Disclaimer: I don't own Amphibia. I try to get chapters out as I can. Thanks to RewriteTheWorld for beta reading this.
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The gang had made their way up to the mountains, with Felicia driving and Marcy and Anne reading the map. Marcy looked down at said map and saw they were almost there, so she announced, "Hey! It looks like we're about halfway to Newtopia!"
"Finally," Anne said, stretching her arms.
"Yep. We're making good time," Felicia said cheerfully.
"Have you ever been to Newtopia?" Marcy asked the frog.
"Yep. I made the same trip with my parents and grandma when I was Ivy's age. My grandma was sick, but she still had kick to her. She wanted to see the kingdom before she passed. I'll tell you, girls. The city is something out of fairy tale." She smiled at the memory. "Now, I'm taking this trip with my daughter."
"I'm glad you came," Anne said, and she grinned. "Without you, we'd be stuck with HP's cooking." The three shared a small laugh. "I gotta say, this trip has been a lot smoother than I thought it'd be."
"It's been fun!" Marcy added. "This sure beats my trip I took with my parents." She paused for minute. "But the one thing I'd change..."
"The only thing I'd change..." Anne said as well.
Felicia added, "The only bad part is..."
The noise started from inside the fwagon as they all pretended to not be going crazy from it.
"Stop pushing me!"
"No, you stop!"
"Can we just sit down and talk? Please!"
"I have nothing to say to you!"
"Give me back my book."
"No! You're creeping us out!"
"Is that," Marcy said awkwardly as they listened to the fighting.
Sprig and Polly had been fighting, Ivy and Maddie had been fighting, Sasha and Hop Pop were, of course, fighting. They'd all been arguing with each other for a while now. Ivy had stolen Maddie's potion book, Hop Pop wanted to talk about the box, and Sprig wanted to show Polly some moss he found on the side of the mountain that she thought was stupid.
"Get that stupid slob away from me!"
"Well excuse me, for wanting to show this cool moss I found." The sound of a smack. "OW! What was that for?!"
"I thought I saw a punch bug. Punch bug!"
"How many times do I have to say it, we're not playing punch bu- OW!"
"It will just take a minute! You have nothing better to do right now!"
"I don't want to talk!"
"Give me back my book!"
"I told you, I'm looking for a spell to make you less emo and creepy!"
"Man, two weeks of this can really put you on edge," Anne said, strained.
"At least they're keeping it in the fwagon this time," Felicia suggested, only for Polly to immediately get on top of the fwagon with Sprig's hat on and do a perfect impression of him.
"Oh, look at me. I'm Sprig. Let me shove this moss in your face just to annoy you," she mocked as she shoved some moss on Marcy's face. Wow. Wow. Wow."
Sprig then got up and did a perfect impression of Polly.
"Oh well, I'm Polly and I decided that we're all playing punch bug!" he mimicked while punching Anne's shoulder. "Punch bug!" Sprig and Polly kept doing it, which rather quickly started to get on Anne, Marcy and Felicia's nerves.
"I know this is annoying as hell, but I have to say, their impressions of each other are spot on," Anne commented.
"I know, right?" Marcy replied as Sasha stormed up to the top of the fwagon with Hop Pop behind her.
"Don't walk away while I'm trying to talk to you!"
"Just get out of my face before I toss you off the wagon!"
"Fwagon!"
"Who cares? That's a dumb name anyway."
Ivy and Maddie were arguing as they came up top, too, but with the chaos of everyone else, it was impossible to hear a word of what they said.
The three were forced to drive despite the noise, all seeming to be on the brink of insanity as their bloodshot eyes twitched. "I'm sorry, but I just can't take another hour with these guys arguing, let alone a week," Marcy complained.
"Same here. If we can't find a way to get these guys to get along, I'm going to lose it." Anne continued.
Felicia was just rubbing her temples, but then she saw a sign in the distance. When she saw what it said, she stopped Bessie immediately. "What the hell, dude? I almost bit my tongue," Anne said.
"Shhhh. Look." Felicia then pointed to the sign.
"'Quarreler's Pass. A road to reconciliation for weary travel mates.' Okay, so what?" Polly asked.
"Wait, Polly. You don't think they're going-" Before Sprig could finish, all six of them were thrown on the pass. "What?"
"Really, Mom?"
"Anne? Marcy? What the hell?"
"You're seriously leaving us here?"
"Just look," Marcy then turned the sign to show a map that showed two paths. "Says here that the paths meet up."
"I'm sorry sweetie, but you kids are starting to give me grey hair with all the yelling, fighting, and arguing." Felicia showed the back of her hair, and sure enough, the bottom part was becoming grey.
"All this fighting and bickering of yours has been driving us nuts! You brought this upon yourselves!" Anne informed them.
"This all Sprig's fault!"
"Stop hitting my boyfriend! It's your fault for punching him all the time, and it's Maddie's fault for constantly trying to cast spells on me!"
"I didn't! You spilled my potion because you were jumping around like a baby!"
"Well this sure isn't my problem. Sasha can't talk for even a minute."
"Shut it, old man!"
The group kept. On. Arguing.
"It's all your fault," Anne repeated.
"Welp, see you on the other side, and good luck." Felicia whipped Bessie's reins, and they sped off.
"They just left without us!" Sasha groaned, pulling on her hair.
"Stop complaining." Hop Pop folded his arms. "That's the problem with your generation! You want a freaking hand out!"
"And your generation is closed-minded bigots that refuse to accept any change!" Sasha yelled back.
"Let's just get this over with!" Polly said as she hit Sprig in the back of the head. "Try to keep up, slowpokes!"
As the group went down the pass, they continued to fight with each other, at least until they came across a wooden beam that crossed a pit filled with jagged rocks.
"Beam of Balance," Polly read. "Heh. More like Beam of Race-You-Across!" She hopped off, leaving a dust trail behind her.
"Hey, get back here, you dang cheater!"
"Polly, don't run!"
"Eat my dust, lame-os!" That's when the beam started to wobble. Polly lost her balance and started to slip, towards the jagged rocks. "Help me, lame-os!"
"Polly!" Sprig screamed. He grabbed onto the beam and shot his tongue out to grab Polly midair.
"Thanks." Polly said as the rest held onto the beam as well.
"Okay, I think it would be best if we took this slowly," Hop Pop suggested.
"Wow. Really? What a brilliant idea!" Sasha said sarcastically. "Only a dumb person would've ran across." She shot Polly a look, who glared back. Ivy pushed between the two of them, and everyone started to crawl on the beam slowly so they wouldn't fall.
"This going to take forever!" Ivy groaned, and Maddie rolled her eyes.
"We're about halfway there, it will just take a few minutes," Maddie said, annoyed. "Just keep crawling. And stop hopping! You'll flip the log over and we'll fall."
"I was just suggesting. Maybe there's another way." Ivy retorted, and she cursed under her breath.
"Yeah. Let's just jump." Polly sighed, already tired at how long this was going to take.
"We won't be able to make that, Polly," Sprig pointed out.
"Yeah," Sasha called out, "and your old man definitely won't make it." The old frog glared ahead to Sasha, a little upset at her hate.
"I still have a good spring in my hop! Anyway, kids, no hopping. We'll get across slowly and steady." Ivy and Polly groaned slowly, and sure, it took them a couple minutes, but eventually, they made it across unharmed.
"We did it!" Polly cheered.
"Now, let's breeze through this so we can get back to my mom!"
"I support that!" Maddie said.
"I hope they're doing okay," Sprig said.
"Yeah, I wonder how the others are doing without us."
Back on the road, Felicia continued to drive as they enjoyed the peace and quiet.
"Think we did the right thing?" Marcy asked hesitantly.
"Marcy, they'll be fine," Anne said reassuringly. "They need to work out their issues." Though she was a little unsure herself.
"I guess you're right. I'm just feeling a little guilty." Marcy sighed, looking back towards where they'd left them.
"You have to be firm with people, girls. Set boundaries, or they'll walk all over you," Felicia told them.
Anne quietly looked over the side, at the cliff. All her life, since she needed Sasha, she walked all over her, and whatever she wanted to do, Sasha didn't care.. It wasn't until she came here that she started to grow out of the dependence on Sasha. She was standing up to her in ways she couldn't never picture herself doing before.
The silence was nice, since outside of her thoughts, she could only hear the sounds of the fwagon and Bessie.
"I think I see something up ahead." Marcy pointed out with her finger, and sure enough, there was something blocking their path. Felicia pulled Bessie to a stop as they got closer, and three frogs blocked there path.
"A wagon?"
"Hopefully a store."
"Alrighty. Get out nice and slow," one of them said as he drew a crossbow.
"Okay. Okay. Okay." Anne held up her hand, as they slowly did as he'd ordered. "Just relax."
"Drop any weapons you might have. And if anyone is inside, tell them to come out."
"It's just us," Marcy replied.
"Really?" He looked over and his team, "One of you check inside, and you tie them up." He looked back at the girls. "Any funny business and..." He smiled and pointed his crossbow at them.
Anne gulped.
Back at the path, Polly and Sprig were singing. "A super-duper brother-sister crew, we're a team that can't be beat! Always gonna land on our feet!"
"Sprig?" Ivy called, but he wasn't paying attention.
"We're almost all the way through But the end of the pass is fake," Polly sang, just in time for Sprig to bump into the wall, "It's fake."
"What the heck? Someone blocked off the pass and painted it to look like the end?" Maddie asked, aggravated. Sasha knocked on it, confirming it was indeed a wall, "Weird." While Sasha and Maddie checked out the painted wall, Polly was looking around.
"Must be another test. What if we took..." Her eyes found a cave, looking dark, dirty and dangerous. "...that tunnel over there?" They got closer to the entrance of the tunnel, which had a skeletons scattered around. The kids looked uncomfortable about the cave, excluding Maddie, who kept her emotionless glare. Hop Pop was the first to speak up.
"I'm not too sure on that, kids. Maybe we should find another way around." The kids looked like they were about to agree, however Sasha was having none of it.
"Do you see any other way around?" Sasha asked as she pulled out her phone to light the way and entered the cave. "Now, come on. I'm not waiting around." The frogs followed her inside, though Hop Pop was frowning.
"All right! Test passed!" Polly exclaimed.
"Hmm." Sasha paused, scanning around the cave as they followed the tunnel, suddenly wary. "That was too easy."
"Or maybe we're just the best!" Ivy smiled with smug grin, to which Maddie (surprisingly) agreed on.
"Yeah!'' They high fived.
"Just keep your eyes open for anything that moves," Hop Pop instructed.
"Don't worry Hop Pop, there's nothing in here." Sprig waved him away.
"I actually agree with the old man," Sasha commented as they continued down the path. She glanced behind her at the frog in question, but she forced herself to look forward again.
Ivy stopped as they came across some strange artwork on the wall, Hop Pop slowing behind her. It looked like something large hitting Amphibia, another one of some monster with many eyes, and figures of blue, green and pink, and one alone Newt. There was something written in a strange language they weren't familiar with.
"Whoa..." The little frog stared at the artwork. "Who do you think made this?.
"No idea, probably some lost civilization? Or just someone just draw on the walls," Hop Pop answered.
"What's it say?"
"No clue." Hop Pop looked at the wall. "I don't know this language."
"Can we keep going please?" Sasha called out from up front, "It just some stupid wall art."
"Oh, coming." Ivy ran to catch up with the group, entering a narrow tunnel.
"Okay. Not much farther. Hopefully," Maddie said, but she accidentally stepped on Ivy's foot.
"Hey!"
"Oops. My bad!"
"Ugh! You're so annoying!" Ivy complained, as if they hadn't been getting along better a moment ago.
"No, you are!"
"No, you are!"
"No, you are!" The two frogs began to shove each other.
"Will you two brats stop it?!" Sasha yelled, loud enough to make them take a step back. Hop Pop, however, wasn't going to put up with that.
"Don't you talk to them like that," he ordered.
"Go to hell, Hopediah! Why can't you stay out of my face?!" Sasha snarled, getting up into Hop Pop's face, fighting back the urge to hit him. Her large form towered over him as he took a step back like cornered prey.
"Because I adopted you!" Hop Pop lashed out right back, turning away for a quick second, before facing her again. "And that should mean something!"
"What does it matter? You're not our real family!" Sasha yelled back, letting out her frustration. Those words were like a knife to Hop Pop's heart, just another on a long list of painful memories. "And once I go back you never see us again! We have a real family, not this freaking sham you're pulling."
"It still counts?" Hop Pop's voice was breaking, and he didn't sound so sure of himself. Sasha was clearly taking the lead in this fight.
"Well it shouldn't! I don't need you! We don't need you!" Sasha glared down the frog.
"I am so, so, SO sorry about the box." Hop Pop voice was crisp, the sound of a broken man that had nothing but regret, "I AM. And I know I messed up, but STOP pushing me around and STOP wishing I was dead..."
"NO!" Sasha cut him off, she didn't want to hear it again. "You know how your daughter died. You've said GOODBYE. Because of you I almost was never going to see my family, my parents, my big sister... do you get that? Your daughter is gone but at least you didn't lose everything... You have Sprig and Polly. You almost robbed me of ever making it home. They could be think I'm alive or dead or WORSE, and I DON'T KNOW, SO JUST STAY OUT OF MY LIFE, DAD!"
"I..." Hop Pop couldn't even find the words, as Sasha just let on ahead, leaving the old frog alone, hating himself even more then ever. The another kids stayed, a little in shock, and Ivy awkwardly patted his back.
Hop Pop had plenty of falling-outs with friends before, and after some distancing himself from them for a couple years, he'd had perfectly pleasant one-off interactions with them. With some people, it was kind of nice to just get some distance and let animosity die out over time, while also making sure you're not really in each other's life anymore.
He just wanted to make things right before she returned home, and it broke his heart again. After his heart was so broken that you thought it could never get worse. But it still managed to crack again.
"Hop Pop..." Sprig said softy.
"Mr. Plantar?" Maddie asked quietly, but before the old frog could reply, they heard Sasha scream. Everyone snapped to attention, and they immediately ran off in her direction.
"Sasha!" they screamed, as they saw her and a large two-headed beast with short front arms while lacking any back legs. Each side of the body had a different color from each other. One was purple and the other was light pink. They were also blind, if the bleached eyes were any indication, and had two glowing branched gills forming tufts atop their heads, and various scars on their bodies from various fights between them.
They all looked at the monster with fear, before Sprig spoke up.
"What the frog is that?!"
Back with the bandits, they'd done as they were ordered, and the frog that had tied them up walked up to Felicia. She quickly grabbed his pocket's knife and held him hostage.
"Drop it, lady!" the leader frog said. "Or I'll— ARRGGHH!" Felicia had thrown the knife, knocking the crossbow out of his hand. She then tossed the person she held hostage towards him and grabbed the crossbow with her tongue.
"Wow, Felicia, that was— that was crazy!" Anne grinned as Felicia leapt behind her to give a swift kick to the third member of the crew.
"It's not over yet!" the frog reminded them. She tossed the crossbow over to Marcy. "Help me!" The one she'd just kicked started to grapple with her, and the ex-hostage and the leader frog were starting to get up, so Anne rushed to help, falling into a defensive position.
"How am I supposed to use this?" Marcy asked, bewildered, holding the crossbow in her hands.
"You tell me!" Anne shouted. "You're the one who loves the RPGs!"
Marcy gasped slightly, her eyes widening in realization, and a grin spread across her face. She loaded it, aimed it at the ex-hostage and the leader frog running towards them, and she fired. Everyone watched as the crossbow bolt dramatically sailed through the air . . .
And it missed.
The girl pouted at not instantly being perfect with it, and the leader frog cackled. The shot may not have hit, but it distracted them, giving Anne enough time to run around behind and knock them down, clambering on top of one of them to keep him down. The Thai girl looked up at her moping friend and shouted, "Marcy!"
She glanced up at the sound of her name and snapped back to attention, rushing over to the other one and keeping him down too.
Felicia managed to break away from the one she'd been fighting with, and she shoved him over to the humans, who jumped out of the way just in time to avoid getting smacked by flying frog. He landed on his buddies, and then all three girls were over them, Anne and Felicia in threatening poses and Marcy bluffing with the crossbow.
"Okay, okay, we'll leave! Geez," the leader frog groaned. They backed off, and the frogs picked up their stuff and ran away, though they left the crossbow.
Marcy cheered. "I've got a weapon! . . . I need to figure out how to use it."
And they all headed back to the fwagon.
"Whoops, didn't mean to frighten you," the purple head said.
"Oh..." Polly said, "that's okay."
"Oh, we meant to eat you!" the pink one said instead. Most of them screamed and ran away from the creature as Hop Pop ran to pull Sasha up. They backed up but fell down a hole and ended up in a mountain of bones.
"Well, this isn't a good sign," Sprig commented.
"I don't get it. Olms are supposed to be extinct," Hop Pop said.
"Well, looks like one is still alive," Sasha said quietly as they heard the creature through the tunnel, laughing. "Shh! I don't think they can see us. Let try to sneak around them.
"No, but we can hear you." The olm charged through to them, and they jumped out of the way, causing it to hit its head. They used the opportunity to escape, while they were all still intact. Hop Pop carried his grandchildren while Sasha carried Ivy and Maddie.
"Cave! Cave! Cave!" Ivy pointed.
"I see it!" Sasha replied, and they entered the small cave to take refuge.
"Oh," one of them groaned, "great. Nice going, Lysil. We lost 'em in the crack 'cause you were dragging your feet."
"Okay. A," Lysil replied, "we don't have feet, Angwin. And B, I could've helped if you'd bothered to communicate at all."
"I said, 'Over here!' Try listening for once."
"Ugh! Just help me find a stick to pry them out of the crack. You are literally a pain in my backside."
"Ugh! I'm a pain? You're the pain!"
"No, you are!"
"No, you are!"
"No, you are!"
The group listened to Lysil and Angwin arguing, and lo and behold, they started to get frustrated.
"Ah! All this bickering is driving me crazy."
"It's like wearing a beehive on your head."
"Can you imagine having to listen to this for more than an hour?"
"Or two weeks?"
"From the back of a wagon?"
There was a moment of silence, at least from the group, as the olms argued outside, everyone started to groan in some kind of embarrassment. "A truce?" Polly suggested. "Not argue for a couple weeks? Give them a break?"
"Deal!" Sprig said.
"Yeah, that's a good idea," Ivy mumbled, and she glanced up at Maddie, who smiled.
Hop Pop glanced at Sasha, who just quietly looked away with a little nod.
"Now then, how to escape two, mostly blind, argumentative siblings?" Polly asked as the group slowly made their way out of the cave, then the pollywog gasped. "I have an idea that might make an impression."
"Okay, whatever. Let's just eat these kids and get back to never talking to each other again!"
"Ugh! Finally. A good idea out of your mouth. Now, let's find that stick already."
Polly grinned at her brother and said, in Angwin's voice, "Do it yourself, you smelly dum-dum!"
"Who you calling dum-dum? Yeah, I found your stick. Right here!" The group watched as Lysil smacked her brother with a bone, and Sprig jumped to the other side of the cave with the help of his tongue.
"Ow! Hey! Watch where you're swinging that thing!"
Sprig took a deep breath and said in Lysil's voice, "Not my fault you've got such a humongous swollen head, brother!"
"Hey! Now that's uncalled for! Take this!" He bit her on the neck and pushed her into a wall, causing a landslide. Sprig dodged Lysil, Angwin, and the collapse while the two start fighting. A rock nearly fell on Sasha, but Hop Pop jumped and pushed her out of the way.
The group headed towards another exit tunnel above the cave.
"Move, move, move!" Sprig called out, and Sasha picked him up, carrying all four frogs out of the cave. She jumped down, and finally, the danger ended. They panted and started to laugh.
"Whoo, man. Promise me we never end up like that."
"Us? Are you kidding? We're way too good of a team."
"Bring it in, buddy." Sprig and Polly hugged.
"Maddie," Ivy said, "are we good?"
"Yeah."
"I guess I'm not used to having so many kids around," Ivy said, a little embarrassed.
"Trust me, you're way less annoying than my sisters." That remark made Ivy laugh a little.
"Thanks for having my back, back there," Sasha replied awkwardly, but before Hop Pop could reply, Sasha looked around and declared, "Looks like we're back on the road, and look, there's the others."
The old frog sighed.
"Wait, does Marcy have a crossbow?!"
Season 3 Episode 1 was probably my favorite episode of The Owl House, that and Season 2 of Dead End Paranormal Park were great. New Pokemon game coming, probably going with Fuecoco (Also if anyone has the new Pokemon game. Can you PM I need help with evolving my Finizen as it needs online co-op to evolve.) . Hazbin Hotel finally has a release date.