Once upon a time, there was a beautiful faraway kingdom known as Precinctia, ruled by King Lieutenant Jacob Marshall, Queen Prosecutor Lana Skye, and their daughter, Princess Detective Ema. Princess Ema was of age to wed, and the king and queen had set to work finding a suitor for their daughter. The process was hampered, however, by Princess Ema's haughtiness – she spurned each and every man that her parents so much as suggested to her, usually by way of throwing a pieces of a local dish known as a Snackoo at their foreheads or completely ignoring them while (very loudly) eating them. If the sound of the Snackoos being munched so ferociously didn't scare the suitors off, then the impact of the little morsels against their foreheads did.

Princess Ema also happened to own a set of forensic tools made especially for her, and was very fond of testing them out at every opportunity she was given (needless to say, it made royal banquets quite awkward for the family).

One day, the Kitaki family, rulers of a small country looking for assistance from Precinctia, came to the castle with the intent of betrothing Prince Wocky to Princess Ema. Prince Wocky had a reputation for flashy behavior, which Princess Ema was none too enthused about, but she resolved to wait until dinner that night, when she and the prince would have to get to know each other, to properly voice her displeasure.

That dinner never happened.

That night, Dr. Meraktis, the royal physician accompanying the Kitaki family, was murdered near a small pond in the castle garden, stabbed through the heart with a sword. He was found about an hour after his death, according to the report filed by the team of royal guards who secured the scene. Once the investigation had begun, Princess Ema was all too eager to use her forensics kit to assist the royal guard.

When she arrived on the scene, Ema noticed a peculiar object lying on the ground, glinting in the dimming evening light. Her curiosity now piqued, the princess set down her kit on one of several rocks surrounding the pond and put on a pair of white gloves to investigate. Just a few feet away from Dr. Meraktis' body, there lay a heart-shaped pendant made of aquamarine with two wings made out of mother-of-pearl. The golden chain had been broken, as evidenced by the securely closed cap. "I wonder..." Ema muttered, before her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a splash. Oh no! She thought, turning towards the pond. Apparently, the rock she had chosen to rest her kit on wasn't quite stable, and had toppled, along with her kit, into the pond. "No!" Ema cried, rushing to the edge of the pond – but alas, the kit was lost. "Oh, what am I going to do? I won't be able to get anything off of this in time!" With no way to gather any forensic evidence at the scene, Ema began to cry tears of frustration and disappointment.

"Tears hardly suit such a maiden as yourself, Fraulein," a soothing light baritone voice spoke, trying to console her. Ema stopped crying, looking around with her stinging eyes to find who was speaking to her. She was understandably perplexed when she saw nobody else besides the corpse of Dr. Meraktis (which had yet to be replaced by a dummy or a chalk outline).

"Wh-...who's there?" The princess stuttered nervously, now spooked.

"At your feet, Fraulein." Ema looked down to find...a frog?

"AIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEE!" Princess Ema screamed, stumbling backwards. "You...you can talk?"

"Indeed, fraulein." The frog looked up to her with a ribbit to punctuate his statement. Ema raised an eyebrow, skeptical of the talking amphibian. "What troubles you so?"

Ema began to tear up again. "My...my forensics kit fell into the pond! I don't know what I'll do without it..."

"Please don't cry anymore. I can retrieve your kit, but what will you give me in return?"

Without thinking, Princess Ema suddenly blurted out, "You can have whatever you want! Jewels, my crown...anything! Please, help me get my kit back!"

The frog shook his head. "Fraulein, I care not for your riches. All I wish is to be your companion; to stay by your side and sleep on your pillow at night."

Blinded by desperation, Ema agreed without so much as a second thought to what the frog said. Besides, this must be some kind of joke. Scientifically speaking, there is no way that frogs and humans can really be friends. "I don't care! Just help me get my kit back!"

"As you wish." The frog turned away and dove into the pond as Ema looked on, biting into her lip with enough enough force to slice through a handful of Snackoos at once. A few moments later, the frog resurfaced with Ema's forensics kit. "Here you are, Fraulein."

"Yes!" Without another word, Ema snatched up her forensics kit, the pendant still held gingerly in her hand, and scurried out of the garden, her mind now set squarely on both finding out what this jewelry might have been hiding from her and forgetting about meeting a talking frog as soon as possible.

The frog bounded after her for some distance, crying "Wait, Fraulein! Take me with you!", but to no avail. "Fraulein!" No matter how loudly he croaked, the princess wouldn't listen. "Princess!"