The first couple of days in Newtopia was exciting yet there was no dull moment for Anne, Marcy, Charlie and the Plantars. During the first day, they were taking in the sights from a spot that let them see everything from the view they stood in. Everywhere they'd go, they saw plenty of interesting, beautiful and breath taking sights.
But a lot of the locals in Newtopia were surprised to see Charlie, a male human, for the first time. They've seen a female human when they first met Marcy, than Anne, but seeing Charlie as the first male human caught them off guard. They first noticed his full head of long, flowing ,thick and beautiful looking hair, his muscular body and his beautifully chiseled face.
Some of them asked permission to feel his muscles and although nervous about it at first, Anne reassured that they probably are just curious and Charlie allowed them to feel his muscles from his arms and shoulders.
Many of the female inhabitants of Newtopia were appearing to be head over heels for the handsome male human but some suspected that he's dating Anne which they couldn't help admire his beautiful looks. Charlie would see some of them flirting with him with a blushing grin and wave at him but he would blush and look away or look down. Sometimes he could hear a few of them talking about him.
"That male human!" said some young teenage newt girls admiring him.
"Girl, your so crushing on him." teased one of the newt teenage girls giggling.
"No I'm not, Brittney!" laughed one of them. "We know he's probably dating that human girl with the messy brown hair, golden goddess tan and thick booty."
"Tanya! He'll hear you!" chuckled another one of them.
Charlie even advised some children of Newtopia to stick with their parents or legal guardian when in a busy area, even making sure they knew where their parents are which they've confirmed as he was making sure they didn't have what said was a "Code Adam" or "Amber Alert" which the children understood.
Charlie would even assist some elderly as one of them was a slim bodied female newt that needed assistance in getting across the street to get onto a crab drawn bus as he was able to carry the said elderly on his back. Another was when he was making sure a male frog with a bushy beard and round glasses got taken to a doctor when he had a mild injury to his right arm.
"Careful of his arm, doctor. His right arm is where the injury is located." Charlie told them.
As Charlie walked back to Anne, Marcy and the Plantars. Anne and the Plantars knew this was just like back in Wartwood. Marcy was a bit surprised that Charlie is so strong, smart and compassionate towards others.
"Is my boyfriend great or what?" said Anne proudly.
"Has he been this way since he arrived in Amphibia?" asked Marcy with a grin.
"I've always been this way." Charlie answered.
The second day come along and Marcy was treating Anne, Charlie and the Plantars at what looked like a burger restaurant as there was standee of a purple male amphibian looking like it was carrying a burger. A sign hung above them read "Burg" in gold lettering and the sign was shaped like a blue beetle. They were sitting down and eating a large burger which tasted really incredible to them all. Marcy would write down some notes in what looked like a notebook she's been using since they first reunited with her. It stood at three floors tall, has two windows on the front of the building, and has outdoor tables for dining.
"Enjoy, everyone! This place makes the best beetle burgers in all of Newtopia!" said Marcy.
"Did you say beetle burgers as in actual beetles?" asked Charlie swallowing down a few bites.
Marcy looked towards Charlie and was under the impression that he wasn't used to eating anything with bugs in them within the land of Amphibia or anywhere in Amphibia for that matter.
"Is he still getting used to eating anything with bugs in them?" said Marcy looking awkward.
Charlie was having a straight face but smile and laughed, much to Marcy's relief.
"I'm just messing with you, Marcy." laughed Charlie. "I've actually eaten dung beetle scones. What they make them with actually masks the bugs."
Marcy felt relieved to hear this and Charlie wolfed down the beetle burger without choking and downed a drink of what looked like fruit juice as it had a tangy taste. He wiped his mouth and let out a big and loud burp. Than Anne let out a bigger burp but than Polly was the one who let out a burp bigger and louder than their burps. The kids were laughing as they knew it was like a burping competition.
"Polly wins!" laughed Charlie.
After everyone had eaten most of their beetle burgers while Polly saw Marcy was writing in her notebook.
"What's that?" asked Polly curiously.
"Oh, just my journal. I like jottin' down theories and observations. You know, all about indigenous fauna, medicinal techniques, customs and nuances of Amphibious species-based caste systems..." Marcy babbled.
Polly was showing to grow bored really fast but her boredom turned to eager interest when Marcy told her something she was interested in.
"Sometimes I even do drawings." said Marcy showing Polly an accurate drawing of her eating a burger.
"It looks just like me." said Polly with wide eyes.
"Wow! Anne, Charlie, have you been keeping a journal too?" asked Hop Pop.
"I don't do journals. The closest thing to a journal I've kept was a notebook when taking notes during a day at school." answered Charlie.
Anne wasn't paying attention as she turned her head to make a silly face with two bendy straws in her nose.
"Look, guys! I'm a straw-lrus! Like a walrus, but with straws!" joked Anne.
Sprig burst out loud laughing and shed a tear from how funny the joke was.
"What's a walrus?" asked Sprig curiously.
They turned to Charlie as he made a loud, realistic monster like moan and he had two straws in his mouth to make it look like he was a monster or a vampire from the looks of it.
"I'm count Straw-cula! King of the dead! I've come to suck a pint of juice!" joked Charlie mimicking a realistic vampire voice.
Anne, Sprig and Polly burst out loud laughing as they knew that Charlie was just as humorous as Anne. Both Anne and Charlie took the two straws out and placed them in a nearby garbage can.
"You two are so funny." laughed Polly.
"No wonder they're Channe against the world." said Sprig with a grin.
A thin male sky blue newt in an emerald green uniform shown up as he was one of the workers of the burger restaurant.
"Now, who should I give the bill to?" asked the male newt as he took a look at the kids. "Probably not the kids?"
"Oh! I'll take it! It's, oh, let me guess..." Marcy began.
"Twenty-eight coppers." Charlie finished.
The male newt shown them the bill and it shown the bill was just as Charlie guessed. He smiled.
"Right you are." said the newt.
They all oohed at the way Charlie gotten the prediction correct on the bill and gave a clap like an applause.
"Wow! Can you do math like that too, Anne?" asked Hop Pop curiously.
"Uh, you mean like with numbers and stuff?" said Anne looking stumped.
"Can you imagine if Marcy or Charlie got stuck with us instead of Anne? We'd be set for life!" said Polly.
Hop Pop shot a disapproving look at Polly at her words.
"Hush, Polly. Think those thoughts, don't say them." advised Hop Pop.
"How about we don't think or say them. I love Anne regardless if she's more athletic than academic or more academic than athletic. I love her for who she is, not for what she's got. We all know that's how much we love Anne, love her for who she is, not for what she's got." reassured Charlie.
Charlie reached out to place his hand on Anne's hand and she felt a little better hearing him saw that.
"Kind of makes me wonder if Charlie knows about Anne and me having girl time. If I was him and Anne was spending more time with the girls, I'd fear I'd be losing Anne." said Polly.
"Polly!" said Hop Pop.
"Sorry, I'm sure Anne would never leave Charlie." said Polly attempting to reassure Charlie.
What Polly said seem to affect Anne and Charlie, despite the reassuring words from Hop Pop or Charlie. Anne was feeling like she wasn't as smart as Marcy or Charlie and wants not feel so insecure while Charlie felt like if Anne was spending more time with her "Gal Pals" he felt like he was going to lose Anne. He couldn't bear to see Anne leave her as he's been in love with her for so long, finally confessed his feelings to her, become more of a confident guy around her and the Plantars and the idea of losing Anne had his heart feeling heavy. He was about to look towards his left when he saw a arrow being launched from a distance.
"Heads down!" cried Charlie.
Everyone saw the arrow and ducked their heads with Charlie using his hand to lower Anne's head and to their luck, the arrow missed them. The arrow hit a nearby wall and when they all looked up, that's when Anne, Charlie and Marcy saw there was what looked like a scroll wrapped around the arrow.
"Holy shi-cow! Someone sure wants to kill us." said Charlie avoiding a swear word.
"Someone's trying to kill us!" said Hop Pop alarmed.
"No, no. It's fine. It's just a message from the king." said Marcy appearing calm.
Marcy got up and pulled the seal off it and unrolled it.
"Oh, correction. It's a puzzle gram from the king." finished Marcy.
"What?" said all but Charlie in unison.
"Don't you guys know what a puzzle gram is?" asked Charlie. "I've done them before a few times back at school. Sometimes Sonya did them with me."
"Right you are, Charlie. He's basically hidden clues around the city and when I collect them all, I get a message. Ah! It's so fun!" said Marcy looking eager.
She shown them the parchment and it had three symbols. One was a that had one eye opened and the other eye closed, a second one had a dragonfly and the last one was pyramid upside down with a blue circle in it's center and a red "M" above the pyramid. It even had the compass symbol in the center of the paper in blue.
"First symbol is a tree. Where do we find the said tree?" asked Charlie.
"Charlie's getting ahead of me, that's for sure. Ha!" said Marcy. "The said tree is somewhere in Coral Park. Now come on, team. It's puzzle time!"
Anne, Charlie, Marcy and Sprig were looking excited about the idea of a tour around Newtopia since they haven't been given a full tour of the place. Charlie had an idea in mind as he got up.
"A puzzle tour of Newtopia? Count me in!" said Sprig wide eyed.
"Ikimashou!" cried Charlie.
"You know it, Charlie." said Marcy excited.
"You know Japanese too?" asked Sprig.
"I learned it a while back." revealed Marcy.
Anne, Marcy, Charlie and Sprig got up and ran off to solve the said puzzle gram. Hop Pop was about to join them but the waiter came along and told him about the customer loyalty program and mentioned something about free gifts. It left the old male frog interested while Polly knew that Hop Pop hearing that was going to lead to something insane.
As Anne, Marcy, Charlie and Sprig took off somewhere in the city. They saw that Charlie even proved to be a faster runner than Marcy as he was the first one to be in front of them as he looked around. Anne and Sprig hung back as Marcy was leading the way for them on the streets.
"Wow! Whoa! Look at that!" said Sprig marveling the sights.
Sprig looked at Anne and saw she had a sad face which left him worried about her.
"Anne. You're not marveling. Is everything okay?" asked Sprig showing concern.
"Well, I don't know. It's just...Marcy's always been the smart one in our group. I've always just felt kinda dumb around her. That, and Charlie seems to be just as smart or smarter than me for that matter. Maybe he'd want to be with a girl whose smarter than me." said Anne showing some insecurity.
"What?" said Sprig loudly as if shocked.
Anne placed her finger on Sprig's lips to keep him silent about their conversation.
"Shh! They'll hear you." said Anne with her voice down.
"Sorry. Well, hey. Maybe if you can solve the king's puzzle gram before Marcy or Charlie, it'll prove you're just as smart as they are. Besides, Charlie said it himself, he would never leave you, he loves you for who you are, not what you've got." reassured Sprig.
Anne felt a sense of confidence rising inside from Sprig's words and she had an idea in mind as she was determined.
"Hmm. Well, I did get us out of that puzzle dungeon that one time." said Anne feeling confident.
"Yeah, you did!" said Sprig in agreement.
"Mission "Prove I'm not a dumdum," engage!" cried Anne.
Anne was about to run off but Charlie yelled "Heads up, honey!" and Anne stopped. She saw she almost ran into a hanging wooden sign and dodged it. They went forwards and arrived at Coral Park. The place contained pink and orange corals. In its center sits a statue of a newt named "Ezra Brackish" looking through a telescope. Charlie was the first one there.
They saw that Charlie got down from the statue and looked like he placed it's hat back on the head of the statue and stood there waiting for them.
"Hey guys, I think I found the first clue." said Charlie.
"Wow! Charlie's way ahead of me there." said Marcy looking thrilled.
Anne was informing that they didn't have to look at the trees but listen to them instead. Marcy explained it was one good idea but she was doing the same thing that Charlie did earlier. She got up on where the statue stood and removed the hat the statue had, she saw a hole in the back of the statue's head as it was hollowed out, she looked through it and saw the corals had letters to a word painted on them. The letters formed the word "Bring" in yellow letters.
"So that's the first part of the message. Brilliant!" said Marcy.
Marcy was about to do something but fell to the ground. It wasn't much of a fall since she only fell two feet down. She got up and written a check mark on the tree symbol. She looked at the dragonfly symbol which was the next clue.
"Okay. So the next clue is...Oh! I recognize this. Come on, gang. Let's motor!" instructed Marcy feeling excitement.
Marcy ran off to solve the next puzzle while Anne was feeling disappointed in herself. Sprig could see she didn't feel any better.
"Maybe you'll have better luck on the next one?" said Sprig trying to inject some reassurance in her.
"Yeah, I can do this! Let's go get that next clue!" said Anne feeling determined.
They were about to run to catch up with Marcy but they heard a little girl nearby and stopped.
"Goblin! Come on, girl!" called the girl.
"Anne! Matsu!" said Charlie.
They saw a young female Axolotl who was around Sprig's age. She had orange skin and medium length brown hair, wearing a green dress. Anne and Charlie could see that she was trying to get her pet caterpillar who went by the name of Goblin. They walked over to her to see if they could help. They both could see her caterpillar was up a tall coral.
"Anne, Atooshi shite ageru!" instructed Charlie.
"Don't worry, little girl. We got you." reassured Anne.
Charlie got up close to the coral and bent down to let Anne get on his shoulders, he lifted her up so she could get a good grasp and climb up the coral. As she climbed up, that's when Charlie jumped off the ground and he sky-rocketed high up and made it to the top before Anne. The human Thai girl was surprised Charlie could jump so high. Once she made it to the top. Charlie helped her up, gave Anne the caterpillar and Charlie jumped down and landed on his feet.
"Anne! Jump down! Watashi wa anata o kyatchi shimasu!" Charlie instructed holding his hands and arms out.
Charlie briefly prayed under his breath and Anne jumped down, Charlie caught her in his arms and helped her back on her feet. Anne gave the caterpillar to the little Axolotl girl.
"Thanks man and lady." she said hugging her pet.
"I do this all the time. And I just can't bare to see children in distress. You know where your folks are?" asked Charlie curiously.
"I do." she answered.
"That's great news. Also, always listen to your mother, she has your best interest at heart." said Charlie giving her a smile.
"I actually have one just like that back home. But with less legs." replied Anne kindly.
"Anne, Charlie, come on!" called Sprig.
Charlie was the first to take off running to catch up with Sprig and Marcy.
"Whoop, gotta go! Don't let that thing grow up." said Anne as she took off.
The little girl and her pet waved good bye to them while she used one of her pet's legs to make it look like her pet was waving at them too. Anne, Marcy and Sprig arrived at a building with what looked like a weather vane on top of it. They saw that Charlie was the first to arrive there before them, again. He was seen looking at a cracked brick wall and looked like he was looking at one of the bricks and he placed the brick back in the wall and took off running.
"Charlie wait!" they called.
"Basurūmu o mitsukeru hitsuyō ga arimasu!" cried Charlie running off.
"I knew wolfing down that beetle hamburger was a bad idea for him to do." said Sprig.
Charlie took off towards one of the streets and looked like he was looking for the next clue or to even look for someone who could help him out. He turned and spotted an elderly Newt lady with a slender body and Yellow NCS skin with grey hair in a bun with a chopstick through the bun. She worn a green sweater, coal colored pants and round glasses.
"An older, wise woman. She might know something." said Charlie.
Charlie raced over to the old newt lady who was sitting on a bench that was underneath a huge seashell. Charlie was a fast runner and when he made it to the bench, he gently approached the lady who looked like she was doing a crossword puzzle to pass the time.
"Uhhhhh...madame. Got a minute?" spoke Charlie.
He sat next to the lady who turned to see Charlie. She saw his appearance looked beautiful and smiled.
"Well hello, my you look like all the girls are chasing you." she joked. "I'm Doris."
"I'm Charlie, not to sound like an inconvenience or anything but could you possibly assist me on something?" asked Charlie kindly.
Charlie took out his phone and scrolled through the screen till he saw and stopped at a picture of the second symbol that the scroll Marcy had shown them. He made sure it was big enough for her to see and the picture was as clear as possible.
"What do you make of this symbol that has something to do with the museum?" asked Charlie. "Also, I know this device is probably not familiar but you could say it's kind of like a camera, only it's a little small, and slimmer and slender, kind of like your healthy appearance which I suspect you make other women jealous with those looks."
Doris chuckled, blushed and smiled at the compliment.
"Oh you." chuckled Doris.
Doris looked at the screen as Charlie held the phone up for her to see and he was doing a good job at keeping still as a statue. She smiled and looked at Charlie after he placed his phone in his pocket.
"Oh! My son Harris used to work at the museum. Oh, wait, no. Harris worked at the library. Dusty worked at the museum. Or was it Dave?" Doris said having some trouble remembering.
"How many children do you have? Forgive me if that's a rude question." said Charlie politely.
Doris pulled out what looked like her wallet and a series of photos all connected to each other in plastic containers fell out as it looked like she had over two dozen sons. Charlie was wide eyed.
"Holy Tom Baker! I once known a family who have twelve kids but I think you got them beat." chuckled Charlie. "They must be lucky to have you as their mother. I should know, back at home, it's just me, my mom, my aunt and six of their close friends, all of them women. I'm the only guy in the house."
"You live in a house full of women? They must really love to raise you together, just like how much I love my kids." said Doris in agreement. "This puzzle you're doing. Seems like your doing it for fun."
Charlie let out a loud hiccup and blushed. He knew why he was doing this but it wasn't just for fun.
"Well, I'm actually doing it for this...this girl I like." said Charlie nervously.
"Oh? So there's a special lady you like out there. Who is this lucky lady?" asked Doris looking interested.
"Her name's Anne. And I'll admit, I'm doing this for her. I really like Anne. To me, doesn't matter if she's short or tall, a different color, rich or poor, or if she's of a different species or from another world. I like her for who she is, not what she's got. I don't want to lose her." said Charlie revealing one of his fears.
Doris felt touched by what Charlie told her. It sounded like she was hearing what sounded like true love between two teenagers that turn out to be soulmates. She pulled Charlie in for a hug and she squeezed him a little firmly.
"Too tight. Too tight." said Charlie weakly.
Doris released her arms from him and patted his back.
"Charlie, when it comes to falling in love or finding the one. You'll know that if you love this girl this much and if your doing a grand gesture for her and if she's how much trouble you went through for her, I can guarantee she'll love you the same way you love her. I should know, that's how I might my husband." reassured Doris.
Charlie felt reassured by Doris's words and as his heart raced, he looked at something from a distance and saw it looked like something he knew could help him out.
"Doris, did you and your husband ever have some days where there's some grey clouds in the sky? Even on a sunny day like this?" asked Charlie.
"Oh of course, little man. Who doesn't? We learned that the first few months of marriage or the first few years, are the most difficult. And sometimes, we did have some problems even after being married for over eighteen years. But we always found a reason to reconcile our problems, forgive and forget, and he always found a way to apologize to me by doing something really nice for me and I did the same for him for the same reasons. I've been married for over forty years and the secret to a long lasting marriage find ways to make each other laugh, always forgive and forget, especially while bonding over something, and lots of patience." Doris explained. "If Anne turns out to be the one for you, and if she loves you as much as you love her. Sometimes a grand gesture helps, and other times, talking to her about how you feel is another idea. It worked for me and my husband."
Doris's words really sunk into Charlie, filling him with hope. And an idea in mind. He got up from his feet and hugged Doris and she hugged him back. After they released their arms from each other. Charlie had something to suggest.
"Doris, I'm glad to have met you. Your advice is giving me an incredible idea." said Charlie with a grin. "Also, a word of advice if you don't mind me saying so. Try drinking more green tea, or try eating more pumpkin seeds, blueberries or more turmeric intake. Quite beneficial for many things."
"Are you a doctor?" asked Doris curiously.
"Nope. But I have heard real doctors suggest such things and I've suggested it to others who were willing to try those options for the benefits they provide." answered Charlie. "I got to go, Doris. It was nice talking to you. I'm gonna go get my girl."
Charlie took off running as Doris waved at him.
"Go get her, you soaring lovebird!" cheered Doris.
"I will!" cried Charlie.
Charlie took off towards the bridge but caught a glimpse of Anne nearby to talk to Doris and he smiled.
"I'm not gonna lose you, soul sister." said Charlie under his breath.
Charlie took off down one street and another, it took him little time to get to where he was headed as he was showing he was really fast on his feet. It was as if he could think faster than a child prodigy and run faster than a track star. He stopped and saw the bridge from a distance. He saw from a distance the bridge but on the bridge was a giant gold statue of Marcy. The statue looked like she was holding a book in one hand and double bladed sword in the other.
"Lord almighty." said Charlie wide eyed.
Charlie was looking from where he stood and he was expecting to see what he was looking for on the side of the bridge but he didn't see the symbol he was looking for. He tried looking around in other spots but found nothing. He wondered if there was any other ideas he could think of but nothing came to mind. He wasn't familiar with Newtopia like Marcy. And when he thought about Marcy, he started to see an image of Anne and Marcy in his head, seeing them spending more time together and very little to no time with him. As the images in his head faded, so did his hopes as he had no idea what he could do to prevent Anne from leaving him if she was to spend more time with Marcy. His hopes were dashed.
"I finally get the girl of my dreams and she might as well be with her gal pal more." said Charlie with a sad sigh. "Watashi wa kanojo o ushinatte imasu."
Charlie hung his head in sadness and walked over to a bench that was next to a nacho stand. The nacho stand was made of strong wood with a nacho warmer on the left side of the stand with brown disposable paper food trays on the right. The vendor was a heavyset periwinkle female Axolotl with dark purple spots. She wore white shirt with a light green skirt and an ocean blue apron that looked like it had some sauce stains on it.
A stiff breeze from the wind blew near them and it blew the trays like they were as light as feathers. But before the heavyset female Axolotl could panic, Charlie quickly raised his hand up and caught each one of them. He got up and gave the lady the trays.
"Thank you, honey." said the lady Axolotl.
She sounded like she had a sweet, African-American female's voice. Charlie pulled out from his pocket what looked like small glass square as he gave it to her.
"Use this paperweight. Hopefully, it'll be of more use for you than it is for me. I haven't found a reason to use it but maybe it could be useful for you." said Charlie.
"That's mighty kind of you, sugar." she said with a grin.
She took the glass paperweight which was the size of an ice cube. She placed it in her pocket in case she needed it for later. She got a tray and placed some nacho chips on them while pouring melted cheese all over it.
"Hungry for some gnachos? It's on the house." offered the Axolotl lady.
"Sure, we all know it does the same thing for anyone that eats it. Fills them up in the stomach like pie fills up the emotional holes in one's heart. At least that's what my aunt told me when ever she knew people who eat pie for comfort food." said Charlie taking the tray of nachos and sitting down. "I'm Charlie."
"I'm Gertie. Nice to meet ya, sugar." the Axolotl introduced herself.
"This will sound weird but you remind me of Imani. She's one of the ladies that lives with me at home. Hard to believe I'm the only guy in a house full of eight adult women." said Charlie blushing.
"Being raised in a house full of women and your the only guy? If they're all raising you together, than they must really love ya." said Gertie.
Charlie sighed sadly as he eaten the nachos, he had slowly devoured them down and if any sauce or cheese dripped, it dripped into the tray which he was lucky that he didn't get any of it on his clothes. Gertie was surprised he was a big eater while he finished off the entire tray, placing the disposable tray in a nearby trash can. He got out his water canteen and chugged down at least three big mouthfuls of water. Than he placed the canteen back in it's strap that was on his belt. He let out a sigh and was imagining some sort of music played in his head till he saw and heard someone playing a guitar nearby that sounded like it played a mix of Eurodance and techno music and he was singing a little, not looking happy.
"I still hear your voice, when you sleep next to me. I still feel your touch in my dream, in my dream. Forgive me my weakness, but I don't know why, without you, it's hard to su-urvi-ive"
The music some young male newt played on his guitar kept going as Charlie shown he had such a beautiful voice, no matter what music was playing. He was singing like he was a British pop singer
"Cause every time we touch, I feel the static. And every time we kiss, I reach for the sky. Can't you hear my heart beat so? I can't let you go. Want you in my life"
Charlie tried to continue but stopped, the nearby newt playing the guitar accidentally broke a string and the music stopped. Gertie was blown away from how good of a singer Charlie shown.
"Wow! You must be a really passionate singer. I'll bet you get a lot of ladies attention with that." said Gertie looking impressed.
"There's only one girl I want in my life, and she's...she's..." Charlie paused.
Gertie saw a tear trickle out of Charlie's eye and he wiped it away. He looked saddened but he tried to remain stoic.
"Something got you down, sugar?" asked Gertie showing worry.
Charlie paused for a moment.
"I'm losing her, Gertie." said Charlie sadly.
"Losing who?" asked Gertie curiously.
"This girl, I've been in love with her for over a year, when I finally met her, she's everything I wanted in my dream girl. She let's me do what I want, I let her do the same, she's been there for me when I felt low, I'm the same with her, she picks me up when I'm down and I do the same for her, she's always been there for me and is like my personal cheerleader, always encouraging me when I need it. Even though she's my second girl friend, she's a lot nicer than my first one was, I'd rather not go into details about my first." Charlie answered. "Me and my girl finally found one of our friends we've been looking for since we got here, but I feel like I'm losing my girl. I know she wants to spend time with her gal pal since she hasn't gotten to in a while and I'm cool with it. But I feel like if she's spending more time with her, and not so much with me, than I feel like I'm losing her. We've finally become boyfriend and girl friend after less than a month ago of us confessing our feelings to each other. I want her to be able to spend time with her other friends but at the same time, I want her to be with me but I don't want to keep her from her friends while I still want her to be with me. I don't want to be selfish but I also want her to be able to spend time with her gal pals. It's quite a conundrum."
Gertie could feel Charlie's heartache of the possibility of losing his girl friend but also his compassion towards his girl friend as he wants her to be able to spend time with Marcy but at the same time want her to spend time with him and at the same time not lose her but not wanting to be selfish. She could feel his emotions like they were a plug in heater blowing heat inside a house to keep people warm during a cold night.
"I can understand how ya feel. But your in Newtopia, people had been shown second chances here a lot, some times even a third chance if the possibility pops up. But what your feeling is normal, you want your girl to be allowed to spend time with her gal pals while you want her to spend time with you as well because you fear losing the thought of losing her if she spends more time with them, you don't want to lose her but you also don't want to appear selfish. A lot of girls like a guy whose sensitive, if you've seen or heard of as many girls I've heard talk about how they want a sensitive guy who can show and express their feelings instead of bottling them up, than you'd know that this girl will understand if you talk to her about how you feel." said Gertie encouraging him. "If this girl really loves you, she'd love you if you were rich or poor, short or tall, a different species or if you were intellectual or a hilarious comedian. Everyone here is a genius. And then there's me, with my gnatcho cart. And sometimes, people don't always believe that those in the food business are smart as those who got their noses buried in a book all day."
Charlie looked at Gertie and knew she was having some doubts about her.
"But your more than that. You're an independent, strong businesswoman. I've known a few women that started out with what you're doing and they became ether a professional chef or a successful businesswoman in what they do, sure, the journey to it was a little rocky and had some bumps in the road, but they worked hard and kept moving forward and it got them where they wanted to be. I know you can do the same." Charlie encouraged.
"Oh, aren't you a sweet one! If you can sing like a pop star like the way you do, let your girl have the freedom to spend time with her gal pals, if you've done so much for her and if took you over a year to confess your feelings to her and she became your girl friend. Than she's lucky to have you as her boyfriend." Gertie said encouraging Charlie.
Charlie smiled and his spirits were rising from Gertie's words and suddenly, an idea popped into his head about what he could do to talk to Anne about how he felt but also on how to solve the puzzle gram that he's been assisting in.
"Denkyū." said Charlie.
He got up on his feet from the bench and knew what he had to do.
"Gertie, I think I know what I got to do about how to talk to my girl about what I'm feeling. I'm glad I got to talk to you. Better to let out it when a sympathetic friend is around to listen. Better to let it out than to keep it in." said Charlie as he took off. "Don't ever give up, Gertie!"
Gertie waved at him with a grin.
"Go get your sexy girl, you romantic boy." said Gertie under her breath.
Charlie raced to the bridge and was at the center of the bridge now. He could see the statue of Marcy a lot closer now. He started to look around with his eyes and turned his head around but couldn't find a clue about what was next to solve the puzzle. He remembered solving puzzles before back at home when he was younger at times but this was something new for him since he was in Newtopia, a place he's just been at for two days.
He took a few minutes or more to think. He figured there was a clue on the statue of Marcy but there wasn't one on there. Was there a clue somewhere on the cobblestone ground? He didn't see anything unusual anywhere so that was out. He spent at least ten minutes thinking of ideas or theories but each one of them had equal chances of working or failing or being right or wrong.
"Maybe I should find Marcy, Sprig and Anne. We work better as a team." said Charlie out loud.
Charlie suddenly felt someone gently tap him on his shoulder briefly and turned around to see Sprig and Marcy.
"Did someone say our names?" said Sprig.
"I'm glad it's you guys." said Charlie relieved.
Charlie looked around and as Marcy was looking at the parchment for a few minutes. Charlie didn't see Anne.
"Hey guys, where's Anne? Watashi no sourushisutā?" asked Charlie curiously.
"Oh! She sat down nearby. Hey, Anne! Marcy and I are stumped. Get over here!" called Sprig.
Not long afterwards. Anne came running over to them and they stood together to look at the parchment and they focused on the last one. Charlie was glad that Anne was with them because he felt like solving this puzzle was more fun with her being with him.
"Charlie, why did you keep running off?" asked Sprig.
"Let's just say that I tried to solve the puzzle for you guy. I took a picture of the scroll while you guys weren't looking." answered Charlie. "But now I too am stumped. It's better we do this together. Anne baby, how about you solve this one."
"All right. What do we got here?" said Anne looking at the scroll.
She looked at the scroll and focused on the last symbol. She was trying to appear intelligent like Marcy but she was struggling to figure this one out.
"So, a triangle has three sides, right? Three rhymes with, er... "tea." You brew tea with water, and there's water in, uh..." Anne paused and saw a nearby manhole with some blocks around it and a sign that read "Caution". "The sewer! Let's go down there."
"Gesuidō? Chottomatte." said Charlie looking hesitant.
Anne took hold of Charlie's hand and they all ran over towards the manhole, it was left open. Charlie didn't like the idea of going down there as he expected it to be the filthiest place to be and he had a large beetle hamburger and a tray of nachos with cheese. Charlie had a disgusting feeling about the sewers as he gulped loudly.
"You know, forgive me for saying this but I thought being in deep shit was just an expression." said Charlie sensing he might puke.
"Actually, there's something I suggested to keep things clean down there." said Marcy.
"Than I'll go first." said Charlie.
Charlie was the first to enter the manhole and climb down the ladder as Anne, Marcy and Sprig followed. Charlie looked around and saw that the sewers wasn't as disgusting as he pictured it. It was surprisingly clean in there and had plenty of moving room. He felt better seeing this.
"Alright, everyone behind me. Watch your footing and what ever you do. Don't stray from the group. Marcy, don't jump ahead. That goes for all of us. Let's move." said Charlie taking charge.
They walked forwards and Anne was surprised that Charlie took charge. He was taking charge like a military colonel but without the strictness or harsh brutality.
"Whoa! This sewer's shockingly clean." said Sprig noticing.
"There's actually a reason for that. I..." Marcy began.
"Rehauled the sewer system?" guessed Anne, Charlie and Sprig.
"How'd you know that?" asked Marcy.
Charlie stopped and raised a hand to signal everyone to stop as he told them to in Japanese. Charlie looked around before they continued but Anne saw a big pipe with a valve on one side of it. Anne was the first to walk over to it.
"That looks just like the circle in the clue. Kinda. We obviously have to turn it." said Anne.
Before anyone said or did anything. Anne took hold of the valve and turned it as it spun in the left, making loud clanking sounds. They saw a pipe opening that was on the wall ahead of them and water poured out of it for a bit and a large, reptilian like tail poked out of it.
"Speak of the devil! Here comes one of my improvements!" said Marcy looking excited.
Charlie had a bad feeling about this as he saw the tail and than the rest of it's body came out of the opening. It was a giant alligator and as it got into the water, they saw it feeding on the random garbage in the water. It would make a goofy sounding "Whoo-hoo" as it did so.
The alligator stopped and turned it's attention towards them. Anne, Sprig and Charlie looked back at it with fear pumping through their bodies like adrenaline.
"Would you guys believe that in addition to eating live meat...these babies love eating trash?" explained Marcy.
The alligator looked at them with a hungry expression and that's when Anne, Sprig and Charlie knew they had to run.
"Hashire!" yelled Charlie.
They all started to run with Anne pulling Marcy along to get her to run with them. The alligator missed a chance to snap it's jaws at them but followed them as they ran.
"Marceline Wu! A giant alligator in the sewers and you didn't warn us about it?" said Charlie sharply.
"Whoopsie. Sorry about that." said Marcy apologetically.
They continued to run till they saw the ladder they came in from. Anne was carrying Sprig on her back and Anne went up first, than Charlie and Marcy. Charlie seem to get Marcy to ride on his back by having her arms over his shoulders. They got the top but the manhole's lid was blocking their way out. Anne tried to push it off but the weight was a bit heavy.
"Holy crud, that's heavy!" Anne strained.
"Gnatchos! Get your gnatchos!" they heard Gertie from outside.
"Gertie? Is that you? It's me, Anne. I need help!" cried Anne.
"Gertie, it's Charlie, we need a hand here!" cried Charlie.
"Anne? Charlie? Don't worry, kids. I got ya!" said Gertie attempting to pull the lid off the manhole.
They strained for a minute and the huge alligator tried to snap at Marcy but only ripped her cloak off. Gertie finally pried open the lid and placed it to the side.
They looked up to see light and Gertie was reaching out to them from above.
"Anne, Charlie! Got it! Here, grab my arm! You hang in there, you hear?" said Gertie.
As Gertie reached for their hands and they were grabbing hold of her arm, she attempted to pull them out but struggled. A bus nearby stopped and the elderly female newt named Doris heard the commotion as she walked over to them.
"Did you say "Anne" and "Charlie"? Those two tall, gangly creatures? Wait a minute! That's the girl Charlie likes." came Doris.
"They saved my Goblin. We gotta help them!" came Efty.
The three amphibian women went to help pull the kids out of the sewer and try as they might, they struggled to pull them out of the manhole. They suddenly heard Hop Pop and Polly from nearby and they too rushed over to assist. The alligator roared loudly while Charlie roared like a real lion back at it to scare it which did very little affect as the alligator was thinking that Charlie was having a roaring competition with it.
As the alligator looked like it was about to get a closer bite at them. That's when Gertie used Polly to help them out and she was held by Gertie.
"Dear God!" gasped Charlie.
"Grab on! Hop Pop, now!" called Polly.
Anne took hold of Polly's hand and everyone pulled them out with all their might and the alligator again missed them when it tried to jump and snap it's jaws at them. Anne, Charlie, Marcy and Sprig were pulled out of the sewer's manhole.
They got up and saw that Gertie, Doris, Efty, Hop Pop and Polly were with them. Everyone being safe. Charlie got up and pulled everyone up to their feet. He made sure everyone didn't have any injuries and luckily for everyone and Charlie himself, there was no physical or bodily harm to them.
"Anne, Charlie, what happened? Are you two okay? Can't you go ten minutes on your own without getting into some kind of crazy danger?" ranted Hop Pop with worry.
"Aw, give them a break, Hop Pop. Anne's already sad because Marcy's so smart she makes her feel dumb." Sprig blurted out.
"Sprig!" said Anne and Charlie.
"And Charlie's afraid that Anne's going to leave him while spending more time with her gal pals." Polly blurted out.
"Polly!" said Charlie.
There was a silence and Marcy came over to Anne, looking a bit surprised to hear this. Anne was surprised to hear what Polly said.
"What? Anne, is that true?" asked a concerned Marcy.
Anne sighed with a saddened expression.
"I don't know. Maybe? I guess I get a little jealous of you sometimes. I mean, you're so smart and so is Charlie, and I'm... not." Anne explained.
Charlie looked at Anne with confusion. Was Anne thinking he'd prefer a smarter girl?
"Anne, that's insane." said Marcy. "Besides, I'm jealous of you and Charlie."
"Huh? What for?" said Anne and Charlie.
"Yeah, what for?" asked Polly.
"You two get along with people so well. You got a boyfriend who would do anything for you and he does so much for people and their kids and does so much for the elderly. And three people you two met today just risked their lives to save both of you." said Marcy.
Doris, Gertie and Efty waved at them. This was surprising to both Anne and Charlie. Marcy? Jealous of them? They didn't expect that from her.
"Heck, the Plantars here adopted the two of you and would do anything for you. Hop Pop even became more of a dad to Charlie than his real dad ever was. You and the Plantars even were more nurturing to Charlie when he needs it and it's thanks to you and the Plantars, he's become more confident, stronger and braver." explained Marcy. "Yeah, sure, I'm good at solving puzzles and calculating the check, but you're both amazing at making connections. Charlie's even more athletic than both of us probably and he seems to love you for you. Me, I have trouble looking people in the eye sometimes."
Marcy blushed while admitting this. Anne came over to hug Marcy.
"Thanks, Marcy. Maybe that's why we make such a good team. Sometimes I even think Charlie can be like a superhuman commando at times." said Anne feeling better to know this.
Marcy hugged her back and seeing this to Charlie caused him to shed a fed tears and let out a cough that sounded like a wounded dog. Anne and Marcy just thought of something. Charlie. From what Polly said earlier. They looked at Charlie and saw that he was saddened like he just lost a loved one. Anne came over to him and took hold of one of his hands.
"Charlie, seems like you need to let it out. Talk to me, soul brother." said Anne.
Charlie wiped the years from his eyes and Anne placed a hand on his shoulder to reassure him. He managed to calm himself from this.
"Anne. I don't want you to leave me." Charlie blurted out.
"What makes you think I'm gonna leave you. To be honest, I actually was under the impression you were preferring a smarter girl." said Anne.
"I don't want a smart girl. I only want you. Seeing you spend more time with Marcy had me thinking that even though you and me haven't seen Marcy in so long. I was thinking that you were going to be spending more time with her and less with me, to the point that you'd leave me." Charlie explained sadly. "My first relationship wasn't a very good one, even though I still have hope that we can convince Sasha to reconcile with us. But the idea of losing you has my heart sinking faster than the Titanic. I don't want to be selfish. I want you to be able to spend some time with your gal pals since it's been a while that you did that but at the same time, I don't want you to leave me as I want you to be with me. I want you to be able to do what you want to do as you've allowed me the same freedom. I don't want to keep you from your friends but I don't want you leave me as I don't want to be selfish. It's a conflicting and confusing thought, I know. It's like my right leg wants me to walk to the right while my left leg wants me to walk to my left but neither of them wants to agree. I don't want a smart girl, I only want you. As I've said before, I love you for who you are, not for what you've got. Doesn't matter if your short or tall, big, or small, a different color, species, rich or poor or if you were an alien from outer space. I only want you."
Charlie shown a saddened and grim face as he blushed. Anne was surprised yet relieved to hear this. She thought that Charlie probably wanted a smarter girl instead of some goofy girl but Charlie preferred her, even if she's a bit of a goofball. She understood that Charlie was afraid of losing her if she spent more time with Marcy but also wanted her to be allowed to do what she wanted to do as she allowed Charlie the same freedom. Anne smiled and pulled Charlie in her arms to hug him. Charlie didn't expect this but felt like it was an unexpected relief. They realized that both of them were afraid of losing each other.
"Charlie, your not going to lose me. So I'm spending some time with Marcy a bit more at the moment. I got enough love for two. I spend the same amount of time with Marcy as I do with you. The fact that you wanted me to be able to spend some time with Marcy because I haven't seen her in so long while you don't want to be selfish is one of the sweetest things you've ever told me. Even though we spend some time with a friend of ours while not by each other's side at the time being, I know that we'll always come back to each other. You'll never lose me. And the fact that you don't want any other girl and only want me is the sweetest thing I've ever heard you told me. I guess we both were afraid of losing each other but we know that we only want each other and not someone else." said Anne reassuring him.
This was a huge relief to both Anne and Charlie. Both feared losing each other but realized they were not going to lose each other. Knowing that Charlie wanted Anne to spend some time with Marcy to allow her some gal pal fun while not wanting to be selfish was very sweet of Charlie. Hearing Charlie not wanting a smart girl but only wanted Anne was a huge relief to Anne as well as it was sweet. Anne smiled and pulled Charlie in for a kiss and the two human teenagers were kissing each other on the lips like it was a romantic kiss they've seen in romantic comedies.
Hop Pop, Sprig and Polly smiled at the sweet sight of them kissing each other. Doris, Gertie and Efty looked on with adored smiles as Doris and Gertie found out that Anne is the girl that Charlie likes and that Charlie is the boy that Anne likes. Efty wasn't grossed out by the sight but was showing the same feelings everyone else was at the sight of them. The two humans pulled their lips off each others.
"This soul brother loves taking the Anne train." said Charlie blushing.
"And this soul sister loves taking the Charlie train." chuckled Anne.
Everyone felt the love that Anne and Charlie shown and felt for each other. Seeing that they want each other to have their freedom to have fun, that they didn't want to lose each other but don't want to be selfish along with how they only want each other and no one else had everyone feeling as though they were witnessing the sweet sight of true love. Sprig came over with a tray of gnatchos as he was eating some of it from the tray he was carrying.
"Hey, anyone else want a snack? That nice lady gave me some gnatchos." Sprig offered.
Anne figured she could eat something and reached out to pick up a gnatcho chip with cheese smothered on it. Anne looked at it and saw it had the last symbol on the gnatcho. She looked at the symbol on the parchment and put two and two together.
"Whoa! Wait a sec, it's... Look! The symbol... it's a gnatcho! Sprig, empty that tray!" said Anne eagerly.
Sprig immediately placed the tray on his large and wide mouth stuffing the entire gnatchos in his mouth and as he chewed on them and swallowed plenty of small bites till he was able to speak. They saw the last part of the message they were looking for. They saw a purple rectangle on the bottom of the tray that read "The Plantars" in gold lettering.
They pulled out the rest of the message with Marcy holding a slip of paper with the word "Bring" written on it. Anne pulled out the brick with the word "Me" on it and Sprig was holding the tray with the words "The Plantars" which it formed the message "Bring Me The Plantars"
"That means the message is..."Bring me the Plantars." Oh, guys, we've been summoned! And you solved the puzzle gram, Anne! Even Charlie! No wonder he was way ahead of us." said Marcy feeling proud.
"Self-esteem boost and an audience with the ruler of this world? Win-win, baby!" cried Anne proudly.
They all cheered as they were glad that not only did they solve the puzzle gram but they reconciled the misunderstandings any of them felt. Anne and Charlie were glad that they only want each other and not someone else, Marcy reconciled the misunderstandings with Anne. They saw the huge alligator's mouth poking out of the manhole which they gotten an idea.
"So... you guys wanna feed gnatchos to that alligator?" Anne asked.
They all agreed and Anne would toss pieces of the gnatchos with cheese in the alligator's mouth which would utter a goofy yet happy "Whoo-hoo" at times.
"Just look how happy it makes him." said Sprig looking adored.