"Now Anne," said Hopediah the next day. "Sprig tells me you're a natural at Ripple. I'm surprised you know how to do it after being locked in the cellar." He didn't know about Sprig and Anne's adventure in the snake pool yesterday, and it was for the best.

"That was just an accident," said Anne. "I think me doing Ripple was a fluke."

"Be that as it may, it shows you have potential. Therefore...LET THE FIRST LESSON BEGIN! KERO!" And he plunged his pinky finger into Anne's solar plexus. It felt like the wind got knocked out of her and she fell to her hands and knees, panting and heaving.

"Wha...wha...what...I can't talk."

"What the heck was that for, Hop Pop," exclaimed Polly.

"She'll get over it in a second," the old frog said.

Sure enough, Anne got back up and exclaimed, "Whoo! I feel like I can run for a thousand miles!" She suddenly felt a tingling sensation in her right foot. She looked down to see her toes start to glow. "Hey! What's happening to my foot? It feels better! I can't even feel the splinters! How did you do that?"

"All I did was accelerate the healing process. It holds several names. Sendo, Ripple, Hamon. They all refer to an ancient martial art derived through controlled breathing. Follow me."

Hopediah led the group outside where he placed a beetle on a rock. He took a deep breath and Anne, Sprig and Polly could see ripples starting to form on the dirt under his feet and a golden energy appeared from his body. "One's breath and blood are connected," he explained, "For blood carries oxygen from the lungs to all the cells of the body. In other words, your breath can create ripples in your body. Control that energy, and..." He let out a yell and slammed his fist into the beetle.

"What the heck?!" exclaimed Anne. But to her astonishment, the rock split in two while the beetle was perfectly fine. "What the heck?!" she exclaimed again.

"All things living and non-living can be affected by Ripples. An object charged with Ripple energy will have one or several attributes enhanced by the energy, making it a more effective tool, or weapon. Liquids conduct the Ripple especially well (and the user's Ripple shows on liquids as actual ripples). However while all materials can conduct Ripple more or less well, inorganic material such as metal cannot store the energy, which simply passes through."

Anne looked at her hands, then she inhaled, exhaled and grabbed a nearby branch. Almost at once, flowers burst from it. Sprig was amazed. "She did that all on her own?!"

"No," said Hopediah. "She just used the Ripple I placed in her to heal her body. But," he said with a smile. "I think I might have found a prodigy." And then he changed his mind when the branch exploded and she was sent flying onto her face. "Although her level of control leaves a lot to be desired."

"This is gonna be fun to watch," giggled Polly.

"Alright, Anne. Now pay attention." Hopediah held up a glass of water.

"It's water."

"How observant. Now watch." He flipped the cup upside down.

"WHA, WHA, WHAAAAAT?! The water didn't spill at all?!"

"Catch." He tossed the cup to her. "Try to keep the water just like that."

"Okay!" But as soon as Anne grabbed it, the cup exploded and water splashed all over her.

"As I thought. It doesn't matter how much you control your breathing. You waste so much energy because you release it all at once from the palm of your hands. That explains why you keep exploding everything you touch." He pointed to a huge pile of burnt rubble in the corner.

"Hee, hee, hee," giggled Polly. "I wish there was a way to immortalize this moment."

"I wish there was a way I can do this without turning everything into a solar-powered bomb," grumbled Anne. "Also, I wish I had a new pair of shoes, but that's unrelated."

"When I hold the water," said Hopediah. "I release the Ripples from the tip of one finger. A single point. That method allows me to focus my energy, making it easy to control the water. Scattering Ripples the way you do disperses the energy."

Anne seemed to get it. "Oh! Like a water gun with its smaller hole rather than an open water hose!"

"Well, that's not exactly how I would put it, but yeah. You're naturally gifted, but you're going to need to do a lot of work if you can control your Ripples. And remember to do those breathing exercises I taught you!"

"NO! 'Work' and 'exercise' are my least favorite words in the English dictionary!"

At the tea house, Johan, Felicia, Sylvia and Ivy felt the ground shake as they prepared the tea. "Boy, that Boonchuy girl is really going all out," said Ivy.

Sylvia chuckled. "I haven't seen anyone practice the use of Ripples in years. Not since it fell out of style with the rise of Stands."

As Johan placed the tea in bags, he said to himself out loud, "Do you think I can do Ripples?"

"Doubtful. Theoretically anyone can learn Hamon, since everyone has life energy. But only one in a thousand people have the physical aptitude and mental discipline necessary to pull it off."

"How do you know that? Are you a Ripple user?"

"No. But I used to date one when I was your age."

Ivy let out a gasp. "Where is he now?"

Felicia shrugged. "I haven't seen him in years. He moved away before I met your father. Hmm. I haven't heard from ever since he returned to Newtopia."

"What is Newtopia like?" asked Johan.

"Oh, it's amazing," said Felicia. "It's home to the greatest scholars in Amphibia. They've even got a library containing all the island's history."

"That would be nice," said Johan as he placed the bags in crates. It was then he saw a poster. "'Wartwood Pot Lock next week'. What's the pot luck?"

"The annual village potluck," said Sylvia. "Every year we frogs gather for a great contest. The family who brings the best-tasting dish is showered with love and copper coins. The family with the worst-tasting dish spends the night in..." Thunder clapped. "THE SHAME CAGE!"

Johan looked out the window. "Da dove viene quel fulmine? Non c'รจ una nuvola nel cielo. Wait." He returned his gaze to Sylvia. "Shame Cage?"

"It's a cage that the losers are forced to sit in and the people throw eggs and vegetables at them," said Ivy. Then she sighed sadly. "And the loser family in every pot luck is..." An explosion coming from the Plantars' house finished her sentence for her. "Sometimes I want Sprig to win just once."

"Duro," said Johan, shaking his head. "Why do they lose every year?"

"It's that damn cookbook Hopediah has," Sylvia said. "I love tradition as much as he does, but that old cookbook of his is more like an instruction manual for how to poison people! Actually, I think poisons taste better than the slop the Plantars make." She shook her head. "When I was a tadpole, Hopediah's grandmother once served a pie that was mostly made from lard. She was so proud of it. But when everyone tried to eat it, they had to get their stomaches pumped FIVE times!"

"Well, you know old people. They like to stick with the old ways and they hate change," said Johan earning a stink eye from Sylvia. "Kind of like how fans hate change as well." Then he had an idea. "Wait. I think I just found the perfect way to advertise our absinthe."

"The pot luck?" asked Felicia skeptically.

"Sure! If we get people to love our product, we can spread the word around Frog Valley. More people will come, and more income will be made, and more money will go into Passione's account." Johan tapped a knuckle on the safe sitting in the corner. "And, if we ask around, we could get information on where I can find Sasha and Marcy."

"One problem," pointed out Felicia. "We need to make the absinthe first. And we don't have the ingredients yet." Suddenly, the doorbell rung. "Ooh! Customers. Duty calls," she said as she ran out the store room.

"Ahem," Sylvia said. "Well, I better help my daughter. And as for you, Ivy," she pointed to her grandmother. "Make sure JoJo stays here and does his work."

"Aye-aye," Ivy said with a salute.

As Johan took out the tea bags from their boxes, he looked back at Ivy who was staring intently at him. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Focusing."

"Per favore fermati. Mi sta facendo venire i brividi."

"I don't know what you said."

"Ugh. Never mind." As he returned to his job, he looked out the window again. He thought about the pot luck and how Anne would feel terrible at losing it. He knew back at home that she HATED losing.

At that moment, Felicia poked her head in the door. "Uh, JoJo? There's a gentleman here to see you."

"Suave Rico? What are you doing here?" Johan asked as he sat at the table. "I didn't answer any ads."

"I heard you work here," the newt said. "And I wanted to spread the good word of Passione. So, about this new job I want you to do..."

"I currently have a job right now," Johan pointed to Sylvia, who was manning the cashier. She was keeping a suspicious eye on the two of them. "But, with the plans I have for this town, I could really use the money."

"Glad to see you're still in the game. It's like this: the toads from Toad Tower have been keeping a close eye on my place ever since I gave you that hit list. Turns out one of those people on the list was one of their lieutenants. Now, I want to resume my business without worrying about those wart backs breathing down my neck."

"You want me to gig some toads?"

"Heck no! The last thing we want is to kill them! They'll be after our heads for sure! No, I just want you to steal their snails and bring them to me. I got a cousin who works at a dealership who's willing to buy 'used' snails. No questions asked. Just make sure the snails are in primo condition."

"And if I found the snails in...er...un-primo condition?"

"That's the toads' problem."

"Well, I got a problem," said Johan as he summoned DARE, though Rico couldn't see it. "My Stand doesn't change my appearance. The moment they see me, I'm done for."

"I got you covered," said Rico as he held up a frog mask. "Oh, who are you? Where's JoJo?"

Johan narrowed his eyes at him. "You're a real funny guy," he snarked.

"Alright, I'm just kidding." He took the mask off and put a medallion around Johan's neck. In an instant, he turned into a gold frog. "How about that?"

Johan looked himself over. "Hey, not bad. If I wore this thing all my life, people might mistake me for one of them." Then he had an idea. "Actually, there's a little favor you can do for me."

"Shoot."

"You know the annual pot luck in Wartwood? I need you to give the Plantars a 'winning edge'."

Rico made a scoff. "Are you kidding me?! Those Plantars have been a bunch of losers for generations! You can't eat the stuff they make, you can't cook it, and that old frog Hopediah is too stubborn to stop using that old cookbook!"

"Hear, hear!"

"Nobody asked your opinion, Toadie!" Johan snapped. He coughed a little and said to Rico, "Can we talk outside?" The two of them walked outside the tea shoppe while Sylvia watched in suspicion.

"It doesn't have to be perfect," said Johan to Rico. "Just at least edible. Maybe third place. As much as I want to win and advertise my absinthe, I can't bear the thought of someone being locked in a cage and having eggs and vegetables thrown at them."

"Well you can forget it," Rico said. "Nothing can make that toxic waste the Plantars call food edible!"

Johan leaned against the wall of the tea shoppe in thought. He cast a glance at some mushrooms growing next to a gutter pipe and a lightbulb went off in his head. "What about the illusion of the food being edible?"

"Pardon?"

"Are you familiar with psilocybin mushrooms?"

"You mean magic mushrooms? Yeah, I'm familiar with it. Why?"

"What about we use those? Preferably enough to make even a god see visions."

Rico gave the boy turned frog a nervous look. "Are you trying to give the Plantars a winning edge or are you trying to drive the judges insane?"

Johan shrugged his shoulders. "Can it be both? Look, just...don't give me too much of the stuff. I don't want people getting suspicious."

"Fine. You get me the snails and I'll get you your magic mushrooms."

"Deal. I'll get to work tonight when the tea shoppe closes."

The first snail was in a garage owned by a large toad named Bufonidae. Johan arrived at the garage as the toad put her snail in and shut the door. Carefully, he snuck over to the garage and opened the door to find the snail already fast asleep. He hopped onto the shell and woke it up. "Now you listen and listen well," he whispered. "Either you do exactly as I say or..." He held a salt shaker in front of the snail's face. "Get the picture?"

The snail made a honk sound, similar to a car horn. Unfortunately, the sound alerted Bufonidae and she ran outside. "Hey!"

"Uh-oh," muttered Johan.

"What are you doing with my snail?!" Bufonidae lunged after him with a large knife.

"MUDA!" Johan punched the toad in the face then squeezed the snail with his legs like he would a horse to make it go. But he didn't get far before he found himself being chased by more toads, presumably the rest of Bufonidae's family, riding on the backs of spiders the size of a small horse.

"FROG! GIVE ME BACK MY SNAIL!"

"Heh. Il travestimento ha funzionato! They can't recognize me," Johan thought to himself. "And if these guys aren't Stand users, then I can do this." He allowed the toads to catch up to him, allowing them to get in DARE's range. The Stand appeared before him and proceeded to punch the toads. "MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA!" The toads flew off their steeds and onto the ground. Johan kicked the snail in the sides and shouted, "Evadere!"

"You won't get away with this," Bufonidae shouted and shook her fist as she disappeared from view.

Once he was far away from the angry toads, the boy let out a sigh of relief. "A volte mi chiedo se ne vale la pena."

Following Rico's directions, Johan arrived at the dealership, owned by a rather shifty-looking newt in a business suit, typical of a car dealer. "You're not a tall, gangly, gold-haired mammal thing like my cousin described," he said as soon as he saw Johan until the boy took off the necklace, revealing his true form. "Ah. Of course. Name's Honest Mike."

"I take it the 'honest' is meant to be an in-name-only thing, right," Johan snarked.

"Ha, ha. Do you want the money or what?"

"Do you want the snail?"

Mike looked it over. "Well, aside from a small scratch on the shell, it's in good condition. I'll take it!" He handed a moneybag to Johan. "Keep it up and you'll get more!"

"So the next snail on my list is..." Johan's face dropped when he saw the name on the list. "...owned by a weapons dealer from Toad Tower." He lowered the list and groaned. "It's official. I really am getting the crap jobs."

"Anne?" Hopediah called out to the teenager the next day. "Are you still here? Look, I get that you're frustrated, but it takes years to - GAH!"

Anne stood in front of the frog with a crazed look in her eyes and she held a cup of water in her hand. "Look..." she said in a creepy voice. She turned the cup upside down, but no water spilled out. "I did it. I DID IT! HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA!" She did a little dance around the room, but no water spilled out. "I! AM! A! RIPPLE! MASTER!" She fell flat on her face and snored loudly. In an instant the water spilled out.

Hopediah said, "I am impressed...yet scared."