Bee Boonchuy looked at his restaurant and grimaced.
This was quite frankly, the most terrifying thing he had ever had to do ever, he briefly thought about his childhood, one of his favorite video games was Dragon Adventure (The first,). The game was about an adventurer who traveled across the land to find a dungeon where the beautiful princess was being kept by the dragon king and his army of monsters.
His princess, however, would probably have the dragon king crying in seconds.
On the plus side, unlike the hero in the game Bee knew where he had to go, he sighed, and started to walk towards the back entrance. He found the door unlocked, and walked in.
Bee was proud of the kitchen, it was large and still clean, it was a nightmare keeping it clean, and was still pretty small, personally, he considered it cozy, Oum said it was small.
His attention was on a woman currently standing in front of a large boiling pot.
"Honey?" He said nervously.
The woman turned around, Many people would have been drawn to her stomach, and being eight months pregnant drew a lot of attention.
Bee, on the other hand, focused on the smile currently on her face.
"ในที่สุด, You're here, Listen pass me that salt, I tried lifting it but well, you know." she gestured at her stomach.
He sighed walked over and picked up the bag of salt then he started to pour it into the pot.
Oum then moved on to some vegetables which were cooking on a frying pan, She picked up a small bag of sugar she poured some in while muttering something Bee could barely hear.
"Um, Honey?" he asked.
"Yes?" said Oum, who had put down the bag of sugar and was now rummaging in the fridge, she pulled out a piece of frozen beef mince and placed them in the bowl of boiling water.
"Are you okay?"
She turned to him with a smile on her face, this one seemed weaker than the others, "I'm fine, I just had the urge to make some basil Beef."
She started to stir the noodles in the pot, "Couldn't you have made it at home?"
"Oh, I know," said Oum, "But when I got here I started to think that the kitchen is tidy but is it really tidy? Then I checked if all the meats were frozen, after all, they could go off and-"
"This is about the baby isn't it," said Oum flatly
Oum froze on the sport and turned to Bee, she was wearing an even more forced smile, The one she had sued when some friends had told her they had written a screenplay. "What… No, Why would it be about the baby?"
Bee looked at her, "I don't know because I heard you muttering about the baby when I briefly woke up earlier about how you weren't going to be a good mother?"
Oum laughed nervously, "Oh that's just jitters."
"There's also the fact that you came down to the restaurant at 3:00 am to cook?"
"Oh, it's that early?" Oum said with a nervous laugh, "Well, it's never too early to start cooking is it?" she said her smile faltering
Bee just looked at her, for a second, "The vegetables are burning,"
Oum turned around and swore in Thai, Bee promised himself he'd try to avoid swearing as much so that their future child wouldn't have a glossary of Thai swears by the time she was five.
With the vegetable off, he could see Oum looking at their burnt remains in the pan, Tears were starting to form in her eyes.
"How am I ever going to do this?"
"Well, I suggest keeping an eye on the pan next time."
"I don't mean the stupid vegetables." she spat out.
She stormed out of the kitchen into the main restaurant, after turning off the pot and closing the fridge Bee followed, he saw her sitting down at a table. The farthest from the window, crying.
Bee walked over and sat next to her.
"Honey, you know whatever is wrong you can talk to me right?"
She sat there for a second before croaking something at him,
"What?"
"I said" she repeated, "I'm going to mess this up."
"Well I mean the Basil Beef is a bit of a let-down but…"
"I don't mean the stupid beef, I mean…" she looked at her stomach.
The baby had been a bit of a surprise for both of them, They discovered Oum was pregnant a month after a very romantic evening together, They had discussed if they should have it and decided if not now, then when?
Since then, they had done everything to get ready for the baby, Oum had been mostly banned from the restaurant to relax and not cause herself that much stress, she had an army of old women at the temple looking out for her. However, over the last month something had been creeping up on her.
She seemed scared talking about the baby, any questions she was asked she would try to change the subject.
Oum made a noise of pain, Bee looked at her worried.
"It's okay, it's just Her kicking me in advance for being a terrible mother."
"That's probably not the reason," replied her husband.
"Might as well," said Oum despondently.
Bee looked at her wife, it was hard to see her like this, this was the woman who had punched out two bullies and carried their knocked-out baby teeth for a year, The woman who decided that instead of using that communications degree she was going to follow her family tradition and become a chef. The woman who refused to let anyone hold her back ever.
Here she was right now sitting down terrified of the future.
This was where he did his job.
He smiled, "Remember when we first tried cooking together?"
"Yeah in home economics we just made a cake and…"
Bee shook his head, "No I mean the first time we cooked, we were eight."
In between Oum's tears was a small laugh. "Your mom's apartment, we tried to make cookies."
"Tried to. The only thing we made was a mess, and we ate like half of the chocolate chips."
"We had no idea how to use the electric Whisk. Food flew everywhere,"
"We almost burnt the place down."
The two were laughing now, remembering how Bee learned how to use a fire extinguisher after the over exploded.
"When my mom came home she was furious. I was about to start crying, but you… you just-"
"Stared her in the eyes and said, "Well next time buy some, so we won't be desperate enough to do this.""
The two were fully laughing now, the tears were not of sadness anymore but of joy.
Bee was the first to stop. "That was the day I knew I was in love with you."
Oum looked at him shocked, "What really?"
He nodded, "Yeah, Someone crazy enough to stand up to my mom has to be worth loving."
Oum blushed briefly then laughed "It didn't stop us from being grounded.:
"Personally, I considered it a case of absence making the heart grow fonder."
They laughed again.
"If you can stand up to my mother at her most terrifying, Do you really think we have anything to worry about from a baby?"
Oum laughed and slowly hugged her husband, he hugged her back.
"Thank you," She said pulling away from the hug, and wiping the tears from her eyes.
"You're welcome, now I'll clean up, you sit down,"
"Nope," said Oum slowly standing up, "I can clean up a simple- Oof" with the latest baby kick she held her stomach again.
She turned to her husband embarrassed, "But since you're so insistent on it, maybe you should go ahead."
Bee stood up and gave his wife a kiss and went to the kitchen.
Oum looked at her stomach, she didn't know how long this newfound sense of confidence would last, but she wasn't going to let go of it too soon.
"Don't worry when you're born you'll know nothing but love." She said lovingly.
Anne was born a few months later, and while it was painful, Oum would admit the girl was less terrifying than she thought.
…
Oum woke up and looked around the cottage. She had only been here for a few days, but she has grown used to this place, it was not as nice as her home in L.A. but still.
She turned to see her husband sleeping there, She knew he'd wake up the moment she moved, she was still going to try to avoid it though.
Exiting the bed she put on a pink sweater and purple pants. She slipped on her Crocs and opened the door.
"You're going to see him again aren't you?" said a voice behind her. She turned around to see her husband laying there, His eyes still closed.
Oum nodded, "Yes, sorry."
Her husband sighed, and smiled, "Just don't scare him too much."
She smiled back. "I'll try."
Closing the door softly, she started to walk.
One thing Oum enjoyed about Amphibia was the fact that it was warm and humid as her two homes on earth.
It was funny before her daughter returned from Amphibia She figured Anne would never know what it was like to have two homes.
When she returned, however, she knew her daughter knew that and more, and it broke her heart.
Oum could fly back to Bangkok, but Anne's other home was cut off from her. She still remembered holding on to her daughter as she cried, She prayed that one day her daughter would find peace.
Now, she was in Amphibia, She couldn't help but admit She could see why Anne loved it, everyone seemed to treat her with kindness.
On her first day, she and Bee met the mayor, a small frog who told them how much Anne meant to this town, followed by an old lady frog who told the stories about Anne and some of the destruction She caused with a laugh, both Oum and Bee apologized constantly.
They had also become friends with the Frog who owned their cottage, Felicia Sundew, the three of them had stayed up all night talking about what it was like to own a restaurant and raise a child.
However, there was one frog who she had annoyed, despite really needing to talk to him.
As she reached his restaurant she saw three Amphibians outside it, a red frog, a blue toad, and a green newt, They were setting up the outside tables, that was until the Newt saw her. The Newt screamed and pointed Oum out to the other two, They screamed, and all three ran inside.
Oum reached the door and knocked politely, inside was the sound of screaming, crying, fighting and the sound of a sword being pulled from a scabbard, She just stood there waiting for someone to come out.
Eventually, the door opened and Stumpy walked out. Oum chose not to mention the sword at his back held by a terrified small newt.
"Oum," said Stumpy annoyed
"Stumpy," said Oum in a friendly voice, "Just visiting, you know check up on the restaurant, have breakfast, see inside the kitchen?
…
"No," said Stumpy.
Oum's smile didn't change, it was still on her face, "Oh stumpy I just want to see inside the kitchen, you know to see how you make your versions of my recipes."
Stumpy had welcomed Mrs Boonchuy with open arms a few days ago, after all it was because of her daughter the restaurant had gone from the only place in town to eat to the best place in town to eat.
He had served her his version of Basil and Kraken, he had hoped she would like it, since seeing that Anne was back he had hoped that she and Her family would visit, he always wanted to have met the mother of the girl who saved Amphibia (and more importantly his restaurant.)
However, the moment she finished her bail and kraken She had asked to see the kitchen, Now Stumpy had at first been fine with this, however after an hour he had kicked her out, the watching the staring, the silent judgement, it was like his mother had risen from the grave and had taken to watching him cook.
Then came the endless stream of criticism. How much spice he was putting in the stew, how he needed to use a bear claw method when cutting (He couldn't grip the knife with his hand, HIS HAND WAS THE KNIFE.)
Since then, the scurvy woman still came to his restaurant once a day afterward demanding to see inside his kitchen
He had sent his staff to deal with it, but they were so intimidated to send her away, something about the look of fire in her eyes combined with the polite smile scared them off. So scared were they her that they were committing mutiny right now to make him do it.
In all fairness it had been unfair to send them up against her, but what else was he supposed to do?
He took a breath and then threw on his own smile.
"Oum, I'm sorry, but you can't come back here."
"But-" started the human
Stumpy held up his…utensils. "I understand you've been making this type of food before but please this is my restaurant. My rules. Now please could you go."
Oum just stood there for a second then shrugged, "Okay."
Stumpy just looked at her, this was not how he had expected it to go.
"What really?"
"Well when you're right, you're right," She turned around and started to walk away.
Stumpy felt relieved, hopefully, things would go back to normal, turned to see that emerald had lowered her sword with an apologetic look on her face.
That's when Oum said the words that filled him with dread.
"I guess someone else will have to show this town how to cook the right way."
…
The road was quiet, with only one snail and wagon on it, currently, two frogs were sitting in the wagon, a brother and sister were both looking at the front of the snail to see how the driver was doing.
The snail's seat had three occupants in it, the first on the left was Hop-Pop, who was watching the driver of the vehicle occasionally remarking on the driver's faults.
On the right was Anne Boonchuy, who was guiding the driver through more gentle praise.
In the middle was the driver, a ten-year-old human boy, trying to keep the snail steady.
Max was surprised at just how easy it was to control Micro-Angelo, He had taken to the snail a few days ago, and now he was driving him.
The snail seemed to know where he was going, and Max just had to keep him on the road. Angelo had been distracted by butterflies twice now, the only real hard thing was reading that book yesterday, it wasn't long, but it was a little boring. Polly said it was because the snail was still young and didn't have that many adventures, and they kept him away from the war.
"You're pretty good at this," said Anne.
Max couldn't help but smile at that.
"He could go a little slower." Rebuked hop-Pop
"He's fine," said Sprig.
"Cut him some slack." Said Polly.
Hop-Pop muttered to himself, but he did give Max a smile.
"So," said Max keeping an eye on the road, "Who's this Stumpy guy?"
Anne smiled, "He's the local diner owner, He owns Lily pad Thai, a Thai frog fusion restaurant."
"Yeah, Anne saved his restaurant." Said Sprig.
"Have you ever had Thai food, Max?" Asked Hop-Pop.
Max shook his head, "No, my parents don't like Asian food?"
"Well they are missing out," said Sprig.
Anne laughed, "You're more familiar with eating bugs than Thai food, Max I'm going to give you a culinary experience today."
Max nodded, usually when someone said that it meant they were going to give him something with a lot of vegetables.
"So we're going to eat up with Dr. Waybright and Ms. Wu right?" Asked Max.
"Yeah, I sent a messenger fly, they're bringing. Lucian-"
"Oh, said Max happily.
"-and Marcy Yunan."
"Oh," said Max depressed.
He knew the frog girl hated him, before yesterday he wouldn't have cared. But there was a brief moment they had gotten along, it was only when she discovered he was taking advantage of Hop-Pop that caused her to against him again.
"She's going to hit you again," said Polly laughing.
Max groaned.
Anne noticed the boy's embarrassment, "Look on the plus side, they'll be pretty impressed when you show up driving a snail."
Max's mood improved with that, this might be a good day after all.
…
Sasha Waybright was standing by the fountain, next to her was Paladin Grime, one of the best men she knew. Since coming back they had been doing their best to reconnect, She had discovered during her time away, He had reinvented himself.
Whenever she heard people address him it was less than the brutal warlord and warrior that he was, and more of a hero.
It was funny ten years ago, he had still planned to take over Amphibia
She also had to admit his patience had improved.
"- and so Marcy said there was no way there was a witch in the woods, and I was like there is, and she was like there isn't, so we went there with Nicole and …
Sasha had only known Lucian for a few days now, and she liked the kid, but she was surprised to see how Grime tolerated him.
The kid had a case of hero worship, and his two biggest heroes were Grime and her, it was funny as annoying as the constant worship it kind of made her feel guilty.
This kid was worshiping a hero who didn't really exist.
"Then we got chased by a chicken man and-"
"Hey look it's The Yunans and Marcy," said Grime glad to see the four coming towards them.
Sasha turned to see them and her eyes widened.
Marcy was dressed in her ranger outfit.
"SASHA CHECK IT OUT," said Marcy in pride.
"Marcy," said Sasha confused as the woman reached her, "You're wearing your old Amphibia clothes?"
"Yunan and Lady O had them made for me, they got me some new clothes and AHHH I have a cloak again, this is so cool."
Sasha stood there shocked, part of her was shocked that her friend was earring the clothes that had symbolized her immaturity during her time in Amphibia, and the other part was jealous of her friend wearing a cloak.
"We know it was a little old, but we figured since Marcy was here why not go as you say "Retro," said Lady Olivia.
"Ignore her, she was just praying that her clothing taste hadn't changed that much," said Yunan, with a grin.
Sasha and the human Marcy laughed, and that's when she noticed the small frog girl next to Lady Olivia, she put on her friendliest smile, If there was one thing couldn't help but do was to be friendly to any child she met, it was her job now.
"Hey, You must be Marcy, Lucian told me a lot about you."
"And you must be Sasha, Lucian keeps going on about you."
"Nothing bad I hope?" said Sasha.
"No, but my mom said you helped push her off a waterfall."
Sasha laughed nervously, "Yeah good times."
"Oh don't worry about that," said Yunan, it's water under the bridge."
Sasha let out a sigh of relief, "Oh, thank goodness I-"
"I mean just because you cheated it doesn't mean I have to hold a grudge."
Before Sasha could say anything Grime stepped in, "Excuse me, general, but I think you need to remember just how easily distracted you were by bragging about old deeds."
"Oh, Paladin Grime," Said General Yunan in a forced polite tone, "I'd just like to remind people of my accomplishments, It's what us that have them like to do once in a while."
Sasha stepped in before Grime could respond, "How about we try discussing this later, I mean we should be having lunch soon."
Before anyone else could react Lady Olivia stepped in, "Agreed let's just wait here for The Plantars to show up."
General Yunan and Grime looked at each other and sighed.
"Fine."
"I guess."
Sasha kneeled and whispered to Grime, "We totally could have taken her."
Grime laughed.
There was a Berp Berp sound from the group's right, they all turned to see a slow-driving snail approach them.
Marcy Yunan and Lucains reactions were complete opposites, for Lucien, Max had proved himself to be the coolest human alive yet again, for Marcy it was another moment where the boy was trying to show off.
The rest were generally impressed, Sasha was the only one questioning if this was safe, but the moment she saw Anne next to him her fears were dampened.
"Hey, guys check it," said Max trying to sound cool.
"Soooo cool," said Lucian.
"Poor innocent Micro Angelo, He doesn't know how evil you really are," said Marcy Yunan.
Max rolled his eyes.
Bessie slowly came to a stop, and Anne jumped off, "Hey guys I… Marcy is that the…"
"Yes it is, Looks great right?"
Anne nodded, "Well Yeah, kind of little-"
"Hey kids why don't you start walking to stumpy's, I'll park a Micro Angelo," said Hop-Pop.
Anne looked at the older frog concerned, "You sure about that?"
"It's parking Anne. It's not that hard," said Hop-Pop with a hint of annoyance in his voice.
"Okay." said Anne raising her palms, "Just be careful."
Hop-Pop sighed, Max jumped off the snail and looked at Lucian, "Nicole here?"
"No," said Lucian, "she's working today."
"Oh, I guess the money's gotta be good then." Said Max.
"Oh, she doesn't get paid." Said Marcy Yunan.
"What?" Said Max, shocked, "That's super messed up."
"Oh Max…" said Marcy Yunan condescendingly before her eyes widened, "You're right that is super messed up."
"Well come on, guys, let's get breakfast.* Said Sprig.
A few minutes later Hop-Pop joined them, and they were on their way to the Stumpy's.
However, just before they reached it they noticed a small crowd of Amphibians gathered just outside the local museum, that's when Anne heard a familiar voice.
"And that when earth entered the Jurassic period, everything was warm and wet, like more dinosaurs appeared, also the basis for the greatest movie ever."
…
Terri Jan was convinced of one thing, her wife had superpowers.
Jan was one of those people who somehow was always nice, no matter what happened she was always in a good mood, her car broke down, she'd help the planet by walking, the museum budget was cut, they'd make the best of what they had, a nuclear missile was on it was to destroy All mankind? She'd spent the last few minutes telling her wife how much she loves her.
Jan could see the positives of everything.
It had been one of the many reasons she had married her.
Right now she was talking to frogs, who had been suspicious of the two of them.
What had Jan done in response?
She started to talk about dinosaurs.
Terri had frozen up, but Jan instantly leaped to her favorite topic of discussion. (Next to cryptozoology, The Boonchuys, and her lovely wife.)
"So what you're telling us is that there were monsters on earth years ago, but they're now dead?" said the large blue frog who looked like he was dressed up to survive Australia."
"Yes," Jan nodding enthusiastically, "Though we still have some pretty big animals on earth most of them aren't as dangerous, some snakes can still eat humans whole."
Terri had, to be honest, she was impressed by how Jan could charm anyone in seconds.
"Jan, Terri?" said a familiar voice.
Both women turned to see Anne walking towards her with Sasha and Marcy and a small group of Amphibians."
"ANNE" shouted Jan exactly, she rushed towards her, arms open to hug her.
However, to Terri's shock Jan stopped halfway, the look on her wife's face was one of shock.
"Max," said Jan confused.
"Oh, Hi Dr. Jan," said Max innocently.
Anne looked at Max, "Wait you know doctor Jan?"
"Yeah from the museum."
"Ahh, Yes, Have to be honest banning you was hard," said Jan guiltily
Terri watched as Anne sighed like she knew this was a thing, "What did he do?"
"Oh nothing too bad," said Jan, "He just placed an Afro wig on a T-rex skeleton with a sign in its hands saying deader even longer than Disco."
Terri saw the smirk on Max's face and grew to dislike the kid a little.
"It was pretty funny, but the board of directors did see it, so you know lifetime ban."
"Well he's been better here," said Anne smiling.
All of a sudden Polly and Sprig launched themselves towards Jan, "Jan." they both said.
"Polly, Sprig it's so good to see you guys again, Teri's here too."
Before Terri could react, Polly went flying towards her, the small frog wrapped her arms around her.
"Hey, guys," said Terri embarrassed, "How are you doing."
"Awesome, we're all together again," said Sprig who had detached himself from Jan.
"And who are these two young discoverers of knowledge?" said Jan looking at the small frog and a toad child
"I'm Lucian and this Marcy…, Not to be confused with that other Marcy." said the Toad enthusiastically.
Frog Marcy smiled and curtsied.
"Oh well I know what you two want," said Jan reaching into her pocket.
"World peace?" said Marcy.
"The chance to become a hero?" said Lucian.
"Even better stickers."
She gave them two Dinosaur skull stickers, placing them each on their foreheads.
The toad boy made a strange sound of joy, Marcy just pealed the dinosaur sticker off her forehead and looked at it oddly.
"So, humans just give little stick skulls to children, That's weird."
Polly jumped out of Terri's arms, "Oh, yeah you're a part of the snowflake generation that doesn't see bones randomly around town."
Everyone looked at her oddly, "What, I'm not the only one who missed that right?"
"Jan, Terri what are you doing around town?" said Anne confused.
"Well, we followed you mom,"
"Yeah and I sent you back," said Sasha.
"No, it's just-"
Jan's conversion was interrupted by a rumbling sound, Grime and Yunan reached for their weapons they had hidden on them, and Sasha reached for her mace (Spray, he had given up the other one on her twentieth birthday.) Marcy decided not to go for her crossbow, it had been a while since he had to shoot one, and was terrified of impaling someone this early into the trip.
"Sorry, that was me." Jan embarrassed, "We skipped breakfast."
"Well we're getting something to eat, how do you feel about tasting frog cuisine?"
"Sounds great," said Jan, Terri was about to protest when her wife, took her hand, and she followed her friends worried that she should have spoken up sooner.
Well, Anne would discover the truth soon.
…
Anne was so excited to eat at Lily Pad Thai, almost couldn't believe it.
Ten years ago, Anne had helped redevelop the place into a successful business but had also made her first non-Plantar friend in town.
It was a small victory for the beast back then, just one more person who saw her as something better.
He even stood up for her when a certain Newt tried to make her feel like a monster.
As her group drew nearer to the diner they noticed there was a line.
"Damn, Stumpy's is pretty popular today." Said Polly.
"Oh we're not here for Stumpy's," said Tad, a local glass artisan.
"You're not?" Said Sprig.
"No, we're here for the new restaurant."
"New restaurant?" And said, worried that Stumpy may have competition.
"Yeah it's in this big metal box with wheels, I think it's called Thai-Go."
Anne froze, "What."
Before anyone could say anything else, Anne was pushed her way through the line.
Next to Lily Pad Thai was a van from earth one she had known for ten years, on the top of the van was a sign saying, "Thai-Go, Real Authentic Thai food."
"Oh no," said Anne.
"BACK OF THE LINE, LADY," said someone behind her.
"I'M THEIR DAUGHTER I GET TO PUSH IN."
