Chapter 5: A New Day with a New Body

A new morning came and Anne woke up remembering everything that happened yesterday. She was still a frog, but she was happy. She came out of the basement ready for anything and joined the Plantars for breakfast.

"Good morning Plantars!" she cheerfully greeted.

Neither Sprig, Polly, nor Hop-Pop has seen Anne this happy before.

"Yer in a good mood today, Anne." Hop-Pop said. "Be sure to put that mood in today's chores after breakfast."

"You got it, H.P." Anne sat down and had breakfast.

Afterwards, she and the Plantars attended the gardens, shooed off a lot of pests, and cleaned Bessie's stall. The whole time, Anne was humming and acting more like she was doing hobbies instead of chores. The Plantars knew she had gotten used to it, but not that used to it. All of the chores were finished before lunch time, giving the family the rest of the day to do whatever.

"Anne and I are gonna head into town, Hop-Pop." Sprig said.

"Ooh, can I come this time?" Polly asked.

"Sure."

"Have fun, kids." Hop-Pop said.

So Anne, Sprig, and Polly walked into town. The two young amphibians were still confused by Anne's good mood.

"Hey, Anne?" Sprig said.

"Yeah, Sprig?"

"We couldn't help noticing that you're a lot happier since last night."

"So who are you and what have you done with Anne!?" Polly said with a glare.

"It's like you don't want to change back anymore."

"It's me, guys. And yes I still do." Anne explained. "I'm just having so much fun as a frog now that I don't mind waiting anymore."

She then leapt high into one tree, tongued her way to another, and kept traversing like a frog all the way to their destination. Sprig picked Polly up and followed Anne in the same manner. Eventually, they reached the center of Wartwood and had the same idea. Anne started walking to some random frogs while Sprig and Polly sat and watched.

"Hello. My name's Fran. What's yours?" Anne said with her hand out.

"Just call me Mrs. Croaker." the elderly frog replied, shaking Anne's hand. "And this here is Archie."

After a friendly chat, Mrs. Croaker walked away. Anne tried it again with someone else.

"Hi, I'm Fran. My family came to visit a friend."

"The name's Stumpy." a big frog/toad with cooking utensils for hands and a peg-leg replied. "If you and your family want something new to eat, I have a restaurant with some new dishes you've never heard of."

Polly snickered at the last part.

"Maybe we'll give them a try." Anne said. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, Fran." Stumpy walked off.

Anne was loving how easily she could fool people. So she did it again as soon as she saw One-eyed Wally.

"Hey there. Fran's my name."

"Hi there. Everybody calls me One-eyed Wally." Wally then glared unexpectedly. "Wait, your name sounds like someone I know. Are you really her in disguise?"

Anne froze and started sweating. Sprig was almost as worried while Polly was anxious to see what happens. After several seconds that felt more like minutes, the silence was broken by Wally.

"Ha, I'm just kidding! If you knew who I was talking about, then you'd think I was crazy. Hahahahaha!" Wally hopped off backwards.

"Phew. So much for messing with everybody." Anne said.

"Why don't we just lie low by playing in the woods?" Sprig suggested.

"Finally, something fun!" Polly said.

"I think that's a good idea." Anne agreed.

So they left the center of town and along the way to the woods, they happened to pass the Honeydew restaurant. They would've easily kept going without stopping if it weren't for one single word.

"Ambush!" Ivy leapt from a second story window and tackled Sprig.

Anne stayed near the wall while Polly cheered Ivy on.

"Yeah! Get him!"

This time however, Sprig kicked Ivy off.

"Boooo!" Polly said.

"Haha! I see you're getting better." Ivy said.

"Not by much." Sprig said as he got up.

"I take it you're going to the woods?"

"Yeah. You wanna come?"

"I can't. My mom's busier today than usual and she needs my help." Ivy kicked some dirt.

"We know how that feels." Anne said. "But it's not all bad."

"Oh so naive." Ivy commented.

"Can we go to the woods now?" Polly whined.

"Oh, right." Sprig said. "See ya, Ivy."

He grabbed Anne's hand and led her and Polly to the woods. As Ivy waved goodbye and watched them leave, she started feeling odd.

"I don't know why, but I feel like Fran is starting to bother me." she said.

Sprig, Anne, and Polly reached the woods and started exploring. Polly was clearly excited to be there more than the other two.

"Finally, I get to have a fun adventure like you guys!" she cheered.

"Just don't tell Hop-Pop, okay?" Sprig said.

"If I told him everything I did, he'd never let me have fun again."

"Hey guys, do you recognize this footprint?" Anne asked, standing next to a bird foot-shaped print. "It looks familiar, but I've seen way too many monsters in this world."

Sprig and Polly went over to see for themselves. Polly was as stumped as Anne was. Sprig on the other hand...

"Oh no. We gotta get out of here!" he picked up Polly and ran.

"I'll take your word for it!" Anne quickly followed.

Unfortunately, they accidentally ran into the path of the beast that left that print.

"Not Chickenzilla again!" Anne cried out.

"BUCKRAAAWWWRRR!" the chicken beast clucked and roared at the same time.

The kids turned and ran the other way with the chicken beast after them. They hopped into the trees and traversed from there to hopefully escape the monstrous bird. They were still being chased until Anne spotted a cliff to the side.

"This way! I have an idea!" she said.

Sprig and Polly followed Anne all the way to the cliff as did the chicken beast. The kids stopped at the edge and were trapped like the cornered prey that they are.

"Now what!?" Polly asked.

"I think I know." Sprig said.

Anne whispered something into Sprig's ear. The chicken beast was now close enough to eat them.

"NOW!" Anne shouted.

She and Sprig ran to the chicken beast's legs, grabbed each other back to back, and each tongued one of said legs. Somehow it was just enough to make the chicken beast fall forward and off the cliff. Sprig and Anne let go just in time and watched the chicken beast land hard, either outcold or dead. After a quick victory dance, the three kids hurried out of the woods.

"So when did you see that beast before?" Polly asked.

"I don't know!" Anne replied. "It's hard to keep track of all the monsters that try to eat us!"

Eventually they returned to Wartwood and caught their breaths.

"That's enough trouble for me today." Anne said.

"Excuse me, have you seen a runaway spider?" a young orange boy frog came up and asked.

"No, we just came out of the woods. Sorry." Sprig said.

"Well thanks any..." the young stranger then noticed Anne and stared at her. "Uhhhh, who's your friend?"

"Oh, this is Fran."

"Hi, Fran. I'm Herb." he just kept staring.

"Uhh, hi?" Anne suddenly realized what was happening. "Uh-oh."

She needed to make Herb stop staring A.S.A.P.

"Weren't you looking for a spider?"

"Oh yeah." Herb shook his head and left to continue his search. "Bye, Fran."

Just when Anne felt safe again, Sprig figured out what was going on.

"Well, well, well. He's kinda cute, huh?" Sprig said with crossed arms and a smug look.

*GASP!* "Don't you dare use my own words against me!" Anne said.

"Did that guy just..." Polly asked.

"No he didn't!" Anne shouted before walking off.

"Well well well well well well well." Sprig repeated as he and Polly followed her.

"Cut that out!" Anne demanded.

A.N. : Sorry I took so long. I had a lot of writer's block. Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long.