Anne stood watching in horror as Polly struggled to free herself from underneath Scumdrops foot. the tall newt smiling. She did her best to not hate anyone but this guy had done everything to try to make her feel like she didn't belong, and now he was hurting her friend.
But the truth was that he wasn't responsible for all of it. She was just as much to blame for letting him get under her skin. For allowing him to make her doubt herself. For making her forget what made Anne Boonchuy amazing, and now a member of her family was suffering.
"Let her go," Anne said trying to sound brave, only for her voice to shake.
"Beg." Said Scumdrop
"What?"
Scumdrops smile grew wider."Beg me to let your friend go."
Anne watched him there with his foot down on Polly. Anne got on her knees.
"Anne, don't. I can take it" cried Polly.
"Can you?" Said Scumdrop before stepping down harder on Polly. Polly squirmed but she didn't scream. She wouldn't let Anne down.
"Please, Stop. I'll do what you want" Anne begged.
Scum smiled, "come over here."
Anne stood up and made her way over to Scumdrop. She knew this was a bad idea, but she had to help Polly.
"Ugh, Anne run. Don't let him hurt you." Said Polly begging.
"Polly, Don't worry." Said Anne doing her best ti reassure the small pollywog.
"That's right Polly, Don't..." Scumdrop paused, "Sorry her name is Polly? Polly the Pollywog?"
"Yeah." Replied Anne.
"My Frog what is with this town having stupid names." Said Professor Scumdrop Cadthug.
Anne stopped walking and glared at him, Scumdrop had just crossed a line.
"You know what, No, I'm not taking this anymore, Your name is Scumdrop. Like damn, You cannot tell me that no one has ever made fun of your name. You literally have the name of a fairy tale villain, and even then I think most fairy tale villains would be embarrassed by that name."
"You know I can crush her in a second," Said Scumdrop with venom in his voice.
"Yeah, I know but quite frankly you're a loathsome jerk with a stupid name. Stumpy, Polly, Boonchuy may not be the best names out there, but they belong to better and kinder Amphibians than you."
Scumdrop glared at her as Anne kept walking forward, He would not be spoken to in such a manner.
"Ms. Beast do you really think that I can be beaten off with weak insults. I am your superior in every way. I was taught by men of science that there's a place for everything in this world. You may think that you are a part of this world. But the truth is that you're nothing more than a scientific curiosity, An Oddity, a freak, Nothing more. The fact that people actually view you as something more than a beast is a joke."
Anne stood in front of him. "So what now?" she said sounding bored.
Scumdrop pulled out a length of rope from his robe.
"I'm going to tie your hands so you can't attack me, Hold them out." he snarled.
Anne followed his orders. Scumdrop tied Anne's Arms together. She tested them, As it turns out Scumdrop could tie a good knot.
"Finally, You belong to me, Your mental superior"
"Okay but one question?"
"What?" Snapped Scumdrop
"How're your martial arts?"
"My What?" Scumdrop said before getting kicked in the side of the stomach.
As Scumdrop took the blow, he lifted his foot off Polly, tripped, and hit the ground. "Polly, Run," said Anne.
Polly started to bounce away and Anne tried to follow. However, Scumdrop rose faster. He grabbed the teenager and put his arm around her neck. They both fell facing the ground, he started to choke her.
"Fine, I can still make money from a dead specimen." He snarled
Anne tried to free herself from Scumdrop but with her arms tied up, that was near impossible. Her vision started to go black.
…
Polly Plantar was scared.
It felt quite nice to admit that to herself, she had been scared for a while now. Ever since she heard Hop Pop talking about the family she had been wondering if she was as awesome as she claimed. She really wished she asked her Grandpa about it now. He would have said something reassuring in the way he always did when she was worried. Heck Sprig was useless, but he would try to make her happy. She forgot how nice it was to be a part of the Plantars, Maybe she was the fiercest bravest coolest Plantar, but Maybe those two were just as good.
Polly looked at Anne on the floor being choked by that bully, Her fear was replaced by Anger. She knew one thing right now. He wasn't going to hurt her anymore.
Polly started to bounce towards the newt, She had a plan but it was a little difficult. As Scumdrop choked Anne his tail was raised, Polly bounced a little further, A little faster. She had no idea how long the tail was going to be raised. With one last charge she bounced probably the highest she had ever bounced, she opened her mouth as she saw the tail dangle in front of her, as she closed in on it she bit down hard. It tasted foul, but it felt so good to hurt him.
Scumdrop let out a scream and let go of Anne's neck. in the next moment, Polly found herself flying through the air. As she landed she spat something out of her mouth, In front of her covered in saliva was the tip of Scumdrop's tail.
Polly looked up to see Scumdrop standing in front of her shocked, Polly looked at him shocked as well, She then smiled, She knew she was awesome. Scumdrop face turned from shock to anger he then lifted his foot again "You little bit..."
All of a sudden from out of nowhere something tackled Scumdrop.
"Leave them alone," cried the tackler. Scumdrop, however, was able to grab hold of the attacker and threw him to into a tree, As the attacker fell Polly recognized him. It was Sprig.
"Sprig what are you doing here?"
"I saw you and Anne sneak out," he said groaning, "I was worried and..."
"That's it" gasped the angry Scumdrop as he started at the two young frogs. "No one is getting in my way anymore" he reached inside his robe and pulled out a knife.
Sprig turned to grab Polly. He looked to see where he could run, but behind them was only a tree. Scumdrop stood there brandishing the knife. Sprig put Polly behind him trying to shield her. Scumdrop raised the knife to strike.
…
Anne was still on the floor watching all of this. She had never felt more powerless, she had thought that her Muay Thai skills could have helped her, but she was wrong. She was lying down here watching Scumdrop advance on her friends they were going to get hurt because of her.
That's when something snapped in Anne.
Anne started to pull against the ropes, It was the only thing she could do. They were tight but for some reason, she still tried, somehow they snapped, If Anne was in her right mind at the moment she would have questioned that. But right now the most important frogs in all of Amphibia to her were in danger.
"GET AWAY FROM THEM." she roared.
Scumdrop turned around and saw her running towards him, his eyes widened in shock.
She ran towards Scumdrop and curled her right fist into a ball and punched the professor in the jaw.
No one saw her eyes flash blue as the punch connected to Scumdrop.
Scumdrop flew ten feet into the sky, and then descended he landed in the tree branches. His robe caught in one of the larger ones. he hung there groaning.
Anne didn't see that however that moment she was more interested in seeing if her best friends were okay.
"Guys," She said panting, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah we're fine." Said Sprig
"I was shielded by Sprig's Butt."
"Seriously, Polly. I was covering you."
"I know," Said Polly "Thank you for protecting me, Sprig."
"Sprig looked at her shocked, Polly was being nice, he was worried "Oh, Your welcome Polly."
Anne heard footsteps coming from the right of them. She turned to see Hop Pop running up to them.
"Kids are you okay?" Said Hop Pop worried.
"Yeah, Hop Pop we've fine," Said Anne.
"Thank goodness," he said gasping for breath.
"How did you know we were here?" asked Sprig.
"I saw you sneak out" Replied Hop Pop.
"Our family sucks at being Sneaky." Added Polly
Anne wanted to say something. She wanted to tell Hop Pop she was sorry, she wanted to tell Sprig his crush on Ivy wasn't creepy. She wanted to tell Polly to talk to Hop Pop and Sprig about her feelings before she could though...
"You really are a monster." Said a terrified voice from above the family.
Anne looked up to see Scumdrop hanging there. There was fear in his eyes. He seemed to have lost the knife during his flight.
"You really are a monster, I'll tell the other towns about this, they'll hunt you down. You need to be destroyed."
"Tell them," Said Anne.
Scumdrop's eye widened, "What?"
"Tell Them, let them know that the monster lives in Wartwood. Tell them that she lives in a basement, that she works on a farm, tell them how she loves her friends and family and will do anything to protect them, Tell them that you tried to hurt them and you saw for yourself how she willing to fight back."
"They'll hunt you down, this town hates you," said Scumdrop trying to regain some control. "One day they will kill you."
"Yeah they might, But I've already got some friends. I'll be able to convince others that I'm not a threat, and even if they don't, I'll deal with it somehow."
Scumdrop was about to say something when Polly spoke up.
"Hey, Anne?"
"Yes, Polly?"
"Throw me at his neck I'm pretty sure I could bite through It." she said baring her teeth.
Anne looked at the Polliwog and thought for a second before smiling.
"Okay," she said as knelt down.
Scumdrop struggled to get down from the tree. There was a ripping sound and Scumdrop fell out of his robe. Now only wearing a pair of shoes and his tightly whities he ran away from them. Terrified of the beast of Wartwood and her family.
"Off That's not a good sight," said Anne laughing.
"Good riddance to him," Said Hop Pop.
"Yeah Run from the beast, ya Jerk," said Polly.
"Hey Anne, You okay?" said Sprig looking up at his friend concerned.
"Yeah, " she breathed in "Guys I have something to say"
"What Is it, Anne?" Asked Hop Pop.
Anne was about to say her news when.
"SHE'S ANNE BOONCHUY AGAIN" Yelled Polly excited to share the news.
The two male Plantars looked at each other and then back at Anne "Okay, Anne, Is everything okay."
"Yeah, I'm sorry guys," said Anne rubbing her arm "It's just I wanted to belong so badly. I kind of forgot who I was. Sorry for being a lousy Planter, I only took your name because you're the best frogs I know."
Hop Pop snorted. "Trust me, Anne. You were in no way the worst Plantar."
"Really?" she said surprised
"Yeah, Trust me your little mistake was probably revealed the least embarrassing thing's about us."
"Really?" she said somewhat laughing
"Yep, I mean just because Ivy now knows I have a crush on her doesn't mean things are going to be weird, " Said Sprig.
"Yep big reveal, that, " said Polly rolling her eyes.
"It doesn't matter what the town thinks of us Anne, We can take it. We were more worried about you."
"Yeah," Said Anne sighing, she sat down "It's just I wanted to belong so badly, I didn't want to be seen as a beast anymore." She rubbed her arms, "I let Scumdrop get to me. I won't let that happen again."
"Good," Said Hop Pop, "Besides you don't have to be a Plantar to be kin."
"Glad to have you back Anne." Said Sprig hopping up and hugging his best friend.
Polly didn't say anything she just hugged Anne's leg.
Anne Kneeled down and hugged the rest of her family, she might not be a Plantar but they were her family despite that.
"Thanks, guys," she said. For the first time in a long while, she felt happy.
The moment was ruined by a tearing sound from behind Annem She put her hands to her back, she could feel Bare skin. Looking down she noticed that her dress seemed to have rips and tears all over partly due to the struggle and partly due to the dress being a meal for sixty generations of moths.
"Damn it,"
"Anne is everything All right?" asked Polly.
"No, This dress is falling apart." She slumped "Ugh looks like I'm walking back in my underwear."
"No you don't," Said Polly picking up her stick Untying the bundle. She opened it and showed Anne the contents.
Anne looked at them shocked, "Polly, You took these?"
"Gonna have to start wearing clothes eventually, Now put them on."
…
Anne emerged from the bush she was a white shirt with a crest, on the created was the initials S.J.M.S she wore a pink skirt, her feet were no longer bare. On the left was a yellow shoe, her right a sock, and her hair was restored to its bushy state again, somehow while getting changed leaves and a twig had fallen in.
She turned to her family.
"How do I look?"
"Great." Said Hop Pop
"The classic look, Nice." Said Sprig
"Like Anne Boonchuy," Said Polly.
Anne smiled "Thanks guys"
The family walked off together. They made a weird sight. Three frogs and a human teenager.
But it was beautiful all the same.
