Calamity Survival

5. Time to Fight

Disclaimer: I do not own Amphibia


"Is he alive?"

"I think so. He doesn't look injured. I think I can hear him breathing."

"Hard to tell with that mask of his."

"Yeah, it's freaky. But look at that sword. That's a nice blade."

"… Should we take it?"

*SHING*

"… I wouldn't."

The situation: Three toads are standing around the still form of Jackson, having been happened upon by the group of toads and three of them being curious and looking at what they thought was a body close to an even larger body. As they were being not so subtle in their conversation, Jackson woke up but remained still as he wasn't sure what they were going to do. Seeing as how one of them has decided to want to pilfer his blade from him, he decides its best to get the drop on them and show he's not to be messed with.

In the form of him swinging his sword up and placing the blade against the throat of the toad that wanted his weapon. The other two back up with shouts of surprise while the one in danger has a shocked look on his face as he slowly brings his arms up in a surrendering fashion. Jackson steadily stands up but keeps the blade pressed against his throat. Having just woken up, Jackson takes a second to stretch the rest of his body to wake himself up but keeps his weapon steadily pressed onto the toads neck. After a few seconds of stretching, which is a massive relief from the awkward angle he slept in as he's really stiff, he looks at the toad he's basically holding hostage, who is looking at him in fear. "So… are you still going to steal my stuff?"

The toad shakes his head very minimally but enough to convey 'no'.

"Good." Just like that, Jackson takes the sword away and picks up his sheathe and straps it to his hip. Once that's done, he keeps his hand on the pommel as he stares at the three toads in front of him. All three of them are in different shades of green, with all of them having similar forms of a type of black and red-ish brown armor, with cloth and scales covering most of their torso's. All three of them are toads with two male and one female with two of them have swords while another carries a hammer, which they have their hands on the handles after Jackson's threat. He shakes his head and adjusts his mask, making sure its still on him. "Now, mind asking why you're out this late at night?"

His question makes them all look at him confused. "Night? Dude its past morning."

This gets a reaction out of Jackson. "Morn—?!" He looks up and sees that before where its dusk, now its already past dawn with the sun in the sky. 'Did I really fall asleep all night?!' He quickly shakes and pats his clothes, throwing off any dirt and leaves that stuck to him in his sleep. "Wow, must have been more tired than I thought, and injured." While his body feels incredibly stiff, he only feels a little bit of soreness to himself from the battering he took the other day. His plan was to take a quick nap in order to regain his energy and find a good spot to sleep for the night. Instead it looks like his body decided to sleep through the entire night in the open. A quick look on his person shows that thankfully nothing seems to have crawled on or tried to take a bite out of him.

"Did you do that?" One of them asks. He looks up, not sure who asked, but one of them points to the side. As Jackson looks, all the memories of the previous day come forth: the corpse of the giant tarantula. Now that he thinks about it its possible any wildlife, or insect-life, probably smelled the dead spider, or saw it, and gave the area a wide berth away from him.

"Oh… right. Yeah I did that." Jackson nonchalantly states, much to the surprise of the toads as they look at him in disbelief.

"Wha-!? But… how?!" One of them asks loudly in surprise with a gray helmet on.

Jackson doesn't immediately answer. Instead he takes moment look up at the body before looking upwards, then pointing towards the mountain. They all look up towards the mountain and it takes a second for them to spot the small cave and ledge jutting out of the mountain. "I fell."

"Whoa… long fall." The female with blonde hair comments.

"How did you survive that?" The gray helmet one curiously asks.

"Trees don't exactly make for a soft landing." Jackson comments, before he stares at the tarantula then back to them and shrugging. "Some of us more than others."

"Wow, that's so cool." Gray helmet states with awe in his voice.

"… Okay." Jackson answers unsure.

"Don't worry about Percy here." The female states as she taps Percy's shoulder. "He's an enthusiastic one. I'm Braddock." She states as she thumbs her chest before pointing to the third toad. "And that one is—" She begins to say until it turns out the third toad is walking away.

"I'm not dealing with this." He grumbles and walks away.

They all stare at him as he goes until Braddock shrugs. "Doesn't matter. He's probably still ornery about having a blade pressed to his neck."

"Yeah well next time don't think about taking a sleeping persons weapon." Jackson mumbles in reply before grabbing his pack and opening it up and fishing out his map. "Listen, while I thank you for waking me up, I do have to get going. I need to find something." He states as he looks at the map, now focusing more in the frog valley. "Now if I can just triangulate where the hell I am." He mutters as he tries looking around for any sort of distinguishable landmarks. "Maybe if I go to a town or a village I'm sure I can start there."

"Hey." Braddock calls out, gaining Jackson's attention as she thumbs to a direction nearby. "Need a ride?"

Jackson looks at her confused before looking where she's pointing to. It's revealed that they are near a sort of road, with a several wagons with more toads on them relaxing about. "What?"

"Yeah. From what we see hear, you're a tough sort and intimidating to boot, especially with that mask of yours." Jackson is thankful for it. "You don't often see Newts as intimidating but you pull it off."

"Definitely." Percy states with a smile.

"Listen, we're part of a group of toads based out of a tower nearby and some our guys are off doing some business. So we're going to meet up with them and provide some backup and supplies. We can always use the help, and I'm sure you can find that someone faster if you ride with us and prove how useful you are."

Jackson looks at weirdly. Of course they can't see his face but just the way his body language is shows his unsureness of the proposition. "Why?" He asks, folding up the map and looking at her straight. "You can't just be doing this out of the goodness of your heart."

Braddock looks uneasy before she turns to Percy and gives him a smile. "Hey Percy. Go tell the others to mount up. We'll be heading off soon."

Percy gives off a stiff salute with a firm face. "Yes ma'am!" He replies and begins jogging towards the carts. "Wha!" He trips midway over a rock before he quickly gets back up and dusts himself off. "I'm okay!" He replies and continues going.

Braddock lets out a breath of relief before she steps closer to Jackson to talk to him. "Okay here's the thing, not many of us in the toad army have seen a ton of action, including ones like Percy over there." She motions over to him, who is staring at the tarantulas body along with a few other toads. One of it's legs shifts with a gust of wind and this freaks them out and run to the carts. "Haaaa, even though he may be a nice guy, he's not exactly the best fighter out there. So besides a few skirmishes with some nasty critters harassing us, a lot of them don't have as much experience as I'm comfortable with. So when I see someone who somehow was able to survive against and kill that thing," She points to the tarantula, "I like the idea of them being an ally to us."

"So that's it? You're basically hiring me as a mercenary?" Jackson surmises.

Braddock shrugs at the title for him. "Mmm basically. We'll pay you. Just be intimidating as we go to towns and that's all you have to do."

Jackson takes a moment to think about it. While he would prefer to go at it alone still like he had before, walking would still take some time and the valley where all these frogs live is pretty big. The rumors he heard and was told was pretty vague on the exact location where they are. He doesn't even have a proper village name, just some vague directions area to look in, which at the moment he has no idea where.

Plus, the idea of earning some money would be good in case he has to buy something made and he can't find it. At the same time he still feels drowsy from the more than long nap he took overnight so riding in a cart to his destination feels very tempting at the moment.

"Alright, sure I'll go with you. But as soon as I find what I'm looking for, I have to stay where it is." Jackson vaguely tells her. 'I don't know if the others have been found out, but since I really haven't heard anything else, this rumor really is all I got. Can't give accurate descriptions either what with their being three of them. Just focus on this one.'

"That should be alright. Anything we need to keep an eye out for?" She asks as they begin walking to the carts.

"Weird bipedal spindly monsters, as well as rumors of weird monster sightings."

"… That's it?" She asks after a moment as they stop. She looks at Jackson confused by the lack of details to it.

"Trust me, you'll know it." He doesn't elaborate more. He just continues to walk forward.

She stares at him as he goes but shakes her head and jogs forward past him. "Mount up! Enough of a detour! Let's get moving!" Braddock shouts and all the toads milling about around the carts scramble to get back on their transportation. "Take the one in the far back. That's where we'll be on."

"Roger." Jackson replies and makes his way to the rear cart. Percy waves from the passenger side of the cart, which Jackson nods back and climbs onto the open top back.

"What are you doing?" One of three toads in the back asks in a gruff voice.

"Just got hired." Jackson states as he sits at the very end of the cart, one leg hanging off the back while the others are situation more closer to the front.

"You what?"

"Lay off him." Braddock takes this time to jump onto the carts front seat next to Percy. "Thought we could use the extra muscle. I mean you saw his kill over there." They all, minus Jackson, turn to the section of the forest that has the body of the spider just barely spotted through the foliage. "Can never be too careful. Let's get going!" She shouts the last part and whips the reigns on her snail, making him move forward along with the rest of the small convoy.

"Extra muscle? What for? We're just going to collect from some stinking frogs. What can they do against us?" One of the toads boast, getting a laugh from some of them, including some more laughs from the other carts. While they are laughing, Jackson can't help but take note of some keywords from that statement, ideally 'collect' and 'frogs.'

"That may be true, not much to worry about from them, but it's not like the roads along the way are any less dangerous." Braddock points out.

"Yeah, I really hope we don't run into those herons." Percy says, which elicits a shudder from many of the toads.

"Don't get me started on those." Another toad speaks, "Heard awhile back some of them took out a squad of toads from one of the other towers."

"I hope we don't run into them. Not like we have much to use as cover here." Another one states, which he is right because the forest starts to open up more and leads to more open ground.

"That's why I'm willing to hire some extra help just in case we do get attacked. I'd rather risk his life than ours." Braddock bluntly states. It takes her a second to realize what she said before she turns back with an apologetic smile. "Uhh, sorry. No offense."

Jackson waves her off. "None taken. Your focus is on your people, not me. I can respect that." He nonchalantly states. "Besides, if it means I take your money just by being here, then it doesn't matter to me." He shrugs. The conversations focus back on the other toads but Jackson is still holding onto key words as they talk. 'Herons…? Like the birds? Normally I would think they didn't have anything to worry about with birds of all things… but experience has taught me that anything that was smaller before on earth, is giant here on Amphibia.' Jackson's thoughts don't continue from there as a small bump knocks him from his inner thoughts. He sits himself up more comfortably as he looks at the others toads, seeing them all continue to talk or mill about on the ride over. Jackson lets out a sigh as he stares back out to the countryside behind them. The trees are now much further in the distance now and open ground is where they are moving on now. He takes the moment to relax himself.

Not too much though. The few words he heard earlier and still hear in some of the conversations still keep him wary of the group he's now being hired by. While his body is relaxed, his hand stays resting on the pommel of his sword, a bad feeling he has on his mind.


His uneasiness was warranted.

It wasn't long till they came upon a village of frogs. Unlike his grizzled master or the buff and strong toads, the frogs he's seen are smaller, kind of cuter, more fragile but at the same time look to be much more agile at first glance. It didn't take long for him to see just what group he's part of when it turns out the toads are actually in fact tax collectors and a few of their groups have been sent out and going around to collect taxes on the frogs.

Not other toads, frogs.

Many of the houses are mismatched, wooden constructs that are made from planks of wood, with some buildings that seem to be made out of entire trees, rocks, even giant dried up plants. Jackson will say that he is impressed at the tenacity of the frogs and the different means they are able to make homes, stores and other types of buildings for their village.

He stood in the open middle of the village they stopped at first, with Percy and Braddock staying with him to watch the carts while the others more than enthusiastically went about the collection process. Jackson kept an intimidating stance to make do on his appearance as Braddock had said when he was first hired, be intimidating. His swords tip remains pressed into the ground with both his hands laying on top of one another on the pommel, leaving him still as a statue and barely moving besides the slow craning of his head from side to side.

The move works as from what he sees in his position, many of the toads are not exactly subtle or nice in some of their collection with a few of them pointing to Jackson. As soon as those frogs spot him, fear graces their faces even more as they scramble to pay what is asked, although it feels more demanded at this point. Jackson takes note of Percy and Braddock not exactly finding as much joy in the way their companions are acting but do nothing and simply wait and load up what's brought to them.

While the whole situation leaves a bad taste in Jackson's mouth, he still sees no sign of Anne and holds his tongue. No reason for him to make enemies now. Not when his friends are the priority, not these random frogs he's never seen before in his life.

A couple hours pass and the collection ran smoothly without any problems. Several chests filled with some coins are placed in some of the carts, along with a few crates of valuables here and there. Once that's grabbed, its time to get going so Jackson takes his place at the back of the pack. Just like before, the carts begin making there way forward. As he looks at the map, he starts to get an idea of where he is but he wasn't able to figure out the name of the place since all the frogs were pretty scared of him thanks to both his attire and the toads using him as an intimidation piece.

"Hey Braddock, did any of those frogs mention the weird monster? Or monsters? Any rumors?" Jackson calls out without looking, still looking at his map.

"Actually yeah. Some of the guys heard that their was a weird monster freaking out some of the other frog villagers in one of the villages nearby in a forest. Although that rumor was less than a month ago."

Jackson crumples the part of the map he was holding on to. 'Less than a month… that was when I was training. God damnit.' Keeping his emotions in check he puts his map away and lets out a sigh as he looks out the back.

"Why are you looking for this thing? Are you a hunter or something?" He's not sure who said, maybe one of the grunts, but he just sighs.

"You could say that."

"Dangerous work, looking and hunting those monsters."

"Is that why you don't have a tail?"

*SMACK*

"OW!"

"Percy!" Braddock shouts as she slaps the back of Percy's head for his blunt statement.

"Well its true. He doesn't have a tail to be a newt and he's too tall to be a toad or a frog." Percy points out. Things start to get tense for Jackson as the others toads begin to piece the mystery together.

"You know come to think of it, what is it with that mask of yours? You hiding something?" One of the grunts just about quietly and subtly threaten to Jackson.

He turns to them all, seeing some of the grunts are holding onto their weapons tightly, with Percy looking only curiously and Braddock looking nervous at the development. Normally, Jackson would be worried at the turnaround at the way the conversation turned on him. Being the mystery that he is, some of them don't look like the type to be in the dark, especially with someone who is obviously hiding something.

Braddock goes to say something defuse the situation.

"A mercenary… and a hunter… that's what you think, huh?" Jackson instead speaks, gaining their attention cranes his head to the side and stares at them all. "Those jobs… those… occupations… they aren't exactly… safe." He gestures to his mask. "You don't want to see the reason why I have to wear this thing." He lets his head move to facing in front of him towards the other side of the cart. "…Or why I no longer have a tail."

No one says anything as he hears them shuffling a bit, no doubt looking at each other uncomfortably at his implication.

Jackson smiles and lets out a small mental sigh of relief at the lie he made up. 'Good, hopefully that get them off my case about my getup.' He shifts a little before staring back out towards the back but his vision shifts more to the sky. "Do you know if it's going to rain?" He asks out loud.

"Huh?" Braddock replies in confusion before she looks up to the distance. "Oh come on! I knew we should have taken the covered wagons." She grumbles before raising her voice next. "Alright people cloaks and tarps up! We might be getting rain soon."

Several toads let out groans and mumbles of annoyance as they begin pulling out their cloaks and wrapping themselves in the clothing while also unfolding some tarps to cover the valuables they've gotten so far.

"Of course its going to rain. Just what we need."

"Oh don't worry about it. For all we know it won't actually rain." One of the other toads tries to bring the mood and hopes up.


"I hate you."

"I know." The comment is said over the fact that it is indeed raining over everyone in the convoy. The tarps have been strapped over the treasure they obtained and many of the toads sit in the carts with cloaks over them but most of them are still bitter over the raining pelting them.

Jackson stays in his same position, not at all minding the rain as his own gear protects the large majority of him from the weather. All he's really focusing on is the next town that they are moving towards. With the previous town he wasn't able to get the name but he has the idea of the location, now if he can just get the name of the next town, he should be able to get a positioning of where he's at and plan his way out from there.

He lets out a sigh as he stares upwards into the sky. It's barely anything but he can almost feel the soft thumps of the rain drops impacting his face mask. A couple of rain drops impact the edge of the eyeholes of his mask and slowly roll onto his face. He closes his eyes as the thought of his situation begin to rear itself into his mind. 'This… what is this? What is all this? Why us? Why did this happen?' His head cranes forward as he lets out a frustrated sigh and lays his forehead on his forearm and shakes his head. 'Stupid box… why did you take it Anne?' He was against the stealing of it… but it's not like their was much else that was going to be done. At the very least theirs no way they could have anticipated all that had happened to them. 'Just… just find them… and then we get out of here. That's it.' He takes a deep breath and leans back again, looking out the countryside again.

Distance has been made more than he thought as he can already see the next town they are going to in the distance. He sits himself up a little as he stares at the town. 'I need more information. I need to talk to people. I'm not going to just stand around.' With his goal set in his mind, Jackson takes a deep breath as their carts slowly roll forward into the center of the town square. Already they spot more carts sitting idly by.

"Alright, here's where the other guys are at." Braddock points out. However she takes a second to look around to notice the place looks almost abandoned. "But… where is everyone?" The rest of the toads notice the lack of movement or whereabouts of everyone, or anyone for that matter. Idle mumblings can be heard from the other toads but Jackson is not waiting around to find out. He leaps off the back and slams his boots into the muddy ground and begins walking. "Wait, where are you—"

"Getting some answers." Jackson replies. He doesn't bother to look back at the one who asked but he keeps on moving. The storm has taken a much darker turn since they first saw it and now its accompanied by some harsh winds and thunder strikes too. The rain continues to pelt him but his focus is on the town buildings around him. Unlike the previous village, this one is a bit more rundown, and not in that means the town has more than a few parts of it that have been recently broken… much like the "encouragement" some of the toads did to get their tax collection in the previous village he was just at. Thing is, most of the damage was only to a few homes. This new village seems to have nearly all the homes and businesses seem to have broken doors, porches and signs. "What happened?" Jackson mutters as his view moves from left to right.

His thoughts of what's going on take a different turn though as when he passes by another building, he finds some of the resident frogs hiding behind some more buildings on the on the outskirts of the village. They seem to be focusing on something else. They haven't noticed him yet as his eyes follow where they are looking to. Confusion hits him even more when he spots the missing toads from the carts that were already in town focusing on something else in front of them with their backs to him. His eyes narrow as he slowly moves. Curiosity gets the better of him as he trudges forward, especially when he hears them jeer and cheer all around at whatever they are seeing. As he goes out into the open, the frogs nearby hiding slowly take notice of him but his focus is on the toads. They don't notice him as his steps get closer and closer to the group of toads. Due to their smaller stature than him, Jackson is able to see over them as he spots two toads laughing and smiling as one of them stands on top of—


The day has turned from bad to worse.

The way how things are going for Anne, this was something she was not expecting to happen to her. The whole time she's been in the village and it was always the same thing of the froggy villagers not showing her any respect, brushing her off, making fun of her, always seeing her as "Anne the monster" or something along those lines. The toads coming to town and instantly garnering the attention and demands of the townsfolk was just what she needed to finally show the frogs of Wartwood just who she was. After showing her skills, it was easy for the toads to deputize her as one of them to collect from the townsfolk. It was supposed to be a simple thing as they finally listened to her.

But then things started spiraling out of control. Nearly everyone she and the toads went to all claimed they paid their taxes but the toads say otherwise. They were getting their money, whether it was in extra coin or in whatever valuables they could scrounge up, or tear out, of their homes and businesses. More than once the toads were getting a bit carried away that they were destroying the livelihoods of the citizens of Wartwood but they didn't care. They just wanted to get what was owed to them, even if it meant a little fun along the way at the expense of who they were collecting from.

The whole time Anne was starting to feel more and more at odds with the whole thing as it continued and more muscling around was done to the poor frogs. She tried to lessen the pain of the frogs here and there when the toads weren't looking but it still left a bad taste to her. Still, Anne kept her mouth shut and went along with it, not finding any evidence that said the toads or frogs were lying.

Until one.

Hop Pop "Hopediah" Plantar, the frog that took Anne in and cared for her. He may have been a crusty old man but the fact that he was willing to take her in, shelter her, feed her, as much as at times she doesn't want to be fed the stuff he makes, he was a good frog that paid his dues.

But apparently the list doesn't lie, as what the two toads Bog and Fens say. Only problem is that Anne does have evidence that Hop Pop did pay his taxes. She watched him do it right in front of her in full view.

Trying to convince the toads was a failure though. They just wanted their money. So she did the one thing she was going to do to make sure these toads didn't steal Bessie from them:

She fought. She fought Bog and Fens with her tennis racket and the sword they gave her. She lasted for a bit but it didn't last forever.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" She screams as one of them slams her club into her extended arm. She cradles nearly broken arm as she steps back before falling to her knees, glaring angrily at the toads as they laugh at her. She lets out a low growl at them gloating and glaring at her. Any thoughts of retaliating against them is dashed from her as one of them kicks her into the mud, further angering her as she's pressed into the mud, her attempts to push herself off the mud and cradling her arm from further pain is for naught as her clothes and face get covered and dirtied in mud. All around she can hear the laughs and shouts from the other toads watching.

Bog himself laughs above her as he presses his foot into her back, keeping her down. She closes her eyes at the pain and humiliation she is feeling right now. 'So much for earning their respect.' She thinks dejectedly.

"Sorry, creature. It's just business."

Bog's sneering tone and focus on Anne though blinds him from whatever else is happening around him… including someone.

"Arhhh!" Fens shouts as she's suddenly launched away.

"What the—"

*SMACK*

Bog lets out a shout of pain as he's socked in the face and tackled away and off of Anne. He stumbles back harshly before he lands in a puddle of mud next to Fens. Both of them groan at the sudden impact on the both of them

"Ow… what… was that?" Fens asks as she rubs her head.

"I don't know. Something just came at us and…" Bog begins to groan as he sits up, his eyes widening then turning to anger. "Fen."

"What?! I'm—" She begins to groan until she looks at where he's staring, and anger is the main focus of her as well. "What the—! Who in the blazes are you?!"


"Get up Anne Boonchuy." Anne looks on stunned at the person standing over her with his hand extended to her, completely ignoring the yelling going on. She hesitantly reaches forward and grabs onto his hand. He effortlessly pulls her to her feet, being careful with her injured arm. "You're not out of this yet."

She takes a step back in caution at what he said. "Who… who are you? How do you know my name? I've barely told anyone here my full name and one of them definitely wasn't you!"

"Hm hm hm hm hm." He chuckles before letting out a small sigh, happiness beginning to form as for the first time in a long long while, he's happy to see someone, despite the situation at hand. "Of course I know you Anne." He reaches up and lifts his mask above his head. Anne's eyes widen, her breath hitches as she stares at the face. "How could I forget one of my best friends." He adds with a genuine smile of comfort on his face.

"…" Anne can only stare at him in utter shock and disbelief, unsure of how to react for a few seconds… until tears begin to form in her eyes, a quiver in her lips as she begins to stutter. "J-J-… Jackson!" She shouts with happiness, joy and tears in her eyes as she throws herself forward and latches onto him. The smile on his face widening just a bit more as he lets Anne hug him. She wails a little in joy at seeing him before Jackson hugs her back. "Ow!"

"Anne!" Jackson recoils off of her as she steps back, cradling her injured arm. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean—!"

"No! No no… it's okay." Her pained close eyed expression melts away as she tries to relax, easing the pain in her arm after her injury was reinvigorated so sharply. With a tense exhale of air, she opens her eyes and stays at Jackson, tears no longer in her eyes but the smile she has is still there. "It's okay. It's all okay Jack. You're here…. You're here." She repeats herself, still having trouble believing one of her closest friends is standing right in front of her.

"I am. And I'm not leaving ever again Anne. I swear it." He states with renewed and firm conviction in his voice, his smile gone to now form a more firmer expression to show his seriousness of his words.

"I know. It's just… you're here! You're here! How…? How are you here?!" She begins to ask loudly and incredulously, still coming to terms of him having appeared all of a sudden out of the blue, or gray in the storms case, and just about saved her from further injuries. "How did you get here?!"

Jackson lets out a sigh as he lays his hand on his face. "So much Anne… so much." He takes the opportunity to take his mask fully off and pull his hood back and off his head. "Needless to say, I've been preparing myself for over this past month we've been stuck here."

She tilts her head curiously at that. "Preparing? Preparing for what?"

Jackson goes to ask but he can just barely spot the rapid movement out of the corner of his eye. He quickly pushes Anne back, mindful of her arm, and steps back just as a wooden club with metal struts on it swings between where they just were followed with a yell of anger. Bog, one of the toads Jackson threw earlier, whirls around on Jackson and tries to swing at him again and again.

"Jack!" Anne calls out in worry but Jackson is focused on his opponent. Although their isn't much he needs to focus on. The toads swings are going pretty wide, overextending too much and just being sloppy. Jackson easily steps back and side-to-side out of the way of the attacks.

"Hold still!" He cries out before jumps into the air and intends to cave in Jackson's skull with one massive overhead shot.

Big mistake on his part. Jackson takes the opportunity and steps forward and under Bog. The sudden change in direction makes Bog miss, allowing Jackson to grab onto the toads wrists, holding his grip on his weapon in place before he uses his momentum to Jacksons advantage. With a heave of his own might, Jackson grabs and pulls onto Bog from his wrists. The toads lets out a startled yelp as he is twirled around Jackson once, who does a 360 degree turn with the toad in hand, before with mighty heave lets the toad go flying away from him towards the line of toads that surrounded them. Bog yells as he flails about in the air before he hits the mud.

*SPLAT*

His body drags into the mud for several feet onto his face before he comes to a stop in front of the toad line. They all look at him as his legs stay upright in the air and his face is still in the mud.

*SPLAT*

The lower half of his body unceremoniously falls back into the mud, caking the whole of his front in mud.

"…Bog? You okay?" One of the other random roads asks.

The only thing they get in response is a few bubbles of mud forming up and popping next to his head.

Jackson though stares at the toad he just tosses with a nonchalant look on his face.

"You bastard! I'll get you for that!" A voice calls out, making Jackson turn back to see the other toads he had tossed away from Anne charging him with a spear. He gets ready to dodge the attack as she lets out a yell as she charges. "AAAAA-Whao!" Fens yell turns to one of confusion as she trips, taking air as she flails her arms but Jackson catches one of her arms before Judo throwing her over his shoulder and straight into Bog, who was getting helped up by some toads, making the both of them plus three other toads collapse into a pile of muddy groaning bodies.

Jackson stands back up and dusts his shoulder before turning to Anne with a smile. "Thanks for that."

Anne smiles cheekily, her foot outstretched having tripped Fen as she was running towards him. "No problem." She replies and steps closer to him. "Had to do something."

"I guess. As for your question earlier, preparing for stuff like that." He mutters as he jerks his head to the side towards the row of toads, some of which are trying to help up and untangle the group of toads that were smacked together. "But enough about me, are you alright Anne?" His tone focuses more into concern for his childhood friend. He glances down to her arm before getting depressed a little. "Besides… that?" He mutters in a dejected tone, indicating to her arm. "When you got here, to Amphibia… what happened?" He asks in an almost fearful tone.

Anne takes note of the way his face almost fell as he asks, like he's dreading the answer she will give him. She hesitates to answer him, as she takes a look at him. Like really takes a look at him when they aren't talking to one another. Unlike her, who still has the same set of clothes she's been wearing since they got there, Jackson has taken on a completely new ensemble, with armor and clothing that wouldn't be far from a tactical standard in Amphibia's version. She also notices the sword he is carrying on his hip, followed by his face.

The face she see's, the friend she's known…

"Jack… what happened… to you?"

"…" He doesn't answer her. His face morphs into a neutral but down expression as he straightens himself up. "…I…"

"HEY!" The loud voice calls out, snapping them from their moment. They both turn to the voice, to see the toads from earlier a lot closer now with the two toads, Bog and Fen, glaring angrily at them with several other toads in front of the two. "We're going to make you regret ever messing with us!"

Anne looks on worried, seeing the over half dozen toads ready and waiting to start putting a hurt on the humans. "Jackson, be careful we need—" She begins to say until she finds him holding some stuff out to her. In one hand, is his mask, the front facing her. In the other, is his backpack held by the strap.

She looks up at him, who is giving her a small smile. "Hold these for me, please." He asks nicely.

She isn't sure why but she takes the strap of the backpack with her good arm and slings it carefully onto one shoulder single-strap. Then she takes the mask, taking a few moments to stare at the item before looking back up to Jackson, who nods and turns to the toads before walking up to them. "Wait, Jack what are you—?!"

"It's okay Anne. You've done enough. Let me do this for you." He says in a calm cool tone. No hint of hesitation or worry in his voice as he has his back to her.

Anne goes to protest the action but a flare up of her arm makes her halt her words. She was planning for the both of them to fight the toads together, but the way how she's injured theirs no guarantee that she'll actually be of any use. A hindrance is more of what she's feeling. Clenching the mask in her hand in frustration, she sighs. "Just… becareful… please."

He doesn't turn to her. Instead he gives a thumbs up to the side and resumes his walk to the toads. Anne lets out a sigh of defeat before staring at her arm.

"ANNE!" Two voices call out at the same time. She looks to the side to see Hop Pop and his granddaughter, a purple pollywog named Polly, go up to her.

"You okay?" Polly asks.

"Are injured?" Hop Pop asks in concern as he carefully examines her arm. "Polly head into the house and get me the first-aid kit." He quickly orders her. Without hesitation she runs to the house. Well, due to her lack of legs she more like bounces over but still goes.

"Hop Pop c'mon. I'm fine. Ow!" She tries to alleviate his worries, at least until he just barely movers her arm and she yelps. The old frog gives her a deadpan look as she looks chuckles a little in embarrassment. "Okay, somewhat fine."

"I'm here!" Polly suddenly shouts, landing right next to them with the kit in her flippers held above her head.

"Thanks sweetie. Hold still Anne." Hop Pop warns Anne as begins to take some gauze and cloth to start fashioning a sling for her. Polly though is staring at the other human she saw talking to Anne.

"Anne," She looks down at the tadpole. "Is that…? Is he…?" She asks, pointing towards him as he stands still a fair distance from himself and Anne, as well as from the toads gathered to take him.

Anne ignoring the flare up of pain in her arm, she can't help but sile and feel proud at what she speaks next. "Yep. That's Jackson, one of my best friends alongside Marcy and Sasha."

"Wooooooooow… he looks so much cooler than you."

And just like Anne's mood takes a hit.

"Okay no need to rub it in."

"Wait, Anne." Hop Pop pauses his work as he stares at the new human boy. "What's he doing?"

Anne lets out a sigh, "I guess… he's finishing what I started." She states in a somewhat down tone. She was the one that decided to fight back and she got her butt handed to her. Now here's one of her friends, who is arguably the toughest of those she knows, the other being Sasha, now about to go head-to-head with a small detachment of armed toads.

"What? He's going to fight them?! Anne he's out numbered!" Hop Pop asks and speaks in worry and confusion. He may not know the kid but the fact he's willing to go against them is downright not a bright idea.

She lets out a content sigh as Jackson reaches for his sword. "Don't worry Hop Pop."

*SHING*

With a flourish, he pulls his sword from his scabbard, making some of the toads flinch but they tighten their holds on their own weapons. Jackson gets into a combat ready stance, feet spread apart, both hands gripping the handle and pointing the blade straight to the toads, a dangerous glint in his eyes. Anne frowns for a second at a previous memory but smiles after.

"He's been outnumbered before."

"Get him!"

"HRAAAAAAA!"

Five toads, all clutching various weapons, charge at him with a loud war cry from all of them. Matching their stride, Jackson charges too.

"That didn't stop him then,"

Just as one toad with a spear is about to stab him, Jackson parries the head of the spear away from him and off to the side.

"And it's not going to stop him now."

"HRAAAAGH!"

Jackson shoulder charges the center of the group, sending the toads stumbling about or knocking them back further. From his left he blocks a sword strike. He angles the sword away from him and slices the side of the toad, making him grunt as he pushes them away. On his right a hammer club comes his way but he blocks it. This time he swings the weapon around in a circle, disarming the weapon from the toad and sending it flying away into the spear users face, making him stumble back and clutch his face in pain. The disarmed toad stares at his weapon for a second, before Jackson smacks him in the face with the bottom of his pommel.

Back around Jackson ducks low under the wide swing of a war hammer, which would have otherwise snapped his spine like a pencil if it connected with him. With the toad unable to retaliate as quickly, Jackson runs his blade along the side of the toad, making the toad yell out in pain and stumble away from him as he grabs his side in pain. Jackson slides on the mud a little, making him stumble a bit at the uneven ground.

"Gotcha!" This moment is all the toads need for one of the toads to jump onto Jackson and wrap his arms around the human, forcing his arms to his side. "Get him!"

*Smack*

"Arh!" Jackson grunts as one of them quickly takes a small club and hits his hand, making him drop his sword and another toad to grab the blade and throw it away.

"Lay it on him!"

Jackson proceeds to grunt as two more toads run up on him and one punches him on the side of his face and the other follows up with a punch to his gut. It hurts but that doesn't stop him from trying to retaliate. As the two toads rear up for a beatdown on him, Jackson jumps up and launches both his feet into the two toads, hitting one in the face and the other in the chest as they get thrown back. As he slams his feet into the ground he keeps his forward momentum going and leans forward, bringing the toad holding onto him up and into the air. The toad lets out some yelps of surprise as his grip loosens a little. Jacksons arms a loose enough for him to bring his arms forward and slams them back right into the toads stomach. His grip is finally gone as the air is knocked out of him. The toad only stumbles back for a few steps before Jackson kicks his leg backwards and slams the bottom of his boot straight into his stomach. The toad is sent flying back and away from Jackson, laying in a heap on the ground and clutching his stomach to keep from losing his lunch.

Not dwelling on the attackers he knocked back, he refocuses back on the front. He barely manages to angle himself to the side in time as the spear user just barely misses in running his spear right into Jacksons stomach. Before the toad can pull his spear back, Jackson proceeds to bring his foot up high and slamming it into the weapons shaft, executing a Mikiri counter. The head of the spear breaks in half, jerking the toad into the ground at the sudden shift to his weapon. Jackson doesn't give him an opportunity to go down though as he launches a palm strike straight to the toads face, dazing him and allowing Jackson to grab the toad on both sides of his face.

In one fearsome strike, his face meets the humans knees, an almost audible 'crack' can be heard as the toad is sent flying back from the hit.

Even with the different toads he hit back, he's not sure who was originally who or if more have joined the fight against. This doesn't stop him though as he swivels his head around as another toad charges him with a sword. Jackson rolls forward, thankfully on some relatively hard ground and not muddy, scooping up the broken head of the spear and coming out of the roll with a slice. The sword swing passes over him and he cuts the side of the toad, making him grunt as he stops to grab his side. With one more upwards slice, Jackson cuts the arm of the toad, making him drop his sword and kicking him away. With a small moment for him to breathe, he drops the spear head and looks at the sword. Much to his surprise and joy, its his own sword. He hooks his sword with the tip of his foot and launches it up, allowing him to grab it out of the air and having himself armed again. Several toads can be seen and heard groaning around him but his focus is on the three more toads charging him, although not at the same time.

He smirks and twirls his sword around in hand before meeting the first one. The toad tries to thrust his sword and stab into Jackson but he manages to parry the sword to the side and out of the way. The toad tries to follow it up with more attacks but Jackson manages to block and parry the hits a few more times until he makes him overextend his attack. With the toad becoming off-balance, he knees the toads stomach, making him cough as Jackson sidesteps around him, following up with a slash to the toads back.

Next Jackson focuses on the second toad, who swings at him with a large club. He steps back as the toad wildly swings at him, missing his strikes before Jackson finds the right moment to strike. As one of his strikes overextends, the human uses the opportunity to stab his sword forward, the tip of his blade sinking into the toads shoulder. Said toad yells in pain at the stab. His anger though gets the better of him as he takes the opportunity to grab onto Jackson, ready to start beating him or letting someone else do it. Jackson doesn't want it though as he kicks the toads leg, making him grunt as he falls to one knee but its what he needs as Jackson knocks him out with pommel of his sword to the head.

His final opponent though comes in as Jackson is stepping back. He grunts as the toad uses the broken spear head he dropped and tries to drive it into chest. Instead as Jackson angles himself to the side, the spear head cuts a line on his chest armor. At the close call Jackson drives his elbow into the toads face, forcing him back and giving Jackson the space he needs. With one last thrust from the toad, Jackson ends this by deflecting the weapon out of his hand and Jackson using his free hand to clock the toad in the side of the face with the bottom part of his closed fist. Dazing him, the human spins once before launching a harsh kick right to the toads stomach, knocking the wind out of him and sending him flying backwards into the air.

"…"

Silence reigns besides the pitter patter of the now drizzling rain, and the groans of the toads now lying all around him. Sword ready in hand, he takes a quick look around, finding no other toads in fighting shape close to him. The rest, along with everyone else watching, all stare in complete surprise at him. With no more, at the moment at least, close enough to engage him, he relaxes himself a little and takes stock of the state of everything. Several of the toad fighters all lay in heaps and writhing masses from the injuries to their bodies. None of them are dead though. Their tough hides and skins made the cuts from a sword superficial and mostly non-threatening but still painful flesh wounds. A few other toads come up and begin dragging their injured away.

"Jack…" Anne's voice gets his attention. He turns to Anne, seeing her wearing a sling on her arm for on, which draws a smile onto his face. "That was… amazing." She manages to breathe out in awe.

He smiles again before he turns to her. "Thanks. Like I said, I had to train for… situations." He takes a look around for a second. "Although to be honest, I wasn't expecting this many fighters." He states matter-a-factly.

"And your going to get a whole lot more!" A gruff angry voice states. Jackson groans as he turns back to the toads, the large number of them that were in a line surrounding them are now much closer and all are brandishing their weapons. A few grab their injured and pull them back to behind the line of advancing toads.

Jackson lets out a growl and stalks forward a little, gripping his sword tighter as his anger starts to come forth at the continued fighting. "This is not a good move." He menacingly states as he points his sword at them.

"Doesn't matter." Fen states with a cocky grin as she stands in front of the toads with Bog next to her, both of them ready to continue with the action. "You only fought a few of us, but theirs no way you can take us all on at once." She gestures to the line of toads.

"We'll see about that." Jackson states as he grips his sword with both hands, holding it close and pointing it towards them at his eye level.

"Not without me you're not." Anne steps up next to him, her free hand holding onto the sword she was using earlier. With her other arm injured and in a sling, she can't use her tennis racket.

"What?!" Jackson drops his stance and looks at Anne in surprise. "No! No nonono! Like hell you're helping." He outright denies her from fighting.

"This isn't going to be up for debate." Anne replies, now its she disagreeing with Jackson with a firm stare. "I almost screwed things up when I tried to help these toads and I wasn't going to stand by and let them tear apart the place and people I've called home and friends for over a month now." She tells him, gesturing to the giant tree home behind them, as well as those that lives there.

Jackson takes the opportunity to look. The place she is talking about is a large but almost decrepit looking place, with holes, cracked windows, splintered and mishappen wood pieces on a good chunk of it. He gets a good look at the two Amphibians in front of the two, an elderly and almost fearful orange frog standing a couple meters away, with a small pollywog tadpole by his leg, the older frog standing in front of her protectively, despite the slight fear on him. He also notes the large snail right behind them, a small smile on the snails face in general.

Jackson lets out a growl of frustration at the situation beginning to spiral out of his control. "… Your injured."

"If I can still swing a weapon, I can still fight." She holds up her sword in emphasis.

Jacksons breathing begins to heighten just a little, the idea of Anne fighting such numbers, and injured no less, begins to think of the sheer possibilities of what might happen. What he can do, what he can't do. His eyes frantically look over the group of toads, a bold and incredibly stupid plan beginning to form in his head as his hand shakes a little, mentally preparing himself to—

*Splat*

"What the—!" Jackson blinks a little as a tomato comes in and nails Bog in the back of the head, eliciting a yell from the toad and the focus of everyone present. He begins to calm down as he looks at the direction of the tomato that was flung in from.

A pinkish-red frog in a hat with goggles, a small vest on, and slingshot in hand stands firm… right in front of a large growing number group of frogs all carrying a variety of makeshift weapons.

"You leave her alone!" The pink frog shouts as he readies his slingshot again.

"Yeah, you leave our Anne alone." Another aqua colored toad with a hat and one eye closed shouts after, wearing a towel as he does.

"She's one of us." A yellow lightly spotted toad with red hair chimes in.

"If you got a problem with her, you got a problem with all of us." Even an old lady holding up her fists with a growling black spider with red eyes comes to Anne's defense.

Jackson looks at what looks like the entire town has come to Anne's defense. He can't help but smirk at the sudden turn out of allies as he turns to Anne, who is also sporting a surprised look on her face. "Wow Anne. I didn't realize you made you so many friends while I was gone."

"Yeah… I didn't know either." Anne says in almost a haze, not really believing the change in the people towards her.

"Anne!" The pink frog calls out in joy at seeing Anne. When he lands next to her, he looks on confused as he double-takes between looking at Anne and Jackson. "Whoa, another Anne? How long was I gone?" He scratches his head as he looks back to where he just came from.

"Hey Sprig. I'm glad you're here. I'd like for you to meet someone." Anne happily states as she stands between Jackson and Sprig. With her uninjured arm she gestures between the two, "Sprig, this is Jackson, one of my first human best friends. Jackson, this is Sprig, my first frog best friend." She introduces them nonchalantly.

"…"

"…"

Neither of them say anything, just looking at each other carefully.

"Hey."

"Hey."

Anne just about collapses in frustration as they barely offer a word of greeting to each other. "Of course." She shakes her head before looking at Sprig. "Oh hey, what happened? What took you so long?" She asks him as she focuses back on the present.

"Hm? Oh right!" Sprig initially is confused before he suddenly remembers what happened before. "Sorry, I got tied up." He answers.

Suddenly the sound of someone huffing and puffing can be heard. A large toad wearing a frilly suit outfit comes out from the bushes, much better dressed than the townsfolk. "Oh, boy. Gotta cut back on them cricket nuggets. Whoo!" Along with him a smaller frog that trips and falls into the mud.

"Arrest that toad. He stole the town's money and was keeping it all for himself." Sprig accuses the new arrival. Just like that all attention is on the new toad, including the tax collectors themselves. The toad himself looks very worried and seems to be sweating a little at the attention.

Minutes later the entirety of everyone in town gathers at the towns square, with Jackson standing close to Anne and his sword out and ready just in case.

"May I?" Sprig confidently asks Bog for his hammer, who surprisingly hands it to him. "Puh!" Unfortunately Sprig severely underestimated the weight of the hammer as it slams onto the ground and nearly crushes him. "I think you should do the honors." Bog takes his hammer back and proceeds to break a hole in the butt end of the statue, revealing a massive treasure trove of coins that spill out onto the ground. While everyone gasps at the reveal, Jackson and Anne scrunch their faces a little at how it looks from the statue.

Gasps of surprise ring out from everyone, mostly the townsfolk, but Bog can't help but turn and glare at Mayor Toadstool, the frilly dressed toad that stole the money in the first place.

"No-good son of a slug!" The old lady from earlier, Mrs. Croaker, calls out. Everyone begins to slowly walk up menacingly on the mayor.

"People, I needed the extra money for my campaign. Do you have any idea how much it costs to buy your love?" The mayor tries, and fails horribly, to give his reason for swindling the town of its money.

The citizens proceed to get out some produce with one piece splatting near the mayors head.

"Uh... And as mayor, I hereby pardon myself of any wrongdoing. Thank you. Good day!" He shouts and runs away.

"Get out of here, you scoundrel." Some frog shouts as they all begin throwing fruit, vegetables, and mud at the fleeing toad. With the newly revealed cause of the situation now running for the hills, its now time for things to get straighten out for everyone involved.


A half hour passes with everyone gathering their things.

The skies clear up and brighter day is set forth for everyone. With the original money now in place and given to the tax collectors, Anne, Jackson and some of the citizens of Wartwood take back their stuff from the collectors from the carts.

"Uh-uh." Or more so Jackson as he pulls off a grandfather clock from the cart before Anne can think to try to pick it up herself, who is now sporting a cast on her arm. The clock is the last item from the possession of the townsfolk, meaning the toad collectors are done in the village.

Bog walks up to Jackson and Anne, as smirk on his face. "If it was respect you were looking for, you sure lost mine Anne." He states to the Thai girl. "You've a lot of nerve, I'll give you that." Bog begins to say before turning to Jackson and giving him a glare. "And you… I don't know what your beef in all this is but you just made a lot of enemies today." Jackson makes no move to acknowledge the subtle threat, he just glares at the toad as he laughs a little and walks away. "We'll be back, Anne, and we won't be alone." He climbs into the cart and grabs the reins on it.

"She don't need your respect!" Hop Pop shouts towards the toads.

"Yeah. She's got ours!" The blue frog Wally also adds in, eliciting a round of cheers from the rest of the citizens. Jackson looks at Anne and smiles at her and how everyone is coming to her.

"Hey!" Jackson looks up and manages to catch a small bag that was thrown to him. A small jingle of coins can be heard from the pouch and he looks up to see Braddock stare at him. "I said I'd pay didn't I? Sorry we couldn't work together more."

Jackson chuckles and pockets the coins before nodding to her. "Your one of the good ones Braddock. Good luck in keeping them in line."

She waves him a little before climbing into the cart with Bog and Fen. The reins are whipped and the convoy of carts carrying the toad collectors. The townsfolk all cheer some more as the toads who have been tormenting them for the better part of a day are finally leaving.

Bog growls before looking at Braddock. "What's the matter with you Braddock? Things would have gone a whole lot differently if you didn't bring that thing with you."

"Oh yeah. Much different huh? Like getting mobbed by that entire town at the end there." She counters Bog. "Face it. Even if he didn't kick your butts, those frogs would have outnumbered you all 10-to-1. They may be small but they're a feisty bunch."

Bog scoffs at the notion but he doesn't refute it. The entire town came out of the woodwork and while they had a ton of toads, theirs no telling what the frogs would have done after the pushing around Bog and Fen were doing to them.

"So are we gonna tell the captain about that creature we found? Or creatures in this case?" Fens points out, looking out at the town as they go away from it.

"Oh, we're gonna tell the captain everything." Bog mumbles menacingly. Bradock rolls her eyes, no doubt they are happy to tell the captain after the beat down they got and all.

Back in the town of Wartwood though, the towns residents all stare at Jackson, looking in awe and a little fear at the new creature in their midst now that the obvious threats from the toads are gone.

"Is that another Anne?"

"How many are there?"

"That one looks scary, and much more intimidating than Anne."

Anne herself purses her lips and hums in annoyance at that last comment from some frog in the crowd but she keeps her focus to Jackson, who is standing in front of her and the Plantars, staring at Hop Pop lightly in front of her.

"Now that all that is done… You…" Jackson begins to say, staring at Hop Pop, Polly and Sprig, making them recoil little. "You're the ones who've been taking care of Anne since she got here?"

"Yeah, what's it to you?" Polly in her usual self acts and talks tough to him.

"Polly hush now." Hop Pop shushes her and pulls her back behind him. He takes a step forward to properly address Jackson. "Um… yes. The names Hop Pop "Hopediah" Plantar, and these are my grandkids, Sprig and Polly." He gestures to the two. Polly is glaring at Jackson while Sprig just gives Jackson a careful look and even still has his slingshot clutched in his hand. "We took Anne in and have been doing what we can to house and care for her. We've done a lot for her and she's done a lot for us." He tells Jackson with sincerity in his voice. Things have been touch and go for awhile for the group of them besides all the hardships, its safe to say he wouldn't even hazard the thought to kick Anne out of his home, not after how much they have bonded.

Jackson though, continues to stare at the old frog in front of him, analyzing him in a way as he does. There is a small tense silence between them all before Jackson grabs the handle of his sword and unsheathes it.

Several gasps ring out as Sprig readies his slingshot. "Hop Pop!" Polly calls out in worry.

"Jackson what are you—?!"

*Ting*

Much to their confusion, especially Hop Pop's as he froze in place at the unsheathing of the sword in front of him, Jackson instead of attacking him as what they first though, he stabs his sword into the ground in front of Hop Pop, kneeling as he does. The moment of fear in the frogs disappears as Jackson kneels in a knightly fashion to Hop Pop.

"You have… my utmost gratitude. The fear I had for my friends when I first came to this world cannot be put into words. The fact that you have taken in one of my friends and helped her has made my respect and gratitude for you soar to new heights." Jackson passionately states. He still has no information to the state of Marcy and Sasha, but he at least knows the status of at least one of his friends. It's progress made to easing his worried mind. He proceeds to stand back up to his full height. Holding his swords handle with one hand in the reverse grip, he places it to his chest. "On my honor, and the fact that Anne vouches for you and your family," Anne smiles at that as she nods, "Then I swear that I will do everything in my power to help, defend, and protect your family as if you were my blood." He flips his sword back around and sheathes it. "This I swear."

"Oh… wow… I… thank you." Hop Pop stammers a little, not really sure what to make of the oath that was just bestowed on him and his family but at the very least he thanks the human.

"Wow dude. What was all that? Never seen you do something like that before." Anne can't help but comment to Jackson. Her arm is now in a cast but she's still curious about what he just did.

"Technically we were never in a position we are currently in. Safe to say that we need all the help we can get out here and so far I've only made one ally since I came here, and made a whole bunch of other enemies in the process." Jackson mutters the last part as he glances back to where the toads rode off to. "So the fact that you have some allies here is very good considering."

"Heh, yeah that's true. But now that you're here, it'll be awesome to have you here man." She smiles as she pats his shoulder.

"Hold up now!" Wally calls out, gaining attention and bringing the focus on him as he walks close to Jackson. "Your new around here, and much scarier to boot! Just because we accepted Anne doesn't mean we are just going to accept a stranger like you." Some of the residents of the village murmur in agreement, not jumping at the moment to fully trust Jackson like they did with Anne. She spent a long time there to win their trust and it would be unreasonable to trust Jackson, despite what he did.

"Wait!" Anne shouts, now the focus of everyone as she comes to Jackson's aid. "Please I know he's scary looking and you don't know him but I can personally vouch for his—"

Before she can finish saying anymore, a hand is placed on her shoulder. She looks to see Jackson staring at her, a small smile on his face as he slowly shakes his head 'no'. She looks confused for a second before Jackson steps forward to be the center of attention now.

"I'm not asking you all to trust me." Which he agrees with them as he addresses the villagers. "Anne spent a long time here gaining all of your trust, whereas I just blew into town out of the blue. I can't expect you all to trust me so quickly… but I will at least ask for you to give me a chance… like you all did with her at the beginning, and I promise you… you won't regret it." He tries to sincerely explain to them. Since he and Anne are going to

"Hmmmmmm…" Wally proceeds to give Jackson a critical eye, with his one open eye, and hums in thought as he stares at him. Jackson stands still and keeps a neutral look on his face as he analyzed. "… Eh, good enough for me." Wally nonchalantly states, surprising Jackson at just how quick he is to gloss over Jackson. Wally turns to the people of Wartwood with a smile. "Let's get back to who we really appreciate. Three cheers for Anne, defender of Wartwood!" He shouts with an arm raised into the air.

"Hip, hip, hooray! Hip, hip, hooray! Hip, hip, hooray!" And just like that almost the entirety of Wartwood cheer for Anne as one.

Anne smiles. "Aw, thanks, guys." She wipes a tear away and sniffles a little. She turns and pats Jacksons shoulder. "I'm so glad you're here man. Being is here is going to be amazing." Jackson smiles and pats her hand. She nods and walks forward towards the frogs. "Now… who wants to sign my cast?!" Right after Anne says that, many of the denizens of Wartwood immediately raise their hands and begin clamoring to sign her cast.

"Me, me, me. I'm her best friend!" The pink frog Sprig jumps up and towards Anne, shouting and excited to sign it.

"Me! Out of the way, you plebs." To Jackson's surprise the little pollywog Polly is pretty vocal and pretty violent in wanting to go, even shunting a few other frogs out of the way.

"Oi! I can't write." Wally the blue frog shouts and laughs, feeling the need to reveal that fact. Jackson stands off to the side and watches as everyone happily joins in with a smiling Anne enjoying the whole situation.

He takes the opportunity to sit down on a large piece of stone near the wall and finally relax after the day he had. First he woke up to being surrounded by a squad of toads, then proceeded to help in their tax collection setups, found Anne, fought another squad of toads, watched the real perpetrator be revealed, and helped Wartwood get their stuff back.

"Uhhhhhh… boy." Jackson sighs as he leans forward and lays his arms on his knees. As tired as he is, he looks up and sees his childhood friend surrounded by folks who went to her defense. She smiles as she watches Sprig and Polly write on her cast.

Jackson smiles and pushes himself up to his feet. Before he goes to her, he turns to the side and stares out down the road leading away from town. He takes a deep breath as his thoughts shift to his other two missing friends. 'Marcy… Sasha… I found Anne. She's safe, and she's okay. Give me some time… and I will find you.' He looks back at Anne to see her waving to him. He smiles and walks towards them.

'I do swear it.'


The day wore on with many of the townsfolk taking back their stuff and happy things are okay. Night has fallen over for the people of Wartwood, including the residents of the Plantar household.

Throughout the rooms the occupants are fast asleep, save two.

Jackson sits on the couch in the living room, running a rag along his sword and making sure its free of any dirt, mud and debris it may have accumulated. The house is almost eerily silent, except some snoring that can be heard but it doesn't bother Jackson none as he finishes up his cleaning before getting ready to head to bed.

"Jack?" He stops rubbing halfway up his sword and looks up, seeing Anne standing there at the doorway to the basement and looking at him.

"Hey Anne." He quietly says to her, making sure he doesn't speak loud enough to wake the others. He puts his sword down and smiles at her. "Can't sleep?"

"No not that." She replies and walks towards him, her arm still in the cast and carrying something else under her other arm. "It's just… I thought I should show you something." She shifts the item out from under arm and extends it to him.

His eyes widen as he carefully takes the item from her and stares at it. "… You have it."

"Yep." She answers, popping the 'P' with her lips.

"… Did you try to—?"

"First thing I did." She interrupts him, knowing exactly what he was going to ask. His eyes still stay staring at the intricate designs and gems of the music box. Without another word, he carefully opens the top of it.

"…"

Nothing. Theirs nothing inside the box and nothing happens when it opens, unlike the last time he saw it open.

"Sorry man." She apologizes and pats his back.

"It's… fine." He sighs in defeat. Some part of him was hoping that none of them, he or the girls, didn't have the box and their job was the find, open it and get back home.

But the fact that Anne has it, has opened it repeatedly and still nothing… then they are stuck there in this new world.

"Thank you for showing me this Anne."

She smiles. "No problem dude. I was kind of hoping that if their were at least two of us something would happen… but I guess not." She leans back on the couch in defeat as well.

"Hmm." He hums as he continues to stare at the box, his fingers idly gliding over the object. "We'll find a way home Anne…" His fingers glide over the jewels embedded in music box.

All four of them.

His finger lingers on the darkest and blackest one of the four of them, a very dull dark grey to it as he can almost see his reflection in the jewel.

His determination has waned just a little but he slowly clenches his fist as it reinvigorates again.

"I promise you."


Another chapter down. This time more action for Jackson and finally a reunion he was waiting over a month for. Was a bit more than he was expecting for when it comes to finding his friend but he got it in the end. He's now got a place to rest and recuperate, somewhat, and ready to continue to help the frogs of Wartwood.

Wasn't sure exactly how to start this chapter and instead opted for Jackson to be hired on and taken directly to who he was looking for, even though the toads themselves didn't exactly know who he was looking for. I have to admit I was debating on bringing in Braddock and Percy but I always liked seeing them on screen so felt good bringing them around and such to meet Jackson. Still not fully satisfied with the whole thing but I think I did alright considering how it went.

Also during the fight, Jackson executed a counter against one of the spear users. If you know which game it's from, then that's just fine and dandy right there. Frankly I didn't know if there was an actual real world name for a move like that so I just went ahead and went for the best representation from one of my favorite FromSoftware games.

Anyway, now Jackson is going to join a bit in the many hectic and crazy adventures that the Plantars and Anne get to in Wartwood. Hopefully he can keep his sanity but that may have already been lost long ago and he's gonna enjoy the ride. Thank you everyone. Go ahead and fave, follow, review, whatever you wish. I appreciate your support of my work. Make sure to have fun reading everyone, but most importantly, have a great day each and every one of you.