After arriving back in Wartwood, Hop Pop desperately tries to cover up the fact he brought no returning gifts for anyone in Wartwood, roping in everyone else along with him.
...
...
Leo and Polly had been awoken just a few hours since they'd collapsed inside the f'wagon. Surprisingly he wasn't too disturbed or groggy after only a few hours of sleep, maybe it was his own excitement getting the best of him.
Admittedly, Leo was a little eager to return, as much as he'd wanted to find more about himself, the longer he spent in Newtopia the more uneasy he was, and even if it wasn't all too productive, he could at least enjoy the crisp, country air.
Although judging by both his and Anne's puffed-up air it was a tad humid.
He was trying to ignore it as he sluggishly sat atop the f'wagon beside Sprig, jotting down his remaining thoughts within his journal, holding the same pen Anne had gifted him as he wrote down most if not all of his entire journey in Amphibia had been documented in the book.
Anne had taken it upon herself to jot down her own words and leaving a slew of sketches within every page, she'd been sure to leave any of his paragraphs untouched, it was more of an autobiography than a journal.
Marcy had made a similar note of it, phrasing it as if he was still recounting everything from his perspective but it was as if he was writing a story all in the same.
Poking out of Anne's bushy hair was Polly, "It's Wartwood!" Suddenly, just over the next hill was Wartwood coming into view, the familiar stone wall and a wooden sign hanging from it, reading the town motto, 'Slow to Accept, even slower to Respect'
Mrs. Croaked rang the bell atop the wall, alerting all of the townsfolk, "Everyone come quick, the Plantars are back!" Almost everyone in Wartwood congregated around the f'wagon as Hop Pop pulled it in.
Leo was the first to jump down, immediately stepping back as Hop Pop was sidelined by Sylvia, it had honestly been some time since Leo had seen the two of them, he never assumed anything bad happened, if it had they would've had another incident where the orange frog had merged with the couch.
As he trotted back, Anne was helping herself down from the f'wagon accidentally pushing herself Leo, "S-Sorry," She flushed red, removing her face from his vision, more and more lately the two of them were becoming increasingly more aware of each other.
For Anne it was worse, she was painfully aware of her feelings. Whilst Leo was somewhat aware of those feelings, it didn't exactly mean he knew what they meant.
It was only serving to make it harder to talk to one another in some situations.
"Don't worry about it. I have a tendency to forget.." That earned him a light, but quick elbow from Anne, it was clear his joke hadn't been taken too well.
Loggle pushed himself through the crowd, "So, did you and Leo find a way to get home, Anne?" Leo went to answer, but the Thai girl was quicker, "Not yet, but we're widdling away at it," The axolotl blushed a little at the pun, giggling to himself.
Leo couldn't help but cringe, as much he enjoyed a witty remark, even though he considered that to be pushing it.
Ivy and Sprig had just finished greeting one another once again, blushing as the rest of Wartwood took notice of them. It only served to make Leo a little jealous, did he...did he want something like that? He wasn't even sure what something like that meant, or how he would start that kind of conversation.
"They're so cute, my favorite ship!" Anne fangirled a little, reveling in the moment a little.
"Ship..?" Leo had heard that word many times from both her and even Polly, "After all my magazines you've read, I'm a little disappointed Leo..." Anne shook her head, patting Leo as if he were a child.
"Instead of mocking me, you could just answer the question," He deadpanned, swatting her hand away, Anne sighed a little, "C'mon man, it's basically like a couple that you support. I've recently dubbed them...Sprivy!"
"...What a great name," Leo lied as easily as he breathed, just as Anne was rightfully going to call him out, they were interrupted by Mayor Toadstool approaching them all, nonchalantly swinging his golden cane into Toadie, a small sound of pain escaping the toad each time he was struck.
"Now, now everyone simmers down now, as excited as you all may be for the Plantar's return, the celebration can wait till after work hours!" Toadstool remarked, ceasing the crowd that was beginning to form.
Stumpy spoke up before they all left, "Well if that's the case why don't we all celebrate at my restaurant tonight, we can make it a town feast for the plantars! We can talk about that coral hand fitment yah got me!"
Mrs. Croaker agreed, "Since we're all gonna be there, why not get all the presents off our wish list?"
At the mere mention of the list, horror snuck its way across Hop Pop and Polly's faces, they quickly masked it as sweat pooled down each of them, "Heh. That really is a great idea Mrs. Croaker, swell idea, in fact, don'tcha agree Polly?"
Sprig, Anne, and Leo glanced at one another, sharing a skeptical look between them.
"I do Hop Poppa. But I'm really sweepy, can we go home?" Polly expressed in an overly cutesy tone.
Kneeling down to her level, Hop Pop did the same, "My goodness, of course, baby child," His eyes went soft as he cupped the tadpole into his hands, there was a short pause as he did.
"Alright then, come on kids let's hurry into the f'wagon now!" In a flash, Hop Pop tucked Leo and everyone else into the cart, slamming it shut with his tongue.
Once they were inside, Hop Pop and Polly scattered to a different side of the f'wagon's hurriedly knocking on its flooring, throwing away any objects in their way. Leo stepped forward and caught the small snail Polly and bargained back into Newtopia.
"So, are we just gonna watch or.." Leo murmured, slowly placing Microangelo onto the bed, Anne shook her head, "No, I'll...I'll take this one."
Just as Hop Pop opened a hatch in the floor, Anne spoke up, "Okay, what the heck is going on with you two!?"
"Yeah, could you try acting any more suspicious?" Leo added blankly.
"Well, before we left the valley and my and Hop Pop went to get the f'wagon, we met up with Mrs. Croaker, she asked us to get the newest release of her romance novel.."
Hop Pop took over, "So, we made a wish list, and stored it somewhere we wouldn't forget...and then we forgot."
Leo took the list from Sprig's hands, a lot of it was items that were clearly Newtopia exclusive, and getting them to a rural town like Wartwood would be close to impossible, so it was no surprise the townsfolk would be asking for things.
"You can't be serious about that, an entire list and you just forgot? We had unlimited money in Newtopia Hop Pop.." Leo explained, creasing his face a little.
Polly became teary-eyed, glancing up to the three, "I'm sorry you guys, please don't be mad..."
Anne cupped the tadpole in her arms, "Oh, no, no don't worry Polly you're just a baby," She paused glaring daggers at Hop Pop, stabbing her finger towards him, "But YOU! I can't believe you'd be so irresponsible Hop Pop. I have a phone, that can set reminders!"
The older frog seemed unfazed, "Now come on, it's not unsalvageable as long as we make sure to bury it."
"That's a no," Leo stated shortly, "I feel as if this is something we've learned already."
"Leo's right, if we lie now, it'll only make things worse. And yeah, at this point this is something we really should be past learning. If we just tell the truth and apologize, I'm sure we can sort this out.."
Having taken the list back, Sprig lowered it after scanning the page, "Well, one thing's for sure, we're definitely finding a way to stop everyone from finding out.."
"Preac- Wait what?" Anne did a double-take at his words.
Shoving the list in both Leo and Anne's faces, he explained, "Ivy asked for a red sunshell to match my blue one if she hears I didn't get it for her...she'll think I don't care about her the relationship will be over before it even starts!" Sprig wailed, now inches away from Anne's face.
"Your overexaggerating," Leo sighed, his head in his hands, it was as if they'd all taken two steps back from the actual problem.
Sprig spun to Leo, his eyes blaring, "What would you know Leo, my relationship is in the balance and you're mocking me!" Grabbing Sprig's whole head, Leo placed him down on the table, slapping him, "Chill."
Shifting his red eyes back to Anne, he dropped his brows, "Surely, we're not considering this? We can't lie to them after being back less than a day.."
"Huhhh. We're gonna have to, but only for Sprivy, there's no way I'm letting that ship sink."
Leo didn't bother putting up any more of an argument, if they were all agreeing to do this he'd help out as well, it was silly, but he thought it'd be best if they all stuck this out together.
"Great, now let's all put our heads together and come up with a plan!" Hop Pop announced.
Anne scoffed, "Yeah, and we better hurry or you might forget."
"IT WAS ONE TIME ANNE!"
Leo was already having second thoughts.
Now back home, what would be a sweet moment to recollect was quickly overhauled as Hop Pop dragged out a chalkboard, drawing down his own list of ideas, his main one boiling down to a way of destroying a collection of fake presents without getting anyone hurt or putting them at fault.
"This is getting really specific..." Leo rubbed out any idea of grabbing a creature from the forest, that was sure to end in a massacre he didn't want to imagine, "Sprig what are you reading?"
Pulling his head out of the honestly downright horrific book he was reading, he showed the page he was on to everyone, "Maddie gave it to me, and I think I found the perfect thing! The Chickalisk. It eats gold or treasure, doesn't eat frogs, only attacks when provoked, and can be summoned to any area!"
Leo took the book, a little suspicious, feeling the texture of the cover as he read it, "Wait is this skin?" He quickly tossed it back, "Seriously, how are we not more afraid of Maddie?"
"She's nice really," Sprig added handing the book to Hop Pop instead.
"Well, I can't really disagree with this, it's perfect. As long as you kids are okay with using dark Eldric magic.."
"Yeah sure," Anne agreed.
"I don't see a problem," Sprig and Polly added.
Scanning through the book, Leo wanted to voice his own concerns but hung his head, there really was no turning back at this point.
The next few hours consisted of collecting the list of items needed to summon such a creature, as they broke off the horn of a Sky Goat, awakening a new fear in most of them that they weren't even aware of.
Next was cursed obsidian, hidden in a deep cave in the valley. They would've been swarmed by tentacles if Leo hadn't been sure to cut them.
The last item on the list, at least according to Anne was candles, "Do we really need these, they weren't on the list," Polly murmured.
"It can set the mood.." Leo answered, grabbing a few off the shelf.
Anne was looking at Leo in awe, "You have been reading my magazines!"
Leo turned away from her as he pushed the cart down the next aisle, "It's all there is to read..." He scratched his now slightly red face.
With the crescent red moon illuminating the night sky, the five of them stood around an encrypted circle, dressed in black cloaks per Anne's request, symbols were etched all around the glowing ring flashing red in front of all of them.
"Are we really about to go through with this, we're going this far from just explaining what happened?" Leo mentioned, still unsure.
They all looked at one another, before nodding, "We've come this far, we can't just let everyone down there expecting those presents from us and we didn't get them, this is the best way," Sprig finished.
With that, Hop Pop raised his hand, "Play the forbidden note," He announced, following his command and blowing the Sky Goat's horn, an archaic sound echoing from it. They quickly place the obsidian within the end of the horn, corrupting the sound and unleashing a hellish flame from the glowing circle, rating up into the sky.
There was a slight pause, "Now what?" Leo said robotically.
"Stumpy's everyone?"
The whole of Wartwood had gathered outside the restaurant, the centerpiece of the small celebration was the pile of golden presents, all empty of course but it wasn't as if any of them were aware of that.
Everyone was eager to open up their presents, especially with the now golden flare they'd been given now, a trembling shiver of guilt washed over all of them as they began realizing just how much the gifts really meant to everyone.
"I've got a bad feeling you and Anne might've been right about all this.." Hop Pop mumbled to the white-haired teen, who said nothing in response.
As lightning crackled from above, summoned from below the dark clouds hanging over them was the Chickalisk, roaring before them all.
Leo's crimson eyes shrunk a little, "I've got a feeling I might've been right as well."
"What in blazes is that thing!" Stumpy bellowed, terror filling his voice.
"Chickalisk, it really is an honor. Well, as long as it doesn't kill us.."
Hop Pop, Sprig, and Polly all cried out before it, sounding incredibly monotone as they did, "Oh no, who could've foreseen this!" Anne could only deadpan at them, her and Leo sharing the same disappointed gaze.
"I've seen Leo give a better performance," She grit her teeth, sighing deeply.
Just like they'd hoped, the Chickalisk turned its attention to the pile of gold letting out a slew of unintelligible caws approaching the presents begin to swallow them.
"Oh, what a shame. It is eating the presents," Polly pointed emotionlessly.
"We should probably wait until it's finished," Hop Pop piped up.
Sighing to himself, Leo drew his katana once again. In all honesty, it had been a while since he'd really fought anything, most certainly not an ancient demon in the form of a chicken. But all of this was something he was past at this point, that they all should've been past.
Not just the lying but putting together such an elaborate idea just to hide what they'd done, he knew that wasn't right, he'd wanted more than anything to return to Wartwood with Anne and the Plantars, he wasn't going to let their first day be ruined because of the bad choices they'd made.
He wanted to be better than that.
The rest of Wartwood declared to fend off the demon, vowing to protect their presents for the plantars as they charged the bird.
"Hey, Hey Leo you wanna say it with me?" Anne said a little giddy eyeing the Plantars, "I'll say it anyway, we told you so!"
Leo tried to hold his stern expression, but it was quickly broken with a light smile, "If we're right then let's fix it ok, and then...we tell the truth," He glanced to the three frogs, brandishing his katana.
Despite its apparent docile nature, the Chickalisk had been plenty provoked been the townsfolks attacking them without warning, knocking the frogs up in the air.
"Anne, grab some boom shrooms from Wally. Everyone get into groups and huddle around the Chickalisk, we gotta contain it or at least handle it for the time being," Leo instructed quickly, the others paused at his quick thinking before nodding to his words.
What quickly put a wrench in Leo's plan was the Elder-God's eyes sparking purple, a violet beam sprung from its pupils layering over some of the frogs, freezing them in place in an encasement of stone.
"What the f-"
Leo was cut off, "Can you cure it, Maddie?" Sprig questioned frantically.
Shuffling around in her pockets, the frog girl pulled a set of drawstring bags, "Uhhh sure, I should have enough antidote for everyone...probably."
Ignoring her ambiguity, Leo leaped into the fray, considering it had been a while since he'd actually involved himself in an actual fight, he felt a strong burning in his legs as he powered towards the Chickalisk swiping his Katana at his legs being sure to avoid its odd fast swipes.
Flashes of purple shot above his head, he watched as Anne drew her sword in an instant, despite it being an object itself a blue array formed around the blade, deflecting the ray so it launched itself in multiple directions firing towards a tree, lanterns, and statues.
The blue light in Anne's eyes died out, it hadn't been since Toad Tower that she'd used the power, why had it come up now?
She couldn't dwell on it right now, removing herself from any more of the blasts fired at her.
They continued hitting the creature again and again, angering it to the point that it stared down at the rest of them, flames bubbling from its beaky maw, blasting towards them all in its burst of rage.
The presents were caught in the crossfire, Toadstool stopped the incoming fire with his own shield, "Nice, now that Toadie's hurt you can use him as a human shield!" Anne praised.
"Whatcha talking about Boonchuy?" Toadstool blurted back, seemingly oblivious to that fact.
"That's messed up.." Leo shook his head, horrified.
Even with all their efforts, it seemed to be pointless, the Chickalisk was showing no sign of backing down, instead, it was only getting angrier.
"Alright, we'll have to resort to our last line of defense. Everyone, enter Chickalisk formation!" Toadstool announced Wartwood reacted in an instant.
"You have a formation for an ancient chicken god!?" Anne exclaimed, flailing her hands about, "Of course we do Boonchuy!"
Quickly, they all came together piling atop one another in the single shape of the Chickalisk, "Leo get on," Anne called out holding her hands up.
"That's not happening.." Leo stated coldly.
"Leo gets on!" Anne yelled, in an instant Leo obliged, hopping on with the rest as they attempted to intimidate the creature.
None of them understood what the creature was saying, but even they could understand that it was above all offended, disappearing into a wall of red flames once again, only leaving behind the same crimson circle.
"That was oddly anti-climactic.." Leo mumbled, putting away his katana.
The rest of Wartwood could only hang their heads in disappointment, frustrated at themselves, "We're sorry you guys, if only we'd worked hard enough, we could've saved all those presents you worked hard to get for us."
Hop Pop, Polly, and Sprig turned to Leo and Anne, they hadn't been terrified by the boy's blood-red glare for some time, but right now they could feel his gaze outright forcing fear out of them.
"Me and Hop Pop forgot the wish list, we didn't remember to get you guys anything!" Polly exclaimed, unable to take his piercing stare any longer.
In an instant, the crowd dropped them to the ground, grumbles of annoyance at their deceit growing amongst them all, "Why am I not surprised," Toadstool groaned, looking down at the five of them, "Typical Plantars, giant monsters, a whole tax load of property damage that even I might have to pay, and putting the whole town in danger..!"
They all hung their heads to the ground, ashamed.
Until the mayor spoke up once again, laughing a little as he did, "Gotta admit I've missed it!" Everybody else agreed in unison surprising the lot.
"Seriously?" Anne questioned, raising an eyebrow, Hop Pop agreed, "So you don't care that we summoned an Elder-God to trick you all and hide our mistake?"
"Not especially," Loggle answered.
"You really should," Leo interjected, everyone else only laughed off what he'd said, all of them seeming to return to the festivities, "No, seriously."
It was late, having cleaned up everything since the Chickalisk incident, everyone else was settling back into the Plantar household.
Down in the basement, Leo and Anne were getting ready for bed, "We were all sleeping in the same room back in Newtopia, but this still feels a little different," Anne mentioned, fixing her bed once again, Leo was doing the same, "How come?"
Awkwardly fiddling her fingers, the Thai girl laughed a little to fill the silence, "I guess, because it's with you Leo's. For me, the room feels a little cozier when it's just me and you," She was clearly nervous about what she had to say, refusing to face him.
Leo was off much worse, unsure of how to respond, "I...I think I'm the same I can sleep better because of it."
In response, a pillow hit the back of his head, "What was that for?"
"Nothing!?" Anne exclaimed back, hiding her face with her blanket, "And give me my pillow back!"
Scoffing, he chucked it back lazily, slumping back into his bed, "I'm glad...that I decided to come with you guys instead of staying. I feel like even without my memories, that I belong with you all, that this is the person I want to be."
Anne smiled into her pillow and turned to Leo, although he wasn't facing her, "That applies to you as well dude, we wouldn't feel...complete without you."
"Thanks," Was all he could think to say, "Goodnight Anne."
"Night, Leo," She murmured back, already drifting off to sleep, her bushy hair already flopping over her face. Several thoughts were accompanying her mind right now, thoughts of Marcy and how she'd left her behind, Sasha and how she could be doing, and her weird blue powers that had suddenly resurfaced after being dormant for weeks.
And lastly, it was the music box, their ticket back home. Unbeknownst to her and Leo, it was lying just a few feet above them, buried under the ground where it was thought to be kept and never unearthed again.
...
Well...been a while, and I can't apologize, I honestly don't know why it took so long, I haven't been busy and when I actually sat down and wrote this chapter it took a day and a half, I have plenty of urgency to write this story I just didn't get it done so I'm sorry about that.
This chapter was more of a comfy chapter to write, where I could write funny interactions between characters.
Next chapter should, 'hopefully' be out much, much sooner than this one took and it'll actually be very different from pretty much every chapter I've written for this story so I hope you enjoy it.