Previously on Calamitous Intervention

After the Plantars saved Luz and tended to her injuries before they became fatal, she finally settled into this new unfamiliar landscape, for once not having to constantly worry about dying. She made friends with Sprig and Maddie, even becoming the latter's apprentice.

Chapter Five - Cane Crazy/Flood, Sweat & Tears

In the Plantar house's basement, Luz and Sprig sat on the stone floor, checking out all the things she brought to Amphibia in her backpack. There were some school books and pencils, but also some Azura merchandise, such as figurines. There was also some manga from another series she likes.

"Wow, Luz," Sprig said in awe, "look at all your cool stuff!" He picked up a figurine and studied it. "What's this?"

"It's a figurine of Hecate from the Good Witch Azura series," Luz explained. "She was once Azura's rival, but soon became her friend."

"Huh, neat," Sprig simply replied, setting it down. He took notice of the manga and picked it up. "Monster Slayer Academia?"

"It's my favorite anime," Luz told him. "Season six's coming out later this year. The show gets SO good. Fall Night is a hero that protects the world from evil demons!"

"What's an anime, anyway?" Sprig asked, unfamiliar with Earth's culture. "This just looks like a comic strip."

Luz gasped at this. "It isn't just a comic! It's a work of art! Anime is like a cartoon made in Japan. I don't know the history of it."

Sprig didn't understand any of this, but took the manga and looked at its first page. "Huh… I guess it's okay."

He put the manga down before finding a pen and clicked it, immediately enamored by its soothing pop. "Oh, I like this. This is amazing."

Luz shrugged. "You can have it. I think it's nearly out of ink." They then heard a bell from upstairs, followed by Hop Pop's voice. "Kids, chow time!"

Luz rushed upstairs, desperate for some kind of meal. Sprig looked back at the Monster Slayer Academia manga, and when he saw Luz was gone, he took it and ran upstairs all the way to his room, hiding it under his bed to read it later, since he secretly had a great interest in it. After he came downstairs, the three of them sat at the table alongside Polly.

All three of them chanted, "Time to eat! Time to eat!", especially Luz since she had never had a proper meal from this place before.

"Hold on, you kids. Hold on," Hop Pop said, stirring the pot and sliding a bowl into each plate of what looked to be something straight out of a sewer.

Luz took a nervous look at her messy, splattered dish, seeing a spider crawling out of it. "Well, I'm sure it tastes better than it looks." She grabbed a spoon and tried a bit of the liquid inside before her face turned green.

"How's the food, Luz?" Hop Pop asked, eating spoonfuls of it. With struggle, Luz swallowed it before giving him an okay hand sign, despite her face telling otherwise. "Mmmmm… Tasty…"

After she ingested as much as she could, she cleared her throat, feeling sick. "I'll be right back. Got to, um… use the bathroom."

She dashed off to the bathroom, confusing the Plantars, but they shrugged it off as they finished their meal. After that entire ordeal, Luz came out, her stomach still aching. She saw Hop Pop cleaning the dishes and walked over. "Hey, Hop Pop, is it okay if I go visit Maddie toda-"

She didn't look where she was going because she was too distracted by the stomach pain, and tripped over a stump holding three canes. "AH!" A fire spell potion hanging off the side of her waist became loose and fell into the stump, creating a big fire.

Seeing this, all of them panicked. After it shrunk a little, Hop Pop rushed over and pulled out a cane from the fire, which was mostly gone by now. "My cane! What have you done?!"

Luz gasped at this. "Oh no! I'm so sorry, Hop Pop! I didn't look where I was going!"

He placed a hand on his head and sighed. "Dang it. It was bound to happen, eventually. Are you alright, Luz?"

She reluctantly nodded, feeling guilty about this. "I'll make this up to you. Maybe I can use a spell to fix it."

Hop Pop didn't reply, still a little upset. He walked into his room and closed the door, and Luz picked up the remains of the cane, tapping her chin. "This thing must've meant a lot to him."

"It was," Sprig confirmed. "It was passed down from his father, Hop Poppity Pop, all the way from his father, Hop-and-Lock-Drop Soppity Pop. Don't worry, though. We'll do whatever it takes to help you."

"Eh, count me out," Polly said. This surprised her older brother, who turned toward her angrily. "Polly!"

"What?" she replied defensively. "I hardly know her."

Luz looked at the charred remains of the cane, saddened. "She's right. It's my fault. I need to be the one to fix it." Polly's face softened at this, feeling a little guilty, but Luz continued. "I know what it feels like to lose something passed down from your father. I'll find a way to fix this thing. Is there anybody who can fix it?"

"Leopold Loggle's good with wood," Sprig informed her. "He's a woodsmith. He loves wood. Almost a little too much."

Sprig took them to Loggle's, with Polly reluctantly following. The wood business resembles that of a giant tree stump. Next to its entrance are three hanging signs labeled, "Leopold Loggles", "Chairs", "Tables", and "Limbs". Inside, the light blue axolotl himself examined it closely. He has a big white mustache, a pair of goggles, a beige shirt, a work apron, and gray boots.

"Uh-huh. Oh, oh, yes." He brought the charred stump of the cane up to his eye, adjusting the lens on his goggles. "Well, I WILL… not be able to fix this. I'm a woodsmith, not a miracle worker. It's completely charred."

"Huh," Sprig thought. "Can you make a new one?"

"Absolutely… no way," Loggle replied bluntly, disappointing the three of them.

"Do you have one we could buy?" Polly asked, getting irritated by his speech pattern.

"Of course, I doooo… n't." Loggle said, and Luz, frustrated, finally chimed in. "Why do you keep talking like that?"

"Old smithing accident," he replied. "You don't want to know." Luz sighed, looking at her two friends. "Maybe Maddie will know what to do-"

"Tripped on an anvil," Loggle interrupted, walking away and placing his hands on a table. "Landed neck-first on a metal pipe. Pierced my voice box clean through!"

He pulled back his collar to reveal a hole in his neck. This disgusted Polly, but Luz and Sprig watched on in fascination. "Cool…"

"Switched over to wood after that," Loggle continued. "Anyhow, I'm afraid I can't do much for you." He pulled up his goggles, revealing slits for eyes, and walked over to a bookshelf nearby, pulling out an old book. "That cane was made with wood from the incredibly rare, extremely dangerous Doom Tree!"

He plopped the book onto the table, showing a book labeled exactly how he described this "Doom Tree". Loggle opened the book to a page, describing it further. The Plantars and Luz gasp at this.

"Few have made it to the Doom Tree alive," Loggle explained, "fewer yet returned. It holds many secrets that mortals dare not uncover, for they-"

"Stop blubbering and tell us where this tree is, baldy!" Polly interrupted impatiently. Loggle frowned at this and raised his hands in front of his face, gesturing for her to calm down. "Okay, okay. I got a map to the Doom Tree right here, but it'll cost ya."

Not paying attention to that last bit, Luz pulled out her phone and points its camera at the map, taking a picture of it. "Thanks!"

"Or you could do that," he muttered. "For free." Luz faced the two frogs. "Let's go make Hop Pop a new cane! I want to cheer him up."

"Right!" the two siblings replied, and they headed toward the exit. Loggle reached his hand out, trying to warn them. "Be careful, you kids! It's cursed, I tell ya! Cursed!"

"To the Doom Tree!" Luz said, and they exit, but Sprig noticed something on the way out. It was a naked statue of Loggle carved from wood. "Whoa, Loggle. We gotta talk about this, man. We're comin' back. We're gonna talk about this. All right, goodbye." He headed off, not wanting to look at the carving for a second longer.

The trio left Wartwood and passed many unfamiliar landmarks, such as "Death Ridge", and "Mushroom Forest". They came across the giant lake they were going to swim in, with the sign mysteriously gone.

Luz decided to walk around it while Sprig and Polly cut through the middle. They spent the entire day traveling to find this dangerous tree.

They walked across the forest, getting further and further away from home. At this point, Luz was completely exhausted since she was out of shape, but Sprig and Polly had no problems. "Keep up, slowpoke!" Polly taunted her.

"I can't make it for much longer," Luz panted before she noticed something familiar ahead of them. She pulled out her phone and compared the picture of the map to it. "Oh, thank gosh. We're finally here! That is a very unique tree."

"Just one of Mother Nature's horrible mistakes," Sprig said enthusiastically. Dead grass, bushes, and lots of thorns surrounded the Doom Tree. They slowly approached it, with an eerie silence filling the air.

Polly hopped behind them and noticed a skull. Instead of freaking out, she laughed. "Frogs died here."

Luz examined the tree, before noticing a branch toward the top that would be a perfect replacement for Hop Pop's cane. "Up there!" She ran up to the tree and tried to climb it, but to no avail. She was exhausted, plus she was weak.

Seeing this, Sprig decided to do it instead, hopping up the tree. Polly hopped over and rolled her eyes. "You people and your legs."

The frog boy spit on his hands before grabbing the branch and pulling as hard as he can. It quickly snapped off, and he smiled. "Huh, that was easier than I thought it would be."

Suddenly, a loud shriek came from the tree, startling them. It shook Sprig off, knocking the frog boy onto the ground.

The Doom Tree got up, revealing itself not to be a tree, but a huge stick bug-like creature with spindly arms and legs, two large pink eyes, and teeth. It roared at them, orange liquid flying out of its mouth and onto the trio.

Sprig licked it off his face and smiled. "Oh, hey, it's maple."

"RUN!" Luz yelled, feeling a rush of adrenaline. The three of them ran off, trying to escape the creature, but it quickly followed, gaining on them.

"That thing is going to kill us!" Luz yelled. She considered using one of her fire spells to save their lives, but she didn't want to let Hop Pop down.

"Less talky talky, more runny runny!" Polly yelled as the creature was right behind them. It tried to grab Sprig, but he flexibly moved his head to dodge it. It tried to grab his torso, but he lept over its pincer. "Whoa!"

They hid behind a massive log, losing the monster for a moment. Luz noticed bugs crawling on her face, but she didn't panic, used to this happening to her. Eventually, the monster screeched once again before leaving, looking for some place else to find them. They took this chance to run back to the house.

They burst through the door, panting heavily. Hop Pop rushed out, confused. "What in the frog is going on here?!"

Luz's face was covered with sweat as he walked up to him and held out the branch to him. "I… we did it… We got you a new cane… I hope you can… forgive me…"

She fell over, but Sprig and Hop Pop caught her, laying her on the couch. The old frog took the cane and studied it before smiling. "Kids, you didn't have to go through all that effort for me. As much as I appreciate it, what if ya got hurt, or worse?"

"The more I think about it, the more I realize how stupid of an idea it was," Polly agreed. "Well, that's enough excitement for one day."

The old frog went up to Luz and saw her sleeping peacefully. "Thank you, Luz. I never meant to make you feel guilty. Kids, help me get her downstairs, will ya?"

The next day, Luz woke up in the basement on her sleeping mattress. She had a massive headache. "Ugh… What happened last night?"

After a moment, she finally remembered that she gave Hop Pop a new cane and everything went blank. Eyes widening, she stood up but immediately fell back to the couch, grunting. Her legs were very sore from all the running yesterday.

She heard the hatch up the stairs open, and Sprig checked on her, waving. "Luz, you're okay! You've been out for twelve hours."

Luz gasped at this. "That long?! I missed breakfast!" She tried to get up, but she fell over again. "Ow, my legs…"

"I think you've done enough," Sprig said, helping her back onto her bed. "Hop Pop told us not to wake you up. He's grateful for what you did."

She smiled before sighing. "This weak nerd body isn't used to physical exercise. If I want to have a shot in this world, I'll need to get more into shape."

"For now, just take the day off," Sprig told her. "I'll continue with the farmwork. Besides, I'm more than halfway done."

Before he left the house, they noticed the room suddenly flooding with disgusting green water. Luz yelped, not knowing what was happening. It quickly filled up the bottom of the room, almost making Luz fall into it. Before it could get up to their waists, Sprig dragged Luz over to the stairs to get her to safety. "What's going on?" Shortly after, they heard a scream nearby.

"That sounded like Hop Pop!" Sprig said, getting worried. "Hop Pop, where are you?!"

Out of nowhere, the old frog quickly surfaced near the two, yelling. This made the two of them yell as well in shock and confusion. "Stay back! Darned burrow bugs must have chewed the water pipes!"

Luz then had a realization and got upset. "My stuff! My Azura collectibles! My books!"

Thankfully, Hop Pop trudged through the nasty water, holding up Luz's bag, which was completely dry. He handed it to her on the couch. "Don't worry, Luz. I saved your stuff. Except your bed. And your blankets. And your pillow, pencils, T-shirts..." All the said items floated by, completely soaked and submerged.

The human sighed in relief, opening her bag to see that everything was okay. "How will this issue be fixed?"

"Well, gotta find the leak," Hop Pop replied, "then patch it up good."

"Oh, let me help!" Sprig offered, leaping up and going to dive toward the water before the old frog snatched him in midair. "Oh, no, ya don't! This here's river water. No tellin' what creepy critters are swimmin' around."

"I don't think sleeping on a mat floating on water is a good idea," Luz told him. "Where should I sleep?"

"Well, the living room ain't no palace," Hop Pop suggested, "but the couch is comfy."

"Uh, hello?" Sprig chimed in, grabbing hold of a pipe above and swinging over his friend. "Luz can bunk with me in my room. How fun will that be?"

Her eyes lit up at this. "I've never had a roommate before. That sounds fun!"

Despite their excitement, the old frog was unsure. "I don't know. Bein' friends is one thing, but roommates? Ya think ya know someone until they're in your space and you're in theirs, and ya can't stand how they whistle all the time, and they complain whenever ya clean your web crusties out." He then yelled at nobody in particular to make a point. "Yes, I have to do it in our room! It has the best lighting!"

He lowered his voice again, turning toward the two again. "My point is-... And they're gone." The two left long ago during his conversation, losing interest. "Mark my words, though. No good will come of this." He sank into the water, making his voice sound garbled. "No goOd aTt All."

Later in the night, Sprig opened the door to his room, which was cluttered with all sorts of different items and toys. It was kind of messy in some areas, but Luz didn't mind. "This is neat!"

Sprig set up a mat for Luz to sleep on, patting her pillow. She walked around the room, taking a closer look at some parts of it. "I wouldn't mind having a room like this if I could back at home."

"Since you seem interested, I'll tell you more about my stuff," Sprig said, showing her a shelf of homemade action figures. "Let's start with the crown jewels." He proceeded to explain to her the lore of these figurines, such as General Bogbreath, based on a great battle.

For nearly an entire hour, Sprig showed her around his room, happy to tell her about the other stuff he collected. They finally got tired and decided to go to bed, laying down on opposite sides of the room.

On the first night of being roommates, Luz looked over at her frog friend, noticing that he was reading something. This confused her, since she initially thought that Sprig didn't like reading.

Upon closer inspection, she recognized what it was. "Sprig, is that my Monster Slayer Academia manga?"

"Yep," he replied. "When you first showed me it, it looked really cool. I'm kinda hooked on it now."

"Just wait till you get to chapter eighty-three," Luz replied, grinning. "What chapter are you on now?"

"I'm on chapter seven," he replied, flipping the pages. "I'm confused, though. A lot of things are happening out of order."

"You need to read from the right to the left side," Luz told him. "I made that same mistake before."

He didn't respond, and she looked over to see him drifting off to sleep. She smiled at this as she was about to do the same, but started feeling hot and sweaty.

She got up and walked over to the window, opening it. A pleasant breeze hit her, and she sighed contently, going back to bed and closing her eyes.

A moment later, Sprig woke up, shivering. "Freezing…" He walked over to the window and closed it, before yawning and walking back over to his hammock.

The next morning, Hop Pop kicked open the bedroom door, holding Polly in her bucket. "Rise and shine, sleepyheads! Ya missed breakfast!"

The room was even messier than before, with the windows wide open. Sprig and Luz were still in bed, groaning. Polly leaped out of her bucket and onto Sprig, making him gasp for air. The frog boy looked completely blue.

"First time I've ever seen you sleep in so late," Polly noted. "What gives?"

"I froze solid in the night and finally just thawed," Sprig told her, the ice on his skin shattering to reveal his normal pink self again.

Luz got up, feeling that her legs weren't nearly as sore as before. "For me, it was hot. Maybe we should get you some more blankets."

"Or maybe you need fewer blankets," Sprig replied. Luz frowned at this. "I already tried that. It's too stuffy. I can find you some extra blankets to sleep with."

Before the frog could reply, Hop Pop cut into the conversation. "Y'know, the couch is still free in case there's trouble in paradise."

Sprig quickly crawled over as he was talking and tried to brush it off. "No way. Pssh. It's no trouble."

Luz smiled at this. "Yeah, we're best friends. We'll figure this out together."

"Spruz against the world!" Sprig said, and Luz giggled at this. "Spruz, huh? I like that."

They walked up to the door, and Sprig gestured for her to go first. "After you, best roomie."

The two of them left the room, leaving Hop Pop and Polly alone. "Hmmm…"

Polly rolled over, bluntly stating, "They're gonna eat each other alive."

"Oh, absolutely," the old frog agreed.

Night two was completely fine between them since Luz lowered her phone's brightness so as to not disturb Sprig's sleep.

On the third night, Luz tried to sleep when Sprig suddenly croaked constantly. Suddenly, he turned over and his tongue shoots out of his mouth, going all the way across the room onto Luz's blanket. This surprised her, before making her cringe in disgust.

Night four was when things started getting more annoying. Luz and Sprig constantly opened and closed the window, taking turns doing it. Luz walked over and gave Sprig her blanket for an extra layer before opening the window again. He hid under the covers but didn't have the need to close it again.

During night five, Luz played videos on her phone, which annoyed the frog, and night six was when Sprig peeled web crusties off of his feet, but Luz didn't really pay any mind to it.

Skipping to night ten, Luz walked into the room and didn't realize a homemade wooden roller skate was on the floor. She stepped on it and it rolled forward, making her fall backward. It flew over to the wall next to Sprig's hammock and hit it, knocking over one of his action figures.

Before it could break, Sprig managed to catch it with his tongue. The two laughed nervously at each other, making it abundantly clear that they didn't like this living situation.

In the morning, Hop Pop swam in the water, still trying to find the leak. From above, Sprig pushed the doors open, desperate for an update on the situation. "Hey, Hop Pop. How much longer, ya think? Tonight?"

"Not a chance," Hop Pop replied. Sprig, wanting this to go faster, decided to try offering his help again. "Oh, let me help, let me help! You know my underwater sight is better than yours." He blinked sideways to prove his point. "Eh? Eh?"

"That's a bunch of malarkey! My eyesight's fine!" Hop Pop insisted, before pausing to look closer at the child. "Who's that, Sprig? Anyway, don't you have chores to do?"

In response, Sprig groaned, walking back outside. Later in the night, the two entered the room, accidentally bumping into each other before walking to their beds. Sprig yawned, rolling his eyes. "Wow, what a long day. Goin' straight to bed, if I, uh, can get there without tripping over all these dirty clothes."

"Sorry about that," Luz replied. "I forgot to put them away after doing farm work."

Sprig hopped into bed. "Alright, well, good night." Luz sat down and sighed. "I'm sorry for being such a pain, Sprig. I don't want this to hurt our friendship."

The frog boy turned over, his expression softening. "It's okay. I was kind of being a jerk too."

"Let's stop pretending we're enjoying this," Luz told him. "We both know we don't like sleeping in the same room, but it's not a bad thing."

Sprig smiled, getting up. "I was thinking of going to patch the leak myself since Hop Pop's taking forever. Maybe it would go faster if we both did it. Do you have a spell to help with something like this?"

"I have been visiting Maddie these past few days," Luz replied. "I have some elemental spells which aren't too helpful, but I do have one that lets you see in the dark."

"That's perfect!" Sprig said as Luz handed him the potion. "Alright, Luz. I'll swim and you keep watch."

"Sounds good," she agreed, as the two snuck off into the basement. Sprig drank the potion and gagged a little, handing the bottle back to her. "What do you put in this stuff?"

Suddenly, everything became brighter around him. He breathed in and held his breath, diving into the water. The water below was still foggy, but the spell helped.

He resurfaced, seeing where he was in the basement. "Alright, I think I might have an idea where it is." Out of nowhere, he got pulled under the water for a second, shocking Luz. "Sprig!"

Sprig barely managed to surface again. "Something's got me! Help! I think it's a-" The creature pulled him under and Luz took out a potion, prepared to use it. "Hold on, I'll get you-"

Another tentacle reached out from the water and wrapped around her leg, pulling her in. She screamed, now underwater, with her friend with two of these monsters. She could see the creatures clearly now. They were brown eel-like monsters with yellow lips, sharp teeth, eyestalks, and black eyes. She tried to struggle, but it was no use.

Seeing this, Sprig whipped out his tongue and hit the creature holding Luz, making it let go of her. She swam over and squeezed the other one's eye to get it to let go of Sprig. Together, they quickly swam up to the surface, gasping for air.

"River lampreys!" Sprig said as the lampreys circled them underwater. "What are we gonna do?!"

Luz pulled out a tied-up bag, grabbed Sprig, and swam out of the way as she threw it at one of the monsters.

A huge burst of green flames hit it, and it screeched in pain, completely incinerated by it. The heat of the flames nearly singed the hair off of Luz's arms. "One down, one to go."

They swam over to the stairs, and Luz climbed up. Sprig attempted to do so as well, but the other lamprey's tail wrapped around his leg, trying to pull him in.

Luz grabbed his arms, trying to pull him away. "Not good! Not good!"

She grunted, losing the struggle. She quickly pulled out another bag and threw it into the water. A massive splash shot out and a burst of wind knocked them back. The creature screeched and got launched onto the ceiling, before falling down into the water, injured.

It swam to the bottom of the water and chewed through the floor to escape. The hole served as a drain for all the water, and they watched as it quickly disposed of it. Because of the noise, Hop Pop opened the basement door with Polly on his head. "What the heck's going on down here?!"

"Some of us are TRYING TO SLEEP!" Polly screamed, ticked off.

Luz sat down on the stairs, taking a deep breath. "Hey, Hop Pop. Sprig and I fixed the leak."

The old frog raised his eyebrows at this. "Impressive. I underestimated you two. So the roommate thing didn't work out, huh?"

Sprig shook his head. "No, but we made up before we took on this task together. Spruz isn't a bust after all."

"Sharing a room doesn't make you friends. Being honest with each other does," Hop Pop said to them. "In fact, if you ask me, you're better friends now than you were before."

Luz and Sprig looked at each other and smiled. The frog boy cheered. "Of course we are!" The two high-fived, feeling better about the whole situation.

"Aww, how sweet," Polly said, smiling. "So where's Luz gonna sleep then? Not with me. My bucket's for one."

A little while later, Luz opened the windows and lay on the couch, relieved. "Ahh… That's better."

Sprig walked over, holding some books. "Oh, you forgot your Azura books." She took them and smiled. "Thanks, Sprig."

"Anything else I can get you?" he asked.

"I'm AOK," Luz replied, and Sprig walked up the stairs, waving at her. "Okay! Good night!"

Luz opened her book, but something didn't feel right. It was eerily silent in the living room, the only sounds being the clock and the outside ambiance. She'd almost gotten used to Sprig's croaking or talking about Monster Slayer Academia with him.

Next to her, a can tied to a string dropped from the window, and she picked it up, listening in. She heard Sprig's voice from the other side. "I just read chapter fifty-four of Monster Slayer Academia, and man, was that crazy! Midera just used his finishing move against Tenji!"

Luz chuckled. "You're already there? You must really like that manga." She then looked at the floor and saw it flooding again. "I thought we fixed the leak! Hop Pop!"

To Be Continued in Chapter Six

I hope you enjoyed this adaptation of one of the early season one episodes! I've been posting these chapters pretty frequently, but I am likely to slow down soon to avoid complete burnout.

~ Scruffy