June 17, 2098

Wartwood Swamp, The Old Continent, Amphibia

The Plantar family farm had been a staple of Wartwood ever since it was founded nearly 1100 years ago. The types of produce it had grown varied over time, but the farm stood strong. It fell into disrepair after Amphibia was ravaged by King Andrias' machines but was eventually revitalized and began anew with a single avocado pit Hop Pop brought back from Earth.

Polly was the one who took over the farm after Hop Pop passed away. Frobo's gardening skills along with some irrigation technology Polly developed helped modernize the farm even further. She was still officially the head of the farm to this day, but was much less active than she used to be. Polly never had any biological children, but did create many robot "children" to help out.

As for Sprig, he spent a good chunk of his adult life as an adventurer. He and Ivy spent many years exploring the new continent on the other side of the planet which he had named Anne-phibia. It was populated only by wildlife now, but the continent had ruins proving it had a strong civilization in the distant past. They eventually took a break from adventuring and returned to Wartwood to start a family, But once the kids were old enough adventuring became a family affair.

But now Sprig had permanently retired to the farm, his adventuring days long behind him. He was steadily approaching 90, which is a rather long life for a frog. Whenever someone asks, Sprig claims he kept himself alive through sheer stubbornness that would make Hop Pop proud. Ivy had managed to hold on to life for a long while in the same way but sadly died a few months ago. She had been his companion for many decades and now he felt an intense emptiness he hadn't felt since the time right after that fateful day when Anne left Amphibia. Truthfully, Sprig had never fully gotten over Anne's departure, but he moved on and lived a happy life.

Sprig often thought about what Anne's life was like after she returned to Earth. Did she start playing tennis again? Was she celebrated as the girl who saved Los Angeles? Did she finally get together with Sasha and Marcy? Did she never forget him? Sprig hoped the answer to these questions was "yes", but wouldn't know for sure until he saw Anne again in the afterlife someday…

Little did he know that he would be seeing Anne sooner than expected.

"Great-Grandpa! Great-Grandpa!"

Sprig's train of thought was interrupted by young Tulip Plantar. She looked a lot like Sprig did when he was very young, being bright pink like him. The rambunctious 6-year old quickly ran up and grabbed Sprig's arm, pulling him out of his chair.

"Whoa there," said Sprig, breaking free of Tulip's grasp to steady himself. "I'm not as spry as I used to be. Why don't you just calmly tell me what the problem is."

"Anne Boonchuy is outside!"

What? No, no, no… Sprig wouldn't do this again. For years he had dealt with dreams and occasional hallucinations of Anne. Eventually he came to terms with the fact that he would never see her again, but now those old feelings were relapsing. His breathing quickened rapidly, which was dangerous for a frog his age. He looked like he was about to start crying.

"Great-Grandpa…?" Tulip realized she upset Sprig.

"That's… that's not funny, Tulip," he said, trying to regain his composure.

"It's not a joke! She's really there!"

Tulip realized there probably wasn't a way to properly salvage the situation and just decided to grab Sprig's arm and run with him again. Sprig wanted to protest, but realized he wasn't getting out of this situation and resigned himself to his fate. When they made it outside Sprig saw that a crowd had gathered near the avocado fields. Once the people noticed Tulip approaching with Sprig, the crowd parted revealing the person they were surrounding.

Sprig froze. There she was, looking many years older than the last time he had seen her but still far younger than she naturally should be.

"Hi Sprig," she said softly, approaching him.

Sprig continued to be frozen. He stood there for a minute and didn't say anything. Two minutes. Three minutes. It was like Hiber Day came early for him.

At that point Anne began to panic, thinking that the mere shock of seeing her killed him. "Sprig? Are you—

"OH FROG! YOU DIED AGAIN AND YOUR GHOST IS HAUNTING MEEEEEE!"

Huh, it seems Sprig hadn't changed much after all.

"I'm not a ghost, Sprig." Anne saw doubt appear in the old frog's eyes. "Okay, I am dead, but I'm not a ghost. Here."

Anne reached her hand out for Sprig to take. He was hesitant but eventually grabbed it. Solid contact, and it wasn't cold and lifeless. Her hand was warm and strong and alive, somehow. Whatever, he'd question that later. Sprig jumped into Anne's arms, arguably faster than what should be possible, and gave her a tight hug which was quickly returned.

"You're here! You're here! You're actually here! I can't believe it!" He was crying tears of joy and soon Anne was as well.

"I can't believe it either!" said Anne. "I missed you so much!"

"Spranne against the world," they both said.

They stayed silent and kept hugging for a while, but eventually Anne set Sprig down.

"I have so many questions for you!" Sprig's depressive slump had disappeared entirely and he was just as excited and energetic as he was when he was a child. "Did you ever start playing tennis again? Were you celebrated as a hero on Earth? Did you finally get together with Sasha and Marcy? Oh, and most importantly, how are you dead and also alive!?" There were some murmurs of agreement in the crowd. Clearly they were wondering that as well.

"Yes, yes, yes." Anne paused for a couple of seconds. "And I'm not even sure how to begin explaining that last one."

"I don't think she's even human anymore," said a gravelly voice.

Anne turned around to see who spoke. "Maddie!"

"Yep," said the old blue frog, approaching Anne.

"What do you mean she's not human anymore?" asked one of the gathered frogs.

Maddie put up her hands near Anne and seemed to be scanning her. "I can sense nothing but energy within you, and it's much stronger than before when you had those blue powers. Also, you don't have a heartbeat and you're not breathing, so if I had to take a guess I'd say this human body is just a manifestation for our benefit.

Anne could practically feel the awkward stares of the frogs. "Yeah, well, it's a long story, but just know that the all-powerful Guardian of time and space retired and now I'm it's replacement." More stares. "Also, Sasha and Marcy will be guardians too when they die… I was the first to go…" Even more stares. "You know what, let's talk about something else."

No one really knew what to say after that, but luckily the awkwardness was interrupted by Polly coming out of her workshop shed, having finally seen the crowd from her window.

"WHAT'S ALL THE COMMOTION OUT H— Anne?"

"Polly!"

As Polly ran up to hug her, Anne noticed Polly seemed to be a cyborg now. Her legs were completely robotic and she had some sort of enhancement over her left eye. "I knew you'd be back one day! I knew it!"

"Yep, I'm here," said Anne, hugging Polly. "You've got some… stuff on your body."

"Yeah!" said Polly. "Don't they look cool? That's why I did it."

"Frobo's here too!" Polly pointed over to her robotic best friend, who happily waved as he exited the shed. She squirmed out of Anne's grasp and walked over to Sprig. "Did you introduce Anne?"

"Wha…?" was Anne Boonchuy's reaction.

"She means my daughter," said Sprig. He took off his precious hat and nervously looked at Anne. "I named her after you."

At that moment it seemed like stars appeared in Anne's eyes. As in actual celestial stars. An older orange frog steps forward and introduces herself as Anne Plantar. She was just as starry-eyed seeing the savior of Amphibia as she was at seeing her. The two Annes rapidly shake hands both having giddy smiles on their faces.

"I actually named my kids Sprig and Polly," said Anne Boonchuy.

Who knew two elderly frogs could make such high-pitched squeals?

Author's Notes: I picked June 17 as the date since that's when Amphibia first aired (aka the day Anne met the Plantars)

Maddie's sisters are also still alive but I couldn't really find a way to work them in here. (Anne never interacted with them anyway.)