Family Shrub
It was an ordinary day at the Plantar farm. The air was humid but cool, predatory dragonflies were flying around looking for victims, and the entire family, under Hop Pop's leadership, was intent on a job "of vital importance to the Plantar family history."
That is, gluing pictures and inserting details of all known Plantar family members on their "family shrub."
"Thank you for the help, guys," Sprig smiled at Anne, Marcy and James in front of him, "This is a very tedious thing to do."
"Well, the more, the merrier, as we say in our world," James smirked, looking at all the Plantar family members portrayed all over the drawing of the shrub, "Wow, I had no idea the Plantars used to be so numerous in the past."
"Your family history is amazing!" Marcy smiled in her everlasting enthusiasm, "I wish I would have done something similar with my family, but mom…is always uneasy when I ask her about family."
"Why, Marbles? Is she protecting a family secret?"
"No Anna-banana, you silly. It's just that she doesn't get along with grandma."
"Guys!" Jacob announced, opening the door with a gleam, "Check this out! Look what Loggle made for me!"
"Jacob," Sasha looked up from the couch where she was sitting and watching a series on her phone, "Is that… a punching bag?"
"Yep! Perfect to train how to punch, keep yourself in shape…and even act as a stress reliever."
"And where do you plan to put it, cousin?"
"In the basement, of course! Hop Pop didn't forbid us to redecorate it a bit."
"No, I didn't," the old frog said, walking into the living room with a large book titled "Plantar family History" in his hands. "As long as you can keep your stuff in order and tidy, I don't have an issue with what you put in there."
"What are you doing?" The boy asked, noticing the five of them sitting around the table.
"We're making the family shrub," Hop Pop said proudly, "That's a portrait of all the members of the Plantars family, up to us."
"You know, Hop Pop, we have things like this back home: we call them family trees."
"That's because everyone in your world is crazy!"
"They're not crazy!" Amelia protested, unaware of the irony.
"And why aren't you two helping?" Hop Pop glanced at Sasha and Amelia herself.
"I don't care enough about a couple of old frogs who are probably deceased a long time ago," Sasha responded in her familiar jaded, no-filtered truth. "Plus, why have family shrubs if this world has trees as well? Trees are tall, strong and can live for many years, while shrubs are small, easy to pick and-"
"Trees attract and give refuge to dangerous predators and killer bugs, or even try and attempt to eat you by themselves! Shrubs provide nutritional berries and would never try to kill a frog."
"Well, considering the meeting we had with those red poisonous shrubs yesterday, I'm not sure about that."
"They were the exception, Jacob, not the rule. Now, where was I? Oh, yes, Great Aunt Gertrude! She was a masterful dirt tiller. I mean, how cool is that?"
"Another farmer, hooray," Anne said in a sarcastic tone. How is it possible that, for all their family history, the Plantars had been only farmers?
Judging by the expressions of Sprig and Polly, she was not the only one to find their family history boring.
"Oh, and you can't forget second cousin Alfred. He was the king!"
"A king?" They all (minus Hop Pop) gasped. Even Sasha & Amelia, from where they were sitting, looking intrigued.
"You serious Hop-Pop? A true kingly King? As if the Plantar are secretly a prestigious family of monarchs?"
"No, James. But he was absolutely the king of single-tiered irrigation systems."
Polly and Sprig groaned, their hopes crumbling again, while Sasha and Amelia focused back on their own distractions. Even James could not help but roll his eyes, annoyed.
"Our ancestors were boring!"
"Were they really all just farm frogs?" Sprig said in disbelief, "Where are the artists? The poets? The dreamers?"
"Come on, friends," Marcy spoke, trying to cheer them up, "I know that farm culture is super underappreciated, but just because it doesn't look important doesn't mean it's not important. Sure, farmers might not be cool as warriors, artists, scientists or explorers, but they're the backbone of Amphibia's society. They're the cornerstones of the whole social order of Amphibia, even if they don't get enough credit for it!"
"That's right, Marbles," Hop Pop said in admiration, looking at Marcy with paternal pride, before turning to Sprig and Polly, "Kids, the whole point of the shrub is to give you an appreciation for your past. The Plantar family has layers. You just have to know where to look."
"Layers, huh?" Jacob said, walking up to the family shrub and noticing the portrait of a female frog, similar to Polly, "Okay, then. Well, what is so special about her?"
"That's Pollyanna. Brace yourselves: she wasn't just any farmer. She was a turnip farmer!"
"I must admit this is strange Hop-Pop," James interjected "For how long have the Plantars been living in Wartwood?"
"For a long, long time." Hop Pop replied proudly, "The Plantars have been living in Wartwood for centuries, maybe even more. Our roots are as ancient as this town."
"And for centuries, no one in the family ever wanted to be something other than a farmer? I find it hard to believe."
"Hey, Hop Pop?" Amelia suddenly said, "That book of yours, it records all the Plantars family members so far?"
"Huh, yes. Why do you ask?"
"Tell me. Is there someone in the Plantars family whose name was… Leif?"
From where she was sitting, Polly looked at Amelia, as she remembered who told them that name. The Moss Man, the cryptic creature of legends who was rumored to live in the forest outside Wartwood, and that she and Amelia met, proving it wasn't just a silly story.
And the Moss man told them he once had a friend, whose name was Leif.
"Leif?" Hop Pop said, checking through the book, "Nope, no one with such a name in the family book. Why do you ask?"
"Huh, I just found someone called like that, and I was curious if maybe she was connected to you."
"Well, whoever he or she was, she wasn't a Plantar. Not one that I know of, at least." Hop Pop responded.
"Oh, ok," Amelia shrugged, feeling her interest wane. Maybe I would have to go to the town hall and check if they have records of all Wartwood's inhabitants?
It was then that Anne jerked up on her feet and walked back to the couch, to Sasha's side.
"Anne, where are you going?"
"Well, HP, I'd love to help you. However, I am not going to find any of my ancestors on your shrub. Sooo..." she started to play a game called "Slacker Stackers" on her phone, under the amused gaze of her blonde friend.
"Anne, you don't need to be blood to be a Plantar."
"No, but you do have to be a master stacker to get to level 46. If I can just..." she lost, and the words "GAME OVER" appeared on the screen. "Curse you, sudden death round! Why are you so hard?"
"It's not that hard," Marcy said, looking at her, "How about I help you, Anna-Banana? I'm a master slacker, remember? I can help you pass the level, and-"
"Sorry, Marbles, but no." Anne replied, glaring at her phone, "This is personal: a face-off between me and this game."
"Anne, I know I have nothing at all to support this," Hop Pop spoke, trying to squeeze more glue out of the glue-bug he was holding, "But I'm certain that game will rot your brain!"
"Actually," Marcy replied to him, "In our world, video games are known to be beneficial to improve your cognitive abilities; speed up response times; stimulate creativity, focus and visual memory; improve your strategy skills and critical thinking. I was deep in video games back home myself: my username was Kitty-The-D35tr0y3r."
How the frog did Marcy manage to say that? Jacob mused, Wait, how did I manage to understand that?
"Marcy, I appreciate your thoughts, but- Uh-oh!" The old frog said, realizing the issue, "It looks like we're out of glue!"
"Does that mean we have to stop?" Sprig said hopeful.
"Can we do something fun now?" Polly added.
"No fun till the shrub's done." Hop Pop sentenced, walking toward the door. "I am just going to run to the store very quickly, and get more glue for us to continue. While I am outside, I do not want any funny business or crazy shenanigans, especially if they are dangerous. I don't want to come back home and find out the boys have just set fire to Bessie's stable again."
"I told you I was sorry, Hop Pop!" Jacob protested, remembering the result of his latest gunpowder production attempt.
"Still, to make sure you're safe, you better stay indoors until I'm back. Return in a jiffy." He walked out humming, before reopening all of a sudden, pointing to the kids. "I was serious. Don't you go anywhere outside!"
"You're lucky you're outsiders, guys." Polly said, once Hop Pop had left, "Our family history is weak!"
"Why?" Marcy tried to encourage her, "I don't think it's weak at all. Rather, I think it's quite interesting."
"Mar-mar, you're the only one to think that."
"Come on, Sash. As Hop Pop reminded us, it is all a matter of perspective: even if it may sound boring at first sight, I am sure the Plantar's family is more interesting than it appears."
"Whatever," Sasha said, trying to close the argument, "Anyway, since the old frog has just forbidden us to get outside on a whim, again, what can we do while we wait for him to return?"
"I could pick the lock again," Jacob suggested. "As long as we're here when he returns, everything should be fine."
"Or we could watch something on our phones," James intervened. "I still have the new season of Doctor Zone we can watch. Do you know the episode where he faces the Grieving Statues for the first time? They were supposed to be one-shot villains, but now they're almost as popular as the Trashcandroids."
"Or, we could explore the secret staircase passage under the house."
In a few seconds, all the teens and Plantars in the house focused on Marcy, unable to say anything, just looking at her with widened eyes.
"What." Sasha finally said, in disbelief.
"I found it almost a week ago," the dark-haired girl started to explain, "I woke up in the middle of the night, and I wanted a glass of water, so I went in the kitchen to get one. And, I may have accidentally tripped, and my hands may have pushed on…this." She walked up to the fireplace in the middle of the living room, and confidently pressed in the center of the portrait of two farm frogs, who Anne once said that it reminded her of a painting from their world. Immediately after, the painting rotated on its side, while the wooden mantle flattened, the wall behind the fireplace split apart to reveal a dark, unexplored hallway behind it.
"You were sleeping at that time, and I didn't want to explore it on my own, so I never brought it up until today. I don't know if you or Hop Pop knew about it, but-"
"Marbles!" Jacob shouted, turning to face her, "Do you realize what this is?"
"Huh, a dark, creepy secret passage hidden behind a fireplace?"
"No, James! Marcy, what you've found…it's a dungeon!"
"A dungeon?" Marcy gleamed, her eyes overcharging with enthusiasm, "You mean we can now play Creatures and Caverns…in real life?"
"Yes!" The boy replied, hugging her with unnatural fervor, before rushing to the basement. "Wait for me! I'm going to get my adventurer kit and weapon!"
"Wait for me, cousin!" Amelia rushed behind him. "I need to grab my katana as well!"
"Wow," Sprig said in wonder, "I didn't know about this. And I live here."
"Marcy, what do you mean with "a dungeon?"
"It's a typical set for many role-playing games I used to participate into, Polly," the lovable dork said, her enthusiasm erupting through her eyes, "A group of adventurers, walking into a dark, scary place filled with treasures, precious items, monsters or enemy to fight to gain experience!"
"Treasures?" Sprig's eyes widened, "There could be treasures?"
"Monsters?" His pollywog sister said in turn, "Large, horrific monster to fight? Maybe even dead bodies? Count me in!"
"I'm back!" Jacob rushed back into the living room, carrying his quarterstaff and several other items in his arms, "Sasha, here's your training sword: it's not the ideal, I know, but still better than having you fight barehanded. Marcy, these are your spells. Anne, since you have your tennis racket already-"
"Huh, Jacob?" Anne raised her hand, "What are you doing?"
"I'm preparing for some old-school dungeon-crawling, of course! I'm an adventurer now, and if this dungeon is like any I've seen before, there could be treasures, or legendary items! I guess we have to be the first to explore it!"
"For once, I actually agree with you, cousin! This place is too mysterious not to be checked out!"
"Well, I guess it beats staying here doing nothing," Sasha mused, "And, Hop Pop told us to stay inside: he didn't tell us we couldn't explore unknown secret passages. What do you say, Boonchuy?"
"Well, this place looks dangerous and unsafe. Let's do it!"
"That's my best friend!" Sasha smiled, genuinely impressed by Anne's brave attitude.
"Our first real-life dungeon!" Marcy gleamed, securing her spell-belt, "Are you excited, Jacob?"
"Yeah, let's hope there is no boss under there: our party is quite…disproportionate."
"What do you mean?"
"Marbles, we have four fighters, and I can cross as rogue. Yet, you're the only wizard and we have no cleric!"
"Well, that's not the ideal." Marcy smiled nervously. She remembered one time she role-played with a team with too many fighters and no cleric at all. It didn't end well, at all.
The impromptu party walked into the mysterious passage, with Anne, Sasha and James holding small fireflies-powered lanterns to see in the dark. Yet, as soon as the group was inside, the fireplace's wall moved back on its place with a granitic sound, cutting off the retreat.
"What happened?" Amelia gasped, noticing the passage getting darker all of a sudden.
"If I have to guess," Sprig replied nervously, "We just got locked in here."
"No!" Anne yelled, rushing back to the passage and trying to reopen it, without success, "No, no, no! Help! Wait!"
"Let us out!" Sprig said, as he and Amelia came to her support.
"It's no use," Marcy said, looking at the passage while trying to add another sketch in her journal. "This looks like a classic secret passage for mid-level dungeons: it closes after you pass, and it cannot be reopened on the other side."
"Well, frogs." Sasha grumbled in irritation, "Anyone has an idea?"
"Come on!" Polly called out, "Instead of wasting time weeping, let's just find another way out, you babies!"
"Polly has a point." Jacob nodded, "If the passage to enter can be opened only from outside, I guess that means there must be another passage to exit, that probably can be opened only from the inside. We just have to find it!"
The group marched through the passage, the walking path becoming larger (while still covered in webs and pitch black) as they proceeded. Sasha and Jacob were leading, the girl holding her lantern as Jacob looked around holding his quarterstaff: he had played enough RPGs in the past to know this looked like the perfect setting for an ambush. Behind them, walked Marcy, who was engrossed by the mysterious environment they were in, adding more and more details and sketches to her journal, while Amelia, on her flank, took out her phone to capture photos and videos of the passage. Then it was James and Anne, with Sprig at the end of the line.
"Look, guys," James spoke, pointing forward, "The path divides itself."
It was true, as everyone soon realized. The passage, a few meters ahead, split into three smaller passages, each of which lacked directions or landmarks, while two other passages opened up on the right flank.
"Okay, which way do we go now?" asked Sasha suspiciously.
"Sorry, why do you have to choose? There are eight of us, let's split up and explore them all!"
"Let's split up? Amelia, are you crazy?" Jacob shouted in a voice full of apprehension. "Marcy, help me, please. Do you remember what the golden rule of dungeon-crawling is?"
"Never open a chest before checking if it's not a disguised Mimic?"
"The other Golden rule."
"Ah, never split the party."
"Yes, never split the party!" The boy said, looking at the others with an assertive look, "I know you guys are not experienced in adventuring and dungeon exploring, but this is one of the most, if not the most important rules whenever you explore a dark dungeon probably filled with treasures and monsters. Splitting up would mean each group would be basically on its own, with no clear way for us to coordinate or help each other. Even in the best of cases, we could lose ourselves if this place ends up being a labyrinth like I fear. For this reason, we have to stick together!"
He walked into the middle passage, continuing his explanation without checking what was happening on his back.
"Guys, I know, I don't want to play the no-fun guy, especially considering that I'm supposed to be the fun guy, the one who always complains about authority, rules and other boring things. Frog, I like being the guy who ignores orders rather than giving them, but just because I'm cool it doesn't mean I want to be reckless all the time. Amelia, you're right, we can explore them all, but sticking together is a better option rather than everyone going their own way and risk…"
He turned around, to notice he was now alone. All of his friends and companions, even Marcy and Sasha, were nowhere to be seen, and he was in the middle of a passage with no indication where they could be.
"… getting lost." The boy groaned, his hand lowering his helmet as he instinctively face-palmed.
(…)
"How the frog did we manage to lose sight of each other in less than one minute?" James wondered, keeping his lantern high as he walked, "Sasha? Jacob? If you hear me, please respond!"
He tried to listen, but no voice replied to his plea. He was alone, or at least, that was the impression.
"I guess I'll fly solo for a bit. If at least there might be some idea where I should go-"
He stopped in his tracks, as he saw a large wooden door, opening to his left, the symbol of a star imprinted on it.
"Hey, always follow the stars in your most dire moments, no?" He joked, walking to the door and checking it. It didn't appear to be locked, so he moved his hands to the doorway, and gently pushed it. The room beyond stood silent, cloaked in darkness, with no light source apparently available.
"Let's see," the boy talked to himself, "All rooms in Amphibia have those light mushrooms at arm's height-"
"James?"
"Ah!" The British boy gasped, turning around only to meet a couple of familiar and friendly faces, "Marcy, Sprig! You scared me!"
"Sorry," The Taiwanese-American girl said, smiling nervously, "We got lost with the others, then I tripped and activated some kind of passage and now-"
"I see, I see. Can you at least help me, where we are now? I cannot find the light."
"I'll do it!" Sprig exclaimed, patching furiously around, until he managed to activate the closest bioluminescent mushroom.
As the light brightened the room, the three friends looked around in wonder.
Around them stretched a round-shaped room with a large armchair in the center. The walls were covered with large shelves filled with books, scrolls, various papers and large maps yellowed by time, with large drawings of constellations, moving planets and sketches of the sky in different situations. A table in the shape of a nymph leaf, with some chairs, was behind the chair, numerous papers and an old inkwell on it, an old clock and three large telescopes were fixed at various points in the room.
However, this was not the most surprising part yet.
The dome-shaped dome of the room was decorated with strange blue-colored stones, which apparently had the power to absorb and reflect light from the bioluminescent mushrooms below. Once the mushrooms were activated, the stones began to glow, and James saw that they formed a perfect representation of Amphibia's night sky: he could recognize its constellations, fixed stars and more.
"Wow." The three of them said in amazement at the same time. I just found my personal nirvana, James thought in astonishment, as his hands moved on his phone and he took photos around.
"This is so amazing!" Marcy said in ardent enthusiasm, adding a sketch of the star-decorated dome, "It looks like a wizard's room."
"It's so beautiful!" Sprig jumped around, "Oh, what this? And that? What is this for? Wow!"
"This place looks like a planetarium of some kind," James murmured, unable to take his eyes off from the roof, "Was the owner of this room an astronomer of some kind?"
"Even better!" Marcy said, looking at a small notebook written on the table, "James, check this out. This room belonged to great aunt Gertrude!"
"The one who used to read dirt?"
"She wasn't just a dirt-teller, James! She was an astronomer and renowned seer, who had the reputation of being a powerful fortune-teller. She read about the future in the night sky and the movement of the stars, and it seems that her opinion was held in the highest esteem throughout all of Amphibia! The most famous leaders of the Toads, eminent nobles of Newtopia, even some of the most important royal advisors used to come to her regularly, seeking advice and predictions for the future, to know what the best way forward was or what dangers to guard against."
"You mean she wasn't just a low-key farmer? She was actually a powerful and recognized soothsayer?"
"This is wild!" Sprig gasped, "I want to know more! Like, what does this do?
He grabbed an unknown lever and, without any hesitation, quickly pulled it. Immediately, the door locked itself while the armchair started to rotate.
"Sprig, what did you do?" James protested, "You just penned us in!"
"Huh, looks like you just activated Gertrude's star-bath system." Marcy said, going through the notes on the table, "She used to relax on the armchair while looking at the nigh-sky representation above to refine her seer abilities and meditate about her daily questions. The notes say it will deactivate, and the door will unlock…in six hours from now."
"We don't have six hours to wait! Isn't there something faster to get out of here?"
Almost to answer him, a panel above the door glowed, and the trio could see letters and words appearing to them, perfectly readable.
"I have hands and a face, but I cannot hold anything nor smile. Find me, and I'll get you free." James read aloud.
"What's this supposed to mean, Marcy?"
"Sprig, it looks like Great Aunt Gertrude wasn't only an amazing seer and fortune-teller. According to the notes, she was also deep into riddles and enigmas. She used them to keep all her foreshadows as cryptic as possible."
James nodded lightly, still looking at the riddle. I have hands and a face, but I cannot smile or hold anything. What could it be? Sure, even if the door would reopen itself after six hours, the time for-
Time? Time! That's it!
"I got it!" James smiled, walking to the old clock, inspecting it for a couple of minutes, before grabbing the pendulum and pulling it. The armchair stopped moving, and the door unlocked with a mechanical sound.
"James, you got it!" Marcy hugged him all of a sudden. "I knew you would do it!"
"Do you mean you already guessed it, but you were going to not tell me, Marbles?"
"I would have, if you hadn't been able to solve it on your own." The girl smiled in approval.
"Forward, guys!" Sprig jumped over them and toward the door, "To more adventures!"
"Come on, Jim-boy. Let's keep exploring this place!"
"Right behind you, Mar-Mar. Hey, you think Hop Pop will allow me to use this room in the future?"
(…)
"Don't you know, you never split the party?" Jacob chanted as he looked around, "Clerics in the back, keep those fighters hale and hearty. The wizard in the middle, where he can shed some light. And you never let the thief out of sight."
"Is that a warning about yourself?" A voice resounded to his right.
"Sasha!" The boy gasped, seeing the blonde girl, "I can't believe I'm actually happy to see you! What the frog happened earlier?"
"Believe me, I do not know either. One second I was listening to how boring you were, and the next one, a hole opened in the wall behind me and I found myself…somewhere else. Dirtier and more disgusting."
"Do you have any idea where the others might be?"
"Negative, you are the first one I have seen since we got separated. I was hoping I'd meet Mar-Mar or Boonchuy, but instead, it looks like I'll be forced to walk with you."
"Hey, don't expect me to actually like it!" The boy responded, before calming himself, "Anyway, we should keep moving and look for the others. The sooner we find them, the better."
"Fine. But remember: I'm in charge."
"In charge?" The boy felt his anger rising, "Why do you expect to be in charge of anything? I'm the one who is the most experienced with dungeons, so I'm the most experienced person to give suggestions for this situation!" He kicked into the ground, only for his action to lead to a crumble, as the ground opened under him, and he fell into a larger space.
"Ah!"
"Jacob! Sasha rushed forward, forgetting their present issues for a second, before noticing where his fellow companion had landed. "Hey!"
"Sash, look at me! I found the treasure room!"
The room where Jacob had landed (without too much damage, luckily for his bones) was a large rectangular-shaped room, with a large desk at the back, and a large iron pot, five feet high, filled to the brim with gold coins, into which the boy had fallen.
"So, Jacob," Sasha said as he came downstairs with an amused look on his face, "How does it feel to take a coin bath?"
"It's neither as fun nor as easy as they make it sound in the comics," replied the boy struggling to pull himself out, "Although, considering the situation, I consider it a pleasant pain."
"Hey, what room is this? And are these...more bags of coins? Jacob, there is a real fortune in this room! And are these...business documents? Contracts? It looks like a businessman's room!"
"It is!" The boy jerked, walking up to the desk and starting to read a long sheet of paper. "Look here, Sasha! This was second cousin Alfred's room. He was not just the king of single-tiered irrigation systems. He was also the king of merchants!"
"The king of merchants?"
"This is his last wills and testament." He started to read it, "Even if I made a lot of money during all my life, I never found any pleasure in it. Trading gave me wealth, but farming gave me happiness. For this reason, I always kept this secret from anyone, even from my closest one. Money cannot buy happiness, nor cannot buy true friends and love."
"Wow, I am seriously starting to reevaluate this family." It was a sentiment that Sasha shared. Who would ever think of robbing you if you appear penniless?
"There's more," Jacob continued reading, "My greatest pleasure, apart from my family and the farming works, came from all the young frogs and toads who I secretly helped during all my life. This is the lesson I want to share with the rest of my family. Never be afraid to help those who need your help. For this reason, the gold you will find in my room, alongside my testament and the instruments of my long, laborious life, I leave it all to my future relatives and descendants, so you can use it to help the rest of your family, or others. This wealth, which I earned by hard, honest work, cannot be used but to help the people you treasure, in the moment of dire need.
"Ok, now I feel guilty about taking these coins." Sasha shrugged, "Is there anything to tell us where's the exit?"
"Huh, something tells me it's just behind… that giant toad face."
Sasha turned to see a large effigy, modeled to resemble a toad's hungry face, with empty cold eyes and a strict, deep mouth with sharp, predator-like teeth. Instantly, she felt nervous just by looking at it, as the eyes gave an expression, as the toad was craving to eat something.
"It doesn't move," Sasha said, as she tried to move the effigy away, "How do we open it?"
"There are instructions here. It says the mechanism to open the door lies…inside the toad's mouth."
Sasha glanced at it, nervously. Nope, she was not going to put her hands in there, no matter how harmless it would be.
"Can you… do it? I don't want to think how dirty it is there."
"Huh, look at you." Jacob mocked, walking toward the effigy-door, "You play the tough girl when you're with the others, and now-"
Why is this thing scaring me this much? Come on, Jacob, it is just a lifeless effigy. How can it damage you? Wait, what if there is some kind of mechanism that cuts my hands once I insert it? Or something to lock it? Or…
Jacob gulped, looking at the large toad for a couple more seconds, before inserting his hands, hoping that nothing would damage it, checking until he found a small lever at the end, and he pulled it. Immediately, the toad effigy turned to its side, revealing a passage large enough for the two teens to walk out.
"Wow, I did it," the boy said, quickly retracting his hand, genuinely impressed he did that.
"I'm taking the memoir book with us, as well as a chunk of coins," Sasha said in excitement, "I cannot wait to see the old frog's face when he sees them."
"Good idea! Let us gather everything that looks useful. Something tells me we have struck the mother-lode. In more than one sense…"
(…)
"Polly, do you have any idea where we are going?"
"No, Amelia. This passage looks all the same, and so far, we have not met any dead bodies nor a giant monster to fight. I'm feeling disappointed."
"Hey, be careful to what you say: with our luck, we might meet some large abomination just behind this-"
However, before Amelia could finish her sentence by saying the word "corner", she crashed right into another figure who was walking in the opposite direction.
"Hey!"
"Polly? Amelia?"
"Anne?" The cone-hatted girl jumped back on her feet, "We were, huh, looking for you. Have you seen my testosterone-dumbed cousin? Or your blonde friend?"
"Sorry, no," The Thai-American girl replied with a sigh, "My sense of direction does not work in his place, and you're the first two I met after we got separated. Wow, I guess Jacob was right about not splitting up."
"Huh, girls?" Polly said, pointing at something to their right. There, the impromptu trio could see a door, partially hidden by the darkness and the dirt, with a strange symbol of a castle on the entrance.
"You're seeing it too, right Boonchuy? That is not an illusion, right?"
"Nope, Amelì. I'm seeing it too."
"What are you waiting for?" Polly protested, "Let's go check it."
Amelia nodded, walking up to the door with Anne, and with a cautious movement, opened it. Once inside, the three girls saw it was a small, octagonal room, the walls a light violet color, tending toward light blue. The room was filled with antique-looking and expensive furniture, on which were arranged antique-looking books, china sets and stuffed toys, and even showcases filled with jewelry. On the opposite side of the room was a large four-poster bed, with large curtains that must have once served to cover the interior. Finally, in the center of the room, there was a large statue, representing a frog in fancy dress, currently still and motionless, but equipped with contraptions and mechanisms that suggested it was more of a real android.
"Wow."
"It looks like a princess's room."
"Look at those gemstones: they're as big as eggs!"
"Hey!" said Anne pointing to a series of paintings, all depicting young female newts, dressed in pretty formal clothes and sitting on a chair, while an old frog in long blue dress and with a stern expression (the same in all paintings) stood to their side. "Do you think this was the owner of this room? Who was she?"
"Emeline Juvanna Plantar," Amelia said, reading the name aloud from a dusty handkerchief, "It seems she a guardian and educator."
"A guardian?" Polly asked, jumping to see in turn, "You mean, she took care of the children of aristocrats and the wealthy?"
"I guess. She probably used this room to teach young Amphibian rules etiquette and good society," Anne looked at the portraits, "Welp, she looks like an old-style reformatory old lady. Poor girls."
"Look, letters!" Polly exclaimed, pointing to a corner of the room, where a large board collecting letters and several items were visible.
"These letters are from her old students," Amelia gasped as she started to read through them, "Dear Miss Emeline, thank you for your lessons. Even if you were stern, you never punished me in the wrong, and under your guidance, I was able to properly debut- wait, she was thanking her?"
"Everyone thanked her," Polly nodded. "Some even mentions "farewell gifts."
"Wow. She may have been a stern teacher, but she was fair, and her students loved her for this." The cone-hatted girl said in admiration, "I wish I had a teacher like her."
"Nah, teachers are all boring and petty!" Anne muttered, walking back toward the door and getting close to the statue, "They like to pick on their students and-"
Yet, she jumped back out of surprise as the statue moved all of a sudden, almost as to hit her.
"Dah!" Anne jerked, while the statue moved back to its position, and a red light activated on its eyes. "What is this?"
"Let me check," Amelia murmured, finding a sketch of the statue and reading the notes under it. "Here it is: this is Emeline's test-doll of good manners and bearing. Every student of hers used it to test manners and reverence, to end a lesson properly. The red light means you failed and therefore...we can't pass."
"Leave it to me!" Polly said, launching herself into the attack with a snarl, only to be quickly repulsed and thrown back into Amelia's arms with a quick, sudden movement of the statue.
"Polly, what have you done? Now we have only one attempt left available!"
"Attempt?" Anne asked with a worried air.
"It says that too," Amelia continued, showing them the pages, "If a pupil messed up three times in a row, the door to the room locks until someone else unlocks it from the outside. Normally, Emeline did that, but in our case..."
"Wait, are you telling me that we are in danger of being trapped here forever? Anne, what do we do?"
"I don't know, Polly. I don't know anything about manners."
"I'll take care of it," Amelia said as she stood up and approached the statue. She waited a couple of seconds and then bent her right leg and withdrew her left leg backward, making a reverence, leaning her head slightly forward and lowering her gaze.
The statue did not react immediately, waiting for about ten seconds before the light in its eyes changed from red to yellow.
"We can go."
"Amelia, where did you figure out which gesture to make?"
"The proper move was also described on those notes I was reading. If you had looked, you would have seen it too Anne. The robot's eyes glow yellow, it means we passed the test and we can go now."
"But why yellow?"
"Test barely passed."
Anne and Polly exchanged an amused look.
"What?" Amelia noticed them, "I learned it barely five minutes ago!"
(…)
Once they left Emeline's teaching room, Anne, Amelia and Polly kept walking, looking for a way out, until they ended up in another room, dark and full of cobwebs. To their left, a large wooden cabinet filled with jars of unknown contents, a grated door, and a large yellow zucchini (now dry and hard as a rock). To the right, another cabinet filled in turn with strange jars and books, test tubes, pestles and other objects that would not have been out of place in a chemistry lab...or a magician's. Finally, in the center of the room, there was a large wooden lifting table with a piece of rope, a stump with a cleaver, a lever probably connected to the operation of the table, and a drainage well, also fitted with a grate.
"Wow. This looks just like Frankenstein's laboratory." Amelia murmured, looking at the similar-looking table.
"Polly," Anne asked in wonder, "all this was under your house?"
"Wah!" Three other voices yelled at the same time, as something came crashing down from behind them. The initial shock of the girls, however, was short-lived as they managed to recognize them.
"Marcy? James?"
"Sprig!"
"Anne, is that you?"
"Anna-Banana!"
"Amelia!"
The six reunited friends (the four humans, plus Sprig and Polly) gathered together, the humans hugging due to the happiness of finding back with each other.
"We were looking for you!" James mused, "Then, Marcy tripped, and since she was the last one, she made all of us trip and-"
"Hey, it made you find us, didn't it?" Amelia mused. "By the way, have you seen my cousin? Or Sasha?"
"Not yet." Marcy chuckled, "But, we found Gertrude's room: she wasn't just a dirt teller, she was actually a soothsayer and respected seer."
"No way!" Anne replied, "We found Emeline's room: she was actually a high-level teacher for noble scions."
"And…this?"
As their focus moved back to the surrounding room, Marcy and Sprig's eyes filled with amazement, the former starting to sketch out the interiors and everything she could see in amazement, while Sprig walked around like galvanized.
"This place is amazing. Whoa! Oh, what is this? And that one? And this one? Who-oh! Wonder! Wow!"
"Marbles, any idea of what kind of place is this?"
"This must be some kind of secret laboratory, Anna-Banana. So much potential, so many things to learn… I'm so reconverting it into a workshop for me and Maddie."
"Wait, you're seriously thinking of using this place?"
"Why not? James already reserved the star room for himself."
"What."
"Hey, you have any idea who this place used to belong to?"
Look, guys," Sprig called everyone, "It says here this place belonged to Great Uncle Skip Plantar. He was a farmer and a brilliant scientist! He experimented with all kinds of stuff. His goal was to create a race of subservient vegetable minions to do all work. This is wild! I want to know more! Like, what does this do?" He said, eyeing an inviting lever and quickly pulling it.
Bad move, as everyone else realized a few seconds later. The lever, once pulled, opened the metal grate of another, large door, allowing for…something, behind it, to walk into the room.
That something, being a large, giant pale monstrous aberration pumpkin vegetable monster, breathing heavily.
"Whoa..."
"Whoa, mama."
"Blimey."
"Ohh…"
"Maybe it's harmless."
Hearing him, the monster pumpkin roared, spitting green slimy glop.
"It's not harmless!" Amelia shouted, "Fall back!"
The group quickly retreated to the table, moving in to the side to use it as a cover, Anne and James quickly helping Marcy while Amelia covered their hasty retreat. The pumpkin monster moved to attack them, only to fail and hit around.
"It cannot see!" Amelia said, once she reached the others, "Whatever it is, it must be blind."
"Of course!" Marcy nodded, in realization, "It grew in a darkness-filled environment, so it must move by sound. This is why it attacked us when he heard you talking, Sprig. As long as we stay still and don't make noise, it shouldn't be able to see us."
"What do we do? We can't let it roam and endanger ourselves!"
"This abomination must be destroyed."
"I agree! I'll use my katana for-"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Sprig raised his hands, "Hold on a minute. There may be another way."
Sprig walked out of the cover and right toward the pumpkin monster, in what it looked like a suicidal attempt.
"Sprig, what are you doing?"
"That pumpkin will squash you."
"I don't want to look."
Sprig continued to walk toward the creature. taking gentle steps, "There, there. Easy does it. Easy. There, there, you beautiful, disgusting thing."
"Huh, what is happening?"
"Looks like Sprig is using empathy to tame it."
"That's right, Mama Sprig is here." Sprig whispered, hugging it like an oversized pet. In a few seconds, the giant vegetable-animal hybrid calmed down and began purring, like a deformed lost-lost child finding its loving parent once again.
"Oh, you horrible, horrible, sweet boy" The small frog said in a voice full of affect… before her eyes turned treacherous. "Forgive me."
Quickly, Sprig kicked the large pumpkin back to its cell, the gate slamming shut again, the vegetable monster clawing and whimpering in a desperate attempt to return free, feeling betrayed.
"Sprig" Anne said, in a voice full of shock, "That was ice-cold. And I used to deal with breakups for commissions."
"Yeah, Sprig. I never knew you were this cruel."
"Love is the cruelest weapon, Amelia," The frog boy replied, before giving one more remorseful glance to the pumpkin aberration. "I'm sure one day it will understand."
"Or it will try to devour you for betraying it in the first place," James said in a nonplussed voice. "Anyway, we should keep moving, find Jacob and Sasha and get out of here before something else-"
Then, the floor under them collapsed, possibly due to the earlier stunt of the vegetable abominations, and the six of them fell down.
(…)
"Sasha, do you hear something?"
"If you're still trying to scare me Jacob, I swear to-"
The roof above them opened all of a sudden, and four human teens, plus one young male frog and female hyper-aggressive pollywog, fell onto them.
"Hey!" Marcy spoke first, "We landed on something soft."
"Yeah," Jacob replied with irritation, "You landed on me!"
"Jacob!" Anne realized, jerking up and helping him get back on his feet as well, "Sasha! Are you ok?"
"We are fine, Boonchuy! Still, we would've been better if you didn't land on us."
"Sorry, Sash," Marcy helped her blonde friend as well, "So, did you find any secret Plantar family rooms? We found a room full of stars, and a scientist laboratory."
"You did?" Jacob asked, impressed, "Sasha and I found Alfred's room: it was filled with golden coins!"
"For real?" Anne, Polly and Sprig gasped at the same time.
In response, Sasha took a small bag she had got from that room and showed it to the other, before opening it and letting them see the golden coins in it.
"He may have been the king of single-tiered irrigation systems," she explained with obvious smug, "but he was also the king of merchants. His room was filled with mementos from his life as a merchant and with golden coins, to be used by the rest of his family as a safety fund for emergencies."
"Wow," Polly gasped, "I wish I could have seen it too."
"Hey, guys," James said, pointing forward, "There is another room, but it's quite dark. Do you still have your lanterns?"
The others nodded, and followed, using their fireflies-powered lanterns to check the new room around them. All of them gasped in surprise as they saw it was a large room, filled with various weapons: swords, spears, axes, maces, bows, large shields-any weapon of a medieval or fantasy nature was in that room, making it look more like an armory.
"This is heaven." Polly said with widened eyes, before noticing a familiar portrait and gasping, "Hey, this is the same Polliana from Hop Pop's shrub. She wasn't just a turnip farmer. She was a turnt up warrior!"
"Hey, guys!" Sprig said, "Check it out, I found her diary!"
Sasha moved to it and quickly moved to read it, her eyes widening in turn as she read all about Pollyanna's history as a warrior with her own eyes. "The Bogwater Wars of '48. The Western Toad invasion of '53. The Eastern Toad rebellion of '56. Wow, she was in many battles!
"She was the coolest, most terrifying Plantar ever." Polly gleamed, holding a flail, "Like me!"
"And that's not all," James mused, pointing to a small opening in the back, with the word "TROPHY ROOM" imprinted over it "Come and look here!"
"Another room filled with weapons?"
"Look how many swords, spears and crossbows there are!" Anne said in wonder, "You could arm the whole Wartwood with the weapons stocked in here."
"All Wartwood?" Jacob mused, "I'd say more like the entire Valley!"
"Hey, Sash, check this out! Marcy said, pointing to a pink sword in the wall, "It's a heron sword!"
As the blonde girl moved to look, she saw a sword of amazing facture, similar in appearance to some swords she had seen once in a museum, with a heron-shaped quillon. From the very moments her eyes laid on it, Sasha felt a great desire to wield it, and use it.
"Marbles," the blonde girl said, in amazement, her eyes unmoving from the sword, "Is there anything written down about this sword?,"
"Yes, there is!" The dark-haired girl said, gleaming, her hands held a large yellow book, "Pollyanna used to take the weapons of her most fierce adversary from any battles she faced, as trophies of her victories. This one, according to the catalog she herself wrote, it's the Heron Sword of the Toad Warlord O'Oma, and is said to be even stronger than Newtopian made weapons."
"Perfect." Sasha said, her hands moving on the words and quickly grabbing. It was heavier than the wooden sword she used for her own training, and yet, for Sasha, it wasn't such a big difference. "And now it's mine."
"Hey, girls, look: a War hammer!" Jacob shouted, showing them a long, metal-made hammer with Toad symbols on its head. "I feel like Thor now!"
"Actually Jacob, according to Pollyanna that war hammer was used by her during the Battle of the Bloody Swamp, a gift from the small Toad Army of Lady Ierna. She says it's a hammer designed to be light but also sturdy and robust enough to break through even the most resistant armors."
"You think Hop Pop will let me own and use it?" Jacob said, showing a Marcy-like expression of enthusiasm. "I'll call his magnificent weapon…Ragnarok! The thunderous hammer of Jacob the Norsemann!"
Amelia scoffed, trying her best to ignore her cousin's reaction, as her eyes kept exploring the weapons in the room, glancing over the pikes, the crossbows, the swords, the-
The girl stopped suddenly, her eyes opening wide, her heart began to beat faster and faster, the surprise so great that for several seconds, she forgot to breathe. In the middle of the trophy room, on a stone pedestal apart, it was a long, curved sword, oriental in appearance, its blade silver-blue in color.
A weapon that, in the world from which Amelia came, was called a katana.
Amelia advanced at a brisk pace, her eyes fixed on the weapon before her. She could see the beauty of the blade, its obvious strength and cutting power, its sinuous shape fit. The fact that Pollyanna took great care to highlight it, and put it on a proper pedestal separated from the other swords, showed the girl that this one was not a weapon like any other in this room.
"Marcy?" Said the girl, almost unconsciously, as millions of questions crowded into her brain.
"What is it, Amelia-oh, a katana?" Said the other, flipping through the document in her hand, "Here it is: this was the sword of the Toad Warlord of the Eastern Tower, which he himself had entrusted to his most powerful champion for his duel against Pollyanna. Interesting: according to what Polliana wrote, it was the fiercest duel of her entire life, and the first and only time she came close to being defeated."
Amelia looked at the katana with eyes full of passion. She could almost feel the blade calling to her, asking her to take it, to become its new master.
"Huh, that's strange."
"What is strange, Marbles?"
"The name of the sword...it was erased by a stain. The name is now impossible to read."
"In that case, I will be the one to give it a proper name," Amelia said, taking Amphibia's katana and raising it in a heroic pose, "This supreme blade, which fate itself has erased the name, I christen you with the name of ...Yamato!"
"Yamato, seriously?" Sasha chuckled. "Well, I guess I can't blame you on this: it looks like quite a cool weapon."
"Wow, we sure are learning a lot." Sprig nodded, "I'd like to learn more. Like, hey, what does this do?"
And for the –nth time, Sprig pulled an unknown lever without thinking of the consequences, leading to unintended risk like always. This time, pulling the lever activated a whole set of armors in frog shapes, each of them holding an axe, who started swinging while ceiling spears, buzz saws, hammers and darts were activated.
"Will you please stop pulling levers?" Anne shouted.
"Levers are for pulling, Anne!"
"Why is there a death trap here, anyways?" James asked in worry.
"Here!" Marcy pointed at some point in her diary, "It says this is Pollyanna's training simulator, she used it to keep herself in shape during the pauses between battles. Wow, it even has a difficulty set: apparently, this is a level one, for beginners."
"Beginners?" Anne replied in shock, pointing at the several traps and armors now blocking their path and attempting to kill them. "Okay, how do we turn it off?"
"According to this, there is a shut-off switch…by the exit on the other side."
Marcy, James Anne and Sprig looked on with terror as they realized that, in order to deactivate the deadly simulator, someone had to go through the whole of it, with the obvious risk for their own safety.
"Okay, we can do this." Sprig said, suggesting a strategy, "We just got to go very slowly in order to-"
Before they could try however, the training simulator changed: more armors appeared, the death traps became faster and more frequent in attack, and two larger armors, of pitch black color and with several armed hands, moved to block the passage.
"What?" Marcy gasped, "Something set the simulator to level three, for trained newbies. But who-"
"YAAAGH!" Polly shouted as she, Sasha, Jacob and Amelia jumped to attack. The armors, seeing them approaching, moved toward them, only to be quickly slashed by Sasha's heron sword, crushed by Jacob's hammer, destroyed by Polly's flail and cut by Amelia's katana. Amelia, in particular, never felt so alive before: she already got a lot of practice with her wooden katana before, but Yamato felt more like an extension of herself than a weapon.
Less than a minute later, the group had made it to the other side, the armors destroyed, as Polly used her flail to shut the simulator down.
"Well, that was intense."
"I was just warming up, Boonchuy," Amelia said with a smirk, while feeling a prideful warmth inside of her. Now, she had a weapon worthy of its name.
"It was epic!" Jacob shouted, "Sasha, you see how I smashed that big robot in the head?"
"Sorry, I was too busy cutting his arm off," the blonde replied with a smirk, having enjoyed it as well."
"How about we do it again?"
"Yeah, but this time, let's raise the difficulty level to 5, and-"
"Nope!" Anne, James, Marcy and Sprig said at the same time, pushing their fellow hot-blooded companions out of the room. "Nope, nope, nope, nope!"
(…)
Another flight of stairs later, the group entered another room: this one was quite larger, with several maps, drawings and descriptive posters plastered on the walls, while numerous boxes, bags and chest (plus some human-sized chess pieces) littered on the floor.
"Oh, wow." Sasha said with a voice full of snark, "Can you believe it? Another mysterious hidden chamber. How many secret rooms have you hidden under your house, guys?"
"Believe me, Sash," Polly answered, "I'm asking this too now."
"Wow! Look at this place!" Marcy gleamed, her nerd enthusiasm going up to eleven, "They have tabletop games, and puzzles!"
"You're right, Marbles. Wow, this place looks like the backroom of one of those comic stores, you know, the room where you can go and play tabletop games with others."
"You're right, Jacob." Sasha mused, looking around. Whoever was to be the owner of this room, had to be an even bigger nerd than Mar-Mar.
"Come on, Marbles, give me a hand," James said, grabbing some of those game boxes and trying to fit them in his backpack, "we can bring some of them above, and try to learn and play them."
"You read my mind, James."
"Yep, mine as well!" Jacob nodded.
"Let's see if we can find which Plantar this stuff belonged to." Anne said, checking one of those books. "No way. Emma the Newt? Honorary Plantar?"
"I remember her! Sprig said all of a sudden, "She was on the family shrub."
"Anne, check this: she got hair just like yours." Sasha pointed, as she noted a smaller frog with a blonde ponytail, like her as well.
"Wow, you're right Sash. Hey, check this out. She traveled all over Amphibia, she collected all this cool stuff on her long trips, and then she settled with the Plantars. She wasn't even a frog, and yet they accepted her into their family!"
Sasha tried to hide her smile, as she kept looking at the picture, where Emma stood in the middle surrounded by the other Plantars. She looked happy, and so did the frogs around her. Even if they were not related by blood, she could say they considered each other family.
Wait, is this what Hop Pop meant when he said that families are not bound by blood alone? Does that mean that-
"Guys," Anne looked up, "You realize what this means? Even outsiders, like us, can be true Plantar. Even if we are not frogs, that does not mean we cannot be family."
"Oh, Anne." Sprig muttered, his eyes widening out of emotions, "Looks like you've solved the puzzle...of our hearts."
"Huh, guys?" Sasha spoke, ruining the atmosphere, "I don't want to ruin the happy bonding moment, but how about we try to solve the puzzle of how to get out of here?"
"I think the exit is that way, Sash," Marcy simply said, pointing to a large stone door, its passage apparently blocked, with several square sections and tiles covering it, each one having their own different symbol.
"What kind of door is this? Marcy, have you ever seen something like this in one of your dungeon crawls?"
"Sorry, Jacob. What about you?"
"Never seen something like this before."
"Well, it's locked." Sprig said, after trying fruitlessly to open it.
"Maybe I can smash it. Hiyah!" Polly smashed her flail, but again, with no success, "Well, that didn't work."
"We're going to die down here!"
"Sprig, calm down!" Sasha intervened, "We are not going to die here. We just have to learn how to open it. Come on, this room is all about puzzles and games, so I guess the door must be…puzzled-themed as well?"
"Sasha, you're a genius!" Anne gasped, taking out her phone as she realized the stone tiles looked just like Slacker Stackers, "Guys, this isn't just a door. It's a puzzle!"
"Great, you and Marcy can open it!" James said in approval.
"Come on, Anna-Banana. We can solve it together!"
"All right, Marbles, let's do this!"
The two girls' hands quickly moved on the tiles, assembling the squares together in their correct positions. "There, we did it!"
Too soon, as they learned a second later. The room started to tremble violently, and a rumbling sound was heard. The humans raised their glaze, only to see with horror a spike-covered ceiling lowering into them, while more squares slid down the door's surface.
"Girls, what did you do?" Jacob yelled in horror.
"Oh, no! I know what this is." Anne gasped, dread filling her eyes "The sudden death round! I never finished it!"
"I did!" Marcy said, trying to move back to the door, "I can solve it-"
A small rock, falling from above, landed on Marcy's head, knocking her out cold.
"Marcy!" Anne and James rushed to her help. She wasn't hurt, just knocked out for a bit, and yet there wasn't any worse news for every one of them.
Anne jerked up: if Marcy was knocked out, she was the only one experienced enough to solve the puzzle before the spikes impaled onto them.
"You can do this, Anne." She breathed deeply, as she moved to slide every square in their correct position.
"Amelia, Sprig, Polly, you take care of Marcy!" Sasha shouted, as she tried to reorganize them, "Jacob, James, with me!"
"What's your plan, Sash?"
"Just help me hold the game tower!" The blonde girl moved, pushing with all her strength, "The more we resist, the more time we give Anne to finish that dumb game!"
The three teens worked together, trying to delay the spiked ceiling as much as they could, while Anne worked incessantly to solve the puzzle.
"Anne, no pressure, but we're going to die." Sprig said, holding to Marcy's arm, Amelia trying to help her regain consciousness by holding her legs high.
"Keep resisting, guys!" Sasha shouted, the boys and her striving to push back the ceiling with all their force.
"Almost... there!" Anne grumbled, putting the final square in its place. Immediately, the door opened and Amelia, Sprig and Polly rushed through it.
"Woo-hoo! I did it! Take that, Hop Pop. Whose brain is rotten now-"
"No time for that, Boonchuy!" Sasha yelled as she launched herself on Anne to get out just before the ceiling landed down.
Beyond the door, the group breathed a collective sigh of relief, James, Jacob and Sasha still feeling pain for their sore muscles.
"Ung-" Marcy said, as she started to regain consciousness. "Guys, where are we? Did the ceiling-the ceiling!"
"It's all right, Marbles." Sasha said in a voice full of pride, "We did it. Or rather, Anne did it."
"Anne? You did it? You managed to beat the sudden death round?"
"Yup, Marbles." her friend smiled back at her, "I guess it wasn't that complicated, after all. Thank you for giving me the help I needed."
Marcy smiled warmly, hugging her friend, "No, Anna-Banana. Thank you for figuring it out and saving our lives."
"Guys, I guess we had your family history all wrong." Sasha looked at Polly and Sprig with a remorseful, kind expression, "The Plantars weren't just farmers."
"Nope, they were twisted."
"Generous!"
"Cryptic!"
"Harsh, but just!"
"Yeah, they were pretty cool." Polly spoke last, "Now, can we finally find a way out of here?"
"Yeah," Sprig nodded, reaching for yet another lever, "And I think I know how…"
"Nope!" Sasha responded, as she, Anne, James and Marcy grabbed Sprig and pushed him forward, "Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope!"
Later that day, Hop Pop returned home, carrying a small bag with the glue he bought and a couple of other things. Just before he could wonder where Sprig, Polly and the kids had disappeared this time, he saw the old clock in the living room turn on itself, ejecting them out of the wall and into the floor. They looked tired and scratched, but their pockets looked full, and so did their backpacks.
"Kids, what in the tarnation did happen? I told you to stay indoors."
"We stayed indoors, Hop Pop!" Anne shouted, her expression returning to happiness, "We found those Plantar family layers you were talking about!"
"Found them?" The old frog replied in confusion, "Kids, I wasn't being literal."
"But we did find them!" Marcy gleamed, followed by everyone else, "There is a secret entrance, and an underground labyrinth of chambers-"
"-a room filled with stars and constellations map-"
"-a treasure room filled with golden coins!"
"-there was a statue that teaches manners and etiquette-"
"Turnips! Turnips with faces-"
"-a real death trap with saws, pikes and statues who attack you-"
"-a giant monstrous pumpkin, a real aberration-"
"-an amazing mysterious creepy lab-"
"-an armory worthy of the greatest of the warriors-"
"Kids, one at a time, please! First, what's this nonsense about a secret entrance?"
"I think a little demonstration is needed," Sasha said, walking to the fireplace (while Hop Pop noticed the pink heron sword to her side) and pressed the same point Marcy did earlier, reopening the passage.
Hop Pop's yes almost bulged, his mouth dropped open. "Say what? There's a secret passage under the house?"
"Even better, HP!" Jacob moved to his left pocket, grabbing some golden coins he scavenged in Alfred's room. "Look at these!"
"Wait, are these…real golden coins?"
"Yup! Sasha and I found a secret room which used to belong to second cousin Alfred. Actually, he was secretly the Merchant King, and he left a large stash of coins for the whole Plantar family."
"Hop Pop, look at these photos!" James shoved his telephone forward, "Great Aunt Gertrude was actually a seer and fortune-teller who everyone in Amphibia sought to ask for her help."
"Hop Pop, check this!" Amelia showed her new katana, Yamato, "We found this in Pollyanna's room. She wasn't a turnip farmer, but a badass warrior. Her room looks like an armory!"
"This family's amazing!"
"I am actually proud to be a Plantar!"
"Games don't rot your brain!"
"You found secret rooms hidden under the house?" Hop Pop gasped, as he tried to assimilate with what they told him, "Full of Plantar family heirlooms? Kids, you realize how incredible this discovery is? Most importantly, once again, I was right!"
Everyone minus Hop Pop rushed back to the family shrub, and resumed their work on it, but this time, with newfound excitement and enthusiasm.
"Our ancestors were the most amazing scientists, soothsayers, merchants, teachers, warriors, explorers, farmers ever!"
"Everyone needs to know!"
"Well, Hop Pop smiled, "I want to see these rooms, too!"
"I suggest you be cautious, Hop Pop," James looked at him, "We barely survived down there. There is a real killer-fight simulator for warriors."
"Plus deadly, super hard but satisfying puzzles." Anne added.
"Oh, and there was a pumpkin abomination!" Sprig nodded, "A real affront to nature. I loved it! And then, I betrayed it.
"No offense, but I'm not sure if you could handle it." Polly snickered
Hop Pop laughed, "You have no idea what I can or can't handle. For treasure and history! What do you say, Loggle? Up for another adventure?"
Hopediah turned around, showing that, somehow, Wartwood's resident woodmaker and Jacob's former boss was now literally on his back. Glued to him, to be more specific.
"Absolutely...not!" The axolotl screamed as Hop Pop rushed toward the fireplace passage, completely heedless of the dangers inside.
Sasha, Anne, Polly and the others shared a long, worried look.
"Huh, should we go and help them?"
"Aw, do we have to?" Jacob puzzled, "Nothing against Hop Pop, of course, but Loggle exploited my work as an adventurer. Are you sure they're going to end up in danger?"
A loud roar, alongside Hop Pop's and Loggle's voices pleading for help, was all they needed to hear.
"Yeah, probably."
"Hop Pop, hold on!"
"Yamato joins the battle!"
"Fine," Jacob sighed. "Let's go save the axolotl. For Valhalla!"
"Oh, oh, oh! Let's adopt that pumpkin monster."
"Sprig, no!"
(Sometimes later, after rescuing Hop Pop, redoing all the walking, and taming a large pumpkin aberration: )
"Okay, to recap," Marcy said reading aloud, "Skip Plantar's old room will be converted back to an experimental laboratory. I can use it, and I can invite Maddie in."
"Just be careful what you combine, especially if you try to mix science and magic," Jacob said with a finger raised, "That huge pumpkin monster was hard to befriend. Especially after someone betrayed it the first time."
Sprig chortled nervously, feeling embarrassment.
"Pollyanna's room can be used as both an armory and a training room for anyone who wants to train in the use of weapons. Sasha, Amelia, you can bring both Ivy and Maddie's sisters, but be careful they don't get hurt."
"Come on, Mars," Sasha said with a chuckle, "Polly survived, and she's a tadpole."
"Hey!"
"Nevertheless, I have a couple of ideas for modifications we can make to that simulator. Moving on to Emma's room, we can convert it back into a large break room for everyone's benefit."
"Remember that we still need to disable the descending ceiling with spikes."
"Okay. About Gertrude's room, do we have any ideas?"
"I'd like to use it as a study, or as a relaxation room," James said flatly. "Plus, all those star maps could be useful for my work on mapping the stars of Amphibia. Do you want to give me a hand afterward?"
"Absolutely! Moving on now to Alfred's room..."
"There you are, kids!" Hop Pop walked in, "What are you doing?"
"Huh, nothing." Anne replied, "We were simply…discussing how to renovate the various underground rooms we found. Marcy wants to take over Skip's lab as her own."
"We were also thinking about Alfred's room and Emeline's" Jacob intervened, "By the way, HP, have you already decided on what to do with that huge amount of coins? I suppose you're pretty much spoilt for choice on how to use it."
"Actually, I decided not to touch it, for now."
"Whoa, seriously?" Anne looked at him, a bit amazed, "A fortune in gold coins, and you're not going to use it?"
"Believe me, Anne, a part of me still wants to. Yet, second cousin Alfred left that money for us to use for emergencies, or to help others, and I don't want to disrespect his wishes. Plus, there is something else I need to do now." He winked at Polly and Sprig, who nodded and walked back to the living room.
"Huh, what do you mean, Hop Pop?"
"You'll learn it soon." The old frog smiled,
"Here is it, Hop Pop!" Sprig and Polly returned, bringing the family shrub map with them. Anne smiled empathically, as she saw their faces and Hop Pop's on the shrub, who they added just earlier. Until she noticed something she didn't remember adding.
A thin branch, starting at Hop Pop, snaked in parallel up to right next to Sprig and Polly's portrait, ending in a large branch. Nevertheless, there was no portrait attached.
"Hey, who's supposed to go there?"
"Ugh, does that mean we have to add other obscure relatives?" Sasha grimaced, "Whoever is left to add, anyway?"
"I guess you can see by yourself," Hop Pop's smile grew, as his hands reached into his pocket and pulled out some oval pieces of paper, depicting-
Anne's eyes widened, she felt a welling of emotions in her throat, as she realized they were portraits of herself and the others, everyone with a smiling face. Around her, Sasha, Marcy and the others realized it, and reacted similar to her: Marcy looked with big eyes, unable to say anything; Sasha's eyes started to leak with runaway tears, Jacob gasped with open mouth, Amelia hold onto him; and James kept looking at Hop Pop, Sprig and Polly with disbelief.
"This is…something we wanted to do for a while," Hop Pop confessed, "Of course, if you agree with it."
"You…you think of us as family?" Sasha murmured, unable to process the thought, "You want us to be part of the family officially?"
"Kids, we considered you as a part of our family for a long time now. I told you, family is not determined by blood, as Emma the newt taught to all of you. Plus, you helped us so much since we have met you, and today you demonstrated this again by helping us find again the roots of our past, and the lost legacies of our family we were unaware of until now." He looked at each of them, "I'd be honored to take you all, as my children."
Sasha felt emotions rush through her heart, the tears leaking out of her eyes quickly becoming a flow. Her past self, the one who never ended in Amphibia, would have scoffed, but now, after everything they had experienced, seeing her own name and portraits added to their family shrub brought to her a warm, heartfelt sense…of belonging.
"Sasha, are you ok?" Sprig asked, worried. "If you don't like it-"
"Like it? I love it!" Sasha began to cry, emotions she used to suppress and quarantine for so long, rushing like a river in a flood.
"Sprig, that means I'm your sister now?" Anne hugged Sasha, starting to weep as well. "Can I call you little brother?"
"Sure thing… big sister."
Marcy joined in, as the analytical part of her mind marveled at how the idea of becoming part of a family of coldblooded amphibians could make her feel so warm and welcome. As she gripped Sasha and Anne, she felt an even bigger wonder as she realized that now, her closest friends were now her sisters.
"Anna-banana, I would love to be your sister!"
"James, can you believe it? We just got adopted!"
"And we didn't have to become orphans first!" The two boys hugged as well
"Wow, that's...overwhelming, HP" Amelia spoke in astonishment, as her mind drifted back to the secret underground rooms that made today's adventure. I wonder what secrets that place holds as well. Maybe I can find some trace of Leif? Maybe she was a friend of some Plantar family member, once?
(…)
Beyond the Plantar's farm, far away from the eyes of everyone and from the secret rooms of any other past members of the Plantar family, an old door stood alone.
It was a red door, a P placed over the outline of an L, decorations on its borders and a slot at the bottom. Such a door was built many years before all the others, to preserve the secrets of one of the earliest members of the Plantar's family.
Or to be exact, the founding member of the Plantar family.
Someone, who almost a thousand years ago, set the stones in places for the developments that were happening in these days.
Someone, who was indirectly responsible for the six humans' presence on Amphibia.
And those thousand years ago, ended up bringing someone else to Amphibia.
For now, the door stood silent and alone, as it did for more than a thousand years, protecting what was hidden inside of it. If the human teens and their amphibian friends had managed to find it earlier, many events could have changed, and many more developments could have been avoided, or reversed. Yet, even if they did find it, they may have not known how to open it, due to the unclear nature of its latch, and thus events could have gone unaltered for a long time.
Yet, the door stood silent, on her mission. Not today, but soon, someone would open it; and on that day, the secrets it preserved would have been revealed to the world.
A small gush of wind blew in front of the door, almost as if it was speaking a name.
"Leif…"