Chapter 63: Ivy on the Run

So, back when I was a toddler, I was… well, the charitable way to say it was a "little bundle of energy." The uncharitable way to say it was "tiny hellspawn". Whatever you called it, my favorite activity was something that, if I'd had enough of an attention span at that age to give it a name, I'd have called "find a way to annoy Mommy as much as humanly possible."

This was a state of affairs that could not have sustained itself for long, as my favorite place to play this game was the kitchen, which was Mommy's domain, a place that demanded the utmost respect.

And so, the moment I was old enough, Mom signed me up for lessons at Flying Tiger Muay Thai, the finest and most affordable kids strip mall martial arts school available.

I'd like to say that it set me right, but that would be a lie. But at least I was expending my excess energy elsewhere, in a socially acceptable manner. I'd like to think I learned a few important life lessons as well… the most important being jai yen yen… that one must be calm and patient. As he would say, "be as the frog in the pond… do not seek the fly, let the fly come to you." Ironic, huh? Maybe I could keep that particular metaphor to myself, some here might find it offensive.

Why am I bringing this up today? Well, I happen to live with a particularly impatient – not to mention violent – little girl, and I'm thinking that maybe a little discipline is what she needs. Sure, I've never actually taught anyone Muay Thai before, but no one else here has either. So I have no standards to live up to, and if there's anything I'm good at, it's not living up to standards!

I started leading Polly in some warm-up exercises as we made our way to Ribbit's Grove, the best place around town for a workout. Plenty of space, isolated so that we don't get distracted, and more or less free of the really bad predators.

On the way, we passed Sprig and Ivy (awwwww!) I offered them a chance to get in on the Muay Thai action, but they're on a glitterbug-catching date (awwwwwwwwwwww!) I know better than to get in the way of that, so I didn't push it any further.

We did pick up one extra participant, however. I was sparring with Polly, trying to impress the importance of patience on her, when who should stumble out of the bushes but One-Eyed Wally, Wartwood's own lovable tramp. I invited him to join us, and it turns out he's surprisingly good at it. Must be all those hours of staring off into space.

Things took a turn when Ivy and Sprig suddenly charged in being chased by Ivy's mom. Apparently some crazy family drama biz had been going down all this while, with Ivy going through the froggy equivalent of teenage rebellion. I could kinda see where Ivy was coming from… frog knows I've gone off on how strict Mom's rules were before, but then Ivy said something that really stabbed at my soul.

"Maybe I don't want to be your daughter."

It's been almost four and a half months since I've even seen my mom. There is a hole in my heart that will only be filled when I can see her again. And yet… I am ashamed to say that I have had this thought, this selfish, selfish thought in the past. Fleeting, but there, just the same. Times when She would drop me off at school and I would hear some kid make some snide comment about her accent, or when I'd bring leftovers from the restaurant for lunch and kids would tease me for not eating "normal" food. Sasha would usually put a stop quickly to anything like that, but it still happened, and it still stung, and I still briefly entertained the thought about what if I had been born "normal" like everyone else.

I was a dumb kid, of course. I needed to learn that there was no reason to be ashamed of who I was. That I should be proud of my heritage. That it was those kids who should be ashamed, and they were probably just repeating what their stupid parents said anyway.

When I think back on those moments today, I wish I could take back those fleeting thoughts, so when I heard them come out of Ivy's mouth, it was like my past sins were coming back to haunt me.

To be fair, it looked like Ivy realized she'd crossed a line as soon as she'd said it. The look in her eyes said it all: she had gone too far, and now that it had been said, she wanted nothing more than to take it all back.

Mrs. Sundew's reaction was pretty surprising: she challenged Ivy to a fight, and told her that if she could land one hit on her before she landed three on Ivy, then Ivy was free to follow her own path.

Now from what I've seen of Mrs. Sundew before, she was pretty muh just this rim, proper tea shop owner, with no hint of anything else behind the curtain. But I've learned that pretty much nothing is what it appears to be here in Amphibia, and, sure enough, it turns out Felicia is a martial arts master (it's probably called something like Frog Fu or Karoake or some other stupid pun here). Within less tan a minute, she'd landed two hits on Ivy, while Ivy couldn't even touch her!

Then all of a sudden, she started barking teas shop orders at her, like "set the table and "fold the napkin", and when Ivy did it, she was able to dodge and counter her mom, perfectly!

So, Felicia's been like this badass adventurer the whole time, traveling all over Amphibia and studying with hidden societies of monks, and she's secretly been passing on the techniques she learned to Ivy through all these chores she'd been making her do. She'd totally been Mr. Miyagi'ing her the whole time!

Anyway, the whole thing ends with Felicia letting Ivy land an attack, and promising to take her on her next trip out of the valley. It's… kinda beautiful actually.

Meanwhile, it seems like Polly's finally starting to grasp this whole "patience" thing… she almost nailed me while I was distracted all the family drama! I ducked just in time, but she knocked Wally out cold! Eh, I'm sure he'll laugh it all off when he wakes up… or when the concussion wears off…

…yeah, maybe we should get him over to Maddie.

A.N. :

Matt: Thanks!

Jose: It's nice to mix things up once in a while.

Gloyd: Sasha is a pretty controlling person, but Anne does admit later that she was neglectful of Marcy's needs herself and Marcy was too much of a people pleaser herself to assert herself.

Ashley: I'd be honored!

Next: After the Rain