The waiting room outside the psychiatrist's office was decorated in the usual cheerful style, there were 'positive thinking' messages on the wall, the secretary sat at her desk working, and threw the occasional suspicious look at him.
Max didn't really care for her looks, it wasn't judgmental, more like a babysitter whose job was to make sure he didn't move from the spot.
He didn't want to be here.
He thought back to the incident that got him sent here.
Flushing the firecracker down the school toilet might not have been the smartest thing to do, but he needed to get rid of the evidence somehow, it was a shame that a security camera caught him entering the bathroom.
The school had offered the Doe's two choices, one was to take Max out of school or have Max meet up with the school's psychiatrist once a week.
They choose the one that wouldn't get them that much attention.
A part of Max wanted to be expelled, he didn't really care for teachers or his classmates, they might smile but if they knew who he really was…
The ring of a phone broke him out of his thoughts, the secretary answered it, "Hello…Yes he's still here."
She put the phone down and turned to Max, "You can go in now, the doctor's waiting, third door on the left," she pointed down a hallway
Max stood up and started to walk in that direction, Max walked to the door and knocked.
"Come in," said a voice from the other side.
Max opened the door to see an office still being unpacked.
Littered around the place were unopened boxes, placed on the floor, the small couch which had some boxes on it and a desk.
There were a few things unpacked, a few psychology books, a laptop and a few degrees on the wall.
The only thing missing was the psychiatrist.
"Hello?" said Max half expecting the psychiatrist to jump out of nowhere.
"Sorry," said an apologetic voice from beneath the desk, "Just give me a second.
A woman's head rose from below the desk, the woman was attractive, she had short blonde hair, on her left cheek was a beauty spot, On the right cheek was a small scar.
The woman stood up revealing that she was wearing a leather jacket and a purple skirt, she was holding to a picture frame, she placed it on the table, facing towards her.
"Sorry, about that, dropped the picture, You must be Max."
Max nodded, not saying a word, He knew this was an act she was acting friendly to try and crack him, he knew this from T.V.
"Great, just take a seat and-Oh" the woman walked towards the coach and removed the boxes that were placed on it, "Sorry about that, I've only started today, I haven't had enough to unpack and-"
Max just walked to the coach and sat down, looking at the woman.
"Ah," said the Doctor, "You're playing tough, I respect that."
Walking to her desk the Doctor picked up a file from a box and opened it.
"Says here you destroy an entire bathroom with one fire cracker," she said in a serious tone
Max still didn't say anything, He knew she was trying to relate to him.
"Honestly, I'm not impressed."
There it was the usual adult way, just start trying to break him
"I mean by your age I had destroyed at least three bathrooms."
Max tough facade broke a little, "What?" he said accidentally.
The Doctor nodded, "Yeah, I mean the teachers who I talked to said you were pretty awful."
The tough facade returned, He knew that the teachers hated him, that wasn't surprising.
"They wouldn't stand a chance at half of the stuff I did at your age." said the blonde with a laugh.
Max looked at her confused, "Sorry, what?"
"I was running a black market my first year of catholic school, I had a steady ring of candy suppliers for students and a few of the corrupt teachers."
Max continued to stare, What was this woman? She seemed actually cool, almost as cool as Doctor Boonchuy.
"God knows what these losers would have done when I was thirteen, they'd never stand up to a pug party."
"A pug party?" Max's eyes widened.
"Oh yeah," said the doctor looking at her nails, "basically we took over the morning announcements and released an army of pugs in to the school, still surprised I wasn't expelled for that."
Max eyes widened, he was sitting in front of a legend, the girl who with her friends had filled an entire school hallway with dogs, how it had taken hours to get the students back to class and to capture the pugs.
There were rumors that some dogs still littered the hallway.
"That was you?" Max said praying for more information.
"Yeah, Don't do it though."
"Too late," said Max enthusiastically, "I'm already trying to figure out how to do it, Where did you get the pugs from?"
"Well they to be honest they were rentals, and-No," said the Doctor sternly, "I know it sounds cool, but it was bad, you shouldn't really look up to old me as a role model."
"Why not, who else can I look up to? You read what my teachers said."
The doctor nodded, "You're right they're jerks, and they shouldn't say that about you."
Max was surprised to hear her speaking up for him, "Well that's why I should do it."
"Ha," laughed the doctor, "I know that feeling."
"See," said Max throwing up his arms, "If they think I'm worthless why shouldn't I do it, if everyone thinks I'm awful why shouldn't I be."
The frowned, "Because I don't believe that."
Max looked at her confused, "So what? I-"
"When I was thirteen, I thought I could get away with anything," The doctor stood up and walked to the coach, she sat down next to Max, he was surprise just how concerned he was for her.
"I was a horrible person, I hurt my friends, I hurt other people because I thought I could get what I want, I was so obsessed… that when I found someone worse, no one listened to me."
"What happened?" said Max, scared.
"...Well eventually I messed up so badly, I almost everything."
The Doctor just sat there quietly, not looking at him.
Max reached out and held her hand, he didn't know why he did it "Sorry," he said.
The doctor laughed, "See this why your teachers are wrong."
"What?"
"They say you're evil but the first thing you did when you saw I was upset was to try and comfort me."
The young boy blushed, "Anyone could do that,"
"Trust me, I wouldn't when I was your age," said the Doctor, "That's another reason why I refused to believe your teachers, I was far worse, and I changed, I can help you find a better outlet for your pranks."
Max looked at the doctor smiling, he had to be honest he felt he could trust her a little.
"Okay I'll admit you don't seem like a bad of a quack."
The doctor laughed, "Thanks."
"So what other pranks did you pull?"
Sasha looked at him for a second and raised her hand, "How about this, You answer a few questions I have and for each answer I tell you some of my sordid past."
"Deal."
Max took her and shook.
The rest of the session was full of Max telling the Doctor about his life and interests, and then Sasha telling him some of the less destructive pranks of her youth, before they knew it the hour was over.
"So you did all that and Only your friend was punished?"
"Yeah she had to write an essay? I mean it a light punishment but what the heck? Anyway our times up."
Max looked at the clock, he was surprised just how quickly this had ended, "Oh, Yeah, I guess I can go now."
The Doctor nodded, "Yeah, time flies quickly when you're discussing your past misdeeds to a ten-year-old boy."
Max stood up, "So we do this weekly then?"
"Pretty much, But I need you to do something for me?"
"What's that?"
The Doctor stood up and picked up a paper slip, she handed it to Max, "I need you to hand this to your parents, I want to talk to them as well."
Max swallowed, He knew the Doe's wouldn't want to talk to her, they tried to avoid talking to his teachers, what happened if she talked to them, and they tricked her, what happened if she tricked them, and she discovered what he did to Mrs Grovie…
"Okay." Max said shakily, he took the slip and walked to the door.
"Oh Max."
He turned to see the doctor smiling at him, "If you have any trouble just call me."
Max nodded "Okay thanks Doctor… I didn't get your name?"
The doctor laughed, "It's Doctor Waybright, but you can call me Sasha."
….
Max had never flown before, he always wanted to but the does had never wanted to go on vacation.
however he felt that the basic airplane experience was nothing like this, in the last ten minutes he had cried, screamed, prayed to various gods to ensure his safety and a few devils as well.
His fellow passengers were also having issues, Marcy had a smile plastered on her face, she kept screaming "RELAX THIS IS PERFECTLY SAFE," Whenever Jillian flew towards the ground.
Lucian had his eyes closed, not saying a word terrified.
Nicole's however scared him, she just laughed madly, each time they dove, each time they spun out of control, each time they flew towards the ground.
Max knew from that moment on that laugh would haunt his nightmares.
After a terrifying twenty minutes, they spotted the town.
"WE'RE GOING DOWN, EVERYONE HOLD TO SOMETHING."
Max grabbed hold of Lucian, the toad boy was glad to know he wasn't the only one terrified.
The next thing he knew they were on the ground.
Max had no idea how it happened, but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth, he jumped off the bird and landed face forward, never more relieved to be on solid ground.
"That wasn't so bad," said Marcy calmly.
Max stood up, he was about to accost her when he noticed where they had landed.
In front of them was a building, however it seemed different from the others, it was cleaner, he noticed that there were a lot of middle age Amphibians hanging around it, there was a large stone sign in front of it,
Written on it was, 'Wartwood Spa.'
"Why are we here?" Max asked the three frogs behind him.
"Well," started Marcy, "after your experience I figured that you'd want to go somewhere and relax and-"
"It's because you stink," said Nicole.
Marcy glared at Nicole for a second before shrugging, "yeah that's it."
Max rolled his eyes, he was not going to a spa. Besides, he wasn't too dirty, just because he was covered in mud and slime and last time he had picked out a small fish from his hair, he was perfectly fine.
"I'm not going to the spa," said Max defiantly.
"Oh, really," said Marcy, she then clicked her fingers, "Lucian do it."
Before Max could respond, he felt himself being grabbed and lifted.
"Sorry about this Max," replied a voice from beneath him.
"Lucian, let me go," replied Max.
"Make sure they get him clean." Said Marcy.
Max let out an angry scream as he was carried into the spa, with him gone Marcy turned to Nicole, "Okay while Lucian is working on phase 'Clean Max,' we work on our phase."
Nicole nodded, "He's going to love it."
The two female Amphibian then ran through the streets heading towards their destination, little did they know they were being spied upon, by a newt in a trench coat, he picked up his fly phone.
"They're in the town, I'll keep an eye on them and tell you if they go anywhere else."
…
As the water splashed over Max's head he wondered if the three Amphibian were just trying to torture him, the soap stinging in his eyes only confirmed that.
"You have to tell me who does your hair," said a pink frog with green hair, attached to her dress was a pair of scissor attached to her apron.
Max grumbled and sank a little deeper into the tub he had been placed in.
"This is the life," said Lucian resting in the tub next to the human, in contrast to Max he was having the time of his life.
There was one positive to this, he was now clean, a part of him was glad of that, the only problem was that he had given up his clothes to be cleaned by the spa workers, he was currently wearing some shorts that had were usually worn by Newts.
Outside of Max and Lucian there was only one other customer, his face was mostly covered by a towel, the only bit uncovered was his mouth.
He sighed, he turned to Lucian, "How long do we have to be here for?"
"We're supposed to wait for the girls, but I can stay forever.," with that The toad sunk underneath the water of the tub, Max could see bubbles floating to the surface.
Max rolled his eyes and sighed, the frog that was working on his hair removed her fingers from his locks, "I'm just going to get some conditioner, ill be back in a few minutes."
As the frog left Max briefly considered sneaking out even if it meant sneaking through town wearing some shorts mean for a newt
"Your friend seems to have given himself to the spa," said a voice with a Spanish accent.
Max looked ahead to see it had come from the newt.
"I was told not to talk to strange Newts," replied Max.
"Fair," said the newt, he removed the towels revealing fabulous hair, and a small triangular beard.
"I am…" The newt paused for two seconds, " Tritonio ."
"What's up with the pause?"
"Dramatic effect," said the newt casually
Max just turned away from and lay back in the Bath.
"Ah the strong quiet type, I've handled your type before."
"I'm not in the talking mood," Max shot back.
"Clearly, my guess this isn't a willing trip."
"Obviously," said Max his voice dripping with enough sarcasm that most teenagers would be impressed by.
"So why are you here then?"
"They forced me here."
"Huh," replied Tritonio, "they seem like… what is the word, jerks?"
"They're not jerks," Max shot back defensively.
"Ah, so you do care for them."
Max glared at Newt's smug face.
"So, What happened?"
Max sat there for a few seconds, He wasn't going to tell this newt anything.
Tritonio continued talking "I'm guessing something happened, and now your friend are trying to be nice, and for some reason you don't want that and despite how much you dislike this you're willing to go through with this, Why?"
"You Wouldn't understand," replied Max
Tritonio laughed, "No I probably wouldn't, but I think you don't either."
Max was quiet, "Why do you care?"
"Call me curious and a little bit of attempted redemption, why do you hate your friends?"
"They're not my friends."
"Yet they're not jerks, why are you scared to them?"
"I'm not scared of them," replied Max gruffly.
"I think you are, I remember when I was scared."
"Did someone make fun of your beard?"
"Actually yes, but another time, during the war, I was… not a good person, I was a criminal and only thought about surviving, using those who trusted me were just tools to get what I wanted, I even used kids to Rob a train…several actually, it was a surprisingly lucrative crime."
"And then?"
Tritonio sighed wistfully, "I found friends, and I realized I couldn't leave them, admittedly I tried to, but a certain human dragged me back."
"Was it Anne?"
The newt chuckled to himself, "Yes, it was."
Max sat there in his lukewarm bath, maybe he was right, the three Amphibians were trying to be nice, heck a few days ago he was willing to call them friends.
But they didn't really know him, they didn't know what he had done, not just the pranks and the scams, the moment they knew about Mrs Grovie…
There was also the matter of Anne, Max was still confused, he was still hurt by what happened yesterday how she had said all those things, but also how she saved him, maybe that's who she was someone who cared for people but wanted them to be good all the time, if she knew how bad he really was.
"What if I wasn't scared of them because they want to be my friends, what if it's because of something I've done?"
"You're a kid, what could you have possibly done?"
Max drew his knees to his chin, "Something pretty bad."
Tritonio was quiet was a second, "Well, sometimes people can surprise you, I told my lover all my sins and despite my fears she still loves me, it was the most terrifying thing back then, but it was worth it."
With that the newt stood up to reveal he was wearing pink speedos, he walked to the exit.
"Good luck kid, say hello to Anne for me."
Max sat there for a few seconds wondering what he could do now.
Lucian rose suddenly from his tub and turned to Max, "Sorry fell asleep, did I miss anything?"
Max looked at him and shrugged, "nothing."
The pink frog returned to the room, "Hey guys, your friends have come back, they want to see you."
With that Lucian made a shrill excited noise and tried to climb out the bath, he fell to the floor but quickly picked himself up and ran through the door.
Max sighed, he pulled himself up, he just hoped his clothes were clean.
…
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DESTROYED MY CLOTHES?"
The three Amphibians standing next to him looked at him worried
The newt at the desk looked at Max serenely, "Well sir we washed your clothes but well… they basically fell apart, we tried to remove the stains, but your clothes were more stain the clothes at that point, they just fell apart."
"Great so I have to leave here wearing these shorts?"
"No, of course not."
Max sighed, "Oh good."
"You have to give the shorts back."
The human glared at the frog dressed in white, "So what you're saying is that I have to leave here in my birthday suit?"
"What's wrong with that?" said the ever nude Nicole.
"I have the solution to this," said Marcy who was holding a brown parcel.
Max turned to her, "Does it involve blowing this spa into oblivion?"
"No," she said, handing the parcel to Max, "open this."
Max took it, he lifted a part of the brown paper and saw a green fabric beneath it.
He looked at Marcy again.
"What's this?"
"Clothes," responded Marcy, "civilized people wear them."
"Personally I love being a savage," said Nicole.
Max looked at the frog girl for a second, she had a slightly annoyed look one that said, 'why is he arguing with me, I'm right
"Is this a trick?" asked Max.
"Well if it was, your other option is walking out here naked, and no one wants that."
With no other choice Max walked to the changing room, he opened the parcel fully, the contents were a Blue shirt, green shorts, and a red jacket, He was surprised they fit, looking in a mirror he was surprised how good they looked, he was about to leave when he noticed there was something else in the parcel, he pulled out a pair of yellow shoes.
He slipped them on, they fit perfectly.
Opening the curtain he saw them standing there, Lucian and Nicole looked excited, Marcy looked worried, Max got the feeling this was her idea, worse part was that he kind of both hated and liked her for that
"Looking good," said Nicole.
"You look cool," Said Lucian.
"Does it fit?" asked Marcy a terrified look on her face, "I don't know your measurement. So I told the tailor to make it for a tall newt."
"I like it," said Max reassuring the frog.
Marcy seemed to relax when she heard that and quickie put on a smile, "so you ready for your next surprise?"
"Do I have a choice?"
"Nope," said Nicole.
Max sighed, a part of him didn't want to do this anymore, a part of him just wanted to go back to the basement and hide there.
"Max?" said a gentle voice.
The human looked up to see Marcy Standing a kind look in her eyes, "You don't have to come if you don't want to, but I promise you we're not planning anything horrible."
A part of him wanted to take that offer, just go back to the farm and hide, however looking at the three Amphibians standing made him wonder why not.
Tritonio may have been on to something, a part of him really wanted to spend time with them.
He sighed, "fine."
"Great let's go swimming."
Before Max could protest Marcy grabbed his hand and the three started to run.
…
Anne walked through the town downcast not even bothering to look at anyone around her.
Despite this, various frogs still called out to her in greeting, she just gave them a small wave which seemed to suffice.
Eventually she heard the sound of footsteps beside her.
"Anne?" Came Sasha's voice next to her.
When they were younger there was a look Sasha would give Anne when she suggested something the cheerleader thought was stupid. A look that made Anne feel like she was worthless one that made her feel like she messed up badly.
Right now Anne wanted to see that disgusted face more than anything.
Instead, when she turned she saw a look of worry, of a concerned friend.
Anne cursed Sasha for changing.
"He's fine, he's at the farm right now, hiding in the basement."
Sasha looked more concerned, "Did you see him this morning?"
Anne rubbed her arm, "Hop-Pop and the others will see him, I'm going to see Mr.X and get him to take Max to a hotel."
"So you're avoiding him now?"
Sighing, Anne stopped walking, "Sash, it's my fault he was placed in danger in the first place."
"Didn't you save him?"
"Doesn't matter I-"
"What's the reason?"
Anne paused, she looked at Sasha, "it's stupid."
"What's stupid?" said another voice joining the conversation.
Anne turned to see Marcy was walking next to her.
"She feels bad about what happened to Max."
"Oh," responded Marcy, "frog Marcy told me everything, she's gone with her friends to talk to him."
"They'll probably more helpful than me." Anne groaned.
"Seriously Anne," said Sasha softly, "What's up?"
Anne rubbed her eyes, it's just... I should be better than this, I just lashed out at him, I was so angry at him and…" her voice drifted off, she always kept thinking about how she had endangered him how it was all her fault.
"True, but you did save him," said Marcy.
"From the danger I put him in"
Sasha places her hands on Anne's shoulders, "Listen Boonchuy, you're somewhat responsible for what happened to him, but I know you'll fix this."
Anne gently removed Sasha's hands, "You don't get it, this isn't a small mistake I-"
"Did you try to take over the kingdom?" said Sasha bluntly
Anne shook her head, "No I-"
"Did you strand your friends In a different world and lie to them?" said Marcy.
"No I-"
"Then I don't see what's wrong," said Sasha, "Is this just about Max?"
Anne stood there confused, "What?"
"Well think of it like this, he's a kid who's stuck in this world, he acts irresponsibly and almost gets himself killed, yet you discover that despite his actions he's a decent kid who looks after the people around him and is extremely loyal, sound familiar?"
"Sprig?"
Sasha facepalmed, "No-"
"Is it you?" asked Marcy.
"No I-"
"Oh it's Marcy," said Anne
Sasha rubbed her temple, she was keeping her cool, "No, I meant you Anne."
Anne gave a sad laugh, "You're not wrong, we do have a few things in common."
"So why not tell him that?"
"Because I know he doesn't want to see me after this, the day we came here… I told him the day he made a mistake like this I'd be there to support him, but when the worst happened, I blamed him for everything."
"I mean he was to blame for a lot of mayhem"
"But that's it, not only did I break my promise, but I treated him the same way the town used to treat me when I was the town monster."
Anne shuddered at that, she remembered those days, sure it had only been a month but still had been her first experience in this world.
She had been treated like a monster, had food thrown at her, and had been almost chased out of town daily, a part of her still had nightmares that the town would turn against her.
But the worst had been from outside Wartwood, a newt, one who had seen her as a specimen, he had wanted to cut her open and study her, he had affected her so much she pretended to be a frog for a day.
His name was Professor Scumdrop, when the newt hadn't gotten his way he had tried to attack her, Sprig and Polly.
Afterward he had tried to kidnap Sprig, Polly, Ivy and Maddie, the last she saw of him was falling from a tower.
"I treated him like a monster, I should have been better."
A part of her wanted them to blame her, that'd when a hand landed on her shoulder, she turned to see Marcy smiling at her.
"Yeah," said Marcy, "Welcome to the 'I screwed up in Amphibia club.'"
"We're getting shirts made today." Added Sasha.
Anne had a small laugh.
"Trust us Anne, you messed up with Max but take it from us, you can still fix it."
Anne looked at her friends and smiled.
"You're right, I'm going to see Croaker, you guys want to come?"
Sasha turned away from Anne, "Actually I went to the hospital already, Mrs Croaker isn't there anymore."
Anne's stomach lurched, "What?
"She checked herself out last night."
"Oh," said Anne, somewhat calmed down.
"She did punch out two of the biggest nurses, however."
"Did they try to stop her from leaving?" asked Marcy.
"No, she just does that," said Anne laughing, "she has a mean right hook."
The three laughed, Anne's worries were briefly washed away.
"Well, Well, Well, Anne Boonchuy." said a voice with a Spanish accent.
Anne stopped laughing and turned, she saw a newt standing there in a look in his eyes that said, 'we both know I'm trouble, but you'll like me despite that.'
"Tritonio," said Anne his voice full of sarcasm masking affection, "What are you doing here you old criminal?"
The newt laughed, "You seem to be behind on a few things.
He pointed to his vest, attached to it was a gold badge, the word 'Sheriff' printed on it.
Anne raised an eyebrow, "Nice, did you get it from a cereal box?"
"Nope official, I'm taking over while Buckwheat's on vacation" said Tritonio with a smile, "As it turns out I'm pretty good at catching criminals."
"Well-"
Sorry," interrupted Marcy, "who is this?"
"Tritonio," answered Sasha, "he was a criminal who tricked children into robbing trains."
"Huh, niche crime, who would fall for such a thing."
"HA," said Anne blushing, "Yeah who."
"But I've changed my way thanks to Anne," Tritonio then frowned, "and now I've come to warn you three."
"Warn us? Asked Sasha, "about what?"
"Word is someone has put a price on your heads."
"Someone wants us dead?" Asked Anne, "who?"
"Loyalists to the core, Toads who want to go back to the past," a smile briefly appeared on the newts lips "some criminals whose plans you've all foiled."
Sasha shrugged "Looks like we're not as popular as we thought."
"But they're not the ones after you, the ones who want you gone hired the secret circus."
"The secret circus?" Asked Marcy with a hint of worry in her voice, "I heard of them when I was a ranger, they're poachers, some of the worst."
"So someone hired poachers to go after us?" asked Sasha. "Makes sense in a twisted way.
"Yes," nodded Tritonio," I know it's going to sound stupid, but you need to stay in Wartwood."
Anne was about to protest however looking into the Newts eyes she saw concern, she decided to humor the newt.
"You're right," responded Anne, she turned to Sasha and Marcy, they both nodded in agreement.
"Good, I've been tracking them with some former rangers, apparently the circus is hiding in the forest."
"Okay, so we stay in town, It's not as if anything's going to force us to leave," said Marcy confidently.
"And any other human should stay here just in case," added Tritonio "like that kid at the bath."
The three humans were quiet for a second, "What?" Asked Anne.
"There was a human child at the bath house, I'm going to visit the mayor and see if he can call from back up from the Amphibian guard."
With that the newt walked away.
"Max is in town?" Anne said confused.
"Yeah," said Marcy growing just as concerned, "Frog me said they were going to take him to the spa and get him some new clothes then-"
The young webcomic artist froze, "They were going to go to the lake."
"Oh frog we need to find them and…"
"Anne calm down," said Sasha, "We don't know where they are, just relax, they might not have gone there yet"
The herpetologist looked at her for a second and sighed, she was overreacting, she needed to calm down.
"Your right Sasha, They're probably-"
All of a sudden there was a scream from above. The three women looked up to see a bird carrying three Amphibians and a human flying south, in seconds they were gone.
"Was that Max?" asked Anne.
"Yep," replied Marcy.
"And were they heading towards the lake?"
"Yep," said Sasha annoyed.
Without saying anything Anne rushed off in the direction of the lake.
"ANNE," shouted Marcy who then followed her friend
"MARCY, WAIT" shouted Sasha in quick pursuit.
Anne kept running, a hundred different visions flashing through her mind, this was all her fault if she hadn't yelled at Max he'd be safe, yet again because of her actions he was in danger.
She had to get to him before something else terrible happened.
...
Indoraptorman: That's their plan but how will it work out
DarkPhoenixKing: I can see that being a problem for a lot of people reading this, Truth be told what was going to be a small fic kind of ballooned on me, Heck the chapters were divided because it would get the story out faster, however yeah a lot of plot threads have kind of gone ignored sadly, However I'm glad your enjoying it and I can promise that very soon things are going to pick up.