Wally and the Humans

Several small items lay on the ground, surrounding the lone couch sitting in the middle of the clearing, a blonde girl groaning as the sunlight began to spill through the cloth covering her face. At her side, another girl with untidy, auburn hair snored loudly, holding on to the pineapple she was hugging in her sleep, her hair a mess. All around them, for the whole clearing, various objects and necessities were tossed around, including a washtub, a broken tea set, a half-full bag of flour, and a small pot where a familiar pet spider was currently sleeping.

Archie yawned before walking out of his "bed", exploring the unfamiliar environment around him and crawling right next to James, who had passed out on the ground, the little spider moving onto his stomach and started to jump all over it.

The spider's movements brought James to awaken; immediately, the morning sunlight began to burn his eyes, feeling dizzy as he slowly tried to get back on his feet. Archie immediately crawled above his head in order to get to safety.

James peered around, wondering where he was, wincing as a powerful migraine attacked his brain, stumbling as the boy ended up colliding with someone still asleep.

"Hey!" Jacob protested, getting up from the lone mattress lying on the ground where he was resting, still dressed in his armor. "Don't you-James?"

"Jacob? What happened? Where we are?"

"One question at a time, please!" The boy groaned, getting back on his feet as his brain desperately tried to reconnect, "I feel like…James, you're dirty!" He pointed out, looking at the other human's clothes, covered with mud. "Did you sleep in a swamp?"

"I think we all slept in a swamp."

"What?" The guy with the white streak yelled, before realizing his own armor was dirty and foul-smelling as well. "Frog, I'll have to clean it…again!"

As Jacob looked around, he suddenly realized the meaning of the other boy's words, as he suddenly came into the realization they weren't in Wartwood anymore.

"What the- girls!"

"Jacob? Hey, what's going on here?"

"Why I am hugging a pineapple?"

"Help!" Another voice called, everyone turning to see Amelia, desperately trying to untie herself from the tree branch she had probably slept in the whole night.

"Amelia?" Sasha looked up, realizing one second too late she wasn't wearing her shoes. "How did you end up there?"

"I don't know!" The wannabe samurai replied, "Just get me out of here!"

"Guys?" Marcy woke up for last, still fully dressed in her ranger uniform, noticing the small paper with her sketch and the words "Marcy was here" lying on Anne's messed up hairstyle "Anna-Banana, is that a pineapple? Why do you have it?"

"That's something I would like to know as well!"

"Where are my shoes? Oh, here they are!"

"Jacob, help me get out of this tree!"

"Ok, give me a minute!" The boy replied, looking around. "There must be something I can use as a blanket to let you land-"

Before he could end his sentence, however, Archie jumped out of his hiding place, and quickly spun a large web just under the tree Amelia was in.

"-ok, looks like he took care of it already." Jacob replied, unbelieving what he had just seen, "Ok Amelia, jump!"

"Jump?! Jacob, are you crazy?!" The girl replied with a mix of fear and anger, "There is no way that feeble, frail web is going to hold!"

"Actually, it can!" Marcy smiled, trying to give Amelia some scientific basis support, "Spider silk is incredibly tough and resistant: quantitatively, is five times stronger than steel, even more than Kevlar."

Amelia listened, looking down at Archie's web with a worried look, before closing her eyes and jumping down. The large spider web stopped her fall and made her jump back a couple of times, like a trampoline, before stopping her momentum, the girl was amazed by the experience.

"Hey!" she gleamed, "that was fun!"

Archie walked to her, Amelia grabbed him and started to pet the little spider with a sympathetic expression.

"I do recognize this spider," James replied, "This is Archie. Mrs. Croaker's pet spider. What is he doing in …wherever we are?"

"Does anyone remember what happened yesterday?" Anne looked around, "How did we end up here? Sasha?"

"Last thing I remember, we were in the back of the farm, and we were having fun all together…"

(…)

"Lads, to the bridge!" James said, and everyone cheered.

"To the completion of the road now connecting Wartwood and Bog Bottom!" Marcy added, and everyone cheered again.

"To us!" Jacob roared, and there was a third cheer, even louder than before. The small campfire on the back of the farm crackled and snapped cheerily, the six humans happily laughing and cheering for their latest adventure. It was moments like this that made everyone feel better, the previous sadness due to being far away and distant from their homes and families momentarily forgotten.

"Here, Sasha." Anne passed her a bowl full of pop-corn. "Have some as well."

"Thank you, Anne." The blonde girl replied, looking aside for a moment. There was something strange, almost paradoxical about being afraid of her own best friend, and yet-

"Kids!" Hop Pop walked out of the farm, Polly on his arm while Sprig was at his side. "It is getting late, if you're tired you should get to bed."

"Yeah, Anne." Sprig murmured, yawning loudly. "I don't know about you, but all the work of the last few days left me exhausted."

"Don't worry about me, Spriggy: we'll be fine. Just need a little boost, and I have the right thing in here…"

The girl's hand moved to her backpack, pulling out some kind of red energy drink, the other humans gasping as they recognized it.

"Wait. Is that-"

"You had one of these all this time? Still unopened too?"

"Anne, you sly fox! You had an energy drink in your backpack and you never told us before?"

"I wanted to save it for a special occasion." Anne replied with a smile, "Don't tell me I was the only one?"

"Are you kidding?" Jacob boasted, grabbing two blue bottles from his backpack and showing them to everyone "Check it out these babies!"

"I have one too!" Marcy took a fourth, even bigger bottle of green color with the image of a panda on its label.

"Blam Berry Blitz. The drink that punches you in the face and doesn't stop." Hop Pop started to read every label with an inquisitive look, "Space Cola. It will send you to infinity and beyond. Green Panda Energetic Mix, the eye-awakening beverage. Hah! Those silly drinks of yours won't keep you up at all! Now, if you really want to stay awake, this is what you need to keep you up!" The old frog pulled out a large cup that looked like a rotten frog head.

"Ugh!" Sasha jerked back as soon as her nostrils' smelt …whatever it was in that hideous cup "What in frog's name is that poison?"

"This is Mama's old gourd tea recipe." Hop Pop replied with proudness "I'm not surprised you don't like the smell. It's way too strong for you all."

"Too strong?" Jacob laughed, mocking the frog's words, "Don't make me laugh. Considering the average of everything you prepare; I wonder if it's even edible at all."

"Hey!" Hop Pop took offense "Take it back!"

"Then jump over here, and make me!"

"With pleasure-"

"Guys, guys! Marcy jumped in, moving to neutralize the fight before it even started. "Please, let's not quarrel! Instead, how about we each try the other one's drink? Then we can discuss which one is better."

"Works for me." Sasha snickered, "No matter what, I'm sure that old tea recipe tastes terrible."

"Still better than those drinks of yours," The old frog replied back, "I'm sure they're all flashy and have no substance."

"Hey, no way that stuff is stronger than my Berry Blitz!"

"Just give me that!" Hop Pop grumbled, as each group took a taste of their respective drinks. Immediately after, there were the first reactions: Sasha had to stop herself from puking, due to the smell; Hop Pop gasped, like a fish trying to breathe; Anne's face froze, before starting to cough; Sprig fell on the ground, panting, while Polly's eyes widened; Marcy's gasped, a thousand-yard stare blossoming on her eyes and face; Jacob coughed and panted, trying to withstand the unexpected flavor; and James felt his eyes growing teary.

Only Amelia, summoning all the self-control her samurai training helped her develop, managed to keep a neutral facade, while on the inside, she felt like she had just drunk concrete.

"You should have seen the look on your face." Anne said, once she was able to speak once again, "You were dying!"

"And what about you?" Hop Pop retorted, chuckling "I didn't even know you could turn that color. What, can humans change skin color like chameleons?"

"Laugh, laugh," Sasha replied, "At least, our heads are not teakettles, no we have bodies that look like a soccer ball." She gasped, rubbing her eyes before confirming that was what she was seeing. "Wait. What? Anne, Marcy, are you…seeing this?"

"Afraid so," Anne said grimacing, as she looked at the frog family in front of her. Somehow, Hop Pop's head had turned into a teakettle, Sprig was a spoon and Polly had turned into a soccer ball.

"Oh, yeah?" Polly argued back, "Well, at least our hair isn't rainbow stardust."

"What the-" Marcy said in shock, as she realized that their hair was somehow glowing like a rainbow, each human a different color: From blue to white, from purple and pink to yellow. As for herself, her hair was now glowing with a bright, psychedelic green light.

"What's happening to us?" Sasha said in wonder, touching her hair with curiosity.

"Is this an acid trip? Cool…"

"Guys, look: the stars are winking at us…"

(…)

"…and that's the last thing I remember." Sasha groaned as she went on check her once-again normal hair "No more glitter."

"Ok, so no one has any ideas why yesterday night we went tripping all of a sudden, and we woke up in the middle of the forest with no idea of what happened or how we got here in the first place?"

As Anne moved to get back on her feet, she noticed something empty on the side of her left foot, something old and hideous-looking. It took barely a second for her to realize what had happened.

"The drinks!" The girl gasped, everyone focusing on her, "Our body chemistry is different from the frogs, so when we exchanged each other's extreme beverages we ended up having crazy reactions with hallucinations and everything!" She stopped, unbelieving her own words, "Wow, this has to be the smartest-sounding thing I've ever said."

"Indeed. For a moment, you sounded just like Mar-Mar."

"I…guess that's correct?" The aforementioned nerd girl spoke, grabbing Hop Pop's cup and inspecting its interior. "I suppose that's one way to discover new things."

"Hey, Marbles?" Jacob lightened up, "Do you think I can ask Hop Pop for more of that stuff? For when I'm going to college?"

"Hey," James wondered, "if that's the effect his tea had on us, what do you think has happened to him? Or Sprig?" He suddenly stopped, a feeling of dread running through his blood, "…or Polly?"

"I don't know, and I do not want to know!" Amelia replied, looking around and trying to orientate herself. "Does anyone have any idea how to get back to Wartwood?"

"Huh, no?" Anne murmured, realizing she couldn't recognize her surroundings, "No idea at all."

"Great, wonderful!" Sasha said in anger, "Hop Pop's old tea made us go tripping into madness, we're lost in the middle of frogging nowhere! And I feel like I'm having a buzzsaw in my head! The only good thing with this whole situation-"

"Don't say it! Don't say it!" Jacob and Amelia gasped in stereo.

"-is that, at least, things cannot get any worse!"

Of course, the already over-stimulated law of drama couldn't stay idle to such an open provocation. The sky didn't darken up, nor rain started to fall, but barely a second after Sasha had spoken, the humans could hear a muffled voice and something (or rather, someone) started to emerge from under the washtub.

"Everyone, stand back!" Sasha yelled, grabbing her pink heron sword (she brought it too last night? Why?) and putting herself in a defensive position, "I'll protect you!"

"Not alone!" Jacob rushed to her side, wielding his war hammer in both hands, "I'm with you!"

"And me!" Marcy prepared her crossbow, ready to shoot.

"And me!" Amelia jumped, Yamato unsheathed in her right hand, "Ready for a fight! Zattenayo!"

The creature in the washtub groaned, taking a couple of erratic steps, before tripping and falling face-first a couple of steps in front of the kids. It was then that they recognized it. Or rather, him.

"Wally?" Everyone said, Wartwood's local vagrant looking up.

"Ah!" He gasped, apparently not recognizing them immediately. "Monsters! Monsters with huge heads and spindly crawly limbs!"

"What? No, Wally!" Anne spoke up for first, walking forward, and helping him get back on his feet, the frog's eyes now able to recognize the beings in front of him. "It's us."

"So, it is. Whoo! Deja-vu."

Seriously, Jacob wondered, where did he learn a French-derived expression?

"Has something like this even happened before?"

"Yeah!" Sasha glared at him, "When we arrived in Amphibia. We saw you on the road and tried to ask you for help. You ran away screaming, and later told everyone we were monsters!"

"Oh, right. In my defense, you could have been."

"Wally, not cool!" James snickered.

"And what are you doing here?" Amelia asked with an inquisitive look, "How did you end up here?"

"Actually, I don't know either," the frog vagrant replied. "Last thing I remember was that I was walking nearby Hop Pop's farm, and then someone offered me some kind of drink called Space Cola and-"

"Ok, I guess we know the rest." Jacob shushed. "Long story, we're lost in the middle of nowhere, with no idea where Wartwood even is or how to go back."

"Again?" Wally asked, before looking at them. "I know. It can be quite disorientating the first time."

"The first time?" Marcy raised an eyebrow. "Did you…experience this already?"

"Yeah, of course! Twice a month, actually."

"I guess that explains many things…"

"Yeah, we will have time to chat once we're back home." Anne turned to loom at Wally. "Look, dude, we have no idea how to go back to Wartwood, but as you said, this is the first time we experienced something like this. You, on the other hand, are an expert. Do you think you can help us return to the farm?"

"Okay."

"Please!" Anne pleaded, "We can't let Hop Pop worry about us. Or Sprig, or Polly-"

"Ah-hem, Anne?" Jacob pointed out "He said yes already."

"Oh...really? Thanks."

"But!" Wally warned them. "The journey will be fraught with peril. We will have to stand together or fail in the attempt!" He pulled out his concertina and started to play it as he walked. " Ohh, the Misty Moors are dark and gray... "

"Ok," Anne chuckled, "I hope he doesn't play that thing the whole way."

"Nah." James shook his head, as the humans started to march behind him, "Frankly, I doubt it will be long before he gets tired."

(Six hours later:)

The group marched through the forest, Wally at the forefront, playing his concertina with a jolly expression while Anne and the others followed him, tired and worn by the long walk and the lack of apparent results, and with bloodshot eyes due to the incessant playing of the concertina. Sasha and Amelia, in particular, looked like they were going mad, the latter looking with envy at Archie sleeping over her head. Either the little spider didn't hear Wally's music, or he wasn't bothered by it.

"I have an idea!" Jacob suggested, "Amelia, call your pet dragonfly!"

"I already tried that, Jacob!" His cousin replied, "We're too far from Wartwood, so I doubt she can hear me. And even if she's around here, somewhere, this dense forest would make impossible for her to see us!"

"Okay, that's enough." Wally suddenly stopped playing.

"Oh, thank frog." Sasha groaned, appreciating the restored silence. "Yes."

"Or is it?" Wally resumed his playing and jumped forward, leading Sasha to slap herself in the face and Anne to start sobbing angrily.

"You had to jinx us, didn't you?"

"Hey, don't try to blame me for it, James!" The blonde girl retorted back. "You were the one who said he wouldn't play for too long."

"How could I know he would actually do it? It's been hours and he's still lively and frisky!"

"Please, guys, there is no need to shout at each other!" Anne groaned, not needing their argument to add even more noise. "Rather, let's focus on getting back home. James, did you manage to find out where we ended up?"

"Sorry, Anne." The British boy sighed, sending a glance at the sextant he kept at his waist, "I can't use it if it's day, plus with all these trees and leaves it's difficult to have a clear image of the sky."

"So, we have no better choice but trust Wally's so-called instinct?"

"Afraid so, Anne," Jacob spoke in turn, stopping a second to gather yet another shiny stone. "The upside of this whole predicament is that I'm collecting more items today than in my whole career as an adventurer."

"Be careful not to load yourself too much, cousin." Amelia chuckled, "We don't know how much further we still have to go. Right, Marcy? Marcy?"

"-and by analyzing the different colors of the logs and of the leaves, I can suggest that Amphibia's main trees can be regrouped in-"

"Marcy!" Jacob, Amelia, and Sasha teamed up to stop their nerd friend from stepping on a somewhat large stone and tripping once again.

"Oops! Sorry guy: I guess I…back in the zone already, huh?"

"Huh-uh!" Sasha and Anne nodded together.

(…)

Soon after, the forest left its place to some kind of mountains, as Wally led them to a narrow path on the side of a large mountain, the road being so thin that the humans were basically forced their back against the wall, striving to keep themselves as far from the border as they could. Even Marcy, realizing how dangerous the situation was, had agreed to put away her Journal and now struggled to move with the others, a spare rope was used to tie them with each other.

Yet, not even this was enough to make Wally shut up.

"…and with his dying words, he told me, "Wallace, take this accordion, find my killer, and defeat him with the power of song."

"Wait, your father's dead?" Amelia gasped. "You're an orphan?"

"Indeed, my friend. I lost all I had left of my family on that terrible, unforgettable day." He said in a dramatic voice before his mood reversed in a mere second. "Anyway, enough about me. Tell me about you."

"Well, I don't have much to say." Marcy spoke first, "My life on Earth, before we ended up in Amphibia was quite dull. I went to school; I aced all my tests-"

"This is what you call a dull life?" Amelia replied with an irked look. "You know how much I would give to ace all of my tests?"

"Amelia!" Jacob called her cousin out. "Marcy aced her test because she applied in her studies. You can't be angry at her for taking her tests seriously."

"I know, that's not what I'm angry about. What irritates me, is how bored she sounds from acing tests."

"Hey-"

Anne moved to stop the discussion before it escalated into yet another dispute between the cousins. However, she stepped on a loose ledge and fell down from the cliff.

"Anne!" Sasha shouted, jumping and trying to grab her, only to miss and be caught in the fall as well, dragging Marcy with them. Jacob and James immediately grabbed the rocks around them, the rope tying them to the girls helping them stop their fall while Amelia and Wally moved to grab them. The two boys groaned from the strain as they struggled to pull their friends back to safety, Amelia mentally praying for her hands not to lose their grip, the trio looking up fearfully.

"Girls," James grunted, struggling to avoid him and Jacob being caught in the fall as well. "Are you ok?"

"Well-" Marcy began to reply, before noticing with horror her Journal, falling out of her backpack and plummeting down.

"NOOOOOO!" The dark-haired girl gasped in shock and horror as she saw the work of all her stay in Amphibia fall below…before, at the very last second, something white and sticky caught the small notebook and stopped its fall. Looking up, Amelia realized that it was Archie, using his web as an extra-long lash to pull the notebook on her hands, while Jacob, James, Wally, and Amelia pulled the girls back to safety, on the path.

"I thought you were goners!" Amelia wept, embracing all three of them in a big hug, while Archie on her hat dropped the journal, Marcy's hand quickly grabbed the notebook and held it close to her chest.

"Jacob, James, Wally, Archie!" Marcy looked around with teary, surprised eyes. "You saved my Journal! Oh, yeah, and our lives too."

"You make it sound like that was secondary, Mar-Mar." Anne panted.

"That's what being in a fellowship means," Jacob replied happily, looking at the girls with warm eyes, "You look out for each other."

"Well, thanks," Marcy replied, happy for her journal with all her notes and sketches of Amphibia not to be lost. "I guess I owe you all a lot of apologies for my continuous tripping. Also, Archie here helped us too!" She petted the small spider, making him purr.

"I still can't believe he did that," Amelia added, even more surprised than before. "You told me that spider web is strong, but I'm surprised it's this strong."

"Yup, spider silk is strong, light, and almost indestructible." James chuckled. "Too bad spiders are not a species easy to "farm" on Earth, otherwise you could make a mint by breeding them and using their web to make special clothes and similar items."

Amelia moved to say something else, before stopping, the words she heard earlier from Marcy and James reverberating in her head.

-spider silk is strong, light, and almost indestructible. Too bad spiders are not a species easy to "farm" on Earth, otherwise, you could make a mint-

She looked at Archie. Earth spiders maybe couldn't be tamed and bred as easily as cats and dogs were…but in Amphibia, tamed spiders that acted like pets were quite commonplace. And they all could produce the same silky web that their dimensional counterparts used on Earth.

What if…what if Amphibian spiders could be imported and bred on Earth?

The samurai girl said nothing, as the group resumed their walk, her mind starting to make calculations, her lips slowly twitching into a smile…

(…)

"Uff!" Jacob puffed, sitting down to rest, his legs and feet aching from the long walk. Since Wartwood was not yet in sight, they all agreed on taking a short break before resuming their travel: Jacob and James were sitting on some logs, trying to get a little rest, Marcy was adding new sketches and notes to her journal, Sasha was roasting some mushrooms on an improvised camp fire, Amelia was petting Archie and Anne…

"Clap, pull it back, fist bump, flip it up, lock it in, twist it, twist it, not against it, spank the baby, where's the baby? There's the baby, shake hands with the baby!"

"Wow, that was incredible!" Wally said in genuine wonder, "I'll never shake hands the normal way again."

"Thanks, Wally. Too bad some people used to think my elaborate handshakes were silly!"

"Some still do, Boonchuy" Sasha grumbled out of reflex, before catching on to what she just said and wincing in shame. Great job at being the best version of yourself, Sasha…

"Ha-ha. Very funny Sash!" Anne replied, apparently unbothered (or uncaring) of the blonde girl's sharp tongue

"Oh, there's your first mistake, love. I never care what other people think of me."

"Easy for you to say. Back home, your reputation is everything."

Sasha gritted her teeth, as she remembered what Anne was referring to. Back in Los Angeles, when she was the Queen Bee of Saint James' school, the ruler of the whole student body. When she kept reminding her friends what they should do, and what they shouldn't.

"Boonchuy, keep your head up. You're the best friend of the school's queen, behave like one!"

"Boonchuy, you shouldn't eat with such a rush. Remember, every time you embarrass yourself, you also embarrass your friends. And you do not want to embarrass your friends, right?"

"Boonchuy, please! No one talks about such things anymore, it sooo out of date right now!"

Every time she reprimanded her, every time she called her out. Every time Sasha had accused, guilt-tripped, and emotionally blackmailed her best friend just because she didn't act like she wanted.

Sasha remembered them all. And every memory made her feel pain, as she still struggled to face who, or rather what she had been, for such a long time.

"Lucky for you, you're not back home."

"Sorry?" Anne asked, now even more curious than before. From where she was, Sasha looked up with an alert, and suddenly became interested in what Wally was saying.

"Kids, the way I see it, you've got a great opportunity in front of you. Every one of you. A whole new world, new people, freedom to be whatever you want to be!"

It was then, that the dam inside Sasha's heart began to crack, all the guilt she had struggled too hard to hide and contain spilled. She looked again at Wally, the local vagrant, whose house was a dump and everyone considered a weirdo. Yet…he didn't care: he lived how he wanted to live, not how others expected him to live. He wasn't bothered by what the others thought of him, or how he looked in their eyes. He was happy, and nothing else mattered to him.

In comparison, what could Sasha say for herself?

All her life, ever since she was little, she had strived, and struggled to get her mother's approval, only for being left alone and disappointed every time she minimized her efforts, instead giving all her approval and endorsement to her sister; when she realized that, instead of simply focusing on her life and stop caring about receiving approbation, she took the wrong path, and began to do whatever she wanted, not for fun, but because she knew it wouldn't have made a difference in the end. She even started shoplifting, not out of any need, but because she felt like it was "revenge" for having felt so neglected and unloved.

Above everything, she had mistreated her best friends, the ones she wanted to defend when she was little, becoming the very same thing she had tried so hard to protect them from because she couldn't accept the idea of not controlling at least one side of her life.

She betrayed their trust, messed with their lives, and corrupted everything their friendship was supposed to be.

She didn't deserve to be their friend, not after all she did.

"He's right, you know?" The blonde girl said, her hand moving to wipe a lone tear from her left eye, "Above everything, you have the real chance to make real friendships."

"Sasha, what are you saying?" Anne suddenly snapped, noticing the bitterness in Sasha's voice. "I have friends: I have Mar-Mar, I have Sprig, I have you-"

"But I don't deserve to be your friend!" Sasha yelled, her sudden outburst gaining everyone's attention. "I-I have no right to call myself your friend: all I ever did was manipulate you, blackmail you, and…bullying you! That's not what a friend should do!"

"Sash!" Marcy cried, going to her side and trying to empathize. "You already apologized to Anne for that. Plus, you did promise to not be the same person anymore, remember?"

"Yeah, Sash." Jacob joined Marcy, "Why do you still keep blaming yourself? Okay, that wasn't good behavior, but-"

"It's worse!" Sasha yelled again. "You weren't there that day. When I realized too late what I had done. When I made Anne snap."

Anne gasped, as she remembered that day, the day she found out about her mysterious blue glowing powers. The day the herons attacked Wartwood. The day she…she…

"Sasha," the girl said, "are you referring to…the disagreement we had?"

"When you tried to kill me, yes." Sasha laughed bitterly. "You would have made the right decision if you just did that, you know?"

"Sasha!" Everyone gasped, as those words left the blonde girl's lips. Especially Anne's her eyes widening as she finally saw how much pain her best friend had tried to hide from her until this moment.

"Are you-are you perhaps suggesting that-"

"Maybe you would be better off without me, you know?" Sasha wept, all her long-repressed guilt flooding through the breach of her heart like a flood, "Once we go back, I could stand on the sidelines, never come close to you or your home ever again, let you make some real friends to give you the happiness you deserve-"

"Sasha Waybright!" Anne muttered, horrified that her friends could ever have such awful thoughts. "Don't you ever dare finish that sentence."

"Huh, maybe I shouldn't interfere," Wally's voice suddenly said. "However, from the words you said, I can feel like you have a lot of things you are regretting, but…not in a good way. I feel like the guilt over your past actions is making you unable to let go of the past and keep making you feel depressed even after you apologized and promised to be a better person. You feel like what you did is so bad, that everyone you wronged should be still angry with you, no matter what you do from now on."

"Indeed." Sasha chuckled, almost amused by how even a frog vagrant was giving her psychiatric support. "Would you believe if I tell you that I still have nightmares about that day? About my best friend?"

"Sasha!" Anne said again, his voice even more horrified than before. "You-you have nightmares about ME?"

"They all start in the same manner." Sasha narrated, her eyes closed. "We're back on that building, you enter from the door, and no matter what I say, you tell me how sick you are of me, how tired you are of me, that there will be always a part of you that can never forgive me…"

Amelia gasped, she and James exchanged a glance and nodded. They wanted to intervene, but they didn't know what they could do without making this whole mess worse.

"And then?" Jacob asked, his voice so low that it could be barely heard. "Then, what happens?"

"And then she attacks me," Sasha confessed. "No matter if I try to resist, to talk, to stop it. She's too strong, and she says that talking is just another way for me to get in her head…and then she stabs me in my chest."

"I do what?" Anne was now feeling disgusted by herself. She remembered how angry she was, and yet…she never imagined how much that event wounded her friend. How much she had traumatized her.

"Yeah, right here." She pointed to her chest, where her heart, her lungs, and all her most important organs (minus the brain) were. "I guess that's almost a metaphor to say how much I hurt you…and how much you want to hurt me back."

"I'd never hurt you, Sash!" Anne replied, her eyes leaking with tears. "What you did was wrong, we both know it. Yet, never, nor in a million years or even longer, would any of it justify your death."

"But, but you-"

"I was angry, I know it." Anne anticipated her question. "I was tired of how you acted, how you looked at me. How you kept taking every choice away and making decisions that I didn't share. And the words you said…I guess they were the worst choice of words you could ever say to me, at that moment, in that place. I remember how angry I was, how much I felt tired and hurt by you. But, you want to know something else?"

Anne moved her hand on Sasha's shoulder, leaning on her knees so her eyes and Sasha's were aligned. "If I ever hurt you on that day, I would have never forgiven myself."

"Yeah!" Marcy interjected, "Sasha, if Anne had wounded you, you wouldn't have been able to save Sprig and Polly, later that day when the herons attacked. You had every reason to stay away, but you didn't. Instead, you joined our effort, and risked your own life to save them!"

"And if Sprig and Polly had ended up getting eaten…" Anne said among her tears, striving to keep her emotions in check to avoid activate accidentally her powers, "I would have had no one to blame but myself. I was the one supposed to be on watch, but I abandoned my duties to confront you. It was the result of my actions that the herons attacked Wartwood. It was because of me, that Sprig and Polly, and everyone else, risked being eaten."

Sasha looked at Anne, at her friend. It was then that Wally spoke again.

"Your friends haven't forgotten your actions, but neither have forgotten your desire to improve, nor your promise to become better. They trust you, they want you, and they already forgiven you." The blue-skinned frog said, with a smile. "Now you must forgive yourself, Sasha. You can't go forward without looking back at your past, that's true, but you cannot even let your past control you."

"You-you really think I can do that?"

Wally smiled at her once again, the warmth on his gesture spreading to the human. "You have people that love you and trust you, a determination strong as steel, you have brain and beauty and everything else, you have everything you could ever need to reach whatever you want. The only question you have to ask yourself is: am I willing to do it? No matter how harsh and long the path may be, no matter what problem and issue I might face? You may be hurt on the road, again and again, but pain is temporary. Quitting is forever."

Sasha smiled, the frog's careless personality warming her up, as Marcy, Anne and everyone else joined her in a hug.

"We're never letting you go, Sash."

"No matter how you think we should do it."

"You were with us at the beginning, and you will be with us till the end."

"That's what being in a fellowship means, right?" Marcy smiled, quoting back Jacob's sentence from earlier, "You look out for each other."

"Indeed, Mars. That's what real bonds are made of."

"Wally," Sasha looked at him again. "I suppose I should thank you. You may be weird, but…you sure know how to make anyone feel better."

"Hey, weirdos should stick together, right?"

(Somewhere, literally another dimension away, even further than Earth, in a world made of the bones of a dead god and populated by literal witches and demons, a human girl with interest for magic and green-haired witches sneezed.)

Sasha began to reply, before stopping, as she remembered the early days after their arrival. How everyone saw them as weird, unknown creatures. Until they grew out of it, and people began to consider them part of their own.

"Yes, weirdos should stick together…"

(…)

After a resting night in the wild, the next morning, the group was on the road once again, as they followed Wally in trying to find the way back to Wartwood. After the heartfelt moment of before, Sasha, Anne, and Marcy were walking together, side by side, thus Jacob and Amelia were at the front while James was at the rear.

Soon, however, doubt began to nag inside the Viking-hatted human.

"Ehm, Amelia?"

"What's up, cousin?"

"I would like not to be pessimistic, but…are you sure Wally knows where we are going?"

"I think so? I mean, he's moving with such confidence, he has to know the road back to Wartwood. Why are you afraid?"

"Because this is the third time we pass near to that large white rock." The boy pointed to a large, egg-shaped rock lurking on their right, moss and a couple of shrubs growing above it.

"Wait, that's right!" Amelia gasped, realizing she had seen that rock before. "Hey, Wally, stop!"

"Stop? No one can stop the music!"

"Not the music, you! Are you sure you know where we are going, right?"

"Of course, I know!" Wally replied. "We are going forward!"

"But, in which direction we are going?" Jacob looked around. To him, this forest looked all the same.

"What, you didn't hear me? Forward means forward!"

"And where exactly are we moving forward to?" Amelia replied, suddenly alert. "Are you telling me that Wartwood is forward in that direction? Because I'm quite sure we haven't been walking in a straight line for a long time."

Wally waved around. "Well, it looks like we are in the middle of the forest, right?" He pointed out to the trees. "And the clearing where we found ourselves is behind us, right? So, I figure that if we keep moving forward, we are bound to arrive…somewhere."

"Wait!" Amelia shirked, her eyes widening as realization filled her mind. "You're telling me that you have no idea where we're going?"

"What?" The girls and James, from the back, gasped as the new shocking revelation was suddenly made public.

"You have no idea where we are?" Marcy gasped.

"Nor where we are going?" Sasha gritted

"Didn't you say these kinds of things happen to you twice a month?!" Anne accused.

"Yes, and that's true!" Wally defended. "Every time it happens, I find myself somewhere with no idea how I got there."

"And how you manage to go back to Wartwood all those times?" James interrogated him.

"Frankly…I don't remember."

"You don't remember?!" All six of the humans yelled at the same time.

"Most of the time, I usually end up drinking again at someplace nearby I found myself, and I woke up back to Wartwood. Alternatively, I just stroll around…"

"So, you're saying your plan when these things happen is basically to loiter around until you find yourself back in Wartwood?" Amelia growled with an angry expression.

"Huh, it sounds bad when you say it like that."

"Of course it sounds bad!" Jacob exploded, "We just learned that our only hope to go quickly go back at Wartwood is to follow you around at random!"

Amelia took a couple of steps back, feeling the anger inside of her growing, the pressure building up…until she saw a familiar white, glowing butterfly fly just in front of her. Even Archie noticed it, and tried to capture it, however missing its would-be prey.

"Guys?" Amelia said.

"Not now, Amelia," Jacob grumbled, refusing to look away. "Me and Mister Accordion here are going to have-"

A deep, guttural sound resounded through the forest, as more and more glowing butterflies started to appear, the air around them turning misty and vaporous. The humans took a couple of steps back, and Wally with them, while Amelia stood where she was, a smile forming again on her face, as she realized her friend was coming.

Then, the Moss Man emerged into their view.

"What?" James gasped, unable to assimilate what he was seeing, as some kind of large moss-made creature, walking on two legs appeared in front of them.

"Whoa…" Anne said, she and her friends were almost unable to think.

"It's-it's the Moss Man!" Wally gasped. "I just can't believe it's actually real."

"Huh, Amelia?" Jacob whispered, noticing her cousin was not moving "Get back!"

"There is no need for that." Amelia smiled, taking another couple of steps toward the Moss Man, the large creature looking at her. "Yes, I'm happy to see you again too, my dear friend."

"Wait, Amelia knows that thing?" Anne asked with a puzzled expression.

"It's not merely a thing!" Wally explained. "That's the Moss Man! That…that creature was supposed to be only a myth!"

"I suppose you knew about it?"

"Yeah, I did! I have claimed to have seen it, but…I never saw it for real before!"

"So, you basically lied about having seen it before?" James raised his eyebrow.

"I thought it was a legend. I mean, it's preposterous!"

"Not sure about that…" Jacob pointed out, as Amelia kept laughing and being friendly with the Moss Man. Suddenly, the boy felt all of his previous rage disappearing, and an odd sense of peace and harmony pervaded him. Was this what having a transcendental experience felt like?

"Here, come and meet my friends." Amelia smiled, accompanying the Moss Man toward the rest of the group." This is Jacob, my cousin, a little reckless but he's the best cousin a samurai like me could ever hope to have."

"H-happy to meet you, Mr. Moss Man," Jacob said, unable to come up with a better response, something in the Moss Man appearance hypnotizing him and making him wary of how he behaved.

"The other guy is James: he's our star enthusiast."

"P-pleased to meet you?"

"And they," Amelia turned to face the final trio. "Are Sasha, Anne, and Marcy."

Each of the girls couldn't help but gasp as the glowing eyes of the Moss Man focused on them. For her own, Sasha felt a wave of peacefulness and serenity pervade her, as every negative emotion she had ever felt was being erased, every trace or wound they ever left to her quickly healing in the presence of the Moss Man. She felt like those glowing eyes of it were staring into her soul. Even with the trauma she had faced before, the pain she had suffered, she felt like merely being close to him helped her remove all the suffering she had faced.

Anne felt similar emotions, flabbergasted and amazed at the same time by the creature in front of her. In her brain, millions of questions gathered, as she wondered how Amelia could have known it, for how long, and how it happened. Yet, she didn't speak, as she simply kept connecting with the calming aura of the Moss Man.

Marcy's brain was hyperactive now, almost unbelieving what she was seeing. They had seen many amazing creatures since the day they arrived in Amphibia, yet nothing so could compare to the one currently standing in front of them. Suddenly, she remembered her journal, her hands running to her side as preparing to add sketches and notes about the creature…

…only to stop, as all of a sudden, the idea of taking notes of the Moss Man felt wrong.

"And this one," Amelia pointed to the last, non-human member of the group, "is Wally, Wartwood's local vagrant."

"I-I never believed I would see the Moss Man for real." Wally almost cried, emotions running high, "And this close!"

"How-how did you ever meet…him?" Anne finally asked, while still refusing to look away.

"It's a long story." Amelia smiled. "Do you remember the day you decided that Polly and I needed more girl time? When you attempted to force us to go to that spa?"

"Yeah, but what does that- oh!" Anne gasped, as memories of that returned to her. How Amelia and Polly ran as soon as their back was turned. How worried she was, during the day, wondering where the two of them had gone. How peaceful and relaxed they were when they returned that evening, even more than the girls who went to the spa.

As she looked again and the Moss Man, and noticed how relaxed and stress-free she felt now, something clicked in Anne's mind, all dots connecting in a blink.

"Wait, are you saying that Polly knows too?"

"Yes, Sasha." Amelia replied quietly, "Both of us, promised not to tell anyone. I am sorry for keeping this a secret from you all, but… he's our friend." She looked at the Moss Man, who emitted another sound. "Plus, even if we did…would someone have believed us?"

"I wouldn't," Wally admitted. "I mean, no one in Wartwood ever believed he existed for real. Even I thought it was just a story for crazy or gullible people!"

It was then, that Sasha remembered that she and her friends still had their phones, and every one of them provided with a camera to take photos or videos. If they took some photos of the Moss Man, they could have shown them at Wartwood, prove it wasn't just a myth and-

No, she mentally said, as the best part of herself realized what she was going to do. That creature, whatever it was, was Amelia's friend, and he trusted them. If they took photos of him, they would have broken that trust.

And she never wanted to break anyone's trust, ever again.

"You know, what, Amelia?" Jacob almost laughed, as he slowly came to the realization of what his cousin had done, "I have to admit: you can be amazing when you want."

"Thank you…Jacob." She returned the compliment. "I guess I'm happy I do not have to keep this a secret from you anymore, for you to be able to understand me…"

As the humans (and Wally) kept talking, the Moss Man (actually, a Moss Woman) looked all over them. She could see their faces, feel their scent, and hear the sound of their voices. She could see the bonds connecting them, the emotions in their looks, the friendship connecting all of them.

And inside their bodies, invisible to the eyes of anyone else, she could see the glowing light of the Gems.

Courage. Respect. Imagination. Wit. Strength. And Heart.

Yet, as the Moss Woman looked at the current incarnation of Heart, she realized that something was different from the others. Her powers glowed a little more, and instead of being still trapped on the inner part of her body, it flowed through her limbs and blood flow, as the water of a river flowed from its source to its mouth, before returning, in the form of rain, to its source.

The Moss Woman emitted a small, suffocated sound as she realized that the Heart had already awakened. That the disciple of her friend, once again had seen it right.

(…)

"One of the gems had awakened already?"

"It can't be any other explanation, Valeriana." The blind axolotl replied with a hint of pride. "I felt the change, and you have felt it as well, didn't you?"

"Don't let an early success blind you," The one-armed newt replied, the axolotl grumbling something about a "lame pun." From where she was sitting, Wise Flower silently kept switching looking from the axolotl to the newt, from the newt to the axolotl, wondering why people who were friends with each other were acting like this.

"This may be good, but it may be bad as well," Valeriana continued. "You know that Aiden has moved already. And Andrias has not been involved yet: how can you hope he won't manipulate the whole situation to his advantage?"

"To his advantage! To his advantage!"

"This is the reason why I wanted to meet you, Maker of the Box." Noc smiled, showing a small item from one of her pockets, as Valeriana turned around. "I know what's your opinion about it, but… I think we still have a way to help the prophecy…"

(…)

The Moss Woman stood silent for a second, as she analyzed every one of them. Whom among them was more worthy? Which of them deserved…the Gift?

It was then, that the Moss Woman's eyes once again lay on Wit. A cheerful, enthusiastic girl who somewhat reminded The Moss Woman of her old friend, and yet, who hid a terrible secret in her. A secret that connected every one of them…and the Box.

She knew she had made a mistake by now, and yet, she didn't know how to act. An innocent soul, who had now just learned the full consequences of her past actions.

How admirable.

The moss creature nodded, moving forward.

"Hey!" Amelia said, noticing, "What's wrong?"

The Moss Woman didn't reply, because she couldn't talk. Instead, she took a couple of steps forward, before kneeling and looking toward the dark-haired girl who embodied the power of Wit. And then, she gave her the Gift.

"What's that?" Anne wondered as she noticed something in the Moss Man's hand.

Marcy looked with wonder, as the Moss Man presented her a pendant made of ocher clay, in the shape of a frog. "Is…is this a gift?"

"Looks like he likes you too, Mar-Mar." Amelia chirped, feeling surprised in turn.

Marcy smiled as the Moss Man's hand moved just above her head, the pendant's string passing through her head and neck. She looked at it: it looked quite crude, and yet…it was beautiful.

"Thank you for the gift." Marcy nodded, lowering her head and giving the Moss Man a gesture of thanks.

"Wow, that's a nice thought." Anne moved to Marcy's side, looking at the pendant with curiosity.

"Let me see! Let me see!" Wally piped in.

"Hey!" Jacob looked up, an idea blossoming in his mind. "Amelia, you said that you met him the first time when the girls had their girl day, right?"

"Huh, yeah?"

"That means…you met him close to Wartwood?"

"Of course. Polly and I were exploring the forest around the town on foot, when we saw him. And so?"

"Amelia, don't you realize? If he knows where Wartwood is…he can help us find the way back!"

Amelia stopped as her mind suddenly analyzed the proposal of her cousin. "That's true! Hey, Mr. Moss Man, can you help my friends and me? We… may need a little help to find your way home? Can you guide us back to Wartwood? The town nearby, when we met?"

The Moss Man listened to her before nodding. The large creature getting of all four of her limbs, as Amelia jumped on her back.

"He knows!" The wannabe Samurai said, "And he can bring all of us back there!"

The others smiled.

(…)

The Moss Man, contrary to what its massive body suggested, was able to move with great speed and agility through the Amphibian forest, almost knowing by heart the fastest paths to move in every direction. On its back, the six humans, plus Wally and Archie, could do little more than cling with all their might to the moss that constituted the creature's epidermis to avoid being unhorsed.

"I still can't believe it's the real Moss Man," Wally said, first in line. "Nor that we're riding him right now!"

"I can't believe Amelia has become friends with it!" Jacob added. From his point of view, it was as if his parents had taken them on a trip to the Coast Range mountains, and Amelia had befriended a Sasquatch. Or if they had gone to England, where James's family lived, with the Loch Ness monster.

"What can I say, cousin?" Amelia chuckled, behind Wally. "I still surprised myself about what I can do!"

"The only thing I'm sorry about is that I can't note it down in my journal." Marcy said, looking reluctantly at the sketches and notes on the Moss Man, already detached and now to be destroyed. "It hurts, but I know this is a secret that doesn't need to be recorded in writing."

"Like when Jacob was smeared with the nectar of that flower of love?" James smiled, remembering that day.

The English boy's words hit his targets squarely: Jacob almost jumped, covering his face with one hand, while Sasha, Anne, and Marcy suddenly blushed. Blushes that were due in equal measure to embarrassment and shame at the memory of their actions under the influence of the amorous nectar.

"W-what flower of love?" The three girls replied, their tone of voice saying "please, don't say it!" Even Amelia chuckled, while Wally looked back with a confused expression.

"Hey, girls, look!" Jacob pointed, a part of his brain hoping to changed the subject of the conversation. "Isn't…isn't that the tree of that tomato-pear hybrids we met on the first day?"

"Yes!" Anne squeaked, as she recognized the large plant. "That means we are now close to Wartwood! To Home!"

"You heard her, big boy?" Amelia patted the Moss Man's head, signing him to stop. As the humans and their friend disembarked, the Moss Man got once again back on its feet and looked at them.

"Thank you for helping us find the way back." Anne said, in genuine appreciation.

"And for sparing us from spending several more days in the forest," Sasha added.

"And for proving that you were not a simple myth." Wally continued.

"And for the gift." Marcy finished with a smile, showing off the frog-shaped pendant she was now wearing around her neck. The light of the sun, shining all over it, make it feel to her like it was a lucky charm.

"As for me," Amelia took a couple of steps toward the Moss being, "I'm sorry that my research has been fruitless so far. No matter how hard I looked, I couldn't find your friend yet."

"Friend?" Everyone behind her gasped at once. That was something that Amelia didn't tell them already.

"Yet, I'm not going to give up," The human girl replied, looking at the Moss Man with a happy, almost heartfelt expression, "I'm going to find out about Leif, so you can find her once again…or find what became of her."

The Moss creature didn't reply, for she wasn't able to speak, but the words of the incarnation of Respect, in front of her, touched her heart. She knew that there would be no more chances for her to find her old friend once again, and yet, seeing her effort as she pushed on a path that had no success made the moss-covered giant feel prideful. A part of her mind went to the latest apprentice of her old friend, and how happy she would have been if she could have seen this moment.

It was a moment, then she throttled away, once again retreating in the deep of the forest and leaving the humans on their own.

It was silence, as Amelia kept looking in the direction the Moss Man had disappeared into, before she felt another girl's hand touch her shoulder, and the voice of one of her friends say:

"So…the Moss Man have a friend named Leif, right?"

"Yes, Marcy." The samurai girl replied, turning around. "The first time we met, he…he told me he used to have a friend once, and with one of his finger, wrote the name on the dirt. I was just trying to find it, but…as you've heard, I had no such luck until now."

"What if I…help you?"

"What?" Amelia replied in shock, before noticing Jacob and the others looking at her with a sympathetic expression.

"Come on, Amelia," Marcy continued, new joy blossoming from her eyes, "If there's something I can help you with, it's research on books. And if this "Leif" has even left traces of himself or herself, I will find them!"

"We will find them!" James announced, "Like the Musketeers said, one for all, all for one, no?"

"Indeed!" Jacob roared, raising his hammer and making a dramatic pose. "One for all, all for one!"

"Ok, guys," Anne chuckled, "You had your fun? Can we go home now?"

"Why?" Amelia teased her, "Are you afraid that Hop Pop is going to ground us?"

"Actually, I'm more concerned on how preoccupied he would be. I mean, we disappeared for a day and half already, I bet the first thing he will see once seeing us return will be- what the frog happened?!"

In a dramatic (and ironic too) example of appropriate interruption, Anne gasped as she noticed what had happened to the farm in their absence. Half of the building roof had collapsed, the large branch on the side was painted pink with green dots, the third floor had somehow been moved upside-down, the fields surrounding the building were a mess and covered with garbage, and some kind of slimy, green, blob-like substance covered the whole ground floor wall; and on the red wooden roof, there was a crude drawing of Sasha with the words "Sasha was here" on the side, the drawing and the words were probably written with a sharp object like a sword.

"Please, tell me that what I am seeing is not real," Anne muttered, unable to keep looking anymore. "Tell me that I'm having a hallucination."

"I'm afraid that's not a hallucination, Anne." Sasha groaned, her eyes, in turn, looking over the disaster in front of her. Apparently, the effect their drinks had on Hop Pop and his family was as powerful as his tea had on them.

"Wow, that was some party." Jacob giggled, "At least now no one can't say humans don't know how to have fun."

"Jacob," Marcy pointed out. "I'm more worried about-"

"But Hop Pop!" The group stopped, hearing the pleading voice of Sprig, and noticing their frog friend, alongside Polly, at work trying to scrub off the slime off the farm.

"Sprig-" Anne began to say, only stopping as someone else intervened.

"No buts!" Hop Pop replied, walking out with a scolding expression. "I know it's hard work, but this is your punishment for all the shenanigans you pulled out last night."

"This is not fair!" Polly protested, "Even Anne and the others are responsible: why are you not punishing them?"

"Who says I'm not going to punish them?" Hop Pop replied, and something in his voice, for the first time in a long time, made all the humans shiver. "I don't know where they are now, but once I find them again…they're grounded in the basement for the next week!"

"Ok guys," Jacob suggested, whispering to avoid any risk of Hop Pop noticing them, "I suggest we go back into the forest and wait for Hop Pop's anger to fade."

"Wait, I'll simply go to him and-"

"Wally, no!"

"I second that."

"Agreed."

"Huh-uh!"

"Back in the forest! Back in the forest!"

"B-but we don't have any place to stay!" James pointed out, "I mean, aren't you suggesting we go back in that cave and-"

"No need for that!" Wally proposed, "I know someplace nearby, where I go whenever I need to hide. It's super-comfy, believe me!"

"Well, any port in a storm…" Sasha muttered, the six of them rushing behind him.