Amphibia: Starting Over
Part 1 Chapter 5
Extended Families
Today, Riff was at the Plantar family stand handing out avocados. They were the main thing selling at the Plantar stand. Riff was told that the avocados grown from Amphibia had poisonous barbs that caused blindness. Meaning that the avocados they were selling had to have come from Earth.
"Thanks for coming!" Riff told the customer.
At that moment, he saw Levi walking up to him.
"Hey, Riff" Levi greeted.
"Hi, Levi. How was work?" Riff replied.
"Pretty good. Whenever I get the chance, I can smell the scented candles. I swear they are like magic!"
Riff chuckled at the response as he noticed something was different about Levi's appearance. His shoes were now light grey with black soles and his shirt now had pan and trans pins.
"New shoes?" he asked.
"Yeah! Fun fact, I made these"
"You made them?!"
"My family and I are all talented clothesmakers. You name it, we make it. Shirts, pants, socks, shoes, undergarments, jackets, etc. I said that I wasn't that close with my family that much, but the one thing we bonded over was sewing."
Riff was fascinated with Levi's story. Considering that he, Levi, and Charles went from strangers to friends in a matter of days and they were still discovering new things about them was exciting.
"That's awesome! My dad is a movie critic and it blows my mind that he has a job that isn't boring" Riff responded.
"What's wrong with sewing?" Levi asked with a smug look on his face and his hands on both hips.
They both laughed it off when Charles came running over to them.
"Guys, guys, guys, guys, guys! I got this letter in the mail addressed to all three of us!" he shouted.
Riff and Levi were wide-eyed. All three of them? They were so confused. Who writes a letter to three people at once? Riff took the letter and opened it. Once he unfolded the paper, he read it out loud.
Dear humans.
We have received word that your kind has stepped on our land for the first time in years. When we heard the news, we were overjoyed and decided to come over right away. Meet me at the centre of the woods in Lily Pad Complex at eight o'clock sharp. We want to meet you and talk about our history with human beings.
- Sincerely, Captain Grime
Ever since the boys stepped foot on Wartwood and Amphibia, word of their arrival spread like crazy. It was only a matter of time before something, or someone would catch up with them.
"Captain Grime?" Levi asked.
"At eight o'clock sharp?" Riff asked.
"The centre of the woods?" Charles added.
They didn't know why they were given a letter addressed to all of them, but they decided to follow the instructions.
At 7:59 pm, they were in the centre of the woods, waiting for the 'Leaders of Newtopia' to arrive. The centre was a large open circle with nothing but grass, and the outside of the centre was the forest that surrounded it.
"Guys, I'm not sure about this," Charles said.
"Neither am I, but I'm still gonna stay here and meet this 'Grime' person," Levi replied.
"Well, they should be here any minute now," Riff said looking at his phone to check the time which still said 19:59 for he had it set to 24-hour time. His home screen wallpaper was the same picture that Riff had framed a couple of days ago, of him, Wyatt and Vera. The clock eventually set to 20:00 and when Riff looked up from the phone, a giant royal yellow snail with a golden shell was right before him. The snail chirped at Riff, and he immediately freaked out to the point of falling on his back.
All snails were different colours with a lighter underbelly like all the amphibians and were the transportation, whether on their shells or carrying their wagon or luggage. This snail had what looked like a toad riding on its shell.
Riff got back up and he and the others backed up when the toad got off the snail, revealing its presence. He was greyish green and like the frogs, also had a lighter underbelly with darker spots in random places. He had two different coloured eyes. One was yellow, and the other was blue with a scar running down it. He had a completely grey beard braided down with yellow bands. He was wearing a white collared shirt with gold armour. The right sleeve is folded, indicating that he lost his right arm. He was also wearing black pants and steel boots.
His appearance alone freaked the humans out and Charles shouted: "What'd I tell ya, idiots! We're about to die!"
The toad stopped and suddenly put a giant grin on his face. His very sharp and many teeth didn't calm them down at all. And just when they seemed that it was the end:
"What do you know? Humans actually found a way back!" the toad said, his grin still showing. Riff was back on the ground with a horrified look on his face as well as Charles and Levi, who were hugging each other in fear.
"Oh, did my looks scare you? Don't worry! Deep down, I'm a softie."
Cautiously, Riff got up again and asked him: "You must be Captain Grime?"
"Yes, I am! And you are the humans that we have heard about! We have a lot to talk about!"
"Uh, yeah. My name is Riff Porter and these are the others, Charles Hansen and Levi Fernandez."
"Hey" Charles hesitantly waved while Levi backed away by a step before making a peace sign.
"My apologies for this rocky introduction. We didn't know what we were expecting" Riff told Grime.
"Eh, happens all the time whenever someone sees me for the first time. Now I want to take you somewhere to meet more of us." Grime replied.
"How can we trust you, Grime?" Riff asked.
"Do you remember who Sasha Waybright is?"
"Yes. The Plantars told us, but why is that important?"
Grime was surprised by the mention of the Plantars. He was impressed that they ended up knowing them already.
"Did the Plantars say anything about them being role models for Anne Boonchuy when she and her friends were here?"
"In a way, yes," Levi replied.
"Well, I was Sasha's role model when she was here"
The humans were surprised when he mentioned that. Just when they thought they had heard everything about the girls in Amphibia, they always find out something new. In this case, it was a significant discovery.
"You're being serious?" Riff asked.
"Come with me and I can prove it" Grime replied as he hopped back on the snail which had a dark wooden bench seat on it and signalled them to join him.
A few minutes later, the four were riding on Grime's snail. Riff was convinced that Grime wasn't dangerous, but Charles and Levi were still a bit cautious and tried to stay as far away from him as possible, which wasn't easy since the seat was only just able to fit the four. They were silent for a while before Riff broke the silence.
"Hey Grime"
"Yes, Reef?" Grime responded, saying his name wrong. Riff was slightly annoyed but decided to correct him later.
"The Plantars told us Anne's Amphibia story, from how she got here all the way to her temporary death. Is all that true?"
"Hard to forget, human. I was there when it happened. Almost all of Amphibia was."
Riff was reluctant to ask his next question as Grime's expression darkened after answering. But he asked anyways.
"Can you tell us about Sasha?"
Grime didn't expect that question one bit. Charles even noticed the expression he had on his face and got worried. Given that Sprig was close to tears when he and the Plantars were telling Anne's story, he wasn't exactly hoping for a repeat. He started to talk to Riff.
"I'm not sure that's a good idea-"
"Years and years ago, I was the Captain of the Toad Tower of Frog Valley!" Grime started telling the story of Sasha Waybright, interrupting Charles.
"When one day, my soldiers brought me the first human I had ever seen: Sasha Waybright. Blonde hair, school uniform, and skin colour just like yours, Reef."
"Actually, it's R-" Riff tried correcting him before Grime interrupted once again.
"For the next two months, we had her imprisoned in the tower, until one day, we were attacked by giant herons. Sasha was able to save us all, and for the next month, she was my second in command. We eventually found Anne, and that day we tried to execute Hopediah to failure when Anne stood up to Sasha."
"Really not selling me with trust here" Charles spoke up.
"I'll give credit, he is being honest," Riff admitted. Grime continued.
"We ended up in hiding as we were wanted and all but two of my soldiers abandoned us. But eventually, they ended up jumping ship when things got too intense. By the time Sasha got both of her friends back, we betrayed them just as quickly and things fell apart."
Riff got curious from there and surprisingly, so did Charles and Levi. One of their big goals was to learn about the previous girls that wound up in Amphibia, and this was quite the story that did end up happening.
"How so?" Levi asked.
"It ended up being the downfall of Amphibia for the next few months. King Andrias almost destroyed the entire ecosystem permanently and after we had trained a big enough army, we went into war and were victorious, as you can see" he continued while pointing out their surroundings. They looked like they had been untouched and were very peaceful and beautiful to look at.
"After we destroyed the moon, and Anne came back to life, somehow, Sasha and I said our very, very dramatic goodbyes. And I haven't seen her since" Grime finished the story trying to hold back tears.
Needless to say, the boys were fascinated. They didn't know how to respond and simply said all together: "Woah"
Suddenly, the snail stopped and the boys fell off as a result. They groaned from the impact and wouldn't be surprised if they had plenty of dirt marks. Riff got up first, not exactly happy with their sudden fall.
"Grime, what was that for?" he asked with a frown.
"We're here" Grime simply answered tilting his head to their right, pointing to their camp base.
A few white tents looked more like houses but were pretty spread out, and there was a campfire in the middle of it. The boys stood back up and walked over to the camp base where one of the tents had someone walking out of it. It was another toad that looked to be a kid. He was light-purple-coloured and also had messy yellow hair. He was wearing homemade bronze armoury including his chest plate, leggings, and boots.
"Woah, humans!" the child said.
"Ah, Axel. Just in time" Grime told the kid who was called Axel.
"Okay guys, he's a softie alright. He has a son." Levi said when he saw Axel.
Grime overheard him and facepalmed with his only hand while groaning before turning his direction back to face the human boys.
"No, I got stuck on babysitting duty for those two soldiers"
"Come on, Uncle Grime. You treat me the same way my mum and dad do." Axel told Grime with a grin. Grime took the compliment with a blush on his cheeks.
The humans then walked over to Axel and held out their hands for a handshake.
"Riff Porter. Nice to meet you, Axel" Riff introduced himself as Axel accepted the handshake. However, he was a little nervous doing so but didn't want to show fear. He continued to shake Charles and Levi's hands as he started talking.
"I have read all about your species. How your kind helped save the world and the rest of the universe. I've been wanting to meet humans for a long time!"
"Wow, what a privilege!" Charles said.
"Okay, humans. The reason we have brought you here is that we have some questions" Grime revealed.
"Sure. Hang on, did you say 'we'?" Levi asked Grime.
"I don't believe it," said a different voice from behind the boys. They turned around and saw two female newts. One was taller than the other and had pink skin, a lighter underbelly and white hair. Newts had long tails and hers had darker spots in line with a lighter bottom half. She was wearing a white belted shirt dress with long sleeves that were puffy at the ends, a large dark purple shoulder pad on her right shoulder, grey pants, and brown high boots.
The other was aquamarine-skinned and had dark blue hair in a deep wave state and a bun tie up the top with a shell band. Her tail also had darker spots and a lighter bottom half. She wore a lavender dress that had a dark purple cover with frog prints. She also had a necklace on her neck.
The boys were fascinated to also see newts in Amphibia. Just when they thought the place couldn't get crazier, there were three different amphibian species in this world, possibly even more.
"Woah, are those salamanders?" Charles asked out loud.
Suddenly, the tall pink one grabbed a rock right in front of her with her tail and quickly chucked it at Charles. It was coming so fast that Charles didn't even realise what was happening until he was hit in the chest. He let out a big groan from the impact. It was clear they weren't salamanders.
"Yunan! They are still new here!" the blue newt shouted at the other newt whose name was Yunan.
"Sorry, Olivia. I'm just in shock is all" Yunan replied to the blue newt whose name was Olivia.
Charles then recovered from his pain and spoke up. "Ok, they are not salamanders," he said.
"We are newts, dear. We apologise for the confusion. Newts take serious offence when we're called salamanders. I'm Olivia. It is an honour to finally come across your kind after all these years!" Olivia said as she offered a handshake for Riff, which he accepted.
"And you are?" Riff asked Yunan.
"Who am I?" Yunan asked back.
"Here we go!" Grime shouted with the bridge of his nose pinched with his fingers.
"Wait, what's going to happen?" Levi asked in worry.
"Trust me. It's a regular thing when she meets new people" Olivia answered with a smirk, hinting that she's been through this a dozen times.
"I am General Yunan! Scourge of the Sand Wars, Defeater of Ragnar the Wretched, and the youngest newt to ever achieve the rank of general in the great Newtopian Army!" Yunan shouted with pride and determination.
Riff had an impressed look on his face, Charles clapped in awe, and Levi simply asked: "Do you say that a lot?"
"I uh… haven't been saying it as much as I used to years ago. And I'm also not a 'general'. I retired so I could settle down with my wife here" Yunan explained while putting her arm around Olivia.
The boys then noticed rings on their hands and saw that they were married.
"Woah, for low long?" Riff asked.
"Seven years. And we even have twin daughters"
"No way! I'm a twin too!" Levi revealed.
Riff and Charles quickly looked at him with wide eyes. Despite being in Amphibia for a week now, they were still learning new things about each other.
"You are?" Riff asked Levi.
"Yeah, I have a twin brother. His name is Phineas." Levi responded as he was pulling out his phone. After scrolling for a little bit, he showed Riff and Charles a photo of him and Phineas sitting down on stone steps in a park. From the photo's point of view, Phineas was almost identical to Levi but with slightly brighter brown hair, a heart tattoo on his right arm and even a wedding band on the ring finger of his left hand. He was wearing a dark purple t-shirt, light blue shorts, white socks and sports shoes.
"Um, Levi. As much as we would like to know more about each other's lives, I think the newts and toads want to have a chat." Charles reminded Levi.
"Right, sorry" Levi responded.
The boys then sat down on the grass much like their first meet-up on the plane crash site.
"Humans, we have brought you here because we have known the previous trio of humans that Amphibia has grown to know: Anne Boonchuy, Sasha Waybright, and Marcy Wu. Ever since they saved the world of Amphibia, they left to go back to your world. We haven't seen them since and we weren't sure if you're kind would ever return. But when we heard from passing towns that you three have been found in Wartwood, we knew we had to return to Wartwood to see for ourselves." Grime told the boys.
"The Plantars you've previously met took care of Anne, Grime here and his toad army took in Sasha, and I and the previous king of Amphibia looked after Marcy. We have grown incredibly close with our respective humans. After they left, we feared we wouldn't see humans for a very long time" Olivia continued.
"But then you three found a way here and have been taking Amphibia by surprise. The news of your arrival has been spreading, unlike anything for years. We were especially thrilled by the news and we have one question. How did you get here?" Yunan finished by asking the question.
"Uhh… How did the girls get here first?" Riff asked back.
"They got here from a music-themed Calamity Box. But when their prophecy was fulfilled and they went back to Earth, it dissipated into dust." Yunan answered.
"Okay. Well did it transport them via a portal?"
"Yes it did"
"Well, we got here from an invisible portal that we found in what looked like an abandoned laboratory. We don't know where it is anymore and we can't go back home" Riff revealed.
"Why not?" Axel asked.
"Charles here is being hunted back on Earth, and we fear that if Levi and I go back, the hunter will find us and threaten us too. We survived a plane crash but were left behind. Earth believes we're dead and we decided to stay here to stay safe" Riff finished.
The amphibians listening were pretty shocked by what they had to endure throughout the past few weeks. Then Axel raised his hand like he wanted to ask a question.
"Yes, Axel?" Levi said.
"What's a plane?" Axel asked.
"It's a transportation vehicle up in the sky, kinda like those cat-a-pillars you have, except it fits way more people… and is an indoor vehicle… and you get served peanuts."
"Peanuts?"
"Yeah, we barely know much about Earth. Each answer just gives us more questions" Grime clarified.
"Right sorry. Look we travelled on foot for a week after we crashed and it's a miracle we even managed to make it here at all. That was how we got here and honestly, I'd rather stop there. I just… I had to leave my entire life behind to stay alive and I am now an entire dimension away from my family." Riff said.
"Don't you mean 'we'? We had to leave our lives behind and are also a dimension away from our friends and family?" Charles clarified to Riff.
"Right, right, sorry. I've been thinking about myself, again. I tend to do that when I'm stressed"
"Look, boys. You did the right thing by coming here. But do your folks know you're here?" Olivia asked the boys.
"Strangely, yes. We somehow have service in another universe. And we were able to contact our families and let them know we are okay." Charles revealed.
"Polly did say something about inventing this electric antenna. She didn't know what it was activated for, but she didn't go out of her way to turn it off either. Maybe that's what gave you the chance to talk with your folks."
"Maybe."
"Alright, humans. We thank you for meeting up with us. We have been thinking of returning to Wartwood for a while and we could not have come back at a more perfect time. Olivia. Yunan. Why don't you take the humans home? I need to make sure Axel goes to sleep" Grime told the newts.
"But I still have so many questions, Uncle Grime," Axel complained.
"Another day Axel, another day"
And with that, Grime took Axel back to one of the tents. The boys got up from the ground and Olivia and Yunan guided them back to the snail to be taken back to Wartwood.
After another long snail ride, the boys made it back to the Lily Pad. They got off the snail and before they walked back to their units, Riff asked a question to the newts.
"Hey um… you two had Marcy when she was here, didn't you?"
"Correct, and had meant a lot to us and the people of Newtopia. She may have been different from the rest of us, but she was still our Marcy. The king may have turned out to be a horrible king by the end, but even he liked her." Olivia responded.
"Yes, he may have been partially forgiven, but he still did some bad things in Amphibia and even Marcy which is one of his biggest regrets" Yunan continued.
"Wait a minute… is? He's still alive?" Riff asked with a hint of anger.
"Uh… yes he is. We wouldn't recommend seeing him, though"
"Are you kidding me?! He started an invasion that killed my mother, you really think I can forgive someone for that?!"
"Riff, calm down. We are sorry for your loss all those years. But the thing about bad things is that with time, the mental wounds heal and if Andrias can regret those actions and come out of his way to regrow the land while losing vision, I think he can go out of his way to feel sorry for you especially. But for now, let's just let it go." Olivia said.
Eventually, Riff calmed down enough and Charles and Levi patted his shoulders in support.
"Thank you for coming to see us. We hope to meet up once more" Levi told the newts.
"We hope so too, we actually have questions about you three, but we need to head back ourselves," Olivia replied.
"We'll see you around," Charles said.
But while Charles and Levi started to walk back to their units. Riff decided to share something of Marcy that he did know with the newts.
"I may not know Marcy personally, but I do know something," Riff told the newts.
"What is it, Riff?" Yunan asked.
"She made this webcomic called Amphibi-Anne, and from what I've read, it sounded a bit like this place. Something tells me her experiences here made a much bigger impact than you may have thought."
Needless to say, given that they missed Marcy, they were willing to hear anything new about her. But to hear that she still remembered Amphibia made them happy.
"Thank you for telling us, Riff. We are so proud of her" Olivia said.
"You're welcome you two. Take care"
"You too"
"Also, does Amphibia have salamanders?"
"Yes, but not in this continent"
"Okay, just curious"
And with that, Olivia and Yunan rode back into the forest and Riff walked back to his unit to turn in for the night. The boys learned a lot about the old trio but what they heard was just the beginning.
Notes: Welp, it's been almost 5 months, but I finally made a new chapter. I have risen from the fanfic dead!
Okay, in all seriousness, I do apologize for this long wait. I've been dealing with a lot of stuff. With my final year of high school, mental health focus, and… admittedly some procrastination. So these new chapters will now be released sporadically.
Either way, Grime, Olivia, and Yunan have finally been included in the story! And as I did with the Plantars, I gave them updates to coincide with the time skip. Percy and Braddock had a kid during their absence in Season 3, and Olivia and Yunan got married and also have children.
The boys will know more about the calamity trio from the show, but for now, the focus is on the new trio. I do have a cool idea with Riff which I will reveal in a few chapters.
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.