Anne, the Plantars, and Loggle had just returned to the resistance's underground base. They had arrived too late to save the village but managed to get some new recruits in the process. However, an incident occurred that led them to a hidden village that was, strangely enough, run by the mind-controlling mushroom known as Apothecary Gary, or just Gary.
"So, you're telling me we now have a small army of mind-controlled cultists added to our ranks?" Sasha asked.
"Yeah, turns out that they actually want to be controlled by Gary, it's uh…uh, what's the word?" Anne asked.
"Symbiotic," said Hop Pop.
"Right, yeah! It's a symbiotic relationship. Anyway, we helped them out and managed to convince Gary and his followers to join the Resistance. With that hivemind coordination, they'll able to run circles around the robots and those other cultists that follow The Night."
Sasha rubbed the back of her head, not entirely sure if she liked the idea of having a mind-controlling mushroom among their ranks, mostly because she didn't want to endanger their troops by having it take control of them, but if Anne was okay with it, then she was too. At this point, she learned to trust Anne's gut on such matters.
"Alright, well, if you guys think Gary and his 'Children of the Spore' will be good for us, then I won't argue about it," said Sasha.
"Yeah, plus, I also promised that we'd help him find where Andrias is getting these mind-control spores from," Anne added.
"Gary thought he was the only mushroom of his kind out there," said Hop Pop.
"But as it turns out, he was surprised when we told him there might be another one like him out there, and that Andrias is using them for the control collars," Polly said.
"Huh, that's actually interesting. If we can, maybe Gary can convince the other mushroom to take control of the control collars and help us fight back from the inside," Sasha pondered aloud.
"Yeah, but first we gotta find it," Sprig stated.
"I'll have Maddie and Croaker look into it and talk to some of our contacts to find out if they can locate the source of the enzymes."
Sprig seemed to freeze up at the mention of Maddie.
"Anyway, you guys get some rest, you been through it."
Anne, Polly, Loggle, Hop Pop, and Sprig saluted and turned around to leave the war room.
"Oh, and Anne."
The Thai teen turned around asked, "Yeah, Sash?"
The commander of the Resistance army walked up to Anne and gave her a playful smirk.
"Digging the dress, it looks really good on you," Sasha commented.
"Sasha, c'mon."
"I'm not kidding, it really does." Sasha placed her right hand on Anne's shoulder, feeling the fabric. "Ooh, is that silk?"
"Yeah, those villagers really know how to sew."
Just then, a thought occurred to Sasha that got her steamed.
"Wait, those villagers dressed all five of you in these outfits, right?"
"Yeah…"
"Which means they undressed you first, right?"
Anne cringed as she said, "Yeah, I was trying not to think about that, even after they gave us our clothes back."
"…Yeah, I'm gonna burn that village to the ground myself."
"Sasha! No! They didn't even do anything to me!" Anne stated.
"That doesn't excuse the fact that they just undressed you without your permission!" Sasha fumed. "Oh, I'm so making mushroom stew out of this Gary when I get the chance!"
"Sasha, please calm down," said Anne as he placed her hands on the blonde's shoulders. "He's a mushroom, it's not like he has any kind of thoughts like that."
Sasha had to admit, Anne had a point. The frogs, toads, and newts of this world didn't exactly have the same anatomy as humans did, so it wasn't like they had ulterior motives. And the one who controlled them was a living fungus, which had even less interest in that kind of thing. It took a moment, but Sasha managed to calm down.
"Sorry, I just…I didn't like the idea that someone may've touched you the wrong way, you know," Sasha apologized.
Anne smiled and kissed Sasha on the cheek before saying, "It's okay, Sash. I'm happy that you're protective of me like that, but trust me, nothing bad happened. Well, aside from Gary almost assimilating us, and the Fire Squad Frobots attacking and nearly burning everything down…but other than that, nothing bad."
Sasha rolled her eyes, but that playful smirk returned as she swiftly grabbed Anne, scooping her into her arms and making the Thai teen let out a yelp in surprise.
"Heh. Let's go grab something to eat, and get you to bed," said Sasha.
"Sasha Waybright, are you planning on doing something unspeakable to me later?" Anne asked in a flirtatious way.
"Hmm, is that an invitation?" Sasha questioned.
Anne blushed, and replied, "Uh, n-not really. I-I don't think I'm exactly ready for that…I was just trying to act flirty…"
Sasha chuckled and said, "It's okay, I wasn't serious about doing anything other than sleeping. We'll have plenty of time to figure things out when this is all over. For now, let's just enjoy some cuddle time."
"That I don't mind."
As the two left the war room, they noticed that Sprig was keeping his back against the wall. He wasn't spying, but it looked like he was shifting his gaze around, as if keeping an eye out for someone.
"Uh, Sprig, you alright, dude?" Anne asked.
"Uh…yes…no…maybe…I DON'T KNOW!" Sprig yelled.
The two teens watched as the frog child ran off down the hall.
"You are seriously gonna have to have a talk with that kid," said Sasha.
Anne sighed as she replied, "Yeah, I think I know what's up with him."
Anne had been watching Sprig for most of the following day, and realized that he was avoiding Maddie, and to a degree, it seemed that Maddie was avoiding him as well. Ever since that fight between Sprig and Beatrix, where Maddie practically confessed to him and disappeared soon after, the two frog children had barely spoken to each other. It was concerning for Anne, she figured Sprig was feeling some pressure, but wasn't sure how to handle it.
In all honesty, I'm still trying to figure it out. But I like to think I know enough to help him out, thought Anne.
She wanted to talk to her surrogate little brother, but he seemed determined to avoid the question at every turn. Finally, she had to just corner him and sit him down. Which was in the form of her using her superspeed to snatch him up and take him back to her room where she could guard the only exit.
"Okay, Sprig, can we finally talk about what this whole Maddie and Ivy situation?" Anne asked.
"Situation? What situation?" Sprig asked in denial.
"Dude, I've been watching you. Ever since Maddie confessed to you about how she really feels, and that Ivy was okay with it, you two have been avoiding each other like the plague," said Anne.
"Anne…I…I just don't know about this, I mean…I do kinda like Maddie, after getting to know her better, and after she just up and kissed me, I realized that I do have some feelings for her…But I'm with Ivy!" Sprig argued.
"Like I said, Ivy said she's okay with it. And frankly, Sprig, compared to how Sasha, Marcy, and me were, you three are a lot more put together than we are," Anne commented. "There's no way I don't see it working out between you three."
"B-But am I even up to being a boyfriend of two girls?! A-And what do I do if one thinks I like them more than other?! This is confusing?!" Sprig fell to the ground and got into a fetal position as his eyes went wide.
Anne sighed as she walked to Sprig and crouched beside him.
"Sprig, what you're feeling, it's the exact same thing I felt when I found out Sasha liked me and Marcy. I didn't know how this would work out…and well…you've unfortunately seen how we've turned out. I really wish I had a better example for you…" Anne rubbed the back of her head as she chuckled dryly. "We're not exactly the picturesque example of a healthy relationship…but we're trying to be better, especially Sasha. But you, Maddie, and Ivy, you're nothing like us."
Sprig looked up at his surrogate big sister and asked, "I don't think being like you is exactly a bad thing. And yeah, we're also not like you three were. But I still feel like I need to do more or…"
"Let me ask you, have you talked to Ivy at all about what you're feeling?" Anne asked.
"Well…not really."
"Let me give you some advice that I wished someone gave me when Marcy, Sasha, and I started this polyamorous relationship thing. Talk to each other. The only way this works is if the three of you actually talk to each other and figure out what you want to do going forward. You guys are eleven, you don't have to be too serious. I mean, look at you and Ivy. Yeah, you're officially a couple, but has much really changed between you?"
Sprig thought about that for a moment, and really, after some thought, he realized that Anne was right. Not much had changed between them, were they a lot more lovey-dovey around each other? Yes. Did they occasionally kiss each other on the cheek? Oh yeah. But aside from that, they still rough housed, they still competed in sports, and they still did the occasional crazy thing that would end up with them getting hurled into the air by an explosion or some large animal.
"You just need to have more confidence in yourself, Sprig!" Anne stood up and walked towards the door. "Now, let's go out there, find Maddie, and Ivy, and straighten this whole thing–!"
"Hey, Anne!"
"ACK!"
Sasha rushed into the room, throwing the door open and only seeing Sprig.
"Huh? Sprig? I thought I heard Anne in here. Do you know where she is, I need you and her to go on a mission right quick," said Sasha.
Sprig pointed at the door. Sasha, confused, pulled the door back and saw Anne pressed against the wall.
"Ow…"
"OH, MY FROG! ANNE! I'M SORRY!"
Hope that we don't end up exactly like this.
After a slue of apologies from Sasha, the blonde had informed Anne and Sprig that she needed them to do some reconnaissance work. They had gotten word that there was going to be a shipment of supplies being moved through their territory, Sasha instructed them to find out if that was true, and if it was, mess them up.
Anne and Sprig headed into the forest, following the map that Sasha had provided them. The Thai teen had donned her WATs jumpsuit with he golden breast plate over it, and armed herself with Tritonio's "family sword", while Sprig put on some leather armor, just in case. The two of them made it to the spot that was designated on the map and staked it out, using binoculars to keep watch over the area.
"Hey, Anne, question," said Sprig.
"Question about Maddie and Ivy?"
"Eh, no. Why do you still use that sword?" Sprig asked.
Anne glanced at the sword on her back for a moment before returning her attention back to the road and said, "It's a good sword, and despite how Tritonio tricked us, he taught me how to use a sword and helped me figure out how to control my powers. So, I don't know, he's a good teacher, even though he's a thief and a liar."
"Good point, the stuff he taught us at the combat camp has helped us out a whole lot since then," said Sprig. "Geez, it feels like it's been years since we were just having wacky adventures in the valley and trying to figure out how to get you back home."
Anne couldn't help but chuckle.
"I heard that, dude. Oh, wait, I see something."
Sprig went quiet and looked through his binoculars. When he did, Sprig watched as a small caravan of newts and toads were walking along, donned in the newly created armor for those who followed Andrias, some wore black robes with their armor, with thirteen orange eyes printed on them. There was a huge wagon with a number of weapons, armor, food and medical supplies, and a few ordinances like boom-shrooms. The wagon was being pulled by an amber colored beetle, it was obviously not pulling the wagon of its own freewill, as it was fitted with a control collar.
"Looks like Sash's intel was right, we got soldiers and cultists," said Anne.
"Ugh, those traitors! I still can't believe it even though I'm seeing it. How can anyone follow Andrias after everything he's done to Amphibia?! He's even working with The Night! And why do those guys follow such an obviously evil monster?!" Sprig exclaimed in frustration.
Anne sighed.
"Some people feel like it's easier to believe what they want to believe. The heck with what's obvious and whatever facts are staring at them right in the face. If you say the sky is blue, they'll say there is no sky. If you say they're on fire, they'll say they're wet. They'd rather believe in someone who tells them what they want to hear. Honestly, I'm reminded of a quote from a ViewTube series that kinda fits this scenario," said Anne.
"And that is?"
"Don't weep for the stupid, you'll be crying all day," Anne quoted.
"Ah, good quote. Anyway, since it is a caravan, let's raid 'em!" Sprig suggested.
"Oh yeah. You snipe them from up here since we have the high ground, and I'll do down and – hold up."
Just as the two were figuring out their plan of attack, Anne spotted someone in the middle of the road. It looked like a pink colored newt child that had a strip of white cloth wrapped under his chin, and a brown colored beret. He also had a rusty colored jacket, grass green shirt with the initials "JJ" on them and wore green tights and yellow shoes. The soldiers and cultists stopped when they saw the child on the road, and when they were close, the child turned around and addressed the two of the soldiers and cultists.
"Pwease, kind soldiers, I've twisted my wee ankle and could use some help," said the child.
There's no way this works, thought Anne.
The two closest soldiers immediately threw down their weapons and immediately went to the aid of the injured child.
"Oh no!"
"Are you okay, little guy?!"
…I stand corrected. Wait a second…
"Hey, Sprig, doesn't this look familiar?" Anne asked.
"Now that you mention it, it kinda does," Sprig responded, getting a sense of déjà vu.
One of the soldiers decided to take this chance to take a water break, but as soon as he began drinking from his waterskin, an arrow came flying and pierced right through the waterskin. The newt soldier's eyes widened with shock when he saw the pierced hole, and before he could give the warning, several newts – in tights – came bursting out of the bushes, armed with bows and arrows as they began launching volleys at the soldiers and cultists. The soldiers quickly raised their shields to defend themselves from the arrows, but it wasn't just those arrows, there were some coming from other directions.
"There's too many! Of them!" one soldier exclaimed.
"Fall back! Fall back!" another ordered.
Half of the regiment managed to do so, but when they moved towards the tree line, they were quickly ambushed by another group of the bandit newts. They immediately shot the retreating cultists and soldiers with their arrows, some of them were pinned to the trees, others received arrows to their knees, or shoulders, wounding them. There were a few others that loosed arrows that had pouches on them, and once they hit their targets, the pouches exploded with blue, sparkling powder. The moment the soldiers and cultists inhaled it, they immediately knocked out and fell to the ground unconscious.
The two soldiers that were near the newt child, were too preoccupied with the mayhem around them to notice what happened next. The newt child, in an impressive display of fighting skill, spun around on the ground and managed to kick and punch the two soldiers in the shins at the same time, and as hard as he could. The two soldiers cried out in pain from the sudden attack and began hopping around while clutching at their injured legs. But as they did, they bumped into something solid. Upon looking up, they saw they had run into a tall, buff, coral colored newt woman. Without missing a beat, the newt woman grabbed the heads of both the soldiers and smashed them against each other, knocking them out cold.
The battle, if you could call it that, was over before it began as all the soldiers and cultists were either knocked out, pinned against trees, or too injured to fight or give chase. The bandits managed to commandeer a wagon full of military supplies and whistled for the rest of their compatriots to hop on. With a crack of the reins, the bandits and the supplies drove further down the road and out of sight.
"Wow, rebel newts!" Sprig exclaimed, excitedly.
"Maybe we can ask them to join the Resistance?" Anne suggested.
Just then, two arrows pierced their binoculars, shocking the two Resistance fighters as they flipped themselves onto their backs and saw that they had been completely surrounded by the same band of newt rebels from earlier, and they were pointing their bows and arrows at them.
"Whoa, whoa! We're on the same side here," said Anne.
"Ahahaha! I am on no one's side but my own!"
"…Wait, I know that voice," Anne groaned in a monotone.
Another newt came bounding out of the trees, flipped in the air, and landed before them. The newt in this case was none other than Anne's old sword master, Tritonio Espada.
"Tritonio, of course."
"Well, well, well. If it isn't two of my best students. It's been awhile, Anne, Ribbitvale if I recall," said Tritonio.
"Yeah, and I see you're still up to your old tricks. The injured orphan schtick was clearly your work," Anne said.
"If it isn't broke, don't fix it, as they say. Still have my 'family sword' I see."
"I do." Anne quickly drew the sword as her eyes glowed blue. "Wanna take a closer look at it."
Tritonio chuckled and said, "Charming, Anne. Well, we had a great time catching up, but we must be off. Come, let us away!"
"Uh, Tritonio, you don't want to take their supplies?" the buff pink newt woman suggested.
Tritonio blew a raspberry as he said, "Pfft! Are you kidding, Lil Louise? But go ahead of if you think you can."
Lil Louise raised her hands to grab Anne, but the moment she did, Anne zipped away from her, grabbing Sprig and placing him under her arm as she reappeared a few feet away from the group that surrounded them. The newts in attendance were shocked, to say the least, when they saw how fast Anne was.
"I see you have gotten better at using those mysterious powers of yours, good for you, Anne, I knew you had great potential. Now if you excuse us, we have more caravans to raid."
"Hang on a second. Since you're already messing with the king's stuff, why don't you join the Resistance? We can coordinate these raids and disrupt Andrias' supply lines more than before with you guys," Anne suggested.
"Ha-ha! No. Thanks, but no thanks, Anne. Better to get what you can while the getting is good. I never liked the Newtopian royalty or those posh nobles. So, stealing from Andrias' forces not only yields better loot, but is a convenient excuse to stick to them! So, again, no. We still for ourselves and no one else. But be grateful that we don't steal from the Resistance," said Tritonio.
Anne put Sprig down as she rolled her eyes and said, "Typical, the world is falling apart and you're still only looking out for yourself. Thought you would've had changed a little."
"Again, if it isn't broke, don't fix it."
"Tritonio!" Just then, the newt child from earlier came running up the hill and right into Tritonio's arms. "How'd I do?!"
"Excellent, my little JoJo Potato!" Tritonio praised.
"Ooh, and before I came up here, I heard those soldiers say there's going to be an even bigger caravan coming through the woods at three 'o clock!"
"Ah, great recon work, JoJo!"
"But there is one problem, this one's going to have giant collared beasts with it, how are we going to get pass 'em?" JoJo asked.
The Merry Band groaned in frustration.
"Ugh, not those things again. They were such a pain to deal with the last time," Lil Louise commented.
"Collared beasties, eh? Pssh, they're easy to take down once you know the trick," said Sprig.
Tritonio, hearing Sprig's comment, smiled as he approached his former pupils.
"Oh, so you have dealt with them before. Pfft, what am I saying, of course you have!" Tritonio jumped onto Anne's back, while patting Sprig's head with his tail. "You are the smartest, bravest, and strongest pupils I have ever trained! No monster or beast could match either of you!"
Anne narrowed her gaze and retorted, "You're just buttering us up so we'll help you."
"Aaaaand it's working!" Sprig declared. "C'mon, Anne, let's help Tritonio out, for old time's sake?"
Anne glanced between her former sword master and her surrogate little brother. She owed Tritonio for helping her figure out how to control her powers, but she also knew that he was probably going to use them just to get what he wanted, like last time. Still, she had to bet on the chance that she could gain some skilled fighters like Tritonio and his crew.
"Okay, fine, we'll help. But only if you promise to join the Resistance when this is over, deal?" Anne bargained.
"Deal!"
"And no backstabbing, double crossing, or other such deception, got it?"
Tritonio flipped off of Anne's back and landed before them as he said, "Anne, you wound me, I would never."
Again, Anne rolled her eyes. There was definitely a possibility she was going to regret this later.
"Come, my friends, to the secret hideout!" he announced.
"Wait, before we go…what's with the tights?"
Tritonio smirked as he began stretching and explained, "Reduces friction, we run faster!" The newt back flipped until he landed on a rock.
"And we look amazing," JoJo added.
"Amaaaaaazing~"
The other newts in Tritonio's Merry Band all extended their legs, showing off the tight fitting, well, tights, and their muscley legs.
"…I shouldn't have asked."
Anne and Sprig were brought to Tritonio's camp, with a couple of watchtowers setup as an early warning system. There were several tents sprawled out around the clearing, with some areas designated for certain activities. There was one that was a training area for both sparring and target practice, a campfire where the food was prepared, and an art corner for some reason.
Friar Buck, who was a light brown newt with a bald head, stood atop of a stump and began playing his lute, filling the air with festive music as some of the other merry newts clapping along. Sprig was sitting at the camp's table with some of the newts, eating their prepared food. One of the newts, Lil Louise, grabbed two chicken-fly legs and sat down next to him as she began eating.
"Sooo, why do they call you 'Lil' Louise? You're gigantic!" Sprig inquired.
"That's the joke," Lil Louise replied.
Sprig chewed on his food for a moment, and said, "Eh, I don't get it."
Meanwhile, Tritonio was busy explaining the plan to ambush the caravan to Anne.
"And voila! We ride away from the caravan, victorious!" Tritonio exclaimed.
Anne smirked and nodded her confirmation of the plan.
"Gotta say, Big T, you have a real talent for strategy. Too bad you're a no-good, backstabbing scallywag," Anne commented.
"Heh, you'd be a scallywag too, if you grew up like me," said Tritonio.
"What happened to you, I mean, seriously?" Anne asked.
Tritonio chuckled and said, "Please, Anne, you don't want to hear my sad backstory."
"Like you'd pass up a chance to talk yourself up?"
"…This is true. Well, I was born a street urchin, no family, no one to look out for me. I learned to survive by joining whatever street crew I crossed paths with. But alas, living on the street meant loyalty was thin," Tritonio explained.
"What happened?"
"The first crew I joined used me as a distraction, a hurt, innocent looking orphan child. And while I distracted this street vendor, my crew took his money, but the vendor was wise to us and made sure to keep a firm grip on me, preventing my escape. I called out to my crew, but as far as they were concerned, I was an expendable assist."
Now it finally clicked in Anne's mind. Why he always seemed to fall back on the injured orphan routine, he was doing to others what those kids a long time ago did to him. Anne was starting to see a pattern when it came to childhood and trauma.
"I was sent to jail, but it was then that I realized something important. When things get bad, it's always everyone for themselves," said Tritonio.
"You're telling me, if push came to shove, you'd even leave these guys in the dust?" Anne questioned.
As she said that, Anne and Tritonio watched as JoJo Potato finished a drawing of Tritonio, making him look majestic.
Tritonio released a sigh as he answered, "It is the law of the streets: no loyalties, no attachment."
Anne looked down at the newt and remarked, "I don't believe that."
"Excuse me?"
"If you did believe that these newts wouldn't trust you as much as they do. And you wouldn't have helped me figure out how to control my powers."
Tritonio crossed his arms and retorted, "That was a different situation. Our lives were in danger, and I believed the best choice for getting out alive was for you to gain control of those strange powers of yours. And as it turned out, I was right."
"Uh-huh," Anne replied in disbelief.
Tritonio glanced at his watch and gasped.
"Ah! We must hurry! The caravan will be here in mere minutes!" Tritonio backflipped until he was standing atop the picnic table and announced, "To me, my Merry Band! It is time to pick the pockets of the king!"
"HUZZAH! HUZZAH!"
Sprig, Anne, Tritonio, and the Merry Band rushed through the woods, heading to the intercept point of where the caravan was supposed to come. The Merry Band got into position while Tritonio stayed on the lookout for any additional troops. Anne and Sprig waited in the bushes to enact Tritonio's plan, and right on cue, the caravan arrived. It was a much bigger wagon than before, probably chock full of good weapons and supplies. And as predicted, there were two creatures who were wearing mind-control collars that were flanking the wagon. Both of which were large snakes, one with blue underbelly scales, and the other with red scales. Once they were close enough, Anne and Sprig jumped out of the bushes and appeared before the wagon, bringing it to a halt.
"Hey! The dum-dum convention is two miles that way!" Sprig mocked.
"That is so rude! Guards, attack!" the wagon driver ordered.
The two giant snakes hissed as they readied to attack, but Anne and Sprig quickly grabbed big globs of mud and hurled them at the snakes, hitting them in their faces and further agitating the serpents.
"Catch us if you caaan!" Sprig taunted.
The snakes shook off the mud, hissed angrily, and slithered after the human and frog. Now that the wagon's protection was gone, the Merry Band fell from the trees above, and landed on the back of the wagon.
"Hey, who's up there – AAH!"
Lil Louise quickly punched the driver in the face, sending him flying off the wagon and into the forest with one swing.
"Good one, Lil Louise," said Friar Buck.
Lil Louise nodded to the friar before whistling loudly. Upon doing so, Tritonio appeared out of the bushes, notching four arrows onto his bow at the same time. With the release of the bowstring, Tritonio sent all four arrows flying at the wagon. The arrows accurately pierced each of the four locks on the back of the wagon, allowing the Merry Band access to the wagon's contents.
"Alright, now, let's we what kinda loot we just scored," said Lil Louise.
Upon opening the back of the wagon, the Merry Band quickly realized they had been tricked. Inside of the wagon were several Frobots, each one clothed in red robes and bearing the new crest of Andrias. The robots laughed, well, robotically as they smiled up at the bandits sinisterly.
"IT'S A STING!" Lil Louise yelled.
The members of the Merry Band were quickly dragged into the wagon and bound to keep them from escaping. Once secured, one of the sheriff-bots jumped out of the back and took the driver's seat as it snapped the reins and had the beetle speed away.
"NO!" Tritonio exclaimed in shock.
Unfortunately, Anne and Sprig were busy dealing with the two snakes, Anne glanced at Tritonio and yelled, "TRITONIO, YOU HAVE TO HELP THEM!"
Tritonio looked in the direction of the wagon, meeting the eyes of JoJo as he peered through the bars on the wagon door, his face contorted into a hopeful expression that their leader would save them. But alas, that was not the case.
Tritonio looked away, with tears in his eyes as he painfully remarked, "Farewell…my friends."
As soon as he said those words, Tritonio bid a hasty retreat, running into the woods and heading in the direction of the campsite.
"What?!" Anne growled.
The Thai teen dodged one of the blue snake's bites, exposing its neck to her. With a swift slash of her sword, Anne cut through the control collar, snapping the snake out of its mind-control. Sprig managed to get behind the red snake, and violently pulled at the weak spot of the collar, snapping it off and freeing the red scaled snake. Once that was done, Anne grabbed Sprig, placing him on her back as she tapped into her powers and dashed through the woods after Tritonio.
It didn't take long for the two of them to arrive back at the campsite, and it was there they found Tritonio already in the process of packing what supplies and belongings he had. It was hard to tell, but it seemed like the mustached newt was holding the picture JoJo Potato had drawn and was bawling as he looked at it.
"Tritonio!" the newt in question jumped when he heard Anne's voice. "Come on! We can still save them!"
"And risk capture? Ha, laughable. You might be able to do it, Anne. But I do not have such the luxury of powers," said Tritonio.
"So, that's it! You're just going to leave them! You're excuse is that you don't have any superpowers in order to save them?!" Anne argued.
Tritonio crumbled the drawing in his hand and threw it to the ground as he retorted, "It's the rules of the street, remember? No attachments. No…No regrets!"
Anne crossed her arms as she gave the newt a disappointed glare, knowing full well he was only trying to fool himself at this point.
"But what about the Resistance?! You said y–!"
"Oh, c'mon, Sprig! You know dang well I was never going to do that!" Tritonio shouted, cutting off the frog child as he began walking away.
"Sheesh. Okay. Dang."
Anne's brow furrowed more; she was not about to let this happen. Her eyes shined blue as Anne swiftly drew her sword and tossed it like a spear. Lightning arced of the sword as it flew like a missile, whizzing over Tritonio's head as it slashed through the feather in his cap, and imbedding itself in the tree as sparks of electricity crackled off it.
"Dios mio!" the newt exclaimed in shock.
"Look, dude. If you wanna abandon your friends, who you clearly adore, that's your call. But it kills me to see you leave like this when I know you're better than this," said Anne.
"Ugh! Anne, if you grew up like I did–!"
"I get that. We do what we need to do to survive. But I gotta say, for a 'master thief', I'm disappointed in you," said Anne with a smirk.
Tritonio raised an eyebrow and asked, "How so?"
"Because you're leaving the best loot in the world on the table." Anne walked over to Sprig and gave him a playful noogie before bending down and picking up the crumbled-up drawing. "Friendship, comrades, someone to count on. By throwing those things away, you're only robbing yourself. Your past doesn't have to define who you are now, but it can help you become someone better."
Anne handed the drawing to Tritonio, afterwards, she pulled her sword out of the tree and sheathed her weapon.
"Come on, Sprig. We have a very Merry Band to save."
Sprig hopped until he was on Anne's back and said, "Let's go, Anne! Later, Tritonio!"
Anne dashed away as azure lightning trailed behind her, leaving Tritonio standing there, alone.
Anne continued to run through the forest at superspeed, with Sprig keeping a firm grip on her shoulders as they continued to speed around through the forest in search of the Merry Band. The Thai teen stopped and took a moment to look around.
"Where could they be? This forest is big," said Sprig.
Anne thought for a moment and gently lifted Sprig off her back and onto the ground.
"Hang on for a sec, Sprig, I want to try something."
Sprig was confused, but waited to see what Anne was up to. Anne closed her eyes as an electrical aura began to appear around her. Unknown to Sprig, Anne's mind began to paint a picture formed by different electrical frequencies. Among all the portal research she was doing, Anne also did some additional research about electricity and its various properties. She learned that every living thing has its own unique electrical frequency, like an aura. Machines gave off a unique aura of their own, so, all Anne needed to do was feel out the difference between the living energy of the plants and animals in the forest, and the energy powering the Frobots.
It took a minute, but Anne's mind finally managed to create an exact image of her surroundings, which came up in green electrical hues for the plants, and for the animals, it was varying shades, but there were several spots way up ahead that weren't giving off the same kind of organic electrical field as the plants and animals.
"Found 'em!" Anne confirmed.
"Seriously?! How?!"
"It's a little complicated, but trust me, I know where the Merry Band is!"
Sprig didn't question it further as he hopped onto Anne's back, again. The Thai teen zoomed off in the direction where she felt the robots were. She stopped before some large leaves and gently parted them to look on the other side. That's when she saw the robe clad Frobots taking out the members of the Merry Band and bringing them before a huge robot. It was designed to look like a medieval judge, with the top of its head having cylinders that resembled the rolls of a white wig. It appeared to have one arm, which was the right arm, and in that right arm it held a big judge's gavel. The robot was round in shape, giving it the appearance that it had long flowing judge's robes, and sat behind a podium as if it was conducting court. After a taking a glance about the area, aside from the huge judge robot, there were at least twenty of the smaller axe wielding robots to deal with.
"Sprig, I need you to free the Merry Band while I take on the robots," Anne ordered.
"Gotcha," Sprig confirmed.
The judge robot swung its gavel against the podium, as if calling for order in the court.
{In the name of the king, I find you guilty of disturbing the peace. To which there is only one punishment. Swift and immediate EXECUTION!} the judge-bot announced.
The sheriff-bots brandished their axes, ready to lop off the heads of the Merry Band.
"Hey, ya metal freaks!" Anne shouted as she walked out from behind the leaves and drew her sword. "Permission to approach the bench?!"
The sheriff-bots switched their target from the captured newts to the human girl. Anne focused her power, letting her eyes glow blue as she swiftly dashed towards the first two robots. With swift ease, Anne slashed the first robot across its chest, before charging her blade with her electrical power and cutting its legs out from under it. The machine fell onto its back before Anne jumped into the air and tossed her sword down, piercing it in the head and ending its robotic life. When she landed, the second one came in with a slash of the ax, but Anne raised her left forearm and took the brunt of the attack.
Much to her surprise, the WATs Rebellion suit that was made for her back in the Alt Boiling Isles protected her. She was told it would defend her against slashing and stabbing weapons, and would even grant some protection against attack spells, but this was the first time she tested out the protection. The ax blade didn't even so much as nick the surface of the suit.
I really need to thank those witches for this outfit, but considering they were from another Boiling Isles, it wouldn't make much sense to thank the ones that are from Luz's Boiling Isles, thought Anne.
After thinking that, she spun around and slammed her elbow into the chest plate of the sheriff-bot, making a large dent in it. The robot backed away, allowing Anne to charge her left hand with electricity before striking that robot in the chest again with her palm. A surge of azure lightning shot straight into the robot and made it short circuit as its internal hardware fried on the spot. After taking out those two, she grabbed her sword, and headed off to attack the next unfortunate tin cans that were in her sights.
While this was going on, Sprig hurriedly ran around the combat and made it to the Merry Band. He reached into his jacket and uttered a "Voila" as he brandished a pair of sharp scissors. With he scissors, Sprig quickly cut the restraints off the Merry Band, freeing them all from their bonds. Once freed, the Merry Band released a battle cry and joined the fight against the robots. Lil Louise ran to the nearest robot, grabbing it by the arm and ripping it off its arm before clasping both of her hands together and slamming them into the robot's head in a hammer fist attack. Once the robot was taken out, Lil Louise grabbed its ax and started to attack another robot.
JoJo, Friar Buck, and the others managed to get their weapons back from the wagon and came back to fight. They shot arrows and used some rapier swords to fight back against the robots, with Anne zipping in and out, slashing at the robots that were either about to ambush one of the other Merry Band members, or handicapping the robots that some of them were fighting by slashing at the back of robots' legs or arms. While all this was going on, the judge-bot was getting angry due to the mayhem.
{Order! Order!} The judge-bot was steaming as its eyes suddenly turned bright red. {THERE WILL BE ORDER IN MY COURT!}
The Merry Band, Anne, Sprig, heck, even the other sheriff-bots stopped and looked at the judge-bot. Within seconds the judge-bot's body began to open as various parts shifted and moved around. The podium, which was apparently connected to the robot, split apart and became its legs, its rotund body spun around as it formed two long arms, and each one holding a judge's gavel. The judge-bot brought the two gavels together, merging them into one giant hammer. The judge-bot twirled the weapon around before finally holding it with both hands, glaring down at everyone as its transformation was completed.
"Oooooh…no…"
{Deploying corporal punishment!}
The cylinders on the sides of the judge-bot's head opened and released six missiles from them. It was clear with the first salvo that the judge-bot didn't even care who it hit as the missiles struck some of its fellow robots, destroying them upon impact. The judge-bot released another salvo, the second scatter shot of missiles sidewind and zigzagged, making it hard to determine their course, and pretty much forced everyone to run around like chickens with their heads cut off, trying not to get hit with them.
One of the missiles hit the ground in front of JoJo, sending the newt child flying backwards until he was lying right before the judge-bot. The red eyed robot glared down at JoJo before raising its hammer and declaring, {NO AMNESTY FOR MINORS!}
JoJo closed his eyes and curled up, preparing for his end. But before the judge-bot could bring down his hammer, an arrow whizzed through the air and pierced its left eye. The judge-bot recoiled at the blow as it stumbled backwards.
{AH! Justice is half blind!}
Everyone glanced in the direction of where the arrow was shot, and there, upon the hill, was none other than Tritonio Espada, riding atop his white beetle stallion. The mustached newt jumped into the air, flipped once, and landed before JoJo.
"Mr. Tritonio, you came back!" JoJo exclaimed. "B-But what about the rules of the streets?"
"HA! You think I, Tritonio Espada, give a fig about rules?! Ha! I laugh at the rules," he said.
Their reunion was cut short as the judge-bot ripped the arrow out of its eye, and said, {This court holds you in contempt!}
The judge-bot raised its right arm and brought down its hammer, but before it could land the blow, Anne's sword sailed towards the robot's arm at high speeds, spinning like a buzzsaw, and slicing off the right arm. Anne pulled back, showing that the sword was still connected to her via an electrical tether that made the sword fly back to her right hand. With robot's weapon gone, Tritonio saw this as a chance to end this.
"Lil Louise, JoJo, to me!"
"RIGHTO!" JoJo and Lil Louise yelled.
Tritonio grabbed JoJo as he ran towards Lil Louise. The bulky newt woman, still wielding the ax, turned it so the flat side of the ax was facing Tritonio. The mustached newt jumped and landed on the flat of the ax, using it as a platform as Lil Louise spun around and launched them into the air. Tritonio drew his bow and notched JoJo like an arrow and fired him at the judge-bot. JoJo reached into his jacket and took out six daggers which he held between the fingers of both his hands. The young newt spun himself in a corkscrew maneuver as he pierced through the chest of the robot. The little newt began yelling as he fell from the air, but Anne quickly zipped around behind the robot and caught JoJo before he could hit the ground.
The judge-bot held its chest as the hole released electrical sparks, and said, {Legal systems…failing…Must…pass…Death sentence!} Suddenly, the judge-bot's chest began to ooze Dark Ichor from the hole, which now wrapped around its body.
Anne put JoJo on the ground as she summoned her MetamorphRing TRI, and said, "Yeah, no, I'm not dealing with this today. Henshin."
Anne's body was wrapped in a dome of electrical energy, a bright blue light shined from within the dome, and in the next moment shattered. Now in the form of Kamen Rider Amp Raging Heart: Vengeance Mode, the hero of lightning quickly shot into the sky, aiming herself right above the judge-bot. The blades on her gauntlets and greaves fanned out at the same time as her dragonfly crest. Lightning and particles of azure light gathered to her, creating a crackling lighting aura around her body. With a single flip, Amp shot down towards the judge-bot, extending her right leg as she came down like a thunderbolt from the heavens, piercing through the judge-bot's head and striking its core. An explosion that went off that completely destroyed the judge-bot from the inside out, and the Dark Ichor that was starting to take it over.
When it was over, Amp walked out of the flames with her body getting wrapped in lightning before reverting back to civilian form. Anne dusted off her hands as she said, "Like I said, not dealing with that mess today."
Once the robot was defeated, the Merry Band gathered around Tritonio and began tossing him into the air in celebration.
"Three cheers for the greatest newt of them all!" Lil Louise shouted.
"HIP, HIP, HOORAY! HIP, HIP, HOORAY!"
"Toss me higher!" Tritonio declared. "Higher, I say!"
"Our hero!" JoJo added.
Sprig and Anne glanced at each other, smiled, and gave a knowing wink.
After the battle was over, everyone returned to the campsite. It was late, so Anne and Sprig decided to stay for the night before heading back to the Resistance base. The entire Merry Band was celebrating their victory over the robots, music was played, and food was made. Anne and Sprig were sitting around the campfire, and Tritonio quickly presented Anne with some food.
"Some victory gruel, señora?" he offered.
"Thanks, Tritonio." Anne smiled and took the bowl of victory gruel before asking, "So, what happened to 'no loyalties, no attachments', huh?"
Tritonio seemed to panic as he quickly said, "Uh, I just happened to be passing by, and-and my arrow – yes that's it – my arrow just flew out of my bow! What are the odds? Heh…Heh…"
Anne wasn't buying it.
"Uh-huh. Face it, Big T. It feels good to have someone's back."
Tritonio glanced over his shoulder at his crew, laughing and smiling. Even though they knew his motto of the "rules of the streets", they still accepted him, and were willing to follow him. All the street crews he had joined before would never have given a damn if he managed to come back to them, and whenever he did try, Tritonio quickly found out that he had been replaced, because that's what he was, replaceable. An assist. So long as he did his part for the crew, that was it. No loyalties, no attachments. However, despite knowing this motto, they still stuck by him, and were even happy to continue to stay by his side in spite of that. Without realizing it, he did manage to get the one thing he had always wanted, a family.
"…Okay…maybe you were right, Anne," Tritonio admitted.
"Being on your own may've worked before, but the fate of Amphibia rests on whether or not we can defeat Andrias. Because, in the end, it won't matter if you're just looking out for yourself, all of us are going to suffer in the end. Unless we band together now, Amphibia won't have a future," said Anne.
"Yeah! The Resistance could really use folks like you on our side," Sprig added.
"Sasha keeps saying we need help with our battle strategy, and honestly, she's been doing a lot of the battle planning, so having someone more experienced would really help her out. And who's better at strategizing than you?"
Tritonio crossed his arms and looked away as he said, "I know you're just buttering me up so I'll help you."
"What can I say, I learned from the best. And, of course, the world got to heck means less people for you to steal from, you scallywag," Anne added.
"HA-HA! Well, we can't have that now, can we? Alright, we're in!" Tritonio did a dramatic backflip onto a stump and proclaimed loudly, "HENCEFORTH, THE RESISTANCE SHALL BE OUR NEW CREW!"
The entire camp cheered loudly, excited at the prospect of taking the fight to the king in a more direct approach. Tritonio hopped off the stump and looked at the human girl fondly, as a teacher would his student.
"I've got to say, Anne, you're not the same girl I met all those months ago. You've grown quite a bit, and I must say, as your former teacher, I am proud of you." Tritonio glanced about the camp and added, "But if you say that to anyone else, I will deny it."
Despite their past history, Anne did feel her heart swell with pride when she heard Tritonio say he was proud of her. She had always viewed her teachers in a negative light, but after all she had been through, Anne understood what they were trying to do for her, and for the first time ever, she heard those words spoken to her from a teacher.
"Thanks, Big T."
It took them half a day, but Anne and Sprig returned to their underground Resistance base. After they greeted Chuck at the front door, they descended the stairs into the underground Plantar family tunnels. As they headed down the walkway, they spotted Sasha, as if she was waiting for them.
"Hey, Sash! Good news! We just recruited a top newt strategist for the Resistance," said Anne.
"Whoa, seriously? Dang, one recon mission and you managed to snag us a strategist. Heh, I should send you on recon missions more often," said Sasha.
Anne chuckled, but then asked, "Were you waiting up for us or something?"
"Kinda, I was about to send another team out to go and find you because Hop Pop said he found something interesting that you have to see."
Anne and Sprig raised an eyebrow and followed Sasha. She led them to a tunnel where they found Hop Pop standing before a door. Anne remembered that Sasha had told them that when they constructed the underground base, they left a lot of the different rooms that belonged to the Plantar family untouched to preserve their family history. The door was wooden and surrounded by a stone archway. On it were vine and plant carvings, at the center of the door was a stylized "P", but strangely enough, there was a dust outline beneath that showed it was once upside down, and for a long enough time to leave said outline.
"Oh, there ya are," said Hop Pop. "So Ah, uh, Ah got lost while lookin' for the bathroom and found this strange-lookin' door."
"I actually forgot about this door when we mapped out this place, we've looked in all the other rooms, at least the ones that wouldn't trigger a deathtrap, but I have no idea what's behind this one. It could anything! Unfortunately, we haven't been able to open it," said Sasha as she approached the door. "There's no knob or handle. Just this little, book-sized slot."
"Book-sized…?" Sprig thought for a moment, and then it hit him. "Hop Pop! Have you tried sliding the family tome into it?! The one that had the Calamity Box drawings inside?!"
"It's worth a shot! Lemme go get it!" Hop Pop shouted as he ran off to get the book.
After about ten minutes the elderly frog returned with the Plantar Family Tome. Once in hand, Hop Pop carefully pushed the tome into the slot, which fit perfectly. After it was fully inserted, the tome dropped, causing whatever mechanisms that were keeping the door shut to shudder and groan from years unuse. Sasha and Anne got ready just in case there was something crazy on the other that might leap out at them, or shoot them, or skewer them, or anything really. However, when the door dropped down, all it revealed was a simple room. There was a desk nestled at the back of the room, a single mushroom light near the desk and bed. A cloak hung from a root that had the same upside down stylized "P" on it. Beyond that, the room smelled musty, and dust floated through the air as it was finally disturbed after years of nobody occupying it.
Sprig was the first to enter as he walked up to the desk and found a red envelope with a wax seal on the back. From what he could tell, the envelope had been sitting here for many, many years as the dust had settled around the letter and left an outline on the desk similar to the "P" on the door. Sprig grabbed the letter and opened it, he then took out the letter, which was written on red parchment, and began reading it. Hop Pop, Sasha, and Anne waited, wondering what was written on the letter.
"It says…Nothing! It's blank," said Sprig as he showed off the blank piece of paper.
"Huh, well, that was disappointing," said Sasha.
"Our family sure was mysterious," Hop Pop commented.
"Oh well, c'mon. Let's get outta here and head to the canteen. I'm starving after that long walk back," Anne said.
Sprig looked at the blank piece of paper again, contemplating what he should do with it. The usual thing to do would be to just leave it the room, but for some reason, Sprig decided to keep it. Call it a hunch, intuition, or perhaps something more, but Sprig felt like he should keep it on hand. There had to be a reason why someone left a blank piece of paper in an envelope like this. Their family was mysterious, so, there was a chance there was more to the paper than what meets the eye. The pink frog child folded the paper and placed it in his jacket pocket before following after the others. Once everyone was out, the door rose up and shut behind Sprig, but not before spitting out the family tome. Sprig grabbed it and continued on his way.
However, little did anyone know, if they had decided to wait and look behind the door, they would see that there was another set of carvings. And this one depicted a red moon falling from the heavens, and how nature would cease to exist.