It was still sunny outside like morning as Anne, Charlie, Hop Pop, Sprig and Polly were reaching beyond the valley with Bessie pulling the caravan along with them. The kids were excited to be leaving the valley and seeing what's beyond the horizon. Charlie had suspected that Hop Pop had some experience in this since Hop Pop has talked about his past experiences from time to time.
They passed a wooden sign that read "Now Leaving The Valley" in white paint and another sign not too far from it that read "May Frog Help You" in red paint. As they were still going on the trail. Hop Pop, Sprig, Polly, Anne and Charlie were sitting in the passenger's seat of the driver's seat but Charlie seemed to be riding on Bessie's shell and Bessie's snail shell was strong. They saw Charlie was showing some excitement as he was singing a little bit which he still had a powerfully beautiful singing voice.
"Don't stop, Don't stop, we're in luck now. Don't stop, there's so much to be found. We can find paradise. All we have to do is go, go! Free your soul. Dragon So-o-o-ou-u-ul!"
He stopped singing immediately as he was slightly swinging his legs back and forth slowly. Anne chuckled at the sight of this as she knew that Charlie felt like his excitement had him on top of the world. Anne knew that both her and the Plantars had a bit more experience in in their adventures since he was in a coma for three in a half months and during that time, both her and the Plantars were doing everything to help each other and others and had some wacky adventures here and there with some dangers along the way. Although, she did feel worried not just for the Plantars but for Charlie as well.
"He's on top of the world." said Anne with a grin.
"Did you see that sign? We've officially left the valley. This is the most exciting thing that's ever happened to anyone. Aren't you excited? I'm excited. Anne, you should be more excited." said Sprig as he couldn't hold still.
"I'm excited. You know, it's just, there's a lot riding on this trip for me, and I wanna keep my expectations in..." Anne began. "Wha-a-a-a-at?"
They all saw a beautiful sight beyond them as they saw more beyond the spot they stopped in. They saw the trail like road ahead, there was a lot of beautiful, clear lakes and rivers, miles of beautiful green and grassy areas, some hills and nearby mountains, huge mushrooms and clovers and from the longest distance, there looked like a volcano. The kids and even Bessie looked awestruck at how beautiful the landscape is with sparkling wide eyes.
"Whoa!" Anne, Sprig and Polly uttered.
"It's amazing. It's majestic. It's... hurting my eyes." said Anne squinting her eyes.
"Is this Heaven? Somebody pinch me if I'm asleep." said Charlie looking wide eyed at the beautiful sight. "If only the ladies back home could see this."
"It's even better than I could've dreamed." said an excited Sprig.
Sprig jumped forwards and landed on top of Charlie's head. Charlie looked up and smiled with a chuckle.
"Haha. Sprig's on top of my head." chuckled Charlie.
"Full speed ahead, Hop Pop. Keep driving and never look back." said Sprig ready for action.
"Hold on, Sprig. Look back here for a second. Now that we're out of the valley, things can get dangerous fast. So..." Hop Pop began. "Actually, lets get in the fwagon and talk about this. Charlie, family meeting in the fwagon."
"On it!" called Charlie.
Anne, Charlie, Hop Pop, Sprig and Polly went inside the caravan as they knew that Hop Pop had to talk them about the journey ahead since they're not in the valley anymore. As they were inside the caravan, they sat at the dining table inside. Charlie on the other hand sat on the floor near Anne but leaned his back against the wall, relaxing like he was kicking back. Hop Pop placed a book on the table with the title of the book reading "Hop Pop's Road Rules" in gold lettering.
"From now on we're gonna follow Hop Pop's Rules of the Road. By me, Hop Pop." Hop Pop announced.
Anne, Sprig and Polly let out an annoyed groan as their joy was short lived. Charlie was silent and listening but knew this probably meant that Anne, Sprig and Polly have been through something like this before.
"Another huge book? Seriously?" said Anne annoyed.
"Is this just like that book that taught us how to drive, ride and steer Bessie but get to know her first?" asked Charlie curiously.
"A little bit!" said Anne, Sprig and Polly in unison.
"You kids got a problem with books? Why, without books..." began Hop Pop.
"...our civilization would crumble to nothingness." Anne, Sprig and Polly finished for him in a monotone.
"Oh that book? I've read it and I'm familiar." Charlie chimed in.
Anne, Sprig and Polly looked at Charlie in surprise. He read this book too? They had no memory of him doing so. They wondered when did that happen.
"You read it?" asked Anne.
"Only out of curiosity. I figured it was a follow up on the other book. I've read manuals before and I know how to hook up electronic devices around the house back home. I once set up a television in our living room." explained Charlie.
"See kids, Charlie knows how the rules work on the road." said Hop Pop. "The only way we'll get to Newtopia in one piece is if we follow these rules."
Hop Pop opened the book and turned to one of the pages that shown one of the rules in the book. He turned to one of the rules that was the ninety-eighth rule in the book.
"Like this one here. Rule number 98: "Never strike a heroic pose on the fwagon." It's a sign of hubris that invites disaster." stated Hop Pop.
He looked and saw that Sprig struck a heroic pose that made it look like he was looking outside to see what's far away. His smile faded completely when he looked at Hop Pop. Hop Pop got up and started to set things up for the kids in the caravan. First, he placed a few road games on the table with one of them being a game of connect the dots with some crayons, than pulled one of the shades to the window down as if to prevent anyone or anything from looking into the caravan and buckled Sprig into a seat belt that looked like it was made for infants. He was barely able to move in it. Hop Pop was climbing out of the caravan to go back and steer Bessie as he climbed out the top side exit.
"That should keep your sense of adventure in check." Hop Pop told Sprig. "All right, kids, let's stick to the rules, and we should have a safe and completely uneventful trip. Okay, thanks. Bye."
He quickly closed the top side exit door and went back to steering Bessie. All the kids but Charlie seemed annoyed by Hop Pop's road rules and restrictions.
"Man, this stinks." said Sprig annoyed.
He used his long, thick and wide tongue to launch it at the window shade and tapped it, causing the shades to spring all the way up and show the outdoors. Polly was playing around with one of the crayons by making it look like she was tapping the sharpened end around one of her hands but than tossed it at one of the road side games like a dart and it stuck to the table like a dart.
"All those adventures out there, and we're stuck in here with these dumb rules." Sprig continued.
"Not much we can do. My dad was the same way back home. One time we drove to the Grand Canyon and didn't stop once." said Anne remembering a road trip experience of her own. "What about you, little man? You ever been on a road trip?"
Charlie sat up and started to remember one of the times he did go on a road trip vacation with his family back at home. He remembered they rented an RV like he mentioned before since his family back at home consisted of nine people. His mother, his aunt, the six other women in the house and himself.
"Remember when I said we once rented an RV for a road trip once? Well, we went on a road trip vacation like that and along the way, sure, we had fun." said Charlie but his facial reaction turned to slight fear. "But we did have a scary experience on the way back home. We accidentally blown out a tire or two and we got stranded somewhere on the side of the road in the countryside, had to call roadside assistance to send someone to help us out. But we stayed in the RV as assistance was going to be a while. We kept hearing this sound out there that at first sounded like someone was playing a jazz instrument but than we heard something that sounded like a half human, half demonic or possibly animalistic screaming and that was when roadside assistance shown up. I was terrified and couldn't bring myself to get out of the RV, that is, until Mabel convinced me nothing would come near us. She was carrying me, the people that drove up changed the tires and offered to escort us to the next town. We got out and were okay, but what ever that creature like sound came from, I had nightmares for two weeks."
They saw that Charlie wasn't kidding when they saw he shook with a wide eyed look of fear, practically trembling from the scary experience. Anne wrapped an arm around him and hugged him to console him which worked.
"Well, think of it this way. You didn't see what made that sound which seeing it would be worse than the sound. And you had the ladies of the house to keep you unharmed. You at least recovered, right?" asked Anne rocking him back and forth.
"I did, yes, but it wasn't easy since I was seven at the time. Now when ever we went on vacation, we stuck to populated areas." said Charlie with a breath as he felt his fear dissipate.
"Well, if anyone can figure out how to have fun with these rules, it's us." said Sprig.
"Newtopia, here we come!" cheered the kids.
"Road rule number 29: "No shouting." Marauders will follow the sound and steal your skin." called Hop Pop.
The kids let out a sigh as they knew the trip outside the valley was probably not going to be what they're preferring. Staying in the caravan while passing some beautiful and exciting looking sights made them want to go out there and take a closer look but Hop Pop advised against it when he would say another rule and state which one it is on what they should and shouldn't do.
As the ride went on. They passed by some beautiful, entertaining, and exciting looking sights. Sprig saw a beautiful lake with flowing waterfalls and a rainbow. He wanted them to pull over but Hop Pop stated one of his rules that told them why they shouldn't, causing them to pass it up and Sprig sighed in disappointment.
They continued going forwards and stopped at what looked like a cliff that was only a five foot drop with dirt and they came across a wooden sign that read "Zoom Dunes" in yellow lettering but a small sign nailed to the side that read "No Speed Limit!" in red lettering.
"Zoom Dunes?" Sprig read the sign.
They heard what sounded like engines revving and that's when three middle aged male frogs on snails with exhaust pipes on them zoomed right passed them, jumping off sand dune like ramps. Sprig and Polly looked amused and Polly was instructing Bessie to do the same like they did but again, Hop Pop stated another rule that had their excitement cut short. They stayed in that same spot as Hop Pop fell asleep to take a nap. The kids were showing expressions of disappointment as others would zoom right passed them.
As they continued. They drove by a diner that Anne pointed out and the diner looked like it was a place that served both breakfast, lunch and dinner all in one day. It was opened with the sign above it's building that read "Amphibia's Best Diner" on the left side of the building with two more signs that read "Yummy Grub" there was a huge wooden standee on the roof that was a green caterpillar with a smile and holding a burger in one hand and wooden thought bubble near it's mouth that read "If you don't agree. Than you're wrong" the kids tried to convince Hop Pop to stop there but he was adamant as he stated a couple of rules that further annoyed them. Charlie on the other hand was silent the whole time as if he didn't to cause any arguments or conflict or he probably didn't want to disobey Hop Pop. They were forced to pass it up.
As time passed, they drove by another interesting location that was looking to be a large building that was a karaoke lounge that read "Itachi's Karaoke" the building had lemon yellow windows and was made of bricks as it had wooden models of mountain tops on the roof to give it a mountain appearance. They could hear music playing from it and Charlie wanted to stop there but Hop Pop yet again stated another rule in his rule book but for some reason, Hop Pop and Charlie didn't argue as they had a brief understanding conversation, Charlie tried to kindly convince him but failed in doing so. He went silent and obey Hop Pop as the older male frog patted the human male teenager on his head as if it was a form of consolation or apologizing to him.
As they continued onward, by than, Anne and Sprig were fed up with the mundane rules that were stated by Hop Pop when something interesting was seen. Charlie wasn't showing too much annoyance but he remained silent. On the outside, he appeared to be calm and relaxed but on the inside, he wasn't as annoyed as Anne or Sprig but he did feel like he was growing bored.
"I can't take it. All of these once-in-a-lifetime experiences are literally passing us by." said Sprig looking on edge.
"I know, and I really wanna complain about it. But road rule 345: "No complaining," takes care of that." said Anne in agreement. "Hey Charlie, you've been silent the whole time. You alright up there?"
"I'm alright. Normally I'd side with all of you guys but in this case, I got to admit. Hop Pop's road rules are seriously bumming out the vibes. I know he just wants us to be safe along the journey ahead and I get that but it's starting to get a little annoying and mundane." Charlie stated. "I know I'm not showing to be as annoyed as you two are but maybe it's just because I have no hostility in me."
"Didn't you ever get into an argument or any conflict with your family back at home?" asked Sprig curiously.
Charlie would think for a moment and he really couldn't think of a time where he got into an argument or had any conflict with his mother, his aunt and the six other ladies of the house. He always spoke fondly of them and they were all doing their part to raise him. He literally had no memory of having conflict with them.
"Actually, I don't. Me and my mom, my aunt and the other ladies of the house hardly ever had any problems with each other...unless any of them started talking about a subject I was too young to know about, one of the girls would make up some excuse to walk me out of the room and we were busy doing something else. I had no problem with that but when ever I asked one of the ladies that walked me out of the room about what the other was talking about, she would tell me it was something to do with personal womanly problems or something that's considered gross. After that, I had no more questions to ask. But I was fine with it." explained Charlie as he came to a realization. "Oh my, I never had any conflict with them."
Anne and Sprig understood since Charlie and his family are on good terms and he never brought up a time where he had any problems with his family back on Earth.
"I swear to frog, if one more cool and exciting thing passes us by..." Sprig began.
"Red alert, kids. We're coming up on the "Ruins of Despair." ." called Hop Pop.
Anne, Sprig and Charlie went to poke their heads out the top door of the exit to the caravan and they saw what looked like a few dome like buildings that were in the shape of a frog with two windows set above the doors resembling eyes. It was quite minuscule in size from its above exterior. They saw lots of them along the road they were now passing. Anne, Sprig and Charlie looked at them with fascination.
"Whoa! Oh, oh, oh." uttered Sprig.
"I'm suddenly reminded of a movie about this. It involved two alien species at war with each other while a team of humans got caught in the middle somewhere out in a snowy region." said Charlie.
"Whoa! What are those weird structures?" asked Anne.
"No one knows, Anne. They've been here long before any written history. Just a mystery better left unsolved as far as I'm concerned." answered Hop Pop.
The three went back inside the caravan and felt annoyed that there was another interesting sight that was passing them by that they wanted to explore.
"This place is the coolest thing I've ever seen. If I don't get out and at least touch something, I'll regret it for the rest of my life." groaned Sprig disappointed.
"Don't sweat it, dude. I have a plan." said Anne looking determined.
"Whoa there! You guy's sure about this. The other sights looked fun, yes, but from what Hop Pop said about those dome like structures and how ominous they appear. They remind me of that alien like sci-fi film I mentioned and I don't know if we should mmmph." Charlie began as his mouth closed.
Anne pulled Charlie in her arms and planted her soft lips to his in a deep yet passionate kiss. She was kissing him as if it were like a romantic kissing scene in a film or something along those lines. Her kissing him not only had his mind spinning but his heart raced from being kissed by his girl friend. Anne eventually pulled her lips off him in a loud pop, leaving the human male to blush and suddenly give an excited grin.
"Let's go crazy like a bunch of wild animals." chuckled Charlie.
Anne started to inform them of what her plan was but the plan left the three of them giggling as if they knew it would lead to something naughty.