Ten years ago this would have been considered just another monster attack in Wartwood. Like bad weather it would be something you had to deal with.
However since the end of the Civil War things changed, a lot of the monsters had been driven away from the local woods and whatever was left was easily dealt with by Grime or Yunan or Polly.
This led to many Wartwood inhabitants growing softer and less prepared to deal with the threat of monsters, heck some of the youngest generation hadn't even lost a family member to some fanged horror yet.
Many of the older generations had said that this was what made their generation weak and fragile.
This meant a lot of the audience members were sitting down looking as the two monsters started to fight, all of them were panicking but no one was doing anything to get away from the monster.
Thankfully there were those that had leapt to action the moments the monster arrived, Lady Olivia and Hop-Pop were barking out orders pointing where everyone had to go to evacuate, Mayor Toadie joined in after a moment, Ex-Mayor Toadstool, helped pick up a few frogs and got them far enough from the danger.
Sprig, Polly and Grime were already charging towards the monsters in a mix of protecting the town and saving their families, Marcy stayed to help out with the evacuation.
However, there were some arguments.
Grime was about to join the two frogs and newt when he felt someone grab onto his arm, "What are you doing?"
He turned to see Sasha standing there.
"Joining in the battle, Come on."
"You only have one arm,"
Grime looked at her annoyed, "Thanks for reminding me, Now come on, do you have a sword?"
"No, I haven't since I…" Sasha stopped remembering her lie, "I mean I left it at home."
Damn, battleaxe?"
Being polished."
"A dagger or knife?"
Sasha slapped herself, "I left them at home."
Grime sighed and from his pocket produced a knife, "Here," he said
Sasha took it. "Fine." she charged toward the Viper.
Meanwhile, a Physicist was being held back from fighting the monster bare handed, "Jan, honey let me go."
"Terri, I believe in you, but I'm not about to let you get killed by a giant bird and Snake on our first visit to Amphibia."
"Oh, Come on, Sasha and Anne are doing it."
"If they jumped off a bridge would you do it?"
"Yes, I want to go bungee jumping now."
"Why are you acting like this?" she asked.
"I believe that would be me" said a voice from behind them.
The two turned and saw a cloaked figure standing on a table behind them.
"Yes, I cursed your partner into being insanely brave."
Jan looked at this cloaked figure with peak…Miffedness, Jan wasn't that much of an angry person.
"Why? And who are you?
The figure laughed, "Who am I, Dear lady I am-" the figure removed their cloak revealing a large chicken man.
"Bar-"
"El Pollo Diablo" said Terri.
Jan sighed, it was those references to old nineties point and click adventure games that made her fall in love with Terri.
"No, It's Barry and the reason I did this…"
Barry was quiet for a second, building up the dramatic tension.
"The reason is?" said Jan impatiently.
"Because I'm a petty jerk." said the frog sinisterly before he started to laugh.
"Oh," said Jan.
The frog/Chicken stopped laughing, "What?"
"I mean right now there are bigger problems to deal with," said Jan shrugging.
Barry looked around and nodded, "Fair enough, but unless you get me one gold pieces your partner will never…"
What Terri would never be again was unheard because at that moment the snake swallow him whole.
So distracted by this was Jan that she let go of Terri, who jumped on the snake's head.
"YEEEHAAWWWW" screamed Terri, as the snake slithered away, she tried pounding on it's head, none of it affecting the snake.
"TERRI." shouted Jan as she followed the two of them, wondering how she'd get her partner back now.
…
Anne Boonchuy was starting to wonder. Did they get into this many monster fights in the old days?
Sure there were days when they had to fight monsters but well over the past four days she'd had to fight a mantis, a snake and now a hawk.
At this rate she'd be fighting another moon.
She shook her head, she needed to keep her wits about her, she watched as the viper tried to strike the hawk.
She turned to her mother, "Mom, Dad get your staff clear, Stumpy, Joe, we gotta take this thing down.
Anne watched as her mother nodded, there would be words about this later, but now they had Amphibians to protect.
Her mother picked up Marcy and Lucian.
"Am I fired?" said Marcy.
"Most definitely."
Her mother was running towards Nicole and Max who were still in the seating area.
Anne picked up a kitchen knife and looked at the snake, being a herpetologist she knew that snakes had their place in the ecosystem, She was hoping that she could just scare them off.
But if it came to it…
She Joe and Stumpy charged at the snake, she saw that someone was on the top of it yelling joyfully, someone with pink hair.
Anne stopped for a second, it looked like it was…
"TERRI." shouted Dr. Jan.
Anne sighed, she ran towards her mentor.
"Jan, What's Terri doing up there?"
"They were cursed by a chicken man-"
"Barry?" said Anne annoyed.
"Didn't get his name, but probably, now they're trying to get themselves killed."
Anne nodded, she needed to do something, "Okay, so I just need to protect the town and Terri, anyone else?
There was a scream coming from the seating area, Anne turned to see the Hawk standing near to a table, where Max was trying to move a frog along.
"Of course." she deadpanned.
…
Max had to be honest his opinion of being a server had done a one eighty in the last few minutes.
"Sir please we need to go now."
"Nonsense," said the Mr Richenington, "I ordered my meal, I won't leave until I get it."
Max heard the screech of the giant Hawk just a few meters away from him, With all the chaos that was going around he should be miles away.
However, the moment the attack happened this frog had decided that this was just a show to him and that he would continue to watch and wait for his dinner.
Max knew it would have been a smart decision to run but as long as Mr Richington sat there, there was no other option but to protect him.
"Please sir, we need to leave now and…"
Before MAx could finish a small Eft jumped onto his table, "Max don't you know what you're doing?"
Max looked at Nicole confused, "What?"
"Didn't you tell him about how this is a part of the experience, the surprise exercise portion of the meal?"
Max looked at her wink and realized what she was talking about.
"Oh, yeah that." said Max over dramatically.
"So I'm supposed to run?" said Mr Richington.
"Yes this is a tribute to how Wartwood was attacked by a monster almost every other week." said Nicole smiling, "Just run to the newt in the dress pointing where the rest of the customers are going.
Mr Richington stood up and ran to safety, Max sighed relived, "Thanks Nicole."
"Don't worry, I'm impressed you made sure he didn't get killed."
"Well yeah, I mean it's the least I can do," said Max trying to sound cool.
Before they could say anything They heard a voice.
"Kids, Run."
They turned to see Mrs Boonchuy running towards them, caring to Marcy and Lucian.
Max picked up Nicole and ran to safety.
…
Terri had to be honest They were current starting to wonder if they should really be doing this, holding on to the head of a giant snake, screaming.
A part of them wanted to give up, however that part was being silenced by the par that screamed, "Yes this is a good idea, like hanging off a building or investing all our money into crypto."
They kept yelling again and again in joy that they were doing this.
"WOOOOHHHHOOOOOO" they said raising her hands, the Viper then threw back it's head and Terri landed on the floor.
Terri was about to do it again when they felt themselves being dragged away from the giant reptile.
They looked at the identity of their dragger and saw it was none other than their wife.
"Jaaaaannnnnn," They wined, "Let me go"
"No this is insane, We've got to get you help."
"Never, I won't go back to being them." Said Terri.
Jan let go of her, "Please Terri, I…"
"What's going on?" said a raspy voice from behind the two, A blue frog came running up to them, "Why are you not running away?"
"Sorry." said Jan blushing "but my partner Terri they were cursed and…"
"Cursed? How?" said the blue frog.
"A Chicken cursed then and-"
The blue frog just nodded then reached into her dress and pulled out a small water skin, "Use this."
Jan took it from her, "What's this?"
"It's an Anti-curse, If it's something small like mental changes, but give them the shot," with that the blue frog ran off to help the evacuation.
"Terri we need…"
Before Jan could finish Terri snatched the antidote away from her, "No I'm not going back to being them."
Jan looked at them and sighed, "Okay."
Terri's determination faded a little, "What?"
"Okay, You want to stay like this, I'm not going to stop you, Just answer me one question, Why?"
"It's obvious, But…the old Terri was boring, I'm better."
Jan looked at them for a second then laughed, "You think you're boring."
Terri stepped back a little, "Well yeah… I mean you saw me this morning, I caused everyone to start arming themselves."
"I'm sorry I put you on the spot back there but to be honest, being able to talk to people isn't always a plus."
"How?"
"Sometimes I scare people off, They usually have a problem with people who are a little bit too friendly."
Terri was quiet for a second, their wife wasn't lying, "I mean I kind of felt like that when I first met you."
A smile appeared on Jan's, lips, "In my defense I might have been interested in meeting the person who risked her scientific career for some frogs."
Terri started smiling, "I mean it was easy really, It also helped that I was looking to quit for a long time."
"But you still did it, Do you really think you're boring?"
Terri blushed, "I mean No but… What if I embarrass you again?"
Jan stepped forwards and hugged them.
admittedly it wasn't the smartest thing to do in the middle of a monster fight, but sometimes you had to get a little bit emotional.
"I don't care about that, if the world finds you boring, they're wrong, I love you."
Terri hugged her back, as soon as they ended it, they looked at the potion again.
If they took this they'd become the same meek Terri again, She took a look at Jan again, the same comforting smile on her face.
If there was one thing that Terri would admit before and after this curse was that Jan was worth any risk
They swallowed the potion.
Nothing happened, Terri looked at Jan they still loved them, then looked down at what they were wearing, a feeling of embarrassment overcame them.
"Oh, What was I thinking."
Jan laughed, "Honestly It's not that bad, Black kind of works on you."
Terri sighed and smiled, "I gotta buy my lab coat back."
"We'll get it tomorrow, for none we need to…"
Aloof a sudden a shadow covered the two of them, they both slowly turned to see the snake towering above them, Before they could do anything however the snake spat something large covered in feather and snake saliva.
It was Barry.
"Ouch." said the Chicken-frog.
The snake slithered away with a disgusted look on its face.
Terri and Jan looked at each other, then at Barry, then at each other again.
"Should we save him?"
"Why not?" said Jan.
They grabbed him by the legs and dragged him to safety.
…
"After a few minutes of panicking the town was safely out of the way, Anne, Marcy Sasha, Grime. Yunan, Stumpy Sprig, Polly, and Joe were doing their best to try and get the creatures' attention.
However, whatever attempts they made were just ignored by the creatures, who were more interested in fighting each other and their newly hatched young.
Miraculously no one was hurt yet, (Unless you count Barry then it was thankfully no one important got hurt.) but it was only a matter of time.
The group of heroes had gathered by behind an upturned table to decide what to do next, they were joined by The Boonchuys and Mayor Toadie and Ex-Mayor Toadstool, a small section of towns peoples were nearby hiding.
Sasha was breathing heavily, This was a lot harder than it used to be.
"Those things are not going to stop until one of them kills the other," said Soggy Joe.
"We need to get them away from the town." suggest Sprig
"Good luck," said Joe, "As long as their babies are here, they're staying."
"So we move the babies," said Anne determined, "We just need a distraction and a way to move them."
Anne saw her mother click her fingers, The van, It's nearby, and those monsters haven't damaged it yet,"
Anne looked at her mother and nodded, she wasn't about to argue with the woman who could keep up with the F.B.I drivers.
"All we need now is a distraction." said Grime.
"We can help with that," said Toadie.
He ran out of cover and shouted, "VIPER POSITION AND HAWK FORMATION."
"But we don't have enough for either." said Ex-mayor Toadstool.
"Then we'll make due." said Toadie.
Fifty frogs ran to the mayor and started to pile themselves on each other, one half forming the body of a hawk, the other the head of a viper.
The form they took was a Hawk but with a long elongated neck ending with a snake's head.
Both Hawk and Viper took notice of their efforts and stopped fighting.
It is a little known fact that some of Amphibia's of wildlife can communicate with each other, The Hawk and the Viper were two of them.
Currently, they were looking at this weird performance the frogs were doing wondering what was happening.
"What… What is this?" hissed the Viper.
"I have no idea, Is it some sort of art piece?" the Hawk replied.
"I guess, What's it supposed to mean?"
"Um… Maybe it's supposed to be some sort of artistic statement on us?"
"Huh, kind of insulting isn't it."
"Well, think of it like this, You're a monster to me, I'm a monster to you, but to these frogs we're just giant monsters."
The viper thought for a second and nodded, "True, That would explain why they merged like that."
"Huh, I didn't know any vipers had an interest in the arts."
"I didn't know the same about Hawks, but honestly it's always nice to meet a fellow art lover."
"You to" said the Hawk overcoming its hatred towards its natural enemy, "Sorry about smashing you into that building earlier."
"Nah it's cool," said the Viper, "We really should hate these Amphibians more though right?
"Yeah, Kind of messed up that they stole our young to eat right?"
"Yeah, and-" The Viper paused, "why has the crying stopped?"
Both Viper and Hawk turned away from the confused but grateful to not be eaten frogs, and looked at where their children used to be.
"Oh." said both monsters at once.
"This is why my mother banned me from the arts." said the Viper.
…
The Eggs were surprisingly easy to lift, even with the squirming infants inside them, in a matter of seconds they had the two in the back of the Thai Go van.
Oum ran to the front of the van and got in the driver seat, she took the keys out of her pocket.
That's when she heard the shrieks.
"Close the door," she yelled behind her,
She heard the door close, "Done now drive." shouted, a voice.
Without looking back she turned the keys, "Stumpy what are you-"
The frog was sitting beside her, "I'm not letting anyone do this alone, you're a brave woman. Insane and a nuisance but brave."
The van took, off, Oum had to drive quickly and safely, she darted between buildings, she looked into the van's side mirror and that's when she saw it,
The Viper and the Hawk running towards them, They were probably closer than they looked.
Oum swallow and pushed the accelerator harder.
…
Max, and young Amphibians were hiding in a shop doorway as the Viper and the Hawk went running off, They watched as the van drive off.
Max let out a gasp, "Nicole, where did you put our tips?"
Nicole's eyes widened, "The van."
Max gulped, Marcy gave him a glare, and Lucian was worried he might be wrong about his friend.
None of them noticed how heartbroken Nicole was.
…
"LEFT, LEFT." shouted Stumpy.
Oum steered the wheel to the left just in time to avoid the Viper striking.
"RIGHT, FOR THE LOVE OF FROG RIGHT."
Oum turned right just in time to avoid the hawk diving from the sky.
"HOW ARE THEY SO FAST?" shouted Oum.
"WE NEED TO SHAKE THEM." shouted Stumpy.
Oum turned the van in the direction of the forest and screamed, she entered the forest driving between trees doing her best to try and avoid crashing.
"We gotta jump" said Oum.
"WE CAN'T, THE CRASH WILL KILL THE BABIES."
Oum turned to look at him, "WE WERE GOING TO EAT THEM EARLIER."
"THAT'S BEFORE THEY WERE HATCHED, WOMAN, I DON'T WANT TO KILL HATCHLINGS."
Oum looked at him for a second and nodded, She hit the brake and the Van skidded to a halt.
Thankfully both of them had their seatbelts on, the two opened the doors and rushed away from the van, thankfully the eggs didn't move.
By luck, they were hidden just in time to avoid being seen by the two monsters.
They arrived at the same time and attacked the van, there was a loud Scrunching noise as the van was ripped apart.
"What are they doing?" said Stumpy
The two of them peaked from behind their trees, and saw the hawk lifted the baby viper out of the van and towards its parent.
The Viper took it and slither offed, the hawk then started to look at its own hatchling it ripped the walls of the van off, took hold of the pink object a by the scuff of its neck.
The next ting she knew they were both gone.
Stumpy and Oum let out a sigh of relief
"They just wanted their kids," said Stumpy.
Oum was quiet for a second before sighing, "I can relate."
Before Stumpy could say anything else, she heard the sound of something coming towards them, out of the woods came a snail ridden by Anne
"Woah Micro Angelo." commanded Anne
The snail stopped just in front of the human and frog.
"Mom, Stumpy" said Anne jumping off the snail towards her, "Are you okay?"
Oum sighed, feeling more tired than she ever had in a long while, "Yes, I'm fine, The town?"
"It's fine, the creatures seemed to be interested in each other than anyone in town, Mayor Toadie has stopped the mob from forming."
"Good," she took a look at the van, it was destroyed, no way of getting that back to Ned, she turned to look at her daughter, she saw the worried look on her face, Oum sighed, "Anne, Stumpy, I'm sorry."
They were quiet, Anne eventually asked, "Mom, is everything okay?"
Oum was quiet for a second and sighed, "Stumpy, your Basil and kraken was the best thing I've ever tasted."
Stumpy stood there for a second, "Thanks, but I don't think jealousy kind of warrants almost putting me out of business."
"I know it's just… Tasting it, made me realize just how much I missed Anne back then."
Anne stood there for a second confused, "Mom."
"I know but when you came back you were a different person, someone who… Well had grown so much."
Oum shifted, "I did it because… Well I wished I could be a part of that."
Anne was quiet for a second she knew just how much her parents had suffered ten years ago, she was about to say something when Stumpy spoke up.
"You know, I told her you'd be proud of her back then."
Oum turned to Stumpy, "What?"
"If it wasn't for her, My place still be a dump, Heck she reminded me of why I loved cooking, She wanted to help me because I reminded her of you and your husband."
Anne nodded, "it's true."
"So for what it's worth, You're part of the reason the restaurant was saved, Thank you."
Oum sat there for a second, she stood up and hugged Stumpy.
"I'm sorry, and Thank you."
Don't worry about it," said the cook waving his cleaver in a somewhat worrying manor, "The restaurant's fine and this might just drum up some business."
"Well I think it's about time for us to get back, the other will be…"
All of a sudden the remains of the van exploded.
The three were knocked back.
Oum took one look at the flaming wreckage and sighed, "I hope Mr. X can cover this."
"Hey are those two bags of Pennies on fire in there?" said Anne.
…
The mood in the town was one of celebration, around fifty Amphibians were sitting at various tables eating their meals, joking laughing and just enjoying a good meal.
Both Stumpy and Oum had decided to at least cook a meal for everyone as an apology.
Mrs Boonchuy was cooking alongside stumpy, Bee was with Lucian, and Ruby in prepping the vegetables, Emerald and Sapphire were busy serving, alongside a new server.
"We got an order for three Pad-Thai's" said Marcy Yunan, walking towards the stage and handing Mrs Boonchuy a note.
"Thanks Marcy, You're a pretty good server."
Marcy shrugged, "Well I won't cause a monster attack this way, Sorry about that."
Mrs Boonchuy shook her head, "Don't worry, Just please, PLEASE, Never cook again."
Marcy ran off through the crowd eventually she saw another table, Human Marcy, Sasha, Grime, The Plantarsand Max was sitting there depressed.
"All that money," he said.
Marcy wanted to feel smug about this but looking at him sitting there sad, she decided to act nice.
"Hey, look on the plus side, you got some work experience out of it."
Max shot her a dirty look.
"There you are!" said an excited voice to their side.
Max and Marcy turned, to see Mr. Richenington walking towards him, "Dear boy this has been one of the best experiences of my life, so real so emotional, and so authentic."
"Ummm, Thanks?" said Max.
"Here, is your tip." said Mr. Richenington handing Max a pouch, Max took it and opened it, there was around fifty copper coins in it.
Max eyes widened, "You're welcome Mr Richenington." he said beaming.
Marcy rolled her eyes of course he was going to get what he wanted. She sighed.
Mr Richenton walked to a table, "Marcy two things, One he's order was Pad-Thai and secondly Where's Nicole?" said Max
Marc glare at him, "I don't know, I saw her run off five minutes ago, in that direction."
"Cool, I'm going to show her my tip." he gave Marcy a cocky smile and walked away.
"Jerk." muttered Marcy underneath her breath.
On the other side of the table sat Anne and Marcy.
"It makes no sense." said Anne, "I asked Soggy Joe about the Hawk and the Viper and why they were miles away from their usual habitat, He said their nests were just a few miles from the town."
"What you told me about the snake yesterday and Hybeena's that were out of their nest something about the Amphibian wild life is acting weird."
Anne nodded, "I think something's up, the wild life around this place is hostile, but they're acting weird, like something makes them do so."
Marcy nodded, "Okay, I'll do some research for tomorrow, See if I can find anything."
Anne nodded, "Tell me what you find."
"Hey" said Sprig, "Where's Jan and Terri?"
"They went to one of Felicia cottages," Said Anne smiling. "They said they needed to do couple's stuff."
"Oooohh." said Sprig picking up on her meaning.
…
In the cottage, Terri and Jan were indeed doing couples things.
"Oh, my god Terri, you will not believe this," said Jan excitedly looking at her book, "A Moss-man, there, there are cryptids I've never dreamed of here."
The room was covered in books borrowed from Hop-Pop's archive.
"That's nothing," said Terri holding back their excitement, "All this work on how the portal works, this might explain why it won't close."
Jan gave her a small smile, they were an odd couple, their best moments were lying on the bed talking about the things they loved, Science, Cryptozoology, each other.
Terri gave a small laugh, "Sorry, I know this is a vacation and…"
"No it's fine, I'm glad you're here." said Jan smiling.
She kissed them.
Terri smiled and kissed her back.
"So you want to start looking at the political history next?"
"DO!" said Jan looking for the book in question.
They were an odd couple, one the most excitable Archeologist in L.A. and a quiet yet brave scientist.
Both wonderfully unique.
…
Max wondered round the dark street of Wartwood, he had to be honest this place felt a lot safer than L.A., it was strange, he had almost been killed by three monsters, but he felt safe here,
The town felt like it was about to sleep itself, most of the shop were either shut or starting to shut.
He couldn't stop himself smiling, sure he might have lost a lot of money, but he had at least fifty coppers, that would help when he left this town.
He was still walking when he finally found Nicole standing in front of a shop, a small looking building, with a sign on top saying "Mrs Fashonn's boutique."
"Nicole." said Max excitedly, he ran up to her, "You won't believe how much money I got."
Nicole turned to him and looked inside the bag, she smiled, "that's great."
"Yeah and…" he looked inside the shop, "Huh is what you want to wear?"
The dress he was looking at was full of frills, it was pink and sparkly of it reminded Max of that time he eats so much ice cream that he threw up, though there were fewer carrots.
"Yeah," said Nicole sadly, "Not going to happen now."
Max looked at the small newt worried, "I mean can't your parents pay for it, I mean it's not-"
"I don't have parents." said Nicole.
All of a sudden the wind was knocked out of Max.
"What?"
"I don't have parents, I was left at the orphanage as an egg, no one know who left me."
Max stood there for a second, "So your tips were?"
"The only way I could afford something to wear."
"Oh," said Max, "So what are you going to do for clothes?"
Nicole put on a smile, "I mean I think I could convince someone to give me a sack to wear, I think I could pull one of those off."
"Aren't those itchy?"
"Incredibly so, But hey It'll have to do."
Max looked at the small newt, she had helped him a lot today, and she was nice. Maybe it was because they were both orphans, but Max felt something in him give way.
There would be another way to make money.
"Nicole is the shop still open?"
"Sure Mrs Fashonn hasn't left yet," Nicole said, "why"?"
Max picked her up and walked into the shop.
A large toad was sitting at the counter, She was in her mid-fifties (Max couldn't really tell) she had white hair and wore a purple cardigan.
She looked up and saw the two with a forced polite look.
"I'm sorry we're close, come back tomorrow." said the toad in a nasal voice.
"Wait, This won't take long." pleaded Max, "How much will it cost to get a dress."
The toad, looked at Nicole, "Hmmm, It's Usually 100 Silver."
Max sighed, he wished he could help.
"But for my one time assistant Nicole, I'll do it for 5 Silver, It won't be fancy, but it'll be something."
Max handed her the bag of Coppers, "is this enough?"
Mrs Fashonn took it and counted the money up, and nodded, "Just about," she took out a book and wrote something down.
"So when will she be able to get it?"
"When she started to get her body, That's when She'll get her dress, Now please leave, I want to sleep."
Max and Nicole dashed out the boutique.
Out on the street again Max turned to Nicole, "Are you okay."
Nicole quickly wrapped her arms around his leg, "Thank you, thank you, thank you." she said, her tears were making his leg wet.
"Okay, you're welcome," said Max trying (and failing) to fight a smile from appearing on his face, We gotta get back to the others There's free food available."
"Let's go." said Nicole letting go of his leg and running towards the others.
Max watched as she ran, and sighed, he didn't know how long he could keep doing this, he needed to get money.
He already had the photo of the maps and guides, But money would help him get a ride out of town and somewhere to stay.
Maybe he should have kept the money.
The image of Nicole hugging him kept coming back to him.
It felt nice to help her, maybe he could stay in Wartwood.
He shook his head, the Plantars would just force him to go back, honorary Plantar or not they wouldn't just let him move in with them.
Time was running short, he needed to find a way to leave this town.
He walked back his head lost in thoughts about the future.
…
The party was starting to clear, up the only one who were left now were the sizeable party of Anne her parents, Stumpy, The Spring Triplets, Tobias, The Plantars, Sasha Marcy, Lucian, The Yunan's, Nicole, and Max were left, all of them were sitting around a table, eating.
"Well this was an eventful day." said Bee.
"Eh, this is nothing, you should see when things get really insane." said Polly.
"Honestly it was kind of slow compared to other days." said Sprig.
"No broken bones, no trauma, kind of meh really." said Marcy Yunan.
"Guys, please don't jinx it," pleaded Anne.
"Relax Boonchuy," said Sasha casually, "What's the worst that could happen."
"Lucian?" said a high-pitched yet somehow gravely voice.
Grime dropped his fork, his eyes widening, "Oh no," he whispered.
Sasha stopped eating and turned to the source of the voice.
Standing there was a green toad wearing a jesters outfit, he looked like none of the other toads, despite it being ten years since she had last seen him she recognized him instantly.
Lucian stood up and started to run towards the voice, "I'm here dad, Don't worry."
"Oh, thank goodness, we heard about what happened in town and…" the frog drifted off the moment he saw Sasha.
The two looked at each other, fear affecting both of them.
The green toad looked at his son, "We have to get home your mother will be worried."
Lucian tried to argue with him, but the toad ushered his son away, he shot a goodbye to Max and Marcy.
Sasha was standing there confused, but only for a moment she turned to Grime anger taking over, "You said you couldn't find them."
Grime looked at his former lieutenant worried, "Um well I tried to but…"
"You were lying to me." said Sasha her anger rising, "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I wanted to but…"
"Well what? What possible reason do you have for telling me?"
Grime looked at her for a second and sighed, "None, I'm sorry."
If Sasha had any respect for Grime it vanished in that one moment, "Did you even try to apologize for me?"
Grime looked down, "No."
Sasha looked at him, for a moment everyone was worried she would attack him, instead she turned away, "Hey Plantars, I'm staying with you tonight." she said bitterly.
"Sure, just invite yourself." said Hop-Pop annoyed.
Anne looked at Grime looking at the lowest he had ever been.
She watched as Marcy Wu stood up and started to run towards Sasha, she quickly followed,
As she caught up she saw that Marcy has next to Sasha"Sasha wait, what happened?" pleaded Marcy.
"That no good piece of a slime, I spent years worrying about what happened to them, and he just lied to me on the first day."
Anne was starting to worry, She hadn't seen Sasha this angry in years.
"Sasha what's wrong."
"That was Percy." said Sasha bitterly.
Anne eyes widened in recognition. "Oh," she said.
"Percy you mean that toad-" started Marcy.
"I abandoned, Yes." said Sasha bitterly.
Sasha continued stopped walking and held her arms, "I spent years wondering what happened to them, I thought they died in the war, and they were here the whole time."
She closed her eyes, "Grime lied to me, why?" her voice was wavering.
Anne and Marcy looked at each other they were worried about their friend.
"Sasha," said Anne "I know it looks bad but from what you told me you didn't leave Percy and Braddock on the best of terms, Maybe there's more to this?
Sasha just stood there silent, like she was set in her mind, "No." she said.
Anne sighed, "Okay, you come to the farm, but we've only got a couch."
"I'll take that, I've been sleeping on Grimes for a while now."
Anne nodded, and walked off to tell the Plantars and Grime.
Marcy stood there next to her friend, "Are you going to be okay?"
Sasha turned away from Marcy, "No." she said starting to cry.
March hugged her best friend.
Sasha hugged her back, trying to hold on to something as her belief in her toad friend shattered.
…
Andrias sat down near the fire, it had been two days since he left, another two days, and he'd be in Newtopia, he knew ways to get around Amphibia others didn't, secret paths Leif and Barrel had told him about.
He still had Olivia's letter still in his bag, he wondered if they'd even let him into the city with it.
There were other ways but still.
He was about to go to sleep when he heard a bush rustling.
"Who's there?" He called, a part of him was concerned over who or what, was watching him.
If it was a group of angry villagers from the village he passed it would be more difficult, The last one had a mob following him, if they attacked him here, he would defend himself. But even he would admit he didn't want to hurt anyone anymore.
Out from the bush came a salamander wearing a white robe with one sleeve sown up, She had brown skin and pink eye, though one had a permanent squint.
Andrias looked at her, and let out a bitter laugh.
"Do you know what I would have done to meet you just ten years ago?"
"I believe you mean captured me," said Val keeping her tone neutral.
The king stood up, "until that day the moon fell, I wondered if you were even real"
The king stood up and looked down at her, "The mysterious last member of the order of Calamity."
"That's one thing they called me." replied the Salamander, "Personally I prefer Valeriana."
"Yes, And there's the other name, the one lost to history."
"It's one I don't care for."
"But there's the title, that survived."
Valeriana face remained calm but her eyes, there was a fire in them, a mix of rage and shame were behind them.
"Qu-"
"I never wanted that position, I just wanted our people to be united, for us to use the boxes power peacefully."
Andrias chuckled sadly, "Yes, So did I, At least you tried to do the right thing."
Valeriana walked closer to him, despite being a giant she didn't look at him with fear, in her eyes were curiosity but buried somewhere was pity for him.
"I have heard the news, they say the humans have returned."
"It's true, they have."
Valeriana exhaled, "I thought this would be over, But no, Something is wrong."
"What?" asked the king.
"The wildlife of this world, it is acting strangely."
"I heard at the last village, there were attacks by a love doves, they're not common to this part of Amphibia."
Valeriana nodded, "Yes, but that's not all, something is missing in the heavens."
Andrias eyes widened, "What?"
"Something that watched over the multiverse has vanished, and now I need your help to find them, Tell me, Did the core have any ways to survive its destruction?"
The Ex-king sat down, and started to tell the story of what he saw that day.
At the end Valeriana turned, "We must go to Newtopia, now.
