Charlie followed Anne and Polly down the streets of what looked like a local food vendors as there was plenty of food stands and food vendors that were serving up all sorts of foods. Some served food that was served hot, cold, some would serve sandwiches with exotic meat, fruit, vegetables or all of the above, some would be serving serving soups while there was a food stand or two that served what looked like strange looking sweets.
"You know, it's been a long time since you and I had a solo adventure." said Polly.
"Heck, yeah! We're way overdue. Looks like it's finally time for team P'Anne to get more screen time." said Anne looking thrilled.
Both Anne and Polly jumped into the air but they landed on the ground a little hard when they tried to look like they struck a pose into the air.
"Team P'Anne for life!" said the girls in unison.
They fell silent for a moment and they just realized something. The name they came up with needed work.
"Come on, Anne. Why not call you and Polly the name Ally." Charlie thought.
"Our team name's bad." said Polly.
"Yeah, it could be better. Anyhoo, let's get this authentic experience started." said Anne.
Anne was turning to see Polly getting a map from a stand that had plenty of maps of Newtopia or at least maps that tourists used. Anne quickly stopped her and carried her as she advised her not to use a map.
"No guides! People will know we're lame-o tourists." advised Anne.
"You're right. Don't wanna be like that guy." said Polly pointing out a heavyset male frog.
As the heavyset male frog heard what was said. He felt a little disappointed to hear that. As they walked down another street. Charlie went over to the stand and grabbed a map but he also whispered something to the heavyset male frog nearby as if giving him some advice which put a smile on his face.
"I can live with that." said the heavyset male frog with a smile.
"Always stay inside till during the night till dawn." Charlie advised.
Charlie got the attention of a few heavyset burly male amphibians as he instructed them to help out the male frog near him which they came over to help him with his bags which the male frog was glad they did this. Charlie instructed them on what they should do and they agreed. He shook hands with the frog before leaving to catch up with Anne and Polly.
He caught up to them and saw they were stopping at a food stand where the food vendor was chopping up some ingredients for a dish or two he was making. The two girls went to his stand which the vendor was a male Axolotl who had light green skin with light blue spots.
Anne and Polly were greeting the vendor which they were hoping that this would be an experience they would enjoy but the vendor looked as though he was concerned about the two. He knew that what the locals eat are able to handle what he serves but he felt a bit hesitant to do the same for tourists.
Charlie went to another vendor that was serving cold water and the vendor was a muscular female frog with curly red hair and brown skin.
"Two bottles of cold water." said Charlie.
"You got it, handsome." said the female vendor.
Charlie pulled out some money in copper coins and placed them on the vendor stand, she gave him two cold bottles of water and he placed them in his pockets.
"Thanks ma'am." said Charlie.
Charlie took off towards Anne and Polly as he knew something was about to go wrong so he knew he had to be ready. The menu that Anne saw looked like it was in a different language that she didn't know.
"Actually, we'll just take two of whatever the locals eat." said Anne looking confident.
"Uh, are you sure? I mean, we don't usually serve this to outsiders. It's pretty spicy." the vendor warned.
"Ha! That don't scare me. After all, I'm Thai." said Anne insisting.
"Uh, Jerry. All right. Whatever. Two extra spicys. Here you go." said the vendor.
Both Anne and Polly saw him hand out what looked like two spicy burritos and they took the burritos as they were about to eat. Charlie came over to them, sensing something horrible about to go down.
"You two sure about that?" came Charlie's voice.
The two girls turned to see Charlie standing next to them now.
"Charlie, I was thinking you were staying on the bus." said Anne.
"I would've but than Hop Pop told me the last time you two had some girl time and well..." Charlie paused. "Hop Pop told me about how you two spent some girl time once and it lead to something that kind of had my protect my girl siren going off. And he had me make sure you two went to the hotel but after what he told me about what girl time lead to last time, I didn't want anything bad happening to the both of you."
Charlie blushed from admitting everything and he knew that one of them was going to ether by annoyed with him or Hop Pop or both. But Anne placed a hand on his chest as if to reassure him.
"Char Char, I know you're just looking out for us, and that Hop Pop sent you to make sure we went to the hotel may be a bit annoying, still, I can promise you that nothing bad will happen." reassured Anne.
Charlie not only blushed from Anne's hand being on his chest where his heart was located but he felt as though he wanted to make sure nothing bad would happen to Anne and Polly but on the other hand, he knew that Anne never got to experience what the locals do when she was a tourist, especially from what Anne told him about that one time she went traveling with her mother, his heart was telling him to let her do this as she hasn't gotten to do this before. Charlie couldn't deny her that, he felt like he had two voices telling two different things at once. One voice was telling him "Don't let her eat that. It'll make her sick or possibly her stomach can't handle it" while the other voice told him "Oh come on, she's never gotten to eat like a local. Look at that adorable face. Would you say no to that face?" the two voices argued in his head till he gave into one of them. He let out a sigh.
"Alright. But just in case something goes down. I got some bottled water on him." said Charlie pointing to his pockets.
Anne went in to kiss Charlie on his lips for a bit and once she pulled her soft lips off him was when he smiled and both Anne and Polly took a couple of large bites of the burritos. They chewed on the burritos which tasted good. It had a meaty, cheesy and salty taste to them and Charlie pulled out one of the bottles of water and placed it in Anne's pocket. He had the other bottle of water at the ready for Polly.
"Hey, not bad." said Anne.
Charlie let out a sigh of relief to see that everything was alright but it was short lived as Anne let out a groan and she felt like the spiciness kicked in faster than an olympic track star could run. She was panting and coughing as her face turned red. She suddenly screamed from hot much the spiciness hurt a little and she breathed fire out of her mouth like a dragon.
"Oh shit! Anne, the water!" cried Charlie.
Anne pulled out the bottle of water that was placed in her pocket and she quickly opened it, placing the bottle to her lips and guzzled it down which actually worked in cooling herself down inside and outside of her. She guzzled the bottle of water down and felt instant relief from the cold water cooling her down faster than a tank of cold water putting out a fire.
"Hahahaha. Weak!" laughed Polly.
"Three, two, one." Charlie counted down.
Polly suddenly felt the same thing Anne felt instantly and she blasted fire out of her mouth and it caused her to be launched into the air, some of the fire caught on the vendors fabric made roof which burned his roof to the stand completely. Polly bounced around like a rubber ball and that's when Charlie put his hands up to catch her.
"Hey batta, batta, batta swing!" said Charlie mimicking a Brooklyn accent.
Charlie saw Polly coming towards him like a torpedo being launched from a submarine and he caught her in his hands like a pitcher who tossed him a baseball. He saw Polly was burning up but got out the bottle of water quickly, placing it to her lips and the little polliwog took hold of the bottle to guzzle down the ice cold water like she was chugging it.
"You two alright? This is just like my family's salsa we've dubbed the butt blaster." said Charlie looking worried.
The two girls guzzled down the remaining of the bottled water and they felt themselves cooling down. The both of them felt the burning sensations and the pain subside.
"I'm so glad you came prepared." panted Anne.
"Now I know what a spicy meatball feels like." said Polly.
"Hey! You two torched my roof." cried Jerry.
The three looked towards the vendor and he wasn't happy. He was angry and the roof of his stand was burned. The wooden poles had been burned to black charcoal, smoke emitting from the now burnt ends.
"Prove it!" said Polly sharply.
"Sorry, my good man... Eh, newt. This should cover the cost." said Anne pulling out the gold cred card.
Jerry wasn't looking to happy to see this as he pulled out a sign that had read the same language that none of them understood as it was in different symbols like Sanskrit.
"One, I'm an Axolotl. And two, didn't you read the sign? Cash only!" said Jerry holding up the sign.
Anne put the card back in her pocket as she knew they were in hot water. She looked at Charlie as if expecting a solution from him.
"Hey Charlie, you got any copper coins?" asked Anne hopefully.
"Sorry, I spent the last of them on the bottled water." said Charlie with a gulp. "Sir, not to sound stupid or anything but we don't know that language that sign reads. We only know English signs, also Japanese and the language of Thai which I don't think anyone here knows it let alone speaks it."
"Are you three just kids?" asked Jerry.
"Yes!" the three kids said in unison.
"Someone's going to have to pay up or should I wait till one of your parents shows up?" said Jerry looking annoyed.
Anne and Charlie both let out a nervous chuckle but the only one of them that had an idea was Anne. What Anne did next was probably a very stupid choice.
"Well, of course I did...Run, guys!" screamed Anne.
Anne took hold of Polly and tossed her forwards hard like a baseball and it forced Charlie to run with them.
"Anne! Wait up!" shouted Charlie as he followed.
Jerry ran to chase after them as Charlie caught up with Anne and Polly. They did have to dodge a few people in the process.
"Could you not throw me?" said Polly annoyed.
"I panicked! I panicked!" panicked Anne.
"Anne, you have any idea what we're doing? Just tell the truth to the guy!" Charlie advised.
"Do you think that he'll listen to reason? I've dealt with someone like that before and that person didn't look like the sympathetic type and this guy's no different." argued Anne.
As Anne carried Polly. The three kids kept running as Jerry kept chasing them down.
"We're breaking so many laws right now!" argued Charlie.
"If we go to prison. Do you know what they'll do to humans in there!" argued Polly.
Charlie knew that despite what they're doing is wrong beyond all levels. He knew that Polly was right. He spotted a place for them to hide and he led the way, advising them to follow. They ducked behind some cages and crates that had turtles sitting in them. Jerry ran passed them screaming in anger.
"Get back here! Just wait till I get my hands on you." shouted Jerry.
They came out of their hiding spot once Jerry was out of sight and out of earshot.
"Whew! That was close. Man, guys, I feel so authentic. I can't feel my face but my heart feels alive." said Anne looking thrilled.
"Did you see the part where I breathed fire?" said Polly looking thrilled.
They were both feeling the rush of what they're doing but the feeling was put on hold when they heard a musical tune coming from close by and they turned to see it was coming from Charlie to their surprise.
"Fi-i-i-re, uh, uh. Fi-i-ire, sing us home. Oh Lord. Fi-i-ire, woo, woo, woo, woo. Fi-i-i-re. The way you walk and talk really sets me off. To a four-alarm, child"
Anne and Polly saw that Charlie was singing and dancing a little to what he just saw. Seeing Anne breathe fire seemed to make him feel thrilled that he actually got to see that happening.
"You're not mad?" asked Anne looking oddly relieved.
"My girl breathed fire like a dragon!" cried Charlie.
He pulled Anne in for a kiss to her lips as Anne wasn't expecting him to feel excitement about what just happened or what he just saw but she also didn't expect Charlie to kiss her right than and there. She held onto him as she kissed him back. The two humans were briefly making out till they pulled their lips off each other.
"Whoa! I'm not the only whose on fire." said Anne blushing with a grin.
"I've never done anything like this in my life but despite the fact that I tried to reason with the guy but just ran off with you two. Yaaahooo! What's next to do?" said Charlie looking eager.
"Step two, look like the locals. What's the one thing they've got that we don't?" asked Anne.
"Cash money." guessed Polly.
"Tails! Big, beautiful newt tails." answered Anne.
Charlie looked at the two of them and knew that what Anne said sounded interesting but didn't know how two humans would grow a tail. He knew Polly had a tail, a small one.
"Well, actually, I have a tail but I see what you're doing." said Polly giggling. "What about you Charlie?"
"Actually, I'll probably do without the tail but I'm cool if you two want to put on a tail or have one installed. As long as they don't surgically install one on you." Charlie said showing to have calmed.
The three began to chant the word "Tails" in excitement as they walked out of the alleyway and they made their way towards the open street and they eventually made it to a big pink building that had a big sign above it's doors that read "Tails R Us" and a sign next to the door that read "Tail'ored To You!" they entered the building dancing a bit in excitement. The sales clerk at the cash register was an average height, slender male newt with sky blue skin and slightly bluish gray spots. He wore an olive drab uniform with a tie and green shirt collar. He had short blue hair that was slick back.
"Two tails, please, for two locals." said Anne. "Charlie, you sure you don't want in on this?"
"I'll be cool. But I do wonder how they do it here." said Charlie showing curiosity.
"Locals, hey? Well, nice to meet ya." said the sales clerk.
The clerk turned around to see what sort of tails he had. The building had a lot of tails placed on a rack. They all looked like fake tails that one would wear if they're waiting for their tails to grow back. They saw his tail but Anne was now curious to how it works.
"How does one do what they do here?" asked Anne curiously.
The male newt got out some measuring tape and used it to measure around Anne's back and her butt which he was careful not to touch.
"Basically, if someone is waiting for their tail to grow back, be it if they lost it in an accident and are waiting for it to grow back, they choose a tail here to wear to make it look like they look like everyone else till their tails grow back. Not surgical installments, no surgeries, no pain. Kind of like some people wearing a wig." explained the clerk. "Wow! Is she your girl friend? She's got a big butt. I don't mean to be rude or anything but she's got a noticeably big, thick booty."
"We're boyfriend and girl friend. But only I'm allowed to place my hands on her booty, well, only if she gives me permission." said Charlie blushing.
"We got a lucky guy." the clerk chuckled. "Now let's get you fixed with a temporary tail until your new one grows back."
The two humans felt better knowing that a temporary tail was just like wearing a wig and no surgical implants were involved. After the clerk got done doing the measuring. He noticed that Anne had no tail, just a noticeably big and thick butt.
"Hmm. Exactly how long was your old tail?" asked the clerk confused.
"How long you got?" asked Anne.
Minutes later, Anne was standing in the mirror as she was wearing an obnoxiously large tail that was light green with dark green spots. She had it on her like wearing a backpack with arm straps over the arms.
"All right! Now that's what I'm talking about." said Anne looking excited.
"A bit huge, don't you think?" said Charlie wide eyed.
"Let's live on the edge for a bit. Hey, Polly! Find one you like?" asked Anne.
Polly was in another part of the building and she was looking at a fake tail that was black with spikes on it. Polly was wide eyed with excitement.
"Give me that one." said Polly thrilled.
After Polly got the tail on her. They paid for the tails and walked out of the building. Both Anne and Polly were walking like two attractive girls trying to get the attention of any guy that was in eye sight.
"If you were a real newt with a tail that huge. I'd say you can wrap me up with it anytime." chuckled Charlie blushing.
"Oh? You like what you see, do ya?" chuckled Anne. "Baby got tails."
Charlie laughed and so did Anne. Anne made a small joke.
"This is it, Polly. You have a tail, I have a tail. We totally look like the locals." said Anne
"Yeah, we're definitely blending in." laughed Polly. "Charlie's staring at your tail and your butt."
Polly was only joking as she laughed. Charlie blushed and nervously chuckled.
"No I'm not." Charlie nervously chuckled.
"I'm only kidding." joked Polly.
Anne was looking in one direction and saw others were selling what looked like trinkets at another store but she couldn't see it very well from her end at the distance they stood.
"Oh, hey, what's that stand over there selling?" said Anne.
The fake tail Anne wore was moving around and it accidentally knocked over a young male newt that was probably a paper boy as he got slapped by Anne's big tail. She attempted to apologize but when she turned to him, her tail slapped an elderly female newt, knocking her glasses off her face.
"My glasses!" said the elderly newt woman.
"So sorry." apologized Anne.
"Anne, don't move, your tail keeps slapping people everytime you move!" Charlie warned.
Anne tried not to move but that's when a slender male newt with light brown skin shown up and he wore an ocean blue uniform. He apparently was a guard who had a strict facial expression.
"All right, all right, what seems to be the problem?" came the newt guard.
Anne turned around to try and explain herself to him but her tail accidentally slapped him twice. Anne just stopped moving afterwards to try and make sure her fake tail didn't hit anyone.
"Officer, before you say or do anything. Let me remedy this situation." Charlie suggested.
Charlie went over to the elderly female newt and picked up her glasses before they got smashed. He stopped the elderly newt woman and placed the pair of glasses on her.
"Ma'am, sorry about before. I presume these are yours." said Charlie.
The elderly newt lady's vision cleared instantly once her glasses were placed back on her eyes. Charlie went over to the young male newt that had been collecting the papers he dropped.
"Hey dude, need a hand?" asked Charlie.
The male newt looked up and saw Charlie picking up the papers really fast and he re-arranged them to make sure they were in order like before, tapped them on the sidewalk twice and placed them back in the newt's bag. He pulled out what looked like some rubber bands and gave them to the male newt for him to use on his papers.
Afterwards, Charlie walked back to Anne and Polly and let the male newt in uniform have their attention again. While the newt officer's face of anger slightly faded a little, he still was showing to be intimidating to look at.
"While your boy may have remedied the situation, still, do you know slapping an officer around is considered assault to officer? I oughta lock you up for disturbing the peace or for assaulting an officer or both." the newt officer told them strictly.
"It's just an accident, officer." said Charlie trying to make the situation sound less serious.
"You ought to, but you won't, right?" asked Anne.
"Oh. Smart one, hey? That's it! You're coming with me. You, your little friend and your boy toy." said the newt officer pulling out a pair of handcuffs.
Charlie was about to say something to explain to the officer about the misunderstanding but Anne quickly took off her fake tail and tossed it at the officer, knocking him to the ground. Polly took off her fake tail as well and tossed it at him. The spiked tail stabbed a small hole in the ground, causing it to crack a little as it almost hit the officer in between his legs.
"Anne, Polly, really?" said Charlie annoyed.
"I'm sorry. I'm panicking." said Anne alarmed.
Anne picked up Polly and took off running while Charlie took off with them. The officer pulled out a whistle and pointed in their direction with some guards marching their way towards him.
"Really? We're about to charged with assault to an officer! We are breaking so many laws right now!" said Charlie sharply.
"Grill for me it later. We need to lose them." instructed Anne.
The three exited the alleyway and saw a big parade being held in the street. The three ducked behind some parade barricades and hidden behind them. The guards ran out there but didn't see them. They let out a groan of annoyance.
"Dang it! We'll never find them in this crowd." complained one of the guards.
"What? Sure we will." said one of the guards.
"Shush. I'm lazy." said the annoyed guard.
The fellow guard somehow oddly understood and the guards walked off. Both Anne, Charlie and Polly let out a sigh of relief.
"How many times are we going to be running from the law when we can just explain to them it was a big misunderstanding? My mom, my aunt and the ladies of the house always encouraged that when something isn't what it looks like." said Charlie getting annoyed.
"I know, I keep panicking. I'm just afraid they'll arrest us and we'd be in the slammer and be in a worse place." said Anne sadly.
Charlie knew that Anne wasn't meaning to get them in this situation but he tried to show some mercy.
"Well, if we end up in a situation like that again. Let's try to explain ourselves." advised Charlie.
"Okay." said Anne and Polly in unison.
"That was intense. Being authentic is more work than I thought." said Anne catching her breath.
"I don't know. Seems pretty cool to me. If I wasn't too thrilled, I'd kiss any guy on the lips right now. What's next?" asked Polly looking excited to do more.
They immediately got their answer when they heard drums beating and they turned to see the parade coming over. Some amphibians were playing drums, cymbals, some were holding up poles with the Newtopian symbol on a tapestry that hung from the top, they even had what looked like a huge red paper dragon that other newts were having it float in the air as they held wooden poles to control it. They had a marching band along with it.
Confetti was even being blasted around and Charlie felt like he recognized the dragon as if it was part of Japanese culture. The three kids got up and were feeling excitement rush through them like a sugar rush.
"Step three, baby. Party with the locals." said Anne thrilled.
Anne picked up Polly and rushed into the parade but Charlie was the first to beat them to the punch. Music played as everyone at the parade saw Charlie dancing out to the music like he was a professional.
"Let's go, we're taken over"
As Charlie was dancing to the music. A lot of the locals were seeing this and were cheering for him as they figured this was part of the parade. Charlie was even getting the attention of the female locals who were admiring his beautiful appearance, some of them screamed in excitement like teenage girls who were at a rock concert performed by their favorite male singers.
"C'mon! Ain't no party like a Matsuda party cause a Matsuda party don't stop. Ain't no party like a Matsuda party cause a Matsuda party don't stop"
As Charlie danced around and even shook his butt a little. Some teenage female newts screamed in excitement while some fainted a little from how sexy they found him to be.
"Do my lady's take this party over"
A lot of the female amphibians would cheer out "Oh Yeah!" when he rapped out the verse.
"Do my boys take this party over"
Than a lot of the male amphibians cheered out "Oh Yeah!" when he rapped out the next verse.
"C'mon! Ain't no party like a Matsuda party cause a Matsuda party don't stop. Ain't no party like a Matsuda party cause a Matsuda party don't stop"
Charlie stopped rapping out words and stopped dancing as he pointed to Anne.
"Come on, Anne! Unleash the fire!" called Charlie.
Anne blushed as she gotten an idea and went to a fellow male newt that was operating the dragon's head and mouth.
"Hey, can I join in?" asked Anne.
"I don't see why not." said the male newt kindly.
The male newt gave Anne the wooden poles for her to operate the head of the paper dragon and Anne was thrilled to join in. She twirled around in excitement while Polly cheered for her.
"Go, Anne! You maniac!" cheered Polly.
"Yeah! That's my lady!" cheered Charlie.
As Anne kept going, she looked at the functions of the head from the paper dragon and realized she could move the mouth around and not just the head.
"Oh, hey! Mouth control." said Anne excitedly.
"Wha-a-a-at?" said Polly loudly thrilled.
Anne began to make the paper dragon's mouth move like it was talking and she spoke in a goofy voice as if trying to be as funny as possible.
"Hi, Polly. I'm Freddie the Fish. Fry me up for dinner." joked Anne in a goofy tone.
Polly laughed out loud uncontrollably but the music stopped.
"Anne, I wouldn't do that!" warned Charlie.
Everyone in the crowd gasped and both Anne, Charlie and Polly stopped. That's when Charlie ran over towards Anne while plucking Polly up from the ground. The locals were wide eyed in shock. Charlie made to it to Anne's side.
"Anne, something tells me we shouldn't be doing that." said Charlie in a panic.
The male newt that Anne spoke to earlier took the poles from her and gave her an irate expression as well as Charlie and Polly.
"You should be ashamed of yourself." the male newt said sternly.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I was just dancing with your goofy mascot." said Anne panicking.
The crowd gasped as if shocked that someone insulted a world leader while in their nation.
"Damn it." Charlie cursed under his breath.
"That "goofy mascot" is Igor the Brave. He's a great hero who once gave his life to save Newtopia. This parade is in his honor." said the male newt.
The male newt got out what looked like a card that had the picture of the male newt he spoke of. The male newt was a red skinned colored newt wearing a military's uniform.
"Don't be so hard on her. The three of us are just tourist. How were we suppose know who this mascot is if we never heard of him or never met him or if we never knew who he was. If we knew who he was, we would've never have done this." Charlie called out.
The male newt that scolded Anne felt his anger instantly disappear. Even a lot of the locals nearby felt their anger turned to regret.
"Wait? You three don't know who Igor the Brave is? And your just tourists here but you had no idea what you were doing let alone what one of you was doing was an insult to our hero that we made a parade mascot for?" the male newt asked looking surprised. "Are you three kids from somewhere outside of Newtopia?"
"Yes." answered Polly.
Everyone in the crowd and the amphibians in the parade let out a surprised "Oh" as they just realized that the three kids didn't know who Igor the Brave was or what he was famous for as well as not knowing what they did was an insult to him as they were not aware of who this mascot was.
"My bad. I had no idea." said Anne backing up.
Charlie was about to say something but Anne tripped on a cobble stone on the ground that was slightly higher up and as she tripped, she grabbed hold of the only thing she could get her hands on to try and prevent herself from falling. Unfortunately, she grabbed hold of the face part of the paper dragon, ripping the paper off and exposing the mechanical innards of the face of the mascot, one of the eyes popped out with it hanging from a metal spring. The locals gasped while many of them clamored.
"We should run, right?" asked Polly rhetorically.
"Let's get the fuck out!" cried Charlie.
"You know it!" said Anne.
Charlie was the first to move as he grabbed hold of Polly and placed her in Anne's hands, than with all his strength, he lifted Anne off the ground and carried her over his shoulders and took off running as fast as he could.
"After them!" cried the male newt.
The crowd took off after the three kids and loud clamors were heard. Charlie was lucky to be a faster runner as he carried Anne and Polly away from the crowd. They passed by the guards that chased them from before as they too chased after them like the crowd.
"Wow! Charlie, you're strong and fast." said Anne surprised.
"Less talking. More running." advised Charlie.
They ran down one street corner and another, than they passed by Jerry, the food vendor from before who served them the spicy burritos and he took notice of them. He pulled a lever nearby and his cart turned into a mobile version of his cart and he drove towards them fast.
"Forget authenticity. Forget being a local. We should've used a brochure. A guide. Anything! Heck, we should've never left the tour bus." Anne ranted in fear. "And I should've listened to you, Charlie."
"Lets talk about this later. We're heading back to the tour bus." said Charlie.
They managed to see the tour bus and Charlie ran as fast as possible towards it. As they made it to the tour bus, they jumped towards the bus and accidentally slammed into the windows. Hop Pop jumped in fear at the sight of them.
"Oh wait, it's just my granddaughter, my adopted granddaughter and my adopted grandson." said Hop Pop relieved.
"Let us in!" cried the three in panic.
"Everyone, remain calm. As long as we don't open the doors or windows, this disaster will pass us by." said the tour guide.
Hop Pop and Sprig both felt their family instincts kick in.
"You let my grandchildren in right now or I'll tie you up with your microphone and hang ya upside from a high height!" Hop Pop threatened sharply.
"Pull the handle." the tour guide fearfully advised.
Sprig saw the handle hanging from the ceiling and grabbed it to pull it down. The windows rolled down and opened but the crowd caught up with the three kids. Charlie tried to fend them off but got pushed out of the way while others tried to drag Anne and Polly away but as Hop Pop tried to help them. That's when Charlie got up and saw something that made him as angry as he's ever been. The crowd, the guards, Jerry and the parade people were trying to drag Anne and Polly off to make them pay for what happened by accident. He felt his anger overtake him and got up. He saw a nearby female newt who was watching this in horror and he ran over to her to grab what looked like a megaphone that was shaped like a Scorpileo's head and face.
"I'll bring this back." said Charlie quickly.
Charlie ran over back to them and he pushed a button on the megaphone that turned it on. He placed it up to his mouth and let out a loud sound that amplified his voice to be louder than it should be.
"Hey! Get a hold of yourselves, you maniacs!" Charlie spoke into the megaphone.
Everyone suddenly stopped and turned to Charlie. The male human was looking like he was as angry as a lion who wanted to drive someone out of it's territory.
"But." said Jerry looking wide eyed.
"Quiet! Let go of the girls, now!" Charlie yelled.
The whole crowd had their anger turn to shock and slight fear. They gently placed Anne and Polly back on the ground with Anne carrying Polly. Charlie lowered the megaphone down.
"Anne Boonchuy and Polly Petunia Plantar! Get over here, now! And don't you dare argue with me!" shouted Charlie.
Anne ran over to Charlie's side with Polly in her arms. The two felt safer being with him as they knew that Charlie was taking charge and knew he was serious.
"Jerry, front and center, now!" shouted Charlie.
Jerry, the male Axolotl from the food stand came over to face Charlie as he shown visible fear.
"Jerry, what happened to the roof of your food stand is not good. Me, Anne and Polly didn't mean to destroy your roof. If we had the cash, we would've paid for the damages but all we had was a credit card. We didn't mean to cause you any trouble." said Charlie calmly speaking.
"But they-"
"Quiet! You'll listen to me now, got it!" Charlie commanded sharply.
"Yes sir!" said Jerry fearfully saluting him.
"Alright. Unfortunately, we don't have cash money to pay for the damages, but if you want to get the damages paid off. Talk to the king, tell him that Charlie Matsuda advised you to and that you need a tarp that's fire proof. But if he can't talk to you, than talk to Lady Olivia and she'll run it by him." said Charlie talking calmly. "We're sorry we destroyed your roof to your food stand but going after someone like an angry mob isn't going to solve anything."
Jerry was shocked that Charlie was going back and forth between being kind and gentle to strict as a drill sergeant which this got him wide eyed. He was becoming submissive and complied.
"Okay." said Jerry complying. "I'm sorry for laying my hands on your girls."
"Understood. Your clear." Charlie advised kindly.
Jerry nodded and left as he felt like he was shown some mercy. As he left. That's when Charlie looked up and shown an irate expression.
"Guards, front and center, now!" shouted Charlie.
The newt officer and the newt guards from before ran towards Charlie and stood in front of him. They shown visible fear of him as if he was their commanding officer.
"Officer, and guards. What happened earlier was a misunderstanding. My girl friend Anne and her gal pal Polly were just trying to look like locals by trying on fake newt tails. Anne might've chosen one that was a bit too big and she couldn't control it's movements when she moved around and it caused the fake tail to accidentally knock people over and to accidentally slap and knock over the officer. I know that was assault to an officer but in our defense, we didn't meant for that happened. Even huge newts with big tails sometimes don't have full control over their tail's movements and it causes them to accidentally slap, hit or knock people on their butts. And Polly didn't mean to nearly castra- I mean didn't mean to almost cause an injury to his boys down stairs. We wanted to explain the situation but you scared my girl and made her think she was going to the slammer for life. If you were kids who caused an accident and an officer threatened to take you in, you'd probably panic and run because you don't know what to expect." explained Charlie speaking calmly once again. "And we're sorry for what happened."
The officer and the guards which consisted of one officer and two guards or more were wide eyed and starting to see that from what Charlie said that it was a misunderstanding.
"Well, we can let you three off with a warning." said the officer.
"And make sure you listen to someone when they try to explain themselves? Also, touch my girls like that again and I'll do more than yell at you. Understand?" said Charlie calmly warning them.
The officer and the guards let out a sigh and nodded.
"Yes sir." they said in unison.
"Okay, your clear." said Charlie kindly.
The officer and the guards turned around and walked away as they felt relieved that they weren't meeting a harsh punishment that was as harsh as giving them ten lashes with a bullwhip. Than Charlie turned to the remaining people who were the crowd from the parade along with the people who were performing at the parade. He gave them an irate look and used the megaphone to speak loud enough for all to hear.
"Attention parade goers! You are going to listen to what I have to say and you'll be quiet. I really don't want to curse right now since there's children around. And if anyone tries to harm me or my girls, I'll give you a nightmare that you can only imagine from those scary stories that someone in your family told you about when any of you were kids. Got it!" Charlie shouted in the megaphone.
\They all gulped and shown fear as they saluted him.
"Yes sir!" the crowd said.
"Good." said Charlie.
Charlie began to pace back and forth in front of them as he spoke into the megaphone.
"People, what happened was a mistake. Me, Anne and Polly didn't know we were insulting a great hero of Newtopia. Was what my girl doing with your mascot wrong and what she said about the mascot wrong? Yes, but going after someone like an angry mob is going to solve NOTHING! We're just kids, tourists, as embarrassing as it is for us to admit. We're very sorry we insulted a hero of yours but in our defense, we had no idea who this hero was, or what he was famous for. We never even heard of him. How are we suppose to know who Igor the Brave is if no one told us about him and what heroic actions he took to save his people? How are we suppose to know if no one told us anything? Answer my question if you can." explained Charlie through the megaphone.
The crowd saw him face them and they were all trying to come up with an answer to his question but none of them could come up with one. They looked at Charlie with a surprised yet embarrassed look.
"That's what I thought. Now listen, if someone doesn't know who Igor the Brave is and they unintentionally insult him in some way when someone makes a joke about him. Going after them like an angry mob will solve NOTHING!" said Charlie shouting the last word at them. "Violence will only breed more violence. Is that how you want to live your life? Being some violent, vigilante who beats up people who made a mistake when they never meant to do so? What will that teach your kids? What will that teach your friends or families. What will that teach people? Nothing good, that's for sure."
As the crowd listened to Charlie, they looked at each other, than any of them who had kids looked at their kids, than they looked at everyone else and they all looked back at Charlie as they knew he has a point with what he's telling them.
"Despite the fact that we made a mistake without meaning any harm, coming after us in an angry mob won't fix the damages to your mascot, it won't undo what you almost did and coming after us in an angry mob will only make us think you're going to hurt us, worse and if you harmed me or my girls, there's no undoing that. The mistakes we make in life. We might not regret them now but we will regret them later and you don't want that hanging over your heads, especially when you can't do something to undo it and the guilt sticks with you till the day you meet the lord. The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Bless it is he who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And he will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know his name is the lord, when he lays his vengeance upon thee!" Charlie spoke through the megaphone powerfully.
Anne, Polly, Hop Pop and Sprig were wide eyed, surprised and admiring how Charlie gained control over the crowd, the officer, the guards and the situation. Anne felt proud that she has him for a boyfriend and Hop Pop was feeling proud that he has him as a grandson.
"That's my boy." said Hop Pop and Anne proudly.
"Do you people love your people?" Charlie asked.
"Yes." spoke the crowd.
"Do you love your friends, your families and your children?" asked Charlie.
"Yes we do." the crowd answered.
"Than you should know we're sorry for insulting your hero. I may not have been around to meet him when he was alive but I do know that he doesn't want you to attack people who mistakenly insulted him when those who did never meant to do so when they didn't even know who he was or what he did for all of you at the time. Nature can be lethal, but it doesn't hold a candle to man. We've seen how bad things can get and how quick they can get that way when one little mistake is made. After going crazy with rage in a short amount of time when one person makes just one mistake or two, it can get a whole lot worse. So we're not going to fight each other anymore! This is no way to honor your hero, may God rest his soul, and attacking people for making one or two innocent mistakes that they're very sorry for won't undo any of the mistakes. We're suppose to set an example for our children and after what just happened in a fit of rage, you don't want your kids learning that. So tell me, what do you think should be done?" said Charlie as he was getting control over the situation.
As the crowd fell silent, they also blushed. Any of them who had children looked right at their children and knew that how they reacted when Anne, Charlie and Polly made one little mistake was something they didn't want to teach their kids, despite the fact that they didn't like the joke that one of them pulled, they knew that the three kids didn't know who Igor the Brave was nor did they have any idea that their little joke wasn't going to sit well since they had no idea who their hero was nor did anyone tell them who he was. They looked back at Anne, Charlie and Polly as they knew Charlie is right. Charlie handed Anne the megaphone and instructed her on what to do next. Anne spoke into the megaphone.
"I'm sorry for the joke I pulled earlier. I never meant to cause any harm." Anne apologized.
"I'm sorry too." Polly chimed in.
"We're sorry for attacking you in an angry mob and for almost causing some real physical harm." the crowd apologized.
Anne handed the megaphone back to Charlie as he spoke into it once more.
"It's alright. We're all clear." said Charlie.
"Before we go. I'd like to ask. How is it you are who you are? I mean we were ready to do something that we'd regret later but you managed to stop us and shown us mercy. Who raised you to be so commanding, strong and compassionate?" asked one of the parade goers.
Charlie went silent for a moment and blushed before he started to speak into the megaphone.
"Back where I'm from, where there's more humans like us. I'm being raised in a house full of eight adult women and I'm the only guy in the house." Charlie answered.
The crowd was wide eyed at what they just heard and many of them uttered a surprised "Whoa!" from what they just heard Charlie tell them.
"They must really love you to raise you together to be this kind, forgiving, compassionate young human." said a female parade goer.
"With all their hearts. And for your mascot, you'll need to use nylon fabric with your mascot. It'll be rip and tear resistant." Charlie suggested.
They all saluted him and all turned around to walk off. As they walked off, that's when Charlie, Anne and Polly got back inside the tour bus and sat back down in their seats but Charlie did give the megaphone back to the lady he borrowed it from. Anne, Sprig, Polly and Hop Pop couldn't believe what Charlie did to prevent such a disaster from getting any worse. He regained control over the situation, the locals that he managed to calm their emotions and managed to convince crowd, the law enforcement newts and Jerry to forgive them as they forgiven them. It was like Charlie was on a roll.
"Anne, Polly, what did we learn from this?" asked Charlie.
"Explain the situation sooner when trouble first starts in order to avoid getting into chaos like the ladies of the house advised." said Anne and Polly in unison.
"Kōtei-teki." answered Charlie.
"Did the ladies of the house teach you something like this before?" asked Polly curiously.
"When my mom, my aunt and the ladies were teenagers growing up. They sometimes protested for human rights, especially for children. They really knew how to command a crowd and they made compelling arguments and they managed to find a way to win. So you could say I got that from them." explained Charlie.
They were impressed that Charlie's family back at home have protested for something before and how they always found a way to win yet it had such an influence on him. They were also really glad that he regained control over everything to prevent a public violent event from happening and saving them from being in a worse place. Anne and Polly pulled him in for a hug and that's when both of them kissed him on his cheeks, causing him to blush and show a visibly surprised expression.
"Hope you can forgive us for, well, everything that happened today." said Anne and Polly.
"Considering we're still alive and everything has managed to simmer down. I can forgive you two. I'm just glad that we're all still in one piece and unharmed. Not gonna lie, I was afraid things wouldn't work out like they did to stop the mob from doing something they'd regret. I really wanted to swear at that moment but couldn't since there was kids around." explained Charlie.
"Showing some restraint. That's my boy." said Hop Pop proudly.
Anne and Polly hugged him once again and he hugged them back. They were all glad that they were alright and that no harm came to anyone.
"You guys still want to check out that cheese museum?" asked the tour guide looking visibly shaken.
"Yes, please!" they said in unison.
As the bus drove off. They were glad to be alright in piece and not pieces.
Meanwhile, somewhere at the castle
King Andrias and Marcy were in a big library that looked like it had all the history archives stored in the room. Their search for more information on the Calamity Box was nowhere closer to an answer or even to revealing any mysteries, not even having any leads.
"This is the last book and still nothing on the music box." groaned Marcy.
King Andrias was wearing his glasses as he read another book and found nothing at all as well.
"Well, even I have to admit I'm surprised. This is one of the most comprehensive libraries in all of Amphibia." said King Andrias looking around the room. "Maybe we missed a book somewhere. If so, than the chances of finding it in this room are as low as the chances of me being a homosexual and wanting to smooch Charlie on the lips."
Marcy looked wide eyed at the last thing he said. She was left blushing.
"Are you?" asked Marcy hesitantly.
King Andrias blushed and realized what he just said and felt a bit embarrassed for saying it out loud.
"Oh no, I'm not gay. I'm only into girls. If I was to smooch boys, it would only be out of platonic love. Besides, I think Charlie is..." King Andrias paused.
Marcy noticed that King Andrias paused at what he was about to say and saw him blush lightly as if embarrassed to admit something out loud to anyone.
"Charlie's what?" asked Marcy curiously.
"Do you think Charlie is afraid of me?" asked King Andrias curiously. "When he's around me. He's a bit tense and stoic as if he's afraid...of me." King Andrias admitted.
"What? He's probably just surprised you're so huge, literally. I'm sure this has nothing to do with his dad." Marcy blurted out.
He turned to look at Marcy and saw she slapped her hands to her mouth as if to silence herself. Marcy just realized she blurted out something personal about Charlie.
"What about his father? Did Charlie's father...hurt him?" asked King Andrias showing concern.
She let out a sigh and removed her hands from her mouth as she knew there was no lying her way out of this one.
"Charlie's had some daddy issues for a long time. Things between his parents didn't work out, his dad would promise him to visit on his birthday every year but at the last second, he was a no show and he'd send him a postcard or a letter explaining why he couldn't make it. He hasn't seen his dad since he was two and he grew up without knowing what it's like to have a dad around while other kids got to enjoy the life aspects of having a loving dad to grow up with but he never got to experience that luxury. So many times he ether blamed himself or tried to defend his dad, even though his dad was just stringing him along, pulling the rug from underneath him. His dad broke his heart a lot. One day, when his dad left him his last postcard, he knew his dad was never coming back." Marcy sadly explained. "It really hurt him."
King Andrias seemed to feel as though he needed show some compassion towards not just the issue that was brought up but also compassion and understanding towards Charlie.
"But this is the weird part. After everything Anne, Charlie and the Plantars have been through, he says he's over his daddy issues because of Anne and the Plantars being there for him. Saying that Hop Pop is more of a dad to him than his real dad ever was. I have no idea how anyone could get over such a thing that fast. He used to be the shy and timid one but now he's more confident and fearless. I guess they were not lying when they said a lot has happened and a lot has changed." Marcy continued.
"Hmmm. It appears that Hopediah has become more of a father figure to him than his real dad and he somehow bonded with him and they helped him recover from such an issue." King Andrias stated but suddenly blushed. "Marcy, do you happen to like Charlie?"
Marcy fell silent and the cup of bug-accino she had which was empty dropped out of her hand and it made a loud clanking sound from hitting the table. She blushed with a nervous grin.
"I like him as a friend but me and him never saw each other like that. To be honest, I sort of always knew he had a thing for Anne, well, at first, I thought he was going to be preferring a black girl with a big pair of, you know whats topside and a big and thick booty but I see he wasn't that sort of guy going for someone whose developed like that. Seeing him with Anne looks like he found his soulmate." explained Marcy.
"Isn't Anne a black girl and Charlie is a white boy?" asked King Andrias looking confessed. "After all, you did tell me about how other humans back at home come in different race groups as in different colors."
"That I remember but Anne is Thai descent, they're not black, they're light brown in skin tone but they're not black. Charlie on the other hand, he's biracial, his mom and her side of the family are Japanese descent while his dad is Caucasian, another word for white. Some of his features are more like his mom and some of them are more like his dad from appearances." explained Marcy being more specific. "As for Charlie being afraid of you. I'm not so sure how to look at that. Maybe you could talk to him about it."
"Maybe he knows something about the music box?" said King Andrias.
"He said the same thing that Anne told me. He doesn't know much more than we do. But ever since me, Anne and Charlie saw each other again. Charlie seems to be stronger and faster, more so than human standards. I need more bug-accinos. B-R-B." said Marcy as her eyes looked tired.
Marcy got up from her seat and carried the eight cups of bug-accinos she drank and she was about to walk off to get another cup or two of bug-accinos but her foot hit one of the legs of the table she sat at and she tripped, knocking the cups of bug-accinos out of her hands, seven of them went flying towards a tapestry that had a muscular male amphibian that shown to be holding a bow and arrow. What ever was left in the bug-accinos splashed all over the tapestry, causing a mess all over it but one of them landed on Marcy and got some of it on her shirt and some of it on her pants.
"Marcy, are you alright?" asked King Andrias looking concerned.
Marcy nodded and that's when the king saw she was covered in some of the remains of the bug-accinos which looked like Marcy had wet her pants as he tried not to laugh but only uttered a small chuckle.
"Did you spill some of it on you? Because from the looks of it. It looks as though you went wee wee in your pants." chuckled King Andrias. "I'm sorry for laughing and I'm sorry for the joke but it's only because I've been through it before, everyone has. The first time I had coffee. I spilled some of it on me and it looked like I had an accident but one of my nannies managed to prevent anyone from seeing that when she had a clean change of clothes for me to change into."
Marcy got up on her feet and realized that King Andrias didn't mean to laugh but was only chuckling because he went through the same thing and could relate such an accident.
"Well, I'm okay." answered Marcy.
Marcy looked at the tapestry that the coffee spilled all over and she felt a bit of fear rushing through her as if it was like she broke her mother's vase and was afraid of getting in trouble with her.
"Ah, dang it! Tell me that tapestry wasn't hundreds of years old." said Marcy showing fear.
"Oh, way older than that actually." said King Andrias.
"Bù hǎole!" groaned Marcy.
King Andrias reached out to placed his big hand on Marcy's back, attempting to console her as he managed to gently massage one of her ears which worked in calming her.
"Would it help if I said we had a spare?" asked King Andrias.
"If so, don't let me anywhere near it." Marcy advised.
King Andrias looked at the now stained tapestry and noticed something about it that wasn't normal. He saw a square like bulge poking out from it as if something was hiding behind it like a block of wood.
"But wait! Marcy, look!" said King Andrias pointing at the tapestry.
Marcy looked at the tapestry and saw the same thing King Andrias saw. She saw a square like bulge poking out from it and as it shown that, she grabbed the bottom of the tapestry and lifted it up to find what looked like a Newtopian crest symbol but in the center of it was a square like button that had the amphibian hand print carved into it. Marcy felt her curiosity rising.
"Hmm. I'ma push it. Bop." said Marcy giggling.
She reached out and pressed her hand on the square button. They were met with a deep rumbling sound and they looked to see that the wall next to them with a portrait on it began to open like double sliding doors and once it fully opened, they saw a staircase leading down which was followed by a series of neon blue luminous lights on the walls that looked like it was following the stairs down to where ever it led to. The two were now starting to see that what they're looking for may not be in the room they're in but may be in the room the stairs lead to.
"No way. A secret library wing. Did you know about this?" said Marcy thrilled.
"No. It must be thousands of years old, judging by the smell. Whew!" said King Andrias waving a hand where his nose area was.
"Well, come on. I just know the answers are down there waiting for us." said an eager Marcy.
Marcy was about to run down the stairs but she stopped, she than looked back at King Andrias as if hoping he'd come with her.
"Could you come with me? I kind of don't want to go down there alone." said Marcy showing visible fear.
"Are you afraid of the dark?" asked King Andrias with a slight blush in his cheeks.
Marcy nodded and that's when the oversized salamander gently scooped up Marcy and carried her in his big and strong arms and hands. Marcy looked like she was the size of a baby compared to King Andrias when he carried her. He carried her down the stairs as he knew that they both were going to find the answers down there to where ever the stairs lead them to. But there was also another thing on King Andrias's mind.
"Is Charlie really afraid of me?" King Andrias thought to himself.