Calamity's Survival
6. Hop Pop and Lock
Disclaimer: I do not own Amphibia
Wartwood has had quite the last few of days that's for sure. Jackson settled in nicely into the Plantar home, in which Hop Pop was very insistent on letting Jackson stay in the house, provided he pulled his weight and helped around the farm to earn his keep. He may have fought to help the town, he may be a long time friend of Anne, but that doesn't mean he gets to free-load off of the struggling family. Considering the state of the house Jackson saw them living in, he was very willing to help out.
Another problem was the lack of rooms their were as Sprig and Anne already shared a room, Polly and Hop Pop had their own rooms and their weren't any other spare rooms for the new human to sleep in. Thankfully Jackson has been used to sleeping in less than stellar conditions so he was more than happy to take the couch as his place of rest at night. He also made sure to secure his sword properly at night as he saw the look of wonder on Sprigs face and the devious looks on Polly's face.
He's also pretty sure he saw Polly holding an axe or a hatchet with a smile.
He… may have to sleep with one eye open.
Regardless the days have been calm, peaceful and nice. A far cry from the menacing forest that Jackson has been living in for the last month. Anne's arm thankfully wasn't broken, just a massive bruise on the arm with an almost fracture to her arm. It was only for some days rest that Anne would have full control of her arm again, with some soreness and aching to go with it but that would pass in the coming weeks.
Of course one of the days turned into quite the tame but stressful adventure for Sprig. As it turns out the people of Wartwood decide to predict the weather by using an insect called the Grubhog. How they did was simply cutting open the creature and checking the contents of its organs for specific spots or what have you in order to gauge the future weather.
Needless to say Anne and Jackson were a little surprised at hearing that bit of information at the time.
Jumping ahead of things, turns out their designate one frog to take care of the Grubhog until the ceremony, which Hop Pop had without permission volunteered Sprig to guard the creature. Apparently one of the members of the Plantar family was shunned because he apparently at the Grubhog and this was the opportunity for the Plantar family name to be redeemed. Unfortunately this also meant that Sprig would not be able to experience all the rides and games that were placed in town in celebration for "Grubhog Day" as it was called. Anne though had the 'brilliant' idea of deciding to take the creature with them on all the dangerous and death-defying rides, their words, so they can have fun and so Sprig can watch the Grubhog at the same time.
Jackson made his opinion very clear that it was not going to be a very good idea.
Naturally they didn't listen to him as he went after them to make sure things went alright.
…
Things did not go alright.
The rides were fun and exhilarating and Jackson had to admit he liked them for a bit… until the Grubhog fell out of one ride and was subsequently spirited away by what appeared to be a giant vulture-like bird.
Needless to say they were f'ed when Sprig pointed out, through his freakout session, they only had five minutes.
One frantic shopping trip later with Jackson designated as their shopping mule, Anne was able to make a fairly accurate likeness to the Grubhog out of cloth and buttons. Sprig was nervous but Jackson was appreciative of the effort and gave some hope that it just might work.
At least until the button for an eye popped off and Anne claimed she can fix it. Jackson was worried but their was nothing they could do so they straight up had to go with it.
The time of the ceremony was upon them and Sprig and Jackson were nervous wrecks. Well, Jackson was just regular nervous and Sprig was almost sweating bullets. Even so the whole ceremony went smooth as Anne played up the act of being the Grubhog, with a bit of flair and jokes to go along with it. That won the crowd over really well as Sprig worked with it and joined Anne in a little bit of play fighting. Jackson smiled at the ease everything was going and the none the wiser crowd. For a bit it was going smooth.
Then came the blade…
Grubhog Day…
"Wait what?" Anne mutters in confusion, right before her arm is yanked hard against the opening of the play wood stump.
Toadstool, after having come back from his impromptu exile once everyone calmed down, and he kind of begged, pulls out a bladed sickle of some kind that looks like it might have been part of a bug, with one hand and holding onto Annes arm inside the Grubhog puppet.
"An—!" Jackson almost yells her name but stops for fear of blowing their cover but he quickly realizes that that's stupid and things are going in a way different direction than what Jackson and Anne thought this ceremony was going to go.
Sprig and Anne begin screaming but amidst the cheers of the crowd they can't hear it's Anne screaming from behind the grubhog puppet. "Oh screw this!" Jackson shouts to himself and jumps onto the stage and bolts straight towards the blade wielding toad. All thoughts of keeping the ruse going completely leave Jackson's mind as his attention is focused squarely on saving his best friend from permanent injury. Toadstool is so focused on what he's doing he doesn't spot Jackson sprinting towards him full tilt, ready to tackle him as hard as he ca—
"Wait!" Just before Jackson about rugby tackles Taodstool off the stage, Sprig jumps in the middle of them, holding both his hands up to stop Toadstool.
"Wha- what's gotten into you boy?!" Toadstool is flabbergasted by Sprigs intervention. "The grubhog taken over your mind?" He asks before he notices Jackson close to them. The human just barely managed to halt his sprint, sliding a little as he did before he stopped right next to Sprig. Toadstool looks at the human weirdly and why he was running so fast but Jackson is trying to calm his heart as his eyes stay locked on the raised blade. He doesn't have to worry anymore though as Sprig continues.
"I can't let you do this. The truth is…" Sprig looks to his grandfather in worry before relenting. "The truth is I lost the grubhog!"
What follows is the rest of the townsfolk gasping in surprise at the revelation, of which Jackson sighs in relief once Toadstool drops the blade.
The whole Grubhog debacle ended relatively peaceful, with a whole new tradition taking place now for the better. Although Jackson was just about ready to spartan kick Toadstool off the stage when he started to insult Sprig but it was thanks to the timely intervention of Hop Pop that he didn't, otherwise he would have knocked the toad off the stage and possibly broken something.
That would surely have been so unfortunate.
Still despite everything going well in the end, that doesn't detract the sheer panic attack Jackson had for a second at the thought of Anne losing her arm. She got lucky her arm almost got broken and wasn't ripped off in the fight with the toads during the tax situation. Jackson wasn't sure what he would do if she had lost her arm completely in any of the situations.
Probably something drastic… and rash… and way too angry for him to be reasoned with.
But she didn't and she's as okay as she can be. That day with the Grubhog had ended, and now a new time is setup for the group of them.
Much to Jackson's confusion and slight surprise, more of a… illegal time.
"What's going on?" Jackson asks as he walks next to the group. He's still wearing the under armor outfit he was wearing under his chest piece as well as the pants. Since this isn't a combat mission or anything of the sorts he can be a bit free in terms of his armored clothing. He does still have his sword on his hip though.
"We're heading to the market to sell produce." Sprig answers as he walks nearby, jumping once as he does to get at head height with Jackson. The human just looks at the frog for a second at the jump before looking at the wheelbarrow that Hop Pop is pushing. It's not the sturdiest looking of wheelbarrows.
"But I thought we lost the family stand and can't sell food there anymore?" Anne points out a very important bit of information that Jackson was not privy to since he wasn't there when it happened.
"Now kids, just 'cause we lost the family stand doesn't mean we can't sell our produce out of a janky wheelbarrow." Hop Pop gestures to the item he's pushing filled with all sort of fruits and vegetables. They aren't the very best looking items from what they've seen.
"This…This is pretty sad." Anne points out an obvious fact.
"Agreed." Even the youngest of their group Polly agrees.
"Ah, criminal activity. Excitement!" Sprig though has different… outlook on the situation as he dawns a ski mask, completing the illegal criminal activity he said.
"Take that off. This is perfectly legal." Hop Pop proclaims firmly.
"Then why are we hiding in an alley?" Anne points out another obvious question.
Jackson looks around and notes that they are in fact in an alley and nearby out the entrance he can spot several other market stands all selling their wares and produce. The whole thing screams sketchiness for him.
"Anne?" Jackson gets his friends attention with a whisper. She leans in close as he whispers more to her. "I haven't exactly socialized with the local population in the time I've been here. Is produce slang or code for drugs?" He looks around to make sure no one's looking, minus the Plantars. "Because this whole situation is really questionable."
"Psch. Don't worry about it dude." Anne waves him off with a smirk. "You heard Hop Pop. All this is perfectly legal. We just need a new locale." She is completely on board with this being legal since the old frog said so just a second ago.
"Then why is Sprig wearing a ski mask?" Jackson points out the obvious before looking at Sprig. "Why do you even have a ski mask?" He asks the frog incredulously.
"You never know when you need to do something… sketchy." He answers the last part in a sneaky tone with an air of cautious wariness to him. "Plus its not mine. I borrowed it from Polly." He switches his tone to upbeat and a smile.
Both humans simultaneously look at the polliwog. She scoffs and crosses her flippers. "I get cold at night okay… and because I don't want to be seen when I'm sneaking around." She adds the last part quietly with an evil smile. "I want that back later." She points at Sprig with narrowed eyes.
Hop Pop shushes the group as he gets ready with an eggplant in hand. "Um, stop asking questions and follow my lead." He steps out, looks around and steps up behind an older lady frog with the vegetable in hand. "Psst, lady. Wanna buy an eggplant? Huh?" His question turns to confusion as he sees the face of the frog as they turn around.
The frog is an old woman with pink nails and lime green skin, orange cheeks and pink lipstick. She is wearing a pink dress with a small pink flower pinned on her chest. She has white hair tied back into a ponytail and has large, oval rimmed blue glasses. She lets out a loud gasp as she looks at Hop Pop.
"Hoppy!" She calls out loudly.
"Wha- Sylvia!" Hop Pop replies in surprise and utterly baffled.
"Hoppy?" Anne mutters confused at the nickname given to Hop Pop.
"Sylvia?" Jackson mutters the name of the new frog, looking to the others for clarification. Polly and Sprig just shrug.
"Come here, you sweet potato." Sylvia takes the opportunity to pull Hop Pop into a tight hug.
"I guess they know each other." Jackson murmurs.
"Uh… I thought you had moved away." Hop Pop manages to grunt out amidst the hug
"Yep, but I'm back in town. Now, let's take a look at your veggies." Sylvia states as she takes a look at the selection of veggies they have.
All the while Hop Pop proceeds to stammer like a dummy as he very poorly tries to conceal his burning love.
"Ohhhh, I can't believe it." Anne squeals quietly so no one hears but Jackson does.
"Anne are you serious?" Jackson sighs at his friend's actions. "You always have to just point out the romance everywhere don't you?"
"Oh come on! It's sooooo obvious look it!" She points to see Sylvia holding up a weirdly shaped vegetable that kind of looks like Hop Pop's face.
"Oh, I'll take this one. I've always had a soft spot for the weird ones."
"Uhhh, buh, guhh…" Hop Pop continues to stammer like a loon at the Sylvia's statement.
"Oh my god." Jackson sighs and covers his face with one of his hands. "It is so obvious." Anne smugly smiles at him.
"Well, I better be going. Goodbye, Hoppy." Sylvia calls him by the nickname and walks away with her new produce.
"G… Goodbye, Sylvia." Hop Pop stammers for a second before finally bidding her goodbye, then lets out a long dreamy sigh at his crush walking away.
"Hop Pop, you dog!" Anne ruins his moment by walking up to him and elbowing him playfully.
Hop Pop is knocked out of his thoughts at the hit. "Huh?"
"What's happening?"
"What's going on?" Sprig and Polly ask for clarification.
"Hop Pop is clearly in love." Anne with no tact whatsoever states the obvious to the kids.
Both Sprig and Polly's eyes widen in surprise at the news.
"What?" Sprig asks in surprise.
"I didn't think that was possible." Polly is in disbelief.
"Am not!" Hop Pop outright refuses but the others give him deadpan looks as they don't believe him. "Okay, maybe a little." He gives in.
"Ohh. You should tell her how you feel." Anne gives him some advice, just like she always likes to do when it comes to butting into romance affairs. Jackson's seen her with her magazines.
"I wish I could." Hop Pop says after a sigh. "But you saw how I was back there. I have trouble even putting sentences together. I wish there was another way to let Sylvia know how I feel." Just as he says that, the sounds of hammering can be heard by Toadie in the market. Hop Pop gets thoughtful look as he looks at the sign. "Hmm. Kids, watch the wheelbarrow for a second." He tells them and walks off towards Sylvia.
"What's he doing?" Jackson asks as they peak out a little to look at the scene.
"I don't know. Toadies hanging up some sort of sign." Anne replies as she places her hand on her forehead, blocking a little bit of the sun.
"Let me see!"
"Ow! Hey!" Anne yelps as Sprig hops ontop of her hair, surprising her a little as he takes a closer look at the sign.
"Hmmmmm… Ohh! It's the annual Dance Fever."
"The what?" Anne asks, her bushy hair pushed a little down thanks to Sprig and covering her eyes.
"It's mostly a party we do every now and again with food, dancing and all the junk." Polly nonchalantly informs them.
"A party huh?" Anne gets a thoughtful look on her face as she begins to think on the event. Before Jackson can start to worry on what's going to happen Anne has her attention focused on something else. "Who's that?"
All of them looking in the direction where Hop Pop left to see a blue frog now with Hop Pop and Sylvia and talking to Hop Pop. He's a relatively tall blue frog with a head of gray hair and a brown hat to top it off. He also has a moustache that's sort of trimmed in a French-like style. His eyes are yellow, wears brown jacket or a pale brown t-shirt, wears dark blue pants and is barefoot like almost every other resident of Wartwood.
"That's Monroe. He and Hop Pop have been rivals forever." Sprig quickly explains with slight disdain at the new frog.
"Monroe wins at pretty much everything. Lawn bowling, shuffleboard, other old man activities." Polly pitches in.
"You're not seriously thinking of going to this thing, are you?" Now that they are focusing on the old timers, they can hear what they are saying, including Monroe putting Hop Pop down. "Wouldn't want to embarrass yourself like last year's barn dance fiasco." Monroe let's out a laugh and walks way with a hand wave. "See you around, old-timer."
This infuriates Hop Pop as he glares at the back of Monroe. "Oh, we'll see about that, Monroe. We'll see."
"Hey you!"
*BREEEEEEEEE*
Unfortunately because they were focusing on Hop Pop, they didn't notice the police spot the shady group in the alleyway and blow the whistle, literally.
"Hop Pop, it's the fuzz!" Sprig calls out, followed by Anne carrying Polly as she sprints out of the alleyway. Jackson watches as they run before Sprig pops out as he continues yelling. "Everyone scatter! Aah!" He yells as several police officers start sprinting towards Sprigs in the alleyway and waving batons.
"C'mon!" Jackson is already moving as soon as Sprig popped out of the alleyway and grabs the pink frog, yanking his arm as he sprints through the alleyway, easily pulling Sprig along. To Jackson's surprise Sprig quickly climbs up his arm and grabs onto his shoulders and staring forward over his shoulder. Jackson almost falls over as he slides out from the alleyway but he's able to quickly regain himself and continues running to the left. Before they can go far the chasing police officers come sprinting out of the alleyway too.
"There they are!"
"Stop in the name of the law!"
"Ahh!" Sprig yells in Jackson's ear, much to his discomfort. "They're still after us! What do we do?!" He frantically asks Jackson.
The human looks around as he sprints through the road, dodging other frogs around the way as he tries to come up with an exit plan. He comes up with a gamble as he takes a sudden turn down another alleyway, grabbing onto the edge of the building and whipping himself straight into the new alley. The sudden change in direction surprises the frogs as Sprig almost falls off, having to grab onto Jackson's shirt collar desperately to keep from falling off. The cops though are not as lucky as the first one barely slides to a stop in front of the alley entrance, the second skids and slams into the first, and the third straight up trips and bowls over his friends.
"Sprig, when I say jump, you jump. Got it?" He quickly asks the frog on his shoulder as he jumps over a wooden crate.
"Wait what?" Sprig asks in confusion but as soon as they make it out the alley, Jackson is already going left and grabs onto Sprigs small arm.
"Jump!" Jackson yells out, pulling Sprig off him and into the air. Sprig was caught off guard but he was able to kick off of Jackson's shoulder, being pulled up at the same time and he goes sailing high into the air.
"Whaaaaa-Puh!" Sprig splats in a heap on the roof the building as he groans from the sudden rush. The building has a flat roof as he pushes himself up and looks over the ledge. "Wait, what about yo—?!" Sprig begins to ask until to his surprise Jackson moves forward and wall runs up the side of the building. He grabs the top of a window and pulls himself up, catching the second story window and scaling himself up again until he jumps off and up and latches onto the ledge of the roof. Sprig grabs his arm and quickly pulls him up as Jackson swings his lower body up and over the edge just as the cops come running out of the alleyway. Jackson quickly covers Sprigs mouth with his hand, making sure the pink frog doesn't go screaming off again. He holds his finger close to his mouth in a 'shushing' motion.
"Where'd they go?!"
"I don't know!"
"Split up! They can't have gone far."
With that last statement several loud footsteps can be heard running and sprinting away in different directions. Jackson and Sprig stay still, waiting several seconds in silence as they wait to make sure that the cops are gone far away from their current position. Once enough times past Jackson and Sprig carefully poke their heads over the edge. They look left then right and when theirs nothing, the coast is clear. Jackson shimmies himself over the ledge and after grabbing onto the edge, he drops down, rolling into a crouch as he does. Standing tall he looks around again but finds nothing and its clear. A quick hand wave signals Sprig to come down.
"Heyup." Sprig lands on Jackson's shoulder. This time he was expecting the frog to land on him so he wasn't thrown off balance this time around. "Are they gone?" He whispers.
"… Yeah, I think they're gone." Jackson tells him as his eyes scan around.
"WOOHOOOO!"
"SHHHHHHHH!" Sprig takes the opportunity to loudly yells out how good it is, only for Jackson to immediately shush him loudly.
"Sorry, woohoo." He apologizes and cheers much much quieter.
Jackson sighs and is just happy Sprig isn't yelling anymore.
"Just keep quiet. We aren't exactly inconspicuous." A glance out of the corner of his eye he sees Sprig with a dumfounded look. "Subtle, or able to blend in. Just keep your head down while I make our way back to the house."
"Yes sir!" He mock salutes Jackson and jumps off his shoulder. The top half of his face pops up over Jackson's shoulder and intensely looks left and right.
Letting out a sigh again, Jackson begins making his way back to the house. 'Jeez. I didn't think illegally selling vegetables was gonna be so serious. Hope the others are okay.'
Thankfully they were. Jackson was able to make his way back to the house without any further incidents with the fuzz. Sprig didn't let up with praising him how amazing he was and how fast he moved in getting them out of there.
While the pink frog might be just a little annoying with how much he's talking almost non-stop, it's a far cry change from the near isolation he was used for a month so it's all good with him.
Of course a new development happened while Jackson, Sprig and Polly weren't in the house.
"Whoo! Dance it up, Hop Pop!"
"Shake that booty!"
Jackson is sitting next to Sprig and Polly, popcorn with them, after the small little info bomb Anne dropped on them. Apparently Hop Pop wanted to learn how to dance in order for him to properly court and woo Sylvia. Their was just one problem:
The old frog couldn't dance.
"What happened to the zipped lips?"
"Couldn't help it. This is just too juicy!" Enter Anne, who Hop Pop saw dancing and pretty much begged Anne to teach him to dance. He also requested she didn't tell anyone else and she agreed… for all about five seconds before the others walked in and Anne blurted it out. "Besides, when I'm done with you, you and Sylvia will be locking lips by the end of the night."
"Uhhhhgg."
"Oh, come on!" Sprig and Polly groan, dropping the popcorn bucket as they do.
"Annnnnd theirs that image in my head now." Jackson deadpan states, now silently wishing he was still stuck in the death forest.
"Lesson one: Footwork." Anne ignores the groaning audience and starts showing off some of her moves once she turns on her phone and begins playing music. On that note Jackson is surprised her phone still has a charge considering how often he's seen her on her phone. Back to the dancing, Anne is smooth with her moves until she signal for Hop Pop to give it a shot. He tries to replicate it but he takes one step, trips and falls into an ant hill.
"It burns! It burns!"
Jackson quickly grabs a bucket of water and dumps it onto the frog to get the ants off him. Sprig and Polly follow suit with Jackson pulling the old frog out of the ground and dousing him again for good measure.
"Lesson two: Rhythm." Ignoring the mess that Hop Pop threw himself in and cleaning himself up, Anne begins to tap rhythmically in tune with the music playing with a metal bucket and a hammer.
Hop Pop though taps off-beat with a wooden bucket and misses entirely on one hit and hits his foot. "Ow!" Anne cringes a little at the hit but keeps the lessens going.
"Lesson three: Freestyle. Freestyle is expressing yourself in your own unique way."
While it sounds nice the way Anne puts it, actually expressing oneself is much much different depending on the person. Anne shows off her moves some more smoothly, Sprig does some jump and flips with his tongue, Polly jumps around mostly followed by Anne spinning her. They look to Jackson but he's still standing off to the side, staring at something horrifying.
Hop Pops version of "freestyling" makes many in his small audience question life itself.
The amount of… moving… shifting… tongue waggling, their was even a bird caw in there… and flopping around on the ground like a dead fish is so… no one really knows.
"Ta-da!" Hop Pop finishes with a flourish. He breathes heavily as the whole thing probably took a lot out of him and he is pretty good with the way how it all went.
Needless to say Anne and Jackson are all kinds of traumatized by what they just saw. Now Jackson is kind of hoping he was still in the death forest even more… almost.
"Whoo! I gotta say, that's the first lesson I actually felt good—"
Anne halts the old frog by grabbing his face and lifting him up. "Hop Pop, if you wanna win over Sylvia… Never do freestyle again!" She warns him with a serious look on her face.
Jackson shakes his head to try to rid his head of the images he saw but thankfully they focus more on improving Hop Pop's moves and make him look much better for the upcoming dance with his beloved Sylvia as the hours pass into the sunset.
By the time's all said and done, Hop Pop has come far in such a quick amount of time in refining his dancing abilities, greatly impressing his audience.
"Whoa! Yeah, Hop Pop!"
"Miracles happen!" The kids, Sprig and Polly, cheer loudly at the new moves that Hop Pop has shown. Jackson even nods in appreciation at his improvement.
"Nice work, Hop Pop. Or maybe I should call you 'Hip Pop?'" Anne jokingly asks with a finger snap.
"Anne…" Jackson groans as he shakes his head.
"That reference means nothing to me." Hop Pop bluntly tells her.
"Guys, there's only ten minutes till the dance. Come on!" Sprig shouts between everyone.
"What?!" Jackson looks up at the sky to see a lot of time has passed with the movement of the sun. "Holy… wow time sure flew."
"Oh, we gotta go!" Anne quickly grabs Hop Pop and takes off. Jackson watches them go before all of a sudden two weights are thrown onto him that barely throws him off-balance.
"To the dance!" Sprig shouts, standing atop his left shoulder.
"Onward trusty steed! Heya!" Polly shouts from his right, even going as far as to pull on his hair like she's pulling on a horses reigns, soaking his shoulder a little since she jumped out of her bucket.
"… Why am I suddenly a ride for you two?" Jackson grumbles aloud to his sudden passengers.
"Because your much bigger and stronger than Anne." Sprig innocently states with a smile. That doesn't really answer the humans question as he's sure Sprig could possibly be just as or possibly faster than Jackson. Then again the pollywog on his other shoulder just might have trouble keeping up with them.
"Yeah so mush already! I don't wanna miss Hop Pop crash and burn." She smiles devilishly.
Jackson sighs and jogs after Anne and their caretaker.
The group makes it to dance in time for the event. Already dozens of other amphibians are in the place and dancing as can be, as well as chatting amongst themselves. The group has switched out for some more formal attire for the event. Anne has her hair tied into a side ponytail with a blue scrunchy, a blue dress with light blue dots on the front and a dark blue skirt to end it. Polly has a black top hat with a yellow polka dotted bow band around it, its her same bow but just attacked to the hat. Sprig has a small black clothes suit and dress shirt on but while the pants and dress shirt fit him, it's the jacket that is way too over sized for him. His hair is also combed down and to the side slightly. Jackson didn't change his outfit that much, only adding a similar jacket to Sprig, except his fits somewhat, and leaving his sword behind.
The amphibians are all mingling around and Jackson spots the old Mrs. Croaker at the punch table with her spider. Jackson about flinches as he spots the small thing, almost crushing the punch glass in his hand, until he notices its docile nature and the fact it's wearing a small suit and bowtie. He sighs before he notices the old frog is pounding back the punch glasses one after another. He raises an eyebrow at her before looks down at his and Anne's drink he got earlier. He sniffs it a little and expects some form of alcohol in it. He shrugs and takes a small sip but thankfully it's clear.
Back to the matter at hand, Hop Pop, who is dressed with a wrinkled dark suit jacket and puffy shirt and a purple flower, is just as nervous about the whole thing as he loudly swallows the lump in his throat.
"I gotta say, as long as you're not being forced to date someone, dances ain't half bad." Sprig comments his opinion about the whole thing.
It doesn't take long for the group to spot their objective: Sylvia out on the dance floor
"She's here! I feel like I'm gonna faint. Can frogs faint? I don't know anything anymore!" Hop Pop almost screams before Anne shushes the frog.
"Hop Pop, calm down. You are the king of this dance floor! You walk right up to that lovely lady and ask her to dance." Anne boldly and confidently tells the old frog on what to do. It works like a charm as Hop Pop nods to her.
"Hmm! I got this." He begins walking his way forward to the person he loves. Jackson takes another sip of his drink.
"Get it!"
"Pch!" Jackson coughs into his drink when Anne loudly yells enthusiastically. "Anne!" He whisper yells at her annoyed.
"Sorry." She apologizes and sips her drink.
Jackson wipes his face with a groan just as Hop Pop makes it to his love.
"S-S-Sylvia? Uh…" Hop Pop stammers and begins to sweat as he tries to ask her to date. She's almost about to turn around.
"Sylvia Sundew!" Monroe comes out of nowhere in Sylvia's view, making Hop Pop's jaw drop in surprise at his nemesis appears. "Would you do me the honor of this dance?" He offers to the fair lady.
"What?!" Anne exclaims in surprise at the development.
"Oh no." Jackson moans at the interruption.
Sprig and Polly gasp at the situation. Already all of them know things are going to go bad with Hop Pop's dance nemesis apparently trying to show off to their love interest now, just as he had said earlier in the day.
"Why, Monroe. I'd be delighted." Sylvia begins to take the frog up on his offer.
"Sylvia! Dance with me instead!" Until Hop Pop comes up gasping and blurts out his request too.
"Well, Hopediah." Sylvia almost swoons at Hop Pops offer.
Monroe looks taken back and surprised by his opponent. "Him? Ha! He can't dance."
"I can dance better than you. I've been trained by the best, and I'm gonna take you down!" Hop Pop loudly declares.
Jackson bumps Anne with his arm and smiles at her, knowing who Hop Pop was referring. Anne smiles and rubs the back of her head bashfully.
"Is that so? Then let's settle this." Monroe albeit declares for them to do, much to the groups surprise as Anne, Sprig, and Polly gasp at the development.
"The drama." Sprig mutters in a dramatic fashion.
"Come on, guys. Hop Pop's gonna need backup." Anne tells them as she tosses her cup of punch.
Seeing things get complicated, Jackson sighs and downs the rest of this punch before placing the cup on a nearby table. "At the very least lets make sure it's a fair matchup." Jackson proposes as they move closer to the dancers.
"Look over there."
"What's going on?"
"Hopediah?"
"It's a standoff." The rest of the townsfolk take notice of the standoff feud going on and seem to be making space while giving their attention and all. Anne and the others slide up to Hop and are ready to back him up. Jackson stays off to the side and watches the whole preceding.
"Oh! What's this? It appears two stallions have taken to the floor and are about to battle it out!" Toadstool declares for the whole crowd of dancers to see. Honestly Jackson still can't believe that jerk is back there in town but not much else he can say or do, not that he cares. His focus is his group.
Back to the dance, the music shifts with a rhythm building higher and higher for the dancers to get it and Hop Pop looks ready to get going.
He taps away to the rhythm just like he was taught. "Slick. Here we go. Look out. Ha!" With some smooth moves that he had learned thanks to Anne, the elderly frog was able to perform a halfway decent dance routine in sync with the rhythm beats.
"You know, that wasn't half bad."
"Technically proficient." The group smiles and smirks at the rest of the villagers actually complimenting somewhat and cheering for Hop Pop.
"A solid effort by Hopediah Plantar! But how will Monroe respond?" Toadstool announces before its time for Monroes turn.
Only problem is that Monroe looks entirely too confident with himself as he chuckles a little. Then much to everyone's astonishment, he begins dancing.
The crowd of the villagers surrounding them gasp in awe as they watch the moves of Monroe go off.
"Oh, no." Even Anne looks worried by the frogs moves, which are admittedly better than Hop Pop's with a lot more movement, jumps, flips and some intense spinning on the ground.
"Hold tight, now. Watch me now." Monroe boasts with moves as he performs an excellent dance routine compared to Hop Pop. He even throws in a wink at Sylvia real quick before ending his routine.
The villagers this time around cheer and clap at the new dance routine they witnessed, a way bigger round of cheers than the one that Hop Pop had. Jackson does take note though that Sylvia looks… indifferent from the dance routine. She just looks on with barely set curiously while the rest of the villagers are much more cheerful and loud.
"Well, looks like that's it for Hopediah. Unless he has something special or unique to show." Toadstool announces for everyone to hear.
Considering the dance routine that everyone saw was the most coordinated Anne and the group were able to make Hop Pop do with what little dance lessens they were able to teach him, their hopes of the old geezer winning is fleeting very very quickly.
"Well, we did our best. And isn't that what counts?" Sprig tries to put somewhat of a positive spin to the whole thing.
"What kinda loser talk is that?" Polly is not amused as she shouts at her brother.
Anne just sighs in a defeated tone as she collapses to her knees. "I honestly don't know what to do. Monroe's just a better dancer."
"He's had much more experience and practice with dancing than Hop Pop has. You've pretty much given him one of the shortest crash courses in dancing I've ever seen and while its impressive the progress he made, he still has more to go to take on an expert like that Monroe." Jackson tries to reason out how things went.
"Yeah, I guess… still…" Anne murmurs annoyed as she did want to see Hop Pop wipe the floor with that smug jerks face.
Hop Pop soon sighs. "Well, then I guess I'll just have to express myself in my own unique way." He confidently says and begins walking back out to the dance floor.
This perks everyone up and not for the good as they all seem to remember the last time Hop Pop tried to do something 'unique.'
"Wait, you don't think he's gonna…" Sprig begins to say. He doesn't even finish before Anne starts to panic a little.
"Oh, no." Anne gasps out. "Hop Pop! Hop Pop!"
"Anne no!" Jackson quickly grabs her and pulls her back. "Theirs no point. We don't have a choice in the matter. His minds made up." He and the others can only hope that whatever Hop Pop is about to do, works.
While Monroe is basking in the fact that he basically one, Hop Pop goes up to gain Sylvia's attention.
"Sylvia, I don't think I'll ever be able to tell you how I feel about you. But I can show you." He begins to passionately say to her. "Hit it, boys!" He signals the band players.
"Uh, yeah. We've been hitting it." One of them awkwardly states.
"Just play!" Jackson shouts off to the side.
"Okay." The band member isn't perturbed by the shout and they begin playing some more music.
While the townsfolk get ready to witness the new dance style that Hop Pop is about to show them, the four who've seen it before close their eyes as he begins.
Hop Pop begins doing freestyle, with lots of cawing, tongue wagging, hand waving and odd body movements.
"Unbelievable! I ain't never seen moves like those… It's horrifying." Any thoughts of Toadstool complimenting the dance routine is gone from his opinion alone.
Somehow in order to get his dance routine some extra flair, he proceeds to get a jar full of ants and pours them down his pants, making him dance super erratically before he grabs the punch bowl and pours it on himself.
"Ta-da!" He shouts and finishes his dancing, breathing heavily as he does.
"…"
"…"
"…" No one says anything, all staring stunned at what hey just witnessed.
"Is it safe to look yet?" Anne asks through her muffled voice, her hands covering her face.
"No idea." Sprig answers as he uses his coats overly long sleeves to cover his eyes.
"Couldn't tell you." Polly has pulled her hat down so she doesn't see.
"Jack? Do you see anything?" Anne asks behind her covered face.
"Not even bothering." So he doesn't have the chance to see what's going on, Jackson opted instead to straight up turn around and not even looking in the general direction of Hop Pop's dance.
"Oho, yikes. Well, I think it's clear who the winner is." Monroe boasts to Sylvia.
"It's Monroe."
"Not even close."
"Monroe does it again!"
The rest of the villagers don't even sugarcoat it for Hop Pop and outright declare Monroe the winner. Hop Pop looks down at the failure of the dance he tried. By now Jackson, Anne, Sprig and Polly look back up once its clear that Hop Pop isn't trying to freestyle anymore.
"Come along, Sylvia. No need to waste time with losers." Monroe suggests for the two of them to do and begins to walk away with his head held high.
"Oh." Hop Po moans sadly.
Polly, Sprig, Anne and Jackson all sigh sadly at the failure of their mission. Hop Pop begins making his way dejectedly towards their group with Jackson waving him over.
"Oh, Hopediah!" Suddenly, a familiar voice calls out Hop Pop's name, much to the older frogs confusion.
"Huh?" He looks back and much to his and everyone else surprise, it's Sylvia…
…And she's freestyling.
Just like with Hop Pop, she caws, moves, gurgles and hollers all about strikingly similar to the way that Hop Pop was moving.
"Ooh!" The villagers moan at the new dance they are seeing.
Monroe looks on horrified at what he is seeing. "Wha-She's as freaky as he is! The horror!" As much as Jackson is finding himself uncomfortable seeing some more freestyling, he finds it more satisfying seeing Monroe no longer smug and up on top and just downright freaking out at his love interest not what he was expecting.
'Wow. I was not expecting this. Seeing Sylvia dance like that makes it just a little better, almost showing that Hop Pop is not the only one that- Oh good lord he's joining in.' Any other thoughts in Jackson's mind halt completely as Hop Pop looks on in joy ay Sylvia's actions and promptly joins her in freestyling and croaking as he does.
"This is not for children's eyes!" Someone yells out loud.
"Why? Why?" Anne moans in despair as they all watch the dancing.
"Don't look Anne. Don't look." Jackson grabs her and holds her close as they shield each other from the whole thing. Many of the townsfolk begin groaning as they watch the spectacle before them.
"Okay! That's enough of that. Pack it up. Dance is over! Everyone go home!" Toadstool signals for everyone to do. Without wasting any time the villagers take the advice and begin moving away.
Hop Pop and Sylvia though are just about done with their dance freestyling soon they stop dancing, panting and laughing as the rest of the townsfolk file away, leaving the two as the last ones on the dance floor. Jackson, Anne, Sprig and Polly sigh as they relax now that the dance is over.
"I don't get it. Why?" Hop Pop asks genuinely curious. The others are a little curious as well on Sylvia suddenly doing her own freestyling dance, despite Monroe and other dancers voicing their displeasure at what they saw.
"I have a soft spot for the weird ones, remember?" She reminds Hop Pop of that little fact she mentioned earlier in the day.
"Wow, she really does huh?" Jackson whispers to the others, which they nod in agreement.
Hop Pop stammers a little with a smile on his face, happy with the answer she gave him. "Ah, shame the dance is over. I could dance for hours with you."
Much to Jackson's surprise, as well as the elderly couple, Sprig comes out from the side and starts playing smooth violin beautifully. With the band gone as well as the rest of the dancers, the atmosphere they have is a much different tone than the hustle and bustle of a large crowd of people. It's more calm and puts one at ease in comparison.
Hop Pop smiles as he looks to Sylvia. "Ahem, may I have this dance, Sylvia Sundew?" He extends his hand to her.
"Why, yes you may, Hopediah Plantar." She reciprocates the gesture and takes his hand.
Jackson smiles at the couple as they go into a slow dance together. As chaotic as their freestyle dances were, its always good to have a slow dance with the one you love and care about.
"Ahem." The cough gets his attention, making him look to the side to see Anne standing next to him with a smile on her face. She smiles and holds out one of her hands. "May I have this dance?" She asks in a suave voice.
Jackson is a little surprised to the request but he returns to smile and goes to take her hand.
Polly jumps in and lands in Anne's arms, startling the girl. "Yes you may!"
"Wait, what? I didn't mean—"
"Oh don't worry about it." Jackson chuckles at the two before he waves them off. "Don't let me stand in the way of you two." Anne stammers a little before Jackson pushes Anne a little, making her stumble a little onto the dance. "Far be it from me to keep such a lovely dance couple." He jests and crosses his arms.
Ann looks surprised a little but chuckles back before going into a small slow dance with the pollywog in her arms.
Jackson walks over and stands next to Sprig as he plays away on the fiddle. 'For the best really. Not much of a dancer myself.' With no partner for him to have basically, he sits down next to Sprig and enjoys the music and the scene with everyone present.
All in all, the day went pretty alright for their little group.
Happy Halloween everyone! Hope the holidays were good for you all or at least a relaxing time for some as it came and went. Here we have the chapter done, with a little dancing to go along way for the frogs of Wartwood. Not much to say and not a whole lot was done, just a simple chapter that was done and a nice time for the whole group all things considered.
Since their wasn't a major amount that Jackson was going to do I was tempted to skip over this episode but since I had already skipped over the Grubhog episode I decided to keep this how it was. All in all I think it was alright for them and their efforts to help Hop Pop get the love of his life.
Marbled Gold: Due to how things are with the people and denizens of Amphibia, they will undoubtedly test Jackson's mentality. Even more so as you said when a certain chicken-like entity is summoned.
ThunderBasilisk: Thank you. I'm sure it'll be quite the interesting and fun time for everyone.
This was a nice chapter to do and I particularly liked the small chase sequence for Jackson and Sprig, just to showcase Jackson's skills a little bit more and a nice moment to have between the two of them as they run away from the fuzz. Nothing says friends like running away together from the popo huh?
Thank you all for your continued support. Go ahead and fave, follow, review, whatever you wish. Take care everyone, have fun reading, but most of all make sure to have a great day each and every one of you.