Amphibia: Starting Over
Part 1 Chapter 4
Adjusting to the Culture
It was another beautiful day in Amphibia as Riff walked to the café near his apartment for breakfast. As he was walking there, he started to take in his surroundings. There were 10 apartments in the complex, 5 on each side, with numbers ranging from 00 to 09. Riff lived in 04, Charles in 07, and Levi in 09. Riff kept walking and went left at a crossroad on the dirt path. This led to the local café and restaurant for which the Lily Pad Complex was known. It was the café that Riff was aiming for as that's where he usually went for breakfast every morning.
The café was on the right side of the two eateries and had a dark oak exterior with windows. Eventually, Riff entered it and looked for an available seat. The interior was surprisingly up to code and the floors were a much lighter oak wood that hardly squeaked. The seats were white and the tables were grey. There were also sets of tables outside with table umbrellas to provide shade.
Riff sat down at one of the tables, tired as he always was whenever he woke up in the morning, when suddenly, his phone rang and when he took it out, he saw it was a video call coming from his younger brother, Wyatt. Seeing this immediately put a smile on Riff's face and quickly answered it. Riff was able to see Wyatt for the first time since his move to Amphibia.
Wyatt looked to be shorter than Riff and was the same hairstyle, though his natural hair was brown, like their father. From the perspective of the camera, Wyatt was wearing a purple and white striped shirt.
"I don't believe it. Dad wasn't lying. You're actually alive!" Wyatt exclaimed with extreme excitement. To say Wyatt was happy to see his older brother alive and well was an understatement. But Riff was even happier to see his brother happy.
"Hey, buddy! Big surprise!" Riff responded with a giant grin on his face.
"Okay, okay, okay. You need to tell me everything that has happened!"
"Didn't Dad already do that?"
"I need full-on proof that you are living in a frog world. And I can only get that if it came from you."
"Ok fair enough"
"Wyatt, can you help me with putting my painting on the wall?" said a different voice.
Hearing this made Riff gasp.
"Wyatt. Is that… Vera?" Riff asked.
Wyatt smiled in realisation as Vera, their younger sister, has yet to see Riff alive. He gave his answer in the simplest way possible. He turned to face Vera's direction and simply said:
"Hey, Vera. Before we do, come and say hi to Riff!"
Vera gasped.
"RIFF!"
Vera immediately ran over to Wyatt and Riff was able to see his sister again. Vera had long black hair that went down to her shoulders. From the camera's perspective, she was wearing a purple-pink gradient shirt with a shooting star on it.
"Hi, Vera! It's so good to see you too!" Riff replied.
"Where are you?"
"Okay, okay. Get settled you two. I have quite the story to tell you. You ready?"
Wyatt and Vera sat down on a couch and gave him a simple nod for confirmation.
"Okay, let me tell you what happened"
ONE EXPLANATION LATER
"That all happened?" Wyatt asked Riff, with him and Vera both having their jaws dropped and their eyes wide.
"Yep! In the span of two weeks. Pretty crazy, right?" Riff answered with pride.
"Crazy? It's insane!" Vera exclaimed while jumping up and down on the couch. Riff laughed at this for he always loved seeing his sister this excited. But then he started feeling guilt again, and his expression quickly saddened, which Wyatt noticed.
"Are you okay, Riff?" he asked.
"Not gonna lie, I'm starting to wonder if I made the right decision. I stayed here to stay safe, but what if things were different? What if I hid out back home, like "home home", with you two and Dad?" Riff answered with tears starting to leak out.
Both Wyatt and Vera seemed to understand his sad state given that they loved their older brother as much as he loved them. But then Vera spilt the beans on something disturbing.
"Actually, Riff, yesterday, a man came into our house forcefully and searched almost every room before being kicked out of the house. I ran into my room in fear and saw the man get in a black van which looked to have a lot of other people in it"
Riff went from scared to terrified.
"Wh-what?"
"It was scary and I think he was looking for you. Dad told us that you were staying where you were because some evil man was hunting one of your new friends. I don't think he believed your death"
Riff got so terrified, he almost dropped his phone. It started to slip, but he was able to grip onto it. Even so, he was stunned, motionless, and didn't say a word.
"Riff?"
Riff snapped out of it when Wyatt spoke up.
"I-I-I'm sorry, I just… did any of you call the police?" he asked.
"We tried but they needed more information and we just didn't have any"
All of this was too much for him to handle. He may have survived a plane crash, but the thought of having his family in danger when he couldn't and still can't be around was even worse. His eyes were leaking tears before talking to his siblings again, but now he looked like he was about to have a full-on breakdown.
"I-I'm sorry, you two, I have to go. Love you, bye!"
And then he hung up.
Riff suddenly found himself running out of the café as it started to rain. He ran to where the hiking trails led and suddenly came to a complete stop. He found a small wooden bench and sat on it to weep. At that point, all he wanted to do was to give his brother and sister one big bone-crushing hug. But he couldn't. He was an entire dimension away and even if he did decide to leave for even a little bit, someone would definitely notice and one thing would lead to another. He was even starting to wonder if the portal back to Earth was even still open at that point.
He then got an idea. He opened his messages and texted his Dad:
"Promise me you'll protect Wyatt and Vera. They told me all about what happened and my anxiety level is through the fucking roof"
As soon as he sent that, Charles and Levi showed up. Instead of hiking, they were jogging. They figured it was a better way to kick into their morning mode than get used to bugguccinos which always had some form of bug legs inside them.
Both Charles and Levi were wearing different clothes for their jogs. Charles had on a plain white singlet, dark red shorts and an orange headband around the top of his head. He did however keep his shoes since he was outside whereas he would've usually had just his grey socks. Levi meanwhile, had a thick singlet that looked like his traditional shirt but the green was much lighter. He had grey shorts on him. Just like Charles, he kept his shoes on with his black socks.
"Riff, is that you, buddy?" Levi asked.
"Guys, there is no chance we are stepping through that portal between here and home! I was just told by my sister that a man had stormed through my family's house, while they were still there! He was looking for me and they might be more of them" Riff yelled in response before taking his right shoe off and throwing it in rage.
Levi and especially Charles were terrified to hear that.
"Wait a bloody second! More of them?!" Charles replied with a terrified look on his face.
"Vera said there was a black van outside their house. Not a car, a van. And she said that there could've been others in it."
"Oh no. No. No no no no no."
"I'm scared, guys. I am praying that my family never has to go through something that scary again."
Seeing Riff crying in the rain wasn't a pretty sight for either Charles or Levi. But at that moment, they started to wonder if their families also had a strange visitor. The thought of that possibility made Charles shiver and Levi grab his hair. Eventually, Charles knelt down and pulled Riff in for a hug to settle him down.
"It'll be okay," he told Riff before he stepped back.
"You must really love your family, huh?" Levi asked.
"More than anything. After my mom died, I was able to cope because they were with me. I don't know who I'd be without them" he told the others.
There was a moment as Riff took time to calm down.
"Can I give you a hug now?"
"I would let you but that giant creature is flying away with my shoe!" Riff responded to Levi and pointed to a creature that resembled a cat and a butterfly. It had six white cat-like legs, a grey body with three white dots on each side on the bottom, a fluffy white head with red eyes, and wings that were crimson with dark grey outlines and white dots on the top and bottom. It had Riff's shoe in its mouth and started to fly away.
"We need to chase it and stop it!"
"On it!" Charles and Levi said in union.
Riff started running but Charles and Levi were both faster and quickly got in front of Riff.
"Hey, no fair! I only have one shoe!"
They were getting past the café and Riff decided to take a shortcut through the woods. So instead of simply following the others where they could see the creature, he went through the dark and deep woods where other creatures could be waiting.
Meanwhile, Charles and Levi were running like crazy to catch up with the creature. They eventually ended up out of the Lily Pad Complex and on the path to Wartwood. When they got to Wartwood, Levi looked up and saw the creature was still flying while Charles was starting to lose his breath, which Levi noticed.
"Charles?" he asked.
"Go on without me" Charles demanded with his eyes closed. When he opened them, he wasn't there. He assumed he was already gone until he was suddenly picked up.
"Woah! What are you doing?"
"ONWARD!"
Levi just kept running and Charles was confused as to how he was this strong.
Eventually, Levi saw the creature back on the ground and he also stopped.
"Ok, whatever you are, drop the shoe please!" Levi commanded.
However, Charles noticed something and signalled Levi to put him down, which he did. He walked over to the creature and saw something unique.
It was a pile of different junk including Riff's shoe. Including sticks, leaves, and other frogs' shoes.
"What the heck?"
"Hey, guys!"
Charles and Levi jumped to see Sprig right behind them carrying a net.
"I see you've met Domino 2"
"It has a name?" Levi asked Sprig.
"Yep. She's a coastal kill-a-pillar. She's been collecting those things for it reminded her of Anne. She took care of her in her kitty days, until she tried to kill the family"
"I assume her being friendly has something to do with the war?"
"Exactly!"
Suddenly, Riff came crashing towards them. Turns out they found themselves at the Plantar household. He was huffing and puffing from taking a relatively longer route when Charles, Levi, and Sprig looked at him and chuckled.
"What?" he asked, only to find a reflective puddle and noticed that he had sticks and leaves in his hair, causing him to sigh in frustration.
"I look like Anne, don't I?"
"With the leaves and sticks in your hair and your missing shoe, yes" Sprig replied, still a bit amused.
And then Domino 2 turned around and saw Riff's new features which gave her instincts. She got ready to pounce and Riff noticed.
"Oh no"
FIVE MINUTES LATER
After managing to escape Domino 2's clutches, as well as getting rid of the leaves and sticks in her hair and putting his shoe back on, Riff started to calm down.
"You guys, I'm starting to get the feeling that the bugs aren't the only differences in this world that we need to get used to," he told Charles and Levi. Sprig had gone back inside.
"Yeah, sometimes I keep forgetting that we are taller than everyone so I need to squat down at work when I'm talking to customers which gets tiring" Charles responded.
"Yeah and I always seem to wake up with some kind of bug on my face. They are small but it happens sometimes" Levi then said his own nitpick.
They knew that being in a new world would take some getting used to, but it was much harder than they thought.
"I have an idea. When are you guys off work?" Charles asked the two.
"Today's my day off" Levi answered.
"Same" Riff responded.
"Okay, 6 o'clock, my apartment. 07. We'll see what we can handle with the type of food we are exposed to now" Charles demanded. If they were going to make Amphibia their new home, they needed to make a few changes.
"Yeah, sure, why not?" Riff answered.
"Got nothing better to do. I'm in" Levi answered.
Later that day, Riff was back at his apartment. He was waiting for Skipper, the frog he met at Stumpy's. They were hoping to properly get to know each other after their rather questionable introduction. As he was waiting, he felt his phone vibrate. He took it out and saw a message from his dad.
"That was a promise I made to your mother the moment you were born. No joke"
Knowing that his dad would be making sure his siblings would be safe made Riff feel a bit better. Mr Porter was always strong and was especially protective around his kids after his wife died. Being a widower was never easy, but he moved on.
After waiting a few more minutes, Skipper showed up. He was wearing what he usually wore which is also what he wore at the diner, only the shirt was way less flashy and he got rid of the bowtie.
"Um, hi" Skipper announced his presence.
Riff noticed and put his phone back into his pocket.
"Oh, uh, hey. Skipper, right?" Riff asked.
"Yep. Skipper Linton!"
"Again. I'm sorry for what happened at Stumpy's"
"Eh, water under the bridge. These things happen when you're a competitive frog like me"
"So, do you want to walk and talk? I don't really feel like staying around at my apartment and it stopped raining"
"I don't see why not. Let's go"
The two left Riff's apartment and started to walk around the complex.
"So tell me about yourself," Riff asked Skipper.
"Uh, well. I'm 18 years old, I have a younger sister, and I don't really get out all that much" Skipper responded.
"How come?"
"Prepare to be jealous. My family is rich and fancy."
"Pfft, I'm not that jealous. Amazed, sure, but I had a friend who had rich parents one time so it's all good"
They laugh it off before Skipper speaks up once more.
"What about you? Tell me about you"
"I don't know if I want to. It's a bit of a tear-jerker. In fact, today something happened that I just really need to take in"
"Oh, ok. Sorry. I'll try my best not to give you any ideas."
They continued talking to try and get to know each other and put what happened a few days ago behind them.
Meanwhile, Charles was working at the Grub n' Go behind the cash register. He was now wearing a white shirt with a red apron and a name tag with his name on it, which was his work uniform. He was finishing up a customer's order by giving their receipt.
"There you go. Thank you very much. Please come again. We have a lot more groceries" he told the customer.
He was sitting down as humans were much taller than the frogs. It took a lot of getting used to, and Charles was still finding difficulties with his requirements. He was sighing, which his co-worker at the register next to him noticed. She looked to be as tall and as old as Polly, except she was light blue-skinned. Her hair was tied in a ponytail and was black. She was wearing the same uniform as Charles.
"You okay, human?" the girl asked.
"Yeah, just, really difficult to sit down with barely any leg room" Charles answered.
"Sorry to hear that… (looks at his name tag) Charles"
Charles notices that he still has his name tag on and immediately figures out how she knew his name.
"It's all good"
He then noticed Levi entering the store looking daring.
"Well, someone looks confident"
"I'm just getting some beetle jerky for tonight" Levi answered.
"Okay, it should be at that aisle" Charles pointed at a nearby aisle.
"Thanks, dude"
Levi walked over to where Charles was pointing and finds the beetle jerky almost immediately.
"How long have you two known each other?" the co-worker asked Charles.
"About two weeks. Moving here is going to take a lot longer than that to really get used to, but we'll do it eventually."
"That's good to know"
"Hey, (looks at her name tag) Rosemary, did you ever think that humans would come back to Amphibia?"
"Not at all. It took some getting used to not having Anne around every day. My older sister, Maddie, was close with Marcy."
"Marcy Wu?"
"Yeah, you know her?"
"Not exactly. But she has been something called a "webcomic" which is basically something you read on the internet that I'm sure the Plantars have ranted about when they got back from Earth all those years ago?"
"Yeah, it got tiring" Rosemary responded with an annoyed face, reminiscing on the countless times Polly would talk about cat videos.
"Well, she put it on the internet and people really like it. I like it."
"Woah"
Charles heard Levi clear his throat and he turned his direction only to see him carrying as much beetle jerky as he could.
"Woah! Holy crap!" Charles shouted in surprise
"I think I went overboard" Levi revealed.
6 o'clock rolled around and Riff was in front of Charles' apartment carrying a bag of gourds he got from the Plantar stand. He knocked on the door and after a few seconds, Charles opened it.
"Hello, Riff. Glad you could make it" he said.
"Yeah, same" Riff replied as he went inside.
Charles' apartment was roughly the same as Riff's except
Levi was already inside, setting up something in the projector that looked like a robot's head, which was another Polly invention.
"Ok, guys. I went to the library near the town archives and borrowed this cartridge for an instruction video called 'A Guide to Amphibia'. I also got this in case we wanted to" Levi told the others and handed them the cartridge that read 'The Very First Frog Moovy'.
"Something tells me they still have some catching up to do with their new upgrades," Riff said.
"Eh, I'll let it pass"
Levi put 'A Guide to Amphibia' in the entry slot which was its mouth and the eyes started to project the documentary. The boys sat down on the couch and Riff placed the gourds on the table alongside Levi's bowls of beetle jerky and cicada-filled cookies Charles made.
As the video played, it showed the boys the basics of what to expect. Their main food source always seemed to have bugs in them, travelling in the winter was risky in certain places, and some of the non-edible creatures were too dangerous.
"Winter is dangerous, here?" Charles asked no one.
"Apparently" Levi answered anyways.
They continued watching as they talked.
"Charles, how's work?" Riff asked Charles.
"It sucks but it pays well. What about you two?" he asked back.
"I'm not exactly doing much as an assistant, but sometimes I place these fish in the tubs for pedicures, so that's something" Levi answered.
"The avocados are crazy popular at the Plantar stand. At one point I almost dropped an entire box load of them yesterday, but other than that, it's been fun working with them" Riff revealed.
"Cool," Levi said.
"Good for you," Charles said.
"Oh, and I made a new friend. A frog friend" Riff revealed.
This got the others excited as they had little interaction with others in Wartwood.
"Cool! What's his name?" Charles asked.
"Fictional animal character name. Guess"
Charles got excited that he was being challenged. He always liked it whenever someone did something unexpected like a surprise.
"Mickey?"
"Nope"
"Thumper?"
"Nope"
"Flik?"
"Nope"
"Daffy?"
"Nope"
"Stitch?"
"Nope"
"Don't mess with me on this! I know this shit!"
"Do you see me messing with you?" Riff replied with chuckles.
"Alright. Speedrun. I'm gonna rattle out some names and when I get it, buzz it, got it?"
"I will tell you, yeah"
"Okay, Baloo, Simba, Faline, Judy, Cosmo, Howard, Jiminy, Perry, Sven, Sebastian, Bambi, Iago, Copper, Oliver, Todd, Charlotte, Wilbur, Melman, Gloria, Marty, Alex, Mort, Toothless, Donkey, Dante, Scud, Marlin, Nemo, Dory, Dug, freakin' Brian?!"
"Nope"
Charles sighed and was about to give up when he got an idea.
"Wait, is it by any chance a penguin name?"
"Yes!"
"Oh, I got you now! I got you! Okay. Mumble, Kowalski, Ri-"
"Is it Skipper?" Levi asked.
"You got it!" Riff revealed.
"FUCK!" Charles shouted at the top of his lungs.
Riff and Levi laughed at his sudden outburst.
"Ok, Riff. Since you seem to find me freaking out funny, let's see you freak out by eating one of my cookies"
"Ha! Easy!" Riff replied. He didn't know about the cicadas until it was too late. He took one from a plate and shoved the whole thing in his mouth. As he was chewing, he noticed something different about it.
"Mmm, crunchy"
"Uh, Riff. I got here early and saw Charles make the cookies. He put bugs in them" Levi told Riff in the most straightforward way possible.
That was when Riff started to understand what made them crunchy, and even though the realisation was starting to kick in, he kept going and even swallowed it.
"That may not have been as bad as I thought, but I hate you, Charles," he told Charles with a deadpanned expression on his face while Charles simply responded with an evil grin.
"I'll be honest, Riff, I think you're gonna be okay here. Those cookies were a test and you passed" Charles told Riff as his expression quickly changed from evil to pride.
"Cool. I'm gonna go outside for a bit" Riff replied.
He then got off the couch and walked to the door to the front veranda.
"Can I try a cookie?" Levi asked Charles.
"Sure. If you dare" Charles replied.
Riff sat outside on the front step as he heard Levi.
"I am never eating your Amphibian cooking again!"
Riff laughed at it before taking out his phone. He saw that he got a text from Wyatt an hour ago.
"Dad said he was going to install house alarms. Security has been increased"
Mr Porter was taking this seriously and Riff was happy to know that. He wanted his family to be safe, even if he wasn't there to see it. He simply texted back:
"I'm glad to hear that. Remember you can talk to me whenever. Whether I'm at my job, travelling, or even asleep, I'll try my best to respond"
"Hey, Riff?"
Riff looked behind and saw Charles walking to him and sitting next to him.
"Yeah, Charles?"
"I'm sorry about your family"
"It's okay. Never in a million years did I think this would happen"
Charles was already worried and scared of their situation and decided to reveal something to Riff.
"You know, Riff, Me and Levi may not show it, but we are also terrified. In the eyes of those criminals, we are wanted, and I am trying my absolute hardest to survive. I may look like a normal happy being around Wartwood, but that's only because I don't want them to worry. Inside, I'm just as scared as you. You're not alone"
Riff felt comfort hearing those words and simply put on a small smile with watery eyes.
"What if we were given the chance to go back?" he asked Charles.
"Then we better make the most of what time we have here" Charles replied.
This allowed Riff to finally accept that while he can't physically be around for his family, they'll be safe one way or another.
"Thank you, Charles. I think I've accepted being here. And I'm happy to have you and Levi on my side" he said.
Charles smiled at this and offered Riff a fist bump, which he accepted. Charles did an explosion sound with his exit. Riff didn't know what to follow up with so he did a sprinkle motion.
"Balalalalalala"
Charles laughed at the gesture.
"I think I'll just go home," Riff said.
"All good, man. Take care" Charles replied.
Before he did, however, Levi came outside and Riff was reminded of something. He got up, walked to Levi and gave him a hug.
"Wait, what are you doing?" Levi asked.
"I owed you a hug from this morning" Riff replied.
And with that, Levi hugged back and after a few seconds, they parted.
"See you, guys"
And then, Riff left, leaving Charles and Levi alone once more.
"Just to be clear, I said Amphibian cooking, not cooking in general" Levi told Charles.
"I got it" Charles replied.
Riff got to his apartment and walked up to the front door, only to see a package. Riff knew immediately what it was as it had a sticker on it saying it was from a place called "Leopold Loggle's Chairs, Tables and Limbs". He picked it up and took it inside.
He sat down on the couch and opened it. He knew what was in it, but was still nervous about opening it. But when he did, he smiled hugely. It was a picture frame that had a photo of him and his brother and sister. Vera was on the left of him and had on what she wore on the morning call, alongside a dark green skirt, blue shoes, and pink shoes with yellow soles. Wyatt was to the right of Riff and alongside what he wore on the call, he had on blue-ish green jeans, and white socks and shoes.
Riff smiled and placed it on the small table to the left of the couch so that whenever he's watching something on the projector-bot, the photo will make it seem like they are there with him. Riff kept on looking at the photo knowing that they'll make it without him in the flesh.
Notes: Another chapter is done!
Not every chapter will end in an emotional way, but at the moment, I'm still working out each and every chapter of the story and given that we need more information on why the guys are staying in Amphibia, it seemed natural this time around.
I won't spoil anything, but the next chapter has a big surprise waiting!
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. Stay safe during these times, have a good day, and I'll see you in the next chapter.