A week later since Anne, Charlie, Marcy, Sasha and the Plantars have charged the third and final stone at the third and final temple and now that they were in Wartwood along with Captain Grime. Things were a bit awkward at first.
Sasha and Captain Grime were currently living with Felicia at her Tea Shoppe which Sasha and Captain Grime felt grateful but things were awkward there too. Anne managed to convince Felicia to let them live with her for the time being.
During the week was where things for them were in the beginning of adjusting after the quest of the third and final temple. Sasha would appear nice as if she changed when ever Anne, Marcy, Charlie, the Plantars or anyone was around but shown their real selves when no one was around in ear shot or out of sight.
Captain Grime however would show to feel awkward when he was around Charlie when trying to play nice around him, Anne, Marcy and anyone. Between Captain Grime and Charlie, they would exchange one word responses or more than one word responses with each other everytime they interacted.
"Charlie." said Captain Grime nonchalantly.
"Grime." said Charlie nonchalantly.
Things were silently tense between them since Charlie remembered the horrible things that Captain Grime has said and done to not just him but to Anne, the Plantars and those he cares about. Captain Grime knew that things were going to be awkward for the time being right away.
"What's a soul sista?" asked Captain Grime nervously.
"It has two meanings. One, it's another term to describe a black girl. And two, it's another word for soulmate." Charlie described.
"Is that why you call Anne that?" asked Captain Grime raising an eyebrow.
Charlie let out a small hiccup and blushed.
"Yes." said Charlie blushing.
Charlie turned to Captain Grime as if curious about something.
"You and Sasha didn't get hurt physically after your army took off?" asked Charlie trying to be nice.
There was a pause before the gruff male toad spoke.
"I took care of Sasha as she did the same for me." Captain Grime admitted.
Charlie let out a sigh of relief to know that the two looked out for each other while in hiding and after the fall of Toad Tower.
"Good talk." said Charlie and Captain Grime in unison.
They walked away as if they had an awkward talk about a personal topic like how a father talks to their son about puberty, sex and dating.
Some time towards of the end of the said week. Sasha felt a little awkward around Charlie as she came to accept that Anne and Charlie are dating and that she felt happy that Charlie is dating someone who will be a better girl friend to him than she was but both her plans along with Captain Grime who was also in on it was kept hidden. But when she was around Charlie, she would watch him helping out others in Wartwood, be it helping the elderly or anyone with heavy lifting, carrying someone to a stand at the farmer's market, watching out for other children, she saw how muscular he now appears to be and how strong he is physically.
"I knew he did work around his grandparents farm and worked out at a local family owned gym but could he really be growing this much stronger?" Sasha thought. "I wonder if what happened back at the last temple means that he's at full power?"
Sasha saw that Charlie had spoken to Wally about something which they spoke about the trees that grew them golden apples but Sasha couldn't hear them from the distance she was standing from but she could see they were showing optimistic and hopeful looks on their faces which she assumed they were talking about something that was a positive subject. She saw how well Anne, Charlie and Marcy adjusted to Wartwood as she was feeling as though she wasn't adjusting well but mainly because she didn't interact with the town residence that much.
When the week ended. That's when Anne, Charlie, Marcy and the Plantars started to set up a dinner at the Plantar's home. There was a large table outside with a table cloth over it. There were paper lantern lights hung from part of the Plantar's home to three poles nearby which illuminated the area.
Marcy was setting down plates, Anne set down folded napkins that were shaped like a dove, Hop Pop was cooking and grilling up food from a compartment that they found on Frobo that they could use as a barbecue grill, Sprig got done tying the ropes from the house to the poles that had the paper lanterns lit and Charlie was helping out when ever anyone had their hands full which he mostly tended to helping out Hop Pop with the food that was being cooked on the grill compartment.
"Charlie, did you ever cook on a grill before?" asked Hop Pop.
"A couple of times. The first was when I was nine and the last time was over a year ago. The way I was taught. I can cook anything on a grill...as long as there's responsible adults around. My mom, my aunt and the ladies of the house are okay with me cooking something in a microwave, an oven or stove. But a grill? They still think I should be watched when doing so because they had some experience cooking on one and they don't like it when there's a big fire on the grill. They believe it's best if I cook on the grill if a responsible adult is watching me." explained Charlie.
"Should I be worried?" asked Hop Pop.
"Nope. But just in case. Let's keep some buckets of water handy." Charlie advised.
"Frobo's already got that covered." reassured Hop Pop.
"I can't believe the trio is finally back together. But with Charlie with us, now we're a quartet." said Marcy setting the plates down.
"Yep! We charged all three stones, Sasha's turning over a new leaf, Charlie and I have confessed our love for each other and officially have been dating for over two months, one week and three days now. My soul brotha and I are closer than ever." said Anne listing off their accomplishments.
As Anne and Charlie knew that they've been officially a couple for that long as of over two months as stated by Anne. Both Anne and Charlie ran over to each other and gave each other a fist bump by bumping the top, bottom and front of their fists, they did the same handshake that Anne and Sprig did.
"Channe against the world! Booyah!" cheered Anne and Charlie victoriously.
Hop Pop pressed his webbed foot down on one of Frobo's feet which lifted his entire head up like the lid to a barbecue grill. He flipped a few of what was being grilled on the grill as the smoke was blowing in the opposite direction.
"That's all great but did you have to invite Grime?" said Hop Pop not trusting the toad. "I mean, he did try to harm us, nearly tried to have me killed, he both lied, used and manipulated Charlie for his own personal gain, and he treated Charlie like he was, well, I'm not gonna say it."
"Sasha trusts Grime. That means he's okay with us." said Anne looking optimistic.
"I'll admit, inviting Grime was a little surprising to me. I want to give him a chance just as much as Anne but do you think he can actually be good and appropriate around kids? He's confirmed that he took care of Sasha when they went into hiding while Sasha looked out for him. So that's a start, not the best one, but it's still a start nonetheless." said Charlie showing some acceptance.
"Why do we want to trust her again?" asked Sprig showing skepticism.
"She did try to off us, twice, and she was very mean to both Anne and Charlie." said Polly having doubts.
"Okay, sure, she's had some bad moments but she's not a bad person." said Anne attempting to reassure them.
"Plus, she's never tried to kill anyone back at home." Marcy chimed in.
Sprig hopped down from the pole he just got through tying one of the ropes to for the paper lanterns and Charlie caught him once he landed which the young male human set him on his feet.
"That you know of." said Sprig pointing a finger and showing a deeper expression of distrust.
Anne let out an annoyed groan while Charlie was sighed, knowing that the Plantars were still trying to warm up to Sasha and working on trusting her which at first wasn't much of a good start.
"Sprig, please try to be on your best behavior tonight. This dinner party is an important step for us and it has to go well." Anne told Sprig. "Marcy, Charlie and I have changed so much in Amphibia. We really think that Sasha is finally changing too."
Sprig let a sigh of defeat and knew that he had to relent.
"Alright, but she also has to behave herself. What she did to you in the past was horrible but what she did to Charlie was worse. I just don't want her hurting my friends or my family again. But if she behaves, than I'll do my best to do the same." Sprig relented.
"The worst that could happen is one of us has a sugar rush and goes insane in the membrane." joked Charlie.
They chuckled and knew that Charlie did sometimes have hyperactive sugar rush when ever he had any sort of sugar in his system in large amounts which he's managed to try and only have sugar is small pieces so he wouldn't go as crazy with a burst of energy like he would when he pigged out on anything with high amounts of sugar. It wasn't long till they heard one of the loudest and longest farts that left them all blushing and laughing a bit.
"I know you're all thinking but this time, it wasn't me." chuckled Charlie.
"He's actually telling the truth about it too. I tried some of the organic broccoli and well, you can guess the rest." chuckled Marcy.
They laughed about how funny the situation appeared to be which of course they've grown used to finding farts and burps funny by now. They never knew who had the worst fart or the biggest burps for that matter. They were just finding them to be humorous.
Meanwhile, at Felicia's Tea Shoppe
"I haven't changed!" said a hostile Sasha looking grumpy.
"Well, your friends need to think you have. If you don't stay chummy with them, our plans are shot. So please by on your best behavior tonight." said Captain Grime sternly.
Sasha let out a snort of sarcasm as she had a grim smile on her face. Captain Grime was dressed up for the occasion as he was adjusting some buttons on his clothing.
"I have them eating out of the palm of my hand at the third temple. This is just a dinner party and once we rule Amphibia. I'll get this friendship back under control." said Sasha her eyes showing her annoyance.
"Just watch that temper of yours." Captain Grime advised. "And no trying to steal Anne's boyfriend."
Sasha got up from where she sat and her hostile expression faded a little.
"Grimesy, I got this. For one, I'm not going to steal Charlie from Anne. Since Charlie likes her and Anne likes him, and she's a nicer girl to him in a relationship, I know that me and Charlie are not happening again. Besides, I may have only dated him to up his cool factor and I may have found him to be some weeping cry baby. Still, he seems to be happier with Anne and Anne likes him back. So I know that being in a relationship like that with him is not gonna happen." Sasha explained truthfully. "Everyone will find me vulnerable, unguarded and totally sweet."
Sasha did a twirl like dance to show it off but Captain Grime knew that while Sasha was good with deceiving others, her temper and her ego at times would hamper her efforts.
"Could you at least remove the sword." Captain Grime suggested.
Sasha's expression regained a slight annoyed expression as she placed the sword she had with her on the nearby seat she sat in.
"Would that mean you have to refrain from tonguing Charlie?" said Sasha sarcastically.
"I only used my toad like tongue to launch at him to grab a hold of a weapon that he had in his hand to prevent him from using it on us. My tongue slapping against his front body and his crotch area was an accident. I am in ways of it a homosexual. If I was, I would've been showing off my thick booty at him a lot and swaying my huge tongue at him to flirt. Have I done any of the sort?" said Captain Grime remaining calm.
"Good point." Sasha pointed out.
"And remove the hidden daggers." Captain Grime continued.
"But what if I need them!" said Sasha in disbelief.
Captain Grime shown her the same stoic expression to let Sasha know he wasn't kidding. She sighed in defeat. Sasha began to reach out from where she kept her hidden daggers. She pulled one out from a compartment in her body armor, another from a hidden spot in her hair, and she removed one of the armor plating from one of her boots and shook it up and down a bit as many daggers came falling out from it as she removed from her armored plating that covered her right boot. Captain Grime was slightly surprised yet wasn't expecting to see that, he almost wanted to laugh.
"How did you even walk?" said Captain Grime in disbelief.
"How did you even put up with your army and their antics along with how Bog and Fens wouldn't stop attempting to lust for Charlie? How did you put up with them?" Sasha argued.
"Too many headaches. Not enough pain killers." answered Captain Grime.
"Makes me wonder how you'll be around the kids at this dinner party? Your not exactly good with kids of any age." said Sasha putting the daggers away.
"I put up with you, didn't I?" said Captain Grime.
"I'll bet puberty for you was a living hell." groaned Sasha.
"You have no idea." Captain Grime groaned shaking his head.
Back at the Plantar's home
Anne, Charlie, Marcy and the Plantars were getting the last finishing touches up for the dinner party. Charlie helped out Hop Pop with carrying another couch near to the other couch while Charlie helped out with a lot of the heavy lifting and even Marcy was surprised or still getting used to the fact that Charlie's strength seems to have become without limit or that Charlie himself has become much physically stronger through out his time in Amphibia.
Marcy placed a wooden stool near a drawing board that was in the center of the living room with a bowl on top of it. The bowl was filled with slips of paper and each slip of paper had something written on it.
"Charlie, even though your powers are incredible which I wish I had the time to study them but I wonder what do you bench if you were to lift weights." said Marcy looking impressed.
"I'll let you know if I ever find out." Charlie chuckled.
For the occasion. Marcy wore a dress with long sleeves and a chain around her waist color greenish blue with a short cape from a grayish blue color being held by a seashell color pinkish brown. Anne was wearing a traditional Thai attire known as a "Sabai", just like that time when she had Stumpy introduced to Thai themed food but this time, it was in different colored as it was consisting of a mauve wrapped skirt with geometric print, a pale purple breast cloth draped over one shoulder, a chain of dark purple flowers in her hair to keep her hair up in a ponytail, and an elaborate flower bracelet on her wrist of the same color.
Charlie was dressed in a black suit and tie with a matching pair of black, shined and polished boots and his thick, long hair which was longer than it's ever been, a bit longer than before his last trim that he got at a beauty salon in Newtopia had shown since at that third temple with him being in full power during the battle in the third temple left his hair longer than it's ever been. He put something in his hair to give it a beautifully flawless look which was hair spray and it left his hair without any frizz, his hair was left with a shiny, glossy sheen but still looked so beautifully long and thick and flowing.
As Polly wore a blue, shiny bow that had sparkles on it. Hop Pop and Sprig both wore a green suit. Sprig had on a green tie but Hop Pop had on a purple tie. The hair that Hop Pop had on the sides of his head was brushed back and had a glossy sheen as if he too used hair spray while Sprig's hair had the same glossy, shiny sheen as his orange hair was brushed back, giving it a slick back look as if he got his hair done.
"Charlie my man, you're looking sharp." complimented Anne.
"You're looking so beautiful like a blue rose under the moonlight." complimented Charlie.
Anne and Charlie blushed when they saw how beautiful they both looked in their outfits along with how beautifully done their hair appeared to be. The two were about to kiss each other but were interrupted by a knock at the door.
"And they're here." said Charlie awkwardly.
"Kay, here they are. Now please be cool. Remember, this isn't the same Sasha who tried to kill you and take over Amphibia and this isn't the same Sasha that bossed Charlie around and hurt him both physically and emotionally." Anne reassured.
"Also, if anyone so much as tries anything funny like misbehaving. The worst punishment I can administer during this is a time out in a corner. I know, childish and lame and we're way too old for that but it's the most minor thing I can think of." Charlie kindly warned.
Hop Pop, Sprig and Polly reassured them they'll be on their best behavior and that they won't be fighting or arguing with Sasha and Captain Grime. That's when Anne turned to open the door and they saw Sasha and Captain Grime standing at the door. They had an oddly creepy look about them. Sasha was stoic while Captain Grime tried to smile but when he did, he shown he had fang like teeth.
That's when the Plantars started to show alarm as they flinched in terror. Hop Pop was immediately terrified along with Polly while Sprig got out his slingshot as he was ready to defend himself and his family. Anne turned to give them a cold look as she cleared her throat while Charlie shook his head with a stoic face as well. Than the Plantars immediately calmed down as Sprig sported a nervous grin while Hop Pop greeted them.
"How's it going." greeted Hop Pop.
Captain Grime was the first to walk through the door as he pushed a cart into the living room that had a cloth over it which Charlie felt like he was suspicious of what was underneath it.
"Grime, what is that?" asked Charlie curiously.
"Not to worry, Charlie. It's nothing to be alarmed about. Unless your allergic to chocolate." reassured Captain Grime. "My sincere thanks to you all for the kind invitation. Your home is sufficient for habitation."
Captain Grime pushed the cart further into the living room to place it somewhere that it will be out of the way and so it wouldn't make it a mess.
"I made a vol-cake-no. It's needs a little more time to rise but it's sure to end the night with a devastating EXPLOSION!" said Captain Grime looking very eerie but than suddenly cheerful. "Of chocolatey goodness."
They all stared at Captain Grime with wide eyed terror at first but than felt a huge sense of relief knowing that he was talking about a cake. A simple, harmless dessert.
"Thanks, I'll just put it over here." said an oddly shaken Hop Pop.
As Hop Pop wheeled the cake over to another part of the room. The smile on Captain Grime's face wasn't creepy this time since he was having a closed mouth like grin.
"Grime." Charlie chimed in.
The older male toad turned his attention to Charlie who was looking curious yet was trying to tell Captain Grime something as he came to his side.
"Grime, I know you're doing your best to show you are a people person and that you've changed which I applaud your efforts. But lets try not to scare anyone. We at first thought this vol-cake-no was a weapon at first." said Charlie kindly discouraging the male toad from scaring anyone.
"That's how the toads surprised everyone else when they made the vol-cake-no and served it to visitors." said Captain Grime quickly looking around him and seeing that Sprig and Polly were visibly shaken. "But I can try to tone it down a bit."
"Not to sound rude but do have any experience with children?" asked Charlie curiously.
"The closest thing to experience with children are you, Sasha and Anne. I just met the third girl of the group so I'm still getting to know her, as for Hop Pop's grandchildren, I haven't gotten to know them personally yet. But I can start." said Captain Grime admitting the truth.
Captain Grime attempted to be humorous by crossing his eyes and flopping out his long, thick and wide purple tongue while making a silly noise. He couldn't really cross his eyes since one of his eyes had a scar and he only had one good eye so crossing his eyes was a little hard for him but his attempts to make Sprig and Polly laugh had failed which he stopped after seeing his attempts were to no avail.
"Working on it?" guessed Charlie.
"The process is a little slow but it's a process nonetheless." acknowledged Captain Grime.
"True." said Charlie.
Anne heard Sasha clear her throat to get her attention which when Anne turned to face her. Sasha was a little stoic and grim at first.
"Well girls. Looks like." said Sasha grimly at first but than she had changed her facial expression to a sparkling, wide eyed grin. "We're all finally back together again!"
The three female teenagers let out a happy squeal like scream of excitement as they all hugged each other and were jumping up and down in excitement while Hop Pop, Sprig and Polly covered the area of their ears from how loud their excitement was expressed. Captain Grime was showing to be visibly annoyed while Charlie on the other hand blushed and tried not to laugh.
"Human friendships are loud!" called out Polly.
"You can't pay me enough to be a teenage girl." groaned Captain Grime in annoyance.
"I've kind of grown used to girls being this way." chuckled Charlie.
"How can you grow used to girls being total, you know, like that?" asked Captain Grime with a mixture of confusion and annoyance.
"I grew up where I'm the only guy being raised in a house full of eight women. This kind of became my normal in day to day life." Charlie informed. "Also, I used some earplugs when they did the hysterical screaming."
Charlie shown them to of had earplugs on him when he shown his earplugs to them to explain things to them. The Plantars and Captain Grime all uttered an acknowledged "Oh" when they saw he used earplugs.
"Let's bring my soul brotha in!" said Anne excitedly.
Before Charlie could say another word was when Anne pulled Charlie over to join in on the group hugging, the spinning twirls of excitement and the happy jumping around which he was blushing from this.
"Gotta love these moments, don't we." chuckled Charlie nervously.
Outside the Plantar's house
They went outside to the big table that was set for the dinner party. On the left side, Hop Pop and Captain Grime sat on the left side of the table while Anne and Marcy sat on the right side. Polly sat in a seat that was on the other side of the table while Charlie sat on a seat in the opposite direction of Polly.
Sasha was about to sit next to Anne but felt a big lump in the seat till she got up and saw that the big lump was Sprig who was sitting next to Anne. She obviously didn't notice him sitting there till now because Sprig was shorter than her. Sprig was swaying his legs back and forth while she looked at Sasha with a big, innocent eyed look.
"Sorry, this seats taken." said Sprig trying to appear polite.
Sasha than cleared her throat, appearing to not be pleased by this. But Captain Grime cleared his throat to get Sasha's attention which she looked at the middle-aged male toad who was showing a stoic expression that was a little tense.
"Be nice." said Captain Grime in a low tone.
"But this little jerk." Sasha argued in a hushed tone.
Sasha and Captain Grime were annoyed and tense with how stubborn the other was being as they let out a series of clearing their throats. This left them all confused and awkward while Hop Pop suggested offering them a cough drop. Sasha sighed in defeat and went to sit next to Captain Grime.
"Welp! Enjoy everyone." Hop Pop told them.
Everyone began to grab a fork or knife to cut up bits of their food, taking bites of them, chewing on them and swallowing them down. Captain Grime took a large bite out of a large turnip as he tried to force a friendly expression.
"It tastes so fresh. You must tell me which frogs you extort for produce." said Captain Grime.
"We are frogs." said Sprig slightly annoyed.
Captain Grime fell silent and acknowledged that he shouldn't have said what he just uttered. This left them all silent while a cricket was chirping loudly nearby. Hop Pop had an idea to ease the awkwardness.
"So, anyone wanna hear a joke?" Hop Pop suggested.
"Oh no." said a tense Anne.
"How many toads does it take to screw in a mushroom light?" Hop Pop started.
There was another dead silence and Captain Grime shown an offended face as if wondering if what Hop Pop was about say was ether prejudice, stereotypical or if he'd actually laugh at all.
"How many?" said a visibly annoyed Captain Grime.
"None, they prefer utter darkness and the smell of blood." Hop Pop finished.
There was now a silence again but everyone was wide eyed with shock. Anne dropped a fork on the table that made a little clanking sound, Charlie was in disbelief as if he heard a joke that was considered prejudice towards some people of a type of race or species.
"We're so dead." Charlie thought to himself.
They waited for Captain Grime to start screaming in anger but with a slight growl, he smiled, and firmly patted Hop Pop on the back as he began to laugh out loud. Everyone was in disbelief. This middle-aged male toad was laughing? At one of Hop Pop's jokes?
"That is so true. Good one, small frog!" laughed Captain Grime.
Everyone laughed in awkward relief. They were glad that Captain Grime wasn't offended. Charlie was relieved yet he suddenly gotten a joke of his own in mind.
"I got one." said Charlie.
They all turned to Charlie out of curiosity to what sort of joke he had in mind.
"Okay, one day, I met a ventriloquist who says he was kind of joker growing up and he still sometimes pulls a few funny little jokes even now. He told me the funniest joke he ever pulled was that he went to a funeral home and attended a friend's funeral and he threw his voice at the closed casket. You won't believe what he said." Charlie went on.
"What did he say?" asked Anne.
"Well, when a man was giving the eulogy. He was saying "Dearly beloved, here lies Uncle Edward" ." Charlie began.
And that's when Charlie mimicked the sound of a muffled tone voice that they can hear but he made it sound like he was talking from inside of a box as he uttered "I'm not dead yet! Open this casket, right now!" which left everyone to laugh out loud at his joke.
"He said he never saw so many people become so terrified that one of them nearly pooped a brick." Charlie finished.
"That's funny." laughed Anne.
"That's a little dark." said Captain Grime taking notice.
"Look who your talking to." joked Charlie.
Charlie let out that madman like cackling laugh of his which by now, everyone wasn't bothered by Charlie's madman like cackle when ever he uttered such a laugh. Captain Grime on the other hand, he wasn't expecting Charlie to laugh like that as only saw him laughing like that fewer times than everyone else already has.
"Seriously, this veg is good." said Sasha chewing.
"Gotta give it to Hop Pop and Charlie. they know their way around the kitchen." Polly uttered.
"Oishī." said Charlie.
Anne turned to Sprig as she began to whisper to both Sprig and even Charlie could hear them.
"It's working Sprig. We're getting along." Anne whispered.
"Man Sash. I can't get over your armor. It totally suits you. And Charlie, you've become muscular, just like Lou Ferrigno." Marcy complimented.
"All thanks to family owned gyms." said Charlie feeling proud.
"I know, right? Way better than that dorky medieval school play we were in. Remember how I convinced you guys to skip rehearsal and hang out on the roof?" Sasha said with a grin.
"And we had the loudest dance party." Anne remembered.
"Ha! Classic! Why did we stop doing things like that?" said Sasha wiping a tear from laughter.
Charlie heard this and was now curious to how that mentioned event turned out. Anne and Marcy's smiles faded and their faces turned grim.
"Well, when we got caught. Anne took the blame and said it was her idea." answered Marcy sadly.
"My parents grounded me for a month." said Anne sadly.
Sasha's smile faded and turned to awkward guilt.
"Oh, yeah, forgot about that." said Sasha now remembering.
"You three actually did that?" Charlie chimed in.
The three female human teenagers turned to see Charlie was surprised to hear that they did what they just brought up and that it lead to Anne taking the blame for it and getting grounded when it wasn't her fault at all.
"Charlie, I know how that sounds but I'm truly sorry that I did what I did. It couldn't have been worse than that time I snuck us into a wrestling match they had going on in town at the local ring." said Sasha trying to ease the subject.
"What happened during that?" asked Anne looking worried.
There was another silence and a grim face upon both Charlie, Sasha and Marcy's faces. They knew that Anne had no knowledge of the mentioned events and knew they had to come clean about it.
"When me, Marcy and Charlie were ten. I convinced them to sneak into this local event where they were having an MMA match. It was The Iron Fist against the Juggernaut. Charlie liked the Juggernaut so even though we had no money for tickets and our folks would never let us go or take us there for that matter. I snuck both Marcy and Charlie in there to see the match. The match was tied till the third round which the Juggernaut won by a one punch knockout." Sasha explained.
"Hmm, what happened afterwards?" asked Anne.
"Well, we got caught by security and Charlie was scared to death of getting punished or being put in prison for sneaking into an event we had no money for tickets or that our folks wouldn't take us there let alone let us go there. So they figured it was best to just call our parents about the situation. I got grounded for three weeks, so did Marcy, and Charlie, well, that's when Charlie's folks started to see me as a bad influence on him." Sasha admitted sadly.
Charlie's face shown visible sadness of the event that Sasha brought up. Anne could see that Charlie didn't look back on that time as a good memory at all.
"My mom, my aunt and the ladies of the house from than on decided that they didn't like Sasha very much. That's when Sasha knew it was a bad idea to be at my house. And Kagura was volunteering to sleep in my bedroom with me for like two weeks, she's a cuddler, and sometimes I woke up with my face in a place it shouldn't have been in." Charlie told them while blushing.
"Face full of boobies." chuckled Polly under her breath.
"Polly! Not at the table!" Charlie advised sounding annoyed.
"That'll be the only joke I pull tonight." chuckled Polly.
"Ah! It's all in the past. We're all different people now." said Anne showing a smile.
Sprig was giving both Sasha and Captain Grime a distrustful look with his eyes as he had his eyes on both Sasha and Captain Grime.
"Or are we?" said Sprig looking disapproving.
There was another moment of dead silence as a cricket or more was chirping nearby. One of them tried to ease the awkwardness by changing the subject.
"Being the only boy in a house full of women? How did you handle that?" asked Captain Grime.
They were all expecting Captain Grime and Charlie to start getting into a fight or possibly arguing when the older male toad asked such a question.
"Truth be told? I was really little at the time and I was shy around all of them. Kagura was the most aggressively affectionate out of the bunch. The hugs that could nearly break your back, the kisses from her and her big lips, they did say she was the wild child out of the bunch. It took me a while to warm up to them or to get used to being the only guy in the house. But there were some times when I saw more of a woman than I intended." Charlie explained as he went from sounding optimistic to blushing and remembering something embarrassing.
"You saw one of them naked by accident, didn't you?" asked Captain Grime.
"There's a reason why I dread laundry day." said Charlie with a shudder. "Let's just say that I saw a little more than I shouldn't when I was five. Since than, we've learned that when ever we're doing laundry, each one of us does their own clothes, if anyone is in the shower or is changing into some clothes in one room, always knock first, if we're told not to come in, than it means one of the ladies is changing into some clothes. We figured it was a good idea to add that rule in the house what with nine people living in the house."
As Captain Grime was silent. He saw that Charlie wasn't joking around when he was looking serious about what he just told him.
"What were you before you became captain?" asked Charlie curiously changing the subject.
"I used to be a gladiator in the Newtopian coliseum. Yet my battles during that were part of what made me who I am today." answered Captain Grime swallowing some food. "Yet that was so long ago."
"You never told me you were a gladiator." said Charlie looking surprised.
"No one's ever asked." Captain Grime pointed out. "I do wonder why your biological father was never brought up in conversation."
Anne cleared her throat loudly and gave Captain Grime a cold yet annoyed look as if warning him not to ask that question since the subject of Charlie's biological father was not only personal to him but was also not the best topic to bring up, despite the fact that Charlie has gotten over his dad issues. Anne shook her head disapprovingly at the middle-aged male toad who in turned gulped loudly with a stunned expression.
"Bad question?" guessed Captain Grime.
Anne nodded twice to answer as Captain Grime realized his question was personal and something that was none of his business whatsoever. Hop Pop tried to make things less tense with an idea he had in mind.
"Say, um, whose up for a rousing game of Drawsidoodle?" suggested Hop Pop with a tinge of panic on his face.
At first, Anne, Sasha and Charlie were clueless about what Drawsidoodle was. Anne sensed that the only ones that knew what that game was were Hop Pop, Sprig, Polly, Marcy and possibly Captain Grime which the older male toad got up from his seat as if appearing to show an expression of irate nature. Everyone looked towards him as they didn't know what he was about to do.
"I love Drawsidoodle!" cried Captain Grime with a grin.
With such excitement, the older male toad slammed his strong fist on the table which bent it till it was looking like it was shaped into the letter "U" which sent everyone flying but Charlie was fast on his feet to dodge the table from hitting him literally but he ran around the area to catch both Anne, Marcy, Sasha and the Plantars to prevent them from falling any further or from getting hurt as he caught each one of them and set them back on their feet. The remaining food on the table was everywhere and some of the plates and silverware were spilled along with the glasses of drinks spilled in various spots.
"Grime!" cried Charlie.
Captain Grime looked to see that he got a little too excited as he saw the table was bent and dented, saw that it sent everyone flying and that Charlie's faster than usual speed limit on his feet was what prevented everyone from getting into an accident that could've hurt them. His grin of excitement turned to nervousness.
"Too much?" asked Captain Grime.
"A little." everyone said in unison.
Inside The Plantar's Home
As they went inside. They all sat down on the seats that was in the living room. The game Drawsidoodle appeared to be a lot like Pictionary but hardly different at all. The huge vol-cake-no nearby made a brief buzzing with a mix of audible sounds that were almost like a fart and the cover on the dessert looked as though it got smaller. Polly looked at it to see where the sound came from but brushed it off the second she looked away from it.
"Whose first?" Hop Pop called out.
Anne looked to see that Charlie was feeling slightly nervous but she gave him a kiss to his cheek as if to encourage him which left him to smile and he got up from where he sat.
"Dare o suisoku suru!" said Charlie.
Charlie went to the board and pulled out a slip of paper from the nearby bowl which the slip of paper had the letter "P" on there. He had a stoic expression on his face and grabbed the marker that used to draw on the board as he drew what he was drawing and once he was done. He shown them what he drew.
On the board, Charlie appeared to have drawn what looked like two beautiful and handsome looking humanoid like lions as if the two people were like human versions of lions. One being male and the other female. The male wearing a suit and tie, the female wearing a dress. The female had hair like Anne while the male had hair like Charlie. They appeared to be in the position that everyone is in when doing slow, romantic ballroom dancing.
That's when everyone was seeing they had less than a minute to guess who or what he drew.
"Thinking Out Loud!" guessed Sasha.
"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! Chim Chim Cher-ee! Mary Poppins!" guessed Marcy.
"Ballroom dancing!" guessed Hop Pop.
"Tale as Old as Time! Be Our Guest! Beauty and the Beast!" guessed Anne.
"Two lions dancing!" guessed Sprig.
"Married couples dancing!" guessed Polly.
"Anne and Charlie as two lions in romantic ballroom dancing!" guessed Captain Grime.
"Jikan!" cried Charlie. "Oddly, Captain Grime got it right. This is me and Anne as lions, both of them have hair like me and Anne respectively. I always pictured me and Anne as the king and queen of the jungle."
Charlie went back to sit down with a blushing grin while Anne smiled and blushed as well. She went in smooched him on his cheeks and forehead which left Charlie to blush deeper and let out a chuckle.
"Hey, soul sista." chuckled Charlie.
"Hey, soul brotha." chuckled Anne.
As Captain Grime got up and it was his turn. Sasha saw how Anne and Charlie were getting romantic with each other as they held each other's hand. Seeing that had Sasha not really being bothered by such a sight but she did happen to think of back when she dated Charlie and how cruel she was to him. It left her feeling some visible guilt which she tried to shake it off.
Captain Grime pulled the sheet of paper that had Charlie's drawing and pulled it over to show a blank sheet. He took a slip of paper from the bowl and uttered "Aha!" and turned to draw on the board which once he stopped. They all saw he drawn what looked like oddly shaped potatoes with faces, legs and arms.
They were all thinking and Hop Pop, Sprig and Polly tried guessing what Captain Grime had drawn yet they could only guess since the game is like Pictionary and they knew that the one that drew the drawing can't say a word about what they drew unless the time is up and if anyone didn't make the right guess or if someone got the right guess once the time runs out and they say what they drew.
"You know what this looks like?" chuckled Anne.
"That pep rally where the band got trapped under the stage." chuckled Sasha.
"A certain Anne queen and her hive." Anne interrupted.
"Ha ha! Oh my gosh. Totally!" laughed Marcy.
Sasha was a bit confused as she didn't know what they were referring to as if she missed the joke.
"Uhhh, Anne queen?" said a clueless Sasha.
"You had to be there." answered Anne.
"It's an inside joke." answered Marcy.
"I remember that. I knew some kids can get a little humorous or mischievous but I never saw anyone do anything like that. I don't mean to sound like a stalker or anything but didn't you two rap out to Insane in the Membrane?" chuckled Charlie.
"That we did!" said Anne and Marcy in unison with a laugh.
"Oh, well, did you wanna tell me or." Sasha started.
"Sergeant Campbell Bigwater and the Horsefly rebellion of 48!" Hop Pop interrupted and made a guess.
Captain Grime held out a slip of paper that shown Hop Pop was right and he guessed it correctly. It was written on there word for word.
"Yes! Whoa! For a frog, you're pretty smart." complimented Captain Grime.
Hop Pop was a little surprised to hear Captain Grime admit something out of kindness which he was probably still getting used to the older male toad being on their side.
"Oh? Well, thanks. Guess it's my turn." said Hop Pop feeling surprised.
Captain Grime gave Hop Pop the marker and Hop Pop went to draw on the board while Captain Grime went to sit next to Sprig. He gave a smile that shown his sharp teeth which the sight of his sharp teeth had Sprig feeling hesitant about him being anywhere near him.
Hop Pop pulled a slip of paper from the bowl and drawn on the board what looked like an animal that had the body of a snake but a head that was round like Polly's head with a forked tongue and a tear leaking out of it's right eye. Everyone was making random guesses. Charlie figured it had to be a tadpole of some sort.
"A weeping dirt snake?" guessed Sasha.
Sprig uttered a laugh.
"That doesn't look anything like a weeping dirt snake! Bad guess! Bad guess!" boasted Sprig with a laugh.
Sasha shown to be annoyed and offended while Charlie was quick to see that Sprig's reaction was making Sasha feel horrible yet angry which Charlie gave Sprig a warning look that was stoic with a hint of tense wide eyed. Sprig saw this and immediately stopped laughing.
"Too boastful?" said Sprig nervously.
"A little bit." said Charlie.
Sasha was oddly relieved but she didn't expect Charlie to defend her since she figured that Charlie was still working on letting go of their past conflict with each other along with how she treated him in the past. She expected Anne would get Sprig not to be so boastful but Charlie? That wasn't what she expected.
"Wait? Did someone say weeping dirt snake? Cause that's right." Hop Pop revealed.
Sasha got up from where she sat and shot an arrogant, boastful expression at Sprig as she felt like she was right this time and that Sprig was having to eat his words.
"Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! In your face twerp!" Sasha boasted.
Sprig felt like he wanted to hide as he sunk a bit deeper into the sofa he sat on which Anne got up to get Sasha to calm down and not to behave in such a manner.
"Whoa! Sasha, take it easy." Anne advised.
Exasperated, Sasha was in disbelief that no one was calling out Sprig and his behavior when he thought she got the incorrect guess but Charlie got up and remedied the situation.
"I'll handle this. Sprig, please don't behave like that when someone makes a guess of what's on the board. Not nice. Sasha, I know you're just reacting to Sprig's behavior and I get that it doesn't feel good but lets not say or do anything that we'll regret later. You two, don't be boastful at one another, it doesn't make anyone feel good at all. I don't want to be rude and cause an angry sting in either of you but being boastful is not cool. It hurts each other and none of you want that. Understand?" Charlie kindly advised.
To their surprise. Both Sasha and Sprig didn't feel offended by Charlie's words nor did they feel any unfair treatment at all. Sprig actually felt that he can agree that Charlie's right and didn't feel any unfairness at all while Sasha felt the same but was kind of surprised that Charlie defended her.
"I apologize." Sprig said apologetically.
"I'm sorry?" said a confused Sasha but she brushed her confusion off. "Guess it's my turn."
Sasha walked over to the board, pulled the sheet over and on the new sheet. She started pull a slip of paper from the bowl and smiled. She drew what looked like a possible evergreen tree or possibly an oddly shaped vegetable like broccoli. Sasha shown them what she drew and was giving them the time to guess what it was that she's drawn.
There was a silence as others just stared at it in clueless silence. Mainly everyone didn't know what Sasha drew but Charlie started to think of what she drew and a few ideas popped into his mind. Sasha was shown to be annoyed at first but she tried to see if she could make what she's trying to tell them what she drew a bit clearer. She drawn a line underneath it and than a circle around it as she cleared her throat twice. She had her lips in a thin line till Polly had an idea of what Sasha had drawn.
"Oh, oh, it's Toad Tower exploding! When we blew it up and toppled the toad army twice? Come on, you guys were there for those times." guessed Polly.
Captain Grime started to show a sour expression on his face as he let out a soft yet annoyed groan. Anne saw that this was striking a nerve with Sasha and Captain Grime and attempted to prevent one of them from losing it.
"I'm not sure that's." Anne began.
"No I think Polly's right. That top bit is where Anne choice us, you know, over her friendship with Sasha. Than when Charlie stood up to Sasha, Captain Grime and his toad army like a one man army when he confessed that the only father he's got is me and he overcame his daddy issues." guessed Hop Pop.
Sasha was trying to hold back her growing anger as she growled loudly in rage. Charlie could see Sasha was getting angrier. Captain Grime seemed to be having better control over himself but was showing to be visibly annoyed while Sasha was on the verge of losing it.
"Uhhhh, guys, we should stop. It looks more like she drew a simple tree. You know, like an evergreen tree." Charlie attempted to defuse the situation.
"Oh, and there she letting go of ether Anne or Charlie's hand and plummeting to her possible death." guessed Sprig.
"IT'S A TREE! You morons! A tree! Even Charlie knows it's a tree!" yelled Sasha. "At least Charlie smartest out of all of us!"
Everyone was now seeing that the rapid-fire succession of memories from what happened at Toad Tower twice had struck a nerve in Sasha and Captain Grime but this hit Sasha a lot harder than it did Captain Grime. Charlie got up to his feet and attempted to try and defuse the situation once again.
"Guys, we should stop, now. Ima ima." Charlie tried again to stop them.
"Ub, ub, ub! Not talksies while you drawsies. Ten minutes in the shame corner." Hop Pop said pointing to a corner of the room.
The corner of the room that was as Hop Pop dubbed the "Shame Corner" had four pictures of amphibians on the walls, a pink banner with the word "Shame" in green lettering on it and a sitting stool that had a dunce cap sitting on the stool with the word "Shame!" on it in black lettering. Sprig and Polly let out a wowed "Uh, Uh, Oh!" which that was the last straw for Sasha.
"Tawagoto." gulped Charlie.
Sasha growled so loudly that it turned to an enraged cry of anger as she grabbed hold of the board and with all her strength, picked it up and tossed it across the room.
"Oh shit!" cried Charlie.
Everyone ducked down or dodged the oncoming board which hit the wall and split into two pieces. Anne was appalled at such behavior which she had enough of that.
"Whoa! Sasha! What's your problem?" said an exasperated Anne.
"Me? Your weird frog family is ganging up on me!" Sasha argued.
"I knew something was about to go south tonight. Hop Pop, Sprig, Polly, I know you're just guessing what she drew but bringing up those memories at Toad Tower is probably not a good idea since I think Sasha and Grime wanted to forget about those times. Also, Sasha, tossing the board like that, what if it slammed someone flat like a flapjack? Huh?" Charlie chimed in as he attempted to defuse the situation.
"Oh, easy for you to say! They're not ganging up on you like a group of football players tackling someone who just caught the ball. Yes, I wanted to forget about Toad Tower because of what happened twice still stings. I can't even look at anyone here when all they see when they look at me is the devil! You have no idea!" ranted Sasha.
"One, don't yell at Charlie. He's at least trying to defuse the situation. And two, they're doing their best. Which is pretty good considering you did try to kill them and that you nearly did the same thing to Charlie!" Anne argued.
"One time! I tried to kill them one time, once with the Plantars and once with Charlie!" argued Sasha.
Charlie was about to intervene but he turned to see that the vol-cake-no nearby was growing in size and continued to grow as steam was blasting from it like steam from an exhaust pipe. He saw that it was now something new they had to worry about but both Captain Grime and the Plantars were too busy being stunned by the sight of Anne and Sasha arguing.
"Uh guys?" Charlie said with alarm.
"Sash, I thought that you said we could start over. I thought you changed." said Anne still arguing with her.
"Well, maybe I don't wanna change. Did you think about that? Or were you too busy riding your high horse!" Sasha insulted.
Sprig and Polly wondered what a horse was since horses existed in the human world but not in Amphibia which they figured they probably won't know. Marcy got up and tried to intervene as well.
"Guys, we got a problem here." Charlie said trying to get their attention.
"Guys! Guys! Stop fighting. This is crazy. We're suppose to be friends for life. We don't split up." Marcy intervened.
Captain Grime intervened and talked about how their friendship was important or crucial while he addressed Marcy by the wrong name as he didn't seem to remember her name as he referred to her as "Marsha" but the huge cake nearby was growing at such a rapid rate that Charlie knew that he had to speak louder.
"Guys! Stop your fighting right now! We got bigger problems!" cried Charlie.
Speaking up louder seemed to get everyone's attention and they all saw what Charlie meant. The vol-cake-no was growing so huge that it made the sound of a teakettle boiling loudly, the cloth that was on top of it flew off into the air and on the floor. They all noticed that Charlie was trying to tell them about the cake showing some dangerous signs that they need to be ready to do something.
After Sprig mentioned something about the cake looking like it's about to blow up was went something that looked like red hot sauce blasted out of the top of the cake like an actual volcano. It blasted the roof clean off the house which sent it flying across the property.
The lava like sauce was blasting out the top like a water fountain but instantly stopped and the lava was pouring it's way down to the floor.
"Oh! Dessert! Yummy!" said an excited Captain Grime.
The lava expanded and started to cover more of the floor as the wooden stool that had the bowl of paper slips got touched by the lava, causing it to be consumed by flames and melting down into the lava. Everyone ran to stand on something. Anne and Sasha got on the couch, the Plantars were on the sofa, Captain Grime and Marcy were on a table while Charlie was jumping up high into the air and stood on the side of where the roof once was.
"I like hot chocolate but this is ridiculous!" cried Anne.
"Damn it, Captain Grime! If we all survive this in one piece and not pieces, I'm gonna kick your ass! Than I'm gonna re-enact kicking your ass!" yelled Charlie.
"And I'm gonna help him do it too! Was this your plan all along? Pretend to be nice to get into our home to blow it up?" ranted Hop Pop.
"It's revenge for Toad Tower!" cried Sprig.
"Cuz we brought that sucka down, twice!" snapped Polly.
"Calm down! That was never my intention." said Captain Grime calmly. "The vol-cake-no is a toad favorite. Every feast ends in a delicious dessert battle! Do frogs not do that?"
"No!" said everyone in annoyed unison.
"I can't believe I'm saying this but Captain Grime. I'm gonna tell everyone your real name is Grimothy!" Charlie blurted out loud.
"Grimothy!" everyone but Sasha said in unison with a grin and chuckle.
"Yes, that's my real name. Considering what just happened. I probably had this coming." groaned Captain Grime.
There was a loud rumbling sound that shook the place and the lava stopped pouring out from the holes of the vol-cake-no which meant the flow of the lava has finally stopped. Everyone was still on their feet.
"Well, don't worry. It's delicious...assuming you survive the hornets." reassured Captain Grime.
"The what now?" asked Marcy.
"Did you say hornets?" asked Charlie alarmed.
They looked up to see that the holes in the cake had chocolate covered hornets coming out of them and started to make buzzing sounds loudly.
"This just got worse." said Charlie wide eyed.
"The hornets are the best part. But beware, their stingers cause.." Captain Grime started,
A sharp sting shot at Captain Grime's plump butt which he instantly lost all feeling in his body and he literally couldn't move as he fell forwards flat on his face to the table him and Marcy were on.
"Paralysis." Captain Grime finished in a muffled tone.
"DAAAAAMN! He got stung in the ass!" said Charlie and Sasha in unison.
"Language, you two." chimed in Anne.
"Sorry." Charlie and Sasha said.
The hornet that shot it's stinger at Captain Grime regrown it's stinger instantly as they saw the hornets were the size of Charlie's entire body. They all screamed.
"What do we do?" asked Marcy.
"We're just going to have to fight them." said Sasha getting alert.
Three hornets flew towards them as Sasha quickly removed the ribbon in her hair and got out a dagger she hidden in her hair and that was when her hair was no longer in a ponytail but now her blonde hair was down completely like Charlie's hair. She tried to impale the hornet but their shell was impenetrable as it only made a clanking sound as her dagger hit it's shell.
"That's a tough shell." said Sasha in disbelief.
A hornet tried to charge at them but Anne and Sasha dodged it as it torn a hole in the couch they were floating on.
"Brute forcing will take too long." Anne pointed out.
They saw the Plantars were running back and forth on the sofa they were floating on as two hornets were trying to sting them. This sent Charlie into a rage as he whistled to them hornets to get their attention.
"Hey you flying motherfuckers! Yeah, I'm talking to you, you oversized bug zapper bait. You have any idea how many of your kind I've swatted with a newspaper? You're all nothing but a smear on a sports page. You flying, stinging, buzzing the hell out of everyone's peace and quiet, motherfuckers with sharp sticks for a tail!" ranted Charlie.
The hornets looked at Charlie with offended rage and when they charged at him, he sucked in a big amount of air and as he roared like a real lion, he breathed fire out of his mouth like a dragon as he used his fire breathing ability to try and burn the hornets but the hornets flew away from his fire and away from him. Charlie's hair and eyes began to turn gold with the gold energy glowing all around him and his muscles from his body grew bigger as he popped his neck loudly.
"Charlie, what are you about to do?" called Sasha.
"Marcy, Sasha, Anne! The only thing that'll pierce their shells is their stingers. Our daggers and swords won't penetrate them." called Charlie.
That's when both Anne and Charlie gotten an idea in mind.
"Marcy, still have your crossbow?" asked Anne and Charlie in unison.
Marcy caught onto what idea the two had in mind as she pulled down the arm sleeve of her outfit to show she had her crossbow strapped to her right arm.
"Only always." answered Marcy. "Oh, brilliant guys. We can't pierce their shells but maybe their own stingers can."
Marcy grabbed hold of the stinger that was short at Captain Grime's plump butt which he uttered a groan of pain. She placed the stinger on her crossbow and after having it locked and loaded, she fired it at the hornets as Charlie jumped up so high that he quickly used his machete to slice off the wings of one of the hornets and the hornet that was now wingless got the stinger shot into it's torso.
The stinger penetrated the hornet's body and it fell into the chocolate lava which the hornet let out a hiss and shriek of pain. It was already dead and possibly burned to death by the chocolate lava.
"Bullseye!" cried Charlie.
"Hey, that actually worked." said Sasha realizing it.
"Alright Char Char and Sash. I need you two to get their attention. Get them mad at you two." Anne instructed.
"Now that we can do!" said Charlie and Sasha in unison.
Charlie and Sasha jumped up high into the air and while Sasha slashed at two of the hornets in their faces and spun around to hit her dagger all around them, even if her dagger didn't penetrate through their shells. And Charlie, he breathed in and breathed out fire from his mouth to annoy the hornets which they gotten hit by the flames a bit but once he stopped, that's when three of them looked at them with an enraged expression.
The three hornets shot out a stinger towards Sasha and Charlie, three stingers each at them. Sasha and Charlie used their blades to deflect the stingers which they got tossed towards Anne. Anne grabbed hold of all six stingers and tossed them towards Marcy who in turn caught them as well. She would load up her crossbow and fire off each stinger at a hornet which each stinger hit a hornet in their torsos, causing them to be completely immobilized which each hornet that got shot with their own stinger got their wings cut off by Charlie's machete, leaving them to be flightless.
Each hornet that got shot with their own stingers and their wings got cut off would fall into the chocolate lava, immediately killing the hornets. The more stingers that got fired at them, the more Sasha and Charlie deflected them, tossed them over to Anne and Anne tossed them over to Marcy for her to use to fire at the remaining hornets while each hornet got their wings sliced off by Charlie's machete blade. They eventually gotten them all and each hornet was wingless, paralyzed by their stingers and fallen into the lava which once they all did, the lava suddenly solidified instantly.
Sprig was about to place his foot on the solidified chocolate lava but Charlie advised him not to as Charlie was the one who jumped down down from where he was and the chocolate lava shown to have become solid which his hair and eyes changed back to their original colors, the gold energy around him disappeared and his muscles and body returned to their normal sizes.
"We're good." called Charlie giving the all clear.
Everyone climbed down from the furniture they stood on and were standing on the now solidified chocolate lava. Charlie came racing over to Anne and the two hugged each other. Than Marcy joined in as she hugged the three of them without warning.
"Woo! Hoo hoo! Now that's some ding dang team work, right?" said Marcy in excitement.
There was a silence, an awkward silence and Sasha shown a remorseful face at both Anne and Charlie.
"Anne, Charlie. Listen, I'm sorry I lost my cool and I know you want me to change who I am but I don't know if I can. I like who I am, regardless if I'm perfect or flawed. I did see Charlie was trying to defend me and prevent any drama from happening without hurting anyone's feelings, whomever he was talking to in order to defuse the situation which I never seen him do before and it looks like he's doing good at it." Sasha admitted while apologizing.
Anne, Charlie and Marcy suddenly realized that what Sasha told them was correct. Changing Sasha for who she is was probably a bad idea. Changing someone for who they are is something that can't be done. Sure, a person or people can change a little when they grow older by developing new interests, likes, dislikes, hobbies, and favorites to anything. But changing a person for who they are is something that can't be done because a lot of people like them in their case probably like who they are. Wanting Sasha to change was probably not fair to Sasha and was probably being forced on her. They knew they couldn't force such a thing on her.
"Maybe what me and Charlie are asking for isn't for you to change. Maybe it's for you to recognize that me and Charlie changed. Even if Charlie has these powers of his that's left him to become a superhuman commando like someone from universe seven from that anime that's so popular." said Anne realizing Sasha was right and that she shouldn't have to change herself but wanted her to realize they've changed.
"Well that's no problem. I mean look at you two. What happened to the shy little Anne who needed me to stick up for her all the time? Or the shy little Charlie that needed me to get bullies off his back for the same reasons?" said Sasha with a grin.
"They're still here, Sash. They just need a little less protecting. Especially when Charlie goes full power on someone." said Anne. "So how about it? Think this whole thing can work?"
"It doesn't have to be forced, Sasha, you can go about it at your own pace. Anne and the Plantars were the same way with ever I needed them or if I struggled with a problem. They're the same way when we grew up so much in our time here." reassured Charlie.
There was a pause and Sasha relented.
"I think we can definitely give it a shot, yeah." said Sasha.
Sasha held out her arms to hug Anne and Charlie. Anne was the first to embrace Sasha, Charlie was a little hesitant at first since he knew what went on between him and Sasha was rough but he immediately joined in on the group hug which both Sprig and Marcy looked on in smiles with happy tears welling up in their eyes.
"Fine! Dang it, fine! I'll allow it I guess." said Sprig relenting while wiping away tears.
"Allow it? Don't get your hopes up, Spriggo." chuckled Polly.
They suddenly heard groans coming from Captain Grime who was a bit groggy from the paralyzing sting from the hornets stinger and his vision returned. He groaned as his grogginess faded.
"Oh, I missed the whole battle?" said Captain Grime disappointed.
Charlie came over to the older male toad and held out his hand for him to reach in an attempt to pull him up. He took hold of Charlie's hand awkwardly at first but was surprised to see how strong Charlie appeared to be when he pulled the large, older male toad up from where he laid down and got him up to his feet.
"Someone's stronger than a whole army." Captain Grime complimented.
"Grime, I said some things tonight that I know would make you irate as a hive full of angry bees when someone disturbs the beehive." said Charlie attempting to apologize.
"Think nothing of it. If I'm ever invited to a dinner with frogs. I should probably go with something less life threatening. Truth is, I know nothing about frogs and their day to day lives, their livelihood or how they do things apparently. So I'm still learning, nothing to worry about. At least it didn't end up like the last time I had a date." Captain Grime said showing subtle remorse.
They all paused for a moment and wondered what happened when Captain Grime last dated someone or if he ever dated anyone at all for that matter.
"Do we wanna know?" asked everyone in unison.
"I was eighteen at the time and I was exploring my...gender preference. I knew I preferred a woman but this lady was an older woman, a big, older woman. She was a frog woman who apparently was into the freaky, kinky things. She invited others to join in on the fun which was consisting of a newt woman, a toad woman and an axolotl woman, all of them were of the same size and age as the frog lady. And that night, lets just say that they all took turns showing me a good time." Captain Grime explained while blushing with a grin.
"You mean you and these amphibian women and you were?" Charlie paused.
The older male toad gently pulled Charlie aside and whispered to him in his ear what he was referring to and it left him to blush deeper than he's ever blushed in his life. He almost smiled but resisted the urge to grin.
"Oh, so they shown you that kind of a good time?" said Charlie realizing the truth.
"They were all what you could call the dominant ones during that kind of situation. They even included a younger male newt that I shown a good time like they did me. While it was crazy fun! I was deciding that I am only into women, not men." said Captain Grime blushing deeper.
"I take it none of us want to know?" guessed Hop Pop.
Charlie looked at them and mouthed the word "No" while shaking his head. They all immediately understood that what Captain Grime talked about or implied and what he whispered to Charlie was something that wasn't appropriate for even children to know about, especially if it's children like Sprig and Polly. Charlie realized that Captain Grime specified to him that his first time was with four amphibian women that turned out to be women who were possibly over twenty years older than him at the time and a younger male who apparently was gay or bisexual. His first time was that of a group sex situation. He knew that he couldn't tell any children but he also knew that the only people who would understand would be Anne, Sasha, Marcy and Hop Pop since they were more aware of what dating is like and what sex was and what it involves.
"So, what happens now?" asked Hop Pop.
As Captain Grime was back on his feet. He got out a sword he had with him and used it to jab through a big round lump in the solidified chocolate lava and once he pulled it out, it shown to have one of the dead hornets have been on the sword now. Charlie suddenly chuckled as he gotten an idea.
"Oh look, it's a hornet on a stick. If that comedian with the puppets was here, he'd have a new puppet for his act." joked Charlie.
Everyone but Captain Grime knew what Charlie meant as Charlie cleared his throat and threw his voice to make the deceased hornet sound like it was talking by making his voice sound like the hornet spoke in a thick Mexican accent.
"So what's you name, big guy?" Charlie asked the hornet.
Charlie threw his voice to make the hornet sound like it said "I'm Harry the hornet...on a stick" they all chuckled a little bit from the humor.
"So Harry, I hear you learned self defense and you have a weapon." said Charlie.
Charlie made the hornet speak in a thick Mexican accent as he made it sound like it said "Sí, I could whack you with my stick" and Charlie spoke in his normal voice and said "Or poke them in the eye" and it left everyone laughing. Charlie was really good at throwing his voice and doing ventriloquism.
"That's funny." chuckled Captain Grime.
Captain Grime took a bite out of the chocolate covered hornet and after chewing on it and swallowing it down. He offered them to join in on it which they all accepted. They all would take a large bite or more out of the hornet and they tasted more chocolate than anything since the chocolate masked the entire huge hornet. They all loved how it tasted and praised Captain Grime on the dessert being so good which he felt a sense of pride from it.
"Where are we gonna live?" asked Hop Pop noticing the destruction of his house.
"I got that covered Hop Pop. Your house will be fully rebuilt about as fast as Chuck rebuilds anything." reassured Marcy. "I'm surprised Charlie isn't going hyper from eating something sweet."
"Charlie gets hyper when he has sugar?" asked Captain Grime with a raised eyebrow.
"Only in huge amounts or if the sugar content is really high. This is good." Charlie reassured swallowing a few large bites.
It turned out to be a good night for a dinner party. Marcy actually rebuilt the entire house as fast as Chuck does while Anne and Charlie kissed each other on the lips in a hug while as it was a good night. Captain Grime managed to finally get Sprig and Polly to laugh by making a loud fart which got the two frog children to laugh along with everyone else.