Anne, Hop Pop, Sprig and Polly got in the red minivan with Anne's parents as they were headed to the market as they parked into a parking spot. Anne had used disguises to keep the Plantars from being noticed by anyone as they were disguised as best as Anne could disguise them.
Hop Pop's disguise had him wearing a trench coat, a fedora, red glasses, a fake play doh nose and a pair of slip-on shoes. Sprig and Polly were sharing a disguise to look like one person. Polly insisted on being on the bottom so she can use her legs while Sprig was on top. They were wearing a coat that had Polly hidden in it while Sprig wore a blue bucket hat.
They were cheering in excitement as they got to get out of the house for the first time since they arrived at Earth. But Mr. Boonchuy used the automatic car door lock to lock the doors to prevent anyone from going outside as he gave them a stern look.
"Not so fast, you three. I mean... you four." Mr. Boonchuy corrected himself.
"We stick together in there, understood?" Mrs. Boonchuy informed.
"And if anything goes wrong, it's back in the lockdown for all of you." warned Mr. Boonchuy.
"We got it. We got it. Now let's get shopping!" said Anne.
Mr. Boonchuy went to push the button to unlock the car doors. The sliding car door to the left slid open and the four of them rushed out the door. Cheering as they would race inside the market. Sprig and Polly were tripping over a few times along the way inside. Anne's parents looked on and worried.
"This was a bad idea, wasn't it?" asked Mrs. Boonchuy.
"Oooooh, yeeeah..." Mr. Boonchuy agreed. "But do you think Anne's too young to start dating? I'll admit, I like Charlie but I'm a bit worried."
"You and I started dating when we were in middle school like they are. Besides, Charlie's shown to be a nice boy who's been raised in a house full of women. We've become quite good friends with them ladies. After everything they've told us about their child, he's got our blessing and our trust. Plus, I sort of wonder how hard and tough his muscles are."
Mr. Boonchuy turned to give her a raised eyebrow while Mrs. Boonchuy nervously chuckled with a blushing grin.
"But he's way too young for me. He's already dating Anne." said Mrs. Boonchuy nervously.
Anne and the Plantars ran inside as the electronic doors slid open automatically letting them inside. They gasped at the sight of the market. The aisles were nearby in front of them, the registers were to their right, the freezer section was to their left, the produce section was on the far left, in the back, there was another frozen food section but to the far right was a noodle restaurant.
The market wasn't packed, but it had a few people there. Anne was now wearing a white t-shirt with pink sleeves and an orange flame symbol on the front, light blue jean shorts, a yellow jacket with pockets and a dark frog symbol at the back that she tied around her waist, a pair of white socks with pink colors at the toe areas and a pair of purple and white sneakers.
"So you're here too, huh guys?" came a boy's voice.
They turned to see Charlie was also at the market. They saw he got a trim as his hair was shoulder length instead of down to his back. He wore a cardinal red T-shirt with a gold lion symbol on the front, blue jean pants and black boots. They smiled at the sight of him.
"What brings you here, soul brotha?" asked Anne.
"I'm with Imani and Mabel and we're just doing the usual. I just gave an elderly woman a hand with some heavy lifting outside. She had one of the workers helping her out, but I gave her a hand with the heavy lifting into her car." answered Charlie.
"Still a gentleman as always?" said Anne with a grin.
"Till I'm as old as the trees." said Charlie. "I see Hop Pop, Sprig and Polly are in disguise."
"A master of disguise has nothing on us." said Hop Pop proudly.
Sprig and Polly walked over towards one of the self-checkout lanes as the screen would show a flashing green light with a picture of a grocery bag with a smiley face on it with the words "shop buddy" on the bottom of the screen.
"Wow! That thing looks like Frobo! Is that a robot too?" asked Sprig pointing at it.
"Sort of... it's like a... robotic wallet." answered Anne.
"It's basically the self-checkout lane. We ether checkout at the self-checkout lane where we check ourselves out or the checkout lane where someone else checks us out." explained Charlie.
"Cool. Oh, and is that a robot?" asked Sprig.
Sprig pointed at an employee who was a tan skinned male adult who appeared to be of Latino descent. He was scanning grocery items and placing them in paper bags. Charlie chuckled a little bit.
"Sprig, not everything is a robot." said Anne with a sly grin.
"I can hear Will Smith playing Superstition right now." said Charlie.
Sprig looked at a nearby red robot toy that had lights flashing with button pushing sounds as he points to it as if to prove a point.
"Ok fine. But nothing else." said Anne.
"Just like when I was eight or seven. I was obsessed with anything relating to the samurai of the past or that alien warrior from Universe seven." chuckled Charlie.
Anne's parents entered the market as Mr. Boonchuy was looking through his pockets and they were empty. He began to show a look of panic as if forgetting something.
"Oh no. I left the shopping list at home! Abort mission! Abort mission!" said Mr. Boonchuy in a panic.
"Chill, Mr. Boonchuy. Anne's got a backup plan." Charlie reassured.
"No worries. I took a picture of the shopping list before we left. Just in case." said Anne showing them the shopping list on her phone.
Anne shown her parents the shopping list on the screen to her phone. There were ten items on the list written down which this calmed Anne's father down.
"Oh. Thank you, Anne. That was... strangely responsible of you." said Mrs. Boonchuy looking surprised.
That was when Charlie sang out a musical tune as he sang out "You forgot your shopping list at home and there's panic in your tone, but your daughter thought ahead and had the list on her phone. Don't worry, Mr. and Mrs. Boonchuy, be happy" and he beautifully vocalized his singing as he pointed to Anne's parents when he sang out "Here I give you my phone number. When you worry call me, I make you happy" and he danced a little as he pointed to Anne's parents as he sang out "Don't worry, Mr. and Mrs. Boonchuy, be happy" a middle aged African American married couple nearby smiled as they saw that Charlie was a good singer. Mr. and Mrs. Boonchuy smiled and chuckled as they saw that Charlie was making some lighted humor that they actually like.
When Sprig and Polly came over to Anne, Polly opened up the lower half of the coat as she used her leg to kick Anne's foot lightly.
"Psst. Give me a quarter. I wanna buy a lotto ticket." said Polly with a mischievous grin.
"You will do no such thing!" Anne declined.
"Polly, you have to be eighteen to purchase a lotto ticket. They made it a law." Charlie told her telepathically.
Charlie suddenly saw Hop Pop wandering off towards the produce section as he hurried along towards him and telepathically informed Anne to keep an eye on Sprig and Polly. Hop Pop was looking at the vegetables with a smug grin as he took one of the oranges to look at it, then placed it back.
"Such puny vegetables." Hop Pop commented.
"Hop Pop, farmers plant, grow and harvest those vegetables like you do. But there have been world records at the county fair with vegetables grown to such mondo sizes. They once had someone with a watermelon the size of a bed or a potato the size of a human torso." said Charlie convincing him to take interest.
"Did your grandparents try something like that?" asked Hop Pop curiously.
"My grandpa won first prize at the county fair with the biggest pumpkin anyone ever seen. It fit the entirety of the trunk to his truck." said Charlie with a proud grin.
Hop Pop felt a sense of pride and bonding with Charlie as they've developed quite the strong father and son relationship. That's when Hop Pop looked to see some durians nearby.
"Whoa mama! Now that's more like it." said Hop Pop excitedly.
Hop Pop and Charlie walked over to the durians as the elderly frog picked one up from the big basket. Anne came over as she found out that they discovered the durians.
"Oh, that's durian. It's a Thai favorite. Not really my thing since it smells like..." Anne began.
"Hop Pop, don't crack that open!" warned Charlie.
Hop Pop cracked open the durian like an egg with his right knee, but the strong, foul odor hit his nose as he smelled the stench of the insides from the durian. He shown a disgusted look in his eyes.
"Rotten eggs." Anne finished.
"Good thing the spikes didn't poke him in the eye, or he'd like Jacques Cousteau in a trauma unit." said Charlie. "I tried the fruit and it taste good, but the stench is rank. First time we had that, half of us nearly tossed up our lunch."
Hop Pop attempted to rid his nostrils of the foul odor by mopping his face on the floor while making a retching sound. An adult woman with a carry-on basket watched as she appeared to be questioning what just happened. Charlie grabbed hold of Hop Pop and lifted him up as he got him to smell some sweet oranges to get rid of the stench in his nostrils.
"Durian first timer over here." said Anne telling half a lie and half the truth while chuckling.
"Smell some oranges and that should get rid of the smell." Charlie advised Hop Pop.
The lady that saw this walked off laughing.
"C'mon, let's get you something good." said Anne with a note of optimism.
That's when Anne and Charlie looked to their left and Anne gasped wide eyed. The two human teenagers saw the nearby noodle shop. The noodle shop also had a curry shop next to it. It wasn't a big place, but it had three round tables with three wooden seats around each one of them, a vendee machine next to the noodle shop, a trashcan next to each entrance of the spot with a spot for people to place a used tray on top of for the employees to clean and wash for later use. Anne and Charlie had smiles upon their faces.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" said Anne rhetorically.
"Now that some of my powers is mind reading like Jean Grey. You know it." said Charlie.
The teenagers gave each other a fist bump. Mr. and Mrs. Boonchuy came right around the corner.
"Mom, Dad, can I take the Plantars to try out some noodles?" asked Anne eagerly.
Anne's parents were a little hesitant as they knew that the idea of having Anne and the Plantars out of the house for an hour wasn't what they called safe, and it scared them to think that something could happen to Anne again as well as the Plantars. They let out a long "Uhhhhhhhhh" in hesitancy.
"I'll keep the Plantars within arm's reach at all times, will avoid any customers and I'll keep my phone in my hand in case you guys' call." Anne reassured showing her phone.
"I'll do the same. I even got my phone on me in case my folks call or if Anne needs assistance or if I need assistance from her. We're like a tag team of soul brothas and soul sistas." reassured Charlie.
"But..." Mrs. Boonchuy interjected.
"And I won't order iced coffee, even though I love it, because I know it makes me jittery and anxious." Anne further reassured.
Charlie looked at Anne and her parents with surprise as if wondering if there was an incident with the so-called iced coffee.
"What happened during that?" said Charlie with a raised eyebrow.
"I might've gotten introduced to coffee at way too young of an age and the sugar and caffeine made me go crazy." Anne confessed.
"Just like the day I first had candy." said Charlie remembering he had a similar experience.
The Boonchuy couple looked at each other and knew that what they've said sounded comforting. Anne was showing them she's changed, matured and has shown signs of responsibility so far which they've been out of the house not for too long and all appeared to be smooth sailing. They even liked the idea of Charlie being part of a tag team in the efforts.
"That does sound fair." said Mrs. Boonchuy relenting.
"Alright, you can go, but be careful." said Mr. Boonchuy also relenting.
"Yes. We will be. Thank you!" said Anne as both her, Charlie and the Plantars walked off.
As they walked off. Sprig was about to dip his hand into a nearby tank that had a large crab in it, Anne and Charlie stopped him from doing so when Anne grabbed his arm to prevent him from getting hurt. Charlie went to go get Hop Pop as he was about to walk into a door that only allowed employees inside.
"Stay close, guys." advised Anne.
"Otōsan, only employees are allowed back there." Charlie informed.
Anne's parents were surprised to see that Anne has changed a lot in her time with the Plantars in Amphibia and that Charlie was showing to be very watchful, responsible, mature as well, even if he was a little bit humorous.
"Unbelievable. She's like a different person." Mr. Boonchuy took notice.
"Maybe old frog was right, she has come a long way. And so has Charlie, his folks made him sound like he was still recovering from a big amount of heartache. He's quite the strong young man, I saw him helping an elderly woman with the heavy lifting of her groceries into her car, his family told us the truth. Now come on, mama needs her jasmine tea." said Mrs. Boonchuy.
As they walked off to get the jasmine tea. Somewhere in the store, the automatic doors to the front entrance opened but no one was seen coming in. A young yet thin man with an afro saw this while scratching his head in confusion. The worker brushed it off as a glitch in the automatic door's system, walking off as he muttered about technology having a few bugs.
Little did he know was something that was almost completely invisible entered the market and it looked like a frog like robot. Anne and Charlie were at the noodle shop as Anne carried two bowls of noodles while Charlie carried one of them. They placed the three bowls on the nearby table that they sat at.
"Dig in everyone." said Anne.
The first to try out the bowl of noodles was Hop Pop as the bowl of noodles had noodles, salmon meat, grilled eggs and seasoning. The elderly male frog slurped up a mouthful of noodles loudly and swallowed them down along with some of the eggs and salmon meat.
"Hey, these worms are pretty good and they're not even fighting back." said Hop Pop.
"I knew a pair of twin siblings who pretended they were worms when they had noodles. Then again, they were six-year-olds." chuckled Charlie.
Sprig was wolfing down some of the dish that he tried out and he was enjoying the tangy taste of what was in the bowl.
"Pretty good? They're delicious!" said Sprig with some of the juices on his mouth.
"Don't forget to chew your food." advised Charlie.
Polly took hold of the bowl to try them out, she wolfed down what was in the bowl as she tried the noodles while loudly slurping them down, tried some of the tangy salmon meat and the zesty eggs.
"Polly likey." said a satisfied Polly.
"They're not worms, they're noodles." Anne specified with a glitter in her eyes. "Asian food's heart and soul."
"Oishīshi, watashitachi wa sore o shitte iru." said Charlie. "Delicious and we know it. We even have ramen noodles in Japan, and they've imported them here in America. It's got Chinese-style wheat noodles, meat or fish-based broth, vegetables or meat. It's like a party in your mouth and..."
As Sprig took hold of the bowl to eat more of the dish and Polly was getting annoyed. Charlie sensed something was nearby and it was something that wasn't peaceful when he saw what looked like the cloaked frog robot while it was cloaked, he saw it from a distance and saw a pair of it's red glowing eyes. His facial expression was now stoic. He could see it swiftly moving towards them.
As everyone was enjoying the noodles. Charlie knew that he had to make sure that they didn't draw any unwanted attention to them with the now approaching Frobot.
"Guys, we have company." Charlie spoke in a deep and low toned voice.
"KILLER ROBOT!" cried Sprig pointing at the frog like robot when it passed a refrigerator when the magnets on it caused its cloaking device to briefly short out, revealing it's presence. Charlie saw it too. They all knew Charlie well enough to know that once he speaks in a deep and low voice, something dangerous was nearby.
Anne turned to see what Charlie and Sprig pointed out but only saw the cute robot toy on top of one of the shelves nearby that had more of them from the top to going down to the rest of the shelves. It looked like one of them adorable toy robots that people could store their candy in. Anne turned to them as she was about to reassure Sprig that not everything he sees is a robot but she was interrupted as she looked like something invisible grabbed her and held her up into the air, she her legs kicking to get free.
"It's here." said Charlie in a deep and low toned voice.
Sprig tossed one of the bowls of noodles at the invisible force and upon doing so made the frog like robot appear in front of them. It's cloaking device deactivating. This Frobot had a silver and grayish green paint job, was lanky and thin to quickly maneuver in urban areas, had eight razor-sharp claws attached to two long arms, and had three toes on each leg. It had a horn that curved backwards at the top of its head, and its optics were red. It had tubes on the sides of its torso, two of which were attached next to what seems like a blue light on its left and had two large darker-colored shoulder pads. The robot was equipped with powerful, long legs and was quite tall, as it even towered over human adults.
It rotated its head to face them and turned its body around to get ready to attack them. Its free hand had razor sharp claws. Charlie uttered a deep, guttural lion like growl as he got into battle mode. Hop Pop tossed another bowl of noodles at the Frobot which in doing so made it drop Anne but just as it caught the bowl of noodles thrown at it. Charlie used his enhanced running speed to catch Anne before she hit the floor. She opened her eyes to see Charlie caught her.
"Big Frobot?" said Anne rhetorically.
"Yep!" answered Charlie in his normal voice.
"Sent by Andrias to stop us?" guessed Anne.
"Big time." answered Charlie.
"It's like that movie Will Smith was in." said Anne.
"Will Smith has nothing on me." said Charlie.
The bowl of noodles that Frobot tossed at the Plantars like a baseball pitcher, hitting the table and destroyed it as if the bowl of noodles was a bowling ball. Causing the table to split in two, knocking the seats over and what remained of the noodles spilled all over the floor.
"Everyone, run!" cried Anne and Charlie.
Both Anne and Charlie ran from the Frobot as Charlie scooped up Hop Pop while Anne scooped up Sprig and Polly. The Frobot smiled evilly and turned invisible with its cloaking function to follow them without being seen by others. Charlie had Hop Pop riding on his shoulders as they passed down a few aisles.
"I really wish I just go full power gold and kick that bucket of bolts metal ass." said Charlie sharply.
"Charlie! Not in front of the kids." Hop Pop chimed in.
"My bad Otōsan." Charlie apologized.
They ran down an aisle in an attempt to lose the dangerous robot.
"Did you see that thing? It's a new kind of Frobo!" said Polly.
"t's gotta be from Amphibia. But how did it get here? And what does it want?" said Anne catching on.
"I can give you five guesses." Charlie interjected.
"Andrias must've sent it to capture us." Hop Pop took notice.
"And me without my katana." chimed in Charlie.
"But we have to take this thing out before my parents notice anything's wrong-" Anne started off till she bumped into someone.
They stopped before they literally and physically bumped into Anne's parents who had what appeared to be most of what they had from the shopping list. They both had them in a carry-on shopping basket. Even Imani and Mabel were with them.
"Oh! Mom! Dad! Hi..." said Anne with a nervous sweat.
"Imani, Mabel, I'm just hanging out with Anne, Hop Pop, Sprig and Polly in case you're wondering where I've been." said Charlie looking nervous.
"Charlie honey, you appear flushed, did you throw up from having too many sweets?" asked Mabel.
"No ma'am, I just got out of the bathroom, you do NOT want to go in there, phew!" Charlie lied.
"Oh... Hey, guys. How were the noodles?" said Mr. Boonchuy.
"So good... I was uh... just taking the Plantars to help out with the shopping list." said Anne growing nervous.
"And I'm just making sure Hop Pop, Sprig and Polly are not being discovered by anyone we wouldn't want to see through their disguises." Charlie told half the truth.
"That's our Charlie!" said Imani and Mabel in unison.
"Oh... that's so thoughtful. Can you also go get a mackerel from the seafood counter?" asked Mrs. Boonchuy pointing toward the seafood counter.
"Oh yeah! No prob." answered Anne.
"Anne, Frobot at twelve o'clock." Charlie told Anne telepathically.
Sprig tugged on Anne's right shirt sleeve and pointed at the seafood counter. They saw the Frobot was hanging around there, looking straight at them as if waiting for them to come over so it could catch them like a wild animal being caught in a snare trap. Charlie suddenly gotten an idea.
"Guys, follow my lead and hang onto me." Charlie instructed them telepathically.
Just as Anne took hold of Charlie's hand, Hop Pop still on Charlie's shoulders, Sprig held onto Anne's hand while Polly still had Sprig on top of her in their disguise. Charlie gotten an idea.
"Is that The Rock over there?" Charlie pointed out.
They all turned to see if it was the celebrity that he pointed out while Mrs. Boonchuy looked to see if it was him with an excited grin as if attracted to powerfully muscular bodies. Charlie teleported both himself, Anne and the Plantars in a puff of gold smoke, disappearing into a different part of the market and reappearing somewhere away from the adults. The Frobot went to go find them.
"Where's The Rock?!" said an excited Mrs. Boonchuy.
"Sounds like someone is attracted to all that huge muscle." joked Mabel.
"Wha-a-a-at? What gave you that idea?" chuckled Mrs. Boonchuy nervously.
Once they reappeared in a spot where no one could see them. Charlie kept an eye out for the Frobot that was chasing them. They were thinking of ideas on how to take down this frog like robot.
"Anne, can you use your blue powers? Take it down easy like?" suggested Hop Pop. "What about you, Charlie, your gold powers, you can go full power on this Frobot."
"Powers! Powers!" cheered Polly.
"I would if I knew how to use them. I'm not sure it's something I can just do whenever." Anne answered. "Charlie has full control over his powers and can use them at will."
"I would but we can't draw attention to ourselves. Even if I did use them, I'd have to be very stealthy about it. Why do you think I told them that I saw The Rock nearby?" said Charlie giving a reason why he can't use his power. "Plus, I hate lying to them. Even if Anne had control over her blue powers, she'd just draw attention to herself like it would me with my gold powers."
"Boooooooooo!" Polly said in annoyance.
"You're right! So what do we do? It will only draw a lot of attention if we fight a robot in the middle of a store. Powers or no powers." said Sprig pointing out the fact.
That's when Anne and Charlie gotten an idea in mind and the young Japanese male teenager could sense the ideas in Anne's mind which made him grin as he was glad to know they both had the same plan in mind.
"Light bulb!" said Charlie snapping one of his fingers. "Anne, let's come up with a plan."
"You got it!" Anne replied.
They took hold of Charlie as he used his teleportation power to teleport them into the customer service sector. Charlie kept a look out in case any of the workers or the Frobot was coming their way while Anne's head peered above the desk, grabbing a coffee mug that had the picture of a purple cat and the word "Tuesdays" printed below it. She used it to place it on the button that controlled the microphone, took a nearby radio to place it near the microphone as she put on a rock song but adjusted the dial to have the volume level at the maximum volume. This caused the entire market to be overcome by the loud music from the speakers around the building.
"Alright. That'll cover up any noise that we might make. Now come on!" said Anne.
"What?" said Sprig loudly.
"Speak up!" said Hop Pop loudly.
"This music makes me mad!" said Polly loudly.
"This music should drown out any noise we make. So even our yelling couldn't be heard. Not to worry guys, just stick together." Charlie told them telepathically.
The Plantars suddenly understood as Charlie communicated with them through their minds. They followed Anne and Charlie as they went down one aisle and spotted the Frobot that while being invisible, the mess from the noodles and broth covering parts of its head was the only thing that revealed itself to them.
Anne and Charlie grabbed hold of a flower bag as Charlie whistled at the Frobot to get its attention, it worked, as the Frobot looked to see them.
"Hey, robot, I brought you some flour!" cried Anne.
They tossed the bags of flower at the machine and once it hit the Frobot. It was covered in flour, making it visible to them, regardless of its cloaking device was on or off. It looked right at itself, then at them with an angry expression in its eyes.
"Oh look, he was probably expecting chocolates to go with them flours." joked Charlie.
The Frobot charged at them, and they charged after the Frobot. They tried beating on the Frobot with what they could find when they crashed into a stack of canned foods. Hop Pop used a broom, Polly used a rolling pin, Sprig hung onto the Frobot while Charlie tried to kick it in its crotch plate.
"Char Char, it's a robot, remember. They don't have anything below the belt!" cried Anne.
"And I'm wearing steel toed boots too." said Charlie realizing what wasn't working.
But Charlie saw Mr. and Mrs. Boonchuy along with Imani and Mabel nearby who were looking like they liked the song that was being played over the loudspeakers. Charlie used his enhanced strength to pull the Frobot out of any nearby line of vision as Sprig and Polly instantly stacked the cans of food back up and rejoined the fight.
The Frobot would at times spin its arms rapidly in a circle while Anne used a frying pan like a sword to fight back with it. Charlie would dodge it's moves at such fast speeds. It pushed Anne away by seven feet, but Charlie charged at the Frobot as the Frobot tried to hit Charlie by punching him, but he deflected its punches with his hands, the faster it tried to punch him, the faster Charlie's deflecting became, and it looked like Charlie was a lot faster than the Frobot.
"Quit moving and hold still." said the Frobot in an emotionless robotic voice.
"What, are you fuckin' nuts?" said Charlie in defiance.
The Frobot tried to hit Charlie but kept missing it's shot as Charlie was too fast for him to land a hit upon him, he was even dodging him in a graceful like dance motion while laughing in his madman like cackling laugh. Hop Pop jumped from above a shelf, attempting to attack the Frobot but the killer machine jumped out of the way and Charlie caught Hop Pop before he could hit the floor.
As the Frobot slid across the aisle but it hid inside one of the shelves when an old Puerto Rican woman passed by, and the gang had to hide their weapons behind their backs till she passed on by. Anne and Charlie noticed something. They had to make sure no one saw them fighting this threat while the threat itself was trying to remain unseen by anyone other than Anne, Charlie and the Plantars.
"Huh, that's weird. Looks like the robot doesn't want to get caught either." said Anne taking notice.
"Incoming at eleven o'clock!" cried Charlie.
The Cloaked-Bot came out of its hiding place and throws two sacks of rice at them. They were about to dodge but Charlie got in front of them as he conjured up a gold force field in front of himself, shielding them from the bags of rice that hit the force field. The force field disappeared afterwards. But than a third rice bag was thrown, and it hit Hop Pop, knocking him to the floor.
"Hop Pop down!" cried Hop Pop.
"Retreat!" cried Anne.
"Hashiru!" cried Charlie picking up Hop Pop.
They ran in the opposite direction while Sprig and Polly ripped open a bag of rice, spilling it all over the floor which as the Frobot ran after them, it slipped on the rice and almost fell. They ran through a door in another room. The room they ran in to hide turned out to be the meat freezer. They found a place to hide in there as the door opened, the Frobot used one of its clawed hands to scratch on the door and entered the room with its extendable arm and hand grabbing onto something and pulling itself in like a fishing rod reeling in a big fish.
"This feels like that kitchen scene from that dinosaur movie." Charlie told Anne telepathically.
The Frobot entered the room while it searched for them, its claws dragging and scratching the gold floor. Hitting its head with various large pieces of meat that hung from a hook on the ceiling. Charlie signaled Anne to keep silent and pointed to his own head as he signaled her to talk to him with her mind.
"I'm getting really tired of this guy. Anyone got any ideas?" said Anne with her mind.
"Anne, I think we forgot something." said Charlie communicating with his mind as he pointed to the Plantars.
Anne looked to see that Hop Pop, Sprig and Polly were frozen in a large block of ice. Hop Pop was frozen in a block of ice alone while Sprig and Polly were frozen together in a block of ice.
"And they say being cooler than cool as in ice cold was a good thing." said Charlie through his mind.
"Right. Frogs. Body temperature." Anne said out loud.
Charlie looked at her with a tense, frightened look as he heard Anne talk out loud. Knowing they just gave away their position and Anne just realized that. That's when the Frobot grabbed hold of the large boxes they hid behind and pushed the boxes out of the way. The two humans turned to see that they've been found.
Anne and Charlie attempted to fight back while Charlie roared like a realistic lion as they tried to punch the Frobot but it deflected their punches by grabbing their hands. It tossed them across the room, Charlie grabbed hold of Anne as made sure they didn't hit the piles of bagged ice too hard, but he hit his head, knocking him to the floor and temporarily leaving him dizzy as he slowly tried to get up. The Frobot rolled up its right arm and raised its left arm, getting ready to attack.
"Come on powers. Come on." said Anne trying to activate her powers when she opened and closed her hands. "Charlie, wake up!"
Charlie was slowly getting up, but he started to feel like his body was healing up faster than a human's cells would divide. Sprig looked around with his eyes as he gotten an idea. The Plantars tried to move but got some movement going as they attempted to break out of their blocked ice prison and charge at the Frobot, only to land softly and slide across the floor, lightly hitting the killer robot's right foot.
The bump to its foot got the Frobot's attention as it retracted its right hand and out came a laser gun. It pointed at them as it was glowing a red light, electronic humming being heard. Anne cried out for it to not go through with killing them, but it didn't listen. Charlie and Anne saw that the Plantars were about to killed.
"Initiating elimination of the threats. Next for elimination, Anne Boonchuy and that stupid monkey." the Frobot said with an insult.
Hearing the killer robot refer to Charlie as a monkey had him fully awakened as he felt an infuriating rage kick into him from hearing that offensive word that he hates being called. Anne was also feeling a rage kick into her. Anne's eyes suddenly glowed a blue color while a blue energy wave formed around her hands while Charlie let out a loud, realistic, powerful lion like roar as his eyes and hair turned a glowing gold, a powerful gold energy wave flashing all around him and his muscles grew bigger, and the two enraged human teenagers were ready to fight back and defend the Plantars.
"Hey balless mother fuck face!" cried Charlie.
A radar came out from behind the robot's head, blinking a blue light as it turned its head around to face the angry teenagers.
"If you think I'm just gonna sit here while you hurt my friends, you've got another thing coming." Anne threatened.
"Let's kick some metal and sent this hunk of junk back to the junkyard." cried Charlie.
The two teenagers ran over towards the Frobot at such lightning speeds that the Frobot looked down at them as they were about to sucker punch it in the face.
"Oh shit." said the Frobot.
"You're obsolete!" they cried.
Both letting out a battle cry as they punched the Frobot in the face, causing it to cancel out it's laser gun and breaking off the armor from the left side of its chest plate and its left cheek. Sending flying to hit the wall with static discharge emitting from where the damages appear. It looked at the powered-up teenagers and saw that if it continued to fight back, it would ether get destroyed and the mission to eliminate them would fail or they'd get discovered by human civilians, it didn't want ether of that.
"Let's destroy him with soul power." Charlie suggested.
The Frobot decided to flee as it used the cloaking function but at first, it went from invisible to reappearing a couple of times till it tried again and it worked. Ripping its way through the metal door and a car nearby looked like it got stepped on by a huge foot, revealing that the Frobot was the cause of it when its cloaking function failed, the car's alarm went off and the Frobot turned invisible once more and took off, stepping on another car.
That was when Anne and Charlie powered down as the glowing blue energy from Anne disappeared while Charlie's energy wave disappeared, his eyes and hair returned to their normal color and his muscles returned to their normal size. Anne felt like her energy was drained as she uttered a groan. She saw a package of fish that her mother requested sitting on top of a pile of bags of ice.
Charlie pushed the Plantars outside the meat freezer while Anne carried the package of fish. Charlie laid Anne down nearby as he breathed fire lightly to melt the ice that the Plantars were imprisoned in, the ice melted, freeing them.
"Talk about burn baby burn." said Hop Pop relieved.
"We're not letting anyone hurt the new members of our kazoku. That means family in Japanese." said Charlie.
"Anne, that was amazing! You guys weren't kidding when you said "powers". Charlie, you knocked him out of the park." said a thrilled Sprig.
"Yeah! Do the punch again!" said a thrilled Polly.
They looked towards an exhausted Anne who passed out onto the floor, but Charlie caught her before she hit the floor. Hop Pop came to hold onto Anne by her right side while Charlie was on the left side.
"Anne!" said a worried Sprig.
"Anne!" said the Plantars.
"Come on soul sista, wake up." said a worried Charlie.
"Come on Anne. Come back." said Hop Pop.
"Is she okay?" asked a worried Polly.
"She's OK. I think using those powers takes a lot out of her." reassured Hop Pop.
"That would explain the first time she used her blue powers, and she was nearly crashed out. But why don't I get tired out when I use my gold powers at full power?" said Charlie looking curious.
"Maybe this gold power of yours makes you stronger or there's something about this race of Leotárians that explains it. But so far, we don't much about that race." answered Hop Pop. "Any ideas on how to bring Anne out of it?"
"Well, we gotta do something. If her parents or the ladies that are with Charlie see her like this..." Polly began.
Sprig took off running and they wondered what he was about to do but since Charlie was the only one who could read minds or communicate with others minds so far, he knew what Sprig was doing as he came back with a piece of durian and the smell from it was strong enough to even be smelled from their distance.
"Oh no. Sprig don't, that'll probably." Charlie began to warn.
Sprig ignored him and placed the durian underneath Anne's nose, and the foul smell met her nostrils. She woke up instantly and she shoved the fruit away.
"Ah! No! Get it away! Hop Pop? Guys?" said Anne. "Who used the durian to wake me up?"
"Sprig did it." said Charlie pointing at him.
They all embraced Anne and she hugged back. They were glad she was alive along with Charlie.
"This way up." said Charlie taking hold of Anne's hand.
They helped her up to her feet and Charlie was still hugging her. But he sensed the minds of four adults coming their way and he recognized who they were.
"Oh hey. There you are guys are. How was your supermarket journey?" came Mr. Boonchuy.
Anne's parents and both Imani and Mabel arrived over to them while they tried to play it cool.
"It was great. Walking around a boring old supermarket was just the thrill we needed." lied Anne.
"Charlie, you look like you might be a bit tired. Were you pumping iron or bench pressing a bodybuilder? I swear since he came back, his muscles look bigger, and he's proven to be a lot stronger since then." said Mabel while lightly making a joke.
"He might give a pro-wrestler a run for their money." joked Imani. "Also, did anyone bully you, Charlie? If I find out it's that boy Flash Murphy, I'm gonna-"
"Relax Imani, no one bullied me here. And I haven't seen Flash Murphy since the third grade." reassured Charlie.
"Was Charlie bullied a lot when he was little?" asked Mrs. Boonchuy looking worried.
"A few times. But Flash Murphy was literally the worst one. Charlie came home from school one day after we got a call from school, and he had a black eye and a few bruises to his back and right arm. Kikyo was the one who went more ballistic out of everyone in the house that day." explained Imani. "Flash Murphy got his ass kicked out of school that day."
"Imani, I get that you and the ladies of the house love me, you'd always be there for me, and you've always been there to help me. But no one bullied me here. Besides, Flash Murphy doesn't even live in this state anymore, so he's long gone." reassured Charlie kindly.
"I know, sugar. It's just we remember he used to hurt you so bad physically." said Imani showing she understood.
"Oh! And here's the fish you wanted." said Anne handing her parents the package of the fish they asked for.
She handed it to her dad who took it and placed it in the carry-on basket. Anne's parents smiled and felt like their daughter really has grown up and matured in her time in Amphibia. Even Imani and Mabel were surprised at how much more confident and braver Charlie has become in his time in Amphibia.
"Oh... thanks, Anne. Glad you had fun." said Mrs. Boonchuy kindly.
"And we're sorry for being so overprotective earlier. Not only can you take care of yourself, but it looked like you can even take care of your friends." said Mr. Boonchuy kindly.
"Yes. We are actually very impressed." said Mrs. Boonchuy.
"Also, as long as we're being compassionate. Charlie honey, we're so sorry for being overprotective as well. We know you'll always come to us when you need help, but it looks like you've grown up a lot in your time in Amphibia with Anne and the Plantars. We just sort of gotten so used to you being that little boy who needed us to protect him from ether the toughest bullies or even something as minor as comforting your fears like if it's a phobia." said Mabel showing her love towards Charlie.
"Awww thanks, but you don't have you apologize. You were just doing everything you could to keep me safe and..." Anne paused as she looked at the Plantars who smiled back till she looked back at her parents. "I get it."
"Mabel, Imani, I get it too. Mom, aunt Hayami, and all of the ladies of the house were doing the same for me as Anne's parents did for her. No need to apologize. I get it. Nothing to worry about. Nani mo shinpai suru hitsuyō wa arimasen." said Charlie kindly.
"Yeah well... some kid made a mess at the cooking aisle and we're just lucky to have a daughter who would never do something like that." said Mr. Boonchuy pointing with his thumb in the direction of the mentioned aisle.
"We also know that Charlie wouldn't do anything like that. Except for that time when he was five when he tried to make a burger on his own. That was a huge mess of ketchup that it made it look like a crime scene." chuckled Imani.
"To be fair, I was five. I didn't know how to make a homemade burger. At least not till I was seven." chuckled Charlie.
They were all giggling at first but both Anne and Charlie knew that they lied to their families faces about what they were really doing. But once they all stopped giggling, the Plantars loudly cackled till Anne covered their mouths.
"Don't overdo it." said Anne nervously under her breath.
"Trust me, this is a real laugh." said Charlie with a grin.
Charlie let out that famous madman like cackling laugh that everyone, but Anne's parents knew about. Anne's parents were a bit surprised by this, but something told them that he was just being humorous. His laughter died down.
The Parking Lot
Anne's parents and both Imani and Mabel gotten the groceries into their cars, but Charlie volunteered to load them up into their cars as he proven to even Mr. and Mrs. Boonchuy how much stronger he's become. He even placed the groceries in the right spots of their cars so they wouldn't shift during the drive home or crush anything that's easily breakable.
"He really is strong." said Mr. Boonchuy surprised.
"Wolverine has nothing on me." said Charlie lightly bragging.
Charlie popped his neck and cracked his knuckles as he walked over towards Anne and the Plantars as they were having a chat about the events that happened at the market.
"Imani, Mabel, what are you feeding your boy that's got him so strong?" joked Mrs. Boonchuy.
"He eats like any normal teenager does but he's been eating right a lot for years but had something sweet or greasy on occasions." answered Mabel.
Anne and Charlie hugged each other and even kissed each other on the lips before they spoke.
"Anne, are you sure you're OK? You didn't look too good back there." asked a worried Hop Pop.
"I got agree with Otōsan. The first time you used your blue powers. You got tired out afterwards. And the same thing happened again." Charlie pointed out.
"Yeah. I'm thinking I shouldn't use those powers if I can help it. I don't know how else to describe it but using them feels... bad." said Anne showing guilt.
"Well, we won't make you use them again." reassured Sprig.
"Plus, you're sort of taking on a lot already." said a worried Polly.
"Anne, if you can help your powers, you should only use them as a last resort. Not because someone is making you but only when you know you have to when all else fails. It was the same with me, but I get that I didn't black out afterwards, so I probably don't have a leg to stand on in those terms. Trust me, I don't like lying to my folks or those I care about. But we're only doing so because we're afraid of putting them at risk. But I do know one day, we'll have to tell them but let's put that from our minds for now. The bucket of bolts doesn't know where we live so we can count ourselves lucky." reassured Charlie.
"What are you talking about? All me and Charlie have to do is protect you guys and keep you a secret. Oh... and find a way to reopen a portal to Amphibia and return you home and somehow defeat King Andrias and make up with our two best friends and bring them back to Earth." Anne babbled.
Sprig looked at Anne with a worried expression as if knowing this confirms it. Even Charlie knew he too was taking on a lot but the only difference with him was that his powers didn't take a lot out of him like it did with Anne's powers. Anne knew that this confirmed it. They all walked over to the cars they came in.
"OK. It sounds like a lot, but we can do it. We're perfectly capable." said Anne as she reached her parent's car. "Now, can someone please open this door for me? I'm trying to move my arms and nothing's happening."
Hop Pop was the first to open the car's sliding door while Charlie helped Hop Pop, Sprig and Polly into the car as they needed a leg up.
"Till we see each other again, Anne?" said Charlie facing her.
Anne pulled Charlie into her arms, and he hugged back while she suddenly gave him a kiss to his right cheek. This made him blush deeply with a grin. Then they released each other's arms.
"I'll be seeing you again." said Anne with a grin.
Charlie chuckled with blushing cheeks as he walked over to the car that he came in and got inside the car to ride on home. Anne got into the car with the Plantars as they all closed the car doors and buckled up.
"Hey, anyone else craving those noodles?" said Hop Pop on a positive note.
"Yep. Turns out this world ain't half bad." said Polly looking relaxed.
"Yeah. As long as that robot never comes back, I think everything's gonna be fine." said Sprig.
"No offense Sprig but you really gotta stop saying stuff like that." said Anne feeling a little uncomfortable.
Mr. Boonchuy asked them what was for dinner and said something in the language of Thai that translated to the words "I'm Starved" which the Plantars chanted "Noodles" a few times as they drove off to home.
It started to rain and somewhere on top of a tower of a church in town. The cloak Frobot was making repairs of itself as it was using gold lasers on the parts of itself that was damaged.
"Upgrades and repairs in progress... Targets... will be destroyed... at all costs. Especially the Leotárian." the Frobot spoke.