Chapter 2

There was a frog staring at her, a rather large frog that Bubbles was a bit nervous to try and pass.

She came across it after walking a few rooms deeper into the mountain. She hadn't been forced to stay in the darkness for much longer after she had decided to get on the move, thankfully, and it had been washed away abruptly by the sudden appearance of bright lights that revealed architecture that surprised her with its purple walls and floors, stairways, and water channels. Bubbles wondered how far it all extended and for what person.

She had been making her way along in a slow, steady pace with frequent breaks to catch her breath, heavy panting and aching muscles turning her movements sluggish, her feet dragging across the floor in protest against her will to move forward. Just a room back during one of her many breaks, she had leaned against a rather randomly placed dummy for support. Its presence had given her a strange sense of comfort.

It had been a short-lived comfort as she immediately came across the mega frog with the creepy eyes.

Bubbles glanced behind her, once again making sure that it was her the frog was actually staring at. She moved a little to the left and the eyes stayed trained on her.

Why was it looking at her like that?! It was so rude!

"Ah... um..." Her voice sounded as nervous as she felt, overpowering any indignation she felt with a tremble. It wasn't like the frog was actually doing anything to her, right? Maybe it still wouldn't try to do anything if she tried to pass. She didn't have to actually confront it.

Her attention drifted back to the frog and it continued to stare back at her impassively, never having moved one inch.

With one quick nod of satisfaction, Bubbles took a step forward.

The frog didn't move.

Throwing a wary smile towards the frog, Bubbles took another step forward, smile growing wider as she continued passed it. The frog's eyes followed her, but still, it didn't move towards her.

Regaining some vitality, Bubbles gave a little wave to the frog as goodbye, a small motion of her fingers dancing in the air, and she spun on her heels to leave.

A few steps down the hall, she came across a floor of spikes.

"Oh, really?"

To the owner's credit, it wasn't just a floor of spikes. It was a floor of spikes on water.

Bubbles sighed, looking around the room for a switch to pull as she had done in a room before. She wondered about the use for a floor of spikes.

'It's to keep trespassers out,' a voice spoke in her head. It sounded suspiciously like Blossom.

"I'm not trespassing," Bubbles spoke absently, hands running along the walls for a switch when she didn't immediately spot one. "I'm looking for help after I was trapped down here."

She backed away from the wall, going back to the bridge approaching the spikes. She paid no mind to the sudden dampness her foot with the missing shoe felt, sock soaking up the water scattered across the bridge. She was too busy looking at the air forlornly, thinking of how easy it should have been to fly across. Then again, she still hadn't tried to after her first attempt. Maybe she could now…?

In another moment of decisiveness, Bubbles took a step back, then turned around to continue the distance she would use for a running start.

"Ribbit, ribbit."

There was a mega frog staring at her with creepy eyes right from the toes of her feet.

Bubbles screeched and stumbled back, slipping on the wet ground beneath her. Her arms reached out for balance and her hands grabbed at nothing but air. Time seemed to slow for Bubbles as her body continued its backwards descent to where she knew the spikes were.

She didn't even have time to screw her eyes shut.

"Oomph."

Bubbles exhaled loudly, the air knocked out of her. She stared up with wide eyes in a daze.

"Huh?"

Her hands roamed around the area around her, searching for spikes that should have been there but finding none. She pressed her hands to the her chest, her stomach, certain that she should have been impaled.

"What?"

It was much easier to come to her senses this time around, and Bubbles sat up, looking at the spot where the spikes had slid into the metal.

Looking up to where the rest of the spikes should be, she found that they still were there.

"Ribbit, ribbit."

Without thought, Bubbles found herself scrambling away again, a sharp whoosh following her movements. Glancing behind her, she saw that the spikes behind her that had originally been there were now gone too.

"R-"

"Don't do that!" Bubbles cried, attention immediately diverted back to the frog. "You scared me! I mean, uh, you scared me before, but this time you scared me!" She placed a hand over her racing heart. "Please don't sneak up on me like that again."

It was almost funny how now that she was actually talking to the frog, it was now staring right passed her. The frog hopped forward, not even acknowledging Bubbles as it continued on down a path across the floor of spikes, each spike sliding down as it hopped forward.

For a moment, Bubbles sat, confused, staring after the figure of the hopping frog.

Then, she hurried to her feet, rushing to follow after it.

"Wait for me!"