"And then this deer guy uses his antlers to rip this evil cyborg's head off!" Sprig recounted the events of the movie he saw at a Newtonian theater when they finally got movies.
"Woaaaah." Maddie said as she listened to Sprig's recollection, there poles by now abandoned as they had a pile of fish they got for food.
"Yeah, and while Alaistair is getting Constance's daughter to safety this other cyborg is shooting laser blasts at them." Sprig also adds.
"I still can't believe Constance ended up with that shirtless testosterone fueled toaster." Maddie shook her head.
"Eh, come to think of it neither were very good partners if they were real." Sprig shrugged, "Also in hindsight she was kind of boring."
"So what happens at the battle?" Maddie asks.
"Oh Constance uses her new flamethrower arm to melt the lead evil cyborg's head."
"Sweet!" Maddie exclaimed excitedly.
"But then it was just revealed the whole battle was a vision shared by this deer lady."
Maddie's excitement slowly melted from her face, "What?"
"Yeah that was kind of anticlimactic." Sprig said.
"Very." Maddie nodded.
Sprig noticed the position of the sun, "Um, I think it's about to be dark soon." He said as he pointed to the sunset.
"Can't believe I lost track of time." Maddie stated.
"Me neither, we must have been talking for like... hours." Sprig checks the phone he still kept from Anne, seeing that it was almost dead. He'll have to recharge it with some lightning bugs "Wow time flies by so fast when you're fun having with someone you care for." Sprig chuckled as Maddie was processing their situation and what he just said.
Her on a boat in the middle of the ocean with her long time crush and ex fiancé, who said she cared about her with no regard for any repercussions. The spying sisters squealed as they made out what he said. No one was around as she and Sprig watched the sunset. "It's... actually kind of nice." She said as she instinctively rested her head on Sprig's shoulder.
This made Sprig feel a flurry of different emotions. A) he felt at peace being with the soft spoken witch girl, b) he was fearful how Ivy would react to him getting all cozy with another frog, c) he was genuinely happy just relaxing and watching the sunset with his ex fiancée, d) he was angry with himself for feeling these kinds of emotions when he's already in a commitment.
Then again, Sprig was already in a commitment to Maddie when he first noticed Ivy in the way he's seen in human romance movies. Not that it was his choice, but still he was committed to a marital arrangement when they become adults. And it only took about 2 months and 19 days for him to finally call it off.
Also about a week after he and Maddie called off their engagement he and Ivy danced and started dating unofficially until he and his family returned from Newtopia.
As Sprig looked down at Maddie's face as it was being illuminated by the sunlight that still shined as it descended behind the horizon, he realized something. In all that time he and Maddie were engaged, did they even spend any quality time together?
Most of that time was helping Anne adjust and going on dangerous adventures of the week, did he find any time to make his arrangement with the goth frog girl? Well there was that time when the town was in that Hunter Vs Alaistair war, and Maddie was on his team. Heck she was his number 2 frog, and they had some deep talks about why Alaistair worked better as the choice for Constance's love. But aside from that, almost nothing of note. He wasn't even sure he even made any effort.
And then Ivy came along, sure he's known her personally for far longer and they spent a few sparing sessions together, but before Anne came along he never really saw her the way he does now.
"Do you still see her in that light tho?"
Sprig wasn't too shocked his subconscious questioned his feelings for Ivy.
Deep down he wondered if his crush on Ivy was genuine, or brought upon by Anne's magazine talk. And for a while it seemed like it was true, they had fun. But what changed? Why is he having all these doubts? Why is he not feeling that warm fuzziness in his heart whenever Ivy is around or on his mind anymore? And not just because of the chronic neck and spinal damage he suffers from her ambushes.
"Sprig. Sprig!" Maddie's voice can be heard as he was pulled from his thoughts, "SPRIG!"
The frog boy gasped before he and Maddie ducked into the boat, and Sprig went wide eyed as a shark creature with spots jumped out of the water and over their boat.
The Flour triplets gasped at the sudden monster attack.
"What the?!?!" Sprig questioned as he saw the fish splash into the water. "A jaguar shark!?!?! I read about them, I thought they were extinct!"
"They're the marlin's natural predator, and they're very territorial when it comes to their prey." Maddie said as the spotted fin of their enemy swam by.
"Well I've faced bigger threats than this." Sprig stood up and armed his trusted slingshot with a boomshroom. He shot it at the creature which swatted the bomb away.
"That didn't work."
"I see that." Sprig kept shooting boom shrooms at the mystical predator as Maddie got to work on some potions.
Unbeknownst to the two frogs, some Sprig's ammo was being redirected at Maddie's sisters who jumped and held onto their raft as it was sent a way's away from some wayward explosive fungi. "Woah!" Lavender cried.
"This is too dangerous! We gotta row back to shore!" Rosemary cried to Ginger.
"Agreed." Ginger nodded, her sisters safety was far more important than seeing Maddie get kissy kissy with Sprig. Only problem, "Which way is shore?"
The tadpoles then screamed, "HELP!"
Sprig then put his slingshot down, "Since long range isn't working, time to go melee."
"Are you sure?" Maddie asked Sprig.
"Don't worry, I've been taking hand to hand combat lessons from the best toad general in the world. I've got this." Sprig then threw off his jacket "YAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" He let out a battle cry as he hopped into the air and somersaulted onto the back of the jaguar shark.
Maddie sighed, "He's so cute when he's trying to show off his masculinity." She then got back to her mixtures before she hears a faint cry for help, "Huh?" She pulls out a telescope she had and looked in the direction of the cries before spotting her sisters "What!??!"
"HELP/SAVE US/MADDIE!"
"Oh crud." Maddie then grabbed her oars and paddled over to them. Sprig meanwhile was holding onto the spotted tiger's tail as it thrashed him around like one of Maddie's hoodoo dolls.
As the tadpoles were screaming for their lives, Ginger looked and saw Maddie heading towards them. Gasping she pushed her sisters into the boat, "Hide, she's spotted us!" She whispered shouted as they hid under the boat seats.
Maddie pulled up, "Girls, what are you doing here!? It's dangerous!" Maddie exclaimed.
"We're not here." Rosemary muttered, only for Lavender to smack her with her stub.
"Were you spying on me and Sprig?" Maddie questioned as she pulled her sisters out from their hiding spots.
Ginger sighed, "Okay, you got us." She admitted. "We wanted to make sure you had a good time with Sprig."
"Look I appreciate that, but you have to get out of here. Sprig needs my help with the jaguar shark." Maddie said as she pulled out her magic stuff and started brewing potions to help Sprig.
"Phew." Rosemary sighed in relief, "At least she doesn't know about the potion." She whispered to Lavender.
"What potio- wait did you drug Sprig with a love potion?" Maddie glared at her sisters who narrowed their eyes at Rosemary for blowing their secret, who giggled nervously. "I told you no schemes, plots or ruses, I probably should have also included shenanigans on that list." The ladies then saw Sprig in the jaguar shark's mouth.
"Maddie, you can scold us later. But right now we have to save Sprig and get out of here!" Ginger exclaimed.
Maddie growled before she handed her sister a recipe for a potion "Whip some of these, I gotta keep Ivy's lover from being eaten."
Maddie quickly hops in the water and swims over to the fight, Sprig was trying to keep the shark's jaw from snapping as he saw Maddie swimming over "Maddie no! Get back!"
"And let you have all the fun?" Maddie replied as she tossed a bag at the shark's eye. It growled before he spat out Sprig and swam away, she heads over to Sprig as he resurfaced.
"Thanks."
"That creature's pelt is too thick for the potions to work, at best they can disorientate it." Maddie said as she and Sprig swam back to their boat.
"Well we gotta deal with it here, those things are hunters." Sprig said, "Ivy told me about them, once they catch a whiff of your scent they don't stop until either the creature or yourself is dead."
Maddie sees the fin swim a circle around the boat. She, her sisters, and Sprig are on a boat in the middle of nowhere with a vicious predator surrounding them. What are the gonna do?