Episode 1 - Anne or Beast?
Amphibia, one of the many world blessed by magic. A lush and yet dangerous world, where the combination of a wet biosphere and abundance of magic power has led to a world of large creatures, vicious predators and strong forces. And yet, some species still found the path toward sentience and evolved, in a way that for worlds magic-less like earth would be almost unthinkable.
A feature that was common among worlds where magic was present was the fact that there were more than a sentience species living on the same planet, and frequently, on the same continents. Such was the case of Amphibia, where five species able of sentience currently thrives, all of them of amphibian origin: frogs, toads, olms, axolotls and newts.
And so, it was in a peaceful and warm evening in the Frog Valley, one of the inhabited regions mainly populated by the eponymous beings, that the one-eyed vagrant and minister Wally Ribbiton decided that it was time to end his dinner and return to home.
"Goodnight, you frogs! See you in the morrow." he said, before tripping and banging against some abandoned barrel "Oi!"
Two other frogs, who were just outside drinking and chatting, laughed as he tripped: Wally was as nobody, and his daily accidents were often source of humor for his fellows who had the chance to assist.
Wally picked himself up, and with an embarrassed smile, moved forward. Soon, he had left behind their laughter and was walking through a path in the middle of the forest, playing distractedly with his own accordion. Sure, the forest was dark at knight, but he knew that at least for today, it would have a relatively safe walk.
At least, so he thought.
He was already starting to think about his bed, that he heard twig snapping, behind him.
"Hello?" he asked, waiting for the reply.
No answer. Around him, he could only hear the ominous blow of the wind. It was then that he heard the sound of footsteps, and saw a shadow moving behind him.
"What's that?" he turned around.
Another twig snapped, and he heard more footsteps, now coming from a different direction. He turned again, and for a moment, he saw two other shadows moving just out of his sight.
"If there is someone…you should at least present yourself!" he yelled, hoping to push whoever was stalking him on the outside.
And then, he felt something moving again, and he turned around to face it. And he saw three tall, dark and threatening figures with glowing eyes emerge from the bushes. Something, he has never seen before.
"AAAH! No no no no! NOOO!" he yelled as he ran away.
"No, wait! Wait!" Anne said, signaling him to stop "Damn, he ran way."
"So long for asking for help." Sasha murmured "Well done Anne."
"Maybe we should just follow him: I mean, this is a road." Jacob pointed to the oblivious "It surely leads someplace to someplace else: we just need to find someone willing to help us… and that will not run away once it sees us. Isn't right Marcy? Marcy?"
The three turned around, and saw Marcy doing a sketch on one of her book, a familiar fire on her eyes.
"Oh my gosh: that was a frog! And it could stand on its 2 legs with no help? It could play an accordion?! It could talk?! And speak English!? This is so amazing!" Marcy squealed "Are they the dominant life from here? Or there are other, more successful species we have not seen yet? What's their name? What type of frog are they? Can they still called frogs? What is the name of this place?!"
"THAT'S what we were hoping to ask him" Anne replied "But he ran away."
"Then, let's us move. Return to the cave, guys."
"Don't we follow the road?"
"Nah, we do not know what we could find out there. AND, we still have your cousin and the unexpected guest, waiting for us.
"But-"
"She's right, Jacob" Anne replies "Let's go: is no use still think about it."
Jacob stood still for a few second, looking at the road, wondering what he would have seen if he followed it: would that be help? On the other hand, maybe danger?
He decided he did not wanted to find out now, as he followed Sasha and her friends back to their temporary refuge…
The next day, life was going as usual at Wartwood, one of the main frog settlements of the valley: a huge toad-butcher was cutting an similarly-bigger insect (a centipede) with the head part running away as soon as he started to cut it; a cute couple's romantic moment was ruined as a huge dragonfly came and carried away the frog-guy; young children were playing around while the adults were mostly focused on their daily businesses.
"Ho. Ho." said an old frog, using a leaf on a stick to guide the snail pulling their chart in the direction he wanted "All right, kids I'm gonna do a little shoppin'. You watch the cart."
"You got it, Hop Pop! I'll defend this cart with my LIIIIIIIFE!"
"Sprig, I was talking to Polly."
"What? But Polly's a baby!"
"You're a baby!" was the pollywog's reply.
"Polly's got more responsibility in her little flipper than you have in your entire body!"
"Ridiculous. What makes you think I'm irresponsible?"
"Oh gee. Let me think."
While Hop Pop was busy cutting some vegetable, Sprig added something to the pot behind his back, and the pot erupted his green liquid substance.
"Oops!" he said, before the lid crashed on his head.
A cow-worm crashed through the wall and right into Hop-Pop's bedroom as Sprig was riding it, the three of them screaming at the same time.
"Sprig, what did I tell you about leaving the lights on?"
Two giant fireflies, attracted by the light, rammed into the house as its occupants started to scream.
"Okay. So yesterday was a bad day."
"Mm-hmm. Polly, make sure Sprig stays in the cart." he said, before marching right into the shop "Well, how do you do, Mrs. Jonkins?"
The young frog sighed, "Wish there was a way to prove I'm not such a goof-up."
It was then that, almost to answer to his wish, a scream filled the town, quickly gathering the attentions of everyone.
"MONSTERS!" screamed Wally, his face full of terror and tiredness (for having run in blind panic until now) "Th-there're monsters in the woods! I saw them! I saw them!"
"Now, simmer down Wally." spoke Mayor Toadstool, the current leader of the settlement as they all gathered around Wally "Just tell us what you saw."
"Oh, it was horrifying." Wally screamed once more "They had huge heads, some weird, stubby bump right in the middle of their faces and long spindly limbs!"
The frog gasped as they listened to Wally's description.
"And one of them had horns on his head. HORNS!"
"Horrible!"
"Obscene!"
"Monstrous!"
"I said so: MONSTERS!" Wally screamed for the third time.
"Then, we can't just wait idle: we better catch these beasts before they hurts somebody. Because for Mayor Toadstool, your safety comes first!"
The crowd started to applaud their Mayor, who was taking advantage of the commotion to gain some hero-points with them.
"Well, it's the responsible thing to do."
"RESPONSIBLE! RESPONSIBLE! RESPONSIBLE!" the crowd started to chant and giving Sprig an idea.
"Polly, I just had a great idea. I am going to catch that beast and save the town, so Hop-Pop will see that I am responsible enough to warrant his trust from now on."
"Stop right there!" she raised one of her flippers as to stop him "Hop Pop said that you had to stay in this cart. And you know you can't take me!" she flexed her muscles, as to try to intimidate her older brother into compliance.
Still she was a no-yet developed pollywog, and Spring knew her enough to have a way to convince her to look on the other side.
"Oh, oh, Polly, look." he said, grabbing some candies from his clothes and dropping them on the cart's floor "Candy!"
Polly looked at it for a few seconds as her brain and her stomach fought to gather her muscle's support "Bribe accepted!" she finally said, jumping on the candies and starting to eat it ravenously like a yellow ball eating pineapples and ghosts.
"Let the monster hunt begin!" Spring declared, jumping off the cart and running toward the forest.
"Don't die!" was the last words Polly said to him, before focusing again on the sweets.
Unfortunately, as a famous popular saying in the valley goes, "Between the frog and his pond may be the heron." As excited and determined as Spring was to give his own of his responsibility, it was one thing to claim to catch the monster, it was another to actually do it. Making matters more complicated was the forest itself, which was so intricate and difficult to explore that it easily hid thousands of creatures that lived there. Sprig knew the thousands of insects and other creatures that hung out in its trees, and now, there were new monsters threatening the entire Wartwood.
Catching the monsters will have to make me much more than getting the respect I deserve. At the very least, I will be a hero to the whole town, and Hop Pop will no longer be able to get angry.
He tightened his fingers on his weapon. He had his own sling with him, and enough bullets to deal with all the monsters he came across, no matter how many there were.
Finally, after a long patrol, Sprig saw something, half-covered by leaves. With one hand, he moved the leaves away, and saw a footprint that he had never seen before, and that could belong neither to an insect nor to a frog.
The monsters, there was no doubt about it.
Looking around, Sprig noticed other footprints, similar to the first, but too widespread to be of one creature. Evidently, whatever it was, there had to be at least one pack.
"Seems like the beasts roams these parts" he pondered "This is probably a good place for a tra-aaAAAAHHH!" she yelled, as he realized there already was a trap, and he just fell into it.
"Damn. Which frog puts a trap and forgets about it?"
And then, he heard a sound coming from the bushes, and he moved to see what it could be. And then, six tall figures emerged from the bushes.
"Caught ya!" Anne said, holding a pointed stick like it was a lance "Thought you got the best of ol' Anne, eh? Well, you didn't!"
"Well" Jacob smiled, clutching in his hands a large, sturdy club-like stick "Looks like this one won't escape."
Sprig gasped as his eyes saw the creatures in front of him
"Giant heads! Spindly limbs! Face bumps! That one has horns! THE BEEEEAASSTS!"
"Hello" said the one with black fur on his head, walking at him smiling and keeping a book his hands "I'm Marcy: are you a frog? Are frogs the dominant species of this world? What is the name of this planet?" she touched him with her finger "Huh, his epidermis is very similar to earth's frogs, probably due to similarity of environment…"
"Marcy, take a step back" Sasha warned her "We do not know what this things is, or even if they can't understand us at all."
"Still, in the event it does" Anne said, lowering her head to him "Stop. Following. Us!"
"I have bad news for you, beast! I taste terrible! My meat is bad, like, VERY bad. I might be poisonous for you!"
"What?"
"Is he-?"
"Is he implying that…?"
"YUCK! Are you crazy?" said Sasha, barely containing her own stomach from disgust.
"We are not going to eat you."
"You tried to eat Wally!"
"Huh, is this Wally a blue-you with only one eye and a tacky hat?" Jacob asked.
"Yeah!"
"We weren't trying to eat him!" Anne said, "We found ourselves lost in these woods, and we saw him coming on that road and we tried to stop him and ask for help. However, he ran off screaming the second he saw us, and he didn't stop to listen when we were saying we were not dangerous!"
"That DOES sound like Wally..." he pondered about it, realizing it sound way more realistic that he had guessed.
Suddenly, a monstrous screech resounded through the forest, and Anne and Sasha saw some trees falling over as something big was approaching them.
"Incoming!" Amelia yelled, running forward "Hide! Hide! Hide!"
"What is it?" Sprig said, suddenly scared once more.
"It's coming back! Fast, let's hide before it gets here!" Sasha followed her, grabbing Anne and Marcy by their wrists
"Hey! I'm still trapped here!" Sprig cried
"Wait, what about him?" Anne objected, pointing at Sprig.
"Forget him: leave him at his fate!" Sasha yelled, as Jacob and James ran past them, following Amelia's path.
For a second, Anne was willing to listen to Sasha's voice once more and abandon Sprig to the upcoming predator. But then, he turned her head, and she saw him desperately trying to get free by biting the rope that was imprisoning him: useless, as she realized he wouldn't be able to get free on time…unless he had help.
"I'm sorry Sasha…but I can't let just let him to play bait" she spoke, freeing herself from Sasha's handgrips.
"ANNE!" Sasha yelled behind her, while Marcy almost cried from the shock. Just then, a new thunderous roar convinced them to hurry to their hiding place.
Anne wasted no time: with a fast swing of her stick, she cut off the rope that was imprisoning Sprig, and then she carried him to an old, empty log, where the other were already hiding, entering with a slide.
The humans stood in silence as a large shadow passed over the log, and large red insect claw moved in front of their eyes. Jacob, whose eyes were close to some small hole, kept watching as the large red mantis left again, walking away from sight and into the deeper woods.
"Ok" he said, once he was sure of it "It's gone."
"I think I might just had a heart attack" James added "Too much emotions for one day only."
"Sasha…" Anne started to speak, before the blonde girl slapped her hand.
"ANNE, YOU IDIOT!" she yelled with fear-induced rage "Do you realize that if you were once second slower, that thing would have killed you?!"
"I know, and I'm sorry…"
"SORRY? SORRY?" Sasha yelled once more, tears flooding from her eyes "DON'T YOU DARE SCARE ME LIKE THAT AGAIN! If something bad had happened to you…I would have never forgiven myself!"
"Ah, group hug!" Marcy said, quickly joining her friend hugs.
"Wow" Sprig said, and then the humans remembered that him was there too "You…you saved me."
"Huh, yeah?" Anne said, smiling embarrassed.
"You saved me…You saved me! You are not some monsters, at all! You're a hero, and they're good! Yes, some ugly, ugly, ugly good creatures!"
Sasha, Jacob, Amelia and James all glared at him at the same time.
"What?" he asked, noticing the odd looks.
"Look, I don't care if you're happy of being alive, but if you call us ugly once more" Sasha narrowed her eyes "We WILL eat you."
Sprig laughed "Ha, you're not gonna eat me. I saw how disgusted you looked when I asked you that."
"Anne" now it was Jacob talking "That was the most courageous thing I ever saw you do…also, the most stupid. You risked your own life against that huge mantis, to save this thing that we still do not know if to trust at all!"
"Hey, I have a name!" the frog replied "Don't you guys?"
"Sure we do!" Anne smiled again "My name's Anne. Anne Boonchuy."
"I'm Sprig Plantar! Put 'er there, hero!" he offered a handshake. Anne smiled and shook is hand, only finding after that of the slame covering it.
"So... your hand just barfed on my hand."
"I'm Marcy, Marcy Wu. Happy to make you acquaintance, Sprig!"
"Happy to meet you too. I saw earlier you have quite…many questions to ask me…"
"Indeed I have!"
"I'm Jacob, Jacob Matthews. Happy that at least we have found someone willing to trust us."
"How's that you have horns and the others you don't?"
"What? Oh, that's not real horns, that's my hat" he said, pulling it out as to show it to Sprig.
"Wow…" Sprig said, "Can I touch it?"
"Not yet" Jacob quickly said, putting it back on his head "This is precious to me, and I do not want you to slime it like Anne's hands…"
"Whoops, sorry!"
"I'm Amelia Matthews, I'm Jacob's cousin. Honored to know you."
"You have a strange hat too…" Sprig said, "Also, what is that thing on your side?"
"This? Oh, this is my wood katana" she said, quickly drawing it as to show "This is my weapon, and my heirloom too."
"Amelia, that's not your heirloom! Your father just bought it during one of his travels, and gifted it to you."
"For me, is an heirloom!" she quickly pouted, putting the wood katana back to in its case.
"My name is James Blueingham, from Worchester. I shouldn't even be here; I don't have anything to do with this whole thing!"
"Well, there is an old saying about that: once in the water, you have to swim."
"When I think that it all started just because I wanted to see the stars in peace..."
Sprig turned to the last girl, the blonde one, who was looking afar with an annoyed look, and sighed once she realized it was her turn.
"Sasha Waybright."
"Nice to meet you all. Now, about those questions…"
However, Sprig's words were cut short as the human's stomachs growled at the same time and some of the girls held on them. It has been hours since they had last been able to eat, and now their bodies demanded new food to produce energy.
"Okay, Sprig." Anne asked, "As you can guess, we are lost and hungry. You got anything to eat?"
"Sure do, it's everywhere!" he said, lifting up a section of the log and showing the bugs crawling around underneath.
"Ew, gross!" Amelia covered her mouth
"Please" Anne continued "something that isn't-"
"Hmm, they're quite not bad" Anne, Sasha and Jacob turned to see Marcy picking up some of those bugs and eating them "This one tastes like…jelly! And this one" she took another "tastes like chicken!"
"GROSS, MARCY!" Sasha covered her eyes before the news reached her stomach and drove her to vomit again. Jacob simply looked on the other side, and closed his eyes.
"Please Sprig, something, ANYTHING that is not bugs! Is there fruit or vegetables or fishes or…"
"So, as long as is not bugs you're all fine with it?" he pondered about it "I may know where to find something, but we'll have to hunt it down a little bit. C'mon, follow me!" he ran out of the log.
"Wait a second!" Jacob said, unsure about moving outside "How can you guarantee that we can trust you?"
THAT was a key question to him: sure, the little guy looked pretty friendly by now, but still, when they met him he called them "monsters". Moreover, the fact that he was hunting them was something worth of consideration.
"Whaaat? Does this look like a face that could deceive you?" he said, making puppy-like eyes.
Jacob exchanged glares with Sasha: sure THAT was something that someone who planned to deceive someone else would say; moreover, this frog-guy looked quite untrusting in their opinion. Still, their stomach needed food, and if he was a local, he could led them to it earlier and with less effort; and the two of them would be more than enough eyes to keep him under watch.
"Maybe you're right," Jacob said, smiling. No matter what he thought, so far not alarm him was the best option.
"I guess that settles it" Anne smiled in turn.
"Well, then, c'mon! Chow time!" he signed the humans to follow him.
"Lead the way, Sprig!" Marcy said enthusiastically.
Meanwhile, back to Wartwood, Sprig and Polly's grandfather Hop Pop had finished his grocery run and was now exiting the Grub and Go … just in time to witness the angry mob-in training wielding farming equipment and torches. That was a sight that would have someone quiver in fear…had not it be a regular occurrence in Wartwood.
"Now" spoke the Mayor "when I say kill you say it, Ok? Kill."
"KILL"
"No, I say Kill. You say It!"
"We say what?"
"It!"
"It what?"
The Mayor grumbled as Hop Pop simply sighed at the uninteresting sight "Heh. Another day, another angry mob with torches and pitchforks. Come on kids, time to- What the?!"
It was then that he saw Polly lying in the middle of several sweets scrap papers, with the face of someone who has had abundant indigestion of sugar. Sprig was nowhere to be seen.
"I don't have a candy problem! You have a candy problem!" she yelled defensively.
"Polly, where's Sprig?"
"Uh... not here." she tried to come up with something "something-something monster, something-something woods…"
"Oh no!" exclaimed Wally, having heard everything "If your boy really went into the woods alone, he's as good as eaten. Those beasts will devour him, us and everything in their path!"
"Not on my watch!" replied the old frog with determination, grabbing Polly "Hang in there boy! Hop Pop's a-comin'!"
"YEAH!" the various villagers (and the Mayor) roared after him, following him.
"Remember to harvest the toenails for medicinal purposes!"
"I have to admit Sprig: you have been very helpful; without your help, we would still be starving by now." Jacob said, taking another roasted mushroom.
Sprig smiled. Around him, the six humans were intent on feeding themselves, each according to their own tastes: Sasha and Marcy were sharing a generous portion of mushrooms and rose-colored roots, cooked for a few minutes on the small fire they had lit in the middle of the clearing with twigs and dried grass, surrounded by stones, or rather, Marcy was helping Sasha pick out the most appetizing pieces, to then eat the remainder; Jacob and Amelia had found a strange tree full of red fruits, and after dropping quite a few, they were peeling them and eating their sweet-and-sour pulp, sharing them with James.
"Mushrooms, fruit, sweet roots...not a bad meal, all things considered." Jacob smiled.
"Maybe for you," Sasha replied, looking with poor appetite at the stuff in front of her, "I don't know what I'd give for a hamburger with double bacon."
"What is a hamburger?" Sprig asked
"It's a food from where we come from" Anne replied before turning to her friend "Sasha, I understand your feelings, but in the absence of anything else, I don't think we can afford to be picky. After all, the help Sprig has given us has been incalculable, so far."
"That's right, Sash!" intervened Marcy "Come on, try the yellow roots: they taste crispy and salty, like potato chips. Huh, I need to jot that down in my notes!"
Sasha looked at the seemingly unappetizing roots for a couple of seconds, before sniffing one, and tasting a small piece.
"Not bad," was his final judgment.
Sprig looked at her: Anne and Marcy, whatever they were, were very nice and funny, but Sasha...she was different. He did not know how, yet he had the impression that beneath her calm and solitary air, lurked a great deal of hostility.
"Hey, James," Anne made, turning to him, "What's the vote on the mystery fruits?"
"They taste somewhere between apples and tomatoes," replied James "They're not the best to eat fresh, but they're edible and also quite pleasant, and that's good enough for me. Still...If I had the right ingredients available on hand, we could make a great sauce from them."
"I'll note that down, too!" Marcy said excitedly, scribbling frantically, "It might come in handy in the future."
"Especially mark down the places where we could find them," suggested Amelia, wiping her face clean with her hands, "As long as we know where we can find something to feed ourselves, the future looks less black."
"I'll do it right away... Sasha you remember where the place was? Any particular signs?"
"I don't think so, why do you ask?"
"It's embarrassing to have to say this but...since we don't know this place yet, it would be best to jot down some landmarks, the same for everyone, so we can get our bearings if necessary. We'd better go back to the points so that I can take precise notes of the location and how to get there."
"Mar-Mar, you don't want to go there alone, I hope," Sasha said as she raised her eyebrows, "Have you forgotten the giant mantises that roam the area?"
"But we still need to be sure about our food sources," Anne replied, "If we couldn't find them again, that would be a big problem."
"In that case, I don't need to go alone, Anna-Banana" Marcy smiled, almost as she has just discovered fire "Who wants to go with me?"
"I'll go," said Sasha, standing up "I need to calm my mind, and walking can only do me good."
"I'll come too!" Amelia intervened "I'll be your bodyguard-I'll be your Zheng He!"
"Zheng He was an admiral, not a warrior!" resumed Sasha with irritation.
"Really? I beg your pardon."
"Jacob," said James approaching him, "Can you come with me? I'm sorry to ask, but I need to ...release myself a little bit, and I don't trust myself to go off on my own."
Jacob looked at Anne, then at Sprig, then back at Anne "Anne, is it okay if we leave you alone with Sprig? For a couple of minutes, no more!"
"No problem Jacob: I can survive a couple of minutes alone. Besides, I'm sure Sprig has some questions for us, and I'd like to start answering them..."
Jacob nodded, following James past some trees as Sasha, Marcy and Amelia walked off in the opposite direction. A few seconds of awkward silence passed, before Anne spoke again
"So...I guess you have a few questions for me, right?"
"A few? I would say more like a million," replied Sprig "But the first question I want to ask you is absolutely ... WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU, AND WHERE DID YOU COME FROM?!"
"Whoa, whoa, calm down little guy" Anne replied "So, to answer to your questions, we are human beings, and we came from" she took a deep breath "ANOTHER WORLD!" she shouted as powerful as her lungs allowed her to "Either that, or this is just a dream, and you're a fragment of my imagination."
"I'm pretty sure I am very real" Sprig said "So…how was the world where you came from?"
"It was…quite different from here, and yet, not so different that you wouldn't be able to understand anything on it: for example, bugs lived there too, but they're not big as we see here. In fact, most of the bugs species are so small, that you could hold one in your hand with space to spare."
"We do have small bugs as well. Something else? Are there frogs in your world too?"
"Yes, but they're way different from you: in our world, frogs are small creatures who lives in swamps or moist, water-rich habitats, they are much smaller than you are now, and they can neither walk nor talk."
"And you do not eat them, I hope."
"Nope: they're just creatures you are bound to find and see, when you walk along a river or on the shores of a lake."
"Are there any creatures? For example, what kind of creatures are the hummuns?"
"Humans" she corrected him "And we are mammals."
"Mammals?"
"Its one of the main five kind of creatures that lives on our world: we humans are just one species of all, but we are the only ones who can think, talk …and cook."
"Wait, so you are the only intelligent creatures of your world? Aren't there other races expect for you?"
"Well, it depends: there are some species who we think may be smarter than others, like some monkeys, or the dolphins, but so far we have never met any other who could talk back at us. You did?"
"Oh yeah, you would be surprised" Sprig snarked "So…this world where you came from, do you know how you got here?"
"No idea" Anne admitted "One minute, I was in my world, with Sasha, Marcy, Jacob and his cousin, and we were talking about my birthday and stuff; and the next thing I know we are all here, in the middle of the forest, with giant bugs who will devour us if we get ourselves captured. And worse of all, we do not know how to get home or if we can even go home."
"That's sad…wait, you said it was your birthday?!"
"Yep, from my point of view, it was yesterday."
"Oh…I'm so sorry you had to endure all of this in such short time and on your birthday too."
"You don't have to worry about it. So, yup, this is my story, and Sasha's, and Marcy's and… of everyone who is with me now, trapped in a world of talking frogs. How about I ask you a question, before we continue?"
"Sure thing! What do you want to ask me?"
"I want to ask you, what were you doing in the woods? And why you were following us around?"
"I was proving that I'm responsible and trustworthy!"
"Oh yeah, and how?"
"By capturing the huge dangerous monsters with giant heads, spindly limbs and face bumps that threatened our village and…" he suddenly stopped, realizing he may have just said a little too much.
Anne looked at him with wide eyes. She did remembered that he had called her and her friends "beasts" when they had first met … and that he believed that they wanted to eat him…and that she had talked about the other one who they tried to ask for help…
Wait, did that meant there was a whole village of talking frogs who believed her and her friends to be some kind of hungry monsters?
"What?" she flat-said.
"THERE THEY ARE!" a voice resounded from behind of Sprig.
Suddenly, out of the bushes, came an angry mob of frogs, armed with torches and pitchforks.
"Here come our boys!"
"What? Stay away from me!" Anne tried to back off, but the frogs jumped on her and wrapped her up in tight layers of rope while she screamed with fears.
"AAHHH!"
"What was that?" James asked.
"It's Anne: she's in danger" Jacob realized, grabbing his sturdy stick and beginning to run "Hang in there Anna-Banana: I'm coming!"
James made to follow him, when he noticed some medium-sized stones just inches from his foot. Whatever had attacked Anne, it was unwise to show up unarmed.
And James had a good track record of throwing objects and hitting … where he wanted to.
Quickly, he grabbed a couple of smaller rocks and put them in his pocket, took a couple of larger ones in his hands and ran after Jacob, hoping his colleague would arrive in time.
"And near the fruit tree, there is a small spring of water that we can use in case of emergency, should the others we found so far be unavailable" Marcy wrote down on her book "There: now we have a map of the area, and we know where we can find for our use at least for our immediate-"
"AAHHH!" a piercing scream came in direction of the camp.
"Oh my" Sasha said, realizing whose scream it was, feeling her own blood cool down from fear "That was Anne's voice: something must have happened to her!" she grabbed a nearby fallen branch "Come on!"
"I'm behind you!" Amelie replied, drawing her wood katana "BANZAI!"
"Don't worry, Anne! We'll save you!" Marcy yelled, rushing behind them.
"Ha-ha! You caught the monster! Sprig I'm impressed."
"No! You guys got it all wrong!"
"Dude, what the heck?" Anne called him out "You set me up? I thought we were connecting!"
"N-no, no, no! This wasn't my plan."
"ANNE!" a voice came out from the woods, and a few seconds later, Jacob and James rushed outside, facing the frog's mob.
"There they are!" Wally screamed, "That is the horned one!"
"Release her right now!" Jacob yelled angry, swinging his stick "Or I'll make you!"
"ANNE!" another voice resounded, as Sasha, Amelia and Marcy appeared to the left of the boys.
"GUYS!" Anne replied, now actually relieved to see her friends once again.
"Oh, frog!" Mayor Toadstool gasped, counting the humans in front of them "How many of them are there?!"
"The beast must have summoned her pack! We are doomed!" Wally cried.
"GET THEM!" Toadstool yelled, and the two sides (frogs on one side, humans on the other one) charged at each other.
It was an uneven fight: the frogs outnumbered the humans, but the humans were much taller, sturdier and stronger, and a couple of them had some experience in fighting. Sasha was attacked by a frog armed with a pitchfork, but she defended herself with her branch and then snatched the pitchfork from his hand and counterattacked, opening a gap in the deployment.
"Back off, creeps!" she screamed, shouting angrily.
Meanwhile, Jacob attacked in Anne's direction, using his big, sturdy stick to force his way through and disperse the frogs so as to free her; Amelie slinging her wooden katana and covering her cousin's flank, striking Toadstool, who decided it would be wiser to fall back temporarily; James throwing stones, striking the frogs' flashlights or pitchforks (in the former case causing them to go out), disarming them and forcing them to flee; and Marcy...
"This is so cool!" shouted the Taiwanese-American girl, juggling the two battling groups by defending herself (but not attacking in turn) with a stick "It's like in the game, Edwuyn the archer-ranger of Elvenwood, where right after you start you get attacked by a horde of evil goblins..."
"Mar-Mar!" Sasha scolded her, while holding off both Hop Pop and Polly "Less fan-girl, more warrior-girl."
"Ah, yeah right!" she replied, making her way in great leaps toward Anne as the others kept the frogs around them busy "Anne, are you okay?"
"Oh, yeah, fine: just a little tied up with the current occurrence…"
However, because both sides were so heavily focused on fighting each other, they did noticed that the sound of their clash had attracted the attention of something else.
That is, until a ravenous roar echoed through the forest, stopping both sides mid-fighting, as a green-clad figure appeared.
"Oh, no, it's a mantis!" Wally screamed in horror.
"Hurry!" Mayor Toadstool said, exiting from his hiding place "Everyone! Mantis formation!"
The frogs moved in formation, climbing on top of one another and forming a pyramid of frogs, giving free space for the humans to reach Anne and gather around her.
"Huh, what are they doing?" Anne asked, still tied up.
"Interesting" Marcy took notes "they're trying to impress and intimidate the mantis by looking larger than they are, by using a formation."
"Are you kidding me?" Sasha snarked.
"Hyah!" the top-forg dared the mantis to come forward.
The mantis looked at the formation for a few seconds, and then…she walked away, squeaking.
"Ha-ha! We scared it off!" Hop-Pop said in proud tone.
"They scared it off!" Marcy added, in enthusiastic tone.
"They scared it off?" Sasha questioned, unbelieving.
"We have power!" the frogs announced…just a second before ANOTHER, larger mantis of color red landed just in front of them.
"Nope. That scared it off" Polly said.
"Ah, that's it." Sasha answered in panicked tone.
"Yeah, that makes more sense." Hop Pop admitted.
"Big time" Jacob quietly said.
The red mantis roared, attacking the frog formation with her claws, dispelling it and causing the panicked frogs to flee in seconds.
"IT'S GONNA EAT OUR GUTS!" the towns-frogs yelled while running away in blind panic, the giant mantis running behind them
"We need time, dammit!" Jacob realized "Sasha, James, you and I distract it while Marcy and Amelia frees Anne. Then-"
Nevertheless, Anne felt the ropes tying her up loosening, and Sprig undid the nodes who blocked her.
"What is this?" she glared at him "Another trick?"
"No" he simply said, "I'll distract that thing. You and your friends get out of here."
With that final word, Sprig ran towards the red mantis with a battle cry. Then, he took out his slingshot and started to shoot at it, not enough to seriously damage it, but making him stop pursuing the villagers and focus on him.
"It's distracted!" Sasha said, herself and Marcy helping Anne back on her feet "We have to get leave now!"
"No, we can't leave him …alone!" Anne responded, pointing at the colossal insect now hunting Sprig.
"He lied to you and led to you being tied up!" Sasha insisted.
"You know what; I think maybe that was not a trick" she grabbed her pointy stick "You guys get far, I'll reach you as soon a possible!"
"I can't talk for the others, but think I'll stay." Jacob said, his hands on the club "You know, just in case you're thinking of doing something crazy, stupid and totally reckless..."
"I can buy him a few minutes if I give that thing something else to focus on!" Anne cried before attempting to move, but then Marcy and Jacob grabbed her by her shoulders.
"Then, we can multiply that time." Marcy said to her smiling. Anne looked around, and saw Jacob, Amelie and James smiling at her too: they were not going to leave her alone again.
"Let's rumble, girlfriend" Sasha said, worried, but still willing to stand alongside her friend.
Anne smiled, then turning around, ready, to face the large mantis.
"Come on you bug-face! HERE!"
"Oh no..." Sasha intervened "HERE! HERE!"
Meanwhile, the large mantis had manages to corner Sprig and was going to strike down with one of his scythe… before another rock, larger than before, hit it in the yes, making it scream in pain.
"Hey, you invertebrate!" James taunted it "Why don't you pick someone on your own size?"
The mantis roared again, charging toward him and giving Sprig an opening to attack. But while it was focused on James, Anne attacked on his right side with her stick, while on the other side Sasha jumped on it and struck another stick into its back.
"Waaagh!" Jacob screamed, hitting the mantis with his club, making it shriek again and turn toward him, giving Amelia a chance to it too from the behind.
"Your friends…" Sprig said coming closer to Marcy "They're fighting it."
"Looks like he can't focus on more than one enemy at once" Marcy analyzed it "That means, if we had some way to trap him, we could neutralize him while it's too busy fighting to see where it moves…"
"Some way to trap him?" Sprig said, remembering about the rope "I may have an idea…"
Working together and attacking in turns, the humans were able to face off the large mantis, but it was till larger than they were, and as such, it was stronger and more powerful; and the humans could begin to feel tired.
"We can't keep going like this!" Sasha said, "We need to move before it crushes us!"
"That won't be necessary!" Sprig yelled, jumping on the battle once more, pulling the rope behind him, jumping and trapping the mantis more and more, making it impossible for him to move.
"Now Marcy!" cried Sprig when the mantis was completely enveloped; immediately, Marcy, from a distance, pulled her own end of the rope. Sasha and Anne, seeing her, ran to give her a hand, while Jacob, Amelia, James and Sprig pulled from another side, permanently trapping the mantis and immobilizing her limbs.
The mantis roared again as it chocked, before falling to the ground, no longer able to either free itself or continue fighting.
"Woo-hoo!" the frog villagers gasped.
"It's down! It's down!" Mayor Toadstool exclaimed, raising his arms in victory.
"We did it!" the six humans (plus Sprig) said in unison.
"High-five, Amelie!"
"High-five, cousin!"
"High-five, Sash!"
"High-five, Mar-Mar!"
"High-five, Sprig!" Anne said, but the frog-boy high-fived her with his tongue "Oh, boy that's gross."
"Anne" Sasha marched toward her "Let me tell you: that was so stupid it bordered into outright suicidal…"
"I know, and I'm s-"
"But I never had so much fun!" she cried of joy, hugging her
"Group hug!" James said, as the humans embraced each other, happy of their victory.
"Well, now that that's settled" Toadstool said ruining the moment, glaring at them "What the heck are we gonna do with these things?"
"What?" Sasha said, tightening her fist.
"Are you serious?" Amelie asked, dumbfolded.
"Maybe…" Toadstool continued, and the frogs behind him gathered back their (burned-out) torches and pitchforks "we ought to run them out of town just to be safe. Let they be someone else's problem!"
"In case you have not noticed it, we have just saved you from being eaten alive!" Jacob responded with anger.
"They're right!" Sprig responded, stretching out his arms to stop the newly gathered mob "They are not monsters. They are just lost, very far from home and they need our help. We should take care of her, at least as a thank you for defeating that," he pointed at the mantis.
Jacob smiled, hearing Sprig defend them with such a fervor: when he saw Anne tied up like that, he had assumed his worst fears were true and that Sprig was actually trying to deceive them, but now that he was hearing such words, he realized he really wanted to protect them. At least, someone who was friendly with them…
"What?" the Mayor gasped, "Are you crazy?"
"Yeah." added Wally pointing his finger with accusation "What if they go nutty tomorrow morning and starts eating people?"
"Not gonna happen, buddy."
"Ugh, Gross."
"I'm not eating filth."
"Seriously, we have no intention to eat you: you all look disgusting to us!"
"Don't worry yourselves silly." Hop Pop came to his grandson and placed an hand on Sprig's shoulder, Polly on his head "I'll keep an eye on 'em, all of 'em."
Toadstool glared at him, with an air of complacency: he did not trusted these creatures, but since the old Hop Pop wanted to take care of them so badly (and considering he lived far away from the town itself), let him take care of it.
"Hmm. Have it your way, Hopediah Plantar" he spoke like a king absolving a servant "but I don't like it. All right boys" he looked at the frogs behind him "pack it in!"
Grumbling, but steadily, the frogs gathered around the mantis, and started to pull it away, talking about how "it tasted good with butter."
"Bumper" Marcy said, looking as the giant mantis was pulled far from them "I was hoping to check it myself."
"I'm sure you'll have many more occasions to see how that things looks from the inside" Sasha replied sourly.
"So…" Sprig lowered his head, reading himself for another scolding "Looks like I'm back to causing trouble for the family again, huh?"
"Trouble?" Hop Pop smiled at him "Sprig, standing up to that angry mob to help these strange creatures out was... Some of the bravest and most responsible stuff I have ever seen!"
"Yup, that was pretty cool, Sprig." Polly added her own "It was also really dumb!"
"Yes. Really, really, reeeeaaalllly dumb."
Sprig gasped "But you think I'm responsible?"
"Well, yeah, I mean, let's say just this one time. But don't do it anymore!"
"Yes! Woo hoo!" Sprig chanted, starting a small victory dance and making Jacob smile at him out of sympathy.
"Well, don't get carried away..."
"Big win!"
"I guess we have to introduce ourselves to you too" Anne said "I'm Anne, these are my friends Sasha and Marcy, this is Jacob, the one with him is his cousin Amelia, and the last one is James."
"I'm Hopediah plantar, but everyone here calls me Hop Pop" he replied "And this one is Polly, Sprig's younger sister."
"Hi there!" Marcy said.
"Sooo…what kind of creatures are you?" Polly asked, "You do not like frogs or toads."
"They aren't. They are strange smart mammals who came from another world." Sprig announced.
"For real?" Polly questioned them.
"Yes" Jacob nodded "It's a long story…"
"Welp, it has been great to help you and all, but we just need a map and we're outta here. We've got to find our way out of this kooky place." Sasha intervened, still looking nervously at the forest around them.
"Oh, a map won't be enough." Hop Pop said, taking off a drawn paper out of his clothes, and showing it to the humans.
"Is this a map of the place where we are?" Marcy gleamed
"Yes: it is called Frog Valley and it is surrounded by mountains that are impenetrable this time of year."
"Impenetrable?" Jacob asked doubtfully.
"You try to cross those mountains in this period," Polly synthetized "you die."
"It should clear up in a couple of months."
"When you say in a couple of months" Anne raised her hand "You mean that two month and then we can go, or that two month is the minimum but it could be even longer?"
"Just two."
"WHAT?" Sasha screamed, looking at them like they were crazy "Are you telling us that we stuck in this crazy place for the next two months? What're we going to do now? Where are we gonna stay?"
Later, in the evening, the six humans were now gathered in the Plantar Farm, where Hopediah had offered them hospitality for as long as they need to stay. While Sasha and James were still weirded out by the environment around them (as well by its almost completely lack of cleanliness), the fact that they were no more forced to live in a cave with large bugs and they now had a proper roof over their head was a major upgrade considering their situation.
"All righty" said Hop Pop, showing the humans a basement made of stone walls and lighted by bio-luminescent mushrooms of unusual dimensions, connected to the rest of the house by a wooden staircase "Kitchen's upstairs. Breakfast at sunrise, sharp."
"Okay." Anne replied, while the others checked the area around them "Thanks for letting us stay here, dude."
"Thing nothing about it. Still, just so you know, this is a farm and in a farm everyone contributes; thus as long as you're going to be staying here, it would be appreciated if at least some of you are going to give us a hand."
"I wouldn't have anything against it," said Jacob while trying to figure out where to place his own mattress "However, I have zero experience with farm work."
"That is not a problem, as long as you can work and put your determination into. Nobody is born a farmer…" Hopediah said, leaving.
"Well, what a dump we ended in." Sasha grimaced.
"Still better than the alternative" Jacob replied finally placing his mattress on the ground "I'm putting my mattress and James's here, close to the staircase; just to be safe."
"By the way, is James still outside?" Anne asked.
"Yes, he said he wanted to stargaze a little, before going to bed."
"These large glowing mushrooms offer some kind of biological internal light," Marcy said, adding another sketch on her book "I wonder if such plants could thrive on earth too…"
"Hey Sash" Anne looked at her friend "How about we put our mattresses here?" she pointed at the rear area of the room "If we unite the mattresses, we can have a better sleeping are than everyone on its own."
"Yes!" Marcy said "Sleepover girl friends!"
"Fine" Sasha nodded "This basement is gross and smelly, but at least is not too much dirty, and we're inside."
"Hey, friends! Gettin' comfy?" Spring said, tossing some plushies on the ground "I brought some toys to keep you company. I'm too old for these, anyway. O-oh, except for this one. Oh, and this one. Oops, this one too. Sorry. This one as well." he stopped, gathering back al, the plushies on his hands "I'm still glad you're all living with us now, monsters."
"We are NOT monsters," Sasha said.
"But still, we appreciate the thought" Marcy added.
"Yeah. We are happy that your family gave us hospitality, weird little frog boy." Anne smiled at him.
"Okay, good night. Sleep tight. Just don't let the bed bugs bite you. Seriously, they can drain a body in seconds."
The girls glanced at each other "He was joking, right?"
"Huh, maybe?"
"Great: now I'll imagine it for the whole night."
"Amelia, you do not put your mattress down?" Jacob asked his cousin.
"Nope, I'm not sleeping tonight."
"You're not sleeping?" he asked to her, puzzled.
"Someone must stay awake and be on guard, bed bugs or not bed bugs!" She put on her best samurai-face "As long as I stand, you can rest!"
"Amelia, I'm sure that was just to scare: there is nothing here that actually wat to hurt-"
"Hey you!" Polly said, leaning out from the staircase "Just in case you're thinking about eating us while we are sleeping…try it. Old Doris and I are looking forward to it!" she sent another glare, before disappearing once more.
"On second thought, maybe is better if we take turns, Amelia" Jacob turned to his cousin "Covering the whole night alone can be pretty hard, what if I and James help you on it?"
"Guys, guys!" James said, descending the staircase at great speed "There's something you should know!"
"Hello James: weren't you busy looking for Cassiopeia?"
"That's what I was going to tell you: the stars…they are not the same we have on Earth!"
"What?" Sasha asked, looking at him
"That…it can be logical" Marcy said, thinking about it "If this place is not just an alternate Earth, but a different planet, on another place of the Universe, ours or a parallel one, it is quite logical that the stars you can see are not the same we are used on Earth. Thus, the constellations we are used to know probably not exist here."
The humans started to gather for the night, but then, Anne's hands moved to her backpack, and took something out of it.
The box, that brought all of them here the first time.
"Anne, what are you doing?" Amelia asked.
"I'm going to try activating it one last time."
"Not to be a pessimist" Jacob sit down on his mattress "but haven't we tried this before? And it hasn't worked again?
"I know; maybe this time it will work, and we'll be back home."
"Very well" Marcy said "Still, be careful."
Anne nodded as one hand on the bottom and another on top, she blew on it and then slowly opened it.
"Come on, come on!"
She opened and closed it, hoping to see again the flashing lights, and interdimensional magic to take them back home, but nothing happened. Reality sank as she realized her last desperate attempt was NOT going to work.
"Looks like we're going to be here for a while,"
"Stupid box doesn't even work anymore" Sasha leaned on her mattress, yawning
"Well, yes" said Marcy "But at least we're still safe, unhurt and all together now? It could have been worse."
"Marcy is right" Jacob said "There was no guarantee that we would end up in the same place: and if we didn't, we could have never known if we were all transported here, or just the single ones of us."
"I for one I am happy that at least we are in this together" Anne smiled, looking at Sasha and Marcy "Friends makes hardship less hard to live."
"Well…me too." Sasha admitted "I do not even dare to think what would have happened if I found myself here alone."
"Me too!" Marcy hugged both of them "Good night, friends!"
"Good night, Marcy!"
"Good night, everyone…"