"Why are we going to the Plantars'," asked Ivy.
"Apparently," said Johan. "Anne has a surprise for us." He opened the door to find Anne and the Plantars sitting on the living room couch.
"Ivy! JoJo! You're here!" exclaimed Anne with glee.
"What is it you wanted us to see?" asked Johan.
She showed her her phone. "'Suspicion Island'. It's, like, my favorite show. I've got the new season and didn't even know it. It must have auto-downloaded before I got here."
"You mean that 'LOST' ripoff?"
"IT'S NOT A RIPOFF! IT'S AN ORIGINAL!"
"Who's this Otto?" asked Ivy. "And what's a downloaded?"
"Trust us," said Polly. "We asked the same thing. Didn't get an answer out of her."
"Just watch," Anne said as she turned on the phone.
"Previously on Suspicion Island," said the narrator.
A scene where the beautiful, yet dumb characters walking through the jungle played.
"I've got a lot of feelings about this place," said one of the characters.
"Look! More Annes and JoJos," Sprig said, pointing at the humans.
"Haha! They have noses," laughed Polly.
"I feel like everyone on this island is suspicious, Peruvia, except you," said one of the characters, Randy, to Peruiva as he placed a hand on her cheek.
"But, Randy, I think you're suspicious!" Peruvia said, slapping his hand away.
"No!" Randy screamed with tears in his eyes, before the scene suddenly exploded.
"Suspicion Island. If you don't stay suspicious, you won't stay alive."
Johan folded his arms and said, "Can we watch something better instead? Something like Berserk? I downloaded the manga and the anime on my phone." Upon hearing the name of the classic manga and anime, Anne turned pale.
"What's Berserk?" asked Ivy. "You mean like crazy with anger?"
"It's an anime. One that you're WAAAAAAAYYYYY too young to know of," said Anne. "I wish I never heard of it. I still have nightmares."
"I think you're exaggerating," Johan said. "Sasha and Marcy didn't complain when I had you guys watch it at that sleepover."
"You know Sasha is into the dark stuff! And Marcy? You didn't hear her complain because she was too stunned from the shock!"
"As much as I want to hear more about your 'interesting' teenage lives," Hop Pop said with an air quote. "What is this demonic nonsense?" he asked, pointing at Anne's phone.
"Hop Pop, this show's got beautiful people doing dumb things while stuff explodes! It's literally perfect," said Anne. Sprig and Polly cheered.
Johan scoffed. "Sounds like the Joestar lifestyle."
"Now, hold on. Instead of that garbage, how 'bout I treat you to some real entertainment?" asked Hop Pop, much to Sprig and Polly's dread as they said, "Oh, no." Hop Pop took out an old play script from his pocket. "A scene from 'The Shallow Pond'. Ahem. 'Sadness. The world is sadness. But look. There. A pond! Is it deep? Or shallow?'"
"Were you in a play or something," asked Johan.
"Are you kidding me? I was the greatest! Crowds would gather far and wide to come see me!"
"Only so they could throw eggs and vegetables at him," said Polly with a laugh.
"Hey!"
"I auditioned for a play once," said Johan. "Back in the sixth grade."
Young Johan stood in front of the drama teacher, dressed in a Renaissance era costume. He spoke with dramatic flare, "Alack, alack, is it not like that I, so early waking, what with loathsome smells! Alack this! Alack that! Alack, alack!" He suddenly did the Worm dance. "Lack, lack, lackackalackalack!"
The drama teacher made an awkward look. "Uh, thank you. I think."
"So, do I get the part?"
"Uh, Mr. Shiobana, although that was an interesting interpretation of Romeo & Juliet, it's not exactly what we're looking for. Prossimo!"
"I didn't get the part, needless to say. So, in revenge, I placed laxatives in the cast's food just before the play began."
Hop Pop's eyes widened when he heard that. "Oh, Olms..." he said with dread.
"Yep! Brown pants everywhere!" He chuckled mischievously before groaning. "Unfortunately, Dad knew right away what I did despite my best attempts to hide it and I got grounded for two months. Honestly, I was lucky I didn't get expelled."
"Can we watch Suspicion Island so it can take my mind off of poop?" asked Ivy.
"Now hold on," said Hop Pop, only to be drowned out by the kids' chanting, "Suspicion Island! Suspicion Island! Suspicion Island!" Finally, the old frog gave up and said, "Okay! Fine! But just one!"
Six hours later, everyone was still gathered around Anne's phone, staring at it with bloodshot eyes. Everyone except Hop Pop and Johan, who looked completely uninterested.
"It can't be, Vivica. These pterodactyls are clones of... my dead brother!" asked Chad.
Anne gasped. "No. Way."
Vivica was taken away by a pterodactyl. "NOOO!"
"Will these beautiful teens ever make it off the island? Find out next time on-" Anne turned off the phone, cutting off the narrator.
"And that's enough for tonight," she said.
"Oh, thank the Lord, it's over," said Johan. "How I let you convince me to watch this is beyond me."
"Aw, come on!" complained Sprig.
"RRR! This is torture," exclaimed Polly.
"Come on! Let's see the next episode!" whined Ivy.
"Trust me, guys," said Anne. "You gotta pace yourself with this stuff."
"All right, you two grubs," said Hop Pop. "Off to bed."
The Plantar kids groaned as they went upstairs. "How am I supposed to sleep without knowing what happened to Vivica and Chad?" asked Sprig.
"Stupid sleep!" snapped Polly. "I wanna watch it right now!"
"Wait," said Ivy. "Where am I going to sleep?"
"Hmmm."
"Why don't you sleep with Anne? She could use girl company," suggested Johan. The yellow frog girl looked up at Anne, unsure. "Go on, she won't bite. Unless you bite her first."
"If JoJo trusts you, I'll trust you," Ivy said as she held Anne's hand.
"Aww, thanks. Wait, where will you sleep, JoJo?"
"Unless you have an extra sleeping bag, I'm sleeping on the couch."
"Couch it is then." Then she made a sly grin to Hop Pop. "So? What do you think, Hop Pop? Better than that boring stuff you read to us, right?"
The old frog grumbled before saying, "That 'boring stuff' is called literature, Anne. And maybe, if you had an ounce of culture, you wouldn't reject it in favor of your substandard, puerile garbage show!" And with that, he went into his bedroom, slamming the door.
"Sheesh. Tell me how you really feel," snarked Anne before she yawned. "Come on, Ivy." She took the little frog by the hand and led her down to the cellar. Johan, meanwhile, made himself comfortable on the couch.
A few hours later, a shadow creeped across the floor, making its way toward Johan and slowly reached for his phone...
That same shadow entered the cellar and made its way toward Anne's phone, careful not to awake the girls...
A few hours later, the kids awoke with the cheer of "SUSPICION ISLAND!" and jumped onto Johan, who was still sleeping on the couch. "Scendi da me! Scendi da me!"
"It's time to get...suspicious," Anne said, ignoring Johan's desperate attempts to get up. But when she turned on the phone, she was met with a dreaded symbol. "L-Low battery?" She stood up and let out a scream of horror.
Hop Pop burst out of his room and asked, "What's all the ruckus?"
The Plantar kids and Ivy stood up with concern. "Anne, what's wrong?" Ivy asked.
"My battery is low. But it was fine last night when I turned it off," Anne said. She noticed something strange about the Suspicion Island videos. "'Watched'? Who watched all these episodes and used up all the-" Another alert beeped and Anne's heart rate increased. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!" And then the screen went dark. Anne's heart nearly stopped. The phone slipped from her fingers and fell to the ground. "It's gone..." she whispered.
"What's gone?" asked Sprig.
"EVERYTHING! My pictures! My texts! Videos of my cat! Now all my memories from home are gone!" She fell to her knees and began hyperventilating.
A feeling of dread suddenly hit Johan. If Anne's phone was dead... He quickly pulled out his phone from his pocket and tried to turn it on, but was met with a black screen. His phone was dead too. He thought he was going to be sick. He grabbed onto the couch to keep his balance. Then panic turned into anger as he pointed at the Plantars and Ivy, "WHICH ONE OF YOU SLIMY LITTLE FROGS IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS?!"
"Hey, now, that's just harsh," said Ivy.
"No, he has a point," said Anne after her own panic turned into anger. "Did you do it, Ivy? You were the only one in the room with me when we were asleep!"
"No! I didn't! We stayed up all night talking before we went to sleep, remember?"
"Yeah, lay off her," Sprig said, coming to Ivy's defense.
"Oh, defending a suspect, are you?" asked Johan. "Did you do it?"
"What? No! I didn't watch anything. It must have been Polly."
The little pollywog made an incredulous look. "WHAT?!"
"I even heard her get up in the night. Very suspicious."
"I needed to pee! Plus, if you heard me, you were awake too. You're the suspicious one!"
"Don't change the subject."
"Wait, wait, wait, wait. What about... Hop Pop?"
The old frog chuckled at the pollywog's accusation. "Heh! Me? In case you forgot, I despise that garbage."
"Exactly! Maybe you ran down the phone so we'd have to listen to your boring play!"
"Oh, that's good," said Sprig.
"That is preposterous!"
"Basta!" shouted Johan. "If none of you will fess up, the least you can do is charge up our phones!" His eyes widened when a memory returned to him. "Oh, no."
"What is it?" asked Anne.
"Uh...I know a way to find electricity," said Johan with dread.
"Electricity?" asked Hop Pop.
"You know, zap zap?" said Anne.
"Zap zap?" Hop Pop knew at once what Johan was thinking. "JoJo, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Yep. Zapapedes." The boy buried his face in his hands. "Fuck, this is going to suck."
"What's wrong?" asked Anne.
"Zapapedes are a cross between centipedes and electric eels," Johan explained. "They live deep in the Misty Peaks in the north and they zap their prey with a small spark of lightning. Yeah, it's pretty cool, actually. I know this because I had to find these things to make a potion to spy on Mr. Samandarin. It was not a pleasant experience."
"Sounds like it's worth a shot," said Anne. "So, how far away are these bugs, HP?"
"Don't call me HP," said the old frog. "Ahem. It's half a day's travel, but that should be no trouble for this gang."
"Oh, yeah? Well, that's just what Chad Vanderblad said. Right before he was stabbed in the back by a backstabber on Suspicion Island!" Sprig shouted, pointing an accusing finger at him.
"Watch where you're pointin' that finger!"
"I would never stab Chad in the back, but one of you two would," said Polly.
"Hey! Every time you point, two fingers point back!" Sprig shouted at her.
"THAT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE!"
"Hey, hey," Ivy shouted. "You're all being paranoid! You all need to calm down!"
"That's what Peruvia said," said Sprig. "Until she back stabbed her love interest!"
Ivy sputtered, "Are you kidding me now?!"
"Basta! Tutti voi!" shouted Johan. "Everyone of you are suspects! Just look at you!" He gestured to the shifty looks in the frogs' eyes. "Can we just get this over with?"
As they approached the Misty Hill, Sprig decided to eliviate his boredom by pulling out a violin and singing a tune. "A family distrusts each other, on a dangerous mission, like the nearly naked humans on the Island of Suspicion, Peruvia, Felicia and Randy, so hot, beguiling, hostile-ing, we're all Suspicious Isle-ing."
"You're a bard?" asked Johan, impressed with the little frog's singing.
"Hey, a frog can dream, can he?"
Hop Pop shushed the boys and said, "Quiet, you two. Look! There's one now! A zapapede!" The insect was sleeping on a rock across a canyon. The only way to reach it was a rickety old bridge.
"Oh, looks pretty cute," said Anne.
"Anne, those things are a nightmare," said Johan with dread. "It's like getting tased a hundred times over."
Sprig was the first to walk across the bridge, and it made a creaking sound. "Step lightly, everyone," said Hop Pop. "This thing doesn't look like it can take much weight." As the group walked carefully across the bridge, Hop Pop noticed Sprig yawning. "Huh."
"'Sup, HP?" asked Anne.
"Sprig sure looks tired, doesn't he? Awfully suspicious. And don't call me HP."
"The old man's a lying snake, but he does have a point," said Polly.
Ivy didn't say a word.
Abruptly, Sprig stopped. He pointed an accusing finger at them and shouted, "You guys talkin' scum?"
"What?" Hop Pop said, waving his hands in defense. "No, no. No, no, no."
Sprig's suspicious glare didn't leave his face. "Hmm. Psst, Anne, JoJo."
The two humans groaned in annoyance as they walked over to him. "What do you want, Rametto," asked Johan.
"I want to find out who's guilty just as much as you two do. Let me help you."
Suddenly, Polly jumped forward and shouted, "Oh, no, you don't! You were trying to Chad her into trusting you!"
"And you're trying to Vivica her into not trusting me!" shouted Sprig.
"Oh, and look at Hop Pop trying to Randy his way out of this."
Hop Pop said, "I don't even know what that means!"
"This is just like episode four," Ivy squeaked. "The characters' paranoia gets the better of them and then they try to tear each other apart!"
"SHUT UP! ALL OF YOU!" shouted Johan. "God, none of this would have happened if we watched Berserk instead!"
"Guys, cut it out," said Anne. "You're gonna-" A loud creak cut her off.
"Uh, oh," said Johan.
The bridge broke, sending the humans and frogs down the canyon.
The only reason they survived was because a bush cushioned their fall. Or in Sprig's case, his violin. "Rope bridge? More like nope bridge," groaned Anne.
When Hop Pop got up, he saw a whole nest of zapapedes in a deep pit. "Look! Down there! More zapapedes! They're pretty far down."
Johan's look of dread returned as he stared down at them. "This is gonna suck."
Anne got an idea, "Let's just link arms and lower someone down, just like the teens did in episode eight."
"Ha! So that Polly can drop us to cover her tracks, just like Vivica did in the very same episode?" asked Sprig.
"You callin' me a Vivica?"
"Maybe..."
Polly lunged at Sprig and the two of them got into a fist fight. "Kids, no! Stop fighting!" shouted Hop Pop.
"Polly! Sprig! Enough" shouted Ivy as she tried to separate them, only to get slapped in the face. "Aw, the heck with it!" With a war cry of her own, she jumped into the fry and the three of them had a free-for-all. They gave each other wet willies, Indian burns, and wedgies. Anne tried to break them up. "Hey, cut it out, you guys. Seriously. Ow!" Only to get kicked in the face.
"Oh, sorry, Anne," said Sprig. "You okay?"
Anne said nothing. She rolled up her sleeves and then began pummeling the frog kids. That is until...
"MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA!"
DARE sent the four of them flying into a wall. "Are you done now?!" Johan shouted.
"No fair..." groaned Anne.
"You used your Stand," wheezed Sprig.
"Cheater..." muttered Polly.
"I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE," shouted Hop Pop. "I CAN'T LIVE THIS LIE! IT WAS ME!" His confession echoed across the canyon.
All the kids stopped and turned to look at him. "Huh?"
"You mean..."
"That's right, Anne and JoJo. I watched all the episodes. Every! Single! One!"
"But you hated Suspicion Island!" said Anne.
"Hated it? Hated it?! I LOVED IT! Ever since the end of that last episode, I-I couldn't sleep. I fell in love with those crazy kids on their crazy island. I couldn't get enough! I did the only thing I could. I snuck out to the livin' room to watch Berserk on JoJo's phone out of curiosity, then I snuck into the cellar to watch Suspicion Island on your phone! I vowed only to watch one, but Suspicion Island and Berserk had their hooks in me! And before I realized what had happened, I'd finished the seasons! With dawn approaching, I covered my tracks and made my escape."
Johan muttered, "Why didn't you just admit you liked them in the first place?"
"Because I knew Anne and the kids would never let me live it down if they found out."
"He's right," said Polly.
"But now, I'm gonna make things right. I will redeem myself!" And without a second thought, the old frog grabbed Johan and Anne's phones and jumped into the zapapede nest. "I'm okay! You know, it's actually kinda relaxing-" He wasn't relaxing for long after they started zapping him.
"He can't last much longer!" exclaimed Sprig.
"We have to work together!" said Polly.
Sprig wrapped his tongue around a stump while he grabbed Ivy's legs, Ivy grabbed Johan's legs, Johan grabbed Polly and Polly grabbed Anne's legs, forming a chain. They jumped down into the pit and Anne reached down. "Almost. Nearly there. Got him!"
It was at that moment Johan realized something. "Anne, you know how electricity works, right?"
Anne's eyes widened. "Oh, no."
The zapapedes charged up again and electricity surged through Hop Pop and the kids, causing an explosion that sent them flying out of the canyon and into the forest. Johan spasmed a little before he slammed his fist on a rock. "Fuck, that sucks! Come siamo ancora vivi?!"
Groaning, Hop Pop slowly got up and looked at Anne and Johan's phones. His eyes widened when he saw they were now at ten thousand percent battery power. "Holy smokes. That's a lot of percents."
"So..." said Anne as she recovered from the shock. "...you love Suspicion Island and Berserk, huh?"
Hop Pop sighed. "Yeah. And I'm sorry I lied and drained your and JoJo's memory boxes. Can you ever forgive this old, silly frog?"
"Dude, you just risked your life to recharge our phones. I think we're square."
"It was pretty brave," said Johan as he got up with a smile. "To go through so much. Anne's right. We're square."
"Aw. Really glad I didn't push you off a cliff like I was planning," said Polly to Sprig.
"Me too, Polly. Me too."
"Maybe we should watch Berserk," said Ivy. "I'm actually a little curious now."
"NO!" Hop Pop shouted. "Anne is right! You kids are far too young to know about it!" And then he broke down sobbing. "WHY, GRIFFITH?! HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO YOUR OWN LOYAL SOLDIERS?! TO GUTS?! TO CASCA?!" He stopped when he realized everyone was looking at him awkwardly. He recomposed himself and cleared his throat. "Ahem. All right, enough fiddle-faddling. We gotta get home so you guys can finish the season. If I don't talk to someone about it soon, I'm gonna explode! I mean, that part where the island itself is revealed to actually be-"
Anne, Sprig, Polly and Ivy immediately covered their ears and shouted, "NO SPOILERS!"
"Santo cielo," muttered Johan.
To Be Continued...