Anne, Polly, Hop Pop and Sprig still couldn't believe how Charlie managed to handle the situation that happened when they were exploring other areas of Newtopia but they also felt it was kind of cool. It would appear that Charlie had some way with defusing a situation when conflict would arise between two or more people.
The kids later on went to play at a very huge and luxurious arcade but waited for a while in a line. But than a young and chubby male newt with a propeller hat cut in front of them. Anne saw that and was furious, she tried to say something but the boy made a very condescending remark. Much to their disgust.
When they tried to ignore it and the line would move a bit, that's when three more newts shown up and cut in front of Anne, Charlie, Sprig and Polly. One of them was not as chubby as the male newt with the propeller hat but the others were slim in the body.
Now Anne and Charlie were getting annoyed by this but as they used a tired and overly used alibi that he was saving the spot for his friends which the four male newt kids were lying about. Anne was about to lose it.
"Now, listen up. I'm giving you little twerps till the count of three to get to the back of the line, or I'll..." threatened Anne.
"Or you'll what?" laughed the newt kid with the propeller hat.
"Yeah, what?" chuckled another one of them.
"Anne, hold up! Let me handle this." Charlie chimed in.
Anne saw that Charlie went to face the four taunting male newt kids who he gave them his most stoic expression he could show to anyone. The four kids did see he was muscular from seeing his arms and how his shirt shown some indication of them. They didn't look like it but the four newt kids felt their smugness fade a little.
"You four kids are on thin ice, really thin ice. Waiting in a long line for even more than thirty minutes or even more than an hour is something I wish on upon nobody. Where I'm from, if you cut in line and stir up a ruckus, some parents will lecture you for hours while some who prefer a physical punishment approach will probably spank their kids bottoms!" said Charlie his tone getting very firm and kind of scary.
The four newt kids looked at him and shown to be visibly shaken from their faces. Their smug grins slowly fading away as Charlie was showing he wasn't kidding as he didn't blink nor did he even smile.
"Parents who punish their kids physically are not very good parents, are they? Which I recommend counseling to them. But I could go for something that's just as brutal and fitting of a punishment for the four of you." said Charlie with a lion like growl.
When Charlie made that realistic lion growl, his eyes briefly glowed a gold color as it flashed a gold color. This had the four smug newt kids looking like their smugness was fading to the point where even Anne, Sprig and Polly could see it. The newt kid with the propeller hat tried one more attempt to show he wasn't afraid or intimidated by Charlie as he shown his smug grin once more.
"What are you going to do about it?" said the newt kid with the propeller hat smugly.
Charlie popped his neck and cracked his knuckles loudly as he finally gave a smile but it was an evil grin.
"You have no idea what you and your smug friends are getting yourselves into." chuckled Charlie.
"Or what?" the newt kid dared.
Charlie saw them laughing and finally lost it. He sucked in a big amount of air and let out his loudest, most realistic sounding, lion like growl. This had the newt kid with the propeller hat cower and his smug attitude was completely gone but replaced with fear.
"You got some choice, sonny. You and your friends can go to the back of the line like everyone else, no one gets hurt. Or I can kick your butts down one side of the street and down the other. But than there's the worst punishment I can think of." Charlie calmly warned.
The four newt kids that cut in line were now showing visible fear as they wondered what was the third option and was it as horrible as he described.
"What's the third choice?" the four newt kids asked in unison.
"I tell yo mamas about what you're doing. Oh yeah, I'll tell them you've been cutting in lines, stirring up a ruckus, attempting to incite conflict, provoking innocent kids, and that you broken some neighbors windows along with some shop's windows when you were playing a game of ball and you just ran to avoid getting into hot water with the neighbors and shop owners." Charlie listed off the things he'd tell on them for.
The four newt kids were wide eyed with shock, some of them were even left sweating a little.
"You know about the smashing windows incidents? Even when we vowed never to tell our parents?" the newt kid with the propeller hat asked.
"I do now." said Charlie his lip in a thin line.
Three of the new kids groaned in annoyance when Charlie got some truth on them or tricked them into revealing something they've been keeping a secret that they feared their parents from finding out.
"Nice going, Jimmy! Now he has something on us." said one of the newt kids.
Anne was starting to feel her anger turned to satisfied pride. Her idea she had in mind to get the kids to behave was probably not what Charlie would go for but what Charlie was doing was satisfying her nonetheless.
"You got some choices now. You can ether go to the back of the line and no one gets hurt and I won't say a word to your folks about what I know what you four did. Or, you can deal with me, your folks or security. You would be much better off letting your parents deal with you because if you're dealing with me or security or an officer, it would be a lot worse for you if you had to deal with me, security or the law. The worst your parents would do is have the four of you grounded, doing extra chores around the house, get a verbal lecture which is more of a slap on the wrist and misdemeanor for you. But if your folks were to find out what you've been doing now or about what you've been hiding from them and if the officers or security were to be the ones to tell your folks first before you do, the punishment would be a whole lot worse for you." explained Charlie calmly while keeping a stoic face. "I would much rather you four go to the back of the line and no one gets hurt and no one gets into hot water. But if you don't do that, I'll tell your folks what mischief you've been up to, both now and from anything you've kept hidden from them. It's just like my folks back at home have said. The longer you avoid coming clean. The dirtier things will be for you. Just like a dog rolling around in dirt and mud. So what's it gonna be slick?"
Charlie gave the four newt kids the stare down, clenched his hands into fists and placed them on his hips. They saw he wasn't blinking. He wasn't joking nor was he going to back down. The four kids tried to beat his stare down but failed as they were wide eyed and let out a sigh in defeat, hanging their heads down. Charlie finally blinked and saw that his method of handling the situation was working.
"You...you win." said the four newt kids.
"And no more mischief making?" Charlie advised.
"Yes sir." the newt kids said in defeat.
"Alright, than as long as you stay out of hot water and don't go looking for trouble, you should be fine. Your clear." Charlie finished.
The four newt kids got out of line and went to the back as Charlie, a surprised Anne, Sprig and Polly went forwards. They were surprised at how Charlie handled another situation while keeping a level head. Even those around them were impressed with how Charlie handled situation. Some of them uttered a comment or more.
"Who ever that kid's mother is. She's raising him right." said a male newt nearby.
"He used his words and not his fists? Respect!" said a teenage female lizard nearby.
Anne let out an excited squeal as she pulled Charlie in her arms in a firm hug which she was jumping a little for joy. She kissed him on his right cheek.
"That was so cool." said Anne excitedly.
"I learned it from my mom. Always learned it from my mom." said Charlie with a proud grin.
The line suddenly started to move but this time it was moving faster and it moved fast enough for the entire line to have made it inside. As everyone was now inside, even the newt kids from earlier. Charlie, Anne, Sprig and Polly were wide eyed with astonishment from how the arcade looked inside. There was flashing lights everywhere. There were all sorts of games in there. There was ski-ball, air hockey, some arcade video games that were looking like virtual race car games, virtual batting cages, martial arts tournament games and what also looked like a dance revolution sort of arcade games and much more.
"You know what I'm thinking?" asked Charlie looking excited.
"Game on!" cried Anne victoriously.
"Pātī no jikan!" cried Charlie happily.
Both Anne and Charlie gave each other a fist bump and the four kids went to play around in the arcade.
Polly had shown to be really good at playing virtual batting cages after Charlie instructed her on how to play baseball.
"You just hold up the bat and as they toss the ball, you swing." instructed Charlie.
"Momma gonna tear it up in here!" shouted Polly excitedly.
She held the bat up and when the screen shown the pitcher tossing the ball, she swung the bat and it shown she hit the ball and the screen sounded like it had an audience clapping for her as a male's voice spoke when the words on the screen formed "Home Run!" in yellow lights.
"Babe Ruth has nothing on you!" cheered Charlie.
"I'm the baseball champ, baby!" cheered Polly.
Anne had played a game of what looked like a whack-a-mole sort of game but the sign of the game read "Whack-A-Beetle" and Anne shown that she was a champion at it as everytime a mechanical looking beetle came out of the holes that the machine pushed them through. She used the foam bat to whack each one and she was really fast, hitting each one that popped out.
"Back at home. I'm the whack-a-mole champ." cried Anne proudly.
Other kids saw how good Anne, Charlie, Sprig and Polly are at the arcade games they've played which was like seeing actual champions at arcade games in the flesh to them.
"That's my girl! Rocking the world!" cheered Charlie.
As they continued playing around in the arcade. Sprig tried his hand at a target practice of a sort of game. The game was looking like a virtual target practice and Sprig used an electronic slingshot, something that he was used to. The screen would show he had to launch a shot at the targets the screen shown which each target was in the form of a bug.
The game started and he would pull back on the sling and everytime a target popped up, he released the sling and it shown on the screen he had a big rock hit each target. He shown that he was really good at this game and never missed a single target. Those that witnessed this were in disbelief at how Sprig was showing to be a master marksman.
"Bullseye!" said Sprig victoriously.
"Little master marksman in the house!" cheered Charlie.
The next game they tried out was a game that Charlie recognized. It was a game of ski-ball and ten balls made of polished wood could roll down on the compartment on the right and he would take a ball to get ready to toss it.
"Rettsu rokku." said Charlie popping his neck.
Charlie would toss the ball and it rolled along the smooth trail that it would bounce off from. The ball would go inside one of the holes as it went into the hole that shown he scored one-hundred points. They were showing a twinkling in their eyes with excitement from the sight of it.
"No way!" said Anne looking excited.
"Just like back at home. I'm the champ at ski-ball." said Charlie with a chuckle.
As Charlie tossed another ball and another. Each ball would be tossed, roll up the trail and bounce up high, landing into the hole that scored one-hundred points each time which a lot of the kids there were watching in surprise as Charlie kept getting the ball to go into the hole that got the highest score.
"Wow! That kid is good." said a teenage male amphibian nearby.
Charlie tossed all ten balls into the hole that got the highest score and the machine started to flash in gold light that he scored one thousand points. Loud binging sounds were heard and a screen above it read "Perfect Score" and Charlie cheered as he jumped for joy.
"He just got the perfect score!" said some teenage male amphibians nearby surprised.
"I am the king of games!" cheered Charlie. "Boom baby!"
Anne was psyched to see Charlie was just as good as her when it came to arcade games. She pulled him in her arms and planted her soft lips to his in a deep kiss. The two of them gave each other a deep and passionate kiss which many of the kids there stared, blushing and their mouths fell open.
Some of the kids nearby let out excited sounding hoots for them as they immediately knew that Anne and Charlie had to be boyfriend and girl friend since they saw the two kissing each other, both when they were in line and even now. The two pulled their lips off each other in a loud pop, leaving the both of them to smile with blushing cheeks.
"Hello, soul sista." chuckle Charlie.
"Hello, soul brotha." chuckled Anne.
Everyone who saw them kiss let out an adored "Awww" as they saw the two having a romantic moment. For the next few hours was when Anne, Charlie, Sprig, Polly and everyone else at the arcade were having the time of their lives. As they were having fun, both Anne and Charlie had some romantic moments together be it in the form of kissing each other, holding each other's hands, even dancing in victorious motion.
After some time passed, everyone was about to head out of the arcade after they all had their day of fun. Many of them left but both Anne, Charlie, Sprig and Polly were outside waiting for Hop Pop to pick them up. Anne and Charlie held each other's hand.
"That was so much fun." said Sprig with a smile.
"I whacked the frog out of that ball!" laughed Polly.
"You never told me you were so good at ski-ball." said Anne.
"You never told me you were so good at whack-a-mole." said Charlie.
As the two of them blushed, they suddenly turned and saw the four newt kids from before and they saw them about to be picked up by their parents. The four newt kids looked and saw Charlie, Anne, Sprig and Polly and they looked on at them in awkward bewilderment at first but than they remembered that Charlie promised not to tell their parents about what he knew they did before if they behaved themselves. They suddenly saw Charlie give them a thumbs up and the four newt kids gave Charlie a salute before walking off with their folks.
"Charlie, how is it your mom, your aunt and them ladies back at home managed to have such an influence on you? You handled them kids like you were a rational minded police officer." said Sprig looking impressed.
"I'm just lucky. I guess." said Charlie with a proud grin.
"Heya kids." came Hop Pop's voice.
The kids turned to see Hop Pop in a suit and tie with a fedora. He was carrying a bottle of what looked like sauce or possibly a bottle of wine since the bottle was unrecognizable to them. He had a black eye on his right eye.
"Hey Hop Pop. How'd it go with Sal?" asked Charlie curiously.
"Sal actually is doing better than okay. He sold his sauce and became successful. But it was good to see that old friend of mine." said Hop Pop looking pleased. "How did it go with you kids?"
"We had so much fun!" cried Polly excitedly.
"You could say that Charlie managed to change some kids behavior for the better and that the two love birds here were flying high." chuckled Sprig.
"Oh Sprig!" chuckled Anne and Charlie.
Hop Pop chuckled as he knew that the kids had fun but he sensed that Anne and Charlie had been getting closer like a romantic couple.
"By the way. I a blew up a building!" said Hop Pop laughing creepily.
They looked right at him with shock and looking on in horror. They were wondering if Hop Pop was telling the truth. But they saw him laugh happily afterwards.
"I'm just kidding. I had ya going there for a minute." laughed Hop Pop.
Hop Pop laughed as he saw he told a convincing joke that had the kids going for a minute but they breathed a sigh of relief when they heard that what the old male frog told them was just him pulling their legs.
"Oh Hop Pop!" the kids laughed.
As Anne, Charlie and the Plantars left to go back to the hotel. Somewhere back at the castle. King Andrias was looking like he was about to head for bed but he made sure that Marcy was already in bed and he was seen talking to Lady Olivia somewhere in one of the hallways.
"Lady Olivia, tomorrow, I need to have Charlie over here. One, I got the agriculture experts ready to speak with him on what he's suggesting when he offered a solution to the problem he spoke of." King Andrias instructed.
"Understood." said Olivia.
"Afterwards, I want to have a private chat with him. I need to talk with him about another issue." King Andrias continued.
Lady Olivia looked at the huge male salamander with curiosity. She had no idea what he was suggesting or thinking of when he mentioned about talking to Charlie in private about what he claims to be an issue. She may not of had any children but she felt a sense of worry for Charlie.
"What are you wanting to talk to him about? I think he's still getting to know you." asked Olivia curiously.
"Oh it's nothing serious. Marcy told me about a current issue that Charlie had been going through and I want to offer him a solution to such issue." said King Andrias looking positive.
"Understood. But if you're about to talk to him about puberty. It's best you let that be up to Hopediah Plantar." Olivia advised.
"All will be cool." chuckled King Andrias blushing.
Lady Olivia left as she had a sense of worry growing inside her. She was showing worry and concern for Charlie which she tried to hide from the look on her smooth skinned face. King Andrias had a grim expression
"Please leave the talk about puberty be up to Hopediah Plantar for the boy." Olivia thought to herself.
"I hope Charlie isn't afraid of me." King Andrias thought to himself.