After learning of the mysterious Bizarre Bazaar, Anne, Sprig and Leo decide to take a visit for any chance of her finding information about the music box, that is until Leo apparently stumbles upon someone who say they recognize his shoes.
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Leo slowly steered Bessie up and over the hill, it wasn't all too difficult; especially compared to the other much more dangerous creature he'd gotten adapted to riding during hunting trips, "That was waste of time.." He spoke up.
Anne and the rest of the family agreed with his statement, the former flicking the case of the music box opening and shutting it, "I don't know. I thought the archives would have something on it," She sulked, even now she still had no idea on how to get home.
Polly and Sprig were the most infatuated with it, staring at the glossy, gold design of the box, "So this is your only idea of how to get home?" Sprig queried, feeling the texture of the object.
"Yep," Anne quickly responded, "It's what brought me here so there has to be a way to go back."
That got Leo somewhat curious, as he pulled Bessie to a halt due to the incoming creatures he turned back to Anne, "Where'd you even get something like that, judging by how you described Earth I doubt it would have something like that lying about."
Hesitating, Anne incidentally slammed the box shut, almost taking Sprig's fingers with it. With sweat beginning to trickle off of her forehead, she trusted Leo and the Plantars but explaining to them how she got it was definitely a little too much for her to handle.
"Hah! Well, I bought it as a gift and when I opened it with Sasha and Marcy, it transported us here. End of story."
Not seeming to convinced, he questioned again, "END OF STORY!" Anne repeated, this time much louder.
"Anyway, Leo. Why have we stopped I thought you said you'd road raging bull roaches before, and you can't ride Bessie?" Hop Pop taunted, almost as if it were the older frog smugly looking back at him in victory.
All the white-haired boy did was gesture to the still waddling line of weirdly shaped creatures, all crawling out of a lone tree stump on the other side of the road, "It's been like this for five minutes," Leo was close to bit the reins clean off, he was usually good at being patient, but the slow pace each one of them had was enough to drive anyone up the wall.
Sprig wasted no time leaping off of the snail and over towards the tree, peaking inside it as the final creature stumbled out, "Don't put your hand in their boy," Hop Pop ordered sternly, sighing as he was immediately ignored.
Not to long after, he pulled out a multi-colored egg and displayed it out to the others, "Woah, no way. It's a ticket to the Bizarre Bazaar!"
Both Anne and Leo held the same reaction, "The what?"
"It's a market, full of games, shops and people that you'll only see for one night a year. Each one of them full of mysterious knowledge!" Sprig explained, getting an impressed look from everyone but Hop Pop, who simply clicked his tongue in response.
"Maybe someone their might know something about the music box!" Anne brought up excitedly, the claim was quickly shot down by Hop Pop, "You don't wanna take it there Anne, I hear that it's a place filled with nothing but wretched degenerates who do nothing but steal."
"Look, I'll reach out to some friends of mine to see if they know anything about your music chest," Hop Pop suggested before being quickly corrected by Anne, "Box."
"That to."
Just like that, Leo slapped the reins forward and continued home, already fully aware that they were going to go anyway, and he had to admit that he was oddly curious about seeing what it was all about as well.
Once night fell, Anne and Sprig collected their belonging and snuck out of the Plantar household. Unzipping her bag and placing the calamity box inside, she was going to find answer on the music box tonight, no matter what.
To their chagrin however, Leo appeared from the stable cutting the two of them off, "You two are out late, heading to the Bizarre Bazaar I presume?" He stated, a smug look in his eyes.
The two of them were thinking the exact same thing, that Leo was going to get in their way and stop them from heading over.
"I'll be joining you two then," He finished, getting even more confused looks from them both. Anne was the most surprised, "Why? No offense Leo, but judging by how you are, I wouldn't expect you to want to come."
Doing his best to ignore the comment on his personality, Leo snatched the egg from Sprig's hands, "I got interested when Sprig starting talking about it, just because I finish all of your chores Anne doesn't mean I'm some stickler for the rules.." He retorted, shaking the egg repeatedly in his hands, wincing as he let his slip from his grasp.
"Oh.."
"Dude!" Anne yelped, pressing her hands up into her bushy hair.
From the fractured shell of the egg popped out a similar looking creature to what they'd seen earlier in the day, tumbling out of the remains and down the pathway. It soon picked up the pace and sprinted out of sight, before Anne could even speak, Leo had begun chasing after it.
Said chased continued deep into the outer woods of Wartwood, almost losing it on several occasions, "Leo, your...something else," Sprig said, his voice quiet and exasperated, he was truly amazed by how quickly he could keep up with it.
Unfortunately for them though, the purple creature had burrowed itself underground, now making it impossible to follow it, "That was pointless, who is even expected to find the Bizarre Bazaar?" Leo questioned rhetorically.
Anne shared the same sentiment, frowning as she admitted defeat. That was until the mushrooms around them began the light up, forming a line into the somehow denser section of the woods, going after it they all grinned at once another; as the entrance to the Bizarre Bazaar revealed itself.
The market place was absolutely filled with frogs, toads and newts of all kinds. All of them either wandering about the Bazaar, purchasing items and chances at games, some not even realizing other frogs pit pocketing money from them before they had even noticed.
Leo had to admit that it did look as Hop Pop described it, a shady environment filled with nothing but scams upon scams, and several poor saps falling prey to it. He wasn't all too enthralled by anything in particular, although the food was enticing.
Taking his time to look at each and every one of the vendors, Leo didn't realize the lanky frog approaching him, smacking into him, "Hey watch where you're going you-" Cutting himself off, the taller frog began to shudder just at the sight of him, awkwardly scooting away from him.
Watching the scared frog frantically scramble away, Leo did have to admit that he enjoyed seeing such a fear-stricken look over a usually intimidating designed creature.
Before he could see if anything could catch his eye, he was dragged to the side by and an enthusiastic Anne who had seemingly taken notice of a large, metal coin holding the same insignia as the music box.
"One of the gems is missing," Leo pointed out, his observation being completely glossed over due to the fact that Anne had realized that whoever owned the stall had gone out to lunch, "Why did I even come."
Sprig heard the offhanded comment, beginning to stare at the coin as well, "It is strange, it's almost an exact replica of what it looks like on the box.."
"Wonder who the kind of frog is who owns it," The 16-year-old replied, shuffling his hands into his pockets.
"Uh! There's no point talking about it, she's out to lunch. Why would you do that at a market that appears once a year!" Anne groaned throwing her arms upwards once again, "I need to know something about the music box!"
Bringing up a similar topic to earlier that day, Leo turned to Anne again, "So, do you reckon that your music box came from Amphibia and landed up on Earth? Did you find it buried or something?"
His short-natured questions soon turned to pestering, scaring the bushy-haired girl to the point that she had frozen up. She liked Leo, he might've been a bit standoffish, cold and way to serious at times but he was there when it counted and he knew how to steer people in the right direction.
It was same with Polly, Hop Pop and especially Sprig, the young frog who had quickly become her first friend, if they knew the reasons, she had the box and what had then led to her to getting trapped in Amphibia.
But, considering the fact that Leo was the first human she'd properly connected with, she didn't want him to know what she'd done, that she was that kind of person.
"Look Leo, it doesn't matter how I got it, that won't help us. It must have come from Amphibia, so the only way to get home must be in Amphibia!" Anne suddenly snapped, not loud enough where it seemed harsh, but so that he got the message.
Sensing some of the tension, Sprig suggested that the three of them should walk around the Bazaar as they waited for the market stall to open up. Leo wasn't really all that interested, splitting off from the two them.
Anne and Sprig soon wandered off, as did he; catching sight a hut that was completely blackened out apart from a single sign out front, "Fortunes and Futures" was written in incredibly dark ink, not mixing with well with the dirty enough wood.
It didn't interest him all that much, but Anne and Sprig had already drifted off throughout most of the market, indulging in the food and pleasantries of the Bizarre Bazaar.
Pulling over the curtain, he stepped inside and was met with a largely, rotund frog? Leo honestly couldn't tell underneath the cloaked hood they were wearing, "Welcome, I see I've lured in a rather obscure looking creature."
Judging by the course and rough undertone in his voice, it was easy to assume that whatever amphibian he was speaking to was male, "Sure." Leo responded without much care, sitting himself down in the chair opposite himself, "What kind of fortunes do you do exactly?"
Leo would be lying if he said that he hadn't been intrigued by the tent, because of his own curiosity to know who he really was, even if it was some form of scam, he could still maybe earn something out of it.
Although, Leo couldn't see it the frog had a sinister smile creeping along its face, "Well let's just get started and I'll show you," Going to pull out some copper coins, the white-haired boy was stopped as the presumed frog shuffled a deck of cards and tossed three separate ones on the table.
"No payment is needed, as long as your fortune and future are interesting that is!" Trying not to take notice of the blatantly cryptic implications in his voice. Flipping over the furthest card to the left, it revealed nothing more than a single picture of a frog, walking forward, shrouded in pitch black.
None of it made sense to him, what would it even mean? The frog on the other hand couldn't be anymore thrilled, "So, you've got some kind of dark past, something you've chosen to forget...or maybe you can't remember."
At a time like this, Leo was happy for his naturally blank stare, his normally emotionless face was unreadable by the frog.
Though, he wouldn't lie that he had read him scarily well. Everything apart from the comment at the beginning had sent a chill down his spine, if he had a dark past then that sure was something he wanted to know about.
"..And the next one?" Leo unconsciously leaned inwards, patiently seeing what card would be flipped over next.
He hoped, no he wanted it to be something on who he used to be, not who he could be, but what he did all the time before this. He remembered that he was sixteen - so what was he like for the entire other fifteen years of his life.
The card was turned over, revealing an even more obscure looking picture. This time it was a newt, the sun and moon looming over him, he was on top of two bodies, or maybe it was three, the frogs underneath looking nothing more than betrayed.
"This card barely, if ever appears. I can't say much on it, all I know is that there's a path you were going to choose and still could, but you're on a different one right about now, what that entails and how it begun I can't tell you."
Sinking his shoulders in disappointment, Leo fell back in the chair. Seeing what was in store for his future seemed interesting, but it could end up being just as mysterious warning.
Before the last card could be inverted, Anne darted into the tent, clearly exasperated and relieved that she'd found him, "LEO!" Anne exclaimed grabbing hold of his wrist, "I need your help, some guy stole my backpack, with the music box inside! And I was just about to talk to the frog who owned the stall!"
Hesitating, Leo turned back to the hooded frog, "Could I come back to get it, or could you do it now?"
Of course, he already knew the response, "I'm afraid that isn't possible, the future won't wait for you so neither will I, it's now or never."
"Leo," Anne gave him a pleading gaze, worry filling her pupils, "Please."
Knowing what he was going to choose, Leo sighed and bid the disguised frog goodbye with a single nod from his head., "So, what's the situation, why was I needed for this?" His red eyes gleaming, Leo let some of his own annoyance slip, it was his own decision to help and he'd do it again if asked.
But that didn't mean he had to be happy about it.
The two of them soon arrived, with Anne only gesturing to the race track now presented in front of them, "Anne! You got Leo. We need him to ride those cockroaches right!" Sprig yelled, hopping over to them all.
"Alright, I'll help. If it's to get your music box back then fine. But if I do, then you're telling me how you get it!" Leo demanded entering the area with them all.
A small frog with a groaned and strained voice appeared beside them, "Now! Who wishes to challenge this strange looking biped and her little pink boyfriend!"
"Woah, not my boyfriend!" Anne quickly denied.
"Yeah, she's way too old for me," Sprig added nonchalantly.
"I think the fact that you're a frog might actually be the real problem Sprig.." Leo added plainly.
Unfortunately for them, the largest and tones frog their decided to challenge them all. Each and every other frog was shocked by his appearance, naming him as "The Wrecker", Leo could already see their loss in sight.
He could ride the roaches well enough but judging by the frogs look alone, it was wasn't wrong to assume that he'd be much more skilled than he was.
But he knew that he was going to have to race him anyway, this was Anne's only ticket back home, not to mention that she had specifically asked for his help, "Alright, Sprig you're with me. Let's race."
The pink frog held no objections as he leaped onto the cockroach alongside him, "What do you need me for?" He questioned, watching the steely fixed gaze Leo had over the racetrack, "Wouldn't you rather have Anne."
"No, she would only slow the cockroach down. I'll need you Sprig, to act when I tell you to," It was the most standoffish and calculated Sprig had seen Leo, his mind completely fixated on the race ahead.
Because, whenever Leo got serious, there was no time for his usual pleasantries.
"Right! I'll follow your lead, let's win this."
With that, the starting flag was swung downwards and the race began. With each combatant getting off to a flying start, Leo shoved into The Wrecker with as much intended force as possible, not directly spinning him out but being enough to distract him so he could get ahead.
Sprig began to get worried, "Leo, are we really allowed to do this? This is a race after all."
All the snowy-haired boy did was bob his head to the stand, in which a group of frogs held up a comically large collections of signs reading, "Anything goes in the Bizarre Bazaar!".
"Well, if it's on a sign then it must be true," Sprig murmured, acting without warning, swerving them around a tight bend, whipping his tongue forward and around a nearby pole, centering them back onto the track.
"Nice," Leo commented lowly, impressed by the quick response. Continuing to steer the bull cockroach as best he could.
The Wrecker had other plans however, pulling a weirdly shaped bug from his pocket. Clicking the back of it, he sent it surging after the two of them, flashing a bright blue color. Anne knew all too well what it meant; she played enough games to recognize what the dreaded blue shell was.
It was too late to warn Leo however, it had already circled around them and proceeded to land a devasting blast right atop them all, crashing them into a wall and allowing The Wrecker to swing past them and win the race.
"What! How is that allowed, it's totally unbalanced and ruins the race," Sprig complained, coughing up the small bits of ash that were in his mouth.
Leo was the most frustrated of all, dusting himself off and slushily walking over to Anne, a devastated look on his face, "Sorry, I said I'd win it but I couldn't even do that."
Before Anne could respond, they were suddenly approached by The Wrecker, adorning her bright pink backpack, reacting instantly, fearing that she'd never get an opportunity again, "Look! I know you won that and all but please, I'm begging you give it back!"
Staying silent, all The Wrecker did was pull of the contents of his face revealing it to actually be Hop Pop, "Uhhhhh, this makes...no sense," Leo gasped, too stunned to form a proper sentence.
"Yeah, mind filling us in?"
"Isn't it obvious? I knew that you and Sprig wouldn't be able to resist going to the Bizarre Bazaar, so I followed you both. Although, I'm very disappointed in you Leo; I would've expected you to bring them back," Hop Pop explained, albeit in an overly cocky manner.
"I knew you'd get yourself into a pickle and you did, you're just lucky that I was there. Now here's your backpack," With some trepidation, he handed it back to her. Leo thought she would've been thrilled, but she just seemed to be disappointed.
"No," Anne suddenly said, rustling through the bag and pulling out the music box, "Here, go through your respected channels, I don't mind waiting Hop Pop."
Utterly bewildered, Leo ran out in front of Anne, "W-Why?" He stammered for possibly the first time she'd heard, "Didn't you say it was your only way home, why would you give it away."
"Because, I almost lost it. If it is how I get back, I can't afford to be risky with it, besides judging by how I got it, I don't think I really should be trusted," She argued back.
Without much else to say, each of them reached an understanding and began heading home, with a few constant questions from Sprig.
As they approached the house once more, and as Leo was about to enter his stable, he was stopped by an anxious Anne, "Huh?"
"You said you wanted to know how I got the music box right?"
"But- look Anne if you really don't want to tell me it's fine. I don't want to push you, especially after you almost lost it today," Leo admitted, trying to be considerate of how she felt, he'd been doing it a lot lately.
He would call it an improvement; beforehand he wouldn't even bother to pick up any social cues. But he wasn't oblivious to how guilty Anne felt on the methods she went through to get the music box.
"Yeah, but I realized. That I got in the way of something you were doing at the Bazaar, and you went through such lengths to get it back for me...s-so I just thought that me and you could talk about it.."
Not having much else to say, stunned ever so slightly. Nevertheless, he creaked the stable doors open, inviting Anne inside, "If you're sure, then I'll make sure that I listen to what you have to say."
"Thanks Leo," Anne sent a warm smile his way, beginning her explanation.
Unbeknownst to them, outside of the stable and only a few meters away from the house, Hop Pop was digging a hole, inside of which he placed the music box.
Although he knew it by a different title, "Sorry Anne, but keeping this hidden is what's best for all of us."
As Leo and Anne conversed in the dead of night, Hop Pop buried the Calamity Box, making sure no one would ever find it.
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I hope you enjoyed the chapter, I'm sorry that its coming out a bit late, been a bit busy. There's only three chapter left until the big Reunion chapter comes out. Just a heads up for now, since that episode will be two parts, I have a lot planned for it though so until then, see yah!
