VLOGS FROM THE BOG

Amphibian Cuisine

"Hey, everyone back home!" Anne announced, the Plantar's kitchen visible in the background, "In this vlog, we talk about…food." The human dramatically announced it, as a cheap animation with the images of a milkshake and a homemade pie surrounding the word.

"In this video, I'll show you some local dishes we've tried after being zapped into this crazy frog world. Some of them are even dishes Hop Pop and I-"

"Hi everyone!" The old frog proudly announced.

"-have reworked a bit after our victory with the annual potluck. To assist us today we also have James-"

"Here to prove that British people's infamy as bad cooks is completely unwarranted!"

"-and Sprig, who is always willing to participate!"

"Indeed, I am!"

"Very well!" Hop Pop took charge, "Today we'll make a fun meal together: the Amphibia Bug Roast. Hopefully, we won't have to use my secret explosive ingredient." He chuckled, only for Anne to lean from the side.

"You probably will. Like always…" The girl bitterly said, generating confusion and curiosity in the other two co-cooks.

"Secret explosive ingredient?"

"What is it, Hop Pop?"

"Huh, maybe I'll show you another time. And you, Anne: what do you know?"

(…)

Hop Pop started to assemble the ingredients on the kitchen counter.

"Ok, I'll show you step by step the Plantars' long-history recipe to make the Amphibian Bug Roast. You start with a big, fat beetle-" he placed a small, blue-armored beetle on the counter and tried to chop it, only for the beetle to evade the blade.

"Tricky little-" Hop Pop cursed, once again trying to slice the bug, the beetle blocking it with the help of its armor before hissing back at him.

"Well, if your bug won't pass quietly," Hop Pop continued, "pit it against your next ingredient. Fight!" The old frog placed a long, purple centipede on the counter, the two bugs looking at each other with challenging looks. "And I'll let the winner go."

Unfortunately, the two bugs decided otherwise (looks like they were smarter than they appeared) and shrieked back at him, clearly not wanting to tear each other apart when they had better options, like teaming up.

"Dang it! They became friends!" Hop Pop grumbled again, noticing what was happening.

"Does this happen often?" James asked, looking at Sprig with a bothered expression.

"Only always!" Sprig replied, looking aside to avoid Hop Pop's scolding glaze.

"Well, then we will just have to move on to the next step: here, fight the next ingredients!" Hop Pop put several vegetables on the counter and around the bugs…only for the vegetables, being common vegetables with no strange properties or such, to just lie there and do nothing as the two bugs looked around with annoyed expressions.

"Dang pacifist vegetables!"

"Should we tell him?" James groaned.

(…)

"Hop Pop, if these bugs don't want to participate in the recipe, we don't have to necessarily use them." James tried to suggest, "We can simply take some who have already 'passed on' from the pantry and-"

"What? This recipe is to be made with fresh ingredients!" Hop Pop scoffed, walking toward the counter with a pot filled with dark-brown fuming liquid. "Very well, then! To proceed, this calls for… the boiling sauce!" He dropped the pot's content on the counter, trying to boil the two bugs at once. They, however, had foreseen this too and built a refuge with their 'pacifist adversaries' (the vegetables), using a large yellow gourd as the door, and thus managing to evade the chemical weapon aimed at them.

"No toads!" Hop Pop lamented again, "Their shelter is too strong- Agh!" The two bugs took advantage of the opportunity to strike back, moving the gourd they were using as a door for their refuge and jumping on the frog's face."

"Hop Pop!" Sprig, Anne, and James shouted at the same time, jumping to his rescue.

(…)

"Finally," Hop Pop said, waving a small white flag, Sprig and the two humans looked worn down like they had fought a giant mantis. "When you plead out for mercy, whip out the final ingredients," his hands moved to reveal a blue mushroom with skull symbols that everyone knew already, the two bugs hissing in horror as they saw it. "Boomshrooms!"

The mushroom exploded, blasting away the bugs, the vegetables, and the whole counter.

(…)

Anne and Hop Pop were looking far away toward the Plantar farm, now burning as a result of the 'secret explosive ingredient', Sprig lying on the ground knocked out, James to his side, the human boy looked even more miserable than before and with his hair burned out, while, in the background, Sasha, Jacob, Amelia and everyone else were trying to fight the fire.

"Yep, it always comes to this." Anne icily summarized, looking aside.

"It was all in the recipe!" Hop Pop tried to defend himself, as James rolled his eyes.

"And to think that I thought preparing pudding was hard…"

Swamp Survival

"Hello, you beautiful people!" Jacob announced, waving at the camera of his phone all dressed in his adventurer armor, standing in the middle of a swamp. "Inspired by Boonchuy's latest…video lesson, I decided to start my own series focused on how adventuring in Amphibia! Tips and suggestions about exploring Amphibia's savage land, as well as how to deal with the local wildlife! And maybe other various contents later. Today, we start with the basic: eight essential rules everyone ought to know when adventuring, alone or in small group, within the deep of Amphibia's forests and swamps! So, Soggy Joe, what are these rules?"

"The first rule for everyone that wants to explore Amphibia should keep in mind is more like a maxim: remember that out here, everything is trying to kill you." The survivalist frog said, as just behind him, several small creatures ate each other one after another, almost to underscore his point. "I don't know what kind of creatures you have in your world, but here in Amphibia, every wild area is filled with voracious creatures that eat frogs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. If the water is deep enough, you could face fishes, if the trees are too scarce you might meet birds or other kinds of large creatures. For this reason, always be wary when you adventure far from inhabited settlements: you must carefully weigh the pros and cons of every action and decision!"

"I guess that's a very important rule," Jacob murmured, noticing the remains of the small predatory clash that had just happened behind them. "What's the next rule?"

"If it blinks, it can think. While we are used to assume any beasts we may end up facing are not smart as us, that's not necessarily true. Of the many creatures that roams Amphibia's wilderness, the most terrifying ones are not the biggest ones, nor the most aggressive ones! But those who can think and plan their own strategies, against you!" the frog screamed as he pointed in the nothingness before Jacob could move his hand directly toward the camera. "The Giant Wasps are the best example of this fact! They can use their superior numbers and their hive-mind collective intellect to surround their preys to cut off any way for them to run, thus forcing their future meal in energy-draining battles before killing them. Moreover, as every frog who grow up in Amphibia knows, large beasts are not the only kind of dangers you may face: you may end up running even into bandits, psychopathic serial killers, cannibal tribes…"

"We know, we know Soggy Joe. Anne and James told me of the time they went to your camp." Jacob said, before turning to address the public once again, "Yes, as you probably already understood, Amphibia is still quite as lawless as the American Wild West once was, due to the vastness of its territory and the inability of its police forces to enforce law and order everywhere. Though considering what we saw of the Toads last time they came to Wartwood to ask for their taxes, I can't say to be that surprised."

(…)

"Anyway," Jacob continued, "what are the next rules?

"Rule three: travel lightly. The impregnability of Amphibia's deepest areas, its vastness and the ever-difficult traveling between inhabited settlements make the weight every travel takes with themselves as dangerous as the creatures or other potential dangers you might face by draining your strength and make you less wary to what you see and hear around you. Always travel with only the minimum necessary, unlessyou have a mount or a small carriage at disposition to storage your items."

"Is this why you always suggest using light armor unless you expect to run into some large bug?"

"Indeed, Jacob!" The survivalist frog smirked, a light shining in his eyes as the human realized that. "The armor is strong and may protect you from attacks, but it's also heavy and it may limit your movements, so it's suggested not to wear it all the time…unless you have no option to change later, or you know for sure you'll end up facing adversaries who the armor is made to protect you from. Just like… that…" Soggy Joe gasped, Jacob turning around to see a large creature coming out of the woods. A large carnivorous centipede with long mandibles over sharp jaws and ruby red eyes.

"Oh Frog! Soggy Joe, what kind of creature is this?"

"A Stalker Centipede!" The frog replied, walking back with caution, "These are not very agile because of how big they are! But their exoskeleton is too thick to be damaged on a frontal assault."

"What do we do now?! How do we defeat it?!"

"We don't." Soggy Joe simply admitted, "For now, I suggest we skip directly to the last rule: never fight an Amphibian beast unless it's required."

"And that means?"

"Run!" Soggy Joe yelled, he and Jacob hastening on a fast retreat, as the monstrous centipede ran behind them…

The Amphibian Way to Travel

"What's up, fellow humans?" Amelia announced, leaning on Akitsu's back while the giant dragonfly was standing on the ground with her wings barely moving. Both were just outside the Plantar farm. "Today, Anne wanted to make a video about driving in Amphibia, but since she's a little tied-up with some homemaking duties she decided to procrastinate up to the very last moment-"

"Anne!" Hop Pop's voice called from inside the farm, "Haven't you finished with those dishes yet?"

"I'm doing them, I'm doing them!" The aforementioned girl retorted, her voice grumbling.

"- I decided to shoot the vlog in her place. Don't worry, I'll show you everything you ought to know about how frogs get around. And that means- Akitsu, it's time to fly!"

"Bri! Bri!" The white dragonfly nodded, her wings beginning to flap faster and faster, before taking off.

(…)

Amelia and Akitsu were now flying at low altitude just above one of the main roads connecting Wartwood with the rest of the valley; on it many other frogs were traveling with their own personal vehicles.

"As you can see with your own eyes, the Middle Ages-like level tech of Amphibia means no modern vehicles like on Earth. So, no cars, no bikes, no scooters…instead most people still use mounts. The most commonplace mount in Amphibia are snails, but there are also wing bugs," she showed Mrs. Croaker ladybug, "spiders or even beetles. But none of them are better than my faithful partner and adventure companion, that my own master entrusted to me, Akitsu!"

"Brim-brum!"

"Before we arrived here, no one even managed to tame a dragonfly! Even less using one as a mount! The reason for that is simple enough, because dragonflies are carnivorous and don't hesitate to kidnap frogs before bringing them somewhere far and private to devour them. Luckily, Akitsu is no mere dragonfly at all: she's a White Skies Dragonfly! A legendary creature who's hungry only for fruit or vegetables. And specifically, in Akitsu's case, apples!" She dropped one for the bug to catch, the dragonfly happily grabbing it with her claws before starting to munch it.

(…)

"The advantages of a flying mount are many! The travel time is reduced from hours to minutes; Terrain and other physical barriers become insignificant; You easily avoid the large bugs or other predators that make travel and connection with other settlements so dangerous in the first place by soaring well above them. Then, why has no one even thought about this before?" Amelia moved her phone, showing up how the sky around her and Akitsu were basically empty, apart from a couple of wild dragonflies in the distance.

"So far, it seems that the idea of flying mounts is still far from the mind of the people of Amphibia, at least those from the Valley. I don't know if this is because flying animals are usually too hard to be tamed or because they're so expensive no one could get one in Wartwood. When I tried to ask around, no one could help me. I can only hope that once we will be able to leave the Valley, I'll manage to find enough info to clear up this small mystery."

(…)

Amelia and Akitsu were back at the Plantar farm's and were now in company of Bessie, the old and friendly family snail happily purring.

"Still, even if she's the best partner any samurai could ask to ride in battle with, Akitsu is not the only amazing vehicle in the Plantars' household! This is Bessie, Hop Pop's snail and Akitsu's adoptive old cool sister-in-law."

"Meep!"

"Bri-Bru!

"This book here," she showed off the book with all of Bessie's story written by Hop Pop, "is her manual and story, all condensed in one. As Marbles and Anne told me, you can't even hope to see this lucky gal moving without knowing what's in here. As you can clearly see, this book is, like, 20 times bigger than a DMV manual, and yet the girls and I have managed to memorize all of it. You won't believe all the details written inside this baby! For example, would you believe that, before getting married, Hop Pop's nickname as a single frog was-"

"Amelia!" Hop Pop rushed to stop her one of the most embarrassing secrets of his youth.

Chronicles of a Stargazer

"How are you feeling, ol' chums?" James said as he looked toward the camera, the room of Gertrude Plantar just behind him, several papers full of notes or sketches depicting stars or the blueprints for some kind of telescope having been placed on the walls, "This is James Blueingham, reporting from Amphibia."

"So, less than a month ago, I accidentally ended up being involved in some crazy event connected with some strange Music Box, that brought me and five other people to Amphibia. Since then, I noticed that this world's night sky is completely different from the one we usually see from Earth: not only I wasn't able to recognize a single constellation of the ones we have, but even the stars are not the same that we can see from our world. This could either mean that we're so distant from Earth that we can't see them from the planet's ground, or that Amphibia and its solar system are in another universe, separated from ours. Depending on the effective distance between Amphibia and Earth, should it be the former case, the difference is so negligible to be considered null." He stopped for a second, standing motionless in silence and trillions of dreadful thoughts gathered in his mind, the emotional battleground easy to see on his facial features.

"Anyway!" The boys smiled again, trying to push his anxiety to the most remote parts of his brain, "Just like Copernicus or Galilei during their time, I, James Blueingham of Worcester, will be the first human to observe and analyze Amphibia's still-unexplored sky! To help me with this endeavor, I asked Marcy to help me design a new kind of telescope, using already existing Amphibia's spyglasses as a template. Working together we can get a better vision of stars and other celestial bodies. By the way, did you know that as of today, most of the people in Wartwood only use spyglasses to watch natural landscapes or other people from afar? Knowing that they didn't have the curiosity to point them to the night sky still baffles me!"

(…)

"Ok, here's the blueprints that Marcy helped me draw and develop," the boy proudly showed another large sheet of paper, depicting the detailed sketch of the telescope. "As you can see, this telescope mounts multiple internal glasses, each one modified to enlarge and enhance the image you're looking at, while the main upper external glass is coated with a special material, made with things I don't want to know, that help prevent the glass from getting clouded or ruined by sand or other impurities. The structure is made of wood, because it is lightweight and cheap to find. Marcy even suggested some internal mechanical system to focus the vision when needed, like the gear shift of a cycle, but we've agreed to postpone it for the Mark II."

"And today is the day we finally received both the glasses and the wood containment needed to assemble the telescope. Commissioned respectively from Wartwood's artisans, Chad the glassmaker and Loggle, the local carpenter and joiner. I didn't hear from them again ever since I asked them if they could do that, but I'm quite trusting that they've got everything done already…"

(…)

"What do you mean, it's not ready?!" James gasped, looking at Loggle with a disbelieving expression. He was now in the Axolotl's workshop, the shiny interior a clear demonstration of the redecoration the shop had undergone just recently, thanks to the new cash flow brought in.

"I did say I could make it … not that it would… be on time, for I wasn't sure." Loggle said, the human grumbling as he was forced to listen to his voice defect once again, "I had too much going on in these last few days, as you can see. Redecorating my whole shop took quite a toll on my finances-"

"Ahem!" A voice called out, and Jacob walked inside the shop, his glare focused on the axolotl, "Aren't you forgetting someone? Namely, the person whose adventuring skills were the reason why you managed to crawl out of the bankruptcy path you were on when we first met you? And yet, even as you can start to afford extravagant expenses, you still can't afford to pay me decently for what I bring you!"

"I told you already, Jacob," Loggle struggled to speak, "The money you receive for the items you bring to me…is adequate. Do you have any idea…how little of the profits I take from every commission? Most of it is…to cover expenses."

"Expenses?" James stuttered, raising an eyebrow, "You asked me fifty coppers for the telescope!"

"Fifty?!" Jacob roared again, "That's about as much you paid me since I started!"

(…)

"Ok," James was leaning, his hand covering his head, as the boy struggled to fight the stress in his body, "Seems like there is a small impediment, so…I'll have to postpone the start of my start-watching study at a later date. Anyway, like and subscribe to not miss even one of the videos I'll be publishing, and to learn the dark, terrible dangers that are watching over us!"

He chuckled, before continuing, "Just kidding! What kind of dangers do you expect to be in such a beautiful sky?" He asked with a rhetoric, mocking tone of voice.

In Amphibia's night sky, the red moon glowed in all its brightness…

People of Amphibia

"Hi, everyone!" Marcy gleamed, greeting the viewers with a happy, cheerful expression. "Today we talk about Amphibia's people, their relationship with each other and the socialite hierarchy that divides them! As Anne-Banana probably already mentioned, one of the hard parts of being in Amphibia was convincing local people that humans are not scary monsters. When we arrived, we had some small…misunderstandings-"

(…)

"For the last time!" Sasha yelled as she, Jacob, James, and Anne struggled to hold the door that was keeping the angry mob outside, "We don't eat tadpoles!"

"My frog!" James gasped, as Marcy and Amelia kept on boarding up the windows, "How did they get torches and pitchforks so fast?!"

"It's a whole town of farmers!" Anne replied, Jacob and the others struggling to resist.

"Now I know how Boris Karloff felt at the end of the movie."

(…)

"-but now we are pretty cool with almost everyone, and this hardship inspired me to do a vlog talking about how Amphibian people see each other. Jacob, whenever you want!"

"Sure, Mars!" The boy replied, giving her a heartfelt look as he grabbed a large sheet of paper depicting the drawing of a pyramid and several sketches of Amphibians, drawn by Mar-Mar. "Ok, from what we've been able to learn, either by direct observation or by speaking with the locals, the Amphibian people hierarchy is very similar to the hierarchy of the French state of the Ancien Régime."

"Wait, are you stating that Amphibia is a pre-revolutionary nation?" Marcy asked, clearly worried for the implication.

"I said similar, Mar-Mar!" The boy hurried to reassure her before continuing, "Anyway, from bottom to the top, the first strata are the Frogs. Most of them, at least in the Valley, are farmers or herders, producers of basic goods like food, and only a small number of them can get professions more elevated like artisans. Still using the Ancien Régime as an example, we can say that their conditions are very similar to the people of the Third Estate: they have barely any political voice, yet they pay most of the taxes and support the whole system. Next to them, the axolotl, who are much rarer, have a slightly better social position even if they remain in the lower class with the frogs. Axolotls are usually artisans, small traveling merchants, or wealthy cultivators. And while they're still subjected to heavy tax payments, they usually receive a bit more privileges than frogs."

"And that's totally unfair!" Marcy pointed out.

"Yes, absolutely." Jacob agreed with her, "Then, in the middle of the pyramid, the middle social state is the one composed by the Toads, who act as enforcers for the upper strata. Not much is known about the Toad's society, since besides Toadstool there aren't many toads living in Wartwood. What we know is that Toads have a strong militaristic tradition and that the most of them end up serving in one of the four main Toad Armies that supervise the whole continent, each having their own toad commander and their own tower. Of the few toads that didn't serve in the Toad Army, they usually end up acting as mayors in various cities and towns, to keep everyone under firm toad rule, or assisting those functions. In short, Toads are the Amphibia government's brute force and attack dogs used to suppress local autonomy with no hint of dialogue!"

"Jacob!" Marcy chastised him.

"What? It's true!"

(…)

"Finally, we have the elite, the ruling class of Amphibia: The Newts!" Marcy announced, showing off a drawing of a newt wearing a robe and holding what it appeared to be a magical staff. "Newts reside mostly in the main city and capital Newtopia, located right in the middle of Amphibia," She showed a map of Amphibia, with a drawing of a large city at the center of the lily pad-shaped continent, "A bustling metropolis full of ancient knowledge, ruled by King Andrias Leviathan the First!" She then pointed at the sketch just above the newt's, depicting a crown.

"Newts rarely leave their capital," Jacob continued, "even in the Valley, one of the most fertile and populated regions of the continent, there is barely one newt for each larger city. So far, Duckweed has been the only newt we have ever met and thus, we have decided not to use him as an example of how Amphibian newts are."

"As soon as the mountain pass clears," Marcy chirped in, daydreaming already, "I hope we will be able to go to Newtopia and watch with our eyes the wonder of such city!"

"I wouldn't put your hopes this highly," Jacob piped in. "What do you expect from a whole city of racist egomaniacs?"

"Jacob!"

"Come on, Marbles, I too read the same sources you have on Newtopia. Nearly all newts live holed up in their so-called capital, they issue heavier taxes and obligations with every passing year, they must rely on Toads to maintain order outside of their walls and yet, refuse to acknowledge their fellow Amphibians or even give them more civilian rights. They live in a society of castes, and they put themselves on the top! How is that not blatant racism?!"

"I-I mean, I'm sure there is some upper explanation for this…" Marcy looked aside, the words of the boy clearly having a powerful effect on her as she struggled to assimilate them.

Glamour Time

"What's up, you all!'" Anne announced, waving her hand, Sasha and Marcy just behind her. "Today, we have decided to make a joint vlog to talk about a topic that we're all deeply fan of. You ready girls?"

"As always, Anna-Banana!"

"I was born ready, Boonchuy!" Sasha grinned, before taking over, "So something we've learned during our stay in this world is that frog hygiene is very…different, from the one we're used to." She shuttered, Anne rolling her eyelids in silent approval.

"Num, num." Sprig, Polly, Maddie, and Ivy chanted behind them, all four of them covered with mud and slime.

"Don't knock it until you've tried."

"You don't know what you're missing, Sash!" Ivy called out, Sasha struggling to hide her uneasiness.

"I miss showers so much." Anne confessed, Sasha looking away with a guilty look.

"Anyway!" Marcy intervened, "Today we're going to try and use some makeup we had in our backpack to introduce the concept of glamour in Wartwood!"

"Let's hope this works," Sasha bitterly said, "For I was actually planning to save these."

(…)

The girls were now back inside, Ivy standing behind them, while Polly, Maddie, and Amelia sat down on three footstools next to each other, Sprig on the other side.

"Polly, Maddie, and Amelia have kindly volunteered to be our test subjects for today's experiment."

"I didn't." Amelia snorted.

"And I accepted only because Marcy insisted." Maddie nodded, still wondering why she was there.

"To show the concept of glamour with a simple, yet efficient beginning," Sasha continued, "Boonchuy and I are going to test our glamour skills respectively with Polly and Maddie, while Sprig will try to work on Amelia and Marbles will draw sketches of our works so we can compare them and see which one was the better make-up artist."

"My drawing skills are ready, Sash!" Marcy replied in her usual adorable tone.

"Obliviously," Anne preemptively apologized, "Sprig never had done this before, so everyone back home please go easy on him."

"I'm not worried," Jacob spoke off-screen. "Even if he screws up, I doubt he could do something worse than this."

"Hey!" Amelia protested, shaking her fist, while Sasha hid her chuckling with her hand.

"Anyway, just try your best, bud." The girl looked at Sprig, who thumbed her up.

"I will, I will."

(…)

As Anne was doing Polly's make-up, Sasha was working on Maddie's while Sprig's was doing Amelia's, the others were watching with fascinated expressions, waiting to see what the three of them were doing.

"All right, all right!" Anne said, "Just a little more blush and we're done." She stepped away, revealing Polly now with red lipstick over her lips, and a light blush on her cheeks. "A fresh and natural look for a tadpole on the go."

"I've finished as well," Sasha proudly announced moving aside to show Maddie, now with a different hairstyle that fitted more her pink hair, violet lipstick and some glow on her cheeks and eyebrows. "Ta-da! What do you think? An achromatic, glowing mascara combined with a fresh new hairstyle to highlight Maddie's natural cuteness and bring out her beautifulness!"

"I have to admit, this doesn't look too bad…" Maddie murmured, looking at her own reflection.

"Can you do me next, Sash?" Ivy happily jumped, earning an approving smile from her adoptive big sister.

"Sure thing, Ivy!"

"Ok, Sprig," Anne turned to him "Show us what you got- WOAH!" The human gasped, and so did everyone else as they saw what Sprig did with Amelia, the now fully-glamoured human looking stunning and gorgeous.

"Is-is this me?!" Amelia almost gasped, once she saw what Sprig had done to her, amazed by her new look. She knew she looked cute already, but now… she was magnificent.

"I-I can't believe it!" Sasha said, doing what Marcy would have described as a 'Surprised Pikachu face.'

"Sprig!" Anne almost yelled, unable to believe what she was seeing. "How are you so good at this?!"

"I don't know?" The young frog replied meekly, feeling embarrassed by the attention he was receiving suddenly. "It comes naturally to me."

"I guess that's what you call a natural talent…" Marcy said in a low voice, her hand unmoving, not realizing her pencil having already dropped to the floor.

"I want to look like her!" Polly pointed at Amelia, who was still busy trying to accept that it was her face the super-glamorous lady in the mirror.

"That's two of us!" Maddie announced.

"Make three!" Ivy interjected.

"Oh yeah!" Sasha announced. "It's do-over time!"

(…)

"Sprig, forget make-up guru." Anne said, checking her new glamour in the mirror, looking at the mascara the young frog had expertly placed over her eyebrows, cheeks, and face, making her look a thousand time more beautiful than she normally looked. "You're a make-up god!"

"You are amazing, Sprig!" Sasha nodded, eagerly checking her own glamour, better than any other make-up she had put on. "I take back everything bad I may have said about you: you are the best frog friend a human girl could have."

"Was…was I this beautiful all along?" Marcy said, looking at her own aquamarine glamour. She knew that, if she had worn such makeup back at Saint James, the boys would have quarreled to ask her out.

"I…I can't believe you are this talented, Spriggy!" Ivy happily said as she, Maddie, and Polly kept looking at their own reflections in the mirror.

"Hey, girls!" The trapdoor to the basement opened and Jacob peeked out, stretching. "Can you be a little quieter? I'm trying to-"

However, his words stopped as he looked at them, over their newly-glamoured face, the girls seeing his eyes widening as his mouth hung open for almost a minute. "

"Excuse me." The boy said, closing the trapdoor with a slam, the girls hearing some sounds coming from the basement before Jacob, now dressed in an elegant tuxedo, his hair greased, jumped out once again in a sprint, landing on his knees right in front of the girls with a red rose in his teeth.

"You're bewitching, charming, glamorous, absolutely breathtaking! Vous n'êtes pas seulement belles, vous êtes magnifiques ! Tellement que je ne peux vous quittez des yeux." The human boy said with a charming French accent. "What are you doing tonight, babes?"

Marcy chuckled, and so did Anne, seeing the effect their makeup had on Jacob, blushing a little. They weren't used to receive this many compliments from boys, not even from that one boy they had known for so long.

Amelia, for her own, simply rolled her eyes in disapproval, as she realized her cousin was now letting his hormones drive him. But before she could call him out-

"Hey, friends!" James opened the door, his dress looking all worn down and sweaty. "Sorry I'm late, I went to help Mrs. Croaker with a couple of things-"

"Hey, James!" Ivy welcomed him, "Look at us! Sprig is so talented with make-up! Check what he did to my big sis!"

"BONNIES!" James gasped, his eyes filling with stars as he watched over the girls. "Um, er… Can you excuse me for just a moment?" He slammed the door, reopening it less than a minute later, all his dirtiness and filth gone as he now wore a full classic dress with a necktie, that made him look like a classic old-England baronet. "Now, where were we? Oh right, I wanted to ask if you would like to go…somewhere. What about eating outside for today?"

"Don't you dare, you rosbif!" Jacob put himself between James and the girls, almost as he was trying to protect them. "They already have a commitment with moi!"

"You can't speak for them, grenouille!" James spoke back, glaring at Jacob, the two boys refusing to take one step back. "And you're trying to cover for all three of them at once? You vile colonizer!"

"Oh, I guess I forgot you think they're yours." Jacob roared.

"Guys, guys!" Marcy tried to stop them, "Don't quarrel! There are better ways to settle this!"

"She's right! There is a proper way to deal with this solution." James grabbed one of Hop Pop's kitchen glove and violently slapped it on Jacob's face. "I challenge thee to a duel for my satisfaction, you scallywag!"

"Oh?" Jacob was taken back for a moment, before smiling drily at him. "So, will you face me on the field of honor, Briton?!"

"I absolutely shall!"

"Ok, this is not what I was trying to do…" Marcy said.

Ad voluntatem hominis

"Hey, all!" James welcomed the viewers, standing just outside of Wartwood's city hollow. "So, since my friends have already talked about a great range of topics of our life here in Amphibia, I've decided to talk about one thing none of them is ever going to talk about. So today-"

But the boy's speech was cut short as his voice was replaced by static and the image vanished for a couple of seconds, before reappearing. But now, neither James, nor the city hollow, nor Wartwood were appearing anymore.

In their place, there was now a dark room, barely illuminated by the fiery light of some lanterns hanging from the ceiling and two large burning braziers. Between the two braziers was a large metallic-colored throne with two wing-like decorations on either side, and on the throne sat a figure with a face hidden by darkness, seemingly unmoving.

"Greetings, fellow human brethren," a deep voice said, as the figure rose from his throne and started to walk forward, revealing himself to be a human boy, barely a teenager by physical development, dressed in a pitch-black armor, a large sword to his side, an insignia over his chest, blonde hair growing from his head. "To a world of chivalry and honor, to a world born unto the blessing of God – to a world where Man is the master and lord of every being in the Creation, and where no creature rises to contest the natural order of the things. From a world of monsters and horrors, from an evil land filled with sin and with wickedness, from a world of bloodthirsty conquerors and raiders, ruled by the slimiest of the creatures, from the land of Amphibia, from a place where frogs, and no men, are the dominant rulers – greetings!"

(…)

The boy was now kneeling in front of the camera, showing fully the details on his face. The dark mirrors of a life spent in the shadows.

"My name is Aiden, former crown prince and heir to the throne of the kingdom of Burgundy, only son of King Rudolf III, son of King Conrad I and Princess Mathilde of France. My genius intellect and knowledge of accursed Amphibian technology allowed me to send this message through my fellow human brethren's devices, in the hope they can safely reach the land of Man. A message to warn you of an impending danger that threatens all the kingdoms, and the very existence of Man."

"Over a thousand years ago, I faced one of the demons of this realm, whose body appearance resembled those of common mud vermin, but who were able to talk and act like humans. During our battle, the demon cursed me, not only trapping me into this world with no way for me to return home, but also damning my body to never grow old or decay, forcing me to endure centuries of suffering in this wicked land forgotten by honor and justice. Yet, during my peregrinations as I struggled to survive, I found out that these…creatures, already know of our world. They were watching us, like wolves stalking a sheep herd, waiting for a chance to invade our land and plunder our riches."

He showed a drawing on a paper roll, depicting an image he had seen with his own eyes, many centuries ago. The Calamity Box, who had brought him to Amphibia a long time ago. Three humanoid figures, one for each gems' color of the Box. A tall, dark figure, with red eyes, his claws closing on the Box as other orange eyes, of demonic nature, looked over it. The castle of Newtopia, the capital of Amphibia, standing over the images of fire and destruction, of so many people and lands who all ended up being the prey to the insatiable hunger of the lord and rulers of Amphibia.

A clear foreshadowing of what would have befallen on Earth if someone wouldn't have stopped it.

"Now that the Box has returned, it's only a matter of time before the war plans of such beasts are set in motion once again. I have seen with my own eyes the power of our enemy, the might of their mechanical soldiers, the cruelty of their tyrant kings. I have seen with my own eyes, the large dragon that will lead the invasion. I know that, if such a force were to attack the land of Man, many would be slaughtered. For this reason, I am using all my knowledge and resources to stop this future to come to pass, to stop the enemy invasion before it starts and to destroy their might before they can summon it."

Red visors glowered behind the human, and many Pikemen marched forward, stopping behind Aiden, waiting for the boy's order.

"With great pain and hardship, I managed to crack the secrets of the enemy's technology, and I reversed it in order to be used against them!" The human prince said, his face hardening in resolve, "I created spies and informers, to stay informed of our enemies' plans. I hired common thugs and bandits, to carry out my missions while hiding myself from these animals' leaders. I know where their demoniacal forges are, and where the Gems' temples are hidden. I made plans and counterplans so when our enemies will move, I will be there to stop them at every step!"

He looked down for a moment, tears falling from his cheeks, the boy's mind cracking as once again he faced the enormity of his mission. Yet, he didn't cry, nor did his resolve fade: he knew that he had to do it. He knew he had to save everyone.

"I am sending this message," Aiden spoke again, his firm voice stopping for a second, "to warn all the rulers and kingdoms, to raise their armies and reinforce their stronghold, in the event I am not able to stop the enemy's invasion, in the hopes the time I'll give you will be more than enough to defeat our enemy and repel the invasion on our lands. Yet, I send this also so you shall know of my labors to protect our world, to stop the enemy's invasion before it starts. I hereby renounce to any chance return to the land of Man," he shrugged for a second, "to bind the walls of Justice and redeem this corrupted land. To rebuild this kingdom and heal its sins, and to stand on guard against the resurgence of its demons. For Frog and Man…cannot coexist."

Aiden looked forward for a second, his eyes now devoid of emotion, staring cold into a vast abyss of nothingness.

"Even without their master, the wretched scourge of these vermin would become an even greater threat to the world of Man without command. For the well-being of everyone, control must be maintained. Forever and more, I will be the jailer of this world. And to prevent Man from ever face again … the threat of an Amphibian invasion… Amphibia itself must be cleansed."

He got back on his feet, his voice now sounding deeper, almost as he was making a vow.

"To protect the future of our children, no frogs will receive mercy. To ensure the survival of Earth, Amphibia must be burned to the Core! To defend the beauty of our world, no Amphibian life will be ever allowed to exist! To guarantee the Existence of Man…ALL. AMPHIBIANS. MUST. DIE!"

Static rose again, restoring the image back to Wartwood, James standing in the middle of the main plaza with Toadstool and all the other frogs standing between them and cheering. And then-

"Brrr!" Toadstool trembled, and so did every other frog behind James. "Where is this cold chill coming from? Snow day has passed already!"

"It's just a passing gust of wind, Toadstool," James hurried to say. "Don't worry too much about it!"