After Anne discussed her plan with Sprig and Charlie. All three of them knew what they had to do or had to wait on Anne's signal from the looks of it. Anne went up to the topside exit of the caravan and feigned a sickened expression on her face while shaking like she was cold.
"Hey, HP. I've never ridden in a wagon for this long, and I'm definitely gonna hurl. Can we stop for a second?" lied Anne showing she appeared ready to puke. "Also, Charlie's asleep so lets not disturb him."
"Dang it, Anne. How do humans cope with such unreliable innards? Let me know when we can start moving again." said Hop Pop annoyed. "And I agree, lets not disturb Charlie if he's asleep."
"Okay, thanks." said Anne quickly.
Anne went back inside the caravan and closed the topside door. The caravan slowed to a complete stop while Anne, Sprig and Charlie were ready to make a break for it. The three of them exited out of one of the other exits that was in the back of the caravan. They dropped out of a purple colored double doors from the back and landed on the ground with a thud. The three ran towards the dome like structures at great haste.
"Go, go, go, go!" advised Anne quickly.
Hop Pop turned to see three kids running off towards the dome like structures and hopped the wooden picket fence, Charlie on the other hand jumped five feet into the air above the fence.
"Hey! Get back here, you three." called Hop Pop.
"This was your plan?" said Sprig not looking amused but than smiled. "Anne, you've done it again."
The two saw Charlie running with them but he was in front of them as he appeared to be runner faster than they are.
"Kureijī itte miyou!" laughed Charlie. "Race you, Anne. Last one there is slug slime."
Charlie burst into laughter as he was laughing that same crazy, madman like laughter. He beat his chest in excitement. Hop pop wasn't amused as he grew frustrated. He began to climb down on the small ladder that was on the side of the caravan.
"Dang kids never listen to a thing I say. And Charlie is usually so well behaved and is the one who usually listens. Wouldn't surprise me if he was doing this because he had too much sugar in his system and is working the sugar rush out of his system." grumbled Hop Pop. "Polly, don't do anything till I get back."
Hop Pop landed on the ground while Polly was staying at the caravan. While Anne, Sprig and Charlie ran towards the first dome structure of a building, they saw that Charlie ran faster than a human like him should run, it was like he was running faster an olympic track runner. He was the first to make it to one of the dome like buildings, not without doing a few back flips and sticking the landing. Than Anne and Sprig caught up with him.
"I like to see Usain Bolt outrun me!" Charlie cried victoriously. "Ohhhhh!"
"Months ago you ran as fast as me and now you're faster. How is it you're able to run like that?" said Anne looking amazed.
"I used to run laps at a local park but this is the fastest I've ever run." answered Charlie. "Fist bump, girl!"
Both Anne and Charlie formed a fist in one of their hands and gently bumped their fists together. Both Anne and Charlie gave each other high fives on each hand, placed one of their hands to the other and wiggled their fingers in between the other's fingers, and raised their hands in victory.
"Channe against the world!" said Anne and Charlie in unison.
The three of them just saw that Charlie finally learned how to do the handshake that both Anne and Sprig have done before. Anne pulled him in for a kiss to his lips and he felt his world spinning. Anne pulled her lips off him and they were chuckling from what they're doing.
"I did the handshake." said Charlie feeling empowered.
"That's my boy!" said Anne thrilled. "Okay, pretty sure Hop Pop's onto us. So let's take some quick selfies and get out of here."
"Yeah, yeah." said Sprig excitedly.
Anne pulled out her phone and was getting ready to take a picture with the three of them to take a selfie. The second they were ready to take the first picture was when their thrilled enjoyment was cut short. The entrance to the dome behind them opened and the camera flashed. Both Sprig and Charlie fell through the entrance as the entrance led down a slide that was leading underground. Anne jumped down the entrance after them as she slid down the sliding entrance like she was snowboarding.
Charlie caught Sprig in his arms and reached the bottom. Charlie did three flips in the air and landed on his feet. Anne made down there with them and she quickly examined the two.
"You okay guys?" asked Anne hopefully.
She saw they were not responding but they appeared alright when Charlie had set Sprig down on his feet. She saw they were looking at something with wide eyes. Anne looked to see what they were staring at and she had the same reactions they expressed.
"Whoa!" said Anne wide eyed.
"Nanite kotoda!" said Charlie surprised.
There, they saw the underground room that the dome from above shown below. The passage to the room was steep which leads to the main room they were now in, which the room consisted of a main electronic panel used for what appeared to be controlling the production via various buttons, switches and a CD drive. It looked like an underground factory that's been abandoned for as long as Hop Pop said it's been there. The room wasn't very well lit but the only source of light they had in there was light coming from some holes in the ceiling, the passage they slid down from and some yellow blinking lights coming from some of the mechanical devices that were not operational at the moment. The entire place appeared to be untouched long before the creation of the valley.
Some vegetation from the ground was protruding from parts of the ceiling inside which would explain why the ceiling itself had some holes and provided some small light for the room. Where ever the light wasn't shining was dark and none of them could see what was behind or beyond parts of the room that wasn't illuminated.
"What the heck? Are those computers? I thought you guys were like pastoral or whatever." said Anne looking around the room.
"It's a factory? I know that factories make things, depending on what it makes but if this is a factory. I'm starting to wonder what this factory creates." said Charlie remaining vigilant.
"I-I-I-I'm... gonna touch everything." said a wide eyed Sprig.
As Sprig was roaming around the room, he would touch anything that he reached. He would stroke or drum his fingers across any surfaces of any objects he came into contact with. He was as happy as a kid having fun a water park.
"There's so much to see." said Sprig with a grin.
Sprig climbed up a big machine shaped like a giant metal frog. Anne smiled at this as if she did something to give a little kid a good time in letting him do something he's always wanted to do like it was something on Sprig's bucket list.
"Anne? Should we be worried? I remember that with every factory, the said factory makes something like parts to a airplane, car, motorcycle or even making shoes. Do you think this factory makes something that we probably shouldn't find out? Because we don't know if this factory and it's machines are still operational or not. We don't even know what this factory makes and judging from how this world is, it's probably something dangerous." said Charlie showing worry.
"As long as Sprig doesn't push a button or pull a lever. I think we should be alright. Besides, it looks like the power is out of juice here so the machines probably won't work if anything is pushed or pulled. So I'm pretty sure the buttons and levers won't turn anything on if there's no power or if the generators are out of juice. Like a car that can't go if the gas tank is empty." said Anne with a reassuring word.
As Charlie looked around the room. It looked like there was no sign of the machines having any power to activate anything or fuel to power anything at all since the factory looks like there's no power and no fuel in anything to keep anything powered. His worry subsided.
"Maybe you're right. But it sure is cool to see this place." said Charlie with a grin. "Sprig's like a little kid at the playground."
"We did a good thing." said Anne filled with pride.
Their joy was cut short again when they heard a scream coming down the steep passage and a small thud to the floor. They turned to see it was Hop Pop and he wasn't happy from the expression on his face was shown. The old male frog got up and was still carrying that book of rules he shown them before.
"Good feeling gone." said Charlie his smile instantly fading.
"Do you three realize how many rules you just broke? 17, 29, 36, 55!" said Hop Pop looking mad.
"Anne, I'm terrified." said Charlie his body giving a brief tremble.
Sprig slid down from the machine he climbed on and let out an annoyed groan as he continued to climb back up.
"Forget the rules." groaned Sprig. "Look at this place, Hop Pop. It has everything. Cool atmosphere. Implied historical significance."
As Sprig paused, he looked up and saw a big lever from above the head of the frog shaped machine. Sprig had a mischievous grin on his little face.
"Levers." said Sprig amused.
Now Hop Pop was serious as he was on the verge of putting his foot down at this point. Charlie was starting to side with Hop Pop at this point, possibly from fear of facing a scolding or he suspected that if a button got pushed or a lever got pulled, something bad would happen as he didn't know if Anne was right about there being no power to turn the machines on or if there was still some power left.
"Don't you dare! Rule number 68: "Never, ever pull a lever." warned Hop Pop.
"Maybe we should turn back?" suggested Charlie.
Both Sprig and Hop Pop gave each other a glaring stare down to make ether one of them yield but Sprig jumped up into the air and landed on the lever, causing the lever to go down like it was pulled. Everyone in the room closed their eyes and flinched, waiting for something to happen. But they opened their eyes and saw nothing happening.
"Well, look at that. I broke rule number 68, and we're all still alive." said Sprig looking smug.
Sprig's smug emotion was short lived when the lever retracted inside the machine, causing him to fall and land near the face of the frog shaped machine. Blue lights were turning on everywhere, illuminating the entire room. They all looked at the face of the machine and it's mouth area opened to reveal a neon blue screen that is the main control panel. Behind glass panels surrounding the panel is the assembly line itself, which contained what looked like many robotic arms and a metal conveyor belt. The lever that was located above the main panel, the one that Sprig pulled, was used to activate the factory.
"Start-up engaged." came a female's voice.
The computer or machine itself had a female like computer's voice.
"Anne, I'm starting to think this was a bad idea." said Charlie.
"I'm so sorry I roped you into this." said Anne apologetically.
"Whoa! The building can talk! Not sure how I feel about that." said Sprig a little worried.
"Assembly line activated. Routine protocols engaged." said the computer.
"Assembly line?" said Anne confused.
Anne turned to see beyond the glass panels and the conveyor belt was moving as various robot parts were riding on the conveyor belt while the robot parts were being worked on by various tools along the assembly line.
"Guys, I think Charlie is right. This is a factory. But what the heck is it making?" said Anne watching the machines work.
Sprig jumped down onto the floor and they all watched the machines work.
"Wow. It is mighty impressive." said Hop Pop showing to be amused.
"Additional materials required. Please place them on the glowing access point." the computer's voice spoke.
"Glowing what now?" said Hop Pop confused.
They looked down and saw a blue circle lighting up below where Hop Pop stood. That's when Charlie had his bad feeling about this intensified.
"Hop Pop! Jump to me!" cried Charlie.
But it was too late. A pair of metal restraints came from where Hop Pop stood and restrained his feet to the circle he stood on. The spot where he stood opened up like a trap door and pulled him down in it.
"Help! It's got me!" cried Hop Pop.
"Crap!" said Charlie in alarm.
"And it tickles." laughed Hop Pop.
They wondered where he was but they got their answer when they turned to see Hop Pop was now on the conveyor belt and it was moving.
"See this right here, kids? This is why we follow the rules." snapped Hop Pop.
"Just so you know, it wasn't Charlie's idea." said Anne taking the blame.
"But I went along with it anyway." said Charlie.
Hop Pop was getting closer to a series of red lasers and he flinched when he was about to go through them, fearing he would get hurt but he went right through them and nothing happened. He opened his eyes and felt a sense of relief.
"That wasn't so bad." said Hop Pop but his clothes suddenly ripped off and he was in his underpants. "I'm not beach-ready."
"Hop Pop!" said the kids in alarmed unison.
"Sprig, you try to shut this madhouse down. We're gonna get him out of there." Anne instructed.
Sprig went off towards the machine to try and shut it down while Anne grabbed a metal part on the floor and tossed it at the glass, causing it to crash and break a huge hole into the glass big enough for both Anne and Charlie to go through. The two humans rushed through the hole.
"We're coming Hop Pop." said Anne and Charlie in unison.
Hop Pop was now being sprayed down with purple liquid like he was being given a washing like a car going through a car wash machine.
"Take your time, kids. Ooh." said Hop Pop with a chuckle. "This ain't half bad."
Sprig hopped over to the machine's keyboard as he was trying to figure out what to do to make the machine shut off or shut down the entire factory completely. He saw various buttons but didn't know which to push or which button turns anything off.
"If you wish to cancel the operation, please insert new disk." instructed the computer.
There was an opening the opened up which was probably the CD drive.
"Piece of cake." said Sprig cracking his knuckles.
What Sprig did next wasn't very smart of him to do as he began to rapidly push a lot of buttons frantically trying to turn the machines off as he was only a ten year old male frog and he had no knowledge or experience with technology like this. That's when the screen turned red and a siren started blaring.
"Security violation detected." said the computer.
Sprig looked up and huge mechanical hands and arms raised up, the face of the machine looked like it was showing an expression of rage. It tried to use it's hands to crush Sprig like a bug or at the very least, try to stop and detain him. It slammed it's hands down but missed.
Sprig was feeling confident but that didn't last long when he saw a buzz saw coming out the same area where the lever previously was at. It went forwards to try and slice him but he jumped backwards, successfully dodging it. He landed on the floor and saw that Hop Pop's book was on the floor near him. An idea popped into his head.
Sprig grabbed the book and took off towards the machine with the book to try another idea.
"Seriously, take your time, kids." said Hop Pop optimistically.
The older male frog seemed to be feeling no fear since nothing bad has happened to him yet. But than one of the squares on the conveyor belt came up from behind him and metal restraints were now coming out of it to restrain his arms. It spun him around in circles for a bit till it went back down as Hop Pop lay there on the conveyor belt, now he was panicking.
"I take it back! I was a fool!" screamed Hop Pop in a panic.
"Hold on, Hop Pop! I'm coming!" came Anne's voice as he ran towards him.
Charlie ran passed her and made it to Hop Pop first. The two dodged the various parts that Hop Pop went through while Charlie got underneath Hop Pop and placed his hands on the part that was looking like it was going to crush them flat like a pancake. He was surprisingly showing he was much stronger than they remembered he shown them but he was struggling to prevent the mechanical function from trying to crush them. Anne made it to them and tried to find some way to free Hop Pop.
"Wow! Charlie, your getting stronger." complimented Hop Pop.
"I'm not quitting you." grunted Charlie.
"How's it going over there, Sprig?" called Anne.
Sprig made it to the keyboard and main panel and was frantically flipping through the pages of Hop Pop's rule book to see if there was a solution in there to turn off the machines. Anne used a long robotic arm part to assist Charlie as she propped it underneath the mechanical part that Charlie was struggling to keep from crushing them.
"Maybe there's something in the book that can help. That kind of thing's worked before." called Sprig.
"This is a little different!" shouted Anne.
"Tengoku no idaina omo. Watashitachiha, kono o tsūjite ikiru tasukete!" said Charlie rapidly over and over.
"Insert disk. Insert disk. Insert disk." the computer repeated flashing a symbol.
"Guys, what the heck is a disk?" called Sprig.
"I don't know! We're from another dimension, not the '90s!" said Anne annoyed.
"Kono yōde wa arimasen! Ā amai omo! Kono yōde wa arimasen!" screamed Charlie.
Sprig heard the computer repeat "Insert Disk" over and over to the point where he was enraged and screamed in anger.
"Will this hunk of junk shut up?" screamed Sprig angrily.
Sprig grabbed the rule book and forcefully shoved it in the CD drive. Than it pulled the book inside the drive like it was paper being put through a paper shredder, making shredding sounds. Suddenly, everything inside the factory had stopped moving and stopped working for a while and that's when the panel screen shown a lot of error signs popping up as it repeatedly said "What The Heck?" over and over, the building was shaking like an earthquake.
Charlie screamed loudly like a battle cry and ripped the mechanical part that was about to crush them off where it was connected with all his strength and tossed it across the conveyor belt. Than Charlie took hold of Hop Pop when the restraints on him were removed and he was free. Both Anne, Charlie, Hop Pop and Sprig took the time to run as Charlie carried Hop Pop on his back and Anne took hold of Sprig and carried him on her back as they ran towards the passage way they come in from and ran up it like a staircase since the building was crumbling down. They escaped from the building and were outside but Charlie didn't stop as he knew that the danger wasn't over.
"Keep going, guys! The explosion is gonna be big!" screamed Charlie. "Iku! Iku! Iku!"
Anne still carried Sprig and listened to Charlie as she ran towards him with Sprig in her arms as they were getting a safe distance away from the dome like structure. Once they were a safe enough distance and that's when they saw the factory they escaped from explode in a fiery explosion. They were at a safe enough distance and none of the debris fell anywhere near them.
"Levers! Am I right?" said Sprig nervously with a grin.
Hop Pop shot Sprig a an irate expression while grunting and that's when the kids sighed, knowing they've done wrong and disobeyed Hop Pop.
"I know. I know. We.." Sprig began.
"I'll take it from here." Charlie chimed in.
They all got up on their feet and saw Charlie stand in front of them. He looked as though he was ready to take full blame and responsibility, he let out a sigh.
"Hop Pop, you have every right to be hulking pissed off at us. We lied to you, we broke your rules, explored an unknown area that turned out to be dangerous as a hornets nest when someone disturbs it. We didn't listen, we disobeyed and we're guilty. We almost got killed and almost got you killed. And we're sorry." said Charlie hanging his head in shame.
"No, don't blame him, Hop Pop. I was the mastermind of it all. It was my idea and Sprig and Charlie went along with it. So if anyone is going to be punished, it should be me, not Sprig or Charlie." said Anne taking full responsibility.
Hop Pop's rage instantly subsided. Seeing the kids finally taking responsibility for their actions from what happened was something he half expected. Charlie was surprised that Anne was trying to absolve him of any wrongdoing.
"Kids, normally I'd probably raise my voice and lecture you about what you did but seeing you take responsibility kind of makes the anger disappear. But Anne, you and Sprig shouldn't have done that, and you shouldn't have convinced Charlie to go along with it. Also, Charlie, you shouldn't have gone along with it. This is one of the big main reasons why I wanted us to follow the rules while on the road. You two should be more like Polly or Charlie, he at least listens and obeys and I told Polly to stay put, and look where she is." said Hop Pop lecturing them.
They turned to see where the caravan was but it was gone. Hop Pop sighed and shook his head.
"Where's Polly?" groaned Hop Pop.
They heard excited whooping coming from nearby and it was Polly, they saw her taking Bessie for a joyride as she was steering Bessie around like she was on a motorcycle and jumped over the other domes nearby like she was on a motorcycle and jumping off ramps. She jumped off one more and the caravan and Bessie spun around in the air a few times before landing on the ground, unharmed. Polly looked like she was happy to get this out of her system.
"Boom, baby!" said Polly thrilled.
Polly than jumped, bounced off and bounced towards Charlie as she landed on his shoulder, hugged him and kissed him on his cheeks, causing him to blush deeply. Than they all looked at her with curiosity.
"Bessie made me do it." lied Polly.
Charlie burst out laughing at what Polly just said as if she told a joke. His laughter quickly died down as Hop Pop crossed his arms and gave Polly a serious look.
"All right. I'm sorry, okay? That's the last time I break a rule, I swear. Also, sorry I kissed your boyfriend, Anne." said Polly.
"Yeah, us too, HP. For the rest of the trip, we'll follow all the rules.." Anne said looking disappointed.
"Yeah. We just won't experience anything special, I guess." said Sprig hanging his head in disappointment.
"Same goes for me, Hop Pop. I'll get you a pair of clothes to change into." said Charlie.
The kids were going towards the caravan. Looking disappointed. Hop Pop had a saddened expression upon his face and let out a sigh as he realized that he too is guilty of something.
"Hang on a sec, kids. Maybe this only happened because I was being too strict with you. We've never taken a trip like this, and I just wanted it to go smoothly. So what do you say we set aside the rules for a bit and make a stop or two?" Hop Pop suggested.
They all gasped wide eyed with delight. Charlie picked up Hop Pop and hugged him as he was overjoyed and rapidly speaking Japanese as if he was happy that Hop Pop wasn't mad at him anymore and forgiven him.
"Translation Anne?" asked Hop Pop.
"He's just glad your not mad at him anymore. I think he was afraid you'd be mad at him when he saw how angry you looked when we broke some of your rules." Anne translated.
Hop Pop did understand that Charlie may be starting to get over his daddy issues but he also knew that Charlie looks up to him like a father figure. He remembered that he's got a father and son like relationship with Charlie and he hugged him back.
"Oh, oh, oh! Can we stop at the Hills of Impalement? I've heard it will traumatize you for life." said Sprig excited.
"Nope. I've got something else in mind." said Hop Pop with a grin.
One Hour Later
They all got back on the caravan and were on the road again. They were all riding on the passengers seat as they were eating what looked like ice cream with crickets in them. They were eating ice cream and looking like they were rested up from the previous incident. Charlie gotten Hop Pop a pair of clothes for him to change into.
"How's the crickets and cream ice cream, kids?" asked Hop Pop.
"Amazing!" replied Sprig.
"So good!" said Polly munching on it.
"You know, there was a time I'd pick out the bug bits. That time has passed." said Anne munching on the ice cream.
"Glad you like it." said Hop Pop happily. "Hey Charlie, what do you call ice cream in the native language you speak?"
"Aisukurīmu." answered Charlie.
Sprig scooted over to Hop Pop and hugged him and Hop Pop smiled.
"Thanks, Hop Pop." said Sprig.
Anne looked back at the series of domes that were surrounding the area they were about to leave as curiosity came to mind as she wondered what the purpose was for the said place.
"Man, I'm kinda bummed we didn't find out what that factory was making." said Anne looking on in the distance.
"Yeah, me too. Guess we'll never know." said Sprig accepting the truth.
"That factory can burn for all we care. That place is nothing but a death trap." Charlie replied. "Road trip music!"
Charlie pulled out his phone and scrolled on the screen till he saw something he tapped his fingers on. That's when his phone started to play rock and roll music that sounded like it came from the sixties. It sounded like both Psychedelic and Rock Pop music.
"Imagine me and you, I do. I think about you day and night. It's only right. To think about the girl you love and hold her tight. So happy togethe-e-er"
As the music continued. They were feeling relaxed by such good old fashioned music. They would sway their heads back and forth slowly as a form of dancing to the music.
As they continued forwards. Little did they know, back where the remains of one of the domes. Something came out of the rubble and it was a tall and large frog like robot. It was big, tall, and had glowing yellow eyes.