"AAAUUUGH!" Anne cried out.
The Plantars, immediately woke up upon hearing Anne's painful cries. The cries were loud enough that it woke up Oum and Bee, making the two adults rush to her room. The door swung open and both parents exclaimed, "Anne, what's wrong?!"
Anne had crawled past the Plantars and fell onto the floor in the middle of her room. Her arms were wrapped around her abdomen, but equally as concerning as the pain she was feeling was the fact that there was a blue glow coming from around that same area.
"What's happening to her?!" Bee asked.
"Ah don't know," Hop Pop answered.
"G-G-Get out!" Anne ordered. "Everyone!"
"No! Anne, let us help you!" Oum retorted.
"Wait a second, this looks similar to when…Oh my Frog, we need to get out of the room," said Sprig.
"The last time this happened, Anne released an explosion of lightning! We need to amscray!" Polly warned.
The Boonchuys were still concerned and wanted to help their daughter, but Anne wasn't having it. "GET THEM OUT, NOW!"
Hop Pop, Sprig, and Polly leaped at the Thai couple and managed to tackle them out of the room. Sprig popped up and slammed the door shut behind them and everyone hit the deck, preparing for what was to come.
Anne was still in pain, something was wrong, it was as if her powers were telling her that there was a disturbance somewhere far away, something that was connected to her powers. After a couple more minutes, the pain finally subsided, and luckily there was no electric discharge. Anne released a sigh of relief and panted for a few seconds before tiredly walking to her bedroom door and opening it.
"We're good…"
The Plantars' and Anne's parents went into her room as Anne sat down on the bed, sweat dripping from her brow, face, and body from the ordeal she went through. Oum left the room and returned with a towel to help wipe off the sweat, and Bee had his hand on the phone ready to call an ambulance.
"That hasn't happened in forever, why now?" Polly asked.
"I don't know…this felt similar but different. Like my powers were trying to warn about something," said Anne.
"Warn you? About what?" Oum asked.
"I don't know, but whatever it is, it's definitely Amphibia related."
A couple days had passed since that incident happened. In those days, Hop Pop managed to become a star overnight, and very nearly got caught by Mr. X. But thanks to a last-minute bout of generosity and goodwill, Hop Pop managed to avoid getting captured and instead gave his big break to an elderly struggling actor named Humphrey, and with that switcheroo, Mr. X ended up capturing the wrong person and getting sued by the studio for assaulting their next big star.
Now, well, things weren't as good as they could be. Anne was currently in the kitchen, baking some cookies. She had just opened the oven and took out the tray when her mother walked in. The older Thai woman looked out the kitchen window and raised a curious eyebrow at what she was seeing.
"Question: Why are the Plantars flooding our lawn?" Oum asked.
"Sorry, that's on me," said Anne. "They've been really homesick lately, and I thought a swamp might cheer 'em up."
Oum took another look out the window and grimaced. "They don't look very cheery…"
This was true. Outside in the backyard, which was muddy and waterlogged, Polly, Sprig, and Hop Pop were lying in the mud, in Hop Pop's case face down in the mud. Sighing heavily as their feelings of homesickness were weighing down on them and more or less sapping their strength to move at all. Anne looked out the window as well and winced when she saw the state her froggy found family was in.
"Well, it worked for a bit, but then it didn't." Anne picked up one of the cookies she had made as she said, "So now I'm making them cookies. The answer to all life's problems!"
Oum facepalmed at her daughter's logic. "Anne, you can't keep giving them things just because you feel bad. They need to learn how to cope on their own." The older Thai woman placed a hand on her daughter's shoulder as she continued, "I know you know what I'm talking about."
Anne sighed as she put the cookie back on the plate. She did know what her mother was talking about. It took this long before Anne had come to terms with the fact that Marcy was more than likely dead, and that she would never see her again. Was she completely over it? No. And until she went to Amphibia and confirmed it with her own eyes, Anne wasn't sure that part of her was going to completely accept that. But coping with it now has helped her a bit. And the same needed to be said of the Plantars.
"You're right. I'll go talk to them," said Anne as she began heading out the backdoor.
As she did, Oum grabbed one of the cookies Anne made and took a bite. It was delicious, and wonderfully crunchy. "Mmm! How did you get them so crunchy?"
"Oh, that's the cicadas! Thanks, Mom!" Anne replied as she left.
Oum looked at the cookie again, and this time she noticed the bits of cicada that were baked into the cookie, which made her left eye twitch.
Bee walked in behind her and said, "Do I smell cookies?"
"PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFTTTTTT!"
Meanwhile, Anne headed to the water spigot for the hose and turned it off, shutting the sprinkler down. After that she headed over to the Plantars and frowned a little at the state they were in.
"Guys, I know you're homesick, but I don't think any of this is helping," said Anne.
Hop Pop dragged his face out of the mud as he said, "Anne's right, kids. This was nice, but let's clean this up and get back to the village."
Anne did a double take when she heard that. "Sorry, the what now?"
Hop Pop, along with Sprig and Polly, walked over to the bushes. And when they arrived, Hop Pop replied, "Why, our miniature re-creation of Wartwood, of course!"
Anne walked over to the bush just as Hop Pop parted it. That's when she saw it, just like Hop Pop said, a complete miniature re-creation of Wartwood. It was made from various objects, carboard shoeboxes, old books, egg cartons, discarded jars, cans, produce, pots and pans, arranged into the shapes of each of the different buildings in Wartwood. Complete with miniature versions of most of the residents.
Hop Pop grabbed a miniature version of himself, which was made from an eraser and a paperclip, and put it next to a miniature of Sylvia Sundew, which was a clothespin. "May I have this dance, Tiny Sylvia?" Sprig and Polly huddled around a miniature version of their family home, complete with a miniature Bessie.
"Oookay, this can't be healthy, and it's a bit on the disturbing side too," said Anne.
Thankfully her cellphone went off, and when she looked at the caller ID, she was relieved to see that it was Dr. Jan.
"Hey, Dr. Jan. Tell me you've got good news?!" Anne asked.
{I've got great news actually. I've got a lead! One of my colleagues knows a string theory expert who works in the area!}
"Uh…ya lost me," Anne replied.
{Sorry. In other words, we found someone who might be your ticket back to Amphibia!}
Anne was shocked and excited to hear this. Could this be it? Could they have finally found a way to get back after all these weeks? "Wow! Dr. Jan this is great news! Just wait until I tell the Plantars! They're going to be so happy!"
{Eeeeeh…I wouldn't just yet. There are a lot of loose cannons in the scientific community. Crazy, often mad scientist types, not exactly fond of ethics. So, I'll need to do some vetting on this "Dr. Frakes" before we meet her,} Dr. Jan warned.
She had to admit, after hearing about Foundation X, Dr. Jan had a point. "Okay, let me know when you're ready, Dr. Jan." Anne hung up the phone, but it was too late.
"Was that Dr. Jan?!" Sprig asked.
"Sounded like she had news!" Polly exclaimed.
"A lot of news!" Hop Pop added.
Anne looked down at the Plantars, who were in turn looking up at her with big eyes full of hope. "Sorry, guys. No good news to report."
And then they slumped to the ground in depression.
"C'mon, kids, let's go back to the tiny village," said Hop Pop.
Anne watched as they went back to tiny Wartwood. She couldn't stand this, seeing them so down and disappointed. They haven't had a sliver of hope of getting back to Amphibia since they arrived. What was the harm in giving them a little something to perk them up?
"Just kidding!" Anne exclaimed. "Dr. Jan found someone who might know how to get us back to Amphibia!"
All three frogs gasped in joy upon receiving this news, even their eyes regained that sparkle of hope once again.
"Holy cow!" Sprig shouted.
"Think they can get us home by this weekend?" Polly asked.
"What are we waitin' for?! Let's meet this wizard!" Hop Pop suggested.
Anne smiled nervously as she rubbed the back of her head. "Well, we can't go right now. Dr. Jan says…" Anne looked back at the Plantars who were now giving her sad, puppy dog eyes. "…thaaaaat today is great! I have her name. Let me look her up, and we can head on over."
"You're the best, Anne!" Sprig, Polly, and Hop Pop hugged Anne and spoke at the same time. Afterwards they broke the hug and went inside to don their human disguises.
"This is fine. It's a good idea. They need a nugget. Right, fake Wally?" Anne asked.
The wind blew through the little village and tiny Wally's head shook back and forth.
Anne furrowed her brow as she kicked tiny Wally and spouted, "Oh who asked you!" Anne looked back at her house and frowned a little. Please don't let this be a mistake. We need something.
After a little research, Anne managed to find out where Dr. Frakes was. According to the internet, the good doctor worked at the "Dr. Frakes' BRAINASIUM". Which was a huge facility that was essentially a learning center/playground for children.
"Okay, according to the internet, our scientist should be working here…" Anne trialed off as she opened the doors and gawked at what was inside.
There were children running about the entire facility, some with parents, and others being led by the workers of the facility. There were all kinds of different zones for them to play in, some that had to deal with building things, virtual reality simulators, jungle gyms shaped like molecules, and little puzzles for them to figure out. One the workers who was with a group of kids took out a candy bar from his lab coat and said, "Okay, whoever can answer this next question gets this candy bar."
"He's got candy!" one kid exclaimed.
A moment later, that same worker was swarmed by the sugar craven children he was leading.
"Whoa. So, this is where they keep all the dark Earth magic," said Polly.
"Ah can't believe we'll be goin' home soon!" Hop Pop exclaimed.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves. We're only here to ask some questions. Now stay close. The government and Foundation X are still on our tail." Anne eyed Sprig whose eyes were bulging as his fingers wriggled as if he was ready to go out and touch every single thing in the room. "Sprig, no touchy. Focus."
Sprig inhaled and then exhaled slowly as he managed to reign in his impulses. "I'm good, I'm good."
Together the group of four carefully made their way to a door that had the words, "Director's Office" written on it. Once there, Anne knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer. The door swiftly opened.
"I keep telling you kids, we don't have extra snacks back here!"
The person who answered the door was young woman in her twenties and was just a few inches taller than Anne. She had bright blue hair, freckles on her face, a lab coat with a pie pin that had the pi symbol inside of it, a gray sweater vest, brown skirt, and a pair of boots. Upon noticing that the visitors were not the little children she had expected to be knocking, the scientist corrected her irritated tone.
"Oh, hello. Are you here to see Dr. Frakes?" she asked.
"Absolutely!" the Plantars exclaimed.
Anne gave them a stern glare that made them curb their enthusiasm.
"Ah mean, maybe," said Hop Pop.
"No big deal, really," Sprig added.
"Anyway, is she available?" Anne asked.
"Only by appointment, sorry," said the scientist.
"Oh, okay. Well, we tried." Anne shrugged and turned around and was met by the sad faces of her froggy family. The blue haired woman behind her was about to leave, but Anne quickly blurted out, "Wait! Actually, we are reporters, and we were just wondering if you could answer some questions about inter-dimensional travel?"
The blue-haired scientist blinked. "Aren't you a bit young to be a reporter?"
"Silence, Terri!" Suddenly, a short, older woman came running out and pushed Terri aside. She had gray hair that was tied into pigtails, a white lab coat, lime green shirt, jean pants, and some shoes. She had a pair of gray glasses on with yellow lenses, and she had a bit of a mad scientist vibe about her. "At last, the media has caught wind of my amazing discovery!"
"What kind of discovery?" Hop Pop asked.
"Oh, nothing big…Just a portal to another dimension!" Dr. Frakes exclaimed.
"DID YOU SAY, 'PORTAL'?!" Anne and the Plantars yelled in shock.
Dr. Frakes chuckled as she nodded her head. "Indeed, I did! Now come with me! Terri! Music!"
Terri sighed as she closed the door. Once inside, Terri pulled out her phone and put on, "Dr. Frakes' Super-Mega Cool Playlist 2003". The speakers in the hall automatically played inspirational music, and as they walked, Dr. Frakes began her speech.
"The great Dr. Frakes may currently be stuck running the Brainasium, and looking after hordes of snot-nosed brats, but that doesn't mean my research has stopped!" Dr. Frakes explained. "Oh no it hasn't! Behold!"
As they walked, the group passed by a giant rock with metal spikes protruding from it, suspended in a fluid inside of large tank.
"Frakes Ferrofluid! And over here is an example of a Frakes Fractal."
Another tank had a strange geometric shaped object, which almost resembled a brain.
"Look over here! My Frakes Field!"
"Wow! So many things named after you," said Polly.
Dr. Frakes smiled as she said, "Well, science is the pursuit of naming things after yourself."
Terri scoffed as she said, "Huh. I thought it was the pursuit of knowledge and improving our understanding of the universe."
"Don't be stupid, Terri!" Dr. Frakes scolded.
Yeesh, thought Anne.
Terri just shrugged off Dr. Frakes' words and used her ID card to open the door they stopped at. Once the doors opened, Anne and the Plantars saw a huge room. There were computer monitors and server processing units lined up against the walls. In the center of the room was a giant machine with four claw-like prongs. The machine had several huge cables running from the wall and back to it, along with a secondary apparatus above the machine.
"Voila! The Frakes Portal Chamber!" she announced. "It all began a few months ago, when the city was hit with a wave of very strange energy."
Wait a minute…?
"Terri and I were working in our lab, but then that's when it happened. The energy surged through our lab and activated a pair of electrodes. Their energy coalesced and broke open a portal through space and time. Terri very nearly got sucked into the portal, but I managed to save her life! Alas, by Skip Man player was not so lucky, and is now residing in some other world," said Dr. Frakes.
Terri had to bite her tongue to keep from correcting Dr. Frakes.
A Skip Man…She can't mean that Skip Man, can she?!
"Since then, we've been able to repeat the anomaly several times." Dr. Frakes gripped the railing around her machine hard. "But no matter how many times I do it, no one believes me! Everyone says that my images are faked. Hard to get a good picture with all that magnetic distortion."
Four monitors lit up and showed pixelated images, one of which looked like a purple landscape against a dark horizon. Another looked like a flowery meadow. The third was possibly a shot from a world of water. And the last one, well, it looked like a house. Although, the more Anne looked at it, the more she felt it looked familiar, or rather, she remembered a description of it.
"But here today, I will prove otherwise! Now, who's ready to see me burst through space-time?" Dr. Frakes asked.
Now Terri felt she had to step in. "Doctor, this process is still very unstable and dangerous. We don't know the kind of effects messing with the fabric of space-time can cause. Plus, should we really be involving civilians?"
"'Unstable and dangerous'," Dr. Frakes mocked, "Fine, fine! We'll let the press decide!"
Anne and the Plantars got into a huddle and began discussing.
"Ah think one of those pictures is Amphibia." Hop Pop grabbed ahold of Anne's shirt and looked at her desperately. "I'm almost somewhat certain about it!"
"Look, I'm not so sure, guys. The images look pretty fuzzy. And besides, we just came to ask questions, and we got a lot of answers already. We should quit while we're ahead," Anne suggested.
"Okay, but can we at least look through it?" Sprig asked.
"Please, Anne? We'd be able to see home again!" Polly begged.
"No! We have no idea what will happen! What if she is successful, and opens a portal right in the middle of a robot or Fallen army? We could end up kickstarting this war sooner rather than later. It's too dangerous!" Anne argued.
At that moment all three Plantars plopped to the ground and began crying.
"Oh, Frog. Fine! Just a peek," she relented. "But then you're not allowed to be said for the rest of your lives. Got it?"
"Yeah!" the Plantars exclaimed in agreement.
Anne sighed and turned to Terri and Dr. Frakes. "Alright, Dr. Frakes, let's see that portal."
"That's what I'm talking about, baby!" Dr. Frakes quickly ran over to her console and began inputting her commands into her portal. Once she was done, Dr. Frakes pressed on a red button and activated her portal.
Energy surged through machine as it fired a beam into the middle, the four claw-like prongs released the same energy, acting as stabilizers as a tear in space began to form. The Plantars and Anne squinted their eyes as they watched the swirling mass of energy, and after a few seconds, the sphere punched a hole into space and revealed a world, just not the one they were hoping to see.
"It's not Amphibia," Hop Pop lamented.
However, after catching a glimpse of this other world, the energy shrunk and vanished, closing the portal. But soon after, a shockwave of power was released, blasting Terri, Dr. Frakes, Anne, and the Plantars back from the sheer force of it.
Dr. Frakes dusted herself off as she explained what happened. "Unfortunately, I can only hold the portal open for about five seconds before it collapses and I – Uh…were you three always giant talking frogs?"
Anne managed to regain her bearings after that and realized that Hop Pop had lost his coat, glasses, nose, and hat. Polly lost her wig, raincoat, and hat. And Sprig lost his face mask. All three of the Plantars were exposed. Thinking quickly, Anne said, "Um, so…I can explain." Unfortunately, the Plantars beat her to it.
"We're frog people from another dimension," Hop Pop confessed.
"We just wanna go home!" Sprig exclaimed.
"I knew they weren't reporters," said Terri.
Dr. Frakes fell silent as she walked over to the Plantars. She began looking them over, poking them a bit, and even sniffing them. After a couple of walk arounds, Dr. Frakes stopped and looked at her assistant. "Terri, clear my schedule!" Dr. Frakes pushed a button on her right wrist device and quickly pointed her right arm at the Plantars. "Frakes Field activate!"
The mad doctor's wristwatch opened and produced a device that shot a green energy field at the Plantars. Within seconds all three of them were trapped inside of a green glowing bubble.
"What the heck are you doing?!" Anne demanded.
"Heh-ha-hahahaha! I can see the headlines now: 'Frakes Frogs Change the World'! I'll be the most famous scientist in history!" Dr. Frakes exclaimed. "As soon as I dissect you and catalog your organs!"
The Plantars screamed in terror, but Anne wasn't having it. She tapped into her powers and sped towards Frakes, shoulder tapping the mad scientist and throwing her a couple of feet away.
"You're not going to do a thing to them," said Anne.
Dr. Frakes growled indignantly at the teenager and pressed a button on her belt buckle. Anne charged in again and this time raised her fist to knock out Dr. Frakes. However, as soon as she went for the punch, another field of energy appeared, but this time it wrapped around Dr. Frakes' body. Anne's fist collided with the barrier, making her back up as she hissed in pain from hitting the hard surface.
"Ah-ha! Behold my Frakes Personal Defense Shield!" Dr. Frakes tapped the side of her glasses, and when she did, her lenses displayed some readings on Anne. "Huh, you seem to be producing an overabundance of bioelectricity. Which would account for your speed. You seem to be quite the specimen yourself!"
Dr. Frakes pressed a button on her wristwatch, making two electrodes drop down from the ceiling and began shooting lightning at Anne. The Thai teen smirked when the lightning hit her and shook her head in disappointment.
"I thought you were a genius or something. If you saw that I have high electrical power, why would you just juice me up with more?" Anne asked in a mocking tone.
"Oh, but that's just to establish a connection and get a reading on the wavelength of your electricity. Now that it has it, you won't be going anywhere," said Dr. Frakes.
Anne quickly figured out what she meant, but it was too late. The electricity coming from the electrodes started going into reverse and was now sucking out her electricity. Anne tried to run, but her body was getting weak.
"Ahahahaha! Excellent! Once I'm done with these frogs, I'll be back to study you too! Frakes away!"
Anne watched as Dr. Frakes ran out of the room with the Plantars. The Thai teen tried to muster up the power to overwhelm these machines, but it wasn't working. She even tried summoning the MetamorphRing, but each attempt was met with a fizzling out of the belt before it could fully manifest. I got to stop her! I knew I should've waited for Dr. Jan's okay! Dang it this is all – well, partially – my fault!
Terri walked up to Anne, she looked down at Anne and then up at the electrodes before walking away. Anne watched as Terri walked over to a control console and typed in something. A couple of seconds later, the electrodes stopped and retracted back into the ceiling. The young woman ran back to Anne and offered the teen a hand. "Are you okay? Can you stand up?"
Anne looked up at Terri with confusion, "You're…You're helping me? Don't you work for that crazy mad scientist?"
"I do, and Frakes may be an unparalleled genius, but that doesn't mean she can just kidnap people! We have to stop her! Plus, she's also an unparalleled jerk!" Terri stated.
Anne smiled as she reached up, took the blue-haired woman's hand and got back on her feet. "I have some things to explain later, but right now, we have to save my frog family!"
"Follow me!"
Anne and Terri ran to the door where they original entered, and together they kicked it open and ran through the Brainasium. Terri led Anne up the stairs and to the "Dissection Lab". "You have a lab dedicated to dissection?"
"I know, I know. Frakes said, 'Children should learn everything about the creatures that exist on our planet, and that includes their insides as well!'," said Terri.
"Yeah, she's messed up."
The duo kicked open the doors to the dissection lab, just because, and when they did, they found Dr. Frakes already in the lab. The Plantars were strapped to a table, with Dr. Frakes operating an overhead saw blade, drill, and sheers for some reason.
"Anne!"
"Help!"
"Pokey things!"
Anne rushed to the window and began banging on it, she spotted a door and tried to open it, but it was locked. Terri hurried over and used her ID card to open the door, but every time she swiped it, the scanner would buzz at her.
"What?! I should have access to everything in this place!" Terri exclaimed.
"You didn't think I would notice that you disabled my Frakes Electrodes?! The moment you did I got an alert and revoked your access to the entire facility!" Dr. Frakes stated. "You can't stop me, Anne! When I'm done, everyone will know my name!"
"You're crazy, Dr. Fink!" Polly exclaimed.
"It's 'FRAKES'!"
"Whatever."
"Is that what you think?" Anne's eyes glowed blue as she pressed her hand against the scanner. "Terri, take a step back."
Terri did as Anne ordered. The Thai teen's hand had sparks of blue lightning arcing around it, then a powerful bolt of lightning surged into the scanner and through the rest of the electrical system inside of the building. Dr. Frakes looked at her instruments as they began to go haywire. After a couple of seconds, the lab shut down and went dark, save for the emergency lights inside. Anne and Terri heard a clicking sound coming from the door and prompted them to kick the door down together.
"I'm really enjoying that," said Terri.
"Fun, right," said Anne.
Dr. Frakes, in a panic, looked around the room and managed to find a battery powered saw. The mad doctor grabbed it and powered it up, making the saw blade whirr to life. Dr. Frakes jumped from behind her console and raised her saw blade, ready to cut one of the three frogs on the table. However, Anne tapped into her powers once again, dashing straight towards Frakes as she performed a spinning roundhouse kick that struck Frakes right in the gut and sent her flying across the room and against the wall. Unfortunately for Dr. Frakes, she had let go of the saw halfway through her flight. That's when she noticed the saw blade spinning around on the floor before it managed to get traction and began heading right towards her at a rapid pace, threatening to slice her gut open. However, Anne sped towards the saw blade and stamped her foot on it, keeping the tool from severely injuring Dr. Frakes.
Anne pointed her right index finger at the tool, making a finger gun gesture. She zapped the tool and made it short circuit, completely disabling it. Anne aimed her finger at Dr. Frakes' watch and belt next, hitting them with a precise bolt of lightning that disabled both her inventions. At that moment, the backup power to the lab kicked in, and that's when Anne and Dr. Frakes noticed a button near the door that read, "Frakes Field Generator".
"Terri! Hit the button! Capture her!" Dr. Frakes ordered.
Terri looked at the button.
"Do it, Terri! Do it or your career is over! One email from me and you'll never work in any scientific community ever again! You'll be lucky to be teaching third grade science at a public school! Think, Terri! Think! Do you really want to risk your whole career for these creatures?!" Dr. Frakes threatened.
Terri looked back at Dr. Frakes and scowled at her. "If the scientific community listens to a narcissistic jerk like you, then they seriously need to reevaluate who they allow into their circles." The blue haired woman took off her badge and threw it in Dr. Frakes' direction. "Consider this my two week's notice. I quit!"
Anne watched as Terri ran over to the table and unstrapped the Plantars.
"C'mon, Anne, everyone, I'll drive us outta here," said Terri.
Anne, Terri, and the Plantars ran out of the room and down the stairs. But Dr. Frakes was not willing to give up as she gave chase. "Man, she's determined. Alright, didn't want to have to do this, but she's left me no choice! Guys, keep going!" Anne stopped and pulled out the bag of chocolate chip cicada cookies she made earlier. "SNACK TIME, KIDS!" Anne tossed the bag of cookies towards Dr. Frakes, who caught it out of pure instinct.
The moment Anne mentioned "snack time" the kids went into a trance-like state, drooling with hunger, and the one who possessed what they wanted, was Dr. Frakes.
"Oh no…"
The kids descended upon Dr. Frakes like a plague of locusts, swarming all around her until she was engulfed in a wave of toddlers. Dr. Frakes struggled, oh how she struggled against them, but there were too many of them, and too hungry for sugar to let any adult stand between them and their prize.
"AAAH! Get off me you brats! AaAAAH! You'll never work in this city – or anywhere – ever again, Terri! Do you hear me?! DO YOU HEAR ME-AAAAAHHAHAAHAHAAAAAAAAHHH!"
Anne watched as the kids swallowed Dr. Frakes up like a massive tidal wave and carried her off to who knows where. "Mmm-hmm, cookies really are the answer to all of life's problems."
An hour had passed by when it was all over, the most humiliating hour of Dr. Frakes' career. She had no proof of the frog monsters, nor did she have any proof of that teenager's strange electric powers. And to top it all off, her lab coat was covered in snot, spit, and some kind of sugary, sticky substance. She was going to make sure that Terri was ruined, oh yes, she was, no one crossed Dr. Frakes and got away with it. As Dr. Frakes reentered her Frakes Portal Chamber, she was shocked to find an Asian man in a white suit, and a young woman with long black hair standing before her portal generator.
"Who are you?! Only authorized personal are allowed back here! And I, Dr. Frakes, did not give you permission to be in here!"
The man in the white suit turned around and looked down at the mad doctor with a bemused smile. While the woman turned and kept a neutral expression. "Ah, Dr. Frakes. It seems the rumors about your discovery of inter-dimensional travel weren't exaggerated. My name is Keisuke, and this is my assistant, Cassandra."
"I don't care who you are! Why are you back here?!" Dr. Frakes demanded.
"My organization would like to fund your research, and provide you with facilities, equipment, and manpower to see that this portal device becomes a workable piece of machinery," said Keisuke.
Dr. Frakes' eyes widened when she heard the offer. "I see. What's the catch?"
Keisuke smirked. "Your research will belong exclusively to my organization. But in return, you will be allowed to work as you please. We operate outside the law, you see, and when it comes to little things like, 'ethics', well, let's just say we're not very regarded for our ethics."
"But…if it's exclusive…how will the world know that the great Dr. Frakes made this discovery?!" she argued.
"Those who are of importance will know. Those who have the ability to better utilize your technology and can fund more of your research if you wish. You can still make other discoveries that you can make public, but this particular one won't be among them. It's quite the good deal, Dr. Frakes, and you won't find any other organization, military or otherwise, that can offer you what we are offering." Keisuke held out his hand toward Dr. Frakes. "What is your answer, good doctor?"
For some reason, Dr. Frakes felt as if she was about to sell her soul to the devil himself right now. But, considering what this well-dressed devil was offering, giving up one invention in exchange for everything they were going to give her, and the ability to discover other things that she can make public and obtain the fame and respect she deserved, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. One that she would be a fool to pass up now.
Dr. Frakes reached out and shook Keisuke's hand. "You have a deal, Mr. Keisuke."
"Then, Dr. Frakes, welcome, to Foundation X."
Anne and the Plantars were driving along inside of Terri's car. The blue haired scientist was currently driving away from the Brainasium, a smile on her face even after everything went down. Anne hadn't said a word for the past hour, but that was mostly because she was collecting her thoughts.
"Look, you guys, I'm doing my best to get us back to Amphibia. And I get how much you miss it, but you gotta stop guilting me! I can't resist!" Anne begged.
"Sorry, Anne," said Sprig, remorsefully.
"We should have known better. The Plantars always did have powerful guiltin' skills," said Hop Pop.
"Yeah, but you cost this poor lady her job and nearly got dissected!" Anne retorted.
Terri chuckled and said, "I think you all actually did me a favor. Like I said, Frakes was brilliant, but a massive, narcissistic jerk. This whole thing reminded me that science is for helping others, not just helping yourself. Aaaand, I think the portal prototype I have halfway built in my lab, that we'll finish together, will be more than enough to get me a grant."
"Wait…you mean?!"
"Yep! I'm gonna help you get these goobers home," Terri confirmed.
"Thanks, Terri. You're good people," said Anne.
"Oh! Oh! Terri, can see your proto-whatever?" Sprig asked. "Pweeeeease?"
"Aw, just look at that face. Well, okay. A quick look."
"Oh, can I drive too?"
"I don't see why not."
"TERRI, NO!"
After very nearly causing a sixteen-car pileup, they arrived at a warehouse in a different neighborhood. There was a car garage off to the right of the building, and another establishment to the left. Once they approached, Terri activated the garage door, allowing her to pull inside. Anne and the Plantars got out of Terri's car and gaped at what they saw. It had a similar design to Dr. Frakes' machine, but scaled down considerably, and much sleekier looking. There was a generator set up next to the platform of the portal device to the left, and to the right of the machine were some tables with laptops and other machines that were connected to it.
Terri got out of her car and explained, "A lot of Dr. Frakes' designs had some unnecessary components that either ate up more power or weren't as efficient as other parts would've been. So, in my spare time, I redesigned her portal device from the ground up, and built my own with some parts from the junkyard, as well what I could buy with my own money. Thankfully I have enough in my savings just in case something like this happened."
"I actually know someone who might be able to help with that, probably another person, too, if they're back by now," said Anne.
"Well then, it sounds like we have all our bases covered," said Terri.
Sprig was in full ADHD mode as he went around the warehouse and began touching almost anything he could get his little hands on. That's when he moved to the generator and accidentally turned it on. "Uh-oh." The generator came to life and began feeding energy into the portal platform.
"Sprig, what did you do?!" Hop Pop asked.
"It's okay. I need more power to get this baby to work. All that will do is give it enough power to run a maintenance check and some software updates," said Terri.
Anne sighed in relief as she walked up to the machine and placed her hand upon it. "I can't believe it. We're officially one step closer to getting back to Amphibia."
What Anne didn't notice was that when she touched the machine, some of her power leaked out in the form of a blue electrical spark. That spark traveled throughout the machine and began interacting with the electricity already flowing through it.
Anne stepped away from the machine and held out her hand towards Terri. "Seriously, thank you, for helping us out."
"No problem. Also, you still have some explaining to do concerning that superspeed and lightning power of yours," said Terri.
"Heh, well that's–"
Now I have you…
Anne looked around the room and asked, "Uh, did anyone just hear a voice just now?"
Suddenly, the computers on the table began going off, releasing blaring alarms that made Terri run to them. The blue-haired scientist hurriedly checked on the machine and gasped at what she saw.
"This isn't possible! The portal is powering up!" Terri warned.
"WHAT?!" Anne and the Plantars exclaimed.
At the center of the platform, a black gash appeared in space. That gash quickly burst open, and from it shot out a huge bird claw that immediately snatched Anne. The Thai teen tried to fight it, but the claw's grip was too strong. Before she could ask for help, the claw retracted and pulled Anne right in. The black gash disappeared a moment later, and the portal device powered down.
Sprig, Polly, Hop Pop, and Terri all stood there, mouths agape.
"W-W-What just happened…?" Terri asked.
"We need to call the Boonchuys," said Hop Pop.
"And the Pines!" Sprig exclaimed.
No one could realize it at that moment, but something powerful and dark had reached out through the veil of the worlds and snatched Anne up. But what is the reason this dark and powerful entity have for taking her? Well, perhaps that is a story yet to come.
To be continued...
Kamen Rider x Kamen Rider Witch and Amp: The Darkside of Hope
Not every hero's journey is a good one