Days would pass as Anne, Charlie and the Plantars continued on towards Newtopia. Along the way, they had some brief adventures that were ether dangerous or considered unexpected to encounter.
One of them was when they arrived in Bittyburg, literally a small town where tiny citizens reside. They helped the town fight against a ruthless outlaw family named the Hasselbacks. Hop Pop managed to show them whose boss but when injured, the civilians of the town of Bittyburg produced sharp teeth and attacked the Hasselbacks, both sides fighting each other, leaving the outcome of the battle unknown when Anne, Charlie and the Plantars took off.
But Charlie managed to spot some group of frogs that were said to be looking for the Hasselbacks as the Hasselbacks were considered wanted. Charlie informed them of the Hasselbacks location and the frogs he informed went to arrest the Hasselbacks and saved Bittyburg.
A second adventure they went on was in the woods somewhere that looked to be a mix of jungle and woods. They had gotten low on food and Sprig was teaching both Anne and Charlie how to hunt, even if Sprig's teaching them how to hunt was a bit odd. Anne was at first a bit bored from the methods while Charlie seemed to show he got the hang of Sprig's methods on the first attempt.
"Wow! Charlie, you nailed it." said Sprig impressed. "How did you learn it so fast?"
"During the week I got lost in the forest near Wartwood was when I learned it from some travelers I saw from a distance. I didn't go over to them to get them to help me because they looked like Captain Grime's soldiers so I avoided them but watched the said way of the hunter methods if you could call it learning." revealed Charlie.
Charlie looked back at Anne who appeared a bit bummed that she didn't learn it as fast as he did which left Charlie feeling a pit of guilt.
"Anne, please don't be mad at me. I actually thought I'd fail at learning it. You and the Plantars seem to have more experience with what goes on out there than I do. So if anything, I figured you'd be the one to learn it before I did." said Charlie with a guilty expression.
Anne could tell from the look on Charlie's face that he never meant to show her up or to show off to hurt anyone. She smiled and pulled him in for a hug, forgiving him.
"No worries, dude. You didn't do anything wrong and you didn't hurt me one bit. But I will admit I'm surprised that you knew this way before any of us had any knowledge of this." said Anne reassuring him.
Charlie hugged her back, relieved that he didn't hurt her feelings. Charlie saw a tree or more nearby that had plenty of food and went off to use his sword to cut the stems of the fruit he found from the trees and into a large basket he had standing on the ground which was showing he was good at making the food land in the basket.
"That should keep us good for a few more weeks. Now to get back to the fwagon. If only my grandparents could see me now. Finding a way to live off the land when we sometimes used fruit that was planted and grown on their property like an apple orchard." said Charlie feeling proud of himself.
He climbed down the tree and started to carry the basket full of food as he suddenly heard screams from nearby.
"Crap." said Charlie in a low tone.
Charlie ran while carrying the basket, he didn't drop any of the fruit in the basket since he had a lid on the basket that was sealed shut with rope. When he ran back to the caravan and saw the camping site was abandoned but he saw Anne running towards what ever it was she followed from a distance. Charlie saw that Bessie was at the campsite and he placed the basket near the caravan.
"Bessie, you watch the fwagon!" Charlie instructed as he grabbed hold of his sword. "I got some monster hunting to take care of."
Bessie chirped twice and nodded as Charlie ran towards the same direction that Anne went. He kept following her as he saw he talking to what appeared to be nothing or no one. It was like she was talking to a person that wasn't there. As he kept following her, he saw her at the monster's lair as he saw the beast that had Hop Pop, Sprig and Polly trapped in it's lair. The monster appeared to have a mostly feline in appearance, acquiring a muscular body covered in grey fur with four glowing yellow eyes set on the front of its head. Possessing red mandibles with a pair of expandable jaws lined with sharp teeth that can retract, resembling those of a scorpion's. It also has a long scorpion tail ending with a hooked stinger which was probably used to deliver poison into prey. He saw Anne was setting up a trap and doing the hunter dance that Sprig shown earlier.
"Keep that monstrous bitch distracted, Anne. I'll make the trap deeper." whispered Charlie.
Charlie went over to the hole that Anne dug and removed the large leaves from it. He went in it and was digging the hole as fast and deep as possible. Anne had already dug it deep enough to trap anything or anyone in it but Charlie figured it would be a good idea to make the hole as deep as possible.
"That'll make my baby's trap impossible for that monster to get out of. Ha!" said Charlie with a grin.
Charlie looked up and saw that he dug the hole deep enough but something inside him did something that was unexplained and something he didn't know he could do. He attempted to jump out of the hole but when he pushed off the ground in the hole, he jumped up higher than he's ever jumped in his life. The whole was originally seven foot deep but after Charlie dug it deeper, it was a good twelve feet deep. He jumped up and zoomed up into the air till he was completely out of the hole in the ground.
He saw the beast jump towards Anne but Anne dodged the beast's attack while Charlie saw the beast going towards the hole, he jumped forwards and he jumped clean over the monster, using his sword to make a slice at the beast's tail, slicing it's entire tail off completely and even making another slice at the stinger. The beast fell into the trap hole that was dug and Charlie landed in the center of the beast's lair. Both Anne, Hop Pop, Sprig and Polly saw him land in front of them.
"Charlie!" they said in unison.
"I followed you." said Charlie.
Before any of them could say another word. They heard the beast's growl and Anne turned to see that the hole looked deeper than she remembered but smiled.
"Whoo-hoo! I did it! Danced in your face." said Anne feeling victorious.
The beast suddenly looked like it was about to come out of the hole. Charlie had an unknown instinct kick into him and he became completely stoic in his face and eyes as he knew what was about to happen and what he needed to do next.
"Anne, get down!" cried Charlie.
Anne saw the beast jump out of the hole and she listened to Charlie, ducking down to dodge the beast's attack. The beast was now charging at Charlie as he took his samurai sword out and jumped towards the beast in a loud battle cry. Anne and the Plantars closed their eyes and what Charlie did was not seen but they heard a loud monstrous cry of agony and a loud thud to the ground.
Anne and the Plantars opened their eyes and saw the beast was laying on the ground, unconscious, not making any movements and it's eyes were closed. They saw that Charlie was saying a prayer to not just the others who died there but to the beast itself. He was praying in Japanese, than proceeded to clean what looked like green colored liquid off his sword by making one swift swing to shake off the excess of it but used another cloth to clean the sword completely. They were speechless at first as they were curious to what just happened.
"Is it dead?" called Polly.
"It won't be killed anyone that wonders into this forest anymore, that's for sure." answered Charlie.
They all got up and walked towards Charlie as he knew he had some explaining to do.
"I heard you guys scream, ran back to the fwagon, saw Anne following that monster, followed Anne and while Anne was doing the dance. I dug the hole deeper." explained Charlie. "If that son of bitch is going to harm my family, than it'll have to go through me and my steel blade."
They were at least a bit surprised that Charlie had helped Anne when she didn't know but what got them surprised even more was that he slain the beast when it was about to attack them again. They knew he didn't want to kill the beast but he had no other choice to do so to prevent them from getting killed.
"Charlie, we know you didn't want to and didn't enjoy doing so but if you had to make the Scorpileo extinct like dinosaurs. Than I'll admit, kind of dark but I see you did what you had to do to prevent it from killed anyone." said Hop Pop giving a shake to his body from getting a chill about the very idea of what just happened.
Charlie placed his sword back in it's sheath and they all walked away as they made their way back to the caravan. They saw that Bessie had chirped excitedly when she saw them.
"You did it, Anne!" said Hop Pop with a smile.
"It was the best hunter's dance I've ever seen." said Sprig looking like he almost got emotional about it.
"I did, didn't I? I heard the music, Sprig. I felt one with nature. You were right but I also think that Charlie was a big help in the process too, even if he had to do something that I think we shouldn't talk about for a while. Still, you were right, Sprig. And so were you, buddy." said Anne looking at the nearby distance.
She saw the hallucination of Sprig's face wink at her with a grin and disappeared. They all looked at her with confusion.
"Uh, who are you talking to?" asked Sprig confused.
"Not important." answered Anne.
"At least our forage for more food wasn't a total loss." Charlie chimed in.
They all looked at him with unexpected surprised looks as Charlie went to pull the large basket he left at the caravan and pulled it over to them, he untied the ropes to the lid and opened it, they all were wide eyed with grins as their eyes sparkled at the huge amount of food the basket shown. It had plenty of fruit in there to last for a few weeks.
"Dare no kūfuku?" asked Charlie.
"Ya know we are!" said Anne happily.
They grabbed some fruit and were eating juicy tasting fruit that was not just healthy but tasted like they were eating the sweetest tasting fruit they've ever tasted. Even Charlie made sure Bessie was eating good.
"I do know that we're lucky to still be alive. Anne saved us from that Scorpileo by using the way of the hunter like the Plantars have been doing for generations, Charlie had sla-I mean prevented that Scorpileo from killing anyone else if anyone was to wander into this territory in the future and he managed to find plenty of food, even Anne found plenty of food." said Hop Pop proudly.
As they ate, they looked at Charlie who still had a stoic expression upon his face. Their euphoria faded a little.
"You okay, Char Char?" asked Anne curiously.
"Do you guys think I'm a...a killer?" asked Charlie hesitantly.
They looked at each other and back at him. They could see that him slaying two monsters was something he didn't enjoy doing but they knew he did it to prevent the monsters from killing anyone else. Anne placed her hand on his shoulder to reassure him.
"Charlie, your not a murder. The maned-komodo would've killed us all if you didn't do what you had to do and as for that Scorpileo. While I did my part in saving Hop Pop, Sprig and Polly from that beast, you did your part in helping all of us. If you didn't tell me to get down, it would've mauled one of us. You did what needed to be done but that doesn't make you a killer." said Anne with a word of comfort.
"Killers out there kill innocent people for no reason. You slain those two monsters to save us, even with the help of Anne, she lured it into a trap but you prevented that monster from killing anymore people. It was self defense and you did what needed to be done. So your not a killer." said Hop Pop also with a word of comfort.
Charlie felt a sense of relief from hearing their comforting word and let out a sigh of relief.
"Thanks for letting me know, guys. Despite the fact that I didn't like what I did, it's going to take me some time till it stops bothering me but with your love and support, I think I'll recover. It wasn't an easy choice but if I had to do that to do my part in saving anyone and preventing anyone else from getting killed. Than at least it's only in self defense against an evil monster." said Charlie showing signs of relief. "But lets not talk about this for a while. I don't want to freak anyone out."
"Understood!" they all said in unison.
"But if anyone has to tell anyone about it. I'd rather be the one to tell them. It's my cross to bear." Charlie informed.
"You sure about that?" asked Sprig curiously.
"Yes." answered Charlie.
They shown they understood and they all continued eating for a bit. Afterwards, they packed up everything and went back inside the caravan and Hop Pop steered Bessie into the next direction on their journey to Newtopia.
But somewhere in the distance of the forest, the large frog robot from the abandoned factory was walking and bumping into some trees clumsily. He was following Anne, Charlie and the Plantars. What his purpose for following them was unknown.