"Now leaving the valley". "May frog help you". Those were the signs the fwagon passed by. "Well, it's official," said Johan. "We're not in Frog Valley anymore."

Sprig could not contain his joy. "This is the most exciting thing that's ever happened to anyone. Aren't you excited? I'm excited. Anne, JoJo, you should be more excited."

"I'm excited. You know, it's just, there's a lot riding on this trip for me, and I wanna keep my expectations in... Whaaaaaaaaaat?" Anne babbled in awe.

"For once, I agree with you," said Johan as he took in the beauty that laid before them.

Before them were green rolling hills with patches of forests, mushrooms the size of buildings, and off in the distance, there were crystal mountains and a volcano. "È bellissimo," said Johan.

"It's amazing. It's majestic. It's... hurting my eyes," said Anne as she rubbed her eyes.

"It's even better than I could've dreamed," said Sprig. He hopped on Bessie's shell, pointed forward and said, "Full speed ahead, Hop Pop. Keep driving and never look back."

"Hold on, Sprig," said the old frog. "Look back here for a second." He did so. "Now that we're out of the valley, things can get dangerous fast. So..."

He brought the kids back inside the fwagon and slammed a large book on the table. "From now on we're gonna follow Hop Pop's Rules of the Road. By me, Hop Pop."

Anne, Sprig and Polly groaned. "Another huge book? Seriously?" asked Anne.

"You kids got a problem with books? Why, without books..."

"...our civilization would crumble to nothingness," the three kids finished the old frog's sentence.

Johan opened one page and asked, "When did you have the time to write this whole thing, Hopediah?"

"I had a lot of time on my hands, JoJo. AND LACK OF SLEEP," he said dramatically with bloodshot eyes. He said normally, "The only way we'll get to Newtopia in one piece is if we follow these rules. Like this one here. Rule number 98: 'Never strike a heroic pose on the fwagon.' It's a sign of hubris that invites disaster." Then he placed a bunch of child activity books and crayons on the table, closed the window shade and strapped Sprig in a baby seat. "That should keep your sense of adventure in check." The old frog then climbed through the sky roof and returned to his seat. "All right, kids, let's stick to the rules, and we should have a safe and completely uneventful trip. Okay, thanks. Byeee!"

As the fwagon started moving again, Sprig whined, "Man, this stinks." He opened the shade with his tongue and looked out the window to see the landscape passing by. "All those adventures out there, and we're stuck in here with these dumb rules." Polly agreed with him as she stabbed the activity books with a pencil.

"He does have a point, though," said Johan. "We're in unfamiliar land now, not in Frog Valley anymore. Who knows what kind dangers we might encounter. Not to mention, there are Stand users out there that we don't have any knowledge of. And in case you forgot, NO ONE IN THIS FWAGON EXCEPT ME ARE STAND USERS!"

Polly scoffed. "So?"

"Hello! Only Stand users can see Stands and the only thing that can destroy a Stand is another Stand! It's a fact of life!"

When Hop Pop heard this, he started to get worried. "In hindsight, I should have bought a bigger fwagon, that way we could have brought more Stand users with us. Oh, and one more thing, JoJo. Road rule number 29: 'No shouting.' Marauders will follow the sound and steal your skin."

Johan grumbled. "Although, I have to admit, your grandfather's paranoia and overprotectiveness is a bit overbearing, Sprg."

"Hey! I'm not paranoid! I'm being cautious!"

Johan chuckled. "You broke your own rule. Rule number 29, remember?"

"Ha! He's got you there, Hop Pop," said Anne.

The old frog grumbled.

As they traveled down the road, Sprig looked out the window and saw a rainbow arching over a waterfall. "A rainbow waterfall! Oh, we got to pull over."

"Hub bup bup. Road rule number 243: 'All natural phenomena lead to an unnatural death.'"

Sprig pouted.

They came to a stop in front of a sign that read "Zoom Dunes. No Speed Limit!" A trio of snail riders zoomed by and began to race each other across the desert. The sight of it excited Polly and Sprig. "All right, Bessie. It's time to show the world how fast you can go," said Polly.

The snail seemed to agree with her, but Hop Pop stopped them both and said, "Uh-uh. Rule number 149: 'Never drive faster than a June bug can fly.'" As if on cue, a slow-moving June bug flew by, only to stop to take a nap. "Good thinking, little guy," said Hop Pop with a yawn.

They next came to a stop in front of a roadside diner claiming to be "Amphibia's Best Diner". "Best diner, huh?" asked Johan with a scoff. "I'll be the judge of that."

"Rule number 193: 'Don't stop anywhere claiming to be "The Best."'"

Johan exhaled and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Why?" he asked Hop Pop through gritted teeth.

"Because those claiming to be 'The Best' steal all your money with expensive food."

"But look! They have crickets and cream ice cream," said Polly.

"Rule number 194: 'No ice cream in the fwagon.' The kids complained again when Hop Pop said that. "Hey, hey. I just enforce the rules. I don't make 'em."

"You DID make them," snapped Johan. "It's literally called 'Hop Pop's Rules'!"

"Darn straight. And I stand by 'em. You know what? Until we get to Newtopia, just sit in the fwagon, keep quiet and do nothing, kids."

"What?" exclaimed Polly. "You want us to do nothing the whole trip?!"

"Hey, when I was your age, I once had to keep quiet and do nothing for three days."

"Ugh!" groaned Sprig as he paced back and forth. "I can't take it. All of these once-in-a-lifetime experiences are literally passing us by."

"I know, and I really wanna complain about it. But road rule 345: 'No complaining,' takes care of that," said Anne as she browsed her phone, totally bored.

"And apparently, I've got a new job," said Johan. "I'm on 'Stand Patrol' because I'm the only Stand user around."

"I swear to frog, if one more cool and exciting thing passes us by..."

Hop Pop interrupted Sprig, "Red alert, kids. We're coming up on the 'Ruins of Despair.'"

"Sounds like a cheery place," said Johan.

The kids looked out the window to see large round buildings shaped like frogs buried halfway beneath the ground. "Whoa! What are those weird structures?"

"No one knows, Anne," said Hop Pop. "They've been here long before any written history. Just a mystery better left unsolved as far as I'm concerned."

The kids went back inside and Sprig continued to vent out his frustration. "This place is the coolest thing I've ever seen. If I don't get out and at least touch something, I'll regret it for the rest of my life."

Johan thought it over then said, "I got an idea. Anne, I need you to..." He whispered something in her ear.

"You got it, JoJo." She called out to Hop Pop, "Hey, HP. I've never ridden in a wagon for this long, and I'm definitely gonna hurl. Can we stop for a second?"

Hop Pop said, "Dang it, Anne. How do humans cope with such unreliable innards? Let me know when we can start moving again."

"Okay, thanks." Hop Pop pulled Bessie over and as if on cue, Anne, Sprig and Johan jumped out the backdoor and ran off. "Go, go, go, go!"

"Hey! Get back here, you three!" shouted Hop Pop.

"This was your plan?" asked Sprig as they ran. Then he smiled at the two humans. "JoAnne, you've done it again."

"Still not crazy about that name, though," said Anne.

Meanwhile, Hop Pop climbed off the fwagon with his book in hand, fuming at how the kids disobeyed him again. "Dang kids never listen to a thing I say. I swear, that JoJo is a bad influence. Polly, don't do anything till I get back." As he left, Polly and Bessie grinned at each other.

The three kids came to a stop in front of one of the buildings. "Okay, pretty sure Hop Pop's onto us. So let's take some quick selfies and get out of here."

"Do you really have to take a selfie of everything?" asked Johan, annoyed.

"YES!"

"Oh, my God," groaned Johan as he leaned against the door. Suddenly, it beeped and it opened, making him fall in and slide down a slide.

Finally, he came to a stop when he crashed to the floor. "Ow... Who puts a slide in a temple?" He slowly got up and rubbed the back of his head. "What is this?" he asked as he looked around. Sprig and Anne soon joined him.

"JoJo," said Anne as she put a hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay?"

Sprig wasn't paying attention. "Whoa... Look at this!"

Anne and Johan gasped. Inside the massive round room was a metallic statue of a frog with what looked like screens and keyboards at its base. Behind the statue was a large conveyor belt behind a glass wall. Anne said, "What the heck? Are those computers? I thought you guys were like pastoral or whatever."

But Johan's attention was focused on the floor, where he saw footprints in the dust. "Guys, it looks like someone's been here before us. And whoever it was, they were wearing loafers."

"Weird," said Anne.

Sprig wasn't paying attention at all. He felt like a kid in a toy factory as he gazed at all the machinery. "I'm... gonna touch everything!" He hopped around the room, touching everything that was and wasn't nailed down.

"Sprig," called out Johan. "Not everything you touch is a toy!"

"Pfft," scoffed the young frog. "You sound like Hop Pop!"

As if on cue, Hop Pop slid down the slide and angrily marched up to the kids. "Do you two realize how many rules you just broke? 17, 29, 36, 55!"

Anne winced in guilt. Johan groaned. "Hop Pop, as good as your rules are, they're also stifling. An old teacher once said, 'Take chances, get messy, make mistakes'."

"Yeah, well I say, obey my rules and live so you don't have to make mistakes!"

Sprig snapped at his grandfather, "Forget the rules. Look at this place, Hop Pop. It has everything. Cool atmosphere. Implied historical significance. Levers." He hopped up and reached forward to grab the lever on the statue.

"Don't you dare! Rule number 68: 'Never, ever pull a lever.'"

Sprig and Hop Pop glared at each other, then Sprig grabbed the lever and pulled it. Anne, Johan and Hop Pop winced in anticipation, but nothing happened. "Well, look at that. I broke rule number 68, and we're all still alive." Spoke too soon, Sprig. All at once, the lever sunk into the machine. Before the Plantars, Anne and Johan could do anything else, the lights in the room turned on, and the statue's mouth opened and revealed a computer screen. On it were images and words the group couldn't quite make out.

And then, the statue spoke in a mechanized female voice, "Start-up engaged."

Sprig was excited, "Whoa! The building can talk!" Then he said, a little conflicted, "Not sure how I feel about that."

"Assembly line activated. Routine protocols engaged."

"Assembly line?" asked Anne, confused. As if to answer her question, the conveyor belt started to move and robotic hands began to build...something from pieces of metal.

"Guys," said Johan with intrigue. "I think this building is some kind of factory. But, what does it build?" He walked over to the keyboard. "Maybe this computer can tell us." He was about to put his fingers on the keyboard when he stopped in realization. "Oh, boy. This keyboard is nothing like the ones back on earth. It doesn't even have a human language alphabet!"

"Additional materials required. Please place them on the glowing access point."

"Glowing what now?" asked Hop Pop. Suddenly, the floor beneath him glowed blue then opened up. "Help! It's got me!"

"Hop Pop!" Anne and Sprig shouted.

They could hear him giggling a little. "It tickles!" The next thing the old frog knew, he popped out of the ceiling and onto the conveyor belt.

"This is the part where Hop Pop says, 'See this right here, kids? This is why we follow the rules!'"

"See this right here, kids? This is why we follow the rules!" Hop Pop paused for a moment, then shouted, "STOP DOING THAT, JOJO!" Hop Pop passed through a wall of lasers and for a while, nothing happened. "That wasn't so bad." Then his clothes shredded, leaving him in the buff. He screamed and covered himself with his hands. "I'm not beach-ready!"

"Hop Pop" shouted Anne and Sprig.

"JoJo," said Anne. "You try to shut this madhouse down. I'm gonna get him out of there." Anne used her Ripple to smash open the glass wall and run onto the conveyor belt. "I'm coming, Hop Pop."

"Take your time, kids," said Hop Pop as he was sprayed with hoses. "Ooh. This ain't half bad."

Johan looked at the keyboard, frantically looking for anything that looked like an off switch. "How do I stop this thing?" He shouted at the computer, "Computer, cease all operations!"

"If you wish to cancel the operation, please insert new disk."

A slot opened on the console and Johan said, "Oh, boy." He looked around frantically. "How am I supposed to find one of those in this mess?"

"Allow me," said Sprig. He walked up to the console and screamed as he pressed random buttons.

"Sprig, that's not a good idea!"

"Security violation detected."

The computer's monitor turned from blue to red and a pair of robotic arms popped out and tried to crush Sprig and Johan. "Oh, that's great, Sprig! You made it mad!"

"Oh, sure, blame me as always! Whoa!" The young frog dodged out of the way before a fist smashed him. "Ha, ha! Missed me!" A buzz saw popped out. "You gotta be kidding me." He hopped out of the way before he got sliced while Johan used his harpe to cut it off.

"Anne, how's it going over there?" he called out.

"Ask me again when I'm making progress!" she called out as she leaped over the lasers and ran past the spraying hoses.

"Seriously, take your time, kids," said Hop Pop. Suddenly, the floor pulled him down and clamped his arms and legs to the floor. But that was the least of Hop Pop's worries. He looked ahead and saw he was moving toward a crusher. "I take it back! I was a fool!"

"Hold on, Hop Pop! I'm coming!" Anne ran up to the crusher and used a discarded robot arm to keep it from flattening Hop Pop. "How's it going over there, guys?"

Sprig was frantically looking through Hop Pop's book. "Maybe there's something in the book that can help. That kind of thing's worked before."

"THIS IS A LITTLE DIFFERENT!" shouted Anne as the crusher slowly started to press down on the robot arm.

The computer spoke again. "Insert disk. Insert disk. Insert disk."

Sprig asked Johan, "What the heck is a disk?"

Johan sliced off one of the computer's arms and shouted, "Look for something flat and round or flat and square!"

Sprig looked around frantically. "I can't see anything flat!"

"We're about to be if you don't save us!" shouted Anne.

Johan had just about enough and he shouted at the computer, "Stai zitto!" He ran up to the console and began stabbing it like mad with the harpe. "MUDA, MUDA, MUDA, MUDA, MUDA, MUDA, MUDA, MUDA, MUDA, MUDA, MUDA, MUDA, MUDA, MUDA, MUDA, MUDA, MUDA!" The machinery began to slow down to a crawl and then, it all stopped at once. Johan panted heavily, then fell down to the ground as he and everyone else breathed a sigh of relief.

"Self-destruct sequence has been initiated. Please leave in the next three minutes."

"Oh andiamo!" Johan shouted with his hands in the air.

Anne managed to free Hop Pop and she, Johan and the Plantars ran out of the building. As soon as they were safe outside, Anne and Sprig let out a cheer. "Road rule number 2: 'Don't celebrate till you're completely out of danger.'" said Hop Pop.

"Come on, Hop Pop. The danger's clearly..."

BOOM!

The explosion interrupted Sprig's sentence. "That wasn't three minutes!" shouted Johan.

Sprig chuckled nervously. "Levers! Am I right?" Hop Pop glared at him, Anne and Johan and they glanced down in disappointment. "I know. I know. We should've followed the rules."

"You think?!" snapped the old frog. "JoJo, I expected better from you! You're supposed to be the mature one! You know, you three should be more like Polly. I told her to stay put, and look where she is."

"Wait," said Johan. "You left POLLY in charge?"

Hearing the boy say that, Hop Pop looked around and frowned again. "Where's Polly?" he asked in irritation.

As if on cue, he saw Polly driving the fwagon over the buildings like it was a dune buggy, laughing with glee. Then she came to a stop in front of Hop Pop and said, "Boom baby!" Her excitement came to a stop when she saw Hop Pop glaring at her. "Bessie made me do it." His glare hardened. "All right. I'm sorry, okay? That's the last time I break a rule, I swear."

"Yeah, us too, HP," said Anne in disappointment. "For the rest of the trip, we'll follow all the rules."

"Yeah. We just won't experience anything special, I guess," said Sprig as he and Anne stepped in the fwagon.

"Just sit in the fwagon, keep quiet and do nothing," said Johan as he hopped on the fwagon next to Polly. "While I stay on Stand patrol. So much for an exciting journey. It's just gonna be another boring road trip."

Hop Pop's glare softened and he started to feel bad. "Hang on a sec, kids." Anne, Sprig, Polly and Johan looked at him. "Maybe this only happened because I was being too strict with you. We've never taken a trip like this, and I just wanted it to go smoothly. So what do you say we set aside the rules for a bit and make a stop or two?"

Anne, Sprig and Polly gasped. "Really?" they said.

Sprig raised his hand. "Oh, oh, oh! Can we stop at the Hills of Impalement? I've heard it will traumatize you for life."

"Uh, you know what?" said Johan. "I've had enough danger for today."

"Me too," said Hop Pop. "I've got something else in mind."

"Okay, but first, you gotta do me a favor," said the boy as he reached in the fwagon and pulled out one of Hop Pop's suitcases. "You gotta put these on," he said as he took out some folded clothes. At that moment, the old frog remembered he was in the nude and his face turned redder than normal.

"Yeah, dude," said Anne as she looked away. "No one wants to see you naked."

"What's the big deal?" asked Polly. "I don't wear clothes. Just this bow."

"It's just a principle," said Johan.

After getting his clothes back on, Hop Pop drove the fwagon back to the roadside diner and got everyone ice cream. "How's the crickets and cream ice cream, kids?" he asked as they hit the road again.

"Amazing!" said Sprig.

"So good!" said Polly as she munched down her ice cream.

"You know, there was a time I'd pick out the bug bits," said Anne. "That time has passed." She said as she happily ate her treat.

Johan licked his ice cream and said, "I don't think I'll ever look at human food the same way again."

"Heh, heh," chuckled Hop Pop. "Glad you like it."

Sprig slid next to him and said sincerely, "Thanks, Hop Pop."

Anne looked back at the factory's remains and said, "Man, I'm kinda bummed we didn't find out what that factory was making."

"Or who was in there before us," said Johan.

"Yeah, me too," said Sprig. "Guess we'll never know. Guess we'll never know. Guess..."

"Non costringermi a farti del male."

"I don't know what you said."

As the fwagon drove away, nobody noticed a figure punch its way out of the ruins of the factory. It looked like a metallic frog with glowing yellow eyes, a body made of brass and long, articulated limbs. It spotted the fwagon then very, very, very slowly began to follow it.

To be continued ➟