Chapter 6

Meet the Family

Skateboarding. Was there anything more SoCal?

There hadn't been much opportunity to do it back in Wartwood. Even if she'd had her skateboard, which she didn't, the marshy ground wasn't even close to suitable.

She'd almost forgotten how much she'd loved it. The speed, the risk, the opportunity to show off. It'd been way too long away from the skate park. And yet, as she double-reverse-ollie'd off the half-ipe into a handstand, all she could really think was Sprig and Polly would be loving this.

The sudden thought threw off her landing and she wiped out at the bottom. This is why we save the guilt pangs 'til after we're on the ground, she reminded herself.

"Harsh beef, Boonchuy," Vince commented, sliding up to the pipe on his own board.

"Just a little rusty is all," Anne remarked, getting back to her feet. "This is why we wear the pads. Also, 'harsh beef'? Is this a 90's sitcom?"

"Lay off, Vince," Cheyenne interjected. "She probably didn't have a chance to do much skateboarding where she was. You know. The bunker."

"The whatnow?" asked Anne.

"See, she's suppressing the memory. It's okay, Anne… there's no shame in being kidnapped by an apocalyptic cult like on that Webflix show."

"Umm… yeahyeah that's not what happened." Anne protested. "That's just a rumor that you started."

"So you did run away to Vegas!" Vince concluded.

Anne rolled her eyes. "Sure, Vince. I ran away to Vegas."

"Dude! Called it!" Vince declared, flashing the devil-horns of victory. "Bragging rights! *air guitar*"

"How does he manage to make air guitar sound like the real thing?" wondered Maggie.

"My question is how does he manage to not get that I was being sarcastic? I laid it on pretty thick."

Maggie shrugged. "At least the rumors about you stayed in the PG-13 range. They could've been a lot worse."

"I try not to think about that," admitted Anne. "The one about the sewer gator actually wasn't far off from something that really did happen to me…"

Maggie perked up. "Are you serious?"

Anne realized that, for the first time, she had actually let something about her time in Amphibia slip out to someone that wasn't her family or her therapist. Maybe… maybe it was time. "Can we talk somewhere a little more private?"

"Okay," agreed Maggie. "There's a spot behind the south ramp that's pretty secluded. No one ever has any reason to go there, so it's nice and private."

"Good. The stuff I'm about to tell you is for no one else's ears..."

Several blocks away, in an old parking lot behind a defunct roller rink, sat what appeared to be an off-duty ice cream truck. One with the opportunity to look inside would find not bomb pops, Italian ice, or ice-cream bars shaped vaguely like popular cartoon characters, but walls of surveillance and forensics equipment. And two agents, one of which was having very mixed feelings about the current situation.

On the screen in front of him, he could see a full-color image through the tiny camera/audio receiver that was currently embedded in the back of Maggie Paulsen-O'Riley's trademark ball cap. He'd known to do this because Maggie always wore her cap backward.

He'd known she always wore the cap backward because he was Maggie's father.

The thought of using his own child to spy on someone gnawed at his conscience, but the fact was, in several weeks of surveillance of the Boonchuy girl they had almost nothing to show for it. They still ad virtually no data on where she'd been, how she'd suddenly appeared in the middle of an LA freeway out of thin air, and what the odd creatures she'd been seen with were. So the sudden fact that his daughter had befriended the girl came as a convenient stroke of luck and in a moment of weakness, he'd taken advantage of it.

It wasn't like she had to know, after all, he rationalized.

Rhodes glanced back at him. "Looks like we're about to get some information finally," he said. "How dd you manage to get someone that close?"

"I have someone undercover," he lied. Didn't need someone else judging him. He was doing a fine job of that himself. "You know… pose as a kid, befriend the target, get close…"

"Damn, that's cold," remarked Rhodes approvingly, filling Paulsen with a fresh wave of shame.

This better be worth it, he thought.

There was a small railing on the rear wall of the ramp. It didn't seem to have much of a structural purpose, but it was there at it was something they could rest their butts on.

"Okay. What I'm going to tell you is probably going to sound insane. Like, "back away 'cause maybe she's got a knife' insane."

"…do… you have a knife?" Maggie asked uneasily.

"I have a sword but I left it at home," Anne joked (Maggie hoped, anyway). "I did bring something, kind of a bribe so you'd hear me out…" She fished around in her backpack, bringing out something cylindrical and wrapped in foil. "I figured you might as well get to finally try one of these. Seeing as you tried to steal mine a few months back."

"Oh," Maggie replied, blushing. "You didn't really have to…"

"It's fine, it's fine," assured Anne. "I wanted to."

"Well, if you insist," Maggie said, unwrapping the package. "What's this called again?"

"Khao Niew Bing," explained Anne. "Basically, it's a sticky rice bun with filling, and then it's wrapped in a banana leaf and grilled. It's usually filled with something like banana or bean paste, but I've been experimenting with other stuff like chocolate hazelnut spread."

"You made this?"

"Yep. You get to be my guinea pig!"

"Oh, joy," Maggie replied shakily. She hesitantly took a bite. "It's… actually really good," she said in astonishment.

"Yeah, the coconut milk adds a natural sweetness so you don't need sugar, although I kinda undercut that by using a chocolate filling…"

"No, seriously, this is really good…"

"Oh good, I was afraid I'd overcooked it…" You're stalling. Focusing on the trivia of cooking do distract herself from actually letting out her secrets. C'mon Anne, you can handle this. You survived giant moles, frog-eating weasels, and a demon chicken. This is nothing. "So… where I've been."

"Where you've been," echoed Maggie, prompting.

"It all started when Marcy, Sasha and I found this weird little music box." That would do for the moment. No need to get into the nitty gritty of who shoplifted what or who stranded who where… that wasn't important, at least not at this moment. "When I opened it, there was this flash of light and I was… somewhere else."

"You're right, this sounds insane," noted Maggie. "But go on."

"I was in this swamp. And next to this swamp, there was this little village . And in this little village, there were… talking frogs."

"…and this is revenge for all those years I picked on you. I have to admit, it's a creative way to go… I mean, I would've gone with a flaming poo bag or something along those lines, but this is less messy and more psychological…."

"I'm serious! There was this whole village of frogs, and they talked and wore clothes and ran small businesses and had dreams and loves and aspirations… this old farmer frog and his grandkids took me in and we got into all sorts of crazy situations and learned valuable life lessons…"

"Sounds like some kind of cartoon, to be honest…"

"Oh, it was real, all right. Giant monster animals, Western outlaw gangs… this one time some frog con man tried to put me in a freak show… I swear, it was like every eleven minutes it was something else."

"This… you realize how crazy this make you sound, right?" Maggie reminded.

"Yes, I was pretty clear right at the beginning that this would sound like the ramblings of a lunatic, and in the old days I probably would've just kept it to myself, but one of those valuable lessons I talked about was that you're better off being true to yourself than trying to impress people."

"And did a frog teach you that lesson?" queried Maggie wryly.

"As a matter of fact, yes," Anne confirmed.

Maggie was looking uneasy at this point. "Yeah, maybe I should-"

"Again, I know it sounds crazy, but I actually have a ton of proof!"

"…you do?"

"Loads! Check this out!" She pulled out her phone and opened her photo album. "Talking frogs and killer creatures up the wazoo!"

Maggie scanned the pictures as Anne swiped through her album. "I have to admit… those look pretty hard to fake – wait. That pink kid. I've seen him before."

"Yerp. You met him back at the con."

"…so wait, that wasn't a costume?"

"Well, technically, it was, but the part where he's a definitely real talking frog boy wasn't."

Maggie felt a bit dizzy. "…okay, this is a lot to process."

"It's okay, take a moment."

"Damn it, the camera isn't facing the phone!" complained Rhodes. "All this proof of otherworldly life on that device, and we can't see any of it!"

"At least we're getting some information," Paulsen replied.

"For whatever that's worth," retorted Rhodes. "Some nebulous claim that she was in 'another world' full of talking frogs."

"Have you seen the photo from the day the Boonchuy girl reappeared?" reminded Paulsen.

"Of course," replied Rhodes. "It was part of the initial briefing."

"Well, take a look again." He brought it up on one of the many screens in the van. "Now, tell me… what do those things look like?"

Rhodes glanced at the photo. "…well, I'll be."

"Exactly. We have visual proof that these creatures exist. And now, we have at least some idea of where they came from, this other 'world'… whether it's another planet or a parallel dimension, apparently Boonchuy was there."

"Thinks she was there," corrected Rhodes.

"I know someone has to play the Scully, but we have visual confirmation that sentient froglike creatures exist and have been present in this very city. Until another, more likely possibility presents itself, Occam's Razor suggests that Boonchuy's so-called 'frog world' is the source of this incursion."

"It's still hard to believe. Parallel worlds and all…"

"You haven't been in the division long, have you? A few years back there was a massive dimensional incursion centered in Oregon. There was a huge cover-up, and even our records are spotty, but it happened, undeniably. There are further records of very recent otherdimensional activity in Connecticut. I hate to make another X-Files reference, but the truth is out there. And it's our task to find it." Well, that sounded good. Good enough to justify using his own daughter as a spy without her knowledge? Did it matter? At this point, he'd committed to the plan. Nothing more could be done.

At this point, the girls had resumed looking at the photos on the phone. "Wait," Magge said, "is that Marcy?" This was the first mention of one of the other two missing girls since Boonchuy had described the moment of their departure.

"That's from when the two of us met up in Newtopia… that's the capital city. See, the box didn't send us all to one place. While I wound up with the frogs, she wound up with the newt rulers."

Maybe this was going to pay off. It was entirely possible they were about to find out just why only one of the girls had made it home.

"And what about Sasha?"

"Sasha was there too. She wound up with the toad army, and… I guess she decided that she was a good fit." She sighed. "There was… a lot of friction there and I don't like to talk about it, but the upshot is… I had to do a lot of reconsidering about who my friends were." This was drifting uncomfortably close to somewhere Anne didn't want to go. Her feelings about her friends were… complicated. She'd largely forgiven Marcy, though her betrayal still stung a bit. Sasha… that was a bit more of a grey area. And while she still felt she owed it to her to find a way back, she wasn't sure that extended to forgiving her. Some friendships were just better off left behind.

But all that was moot until they would actually be face to face. And all that certainly had nothing to do with Maggie. Maggie was supposed to be a fresh start, a clean slate.

Anyway, the subject needed changing. "Hey, I know… I think it's time you met my family!" She grabbed Maggie and pulled her along.

"Oh, are we going to your family's restaurant? 'Cause I had lunch already and it's kinda still early…"

"No, my other family."

"C'mon, Sprig, you gotta see this," insisted Polly.

"Well, all right, but I'm expecting a huge payoff…"

"Oh, there's gonna be one, believe it."

The two approached Domino, dozing in her little cat bed. "Watch this," Polly commanded, laying something green in front of the peacefully-sleeping kitten.

"That's… just a cucumber…"

"*giggle* I know!" Polly replied. "Now, watch this…" She let out a whistle.

The kitten's ears twitched a bit. She lazily opened one eye… then suddenly snapped awake, fur stading on end, backing hastily away from the vegetable. Polly burst into laughter at the sight.

"I… I don't get it…" Sprig said, confused.

"She's terrified of cucumbers! Isn't that hilarious?"

"I dunno, it seems kinda mean… *pause* …does it work with zucchini?"

"Only one way to find out. To the fridge!"

The two younger frogs were hopping toward the kitchen when the door opened. They dived behind the couch, as was usual protocol when unexpected visitors came by during the day when the Boonchuys weren't home.

"I don't see anyone," a vaguely familiar voice said. Sprig was trying to remember when he'd heard it.

"Oh, they're here somewhere," a much more familiar voice replied. "Sprig! Polly! Hop-Pop! You can come out!"

"Hop-Pop's in the pool. You sure it's safe?" asked the small pink frog.

"We're not psychologically tormenting the cat!" added Polly.

"Ignoring that... anyway, here's someone here I want you to meet."

"All right…" Sprig leaped over the couch, landing in front of Anne. With her was another human, a pale-skinned girl with orange hair in two braids and a backward purple cap. "Hi! I'm Sprig Plantar, talking frog from another world! I like your face spots!"

"Uh… thanks…?" the new girl replied hesitantly. "I'm, uh… Maggie…"

"Yo," Polly said, scooting up, offering a flipper. "I'm Polly. 'Sup."

"…hi…" Maggie said, gingerly taking her flipper. "And that's… slimier than I expected…"

"You're doing fine," Anne assured her. "You haven't fainted yet."

"So… you guys are really frogs…"

"We're dealing with a real mind here, aren't we," Polly remarked sarcastically.

"Go easy, it's a lot to take in," Anne scolded.

"No kidding!" Maggie added. "Everything I know has been called into question! TALKING FROGS ARE REAL!"

"I think she needs a moment or two to get past this… " Sprig suggested.

"Maybe… hey, why don't we get you a glass of water or something,"

"Yeah, that'd be good," agreed Maggie, allowing Anne to lead her to the kitchen, where another shock awaited her… an elderly frog man in his underwear rummaging through the fridge.

"…can't believe they don't have fly paste in this world. How you supposed to make a worm-on-rye without it?" he was mumbling. "I suppose mayo will have to do…"

"Uh, Hop-Pop?" Anne interrupted. "We have a guest…"

Hop-Pop turned away from the fridge, first taking notice of the new human. "Ohhh… uh… this… this is normal. This is normal for frogs."

"It's not, but sometimes Hop-Pop makes himself a little too at home. Hop-Pop.. this is my friend Maggie."

"Ma'am," Hop-Pop greeted, bowing a little. This proved to be Maggie's limit as she keeled over.

"Theeeere it is," noted Polly.

"There it is," echoed Rhodes unknowingly. "Proof that there are creatures from another world, and this family is knowingly harboring them."

It was true. There it was… proof, right there on the screen. By shameful means, but in the end, didn't the eds justify the means? What agent worth his salt didn't believe that? "It does appear to be the case," he replied neutrally.

"Should we go in, then?"

"No," Paulsen found himself saying. For one, using her though he was, that was still his daughter in there and he didn't want her in the middle of anything. And two, and this was the reasoning he was going to use out loud, "They don't appear to be any kind of threat at the moment. From all appearances, they're just two small children and an old man."

Rhodes looked uneasy. "Director Powers is gong to want some kind of progress. It's been weeks."

Paulsen sighed. "Tell them what we know. The 'aliens' appear to be harmless. More observation is needed. That's all we can say at this point."

"It's a shame we can't get a more permanent surveillance device in there," suggested Rhodes.

Actually, that would probably be something that could be done, now that they had an in… mentally, Paulsen scolded himself. It was getting easier and easier to justify this sort of thing. Best not to go down that route until it was absolutely necessary.

"Well, that was embarrassing," admitted Maggie.

"You lasted longer than my dad," assured Anne.

"Maggie, I'm sorry if we got off on the wrong flipper," Hop-Pop, now wearing shorts and a "Foxy Grandpa" T-shirt, said. "I had no idea company was coming."

"It's all right, I should have called ahead," Anne apologized. "My bad."

"So… you guys really are… talking frogs."

"You seem kinda stuck on that," Polly pointed out.

"It's a lot!" Maggie insisted. "You expect certain things, and when you run into something that defies all those expectations, naturally you're gonna have a difficult time dealing with it! But…" deep breath "I… think I can manage it now. I just have to accept that everything I know is wrong."

"No, just the part about frogs not talking. And the fact other dimensions exist. It's actually really easy to assimilate. I did it pretty quickly."

Hop-Pop smirked. "Oh, really. I remember a sold month of 'back where I come from, we had hot running water' and 'back home, gerbils couldn't swallow you whole' and 'in my world, you ate tomatoes instead of the other way around'…"

"Well, obviously a period of adjustment is to be expected," remarked Anne, blushing. "But I did fit in eventually."

"Let me ask you something, Maggie," Polly asked. "What are your thoughts on… shenanigans."

Maggie smiled a bit. "I'm pro-shenanigans for the most part."

"I think we're gonna get along fine," decided Polly.

"Well, thank frog this is working out," Anne remarked. "I was worried about this, but it was driving me crazy being out there having fun without you too. Now maybe the four of us can finally hang out together. Maybe go back and hit up the skate park…."

"Tell me of this…. 'skate park'" suggested Sprig.

"Ohhh baby, you're gonna love this. 'There's all these ramps and rails, and you get up on one of these babies *holds up skateboard** and one of two things happen… you either horribly injure yourself, or you pull off sick tricks."

"Show me," Sprig replied, eyes sparkling.

"Well, there's going to be a lot of people there," Maggie reasoned.

"Ohhh," the two frog kids said, disappointed.

"…so clearly we're gonna have to sneak in after-hours," Maggie continued conspiratorially.

"There's no word in that sentence I don't love!" Polly cheered.

"You can do that?"

"I do it all the time!" confirmed Maggie. "There's a spot in the fence that's really easy to squeeze through."

"I feel like I should be saying something responsible at this point, but you kids never listen anyway," Hop-Pop said. "Besides… I know you can handle yourselves."

"Cool, so… we're doing this tonight?"

"Mmm, better not," Anne replied. "I have the dinner shift tonight at Thai Go. Besides, it's easier to sneak out on weekends."

"All right then. Friday night. We're doing this."

"Yes! Breaking and entering for the win!" agreed Polly.

Okay, so… maybe this was trending into illegal activity, but breaking into a free public skate park seems pretty tame on a scale from 1 to overthrow the Newtopian government… might as well walk on the wild side, reasoned Anne. It's been a while since I did anything like this, anyway… I kinda miss it.

Besides… who was gonna know?

A.N.: Well, at least she didn't say "what could possibly go wrong?"

Jose: Bullies are nothing, but can she handle the feds? We'll find out.

Next: Skate Frogs.