Later on at the Plantars home. They entered the front door but as Hop Pop thanked Chuck for watching their house, he was about to escort Chuck out of the house so they could talk about their plans but Charlie intervened and he kindly escorted Chuck outside while he hugged the small frog male adult.
"Chuck, you've been a blessing to this place and to us. We're going to need time alone to chat about our plans for tonight and possibly rest up after a long drive. You don't mind if we're alone for the time being?" asked Charlie.
Chuck nodded once and gave a salute to him. Charlie hugged him once more and thanked him for watching the house. Afterwards, he went back inside the house while Chuck walked off to make plans for tonight as well.
"I grew tulips." said Chuck proudly.
Anne, Charlie and the Plantars were reading through a few books and scrolls. Their plans were laid out by drawing chalk on a chalkboard that shown their plans drawn out. Any books or scrolls that didn't have an idea they're looking for to bail themselves out of the situation they're in were ether put up where they found them and laid down around the living room.
The chalkboard shown a they plan was having a few ideas crossed out that were ideas that ultimately were not an option or were ideas that they knew wouldn't work. The only idea on the board that looked like a possibility that wasn't crossed out shown the word "Fire?" which they were seeing all possible suggestions or ideas.
"Okay, so we agree on the concept. Fake empty gift boxes that get tragically destroyed by some kind of monster." stated Hop Pop.
"One of us is going to burn for this tonight. God help us." Charlie thought to himself.
"But what monster? Nothing too dangerous. We don't want anyone to actually get hurt." stated Anne showing she didn't want harm coming to anyone.
"Maybe the lord will forgive us?" Charlie thought to himself hopefully.
Sprig was reading out of a book that had a creepy looking face on the front of it. He looked up and saw something from the book he was reading that probably could help.
"How about this? The Chicka-lisk." suggested Sprig.
"The Chicka-what-what?" asked Charlie out loud.
"The Chicka-lisk. A beast that eats gold and treasure, doesn't eat Amphibians, won't attack unless threatened, and can be called to any area with a ritual." Sprig explained.
Sprig shown them the creature that was on the page from the book he found the creature from. The Chicka-lisk looked like a huge, scary, fire-breathing chicken monster. There was information from the page that explained everything that Sprig told them. Charlie was starting to feel as though on one hand, something that Sprig said sounded like a good idea if this monster doesn't eat amphibians that only eats gold, treasures and anything of the sort and will only attack if threatened or is attacked back. But on the other hand, he felt like this was going to at least have a slight setback since he's been told some of the wacky antics they're been through before he met them and knew or sensed something could go wrong.
"And this monster is called a what now?" asked Charlie.
"A Chicka-lisk." answered Sprig.
Hop Pop walked over and took the book from Sprig to get a look at the monster in the book for a closer view. But than he looked at the book's entire spine and cover and felt the texture of the book which felt like a strange leather.
"Where'd you get that book? This cover made out of skin?" asked Hop Pop curiously.
"Maddie gave it to me. And no, it's not made of skin from a person. At least she told me it was made from the skin of a reptilian monster." Sprig revealed.
"Aw, that's nice." Polly commented.
Charlie let out a sigh of relief from what the frog child told them.
"I gotta say, this Chicka-lisk is pretty perfect. Gifts get eaten, no one gets hurt, and we don't get blamed." said Hop Pop immediately agreeing with the idea. "We all okay with using ancient Eldritch magics?"
Everyone but Charlie replied in agreement. But Charlie was a little hesitant about doing this.
"Hop Pop, just so you know. If someone gets hurt." Charlie warned.
"No one will get hurt, Charlie." reassured Hop Pop.
Charlie sighed and immediately went along with the idea reluctantly. That's when Hop Pop began to state what they needed to do in order to summon the Chicka-lisk.
Later That Night
As nightfall came. They have gotten everything they needed to summon the monster that they spoke of. The horn of a sky goat, a cursed obsidian, and eight large candles. Anne suggested the candles which they were okay with. Charlie on the other hand made sure they were kept protected by anything dangerous during their trips to get the materials that they needed which he was showing to be a tough guy during any of them dangerous situations.
They had a glowing red summoning circle that wasn't far away from the Plantars home. They were all wearing black hooded cloaks. They all prepared to do the summoning ritual.
"I stand corrected. We're all going to burn for this." Charlie thought to himself.
"Play the forbidden note." instructed Hop Pop eerily.
Sprig stepped forwards and pressed his lips to the sky goat's horn and as he blew into it like a musical instrument. It was loud enough to pierce the air as huge waves of air was blowing out from it.
"Corrupt its sacred message." instructed Hop Pop looking eerie.
Anne placed the cursed obsidian into the end of the horn like she was placing a ball inside of Tuba. As it was placed inside the horn. Sprig blew into it and the horn suddenly played a different tune when Sprig blew into it which sounded like electric warping sounds. Than it started to glow red and the summoning circle glowed brighter and a huge red energy wave blasted out of the summoning circle that went high up into the sky.
"Modoru hanarete! Back away!" cried Charlie.
They backed up a few feet like he instructed which they saw the red energy wave blasting into the sky for a good ten or more seconds some clouds in the sky floated away but the red blasting energy eventually stopped and the candles were blown out. They waited for a minute and checked to see that everyone was alright. They were all physically alright yet Charlie was hard to tell if he was shocked at what they're doing in a good or bad way as he had shown to be quickly recovering from a scary looking summoning.
"All righty then! Now, who wants Stumpy's?" said Hop Pop looking optimistic.
"Whoo!" the kids cheered.
As they walked away. They headed towards Stumpy's restaurant.
"This is probably the last time we'll be doing a summoning of any sort because that was scary. How Maddie got into the curse wielding and magic handling is a mystery I don't want to solve." said Charlie shaking a bit.
"Maddie told me that when she does what she does. She always takes caution in case something goes wrong." reassured Sprig. "Besides, last time I talked to her. Maddie told me she wouldn't mind making you laugh."
"Probably a somewhat comforting thought." said Charlie relieved.
As it was an hour later. Everyone was at Stumpy's restaurant but they were having an outdoor party. The gifts that Hop Pop and Polly put out were in a pile nearby in gold wrapping paper all over each one of them. The moon was shining out as it shown an oddly bright red waning crescent.
Everyone was socializing and while some would be catching up to what Anne, Charlie, and the Plantars were up to during their journey to Newtopia, what they've experienced in Newtopia and what they went through along the way back. Charlie was trying not to get too graphic with some of his experiences since he knew children were nearby. But he was careful to leave out the experience in Ribbitvale for Wally's sake.
"You actually have others in the towns and cities you've visited to plant and grow more of those golden apples along the journey?" said Mrs. Croaker surprised.
"I knew it was a good idea in order to help those who were needing a miracle. It even healed a person who was wheelchair bound after an accident. He had the biggest smile on his face like he had won the Heisman trophy of college football. He can walk again." Charlie told her.
"Spreading miracles across Amphibia. They must believe you're a holy man." complimented Leopold. "No wonder you actually had some of them golden apple seeds planted in parts of Wartwood. But it looks like they have the ability to grow faster."
Charlie was a bit surprised to hear this. Them golden apples that he used the seeds to plant in parts of Wartwood were growing faster? He didn't expect that since he knew some trees take twenty or thirty years to be fully grown and the fastest trees growth rate was ten or fifteen years at the most.
"They grow faster? How much faster?" asked Charlie looking surprised.
"They're already showing to have a tree trunk that's roughly wider than Stumpy's body and is now a good ten feet tall. But they're still growing taller, wider and thicker. They get plenty of water, sunshine and care but Wally's stated that someone told him that once you plant a tree that grows them golden apples. The trees grow much faster no matter how much good care you give them." Mrs. Croaker stated.
Charlie was in disbelief but at the same time felt like this was a good thing. If he's made sure that these seeds from those golden apples were planted and grown in the towns and cities that him, Anne and the Plantars visited. Than that would mean others can use them golden apples to heal more people of their afflictions more and they wouldn't have to wait ten, twenty or more years for them to be fully grown.
"Wow! Those golden apples work wonders beyond anyone's wildest dreams. My grandparents are farmers and both them and the farm hands they have around would be baffled if they saw something like that in a tree's growth cycle in a short time lapse." said Charlie looking amazed. "I've managed to given more of them apples out to at least less than a dozen places out there. Twelve if you count a location that was somewhere in the boonies as someone called it."
They were surprised that Charlie had given out more of them golden apples to a dozen places while on their journey to Newtopia and back. Before any of them could utter another word, that's when Anne shown up and pulled Charlie in her arms as she looked excited.
"Hey Charlie, got a minute to chat?" asked Anne kissing Charlie on the cheek.
Charlie blushed deeply as both Chuck, Mrs. Croaker and Leopold smiled and chuckled at the sight of this which he blushed and nodded once.
"Talk to you guys later on. Looks like it's bonding time with my girl." said Charlie chuckling excitedly.
Anne pulled Charlie away eagerly as the three amphibian adults chuckled when they looked on in amusement of the two humans having one of them couples moments.
As Anne and Charlie were in a different spot at the party. Charlie and Anne talked about a few things that were normal topics but Charlie whispered to her if she knew if the summoning of the Chicka-lisk was working at all but Anne informed him she didn't know since she too was new to the summoning of a creature. Even the Plantars barely knew if it would work or not.
Nearby, Stumpy had a chat with Hop Pop about the fitment and also how things were in Newtopia. Hop pop advised that the gifts feel more like an end of the night part of a welcome home party which he agreed to. Stumpy had a spatula pressed on barbecue grill that burst into a small flame. Since he had his limbs back, he knew that it was better the spatula than his hand being on fire. Charlie had Stumpy raise the spatula up and he used a glass of water to put the flame out.
"Good thing that wasn't me hand, laddie. Or that would sting worse than when I actually first lost a limb." chuckled Stumpy.
"Better it the spatula than your hand or you'd be like those pirates who have a hook for a hand." said Charlie relieved.
Stumpy let out a hearty laugh as he found what Charlie said to be humorous. He even briefly imitated a pirate for a joke which got the people around him to laugh.
Sprig was nearby talking to Ivy as the two talked about the journey to Newtopia. Ivy was looking entertained. Sprig told Ivy how he got eaten by the ant queen and got rescued by one of Anne's friends and that he's still coughing up acid since than to probably get that out of his body.
Sprig suddenly coughed and coughed up green slim out of his mouth that landed on the ice cream sundae that was in front of them but it melted the entire container along with the frozen dairy treat. The two of them chuckled. Even as they chatted. She mentioned she was jealous of his adventure but knew it would be like she was with him when she brought up the shell that she had on the wish list.
The young male frog felt dread hitting him like a soccerball got thrown at his face. He was nervously sweating as he mentioned if it was just a shell, which he spoke hypothetically. Ivy mentioned that she knew it would be their shell and she was happy he found one since they both knew each one of them having a shell would be like a symbol of their love. Sprig knew that the truth would probably kill both of them inside as he nervously coughed.
Charlie passed by and Ivy gotten his attention for a moment.
"Hey Charlie?" called Ivy.
Charlie turned to her and she crossed her eyes in a silly manner while she spoke in a goofy tone.
"Looks like I crossed the line." joked Ivy in a goofy voice.
Charlie burst out laughing as he saw Ivy was trying to make him laugh and it worked. Maddie had shown up and greeted Sprig, Charlie and Anne but Maddie also attempted to make Charlie laugh as she would make a fake farting sound with her teeth pressed to her lips and blew our air from her mouth loudly.
"Who cut one?" joked Maddie. "But it was a S.B.M. It was silent but Maddie."
Sprig, Ivy, Charlie and Anne were laughing as they found the fart joke Maddie pulled to be hilarious. Their humorous antics were interrupted by a loud gust of wind as everyone heard the wind and looked up at the sky. Hop Pop, Sprig, Polly were relieved to see that their summoning actually worked but both Anne and Charlie were a bit worried about this since they never summoned a creature before. They had their brush with magic very little times but this was some other level for them.
They all turned to see that lightning had struck in the sky and dark clouds formed in the night sky. A very bright red light formed from the sky and shined down onto the ground as a giant chicken monster flew down from the bright red light. It landed on the ground in a loud thump.
The Chicka-lisk was a giant chicken with dragon wings and dragon claws. Its beak somehow had sharp teeth. Other than scars on its head, it has a devil-like bone handle sword, arrows, broken spears and broken blades stuck on its hide which implied it had been summoned and attacked before. It probably had more battle scars upon it's body. Everyone ran from the beast screaming as it let out a loud, demonic like shriek.
"We're all going to burn for this and possibly some people may burn with us. Why did me and Anne even agree to this." Charlie thought to himself in frustration.
"What is that thing?" cried Stumpy with horror.
"Chicka-lisk, the Storm Bearer. It's an honor to see him." said Maddie with a grin but soon her smile faded to nervousness. "You know, before he kills us."
"Maddie, I'm worried about you right now." said Charlie out loud.
"Oh, no! Who could have predicted this?" said the Plantars playing dumb.
"Don't overdo it." warned Anne.
Charlie felt like this couldn't go on and wanted to do something about this as his guilt was getting to him. He popped his neck and cracked his knuckles. The monster was squawking and shrieking a bit but once it saw where the gifts were located. It was the color of the gold that suddenly made him feel hungry since it did eat gold and treasures like the book stated. It was than shrieking like it was talking but no one could understand a word it said. The Chicka-lisk was like a foreign tourist in a different country that he had no knowledge of the native language that the locals spoken.
"Maddie, any idea what this monster is saying?" asked Charlie.
"I have no idea." answered Maddie.
"What the heck is it saying?" asked Anne looking alarmed.
"No idea. Its language is older than written history." answered Maddie being more specific.
The giant monster instantly rushed through the crowd while it accidentally knocked a few people over as it started to devour a few gifts while Polly tried to act shocked but the people of Wartwood saw this wasn't looking good. Hop Pop tried to advise what they should do but Ivy chimed in to advise what they should really do.
The crowd or most of them ran towards the Chicka-lisk to attack it while they cried "For the Plantars!" which the Plantars saw that their plan was taking a huge dip down into the water.
"Wait, no, Ivy!" Sprig cried.
"Uh-oh." said Hop Pop with a look of dread.
"I can't believe it's finally my turn to say this, but...told you so! Boom!" said Anne looking annoyed.
"No argument from me." Charlie agreed.
As Charlie was ready to attack or defend the people like Anne. Some of the people started throwing stones at the monster while that caught it's attention when some of the rocks hit the huge chicken demon. It looked on at them in bewilderment. Letting out more shrieks. But than felt a sharp pain in the middle toe on it's right foot. Leopold had jabbed a pitchfork into the monster's middle toe which the slim bodied Axolotl looked up at the creature with instant regret.
"I'm Loggle." Leopold nervously introduced.
The monster gave him an irate expression and spoke in it's language of shrieks and screams. With a couple flaps of it's wings, it summoned a tornado out of nowhere and it sent plenty of people flying. Ivy screamed but Sprig jumped up into the air to catch her in his arms and land on his feet. Charlie ran towards those who were sent flying and jumped high into the air to catch each person who was about to fall but he caught them and placed them safely on the ground as he was doing such a thing at a lightning speed of a pace.
"Anyone whose ill or hurt! Get inside!" called Charlie.
Charlie set the people that went flying back on the ground safely away from the monster and he rejoined Anne. Anne and Charlie got out swords. Polly pulled out her rolling pin that she nicknamed "Doris" and Hop Pop put up his fists.
"Sprig!" said Ivy happily.
"Let's spatchcock this chicken!" cried Anne.
"Hey Chicka-lisk? Looks like the only thing on the menu is chicken breasts!" Charlie insulted.
Some members of the crowd charged after the Chicka-lisk but Anne and Charlie tried to warn them not to do that as they were unfamiliar with the creature's powers and abilities.
"Wait, guys, we gotta work together! Who knows what this thing can do!" warned Anne.
"Fall back! Fall back!" Charlie commanded.
They didn't listen and those who charged after the monster were suddenly seeing its eyes glowing bright purple and it shot a bright glowing purple beam from it's eyes and anyone who was in it's path got turned to stone. One of them fell over to the ground but luckily, one of them that fell didn't shatter. Those who hung back were wide eyed in shock.
"What the hell!" cried Charlie.
"Holy moly!" said Anne shocked.
"Cool!" said Maddie.
"Maddie!" said Charlie annoyed.
"Not the time. I get it." Maddie replied.
"Maddie! Can you cure them?" said Sprig hopefully.
Maddie pulled out what looked like small dark purple hand sized bags from her pockets.
"Uh, yeah, sure. I should have enough antidote for everyone... probably." answered Maddie.
"Good enough." said Sprig.
"I got an idea in mind." said Charlie.
Charlie walked towards the Chicka-lisk monster but they were afraid of what he was about to do because they knew he's never taken on a monster like this. None of them have.
"Charlie wait! What are you gonna do?" asked Toadstool.
Charlie's face become stoic as he continued onward.
"I'm gonna distract this motherfucker." answered Charlie.
Charlie looked towards the monster and it was about to attack more people.
"Hey Fucka-lisk!" yelled Charlie.
The monster turned its attention to Charlie who had his samurai sword out.
"Yeah I'm talking to you, you oversized roast chicken. You know how many of your kind I've slaughtered and had for lunch and dinner in a bucket. You're nothing but another chicken leg in a bucket of fried chicken dipped in barbecue sauce by me. You squawking, egg laying, rooster crowing wannabe, finger licking good, motherfucker!" ranted Charlie.
He lifted his sword up and got into a battle position. The huge chicken monster was now looking so irate and offended by Charlie's words that it felt like it wanted to attack him. It was squawking at him angrily.
"And when ever you lay eggs. I'm having them scrambled." said Charlie with a grin.
The creature shrieked in anger and lunged at him to try and use it's beak to peck at Charlie but he used his sword to deflect it's attack, making a loud clink. Anne and the Plantars saw he was trying to distract it and knew what was next.
"For Wartwood!" cried the Plantars.
Maddie went around and used the sacks of antidotes to toss at those turned to stone which turned them back. Anne, the Plantars and more of the residence ran after the monster to surround it. Charlie used his sword to block another attack and ran around fast enough to where the Chicka-lisk was having a hard time to trying to catch him or attack him. The group split up to surround the monster to give it the appearance that it was outnumbered.
It tried to blast the purple beam at Anne but she used her sword to deflect it and the beams bounced off her sword and turned some of the decorations into stone. Sprig, Wally and Ivy ran around it tossing boomshrooms at it by aiming for it's eyes in an attempt to blind it.
"Aim for the eyes, children!" instructed Wally.
It used it's wings to shield it's eyes but than flown up into the air and dropped back down in a huge stomp. Doing so created yellow shockwaves through the ground and it sent Wally, Charlie, Sprig and Ivy flying but luckily for them, then landed on their feet. Hop Pop, Sylvia and Polly jumped over the shockwaves and jumped up high to each land a hard punch to the monster's face and left a few scratch marks on him but it instantly healed from the damages. That's when it was about to breathe fire.
Charlie ran towards Anne and Toadstool as the monster blasted fire out of it's mouth like a dragon and it blasted at the gifts that were planted nearby, setting them ablaze and Charlie got in front of them as the flames were just about to blast at them.
"Not my girl and the beloved people of this town, you son of a bitch!" cried Charlie powerfully.
Just as soon as Charlie was about to use his sword. The flames were blocked by something as everyone saw a huge gold transparent shield pop up in front of Charlie and it shielded them from the flames. This left Anne, Toadstool, Wally, Sprig and Ivy shocked and wide eyed. Even Charlie didn't know how this was possible but he didn't question it right now.
"Charlie, how are you doing that?" said a surprised Anne.
"I don't know but it's working." answered Charlie.
"He can conjure up force fields?" replied Toadstool.
Mrs. Croaker and her pet spider ran towards it. She tossed Archie up to crawl on the creature's body and she hopped up to crawl on it's body as well. She crawled up to punch at the monster's face while Archie used it's webbing to tie it's mouth shut. It shook them off but Charlie jumped up high over the people and as he was in the air, he caught both Mrs. Croaker and Archie, landed on the ground and safely placed them both on the ground.
"Lets roast this chicken!" cried Charlie.
As Charlie was about charge at the monster again but Anne stopped him.
"This thing's unbeatable!" said Anne sweating from the intense physical activity.
"Toadstool, any ideas?" asked Charlie.
Maddie used her antidote sack on Toadie and turned him back to normal. Toadstool gotten an idea in mind but he knew it was the only idea he had in mind.
"Nothing's unbeatable! Everyone, Chicka-lisk formation!" instructed Toadstool.
"We have a formation for this?" asked Toadie surprised.
"We have a formation for everything!" cried Toadstool.
Charlie placed his sword back in it's sheath and many of the residence started to gather around and pile up onto each other like they were cheerleaders doing the pyramid and they formed the living body formation of the Chicka-lisk. The next person to form up high was Toadstool.
"Come on, Anne and Charlie! Form the head you crazy lovebirds." said Toadstool with a determined grin.
"Alley-oop!" cried Anne and Charlie.
Anne and Charlie took each others hands and both jumped up as high as possible. Charlie landed in Toadstool's hands as he took hold of his feet and Anne was the last one to get up on top of him. She was being held by Charlie which Charlie formed the neck of the formation but Anne formed the head of the formation with her arms pointed to the right with one arm pointed straight while the other arm was pointed up half way up. They formed the body formation of the Chicka-lisk and they jumped up and down a few times.
"Oh look, I'm mister big bad chicken himself!" insulted Charlie. "Fuck-a-doodle doo!"
Charlie mimicked the squawking sounds of a real chicken and that's when the Chicka-lisk watched them in confusion and started to look offended or just really mad but than shrieked at them a few times. It made the crowing sound of a rooster and the bright red light beam formed from the sky and it shined on the monster, making it disappear into the beam and vanishing completely. But it left the spot on the ground slightly smoking a bit.
They each took turns jumping down onto the ground which didn't take very long but Charlie and Anne did help a few of them by catching them and safely placing them on their feet to the ground while they all looked on at the sight while Charlie checked for any wounds or physical damages on people which luckily there was no damages on anyone.
"Everyone alright?" called Anne.
"I checked them all out and they're good." called Charlie.
They all gave a thumbs up to confirm what Charlie told Anne. The crowd cheered and hugged Anne, Charlie, and the Plantars.
"We did it!" cheered the crowd.
"Finger lickin' gone!" said Anne thrilled.
"Up top, girl!" cheered Charlie.
Both Anne and Charlie raised their hands up and gave each other a high five. But than they all looked on at the spot where the gifts stood and were nothing but ashes as the wind blew the ashes away.
"But it destroyed all the gifts you worked so hard to bring back for us!" said Mrs. Croaker sadly.
"If only we had fought harder. I guess we let you guys down." said a disappointed Ivy.
Many of the crowd murmured in failure while Anne and Charlie gave Hop Pop, Polly and Sprig a cold look while crossing their arms in discontent. Polly was about to blurt out the truth but Hop Pop raised a hand to stop her. The Plantars were both feeling their guilt was too much to bear.
"I have a confession to make, everyone. It's not going to be easy for me to say it. What I'm about to say is bad news so horrible it's going to probably kill ya inside and you'll probably feel like punching me in the face for it." Hop Pop announced.
They all looked at the old male frog in confusion as they didn't understand what he meant.
"Just so you know. Anne and Charlie are not to blame for what I'm about to tell ya. If anyone is to blame for anything. Than I'm to blame. Polly may have had some involvement but don't blame her, she's just a baby. And don't blame Sprig, he just went along with it. I was the mastermind of a huge disaster and for what happened." Hop Pop continued.
"What are you talking about?" asked Wally.
"Me and Hop Pop forgot the wish list and didn't get you guys anything!" Polly blurted out. "And we were afraid how everyone would react."
"The Chicka-lisk was my idea, Anne and Charlie were against it from the start, Polly only forgot because, well, she's only a baby. Sprig was afraid that Ivy would leave her if she knew." Hop Pop blurted out. "If anyone's to blame, than I'm the big forgetful idiot whose responsible. Anne, Charlie, and Sprig didn't know about the wish list till some time after we arrived in Wartwood."
"Wait what?" said the crowd wide eyed.
Many of the crowd had annoyed expressions or made a comment about what was just told them under their breath. Hop Pop was the one who knew he should take responsibility but Polly ended up blurting it out wordlessly and she admitted she had her hands in this.
"Why am I not surprised? Typical Plantars. Yet Anne and Charlie were against this, huh? But why am I surprised that something like this could happen. Giant monsters, property damage, putting the entire town in danger." said Toadstool giving a cold look at Hop Pop.
Hop Pop, Polly, Sprig, Anne were hanging their heads in shame and looking as though they might breakdown emotionally. Charlie on the other hand turned around with his back to them while he hung his head in shame. He nearly started to shed a few tears leaking out of his eyes. Toadstool could see they were remorseful but something about how Charlie was reacting had his heart sink a bit. He sensed that what he just said hurt Charlie's feelings and he knew that he had to say something to console him. Yet he let out a chuckle and a grin spread across his face.
"I gotta admit, I missed it!" said Toadstool looking as though he happy this was happening.
Anne and the Plantars looked up and watched in confusion. Charlie turned around and was confused but oddly relieved but Toadstool saw he wiped a tear away from his own eyes and he felt a bit of guilt as he knew that his harsh words earlier had emotionally shaken him up. Mrs. Croaker walked over to them with a grin but she had some words of comfort. The crowd was all smiling and murmuring in agreement about how they missed Anne, Charlie and the Plantars along with some of the chaos that sometimes comes along.
"Things have been really boring without you four causing mayhem and learning emotional lessons. And things have been really boring without Charlie being the gentleman that he is with what good he's done for us all. Yet I see Charlie's gotten faster and stronger and them muscles of his seems to proof he's faster and stronger." said Mrs. Croaker with a word of comfort.
"Also, Charlie, I'm sorry that my harsh words earlier had affected you just now. I know you and Anne were against this Chicka-lisk chaos." said Toadstool showing some remorse. "But I will admit, looking back around the time when Anne first came to Wartwood, and how we treated her so poorly, we may apologized for our actions and what we've said to her, and I know that me and Charlie have made peace already. But I'll admit, we all still feel guilty about how we treated Anne initially and for how I treated Charlie in the beginning and we're sorry."
"We're sorry!" the crowd apologized.
Anne, Charlie and the Plantars were looking on in shock. Anne felt her spirits lifting from how everyone apologized to her for how they treated her when they first met her and Charlie's heart felt like any emotional pain he just felt was healed immediately when Toadstool apologized to him for his harsh words earlier and from how he treated him when they first met.
"Wait, so you don't care that we lied and summoned an elder god to cover it up? And that I dragged the kids into this?" asked Hop Pop oddly unsure if they were being serious.
"Well, not especially. I know that a lot of us asked for something but maybe we did sound a bit selfish when it came to the gifts. And we're sorry for it. To be honest, we're actually glad that you're all okay along with everyone else here." said Leopold showing his compassion.
"We're just glad you're back." said Stumpy with a compassionate grin.
"Anne, we're hoping you can forgive us all for how we treated you in the beginning when we first ya. And hope that Charlie can forgive me for how I treated him when I first met him. And that the Plantars can forgive us for what our selfishness earlier." said Toadstool showing remorse.
Everyone was nodding at that statement and were showing guilt about their actions. Anne knew that they were sorry when they apologized to her before, Charlie even knew that Toadstool was sorry for his actions towards him when he too apologized to him. This felt like a huge relief off their shoulders.
"Well, I we see you're all very sorry for the past actions and even though you've eventually accepted me as one of you, and that Toadstool is showing remorse for his actions towards me and Charlie. We can forgive you all for all that since bearing the guilt is like having a sword in your heart while you're still alive. And I know from experience, no one should have to bear that when they're remorseful." said Anne with a word of comfort.
Anne took hold of Charlie's hand and he grasped her hand.
"You're all forgiven." said Anne, Charlie and the Plantars in unison.
They all felt relieved and breathed a sigh of relief. Toadstool walked over towards Anne and Charlie as he was silent for a moment, he was actually blushing a bit when he faced Charlie.
"Charlie, there's a reason why I was reacting the way I did when you arrived back here." said Toadstool fidgeting his fingers.
Charlie was not sure what Toadstool meant as he knew that he probably had something to say and wanted to get it off his chest. Without warning, the large male toad pulled Charlie in his arms for a hug, which left Anne and Charlie wide eyed. Everyone else was surprised too. They never saw Toadstool hugging anyone before let alone heard about him hugging anyone. Toadstool knew that this was going to be hard for him to admit.
"I'm new at this. I'm new at trying to turn over a new leaf. Ever since that martial arts tournament and I was in a lot of pain from the injuries and you given me one of them golden apples to heal me of my pain and injuries. I was at first confused as I hardly ever had anyone forgive me, especially when I did someone wrong. It was the first time I felt remorse and guilt. Not gonna lie, this time, the first time I felt that, I might've had a panic attack, or almost had a panic attack. So I know I'm not very good at turning over a new leaf but I'm new at it." Toadstool confessed.
Charlie and Anne both knew that this was hard for Toadstool to admit but he had mustard up the courage to admit this, especially to admit it to them.
"Well Toadstool, even after you were healed of your injuries and from there on out, you may have shown to be a bit awkward around me but there's one thing that you're doing that those toads from Captain Grime's army have not done. You're at least trying, a bit of a slow place, yes, but a gradual pace is better than no pace at all." reassured Charlie.
Toadstool felt relieved to hear this and what he did next was really unexpected. He hugged Charlie a bit tighter but than smooched him on his cheeks and forehead which caught Charlie and Anne off guard. He released his arms from him and stood nearby.
"I take it he's trying to show affection." said Charlie blushing.
"You did say he's trying to turn over a new leaf." Anne reminded.
"You got me there." replied Charlie with a chuckle.
Some members of the crowd murmured briefly about Toadstool actually kissing Charlie. They never saw him kiss anyone before but they suspected he's dated before and kissed a hot girl when on a date at times which they had no knowledge of but only could suspect. But this was something new for them to take in. Sprig came over to Ivy to apologize to her as she looked a bit stoic.
"Ivy, I'm sorry I didn't get you a red sunshell.-Ow!" Sprig was cut off.
Ivy playfully yet firmly gave his shoulder a punch and smiled at him. She probably was showing forgiveness to him as well.
"You big dummy! It's just a shell. You can make it up to me by finally taking me on a date." said Ivy with a grin.
Sprig was wide eyed. Him actually taking Ivy out on a date? He was feeling his heart pounding with excitement at the idea but when Ivy came closer to him, she kissed him on his right cheek with a grin. Sprig gasped and was smiling wide eyed with a twinkle in his eyes. He was stuck like that like a statue while Anne saw this and let out a happy squeal of excitement as she shown a big, toothy smile. Polly came hopping over to her to gently walk her away from them but Charlie stopped her.
"Hey Anne, speaking of romance." said Charlie.
Anne turned to Charlie and was met with a kiss to her lips by Charlie. They two human teenagers were kissing each other as everyone let out an adored "Awww" at the sight of Anne and Charlie sharing a romantic kiss and from how cute Sprig and Ivy's romantic relationship was showing and how it looked stronger than ever. As Anne and Charlie eventually pulled their lips off each other. They hugged each other and everyone looked on with grins.
"Looks like we got more one couple of lovebirds." said Sylvia with a blushing chuckle.
As the night was full of forgiveness, reconciliation and love. There was some things that were now on some people's minds. For Toadstool, he was experiencing some strong feelings that had his heart racing as he had Charlie on his mind. He was wrestling with the thought of Charlie being one of the first people to forgive him but he also wondered if he was starting to realize if he was heterosexual or homosexual. He didn't know which.
Anne, the Plantars and everyone else's minds. They were wondering how Charlie was able to conjure up a force field when he was doing his part in defending the residence of Wartwood. Even Charlie had no idea how that could be possible. Yet the residence of Wartwood, especially the female residence, they were starting to notice that Charlie has become faster, stronger, and so has Anne. But they figured if they wanted to know anything, it's better to ask anyone of them at a different time.