Amphibia: Starting Over
Part 1 Chapter 2
Prologue Part II
A few minutes had passed and Riff, Charles, and Levi were let out of the cage that was placed as a trap. The frog that freed them was the same frog that placed the cage in the first place. She was just trying to catch a praying mantis or some other giant bug as this dimension had bugs those sizes all over the place. As they were walking with their luggage and belongings, the boys would ask a lot of questions to the frog.
"Where are we?" Riff asked.
"Who are you?" Charles asked.
"Are you the only one?" Levi asked.
"Humans, this is more shocking to me than it is for you, we haven't had humans in our world for nine and a half years!" the frog told the humans.
"Nine and a half years?! How did- Wait a minute, was one of them a girl called Anne Boonchuy?" Riff asked.
Suddenly, the frog stopped in her tracks before turning to the boys to give them the answer he was hoping for.
"Yes!" she answered with excitement.
"And did you have someone here that tried to invade our world?"
"Yes!"
"And just to be sure, this was nine and a half years ago?"
"Exactly!"
At that point, Riff had turned to Charles with a giant smirk on his face.
"You hear that Charles? Frog-vasion is no hoax! Who's stupid now?" he joked at him.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it. If it's on the news, it's real. I'll keep that in mind next time" Charles responded with a deadpanned expression.
"So anyway, my name is Riff Porter, this is Charles Hansen and Levi Fernandez"
"Hi" Charles responded with a simple wave.
"Sup" Levi responded with a peace sign.
"Ivy Sundew" the frog revealed with her hand out for a handshake. Riff shook Ivy's hand only to have slime coming in between their hands.
"Gross. No offence, Ivy" Riff said with disgust as he wiped his hand with his shirt.
"None taken. Welcome… to Amphibia!" Ivy told the boys with a pose that seemed to be showcasing the environment around them.
"Amphibia. Now that's a name I can remember"
"Can I ask though, how did you get here?" Ivy asked as she thought after what happened nine and a half years ago, there was no possible way humans could come to their world.
"We got here by an invisible portal of some sort. It may seem strange but we can prove it if you'd like" Charles asked Ivy for he was no longer weirded out over a living talking frog.
"Actually, before you do, there are some people I want you to meet," Ivy told the humans.
Before they knew it, they were taken to a house near a valley. The house looked like it was made from the stump of a huge tree, except the exterior of the first floor was stone, there was moss growing around it and the very top had a mini hut with a telescope on it. The roof was red and was held by a wooden column, while the front of the house had a blue mushroom light that had been lit to see during this time of the day. The log connected to the porch roof had a sign with the golden letter 'P' on it.
"You guys wait here, I want them to be ready," Ivy told the boys as they were on the left side of the house.
"Got it," the humans said at the same time.
Ivy then went over to the house's yellow circular windowed door and knocked on it rather rapidly. Eventually, a tired male frog answered the door. His skin was pink which looked paler around his underbelly. Much like Ivy, he had orange hair and was around her age. He wasn't wearing a shirt but had a sleeveless dark green jacket with three undone golden buttons. He also wore rolled-up black pants, a red bandana around his neck, a dark green hat with his hair sticking out, and goggles on top of his head.
"Hey Ivy, what brings you here this early?" the pink frog asked Ivy.
"Sprig, I found something incredible! But I need Polly and Hop Pop to come down too, trust me!" Ivy told the frog whose name was Sprig.
"This early? Are you sure? I don't think Hop Pop will be happy" Sprig asked with concern.
"Positive!"
"All right, give me a few minutes, Ivy"
Sprig closed the door and Ivy went back to the left side of the house where the human boys were waiting.
"Who are we meeting again?" Charles asked Ivy.
"The Plantars: Hopediah, Polly, and Sprig" she answered.
"Is there a reason for this?" Levi asked.
"You'll see," she told them with a grin.
A few minutes later, Sprig was able to get his family to come downstairs. The first one down was his little sister, Polly. She was purple-coloured and like her older brother, had orange hair. She wore overalls resembling a mechanic and a yellow bow with brighter spots on top of her head.
After that, came their grandfather, Hopediah, or as his grandkids called him: Hop Pop. He was orange-coloured with a paler chin and chest, has white hair tufts on the sides of his head and had a dark spot on each side of his face. He wore brown trousers, a buttoned yellow shirt, a blue ascot and a greenish grey waistcoat.
Once the Plantars got their tired butts to the front room, Ivy finally starts to reveal what she found.
"Guys, this may sound crazy but hear me out. I found some humans"
Needless to say, this caused different reactions among the Plantars. Hop Pop had a raised eyebrow, while Polly and Sprig gasped with wide eyes. Suddenly, Polly immediately asked: "Is this a trick? Prove it!"
Ivy then peeked out the door and did a hand signal to let the boys know to come over. When Riff, Charles, and Levi walked into the Plantar house, they were all slack-jawed. The Plantars were seeing humans for the first time in nine and a half years.
"Hello! I'm Riff, this is Charles and Levi" Riff told the Plantars as he pointed to Charles and Levi to his left and right, respectively.
"This is impossible, the music box and the stones were destroyed when Anne, Sasha, and Marcy left. How did you get here?" Sprig asked in excitement.
"We got here from a portal"
"But how did you go through it? Is anybody else coming? HOW IS EARTH NOW?"
"Woah, calm down boy, let's not get too ahead of ourselves. Let the boys speak" Hopediah told his grandson.
"Actually, before we answer anything, we need answers ourselves. How do you guys know about humans? We already know that someone called Anne Boonchuy got stuck here, but that's it. What really happened?" Levi asked the Plantars.
Sprig was more than happy to tell the new humans the story of Anne. So he took them down to the stone-walled basement to explain to them what happened.
"Nine and a half years ago, three teenage girls called Anne Boonchuy, Sasha Waybright, and Marcy Wu arrived in Amphibia from a strange music box. They ended up in different parts of our continent. We got Anne and we took her in for the next five months. During those five months, we went on crazy adventures, found Anne's friends, recharged the music box as it was powerless, and got her back home"
"Woah," the three humans said at the same time.
"We're not done yet"
"Oh"
Polly continued the story.
"The king back then, Andrias Leviathan, turned out to be evil and it was just Anne who got home. We ended up with her and got stuck in your world for a while before making a portal to get back. When we did, Amphibia was a wasteland, Sasha was leading a rebellion and Marcy was the host of Andrias' boss, The Core. We had a massive war that continued with his castle and army trying to take over your world"
"Frog-vasion" Riff exclaimed
The Plantars and Ivy looked at him in confusion.
"That, that's what we called it"
Polly continued: "We ended up beating Andrias and free Marcy, but the Core wasn't finished. It attached to the moon and tried to collide it with Amphibia"
"Woah, like Majora's Mask" Charles interrupted.
"Is that a video game?" Sprig asked.
"One of my favourites. Did Anne introduce you to video games?"
The Plantars nodded while Ivy was confused.
"Sorry, I'm switching the topic without thinking, continue Polly"
"Actually, maybe I'll tell this next part," Hop Pop told the guys.
"Go on"
"Anne, Sasha, and Marcy harnessed equal power of the box and went up to stop it, but it was too powerful. So Anne used full power which did stop the Core and destroyed the moon, but it ended up being too much for Anne to handle"
"Was she killed?" Levi then asked with a worried expression.
"Sadly, yes"
Levi and Charles gasped with their hands covering their mouths.
"But she lived!" Hop Pop later clarified. Charles and Levi sighed with relief, while Riff rolled his eyes as he knew she was still alive in their world.
"Seriously, guys? You're surprised by that?" Riff asked the other humans with a deadpanned expression.
"I thought Frog-vasion was a hoax until now, I can believe anything. I now believe the earth is flat!" Charles shouted at the top of his lungs, causing Riff to facepalm.
"I still have nightmares about that day. She dissolved into leaves and suddenly came back as a clone from the music box's guardian or something. It gave the girls what was left of the stones and after we said our goodbyes, they went back to Earth, and that was it. The music box was gone and we couldn't see each other again. I got her back, but I ended up losing her anyways" Sprig finished the story looking like he was about to cry.
Polly, Hop Pop, and Ivy crowded around Sprig as they hugged him tightly. While Riff, Charles, and Levi looked at them with sadness and sympathy.
"You guys must really miss her, huh?" Levi asked the frogs.
"We miss her every day. We miss Sasha and Marcy too, but Anne was an honorary Plantar, it was like losing another family member" Hop Pop answered.
"If it isn't too much, do you have any pictures we can see?" Riff asked with hesitation.
"Riff, I don't think that's such a good idea. It'll just make them feel worse" Levi responded.
"No, no, it's fine, let me get my phone" Sprig replied to the question as he went back upstairs out of the basement.
"You guys have phones?"
"Not exactly. Anne gave her phone to Sprig before she left, saying it could help him on his future adventures" Hop Pop explained.
"Oh, that actually makes sense," Riff said.
"But why were you guys telling the story in the basement?" Charles asked
"It was Anne's room" Polly answered.
"I have to say, you have a nice basement. Is that a weird compliment?"
"A little, but thank you"
Sprig came back down with Anne's phone in his hand. He then opened the photos app and chose a picture to show the boys.
"This is my favourite" Sprig told them. The photo he showed them was a selfie of him and Anne. Anne was Thai-American with messy brown hair that had two different coloured leaves, a stick, and a sticky point stuck in it. She looked to be wearing a black swimsuit with a cyan line on the end of each side. She was smiling in the picture.
In the same photo, was Sprig nine and a half years younger. His same hat completely covered his hair, and he didn't have his bandana. But nevertheless, he looked the same, just younger. Being possibly his first selfie ever, his face looked like it had just faced an unexpected flash of light as he had a disturbed face with one of his eyes almost blinking.
"When was this?" Charles asked Sprig.
"It was the day after we took her in. Anne and I were on our way to the lake to help her feel less homesick. Back then, Amphibia saw humans as monsters and it wasn't until she stood up to tax collector toads a month later that she got the town's respect. Around nine months after she left, we made a statue in her honour" Sprig answered with extra facts.
"All this was nine and a half years ago?" Riff asked in shock, disbelief, and sympathy.
"That's right. She never got to see me share her human food recipes with all of Amphibia," Hop Pop said sadly.
"She never got to see me grow into a full frog," Polly said sadly.
"She never got to see me discover a new continent with Ivy and Captain Grime," Sprig said sadly.
At this point, even the boys looked like they were about to break down. But they fought it in fear of making the Plantars feel worse.
"Hey, you said you're town made a statue in her honour, right?" Riff asked the frogs. They nodded in agreement.
"Why don't you take us there and show us?"
A few minutes later, the boys left their luggage and belongings at the house and went to the town of Wartwood with their newly met frogs, which had many houses in the shape of tree stumps and mushrooms and all sorts of shops and places to eat. In the middle of the town centre was the main reason the visitors were there in the first place. The stone statue was Anne holding a raised sword in her left hand and what looked like the music box in her other hand. She was wearing a uniform with armour with a frog symbol on top of it, a skirt, socks and one shoe. There was a phrase on the base of the statue, reading "We miss you, girl!".
The human boys looked at the statue with fascination, while the Plantars watched with sad smiles. Polly had her hands pressed together, Hop Pop had a single tear coming out, and Ivy had her head leaning on Sprig's shoulder with Sprig leaning his head back on hers as the two held hands with interlocked fingers, indicating that they were dating.
"I don't believe it, you guys had humans before us and they came out heroes!" Riff said with excitement.
"Yep. Those months with Anne were the best months of my life. She helped me become the frog I am today. She's my hero" Sprig replied.
Suddenly, the humans heard gasps and they turned around to see where they were coming from. A crowd of other frogs were behind the boys and they were just as shocked as the Plantars and Ivy when they first saw them. Some had wide eyes, others were covering their mouths in shock, and some were muttering to each other.
"Humans?"
"That's impossible!"
"How did they get here?"
"Didn't the music box vanish into thin air?"
Riff, Charles and Levi forgot they were still in a town and started to get nervous around this many alien frogs.
"Hello, people of Wartwood. I know this is a big surprise to see, but yes, we are humans from Earth. We arrived from an invisible portal. We don't know who made it, we don't know how it took us here, but we found it, and found your world of Amphibia." Riff announced to the population.
Suddenly, the frogs started cheering and clapping much to the humans' confusion. Then came a tiny turquoise frog with a light underbelly, dark back spots, and combed white hair. He wore a white dress shirt, black jacket, dark purple pants, a lavender tie, a golden monocle, and a sash with the word 'mayor' on it, indicating he is the mayor of Wartwood.
"Hello, humans! Mayor Toadie at your service" Toadie introduced himself to the human boys as he offered his hand for a handshake. Riff was hesitant at first but ended up shaking his hand to avoid being rude; the same went with Charles and Levi. Toadie then asked: "Just one question: Are you visitors? Or are you staying?"
The boys were wide-eyed from this question as they didn't know what to answer.
"Uh, could you give us a few minutes? We'll be right back" Charles responded before pulling Riff and Levi over behind a house so they could talk in private.
"What the fuck do we tell them?"
"What are you talking about?" Riff asked
"We've only been here for about an hour and these frogs look like they have never been happier. We still have lives to get back to"
"Wait a minute, I've got an idea!"
"What is it?"
"Charles, you said you were being hunted and were on that plane to escape, right?"
"Yeah?"
"This is the perfect hiding place! I mean, another dimension, who'd be looking there?"
Charles was wide-eyed and his jaw dropped from this crazy thought. He would have to start all over and get used to an entirely different way of living. It sounded stupid at first but the more he thought about it, the more he started to like it.
"Riff, this might just be the craziest thing I have ever heard a human being say and I love it," Charles exclaimed with a giant grin on his face.
"You okay with this, Levi?" Riff then asked Levi only to realise his absence.
"Levi?"
Levi was running back to the spot where the portal is and went through it. Being back at the lab, he tried to call his family to let them know he was okay as he feared Amphibia had no bars. But the more he thought about it, the less confident he felt. Back home, they rarely cared about him and he started to believe they wouldn't have even cared if he had died. In the end, he decided against it and went back through the portal.
He was going to live a lie alongside Charles. But would Riff do the same?
Eventually, he made his way back to the others.
"Levi, where were you?" Riff asked.
"This may seem strange considering we're not the ones being hunted down but, mind if I stick around with you?" Levi asked Charles.
Charles was shocked, to say the least, and so was Riff.
"Why, though? Don't you guys have lives to go back to?" Charles asked.
"In all honesty, I don't have the best family. If I did end up going back, nothing would be different"
Needless to say, Riff and Charles were surprised by his decision and reasoning but Charles simply smiled and offered his hand for a handshake.
"Welcome to Amphibia, partner"
Levi smiled and accepted the handshake.
"Well, if you guys are staying here then so am I. If that hunter ever found me, seeing the news report, he'd ask where you are and I can't even imagine what would happen next. As much as I love my family and they love me, I care about my safety and the safety of everyone" Riff revealed his decision.
"Riff, nothing would make me happier" Levi responded before giving him a hug, which he returned.
Afterwards, they went back to the crowd of frogs surrounding Wartwood and they gave them the announcement they were hoping to hear.
"My name is Riff Porter," Riff told Wartwood.
"I am Charles Hansen," Charles told Wartwood.
"The name's Levi Fernandez," Levi told Wartwood.
"And we are pleased to announce that we are staying!" Riff announced in a loud voice.
Wartwood was cheering and clapping with pride. This was something that they were hoping, no, praying that they would be staying, especially since the last humans they had turned out to be their saviours. As the crowd continued to applaud, the boys bowed.
"Wait, where are we going to sleep?" Charles asked.
Turns out the solution was easy. Riff, Charles, and Levi were each given an apartment in a newly opened home complex that wasn't too far away from Wartwood. They planned to find work tomorrow to make money that Amphibia called coppers, so they could pay their rent. Their first month was on the house by the Plantars as they had been rich for a few years. They were in separate units, but since the valley wasn't fancy, the units acted more like caravans than buildings. If anything, it was sort of like a holiday park as there was also a swimming lake, hiking trail, and even a café/restaurant.
Riff was in the middle of settling down at his new place with Polly helping. Every apartment in the complex had the same general design; white walls with a few windows, wooden floors and roofs, and general rooms such as a bedroom, kitchen, living room, and bathroom. The only difference was the door numbers. Riff's was 04.
"Thanks for helping us settle into Amphibia, Polly" Riff told Polly.
"No worries!" Polly replied.
"Can I ask how we got internet here? Isn't your world like, you know, another world?"
"Being stuck in your world has allowed us Plantars to learn a lot about your species. In fact, being on Earth has allowed me to figure out myself and I have been able to invent stuff that while it has been on Earth, is now in Amphibia for the first time. If it wasn't for my handling of zapapede electricity, Sprig wouldn't be able to use his phone anymore. It's allowed us Plantars to be set for life."
"Wow, I'm impressed"
"I better get back home and help Hop Pop back home. It was nice meeting you, Riff. See you around"
"You too, Polly"
As Polly left his unit to head back home, Riff plopped on his bed. After everything that had happened, he felt relieved that he could finally relax for a bit. After a few minutes, Charles and Levi came into his room.
"You doing okay, Riff?" Charles asked.
"Yeah, just a bit overwhelmed. Can I make a weird and rather crazy request?" Riff then asked the others.
Charles and Levi turned to each other and nodded before Levi responded: "Sure Riff, what is it?"
"I know we need to stay here and be presumed dead on Earth to be safe. But… maybe we should let our families know that we are actually okay and where we are."
Charles and Levi were shocked. They may be in hiding but they also knew that he had a point. Some people should still know and trust that they can keep a secret.
"That's actually a good idea, Riff. We should do that right now actually. The sooner the better" Charles said as he and Levi left.
Since Polly was also able to generate bar signals, Riff took his phone out, connected it online, and pressed the button to video call his Dad.
About 10 seconds later, he picked up. Mr Porter looked similar to his son except he had a slightly more square-shaped head, brown hair, and a beard. From the camera's perspective, he was wearing a tie-dye shirt with a blue, pink, and yellow swirl. When he answered the call and saw that his son really was still alive, he suddenly had his hand over his mouth with tears coming out of his eyes.
"Riff?... Is… Is that really you?" he asked with sobs in between.
This led to Riff also smiling tearfully as he simply replied: "Yes Dad, it's me."
"I can't believe my eyes! You're alive! Where are you?"
At that moment, Riff went from happy to guilty in a second.
"Listen, Dad. I'm going to tell you something that you need to pass to the rest of the family. Nobody else can know, okay?"
"Son, what's going on?" Mr Porter as he started to get worried.
This was it. There was no going back. He had to tell him.
"The world thinks I'm dead…
…and it's going to stay that way"
When Mr Porter heard those words, he felt like his heart had just stopped.
"Wh-wh-why? What are you talking about?" he asked.
"I and the other victims of the plane crash survived, but one of them is being hunted. If we ended up going back to civilisation, there's a chance we won't be safe" Riff revealed.
Mr Porter didn't expect that at all and while all he wanted was to see his son once again, he also couldn't think of the idea of losing his firstborn child when he just got him back. So he responded with the response that Riff would never have expected in a million years.
"I understand"
Riff was wide-eyed from his response and was starting to regret his decision. But he had to stay. He couldn't get Charles or Levi or himself in danger.
"You remember Frog-vasion? The big, interdimensional catastrophe that occurred a decade ago?" he asked his father.
"Of course, I remember, it… it took your mother from us" he answered.
That was another reason why Riff was hesitant to explain. His mum was an unfortunate victim of Frog-vasion.
"This may sound insane, but we ended up finding a way to their world. Let me show you" Riff explained further as he went outside to show his dad Amphibia. Needless to say, it was proof enough that he was telling the truth.
"Fascinating" Mr Porter exclaimed as he started to feel more impressed than anything.
"This is where we are staying, because who would be looking for someone in another world? I'm afraid that if you want to see me again, you'll have to come here. I was just calling to let you know that I'm alive and doing fine" Riff said.
"I'm happy to see this isn't a dream. And Riff…"
Mr Porter waited a bit so that Riff could hear him loud and clear.
"...you and you're new friends' secret is safe with the family. I promise"
"Thanks for being strangely understanding, Dad" Riff said with a smile.
"No worries, son. I better get going and spread the word to the family. Call me when you get the chance"
"I will, love you, bye"
"Love you too, bye"
Riff hung up and immediately he had a guilty look on his face. He was happy that his father was understanding of his situation and would keep a secret that would only be in the family. But at the same time, he was sad that he was forced to leave his family out to dry like this. Especially since they had just got him back. The thought of losing another family member after losing his mother did not sound fun at all.
Now that Riff was finished explaining everything to his dad, he went back into his apartment to finish settling in. After he was finished, he left again to go back into town to get a proper tour of Wartwood. If it was to be his new home, he needed to know it a little first. While Riff, Charles and Levi had no idea what would happen to their new futures at this point, they were certain about one thing:
They have started over in a new world: Amphibia.
Notes: It is finally finished after two weeks! Most of the story will be set in Amphibia from now on which is understandable since this is their new life. I was inspired by the 'living a lie' idea from my personal favourite musical: Dear Evan Hansen. While that show/movie only had one person know the truth, here it has the main character's families know the truth instead of hiding it because they decided to. I also wanted to give them reasons that actually feel believable which was tough to do, but I worked it out in the end.
I've talked about this in the previous chapter's notes but I'll say it again. Riff's original name was Benjamin. But that would've made him a self-insert, and I didn't want people to think I was following the footsteps of AdmiralDT8, who by the way, isn't a self insert and people are just believing that stupid lie. So I switched his name to Riff, whose name was inspired by the character of the same name from another one of my favourite musicals: West Side Story.
Now that the prologue of my story is complete, I can move on to brainstorming stories for future chapters. I have a few ideas, but I need to be sure of them first. I'm having Part 1 of this fanfic be 20 or 30 chapters, though it will most likely be the latter because most of the chapters will be Season 1 show episode-style chapters which are also because Season 1 of Amphibia is my favourite. (don't kill me)
Thanks for reading my story and if you liked it, please let me know by leaving a review, following it or favourite it to be updated on it. Stay safe during these times, have a good day, and I'll see you in the next chapter.