Wally is still at Stumpy's drinking some bog grog. He turned to the traveller and shook his head. "Oh, you're still here?" The traveller nodded their head. "Oh. Sorry, I should have noticed. Well, I can tell you were dissatisfied with the fact that my tale of The Core was somewhat short. So, I'll move on to a key player. You know her as the human who came to our little village. A stranger from another world, trapped and looking for her friends. She suffered many trials, many errors, had to win our trusts due to our slow acceptance, betrayed by her two best friends, died but came back again and went home. But what happened during those ten years?"

Wally began tuning his accordion and took a deep breath before playing. "Once coming home from Amphibia, she said goodbye to Marcy who went to move with her parents. Got better at school treated her teachers like people instead of pests. She and Sasha drifted but remained on talking terms. Became a studier of frogs despite the germs. Had many, many, many, many boyfriends, but between you and me, she don't like to talk about them. She now works at an aquarium raising frogs and teaching kids about their quirks and habitats. She is still friends with Sasha and….and….and….and….what was the name of the other one? Oh yeah, Marty! Oh wait, Marcy! She is busy with her job but something tells me she'll be busy with something else."

Meanwhile, on Earth. The twenty three year old Herpetologist/future deity was having some lunch with her best friends, Sasha and Marcy whom had come to visit her so they could spend some time together. They recently met up about 6 months ago for her twenty-third birthday and have decided to meet up again when they got the chance, which was luckily now.

"So Marcy, what are you going to do next?" Sasha asked Marcy.

"Oh, I have decided to branch out a bit." Marcy replied. "I want to write a novel based on the disappearance of Phillip and Caleb Wittebane. Whom were two witch hunting brothers from Gravesfield, Connecticut that suddenly vanished without a trace. Plus, I should have mentioned it's a joint effort with an author called…..Uh….I don't remember her name but I think it rhymes with goose. It might be Goose, who knows. Anyway, what about you, Sash?"

"I have my next client. She's a troubled kid who is going through a rough patch." Sasha replied. "I can't reveal more simply because I'm not allowed to discuss my client outside my job. But you're welcome to guess."

"Did you describe yourself?" Marcy asked.

"You know I wasn't the only kid going through a rough patch in their lives." Sasha retorted.

"And what about you Anne?" Marcy asked. "Any new creatures?"

"Oh yeah. I recently got a male toad for Braddock." Anne replied. "And I named him Percy."

Sasha gave Anne a small smile, feeling as though it was a beautiful gesture. "Aww." But then Sasha felt a hint of sadness as she reminisced about Percy and Braddock. Two people she wished she could have said goodbye to and made amends.

Luckily, Anne noticed her friend's sad face and gave her best friend a smile. "I'm pretty sure the both of them forgive you and miss you."

"I hope so." Sasha said. "I miss them."

But to spare some sadness, Anne decided to change the subject. "So Marcy, has this Goose done anything?"

"Well…."

"Hey Anne." Said a male voice.

The herpetologist looked up. "Oh, hey Kevin. What's up?"

Kevin was a Caucasian blonde around Anne's age. He had blonde hair, light blue eyes and appeared to be wearing the same uniform as Anne. "Oh, just on a lunch break. Nothing else."

"How's Sam?" Anne asked.

"Sam is set to give birth to her pup soon." Kevin replied. "Which means, it has to be the job of someone who is a marine mammalogist. And who has two thumbs and is unfortunately tasked with that job." He pointed his two thumbs at himself. "This guy."

Sasha coughed to get Anne's attention and motioned her to introduce him to them.

"Oh, sorry. Sasha, Marcy, this is Kevin Goode, a co-worker." Anne said. "Kevin, this is Sasha Waybright and Marcy Wu, my childhood friends."

"Oh hey, Anne told me so much about you." Kevin said. "I think I might have read your web comic. Nice job."

"Thanks." Marcy responded.

"You're welcome." Kevin responded. "Oh and you look exactly like the way I pictured you."

Sasha smirked. "Thanks. Don't know how I feel about that."

Kevin froze. "I-I swear I-I wasn't like, t-trying to hit on y-you or-or-or anything." Kevin stuttered. "Y-you see Anne, told-told-spoke of you during our breaks a-and I-I-I always pictured-saw you as a b-blonde. B-but without the scar! Oh crap, I shouldn't have mentioned that."

While Kevin stuttered, Sasha and Marcy just chuckled at what Kevin was doing. This made Anne give her friends a glare, causing them to stop.

"Hey dude, it's okay." Sasha assured him. "I don't usually talk about my scar. I got it in a fight I shouldn't have started."

"Oh, I-I hope that taught y-you something." Kevin stuttered. "Oh man, did th-that sound harsh?"

"Nah Kevin, you're just trying to continue a conversation." Marcy assured him. "I know what that's like, trust me."

He then turned to face Anne. "So Anne, you-you got anything planned for tomorrow?"

"You mean on my day-off?" Anne asked. "I got nothing to do. Why?"

"Well, I was originally going on a hot air balloon ride for my cousin's 12th birthday, but unfortunately he can't make it because he fell down 8 flights of stairs." Kevin explained. "So, I was wondering if you'd like to come."

"What is it, a date?" Anne asked while blushing.

Kevin shook his head and froze. "W-what? N-no! I-I-I-I swear, this was n-not meant to-to be such an occasion. M-my cousin, Macaulay did-absolutely fall down 7-I mean, 8 flights of stairs. Uh! Crap!"

"Hey dude." Anne placed her hand on Kevin's wrist and smiled. "I'd like that. I haven't been in one for 10 years."

"O-oh, great." Kevin responded. "So, it starts around 5:30. Unless that isn't a time where you're napping."

"Nah. I'm awake." Anne assured him. "I'll see ya later, Kevin."

"Great." Kevin smiled before walking away all while mumbling to himself. "What the hell Kevin? Why can't you control your stutter every time you fumble?"

Anne looked back to Kevin and smiled while blushing. "Ha. That's Kevin." She turned to face her friends and saw that Sasha was smirking while Marcy was eating her sandwich which just happened to have arrived.

"Yeah. He's weird."

"I agree." Sasha replied. "Anne's boyfriend is pretty weird."

The mention of Kevin being Anne's boyfriend caused Anne to swallow her coffee wrong and causing her to choke. She eventually pulled herself back together and narrowed her eyes at the child therapist. "Sasha!"

"What?!" Sasha asked. "I'm just joking!"

"Wait, is that your boyfriend?" Marcy asked.

"No." Anne replied. "We're just….taking things slow."

"So, you want to be together with him?" Sasha asked.

"Well….I want to be but I'm not 100% sure." Anne replied. "I mean, he's great, he's nice and his stuttering is pretty cute."

"Ooooooooooooooohhhhhhhh!"

"Sasha!" Anne exclaimed, while holding a laugh. "What the hell?!"

"You want my opinion?" Sasha asked. "He seems like a perfect match."

"You said that on our group chat about Matt, Alex, Macaulay Kieren, Justin, Bill, Troy, Keith, all of which ended with awful break ups." Marcy remarked.

"Hey, 8th times the charm." Sasha said. "So, have you two done anything?"

"We just had three coffee dates and we went to his place to stream Octopus Game." Anne replied.

"Yeah, yeah, stream Octopus Game." Sasha snickered.

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with Octopus Game." Marcy said. "I think it's a great show."

"You'll get it Mar-Mar." Sasha said while patting Marcy's head.

Anne was not amused. "I swear nothing happened when me and Kevin were watching Octopus Game."

"Yeah, yeah." Sasha retorted.

"I'm serious Sash!"

"Alright, alright." Sasha replied. "But just so you know, I'm rooting for ya."

"Yeah. You and Devin will be a great couple." Marcy said.

"Kevin, Mar-Mar." Anne reminded her. "It's Kevin."

"Oh right." Marcy said.

"Yeah. December 8th will be a definite not date between me and Kevin." Anne responded before thinking about that date. December 8th. "December 8th. Why does that date feel important?"

"Because it was the day you laughed so hard that spaghetti shot out of your nose when you were 9." Marcy replied.

Anne laughed. "Oh my gosh! That was so funny! Hurt though. But, that's not it."

The next day, Anne woke up for her day off and her eventual not date. She decided to spend most of the day to relax and stream Neo Genisys: Evangelist. A harmless Anime about robots fighting giant monsters and nothing disturbing or psychologically damaging.

She got out of her bed and stretched her arms in the air before walking to her calendar and crossing off the one marked 7th of December. She looks back at December 8th on the calendar. While today was the day of her hot air balloon ride with Kevin Goode. But why does December 8th feel important to her?

But the amphibian expert just shrugged her shoulders and decided to prepare for her relaxation. She had a shower, brushed her teeth and got dressed into something a little bit casual. She streamed 4 episodes of Neo Genisys: Evangelist and was left deeply traumatised by the episodes themselves. She had a phone conversation with her mom, whom was calling about someone trying to buy the restaurant and in turn, embarrassing her daughter about her so-called not-date with Kevin. She asked her mom about what December 8th meant to her, but she responded about the time she laughed so hard she shot spaghetti out her nose. But that wasn't it. Why was December 8th a special day?

Later that day, Anne got dressed into something more nice which was a nice button shirt along with beige pants and black shoes.

She met Kevin at the hot air balloon park where she had a wild day ten years ago. She just couldn't accept that heavy winds would have affected her ride and went on it anyway. Plus, she left her dad sitting in the car park for 8 hours so, there was that. But those weren't it!

She arrived early and saw that Kevin was looking like he was practicing talking to Anne. "So Anne…If you're wondering why we don't have an aeronaut…Well, I'm a licensed one." He groaned. "Uh! She probably doesn't know what they are!"

"Oh, so that's what those were called." Anne remarked as she approached Kevin, whom yelped and turned to face her.

"Oh…Oh…Hey Anne." Kevin rubbed the back of his head. "Don't star-star-scare me like that."

"Sorry." Anne said. "So, you have a license to pilot a hot air balloon?"

"Oh yeah, I got it three years ago." Kevin replied. "I didn't wish to mention it because I didn't wish to brag."

"Dude, if you mentioned you had a hot air balloon, you would have had me as a girlfriend already." Anne teased him.

"Oh cool I…." He then blushed. "Wait, what w-w-was that?"

"Come on dummy. I could use a good ride." Anne said and motioned him to follow her.

Kevin soon stopped stuttering. "Oh, oh, okay."

The two soon jumped into the hot air balloon ready for the not-date ahead. He pulled the string that made the burner heat up the helium to make the balloon go up.

The both of them stumbled a bit, crashing into each other. They stared at each other, both blushing before composing themselves.

"Sorry. Lift off is rather stumbly." Kevin responded.

"Yeah. I know." Anne said.

They soon got to a height where the sunset could be seen over the LA sky. Anne used to think that sunsets were just something that happened, nothing awe inspiring. But at this height, it was absolutely stunningly beautiful.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Kevin asked.

"A lot prettier from this height." Anne replied.

"Yup." Kevin agreed. "Just don't shake it."

"Trust me." Anne assured him. "I let myself experience it 10 years ago. Plus, I flew a hot air balloon. It was a clown one."

He shook his head. "Wait, did it have purple hair and was only there to promote a horror movie?"

"Uh….Yup." Anne replied a little guiltily.

He laughed. "That was you?!"

"Yes. It was."

"Oh my god! That took a repair crew 5 hours to get that balloon down."

"Well, despite that, I was one helluva pilot." Anne remarked before dabbing.

The dabbing itself made Kevin do a cringe laugh as he looked away. "Ohhhhhhhhh! I had no idea that was still popular."

"Well, I never grew up when I was younger." Anne replied. "Plus, I never grew out of it."

Kevin laughed. "I never got into that. Mainly because I never get into stuff that is popular. Heck, I never got into Weeknite."

"Wow. Guess it took you a long time to watch Octopus Game." Anne said.

"Yeah. Three years." Kevin said. "I was more busy watching Neo Genisys: Evangelist during high school."

"Well, better late than never." Anne remarked.

The two stared at each other in silence. They barley said a word as they were lost in each other's stares. Anne knew Kevin liked her, but she as well liked Kevin. Compared to other boys she dated before whom were either jocks, clingy or just plain weirdos, Kevin was someone who was nice and tried to be confident when it came around people.

"So, about dinner, do you want to go to your parent's restaurant?" Kevin asked. "I-I-I-I'm not trying to take advantage of y-y-you just for free Thai food, I assure y-you."

"Don't overthink Kevin." Anne retorted. "No. They'll definitely start embarrassing me. Mom would be like 'Anne, when are you giving me grandchildren? Meụ̄̀x h̄ịr̀ ca pĕn yāy.' Plus, she'll possibly think we're dating."

"Well, we're not." Kevin said. "But you know what I think Wartwood could use?"

"What?"

"A miniature Thai Go." Kevin replied. "I don't think Stumpy's will be enough. Besides, I think Sprig might like some Khao mu krop…"

It was at this moment Anne finally put the pieces together. The mere mention of Sprig and the position she was in, made her realise that today wasn't just a regular December 8th day. It turns out, it was none other than Sprig's birthday. Ten years ago, she celebrated Sprig's birthday by giving him everything she could to make his day special, which included the hot air balloon ride.

Sure it was a day that could have ended in disaster, but it was a day Anne would never forget. As she caused some chaos with her best friend, Sprig Plantar.

The fact she suddenly remembered that today was Sprig's birthday caused Anne to start tearing up and her lips to wobble.

"Or maybe some Kaolao." Kevin continued. "Even though, I did find a mixture of egg and pork bizarre I….." Kevin eventually noticed that Anne was crying and quickly panicked. "Oh jeez, Anne. I-I-I-Is there something wrong? I-I-I-is the ride not to your l-liking?"

"Why would I cry at a terrible balloon ride?" Asked the teary eyed Anne.

"S-Some people have different emotions for everything." Kevin replied.

Anne just continued crying. "I-I-I-I-I re-re-re-re…"

"Hey, let it all out." Kevin said gently. "Let it all out." He gently patted her shoulder but Anne didn't need that, she latched on to Kevin, giving him a hug and crying into his shoulder. Kevin was at first hesitant, but he returned the hug and let Anne cry it out. "It's okay Anne. I'm here." They swayed a bit as Kevin continued to hold her. "Do you want me to stop the ride?"

"Mmm hmm." Anne responded.

About 12 minutes later, Kevin lowered the air balloon and let Anne sit down on a bench so she could let it all out. He later joined her in case she needed the emotional support.

"You okay now?" Kevin asked her.

"I'm still sad, but at least I'm not a blubbering mess." Anne replied.

"Do you wish to talk about it?" Kevin asked. "Did I say something that made you upset?"

Anne sighed. "December 8th. Do you know why this day is important to me?"

"Was it the day you laughed so hard that spaghetti shot out of your nose?" Kevin asked.

"What?!" Anne exclaimed. "Why does everyone remember that specific date?! And when did I tell ya?"

"Your mom did." Kevin replied.

"Of course she did." Anne groaned. "No. December 8th is Sprig's birthday. Not, the Sprig who's in the exhibit, I meant the fro-I mean, friend. The friend whom I named him after."

"Oh." Kevin responded. "Well, happy birthday to him."

"I wish I could say it to his face." Anne said. "Nearly 10 years ago, we said goodbye to each other and I don't think I'll be able to contact him again. He doesn't have a phone and I know a letter won't help me contact him."

"So you can't contact him?" Kevin asked. "Wow, that sucks. I don't know what to say."

"It does but, today is his birthday and I haven't seen him for 10 years." Anne explained. "I just feel terrible that I'm not there wishing him a happy birthday, even though I can't see him again."

Kevin gave Anne a sympathetic stare. "Anne, I'm so sorry."

"You weren't the one who made me say goodbye to him." Anne responded. "I just wish there was a way I could see him again."

Kevin smiled at Anne. "Something tells me that you are."

"Like you have a portal gun." Anne retorted.

"I meant in your mind." Kevin said. "He isn't gone as long as you remember him. Now, I know what I'm saying sounds really cliched, but my Mom told me this when Sergeant died. Sergeant was my dog. She told him, while he isn't with us anymore and the memory of him is still in my mind, missing him means I remember him and remembering him means he isn't gone. I know this isn't perfect and I could have worded it better to make it sound original. But this was…." Anne then hugged Kevin again, tears still falling from her eyes.

"It's not original, but it's a great attempt Kevin." Anne said.

Kevin was surprised at first but then returned the hug. "You're welcome Anne. Now, do you want to go to another restaurant instead of Thai Go? I could find us an Italian restaurant so you could talk about Sprig. I'd really like to learn about him. Or maybe just an American restaurant? Or….."

"Kevin." Anne interjected. "I'd really like pizza at your place."

Kevin smiled. "Okay. Yeah."

And so for the rest of the night, Kevin and Anne spent it eating pizza with Anne talking about Sprig and his family. She didn't got into detail about Amphibia since she didn't want Kevin to think she was crazy, so she decided to change it to a primitive island that didn't have any technology. A primitive island that had a lot of amphibians which was what got her into herpetology.

Kevin had payed a lot of attention to what Anne was saying. He felt this story would make a great source of media, like an animated cartoon. He was so enamoured with the story that he hadn't realised a bit of pizza fell on his pants. Which caused him to have a bit of a panic attack and causing Anne to laugh at him being Kevin.

Once it had gotten late, Anne was standing by the door ready to leave while Kevin exited his room with a fresh pair of pants. He approached Anne and rubbed the back of his head.

"Sorry for that embarrassing display of humiliation." Kevin said. "I was just so enamoured with the story that I forgot everything else."

"It's okay." Anne responded. "I'm glad you listened."

It was at this moment, they didn't know how to ended their night. Sure, Anne could just leave, but they didn't know how to say goodbye at that moment due to their feelings for each other.

"So, I'll see you at work at Monday." Kevin said.

"Yup." Anne responded. "Honestly Kevin, that wasn't bad for a first date."

Kevin smiled. "Thank you. That means so….Wait, I thought this wasn't a date."

"Well, I now want this to be." Anne replied while blushing. "What about you?"

"No-I mean, yes! I mean, it was my intention! No! I just wanted to-to spend the night with you. I-I-I didn't mean to make my-my-myself sound manipulative I-"

Anne just kissed Kevin on the cheek, interrupting his sentence. "See you Monday." Anne left the apartment to make her way back to her own.

Once Anne had left, Kevin was quite stunned by what had transpired. Despite the fact he was stumbling his lines, she kissed him on the cheek. He continued to awkwardly rub the back of his head, feeling speechless.

Back at her apartment, Anne had gotten herself showered and dressed in her pyjamas, ready for a good night sleep.

When she fell asleep, the dream she was having was quite an amazing one. She dreamt herself back at 13 years old and running in Amphibia from a giant bird. And beside her was her best friend, Sprig.

To some people, this would be a nightmare but to Anne, this was nostalgia. Running away from ginormous creatures in another world with her best friend.

The two of them later sat on the edge of a cliff staring off into the distance. How they defeated the giant bird was a mystery.

"You know this is a dream, right?" Sprig asked.

"Dude, don't ruin the moment." Anne said.

"Sorry, we were running from a giant bird and now we're on the edge of a cliff watching the sunset." Sprig said.

"I know." Anne replied. "I just miss you a lot, dude."

"Me too." Sprig said. "Me too."

Outside the dream world, Anne slept peacefully. She smiled as a tear fell from her eye.