemed to instinctively move on its own. "But something tells me that what he just did is not the kind of thing that children should see or hear."

"Oh! Now there's a big showoff if I've ever seen one!" The Curator then moved on to the next statue. "The bugball-playing praying mantis, Airbug! Definitely one of the kind, this one. If he had started his bugball career a bit earlier, then he would've been a big hit with the kids to have a big theatre play telling his story."

"So how come we never heard about him until now?" Sprig asked.

"He met me and challenged me to a match, so I destroyed him! Both figuratively and literally!" The Curator laughed. "Overall, I got the weirdest stuff right here! Feel free to look around! But keep in mind, breathing in the dust will be extra! Haha!"

He suddenly threw some kind of smoke bomb to the ground, creating a cloud of smoke that completely swallowed him up. When the smoke cleared a few seconds later, the eyepatch-wearing frog had disappeared from where he last stood.

An unassuming person would say that the Curator had used magic to teleport himself away… If it weren't for the fact that he could be plainly seen running out from behind a nearby statue a second later.

The Plantars were left on their own in the main lobby, still surrounded by the statues of the Curator's vanquished monsters, or so he claimed. Although the presence of the Curator was reassuring, it did little to ease the tense atmosphere that they felt since coming to the hut.

And just as before, only the brown-haired girl seemed to take it all in stride, as evident of her moving forward without hesitation.

"Come on, you guys!" Anne said while motioning her hands to get the rest of the family to follow her. "Let's check this place out and see what it has to offer!"

"Anne, how come you don't find this whole place creepy?" asked the orange-haired boy who remained still on the spot. "I mean, we're literally surrounded by stuffed corpses of those weird monsters! Some of them might even still be alive despite it all!"

"Dude, it's like I told you. They're not really real." she replied. "I mean, seriously, guys! You don't actually believe every single word that guy was saying, right? A mantis playing bugball? That weird creature with lots of eyes? A group of tiny frog gnomes? He just made them all up to make his museum look legit as heck! I'm just surprised that he even bothered making those statues in the first place."

"I know what you're trying to say, Anne." Hop Pop said. "But need I remind you that Amphibia is filled with unseen wonder and horror? You don't actually have proof that those creatures don't exist."

"Fair point, HP. Still, I know a bunch of malarkey when I see one. So don't sweat about it so much, guys!"

Despite finding some reasonable sense in the human girl's words, Sprig, Polly and Hop Pop remained fearful.

And just to toy with them some more, a draft of hot air suddenly came down on them, startling them on the spot.

"Hey, who cranked up the heat around here?" Polly asked as she looked around to find whoever was responsible for the change in temperature. She found nobody besides the family.

Another blow of warm wind went down on them. Once she realized that the source of the wind came from above, the purple tadpole gazed up towards the ceiling.

She became perplexed, as there was nothing that could indicated where it was coming from. The only thing that she saw was the statue of the huge behemoth standing over them from above.

When yet another blow of warm wind came down for a third time, she pinpointed the source. That led her to discover that the hot air seemed to be coming from the nose of the enormous creature.

A frightening realization came dawning on her.

"Wait… Did that thing just…?" Polly slowly said as she pointed at the statue above.

For a brief moment, the eyes of the large beast moved down towards her.

"AAAAHH!!!" Polly screamed as she hopped right back into her brother's hands.

"Polly?!"

"Get me out, get me out, get me out, get me out!!!" she cried while burying her face against Sprig's chest. "This thing's watching me!!!"

"Welp, sounds like we've reached our limit." Hop Pop concluded, as he and Sprig wasted no time to turn around and walk towards the door where they came from. "Anne, we'll be waiting outside, if you don't mind. This place freaks us out too much, especially for Polly here."

"Sure, no problem, guys." Anne nodded in understanding.

Sprig let out a sigh of relief. "At least we don't have to deal with this place for another second. Good thing nobody's here to stop us from ditching this museum."

As if to dash on the boy's hopes, a puff of smoke suddenly formed between them and the front door, startling them to a halt. The suit-wearing frog made his reappearance in front of them as soon as the smoke cleared. Or rather, he jumped in the moment the smoke started to dissipate.

"Whoa there! Where do you think you're going?" asked the Curator.

"Uh, we're going back outside?" Sprig replied.

"What, already? You've only spent, I dunno, a few minutes in my museum and already, you're calling it quits?"

"Sorry, sir, but it's my granddaughter here." Hop Pop said, as he motioned his hands over to the scared tadpole clinging onto the fabric of her brother's shirt. "We mean no disrespect, but your Curiosity Hut is scaring the living daylights out of her, and it nearly did the same to the rest of us as well. So we only want to leave this place for the sake of our wellbeing."

"Ah, I get it. Trying to avoid the worst possible scenario, huh?" The Curator nodded in understanding, surprisingly enough. "Fine by me. At least it saves me the trouble of having to deal with the cops who had complaints about kids almost dying while they were sightseeing here."

"I beg your pardon?"

"But if you really wanna leave, then you're going the wrong way. This way is off-limits." The Curator closed the front door behind him using his cane.

"So where are we supposed to go instead?" Sprig asked.

"You've never been on a tourist attraction before, kid? The gift shop's your only ticket outta here! To get to the gift shop, you'll have to skim your way through the museum, and it's right there at the end!"

"So you're telling us to go through this whole place anyway?!" The boy exasperatedly exclaimed.

"Why not? You folks already paid for it, so you might as well ride the oddity train right until the last stop! Unless you're perfectly fine hiding in a corner and make yourselves part of the attraction for all eyes to see. That'll cost you a pretty copper, though."

Polly let out a dismayed whimper, attracting the attention of everyone around her who looked at her with concern.

Surprisingly, even the Curator seemed to have realized that he went too far with his act.

"… Alright, alright. No need to go through the whole place." The Curator relented. "There's a shortcut that'll lead you straight to the gift shop. I know just the guy that'll take you there."

He lifted his head up and positioned his hand around his mouth right before he shouted out.

"Hey, Frog Soos! Get over here!"

A large, turquoise frog with a brown cap on his head, a dirty pair of brown shorts and a green shirt with a huge question mark on it came running into the main lobby through one of the doorways, carrying a broom in his hand.

"You called, Mr. Ponds?" asked Frog Soos.

"These three need a short trip to the gift shop. Think you can take them there yourself, Frog Soos?"

"Sure thing, boss!" Frog Soos raised his free hand up in a salute.

"And make sure that Gwendy isn't slacking off or anything! We have visitors here, and she needs to be on top of her game if we want to squeeze them dry out of all they have!"

"Consider it done, Mr. Ponds!" Frog Soos nodded. He then turned his attention towards Sprig, Polly and Hop Pop. "You heard the man, dudes. Gift shop's just around the corner."

"Thanks, mister. We really appreciate it." Sprig expressed his gratitude towards the large frog. "But, uh, what does he mean by 'squeezing us dry?'"

"Ah, don't worry about it, dude. That just his way of saying that he appreciates you coming here." Frog Soos said. "Follow the Soos, dudes!"

The cap-wearing frog walked towards the direction of where the gift shop should be. The orange-haired boy followed him from close behind, hugging his frightened little sister closer to him to calm her down.

"Well, time for us to go." Hop Pop said, as he turned to Anne. "Are you sure that you're going to stick around in this place for a little while longer?"

"I'm sure, Hop Pop." Anne replied with a smile. "Don't you worry about me. I'll catch up to you guys before you even know what hit you. In the meantime, take care of Polly for me, will you?"

"Alright. We'll see you back outside!" The elderly frog said before he quickly joined up with his grandchildren and the large turquoise frog to go to the gift shop.

Anne waved her found family goodbye until they disappeared into the next room over, leaving her alone in the main lobby. She looked around the room to see where she was supposed to go next.

"Okay! About time that I see for myself what this place has in store for…"

The Thai-American girl trailed off when her eyes came across a small room at one corner of the lobby with the sign 'Artifacts' above the doorway. At the back of the small room, there was an object being displayed on a pedestal with a single source of light shining over it.

When she walked into the small room and examined the object closely, Anne let out a small gasp, as she recognized what it turned out to be.

It was an old, portable CD music player. An object from her world.

"Oh my gosh! Is that an old Skipman?" Anne asked herself as she picked up the music player from the pedestal. "My parents had one of these! How did it get here?"

"Aha!" The Curator suddenly popped in right next to her, startling her and causing her to drop the Skipman from her hand. Thankfully, he quickly caught the music player before it could fall to the ground.

"I see that you're interested in this… 'Skipman,' am I right?" he asked while waving the object in his hand.

"Well, yeah!" Anne exclaimed. "Hey, do you think I can buy this off of you, Curator?"

"Of course you can! It can be yours… for a million coppers!" he laughed.

"Oh come on, man! I can't afford that!"

"Okay, tell you what." he said as he put away the Skipman on his person. "Since you're one of the very few customers who's stuck around longer than anyone else and I like ya for it, I'm willing to trade this thing for something that you got. Got anything rare or vomit-inducing I could display in exchange?"

Anne smirked, as she already had an idea on what she could trade for the music player. Or to be exact, who she could trade for it. Ever since she came to Amphibia, she had experienced firsthand how the people of the land treated an alien creature such as her the first time. Her run-in with the townsfolk of Stony Gulch was no different. So everything that the Curator had asked for, she definitely got it and then some.

She might be in way over her head, but if that was the price to pay in order to get the Skipman, the first major lead towards finding a way back home, then she was willing to take the plunge.

"As a matter of fact, I do."

"Here we are, dudes! The Curiosity Hut Gift Shop!"

The turquoise frog spread the red curtains of the shop's entrance apart and allowed the Plantar family to pass through undisturbed.

By the time that they got there, Polly was just starting to feel less frightful to finally pull herself off of Sprig just in time to see the shop in its entirety.

The gift shop was pretty much what they had expected it to be. A wide room filled to the brim with souvenirs related to the tourist attraction that visitors had experienced a moment ago. The most common item that was being sold and that seemed to be everywhere, for some reason, were shirts with a question mark.

Besides that, there were other selection of goods to choose from, such as snow globes that contained a miniature version of the hut, heads of assorted creatures mounted on walls, bobbleheads of the Curator, jars full of fake eyeballs, and so on.

The Plantar family could not help but notice that the price on most of the items seemed… ridiculously excessive. Just a box of tissues in a shape of a pyramid costed around a couple of hundred coppers. Where did they get those prices anyway?

At corner of the room, next to the exit, there was a tall, skinny, pale-green frog with long red hair that went past her hips, sitting behind the cash register with her feet on the counter, reading some kind of newspaper in her hands with a bored expression on her face. Her clothes consisted of a green flannel shirt with a white tank top underneath, a pair of dark blue pants and a pair of boots.

"Sup, Gwendy!" Frog Soos waved at the tall frog.

Hearing a familiar voice caused her to lower the newspaper down and looked over to the entrance where the large frog was standing. Her lips formed a chill smile.

"Yo, Frog Soos! How's it hanging?" said Gwendy. "You having another slow and boring day today too? Is that why you're hanging around here?"

"Nah, dude. Nothing like that." he replied. "I was just sweeping the place as usual, 'til these nice little family showed up. Took them to the gift shop so that they can shop to their hearts' content, just the way Mr. Ponds wants it. Speaking of the boss, he wants me to tell you to be at your best for them."

"That so?" Gwendy finally noticed the three people who were accompanying the large frog. She stretched her arms out and nonchalantly removed her feet from the counter, as she simply put on a cool smile to welcome the family.

"Well, you guys are free to look around and take anything that catches your eye. And don't worry about me being that annoying salesperson pressuring you to buy everything we have here. That's not my style. So go ahead and knock yourselves out."

"We appreciate the offer, miss." Hop Pop said politely. "But I'm afraid we prefer to leave this place right this instance, just so that we all have some peace of mind, especially for my granddaughter here. No offence, really."

"Oh yeah? That's cool too, I guess." Gwendy shrugged. "The exit's right next to the counter. Feel free to leave anytime you want."

Hop Pop nodded, smiling at the cashier. "Thank you for your kindness, miss."

"Don't mention it." she replied while lifting the newspaper back up, as she got back to reading it.

Frog Soos scratched the back of his head. "You know, if Mr. Ponds sees this, he's gonna flip that you're just letting them go without making them buy something." he remarked. "Then again, what do I know? It wouldn't be you if you didn't have your usual chill and don't care attitude."

"Well, you heard the nice lady. We're getting out of here already." Hop Pop said as he made his way towards the exit.

"Oh thank frog it's almost over!" Polly let out a relieved sigh, as she hopped off of her brother's hands and proceeded to follow their grandfather. "Let's never step foot in this weird-as-all-heck place ever again!"

Sprig was also following the rest of the group to the exist. He took the time to look around the shop one more time as they were leaving, admittedly curious about the stocks that they have.

His eyes were especially glued to the stacks of small, wooden statues located in one corner of the room. The statues depicted one of the strange creatures from the lobby, specifically the huge, two-legged aquatic monster with two large, uneven fangs.

The boy had a strange sense of familiarity towards that creature, but he was unsure as to why that is. He felt that he should know something about it, yet he could not fathom the possibility of having encounter what is supposed to be a very rare creature found in the dark edges of the land.

THUD!

He snapped back to reality when he accidentally kicked a stack of boxes next to the counter, causing the boxes to tumble over and spill their contents all over the floor beneath the boy's feet.

"Dang it, boy!" Hop Pop scolded his grandson just as he and Polly were inches away from the exit. "Now's not the time to be lost in your own bubble!"

"Uh, sorry! Really sorry!" Sprig quickly apologized. "I'll clean this up right away!" He hastily went down on his knees as he tried his best to clean up the mess that he made, picking up the scattered items and putting them back in their boxes.

"Relax, dude. It's no big deal." Frog Soos reassured the boy, as he walked over to his side and started sweeping the floor. "It's kinda why I'm here. The broom here should tell you everything you need to know about my job. Well, one of my jobs, at least."

"Still, I feel bad for spacing out like that! At least let me fix my mistake!" Sprig insisted.

The elderly frog sighed, as he walked over to join the other two. "Well, it can't be helped. Let me give you a hand, boy."

"Thanks, Hop Pop!" The orange-haired boy smiled at his grandfather.

"Oh come on! We're not seriously staying another while longer just because Sprig was being a klutz, are we?! Are you guys forgetting where we are right now?!" Polly asked in exasperation.

The others were too preoccupied with cleaning the scattered goods to respond to the purple tadpole. Polly let out a groan, as she hopped over to where the rest of them were. "Move over! The sooner we clean this stuff up, the sooner we can finally leave this deathtrap for good!"

Gwendy leaned over the counter to look at the the mess on the floor. "Hey, Frog Soos? Remind me. Aren't these the boxes that Stan took from one of the supply groups from the big city or something? The ones that he wanted us to sort out later?"

"Now that you mention it, that does ring a bell." Frog Soos replied. "Mr. Ponds called them junk made to be sold to suckers. But I think some of them can also be considered treasures to be cherished for a lifetime. Depends on who you ask."

The large frog continued to sweep the dispersed items and turn them into a big pile that is easy to pick up and transport back to the box. In the process of doing so, he accidentally knocked away a relatively large object and sent it sliding in front of the green-clad boy.

"Whoops. Sorry, dude." Frog Soos apologized.

"Don't worry about it." Sprig said while raising his hand up. "I'll just pick this one up and…"

The boy then looked at the large object the moment that he took hold of it. He stopped his task of cleaning up his mess as he became curious about the strange device, picking it up and pulling it close to him while he stood up from the floor.

"What's the matter, Sprig?" Hop Pop asked when he noticed that his grandson was acting strange.

"What's that in your hands?" Polly asked after noticing the tool in her brother's hands.

"I don't know." Sprig replied. "It looks pretty weird. But it kinda reminds me of those weapons the guys from Anne's cop show carried around with them. What do they call them again? Guns?"

"Let me have a look." Hop Pop told him. The boy complied and lowered the object down to Hop Pop's height so that he could get a clear look at it. "Hmm… This looks like a very small cannon to me."

The device did resembled some kind of cannon, but shaped differently, looking like the letter L sideways, with the top part seemingly having most, if not all of the aspects of a cannon. Some sort of trigger was located between the top and bottom parts of the device and was surrounded by a ring.

What was strange about the small cannon tool was what was inserted into the tube: A hook. It was positioned in a way that allowed it to point straight forward.

"Oooh! This looks really neat!" Polly expressed her fascination towards the small weapon, being a sucker for anything that causes destruction in its wake. "You guys sell stuff like this too? Where are the others? Take me to them!"

"Whoa, dude. If this is seriously a weapon, then we probably shouldn't sell this." Frog Soos said. "Not because it's too dangerous, but because Mr. Ponds would want to keep it for himself in case he has to deal with the apocalypse or the like. So he says, anyway."

"Give it a rest, Frog Soos." Gwendy said. "This is in those boxes that Stan want us to sort out, right? That means that he's probably expecting us to sell this thing along with the others."

"Hm. You got a point." The large frog nodded in understanding.

"So we can buy this off of you?" Sprig asked, raising the small cannon up.

"I'm down for it!" shouted the excited Polly. "Finally! Something that isn't scary, for once! How much is it?"

The long-haired frog shrugged. "Beats me. We just started looking into this stuff. But if I have to guess, then it's probably gonna cost you a few thousands of coppers."

"What?! What a ripoff!" Polly frowned. "You can't seriously think that this thing here is worth this much, right?!"

"Of course not. But that's the way Stan rolls, knowing him. Take it any way you like."

"Well, even if it's in a reasonable price, we have no intention of spending anything non-essential at the moment." Hop Pop explained. "Remember, kids. We're on a long trip away from home, and we need to be smart with our money if we hope to survive the entire journey, especially since Anne worked her butt off getting that much money for us in the first place."

"Yeah, yeah, I know…" Polly sighed. "In that case, are we done with the whole cleaning thing? In case you guys forget, I've been wanting out of this museum since that huge monster statue was looking at me back there!"

Gwendy raised a confused eyebrow at the tadpole's comment. "Huge monster statue?"

"Don't worry, Polly. We're just about done with everything here." Hop Pop said to his granddaughter. "Isn't that right, Sprig?"

"Yeah, I think the mess is almost gone." Sprig said as he looked down to see that the floor is nearly clean, and that most of the stuff that were spilled over were back in the boxes.

"Alright, then we're done here. Let's go, everyone!"

"Hold up, Hop Pop!" The boy raised a hand up, as he prevented his family from walking towards the exit. "I kinda wanna try something first."

"Sprig, we have no time to be dilly dallying around here anymore than we should. Whatever it is that you want to do, save it for later."

"Come on! It's only gonna be for a tiny bit! Please, Hop Pop?" The boy implored the elderly frog.

Hop Pop sighed. "Fine, fine. Just for a moment, okay? What is that you're going to do anyway?"

"Just a neat little trick that those guys from Anne's cop show did to look cool. Watch this!"

With the small cannon device in hand, the smiling boy started spinning it around vertically, moving his finger around inside of the ring that surrounded the trigger.

"Careful where you're pointing that thing, boy!" Hop Pop shouted as he quickly shielded Polly from harm's way. "You're going to end up setting it off with your careless, little stunt!"

"Don't be silly! In the show, when the cops do stuff like this, it never goes off!" Sprig said with confidence. "'Cause otherwise, they'd be really stupid and reckless authority enforcers if they knew that they can fire their weapons at any time each time they spin their weapons around like thi-."

BANG!

Sprig stopped his movements and blinked his eyes when a loud sound was heard from the small device, and the device suddenly shook in his hand for a very brief moment.

Slowly turning his head towards the tool, he discovered that a rope was found where the hook used to be, extending up towards the ceiling. Looking up and following where the rope leads, he found that it went all the way up to wooden beam, wrapping and firmly hooking itself around it.

"Uh… Whoops?"

"Good job, big brother." Polly sarcastically congratulated him.

"Boy, what did I tell you!" Hop Pop shouted after seeing that he was right about the potential danger of the boy's little stunt.

"Uh, I can fix it! No problem!" Sprig tried to reassure everyone as he pulled down on the rope, trying to get it off of the wooden beam above. After several pulls, it was clear that he was not getting anywhere with it.

He wondered what else he could do to get the hook and rope down, until he remembered the trigger on the device.

"Hmm… What if I just do…" Holding the handle of the device in his hand and putting his finger through the ring hole, he pulled the trigger to see if it would help with his attempt at getting them back down…

… Only to find himself zipping up towards the ceiling at high speed, being pulled by the small device itself. He screamed his lungs out until he fully collided with the wooden beam, causing him to let go of the object as he fell back down flat on his back.

"Sprig!" Both Hop Pop and Polly shouted his name, as they quickly came to his side.

"Are you alright, boy?!" Hop Pop asked, concerned for the boy's wellbeing.

"Oww…!" Sprig groaned as he slowly sat up from the floor, closing his eyes shut and rubbing his head to sooth out the pain that he just received. "Okay…! That really smarts…!"

When he opened his eyes and looked up, he was met with strange looks from Gwendy and Frog Soos. They stared down at him as if they saw something that was out of this world.

"Uh… What's going on, you guys?" Sprig asked, wondering why they were giving him weird looks.

"Sprig! Your hood!" Hop Pop whispered loudly in his ear.

The boy gasped when realization hit him. Moving his hands up on his head, he noticed that the hood of his jacket fell off from his head, exposing his human form for all eyes to see.

He quickly put his hood back up and stood up from the floor in a panic. "Uh…! Um…! Gotta go! Byeee!" he rapidly said before he bolted straight for the exit, never looking back and not wanting to stay a second longer.

"Welp, that's our cue to leave! Thank you both for your hospitality!" Hop Pop expressed his thanks before he too ran for the exit after his grandson.

"Those statues are alive! Burn them all down!" Polly exclaimed as she followed the other two family members' lead and hopped out of the gift shop.

Gwendy and Frog Soos were left alone in the room, staring at the door where the Plantars disappeared from and wondering just what they had witnessed seconds ago.

"… Well, back to work." Frog Soos casually said as he went back to sweeping the floor, humming to himself as if he had not seen anything strange about the people who just left.

The long-haired frog still had her sights fixated at the exit door, still thinking about the boy's true form. It felt really strange. But it felt rather familiar as well.

"… Hey, Frog Soos?" she spoke to the large frog. "Does it feel like Stony Gulch is starting to get weird again?"

"Like, normal weird or weird weird, dude?" Frog Soos asked. "'Cause if you ask me, I think it's normal weird. Especially since we're working in the Curiosity Hut where weird reigns supreme. It's pretty normal, in a way."

"Hm. I guess that's it."

Gwendy turned around to one of the shelves positioned behind the counter. From there, she picked up a small picture frame in her hand and pulled it close to her.

She looked fondly at the group picture from last Summer with a smile on her face, as she remembered the fun and awesome memories that she had with the people that she was happy to call her close friends.

"Or maybe… It's starting to get as weird as back when those two showed up." she whispered to herself. "I wonder how they're doing nowadays…"

"Say, Gwendy," Frog Soos spoke, gaining the attention of the tall frog. "Do you get the feeling that we exist simultaneously in multiple parallel universes, completely unaware of the other's very existence?"

"What is your skin made of, Frog Soos?" Gwendy asked amusingly. "It's like every time you licked yourself, you get all philosophical and stuff. It's kinda jarring, in a way."

"The intricacies of each individual amphibian is an oddity that is best left a mystery." Frog Soos said.

He then licked his forearm a few times.

"Oh! And that's the end of the first act!"

Chapter Text

"Here you go, kids! Crickets and cream ice cream for the whole family!" Hop Pop announced his arrival while bringing a tray containing four cones of ice cream to Sprig and Polly who were sitting on a bench in the plaza.

"Thanks, Hop Pop." Sprig said as he and Polly each took a cone after their grandfather handed them one.

"Anne still hasn't come back from the museum tour yet?" The elderly frog asked after he looked around and found no sign of the brown-haired human girl anywhere.

"Nope." Polly replied while licking her ice cream. "Haven't seen her running out of the hut yet, which should have happened long ago. We all saw the red flags when we came in, right? I don't get how Anne is the only one who's not freakout by all that stuff!"

"Yeah, I'm starting to worry about her. It's been a while already." Sprig remarked, looking at the Curiosity Hut from a distance. "You think we should head back inside and see if she's alright?"

"Oh no! We are not going back in there!" Polly adamantly declined, frightened by the possibility of returning inside.

"Settle down, kids. Remember, Anne is a very tough girl." Hop Pop assured his grandchildren. "Let's wait just a little while longer for her to come back, at least until the Sun has completely set. We'll come and get her if anything does happen by then."

"Sounds like a plan, Hop Pop." Sprig nodded before he proceeded to lick his ice cream.

"Hop Pop, Sprig, are you guys forgetting that those statues might still be alive?" Polly reminded them.

"I mean, I have my doubts." The boy replied, looking at his sister. "But so far, they haven't done anything close to even batting an eye. So maybe they're really just statues? Doesn't make them any less creepy, though."

"One of them was literally looking down at me!" The tadpole exclaimed, shuddering as she remembered making eye contact with the giant statue back there. "Not to mention how it was breathing down on us at the same time! I swear, if that thing starts roaring right in my ears…"

"HEY GUYS!!!"

Polly yelped when a voice suddenly shouted right in her ear, causing her to inadvertently throw her ice cream cone up in the air.

The cone then fell on the orange-haired boy's head, spilling its content down on him. Good thing Sprig was still wearing his hood, otherwise he would have to wash the ice cream off of his hair.

"Oops! Sorry, Polly!" Anne apologized, having suddenly appeared right next to the purple tadpole without anyone seeing her coming. "Didn't mean to scare you out of the blue."

"You think?!" Polly glared at her adopted sister.

"Well, you weren't kidding when you said that you'll catch up to us before we even know what hit us." Hop Pop noted. He was glad to see the human girl safe and sound. "I take it that you enjoyed your tour in the museum?"

"Oh, it's alright, I guess." Anne did a casual shrug, just before her mood shifted towards excitement, barely able to contain herself over what she had discovered. "But guys! You won't believe what I just found in there!"

"Is it more monsters?" Sprig guessed.

"Nope! Turns out the Curator has a Skipman!"

"A what man?" Polly said, confused by the name. The same feeling was shared with Sprig and Hop Pop.

"A Skipman! It's an old music player from back home!"

Anne pulled out her smartphone, tapped and swiped a few times on it, then flipped the phone around to show the family the picture of the music player in question on the pedestal inside of the hut.

"Hm. It certainly does looks like it could be from your world." Hop Pop commented after looking over the picture for a moment and noticing how alien the device seemed to be.

"So you're saying that the Curiosity Hut has it on display? What does it mean?" Sprig asked.

"I dunno. But I feel like we're getting really close to what we're looking for in this whole trip! Well, aside from getting Sprig turn back to normal, but you know what I mean!" Anne exclaimed while putting her phone away. "And the best part about is, I talked to the Curator about it, and we made a deal together."

"Deal? What deal?" Hop Pop asked, concerned by the implications behind her words.

"He's gonna give me the Skipman, and in exchange, all I need to do is be the museum's main attraction for a day!" Anne revealed.

"SAY WHAT?!"

"Are you crazy?!"

"Anne, you sold yourself to the museum?!" Sprig shouted in disbelief, standing up out of shock.

"What, no! Guys, I just said that it's only for a day." The human girl clarified.

"That doesn't make it any better!" Hop Pop said. "Anne, you cannot, by any means, do this! It's incredibly risky!"

"B-But this is the first time that I've found something from my world!"

"I understand. We all do." The elderly frog acknowledged her desire. "But surely, you notice that the Curiosity Hut sets off quite a few alarms, right?"

"Not to mention that the Curator guy doesn't look like he cares about our health and safety. Just our money." Sprig added.

"And remember the monster statues?! The ones that might still be alive?!" Polly pointed out.

"Well, sure, the place gives off some bad vibes. But isn't that its whole gimmick?" Anne explained in defence of the museum. "Besides, it's like I told you guys. Whatever stuff that it's got, it's all fake. Just some harmless, weird decoration done to pull people towards the place, like any other attractions."

"Whether it's fake or not isn't the issue." Hop Pop said. "Putting yourself as an attraction for the museum, even if it's for a day, is absolutely careless. You don't even know if the Curator is going to keep his word, by the end of it."

"I mean, I guess I get what you're saying, but…" Anne trailed off, as she glanced over to the Curiosity Hut from a distance, her mind still fixated on getting the Skipman.

"Okay, how about this?" Sprig stepped in. "Let's talk about this whole thing tonight, sleep on it, and figure out if there's another way for us to get the answers that we need tomorrow. Is that okay with you, Anne?"

"Sprig…" Anne looked at her friend, as she thought about what he and Hop Pop just said about their current situation. She admitted that there was some logical sense in their arguments, but…

She sighed. "Okay, fine. I guess I can wait until we figure this out together."

"Good to know." Sprig smiled and nodded, relieved to know that his best friend would not put herself in harm's way.

His hood started to feel moist, courtesy of the ice cream that fell on his head. After looking around to see if there was no one around them, he proceeded to put down his hood to finally allow the fresh air to reach his face in its entirety.

"Uh, Sprig?" Anne spoke, pointing at the boy's head. "Where's your hat?"

"Huh?"

Sprig moved his hands up and had them roam around his head. He widened his eyes in alarm when he found that he was not wearing his green hat, and he never realized it until Anne pointed out to him.

"Uh… Guys? Do you know where my hat went?" he asked as he looked around himself to find where his hat might be. He tried searching the ground below their feet, and he even checked underneath the bench that he was sitting on.

"Nope." Polly shook her head. "I didn't even notice that you lost your hat, because you had your hood on most of the day."

"Oh dear." Hop Pop said once he thought about the last few places that they've been to. "I think it must have slipped off your head when you did your stunt with the small hook cannon back at the gift shop."

"You mean it's back there?!" Sprig yelled with a horrified expression on his face. "I have to get it back!" He dashed towards the Curiosity Hut Gift Shop without any hesitation, leaving his family behind before they had the chance to think of a solution.

"Hey, Sprig! Wait up!" Anne shouted as she followed her sprinting friend from behind. Hop Pop and Polly followed suit.

The boy screeched to a halt once he was right in front of the door leading to the gift shop. He grabbed the doorknob and tried to turn it, only to find that he was unable to.

"Huh?"

He tried pushing the door open, then pulling it afterwards, but the door would not budge. It slowly dawned on him about what it could mean, and when he gazed up the door window, he found a sign that said 'Sorry, we're closed.'

"Oh no, no, no, no!" The panic boy tried to get the door open again, unwilling to believe that he was locked out from getting in the shop.

"Hey, relax, dude!" Anne said as soon as she caught up to the boy, followed by Hop Pop and Polly.

The others immediately noticed the closed sign on the door, which told them everything they need to know about the current state of the shop.

"Well, that's unfortunate." Hop Pop remarked with his fists placed on his hips. "I'm afraid we have to wait until tomorrow to retrieve your hat, boy."

"I can't wait that long!" Sprig shouted, placing his palms on each side of his head in horror while looking at his grandfather. "We need to get it back before they find it, think that it's part of some junk that they need to sell, and put it up for sale! Oh man, what if they already sold my hat to somebody?!"

"I doubt it." Polly replied. "If what the cashier girl said is true, then they probably would sell it for a couple of thousand coppers. And nobody's gonna pay that much for just a hat."

"Sprig, let's just do what Hop Pop just said and wait until tomorrow, alright?" Anne said, putting a reassuring hand on the boy's shoulder. "I'm sure that it's still gonna be there when we come back for it."

"Ngh…! Sorry, but I can't risk it!" Sprig said as he tried to get the door open once again.

"Geez, dude! I haven't seen you get so work up over just a hat. What's so special about it?"

The boy turned his head towards his best friend, looking at her in distress. "Anne… That hat was a final gift. From my parents."

"Oh…"

Anne placed a hand over her mouth after learning how important the hat meant to him. It made sense to her why her friend was reacting the way he did over what was seemingly a simple hat, and she felt bad that she was downplaying its significance to the boy.

"… Okay, wait here, you guys! I'm gonna try and see if I can go get the Curator back in the museum." Anne said as she was about to run towards the hut.

Hop Pop stopped her by grabbing hold of her wrist. "Anne, the last thing that we want you to do is talk to that Curator again!"

"Well, what else can we do?" she asked. "If we wait any longer, we might end up losing Sprig's hat!"

"I understand, but I'm afraid waiting until tomorrow is our only option." Hop Pop explained. "We can't just go and break into the shop and risk getting ourselves into a lot of trouble."

"I mean, we can, if nobody's around to see us." Polly said, as she was considering doing just that. "Just get me an axe back in the fwagon and we'll get it done in ten seconds tops."

"We're not breaking in, Polly!" Hop Pop reproached the purple tadpole.

"So there's really nothing else that we can do?" Anne asked, having running out of options on how to retrieve the hat back.

The family stood still in front of the locked door to the gift shop, pondering whether or not they would risk waiting until tomorrow morning to see if the hat would still be there or not.

"Yo!"

They all heard a voice suddenly calling out to them. They turned their attention towards where the voice was coming from and were met with the sight of a single, pale-green frog standing with their back against the potted pine tree in front of the museum entrance.

Sprig, Polly and Hop Pop recognized the person as the cashier of the gift shop.

"You looking for this?" The long-haired frog asked as she raised and waved a green hat with goggles around in her hand, giving the family a knowing, cool smile.

"Hey! My hat!" Sprig exclaimed while pointing at the hat in the tall frog's possession, relieved to see it safe and sound. He quickly ran towards her and stopped just a few inches away from her.

"Yeah, Frog Soos found this lying on the floor while cleaning, and I thought that it might have belonged to you guys, since you're pretty much our only customers for the day." she explained how she came in possession of the hat. "Sounds like I was right on the money."

"Uh… You're not gonna sell it in the shop, are you?" The boy nervously asked, fearing the possibility.

The cashier answered by tossing the hat back to him. Sprig quickly caught after being taken by surprise for a brief moment.

"'Course not. I'm not that much of a jerk." she replied. "But consider yourself lucky that Stan didn't find it first, otherwise he would put it up for sale, knowing him."

Sprig smiled widely at the long-haired frog, feeling nothing but gratitude for her. "Thank you so much!" he said as he put his hat back on his head.

He then remembered that he still had his hood down, meaning that he was exposing his human form to the tall frog for the second time. In a state of panic, he tried to put his hood back on, until the tall frog did a waving gesture with her hands to urge him to slow down.

"Chill out, buddy!" she said. "I already saw your face back there, so you don't have to hide it from me, you know?"

"But… Don't you think that I'm a freak?" Sprig asked, eyeing her anxiously, as he was about to put on his hood anyway.

"Well, yeah." the long-haired frog casually said while shrugging. "But believe it or not, I've seen freakier stuff."

"Really?"

"If it helps, you look like an alright dude. Especially since you helped out with cleaning your own mess back at the shop. So just leave your head like this, okay?"

The boy once again gave a grateful smile at her, feeling reassured enough to let go of his hood and keep showing his human form to her.

"Heh… Thanks."

"Hey, Sprig?" The Thai-American girl called out to him once she rejoined his company, alongside Hop Pop and Polly. "Who's this? You know her?"

"Oh! She's the cashier from the gift shop back there, Anne." Sprig replied to her.

"You know, I don't think I've told you guys my name yet." The cashier said. She then offered a handshake to the boy. "I'm Gwendy. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, Gwendy." Sprig said as he took her hand and shook it. "I'm Sprig. And this is my family. Hopadiah, Polly and Anne."

"Heyo!" Polly shouted while waving her hand at the long-haired frog.

"A pleasure to formally meet you, Miss Gwendy." Hop Pop said as he nodded to her.

"Same here, Gwendy." Anne said as she offered her own hand to the cashier. "Thanks for helping out my best friend here. You're actually pretty cool girl."

"Yeah, I get that a lot." Gwendy replied as she shook hands with the human girl. Upon closer examination, Gwendy recognized the person that she was shaking hands with, after thinking back on what she had been told. "Hold up. Aren't you the ultimate oddity creature that Stan told us about? The one who's supposed to be the museum's special attraction?"

"Oh yeah! I am!" Anne replied with a proud grin.

"To be clear, she was, but not anymore." Hop Pop explained as he stepped in between the human girl and the long-haired frog. "I'm sorry if this comes out of the blue, but Anne is not going to be a part of anything that the museum is offering. We talked about this, remember, Anne?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know…" Anne sighed.

"That so?" Gwendy then glanced away from the family, as she thought about the situation surrounding the human girl. "Well… Maybe it's a good thing…" she spoke in a very low voice.

"You saying something?" Polly asked.

Gwendy shook her head and gave the purple tadpole a chill smile. "Nah, it's nothing. Don't worry about it."

"Well, it is really nice talking to you, Miss Gwendy." Hop Pop said. "But the kids and I ought to get going. It's almost nighttime, and we still haven't eaten supper yet. Besides ice cream, that is."

"Yeah, well, I tossed mine on my brother's head when Anne scared the living poop out of me." Polly said. "But speaking of eating, let's go check out that restaurant that I told you guys about a while ago!"

"Yes, well, about that, Polly," Hop Pop looked at his granddaughter regretfully. "When I was getting us ice cream, I passed by the restaurant that you mentioned, and unfortunately, they had to close early due to, and I quote the notice, 'typical teenager disturbance.'"

"Really?! Boo!" Polly expressed her disappointment, as she crossed her arms.

"Hey, if it's grub that you're looking for, you should check out Greasy's Diner." Gwendy recommended.

"Greasy's Diner? Is the food really good in there?" Sprig asked.

Gwendy shrugged indifferently. "I mean, they have food. That's pretty much all they're advertising. Haven't really thought much about it myself."

"Well, we'll follow your recommendation. So how about it, kids?" Hop Pop asked his grandchildren.

"I'm down for it." Anne said.

"Me too." Sprig concurred.

"Well, it's better than nothing." Polly shrugged.

Hop Pop smiled at the tall frog. "Once again, thank you for your kindness, Miss Gwendy."

"Don't mention it." Gwendy smiled back. "Diner's that way, by the way." She pointed at the direction of the diner.

"Mighty kind of you." The elderly frog turned his attention towards the family. "Okay, kids! Let's go get ourselves some food!" He then marched towards the direction of the diner.

"Hey, Anne? Mind carrying me in your hands while we're at it?" Polly asked the human girl.

"Not at all! Hop on in, Polly!" Anne said.

The purple tadpole happily hopped onto the brown-haired girl's hands before they proceeded to follow their grandfather from behind.

Sprig was also following everyone's lead, even taking a few steps forward in the process.

"Your girlfriend seems like an alright person herself." Gwendy suddenly commented.

He stopped and turned back towards her. "Uh, girlfriend?" Sprig asked, tilting his head in confusion.

"The freaky girl with the bush-like hair."

Sprig stumbled back in surprise by what Gwendy assumed Anne was to him. A faint blush also appeared on his face, thought it did not seem like he was aware of it.

"Oh no, Anne's my best friend, not my girlfriend!" he corrected her while waving his hands in front of him. "Besides, she's way too old for me!"

Gwendy raised an eyebrow. "Really? Kinda looks like you guys are around the same age."

Sprig opened his mouth to further explain their age difference, but he stopped himself when he thought more about his current circumstance.

"Oh wait… What did Maddie say about what the magic potion did to my body?" he spoke to himself, as he lowered his head and cupped his chin with his hand to assume a thinking position. "Something like it made me have the same body type as Anne, as well as me being as old as her? Then does that mean that she's not too old for me…?"

"What're you talking about?" Gwendy asked, curious about what he was murmuring to himself.

"Oh, uh, just wondering about how human magic works." Sprig replied.

"Dude. You lost me."

"Yeah, I know. It's a long story, trust me." The boy sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "But anyway, Anne's definitely cool! Always has been since she showed up! You have no idea how many times she helped me out when I was in a jam!"

"Yeah, she definitely gives off a cool vibe." Gwendy said as she watched the human girl walk further and further away from where they were. "Would be nice to talk to her some more."

"Well, we're planning on staying here for another day, so you'll have plenty of time to get to know Anne, Gwendy!" Sprig suggested. "Oh wait, unless you're working at the gift shop tomorrow, so, uh…"

Gwendy chuckled. "It's cool, dude. Don't worry about it. You focus on taking care of your family. Especially your girlfriend."

"Uh, she's not my-."

"Hey, Sprig!" Both Sprig and Gwendy heard the human girl calling out to her friend from a distance.

They both looked over to where she was, to find that the family were already some ways away from the museum, with the brown-haired girl waving at the boy with one arm, while the other arm was carrying the purple tadpole.

"What's the holdup, dude?! You coming or not?!" Anne shouted.

"Sorry! I'll be right with you in a second!" Sprig shouted back to her. He then turned back towards the tall frog. "Well, I really gotta get going. It was nice talking to you, Gwendy!"

"Right back at ya, dude." Gwendy said, as she waved the orange-haired boy goodbye. "Enjoy your stay!"

Sprig nodded to her before he turned and ran towards his family to join them on their way to the diner.

Gwendy watched as the Plantars gradually disappeared from view. Once they were out of sight, her cool smile was replaced by a worried frown.

Anne truly seemed like a great person, according to the boy. So the long-haired frog had to wonder, what exactly was the odd girl supposed to do in the Curiosity Hut? Stan only shared with her and Frog Soos about how Anne was supposed to help them hit the jackpot, but he never said anything else beyond that.

It started to sound like the whole deal with those monster statues all over again…

Gwendy shook her head. "It's probably nothing. I should get back home…" she said to herself.

The tall frog turned towards the direction of her home in order to go back there, when…

"Stan?!"

"Gwendy!" The Curator suddenly appeared before her from seemingly out of nowhere, staring at her with a toothy-grin. "Looks like you've been chatting with our special guest, huh?"

"Uh, yeah. I have." she replied, trying her best to recover from the jumpscare. "But where did you come from? I didn't see you anywhere this whole time."

"I was watching you from behind this window over there." The fez-wearing frog pointed at the window in question.

When Gwendy looked at the window, she noticed that the curtains were closed. But there was a noticeable hole in the curtains, which was strangely shaped in a way that fit her boss' eyes.

"… What's up with the hole?" she pointed at it.

"That's none of your business." The Curator replied, avoiding her question. He then took a few steps towards the direction of where the Plantar family went, smirking as he though about the girl with the bush-like hair. "Whaddaya think? She's definitely a goldmine, isn't she?"

"You mean Anne? Well, she seems like a chill person."

"Yeah, that too." Her boss said with an uncaring tone in his voice. "But seriously! What are the chances that we have this incredibly rare specimen showing up at our doorstep! Not to mention how she offered herself up to be a surprise attraction for the museum, just for a piece of junk!"

He rubbed his hands together in anticipation for the kind of fortune that he was going to receive. "Can't wait until the whole world hears about this, and when they do, I'm going to be drowning in cash!"

"Uh, hate to break it to you, but she's a no-show for tomorrow." Gwendy informed him.

"What?!" The Curator snapped his head towards his employee in shock.

"Yeah, turns out that her family talked to her about it and they decided that she shouldn't partake in whatever you have in store for her in the museum. Sorry, Stan, but sounds like we're gonna do our usual thing."

Stan stared at the long-haired girl straight in the eye, processing the shocking information that she told him about. He even bothered to walk towards her until they were inches away from each other, just to see if she was not pulling his leg.

The act made Gwendy feel a bit uncomfortable as a result.

"… Hahahahaha!" Stan suddenly laughed and slapped his thigh. "Good one, Gwendy! You almost had me with your typical teenage frogspit!"

"Uh, Stan, I'm not really kidding here." Gwendy frowned.

"Okay, maybe not. But it's definitely frogspit that you're telling me here! Tell me this. Who in the family said that she shouldn't come to the museum?"

"Um… I think it's their gramps." she replied, trying to remember how her interaction with the Plantar family went.

"The old man, huh? So it wasn't her who decided that, right?"

"Well… You got me there."

The Curator smirked, as he continued his reasoning on the likelihood of the strange girl's participation.

"And one more thing that makes me think that she'll definitely come. When she talked to me about making a deal with her, I can see in her eyes how much she really wants that Skip thing or whatever. Like her whole life depends on it. So even if her family is against her doing things for us, she's gonna rebel like the teenager she is and do it anyway. Doesn't that sound like something that you would do, being a rebellious teenager yourself?"

"I mean, you're not wrong…" she said without denying her boss' words, looking to the side.

"See, Gwendy? No reason why we should worry about it. I bet my two hands that she's gonna do exactly as we agreed upon."

He placed his hand on Gwendy's shoulder and gave it a good grip.

"I guarantee that, by the end of tomorrow, you and me, and maybe Frog Soos if I'm nice enough, we're going to be swimming in money all the way to the bunker! Hahahahaha!"

The eyepatch-wearing frog laughed as he patted his employee on the shoulder a couple of times. He then began to walk towards the hut in order to return inside.

Gwendy did not like how their conversation went. Something was wrong. It was becoming more and more likely that her boss was planning something insidious for the bushy-haired girl. He was behaving like a criminal. Well, more of a criminal than he usual was.

Actually, he started acting that way ever since…

"Stan!"

"Hm? What is it, kiddo?" The Curator stopped and turned his head back towards his employee.

"Stan… What exactly are you planning to do with Anne?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" He asked her with a question of his own, seemingly avoiding answering her on purpose.

"It's just that…" Gwendy trailed off, as she thought about what she wanted to say to him.

At first, she wanted him to be straight with her about what was his plans for Anne. But then, she thought about something else from way back that would explain his current actions. Something that she should have noticed a long time ago.

"Stan, you've been acting weird since last Summer." she said. "You used to share with us your typical, money laundering schemes using phoney artifacts and creatures, some of them we made together. But ever since you started bringing in all those monster statues, you never gave to us straight about where they came from or how you got your hands on them."

She glanced at the Curiosity Hut where the statues resided.

"You were pretty greedy back then, but never this greedy, especially when it involves those statues." she continued. "And now, when you're talking about Anne, it's almost like you're treating her the same way as those things. Just… What's going on, Stan?"

"Look, Gwendy. You're asking the wrong questions here." Stan replied, still actively avoiding giving her a straight answer. "A kid as young as you has no idea how business works. It might look like I'm keeping a secret, but I'm not. The reason why I don't tell you stuff nowadays is because you're just gonna get confused about how I work things around here. The last thing I want from a person who works for me is them questioning things each and every second."

"But… This isn't like you, Stan!" Gwendy exclaimed, feeling even more worried than before. "I know I'm not the only person who thinks this. Frog Soos probably feels the same way. Heck, even Flipper and Schmable would think that-"

"Who cares about those two little backstabbers anyway?"

Gwendy widened her eyes shock, as if he just said something that was inconceivable for him.

"… What?" It was all that she could say.

"You know what? I think all this boredom at work is messing with your head, Gwendy." The Curator said, as he resumed his march towards the hut. "Go back home and get some rest. We have a big day tomorrow, you hear? And as for me, I'm gonna be preparing something big! Gotta make sure that everything goes as perfectly as possible!"

"Hey, Stan!"

SLAM!

Stan slammed the door of the Curiosity Hut behind him, leaving Gwendy alone to stare at the closed entrance.

Her anxiety over the whole situation had gotten bigger. Stan definitely changed for the worse, and she had a pretty good idea what was the cause of that change. He was also planning something terrible for Anne. But exactly what, she had no clue.

She looked at the direction where the Plantar family disappeared to and began to fear for them. Her only hope was that Anne avoids showing up to the museum where she will be caught in a terrible trap. But seeing how certain her boss was about the girl coming anyway, perhaps her hope was doomed to fail from the start.

"Stan… You can't be serious about all of this…"

"Mmm! Now that's the kind of meal that'll have you asking for seconds!" Hop Pop said as soon as he finished his dish.

His grandchildren nodded in agreement, all of them also done with their own food, or just about.

The Plantar family were at Greasy's Diner, on Gwendy's recommendation, to treat themselves with a nice supper meal using the money that Anne had gotten for them earlier in the day. The interior of the restaurant looked exactly as you would expect a diner to look like, with a long counter where people can interact with the waiters, and tables stationed right next to the windows. The Plantars were seated at one of the tables, with Anne and Sprig sitting on one side and Hop Pop and Polly sitting on the opposite side.

"Yep! That definitely hits the spot!" Anne said as she rubbed her stomach in satisfaction. She was still wearing the hood of her cloak on her head to hide her face.

"I'm surprised that we can ask for breakfast meals even when it's night." Sprig remarked. He also had his hood on for the same reason.

"I ain't complaining! If there's any place that serves chocopede pancakes any day, you can bet that I'm gonna take a huge stack of it every time!" Polly said with pieces of the pancakes still stuck on her face, not that she cared about that.

A plump waitress with long, grey hair in a beehive hairstyle, and a closed lazy left eye stopped by their table laughing.

"Hahaha! You folks from outta town enjoying yourselves here?" she asked.

"Oh absolutely, ma'am!" Hop Pop confirmed to the waitress. "I especially like what you did with your chef's special! It makes this old tongue of mine feel as if I'm at my prime again!"

The waitress laughed at the elderly frog's compliment, while the entire family all smiled at her, grateful for her service.

She continued to laugh.

… And laugh…

… And laugh…

… And laugh…

It had gone to the point where the Plantar family's genuine smiles became strained, as they looked to each other and wondered if they should be concerned or not.

"I'm glad to hear it, mister!" The waitress said, her laughter finally stopped. "All of the tourists who came to my diner said the exact same thing. Some of them were even wondering how I made it so delicious. I know! Who wants to play a guessing game?"

"A game? Sure! I'm in!" Anne accepted, followed by the rest of the family.

"Can you guess what's the secret ingredient of my special Coffee Squash Pie?"

The family had a blank look on their faces, all of them thinking the same thing as to what seemed to be an obvious answer to the waitress' question.

"Uh… Is it coffee?" Anne answered, shrugging with uncertainty.

"… Are you some kind of psychic or something?" The waitress asked, eyeing suspiciously at the disguised human girl. The Plantars were taken by surprise by her sudden shift towards hostility.

"Uh… No? It's just a lucky guess?"

"Well, good." The waitress said, as she stopped giving Anne the stink eye. "Because we don't take kindly to people who called themselves psychics or the like."

"What do you guys have against psychics?" Polly asked, curious about the townsfolk's apparent dislike of those kinds of people.

"Long story," Frog Soos spoke. "But there was a famous child celebrity who was a psychic, was a fav among us Stony Gulch folks. Then it turned out that he was a phoney who took us for suckers and took advantage of our trust. He's serving time in prison right now."

"Oh, okay! That makes sense! Thanks!" Polly thanked the large frog, turning herself around to face him.

…

"… AAAAHH!!!" The purple tadpole screamed, as she jumped right into her grandfather's arms out of fright.

The whole family got startled when they finally noticed the large, turquoise frog wearing a t-shirt with a question mark, who leaned over Hop Pop and Polly's seat from the next table behind.

"Oh, sorry, dude." Frog Soos apologized. "Didn't mean to spook you."

"Why is everyone out to scare the living tail out of me?!" Polly complained.

"Hey! You're that janitor from the museum, right?" Sprig asked, recognizing the large frog.

"You got that right, dude. Name's Frog Soos, by the way." Frog Soos formally introduced himself to the family.

"Oh! Well, I'm Sprig." The boy introduced himself in turn. "This is Anne, Hopadiah and Polly." He pointed to each family member as he named them.

"My apologies for how my granddaughter here reacted to you." Hop Pop apologized on Polly's behalf. "Today has been really tensed for most of us, and she has gotten a bit jumpy as a result."

"A bit? Try a lot!" Polly shouted.

"Also, I believe we haven't properly thank you for your help with cleaning up Sprig's mess back at the shop, even though it should be his responsibility alone."

"It's no big deal, dude. It's all part of my job anyway." Frog Soos replied. "Speaking of which, were you dudes looking for a hat or something? 'Cause I found one when I was sweeping the floor, and Gwendy thought that it might be yours."

"Yeah, we met up with Gwendy a bit earlier, actually, and she gave me back my hat." Sprig responded. "Thank you so much for finding it, by the way. I can't even imagine having to go on without my trusty hat."

"No problem, dude. Happy to help out anytime." The large frog nodded.

"Geez, guys! First that cool frog girl, now this big janitor guy right here? I feel like I missed out on a lot of things." Anne remarked amusingly after witnessing the family's casual interaction with Frog Soos. "You're gonna have to tell me what you've been up to while I was gone."

"Sure, Anne. We'll do that when we're gonna be back at the fwagon." Sprig promised her.

Frog Soos glanced at the hooded human girl and was reminded of what his boss had told him earlier about a special guest. "Say, you wouldn't happen to be the special attraction that Mr. Ponds told us about, would you?" he asked.

"Actually, I am." Anne confirmed proudly.

"Technically, she's not anymore." Hop Pop corrected her.

The human girl glared at the elderly frog. "Come on, Hop Pop! No need to butt in!"

"Just want to make sure that you know that you're not getting involved with that museum." he explained himself.

"Is that true? Guess that's a shame." The large frog expressed his slight disappointment. "Anyway, quick question. If you were to travel to a parallel dimension and you come across your parallel self, what do you think would happen? Would you two coexist like normal or would there be a paradox where you and your parallel self somehow get fused together to become a single you that's similar, yet different from the two selves? That, or you two destroy yourselves into nothing."

The Plantars all looked at him strangely, unsettled by his question that was both philosophical and horrifying.

"Uh… What?" Polly was the first to speak out her confusion.

The waitress was still standing by the Plantars' table, and in contrast to their reaction, she laughed at what the large frog just said. "Oh Frog Soos! Have you been licking yourself again?"

"Hehe! Guilty as charge, ma'am!" Frog Soos chuckled before he licked his forearm.

"You know, back in my world, licking a frog's skin can sometimes make you go on a weird trip." Anne said. "But this is probably the first time that I see a frog doing that to himself. It's still weird, but in a different kind of way."

"Welp, sounds like you folks don't need me around anymore, so I'll be going for now." The waitress said while cleaning up the finished plates on the table. "Give me a holler whenever you need something else, okay?" She then left the family and Frog Soos be, laughing all the way towards her next task at hand.

"… Anyone wanna bet that she got struck in the head, or at least in the eye, by lightning to be acting like this?" Polly said about the waitress once she was gone.

"Polly!" Hop Pop quietly scolded her.

"I know you're thinking it too, Hop Pop! Don't pretend that you're not!"

"So, dudes," Frog Soos spoke. "Where are you from? And what brings you to Stony Gulch?"

"We're from Wartwood in the Frog Valley." Sprig replied. "We're actually on a long trip far away from home to Newtopia."

"Ooh, the big city of Newtopia? Sounds like an expensive family trip." The large frog expressed his surprise.

"Yeah, no doubt about that. But the real reason why we're going there is to help out Anne." The boy said while motioning his hand over to his best friend next to him. "It's a long story, but we're trying to find a way to get her back home, and Newtopia might have the answers that we need."

"And that's not the only thing why we're on this trip." Anne added. "We're also looking for some ingredients along the way to help out this guy right here with his own problems." She pointed at her friend next to her.

"I guess that makes it that this whole trip happened because we want to help the person that we care about." Sprig turned his head towards Anne and gave her a grateful smile. "And to me, it's worth all the trouble that we came across so far."

"Aww, Sprig!" Anne returned his smile with her own. "I feel the same way, dude. And I'm pretty sure that goes for you guys too."

"You're darn right it is." Hop Pop said.

"Yeah! The whole family is in this together!" Polly exclaimed.

Frog Soos chuckled after seeing how the family treated each other. "Hehe! Nice to see a family bonding together. Especially between siblings. Reminds me of Flipper and Schmable, in a way."

"Who's Flipper and Schmable?" Anne asked out of curiosity.

"A couple of twin brother and sister who came to Stony Gulch last Summer. They're Mr. Ponds' great nephew and niece." Frog Soos replied. "Pretty cool dudes, if you ask me. They made last Summer here pretty fun and memorable with their antics and stuff, on top of other things. I think I have a picture of them right here."

The large frog had his hand dig into the back pockets of his shorts and pulled out a small, slightly crumbled up group picture which he then placed in the middle of the table for the whole Plantar family to see.

They all leaned in to look at the picture clearly.

Within the picture, there were five people posing in front of a huge tree with a large hole at the bottom that anyone can walk through. Frog Soos was standing on the left of the picture with his hand forming a peace sign. Gwendy was sitting on a rock with her legs crossed on the right of the picture, wearing a relaxed facial expression accompanied by a chill smile. There was also the Curator without his eyepatch standing in the middle with a smug look on his face. He had his foot placed on top of a small rock.

And standing front and centre were two, light orange-coloured, small kids. A boy with short, brown hair wearing a cap with an image of a pine tree, orange t-shirt with a dark blue vest on top of it, and a pair of grey shorts. A girl with long, brown hair adorned with a headband and braces on her teeth, wearing a pink, knitted sweater with the design of a shooting star leaving a rainbow trail, and a purple pencil skirt.

"So this is Flipper and Schmable, huh?" Sprig asked.

"The two kids right here? Yep." Frog Soos nodded. "I ain't kidding when I said that they made last Summer fun and memorable. When they showed up here, things around here started to get weird, like all of the sudden, the oddities that were hidden beneath the surface popped out from outta nowhere. And those two, with me, Gwendy and Mr. Ponds, happened to solve most of them."

He pointed at the short-haired boy in the picture. "Flipper is a smart dude who's a big sucker for mysteries. Like he's always on the hunt for them to try to solve one of the world's biggest mysteries, even when it gets him in a lot of trouble. He also has a taste for cool girls. Huh. I dunno why I felt the need to mention that."

He moved his finger over to the long-haired girl. "Schmable is, like, silly fun incarnated. Trust me when I say that her joy spreads like wildfire. Dude always sees the good in a lot of stuff, and her silliness tends to help us out in a lot of our problems. The only problem that's still a problem, as far as I know, is her quest to find a lover."

He removed his finger from the picture, as he himself looked at it in its entirety, feeling nostalgic over the times that he shared with the Ponds Twins. "Those two basically changed the lives of us townsfolk for the better. Every day was always something new when they were around. Stony Gulch wouldn't be what it is today if it weren't for them."

"Yeah, those two sound like pretty great people. It would be fun to meet them in person." Anne remarked. "Oh, you know what? You should definitely introduce them to us! Sounds like a plan, right?"

"Sure is, dude!" Frog briefly smiled, before the smile was replaced with a frown. "… Is what I would've like to say. Sorry, dudes, but Flipper and Schmable aren't with us anymore."

The Plantars gasped in sadness and horror.

"You mean… They're dead?" Polly asked, coming to that conclusion alongside everyone else.

"What? No! They're still alive, as far as I know!" Frog Soos clarified while shaking his head at the absurdity. "I mean they left town at the end of last Summer."

"Oh, that's what you meant! Sorry. We tend to assume the worst because of the world that we're living in." The purple tadpole apologized, as the whole family relaxed after learning what actually happened to the twins.

"Still, it would've been nice to get to know them personally." Anne said. "I get the feeling that we might hit it off in an instant."

"I think so too, dude." The large frog agreed with her sentiment.

He picked up the picture from the table and proceeded to stare at it more closely, smiling as he once again reminisced on the time that he had spent with the twins, along with everyone else.

"It's no joke when I say that those two changed our lives. It feels almost like it was yesterday when Flipper and I were being bros with each other, Schmable was doing girl time with Gwendy and her other two friends, and Mr. Ponds was a lot more friendlier when they're around. Especially when compared to…"

Frog Soos trailed off, his joyful face full of nostalgia slowly being replaced by a frown, when he compared two different times in his head.

He never thought much about it until now, but his boss was behaving quite positively ever since Flipper and Schmable showed up in Stony Gulch. He remembered Mr. Ponds himself telling him that his great nephew and niece made him feel like he had a true family, a feeling that he thought he had lost a long time ago. It was why that he was acting a bit more jolly and generous towards the large frog compared to before.

But ever since the twins left, Mr. Ponds was…

"What's the matter, dude?" Anne said, noticing that Frog Soos was silent for a while.

He snapped out of his thoughts. "Oh, sorry, dude. Just thinking back on the good times I had with the twins." he said while his lips formed a smile again.

"Oh, okay. Makes sense." The brown-haired girl nodded in understanding.

"Welp, as much as I would like to talk to you dudes some more, it's been a while since I stopped eating my food, and this belly right here needs to fight off the hunger."

"We understand, Frog Soos." Hop Pop said. "We wouldn't want to keep you holding out any more than you should. Besides, we're just about done here. Right, kids?"

"You got that right, HP!" Anne said.

"You bet, Hop Pop." Sprig nodded.

"Can we ask some more chocopede pancakes to go?" Polly asked, feeling that she haven't had her fill for the food yet.

"You know, Frog Soos," The boy spoke to the large frog. "You're actually a pretty cool guy. I mean, not as cool as Gwendy. No offence."

"No problem, dude." Frog Soos reassured him. "By the way, don't worry about me seeing your face or anything. I'm the kind of dude who's like a saint towards anything beautiful and ugly. The definition of the terms can be interchangeable, if you think about it."

Sprig smiled widely at him. "Thanks. That really means a lot to me."

"Good to know. High tongue!"

Frog Soos launched his tongue in the air with the intention of slapping it with the tongue of the intended person.

Sprig did the same in response… Only to be reminded that he was still not a frog when he saw that his tongue barely left his mouth. He pulled his tongue back begrudgingly and frowned.

"Dude," Frog Soos spoke while retreating his tongue back once he realized that he was not getting anything from the boy. "Don't mean to alarm you, but your tongue looks like it got shrunken down."

Sprig groaned.

"Sorry about this, dude." Anne apologized on her friend's behalf, as she patted him on the back. "He's not really in the best state to be doing high tongues. But you guys can do high fives instead! It's like high tongues, but with your hands!"

"That sounds good. High five it is!" Frog Soos raised his open hand in the air.

Sprig smiled, as he stood up from his seat so that his hand could easily reach the large frog's own. Their hands proceeded to slap against each other, accompanied by a satisfying clapping sound.

"Yes!" Frog Soos cheered as he retreated his arm before performing a fist pump. "Hope I get to see you dudes around some more tomorrow."

"We hope so too, Frog Soos." Anne said. "But as for me, we're definitely gonna see each other, no problem!" Her lips formed a smirk while she did a pistol hand gesture at him, with the implication of what she was planning on doing the next day.

"And what does that supposed to mean?" Hop Pop asked while eyeing suspiciously at the human girl.

"What? It means that we'll see him after work or whatever." she replied, feigning innocence.

Frog Soos knew what she meant. And yet, he was feeling anxious about it.

"Well, I believe it's time for us to go." Hop Pop declared, as he stood up from the table with Polly still in his hands. "I just need to pay the nice, if somewhat awkward, waitress at the counter, and we'll head straight back to the fwagon. Let's go, Polly!"

"Okay, but can we still ask for more pancakes, Hop Pop? Please?" Polly begged her grandfather as they moved towards a section of the counter where the cash register was looked on the back.

Sprig also stood up from his seat. "I guess I'll wait for them outside. You wanna come with, Anne?"

"Sure! Give me a sec, alright?" Anne replied.

As soon as the boy left the table to go towards the direction of the exit, the Thai-American girl stood up herself, only stopping herself from leaving when she noticed several crumbs of pancakes were sticking on her clothes.

"Urgh! Gross! Polly needs to lay off on the whole devouring food like an animal just a tiny bit." she said as she wiped the crumbs off herself.

Once she managed to remove most of them, she was about to leave the table, when the large frog stopped her.

"Hold up, dude!"

"Hm? What's up?" she asked, wondering what was it that he wanted from her.

"You, uh… You planning on going to the Curiosity Hut tomorrow?" Frog Soos asked hesitatingly.

"Well, to be exact, my family doesn't want me to go there at all." she replied while looking at the elderly frog and the purple tadpole at the counter where the waitress was dealing with them.

When she shifted her gaze back at Frog Soos, she adopted a mischievous smile, leaning her head forward while she moved her hand next to her mouth. "Don't tell anyone about it, but I'm definitely gonna show up there tomorrow. The Curator guy and I made a deal that he'll give me the Skipman in exchange for me being the special attraction at the museum for one day only. I'm not passing up on that chance."

"So… You're really going to do it?"

"Definitely!" Anne nodded, as she began to explain how she intended to do so. "All I need to do is wait for everyone to fall asleep, and then I'll slip out and go to the museum. And when I'm done with that, I'll go back to the fwagon before anyone wakes up and notices that I'm gone. It's gonna go great!"

Frog Soos rubbed his hands in a worried matter, as he considered what she said and the circumstances that she was putting herself into.

"I, uh… I think you should probably not come to the museum at all."

Anne raised an eyebrow. "Huh? Why not?"

The large frog shifted his gaze to the side. "I dunno, but I'm getting some red flags about this. Mr. Ponds told me and Gwendy about you being our special attraction, but he didn't mention anything else."

"So? Maybe it means that he wants to keep whatever he has in store for me a surprise to even his employees, right? I don't see what's the problem here." Anne shrugged.

"Well, that's the thing. This isn't the first time that he was keeping secrets from us." Frog Soos explained. "Not just the whole thing between you and him, but those monster statues too."

"The statues?"

"Trust me. I've known Mr. Ponds since I was a little boy. Granted, he was being a jerk at first, then he warmed up to me. Especially when the twins came to town. Basically, he was a jerk with a heart of gold."

He turned his head to the window, specifically towards the direction of the hut.

"But now, he's acting like a jerk with a heart of cold. You know what I'm saying?"

"Uh… Not really." Anne admitted to being a bit lost by what he was telling her.

Frog Soos turned his head back towards her. "Anne, dude… Mr. Ponds ain't what he used to be. Right now, he's actually kinda scary, and not like the man that I looked up to all those years ago. I didn't realize it until I talked to you dudes."

He looked down at the group picture that was still in his hands, shifting his sights between the Curator and the Ponds Twins.

"And I'm sure… it had something to do with Flipper and Schmable leaving Stony Gulch with his twin brother."

"… Twin brother?"

Before Anne could approach him on that, she heard Sprig's voice calling out to her from a distance.

"Hey, Anne! You coming or what?!"

"Oh! Sorry! Be right there in a sec!" Anne shouted to the boy and the rest of the family standing at the exit, waving her hand at them to reassure them.

She then turned her head back towards Frog Soos. "Dude, maybe you're just overthinking it. I mean, isn't the Curator guy already kinda scary, and that's supposed to be one of his schtick as the host of the museum? Besides, he seems like an okay guy who's willing to give me one of his articles for a reasonable price, when I talked to him earlier. You sure you didn't lick yourself a second ago?"

"That has nothing to do with it! There is something going on with him! I dunno what, but I just know it!" Frog Soos argued.

"Look, if things get hairy between me and him, then I'll hightail it outta there. Sounds good, right?"

Anne began to slip out of her seat on the table. "Anyways, I gotta get going. See you later, Frog Soos!"

"Dude, wait!"

The human girl proceeded to go and rejoin her family at the exit, not willing to stop for another second to listen to Frog Soos' worries. After being left alone, Frog Soos could only let out a concerned moan, as thoughts of what might happen between her and Mr. Ponds tackled his mind.

"What were you two talking about, Anne?" Sprig asked out of curiosity once Anne entered the family's company again.

"Eh, not much, really." Anne replied, downplaying their conversation. "I think he's just telling me one of his weird philosophical garbage. You know, after he licked his own skin again?"

"Yeah, I'm weirded out by that." Polly commented. "As if this town wasn't weird enough already. Do we really have to stay another day here?"

"Well, we do need to resupply ourselves before we continue our journey to Newtopia. The last thing that we need is getting ourselves vulnerable due to the lack of resources." Hop Pop gave his reasoning. "But as soon as we're all prepped up and go, we'll leave this town in an instant."

"But does that mean we won't see Gwendy or Frog Soos again, if we do it this way?" Sprig asked, expressing his desire to interact with those two people some more.

"That depends on how the day goes." The elderly frog replied. "In any case, let's go back to the fwagon. Tomorrow will be another new day for the Plantars!"

The kids all sounded their agreement, just before the family finally started to leave the diner.

Anne was following them from the back, wearing a sly smile. She could not wait to initiate her plan to go to the Curiosity Hut once everyone had fallen asleep. No matter what anyone says about how potentially troublesome the museum and its owner might be, she was unwilling to pass up on her chance at obtaining the Skipman which was the first major lead towards getting herself back home to Earth. She felt that her plan should go quite smoothly.

She had yet to realize just how dangerous her situation turned out to be.

Chapter Text

It was the middle of the night. Inside of the fwagon stationed just outside of the gate, the Plantar family were currently sleeping, each taking up a spot to sleep in. Anne occupied the bed on the top platform, Hop Pop was on the bed on the bottom floor, Polly was resting peacefully inside of an open drawer underneath the bottom bed, and Sprig had settled with the sofa.

It should have been a quiet, peaceful night where everyone slept undisturbed. But then…

Creeaak… Thud…

Sprig woke up from what sounded like a door opening and closing. With a tired groan, he slowly sat up from the sofa while rubbing his eyes. After blinking his eyes a couple of times, he slowly looked around the inside of the fwagon, wondering where he heard the noise.

His sights eventually fell on where Hop Pop and Polly were sleeping, with the purple tadpole bundling up nicely under the covers, and the elderly frog sleeping soundly with his eyes opened. Creepy, but he made for a good scarecrow.

Sprig then looked at the top bed above.

"… Anne?"

He noticed that the human girl was not at her bed. He looked around the room once more to find where she might be, feeling a bit more awake as a result. Scanning the room a few times did not give him much of anything, and thus he came to the conclusion that Anne was no longer inside of the fwagon.

He wondered where she might have gone. His first thought was that she might be taking a late night stroll outside. It seemed reckless, but he thought that it made sense for her to do that instead. After all, it had a been a few nights that she had nightmares, presumably about that dreadful night at Toad Tower.

But then, he thought of another possibility. One that he was very afraid of.

He got off the sofa, walked towards the door and opened it just a bit so that he could peak outside through the gap, all while being careful not to wake up his grandfather and little sister.

He looked around the outside area, where he located the brown-haired girl sneaking towards the gate of the town, looking around herself as if to see if anyone was watching her before she continued onward.

From the direction that she was going, it was most likely that her destination was the Curiosity Hut.

"Oh no. Anne!"

The boy feared for her safety. He had to stop her before anything bad happens to her, especially if the museum is involved.

He looked over to Hop Pop and Polly, thinking that he should wake them up and inform them of the situation. But after seeing them looking peacefully in their slumber, he decided that he should go at it alone to hopefully resolve the issue at hand before they even realize something was amiss.

He quietly got out of the fwagon, slapped his cheeks a couple of times to get himself fully awake, and ran to go after Anne who already went deep inside of the town.

Unbeknownst to him, a pair of eyes was watching the two humans from a distance…

Anne managed to enter the museum through the front door, surprised to find it unlocked, as if someone was expecting her to come. Then again, the hut's lights were still on, so it probably meant that the museum was still open around that time. Although, who would visit the museum this late at night? Besides her, of course.

"Curator? Yo! Curator! You in here?!" she shouted out for the museum owner, walking through the main lobby and looking around to see if he was nearby.

As she continued to check her surroundings, even going as far as turning herself around to expand her search range, a source of light suddenly illuminated from behind her.

She turned towards the light source and was met with the sight of the Curator, holding a torch in his hand while standing right next to the door with the red curtains and hanging beads located at the end of the lobby. The eyepatch-wearing frog was looking at her with a creepy, toothy grin on his face.

"Oh, there you are!" she said with a smile, seemingly unfazed by him suddenly appearing when she least expected it. "That's not creepy at all!"

"Welcome, welcome!" the Curator welcomed the human girl with his arms spread open. "So glad that my little star is here!"

"Were you waiting for me this whole time?" she asked.

"'Course I did! 'Cause I had a feeling that you would show up here at this exact spot, at this exact time! I even timed when I'll light up this torch and the lightshrooms here to get a reaction out of you!" he replied.

"Yep! Still not creepy at all!"

"Anyway, I've been preparing something special for you, my little moneymaker!" the Curator said as he leaned to the side and grabbed the far end of the red curtains and beads. "You kids like a flashy show, right? Then what do you think of this?!"

He slid the curtains and beads open, revealing the room behind for the human girl to see.

"Whoa! Fancy!" she said, impressed by what she was seeing. She went inside of the special room, followed by the Curator who then closed the curtains and beads behind them.

A second later, the front door creaked open a bit and an orange-haired boy peaked his head through the gap, looking around in search for his best friend. The creepy monster statues were still there and stationed at the same spots that he last found them, hopefully. But he found no sign of the girl.

He slowly pulled the door wide open and snuck inside, tippy-toeing through the lobby while being careful not to make any noise or bump into things that would attract unwanted attention towards himself.

"Anne! Anne, where are you?!" he loudly whispered for his best friend, looking around the room to see if he could spot even a single strand of hair belonging to her.

No luck. Even as he searched the entire lobby, looking at every nook and cranny, Anne was nowhere to be found.

Just as he was about to consider going through the entire museum, his eyes were being drawn by a peculiar door with red curtains and beads, telltale signs that it was hiding something important behind it. He recognized the door as the one where the huge, two-legged monster statue was standing on top.

Speaking of which, he looked up and saw the aforementioned statue exactly where it should be, its huge eyes looking like they were staring right at him.

He shuddered, looking away from the huge statue afterwards. He still could not figure out where he saw that monster last and how.

He made his way towards the door, positioned himself next to it and had his hand grip onto the closest side of the curtains and beads. He slowly pushed them open a tiny bit, just enough so that could he peak through the gap to see what was inside of the special room.

The first thing that he saw was a large stage located on the back of the room, complete with big, fancy red curtains that hanged over not just there, but every corner of the room. The stage was all lit up with balloons and arrows pointing towards it, as well as a neon sign on top that says 'NEW.'

Besides the stage, the rest of the room was filled with picture frames hanging on walls, each depicting different odd creatures, from the least odd like a butterfly, to the most odd like a shell with a face.

There were even pictures of clowns. Lots of them, for some reason.

There was also a door leading to the storage room located on the left of the room.

And finally, just as he feared, he found both Anne and the Curator in the middle of the room, standing on a large round carpet and looking at the stage in front of them.

Examining the room in its entirety after a couple of glances, there were two things about it that the boy found strange.

The first thing was the large X symbol marked in red, located in the middle of the stage. The X had no reason to be there, unless it served to spring a trap for anyone foolish enough to step on it.

The second thing was some kind of furniture found next to the stage, completely shrouded in tarp. It was a mystery as to what the tarp was hiding underneath. But when he focused his eyes on it, he noticed that some kind of tube was sticking out of the tarp and it went straight up into the ceiling.

He did not like the look of things one bit.

"Man! You really went all out on it, huh?" Anne said, appreciating the look of the extravagant stage.

"Sure did! No reason to pass up on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!" the Curator replied.

"Well, you're right about that!" She turned to look at the fez-wearing frog. "So, about the Skipman-."

"Bup, bup, bup!" He shushed her while moving his finger over her lips. "All in good time, kid. You'll get what's coming to you."

"Liking the sound of that!" Anne said, content with following his words for the time being.

Sprig, on his end, did not like the sound of that.

"Say, why don't you stand up there? Soak it all in!" the Curator suggested, as he pointed at the stage.

"Sure! Why not!" Anne happily obliged, as she began to walk towards it.

"No, no! Anne, don't!" Sprig whispered in fear, gripping hard against the door frame as he watched his best friend walk towards an obvious trap. He feared so much for her safety that his body was feeling pretty heated in the process.

He did not notice that it was due to the hot wind blowing down on him in a slow rhythm. Nor did he hear a low growl.

Just as Anne was about the climb up the stage…

THUD!

Everyone got startled by a loud noise sounding like a wooden object dropping to the floor, and they all turned their heads towards the source of the sound.

One of the picture frames featuring a clown had fallen off the wall. The fez-wearing frog had a vexed look on his face, as he moved towards the fallen frame.

"Geez! What is up with this thing?! This is like the fifth time this month that this stupid picture fell like that! Gonna need to sue whoever made those faulty pins, or that faulty picture frame. One of the two. Maybe even both. Definitely both." he mumbled.

Anne stood where she was, inches away from the stage, as she looked at the fallen picture just before the Curator reached it. She then moved her gaze up to the wall, wondering where the picture had fallen off from.

Then, when she presumably found the spot on the wall where the clown picture was hanging on, she was surprised to find another picture frame hanging on that exact spot. For reasons unknown, it was hidden behind the clown picture until it had fallen off the wall.

And that picture depicted three people with cheerful expressions on their faces. They were a short-haired boy wearing a cap, a long-haired girl wearing a knitted sweater…

… And the Curator himself, standing right in the middle and pulling the two kids together in his arms.

Anne gasped at the sight of the hidden picture.

Before she had the time to view it a little more, the Curator hanged the clown picture over it, obscuring the family picture once again.

"There we go! Good as new! At least, until I find something better to replace whatever that keeps causing the problem." he said. He turned around towards Anne and flashed her another toothy grin. "Now where were we? Oh yeah! You're about to climb up the stage and appreciate the view from up there! What are you waiting for? Get to it, superstar!"

Anne, however, remained where she was, looking at the Curator with a concerned expression on her face.

Before, she was all too willing to follow everything he said, as she found nothing out of the ordinary since she stepped into the museum. Not to mention that she was too eager to get the Skipman as soon as possible. But now, she found herself hesitating, having second thoughts about everything.

And it was all due to the hidden picture from a moment ago, giving her the opportunity to compare two faces from different times. Namely, the Curator's face from the time that the picture was taken and the present time.

From the brief glimpse of the picture, the Curator's face was full of genuine joy, and not just because of the expression on his face. His eyes, lacking any eyepatch, were noticeably bright, full of life and gratitude. From what she had gathered so far, it might be because he was with the two kids in the picture.

But when she looked at the Curator now, she found none of that on him. The grin that he was showing to her was insincere, hiding his true intentions underneath. His eyes, with one obscured by the eyepatch, were dark, lifeless, and most of all, bitter.

She recalled the conversation that she had with Frog Soos. About how the Curator used to be a relatively good person, rough on the outside, but soft on the inside. But he changed for the worse, keeping secrets from even his most trusted associates. And the catalyst was the two kids leaving Stony Gulch.

It was at that moment that Anne finally became aware of the situation that she was putting herself into.

"What's the matter?" the Curator asked, noticing that the human girl remained still for an unnecessarily long amount of time. "Getting stage fright or something? Hah! Of course not! You haven't even gone up on stage yet! So what's the holdup?"

Anne shifted her eyes to the side, wondering how she should proceed from there.

"Hey, Curator?" she spoke. "Don't mean to snoop around, but there was another picture hidden behind the one that you just put up. What's up with that?"

"Oh, this?" The eyepatch-wearing frog briefly glanced at the pictures in question, his face adopting a sour look for a very short moment. "That's just nothing. I've been meaning to get rid of it for a while, but didn't really have the time. Especially since I've been busy setting all of this up for you."

"But why do you wanna get rid of it? I mean, you're in that picture." The human girl said. "You kinda strike me as a pretty prideful guy, so I would've thought that you like putting a pic of yourself up for everyone to see."

"Well, you're not wrong there." he replied. "I'm not acting professional here, but just between you and me, I always hated that one. I had to put up with a couple of stupid tourist kids who were being annoying about wanting to get a picture together with the master of oddity himself."

He shook his head at the thought. "Heh. They should've spent their time messing around in the mud instead…"

"But… They're your great nephew and niece, aren't they?" she pointed out.

The Curator widened his eyes.

"… Where did you get that from?" he coldly asked, displaying none of his previous theatrics.

Anne believed that she had hit a nerve.

"I've been talking with some of the townsfolk earlier today." she explained. "And they told me a little bit about those 'stupid tourist kids,' Flipper and Schmable. The twin siblings who supposedly changed Stony Gulch into what it is now."

The Curator scoffed at the mention of the twins' public reputation. "So that's the story that they're giving you, huh? Bunch of oblivious, gullible idiots…"

"Idiots? Why did you call them that?"

"Because they only see what's on the surface, what those brats want them to see." he replied. "The truth is, those two are just a couple of ungrateful, backstabbing children who couldn't wait to ditch this stupid town as soon as they have the chance. And I'm the only one who sees them for who they are."

"So why did you look so happy in that picture?" she asked, pointing at the hidden picture frame.

"That's just me putting on a face to make them think that they got me!"

She crossed her arms. "Somehow, I doubt that."

The Curator growled under his breath, becoming increasingly annoyed by the brown-haired girl's interrogation. "Okay, what's with all of this? This isn't about those two twerps! Right here and now, it's all about you! So get up on that stage and fulfill your end of the deal!"

"The deal, huh?"

Anne looked over to the stage, specifically where the red X symbol was located. At first, when she saw the X, she thought nothing of it, except that it was simply a fun way to help her be perfectly presentable as an attraction. But now that she knew better, the X seemed much more sinister in hindsight.

"One more thing," she spoke, turning her head towards him. "What exactly are you planning here?"

"What do you mean?" he asked her with a question of his own, getting very impatient.

"I know that we made a deal that, in exchange for the Skipman, I'll be your special attraction for the day. But you never really told me how you're going to make me a special attraction. And from what I heard, you never told anyone else about your plan either."

"Okay, I'm thinking that you've been talking to either Gwendy or Frog Soos!" the Curator remarked. "But either way, it's a surprise! You'll find out what it is as soon as you get up there! Think of it as an early look before the big reveal for your eyes only!"

"You know, I'm down with a surprise reveal and all if it's for fun, but not when it puts me in danger."

"What are you suggesting?" he asked, getting more irritated by the second.

"I'm thinking that you're not being honest with me and our deal here." she replied, glaring at the eyepatch-wearing frog. "And if that's the case, then there's no way I'm getting up there."

"What?!" he shouted in shock while stomping forward with one foot. "Don't be silly! You really think I'm secretly scheming behind our deal?! That's just your teenage mind telling you stuff that ain't real! So put a sock in it and just get up there already!"

Not getting any clear answer from him, Anne turned towards the door leading to the lobby. "Look, man. If you're not gonna tell me what your real game is, then I guess the deal's off." She began to walk forward.

"Wait, are you kidding me?! Don't you turn your back on me, little missy!" the Curator yelled, trying to grab her attention to hopefully get her to stop. "What about your Skip thing?! You're just gonna leave it behind?!"

She ignored him and continued her march.

"I'm warning you, you little freak of nature!" he yelled once more. "If you walk out of this room, even putting a foot out, I'll make sure that you'll never get your meaty hands on that thing ever again, for the rest of your life! Are you seriously going to give it up so easily?!"

Anne stopped walking, standing right in the middle of the room, as the thought of the Skipman came into mind.

The Curator smirked after noticing a clear hesitation from her. "Hehe! That's right. Don't pretend like that weird-looking artifact isn't something that you've been dying to get your hands on. I can see it in your eyes. You'll never get another chance like this ever again, unless you do as we agreed upon, superstar."

Anne bit her lower lip. He was right. Ever since she found out that he had the Skipman, she became obsessed in obtaining it as soon as possible, no matter what. It was the very first object from Earth that she had encountered the whole time that she was stuck in Amphibia, and it could explain so much about her dilemma. She was willing to take the risk associated with the deal between her and him, at least at first.

But in the process, she brushed off her family who wanted to work together with her, and who told her many times how dangerous her endeavour was and especially how menacing the Curator really was. She made a promise a while ago that she would never carelessly put herself in danger where she might not leave unscathed. And yet, that was exactly what she was doing.

Is it really worth getting a single item?

She turned her head back towards the Curator with a resolute look on her face. "You know what? You can keep the Skipman. I don't need it anymore. Besides, we're going to Newtopia anyway. I'll find my answers there instead." she said.

"Say what?!" The Curator was shocked to hear straight from a teenager's mouth that she was abandoning her desires. It was unthinkable.

"So long, Curator." She resumed her walk towards the door, waving her hand goodbye as she did so. "It's been fun while it lasted."

The fez-wearing frog watched his biggest moneymaker walking away from him, gritting his teeth in seething anger. "So this is the thanks I get for being nice…"

When Anne returned to the lobby, she was then taken by surprise by the sight of a familiar orange-haired boy standing right next to the door on her right.

"Sprig?"

"Anne!" exclaimed the boy, pushing himself off the wall.

"What are you doing here? Have you been following me?" she questioned him.

"Yeah! I was going to save you from whatever danger that you're about to put yourself into! What happened to us working as a team?!" he replied, glaring at her.

The human girl looked down in shame. Her friend came all this way to stop her from going through her reckless, lonesome plan. He would not have to do that if she had been patient from the start.

"I'm sorry." she apologized. "You guys were right about everything. I should've listened to you. I was so obsessed about the Skipman that I almost walked right into an obvious trap."

As he listened to her apologies, Sprig's face softened. "Well… I'm just glad that you're safe, Anne. That's all that matters to me." he smiled.

Anne looked at her friend straight in the eyes and a smile of her own appeared on her face. She definitely needed to make up to them, and that was a good first step.

… She felt something wet on her arm. When she looked down, she saw that a long tongue had wrapped itself around her wrist.

"Huh?"

Before she had a second to process what was going on, she let out a yelp when the tongue immediately yanked her off her feet and back inside of the room.

"ANNE!" Sprig screamed, as he tried and failed to catch her as she got pulled back.

Anne was being pulled around in the air until the tongue let go of her wrist, resulting in her falling right in the middle of the stage, where the X mark was located. She groaned as she sat up and rubbed the back of her head.

When she looked around, she caught sight of the tongue retreating back inside of its user's mouth. The user turned out to be the Curator himself, sporting a wicked look on his face.

"What the heck, dude?!"

"Sorry, sugar! But there's no way that I'm letting you go that easily!" the Curator said, as he made his way towards the tarp-covered furniture. "You made a deal with me! If you're not going to withhold your end of the deal, then I'll just have to do it for you!"

He grabbed the tarp and pulled it off the furniture, revealing some sort of a large machine consisting of a pump unit and a chamber containing a brown liquid substance. He then pulled one of the levers down, causing the ceiling above Anne to open up to make way for a glass barrel connected by a tube descending down until it trapped her inside.

"What the-! What is this?!" Anne shouted, standing up and banging her fists against the glass container in a futile attempt to break herself free.

The Curator laughed. "There we go! Exactly as it should be!"

"Let her go!" Sprig yelled as he charged at him.

"Wha?! Who's there?! Is that the cops?!" The eyepatch-wearing twisted himself around in alarm, pulling his cane out and holding it up defensively. "I ain't going back to frog prison!"

Sprig screeched to a halt upon seeing the Curator armed and ready.

"Oh, it's just another hideous-looking creature. That's a relief." the Curator sighed, as he lowered his cane once he saw that there was only a lone boy standing before him. "… Wait a minute. A hideous-looking creature?"

"Let go of Anne now!" Sprig yelled while pointing a finger at the fez-wearing frog.

"Who? The freak-show right there? Hah! Fat chance!" the Curator scoffed. "You're crazy if you think that I would let her slip from my fingers! Not when there's money to be made here! She'll be the perfect, new wax statue for all the dumb customers to throw their coppers at!"

"Statue?! What're you talking about?!"

"Okay, I've just about had it with all the secrets and stuff!" Anne said while banging her fists against the glass prison. "What exactly is your game here?!"

The Curator turned his head towards her. "Well, I guess there's no point hiding it, so I'll tell you everything! I heard you earlier today saying that all of my stuff here is fake. Well, until about a year ago, you'd be right about that."

He pointed his cane towards the door leading to the lobby, where the monster statues were. "But all the monsters that you see over there? They're no fakes at all! They're all real! Real and frozen in wax! Which is what you're going to be!"

He then placed his hand on the second lever of the pump machine and pulled it down. The machine started running as a result, with the pump unit moving up and down, blowing air into the brown liquid compartment until the fluid began to flow into the tube, going straight up into the ceiling.

Anne heard a swishing noise coming from above. She looked up to the hole of the tube located at the centre of the glass barrel and saw some sort of substance rushing down towards her. With a gasp, she quickly pressed herself against the wall just before the brown solution fell to the floor. It then began to slowly fill the glass prison up.

"Oh crud." Anne said, realizing what was going to happen to her soon. "Sprig!!! Get me the heck out of here!!!"

Sprig looked in horror, as he too realized that his best friend was about to be submerged in wax. He shifted his gaze at the pump machine, guarded by the Curator.

"You psycho! Turn it off right now!" he shouted.

"Hahaha! Not a chance, kiddo!" the Curator fiercely declined. "She's the main attraction, remember? Not just for tomorrow. She'll be here FOREVER! There's no way I'm stopping this now!"

Sprig growled at the eyepatch-wearing frog, forming his hands into fists.

"Hey, here's an idea!" the Curator said, once he was being reminded of what he was speaking to. "If you care about her so much, why not join her? You're an ultimate oddity creature yourself, right?"

The boy gasped, as he came to realize that he had his hood down the whole time, thus revealing his human form to the Curator. But that was the least of his worries at the moment.

"This is perfect!" the Curator expressed his excitement while rubbing his hands together. "What are the chances that I get to catch two freaks for the price of one? The folks are gonna eat up whatever names and stories that I come up for you two! The Twin Freaks of Amphibia! The Otherworldly Duo from the Weird Swamp! The Forbidden Ship that Sails Against Nature! Hmm… Ok, the last one ain't exactly winning any awards…"

"You're not getting the both of us!" Sprig declared as he raised his fists up in front of him, preparing to fight the Curator. "I'm shutting that machine down! I'll get Anne out of here, and we'll escape this museum-disguised trap together! I'm not letting you have your way!"

The Curator smirked. "So you wanna try fighting me for it? Fine by me!" He raised his cane up while adopting an offensive fighting stance. "At least it'll give me a reason to punch a teenager in the face! Well, what're you waiting for, kid?! Come and get some!"

Sprig let out a battle cry, as he charged right at the Curator, pulling a fist back to strike at him.

The grinning Curator kept his ground, swinging his cane as soon as the boy was within reach.

Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock!

Hop Pop and Polly had been sleeping peacefully inside of the fwagon for some time until a series of door knocks pulled them out of their slumber. They briefly looked around, wondering what was going on, before they tried to go back to sleep.

Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock!

Another series of door knocks was heard, keeping them awake.

"Mmph...! Get lost already…! We're trying to sleep here…!" Polly groaned as she twisted around in her drawer bed and put the pillow over her head to shut out the noise.

"Hang on, Polly… I'll get it…" Hop Pop yawned, as he reluctantly got off the bed and slowly walked towards the side door. He opened the door while rubbing his eyes to make himself slightly more awake.

"Mm… Can I help you?" he asked, looking up at the person and blinking his eyes to get a better view of who he was speaking to. "… Wait. Aren't you Frog Soos?"

"Uh, sorry, dude. Didn't mean to wake you up in the middle of the night." apologized the large frog, looking a bit nervous.

"What brings you here?" Hop Pop asked.

"Well, uh… I wanna talk to Anne about something. It's really important." Frog Soos replied. "Is she here?"

"She is, but can it wait until morning? If it wasn't obvious already, we're all trying to sleep here. And I wouldn't want to pull Anne out of her bed just for that…" Hop Pop said.

"Uh… Hop Pop? Anne's not here." The purple tadpole pointed out.

The elderly frog widened his eyes. He turned his head towards the two beds and saw a concerned Polly standing on the bottom bed, pointing at the top bed which was empty.

"Wait, where's Anne?" He looked around the fwagon interior to find where the human girl might have gone. But in the process of doing so, he noticed that a certain person was also missing from the sofa. "And where's Sprig?!"

"You don't think that they went back to the museum, do you?" Polly asked.

"Oh dear frog, they probably are!" Startled at the thought, Hop Pop quickly went to the corner to quickly dress up in his usual attire.

"Oh no! I should've come here sooner!" Frog Soos said, feeling as worried as everyone else. "I wanted to stop Anne from going to the museum because, well, there's something freaky going on there, especially when Mr. Ponds is involved."

"Well, what are we waiting for?!" Hop Pop shouted as soon as he put on the last bit of clothing on him. "Anne and Sprig are in trouble! We have to go to the museum to save them!"

"At night? Um, maybe I should sit this one out." Polly said while she shuffled away from the door, still feeling scared at the idea of going back to the Curiosity Hut and all of its creepy statues, especially during night time. "I can hold down the fort or something. Sounds like a good idea, right?"

"Not when your brother and sister's lives are at stake!" Hop Pop quickly grabbed the purple tadpole and ran out of the fwagon with her through the side door, with Frog Soos moving aside to let them pass. "Hang on, you two! Hop Pop and Polly are coming for you!"

"Wait up, dudes! I'm coming with you!" Frog Soos yelled as he followed the two of them from behind.

Hop Pop, Polly and Frog Soos all ran towards the Curiosity Hut as fast as they could to rescue Anne and Sprig from whatever danger that they might encounter.

A good wack from the 8-ball cane sent Sprig rolling across the floor for a second before stopping with his stomach on the ground.

He groaned in pain while clutching the side of his ribs which took the full blunt of the attack. Looking up, he saw the chuckling Curator slowly walking towards him, twirling his cane in sadistic delight.

"What's the matter, kid? That all you got?" the Curator said, swinging his cane down against his open palm, ready to strike the poor boy some more.

Sucking up the pain, Sprig stood up from the floor, glaring at the eyepatch-wearing frog. He wasted no time to run at him before going for a tackle.

The Curator easily dodged his tackle by simply hopping over him, causing the boy to crash and slide across the floor.

With a groan, Sprig got up on all four while shaking his head. Turning his head back, he was met with the sight of the fez-wearing frog hopping from one place to another, clearly taunting him with his natural hopping skill that was impressive for someone as old as him.

"What? Don't wanna jump? I thought kids like you like to jump around!" he taunted. "Or wait! Maybe you can't jump! Makes sense, since you and that girl over there are odd creatures, after all! Guess I'll add that to your oddity factor!"

"Grr! Shut it already!" Sprig yelled as he stood up once more. The last thing he wanted to hear was a bad guy mocking him for not being able to do ordinary frog feats as a human.

"Hah! Fat chance!"

The Curator leaped forward with his cane raised in an attempt to strike Sprig down in the process. The human boy quickly dodged out of the way of the attack, and when he turned himself towards the Curator again, the latter had already jumped off the floor and was moving towards him.

The second that Sprig realized what the fez-wearing frog was about to do, the Curator landed right behind him and swing the cane against him, sending him flying away until his back hit the wall.

The boy's crash caused some of the clown picture frames to fall off the wall.

Anne was watching Sprig's fight against the Curator unfold before her inside of her glass prison, banging with all of her might against the wall to no avail. Looking down, she noticed that the wax liquid had gone up to her hips, a clear indication that her fate of becoming an unwilling wax figure was close at hand.

"Sprig! Forget about me! Save yourself!" Anne implored him.

"Ngh! No way!" he strongly declined while standing up from the floor for the umpteenth time. "I'm not leaving you alone with this guy!"

"Heh! You better listen to her, kiddo." said the smirking Curator, tapping his palm with his cane with no apparent rhythm. "You know better than I do that I'm way out of your league. You might as well run back home, wherever or whatever that is. Not that it'll do you any good, 'cause I'll chase you down all over the land, just like with all the monsters that I caught so far!"

Sprig growled at him. He was fully aware that he was no match against the Curator, but that was because they were fighting in close combat. If he was using his trusty slingshot, their positions would have been switched, or at least even. The problem was that he found no suitable object that he could use as ammo inside the room. So he was left with only his bare hands.

Sprig wiped some of the dirt off his face with his hand before he walked towards him defiantly.

"Oho! So you're approaching me instead? You got spunk, kid!" the Curator complimented him, at first. "Or maybe you're just dumb. Either way, mind if I close the gap?"

He lunged towards Sprig with his cane raised once again to swing it down at him.

Sprig stopped walking at that moment and in a split second, he thought of numerous actions that he needed to choose from to hopefully escape harm and at the very least deliver a counterattack at last. He settled with one action, even though he was entirely uncertain on how effective it would be.

Against everyone's expectations, he stood his ground even as the old frog was rapidly closing in on him.

"Sprig, look out!" Anne yelled in fear for her friend.

Once he was within range, the Curator eagerly swung his cane down.

In a dire move, Sprig quickly moved his hands up and caught the cane mid-swing, surprising its wielder. The Plantar boy then used the opportunity to spin around, pulling the Curator along with him.

The old frog screamed as he was being spun around and around with no sign of stopping from the boy, until his hold on the cane slipped. What ensued was the Curator being launched away and crashing into the wall located far away from where Sprig was standing. As the Curator slid down against the wall, a couple of clown picture frames fell on his head, to his misfortune.

Sprig stopped spinning and looked at where he sent the Curator flying, surprised that his desperate counterattack worked.

"Okay…! That was pretty lucky…!" he said.

"Dude! The machine!" Anne reminded him, pointing at the pumping machine next to the stage.

"Right! On it!"

Sprig tossed the cane aside and quickly went over to the machine, intent on turning it off and freeing his best friend.

"Uh… Which one turns the wax off?!" he asked both himself and Anne, unsure which of the two levers does which.

"Does it matter?! Just pull both up!" Anne shouted.

"Okay! Doing it now!"

Sprig moved his hand towards the lever. But just before he could even touch one of them, a long tongue suddenly wrapped itself around his wrist.

He turned his head back and saw that the tongue belonged to the Curator who already recovered from his crash against the far wall.

Raising his eyebrows a couple of times to let the boy know what he was in for, the Curator yanked him off the floor and spin him around in the air.

Sprig screamed as he was being spun around in his turn, unable to free his hand from the fez-wearing frog's surprisingly strong tongue grip.

The moment that Sprig became disoriented as a result, the Curator slammed the boy down hard in the centre of the room, the crashing sound booming across the room. He then let go of his wrist.

Sprig moaned in pain, lying with his abdomen on the floor, his head spinning and his body aching from the slam-down. Just as he was about to barely raised himself off the ground, a knee suddenly pressed itself against his back, and his arms were being locked behind him by a pair of hands.

"Heh! That was some stunt that you did there, twerp! Almost got me down for the count!" the Curator said, complimenting the boy's efforts. "Too bad that you're dealing with me, and not some other poor schmuck!"

"Ngh! Get off of me!" Sprig yelled, struggling to free himself from the old frog.

"No can do! Can't have you running around while a masterpiece is being made right before our eyes!"

The boy moved his head up just enough to see Anne still trapped inside of the glass cylinder on top of the stage. He widened his eyes in horror, as he realized that the wax liquid had already rose up to Anne's chest with no sign of stopping.

The brown-haired girl became painfully aware just how close she was to be drown in wax, looking at her struggling friend with terror in her eyes.

"SPRIG!!!"

"ANNE!!!" he screamed for her in sheer terror, as he was about to watch the demise of his cherished friend.

Sparks of electricity formed around his hands.

"Huh? What's up with your hands?" the Curator asked, noticing something strange going on with the boy's hands.

Before he realized what was forming down there, electricity shot up across the old frog's arms.

"AARGH!!! LEAPING GRASSHOPPER ON A POND!" the Curator yelped, as he hopped off and away from the boy, shaking his arms furiously in an attempt to remove the shock that he had received.

Realizing that he was free, Sprig wasted no time to quickly stand up from the ground without question and ran straight at the machine, extending his arm out to reach for the levers.

He managed to get his hand on one of the lever before he pulled it up. The machine slowly powered down as the pump unit slowed to a stop and the wax chamber stopped bubbling. As a result, the wax liquid stopped flowing down into the glass prison, just as the flood rose up to collar level.

Anne looked down and noticed that the wax flood stopped rising. With a relieved sigh, she looked at the boy standing in front of the machine and gave him a thankful smile.

"Sprig! You did it!" she said.

Sprig turned to her and smiled in his turn, relieved that he was able to help her narrowly avoid a terrible fate.

"LEFT HOOK!"

Inadvertently turning his head towards the shouting voice, a fist struck him right in the right eye, sending him tumbling down on the floor as his sight became full of stars.

Anne gasped as she witnessed the Curator punched her friend in the face after approaching him in his blind spot.

The Curator rubbed his knuckles against his open palm, standing over the dazed boy who lied on his side, barely moving an inch.

"That was some magic trick that you just pulled there, kiddo." he said. "You're getting more odder by the minute. I think you might even be a tad more dangerous than all of the monsters that I've faced."

He grabbed Sprig by the collar and proceeded to pull him along towards the door leading to the storage room.

"But hey! That means that you'll pull in a lot more money from customers than all the rest! Nice of you to show up to save your friend just so I can turn you into another moneymaking attraction!"

Once they reached the storage room, he opened the door wide open and tossed Sprig inside.

Sprig had just begun to recover from the sneak attack, with his sights slowly going back to normal. The first thing that he saw was the grinning Curator standing in front of him with his hand on the door.

"But first, I'll need to take care of our latest star over there! You'll get your turn next, kiddo!"

"W-wait!"

The Curator slammed the door closed, pulled out a key and locked the storage room with Sprig inside. He chuckled as he put away the key back in his pocket and headed towards the stage.

"Well, now that he's out of the way, there's nothing else that's gonna stop me from turning you into a state-of-the-art wax statue at last!" he said as he stood in front of Anne still imprisoned in the glass chamber. "Don't worry! You're just gonna be frozen in wax! It's not like you'll suffocate or anything!"

"Uh, news flash, dude, I won't breathe if I'm frozen! In wax or otherwise!" Anne angrily told him.

"Hah! Like it matters to me!" he laughed. "As long as you rake in the cash, I don't even give a toad's butt about what happens to you!"

"You're messed up! Is money really all that matters to you?! Do you even realize that you're talking to an innocent person that you're going to turn into a statue?!"

Anne tried to move her arms up, but she found that they were frozen in place under the wax pool. The petrification process was already well underway, much to her distress.

"Oh sure, you're an innocent person, alright." he sarcastically said. "That's what all the weird creatures say before they came at my throat. Granted, most of them don't talk, but you get the idea."

"Curator, I haven't even done anything wrong to you! I've been enjoying your museum up until a few minutes ago! What part of me screams 'I'm gonna rip you to shreds' to you?!"

"True, you don't look like the usual monstrous kinds of creatures that I've dealt with before. Then again, who cares?" he shrugged. "Instead of wasting your breath fogging up the glass, you might as well start savouring your last moment. It'll make you feel better about facing your death. Or not. Not like it matters."

He turned his back to her. "Anyway, I'm gonna start the machine up again! Better decide fast on what to do with your precious last minute, honey! Trust me. It'll be worth it."

He began to walk away from her, as Anne looked at him in shock, unable to comprehend what was going on in his head.

"I don't believe it… This is the guy who Frog Soos looked up to?" she asked him and herself.

That prompted the Curator to stop in his tracks.

"Frog Soos told me that you're the kind of guy who acts like a jerk, but is actually a sweet guy once you warm up to people. He really believes that you're a really good guy. But you're acting like you don't care about anything or anyone, except money. Heck, you'll even go as far as killing someone if it helps you get the money that you need. I don't believe that you're the same guy that he was talking about…"

She thought back to her conversation with Frog Soos, as well as the hidden family picture from earlier.

"And to think that it all started when Flipper and Schmable left town with your twin brother…"

BAM!

Anne got startled when the Curator bashed his fist against the glass barrel. The old frog, with his eyepatch up, looked at her with sheer bitterness in both of his eyes.

"What do you know about me anyway? Or my nephew and niece? Or my brother? Or any of my family?" he coldly asked.

Anne could not find the words to reply to him.

"You think just because the guy who's been around for a decade or two told you some stuff about me that you know everything that's been going on in my life, right? Well, you're dead wrong. Maybe you're just saying that because you have a loving, supporting family. Well, if you'd experienced what I've gone through, maybe you'll understand why I do my business this way. So don't act like you know me, brat."

The human girl was really not expecting such cold hostility from him when she brought up his family. But at the very least, she was able to see what was hidden behind the mask that he had been wearing up until now.

"Mr. Ponds… You're not a bad guy." she said. "Please. Don't do this. To yourself."

Stan scoffed, as he took a few steps away from the glass prison. "Still don't get it to the end, huh? Sounds like you just wasted your last moment with your little character study." he said.

He put the eyepatch back on his eye.

"Better get ready, superstar! Because everyone is going to see the ultimate oddity in the world that they're going to throw all of their money at! Every day, you are going to suck in all the money from their pockets until they decided that they've seen enough of you! But when that time comes, I'll have enough money to go big with the Curiosity Hut! It won't be just the main tourist attraction in Stony Gulch! It'll be the biggest attraction in the region! The whole world, even! I'm going to be swimming in money all the way to Heaven!"

The Curator cackled as he thought about the future, willing to sacrifice anything and anyone to get his way, no matter how many boundaries he was willing to cross. There was nothing that would stop him from completing his first step into building a monopoly, and all that was left was to finish covering the odd girl in wax.

Clink!

… The sound of a lever being lifted up was heard throughout the room.

A second later, the glass barrel slowly lifted itself up from the stage, allowing the excess wax solution to flow out from below, sparing Anne from a wax-related demise.

"WHAT?!" The Curator exclaimed, wondering what caused the glass cylinder to raise up from the floor.

Both he and Anne all looked over to where the machine was, and there stood a tall person in a familiar green flannel shirt, with her hand on the lever that she had just pulled up.

"Gwendy?!" They both shouted the person's name.

"What the heck are you doing?!" The Curator yelled at his cashier.

The long-haired frog looked at her boss straight in the eye. Her eyes were filled with both determination and sadness for one person in particular.

"I'm stopping this, Stan."

Chapter Text

The entrance of the museum got kicked open, allowing Hop Pop, Polly and Frog Soos to enter the building with haste.

"I don't see Anne and Sprig anywhere in here. Do you?" Polly asked as they all looked around in search for the two humans in the lobby, but came up with nothing.

"Dang it! They could be anywhere in this confounded place!" Hop Pop said.

"Maybe we should split up! We can cover more ground and find them faster this way!" Frog Soos suggested.

The elderly frog nodded. "Good idea! Let's go, everyone!"

Hop Pop and Frog Soos both dashed ahead to search through the whole building to find the two missing humans.

As for Polly, she only managed to take a few hops forward, until she stopped when she looked up to see a certain, large statue that brought nothing but fear since she came there the first time.

The immobile, two-legged monster statue standing on top of one of the doors had its eyes looking forward, staring at nothing because that was how it was made. But Polly knew better. There was more than meets the eye with that statue. And she refused to think otherwise.

"I know what you are…" Polly glared at the statue, expressing her desire to expose it for what it truly was.

"Dudes! Come here! I found them!" Frog Soos suddenly shouted out.

The large frog was standing right next to the doorway with the red curtains and beads, having took a peek inside of the room to find at least one of the two people that they were looking for.

Hop Pop came running towards Frog Soos, nearly slipping when he stepped on the brown puddle on the floor in front of the doorway.

"Whoa! Polly, mind where you're hopping!" The elderly frog warned the purple tadpole, pointing at the puddle.

Once Polly joined them, they all looked into the room after Frog Soos pushed the red curtains and beads apart just a tiny bit.

Hop Pop gasped. "You're right! Anne's right there, standing on that stage!" he said. "And the Curator is in there too! But… There's no sign of Sprig anywhere."

"What's with that brown stuff on Anne's body?" Polly pointed out. "It kinda makes her look like all those statues here."

"Wait… Gwendy's with them!" Frog Soos said, having noticed that a familiar third person was also standing in the same room as Anne and the Curator. "What is going on?"

Inside of the room, the long-haired frog stood next to the wax machine with her hand on one of the two levers that was used to free Anne from her glass prison. She had a determined look on her face that also bore sadness, as she crossed gaze with her boss.

"Gwendy! You gotta help me, dude!" Anne cried out for help, visible struggling to move her body below her neck that was petrified by wax. "The Curator's gone nuts! He's trying to turn me into a living wax statue!"

"Yeah, I heard everything." Gwendy said to the frozen girl before shifting her attention back to Stan. "So this is what you've been up to. I didn't want to believe it, but…"

"Tch! Last I checked, you're not the kind of kid who gets curious and snoop around other people's stuff, Gwendy!" the Curator said, angry at his employee. "That goes for touching my stuff! Get off of there already, will ya?"

"Stan… What in the world were you thinking?" she asked, removing her hand from the lever, but still remained next to the machine. "You brought monsters here in Stony Gulch. Not fakes, but real ones that could rip anyone in Stony Gulch apart. Right under our noses even! Everyone's gonna freak if they find out about it, you know!"

"Ok, fine! You're right about the monsters being the real deal." Stan admitted, not bothering to hide the fact from her at that point. "But it's all worth the risk if they pull in loads of money for us! Besides, they're all frozen in wax! They aren't in any position to be causing trouble in town!"

"That's not the real issue here, and you know it!" Gwendy pointed out. She then gestured her hand over to the helpless human girl. "You're just about to turn a chill girl like Anne into a wax statue! That's just messed up, man!"

"So you think letting this amazingly dangerous piece of work roam around town is better than keeping her in here with all the rest? Now who's the messed-up one around here?" Stan countered with a smirk.

Gwendy frowned as her boss continued to display a behaviour that went against everything that she knew about him.

"Besides," he continued. "If you were listening in like you said, then you'd know that everything that I do here is for the sake of making the Curiosity Hut go big! So what if a creature who may or may not be innocent gets sacrificed for the greater good? They'd help me rake in loads of money from customers, while keeping them entertained for as long as possible! When you think about it, everybody wins!"

"Everybody wins, my foot!" Anne called him out on leaving her out from the equation. "That's a load of crud!"

"Okay, you trying get more money by doing stunts like this sounds like something that you would do, I'll give you that." Gwendy commented. "But… What's up with the whole 'going big' with the Curiosity Hut? You never mentioned anything like that the whole time that I know you."

"What, you saying that I wasn't planning on expanding the museum across the world at all? You think that I'm perfectly fine keeping it all in this small, worthless town? Get real, Gwendy! That's not how business works!" Stan said.

"This isn't like you, Stan!" Gwendy exclaimed, her tone expressing concern. "Everything that you're doing right now, like bringing dangerous monsters in town, basically taking an innocent person hostage, and the whole stuff about bringing the Curiosity Hut to the whole world… You're acting like a completely different person! If Flipper and Schmabel were here right now, they would-"

"Oh geez Louise, will everyone just shut up and stop bringing up those two little traitors?!" Stan yelled, stomping his foot forward in frustration.

Gwendy widened her eyes in shock. It was the second time that the eyepatch-wearing frog had reacted that way at the mention of the Ponds Twins. He was definitely acting unlike the person that she got to know for some time.

"Stan… You keep calling Flipper and Schmabel traitors or backstabbers." she pointed out. "Is this what it's all about? Are you doing all of this sleazy behind-the-scene stuff because they ticked you off somehow? But that doesn't make any sense…"

"Didn't I tell you to shut up about those two?!" Stan shouted.

"No! I wanna know what's going on!" Gwendy shouted back with a single step forward towards her boss, unwilling to drop the subject in favour of getting to the bottom of it. "You haven't been the same since they left! What happened between you guys? To think that you would hate them after all you've been through is just insane!"

"Stop acting like you know everything about me, Gwendy! Instead of wasting time trying to figure me out, why not help me get the museum off the ground by making our little star over here our main attraction!" he said as he pointed at Anne who continued to struggle fruitlessly against the frozen wax on her body.

"What makes you think I'll help you?" Gwendy asked while narrowing her eyes at him.

"Think about it for a second." Stan said as he was about to explain himself. "Our usual schtick that we had going for years just ain't doing it for tourists anymore. They think that they've already seen the oddities that the world has to offer, so by extension, visiting the Curiosity Hut is just a waste of time and money. At the rate that it's going, the museum will go down under!"

He briefly threw a glance at Anne's way, as he continued his explanation. "I came up with the whole scheme of bringing the strangest creatures that the world has ever seen here, freeze them in wax and put them all up in display right here to pull the museum out of the gutter! But it's not gonna happen if you're going to go against me, Gwendy."

He extended an offering hand to his cashier, trying to win her support with what he was about to say next.

"Listen, kid. I know how much you love Stony Gulch. Lots of fond memories to be had here and whatnot. If the museum is finished, your dad is going to make you work at a logging camp somewhere far away from here. Meaning, you'll have to say goodbye to this little town."

The long-haired frog gasped, realizing that there was some truth in her boss' words.

Seeing her reaction caused Stan to smirk, as he was one step closer to pulling her to his side.

"If you don't wanna leave town, then you know what to do." he said as he pointed at the wax machine. "Pull the levers down and finish the job for me, will ya? Once our superstar here becomes a statue, everything will be right as rain."

"Hey! Don't do this, Gwendy!" Anne shouted in alarm, looking at the tall frog out of fear that the Curator's words might have convinced her. "He's just talking out of his butt! Turning me into a living statue won't save the museum!"

"Quit your yapping!" Stan glared at the nearly-frozen girl. "You're the one talking out of your butt, being a visiting tourist here! Don't pretend that you know what's best for everybody!"

Anne growled at the Curator as she kept trying to break herself free to no avail. Stan paid her no mind from that point forward, focusing his attention back on Gwendy.

"Whaddaya say, Gwendy? Wanna make more memories in Stony Gulch? Then just do what I say."

Gwendy stared at her boss for a long time, looking like what he had just told her had an effect on her. She then shifted her gaze at the human girl whose eyes were pleading for her not to go through with it.

Some more time had passed, and the long-haired frog slowly turned towards the wax machine.

Anne looked on in horror, while Stan had a huge grin on his face, both being led to think that Gwendy was going to do it.

Meanwhile, Hop Pop, Polly and Frog Soos were listening in on their conversation up to that point, in which they recognized that the situation became extremely dire.

"Anne's in serious trouble! We gotta help her!" Polly said.

"You're right, Polly! It's now or never!" Hop Pop stated as he and his granddaughter were about to jump in to save the human girl at last.

However, Frog Soos stopped them from taking action by wrapping his arms around them from behind.

"What the…! Frog Soos?!" the elderly frog exclaimed in shock.

"What're you doing?! Let us go!" Polly yelled as she tried to free herself from the large frog's hold. "Don't tell me you believe that crazy psycho?!"

"It's not like that, dudes!" Frog Soos defended. "I-I think we should trust Gwendy on this one!"

"Trust her?! She's going to turn Anne into a statue at the Curator's behest!" Hop Pop shouted. "What makes you think that she won't do it?!"

"Because I know Gwendy! It's not her style to be doing stuff like this!" Frog Soos explained, as he looked at his coworker from afar. "At least, I hope…"

Gwendy remained still in front of the machine for an uncomfortable amount of time, fuelling the anxiety of everyone present in the museum. The Curator even began to tap his foot on the floor, waiting for his employee to do the deed.

After a while, Gwendy closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She then turned her head towards the brown-haired girl while opening her eyes and gave her a smile.

"It's cool, Anne." she said. "I got this."

As Anne wondered what she meant by it, she was caught by surprise when Gwendy pulled out a hatchet from her person and swung it down on the machine, cracking it open.

"WHAT?! GWENDY?!" Stan screamed as he witnessed her cleaving the machine before his eyes. "What are you doing?!"

Gwendy turned her head towards him with a determined look on her face.

"Like I said earlier. I'm stopping this."

She proceeded to perform several swings of her hatchet on the machine, smashing them glass chambers, spilling the wax liquid all over, severing numerous components including the levers, and sending bits and pieces flying.

Once she damaged the machine enough, sparks formed around the broken areas before the wax machine exploded before her, ensuring its complete destruction. Despite being at close proximity of the exploding machine, she was left unharmed.

"WHAT THE HECK!"

Stan thought that he managed to sway his employee to his cause, but her actions proved the opposite. And now, he was left seething in rage, glaring at her intensively.

"What is wrong with you?! Do you know how much the wax machine costed me?!" he yelled at her. "I mean, sure, I bought that stupid contraption for cheap, and it came with all the inconvenience of being a cheap machine, but I still spent money on that thing! And you went and destroyed it! What about the museum?! About staying in Stony Gulch?!"

"Oh come on, Stan!" Gwendy said as she turned her head to look at her boss right in the eye. "As if I'd ever believe whatever load of frogspit that you're trying to sell me here!"

"What, you think I'm lying? Did you forget that business hasn't been stellar lately? Maybe you sitting behind the counter all day made you forget how many customers we were getting in the past month or so!" Stan retorted. "Because of what you just did, unless I find another cheap machine to replace within a day or two, the museum is going to rot!"

"It's not." Gwendy argued, taking a few steps towards Stan. "The hut is still going to be around, as long as the town still stands."

Stan gritted his teeth in anger.

"Wait, what do you mean by that, Gwendy?" Anne asked, wondering what led the tall frog to that conclusion.

"The townsfolk love the Curiosity Hut." Gwendy replied. "It's a part of what makes the town so unique. If there's any problem with it, I bet they'd drop everything and pitch in to help. Frog Soos always said that the hut is where people's dreams become reality, even when the attractions are fake. If the hut shuts down for any reason, so are people's dreams."

"Wow… Is the museum really that special to everyone here?"

Gwendy nodded to Anne.

"The same goes for me too. After all, it's where I met Flipper and Schmabel." she said, smiling as she recalled the adventures that she had with the twins, which all began at the hut.

When she switched her gaze back towards Stan, her smile was replaced with a frown.

"Stan, I don't believe for a second that you're doing all of this shady stuff just to save the museum. You already knew that it didn't need saving in the first place, didn't you?"

"What are you implying?" Stan asked.

"There's obviously a bigger reason why you're doing this." Gwendy stated. "And it all has to do with what went on between you, Flipper and Schmabel-"

"Shut up." the fez-wearing frog simply said with his head lowered, the tone of his voice rendered suspiciously quiet. "I warned you stupid kids many times to not ever mention those two, or any of my family. This is the last thing that I wanna hear."

Gwendy's facial expression softened.

"Stan, we're all just worried about you." she explained, as she climbed up the stage and slowly approached her boss. "I don't know what really went on between you guys, but I hate seeing you being the shell of your former self."

Once she was at arms' length of him, she extended a helping hand to him, determined to help him with his troubles.

"You're our boss, man. We're always here for you, no matter what." she smiled. "The first thing that you need to do is talk to us. That's it."

Stan looked down at the long-haired girl's offering hand, contemplating what he should do about it.

Gwendy observed his reaction closely, almost sure of herself that she had gotten through to him.

Then the Curator let out a bitter chuckle.

"You kidding? After everything you did to me so far?" he said.

Gwendy dropped her smile, worried about what he meant by that.

"You just proved my belief. That the only person that I can rely on is myself."

He caught her off-guard by suddenly pulling out a smoke bomb and threw it to the ground, creating a cloud of smoke that engulfed the two frogs.

Gwendy coughed as she covered her mouth with one hand and used the other to fan the smoke away from her face. Once the smoke became clear enough for her to see, she noticed that both Stan and the still-frozen Anne had disappeared from their spots.

"Gwendy! Help!" She heard the human girl crying for help.

Turning her head towards the direction of the cry, she found her boss running off towards the exit starting from the middle of the room, carrying the helpless Anne over his shoulder.

"Stan! Stop!" Gwendy shouted as she bolted after them.

"To heck with this place! To heck with Stony Gulch! To heck with everything!" the Curator yelled, using a huge amount of his energy to run as fast as he could while carrying Anne along. "I'm making history with the Curiosity Hut! This freak is the only ticket out of this dump! There's no way I'm letting dumb kids like you put a stop to this!"

Just as he was about to reach the doorway of the room, two individuals suddenly jumped in the way, causing Stan to stop in his tracks.

"We're not letting you take Anne away, you despicable fiend!" Hop Pop shouted as he spread his body wide to block as much of the doorway as he could, with Polly standing in front of him.

"Hop Pop! Polly!" Anne shouted in relief from seeing the rest of the family coming to her aid.

"Really?! Now I have to deal with you two morons?!" the Curator said exasperatedly, recognizing the elderly frog and the baby tadpole.

"Put her down right now!" Polly yelled, shooting a defiant look at him while hopping forward. "Or else, you're gonna feel my wrath when I gnaw your feet to shreds! Seriously! I'll do it!"

"Heh! You wanna try your luck with my feet, huh?" Stan smirked, as he pulled a leg back with the intent of striking the purple tadpole. "Let's see if you can handle me kicking you across the building!"

Before he could fulfill his promise, he was suddenly tackled from the side which resulted in him dropping Anne in front of the Plantar family.

The two opposing individuals rolled around until they collided hard against a wall, leading to a bunch of picture frames to fall off as a result.

"Stan! Just drop it already!" Gwendy yelled as she tried to keep her boss pinned by pressing his shoulders against the wall with her hands.

"Get off of me, you ungrateful runt!" Stan yelled back before he launched his tongue out and hit her face with it, stunning her just enough for him to kick her off easily.

He began to charge towards the Plantars, only to be jumped from behind by the long-haired frog who sent them both crashing to the floor.

She raised her head up towards the family.

"Get out of here! Run!" Gwendy told them urgently while keeping the fez-wearing frog pinned down as much as she could.

"We're already on it!" Hop Pop said as he and Polly tried to lift Anne off the floor from opposite ends, with Hop Pop positioned at her feet, and Polly standing at her head.

The elderly frog managed to lift her up on his end, but Polly was less successful due to her small stature. When they tried dragging her away, they moved frustratingly slow. The task proved to be more difficult than they expected.

"Ngghh! Frog dangit!" Hop Pop cursed. "We can't get anywhere like this!"

"Where the heck is Sprig anyway?!" Polly said in frustration. "This would be a really good time for him to show up and make use of his big human body!"

"He's actually trapped in the storage room over there!" Anne informed them while gesturing her head towards the room in question. "The Curator locked him inside! You gotta get him outta there!"

"Polly! Hurry and free Sprig so that we can all leave as fast as possible!" Hop Pop told the purple tadpole.

"You got it!" Polly nodded as she hopped towards the door leading to the storage room.

Stan kicked Gwendy off of him once more and quickly stood up from the floor. Before he could resume his run at the family, Gwendy hopped in front of him and blocked his path.

"Stop getting in my way!" he yelled as he charged into her with the intent of shoving her off.

Gwendy stopped his charge by pushing her hands against his shoulders, locking both of them in a power struggle.

"Darn it, Stan! Stop being so stubborn!" she shouted. "Why are you so obsessed with expanding the hut?! To get back at Flipper and Schmabel?! That doesn't make a lick of sense!"

"You think I'm doing all of this because of a couple of ungrateful brats?!" he said as he pushed the long-haired frog back a bit in a burst of superior strength. "Nice detective work! What was your second guess? That I'm being possessed by a triangle, one-eyed demon with a top hat that I summoned from the depths of the abyss?"

"Just tell me already!"

"I ain't telling you nothing!"

While the conflict between Stan and Gwendy was going on, Polly reached the locked door. When she got there, the door was being banged from the other side, and it had been that way for some time already.

"Hey, Sprig! You in there?!" she shouted as loud as she could.

"Polly?! Is that you?!" She heard her brother's voice from inside the locked room.

"Hold on! I'm getting you outta here!"

She jumped up to grab hold of the doorknob and attempted to turn it around. However, the doorknob would not budge, making it clear that the door was truly locked. She dropped herself back down on the floor and looked around, trying to see if there was anything that she could use to force the door open.

Meanwhile, as the power struggle between Stan and Gwendy continued, the former was slowly getting the upper hand, managing to push the latter back bit by bit with each burst of strength.

Realizing that she could not hold him off for much longer, Gwendy grabbed his shoulders, spun themselves around and tossed him towards the other side of the room.

Stan crashed into the wall and fell down on the floor. While he was recovering, his eyes came across a mace that was lying on the floor next to him.

Having grown tired of wasting time on Gwendy, he grabbed up the mace in his hand, slowly stood up from the floor, and with the weapon raised, he let out a battle cry and charged at his cashier.

Gwendy gasped upon seeing him running at her with a dangerous weapon. Instinctively, she drew out her hatchet and blocked his attack the moment that he swung the mace down at her.

Stan raised the mace back up, then swung it down again, only for Gwendy to block the second attack as well. He repeated the same steps with the intent of overpowering her. However, Gwendy kept her footing no matter how many times he struck at her.

He once again raised the mace up, with Gwendy still keeping her hatchet up to block the next attack.

But she was caught off-guard when Stan moved the weapon around towards the bottom, then swiped up, disarming his employee as the hatchet slipped out of her hands upon impact.

The hatchet flew up towards the ceiling, then fell back down before it struck into the floor next to Polly.

Polly yelped and jumped when the hatchet very nearly split her in two, but the sight of it gave her an idea.

"This could work!" she said as she grabbed the handle with both hands and pulled the hatchet off the floor. "Get back, Sprig! I'm gonna smash the door into pieces!"

She jumped towards the door with the hatchet raised high up and struck the door, creating a slit into it. She then removed the hatchet from the door, dropped down and repeated the process until she could destroy the door completely to free her big brother.

Meanwhile, after being disarmed, Gwendy took a few steps back with her hands up in front of her, looking fearfully at her boss who was all too willing to continue his assault.

"Heh! You were a good kid, Gwendy." he said, as he slowly approached the retreating tall frog. "Too bad you had to go up against me! Time to pay the price!"

Stan lifted the mace up once more, while Gwendy shielded herself with her arms in a vain attempt to protect herself. Just as he was about to throw the weapon down on her…

"MR. PONDS! STOP!"

Frog Soos suddenly jumped out from the doorway and put himself in between Stan and Gwendy, spreading his arms wide to protect his fellow coworker behind him.

Stan paused his attack upon seeing his handyman making a sudden appearance before him.

"Frog Soos?! You're here too?!" he shouted.

"Don't do this, Mr. Ponds!" Frog Soos pleaded. "Do you realize what you're about to do?!"

"Of course I do! I'm punishing this disobedient piece of trash for getting in my way!" Stan replied. "Move aside, Frog Soos! Gwendy caused enough problems for all of us as is!"

"Mr. Ponds, that's crazy talk!" The large frog said, unwilling to move from his current spot. "Are you really gonna hurt Gwendy?! She's been our friend since she started working here a few years ago!"

"Who said that she's a friend? She's nothing more than someone who works for me!"

"Think about it, dude!" Frog Soos implored him. "You're gonna make the twins sad if you hurt her! She's Flipper's love of his life! Schmabel's cool, rebellious role model!"

Stan screamed at the top of his lungs in frustration, bringing his mace down to the side.

"Why does everyone keep bringing up those two?!"

"You know why, Stan!" Gwendy replied, leaning her head to the side to look at their boss past the large frog. "You loved Flipper and Schmabel! You cherished them like they were your own kids! Why do you suddenly hate them now?!"

"Snooping piece of…! You wanna know why so badly, huh? Well, all you need to know is that those two turned on me the moment that they left town last summer!" Stan answered. "After everything that I've done for them, they just upped and left me in the dust!"

"But Mr. Ponds, they were only staying here for the whole summer! They were always meant to leave when summer's over!" Frog Soos argued, pointing out the contradiction of the fez-wearing frog's explanation. "Everyone knew that! You're telling us that you didn't know?"

"'Course he knew, Frog Soos! He was their caretaker, after all!" Gwendy said. "It would've been nuts if he wasn't being told about that! He's just not telling us the whole story!"

"Aargh! What more do I have to tell you?! What part of them being backstabbing twerps do you not get?!" Stan yelled, getting more frustrated at his employees by the second.

"Why can't you just give it to us straight?" Gwendy asked, unable to comprehend why he was being increasingly stubborn about the whole issue.

"… His twin brother!"

Everyone in the room all turned towards the curly-haired girl, whose frozen legs were still being lifted by Hop Pop.

"Frog Soos, you told me that this guy changed ever since the twins left with his twin brother, right?" Anne asked for clarification. "His brother had to be involved in all of this somehow!"

"Ah! That's right!" Frog Soos exclaimed, having forgotten about that important detail amidst the conflict that was currently at play. "Not just when his twin bro left with the twins! Mr. Ponds had been acting weird ever since he showed up in town!"

Stan widened his eyes in panic, as it seemed like his reasons behind his actions were about to be unfold for everyone to hear.

"Now that you mentioned it," Gwendy spoke, after she thought more about the involvement of their boss' twin brother. "He and his brother were being jerks to each other the whole time that he was here. And… Didn't Flipper and Schmabel took a liking to him almost as soon as he got here?"

"Yeah!" Frog Soos nodded in confirmation. "Because Ford showed them lots of stuff that they were excited about. His research about the land's oddities for Flipper, and the weird, fun and silly stuff that he found while traveling for Schmabel. Now that I think about it, they were pretty happy to leave town with Ford! At least, I think…"

"So… That's it, isn't it?" Gwendy asked, directing her attention back at Stan, once new information came into light.

"Stan… It's not Flipper and Schmabel that you're mad at. It's your twin brother Ford." she guessed. "It all adds up. He showed up out of nowhere, got the twins to like him 'cause of all the cool stuff that he had when he was traveling around the world, so much that they were perfectly fine with leaving town with him at the end of last summer. So everything that you did since then… It's all to get back at Ford, right?"

Stan did not say anything. He had his head lowered towards the ground with his eyes closed, in an attempt to hide whatever emotion that he was exhibiting.

"So if I understand this correctly," Hop Pop said. "The whole reason why we're in this mess, it's because the Curator is jealous of his brother? Well, it almost makes sense in a way, as far as sibling rivalry goes…"

"Dude, that's just messed up!" Anne exclaimed. "You're telling me that you caught and turned all those monsters into statues, and almost turned me into one too, just because your brother was cooler than you? I might just be an only child, but I think you're being pretty petty about it, with all things considered!"

"Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!!!"

In a fit a rage, Stan threw the mace at Hop Pop and Anne. With a yelp, the elderly frog barely dodged the thrown weapon by ducking down and pulling the nearly-petrified human with him, as the mace flew right over their heads.

"You keep your noses out of other people's business! You're nothing but stupid tourists who know squat!" Stan yelled, glaring intensively at the two of them.

He then shifted his rage towards his employees, throwing an accusing finger at them in the process.

"And you two! You had to keep prying into my life, just because you don't like how I do things around here, huh?! You take pleasure from family dramas or something?! Who's the insane guy around here now?!"

"Mr. Ponds, calm down for a second!" Frog Soos implored, gesturing his hands up and down in an attempt to assuage the situation. "We just wanna know why you're doing all of this!"

"You don't need to know anything!" Stan shouted, throwing his arms down. "Now you all think that I did this whole thing just because of those stupid brats and my twin brother who came out of nowhere after being gone from my life for who knows how many years and went and showed me up in front of everybody!"

With gritted teeth, he lowered his head and had both hands gripping against his scalp, as he was forced to recall how he got to that point.

"We were supposed to be a team, he and I, from the moment that we were born… But just because of one, tiny mistake, he and the rest of my family turned on me and left me for dead! I would've been a goner, if I hadn't found the Curiosity Hut out of sheer luck! Things were looking up for me, for a change…"

He lifted his eyes up to look at the people in front of him.

"You two bozos started working for me 'cause you were desperate, then I had to take care of Flipper and Schmabel 'cause their parents asked me to. I thought that I finally had people that I could rely on, and vice versa. I was finally given a second chance on life…"

He strengthened his grip on his head, as he remembered the point where everything fell apart.

"Then he showed up out of nowhere, claimed that it's because their parents finally reached out to him, and stole the whole show! It took me almost the whole summer to bond with Flipper and Schmabel, while it took him just a few days! And then he went and put the idea that I was no good to them in their heads! And they happily went along with it!"

He once again pointed fiercely at Gwendy and Frog Soos, accusing them for some wrongdoings that they had no way of knowing.

"And now you two hopped on the same wagon as them! You couldn't just let slide the fact that I'm doing all of this for the sake of the museum! Now you think I was just being petty about my family!"

"Dude, that's not what we were thinking at all!" Gwendy said.

"Well, I have had it with you lot…"

Stan started to approach the group menacingly, his eyes glaring at them with the intensity of a thousand suns.

"You all proved to me that the only person that I can rely on is myself." he repeated what he said to Gwendy a while ago. "I'm gonna have to turn you all into special, opening attractions for my newly-built Curiosity Hut. Folks are gonna eat it all up when they see you."

"No, Mr. Ponds! Don't do this!" Frog Soos pleaded. "Think about what you're doing! Think about the people who love you! Think about Flipper and Schmabel!"

"To heck with all of you!" Stan yelled, stomping his foot in the middle of his approach.

Frog Soos reacted by taking a step back and spreading his arms as wide as possible to protect Gwendy and the others behind him from their boss' wrath.

"You know, I've got the perfect name for you jerks." Stan said as he cracked the knuckles of each hand in preparation for what he had in store for them. "It's called 'The Pathetic Ballad of Moronic Children and their Gramps Searching for a Nonexisting Meaning of a Person's Li-!"

POW!

Before he could finish his words, a fist flew right into his face, sending him crashing into a wall, next to the doorway.

Everyone was surprised when the Curator got punched in the face so suddenly. When they turned to see who threw the punch, they were met with the sight of a green-clad boy sporting a right black eye, accompanied by a purple tadpole who hopped to his side.

"Payback!" Sprig declared with satisfaction, pulling his fist back.

"Sprig!" Hop Pop shouted, relieved to see his grandson safe and sound. "Are you okay?"

"Could've been better." The boy replied while caressing his black eye with his hand. "Thanks for getting me outta there, Polly."

"No problem, big brother!" Polly said.

A groan escaped from the Curator's lips, attracting the attention of everyone in the room. He tried to stand up from the floor, pressing his back against the wall as support. However, he failed to keep himself up, as he slipped back down. He tried again a second time, only to fall back down once again.

It would seem that Sprig's punch dazed him a lot more than anyone could have expected.

Gwendy and Frog Soos watched their boss out of pity, thinking back to what led to their current predicament.

"Poor Stan…" Gwendy spoke. "All of this just because of a sibling rivalry…"

"Not to mention how Flipper and Schmabel supposedly hated him thanks to Ford." Frog Soos said, turning his head towards his coworker. "But… That can't be true, right?"

"'Course not." she replied. "… At least, I don't think so. Either way, Stan needs some serious help. This whole thing did a number on him, and we can't leave him hanging like this."

"I'm with you, dude."

Gwendy and Frog Soos walked towards the eyepatch-wearing frog with the intent of giving him some much needed support.

"You really feeling alright, Sprig?" Anne asked the orange-haired boy, visibly wincing at the sight of his throbbing black eye. "That looked like it really hurt."

"Yeah, I'm fine, Anne." Sprig replied, as he and Polly joined Anne and Hop Pop at their side. "But I should be asking you if you're doing okay. You know, 'cause you're almost covered in wax and all."

"Honestly, not really." Anne answered with annoyance. "Not being able to move my body is a real pain in the neck. Would be really nice if we could get the wax off of me."

"But how exactly can we do that?" Polly asked, as the Plantar family had no clue how to remove the wax, safe for pulling it off bit by bit which might prove to be a gruelling task on its own.

"I dunno. Maybe try melting it off or something?" Anne suggested the first thing that came into mind.

"Yo!"

The family heard the long-haired frog calling out to them. They turned themselves towards her just in time to see her tossing a torch in their way. Hop Pop managed to catch the torch in his hands.

"If you're looking for something to get rid of the wax, this should come in handy." Gwendy said with a smile. "Pretty sure that the heat's gonna melt it clean off."

"Thank you kindly, Miss Gwendy." Hop Pop expressed his gratitude. He then moved the burning torch near Anne's body. "Hold still, Anne. It'll only take a minute or three."

"Oh sure! It's not like I can go anywhere or whatever." Anne said sarcastically while rolling her eyes, pointing out her nearly-frozen state.

She then sighed, as she thought about everything leading up until now.

"I'm really sorry, fam." she apologized while looking down. "None of this would've happened if I just listen to you. I let myself get carried away with trying to get the Skipman…"

"You're darn right about that." Hop Pop harshly agreed, giving the human girl an irritated look. A second later, irritation was replaced with relief. "But the important thing is that we're all okay. Besides, there is an upside to this."

He shifted his gaze towards the long-haired frog and the large frog attending to their boss. The rest of the family followed suite.

"If we didn't get ourselves involved, things would've gone very poorly for these good folks here."

"I guess you're right." Anne said. "Thanks for coming to my rescue, guys."

She turned her head towards Sprig, giving him a warm smile of gratitude.

"You especially, Sprig."

Sprig reacted with a smile of his own, as well as a light blush appearing on his face.

"Hey, Sprig!" Polly handed her brother a rolled-up scroll in front of him, bringing his attention to it. "You dropped this back in the other room."

"Oh! Maddie's list!" Sprig exclaimed, as he took the scroll from Polly's hands. "Thanks, Polly! I didn't even realize that I lost it back there!"

He opened up the scroll and looked over its content to make sure that nothing that was written on it was damaged from the scuffle that he had a while ago.

While examining the state of the list, his eyes rested upon a section that, for reasons yet unknown to him, seemed to be important.

The Gill-Beast's Scale

Gill-Beasts are large, bipedal aquatic creatures with a huge head, hilariously small arms and ridiculously big legs. They are reported to be found in the depths of the ocean south of Amphibia. According to my research, their scales that make up the entirety of their skin have protective properties that can withstand most attacks for a time.

You might be wondering why we need to collect their scales. To be fair, the scale is actually a substitute ingredient for something else entirely. The actual ingredient is frog epidermis, as in a frog's skin. But you might think that removing a poor frog's skin is really morbid, so I'm not going to ask you to do it… This time.

Joking aside, a Gill-Beast kind of resembles a frog in a way, just more than twice the size of a regular frog and having exaggerated proportions for their body parts. Once I made the comparison, I thought it would be best to use their scale as an ingredient instead. On a plus side, with the protective properties of the scale, theoretically, your body will become much more durable than before when you turn back into a frog.

There's one more thing that I want to add. There are rumours of an exceptionally odd Gill-Beast known as the Gill-Behemoth, who is said to be abnormally huge compared to a regular Gill-Beast. It is also said that its scales are even more tougher than usual, so in theory, they are more potent as an ingredient. I have no way of proving that the rumours are true, but if you do come across the Gill-Behemoth, it would be great if you can extract its scales for me.

Here's my best drawing of the Gill-Beast, for visual sake.

A crude drawing of the creature in question can be found underneath the section.

"… Wait a minute… I think I've seen that thing before…" Sprig commented after looking at Maddie's drawing of the Gill-Beast. "And pretty recently too. But where could I've seen it…?"

"Urgh…! Keep your hands off of me…!" Stan groaned as he pushed aside the helping hands of his employees standing next to him.

"Come on, Mr. Ponds." Frog Soos said sadly. "We're just trying to help you."

"I don't need your help…" Stan retorted, as he tried to get up on his own once more. "Not after you turned against me a moment ago…"

"Don't say it like that, sir…"

Stan inched himself up bit by bit, trying to fight through his dizziness. However, his body failed him once more, causing him to fall to the side and hit his face in a strange puddle in front of the doorway

He lifted his face up and spat out the liquid that came in his mouth. He looked down at the puddle, wondering what it was.

Until he noticed that the colour of the puddle was brown. And when he inspected it with his fingers, he noted the thickness in its viscosity.

"Wait… This is wax." Stan said, recognizing what it was.

He looked at where the puddle originated from and noticed that it was seeping through the doorway from the lobby.

"But I thought I already put all the wax in the machine. Where did this come from?"

RROOOOOOAAARRR!!!

Everyone got startled by the sound of a ferocious roar that vibrated across the whole building. As they all wondered where the roar came from, the wall separating the lobby and the room that they were in shook violently, as if someone or something from the other room was banging against it.

"What the heck is going on?!" Gwendy exclaimed.

"Uh, whoever's in the other room, you probably shouldn't bang on the wall so much!" Frog Soos said, as he was about to check and see who was causing racket from the lobby.

But just as he was going to the doorway, a huge eye suddenly appeared in view from the other side.

"AAAAHHH!" Frog Soos fell on his butt in fright.

Then, the wall was completely smashed through by whatever was in the lobby. When the smoke cleared, everyone had a look at whatever was responsible, and everyone all recognized what it was.

It was the statue of the huge, two-legged aquatic behemoth with two large fangs, one being broken, a huge head and a pair of small arms. The one that was standing over the doorway in the main lobby. They remembered that its body was brown in colour, but its feet and knees were green, looking like they had broken out of some kind of coating.

The statue began to shake violently, causing cracks to appear all over. Then, pieces of wax fell off its body bit by bit, until its true, green form was liberated from its bind.

The behemoth slowly raised itself up towards the ceiling by extending its large legs, easily towering over the group in front of it. It looked down at the feeble creatures who looked up at it in fear, before letting out a loud, monstrous cry.

Seeing the source of her terror being brought to life before her, Polly had only this to say.

"… I KNEW IT!!!"

Chapter Text

The giant, two-legged aquatic monster, last thought to be an impressive statue to be displayed for all tourists to see, turned out to be well and alive. It made its presence known by smashing its way inside of the room where everyone is and shook off the wax that kept it still for too long, roaring out as a way to relish its long-awaited freedom.

The Plantar family and the museum personnel all moved back as much as they could to avoid getting into close contact with the giant monstrosity. It was all they could do, as it was blocking their only exit.

"Dear frog, it's huge!" yelled the frightened Hop Pop as he pointed at the monster. "What in the name of Heaven is that creature?!"

"Guys, I think this is the Gill-Behemoth!" Sprig said once he recognized what they were dealing with.

"Gill-Behemoth?" Anne said while turning her head towards the boy, followed by everyone else in the group.

"It's in Maddie's list!" he explained. "Its scale is one of the ingredients that we need for the cure to turn me back to normal!"

"Seriously?! You're telling me that we have to fight this guy to get the ingredient?!"

"Well, yeah! Not only that, but this monster is supposedly one-of-a-kind! Its scale might help out a lot in making the cure! We won't get another chance like this if we just run away from it!"

The boy took a step forward while rolling an invisible long sleeve up, fully intent on taking on the Gill-Behemoth for what it has.

ROOOOOOAAAAAAARRR!!!

The giant sea creature let out another ferocious cry towards the ceiling that can be heard within the vicinity of the town. A single step from its gigantic foot was enough to shake the floor, terrorizing the smaller people in the process.

"… On second thought," spoke the frightened boy. "Maddie's list mentioned other creatures that we can go after for their scale. Maybe that's the better option. Right?"

"I'm with you there." Anne said.

"Me too." Hop Pop nodded.

"Yeah, not gonna lie, seeing it moving around and being alive and all actually makes it worse." Polly admitted. "Let's just get outta here!"

"But how can we do that? That beast is blocking our only way out of this room!" Hop Pop pointed out. "At this point, we have no choice but to fight it!"

"You won't have to." Gwendy spoke, as she took a few steps towards the huge monster. "You guys got dragged into this mess because of Stan. The last thing we want is to have you get pulled into this even further."

"You got a plan or something?" Sprig asked.

"I'll just have to grab that thing's attention just enough so you guys can slip by without it noticing."

"Wait, you're not coming with us?" Anne asked with concern shown on her face.

"Well, how else are you guys gonna run away from here?" Gwendy replied. "Besides, if we let this guy be, not only is it gonna smash the museum into pieces, it's gonna rampage the whole town in the process. No way am I letting that happen."

"So you intent on battling this monster by yourself?!" Hop Pop shouted.

"Ok, girl! I know you're cool and all, but you're crazy!" Polly exclaimed. "That thing looks like it can squash you into mush before you can even put a finger on it! Aren't you even a bit scared?!"

"Well, kinda." Gwendy shrugged. "But believe it or not, I've dealt with chumps like this before. Maybe not as big, but they were just as dangerous, at least, from the looks of things. Just give me to right tool for the job and I can handle it no problem."

The Plantars all looked at each other with uncertainty. Leaving the tall girl alone with that huge behemoth would leave a sour taste in their mouths. However, she made it sound like she could take down that monster with all of her limbs intact. They wondered if it was even good idea.

"How are you so certain that you can escape this fight alive?" Hop Pop asked.

"Easy." Gwendy grinned confidently and pointed her thumb at herself. "It's cause I'm a flipping Corduroy!"

While her answer did not provide much, somehow, her declaration managed to sway the Plantar family into leaving things to her without any more fuss. It was almost like the energy behind her words were enough to sooth out their fears, even if it's for a bit. Was it because of her cool personality?

Regardless, they all nodded in agreement to her plan.

"Frog Soos," Gwendy spoke to the large frog who shifted his full attention to her. "You should go with them and take Stan with you. Right now, getting him out of danger takes top priority."

"You sure, Gwendy?" Frog Soos asked.

"Pretty sure." Gwendy nodded. "Don't worry about me. Worry about Stan first."

"Okay, dude! You got it! But I'm coming back as soon as everyone else's safe!" Frog Soos turned his head towards the eyepatch-wearing frog. "Come on, Mr. Ponds-"

However, he found that there was no one standing from where he was looking.

"Mr. Ponds?"

He looked around within the group to see if Stan was somewhere around there. The others also gave a look-around once they realized that the Curator was not where he was supposed to be.

"Hey!" Polly shouted as she pointed towards the direction of where the monster was standing. "What's that guy doing over there?"

Everyone all looked at where the purple tadpole was pointing and saw that Stan was standing dangerously close to the Gill-Behemoth. It turned out that he had not moved from the spot when the monster smashed its way into the room.

"AHHH! Mr. Ponds?!" Frog Soos screamed in panic, slapping his cheeks with both hands.

"Stan, what the heck!" Gwendy yelled in disbelief.

"Hey! You're supposed to be a statue back there! How did you manage to move around with all that wax on you?!" Stan shouted while shaking his fist up at the beast. "I swear, that cheap wax machine isn't doing its job right! When I'm done with you, I'm gonna sue the guy who sold me that piece of junk!"

The Gill-Behemoth looked down at the fez-wearing frog. Its eyes twitched with rage, when it recognized him as the one responsible for its waxy imprisonment. With another feral screech, it raised its foot up, then quickly brought it down towards him.

Before Stan could make a move, he was suddenly tackled from behind at the last second and was sent crashing a few feet forward.

He groaned as he lifted his head up from the floor. He turned his head back to look at the person responsible for pushing him out of nowhere and who was still on his back.

"Are you okay, Mr. Ponds?" Frog Soos asked his boss, raising his head up to look at him.

"Frog Soos?! What do you think you're doing?!" Stan yelled.

"Saving you from being crushed to death, obviously!"

"I didn't need your help, you big lump of waste!"

While the two of them were having a small spat with one another, the Gill-Behemoth turned its enormous head and gazed down at them. Growling in anger, it once again raised its foot up and aimed it at them, determined to squash its captor as revenge.

Before it could bring its foot down, it was hit on the side of its head by a small wooden object. Moving its eyes towards that direction, it came across a tall frog holding a picture frame in her hands.

"HEY! Over here, big guy!" Gwendy shouted as she threw the picture frame at the beast, hitting one of its tiny arms. She then picked up another frame from the floor and tossed it the same way, this time striking the monster in-between the eyes.

The Gill-Behemoth growled once more, irritated by Gwendy just enough to shift its rage from its captor to her. Distracting it was exactly what she was counting on.

"Stan! Soos! Get outta here now!"

"You got it, Gwendy!" Frog Soos said as he stood up from the floor, effortlessly picked up Stan and put him over his shoulder before running for the exit.

"Put me down, Soos! I said put me down!" Stan demanded as he struggled to push himself free from his handyman's hold.

"I think that's our cue to leave too! Let's go, everyone!" Hop Pop shouted after finding the opportunity to do so.

Both he and Sprig lifted up the frozen Anne from opposite ends and ran towards the exit alongside Polly.

However, their path was suddenly blocked by the Gill-Behemoth bringing its large foot down in front of them, stopping them in their tracks. They all looked up to the sight of its large face aiming down at them, as its hot breath was blowing over where they were standing. They all froze in fear before the huge beast.

Then, yet another picture frame struck the beast on the leg, leading to it raising its head up to cross gaze with the long-haired frog once more.

"Hey, where are you looking at?! I'm right here!" Gwendy taunted it, trying to keep its attention on her.

The Gill-Behemoth let out another terrifying roar, as it began to walk over the Plantar family and towards Gwendy.

"Now's your chance! Move it!" Gwendy told the family, pointing her finger at the exit.

The Plantars nodded, as they quickly resumed their run for the exit, eventually escaping the room altogether.

Once she made sure that the Plantars, Frog Soos and Stan left the room, she turned her full attention towards the approaching creature, stepping back a bit in an attempt to gain some distance between her and it.

In the process of moving back, she felt her heel hitting an object. When she turned her head around, she came across her hatchet on the floor that she lost when Stan disarmed her a while ago. She then picked up the hatchet, twirled it around, then firmly held it in her hand, as she prepared herself to face the giant monster head-on.

"Ok, tough guy! It's just you and me now! So bring it!"

The Plantars managed to escape the Curiosity Hut without any further obstructions. It was still very early in the morning when they existed the museum, as evident of the moon still up in the night sky, but it was slowly approaching the horizon.

They ran quite a distance away from the building before stopping to catch their breaths.

"Hah…! Everyone still here?" Hop Pop panted, looking back towards his grandchildren while lowering the nearly-petrified human girl down on his end.

"Right here!" Polly replied while raising her hand.

"Same! And Anne is still safe and sound with us!" Sprig said while looking down at his best friend to see if she was still alright.

"Thank goodness…!" Hop Pop said as he sat down on the ground. "What a harrowing experience, that was…"

"No kidding." The orange-haired boy said as he lowered Anne down on his end as well before putting his hand over his black eye.

"Geez…! I didn't think that things would go this bad." Anne said in a remorseful tone. "I'm really sorry about all of this, guys…"

"Didn't we already say that we forgive you back there? Don't worry about it!" Polly reassured her.

Sprig took the time to look around themselves and found that something was amiss.

"Hey, I don't see Frog Soos and the Curator anywhere around here." he noted. "What about you guys?"

The others looked around themselves and found no trace of the two people.

"Hmm… You're right, boy. I don't see them either." Hop Pop confirmed the boy's suspicions, as do Anne and Polly. "Well, they were the first ones to escape the beast first, and carrying Anne around did slowed us down a bit, but they couldn't have disappeared that quickly. Right?"

"Why are we standing around here, wondering where they are?" Polly asked. "Let's just get outta town and get a move on already! I've just about had it with this place!"

ROOOOOOOAAAAAARR!!!

The family got startled by the Gill-Behemoth's roar coming from inside the hut, prompting them to look back at the building. As they thought about the huge monster that they had just escaped from, their minds then shifted towards Gwendy, thinking about how she was alone in fighting the beast by herself.

"Guys," Anne was the first one to speak. "I'm not so sure if I want to leave things as they are now."

"Yeah, same here…" Sprig shared her sentiment. "Gwendy said that she can take care of it, but she might just be saying that so that we wouldn't have to get involved even more than we should."

Polly groaned. "I didn't want to grow a conscious now, but I'm with you. I'm still scared for the cool girl back there."

"I understand, kids." Hop Pop nodded in acknowledgment. "But what can we do? If we join in now, we might not contribute much except wasting the chance that Gwendy has painstakingly given us to escape in the first place."

"Well, maybe not you guys, but I think I have a shot at helping her get even with that thing." Anne said. She then attempted to force her body free from the frozen wax, but to no avail. "Grrr! If only I didn't have all this wax on me! This is super frustrating!"

"So we just have to melt the wax off of you, right? Then let's find a torch or anything hot that can do the job!" Polly suggested.

"I'm still concerned about this, but it might be our best chance." Hop Pop said, as he stood up from the ground. "Let's go, everyone! Time is of the essence!"

Hop Pop and Polly both split off to find a torch or anything that they could get their hands on within the area.

Sprig was about to start his search himself, until he suddenly remembered an off-comment info from yesterday that might improve their chances,

"Sprig?" Anne called out to him after noticing that he hadn't left yet. "What's wrong, dude?"

"I just remember something." Sprig replied while looking at the curly-haired girl. "Frog Soos mentioned that the Curator wants to keep dangerous weapons for himself in case of an apocalypse. Maybe he has a stash of weapons somewhere in the museum just for that occasion!"

"Wait, what're you suggesting?"

"If we can find his weapon stash, then we can use it to help Gwendy fend off the Gill-Behemoth!" he explained.

"Huh. Sounds like a plan!" Anne said with a smile. "Let's go find it after I'm finally wax-free!"

Sprig frowned. "But who knows how long until we get the wax melted off of you. It might be already too late when the time comes. So our best bet is to find the weapons and use them against the monster now!"

"Hold on! Sprig, you're not thinking about going back in there alone, are you?" Anne asked, fearful for the boy's safety.

"We don't have a choice! Gwendy needs our help, and there's not a second to lose!"

Sprig then sprinted back towards the Curiosity Hut to begin his search for the Curator's elusive weapon stash.

"Sprig! Wait!" Anne yelled as she tried in vain to move her body to stop her best friend from doing what was practically a suicide mission. The most that she could do is watch him disappear inside of the building. "Dang it! Hop Pop! Polly!"

"What is it, Anne?" Hop Pop came to her side, holding a couple of torches in hand. Polly followed suit, holding three torches in her possession in comparison. "We got the torches! Is Sprig not back yet?"

"Guys! You gotta get me outta here fast!" Anne told them urgently. "Sprig just ran back inside the museum to fight the Gill-Behemoth on his own!"

"SAY WHAT?!"

Frog Soos kicked open and ran past the door before fatigue caught up to him, causing him to drop Stan down to the floor and slightly crouch down to catch his breath.

"Hah… Hah… I think we're in the clear, Mr. Ponds…" the large frog panted.

Stan groaned as he rubbed the sore spot on his head with his hand, while he looked around as he wondered where Frog Soos had taken him. A single glance at his surroundings was enough for him to recognize where they were.

From the triangular positioning of the wooden walls, to the round, stained-glass window centred on one of the two straight walls, and down to the two beds stationed at opposite ends from each other, it was clear as day as to what the room was supposed to be. The only room in the whole hut that Stan dreaded the most.

"Soos, what are you talking about?" Stan said as he glared at his handyman. "This is the attic! The kids' room, to be exact! You just took us directly above where that monster is!"

"Well, I panicked, okay!" Frog Soos shouted after he himself realized where they were. "My head gets all jumbled up when I get scared, and I didn't know where I was going! Doesn't that happen to you too, Mr. Ponds?"

"Even if it did, my first instinct would've been to run out of the building! It takes a real piece of work to think that going to the next room over is gonna make a difference in this situation!"

Stan stood up from the floor, dusted himself off and took another look around the room before he went towards the closet. After opening and entering the closet, he took the time to rummage the place until he managed to pull out a large, empty sack.

"Well, whatever. At least I get another shot at it." he said as he proceeded to grab a few things of interest and put them inside of the sack.

"Mr. Ponds? W-what are doing in here?" Frog Soos asked as he checked up on his boss inside, confused by what he was doing.

"What does it look like?" Stan said without looking back at the large frog, focusing primarily on stuffing his bag. "I'm taking whatever I can get my hands on and get the heck outta here!"

"You're still thinking about leaving the museum?!"

"What, you think the whole 'monster running around the place' was enough to change my mind? Or maybe you think that you figuring out my motive for all of this did the job instead? Like heck it did! I ain't planning on staying here any more than I should!"

Stan exited the closet as soon as he put away everything that he thought he needed in there, pushing Frog Soos aside in the process. He then started to do the same thing with the rest of the room, starting with the bell hanging down from the ceiling.

"B-but Mr. Ponds, think about it for a minute!" Frog Soos implored him. "The Curiosity Hut won't be the same if you leave now! You're the biggest reason why the museum is so magical! We can't afford to lose you like this!"

"Well, if you and Gwendy weren't such snooping, pieces of filth and just do your jobs, maybe I wouldn't have to ditch it in the first place!" Stan argued. "I could've become the most powerful man in the world if things went exactly as it should, if you and that dumb, backwater family hadn't ruin it for me! Now I have to start over from scratch!"

"Is it really what you care about the most? To go big with your business all over the land? I thought you're doing all of this because you're jealous of your brother-"

"Would you just SHUT UP ALREADY?!" Stan yelled as he finally turned towards Frog Soos, glaring intensively at him. "My brother or any of my family don't matter anymore! If I say that I want the Curiosity Hut to be the global sensation, then it's all for the sake of it! Who cares about them anyway?! They all left me behind in the end!"

"Well, okay, I won't lie and say that I get the whole spiel with you and your family." Frog Soos said. "But what about Flipper and Schmabel? You can't say that they abandoned you too! Not after everything you dudes have been through!"

"What does it matter?! Ford got them to hate me at the end of it!"

"How do you know that? Where's your proof that they hated you?"

"Is your head on straight?! If you had just look at them with Ford, you'd get the idea already!"

"Dude, forget about Ford already! This is Flipper and Schmabel that we're talking about! They'll never hate you!"

"You gotta cut it out with all the self-licking habit, Soos!"

"Come on, dude! How're you so sure that the twins don't like you anymore?!"

"BECAUSE WHO WANTS TO LOVE A BIG, FAT SCREWUP WHO DESTROYS HIS FAMILY?!?! LET ALONE A GUY WHO CROSSED THE LINE AGES AGO?!?!"

…

…

…

There was a brief moment of silence between Stan and Frog Soos, with the latter staring at the former with a look of shock on his face. At that moment, the Curator realized what had just said, adopting a shocked expression himself.

When the room shook as a result of the Gill-Behemoth still rampaging down below, Stan quickly turned away from Frog Soos, flustered.

"Dang it! Look what you made me do!" Stan blamed the handyman for the slip of the tongue. "Got me to say stuff that shouldn't matter anymore. All you need to know is that I'm done with this place already. I ain't coming back here no more!"

With his declaration, Stan grabbed the fez on his head and threw it away. The fez bounced a couple of times on the floor before rolling away until it hit Frog Soos' feet.

The large frog looked down at the discarded hat, as several thoughts went through his head surrounding his boss' true motives.

"If you care about the museum so much, why don't you become the Curator, huh?" Stan joked in a mean-spirited way, looking back at Frog Soos for a brief moment before he continued to stuff his sack.

Frog Soos continued to stare down at the hat for a short moment, before he proceeded to pick it up in his hand. He then spent another, precious moment to inspect and admire the fez that his boss used to so proudly wear as the host and owner of the Curiosity Hut.

"… Maybe I will." Frog Soos said.

Stan once again stopped what he was doing and looked back at Frog Soos, somewhat surprised by what he had just said.

"I still don't get the whole family stuff with you, and maybe I never will, but if you think you're the only one with family issues, what about me and my dad who never came back home even once to see me? That's not pretty fair, right?"

Stan did not say anything, but there was a very brief moment where his facial expression changed, as if he was reminded of how Frog Soos had a deadbeat father who was absent in most of his life.

"You know what I think?" Frog Soos continued. "I think Flipper and Schmabel still love you, Mr. Ponds. Even when it looked like they were having a lot more fun with your bro, nothing beats what you dudes had the whole summer. Like when you sang together up on the rooftop to scare away the shroomheads when they invaded town that one night. Oh, and when you gave up the mayor electoral race to save the twins from falling to their doom."

Frog Soos chuckled as he reminisced all of the adventures that happened with Stan and the twins, some of them he had partaken in alongside Gwendy. When he looked up to Stan to see his reaction, he was disappointed to see that he still had a stone-cold expression on his face.

"The thing is, I don't think there's anything that could change the twins' minds about you. Not your bro, not anyone. Especially not you." he said. "And I'll prove it to you the next time they visit Stony Gulch."

"What makes you think that they'll ever come back here?" Stan asked, skeptical of the idea. "And even if they do, you think they'll stick around once they find out what I did to the place?"

"I dunno." Frog Soos admitted his uncertainty. "But I got this gut feeling that they're gonna come back, and if or when they do, I want them to see the museum as it was when they left it, before the whole monster statue business. If you won't stick around to take care of it, then I will."

The large frog then removed his cap from his head with one hand, then put on the fez with the other, symbolizing his willingness to inherit the ownership from his boss.

"… And it'll be my first order of business as the new Curator of the Curiosity Hut, the new Mr. Oddity." he finished.

"Hah! You've gotta be kidding me!" Stan scoffed, amused by the idea of Frog Soos becoming the new owner. "You won't even last a day as the Curator! And that's assuming this place is still standing even after that monster's attack! You don't know what you're doing!"

"Maybe not. But I'll figure something out." Frog Soos replied. "Just like how I figured out how to be a handyman without you showing me the ropes when you first hired me. As a little kid, too!"

The room shook once more.

"Oh! Speaking of which, I gotta go help Gwendy! She's a big part of this too, just like you and me! It won't be the same if anything happens to either her or the museum!"

Frog Soos ran towards the door, intending on going back downstairs to give his fellow coworker a hand. But after he opened the door and had one foot out of the room, he stopped.

"One other thing," he spoke. "About Flipper and Schmabel… They still love and support each other, even after they fought over a bunch of stuff. Some of them you think could've ruin their bond, but they didn't. I think it has to do with them being twins."

He turned his head to look at his boss once again, adopting a sympathetic look on his face.

"Maybe it's the same deal with you and your own twin. You don't actually hate your bro. You just don't know how to talk things through with him. And he probably doesn't hate you too."

Stan stayed silent, opting to simply glare at the large frog instead.

"Then again, what do I know? I'm an only child in my family." Frog Soos shrugged. "I guess I'll chalk it up as just a gut feeling. A good one, I bet."

After he said his peace, he quickly left the attic to join the fight downstairs, leaving Stan alone in what used to be Flipper and Schmabel's room.

Stan stared at the door where Frog Soos disappeared from for a short while, before scoffing and resumed his looting activity.

"Tch! That braindead, oversized lump of junk…" he muttered under his breath. "Just because he's wearing my hat, he acts all high and mighty around here? A bunch of mindless spit, I tell ya…"

He spent a little over a minute putting away objects in his bag until he found that he had obtained everything that he thought he needed in the room. Just when he was about to go to the next room, with what little time he had left, he remembered that there was one other item in there that he nearly overlooked.

He went over to the bed on the right of the room, crouched down and slipped his hand underneath it, trying to grab whatever was under there.

"Come on, dang it…! I'm sure I put away a stash of copper under here somewhere." he said to himself. "Unless that stupid kid found and stole it while they were staying here…"

After blindly reaching his hand around the underside of the bed, he felt his hand finally hitting something.

"Aha!"

With a smirk, he had his hand grab the object and reeled it back in. He looked down at what he seized, expecting a bag of copper.

Instead, he was surprised to see that, in his hand, it was a rather colourful book, filled with stickers all around the front and back cover.

In fact, it was Schmabel's scrapbook.

"What the heck is this doing here?" Stan asked himself, confused by the presence of such a book. "Did that kid forgot it or something?"

He found it hard to believe that such a high-spirited girl like her could have forgotten such an important book full of memories. He wanted to think that her experience in Stony Gulch was so terrible that it was the only explanation as to why she left it behind. Then again, if he knew the little girl well, it was definitely not the case.

When he found himself pondering about it unnecessarily, he thought about putting back where he found it, or even throwing it out the window, since it belonged to one half of the pair of ungrateful brats. However, even as he tried to get the urge to do so, he found himself unable to.

Instead, out of senseless curiosity, he opted to take a look at it himself. See what was on Schmabel's mind.

He sat down on the bed and laid the book on his lap before opening it.

Skimming through the pages, it was pretty much what he had expected from a positively energetic girl like Schmabel. They were filled to the brim with not only stickers, but several pictures taken at various points during last summer, with written words associated to each one representing the girl's thoughts.

Some of them were very typical, like the picture of Schmabel and her friends hanging out, with her writing 'GIRL TIME' or 'ME AND MY BESTIES' or something of the like.

A few of them were taken at points that he was not sure when and how the kid had to the time to take them, such as when they were being chased by a group of giant fireants while fleeing on a cart inside of a mine. He had his eyes on the kids almost the whole time, and setting up a camera takes time. What kind of witchcraft was that?

And nearly half of the book was filled with pictures of her cute and beloved grubhog, Paddles. If he remembered correctly, Schmabel found that grubhog at a fair one day, and she loved him so much that she wanted to keep him as a pet. Of course, Stan was against the idea, finding it a waste of space, but by some dumb luck, he came around to him after they had experienced a life-threatening situation together.

But not all of the pages were happy memories. They were a couple that showed that Schmabel was miserable in some aspects.

For example, she went on a quest to find love, and she found several people that she deemed suitable, based on their looks. But things never worked out with all of them. Some of them were not what they seemed to be, as they turned out to be jerks, creeps, psychotic, or all of the above. Some did not even know that she existed. And the biggest gut punch was that the one person that she had the biggest chemistry out of all of them was married off to someone else. It was clear as day that the pages dedicated to finding love were depressing as heck, with pictures of each of her love interests being crossed out, and there were noticeable dried drop of tears on them.

And a page near the end of the book was simply a picture of Flipper and Schmabel together, but a crack was drawn between them, and the only word written on it was 'Why?' He remembered that Schmabel had some kind of crisis caused by her realizing that Flipper and her were gonna split, because Flipper went and decided that he was going to travel the world. She was an outright wreck for a few days, and it took the twins talking things out together for a long time for her to be back to her usual, joyful self.

Of course, her despondent phase would not have happened if Ford did not put the idea in the boy's head in the first place…

Stan frowned and shook his head, as if he was brought back to reality.

"What in the world am I doing?" he asked himself. "Why am I being nostalgic all of the sudden? It doesn't matter what she thought back then. She hates my guts and that's it…"

He thought about tossing the book aside at last, but since he was nearly at the end of it, he might as well finish looking over the whole thing, regardless of how pointless it would be.

But as he flipped to the last page, something fell off from the book.

"Huh? What's this?"

Looking at the object that fell off and picking it up in his hand, he discovered that it was some kind of a letter. Inspecting the letter allowed him to find out that it was addressed to him. He did not even have to look at the sender's name to know who wrote it, due to the sheer amount of hearts and stars drawn on it.

Shmabel must have written it before she left town.

Even as he racked his head as to why she would bother writing a letter to him in the first place, he already found himself opening it and reading its contents. Perhaps it contained her last thoughts about him.

Dear Frunkle Stan,

HI FRUNKLE STAN! It's me! Your favourite sweater-knitting, love-sharing, cute bundle of joy of a niece in the whole wide world! And I'm giving you one last dose of my special Schmabel goodness in this letter right here, detailing all of my thoughts and feelings! And I'm gonna write lots in it, or at least until I get sugar-crash at some point!

You might be thinking 'why bother writing this letter instead of saying it to my face?' Well, I really did wanna talk to you face-to-face, but, well… You weren't really yourself for the last couple of days, so I couldn't find an opening to do so. So writing a letter to you is my safest bet! And I hope that you find it before Flipper and I leave town to go back home to make it extra emotional!

Ok, I'm gonna crank down the energy just a bit so I can tell you everything without going off the rails. And believe me, I'm trying to fight off the sugar rush just so I don't mess things up here!

Without further ado…

Frunkle Stan… This summer was the best one that Flipper and I had in our whole lives. We've made friends with a lot of folks, like Gwendy and Frog Soos, and met a bunch of great people too. We went through lots of adventures and mysteries together. Lots of memories too. I had a lot of ups and downs, and even though I was super sad at some point, here and there, it's ok because everybody helped me get over it.

And you know what's the huge thing to take from all of this? We got to know you, Frunkle Stan. All the times we shared, and the wacky shenanigans we've gone through, and even the times where we helped you with your schemes and stuff. All of this just make me think that you're the greatest great frog uncle that we ever have. I'm really, really happy that we got to know you this whole summer. And nothing is gonna change that.

I know that you and your brother aren't in best terms right now, and I still don't know why. You kept telling us that your brother is a backstabbing jerk, and the most that Frog Uncle Ford could tell us is that you ruined an incredible opportunity for the family. I might not know the whole story, but don't you think it's time to make up and hug out already? I get the feeling that you two don't actually hate each other, but you're all caught up by what happened in the past. Maybe it's time to start focusing on the present, so that you two can be best friends again. Just like me and Flipper!

Anyway, the important thing is… No matter what anyone says about you, no matter you did in the past that makes people hate you, and that led to where you are now… I know, from the bottom of my heart, that nothing's gonna change the fact that you're my favourite Frunkle Stan. And believe me, I'm really good at figuring out people! … Sometimes.

Whoop! I'm feeling the sugar-crash now! Talk to you later, Frunkle Stan!

Your favourite niece in the whole world,

Schmabel

As Stan finished reading Schmabel's letter, he looked back at the scrapbook on his lap and saw the last page that the letter fell from.

It was the first group picture of the whole gang together. Him, Flipper, Schmabel, Frog Soos, and Gwendy, all smiling at the camera as the picture was taken. A huge heart was drawn around the picture, and the words that Schmabel had written about it was 'THE GREATEST GANG IN THE WHOLE WORLD', accompanied by stars and hearts.

Stan let out a bitter chuckle, as he gripped hard into the letter in his hands.

"Dumb kiddo… Acting like she knows everything about me…" he said. "She wouldn't be saying that if she knew how much I screwed up everything…"

In spite of his chastising his niece for being clueless, it did not change the fact that her letter proved the opposite of what he believed for nearly a year about the twins: Schmabel still loved him. And by extension, maybe Flipper did not hate his guts as well. For once, Frog Soos was onto something.

But… That was nearly a year ago. Things may easily change between then and now. Perhaps they might have learned the true story behind his estrangement from the rest of the family and they would truly cut ties with him. Ford would definitely make sure of that…

Ford…

Stan sighed and moved a hand over his face, as he was forced to remember everything that led to where he is now.

When they were kids, he and Ford were similar to Flipper and Schmabel in a way. He was the cool, tough twin out of the two who does not hesitate to go down and dirty when the situation calls for it. Ford was the smartest and the nerdiest of them, with a fascination for mysteries and anything strange. They always had each other's back, with Stan protecting Ford from anything that would push the latter down, and Ford in turn helping Stan to move on up in the world.

They once shared a dream to sail beyond the land of Amphibia to discover the unknown, where untold riches and mysteries awaited. They even built a boat over the years in preparation for that fateful day. Whenever the two of them were together, nothing could stand in their way.

But as they grew up, and Ford became more intelligent, it did not take long before he was scouted out by the scholars from the most prestige school in Newtopia. They heard so much about his achievements that they were willing to send an admission team to evaluate him and the project that he was working on at that time. If he succeeded in impressing them, he would be accepted into the school and moved to Newtopia.

But that would meant that Stan would be left behind to fend for himself. Without Ford, Stan could barely scrap by. And that scared him.

Even as he tried to convince himself that it probably would never happen, Ford proved to him that he was willing to attend the biggest school in all of the land to pursue his aspirations. Like their dream of sailing the world was never a thing for him.

Never he would have thought that they will come a time that the twins would split up. And he never would have thought that it would be that soon. And the worst of all, Ford was completely fine with it.

He could not understand why. They were a dynamic duo since birth. They had each other's backs. Neither of them would be able to survive through life without the other. He understood that. And yet, Ford acted like he did not need him anymore, like he was perfectly willing to ditch him.

In his anger and confusion, Stan inadvertently sabotaged Ford's project. And as a result, Ford was rejected from attending the school.

It did not take long for Ford to figure out Stan's role in this, and once their whole family caught wind of it, they were quick to disown Stan for destroying their once-in-a-lifetime chance at being successful. Even Ford turned his back on him.

In his desire to keep him and Ford together, he ended up becoming the cause of the twins splitting up.

In fact, it was not all that different from Flipper and Schmabel, when the latter became incredibly depressed once the possibility of the two of them splitting up dawned on her. The biggest difference was that the two kids made up, in the end.

Stan looked up and around the room that he was in. Or more specifically, in the building known to the people as the Curiosity Hut.

The museum came to be when Stan was at the end of his rope. He came across Stony Gulch one day and sought out shelter at a seemingly abandoned wooden house. The house had a bunch of assorted items still, and he had the idea of pawning those items off to the local pawnbroker. His mind was so scattered from tiredness and desperation that he thought up the idea of combining two items into one in hopes that they would be worth more than when they were separated.

It did not work out, of course.

But by a stroke of luck, his amalgamation of the objects attracted the attention of the townsfolk who were fascinated by such odd contraption, to the point where they were willing to purchase the strange object off of his hands.

It was then that an opportunity presented itself to him. If those gullible fools were willing to throw money at him, why not capitalize on their intrigue?

And so, he created the Curiosity Hut, born from his efforts of combining several articles into strange oddities whose existence eluded the common folk, and also born from him having to twist a bit of ethical laws and break some rules to make a product worthy for its oddity.

For the first time since he was left alone, Stan was able to form a successful business on his own. If he kept things up, he would be set for life.

And then, he received an unexpected message from his little sister's child, asking him to look after their twin daughter and son for the summer, being Schmabel and Flipper.

Being contacted by a family member was the last thing that he was expecting. How in the world did his little sister's kid managed to find where he was? And more importantly, why did they ask him to take care of their kids? Why not other people, or even Ford?

Did they even know what he did in the past?

Regardless of the reasoning, he wanted to decline their request, as he felt that he no longer wanted to deal with family. Not after they ditched him a long time ago.

But against his better judgement, he found himself agreeing to take care of his great nephew and niece.

When Flipper and Schmabel first came to Stony Gulch, he was not sure what to think of them. He found Flipper to be a nerdy, scrawny little kid who always stuck his nose in books, while Schmabel seemed like a real piece of work, considering the energy that she kept giving out. He thought that he would be annoyed by them for the whole summer.

But as time went by, they somehow became closer and closer to one another. Partly because they were always dragged into some strange adventures and stuff. And partly because they were always trying to help each other's issues in some way.

He thought it impossible, but for the first time in a long while, he finally felt like he had a family. Flipper and Schmabel managed to bring back what he had lost. He was important to them, just as they were important to him. He was truly content with what they had going with them.

And then… Ford suddenly showed up in his life again. He came to Stony Gulch seemingly at the request of Flipper and Schmabel's parents.

Putting aside the fact that it was the first time in a long while that he had seen Ford, his twin brother changed quite a bit. Still a huge nerd as he was when they were young, Ford had become a researcher of all things odd and mysterious in the world. In fact, he had just returned from one of his many expeditions when the twins' parents contacted him.

Admittedly, he was scared when he first saw Ford, unsure what to do and say to him. Was Ford still angry at him for dragging his future into the mud? A grudge can last a long time, after all.

But if he was able to connect with Flipper and Schmabel, perhaps he might be able to reconnect with his twin brother as well, mending their broken bond. He was convinced that it was not too late for them to be a family again.

However… Things did not worked out as he had hoped.

During all of their conversations at the start, Ford kept talking about what he was doing since they split up. He talked about how he attended an unremarkable school where he had to work twice as hard for his efforts to be noticed by the bigwigs, and when he succeeded on that front, he dedicated all of his efforts into researching the oddities that plagued the land. He recounted a few of the expeditions that he went through, elaborating on some that he found most fascinating, and showed him a few artifacts that he deemed most interesting.

He never talked about what happened between them the last time they saw each other, or even reminiscing their time together growing up.

And worst of all, he never bothered to ask Stan how he was doing.

The resentment that Stan had when Ford abandoned him resurfaced itself, leading him to blow up at his brother. Ford responded in kind, finally talking about how Stan tried to ruin his life, and from the looks of things, his own as well. The twin brothers were bickering among themselves, which lasted until Ford left with Flipper and Schmabel.

Ford's reappearance was the catalyst that led Stan to change his approach on how he wanted the museum to go. Jealous of his brother's accomplishments, he sought to one-up him by finding the most oddest creatures that the land had to offer himself, and put them into display for everyone to see. Once he had his hands on wax, he got the idea of using it to freeze the strange creatures solid so that they looked like any ordinary statue, with no one in town all the wiser.

It was a huge hit with tourists who were led to the museum out of morbid curiosity, and they threw lots of money in his way to show their appreciation. But at the same time, the local townsfolk became creeped out by how the museum eventually became, opting to steer clear away from it. But how cares what those fools think? Money was all that mattered to him.

And once he had enough, he would expand his business across the region, and once he reached that financial milestone, he would move on to the entire land itself. The Curiosity Hut would be the most famous museum in all of Amphibia, and he would become the most powerful man in the world of business. He was perfectly willing to cross several lines to achieve that goal.

All so that he can rub it in his entire family's face. Especially his backstabbing, insensitive, self-absorbing twin broth-

"… Who am I kidding?" Stan sighed, cutting his thoughts short. "Of course I wasn't trying to prove that I'm better than him…"

He lowered his head down to his open palms, as his true feelings set in. Only he knew the true reason behind his own actions.

The reason why he did all of that, why he made the museum as it was, why he went to all of those lengths to ensure the museum's success… It was never to get back at Ford. Or any of his family.

It was because he was scared. Scared of being considered the weakest member of the family. Of being incapable of surviving without his twin brother's support. Of being unreliable in the minds of his nephew and niece.

Of being the ultimate loser.

That was it. His motives were all born from fear.

Once he came into terms with it, he lifted his head up and adopted a horrified expression on his face.

"Dear frog… What have I become?" he asked himself, becoming fully conscious of his actions. "I turned the museum into a horror house, filled with monsters that could break out at any moment. And I was this close into turning that odd, innocent girl into…"

He wondered what led him to try and turn that freaky girl into the museum's biggest attraction. Was it greed that motivated him? Or perhaps he was jealous of how strong her bond with her family was, despite not being blood-related. He could not remember the exact reason.

Regardless, he almost crossed the one line that he swore never to approach in his entire life.

"… I really am the biggest disappointment in my family…" he said despondently. "No wonder Ford was acting cold towards me… Everything is my fault… No one wants a screwup like me… Not even the kids…"

The room shook violently once again, reminding him that the monster was still making a mess downstairs. However, his desire to escape the museum had diminished. He resigned himself to fall into ruin alongside the whole building, assuming that the Gill-Behemoth manages to destroy the museum in the process.

He had his eyes glued to the floor, unwilling to look away under the weight of his terrible actions…

Knock! Knock! Knock!

He snapped out of his depressive state when he heard something knocking. He turned his head towards the door, wondering if someone was trying to get in.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Then he heard the same sound, except it was never coming from the door at all. Shifting his sight towards the opposite direction, he was met with the sight of a mosquito messenger knocking its head against the glass-stained window.

"What the… What's this thing doing here this late at night?" he asked himself.

The mosquito messenger continued to knock against the window, trying to get itself in.

With a groan, he begrudgingly stood up from the bed and walked towards the window, opening it to allow the mosquito in.

"What do you want, you stupid mosquito?" he asked it in irritation. "I'm not in the mood to deal with whatever your business is with me! If you're one of those trying to get a tip from me, forget about it! My blood ain't yours to feed on all willy nilly!"

The mosquito messenger merely responded by buzzing.

Stan growled, as he had no patience to deal with it. Looking over the mosquito, he noticed that it was holding a letter in its long mouth.

"Grr… Okay, fine! What do you have here?"

Stan snatched the letter from the mosquito's hold and opened it up to read its contents. He assumed that it came from a business associate, since he had several letters coming from a whole bunch of people that he had no interest in partnering with.

But when he read the letter, he widened his eyes in shock, as he learned what the letter was about.

It was then that Stan Ponds had decided his next course of action.

Chapter Text

The likelihood of the weapon stash's existence was becoming less and less likely the more Sprig searched every nook and cranny that he could find in the entire museum. Admittedly, he was just jumping into conclusion over its existence based on a single passing comment from Frog Soos, but he was really betting on getting his hands on it to turn the tide of the battle against the Gill-Behemoth.

In his search for the elusive stash, he eventually found himself in the gift shop, the very last place within the museum, barring the one where Gwendy and the Gill-Behemoth are located. He was not getting much hope in finding it inside of the shop, even as he looked around the place as much as he could.

"Hah…! Come on, weapon stash! Where the flip are you?!" he panted just as he started to walk through the shop.

He scanned the room many times, but no matter how hard he tried to look, all he could find were souvenirs, shirts with a question mark, heads of assorted creatures mounted on walls, anything except the stash. It also did not help that the room was dark, so it was even more difficult to find what he was looking for. If the weapon stash truly existed, then the Curator was really good at hiding it where no ordinary person could find no matter where they look.

They were running out of time. If things kept going at that pace, Gwendy would surely become either food for the beast or a messy stain on the floor, courtesy of the monster's giant foot. Not to mention that it would escape the hut and start attacking the whole town in its rage.

Sprig quickened his pace, walking around the room and looking every inch of it as much as his eyes could allow him. But in his haste…

THUD!

Sprig yelped as he tripped on a stack of boxes and fell to the floor, bringing the boxes down with him where they spilled their contents all over.

The green-clad boy groaned and rubbed the sore part of his head, as he lifted himself up. He looked around himself to see what exactly he tripped on, until his eyes were drawn towards a peculiar item. He reached out and grabbed the object in his hand before pulling it towards him and examining it closely.

He wondered if it could be a viable tool in helping turn the fight in their favour. He always thought of it as a weapon, but aside from a brief, sudden experience with it, it was difficult to see if it was even a weapon to begin with.

But time is of the essence. For all he knew, that tool could be his next best shot at gaining the upper hand.

CRASH!

"Urgh!"

Despite her best efforts in dodging the beast's attacks and countering whenever the opportunity presented itself, Gwendy eventually got hit by the Gill-Behemoth's kick and was sent crashing into the wall. The impact of the crash broke apart a big part of the wall and the pieces collapsed on top of her.

A moment had passed before Gwendy barely managed to crawl herself out of the piles of broken pieces of the wall, coughing a couple of times in the process. Her body sustained quite a bit of damage, which was reflected from the tattered state of her clothes, among other things.

She lifted her head up and saw the giant beast slowly approaching her step by step, as she was still the target of its aggression.

"Dang…! What is your skin made of?" she asked, barely being able to stand up.

The Gill-Behemoth's only response was to let out a hot breath in her way, shaking the floor beneath her with each step and the intensity getting stronger the closer it was to her.

"Hah…! Definitely bit off more than I can chew… Dad warned me about choosing my battles carefully…" Gwendy remarked, wiping some dirt off of her face. "I guess this is what I get for putting on a cool face for everyone almost all the time."

She realized that if she continued to fight the Gill-Behemoth like that, she would face a devastating loss that she might not come back from. Even so, she had to keep fighting as much as she could, not just for the museum's sake, but for the entire town's sake. After all, if ever her dearest friends come back sometime in the future, she wanted them to see that the town that they hold dear is the same as when they left it.

With renewed determination, she took a couple of defiant steps forward, mirroring the beast's movements. After wiping off more dirt off of her face, she took an offensive stance, ready to strike at the monster despite the overwhelming odds going against her.

The Gill-Behemoth continued to move towards her, its enormous eyes aimed squarely at her. It was nearly within attacking range from her.

"You leave her and the Curiosity Hut alone, you huge… frog… mutant thing!"

At the sound of a voice from an unknown party, the Gill-Behemoth turned itself around and caught sight of a large, turquoise frog standing some distance behind it, carrying a big bag over his shoulder.

"Soos!" Gwendy shouted, surprised to see that her coworker came back to help even though she herself believed that it would not be the case. "… Wait, why're you wearing Stan's hat?"

"I'm not letting you keep hurting my friend, or destroying everything that I love!" Frog Soos yelled at the beast. "If you're gonna keep at it, you'll have to go through me! The new Curator of the museum!"

"Hold up. New Curator?"

"You're not dealing with an average handyman anymore! So come and get a piece of me, Mr. Gill-Behemoth!" taunted the large frog while he shook his fist at it.

The Gill-Behemoth stared at Frog Soos for a bit, seemingly unimpressed by him. Deeming it as a non-threat, it slowly turned itself back at Gwendy to continue what it had planned for her.

"Ha! Bad move, dude!" he said with a smirk. "Time to blow you away like a dandelion!"

Frog Soos proceeded to spin himself around as much as he could while swinging the large bag that he was holding along. After spinning around for a while, he let go of the bag, as the momentum sent it flying towards the beast's head.

Spotting the flying object in the corner of its big eyes, the Gill-Behemoth turned its head just in time for the bag to hit it squarely between the eyes.

"LIKE A DANDELION!!!"

BOOM!

The bag suddenly exploded right in the monster's face, creating a huge cloud of smoke that covered the entirety of its head.

"Yes!" Frog Soos cheered while pumping his fist after seeing that he managed to hit the creature with the bag full of smoke bombs. "Mr. Ponds might kill me for using all of the smoke bombs at once, but it's worth it if it's to protect the museum!"

The cloud of smoke expanded in size with each passing second, to the point of filling and obscuring the whole room.

Frog Soos and Gwendy both began to cough from inhaling the smoke once they were envelopped by the growing cloud.

"O-okay, maybe this is working out too well." Frog Soos coughed, covering his nose with his mouth

"Yeah, no kidding!" Gwendy said while trying to fan the smoke away from her face. "So what's your next move, Soos?"

"Uh, well… Um… I dunno, dude." he stammered.

"Wait, you serious?"

"Sorry! I-I didn't think that far ahead!" he sheepishly explained himself. "That last attack was more of a spur of the moment, and I was hoping that it'll keep going until we beat that monster! I dunno what to do next!"

"Well, try and think of something! Now's a really good time to figure that part out!"

Frog Soos frantically looked around, trying to think what he should do next to combat the beast. However, it was difficult for him to do so when the smoke was obscuring the whole room, preventing him from seeing things that might give him some ideas. Not to mention that he was in a state of panic that made it harder for him to formulate his thoughts properly.

While he was trying to figure out his next move, the smoke was starting to dissipate in a shockingly rapid rate. As he started to see things a bit more clearly, he could make out the giant silhouette of the Gill-Behemoth from a short distance.

At first, the creature seemed to remain still since the bag of smoke bombs struck it. Then, after it snarled, the silhouette moved like it was turning itself towards the direction of Frog Soos before it somehow decreased in size.

When the smoke had faded to the point that the inside of the room became a bit more visible, the turquoise frog was met with the sight of the beast crouching down, with its eyes aimed solely at him, its toes firmly gripping onto the floor, and its body slightly leaning back.

"Uh oh."

The moment that Frog Soos realized what it was about to do, the Gill-Behemoth lunged itself forward, widely opening its huge mouth lined with fangs as it was rapidly closing the gap between it and the large frog.

Frog Soos screamed as he vainly tried to protect himself by ducking down and putting his arms up in front of his face while shutting his eyes closed, too paralyzed with fear to move out of the way.

However, for a split second, he felt a foot on his shoulder that then propelled itself off of him. When he lifted his head up, he was met with the sight of an odd, tanned-skin person moving in midair towards the lunging beast while pulling the sword in her hand back.

"Anne?!"

Anne let out a battle cry as she thrusted the sword forward, stabbing the Gill-Behemoth in the forehead. The resulting impact caused the monster to veer slightly off-course, nearly missing the turquoise frog, and it crashed and slide across the floor to a complete stop, inadvertently clearing most of the smoke out of the room, except for the area where Gwendy was.

"Hah…! Everyone alright?!" The human girl asked as she looked over the beast's fallen body while standing on its head, her hands still on her sword that was lodged in the creature's head.

"Dude! You came back? And… You're not covered in wax anymore!" Frog Soos said, finally noticing that her body was indeed no longer petrified in wax, barring a few tiny, broken and melted pieces of the material still latching onto her in a few areas.

"Yeah, and about time, too! Looks like I got here before things get really bad." Anne noted, relieved to see that Gwendy and Frog Soos were still in one piece. She looked around the room and noticed that something was amiss. "Hey, have you guys seen Sprig?"

"Wait, I thought that he was with you? What happened?"

"Sprig went back inside to find something to help you fight this thing. I thought that he might be with you guys already before I came in." she explained the situation. "Well, I guess it's a good thing that he hasn't join in yet, 'cause this fight is pretty much done!"

The smoke was completely cleared out, allowing Gwendy to see the room clearly and in turn, witness the Gill-Behemoth's felled body with Anne standing on its head.

She let out a frightened gasp. "Anne! Get off of that thing quick!"

"Relax, Gwendy!" Anne reassured her with a smile. "The Gill-Behemoth's already toast. Got a sword in its brain and everything."

"That's the thing!" Gwendy said. "Its skin is, like, really flipping hard to cut through! My hatchet couldn't put a dent into it! Heck, I don't think your sword did anything either!"

"What?"

Before Anne could make sense of what Gwendy was warning her about, the Gill-Behemoth's eyes suddenly shifted towards her, startling her.

Then, it stood up from the floor as if it was not harm in the first place, bringing the human girl along with it.

"Oh geez."

The first thing that it did after standing up was shaking its head furiously, allowing the sword to fall off since it was not lodged in its head in the first place and trying to do the same to Anne.

The brown-haired girl yelled as she tried to hang onto its head to avoid being shaken off.

"Hang on, dude! I'm coming to help!" Frog Soos shouted before he jumped on one of the Gill-Behemoth's legs and started bashing his fists against it in another spur of the moment.

The monster continued to shake its head as much as it could, but Anne was surprisingly still hanging on to dear life. It stopped its action once it was clear that removing the human girl would not be as simple of a task than expected. Stopping its head did allow it to notice the large frog climbing on its leg and attacking it.

In retaliation, it moved its leg back, then swung it forward to launch Frog Soos off and send him flying straight towards Gwendy.

The flannel-wearing frog could not react fast enough before Frog Soos crashed right into her and they both fell back into the broken wood pile behind them.

Once it had dealt with the large frog, it set its sights on Anne who was still hanging onto its head. With a snarl, it squatted down to the floor and started to build up something from within as evident of its body shaking subtly.

"Wait, what's it doing?" Anne asked, scared to know what it was about to do.

The Gill-Behemoth leaped high off the floor, smashing through the ceiling of the room all the way to the roof, creating an enormous hole in the building.

Hop Pop and Polly, who remained outside of the museum even after they managed to remove the wax off of Anne, were left in a state of shock after witnessing the giant creature jumping high into the sky from the hut, then landing back down to the ground some distance away, shaking the ground in the process.

"Dear frog! That monster just escaped the museum!" Hop Pop exclaimed. "What happened to the others?! Are they still okay?!"

"Hop Pop! Up there!" Polly said while pointing to the sky above the museum. "Is that who I think it is?"

Following the direction that the tadpole was pointing at, the elderly frog spotted an unknown object slowly falling down towards the building. He squinted his eyes in order to improve his vision, and once the image of the falling object became more clearer, he screamed of horror after recognizing who it was.

"AHH!!! ANNE!!!"

Anne was briefly knocked out when the beast smashed its head all the way through the roof with her on it. When the monster began to fall back to the ground, she fell off of its head in her unconscious state before her body proceeded to slowly fall down as well.

She regained consciousness when she heard Hop Pop screaming her name. After blinking her eyes a few times and looking around herself briefly, she realized the position that she was in and, with her body angled downwards, looked up to see the floor getting closer and closer as she was falling rapidly.

"OH CRUD!" She yelled as she closed her eyes and put her hands up in a futile attempt to cushion her fall.

BANG!

Suddenly, a hook attached to a rope was launched in an upward angle, aimed at the high point of one of the pine trees behind the museum. As soon as the hook latched onto the trunk of the tree, someone was zipping through the air, following the rope's trajectory.

Anne was caught in the middle of her fall. Once she realized that she was no longer falling, she opened her eyes and was met with the sight of the person who stopped her fall and was pulling her securely in their free arm.

"Sprig?!"

Sprig flashed a prideful grin at her once she recognized that it was him who saved her.

The moment was short-lived, however, as he ended up crashing themselves right into the tree face-first. They then proceed to slide down before falling to the ground hard on their backs next to each other.

"Oww…! Yep, this hurts just as much as last time…!" Sprig groaned as he nursed his injured face.

The hook unlatched itself from the tree and fell on the boy's head for his troubles, followed by the rope that landed on him in a spiral manner.

"Sprig! You saved me!" Anne exclaimed as she sat up from the ground and looked at her best friend next to her, surprised by his sudden appearance at the last second. "But how in the world did you…?"

Looking over him, she took notice of an object that he was holding in his hand which seemed to be connected to the hook and rope.

"Wait, is this a grappling hook?" she asked. "Where did you get your hands on this?"

"You mean this thing?" Sprig said as he sat up from the ground himself, letting the hook and rope slide off of his body. He lifted the mini hook cannon up to give the human girl a better look at it. "I found it back at the gift shop. It kinda looks like one of those gun things from your cop shows, so it got me pretty curious."

"Huh. That's pretty convenient." Anne noted. "Well, it definitely helped me out big time. I would've been a big pile of meat on the floor if you hadn't show up in time. Thanks, buddy."

The two humans exchanged smiles with one another, as Anne stood up from the ground and helped Sprig get up on his own feet.

Meanwhile, still standing in the middle of the town plaza, Hop Pop and Polly sighed with relief once they saw that Sprig rescued Anne in a nick of time.

ROOOOOOAAAAAAARRR!!!

Startled by the ferocious cry, they were quickly reminded that the threat of the Gill-Behemoth was still there. And to make matters worse, the monster was standing right outside of the museum, looking around itself in a new, unfamiliar territory.

"Hop Pop, this is bad!" Polly said. "That thing is gonna tear down the whole town in a second!"

"You're right, Polly!" Hop Pop said. "But if neither Anne nor Gwendy can take it down fast enough, what else can we possible do? At this rate, we might need to evacuate the whole town before the monster is finally slain!"

"But everyone's probably still asleep! How are we supposed to wake everyone up and get them out of town before that thing gets to them?"

"I'm afraid to say that we most likely won't save everyone." the elderly frog stated sombrely. "But better to save the most that we can than to lose all of them in the process. Let's go before it's-!"

Hop Pop suddenly felt something touching his shoulder, causing him to yelp and jump out of fright.

"Hop Pop?!" Polly spoke in alarm, as she took notice of the hand that suddenly lay on her grandfather's shoulder.

She came to his rescue by hopping and headbutting the hand off him.

"Back off, bub!" she threatened the person whose hand belonged to with a glare. "It's been a really long night, and if anything or anyone tries to scare us one more time, I'm gonna lose it for real!"

The elderly frog quickly turned towards the stranger behind him and was taken by surprise when he recognized who they were dealing with.

"… You?!"

Removing the last remaining debris off of his friend, Frog Soos managed to pull Gwendy out of the wood pile that they crashed into moments ago, helping her stand up in the process.

"Are you okay, dude?" he asked out of concern.

"I think so. Thanks, Soos." Gwendy replied, which was followed by a cough. "Hrm…! Hey, where did that monster go?"

"I dunno." Frog Soos said. "When I got out, both Anne and the Gill-Behemoth were gone. And then there's this big hole in the ceiling up here."

Both of them lifted their heads up to see the aforementioned hole which was about the size of the creature. It did not take long for them to put two and two together as to where the Gill-Behemoth had disappeared to.

"Come on, Soos! We need to get outside fast!"

The two museum employees both sprinted away to exit the building. Along the way, Frog Soos came across a sword laying on the floor, presumably belonging to Anne. He decided to pick up the sword and bring it with them, just in case.

Once they left the hut, they took a quick look around the plaza in search for the beast. Sure enough, the giant creature was found standing right besides the museum, looking like it was trying to make sense of where it was.

"Not good!" Gwendy remarked in alarm. "We gotta deal with that thing before it starts attacking the town!"

"Gwendy, look over there!" Frog Soos exclaimed while pointing at the direction behind the hut. "I think I saw Anne and Sprig!"

Gwendy looked at where Frog Soos was pointing and saw the two humans emerging out of the woods from behind the museum, looking relatively fine, much to their relief.

Sprig and Anne both glanced at the Gill-Behemoth, worried about what it might do next now that it escaped the building.

"Sprig," Anne spoke to the boy. "Please tell me that you found the guy's weapon stash."

"I-I tried!" Sprig replied. "But I couldn't find squat, even when I looked at every nook and cranny of the whole place! I don't know if it even exists anymore!"

"So we're left with nothing to fight off that monster?" she asked, troubled by that fact.

"If only we can just find the Curator and get him to tell us where he's keeping those weapons…"

"Well, scratch that for now!" Anne said, as she got into a stance in preparation of resuming their fight. "We need to take it down before everyone else gets hurt!"

"R-right!" Sprig nodded as he got into a stance himself, though he remained uncertain of their chances at winning the fight.

But before they began to tackle at the beast, everyone in the surrounding area were caught off guard by a loud voice.

"HEY! YOU UGLY, OVERSIZED, POOR EXCUSE OF A FROG!"

The two humans, two frogs and the giant monster all shifted their gazes towards the direction of the voice.

It was there that they saw the suit-wearing orange frog standing at a far distance away from them, about where the town gate is located.

"Stan?!" Gwendy shouted, shocked to see their boss out there.

"Yeah, I'm talking to you, butterface!" Stan said as he threw a finger at the monster that he was addressing to. "Remember me? I'm the guy who gave you a limited time spotlight in my museum! Not that you deserve it in the first place!"

The Gill-Behemoth's eyes twitched with anger as it recognized its captor.

"You know, I used to think that you were the toughest one out of the bunch, considering your size and all! Until I fought you, that is! It makes me laugh when it turned out that you're just a gigantic wimp!"

The creature snarled, as the eyepatch-wearing frog's taunt was getting on its nerves.

"What the heck is he doing?" Gwendy asked, reacting in disbelief at whatever he was trying to do. She turned her head towards the turquoise frog. "Soos, weren't you supposed to take him somewhere safe?"

"Sorry, dude!" Frog Soos apologized. "I might have ended up taking him to the attic while we were trying to escape the first time around. But in my defence, I thought that he already left town by now."

"Hey, what's the deal with your broken fang? You had an accident and fell on your face or something?" Stan continued his taunting of the beast. "Oh wait! I remember! I was the one who broke it in the first place! Punched the tip right off like it was nothing! How pathetic is that?!"

The Gill-Behemoth widened its mouth to show more of its fangs, growling the more he was making fun of it.

"Haha! You may be big, but you certainly have small plans!" he chuckled. "I guess I shouldn't expect much from someone who used his big feet to compensate for his teeny-weeny little arms! No wonder I caught you so easily in the first place! Hahaha!"

The Gill-Behemoth let out a furious roar, crouching down as its claws gripped onto the ground while leaning its body back a bit. Then, it lunged itself forward, trying to catch its captor in its large maw.

But since the distance between them were large, Stan easily hopped out of the way of its attack, escaping through the town entrance and into the woods further down the road.

The enormous creature quickly stood up, then proceeded to run after him, breaking through the gate in the process.

"Stan, what in the name of frog are you doing?!" Gwendy yelled, as she seriously could not believe what had transpired in that moment.

"We gotta go after him! Come on!" Frog Soos said, as he ran to follow their boss and the monster from behind, accompanied by the long-haired frog.

Once they saw that everyone was going into the woods, Anne and Sprig both exchanged looks with each other and nodded before they ran after everyone else themselves.

The Gill-Behemoth had been smashing its way through the woods for a while. The trees obscured its sights, preventing it from getting a clear view of its fleeing prey. Its only course of action was to run through what was in front of it in order to claim what it deserved.

Eventually, it entered a wide-opened area in the middle of the woods. It looked around and saw nothing but a large plain with a few patches of grass here and there. All the trees were located on the outskirt of the wide area, meaning that there was nothing blocking the way.

It searched aimlessly for the source of its torment, until it spotted a conspicuous individual standing right in the middle of the area. It only needed to look at the fez resting on the head of the lone person for it to immediately recognize him.

It wasted no time preparing its attack, squatting down to the ground, gripping the earthly soil tightly, and leaning its body back.

Sprig, Anne, Gwendy and Frog Soos managed to catch up to the beast. But by the time that they arrived, it was too late to stop it.

The Gill-Behemoth launched forward, roaring as it opened its mouth wide while it was rapidly approaching the orange frog.

"Mr. Ponds! Watch out!" Frog Soos alerted their boss of the monster's attack.

Stan did not budge from where he was standing, much to everyone's confusion and horror.

Then, the Gill-Behemoth finally caught its captor in its jaws, sinking its fangs into his flesh. It lifted its head up with the frog still in its mouth, and with a single chomp, it bit Stan in two, letting his lower half fall off.

"STAN!!!"

Gwendy and Frog Soos were horrified as they witnessed the demise of their longtime boss, rendering their efforts into protecting him all for naught.

Anne and Sprig also watched in shock, unsure of what they were supposed to do next.

The Gill-Behemoth took its time savouring the taste of its prey, satisfied that it finally delivered retribution against him.

Then, it stopped chewing, as it found that something was amiss. The suit-wearing frog's flesh did not taste like any ordinary flesh. In fact, he tasted awful, if not a bit bland. And he felt thicker and stickier as well.

It looked down at Stan's lower half laying beneath its feet and noticed that it was not creating a pool of blood below. In fact, upon closer examination, the colour of the chomped-off section of his lower body was brown instead of red. And the body itself looked more… waxier than it remembered.

"Wait a sec." Anne spoke as she peered at the lower body from where they were standing. "Is it me or does it look less like the Curator and more like his wax statue replica?"

Everyone else took a look themselves and realized that the human girl was onto something. Once they noticed the inconsistencies surrounding Stan's lower half, they came to a conclusion that it was not really Stan, but a wax figure depicting his likeness.

"Does that mean… Stan is safe?" Frog Soos asked, feeling a bit relieved.

"But where the heck is Stan?" Gwendy wondered.

As the Gill-Behemoth stood there, confused over what it just ate, it failed to notice that it was being watched from afar.

Beyond the outskirts of the wide-opened area, the purple tadpole was observing the beast's movements with the help of a telescope in her hands.

"The monster took the bait!" she relayed the information to her entire group. "Hurry up, Hop Pop! That thing's gonna escape if you keep dragging things out!"

"I'm doing my darn best here, Polly!" Hop Pop said, struggling to lift the large barrel up in his hands. "Hnnngh! Frogdangit, how much does this barrel weigh?! I'll end up breaking my spine trying to lift this!"

"Give it here!"

Hop Pop's struggles with the barrel came to an end when a suit-wearing frog arrived and lifted the barrel for him like it was nothing.

"Sheesh! I know that you're getting old, but this is pathetic!" Stan remarked. "I almost regret asking for you country folks for some help! Well, at least we still got things going!"

Stan placed the barrel down on the bucket of the catapult, which was positioned prior to the Gill-Behemoth's arrival.

"I don't know what you're planning, Mr. Curator." Hop Pop spoke, glaring cautiously at the eyepatch-wearing frog. "But if you think helping us fight against that beast will make us forget all about the atrocities that you have done to our family tonight, then you're sorely mistaken!"

"Look, you can grill me over my actions later!" Stan said. "We all wanna take down that thing, yeah? Then let's just do it already!"

He turned his attention towards the person standing next to the lever positioned besides the catapult's bucket.

"Hey, you old kook! Everything's all locked and loaded! You better not mess this up!"

"I'm Old Man McRibbit!" exclaimed the lanky, big-nosed and white-bearded green frog wearing brown, patched-up overalls and an old, brown hat. "'Bout time that I pull this darn, old contraption of mine out of the shed!"

"Uh, are we seriously gonna rely on a crazy old man's device?" Polly asked, having second thoughts about the plan. "Don't get me wrong! I'm down with using a catapult! But knowing that he built it is kinda worrying…"

"He may not look like it, but this guy's the smartest jerk in the whole town." Stan explained. "I wouldn't have gone to him if all the things that he built were big disasters. You're gonna have to trust him on this one."

"But can we really hit the beast like this? Even with all the trees that are in the way?" Hop Pop asked, concerned about the obstacles obstructing the path.

"Of course! He wouldn't have told us to put the catapult here if it wasn't gonna work!" Stan insisted.

He then turned his head towards the local kook.

"I mean… It's definitely gonna work, right?"

"Heck if I know!" McRibbit replied without hesitation. "I just feel like putting the old girl here! Didn't think of the trees or the wind or anything messing with the trajectory!"

"Are you pulling my leg?!"

"Well, one way to find out! Hehehehehe!" The beard man cackled as he pulled the lever down. "Fire in the hole!"

The arm of the catapult was swung vertically forward, launching the barrel off the bucket as it flew in an arc. It narrowly went past the trees, barely brushing against some of the branches in the process, and eventually emerged out of the woods and going towards the sky until it reached its high point. It then started to fall downwards, going towards the unsuspecting monster.

At the sound of an object falling from above, the Gill-Behemoth barely moved its head up before the barrel struck it right in its face, exploding into a brown, liquid mess that soaked the creature from head to toe.

"Direct hit!" Polly shouted while pumping her fist in the air.

The Gill-Behemoth cried in panic, unable to comprehend what had just happened. Not to mention that its vision was being blocked by the brown fluid, so it could not see where the attack came from.

But when it took a whiff of the solution that it was covered in, the smell was all too familiar to it. It realized that it was splashed with wax, and that would spell doom if it let it linger on its body.

In a state of panic, it blindly ran around the open plain, trying to remove the wax off as much as possible. But since the wax was quite viscous, getting rid of it proved to be a difficult task.

It felt the wax slowly starting to solidify on its body. Letting out a frightful cry, it randomly turned to one direction and began to charge forward, not knowing that it was moving towards Sprig, Anne, Gwendy and Frog Soos.

"Watch out, guys! It's running right at us!" Gwendy warned everyone.

"Wait, you think it's gonna keep charging this way? That's where Stony Gulch is!" Frog Soos shouted. "It's gonna trample the town if we leave it alone!"

"What're we gonna do?!" Sprig asked. "If we try to stop it ourselves, we're just gonna get knocked away!"

Anne gasped, as she just had an idea as to how to stop the charging creature.

"Sprig! Frog Soos! Get yourselves over there!" Anne told the two males, pointing them to a certain spot.

"Uh, okay! Sure!" Sprig nodded, unsure of what his best friend was getting at. He and Frog Soos both moved towards that one location.

"Gwendy, you and I are gonna go over there!" Anne said as she pointed at a different spot.

"You're the boss!" Gwendy shrugged as she followed the human girl's lead. Both girls moved to the location that Anne was talking about.

The two parties were in position, forming an empty space between them that was just wide enough to somewhat serve as a passage for the Gill-Behemoth to go through.

"Okay, Sprig! Shoot the grappling hook at me!" Anne instructed the orange-haired boy.

"You want me to do what?" Sprig asked, confused by her request.

"Just do it! Trust me!"

"O-okay! Here goes!"

He hastily aimed the grappling hook at the curly-haired girl and pulled the trigger, shooting the hook out with the rope attached to it.

After dodging the launched hook, Anne went and grabbed the rope once it fell to the ground.

"Alright, guys! This is how we're gonna do it!" she said. "On the count of three, we all pull the rope at the same time! Got it?"

At first, Sprig still had no idea what his best friend was planning. But once he briefly glanced at the giant beast running their way, he immediately understood her plan. He then nodded to her to show that he got it.

"Okay! Get ready, everybody!"

Anne gripped the rope tightly, while Gwendy positioned herself behind the human girl and took hold of the same rope. Meanwhile, Sprig firmly grasped the pistol with both hands, while Frog Soos had his arms around the boy from behind.

Anne observed the charging beast, trying to get the timing right.

"One… Two…"

The Gill-Behemoth was about to pass in-between the two groups.

"THREE!!!"

The two groups both pulled on the rope in direct opposition to one another, raising and tightening the rope in the process.

As the result, the Gill-Behemoth unwittingly tripped over the rope, falling forward and crashing into the ground hard.

The beast let out a terrified squeal, squirming along the ground in a pathetic attempt to stand up. Unfortunately for the creature, enough time had passed and the wax stiffened, putting its erratic movement to a halt.

The four of them watched the fallen body cautiously, noticing that the creature had completely stopped moving compared to what happened moments ago

"Did… Did we do it?" Frog Soos asked.

Wanting to confirm what was going on with it, they walked around the body, keeping a keen eye on it for any sign of sudden movements until they got to the front of its face. Once they saw that the the creature remained still, completely covered in the brown substance, it was safe for them to form a single conclusion about it.

The Gill-Behemoth was once again frozen in wax.

"I… I guess we really did it." Gwendy spoke, finally letting her body relax once it dawned on her that they defeated the monster.

"Kids!"

Anne and Sprig both heard Hop Pop's voice calling out to them. Turning their heads towards the direction of his voice, they saw the elderly frog and the purple tadpole running up to them. They were followed by an unknown beard frog.

"Hop Pop! Polly!" Anne shouted in relief, as the two humans ran to meet up with them midway through. "When did you guys get here? I thought that you were back in town, hiding from that thing!"

"Yeah, funny story about that." Polly said. "We got roped in to pull a scheme to take down that monster."

"Really? Who dragged you into this?"

As if on cue, a certain orange frog suddenly landed in-between the group and the frozen beast, catching everyone off-guard.

"Heh! Would you look at this?" Stan said with his hands on his hips, pleased to see that their hard work paid off. "Completely frozen in wax. Exactly as it should be. I still dunno how it got out the first time around, but it's not gonna screw things up anymore."

He turned his head towards the lanky frog.

"Glad I ran into you for help, you old kook. It might've been pretty bad if it weren't for your inventions that you somehow pulled out of your butt."

"Ah shucks! Always willing to lend a helping hand to Ford's pals!" McRibbit said, scratching his nose. "Welp! Looks like we're done here! Now if you'll excuse me, me and the wife are gonna spent some quality time together!"

McRibbit then picked up a small spider in his hands.

"Come on, wifey! Let's spin some webs around the house! Hehehehehe!

And so, the beard frog ran to parts unknown with his 'wife' in his arms, cackling all the way.

"Geez… You wouldn't know that this guy's got brains at first glance." Stan remarked. "Well, now that's over, how about we go and celebrate our victory over…"

When he turned towards the rest of the group, expecting smiles and whatnot, he instead mixed reactions from them.

The Plantar family were throwing hostile looks at the suit-wearing frog, obviously because he was responsible for putting them in danger in the first place.

While Gwendy and Frog Soos stared at him with worry, unsure of what he was going to do next, considering what happened a while ago.

"… Right. Here comes the awkward part…" Stan said, scratching the back of his head as he tried to figure out how he should approach it.

"Mr. Ponds…" Frog Soos spoke first, taking a couple of steps forward as he looked at his former boss with sadness in his eyes. "Are… Are you still going to leave the Curiosity Hut? After everything we've been through?"

Stan turned his attention to the handyman.

"I may be the new Curator now," the large frog continued, removing the fez from his head and kept hold of it in his hands as he looked down at it. "But… the museum wouldn't be as magical without you around. I… I dunno if I can live with that."

"Soos…"

"I mean, we can still work this out! Whatever's bothering you, we can make it better if we put our heads together!" Frog Soos pleaded. "S-so please, Mr. Ponds! You're like the closest thing to a dad to me! If you can just let us, we can-"

Gwendy placed a consoling hand on his shoulder.

"Soos… Give it a rest." she said sombrely. "Stan made it pretty clear that he rather skip town than give it to us straight. We can't change his mind, no matter what we do…"

"But Gwendy, I…" Frog Soos wanted to argue with her, but even he knew that she was speaking the truth. Nothing he can say would turn things around.

In the end, all he could do was nodding despondently.

"We'll try and keep the museum running ourselves. It's gonna be tough, but that's all we can do to keep the memories intact." Gwendy said, patting him on the shoulder. She then shifted her gaze towards the eyepatch-wearing frog, giving him a melancholic look. "… See you around, Stan."

She turned around and started to walk back towards town.

Frog Soos did the same and took a few steps in, before he remembered something. He went to Anne and pulled out a sword.

"Here you go, dude. You dropped it back at the hut."

"Thanks, Frog Soos. Really appreciate it." Anne expressed her thanks to the large frog, retrieving her sword from his hands.

Frog Soos simply nodded before he followed Gwendy back to town, still feeling sorrowful that they will have to part ways with Stan and take care of the museum without him.

"Hey, hold up just a minute!"

The two employees stopped and turned towards Stan when he suddenly called out to them.

"You guys are just gonna leave without giving me the chance to explain myself? If we were on the clock, I would have cut your pay for walking out on the job."

He attempted to make a joke to ease the tension, but Gwendy and Frog Soos still looked at him attentively without breaking into a smile.

He sighed, knowing that there was no point beating around the bush.

"Look," he spoke, rubbing the back of his neck. "I… I might have done some sleazy stuff this past year. And I won't pretend that my twin brother doesn't have something to do with it. But there's more to it than I let on…"

He slowly paced himself from side to side, trying to collect his thoughts on how to explain himself.

"I… I screwed up big time with my brother a lifetime ago. He was going to be accepted to a fancy school in Newtopia, and I might have blew his chances by being dumb…"

"So you were really jealous of your brother?" Gwendy assumed.

"Of course I wasn't jealous! That had nothing to do with it!" he rebuffed the long-haired girl's guess before he calmed himself down. "I… I didn't want to lose my brother. He and I were a dynamic duo since we were born. Always helping each other out to move on up in the world. Without him, I'm just garbage in the eyes of the world. The idea that we're going to split scared the snot outta me…"

Stan rubbed his hands together, as he kept recalling everything that lead to where they are.

"Ford and the rest of my family pretty much left me for dead after they figured out how I screwed things up for them. I was on my own for a long time, and I would've bite the dust if I hadn't found the Curiosity Hut out of sheer luck."

He looked at the direction of the town.

"Then the kids showed up. Made me feel like I have a family again. Like I meant something to them instead of being a complete nobody. I thought that things were finally looking up for me. Then…"

He let out another sigh, once he got to the crux of everything bad that occurred since the end of last summer.

"Then… Ford suddenly showed up and made me feel like a complete loser again. Always talking about himself and never asking me how I was doing. He even got the kids to like him faster than me. It's like… He was destroying every single hope I had in surviving this world."

"And that's when the wax statues came in…" Gwendy remarked.

"But if you didn't do this to get back at your bro, then why did you do it?" Frog Soos asked.

"I told you, Soos. I was scared out of my wits of being trash in the eyes of the world." Stan replied. "Look at Ford! On his own and he became a successful researcher just fine! If he can survive without me, then why can't I? He reminded me that I'm worthless, no good to anyone, and would've been a rotting skull in the middle of nowhere if I didn't get lucky. And… he messed with the kids' heads into thinking that I'm a complete loser, taking away the only family that I had left…"

Gwendy and Frog Soos both frowned, as what Stan said about Ford influencing Flipper and Schmabel had some truths to them. They still had doubts, but if the facts were all there in the first place…

"… At least, that's what I thought."

They glanced at each other, surprised by what he had just said.

"What do you mean?" Frog Soos asked.

Stan pulled out a letter from the inner pocket of his jacket.

"When I was at the attic, I found this letter from Schmabel. Hidden inside her scrapbook, of all things." he explained. "And… You were right, Soos. Even after everything, Schmabel still loved me. She still loved the Frunkle Stan who went on adventures with them through thick and thin, who gave them a home inside of the Curiosity Hut, and who helped them make memories in this small town during the summer. She loved the kind of man I was before I… leaped off a slippery slope."

He placed a palm on his forehead, as another sigh escaped his lips.

"I… I really screwed things up. I tried to prove myself to the world by trying to make it big with the museum. I used every dirty trick in the book to get to that point, even going as far as scouring the whole land for the oddest creatures the world has ever seen and turning them into wax statues to be shown at the museum for a quick copper. Not caring that I basically turned the place into a horror house without considering that they might break out, which is what just happened with that thing behind me. I wasn't the man that the kids had gotten to know last summer. And I feel like an absolute jerk about it…"

"So… You're admitting that you messed up big time?" Gwendy said, as she was starting to feel hopeful after hearing what he said up to that point. "Then what're you gonna do now?"

"Gwendy, Soos," Stan spoke, exchanging brief glances with each of them. "Look… I did a lot of thinking and…"

A gust of hot air suddenly blowed from behind him, distracting him for a second.

"I said that I was going to ditch the museum, but now that I think about it more, I…"

Then came another puff of hot air.

"I just wanna say that I…"

Then came a third time.

"… Okay, what's the deal with this wind?! I mean, where's it coming from?!" he yelled, frustrated that he was interrupted by whatever was blowing behind him.

He turned himself around to see what was causing the blow of hot air and found nothing out of the ordinary. Except for the frozen head of the Gill-Behemoth, that is.

Suspecting that something was going on with it, he took a closer look at the creature by leaning in.

Suddenly, the hot air blew right at his face. He managed to deduce that it came from the Gill-Behemoth's nose.

"Heh! What do you know!" he chuckled as he leaned back straight. "This thing's still breathing even when it's all frozen in wax! Kinda impressive, with all things considered."

"No kidding?" Gwendy said as she decided to approach the frozen beast, curious to know if it was really breathing herself. "Huh. That's pretty weird. And kinda creepy if you think about it. I wonder if it's the same deal with all the monsters that got turned into wax statues."

"Yeah, I don't really bother thinking about the small details." Stan shrugged.

The frozen monster continued to blow hot air through its nose, though nobody was troubled anymore that it could still breath.

"Hah! Keep breathing, butterface!" said the amused Stan. "It's good that you can still breath and all, but you should ask yourself if it's better to live the rest of your life in wax or to die to stop yourself from thinking how you're basically trapped forever.

The Gill-Behemoth statue's only response was to keep exerting hot air, which was all it could do in its current state.

Everyone watched as Stan continued to laugh at the monster's unfortunate position.

But then, Polly noticed something was off. Upon closer inspection, she noticed that something was dripping from the statue, and she was pretty certain that it did not occur earlier. She became more afraid when it turned the drops of liquid that fell to the ground were of the same colour as the wax.

"Guys," Polly spoke out, gaining everyone's attention. "The wax is melting!"

Everyone all widened their eyes in shock, shifting their gazes towards the frozen beast to see exactly what she was talking about.

All the while that it was breathing out, the wax covering its body was starting to melt down. The outer layer of the wax had already started to drip from the body, and if things remained that way, the rest of the wax would melt off in the process.

Meaning the Gill-Behemoth would soon be free once more.

"Uh, what's happening?!" Frog Soos exclaimed, as he began to panic. "Why is the wax already melting?! There's not a source of fire or anything warm around here!"

"It's the monster's doing!" Hop Pop shouted, once he figured out what was causing it. "It's using its own breath to melt the wax around it! I think that's also how it got out the first time around!"

"Seriously?!" Stan said. "This sneaking, son of a…!"

"Stan, we need to throw more wax at it! Cover the nose completely!" Gwendy suggested. "You got some more of that stuff lying around?"

"That barrel was my last batch!" he replied. "I don't got anything else!"

"Then what are we supposed to do?!" Sprig asked.

"I think there's only one thing we can do!" Anne said, brandishing her sword at the frozen beast. "We have to take it down right now! Before it has the chance to break free!"

"But Gwendy said that its skin is, like, really strong!" Frog Soos reminded her. "I don't think blades can do anything against it!"

"What about using the catapult?" Polly proposed. "We'll put something really heavy on it, launch it at that thing and crush it! Nobody survives getting flattened!"

"But where can we find something that heavy?" Gwendy asked. "Even if we find something, I don't think we'll have time to get it ready before that monster gets outta there!"

"Ahhh! I don't like this! I really, really don't like this!" Frog Soos yelled, as he was nearly overcome by fear over the idea of fighting the monster head-on.

Stan looked as everyone was getting ready to confront the beast, with varying amount of uncertainty over their chance of victory. He shifted his gaze towards the petrified monster, noticing that it was starting to shake slowly, but surely.

"… You said his skin is flipping hard, right?" Stan asked for a reminder. "Well, it won't be when I peel it off!"

He quickly hopped on top of the monster's head, surprising everyone. He then sinked his fingers through the wax layer and gripped the scale underneath.

"Stan? What are trying to do?" Gwendy asked.

"What does it look like?! I'm giving you guys an opening!" Stan explained, as he started to pull on the skin. "Just shut up and let me do my thing!"

He gritted his teeth as he exerted as much strength as he could to pull the skin off, even as more wax was melting off the beast, and its body was shaking more and more.

Everyone watched him nervously, entrusting him with the task and hoping that he succeeds before it's too late.

Moments have passed since Stan kept pulling on the skin. Things became more tense when it seemed like not much progress was being done, and the Gill-Behemoth was almost at the point of breaking itself free.

"Stan!"

"What did I just say?! Shut your yap already!" he shouted at the others before he quickly switched his full attention back to the skin that he was trying to pull.

Noticeable cracks started to form around the wax layer. The monster began to move its mouth very slowly through the wax. It almost appeared like there was no time left.

"Listen here, you overgrown waste of space!" Stan yelled. "If you think that you're going to do whatever you want in Stony Gulch, then you got another thing coming! It's a big mistake of me to bring you in alive as a statue! I'm putting an end to it here and now! Besides…"

As he continued to pull the skin hard, the scale began to loosen.

"… I GOT KIDS COMING OVER TO VISIT!!!"

As he yelled out to the sky and exerted a burst of energy, he suddenly fell back from the beast's head. But not before he finally managed to rip off part of its skin, as it flew off in a distance.

"He did it! By frog, he actually did it!" Hop Pop yelled, shocked to see that Stan was successful.

"Anne! Now's your chance!" Sprig said.

Anne nodded before exchanging glances with Gwendy.

"You know, I could use your help with this! You in?" she asked.

"That's cool with me!" Gwendy smiled as she pulled out her hatchet. "Let's finish this!"

Anne and Gwendy both jumped towards the monster's head with their weapons raised high up. As they yelled out a battle cry, they plunged their blades deeply down into the exposed head.

The Gill-Behemoth reacted by screaming to the skies above, breaking off the wax that it was encased in and lifted itself off the ground, shaking off the two girls from its head. It continued to cry out in anguish as loudly as it could, giving everyone the impression that the finishing blow did not do enough.

It suddenly stopped crying and remained still for a moment. Then, it fell to the side and crashed down to the earth. There, it remained motionless.

Everyone observed the body closely, waiting to see if it was going to jump where they least expected it. But after enough time had passed, it had not moved an inch.

The Gill-Behemoth has been vanquished.

"It's… It's really over, right?" Frog Soos asked, still a bit skeptical over the outcome.

"I think so." Anne nodded. "Definitely got a sword and hatchet in its brain and everything."

Frog Soos let out a sigh of relief, as he fell on his behind once he was allowed to relax at last. Everyone else followed suit in easing their tensed spirits.

"Geez! That thing is a real piece of work, having us work our butts off just so it wouldn't bother us no more…" Stan said.

He slipped his hand inside one of his pockets, only to find that whatever he kept inside was missing. He tried searching his other pockets and even looking around himself in search for that item, but he had found zilch.

"Darn it, where did I drop that blasted thing…"

Gwendy watched their former boss searching profusely around himself, as she was left wondering what it was that he was looking for. Then, when she looked down on the ground, she noticed a letter lying next to her feet.

She picked up the letter in her hand and looked around it, wondering if that was the item that Stan was trying to find. She recalled him saying that Schmabel wrote him a letter back there, so she was curious to see what was inside of it.

She opened the letter up and read the first written line. She widened her eyes when she recognized the handwriting.

Only, it was not Schmabel's handwriting.

It was Flipper's. Meaning he wrote that letter addressing to Stan.

The letter got her full attention, as it was the first time that they got anything from Flipper for months. She started reading it with the intent of going through everything.

Dear Frunkle Stan,

It's been almost a year since we last talked to each other, right? How have you been doing? Up to your usual schemes of pulling tourists and squeezing them dry of their money again? I'm only half-joking, of course… Well, knowing you, you're probably doing exactly that. It's still a wonder how you manage to get away with it without them being none the wiser. But if I have to think about how many crimes that you've committed so far, I'm gonna be at this all day. So let's just get to the point of this letter.

Sorry that Schmabel and I haven't contacted you for a while. We've been pretty busy with school and stuff. You wouldn't believe how much homework they have us do almost everyday. I mean, I've been handling it just fine on my own, but Schmabel kinda needed my help with it, since her head is always in the clouds and everything. It's exhausting… But I'll do anything for my twin sister.

But lately, something has been on the back of my mind. Maybe it's been there ever since we got back home and returned to our usual lives. Living with our parents, going to school, doing stuff that we usual do for most of our lives… All of it feels normal. But not weird normal.

Honestly, I don't know if we like it that much.

Every once in a while, I think back to our time at Stony Gulch, where a lot of things happened in over two months. We went through a lot of adventures together, solved mysteries thought to be unsolvable, made a lot of great friends and met a whole bunch of people. Everything about Stony Gulch is weird. But… We feel right at home, somehow.

Frunkle Stan… Schmabel missed you a lot. The same goes for me too, kinda. We missed you, Frog Soos, Gwendy, and a lot more people in Stony Gulch. I don't think we've ever felt this way about our own home, except for our parents. Stony Gulch felt like a second home to us. And… Schmabel and I want to go back.

And that's exactly what we're planning to do. To go visit you guys again this summer.

At first, our parents weren't really onboard with the idea, since the only reason why they sent us there in the first place is because they couldn't find anybody to watch over us for the summer. But we managed to convince them to let us go back there. We wouldn't have done it without Frunkle Ford's help.

Frunkle Stan… I was able to get Ford to tell us everything that happened between you two years ago. While it really sucks that you messed up Ford's chance at going to his dream school, I know that you didn't mean any harm. Not the Stan we got to know, anyway. You two were butting heads almost all of the time that we've seen you, but I get the feeling that you really want to reconnect after not seeing each other for so long. It's just that you were so caught up in the past that your emotions got the better of you and you assumed the worst of each other. I like to think that you want to start things over with Frunkle Ford.

In fact, I managed to get through to him after I told him all of the times that you helped us and took care of us like we're your own kids during our stay. Ford admitted that he thought about starting things over with you when he visited Stony Gulch, but he didn't understand or consider what you've been going through. And now that I told him stories of our adventures together, he realized that he's also at fault for things escalating between you two. He promised us that when we go back to Stony Gulch this summer, the next time he sees you, he'll do his best to bury the hatchet together with you. I just hope that you feel the same way and do the same. After all, you two are twins and should be best friends who watch each other's backs. Just like me and Schmabel.

We are going to see you again. And when we do, you better make an exception and throw us an expensive party at the Curiosity Hut. Just kidding. You're too cheap to be doing all of that for us. Unless you really are going to make an exception this time…?

Anyway, Schmabel and I are looking forward to see everyone again. Especially you, Frunkle Stan. So until then, keep being the cheap, law-breaking, money-laundering Frog Uncle Stan who loves his family a whole lot. See you soon!

From your great nephew,

Flipper

"Hey, have you guys seen a letter somewhere around here?" Stan asked, giving up on trying to find the item on his own. "Pretty sure I had it with me when I got to this place, now I just need to figure out where…"

He trailed off when he noticed that Gwendy was holding a letter in her hands, looking like she was moved and full of complex emotions. It did not take him a second to know what she was reading.

"Stan," she spoke, moving her face up to look at the eyepatch-wearing frog. "When did you get this?"

"You, uh… You read all of that, did you?" Stan scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "I was kinda hoping to keep it a surprise and all. You know, for maximum shock value."

"What are you guys talking about?" Frog Soos asked, switching his gaze between Stan and Gwendy.

"Soos… Flipper and Schmabel are coming back!" Gwendy informed him, unable to prevent herself from smiling. "They're coming to visit this summer!"

"R-really?! You're not pulling a fast one on me, are you?!" Frog Soos said with a bit of skepticism on the idea.

Gwendy responded by shaking her head, still showing a sincere smile.

Frog Soos turned his attention to their former boss. "A-and you knew about it? Since when?"

"I got the letter a while back, when that thing was trashing the museum." Stan replied. "And I was just as surprised as you two when I read it myself. It… It almost felt like a fever dream."

He raised his head up as he looked to the sky.

"The kids still love me. They love you guys too, and a bunch of others. They like their time here so much that they both planned on coming back here during this year's summer break, exactly like last time. They were even able to convince my brother to give us another chance. It's like I really meant something to them…"

He turned himself around so that his back was facing the group.

"But the thing is… They love the Stan Ponds who took care of them all of last summer. Not the Stan Ponds who… crossed the ethical lines too many times, including putting innocent tourists in peril for an insane goal. If they see me now… They'll be disappointed big time."

"Stan…"

"… But until they come back in town in a few months," Stan said as he turned back towards the others, his face full of determination. "I'll have plenty of time to go back to being the man that I was before. It's time to say goodbye to the immorally corrupt Mr. Oddity, the monster poacher and wax maker."

He took a decisive step forward.

"From here on out, Mr. Oddity, master of all things odd and founder of the Curiosity Hut, is back in business!" he declared. "If anyone has a problem with it, I'll gladly clock you right in your stupid face!"

Everyone reacted with surprise by Stan's declaration of turning over a new leaf.

But none had the same reaction as Soos who began to tear up.

"D… Does that mean what I think it means?" Frog Soos asked, eyes blurry with tears.

"If you're talking about me staying right here in Stony Gulch and taking care of the museum as usual, then you better bet that I'm-"

Stan got interrupted when he was suddenly pulled into a huge hug by the large frog who was crying his eyes out with joy.

"Mr. Poooonds! I knew that you'll come back to your senses! I just knew it!" Frog Soos sobbed, burying his face against Stan's shoulder and soaking it with his tears.

"Come on, Frog Soos! You're getting my suit wet with your tears and snot! And will it kill you not to crush me in your big arms?" Stan said as he tried to push himself off of the handyman.

Gwendy smiled fondly, as she walked towards the duo. She casually removed the fez hat from Frog Soos' head and placed it on Stan's instead, symbolizing the change of ownership of the Curiosity Hut.

"… Good to have you back, boss." she said.

"Heh! Don't get too full of yourselves." Stan smirked. "If you think I'm gonna give you a raise after everything we've been through tonight, think again!"

Gwendy chuckled. "It wouldn't be you otherwise, Stan."

Stan, Frog Soos and Gwendy continued to celebrate the return of the Curator that they know and love, while the Plantar family watched from the sidelines, having little idea of the huge history behind them.

"So… I guess that means it's all over, right?" Anne asked. "The monster's toast and the Curator becomes a good guy."

"It seems like it." Hop Pop replied. "Let's hope that the Curator turning over a new leaf is truly genuine, for that nice cashier and handyman's sake."

"I'm with you on that, Hop Pop. But seriously, tonight was horrible! I'm just glad that it's over and done with!" Polly said before she yawned due to the lack of sleep.

She took the time to look around themselves and noticed that they were one person short in the group.

"Uh, fam? Do you know where Sprig went?"

Once Anne and Hop Pop realized that Sprig was not among the group, even though he was there a moment ago, the whole family looked around to see where he has gone, worried that he might have gotten himself into trouble under their noses.

"Over here, guys!"

They all heard the boy's voice and turned their attention to the direction of his voice.

Sprig was walking towards them from a short distance, still looking relatively fine barring the black eye. The big difference was that he was carrying a large, triangular object in his hands.

"Sprig! What're you been up to?" Anne asked, her gaze drawn towards the material that he was holding. "And what's that?"

"This?" Sprig lifted the object up to give his family a better look at it. "It's the Gill-Behemoth's Scale. You know, the one that the Curator ripped off minutes ago."

"Oh, so that's the monster's scale!" Hop Pop said as he approached the object in question and examined it. "Yep. Looking at it closely, I can safely assume that it really did came from that monster. No doubt about it."

"Didn't you say that it's one of the ingredients for your cure?" Polly asked for a reminder.

"That's right." Sprig nodded in confirmation. "I didn't think we can get its scale, since we were dealing with such a huge monster. But it's thanks to everyone's help that we got it, without having to compromise."

"Well, tonight has been quite an event in terms of our progression towards our objectives." Hop Pop summed up their situation. "The take-back is that we might get horrible nightmares of this event for who knows how many nights."

Anne moved closer to the human boy, placing a welcoming hand on his shoulder.

"How are you feeling, buddy?" she asked. "Think that you turning back into a frog is becoming less of a pipe dream than before?"

"Yeah, I think so." Sprig nodded. "We just need to find the five other ingredients somewhere around the world. I'm not gonna stop until we find them all."

"And I'll be with you every step of the way, Sprig. You can count on me."

Sprig and Anne both smiled at one another before looking down at the Gill-Behemoth's scale.

They had taken another step towards turning the boy back to normal.

Since the beginning of the new day, the townsfolk had been talking amongst themselves over the disturbances that occurred overnight. There were reports of monstrous cries being heard more than once, the ground shaking in a few instances, and loud smashing sounds on top of everything.

The town gate was also destroyed, proving that something big had happened while everyone was asleep. Not only that, but the Curiosity Hut had a noticeably large hole on the roof, which led the townsfolk to believe that the museum, or at least the Curator, was somehow involved.

Frog Soos tried his best to deflect the people's suspicions off of the museum, claiming that they were working on a new tourist attraction that had gone awry, involving boomshrooms and the like. The authorities were not easily convinced, but if Frog Soos learned anything from his boss, it was that bribing money or food would be enough to win their trust. It also helped that the local cops were incompetent buffoons.

Meanwhile, the Plantar family were getting ready to depart from the town and continue their trek to Newtopia.

"Okay, kids! Are we all set and ready to go?" Hop Pop asked once he had readjusted the saddle on Bessie.

"I'm good here, Hop Pop!" Anne said as she leaned out from the side door and gave the elderly frog a thumbs-up. "Just trying to make sure that Polly doesn't get bothered in her sleep!"

"I'm good too!" Sprig said as he emerged out from the ceiling hatch of the fwagon. "Everything's all resupplied! It should be enough to last us the rest of the trip!"

"Perfect! Then let's get a move on!"

Hop Pop was about to hop onto the driver's seat, when he heard a familiar feminine voice calling out to them.

"Yo! You guys leaving already?"

Anne, Sprig and Hop Pop all turned their heads to see two people approaching them from the broken town gate. The voice belonged to Gwendy, who was accompanied by Stan and Frog Soos. The three Plantars got off the fwagon to meet up with the Curator and his two employees.

"Come on! At least stick around until lunch time!" Stan said with his hands on his hips. "We'll grab a bite at Greasy's Diner. Heck, I'll even pay for the food, if that's what it takes for you to stay for a little while longer! Seriously, this is a once-in-a-lifetime offer I'm giving you here."

"I'm sorry, but we'll have to decline on that kind offer." Hop Pop said. "I feel like we overstayed our welcome here. Not to mention, if Polly wakes up and sees that we haven't left yet, she's going to blow a fuse and destroy everything around her. And believe me, you do not want her to be angry."

"Sheesh! You make her sound like she's a tornado of mayhem." Stan noted. "Wasn't she a frightened, little baby girl when you first stepped into the museum?"

"Oh my granddaughter is quite the complex person, Mr. Curator."

"Welp! Since you're all eager to leave, we'll just leave you to it! So long, you country folks!"

Stan was about to turn around and walk away, when Gwendy nudged him in the back, giving him a judgmental look.

"Come on, Stan. Just give it to them straight." she said. "We're not leaving until you give them what they're looking for in the first place."

Stan groaned. "Do I have to? You know how I feel about giving stuff away for free. Why do they get something while I get nothing in return?"

"You're not getting nothing, Mr. Ponds." Frog Soos corrected him. "You get the satisfaction of doing a good deed for people in need."

"I'm talking about materialistic value, Soos!"

"I'd say it's a good deal to make up for trying to murder an innocent person." Gwendy shared her thoughts on it.

"Wow. You're just gonna hang this over my head for while, huh?"

"You tell me." she nonchalantly shrugged.

Stan let out another groaned before he resigned to the deal that he begrudgingly agreed to.

"Hey, superstar!"

"Uh, you talking to me?" Anne asked, pointing at herself.

"Yeah, I am. Come over here for a second."

Anne raised an eyebrow at whatever the Curator was planning. She looked at Sprig and Hop Pop to see what they think about it. The boy and the elderly frog were as unsure as her, but they beckoned her to proceed.

She paced herself towards the fez-wearing frog, stopping as soon as she was about a feet away from him.

Stan rubbed the back of his neck bashfully. "Look. This isn't enough to make up for the trouble that I caused to you folks, but… Here."

He pulled out something from behind and showed it to the human girl.

Anne gasped, as she recognized the object resting in his hands.

"The Skipman?!" she exclaimed. "Wait, you're really giving this to me?"

"Sure. The whole reason why you got into our mess in the first place was because of this, right? It's the least that I can do to make it up to you. So… Just take it."

Anne stared down at the old portable player, as she could not believe that it was within arm's reach with no strings attached. She slowly took the Skipman from Stan's hands and was overcome with a sense of nostalgia.

She used to play around with her parents' music player back when she was little, fiddling with the buttons and listening to whatever CD that she put in there. Not to mention the few times that she blinded herself with the built-in laser.

For a brief moment, she felt like she was home. She was content enough with it to make this trip worthwhile.

"Thank you so much, Mr. Ponds." Anne expressed her sincere gratitude. "You have no idea how much this means to me."

"Yeah, well, don't mention it." Stan said.

Sprig stepped in. "So on the topic of the Skipman, where did you get it anyway? You don't really find something like this anywhere, right?"

"I think Mr. Ponds found it when he came across a supply caravan." Frog Soos replied.

"A caravan?"

"Yeah, funny story about this one." Stan spoke, recalling how he got his hands on the artifact in question. "When I was on one of expeditions to find the oddest creatures in Amphibia, I crossed paths with a few caravans. One of them was carrying a stash of oddly interesting goods. So I decided to borrow a few of them-"

"He means he looted them." Gwendy clarified.

"-and brought them back home to put them up for display. If I have my facts checked, the supply caravan looked like it came from Newtopia, considering the symbols on their armour and flags and such."

The Plantars all gasped in surprise by the information that Stan was giving to them.

"You're saying that this came from Newtopia?" Anne asked, receiving a nod from the Curator as a confirmation. "That means we're on the right track! Newtopia really does have something that'll help me get back home!"

"All the more reason why we should get there as soon as possible." Hop Pop said.

"Thanks for the info, Mr. Curator." Sprig said, as he approached the group and stood next to Anne. "This is gonna help Anne a lot, knowing where the Skipman come from."

"I dunno how that's supposed to help, but whatever you say, kiddo."

The orange-haired boy then remembered something. He pulled out the grappling hook from behind and handed it to the museum people.

"Oh, uh… I borrowed this when we were trying to deal with the Gill-Behemoth." he explained himself. "You can have this back."

"Oho! I actually get something in return?" Stan said, his mood improving. "I mean, it ain't much, but I'll take what I can get!"

He was about to take the object from the boy's hands, when Gwendy suddenly moved an arm in front of him.

"Whoa there, dude! I think we should let him keep it." she suggested.

"What?! Are you kidding me?!" Stan shouted, glaring at his cashier incredulously. "I already gave away one thing for free, and you're telling me to do it again?! I'm running a business around here, you know!"

"I still think it's a good deal to make up for dragging them into your frogspit in the first place."

Stan audibly winced at Gwendy's comment, not appreciating that she kept using his actions to justify giving stuff away for free.

"Grrr…! Fine! Just keep the dang thing, kiddo!" he submitted to the pressure, crossing his arms in irritation. "But this is the last thing that I'm handing things out for free! You're gonna have to pay, if you want something else outta me!"

"Really? Are you sure that I can keep it?" Sprig asked with uncertainty.

"Pretty sure." Gwendy replied. "From how you were using it, I'd say you had a knack for it. So why not keeping it in the long run?"

Sprig looked at the tool in his hand. While he intended to return the grappling hook, since the only reason he had it was because it was closest thing to a weapon that he could use against the monster, when he thought about the times that he used it, intentional or not, he remarked how he was able to shoot it and grip onto high places, as well as zip through the air by just pulling the trigger.

In fact, it was not so dissimilar to how he could launch his tongue out, grab hold of things and zip through in the process, back when he was a frog.

His uncertainty diminished, as he gladly put away the grappling hook on his person.

"Thanks, Gwendy. I'll keep it to good use." he said with a smile.

"Uh, wait a sec." Anne said, as a thought came into mind regarding a loose end in the whole situation. "What are you guys gonna do with the other monster statues? If the Gill-Behemoth can break itself out of there one way, wouldn't it be bad if the same thing happens with the others?"

"Don't you worry about it, dude." Frog Soos reassured her. "I already put the statues away in a secret storage room deep inside of the museum, under Mr. Ponds' orders."

"So you're not gonna set them free, back to their homes or something?"

"What, and waste the opportunity to sell them for big money? Fat chance!" Stan chuckled to himself. "I'll just wait until an unsuspecting snob comes into town so I can get them to buy the statues off of me. And if the monsters do end up breaking themselves free, at least they'll rip apart the guy who bought them!"

"Wow. That's morbid as heck…"

"Uh, we'll figure out how to get rid of them safely." Gwendy said, offering a peaceful solution to the wax statue problem. "You just focus on getting to where you need to be."

"Okay. We will." Sprig nodded. "A lot happened over the course of a single day. But all I want to say is that I'm glad that we got to know you guys. It's been pretty fun."

"The feeling is mutual, dude." Frog Soos stated. "I dunno what would happen if you guys hadn't shown up, and I'm scared to think about it. So really, I wanna thank you dudes for being here when we really need it."

"We're happy to help, Frog Soos. Thanks for your support too." Anne smiled.

"High five!" Frog Soos shouted as he raised both of his hands up. The two humans both clapped the hand closest to them with a satisfying sound. "Yes!"

"Don't be a stranger to stop by the town from time to time, dudes." Gwendy said.

"Oh we'll definitely pay you guys a visit." Anne said. "And who knows? Maybe we'll finally get to meet Flipper and Schmabel in person, if the time is right. I'm already looking forward to it."

Gwendy smiled. "Haha! Same here. You'll love them, no doubt about it."

Once they have exchanged all that they wanted to say to one another, the time for departure was at hand.

"Come on, kids! It's time for us to go." Hop Pop said as he jumped onto the driver's seat of the fwagon.

"Got it, Hop Pop!" Sprig said before he turned his attention back to Stan, Frog Soos and Gwendy. "It was really nice knowing you all! 'Till next time!"

"Bye, Gwendy! Bye, Soos! See you all next time!" Anne said as she waved the group goodbye while she and Sprig were walking inside of the fwagon.

Gwendy and Frog Soos both waved them farewell as well, thanking them for being there at a crucial moment for the whole team.

Once everyone had climbed inside of the fwagon, Hop Pop snapped the reins, as Bessie began to pull the fwagon and they all departed towards their destination, leaving the museum workers behind to continue their quest.

Gwendy and Frog Soos continued to wave goodbye at them until they could no longer see them through the dense trees.

"Heh. They're a handful little bunch, aren't they?" Stan commented. "Well, now that they're gone, it's about time that we get to work on the Curiosity Hut! We're bringing back its former glory before I went and screwed things up! Are you with me, Gwendy, Soos?"

"I'm always here to help, Mr. Ponds." Frog Soos said.

"You can count on me to bring back what's fun about it, Stan." Gwendy said.

"Right! Then let's get to work!" Stan declared as he turned towards the direction of the museum. "First, we need to fix the hole in the roof! You know what to do, Soos!"

"You got it, dude! I wouldn't be much of a handyman if I don't fix anything!"

Stan and Frog Soos both marched towards the hut to begin their work on renovating it to be a better place for everyone, for both tourists and local townsfolk.

As she watched them begin their work, Gwendy could only smile, as everything seemed to have gone back to normal, back to when things were simple and not incredibly heavy.

Perhaps normal was not the right word for it. Stony Gulch was always weird to begin with. But it was the kind of weird that made it a very special place where they encounter new friends and family. Meeting the Plantar family was one example of that fact.

And meeting Flipper and Schmabel was another notable example.

Gwendy pulled out a cap with an image of a pine tree imprinted on it. The cap belonged to Flipper, who wore it almost the entirety of last summer. And he gave it to Gwendy as something to remember him by.

She smiled fondly at the cap.

"Flipper… Schmabel… I can't wait for you guys to come back to Stony Gulch."

She proceeded to wear the cap proudly on her head, before she began to follow her boss and fellow coworker back to the museum.

"And when you guys do come back… It'll be like you never left it in the first place."

Chapter Text

"… Anne?"

The Thai-American girl gasped when she heard a very familiar voice. Turning herself towards the direction of the voice, a shadowy silhouette was found within the thick fog that she somehow found herself in.

Then, the fog started to clear and she was met with the sight of a young girl with short, black hair adorned with a green hair clip, wearing a school uniform that consisted of a grey hoodie and a green skirt.

"Marcy!" Anne exclaimed, smiling out of relief from seeing one of her best friends again after so long. "Oh thank goodness! I was looking all over for you!"

She was about to run up to her with the intent of pulling her into a big hug, even taking a few steps forward to start. However, she stopped when she caught a glimpse at her friend's face.

Marcy was staring at her with eyes filled with shock, fear and sadness. Looking like she was betrayed or something of the like.

"Marcy? What's wrong?" Anne asked as she dropped her smile, feeling concerned for the Taiwanese girl.

"Anne… What have you done?" Marcy asked as she slowly backed away. "What have you done to Sasha?"

"Huh?" Anne was left confused by her question. "Marcy, what're you…"

She trailed off as soon as she looked down at herself and was surprised by what she was wearing.

A chest armour and a left shoulder pad were somehow placed over her usual school uniform. She did not recall ever wearing them before her meeting with Marcy, or even at all. And not only that, she was also wielding a sword in hand.

And the tip of the sword was dripping red.

Anne suddenly felt her head aching, as she groaned and clutched her head. Vague memories started to manifest in her mind. She remembered trying to escape a tower that was occupied by a group of terrible soldiers led by a fearsome-looking captain. She went as far as the rooftop until she was caught by the army.

And then Sasha appeared before her…

Anne was suddenly filled with dread. Looking around, after noticing that the fog had completely disappear, she realized that she and Marcy were standing on top of a tall, stone tower with large horns located on both sides and a tall pole with a raised, red flag with a symbol of a toad's face on it.

Anne herself was standing near the edge of the tower. As she remembered more and more of what led her there, she slowly turned herself around and leaned her head over the wall, a mixture of dread and morbid curiosity influencing her actions.

Besides the fact that the tower was incredibly tall to the point that she could barely see the ground, there was something near the base of the tower that she could not help but notice. It looked like a blot of a dark, reddish colour.

And laying in the middle of the blot was a body shaped like a human, with distinctive blond hair…

Anne gasped in horror, backing away from the edge as she dropped her sword and covered her mouth with her hands.

It was at that point that memories from moments past surged through her head. She remembered how she and the townsfolk of Wartwood were invited to Toad Tower under false pretence, how she discovered that it was a ploy to execute Hop Pop, how they were trying to escape until the Toad Army got them pinned down, and how she was forced to duel against Sasha…

Once she remembered everything leading up to the present, she turned herself back towards the frightened-looking Marcy, now realizing why she was acting strange.

"Marcy, wait! I-I can explain!"

"Sasha was our friend…" Marcy spoke, as she continued to back away slowly from the Thai-American girl. "She was always here for us… Always taking care of us… How could you have hurt her, Anne? Why didn't you save her?"

"Marcy, please! Listen to me!" Anne pleaded as she took a few steps forward. "I didn't want to fight her! I didn't even want to hurt her at all! But Sasha, she… She just…!"

She stumbled on her words, as even she could not understand how everything went wrong. She had no intention of ever fighting her friend, but Sasha forced her to take up arms to defend herself. When Anne came out victorious and Sasha was about to fall off the tower, she tried her darnedest to save her.

And yet, Sasha chose to…

BOOM!

The tower suddenly shook violently, as if a bomb had exploded from within. The structure started to crumble around her as a result.

Anne tried to keep a steady footing even as the floor shook beneath her. However, she noticed that Marcy had continued to back away regardless of what was happening around her.

Seemingly unaware that part of the floor behind her had fallen off. And she was one step away from dropping to her doom.

"Marcy, watch out!" Anne yelled as she ran as fast as she can towards her, even leaping forward with her arm out in an attempt to close the gap between them quickly.

Despite her best efforts, Marcy had already stepped into the void, as she began to fall, still looking at her friend with a betrayed, tearful expression on her face.

"You've changed, Anne… You couldn't save Sasha… And you can't save me…"

Anne let out a frightened gasp as she opened her eyes, her arm raised in an attempt to catch her fallen friend.

However, the only thing that she was reaching out to was the ceiling. After scanning the environment around her, she found herself back inside of the fwagon where she and the rest of the Plantar family were sleeping soundly at their own respective spot.

She was occupying the top bed while Sprig had the bottom bed underneath her. Polly was resting inside one of the shelves of the bottom bed, while Hop Pop had taken the sofa this time around, still looking creepy snoring with his eyes opened.

She sighed as she moved an arm over her eyes. She had just awakened from yet another nightmare in a cold sweat. The same one that she had experienced a few times already since the Toad Tower incident. She could never get over it no matter how many times she dreamt it.

Especially since she had to experience Sasha's demise each time and witness Marcy's horrified reaction to Anne failing to save her.

"Marcy…"

It had been a long time since they had left the valley and travelled through the land of Amphibia to go to Newtopia. She had hoped that they could encounter the Taiwanese girl along the way. But so far, there was still no sign of her anywhere. Truth be told, Anne was getting anxious over her friend's safety.

She pulled out the group picture of her, Sasha and Marcy from the pocket of her skirt and took a long look at it, specifically at Marcy. She looked relaxed and content in that picture, looking at her friends on her right like every day is going to be a good time when she's with them.

Now, Marcy is all alone somewhere in Amphibia, surrounded by the strange and the unknown. If Anne's first few days in Amphibia were harsh enough, then what would they be like for someone like Marcy? She might not have the fortune of being teleported near a place with even a bit of civilization. Perhaps she was stranded in a middle of nowhere with scarce amount of resources within reach. Or maybe she was on the run from the people of Amphibia for being an alien creature even now.

Or she might even be…

Anne shut her eyes tightly and shook her head to get rid of the last thought that came into mind.

Marcy is still alive somewhere. She has to be. Out of the three of them, she was the intelligent person of the group. So it would be a cinch for her to use her smarts for survival. If Anne and Sasha managed to get through these tough few months, then Marcy should not have any problem with it either.

But that was just speculation. She was merely hoping that Marcy was doing alright on her own. And that was all she could do for the time being: hope for her dearest friend's safety.

"Oh Marcy…" she whispered as she turned towards the wall next to her, clutching the picture firmly on her chest. "I'll find you. I promise. Just… Please be okay…"

She continuously wished from the bottom of her heart that she could reunite with Marcy sometime soon, keeping her in her thoughts until she had fallen back to sleep.

She was unaware that the person resting underneath her was also awake around the same time as her, listening in on her as he grew concerned over her having yet another nightmare.

Once again, he was filled with the desire to help his best friend in her time of need. But he wondered if she would even let him still.

BANG!

A hook attached with a rope was shot across the air, flying towards one of the higher branches of a tree until it latched onto it.

The green-clad boy standing a distance away from the tree and who shot his grappling hook in the first place pulled on the rope a few times to see if the hook was firmly secured onto the branch. Once he made sure of it, he set his sights on the rope trail leading up to the branch, holding the device firmly in both hands and taking a few deep breaths.

"Okay, Sprig… You can do this." he whispered to himself in an attempt to psych himself up. "You might be a human now, but you're still a frog at heart. Zipping up there should be a snap. This time, it's gonna work…"

All he needed to do was to get himself up the tree using the grappling hook. If he manages to reach the high point without fail, then he would consider his self-imposed training completed.

He took a moment to mentally prepare himself, and once he felt that he was ready, he pulled the trigger.

He immediately zipped through the air, being pulled by the device as it followed the rope trail at relatively high speed. Quickly closing in on the branch, he extended an arm out to try and grab onto it himself.

The moment that he did grab onto the branch, his body swung forward like a pendulum, until his hand slipped off unexpectedly, causing him to be launched off the tree.

The boy screamed as he was falling down until he crashed into the nearby bushes. He groaned in pain as he rubbed his sore behind, the bushes doing little to cushion his fall.

He stood up from the ground and made his way back to his original spot, intent on making another attempt at getting himself up the tree.

"Oooh! Not even close!" spoke the purple tadpole who had been watching him from the sidelines since the beginning. "That's attempt number 13, and so far, that tall tree is kicking your butt the whole time, Sprig."

"Come on, Polly! You don't have to keep score, you know." Sprig said to his little sister, scratching the back of his head.

"Well, what else am I going to do while Hop Pop's gone taking a dump?" Polly asked while shrugging. "Besides, watching you trying to get up there over and over is pretty funny, if a bit sad."

Sprig frowned at Polly's perception on how his training went so far. The purple tadpole felt offended by his reaction.

"Oh come on, Sprig! Are you really gonna be upset at me for thinking how funny and sad you look after 13 failed tries? You're the one who decided to keep that mini hook cannon around and insisted on doing stuff like this, you know!"

"Okay… Good point." Sprig sighed, as he saw some sense on what she said.

"Look, you wanna feel like a frog again, and no one's got a problem with that. But you should probably give that kind of stunt a rest before you end up breaking a limb or two. I don't wanna be the youngest sibling in history to have to take care of their handicapped big brother."

"I know you're right, Polly. But still…"

Sprig lifted the grappling hook up to his face, looking determined.

"It's just that this is the first time since I've been turned into a human that I ever felt that familiar rush. Call me crazy, but I wanna keep going with this until I get it right, even if I get battered and bruised at the end of it."

He turned his head towards his little sister.

"You understand, right? It's like if you suddenly lost your legs one day and every day afterwards sucks, but then you found something that makes you feel like you have legs again and you're trying to get that normal feeling back no matter what it takes."

"You know I can't relate to that, since I never had legs in the first place." Polly replied in a deadpanned tone, pointing out that she is still a tadpole.

"Well, then how about this? You want me to take a break from it, but it's hard for me to stop even for a second. It's like when you had your first bite of candy for the day and you can't stop eating more of it because you can't get enough of how sweet it is."

"That's kinda a stretch, but yeah, that, I can relate." Polly admitted. "Well, I tried to be the reasonable one of the both of us, but if you're gonna keep putting yourself through this kind of torture, then be my guest. Don't blame me if you screw up big time eventually."

"I appreciate it, Polly." Sprig said as he aimed his grappling hook once more at the tree. "Alright… Let's do this one more time."

Once he steadied his aim, he had his finger on the trigger and began to pull it. In the process of doing so…

"OKAY, KIDS! TIME TO GET A MOVE ON!"

Sprig yelped and nearly jumped when Hop Pop suddenly popped out from behind him and shouted in his ears for no apparent reason, causing him to deviate his aim very slightly before he fired his grappling hook.

As a result, the hook was flying not towards the high branch, but the trunk of the tree instead, where it proceeded to bounce off before heading towards another tree, then it ricocheted off towards yet another tree.

The process repeated over and over to the point that the Plantars had a difficult time trying to keep their gaze at the hook, until it bounced off and was heading their way.

They quickly ducked out of the way, with the hook flying right above their heads, narrowly missing them. The hook kept going forward until it bounced off the ground, right at the feet of a giant beetle.

The beetle became frightened and dashed away from the spot, leaving the rest area and going into the wilds.

Not long after, a frog came out of the outdoor restroom just as he finished buckling up his pants, when he took a look around the area and was rendered confused.

"Lydia? Where are you, girl?" he asked, searching for his trusty companion. He eventually spotted a beetle going off into the distance, far away from where he was, leading to him panicking and running after the fleeting insect. "Lydia?! Come back! Don't leave me like my whole family!"

The Plantars watched as the poor frog tried to catch up to his fleeing ride without knowing that they were responsible for such a predicament.

"Uhh… Whoops?" Sprig sheepishly said.

"Not what I was expecting. Still, what did I tell you, big brother?" Polly stated.

"Well, if you kids are done fiddling around with that darn thing, it's time that we continue our journey onward." Hop Pop said as he made his way towards the fwagon, choosing to ignore the mess that occurred a second ago. "Let's go, everyone!"

After Sprig reeled the hook and rope back into the device, the two siblings followed their grandfather back to the fwagon. Once the entire family were back inside, with Hop Pop at the reins, they proceeded to leave the rest area and resumed their path towards Newtopia.

Inside of the fwagon, Polly hopped towards the map that was pinned on a wall, which showed the geographical picture of the central area of the land, with a path going from their hometown to Newtopia. After looking at the placement of the wooden cutout of a drawn Hop Pop climbing on a bubble with an arrow pointing down and the word 'Us' written on it, she gasped in realization.

"Hey, look at this!" Polly said as she turned towards the boy while pointing at the cutout's position. "According to this, that was our last rest stop before going straight to Newtopia! We're almost there!"

"Really?" Sprig asked as he looked at the map himself, wanting to confirm for himself if what his little sister said was true. "Oh wow! I didn't even realize that we're actually this close to reaching Newtopia! It feels like we've been on this trip for a long time."

"Yeah! We've gone through a lot of wacky adventures during this whole thing. Like having to watch tiny people devouring a really nasty gang, almost being accomplices to a series of bank robberies…"

"Don't forget about the ruins with the weird machines back when we started travelling, our run-in with the Scorpileo, the whole wax museum business…" Sprig interjected.

"Oh, and how we found out that One-Eyed Wally is actually really rich and slightly more sane! That took me by surprise the most out of everything!"

"Haha! Same here!" Sprig chuckled at the memory. "But wow! It's been a long journey, with a lot of stuff that happened to us along the way. But now that we're getting closer and closer to Newtopia, I bet that there's gonna be a lot more adventures waiting for us over there! I'm getting super excited about this!"

"Yeah! Me too!" Polly exclaimed. "Newtopia, here we come!"

The two Plantar siblings shared a high five with each other, both expressing their excitement at what was in store for them in Newtopia.

"Hey, Anne!" Sprig shouted as he turned towards the human girl. "You hear that? We're almost to Newtopia! This is pretty exciting, right?"

They were expecting the curly-haired girl to join in on their excitement. But instead, they were met with the sight of her sitting at the table, looking depressed.

"… Anne?" The boy called out her name, his excitable energy diminished upon seeing how sad his best friend looked.

Anne remained unresponsive, her eyes glued to the picture in her hands.

Polly suddenly jumped on the table, shaking it slightly. "Hello! Amphibia to Anne! Are you still with us?"

"Oh! Hey, Polly." Anne finally spoke, putting down the picture upon noticing the purple tadpole on the table. "What's up?"

"Didn't you hear us? Newtopia is just a stone throw away!" Polly said.

"Really? Huh. I didn't even realize that we're this close." Anne chuckled slightly. "Guess a lot happened between then and now that I lost track of where we are."

"You tell me. But aren't you all excited about all of this?"

"I am excited." The human girl replied, smiling at Polly. "After hearing about how amazing the place is supposed to be, it's hard for anyone not to be."

"Then why did you look miserable just a moment ago?"

"Well, um… It's just that…"

Anne trailed off as her eyes fell back down to the photo in her hands, trying to figure out how to explain herself to Polly.

While the purple tadpole was trying to get some information out of the human girl, Sprig, on the other hand, already had an idea as to the cause of Anne's depressed state. He thought that perhaps it was not a good time for anyone to confront her about it, least of all Polly.

"Hey, Polly?" The boy called out to his little sister. "Do you mind keeping Hop Pop company out there? I think he's been on his own for a while already."

"Uh, I guess I don't mind." Polly replied while turning herself towards the human boy. "But why don't you do it?"

"Oh you know." Sprig said as he massaged his shoulder with his hand. "That last session with the grappling hook really did a number on my body. So I think it's better if I stay inside and take a rest. At least until we get to Newtopia."

"I did tried to warn you about it, you know." Polly reminded him. "Well, fine. I'll go ahead and join Hop Pop up there. Feel free to join in."

The purple tadpole then exited the fwagon through the ceiling hatch.

Once it was just the two of them, Sprig proceeded to join Anne at the table, sitting on the opposite side.

"Hi, Anne."

"Hey, Sprig." Anne replied, smiling at the boy.

"You, uh… You feeling alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, a bit." she replied, averting her eyes slightly from him. "Sorry… I guess I didn't have much sleep last night. Didn't mean to make you guys worry or anything."

"Nightmares?"

"Something like that."

"Um… You know that you can talk to me, right?" Sprig said, reminding her of the conversation that they had long ago back at Wartwood when she last had a nightmare. "If there's anything that's on your mind, anything at all, know that I'm always here to give you an ear."

"Thanks, Sprig. I really appreciate it." she said. "But it's okay. It's just a dumb nightmare. Not really worth talking about."

"Are you sure?"

Anne nodded. "Yeah. Don't worry about it. I'll be good as rain when we get to Newtopia."

Sprig frowned a bit. Once again, Anne refused to divulge her concerns to him, despite him being the best person who could understand what she had been going through. He could not understand why she was being so insistent about it. At that point, it was no mystery to the both of them as to what was plaguing Anne's mind. And yet, she preferred not to speak a word about it.

Although he wanted to get to the bottom of it, he felt that forcing the issue would not be in both of their interest. But still, he had to find something, anything that could get her to talk even if it's just for a tiny bit. That would aid him a lot into truly helping her in her time of need.

Then, he took notice of the picture that was always in Anne's possession. The group picture taken of her, Sasha and the unfamiliar third person.

He recalled what he overheard last night when Anne had a nightmare. She spoke out a name, presumable the name of a friend of hers. Could it be related? Would talking about that friend help in at least scratching the surface of Anne's issues?

"Um, Anne? Are you worried about your friend?" he asked.

"Huh?"

"You know. Your other best friend, besides Sasha." he clarified, pointing at the raven-haired girl in the picture. "You called her Marcy, right?"

"Oh! Marcy…" Anne looked down at the picture, specifically at the hoodie-wearing Taiwanese girl. "Well… Yeah, I guess I am…"

"I kinda had a feeling. After all, you did mentioned that we might be able to find her somewhere along the way, back at Wartwood. And now that we're almost to Newtopia, well, we haven't found anyone who even remotely looked like your friend."

"You got that right…" Anne sighed. "I was really hoping that we'd find her during this whole journey. I mean, we've been through a lot of places! Weird, futuristic ruins, tiny, old western towns, a huge desert, and more! We've explored a big chunk of this world! But… Still no sign of Marcy…"

She looked out to the window and watched the scenery passing by, her thoughts remained on her dear friend.

"I… I just wanna know if she's okay."

"Well, I don't see why she wouldn't be." Sprig said, earning a look from the human girl. "I mean, you're still alive and kicking after a few months. And so is Sasha, last time we checked. If you two can get through our world no problem, then I think it's the same deal with your friend. Maybe humans have a knack for surviving the unknown."

"Normally, I'd think the same way as you, but…" Anne averted her eyes away, feeling disheartened. "Marcy's different… She's helpless on her own…"

"What do you mean?" Sprig asked confusingly. "Is she, like, frail or something?"

"No, of course not." She shook her head. "It's just that, when Sasha and I aren't around, she tends to put herself into trouble."

"She's a troublemaker?"

"No! Well, maybe sometimes, but… Urgh, I don't know where I'm going with this…"

Anne sighed once more, closing her eyes and lowering her head. She was unsure how she should explain it to Sprig.

Silence had fallen between them. It lasted until the boy decided to speak up.

"Hey, Anne… Why don't we start talking about her?"

"Huh?" Anne spoke, raising her head back up.

"You mentioned her a couple of times before, but I don't think you told us much about the kind of person she is. You think maybe now's a good time as any to talk about it?"

"Oh… I guess I haven't, huh?" Anne noted, having realized that fact.

She felt awful. She had been with the Plantars for three months, yet she did not even talk about the people who were transported to Amphibia with her. What kind of best friend was she for not talking about them to the people that she trusted?

Perhaps it was the perfect time to start talking about Marcy to Sprig. At least he would have a good idea on why she still worries even now.

"So… Marcy's been my friend ever since we were kids." she started, turning the group picture around so that the boy had a better view of it. "Not just any friend. She's my very first friend."

"Really?"

The brown-haired girl nodded. "The first time I met her, I had a bit of an idea on the kind of person that she is. I became more sure of it as we grew up. Marcy was a massive geek, always talking about her favourite games, books and movies and knowing a lot about them like she had been in the creators' minds."

"Is that right?" Sprig asked.

"Yeah. If you wanna get an idea on how big of a geek she was, one time, she built a sandcastle based on the one from her favourite video game." she said, recalling a very early memory that she had with her. "She didn't just built it. She made a blueprint in a sand with a stick! When she was just three years old!"

"Wow! That's amazing! And… kinda scary to think about." The boy commented.

Anne chuckled at his reaction. "You have no idea. Anyway, she's also super smart. Like, she's probably the smartest person in the whole world. No joke, up until now, she had been acing all of the school subjects like it's no big deal! Well, almost all of them, anyway."

"Which one is the exception?" Sprig asked out of curiosity.

"Physical Education." Anne replied.

"Oh. So she's a weakling?"

"Well, no. I mean, maybe? I don't really know, to be honest." The human girl shrugged. "It's just that, most of the time, she was either sitting at a bench or in the middle of a match playing video games instead. Not to mention, even if she does do something, she would end up hurting herself instead…"

"Like getting hit in the face by a bugball?" Sprig guessed.

"More like walking right into a dodgeball." Anne elaborated.

"That sounds pretty clumsy." The boy noted.

"You don't know the half of it. In fact, this is why I still worry about her even now." Anne said, as she began to explain herself. "Thing is, Marcy is super oblivious. Whenever she got hyper focused on her favourite things, like video games, she tended to tune out everything else around her. From there, she was attracting all kinds of danger."

"I'm afraid to ask, but how bad are we talking here?"

"Well, to give you an idea, there was this one time where she was walking to a zoo where a bunch of snakes broke out of there. She didn't even realize that the place was blocked off. Or that she was even walking there in the first place."

"Oh, well, that's a relief!" Sprig expressed himself. "Bumping into cute and cuddly creatures like snakes doesn't sound all that bad. At least she wasn't walking right into a den of slippery, deceptive creatures that could poison you in one bite."

"Dude, that's what snakes are." Anne corrected him.

"Oh. Okay, yeah, that sounds really bad." he said, retracting his previous statement.

"Yep. And on top of that, she was insanely clumsy." she continued. "She had the habit of tripping over herself no matter where she was. I lost count on how many times that happened to her on a daily basis. There was even a couple of times that her stuff would suddenly catch on fire."

"How did that happen?" he asked.

The Thai-American girl simply shrugged, since she too had no idea how it occurred.

"Okay, so you're saying that Marcy is a really smart girl who excelled in a lot of things, but was prone to danger that always come in her way whether she was aware of it or not?"

"That about sums it up, yeah." Anne nodded in confirmation.

Sprig crossed his arms, as he took a moment to process the information about the girl in question. Then, without thinking, he blurted out his honest thoughts.

"Yeah, she definitely sounds like a goner to me. I bet she wouldn't last more than a week if she's that much of a danger to herself…"

He realized his mistake a second after he shared his awful opinion. When he took a look at Anne, she had a downcast expression on her face.

"Oh, wait a minute, Anne! I didn't mean it like that! I was just, you know, going by common sense and it just came out of nowhere and-"

"It's okay, Sprig… I kinda already knew…" she spoke sadly, her fears becoming justified after knowing that he shared the same opinion. "I mean, back home, we were always there to protect her, to make sure that she didn't hurt herself. I never thought what would happen if we weren't there for her because we were always together."

She pulled her knees close to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs, as she thought about the assumed circumstances surrounding Marcy.

"But Marcy's all alone, split from the rest of us when we got sent here. And as far as I know, she's been that way for three whole months. Not knowing if she's okay is really gnawing into my head. I want to find her so badly so I can protect her again. But after so long and after a lot of things happened, I…"

"You've changed, Anne… You couldn't save Sasha… And you can't save me…"

Her eyes started to water as soon as Marcy's words from her nightmare passed through her head. She was forced to consider the probability that a grim fate might have befallen the Taiwanese girl, all because she was without her best friends.

"Sorry, I… Give me a moment, will ya?" Anne apologized as she turned her head away from the boy, wiping the tears off her eyes before they leak out. The last thing she wanted was to show how vulnerable she is to the person who looked up to her.

Sprig observed her with a saddened expression on his face. He was able to have her open up to him a little, but seeing her full of misery made him have second thoughts on whether or not he was right to pursue the issue. He wanted to help her, but he was uncertain on where to start with it.

If there was one notable thing that he learned, it was that Anne very much cherished her friendship with that Marcy girl, and she was willing to protect her at every instance possible. However, he could not help but wonder if she was being taken advantage of.

After all, Sasha was also Anne's best friend, and she turned out to be an evil, manipulative person who had no qualms killing innocent people for the sake of a goal or simply because they were in her way, and who was the one to put the misconception of what being best friends is about in Anne's head.

Marcy might be of a similar nature, feigning her obliviousness and clumsiness just so that her friends would come to her aid and fulfill her every whim at the expense of their wellbeing. She might also have contributed to Anne having a skewed perception on friendship.

Despite his suspicions, he knew that sharing more of his honest thoughts would do more harm than good. It was easy to see that Anne really cared about Marcy to be reacting like that, and although he could not comprehend why, she seemed to still consider Sasha her friend in spite of what she had done to them. Perhaps there was more to their bonds than meets the eye.

What Anne wanted the most was to be reunited with Marcy. He obviously could not help with that, since neither of them have a clue as to her whereabouts. What he could do instead was to reassure her by following a hunch that he had in regards to everything.

"I think… your friend is still okay." he said.

Anne turned her head back to the boy.

"But… Just a minute ago, you said-"

"I know, that's what I thought so too, at first." he interrupted her, wanting to explain himself. "A normal person probably wouldn't last long in a strange, new world where everything they knew before is thrown out of the window. But here's the big difference: Marcy is a human being from another world. So are you and Sasha."

"What does us being human have to do with it?" she asked.

"I did say that humans have a knack for surviving the unknown, right?" he said, recalling his earlier comment. "Think about it. You came to Amphibia lost and confused, but within the first few months, you risked your life a bunch of times, mostly to save our butts, and still came out in one piece. Remember when we were almost eaten by the tomato monster while we were trying to make pizza? Or when you lured Domino-2 away so that she wouldn't eat us? Oh, how about when you tamed that giant fish when it was trashing the Frog of the Year party?"

"Dude, the stuff that you're referring to happened because of my screw-ups." Anne reminded him.

"Yeah, but the point is, you survived all of that even though you weren't used to a world as dangerous as this yet. The same thing can be said about Sasha who's been hanging around with a ruthless gang like the toads for a couple of months, which suits a big jerk like her pretty well, if you ask me…" Sprig said while muttering the last part.

"Well, I guess you're right about that. Still…" Anne remained unconvinced.

"And if you want a better example, how about me?" The boy pointed at himself. "I've been turned into a human for weeks and I'm completely out of my depth this whole time. You'd think that a frog being turned into a completely different creature would get themself killed trying to do their usual thing early on, right? Well, I'm still alive and kicking, and even I'm surprised that I survive this long."

"Okay, I'll give you that." Anne conceded. "You've been doing pretty well for a guy who's just being turned into something else. The most damage that you've gotten so far is getting a black eye."

"I have you to thank for it, Anne." Sprig said, smiling at the human girl. "You've been a pretty great human teacher so far."

"Dude, I haven't even taught you a lot of things yet. Still calling me your teacher is a bit of a stretch."

"Well, watching you doing your usual stuff is enough learning material for me. Don't sell yourself short, Anne."

His compliment managed to make her chuckle a bit. "Okay, okay. Whatever you say."

"Anyway," Sprig spoke, returning to the topic at hand. "If you and Sasha, and technically me too, are able to get through Amphibia no problem, then who's to say that Marcy can't? She might be oblivious, clumsy and have no clue on how this world works yet, but being a human, she's tough enough to get past the worst of what it has to offer."

"You… You really think that Marcy's doing okay?" she asked hesitatingly.

Sprig nodded. "Call it a gut feeling, but that's what I believe. And who knows? Maybe Amphibia is right up in her alley and she's living the dream. Or something like that, anyway."

Anne widened her eyes, as she just remembered something important after listening to Sprig. While she was preoccupied with worrying incessantly over Marcy's wellbeing and her tendency to injure herself, she realized that she was neglecting a bigger part of Marcy's personality.

Marcy was a huge fan of the fantasy genre, considering how many of her favourite games and movies were fantasy. And since Amphibia is kind of like a fantasy world, perhaps Marcy would feel right at home. That fact alone was enough to mitigate Anne's worries, making her more hopeful for her dear friend's safety.

She allowed herself to genuinely smile for the first time in a while, thanks to the boy who gave her hope.

"Thanks, Sprig. I feel a bit better about this than before." she said, rubbing the corner of her eyes a little.

"Anytime, Anne." said the smiling Sprig. His heart felt warm knowing that he was able to help out his best friend with the issue that she was having, even if it was just a part of a bigger one. "You know that I've always got your back no matter what."

Anne nodded. "And I got yours too, buddy. Spranne against the world?"

"Spranne against the world."

The two then proceeded to do their special handshake with each other.

Anne leaned back against her seat as she let out a sigh, some of the weight being lifted off her shoulders. She turned her head to the window as she watched the scenery outside going by. Not too different from the last time that she checked.

"We still have a bit to go before we get to Newtopia, right? Any ideas on what we can do in the meanwhile?" she asked.

"Well, I've got nothing in mind." Sprig replied. "Except…"

He quickly hopped over to the other side of the table, sitting right next to Anne.

"I wanna try beating that big, hairy wrestler in a speedo. Mind handing me your phone for a bit?" he asked.

"Sure, dude. Knock yourself out." Anne complied, pulling out her smart phone and handing it to the boy.

"Sweet!" Sprig eagerly took the phone from her hands and started playing on it, attempting to get past a certain stage in a fighting game.

For a minute, Anne was watching the screen as the boy was playing, until her eyes wandered around the group picture still lying in the middle of the table. She proceeded to pick it up with her hand, lifted it up the surface a little and took another look at Marcy in that picture.

Although nothing really changed in terms of how little she knew about the missing girl's whereabouts, she felt a bit more hopeful after a much needed talk with the green-clad boy. All she could do for the time being was to keep hoping that Marcy is safe and that they will meet again someday.

'Hang in there, Marcy. I can't wait for us to be together again. And when we do, it'll be just like old times… At least, it will be for you and me. I hope you're doing okay out there, somewhere in Amphibia…'

"This meeting is completely unnecessary! We all know what we should do about this, right?" stated the pale purple, glasses-wearing newt in a cloak. "Attacking the Barbariants head-on is a sure fire way to eliminate the threat that they're posing!"

"Everyone knows that's suicide, Bartley!" said the pale green, glasses-wearing newt in a cloak. "Why charge in to our deaths when sneaking around and catching them by surprise is the best way to deal with them while keeping ourselves intact?"

"That's just stupid, Branson!" Bartley argued. "They might be mindless, but they're not dumb! You're just asking to be killed this way!"

"Look who's talking!" Branson shouted.

"Why don't you two just accept that both of your plans are needlessly idiotic?" said the pale orange, glasses-wearing newt in a cloak. "We shouldn't be killing the Barbariants. We should be communicating with them instead, learning their ways and forming a compromise together that ensures that both of our kinds can coexist peacefully and expand our cultures together."

"Blair, you're a complete moron." Bartley said.

"Yeah. Only a moron would think to make friends with those monstrosities." Branson commented.

"I'm a man of peace!" Blair yelled as he hit Branson in the face with a book about pacifism. "You uncultured fools should be ashamed of yourselves!"

"That's it! Time to show you how effective a frontal assault is!" Bartley shouted as he tried to pry the book off of Blair's hands.

"H-hey, no fair! I'm supposed to be the guy with the sneak attack strategies!" Branson complained as he joined in on the tug of war for the book.

The three cloaked newts childishly fought amongst themselves over which of their strategy is the best inside of the tent which served as their base of operations. All while they were being watched by a large green axolotl who stood at the entrance of the tent in disbelief.

"I'm starting to think that together, they are ill-suited for the task…" the axolotl noted. "This city is doomed if this keeps up…"

"Excuse me! Coming through!"

Upon hearing a feminine voice behind him, he looked around and immediately recognized the person standing just outside of the tent. He stepped aside to allow her passage.

"Sup, Triple B!" The newcomer waved her hand at the cloaked newts.

They stopped their infighting once they saw who it was and immediately backed off from each other, acting like nothing happened between them.

"Ah! So you have finally arrived!" Bartley said.

"It's good to see that the esteemed chief ranger of the Knight Guard has joined us!" Branson said. "We were just about to start planning our strategy on how to deal with the Barbariants."

"And we came to an agreement that making peace with them is our best solution to our predicament." Blair stated.

"No, we did not!" Branson strongly argued against his statement.

"Do not put your words in our mouths, Blair!" Bartley yelled.

"Okay, okay! Chill out, you guys!" The chief ranger said, motioning her hand up and down to try and calm the analysts down. "Now's not the time to be fighting each other over who has the better idea, especially when the city's counting on us. We should all be putting our heads together and working out a solution, okay?"

"But we ARE putting our heads together!" Blair said.

"It's just that those two wouldn't admit that my ideas are better!" Branson claimed.

"And whose fault is that, huh?! We all know that I'm not the one to blame for this!" Bartley asserted.

The chief ranger turned her head away so that the analysts wouldn't see or hear what she was about to say. "Yikes… These guys are really bad at their jobs when they're bundled up together. At this rate, this city is toast…" she spoke under her breath.

"That's what I was thinking." The large axolotl whispered in her ear.

"Okay, guys! Listen up!" she said loudly, steering everyone's attention towards her. "From the looks of things, there's still a bit of time before the Barbariants make their move. Which means there's enough time for us to do a little team building exercise that I came up earlier today just for the occasion!"

"A team building exercise?" Branson spoke.

"We have no time for this! We need to settle who has the appropriate strategy!" Bartley said.

"Hush, you two! You're not only speaking to the chief ranger of the Knight Guard, but also the royal advisor!" Blair reminded them.

"You hush, you hypocrite!" Branson yelled.

"Come on, Triple B! I think that you all know that whatever dispute you guys have against one another, it won't matter if the city gets turned into a giant anthill. This exercise is gonna help you a lot in settling your differences!" The chief ranger said. "And remember, the king entrusted the city's protection to us. The last thing he wants is you guys fighting each other while everything gets totalled in the background, right?"

The analysts all grumbled, as they begrudgingly agreed that she had a point.

"Fine. We'll do the team building exercise that you have for us." Bartley said.

"As long as this is for the sake of the city, then I have no objections to it whatsoever." Blair said.

"Yeah, right…" Branson muttered at the other's statement. "I guess that explains all the objects that you have in your hands."

"Yep! You got that right!" she exclaimed as she showed the analysts what she was carrying: A large book, a screen, a few miniature figurines of people and objects, and a pouch containing multiple dice.

"Excuse me, ma'am." The green axolotl whispered in her ear once more, gaining her attention. "But are you sure it is a good idea to be doing this at a time like this? The Barbariants might strike at any moment."

"Trust me. I've been observing the Barbariants for a bit and I'm positive that they won't attack until their numbers are big enough to overtake the city." she replied. "I'm not kidding when I said that we still have a bit of time before they make their move, so why not spend that time working out a bit of chemistry with the team? And besides, I already came up with a great strategy on how to deal with them, so we're already well off."

"Is that true? Then I don't see the point of doing such exercise if you have already formulated a plan that is leagues better than what they have in mind." The axolotl said.

"I know, I know. But urgh! It's been way too long since I've played this game!"

"Game?"

"Yeah! We're gonna play my favourite tabletop game from back home!" she explained, her eyes bursting with excitement. "I wanted to scratch that itch so badly, but I haven't found the right opportunity to do so for three whole months. Now I do, and I even found four people to experience it with me."

"Wait. I'm doing this too?" he asked in surprise.

"Yeah, sure! Why not?" she said, smiling at him.

She turned her attention back at the three cloaked newts.

"Alright, everybody! Grab a seat and gather around the table!" she declared as she abruptly put down the materials on the table, grinning from ear to ear as she was about to start her long-awaited game.

"Time for you to learn the magic that is Creatures and Caverns! And I, Marcy Wu, will be your all-seeing Dungeon Master!"

Chapter Text

"Well, everyone, you've done a super awesome job so far! Thanks to your incredible teamwork, you've got a chunk of the trial beaten! Woo!" Marcy praised the party's efforts, sitting behind the screen where her guidebook was hidden from public view.

The party, which consisted of the three analysts and the large axolotl, all clapped unenthusiastically. While they did managed to get past all of those challenges, the DM omitted the fact that their 'teamwork' most of the time was them bickering amongst each other over which of their strategy was the best, while almost all of the work can be attributed to the axolotl.

Some time had passed since they started playing Marcy's board game, Creatures and Caverns. After the raven-haired girl explained the rules of the game (Even though she had to simplify her explanations several times because she was constantly using terms that none of the amphibians were familiar with,) she had them create a character for themselves, their class and backstory being the crucial part of the process.

Bartley went for a warrior whose desire is to attack anyone and anything that he sees as a threat in order to rid the world of weaklings and become the strongest man in the whole land.

Branson went for a thief who likes to choose his fights wisely, in contrast to Bartley. Having being trained to sneak within the shadows, he desires to eliminate his enemies undetected and leave his mark in the land as a legendary shadow assassin.

Blair went for a bard who dislikes violence and seeks to unite the world through the power of his songs, believing that anyone, regardless of their species, can coexist peacefully and share in the wonders of the land.

And the axolotl, whose name was Jerry, went for a wood elf. He was not allowed to play without coming up with a backstory for his character, so the most that he could say was that the wood elf happens to be dragged into the antics of the other three travellers.

"Now, as a reward for your hard work, after enduring everything that the trial has to offer, you have reached the end of this seemingly-endless temple, represented by a large, rusted gate that was left wide open, which leads to a wide room overtaken by nature, with plants and roots growing all over the place." Marcy narrated.

"Finally! This temple is deceptively long! According to my calculations, we should have reached the end within the past hour or so!" Bartley commented.

"Well, if you had settled on sneaking your way through instead of charging head-first and triggering all of those traps, maybe your calculations might have been correct!" Branson shouted at Bartley. "You're a poor excuse of an analyst for not anticipating something as obvious as traps inside of an ancient temple!"

"Who are you calling a poor excuse of an analyst!" Bartley retorted. "If anything, these accursed dice have been conspiring against me from the very start, giving me such low rolls that ensure that the traps would activate!"

"What if we were meant to trigger those traps regardless of what we do?" Blair pondered. "Those challenges were surely a test concocted by the people from times past to determine our worthiness of becoming agents of peace! That means that they were a peaceful civilization that only wanted to unify the land in peaceful harmony!"

"If they were looking for peace this whole time, why was history branding them as tyrants who soaked the land in blood millennia ago, according to what Master Marcy - Err, I mean the Dungeon Master has explained?" Branson reminded him.

"And why put up traps in the first place if they were such peaceful people?" Bartley added.

"They were just misunderstood!" Blair argued.

"So… What's inside the room?" Jerry the axolotl asked, trying to move things along before the party starts bickering amongst themselves again.

"Ooh! Curious, are we? Don't worry! You'll find out in a sec!" Marcy said, as she leaned to the side and had her hand search the inside of a bag that was on the ground next to her. "As you walk inside of the room and take a look around, you find that there's one place right in the middle that hasn't been overgrown by nature. You go take a closer look aaannnnd… Bam!"

She pulled out an object from the bag and slammed it in front of the miniatures representing the party, shaking the table a bit in the process.

"On top of this big stack of rocks, you find an incredible-looking, ornate ancient sword buried into it that looks like it hasn't rusted a bit even after a millennia!" she described the object that she just unveiled. "In other words, this sword is your reward for overcoming the trials!"

"All of this just for a single sword?" Bartley asked incredulously, slightly disappointed that the weapon was all they would receive. "Well, no matter. It will surely help me gain the upper hand against those who I wish to trample upon."

"What makes you think that you'll be the one to wield the sword?" Branson said. "You'll more likely break the darn thing with your reckless assaults! If anything, I should be the one to use it in its intended use and swiftly slain our foes before they have time to react!"

"Do neither of you have even a shred of sympathy in your tails?" Blair asked. "I won't let you use the sword to destroy everything we worked for towards unifying the land! Therefore, I'll be the one to take the sword simply to keep it away from you two!"

"Swords are a symbol of overwhelming strength!" Bartley shouted as he stood up from his seat while slamming his hands on the table.

"It's not all about power! It's all about using it in the most efficient way possible!" Branson yelled as he too stood up from his seat.

"People should not be allowed to use swords or any weapon to destroy the foundation of peace!" Blair shouted as he followed the same movement as the others.

"Here we go again…" Jerry sighed, bracing himself for another disastrous bickering amongst the analysts.

"Whoa! Easy there, Triple B!" Marcy said, chuckling nervously while waving her hands up and down in an attempt to calm them down before another fight breaks out. "No need to fight over the sword when there's an easy way to settle it! This can only be decided through…"

"Please say anything other than a dice roll…" Bartley pleaded.

"… A dice roll!" The raven-haired girl declared while pumping her fist up in the air.

Everyone else around the table all groaned over having to do yet another roll of the dice to decide who gets to wield the sword.

"Come on, guys! You should already know by now that this is how things roll in this game!" Marcy said, trying to persuade the players. "Sure, it might look tedious as heck, but don't you think it's exciting to know what you get after a good roll? Like, imagine trying to cut down a monster and you roll a Nat 20. Instead of just a simple slash, you get something awesome like completely obliterating your enemy into smithereens with just a swing of your weapon! Boom, baby!"

During her explanation, she eagerly motioned her arms around to imitate the respective effects and actions.

"A good dice roll can decide just how exciting your story gets and it can be really charming the longer you play!"

"Exactly how is it supposed to be exciting when my constantly low dice rolls lead me to trigger all of the traps of this blasted temple?" Bartley grumbled.

"I'm supposed to be a master thief! I don't like to see myself missing my mark just because I didn't get a good enough roll!" Branson complained.

"Pray tell me why, earlier, when I tried to do my part as a peaceful bard, I suffered the most embarrassing outcome of being stripped down to my loins after a wind trap blew away all of my possessions across an enormous room due to the fact that I rolled a 1?" Blair asked, sorely recalling a past event from a while ago.

"Like I said! It's all part of the charm!" Marcy replied with a joyful smile, unaware that it did little to appease the newts' frustrations.

"…I don't have a problem with my rolls so far." Jerry expressed his thoughts while shrugging, being the only player who has yet to experience the misfortune that befell the others.

"Now, if you guys really want the sword for yourselves, you're gonna have to do a showdown in the way of a dice roll, where the one who rolls the highest number wins. The story ain't going nowhere unless we settle this one way or another."

"Can we just not claim the sword and leave the temple instead?" Jerry asked.

"What? Pfft! No way! Not after everything you guys have been through!" Marcy rejected his proposal. "It'll make for a boring dungeon run if you just walk away from it!"

Jerry sighed as he rested the side of his head on his hand, as he felt that they would be at it for much longer than he would have liked.

"This confounded game… Fine! If we must roll dice to determine ownership of the sword, so be it!" Bartley said as he picked up his 20-sided die.

"This sword is sure to be mine! I can feel Lady Luck smiling upon me!" Branson said as he took his die as well.

"Love is the only way to win! Therefore, I will be victorious in this!" Blair said as he mirrored the others.

"Okay, guys! Roll the dice!" Marcy shouted as she threw a punch out, signalling the players to give their best shot.

The analysts threw their dice on their corner of the table at the same time. Once all of the dice have stopped rolling, everyone looked at what each of them got.

Bartley rolled a 1 on his die.

Branson got a 1 on his.

And Blair… also had a 1.

"Oooh! That's a tie! Too bad!" Marcy announced the result of the showdown.

Everyone groaned in frustrations.

"Well, we're not getting anywhere with a tie, so let's give it another roll!"

"Fine! This one should do it!" Bartley said as he picked up his die, followed by the other two newts.

The analysts threw their dice once more. After each die stopped on a number, everyone took a glance at all of them.

Bartley rolled a 5.

Branson got a 5.

And Blair… also had a 5.

"Wow! Another tie!" Marcy expressed her astonishment.

"Darn it! One more time!" Branson shouted as all three analysts picked up their dice and threw them once again.

Bartley rolled a 12.

Branson got a 12.

And Blair… also had a 12.

"Impossible!" Bartley yelled in disbelief.

"Yeah! There's nothing analytical about this that would explain such inconceivable odds!" Branson said.

"And with three people, no less!" Blair added.

"Yeah, not gonna lie, that's, uh… pretty impressive that we got three ties in a row." Marcy admitted. "But don't worry! Pretty sure the next one's gonna decide it! You just gotta keep trying!"

"If that's what you claim, then so be it! This little battle shall soon be over!" Blair exclaimed as the three newts once again took their dice and rolled them.

Five minutes later…

"Uh… Wow, guys. I… I dunno what to say about this." Marcy said, bewildered. "You guys somehow rolled to a tie a bunch of times in a row over the past few minutes. I'm not sure if there's something about how you guys do it or what."

"This is absurd!" Bartley yelled as he scratched his head furiously. "It's these accursed dice! They have been conspiring against me, just as I thought!"

"You said it as if you're the only one suffering from this!" Branson said. "If anything, these dice must be enchanted with a curse of some kind! That would explain how our calculations are always off!"

"Master Marcy gave those dice to us. Are you insinuating that she is a witch? Preposterous!" Blair scoffed at him. "You bring shame to all analysts for coming up such outlandish theories!"

"Oh, and you think your idea of 'coexisting with monsters' is any better?" Branson mocked.

"I dare you to say it again, you uncultured simpleton!" Blair challenged him as he stood up from his seat, readying his book about pacifism in his hands to strike.

"Bring it, hypocrite!" Branson shouted as he stood up as well, rolling his sleeves up to his shoulders.

"Grrr! I just want that sword! You two are being nuisances for not letting me have it!" Bartley growled as he was about to jump the two.

"Okay, okay, okay! How about we settle this some other way?" Marcy said, trying to de-escalate the conflict between the newts. "I'll be the one doing the dice roll instead and deciding who gets to have the sword!"

"Exactly how will you manage that?" Blair asked skeptically.

"Easy! The person wins if the die lands on one of their numbers. In this case, Bartley, you have numbers 1 to 5. Branson, you have 6 to 10. 11 to 15 are your numbers, Blair. And lastly, 16 to 20 are all Jerry's." she explained.

"Uh, wait, I never said that I want the sword." Jerry reminded her.

"Well, sure, but the thing is, I kinda need you to be in this so that everyone gets a fair shot at it." she clarified herself. "Since we're dealing with a D-20, keeping things fair for three people is hard 'cause one of them will get the short end of the stick, having 6 numbers to choose from instead of 7 like the others. And pretty sure nobody wants that. With four people, though, it's an even split 'cause everyone has 5 numbers. So if you can bear with me on this one, that'll be great!"

"I feel like everyone will kill me if I somehow win this…" The axolotl expressed his concerns.

"So how about it, guys? Think that sounds like a good idea?"

The three newts groaned, as they felt that they have had just enough of each other's presence to remain civil. But they begrudgingly agreed to go with Marcy's suggestion, sitting back down as they did.

"Great! Let's do this!" Marcy smiled widely as she quickly swiped the 20-sided die in her hand. She stood up from her seat as she shook the die in her palm, her face adopting a determined expression.

Everyone observed her in anticipation.

"Okay! With the roll of the Dice of Fate, may it choose the worthiest one of all!" she exclaimed, throwing her die at the table with great enthusiasm.

Unfortunately for everyone involved, it turned out that she threw a bit too hard, as the die ended up rolling off the opposite end of the table from where she was.

"Whoops! My bad!" she apologized. "I'll get it!" She proceeded to go and retrieve the lost die. Her first instinct was to climb up the table for the sole purpose of getting to the other side quickly.

However, in doing so, because the table was held up unevenly by stacks of books on one side, she ended up nearly toppling the table as soon as she set her foot on it. As a result, she slipped and fell face first onto it, crushing everything that was lying on the surface, among them being the guidebook, the screen, the miniature figures and others.

"Master Marcy!" Everyone shouted with worry.

"I'm okay!" The raven-haired girl quickly reassured everybody, raising her hand up and giving a thumbs-up.

When she pushed herself off the table surface, she took a moment to look down at the destruction that her fall had caused. While her guide book came out relatively fine, the miniatures were crushed into pieces, on the other hand. Even the map that was served as the play mat for their game was torn into two as a result.

She winced at the sight of everything underneath her. "Oooh… Didn't really mean to mess that up…"

"I'll say!" Bartley said, as he scooped up the broken pieces of his character miniature. "My warrior is in shambles! I've spent such a long time carefully crafting him!"

"Uh, you didn't make it. Master Marcy gave us those miniatures herself." Branson was quick to remind him. "Unless you call that shoddy paint job your craftwork. Actually, is it even a legitimate craftwork if you just splattered the colour red all over it?"

"It's to invoke the feeling of strategic might, you fool!" Bartley argued. "Which is more than I can say about yours, with your insistence of using the colour black!"

"Uh, thief? Assassin? Master of the shadowy arts? How does that fly over your head?!"

"Bah! Who cares about your tiny statues!" Blair yelled. "Look at my map that I have painstakingly illustrated for months! It's ruined! It wouldn't have been like this if you two hadn't insisted on using it for the game!"

"Wait, you call this poorly drawn scribble a map?" asked the baffled Branson.

"That makes sense. You never do have a sense of artistry." Bartley commented.

"That's it! I'm done trying to make peace with you two!" shouted the offended Blair, as he threw his book at them.

Branson quickly ducked out of the way of the thrown book, while Bartley was less fortunate, getting himself hit on the face.

"Ow! Why, I oughta…!" Infuriated, Bartley tackled Blair and pushed themselves down to the ground, where they proceeded to attack each other in a ball of violence.

"Well, clearly, I'm not getting myself involved in this." Branson said as he slowly slipped himself away from the table. "Time to sneak out of here strategically."

Before he had the chance to escape, he suddenly felt his tail being grabbed before he was pulled into the fight alongside the other two analysts.

"H-hey, guys! No need to fight!" Marcy pleaded, trying her best to control the situation among them. "Come on! We were just getting to the good part about the game! Please calm down!"

Her words fell on deaf ears, as the three analysts kept fighting each other over their differences. She became disheartened by the sight of them.

"But… We were starting to have fun together…" she said despondently, looking down at the ground.

Jerry placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Don't feel bad, Master Marcy." he reassured her. "They're simply a lost cause to begin with. It makes you wonder why his Majesty put them together as a group in the first place."

He kept watching the analysts scrabbling against one another for a short moment before he let out a resigned sigh.

"I guess I should try and break up the fight. I am a soldier responsible for enforcing peace within our land, after all. If you'll excuse me." he said before he approached the ball of violence, intent on putting an end to such trivial in-fighting.

Marcy watched as the analysts kept fighting each other while the axolotl intervened to stop them. She then looked down at the table where she made a mess due to her clumsiness, noting the broken miniatures, torn map and other crushed objects. She let out a sad sigh.

It was her first Creatures and Caverns play session in a long while, and it ended in the worst possible outcome of any game: the entire party being at odds with one another. Once again, her interests failed to reach out to others.

Hey, Jo! Sorry for leaving you hanging for a bit! There was an emergency and, you know, being the Chief Ranger of the Knight Guard and the new-appointed Royal Advisor and all, I had to take the call and gather some info about what we're up against. But now that I have a bit of me time right now, I can tell you all about it! So get this! Right now, Newtopia is having a biiiiig pest problem. And those pests are called… BARBARIANTS!

Sitting on the border of the fountain inside of the city of Newtopia, Marcy had begun writing down on her journal everything that occurred since the last time that she recorded, beginning with her findings on the Barbariants, complete with a detailed illustration of the Queen of the Barbariants with notes.

Feeling the need to lift her own spirits up after a disastrous Creatures and Caverns session with the three analysts and a soldier, she decided to retreat back to the city and find some time for herself, which served as a good opportunity to get back to her journal, whom she called Jo.

She became so immersed in her writing that she failed to notice that someone was approaching her from the front.

"I do hope that you are not taking a break when our city is currently under threat of those Barbariants."

Marcy lifted her head up from her journal and gasped in surprise from seeing a familiar aquamarine newt with long blue hair tied into a bun with a band made of shells standing in front of her, wearing an elegant taffeta dress.

"Oh! Lady Olivia!" Marcy exclaimed as she stood up straight in the presence of the King's advisor. "Fancy meeting you here, of all places! And, uh… You're out without your usual guards?"

"Yes, well, sometimes, I like to stroll around the city by myself in broad daylight, when I am not dealing with pressing matters." replied Olivia. "Besides which, you have yet to explain yourself why you are here within the city walls instead of taking care of the Barbariants outside. Unless you are already successful in your endeavour?"

"Well, not yet, but don't worry about it, Lady Olivia!" Marcy said while putting away her journal. "I already came up with a plan to get rid of those guys! I just need to wait for the right moment to set it into motion."

"Ah, well, that is reassuring to hear." Olivia nodded in satisfaction.

"Wanna know what I got in store for them?" Marcy asked, excited to show off the fruits of her research.

"Oh, there is no need for you to-"

"Check it out!" Cutting her off, the raven-haired human pulled out a belt full of orange mushrooms with yellow tips strapped onto it. "These are stink shrooms! We're gonna use them to drive the Barbariant Queen away along with all of her spawns! The pheromones that these give off should be enough to do just that!"

"I see." The king's advisor nodded once more. "Though I find that reaching the queen herself would not be a simple task. According to the scouts' reports, she is currently hiding away deep inside of the tunnels, with the passage ways leading to her being guarded by the ants."

"Yep, that's right." Marcy confirmed. "But you don't need to worry about that! The ants may be big in numbers, but I know the tunnels like the back of my hand, especially the pathways that are way too small for them to squeeze through. If I stick to those, getting to the queen and ridding ourselves of the hoard will be a cinch!"

"Well, seeing how confident you are, I have no doubt that you will succeed." Olivia smiled.

"You got that right! I'll sneak past those ants so quietly that they won't know what hit them!" Marcy grinned as she put her foot on the fountain border confidently while thrusting a fist up to the sky. "As always, Newtopia is in safe hands!"

As she proceeded to climb herself up the border, she failed to notice that her foot was stepping on the bottom of her cape, and in the process of moving up, her cape very briefly strangled her before she lost her footing and fell to the ground flat on her back.

"… Although, I do hope that you do not accidentally hurt yourself while doing so, Master Marcy." Olivia expressed her concerns after witnessing the human girl's clumsiness taking effect once again. "That, or alerting the Barbariants of your presence."

A small piece of paper of some kind caught the aquamarine newt's eye, as it was slowly floating down towards the ground before lying near the bottom hem of her dress. Olivia picked up the paper out of curiosity and inspected its content.

"Hehe… I better watch where I'm putting my foot down. That would've been disastrous." Marcy chuckled awkwardly, as she sat up from the ground while rubbing the back of her head. "Maybe I should try trimming my cape down. That'll help solve the problem. And maybe I'll use the cutoff part to make another accessory for my outfit. A neck mask sounds like a nice add-on."

As she had her hands inspecting herself for any sign of further damage, there was something amiss among her possessions, causing her to widen her eyes in worry.

"Oh… Oh geez… Where did I put it?" she asked herself as she quickly looked around to find whatever it was that she lost hold of.

"Is this what you are looking for?"

Turning her head towards Olivia, she was met with the sight of the advisor handing out a piece of paper to her.

It was the group picture of her and her best friends.

"Oh! Yeah, that's it! Thanks, Lady Olivia!" Marcy expressed her gratitude as she took the picture off Olivia's hands. "Thank goodness I didn't lose it somehow!"

"If I am not mistaken, this is the picture taken of you and your friends, correct?" Olivia asked.

"Yep!" Marcy nodded. "Anne, Sasha and I took it together during our first day of school back home. It's one of my most, if not THE most, cherished items in my inventory. Losing it would've been devastating."

"I see." Olivia nodded in understanding. "I recall you mentioning that you and your friends have been transported to Amphibia together. Yet, so far, for the past few months, you are the only human that we are aware of, with no sign of the others. Are you certain that it is not only you who has been taken to our world?"

"Trust me. I know my girls are here in Amphibia with me. I'm a hundred percent sure." Marcy affirmed her beliefs. "I'm planning on searching all over Amphibia for them, once the whole Barbariants business is taken care of. Luckily, with Joe Sparrow around, my search is gonna go a lot quicker than if I'm on my own."

Although she spoke of her intent positively, as soon as she became aware of how much time had passed since she first arrived in the new world, Marcy let out a sad sigh,

"But… I didn't think that we would be apart for this long… I wonder how Anne and Sasha are doing…"

"If I may be so bold," Olivia said as she sat down on the fountain border next to Marcy who was still sitting on the ground floor. "You spoke with certainty that your friends are safe. But you should know by now that the world outside of Newtopia is a dangerous place. You have been lucky to have been sent to our city. But the same cannot be said about your friends, not with how little we know of their wellbeing and whereabouts."

"Well, if it was anyone else, I'd agree with you there." Marcy said while looking up at Olivia. "But I know my girls. I'm sure that they're fine on their own out there, together or otherwise."

"Is that so?"

Marcy nodded while setting her sights back down to her picture, first laying her eyes on the blond-haired girl in the middle.

"Sasha is, like, the leader of our little group." she described the girl with admiration. "She's the one making the important decisions for us if it's for our benefit, and her persuasion levels are pretty high. The only reason why nobody messed with us back home was because she's that good at scaring them off. With her around, life had been a breeze for us."

She shifted her sight towards the curly-haired girl on the left side of the photo.

"And Anne… Anne's my very first friend since we were really little." she said, fondly reminiscing their time together. "I've known her for as far as I can remember. She's been protecting me from all sorts of danger back home, be it some obstacles, some guys trying to take advantage of me, and, hehe… Even myself, most of the time. I can't imagine living life without her around…"

She lifted her gaze back up to Olivia.

"The two of them are pretty strong too, which is more than I can say about myself back then. Anne's an expert when it comes to sports, most notably tennis. And Sasha's the leader of our school's cheerleading squad. With that in mind, I'm positive that those two are doing alright out there. It's just…"

She once more adopted a downcast look on her face.

"I wish that we came to Amphibia all together the first time around. Instead, we're split apart…"

"So… Am I correct to assume that you truly cherish your two friends?" Olivia asked with sympathy.

Marcy nodded.

"More than my own life…" she replied, forming a sad smile on her face.

"Master Marcy! At last, I have found you!"

Both Marcy and Olivia were alerted by a voice calling out to the former. Turning their heads towards the direction of the voice, a soldier was sprinting towards them before stopping just a few feet shy.

"Uh, what's up?" Marcy asked the soldier, standing up from the ground and putting away her photo.

"We have a situation!" The soldier informed her after taking a moment to catch his breath. "A group of travellers are approaching the city gate as we speak!"

"Wait, really?!" she exclaimed out of disbelief. "But the Barbariants are still out there! Didn't they know that we're on lockdown?!"

"They seemed to have travelled from afar, ma'am! It's unlikely that news of the Barbariants have reached them!"

"Tch… Those ignorant tourists…" Olivia grumbled under her breath. "Unfortunately, we cannot afford to send out a squad to rescue them, as that would mean opening the gate and risking the ants infiltrating the city. I'm afraid that they are on their own."

"Wait, we can't just leave them to die out there!" Marcy argued.

"Then what do you suppose that we should do instead, Master Marcy?" The king's advisor asked, curious to see if the raven-haired human comes with a better idea.

"Well, I can't argue that opening the gate to send out a squad is a bad idea." Marcy said after a brief moment of reflection. "But I can go out there and rescue them myself!"

"Are you sure that it is wise?"

Marcy flashed a confident grin at Olivia while putting up the hood of her cape. "No biggie! I already found a way to get rid of the queen, so what's a couple of spawns bursting out into the open? It'll only be just a moment! You'll see!"

The raven-haired girl quickly ran towards the city gate, intent on rescuing the poor travelling tourists by herself.

"Uh, Master Marcy! Wait!" The soldier tried to stop her, but either she could not hear what he said or she ignored his voice in favour of following through with her action. He turned his head towards Olivia with worry. "Should we have a few of our men assisting her, Lady Olivia?"

"Oh, there is no need." Olivia shook her head, smiling. "Master Marcy has been quite resourceful ever since she arrived here. There is no doubt in my mind that she will succeed in this one. After all, his Majesty thinks very highly of her skills."

As soon as Marcy climbed on top of the city walls, right above the gate, she peered out towards the outskirts of the city in search for the visiting travellers. Since Newtopia is surrounded by shallow waters, it should be simple enough to find a group of people standing out in the area.

She managed to spot who she was looking for, as evident of the sight of an impressive-looking wagon being pulled by a snail. Those people were located right in front of the gate. However, just as she feared, they were already being surrounded by the Barbariants, easily identified for being ants of enormous size with barnacles clinging onto their exoskeleton and glowing corals serving as their antennae.

"Crud! The ants are closing in on them fast! Gotta make a move quickly!"

She took a very brief moment to formulate a plan to save the travellers. She took out two objects from her possession: a sling and a bag full of flammable oil.

She placed the bag inside of the sling before proceeding to spin the sling around vertically around her hand. After carefully considering all the conditions needed to hit her mark, she launched the bag off the sling, sending it flying up towards the sky.

The bag travelled in an arc, reaching the peak before quickly descending towards the travellers and the approaching ants. As soon as it made contact with the surface of the water, in-between an ant and the outsiders, it blew itself apart, spreading the oil around and surprising everyone involved.

"Yes!" Marcy pumped her fist once she saw that she succeeded in throwing the bag at exactly where she needed it to be.

Sparing no time to waste, she immediately pulled out another bag of oil and proceeded to follow the same steps as before: putting the bag in the sling, spinning it around and launching it towards her desired target after making careful calculations.

She repeated the same process a few more times until she was able to form a dark, curved line made out of oil that separated the travellers from the Barbariants.

"Okay! Just one last touch!"

Brandishing her crossword that was strapped onto her right arm, its limbs spreading open from activation, she pulled out two more objects from her possession, being an arrow and the seed head of a cattail, this time around.

She inserted the seed head onto the arrowhead before loading her crossbow with the arrow. After setting the head on fire, she aimed her crossbow at an angle towards the sky, once again making quick and careful calculations before making her move.

As soon as she figured out the exact angle that she needed, after considering the wind resistance, the weight of the arrow in relation to gravity, the distance between her and the group in front of the gate, and so on, she pulled the trigger and fired the flaming arrow.

Just as she had calculated, the arrow managed to strike the line of oil and ignite it to create a wall of fire around the visiting travellers, scaring off the Barbariants and forcing them to bury themselves into the ground before retreating.

"Wooh! Oh yeah! Now that's what I'm talking about!" Marcy cheered while pumping both fists up in the air victoriously. "Alright! Now to check and see if those guys are safe and sound! This is a perfect time to try this one out!"

She loaded her crossbow once more, this time with an arrow with a rope attached to the tail end. She aimed her weapon towards the travellers' wagon before shooting the arrow, as it pierced itself into one of the wagon's wheels.

She then quickly took the other end of the rope and tied it around a nearby stone column, making sure that the tension of the rope is well-adjusted to allow her to slide down no problem.

"Okay! This should be good enough!" she said after she finished working on the rope. "Hmm… With that said, I should be able to make it all the way down there if I was using a rope from Earth. But I'm dealing with a Newtopian rope, which uses a different kind of material than usual. I wonder if it can support my weight well enough. Hmm… Welp! Only one way to find out!"

She leaped off the city walls before gripping onto the rope using a hook in hand, allowing her to zip across the rope from the top of the walls to the travelling caravan at a steady speed.

SNAP!

Midway through, however, the rope snapped, causing Marcy to fall off and crash into the shallow waters face first, in some distance away from the group.

A moment later, Marcy lifted herself up, coughing out a bit of water that went into her lungs.

"Okay, so a Newtopian rope can hold an average human girl for, uh… 2.3 seconds." she concluded, pulling out her journal. She then stood up from the ground beneath the surface of the water before writing down what she learned. "Maybe I can reinforce the rope with ironspider silk to increase the tensile strength…"

"Marcy?"

The raven-haired girl stopped writing once she heard someone calling out to her by name, and with a voice that sounded very familiar that invoked a sense of hope within her heart.

She turned herself around and was met with a shocking, but familiar sight.

"… Anne?"

Chapter Text

"GUYS!!!"

Anne and Sprig both looked up to the excited tadpole who swung the ceiling hatch open.

"Polly? What's up?" Anne asked.

"Guys! It's- I mean, we're- Not gonna believe- Well-!" Polly stuttered as she struggled to properly convey what she wanted to say in her excited state. "AHH! Just get out here!"

The two humans briefly looked at each other, wondering what got her so excited. They then decided to follow her request, stood up from where they were and poked their heads out through the hatch.

They both gasped in astonishment, now understanding why Polly was acting the way she did.

Once they realized that they have stopped near the edge of a cliff, Anne and Sprig got off of the fwagon and walked closer to the edge, followed by Polly and Hop Pop, to get a closer view of what they had been seeing before their very eyes.

On the shallow sea some distance away from the coast lied a large, majestic city, consisting of countless buildings that looked like they had been built from long ago, based on their architectural design, as well as towers that resembled tall red mushrooms. A large silver sculpture resembling a beak facing upward stood on top of the spiral stone monument right in the middle. Formidable walls with a large, golden gate surrounded the city, accompanied by huge corals that clung onto them from the sea.

There was no doubt in mind that the large metropolis in front of them is the core of Amphibia: Newtopia.

"Whoa…" Anne, Sprig and Polly continued to stare in awe at the splendid city before them.

Hop Pop chuckled at his grandchildren's awestruck reaction. "Well, kids, this is it! Newtopia is finally within our reach!"

"Wow…! Newtopia…" Sprig spoke with gaping mouth. "After hearing so much about it for so long, it feels unbelievable that we're standing right in front of it. It looks even more amazing than I can even imagine…"

"And that's where I can find my way back home. Right, Hop Pop?" Anne asked the elderly frog.

"I can't see why it wouldn't be." Hop Pop nodded. "After all, this is where the wisest of newts in all of Amphibia can be found."

"Well, what are we waiting for?!" Polly exclaimed in excitement. "Let's get down there already!"

"Yeah!" The Plantar family all cheered and jumped in joy, knowing that their long, arduous journey to Newtopia would soon pay off.

"Well, my feet are soaked." Anne noted, not long after the family started traversing into the shallow water past the shore on their way to Newtopia.

"Come on, guys! It's right over there!" Sprig shouted as he ran towards the large gate ahead of everyone, unable to contain his excitement of finally reaching the city.

"Slow down, boy! We're not exactly in hurry for anything!" Hop Pop told his grandson while trying to have Bessie follow him by foot.

"Ah, let him have some fun, Hop Pop!" Polly said as she let herself float above the water and allowed to momentum carry her forward. "We're kids, remember? You can't really blame us for getting all giddy about something as cool as getting to Newtopia, finally."

"So how come you're not joining your brother in the excitement?" he asked.

"Can't a gal as hardcore as me be allowed to relax for once? Especially since it's been exciting adventures after exciting adventures this whole trip. I think I deserve a little R&R."

While she was savouring the tranquility of it all, she got interrupted when she bumped into something, causing her momentum to be put into a halt. She turned to look what was behind her and took notice of a strange dirt hole that stuck out from the surface of the water.

"Hey, what do you think made these holes?" she asked.

Hop Pop joined the purple tadpole and took a look at the hole himself. He then looked at their surroundings and saw that there were more holes just like that one practically every where.

Whatever they were, they spelt trouble for the elderly frog.

"Hmm… Better not to ask." he replied. "In fact, I think Sprig has the right idea of hurrying for the city. Come on!"

"I feel like this will come back later!" Polly quickly remarked as Hop Pop dragged her away from the hole.

The Plantar family all gathered in front of the large golden gate, its ornate design depicting two robed newts guarding the gate on each side.

"Oh man! I still can't believe that we're actually here!" Sprig expressed his joy still to the point of visibly hopping in place.

"I'm with you buddy. But here we are, at last!" Anne said. "Yo! Anybody home!" she shouted at whoever was behind the gate, assuming that there was anyone there.

One of the clams above the robed newts on the gate flipped open, and a blue, hooded newt poked his head out, surveyed the area around before lowering his sights down towards the family below.

"You can't come in. Newtopia is closed." stated the guard.

"What?! Seriously?!" yelled the Plantars in unison.

"Wait, you mean, like, closed, closed? Or like, closed for lunch?" Anne asked for clarification.

"The city is closed, closed to all outsiders." the newt clarified.

"What the hey hey?!" Sprig shouted in disbelief. "We finally get to Newtopia after a long trip, and you guys are closed?! That's not fair!"

"Well, you folks should have gotten the memo before coming here. Not that it's my problem or anything."

"Memo? What memo?" Anne asked, raising a questionable eyebrow.

"About the Barbariants, of course." he replied. "Good luck out there!"

The guard then closed the clam window on them, though not before he struggled with it by trying to grab the handle that was barely out of reach, nearly falling off the window while doing so, getting himself back up and finally closing the window by using a rod with a hook.

"Barbariants? What are those?" asked the curly-haired girl.

"Beats me." Hop Pop shrugged. "We don't got 'em in the valley."

"Psh! They closed the whole city because of a few little ants? That's lame. And I thought they're armed to the teeth against threats like those." said the disappointed boy. "Well, if they're not gonna budge until those things are gone, then what do you say we take care of the problem for them?"

"Count me in! Let's squash those nasty bugs!" Polly said, captivated by the idea of committing wanton violence against the ants.

"Kids, we have no idea how much of a threat those Barbariants pose." Hop Pop warned them. "I'm fairly certain that they wouldn't closed the city prematurely if they weren't that dangerous."

"Relax, Hop Pop! Those ants can't be as bad as the ones that we have back home!"

The boy moved towards the back of the group before turning around to face them with a confident look on his face.

"I mean, look at us! We've gotten a lot stronger since we left the valley so long ago! Anne is as reliable as ever, Polly nabbed us some nice, new weapons behind our backs, somehow,"

"Don't ask where and how I got them from." Polly spoke.

"Hop Pop learned how to be as reckless as us," he continued.

"I, uh… don't think it's something to be proud of per se." Hope Pop said while scratching the back of his head.

"And I got the power to shoot lightning off my fingers!" Sprig concluded while pumping both fists in the air in delight.

"Say what now?" said the confused tadpole.

"You know, the whole pretending to have super powers by watching too many videos and stuff." Anne reminded her. "I'm still surprised that he's still at it even now."

"Sprig, you need to rein in on your silly imagination." Hop Pop told the boy with his hands on his hips.

"I'm not being silly, guys! I really do have lightning powers!" Sprig strongly insisted. "Think about it! If Maddie's potion transformed me into a human, then maybe it gave me lightning magic too!"

"Well, I can't say it's impossible, as far as magic is concerned." The elderly frog scratched his chin as he found himself somewhat believing Sprig's claim.

"Hop Pop, come on." said Anne who was arguably the most skeptical of it. "If Sprig has lightning powers the whole time, he would have flaunt them to us the whole trip."

"Well, you have a point there." Hop Pop nodded, becoming doubtful again at the drop of a hat. "Sprig, you do not have lightning powers. Just give it a rest already."

"I'm serious!" Sprig shouted. "Just let me figure out how to use them and I'll prove to you that I'm not making it up!"

He looked down at his open palms, as he tried to remember how he did it the last few times.

"Hmm… Maybe I need to cast some kind of incantation? No, I tried it already and it didn't work. Maybe I need to go with a feeling? But what exactly am I supposed to feel? Come on, magic lightning fingers…! Work with me here…!"

"Sprig, behind you!" Anne suddenly yelled.

"Huh?"

Sprig was caught by surprise when something large suddenly collided into him from behind, causing him to fall forward onto one of the many small parts of the land sticking out of the water surface. As soon as he got up on all fours and turned himself around, he let out a yelp upon seeing what was behind him.

He was met with the sight of an enormous ant, more than twice his size, with two glowing corals that acted at its horns, and barnacles clinging onto its exoskeleton. It quickly approached him without giving him as much as a break.

"AH! Big ant! Really big ant!" he yelled.

The Barbariant snapped its thorny mandibles on the boy as soon as it got close, only for Sprig to quickly stopped its attack by pushing his hands against the mandibles and holding them still.

"Hang on, dude!" Anne said as she, Hop Pop and Polly quickly ran towards the boy to help him.

The ant tried to push its mandibles as hard as it could against the boy. In an attempt to avoid getting his head chopped off, Sprig lifted his leg up and kicked the ant off of him before crawling back away.

The ant quickly recovered and was about to charge in, only for the purple tadpole to land on its head and pull on its antennae. It tried shaking its head to get Polly off of it, then it tried running in circles while bouncing off the sea bed.

"Yeehaw!" Polly shouted while riding the rampaging insect, clearly having fun doing so.

"Sprig, Anne! Sling me at that thing!" The elderly frog instructed them.

"Okay!" The two humans both said as they quickly went to him before grabbing an arm each.

"Polly! Try and get it to move in front of us!" Anne yelled.

"You got it, girl!" Polly nodded as she pulled on the ant's antennae again and forced it to move towards the rest of the family.

Anne and Sprig prepared themselves to throw Hop Pop at the giant insect, swaying him back and forth.

"One, two… THREE!"

They both launched the orange frog forward. As Hop Pop flew towards the Barbariant, he inflated his vocal sac as big as possible.

Polly managed to jump off just in time for their grandfather to strike the insect right on the head, sending it flying back a few feet before it fell back against the water surface.

It was clear that the Barbariant grew afraid, as it quickly retreated and went down inside one of the dirt holes.

"Yeah! In your face, ant!" Anne cheered as she and Sprig gave each other high-fives.

"See? What did I tell you? We handled that thing no problem!" Sprig said with confidence while pretending that he was not a bit scared by the Barbariant in the first place. "I don't see what those guys are so afraid of. If we Plantars can beat one of them easily, then taking on a whole army will be a cinch too!"

"Boy, what did I tell you about jinxing it?" Hop Pop said as he and Polly rejoined the others.

BrumBrumBrumBrumBrum…

As if on cue, the ground below their feet shook, alarming the family. As they looked around to see what was causing it, several mounds of dirt came out of the water surface and more Barbariants bursted out from there, surrounding the family and the fwagon.

Outnumbered, the Plantars all backed themselves towards the fwagon as the group of ants approached them at the same time. Even Bessie retreated into her shell when one of the ants got too close to her.

"Uh… I take back what I said about us dealing with a whole army." said the nervous boy, even though it was too late to rescind his words.

"Anyone else getting antsy here or is it just me?" Anne asked.

"Now's not the time for puns!" Polly yelled.

The Plantars prepared themselves for what might be a very close fight against the Barbariants, when suddenly…

SPLASH!

Everyone was caught by surprise when something fell in a splash between the Plantars and one of the ants. A brownish black substance spread around the water from where the unknown object fell.

"What the heck?" The Thai-American girl said. "Is this… oil? But who dropped something like this over here?"

"Look! Up there!" Hop Pop shouted as he pointed up at the city walls.

Everyone else followed where the elderly frog was pointing and they all saw a silhouette of a person in a cloak standing on top of the formidable walls.

The mysterious person was seen spinning something around in a sling before launching it at the sky, where the object then proceeded to fall towards the group before it exploded apart next to where the last one fell upon making contact with the surface, extending the oil-covered area across.

The individual repeated the same steps a few more times, throwing the object next to where the previous ones were one after the other until a semi-black circle separated the Plantars and the fwagon from the Barbariants.

Then, they shot what resembled an arrow with a flaming head, using a crossbow strapped to their arm, up to the sky. The flaming arrow then fell off and hit the semi-black circle of oil, igniting it into a wall of fire around the Plantars, scaring off the Barbariants into burying themselves into the sea floor before retreating.

"Hey! They're running away!" Sprig pointed out.

The family all looked back up to their mysterious saviour who shot another arrow with a rope attached to the tail straight into one of the wheels of the fwagon, creating a zipline going from the top of the city walls down to the fwagon.

After attaching the other end of the rope to a nearby stone column, the cloaked person then proceeded to leap off the walls before gripping onto the rope with a hook in hand, allowing themself to zip down at a steady speed.

"Wow…!" The family all sounded their astonishment of their rescuer's actions.

"Now that's one cool newt." commented the impressed Hop Pop.

SNAP!

The rope suddenly snapped midway through, causing the cloaked individual to fall off and crash into the shallow waters head first in some distance away from the Plantars.

Sprig, Hop Pop and Polly all winced upon witnessing the person's failed introduction in a rather clumsy way.

"Ooh… Didn't really stick the landing." Polly noted. Sprig and Hop Pop agreed with her assessment.

Anne, however, was struck with a sense of familiarity from seeing how clumsy the person presented themself.

"Wait a second…" she said as she slowly approached the fallen being.

The person lifted themself up, coughing out a bit of water that went into their lungs.

"Okay, so a Newtopian rope can hold an average human girl for, uh… 2.3 seconds." they concluded, pulling out a journal. They then stood up from the sea floor before writing down what they learned. "Maybe I can reinforce the rope with ironspider silk to increase the tensile strength…"

From the look at their journal that was practically covered in stickers, to the way they spoke when gathering information in an intellectual way, on top of their clumsiness, Anne started tearing up when she began to recognize who the person standing in front of her was.

"Marcy?"

The cloaked person stopped writing once they heard her from behind. They turned themself around and pulled down their hood, revealing the face of a Taiwanese girl with short, black raven hair.

"… Anne?" Marcy spoke, shocked to see who she was speaking to.

"MARCY!" Anne cried as she ran towards the Taiwanese girl.

"ANNE!" Marcy widely smiled with joy, too shocked to react to the Thai-American girl tackling her to the sea floor with arms around her neck. "Is that really you?!"

"Marcy! I can't believe it!" Anne said, letting her tears of joy fall down her face from seeing her best friend safe and sound.

"You, me, here?!" Marcy said in a state of disbelief, still processing that one of her dearest friends is right there in front of her after being apart for so long.

"I know! I know! I missed you so much!" Anne proceeded to give Marcy a big, long-overdue hug.

"Oh, I missed you too!" Marcy giggled as she returned the hug in kind.

Hop Pop and Polly both smiled fondly at the reunion between the two human girls, feeling glad that they managed to find the other girl upon seeing how happy Anne was.

Sprig, on the other hand, did not smile alongside them, as he was left in conflict with himself.

After Anne stood up from the seabed and helped Marcy up, she looked at the Taiwanese girl from top to bottom and was surprised by how much she changed in appearances, noting the cloak with fur lining held together by a turret shell fastener, the breastplate made of some material that she did not know of, the belt with a buckle of an unique design, and of course, the crossbow strapped to her right arm.

Marcy really did looked like she was having the time of her life out there.

"Look at you! Look at this outfit! You look like an Amazon warrior queen or something!" Anne expressed her amazement at her friend's looks.

"I know, I know, right?! It's nuts!" Marcy excitedly said, showing off more of her outfit that she earned to Anne. "This is real!"

She proceeded to show off her crossbow, obliviously unaware that she was aiming her weapon right at Anne's face, loaded and ready to fire, no less.

"Yeah, very real!" Anne quickly pushed the crossbow away from her before it could shoot an eye out.

"Oh, sorry!" Marcy chuckled bashfully once she realized it, retracting her crossbow away as it folded into itself. She then looked at Anne from top to bottom herself. "But wow, Anne! It's been months, but you look practically the same as before we got pulled into Amphibia! You're still wearing your school uniform and all! Barring a couple of scratches here and there, now that I look at it a bit more closely."

"Well, minus my right shoe." Anne added, lifting her right leg up to show that her foot indeed had a shoe missing. "Pretty much lost it right at the start."

"Oh, so it is! But how come you're still walking without a shoe?"

"I, uh… You know, I don't really know myself." Anne replied while scratching the back of her head. "I mean, I did wear a couple of pairs of shoes at some point in the past few months, but somehow, I always go out with just one shoe in my usual getup. I like to think it's because I don't worry too much about that, but I dunno…"

Marcy giggled. "Oh, I'm so glad that you're as carefree as ever! Still the same Anna-Banana that I love!"

Although she said it that way, she did notice one thing different about Anne. She looked and acted the same, but there was something about her that implied that she was thriving since the last time that she saw her, as if she had experienced a character arc off-screen.

Realizing that Anne changed for the better made Marcy feel more grateful on how things ended up for them since their arrival to Amphibia. And she was not the only one who has changed.

"Anne, isn't this place wild? What an adventure!" Marcy exclaimed, looking like she had a lot of stories to tell, but remained indecisive on where to start. "Aw man, I've really grown out here. Come into my own. Leveled up. No more clumsy, klutzy Marcy! Can you believe it?"

"Your cloak's on fire." Anne pointed out.

"What?"

Marcy looked at her cloak to finally notice that it caught on fire at the bottom. She yelped and started running in circles to try to put out the fire.

"Don't swing it around, dude!" Anne shouted as she put an arm up while leaning back to avoid being struck by Marcy's flaming cloak.

"Haha! That girl's pretty clumsy! She was standing next to that fire wall there when her cape caught on fire!" Polly laughed at the Taiwanese girl's predicament.

"Um… Haven't the flames gone out before she arrived?" Hop Pop asked, as he could have sworn that the cloak caught on fire on its own. "Well, regardless, I think a proper introduction is in order. Come on, kids!"

Hop Pop and Polly walked towards the two human girls for a short bit, until the former noticed that they were one person short and turned his head to see that the orange-haired boy remained where he was.

"Is something the matter, Sprig?"

"Uh… No, not really…" Sprig replied while shaking his head, finding himself still watching the raven-haired girl with caution until his grandfather called out to him.

"Well, come on! Let's go see Anne's other human friend!" Polly said as she and Hop Pop resumed their walk towards them.

Sprig, with his hands tucked in his pockets, eventually followed them, though reluctantly so.

"So, Anne, who's your friend?" Hop Pop asked the curly-haired girl just as she managed to put out the fire on Marcy's cloak by dunking it in water, while Marcy was busy writing down something on her journal about getting a non-flammable cloak.

"You guys, meet Marcy!" Anne formally introduced her to them. "As you all know, she's my other best friend from back home!"

"Oh my gosh! Who are these cuties?" Marcy said as she looked up from her journal and saw the rest of the group.

She quickly approached them and gasped when she had an inkling on who they might be, causing a multitude of questions to burst out of her mind.

"Are they your surrogate frog family? Did they find you and took you in? Ugh! I love the found family trope! Gosh, this is just like the hero in my favourite game, Vagabondia Chronicles! The greatest JRPG of all time! Have you played it? Do you wanna play it? Do you wanna borrow it? Just say the word and I'll lend you my copy. Man, it'll change your lives!"

Sprig, Hop Pop and Polly were taken aback by how uncomfortable close Marcy had gotten to them when she hastily asked them a rapid fire series of questions that they could only catch and/or understand half of what she was saying. They were uncertain on how to respond.

"Uh… Mind helping us out here, Anne?" Hop Pop asked.

"Yep, the Plantars took me in, Marcy." Anne answered one of Marcy's questions for them. "The old frog wearing an ascot right there is named Hopediah. We call him Hop Pop for short."

The raven-haired girl quickly took out a measuring tape and wrapped it around Hop Pop's head to determine how big it is.

"As I thought, 62 centimetres!" she deduced.

"Yep! All brain!" Hop Pop proudly declared, even as his eyes were being squished by the measuring tape until she removed it.

"Judging from the size of your cranium and the speckle of sediment," she spoke while jotting down what she learned on her journal. "You're from Frog Valley, right?"

Hop Pop gasped at her correct deduction. "You can tell all that from my head?"

Marcy looked up at Anne. "Oh Anne! I'm so jealous that you found a farming community. I've been studying Amphibia history, and farm culture is super underappreciated in my opinion."

She then looked back at Hop Pop.

"You're the backbone of society and do not get enough credit for it."

Hop Pop sputtered at Marcy's flattering, understanding and supportive opinion of him and the farming community to the point of his heart becoming very warm inside. He would have fallen on his back, if not for Polly being in his way, much to her annoyance.

"Get off of me!" Polly yelled as she pushed him back up.

"Thank you, thank you!" Hop Pop showed his immense appreciation of Marcy while shaking her hand, taking a liking to her almost immediately.

"Hey, a pollywog!" Marcy noticed the purple tadpole, as she walked past Hop Pop to get a closer look at her.

"Hi." Polly waved her hand, right before the Taiwanese girl picked her up and held her up to the sky to examine the inside of her body under the light of the sun.

Marcy pulled out a magnifying glass and placed it over the back of the tadpole, where a pair of small legs could be seen pushing against the inner walls.

"Uh, what're you doing?" Polly asked in confusion.

"Just checking to see how far your legs are developing." Marcy replied.

Polly gasped in surprise. "You can see my legs?!"

"Yup. And from how it's looking, I'd say those legs should be coming in in about, bub, bub, bub, buh… Two months, give or take."

"Really?! Can I get that in writing?!"

"Oh yeah, absolutely!" Marcy put Polly down, immediately wrote down a note saying 'Legs in 2 months!' with her name signed accompanied by a heart, and then gave it to Polly.

"Oh! Thank youuuu!" Polly happily thanked the raven-haired girl, cherishing the note and pulling it close to her.

"You're welcome! Um, your name is…?"

"I'm Polly!"

"Nice to meet you, Polly!" Marcy smiled at the ecstatic tadpole. "If I'm not wrong, there's only one person left that I haven't personally met yet. Now who do we have here…"

Marcy turned to where Sprig was standing, expecting another kind of frog in the family. Once she saw the third member of the Plantar family, she let out a loud gasp.

"Hold up, hold up, hold up just a darn second!"

She quickly approached the boy to take a closer look at him, much to his discomfort. She squinted her eyes as if to get a clearer view, looked from top to bottom, walked around him to see the rest of him before stopping in front of him.

"No. Way. Are you… human?" she asked in visible shock. "Oh my gosh! There's another human here?! I thought that it's just me, Anne and Sasha here in Amphibia! How can there be another human besides us? Unless there's another magical artifact that can also warp people to another world! Is that really what happened? Where did you get your hands on something like that?"

"Uh, I…" Sprig was about to reply to her, but she cut him off almost immediately.

"Okay, never mind the specifics! When did you get here? Was it after me and the girls or before? Oh! But according to how you look like you're used to all the dirt and grime on you, that implies that you came here way before. Aww! And here, I thought we're the first human beings on record to arrive in this world! But that's beside the point! So how long have you been here? How much do you know about the farming culture? When did you start getting used to life in Amphibia with all the dangers that come with it? Have you gone to the point of forgetting your old life back on Earth? Do you think you're better off here? Gosh, tell me everything!"

With each question asked, she leaned herself towards the boy more and more, even as he tried to lean back as much as he could, until she put her hands on his shoulders as she was dying to get answers from him.

"I, uh… Well, actually, I'm…" Sprig wanted to explain himself to her, but he had a difficult time doing so, especially when she overwhelmed him with a series of questions all at once.

Anne noticed his plight and stepped in to help. "It's, uh… a long story, Marcy. We can tell you all about it when we're inside of the city. Speaking of which, do you think you can help us get in? We tried the gate, but they won't let us in."

"For a good reason, unfortunately." Marcy spoke as she pulled herself off of Sprig and turned to Anne. "Until we get rid of the Barbariants, those gates will stay closed."

"Are those things that much of a problem?" Polly asked.

"Yup. If even a single one of them gets in, it'll be enough to turn the city into one big anthill. Not to mention that the queen will spawn more of her children and expand her territory to the rest of the land, which is a big yikes. But not to worry! I've got a plan that'll help us deal with our little pest problem."

"You do?"

"Sure! I'll explain it when we get to the tent that we use as our base of operations just around the walls over there. Follow me, everybody!"

Thrusting her crossbow forward, she shot another arrow attached with a rope and zipped through the air towards where the arrow struck.

The Plantar family watched her go while staying still, each of them having different emotions and opinions towards the situation surrounding the raven-haired girl.

"So… That's Marcy, huh?" Sprig was the first person to speak out. "Not gonna lie, even though you told me a lot about her, I feel like I wasn't fully prepared for the kind of person she really is."

"Yeah, my own explanation doesn't do her justice, to be honest." Anne replied. "I guess seeing her in person really gets the job done."

"Your friend there is such a sweet girl!" said the smiling Hop Pop, as he wiped away a single tear that fell from his eye. "She may be from a different world, but she called us farmers the backbone of society! Do you know how often we get such heartwarming compliments like this?"

"I didn't know what to expect from her, but she helped me know when I'm gonna have legs, so she's okay in my book! Not to mention how awesome her crossbow is!" Polly said. "… Speaking of which, Hop Pop, can I get a crossbow for my birthday? Please, please, please!"

"Yep! That's Marcy for you. Spontaneous, geeky, smart and really eager to learn." Anne said, listing her friend's aspects in order of what they have witnessed from her.

"And clumsy too, right?" Sprig added.

"Oh totally." she nodded.

As she looked towards the direction of where Marcy had disappeared to, she broke into a relieved smile and she started tearing up once again, prompting her to wipe away her happy tears with her arm.

"I… I'm so glad that she's safe and sound." She turned her head towards the orange-haired boy. "You were right, Sprig. She turned out to be pretty tough on her own and looked like she was living the dream. I almost feel like an idiot for thinking that she wouldn't last a day out here. Thanks for getting me to keep hoping, dude."

The boy smiled at his best friend, though it took him quite a bit of effort to do so.

"Come on, guys! Let's go follow Marcy already and help her out with this whole Barbariant business! And then, we can finally get inside Newtopia!"

Anne, Hop Pop and Polly all cheered and threw their fists in the air, as they ran to follow Marcy to her base of operations.

Sprig, however, remained where he stood, as he was left with numerous thoughts about the situation involving Marcy.

He should have been relieved, because seeing Anne happy again, especially after the Toad Tower incident, was all that he wanted since. And the most optimal way to achieve it was to find Marcy and have them reunite, which was exactly what occurred.

But instead, his happiness was in conflict with his suspicion towards the third human girl, taking his experience with the last one into consideration. Marcy was just as Anne had described her to be, albeit more pronounced than previously thought, but he could not help but think that it was a front to hide a more sinister person who found pleasure in taking advantage of Anne in the past, just like Sasha.

Sasha had done so much harm to Anne's wellbeing. The last thing he wanted was for another one of her longtime friends to betray her and send her even deeper down into despair, after they worked so hard to lift her spirits up. If Marcy turned out to be a really bad person, then he would do everything in his power to stop her from crushing Anne's heart.

Thinking back on the events of Toad Tower, as his normal frog self, he could not do much to fight back against Sasha. In fact, he would have lost his cute little head if Anne hadn't come to his rescue. But since he was currently a human being just like the girls, he might stand a better chance against someone like Sasha.

"Hey, Sprig!" He heard his little sister calling out to him and saw her hopping up and down at a distance to get his attention, while the others went ahead. "What's the hold up? You coming or what?"

"Sorry! Be right there!" he said as he ran to rejoin the others on their way towards the tent.

For the time being, he would have to keep his eye on Marcy and act if she show even the slightest bit of wickedness that was similar to Sasha, fuelled by the desire to protect his cherish friend no matter what.