Anne woke up and looked around, seeing that she was in the basement.
"Oh, how long was I out?" She asked.
Anne saw a calendar and her eyes went wide.
"I've been asleep for a month!?"
Anne got up, feeling much better since most of her injuries have been healing. She climbed up the ladder and went into the living room, where the Plantars were.
"Anne! You're awake!" Sprig said, "And you picked an amazing time to wake up too! They're going to announce the winner of the Frog of the Year award today!"
"Frog of the Year?" Anne asked, moving to sit in the couch. "What's that?"
"It an award to celebrate the frog who has done the most to benefit and help the community of Wartwood within a year's time." Hop Pop explained.
"Alright then." Anne said, "Can someone tell me what's happened since I was... asleep?"
"I can!" Polly said, about to be hard and blunt, "Sprig tried to confess his love to Ivy! And it failed spectacularly!"
"Shut up!" Sprig shouted with a blush on his face.
"No!" Anne said, in surprise, "You have to tell me what happened!"
"You kids can do that later." Hop Pop said, "It's time for the announcement, let's go."
The family got up, with Hop Pop handing Anne a hiking stick to help her walk with no room for argument and walked into town as everyone gathered in the square for the results. Everybody was happy to see Anne awake and mostly healed after worrying for a month. Anne had to sit down when they arrived. Walking took a lot out of her.
'Jeez, I hope I don't get into another fight today.' Anne thought.
"Alright, everyone, settle down." Toadstool said, walking onto the stage.
Everyone did as he said as Toadstool saw Anne in the crowd.
'Local hero is awake, good.' He thought, thinking Anne was more useful than the sheriff. 'Oh that's a good publicity act, make the town protector the new sheriff.'
He would think more about that later, he had to reveal the Frog of the Year.
"Now let's see who the winner is." Toadstool said, "And the winner is... Anne Boonchuy."
"WHOOOO!" Everyone cheered and clapped while Anne looked surprised from her spot.
"Me?" Anne said, "Uh... Sprig, I need help getting up to the stage."
"Sure, Anne." Sprig said as he helped Anne stood up and helped her to the stage, walking stick and all.
When Anne got there, the crowd clapped.
"Thank you, thank you, but I feel like I don't deserve this really? I've been here less than a few months and most of the time, I was just causing unwanted trouble." Anne said as she scratched her head, "But, I have also left my blood, sweat, and tears on the ground for this town... mostly the blood."
Barely anyone laughed at the morbid joke she told, understandable since it wasn't that funny.
"Still, it's an honor to be nominated. Thank you all for this." Anne said with a nod.
"Oh, Anne, we might want to let you know about the celebration." Hop Pop said.
"Celebration?" Anne asked.
"Of course, to go with the award, the is a large celebration that the whole town participated in every year." Toadstool said as he turned to Anne. "Usually, the awardee is meant to plan it but this year, messing as your injuries have not fully healed, you will have some help from a group of your choosing."
"Okay then, then I promise this will be the best party ever!" Anne said, making the crowd clap.
'I just need to know what the celebrations in the past were like for examples.' Anne thought as Sprig helped her off stage.
"Alright, Plantars, let's get back home so you can help me." Anne said.
"You could say "please," you know." Polly said to Anne. "Just because you're injuries doesn't mean you can be rude."
"Please." Anne asked.
"No." Polly said.
"Of course we'll help you, Anne." Hop Pop said to her, ignoring his granddaughter.
"Let's go!" Hop Pop said.
The family rushed back to the house and helped Anne learn everything about the Frog of the Year celebration party. That's when Anne noticed something.
"Hey, it's a full moon tonight." Anne said.
"Yeah, what about it?" Sprig asked.
"Wolves are active at night, and we howl into the air so we can communicate with other packs." Anne said, "People in my world say that wolves are attracted to the Full Moon, and while that's a bit of a myth, I do enjoy nights with a full moon... that's it! A party that has a theme of the full moon!"
"A full moon celebration? Anne, that sounds so cool!" Sprig said with his arms up.
"It does sound unique." Hop Pop said with a smile.
"Now, we need to get some people to help." Anne said, "Hop Pop, I need you to get Stumpy to handle food, Polly I need you to get Loggle to make a statue, Sprig... do you know any musicians in town?"
"You're looking at one. I'm the best fiddle player in town." Sprig said with pride.
"Fiddle as in violin?" Anne asked.
"If you want to get technical, yes but I prefer to call it a fiddle." Sprig said as he rushed off to his room and came back with the instrument. "Shall I play a sample?"
"Sure."
Sprig smiled as he prepared his fiddle, taping his for before playing a beautiful and high speed country song. This was joined by Polly bouncing in her bucket to stomp while Hop Pop clapped.
"Get it, boy!" He said happily, loving his music.
"Wow, you're really good with that." Anne said.
"Thank you." Sprig said as he stopped playing, bowing as Polly and Hop Pop clapped. "I'd be happy to play a little moon song for tonight."
"Alright, you go get some other musicians and the rest of you go do your missions." Anne said, "I have a little designing to do."
Anne hobbled to the basement hatch and went into it. Later that night. The entire town was dressed up for the celebration, heading to the venue near the mayor's office. They entered and saw a large wolf statue howling at the moon. They all wondered where Anne was, when they saw a wolf on a roof. Anne howled at the moon before jumping down and shifting back. She stood up before the crowd in white suit pants, white dress shoes, a light blue dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up, a white vest, and a white coat on her shoulders. Anne also had a cane in her left hand for class and balance since she was STILL not fully recovered.
"Welcome everyone, to the Full Moon Celebration." Anne said with a smile, "A nice little Frog of the Year party, that also celebrates something about my Spirit Animal. Enjoy."
Everyone walked into the celebration and began to mingle, finding it very beautiful with its moon theme and mystical music.
"Not a bad party, Anne." Hop Pop said.
"Thanks, HP."
"Miss Frog of the Year, there's someone waiting for you on the bridge." Toadie said, "They say they're a friend."
"A friend?" Anne asked before heading to the bridge, cautious about who this "friend" is.
Anne limped to the bridge, seeing a hooded figure. The figure turned and looked at Anne.
"Anne!" Sasha said, removing her hood.
"Sasha!?"
Sasha smiled as she ran to her friend, who moved as fast as she could, before they hugged each other. The two began jumping in joy.
"I can't believe I found you!" Sasha said.
"I can't believe you're here… ow! Okay, no more jumping." Anne said, as she pulled from the hug and help a hand against her ribs, "Kind of got hurt a little while ago."
"Hurt? What happened?" Sasha asked as she looking over Anne, seeing some injuries on her arm.
"Long story short, I tussled with a Scorpileo on a camping trip before dealing a giant weasel mother on Hiber Day." Anne said as she scratched her cheek. "Was out for a month before I was able to move again today."
"Wow, you've become something of a local hero, haven't you?" Sasha asked.
"Yeah, I have." Anne said with a smile, looking out at Wartwood.
"Anyway, it's good to see you." Sasha said, "We came as soon as we heard."
"Wait... we?"
Anne looked behind Sasha and saw a bunch of glowing eyes.
'Oh, this is bad.' Anne thought.
Sorry for no chapter yesterday, half of my day was doing physical labor, the other half was making sure a member of my family didn't die. Follow, Favorite, and Review for more.