Ludo slowly begins to accept life under his mother's rule. The household is calmer. Each day New Castle Avarius becomes more and more complete, and the bags under Dennis' eyes grow heavier and heavier. Months had passed since Ludo last saw his father. For the time being, Dennis has assumed that role, in the sense that he is now the responsible, decision-making male of the household. Lady Avarius knows that Dennis is level-headed and bright, but she's also aware that she places quite a heavy burden on her son. One day, Dennis falls asleep at his desk having spent all night making preparations and phone-calls to various contractors he is very tired.

Dennis has been working hard, far harder than Brudo had in years to make sure things were running smoothly. At first, Lady Avarius was hard on him and strict, but lately, she too has begun to see his transformation. Not wanting Dennis to be anything like her husband, she chooses to ease up on him and allow him to rest. Lady Avarius takes the bed sheet off of Dennis' bed and lays it over his sleeping body as he lay at his desk. Without saying a word, she kisses him on the head and leaves his room. Ludo comes out of his dorm to see Lady Avarius lecturing Three-Eyed Potato Baby.

Lady Avarius: What did I say would happen if you continued to use the saw without wearing proper safety goggles?

Three-Eyed Potato Baby: I'd get dust in them?

Lady Avarius: All three of them. So wear them.

She hands him a weird set of safety goggles and sends him on his way.

Ludo: Maybe next time don't get sawdust in your eyes, you imbecile!

Lady Avarius: Ludo!

Ludo: What? He is an imbecile!

Lady Avarius: What did I tell you the other day?

Ludo: Um...

Lady Avarius: I wanted you to be an arbiter of peace... you don't do that by calling people imbeciles.

Ludo: But_

Lady Avarius: But nothing! You're going to apologize to him.

Ludo: Ah jeez. Do I have to?

Lady Avarius looks at Ludo with her broken eye, it pierces his soul and makes his blood run cold.

Ludo: Okay, okay.

Ludo walks away muttering incoherent swears to himself. He goes up to Three-Eyed Potato Baby sawing wood (this time with goggles).

Ludo: Hey you! Three-Eyed Potato Baby!

He stops sawing, and lifts up his goggles to look at Ludo contemptuously. He speaks in a frustrated tone, like Ludo is wasting his time.

Three-Eyed Potato Baby: What?

Ludo: I'm... ssssssusssuh... sssssooooorrrrry.

Three-Eyed Potato Baby: No you're not.

Ludo: What!?

Three-Eyed Potato Baby: You're not sorry. You're only saying that because Lady Avarius got on your case about it.

Ludo: *scoffs* That's... That's not true. I'm being 100% sincere. Who are you gonna believe? The guy you've known personally for years, or my mother?

Three-Eyed Potato Baby: You don't know anything about any of us.

Ludo pouts and stomps his feet.

Ludo: I do so!

Three-Eyed Potato Baby: Oh yeah? What's my name? What's any of our names?

Ludo squints his eyes in thought, and massages his beak chin in curiosity.

Ludo: I'm getting a "Frank" vibe from you.

Three-Eyed Potato Baby: No. That guy's Frank.

Man Arm waves towards them in acknowledgement with his tiny humanoid arm.

Bearicorn: Duh, here's more of that wood for ya.

Three-Eyed Potato Baby: Thanks, Bearry.

Ludo: Pf... his name's Bearry?

Three-Eyed Potato Baby: Yeah, Bearry? Why?

Ludo: Bearry the Bearicorn.

Ludo snickers at his name.

Bearicorn gets mad, ready to lash out at Ludo. He's grabbed by several other monsters to pull him away 'til he's calmed down so he can go back to work.

Ludo: Yeesh, where did he get that from? Some thin skin under all that fur.

Three-Eyed Potato Baby: You know, I do not at all regret the day we booted you out. Even if Toffee was responsible for getting the castle blown to smithereens, he was still a better leader than you. All you knew how to do was yell and rant and rave like a lunatic. You never threw your hat in the ring to fight that little brat or her boy toy. You just hid in the corner like a little coward, screaming your head off and hoping one of them wouldn't pull up behind you and give you an atomic wedgie or something. You're totally pathetic.

I remember the one time we were outside of that Marco kid's house and you didn't fight at all, you just stood off to the sidelines like a bad cheerleader and you didn't even get beat up. The only thing that made that beating worth taking was seeing Marco's mom walk into the doorway to find you laughing, and watching her throw you over her knee and give you the butt spankin' of a lifetime. It was so funny. You ran through the portal holding your rear end and crying like a little baby. That was the funniest thing I ever seen in my whole life. And guess what, it never happened to Toffee. Just sayin'.

Ludo was red in the face with complete embarrassment and utterly dumbfounded for words to respond to that sick burn.

Ludo: Oh yeah?! Well... well... you're a poopy-head!

Three-Eyed Potato Baby just ignores him and goes back to work. Ludo stomps away, defeated. He bumps into Spikeballs, a tall imposing monster smashing down nails with his large iron spike balls.

Ludo: What are you looking at?

Three-Eyed Potato Baby: Is he bothering you over there? Just ignore him. We don't do things HIS way anymore.

Spikeballs: Right. Sorry boss, I mean Ludo.

Ludo: Growls in anger and stomps out of the room. He goes outside.

Man Arm: Where are you going?

Ludo: Well, "Frank", I'm gonna go see someone who will be GLAD to see me back.

Ludo takes one last look as one of his brothers walk in holding a tray of hoagies for everyone.

Fudo: I got hoagies for everyone!

Frill-Necked Lizard: Alright! Break time!

Fudo: Hey Ludo, wanna stick around? There's plenty for everyone. Made 'em myself.

Ludo: No thanks Fudo. As delicious as your hoagies are, I need some fresh air.

Fudo: Suit yourself. More for us!

Ludo goes outside. It's pretty chilly. He rubs his arms up and down as he goes through the Forest of Uncertain Death. Ludo doesn't realize what danger he's in right now. Septarians prowl through the forest with great intensity right now. Ludo is too busy drowning in his own thoughts about his cronies to realize it. He thinks about their failures, his failures, and whether or not he's treated them fairly. Ludo thinks about whether or not he could have had the wand had he treated them better and if they had better training. If Ludo had simply been a better leader, he wouldn't have ever had to hire Toffee in the first place and he could have saved himself so much aggravation and humiliation. Onward he treks through to a cave. A pair of red eyes peer through the darkness.

Ludo: There's my girl.

Spider appears out from the darkness, approaching Ludo for cuddles. Ludo chimes in musically.

Ludo: Look what I got! Chippies!

He pulls out a bag of Gold N' Crisps and offers it to her. She sniffs and turns her nose up to it.

Ludo: What? You love these.

Spider points over to a spun up ball, indicating that she has prey caught in her web.

Ludo: Oh, I see. Looks like you made plans to eat without me. That's a rather big ball of web you have here. What is this?

He pulls apart the webbing to see a Septarian girl, unconscious but still breathing. Ludo panics, frantically tearing the webbing apart. Ludo expresses noticeable anger towards Spider.

Ludo: You don't do this to other monsters! I thought I taught you better!

He rips and tears at it until she's fully revealed. A Septarian girl with brown hair, short but muscular, and wearing brown leather gear, like a thief would dress. The girl is noticeably small for a Septarian, almost as short as Ludo himself.

Ludo: She's so pretty.

The Septarian wakes up to see Ludo standing above her, staring down at her with his big yellow eyes. Panicking, she gets rebounds energetically and gracefully, drawing a dagger on Ludo. The spider, priming to attack and defend her master, moves forward. The Septarian grabs Ludo, holding him to her chest retreating backwards, dagger to his neck.

Ludo: Easy girl. We wouldn't want our guest to make any rash decisions. By the way miss, you have a name?

Septarian: Tell your spider to back off.

Ludo: Do what she says. We wouldn't want our friend to make any rash decisions.

The Spider retreats, webbing and hanging to the back of the ceiling. Spider continues to watch the Septarian with a very keen eye, ready to spring into action if she tries anything funny.

Septarian: Thanks.

She throws Ludo to the ground, running out of the cave and disappearing into the distance. Ludo chases after her, but she's much too fast for him and she's gone before he can get anywhere near her.

Ludo: Now, see what you did?

Ludo continues his pursuit after her, following her deeper and deeper into the darker and deadlier parts of the forest, where he knows he really shouldn't be for how dangerous it is. Little does Ludo know he is walking right into territory where he was most definitely not wanted. Apparently, Jade was running to meet a few of her friends. Ludo is stopped right in his track as a raspy voice pierces the air from nowhere. A tall Septarian, a dragon-looking man Ludo has seen before, greeted him with a look of malice and revenge in his eyes.

Dragon: Well well well... what have we here? If it isn't our little friend. Where's your family now, runt?

Ludo is surrounded by several more Septarian monsters. Just as they gang up on him ready to pounce, a web shoots from the trees. Spider drops down in front of Ludo, fighting off the army. Ludo runs for it. He gets chased for almost a mile. Ludo runs as fast as his little legs will carry him as a Dragon chasing with much longer legs starts gaining on him but just as he is within grabbing distance of Ludo, he cracks his head on a branch, falling backwards with a thud. Ludo is about to escape as the Dragon dizzily rubs his skull. The Dragon pulls out what looks like some sort of gun and fires it at Ludo. A dart flies out, going into Ludo's leg. He continues to run as the Dragon becomes overwhelmed by his head trauma and tumbles over, losing sight of Ludo. Ludo runs on pure adrenaline at this point, but he finds himself becoming tired and weak. His knees start to tremble. Ludo continues to stammer around for several minutes, beginning to feel very ill and hot. He approaches swamp land, walking through several damp puddles before succumbing to sickness.

Ludo: Fuh... fu_free... dom.

Ludo collapses into a puddle, where he continues to lay helplessly. Fortunately for Ludo, an old friend is nearby. Buff Frog, with a stroller of baby eggs, strolls by as he takes his little tadpoles back to their hut for a walk to get them nice and tired and hungry so they can eat their flies and settle down for a nap.

Buff Frog: Do not fuss my little dumplings. We are almost being home, where you will have so many flies that your tummies will say "no more flies daddy, no more" heheh. Huh? What is this? Oh no. It can't be...

Buff Frog spots Ludo's body as it lays limply on the side of the road. He rushes over to Ludo and turns him over. Buff Frog sticks his ear over to Ludo's beak, and puts his finger on his neck. Ludo gives off a slow, but existing pulse. He is breathing, albeit faintly. Buff Frog must to be quick if Ludo is to make a full recovery.

Buff Frog: Thank goodness. He is alive.

Buff Frog picks up Ludo's tiny body, cradling him in one big arm while pushing the tadpoles in the stroller. The babies sense that something is wrong and look up nervously at their father and the small bird in their father's caress.

Buff Frog: You did not give up on me, even after I thought you had crossed point of no return. You and I have rocky relationship. I can not, in good will, continue to serve and work for you as you try to take wand from fellow friend Star Butterfly. But still, I find myself caring about you. I can not leave you here to die. Is because of you that I have greatest gift in world. I will not abandon you. Come girls. We must make haste. Uncle Ludo needs us.

Buff Frog hastily makes his trek back to his hut, as wasted time just may cost Ludo his life.