A:N / Hello hello, welcome back folks. Sorry for the long wait. Unless you're just catching this story for the first time, in which case, welcome!

I appreciate those of you who've followed/reviewed/favorited since the first posting. Here's hoping for a long, emotional, fulfilling journey as I write this monster. Quick note though: if you're going to ask questions in your reviews, please make sure you're logged in when posting them. I'm happy to answer questions, but I can't send PMs replies to reviews that are posted anonymously.

Good news though. I've managed to get myself an account on AO3, so from this point forward, I'll be posting this story over there as well as on here. Might as well, I have the account here all ready to go, and extra websites means extra readers and a wider audience. So I guess, if you like, view the story on whichever site suits your fancy the most.

Well, I won't keep you folks waiting any longer. See the A:N at the end of the chapter for info on why this took so long to come out. Now, onto Part 2!


"Oi, over here! There's more tracks goin' off this way!"

The assembled party of just over a dozen frogs (and one toad) turned from their various investigations of the forest clearing at the sound of Wally's voice, though not all of them were happy to hear it.

"Dang it Wally, keep your voice down! You want every monster in this whole Frog-forsaken forest to hear you?!" Mayor Toadstool chastised as he stomped over to see what the kook was going on about.

"Oh, right. Sorry 'bout that, Mr. Mayor!" Wally apologized, stepping aside to let the heavyset toad take a look. He didn't even mention the fact that Toadstool had yelled just as loudly as he had, if not louder.

The mayor knelt down and squinted as he inspected the footprints, grumbling under his breath all the while. "Gah, should've brought that Tuti along, this is her forte, not mine… well these tracks are definitely the same as the ones we found earlier, at least, no mistaking that much." He turned and took a deep breath, bracing himself for stupidity as he addressed the frog standing beside him. "Wally, I don't suppose you happened to see exactly what the monster's feet looked like while it was coming after you last night?"

Wally snorted in response. "Mate, I was runnin' for me life! I wasn't stoppin' to look at the monster's walkers! What kind of weirdo you take me for?"

"Riiight, of course. Silly question, forget I asked." Toadstool rolled his eyes in irritation and looked off ahead in the direction the tracks went. He didn't even really need to follow the footprints themselves, as there was a path of trampled pad bushes and broken branches going off in the same direction. "Well, I know I've never seen a creature with feet like these before, and something made these footprints while tearing a path through here. The way I figure it, we're probably on the right track."

"Makes sense to me!"

"No one asked you that time, Wally," Toadstool deadpanned. Then he turned to address the others present. "Alright, rally up everyone, let's move out! Keep your eyes moist and keep quiet. Don't want to let the monster know we're coming. And remember, if any of you see a predator sneaking up on us, lead it away from the group so that the rest of us don't get eaten too. Got it?"

He was met by a low chorus of uncertain, unhappy voices as everyone moved to follow. All but one frog and the pollywog sitting on his head, who continued to stand off to the side of the clearing. Both were staring at a fallen, decomposed log which looked like it had been snapped in half and crushed through the middle, as though something large had placed too much weight on it.

Granted, it probably wouldn't have taken much weight to break this particular log, rotted and brittle as it was. Even so, it was an unnerving sight, and the log was positioned directly over the tracks that the hunting party had been following, meaning it had likely been broken by the monster they were after. And if Hop Pop was any judge, this log had been broken quite recently; loose chips were still dangling off it, and the bugs inside were still scurrying around as though they'd been rudely disturbed.

The groan he let out was filled to the brim with worry. "I can't believe Sprig came out here chasin' after somethin' like this. I hope he hasn't crossed paths with that thing. I don't know what I'd do with myself if anything's happened to him…"

"I'm sure he's fine, Hop Pop," Polly assured from atop his head. "You know Sprig can actually take care of himself, right? Remember that time in the valley canyon?"

Hop Pop couldn't physically see Polly, but he still rolled his eyes up in her direction and raised an eyebrow. "Polly, he tripped and fell into a dang chasm."

"Which he then got himself out of," she reminded.

"He was down there for half a day!"

"But he was totally fine! He wasn't hurt, and he didn't even need our help to get out! My point still stands."

Hop Pop sighed. He knew his granddaughter meant well, but she was still young, and it showed. "I know he can handle himself well enough, Polly. But that don't mean I'm not still worried about him! Every time I look away, that boy can't help but get himself into trouble! And if he doesn't learn, then one of these days it's gonna come back to bite him." He looked down. "I just… really hope that day isn't today."

Polly recognized that tone. Immediately, her face fell. "…don't worry, Hop Pop," she said, letting her voice get softer. "I bet he probably took one look at that monster and bolted. Heck, he might already be back at the farm!"

"I hope you're right, Polly…" Hopediah muttered, moving to follow after the rest of the hunting party. "...but I think we both know that doesn't sound much like something Sprig would do."


"Anne, come on, what's the holdup?"

It was early in the evening. The sky was completely clear, not a cloud in sight. Even without any obstructions to get in the way though, the amount of light produced by the city greatly reduced the number of stars that were visible at night. The crescent moon, however, hung low and clear above over the distant rooftops. An airplane flew low over the nearby buildings while crossing the front of the moon's visage, filling the air with a loud hum as it approached the Los Angeles International Airport.

Anne was sitting on a small wooden bench in the corner of one of the city's fenced neighborhood playgrounds. The same one she remembered going to all the time as a little kid with her friends. Those very same friends were standing over her on either side. One with white skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes, wearing a denim jean jacket over her usual school uniform. The other with olive skin, black hair, and brown eyes, still wearing the same favorite hoodie she always wore. Both were staring down at her, watching and waiting, expectantly.

The former, with one hand on her hip and the other holding a half-consumed smoothie, had been the one to speak. The impatience in her voice caused Anne to flinch slightly.

The other girl, with olive skin, bent forward and put a hand on Anne's shoulder.

"Anne, you okay? You're really jumpy. Is something wrong?" she asked with concern.

Anne looked back and forth between the two girls, sweating imperceptibly, and slowly looked back down at the object she held on her lap. A black-and-gold box, shaped like a treasure chest. All over the box were ornate designs and filigree which resembled frogs, trees, mushrooms, and lily pads. Embedded into the lid of the box though, contrasting greatly with the rest of it, were three identically hexagon-cut gemstones; one sapphire blue, one emerald green, and one a bright, pinkish ruby red. All three gems glimmered and sparkled in the light from the nearby flickering street lamps. Depicted beside the gems was another image of a frog, with its arms raised as if praising the stones, beneath an engraved design of a sun. Within the side of the box was a small key which couldn't be removed - they'd tried - and which, when rotated, caused the sounds of gears clicking and faint musical tinkling noises from within, indicating that it was apparently a music box.

Even with the bizarre frog imagery, Anne privately admitted that it was a very beautiful-looking box. Definitely the sort of thing her grandma would have sitting decoratively on a shelf. And yet… holding it in her hands, she thought it didn't feel quite right. It was made out of something that felt like wood from the texture, but was cold like metal. Whenever she moved her fingers along it, she swore she felt something like a jolt of electricity running up into her arms and sending shivers down her spine. She couldn't figure out why, but holding it like this felt… wrong. Ominous, even.

She finally shook her head. "I… I'm not sure. I've got a bad feeling about this…"

"Ugh, Anne, seriously? It's just a music box," scoffed the blonde girl to her left. "Don't tell me you're acting weird just because you didn't pay for it. Or what, are you worried it's gonna zap all your hair off and make you bald again?"

"Oh come on, can you stop bringing that up?" asked the black-haired girl to her right, flushing in embarrassment. "That was over a year ago! I did it one time!"

"Yeah, and it was super hilarious." The blonde-haired girl sniggered before taking on an annoyed look again. "But for real, Anne, the box isn't gonna bite your hand off. Just hurry up and open it. I wanna see if there's more gems inside."

Anne gulped and looked back down at the box. It looked so… unassuming. Simple. And yet, Anne couldn't shake the immense sense of foreboding she got from it. She wasn't about to make herself look like a complete wuss in front of her friends, though. It was just a music box, after all. What was the worst that could happen?

Carefully, experimentally, she turned the key in the box until it started clicking, and an odd five-note chime played. Then, the front of the box clicked, as if a lock had come undone. Anne grabbed the lid of the box, steeled herself… and flipped it open.

For a moment, she was confused. Within the box weren't any gems, or more frog designs, or any sort of dancing figurines. Instead, there was only a swirling void of pink, green, and blue lights, growing brighter and brighter by the second.

"What the-" was all she had time to say before the box suddenly came alive with arcing tendrils of electric energy. Before she even had time to cry out in shock, the light inside exploded outward, blinding Anne and consuming all three girls in a flash of-

~o~O~o~

"...ne…"

"...Ann…"

"...ANNE!"

Anne's eyes snapped open. She involuntarily let out a choked, frightened gasp as she flailed her arms around her until they struck against damp wood. She placed one hand over her chest and took several deep, long breaths, feeling her heart pounding in her chest. Her skin felt clammy, and she could tell her face was covered in sweat, caused only partially by the heat and humidity. 'What's going on?! Where am I?!' came her immediate panicked thoughts, before the memories began to trickle back in. She took in the sight of the blackened, moldy, rotting wood of the log she was sitting inside of, still exactly where she remembered sitting.

'Oh… right… still here. Must've dozed off…'

She felt like she'd only been asleep for a few minutes, at most. Blinking her eyes rapidly, she looked around for the source of the voice that had woken her, and was surprised by the small amount of joy and relief which welled up in her chest when she saw Sprig standing a few feet away outside the log, peering in at her. The frog was watching her with its head tilted and a look of something resembling worry on its face.

"Uha pio ubhewxk? Pio maha cocrbedw ed pioh jbaaf…"

aaand they were saying frog words at her again. Did they seriously already forget she couldn't understand them?

Anne almost let out an annoyed sigh, but held it back. Really, this shouldn't be bothering her as much as it was. For all she knew, this frog had never met someone who spoke a different language before, let alone a whole different talking species. There were some kids like that back home, especially at the temple during community gatherings. She'd even been asked to look after some of them by other community members a few times. She knew she was definitely just stressed out beyond belief, but even so, she had to make sure she didn't take it out on the only living thing she'd met so far that seemed to actually want to help her.

She didn't know what they were saying to her, but their tone at least sounded concerned. Maybe they were just checking back to see if she was okay? She certainly didn't feel okay after everything that had happened to her in the last 48 hours. Regardless, she took a deep breath and exhaled… then forced a smile onto her face and nodded at him reassuringly.

'Here's hoping he didn't just ask me if I wanted to be his dinner for the night,' she thought grimly.

The look of concern didn't immediately leave Sprig's face. They continued to stare at her for another few moments, eyes narrowed, like they were trying to read her thoughts. Eventually though, they just shrugged. Then they began bouncing lightly on their feet and made rapid hand movement, waving at her with a sort of "come on" gesture while pointing to something out of view.

This caught Anne's attention. She was wary, of course, but figuring she hadn't yet been given a reason to actively distrust the little fella, she decided to give them the benefit of the doubt, at least for now. As she stretched her limbs and began crawling out of the log, leaving her backpack where it was on the ground, she briefly pulled out her phone again and glanced to see the time. She was surprised when she saw the clock only read 1:12 p.m.. It hadn't even been half an hour since Sprig had left, and barely more than ten minutes since she fell asleep, probably.

By the time Anne emerged from the log, Sprig had run off to the other side of it, just out of sight, and had begun making what sounded like strained grunting noises. She was about to move to see what they were doing, but then the frog came back into view, this time carrying a large flat strip of semi-dry tree bark over their head, shaped almost like a tray. More interestingly though was that completely covering the piece of bark, to the point where some of it was falling off onto the ground, was a pile of various colorful mushrooms, roots, and berries. Anne watched, stunned, as Sprig took several more wobbling steps forward until he reached a relatively dry patch of dirt, then placed down the strip of bark with the entire pile of foraged food. Panting for a moment and appearing to wipe its forehead, Sprig looked back at her with a wide smile, gesturing dramatically at the pile.

"I… wow," was all Anne was able to say for a moment. Stepping up next to Sprig, she took stock of just how much food they'd gathered. There had to be at least a full platter's worth of stuff here. And not a single bug in sight, not that Anne could see. "You… gathered all this, by yourself? For me?"

Sprig stared at her blankly, and Anne felt silly at her slip-up. 'Great, Anne, now who's the one forgetting about the language gap?' she mentally derided herself. She thought for a moment of how best to ask the question without using words. Fortunately, being in a family that was an active part of the Thai community despite barely speaking any Thai herself had roughly prepared her for situations like this. After a moment of consideration, she decided that the first part of the question wasn't actually important: they'd obviously gathered all the food by themself, as Anne didn't see any other frogs around here. For the second part though, she knelt down next to Sprig and looked them in the eyes. She pointed at the food, then back at herself, while at the same time schooling her expression into something she hoped they would recognize as questioning. 'Is this for me?'

It seemed to work after a few seconds. Sprig grinned and began nodding enthusiastically, even picking up what looked like a small purple root from the pile and holding it out to her.

Anne felt a genuine smile begin to creep up along her face as she took the offered root. It still had flecks of dirt on it, she noticed, as did the rest of the pile's contents. Still… this little frog had gone out of their way to gather food for her, despite having only just met her, not being able to understand her, and almost getting killed because of her.

"...thanks," she said simply, but sincerely, hoping that they would understand the sentiment. Keeping her smile, she moved over and sat down on a large moss-covered rock jutting out loosely from the ground next to the pile of food. Sprig, meanwhile, took a seat directly on the ground across from her.

Then they watched her, intently. Waiting, and glancing between her and the food.

Anne looked at the root in her hand again, this time with a small amount of trepidation. The fact that it was purple instead of something like brown or green was… mildly concerning. The colors and shapes of the rest of the assorted mushrooms and berries likewise looked strange and unfamiliar to her, and more than a few had spots on them (she wasn't a mushroom scientist or whatever, but she felt like she remembered reading somewhere that despite what video games said, mushrooms plus colorful plus spots equaled bad). Even if it was all obviously food, there wasn't a single thing in the pile that looked like something Anne would normally or comfortably eat. Then there was also the dirt. She'd worked at her parents' restaurant long enough to have the dangers of unwashed produce drilled into her skull.

Her stomach growled again, in blatant disregard for all of her concerns. Wincing at the slight pain, she considered her limited choices. She was wary, but she was also hungrier than she could ever remember being in her life, and there weren't many options available to her. Plus, Sprig had gone to the effort of gathering all of this for her. It'd be rude to turn it down, right?

'Well,' she thought resignedly. 'I've survived living in L.A., being bald for an entire summer, landing in another world, getting hunted by a giant bug monster, falling off a cliff, and swallowing a penny that one time. I guess if I die of food poisoning, at least I won't die hungry.'

Anne took a moment to wipe the purple root on her shirt, clearing it of some of the dirt that was clinging to it. Then, after another moment's hesitation, she lifted the root up, braced herself, opened her mouth, and…

Crunch.

The part she bit off broke surprisingly easily. When she didn't immediately taste anything odd or feel any burning or numbing sensations in her mouth, she began to chew slowly. The whole while, she was prepared for the worst… so when her tongue was hit by a sweet, woody, earthy flavor, she couldn't hold back the pleased moan she produced. Her eyes widened. The flavor, the crunch, the texture…

It tasted like a fresh carrot. Almost exactly like a carrot, in fact, only a bit harsher and less chewy. It might've just been the fact that she was incredibly hungry, but…

'Holy cow, this is actually pretty good,' she thought as she regarded the remainder of the root she held in her hand with surprise. Swallowing what she had, she popped the rest into her mouth and made quick work of it. Her stomach rumbled again, but this time in pleasure at finally having something substantial inside it after two days of literally nothing but a few gummy bears she'd had in her backpack.

It wasn't nearly enough though. Now that she'd finally eaten something, instead of feeling even remotely sated, Anne just became more acutely aware of how hungry she really was. Her stomach's growl was now less of a pained whimper and more of a demanding roar in her ears. Without even thinking about it, her hand moved back toward the pile on autopilot, this time grabbing a green mushroom and eating it in one bite. She chewed for a moment, then she reached back for a few round red-and-green berries and popped those into her mouth as well.

Before she realized what she was doing, she was shoveling food into her mouth, only chewing a couple of times between swallows. The myriad flavors didn't even matter that much anymore, nor did the fact that she had an audience. She was overcome by the simple, primal need to eat. She continued to gorge herself without any thought for who was watching her until, finally, when she reached for more food, her grasping hand felt only grass and dirt.

Just like that, she snapped out of her trance and blinked rapidly, only just now realizing that she could feel all manner of juices and food residue coating her mouth and dribbling down her chin. More than that though, a few feet away, Sprig was staring at her while leaning back slightly, his eyes wide and unblinking. Probably taken aback by her display. As what she'd just done slowly dawned on her, her stomach began to rumble again, and she felt an unbidden, unwelcome pressure building quickly in her chest.

Before she could stop it, the pressure worked its way up her throat and out her mouth, and a large belch echoed through the trees. A small flock of birds that had apparently been perched nearby immediately began flapping and took to the sky, startled by the noise.

Anne's hand immediately shot over her mouth, as though that would cover up what had just happened. She looked at Sprig. Sprig looked back at her. Dead silence filled the air.

"Uuh… heheheh…" Anne chuckled nervously. She could feel her cheeks burning from embarrassment as she hurriedly wiped away the food residue on her face.

'Mom would totally kill me if she saw any of that.'

She did her best to smile disarmingly at Sprig, hoping that her mild feeding frenzy hadn't put him off. To her surprise though, after a few seconds, the frog's cheeks puffed out as they wheezed. Anne watched with growing concern as Sprig's eyes closed and they bent forward, clutching their own stomach while they started to gasp repeatedly… until that gasp quickly grew into a croaking chortle, then into a full on guffaw. The unmistakable sound of laughter.

Anne immediately felt her entire face flush. "Wha- hey! Don't laugh at me, dude!" she cried in mock-distress. In spite of herself, she couldn't stop another smirk from creeping its way back as Sprig's mirth infected her. She herself began to giggle, then broke out into a laugh of her own.

They both continued like that for what felt like several minutes, the clearing filled with the sound of disparate laughter as both of them, human and frog, inadvertently fueled the others' amusement. Eventually though, the sounds of merriment began to diminish, and both were able to catch their breath between additional convulsions. Sprig fell back spread-eagle on the ground, while Anne put one hand over her chest and tried to take a few deep breaths while wiping a tear that had formed out of her eye.

'I think… I needed that,' she realized. As the chuckles slowly died down, Anne thought that she felt… lighter, somehow. The past couple days had been filled with nothing but stress and worry, but now it seemed like some of that stress had ebbed away, however slightly.

She looked at Sprig again, who was picking himself back up into a sitting position. The frog looked up at her and grinned, a grin which she found herself returning.

'Have to admit… this little guy is pretty alright.'

Taking a final deep breath to rid herself of any remaining chortles, Anne refocused. Still on the ground, she saw, there were still a few more scattered pieces of food that hadn't been picked up in her prior fervor. Realizing that she was still a bit hungry even after all of that, but now with hopefully greater control of herself, she bent forward and plucked another mushroom off the ground. This time, she made sure to eat at a more leisurely pace, chewing and swallowing consciously.

For the next few minutes, they sat in silence, the only sounds coming from the buzzing of insects and Anne's chewing. Anne's eyes wandered the surroundings, but she didn't find anything of particular interest. Maybe it was just her, but every part of these woods looked exactly like every other part. Her sense of direction and memory of her surroundings had never been particularly great growing up, and she'd always relied on her phone's GPS and her friends' comparatively much better navigational skills to get anywhere in the city. Here, in this forest, alone, she might as well have been flying blind. At one point on the first day she'd tried to climb a tree and get a view of the area, but from her vantage point at the time, there had been nothing but trees and swamp for miles in every direction, broken only by a line of mountains far off in the distance. She'd even tried to follow the sun's path across the sky, hoping that she'd eventually find her way out of the forest if she just kept moving in the same direction, but that had ended up proving difficult when the thick foliage overhead obscured the sky from view. Besides, she hadn't wanted to risk traveling too far from the makeshift shelter she'd put together in a cave, not without knowing exactly where she was going.

She sighed at that thought. During the chase earlier, in her panicked attempts to get away from the pursuing Sprig, she'd fled in random directions, and in doing so had once again completely lost track of where she was. The odds of her being able to find her shelter now weren't great… though she wondered if she could backtrack her own path through the forest. She knew she hadn't exactly been subtle during the chase. It might take her a few hours, but she might be able to at least find her way back to the cave before nightfall. The dark… damp… claustrophobic… bug-filled cave.

'It's not like I've got any better places to sleep,' she thought glumly. 'An actual roof over my head would be nice, though…'

Following that line of thought, she looked back at Sprig as she chewed on another root. The frog appeared to be watching her intently, inspecting her almost, their eyes wandering up and down her form. It would have been disconcerting, but Anne could really blame them; she probably didn't look like anything they'd seen before. Not unless there were monkeys or apes around here somewhere.

She awkwardly took another small bite out of the root and watched them inspect her. They seemed like they were trying to figure something out, their brow furrowed and a hand placed to their chin…did frogs normally have chins? Or had these frog people evolved to have chins? Whatever the chin-equivalent was.

Abruptly, Sprig looked around, then sprang up to their feet and walked a few feet away, where they grabbed a small stick off the ground and came back. Then, they began drawing lines and shapes in the empty dirt between them and Anne. She watched, curious, as Sprig first drew three large ovals, each about half a foot apart, and then began adding details to them. Four thin lines poking out of each of the ovals, small circles near the tops of them, and other strange shapes that varied between each of the three images. Sprig continued to draw more shapes, occasionally using one of their hands to clear a mistake or an existing line away. For the first few minutes, Anne couldn't make heads or tails of what the images were supposed to be. Then, she twisted her head slightly, and it clicked.

They looked like stick figures. Or rather, the frog-person versions of stick figures. They were the kind of drawings you'd see a kindergartner make. Each drawing had a round body, two arms, two legs, and two eyes. But that was where the similarities between them ended, for each of the figures was drawn wearing different clothes. The figure on the far left was wearing what looked like a wide, flat hat, and a weird shape over its legs that made it look like it was wearing pants. The middle one had nothing of note other than a band around its midsection. Lastly, the one on the right was wearing a bow on its head, and had its whole body covered in a large, curvy garment… a dress?

Once he was done, Sprig looked up at Anne and, seeing she was watching him, pointed at her, then pointed at each of the three drawings he'd made. Then they looked back up at her.

Anne was… confused, to say the least. "Uuuhhh…" she drawled. She wasn't sure what exactly he was trying to show her, or ask. 'Maybe… he wants to know which one I like best?'

"I dunno dude, they all look okay, I guess," she said, still tilting her head slightly.

Sprig stared at her for several long moments, during which time she smiled awkwardly and shrugged. Then they shook their head and repeated the motions again, pointing first to the drawing of the figure in pants, then to the one with a waistband, then to the figure in a dress, and ending with another point at her, more forcefully this time. Anne didn't really know what to do or say at this point. Whatever message he was trying to convey with these drawings, it wasn't coming across. She merely frowned and shook her head.

Sprig smacked a hand to their face and sighed. Then, he put the stick down and met Anne's eyes. Holding her gaze, they pointed at the image on the far right, the one of a frog wearing pants. After that, he pointed back at himself. He jumped back a little and started widely gesturing to parts of his body - his arms, his legs, his head - and then pointed back at the drawing, then to himself again. He did all of this while looking her in the eye, as if to say 'Look, this is me, do you see?'.

Anne wasn't sure what the point of this was, but Sprig seemed to be acting as though this were important. So, rolling with it, she furrowed her brow in thought and leaned forward, inspecting the drawings a bit closer. The one Sprig was pointing at certainly didn't look anything like them. None of the drawings did, actually. They all had the same generic shape and look, the only difference was what clothes they seemed to be wearing. Why was Sprig gesturing back and forth between her and the drawings so insistently? Just what were they trying to say here?

'Okay, think Anne. You've played Pictionary before. Maybe… it's like a code of some sort?' She hummed. 'There are three drawings of frog-people. They all look the same, except for their clothes. Their clothes are all different, for some reason. And Sprig keeps pointing at one of them and at himself.' She looked at all of them again. One frog in a hat and pants, one in a bow and dress, and in between them, one that wasn't wearing much of anything. Seeing the three images lined up like this… something about the sight felt vaguely familiar to her, but she just couldn't put her finger on why. The only times she'd seen something vaguely similar was back home, at places that had big public restroo-

Anne blinked.

She abruptly reached over and grabbed the stick Sprig had dropped, startling him into ceasing his motions. With the stick in hand, and with Sprig watching from off to the side, she began drawing shapes of her own, right beneath the figures Sprig had drawn. The shapes she was tracing were much simpler than Sprig's stick figures, enough that they didn't take long to draw, and within a minute, it was done. Pulling back and taking another look at all of the drawings together, it finally clicked.

Beneath the picture Sprig had drawn, she'd drawn out the simple images used to denote gender-specific restrooms back home. The simple, rounded, plain figure used for men, beneath the image of the hat-and-pants frog; the same simple figure with a wide triangular body, used to depict a woman, beneath the bow-and-dress-frog; and lastly, a figure that was a half-and-half fusion of the first two, underneath the simple waistband-wearing frog in the middle.

'I think I get it…! The stick figures are like different genders!' Anne thought excitedly. 'The one wearing the pants is supposed to be a guy, maybe, and the one wearing the dress is probably a girl. So the one in the middle must be… gender-neutral then, I guess? Huh. Nice to know frogs are inclusive.'

She looked back at Sprig, who was inspecting the shapes she'd drawn with clear interest. 'Sprig was pointing at the picture of the guy frog and themself, so… they must be saying they're a boy. And he's been trying to ask me which one I am!'

Just to make sure she understood correctly, she got Sprig's attention by waving in front of his face a bit, then pointed between him and the pants-wearing frog, giving him another questioning look. Instantly, he nodded, then pointed at her and back to the drawings, gesturing to all of them as if to ask which one. Smiling once again, both from finally understanding and in satisfaction from having figured out what was being asked - like solving a puzzle - Anne pointed with the stick to the image of the bow-and-dress frog, then at the depiction of the woman sign below it, and then back to herself.

Sprig gave her another once-over in response, and nodded, beaming at her.

'You know, this really isn't so bad,' she thought. Sure, not being able to just talk normally was kind of annoying, and she would rather not be lost in a forest in an alien world making drawings in the dirt in order to communicate with a weird little frog boy in the first place. But after the last couple days, it was nice to be able to make a connection with someone else like this, regardless of if they were human or not. It was nice to feel herself smile again.

Sprig began making grabby gestures with his hand toward the stick. Anne passed it back to him, whereupon he used his foot to brush away the existing drawings in the dirt. Then he bent down and began drawing a new set of shapes.

'Heh, curious little guy,' she thought with a small smile. 'Wonder how old he is… actually.' The smile curved into a tiny frown. 'Now that I think about it, what's he even doing out here in the woods? And why was he chasing after me earlier? Was he looking for me, or what? That's all kind of complicated to ask with pictures, though. Hmm…'

Sitting on her knees beside him, she idly watched him draw while thinking about the best way to pose some of her own questions. The two sat in a comfortable silence.

…for about half a minute. That was when Anne started to hear noises from nearby. Loud noises. Sprig evidently heard them too, as he stopped and turned at the same time Anne did.

Coming through the trees were the sounds of leaves rustling, twigs breaking, and… voices. Lots of voices. All whispering and muttering, by the sound of it, but they were close by. And none of the voices sounded like they were speaking English.

Immediately on alert, Anne reached for her makeshift spear attached to her backpack, only to grasp air. She remembered with annoyance that she'd left her bag behind in the log… and that her spear had been broken by the mantis monster after she'd left it behind to save Sprig. Swearing under her breath, she looked around for anything else she could use. Sprig got up beside her, suddenly looking very concerned.

Then one of the tall patches of grass nearby shook and parted, revealing another frog… none other than the same one-eyed turquoise-colored frog she'd seen the previous night. At first, Anne breathed a sigh of relief. But upon meeting their gaze, the frog's expression warped to one of shock for a moment before croaking loudly.

"Xaha kxap uha! Ilah xaha, E viodt kxac! Ek'j kxa cidjkah udt kxa Plantar rip!"

The voices grew louder and more frantic, as did the rustling of the undergrowth around her. Even from her sitting position, Anne was tall enough to see a bit over the tall grass, and she could just make out several approaching sources of light, glowing orange like small fires.

…no, not like fires, she saw as more frog people began to break through the tall grass. Actual fires. Torches, to be specific, along with pitchforks, mallets… at least a dozen frogs were emerging into the clearing now, all carrying an assortment of improvised weaponry, all of which were being brandished directly at Anne.

"What?" Anne asked no one in particular, her panic quickly resurfacing as she scrabbled backward and to her feet, away from the approaching crowd. Multiple voices from the frogs reached her ears, and even if she couldn't understand what they were saying, she could understand that none of them sounded happy to see her. The opposite in fact, they all sounded quite angry. Some were chanting something repeatedly while others were growling, hoisting their weapons into the air with murder in their eyes.

This was a mob, she realized with a start. An actual, bona-fide mob of frog people. And it looked like they were coming specifically after her. She took several frightened steps back.

'When did all these frogs get here?!' she thought frantically. 'How'd they all find me?! Who…'

As her eyes darted rapidly between all of the frog people in the clearing, her gaze fell briefly on Sprig. He'd also gotten to his feet, but was merely staring at the approaching crowd, mouth hanging open. It looked like he was making no moves to stop them, or even talk to them.

'No… he didn't…' Anne's eyes widened in horror, her thoughts running at a mile a minute. 'While he was gone…he must have…he distracted me so they could…that sneaky little…'

Another angry shout pulled her attention back to the matter at hand. The frogs were slowly moving closer. A particularly large one standing at the head of the crowd, wearing what looked like a tailored suit, said something she couldn't understand to the others. They all began to fan out around her, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw some of the frogs begin pulling out what looked like a length rope.

"N-no, stop! Stay back! Stay away from me!" she yelled, stepping back again. She tried to make her voice sound intimidating, but instead it just came out as a frightened yelp. She desperately wanted something she could wave at them threateningly, but without her spear, the only other thing she had on her that could potentially function as a weapon was her tennis racket, which was currently inside her backpack, which she'd stupidly left inside the log. She didn't have time to dash over and get it, not with all these frogs looking ready to jump on her at any second.

She looked at Sprig again. At the same time, he seemed to finally break out of his stupor and looked back at her. Their eyes met. She felt her face scrunch up.

Then she spun on her heel and ran.


Sprig watched as Anne gave him a furious look before she spun around and ran away from the mob.

"Anne, wait!", he called after her, only for his voice to be drowned out by everyone else's.

"It's makin' a break for it!" Wally yelled.

"Don't let it get away!" the mayor shouted.

One of the townsfolk, a frog wearing overalls and carrying a bundle of rope, leapt forward and began twirling the rope over his head like a lasso, taking aim at Anne's rapidly fleeing form.

"Wait, don-" Sprig tried to say as he moved to intercept it. He was far too slow, however. By the time he took a single step, the frog had released the lasso and sent it flying through the air, straight toward Anne. A moment later, the circle of rope managed to fall perfectly over her large head and around her body, before tightening around her legs. Anne cried out as her lower limbs were bound together mid-stride, sending her vaulting forward face-first into the dirt.

"Now, everyone move up, tie it down!" the mayor ordered. With practiced coordination, all of the frogs in the mob ran and leapt forward with rope, wood pitons, and hammers in hand, surrounding Anne in seconds. Her shouts and shrieks pierced the air as she flailed in a desperate attempt to get them away from her, only for her arms to be grabbed and forced to the ground as her entire body was rapidly tied and bound.

"No!" Sprig tried in vain to shout over the excited hollering of the crowd. "Stop! You guys have got it all wrong! She isn't-"

"Sprig!" - "Sprig!"

Over the din of the mob, Sprig heard two familiar voices call his name in tandem. Turning around, he saw Hop Pop jogging up to him, with Polly seated on his head.

"Sprig, you're alive!" Hop Pop cried in relief as he approached, wrapping Sprig in a tight hug as soon as he was close enough.

"Pff, of course he's alive, I told you he'd be fine!" Polly added, waving one flipper dismissively, not acknowledging that her shout just now had been just as relieved as her grandfather's.

Hop Pop paid no mind to the pollywog though, instead opting to inspect Sprig from head to toe. "Are you alright, boy? That monster didn't hurt ya, did it?" he fretted, voice laden with concern.

"I'm fine, Hop Pop…" Sprig assured him, pulling away from the older frog's inspections. "But listen, we-"

"Hurt him? Ha! More like the other way around, the way I saw it!" One-Eyed Wally sidled up next to them, his voice accompanied by notes from his accordion. "Ya shoulda seen it, Hopediah! I know I did, saw it with me own eye. Well, the tail end of it, at least. Your boy had the beast on its knees by the time I spotted 'em! He musta fought the monster into submission all by 'imself!"

"I-… what?" Hop Pop looked genuinely taken aback by this, peering past them at the still-flailing Anne, then back at his grandson. "Sprig, is that true?"

"W-What?" Sprig choked out. "N-no, that wasn't-! I didn't-!"

"Aw, no need to be modest about it, lad. What you did was right impressive!" Wally interrupted, slapping Sprig on the back. "You sure raised a tough one here, Hopediah! You oughta be proud! Now, if you'll all excuse me, I have a bit of business to attend to." In one smooth motion, he stored his accordion within his vest, and in the same motion whipped out a pair of wooden stakes. "Save some for me, fellas!" he shouted as he ran off toward the rest of the mob.

"Wow," Polly spoke, turning back to Sprig. "You actually took on the monster by yourself and won? Didn't see that one coming."

Sprig spun back around and looked up at his sister. "Polly, no, it wasn't-"

"Sprig…" Hop Pop cut him off with a grumble, "I can't believe you ran off like that. You should know better! You had me worried sick, do you understand that? Comin' out here all alone has to be the most bug-brained move you've made yet!" He sighed and put his hands on his hips, and grumbled. "But… that bein' said, I guess I'd be lyin' if I said I weren't at least a little impressed that ya managed to wrangle this beast all on your own. I still wish ya wouldn't have gone running off, but maybe I shouldn't have been so harsh with ya earlier..."

At any other time, on any other day, Sprig would have been downright thrilled to hear Hop Pop kinda-sorta admit he was wrong. But right now, his concerns were elsewhere. Sprig opened his mouth to say that no, that wasn't what happened at all, that they were wrong, that they all needed to stop what they were doing. But before he could say a single word, the Mayor's voice rang out.

"Excellent work, everyone, excellent work, we have nabbed ourselves a monster!," he announced as he clapped his hands and projected his voice out over the crowd, getting their attention. He briefly gestured back to Sprig and added, "And thanks to the Plantar boy keeping it distracted for us, we didn't lose a single soul to this beast! Very well done!"

The townsfolk broke into a chorus of loud cheers and applause for Sprig, and those assembled around Anne parted slightly as Mayor Toadstool stepped forward. Within the legs of the crowd, Sprig could see Anne laying on the ground, wrapped head to toe in tight ropes which were in turn tied around stakes planted into the dirt around her, keeping her thoroughly restrained. She was still writhing and grunting and squirming in her bonds, but try as she might, she was completely unable to get out of her predicament.

The mayor made a face of disgust as he stepped closer to Anne's wriggling body. "Ugh, just look at this thing. It's even more hideous up close!"

"What'd I tell ya? That beast is nightmare fuel, it is!" Wally piped in from off to the side.

The attention being focused on Sprig wasn't exclusive to the frogs present, either. Sprig saw that Anne herself had managed to crane her neck despite her bindings, and was looking back and forth between him and all of the frogs cheering his name. Sprig didn't even want to imagine how this whole situation must've looked to Anne's eyes. Not that he needed to; as their eyes met again, her face twisted into something terrible.

"SPRIG!" she screamed from her prone position, abruptly causing all of the townsfolk to fall quiet. "Qbim mbo bowd, xexo?! Sae noluaenfê nom go ej?! U mbaezbm qo qolo wahhowmuhz, sae fummfo cold!"

Even without being able to understand the words, just from her tone, Sprig could tell she was furious. That was to say nothing of the way she was looking at him, with an expression that, in his eyes, was a cross between anger, desperation, and worst of all, hurt. It almost made him feel sick. His reaction to it stood in stark contrast to the other frogs present, who all started backing up and fearfully whispering to one another in the wake of Anne's outburst.

"What was that?"

"Is that thing talking?"

"What'd it say?"

"Well now, it certainly is a chatty beast, ain't it?" the mayor frowned, leaning down to inspect Anne. "Well, it's got some kind of tiny beak on its face, must be like one of them talking birds. What're they called again? Parakeets? Magflies?" He thought for a moment as some of the nearby frogs began muttering other types of birds they knew of, before shrugging. "Ah, it don't matter. Let's just hurry this up. Sooner I can get back to town the better. You there, pass me that pitchfork."

"Uuuhh…" Polly said from her vantage point. "So am I hearing things, or did that thing say Sprig's name just now?"

"No, I heard it too," Hop Pop answered below her, scratching the side of his head. "Figured my ears were playin' tricks on me again… Sprig, what's goin' on here? Sprig?"

Sprig wasn't listening to them. He was barely listening to anything. All of the sounds in the clearing, the whispers and mutters from the frogs all around him all felt muted in his ears. This morning, he'd been a simple screw-up. Now he was being treated like a hero who'd caught a terrible fiend. At any other time, he knew, it would have felt amazing.

But right now, Sprig felt only dread as he watched one of the townsfolk walk up to the mayor and hand him his pitchfork.

'No, no, no no no! This is all my fault! This wasn't my plan! What do I do?!'

He grasped the sides of his hat in mounting fear as the mayor stepped closer to Anne, now with the pitchfork grasped firmly in both hands. Seeing his approach and what he was carrying, her squirming movements became even more erratic and desperate. As her head twisted and turned in every direction, evidently looking for something to help her get out of this.

"Welp, time to get this over with," Toadstool said indifferently as he slowly hefted the large pitchfork over his head with three sharp points angled down, the metal glinting in the beams of sunlight which broke through the canopy.

Tears started to stream from Anne's eyes, and she screamed again, desperately, pleadingly, "Ha! Ha, xah'm, nmaj! Nmaj! JFOINI! SPRIG!"

Sprig's legs began to move. Completely ignoring his grandfather and sister behind him, he sprinted toward Anne as quickly as he could. This wasn't right. Anne wasn't a monster, he couldn't let the town kill her like one. It wasn't too late, he had to stop this!

But before he could even make it halfway there, just as the mayor was about to plunge the pitchfork downward…

"HHRREEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAEEEEEEEEGGGGGGHHHHHKKK"

A massive, familiar-sounding roar rang throughout the clearing. Everyone, including Sprig, Toadstool, and Anne, immediately froze at the sound.

"...uuhm… did anyone else hear that?" Wally nervously asked.

"That sounded like-" Hop Pop began, but was quickly cut off by the sound of leaves and brush rustling and rapid stomping, approaching quickly. "Oh that's not good."

Sprig, along with everyone else in the clearing, turned toward the source of the noise. Likely attracted by all the noise the crowd had been making, the stomping and rustling grew louder, louder… until a huge, thin, insectoid creature burst through the tall grass into the clearing, roaring in ferocious hunger.

For a moment, Sprig thought that the alpha preying mantis had returned. Upon inspection however, he quickly realized that (thankfully) wasn't the case. The new creature was also a preying mantis, but rather than a red spiked carapace, it instead had a smooth green one. This one also had yellow eyes, and stood at half the height of the one he and Anne had previously encountered. He almost sighed in relief when he realized it wasn't the alpha from before…

Then the creature roared again, and he remembered that it was still a preying mantis. A creature which stood several body-lengths taller than a frog, and could tear into one without any difficulty.

Anne, the 'monster' the townsfolk had been prepared to kill, was all but forgotten in the face of this new and very real threat. Everyone in the clearing screamed and gasped in fear and began backing away from the monster, most dropping their weapons in fright, including the mayor. The few who didn't were frozen in place.

"H-hurry!" the mayor shouted, his terrified voice rising over everyone's frightened screams. "Everyone, like we practiced! Mantis formation!"

With a level of coordination that came only as a result of monthly town meetings with a required-attendance policy dedicated entirely to monster-survival tactics, all of the townsfolk in the clearing sans Sprig, Hop Pop, and Polly (the latter two of which were either too old or too small to participate in this particular maneuver) leapt into action. With Toadstool taking position at the base as the largest and physically strongest one present, the frogs began leaping up and jumping onto each other's shoulders, quickly assembling themselves into a pyramid. Within moments, they'd stacked up to a height exceeding that of the green mantis. As the final frog jumped to the very top of the formation and struck a series of (what he probably thought were) very intimidating poses, a large shadow briefly fell over the green mantis and drew its attention.

There were some long moments of tense silence as the green mantis seemed to stare at the pyramid-formation of frogs directly in front of it, making no movements, hostile or otherwise. Briefly, imperceptibly, its gaze shifted upward, into the trees beyond them. It chittered a bit while waving its antennae around, then… began to back up, folding its forelegs and wings close against its body in a sign of relent. Seemingly intimidated by the frogs' illusion of a larger creature, it squeaked and chittered as it slowly retreated away, back into the brush from which it emerged.

Unnoticed by any of them, Sprig used the distraction to run up to Anne, who still seemed to be frozen in shock. "Anne!" he cried as he slid down beside her and immediately began looking for the knots keeping the ropes tied in place. "Don't worry Anne, I'll get you out of this. They're not gonna hurt you, not if I have anything to… Anne?"

As he spoke, Sprig noticed that Anne hadn't acknowledged his presence at all. She hadn't turned her head to look at him, and didn't even seem to be breathing. Her eyes were wide open and shaking, and lying face-up as she was, they seemed to be set squarely on something directly above them.

Curious, Sprig looked up and followed her gaze… and felt his own blood run cold at the sight of a huge, shadowy shape lurking in the thick canopy above the clearing.

"Oh, Frog."

Meanwhile, as the green mantis finally disappeared within the forest, the townsfolk began to whoop and applaud at their own apparent success.

"Hah, they scared it off!" Hop Pop cheered, arms raised in celebration.

"I can't believe that actually worked!" Polly exclaimed, surprised - and a little disappointed - by how quickly the matter had been resolved.

"Heh, just goes to show ya Polly, never underestimate a good frog forma-" Hop Pop began, only to be cut off by Sprig's shouting voice.

"Polly! Hop Pop! Watch out!" the boy cried from where he was kneeling beside the bound monster. Hop Pop was about to question what the hay-hay he was doing so close to that thing, when he noticed a large, dark shadow fall over him and Polly. The sounds of cracking, creaking wood reached his ears, followed by several small sticks and branch pieces raining down around them. Capping it all off, a low, ominous chittering growl came down from above him, sending a chill into both frogs' skin. Looking up, Hop Pop barely had time to yelp and jump back as an enormous shape leapt down from the canopy high above them, landing on the ground where he'd just been standing with a resounding CRASH. The sheer weight of the impact shook the earth and sent up a small plume of loose dirt, causing everyone present to bounce slightly from the shockwave.

Everyone turned. The creature's menacing, clicking growl continued, and its extended red-and-orange wings continued to hum and flutter as they folded back against the creature's red, spike-covered carapace. The insectoid creature rose to its full height, casting its shadow over half the clearing and easily dwarfing the mantis that had just backed off. Sprig gulped. The alpha mantis. The same one from before, most likely. Of course; they were still in the same place where they'd lost it the first time. If all the noise they were making had attracted a second mantis, then it only made sense it would have attracted the alpha back as well.

As the alpha mantis's gaze roamed hungrily over the veritable feast assembled before it, most of the townsfolk stood frozen still in their previous pyramid formation, too stunned to move. Hop Pop and Polly stared straight up at the mantis's form in blank-faced, slack-jawed shock. Eventually, Polly spoke.

"Ooooooooh. Nope, that's what scared it off," she observed, referring to the previous mantis.

"Yeah, that makes much more sense," Hop Pop agreed numbly.

Without warning, the alpha mantis screeched and roared in hungry fury, the sheer volume nearly deafening those present, and making the roar of the last mantis sound like the wailing of a child by comparison. Semi-caustic spittle flew out from between its mandibles and showered the ground - and some of the frogs - in front of it. Extending both of its forelegs outward, it rapidly stomped past the prone frog and pollywog next to it and instead marched toward the stacked pile of frogs in the middle of the clearing. Though the pyramid they'd formed had been enough to make them taller than a common preying mantis, it didn't even come close to the size of the alpha. With two effortless swings of its forelimbs, the top and middle layers of the frog pyramid were smacked apart, the frogs composing it scattering like dry leaves in the wind. The thorns on the creature's limbs thankfully hadn't been extended, or else that act alone would have incurred casualties. Even so, the frogs screamed as they were sent flying in all directions, grunting and groaning in pain either from being struck by the creature or from hitting the ground. Those fortunate enough to have not been directly struck by the mantis immediately began shrieking in fear.

"Where'd that thing come from?!"

"It's gonna eat our guts!"

"Scatter! EVERY FROG FOR THEMSELF!" Mayor Toadstool wailed in terror, almost tripping over another fallen frog as he ran.

The townsfolk didn't need to be told twice: it was well-known that preying mantises were dangerous predators of all amphibian-kind, and the frogs present were mostly just farmers and shopkeepers. Against a normal mantis, their sheer numbers might have won out, but against one this size? There was no chance. With their survival instincts taking over, everyone dropped their weapons and began running in every direction. The alpha mantis screeched again as its head shifted rapidly between all of the fleeing frogs, trying to decide which ones to go after first.

"Sprig, come on!" Hop Pop yelled to his grandson as he scrambled to his feet, keeping one hand on Polly to keep her secure while he made for the trees.

Sprig only heard him with half an ear. He didn't have any time to waste. Right now, the mantis' back was to them, but if it turned around and saw him making an easy target of himself, it would come after him for sure. He knelt back down beside Anne and started to work as quickly as he could on untying the knots keeping her in place. He didn't have anything to cut the ropes with, which would have been much faster, but fortunately the knots on these ropes weren't as thick nor half as tight as the one Anne had made on her snare earlier. Plus, he was able to actually get good leverage to undo them this time. After several seconds of yanking and pulling, the bindings started to come undone.

Anne began yelling and squirming again, apparently having snapped out of her stupor from before. This time though, when she tried to move her arms, she was clearly surprised to find that she was actually able to do so. Lifting herself up and looking down, she finally noticed Sprig's presence.

"Sprig…? Qbim ilo sae…qbim un mbun, ihambol mluwd?" he heard her ask in an unfriendly tone. He wasn't paying much attention to whatever she was saying though. Without a word in response, he moved down to her lower body and started undoing the knots there as well, soon loosening the ropes around her legs. He didn't have enough time to get them off entirely, but he figured that so long as he loosened them enough, Anne would be able to pull them off on her own. Only when he saw that she was able to start moving her legs again did he stand back up and look her in the eye.

"Alright Anne, now's your chance. I'll distract that thing. You get out of here while you can, okay?" Sprig told her as firmly as he could, pointing first at himself, then at the nearby mantis, then at her and finally to the edge of the clearing. He searched her face for any sign of understanding, but as she followed his gestures and looked back at him, he couldn't tell if the look she was giving him was one of confusion, doubt, suspicion, or all of the above. He growled in frustration. "AAAGH, we don't have time for this! Just go, okay? Go, get out of here! GO!" He tried to make himself clear by shoving her shoulder and pointing at the edge of the clearing repeatedly. Then, without waiting to see if he understood his instructions, and with a determined scowl that was purely fake and in no way reflected the sheer anxiety and fear he felt in his chest, he leapt over her body and began sprinting toward the mantis, drawing out his slingshot as he did so.

This was, he dimly realized in the back of his mind, probably - no, definitely - the stupidest thing he'd ever done in his life, and that was saying something. But he wasn't about to let an innocent person he'd just met get killed because of him. Anne was only in this mess now because he'd chased her down, and because he hadn't even had the presence of mind to go back and tell the mob coming after her that she wasn't a threat. If nothing else, he'd give her time to get away: that was the absolute least he could do at this point.

And so, releasing his best attempt at a war cry, he ran up behind the mantis just as it was raising one of its dangerous appendages into the air, preparing to strike down at a frog it had managed to corner against the trunk of a tree. Snatching a loose stone off the ground, he loaded it into his slingshot and took aim at the monster's head.

"Hey, over here!" he yelled as he released the stone with a snap. The stone struck true against one of the mantis' large protruding eyes, causing it to wince and chitter in pain. "Haha! Take that you…uh…" Sprig's jeer petered out as the alpha mantis slowly turned its head and its full attention down toward him, its previous prey now completely forgotten. The frog in question took the opportunity to book it, hopping around the trunk of the tree and out of sight. "…oops," was all Sprig could think to say as the alpha mantis shrieked in fury, drops of caustic spittle showering the ground all around him. The mantis raised one of its arms again, this time aiming at him.

Sprig didn't even think; he hopped back just before the massive appendage came down at breakneck speed and impaled the ground where he'd just been standing, displacing chunks of dirt and mud into the air. The alpha mantis stomped toward him aggressively, hissing and screeching while it raised its other foreleg and repeated its attack. Each time, Sprig jumped back, just narrowly avoiding the thick spiny limbs before they crushed him into the ground. Despite its large size, the alpha mantis' attacks came down hard and fast, one after another, not giving him any opportunity to do anything other than continue to backpedal away. Still, this was good. So long as he watched carefully and moved right before the mantis attacked, he'd be able to keep its attention long enough for Anne and the townsfolk to get away.

At least, that was what he thought, until his focus on the attacking mantis kept him from noticing his surroundings. As he leapt backward again to avoid another strike from the monster, his foot landed atop something other than damp soil. Whatever it was, the object rolled beneath Sprig's foot the instant he put weight on it, causing him to lose his balance and tumble backward onto the ground. Taking a breath and shaking his head to clear away the dancing stars, Sprig looked and saw that the object he'd landed on was one of the wooden torches brought by the townsfolk, now extinguished and left abandoned by whoever had been using it.

Sprig groaned and tried to pick himself up, but before he could get one foot beneath him, the shadow of the alpha mantis fell over him once more. A second later, the ground ahead of him shook, and Sprig glanced to see one of the mantis's arms planted firmly in the ground, blocking off his escape. He looked up, pupils shrinking as the giant monster stood directly over him. It hissed and shrieked again, raising up its other scythe-shaped limb to finish him off.

Even if there was likely no one left to hear him or help him, Sprig screamed. The leg came down. Out of reflex, he shut his eyes and held his hands up to shield himself, as though that would do anything to protect him.

The light on his face was blotted out as a shadow passed in front of him, followed by the sound of an impact, then… nothing.

Sprig waited. And waited.

After a few seconds passed, he realized that he wasn't feeling any pain… nor did he feel like he was dead. Slowly, hesitantly, he cracked one eye open to see what was going on…

His mouth fell open in shock.

Standing in front of and over him, grunting with effort, was Anne. She was facing away from him, her arms extended overhead, her hands clutching the arm of the preying mantis that had just been about to end Sprig's existence. The wide, sharp, spiny foreleg hovered precariously mere feet over his head while Anne held on to the central part of the arm, her position keeping herself out of reach of the spines while also keeping the insect's leg from descending any further. Both Anne's arms and the mantis' foreleg were pushing against one another, the former visibly straining from the effort. The mantis's focus had shifted to the new creature standing before it, and it shrieked again as it tried to push down. In response, Anne's grunts grew louder. Her arms and legs were tense and shaking from exertion, but she didn't budge from her spot.

It took a moment for Sprig's brain to process what was happening. Obviously, Anne hadn't run as he'd told her to. Instead, she'd jumped in front of an attack that would have one-hundred-percent ended him. Now she was keeping him from being crushed, locked in a contest of strength with the mantis.

"Anne..?" Sprig gasped in wonder, awestruck by both her timely rescue and the feat of strength she was performing. He wasn't a huge fan of reading, but he did remember learning from one of Hop Pop's homeschool lessons that preying mantises - alphas especially - were apex predators, strong enough to cleave entire trees with a single swing. Granted, most of that 'strength' only came from the weight of swinging their comparatively oversized forelimbs. Even so, Anne had somehow stopped one of those same forelimbs mid-swing with her bare hands by catching it at the central joint, and was now holding it back, by herself.

At the edges of the clearing, the frogs who had been fleeing for their lives finally noticed the sudden relative quiet, and turned to see why the mantis wasn't stomping around anymore. The sight of the giant red mantis towering over the small, prone Sprig, with the strange creature they'd tried to capture standing between the two and seemingly fighting against the mantis, was enough to make most stop and stare in confusion. Among those who stopped to watch were Hop Pop and Polly once they realized that Sprig wasn't with them, the former with cold dread in his chest, and the latter with amazement shining in her eyes at the confrontation. The townsfolk watched, equally entranced and perplexed by the display. Yet be it out of shock or fear, none made a move to step in and assist.

Sprig could see droplets of clear fluid once more running down Anne's skin as her whole body continued to shake and shudder from the weight of the mantis's limb pressing down on her. With another shriek, the mantis took a step forward and pushed again. This time, Anne's legs buckled from the pressure, and she fell to one knee. The tip of the monster's arm dropped closer to Sprig's head, but was arrested again before it reached him.

Groaning from the effort, she finally turned her head, allowing him to see half of her face. "XA NAGOMBUHZ!" she yelled at him over her shoulder, her expression contorted into a pained grimace.

Sprig blinked. For the briefest moment, as she spoke, he could've sworn he saw the iris of her eye flicker blue instead of brown. Then her limbs shuddered again, and the mantis' leg inched down ever closer. The sound of her voice as well as the sight of the mantis getting closer and closer to crushing both of them succeeded in snapping him out of his daze.

Anne wouldn't last much longer at this rate, Sprig realized. He still had his slingshot in his hand, but at this point it was clear that the only thing it would accomplish would be making the mantis even angrier. Frantically, Sprig cast his gaze out over the surrounding area, looking for something else he could use to help. Plenty of makeshift weapons that had been dropped by the townsfolk still littered the clearing. There was the torch he'd tripped on, of course, but without a way to ignite it, it was effectively just a light club; against the mantis' armor-like chitin, it would be next to useless. There were metal pitchforks lying about; those could work, if only they weren't all as tall from end to end as he was. Besides, even if he were strong and big enough to wield one effectively as a weapon, he'd need to locate one of the soft gaps in the mantis' carapace if he hoped to do any damage. Then there were wooden mallets, but those were more for light construction work than anything else; as weapons, they were barely any better than the unlit torches.

Aside from that, the townsfolk hadn't brought much with them. Nothing except… the rope. His eyes fell over the loose pile that had previously been keeping Anne restrained. There was a lot still there. The gears in Sprig's mind began turning quickly. It wasn't a weapon, not really, but if he used it right, it might be just as effective as one. He just had to hope the mantis didn't cut through-

Another stained groan from behind him forced him to snap back from his thoughts. He didn't have time to think about this, he needed to do something, fast!

"Hold on, Anne!" he replied, rolling out from under the mantis' leg before getting up and making a mad dash for the pile of ropes.


Anne's whole body felt like it was on fire. Sweat poured off her forehead and down her skin, getting in her eyes and dampening her hair and her clothes. Every breath was laborious, an effort to drag enough air into her lungs to make up for how much energy she was using. Her arms, legs, and especially her hands were in pain. Every muscle in her body practically screamed in protest. She was so focused on fighting against the immense pressure threatening to crush her and the frog behind her that she didn't even register the disgust in the back of her brain at the fact that she was touching a giant bug.

'How did I end up like this?', she couldn't help but think to herself, even as she groaned again from the strain. Talk about role reversal; how had she gotten into a position where she, a person, was about to be crushed to death by a massive bug? Two days ago she'd been a normal middle school girl doing normal middle school girl things. Reading magazines, playing games in the middle of class, watching cat videos, hanging out with her friends. Now she was literally fighting for her life in an alien world.

But no, why was she here? Why hadn't she simply run away when she'd had the chance? She'd managed to get the ropes off of her body after Sprig had untied them for her. He'd yelled at her over and over while trying to push her away from the clearing and toward the dense trees. Then he'd run off toward the mantis, screaming like a maniac and slinging pebbles at it. She didn't know what his game was, getting her caught by a mob only to untie her the second they were distracted by something else. Nor did she really care to stick around and find out. Once she'd picked herself off the ground, she was ready to sprint off through the trees and get away from this entire hot mess. 'Screw these crazy frog people,' she remembered thinking, 'let the monster mantis deal with them.'

But hearing Sprig's shout in tandem with the mantis' screech had made her stop for just a moment to look over her shoulder. That had been a mistake on her part. The little frog had managed to keep the huge insect occupied for a while, but Anne had turned around just in time to see him on the ground with the mantis looming over him, one of its arms cutting off his escape while the other was raised, ready to bring it down and flatten him. The same kid who'd chased her through the forest and had brought a mob of angry villagers on top of her, she reminded herself… and the same kid who'd shared his name with her and had brought food for her. The same kid who'd managed to cheer her up after days of misery. The same kid who'd just freed her and given her a chance to run.

She really wasn't sure exactly what happened next. One second, she was watching the scene, and for just a brief moment everything in her vision subtly turned a shade of blue. Then she'd blinked.

The next thing she knew, she was standing between Sprig and the mantis, the latter's giant arm caught in her hands while she pushed up against it, keeping it from completing its descent.

She had no idea what she was doing. She had no idea how she got here. Was she insane? Like, actually insane? Had she really dived in front of a monster - an honest-to-god giant killer monster insect - to save a total stranger? A weird little frog alien kid? Again?!

Ignorant of her thoughts, the mantis shrieked again above her and took another step forward, putting even more pressure on her limbs. Anne was already on one knee at this point; all she could do was groan in pain and bend her torso backward to try to take the weight. She would've simply tried to adjust her grip and push the leg to the side so she could escape, but with how much force was being exerted on her, she was worried that the leg would instantly crash down on top of her if she risked moving her hands at all. Even if she wasn't, she didn't know if Sprig was still behind her or not. She hoped he wasn't, especially after she'd yelled at him to stop sitting there and do something. But then, they probably hadn't understood her. She'd heard the little frog yell something at her in response, but with the mantis pressing down on her, she couldn't afford turning her head again to check if he was still there. Her only saving grace at this point was that the sharp spines on the mantis' forearm were just out of reach, otherwise she probably would've gotten impaled from behind by now. That wasn't a pleasant thought.

She heard something from behind her, like the sound of earth being wrenched and torn out of place. Even though she couldn't turn to see what the noise was, she didn't have to; with her gaze locked upward, just within her periphery, she saw the mantis' other foreleg being pulled back from where it had been previously extended to block off Sprig's escape route. Now the mantis was raising it to the side, chittering menacingly and angling the sharp thorny end toward her.

So it'd finally gotten tired of trying to crush her with just one arm, then. Now it was going to slash at her from the side while she wasn't able to move. Through the pain and adrenaline-fueled haze, some weirdly and distressingly calm part of her knew that even if she could see the attack coming, there wasn't anything she could do to stop it, not when it was taking everything she had just to keep herself from being flattened. She could either release her grip and get crushed by one arm, or stay where she was and get bisected by the other.

Like when the toad-looking person had been about to impale her, though, she continued to struggle, heedless of the voice in her head telling her it was in vain. She grunted and pushed against the leg she was holding up with all of her might, hoping, almost praying that some hidden reserve of power would reveal itself like in all those dumb manga she read, and all the anime she and her friends watched, giving her the last-second boost of strength she needed to escape certain death.

No such luck, unfortunately. The only thing Anne felt was the trembling of her joints as her strength started to give out. Her breathing became shallower. The corners of her vision started to go dark. The mantis screeched again, and lifted its other arm into striking position.

Would it hurt? Would she even feel anything when it happened? Or would she be dead before she could-

"EDSICEDW!"

The sudden shout from somewhere out of her field of view had been enough to catch her attention, but both Anne and the giant mantis were wholly unprepared for when Sprig came shooting through the air overhead as though fired out of a cannon. The frog boy appeared so fast that, to Anne, he appeared as a pink-and-green blur. The mantis, too, showed little reaction to his shout or his presence… until both of the frog's feet collided with its face, striking it right between its eyes.

The impact of the leaping kick caused the mantis' head to snap back. It hissed and chittered violently in response, though didn't seem to be in any actual pain. Not really surprising, given Sprig's small size and the fact that the insect's head was also covered in chitin. Fortunately for Anne though, painful or not, a flying kick to the face was still a flying kick to the face. As the insect recoiled from the unexpected blow, it also took a few steps back and lifted its arms slightly as if in a delayed reaction to ward off any further hits, immediately relieving the crushing pressure being placed on her. She didn't think twice; as soon as she no longer felt the heavy limb pressing down on her like a hundred-pound weight, she shoved it to the side and dove in the other direction. The large thorny part of the arm lightly thudded against the ground several feet away from her. Now finally free from the immediate threat of being crushed, her muscles practically cried in relief. She instantly collapsed to her hands and knees, gasping for breath.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sprig land beside her, having apparently jumped off the mantis' head while it was still reeling from his surprise attack. Even just looking up at him was difficult - her head felt like a sack of bricks that her neck was struggling to hold up - but when she did, she was surprised by how much concern he had on his face.

"Anne, pio izup?" he said in his alien language, in a tone that sounded like worry. He stepped closer to her and, after a moment of hesitation, put one hand on her shoulder. Anne barely felt it, her skin was still tingling with numbness. Instead, she blinked a few times to clear the lingering stars out of her vision and found her gaze wandering up and down over Sprig. He seemed unharmed, which was good. It would've sucked if she'd gone through all of that only for him to get hurt anyways.

As she inspected him, however, she noticed something he was clutching in his right hand. The end of a rope, it looked like, which trailed out of his hand and back in the direction he'd come from. Letting her eyes follow the rope, she saw it led all the way over to the other side of the clearing, ending in a large bundle. The same bundle that, she recognized, had previously been used to tie her up. What once had been several separate pieces of rope, however, had apparently been tied together into one long continuous length, at least if the several knots she could see along it were any indication.

Evidently noticing her gaze, Sprig held up the end of the rope he was holding on to, then pointed up at the mantis, which now seemed to be recovering from its temporary stun. "E'c widdu khô ki kea ek of! Pio xudw rusz!" he said, getting Anne's attention again. Anne still had no idea what he was saying though, and so she watched with shock as Sprig turned back toward the mantis, seemed to take a deep breath, and ran toward it.

Toward the giant killer bug that had just tried to squash both of them. 'What is he doing?!' she thought incredulously.

Anne reached her hand forward and opened her mouth to call after him, only for her voice to catch in her dried throat, making her cough instead. Blinking away the hacking-induced tears, she tried to yell again, but this time her voice caught for a different reason. Sprig, with the rope still clutched in one hand, had sprinted up to one of the mantis' legs and run in a loop around it, causing the rope to loosely encircle the appendage. Then, without stopping, he moved on to the next closest leg, repeating the process, then repeating it again with the third.

'…what is he…?' Anne thought again, now more confused than worried. Slowly, she tried getting to her feet, stumbling a bit when she put weight on her legs. Her entire body was sore, more so than even after spending an entire day at tennis practice. It took a few moments, but she was able to get one foot underneath her and rise to one knee.

By now, the mantis had recovered from its surprise at being jump-kicked in the face by a small frog. Worse, its attention had now transferred back to said frog. Just as Sprig finished looping the rope around the monster's fourth lower leg, it began stomping around to face him, chittering angrily. Anne was no bug-whisperer, but from the way it was hissing and clicking its mandibles, she got the distinct impression that it was getting annoyed.

She was proven right when it raised one of its forelegs up again to strike. But contrary to what Anne - or anyone else watching for that matter - would have called common sense, Sprig did not move. Instead, he bent his knees and seemed to be waiting. The mantis' limb descended toward him. Anne almost shouted, but just before he got smashed, Sprig suddenly shot nearly a dozen feet straight upward, easily evading the attack as it displaced a chunk of the ground below him. He landed atop the joint of the leg, completely unharmed, but winced as the mantis shrieked at him. With its other arm, the mantis reared back to attempt another strike, only for Sprig to jump across the gap to land atop the mantis' head again. While the mantis shook itself to try and get him off, Sprig jumped down the giant insect's backside to the base of its abdomen, then jumped off completely to the ground on the opposite side of where he'd started. The mantis screeched again in growing fury as it wheeled around to face him, but before it could even finish its turn Sprig had already dashed underneath its thorax and was running between its legs again.

Anne watched, gaping, as the unassuming little frog boy jumped and dashed all over the space around the mantis. He sprang yards at a time from both running starts and complete standstills, and performed flips in midair to immediately jump back in the opposite direction as soon as his feet hit any solid surface, be it the ground or the trunk of a tree. As worried as she was that the mantis would catch and crush Sprig into a pulpy mess at any second, she couldn't help but look on in some amazement. She'd seen acrobats and gymnasts before, but nothing she'd seen at school gymnastic events - heck, probably not even on TV during the dang Olympics - came anywhere close to this kind of display. Was this a normal thing for these frog people? She knew that frogs were obviously supposed to be really good at jumping, but this still seemed pretty extreme in her eyes.

As she watched his movements, though, something else caught her eye. The rope which Sprig was still clutching in one hand was being draped across parts of the mantis' body with each leap and bound he made. By now, all of the mantis' legs, as well as one of its upper arms and part of its abdomen, were loosely wrapped by the rope, though it didn't seem to be actively impeding the creature's movement at all. Not yet, anyways.

'He's trying to tie it up…!' Anne realized with a start. 'With nothing but rope, while it's trying to kill him… forget about me, he's the insane one!'

And yet, in this case, it seemed the giant insect's thick protective carapace was actually working against it; the smooth chitin allowed the rope to slide across it without being caught by friction. Not to mention that it was so preoccupied with its repeated attempts to swat Sprig, it didn't even seem to notice the chord of fibers that was being slowly wrapped around it. A good thing, too; Anne had already seen this same mantis effortlessly cut through her own rope that she'd used for the snare, and she had little doubt it'd be able to do the same to this rope if it caught wise. Even if it didn't realize what its prey was doing, however, Sprig's continuous evasion was making it angry, as evidenced by the shrieking roar it released following every failed attack.

As she watched, Anne felt a rising, angry heat in her face and chest, one that certainly had nothing to do with embarrassment, or the humidity or how much she was sweating. Somewhere in the back of her mind, that small voice was telling her again and again that she should take the opportunity to run, while the monster was distracted. But the longer she stayed and watched Sprig's efforts, the quieter that voice became. For some reason, despite everything that had happened to her in the past two days, running was now the very last thing on her mind. She'd done nothing but run since she got here. Now it was like the switch in her brain that was her fight-or-flight instinct - the same instinct that had kept her alive thus far - had hard flipped in the opposite direction. She was still tired: her arms still felt like iron weights, her lungs were burning. More than anything, she was still scared. But a growing, increasingly vocal part of her was refusing to run away or stand around and watch while a little frog alien she'd just met risked its life to save her from a giant killer bug!

She took one deep, steady breath after another as she pushed through the soreness in her arms and legs and slowly, unsteadily shambled back onto her feet. She almost lost her balance for a moment when another of the mantis' stomps caused the ground to shake, making her stumble back a couple steps before catching herself. Once she felt like she was no longer in danger of falling over, she looked up in time to see the mantis swinging its left arm down at Sprig, immediately followed by its right. She watched as Sprig jumped into the air again, narrowly avoiding the first swipe. This time, however, he didn't seem to notice the mantis' other arm also swinging toward him in mid-air.

"Look out!" Anne shouted, the words spilling out without her realizing it.

Thankfully, her sudden voice caused Sprig to look in her direction, and in the process allowed him to see the second giant scythe-limb coming in his direction. Anne saw his eyes widen and watched as he managed to twist himself in midair at the last second, successfully avoiding the sharp edge and thorns of the mantis' arm. He was unable to evade the attack entirely, however, and the flat side of the giant appendage still clipped him. With a cry of what could've been shock, pain, or both, he was knocked out of the air and sent tumbling back to the ground, skidding across the clearing on his backside. Chittering in apparent satisfaction, the mantis once more stalked over to its prey. Sprig didn't seem to be injured, thankfully, and was already getting up. He was doing so very slowly, however, shaking his head from side to side, clearly dazed from the hit.

Anne grit her teeth. The mantis was closing in for the kill. If she didn't do something quick, it would finish Sprig off. And after that… she'd probably be next. They were both too far away for her to make it in time to get between them, though. Even if they weren't, she didn't feel confident in her ability to intercept another crushing attack from the giant bug. She honestly didn't even know how she'd managed to do so the first time.

Frantically, she cast her gaze left and right for something, anything she could use. It only took a moment for her eyes to fall on the several weapons that the other frogs had been wielding, all of which had been left discarded throughout the small clearing. There wasn't time to think: ignoring the lingering burning of her leg muscles, she dove for the nearest object - a pitchfork - and lifted it up. In her grasp, it almost felt like a children's toy with how unexpectedly light it was, not to mention its comparatively small size. It clearly was not designed for human hands, not that that particularly mattered at the moment.

The mantis screeched excitedly as it stomped up to Sprig, the frog still in the process of picking himself up. The mantis clearly didn't intend on giving him time to recover. Anne saw the insect raise both of its arms high overhead, intent on bringing both down at once and crushing the frog boy into pink paste. She didn't give it the chance. Flipping the pitchfork into a reverse-handed grip, she drew it back and, with a grunt, hurled it at the mantis like a javelin.

Her plan, she figured, as the makeshift weapon left her grip, was for the pitchfork to fly straight through the air and pierce the mantis' carapace, causing enough pain to distract it, or maybe even kill it outright if she got lucky. The reality, sadly, wasn't quite as impressive as how it went in her head. Pitchforks were not exactly aerodynamic, nor were they even remotely designed to be used or thrown in such a way, nor was Anne's hurling form particularly good to begin with. Shortly after it left her grasp, instead of flying in a straight and true line as she'd imagined, it instead sailed in a loose arc, flipping end-over-end until it eventually collided shaft-first with the backside of the mantis' abdomen. The attack, unsurprisingly, did absolutely nothing to hurt the monster. It did, however, succeed in causing the mantis to momentarily halt its attack as it shifted forward slightly from the impact. Chittering in either confusion or agitation, the giant insect turned slightly in order to see where the unexpected hit had come from.

"HEY!" Anne heard herself call out as the pupil of one of its large eyes locked onto her. Seeing that she had its attention, at least for the moment, she capitalized by picking up another nearby discarded weapon, a small wooden mallet, and quickly took aim. "Pick on someone your own size, you overgrown bug!" she shouted, hurling the wooden mallet in her hand at the mantis as hard as she could.

A moment later, a dull THWACK filled the air as the mallet, flipping through the air, struck the mantis cleanly on the back of its head. The monster's head rocked to the side a bit from the impact, but it was still otherwise uninjured. Clicking its mandibles loudly in response, the mantis took one step to rotate toward Anne, then stopped, and turn its head back toward Sprig. For the next several seconds, its gaze shifted back and forth between the small frog on the ground close to it, and the girl currently throwing objects at it, clearly trying to decide which of the two to focus on.

In order to help it make a decision, Anne picked up a third object, this time an unlit torch (which honestly was shaped more like an oversized matchstick), and hurled it at the mantis as well. This time her aim proved even better than with the mallet, and she surprised herself with her own accuracy as the club nailed the mantis right on one of its large violet eyes, immediately causing it to visibly recoil and raise both its arms in an attempt to block any further projectiles. With that, its mind was made up. It turned toward her fully, its full ire now once again focused on the human.

Anne saw out of the corner of her eye as Sprig finished picking himself off the ground. For a brief moment, she cheered inwardly at her success. Her face quickly fell as the mantis roared with rage and began rapidly stomping back toward her, closing the distance in seconds. She hadn't thought about what she would do after getting the bug's attention.

"Oh crud!" she yelped, diving to the side as the mantis lifted its arms again and crashed them into the spot where she'd been standing. Flecks of displaced dirt and twigs showered her as she hit the ground and quickly rolled back onto her feet. Adrenaline flooded back into her veins, and for the moment her exhaustion and soreness were completely forgotten. She looked up just in time to see the mantis tear one of its arms out of the ground and swing it toward her, requiring her to dive out of the way again. She could feel the wind rush over her as the sharp, thorny limb sailed past.

Scrambling backward, Anne tried to quickly put as much distance as she could between herself and the mantis. Her eyes traveled up its body in an effort to spot some sort of weakness or blind spot, but she found none. The only thing she could spot out of the ordinary with it - besides its unholy size, of course - was the rope Sprig had managed to partially wrap around it, still miraculously clinging to its body after everything, but not yet inhibiting its movements. From out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sprig jump up onto the giant insect's back. The mantis didn't even seem to notice the frog's presence at this point, instead keeping all of its attention on her.

Sprig looked down at her from his new position. He looked a little ragged, though Anne imagined she probably looked way worse than he did. She wasn't sure how to describe his expression as he met her gaze, and not simply because he was a frog. It was like he had half a dozen different emotions on his face all at once. He looked worried, but also frantic. Serious, confused and questioning. The end of the rope, she noticed, was still being clutched in his hand, and still seemed intact.

From her prone position on the ground, Anne returned Sprig's gaze, put on as confident a look as she could muster, and nodded at him. She hoped that it would be enough to help him understand what she was doing for him, because she really didn't have time to stop and play charades. Throwing herself back to her feet, she returned her attention to the mantis, just as it began raising one of its arms again. She gulped and backed up another few steps, forcing herself to wait instead of turning and running as her instincts wanted.

It was all or nothing, now. Anne knew what Sprig was planning, but the little frog wouldn't be able to tie up the mantis while it was trying to kill him. Meaning, like it or not, Anne would have to keep it distracted… which would be way easier said than done. She couldn't afford to try another wrestling match with it, and there was no way she could jump and sprint in circles around it like Sprig had been doing - she wasn't nearly quick enough for that, and last she checked she couldn't jump several yards into the air. And, of course, if she got hit even once, that'd be it. Game over. A fact she was acutely aware of as she saw the arm twitch overhead.

Time slowed. She could feel her heart hammering in her chest, feel herself hyperventilating. She needed to breathe. She needed to focus. She took one single, deep breath and tried to force herself to calm down. No easy task, but she at the very least no longer felt the blood pounding in her ears. Unbidden, familiar words played in her mind like a mantra.

'Jai yen yen. Be patient. Stay calm. Focus.'

…she couldn't help but idly wonder how her strip mall Muay Thai instructor would react if he knew she was channeling his lessons against a giant praying mantis on an alien world. But just as she was picturing his bewildered expression, the mantis moved.

As soon as the arm began its descent, she dove and rolled to the side, letting it miss her. Once she felt the ground beneath her again, she immediately sprang back to her feet and started running. She darted in a wide circle around the mantis, keeping one eye on the mantis's limbs as she moved. The mantis turned with her, continuing its awful hissing and chittering noise. She didn't stop moving. When she saw a shadow pass over her, she immediately pivoted on her heel and dove again to the left without waiting to see what was making it. A moment later, she heard another heavy blow behind her and felt the ground shake underfoot from the missed attack. Again, she sprung back to her feet and kept moving.

Deep breaths, in and out. Her eyes were locked onto the monster mantis for any movement. As soon as she saw it shift, lean, or scuttle forward in one direction, she immediately dove in the other. She may not have been a nimble little frog, but one thing she did have under her belt was years of tennis practice. She hadn't made varsity for nothing, after all. It didn't seem like much on paper, but if nothing else it had improved her stamina and made her good at timing her reactions. Of course, that was on a tennis court. Whether it would keep her alive against a monster mantis the size of a toolshed that was trying to slice and dice her, though…well, she just had to hope. Hope, pray, and desperately try not to give herself a chance to think about how many times she'd come close to death in the last two minutes.

She ducked and slid as the mantis swung at her again, narrowly avoiding what would have been a very gruesome haircut…she forced the image out of her mind. As she quickly stood back up, however, she caught a blur of movement out of the corner of her eye. She risked a glance in its direction… and couldn't help the relieved grin that spread across her face when she saw Sprig descending across the mantis' backside, keeping himself out of sight as he draped more of the rope over its joints and forelimbs without the mantis even realizing it. Then the mantis raised its arm at her again, and she was back on the defensive.

Anne soon lost track of how long she'd been running, or how many times she'd ducked, slid, or dived out of the way of an attack that would definitely have killed her. It could have been less than a minute, or half an hour, or anything in between. Time got kind of funny when you were sprinting and dodging for your life, it turned out. All the while though, Sprig continued to jump and hop up and around, over and under, curve and loop around the bug's body. He wove himself between the mantis' legs and arms and sprang off of every nearby tree trunk and overhead branch as he slowly wrapped up the mantis more and more. The mantis was shrieking near-constantly, increasing in rage and volume with each failed attack. Its speed and fury continued to rise, rise, and rise.

Their efforts finally paid off when Anne saw the mantis take a step to the side in an attempt to block her path. She saw it prepare to raise its arm again. She prepared herself to lunge out of the way of the next attack… only, the attack never came. Instead, she watched with surprise as the mantis stumbled and almost tripped. Unbeknownst to it, the rope around its arm had been connected to one of its lower legs; this time, when it tried to lift said arm, it pulled the leg along with it, yanking itself off-balance. The mantis caught itself before it fell over and growled in confusion as it finally seemed to notice the rope which was now wrapped several times loosely around each of its six appendages and most of its abdomen.

At that moment, Sprig descended from the treetops overhead. Using his falling momentum and the surprised and confused mantis as an anchor, he swung twice in a circle around the giant insect, catching its arms within what remained of the rope and wrapping them against its abdomen. With that maneuver, though, it seemed the rope had finally reached the limit of its length. Sprig landed on the ground beside the mantis, and Anne watched as the frog quickly turned around, gripped the rope with both his hands and pulled.

The rope instantly went taught, drawing all of the mantis' limbs in toward one another and preventing it from moving or lashing out in retaliation. Anne smiled when the mantis screeched angrily in response to its movement being restricted. At first, it seemed to be working… but as the seconds ticked by, and the monster's struggle continued, that smile quickly faded. The mantis forcefully extended its legs and arms, straining them outward, causing the rope to loosen and making Sprig groan with effort. Even if he had it almost completely tied up, the sheer difference in strength between him and the mantis was abundantly clear. The two strained against each other, but it looked like it was taking everything the little frog had just to keep the rope from coming free, whereas the mantis still had enough leverage on its own limbs to be able to effectively push against its own bindings.

Anne watched with mounting dread as the mantis slowly but surely extended both of its arms outward against its bindings, causing the rope around them to stretch and fray, becoming thinner and thinner with each passing second. It wouldn't be long before it broke free, and Sprig wasn't strong enough to pull the rope any tighter. Anne felt the panic mount in her chest one more.

'No, no, no! Not after all that! Come on, there has to be something…!'

Her eyes shifted from right to left, following the rope from Sprig's hands to the mantis, then to the ground, then…

'There!'

Anne could see, on the opposite side of the mantis from where Sprig was standing, the other end of the rope. The pile it had once been a part of was nowhere to be seen, and what little remained that wasn't tied around the mantis was trailing on the ground behind one of its forelegs. Without thinking, she got up and sprinted for it. With each step she took, the sound of the rope fraying and snapping grew louder and louder in her ears, along with the sound of the mantis' roars. She blocked it out and pushed herself faster.

Ten feet. Five feet. As soon as she was close enough, she slid onto her knees and reached forward. The instant she felt the rough material in her hands, she leaned backward and yanked as hard as she could manage.

The effect was immediate. Sprig had been strong enough to bring the rope taught, but as soon as Anne added her own strength to the mix from the other end, the bindings snapped together, instantly forcing all of the mantis' limbs against its body and removing any and all leverage it had to try and break free. With all four of its lower legs now bound tightly into a single column, the mantis shrieked and teetered in place for several seconds, trying almost comically to keep itself upright. Without proper support though, its own size and weight was too much for it to stay standing. Eventually the giant insect tilted backwards like a felled tree, hitting the ground with a ground-shaking THUD.

Letting go of the rope, Anne almost breathed a sigh of relief… but stopped when the mantis' roar pierced the air again. Even from its bound and prone position, it was still struggling. It rolled from side to side, straining against the ropes keeping it in place. The ones around its arms that had already begun to fray were continuing to unravel, threatening to snap at any moment. The monster wouldn't stay bound for long.

'Oh, no. No you don't,' Anne thought furiously. This thing had hounded her for days. It had tried to fillet her within minutes of her appearing in this forest. It had come close to killing her countless times. It had made her risk her life for a stranger three times in less than an hour. It had made that same stranger risk their life to try to save her. She wasn't about to go through all that again. She was done. With angry determination, she got back to her feet and stormed over to the bug's head… or rather, to the loose rock where she'd been sitting with Sprig earlier, which the mantis had conveniently fallen right next to.

The mantis continued to writhe and twist and strain. As the seconds passed, the feeble ropes binding its limbs proved too weak to keep it held in place. Bit by bit they came loose. It wouldn't be long before it broke free and finally put down its stubbornly persistent prey.

From close by, the mantis heard the sound of a furious growl, along with the sound of displaced dirt as something was pulled… ripped out of the ground. The mantis didn't care, it simply continued its attempts to get free… until a shadow fell over its head, blocking the light through the foliage. For a moment, it stopped struggling and twisted its gaze to see what the cause was.

The last thing it saw was Anne standing over it, breathing heavily, her eyes faintly flickering blue against her silhouetted form. Small flecks of dirt rained from a large moss-covered rock twice the size of her torso, clutched in both her hands and held high over her head. With a final enraged shout, she half-dropped, half-hurled the rock straight downward.

CRUUUNCH.


A:N / Fatality.

*ahem* SO.

*claps hands*

Believe it or not, I actually had most of what I thought would be Chapter 2 written out by the time the first chapter went up, and I meant to have Chapter 2 posted MUCH sooner. But, well… I read through it, and things just weren't clicking, I guess? It felt like it was missing a lot of stuff. I ended up revising and rewriting most of the chapter several times, while also adding more scenes to it. And then, before I knew what had happened, this chapter ended up being almost TWICE as long as the last one! My track record of turning 12 minutes of animation into excessively wordy essays continues, apparently. I didn't want the second chapter (covering the second half of the first episode) to end up being twice as long as the first chapter, so instead… I'm splitting it up again! That's right, Anne or Beast is now a Three-Parter!

Don't worry though, I'm not planning on this being a regular thing with every new chapter I post. The first episode of the show is surprisingly dense when you deconstruct everything that happens in it. Combine that with my writing style and I guess I shouldn't be surprised it turned out this way. (Still, Frog save my soul when I eventually get to the actually long and plot-heavy episodes of this show. Reunion looms menacingly on the horizon…)

The good news is that, as a result of this unexpected development, Chapter 3 is already basically fully written. I just need to go through the final revisions. Expect it to go up in about a week-ish. In the meantime, I hope you all enjoyed me taking a 20-second fight scene from the show and extending it into nearly 10,000 words. I may have a problem.

Anywho, I'll see you kindly folks next time for the wrap-up. Stay safe.