Attack of the Giant Maddie

by birby6

Maddie never wanted to experience something like that day again. When a painful migraine leads to a full on bodily surge, she immediately finds herself back in a stature she desired to forget...but on a grander scale. Now it's a mad scramble to find a cure for her titanic growth before she has to live as a colossal giant forever, but something doesn't seem right...

2. Chapter 2

…

…

…wha…

…how is…

I don't…

…

…why…

…exist…exist…

---

Marcy made sure to keep the train going as she indicated the directions needed to find the particular place for the mysterious potato creatures. She safely sat on Maddie's large shoulder, along with Anne and Sprig, while the giant young frog performed all of the heavy lifting. For the one that carried all of them, she didn't mind too much since she only followed directions, and for the most part she effortlessly made it across the sea of trees down by her feet. For once she saw a major benefit for her supposed misfortune since any hazards fell to her massive height, although she wanted to keep damages to a minimum while proved next to impossibly. She swore she may have accidentally stepped on some creatures under the blankets of trees which she shook off so she wouldn't think about it for too long. Other times she almost slipped, possibly from large lakes of covered mud, which almost got the ones atop her shoulder to fall off as she stumbled. From her huge size they would fall for quite a while before they splatted across the ground, but luckily Maddie recomposed herself before she could take the chance. For the most part the trek never carried any sort of danger for the group when they had Maddie's beneficial growth to help them out.

The significance varied from each individual, but for Maddie she couldn't underestimate it. Her eyes almost never left the images of the countless trees that missed the top of her feet completely. The fact that nothing came close to reaching them displayed just how much growth she underwent and how little everything looked. She didn't know how to feel about it, as every time she attempted to think of something she always came up blank. Nothing but the low winds wafted through her head but she wanted an answer. Nothing came up as to why her sight stayed on everything below her and refused to leave any time soon, although the lowly nag from before echoed near the back.

She didn't need to focus on that though and only the directions Marcy indicated.

"There! Over there! I'm certain we found the spot!"

Maddie paused and stopped which almost made the ones on her shoulder fly off from the inertia. She planted her feet to the ground which sounded out a loud boom and unintentionally crushed a couple of helpless trees. It also scattered various flocks birds into the air that almost flew up into Maddie's face.

She turned her massive head toward the tiny ones for more info.

"You sure about that? I'm not seeing anything stick out."

"Just a few more steps forward Maddie and we'll reach it."

She understood soundly before she faced forward and carefully made around five more large steps, which rang loud booms and unintentionally crashed any plant life underneath on impact. She then stopped shortly after and went back to the others.

"Okay, we made it. You mind setting us down gently?"

"Now worries, I got all of you." Maddie answered as she warmly smiled. She used her other hand as she placed it next to her shoulder for the others to climb on, which Marcy and Anne did with no problems. Sprig hesitated a bit to get on Maddie's hand at first thanks to all of the previous thoughts about how his ex bride now stood at a size akin to mountains, and her planet gaze with her one visible eye didn't help. If he ticked her off or upset her in any way it would end disastrous for him, and his nervousness wouldn't stop. Eventually he mustered enough to get across her fingers and over to the others, but he still contained the tension built up since and it wouldn't leave him. One mistake with the giant Maddie, and he will end up unrecognizable in the mud.

Once everyone made it on safely, Maddie got on her knees, which provided more loud booms around the whole area, and carefully lowered her hand down until she made contact with the mud and dirt below. For the ones she carried, it almost felt like they went down the largest water slide in history from all of the constant shifts. It struck some familiarity with Anne and Marcy, especially in their younger years, as they made sure to always go down one the instant they arrived at any water park. The idea actually came from their other friend Sasha as a way to immediately get used to the water without going in inch by inch like dozens of others. She usually liked to get the difficult stuff over and done with, and while it took some convincing at first they finally agreed and adored the concept since. One time Marcy even hit a toy inflatable dolphin right at the end that went sailing into a lifeguard's face and knocked him straight into the water. Luckily the accident contained no serious injuries, but the three couldn't stop laughing at it for the whole day. Sasha stated that she wished she had a camera for that exact moment, and from then on they always kept their childhood moments from the water park close to their hearts. For such a mundane and brief action, it took Anne and Marcy down memory lane and hit them with a wave of deep nostalgia.

Maddie let the three of them walk off of her hand first before she withdrew it and listened in on what to do next.

"Yes, I'm right! I calculated the exact spot! If everything goes well, a Spudley might show up!" Marcy exclaimed joyfully while she raised one of her arms with glee and excitement.

"Nice to see you into this Marcy." Anne replied as she friendly smiled. "Now what do we do?"

As if a switch flipped in her brain instantly, Marcy's joyous attitude shifted from pure excitement to a swift reality check. She almost stood still for a quick second while the others watched in confusion at what it meant.

"Oh, well, ummmm…" Marcy stuttered while she tugged at her hood with one of her fingers. "You see…I didn't actually think everything through all of the way…"

Sprig and Maddie's faces went flat while Anne slapped her forehead and shook her head slightly. Another classic Marcy moment whizzed past them that only she could pull off. Her focus honed in on one specific aspect so intensely that she failed to account the others, and like all of those other times where it happened the ones around her took the consequences as a result.

"You never cease to amaze me." Anne muttered under her breath.

"So you basically made us go all the way out here…for nothing?" Sprig asked in stumped bewilderment.

"No, no, not exactly." Marcy responded. "I managed to find this exact spot that the ones I heard spoke about, but, ummmm…nothing else after that, heheheheh…"

"I kind of expected that to happen at some point during this, especially from you." Anne stated, but not in a harsh way. "So do you know when this creature might show up?"

She managed to perk Marcy up a little from her statement.

"Ummmm, not to exact numbers." Marcy said. "I've generalized a time frame from the few reports I've heard of the Spudlies, and if my accuracy remained on track…"

Before her mind trailed off too far off the track, Marcy reached into her equipment and brought out her research book again. She opened the covers and raced through the pages like she commonly did only to backtrack a couple of times supposedly from a missed section. Her eyes scanned the lines thoroughly, and before long she set on one part. She even placed a finger on the exact spot where she wrote.

"Yes, yes, definitely the correct timing! While we arrived at the tail end of what I have here, we should still have everything down for it to show up, if fate wants to give us one obviously."

"Sooooo…do we have to wait this out then?" Maddie's booming voice said.

"We may have to unfortunately." Marcy answered while she lightly frowned. Everyone else couldn't believe their ears, especially Sprig, at what they had to do next. Anne even groaned lightly in a disgruntled response. While Maddie got them to the spot in next to no time at all some expected to go up against something fierce immediately, even if the name Spudley told them otherwise, so to hear that their expectations went south killed the mood for some. Since Wartwood contained situations pretty much on a daily basis, peace almost never came up on someone's radar so everyone usually got put on a high alert at times…including Anne's and Sprig's desire to always get their hands dirty. The next action went against all of their ways of thinking, and they didn't like it.

Anne and Sprig slumped on the ground in front of Marcy like they just got defeated…by words no less.

"Come on Marcy, you couldn't have thought this out more thoroughly BEFORE we headed over here?" Sprig asked in utter disbelief.

"Sorry, you know me and my flawed dedications, heheheh." Marcy replied as she lukewarmly chuckled. The two immediately responded by planting their faces in the mud before they groaned deeply. Anne didn't seem the care at the moment that she basically had mud over her and only worried about how long they would have to stay in the one spot just for the chance to find one of the mystical creatures. Marcy's eyes widened more that normal while Maddie remained slightly bewildered at Anne's and Sprigs way of expressing themselves for the moment. They surely personally maintained such unique responses to various outcomes and current events even if it made them appear like they lost dozens of brain cells.

Marcy still had one more thing to address, and she aimed to toward the giant frog witch.

"We still have the matter with you though."

"Hmmm? How so?" Maddie asked.

"Your size. I don't think you'll find the best hiding spot like that." Marcy replied while she half grinned and chuckled under her breath. For the giant frog girl, she caught on rather quickly.

"Hahah, very funny there." Maddie answered in a sarcastic undertone.

"Okay, okay, just some lighthearted humor there." Marcy said. "Anyway, even though I know it's basically impossible to hide you at your massive height, we could at least try to put you at an angle where the Spudley won't notice you too much, or at least not care about something in the distance."

"So you want me to back up and get away from this spot?" Maddie asked.

"As much as it takes to get you out of the creature's potential sight." Marcy replied. "I'll stay over here and tell you when to stop, okay?"

"Got it." Maddie stated. Marcy stayed while she watch Maddie shuffle backwards on her knees before she got on her stomach and placed her head on the ground. The moment the tiny one saw Maddie's face set on the ground it almost spooked her, since not only did she set off another quake against the ground but her planet sized face only had a distance of about a few feet from her. Anne and Sprig still had their faces in the mud while they wallowed in their grieving misery, and because of that they paid no attention to what Maddie and Marcy had going on. The reminders of what happened yesterday still echoed through Marcy's head, but that time paled in comparison to Maddie's new higher scope. Her one visible eye gazed down at her as big as a moon, and her pink blob for hair rivaled oceans from its vast length. She could make out several loose drops of mucus from her skin that almost made Marcy heave again, and more covered the rest that gave off a nice shiny look. While she saw Maddie huge before, the fact that she got an up close look at her humongous face showed details she had never seen before, and in most ways she wished she hadn't.

While she tried to hold in her lunch for the moment, she watched as Maddie carefully backed up away from her, which steamrolled dozens of trees in her wake, while Marcy kept a close watch over her for an adequate spot.

"Keep going. Okay, a bit farther. Farther, farther. A little bit more…"

---

Marcy eventually made Maddie settle a lot farther than she intended. The absolute size of the young frog witch meant so many could see her even from distance that seemed safe, which meant she required further distances than if she ended up any smaller. In the end she could still see the group down below, albeit barely, while she stayed out of sight from the angles where the group stood. She didn't mind it as she wanted to get her huge size over and done with more than anything, and the look in her visible eye told Marcy the same thing. Due to her distance though, she had to rely on the ones closer to tell her if the potato creature managed to arrive. While somewhat troublesome, Maddie's huge presence got pretty much covered by distance…to the expense of over dozens of trees.

While Marcy kept her eyes on the one spot she tracked down, Anne and Sprig did so as well. As much of a bore they knew would come, they wanted to keep their minds occupied just so they wouldn't "die of boredom" like they originally worried about. At first they took the duty rather nicely, as Anne listed off various words that began with the letter G before Sprig joined in and assisted. She remembered a long time ago from her mother that what seemed so mundane could really force the brainpower out of you, which in turn kept your thoughts active. She started with G and moved down from there, and their minds raced for answers that kept their focus. At one point Sprig brought up a word that Anne didn't recognize, and after some quick thinking she realized he probably made it up since it never had a single vowel in it. Even after he wrote it out in the dirt they bantered for a bit about the legitimacy of the word until they moved on to other letters.

Just because something as simple as a word game got the mind racing, that didn't mean you can make stuff up as it went along.

The game kept going for quite a while until their minds went dry, which eventually made Anne's stomach rumble. As if a light went off in her head, she brought out the large jelly grub skin she managed to stockpile away from everyone else that somehow stayed fresh despite the issue with the asp. It practically lead to her gorging on the sweet goodness for a second time until Sprig asked if he could have some. The jelly craved Anne glared at him with crazed eyes and face full of jelly as she loudly hissed like a snake, which Sprig didn't take too lightly. As his mouth poured out fountains of drool, his craved and deprived mind forced him forward until the two got into a tussle of hair pulling, leg smashing, and arm biting. At every single moment they could access the delicacy they instantly went for it, and each time they shot the sweet stickiness right into their mouths before they got tackled by the other. Marcy would have intervened if she didn't have her nose stuck in her book as she refined various details listed in it she forgot to earlier. Her thick headed focus came at the expense of both Anne and Sprig as the two kept at it for as long as they could until they the whole thing went dry. Immediately after they noticed that it went empty they immediately collapsed into the mud and blacked out from the fatigue. Just because they were the best of friends didn't mean they couldn't get at each other's throats…for candy none the less.

Nobody kept track of the time thanks to their distractions, although Maddie got bored pretty quickly and fell asleep among all of the tiny trees around her. She lightly snored at a volume quiet enough that surprisingly made it inaudible for the group despite her size, but made some of the trees sway back and forth with each breath. Inevitably, the force of her whispering snores uprooted a couple of the weaker trees which either blew them forward to the ground or pulled them back into Maddie's mouth. Every time the latter happened she choked a little bit under her breath before she swallowed them whole, which went completely unnoticed by her as she remained asleep. The boredom clearly got to her quicker than anyone else, which inadvertently made her chomp on any trees unfortunate enough to get sucked up by her snores.

Anne and Sprig had their bodies in the mud almost completely tuckered out from their long drawn out scuffle thanks to the jelly filled confectionery, and they likely would have remained that way if another factor never hit their senses. Sprig tilted his head up while he showed some dreary eyes only to see Marcy still lost in her notes all wide awake. He attempted to call her out on her complete ignorance of the task at hand, but before he found the opportunity some light type of squeaking hit his ears. His suspicions pointed him over to either Marcy or Anne as she still laid in the mud, but once he saw that the squeaking didn't match their actions he perked up more than usual.

"Euurrrgh…" Sprig said in a groggy manner as he stirred awake. "Marcy…hey Marcy, do you hear that squeaking?"

Out of everything to potentially jog her out of her trance, his statement would probably end up as one of the last ones. Despite the odds and Marcy's ways of tuning noises out, it somehow provided enough to deter the girl's attention away from her note taking in her book.

"Squeaking? What do you mean by-"

She suddenly paused for a couple of seconds as the noises hit their hearing. While not the most quiescent sound they have ever heard, if they didn't pay attention for the moment they they likely would have completely missed it. In many ways it showed how well they could hear things when the sources almost sounded mute, but they couldn't pay attention to that fact at the time. Something possibly came up for them, and they had to see it immediately.

As if a bolt of lightning hit him, Sprig instantly got to his feet and tried to wake Anne.

"Anne! Anne! We might have got something close!"

The girl slowly picked up her head while her eyes opened to a crawl. She still had her body stretched across the ground while she addressed him.

"Sprig? What the heck do you mean by-"

"Shhhhh! Don't you hear it?" Sprig interjected. The three of them went silent for the moment, and a few seconds later the light noises barely got picked up by their hearing. While at times it took a bit of elbow grease to get Anne out of a drowsy status, once she heard the squeaks she nearly sprang to her feet while her eyes flew open.

"No way. Do you think that…?"

"I think the numbers have possibly aligned." Marcy said as eagerness filled her face. "We need to check this out ASAP. Hey Sprig, do you mind getting Maddie? She shouldn't have gone too far."

"I'm on it!" Sprig answered as he hopped off in the opposite direction. Anne and Marcy rushed off the other way toward the source so they wouldn't lose their target quickly. For Sprig, he seemed primed for the job since he could navigate the woods around him like nothing due to his springy frog legs. If everything went well they might just pull everything off and find the mystical creature after all.

True to Marcy's word, Sprig didn't take too long until he reached the giant sleeping girl. The moment he reached her his heart nearly stopped beating completely. He walked right in and stood only a few feet away from her slumbering head, and it really painted a picture in his head. He did his best to remain on the ground as she lightly snored in and out, which gave him probably the cleanest glance inside her mouth that he wished he never saw. From his angle against her massive body, every time she breathed in he almost thought he just stumbled upon the biggest cave in existence. Her saliva dripped ever so slightly from her bottom lip that he stayed clear from and the redness inside her maw stood out as large warning signs to steer clear of. Various pieces of bark and leaves stayed crammed in her teeth after all of the trees that unluckily got caught in her snores, but that never caught the most attention. No matter how much he wanted to take his eyes away from it, they remained glued to the very back of her mouth at the worst possible spot. She couldn't help it as he uncontrollably shuddered at the one large hole with the large wet bag that dangled overhead like he got struck with something. Maddie may have slowly snored peacefully to no attention, but just that one spot ruined the mood for Sprig in an instant. He could even see some pieces of brown and green that indicated where those trees ended up and the dark thoughts heckled him from behind like demons. With her high numbers over everyone else and capabilities that became possible because of it, she could very well throw him in there to no return. The fact that her size allowed her the option gave Sprig a type of nervousness like no other. Maddie could make him her next snack if she wanted, and after his run ins with her previously the uncertainty chewed him in from the inside.

Despite his feelings though, he still had a job to do. He backed up further away just so he wouldn't get those dark reminders before he looked at her again. He made it clear to himself that he would not attempt ANY amount of wake up calls that involved her mouth to any extent, which left few options left. As painful of an experience as getting an object stuck in your eye was, Sprig's hasty train of thought concluded on a "close enough" mentality to get everything over with. He didn't require too much searching until he found a medium sized rock big enough to potentially wake Maddie up, and with that he brought out his trusty slingshot he always carried on hand. His shuddering continued from the thoughts earlier, but it didn't impact his aim as he pulled the rock back. He clenched his eyes and narrowed them down before he unleashed the stone upward toward her. He pinpointed the spot perfectly as it hit Maddie's visible closed eye, although it only seemed to make her fidget around for a little. He heard various trees collapse in the distance from her motion, but she still remained asleep. It would take more than that type of rock to wake the sleeping giant Maddie.

Her light snores continued, which made her open up her maw each time to Sprig's displeasure, as he reloaded on another rock nearby. The next one had a slightly larger scope to it, but it still fit in Sprig's slingshot nicely. After another quick aiming session, Sprig let loose the next rock which hit her eye perfectly again. She started to stir a bit, but remained out. He could feel his frustration rise as another rock got put in his slingshot, and it had twice the girth than the last one. If the next one didn't do it, he go for something else.

He pulled his slingshot back further than he normally went for, but after the previous two attempts he didn't care. Once he let go the rock sailed through the air and bashed into Maddie's eye like target practice. Finally, after two failures that performed absolutely nothing in terms of progression, he finally saw the giant girl slowly stir awake. She rubbed her visible eye for a second before her snoring stopped and her eyelid opened slowly.

"Ugggh, did someone just fire something at me?"

She gave off one deep yawn before she glanced down to see none other than Wartwood's infamous young from that always managed to get into trouble somehow. She frowned slightly at first before her vision cleared to distinguish the rest of the details.

"Maddie! Maddie! I think we may have finally found that creature!" Sprig exclaimed while he waved his arms as if to get her attention. The giant girl's deep voice boomed through his head.

"You woke me up for that? Don't Anne and Marcy have that thing marked down or something?"

"Well, its potatoes are apparently the only way to fill you up after you've obtained that…massive size." Sprig answered, although he slightly stammered with the last two words. "If you could try to remain somewhat quiet to not possibly scare it off…"

He could tell from her current attitude that she still had some drowsiness in her and that her comprehension of the situation didn't get fully realized yet. It would take around thirty more seconds, but soon she perked back up up again as her mind booted back up.

"Oh…oh! Right, that potato creature! Yeesh, almost forgot about that for a second there…"

"Could you try to remain quiet just in case it has a skittish personality?" Sprig asked. "We don't want our efforts to go to waste, you know."

"I don't know how I can do so while I'm this huge, but I'll try." Maddie responded. She then placed her hand on the ground for him where he hesitated at first, but eventually climbed on before she brought him up to her face. He blocked out any sort of thought he had about his close up to her face before she placed him on her shoulder for safety. With Maddie up and about, everything hinged on Anne and Marcy to stay on top of whatever they heard in the distance.

---

For the two humans, Marcy already estimated the most probable area for any creature close by. She lead the run ahead while Anne trailed behind. The squeaking still hit their eardrums and they couldn't lose track of them now. Marcy had her mind go wild with the possibilities of such a discovery, while Anne just did her best to keep up. That didn't mean she lacked any type of eagerness toward a discovery like a new critter never seen before up close, but after the long time of nothing she kept her hopes to an average. They could have potentially tracked down something other than they wanted after all, even if Marcy thought things differently.

Marcy's attitude remained pretty high up as dozens of leaves hit her face through her path.

"Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, I can't wait to see what they look like! I've written down the general shape of them from the stories I've heard, but to see one in person…ooh, I can't wait much longer!"

"You should probably not get your expectations up high just in case." Anne responded. "I mean, we could have just heard some other type of-"

"Happy thoughts, Anne! Happy thoughts!" Marcy interrupted as she gave one of her infectious smiles. If anything she clearly lost it at that point thanks to the sense of discovery that coursed through her veins. Of course it didn't help that most of the leaves that Marcy brushed away recoiled back to hit her. At one point she almost tripped over a bush that ended up shrouded under a tree while Marcy had no issues at all. Anne ended up with most of the annoying plant life at her every corner that her friend failed to notice.

After a few more minutes of rushing through leaves, Marcy suddenly stopped in her tracks which Anne didn't expect. She tumbled right into her before the two found themselves in the dirt once again. While not majorly hurt, it annoyed Anne to see her friend act like that.

"Marcy, why in the right mind did you-"

"Shhhhhh, shhhhhh, shhhhhh!"

Marcy instantly put a finger on Anne's mouth to clam her up, which did the trick for the most part. Anne found herself shocked to see her friend suddenly act up again like she had the alpha status between them. Until that moment she stayed behind her and had to react on the fly from what she thought of, and she would have retorted at her even further if she didn't force her to shut up. She ate her words once she heard the constant squeaking again, but she didn't just hear one…

She heard multiple.

Anne and Marcy had cover behind the bush that they fell behind, and from the sounds they basically stood really close by. The two glanced at each other to find out who had the courage to peek out the top first, and if everything went right they could possibly have something special before them. If Marcy's hypothesis proved wrong however…

The two whispered back and forth just in case.

"This might be it Anne! To make things even better, we might actually see more than one!"

"Marcy, can we just think for a second before we try to-"

She never got to finish once she quickly noticed that Marcy already poked her head out. Her skewed focus on that one topic came back to bite her in the wrong way, which Anne understood came as standard for her. She held back on a massive groan under her breath before she glanced at Marcy again only to realize that she wore a different face, and it stood out. Her pupils practically took over her entire eyes while smile widened into a very cheesy and joyous grin. She heard her lightly squeal while she put her gloved hands on her cheeks, which meant only one thing for the young girl. For something to catch her attention that well, she also needed to see it for herself.

She didn't take it lightly at first while she stuck her head out next to Marcy's.

"Seriously Marcy, have you ever tried to learn to think befo-WHAAAAAAAAAAAA?!"

Anne's entire expression basically mirrored Marcy's the moment her sight turned forward, and instantly she understood what captivated her so well. It came as no surprise that the two of them contained a soft spot when anything remotely adorable comes by them, and their other friend Sasha let them have it because of their "priceless" reactions. Anne almost couldn't leave a pet store one time after she laid eyes on a certain guinea pig that displayed a spot on its forehead which looked like a love heart with an arrow pierced through it. She refused to leave the rodent's side but couldn't buy it because she lacked the money, and it took a full thirty minutes before things escalated. Marcy and Sasha attempted to pull her away from it, but then Marcy got a glance and instantly got infatuated by its sheer cuteness which left Sasha on her own to no avail. Eventually the store staff got into it, which involved almost the whole building, just to pull the two girls away and force them out of the building for "cheery loitering". They ended up with a few bruises, but Anne couldn't get the image of that guinea pig out of her head for weeks. Someone else ended up with it in the end and Anne never lived it down, especially after she finally earned enough to pay the price. From that day onward she never gave an animal the name "Cupid" in respect to her lost fluffy soulmate. She even planned to take up knitting to make the rodent a little sweater at one point. They learned an important lesson that day; there will never be something that perfect in cuteness ever again. The two let their emotions get the better of them when it came to anything they deemed fit the description perfectly.

Especially to a guinea pig that would have gotten the name Cupid.

As for what they saw over the bushes, while they lacked the pure adorableness from that day, they sure came really close in the two girls' eyes. They stood at the same height as most polliwogs and at points even acted clueless like they didn't know how to use their feet. When Marcy stated that their bodies generally shaped like a potato, she ended up dead accurate. For the most part they seemed pretty blunt about it as they basically almost looked like small potatoes on legs, although they had one large lump on top where their eyes were. Their plump brown bodies even displayed some speckled spots here and there, although some seemed to have different patterns that Marcy couldn't pinpoint at the moment. Even though raw potatoes had some roots on them when plucked from the ground, the creatures lacked them altogether but did have some very round green feet that almost had too much simplicity to them. They appeared like circular flat ovals with no other features to them. As for their eyes Marcy and Anne couldn't get enough of them, as they also contained a similar simplicity of two plain circles with medium sized black dots in the middle for pupils. They had no arms to speak of, but the girls didn't care. They already knew that they wanted to give the creatures some of the biggest hugs imaginable and never let go from such an explosion of cuteness. For something that shared an appearance of a common potato, it struck the girls in the sweet spot all over and they couldn't get enough of them.

Like what their ears picked up, they didn't just encounter only one though. They found five.

The little creatures ran around on their stubby plain round feet, which seemed as the source behind the constant low squeaking, while some laid on the ground flat and rolled around in it. The others stood nearby and tucked their feet into the ground while one lost his balance and fell onto its back. Even as it struggled to get up as it flailed its feet into air, it perpetually uttered countless squeaks that tickled Anne and Marcy in all of the right ways and made them lightly squeal in delight.

"I want them…I want all of them!" Anne said while she had on one of the biggest smiles imaginable. "Sooooooooooo cute!"

"I need to write this down…INSTANTLY!" Marcy stated as she mirrored Anne's expression. "They exist all right…and I LOVE THEM!"

She instantly got her research book out without looking and flipped open a random page since she couldn't take her eyes off of the small potato creatures. She already had some observations from her first glances, but she could only write a single word in an endless loop. She didn't even pay attention to the fact that she wrote the one word over various other notes she had written over time, and at the moment she lacked any kind of care for that. Her hard work fell into a scribbled mess of nothing but the word "CUTE" over and over again in big bold letters.

The potato creatures called the Spudlies continued on their squeaky and adorable ways as if they wanted to torture Anne and Marcy with their adorableness even further. The ones that rolled in the dirt had one of the others push them back onto their stubby feet where they shook any excess mess from their bodies. Once they got up they displayed a certain shine across their bodies, which made them jump up and down while they wiggled their feet, before the next one took its spot. The one that just got up then ran around the area with their little feet that uttered various squeaks in their wake. Marcy had a hypothesis at the ready for such a display, but her mind got occupied with the obvious.

They entranced the girls so much that they almost missed the fact that one of the Spudlies, in its haste as it ran around, accidentally tripped over a loose piece of dirt and fell straight in front of the bush that the two girl hid behind. It flailed its feet in the air, which made more squeaks, as it tried and failed to get back up. The other Spudlies seemed to have their attention elsewhere with whatever activity they had in mind with the dirt, but the girls definitely noticed once they heard the squeaking close by.

Both Anne and Marcy lacked the common sense to stay hidden with their occupied states of mind.

"Aww, does the little potato need to get back on its feet?

Without as much as a hint to not go for it, Anne tiptoed out of the bush and put her hands on the Spudley before she flipped it right back up. Once it found itself back on its feet, the Spudley jerked upward and immediately turned to face her with widened eyes. It took a few steps back which gave off loud squeaks and caught the attention of the other Spudlies. The ones with their bodies in the dirt had another Spudley that stood up get them back on their feet, and their eyes reflected each other. The look in their eyes jarred the two girls back to a somewhat better state where the appearances of the creatures mattered a lot less to them. Whether by the gazes of their eyes or some other factor, it sent the two back to reality where it mattered.

Some of the Spudlies already backed away further while they trembled a bit, which forced Anne and Marcy to not pay attention to the adorable squeaks, although others still stood in place and didn't move too much.

"No, no, we don't mean to hurt you or anything! Please don't run!" Anne said at a pitch of desperation. Marcy already had her doubts on the matter. While the creatures lacked facial features to help determine specifics in expressions, she had her hunches as to how the Spudlies must have felt. If they truly worried for their safety they probably would have bolted at the mere sight of them as they revealed their presences, and yet while some teetered on that line for the most part they seemed to stay put. Her hunches lead her to believe that they most likely had more shock and surprise in them over anything else at the moment, so if they played correctly they could swing the odds in their favor.

One of the five Spudlies tilted its body while it kept its blank gaze at the two girls, after which Anne spoke again.

"Well, ummmm, hi there…potato cuties." Anne said in a slight tepid tone. "We kind of heard about your special capabilities and…we need your help."

Whether her choice of words struck a chord with them or some other factor, a couple of the potato creatures walked a few steps closer to Anne and Marcy. They held back on squealing with cuteness overload as they heard the squeaking of its motions since they needed the Spudlies on their side. They seemed curious about their pleas from what Marcy estimated, so she spoke up next.

"Yeah, we don't mean to harm you to any extent, I promise!" Marcy chimed in. "We just want some of your precious giant potatoes to help fill up a friend of ours for a few days!"

Her request got a couple of the creatures to lower their eyelids. One Spudley tilted its body again before it turned around to the ones behind it and uttered a couple of its own squeaks. The ones in the back shuddered all over and appeared uncooperative at first, but the one's squeaks got them to at least tiptoe a bit closer to the others even if they didn't want to. Some still feared for their lives after all even if Anne and Marcy maintained no deadly presence in the slightest.

"You…you think they understand us?" Anne asked Marcy.

"Don't know, but I'm betting on it at this point." Marcy replied before she got back to the Spudlies. "We want to help out a friend of ours in her time of need. We would personally do everything we can until we can cure her, but for now-"

She never got to finish as everyone on the ground felt the immense tremors their way that got louder and louder with each passing boom. Everyone brought their attention in the direction to the source, and soon enough they saw the culprit behind them. Anne and Marcy already gotten used to the sight by then, but for some of the Spudlies the cacophony of squeaks told the girls everything they needed to know. A few headed for some of the nearby trees and rushed behind them like an original hide and go seek player while another tripped over one of the quakes and tumbled into a deciduous tree. It hit its head on the bark and fell onto its back while its eyes became two white wheels. The rest took some more steps backwards but didn't go too far, which surprised Marcy to an extent. It could have possibly turned out to be a similar case to earlier, which got the gears in her head turning as she watched them.

As for Anne, her efforts to help keep the Spudlies from running away couldn't have went south any further. While they would have needed to see her and her giant size eventually, she wanted to help them settle in easy and not just brazenly stick a neon sign over to her location. While the process would go by at a sluggish pace, at least they minimized the risk of losing any single creature. She had to admit though that she got to see a better angle of the giant young witch that almost made her out as pretty adorable. At least she got that nice picture in her mind.

Sprig, who stood atop Maddie's shoulder, got his first looks at the Spudlies even from high above.

"Whoa, so the Spudlies look like that? Wow, they really contrast with all of the dangerous stuff around here. Kind of makes them stand out from everything else."

Maddie stayed silent once she noticed some of the Spudlies head for the hills. The last thing she needed was to make their outlooks over her mysterious growth a million times worse than she already saw. In many ways she felt ashamed that a change in size could completely demolish one's perception and form it into a completely scared wreck. She understood that one could damage far more while huge but that didn't mean they would automatically rampage and destroy everything like she tried ever since. The ones that liked her knew better and would understand in an instant, but for the uninformed it practically became a war zone. Her own sisters even turned on her, and even though she convinced them otherwise anyone else would have never given her that chance. Yet another major downside made itself known all centered around her unintended growth, which made her even more wishful that it would all end soon.

Anne did her best to explain further to the worried ones, and her desperation got pushed further out there.

"No, no, you got it all wrong! She would never intend to hurt any of you! Somehow she ended up that way and we want to find a way to reverse it, but until then she can't eat normally like us."

"At least give her a chance." Marcy said after Anne. "She's our friend, and you can trust her. Please little Spudlies, you can contribute to her wellness if we could obtain some of your potatoes…"

The ones behind the trees peeked out as the girls gave it their all while the one who got dazed woke back up but couldn't get on its feet. They shuddered all over and struggled to move out, but then one of the Spudlies that stayed stared back at them. It shook for a second before it squeaked then flipped around to the others. The girls and frog had no clue as to what they said or if they spoke at all, but they did see results as they scared ones trudged very slowly from their hiding spots. Another Spudley that stayed put lowly squeaked before its eyelids halfway closed and it rushed over to the worried ones. One scared Spudley shook its body vigorously to the other which resulted in the other literally pushing the worried one over to the others in the open. The scared one squeaked like crazy as it tried to push back with its feet in the dirt, but it meant nothing until it found its way back with the others. The same process repeated with the other worried potato creatures as the one that fell on its back when it rammed into a tree stood out as the sole exception. Thankfully it only needed a single push back up from another before it settled down, and soon enough all five Spudlies stood before the girls and frogs like nothing happened. While Anne and Marcy couldn't get enough of the adorable antics, Sprig thought nothing of it other than a "bad comedy routine".

Sprig hopped down off of Maddie's shoulder and landed perfectly with his legs thanks to his anatomy despite the height, as Anne and Marcy said one more thing to try and convince the creatures.

"We need your help little guys."

"Your special traits can help alleviate some of the pressure this whole problem brought to us."

From complete worry to instant content, the potato creatures sure had their own methods of thought. Their lack of facial features meant their eyes and body language made up for a majority of guesses as to their current feelings, and soon enough the group obtained another major hint as to what side the Spudlies stood on. All of their eyes narrowed into small slivers, almost all in unison, and they stared down the girls and frogs despite the fact that one of them eclipsed everyone in height. If they didn't stand out for the most part as "cute" "innocent", and "adorable" to the others, especially to Anne and Marcy, they likely would have felt more worried underneath. Sprig shivered at one point, but other than that they missed any points the creatures intended to make.

They watched as the Spudlies kept their eyes narrowed and slowly slogged over to the two girls first. The girls' urges to squeal with cuteness overload banged throughout their entire heads as the creatures squeaks tickled them funny just from their motions. The five small potato creatures rubbed their bodies against the girls' legs first before they went to Anne and forced her to her knees. Then they proceeded to rub themselves against her back and eventually her whole body like they had some intense curiosity. Everyone else stood clueless and silent, but Anne lacked the strength to keep herself clammed up and erupted into multiple giggles and laughs. They never scared the Spudlies off of her, but the creatures made sure to get every corner of her body…besides the rudely obvious.

"Heeheeheehee, heheheheheheh, HAHAHAHAHAHAH! Stop…it's too much! HAHAHAHAH! Get off, get off, heheheheh, YOU'RE TICKLING! HAHAHAHAH!"

It went on for a few more minutes until the creatures finally planted their feet off of Anne's sapped body. She drained herself from all of the laughter and clearly had no idea they would do something like that. Her legs shook from all over while she took her time to get back on her feet, as it almost proved too punishing to go through again. The Spudlies immediately went back to squeaking to themselves while they traded looks between each other, and before long they went over to their next subject. Anne still had some tears in her eyes while Sprig and Maddie placed their gazes on Marcy, who already had her eyes opened wide from Anne's incident.

"Wait, ummmmm, I don't know what you have in mind, but, errrrrrr, can we try something else with…whatever you want-AHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The Spudlies never let another word out of her once they exchanged some type of nod and tackled Marcy to the ground. Her cacophony of laughter rang through the whole area as the potato creatures ran their bodies over every single inch. The process didn't hurt at all with…whatever the Spudlies had in mind, and soon enough her whole body went into overdrive with pure laughs.

"PFFFFFFT, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! STOP IT, STOP IT! NOT THERE, HAHAHAHAHAHAH! I'M GOING TO PU-HAHAHAHAHAHAH! STOP, PLEASE STOP! NO MO-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"

Around the same time passed from Anne's process, and after that the Spudlies got themselves off her. Marcy felt almost completely drained of all of her ticklish nature as she almost got back to her feet, but then her withered stability put her back against the ground. Her mind went somewhere else as the torrents of tears during the whole thing dried up and her head went light. It would take a couple of moments to regain herself, but once she stood back up she immediately spoke to Anne.

"Heheh, about five years ago I thought I saw the most hilarious moment with you during that one dermatologist appointment, and I thought I would never stop laughing after, heeheeheehee…that one face you made. Never in my life have I ever expected to go even further…but, heeheeheehee, those creatures, heheheheh, proved me wrong."

"I can see that from a mile away." Anne answered as she crossed her arms and lightly chuckled. Out of everything to come out of Marcy's mouth, that incident ended up as one of the last in the back of her mind. That one wart on her leg annoyed her so much that they went to a dermatologist to freeze it off, and once the cold spray hit the spot, well…she didn't prepare for it.

Her expression left both Sasha and Marcy laughing for weeks on end.

Sprig became next on the chopping block for the Spudlies once they got done with Marcy. Both Marcy and Anne both showed cheesy guilty smiles as the creatures honed in on the frog boy. Sprig didn't like where things headed and the narrowed eyes on the Spudlies made it worse from her perspective. He started to back up only to almost fall over a Spudley that blocked the way. They had him boxed in from every corner.

He would have spoken up about it if they gave him the chance, but by then the whole entourage of Spudlies piled on him and rubbed their bodies over every inch of him. Like the others, he couldn't help but burst into laughter, but not to the same level as Anne or Marcy.

"NO, NO, HAHAHAHAH! PLEASE, NOT THERE! PFFFFFT, HAHAHAHAH! STOP, STOP, TOO MUCH TICKLING! HAHAHAHAHAH!"

They didn't taken nearly as long as the girls with him. After around half of the time they spent on the girls, they waltzed off of him in a loose unison. Sprig had to catch his breath for the moment after his intense laughing fit, even if he didn't do it as hard as the girls. It drained him a bit, but not to the same level. By that time he already got back on his feet in with no troubles at all, but he still didn't know why the creatures put him through such a fit in the first place. Even so, he never underestimated the relief he felt once it concluded for him, but if the process of elimination taught him anything, that meant one remained for the potato creatures to tread over.

They might have maintained a type of fear at first when it came to Maddie's giant presence, but now each of the five Spudlies walked up to her massive feet without so much as a shudder…except for one of the. The worried one instantly got the other to glance back at it before one of the them nudged it. It forced it to suddenly stand stiff in a somewhat normal stance, even if it still felt some type of worry inside. As for the giant girl, she ran through so many possibilities as to how they could possibly go through their whole "process" while she stood taller than anyone else. If they accidentally wandered somewhere dangerous or "off limits" everything could steer south in an instant. She hinged on the fact that they seemed to know how to go about their business, but thanks to her growth they could take hours before they finished her up.

She took a couple of deep breaths in preparation and waited for them to climb on her, but it never happened. Everyone kept their eyes on the Spudlies and they stayed put for the most part. They took a few gazes at her figure upwards and downwards from their angle, but the creatures never set foot on her body. Instead, they huddled together in a tightly knit circle and uttered some low squeaks between each other for a couple of minutes before they went back around to face her. It left the others guessing, but they received a hint when the few Spudlies in the front closed their eyes and shook their bodies for a quick. A couple of minor squeaks later and every still had no idea why they didn't put Maddie through the same treatment.

"Umm, have you deciphered their weird noises yet Marcy?" Anne asked. "I think we could really use it right now."

"Well, errrrr, not exactly…" Marcy responded. "I kind of had my concentration over to their, you know…cuteness factor."

"I'm not too surprised." Maddie said overhead in her deep giant voice. Before they try to come up with some type of highly estimated hunch, another noise hit their ears and, for once, it wasn't any kind of squeak. It started off lowly audible at first and almost completely mute, but then it slowly crawled up into a better understandable type. It still required some form of concentration to pinpoint, but once it hit their ears it struck some type of familiarity to some. For Marcy and Anne, it hit them the closest since it reminded them of some type of…spray can? Something didn't sit right with that, but it started to fall as another sense slowly overloaded their systems. Any type of thought teetered on a weight that increased as time progressed, and their noses could have burst into flames from such a deadly burden. Anne and Sprig coughed up a fit for a couple of seconds as their minds increased in weight, and soon enough their consciousness began to fade. Whatever started to happen even got picked up by Maddie as even the biggest girl in Amphibia couldn't handle such fumes.

"Wha…what's going on…here?" Marcy asked as her whole body swayed deeply and her head weighed her down.

"I can't…I can't…" Sprig trailed off before he fell backward and out cold. The others couldn't think about it too much as Maddie started to undergo similar symptoms.

"Why…why am I…no…"

She eventually couldn't take anymore punishment and collapsed into a heap to the ground below. The impact she made shook next to everything around her, including Anne and the others, and hundreds of plant life suffered instant flattening and destruction as the young witch hit them with a loud boom and fell unconscious in the process. Even someone as massive as her succumbed to the deadly smells that suddenly wafted around.

Marcy didn't get any chance to say anything and fell to her knees until the fumes took her soon after. Anne desperately held on but continued to buckle under until she inevitably fell on her stomach, and her eyes picked up one final image of the Spudlies as they circled around the teenager with innocent looking stares.

"No…not like this…why…why…"

---

Anne woke up with a gasp for air. Her eyes burst open as she pushed herself away from the ground like she just crawled out from the ground after her burial. She took a couple of seconds as she tried to keep her cool after she fell unconscious from the putrid smell, but even then she remained a bit woozy. Her head hurt pretty bad but at least she finally obtained the oxygen to still remain alive. Whatever she went through seemed to have ended already, but that stood out as the least of her worries.

"Man, one whiff of that stuff and I went out like a light…" Anne thought while she stuttered to get up on her feet. A few more seconds passed until her sight came back to a somewhat usable state, and immediately she saw the biggest wall of blue imaginable. She screamed for a quick second before she realized that her she glanced at the gigantic body of an unconscious Maddie, who laid unconscious on her back. One more thorough glance around her and she noticed that everyone else got accounted for also in an out cold state. Even though they remained intact from whatever happened, she couldn't leave them there in the dirt.

Anne went over to Marcy first. She laid on her right side away from the dirt, and Anne proceeded to to push her a bit for some sign of life.

"Marcy! C'mon Marcy, wake up!"

The process went by pretty quickly as Anne witnessed her friend's eyes flutter while closed. Her fingers twitched for a second before she squirmed a bit and her eyes crawled open.

"Errm, urgh…Anne?"

A huge relief passed over Anne once Marcy stirred awake. She held her head on the way up until she got to her knees and locked eyes with Anne. The one who woke up first could tell that she didn't fully comprehend what happened yet since she just got up, so it took a little more time until she caught up with Anne and the current situation.

"Marcy, I'm so glad to see you still here!" Anne stated. "I almost felt like I lost you again after those Spudlies intervened!"

"I likely would have said the same thing if I woke up before you." Marcy answered with a smile. "Speaking of which, did the others-"

She didn't need an answer as a low rumble shook across the ground. At first they grew somewhat worried since they stood in currently unknown territory and anything could pop out and take them by surprise, but once they turned around their worries faded. The two frogs of the group needed to wake out of their cold slumber, and while Sprig took his own time to stand back up for Maddie her movements almost changed the whole area around her into a bounce house. In fact, Sprig never got the time to wake up at his own pace and ended up up and about prematurely thanks to Maddie's motions.

While Anne and Marcy planted their feet into the ground well enough, Spring flipped around in the air for a second before he landed right on his noggin like a coconut. The giant girl that was Maddie slowly opened her eyes while Sprig saw stars hover around him. He shook it off shortly after even when Maddie drowsily groaned under her breath.

"Hey, what did you do that for Maddie?!" Sprig exclaimed while he shook a fist at her.

"Mmummummuph, I can't help it Sprig…" Maddie replied while she drowsily awoke and cleared her head. She got to her knees and held her head while Sprig took a moment to rub his cranium. Like Marcy, it didn't take too long for the two to completely stir wide awake, and soon enough the whole gang stood up again, although Maddie's huge form created a few harmless quakes against the ground in the process.

The group had their eyes locked on each other except for Anne, who wanted to think about what happened back there before she found herself catching her forty winks.

"Sheesh, I feel like someone just sprayed me with mustard gas." Marcy said while she rubbed her head a little. "Whatever fumes we inhaled back there, well, they sure packed a punch."

Sprig and Maddie didn't understand her comparison, likely since it didn't exist in their world.

"Uhhhhh, what do you mean by that?" Sprig asked.

Marcy likely would have explained it to the two frogs if Anne didn't immediately intercept in seconds. She deeply gasped while her arms went limp and her eyes grew wider.

"Guys, take a look around NOW."

It spooked the others a little once they heard Anne's tone of voice, and it didn't take long until they glanced around and figured out why. The whole area around them had little resemblance to where they stayed previously. The grass under their feet felt lush and rich while each blade swayed in the breeze, and they even supported some type of mossy steps up ahead. Even though Maddie stood completely massive to everything, for the others the entire area stretched into a spacious pathway while large stone walls, with some displaying types of weird picturesque carvings, encompassed everything and maintained everything in it. A decently size monument of some kind stood atop a couple of the large stone mossy steps, although nobody could determine a definitive shape since a large portion of the top halve fell to rubble next to it, at least from a long time ago. The grass went even further beyond the monument to some other low stone steps covered in greenery, but further to the left of the monument the grass dipped down into a bulbous encompass where another type of stone wall stood but appeared a bit different from the others. Besides the multiple cracks and chipped portions dotted across the ground, some more clear stone steps raised a bit and lead near the top and ended at an arched opening that lead somewhere the group couldn't determine. Near the circular area set a pair of very large double stone doors, about the same height as the stone walls that encompassed the whole place, which despite the scope appeared to open and close like normal to the ones that had the strength to do so. It almost blended in with the carvings on the walls so well that the group almost missed it. The grass path lead to a couple more stony grass steps, but a large cliff blocked the view to the right where the trail headed further. The tall cliff actually didn't stand too far from the group and even seemed to extend even taller than the stone walls but not by much. While they determined it as bare at first, upon closer inspection they found a couple of loose flora and moss along the flat parts and the top displayed the same lush grass they felt around their feet. As for how such plant life could plant their roots on such rigid terrain they didn't need to look far, as right near the bottom parts of the cliff they witnessed a wide stream that ran down several levels, and even sometimes went along the grassy stone steps next to them. It finished near the group's current location at a large pond that seemed deep enough to perfectly swim in like a pool. Its pristine nature meant they could easily see the bottom without any obstructions as the sun shined, but since night started to settle in at the time they couldn't witness it for themselves. The most spectacular structure however, out of the whole place they could see from their angle, sat atop the tall cliff nearby. Nothing but an impressive tall structure that displayed multiple carvings and glyphs in its walls stretched to the skies at the most clear point akin to a temple of some kind. At its very top another type of large idol basked in the skies, and just like the others it basically retained no clear shape as it appeared nearly wrecked completely. If Anne, Marcy, and Sprig didn't come across one of the three special temples in their efforts to gets the humans home they could have easily mistaken it for one of them, and even though it surely appeared like one they held back just in case it ended us as something different. The culture of the whole area clearly brought inspiration to the group in many ways and evoked millions of questions, especially to Marcy, behind the history and deep lore of everything.

While the scenery took all of them by surprise, to add to all of its ancient and astounding visuals the whole place contained dozens and dozens of little Spudlies that ran around and acted of their own agendas. From ones that barely reached the top of Anne's shoe to larger ones with wider eyes, the variants of the creatures seemed endless. Entire swarms and crowds of them dotted around nearly every corner, even in the stream and pond, and all of them went around in their own businesses. Each one uttered their own squeaks as they moved, which, when multiplied by the masses, meant the group always heard a cacophony of squeaking at every corner. It would have annoyed the group to no end if the noises elevated to a higher volume, but at an average level they didn't mind it as much. To see so many in such an old and worn down property with individual characteristics and personalities made the four outsiders slightly warm inside. They clearly had their own civilization far beyond the reaches of normal critters the land had to offer, so it came as no surprise to hear nobody speak up about it from the scarce tales about them. It made them no different from other societies like the town of Wartwood or city of Newtopia.

A few passing Spudlies gave the group a couple of glances before they headed off somewhere else. For the humans and frogs, they had their own thoughts as to where they ended up.

"So…historical and glorious…" Marcy said as she slowly turned her head in amazement to take everything in.

"I'm in complete awe right now…" Anne said as her mouth hung open. "How can small potato creatures house THAT much away from everyone?!"

"I swear I almost mistook this whole place as Newtopia for a second until I saw the old worn…stuff." Sprig said while his pupils went bigger in astonishment. "It unquestionably has a similar scope from how big I'm seeing everything!"

"I find it hard to believe somewhere like this place even exists in Amphibia!" Maddie stated in her deep grown voice. "Anyone sure we didn't just transport somewhere completely different?"

Marcy took the moment to glance atop of the huge stone walls while everyone else couldn't take their eyes off of either the ancient structures and landmarks or the waddling Spudlies that walked around minding their own businesses.

"Well…from the few glimpses of trees that are peeking out from the walls we shouldn't have traveled to another dimension or anything. I'm seeing common type of green, from what I've memorized in my plant encyclopedia anyway, so we should still be somewhere in Amphibia. Maddie, can you get a better view just in case?"

Maddie lightly nodded before she carefully got to her feet and slowly turned around above everyone. She glanced above the walls for a few moments before she got back to the others while she lightly frowned.

"I'm don't see any recognizable hallmarks nearby that could possibly indicate where we headed off. Nothing but endless trees."

"So we could have ended up anywhere?" Sprig asked.

"Anywhere in Amphibia? Definitely." Marcy answered. Their trains of thoughts halted when a couple of different squeaks sounded out very close to them throughout the cacophony everywhere. If they never heard the type earlier they likely wouldn't have given it a second thought, so once the familiar tone hit them they turned toward the source, and it waddled in from the crowds in front of them. One of the few that went up to them tripped over another and tumbled forward in a couple of rolls before it dizzily stopped on its behind. The one next to it uttered a few distinct squeaks before the other shook it off and stared at the outsiders. They two Spudlies that arrived likely came from the few they saw before the sudden transportation for them to track the group down immediately, but the reasons they brought them to their own closed off ruins still remained a mystery.

Anne and Marcy held back so much to not scoop them up in their arms and snuggle with them while one of the Spudlies faced its back to them before it hopped up and down and wiggled its feet in the air. It wandered a bit forward until a few feet later it turned back to face everyone and hopped in place again.

"Ummm, does it want us to follow?" Sprig asked while his head tilted. "I'm not getting any other signals from its movements."

"I'd assume so." Marcy said. "Whatever it brought us here for, it must be up ahead."

"So we have to wander through entourages of the little potatoes?" Anne said before her eyes went blank for a moment. "I never thought a sentence like that would ever escape my mouth."

"I…might not make it that far." Maddie stated as she stared down at the masses of Spudlies below. Her whole body shuddered for a second and refused to move, but if she wanted to follow the few Spudlies she would have to go for it.

She watched as the others went forward before her until she went for her first step. She lifted one of her feet cautiously while she held her hands close to her face, and soon after she placed it down. Too bad she didn't expect a couple of the small potato creatures to run under it, even when they dotted the area by the masses, so when she eventually put her foot down one unlucky Spudley took the full brunt of its force and got crushed underneath. Everyone felt their hearts stop while the Spudlies nearby couldn't take their eyes off of the stricken area and Maddie's foot. Her humongous height and size already claimed its first victim.

Maddie almost lost the urge to move after that, and the others couldn't blame her. They didn't want to speak up after a tragedy unfolded before their eyes. Marcy almost hurled while Anne and Sprig had look of great distraught and grim disbelief. When the giant witch girl eventually found the slight urge to lift her foot back up the aftermath only made the others want to lose their lunch quicker. The crushed Spudley's whole body sat on the ground almost completely manged and unrecognizable, almost like it fell out of a plane with no parachute. Loose juices and mushed goo, which could have been the creature's entrails, spread all over a small portion of the crater left behind by Maddie, and to ramp up the graphic nature that surrounded it, one of the Spudley's round feet and two eyes remained intact among the excessive images of guts. Maddie left a body behind after she ran it over by complete accident.

Once Marcy saw the remains left behind she actually hurled on the ground, which made Sprig and Anne back up a bit. They almost couldn't take their eyes off of a dead body like that and Marcy took the image harder than anyone else.

"I'm…I'm so sorry…" Maddie muttered in the most lukewarm tone she had ever did. She immediately pulled her foot back and covered her eyes to try and wipe the image from her head, but Marcy's constant heaving made sure it remained up in the air. She wanted to break down and run away, which would have possibly happened if something didn't hold her back. It basically repelled her for the sorrowful feelings that would have showed up, and it lingered in the back of her mind. Her ignorance of it earlier only revved up its methods to stay in the spotlight, and even though it still lacked in strength it made sure to always drop in much to Maddie's obliviousness. It wouldn't let her fall to those emotions anytime soon.

It also dangled keys in front of her while it sat behind the cracked glass case. Even so, she couldn't get a good look at it all the way in the back. The more she stared in its direction the more it directed its devastating glare right at her. She narrowed her eyes for some kind of closer examination, but she found nothing but its gaze, and yet…it struck her in a certain way. It tilted its head which also rotated its sight, and it almost seemed endearing at first glance. It reflected back to her and she couldn't take her eyes off of it, almost like how her young sisters tried to grab her attention by "dolling themselves up" which usually turned the tides in their favor. That type of familiarity rubbed all over her face and she remained clueless as to why, but it desired for her attention. While the still kept itself out of sight for the most part, clearly it wanted the spotlight behind the curtains as Maddie sat in the audience. What it wanted remained a mystery, it maintained some type of presence and stayed within the lines of her kind of reality…even when it created damage across the glass window that bound it.

She also found it a bit weird, when she tried to ignore the constant puke that poured out from Marcy's mouth, that none of the other Spudlies seemed to cower and run away in fear after one of their own suffered a swift crushing end. If anything they still minded their own business and left the remains there to rot away, but after a couple more seconds she figured out why. The group couldn't take their eyes off of the remains, and if they didn't they easily would have missed some slight motions that appeared to want to burst from them site. Marcy continued to dry heave while she watched as some type of mass stuck out from the remains before it suddenly came out, and everyone else almost felt their mouths hit the floor. Right as the crushed body still set under its small feet, another Spudley came out from under it completely intact as if it never perished in the first place. Of course the remains of its previous life still existed, including its eyeballs and one intact foot, but it soon sprouted out and went off on its merry way while it squeaked in the process.

They couldn't believe their eyes, especially to someone like Marcy who thrived for studies.

"Did…did I just see one of those creatures come back from the dead?!" Anne wondered out loud while her mouth hung agape.

"I…I think so?" Sprig answered with an equal expression. "What sort of sorcery did I just watch?!"

"I…can't believe it…myself…" Marcy muttered while she calmed her stomach down. "Now I REALLY want to study these mystical creatures! If they can just come back to life like that, then how do they truly die? Do they need to eat and-"

"Please keep it to yourself Marcy." Maddie interrupted in a slightly sad tone. "The less I'm reminded that it happened the better. As much as I would have adored to witness it while I'm my normal size, at this gargantuan height I'd rather let the moment pass."

The giant frog girl spoke the truth. Normally she went crazy when it came to anything related to the dark arts, including all of strange and "deathly" material required for such spells and curses. She could hoist up an entire carcass or skeleton like nothing and never worry about any possible germs or viruses in the process. As her apprentice, Marcy also maintained a somewhat decent mentality over ingredients…to an extent if the unintentional crushed Spudley showed her limits, but for the teacher she never minded in the slightest. However, now that she stood over everyone as a huge giant girl, none of her dark hobbies stood out as usable to her. When she performed something similar after a mishap with her siblings, she had to rely on Marcy to conjure up a shrinking spell since she couldn't do it herself while huge. While part of it was because she had to calm her sisters down at the time, the expanded size in the process remained as the other portion. Since her hobby as a curse user, whether by concocting new spells or perfecting old ones, couldn't find a place while she stood as a giant, she only thought of one other option. She desired to stay as clean as possible with all of the possible destruction and decimation her new size brought to the table even though the inevitability always leered at her. If she had to abstain from her interests for the safety of everyone she would to do it, even if the circumstances went against the notion. It hurt her on the inside, but she had no other choice.

As much of a rude gesture Maddie decided on, Marcy let it slide.

"Okay, I understand. Even so, I can't let this massive learning opportunity pass by! Where's my critter encyclopedia, WHERE DID I PUT THAT?!"

"Ummmm, right here." Anne responded as she watched Marcy search frantically around herself. Her face when flat as she witnessed her friend pivot in place like an excited dog, and in her haste she failed to notice the respective book in plain sight around a portion of her equipment belt. Anne shook her head lightly and smirked before she picked to the book out and presented it to Marcy.

"Oh, uhhhhh, thanks Anne!" Marcy said.

"No problem Marcy." Anne answered. "We should probably follow that one Spudley now before it gets impatient."

Everyone else seemed to agree on that, so they walked forward through the crowds of Spudlies while they kept their eyes on the one that wanted their attention. Maddie made extra sure to keep her feet away from any potential casualties, although despite her caution she couldn't fulfill the requirements. During some steps forward she managed to unintentionally crush any Spudlies that ran under them, but due to the circumstances shown earlier, they quickly sprouted back from the ground as if nothing happened. Marcy kept her eyes deep into her notes so she never felt the urge to hurl again even though the broken carcass of the Spudley's previous life remained on the ground, loose features and all. Even with their supposed regenerative abilities, Maddie tried to avoid as many of the tiny creatures by her feet as possible, although her caution still didn't solve the fact that she made loud quakes and booms with each passing step that sent everyone into the air for a split moment. Time to finally find out why the creatures brought them to their hideaway in the first place.

Even as they walked through the enclosed habitat, dozens upon dozens of Spudlies went around with their own schedules. Marcy kept a close eye on anything that arrived into her sight and made great haste to write it all in her personal encyclopedia. Anne took a particular interest in a couple of the creatures that sat around a portion of the enclosed walls with half of their bodies engulfed in dirt. Each one had their eyes closed and tilted their bodies back, although one seemed to have accidentally buried itself the other way around. Its feet flailed in the air while it squeaked for something that they couldn't determine, although Marcy had her hunches that she wrote down, and a couple of smaller sized Spudlies ran by it and in an active manner. More of them followed soon after and one even ran into the erroneously buried one for a second before it zipped over and squeaked some more. Right as Anne and company left the certain portion some other larger sized Spudlies arrived and dug themselves into their own holes before they buried themselves halfway. The fact that they also laid back and closed their eyes indicated some theories for Marcy to jot down, and after she brushed her fingers through the dirt she realized it maintained a very dry stature. Once she realized that the dirt from outside the walls, more specifically around the spot they tracked them down, contained more dampness she wrote down more interesting tidbits between the pages…which made her trip over a Spudley in her path from her lack of focus. Anne helped her back up, but she had too much to write down to care too much. First set of theories down, plenty more to go on the way the group was indicated.

As they trekked further, Sprig saw to his right the mouth of the long stream the winded down, which meant they had traveled further upward up a hill of sorts. A few groups of Spudlies waddled around the coast while some dived in head first and kicked their feet up as they swam. He found it a bit surprising to see the creatures having the ability to swim without any arms to speak of, but they seemed to perform rather effortlessly. They squeaked and swam about in a cheerful manner as some went near one of the lips and swam off of it down the stream like a makeshift water slide. A few smaller Spudlies followed after, although one sat on its back as it hitched a ride through the water down. In many ways it reminded him of his times in the water with Polly when they started to get used to the world around them, which even included a time where they came across a lamprey that only wanted someone to pull a splinter out from its back. Polly usually lead the path ahead since she maintained a bold and brash mentality more than usual back then, and even though they never strayed too far off the beaten path both of them rather enjoyed their "expeditions" like they traveled in uncharted ground. For the Spudlies he could see himself in their positions with the biggest young eyes imaginable. They carried some type of innocence from his observations, and they appeared to enjoy the water rather well as they splashed about.

It took a couple of minutes as they witnessed so many activities the Spudlies went through around them, but eventually they reached their destination. The Spudley that lead them them stopped before it turned around, faced the group, then uttered a couple of squeaks. Going off of hunches, Anne, Marcy, Sprig, and Maddie all halted in their tracks which seemed to end up as the correct answer once more Spudlies gathered around them.

"I'm not sure I like where this might lead." Anne said.

"I'm pretty much left in the dark here." Maddie said as she wiped some excess crushed Spudley parts from her feet. Marcy hastily turned away so she didn't have to see the damage Maddie unintentionally brought from simple actions since she already lost everything built up in her stomach. She didn't want to spew loose bile out next.

"Let's just lay low for now and let the Spudlies do their thing." Sprig said to the others. "I can't think of any other option right now."

Everything else didn't need any reiterations and stayed cooped up in the circle of Spudlies. At least the visuals changed a bit since they last saw the area near the bottom. Right off the bat they easily saw the stone mossy steps they trekked up on their way to the spot, and it winded downward at a steady pace. The number of them indicated that they went up for quite a distance, and it gave them no trouble at all despite the supposed length. Although some stood impressed with their effort for the most part the other features around them caught their eyes more brilliantly. Right in front from where they stood set another pair of large double stone doors around the size or the tall enclosed wall that also displayed glyphs nobody understood. It interested Marcy more than the others, but even then she required a few days to herself before she could conclusively estimate the meanings behind them, so she made sure to write them down in her notes for later. If the displays they saw earlier about the Spudlies taught them anything, it probably required a couple of large groups to push and pull those double doors open. They would have liked to see beyond them, but if the Spudlies contained something private behind them they understood why they stayed shut. In an open area to the left of the doors some tall ancient structure extended a long way up, but not to the extent as the main temple on the cliff. Some type of statue protruded at certain points, around six of them, from the ruined marble that made up the outside, but like the ones they saw before they showed too many cracks, chips, and missing parts to fully differentiate them from anything recognizable. Some type of door along with a small walkway dotted near the top, although they never saw any Spudlies come out of it so they couldn't determine anything definitive about its purpose. The entrance at the bottom however displayed multiple Spudlies as they waddled in and out, but other than that the group had no other ideas as to what it housed inside its walls. The main attraction to the whole area, to a majority of the group, set right near the edge of the cliff nearby. Due to the distance from down below they missed a lot of its features from far away, but up close they basically noticed everything on the outside. Out of every structure they have seen so far from their walk up, the temple clearly stood the highest from everything the Spudleys' habitat had to offer. If the cliff matched the height of the walls that bound everyone inside, the temple stood around a similar size. From the way it protruded upward, which meant the walls couldn't cover it, it almost amazed the group that the Spudley's hidden society never ended up discovered by anyone in Amphibia until now. On first glances it seemed to have a few layers to it like a castle, with the bottom as the biggest and the top as the complete opposite, and a long staircase stretched all the way up to an opening near the top. While thick pieces of moss and other greenery littered various points and some parts looked chipped, it remained somewhat sturdy to anyone that possibly inhabited it. Anne and Marcy wished they listened closer during history classes back at home since it could have possibly helped to pinpoint certain features that could have indicated a potential time period when they first got build, but if their current temple quest taught them anything it was to expect the unexpected. They ruled out the possibility of it as one of the temples that could help recharge the music box since Marcy's tracking equipment would have probably went off the moment they arrived in the land of Spudlies, so it could have maintained another less viable meaning. Even so, from a historical and ancient point of view it carried a certain period behind it that didn't intervene with their actual temple quest, but it did find it pretty beautiful in its own way. For such a minute part of the land, they already saw some deep significance with the living potatoes and their fascinating cultures…at least to Marcy and her personal encyclopedias.

The Spudlies around them diverted their attention to the entrance near the top of the large temple while the one that lead the group to the spot stepped forward. They watched as the small potato sounded out more vague squeaks before it shuffled its feet around like a frenzied dance and horizontally spun around on its rear in a weird display. The outsiders stood dumbfounded at what possibly went through the critter's mind for it to undergo such actions, but the results didn't require any long periods. Soon after the Spudley finished its actions, Anne and the others faintly noticed something shuffle from the darkness of the entryway. At first it didn't appear like much, but once it walked out and basked in the fading sunlight its features revealed themselves to the world.

Only for them to see another Spudley make its grand entrance.

Granted it didn't completely share the same traits as the potential hundreds before it, as its brownness around the surface appeared a tad bit darker, but for the most part its body maintained the appearance of the mystic critters. The most defining aspect set at the top of its bulbous head, as some very long roots, around the same length as its body, dotted stiffly upward, which, to the common potato, was pretty common once they got plucked from underground. For some reason no other Spudley the group noticed had long roots on their heads; the one near the temple's top stood out as the only one. It didn't take a genius to come up with a possible reason why, especially since the other Spudlies seemed to look up to it from below, and if things continued down a certain direction it might get a bit serious pretty rapidly.

The Spudlies down below erupted in thousands of high pitched squeaks while many jumped up and down and wriggled their feet in the air once the particular Spudley with large roots on its head made its appearance. The head rooted Spudley seemed to utter some squeaks back, but due to the cacophony on the ground the others couldn't pinpoint it further. They watched as the one Spudley walked forward to supposedly greet them, but it apparently missed the detail that it stood high up, so the moment one of its feet hit the air it tumbled straight down the many steps that lead up to it. Its head banged against stone and its sides smacked solid rock, but after a couple of seconds it eventually hit the ground in front of everyone. A couple extra Spudlies ran up to it and helped the rooted one get back to its feet, although it swayed a bit dizzily from the fall. Even as it maintained a supposed important presence to every other potato critter, it still had the absentminded nature of them.

The Spudley that lead the group to it went up to the rooted one shortly after. The two locked eyes for a moment before they exchanged a few squeaks that, once again, Anne and company couldn't decipher. The creatures then sat on their rears and matched each other with horizontal spins, followed by some contacts with their feet, some type of matched squeaking, and then finished up in a quick rub down with both of their bodies against each other. Whatever the display meant completely passed by everyone but Marcy who already concluded on a couple of theories, and in many ways it seemed rather adorable it their own unique way. Anne and Marcy held back the urge to not run in and squeeze them from complete cuteness, as if anything went wrong it would potentially end in disaster.

The crowds of potato creatures opened up to let the Spudley that lead them and the rooted Spudley get closer to the group, which the two did, which prompted Anne to finally speak up.

"Soooooo, are you the leader of these potatoes or something?" Anne asked. "You sure look the part after all."

She watched as the two creatures exchanged looks before they uttered some intertwining squeaks and dug their round feet into the ground which kicked up dirt. Once again, they understood nothing which left them with loose guesses as to their possible meaning, although they concluded that the one head rooted Spudley carried some significance that could answer their request. Whether some kind of leader, a doctor, or some other occupation for the potato creatures, the special Spudley got called to them for a reason.

"Well, ummm, I'll…take you up on that." Marcy said even thought she understood nothing. "We need some of your special potatoes for our giant friend here."

Nearly all of the Spudlies around them steered their attention over to Maddie, who stared back at the tiny ones down by her feet before she lukewarmly smile and waved lightly.

"Ummm, hello there. Please ignore the fact that I accidentally stepped on some of you on the way up, for I'm a nice girl…although my deep enlarged voice might indicate otherwise, heheheh…"

The head rooted Spudley gave off a long hinged squeak while it locked eyes with Maddie before it tilted its body for a second. Its eyes then went down only to see the excess amount of parts from the Spudlies she stepped on, which Marcy immediately turned away and covered her eyes from just in case. In a weird twist of fate for the giant girl and her companions by her feet, none of the Spudlies around them, including the rooted one, ran away once they saw the remains that Maddie wiped from the bottoms of her feet. Some of the group concluded on their own assumptions as to why, but they didn't think too far before they saw the head rooted Spudley scan over her while its eyes narrowed for a couple of seconds. Nobody knew what ran through its head, but it seemed important.

Before long, the head rooted Spudley pivoted over to the other one next to it and squeaked something to it again. The receiving end dug its feet into the ground before it hopped up and down and responded with its own squeaks. After its display the potato critter faced Maddie and waddled up to her huge feet, which in turn gave more of those noises.

Anne, Marcy and Sprig muttered to each other while they watched from the sidelines.

"You think they got the message?" Sprig muttered.

"I'm not quite sure yet." Marcy muttered back. "I tend to take a couple of days for myself to fully research something to my standards. We could be in for it though."

"I sure hope you didn't just speak the truth on that last bit." Anne answered at a low volume.

The one Spudley gazed up at the giant curse user in a blank way, but it did tilted its head a couple of times which she couldn't understand. Before long, it turned to its side before it stood up firmly and then fell backward to the ground. It kept its back against the ground while its eyes locked over to Maddie.

"Ummm, I don't quite get the message." Maddie answered. The Spudley's eyes went halfway open as it got back up and squeaked over and over again. She then watched as the Spudley performed the same actions again. It stood tall of its feet then fell onto its back harmlessly, which sort of made a bit more sense once she thought about it for a moment. Clearly it couldn't communicate in the same fashion as her, so it had to resort to other means which left her guessing at times. If the Spudlies even got into a game of charades they probably would end up dead last in every aspect.

She made a wild guess anyway.

"Do you want me to lay on my back or something?"

That sentence perked up the Spudley more than usual. The moment she finished her question the creature got to its feet and bounced up and down in short bursts while it squeaked all over the place. She took its reaction as an answer, so in her mind it wanted Maddie to lay flat against the ground, but it wouldn't go by easily. While the whole Spudley enclosure contained a large scope, she didn't know if her titanic height would fit between the walls. Even so, the indications told her that the creatures wanted her to go for it.

The head rooted Spudley gave off a rather loud squeak across the whole place, and before the group knew it the hundreds of the critters that stood down lower, including where Anne and the others first appeared, stood up and hastily moved out from the central parts of the paths and stone steps and put themselves near the walls. While an incredible feat for them to act in such an efficient matter, they tried to offer enough space for the giant frog witch to lay down. Maddie couldn't believe it herself, but she didn't want to waste any more time and got to it. The others by her, which included Anne, Sprig, and Marcy, backed up while she cautiously and slowly sat down with no troubles whatsoever. Every moment she made against the ground set off quakes and loud booms that nearly brushed everyone off their feet, and yet they knew it came with the sudden growth package. Soon after she carefully put her legs forward and extended them down the stone steps before she placed them down. As much as she wanted next to no more casualties, some of the Spudleies that didn't back up far enough got utterly decimated by Maddie's titanic legs. Each one left behind their smashed bodies against the ground and part of the girl's legs, but since they contained amazing regenerative powers, according to what the group saw, they quickly popped out of the ground soon after around their previous bodies and made sure to back up further away from the massive Maddie. If Marcy somehow managed to get a single peek of how Maddie's legs steamrolled over them she likely would have excused herself to unload the rest of the contents of her stomach off the cliff, and after her pukes earlier she easily didn't have much left. Even so, despite first glances telling her otherwise, somehow Maddie's entire humongous body stayed contained in the confines of the enclosure's walls, albeit barely. With the first step down, the next one followed after.

The back of her head stayed flat against the grass while her arms stayed locked on her abdomen, but all of her senses remained intact as she awaited further instructions…in a very vague manner. She heard a couple of squeaks off on the side, but for a while she just had her back to the ground with nothing. Her mind wandered a bit until she felt something itch her legs, which at first she paid no attention to, but when they began to multiply ot occurred to her that something wasn't right. Her ears picked up the sounds of squeaking, but she dared herself to keep her head to the ground. The feelings continued and she wanted to scratch the spots to the tenth degree, but before long something slowly appeared over her chest…and like everything else it maintained a drastic size difference on the lower end of the spectrum. It stared right into her visible eye, and at that moment she figured out why she had to do what the Spudlies wanted.

And soon after that her laughter shook everything.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAH! NO FROGGIN-HAHAHAHAHAHAH! NO MORE, PLEASE! DON'T-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! NO, NOT THERE! HAHAHAHAHAH! I CAN'T STAND-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"

Due to her immense size hundreds of Spudlies made their way on Maddie's body and gave her the biggest tickling session in history. It suddenly made sense that the creatures personally brought the group to their grounds, since Anne, Marcy, and Sprig already had their laughing fits with the walking potatoes. Unlike the other though, her voice uttered some of the loudest booms in the history of Amphibia that forced everyone nearby to cover their ears or risk the possibility of deafness. Her laughter hit such a high volume that the ones on the ground knew that it probably reached every corner of the land, and they wouldn't feel too surprised to hear that someone at Wartwood or Newtopia thought they heard some of the loudest laughs in existence. For the giant girl, the Spudley's pried her open the moment they rubbed their bodies across her, and it soon turned into a laughing fit of the ages. Her legs and arms thrashed all over and sent quaking impacts that rocked nearly the whole enclosure. It consequently caught some cautious Spudlies that tried to stay away and soon after they fell victim to Maddie's legs. Even though they regenerated shortly after, the fact remained that Maddie's fit obliterated them in the first place and set damage to the surrounding areas.

It didn't stop there. Her body jiggled as the potato critters continued to tickle her, which unluckily managed to throw a dozen or so reckless Spudlies off before they hit the ground with a thud. Some managed to get away to safety, but the others never got the memo in time and ended up splattered across the grass from Maddie's arms and legs. The ones that perished popped out of the ground shortly after in a new potato body, where they required no extra reminders and bolted from the scene away from the ticklish giant frog. Other Spudlies suffered a different fate later on in the process, as Maddie's crazy laughter meant her mouth opened wide…and some of them became part of the menu. Her jiggling sent some Spudlies into the air where they glanced down and saw where they headed for next, and before long the small creatures fell into the chasm of the frog witch's mouth. Her laughter echoed everywhere inside, which got amplified due to the location, and the Spudlies fell straight toward the chasm of Maddie's throat. If they didn't act fast she would accidentally swallow them whole, but the creatures thought quick and aimed for the only temporary safe zone. Right before their bodies hit the back of her throat, the living potatoes smacked straight onto the dangling bag and held it tightly for dear life. The abyss down below lead straight to her stomach after all and they would never recover from there.

As the Spudlies hit her uvula head on, Maddie's spontaneous laughter suddenly ceased. Her eyes shot open and she closed her mouth tight. She put her hands over her lips and she shuddered constantly. It caught the others down below by surprise, but before they could find out what happened Maddie started to cough behind her clamped mouth. She also had no clue as to why she immediately ceased her actions, and her coughing only accelerated over the next couple of second. The pressure built up until her lips separated and her mouth opened, and that provided the exit the Spudlies required. Her head turned to the side away from the spectators before she hacked further, and right as the remaining sunlight entered her mouth they made their move. Their bodies remained stuck to her uvula for a moment due to the endless waves of saliva, but soon enough they found their opportunity and jumped straight off as Maddie coughed again. One Spudley cut it a bit short and hit its face into her tongue which drenched it in more saliva, but even then it managed to slip out unscathed. They skipped out on becoming Maddie's snack from such a daring manuver.

Her bottom lip dripped some left over saliva while she cleared her head and glanced downward to see the drenched Spudlies. They squeaked a couple of time while they dizzily got back on their feet thanks to one of them that landed on their rump. It immediately occurred to her what she almost did to them and it stunned her for the moment.

"Oh no…I…I didn't mean to do that! I should have paid more attention so that sort of occurrence wouldn't happen, but…I can't control everything even while I'm huge. I'm glad you survived, but I have to apologize for my obliviousness."

Once the affected Spudlies shook themselves off as much as they could from Maddie's saliva, the small potatoes faced her and gazed their precious eyes in her direction. She heard some various squeaks from the, but the language barrier prevented her from understanding what they meant. At the same time she addressed them, every single Spudley that went on her body made their way off. If the previous sessions with Anne and the others lasted a short while then Maddie's lasted around the same period. They apparently finished their actions on all of the group, although Maddie's required more than just a few Spudlies.

The Spudlies that took a trip inside her mouth made their way back to the crowds of their own kind, although one tripped and fell on the ground for a second, while Maddie made extra sure every single potato critter made it off of her safely. After she scanned all over herself thoroughly, she picked herself back up and sat down, which provide yet another strong quake against the ground. Her sight aimed at the crowds of Spudlies, which included the one with the long roots on its head, where she saw Anne, Marcy, and Sprig with their hands still over their ears. It took a couple of extra moments, but after they determined the coast was clear they removed their hands away.

Unfortunately, it didn't solve their huge headaches.

"So…you done there Maddie?" Anne asked while she held her head. "You almost blew my ears out!"

"Yeah, sorry about that." Maddie's deep voice responded. "I lost my train of thought in the moment…if you couldn't tell."

"Oh, we could tell all right!" Sprig replied as he put a hand to his forehead from dizziness. "Never in my whole life…would I have ever thought to come across…such a deafening sound…and I'm still hearing some ringing…"

He stumbled a little but eventually lost his footing and fell to his rear. His eyes spun like two white wheels before he got back to his feet, and even then he barely held himself together.

"I'm likely going to…have your laughter in my head…for weeks after this…" Marcy said while she pinched her forehead for some kind of relief. She stayed upright throughout most of it, but the migraine she obtained almost felt like a bug that chomped on her brain. She barely managed to take a glance at the Spudlies around her, and in a way she couldn't compute at the time, for some reason none of them seemed to get any headaches from Maddie's laughing fit. In fact, they maintained themselves as if it never happened. It astonished her under her huge headache, and she wrote a mental note to write it down when her mind cleared. Even when under the weather she wouldn't miss an enigma like the Spudlies for a second.

Even though the group, minus Maddie, took their time to recover for the Spudlies they still had their own agendas. The hundreds that rubbed Maddie down, including the ones that she almost swallowed, took brief glances at both Anne, Marcy, Sprig, and the giant Maddie before they huddled together and uttered some low squeaks between each other. The head rooted Spudley also took part in the conversation and said its own squeaks in the midst of all of the squeaky chatter. The others could only wait for the results from what they supposedly gathered from each of them, all from their instantaneous rubdowns.

Eventually after a few minute, the groups broke off. The head rooted Spudley walked forth before the three normal sized outsiders, and their eyes set on it. Maddie kept her mouth shut while she watched from her own space as the living potato seemingly reached some kind of verdict.

"Well, umm, will you give us your special potatoes or not?" Marcy asked with a nervous smile. The Spudley with roots on its head stared at the three of them for a bit longer before it perked up on its feet for a second and dug them into the ground. It closed its eyes for a moment and appeared to breath in deeply until it finally uttered the decision.

…

…

…a long deep squeak.

Some of the Spudlies gave off their own unified squeaks and paused for the moment while others didn't change at all. The head rooted Spudley then pivoted around to face the crowds behind it and provided more of the high pitched sounds to them. It got some crowds to unify into a very squeaky chant of some kind, but the head rooted Spudley only closed its eyes and shook its body in a slow motion. It effected all of the potato creatures in some way, and dozens and dozens of them reacted differently.

The ones that weren't those particular creatures didn't change at all.

"Uhhhhh, I think we may have missed something pretty important there." Sprig stated as his face went blank.

"Yeah, I figured that out from their reactions alone." Anne said while she had an equal expression. "I'm going to take a stab in the dark and say things didn't work out the way we wanted."

"I've concluded on a similar hypothesis." Marcy said with a slight frown. They watched as the Spudley with the long roots faced its back to the three and prepared to walk back into its temple quarters, and what happened next seemed straight out of a school play. A couple of Spudlies ran out from the crowds and immediately sounded out a series of squeaks while their feet flailed in the ground. They fell behind the rooted one and said more sequences of squeaks while they gazed up with their glistening eyes. The rooted Spudley spoke back in its own squeaks, and soon after the other Spudlies' bodies shook back and forth while their noises increased in pitch. Soon after the rooted living potato rotated around to face the ones in the ground and replied again in its own squeaks, which prompted one more Spudley to walk up with its back straight and speak for itself in, like every other Spudley, its own squeaky noises. The rooted Spudley seemed to ignore the ones in the dirt as they continued to squeak at it, and soon enough it gave the one that stood up its time to speak. After a series of squeaks from the one standing Spudley while it shifted its feet around, the rooted one stared at it for a few seconds before it gave off one more elongated deep squeak. Its eyes rolled a little before it squeaked a bit more, and soon after the ones on the ground bolted straight up and jumped up and down while they squeaked up their responses. The one that stood from the start uttered some whispering squeaks before it nodded to the rooted one who also nodded back. After it said a few more sequences of squeaks, the jumping Spudlies made their way back into the crowds while the other did so as well. They put on quite a performance despite the language barrier.

The group lacked the proper insights to understand what they meant exactly, but once they saw the rooted Spudley walk back to them they knew something changed with the whole situation.

"Well…you really put on a show there." Anne said while she didn't know how to think from what she just saw. "At least give it to us straight…without the complex screechy stuff."

She caught the attention of the head rooted Spudley who turned to face her and uttered a few extra squeaks. Before she could attempt to reply back, it turned back around and began to walk down the stone steps that took the group to it in the first place. Once it got a decent distance away, it faced them again and uttered some squeaks in her direction.

"Well, you can't get any more direct than that." Marcy stated. "It clearly wants us to follow it."

"To what though?" Sprig said. "We still have no idea what they have in store for us."

The others watched as Anne closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Only one way to find out."

She took off after the special Spudley while Sprig and Marcy trailed behind. The massive entourage of Spudlies followed soon after while Maddie took up the rear. To see the swarms immediately go after in spite of the numbers provided some kind of pressure to the upcoming situation. If the upcoming idea caught the interest of that many living potatoes…they definitely had something in mind for the outsiders.

---

They eventually found themselves before the stony entrance near the start. The specific Spudley indicated for them to head inside, which they did, and slowly but surely the tone shifted. Whether by the changes in the rocky features of the walls or some other factor, something went off that the outside plainly covered from view. Anne didn't appreciate the foreboding immanency of something dangerous throughout the entryway, but she prepared herself nonetheless. As for Maddie, she obviously couldn't accompany Anne, Sprig, and Marcy inside, so she had to sit outside the entrance and keep herself occupied in the meantime. She didn't mind it, but if they ran into trouble she wouldn't have her presence to potentially help out, especially since her colossal height basically meant she contained unparalleled strength from her limbs alone. From a cheery and carefree nature on the outside to sudden tension on the inside, the Spudley's habitat sure made itself out in distinct methods across the board.

It didn't last long until the three that went in quickly found themselves back on the outside…somewhat. Their worries got blindsided the moment they felt the air again, and their nervous anticipations flew straight out the window in astounding glory. Anne's arms and legs went limp while her pupils contracted into staggering dots. Marcy's had the opposite effect as they grew exponentially and her mouth hung agape. Sprig almost lost all of his will to move from his very spot and acted like he just got turned to stone. They clearly thought of something completely different to what they eventually saw.

From ancient ruins and a worn down temple, their radars never picked up the possibility of a gigantic coliseum.

It almost looked straight out of the history books. The whole wide stadium rounded out with possibly hundreds of rugged stone seats that set across entire stretches like bleachers. The outskirts where the group first set foot housed a tall roof that held itself together from long thick columns that still maintained the sturdiness necessary for such a task. Various large holes embedded in the walls that either served as another entryway or served another purpose entirely, but Anne had her guesses like possible bathrooms and such. Before the inner circles the outer end ended with various arches in symmetrical concave curves, which displayed some green and moss at certain points that didn't impact much in the grand scope of the arena. A bit further down laid out some pretty wide square stones that acted as steps to the countless rows of seats that, despite the estimated age from the robust and hardy first glances, worked efficiently to contain vast crowds of Spudleys and possibly made them comfortable as they watched the show down below. Other than the brief outer curved ceiling that extended around the outskirts the whole place lacked a large one altogether and provided a brilliant view of the sky above. It also seemed fit for nighttime activities, not just when the sun shined, as right on the parts of the outer arches that connected to each other set a group of torches that the creature could light up when the world dimmed around them. Marcy felt some kind of worry that it might accidentally light up the greenery below some of the arches, but if the whole building lasted for as long as she theorized the Spudleys possibly already maintained a system so it never happened. As for the main attraction in the center where the action would take place, it certainly preserved a wider range than common stadium. The dirt appeared fresh and well packed, perfect for a spectacle of its intended magnitude, which made it prime to casually walk through without any problems…if it got outside the whole arena. The walls that surrounded it stood tall and firm that made it difficult to climb up and escape if trouble brewed, but the edge displayed a solid plane that prevented any avid spectators from a dangerous fall. On opposite ends stood two tall gated doors that operated from some kind of chain behind it, and its thick metal made sure they could take a beating from almost anything. Whatever took a stance behind those burly pieces meant business when it came to entertainment to the ancient masses, at least from what Anne remembered from particular cartoons back at home, and she surely didn't want to face a monster of that caliber anytime soon. The living potatoes sure had certain ancient luxuries when it came to entertainment…at least from what Marcy deducted in her notes.

As much as Marcy wanted to stick around and marvel at the structure at every angle, the head rooted Spudley had other plans. It directed them to an entrance around the outskirts as swarms of other Spudlies began to pour into the coliseum. Whatever the head rooted one had in mind brought the attention to the small potatoes in droves, and they filled seats en masse. They didn't see the whole process, but they witnessed enough to know that they would provide an ultimate show to their amusement which made Sprig shudder a little.

The entrance lead to a small kind of staircase that lead down, and once the three of them reached the bottom they noticed they wandered into another room which Anne and Marcy could relate to. It almost seemed like some type of old time locker room…without all of the modern addition. A couple benches set near the walls and centers of the two sides while a row of stone slabs stuck up in the absolute center and divided the room. The slabs contained multiple alcoves on the top and bottom portions of both sides that really sold the point to Anne and Marcy that they stumbled upon a primitive looking locker room of some kind, but unlike what they were used to the floor appeared to contain no amounts of gross sweat and stinky towels. Even though the appearance of the room seemed to have downgraded to what they know back at home, the fact that the grossness factor seemed to be nonexistent already made them prefer it over the sweaty kinds they knew in the first place.

To think that such a building in Amphibia existed and yet next to nothing, not even Newtopia's extensive library, knew of its existence along with the entire society of Spudlies shook the group down to their very core.

Anne sighed silently to herself as she realized something.

"I can't believe we have to go through all of this just for a sack of potatoes. I'm feeling a bit stupid just thinking about it."

"Hey, we're doing this for Maddie." Sprig replied. "I know you would do the same for me under those circumstances. While I haven't stood around her much, that doesn't mean I should ignore her…even if I stand at a fraction of her fingers."

"I…I guess you have a good point." Anne answered with a heartwarming smile. The head rooted Spudley stood by them for a moment before it verbalized a very loud squeak up the stairs. As quick as a flash, around five or so other Spudlies zipped down the steps and stood before the group. The head rooted one gave off a few more noises to them before it silently nodded and left the group to their own agendas. Once its squeaks disappeared up the steps, Anne and Sprig stared down at the squad of living potatoes before they started to swivel their bodies around. At first the two thought they saw another one of their weird customs, but once they turned their heads themselves they made a guess as to what they had in mind.

"Marcy? Hey Marcy! Did you wander off again?! We have some kind of deal here!"

It came as no surprise to the two that the often distracted Marcy made her leave to somewhere else. Luckily they didn't have to wait long until they heard some loud crashing in one of the corners of the room. Once they made their way over Anne's and Sprig's expressions went flat as they saw the respective teen in a stance only she could pull off. Some kind of helmet covered her head as she had it on backwards and a loincloth shrouded her right arm while she stumbled all over the place. To add to the whole thing she even wore a wooden bucket over her left foot that made it difficult to stand, and at one point she even slipped and hit her covered head against the wall, which didn't hurt too much but gave her a headache. Curiosity killed her again with a minor mess.

Her speech went muffled for the time until Anne went forward and pulled the helmet off of her cranium. She immediately took a deep breath and cleared her head for a second while Anne addressed her.

"Seriously? At a time like this?" Anne asked in slight disbelief.

"Hey, you know me and my guinea pig tendencies, heheheh." Marcy replied before she lukewarmly and weakly chuckled. "Even so, have you seen what these Spudlies store in these holes? I swear they might have some kind of profession as actual barbarians or gladiators!"

She got her response when the Spudlies around them chimed in with a chorus of squeaks. Anne and Sprig helped Marcy out of the rest that got stuck to her while the living potatoes waddled off for a split second before the plunged head first into the holes in the large stone slabs. It seemed like they had some type of trouble as their feet thrashed in the air for a moment, but before long their eyes came back out and they carried various forms of equipment on their backs. Some even had clusters much larger than their bodies, which gave off impressions that Marcy made sure to write down, and they wasted no time bringing all of it back for the group.

They took their time to put all of the items in a pile, and some particular items caught their eyes in different ways. Marcy told no lies when she stated that the Spudlies carried some gladiator vibes, and Anne could see for herself from the shiny pristine helmets with a golden glow. They almost shared the appearances from what she read about in history class and popular media such as cartoons. From a portion that stuck down between the eyes to large combs that spread from the back to the top, they couldn't have seemed so stereotypical and conventional to the information she learned back at home. Not only did she find those typical helmets in the pile, she also found a couple of large rounded shields that matched the helmets perfectly. They also shined in the light and contained decals reminiscent of the patterns she noticed earlier from all of the ruins of the structures the Spudlies supposedly crafted. She even picked one up and it found out that it didn't carry much weight to it either, and it made for a very adequate defensive slate to block incoming attacks. She never operated one before, but once she placed her hands on it she already gripped the handle like her life depended on it. As for the objects under the shields she couldn't make them out, and she didn't need to. She came across a time capsule of wealth from creatures that appeared like potatoes…which sounded really out of place once it waved through her head.

Sprig's eyes glittered from all of the spectacular objects the pile contained.

"Whoa, those Spudlies are something else if they hoarded all of this! I'm seeing a shining helmet with my name all over it!"

The frog immediately grabbed the certain helmet and took off his own hat for the moment to try it on. While tight at first, after he fiddled around with it for a few moments it plopped on his head like it fit. His widely grinned from both sides of his face, but then the helmet plopped further downward and covered his eyes. His grin went flat until he readjusted it again to fit him perfectly.

"I think you have the right idea there Sprig." Marcy said as he held back on a few giggles. "For the Spudlies to willingly bring all of this armor and weaponry out of their stashes I'm certain they want us to suit up for something over the horizon."

Upon Marcy's estimated guess, the Spudlies around them hopped and squeaked in a brief and instant manner while their round green feet wiggled around in the air. They only needed those reactions to conclude that she believably guessed correctly, but even then Anne still contained some uncertainty on one particular subject.

"If they have some type of gladiatorial combat in mind…"

"Relax Anne, we've taken on the world at this point. We can take on whatever those potatoes have in store, historic scenery or not!" Sprig said while he struck a fist up in triumph. His high laden personality brought a smile to Anne's face. She couldn't ignore an expression like that, especially from one of her best friends. From nervous to happy in one fell swoop, they two understood each other and helped put themselves back on track when situations had the potential to get out of hand quick.

"You always know just what to say at the right time, Sprig." Anne said which made her feel warm inside. To seal the deal like they always did, the two of them each brought a fist forward and bumped them together. Their smiles lit up the mood around them as they exclaimed.

"SPRANNE AGAINST THE WORLD!"

The two yukked it up for a bit which seemed to have rubbed off onto the Spudlies as they squeaked and bounced up like hyperactive children. Marcy watched from close by and couldn't take her eyes off such a heartwarming sight, which contributed as to why she never butted in at any point. It reminded her of the times in her childhood when she and Anne used to always hang out at the playground and pretend like they watched over the sun and moon. Anne even came up with the names "Ms. Bright" and "Ms. Shine" while they played out like any other common superheroes. They contemplated the potential of having a young pink haired sidekick by their side, but that idea never solidified in the long run. With their signature maneuver, the "Clashing Eclipse", any villain ended up obliterated to death in a heartbeat, and the idea lasted until they aged up into a more mature stature. She missed those times, but it didn't deter her. Her friendship with Anne lasted longer than she could remember, and she would do anything to maintain it for all eternity.

With that settled, soon after the Spudlies got to work on the three. From armor pieces to other protective gear, they did their best to tend to their preferences in what they wanted to wear. For the most part they went for a more minimalist type of deal, for Anne went for a plate that covered her abdomen and one of the shiny helmets that fit perfectly over her head. As for the possibility of heavy duty boots, which the Spudlies carried in their hoard of equipment, she turned that option down since she didn't maintain the best efficiency with those types plus the fact that she lasted in Amphibia with only one yellow shoe for a majority of the time. Sprig left most of the heavy armor and boots to the wayside, for he only had the dazzling helmet in his sights the whole time. He knew Polly would have likely went crazy with all of the padding and weapons if she ever set foot in the coliseum, but it terms of deadly styles he had to admit he contained a certain sweet spot for the craft. Once he placed it on his head he never wanted to take it off even for a second, and to complement his adoration he picked up a small sword and took his own personal stance. While he already carried a slingshot at all times and Anne usually ended up as the one that wielded a sword, in case his primary didn't do the trick he could always rely on a secondary as an emergency backup. As for Marcy, she found particular interests in basically all of the gear and made sure to take at least one of each. From the helmet, boots, chest plate, and long sword she took all of them and ended up with a cheesy smile at the end of it. One glance at herself and she really felt like she took a trip back in time and learned the professions behind an actual gladiator or fiendish barbarian. She almost got carried away in her own thoughts at one point until the Spudlies offered to put a brown run down loincloth across her bottom, to which she abhorrently rejected and stated that she "wasn't a monkey". Other than that she gleefully made sure everything fit for her body type and readied her sword and personal crossbow for incoming combat…if the Spudlies had that sort of deadly game in mind.

The trio of warriors now stood ready to enter the arena.

Shortly after they finished dressing with the Spudley's, a deep horn ran from outside. The Spudlies stood up firmly before they looked over to the three makeshift gladiators all dressed up for the trial ahead. The others took it as a sign.

"Must have hit the time for us to go out there." Marcy said while she readjusted her helmet. "You ready for this?"

Anne and Sprig had expressions of determination all over their faces.

"Let's kick some butt." Sprig said. The Spudlies seemed to have understood their desires and lead them forward over to an entrance off to the side of the room. It lead to a medium sized circular corridor that they carefully walked down, and as they continued the roars of the stadium echoed louder and louder around the walls. The hallway even extended further and further upward until they turned a corner and saw a large gated door that lead to the central arena. From the open squares of the door contained the sights of the battlefield, and they quickly found out that the whole area had a much wider scope than what they saw from above. The perspective also made the gated door on the other end minuscule by comparison, but they knew that wasn't the case at all. Just one turn of the mechanism that raised it and all eyes would get placed on them from the near endless stands from above.

The Spudlies brought them up to the large door and prepared to open it, but before they could do so Anne placed her fingers on the metal that made it up. Perfectly firm and strong to hold back basically anything the potatoes could round up, and it put daring images of potential designs in her head. She maintained a brave stance even if part of her wanted to bail and forget that it happened in the first place. As long as she had Sprig and Marcy by her side, she felt comfortable to take on anything. Their bonds remained tight and wouldn't let go at any point.

Eventually, it finally happened. The Spudlies pulled the levers next to them, which proved somewhat difficult for them since they had no arms, and the metal door creaked while it slowly disappeared over their heads. One could relate it to a lowering of a drawbridge from the similar set of visuals and sounds, which impressed Marcy to a certain extent she kept to herself, and in a similar time frame the door fully opened.

Marcy gazed out into the arena ahead and could only muster up one single word.

"Showtime."

Anne took the first few steps forward. The dirt didn't feel too compact but not too loose either, which made for a comfortable walk through. The instant she made her way in her ears got blasted with loud cacophonies of squeaks from the stands overhead, and once she glanced up she figured out why. Every inch of the stands around the arena filled to the brim with eager Spudlies as they cheered on the ones down below, and from the scope down on the field millions possibly inhabited at least one seat. Individual details remained scarce, especially for the ones near the back, but she barely made out some type of treat in front of dozens of the potato creatures. They could have something akin to concessions in the coliseum, but she didn't want to jump to conclusions before the big show. If she never saw the outside of the building she could have easily mistaken it as a sports stadium of some kind, which she watched back at home on her TV but never went to one in person. If the sightings around her reflected the mood of those areas back home she wouldn't hesitate to go there and become first in the ticket line. To ramp it up even further she didn't sit in the stands, she BECAME the main attraction. While her stance as the center of attention wasn't completely unknown to her, on the scale she witnessed around the coliseum it gave her a proud sensation inside. Her importance in the world of Amphibia brought a smile to her face, and to see others cheer her on exemplified her status as one that always stood by your back.

The three of them waved to the crowd and smiled as they made their way to the center. The gate on the opposite end remained shut and lacked the signs of their possible opponent, but they kept their eyes peeled just in case.

"Feel any types of stage fright Anne?" Marcy asked as she looked on with a smile and continued to wave to the audience of Spudlies.

"Not too much. I can easily get over it." Anne replied while she went through the same motions. "How about you?"

"None at all." Marcy replied. "I found myself at the capitol of Newtopia when we warped here after all."

"Oh right, THAT heavily populated place." Anne responded. As for Sprig, he couldn't get enough of the positive reception behind his few seconds of fame, so he made the most of it as he waved basically every part of his body in an attempt to divert all of the attention over. He even attempted a couple of courageous poses like he had an invincible body, which riled up a lot of Spudlies in the process.

"Yes, yes, they love me! Ooh, he's my good side! Come on, I'm the star here! WOOOOOOOOOO!"

He would have continued to try and impress the audience further if his feet never flew up into the air for a quick moment. Anne and Marcy also got caught up in the quakes, but once they saw a dark shadow loom over them their expectations flew in another direction. It took next to no time at all before they glanced up, along with a portion of the Spudley audience, where they notices the infamous giant witch frog stare down at them like the sun. As the night rolled in it almost shrouded her whole face, but thanks to the general shape of her head it took no time at all to figure out that didn't have to fear a friendly face even if her size meant she almost took up the entire opening of the coliseum with her expression. If the audience never knew the truth about her the situation would have likely resulted in mass panic, but for the Spudlies they never moved and stayed while they continued to utter waves of squeaks. Some even seemed to cheer in support of her appearance, but due to their angle they couldn't figure out for sure. Even so, the giant girl of the group made her grand entrance to the large coliseum below her.

The three in the middle of the arena couldn't help but smile that the Spudlies thought of her and never put her on the sidelines.

"You finally showed up! Great!" Marcy said while she gave Maddie a grin and quick thumbs up.

"I've stayed on the outside of this thing the whole time." Maddie replied with her booming voice. "It took a bit to understand what those potatoes wanted, but after a game of charades I eventually understood. Once I heard the festivities started in there they indicated my time to shine…and the fact that they put those outfits on you."

Maddie expressed one of her creepy and happy grins before Anne responded back.

"Yeah, they wanted us to look the part for the trial…maybe. I have a couple of guesses as to what they planned, but since they might want to leave you out because of your capabilities-"

"No, they actually wanted me to participate."

All three of them in the stadium stood almost completely dumbfounded by such a decision. Ever since she underwent her extreme growth Maddie learned of many traits that came with such a size. From the ability to bulldoze over everything with her feet and the attribute to basically succumb to no damage to anything smaller than her, she became an invincible behemoth whether she wanted it or not. If the Spudlies planned some type of bout for the game ahead, it would only require two of her fingers, or even only one, to end everything instantly. She served as a win condition from her presence alone, and behind her creepy and adorable face she could destroy everything in one seemingly harmless action from her end. It made the whole scenario and difficulty ahead seem like a joke in comparison.

"Wait, wait, wait…really?" Marcy asked at a louder volume to get around the Spudlies' cheers. "I'm finding that hard to believe! You sure you didn't miscommunicate anything out there?"

"I'm certain." Maddie's deep voice boomed. "It took some extra thinking after they indicated something about this large building, but I couldn't translate their motions and sounds any other way. They want me to take part in whatever they have in mind…even if it would possibly make everything one sided."

"I'm pretty sure all of us thought the same thing." Sprig replied. The others would have spoken further if one distinct call never hit everyone. It even caused all of the commotions and musings with the Spudlies in the stands to die down a bit. They still uttered some noise, since in a packed coliseum it almost became impossible, but not to the extent they sounded out earlier. Everyone, including the thousands in the stands, had their attention directed to the source, which either provided a clear or distorted pictures depending on their position. For Anne and the other two, they could barely see it, while Maddie hardly saw anything from her colossal height. It took a bit of focus until they could distinguish the culprit, and before long they obtained just enough to figure them out.

Nothing but the same heat rooted Spudley set foot in the stadium.

It seemed to utter some very loud sequences of squeaks, but due to the language barrier anyone not a Spudley heard nothing but gibberish. It went on for a couple of minutes, which kept eyes on it especially from the living potatoes, before it took a few steps forward. As if history repeated itself in the most ironic of senses, right after the first few steps the specific Spudley miscalculated and immediately started to tumble down the flights of stairs. It called out a couple of its natural squeaking each time its body hit a step, which even made Anne, Marcy, Sprig, and Maddie wince and flinch for a split moment every time. Since the creatures had no arms, they couldn't reach out to help it and it never crossed Maddie's mind to assist until after the process concluded. Eventually, the special Spudley fell against one final step, which hit its cranium, before it cried out one final squeak and tumbled over the audience wall and into the center arena, which meant one final long fall. It hit the dirt with a thud on its behind, but in a miraculous turn it only suffered a dizzied expression of rolling eyes. For an individual of its kind to survive that type of pain indicated that they maintained some form of durability, at least from how Marcy saw it, even if they contained the fantastic ability to regenerate from the ground when squashed. Marcy instantaneously pulled out her critter encyclopedia and wrote down her findings in some extra space while the others watched to see what would happen next. After a fall like that, it clearly had something on its mind to tell everyone.

The Spudley shook itself off before it ran off to the center of the arena where Anne and the other stood. As quick of a recover it went through, it still went down for a reason.

"Oh, you again." Anne said as she saw the potato critter by her feet. "What have you got now?"

The special Spudley squeaked to them a few times which they couldn't understand, but then it faced the audience and made itself comfortable. Soon after it went through a long sequence of the noises that left the group, plus Maddie overhead, in the dark. The crowds of Spudlies in the stands answered the noises on occasion with their own cacophonies of squeaks that sometimes gave Anne and the others headaches, only for the head rooted one to silence all of them as it responded louder. As it continued to speak in their unique language, the one living potato walked circles around the three while it kept its eyes to the crowds above. It left Anne and the others guessing since its supposed speech went on for quite a while, which left some a bit drowsy until it ceased as quickly as it started. It ended things off with a couple of loose individual squeaks while it bobbed and hopped around them, which set off a chain reaction of the noises from the endless audience, and then bowed like it just came across royalty. The gate that the group arrived through sluggishly raised up before the head rooted Spudley put its stubby round legs to use and dashed right over and under it. Soon after the gate closed again which left the three in gladiator outfits to the oceans of Spudlies in the audience.

"Well…can't say that didn't sound important." Marcy said.

"I'm already wringing out my head for some kind of comprehension." Sprig stated. "I'm having no success though."

"I pretty much tuned out the whole thing since I understood basically nothing." Maddie said from overhead. "Never have I wanted to have a universal translator than now."

"I'm sure we could all use something like that." Anne said. "These potatoes creature can really-OH SHOOT!"

She hastily brought her sword out and brandished it before her the instant she noticed a certain image on the other side of the opposing gate. The others got the hint and prepared themselves too while they eyed down the spot. For Maddie her aerial view unfortunately missed a couple of details, so she never got a good glance at what the others talked about and relied on them to provide the heads up. Marcy readied her crossbow while Sprig aimed his slingshot, although he kept his acquired sword on standby which humorously made him lose his balance a few times. They could hear the growls and roars before them which put their senses into overdrive. The second attraction had arrived.

At first a couple of extra Spudlies emerged from the darkness with long ropes around their waists, and they clearly held control over something as it pulled and tugged against them. It took a few more seconds, but soon after a big and mean image came across the group's radars. It almost took up the entire size of the gate, and once it hit the lights its define shape hit everyone's vision. If the Spudlies maintained bodies of small potatoes, the creature it held under control with ropes maintained the large one. It basically shared the same general shape as the living potatoes but on a much bigger scale. Its general brownness matched with the Spudlies but the rest of its body clearly had its drastic differences. The bottom of the huge creature displayed six large round green ovals akin to the Spudlies around it, even if the potatoes only had two, but atop each one showed a distinct cyan mixed with green. They could stomp any smaller creature down from their general burliness and thickness despite their simplistic shape and color, and it put them on full display as it wrangled with the ones that held it back. Its body swelled and ballooned up like a flea or tick, and from its face it sure looked the part as well. Two long mandibles stuck out in front in a thick and long way, but they never consisted of the usual bodily materials. In fact, they materialized from some kind of long roots, but the creature still brandished them like actual mandibles. For those specific parts to be made up of THAT, it made for a pretty ugly picture with a unique twist, but that oddity didn't compare to its grotesque eye. Right in the middle and close to the mandibles made of roots, the group saw an eye that consisted of multiple lenses, a common feature of a lot of bugs and insects, but for the ones they got accustomed to they at least showed a pair of them. For the huge hulking creature though, they only saw one with made it creepier to gaze at. The little orbs that made up its eye wriggled and shuddered about that would have made some people sick to their stomachs from the mere sight, but thanks to the common sights of huge bugs Amphibia contained on a daily basis anyone the group pretty much gotten used to it at that point. Even so, they have never seen one that appeared like a huge potato, and for Marcy and Anne it basically had the scope of some of the largest elephants from back at home. From the sturdiness and toughness from such a spectacle it almost sounded too completely out of touch to believe it existed, but the Spudlies made sure they found out which added to the craziness that Amphibia had to offer.

Marcy obviously became the odd one out once she saw it.

"Oh my gosh…I've heard NOTHING about a creature of that caliber ANYWHERE in Amphibia! I had no idea the Spudlies held ENTIRE CREATURES out of the public eye, even to the geniuses in Newtopia! Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, I HAVE to jot this down in my notes before I miss the-"

"Marcy!" Anne interjected while she kept her courageous stance. Her outburst jarred Marcy out of it for the moment, although she still brought out her encyclopedia just in case. The front gate between the huge bug like potato creature and the stadium slowly began to rise while the Spudlies around it prevented it from getting out of control. For them to hold it back gave off the impression that they contained strength underneath their brown goodness, but the other couldn't focus too much on the estimate when the gate finally opened up fully. It instant it disappeared up the Spudlies released their hold on the creature by an instant hop upward that brought them out of their ropes, and the beast dashed out into the stadium the moment it gotten free. It shook the loose ropes off of it while the Spudlies immediately brought the gate down to possibly save themselves from destruction. The audience seemed to get riled up as the creature set foot in the dirt, and they watched as the creature made its way up to the group and glared at them with its one insect eye.

Let the game begin.

They expected the worst. While it lacked to highest of speeds it proved decent enough to get up to the group in a pinch. Every held their ground as the weird large insect potato stopped a few feet before them, but it didn't attack immediately. It eyed them down for a bit while its root like mandibles drooped down and fluctuated a little, and soon after they heard some low grumbled from its direction. Its six round but efficient feet dug into the dirt with vigor and power before it suddenly angled its stubby head up and let loose a mighty screech that hit everyone's hearing hard. If it didn't make the first move, then Anne would, so she prepared to run up and give the creature a good slash.

…but then the creature disappeared under a wall of blue.

The impact left a huge aftershock that shook the entire coliseum and tripped up everyone on the field the most. Because of their position close to the incident, all of them careened a few feet backward and landed on their behinds with luckily no damages. They also received some slight headaches from the immense shakes across the ground, but otherwise they remained unharmed. Whatever happened left some aftermath that nobody prepared for, despite the desire to always remain alert when it came to Anne and the others.

They shook off the dazed feeling and straightened their heads before they focused ahead. Once they figured it out the wall of blue raised back up and left behind the remains of the creature the Spudlies prepared. Similar to how the Spudlies ended up earlier, it basically left behind all of of its loose body parts while its body turned into a mushed heap. Some of its round feet even twitched a little bit like it still had some life in them, which churned the stomachs of the group especially to Marcy. To save whatever she had left in her belly she hastily turned away and covered her eyes the moment the corpse began to show itself. For the Spudlies in the audience around them, like they incidents beforehand, they never panicked or seemed to care as they cheered on the contestants down below. Everything appeared to end in one fell swoop.

The three in the arena glanced up as Maddie withdrew her fist, and she lacked the enthusiasm at the moment.

"There, mission accomplished. Too easy." Maddie's deep voice stated.

"You could have at least let me get in one good smack!" Sprig exclaimed. "I want to feel like I accomplished something!"

"Hate to break it to you Sprig, but I kind of expected it to go by like this." Anne replied.

Marcy remained a bit queasy, but she kept it to herself while she attempted to push the image out of her head. While she could handle some gross aspects, like a loose limb or two when she hung out with Maddie, some still remained around her breaking point and pushed her limits. For an entire dead body that stayed fresh after only seconds before it perished, the concept became too much for her and she couldn't handle it. Even someone as easily distracted in their own head drew limits around many aspects even if they never shared them.

So to think that she ended up as the one to notice something awry emerged as a twist of irony.

"Anne! Sprig! Look over there!"

She held in bile while she saw Anne and Marcy face the downed corpse of the large bug potato. At first they failed to see a difference, just the gross remains of a deadly creature, but a few seconds later they clearly saw something on the other end. Maddie had an obscured and hazy sight from overhead so she failed to see the minor details originally, but one they became more apparent she concluded that she should have known it would happen from the examples before. It started pretty minor as the dislodged legs continued to wriggle and twitch around, but then the muck and juice slowly had something emerge from under them. It came out like a large hill or paper puppet, but then it broke free and displayed its new body. The group couldn't believe their eyes at such a phenomenon, as they knew the Spudlies could pull it off, but the large beast never passed through their comprehensions. It even maintained an exact replica of its previous life as if it never fell to Maddie's fist in the first place, but it clearly remembered the punishment it took.

Just like it supposed smaller brethren, the creature resurfaced back from the dead out of its previous body, and it didn't appreciate that certain fact.

Anne and Sprig couldn't help but go flat at such a sight.

"Oh right, of course they can reincarnate like the Spudlies." Anne stated at a very flat tone.

"That makes a whole lot of sense in the long run." Sprig responded in the same tone. The audience in the stands went on with positive energy as the creature shook off all of the excess goo from its previous body. It then screeched at an angry pitch before it dug its feet into the ground and bared it long root like mandibles for everyone to see. With no extra time to spare, the creature charged forward as its one insect eye glared them down.

"BREAK! BREAK!" Marcy exclaimed. Anne and Sprig didn't need any reiterations as they did so and spread out in multiple directions while Marcy followed. A brief second later the creature ran over their exact spot, and it still wasn't done yet. It immediately turned back around with its stubby legs and screeched before it revved itself up again.

…only for Maddie to slam another fist against its fragile body, at least in her case.

Like before it shook everyone up and made them airborne for a second, and similar to last time another crushed corpse got left in its wake. Marcy covered her eyes again as Maddie withdrew her fist, and in a repeat of last time straight out of the dead body the creature emerged again as if nothing had happened. It only managed to get one brief screech off before Maddie crushed it again.

…and again…and again…and again…and again all in the same spot.

The loose parts began to pile up as more and more lifeless bodies of the creature ended up crushed under Maddie's fist. Marcy almost couldn't take the sights and nearly lost the will to keep going as they continued. However, no matter how many times the creature went through its demise it always raised from the ground in perfect fit like nothing happened. Soon enough Maddie herself felt incredibly irritated at such persistence and reared up another fist against the ground, but before she could do so Anne quickly yelled at her.

"Maddie, enough with the crushing already! It clearly doesn't work against that thing…and Marcy can barely hold herself together at this point!"

"Then how exactly do we put that thing to permanent rest?" Maddie asked. "If I can't easily put it down, then how do we fight it?!"

Their brief exchange provided a window for the creature to stir itself back up after another failed attempt from Maddie. It screeched loudly, brought out its root like mandibles, and then charged forward like crazy. The others almost got taken by surprise but managed to swerve out of the way in time. While the creature seemed to account for the opening, it failed to pay attention to where everyone stationed themselves. The instant they avoided it the creature found itself front part first into the arenas wall, and from the impact it wedged itself in there pretty hard. The group could hear its muffled screeches as it tried to pull itself free with no current success.

"Here comes the Sprig, beast!" Sprig shouted as he ran forward with sword in hand. With the creature immobilized it now gave the group the opportunity to deal a devastating blow against it, and Sprig would have probably given one…if he ever wielded a sword before. In a display of physics that would have made top scientists' heads spin, Sprig never took into account the weight of the blade and right as he tried to stick the blade downward in a deadly thrust it inadvertently cartwheeled through the air instead and completely missed the mark. He struck the beast with his whole body instead, which would have done something if he maintained a brick tough hygiene. His cranium took a strike from the creature's body…and it didn't even prime itself to attack.

Sprig waddled back to the others with a bruised ego while they stood their ground.

"You think Maddie can eat that thing instead? I mean…that could work right?" Anne asked while she gripped her blade tightly.

"Ummm, yeah, I don't think so." Maddie said from above. "I'm not one to do that sort of thing."

"But you're a frog! Don't you already eat bugs on a daily basis?!" Anne asked. She watched as Maddie's huge face frowned a bit.

"So because I'm like that you think that it just comes with the package, huh? I'm not part of your supposed stereotype there, Anne. I prefer other forms of food, thank you very much!"

"Okay, okay, okay, you don't fall under that category, I get it!" Anne replied.

Marcy thought things differently though. She made mental notes in her head as the whole bout commenced further, although she kept it on the back burner for more important matters. If the Spudlies wanted Maddie to end the creature immediately by swallowing it whole then all of their efforts to make the whole thing out as some sort of great event would have fell in vain. Their wouldn't be any worthwhile reason to fill up rows of seats in a coliseum and dress the combatants up in gladiator uniforms if it would have ended instantly. Along with the fact that they apparently wanted Maddie to participate when her growth meant her strength went through the roof, in her eyes they didn't want her to eat the creature and desired a different outcome. They just needed to find out what.

The creature eventually pulled itself loose from the walled and immediately pivoted around to face its opposition. Its mandibles clashed together like two cutting knives, but it missed the first attack at that time. It never got to react as Marcy hastily aimed her crossbow from her arm and fired a couple of rounds at it which hit their mark against its front. The beast cried out as they pierced the top of its body and they stuck there like battle scars. Some sort of juice oozed from the stricken spots, which would have made Marcy hurl if her attention strayed off somewhere other than the creature's anger.

It didn't take the attack lightly as it responded with a charging ram forward like a freight train. Marcy fired more arrows while Anne and Sprig got up close.

"I've handled tougher foes than you, big guy!" Anne exclaimed as she brandished her blade and kept pace with the creature. In one swift and instant motion, Anne swung her blade forward and sliced into one of the creature's root like mandibles. It fell clean off to the ground and left gushing clear liquid in its previous spot, which caused the beast to cry out again. Despite the lost appendage, which would have likely heavily crippled it, the large bug potato still stayed upright and angled itself in Anne's direction. Marcy fired a couple of warning shots with her arrows, but nobody expected what happened after. The beast's turn occurred so abruptly that Anne never expected it, and the force of the motion pushed the girl upward until she basically went along for the ride. Her abdomen covered the bug potato's eye which basically made it blind as it ran around everywhere to shoo her off. Anne yelled like someone ripped off a stitched bandage while she dug her fingers into the creature's brown outer skin for dear life. If she attempted to move at all she risked a firm trample across her body.

"I got you Anne, don't worry!" Sprig exclaimed while the audience cheered in the background. Marcy also attempted for some kind of assistance of her friend, but she could only use her arrows since any kind of close encounter could force Anne off at the wrong angle. The two shot arrows and rocks from their respectable shooters that dealt negligible damage across the creature's body as it rampaged about, although in Marcy's case with her arrows some protruded out and remained in the creature's body like someone stuck large toothpicks in it, which didn't help matters. Thanks to the lessons she took in Newtopia she managed to never strike Anne once with their pointed tips, which would have provided a painful experience.

Sprig, on the other hand with his shots…

"Ow, ow! Hey Sprig, watch where you, hey, aim those, ow, things! I'm bruising, ow, here!"

"Sorry Anne! I'm trying my hardest!" Sprig said as he unleashed another barrage of rocks…which hit Anne's backside for a majority of it. The constant attacks forced the creature's running path over to the walls and made it sway a bit left and right a little. At various points it actually teetered over and smacked its sides against the wall, which luckily didn't impact Anne too much since she remained near the front, but miraculously it stayed running around in a frenzied manner. The girl atop its face felt her eyes as they swelled up, and she couldn't blame herself if she had some broken teeth under her lips. Luckily she didn't taste blood, but that could change if Sprig didn't think before he acted.

He really needed some extra time to hone in on his aim so she wouldn't become a punching bag down the line.

From the constant motions and failed attacks from Sprig, it came as no surprise when Anne's fingers started to lose their grip. No matter how hard she tried to stay on from that moment, she lacked the strength so she prepared for the worst. One by one they lost their mark, and she expected so high leveled trampling the moment she fell off. However, right as her last few digits fell off of the creature, another wall of blue came forth and smacked the creature clean across the arena. Sprig and Marcy barely had time to react and move out of the way by the time it went flying toward the opposing wall, and its entire back hit the wall so powerfully that it left a cracked indent around the impact spot that dug pretty deep. Anne somehow avoided getting seriously hurt from some instant assistance.

She sat on the ground in shock for a second before the wall of blue disappeared upward. It didn't take a genius to figure out who helped out, and once she gazed upward she figured it out instantly.

"Holy crap, you just saved my bacon there Maddie!" Anne exclaimed while her eyes went big.

"Well, I couldn't just watch from up here you know." Maddie responded with a hand on her cheek. "One good flick and that pretty much solved it. You okay?"

"A bit sore around some spots, but I'll last." Anne replied as she got back on her feet. As for the creature, its whole body took a couple of seconds to realign but soon after it pulled itself loose from the wall and planted its round chunky feet back in the dirt. The impact from Maddie's sudden strike left a large flat plane across its back that leveled it out instead of its natural circular nature. It oozed some clear liquid out which didn't last long. Swiftly after the beast got back up the spot filled until it regained the curves and shape it displayed before, and also due to its regenerative abilities the mandible that Anne sliced off earlier slowly emerged as a small stump until it stretched out into the root like appearance that matched the other. It regenerated back as if it sustained no single injury since everything started, and it seemed to yearn for more after it screeched to the skies again.

The audience of Spudlies in the stands erupted in millions of squeaks while the competitors grew visibly irritated.

"I'm starting to think that we might not have the capabilities to kill that thing." Anne said while she slightly panted to herself. "Unless Maddie does a complete one eighty and eats it, we basically have an invincible opponent."

She glanced up at Maddie who slowly shook her head before she spoke up next.

"I've pretty much come to terms with that while you hung on for dear life back there. Anyone else have any bright ideas?"

"Well, we might not have to kill it…"

The sheer unorthodox nature of such a statement diverted the group's attention over to the one who said it, who turned out to be the brains of the bunch and the one that got easily distracted by everything. Clearly the whole appearance and status of the arena meant they obviously had to fight and defeat it, and they saw it no other way. The Spudlies even took extra time to dress them up straight out of the history books and equipped them with the appropriate weapons for authenticity purposes. The situation couldn't have its words spelled out in the cleanest of methods, so of course they saw the answer with no substitutions. To hear something that went against the obvious couldn't have given the others more disbelief than they understood at that moment.

"Umm, did you snort some of that monster's fumes or something? Of course they want us to kill it!" Sprig stated. "How can you think any other way?!"

"By multiple factors actually." Marcy explained. She would have spoken further if the creature didn't charge forward, which forced them to spread out for a moment and made it whiff the attack.

With the free moments, Marcy raced the rest of her words out.

"I know it sounds like too much, but once I saw it regenerate too many times effortlessly my mind raced for some type of alternate motive and solution. In that time something hit me, and it threw me in for a loop. If the Spudlies wanted us to earn their trust by killing something they wouldn't have put a regenerative opponent on us, so I'm certain they don't want us to do that. I mean, it makes some sense in the scheme of things, right?"

"So you're saying they want us to do something else with that thing?" Anne asked. "Like what?!

"I don't know! Just give me a moment to think more!" Marcy exclaimed. The creature didn't offer her another chance to speak further as it uttered a deadening screech and rushed forward once more. It made its roundabouts through the arena as it aimed for the three in the field, and each miss stirred it up even further. At that point fatigue started to settle in for the group, minus Maddie since she could hardly do anything from above, and they pretty much hinged on their breaking point. The creature continued again and again in their directions, and with their exhaustion it put all of them on a timer.

Anne's mind raced for any potential clue that could solve the mystery behind the game the Spudley's had in mind and the nature behind it. True to what Marcy stated, it seemed like they never wanted them to kill the beast in the first place due to how it regenerated every time they crushed it, but they also made them put on outfits reminiscent of gladiators in the past, including weaponry. They could have wanted them to damage it to a certain extent and not put it down, or maybe they needed to stick a blade down its throat and leave it there. While a bit brutal, she couldn't have possibly thought of any other solution to the game that didn't involve harming it from everything she gathered. Of course it made absolutely no sense at all that a potential injury to the creature automatically made the Spudlies move to their side, especially after what Marcy said about how they never got out much because so many wanted their delectable potatoes. She found it rather unfortunate that none of them ended up-

It immediately clicked. It REALLY clicked.

That's what the Spudlies wanted out of them the whole time, and she only needed to look to the left next to the obvious portion where the footnote set.

"Hey, big guy! I'm wide open for ya! Come on, let me have it!"

Anne's shouts brought nearly the whole coliseum to a standstill. Marcy and Sprig paused for the moment while the creature flipped back around to face the group, and its one eye set straight at the tall teen.

"Anne, what are you doing?!" Marcy exclaimed. "You'll get put in the line of fire!"

"Yeah, uhhhhh, what she said!" Sprig chimed in as he shuddered slightly.

"I'm going to give that creature what it asked for, and I will not let it win this." Anne responded while she planted her feet firmly. "You two might want to back up, for this might get VERY messy…"

The courage under her voice spoke volumes to the ones that listened in, especially to someone like Marcy or Sprig. The valorous sting in her eyes told them next to everything they needed to know. Out of everyone they had come to know, Anne usually became the one to always stand up for what she felt steered everything in the correct direction. Granted she sometimes got her assumptions wrong, but her attitude remained the same all the way. If anything it strengthened her relationships with the world around her and brought a certain maturity that came with her age. To the ones that experienced her courageous nature they either felt blessed to have her on their side or completely worried that she'll wipe the floor with them. While she still had much to learn, she got her hands dirty on multiple occasions and would do it all over again for the ones she cared about.

The two did as she asked and put their backs to the walls away from the upcoming confrontation, despite they fact that they also wanted to stay by her side at all costs. Even the countless crowds of Spudlies in the stands suddenly went mute as the two combatants stared each other down. They could say they watched a duel for the ages below, but that only served as the cherry on top. The creature gnashed its mandibles while Anne deflected the intimidation tactics away and leered back with her courageous nature. Both sides dug their feet into the ground and prepared for the worst, although the creature went even further with the digging and kicked up cloud of dust in the process. If Anne witnessed an angry bull on the other side at the time it probably would have lowered its head and cried out angrily, but she didn't have one as an opponent on the other side. She could picture the creature spewing steam from its metaphorical nostrils at the moment from all of the tensions that paralyzed the air into a brutal standstill, and yet she wouldn't let that stop her. She understood the truth behind it, and she needed to settle it now.

Not a single sound waved through the whole coliseum, and nobody wanted to break the veil of silence. Yet it would come down to either Anne or the beast.

Anne or the beast…

Anne or the beast…

…

…

…

…

…

They charged.

Anne yelled out like she just gave off a war cry while the creature put its big round feet to use and kicked up cloud of sand in the process. The dust eventually took up the whole arena and blanketed out the bout between the two, but ones that maintained a keen eye may have managed to see the girl drop her sword before the scene went completely blind. Everyone could hear them as they ran at each other forward, and many assumed it would have went on for a lot longer. However, the instant the situation started a few moments later it ceased. Marcy and Sprig felt their hearts stop while the audience possibly felt the same way, and no one dared to utter a single sound. The clouds of dust still covered a majority of the arena, so everyone held their breaths in anxious nervousness that everything turned out all right.

Once the dust settled and the visuals restored, everyone had their eyes on the one spot…and it absolutely astonished everyone.

"Anne?! Anne!" Marcy exclaimed.

Both Anne and the creature remained completely intact, and not a single scratch displayed on them. In fact, Anne didn't strike her opposition in the first place and instead performed a different tactic…as she embraced the frontal part of the creature fully. Her eyes stayed closed while the creature seemed to calm down a decent amount as it didn't run off from her maneuver. They heard some bubbling and low audible mutters from it, but it stayed put. Somehow Anne managed to calm it down into submission without any lashes or cuts given across its body.

They heard her stutter through her actions but she still stood her ground with her arms outstretched across the creature's face.

"There you go…errrrm, there you go. You…you wanted this the whole time…right? You viscous actions…just to make a friend? Watch the pincers there…watch those pincers please!"

One of the creature's mandibles loosened up a bit after Anne said that, but its one insect eye remained gazed at her face. While it never emoted like a normal person, Marcy and Sprig had their hunches just from its actions alone. From its low cooing noises to how it never used its mandibles to shred her to smithereens, so many signs pointed to the fact that it wanted to get up close to possibly make a friend in the process. Sure, it may have acted rough and mad at first when it arrived, but the Spudlies possibly did something to make it that way. All in the name of one single test to make sure the group came up with the correct answer.

And Anne passed with flying colors.

The whole stadium erupted with squeaky cheers and wriggly movements from the Spudlies, which also indicated that she performed the correct choice. Even Maddie from above the coliseum cheered on, at a lower volume thanks to her size, in support for Anne's accomplishment. The two girls and frog boy on the field gazed up at all of the gratuitous praise they received from nearly the entire habitat of living potato creatures, and it made them feel great importance deep inside. They may have only went through such a trial just to obtain special potatoes, but the success behind such feats made it completely worth it in their eyes. Nobody else other than them could have possibly found the Spudlies in the first place, convinced the potatoes to take them to their enclosed secret habitat that no one in Amphibia knew about, and mustered through a trial with an annoying language barrier. Turns out the Spudlies always had the brains to think for themselves and act accordingly, something that not a lot of wild creatures in Amphibia contained, and they just needed the few to trust to always stand by their side.

The large bug potato poked its root like mandibles through Anne's bushy hair a couple of times as Marcy and Sprig walked up to them. In a surprising twist, the beast never lunged out or attacked them as they got close. Anne managed to bring forth the true nature behind it and its real mindset, which turned out to be a very friendly and affectionate personality despite its ugly exterior. In many ways it came as no surprise to know that they lived alongside the timid and evasive Spudlies; possibly in a symbiotic harmony of fearfulness and fearlessness.

"I can't believe it. You actually calmed that thing down!" Marcy exclaimed. "How did you figure out that we needed to do that?"

"For the same reasons you told me." Anne responded. "It didn't make any sense for the Spudlies to put us up against something invincible and expect us to kill it. Along with the fact that it also never made sense how killing it would help us gain their trust…I pretty much acted on the spot."

"So you didn't think too hard and just…went for it?" Sprig replied. "Yeesh, and I'm shuddering to think what would have happened if you guessed wrong."

"Eh, she always has me to fall back on. I mean, you know, the giant one?" Maddie's boomed overhead. "Have to make use of this size for something after all."

"I've always had you in the back of my mind ever since you grew Maddie." Anne stated while she nodded to the girl's massive face overhead. The creature continued to groan in an upbeat manner and even nudged against Anne a couple of times, which caught the attention of Marcy. She put a hand to its body and shortly after her eyes glittered while she gleefully smiled.

Her expression became priceless for someone like Anne.

"Heheheh, got all of that fear wrung out of you? I can tell you have an interest in this…unique creature."

"I've pretty much forced it out of my system right now." Marcy answered. "Even so, how can I NOT get excited to finally get my chance with a completely new discovery? No record exists of these creatures ANYWHERE in any archive whatsoever, so I finally have the chance to catalog it myself before anyone else! Name, description, and everything in between…all from MY notes! I…I almost can't contain myself…so exhilarating!"

Anne and Sprig watched as Marcy put herself into discovery overdrive and zipped all around the creature with her creature encyclopedia in her hands. Anne couldn't help but warmly smile and shake her head at such a display, while Sprig backed himself up to give Marcy some room. Maddie didn't react much since any slight adjustment could ruin the structure below, but as long as Marcy remained happy it mirrored off to the frog girl too. They didn't know what sort of notes she took as she made her rounds near the creature, but most of them never had their major interests the her hobby in the first place. Marcy had the time of her life from just one specific specimen and she jotted down everything.

The enigma that surrounded her choice of actions almost made the group fail to see the gate behind as it slowly opened, and right when it became large enough a certain recognizable critter emerged from under it. Its little round legs wiggled around as it waddled and squeaked on the way to them, and once it stopped near them Sprig and Maddie noticed it straight away. It tried to catch Marcy's attention with some loud squeaks and long hops, but she got lost in her quick research and due to her her skewed focus on certain topics when she got down to it the intrusion never fazed her.

"…I'm contemplating on so many options, but for simplicity and ease of pronunciation I'll call your species…Spudbugs! Yeah, that will definitely work in the long run. Hmm…soft spot here, hard spot over here…no definitive answer on this front…"

"Marcy."

"Rounded feet, yet the color contrasts the body…connect the relationships…okay, decent hypothesis…"

"Hey Marcy."

"The appearance of those mandibles…seem to have similar positions to…not going in that direction. Eew, I'm not going to look there! I'll wait until-"

"MARCY!"

Anne's final outburst finally managed to jar Marcy out of her current primary mindset. She jolted up a little bit as she got to her feet and almost dropped her encyclopedia, but she otherwise remained intact. For Anne, that type of attitude when it came from Marcy usually meant something unintentional would occur since her typical focus tended to hone in all of her senses to the determent of her friends. At one point her mind never left a certain portable gaming console during a crucial dodge ball game during gym class which left Anne and their other friend Sasha in the line of fire.

To make a long story short, Anne had black eyes for a week while Sasha ended up with her head stuck in a loose ball that took an hour to pull off. Marcy herself miraculously suffered no serious injuries, but the other two never let the moment go for the next few days.

She quickly glanced over to Anne in response.

"Oh, Anne! Errrm, sorry about that, heheheh." Marcy responded before Anne pointed to the head rooted Spudley that tried to get her attention.

"Ah, you again. Well, we conquered your trial, well at least I think we did, so can we get those special potatoes now?"

The special Spudley angled its eyes like it cocked an eyebrow while the others glanced flatly at her for a couple of seconds. Even the creature she recently categorized and named seemed to give her the certain sting as it aimed its one insect eye at her. Nobody appeared to give her a break from her brief moment of ignorance, which became the case with her on a daily basis when her personality steered in that particular direction. She couldn't help herself when her interests kicked in, which she understood needed some sort of control in the long run.

Even so, for the one Spudley to arrive in the stadium's center field it potentially had something in mind, and soon after they figured it out. After a short time since it came in, it proceeded to give a couple of choice sequences of squeaks in their direction, which, like always, failed to reach past the group's language barrier. Despite the communication issues, they didn't need words as they heard it when it uttered a loud noise akin to a balloon losing air throughout the whole place. Every other Spudley in the stands heard it, along with Maddie up above, but soon after they saw the results. From right out of the gates on one side of the arena, once they raised to let them in, two normal looking Spudlies ran out into the field with one large rocky bowl on top of their heads. They didn't get far until one of them tripped and fell face first into the dirt, which consequently dropped the bowl and some type of weird faucet mechanism inside it to the ground. The head rooted Spudley couldn't help but close its eyes and shake its body in response which the other one that came in with it attempted to get the one that fell back to its feet. It remained planted on the ground while one of its round feet stuck upward and twitched for a couple of seconds before the Spudley next to it helped it back up. It stood dizzy for a moment until it and the other got back to it and put the bowl and faucet mechanism back on their heads and rushed it over to the others. The head rooted Spudley nodded and squeaked to the two before it took the bowl on its own head and let the two take the weird faucet for themselves.

"Ooh, am I seeing another one of your special customs? I got to write this down now!" Marcy eagerly stated while she pulled out her book of notes and a pencil to jot anything down as things progressed.

The others didn't know how to react and let the creatures work for themselves, since it could have been on of the steps for them to grow the potatoes in the first place. Their first indication directed them toward the front where one of the regular Spudlies interacted with the creature that went crazy earlier, which Marcy named a Spudbug. The beast never decided to rip the Spudley to shreds and instead seemed to take a distinct interest in it. The Spudley squeaked a few times to it which perked up the Spudbug and made it respond with its grumbled and smacking sounds. It even picked up the Spudley with its root like mandibles and appeared to caress it slowly back and forth, something that the others felt looked completely out of place from its deadly appearance. The Spudley rubbed its whole body near the Spudbug's one insect eye and uttered a low chime noise, which potentially distracted it while the other two got to work. The other normal one made its way over to one of the Spudbug's sides while the head rooted one followed close behind. After the two exchanged gazes, the normal one hopped up high and jammed the faucet mechanism into the Spudbug's skin, which made the Spudbug flinch for a moment, before the head rooted one stood under it and held the stone bowl stiffly. After a couple of seconds the group noticed the results of such endeavors. Slowly but surely a clear type of sticky sap dripped out from the faucet until it steadily poured out over time. It last for only a couple of minutes before the faucet stopped and left the bowl filled, which prompted the one Spudley to pull the device out. While it left a gaping hole in the creature's body at first, due to its regenerating abilities it quickly filled back up before its brown skin covered it. All of that for a bowl of some type of sap the group had no idea what it meant, but it carried some significance if the Spudlies had an entire process to obtain it from a large Spudbug.

The Spudbug set the other Spudley down while the head rooted one prepared itself. With the filled rock bowl on top of its bulbous body, it made its way to the center of the whole field and sounded out a series of high pitched squeaks that rang through the entire coliseum. Once it finished the countless crowds of Spudlies in the stands cheered in their own language like wild and even hopped around in their seats. The others that didn't originate from their habitat never understood a thing and only stood there while they waited for everything to die down a notch. It sounded significant, but unless they knew their language, which none of them understood, the context behind it never fazed them in the slightest.

"Ummm, well…good work I guess?" Maddie boomed overhead. "I don't want to sound rude, but does this mean we can get your special potatoes now? I think we overstayed our welcome here."

The head rooted Spudley turned its attention to the giant frog girl above it. It set the bowl down next to it before it shook its body horizontally and responded in its own squeaky language.

"Uhhhhh, I'm taking a wild guess here, but maybe you haven't finished the preparations yet?" Sprig asked. He watched as the Spudley immediately pivoted around and highly squeaked before it bounced up and down like crazy. It calmed down shortly after and bobbed its body up and down, which resembled a worldwide gesture anyone can translate on the spot.

"I'll take that as yes." Anne answered. The Spudley performed its previous actions again, which confirmed to the group that they guessed correctly.

"Okay, so they still have some work to do before they can give them to us." Maddie said. "Sooo…what do we do until then?"

Marcy lit up like a bonfire with one of her infectious smiles.

"We finally get the break we needed…Spudley style!"

---

Never had the four thought that ancient prosperous ruins provided an amazing vacation spot, but the Spudlies proved them wrong. They only witnessed a small part of the whole place which left lots to eventually get to. Marcy probably expressed the most excitement of the bunch since she finally had her chance to go over everything the enclosure had to offer, but with so many to see it left little time to act in her eyes. That didn't mean the others had their underlying excitement on the shelf, for certain areas caught their attention more than others that they wanted to check out first. They didn't know how long it would take for the special potatoes to arrive for them, but they could easily take their time as the whole Spudley habitat made for a perfect spot to waste time with their own interests.

Anne, for the most part, didn't stray too far off of the path upward. She watched as dozens of the living potatoes slid down the long falls and happily squeaked after each passing bump. Her times down slides at water parks hit her nostalgia hard, and once she glanced down the many streams it seemed a lot wider than she thought, a lot more than the Spudlies' small bodies. After she made note of the width she eventually took the chance, but first she needed to get her suit on. She made sure to change around a corner where nobody paid attention, and once she finally put her regular clothes in the bag she always carried with her she hastily made a beeline for the long streams. Some Spudlies around the top hopped up and down, supposed with happiness and enthusiasm, as the tall girl arrived ready to go down. She waited for the few that wanted to slide down first and let them go before she sat down herself and let her bare feet get wet from the water. Just the right temperature for a good slide down. Without any further delays, she pushed herself forward and let the waters do the rest. She got drenched as she held her hands up high and excitingly screamed her heart out, but before long the entire ride ended. She splashed into the small pond below where dozens of small Spudlies awaited, and they felt the large wave across their bodies when Anne arrived. They seemed to have enjoyed it as they squeaked and kicked their small feet through the water, although some already swam submerged into the deep water before they resurfaced. At first she felt pretty bummed that it ended so soon as she expected the streams to last a bit longer, but then she realized nothing said she couldn't go down again. She smiled as she kicked her legs and paddled through the water before she got out and ran up the path. Now that she knew how long it lasted she could prepare herself better for the next couple of trips down.

Sprig spent some of his free time around Anne as she make dozens of trips down the streams in pure enjoyment. Since he barely wore clothes to begin with it became no trouble at all to take off his hat and shirt and took and slide down after her a few times. The constantly splashes against his face reminded him how much he loved swimming in pristine waters and getting himself wet, and as a frog it pretty much came with the package. He knocked over a couple of Spudlies on the way down and managed to splatter them across the ground, but since a new body emerged from the ground around their remains they didn't mind the accidents in the slightest. He dived underwater and met up with a couple of submerged Spudlies a few times, who had no trouble swimming despite the lack of arms, and he eventually met up with a couple of large Spudbugs as they relaxed next to the pond at the end. Anne got spooked at one time when she resurfaced and one immediately showed up in front of her face, which made Sprig crack up as he swam. Some Spudlies that got out of the water actually hung around the Spudbugs for a bit and even snuggled up against them, which they didn't mind and even uttered a few low sounds in response as if they adored their presence. In many way he found the sights pretty adorable, but when the temperatures raised a short time later he made his way over to the pits where he saw relaxing Spudlies in the dirt a while back. At first glance it appeared like they were only designed with Spudlies in mind, but once some of the living potatoes helped him settle in he realized that wasn't the case. They took a bit to dig him a big enough hole to relax in, and once he plopped right in they started to fill it back up. Once the dirt reach his abdomen they stopped, and immediately he felt the repercussions of the dirt they covered him in. It trickled over his body in a calming sensation that made him instantly relaxed, and in only a few seconds he never wanted to leave his spot. Now he understood why the Spudlies sat motionless in the dirt when he first arrived, and after only a few minutes in the steaming and warming dirt he was out cold. He never even noticed when a Spudbug trudged silently up to him and nibbled harmlessly at his head with its root like mandibles while made the Spudlies around him silently squeak to themselves while the watched. He had experienced paradise and never wanted to wake out of it.

Marcy went through the complete opposite of Sprig. With so much new discoveries from just one new location it meant she had so mach to catalog and write down for the possible future generations that would look down upon her as "The One who found the Living Potatoes". In only a short time she zipped up and down the stone steps countless times as she found something, in her eyes, worthy to joy down in her notes, which included the tall temple she saw many Spudlies walk out of. Once she set foot inside she found out that it housed dozens of healthy Spudbugs in tall stable like areas, which almost made it out as some sort of station for them, and multiple types of unknown tools dotted around the walls. She resisted the urges to touch or take them and let the Spudlies handle the rest, which involved the mechanism she saw back at the coliseum. The Spudlies even went through the same process as before, and even though the Spudbugs had the device pierce through their skins and into their bodies they never appeared to care and continued in their own areas. She made detailed notes about the sap that seemed to get sucked out of them, but then her attention span flew out of the window when she noticed one of the Spudlies as they placed some sort of harness around a Spudbug's mandibles, but then struggled to get on its back. With her tall stature and arms that the Spudlies lacked, she assisted the small potato and hoisted it up to the creature's back like an infant, which the Spudley seemed to appreciate. While the language barrier still proved rather difficult to exchange messages, after a lot of trial and error Marcy eventually learned of a certain hobby many Spudlies liked to play when given the chance. Without any prior knowledge of such an activity, or its name for the matter, she instantly volunteered to take part in it.

She really wished she would have taken that horse riding opportunity when she was still very young.

Once she found herself on the back of a Spudbug she realized she slipped into the wrong kind of activity. The audience of Spudlies in the stands appeared to cheer on the combatants like a sporting event, and with the size of the coliseum they had a lot of ground to cover. The Spudlies took control of their Spudbugs by standing up and keeping the harnesses across their backs, which looked like it hurt to Marcy but they never struggled at all. Because she had arms she easily grabbed hers, and she would have taken her time to try and get used to the whole thing, and maybe bond with the Spudbug the other Spudblies provided for her, but before she could have done so a loud horn echoed throughout the coliseum and sent the Spudbugs forward. She learned to somewhat control her Spudbug as it dashed around the walls of the arena, but her opponents made it look easy. To even rub it in further into her eyes the Spudlies controlled their respective Spudbugs while they stood on their legs, which impressed her to an extent. After a couple of laps with next to no progress made, Marcy attempted to pull ahead…but then a deeper pitched horn rang through her ears and the tones instantly shifted. Every one of the Spudbugs on the field quickly turned to their sides while they ran forward, and in a maneuver she never expected, the Spudlies on top put their harnesses to the side and positioned themselves in a way that when the large bug potatoes eventually began to roll with its round and curving body, the little potatoes put their round feet to extreme use and backpedaled to remain on top as if they suddenly decided to go log rolling. Every single contestant around her quickly switched to the crazy tactic, and each Spudbug rolled along the ground at breakneck speeds. Her jaw hit the floor so hard that she never noticed her own Spudbug as it started to position itself to the side like the others.

Suffice to say, she almost turned into a Marcy pancake.

After one lap around as the racing Spudlies balanced atop of their rolling Spudbugs, one crossed the finish line first and became the winner. The Spudbugs stopped rolling once they crossed while the ones in the stands cheered on in their own squeaky fashion…minus Marcy. While she ended up with a face full of dirt, she remained intact. She never felt angry that she lost either, for it gave her more notes to write in her encyclopedia about the living potato creatures. Her eyes even managed to pick up some of the large Spudbugs quietly nibble harmlessly against its companions that rode on it throughout the race, and the Spudlies likewise cuddled back in between the root like mandibles, which immediately struck the cuteness vibe in her. Her time with the Spudlies went everywhere, but she enjoyed every moment of it.

Maddie got the least amount of activity in her free time in the hidden enclosure. She couldn't afford to accidentally topple something over or completely wreck anything that unfortunately came into contact with her feet. Her size basically dictated what she could and couldn't do, which provided very limited options left. At first she only watched as the thousands of living things walked by her massive body and never batted an eye in her direction, which brought her spirits down a peg, until a couple of curious Spudlies bumped into her feet. They stood at a smaller height compared to the ones estimated to have reached adulthood, and they gazed up at her visible eye like innocent kids that encountered an enigma. Their choices to stay put caught Maddie's attention more than anything else, and after some higher pitched but not too loud squeaks in her direction they eventually coaxed her into lowering her head for a better look at the. Desipte the fact that her face potentially rivaled planets from their angle, the few Spudlies by her never took off which Maddie really appreciated. The Spudlies pointed their bodies up and down as they gazed all over her, which gave the giant frog witch an idea. She careully lifted the small potatoes with her gigantic finger and slowly set herself on the ground, with her front against the ground, and then placed the few Spudlies on her back. She didn't know if they would enjoy it or not, but once she saw them bounce up and down rapidly she assumed it did the trick. The young Spudlies wandered all over Maddie's back like she became the next mountain range, although some fell over in a klutzy fashion which got them stuck in her long blob for hair which she had to fish out. Other than that minor setback the few Spudlies adored Maddie for her creative thinking, and even slid down her long humongous on occasion. Due to her frog stature the music over her skin made for an excellent material to slide down, which the Spudlies took for granted. That didn't make them invincible though, as sometimes the mucus over Maddie's skin provided too much of a speed increase that they either hit her feet at such a high impact that they splatted across it or completely fell off and splatted across the ground instead. It provided some worry for the giant frog, since they seemed to have a younger age akin to kids, but as long as their remains hit the ground a new body completely sprouted from the goop of their previous self. While disturbing on many fronts, the young Spudlies never seemed to mind "dying" and kept going back up to Maddie so she could lift them onto her back again for more fun. Their waddling innocence reminded her of the times she played with her younger sisters, and thanks to a realization the last few days she would resume back to it…even when they sat at a fraction of her current giant height. She enjoyed the presences of the young Spudlies and let them have it with her massive body.

She even managed to get a brief glimpse down at the coliseum and watched Marcy as she completely struggled to control her Spudbug. She couldn't help but lightly chuckle even after she lost the whole thing.

About an hour or so later the head rooted Spudley called all of the group back to finally receive their reward after they gained their trust. All of them met back at the entrance where they first woke up, and crowds of Spudlies watched from the sidelines near them. The head rooted one showed itself before them and gave off another one of its long winded squeaky sequences, which never left a dent in the walls of their minds since they lacked the knowledge to understand it. Once it finished it turned around to face the crowds behind it and gave off another squeak, which a few responded to as they made their way around everyone. They carried a large hollowed stone square that contained the one thing the group desired since they arrived. A few of them raised their eyebrows at the sight, especially since the Spudlies maintained the ability to hold such large behemoths with only their round legs. Their special potatoes stood at a height over twice of Anne and Marcy, and from the pristine brown colored nature and faint steam from their surfaces they had "freshly picked" all over it. As the moon shined in the sky they glistened from the light, which Marcy guessed probably came from the sap of the Spudbug earlier. Their size alone gave off a challenging impression to anyone that might want to down the whole thing in one day, which any normal sized person would easily pass by. With her enlarged size, Maddie could scarf them down no problem, but she wouldn't have to. If what Marcy stated ended up as fact, only a couple of bites would suffice for an entire day. They earned their reward of the Spudlies special potatoes at last, and all for the sake of Maddie's hunger while she stayed ginormous.

Of course, it wouldn't stand out as a Spudley moment unless one of them tripped and fell over in the process, which happened from one of the ones that carried the stone and threw everything off balance for a second or two. It didn't take long at all until it got back to its feet, and shortly after they set the container of mammoth potatoes before the group then retreated back into the crowds around them.

"No flipping froggin' way…" Marcy stated with her mouth agape. "The Spudlies grow…massive potatoes like that?"

"I'm finding it hard to believe myself." Anne responded with an equal face. "How do they even do it?"

"I guess that's one mystery we can figure out later." Sprig said while his face mirrored the other two. "I can't believe…we actually pulled it off either."

"I kind of can." Maddie's deep voice boomed while her face remained the same. "They don't look like much from my angle. How am I supposed to live off of those while I'm like this?"

"Don't you remember how I stated earlier that only one bite can fill you up for an entire day?" Marcy answered. "The Spudlies don't exactly hand these out willy-nilly you know."

"I'm pretty sure you have to eat the whole thing for that to come into effect, not just a single bite." Sprig replied. "Even so…I would like to taste a sample just in case."

The frog walked up to the stone container toward the special potatoes, but before he could reach out for a slice the head rooted Spudley got in his way and sounded out a few squeaks.

"Hey, what's the big idea here?!" Sprig exclaimed.

"I think it wants to protect them, at least from what I can guess, especially since not just anyone can earn the rights to them." Marcy stated. The head rooted Spudley directed its attention over to her and gave off a couple more squeaks before it shook its body horizontally for a second.

"Ummm, I'm not quite sure about that…" Anne said. Before they could question it further the certain Spudley pivoted back around and provided more squeaks to the crowds around it and the group. Before the group knew it, a loose Spudley emerged with some type of silver cutting knife atop of its head. It almost tripped on the way there, which the head rooted one managed to intervene and halt before it could potentially end disastrously. The two exchanged words through their own language before the head rooted one took the knife and put it on its own head before the other zipped back into the crowds. The living potato before them glanced at them one more time before it silently hummed in its own squeaky way and, in an impressive manner without any arms, cut a couple of loose clumps from one of the special potatoes. It then placed them on one of the edges of the container and squeaked in a somewhat cheery fashion to the four outsiders, and they required no translations to figure out what it meant.

"Wow…it actually granted our request." Maddie said from above. Even from her deeper than life tone that came with her growth, the particular Spudley never ran away and cheerily squeaked at the four again and even hopped a little bit in place.

"Well, we can't turn it down now." Anne stated. She went up to Sprig, along with Marcy, up to the stone with the slices on one of its edges and glanced it them for a second. For a creature with no arms it sure performed a decent job with the cuts and made each part about the same size and length. Potatoes lacked the appeal of some of the more visually pleasing types, such as peaches, bananas, peppers, and various others of their respective food groups, but at least the ones the Spudlies grew missed any kind of detail that made them unappetizing. She didn't prefer to eat them somewhat raw, but if they contained a special ability to fill anyone up instantly she would go for it.

She picked up her choice of slice followed by Marcy and Sprig. Marcy grabbed the second one before she took it over to Maddie, who had to bend down and get on her knees for a closer look.

"Ummm, that definitely won't suffice for someone of my caliber. I can barely see it and even my fingers completely overshadow it." Maddie stated.

"If these truly have to power to fill you up for a whole day then it won't matter." Marcy said. "Besides, we need to test it out."

Maddie didn't feel quite certain at first, but since Marcy and the others wanted to take their own slices it only seemed fair for her to go for it as well…even if it appeared like a grain of sand from her perspective. Because of the scale differences, Maddie set one of her fingers flat against the ground and let Marcy place the potato slice on it. The giant girl raised her hand back up and kept her eyes on the ones below her as if she waited for the signal to eat it with the others.

Everyone glanced down at their slices for a moment as the tasteful steam hit their nostrils. While not the most enticing smell in the world, it spelled its nature from the get go. Anne and Marcy would have wanted to take their time with their bits, but before they to do so Sprig instantaneously snatched his slice up with his long tongue and scarfed it down in one large gulp. The other three looked at him in slight bewilderment, but it never fazed him.

"What? If you had the option to do so I'm certain you would go for it too!"

They couldn't argue too much about that kind of logic, so they got back to their own slices for a bit until they couldn't handle the mouth watering anxiety any further. In one instant motion, Anne, Marcy, and Maddie all took a bite, although the last of the bunch basically ate the whole thing with huge tongue alone, and almost instantly tasted the effects. The surface contained some type of tang one could associate with the southern half of the equator or tropical beaches, which cold have possibly been the sap that got extracted earlier spread along their surfaces, and the general heat never burned their taste buds off, something Anne appreciated more than the others. The innermost parts maintained somewhat of a creamy center akin to most potatoes, and certain fringes around the tops almost made Anne and Marcy mistake them for french fries from the similarities. All in all, they provided a weird mix of flavors they had never tasted before, and while not the most delectable as some other pieces in their minds, it certainly ranked high up there as something they wouldn't mind having seconds.

Of course they wouldn't have to.

Once all of them swallowed another effect kicked in. It took a couple of seconds, but before long their wills to chomp another bite off of their slices slowed to a crawl until it vanished off the face of the planet. One glance downward revealed that their figures never changed in the slightest, which stood out to the group as a major bonus, and yet their bodies acted like they got filled to the brim. Luckily it never got to the point they needed to heave and puke, something Marcy wanted more than anyone else when it came to the potatoes, just on the exact spot as the red line on the pitcher. They almost couldn't believe it themselves, but after only one bite they already obtained their fill for the next twenty four hours. The Spudlies really had something special under their watchful eyes and the group now understood why so many desired such a treat.

Anne's eyes went wide for a moment before she settled down.

"Whoa, I…I'm feeling full all of a sudden." Anne said. Marcie held her stomach for a moment, but otherwise remained okay.

"Same here Anne." Marcy responded. "It's almost as if I ate an entire banquet and couldn't eat another bite."

"Please don't remind me of food right now." Sprig replied as he fell onto his back and rubbed his belly. "Did they spike those potatoes or something?"

"Looks like those rumors ended up true after all." Marcy said. "While far from satisfactory, we finally achieved our goal and got those potatoes! How about you Maddie? Feel filled up?"

Maddie probably felt more astonished about the fact than anyone else. The potato had the size of a grain of sand from her perspective, and yet when she put that dot in her mouth and swallowed…she felt the full effects just like the other smaller than her. She could make an argument over the others from their bites, but for herself she almost couldn't believe it. From one minuscule slice of a potato, despite her size, her stomach went full in an instant. She had no idea how the Spudlies pulled it off, but they perfected an ultimate dish where she would never go hungry again.

…or at least until Marcy found a shrinking spell that would work.

"I…I can't believe it." Maddie said. "I'm actually completely full from just one single microscopic slice. My size should have stated the contrary…and yet the results say otherwise."

"I'll take that as a success!" Marcy said with a grin. "Let's get out of here and I'll work on something to cure you in a jiffy!"

The crowds around them ceased into a disturbing silence. It caught the group off guard for, especially since the Spudlies loved to utter their own squeaking around them, and yet they seemed to collaboratively agree to quiet themselves by the masses. A few select groups of them walked up to the others in small circles, including Maddie's massive feet, and uttered some pretty worrying squeaks before they slightly nudged at them. Anne and the others got taken aback when the saw the living potatoes rub their bodies against them, and before long the Spudlies' eyes went big and black while the moonlight glistened in them…which immediately hit Anne's and Marcy's cuteness vibes.

"Oooooohhh, SO CUTE!" Anne exclaimed while she instinctively grabbed one and held it in her arms like her life depended on it. "Awwww, they don't want us to leave after everything we went through!"

"I could kind of figure that out myself there." Sprig answered while the Spudlies around him never left him alone. As much as Marcy wanted to scoop some up and put them into a heartfelt choke hold of a hug, she knew it couldn't end the way that they wanted. They came to the city because of Maddie after all, and they couldn't leave her as a colossus after her…out of nowhere growth.

Luckily for her, she didn't have to speak on her own terms, as a loud squeak hit everyone's hearing. The Spudlies around the group pivoted back around and saw the head rooted Spudley as it stood firm throughout the endless waves of them around it. It gave off a couple more extra squeaks in a few sequences which seemed to calm the countless sad ones even if they didn't exactly like it. Some tried to utter some squeaks back only to hear the special one respond in its own squeaky way while it shook its body seemingly in disgust or disappointment. They clearly had some connection to Anne and company, and they bonded enough to no want to see them leave.

A certain aroma hit their noses soon after, while seemed familiar at first, but before they could think further their bodies began to shut down. It became apparent to them once they saw Maddie drop to her knees, which set off a large impact against the ground, that they managed to inhale the same smell that brought them to the Spudlies hideaway in the first place…and now it was being used for the opposite outcome.

"No, no…I don't want to leave…so soon…" Marcy said as her head weighed down. "I still…have more to…write…"

She collapsed to the ground below in a slumbering heap while the others didn't fare any better. A few Spudlies ran up to their failing bodies as if to comfort them or keep them awake, but the intoxicating smell held its grip over them despite their feelings.

"Even while I'm…massive…this still…packs a…"

Maddie never got to finish as she succumbed to the smell next, and she fell over and left a massive quake as she hit the ground. Luckily nobody was in her way and ended up squashed, which left only two left conscious to failing results.

Sprig never managed to say anything and immediately collapsed next to Marcy face first, but since the smell knocked him out it didn't matter at all. Anne watched her buddy fall out cold until she felt the final effects in full. She fell to her knees first and then to her front as the crowds of Spudlies closed in on her for one final glance at her awake self. The sight of the head rooted Spudley and its round feet became the last thing her eyes managed to see before even she couldn't stand the knockout smell any further.

"Goodbye Spudlies…goodbye…"

---

The next things she knew her eyes crawled open while her body felt a bit numb. She hacked up a little as she witnessed her sight regain its full potential. Whatever the Spudlies had in their arsenal to knock them out with smell alone really packed a punch. They potentially contained a secret compartment of mustard bombs or something similar, but she never thought further than that. If anyone would come up with crazy theories and write everything down in the best of details it became better suited to Marcy. One glance at her notes and right off the bat she found something about how pink haired girls lead to an upcoming Armageddon.

Suffice to say, even the smartest had a couple of screws loose.

She pulled herself together as she lifted herself off of the ground, only to discover that her entire front felt wet for some reason. One glance down and she immediately noticed that she ended up knocked out in a large dirt pit…which covered her in brown.

"Of course I turn up in the grossest of spots." Anne thought with a small frown. She almost slipped in it as she got to her feet, and once she completely stood up it hit her all of a sudden. The width of the trees, that open space of dirt, and the dryness of the ground all added up to an area she had encountered before, but it became even more creepy since she arrived in the spot much earlier in the day.

As in the same spot she first came across the small group of Spudlies in the dirt.

She couldn't comprehend such a phenomenon at first, but then it fell to the wayside once a familiar face came into view. Closely beside her laid the unconscious body of Marcy, who also had Sprig a few feet away. Anne didn't need any addition help to see Maddie and her huge body near the back, also out cold, which meant all of them made it out in one piece…if the occurrence happened in the first place.

She went up to Marcy first and gave her a few good nudges across her back. She grumbled under her breath while her eyes remained shut, which prompted another nudge from Anne. Even then, she still stayed knocked out. As her desperation cranked further up, Anne more vigorously moved her around which resulted in nothing at all, so she took drastic measures and attempted something she never done to one of her friends before.

A nice big, wet, hard…

…

…

…

…

…

…slap across the face.

Anne possibly hit her a bit more than she wanted, as it left a large red mark across Marcy's cheek, but it easily jolted her up immediately after. Her eyes bolted awake and her back stiffened as she jumped to her feet, which became a reasonable response to a hurtful wake up call.

"WHAT THE HECK?! I WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF AN EXTRAVAGANT-"

Her mood shifted in an instant once she saw Anne before her, but it didn't solve the fact that one of her cheeks felt like it ran into a wall. She ran her hand over it for a moment before she addressed her friend.

"Oh, Anne! Sorry about bursting out like that, but I just had the weirdest and greatest of dreams I have-"

"Okay, okay, I get it Marcy." Anne interjected. "I'm not sure what, or if, it happened, but we're back where we started!"

Marcy took a moment to glance around the place and concluded on an answer.

"Wow, it's as if we never…"

She then quickly shook her head before she asked the inevitable question.

"Wait, did you have a dream where we came across an entire civilization of living potatoes and-"

"Yes, I was there!" Anne interrupted. "Have we been dreaming the whole thing the entire time…or maybe even hallucinated in that time?!"

"I…I'm not so sure!" Marcy replied. "If we dreamed the same thing…we must have come across something REALLY potent to pull that off. I mean, the odds of such an occurrence."

Anne comically glared and frowned at her friend before she interrupted her again and placed her hands on Marcy's shoulders.

"Marcy, it's AMPHIBIA."

"Okay, okay, I get it! No need to get harsh on me, heheheheh!"

She put on a tepid smile and chuckled in a cheesy way while she responded to her crazy friend.

Once that got done and over with, thw two split to wake up the other two. Anne went over to Sprig while Marcy handled Maddie. It didn't take too long to get Sprig up, but, just like he tried beforehand, Maddie stood on a different level. Her massive stature proved difficult to work with if they had no idea what to do, but since Marcy worked with her before she faintly knew how she worked. She took one of her useless dull arrows she had on hand, which she usually forgot about even in the midst of battle, and aimed it right at her visible eye. Once she loaded it up in her hook shot over one of her arms, she let it loose and it landed right on target. She flinched a little, but Marcy had plenty more. It took a couple of attempts, but eventually she found the results she looked for. Waking a sleeping giant took more effort than it needed to.

Maddie opened her large cavern of a mouth and yawned deeply, which nearly blew the hair off of everyone on the ground and strained their ears out, before her eyes crawled open.

"Eurgh…urgh…huh? Mmmm…Marcy?"

"Yes Maddie, I'm here." Marcy responded as she slowly witnessed the titan sluggishly get on her knees. Maddie held her head for a moment while her senses kicked in and woke up. Parts of her limbs ached, but for the most part she remained okay.

"Did…did we get those potatoes?" Maddie muttered while she rubbed her eyes.

"We…we need to find some type of a…compromise, so to speak." Marcy replied. Sprig slowly came to after Anne woke him up and added to Maddie's question.

"So…did we get those potatoes or not?"

"We're trying to figure something out first." Anne answered. "So…everyone got the same dream about those Spudlies, right?"

Everyone else around her slowly nodded their heads, although Maddie shifted her legs a little bit which made another small quake against the ground. For Marcy, she couldn't get the possible incident out of her head. It all seemed too real, and combined with the fact that everyone went through the same thing meant they must have went through something. Anne highly thought that they possibly went through a shared dream sequence even though she had never heard of such a thing before, and while Marcy would have concluded on such an answer…she didn't fully commit to it. If anything to possibly prove a theory as fact, one must came across a…

Her eyes set on the deal breaker as she paced around.

It answered everything just from its existence.

Before anyone even knew what she had in mind, Marcy took off toward Maddie with her eyes on the prize. They suddenly got taken aback from such an action, and even Maddie positioned herself more to the side to possibly avoid her, which also made some harmless quakes against the ground.

"Marcy? Where are you going?!" Anne exclaimed.

"Not too far until I…yes, I got it!"

She disappeared behind a couple of bushes while the others watched like they just witnessed some lose their mind. They saw some rustling and heard some mumbling on the other side, but they lacked the visuals to picture anything further. While most of them understood the type of mentality Marcy went for, they pretty much had to act on the fly when it came to her actions. They couldn't blame her if she somehow had some type of mental disability, but they never chose to question her about it. Even so, it made her unique to the three humans that found themselves in the vast lands of Amphibia and impossible to replace.

It progressed for a few more minutes behind the bushes, but before long the young teen eventually mustered out of the leaves to the group before her…and she pulled a certain container behind her. The others couldn't believe their eyes, as it confirmed something they had on their mind since they awoke.

"The stone container of potatoes!" Maddie's deep voice uttered in astonishment. "We had it the whole time?!"

"I barely noticed it when you shifted your legs." Marcy answered. "Looks like we actually solved your food crisis after all!"

"I'm still not too keen on it, especially since I can't have anything else." Maddie replied.

"Eh, I'm sure you'll get used to it." Anne responded. "Think you can carry that back to Wartwood before it gets too dark?"

"Not a problem." Maddie said as she faced the small stone container. With only two large fingers, she managed to pick it up and hoist it to eye level, where it displayed no serious damages. Once she did that she placed her other hand to the ground for the others.

"I'll get us back quickly. Just tell me where to go."

"You got it, Maddie!" Marcy stated as she gave a thumbs up and hoisted herself onto the girl's huge hand. Sprig and Anne followed soon after, and while Sprig could get on easily, once again Anne found it a bit difficult even after her first attempts from before they left. Thankfully Marcy and Sprig assisted to pull her up and soon after they found themselves up near Maddie's planet face again. The giant frog witch set the three on her shoulder and prepared to head off with the potatoes in tow, but before she could she had one more this to say to the others.

"Hey, thanks for helping me out in these times. It's nice to have friends like all of you."

"No problem Maddie!" Anne answered while she smiled at her. Marcy and Sprig also chimed in with their gratitude which made Maddie happy that she knew them…although Sprig appeared unnerved as he looked at her for a quick moment. With everything said and done, Made carefully made sure to trek over available space while Marcy gave her directions. Thanks to her titanic height it wouldn't take long to arrive back at Wartwood, even if it meant she would accidentally crush anything her massive feet came into contact with. She did her best to brush it off to the side, but the ideas always persisted in her head for some reason. Whatever the case, they got one trouble down and only had one left.

Of course, because of their focus on the task ahead, they never noticed the slight wriggling and light squeaking from the stone container they carried…