Buff Frog was perched in the canopy of a large, towering tree with expansive green leaves. He was seated down on one of the tree's mighty branches, peering through a pair of binoculars. He was searching the entirety of the forest that he could see, panning back and forth for the presence of River Butterfly. But it had been two hours already and he had yet seen anything of relevance to the search. Buff Frog was by no means a fan of having to sit in a tree for hours and observe others. He was fine with being forced to spy on Star, since she was almost always doing something magical or fun with Marco. But as for being forced to sit in a tree and search in vain for River Butterfly's past self in 1985? That was far beyond that call of duty, as far as he was concerned.
"Ludo said search for River Butterfly would not be hard." he muttered. "He very wrong. I been here forever and River Butterfly not anywhere."
Suddenly, he heard the rustling of leaves directly below where he was sitting. Hoping that it was Ludo coming to tell him it was time for a break, Buff Frog quickly lowered his binoculars and stared in the direction of the noise. Much to his dismay, Ludo was not the one climbing up the tree. Instead, it was Bearicorn, who had come to check up on Buff Frog's progress. He sat down as comfortably as he could in the cramped space of the tree canopy.
"Why are you here?!" grumbled Buff Frog.
"Boss sent me here." answered Bearicorn. "He wants to know if you've found anything."
Buff Frog hung his binoculars around his neck by the strap. "Tell him that I look for two hours and River Butterfly not anywhere near."
"Keep trying. You might find him by sunrise tomorrow morning." teased Bearicorn.
"I'll try." said Buff Frog.
Bearicorn began to leave, but suddenly changed his mind, having remembered the other reason why Ludo sent him to climb the tree.
"Not to mention, he also wants to know if you're looking in the right spot."
"I look exactly where he told me to look." argued Buff Frog.
"You sure?" asked Bearicorn as he walked out onto the branch Buff Frog was standing on. "Boss told me he wants you to sit over there."
Buff Frog squinted as he looked over to where Bearicorn was pointing towards: an adjacent branch. "Master want me to look from where I am."
"He changed his mind, apparently." assumed Bearicorn. "Now you should sit over there or—"
The branch the two were standing on began to sag downward and tremble slightly. Both monsters became visibly shocked.
"What you do to make branch shake?!" yelled Buff Frog.
"I didn't do anything!" insisted Bearicorn. "If anyone did anything, then it was you who—"
Suddenly, the branch Buff Frog and Bearicorn were standing on snapped completely in two. Within a split second, gravity took over and the two began to tumble towards the ground, eventually causing them to land on the damp forest floor with a tremendous thud. Although Ludo and Toffee were camped several hundred yards away from where they had fallen, they quickly became aware of the fall.
"What's that?!" asked Ludo, who was obviously disturbed by the sound of the fall.
"Sounds like your lookout has fallen out of the tree he was supposed to be sitting in." grumbled Toffee.
"Do you think Chad is hurt or something?" asked Ludo.
Toffee folded his arms and scoffed. "He fell less than twenty feet. Surely his injuries, if he is injured, are minor. Cuts, bruises, internal bleeding, et cetera. My concerns do not lie in the state of his health, but in the state of the health of our plan."
"Still, it's not that big of a deal!" claimed Ludo. "It's not like anyone heard him fall!"
"I beg to differ." argued Toffee. "When his body slammed into the ground, the ground shook, in a manner analogous to a small earthquake."
"Still, who cares?!" retorted the kappa monster. "Chad's a reliable minion!"
Toffee folded his arms in ambivalence. "Whether he is reliable or not is irrelevant. What is relevant is whether our plan is still being conducted in we secrecy."
"What's so important about secrecy?" questioned Ludo.
"As we discussed previously, our plan is to keep our actions secret until we send out Three-Eyed Potato Baby to give these locals the story of River Butterfly's kidnapping." dictated Toffee. "The secrecy of this plan was already on thin ice before we added you and all of your cronies to the mix."
"Maybe you're on to something." conceded the kappa monster.
"I am on to something." muttered Toffee. "It's called how we're going to get that magic wand and put an end to this arduous, drawn-out war with Princess Butterfly and her family. But if you mess up this plan, then our chances of success will dwindle to near zero. I hope you understand my point."
Ludo sat down the soft grass near a tree. "I get what you're saying. We need to be more careful so we won't ruin our plan. Besides, I've waited far too long to get my hands on that magic wand!"
Meanwhile, much deeper in the thickets of trees and grasses, a teenage boy crept along, searching for feral monsters. He had been searching for the past few hours, but so far had yet to find anything worth hunting. His blonde hair was damp with the moisture of the humid, sultry forest. His iron sword was beginning to show the signs of rusting. As he listened intently for the sounds of monsters walking about, he began to hear noises. It sounded like muffled conversation, but he was too far away from the source to be able to decipher it.
"Say, what is making that noise?" he wondered as he resumed his search.