The next morning, Johan couldn't make it for training. According to Tritonio, the boy had come down with a case of the stomach flu, so he'll be training Anne and the others instead. Currently, he was helping Anne practice with her sword fighting. "Parry, swing! Imagine I'm a fearsome assassin. Or perhaps, a meddlesome train conductor."

Anne fell flat on her butt after he pushed her with his sword. "You're too fast."

"Indeed. But when you find yourself outmatched, think outside the box."

The sun shining on Tritonio's blade gave Anne an idea. Using her own blade, she reflected the sun's light into Tritonio's eyes, distracting him and giving her he opportunity to knock the rapier out of his hands. He laughed with pride. "Excellent! You've all improved so much. Especially you, Anne." He gave Anne a wink, who giggled in response. "Now, come. It is time for your final test."

He led the children down to his study. "Tomorrow is our last day together. So I put together an exercise to test all the skills you've learned." He laid out a set of plans on the table. "I have rented a train, inside of which, I have hidden a fake priceless ruby. Also, I have hired actors to portray guards who will stop at nothing to keep the ruby safe. You must retrieve it using the wisdom and skills I have taught you. Now, study these plans. Become one with the plans. Eat the plans." He ripped a corner from the plans and ate it. "We leave at dawn!" He left the study with a backflip and a hop.

Sprig looked at the plans and said the obvious, "So does anyone else think this just looks like we're robbing a real train?"

"Yeah. Could Tritonio be using us?" asked Polly after she noticed one little note on the plans that said, "DON'T listen to the guards no matter what they say about 'not being actors'."

"And where's JoJo?" asked Ivy. "It's not like him to be sick and not tell us."

Anne slammed her fists on the table, startling Sprig, Polly and Ivy. "That's ridiculous! Tritonio's a good dude who believes in me. I think we should do it."

"Anne, you seem... oddly invested," said Sprig.

"Yeah, where's old 'teachers stink' Anne?" asked Polly.

"You know, the Anne that didn't give a rat's fart about them," asked Ivy.

"That Anne is dead and buried. Now come on, these plans ain't gonna study themselves."

"I don't know," said Ivy. "I'm still worried about JoJo. I haven't seen him all day."

Anne shrugged her shoulders. "Eh. His loss is our gain."

"You got me convinced," said Sprig.

"As long as I get to use my boom shrooms, I'm good," said Polly as she held up armfuls of exploding mushrooms.

Ivy still didn't look so sure about all this.

The next morning, the plan was set in motion.

The train looked like something straight out of Victorian times, only instead of a steam engine, the train was being pulled by a giant green Hercules beetle. The conductor was doing his job when he saw something in the middle of the tracks that made him stop the train. It was Sprig, dressed as Tiny Tim, complete with a crutch. "Please guvnuh," he said in the worst British accent. "I'm a poor orphan boy who done and twisted his wee ankle on these here train tracks."

The conductor fell for the ruse. "Poor kid. Guards! Help me!"

A pair of toad guards hopped off the train to assist him. "Another day, another wounded orphan to move."

What one of the guards didn't notice was the key slip off his belt as if by some invisible hand. Dismissing Invisible Touch, Ivy giggled as she hopped into the train's cab and gave the OK sign to Anne and Polly who were hiding in the bushes. They joined Polly and after dropping hot coals onto the Hercules beetle, they took off.

Meanwhile, the guards and conductor were inspecting Sprig's leg and realized, "This ankle isn't twisted."

It was then the conductor saw his train was leaving without him. "Hey! The train!" Before he and the guards could stop the girls, Sprig used his tongue to trip the guards and pile onto the conductor. He hopped into the cab and cheered, "Acting is fun!"

Suddenly, the train conductor managed to catch up with them and hop into the cabin with a large sword in hand. "I TRUSTED YOU!" he shouted at Sprig. Anne blocked his sword with her own then kicked him off. "Man, these guys are really good actors," she said.

"Never mind that. Let's get that ruby!" exclaimed Polly.

They hopped across the cars until they came to the one labeled "Newtopian Treasury". The door on the car's roof was chained and locked. "Polly, you're up," said Anne.

"That won't be necessary," said Ivy. "I took the key, remember?" Polly pouted. "Oh, alright. You can blow them up."

"Yay!" Polly threw boom shrooms at the door, blowing it up. The hopped in and found a large ruby shaped like a butterfly.

"There it is. We did it, guys," said Anne. "Big T is gonna be so proud of us."

"Proud is an understatement!" Tritonio said as he hopped down from the hole. "You've all done so well. Ah, here it is, the Tiger Moth's Eye." He took the ruby and put it in his pocket. "Now, I have one more question. What was the first lesson I taught you?"

Anne raised her hand. "Oh, oh! Trust no one!"

"Bingo!" He hopped back up the hole and blocked it. The kids gasped in shock. Anne looked out the barred window and shouted at the newt, "Tritonio, what are you doing?"

"Sorry, kids, but I never could've robbed this train by myself. And now that I have what I want, I'll be going. Give my regards to the guards!"

Ivy shouted, "What did you do to JoJo?!"

"Don't worry about him. Once he recovers from the punch I gave him from my Stand..."

Anne gasped. "You're a Stand user?!"

"...he just has to break free from the broom closet I locked him in! And who knows? Maybe he can bail you out, assuming he even remembers with that head injury. And now, adieu!" And with that, he ran off laughing.

Anne pounded her fists on the bars before she slumped down. "I don't believe this. He double-crossed us. The first teacher I really clicked with ended up being a fake." Her look of sadness was replaced with one with anger and determination. "Well, he's not getting away with this. Polly, got any more boom shrooms?"

Polly held up a whole bunch of them. "Can I use my Ripple Cutter too?"

"Ah, they were good kids. Too bad they have to go to prison forever." Suddenly, an explosion caused him to turn around. "TRITONIO!" shouted Anne as she and the others stepped out of the smoke.

"I have to say, even I am impressed," admitted Tritonio.

"You really mean it- Guys, now!" shouted Anne.

Sprig wrapped his tongue around Tritonio's wrist while Polly jumped up in the air with boom shrooms in hand. "Ripple Cu-" Before she could finish her attack, Tritonio grabbed Sprig by the tongue and slammed him into Polly.

"Oh, that hurt," he groaned.

Tritonio then faced Anne, but but not before he kicked the air behind him. "I heard you, Ivy," he said as Ivy reappeared, groaning as she held her stomach. "It's just you and me now, Anne."

"Fine by me." Anne let out a battle yell and charged at him, but Tritonio easily blocked her attacks. Then he jumped up and kicked her in the face. She lost her balance and nearly fell off the car, grabbing onto the edge just in time. She glared up at him as he smiled down at her. "Trusting you was a mistake, but you've made a huge mistake, too."

"Oh yeah? And what is that?"

"You taught me how to fight! Metal Silver Overdrive!" She transferred her Ripple into her blade and shined the sun's light into Tritonio's eyes.

He screamed as it felt like he just looked directly into the sun up close. "AAAHHHH! BIG T'S EYES!" Seeing her chance, Anne jumped up and knocked the rapier out of his hands. "School's out, teach," she said as Ivy, Sprig and Polly held him down.

After Anne and the frog kids stopped the train and explained everything to the guard and the conductor, Tritonio was promptly arrested.

"Thanks, kids. The tower's been trying to catch this slimeball for months," said the conductor. "Been robbing trains with kids for quite some time now, the sicko."

"You do have to respect my creativity," said Tritonio with no regrets.

"WE RESPECT NOTHING!" shouted Polly.

"Yeah, get out of here, you fraud!" shouted Sprig.

"I hope some halfwit bruiser makes you his sweetheart!" shouted Ivy.

Before he was placed in the train's prison car, Tritonio looked over his shoulder and said, "See you around, Anne. I wasn't kidding when I said you had potential. You certainly bested me."

Anne was having none of it. "Save it, you crook. I just have one more question for you. Was the goatee even real?"

He plucked it off his chin and said, "What do you think?"

Suddenly, Ivy exclaimed, "Oh, frog! We forgot JoJo!"

Upon returning to the tower, Anne opened the broom closet to find Johan unconscious with a big lump on his head. "JoJo! Wake up!" Charging her Ripple, she plunged her finger into his solar plexus and he awoke with a start.

"Halifax!" he shouted incoherently. He looked around, dazed and confused until he saw Anne. "Anne! Listen! You're being set up Tritonio is a Stand user! He-"

"Save it," said Sprig with his hand up. "We know."

"He tried to rob a train and tried to make us take the fall for it," said Polly.

"But we kicked his butt and now he's off to jail."

Johan blinked a few times before asking, "How long was I in there?"

"About two days," said Anne.

"WHAT?! YOU DIDN'T LOOK FOR ME FOR TWO DAYS?!"

"He said you were sick," defended Sprig.

"And you didn't think that was suspicious?! Oh, my God," Johan groaned as he put a hand on the lump. "My head. I just wanna go home now."

As the exhausted, bruised and battered kids waited outside the tower for Hop Pop, Johan said to Anne, "Now I know how you feel about teachers. You probably hate them more than ever after this little debacle."

But instead of agreeing with him, she just smiled and said, "You know what? Tritonio might have been a crook, but he was onto something. When I get home, I'm gonna give my teachers another chance."

"Okay," said Polly.

At that moment, Bessie and Hop Pop arrived. They were exhausted, battered and bruised as well. "Hey, kids."

"What happened to you?" asked Johan.

"Oh, nothing. The farmer's convention didn't get attacked by killer locusts if that's what you mean. How was your weekend?"

"Good," said Anne.

"We didn't rob a train," said Sprig.

"Nope. No crimes committed," said Polly.

"No one was framed," said Ivy.

"And the teacher was certainly not a Stand user who was the mastermind," said Ivy.

"Good, good. Great to know we definitely didn't have two wacky adventures," said Hop Pop.

"Can we go home, please," asked Johan. "I really want a bag of ice for my head."

"Make it five," said Anne.

To Be Continued...