A lot happened yesterday. Sprig, in an attempt to get Sadie Croaker to like him, tried to reunite her with her supposed loved one, an old frog named Jonah. Only it turns out that not only were Sadie and Jonah were bitter enemies, but Sadie had impressive fighting skills to boot. Following his capture, Johan tried to kill Jonah, but Sadie stopped him and told him he wasn't worth it. At the same time, Sprig apologized and learned the lesson that he can't please everyone, though Sadie did appreciate him going through all the trouble and that she could learn to like him.
Today, though? Anne, Johan and the Plantars were staring at the mountain pass, at the large wall of impenetrable ice.
"Well, Anne, JoJo, I don't wanna say..." Before he could finish his sentence, Johan pinched his lips shut.
"You say those four words and I will 'Muda, muda, muda!' you all the way across Wartwood."
Hop Pop nodded and Johan let him go. "Still gonna be a few weeks before that snowpack melts."
"It's alright. I can wait. Not sure about Anne, though."
"But I've waited so long," Anne groaned. "And getting out of this valley might help me find answers on how to get home."
"I know it stinks," said Sprig. "But how about some careless misadventuring to take your mind off it? I think there's a creepy lagoon nearby."
"Ooh! Think we'll find some bloated remains?"
"Here's hoping. Hey, JoJo? You coming?"
Johan sat on Bessie's saddle and shook his head. "Actually, I just wanna relax today."
"Your loss, dude," Anne said as she and Sprig laughed and went off.
"And while they're doing that," said Polly. "I'm gonna check out this scary forest."
But before she could, Hop Pop grabbed her and placed her in Johan's lap. "Oh, no, you don't. Not by yourself."
"Aww! But why not?"
"'Cause you're a pollywog. You're too young to go off on your own."
"But the other kids did."
Johan said, "Yeah, that's something you probably shouldn't do anyway." He took note of the disappointment written on the little tadpole's face. "Do you, uh...want me to go with you, Polly?"
"Don't patronize me, JoJo."
Suddenly, there was a loud screech and Sprig and Anne ran back to Bessie shouting, "Go, go, go, go!" Hop Pop cracked the snail's reigns and she took off as fast as she could.
"Whew! Who knew leeches could run so fast?" asked Anne.
"Or had legs?" asked Sprig.
"Glad I got to see them, though."
"Truly a once in a lifetime experience."
"Ahem!" Johan coughed loudly, gesturing to the disappointed little tadpole.
Suddenly, Bessie let out a yelp and skidded to a halt at the side of the road. "Oh, shoot," said Hop Pop. "Snail trouble, everyone. Snail trouble."
"Hmm. Stranded, eh? Well, couldn't have picked a nicer day." Thunder crashed and it started to rain. Everyone glared at Sprig.
Hop Pop jumped off the saddle and tried to look in Bessie's undercarriage. "Dang it. It's too darn muddy for me to squeeze under Bessie to see what's the trouble."
"Hey, I can fit under Bessie," said Polly.
"No, you stay up there where it's safe."
Polly grunted in frustration.
Anne looked around and saw a cottage with a barn on the side. In front of the cottage was a sign that read "Dandy Lion Inn". "Hey, look. There's a bed and breakfast just down the road."
"Forget it. We ain't spending coppers on lodging when we've got a perfectly fine tent-" The wind blew the tent out of Hop Pop's hands and lightning disintegrated it. "All right, B&B it is. But no extras." He put a blanket over the snail. "Hang tight, Bessie. We'll find you a comfy place to rest in a jiffy." Bessie chirped in response.
The group ran to the B&B and went inside, dripping wet. Cozy wouldn't even begin to describe the interior. It was as if the owners put everything that would make you feel like you're getting a warm hug into one place. There was comfortable furniture, pictures of family members, a fire going on in the fireplace, and cute porcelain statues.
"Look at this place. So cozy," said Sprig.
Johan looked at the porcelain statues and shuddered a little. "Those statues give me the creeps. It's like their eyes follow you everywhere you go."
"Chicken," said Anne.
"Shut up." He rang the bell at the front desk and an elderly horned bullfrog couple walked out from the back. "Oh, hey there," said the male. "Welcome to the Dandy Lion B&B. I'm Teddy. This is my wife, Martha."
"Please, warm yourselves by the fire," said Martha.
The group did just that and made themselves comfortable. "Wow, haven't come across a species like you before," said Anne.
"Same to you and your gold-haired friend there, dearie," said Martha. "We're horned bullfrogs."
"Oh, so not from around these parts?" asked Hop Pop.
"Yeah, we traveled here a long time ago and just, you know, fell in love with the area. Isn't that right, sweetie?" asked Teddy as he and Martha nuzzled each other.
"Oh, we sure did," she said.
"So, I take it you'll be needing some rooms?" asked Teddy.
"Just one, please," said Hop Pop. "We'll all pile in."
"Oh, no need. We only have a couple of guests tonight, so the inn is mostly empty."
"We'll make you a deal," said Martha. "Five rooms for the price of one. What do you say?"
"Heck yeah!" Sprig cheered as the kids smiled with excitement.
"Score!" Polly hopped down from her chair and started heading for the first room available, but Hop Pop grabbed her.
"Thanks. But we only need three. Polly here'll be bunking with me," he said.
"What? Aw, Hop Pop!" Polly said with a pout.
"Excellent! Uh, but that young man has to leave his weapons here," Teddy said as he pointed to Johan. The boy didn't feel comfortable doing that, but he didn't want to upset the innkeepers. He took out his sling blade, gun and knife and put them in a bin next to the front desk. "Thank you."
Martha came back with a plate of cookies and put them on the table. "Here's some fresh cookies."
"And we'll go put your snail in the barn," Teddy said as he and Martha left.
Johan was about to take a bite out of his cookie when he stopped and said, "Wait, how did he know we had snail trouble?" Nobody heard him as they were too busy eating cookies. Except for Polly, who was still too grumpy over not sleeping by herself.
Hop Pop yawned as he carried the little pollywog up the stairs. Anne and Sprig had already settled in their rooms.
"Whoo! Happiness, thy name is solitude," said Anne as she jumped on her bed.
"Freedom! And check it out. A laundry chute!" Sprig laughed with joy as he jumped down the laundry chute in his room. A few seconds later, he came back up.
Johan was already lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling.
Hop Pop and Polly went into the room adjacent to Johan's. Hop Pop was already in his pajamas and set Polly for bed. "This is so not fair. I want my own room!" she protested.
"Sorry, kiddo. But you're just too young for that. But you can have as many cookies as you want."
Polly swatted the cookie out of his hand. "I don't want your pity cookies."
"No? Well, then how about a pity early bedtime?"
"But I'm not tired!"
"Yep, but I am," said Hop Pop as he put pickle juice on his feet. I don't even want to know why. "One room, one bedtime. Lights out in five minutes."
Polly frowned. Then she saw a door she didn't see before. She opened it and revealed Johan's room, catching him by surprise. "Polly?"
She gasped with excitement. "Hop Pop, look. Johan's room is connected to this one. Can I stay in here?"
"Well..."
"It's okay," said Johan. "Polly can sleep here."
Hop Pop raised an eyebrow. "You sure about that?"
"Sure. I'll make myself comfortable in the walk-in closet. Wait, they have a walk in closet?"
"YAHOO!" Polly leaped up and hugged Johan. "You're the best, JoJo!"
"Alright," said Hop Pop. "But I expect her to be in bed in five minutes! No less!" He returned to his room and closed the door behind him.
Johan placed Polly in the bed and whispered, "You can hop on the bed as many times as you like."
"Ooh, sneaky. But, JoJo, why are you being so nice?"
"Let's just say I know what it's like to have an overprotective dad. When I was born, I already developed my Stand. Gave the nurses quite the shock. Dad kept a very close eye on me and trained me to control DARE's powers so I didn't mess up other people's senses. It was kinda hard to make friends my age without having someone from Passione watching over me, what with me being a Stand user and the son of the boss and all. But my dad did eventually loosen up and let me walk out on my own. Course, I did get in trouble every now and then, but Dad told me you don't learn anything if you don't get in trouble. He still punished me, though, told me I also don't learn anything if I don't get punished. That's when he made me work at the pizzeria."
He coughed a little. "Anyway, the point is, it's okay to want to be seen as a grown-up, Polly. But don't be so eager to grow up so quickly."
Polly chuckled. "You know, you're always talking about your dad, how come you don't talk about your mom?" He didn't respond. "Hey! You didn't answer my question!"
"I'm going to bed," said Johan as he walked into the closet, carrying his pillow and blanket. When he turned around, he almost gasped. Hanging from the closet's racks was a large assortment of clothing: a worker's overalls and boots, a wedding couple's tuxedo and gown and some children's clothes. Lining the floor neatly in a row were dozens of pairs of shoes. "What in the... Did all these people forget to pack up their clothes when they left?"
Suddenly, he heard Polly scream. He burst out and she jumped up and landed in his arms. "What is it?!"
"FREAK! FREAK IN THE CORNER!" She pointed to a large skeleton with glowing eyes.
Johan turned on the lights. "That's just a pile of garbage."
"Uh...I knew that! I was just testing you."
"Uh-huh." Johan looked out the window. "The rain's stopped. I'm gonna go check on Bessie. Why don't you check up on Hopediah, Sprig and Anne?"
"Can do!"
Johan wasn't sure what happened. The last thing he remembered was walking down the stairs and boom! Something big and heavy knocked him out. The next thing he knew, he was tied down to a table in some kitchen. "Where am I? What's going on?"
"Dinnertime," he heard Teddy's voice say. Johan looked to his right to see Teddy, accompanied by two female horned bullfrogs that looked like Martha. "I like to introduce you to my sisters-in-law, Juniper and Juliet."
"WOULD SOMEBODY PLEASE TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON?!" shouted Johan.
"Oh, never you mind," said Juliet. "In a few minutes, you won't have to worry about that."
"All right, time to pick a card," said Teddy as he placed a set of cards on Johan's chest. "Juliet, I think you went first last time, so, Juniper, you go first."
Juniper picked a card with a picture of Hop Pop on it. "Ooh. Looks like I've got the geezer. Aged to perfection. Juliet?"
Juliet picked a card with a picture of Anne on it. "I got the tall one with the bushy hair. Talk about your drumsticks."
"Well, I guess I'll just have to be happy with the boy," said Teddy as he held up a card with Sprig's picture on it. "Cook time will be much shorter. Delicious. And as for you," he said as he poked Johan's belly. "You're pretty thin, but skinned and buttered, you'd make a nice treat for Martha."
Johan's eyes bugged out. "You're cannibals?!" He now realized what happened to the owners of all those clothes he saw in the walk-in closet.
"Yep!" said Juniper cheerfully.
At that moment, Martha came in, panting heavily. "Ooh. The little one got away. Must not have eaten any of my cookies. Were they not sweet enough? Did I goof the recipe? Oh, dearie me."
"Oh, come on, Martha," said Teddy, giving her a kiss. "No one makes a slumberdoodle better than you, and you know that."
Johan said with fear, "Slumberdoodles?"
"Why sure, dearie," said Martha as she patted his head. "It makes the cooking much less painful. Just ask your friends."
Johan turned his head to the right and saw Anne, Sprig and Hop Pop, sitting in a cauldron of water with vegetables in it. They were all fast asleep. "Anne! Sprig! Hopediah!" he shouted as he tried to break free.
"Don't bother," said Juniper. "They'll be out for hours."
"Not that they'll be awake anyway," said Juliet as she and Juniper placed the cauldron in the fireplace over a pile of wood. "We can add your skulls to the collection in the closet." She let a match and was about to start the fire when...
Polly suddenly burst out of an air vent and landed on Johan's stomach. "Oh, my solar plexus," he groaned.
"Nobody makes a stew out of my family!" she shouted.
The cannibal frogs tried to grab Polly but she jumped out of the way. Then she hopped over to the cauldron and shouted, "Rise and shine, fam!" She tipped the cauldron over, waking everybody up.
"Huh? Wha- What's goin' on?" asked a dazed Hop Pop.
"Five more minutes." Anne said drowsily.
"Hi, Polly." said Sprig.
"Hey. We gotta get out of here."
"You're goin' nowhere," said Martha as she and Juniper held Johan down while Juliet held a knife to his throat. "Except back in that cauldron. Unless you want us to start with him first?"
"Yeah," said Teddy. "Besides, what can a little tadpole like you do to stop us?"
"You're right. I am just a little tadpole," said Polly as she readied her bow. "And I'm not ready to be alone!" She activated her Ripple and charged it into her bow. She threw it like a boomerang, causing it to cut Johan's bonds before it made a sharp turn and returned to Polly.
Johan made a wicked smile. "You're in trouble now." He summoned DARE who proceeded to pummel all four of the cannibals.
"MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA!"
As the cannibals were flung into a spice rack, Polly realized, "Wait, you could have freed yourself the whole time with your Stand!"
"Yeah," said Johan as he dismissed DARE and rubbed his wrists. "But then you wouldn't have saved us by yourself." He rubbed Polly's head. "You did good." Polly smiled.
The cannibals groaned in absolute pain as Johan tied them up and placed them in the cauldron. "Come on, let's get out of here." They quickly ran out of the kitchen, but Anne stopped when she saw two barrels labeled "Baking Soda" and "Vinegar". A devious smile crept across her face. "Finally. A chance to use everything I know about chemistry."
Johan grabbed his weapons and ran out the inn along with the Plantars. "We gotta find Bessie," said Hop Pop. They ran into the barn and found their snail. Sprig ran up to her and gave her a hug. "Oh, thank goodness you're all right, you beautiful, precious princess."
"Sprig, bring that lantern over here," said Hop Pop. "Polly, get under there and take a look."
"You got it, chief." Polly crawled under Bessie's shell and pulled out her tail. They immediately saw what was causing the snail so much discomfort: a bear trap biting down on her tail.
Hop Pop pulled it off, much to Bessie's relief, and said, "So that's what slowed her down. How the heck did this get on her tail, though?"
Johan was about to respond when he saw something that frightened him. "Guys?" The Plantars looked at what he was pointing at and saw dozens of frightened snails in the stables. Most disturbingly was the snail with the "Just hitched!" banner on its shell. Johan quickly freed the snails and they all slithered out of the barn as fast as they could.
"This was all a setup," realized Sprig. "They trap passengers at the inn. We're the 'breakfast' in 'bed and breakfast'!"
"Yeah, obvi," said Hop Pop. "Let's go." As they hopped onto Bessie's saddle, Anne quickly joined them, giggling like a madman. "What are you laughing about?"
"Nothing. Let's get outta here," she said.
"Bessie, things are gettin' messy," shouted Hop Pop. Hearing this, Bessie charged out of the barn and far away from the Dandy Lion Inn.
Back in the inn's kitchen, the cannibal family struggled to get out of the cauldron when they heard a hissing sound. "Hey, do you hear that? Did you leave the sink running?" asked Teddy. Confusion turned to horror when they saw the "Baking Soda" and "Vinegar" barrels tipped over and were leaking onto the floor. "Oh, dear."
A second later, the inn exploded like a volcano science experiment.
"Chemistry wins!" Anne cheered out loud as the family fled from the area.
When the Plantars returned home, they were exhausted. Sprig pushed open the door and fell on his knees. "Home sweet home!" He yelled, kissing the floor before passing out on the floor. Anne came in after him, sighed, and passed out next to him. Hop Pop was the next to come up as he carried Polly on his head. He took her off and said to her, "You know, Polly, even though you're still a tadpole, you certainly proved you can be on your own. Maybe it's time I give you a little more independence."
"Thanks, Hop Pop. But I was actually hoping to sleep in your room tonight. Being on my own was kinda freaky, even though I had JoJo with me."
"I suppose that'd be all right," said the old frog as he took Polly to bed.
As the old frog and Polly settled in, they heard the door knock and turned to see Anne and Sprig peeking their heads in. "So. Turns out tonight's events were a tad traumatic," said Anne.
"Room for two more?" asked Sprig.
"Get in here, you crazy kids," Polly said as she patted the bed.
Sprig and Polly climbed into bed and sighed as they made themselves comfortable. Suddenly, Hop Pop let out a scream of shock. "Great grubs, Sprig! Your feet are cold!"
"Deal with it!"
Polly giggled.
Meanwhile, Johan returned to the Sundews' house and tried to go to sleep, but he couldn't. In the darkness of his room, he felt fear. This is silly, he thought. I've dealt with scarier things than cannibals. He tried to play some music to help lull him to sleep, but it didn't work.
Ivy awoke to the sound of someone knocking on her door. She opened it to find Johan in his pajamas and carrying a blanket and pillow. "JoJo? What are you doing?"
"Uh, sorry to disturb you," he said. "I had a long, horrible night involving cannibals..."
"Huh?"
"...and, I was wondering, may I sleep in your room tonight? Preferably on the floor next your bed? Just don't step on me when you wake up."
Ivy thought it over. "Deal. But you gotta tell me how this cannibal thing went down. I missed out on an adventure!"
"Trust me," said Johan as he laid the blanket and pillow down and placed his head on the pillow. "You don't want to go through what we went through."
Ivy hopped back into her own bed and turned out the light. Johan sighed as he made himself comfortable. He was about to shut his eyes when Ivy let out a loud fart. "Edera! Seriously?!" To his horror, Ivy then trapped his face in the farted blanket and shouted with a laugh, "FROG OVEN!"
"OH MY GOD!"
To Be Continued...