Taking Charge
" Happy days are here again; the skies above are clear again . So let's sing a song of cheer again- "
"Jacob, what the frog are you singing?" James asked, approaching him from behind. Both boys had two large baskets; James's was empty, but Jacob's was half-full of freshly picked inoffensive tomatoes.
"It's an old tune of my mother's," admitted the boy, taking advantage of the pause to stand up and rest his legs, "She always sings it when she fixes the house. With time, I ended up just learning it."
"And you sing it while we're picking tomatoes?"
"Although it's light years away from Norse-Viking metal music, I have to admit it has its rhythm, and it fits with this hot, sun-filled day. Besides, at least if I sing, I don't have to think about how grueling this job is!"
"Tell me about it," the Englishman echoed him, "I went to a farm once as a kid, but I never worked so hard. On the bright side…you're getting muscles too," he said, gesturing to his peer's arms.
"I would have gladly done without," hissed Jacob, "And the girls, how are they?"
"As usual: Sasha is always impatient with farm work, and looks for any excuse to avoid it; I appreciate that Anne wants to help her, but don't you think Sasha is…abusing her trust?"
"That's the way she is. She has a strong personality: borderline tyrannical, if you ask me. If you try to refuse, she knows how to use words to emotionally blackmail you. And Anne… I'm going to be honest and say the girl doesn't have any backbone in her. Marcy, on the other hand, doesn't need convincing. You just ask her anything, and she will always responds enthusiastically."
"I wonder how Sasha became their friend. If I were them, I would never accept that. This is just so…toxic."
"She wasn't always like that," Jacob reminisced. "When we were younger, she wasn't so manipulative."
Before James could ask him anything else, a shriek at the top of someone's lungs resounded from inside the house. Immediately, the two boys dropped what they were holding and rushed inside. What was going on? Had the bed bugs returned? Had a giant mole cricket penetrated the basement? Again?
"Girls!" shouted James, crashing the door wide open, Jacob behind him. Inside the Plantar house, Hop Pop was getting up from the couch, looking worriedly at the trapdoor leading to the basement.
"Hop Pop, what's going on?"
"I don't know!"
Jacob rushed to the trapdoor, moving to open it…only for it to open by itself, hitting him in the face and causing him to tumble to the floor.
"Ow!"
"Guys, guys, guys, guys, guys!" Anne said, her voice and eyes gleaming with enthusiasm like Marcy. "Look!"
"Anne, what happened? Weren't you…in danger?"
"Nope!"Marcy appeared behind Anne. "That was just good old enthusiasm yelling!"
"What? Did you find a way back home?" Jacob massaged his nose, trying to brush off the pain.
"Even better! A new season of Suspicion Island! My favorite show! I don't even know how I got it! It must have auto-downloaded before we got here!"
"Who's this Otto?"
"And how did you download him?"
"It's auto-download," James clarified, "And that means…wait, how do you get your streaming working? I have tried to use it for weeks!"
"Marbles had an amazing intuition" Sasha spoke, walking out of the basement with a smug, happy expression on her face "We were discussing what we missed from home, and I said I missed my favorite TV series, and then Mar-Mar had a realization," she blinked at her friend.
"Come on Sash," said Marcy smiling nervously, feeling embarrassed, "I just thought that even if networks and the Internet don't work, our phones should keep all the movies and TV series we had already downloaded…"
"Wait a minute" Jacob made, trying to understand, "Are you telling me that…we can still watch our favorite movies and TV series, on our phones?"
"Affirmative!" Marcy rang, grabbing the boy and shaking him passionately, before showing him her phone, "Check this out: War of the Warlocks; the Chronicles of Esteria; The Golden Arrow! All my favorites are here with me!"
"Breakfast in Manhattan; The Big Con; It is Marriage, or It is War" Sasha read aloud the titles from her phone, "Now I feel less homesick!"
"Jacob!" Amelia came out of the basement, as excited as after a triple coffee, "Look at this: The Seven Samurai; Fury of the East; Samurai Jack; Ninja's Double Revenge; Kenshiro the Warrior…they're all here! They are all here! Arigato, Amphibia, for letting me have this joy!"
Jacob and James looked into each other's faces, their hands running quickly to their respective mobile phones: unlock, move, streaming apps, view shows available offline-
Jacob felt powerful energy moving through his body as he saw the list of everything his phone had saved offline, and that therefore, he could still view freely, even here in Amphibia.
"Rambo: First Blood Part II? Braveheart? Erik the Red? The Seven Kingdoms? It's all here! It's all here!" Jacob said with a cry full of excitement and happiness, so loud that it overpowered Anne's earlier one.
"Monty Python, you have not forsaken me!" James shouted in turn behind him.
"I knew you would like to know!" answered Sasha, smiling.
"Group hug!" Marcy intervened, pulling the humans into a singular (but very emotional) hug. The collective happiness was such that even Sasha did not protest.
"Uhm…"
Anne looked from the corner of her eye and saw Hop Pop, Polly, and Sprig looking at them strangely.
"I guess we should explain what this is all about."
"I believe that in this case, Boonchuy," Sasha made, signaling for her to step aside, "An image and a demonstration, is better than a thousand words."
Sasha moved her fingers over the phone and started the playback of one of her favorite shows.
"In the previous episode of Winning Women…"
"I'm not afraid to put myself on the front line if I can succeed!"
"Look! More hummus!" said Sprig.
"More humans, Sprig," the Thai-American girl corrected him.
"Ha ha!" Polly laughed, "They have noses."
"You can't stop me, buster! I set foot in this town, and I'm going to conquer it!"
"I'm not going to let my life…depend on a man!"
"Winning women! The program where big business…wears heels."
"What is this demonic nonsense?" Hop Pop looked at Sasha with puzzlement.
"Ok, I guess we'll have to explain it…step by step" James intervened, "Hop Pop, you know about theater?"
"Sure thing, I do!" the old frog said with pride.
"Ok: in our world, many years ago, they found a way to record events, and then, someone had the idea of recording a theatrics play…so whenever someone wanted to watch it, it could be seen everywhere with no need to rehearse a whole troupe. Such things, in our world, are called movies. And later, someone else thought about making even shorter recordings, all connected, who showed similar stories, with the same characters and background, but different plots and those were the series, which is like a longer movie, divided all into parts."
"And these things are popular in your world?" Sprig asked.
"Yep!" Anne nodded, "Sash, Mar-Mar, and me used to watch a lot of these during our sleepover nights."
"Best things are ever done together, friends!" Marcy hugged Anne from behind.
"I watched a lot of them too," Jacob admitted, "Though, my tastes were for more powerful stories, often showcasing badass warriors fighting against large armies of enemies! Or fighting tyrants. Or blowing up fortresses. Or-"
"So. Cool." Polly said in awe, as she listened to Jacob's description.
"Interested?" Sasha asked, looking at the youngest. "Then how about we celebrate our newfound discovery with a movie night?"
"Movie night?" the Plantars asked, in the same breath.
"Yup: basically, we choose a movie or a TV series, and we watch it all together" James explained, "It's a popular thing to do in the evening, in our world. We just need to choose one tho-"
"About that," Marcy interjected, looking at them with new excitation in her eyes. "How about we watch War of the Warlocks? I always wanted to show it to Sash and Anne-Banana, but we didn't finish it last time…until now."
"Do we have to?" Anne asked "I mean, this is a new season of Suspicious Island after all, and-"
"Come on, Boonchuy, you know that I dislike that show too much." Sasha interrupted her, "Besides, I doubt James, Jacob, or even Amelia would be interested in such a show."
"Sash, I am quite sure-"
"Anne, this isn't fun anymore: we are not watching Suspicious Island. End of discussion."
For a couple of seconds, Sasha stared silently, until Anne smiled awkwardly.
"I guess we can watch it some other time?"
"I knew you'd change your mind." Sasha smiled, and her expression returned to friendly.
"Yay! War of Warlocks!"
"Now, Marcy" the blonde girl turned her attention to the other friend "I know you want us to watch it, but you know it's not my genre, or Booncuy's."
"Aw, come on Sash" Marcy protested, "You won't even try it for…THIS FACE?" she concluded, releasing her huge eyes, shining with unshed tears, upon her friends.
Sasha and Anne looked at each other for a couple of seconds, Sasha biting her lips and trying to look away, before sighing and conceding "Fine. But I'm doing this only for you, ya nerd!"
"Oh my frog, thank you, thank you girls, aww!"
"Don't celebrate yet" Sasha added, "You still have to ask the others if they agree."
"Jacob?" Marcy turned to him.
"You don't need to ask: I'm down for it."
"James?"
"While I admit I have never seen it, I guess this would be a good time."
"Amelì?"
"Don't bother" Amelia crossed her arms, trying to look superior and unwinnable, her face smug and her eyes closed. "I'm developing my shogun mindset, and I can guarantee to you…"
She stopped, as her newly re-opened eyes faced the full assault from Marcy's cute-puppy eyes, lasting for a full five seconds before she realized she had no choice but to concede.
"Well… that's a dirty trick" Amelia surrendered, "Ok, but next time, we are watching Fury of the East."
"Awesome!"
"Let's do it!"
"Now, now, hold on!" Hop Pop protested, looking opposed, "Instead of that thing, how 'bout I treat you to some real entertainment?
"Oh, no." Sprig and Polly said at the same time, with a knowing glaze.
"A scene from The Shallow Pond!" he pulled out a scroll and started to declare, "Sadness. The world is sadness. But look. There. A pond! Is it deep? Or shallow?"
The room stood silent for a minute, everyone looking at Hop Pop before Anne raised her hand, "All in favor of Marcy's movie, say aye!"
A chorus of "ayes" went around the room.
"Oh, come on!" Hop Pop protested, "We always listened to poetry before!"
"Hop Pop uses Call to Tradition," James whispered to Jacob.
"You had nothing better, huh?" Sasha chuckled
"It doesn't have any effect," Jacob replied.
"Please, Mr. Plantar, just give me a chance. Just once…" Marcy faced him, her eyes even bigger and cuteness up to eleven.
"Marcy uses Cute Puppy Eyes," Jacob commented.
"Okay! Fine!" Hop Pop joined the defeated.
"It's super effective!" James laughed while trying to keep his voice down.
"Whoo-hoo!"
"Yes!"
"Yeah!"
"But only until it's time to prepare dinner!" he added.
Many hours later (well past the limit Hop Pop had set for curfew) the nine inhabitants of the farm were sitting on the couch and watching the movie, their eyes glued to the phone screen, Hop Pop still with a sullen and unamused expression while the others with attentive expressions focused on the movie.
"Lilly," said the blue-skinned elf with long white hair, on-screen, "I'm sorry the portal was destroyed. I know it was the only way to stop the invasion, but now… you can never go home again."
The human girl, one of the main characters, turned around, showing a big smile, "Edlwheen, I am home. I mean, in my old world, I was always unsociable, and no one ever considered me a friend; here instead, I learned magic and discovered a strength I didn't even think I possessed. Even if we didn't have to destroy the portal, I would never have made use of it; I decided to stay here, and live with you, forever."
"Does this mean you will finally have to learn the correct Elvish accent?"
"That's right, my dearest friend and teacher..."
The camera receded as the two characters embraced, and the words END appeared on the screen.
"Wow, Marcy," Anne said as the credits rolled, "I have to admit: the movie was good!"
"I've never been a fan of fantasy, but I have to admit it wasn't bad," Sasha added, as she looked at her friends. "Plus, the Amazon warrior Tahdnyr was cool!"
"It was…amazing!" said Sprig, letting out all his emotions.
"Massacre of enemies, violent and bloody actions, magical powers of mass destruction…these movies are incredible!" added Polly, waving her flippers with excitement.
Hop Pop said nothing, merely looking to the side and muttering.
"Great movie, but I was rooting for the orcs."
"Jacob!" Amelia looked at him with bloodshot eyes.
"What do you want, plague? I liked the orc general."
"He was a cruel monster who wanted to slaughter the entire elf people!"
"Exactly: but did you see those elves? When the main character first met them, they had a stink under their noses and treated her as if she was a bug. Worse than us here."
"What time is it?" said James, noticing the elephant in the room, "It's all dark outside."
Puzzled, Amelia moved to her phone and read the time, "Oh frog: it's that late?!"
"Well, I think that's enough for today-"
"What? No!"
"But there are so many stories we still want to see!"
"Trust me, guys." Anne replied, "You got to pace yourself with this stuff. We can show you another movie…tomorrow."
"All right, you two grubs." Hop Pop started, grumbling "Off to bed. And the same for you too!"
"How am I supposed to sleep with so much excitement in my body?" Sprig groaned.
"Stupid sleep! I want to watch more battle scenes, right now!"
"I guess it is time to get into the basement for us," James murmured.
"So, what do you think about human movies, Hop Pop?" Sasha teased him, "Better than that boring stuff you wanted to read us, right?
"That "boring stuff" is called literature!" Hop Pop replied with a stern look, "And if you had an ounce of it, you wouldn't reject true art in favor of some sensationalist, all-action no-plot thing!"
"Hey!" Marcy protested, "It wasn't-!"
"Huh, Marbles?" Anne whispered to her "I think Old Pop is more calling out the whole film thing than your movie in particular."
"Oh, that's fine, then!"
Jacob yawned, "If you want to quarrel, do it without me: I'm hitting the bunk."
"Me too."
"Just a moment," said Hop Pop, "Aren't you forgetting something?"
"Thank you, HP," said Anne yawning in turn, "But I don't think I need a bedtime story."
"Your "phones", leave them here," said Hop Pop, pointing to the table.
"What? Why?" yelled Sasha in bewilderment.
"I don't want any of you to take advantage to watch something when you're supposed to sleep. Leave them on the table; you can take them back in the morning."
Somewhat muttering, stymied, the humans placed their phones on the table.
"Don't worry, baby," Sasha said, patting his phone, "Mommy will be here again in the morning."
"What a nuisance."
"Come on, come on," said Hop Pop, heading for his bedroom, "You can have them back tomorrow: you won't need them when you sleep anyway."
Even with a few additional mutterings, the humans put down their cell phones and walked back into the basement, closing the trapdoor behind them, and left their phones on the table. Alone.
"How could you do this to us? I thought we were friends!" Anne's voice rang out with unprecedented anger.
"Sorry, sorry…" said Marcy with tears in her eyes.
"Sorry? Sorry?!Is that all you have to say? You couldn't even try to talk to us before trapping us in another world full of danger?"
"You snatched us from our lives, threw us amid danger and dirt, and for what?" this was Sasha, "To roleplay your RPG fantasies?"
"If I had known what you had on your chin, I would have never approached you again!"
"You are truly…dishonorable!"
"Jacob, Amelia, no…"
"What did I have to do with it?" James attacked her from behind, "I just wanted to watch the stars; why did I have to be involved as well?"
"Marcy, you failed our trust, betrayed our feelings, and violated every expectation of ours!"
"It's over, Marcy! We are no longer friends, not now, not ever!"
"No, NOOO!"
Marcy let out a gasp, realizing she was in her temporary bed in the basement of the Plantar's farm and felt a great sense of relief. Next to her, Sasha and Anne slept close together, Anne snoring softly, Sasha instinctively bringing her thumb close to her mouth. She had long discovered these little secrets of theirs but had never told anyone, in the name of their friendship.
Friendship…
She looked around the dark, dimly visible room: Amelia was sleeping in a prone position, her wooden katana and hat-souvenir beside her head; Jacob, on the other hand, was lying on his back in a subdued position, breathing noisily, and James...
"You all right?" said the English boy, rousing himself from his sleep.
"Everything's fine, James. I just had a bad dream."
"Do you want to talk about it? I'm neither Anne nor Sasha, but maybe I can help you."
"No, I just need a few moments, to-"
"Marcy," the boy said as he looked at her, "Please, I know that look."
"What look?"
"You hide it pretty well from Sasha and Anne when they are looking. However, you forget that we see you as well it seems. I do not know about the others, but to me, it is clear as day. It's almost as if you're crying on the inside and you try your best to keep it that way."
"And so what? You are a mentalist or something?" Marcy asked defensively.
James responded with a chuckle "No, just something I learned as a child."
Marcy said nothing, so James continued.
"I won't force you to tell me what's troubling you, I have no right to. But hear me out on this, you can't keep it inside you forever, or you'll keep hurting yourself."
Marcy waded down: James's words seemed helpful, but what options did he have? Tell them the truth? And how would the boy react, on finding out that it was she who had trapped him here, without him being able to say anything about it?
If I have to hurt someone, let it be me, thought the chess champion wistfully, it will be my punishment for what happened.
"I thank you for your words," said Marcy with a smile, "and I promise-"
A noise, coming from upstairs, caught the attention of the two teens.
"Did you hear that?"
"I'll check now," James replied, climbing up the ladder and lifting the trapdoor with circumspection. Nothing, in the living room, seemed to be out of place, nor did there appear to be an unwelcome nocturnal visitor.
"What do you see?" Marcy whispered from below.
"Nothing: maybe it was just the wind. Come on, let's go back to sleep-" the boy yawned, closing the trapdoor.
For a few seconds, nothing happened; then, a dark shadow moved out of hiding, placed a large sack on the trapdoor, and approached the small table where the phones had been laid, activating one of them.
"DreamStar Films presents ..."
On the next day, Marcy was in the bathroom, alone: a moment of personal privacy to reflect on her thoughts, and on what James had told her the previous night.
"Come on, Mar-mar, you're a model student: always getting straight A's, and you're the champion and president of the chess club: with your intelligence, is there anything you can't do?"
Silence.
"This, I cannot do; I can't find the courage. But how can I do it?"
Keeping the secret, at now, was the safest option according to her, and still…there was something in James' words that kept resonating within her. Something about the fact that she couldn't keep hiding it inside of her.
He has a point, her thoughts echoed, what would happen if Sasha or Anne found out against themselves? In that case, they would still be angry, even more so.
Nevertheless, how could she tell them? True, she did not know when they had taken the box, that it would work for real (she would not have believed it then), but would the others accept it?
I cannot tell them, at least for now. Just need to do it at the right time…
Meanwhile, on the lower floor, Anne was coming out of the kitchen with a large popcorn-filled bowl, while on the sofa, Sasha, Jacob, and Amelia were already waiting for her.
"Snacks, reporting for duty!" said Anne as she put down the bowl.
"Coming, coming!" said James arriving at that moment, "Where's Marcy?"
"Still on the upper floor" the Thai-American replied "Since she chose the first movie, she can't choose again and thus she volunteered to take the last bathroom turn: now, who's next?"
"Me, me!" said Jacob raising his hand "I want to propose that we see a breathtaking action movie!"
"Don't even try!" Amelia stepped forward "Marcy promised me yesterday that I would choose, and I want to see Fury of the East!"
Nevertheless, as soon as Amelia touched her phone, a red message with a sound she knew flashed on the screen.
"What? Low battery? No way!"
"Oops, that's too bad" Jacob mocked her, "Looks like, by forfeit of the opposing team, we'll see..."
However, his laughter died in his throat as soon as he saw that his phone was also without power.
"What!"
It was a moment, and panic spread among the boys, each grabbing his phone and checking.
The answer was terrible.
"No!"
"Pure horror!"
"No, no. Don't do this to me, no!"
"What's wrong, guys?"
"What's all this ruckus?"
"WHY ARE YOU ALL SCREAMING?!"Polly asked.
"Anne-Banana, Sash, are you okay?" Marcy peeped out from upstairs.
"Marcy! The batteries in our phones...they're all dead!"
"What?!" the Taiwanese-American girl replied, rushing (or rather, tumbling) downstairs "How is that possible? Everything was fine last night!"
"Here, all the movies we have results as watched!" said Jacob opening his streaming app.
"Same here!"
"And here too!"
Marcy reached across the table and picked up her phone. As soon as he unlocked it, he saw that his phone also had all the movies and TV series watched, and the battery was almost at zero.
Huh? "Watched? Who watched all these episodes and movies, and used up all the -"
Marcy's phone beeped again, and then, it shut down, no more energy to keep it active, all the phones imitating it and turning inert in a matter of seconds.
"Oh," Marcy said, shocked by the event.
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, NO, NO!"
"They're gone…they're gone…" Sasha whispered lowly, a despairing look in her eyes.
"What's gone?"
"Everything!" Anne yelled in shock "My pictures! My texts! Videos of my cat! All my memories from home are gone!"
Around her, other human beings also assumed distressed and devastated expressions, lamenting what they had lost. Only Marcy, for the moment, remained calm and was not panicked.
"Uh, Marcy, can you explain...?"
"Sprig, for us humans, phones are much more than a way to watch movies or TV series. We keep our most cherished photos and images on them, and many of the things we are most fond of. For us, who are trapped here in Amphibia, losing the ability to access our memories of our world is painful, as if the bond that kept us connected to it has been severed cleanly."
"Really?" said Hop Pop, looking to the side and wiping his forehead.
"So it wasn't just the wind…"
"James, what are you saying?" Anne asked, raising her head again.
"While you were all sleeping last night, we heard something, Marcy and I. I didn't see anything so we didn't think anything about it, but this morning…"
He picked up a large sack full of seed, resting behind the couch.
"But that's the seed sack for the garden: what is it doing here?"
"Evidently," Marcy said thoughtfully, "Someone put it on the trapdoor before watching all the shows and movies on our phones. By doing that, even if one of us had gotten out, we would have warned him, and so-"
Sasha stood up in full, a look full of anger burning in her eyes "Who. Did. This?!"
"What?"
"Maybe they just drained themselves-"
"Phones DON'T "just drained themselves" Sprig!" Sasha called him out "Someone tonight used them so much that they drained their battery, and it can only be one of you three!"
"What?"
"That's absurd!"
"Where is your proof?"
"Oh, we have irrefutable proof," replied the blonde girl, picking up the seed sack and setting it on the coffee table, "James, you said this sack was on the hatch when you went out first, right?"
"That's right, Sash," replied the boy, "I remember struggling a bit to open it, and only later did I see that there was something on it."
"If the sack was on top of the trapdoor leading to the basement, it means that none of us can be the culprit, as we could not have placed the sack from under the trapdoor. This means that the only ones who could have done this were those who were not sleeping in the basement: you three!"
"The reasoning is flawless," Polly admitted thoughtfully.
"Polly did it! It could only have been her!"
"What?"
"I even heard her get up in the night: very suspicious!"
"I needed to pee! Moreover, if you heard me, you were awake too. You are the suspicious one!"
"Don't change the subject!"
"Wait, what about... Hop Pop?"
"Heh! Me?" the old frog shrugged "In case you forgot, I despise such messes."
"Exactly! If it was someone who wanted to see another movie, why drain the batteries of all the phones? Doing so would have forced us to listen to your boring play!"
"Oh, that's good."
"That is preposterous!"
"Guys, guys!" Marcy intervened, trying to bring the argument back to order, "There is no point in arguing about who did or didn't do it; instead of playing the blame game, why don't we try to resolve the situation? The phones are not irretrievably destroyed, they're just dead."
"I must admit that Marcy is right!" intervened James "Perhaps, we can find a local system, to recharge them."
"Good thinking! How do we bring these things back to life? Magic? Live sacrifices? I know a guy in town-"
"We need power. Electricity." Anne simply said.
"What?"
"Huh?"
"What is that?"
"Well, electricity is ...well, Marcy?"
"Yes, Anne?"
"I unleash you."
Marcy smiled "Okay, let me explain: so, electricity..."
[Fifteen minutes of meticulous exposition on The nature of electricity and its properties, Full unedited version later…]
"-when the frequency is high enough, alternating current can be fed into an antenna which-"
"Okay, Marbles," Sasha intervened, "I think that's enough."
"But I'm not done."
"It is, for them." Sasha pointed at the Plantars, who looked intoxicated by the overly long explanation.
"I don't think I understood even ten percent of the words you said," admitted Hop Pop, to whom Marcy's speech had seemed more like a cascade of words "However, I may have figured out what you're talking about: come, to my study!"
Here, Hop Pop picked up one of his large volumes, titled "Beasts of Amphibia," and opened it, beginning to explore its pages, with Marcy observing its contents just behind him.
"I've heard talk of a creature called the zapapede that lives deep in the Misty Peaks. It zaps its prey with a small spark of lightnin'. Yeah, it's pretty cool."
"It must be a creature capable of generating a biological electrical discharge, like the eel or catfish of our world," Marcy said thoughtfully, "I wonder if they use a similar system."
"The important thing is that it works, right?" intervened Jacob "Let's examine it after we recharge the batteries of our cell phones, shall we?"
"How far away is this creature, HP?" asked Anne.
"Don't call me HP." replied Hop Pop "Anyway, It's half a day's travel from here. If we get ready and leave, we could be back by tonight."
"I have an idea that might simplify the operation!" intervened Marcy "but I'll need a pair or more strong hands to put it into action."
"In that case, we'd better split into two groups: Anne?"
"Yes, Sasha?"
"I'll give Marcy a hand; can you take care of the supplies and anything else we might need?"
"Don't worry, Sash: I'll take care of it!"
"Perfect: Jacob, James, you come with me; Amelia, you are with Anne."
"You're not my boss-" Jacob sniped, unheard by the blonde.
"We'll help Anne," Polly and Sprig said.
"So, let's get into action," Sasha said with irritation, "The sooner we finish, the sooner I can get my cell phone back..."
" A family united by Fate, On a dangerous mission Like the magic-wielding elves, On the world of Wizards and Warlocks On a quest for the electric miracle Onward we march To recharge the lost phones"
"Wow, Sprig, I have to admit it: you've got talent with the violin!"
"Thank you, Anne," replied the young frog, "I've only taken a few lessons, but I can manage."
"I believe is a nice thing that you brought it," said James, the heavy backpack over his shoulder "At least it will help distract us from this dreary path, and this heavy backpack."
"Hey, you're the one who insisted on carrying it," Sasha reprimanded him, at the vanguard "And you should be the one complaining: in ten minutes, I got a rock in my shoe three times already."
"You could have stayed at the farm and waited for us to come back: why didn't you?"
"I told you, Jacob: I'm not going to step aside and leave my cell phone alone!"
"And I won't back down from challenges: if these zapapedes are dangerous, they will taste my blade! Kai-Zee! Shiroyama!"
"Okay, Amelia, I'm only going to say this once: first, your katana is made of wood, so it doesn't have a blade; and second, Shiroyama is not a Japanese battle cry, it's the name of a castle and the battle of the same name!"
"Hey, if you want to be specific, did you know that Vikings didn't wear horned helmets? You're wrong too!"
"Look, if you're trying to quarrel-"
"Quiet, you two. Look, there's one now! A zapapede!"
The boys looked in the direction indicated by Hop Pop, and saw, hanging on a peak of rock, a kind of yellow centipede equipped with horns. The creature had its eyes closed, looked sleepy, and seemed not to have noticed their presence.
"That's a zapapede?" asked Jacob as he observed the strange creature.
"Oh, it looks pretty cute," added Anne.
"Interesting creature!" Marcy squeaked, adding new notes and sketches to her journal.
"Okay, now that we've found it-how do we catch it?"
"First, I think we'll have to get closer,"
Easier said than done: the peak was connected to the trail by a light wooden bridge and short, with no walkway, and very old, making one dizzy just by looking at it.
"Step lightly, everyone," Hop Pop admonished, "This thing doesn't look like it can take much weight."
"Perhaps it would be better to go one at a time, and wait until you have crossed before crossing in turn?"
"So...who goes first?"
"Duh, move over!"
"Sasha?" exclaimed both Anne and Marcy, seeing their friend step forward.
"Hello, cheerleading captain, most prominent member of the track team, anyone? I'm the one with the best skills for this situation!"
"Are you sure you want to go first?"
"It's just a matter to keep your balance, no?"
The blond girl stepped forward and proceeded across the fragile bridge, taking care to shift her center of gravity to maintain her precarious balance, while the others watched her anxiously. Only at the end, when Sasha arrived on the duck side safely, did everyone breathe (mentally) a sigh of relief.
"Three hurrahs for our cheerleader!" said Jacob, raising his fist.
"Touchdown!" Sasha replied from the other side, striking a pose "Your turn!"
"Wait: James, can you pass me the spare rope in the secondary pocket of the backpack?"
"Sure, Marcy," replied the British boy, "What do we need it for?"
"I have an idea: take a rock, and tie one end of the rope with it."
"Okay?"
"Now take the rock…and throw it to Sasha!"
"What?"
"What?" echoed Sasha on the other side, "Marbles, what kind of idea you have?"
"Sash, if you tie yourself to the rope and another one of us acts as a counterweight, we could improvise a rope line so even if one of us loses equilibrium, the others can keep him from falling."
A complicit look passed among those present: it was not a bad idea, and the fact that it was Marcy (of the six, the one with the highest rate of falling and tripping) who had proposed it, seemed almost apt.
"Very well, then I'll go second."
"Jacob, no: after Sasha, I am the most athletic!"
"I know James, but even with that big backpack? Let me go next, so Sasha and I can hold at the bridge on the other side and make passing safer"
"All right, but be careful and hold on to the rope: it looks still quite dangerous."
"I live for danger, baby!" said the boy, knotting the rope tightly "Ready when you are, Pom-Pom!"
"I told you not to call me Pom-pom!" was Sasha's reply from the other side.
Jacob advanced onto the bridge. His walk was not as light and calculated as Sasha's and the bridge swayed more, but the boy proceeded swiftly, secured by the rope.
Perhaps it was because all eyes were on him that none of the boys noticed that the fiber holding the bridge together, illuminated by a distant concave and focused reflective light, was slowly but steadily disintegrating, and as a result, the bridge was weakening.
The first to notice was Sasha, who heard a creak and saw a piece of rope move, and ran with her hands to grab it, only to realize that it was hot.
"OW!" went the blond girl.
"Sasha. What are you-"
Too late. There was a new creak, and the bridge, no longer able to support the boy's weight, snapped in two. Sasha, Anne, Amelia, and Mary, who were already tied with the rope, were pulled into the fall; James tried to grab Marcy, while the Plantars grabbed onto Anne, but their weight alone was not enough to counterbalance, and they were pulled in turn.
Fortunately, the fall was little more than a hop, and with the help of a couple of bushes, the little group got away with only a few bruises and scrapes.
"Ouch."
"Rope bridge? More like nope bridge."
"Is everyone okay?"
"Ask my bones: they all ache in no particular order!"
"Look! Down there!" Hop Pop gasped "More zapapedes!"
Jacob and Sasha rushed to look, and saw it was true: some 30 or more zapapedes, huddled together, waited at the bottom of the crevasse.
"They're pretty far down."
"Marcy, did you notice it? Their pupils look like plus and minus signs!"
"Curiouser and curiouser! Perhaps it is related to their electrical capacity? But then, how does Mother Nature know about the link between plus and minus with electricity? Maybe the zapapedes aren't naturally evolved! But then-"
"OK! Now that we have zapapedes…how do we plan to charge the phones?"
"Don't worry; we have the solution here with us. James, Jacob, get out the accumulator!"
James placed his backpack on the ground, revealing inside it what, at first glance, appeared to be a wooden shelf, with six spaces, one for each cell phone. Each cell phone, through its charging point, was attached by a short, twisted metal cable to some kind of liquid-filled jug, from which another, larger cable, embedded in a piece of rope, departed. Along with it, also made of rope and other objects, a kind of plush insect.
"Marbles, can you explain to me again what this is for?"
"This, Anne-Banana, is nothing less than a portable accumulator: all we have to do is bring the fake prey close to one of the zapapedes, have it bite it, and the electrical discharge will be transferred to our cell phones!"
"There's just one small problem," said James noticing it, "The cable is too short: it won't reach down there,"
"Not a problem: we can stretch it with the spare rope."
"The spare rope?"
"Yes."
"You mean the one we used a little to try to cross?"
"That's right."
"And that now, it's all broken and torn?"
Marcy opened her eyes again and realized it was true. The rope they had used was now no longer reusable.
"...I see the problem," she admitted, giggling nervously.
"Oh, do ya? Great, what do we do?" blurted Sasha, "Does anyone else have another idea?"
"Why don't you try coming up with something, since you keep acting as our leader?" retorted Jacob, with a look full of defiance "You're good at extorting solutions from others, but a real leader is capable of coming up with solutions for the problems in front of him, anytime."
"Oh, the failed punk wants to lecture me? If my leadership bothers you, why haven't you said anything so far? Maybe you are the one who is only good at criticizing!"
"Guys, guys!" intervened Anne, placing herself between the two "There's no need to fight: we can form a chain with our hands and lower ourselves until we're in the right reach for the portable accumulator. How deep will it be from here to down?"
James leaned over and measured the distance by eye "Seven or eight meters, let's say nine to be safe."
"Then the six of us won't be enough," Amelia judged, "Unless someone wants to reveal to us that they can stretch their hands as far as they like-"
"Ahem! I apologize for intervening, but you seem to be forgetting one detail: we are here too!"
"Sprig's right!" Polly nodded, "We came with you all the way up here, and we can help you!"
"You? Thank you, but no!" replied Sasha with a look full of hostility "We still don't know which of you is responsible for what happened!"
"Sasha!"
"What?" She snapped in response. "That's the truth and you know it. All of you know it! One of them is responsible for this whole fiasco to happen in the first place! We could have been chilling at the farm watching movies but instead, we had to come all the way here, on that dirty and uncomfortable path, and now we have to get close to those lightning caterpillars!"
"At least I don't consider someone guilty until proven innocent. And I don't judge a book by its cover, although I guess in your case I can make an exception!"
"Does the punk now think himself as a goody two shoes?"
"Say the meanie cheerleader who secretly watches cute little horses cartoons!"
"…How do you that? Who told you that?! You read my private diary?!"
"That'll teach you to steal my fries at the cafeteria, Pom-Pom!"
"Stop. Calling. Me. POM-POM!"
Sasha attempted to attack Jacob, prompting Anne and Marcy to grab her while Amelia and James did the same to him.
"Viper, disguised as a girl!
"Sash, please!"
"Barbarian-faced idiot!"
"Jacob, don't stoop to this level!"
"Children, please!" quipped Hop Pop, worriedly observing the argument.
"Anne, stop-"
"Fight, Fight!"
"Stop!" said Hop Pop suddenly, causing the quarrel to stop instantly "Stop fighting! I guess it's time to tell you the truth,"
"Tell us, what truth?"
"You mean-"
Sprig took a step forward "Anne...all three of us used your phones last night."
"What," replied Sasha, turning her head.
"I know, we weren't supposed to do that, but...I couldn't resist!" the little frog burst into tears of guilt "I wanted to see more stories, and I thought no one would notice if I got up at night to see more, and I met Polly and Hop Pop-"
"What?" The six humans said at the same time.
"I'm sorry, but I wanted to see those movies full of action and violence that Jacob talked about. And those works about the eastern warriors of Amelia-"
"Hop Pop, you too?" asked James slightly stunned "But you hated human movies!"
"Hated them? Hated them?! I LOVED THEM!" the old frog admitted, "My boy, it may not seem like it, but I too had dreams once. And those dreams were to be an actor and to thrill audiences: unfortunately, events in my life have prevented me from fulfilling that dream, but when you told me last night that movies were an evolution of theater, and that actors were present in both...the curious part of me awoke. I pretended not to be interested, to despise them, but inside, I wanted to see more and find out more. I could not sleep, and so…I did the only thing I could do. I went for your phones - and I met Sprig and Polly, who had had the same idea I had.
"We only wanted to see one thing each," Sprig admitted, "But we were so focused, by the time we realized how much time had passed, it was already dawn."
"It was also me who put the bag over the hatch" Hop Pop admitted, "Sorry, but when I heard you had woken up, we needed a few minutes to get out of sight."
"We didn't say anything right away, hoping you wouldn't remark something amiss. But then, you all start screaming about the phones being drained and acting angry. We did not realize how attached you were to those things, and we were afraid that if we told you the truth, you would be even angrier with us. So we help you try to remedy it, but-"
"It's okay, Sprig, you don't need to apologize."
"Anne?!"
"They're right, Sasha, we're being stupid! You and Jacob were on the verge of tearing each other apart, like two contestants on Suspicious Island, and for what? The solution to our problem is here, but we need to cooperate to achieve it, not accuse each other!"
Sasha looked at Anne, at first to retort, but then saw Marcy's face, which was still trying to block her: was it worth continuing this argument when both her friends wanted it to end?
"Fine," admitted the blonde, "I'm still enraged that you touched my phone without permission and that Jacob read my diary-"
"Technically I haven't-" a sharp nudge from Amelia interrupted him from speaking-
"-I think we can put our forces to better use. So, can we still put Marcy's plan into action?"
"Of course, we can!"
"Absolutely!"
"Let's get to work!"
The human boys, aided by the Plantars, formed a chain of arms, lowering themselves already slowly: last in line were Sasha and James, who acted as a counterweight, then came Jacob, then Amelia, then Hop Pop, Polly, and Sprig, and finally Marcy and Anne (to whom James had passed the accumulator).
"Bring us down some more," said Marcy looking up, "We're still not close enough."
"Again, boys!" said Jacob, as Sprig stretched his tongue further, bringing Anne and Marcy down even further.
"Okay, we're in position," Marcy said "Anne, bait the hook!"
"Come on, zapapedes: here comes the gruel. Take a bite...Yes!" exulted the girl when a zapapede saw the fake prey and bit it. "All right, it took the bait!"
"Nice job Anna-Banana! Just be careful with the accumulator: I had to work fast and didn't have time to properly insulate it!"
"Wait, wha-?"
The zapapede released a powerful electric shock, which through the rope, passed through Anne, causing her to scream from the shock. From Anne, the shock went to Marcy, from Marcy it went to the Plantars, from the Plantars to Jacob until it went back up to James and Sasha. Each of them screamed at the top of their lungs before the electric shock threw them into the air causing them to land in a clearing in the trees.
Hop Pop was the first to hear the beeping of the phones, and to notice that they had turned back on.
"Holy smokes. That's a lot of percents."
"Ten thousand percent of charge?" James noticed, still shaking "How is that possible?"
"How are we still alive after that?"
"Define, alive." Sasha struggled to get up.
"Okay, good news, our cell phones are all recharged," said Amelia with a smirk "The bad one, is that now the three of you need a hairdresser!"
"What?" replied Anne before checking her hair "Oh no, I look like a cotton ball!"
"A cotton ball that got a shock." the wannabe samurai chuckled.
"My hair! Get me a comb, a hair dryer, a hair helmet-something that can fix this horror!"
"Sash, did you see that? We got away with it-"
"Huh, Marbles?" Anne pointed to her friend's hair "Your hairdo is on fire."
"What? Help!"
"Stop running around!"
As Jacob, Sasha, Amelia, and Anne went to rescue their friend, James reached out his hand toward Hop Pop to help him up.
"So, you had dreams of being an actor, huh?"
"Yeah…and a part of me still hates myself for letting that opportunity pass."
"Who said it passed already? I admit I do not know much about theatre and acting skills here in Amphibia, but on Earth, we had many popular actors who are even older than you."
"They do?"
"Yeah! Plus, who said that is too late to learn? If you want to consider it, I can help you with that?"
"Why? You have experience in acting?"
"Hey, I come from Great Britain, the homeland of some of the best actors in the world and the birthplace of one of the most proficient acting schools, the Shakespearian Acting School. And, I do have some tv shows and movies that could help you develop your acting skills."
"You-you would do this for me? But, why?"
"Because our dreams are like the stars in the sky: they are meant to lead us, not to be ignored."
"Thank you, guys!" Marcy said, as the small fire on her was finally suppressed "You are life savers."
"So, we are sorry that we lied and dried your little phone boxes" Polly look at Anne and Sasha "Can you forgive us?"
"Well, you guys wanted to help us, and you did not know about the battery issue. So I think we are square."
"Plus, with ten thousand percent of the battery, we won't need any more recharge soon."
"I am still a little bit offended about the fact that you touched my phone" Sasha admitted "But I guess I call it even for this time if you can give me some more help tomorrow."
"Deal!"
"Plus, I think someone else requires my attention right now!" she glared at Jacob.
"Huh, Sash, why are you looking at me that way?"
"Two words: private diary!"
"Hey, you forgot to hide it! Besides, I wasn't even looking for your secrets, but for the answer for the test…wait, Sasha? Put that large wood down! No, don't come closer! No!"
"I guess it is time to head home" Hop Pop chuckled as Jacob started to run, quickly pursued by an angry Sasha "Come on children, let's head back!"
The children moved, following Hop Pop, and soon, the adventure of today was well behind in their toughs. Even Sasha was now focusing on something else, that is, pursuing Jacob to punish him for violating her secrets, and thus, had forgotten about a small detail, that she only witnessed without telling anyone.
Thus, the humans would have not known, until much later, that someone else was on that mountain that day…
Unlike humans and frogs, zapapedes were not sentient creatures, and their nature was more instinct than true intelligence. If something came within their reach, they would release their electricity to stun and kill it: if they could digest it, then it was food, if not, they would ignore it. If something survived their discharge and got away, they would not chase it or try to attack it: their electric discharge, defense as well as a hunting system, ensured their safety.
It was for this reason that when the huge pile of zapapedes saw two tall black figures approaching them, none of them attacked or attempted to flee, ignoring the possible threat. Only when the two figures got closer did the zapapedes begin to quiver and build up electric discharge, in order to defend themselves.
The figures continued to approach: they were tall and dark, in massive armor, and each of them was armed with a long pike, more than twice their height. They had no Amphibian connotations, but despite their poor individual memory, some of the zapapedes seemed to recognize their features.
The two figures grabbed their pikes, and with a swift lunge, struck at the center of the huddled zapapedes: immediately, the electric insects reacted with a powerful electric shock, comparable in power to lightning.
Powerful, impetuous, unstoppable. Useless.
The current passed through the two figures, but they did not react, nor did they seem to notice the attack they had suffered, remaining motionless for the duration of the discharge; after which, they retracted their spades, two unfortunate zapapedes caught in the hold.
The rest of the pile of zapapedes stood by and watched as the two figures carried two of them out of their sight, perhaps judging it a fair deal to sacrifice two singles for survival, or perhaps heedless of what was happening. Nevertheless, the attack did not stop.
After a few minutes, the two figures returned, once again striking the zapapedes in the middle, once again the zapapedes reacted with a powerful electric shock, but once again the shock proved ineffective and the two figures walked away with two more zapapedes imprisoned on their pikes.
Six times the figures returned to the attack, and six times they walked away with two precious prey: all along the way, the zapapedes tried in vain to free themselves, tried to build up new electrical energy, but to no avail: their captors, however slow in their movements, did not even seem to notice the attacks of their prey, and continued to march on, further and further away from the other zapapedes, toward an unknown destination.
A destination, that eventually turned out to be a large, sturdy wooden cage, set about a hundred yards up a flat rock ledge, where the previously captured zapapedes were already imprisoned. Once the last few were also securely locked inside the cage, the two massive figures arranged themselves at the sides, and with a quick movement, stood at attention, the pike standing in their left hand, their right hand steady in a military salute.
Motionless, waiting for their master.
"Well done, boys," said a voice full of arrogance, and a third figure, slightly more petite and puny than the two, advanced toward them. He wore black armor, with additional heavy armor on his shoulders, pelvis, and hips, a gray cloak running from his shoulders, heavy metal boots, and at waist level, a belt with several leather pockets and a sheath for a long sword, a sturdy and sharp medieval falchion.
On the chest of his armor, that is, the most heavily armored and well-defended point, was stamped a coat of arms, with golden outlines, partly striped, and partly depicting a strange rampant creature, similar in some ways to a lion, or a dragon.
"Twelve zapapedes, all in good health: a stable group, enough to develop our own herd of them," said the newcomer as he brought his gaze closer to the cage. "Creatures feared and kept away from by all, yet of great potential. Of course, at the moment I cannot dispose of such potential, but ...once I can rely on your internal magical power to give more power to my forces, my productive capabilities will grow, and so will the growth of my army!"
The two pikemen listened motionless, without speaking: having been built without a mouth, they could not respond, but only obey the orders they received.
One of the zapapedes, seeing the voice in armor, tried releasing a new discharge; but again, the result was null.
"Go ahead and try!" the voice mocked it, "My armor is too thick, and your discharge too weak, for you to harm me!"
Once his interest in prey was over, the figure broke away from the cage and looked far away, toward the valley that stretched before his eyes: another person would have found such a vision marvelous, and would have been impressed.
He merely snorted: even the most spectacular landscapes of Amphibia, were a meager substitute for the majestic, blonde wheat fields near his home.
His true home.
"To tell you the truth, I would not have thought of going here today: I have already known Wartwood and its inhabitants, as well as every other village or town in this blasphemous world. But after all, it is not for them that I came here today, is it?"
A hissing sound above his head made him look up, to see a great metal eagle slowly descending in altitude, landing carefully on the rock. It had taken fifteen years, but the great metal bird could now move without causing accidental devastation.
The figure put his hands to his own helmet and slipped it off, letting the Amphibia sun once again illuminate his short blond hair, his cold eyes, his aquiline nose, his features clearly foreign in this strange land of frogs and toads that spoke like men.
Features, clearly human.
"StormHawk, have you accomplished the mission I gave you?"
In response, the mechanical eagle lowered its head, its sharp beak full of false teeth at the human's chest level, and a strange light appeared from its eyes. Then, a moving image reproduced what it had seen.
"So, there are six of them," said the human, looking carefully at the images.
The boy with the big baggage...his physiognomies are very familiar; perhaps, a subject of the current King of England? But I have never seen hairs of such a silvery color.
The other boy...is he wearing a helmet with horns? Perhaps a Dane, or a member of the pagan tribes that dwell in the North Sea? I have never seen helmets of such a nature, yet somehow, his vision reassures me. If the Vikings are still a presence in the world I come from, that means things have not changed, at least not too much.
That girl...has chestnut-colored hair, and yet the sword she wears, and the hat…is she an envoy from the Cipango archipelago? An ambassador, perhaps?
This other girl has very dark skin, but she seems neither an infidel nor a savage. She has quite outstanding hair and shows good physical strength: and I have to admit, she is very attractive!
This other…this girl has clearly oriental features! A princess of the Celestial Empire? An arrangement with her could be very useful, regardless of the circumstances; not only that, she, like the previous one, is also stunning and graceful.
Finally, the last one is in my opinion the most interesting: I guess the leader, her long wheat-blond hair and uncommon athletic skills reveal an excellent education: undoubtedly a princess, gorgeous and energetic.
The human retreated a step: at first, he had come only to make sure of the presence of other humans in this world, but now, the stakes were much higher and more enticing.
"Very well: StormHawk, I have new orders for you. Take these zapapedes, and carry them up to the Black Tower. Once you bring them there, come back to me."
A light shone in the metal eagle's eyes before it grabbed the cage and soared again, up into the sky and far away, disappearing into the horizon.
"You two!"
The two pikeys waited for new orders to be given to them, standing motionlessly in front of their master.
"Go down to the valley, and find a shelter worthy of my person: it looks like I will have to stop by in this valley, at least for a few days."
The two mechanical soldiers nodded, repeating the military salute, before heading with heavy steps across the path and down into the valley.
I have to speed up my operations: once the pass dividing the valley from the outside world will be passable once again, I will not be able to prevent Newtopia from sending emissaries or scouts to Wartwood, nor to prevent my fellows to reach it. I have to act as soon as I can before Andrias can even start preparing his pawns.
He glared away, a glaze full of hate and anger on his eyes, looking far from Wartwood, far from the valley, in the direction where the current capital city of this world existed.
The friend of Leif will pay for what she did to me… and so will every frog, toad, or newt of this world!