Previously on Calamitous Intervention
After learning about Bessie, Luz decided to take her for a spin, driving her across Wartwood until she met up with Ivy, who joined her on the trip. They had fun outside the town for hours, until they ran into another coastal kill-a-pillar with that they had a close encounter. After that, one day, Luz had gotten pimples and now the town accepted her only due to her appearance. Mayor Toadstool gave her a fancy home away from the Plantars. She initially decided to keep at it, sacrificing her own happiness for the town's benefit, but she lost her pimples and decided to finally spill her heart out to the villagers.
Chapter Thirteen - Game On! / Girl Time
It is a rainy day outside in Amphibia, with the occasional thundering. Luz and the Plantars are eating breakfast that Hop Pop prepared, as per usual. Luz is surprised at how quickly she got used to eating his cooking, thinking that she never would.
After finishing her bowl, she goes into her room, grabs her bag, and prepares herself for another trip outside. She's excited to see more of this world and who else lives beyond Wartwood. As she grabs some potions to defend herself, the old frog walks in with his hands on his hips.
"And just where do you think you're going?" he asks sternly, already knowing the answer.
"I'm gonna go exploring!" the human informs him, hoisting the bag over her shoulder. "I have a lot planned for today. I plan to go study with Maddie, visit Ivy, continue my search for Stringbean, and anything else I think of."
"Absolutely not!" Hop Pop says, and her smile immediately disappears. "Why not?"
"Don't ya remember what happened the last time I let you take Bessie?" he replies. "You ran into another coastal kill-a-pillar! You're lucky you got outta there with no injuries."
"But I'll be careful this time," Luz pleads, but the old frog remains unconvinced. "You're not goin' anywhere today. You said last time you could defend yourself, but you nearly got eaten. This is for your own good, Luz."
The human sighs, her excitement vanishing. "I was really looking forward to at least going to see Maddie."
"Every time you leave the house, something dangerous always happens," Hop Pop reminds her. "I wouldn't say you're naïve, but… Actually, I would. You are too naïve. You're gonna get yourself hurt one of these days. Also, it's pourin' outside. Do you wanna go out in that kind of weather?"
Luz's head hangs low as she thinks about this. "I like the rain, but since I can't leave, I don't know what I'm gonna do here. I've already read most, if not all your books."
"You'll find somethin' to do," he assures her, turning to leave the room. "Just stay away from the pain peppers. I saw Sprig tasting one of them and those aren't meant for us… in particular…"
When he's gone, Luz plops down onto her bed, getting lost in her thoughts. She doesn't know what to do, but the thought of the pain peppers lingers in her mind. She then gets an idea of how she can defend herself a lot better. It sounds cruel, but it would definitely be useful in a life-or-death situation.
She goes into the living room where Sprig and Polly are, taking a glance outside the window to see the rain pouring over the farm. Sprig's eyes light up when he sees his friend and walks over to her. "Hey, Luz. Got anything planned for today?"
"I'm planning to do some experimenting with Hop Pop's pain peppers," Luz tells him, and this seems to pique his interest. "Why are you using those? Unless you're…"
They point at each other with one finger in a mutual understanding, with Sprig grinning mischievously. "Ahhh, I see what you're planning. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemies, though, if I had any."
"It's more for a life or death situation," Luz assures him. "I'm not cruel like that."
Polly hops over, also having an interest ever since the pain peppers were mentioned. "Is someone gonna suffer today? I'm in!"
Luz walks over to one barrel containing the pain peppers. As she opens the lid, an intense spicy odor hits her nose. It is so strong that it makes her eyes water. She reaches over, grabbing one pepper, doing her best not to touch the bubbling hot liquid.
Together, the three of them go to her room, where she sets the pepper down somewhere safe. She begins to sift through her backpack to get her equipment, before freezing as she spots something familiar and unexpected inside.
Her eyes light up as she reaches over, grabbing a handheld gaming device. "I found it! I thought I lost it for good!"
As all three of them immediately forget about their original plan with the pain peppers, Sprig walks over, taking a close look at this strange new artifact in his eyes. "It kinda looks like your phone thing. What does it do?"
"This, my good friend, is a Tindo Swap," she explains, turning it on. A Tindo logo appears, followed by the logo for the device, then it cuts to the main dashboard where she can access her games. "You can play lots of video games on this!"
"What's a video game?" Polly asks her, and the human grins, knowing she has a lot to teach them. She goes through her installed games, telling the frogs about them: Splanimate 3, Hyper Bash Siblings Definitive, Mammal Pathway: Fresh Sunshine, and more.
"The heck kinda names are those?" Polly mutters. "And I thought Hop Pop's board games were weird."
As Luz plays games next to them and shows them the basics, this unfamiliar technology completely entrances them. Before they know it, it's already been two hours and they are still playing in the living room.
Hop Pop finally notices something is up and walks into the living room with a confused expression. "What in tarnation is that thing?"
As he approaches, Luz explains the device to him as he did to the other two, but the old frog doesn't seem too interested in it. Sure, this new technology is pretty neat to him, but gaming is by no means his thing. He scoffs as he stands across from them. "Instead of that garbage, how 'bout I treat you to some real entertainment?"
He pulls out a scroll, and Sprig and Polly cringe, knowing what's gonna happen. "Oh, no."
"A scene from The Shallow Pond," Hop Pop says, before clearing his throat and opening the scroll, beginning to read it in a dramatic voice. "Sadness. The world is sadness. But look. There, a pond! Is it deep? Or shallow?"
He opens one eye, expecting them to be impressed, but instead, they don't react at all, looking disinterested. "So, do you have more controllers, Luz?" Polly asks her.
"Mama insisted I bring a couple more so I can play them with friends at camp," the human replies, "so yes, they're around here somewhere."
Hop Pop grumbles at their lack of respect, getting up off the couch. "Fine, enjoy your little gadget! I'm gonna continue reciting this in town. Maybe then someone will appreciate my actin'."
"At least give it a try," Luz pleads. "You might be pleasantly surprised."
He rolls his eyes in response. "Fine. Let's see what you kids find more entertaining than my raw acting talent."
After ten minutes of searching, the human finally finds three controllers and decides to show them how to play Mushroom Dash, one of her favorite racing games.
As Sprig, Polly, and Hop Pop learn the basics and play five rounds, the latter is surprisingly really good at racing. He kept nailing Luz, Sprig, and Polly with the red shells, securing his spot in first place.
"How are you so good at this?" Luz asks him, doing her best to avoid the green shells he's tossing at her from behind. "You play like a pro!"
"Let's just say I have my own racing experience," the old frog simply replies, refusing to go further into detail. Luz feels skeptical about this but chooses to not think about it further.
As time goes on, Luz takes the lead, finally able to beat Hop Pop. Polly gets angrier and angrier as she keeps getting last place.
"Stupid RED SHELLS!" she yells after one flew behind her and slammed onto her kart, incapacitating her for a brief moment.
After a bit, she finally has enough and throws her controller down onto the couch cushions, which does nothing as she hops off, grumbling to herself. "Stupid game."
"I can't believe humans have stuff like this," Sprig says, trying to stay focused on the game but ultimately trailing behind Luz. "Why didn't you bring it out sooner?"
"Well, I kinda lost it when I moved in here," the human explains. "Plus, I wasn't really planning to use it anyway since who would after ending up in an entirely new world to explore?"
"Good point," Hop Pop says. "What's your home like, anyway?"
"It's a lot different from yours and more advanced," she explains, getting hit by a rocket from Sprig's kart. "It's hard to explain, but the buildings are way taller, there are probably machines to farm for us… We'd be here all day if I told you more about it."
"Automatic harvesting? That's preposterous," the old frog says, setting his controller down as Sprig manages to win the race. "Nothin' beats real hard work."
"Did you have fun, Hop Pop?" Luz asks, and the old frog chuckles. "It definitely was a fresh experience for me. Just when I thought I'd seen it all. I still prefer my way of entertainment, though."
"Alright, we better stop for today," Luz says, turning off the Tindo Swap, much to Sprig's disappointment. "Why?"
"We have to save its power," she tells him. "As far as I know, this world doesn't have electricity, so we have limited power. I'm not really too worried about it since I like exploring this world, but I don't know about you."
"I think that's for the best," the old frog says. "If you keep playin' that game, you will end up neglecting your farming duties. You also are behind on your chores, Sprig."
"Darn it," the frog boy mutters, having completely forgotten about them.
"It's already nearly nighttime, anyway," Luz says, getting up and stretching her limbs. "I'm gonna reread a bit of Bessie's manual and drift off to sleep."
As she leaves, Sprig just now realizes how tired he is as well. They've probably been playing for three hours in total. (With breaks, of course.) The last time he checked, the number on the top right said 67%. He doesn't know what it means, or what happens if it hits zero, but he decides not to think about it.
The next morning, as soon as he wakes up, he has one thing on his mind, and that is to try more of the games Luz has available on her gadget. He even wakes up minutes earlier than everybody else to get a headstart.
As soon as he goes into the living room, drinking water to fully wake himself up, he walks over and picks up the device, turning it on.
It displays two separate logos before displaying the dashboard once again. At first, he doesn't notice anything wrong as he grabs a controller, browsing through the games, but then he notices something off.
When he glances at the top right corner, he notices the number going from 2% to 1%. He blinks, not knowing what's about to happen, until right as he starts a new game, the screen turns black with a strange battery icon appearing on the top left, before the Tindo Swap powers down.
His eyes widen as he tries turning it on, to no avail. Afraid of having ruined something precious, he yells at the top of his lungs in a panic, waking up the Plantars and Luz.
One by one, they quickly rush into the living room to see what's going on. Luz yawns, looking at Sprig with half-closed eyes. "Sprig? What happened?"
"The device doesn't work anymore!" the frog boy says, showing her the black screen. "The number went down and then it broke!"
The human wipes her eyes, walking over and taking the Tindo Swap from his hands, trying to turn it on. "Huh, I guess it ran out of battery. I thought I turned it off, though. Weird."
"Can someone explain what the heck is going on here?!" Polly yells, hopping into the living room. "I was trying to sleep!"
"You two are overreactin'," Hop Pop says, taking the device from Luz's hands and placing it in a drawer. "Those gadgets will probably fry your brains if you keep playing with them."
"Someone must've used it," Luz mutters, turning toward the three. "Which one of you did it? I'm not mad."
Nobody answers, which warrants a sigh from her. "Oh, well. That's an issue you three will need to sort out."
Sprig taps his chin, trying to piece together evidence in his head. "Well, I heard Polly get up last night. It could've been her."
"I needed to pee!" the tadpole protests angrily. "Plus, if you heard me, you were awake, too."
"Don't change the subject," Sprig says, and Polly groans. "Well, if it wasn't you, then Hop Pop must've done it!" She points to the old frog, who is in the kitchen preparing breakfast.
"Heh! Me?" the old frog scoffs, holding a pan and spatula. "In case you forgot, I prefer the traditional ways of entertainment."
"Exactly!" Polly theorizes. "Maybe you ran down the battery so we'd have to listen to your boring play!"
"Oh, that's good," Sprig agrees, considering her point.
"That is preposterous!" Hop Pop yells, and Luz waves her arms, trying to get their attention.
"Fighting like this isn't going to solve things," she tells them. "You guys don't have electricity, so we can't charge it. Maybe when I go back home, I could let you guys come visit and we can play some more video games."
As she walks off, leaving them alone, Sprig and Polly contemplate her words. "There's gotta be some way to charge it," the frog boy says.
"Don't even think about it," Hop Pop cuts in. "You're gonna get so addicted to those games, you're gonna keep procrastinatin'."
"Please, Hop Pop?" Sprig begs. "I'll do double chores for a week if you help!"
"Well-..."
"I'll even do it for two weeks!" he says, and the old frog sighs. "Fine, but you better keep your word. What do we need to bring this thing back to life? Magic? Live sacrifice? I know a guy in town."
"Didn't she mention something about charging, though?" Polly asks them. "What does that mean?"
The old frog taps his chin, trying to recall what he read about a while back. "Charging? Hmm, so this thing needs power. I think I have an idea. Quickly, to my study!"
Once he takes them to his study room, he plops down a dusty old book labeled, "Beasts of Amphibia".
He opens the book, showing them the page of the creature he's thinking about. "I've heard talk of a creature called the zapapede that lives deep in the Misty Peaks." He uses his finger to trace the trail from Wartwood all the way to said creatures. "It zaps its prey with a small spark of lightnin'. Yeah, it's pretty cool, actually."
"How long will it take to get there?" Sprig asks him, hoping it isn't too far.
"It's half a day's travel," the old frog tells them. "Should be no problem for us."
"Shouldn't we get Luz to help us?" Polly says. "She's got magic, for crying out loud!"
"Don't bring her into our problems," Hop Pop says. "I'm sure we can handle this ourselves. After all, double chores mean half the work for me. More time for me to work on my warship replica."
Despite their willingness to work together, they are still a bit skeptical since they don't know who ran down the device's battery, but they aren't going to keep worrying about it as long as they can get it powered up again.
Luckily for them, they are frogs, so they don't mind the rain. The weather isn't dangerous, so traveling will be fine.
Later in the day, as initially planned, they finally make it to Misty Peaks, which is a tall arrowhead-shaped mountain that peeks out of a dark and murky forest. Clouds cover the sunlight, with a thin fog covering the area.
As the three frogs walk along the path, Sprig is playing the violin to entertain himself while they finally approach their destination. As they head up the mountain, they travel on a steep path. One simple misstep and you could fall to your doom.
They approach a worn-down wooden bridge, and Hop Pop raises his hand to stop Sprig from making any more music. "Quiet, boy. Look! There's one now! A zapapede!"
As he says that, the clouds part to reveal a centipede-like creature curled around the lower peak of the mountain. On its head are two antennae that generate lightning, an arc of electricity occasionally sparking.
Without wasting any more time, Sprig takes a cautious step forward onto the wooden plank, making it creak loudly. As the frog boy takes another step on the bridge, Hop Pop follows behind him. "Step lightly, Sprig. This thing doesn't look like it can take much weight."
As they carefully tread across the old wooden bridge, Hop Pop notices Sprig yawning, which makes him suspicious, but he decides to drop it. He will do double chores for two weeks anyway to make up for it, even if he was the culprit.
The old frog's not the only one to notice this, as Polly does as well, squinting as she hops closely behind him. Sprig's the first to make it to the other side, slowly approaching the zapapede. It still hasn't noticed them as it is napping peacefully.
"Wait, how are we gonna even do this?" Polly asks the two. "That thing looks dangerous."
"Zapapedes are relatively peaceful if you don't threaten them," Hop Pop replies. "I'll do it."
As the old frog grabs the dead Tindo Swap, he slowly inches closer to the zapapede, which finally senses a disturbance and opens its eyes, staring directly at him. It tilts its head as its antennae sparkle with lightning, as if to warn him about approaching.
"Yeah, I don't think risking your life for some stupid gadget should be on your bucket list," Polly says. "Maybe we should reconsider."
"Heh! I'm sure it isn't that bad," Hop Pop says, slowly raising the device up to the zapapede's head. But as predicted, it definitely was a bad idea. He immediately gets shocked, his body spasming for a split second. He gasps, taking a step back as his entire body is covered in burns. "Uh, is there such thing as too much power for this device?"
The zapapede seems completely unbothered as it stares at the three frogs, tilting its head. The device turns on as it displays 250 percent. "Huh, I guess a little more couldn't hurt."
This time, he grabs a branch to set the device on as the zapapede sparks again, lightning consuming the device.
As he pulls it away, he picks it up and turns it on to reveal it having 5,000 percent, which shouldn't be physically possible. "Holy smokes. That's a lot of percents."
He turns around, placing the device in his pocket. "Alright, now that that's taken care of, who used it last night?"
Despite the situation being resolved, nobody responds. He rolls his eyes, walking back toward the bridge. "Whatever. Not like it matters now."
As they head back home, things go pretty smoothly. They haven't run into any near-death experiences unless you count the zapapede.
They walk through the front door at sunset, where Luz is doing the usual, reading books while sitting on the couch. She notices them and immediately gets up. "Where the heck were you three?"
In response, the old frog goes up to her and pulls out the device. She raises her eyebrows as she takes it and turns it on while drinking a glass of water. As soon as she sees the percentage, she spits the drink out, taking a closer look to make sure she isn't hallucinating. "Uh, am I reading this right?"
"Yep," Hop Pop says, "we took it to get it charged, in exchange for Sprig doin' double chores for the next two weeks."
"That's cool, but is this even possible?" Luz mutters as she tilts her head, making sure the device isn't fried, which it somehow isn't. "You know what? I'm not gonna even question it."
She hands the device to Sprig, who hops on the couch. "Yes! I can't wait to finally try Hyper Bash Siblings!"
"Oh, no, you don't!" Hop Pop says, snatching the device from his hands. "It's past your bedtime. You better get plenty of sleep since you got a lot of chores to do tomorrow."
Sprig groans, wishing he hadn't made this promise. What's the point in getting the device charged if he doesn't even have time to play on it?
After he goes to bed, alongside Polly, Luz goes into the basement to finish the book before going to sleep as well.
Seeing as everybody else is in bed, Hop Pop tiptoes over to the living room, the Tindo Swap standing invitingly on the table, before turning it on and grabbing a controller. For twenty minutes, he plays Mushroom Dash, finding it rather fun, though he doesn't want to admit it to the others.
Just then, Polly exits her bedroom, wiping her eyes as the old frog notices her, hiding the controller before she can see it. "Polly, what are you doin' out of bed?"
She wipes her eyes, before looking at Hop Pop and then looking at the screen, which he forgot to hide. The tadpole gasps, pointing at him accusingly. "You were the culprit! I knew it!"
"Wait, but it wasn't me!" Hop Pop replies, trying to defend himself.
"Zip it, old man!" Polly yells. "I'm so gonna tell them! You probably ran down the battery because you don't even know how to exit a game!"
"Well, excuse me!" Hop Pop grumbles. "Why? Do you know how to do it?"
"You can just suspend it!" she yells, as if it was obvious.
"Oh, that's neat," the old frog replies, before putting two and two together. "Wait a minute… How did you know that?"
At the back of the house, Luz, Sprig, Hop Pop, and Polly are spending some time together. Sprig and Hop Pop have their feet dipped in the pond while Polly is sitting on Luz's lap, who is watching the Plantars a couple of meters away from them.
"This one is goin' all the way, baby!" Sprig states, before leaning back and hawking. He spits high in the air, as it splashes a fair distance from them in the pond.
Hop Pop laughs at his attempt, knowing he can do better than that. "You call that a spit? Now watch this." He gurgles loudly and spits in the air, easily beating Sprig's attempt. It even nearly reaches the other side of the pond.
Luz, watching them, finds this cool yet a bit gross. "I don't know how you guys do that, but that's really impressive."
"Spitting is practically a sport in Wartwood," the old frog tells her, smiling.
"We even have a town record," Sprig adds, referring to a tall pole erected in the center of the plaza, on top of which lies a gold crown and a statue of a spitting frog. "Whoever breaks the record gets a trophy."
"You guys really must have a lot of yearly traditions," the human says. "Are you gonna try it, Polly?"
In response, the tadpole hops out of her lap, going next to Hop Pop and Sprig. "You bet! THAT RECORD IS MINE!"
She inhales and gurgles loudly, inflating her own body as she builds up a lot of force. Luz winces at this but watches as Polly lets out a spit even greater than Hop Pop's. It reaches all the way to the other side of the pond, even landing on a small creature on the grass that resembles a crayfish wearing an old, cracked mug on top of its back.
"That's my little spitter!" the old frog says, proud of the tadpole.
"You can spit the frown off a widow!" Sprig adds, knowing he'd have a long way to go to ever reach her level if he wanted to keep practicing.
"What about you, Luz?" Hop Pop asks. "Can you spit like us?"
The human winces a bit, knowing she cannot even compare to them. "Uh, most humans aren't good at that."
"Aw, I'm sure you'll do fine," Sprig assures her. Now motivated a bit, she reluctantly goes to the pond next to them and inhales, before trying to gurgle and spit as far as she can.
As expected, her spit barely leaves the dock as it hits the water right next to the wood. The frogs stare at her blankly, before Hop Pop coughs into his fist. "Maybe with some practice?"
She decides not to take part in this unusual sport any longer. "Well, I guess you three have fun, then." Before she goes back inside, she hears the roof above her creaking. She looks up curiously to check, but sees nobody.
Just then, a familiar young female voice comes down from above, yelling, "AMBUSH!"
Out of nowhere, Ivy tackles Sprig into the water, who is surprised. She surfaces and laughs when she sees Sprig's face covered in moss, who also starts laughing. "Sorry, sorry, just was too good an opportunity."
Luz walks up to the edge of the dock, smiling widely as she sees one of her closest friends. "Ivy! It's been days since we last spoke."
Hop Pop gasps loudly when he sees Ivy. "Ivy Sundew?! I don't believe it! You two have changed your minds!"
"Yeah, no," she corrects him. "We're just friends."
"We've talked about this, Hop Pop," Luz says, glaring at the old frog who scratches the back of his head. "Right, right."
After Sprig climbs out, Ivy does so after him. "I was just coming to say hi. What are you guys up to?"
"We were just practicing our spittin' techniques," Hop Pop explains to her. "I doubt you have any interest, since your mother really dislikes the sport."
"Oh, no, I still do it," she replies, "just not too often. Last time Sprig and I tried it, I could only go a bit further than him. My mom finds it disgusting, so I do it away from my home. Anyway, what are you up to, Luz?"
"Well, I can't really spit like them, so I was just thinking of going back inside," the human tells her. "Maybe I'll visit Wartwood in a bit to try to make some friends."
"I actually wanted to ask if you would come adventuring with me," Ivy offers, smiling. "The last time we left, we almost got eaten, but it was the most fun I've had in a long time."
"I don't see why not," Luz says, feeling excitement boiling up within her. She turns toward the Plantars. "Any of you wanna come with us?"
As expected, all three of them decline, but when Polly does, Luz realizes she's hardly ever spent time with her. "Are you sure, Polly? Maybe it could just be you, me, and Ivy. Maybe you could even learn some new spitting tricks."
Hearing this, the tadpole is unsure. "I don't know. What would we even do?"
"We'd just do stuff like exploring the town, maybe going to Felicia's tea shop and getting some sprouty sun beanies," Luz explains, "'cause it has kind of become our favorite snack, and… yeah."
"If we're going to Felicia's, are you paying?" Polly asks.
Ivy chuckles at this. "Well, I mean, sure-"
"I'm in!" Polly cuts her off, hopping up toward the human who catches her. "Away we go!"
"Luz, what did I tell you about adventurin'?" Hop Pop cuts in, still remembering what he told her days ago.
"I'm not alone this time, though," Luz reminds him. "Plus, we're not gonna really go far. We'll be back before sunset."
The old frog sighs. "Well, alright, but take care of Polly, will ya? I'm trusting you to do this for me."
"You have nothing to worry about," Ivy assures him. "We'll just be gone for a few hours." And right away, they run off, leaving Hop Pop and Sprig alone.
"Hope Luz doesn't get into too much trouble this time," Hop Pop mutters.
"I'm sure they'll be fine," Sprig tells him. "Anyway, less talk, more spit."
Later, as Luz and Ivy are walking toward the town, with the former carrying Polly, the human gets an interesting idea. "Hey, Ivy, what would you say if Maddie could join us?"
"Huh, I haven't thought of that," the Sundew replies. "Do you know where she is?"
Luz nods in confirmation. "Yep, there's one place she always hangs out at. Follow me." She leads them to the forest. It takes a bit but, sure enough, they come across Maddie's hideout.
The pink-haired frog hasn't noticed them yet as she's stirring her cauldron as usual, reading one potion recipe out loud to herself. Luz walks up behind her, clearing her throat to get her attention.
Startled, the young frog grabs a small bag from her pocket, spinning around and preparing to throw it at her. When she sees who it is, she lowers her guard. "Luz? I didn't know you were coming today."
"Yeah, sorry, it was kind of a last-minute decision," Luz replies. "Ivy, Polly, and I were gonna spend some time together in Wartwood. We were wondering if you wanted to join us."
Maddie looks surprised at this, not having ever been asked this sort of question before. "You want me to come with you to do… what?" she flatly asks.
"I don't know, maybe some girl time," Luz says, and Maddie ponders this. "Well, usually I would just stay here, but things have gotten kind of repetitive, so I don't see the harm."
Hearing this makes the human elated. "That's awesome! I've never been asked to do this either, so this is completely new to me."
The young sorceress smiles. "I'll wrap up what I'm doing real quick and join you three." After she puts away some of her equipment and stores the contents of the cauldron, the four of them head into town, ready to have a fun day together.
First, Ivy takes them to the tea shop, where she orders them a basket of sprouty sun beanies. Polly absolutely loves them while Maddie doesn't have too much of an appetite herself, still full from breakfast.
When Felicia comes over to check on them, she seems to have warmed up to Luz a bit, not treating her much differently from the rest. She also seems a little surprised to see Maddie, since she's almost never seen her, much less in a casual scenario like this.
After they leave, full of the delicious snack, Polly asks them something. "So, what are we doing next? Toad rustling? SNAKE PUNCHING?!"
"Uh, maybe let's start off with something more peaceful than that," Luz suggests.
Ivy has another idea. She wasn't planning to do it originally, but with three other friends, it was hard not to suggest it. "Hey, why don't we go to the spa? My treat."
"Ivy, you shouldn't spend your money on us," Luz protests. "You should save up your allowance and get yourself something cool."
"It really isn't a big deal," Ivy insists. "Besides, it barely costs anything."
"Well, if you say so," the human says, though she still isn't too happy about Ivy having to be the one to pay for everything. If only she had her own allowance…
As they enter the spa, it looks surprisingly pretty. Polly is disappointed they're not doing something more action-packed, but the rest are mesmerized by the interior as they've never been to a place like this before, except for Ivy on rare occasions.
Inside the spa, there is a wide marble path to the front desk, and on each side, there are two lime-green ponds, each decorated with a statue of a spitting frog. Above are glowing crystals hanging on the ceiling that illuminate the place.
As the four of them head toward the front desk, two frogs are floating in one pond next to the path, wearing facial masks and cucumber slices on their eyes. They float in the water, bouncing against each other without a care in the world.
As they reach the desk, Ivy goes in front of the others, walking up to the receptionist, who seems to be wearing a white wig on their head. "Four spa treatments, please."
"That would be…" the receptionist begins, before playing the xylophone. "... ten coppers… each." He then rings a bell for dramatic effect, which sounds a bit similar to a gong.
"That's like forty coppers," Luz mutters to Ivy, who plays it off. "It's fine, I have uh… thousands." Maddie and Polly look at each other, realizing she's lying about it to not make Luz feel bad, but neither of them says anything about it.
Ivy places forty coppers on the counter, so she still thankfully has enough, which the receptionist counts and then puts away. "Thank you. Here are your towels."
Behind him, a smaller door opens as an orange frog wearing an identical wig comes out, carrying a stack of four towels for each of them. As they each grab their towel, Polly doesn't seem thrilled. "I don't know, Luz. This seems boring. Why don't we do something fun instead?"
Before any of them can reply, Polly grabs the towel and whips the orange frog with it, making him yelp as she bursts out laughing.
Seeing this, Luz quickly picks Polly up. "Uh, sorry about her." As the employee walks away, rubbing his backside, the human squints at the tadpole. "Polly, that wasn't very nice. What's gotten into you?"
"I don't know, this whole shtick just seems lame," the tadpole complains. "You have magic! Ivy and Sprig can fight! Why don't we go fight some monster or something?"
Before Luz can reply, Ivy cuts in. "Ah, give her a break, Luz. She's just a baby. Maybe later today I can take her to see some of the cool beasts I've seen out there."
Hearing this, Polly's expression lights up as Luz scratches the back of her head, smiling. "Sorry, I didn't mean it that way. I just don't want anybody to get into trouble."
As they head into the spa, they sit down on smooth wooden chairs, while cucumber slices are put on their eyes. They dip their feet into a small pond where koi fish are nibbling at the dead skin on their feet. Spa employees surround the four, watching over them. One is pouring water into a fancy chalice for each of them to drink out of, one is playing music for them on a harp, and the other is carrying their towels away.
As most of them enjoy the experience, especially Luz and Maddie, since neither have had such an experience before, Ivy lifts a cucumber slice off of her eye to check on Polly, only to realize she isn't there. She sees Polly in the small pond riding on one of the fish like a horse, having fun. Despite knowing what Ivy has promised her, she can't help herself.
Seeing as the employees seem to have no issue with the tadpole, she decides to leave her be as she goes back to relaxing. While lying there, Maddie has time to think to herself, which leads to her recalling the events that happened a while back when Sprig and Ivy were nearly forced to marry by their respective guardians.
She doesn't want to admit it, but she did feel jealous when going to the ceremony, but Sprig and Ivy are definitely a better pairing than Sprig being with her. Their interests clash and she has a feeling he wouldn't ever like her in any way, other than as a friend. Still, she can't help but think about what could be.
When they finish, they walk out of the spa and talk about how it was strangely beautiful and addicting. Just when they think their day cannot get any cooler, Ivy suggests they go to the hair salon.
After arriving, the three girls are treated, except for Polly, who just sits there out of boredom since she doesn't have any hair.
As the barber is bantering with them, Maddie opens her eyes to realize the tadpole is gone and looks to see her throwing combs like they are knives onto a poster. Seeing this, Maddie's eyes widen as she nudges Luz to get her attention.
The human opens her eyes to see the dangerous activity she's doing and quickly gets up, running over to pick up Polly, who was about to throw the combs at the employees. "Sorry!"
Because of her behavior, they, unfortunately, get kicked out. But not deterred, Ivy leads them to a clothing shop where they try on different dresses. Luz enjoys trying new things but still prefers her current outfit. Next to them on the floor is Polly, wearing a fancy dress too big for her, with the neck ruff covering her mouth. She grunts, trying to wiggle out of it but is stuck.
Although she doesn't really care about it, Ivy insists on buying Luz a dress since she's seen her in the same clothes all the time, and it wouldn't hurt, so she gracefully accepts it. It looks way too fancy for her, but maybe she could wear it if she ever went on a date. Maddie also gets herself a new dress she thinks would look nice on a sorceress like herself. The dress is black with a long, flowing skirt, and elegant, yet has a hint of magical wonder in it.
After they leave, Luz and Ivy are laughing, and even Maddie is smiling, while Polly just looks uncomfortable.
"So, there's one more place I'd like to show you," Ivy tells them. "You can get a full-body massage there. I think it's run by a lady named Tuti."
"Luz, I thought girl time was gonna be exciting," Polly says. "You, Sprig, and Ivy are always getting mobbed, or eaten, or eaten by mobs."
"I figured this kind of stuff would be exciting for you, though?" Luz says. "Are you not having fun?"
Polly frowns at this. "Well, none of this is for me. It's just boring, bland nonsense what you three are doing. I'm gonna pass this time, get home, and work on my distance."
"Well, if you say so," Luz replies, not too bothered since she got to spend time with the tadpole in the first place. "Here, I'll take you home."
"Nah, I'll go on my own," the tadpole tells her, hopping off. Despite Luz's worrying about her, she knows she can handle herself.
As soon as they approach the shop, they walk in, looking around to see if anybody is around. The place looks more like an antique shop than a place to get massages. "Hello?" Luz says. "We're here for a massage."
Suddenly, from behind them, a tall, imposing female purple frog walks out, pushing the leaves out of the way. "I help you?", she says in a heavy accent.
This makes Luz flinch, not having expected her to appear like that. The purple frog is wearing a pointy fabric hat and a red vest, which is tied up by a brown belt. Her expression clearly states she means business.
"Hi, my name's Luz," the human greets, holding out her hand, which the female frog shakes with a firm grip. "Am town healer, Tuti." She reaches up and plucks a couple of leaves, dropping them into a bowl on the counter, which makes a puff of pink smoke. "Also part-time bounty hunter."
Seeing as Maddie mentioned nothing about it, Luz figures the female doesn't have much magical knowledge.
"Alright, we're each here for a full-body massage," Ivy tells her.
Tuti nods, walking forward. "Full body is good." She goes up to a flat wooden table, sliding her hand across the surface. "Come, we get personal."
"Wait, now that I think about it, how different is frog from human anatomy?" Luz asks with sudden concern as she lies down on her stomach, looking at a poster of a frog assuming many flexible positions.
"Is same," Tuti simply mutters, not bothered by it as she jumps on the human's back, making her flinch. She then grabs Luz's left arm and leg, pulling them toward her back as it audibly snaps, making her yelp. "Ow!"
"Uh, is she gonna be okay after this?" Maddie asks Ivy, looking a little concerned.
"I don't even know that myself," Ivy mutters as Tuti stretches Luz's limbs in awkward, painful places that make her eyes water. The human twitches as she's constantly adjusted. "I'm definitely… not like frogs…"
After a painful massage, Tuti jumps on her back one last time, before clapping her hands twice. "Is done. You are… reborn!"
Luz takes a moment to rest her body from the experience, before slowly getting up. She expected her bones to be dislocated, but she feels surprisingly fine. She stretches her arms, feeling reinvigorated. "Wow, that actually worked."
As she gets up, she doesn't realize something is wrong until it is too late. Because of her intense massage, several holes were torn in her pants, including a hole in her pocket. A small tied-up bag falls from the pocket onto the ground, creating a burst of wind that knocks everybody back.
Luz, Ivy, and Maddie scream as a huge explosion of wind completely wrecks the shop, tearing an enormous hole in one of the walls, causing dust to float everywhere. The first one to get up is Tuti, who looks furiously at them. "Who destroyed shop?! Speak now!"
Sweat goes down Luz's face as she nervously steps forward. "Sorry! I didn't know there was a, um… hole in my pocket."
The purple frog goes up to her, glaring in her face. "You pay for damage or you go missing. Make choice now."
Seeing this, Ivy immediately runs over, grabbing whatever allowance she has left and giving it to her. "She didn't mean to. Here."
Tuti grabs it and looks closely at it. "Is not enough. Pay up."
Unfortunately, neither Luz nor Maddie have any money on them. Luz sweats nervously, worried if this is really going to be how she goes out. Thankfully, Ivy comes up with an idea. "Wait, I think the trophy for the spitting record is made out of gold. If we can win that, would that be enough?"
Tuti taps her chin before crossing her arms. "Fine, but I follow you. Keep word or else."
"I'll go find Polly," Luz tells Ivy and Maddie, "you go take her to where that trophy is." They nod and she runs off, hurrying through town. She is about to go straight back to the house, but luckily, she notices something out of the corner of her eye.
Just outside Stumpy's Diner, Wally and Polly are sitting on the patio, chugging some lime juice. As she approaches, Wally sets down his mug, letting out a burp.
After him, Polly sets down her drink and lets out a massive burp. Hearing this, Luz can't help but giggle at Polly's blatant disregard for basic etiquette as she approaches them.
"Dang, kid," Wally exclaims, impressed. "You got the burp of a titan!"
"Thanks, Wally," the tadpole replies, before Luz finally reaches them, panting. Polly looks up at her, smiling. "Oh, hey, Luz."
"Sorry to bother you again, but we're kind of in trouble," the human explains. "Long story short, I accidentally wrecked a bounty hunter's massage shop and she'll probably kill us dead if we don't find a way to pay her back, so we need you to beat the spitting record."
Polly wipes the lime juice off her mouth, jumping down from the table. "Looks like my training is going to finally pay off."
"Thanks, Polly," Luz says, feeling relieved as she picks the tadpole up. "I owe you big time."
"I'll think about that last bit," Polly replies as Luz hurries off back to where the trophy is. There, they find Maddie, Ivy, and an irritated Tuti waiting for them. The human pants as she sets Polly down. "Alright, Polly. I know you can do this. I have faith in you."
As a small crowd of villagers gathers to see what's going on, some of them mutter to themselves as Polly hops onto a small wooden stool in front of a rope tied to two posts to mark where she has to be.
As the tadpole prepares herself, an older, green frog with a white mustache and a sheriff outfit walks forward to proctor her. "Okay, little lady. You get three official chances. You ready?"
Polly looks at him, and then Luz, Ivy, and Maddie, who are giving her encouraging nods and gestures. She smiles back as she gets ready to put the record to shame. "Let's do this!"
She begins to gurgle loudly and builds up force as her body swells to be bigger than any of her previous attempts. She releases the spit as it flies through the air at full velocity, with everybody watching on in anticipation. On the first try, the spit is powerful enough to crash through the sign, landing on the ground and beating the current record.
Seeing this, the crowd looks in shock before cheering. Everybody is impressed that she managed to beat it in only one try. Even Tuti looks a little impressed and reaches up and grabs the trophy from the pole. She walks off with it, meaning the debt is paid off and they don't have to die today.
As they leave, they all notice that Luz looks sad. Ivy tugs her shirt and asks what's going on, but the human looks to the side, feeling guilty. "Because of my stupid mistake, you lost all of your allowance. I'm so sorry, Ivy."
"Luz, really, it's fine," the frog assures her. "We all make mistakes. Besides, I've had fun with you three. I'd give up ten allowances to do this again."
"Hey, sorry, girl time was such a bust," Polly adds, and Luz has a slight smile. "No, it wasn't. I figured it'd be fun for you, but of course, I'm not going to change anybody. After all, I know how that feels." Her smile wavers for a moment.
Ivy then thinks about something and chuckles. "The time you were riding that fish did look pretty fun, I won't lie. I was kinda jealous. So, wanna go sightseeing later?"
"Eh, I'm all tuckered out for today," the tadpole replies. "Maybe tomorrow?"
"Sounds like a plan."
When they part with Ivy, Maddie takes this chance to ask Luz a question she's had on their mind for a while now. "Luz, hypothetically, would it be weird if Sprig and I got together at some point?"
"Of course not," the human replies. "Why? Do you like him?"
In response, the sorceress blushes before looking away. "Of course not. We're not compatible. Sprig and Ivy are better together."
"They are just friends, though," Luz reminds her. "Neither of them wanted to marry on that night." Despite the human knowing that Sprig reciprocates Maddie's feelings, she decides not to say anything, since it's none of her business.
To Be Continued in Chapter Fourteen
My co-writer and I had a lot of fun writing this chapter in particular. I wanted to give Ivy and Maddie some more screen time, plus make the episode more interesting than in the original. (I personally didn't like the canon episode that much.)
Thank you for reading this chapter! Please be sure to support the artists, and consider joining the Discord server linked on AoA3 to interact with us! You will also find art on that version of the story.
~ Scruffy