Sick of their arguing, Leo and Anne are kicked out onto Quarrelers Pass to settle their differences.
...
The f'wagon rode in on the isolated, peaking mountaintop. Just from looking at the map alone, Hop Pop could make out that they were two weeks away from Newtopia, so far it had been pretty smooth sailing, with only a few minor setbacks.
There was only one thing he would change.
"Leo! Why have you sorted all the food like this, the worst food is at the top!" Anne bellowed from inside the f'wagon, the sound of rummaging and throwing slightly worrying the frog.
"Why would we waste all the food we like, we have to ration Anne. It's not my fault you want to lay about and eat everything we have..." Leo's snarky response came next, somehow sounding worse due to his emotionless nature.
More crashes and shuffling came from below, "Huh! What do you expect me to do, go on some mysterious hunting trip in the mountains? You might be creepy enough to do that but I'd rather not.."
Hop Pop soured, it had only been a couple of hours and they had already started up again, "Look, Anne, I'm trying to provide food for us, when you did that, we all almost got eaten by a giant wolf scorpion," Leo retorted dryly.
As the argument spiraled out, the hatch to the f'wagon opened revealing Sprig and Polly, both with tired and bored expressions on their faces, looking identical to each other.
"I know!" Polly groaned aloud, throwing her flippers up in the air, "Leo is like, the least argumentative guy I've met!"
"Whenever it comes to Anne though, those two just end up going at each other for hours...it's like they can't help it," Sprig added, sluggishly laying down.
Leo said another sarcastic remark, only angering Anne even more, "Seriously dude! What's your problem!"
"I don't know. You?"
That was it. The dam broke.
"That's it!"
All the Plantars were thrown about the top of the carriage, struggling to keep themselves stuck to the seating of the vehicle, if they were to fall then a deep, black cavern was what awaited them below.
"You know, gotta give Leo credit. They've been arguing a lot, and Leo is weirdly good at it, especially against Anne," Sprig mentioned, sliding all across the top of the f'wagon.
Hop Pop nodded, slapping his face into Bessie's shell, "I suppose when two people have gotten comfortable with each other then they can't help but find complaints," he said, not fazed as he was violently shaken about.
That was until he skidded the f'wagon to a halt, having heard enough. Leo and Anne, obviously having no idea about it, were both sent flying through the mobile home, collapsing over one another.
"Um, Hop Pop. Is everything alright?" Sprig questioned, seeing that his grandparent was a few moments away from snapping.
"I can't take this for another two weeks, those two need to settle this!" He bellowed, grabbing at his face, eyes dried and bloodshot.
Suddenly, the door to the f'wagon swung open, a disheveled Anne and Leo stumbling out, "What the heck was that!? Why'd we stop?"
"Well, Hop Pop is driving," Leo commented.
Before the orange frog could say anything back, he took notice of the other pathway near them, 'Quarrellers Pass?'
It didn't take too long for Sprig and Polly to catch on, the three frogs smirking amongst themselves, "I'm not quite sure I like that look," Anne pointed out, slowly backing away from them all, Leo doing the same.
Dust kicked up in front of their face, the f'wagon now no longer in sight, "They really left us.." Leo said, bewildered.
"They really left us," Anne repeated, staring emptily at the sign in front of them.
To be fair, the two of them had also been realizing just how much they'd been arguing for the past few days, to the point that even the slightest irritation would lead to a full-blown debate.
It had become a slight problem.
"I guess we do deserve this, even I was getting irritated by us," Leo sighed, admiring the sign and spinning it around to himself, there he could see that the path Hop Pop and the others and gone and the one they were on both ended up reconnecting.
"You know if you remembered stuff and had a phone, we could've given one to them," Anne said, albeit a little aggressively.
"I didn't exactly expect to fall down a mudslide and hit my head on a rock, Anne."
"We've been through way worse in Amphibia, now stop complaining and let's go. Knowing them, if we're not quick enough they'll just straight up leave us behind," Anne brushed off, going on ahead.
Leo held back the urge to pull at his hair, "You were the one complaining," He muttered angrily, following after her anyway.
Anne had marched her way to what seemed to be a trial, at least for the quarreller's pass. Before them was a large gap separating the rest of the path, down below was nothing but spike stone, not leaving much room for imagination on what would happen if they were to fall.
Luckily, linking the widespread gap together was a singular thin beam, "Seriously, this is supposed to be tricky, not with these lanky limbs!" Anne announced, despite the fact she'd just insulted herself.
"Wait, Anne. There's probably a reason-"
"Stop trying to look into things so much, you don't have to be serious about everything," Anne's impulsive nature got the better of her, sprawling her to limply balance atop the beam, rolling it from side to side as she walked.
At first, Leo was perfectly content with standing there and watching her struggle around, not even making it to the halfway point, that was until the beam slowly inched closer to the edge of the cliff, which Anne was oblivious to.
It slipped right off the cliffside, Anne with it.
"Shit!" Leo cursed raising his voice, stabbing into the wooden beam with his katana hugging his arm onto the side of the cavern, "Anne! Tell me you're still there!?"
"Y-Yeah...barely. Still, got my phone though," She worriedly retorted.
"Not the time. Hold on I'm gonna pull the beam up," Leo warned, slowly backing up with the floor, pulling the wooden log up with him, until most of it was resting beside him along with Anne, clambering back onto safe ground.
They took a moment to collect themselves, Leo especially did, not wanting to blow up in Anne's face again.
It honestly frustrated him how annoyed he'd been getting with her lately, he thought they were supposed to be friends, and yet here they were practically at each other's throats, like most other things involving humans, he just didn't get it.
Anne felt the same, only with the fact that she had some insider awareness as to why they'd been fighting so much. It was inevitable for any relationship, she'd fought with Hop Pop, Polly, and Sprig in the past.
She'd taken longer to argue with Leo because he never really sought out them, only now was he starting to pick fights and snap back when needed.
"Thanks, Leo," She exhaled, nervously peering over the edge once more, "I was almost a goner there, seriously why did Hop Pop make us do this."
"Because we argue...you were gonna die just because you weren't willing to listen to me, and I didn't even try that hard to stop you from doing it.." Leo explained in a huff, doing so as he planted the beam back on the other side.
"Seems like every other day we're just getting into situations that'll kill us.." He added, checking the stability of the log.
Not too sure what to say, Anne held her tongue watching Leo keep himself stable on the beam, "Hold your end, then when I get across, I'll hold mine," Leo stated somewhat coldly, almost sounding like he had a few months when the Thai girl had first come across him.
Soon enough, it was Anne's turn to balance across, actually having a hard time with it, despite how well she did in sports, obstacle course activities like these weren't her specialty.
"Hold your arms out," Leo instructed, "Don't look at your feet just straighten them out and focus on walking forward."
Doing as she had been told, Anne quickly found herself walking with much more ease, she did feel somewhat embarrassed with how stupid she probably looked to Leo right about now.
He didn't seem to care, more focused on whether or not she was making it safely across the gorge, "This is kind of like that when we went after the moss thing that you and Wally saw, we went across a mountain just like this."
Anne looked up, still moving forward, "Yeah, only traveling with Wally was kind of a handicap," She joked, happy to hear Leo lightly laugh.
'Bit of a weird time to bring that u-'
Before she knew it, she had already made it across without much hassle, "That's that done, we should probably go," Leo said, strangely fast as he hurried up from holding the wooden beam.
'Did he...talk to me so I wouldn't get worried?'
There was no time for her to ask him, he'd already sped ahead, unbeknownst to her there was a prominent red mark on his face, not big enough that it was highly noticeable, but Anne would be sure to make light of it.
Now standing before them was a wall. Not usually an issue, especially for someone like Leo, with enough of a running start, he was fairly sure that he could get across.
It was yet again thanks to his strange nimbleness as well as whatever instinct he had that allowed him to do so, given who he was before he lost his memory, there certainly were an array of odd skills he had.
He wouldn't dwell on it for much longer, whatever questions he had would only get more and more confusing.
"This really is specified for two people. Are we gonna push each other up or something?" Anne questioned, reddening a little at the idea of getting on Leo's shoulder.
Escaping out of her train of thought, Anne watched the white-haired boy run right past her in a brisk sprint, launching himself upwards as high as he could possibly go.
At the possibility of undershooting his jump, Leo once more brandished his sword and held himself upright, flecks of stone scraping off the chipped piece of wall.
Anne, for once was a bit more than gobsmacked by what she'd seen, playing tennis, and running away from giant, carnivorous bugs were one thing, but Leo had managed to make a nearly 8ft jump look easy.
Well, that would've been true, if Leo had reached the ladder and hadn't missed by a fairly wide margin, landing with a harsh thud on the rocky surface below, "LEO!"
"I'm fine," Leo grunted, not doing a good job at convincing her, "I can do this, things like this are all I can do, we don't need the both of us.."
Once more, but with slightly less vigor, Leo repeated the same motion, standing up onto his lodged sword, reaching out for the ladder again, hoping to pull it down.
Narrowly he missed it, smacking against the ground, his back making a horrible sound as he did, "Leo, dude. You aren't gonna make it, it's designed for the two of us to do it together!" Anne berated, extending her hand to help him out.
Leo didn't accept it, nor did he take in her words. He knew what the point of this pass was, the sign said as much. But he had to do something like this by himself, if he couldn't then what was the point of him having the skills he did?
He was dense, oblivious, rude without even knowing it, and a plethora of other things that he was sure Anne could pick and point out.
But he had to fall back on what he'd been given since he'd lost his memory, he had to do this.
He ran again, only to falter in the jump. And again, and again, each time becoming more and more scratched and bruised, Leo still continued to get up, looking much more raged as he did.
Anne had seen enough, being much more aggressive as she tugged back on his arms, "Leo, you can't make it, be real here!"
Leo still resisted, urging himself to go ahead, "Get off. I know I can, it's the only thing I can do.."
"No, it's not! Just cause you can fight and run well doesn't mean that's all you can do, who thinks like that!" Anne yelled in outrage, "If that's how it is then are Hop Pop, Sprig, and Polly just frogs."
"What, no. That's stupid," Leo murmured.
"Exactly! They can do a bunch of other things apart from just being frogs and so can you, haven't I been teaching you to cook, now you can make jokes, you inspired Hop Pop just last week and you can even hold an argument!"
"So, stop trying to act like you're the same as you were back in Wartwood, and let's get up there!" She finished, now right up in his face, the two of them feeling just as awkward about it.
"F-Fine."
Anne stood at the ready against the wall, her hands clasped together. Leo took one last running start, firing forward only slowing down the moment he reached Anne, planting one foot in her connected fingers.
"Gah," Anne groaned, putting in everything she had, thrusting Leo higher than he'd been able to reach, unraveling himself and the ladder back down to the ground.
With an unneeded smug expression, given what she'd just said to him, Anne pat Leo on the back as she began climbing up, "Told you we had to work together."
Leo could only stand in his own anger silently.
After overcoming some more trials together, some easier than others. Leo and Anne made it to what they thought to be the end, the former bushier-haired girl smacked into the poorly painted wood that depicted the path continuing.
"It's fake? How come?" Leo asked aloud, the paint was bone dry. The path had been blocked off for a while.
Now he was stumped, glazing his crimson eyes on whatever was around them, eventually coming across a much grimier and eerie tunnel, poorly spelling a way out.
"That's not suspicious," Leo said, oozing with sarcasm. Anne was already walking into it though, not a care in the world.
"What are you doing?" He asked, almost surprised by her non-care about the whole thing, "This looks like it could kill us."
"No, duh. Even I can see that, there's no other way out though, this is kind of our only option," Anne said begrudgingly, forcing Leo in with her, he couldn't resist.
There wasn't anywhere else to go.
Anne flicked on her flashlight, allowing them to get a better look at the cave. As expected, it was just as creepy as advertised out front, "Oh perspective!" Anne gawked, hitting her head on the slowly decreasing ceiling.
"I'm hoping there's a way out of here and you haven't led us into a possible cave-in," said Leo, slightly uncomfortable with how closed-in the walls were getting.
"Pfff," Anne held a muffled laugh, "Weren't you complaining about how you couldn't get over a wall a while ago?"
Dropping his brows, Leo snarled under his breath, "And you couldn't walk across a beam correctly, which ones more embarrassing?" He lowly retorted.
With her eye twitching slightly, Anne lightly shoved into him, "Doesn't matter, at least I knew I needed help!"
What was first light insults turned into a full-blown debate, with Anne being the most vocal between them, and Leo keeping his voice to a minimum as per usual, "-and you're always acting like you're not in the wrong!"
"Personally, I think the both of you are wrong," A crackled, raspy voice interrupted Anne's rant.
Still filled with anger, Anne whirred back to it, "Who asked you-"
She quickly kept her voice down upon eyeballing the large, fanged snout a couple of feet away from her, "Hi," The creature said, a devious grin on its face.
"Anne, let's go," Leo pulled her back, shuddering as he drew his sword, "Now."
"Oh, you're not going anywhere. Except in-between my teeth!" Predicting its bite, Leo and Anne flew back, quickly losing their footing and collapsing into a conveniently shaped hole, plummeting them into a pit filled with frog-shaped skulls.
It was just a pit of dead frogs.
"Maybe they don't like the taste of humans. Considering they've never had it," Leo brought up, trying to say anything to fill the void of silence.
Not too soon after, not one but two multi-colored creatures revealed themselves, as they landed amongst the bones, they showed off their attached body, "Good catch Lysil! Although these two seem especially skin judging by how they ran."
"We're skinny, have you taken a look at yourselves!" Anne snapped back.
"Anne. I don't think they can," Leo deducted, peering at the grey irises.
"Just because we can't see you, doesn't mean we can't hear you!" Angwin smiled, slithering her blue body towards them, "And it's only a matter of time before our brother and I find you!"
"That's just how we Olms are."
Without warning, Anne bricked it from where she stood, rattling bones up as she did, alerting the twin Olms to her locations. Leo acted quickly, kicking up an even larger amount of them, getting the blue amphibian known as Lysil after him.
The blue and pink brother diverted after each human, running out of the body to lunge at him, the two of them pulling back at each for either Anne or Leo, "Let me get my meal then you can get yours Lysil!" Angwin growled, inching closer towards Anne before being yanked back.
"I deserve it, I found them! Your hearing getting worse by the day, you probably don't even know where your prey is!" Lysil barked back, forgetting about Leo completely, shoving into their brother.
"Watch where you're swinging that big head of yours! It could be considered a weapon you know!"
The small insults were escalating into a fight, as Angwin gnawed at his brother throwing them into a nearby wall, causing the already unstable ceiling to start to collapse. Anne leaped forward to avoid it, meeting paths with Leo.
"Well, if one thing. At least we don't fight," Anne mentioned taking another look at the two Olms.
"I'm not gonna fight with you Anne, I'll argue how I normally do. But I'm never gonna want to fight you, no matter how angry we get with each other.." Leo replied with a small smile.
Anne did the same, wearing a guilty expression, "Yeah, and even if we did, I'm confident I wouldn't win, fighting with you just doesn't seem fun. Neither does arguing, to be honest. This past week that seems like all we've been doing."
"Your right. It's not like I want to, I don't know why you've got on my nerves so much, you never used to."
"Nah, that's normal, trust me. When you are friends with someone for long enough, you'll end up arguing. Back home, you can either fix it or fall out, I say we do the first...truce?" Anne queried gently holding her hand out.
Leo couldn't help but stare into Anne's eyes for a moment, shaking it off and accepting the handshake with a firm grip.
They were briefly cut off by another falling boulder, coming fairly close to crushing them, "Right...save the emotional talk after the near-death experience," Anne quipped, hurrying up to her feet, "Up there, it's a way out!"
Her voice was loud enough to catch the attention of the fighting siblings, "What!? Thanks to you they're getting away!" Lysil yelled, pushing his brother off of him.
"Not yet there not!"
Pulling each other up, Leo and Anne booked it to the only source of light they could see, scarcely avoiding one of the Olm's jaws, feeling their breath on their backs as they tumbled out of the cave and back on the road.
"We cut that too close," Leo exasperated, slumping down to the ground, "We're alive though."
"Yep, all we had to do was bully the blind!" Anne stated proudly.
"Oh.." Leo winced.
"Yeah, yeah that sounded way better in my head. Wow, that was bad.."
Changing the subject, Leo peered down the other end of the road, spotting Hop Pop riding atop the f'wagon. From what he could make out, he was on some kind of spiel to Sprig and Polly, who looked about ready to jump off.
"Oh, thanks frog, Anne!" Sprig cheered; life finally came back into his eyes.
"Leo! Tell me you went on some bloody adventure," Polly pleaded. Wanting to hear anything to drown out Hop Pop's words.
Glancing at the orange frog for a moment, even Leo was finding it difficult to listen to him for any longer than thirty seconds, "It was normal for the most part, but then there was this pair of Olms that-"
In just a few seconds that Leo spent starting his story, a falling piece of the mountain came crashing down onto the wagon, a consequence of Lysil and Angwin's scuffle.
The f'wagon was knocked completely off balance falling on its side, Leo getting caught in the receiving end of it, plunging into whatever was below.
He caught himself with his katana, only buying him so much time, "Leo!" Anne called out, desperately trying to reach out for him, he was too far down the cavern for her to reach him though.
Losing his grip, Leo slipped even further down, "I can't make it back up, but I think I can safely get down," He yelled back up to them.
"What are you thinking Leo?" Hop Pop questioned anxiously, not liking where this was going.
"Look, I'm just being realistic, shit," Leo felt his sword slip down into the loose dirt, "I can meet you at Newtopia or someway there, trust me."
Anne, as much as she didn't like it, couldn't do anything. Even if she wanted to, there wasn't a chance that her mystic blue powers were going to activate anytime soon, "You better. And if you're doing this, just to get out of arguing with me I won't forget!"
Leo could at least chuckle at that, "Yeah, I know."
The cliffside could no longer hold his weight, spitting the katana back out at him, dropping Leo into the canyon below. It only took a few near misses of catching himself before he was met with the bottom of the deep drop.
The path was covered in nothing but mist, and the howls of whatever were lurking within them, "Best get going to Newtopia then," Leo muttered to himself, weirdly nonchalant about the whole situation.
Deep down, he was scared for the road ahead.
...
...
Some of you are probably confused with the ending, trust me it's important for some of Leo's development and certain other characters that he'll come across next chapter.
I hope you enjoyed though, this was my spin on Quarralers Pass, I just wanted to take some more time to flesh out Leo and Anne's characters, their arguing was actually alluded to in the past two chapters with some taunts they had with each other, chapters are coming out much slower than before, but I want the story to go at a much slower pace than before, so until next time see ya!
