Hop Pop, back in control of the reins, inhaled deeply as the fwagon rode down the familiar country road. "Ah, how I miss the swamp air. The aroma of grass, a whisper of manure, and just a pinch of humidity. Do you feel that humidity, Anne?"

Anne's hair had become a very frizzy afro. "A pinch," she said.

"Same here," said Johan, who was sweating like a horse.

Polly popped out of Anne's hair and pointed forward. "I see it! I see it! I can see Wartwood!"

Johan asked, "How long have you been hiding there?"

They approached the town entrance and could see the sign that read "Slow to accept, even slower to respect". Someone really oughta change the sign. Sprig took out his fiddle and began to play and sing, "Wartwood, O mighty Wartwood, I sing to thee, our noble history, a newt told a toad, but don't let them escape poverty..."

Miss Sadie Croaker, who was walking her pet tarantula, heard the boy's singing. "Hey, I know that irritating voice." She rang the bell on the gate and shouted, "The Plantars are back! Get out here, everyone! It's the Plantars!"

People came out of their houses and shops to greet the froggy family that had been away. Hop Pop was the first to get off the fwagon and he said, "Heya, folks!"

Suddenly, Sylvia came out of nowhere and gave him a bear hug. "Hoppy!"

"Sylvia!" he said with hearts in his eyes.

"Come here, city boy!"

Anne and Johan climbed off with the former holding Polly in her hands. "Any luck finding a way back to your world, Anne, JoJo?" asked Loggle.

"Not yet," said Johan.

"But we're 'whittling away at it'," punned Anne.

Loggle giggled. "That wood reference was for me," he whispered to a friend.

At that moment, Wally burst through the crowd and said, "Well, if it isn't the Plantars!" He flipped his way to Anne and Johan. "Buba-dee buba-dee bup. Haven't seen you lot for a long time. Uh, definitely didn't see you on your trip."

"Whatever you say, 'Walliam.'" teased Polly.

Wally cleared his throat and left.

Meanwhile, Sprig looked around for his girlfrog, but couldn't find her. He hopped off the fwagon and asked Ivy's mother, "Uh, hey, Felicia. Where's Ivy?"

"Oh, she said she had something more important to do."

Sprig's face melted into one of sadness and disappointment. "More important?"

"Something about an..."

"AMBUSH!" An invisible force tackled Sprig to the ground. When Ivy dismissed Invisible Touch, Sprig grinned at her. "Uh... hi?"

"Hey, you."

Everyone went "Aww!"

Johan looked around and said, "You know, I'm surprised this place is still standing. I was kinda expecting you guys to be caught in a gang war while I was away."

"Oh, we did," said Ram Bamboo.

"WHAT?!"

"But we took care of it! Passione became so powerful that the other gangs decided it was best to just drop their flags and retire."

"And...no one got killed," Johan asked, finding it hard to believe.

"Well, only the ones who were too stupid," said Joan Jett. "I showed them a thing or two."

"And...how are the absinthe sales?" Johan asked.

"We're a hit!" Felicia exclaimed, showing a poster advertising La Passione della Rana. "Tourists who come far and wide can't get enough of this stuff!"

Johan scratched the back of his head. "Wow. You guys have been doing well without me. I'm a little jealous."

"It still wasn't exactly the same without you and your friends, boss," said Joan Jett with a smirk. "You bring a lot of chaos here that balances it out."

At that moment, Mayor Toadstool arrived. "Just simmer down now! Come on, simmer down. Market stops for no one. Y'all can welcome back the Plantars after business hours." Then he saw Johan. "Oh, JoJo! Hi! Uh, I did what you said not skim any of Passione's money!"

"I made sure he didn't," Ram Bamboo said wickedly.

Stumpy said, "Oh! How about we all meet at my restaurant tonight? Have a town dinner for the Plantars."

"We're in," said Hop Pop. "I can't wait for some authentic swamp cooking!"

"And I can't wait for that Newtopian coral hand fitment. Thanks for pickin' it up for me." Wait. What? Hop Pop and Polly started to sweat nervously.

"Say, if we're all gonna be together anyway, why not bring all the gifts from our wish list?" Mrs. Croaker suggested and everyone agreed.

"What wish list?" asked Johan but Hop Pop slapped a hand over his mouth and said loudly, "Great idea, Mrs. Croaker."

"Can we go home, Hop Papa?" Polly said with a loud and obviously fake yawn. "I'm so 'sweeeepy.'"

"Of course, my sweet baby child. Okay, here we go! Come on, kids!" Hop Pop dragged her, Johan, Sprig and Anne back into the fwagon and slammed the door close.

"Okay, bye," one of the villagers called out.

Anne, Sprig, and Johan watched as Hop Pop and Polly frantically searched around the cabin. They tapped on the floor boards, peeked under Microangelo the snail, and looked inside Polly's bucket.

"I'll handle this," said Johan to Anne and Sprig before shouting, "WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?! WHAT IS THIS WISH LIST THAT WE'RE JUST LEARNING ABOUT?!"

Hop Pop removed one of the floor boards and found a piece of paper. "Aha! Found it."

Polly confessed, "So, uh, remember when Hop Pop and I went to pick up the Fwagon? Well, on our way back, Mrs. Croaker asked if we could pick her up a new romance novel while we were in the city."

"Before we knew it, everybody was asking for stuff," said Hop Pop. "So we made a wish list. We hid the list in a special place so we wouldn't forget. And then we forgot it."

"What," deadpanned Anne.

"Santo cielo," Johan said, shaking his head.

"I'm so sorry, you guys," Polly said with big eyes. "Please don't get mad."

Anne picked her up and cooed, "Oh, no, no, no. It's okay, Polly. You're just a baby. BUT YOU!" She shouted at the old frog. "I cannot believe you forgot about something so important, Hop Pop!"

"Look, I'm sure we can find a way to bury this so no one finds out," he responded.

"Nope. Lying will only make it worse. I feel like we've learned that lesson by now."

"I agree," said Johan. "It's better to remove the bandaid and get it over with."

"Well, one thing's for sure. We have to lie."

"Preach," Anne said to Sprig, before realizing what he said. "Wait, what?"

"Ivy asked for a red sunshell from the Newtopian coast. To match my blue moonshell."

"Oh," Anne cooed.

Sprig jumped up to her face and said, "She can't find out, Anne. What if she gets mad? What if she thinks I don't like her? The relationship will be over before it starts!"

Anne caved in. "Fine! I'll do it for Sprivy. No way I'm letting that ship sink."

"No, Anne!" Johan grabbed her by the cheeks and said, "Resist the shipping! Resist the shipping! They have to tell the truth! Just rip off the band aid and get it over with! I mean, what's the worst that could happen?"

The Plantars stared in horror.

"I'm breaking up with you, Sprig!"

"How could you and your granddaughter break your promises, Hopediah Plantar?!"

"Let's form an angry mob and chase them out of town!"

"That could happen," said Hop Pop.

Anne and Johan looked at each other and the latter asked, "What could happen? You didn't say anything. All you did was stare out into space for a few seconds."

"Oh. Well, regardless, we are not telling the truth and facing the townsfolk's disappointment! We just gotta put our heads together and come up with a plan."

"Oh, yeah, and we'd better hurry, or you might forget," snarked Anne.

"It was one time, Anne!"

Johan sighed. "Just tell them you got the gifts stolen by Stand using highwaymen. It's simple enough and it doesn't involve complicated plans that will most likely blow up in your faces."

"It's perfect!" shouted Sprig.

"I WAS KIDDING!"

"I'm not. All we gotta do is find a Stand user who's willing to play the role of the bad guy and we beat him up! Boom! We're heroes!"

Johan heard enough. "You know what? Do whatever you want to do. But leave me out of this!" He left the fwagon, slamming the door close.

"So, are we doing this or what?" asked Sprig like nothing happened.

"Oh, yeah, definitely," said Polly.

"One problem," said Anne. "We don't know any Stand users. At least ones that are bad guys, anyway."

Hop Pop thought it over. "Okay. Plan B."

When Johan returned to the Sundews' tea shoppe, he found it full of people. "Wow," he said as he went inside. "I haven't seen this many people here before."

"That's because they're after the absinthe tea," said Felicia as she handed menus to customers. "It's the number one product. You really did help put our humble little town on the map. Well, it already was, but you get the idea."

"Where's Ivy? I wanted to catch up with her."

"She's in the kitchen, preparing the tea with Mom."

Sure enough, Johan found Ivy with Sylvia, the former of the two was humming a jaunty song. "What's going on? I thought you didn't like work, Ivy."

"Normally, yes, JoJo," said Ivy. "But the thought of getting that gift from Sprig kinda makes me forget about it."

...Well, this is awkward. "Oh, I'm sure he will give it to you...or not..."

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"Come on, pick up the pace," said Sylvia. "I want to finish up this last batch before the party tonight."

Johan chuckled. I can't wait either, he thought as he helped Ivy place absinthe tea bags into a crate. I mean, how stupid are the Plantars that they'd have to resort to hiring a Stand user? Then his grin vanished. "Oh, God, they ARE that stupid."

Night time had come and the party was in full swing. Stumpy had the tables moved outside the restaurant so everyone can enjoy the scenery. To Johan's shock, there was a huge pile of presents stacked in a pile in front of the restaurant.

Stumpy, who was cooking the barbecue, said to Hop Pop, "Can we open the gifts soon? I'm itching for that hand. Not literally. No feelin' in it." The grill caught fire.

Hop Pop chuckled nervously. "Presents seem like an 'end of the night' thing. Why rush it?"

Sprig was having dinner with Ivy. "And I barely got out of the ant queen's stomach alive! I'm still coughing up acid." To prove his point, he barfed up some green slime.

"Uh, I'm so jealous! Well, at least when I look at my sunshell, it'll be like a piece of me was there with you," said Ivy.

Sprig scratched the back of his head nervously. "But, uh, end of the day, it's just a shell, right?"

"It's our shell. I'm really happy you found me one."

Ooh, boy.

Johan walked over to Anne and said, "Anne, where did you get all those presents?"

"They're not presents. They're just empty boxes."

"What?! Oh, please tell me you didn't go through with that Stand user plan!"

"Funny thing. We couldn't actually find one, so we went with Plan B."

"I'm afraid to ask, but...what's Plan B?"

A column of red light shone from the sky and a monster with the body of a snake, the wings of a dragon and the head of a rooster descended from the sky. It landed on the ground with a thud and let out a shriek.

"Anne, what is that thing?!" exclaimed Johan.

"Uh...the Chicka-lisk?" Anne said nervously.

Johan gave her an incredulous look. "DID YOU AND THE PLANTARS BRING IT HERE?!"

"...Yes...?"

"Oh, my God!"

"What is that thing?!" exclaimed Stumpy.

"Chicka-lisk, the Storm Bearer," Maddie said with awe. "It's an honor to see him. You know, before he kills us."

The Plantars all yelled, unconvincingly, mind you, "Oh, no! Who could have predicted this?"

"Don't overdo it," said Anne.

The Chicka-lisk took one look at the stack of boxes and let out a shrieking growl.

"What the heck is it saying?!" asked Anne.

"No idea," said Maddie. "Its language is older than written history."

The Chicka-lisk began swallowing the boxes. "Oh, no! It is eating the presents," Polly said stiltedly.

"We should probably leave it alone till it's finished," said Hop Pop.

"Imagine his surprise when he finds out they're empty," Johan said to himself. The Plantars dreaded the thought.

Ivy didn't hear him, however, and she hopped onto a table and shouted, "No way, Hop Pop! You guys did something nice for us. Are we gonna let some chicken get away with this? Would the Plantars?"

"No!" everyone shouted.

"Well, then, come on! Let's save those presents! For the Plantars!"

"FOR THE PLANTARS!" Everyone formed a mob and charged toward the monster.

"Wait, no, Ivy!" shouted Sprig.

Hop Pop realized he and his family made a mistake. "Uh-oh."

"I can't believe it's finally my turn to say this, but... told you so! Boom!" shouted Anne with glee.

"Uh, JoJo, would you mind going all 'Muda, muda, muda!' on that monster," asked Polly.

Johan chuckled. "Oh, no. You brought that thing here, you deal with it. Although, I might use my Stand if you Plantars were to...oh, I don't know...tell everyone the truth before someone gets hurt."

The froggy family considered it, then Polly said, "I would rather fight it."

"Ditto," said Hop Pop.

"Keeping up with the lie it is!" said Sprig.

"Suit yourself," said Johan. He sat at one of the tables and began to read a book.

The mob rounded up on the Chick-alisk and began throwing rocks at it. "Eat this, you chump!" The monster glared at them. Then he felt something jab his foot and looked down to see Loggle stabbing him with a pitchfork.

"I'm Loggle."

The monster flapped his wings, sending a hurricane wind that sent the townspeople flying. Sprig hopped up and grabbed her before setting her down. "Let's spatchcock this chicken!" shouted Anne as she grabbed her sword and Polly grabbed a rolling pin.

The mob advanced again. "Wait, guys, we gotta work together!" Anne shouted. "Who knows what this thing can do?" She got her answer when the Chick-alisk fired a laser that turned a good chunk of the townspeople into stone statues.

"Holy moly!" shouted Anne.

"Cool!" said Maddie.

When Johan saw Felicia among those who had been petrified, he immediately grabbed his gunblade. "Okay, maybe I should help out after all!" He ran up to the others and said, "Maddie, please tell me you know a spell that can turn everyone back to normal!"

"Uh, yeah, sure," she said as she held up some spell bags. "I should have enough antidote for everyone... probably."

"Close enough."

"FOR WARTWOOD!" the Plantars shouted.

While Maddie threw her spell bags and undid everyone's petrification...most of them, anyway...Anne and Johan led the charge. "Split up," said the former. "We gotta surround it!" Everyone formed a circle around the monster. He fired his lasers at Anne and Johan, who blocked them with their swords. Instead, they shot out in all directions, hitting trees, lamps, and even the statue in the town's square.

"Aim for the eyes, children!" shouted Wally as he, and Sprig and Ivy threw boom shrooms at the Chick-alisk's face. In response, he slammed on the ground, sending shockwaves that sent them flying.

Sylvia, Hop Pop and Polly hopped over the shockwaves and jumped onto the Chick-alisk, punching and kicking him in the face until he shook them off. Angered, he breathed fire, melting the gifts. He then fired again, but Mayor Toadstool blocked it with Toadie's still petrified body.

"Nice," said Anne. "Using Toadie's stone body as a shield."

"Wait, he's stone?"

"Alright, enough is enough!" Johan summoned DARE, who proceeded to land a single punch on the Chick-alisk. "MUDA!"

Ivy gave him a weird look. "What the heck was that?"

"It's fine!" said Johan. "Everyone take a deep breath and scream as loud as you can!"

"Huh?"

"JUST DO IT!"

"Okay," said Anne.

Everyone took in a deep breath and screamed. The Chick-alisk, whose hearing had been heightened thanks to DARE's punch, let out a screech and covered his face with his wings before running off.

"Aw, I wanted to do the Chick-alisk Formation," groaned Toadstool in disappointment.

Toadie, who had been changed back to normal at this point, asked, "We have a Chick-alisk Formation?"

"We have a formation for everything!"

"Who cares," said Sylvia. "We drove it away!"

Everyone cheered and lifted Anne, Johan, and the Plantars in the air.

"We did it!" cheered Hop Pop.

"Finger lickin' gone!" exclaimed Anne.

"But it destroyed all the gifts you worked so hard to bring back for us!" Mrs. Croaker said.

"If only we had fought harder," Ivy said in sadness. "I guess we let you guys down."

Everyone groaned in disappointment and sadness. This was too much for Sprig, Polly and Hop Pop. Anne and Johan gave the three of them glares that said, "Tell them the truth or we will!" The guilt had finally reached its peak. Polly finally confessed, "Me and Hop Pop forgot the wish list and didn't get you guys anything!"

"WHAT?!"

Anne, Johan and the Plantars were dropped onto their butts.

"Can you believe it?"

"The nerve of it all."

"Why am I not surprised? Typical Plantars," said Mayor Toadstool. "Giant monsters, property damage, putting the entire town in danger." His frown turned into a smile. "I gotta admit, I missed it!"

"Hear, hear!"

"Me too!"

"Okay, now I'm confused," said Johan. "You miss all the chaos we bring?"

"Of course!" said Ram Bamboo. "Life is pretty fun and interesting with you guys around!"

"Things have been really boring without you four causing mayhem and learning emotional lessons," said Mrs. Croaker.

"Wait, so you don't care that we lied and summoned an elder god to cover it up?" asked Hop Pop.

"Not especially," said Loggle.

"We're just glad you're back," said Stumpy.

Now it was Sprig's turn to apologize to his girlfriend. "Ivy, I'm sorry I didn't get you a red sunshell." She gave him a friendly punch. "Ow!"

"You big dummy! It's just a shell. You can make it up to me by finally taking me on a date." She gave him a kiss on the cheek and he made a dumb, happy noise.

Anne saw this and let out an excited squeal. Johan exhaled and had DARE press a finger in her head, numbing her. "I'll get her home," said Polly.

"Hold it," said Johan. "There's one more person we have to apologize to."

After completing the summoning ritual, the Chick-alisk appeared in a flash of red light. He took one look at the frogs and let out a frightened scream. "Wait, wait," shouted Hop Pop. "We didn't mean to hurt you! The truth is my family forgot to give our friends and and neighbors presents, so we tried to make it look like you stole the presents because we didn't want to look guilty. We now know what we did was wrong and shouldn't have gotten an innocent Eldritch abomination involved in this. Can you please forgive us?"

The Chick-alisk looked like he was considering it, then nodded his head and screeched.

"I still can't understand a word he's saying," said Anne.

"I think he's accepting our apology," said Johan. "But, just in case something was lost in translation, RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"

Everyone screamed and ran. The Chick-alisk made a side glance.

To be continued ➟