Max looked at the house in front of him, it was large but not the biggest he had seen in the last six months.

It was around two stories tall and reminded Max of a lot of the houses he saw on T.V. sitcoms. It looked expensive, but it also looked old, but in a way that made it seem like it was loved. Dozens of people had lived there during the years, children had been born here. A small army of grandchildren probably came to visit, it felt different from the usual homes the Does went to.

Max only gave it a few moments thought, in truth, he was more concerned with how tight his second-best suit was, "Do I have to wear this?" he asked.

"Now, Max, We need to look our best for Mrs. Grovie," said Mrs. Doe, her husband nodded back, they were also dressed neatly.

Max sighed, he was here to help convince one of the Doe's investors to invest more.

He didn't really know what the Doe's did, but something told him it wasn't exactly legal, They said they took money and invested it in companies to make more money, Max asked if they made any money back, The Does admitted that it was rare, but it kept them fed, so best not to question it.

As they walked up Max was surprised to see the door open, Standing there was an 80-year-old woman in a pink cardigan with the words "World's best grandma" across it, she was wearing purple sweatpants. Her hair was white from old age.

She was somewhat frail, but she moved with the confidence of a woman half her age, Max couldn't help be notice she had a kind face.

"Mr. and Mrs. Doe," called the old woman cheerfully, "You didn't have to dress up so nice,"

"Mrs Grovie, good to see you, How's the family?"

"Oh they're fine," said the woman in a friendly tone, "In fact, they'll be here for dinner soon, And this must be Max."

Max inwardly groaned. A lot of the grandmas Max visited with the Does had a thing for being nice to children that weren't even theirs, he usually didn't mind it, he was probably expected to give the older woman a kiss.

"Yes, this is our son," said Mr. Doe smiling, urging Max a little forward, The boy hated this, it made him feel uncomfortable, but it wasn't so bad. The Doe's had promised him the latest video game, Black Spirit 4, if he did this today.

"Hi, Mrs Grovie, nice to meet you," he said smiling nicely.

Max instantly found himself being suffocated by a hug, "He's so adorable, well come on in." said the older woman releasing Max from the hug.

They all gathered in the front room. The Doe's started talking about how Mrs. Doe could invest her money, Max had to be honest he had no idea what they were talking about, something about investing in their company about how it was doing well and that her investment would be tripled if she paid them today, Mrs. Grovie kept nodding at whatever they said, Max being seven did not care for the discussion, so he decided to do whatever he always did when he was bored.

He was going to explore the house.

Sure it was rude, but he was still young enough to get away with benign nosey.

"Can I use the bathroom?" Max said at the first gap in between the conversation.

The Does looked at him slightly annoyed, but Mrs. Grovie just laughed.

"Sure thing Hun, just down the hallway on the left."

Max nodded and left the room.

As he wandered around the house, he noticed the various pictures around him, of Grovie and her family, One that caught his eyes was of a younger version of her wearing white and kissing a man in a suit at their wedding, but there were more pictures with them and their children, those children at school, graduations, vacations.

It was strange seeing the pictures, especially the smiles, He had seen the Doe's their smiles always seemed artificial. the smiles in the photos seemed genuine.

Entering the kitchen he saw the stairs heading downstairs to a basement, deciding to satisfy his curiosity he walked down the stairs.

The room was mostly empty, which was disappointing, he expected something to be there something cool. It was empty except for a lazy boy chair in the middle of the room and facing the opposite wall, Max turned to see what it was facing.

There was a wall of pictures, of the man and her, all arranged in a circle, there were images of them with three children who grew older the closer to the outer edge of the circle, in the middle however there was a picture of two children, a black boy in a White shirt wearing a somewhat fancy suit there was an awkward smile on his face, the girl standing next to him had the widest smile overalls and a pink shirt, they were both holding a frog.

In the girl's left hand was a ribbing with the words "Biggest frog in county, 1960"

"Enjoying yourself?"

Max turned to look up the stairs.

Mrs Grovie was standing there he was shocked to see there was a smile on her face, but it seemed more sad than anything.

"Sorry, I'll-"

Grovie raised her hand palm forward.

"No it's fine, I'm glad someone saw this." She walked towards the chair and sat down, "This is basically my story."

Max looked again and nodded, "Oh, That's your husband?"

"No, it's just a mysterious man I lived with and allowed to sleep in my bed."

Max let out a small snort.

"Yes," said Mrs Grovie, "He was my husband."

"Oh, he's gone"

Mrs. Grovie stood there looking at the picture, her smile briefly faded, "A year now, I was furious for a while."

"Why?" asked Max

The old woman sighed, "He left me, It's stupid I know but… When we grew up in the orphanage we made a promise to never leave the other behind."

"You were orphans?"

"Yeah, like you."

"How did you…"

"Well your parents are white, and you don't really look like them."

Max looked at her for a second then shrugged, "Fair."

"We were never adopted so when we got married we made up for a lot of that, We had four children, and Now I've got around nine grandkids and one great-grandchild on the way, They all came for his funeral, So in a way He didn't really leave me."

An involuntary smile appeared on Max's face. As he continued to look at the photos he noticed a picture of Mrs Grovie with a young girl with dark skin, the girl was sitting in a wheelchair. Max suddenly felt a pang of guilt.

Who is that?"

Mr Grovie sighed, "Samantha, my youngest granddaughter. She was born disabled, and she needs a lot of medical attention, She can't walk, but she's funny, kind, and smart.

Max continued to look at the picture, "How old is she?"

"Twelve, there's a school that's equipped to help her, but it's expensive, it's one of the reasons why I'm doing business with your parents.

"And if you didn't have that money?" asked Max.

"Mrs Grovie looked at him, "Well… she wouldn't be able to go to school."

Max just stood there for a second, he sighed, "Mrs. Grovie, I don't think you should do this deal-"

"Max," called a voice from up the stairs.

The boy turned to see her mother standing there, a stern look on her face, however behind her eyes was something else, "What are you doing?"

Looking up, Max could see Mr. Doe standing there glaring down at him, Max suddenly felt small.

"Mrs. Grovie," said Mrs. Doe her voice sounding explicitly slimy, "Please ignore Max, He's a child he has no idea what he's saying,"

The older woman looked at her for a second, "Actually Mr. Doe, I want to discuss things with my lawyer before making any deals."

Mrs. Doe's eyes rose slightly, and she gave a brief chuckle, "Please Mrs. Grovie, you and I both know this would be a waste of time, we have dozens of other clients who would be willing to take this deal."

"And I wish them good luck however for now, I think for now I'd like to think it over,"

The younger woman sighed, "Honey, take the brat upstairs."

Before he could do anything, Mrs Grovie took hold of Max's hand, "I think I don't want you here anymore, if this is how you treat your son."

Mrs Grovie started to walk up the stairs however Mr Doe didn't move, "Sorry Ma'am, but you're not going anywhere."

"How dare you," protested the older woman. She tried to move past him, but he just stood there, Mrs. Grovie started to push, she let go of Max's hand, and she raised her arm to hit the man.

In response, Mr. Doe just pushed her,

The elderly woman fell, Max turned to see her face a look of terror painted on it. She hit the floor with a deafening crunch.

She just lay there unmoving, a confused look on her face.

Max held back a scream. He turned to see Mr. Doe standing at the top of the stairs looking terrified, turning back he saw Mrs Doe was now standing over Mrs Grovie's body.

They just stood there for a minute, Then Mrs Doe stepped over the body.

Passing Max she stopped next to her husband.

"So you saw that happened here right?" said Mrs Doe calmly, "We were in the kitchen, and we were talking to her, Max went down to the basement, and she followed and tripped, we found her like this."

"Yeah that works, You go call the ambulance," turning he looked at Max with a scowl on his face, "I'll talk to the boy."

Mrs Doe nodded and left the attic.

Max stepped back, "What…What are you going to do with me?" asked the boy.

"Well Max, I'm going to explain to you what's going to happen, go upstairs and be quiet."

"But I…"

"BUT NOTHING," shouted Mr Doe spit flying from his mouth., "YOU'RE NOT GOING TO DO ANYTHING, JUST SIT UPSTAIRS AND PRAY WE CAN GET OUT OF THIS MESS."

Max jumped and held on to the banister.

Mr Doe grabbed him and dragged him to the living room, he threw him onto a couch.

Max tried to stand, Mr Doe Raised his hand, "Don't you dare," he whispered.

Ten minutes later the E. arrived and moved Mrs Doe, miraculously she was still alive, Mrs Doe said she would ride with her.

Mr. Doe said he would meet her there, He'd drive Max to the hospital.

As they drove Max sat in the front of the car next to the man who had just thrown a woman down the stairs, he was terrified of another outburst.

"Max," said Mr. Doe calmly, "let me explain what you're going to do, When we get there, You're going to cry and tell the doctors or anyone who asks, like her family that Mrs. Grovie, just fell, we tried to help her."

"But that's-"

Mr. Doe raised his hand again, Max flinched, Mr. Doe lowered his hand and sighed, "Oh, Max can't you see we're doing this for your own good?"

This confused Max "What?"

"Well, if we get in trouble for this what'll happen to you?"

"I-"

"They'll arrest you, of course, You'll be forced to go to jail and no one will want you then."

Max sat there looking at him, "But I didn't do anything,"

Mr. Doe shrugged, "True, but you did help us trick other people out of their money, and you also seemed to enjoy the toys and games we brought you."

Max was about to protest, but Mr. Doe gave him a look, "Max you're as bad as us, if anything you made us push that old woman down the stairs."

"No, I didn-"

"If you didn't tell her not to give us money she wouldn't have tried to leave, she would have been fine, We'd be a little bit richer, and she'd well be still walking."

Max wanted to reply, but he couldn't deny he played a part in what had happened to Mrs Grovie.

"So, Max I think it's for everyone's interest including your own that you keep quiet about everything and just agree with the story that actually happened, You went downstairs, Mrs Grovie followed you, she tripped because she was old, and we called the ambulance, you'll cry over how sad things are, and then we're going to see if we can convince her family to give us some money to invest."

Max looked at the man he was about to respond to, but then he caught a look in Mr Doe's eye, he saw that fiery look of anger, The scared boy nodded.

"Good," said Mr. Doe, "Now relax we're still getting that game of yours later remember?"

When they arrived at the hospital, Mrs. Doe was in the waiting area with a small group of people, "Honey, thank goodness you've arrived, I was just explaining what had happened to Mrs Grovie to her family."

The family stood there looking shocked, except one, in a white shirt with slicked-back hair. He looked at Mrs Doe with distrust.

"Yes it's an interesting story," said the Man, "I have a few questions about it."

Mrs Doe turned to him with a sympathetic smile on her face, "I understand Dixon, ask away."

"Why was my mother going down to the basement?"

"My son Max," said Mrs. Doe sighing, "He went to explore and Mrs. Grovie followed, She must have tripped and fallen, I called the hospital but sadly it was too late."

Dixon turned to Max, "Is that true?"

Max stood there for a second, he could tell them the truth, but the more he thought of it this man seemed angry, if he told them the truth he'd probably see him go to jail with the rest.

He forced tears to appear in his eyes, "Yes" he whimpered.

The man kept looking at him for a second then nodded, "Really?"

"Dixon." said a woman next to him who looked to be his sister, "The kid looks terrified, He saw mom fall, give him a break."

In response, Dixon looked at the woman for a few seconds and sighed, "Yeah I know, Sorry."

"Don't worry," said Mrs Doe, "this is a hard time for you, We'll leave alone."

Mr. and Mrs. Doe started to walk away from the group, Mr. Doe took hold of Max's hand holding it tight in her grip, it hurt.

"Wait!" said Dixon.

They froze and turned around, "What?" said Mr Doe calmly.

"Why was my mother talking to you people in the first place?"

Mrs. Doe smiled, "Your mother was coming to us for advice on how to invest her money we were offering her some decent suggestions of stocks, all above board."

"Okay," said Dixon, "But my mom never really needed financial advice, why did she come to you?"

"Well she was old and needed some advice she just-"

"Yeah, I don't buy that," said Dixon, "I want to know what exactly my mother was investing in."

"Mr Grovie, Please you have to realize that your mother was-"

"No none of my what my mother was doing, Tell me exactly what she was doing now, or I'm calling the cops."

The Does looked frightened for a second before Mrs. Doe continued to try and explain herself, Max could see the rest of the Grovie family seemed to want an answer as well.

"Samantha," Max said quietly.

Dixon turned to look at him confusion on his face, "What?"

Max stood there a part of him was telling him not to do this, he looked at the Doe's they were looking at him surprised, he turned back to the Grovie's family "Samantha her granddaughter, are you her uncle?"

Dixon swallowed, whatever bravado vanished from his face, "She's my daughter."

Max felt things get heavier he felt real tears welling up in his eyes, "She wanted to get money to help Samantha go to this school, didn't she tell you?"

The man shook his head, "No, she didn't" he said sounding tired.

Mr Doe looked at Max and briefly smiled, one of pride, It made Max feel smaller than he already was, he turned back to the Does with a mask of sadness, "It's true, Please we just want to help."

Dixon looked at him for a second then sighed, Maybe it was a kid saying it that worked, but he seemed to have given up all resistance to the Does, "Yeah, I guess."

"Thank you, We'll invest her money now, it might take some time to really pay off, so please be patient."

With that the group said goodbye and walked to their mother's room, hoping she'd wake up.

Max followed the Does as they walked back silently to the car and drove away, After five minutes Mr Doe started to laugh, he turned to Max a wide smile on his face, Max has seen similar smiles on Hyenas, "Great job kid."

Mrs. Doe just leaned back in her chair, Max could just see the look of pure ecstasy on her face, "That old broad was loaded for Fifty hundred dollars, all of it ours, thanks to Max.

The boy just sat silently, processing what he had just done, he had helped these two terrible people get away with hurting a woman and robbing her family.

He was just as bad as them.

They continued to drive off, they discussed what they were going to do with the money.

Max just sat there, he was stuck with these two, he'd probably become just as bad as them in time, he could try to run but to where, if he was caught and if anyone found out what he had done, they'd send him away.

They continued to drive, Max hating himself a little bit more.

That night he had his first of many nightmares of Mrs Doe.

Wartwood had been better days.

The day Mayor Toadie declared it free ice cream day for starters everyone liked that. (Except for George, he ran the ice cream parlor.)

Today however the town hadn't looked this bad since the war.

The town center was mostly empty, any Amphibian that had been there had departed either to go home or to start picking up the rubble.

However, a familiar mood had returned to the town, one of fear and worry, After three attacks in just a week people were starting to become afraid again.

Sasha was currently in the middle of clearing up the destroyed wall from a fish shop, she was pretty grateful for keeping in shape all these years.

She dropped the rock in a now large rock pile beside the fish shop, she took a deep breath and looked at the shop, it was clear of debris now.

"HEY FROBO!" she shouted.

The blue robot came running towards her, he was holding several pieces of lumber and got to work.

Thankfully the robot had been in the town shopping during the attack, he had gotten a few Amphibians to safety, and now he was proving to be more useful.

In mere seconds the wall was fixed, and the Blue robot stood there in a heroic pose.

"Good job."

"You're welcome, Now if you don't mind me, I've got to fix the school," with that he ran off

Sasha smiled, if things kept going like this they'd have the town repaired in two days.

She started to walk off to see whatever else needed to be fixed.

"It's all their fault you know."

Sasha froze and turned to where the voice came from, She could see a frog and a toad sitting there both looked older, but not elderly, the toad looked like a farmer. the frog's clothes were slightly nicer, but he looked like he still worked for a living.

"Who the humans?" said the toad.

"Yes," said the frog, "I know we love the heroes and those older Boonchuys are pretty nice but that kid, he's rotten to the core."

"Really? Why?"

"Well, He was the one to color the fountain red,"

"Really?"

"Yeah, and just today he was responsible for the monster attacking some kids,"

"Oh Frog."

"Yeah, and with all the recent monster attacks that can only mean one thing."

"He's responsible for it? Isn't that big strange?"

"Well look at it like this, remember during that cook-off when those two monsters attacked, he was there, The Yunnan frog girl, She was attacked in the forest days after he arrived, heck I've heard that Anne was attacked by a heron the day before, the very day he arrived in Amphibia."

"That's not much proof,"

The frog leaned in closer "True but think of it, he's young, Remember what those other humans were like at the start, Anne was an outsider, Sasha was a tyrant and Marcy helped Andrias start the war, They might be heroes now but remember who they were before that."

Sasha coughed loudly, the two amphibians turned and jumped when they saw her.

"Um… Commander Waybright, "said the toad, Sasha slightly recognized him from the tower, a private called Tibbs, "We were just…"

"I know what you were talking about," she turned to the frog, "I don't particularly care for those rumors."

The frog glared at her, Sasha had to respect his bravery, "It's not just me, a group of Amphibians is starting to remember the old days when certain humans caused more damage than they prevented."

Sasha was about to argue when a shadow flew above her. Briefly, she thought it was another Kill-a-Moth but to her relief, it was Joe Sparrow, she looked back at the frog.

"We all messed up back then, human frog, newt, toad, olm, but we did better, that's not an excuse but something you should remember when you blame a kid for doing something stupid,"

The frog continued to glare at her and took another sip of his coffee.

Sasha turned and followed the bird, eventually, it landed in the center of town, just next to Anne's destroyed statue, the Plantars sans Frobo were gathered near it.

Anne jumped off the bird followed by Marcy who then gave Joe a little pat, "Good bird."

"How bad's the damage?" asked Anne.

"Pretty bad, Frobo's fixing things, but It'll be around two days before all the damage is fixed," said Polly.

"That doesn't sound pretty bad," said Marcy, "That sounds pretty good as far as disasters go."

"Yeah physically things are fine, but I just heard a frog talking about Max, some of them think he might be dangerous."

They're not wrong" said Anne flatly.

"Anne, don't say that," said Sasha.

"Why not?," said Anne gesturing around the entire town, "Look around Sasha he's responsible for all this.

"Eh," said Polly, "It's not the worst."

"Yeah at least it's not a flood," added Marcy.

"Or an army of toads rampaging around the place," added Sasha

"Or a fire," added Hop Pop looking at Anne in particular.

Anne stood there for a few seconds, "Yeah we all caused problems but… We're not stuck here, that's why I've dealt with Max."

"Did you kill him?" asked Polly.

"What? No?" replied Anne shocked.

"Oh, thank frog, I mean I had to deal with annoying kids when I babysat, but I didn't kill them."

Anne stood there for a second looking somewhat terrified of the concept of Polly as a babysitter before shaking her head, "No, I'm not going to ask."

"Where is he?" asked Hop-Pop

"He's still at the farm after this he's going home and never coming back."

The words hung there for a few seconds, and her friends and family looked at her shocked.

The herpetologist stood there for a few seconds, "We've got to work, let's go."

Anne started to walk off, and that's when she felt a hand on her shoulder, she turned to see Sasha standing there, "Anne we need to talk."

"Sasha, listen I-"

The blonde turned to the rest of the group, "You guys go, I need to talk to Anne."

The others departed, Anne swore that Hop-Pop gave her a disappointed look as he walked off.

Sasha looked at Anne, "What did you say to Max?"

"I told him he's going home and-"

"How harsh were you?"

Anne stood there for a second, and sighed, "I told him he was a danger to Amphibia and that his actions caused so much harm"

Sasha stood there nodding, Anne couldn't read the look on her face, it seemed to be analytical.

"I told him that what he did was stupid and…I told him I didn't want anything to do with him anymore."

Sasha nodded, "Anne we have a technical term in my profession for how you handled that."

"What?"

"Moronic."

Anne threw up her hands, "Hello, look around Sash, all this destruction is his fault."

Sasha nodded, "True, but remember none of us were saints, and before you deny it, I know about the fires."

"Yeah, but that's because we were stuck here, We can send Max home now, we don't have to deal with him."

"And you told him you didn't want to see him again? That's cruel Anne."

Anne tried to ignore the look Sasha was giving her, "Maybe, but he almost killed that kid, and Mrs. Croakers hurt, I love those moths Sash, but they're dangerous, and he's dangerous too."

Sasha just stood there for a second before sighing, "Anne, the kid looks up to you,"

Anne tried to suppress the guilt she was feeling right now, "Well if he looked up to me maybe he wouldn't cause this trouble."

"So just because he's trouble means we get rid of him then"

Anne turned to see Hop-Pop hobbling up towards her.

"H.P what do you-"

"In case you're forgetting Anne you weren't always little miss perfect, the fires, the keeping a Kill-a-Moth in the basement, the time we almost got eaten by a tomato, all things you caused."

"Yeah, but-"

"And not once did kicking you out ever enter my head."

"He took money from you when you were sick."

"Because I bribed him, Anne, I was making the kid keep a promise which was unfair, and when he realized he messed up, he tried to fix it."

"So, what? He still tried to hurt our family, he destroyed the town he-"

"Did I ever give up on you?" said the Old frog his voice as cold as iron.

Anne stood there for a second, it was like a cold knife had stuck her heart, "What?"

"Did I ever give up on you?" repeated Hop-Pop.

The woman stood there for a second, She sighed "No but hop-Pop…Look, I know you consider him family but… He's just a kid, he's only been here a few days, he not really-"

Hop-Pop glared at her, "Don't you finish that sentence, he did the wrong thing, but don't you ever say that about anyone in our family."

It had been ten years since Anne had been that young girl who had been lost in Amphibia, the one who had been so alone, one who needed a home, people to care for her, she had found that in the Plantars.

To see hope-Pop look at her with shame, it hurt.

She swallowed, "He has his own family on earth, one who can deal with him better than us."

Sasha sighed, "Anne, they don't care."

It was like Sasha had slapped her in her face, "What?"

"I've been trying to get into contact with them for a while now, however, I've got nothing, even his school's tried, I've been to his house and no one's answered."

"I mean."

"Anne listen, do you honestly think a kid would be left alone for over a week now, without anyone paying attention?"

"Well, I-"

"Hell, You and the Plantars are probably the closest thing he's ever been close to a decent family."

Guilt was starting to well up in Anne's heart. if she knew that…it didn't change what Max had done, but she would have held back a little, she didn't know about his home life, or the fact that she probably meant a lot more to him than she thought.

"Okay," she said, "I'll talk to him when I get back, but he's still going home, he still caused all of this."

Sasha stood there for a second and shrugged, "Okay, I guess," With that, the blonde warrior psychiatrist walked away.

Anne turned to Hop-Pop and saw the disapproving look he was giving her, She sighed, "I'm sorry, Hop-Pop, but… He's going home."

The old frog looked at her for a few seconds before turning away silently, Anne rubbed her arm, feeling a lot less sure of herself.

She thought back to that young outsider she used to be, the one who everyone considered a monster.

If she had done this would Hop-Pop have given up on her?

There was the sound of rocks crumbling away, Anne turned in that direction to see a chimney had fallen from its roof, she turned and ran in its direction to help the frog who were clearing it away.

She could start to feel small drops of water on her skin, she sighed to make things worse it was going to rain.

,,,

Max pulled on his cloak just a little bit tighter as the rain fell.

He had been driving Micro-Angelo for around thirty minutes now, and everything seemed fine, he pulled out his phone again and looked at the map, by his calculations he'd arrive at Swamp Shiro in a few hours, he'd probably find a place to stay at for the night like an inn, and then he's move on to another town.

There was only one real problem Micro-Angelo seemed to be scared.

The Snail kept murmuring to himself frighted of the rumblings from the sky

Max wanted to stop and calm him down, but he couldn't if he did and the others came looking for him then he'd never be able to get away, so he kept moving, the snail kept fretting.

They were a few meters to the forest then the first rumble of thunder came out.

Max swallowed,'It's just a little thunder nothing to worry about,' he thought.

That's when the lightning struck, just beside him.

Micro-Angelo let out a terrified yelp, Max took hold of the reigns and tried to control the terrified snail, but the now muddy path made it almost impossible to stop, he kept pulling the reigns trying to stop the Snail from colliding with the trees, Max and Micro-Angelo screamed as he did his best to regain control, Max tried turning the snail, but it only caused the turn to skid.

Just before they hit the tree Max jumped off the snail who was now skidding towards the tree sideways.

He landed on the mud not seeing the collision.

That didn't stop him from hearing it.

It was a sickening combination of a scream and a crack.

Max picked himself up and rubbed the mud out of his face, Micro-Angelo was lying there his head on the ground.

"ANGELO" Max screamed, he ran towards the snail. he picked the snail's head up. the snail's eyes were closed, Max looked at the side that hit the tree. There was a crack going down the middle, he could see the snail's usually hidden flesh.

"Come on Angelo, you can't be dead," Max pleaded

There was a slight moan from the snail, Max sighed, the snail opened its eyes…and screamed.

"Angelo, I'm sorry I-"

However, before the human could finish the Snail sped off back in the direction of the snail, wailing.

"WAIT!" Max screamed, "MICRO-ANGELO I NEED YOU TO-"

But it was too late the snail was gone.

He stood there for a few seconds, his only means of transportation was gone.

Turning he looked at the forest ahead of him.

It was dark, he wouldn't be able to get that far without the snail, but he'd still get to Swamp Shiro eventually, he just needed to be fast.

Ten minutes later Max was walking through the dark forest trying to keep calm, every single noise made him turn, and several times he could hear rustling in the bushes.

He swore he could see things up ahead.

Worse however the weather, he struggled to keep moving forward as the wind blew, the rain obscured his vision somewhat, and he feared what could be luring in the shadows.

After a few minutes, he finally saw a cave up ahead.

Instantly Max ran towards it, anything to get to some sort of shelter from the rain

The moment he was out of the rain he sighed, falling to the ground he took a deep breath, he was surprised just how cold he felt, his cloak was thick but the rain was heavier than most would expect.

For the first time since he left, he thought was this really a good idea?

He closed his eyes No, it was, he couldn't go back after this

Screwing his courage he opened his eyes, ready to embrace the journey ahead.

The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was a monster.

A large black feline creature was standing there in front of him, it had four eyes, and two red mandibles that came from its mouth, Its tail was long and thick with a large hooked stinger at the end.

Max stood there as the creature growled at him, he was going to die this creature was going to kill him, Max wanted to scream and run, but he found himself paralyzed by fear.

The devil took one footstep towards him, he lowered its body ready to Ponce

Max Ran out of the cave, he could hear the creature behind him, Maybe he could escape it.

Without warning Max found himself being lifted from behind and flung towards some nearby trees.

He turned his head to see the creature had a piece of fabric in his mouth, on the ground lay his rations and the Plantar's money, he touched the back of his bag confirming the creature had destroyed it.

Picking himself up he tried to run again however he could hear the thuds of the creature's paws as it continued to chase him.

Max was panicking now, this was it this was how he was going to die.

"NOW" shouted a voice from the trees.

There was a weird popping sound, followed by something large hitting the floor. Max turned to see the monster was lying there with several darts sticking out of its hide.

He almost tripped as he stopped running, Standing there he wondered what could have just saved him.

"Are you okay?" said a friendly voice.

Max turned to see a green frog standing there, he was wearing a gray cloak, he could see the man was wearing dark green trousers and a black jacket beneath through the cloak's gap.

"Ye…yeah," said Max confused.

"Thank goodness," said the frog relieved, "We've been chasing this scorpeleo for three days now, it's been terrorizing the forest for a month, thank goodness you led it in this direction, we were just heading back to camp and-wait are you a human?"

"Ye-Yes" said Max stuttering, "your camp can I go there I need some time to-"

"Oh where are my manners," said the frog, "Certainly, my name is Fyn, you can stay with us as long as you need."

Max felt hope for the first time in a while.

Fyn put his fingers to his mouth and whistled, from all around the first of many Amphibians started to walk from behind the trees, each looked… shifty, dangerous, clearly the type of Amphibian who was used to hunting monsters like these, ten toads picked up the creature and started to carry it towards the camp, Max and Fyn stayed at the back as they walked towards the camp.

"So were you guys just hunting this Scopaleo?" asked Max.

Fyn nodded, "Yes, A lot of Amphibia wildlife has been acting oddly recently, It makes my job a little bit tougher."

"What's your job?"

"Hunter, Trapper, basically I capture animals and sell them to wealthy clients.

"What as pets?"

"Some as pets, others for food, poisons, A few for aphrodisiacs."

"Ew."

"Yes, but with the Scopaleo captured, We're hunting a more dangerous game," said Fly slightly sinisterly.

"A gorilla with a shotgun?" replied Max.

"No…What's a gorilla and what's a shotgun?"

"Never mind."

After twenty minutes of walking, they arrived at the camp.

Max was surprised at just how big it was, it was the size of a small music festival, all around him were tents, and dozens of Amphibians were walking about many of them had weapons on their person.

There were also more cages than Max expected, in one he could see three dog-looking animals with wings and horns, in another there was a large snake the third of which Max had seen, in another was a giant raven sitting there just studying anyone who passed it.

He could spot a small armory where a toad was busy sharpening his sword, to the right there was a newt was feeding what appeared a tarantula. Next to him was a frog setting up what appeared to be a bear trap only larger and with sharper teeth

He could hear singing coming from one of the tents, a slurred drinking song.

"You guys seem really determined to catch this thing, huh?" said Max somewhat terrified.

"Yes, but don't worry my tent is warm and safe."

As Max got closer to the tent a new idea entered his head, "Hey listen, can I stick around with you guys, I need to get to Swamp Shiro and-"

"Certainly, I'll see you get there personally once the storm's over, You can rest in my tent until then."

Max followed the frog his hope of getting to freedom restored.

Fyn's tent was probably the second-biggest tent in the camp, the only bigger one was the tent where the singing had come from, entering it Max could see that it was full of papers and plans, on a small table, next to them was a crossbow, standing behind the table was a figure in a red cloak, after a few second the figure looked up, Max could just make out red skin and a scowl from underneath the hood.

"This isn't one of the humans we hired you for," said the figure annoyed.

"No, but he'll make perfect bait," said Fyn his voice more sinister now.

Before Max could react he felt two hands grab his arms and force them behind his back, and he fell to the floor.

He tried to struggle free from whoever was holding him down but they was too strong, From the corner of his eye he could see two toads leaning on his back

"Who are you?" he wheezed, "What are you doing this?"

"Well Max," said Fyn, "I've been hired by my client over there to capture Anne and her two friends, and you make the perfect bait, But as for my name I'm the great Tim Treller."

"And you my dear boy," said the cloaked figure walking towards Max who was now smiling wickedly,"you are going to help us bring down Anne Boonchuy."

Indoraptorman101: Honestly I kind of side with Anne slightly more thne Max, people seem to forget he did just destroy half the town and endanger some lives, But yeah, she did cross a line there.