Cursed!
"Hey, Ma-Mar!" Jacob announced, walking into the underground room that was once Skip Plantar's laboratory, and had now been claimed by the girl "Hop Pop is making chocopede pancakes, want some?"
"Oh, thank you, Jacob!" The girl replied with a smile, raising her head from the documents she was studying. "Put it there, I'll eat it during my studies."
"Sure thing, Marbles. Hey, Pepo, how are you? Amelia says hi."
The giant sentient pumpkin, hearing the boy's voice, looked from its "enclosure" and made a gurgling, yet happy sound.
"Where is James?"
"We went to check the books in Gertrude's room." Marcy quickly replied, focusing again on her work. "Thinks he can find more sources to help with the translation. At least, assuming he doesn't get enchanted by some book and lose himself reading it…"
"For this, right?" The boy looked over the focus of the girl's attention, an old piece of paper that she had found in the Archives. And where the same text was written, both in normal English and in Amphibian runes. "I suppose we were lucky to find something like this, it's basically a Rosetta Stone!"
"A…what?"
"You know, Ancient Egypt? Same text written in different languages? The old tablet that helped us translate hieroglyphs?"
"Oh, that!" Marcy chuckled, surprised that Jacob had managed to outwit her for once. "Well, yeah, the concept is the same. Still, it won't be easy: first, we need to identify the meaning of each word; then, we must micro-translate every sentence while making sure that the interpretations don't collide with each other; and only then, I'd be able to prepare translation notes so we can start reverse-translate Hop Pop's book."
"I'm sure if anyone among us can do it, it's you and only you, Marbles." Jacob smiled confidently, "You're the smartest person I've ever known, Principal Murphy even said you could solve world hunger if you focused on it! Plus, you already have experience with learning new languages: didn't your parents make you take all those lessons in Mandarin Chinese?"
"Well, they did." Marcy shrugged, as she remembered her lessons and how much hardship she had to go through. "I'll say it was quite difficult when I started. I'm still getting nervous when I practice it with other people and keep flubbing the pronunciation!"
"So?"
"So?! Pronunciation in Chinese is the difference between asking someone "How are you?" and calling someone a horse!"
"Ok, I guess that would be bad." Jacob looked aside, trying to come up with an idea to change the topic.
"And this might be even worse!" Marcy continued, looking back at the text, the (few) notes of hers that were still accurate, and the many ones she had to trash. "Look: it's a runes-based language, so I'd instinctively associate it with other paleography studies like the hieroglyphs, precisely, or to some Mesoamerican writing systems. Yet, it seems to follow rules akin to Latin Languages, such as English or French. This means that I can't make any supposition, and thus I must cross-check every possible interpretation and variation, wasting a lot of time as a result!"
"And there is nothing that could speed up the translation? Something that could be useful to us?"
"Maybe. Do you see how some runes tend to be more frequent than others? There is the possibility that the runes are the equivalent of letters; if that's the case, then once we manage to identify some, it would be only a matter of time before we have a proper alphabet."
"Frog, such a pity that we don't know anyone who could translate them for us. It would be way faster!"
"Hey, we were lucky already when we found this text that is written in both languages, thus allowing us to reverse-translate them. Moreover, look at the bright side: is like being on a hunt for some mystic treasure, translating the hints to find the path to proceed forward, resolve the dilemmas and surpass every issue."
"I suppose…that's a way to see it." Jacob smiled, enhappified by Marcy's alternative interpretation. "Should I leave some pancakes for James too? I got mine from Soggy Joe already, and I'm not in the mood for more right now."
"Just leave them alongside mine. I'll tell him once…"
A sound of clanking metal foreshadowed the return of James, the boy appearing with the pieces of armor that he probably ended up crashing against.
"Hey, James!" Jacob smirked, unable to stop himself from joking. "How was your meeting with King Arthur?"
"You can laugh all you want, Jacob." The other boy retorted, putting back the pieces. "Laughing and making jokes, that's what you always do. Are you a human or are you a monkey?"
"Well, according to Darwin, I am both. Plus, better be joyful than a no-fun guy. Is it a British trait to be stuck-up like toy soldiers?"
"Hey, take that back!"
"Not on your life!"
"Boys," Marcy sighed, as she realized her working mood was now lost. "Sometimes, I wish I had an apt voice to reply to them…"
(…)
Meanwhile, back at Wartwood's Farmers Market, Anne, and Amelia were currently in charge of the Plantar family's stand, now remodeled and expanded thanks to the new earnings: a larger counter space, new bins for the vegetables and, following Sasha's suggestion, a special "discount bin" for all the soon-to-expire vegetables that otherwise they would have to throw out. Surprisingly, the last feature had proven to be extremely popular among the frogs looking for a bargain, or for those (mainly Wally) who lived day-by-day and didn't have much money to begin with.
"Here you go, Mrs. Croaker!" Anne said, handing the elderly frog a bag with two carrots. "That would be two coppers."
"Here you go, deary."
"Are you sure you do not want to peek among our discounts?" Amelia interjected, "As long as you're going to cook them today, there wouldn't be any issue. You could get fifteen coppers of vegetables at the price of three."
"That's quite an offer, but I'm good for today. I'll think about it, next time."
"Catch ya later, Mrs. Croaker!"
"Oh, they'll never catch me!" Mrs. Croaker laughed as she walked away, earning a thoughtful, yet amicable smile from both girls.
"Ol' Croaker, you can never get the hidden meaning of what she says. I wonder why James is so well-disposed toward her."
"Hey, maybe she's a former spy, and she told him all of her past adventures among affable enemies and deadly conspiracies."
"Hey, girls!" A voice squeaked, both girls turning to see Sasha and Ivy walking toward the stand.
"Sasha! How's the new gig working out so far?"
"I'm not missing the basement if that's what you're asking, Boonchuy." The blonde girl said, before showing a friendly smile, "And I'm not complaining any time soon! I have my own room, I can properly wash myself every morning, I get a proper breakfast before work…but best of all, I now have a little sister to watch over."
"Sasha's room and mine are adjacent!"
"They are?" Anne gasped, quite surprised by how good the relationship between Sasha and Ivy had grown. Almost like Sprig and myself…
"Yup," Sasha nodded. "Did you know that the teashop also doubles as a bed & breakfast? They have a room for guests, but they rarely use it. Not many tourists in Wartwood, in these times…"
"By the way, you need something?" Amelia pointed, noticing the empty bags Sasha was carrying on her side, "Because something tells me you're not here only for a friendly chat."
"Busted." Ivy smiled, earning an approving look from Amelia. "Mom sent us to buy some groceries, and since we have to get vegetables as well, we decided to take advantage of it and come and see you."
"Just so you know, I am not expecting you two to give us groceries for free just because we are friends. That Sasha is dead and buried!"
"Sasha, stop being so harsh on yourself," Anne said. "What you were doing wasn't right, I know, but I already forgave you for that. Plus, I suspect that if you ever did something like that, Felicia would know by the time you'd be back."
"Don't tell me. Yesterday she invited me and Ivy to some training exercise where we had to ambush her, and she anticipated us. Every. Single. Time! What kind of skills did she develop in her adventurer days?"
"That's my mom…" Ivy said almost in a daydreaming voice, making Amelia and Anne chuckle at the same time.
It was then, that Anne recognized the stand right in front of them. That was the Flour Family stand, with the sign "Flour Bread and Pastries" on its forefront, several types of breads on the counter (some of them even shaped as insects or other creatures) and a small portable, metal-made oven on its right. However, Farine was not there today, and in his place, Maddie stood alone, mixing some kind of green glop (probably a potion, Anne was ready to bet) in a large cauldron.
"Hey, Maddie!" Anne called out for Marcy's friend and magic teacher, "Happy market day!"
The pink-haired frog didn't say anything, but her head twisted by 180 degrees, Exorcist-like, and smiled at them with one of her creepy, eerily smiles of her, Sasha taking a couple of steps back while Ivy moved behind her.
"Classic creepy Maddie." Anne laughed, getting a nonplussed look from Sasha and Amelia at the same time.
"I don't think I'll ever be able to get used to that," the samurai girl replied with a grimace.
"How, weren't you the one who's into everything Japanese-like?" Sasha teased her, "Japanese folklore has a strong horror vibe."
"That's the only Japanese thing I won't like, ever! One time I tried to watch a movie, the one about Sadako Yamamura, and …well, yeah."
"Was that scary?" Ivy asked.
"I had to watch it through my fingers!"
"That's your fault for trying to watch a horror in the first place," Sasha commented, before giving Maddie a silent quick gaze. "Still, I have to agree that Maddie sometimes can be quite…creepy."
"Yup, even if she and I are both friends with Sprig, I'm still feeling uneasy every time she does things like that. How can she ever do that without breaking her neck, Sash?"
"I don't know, and I don't want to find out. Let's focus on our groceries, shall we?"
Thus, the girls' focus went back to the buying and selling of vegetables, unaware that someone was watching them from afar, and was already scheming against them…
"Welcome back, girls!" Hop Pop greeted Anne and Amelia as they closed the door behind them, "How did it go to the market today?"
"Very well, Hop Pop!" Amelia smirked, showing him the bag containing all the earnings of the day. "Check it out: just today we made at least twenty coppers!"
"Twenty coppers?!" Polly jumped in, her eyes shining as she started to imagine how many sweets she could buy with so much money, "Wow, that's quite impressive!"
"This calls for some celebrations!" Hop Pop smiled, looking back at the kitchen, "Come to the table girls: today's special is the Plantar's Special-Filled Roast with a side of mushrooms!"
Hearing that, the girls walked into the kitchen, where Jacob, James, Marcy and Sprig were already savoring the smell of the dish.
"Hey girls!" Jacob welcomed them, "Check this beauty: we helped make it!"
"And it smells amazing!"
"Hop Pop, you're spoiling us!" Anne complimented, positively impressed by his change of behavior in the last few days. "What's going on?"
"Well, I simply decided to treat you kids a little better, after, well…"
"You lied and tried to bury the Music Box, causing Sasha to move with Ivy's family and almost destroying the family forever?"
"Sprig!" Polly called out his brother, as his tactless, innocently insensitive words made the humans gasp at once, Hop Pop whimpering as he felt cold sweat running all over his forehead.
"What?" He asked, clearly unaware of the emotional turmoil he had reignited once again, "It's true, no? Still, I am glad that you forgave him, Anne. Some people would carry the scars of such a betrayal for life. Not you, though-OW!" He felt a pinch on his shoulder. "Amelia, that hurts!"
"Not as much as I wanted!" The girl in samurai attire hissed toward the pink frog. Her glare made Sprig whimper as well as reality started to sink on him, "Seriously dude, you should start to realize that your careless words could potentially hurts everyone at this table!"
"B-but it's true…"
"And that doesn't make it acceptable to say out loud! We all just put that mess behind us, and now you're putting your finger on it! Do you want the family to break apart?!"
"What? No!"
"Then learn what is safe to say, and what is better to be left unsaid!"
"Sprig," Anne spoke softly, the young frog now looking at her with a remorseful expression, "What happened…I doubt I'll ever be able to forget, let alone forgive it." She looked at Hop Pop, the old frog expecting her anger to pour onto him once again, "But, we agreed to trust you again, if you will do the same for us. Plus, you do have the mitigation of not having thought it through and acted out of panic."
"And even if faulty, you did have a logic behind your actions," James commented. "You were trying to protect your family."
"Moreover, at least now we have a trail to follow," Jacob added. "Once we know how to translate the text on your book, we might find hints on how the Box works, the nature of the Gems, and maybe how to make it work once again."
"That's comforting at least." Hop Pop shrugged, happy that, even if not forgiven already, the kids were willing to trust him again, "The more we learn about it, the better."
"Ok, I suppose I should apologize. I didn't mean to hurt anyone of you."
"At least think before speaking!" Polly retorted.
"I'm fine," Anne replied, while still feeling a bit upset inside. "Still, more than us, you should apologize to Hop Pop. He's got enough to deal with already without you opening old wounds."
"Nah, I'm good too. By the way, Marcy, how did your…translation work go? Is there something I can do to help?"
"Thanks, I appreciate the offer, but I don't think you can help us with this," the dark-haired girl replied. "Whatever language it is, it must be one of the hardest and most cryptic writings I ever had to crack!"
"You know, I was talking with some…acquaintances of mine, today. They told me that there are some people that are specialized in ancient languages in Newtopia. Once the path out of the Valley is clear, we could search for someone able to help us, if we need it."
"Hey, that's not a bad idea!" James piped in.
"That could be a good fallback option," Marcy mused. "Still, I'm confident I'll be able to crack that language before that."
"Maybe we should talk about it with Felicia when we see her next? I wonder what kind of delicacy she made for Ivy and Sasha today…"
(…)
"Ok girls, tell me." Sasha smiled as she looked over her adoptive frog family, the three Sundew frogs having just tasted the recipe she had taught to them, "What do you think?"
"I…I admit that this is some kind of dish I've never seen before…" Felicia said, looking with an enigmatic look at the food on her plate. "What did you say this dish is called again?"
"California Maki," the blonde girl replied. "Steamed rice rolls with a filling of crab and cucumber. Anne taught me how to make them, and I wanted to share my first attempt with you."
"I'd say…they are quite good!" Sylvia nodded, taking a bite and letting the flavor spread over her lips, "Is that one of the foods from your world?"
"Yup. On Earth, sushi is considered a delicacy and many other places have their own recipes and variants. A very popular food that combines healthy and non-fattening meals to the status symbol of prominent and successful people."
"And where does this "sushi" come from?"
"Japan."
Ivy, who until a moment before was busy taking seconds, suddenly raised her head, her eyes widening. "You mean…the place your friend Amelia often talks about?"
"The one and only. Just, Amelia still doesn't get all the details correct."
Felicia took a sample of the maki, and the moment her lips closed on the mouthful she felt a strange, exotic mix of flavor and spices like she had never tasted before. Even in her adventurer days, when she was used to moving continuously and never tasting the same meals twice in a row, she had never tasted something like this. And Sasha had said that this kind of food was light and luxurious…
"You think you could teach me the recipe for this too?"
"I…suppose I could?" Sasha pondered about it, "Still, I'm not sure how you could use it. I mean, you own a teashop and sushi is not a food that goes well with tea. Plus, I'm not an expert. What I know, I learned either because Anne helped me or with the little knowledge I had from LA. To teach you how to make proper sushi, you would need an expert. And none of us are, no matter what Amelia may claim!"
"I guess that settles it," Felicia said, before another thought blossomed in her mind, "But…once you are able to find a way back to your world?"
"Then I'll make sure to bring everything for you to learn how to make it!"
(…)
As the sun set down on the horizon, and the stars came out of their daily sleep to brighten up the night of Amphibia and all his inhabitants, the humans and their friends went to sleep, looking forward to a new day of work the following morning (Sasha, Anne, Jacob, and Amelia) or of research (Marcy & James). Some went to bed earlier than others: Sasha and Ivy spent some time alone in the little frog's room, the human showing her one of the movies she had on her phone, while James decided to relax by watching the stars in the unblemished night, taking notes of eventual stars and other celestial bodies he hadn't seen until now to later add in his map of the sky.
None of them thought that, while they were having fun with their friends and loved ones, someone was ready to carry out revenge against them.
Far from Wartwood and the Plantar's farm, in a small storage shed hidden in the woods, a hand struck a match in the dim light, before throwing it on the fire under a large cauldron. Greedy eyes watched as the fire started to boil the contents of the cauldron, before adding the key ingredients of the curse.
A small drop of dirt from the ground of the Plantar's farm, and knotted hairs of each of the six humans. When they dripped into the liquid, the faces of the humans and the Plantars briefly appeared on the surface, swirling around for a few seconds before disappearing.
And then, a large green mist rose from the cauldron, forming the grinning face of a frog before dissolving.
"Sorry, Hopediah. Nothing personal, but this is just…business."
"Sasha, Ivy, come and have breakfast! You have to get yourself ready for the morning rush!"
"Coming, coming…" Sasha yawned feeling all still and sore. Was this the result for staying up late watching movies with Ivy last night? Still, worth it in her opinion.
As she got up from the bed and started to walk toward the small space assigned for her toiletries, her brain started to notice that something was different. She felt that something was traipsing behind her, her skin felt warmer and a bit stingier too. And somehow, the light around her looked wrong, as if bleaker. Some colors like red and purple were barely recognizable from gray, like an old photo whose colors had faded in time.
Uh, I wish I could get have a glass of milk right now…wait, what? Sasha thought with puzzlement, feeling an unnatural desire for milk, as she looked to the mirror that Felicia had leased for her own use, her eyes widening as she started to recognize the image in front of her.
"What the frog is that?!" Sasha yelled, jumping back as the image the mirror reflected back was not of a human being.
Her skin was now covered in fur the same color as her hair, her hands were sharper and showed claws, her ears were now in shape of a triangle, pointed and with a feline appearance, and her hair now half-resembled a mane. And from behind, she could see a feline tail departing from her body.
"Sasha, is everything ok?" The door opened with a slam, Ivy rushing in before Sasha even had a chance to try and cover herself up. "I heard you yell and… what?!" The young frog gasped, seeing her adoptive older sister of a different species with features different than she remembered.
"Sasha! What-what's happened to you?"
The human/cat hybrid turned around, looking at Ivy with eyes full of exasperation, her mouth hissing out the only words her mind could come up.
"…I have no idea."
(…)
The turmoil Sasha was currently experiencing was mirrored, almost step by step, as soon as the occupants of the Plantar's farm started to wake up, and realized that, for some unknown reason, their bodies had changed during the night.
"Whoa!" Sprig fell down the stairs, his eyes and body now covered by some kind of strange orange fur that made him look like a furball creature. "Anne? Guys? Where are you? I can't see. Are you okay? Whoa!"
"Sprig!" Anne gasped, noticing what had happened to him. "What - CAW! - what happened to you?"
"You look – HU-HU! – like a ball- OOOK! – of fur!"
"Anne, Jacob?" The young frog gasped, noticing the strange noises "What happened to your voices?"
"It's not – EEEK! -our voices! Something has happened to us!"
The fur-covered frog managed to move part of the hair covering his eyes, and finally, he saw what had happened to the two humans. Anne had somehow transformed into a big brown bird, feather growing all over her body while her mouth has been replaced with a beak, her arms turning into wings, while Jacob was now covered in black fur, his forehead becoming more tapered, the canine teeth growing bigger and now resembling fangs, making him resemble a strange cross between a gorilla, a chimpanzee, and an orangutan. Resemblance accentuated by the fact that the boy, now, was unable to stay in an upright position, and was now moving on all four of his limbs.
"When I woke up, I was already like this! And whenever I talk, I – CAW! What is going on?!"
"Guys!" A voice yelled from under the basement, and a couple of minutes later, a hand emerged from the trapdoor. Anne and Jacob's eyes widened as they saw that the hand was made of tin, like those of dolls or toys for children.
And then, James come into the light, revealing how he too had been affected by whatever had hit his friends as well. The British kid's boy had now become sturdy, resembling a giant toy soldier with a red jacket, white shorts and black boots painted all over his metallic figure. His head had become longer, and a black hat with golden features was painted all over it. His mouth now resembled a nutcracker, and in his artificial, brass hands, he held a toy gun, clearly inspired by an old-time musket.
It was a horrific vision, yet so ridiculous that had Jacob not been in its own predicament, he would have felt obliged to make a pun about it.
"I – CLICK-CLICK! – I feel like – CLICK! – something's happened to – what the frog?!"
"Welcome to the club," Jacob groaned, as James gazed over his, Anne's, and Sprig's transformation. "I suppose you – OOKIE! – woke up this way, with NO IDEA of how this – EEEK! – could have ever happened, right?"
"Hu-huh! Look at me! I - CLICK-CLOCK! I have turned into a giant toy!"
"Hey," Polly yawned, bouncing down the stairs. "Have you guys seen my toothbrush?"
The others didn't say anything, watching her in silence, the pollywog looking all over them as they looked back at her.
"Ahahaha!" Polly burst into laughter, unaware of the irony. "You look ridiculous!"
"We all look ridiculous!" Jacob retorted, grabbing a spare mirror, and showing it to Polly so she could see what had happened to her.
"Huh?" The pollywog stopped laughing, as she looked back to her reflection, her eyes widening in horror. Not only her flippers had somehow gotten smaller (now stumps barely visible), but her whole boy was now white with black spots all around, making her resemble a soccer ball.
"What?! What happened to me?!"
"The same that happened – SQUACK! – to every one of us, I guess."
"Wait, everyone?" Sprig gasped in horror. "Hop Pop! Ah!" He whimpered, tripping in his new fur.
When the group walked into the kitchen, they found Hop Pop and Marcy already waiting for them. Just like them, the old frog had been affected: his body had somehow turned to wood, covered in patches and his arms barely moving, his face frozen in the bark, with only his eyes and mouth still moving. Instead, Marcy still looked normal and unaffected, even with a worried look and unnaturally silent.
"Oh, no, you too?" The stump-like Hop Pop said, rotating on himself to give each one of them a look. "You woke up like this too, right?"
"Yeah. What is this thing?!"
"I guess this confirms my fear. We all have been…CURSED!" He announced.
"Cursed?" Anne exclaimed "But – CAW! – but Marcy…seems just fine!"
"Yes, there doesn't – HU! – seem to be anything wrong with her!" Jacob pointed out, "Why were we affected but – EEK! – but she wasn't?"
"Marcy, are you ok?" Sprig asked, the dark-haired girl staying silent as she looked aside.
"Is there something wrong with you?" James raised an eyebrow.
She nodded.
"Would you – CLICK! – care to tell us?
Marcy shook her head with a grimace.
"So... you're not going to tell us?" Jacob asked.
She nodded.
"Yes, you're not, or yes, you will?"
She shook her head.
"Marcy, come on!" Anne looked at her friend, "What's – CAW! – what's wrong with you?!"
Marcy sighed, looking aside for a moment. And then…
"I…don't want to talk about it." The girl said, her voice now a deep, baritone, manliest voice any of them had ever heard, their eyes widening in shock.
"Frog, that's wrong on so many levels!" Sprig meekly said, earning a look of approval from Hop Pop.
"Yup, I reacted like this too when I heard it first."
"Wait a minute, where's Amelia?!" The boy-turned-monkey asked as he realized that someone else was still missing.
"Check the ceiling."
Jacob followed Hop Pop's finger, and almost jumped back in surprise when he saw her. Amelia… she was standing on the ceiling, somehow crawling with her hands and feet, her brown hair having turned black and now covering all of her face, her clothes replaced with a white, pale tunic that made her look like a…a ghost.
"Waaah!" Polly yelled as well, her ball-body rolling around until Anne grabbed her. "What-what happened to her?!"
"If I must guess, I'll say she turned into an exact copy of Sadako Yamamura." James said taking a step forward, "Amelia, can you…understand us?"
Amelia didn't say anything, but she moved on her four, crawling back through the ceiling and the wall, until she was back on the floor again, moving in front of them before getting up again, all the time gazing at them from behind her hair.
"She's not speaking." Hop Pop explained, "Whatever it happened to her, it took her ability to speak as well."
"If only I was muted," Marcy groaned, feeling disgusted by her own voice.
"Maybe…" Sprig wondered, taking a sheet of paper and passing it to Amelia "Can you use this to communicate?"
Amelia said nothing but she moved her head, her hands grabbing the sheet and a pencil with a quick movement, scribbling with an awful sound, before showing the words she had written for them to read.
"I'm scared. I cannot feel my eyes under all this hair, and yet, I can see all of you." Jacob read, moving forward as she hugged his cousin, dawning upon the horror that had been unleashed on them. "Don't worry, Amelia. We will get through this: I PROMISE!"
"So, Hop Pop," James turned around, the giant tin soldier looking at the talking stump, "What do you know about curses?"
"Only that it takes about a full night for a curse to kick in. Whoever did this to us, it must have happened not later than yesterday. Did anyone of you offend someone? Someone who knows about magic, and might have put a curse on everyone of us?"
Everyone thought about it, trying to remember what they did yesterday, how many people they had interacted with, and which of those people might have been offended by something they had done. But still, who in Wartwood could have used magic to put a curse on all of them?
The silence was broken when they head a pencil squeaking, as Amelia's hands moved again, writing a name on the paper.
Maddie.
"Oh no you don't!" Marcy retorted, so offended by the baseless accusation that, for a moment, she didn't care about her voice anymore. "Maddie would never use magic in such a petty and cruel way. She is best friend and my magic teacher, and this is one of the first lessons she taught me when she took me as her apprentice: never use magic to hurt someone else unless it's someone who deserves it!"
I wasn't accusing her, Amelia hurried to add, causing Marcy to stop and everyone else to raise an eyebrow.
You're right, Amelia continued to scribble, showing paper after paper. Maddie might be scary sometimes, but she would never put a curse on us.
I guess getting turned into a Japanese horror icon helps to realize scary and evil are not the same thing, Anne nodded, grumbling at the irony.
However, she's still the best magic expert we know, alongside you. Maybe she can help us?
"Hey, that's a good idea!"Jacob announced, his widened monkey eyebrows raising in excitation. "Maddie -EEK! – Maddie knows all about magic and stuff. Maybe if we ask her, she can help us remove it!"
Marcy stopped, her previous anger melting away as she started to think about it. They already had studied magic together, working together to create and develop new spells, and while they had discussed about curses before, Maddie had never told her about a way to remove a curse. Yet, if curses could be done, they could also be undone by logic. And if they could be undone…Maddie would surely know it!
"Then, what are we waiting for?" Sprig said, "Let's go to Maddie and ask her to remove this curse from all of us!"
"Before we go to Maddie, can we – CAW! – make a small detour and go check on Sasha?" Anne suggested. "Maybe, since she wasn't with us tonight, she wasn't affected…"
(…)
"I'd say, my dear Sasha, life has been full of surprises ever since we met you," Felicia said with widened eyes, her hands running the unfortunate cat-girl fur and mane. "Is this a human thing?"
"No!" Sasha replied, equally frustrated by the situation and how everyone (yep, that included the morning rush patrons of the teashop) was looking at her. "This is not something characteristic of us humans. Yesterday I went to bed just fine, and now I'm…this!"
"Maybe it's some kind of allergic reaction?" One of the regular old ladies who had taken a liking to her suggested. "What did you eat last night?"
"Come on, Crimula!" Another patron replied, "What kind of allergic reaction would cause a girl to grow fur and tail?"
"You've never seen my cousin after he eats cauliflowers, right?"
"Come on, everyone!" Sylvia interjected, looking back at them. "You're free to have your own ideas, but please don't scare her until we know for sure what is it. And you, Sasha, maybe it would be better to lie down a bit-"
"Lie down? No way!" Sasha replied, refusing to let…whatever was happening to stop her from doing her work. "I'm confident that I can still do my job."
"Your job?" Felicia raised an eyebrow, "Young lady, do you realize that you're not in any condition to work?"
"Just because I got some fur and a tail like a cat? Puh-lease! This slight inconvenience isn't going to-"
But Sasha stopped, as she heard a sound coming from her body, and realized that she was purring.
"What was that?" Ivy popped out of the kitchen, having heard it as well, Sasha blushing as she realized that.
"Nothing! Just…I was grumbling because I'm bored. Now I'm getting to work and-"
She stopped again, as she noticed something with her eye. A lonely glass of water, standing near the border of the table, just waiting for something, or rather someone, to push it.
No, Sasha thought, struggling to keep herself from it, I'm not going to do that. I'm not a cat, and no matter if I have cat ears and a tail now, I'm absolutely not going to…
"Sasha!" Felica moved forward, grabbing the glass before it shattered on the floor. "What were you doing?!"
Sasha blushed again, as she realized she did that, and now everyone was looking at her once again.
What I wouldn't give for something to distract this awkward moment...
Someone knocked on the door of the teashop in a hurry, Felicia, Sylvia, Ivy and everyone else turning at the same time.
I'll take it!
"I'm going!" Sasha hurried, moving toward the door and opening "Welcome to Sundew's teashop. How may I- whaaaaa?"
"Sasha!" A brown bird-like humanoid with Anne's voice said, squeaking as she talked "You too?!"
"Anne?" Sasha replied as she noticed Hop Pop and the others behind her, all showing the effect of some weird transformation. "What the frog happened?"
"It's a curse!" James said, struggling to move in his new giant toy body, "Some – CLICK-CLICK! – someone cursed us, and these transformations we are experiencing are the result of that!"
"Oh, it was a curse!" Crimula chuckled, "Well, I guess that explains it quite well."
"Someone cursed all of you?" Ivy asked with a worried expression. "Sprig, are you in there?"
"I am, Ivy." The young frog replied with a groan, as a giant mass of orange fur rolled in front of her "Sorry, but this fuzz makes it difficult both to see and to walk."
"We are going to Maddie to get this curse removed!" Hop Pop said, his stump-like body generating an irked look from Sylvia. "You're coming?"
"Of course, I'm coming!" Sasha roared, a couple of frogs taking a step back as her roar resembled a lion's "The sooner I get this curse off of me, the better!"
"I'm coming with you!"
"No, Ivy." Felicia said, her daughter stopping in her tracks, "Look, I know you want to help Sasha, but if you're dealing with the Dark Arts, it may be a more serious issue than you can think of. And you're not yet properly trained to deal with them."
"But…"
"I'm not saying you can't go; I'm just saying that you're not ready to face enemies who can use Dark Magic to put curses on other people."
"Plus, we aren't going to fight some dark warlock!" Marcy spoke and hearing the deep male voice coming from the girl's lips, many frogs gasped in horror. "We're simply going to ask Maddie to remove it."
"I suppose I'll stay then," Ivy moped a bit, prompting Felicia to tell her something to cheer her daughter up.
"How about having another training session later? I could teach you some old tricks, useful to fight a magic user even if you've got no magic for yourself."
Ivy's eyes gleamed.
(…)
"Coming, coming." Farine Flour, Wartwood's local baker and Maddie Flour's father, opened the door of his shop. "What can I- Goodness gracious! Hopediah, what happened to you?!"
"It's…a long story, Farine." The frog-turned-stump spoke in a slow, fatigued voice. "Can we enter?"
The baker frog said nothing, merely nodding as Hop Pop and the other entered his shop, looking with eyes full of shock over their unfortunate transformations.
"Marcy! Rosemary, Ginger, and Lavender said, recognizing her. "What happened to you?"
"It's difficult to explain." The dark-haired girl spoke, the three polliwogs almost jumping back in shock as they heard her voice. "It looks like yesterday we have been subjected to a curse."
"A curse?!" Farine gasped, still unable to process what has happened to them all. "Are you ok?"
"You know," Anne said in a surprisingly calm tone of voice, "It's not that bad. Watch this!" She kneeled on the floorboard, putting her beak into a hole and pulling out a large, yellow worm with her beak and immediately gobbling it out. "Mmm!"
"Anne," James pointed out, "Did you just…eat a live worm?"
Anne frowned, realizing what she did. "I hate this curse."
"You're not the only one!" Sasha commented, unable to stop herself from scratching around. "Let's remove it before I start spitting furballs."
"Polly!" The triplets chuckled, noticing the fellow pollywog now resembling a ball "You look ridiculous!"
"If I still had my flippers, I'd-" she rolled on the side, the triplets chuckle now becoming laugher. "I seem to notice that I've been subjected to the same treatment I lashed out on them before I realized I had been cursed too. Coincidence, or cleverly orchestrated device to teach me a lesson? Let posterity be the judge."
"Wait, where's our master?!" Rosemary suddenly stopped laughing, not seeing Amelia among them. "What happened to her?"
"HU-HUH!" Jacob aped, moving aside so they could see his cousin, the unfortunate girl crawling in front of them.
"Master…" Ginger said with a fearful look. "You look scary!"
Amelia nodded, before starting to gesticulate frantically, with faster and faster movements. "Mh! M-Mh! Mmmh! Mh-mh-mh! Mhhhh! Mhhh! Mh-hm!"
"I'm sure that was a very good speech, Amelia, but I may have lost something in the translation." Farine murmured. "So, why did you come here?"
"It's for Maddie, Mr. Flour." Sprig said.
"You think-?"
"Mr. Flour, we know that your daughter is not behind it." Anne interjected, a crow flying through the door and landing on her head cawing, while Farine gasped a sigh of relief. "We weren't about to accuse her."
"Maddie taught me everything she knows, and she was very adamant to never use magic against others." Marcy said, proudly, "For magic is to help, not to hurt."
"It's just…" Jacob continued, "We thought it would be convenient if a frog who is also the main expert in magic in Wartwood, could help us remove this magical-induced curse. Plus, she already hates people using magic for petty reasons, this is just the exact thing that she would despise, isn't it?"
"I…I see your point." Farine conceded with a thoughtful look, "Maddie's currently busy with some deliveries, but should return soon."
By sheer coincidence, the door opened once again, and a familiar azure frog with pink hair and an empty basket in her hands.
"I'm home…Marcy?"
"Maddie!" The dark-haired girl replied with a breath of relief, "Sorry to disturb you, but…we need your help."
"What-what happened to you?"
"They've been hit by a curse!" Ginger said with hurry, Maddie grimacing as she realized it was true: she could literally feel the dark magic vibes coming from everyone of them."
"We don't know who or why," Sprig joined, "but it appears someone decided to curse all of us, during the night. So… can you take them off us? Please?"
"Sorry, but I can't."
"Maddie?"
"Curses can be lifted only by the caster. Even if possible in theory, there isn't a spell able to remove someone else's curse yet."
"But – CLICK! – but how can we find out who did this to us?"
"That, I can help you with." Maddie nodded with a thoughtful expression. She knew that, to curse someone, the person responsible had to be both knowledgeable in magic and deranged enough to place a curse in the first place. Someone willing to use magic for evil intent. Someone that perpetrated the stereotype, that she had fought against for all her life, of the evil magical user.
Whoever it was, they had to be stopped.
Her hands moved to her hips, grabbing a few key ingredients from the belt: a mortar bowl of soil, a pestle, and a pinch of various mineral powder. She grounded the bowls contents, added a pinch of the powder, and then grabbed a hand of the result, throwing it onto the floor. As soon as the spell hit the ground, a purple cloud of smoke erupted in the room, making everyone cough.
"Hey!" Sasha said among her coughs. "What was that for?"
"Look," Maddie said laconically, pointing to a blue trail of misty steam, departing from the body of everyone who had been cursed and leading out of the door. "This trail will lead us to the caster. But we must move quickly, before it goes cold!"
"Now were' talking!" Sasha roared, jumping of the door and following the blue smell, everyone following behind her: Jacob jumped, holding the stump-like Hop Pop on one of his hands; James moved like a mechanical soldier with a clicking, mechanical sound; Amelia crawled, Polly holding on her hair; Sprig jumped, doing his best not to trip in his fur once again; Marcy ran, her hands busy as she went on to prepare spells for the fight; and Anne glided, her arms-turned-wings allowing her to stay in the air for a couple of seconds at most.
"We want to go too!" The triplets announced.
"Sorry, but you're too young to go chase dark magic users before lunch." Farine replied, a gut feeling of wariness growing on him. Maddie, I hope you know what you are going to face…
"Maddie, I'm curious." Marcy said, as she checked the crossbow at her arm. "The spell you used on us a while ago, what was it?"
"Just a basic magic detector," Maddie said, continuing to run. "When magic is used on an object, or a living creature, it emits a halo that connect it to its source. I simply made it visible for a few minutes."
"I think we're getting closer!" Sasha said, sniffing the air. The misty blue steam was leading them afar from Wartwood, in the forest surrounding it. Whoever it was that casted the curse on them, probably had a hideout nearby.
"Just so you know, I'm surprised you didn't try to accuse me." Maddie noted. While she was happy no one accused her for the curse, there was a part of her who was still puzzled at it.
"Thank Marcy for that!" Jacob said, moving as fast as a real quadrumane. "She told us of the oath she made, when she started to study magic with you. How you would never use magic to hurt anyone unless he deserved it."
"You…you did?"
"You taught me magic, you are my best friend. And we've been together long enough for me to know that you would never curse anyone, let alone me and my friends. And I would never let anyone besmirch you, even as a jest! You and your family deserve my absolute loyalty, whatever it may cost."
"I…I…" Maddie murmured, a tear of happiness running down her eyes, as she started to feel…prideful.
These were the words she needed to hear, especially from a fellow magic-learner.
"Plus," Sasha added, "even if you may give a creepy vibe sometimes, we know your good inside."
"Creepy vibe?"
"You know, how you're able to turn your head of 180 degrees? And when you smile…you're a bit scary."
"I suppose I can't argue with that."
On Anne's head, the crow cawed again.
"Kurt the crow says that he has a bad feeling about this?"
"Anne!" Marcy gasped, "Your new bird form allows you to understand bird talk? Can you-"
"Look out!" Jacob pointed, and everyone followed his gaze. Hidden among the tree, in a small opening of alluvial origin, stood a shack, the word "STORAGE" impressed over the entrance, glowing mushroom of place color and light growing around it and on its hay-made roof.
"Yikes, it even looks like a witch's hideout!" James spoke, suddenly feeling nervous.
Proceeding slowly, the group approached the door, staying alert in the event the curse's responsible revealed themselves. As they opened the door and walked in, they quickly noticed the jars filled with merchandise on the walls.
"What kind of evil person would live in a place like this?" Anne asked, looking around, once again her words foreshadowing a sardonic twist of fate.
The door closed behind them, and the internal-illumination mushroom started to glow one after another, revealing…
"Hello, Hopediah and children."
"Barry?!" Everyone gasped at once.
There it was, Barry the fruit and candy vendor, known by his clients and fellow traders as the sweetest frog in all of Wartwood. Yet, as he titled his hat and looked at them, the smile he showed was all but sweet.
"Enjoying the curse I put on you?"
"You were the one responsible for this curse?!" Polly gasped. "Why did you do this, Barry? What have we ever done to you?"
"I even paid your rent along everyone else' when Toadstool quadrupled the rent for everyone!" Hop Pop yelled in turn, unable to process such twist.
"And I'm very grateful that you did that, Hopediah." Barry continued, "Still, this is nothing personal. It's just…business."
"Business?" Hop Pop glared at him.
"You see, I was paid quite handsomely to put a curse on you and all your family…"
(…)
"So… can you do it?"
"Well, it won't be easy," Barry replied, as he looked at the three humans (plus Ivy) from a safe distance. "You want me to curse all of them?"
"Not all," the other frog replied with a spite-filled expression, "Just those hummus…and Hopediah's family. That loser stole everything from me…and he must pay!"
"Hop Pop is a celebrity now, ever since he paid the taxes for all the farmers' market. And mine as well. He had become a hero for all the farmers and people who earn a living in there. Plus, those creatures are six, and adding Hopediah's family-"
"Barry, how much money do you want?"
Barry smiled, showing an evil smile he never showed to anyone, lest his façade as the sweetest frog in all of Wartwood would be ruined forever. "That's what I like about you: you go straight to the point. No babbles, no pointless explanations…"
"Barry!"
Barry stopped and turned around, to face his client. "Three times my normal fee. That is fifteen golden coins, by the way."
"Done."
"Wait, really?" Barry gasped, expecting the other frog to try to barter a little, maybe trying to haggle for a lower price. "I should've asked for five. Is four still on the table?"
"No." His client replied, starting to walk away.
(…)
"Someone hired you to put a curse on us?!" Jacob gasped. "Who did it?"
"Sorry kid, but I don't sell out my clients for free. I have a price list for that!"
"Barry, how could you do it?" Sprig said, moving forward. "You're Wartwood's sweetest frog!"
"No, I simply pretend to be!" Barry laughed, almost happy to reveal his true colors. "I play it cool and be sweet because my image is crucial for my business. I may look nice, but I'm petty, dastardly, and greedy on the inside." He exclaimed, turning away from the group and crossing his arms like a petty child. A spoiled petty child.
Sasha grimaced, feeling her anger boil on the inside, preparing herself to menace the fake "nice guy" to force him to undo his curse, but before she could utter a single word, Maddie took a step forward.
"As a curse wielder myself, this abuse of magic greatly offends me." The azure frog said, glaring at Barry, a rarely seen anger forming on her face, as she grabbed a couple of her own spell bags and threw them, hitting a mushroom to Barry's side and giving it eyes.
"Oh, goodness!" Barry exclaimed, realizing the effect of Maddie's spell and the angry glare in her eyes.
"You should never curse someone unless they really deserve it. And, buddy, you deserve it!"
"As my friend and teacher said," Marcy nodded, grabbing some of her spells as well, "Your use of curses for monetary gain is a crime against magic. And by the authority given to us as the Defenders of Wartwood…you're under arrest!"
"Oh, you want to take me in?" Barry defensively walked to one of his barrels, pulling out his own spell sacks. "Then come and get me!"
"Wartwood Militia!" James yelled, the toy gun in his tin hands ready to shoot. "Get him!"
Maddie and Barry began to chase each other around the storage, each trying to hit the other with a spell bag while moving continuously to avoid their adversary's attack. Meanwhile, Anne and the others moved to attack the frog responsible for their curse, while trying at the same time to not be hit by the crossfire.
"This is no good," Marcy said, covering behind one of the barrels. "I can't get a good line of fire for my crossbow. I guess I'll have to use the spells I have to support Maddie."
"What do we do?"
"Maybe I – HU-HUH! – have an idea." Jacob said, noticing that violent spell shelling wasn't reaching the shack's ceiling. "Amelia, yooook're with me. We'll circumvent the spell battle and atteeek Barry from above: if we're looooky, this will give Maddie the opening she needs to knoooock him out. Polly, want to come with me?"
"Yeah!"
"What about us?" Anne asked.
"You try to – EEEK! – help Maddie and Marcy as much as you can. Protect them from any incoming spells, draw Barry's attention, make him waste his attacks… or simply duck and cover, I don't know. I won't recommend – OH! – being hit by one of those."
"I'm not yielding!" James nodded. "I don't have much of agility, but I know how to avoid being hit!"
"Me neither!" Sasha grinned, as she inspected her claws. "I'd say Barry made a critical mistake in giving me natural weapons!"
"Wait, before you go…" Marcy stopped them "Jacob, can you come closer?"
"Huh, yeah? Why you- OW!" The ape boy protested as Marcy's hand ripped a hair out of his fur.
"Sorry, needed it for one of the spells I am making."
"Hop Pop," Anne said, looking at him. "You and Sprig can't do much to help in your conditions. Just hide here, at least until it's over."
"I think that's quite a good idea!"
Jacob nodded, a bit amused by their reaction, before starting to move. His monkey-like arms were very useful to climb up the walls and the ceiling, holding Polly with his now hands-shaped feet while Amelia crawled just behind him, her nails now resembling talons while even gravity wasn't enough to uncover her face from her black, unnatural hair.
Meanwhile, on the ground level, the fight raged on, as Maddie and Barry continued to exchange spell strikes, Marcy having joined her friend and now doubling the barrage on the sweet seller, whose attention was divided among them.
"Don't come any closer!" Barry shouted, still trying to hold his ground even while being alone against five enemies before he realized that he was running down on spells to use. "My last curse!"
"That won't save you!" A voice yelled from behind him with simian anger, Barry turned around just in time to see a white-and-black ball-turned pollywog flying toward him at great speed, hitting him in the face and breaking his nose. The spell sack dropped out of his hands and fell on his feet, turning into sticky slime, and trapping him defenseless. Meanwhile, Polly kept bouncing around, hitting the walls and the ceiling before hitting Barry when she comes back to him.
It was what everyone else was waiting for, the Wartwood militiamen taking advantage of his distraction to rush on him.
"This is for making me furry!" Sasha roared, attacking him first, her claws-like striking Barry on his face and abdomen, the frog walking back with eyes closed as he tried to cover himself with his hands.
"This is for giving me cogs!" James added, shooting with his gun from behind Barry, the blank shot out of his musket smoldering Barry's pants and making him yelp in pain, as he felt his back burning due to the stingy effect of the blast.
"This is for making me look like a character from a child's show!" Anne intervened, jumping on Barry's shoulders, and pounding on his hat with her beak and, through it, his head.
"This is for trying to force me on a bananas diet!" Jacob roared forward, grabbing Barry by one of his legs and swatting him aside, making him hit his merchandise with violence, the sweets seller spitting some teeth, before Jacob launched him away.
Right in Amelia's direction.
"Huh…" Barry opened his eyes, only to come face to face with Amelia's monstrous face, cold sweats of terror running down his forehead.
"Skreeeee!" Amelia howled with unnatural fury, the boom caused by her voice sending Barry away, and making him drop on the floor.
It was then, that Marcy and Maddie came forward, the small frog holding both hands behind her back, Marcy still holding one spell sack in her right hand. Both looked at Barry like a scum of the lowest kind.
In their eyes, he was.
"And this," Marcy said with unforgiving eyes, Barry whimpering, "Is for having used magic to hurt people and for petty gains, rather than to help."
She threw the spell, hitting Barry right in the face, a powerful blast of blue and yellow gas filling the room, as everyone's sight was momentarily blurred.
And when the gas dissipated…
"Oh, no!" Barry gasped in horror, realizing he had become a mix of everyone's curse "My beautiful body!"
"We're back to normal!" Anne recognized, as everyone else noticed it.
"Yes, yes, yes!" Jacob yelled, realizing he was now human again, "I'm back, baby!"
"Frog, I can talk!" Amelia erupted in joy. "I can speak again! It's fantastic! Do you have any idea how scared I was? This is awesome! Sadako, I'm sorry for everything I said about you- your life is so horrible! How can you even stay sane if you can't talk at all? Oh, wait, you're mad, ok then! Sasoku! Yamato! The chronicles of Yamashiro-"
Looks like someone is very happy for being able to speak again, Hop Pop thought, noticing he was not a tree stump anymore.
"I will never complain about my body ever again!" Sasha added, happy to see her fur-devoid arms and hands.
"Marcy," Amelia asked, her hair now back to its normal length and color "Was that…'"
"Just a small reversing spell to turn back the curses we were subjected to on their original caster." The dark-haired wizard said, taking time to taste the sound of her normal voice. "It was…one of our many projects."
"You learned well, Marcy." Maddie nodded before her gaze focused back on Barry.
"All right, you crazy kids bested me." Barry conceded. "Now go on, turn me back."
"Not going to happen!" Maddie replied with an icy-cold tone "You were content on leaving the curse on all of them, and you're way too dangerous to be allowed to use magic ever again!"
"What?" Barry cawed in shock. "You can't just leave me like this!"
"Actually, yes: we can," Sasha said as she stepped forward, a triumphing smug blossoming on her lips. "Maybe spending some time as…some ugly freaky mash-up of different curses will be a lesson on why you shouldn't put spells on other people!"
"But-but-" Barry tried to reply, only to realize with added horror that even speaking was getting harder, his mouth only being able to caw, grunt or make unnatural sounds.
"Oh, sounds like the conflict among the various side effect of the curses on our voices ends up negating his ability to speak completely!" Amelia grinned, savoring the turnaround for being turned into an intelligible creature.
"So…" Sprig scratched his head "You're not going to turn him back?"
"Of course not!" Maddie said, "He is an evil petty magic user whose action and behavior are the same as those who gave all magic users the bad name they have nowadays. Even if we transform him back, he won't change!"
"While I'm not someone who should talk lightly of forgiving and apologizing, I think Maddie is right on the question," Hop Pop intervened, turning to face the multiple-cursed frog. "Barry, Barry, Barry. I still can't think you would do something like this just for money. We have both been members of the Farmer Market for years. And yet, you used Dark magic to curse me and my family for…what? Because someone paid you to do it? Because you wanted money?" The old frog yelled Sasha and others were internally happy to see him angry for once. "Well, I suppose you will then appreciate the irony."
"What irony?" Anne asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, I was hoping someone would ask." Hop Pop said, crossing his arms, "You see, I know a guy who knows a guy…"
"So, in the end, everyone's good?" Farine said, as Maddie, Hop Pop, and the others finished recounting what had happened "I still can't believe Barry was the one who ended up cursing you all. I often met him at the Market or around Wartwood, and he had always been a nice, kind fellow."
"He gave us sweets for free!" Maddie's sisters added.
"I know, I still barely believe it at all, but that's the truth." Hop Pop nodded, "After we…dealt with him, Maddie and Marcy went through all the spell stuff he had in his storage. It looks like we weren't the first frogs he had cursed, just the first that managed to get the curse off."
"Check it out, Mr. Flour." Marcy passed some strange papers on Farine's hands, the baker frog grumbling as he started to realize how much damage Barry had done until now.
"That no-good son of a slug…"
"Yes, Dad." Maddie added. "This is the reason why in the end, we couldn't turn him back. Even if I did, he wouldn't have changed: maybe, he would have tried to take revenge, not only on Mr. Plantar's family, but on us as well."
"So, what did you do with his things?"
"Most of the contents of the storage, we decided to tell Toadstool about it and allow him to seize it all. According to Toadie, selling it all would give the Town Hollow more money to invest in rebuilding the school. As for the thing he used for his curses…Maddie and Marcy already went through it."
"Something I should be worried about? Maddie?"
"Not at all. Mostly useless or dangerous stuff that we already neutralized. I simply took his spell book, to analyze later, and a sample of the potion he made to curse the Plantars. Since he said he put a curse on them because he was paid by someone, I'd say it was only right to send our greeting to his mysterious…customer."
(…)
"Frog, frog!" In his house, Monroe scratched himself furiously, his whole body now covered in large, red, and smelling itchy pimples. Yet, the more he tried to fight the itch, the more the itch became stronger…
(…)
"Anyway, since I'm not the vengeful kind, this small counter-curse should disappear in a couple of days at most.
"I'm still worried that someone was willing to pay to put a curse on us." Sprig moped.
"Hey, now that Barry is out of the picture, it would be difficult for him to curse us again."
"Why?" Farine raised his head. "What did you do with Barry?"
"Well…"
(…)
"Come on, people!" A frog shouted at full lungs, inviting people to come and see his traveling freakshow. "Come to see the Worst Mistake of Nature, the Living Freak, the One-Creature-Who-Is-A-Bit-Of-Everything-And-Nothing-Definite. The Bar-Bar!"
Inside of the large tent, many frogs and toads (and a couple of newts) were already looking over the strange creature trapped in the cage, showing traits of a bird, a furry being, part vegetable, and even mechanical. Some of those present were skeptics trying to explain to their partners or friends why such a creature couldn't be anything but a fake.
All the while Barry, the former frog, couldn't do anything but helplessly call for help, his mouth twisting every word of his into foul noises, every time the crowd reacted with curiosity and creepiness to his horrible new appearance…
MEANWHILE, AT TOAD TOWER:
"Bog," Braddock said, Percy closing the door behind him. "I'm happy to see you've come."
"I seriously hope for your own good you have a good reason for summoning me in the middle of the night," the hardened warrior replied with irritation. It was late at Toad Tower, the darkness of the night outside, was barely broken by the light of the torches, and the only toads still awake at the time were those who were unfortunate enough to be chosen to be on watch.
And considering how stressful their days had got, a good night's rest was a luxury that Bog didn't want to renounce anytime soon.
"We do have a good reason." Braddock continued, "Percy and I, we think that there is something wrong with the Lieutenant."
"You mean the creature?" Bog said almost in disgust. "The captain told us to obey his orders, but that freak is no lieutenant of mine!"
"That's the point! Ever since Grime appointed him as his second in command, things have changed here at the Tower! The training is harsher, punishments are more frequent, and the glares of those two things of his…every time I see them, I feel like they're really hating us."
"You woke up me in the middle of the night to chat?" Bog grumbled, standing up and moving toward the door. "I'll be generous, and won't inform the captain that you've violated his curfew, but never-"
"You believe that Fens and Mire have deserted?"
Hit by the unexpected question, Bog stopped, turning around to face Braddock's stare, her eyes piercing through him.
He still remembered the day Mire disappeared, the letter explaining how he got sick of his military life, the captain fuming and sending several patrols looking out for him. Even Bog, while unbelieving that his friend and comrade turned out to be a coward, joined the search parties, but Mire was never found again.
Then, a couple of days later, even Fens disappeared, she too revealing in a letter of having decided to desert. When the news reached him, Bog couldn't believe it. He had known Fens, they had fought together on several occasions, how could she leave suddenly, without even telling him?
"W-Why shouldn't I believe that?" Bog shuttered, his simplistic brain sticking to the official version of the events. "The captain said they did, and if he says so-"
"Leaving the tower all of a sudden, with no warning, not even saying goodbye to their closest friend?" Percy summarized, the wannabe jester suddenly speaking with unnatural seriousness. "Fens and Mire? Bog, I saw them while they were training with you; I saw them fight. I saw them laugh in the face of danger when you three faced that giant mantis. Bog, please, stop believing what they tell you to believe and trust only your instincts: do you seriously think Fens and Mire would abandon you, without even a single warning?"
Bog stood silently as he pondered about it, his limited brain capacities focused on the question the buffoon had just laid in front of him. Yet, the more he thought about it, the more he realized…Percy was right.
There was no way Fens or Mire would ever abandon him, without a warning, without a sign, without an apparent reason.
"But…what other option could it be? I mean, the captain…"
"The captain is being deceived, Bog! The Lieutenant…has basically brainwashed him, filled his ears with lies! Haven't you ever noticed how every time the captain shows himself, he is always at his side, whispering into his ear? What if he is the reason for the sudden disappearance of Fens and Mire?"
That caught Bog's attention, the veteran warrior frowning as he realized that hypothesis was more than mere speculation. He had seen with his own eyes how that creature behaved with them, how he kept using any excuse to punish the garrison's toads with extreme measures.
But if Fens and Mire had disappeared due to him…
"I'll kill him," Bog said, his voice filled with anger, clenching his right fist as he imagined holding that freak's throat in his hands.
"That won't do any good for you, Bog." Braddock hurried to quell his anger, "You have seen him, you have seen his guards. Even if you could defeat him, those brutes would simply stomp on you, until breaking all the bones in your body! And who says he doesn't have a plan to turn it against you?"
"I read the letters that Mire and Fens supposedly wrote," Percy nodded. "Those are not their handwriting. Frog, I doubt Mire could even write! But when I tried to bring this to the captain's attention, one of those brutes stopped me before I could even speak to him!"
Bog nodded, as he finally grasped the situation. They couldn't fight that creature directly, no matter how much he wanted it.
Yet, if they wanted to speak with him, that meant there was another way.
"What do you suggest?"
"We need to find proof and show it to the captain," Braddock said. "Once we prove that the lieutenant was lying to him, and manipulating him all along, I'm sure the captain will be more open to hear us…"
None of the toads, however, noticed the small, mechanical bug on the roof of the room, motionlessly listening to their conversation…
(…)
"So, these animals finally realized it, huh?" Aiden said, with a smirk. "I am actually tempted to feel impressed by their effort."
Prince Aiden, lord of the Black Tower and currently Lieutenant of Captain Grime, listened as the female toad kept explaining her plans to expose him to the captain. Unfortunately (for her), Aiden had long foreseen the possibility of conspiracies and thus had set up a listening device in every room where they could dare to discuss it.
And knowing their plan, he knew how to neutralize it.
"Thankfully, soon we will head to Wartwood, and once there, I'll finally be able to ditch this role and kill all these beasts! I'll coordinate with my unfortunate friends, and together, we will bring both the frogs and the toads to their end. And then…we will focus on Newtopia."
The two mechanical bodyguards of his didn't react as their master's eyes filled with, once again imagining the complete annihilation of every living creature of this world.
"I despise all Amphibians!" Aiden said, clenching his fist, thousand-years rancor resurfacing in all its fury. "But in particular, one…"