It had been a long journey back from Newtopia, Anne was on edge most of the time, wondering if they were going to get ambushed by a Fallen now that she and Marcy weren't able to team up. But it seemed that the Fallen had taken some days off, on the one hand, that relieved Anne, on the other, it made her worry that they were just planning their comeback. At some point in their journey, Anne and Hop Pop had to rest as they had been driving almost none stop to get back to Wartwood before the harvest began. When they woke up, they were about three miles out from Wartwood, having found that Polly and Sprig had driven the rest of the way while they were asleep. For some reason they were singing some weird song that went, "A ghost! A ghost! A ghost with the most! Without Mr. Needles, we'd surely be deadles!"
At last, the sun rose over the horizon, and the Plantar family was almost in Wartwood proper. Hop Pop took a big whiff of the air, enjoying the familiar scents and smells of his hometown. "Ah, how Ah miss the swamp air. The aroma of grass, a whisper of manure, and just a pinch of humidity. Do ya feel that humidity, Anne?"
Anne slowly turned her head to Hop Pop, whose hair had frizzed out into a giant puff ball and said, "A pinch", before turning her head to look at the road. "Do you think they'll understand, about me and my powers and all…?"
Hop Pop glanced at Anne and said, "Anne, you've done a lot for this town. And after they hear what ya did to protect us, and this world, Ah don't see why they should treat ya and differently. If anythin', they'll probably treat ya like a hero!" Hop Pop sighed reverently. "A knighted Plantar, and hero of Amphibia. Never thought I'd live to see the day."
Anne smiled when she heard Hop Pop, she loved knowing just how much he saw her as part of their family, and he had a point. The people of Wartwood already accepted her, but once she told them about what happened, it was going to blow their minds.
Polly, who had been perched on Anne's head before her hair puffed out, parted the Thai girl's curls, and gasped when she saw the familiar sight of the town and the archway that led into it. "I see it! I see it! I can see Wartwood!"
Sprig hopped out of the fwagon and landed on the roof. He marveled at the sight of his hometown, it was not as grand a Newtopia, but it was his home, and one that he loved. Sprig was so excited that he broke out his fiddle and began singing the Wartwood anthem.
" Wartwood, O mighty Wartwood
I sing to thee Our noble history
A newt told a toad, 'Give a job to the frog'
'But don't let them escape poverty' "
The bell at the archway sounded, heralding their arrival. Once the fwagon rolled through, the entire town came out to meet the Plantars. Hop Pop stopped the fwagon so that they could disembark and meet with the townsfolk who came out to see them after being away for so long.
"Heya, folks!" Hop Pop greeted.
However, the moment he jumped down from the driver's seat, he was fiercely hugged by an old frog woman who cried out, "Hoppy!" She wore a pink dress, was light green in color, and wore glasses, an old flame and current girlfriend of Hop Pop, Sylvia Sundew.
Hop Pop, after getting over the surprise of the hug, looked fondly upon the woman. "Sylvia!"
"Come here, city boy," said Sylvia as she broke the hug so that they could embrace properly.
Anne climbed down from the driver's seat as well, holding Polly in her hands as she did.
One of the locals, Loggle the woodsmith, asked the human, "Anne, did you manage to find a way back to your world?"
Anne set Polly down on the ground and answered, "Not yet, but we're whittling away at it."
Loggle giggled. "That wood reference was for me."
Out of the crowd came a familiar face, the local town bum – and secret rich boy – Wally. "Well, if it isn't the Plantars!" Wally did a few flips before landing between Anne and Polly. "Haven't see you lot in a long time! Eeeh, definitely didn't see you on your trip!"
Polly placed her flippers on her hips, relatively speaking, and remarked, "Whatever you say…Walliam."
Wally cleared his throat and made a hasty retreat.
Sprig, who was still perched on the fwagon, looked across the sea of townsfolk, but could not spot the one person who he had hoped would be there to greet him. The pink frog hopped off the fwagon and saw Ivy's mother, Felicia, standing amongst the crowd and walked up to her. "Uh, hey, Felicia. Where's Ivy?"
"Oh, she said she had something more important to do," said Felicia.
Sprig looked heartbroken. "M-More important…?"
Felicia nodded and added, "Something about an…"
One of the frogs who had been standing next to them suddenly cried, "AMBUSH!" before throwing off what was apparently a disguise and revealed the fiery redhead that was Ivy Sundew. The yellow frog girl tackle hugged Sprig, sending them both rolling onto the ground with Ivy pinning her boyfriend.
After shaking off the tumble, Sprig goofily said, "Hi."
"Hey, you," Ivy replied.
The entire display made the crowd go "Awww", causing the two frog children to scurry back to their feet quickly. Just then everyone heard someone saying "Ow" repeatedly, when they turned to see who it was, they saw that it was Toadie, who was being repeatedly hit by Mayor Toadstool's cane as he walked through the crowd to gain their attention.
"Just simmer down now! Come on, simmer down. Market stops for no one. Y'all can welcome back the Plantars after business hours," Toadstool announced.
"Oh! How about we all meet at my restaurant tonight? Have a town dinner for the Plantars," Stumpy suggested.
"We're in!" Hop Pop exclaimed. "Ah can't wait for some authentic swamp cookin'!"
Stumpy reached into his apron pocket and pulled out a piece of paper that showed different prosthetic body parts. One of which Stumpy was pointing to. "And I can't wait for that Newtopian coral hand fitment. Thanks for pickin' it up for me."
Just then, Hop Pop and Polly went pale in the face, and started sweating bullets.
"Say, if we're all gonna be together anyway, why not bring all the gifts from our wish list." Mrs. Croaker suggested.
The townsfolk all muttered their agreement, excited for their gifts, which Sprig and Anne had no idea what they were talking about.
"Gifts?" Sprig questioned.
"Wish list?" Anne also questioned.
Hop Pop, eyes shifting about, put on a fake smile and said, "Great idea, Mrs. Croaker!"
Polly hopped off Hop Pop's head and yawned overdramatically, and loudly. She then looked up at Hop Pop with large innocent eyes and asked, "Can we go home, Hop Papa? I am so sweeeepy."
Hop Pop looked down at his granddaughter with love and compassion as he said, "Of course, my sweet baby child." Then he picked her up and rushed towards Anne and Sprig, dragging them unceremoniously towards the fwagon as he hurriedly said, "Okay, here we go! Come on, kids!"
Once inside the fwagon, Hop Pop and Polly began frantically searching the inside. Hop Pop was on his hands and knees as he methodically knocked on different parts of the floorboards. Polly was doing the same, upturning everything that was not nailed down to the floor, her bucket, a random book, she even tossed Micro-Angelo, but only after she kissed him on the cheek. Meanwhile, Anne and Sprig were just sitting and standing in the corner, respectively, utterly confused as to why they were acting this way.
Anne finally looked at Sprig and asked, "Do you want this one?"
"No, no, all yours," Sprig politely declined.
Anne took a deep breath and asked, "What the heck is going on?!"
Still ignoring them, Hop Pop continued knocking against the floorboards, but stopped when he heard one of the boards making a hollow sound. "Ah-ha! Found it!" he declared.
"Found what? Will somebody please explain?!" Anne demanded.
Polly hopped closer to her surrogate big sister and said, "Y-Yeah, it's kinda of a funny story…heh-ha. So, uh, remember when Hop Pop and I went to pick up the fwagon?" Sprig and Anne nodded. "Well, on our way back, Mrs. Croaker asked if we could pick her up a new romance novel while we were in the city."
Hop Pop stood up and took over for Polly. "Before we knew it, everybody was asking for stuff. So, we made a wish list. We hid the list in a special place so we wouldn't forget. And then we forgot it."
Anne could not believe what she had just heard. The entire town had asked them to bring back some specially requested gifts from Newtopia, and the whole time they were there, loaded with money thanks to being loaned the Royal Credit Card, they could have gotten all the people of Wartwood their gifts. Granted there were some other pressing matters going on, an evil deity sending its dark minions to try and kill her and Marcy, finding Marcy, becoming girlfriends with Marcy, saving the world from a near apocalypse and teaming up with a Rider from another world. Yeah, a lot did happen. That still did not change the fact that Hop Pop forgot about something as important as that.
Anne's only reaction to that story was a monotone, "What?"
Polly looked up at Anne with big, sad, weepy eyes as she begged, "I'm so sorry, you guys. Please don't get mad."
"Oh, no, no, no. It's okay, Polly. You're just a baby." Anne cooed as she scooped up Polly into her arms. Her expression swiftly changed to a serious one as she pointed an accusatory finger at Hop Pop. "But you! I cannot believe you forgot about something so important, Hop Pop!"
"Look, I'm sure we can find a way to bury this, so no one finds out," Hop Pop suggested.
Anne placed Polly atop Sprig's head while he was perusing the wish list of forgotten items. "Nope. Lying will only make it worse. I feel like we've learned that lesson by now."
Sprig lowered the list and said unequivocally, "Well, one thing's for sure. We have to lie!"
Anne nodded. "Preach!" Then she took a moment to think about what he just said. "Wait, what?! Why?!"
Sprig turned the list around and pointed to a picture of Ivy. Next to that picture was one of a red colored shell that had the words "red sunshell" underneath it. "Ivy asked for a red sunshell from the Newtopian coast. To match my blue moonshell."
"D'aaaaaaawwwww" Anne gushed.
Sprig jumped up and grab ahold of Anne as he looked her in the eyes. "She can't find out, Anne! What if she gets mad?! What if she thinks I don't like her?! The relationship will be over before it starts! C'mon, Anne, you know what I'm talking about!"
For once, Anne did. Being with Marcy, she understood perfectly well how important this was. Even now Anne can still remember the look on Marcy's face when she gave her that emerald butterfly barrette. The sheer joy of receiving something from someone you loved, that was priceless. Marcy was a little embarrassed that she did not get Anne anything, but Anne assured her she could get her one whenever, since she just felt like getting Marcy something.
"Okay, okay, I'll do it for SprIvy. No way in heck I'm letting that ship sink," said Anne.
"You're a true friend Anne, and I promise to do the same for you and Marcy one day!" Sprig vowed.
Anne playfully rolled her eyes.
Hop Pop nodded in approval and added, "Great. Now, let's put our heads together and come up with a plan."
"Oh, yeah, and we'd better hurry, or you might forget," Anne smartly remarked.
"It was one time Anne!"
The Plantars returned to their homestead a few minutes later and bid Chuck farewell before kicking him out of the house to get to work on their plan to not look like total jerks in front of the whole town.
"You didn't forget to get the keys from Chuck, did you?" Anne remarked.
"Yer not gonna let me live this down are ya?" Hop Pop asked.
"Nope."
After that exchange the four of them tried to figure out a plan. After an hour of deliberation, they came to a consensus that consisted of two parts. One: have fake empty boxes, and two: have said empty boxes get tragically destroyed by a monster. The monster idea came about after several options were given that ranged from "accidental" hijinks involving fire, and a myriad of other dangerous things.
"The one time we need a Fallen to show up, and they've been MIA since Snake-Wolf," said Polly.
"Polly don't jinx it!" Anne stated. "But still, what kind of monster? It can't be anything too dangerous or everyone's going to get hurt."
"How about this?" Sprig, who was sitting on the couch, turned the book in his hands around and pointed to an illustration of a giant chicken demon creature. "The Chicka-lisk. A beast that eats gold and treasure, doesn't eat Amphibians, won't attack unless threatened, and can be called to any area with a ritual."
Hop Pop walked over to Sprig and took book, examining its strange outer covering. "Where'd ya get that book? This cover made out of skin?"
"Maddie gave it to me," Sprig answered.
"Aww, that's nice," Polly commented.
Hop Pop read over the Chicka-lisk description, becoming less apprehensive about this creature as he did. "I gotta say, this Chicka-lisk is pretty perfect. Gifts get eaten, no one gets hurt, and we don't get blamed. We all okay with using ancient eldritch magics?"
Sprig and Anne nodded in agreement.
"I'd be mad if we didn't," Polly added.
"Great! Now to collect all the materials we need for the ritual."
Anne removed the book from Hop Pop's hands and said, "Let me take this one, H. P. It'll take some time to get all this together and make the fake gifts. So, I'll go and hunt down the things we need, and you three work on the boxes."
"Ya sure about that, Anne?" Hop Pop asked.
Anne walked to the front door, she stopped in the doorway and glanced over her shoulder with her blue glowing eyes. "Yeah, I'm sure."
The young Thai girl dashed away, heading to the location of the first item she needed, the horn of a sky goat, whose arcane note pierces the air. The map that was in the book showed the mountain region where the creatures could be found, unfortunately, it did not mention that the entire area had been overtaken by some toad barbarians. The leader of that clan of toads was riding the sky goat, which looked like a goat with black fur, and huge wings coming from its back. Anne politely asked if she could carefully break off the horn of the sky goat. Unfortunately, that did not go over well, nor did they take kindly to strangers entering their territory. For time and convince, Anne transformed into Amp and subdued the entire lot of them, and once she managed to wrestle the sky goat down to the ground, she chopped part of its right horn off with her right hand.
After leaving the toad barbarians, and regarded as a thunder goddess, Anne headed to the next location as described by the book. It took her from the mountains down into the valley, to a desolate place that was eerie as all get-out. She made it to a cave that had an opening that resembled the face of a demon. She wasted little time in transforming before entering the cave. The second item needed to summon Chicka-lisk was cursed obsidian, to amplify the dark energy. When she walked in, the entire inside of the cave was made of the black crystal. Anne found a good-sized chuck of obsidian that she believed would fit into the horn's opening, but upon pulling it free, the entire structure rumbled. Suddenly, four black colored tentacles sprang out of the hollow openings in the cave and lashed out at her. Before they could grab her, Anne switched into Spike Form and made the fleshy appendages regret ever touching her.
After those slightly harrowing locations, Anne moved onto obtaining the final piece to ritual, candles. They were not really required for the ritual, but they did add to the creepy ritual vibe that they were going for. The moon was high in the sky by the time Anne had collected everything and returned to the Plantar house. There she saw a pile of gold colored giftboxes piled high, of course all of them were empty, but it looked nice, nonetheless.
The Plantars gathered outside the house some yards away where there was a clear spot. They carefully drew the summoning circle into the dirt and wore black robes in order to conduct their unholy ritual. The circle glowed a bright, angry red color, as if sensing what its purpose was and was ready when they were. Once everything was prepared, it was time to summon Chicka-lisk.
"Play the forbidden note!" Hop Pop commanded.
Sprig stepped up and blew into the sky goat's horn, releasing a bellowing and deep musical note.
"Corrupt its sacred message!"
Anne brought up the cursed obsidian and placed it into the sky goat horn. The moment Sprig played the note again, the dark energy of the crystal reacted, corrupting the sacred message of the horn as it called out to the ancient one. The magic circle glowed brighter and then burst forth with a pillar of scarlet light that shot straight into the sky. Everyone backed away, expecting the Chicka-lisk to appear now, but after a few moments the pillar of light disappeared, and there was nothing.
"Huh…I was expecting more…you know, big demon chicken or something," said Anne.
"Well, the message was sent, guess we gotta wait for Chicka-lisk to appear," Hop Pop thought aloud.
"But how long? Thirty minutes? An hour?!" Sprig asked worriedly.
Anne rubbed the back of her head as she said, "We'll have to stall until it does appear. I guess I'll have to tell my story to everyone, maybe that'll buy us enough time."
"Great then, now who wants Stumpy's?!"
The Plantars arrived at the celebration about thirty minutes after the summoning ritual and used Bessie and one of their wagons to haul the fake presents to the celebration. After depositing them at a designated spot, the Plantars began to mingle amongst the crowd. They mostly spoke of the fun stuff they encountered along the way, steering clear of the Fallen related stuff so that, when the time came, Anne could distract them with that story. So far everyone was having a good time, once or twice someone asked about opening the gifts, but they were able to steer that conversation onto something else Newtopia related.
Hop Pop was talking with Stumpy when the burly toad asked, "Can we open the gifts soon? I'm itching for that hand. Not literally. No feelin' in it."
The old frog gulped and nervously chuckled. "Presents seem like an 'end of the night' thing. Why rush it?" Hop Pop quickly walked away to avoid any follow up questions. But he knew that they could not dodge this for much longer, and unless Chicka-lisk showed up, the entire town was going to find out what they did. Panicking, Hop Pop found Anne and whispered into her ear, "Anne, Ah think it's time ya told the story!"
Anne sighed, she knew that this would buy them the time they needed, but she was also afraid that the townspeople would be afraid of her. Well, one way or the other, this bandage was going to need to be ripped off sooner or later. The teenage girl walked up to one of the tables and stood on top of it, she took a deep breath and said aloud, "Hey, everyone, there's something I need to tell you that happened on our trip to Newtopia! And I'd like it if everyone could come over so all of you can hear and see!"
The crowd murmured in excitement and did as she asked, getting closer to the table where Anne was standing on until she raised her hands in a stopping motion, telling them that was close enough. Anne looked into the sea of amphibians, their eyes wide and expecting, wondering what she had to tell them.
"Okay…so…Hop Pop, Polly, Sprig, and I haven't told you everything that happened on our way to Newtopia. Some strange, dangerous, and honestly amazing things happened to me, to us. I know you might not believe what I have to tell you, at least not without me proving it. So, here it goes. When we left the valley, we found ourselves at the Ruins of Disaster. I fell into the ruins and when I did, I…" Anne looked at her froggy family, she could see it in their eyes that they were behind her no matter what. She then looked back at the crowd, amongst all of them, only one knew where she was going with this, Wally. The false-hobo frog had seen her transform before, and was not afraid of her, although Wally was a wildcard, there was no telling how everyone else would react. "When I came out of them, I gained…powers."
Maddie was the first one to break from the crowd, her face alight with intrigue as she asked, "What kind of powers? White magic? Black magic?!"
Anne did a wavey motion with her left hand. "Eh, not sure if it counts as magic or not. But…just watch." Anne went into her motions to summon the MetamorphRing Driver. When she did this, a ring of lightning appeared around her waist and materialized the device, causing the crowd to gasp.
"Sprig, what's that?" Ivy asked.
"Just watch, this'll be cool," Sprig assured her.
"Henshin."
Anne pressed on the two devices on her hips and transformed herself into Kamen Rider Amp before the entire town. A loud gasp came from everyone in attendance as they looked upon the transformed human. Amp hopped off the table, showing that she was much taller compared to her previous height pre-transformation.
"What in the world is that about?!" someone yelled.
"Now calm down everyone," Hop Pop spoke. "Ah know it looks a bit intimidatin' and scary, but it's still Anne under that suit of armor."
Out of the whole crowd, the first one to come up to her was Ivy. The yellow frog girl stared wide eyed and in complete awe of what Anne had become. Amp got down on one knee so that she was not towering over her. "Wow…just…wow!" Ivy reached out with her right hand and touched the triangle shaped black stone that was at the center of Amp's chest. Ivy touched Amp's forearms and then her helmet, the texture was strange, smooth and cool to the touch, but no less hard and durable. "Anne, this is so cool! Is it really still you under there?"
Amp nodded. "It is, Ivy. Although, when I transform, my power ages me up a bit. That's why I sound a bit different and why I'm taller. But it's just me, Anne."
Now that one other person had gone up, Wally decided to help break the ice a bit more. "Well, lass, seems ya went and changed a bit on your journey to Newtopia. But even this raggedy bum can tell it's still you in there. C'mon everyone, don't be like that. It's our Anne!"
Sylvia was next to step closer, followed by Mrs. Croaker.
"Well, deary, looks like you went and got yourself into somethin'," said Mrs. Croaker.
"What else happened, Anne?" Sylvia asked.
Amp sat down on the table, deactivated her transformation, and began regaling Wartwood with the exploits of Kamen Rider Amp. She spoke of her first transformation and how scary it was. Sprig brought out Anne's phone and played some video of her battle with the Road Runner Fallen to show her in action. She also spoke of the mysterious monsters, the Fallen, but kept the information on The Night secret. It was one thing to tell them about mysterious monsters, the last thing she needed was to scare them with the idea that there was a dark god after her and Marcy. Anne continued to tell them the tales of their exploits, adding more context to some of the stories that Sprig, Polly, and Hop Pop told them. Her tale came to a close, at least for now, with the Battle of Newtopia. Where she, Luz, and Marcy, teamed up to defeat the Phantom, Lich. From the looks on the townsfolks' faces, they were completely enthralled with the story, it was as if they were being told a story of old, of a time were ancient powers and heroes existed.
"Then King Andrias knighted me and Luz and gave us these cool medals." Anne reached into her pocket and pulled out the medals she was awarded by King Andrias. "And that's pretty much all the major stuff that happened."
Sprig glanced up at Anne and gave her a knowing look.
Anne rubbed the back of her neck bashfully as her face tinted red for a moment. "Well…there is one more major thing."
"Oh, what's that?" Mrs. Croaker asked.
"My friend…Marcy. We sorta, kinda, started going out. We're together now," said Anne.
Ivy hopped up and gave Anne a light punch to her left arm. "Anne, that's great! You have a girlfriend now!"
Toadstool crossed his arms and said, "Well Hopediah, ya sold us short. Why didn't ya tell us sooner we got ourselves a genuine hero livin' in our town now?!"
"Well, it really wasn't my story to tell," said Hop Pop.
"Toadie, when we get back, we're startin' work on some marketin'! We gotta milk this cash cow for all it's worth!"
"Yes sir," Toadie replied.
Typical Toadstool, everyone thought at the same time.
Ivy went to Sprig and said, "You guys had some amazing adventures on your way to Newtopia!"
"Oh yeah, there were some close calls, but thanks to Anne, and her powers, we got out of them. It was so cool being able to see her do all of that up close. Well, most of it, we weren't there to see the Battle of Newtopia, but what we could see was flashy," said Sprig.
The yellow frog girl lightly punched her boyfriend in the arm and said, "Ugh! I'm so jealous! But at least when I look at my sunshell it'll be like a piece of me was there with you."
Sprig's happy expression fell immediately upon hearing Ivy mention that item. " But, uh, end of the day, it's just a shell, right?"
Ivy blushed as she said, "It's our shell. And I'm really happy you found me one."
Sprig was getting worried, it was getting late, and pretty soon everyone was going to start tearing into the presents and find out that there was nothing inside. Suddenly, Sprig heard distant squawking and shrieking sounds coming from the sky. "Oh, thank Frog!"
The sky was darkened by many clouds as thunder and lightning roared above. And then it happened, descending from the clouds in a scarlet aura was the bringer of destruction, the creature known as Chicka-lisk. The giant avian creature flapped its huge wings as it lowered itself further and further until its talons touched the ground. Chicka-lisk released a loud screeching roar that pierced the night, flaring its wings as the sky flashed red with lightning that shot through the clouds above. Chicka-lisk had the body of a rooster, but its wings were more bat-like than feathery. Its black beak and face were riddled with scars, and its body had remnants of battles past stuck between its plumage. Swords and arrows mostly, there was even more ornate sword sticking out of its back. Everyone immediately screamed and ran away from the eldritch being until they were up against Stumpy's restaurant.
"What is that thing?!" Stumpy asked.
Maddie, who had a very pleased and happy look on her face answered, "That is Chicka-lisk, the Storm Bearer. It's an honor to see him, you know, before he kills us."
Sprig, Polly, and Hop Pop immediately said in unison, and in a very fake sense of shock, "Oh, no! Who could have predicted this?!"
"Don't overdo it," Anne commented.
The giant chicken demon ceased its roar when it spotted the mound of gold-colored gifts just sitting there on the ground.
"Raraacck aackrrak rrrrakkkar ack!"
("Presents? I love presents! Thanks, you guys!")
Anne walked up next to Maddie and asked, "What is it saying?"
"Don't know, it's language is older than written history," said Maddie.
Chicka-lisk stomped his way over to the pile of presents and began eating them like bird seed, swallowing one present after the other.
"Oh no! It is eating the presents," said Polly, still faking shock.
"We should probably leave it alone 'til it's finished," Hop Pop added.
Ivy furrowed her brow and leaped onto the nearest table. "No way! You guys did something nice for us! And after everything you've been through, you managed to bring us back what we asked for even though you were in danger! Are we gonna let some chicken get away with this?! Would the Plantars?!"
The townsfolk rose up as one and declared in one unified voice, "NO!"
"Well, then, come on! Let's save those presents! For the Plantars!"
"FOR THE PLANTARS!"
"Ivy wait, no, you don't have to do that!" Sprig hurriedly shouted.
"You guys sit back; you've been through a lot! Let us take care of this!" Ivy replied with a wink.
Sprig bit his bottom lip as he worriedly muttered, "Uh-oh…"
Anne stepped closer to her adopted family and decided to add her two cents. "I can't believe it's finally my turn to say this, but…TOLD YOU SO! BOOM!"
Ivy and a couple of other frogs picked up some rocks and began throwing them at Chicka-lisk. "Take this you chump!"
Chicka-lisk, who was neck deep in presents, pulled his head out of the mound and looked down at what was happening.
"Ackrar ack?"
("The heck?")
Just then, Chicka-lisk felt a small stab into one of his right talons. The Storm Bearer looked down and saw that an old newt had stabbed him with a pitchfork while saying, "I'm Loggle." Chicka-lisk narrowed his glowing eyes, the pain was miniscule at best, like getting bitten by a mosquito, but nonetheless he was stabbed.
"Arark akarrrark rakkaccckark!"
("Welp. Consider me provoked!")
Chicka-lisk hopped into the air for a moment and flapped its large wings, creating a small tornado that blew away Loggle, the two frogs, and Ivy. The young frog girl flew through the air for a few seconds before Sprig jumped through the air and caught Ivy before she could hit the ground.
Ivy opened her eyes and shouted happily, "Sprig!"
Okay, this has officially gone south in a bad way. "Everyone stay back! I'll take care of this! Henshin!" Anne's body was covered in a dome of lightning as she transformed back into Amp. Just before the hero of lightning could go into action, the rest of the townsfolk charged Chicka-lisk. "Wait, you guys I said I'd handle it! We don't know what this thing can do!"
Chicka-lisk showed what it could do as its eyes shined a bright purple color. The Storm Bearer squawked loudly as it fired a purple beam of light from its eyes. The villagers that were in its line of sight were immediately hit with the beam, and instantly turned them into stone statues.
"Holy moly!" Amp exclaimed.
"Coooool," Maddie remarked.
"Maddie! Can you cure them?!" Sprig asked.
Maddie quickly searched herself and managed to find a few pouches filled with her witchy concoctions. "Uh, yeah, sure. I should have enough antidote for everyone…probably."
"Good enough!"
"Sprig, Hop Pop, Polly, let me take care of Chicka-lisk. Keep everyone back until this is over," Anne ordered.
"But, Anne, do ya even think you can beat this thing?" Hop Pop asked.
Amp did not answer, instead she charged straight for Chicka-lisk. She could not say in front of him or any of them that she was completely unsure if she could even defeat this creature. It was not a Fallen, it was its own being, with mystical powers that were not like the Fallen she has faced in the past. So far Chicka-lisk as shown to be able to command the wind and is able to turn people into stone, but it did not look very fast, so perhaps she had the advantage there.
Chicka-lisk saw the blue armored warrior approaching him and fired its stone beam right at Amp. Using her incredible speed, Amp easily dodged the beam and got alongside Chicka-lisk. The demon chicken seemed surprised when she jumped into the air and gave it a flying roundhouse kick to the face. Chicka-lisk stumbled to its left side before managing to catch itself. The Storm Bearer shook its head and glared at the blue armored warrior.
"Aacckar rrrrraaaa ackrrakka!"
("Okay, this is new. I actually felt that!")
Amp smirked under her helmet as she dashed around the area, making it hard for Chicka-lisk to get a read on her movements. The blue Rider jumped into the air from the left of the demon chicken, and gave it strong punch to the face, causing Chicka-lisk to stumble again. Amp skidded to a halt on the ground, circled around, and ran up to the monster. She balled up her right fist and jumped straight up from under it, striking Chicka-lisk in the beak with a rising uppercut. While in the air, Amp pressed down on the right hip device, shifting into Poison Form. When Amp descended, she coated both her hands in her poison plasma and came down with a knife hand chop across Chicka-lisk's right side.
The Storm Bearer squawked in pain as it backed away, but Amp wasn't about to let up. She made a few motions with her hands before bringing them together and thrusting them forward. From her hands she fired a pink poison plasma beam that hit Chicka-lisk in the chest, causing further pain to the demon chicken. I know we're the ones who called you here, and I know you didn't want this fight! I'm sorry. If Hop Pop had just come clean this wouldn't have happened. Please, just give up and go back to wherever it is you came from! Amp cut off her poison stream and waited.
"What was that?!" Maddie asked.
"Anne's Poison Form, she make all kinds of poisons, some that can burn things, some that paralyze, and a few others," Sprig explained.
"Her powers are surely something," said Mrs. Croaker.
Maddie tugged at Sprig's jacket and asked, "Hey, uh, any way you could ask Anne to give me some samples? There are few spells that call for specific venoms and if she could make it herself then…"
Chicka-lisk's body was feeling numb, seeing double as Amp's poison was starting to take effect. However, the Storm Bearer was not an easy foe to fell. Chicka-lisk released a powerful screeching roar into the sky as he released a burst of energy from his body. That energy cleansed the poison that was in his system, allowing him to regain his senses as he glared at the armored hero before him.
"Raraack aarrrrk raccckcka aakccka rrararaaaaa kkkkackrraa!"
(Wow, that's the first time anyone has made me try! Seriously, this is fun! Let's keep going!")
The giant chicken flapped its mighty wings and produced a tornado that roared towards Amp. The hero of lightning switched back to her Lightning Form and dashed away from the wind attack, however, Chicka-lisk predicted where she was going to move and fired his stone beam at that spot. Amp pumped the breaks just in time to miss the beam by mere inches. Chicka-lisk roared into the sky and called down the lightning as red thunderbolts descended upon her. Amp hurriedly dodged the attacks, she was fast, but her speed was just barely allowing her to miss the thunderbolts that were raining down on her.
A thought occurred to Amp as she was running. Wait, my base form is lightning, shouldn't that mean that I'm immune to lightning? That moment of thought cost her by a second as one of the thunderbolts struck her. Amp dug her heels into the ground as she weathered the electrical energy bearing down on her. Her armor released sparks, one after the other, but after a few more seconds the thunderbolt stopped. Amp's armor was lightly damaged, but overall, she was still standing. Okay, that answers that question, not immune to lightning attacks, I just take a whole lot less damage. Like an electric type Pokémon fighting another electric type. Pfft, wow, I just channeled Marcy.
Chicka-lisk was finding this battle to be more fun by the second, not only was this warrior strong, but even his powerful lightning attack barely did any harm to Amp. There have been many a warrior, both individual and in groups, who have never been able to dodge, let alone withstand, Chicka-lisk's lightning attacks. Yet here before him was someone who could not only hold their own, but might also be a match perhaps? Chicka-lisk decided to switch things up a little, raising his wings to flap them again.
Amp had seen that tornado move enough times to know what to do this time. But when Chicka-lisk flapped his wings, instead of creating a tornado, he released sickles of air that flew straight for her. Amp noticed the change in attacks and quickly shifted into Spike Form. Now armed with her Sting Striker, Amp deflected some of the sickles into the sky or towards the tree line where nobody was. Some of the sickles did hit her, but thanks to the increased defense of Spike Form, the damage was lessened. Chicka-lisk did not let up as it called down more thunderbolts and released more wind sickles. Amp had no choice but to take the barrage, but when she saw an opening, Amp hoisted her Sting Striker and threw it like a spear towards Chicka-lisk.
The chicken demon quickly moved to the right to avoid getting pierced, but at that moment, Amp jumped straight into the air, preparing to come down on the monster with a Rider Kick. Chicka-lisk saw this and quickly bellowed out a stream of flames from its mouth that struck Amp out of the air and back to the ground. The Storm Bearer fired multiple attacks once she was on the ground, belching flames, calling down thunderbolts, and even hurling wind sickles at Amp. All of this culminated into a huge explosion that kicked up a thick dust cloud and obscured Amp from sight.
The villagers all gasped in fear for Anne, she had taken such a beating, they were afraid that she might've been hurt or worse. Chicka-lisk was cocking its head back in forth in confusion.
"Aarraaaaaaakck krkackerkak?"
(Huh? Hey, you're not dead right?")
Suddenly, the dust cloud was blown away as three colored lights shined forth and revealed Amp's strongest form, Trinity Form: Poison Dart. Despite having gone into her Trinity Form, that attack earlier did do a number on her. "Really wish Marcy was here, we could've turned this overgrown fowl into chicken strips by now."
Hop Pop balled up his fists and said, "Ah can't sit back and watch this anymore!"
"Me neither!" Polly agreed.
"Let's help her out!" Sprig shouted.
"YEAH!" the villagers cried out.
Amp formed two of her Sting Strikers, just in time as Chicka-lisk fired his stone beam again. The hero of lightning used her two weapons to cut the beam down the middle, this had the unfortunate side effect of fracturing the beam, causing it to hit several different things. The paper lamps, some trees, and even the statue of the town founder. Which really did not do much considering it was already made of stone. Amp dug her heels into the dirt as Chicka-lisk kept up the beam attack, knowing if Amp moved the wrong way, the beam would strike and turn her into stone.
Just then, multiple explosions went off around Chicka-lisk's face, stopping his stone beam attack. Amp lowered her Sting Strikers and watched as Sprig, Ivy, and Wally were chucking boomshrooms at the giant chicken demon, with the latter supplying the boomshrooms.
"Aim for the eyes children!" Wally instructed.
"Aarakak AAAKkkack sasak!"
("Hey, don't interrupt us!")
Chicka-lisk jumped into the air and slammed his talons onto the ground, creating an energy shockwave that tossed Sprig, Wally, and Ivy off their feet and onto the ground. Right behind them was Sylvia and Hop Pop, with Polly riding atop the old frog's head and armed with a rolling pin. The two seniors expertly timed their jumps so as to avoid getting hit by the shockwaves. Once the last shockwave passed, Hop Pop and Sylvia jumped straight into the air and attacked Chicka-lisk. Hop Pop punched the demon in the face, and at the same time, Polly struck with the rolling pin. Sylvia followed up next, using her long nails to slash Chicka-lisk's left eye. The demon bird let out a little shriek of pain, no matter who you are, getting slashed in the eye still hurts, a lot. But it seemed that it did not stick as Chicka-lisk healed quickly from the scratch.
Chicka-lisk was getting annoyed with these frogs, despite having been denied his golden meal, he was really having fun fighting the blue warrior. No amphibian had ever given him this much of a challenge before, however, this creature was, but these villagers were ruining their fun. Chicka-lisk inhaled deeply and bellowed forth his flames, strafing them across the ground and hitting the presents, setting them on fire. Toadstool and Amp both made it to Hop Pop, Polly, and Sylvia who were in the line of fire, literally. When the flames drew near, Toadstool grabbed the stone body of Toadie and raised him up, using him to defend himself and the others.
"Quick thinking using Toadie's stone body as a shield," said Amp.
"Wait, he's stone?"
While Chicka-lisk was busy trying to fry the frogs, Mrs. Croaker and her pet spider, Archie, ran up behind the demon bird. "Upsy-daisy, Archie." Mrs. Croaker tossed Archie up onto Chicka-lisk's back, jumping up to join him. Mrs. Croaker began punching at the demon fowl's head, while Archie used his spider silk to wrap up Chicka-lisk's beak, cutting off his flames. Chicka-lisk thrashed back and forth, throwing off Mrs. Croaker and Archie and snapping the spider silk off its beak before roaring angrily.
"Aareeeeeaaaakka ssssakrraka gragkgakara!"
("Okay, that's it! Would you all just leave us alone!")
Chicka-lisk released a burst wave of its energy, pushing back everyone but Amp from the battlefield. Amp returned the Sting Strikers to her armor and widened her stance. I'm sorry, Chicka-lisk, but this is gone on long enough! The crest on her helmet flared as the lines in her armor glowed bright blue. A symbol appeared below her feet, the symbol of Amp, that symbol released electrical energy that surged into both of her feet, pushing her power to its peak for her finishing attack.
Sprig managed to pick himself up and stared happily at Amp, realizing what she was about to do. "Alright! She's going to take it down!"
"How's that?" Stumpy asked.
"That stance, that's Anne's signature stance! When she does that, it means she's about to user her most powerful attack! Her Rider Kick!" Sprig explained.
"Rider kick? How's that different from a normal kick?" Ivy asked.
Sprig had a smug expression on his face, having witnessed the Rider Kick several times already, and had watched enough of that show on Anne's phone to know that the moment a Rider Kick is invoked, the bad guy is done for. "Just watch."
"Full power…!" Amp jumped straight into air, ascending higher and higher. Once she was right above Chicka-lisk, Amp channeled her energy and propelled herself forward as she extended her right leg. "TRINITY FORCE: LIGHNTING CALAMITY KICK!"
Blue lightning flared around Amp's body, along with the swirling pink and green energies of Poison and Spike. Chicka-lisk looked upon the descending star with a bit of worry, he could sense the energy in that attack, and briefly wondered if he was going to survive what was about to happen. That moment of hesitation would prove to be costly as Amp struck the giant demon chicken in the chest, knocking the wind out of Chicka-lisk's lungs as he was sent flying backwards, wrapped in the energy that Amp had coated herself with. Amp flipped once in the air before landing, she slowly turned around and raised her right hand, ready to snap her fingers.
"Cock-a-doodle-BOOM."
*Snap!*
The triple fields of energy roared as they transformed into a column of pure light and energy that trapped Chicka-lisk. A moment later, the whole thing exploded magnificently, casting a shadow over Amp as her compound eyes shined in the dark. The citizens of Wartwood were in complete awe of what they just saw, except for the Plantars who had seen this event several times over but were no less thankful that Anne's final attack managed to finally put an end to Chicka-lisk.
"Okay…yeah…that was definitely different from a normal kick. Anne is officially the coolest person I've ever met," said Ivy.
"I know, right?!" Sprig hopped towards Amp and cried out, "Anne you did it! You beat Chicka-lisk!"
Maddie put her hands into a prayer position and said, "Farewell, Chicka-lisk, may you find peace in the Underworld."
"So, do those flames normally go out by themselves or do we need to throw some water on that?" Toadstool asked.
"Oh, well, normally they just go out after a minute, but that's normally with Fallen. We should probably hose that down and – WHAT IN FROG'S NAME?!" Hop Pop yelled.
A blast of scarlet red energy erupted around the flames, extinguishing them on the spot. And from the flames arose Chicka-lisk, the Storm Bearer was still standing, the only thing that even resembled damage was a small burn mark where Amp had struck him with her kick.
"You…have got…to be kidding me!" Amp groaned. "I hit that thing at full power! Full power Rider Kicks usually destroy the monster!"
Chicka-lisk stomped his way towards Amp, eyes narrowed the whole way as he drew ever closer.
Amp was scared now, she put her all into that last attack and it barely did any damage to Chicka-lisk. Not to mention that she could feel the strain starting to catch up with her, and it would not be long before her transformation ended. No matter, she was going to defend Wartwood and its people until her last breath, Rider form or no Rider form. Amp drew forth her twin Sting Strikers and readied herself for what would more than likely be her last moments alive. Marcy, I'm sorry. I'll be watching over you until the end. "Sprig, get back to Hop Pop and the others, and run as fast as far as you all can. I'll hold it off here and if I'm lucky, I can take the fight out of it before I bite it."
"NO! ANNE, WE JUST NEED–!"
"I'M NOT ARGUING WITH YOU SPRIG! GO!" Amp stabbed her left Sting Striker into the dirt, grabbed Sprig and tossed him straight for Hop Pop. "HEADS UP H. P.!"
Sprig collided with Hop Pop's gut, sending both of them to the ground. Now that Sprig was out of harm's way, Amp picked up her weapon and entered an attack stance, ready to make her last stand. Chicka-lisk stopped about ten feet from where she was. The Storm Bearer leaned down, looking her in the eyes, but, just then, Amp could have sworn she saw the creature…smile.
"Arraaaakakack askdarkarkarkkkkaaark arkarkkkkrrak kkkkaarrrkrkarkarkarkkk rrrrrrakkkkka!"
("That was so much fun! That kick was amazing! No one has EVER knocked the wind out of me like that before! That hurt! Like, really, really hurt! Hey, we're cool, right? No harm no foul? Heh, no pun intended.")
Amp was not sure, but for some reason, she could feel that the Chicka-lisk was no longer hostile. Maybe it was the way it was making its squawking-screeching sounds, or maybe it was in its body language. Either way, she did not feel any more hostility from the Storm Bearer. Chicka-lisk took a step back and made a fist with its right wing talons, holding it out towards Amp. Is…Is he trying to fist bump me? Taking a chance that that was what it wanted, Amp dismissed her weapons and her Trinity Form, returning to her base form. She balled up her right fist and bumped it against the very large talon in front of her.
"Kaaaaarrkkkaacarccrkcararckcra ckacrkarkarakrrcarkarkarrkrc kkkkkkkkkaerkrak aaaaaaaaccccccckkk!"
("Sweet! Well, I'm going to go home and sleep. Call me if you ever want to fight again! Or just hang. I'm cool with whatever. But next time, make sure those guys don't try and provoke me while I'm eating, or ever. That's just rude. Chicka-lisk, out!")
The giant chicken demon took a few more steps back and flared its wings. The same summoning circle that the Plantars used to call forth Chicka-lisk appeared below him, and from it a pillar of scarlet light shot up into the sky, transporting Chicka-lisk back to wherever it had come from.
The citizens of Wartwood cheered loudly for Anne, if they were afraid, they no longer were. Her status as the town hero had just gotten a bigger boost now.
"Ya did it Anne!" Hop Pop praised.
Amp's transformation ended. Anne fell onto her rear and began to laugh, hysterically. "Heh…Hehehehehehaha…yeah, I did it!" Anne stated before falling over and passing out from exhaustion.
It took a few minutes for Anne to wake back up, but she did. The rest of the Wartwood citizens looked worried for her, but the Plantars assured them that she was fine, and that using that form took a lot of strength from her. Now that the danger had passed, everyone was able to take in just how much damage had been done. Stumpy's restaurant was still standing, it was a miracle considering all that happened. However, the fake gifts were nothing but ash now.
Mrs. Croaker sighed heavily. "I'm sorry youngins, but that chicken went and destroyed all the gifts you brought for us. And after all the trouble you went through to do it."
Ivy felt great disappointment in this, after saying all that and firing up everybody, and yet they were more of a nuisance to Anne. "Anne, I'm sorry, if only we fought a bit harder, we could've helped you drive that think away! We…We let you down…"
Everyone muttered their agreement with Ivy. The guilt was brutal, Sprig, Polly, and Hop Pop could feel it bearing down on them. The final straw came from a no-nonsense glare that Anne was giving her adopted family, which translated to, "I just fought a demon chicken god monster and nearly died. You had better tell them the truth!"
"Me and Hop Pop forgot the wish list and didn't get you guys anything!" Polly confessed.
"WHAT?!" the villagers yelled together.
"Can you believe it?"
"The nerve of it all."
Toadstool shook his head as he put his hands against his hips. "Why am I not surprised? Typical Plantars! Giant monsters, property damage, putting the entire town in danger. That turnin' into a blue armored, lightin' powered warrior is a new one though, and yet, somehow, it completely fits your M. O."
All four Plantars lowered their heads in shame. Yeah, they deserved their scorn.
Toadstool began to chuckle as his angry expression morphed into a smile. "I gotta admit, I missed it!"
"Huh?" the Plantars exclaimed.
"Things have been really boring without you four causing mayhem and learning emotional lessons," Mrs. Croaker explained.
Hop Pop shook his head in confusion and asked, "Wait, so you don't care that we lied and summoned an elder god to cover it up?"
Loggle shrugged. "Not especially."
Stumpy chuckled and added, "We're just glad your back."
Ivy looked a bit angry still. Sprig approached his girlfriend and said, "Ivy, I'm sorry I didn't get you a red sunshell." Ivy looked at him and punched Sprig in the arm, just a little harder than she did earlier. "Ow!"
"You big dummy! It's just a shell. You can make it up to me by finally taking me on a date," Ivy offered, and sealed the deal with a kiss to Sprig's cheek.
Anne, who had witnessed it all, squealed happily from seeing her ship finally set sail. Now she understood how Sprig felt when he was trying to get Marcy and her together. Just another typical day in Wartwood, oh how the Plantars missed it, and apparently, so too did the rest of their friends.