Sasha would be the first to admit that there was one thing she didn't miss about a sleepover with her best friends, Anne Boonchuys foot on her face as she awoke.
She sighed and looked to her left, Marcy's face was covered by Anne's right hand, she sighed, "moripning Mar-mar." said Sasha her voice muffled by a foot.
"Morning, Sash." Came Marcy's voice slightly muffled by her best friend's hand.
The two lay there while Anne snored, "So I have to ask, did you miss this?" Asked Sasha.
"Kinda? I mean missed you girls but I don't miss Anne cupping my face with her right hand."
Sasha laughed, "Hey at least you don't have to smell her feet."
The girl's discomfort ended when Anne rolled over onto the floor, she shot up and looked around the room. She noticed her two best friends looking at her, glaring daggers at her.
"Let me guess, hand and foot?"
Both girls nodded.
"How come no matter what I always get the foot?" Said Sasha.
Anne gave a small embarrassed laugh, "Yeah, thanks for staying last night. It helped."
The annoyed looks vanished and were replaced by smiles.
"It's okay, It was nice to talk about Grime again," said Sasha.
"Better than crying alone." Said Marcy.
Anne nodded, "So you guys want breakfast?"
A few minutes later Anne was cooking breakfast for her two best friends, omelets. All of them were dressed now, Sasha and Marcy were wearing their clothes from yesterday, Anne was wearing tan pants, and a blue shirt.
"So do we need to get anything for the portal party tonight?." Asked Marcy
"Nope, we just gotta show up at Eight p.m and hope the portal works."
"So we gotta wait?" Said Sasha.
"Yep," nodded Anne, don't worry I'm sure it'll be fine."
"Great until then why don't you give us a tour of your work," said Marcy.
"That could be fun, I could get you guys to see the Baby sea otters being fed."
Both women's eyes widened, " Yes," they both said in unison.
Anne laughed and went to get her keys.
…
Ivy insisted that she'd drive the boat into the dock, Sprig usually did it, however, this time he decided to let Ivy win this argument, she was still worried about last night and he decided that maybe it was best to let her coddle him for a few hours.
The landing went well, Sprig had guided Ivy into the dock despite her annoyance, truthfully he didn't really have any criticism of how she did it, he took one good look of the riverside entrance of the farm and smiled, he had many memories of spending time here, not even with Anne, with all of his family, he still loved watching the lake at night with Ivy next to him.
They jumped down to the dock and walked to the door, Sprig knocked on the door, It was odd to knock on the door to his own house but it was a practice they had taken to ever since he and Polly returned from an expedition that one time, only to discover Hop Pop and Sylvia together, He was impressed that his grandfather still had the energy for that.
As it turns out Sylvia had moved in while they were away, Things had gotten a little dull since Anne left.
The next few hours were awkward for the Plantar siblings.
Of course, they were happy for Hop Pop, Slyvia was kind and warm, and she made the perfect grandmother for Sprig and Polly, not that they married they decided it would make things too awkward for Ivy and Sprig.
The door opened and the young couple was greeted by Hop Pop standing there and smiling.
"Sprig, Ivy," said the old frog, hugging his grandson and his girlfriend.
"Hey Hop Pop, how's things?"
"Good, good how's the new continent?"
"Still setting up new towns," said Ivy, ever since it rose from the sea after the moon was destroyed, we're still finding new species everywhere."
Hop Pop nodded and gestured the two in, Sprig and Ivy followed, when they entered the front room Ivy was surprised to see her mother sitting there with her grandmother.
"Mom, What are you doing here?"
"I heard you were returning today and decided to drop in." Said Felicia sitting there, Ivy smiled back, she loved her mother but she knew at least once during this visit a wedding was going to be mentioned at least once, her mother didn't know this time that she was going to be right.
For the next few hours, the five discussed Sprig and Ivy's time on the new continent, from discoveries to adventures.
However, Sprig noticed that both Sylvia and Felicia kept giving Hop pop an odd look.
Eventually, Slyvia decided to mention something, "Hopediah, don't you have something to tell Sprig?"
Hop Pop shuffled in his seat,
"Yeah," Hop Pop laughed, "Sprig you know what day it is today, Right?
"Ummm, Tuesdays?"
Hop Pop shook his head, "No it's the 10 Anniversary of the victory."
Sprig's eyes widened, "Oh my frog… wait wasn't that yesterday."
"We were going to have it yesterday but well… you weren't here," said Felicia slightly annoyed.
Sprig's eyes widened a little "What?"
The day of victory was the day everyone celebrated the destruction of the Core, throughout all of Amphibia everyone celebrated in their own way, At the northern Toad Tower the story of Sasha was told, how one human proved to be the greatest of all toads, in Newtopia they told the story of Marcy the bittersweet story of a girl who saved the soul of Amphibia, in many toad towns they told the story of the girl who grew to be a hero and more.
In Wartwood however, told the story of all three.
Tourists came from all around to see the place where Anne Boonchuy lived, where Marcy Wu had led to the discoveries of the temples, of where Sasha Way right led the resistance.
They came for the theatre productions of "The Tale of Calamity," "The History of the Core," and Popular "The evil King Andrais." (Many of the inhabitants of Wartwood didn't particularly care for that last one.)
They came to see the presentations about the humans from artifacts that the humans had left behind, Magazines, two sets of Sasha'sheadphones and a few photos, Sprig himself had a few offers from a mixture of collectors to a few of the new cults that had sprung up in the girl's names.
Some came to talk to those who knew the heroes,
Some came to worship.
There was food, there were drinks, there was dancing.
And then there was the story.
Yearly the story was told by Grime, Olivia, and Hop Pop, about who the mysterious humans who came into their world, Three brave individuals who thought to protect this world and those who inhabited it.
Sprig hated it, the story wasn't terrible, it showed the girls in the best possible light as heroes, those that did their best to try and save the world.
What they didn't do was mention the moments when she was his best friend, Where she was Polly's big sister, Where she was Hop Pop Granddaughter.
They just wanted a story.
"No." Said Sprig quietly.
Hop Pop sighed, "Spirig I know you don't like them but I'm getting too old and I think it's time you took over the role."
"I don't want to do this maybe we could get someone else to do it, Like Grime and Olivia."
"They already have their stories, Sprig this has to be done."
Sprig sat there annoyed this was the Grubhog incident all over again, That's when he thought of something.
"Or I can talk to the organizer about it and change it."
All of the inhabitants in the room looked at him, Felicia was annoyed with him for disrupting a town tradition, Sylvia sympathized with Both her boyfriend and his grandson, and Ivy sat there watching Sprig scared to say anything.
Hop Pop just looked tired, "Okay Sprig."
"You can't convince me that-What?"
I can't convince you to change your mind and well I need you to be happy, So go see Toadstool, maybe you'll change his mind."
Sprig looked at him, "Hop Pop I…"
"I know Sprig it's hard, But I can't force you to do this," said Hop Pop looking even older than he had before."
Sprig nodded and walked over to him, the two hugged, and then Sprig walked over to Ivy, "I've gotta-"
"Go, Don't worry I've got to talk to mom and Grandma."
They kissed, Sprig briefly felt that spark he always felt when he was with her, he said his goodbyes to Felicia and Ivy and then walked out the door.
"Well nice to know another tradition is going to be broken today," said Felicia, annoyed
"He had a nightmare last night mom." said Ivy in that tone that matched her mother's annoyance, "It was about Anne."
"Oh," said Felecia ashamed, "I'm sorry, your right he had every reason to not like this."
Ivy sighed, "Why does it have to be him, Why this year?"
Felicia was about to say something but quickly closed her mouth,
The room was quiet for a second before Ivy started up again, "Hey Mom. do you still have the item?"
At that, the other two Sundews' eyebrows rose and smiles appeared on their faces,
"The Item?" Said Hop Pop.
"It's a ring," said Sylvia.
"The ring a certain Daughter said she would never wear," said Felicia with the smuggest grin in the universe plastered on her face.
"I was five when I said that." protested Ivy.
"A wedding about time," said Hop Pop Smiling.
"Well, I kind of need it… See."
If one was to walk outside the Plantar farm that morning they would have heard a squalling noise, no one would be shocked to discover the highest squeal came from Hopediah Plantar.
…
Sprig arrived in town an hour later, he was still surprised just how much Wartwood had changed in ten years, there were more people living here.
Gone was the old attitude of "keep out strangers" and replaced with the new feeling to welcome friends.
Sprig saw a line outside of Stumpys restaurant hoping to get a taste of the Swamps Kraken Thai soup, he saw Wally performing a song about the battle ten years ago only stopping to wave hello to Sprig, He saw the statue of Anne flowers at the base, Loggle was giving a speech at the bottom.
"Wasn't her shoe on the other foot?" he heard a passerby say, the next moment he heard Loggle roaring and a fight break out.
"Hi Anne, " he whispered as he passed the statue.
Eventually, Sprig neared the party grounds, about a thousand chairs were set up, and the stage was up, Behind it was a backdrop of three figures each having a different color, Green, Red, and Blue.
Steading on the stage were three figures, Two Toads and one newt.
Sprig had known them since he was a boy.
If someone had told Sprig ten years ago that he would consider Two toads to be some of the best people he ever knew, he would have laughed.
Both Toads had threatened to take his life in the past, but they had changed.
The former Mayor Toadstool stood there explaining to the others the schedule for tonight, he looked older of course, but somewhere there seemed to be a sense of importance there, one that felt truly earned, a few frogs had a theory that the moment the Toadstool lost his position as mayor he would be dead in a week.
That was before the town had changed him, Now Toadstool had taken over Hopediah Plantars role as Town Historian, strangely enough, he knew about the towns and had made several discoveries about Wartwoods past, Admittedly though this was during his old habit of hiding the town's funds, (Which was rightfully returned to the town.)
He had even written a book about Anne, It was one that detailed her time in Wartwood and Amphibia, It was mostly disliked because it dared to paint Anne as not the perfect hero they wanted, Sprig loved it, he remembered all of the trouble they got into when she was first here.
The other toad was Ex-commander Grime, still, in his white uniform, his arm had been replaced with a wood prosthetic years ago, He and Sprig had gotten closer over the past ten years, from exploring to training the Toad would never be a father figure to him but he was family in the young frog's eyes.
Grime had moved to Wartwood around the same time when two new toads moved in, he remembered seeing them at the tower but he never got their names, Perky and Bardodke?. Grime had been trying to talk to them but all that happened when he tried to was awkward stares and conversations that went nowhere.
Once in a while Grime and Sprig would spar, Grime claimed it was to keep Sprig trained but Sprig knew he really wanted to try and make it clear that despite being older toad wanted to prove he was the stronger warrior, (He never really forgot what happened in Newtopia.) despite this the two had forgotten the number of times the other had won, partly because the fights had become more good natured then anything else.
And then there was sole Newt on the stage, Lady Olivia.
Olvia was a part of the Amphibia ruling Council now, ever since both Andrais and the Core had been removed Amphibia had changed, it had gotten both better in the form of removing a very dangerous Caste system, but worse in the sense that said removal had lead to many toads and newts trying to rebel against it, and even then deep seeded anger in the frogs had lead to many hostilities to those who had been oppressed for so long, This was the job of the ruling council to try and settle peacefully, The toad armies had not been disbanded but had been forced to accept non-toad recruits. Retired toads were offered the chance to retrain for new non-army jobs, and Newts were forced to start paying frogs proper wages.
Olivia had done all of this and somehow not age sixty years.
That may have helped due to her loving wife Yunan, the two had moved to the town ten years back. While Olivia was away most of the year fixing the world Yunan was here waiting for her and looking after their daughter, Despite trying to save a country Yunan was always here for the spending two days a week with them.
"Mayor- I mean Mr. Toadstool." It still felt weird to say.
The large toad…The less terrifying large toad turned to Srpig and a smile appeared on his face, Sprig still felt weird when the toad smiled, the image of the mayor stealing candy from a baby still remained in his mind, (He still thought Toadstool owed him a new Lollypop.)
"Why Sprig, you're back just in time for the celebration, I was just telling Grime and Olivia that the speech…"
"I'm not doing it I'm sorry." said Sprig, "I'll tell them the story of the Anne, I know not the lies that Hop Pop's been telling for a year."
Toadstool was shocked. Grime and Olivia hid a pair of smiles.
"Sprig what are you saying? these speeches are extremely important to this town." said the mayor.
"I know but their lies, heck your book ignored that." protested Sprig.
Toadstool wiped the sweat from his brow, "True but Mr. Plantar you have to realize something, they don't care."
Sprig's eyes widened, "What? Why wouldn't they care?"
"Because they want a story Sprig they want the story of how Anne Boonchuy, Sasha Waybright, and Marcy Wu saved the world, not the time you and her let the Grubhog out."
Sprig raised a finger and lowered it, "Fine, but what about Sasha, We barely talk about how she tried to take over Amphibia or How Marcy was possessed by the core."
Sprig knew he had said something wrong when he felt the glares of both Grime and Olivia.
"Please Sprig explain what's wrong with that?" said Olvia in the nicest yet threatening way possible."
"Please do so Sprig," said Grime in the same manner.
Sprig gulped.
Toadstool decided to use his old mayoral powers to prevent a murder.
"Settle down everyone, Settle down, I'm sure what Sprig meant to say is that there needed to be a more authentic view of history."
Olivia and Grime's looks lessened slightly though they were still a hint of annoyance there, Sprig relaxed a little but he was still worried about what would happen when the mayor left.
Toadstool put on his kindest face, It was odd to see an ex-politician have feeling but still it helped. "Sprig, I get what you mean but… Look at this from our point of view, We need to tell a story first, the world needs to hear the story about heroes, and as much as I hate to ignore it, we need to tell them this, This event makes up a good percentage of the Towns revenue and if you don't do the thing everyone wants well…"
Sprig wanted to disagree but he couldn't, he looked at Toadstool's eyes, why did he have to reform, it was easier to hate him when he was a greedy jerk.
He sighed, "Okay fine."
"Good," said Toadstool nodding. "Now if you don't mind me I have to go and talk to a group of florists who may be out of blood," with that Toadstool left, leaving the Sprig alone with Grime and Olivia.
Sprig turned to the two, The looks on their faces made him feel like a ten-year-old again.
He knew he needed to defuse the situation "Ha, sorry about that."
The Toad and Newt looked at him for a second and then nodded.
"Fair enough," said Olvia.
"In all fairness your not wrong about the speeches."
Sprig sighed, Safe again.
"Thanks, Honestly this whole thing is kind of messed up, Why do I need to talk about this, it's all hogwash, Sasha would be making fun of it."
"Not Marcy she'd be sitting there wide-eyed, intreated in the story.." said Olivia laughing slightly which turned into a sigh, "Honestly It's a shame I didn't spend more time with her, I wish they could get Yunan to tell a story about her, give me a year off."
Sprig was about to agree when his eyes widened. Someone else to tell the story.
"That's it!" Sprig jumped down and started to run towards the door.
"See you guys later…Or not," said Sprig as he ran off to find his replacement.
…
Anne had to smile as she watched her best friends watching the baby sea otters.
Marcy was sketching them with a smile on her face, trying to deal with the overload of cuteness that swimming in their enclosure.
Sasha was talking to Ibrahim the man in charge of the otters, he was probably the nicest man in the whole the aquarium of the south pacific, He was also married with four children which made Sasha's attempts to flirt even funnier.
Anne rolled her eyes and started to walk towards the main building, seeing the large exhibits she smiled, and looking up to the second floor she spotted the Amphibia exhibit, her exhibit.
Ten years ago if asked where she saw herself being she would have responded with Tennis Superstar or Working at her parent's restaurant, This was not what she had expected, to be in charge and help design her own exhibit at one of the most important aquariums in the country, Traveling to forests around the world to study Amphibians, living in Thailand for six months, Being a doctor, That still surprised her, Anne Boonchuy. C- student, had a PhD.
She never could fight the smile off her face when she thought about all she had been through over the past ten years, it was almost enough to dwarf her time in Amphibia, and yet if it wasn't for her time in that magical place, she might have never come here.
Her memories ended the moment her phone started to buzz, part of her thought it was going to be her mother, Or Jan, or possibly Mr.X. (She knew his real name but honestly X was cooler.)
Those hopes were dashed the moment she saw a text message on it.
"Code Max, Empty shark tanks."
Anne shook her head, she knew what this meant it was her day off but she rushed over to the empty tanks in the message.
Anne rushed over to see a small crowd, the tanks didn't have any fish in the at the moment however they weren't empty anymore, floating there was a skeleton dressed up as a pirate floating there.
The crowd was laughing, Anne shook her head.
She saw her boss Dr. Peter Krantz standing there, His bald head was red, and dressed in a suit he looked more like a High school vice principal than anything else.
"Dr. Krantz, Let me guess Max?" said Anne
"Yes, That's why I'll mur…" Dr. Krantz stopped breathed in and calmed down "Anne, I thought it was your day off."
"Yeah, but My friends wanted to check the place out, Any sign of him?"
"No but this is the last time, I swear to-"
"Why not ask her," said a South African accented voice.
Anne groaned, "Hi, Seth, still hunting for sharks."
A tanned man in his forties came up to Anne and Krantz He had a scowl on his face, This was Dr. Seth Rit, he was a brilliant Shark BIologist, He was also a colossal Jerk. He had never really liked Anne, First, she had replaced an old friend of his, the second was that he loved getting the money to refurbish the Shark area around every five years, In his twenty years working here, he had always gotten his way and was allowed to refurbish the tanks.
Until this year, Anne had got her Amphibia display was considered creative and educational.
Seth did not take that gracefully doing his best to disparage Anne at all turns.
"Ha, That's as funny as this prank, Tell me how did you convince him to do it?" said Seth with a mocking tone."
"I have no idea why what your on about," said Anne offended.
Seth snorted "Yeah I but you don't, I mean you are the only one he hasn't gone after.
"Great evidence," said Anne "But bad news, I have nothing to do with this."
Dr. Krantz stepped in "And if you make such an accusation like that without evidence again, I would suggest you start finding a new job"
Seth Glared at both of them and walked off.
Krantz sighed "Sorry about that Anne, you should know no one else thinks that."
"It's okay, trust me this is not the worst accusation I've had."
Ever since frogvasinon had been questioned as a hoax Anne had to deal with the usual crazies who wanted to prove something, Seths was probably the least offenevise accusation that had been made at her in years.
Anne was about to continue talking to Krantz when she noticed something.
Someone was exiting the Aquarium dressed in a trenchcoat and a fedora.
"Oh shoot I've gotta go and see my friends, See you, tomorrow Boss."
Krantz didn't get the chance to respond, Anne was following the figure as they made their way to the exit.
The figure was just outside the building when Anne caught up to him, she grabbed the Hat and removed the trenchcoat.
Behind the disguise was a young boy with brown skin, Indian perhaps, Blue eyes, Curly hair, He was wearing a purple shirt, and a pair of green shorts, the most expensive things he had were two new shows, The shocked look on his face turned to a relieved smile.
"Oh, it's just you Dr. Boonchuy."
Anne had known Matt for two years now, She remembered hearing about the boy who came here every weekend to look around the place, a few of her colleagues said he was weird, Anne had disliked that, It made him sound like there was something wrong with him.
The first time she met him was when she was working in the old Amphibian exhibit, he was watching one of the frog exhibits closely, his eyes were drawn to a certain frog that seemed to be chewing on its arm.
The kid was looking at it intensely, wondering if there was something wrong.
"It's okay, it's natural," she said.
The kid looked at her confused "What?"
"It's natural, Frogs eat their skin to use the proteins inside, it's kind of like recycling."
"Cooool" said the kid, "Is he slimy?"
Anne's smile grew even larger she knelt beside him and pointed at the frog, "He's especially slimy, all frogs need their Mucas, Um that's what the slimes called, to breath through their skin."
"That's amazing," said the boy who looked as interested as an eight-year-old boy could be in an aquarium.
Anne spent the rest of the afternoon answering the boy's questions, even during feeding time he just stood there watching her feed the Amphibians, He asked if he could hold Sprig. she told him no, she was surprised at just how mature he acted.
At the end of the day, he ran off, waving goodbye.
Anne had, to be honest, she loved it when children came to the exhibits, They were always interested in learning about Amphibians, sure a few were grossed out, She remembered when she was like that, But kids like Max made her realize just how awesome her job at the aquarium really was.
It was a week later the first prank happened. Someone had messed around with the monster dangerous animal signs that Seth had put up and it lead to a small goldfish in a bowl, in the lobby, It upset visitors down quite a bit, Anne thought it was funny, however, she saw the same Little boy she had talked to a week ago just looking at the fish with a smile on his face.
Then came the day the Jellyfish were being moved, somehow the old glass tubes were full of jelly.
The most impressive and dangerous one was the time he threw a skeleton into the shark tank, Seth had to deal with a lot of angry parents that day.
Anne had, to be honest, she was impressed but also a little worried over that last one.
She had tried to keep an eye out for him before he did these pranks but quite frankly she never caught him in the act.
Today was the first time she caught him escaping
Right now he was looking at him with wide inquisitive eyes with a cocky grin on his face, it was infectious, Anne, however, was able to fight back the smile.
"Max," she said channeling all of the disapproving looks she had gotten from anyone in authority during the first thirteen years of her life.
The look remained on his face, "What? it was fun, come on, Pirate treasure in the aquarium is a great idea, It'll be trending in a few hours."
"That's true but in the ways we really want."
"Fair, But in all fairness, I just ruined one of Doctor Rit's empty tanks, We both know he's a world-class jerk for accusing you of that."
Doctor Rits displeasure aside Anne couldn't help but admit that quite frankly Max wasn't wrong, She knew that he wasn't a decent kid at heart, sure he did stuff like this on a routine basis but he never hurt anyone, and never hurt any of the animals, It's why she hadn't ratted him out whenever he visited the Amphibia exhibit to as questions about frogs.
"Matt, you can't keep doing this, When I was your age I…
"Learnt about how to be responsible." They said in unison, Anne confident in her speech, Matt in sarcasm, they had this talk several times before
"I know," Said Max, "But come on it's just a little bit of a laugh."
Anne rubbed her temples, "Matt, Trust me, one day you're going to do something which you're going to regret and…"
Max turned away from her annoyed, "Let me guess That's when you'll give up on me." he said pouting.
"Actually I'll be here to help."
Max turned around surprised to see a smile on Anne's face, "What? Really?"
Anne laughed she knelt and rubbed his hair, "Yeah, Trust me I did a lot worse when I was your age, Believe me when I say if that day ever does happen, I'll be the first to help when you need it."
Max was blushing, he stepped back from Anne, "Th…Thanks, Dr. Boonchuy."
"You're welcome, now run, I won't cover for you if they catch you."
The boy smiled and ran away.
"Max Doe." said a voice from behind Anne.
Anne turned around to see Sasha and Marcy standing there, Marcy had a smile on her face, and So did Sasha but hers was more of a knowing smile.
"You know him…Wait his last name is Doe?" said Anne.
Sasha nodded, "Yep, He's one of my more…interesting patients."
"Interesting how?" asked Anne worried by what Sasaha meant, she didn't like what the definition of interesting could be.
"Well, a lot of adults in his life, Teachers, Guidance Counselors, and Other psychiatrists have put him down as a lost cause, That prank back was nothing, He's done bigger ones at school."
"What about you?" said Anne worried.
Sasha shrugged, "He hasn't tried to overthrow any kingdoms or gotten into any sword fights no the top of a tower so I have to disagree, and even if he did well Maybe he just needs the right friends to help him."
All three girls laughed, After all, they had gone through in Amphibia jokes about the hard times somehow came naturally.
"Yeah, He's a good kid at heart, I know it," said Anne, "Just wish he stop pranking my colleagues."
"Oh, Speaking of colleagues," said Sasha who then walked over and gave Anne a quick jab in the arm.
"Ouch, What's that for?"
"Ibrahim, Nice guy, Married."
Anne laughed, "Come on Sash, it was only a joke."
"You should be glad despite my failed efforts to flirt it was a rewarding day, I might bring a few of my patients to visit, places like these can be relaxing and get people to open up more."
"I'll talk to Krantz about it, He's always willing to help people if they need it." said Anne laughing
"So are we going to spend more time talking or are we going to get ready for the portal tonight?" said Marcy.
Anne smiled "Yeah, sure, It's just going to be us and some of the others who know about Amphibia talking around a portal, I mean it might open for a second but then nothing."
"I've heard worse reasons to spend an evening drinking," said Sasha.
The girls started to walk back to the car, Little did they know that Max was standing behind a pillar, silently listening to their discussion with great interest.