A/N: Thanks for waiting. The 11th chapter is finally ready. This time, there'll be a couple of surprises, some of which have references from shows like RWBY Chibi, Looney Tunes, Voltron: Legendary Defender, and even some Avengers movies. :)
Amphibia: Secrets of Newtopia
Chapter 11
Act I: Night Drivers
It all started one night as Hop Pop and Anne both got tired driving the fwagon with the latter falling off before Hop Pop caught Anne by the ankle and got her back up as Sasha and Marcy noticed from inside, much to their worry as Sprig and Polly looked at the map with Rose, Alexis, Pat, Allison, Max, and the triplets asleep as they snored cutely.
"All right, Polly, check this out! According to this map, if we drive straight through the night, we'll be home by morning!", Sprig grinned, making Polly sigh in bliss.
"Say 'home' again.", Polly said.
"Just think. Home for breakfast.", Sprig said.
"Mmm! Pillbug pancakes.", Polly said with a grin.
"Hanging out with Ivy at home. Not that it's a big deal.", Sprig said with a chuckle.
"I wouldn't count your chickens before they hatch.", Sasha said.
"Yeah. They have been going at it for 20 hours straight. If they don't get any rest soon...", Marcy added before the fwagon abruptly stopped.
"Huh?", Sprig puzzled.
"Then this happens.", Marcy responded before Anne and Hop Pop went back inside, very tired and hazed.
"Whoa! Where do you guys think you're going? We've got a schedule to keep.", Polly asked.
"Guys, we've been driving nonstop for like 20 hours.", Anne responded exasperatedly as she stood up.
"Just a little shut-eye and we'll be back on the road by morning.", Hop Pop said as he stood up as well.
"But we're so close!", Sprig exclaimed.
"Yeah! Can't you just power through one more night? Please, please, please?", Polly asked.
"No! They can't function without any rest.", Sasha refused.
"But I wanna sleep in a real bed.", Polly whined.
"I know how you guys feel, but you're not the ones who have to drive.", Anne groaned.
"Hey, I've got an idea. Why don't you two sleep, and we can get us home!", Sprig offered.
"Yeah! Remember how we owned Quarreler's Pass?", Polly asked, only to earn Hop Pop's chuckle.
"Oh, you sweet, sweet, ignorant kids. Amphibia changes at night. And not for the better, let me tell you. The nocturnal leech flies are bad enough, but I've even heard folks tell of evil spirits wandering these parts. Real spookums and such! Haven't seen any myself, of course, but you know, could happen.", Hop Pop responded.
"Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.", Anne nodded.
"Plus, neither of you read Bessie's driving manual!", Hop Pop said.
"But...", Sprig began.
"Forget it. You're not driving, and that's final.", Hop Pop rebuffed.
"Well, as long as Sprig brought that up, how about Mar-Mar and I volunteer for that one? I did learn how to drive her since Toad Tower.", Sasha offered.
"And I did just finish reading the manual for driving Bessie anyway.", Marcy added.
"You did?", Hop Pop puzzled before pressing his fingers on his chin for the moment.
"All right. You and Sasha can drive us the rest of the way from here tonight.", Hop Pop assured.
"Really?", Marcy asked.
"All right.", Sasha grinned.
"Aw, what?!", Sprig exclaimed.
"Boo!", Polly added.
"But on one condition. Under no circumstances are you to let this fwagon sustain any kind of damage. Can you promise me you two can handle this?", Hop Pop asked.
"Yeah. We promise, Hop Pop.", Sasha added.
"On our honor!", Marcy added with a salute.
"Good. That's all I ask.", Hop Pop responded.
"Now, if you'll excuse us...", Anne began before she and Hop Pop plopped down on the bed and started snoring next to the triplets, peeving Sprig and Polly.
Later, Sasha and Marcy were getting ready to drive as Sprig and Polly voiced their complaints.
"This is messed up! Sure, we're young and made mistakes, but we've proven we can handle ourselves!", said Polly.
"I know, right? What in the world could be so dangerous out there that we haven't lived through already?", Sprig concurred.
"I've been eaten eight times, Sprig. Eight times. I sort of look forward to it now.", Polly whispered.
"Huh. Wonder if they'll have any dreams.", Sprig pondered, looking at the sleeping Anne and Hop Pop.
As he slept, Hop Pop found himself in a desolate landscape with naught but 4 giant bugs, each one holding up a statue, physically representing his fears, although Hop Pop only saw three: his heartbreak, his old age, and ultimately, his death.
"Oh, no. It's like all my stresses have physically manifested as hideous monsters! Or something.", Hop Pop said before the giant creatures roared whilst turning to Hop Pop, making him scream in shock.
"Looks like that's it for me!", Hop Pop shouted before bracing himself only to notice one peculiar thing.
"Huh? I'm floatin'. Wait a second. This must be a dream. And if it's a dream, I can control it!", Hop Pop realized before soaring around the perplexed monsters with laughter.
"For the first time in my life, I feel free!", Hop Pop shouted gleefully as he took off his shirt and swung it around in a circle.
"Come on, you freaks! Follow me!", Hop Pop shouted before said "freaks" turned into cute bugs and birds in a puff of colorful smoke and flew up to catch up, no longer meaning any harm.
As for Anne, however, she found herself in a strange, bustling land with living yogurt people and chocolate ponds as far as the eye can see.
"No stinking way!", Anne said in awe.
"Welcome to Yogurtropolis, ma'am. Would you like a free sample from my body?", the yogurt man asked as he entered.
"Uh, sure! You guys got anything without bugs in it?", Anne asked.
"Bugs? Our yogurt doesn't have any bugs!", the yogurt man assured.
"Did you say 'no bugs'? That is the most beautiful thing I've ever heard.", Anne said, apparently touched, before sniffing.
"All right, little yogurt man, what flavors you got? Green tea? Caramel? Hazelnut?", Anne asked before the yogurt man only cackled.
"Oh, I'm afraid we only have one flavor here, ma'am.", the yogurt man said as black liquid seeped from his face while his eyeballs popped out, showing nothing but black eye holes.
"What? No! No!", Anne exclaimed as the rest of the landscape turned just as dark and barren as well.
"Licorice!", the yogurt man smirked before giving an evil laugh as lightning struck behind him.
"NO!", Anne shouted.
In the real world, Hop Pop was chuckling to himself while Anne seemed like she was struggling.
"No, no.", Anne said to herself.
The sight of them sleeping gave Sprig an idea.
"Hey, wait a sec. Hop Pop and Anne are asleep, right? So asleep they won't even know if we take the reins and drive us home right now! And when they wake up, they'll be so grateful to be home, they'll completely forget to be mad at us!", Sprig said, hatching a plan.
"Sprig, you creepy little genius! You sure they're not gonna wake up though, right? Absolutely! Those two are out cold. All right. Let's do this! Whoo-hoo!", Sprig cheered.
"Yea-uhh!", Polly added as she and Sprig tried to go over to the driver's seat.
But Marcy and Sasha, having overheard their plan, stopped them.
"Oh, no, you don't! You are not driving that fwagon! We are.", Sasha shouted.
"We made a promise to Hop Pop to keep this fwagon safe", Marcy responded.
"Aw, come on. Please.", the two Plantars begged.
"No!", Sasha and Marcy refused.
"Aw, dang it. I thought for sure it'd work.", Polly groaned.
"Can't we at least come up with a compromise?", Sprig asked.
"Depends. What do you have in mind?", Sasha asked.
"Well, you two can drive like Hop Pop said you can. But on one condition of our own.", Sprig said.
"Name it.", Sasha responded.
"We get to pick what tunes we can listen to along the way.", Sprig said.
"Just make sure it's quiet enough not to wake Hop Pop and the others up and you got yourself a deal.", Sasha responded as she handed Polly her phone.
"Deal.", Sprig said before Sasha and Marcy started driving the fwagon and came a cross a loop.
"Looks like there's a loop overhead.", Marcy said.
"Polly, K-pop me.", Sasha said.
"You got it, Sash.", Polly said before playing K-Pop music on Sasha's phone.
With that, the gang then flipped on the loop.
"Now, there's a gap between hills up ahead.", Marcy said before and Sasha then helped Bessie jump over the gap between two hills, neither one knowing that a sort of gliding, wraithlike creature was growling in eerie echoes as it watched.
"Sasha, have I ever told you you're such a great night driver?", Polly asked.
"Why, thank you, Polly.", Sasha responded before all four laughed.
Then, they all stopped near a sign that warned, "BEWARE: FALLING ROCKS" as four landed on the ground.
"Well, end of the line, guys. There's no way we can dodge those boulders.", Sasha said.
"Actually, there might be a way. But considering how big those boulders are, we're gonna have to be really precise about this.", Marcy responded.
"Or we could just go right ahead, They're just some pebbles.", Sprig suggested, not knowing that the wraithlike creature had already brandished his sword before whacking a big boulder off the cliff, causing it to land on the ground, although missing the group.
"Well, that's a big rock.", Sprig said before more wraithlike creatures popped up and roared as the rest whacked the boulders and sent them falling down, much to the group's panic.
"Eek! Drive now!", Marcy urged before she and Sasha sped up and screamed with Sprig and Polly screaming as well as they careened past the falling boulders while Anne and Hop Pop were flung around with Rose and Max flung around as well, especially the triplets.
While they were flung about, the Triplets dreamt that they were in the same place as Anne.
"Wow...!", the triplets spoke in awe.
"Welcome to Yogurtropolis, kids. Would you like a free sample from my body?", the yogurt man asked as he entered.
"Pwease.", the triplets responded cutely.
"Go ahead.", the yogurt man spoke before the triplets hopped over and each licked the yogurtman (by the white yogurt part).
"Thanks, Mr. Yogurtman.", the triplets thanked.
"You're welcome. Oh, and Yogurt isn't the only thing you can have. In fact, there's even candy, lollipops, gummy bears, chocolate, fizz candy, pop rocks, gum, you name it.", the yogurtman said.
"Really?", Lily asked.
"Candy?", Andy asked.
"Chocowate?", Danny asked.
"Gummy beaws?", Abby asked.
"Lollipops?", Rebecca asked.
"Fizz candy?", Sarah asked.
"Pop wocks?", Alex asked.
"Gum?", Jamie asked.
"But, of course.", the yogurtman responded.
"Come on, evewyone! Let's eat!", Adam shouted.
"Yay!", the triplets cheered as they hopped over.
Then, while Anne wound up holding a fork and a knife with Hop Pop landing on a dinner plate like a well-cooked roast with an apple in its mouth, the 9 triplets landed around the dinner plate in a circle.
While this was going on, For Allison's dream, she was flying in midair as a superhero of sorts.
"You won't get away with this, Melkor!", Allison discouraged.
But Melkor only flung a dark fireball at her. Fortunately, Allison was ready as she fired her ice breath on it, causing it to shrink and disappear. Then, Melkor tried to attack again, this time with his sword, only for Allison to use her heat vision on the sword. But all that did was get deflected off the sword, much to her shock before the sword knocked her back with the flat end and sent her crashing to the ground with nary a serious scratch as all she had were minor ones. Once she got back up, she heard Pat calling out to her.
"Hey, sis! Got a little something for ya!", Pat shouted, bringing in a bomb.
"Of course! Thanks, Pat.", Allison said before grabbing the bomb, flying up, and tossing it at Melkor, who found himself unprepared this time before it exploded on him.
When the dust cleared, Melkor was on the ground with Allison, Pat, and everyone else standing over him.
In the real world, Allison was smirking with a bit of a chuckle.
As for Max's dream, he found himself in Newtopia University and in class.
"Oh, I know! The answer to that is 42.", Max said while raising his hand.
"Correct! Congratulations. You have now officially learned everything there is to learn, Mr. Wu.", the newt teacher said.
"What?! That's it? B-But there has to be something more to learn out there, right?", Max asked in disbelief.
"Sadly, your brain is full, stuffed to capacity. You literally know it all.", the newt teacher said.
"Know-it-all! Know-it-all! Know-it-all! Know-it-all!", the other students teased in chant.
"Please! There has to be more to learn! Like, extra credit!", Max exclaimed.
In the real world, Max was suffering just as much as Anne.
"No... I'm not... definitely not a know-it-all...", Max protested in his sleep.
As for Rose, she was sleeping soundly. But in her dream, she was driving Stumpy.
"Onward, noble Stumpy!", Rose shouted before jumping off her with a launch.
"Whee!", Rose shouted before bumping into Hop Pop, which caused the both to land before getting up and seeing each other with surprised gasps.
"What the heck are you doing here?!", Rose and Hop Pop shouted in unison.
"Are you in my dream? I love your cute friends.", Rose beamed.
"Why, thank you. And I don't blame you. They do have cute faces and stubby legs. Kinda like yours, actually.", Hop Pop responded.
"Hey. Who you calling stubby? I'll slap you.", Rose warned, making the compatriots gasp.
"At ease, fellas. She doesn't mean any harm. I mean, look at her. She's so cute, I just wanna squeeze her 'till she pops!", Hop Pop shouted before hopping to Rose and squeezing her in a hug.
"AAH! Ah, betrayed by my own cuteness! I can't breathe!", Rose wheezed.
In the real world, Hop Pop was chuckling in his sleep again, but this time, while he was hugging Rose tightly.
"Can't breathe...!", Rose said in her sleep.
Outside, Sprig, Polly, Sasha, and Marcy screamed as they zoomed pas the crevice and out of harm's way before stopping.
"Phew! That was too close.", Sasha sighed.
"And the fwagon's still in one piece.", Marcy added.
"Well, we obviously nailed that. But, uh, should we stop?", Sprig asked.
"Pshaw! No way! That all you got, night driving?", Polly asked.
"Yeah, I don't think we can stop even if we wanted to. Don't worry. We promised not to let the fwagon get damaged in any way. So, we're not letting anything else happen to it.", Sasha assured as the fwagon started off again.
"Murder! Murder!", a crow cawed, making the group nervous before seeing an 8-eyed monster crawl out of the tree and up a branch as well as seeing a giant snake with a mouse still stuck in its hole, begging for help.
"Could this place get any creepier?", Marcy chuckled nervously.
"Wait, who's that?", Polly asked, trying to get a better look.
Then, they all noticed someone on the street, raising his right arm and with a thumbs-up, no less.
"Huh. Hitchhiker. What's, uh, our policy on those?", Polly asked.
"Yeah, I don't think we should let him on-board.", Marcy added.
"Just play it cool. Maybe he's friendly.", Sprig said.
"I don't know...", Sasha only responded, cautiously stopping the fwagon.
"Hey, there, mister. Like that hat. Anything we can help you with today?", Sprig asked.
But soon after he and the others noticed that the hitchhiker's right hand was replaced by a hook, making everyone panic with a scream.
"Punch it, Sash!", Marcy shouted.
"Punching it!", Sasha shouted in response with Bessie taking off and leaving the hitchhiker behind.
"Whew! Well, that was close. Good thing we're so good at night driving.", Sasha said a bit nervously.
"Preach!", Marcy agreed.
Meanwhile, in the fwagon, Alexis dreamt that she was in a sort of mystic area in ruins of sorts.
"Okay, this definitely has a final boss feel to it.", Alexis stated before her 4 compatriots, Rose, Pat, Max, and Marcy followed after her.
There, they also noticed several items on the ground.
"Wow! A quick draw quiver with a magical creature-summoning arrow.", Rose beamed as she picked up a mystical bow and arrow.
"Oh, sweet! Gloves of transmutation. These bad boys can transmogrify the elemental matter of any inanimate object.", Alexis beamed, holding said gloves.
"Awesome! And I got an invisibility cloak.", Pat said, wearing it.
"Amazing. The Codex of Strategy. This baby will really come in handy if we wanna save the princess. Oh, and some biscuits, too.", Marcy beamed.
Then, Max picked up a mystical sword before noticing it giving off fire, much to his amazement.
"Wow, a blazing sword. Hey, guys, check it...", Max began before noticing dark bolts headed for him and dodging them.
"That was too close.", Max said before an ominous laughter was heard, attracting their attention, before they noticed both the princess, which had blonde hair with green stripes at the bottom and a pink strand on her hair, and the dark source behind her.
"Guys! Help!", the princess urged.
"Fools! You did exactly as I planned!", the dark source spoke.
"Darkar! Let her go!", Alexis shouted.
"Very well. Catch.", Darkar said before releasing her, albeit by knocking her back with Max catching her.
"I gotcha.", Max assured.
"Thank you.", the princess thanked.
"What? But... why would you let her go? I doubt it's because we told you to.", Marcy puzzled before Darkar cackled.
"You dumb-dumbs. I only captured the princess to trick you foolish adventurers into gathering valuable crystals for me. Thank you for bringing them directly to my lair.", Darkar smirked.
"So, you tricked us?!", Rose shouted.
"That's right! Only by gathering enough valuable crystals on this evil altar could I become the all-powerful dark dragon!", Darkar shouted as he stepped forward, his dark visage finally showing before laughing darkly.
"Trick or no, we won't let you get away with this!", Alexis said determinedly.
Then, Darkar fired a dark purple flame blast at Marcy, knocking her back and leaving her with a burn on her knee, urging Rose to aim at Marcy.
"Fire healing arrow, go!", Rose shouted before firing it at Marcy, healing her from the burn.
Just in time, too, for Darkar to try to flatten Marcy, who quickly dodged the tail and stood up.
"That's it...!", Marcy realized before she got out her Codex of Strategy and typed in what to do.
Once she finished typing in, she pressed send and then sent the message to Alexis, Rose, Max, and Pat, whose eyes glowed bright blank blue for a moment before they went back to normal, puzzling them.
"What the...?", Max puzzled before realizing something.
"Wait, that's it! Pat, you know what to do, right?", Max asked.
"Yeah. I'll draw his attacks.", Pat said before charging in and then teasing Darkar.
"Na-na. Come and get me.", Pat teased before Darkar roared, goaded by the teasing, and struck only to miss Pat as he dodged and put on the invisibility cloak.
From there, while Pat kept Darkar busy, Marcy tossed the biscuits into the ground with Alexis using the gloves to turn the biscuits into oil.
"Hey! Over here!", Pat shouted, luring Darkar to the center where the oil is.
As this happens, Rose fired her summoning arrow and summoned a majestic harpy girl who picked Max up and flew him toward Darkar while Max drew his blazing sword and set the oil on fire. It was only a matter of time before Darkar whimpered, surrounded by oil, and screamed as the flames grew larger and consumed him before he emitted a bright yellow flash and disappeared with the flames disappearing as well.
"We did it!", Alexis beamed before everyone cheered as Max was placed back on the ground by the harpy.
"Thank you for saving me.", the princess thanked before kissing Max by the cheek, making him blush as Alexis grinned from seeing this.
In the real world, Alexis gave a happy sigh. As for Pat's dream, he found himself in a sort of realm between realities, yelling out as he and the others charged into battle while Melkor drew his sword and ordered the orcs to attack as well. During the conflict, while Marcy, Alexis, and Max fought with Norok and his faction with which they outsmarted them (though, not without getting some injuries from the orcs' attacks) as Anne, Jackie, and Rose fought with Zog and his own with both sides at a standstill, he, Sasha, and Allison fought with Melkor by means of clamoring onto Melkor while avoiding the swing of his sword with even Pat hopping onto his arm before taking the apparent stones on his sword only for him, Sasha, and Allison to be tossed aside with Sauron raising his sword again.
"I... am... inevitable.", Melkor spoke before slamming his sword onto the ground only to notice that it was missing the stones that were embedded inside.
Much to everyone's surprise, they saw the stones gathering around Pat, who gave a determined grin.
"And I... am... Patrtick Waybright.", Pat spoke before snapping her fingers, blinding everything in a bright light with the orcs starting to turn to dust one by one.
Soon, Melkor was the only one remaining before he, too, turned to dust and faded away as Pat then laid down on the ground, exhausted as he panted before it went to the real world where he was smiling nobly.
But elsewhere inside the fwgaon, Jackie was tossing and turning before she found herself in the basement from a long time ago.
"Hello...? Anyone here?", Jackie asked.
Then, all of a sudden, a metallic table with restraints appeared from below her and bound her in restraints, leaving her quite worried when in stepped someone, who gave an evil laugh.
"Ichabod?!", Jackie exclaimed.
"You came right on time to be my test subject.", Ichabod said before forcing the potion he was holding down her throat, much to her disdain and chagrin, before the flask was emptied, allowing Ichabod to laugh as Jackie was turning into a giant, primal frog again.
"Oh, no! Not again! I don't wanna turn into a giant frog monster again! I can't...! I...! I...! rrrrrrrrrrrrrrRRRIIIIBIIIT!", Jackie said as the transformation finished again before lightning struck and Jackie woke up with a terrified shout.
Then, she checked herself and found herself normal as she could be, much to her relief.
"Phew...", Jackie sighed in relief, going back to sleep again.
As for Sasha, Marcy, Sprig, and Polly, they came across a sign that read "Foggy Fjords".
"The Foggy Fjords? How foggy could it be?", Sprig puzzled before they went across the fog and wound up covered in it with Sasha resembling Santa and Marcy resembling Keanu Reeves while Sprig looked as though he had long hair and Polly looked as though she had a mustache and beard.
"Does that answer your question?", Sasha asked.
Later, as the group traveled across the fjords, they overheard a creature screeching.
"What do you think those things even are?", Polly asked.
"I don't have the foggiest idea.", Sprig said.
"Boo.", Sasha responded.
"Sorry, sorry.", Sprig apologized before the gang that's awake saw numerous crazy creatures (or rather, their silhouettes) from above.
"Crazy stuff.", Sprig said.
"Yeah. Oh, hey, wait a second. I don't think we can see the road anymore.", Marcy said in worry.
"Polly, are we even going the right way?", Sasha asked.
"Hey, look! There's someone! Maybe we can ask... them.", Polly said as she noticed someone, only to notice that it was the same hitchhiker from before.
"Oh, my Frog, it's the hitchhiker!", Polly shouted.
"It can't be! Don't make eye contact.", Sprig shouted before Polly only looked into the hitchhiker's eye.
"Too late.", Polly said as Bessie got closer to the two crossroads.
"Looks like there's a fork in the road! And he's pointing left!", Marcy said as the hitchhiker pointed left with his hook.
"Ahh! Then go right! Right!", Polly shouted.
"Hey! No backseat driving!", Sasha shouted.
"I said right!", Polly shouted before everyone screamed as they veered right and wound up hitting some branches before then going down like some kind of roller coaster ride with many creatures nearly getting them only to miss, even the arms of a frog robot below.
Outside, a sort of voice spoke to Sasha, Marcy, Sprig, and Polly.
"Sasha. Marcy. Sprig. Polly.", the wind said.
"What the heck is that?", Polly asked in horror before everyone made it out the fog.
Meanwhile, inside, Jackie was tossing and turning again. This time, she was having a nightmare of what she saw before earlier back at Newtopia. This was one she never hoped to see again: a sort of being in metallic, spiked armor with his helmet sporting three spikes, accompanied by one being with a black cape with red underneath and an extensive cord connected to her helmet with four branched gill-like horns and ten eyes, making Anne, Marcy, and even Sasha gasp. And worst of all, they even saw someone with stars and a moon on the cape with white hair, red eyes, and a skin color of orange-yellow on the left and blue on the right as the being chuckled, although the face is nigh unrecognizable due to the shadow being cast down on it.
"You brought this all on yourselves...", the first being with a distorted version of Marcy's voice spoke in Marcy's point of view.
"You all had your chance to save your precious little brothers and sisters...", the second being, this time, with Anne's distorted voice, added, according to Anne.
"But all of you have failed.", the third, with Sasha's distorted voice said, finished, making Sasha gasp.
"No...!", Jackie whimpered.
"Now, all realms will fall and return to the shadows as they are destined to be!", Melkor spoke before the being then drew her scythe, which appeared to be a long black rod with a queue that resembled a spiral shell, and a twin-sided red-yellow energy blade as she marched toward the "broken figures" and then raised it up.
"No, don't!", Jackie shouted.
However, the being only swung it at the broken figures, making Jackie wake up in horror.
"DON'T!", Jackie shouted before panting heavily and then going to sleep again.
"Where is the hitchhiker? Did we lose em'?", Sprig asked.
"Definitely. There's no way he could follow us.", Sasha assured before everyone sighed in relief only for Marcy to widen her eyes.
"Hey, did you just get a chill?", Sprig puzzled.
"What?", Polly puzzled as she, Sprig, Marcy, and Sasha looked.
But in their presence, they saw 5 wraithlike evil spirits brandishing their swords.
"EVIL SPIRITS!", the group of four screamed before Bessie screamed as well.
With that, one of the evil spirits then went toward Marcy and started to drain her soul with one of its fingers.
"HEY!", Sasha shouted before striking the evil spirit, only going through it.
That may have done nothing to damage it, but that didn't mean it didn't stop and turn toward Sasha with a glare.
"Leave Marcy alone!", Sasha shouted before the evil spirit tried to attack Sasha next only for Zechariah to cut through the evil spirit, this time, damaging it as it squealed in defeat with Marcy gasping.
"The Hitchiker?", Marcy asked in surprise.
"Great. Now, we gotta deal with him?", Sasha asked before the hitchhiker only slashed at another evil spirit and another.
"He's tryin' to save us from those evil spirits!", Polly realized.
At that moment, Sprig noticed an evil spirit charging toward the hitchhiker from behind.
"Oh, no, you don't!", Sprig shouted before leaping toward said evil spirit, who only grabbed Sprig and tossed him aside with Sasha catching him via her tongue.
"Gotcha.", Sasha said.
"That's it! Take that, you creeper!", Polly shouted, hopping toward the evil spirit only to phase right through it.
"Uh-oh.", Polly said before screaming just as the hitchhiker caught Polly by the bow with his hook.
"Aagh! I've been hooked!", Polly shouted.
"Polly! Hang on!", Sprig shouted before grabbing Polly and managing to pull her off the hook, though at the expense of a piece of her bow.
"All right, you pestilent ghouls! Nobody move! This thing's lit up! I'll let you have it!", Marcy threatened as she got out a torch of sorts, prompting the ghouls to flee away from the light in shrieks.
"Uh, where'd you get that torch from?", Sasha asked.
"From my old flammable cloaks. Don't know how they kept getting on fire. Even made this thing out of 'em.", Marcy responded.
"Uh.., okay. Not gonna ask how you did that.", Sasha said just before the hitchhiker raised his hook and then lurched it toward Sasha and Marcy, leaving them screaming before it seemingly struck.
But when they looked, they noticed that the hook was actually latching onto the ropes for Bessie, much to their puzzlement.
"Huh?", the group of four puzzled before the hitchhiker lifted the rope up, causing the fwagon to stop with a screech while sending Sprig and Polly falling off and on top of Bessie's shell, making the snail warble in worry for them.
"Are you guys okay?", Marcy asked.
"Barely. Polly, you impaled?", Sprig asked.
"Um, no, not yet.", Polly responded.
"Huh. Me neither.", Sprig responded.
Then, when the fog cleared, the hitchhiker was missing.
"Guys, look. That hitchhiker's gone.", Marcy said.
"And not only that. But look where we are now... the valley!", Sasha shouted as she and the others turned and saw that they're very close to their destination just underneath the sign that read, "Wartwood: 3 Miles".
"We did it!", Polly shouted with an echo.
"Good thing we stopped when we did. We woulda been goners!", Sprig said before laughing as he and the others noticed that they were headed right for the spikes down below.
"Yeah. That IS a good thing.", Marcy grinned.
Just then, Sasha turned around and screamed upon seeing something disturbing.
"What? What is it?", Sprig asked.
"It's the hitchhiker! He's back!", Sasha shouted before Sprig took a closer look as did Polly.
"Wait a minute. It's... a statue.", Sprig realized before getting a look at the mural below said statue.
"Huh. It says here, 'This monument is dedicated to Zechariah Nettles, who spent his days guiding travelers away from danger on their way back home.'", Sprig said, making Marcy gasp.
"Oh, frog! Guys, what if that hitchhiker wasn't trying to hurt us, he was trying to help us?", Marcy asked.
"He did try to make us take that other path. And look. There's the path we were on. And there's the path he wanted us to use. Aww, it looks nice.", Polly said, pointing to the dark road they travelled and the safer road from the left path.
"Between that, stopping us from driving off this cliff and how he just disappeared, I don't think there's any way around it.", Sprig said.
"You tellin' me that hitchhiker was the ghost of ol' Zechariah, returning from the grave to do us a solid?", Polly asked.
"Sure seems like it.", Sasha said.
"We did see a bunch of evil spirits attack us, didn't we?", Marcy added.
"Whoa.", Sprig and Polly said in unison.
Meanwhile, inside, Jackie was tossing and turning again before she found herself in the same situation from her first nightmare.
"No! No, not again!", Jackie exclaimed in worry.
"You came right on time to be my test subject.", Ichabod said before stepping forward with maniacal laughter as he stepped forward only to trip and fling his potion off only for its liquid contents to float in the air, much to Jackie's puzzlement.
"Huh? It's just floating there...", Jackie said before realizing something.
"Wait a minute... This is all a dream.", Jackie realized before breaking free from her restraints.
"Huh?", Ichabod said in worry.
"Alright, nightmare, now it's my turn.", Jackie said, swatting the potion away from her and onto Jackie.
"No! What have you done?!", Ichabod exclaimed.
"I just gave you a taste of your own medicine.", Jackie smirked.
Then, Ichabod suddenly started growling as his limbs wound up becoming more like those of an Earth frog just before growing bigger and then turning into a giant, primal frog.
"Okay, Doc. Let's see how you like being controlled now.", Jackie smirked before later hopping around the valley with Jackie riding him before he stopped hopping near the stand.
"Right here's good, Doc.", Jackie said before getting off him.
"Jackie!", Anne shouted as she, Rose, Hop Pop, Sprig, and Polly ran over to her.
"Hey, Anne.", Jackie waved.
"What happened?", Rose asked.
"And why is there a giant frog with you?", Hop Pop asked.
"Well, let's just say it's a really tall tale.", Jackie responded.
Then, Jackie woke up with a yawn in time to notice Hop Pop and the others waking up, too with him and Anne going out first as Rose yawned as did the triplets.
"What the heck in a handbasket is goin' on out here?", Hop Pop asked before looking around.
"Well, would you look at that? We're almost there. And the fwagon's still in one piece. But where are...", Hop Pop began as Jackie popped out.
"Wait, HP. Look at them.", Anne said, pointing to the others.
"Whoa. They really stayed up late for that long?", Jackie puzzled.
"Whew...! We made it...", Marcy said before falling asleep.
"We... have officially stayed up past enough hours...! to last us a lifetime...", Sasha yawned before falling asleep as well.
"Guys, that's the 3rd time this week!", Rose shouted as she and Jackie popped up as well.
As for Sprig and Polly, they were nowhere near as tired as they were dancing along.
"A ghost, a ghost, a ghost with the most! Without Mr. Nettles, we'd surely be deadles!", Sprig and Polly rhymed before laughing and then falling asleep.
"I don't know what happened last night, but it looks like they've already learned their lesson while Sash and Marcy were doing their job.
"All right, all right. I'll let this one slide.", Hop Pop sighed as he escorted Sprig and Polly back on the fwagon.
"Hang on, guys. I got this one.", Jackie said as she helped Anne pick Sasha and Marcy up and set them on the seat first before placing Sprig and Polly on top of them.
"Thanks, Sasha. Marcy. You, too, Jackie.", Anne said.
"Sure.", Jackie responded before the fwagon went onward.
"Say, Anne, did you have any weird dreams last night?", Hop Pop asked.
"I thought you'd never ask! It was horrible, Hop Pop. Horrible! Okay, so I was in this town full of yogurt, right...?", Anne began.
"So were we.", the triplets said in unison.
"I was a god in my dream!", Hop Pop interrupted.
"And I gave that mad scientist a taste of his own medicine in mine.", Jackie added.
Little did anyone know that General Yunan had been following them all the way up to the mountains.
"Hah! Thought you could hide from me, traitor? Well, you thought wrong! General Yunan always gets her man.", Yunan said before continuing onward, not knowing that she, herself was being followed by a frog robot who was walking along.
Act II: Return to Wartwood
One day, everyone was now finally making their way back home to Wartwood as Hop Pop was inhaling at the air.
"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?", Hop Pop asked.
But Anne's hair was now shown to be very frazzled from the humidity.
"A pinch.", Anne responded.
"I don't think we can see with our hair like this.", Sasha said.
"I know. So, let's fix that.", Marcy said before she and her 2 best friends fixed their hair so they look normal again.
"There. That's better.", Marcy beamed.
Then, Polly gasped and popped out of Anne's hair.
"I see it! I see it! I can see Wartwood!", Polly shouted before Sprig hopped up and gasped.
"Whoa.", Sprig said in awe.
"We're all finally back.", Ivy said in awe.
"At last! We have finally returned!", Grime grinned.
"I wonder how the other toads are doing?", Percy asked.
"Me, too.", Braddock responded.
"It'll be good to see everyone again.", Allison responded.
"Plus, it'll be great to get to know everyone in Wartwood.", Max said.
"Uh-huh.", Alexis nodded before Sprig started singing as he played his fiddle.
Wartwood, O mighty Wartwood
I sing to thee Our noble history
A newt told a toad...
As he was singing, Mrs. Croaker was walking by when she heard his voice.
"Hey, I know that irritating voice.", Mrs. Croaker realized.
But don't let them escape poverty
"Everyone's back! Get out here, everyone! It's the Plantars!", Mrs. Croaker shouted after ringing the bell with her tongue before everyone burst out from their places and gathered around.
"Hiya, folks!", Hop Pop greeted as everyone else got off as well.
"Any luck finding a way back to your world, Rose?", Loggle asked.
"Not yet. But we're 'whittling' away at it.", Rose said before Loggle chuckled.
"That wood reference was for me.", Loggle grinned.
"Well, if it isn't the Plantars! Not to mention the Sundews and the toads! Buba-dee buba-dee bup. Haven't seen you lot for a long time. Uh, definitely didn't see you on your trip.", Wally fibbed.
"Whatever you say, 'Walliam.'", Bombina responded with a smirk, making Wally clear his throat as he walked away.
Then, Mayor Toadstool walked in, banging Toadie like a gong with his golden cane.
"Ow, ow, ow, ow!", Toadie said.
"Just simmer down now! Come on, simmer down. Market stops for no one. Y'all can welcome back the Plantars, Sundews, and toads along with their guests after business hours.", Mayor Toadstool said.
"Oh! How about we all meet at my restaurant tonight? Have a town dinner for the Plantars.", Stumpy suggested.
"We're in. I can't wait for some authentic swamp cooking!", Hop Pop said.
"I can't wait to finally relax.", Felicia said.
"And I can't wait for that Newtopian coral hand fitment. Thanks for pickin' it up for me.", Stumpy thanked before Hop Pop's face dropped out of guilt.
"Say, if we're all gonna be together anyway, why not bring all the gifts from our wish list!", Mrs. Croaker said before everyone chattered excitedly while Archie barked.
"Gifts?", Sprig puzzled.
"Wish list?", Anne asked.
"I didn't know we were supposed to get gifts for them already.", Marcy said.
"Wait a minute. Something's funny around here.", Jackie said suspiciously.
"Great idea, Mrs. Croaker.", Hop Pop said before Polly hopped off and gave a loud yawn.
"Can we go home, Hop Papa? I am so 'sweeeepy.'", Polly fibbed.
"Of course, my sweet baby child.", Hop Pop responded.
"Okay, what?", Sasha puzzled before Hop Pop urged everyone inside.
"Okay, here we go! Come on, kids!", Hop Pop said before closing the door in his fwagon.
"Okay, bye.", one of the frogs said.
Meanwhile, Hop Pop and Polly frantically searched for something in the fwagon as the latter tapped the floor and even threw somethings out, even Micro-angelo (though not before kissing him) with Rose catching him.
"Gotcha, little cutie.", Rose assured.
"Do you want this one?", Anne asked.
"No, no, all yours.", Jackie responded
"What the heck is going on?!", Anne exclaimed before Hop Pop finally found a compartment.
"Aha! Found it.", Hop Pop said, opening the compartment and getting out his list.
"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.", Polly began as it flashed back to when she and Hop Pop were going around town when they saw Mrs. Croaker with everyone appearing as well; then Hop Pop got out a blank scroll and later put said scroll, which was bound to have some written content on it, in the secret compartment and then rode off.
"Before we knew it, everybody was asking for stuff. So we made a wish list. We hid the list in a special place so we wouldn't forget. And then we forgot it.", Hop Pop responded.
"You WHAT?! I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU ACTUALLY MADE THAT TYPE OF PROMISE AND THEN FORGOT ABOUT IT!", Jackie shouted.
"I'm so sorry, you guys. Please don't get mad.", Polly apologized.
"Too late for that, Polly! I can't believe that you two forgot something important!", Jackie only snapped, practically steaming.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, chill out, Jackie!", Anne urged.
"Yeah, girl. That much stress is NOT good for you, let me tell ya.", Sasha added.
"Besides, Polly's just a baby.", Marcy added.
"Yeah, right. A baby who's obsessed with weaponry, a baby who's more crazy than a daff-o-dil, and to top it all off, a baby who's been eaten 8 times and yet somehow managed to live to tell the tale. That's right, I heard what you said last night, Polly Petunia Plantar! Frankly, it was kinda hard not to hear with you and Sprig being loud with your complaints last night.", Jackie said before it went to a flashback with Polly and Sprig complaining.
"What in the world could be so dangerous out there that we haven't lived through already?", Sprig concurred as Jackie groaned, trying to get some sleep.
"I've been eaten eight times, Sprig. Eight times. I sort of look forward to it now.", Polly whispered, shocking Jackie.
"Whaaaaa?", Jackie whispered before it went back to the present.
"That was something I did NOT need to hear that night.", Jackie added.
"Okay. You got me there.", Polly said.
"GAAAH! YOU MAKE ME SO ANGRY, I COULD JUST... GRRRRRRAGGGH!", Jackie shouted before suddenly, her rage broke!
In the process, Jackie widened her eyes blankly before said eyes grew big with a white ring only seen in her eyes.
"Duuuuuuuhhhh...", Jackie said.
"Oh, no! Jackie's broken!", Allison said in worry.
"What exactly is going on here?", Hop Pop asked.
"It's her rage-induced burnout. The worst kind.", Alexis said.
"Every time she gets too angry, she winds up suffering a burnout and becoming stupid all at once.", Max added.
"And whenever that happens, she's completely helpless!", Marcy added.
"That's awful!", Braddock said in worry.
"Isn't there anything we can do?", Percy asked.
"The only thing we CAN do is wait for it to wear off.", Anne responded.
"And there's a catch. It'll only wear off after 12 hours as long as she doesn't get any angrier. That means she cannot be exposed to any form of anything that makes her mad. If she gets even the slightest hint of a temper tantrum, she'll be stuck like this forever.", Marcy warned.
"But thankfully, there's not much that can make Jackie mad right now.", Anne said.
"Look, I'm sure we can find a way to bury this so no one finds out.", Hop Pop suggested.
"No! Have you learned nothing, Hopediah?! Lying will only make things worse. We have to come clean and tell the truth!", Allison suggested.
"Yeah. I feel like we've learned that lesson a long time ago.", Pat responded.
"I'm so sorry I forgot about the red sunshell from the Newtopian coast, Ivy!", Sprig apologized.
"Hey, it's okay, Sprig. I forgot all about it, too, to be honest.", Ivy assured.
"You did?", Sprig asked in surprise.
"Yeah, given everything that's happened.", Ivy responded.
"Huh. I wonder if the rest of Wartwood would have a similar reaction.", Sprig said.
"Well, we could wait and see. Or we could put our heads together and come up with a plan.", Hop Pop said.
"Well, if we are going to do that, we'd better hurry, or you might forget.", Allison scolded.
"It was one time, Ally!", Hop Pop responded just as Sylvia noticed another compartment of the fwagon on the floor.
Later, back at home, guarded by several toads, Hop Pop ushered Chuck outside.
"Bye, Chuck. Thanks for watching the house, Chuck.", Hop Pop thanked before closing the door.
"And you all did a very good job guarding the place while we were gone, soldiers. As you were!", Grime shouted.
"Sir!", the soldiers shouted before Grime closed the door.
"I grew tulips.", Chuck said.
"Okay, so we agree on the concept. Fake empty gift boxes that get tragically destroyed by some kind of monster.", Grime said.
"Okay.", Jackie said with a dumb grin.
"But what monster? Nothing too dangerous. We don't want anyone to actually get hurt.", Anne added.
"How about this? The Chicka-lisk. A beast that eats gold and treasure, doesn't eat Amphibians, won't attack unless threatened, and can be called to any area with a ritual.", Sprig suggested, showing Hop Pop the page on a sort of necromancy book.
"Where did you get this book? And is this cover made out of skin?", Max asked.
"Maddie gave it to me.", Sprig responded.
"She did?", Alexis asked.
"Yep.", Sprig responded.
"Aw, that's nice.", Ivy responded.
"I gotta say, this Chicka-lisk is pretty perfect. Gifts get eaten, no one gets hurt, and we don't get blamed. We all okay with using ancient Eldritch magics?", Hop Pop asked.
"Sure. Why not?", Anne responded.
"Gotta do what we gotta do.", Sprig agreed.
"Uh-huh.", Jackie and Ivy said in unison.
"I'd be mad if we didn't!", Polly responded.
"Well..., as long as it doesn't hurt any of us.", Allison said, unsure.
"Great! Now to collect all the materials we need for the ritual.", Hop Pop said before it showed him and the others, save for most of the Sundew's, fleeing from the toads in winter coats with the sky goat missing its horn, which was now in the gang's possession.
"First, we need the horn of a sky goat, whose arcane note pierces the air.", Hop Pop said as the sky goat bleated a bit angrily.
Then, it showed a sort of dark cave looking reminiscent of a toad's head.
"Then, we need cursed obsidian to amplify the dark energy.", Sprig stated as he pulled the cursed obsidian piece off before promptly getting grabbed by tentacles, which grabbed the rest of the gang as well.
Then, it went to the Grub N' Go place where Anne was now shopping for candles.
"Finally, we need candles for that evil ritual vibe.", Anne said.
"Wait, are you sure that's even in the book?", Alexis asked.
"Trust me, it's a thing. Oooh! They have 'campfire!'", Anne said before picking up the campfire scented candles only to notice Loggle, much to her shock as she screamed as did Loggle.
Later, a circle was drawn for the ritual on the grass.
"Are you sure that's even a good idea, guys?", Max asked.
"No. But I wanna see how a chicka-lisk looks.", Rose responded.
"So do we.", the triplets added.
"Play the forbidden note.", Hop Pop said before Sprig walked in and played said note, the horn blaring.
"Corrupt its sacred message.", Hop Pop said before Anne placed the cursed obsidian on top of the horn, distorting the sound and causing a big red beam of light to shoot out from the ritual circle, much to the gang's shock before the red beam went away.
"All righty then! Now, who wants Stumpy's?", Hop Pop asked.
"Whoo!", everyone except Hop Pop responded.
But only Jackie stopped and looked back, wracked with worry.
"This better not turn out to be a mistake...", Alexis said.
Meanwhile, lightning struck near a giant chicken-like creature before it opened its cat slit-like eye.
At Stumpy's, everyone was having fun.
"Wow.", one kid said, staring in awe at the "presents".
"Presents.", the 2nd added.
"I like tulips.", Chuck said.
"You don't say?", Mrs. Croaker responded.
As for Alexis, she was looking around for something.
"Oh, come on, Mint leaves. Where are you?", Alexis asked before finally spotting some.
"There you are.", Alexis spoke, picking some mint leaves up.
"Can we open the gifts soon? I'm itching for that hand. Not literally. No feelin' in it.", Stumpy asked before Hop Pop chuckled nervously.
"Presents seem like an 'end of the night' thing. Why rush it?", Hop Pop asked.
"Oh, yeah. Kinda like Christmas Eve.", Rose realized just before a loud screech was heard in the air.
"Oh, thank frog. Finally.", Sprig said as everyone grew puzzled.
Then, out of nowhere, the mighty Chicka-lisk finally arrived and touched down before shrieking, prompting those who were near it to flee away.
[chorus] Chicka-lisk, Chicka-lisk
Welcome back, oh Chicka-lisk
Chicka-lisk, Chicka-lisk
Welcome back, oh Chicka-lisk
"What is that thing?", Stumpy asked.
"Chicka-lisk, the Storm Bearer. It's an honor to see him. You know, before he kills us.", Maddie said.
Suddenly, a loud noise sounded.
"Haha!", Yunan shouted before she landed right in front of the gang.
"Yunan?!", the gang shouted.
"You guys met? Hi, there, Yunan! How did you get all the way here?!", Marcy exclaimed.
"Simple. I tracked your toad friend all the way here! Ex-captain Grime, surrender to me immediately and I promise that your death at my hands will be swift! For I am General Yunan, Scourge of the Sand Wars, Defeater of Ragnar the Wretched and...!", Yunan began.
"This is neither the time nor the place, General Yunan.", Grime responded.
"Aw, come on! What could possibly be more important than...", Yunan began before noticing the Chicka-lisk.
"Oh, my toad! What the frogging newt is that?!", Yunan exclaimed.
"That's a chicka-lisk.", Marcy responded.
"A what, now?", Yunan puzzled.
Then, the chicka-lisk turned around and spotted golden presents in a pile before screeching.
"Presents?! I love presents! Thanks, you guys!"
Then, the chicka-lisk rushed over to the presents.
"What the heck is it saying?", Anne asked.
"No idea. Its language is older than written history.", Maddie said before the Chicka-lisk tore up the banner and started eating the presents.
"Oh, no! It is eating the presents.", Polly said.
"We should probably leave it alone till it's finished.", Hop Pop suggested.
"Nothing doin'! You guys did something nice for us. Are we gonna let some chicken get away with this? Would the Plantars? The Sundews? Or even the toads?", Maddie asked.
"No!", everyone shouted.
"Well, then, come on! Let's save those presents! For the Plantars! For the Sundews! And for the toads!", Maddie shouted.
"For the Plantars! For the Sundews! And for the toads!", the denizens shouted before they all charged toward the chicka-lisk.
"Maddie, no! Wait!", Alexis shouted.
"Uh-oh.", Hop Pop said in worry.
"I can't believe it's my turn to say this, but... told you so! Boom!", Allison shouted.
"Eat this, you chump!", Maddie shouted as she and the others tossed pebbles at the Chicka-lisk, which screeched.
"The heck?!"
Then, Loggle stabbed a pitchfork into its foot, which didn't really hurt it, so much as get its attention.
"I'm Loggle.", Loggle greeted before the chicka-lisk glared with a squint and screeched again.
"Welp, consider me provoked."
Then, the chicka-lisk jumped up and flapped its wings, blowing everyone back before Alexis caught Maddie.
"Are you okay?", Alexis asked.
"Yeah. Thanks.", Maddie responded.
"Guys! Let's spatchcock this chicken!", Max exclaimed.
"Aye, aye!", the crowd shouted as they all ran toward the chicka-lisk.
"Wait, guys, we gotta work together!", Sasha shouted.
"Yeah! Who knows what this thing can do!", Anne agreed.
Sure enough, the chicka-lisk then screeched as its eyes glowed purple and fired a purple beam that turned the denizens, including Toadie, into stone.
"Holy moly!", Anne, Sasha, Marcy, and their siblings shouted.
"Cool!", Maddie grinned.
"Maddie! Can you cure them?", Sasha asked.
"Uh, yeah, sure. I should have enough antidote for everyone... probably.", Maddie responded.
"Probably?", Sasha asked.
"Don't you think it's best saved for after we stop the Chicka-lisk?", Allison asked.
"Yeah, fair point.", Maddie said.
"Everyone else, we have to at least drive it out of Wartwood.", Marcy urged.
"Okay, not sure what's going on, but I guess we're fighting that Chicka-lisk now.", Yunan said before charging in with everyone else, her gauntlet blades stretched out.
"For Wartwood!", Grime shouted.
"For Wartwood!", everyone else shouted as they charged in as well.
"Split up! We gotta surround it!", Anne urged.
"Right!", everyone agreed.
"Okay!", Toadstool said before the Chicka-lisk was surrounded and fired its purple beam again, but this time, Anne deflected the blast with the sword she got from Tritonio, causing it to hit the tree and lanterns instead, even the statue, which was already stone to begin with.
"Oh, my go... Oh, wait.", the denizen said.
Meanwhile, Wally, Sprig, and Ivy were tossing their boom shrooms at the Chicka-lisk, who blocked with its wings.
"Aim for the eyes, children!", Wally shouted.
"You heard him, men! Aim for the eyes!", Grime urged.
"Sir!", the toads shouted before tossing their spears at the creature, who still blocked with its wings before Yunan charged in with a leap.
"Ambush!", Yunan shouted before she slashed at the chicka-lisk by the eye.
However, that only angers it further as it retaliated by firing a purple blast again.
"Oh, frog.", Yunan said before she wound up turning to stone upon hit in midair and then landing.
"Yunan!", Marcy shouted as Max and Alexis gasped from noticing this.
Then, it proceeded to fire again, this time, straight toward Sprig, Hop Pop, Polly, Wally, and Sylvia just as the two elderly frogs jumped in.
"Hang on, kids! We're a-comi...", Hop Pop began before he, Sylvia, Sprig, Polly, and Wally got turned to stone.
"Oh, no!", Rose shouted.
"Sprig! Polly! Hop Pop!", Anne shouted.
"And Wally!", Rose added.
Then, the chicka-lisk fired another stone blast.
"You'll never take us ali...!", Grime began only for him and the toads to get turned to stone as well.
"Grime-sy!", Sasha shouted before the chicka-lisk then jumped up and knocked Sprig, Ivy, Wally, Grime, Hop Pop, Sylvia, and Yunan away with a shockwave before landing with a hard thud, making the Boonchuys (save for Jackie), Waybrights, and the Wu's gasp in horror.
"No...!", Anne said before falling into her knees and lowering her head with Sasha and Marcy doing the same thing.
"All our friends... Gone...!", Sasha said, starting to tear up.
"Shattered into pieces...!", Marcy added as her siblings as well as those of her friends started to get worried for her.
Play Boruto Music: "Karma"
Then, Anne, Sasha, and Marcy closed their eyes, shedding tears, and started to get angry as they each clenched their hands into fists, giving off blue, pink, and emerald sparks respectively as the diamond-like marks on Anne, Sasha, and Marcy's palms flashed before finally glowing, puzzling everyone who noticed, even the chicka-lisk. With the same angry expression, Anne, Sasha, and Marcy opened their eyes abruptly with Anne's pupils turning blue, Sasha's turning pink, and Marcy's turning green, much to their siblings' surprise as they gasped. Suddenly, blue markings began to appear on Anne while pink markings appeared on Sasha and Emerald markings appeared on Marcy right before respective blue, pink, and emerald auras appeared around the trio and turned into flames.
"Are they...?", Rose gasped in awe.
"What the heck is going on now?", Max asked.
"I don't know. But whatever it is, it's clearly not a human thing.", Allison responded.
"What have you done...?!", Anne began as she shed tears, her voice suddenly sounding distorted.
"How could you...?!", Sasha added, her tears falling down.
"What did you do...?!", Marcy added.
"TO OUR FRIENDS?!", Anne, Sasha, and Marcy shouted in unison as Anne's hair spiked up and turned blue while plant life on her hair blossomed as Sasha's hair turned pink and Marcy's turned emerald, making the Chicka-lisk screech after its eyes widened from seeing how bright they were, making it screech while shielding its eyes from the light.
"Maddie, we need you to go back and see if you can patch up those statues.", Rose urged.
"We still might be able to save them.", Alexis added before Maddie nodded and rushed over to where the statues landed.
Just then, Anne saw the dumb Jackie walking over to the Chicka-lisk.
"Hiya, pretty birdy.", Jackie greeted, her eyes crossed, only serving to prompt the chicka-lisk to attack her only for Anne to quickly grab her faster than it could strike, earning it's surprised screech.
"What's this?"
Then, Anne set Jackie down.
"Leave... my sister... ALOOOOOOOOONE!", Anne shouted as she lunged toward the Chicka-lisk with a roar, punching it by the cheek as her tears still fell down, making it screech before Sasha went up next and slashed it across the left eye with her claws after a leaping spin while Marcy fired a sort of 20-sided die-like energy ball at the chicka-lisk, which exploded when it stopped near the Chick-alisk at a 19, effectively making it blind, at least due to the smoke. This left it open for Anne kicking the beast back by the underbelly with another roar, sending it toward the trees before Anne landed beside Sasha and Marcy as everyone looked in amazement and murmured. But the Chicka-lisk wasn't done yet. As soon as it got up, it started to produce flames inside its beak with Anne preparing an energy sphere of her own. Then, when the Chicka-lisk breathed out fire and burnt away the empty present boxes, Anne roared as she fired it as a beam with a roar, keeping the fire breath at bay, though it didn't make much difference in equal power.
"Anne needs help, Sash.", Marcy said.
"Right.", Sasha agreed before she and Marcy both prepared their blasts and fired as well.
"Cross the streams!", Marcy shouted before she, Sasha, and Anne then merged their blasts into one, which is mostly white, but with blue, emerald, and pink stripes swirling across, completely overwhelming the screeching Chicka-lisk.
"It was only after the blast dissipated that the Chicka-lisk was revealed to be still alive, albeit comically cooked like a chicken, much to its disdain as it saw itself and then crowed.
End Boruto Music: "Karma"
"Okay, that's just offensive, you guys. Chicka-lisk, out!"
Chicka-lisk
Then, in a beacon of red light, the Chicka-lisk then disappeared. Just in time, too. Jackie started moaning as her eyes went back to normal before she blinked and wiped her eyes.
"Huh...? What the...? What happened? How did I get here?", Jackie asked before noticing that Anne, Sasha, and Marcy have powered up.
"I got stupid again, didn't I?", Jackie sighed.
"Mm-hmm.", Rose nodded just as the trio started to get tired as they collapsed and turned back to normal with the markings shrinking back down all the way to their palms, which each had a diamond shape in their right palm.
"Guys! Are you okay?", Allison asked as she rushed over to Sasha as did Pat while everyone else went to Anne and Marcy.
"What was that back there?!", Alexis shouted.
"I must've missed a lot in my haze, but judging from what I saw when I came to, I think that's the first time they used their special powers.", Jackie guessed before Sasha, having overheard this, turned to Jackie.
"Jackie! You mean you girls could do THAT this whole time?!", Sasha asked.
"Not exactly. I don't know much about them, either. It's kind of a long story, actually.", Jackie responded.
"Hey, guys! Good news! When the statues landed, they didn't break at all!", Maddie said as Hop Pop, Polly, Sprig, Wally, Sylvia, Grime, and even Yunan were shown present outside the forest.
"Guys, look!", Marcy said excitedly.
"Our friends...!", Sasha added.
"They're... alive! Oh, thank goodness...", Anne sighed in relief.
"Not yet. First, we have to turn them back.", Jackie said.
"Oh, yeah. I knew that.", Anne said before Maddie tossed bags at the stones, turning them back to normal, even a couple that were hugging each other.
"You have beautiful eyes.", one frog said to another.
"Whoa, uh... what happened?", Hop Pop asked.
"I feel like we missed something.", Sprig said.
"More like everything.", Sasha said.
"If it makes you feel any better, you're not the only one.", Jackie responded before everyone else started cheering.
"We did it!", Hop Pop grinned.
"Finger lickin' gone!", Anne said.
"But it destroyed all the gifts you worked so hard to bring back for us!", Mrs. Croaker said as the ashes got blown away.
"If only we had fought harder. I guess we let you guys down.", Maddie sighed before the crowd murmured.
"It's a shame.", one of the frogs said before Allison glared at Hop Pop and Polly, making the latter speak up with a shout.
"Me and Hop Pop forgot the wish list and didn't get you guys anything!", Polly shouted before almost everyone snapped in surprise.
"What?", everyone said in disbelief.
"Okay, again, I have no idea what's going on here.", Yunan puzzled.
"Mmm, can you believe it?", one of the frogs asked.
"The nerve of it all.", another added.
"Why am I not surprised? Typical Plantars. Giant monsters, property damage, putting the entire town in danger!", Toadstool scolded before he only chuckled.
"I gotta admit, I missed it!", Toadstool grinned.
"Hear, hear!", another denizen agreed.
"Me too.", another concurred, much to everyone's puzzlement.
"What do you mean?", Pat asked.
"Things have been really boring without you four causing mayhem and learning emotional lessons.", Mrs. Croaker said.
"Wait, so you don't care that we lied and summoned an elder god to cover it up?", Hop Pop asked.
"Not especially. We're just glad you're back.", Stumpy responded.
"Wait a minute. Hold on.", Sylvia said before heading back in the fwagon.
After a moment, Sylvia came out with the gifts.
"Aha! I knew I put 'em somewhere.", Sylvia said, much to everyone's surprise and relief.
"Wait. You mean to tell me that you actually did get the gifts for everyone here at Newtopia all along?!", Jackie shouted angrily in disbelief.
"Well, someone had to be sure to remember to but those.", Sylvia responded, making Rose giggle.
However, that made Jackie angry to the point that she twitched her eyes and growled very loudly, much to Anne and Rose's worry.
"Oh, no! She's gonna blow!", Anne shouted.
Then, sure enough, after a moment, her rage popped, leaving Jackie looking quite dumb as her eyes looked big and blank black with white rings once again.
"Not again!", Anne shouted.
"We have to save her!", Rose shouted before she and Anne rushed over to Jackie, who was walking around aimlessly, giggling with a sort of dumb vibe.
"Jackie, no! Get back here!", Anne shouted.
"You could get hurt!", Rose shouted as the triplets giggled at the scene.
A/N: Not quite the ending you'd expect, huh? Fortunately, like Allison said, it doesn't take very long to wear off. And Jackie's burnout episode? It's quite similar to Porky's burnout, except that in said short, he thinks he's a dog. And I apologize for this revision. Apparently, I forgot some things, so I decided to add those in to fix that. :) And now, to get Chapter 10 of Secrets of Newtopia updated and then get started on chapter 12 of "The Owl House: Coven of Rings and Darkness". :)