Days later after Charlie called Dante out on his neglect and stood up to him while seeing that Hop Pop is his true father figure had left him feeling like he walked taller since then. He reconciled with Hop Pop, Anne, Sprig, Polly, Mr. and Mrs. Boonchuy and his family after that event.
Dante's whereabouts were unknown and they never knew where else he was but that didn't matter to them as they knew Dante was no good and someone who would never change. Kikyo, Charlie's mother, felt like she wanted to go mama bear on Dante and so did her sister and the rest of the women of the house wanted to do the same but they figured that it was just as satisfying to see Charlie finally stand up to his deadbeat father and realizing Hop Pop is the true father figure in his life.
One Day at the Boonchuy Residence
Anne walked towards the front door of the house and walked outside to the porch. She let out a yawn as if she just woke up.
"Hope Charlie's alright after that day Dante was being so typical. Hope that Sasha and Marcy are alright as well. Charlie using a needle to inject Marcy with juices of that golden all miracle healing apple has to have saved her from meeting her maker." said Anne hopefully under her breath.
She was about to walked forwards to the mailbox but got stopped as she felt something was literally holding her back. She turned around to see that Hop Pop was holding onto right sock she was still wearing. The Plantars were showing them big puppy dog stairs of excitement.
"Where you going, Anne?" said the Plantars in unison.
"Uuuhh... the mailbox..." said Anne pointing at the mailbox with her left thumb.
"Sounds exciting! Can we come? Please? Please?" said an excited Sprig shaking Hop Pop's head and face like a five-year-old about to go to an amusement park.
"Uuuhh... Yeah. I guess." said Anne almost about to laugh.
They cheered for the opportunity as they ran off to get into their disguises. They were all in their human disguises as Polly and Sprig knew that being in a disguise that both of them share was a bit of an inconvenience for them both and that it was hard to get around when it looked like they were sharing one body. They decided to be in separate disguises so they wouldn't hurt each other if one was to trip.
Anne and the Plantars came back and walked outside with Anne as she headed for the mailbox. She still fought the urge to laugh while she kept herself calm, cool and collected.
"You know, I used to only get the mail to intercept my report cards. Buy these days-" Anne paused and looked behind her to see the Plantars weren't with her.
What she saw had her mama bear instincts kicking for them as Polly waved and greeted two human children. One was a girl on a scooter and wearing a sky-blue T-shirt and a lightning bolt printed on the front, the other was a boy riding on a bike with a seat that's a bit lower down who wore a black T-shirt with a white skull printed on the front, he was chewing bubblegum.
But they passed by Polly, almost running her over which she jumped up high enough to literally go over their heads. She was enraged at them when she turned to snap at them.
"HEY! WATCH IT! You overgrown stinkbugs!" Polly snapped.
The two kids skidded their wheels to a halt and looked on at Polly with a look of offended anger. Challenging Polly on what she just called them as if she said something prejudice. Anne came over to scoop up Polly and informed them that Polly is just a baby and walked off as one of the kids commented on how weird Polly looks.
"Hey you two! Randy, Samantha. Don't egg the situation on. Let her handle this. You wouldn't want anyone doing that to you if it was the other way around, would you?" came a male's voice speaking in their heads.
The two kids looked to see Charlie from nearby and they saw he was talking to them but without moving his mouth. They looked on at him as if he was he was their dad kindly advising them not to bully anyone.
"Randy, Samantha, you need to be careful where you go when on wheels. You might run someone over and end up on an episode of L.A.C.S.I. and you don't want that. Let Anne handle the situation now that things are under control." Charlie kindly advised them telepathically. "This is your conscience speaking to you. Listen to your conscience as it knows better like your parents. Now go on and have some fun but careful on the path."
The two kids looked on at him and gave him a salute as if he was a police officer and drove off. The next thing happening was in the neighborhood was a tall, muscular bodied, tan man was trimming branches from the trees on his property and used a woodchipper in order to dispose of them.
Sprig came from behind one of the trees on the man's lawn when he walked off. He snuck over to the woodchipper and looked at the inside of the machine that the wood goes in. Expressing something about it looks like fun but Anne ran towards him, caught him in time to prevent him from going inside and meeting his doom.
"Anne, karera wa daijōbudesuka?" called Charlie out loud.
Anne was about to answer until she saw Hop Pop talking to a tall and thin man in a liberty blue suit with a full head of blonde hair who had a suitcase and a clipboard on him. He was talking about giving Hop Pop a free vacation by listening to him talk about a business deal. The tall blonde man was definitely a scammer.
"Charlie!" cried Anne.
"On it!" cried Charlie.
Charlie rushed over to Hop Pop and scooped him up into his arms and placed him on his shoulders while he looked towards the man who now had a surprised expression, visibly shaken as his smile was wiped off when Charlie gave him a scary, strict expression with his eyes glowing gold.
"If I catch you trying to scam my Otōsan or anyone else. You'll be tied up in so much litigation that your great grandchildren are going to need lawyers. Now take your papers, your suitcase, and your clipboard and get stepping, find yourself a real job. You do not need to be scamming the elderly when they've worked so hard to be well off and retire in peace. They worked hard to get their social security and now they got it. They do now need parasites like you to be scamming and taking advantage of them. Now get stepping, go find yourself a job and quit with the scamming business because you'll end up in a worse place if you keep scamming people. Now do you still want to have this conversation, son?" Charlie ranted in a deep and low tone voice.
"Sir no sir! I'll get a real job and stop the scamming, sir!" the man in the suit said giving him a salute and running off.
Charlie's eyes stopped glowing gold and were back to their original color as both Anne and Charlie walked over to Anne's house.
"Big trouble?" guessed Hop Pop.
"We just need to get you three inside and take a knee." said Anne looking annoyed.
"I'm surprised you scared that guy in the suit off. I half expected you to kick his-" Sprig began.
"Sprig!" said Charlie looking like he was sensing a swear word coming on.
"What, I was going to say butt." said Sprig in his defense.
"Oh, that's okay then." said Charlie relieved.
Charlie placed Hop Pop on his feet to the front porch of Anne's home. Anne informed Charlie she can take it from there for now and Charlie walked off to ether head back home or to possibly figure out how they can get back to Amphibia.
"That scammer is lucky I didn't whoop his ass." said Charlie under his breath.
Anne and the Plantars were inside and safe and sound from any possible dangers. Anne went into the kitchen and got out a can of orange soda from the fridge and gulped it down as she downed it easily, crushed the now empty can on her head and placed the now smushed metal can into the nearby trashcan. Anne's parents looked on in surprise as if they felt their parent's senses tingling.
"My parent's senses are tingling." said Mrs. Boonchuy under her breath.
"Something wrong, kiddo?" asked Mr. Boonchuy.
"Where do I start? Polly nearly got in a fight, Hop Pop was seconds away from getting scammed and Sprig almost got turned into wood chips. Charlie had to scare off the scammer and scare him straight." Anne listed off.
A look of confusion was on her parent's faces but also started to see that Anne was relating to a situation they've been through.
"Wait, Sprig is made out of wood?" said a confused Mrs. Boonchuy.
Anne groaned, looking tired as she slipped down on the fridge a little. She looked like a parent who was raising three children and was out of energy at the end of the day.
"I'm exhausted just trying to keep them all alive. Charlie seems to take some of the weight off my back." said Anne.
Anne's mother let out a brief, little laugh as her parent's realization of what they've been feeling or relating to in Anne's situation was relatable to them in terms of family.
"Sounds like being a parent." chuckled Mrs. Boonchuy.
"The trick is to ease them into the world. Slow and steady like how I'm easing this egg into-" began Mr. Boonchuy as he tried to crack an egg on the pan which was on the burner, but his attempts to crack the egg the way he spoke off failed as he dropped the egg and half its shell fell into the pan. "Dang it! Maybe that's not a good idea to use food metaphors."
"Just be patient. This is all new for them." said Mrs. Boonchuy with a word of comfort. "When we had you. We were worried if we'd say or do something that could traumatize you or worried that we'd do something that affects you for life, even when we got so choked up on your first day of school."
"My first day of school had one of ours teachers get frustrated when he stubbed his big toe and dropped the F-bomb. And the kids learned a new word that would have a bar of soap in their future if they used that word out loud." said Anne remembering her first day of school.
"Well, we wouldn't use a bar of soap on you. We just had a talk with you about how some people use that word by mistake and we shouldn't use them words out loud." said Mrs. Boonchuy.
"Yeah, you're right. Slow and steady." said Anne looking reassured. "By the way, do you really think me and Charlie would make good parents? I know all of that is so many years ahead but me and Charlie have had some experiences with handling children, well, Charlie's shown more potential."
"From what his family has told us about him. He'd make a good father and a good husband. You as a mother and wife, you've matured since your time in Amphibia and there's a positive light in that." reassured Mrs. Boonchuy. "Just be sure not to see each other naked until you're both over the age of eighteen."
"Oh mom, there's no danger of that." chuckled Anne.
Anne walked out of the kitchen and was headed for the living room.
"I'm so never telling them I shown Charlie my huge boobies or my bra." said Anne to herself.
Just when she entered the living room all calm and optimistic, she gasped wide eyed as she saw Sprig was on the ceiling, stretching his tongue out to touch the ceiling fan with it, while the ceiling fan's propellors were still spinning.
Polly was looking out the window, looking out at the two kids that she encountered from before as she said something that sounded like she was daring them to prove how tough they are.
Hop Pop was talking to someone over the phone about someone giving him an offer on giving him free money for a deal he could get it on by giving them the numbers to his bank account. Anne took in a breath and screamed in annoyance, her face red from her emotion.
She quickly closed the curtains to stop Polly from getting into further conflict with other kids, took the phone out of Hop Pop's hand to stop him from being scammed, again, and used a broom to scoot Sprig off from the ceiling, he fell to the floor and the Plantars saw that Anne was panting a bit.
"We're in so much trouble." Polly whispered to Hop Pop.
"Nope! Slow and steady ain't gonna cut it. You three will be dead in two days! We're lucky this isn't a zombie film!" said Anne putting her foot down.
"Is that a threat!" said an angered Polly.
"You Ok, Anne?" said a clueless Sprig.
"Here. Take this free stress test I got from that guy." said Hop Pop holding out papers.
Anne slapped the papers away and they could tell that Anne wasn't kidding around as Anne saw that slow and steady wouldn't work this time, she could sympathize with them but knew that if they weren't careful, they'd be in a horrible situation or worse.
"No. The responsible thing to do is to train you all at once at the most chaotic and dangerous place I know." said Anne.
"Please tell me it's not military school. Charlie told me about that film a guy named Wayans starred in and I don't think military school is such a good idea." said Sprig.
"I never said military school. Besides, you three are from another world and military school would have you three exposed faster than Charlie can speed talk." said Anne with some reassurance.
At The Willow Brooke Mall
Anne, the Plantars and Charlie were now at the local mall that had a banner above the second story floor that read "Welcome to the Willow Brooke Mall. There was numerous shops and kiosks as there was shops that had the signs to show what shops there.
There was an I & N store that was a clothing retail line. An & Pitch store that was a clothing store, a stored called Ever 22, which was a fast fashion brand store, a clothing store called Old Maybe, a Japanese casual wear store called Uniq-oh, a pretzel shop, a pizza place called Pizza Guys, a rental store for clothes, a shop called Soapworld that sells soaps, lotions, fragrances, and candles, an art exhibit, a wishing fountain, and a lingerie store called Monica's Whisper and numerous other shops.
The mall had two floors and escalators. What Anne had in mind to train the Plantars in survival had Charlie feeling a bit hesitant about it being a reasonable idea. He sensed this was a bit extreme.
"The Mall! Where I learned life's most important skills. And where you're gonna learn the lessons you need to survive in our world." Anne told the Plantars.
"Anne, I know you want them to learn how to survive in our world and to do a better job at straying away from any dangers but isn't this a little extreme? The shopping mall in Newtopia may have been one thing but back there, no government wanted to study us as they just saw us as beings from another world who meant no harm. Our world, we have a government that freaks the yahoo out if they so much as see a flying saucer in the sky and come to find out it's just a weather balloon and they went all Men in Black on it for nothing." said a hesitant Charlie. "We're even having to lie to our folks about some of the details we left out about our time in Amphibia and I hate lying to my family."
"Charlie, I know. But so far, Hop Pop, Sprig and Polly are still adjusting to our world. Sure, it's not like their world but it's the only idea I can think of that could teach them how to survive in our world." reassured Anne. "Also, I'm a little miffed off that I'm doing this since Hop Pop almost got scammed, twice, Sprig almost got hurt, twice and Polly nearly got into a fight, twice. I'm glad you were there to assist me but if things get worse, it'll be like that school field trip I went on during third grade."
"What happened during that?" asked Charlie.
"You're much happier not knowing." warned Anne.
"Survive?" said Hop Pop with a scoff as if he was doing something that's child's play. "Your world is soft, Anne."
"Yeah... I mean, the animals don't even try to disembowel you." said Sprig.
"Yeah...we don't need no stinking-" Polly began.
The Plantars walked off and slipped, about to fall down the escalator stairs. Charlie was quick to move on his feet as he jumped forwards, grabbed hold of Polly and Sprig with his right arm and Hop Pop with his left arm.
"Nanika ni tsukamatte!" cried Charlie.
Charlie did a few flips in the air, landed on one of the handrails to the escalator, slid down it and once he reached the bottom, he did one last flip into the air and landed on his feet. Carefully placing them down on their feet as Anne came down to them on the escalator. A few people saw Charlie's little stunt and applauded for his little gymnastics' maneuvers. He managed to take a bow to them but telepathically informed them on a sale they couldn't resist by making it sound like their conscience was talking to them and they sped off towards the shops with the great deals.
"I'm not saying a word." said Charlie.
"Proceed." said Hop Pop.
Anne pulled out her cell phone as she was probably taking notes on it for what she had in mind to give the Plantars a crash course in survival on Earth.
"I've come up with a specific task for each of you. First up, Polly. You need to control your temper. It's drawing too much attention and we're trying to keep a low profile." said Anne.
"I say what I want when I want!" Polly said sharply.
"Maybe in Wartwood, but not here, even Charlie has shown maturity at your age. Your mission is to go into that store a build a custom plushy without fighting anyone." instructed Anne as she pointed at a nearby shop called Construct-A-Carnivore.
They looked right at the shop Anne pointed at and Polly scoffed smugly as if she was doing something too easy.
"Oh no." Charlie told himself.
"Ha... Child's play." said Polly smugly.
"Sprig, you can't touch everything or you're gonna lose a limb. It's like being a pirate who has a hook for a hand because they lost a hand in accident." warned Anne.
"I can hear Captain Hook cursing out his enemy right now." Charlie told himself.
"But there's so many new surfaces and textures." said Sprig his hands shaking like he was having a nervous reaction.
"Your mission is to walk through that Gallery of Art Installations without touching any of them." Anne instructed while pointing at the art exhibit nearby.
"We should've done something simpler that wouldn't require this." Charlie told himself.
"Heh... looks simple enough." said Sprig looking optimistic.
"Finally, Hop Pop. You need to stop talking free stuff. In my world, everything has a price." said Anne.
"Then why did they call it "free", Anne? Mmm? Because they think I'm gullible and easily scammed?" said Hop Pop looking smug.
Charlie warned Anne telepathically about what she shouldn't say, and she understood but also knew that even she didn't like having to do this as Charlie telepathically told Anne "Let's not say anything we'll regret" which Anne took heed of the warning.
"Hop Pop, you almost got scammed twice in one day and trust me, scammers have a tendency to target the elderly. It's something we've been hearing about for years, and we don't want that happening to you." said Anne with a compassionate word.
"Point taken." said Hop Pop.
"Your mission is to make it through Kiosk Alley without falling for any free scams." said Anne pointing in the direction where she mentioned the place by name.
They looked to see that there were people at the Kiosks that looked like sharp dressed people, but they all looked like they were ether salesmen, scammers or people who were looking for an easy target to bamboozle.
"I should step in and put a stop to this." Charlie told himself.
"We'll be watching all of you from up here. You got twenty minutes to complete your mission." said Anne as she turned around.
"And if one of us screws up?" said Sprig curiously.
"Then you can't be trusted to leave the house..." said Anne as she gave them an intimidating look. "Eeeeeeeeeeeveeeeeeeeeer."
"I really should step in and put a stop to this." Charlie told himself while looking visibly shaken.
The Plantars were shocked and wide eyed at what Anne told them and they tried to run in opposite directions, but they accidentally crash into each other but got up on their feet once Charlie gave them a hand.
"Anne, this doesn't look like a good idea. The mall is a mad house on big days and little days. Selena and Elena still call the mall La casa del infierno." said Charlie looking hesitant about the idea.
"Translation?" asked Anne.
Charlie pulled Anne aside and whispered to her what the Spanish phrase meant when translated and she was wide eyed at what it meant.
"Yikes! They really call the mall that phrase?" said Anne.
"They've witnessed a lot go down at the mall. And I can't swear at the mall since there's little kids everywhere." said Charlie with blushing cheeks.
"You experienced something here you haven't told me, have you?" asked Anne.
"I may not remember but my mom told me that one time when I was four. I accidentally dropped the F-bomb when an adult man was aggressively complaining to a worker on how he accidentally spilled hot coffee on him. He dropped the F-bomb and I accidentally dropped it too. Long story short. The man hasn't been seen here since and my folks had a little talk with me on why we shouldn't repeat those words when someone else says them. They were kind, fair and patient with me because they knew it wasn't my fault and they explained it to me in ways I understood. I ended up learning that when at the mall, there's little kids everywhere and if you drop any swear words with any of them nearby, you'll have a code A.M.S." Charlie explained.
"AMS?" asked Anne not understanding.
"Angry mama situation." explained Charlie. "Nothing drives a mama up the wall more than a person being responsible for their kids learning their first swear word."
Anne was wide eyed slightly from what she was told as she knew that Charlie was right. If a random adult male is responsible for someone else's kids learning their first swear word. That'll anger their mothers.
Polly went inside the shop that read "Construct-A-Carnivore" she went in there and saw that they had various parts for stuffed animals for people to make their own stuffed animal toy that they can customize, style, add accessories to and more. She would grab various parts that interested her and took it to a nearby table that she could place the parts on to construct the stuffed animal she was going for.
She had a green reptile torso, purple left arm, blue right arm, and more parts to use. Polly looked like she was doing alright at first.
"Don't know why Anne thought this would be difficult. Yet Charlie seems hesitant about the idea. We'll talk it over later." said Polly looking optimistic.
That's when Polly's optimism was tested when she saw a nearby baby in a stroller, taking the blue right arm and was exploring its mouth on it. But her temper was about to rise but she restrained herself and remembered what Anne said.
"Build a custom plushy without fighting anyone"
Polly tried to be loving and understanding and held her temper back.
"Oh... hello there. I think there's been a misunderstanding. But that's-" Polly began but the baby loud spat spit that got in part of her hair. This left her getting annoyed. "What the...? Hey, lady! Your chubby spawn is running my work."
The lady who turned out to be the baby's mother looked at Polly with an offended expression.
"Did you call my kid a spawn?" said the baby's mother who had silky dark hair.
Polly remembered she had to not make a scene when she knew that if she got found out. Then both her and her family could be at risk of being found out about them being frogs from another world. She let out a sigh after her right eye was twitching.
"Know what? It's fine. Ma'am, it's basically my first time here and I'm from out of town so..." Polly began to apologize.
Her attempts to calm herself was starting really get pushed as more babies took the parts she was going to use and they were using their mouths to explore them, leaving spit on them.
"You're new here? Are you feeling alright?" the silky dark-haired woman asked.
Polly was trying to contain her fury but what was happening was going south really fast as she nearly wanted to scream or say some insults as her hands were shaking and her face shown she was really trying not to have an outburst.
The Gallery of Art Installations
Sprig was walking around the spot in the mall he was at as there was art exhibits that shown a purple tiger, an angry clown, a giant slice of pizza that was made of the material people used to make sculptures. He'd hop around and saw more of them such as a huge purple ball, giant red dice, giant avocado, and one that looked like an orange ball of fur with huge eyes, a purple nose, a king's crown, pink fur boas, and fake money all around it. The last one he saw was the one that caught his attention more.
He was about to jump towards it to touch it but stopped once he remembered Anne telling him if he failed this mission. He'd never be trusted to leave the house at all.
"It's fine. Totally fine. I can just look and appreciate from afar. Try to be like Charlie. Well behaved, keeps his hands to himself, a total gentleman, helpful, compassionate." said Sprig restraining himself.
He saw more sculptures that were of a huge cactus with limbs and a face, an Egyptian pyramid with an eye on the center of it, a blue object with bird wings, a pink furry colored upside-down triangle with a funny face and robot limbs, a large box with different colored sides, and more. The temptation to touch them was growing as his eyes twitched in desperation. Sprig tried to look away from them but one of them caught his attention the most.
It looked like from the bottom, it was a machine, the middle looked like a climbing wall but various shiny objects hung from it but the top was a huge gold eye with a red iris. Everything was shining from the sunlight that shined from the skylight. Sprig was wiggling his fingers, ready to touch something but he found it hard to resist as he tried to hold back.
"Come on, Sprig, FIGHT IT..." Sprig grunted.
He only thought of one idea to hold himself back as he punched himself in the face, falling to the floor and kept punching himself in the face while an Indian American male adult and a pink haired female adult with glasses watched on in confusion.
"Must be some kind of performance piece." said the male Indian American male adult.
"Sorry, I'm foreign. First time at the mall." lied Sprig.
Hop Pop was at the hall of Kiosks, and he found himself struggling to resist the temptation of those who were going to sell him anything they had with them. A latino male adult was offering him a free credit card but he just walked past him, ignoring the man. A blonde-haired male adult was offering him to regrow his hair and cure hair loss but Hop Pop continued on, struggling to resist with a nervous expression.
He then bumped into another blonde-haired male adult who had looked like he had less hair on his head. His booth looked like a place where people can start a modeling career with a few headshot photos, a camera and a light.
"Hey there, handsome. Wanna start your modeling career with some headshots? Just need your ID. It's 100% no strings attached...freeee." said the short blonde-haired male adult.
Hop Pop tried to resist, he took his wallet out and was about to give into temptation but slapped himself in the face with the wallet and put it back in his coat pocket, walking away.
"Me foreign, no English." lied Hop Pop faking an Irish accent.
There was a nearby male mall cop with a small mustache who tossed out a tray of food he just finished eating. His stomached grumbled from eating what appeared to be sushi. He looked on at Hop Pop, he saw he looked suspicious but when he saw a sign nearby that read "Stranger Danger" with a suspicious picture on the front, and he gasped. He sensed that Hop Pop was a dangerous person. He grabbed his walkie talkie and spoke into it.
"Mark here. Got a suspicious looking C.O.D. Creepy Old Dude, on radar. I'm in pursuit." said Mark as he steered his segway scooter towards Hop Pop.
From a distance. Anne looked like she saw everything was going swell for the Plantars but Charlie was stoic and not liking what he saw. He really wanted to put a stop to this as he knew this was too risky, but he also didn't want to override Anne's methods as he didn't see anything going south but he could sense the Plantar's minds, and he knew something wasn't going well or something was about to happen.
"Tabun watashitachiha yamerubekidesu." Charlie spoke.
"Not to worry, Char Char. So far, so good. The Anne Boonchuy trial by fire is really paying off. But if anything goes south, then you have my permission to cancel this trial by fire and we'll scoop them up and go back home." reassured Anne.
"O-M-G... Anne? Charlie Is it really you?" came a girl's voice.
"Gabby at twelve o'clock." said Charlie as he turned around.
They both turned to see a girl hugging both of them as if she hadn't seen them for an eternity. She released her arms from them afterwards. It was Gabby. Gabby had red hair which the back part was in a ponytail, pair of round eyes, a round face and light skin color. She worn a grey sleeveless shirt, a red pair of straight pants which the left knee had an opening and a pair of green shoes.
"Where have you two been? Is it true you two went missing or ran away or died or something?" said Gabby sounding excited to see them.
"If we were dead. We'd be zombies and eating people's brains." joked Charlie as he was mimicking a dreadful, scary, raspy voice. "Brains, brains."
This made Gabby laugh as she was familiar with Charlie's sense of humor.
"Don't be ridiculous, Gabby. I was just on my family's farm. In... Alaska... for seven months." lied Anne telling her slowly.
"I was with her. We even visited some family that we never met before." said Charlie.
"Well, now that you're back, I got to catch you up on all the hot goss." said Gabby. "First of all, I heard that you and Charlie are officially dating. I heard Charlie got over his dad issues and there's someone else who's a father figure to him."
"Yeah, you could say that I found someone who's a true father figure to me. Me and my soul sista are dating and wait, I'm not into gossip, sorry." said Charlie nervously.
"Why aren't you?" asked Gabby. "Wait, is it one of those guy things?"
"More like I'm just not into gossip. it was never my thing, and the ladies of the house told me to never get involved with it." Charlie answered kindly.
"Listen, we sorta-" Anne began.
Gabby interrupted and was babbling about any of the recent gossip that Anne and Charlie had missed. Anne and Charlie were getting annoyed by her gossip stories, but they didn't want to be rude and blow her off.
"Not to worry, I can sense Hop Pop, Sprig and Polly's minds to tell if anything is about to go wrong. If something goes wrong. I'll create a diversion. But as long as Gabby doesn't tickle me, we should be cool. She knows I'm ticklish and has a habit of trying to make me laugh." Charlie told Anne telepathically.
Sprig was crawling on the floor by now. Desperate to touch any of the art pieces as he was like a little kid who was in a museum that ignores the "Do Not Touch" signs.
"I can't do this. These things are so cool." said Sprig as he turned to see Anne and Charlie's backs were turned.
Sprig saw them with Gabby while Gabby was gnawing their ears off with conversation and gossip.
"Not going to lie. I half expected Charlie to go for a lady whose bigger everywhere like that 90s rap song said. Baby Got Back." said Gabby. "But I knew that you two are perfect for each other. Charlie would sometimes stare at you when you passed by in the halls at school, probably because he wanted to ask you out."
"She does know I'm not one of them typical teenagers who lusts after any big butt I see, right?" Charlie told Anne telepathically.
"She does. Besides, I once made a few jokes about you liking a black lady's big butt a few times." Anne told Charlie telepathically.
Sprig saw his chance to touch something without Anne and Charlie knowing. He turned around got up on his feet. He walked over to the art piece and hopped up to climb on it, first, he touched a glass surface while he'd start touching the steel with barbed spikes on them, then touched the cotton balls with his cheeks. This felt like he was scratching an itch that finally got relief. He grabbed hold of one of the ropes and swung up towards the giant eye like an acrobat. He chuckled to himself but the rope he used to swing up there, he saw it break and one of the cotton balls fell, bouncing down the tines, passing through the red wheel and making it turn a bit, passing through the lever and the lever gets swung up, but landed on another lever that got lowered as Sprig saw the second lever that got lowered had a sign below it that read "Caution! Disassembly Lever."
"Uh oh. Here we go again." said Sprig with dread. "I really wish I could swear right now but I can't."
The art piece he was on made a metallic creaking sound and just like a building of cards when one is taken away. The art piece got disarmed and fell apart to the floor. Sprig was falling with the eye part of the art piece, and he was rolling around with it like a ball rolling down a hill. The nearby art pieces got stuck to it as if now glued to it.
"I'm so in deep frog droppings." cried Sprig.
Back at the Construct-A-Carnivore shop
Many of the babies or toddlers were annoying Polly as she fought hard not to give into her rage. One of them with blonde hair was hanging on top of her hat, one of them with dark afro puffs was gently pulling on the hair of Polly's wig. She had gotten her custom plushie done, despite the fact that many of the babies have interfered.
"DONE! Ha! Haha! I like for Anne to see me now." cried a victorious Polly.
But her stroke of success was instantly short lived as two of the babies gently pushed Polly without knowing what they're doing wasn't right. She landed on the floor but since the flooring had been carpeted, the landing was safe and harmless for her. But it knocked the plushie out of her hands, causing it to fly across the room and onto the floor.
One of the babies picked it up once it was within arm's reach to bend over to pick up off the floor. The baby was in a purple onesie but had short brown hair and spoke in his own baby like language. Polly was looking tired and desperate for things to now get pushed any further as she was at her breaking point.
"No! Please! I'm so tired... this madness needs to stop!" cried Polly practically begging at this point.
The baby spoke in that little language of his and to Polly's shock and awe, ripped the plushie she worked so hard to make without losing her temper was ripped from the side of the torso part, stuffing falling out. Polly had snapped and couldn't take it no more as she was red faced with rage.
"THAT'S... IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!" screamed Polly.
Polly charged at the baby in a fit of rage and a fight broke out. Both Polly and the other babies were outraged and going at it like wrestlers in the octagon ring. A plump female adult with glasses and red hair was holding onto a leash that had a harness strapped to her baby which her own baby was about to get involved in the all-out brawl. She was calling out for someone to get the manager to stop the brawl.
Meanwhile, back with Hop Pop
Hop Pop appeared to have succeeded with his mission as he already passed through the kiosks of the people who were attempting to scam him. One of them was even a lady who offered Hop Pop she could find him his soulmate, but he brushed her off by telling her "I'm already married" which the lady backed off afterwards. He passed by a sign that read "Fountain of Wishes" with a warning underneath it that read "Contains Chlorine"
"Boy howdy. I don't know what Charlie was so worried about. I turned out alright. But he probably was just worried about us getting exposed. Take that, Anne. Told you your world was easy-pea-" Hop Pop paused with a gasp.
He approached a wishing fountain that had water flowing but coins at the bottom. Hop Pop was familiar with the currency back in Amphibia but was just now getting used to how the currency system works on Earth, well, he was starting to.
"It can't be... Thousands of coppers just there for the taking... FOR FREEEEEE?!" said Hop Pop looking wide eyed with excitement.
He looked to see that Anne and Charlie were still nearby, but their backs were turned as Gabby was babbling on about the gossip they missed. Hop Pop knew what he was about to do wasn't right as he uttered the word "Chance" under his breath. He made the prayer sign.
"Forgive me kids." Hop Pop said under his breath.
Hop Pop ripped off his clothing like they were Velcro straps. The only clothing, he had on him was his pants and shoes. Mark, the mall officer scooted along his segway scooter and came across Hop Pop's clothing, gasping as if now suspecting Hop Pop was running around in the nude in a place he shouldn't. He grabbed his walkie talkie to speak into it.
"We got a disrober stealing wishes in progress. Over." Mark spoke driving his scooter to follow Hop Pop.
Gabby was still babbling away as Anne was starting to get bored, but Charlie's mind suddenly turned into a police siren once he sensed the minds of the Plantars and knew they were in distress. They were interrupted by a crash, a very loud crash and Sprig's screams. The three human teenagers turned to see Sprig was running along the eye of the art piece to prevent himself from falling as others ran out of the way.
"I MAY HAVE TOUCHED SOMETHING!" cried Sprig.
"You see what I see?" said Anne.
"Sprig rolling around on a giant eyeball like a circus performer?" guessed Charlie out loud.
"Big time. Good to see you, Gabs. Got to go." said Anne quickly.
"Gabby, stay on the second floor till this blows over. You don't not want to end up as a flapjack." Charlie advised.
"Later, Guys! Glad you made it back from Alaska!" said Gabby waving goodbye to them.
Anne was about to head for the escalator, but Charlie stopped her as he took hold of her hand.
"Do you trust me, Anne?" asked Charlie.
"I do." said Anne.
"The fastest way down there is to jump." said Charlie.
Charlie wrapped his arms around Anne and he jumped over the edge of the second floor and did a few flips before they safely landed on the floor with their feet. They were in one piece but Anne had no idea that Charlie would take such an extreme route to get to the first floor that way.
"I'd be bragging about how cool that was if Sprig wasn't in trouble." said Anne.
"Sprig's not the only one in hot water right now." Charlie said while pointing ahead.
They turned to see that Polly was running out of the shop she was in while three adult women with their babies in strollers were chasing after Polly. One appearing to be Asian, one was African American and the third was Caucasian.
"GANGWAY! ANGRY MOMS COMING TROUGH!" cried Polly.
Charlie looked at Anne as Anne knew that Charlie was just now proven right about how Anne's method of putting the Plantars in survival training by taking them to the mall was not such a good idea and they should've started off with something smaller.
"Code A.M.S." said Anne nervously.
"Machigainaku." said Charlie.
"At least it can't get any worse." said Anne trying to remain levelheaded.
"I wouldn't bet on that." said Charlie looking in a different direction. "Ma mukō!"
"HELP ME, ANNE! CHARLIE! HELP ME!" screamed Hop Pop.
They turned to see the male mall cop pursuing Hop Pop on his scooter while Hop Pop ran from him. He was in his pants, but his pockets were filled with coins from the fountain, many of them were falling out like a leaking sink faucet. But to their confusion, his skin was green and not reddish orange.
"He's greener than the Hulk." said Charlie wide eyed.
"HOP POP? WHY ARE YOU GREEN LIKE FERRIGNO?" cried Anne.
"THE CURSED FOUNTAIN DID THIS TO ME. YOU'RE RIGHT, ANNE! EVERYTHING HAS ITS PRICE! WE SHOULD'VE LISTENED TO CHALRIE!" cried Hop Pop in a panic.
"Ok. First things first: Gotta clean up this mess!" said Anne.
"You get the kids. I'll get Hop Pop." instructed Charlie.
The two ran in opposite directions. Anne ran towards a trampoline that a nerdy looking younger child around the age of six was bouncing on. Anne jumped forwards and jumped onto the trampoline and once she jumped off it, she jumped high into the air, but caused the boy to jump so high into the air and screamed. Charlie had no choice but to use his powers. He teleported by disappearing in a puff of gold smoke and reappeared to catch the boy into the air.
"Hang onto me if you want to live." instructed Charlie.
"Got it, mister." responded the boy.
Charlie fell towards the ground but as the boy hung onto him. Charlie landed on the trampoline, bounced off it, and landed safely on the floor. He handed the boy back to his mother, safe and sound.
"Keep your kid with you. There's some chaos going on here. If anything gets worse. Take cover in any of the nearby shops. Gotta go!" Charlie instructed quickly.
Charlie took off running at full speed afterwards and his superhuman speed was impressing both the boy and his mother.
"That boy is a superhero, mommy." said the boy looking amused.
"I think he's just really athletic, sweety. But with how nice and protective he is of you and me. He's sure to make a great father to his own children." said the mother looking impressed.
While Anne was flying through the air. She caught Sprig and landed on the floor with her feet, not showing any physical damages. The art piece Sprig rolled on crashed into a nearby wall, smashing the huge eye to pieces. But everything else stuck to it suddenly formed a new art piece as if gravity intended it. An adult woman nearby admired it.
Anne caught up with Polly and scooped her up into her right arm while Sprig was carried by her left arm. Charlie teleported to catch Hop Pop but managed to keep his face hidden from the mall cop from the puffs of gold smoke when he would disappear and reappear.
"Charlie, I'm so sorry about all this." apologized Hop Pop.
"Talk about this later, Hop Pop." Charlie told him.
Charlie teleported him and Hop Pop to a spot in the mall that Anne, Sprig and Polly arrived in once they've made a left turn and hit a dead end. Charlie had dressed up Hop Pop in some loose-fitting clothes to disguise him while Sprig and Polly were immediately dressed up in their original disguise from when they were at the supermarket. They sat on the bench as the three angry mothers came along and stopped, looking confused as they didn't see where the Plantars were.
"Hold it right there, ladies!" Charlie instructed sharply. "What's the problem?"
"We're looking for a ruffian who was making trouble for our little angels." said the Asian looking steamed.
"If that little gremlin was a teenage thug. I would straight up whoop their-"
"Let's avoid swearing in front of the children. You want their first words to be mama or dada, not some vulgar slang that college and high schoolers often use. And some of them have picked up smoking." warned Charlie.
The African American mother was looking at Charlie with a surprised expression as well as the other mothers. They knew that he was right. If they use swear words right now. They'd be responsible for their children learning and repeating those words.
"First off. Maybe this will calm your children down." Charlie told them.
Charlie approached the mother's children as he began to talk and mimic a goofy, funny, cartoony sounding voice that made him sound as though he was some goofy cartoon character.
"One day I'm at work at a summer camp and had five cans of beans for lunch. Someone warned me not to eat too many cans of beans, but I learned the hard way I was proven wrong." Charlie spoke in a goofily cartoonish voice.
Charlie would mimic the sounds of actual farting with his mouth which his voice and sound mimicry was perfection and spot on. He mimicked the sounds of loud farts which started to make the babies laugh and forget about the conflict from earlier.
"It blew a huge hole in the wall. But at least the hole aired out the smell." Charlie spoke in that goofy tone.
The babies continued to laugh for a good minute or more while the mothers were surprised that Charlie got their children to calm down, yet they found him a bit humorous. This even calmed the ladies down.
"How did you?" the Caucasian mother spoke.
"Funny voices and funny sounds. Always gets the littler ones laughing." Charlie spoke in his normal voice. "Ma'am, was this person you're referring to looking like a little girl with blonde hair, a fishers hat and a raincoat?"
"Yes." she answered.
"Oh not this again." sighed Charlie while briefly shaking his head. "I apologize ladies. That was my little Shisutā. She's foreign and visiting us for a months like a summer camp idea. But she got introduced to wrestling too early. We did warn the babysitter that it was a bad idea. Also, this is her first time at the mall and she was hoping to build her own plushie without getting into conflict with anyone. I get that you love your kids but she explained to me that some of the kids kept swiping something from her and once she got her plushie built, she got pushed and one of them destroyed the plushie she built. That was probably why she hulked out. But don't punish your kids, they didn't know any better and they're just babies."
Charlie kept a calm tone and stoic expression. The mothers looked at him at first, then at their children, then back at him.
"Do you ladies have a right to be angry? Yes, yes you do. But retaliating violently will teach your kids nothing good. That's something you don't want them to learn from you. Believe me, I know. I once successfully calmed down an angry mob of people when a misunderstanding blew up in everyone's faces. But in this case, you don't want your kids to learn that if a misunderstanding happens that they should blow up like a hand grenade. There's enough violence in this country as it is. Besides that, I think your kids are calming down." Charlie advised calmly.
The mothers were seeing that their children have indeed calmed down from Charlie's humor which they knew that was a start and they knew that they didn't want their children to learn a swear word at their age or to learn to get violent over a misunderstanding that could be easily resolved without resorting to possible physical or violent retaliation. They appeared to have calmed down as well and knew Charlie was right again.
"If it makes you ladies feel any better. I'll talk to her about the situation when we get home but let us handle this. It's better her family handles it and talks to her in a calming tone and respectable manner so we can teach her what we should and shouldn't do as a future reference. Better her family handling it then someone who's ready to go three rounds with someone like Tyson." Charlie reassured.
"Actually, we'll drop the situation." said the Asian mother. "The mall can turn some of the biggest hearted people into animals as the mall is a mad house. We know our kids didn't mean anything by what they've done as you've said, they're just babies, they don't know what they're doing. But having a loving, calm mother will help them through life. As for your sister. We may have gotten angry but maybe she didn't mean anything by what she was saying or doing. Her first day at the mall shouldn't be a horrible one."
"He did manage to calm down our little angels." said the Caucasian mother with a note of optimism.
"Honey, how did you do it? Calming our kids down, calming us down, defusing the situation. How do you do it?" asked the African American mother.
"Learned it from my mom, my aunt Hayami, and six of their closest friends at home. I'm practically the only guy in a house full of eight adult women. But the humor, the voices and sounds I do. That I've learned on my own." Charlie told them.
Hearing he was being raised in a house full of women, eight women, surprised the mothers like anyone else who didn't know who was raising him. Which Charlie has grown used to the way people react when they learn that factor about him by now.
"You're the only man in a house full of eight ladies?" said the Asian mother almost chuckling.
"I've learned how to handle any situation from them." said Charlie. "Also, if this makes you feel any better. They're having a special sale on baby products three shops down. All of it fifty percent off along with the best designer women's clothing."
The mothers looked at one another and knew that Charlie was right, and he defused the situation without resorting to getting aggressive. But the special sale on what he just told them was something that made them smile and light up like Christmas lights all over a house.
"You heard him, ladies. Special sales on women's clothing and baby products." said the Asian mother excitedly.
They raced off to where the sale was as it looked like Anne, Charlie and the Plantars have dodged a bullet.
"That boy is being raised the right way by his family. They're doing a good job at raising him to become a good man." said the Caucasian mother. "If he finds the right woman for him. He'll make a perfect father and a great husband."
"If he were my age and single. I'd be all over that. Yea-ah boy!" said the African American mother.
Just when they thought the coast was clear. The mall cop male adult scooted around the corner and saw them. He was suspicious.
"Have you guys seen a middle-aged man whose skin turned green for some odd reason? He was running around in his pants but no shirt and stuffed his pockets with coins from the fountain." asked Mark.
"Sir, that man you speak of. That would be my...Otōsan. I know, he might've looked suspicious but trust me. He had no intention of causing any trouble. He's from a foreign country and it's kind of his first day in America and his first day at an actual mall for that matter. Where he's from, they tend to swim in a clean body of water as exercise, but he had no idea that we're not allowed to swim in that fountain, he mistaken it for a pool. But as for the stolen coins? Where he's from. They don't have wishing fountains, nor do they know what one is and what they're used for. Their culture sort of differs from ours. So he just didn't know. He's just now learning how our foreign currency works so his experience in America is a learning progress. But we'll handle the situation. So we beg of you. Don't arrest him. He's got kids to look after." Charlie explained while appearing both stoic and calm.
The mall cop appeared to understand but also heard every word Charlie told him. He was starting to understand as he remembered foreigners who experienced their first day in America or their first time at a local mall has resulted in strange and weird things happening which he felt his compassion take over.
"Markus, this is your conscience speaking to you. The elderly male you saw made a mistake. He didn't know the customs, cultures and laws are different from his country. He's just starting to learn how everything works in America. Give him another chance and put your faith in your compassion. You've learned it from your mother. Put it into practice"
Charlie spoke to him telepathically as he was pretending to be the man's conscience which he let out a sigh and shown a compassionate yet understanding expression.
"Alright. I'll drop the charges. I'll let you handle this. But you may want to take him to a doctor. I think the chlorine made his skin have an allergic reaction." said Mark relenting.
The mall cop scooted on by while Charlie returned to Anne and the Plantars, they got up and held onto him. They disappeared in a puff of gold smoke and reappeared somewhere outside the mall. They were now safe and out of sight from any civilians as they were near the dumpsters that the mall workers take the garbage out to.
"Well, guess we failed out trials." said a disappointed Sprig slumping down.
"Oh, you think?" said Polly her tone sarcastic.
"No no. I'M the one who failed. I shouldn't put you guys through all of this in the first place. It was too much and too soon. We should've done like Charlie suggested. Start off small with some kind of process at home. We could've gotten found out and the possibility of a government agent could've hunted us down, Charlie had to use his powers in public and could've gotten found out. Charlie managed to handle and defuse the situation better than I was going to handle it. The idea I had in mind, yeah, it was going to be a bit chaotic with a distraction." Anne apologized.
"Don't feel too bad. Turns out we could stand to learn a few things about your world." said Hop Pop with a word of comfort.
"I just really thought throwing you into the deep end would work. I mean, didn't it work for me in Amphibia?" asked Anne.
The Plantars started to think about Anne's experience in Amphibia, before Charlie met them. They tried to hold back their laughter, but that battle was lost as they laughed a bit.
"Guys, come on." Charlie chimed in.
"We're sorry for laughing at you Anne, it's just that it sort of feels like you barely survived. Charlie sort of did better but it was because we were there for both of ya." said Hop Pop calming down from his laughing fit.
"Am I missing a few things?" asked Charlie curiously.
The Plantars remembered that Charlie didn't enter their lives around the time they first met Anne, but rather three in a half-months afterwards when he was in a coma the first three in a half-months of being in Amphibia. They explained a few times that Anne had gotten into some risky situations that wasn't her fault.
One of the times they brought up was when Anne was distracted by her phone and fell into a pool of quicksand, and another was when some large insects that Sprig told them were named "Skullsuckers" tried to carry her away when she fell asleep outside.
Anne on the other hand, had no recollection of those events. Charlie felt like this was another new thing he's learning about Anne and the Plantars before he met them but wishes he was there to experience some of the events that they had that were from before he met them.
"Hey, I don't remember that last part." said a confused Anne.
The Plantars came over to Anne and Charlie's side as Hop Pop placed a hand on Anne's right shoulder.
"Anne, we were always looking out for you and Charlie, even if you didn't always notice." said Hop Pop with a word of compassion.
"Thanks, guys. I had no idea. And I'll try to do better about easing you into this place. And do more listening to Charlie." said Anne wrapping an arm around Hop Pop.
They all embraced each other in a hug.
"Was there any situations that happened to Charlie that he might not recall?" asked Polly.
"The only things I don't remember is what went on around me while I was in a coma till someone told me and I put two and two together." said Charlie. "But I do remember a whole lot of everything from when I first met all of you."
"You falling in love with Anne." said Sprig.
"You introduced us to that dinosaur film, taking down bad guys, helping out the elderly, watching out for others children when they were unattended, healing your pain from your dad issues." Polly listed off.
"Confessing your love to Anne, winning her heart, changing Toadstool for the better, helping him confess and accept his, you know, gender preference, defusing conflict, healing people of their ailments and afflictions from natural remedies to the golden all miracle healing apples, helped Wally with his dad issues, you've helped a lot of people like Anne has, you used to be afraid of me." said Hop Pop also listing off a few events. "You even proved that the Mossman existed and proved Anne was right about seeing it just like Wally has seen it."
Even Charlie remembered those events. Anne planted a kiss to Charlie's cheek and made him blush with a grin.
"And I'm glad to have experienced all of them times with you guys." said Charlie.
Sprig looked at Hop Pop as the look of his skin being green was starting to worry him.
"I think we need to get Hop Pop to a shower." said Sprig.
"Oh, yes, please. My skin is burning." said Hop Pop.
"That would be your skin reacting to the chlorine." chuckled Charlie. "Not to worry. We'll take the short way home."
They knew what Charlie meant by taking the short way home as they all embraced him and that's when they disappeared in a puff of gold smoke. Teleporting them to Anne's house.