Another day had passed as Charlie already spoken to the agriculture experts in planting and growing the golden miracle all healing apples in places around Newtopia and the idea was being put into motion.
Charlie told Anne, Marcy, and the Plantars about the conversation he had with King Andrias which they were relieved that the huge male salamander convinced Charlie that he can trust him and has no reason to fear him.
It was later on during the daylight which was around the beginning of noon which Anne, Charlie, and the Plantars were somewhere in a shopping district of Newtopia. There were some places people shopped around that had signs all over that the shopping areas shown.
There were signs that read "Newtopian Market" that was the sign marked by the entrance of the place. There were more signs that read "Croakley, Hop Topic, Frog Claires, Lilly's, Seaflora, Sea's Candles" and many more places.
"Whoa. Look at this place. It's just like the outdoor mega mall from back home." said Anne ecstatic.
"You shopped there too, huh?" said Charlie looking like the place was familiar to him. "Even at the food court. No matter how much I had to eat. I never got fat. Good thing I was physically fit and ate the right foods often."
"And Charlie saw a female mall cop's big boobies! Hahahaha!" joked Polly.
"That's not funny. And I saw nothing." said Charlie slightly annoyed. "Also, where did you learn that word from?"
Anne nervously chuckled loudly with a grin as if she knew she was guilty of something.
"I accidentally let that word slip when Polly was around. Before we met you, Charlie. There was a time when I was covered in mud and I had to get hosed off. I undressed and changed into a new pair of clothes and once I gotten a pair of pants on and my entire upper torso was, well, topless and shirtless. I was looking at myself in the mirror in the bathroom and Polly walked in on me by mistake." explained Anne.
"I was freaking out and was like "Oh my, Anne! Can you lock the door when you don't have a shirt on?" which of course I knew I shouldn't have looked." Polly explained. "Than Anne said something about "I wonder if I puberty already because my boobies look a bit big to me." Which she advised me not to say that word."
Charlie heard every word they said and Anne blushed with a grin as she nervously chuckled. He knew that he could forgive Anne for that little mistake and he knew he could forgive Polly for using that word that referring to a woman's breasts. But he blushed when he heard that Anne may actually have a noticeably big sized set of breasts. He knew that Anne had a noticeably big and thick butt from the times he stared at it but the possible chance of her having a big set of breasts to match left him feeling an odd mix of curiosity, interest and he tried to get the thought off his mind as he didn't want to be a pervert since he's romantically involved with Anne.
"Let's try to watch what we say around children, especially Sprig and Polly. I may have let a few swear words slip at times but if the words refer to something inappropriate like that, they're too young to learn about, you know, the living body or puberty for that matter." said Charlie warning them kindly.
"You got it." said Anne.
"Right after this. You saw big boobies!" Polly joked once more. "Okay, I got it out of my system."
"Polly, stop teasing Charlie and don't use that word." Hop Pop kindly warned.
Polly laughed as both Anne, Charlie and Hop Pop were imagining how puberty is going to turn out for Sprig and Polly as they shuddered a bit at the thought.
"Puberty is a monster." said Anne, Charlie and Hop Pop in unison.
Hop Pop was sipping from a cup of coffee as he gotten a cup of coffee from a coffee cart nearby. They all walked over towards a bench nearby to sit down.
"Anyway, since we only have a couple of days left in the city, I figured we could spend the afternoon shopping for souvenirs. Now get out there and buy anything you'd like!" said Hop Pop encouragingly.
The four kids looked like they were excited to hear this from Hop Pop but Charlie seemed to look like he was prepared as if the shopping district just looked familiar to him just like it did with Anne. But Hop Pop pulled out four small brown bags and tossed it at them to catch, they caught it like a baseball player having a ball pitched to them.
"For two coppers or less." Hop Pop finished.
"What? This ain't even enough for a candy bar." said Polly looking exasperated.
"Yeah, what gives? Let's just use that sweet bling-bling from the king-king." Anne suggested.
"Oh, yeah. The royal credit card." said Sprig looking optimistic.
"Nuh-uh. Kids, souvenirs are only meaningful if you pay for them yourself." said Hop Pop.
"I'm way ahead of you guys already." said Charlie looking unfazed.
They looked at Charlie as if not expecting him to be ahead of them in such a subject of the situation. How did Charlie get ahead of them in this when they were around? Was it when they were not looking?
"Charlie, when did you get ahead of us in this?" asked Hop Pop curiously.
"A couple of days ago. I chopped off the Scorpileo's head and I'm going to hang it over our wall." joked Charlie laughing. "Just kidding, I got them something they liked."
They all let out a sigh of relief as they heard Charlie making a joke about having the Scorpileo's head as a gift to hang upon his wall. But they also wondered what they were doing when he got something thoughtful for his mom, his aunt and the ladies from back at home?
"I see, well kids, you could always try haggling." Hop Pop suggested.
"I already did." said Charlie.
"When did you learn to do that?" asked Hop Pop curiously.
"Elena, she once was haggling when we needed to purchase a car that would hold more space. So I learned it from watching her. And it worked because I haggled for the first time here." explained Charlie.
"Hag what?" asked Polly confused.
"Looks like my boy knows what he's doing. You know, bargain with shopkeepers till they lower their prices." explained Hop Pop.
Polly looked thrilled at the idea of haggling. She smiled deviously.
"You can do that? Oh, these newts aren't gonna know what hit 'em." said Polly laughing maniacally.
Polly started to hop off and Hop Pop had a look of dread on his face. He just realized that Polly got the wrong idea in mind and he started to chase her in order to catch up with her.
"Wait, Polly! Don't actually hit anyone!" cried Hop Pop.
"Anne and Charlie go kissy moo moo!" joked Polly once more laughing.
Both Anne and Charlie blushed at the joke as the two knew she was poking fun at them but one of them wondered if Polly was possibly learning something that she shouldn't learn about till she's a teenager.
"We seriously need to make sure that Polly doesn't learn an adult subject too early." Charlie advised.
"Puberty for her might make her crazier but if she smooches you on the lips and explores your mouth with her tongue in there, we're staging an intervention." Anne warned.
The two humans shuddered in disgust.
"She knows you and I are together so she won't be like that towards me. She's like a sister to us." said Charlie with a word of comfort.
"Good point." Anne replied.
"Ooh, exciting. I guess I'd better get an item for Ivy, since we are an item." laughed Sprig with a snort.
"Good one, Sprig." chuckled Charlie.
"Who are you gonna shop for?" Sprig asked Anne.
"My mom." answered Anne.
Sprig was silent and his face went from excited to stunned. It was like Anne mentioning her mother brought something up he remembered.
"Your... mom?" said Sprig.
"I figure if I'm gonna go missing in a different dimension, the least I could do is bring back a gift." said Anne.
"Speaking of which. I got to meet your folks one day." Charlie chimed in.
"Seems reasonable to me." said Sprig.
The two human teenagers saw that Sprig was now holding onto what looked like a green bamboo like Bō. It still had the price tag on it which the two just had no idea how he got it while they were right there with him. Probably while they were not looking. Anne shook her head in surprise.
"Wha... When did you? How did you?" said the two humans in unison.
Sprig accidentally poked Anne on her forehead when he was moving it around. Sprig reached out to pat Anne's forehead to make sure she was alright.
"Don't know. But isn't it perfect for Ivy? It even whistles when you swing it." said Sprig looking excited with twinkling eyes. "Watch this..."
Sprig jumped up into the air and landed on the ground nearby a pottery shop as he would swing the weapon around like a martial arts warrior. As he swung it around, it knocked over some pottery from the shelves, causing them to fall on the ground and break into pieces. Everytime he did swing the object, it whistled like Sprig said it would.
The male sales clerk saw what just happened and he was livid as he shouted in exasperation. Both Anne and Charlie ran over to scoop Sprig up from the ground.
"Bill the king! Bill the king." cried Anne.
The three of them walked down one corner of the shopping area and walked inside what looked like an antique shop. Anne was looking at a blue bowl with gold Newtopian hand symbols on them.
"Now, this is for my mom, okay? The lady who gave me life. So we gotta find something that's one-of-a-kind." said Anne.
Anne placed the bowl back on it's shelf and looked at what appeared to be a scented candle. She gave it a whiff but it had an unappealing smell to it, letting out a cough. She placed it back on the shelf she found it on.
"What will your mom say if she finds out your dating? Is she one of them moms that thinks your too young to date?" asked Charlie curiously.
"The subject of dating hasn't come up yet. I mainly expect my dad to talk about it with me first." said Anne.
"What does she like?" asked Sprig and Charlie.
"Antiques, butterflies, drinking tea..." Anne listed off.
Sprig found a aquamarine box that had herbal tea in it as he shown it to her while he used his big tongue to hold onto it. Anne knew it would be a good idea but she stated it was too "Ordinary" they moved onto a different part of the shop as Sprig shown another suggestion that had a portrait with a glass cover over it with a huge blue butterfly in the case.
Sprig suggested the object as it was as he said was a giant butterfly taxidermy but Anne stated it was too "Creepy" Charlie suggested an antique teapot that was the color of emerald. Anne loved the suggestion but she started that it close but not what she was going for which Charlie understood. Sprig suggested an antique vase that was the color of olive drag with green butterflies around it and gold leaves around the top of it. But when Sprig bumped into the drawers it stood on and it fell over to the floor, shattering into pieces by accident which they knew that the idea for the vase was now out of commission.
"Whoops." said Sprig.
Charlie suddenly saw what looked like a poster that was showing a sale for a butterfly teapot. The poster shown that it was going to be a prize that anyone could compete to win at a competition. Parts of the posted read it was "One of a kind! Enter to win" and it shown an elderly female newt on the bottom that appeared to be the one who made the butterfly teapot. The three kids walked over to get a better look at the poster. The name of the artist went by the name of Penny Paddock.
"Whoa. A butterfly teapot?" said Sprig looking amused.
"And it was made by a revered Newtopian artist? Sprig, it's perfect!" stated Anne.
"Hell yes!" replied Charlie.
"Charlie language." Anne warned.
"Sorry about that." apologized Charlie.
The three turned to the shopkeeper who was a slim bodied male newt that had a habit of slurring his "S" a little.
"Excuse me, how much for the teapot?" asked Anne.
"Sorry, it's not for sale." the shopkeeper told them.
"What? No, two hundred coppers. No, six hundred coppers. I will pay ninety thousand coppers." said Anne making an offer.
"Anne, you have two coppers." stated Sprig.
"Don't look at me, babe. I only got two coppers too. What I spent earlier, lets just say that I only got paid for assisting a store owner when he needed a hand and when I got paid, you already know what I used it for." Charlie told her.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Chill babe. It's not for sale, because it's the grand prize in the market's annual Shopping Cart Smash and Mash Derby. If you want the teapot, you should sign up." said the shopkeeper slurring his "S"
He held up a sign that shown them the Shopping Cart Smash and Mash Derby he told them about. Anne saw the shopkeeper place a list of competitors on the desk that were on a sheet of paper. Anne took an ink quill to sign her name on it and Sprig's name as well.
"You sure about this? We don't even know what this competition is." said Sprig looking hesitant.
"I agree. Even when we competed in that martial arts tournament. We were lucky to win at that because we were on a team. This is more like a two person job. Nine people usually make a team." said Charlie in agreement.
"Guys, it's the perfect gift, and this is the only way to get it. Nothing is gonna stand in my way." said Anne looking excited.
"That's what you think." came a gruff female's voice.
The three kids turned to see who spoke. They saw a tall and buff pink newt woman with a lighter underbelly and short, white cropped hair. She wore grey armour and bandages wrapped on her hands. She had various scars across her body from her years of competing at the Cart Smash Rally from the looks of it. She shown to be quite muscular. Anne gasped in surprise at how huge she was. She looked like she was at least in her mid to late thirties. The large female newt looked at Charlie with a lustful expression.
"Whoa! Check out the hunk. Mama likes what she sees." the large newt woman said looking excited. "Name's Priscilla the Killa. Champion of the Smash and Mash Derby twenty years running. This is my daughter Pearl."
"Hello." said Pearl.
Pearl was a small light blue newt girl with tiny black eyes and blonde hair with a blue bow. She wore a purple dress with a blue butterfly pendant below her neck and white Mary Janes. She also has an X-marked scar on her left cheek like her mother Priscilla. She was riding on Priscilla's shoulders as she waved at the tow.
"And that teapot is mine. And maybe soon, I can say the same about little man here because he's making mama feel some fireworks going off between the both of us." Priscilla said blowing a large lipped kiss at Charlie.
Charlie blushed and looked away from her as Anne could see that Charlie didn't like this newt lady flirting with him in such a lustful, sexual manner. Anne knew that both her and Sprig were the only ones who can try to fend her off him but from the size and shape of Priscilla, they looked like they might just get flatten by her. Priscilla walked over and both her and her daughter signed their names on the list and afterwards, she looked at Charlie with that excited, lustful expression once again.
"So tell me, little man. You like them hulking huge? Well this lady wouldn't mind giving ya cooch a da smooch." laughed Priscilla.
As Charlie felt fear rushing through him like the blood pumping through his veins. Anne was not liking the sight of this huge newt woman flirting with him inappropriately.
"I would advise you not to touch him." warned Anne.
"Oh come on, he's just so hot. I'll bet he gets all sorts of attention from the girls. Well, them ladies can get in line because mama has her sights on him." said Priscilla giving him a wink and smile.
"Oh, yeah? Well, I'm Anne, and I'm gonna destroy you in this derby thing, as soon as I figure out how to play." said Anne trying to look tough.
Priscilla laughed loudly as she wasn't intimidated at all. Anne, Charlie and Sprig were both smaller than her and it was apparent that she wasn't intimidated by three small kids who she's half their sizes.
"This is gonna be easier than I thought. Maybe we can make things a little interesting. Which ever one of us wins. The winner gets to smooch the little stud." said Priscilla as she now got in Charlie's face. "On the lips."
Charlie gulped loudly as he knew that a woman like Priscilla was probably one of them tough ladies like a biker woman from a gang.
"Done! But it looks like only one person is smooching him and she's human like him." Anne said in agreement.
"Wait, what?" said Charlie shocked.
"You got it!" said Priscilla in agreement.
Charlie didn't know if he should scream in horror, run and hide, or be angry about what was happening right in front of him. He was about to say something in protest or argument but was cut off when Priscilla flopped out her really long, really wide and really thick tongue to give Charlie a huge tongued lick to his upper chest and his cheeks. Afterwards, she pulled her huge tongue back in her mouth. Both Anne, Charlie and Sprig was grossed out by the sight of that.
"Ewww." said Sprig grossed out.
"I love the taste of smaller men. See you in the ring, Mop Top." laughed Priscilla in her gruff toned voice. "I'll be seeing little man...tonight."
She walked out along with her daughter and Charlie looked as though he didn't know if he should be angry or if he should feel sick to his stomach. The two made a bet on who gets to kiss Charlie if one of them wins.
"She's nasty." said Anne disgusted.
"I just been tongued by a huge newt lady with a giant tongue." said Charlie with a shudder at the thought. "Anne, did you just make a bet with her?"
Anne felt guilty that she put her boyfriend through a situation that might lead to his doom or worse.
"Sorry Char Char. I'm really sorry but I just wanted to wipe that smile off her face. I know competition can get ugly much like puberty but I didn't mean to make this bet." said Anne showing a guilty face.
"Not only that, did you see how huge she is? It's like facing a giant." argued Charlie.
"They seem confident." said Sprig.
"Come on, guys. We gotta study up on this game. And Charlie, I'm gonna make sure that lady doesn't do the, you know. I'd say what it is but it's kind of making me want to throw up just by talking about it." said Anne taking hold of Charlie's hand. "I'm gonna get you out of this, Charlie. Somehow."
They walked out of the shop and went outside. They sat down at a bench as Anne was reading about the rules and what this competition is about and what people do. She was reading everything she needed to know from it on a parchment that had the list of rules and instructions on what the competitors do. Charlie was sitting next to her, hanging onto her every word in the hopes that she can say something that could help him since the bet Anne made with Priscilla had him feeling a sense of dread.
"So, teams of two push carts around and ram into each other. If your cart tips over, you're out. Other than that, anything goes. Sounds like my kinda game." said Anne looking confident.
"Sounds like chariot racing but with shopping carts." said Charlie.
Anne looked at Charlie and attempted to soothe any of his fears as she placed a hand on his chest.
"Charlie, I know you're super mad at me about that bet I made with Priscilla the Killa but I'm gonna make sure that the only girl kissing you is me." said Anne reassuring him.
Anne wrapped one arm around him and hugged him, placing her other hand on his chest as she kissed him on his cheeks. Charlie could sense that Anne was remorseful about the inappropriate bet but he knew Anne didn't mean for it. He hugged her back as Anne knew this meant he was forgiving her since Charlie appeared to be the type who doesn't hold a grudge against anyone.
Sprig was practicing with the staff he had as if preparing for combat, swinging it around and around like a samurai warrior but a thud was heard as the two humans looked to see that Sprig accidentally hit his head with the staff.
"That probably hurt." said Charlie.
"Is it bad?" asked Sprig.
They were interrupted by the sounds of metal clanking nearby as if someone was wearing metal shoes or possibly a suit of armor was walking around. They turned to see Polly was hopping around in a gold bucket that was made of metal. She was hopping over to them with a proud grin.
"Oh, hey. Like my new bucket?" said Polly proudly.
"I've heard of trick out my ride but this is ridiculous." chuckled Charlie.
"That's gotta be worth, like, 50 coppers. How'd you..." Sprig began.
"Haggling, baby." said Polly now sitting on the bench with them.
She swung the bucket around till she placed it down.
"Turns out I'm a natural. All you gotta do is expose a shopkeeper's weakness, and then exploit it until they're on their knees begging for mercy." laughed Polly maniacally.
As Polly laughed. Charlie seemed to chuckle as he knew that Polly was being her same, mischievous, maniacally funny self when she would get into such situations.
"You didn't kill anyone, did ya?" asked Charlie jokingly.
"Come on, you know I'm not that crazy." joked Polly. "Oh, look, bows."
As Polly got into her bucket, she hopped away towards another shopping area as the three kids knew what they had to do next.
"I think Polly's craziness is growing on me." chuckled Charlie.
"Me too." said Anne.
The three kids got up and walked towards where the carts were being chosen by other competitors. There were plenty of shopping carts but they saw other amphibians nearby that were fighting over other carts. They saw one of the newts nearby get tossed at a local shop but Charlie being the fast person on his feet that he is, he dodged the incoming newt but placed a golden apple in one of the newt's hands so he could use it to heal himself of any possible wounds and injuries.
"It's like a bar fight that got taken outside." said Charlie surprised.
Anne agreed as she saw the competitors looked huge and tough. But she started to inspect a cart. She moved the cart back and forth to check for stability, checked the wheels by poking at one of them which the wheels appeared to be in good shape, she sniffed the cart's handle and actually licked it, popping her lips a bit.
"Pass. This one's a C-plus at best." said Anne proudly.
"Wow. You're really good at this." said Sprig clapping.
"Me, Sasha and Marcy practically lived at the mall. So I'm pretty much a cart whisperer." said Anne with a grin.
"Hmm. The most extreme thing I ever did was the rock climbing wall at the mall or bumper car riding at the county fair. The bumper cars was when I first had candy and went on a sugar rush bender. Let's just say I went crazy on the bumper cars." Charlie told them. "Don't ask what happened later on after that."
"You puked, didn't you?" guessed Sprig.
"All over the parking lot." Charlie admitted blushing.
"Whoa!" Anne and Sprig said in unison.
"I did warn you." reminded Charlie.
"Sounds fair." said Anne.
Their conversation was interrupted by a slim male newt wearing a cowboy hat as he carried a megaphone on him. He climbed on top of the pole nearby and spoke into the megaphone.
"Attention all smashers. The Smash and Mash Derby is about to begin." announced the male newt in the cowboy hat.
"Oh, shoot. We gotta hurry. Let's split up and find a cart already." Anne said quickly.
"Watashi wa sore ni yo!" Charlie told her.
The three of them took off in separate directions to look for the right cart to use. But as Anne was looking for the right cart, she saw two familiar newts from before. It was Priscilla and her daughter Pearl. Little did Anne know, Charlie was hiding somewhere nearby and listening in on their conversation like Anne was.
"But mom." Pearl protested.
"Ah, stop worrying, Pearl. I've been the Derby champ twenty years running. There's no way anyone else is winning that teapot." said Priscilla feeling confident.
"That's not what I'm worried about. It's your tail. It hasn't healed from your last derby." warned Pearl.
Priscilla looked at her tail and remembered her tail had a cast wrapped around it. Her tail had obviously had a few old scars and one old injury that hasn't healed up for quite some time, probably months or a year from the looks of it.
"Also, I think your scared that young man a little. Those two are obviously boyfriend and girl friend." Pearl continued.
"Those two are probably siblings or cousins. And I'll admit that licking him up like a lollipop was probably in appropriate, no matter how hot that guy is that he makes mama wanna go nuts and wonder how big his..." Priscilla paused as she blushed when she almost let an adult conversation slip out. "Muscles, wondering how big his muscles are if he was shirtless."
"Mom, you know he's terrified to death of you." Pearl kindly argued.
"A lot of littler people are afraid of me but it's only because your mom is so big, tough and probably intimidating from the looks of it. Kind of like how my first date went. But my past dates aside, my tail may not have healed since the last derby. Relax. I can beat these chumps without it." Priscilla defended.
Pearl let out a groan of disapproval as she knew that her mother shouldn't have made that bet and that she scared Charlie when she knows that Anne and Charlie are not cousins or siblings.
"Now, come on. Let's get outta here." said Priscilla pushing the cart.
As Priscilla placed her daughter inside the cart. Anne was getting ideas after hearing such a conversation. She had a mischievous grin.
"Very interesting." chuckled Anne.
Anne pulled the cart that she chose but as she went to the ring where the derby was held at. Charlie also heard the entire conversation that Priscilla and Pearl had and he started to have a strange feeling. He thought about the fact that Priscilla had a lot of old scars, her tail was injured from the last derby and it still hasn't healed up since than, and her daughter had one little scar on her. Hearing that Pearl has enough sense to know when her mother needs to play nice, only when she needs to be. Charlie had an idea in his head as he pulled out a small bag and looked to see he had another golden apple inside it and he knew who else could use the apple to heal themselves with it.