The Moment Max passed the door of the aquarium he ran to the frog hall. He had so many for Anne.

For the first time in his life he had actually gone willingly to the library. All day and all night he had was spent reading about frog, he walked past the park daily looking for frog to bring home, he still needed a way to sneak them past the does, but it was only a matter of time.

He ran past exhibits avoiding security guards who yelled at him to slow down.

How could he do that? He had questions to ask.

How fast can frogs swim? Why do Newts' tails grow back? What was it like to live in a swamp?

All questions that were plaguing his seven-year-old brain.

He turned the corner expecting to see the Frog hall there.

Instead, it was boarded up saying closed.

Max froze, it was gone. What could have happened?

"Good riddance I say." said a familiar voice.

Max turned to see that shark guy from last week standing next to a man in blue shorts and a blue shirt.

"That place was a burden on the aquarium, no one ever used it.

"That's a bit harsh," said the man in blue, "She really did her best to try and run it."

"Pfft" said Doctor Ritt, "Please we all know no one came here for that, they came for more interesting exhibits like the sharks, or the jellyfish or the stingrays, No Her time here was utterly pointless, I'm glad she's gone, not one visited her."

Max clenched his fists into balls, Doctor Boonchuy must have made her suggestion and been fired, and this Shark jerk was being cruel about it.

He needed to do something, but what.

That's when he saw a janitor with long hair and greasy skin standing there next to a man dressed in a suit, in the janitor's hands was a plastic skeleton.

"No, Patrick we can't"

"But sir all the big theme parts do it and-"

"Yes, but we're not a theme park, we're an aquarium, We cannot do a haunted house."

"But it would be-"

"I know Awesome, but the answer is no," with that the man walked away

The janitor sighed, "Well that went great, I should have listened to my wife, no one wants to be scared anymore, where can I get rid of this skeleton?"

"Excuse me," said Max walking up to the man trying to look extremely innocent, "Can I have that skeleton please?"

The janitor looked at him for a second then shrugged, "Sure, I might as well get rid of it now my dreams are dead."

Max took the skeleton and smiled, "Thank you."

Five minutes later Max walked out from the staff door, it had been difficult to sneak inside, but it was worth it, in a few minutes there the aquarium would be in chaos, and he would be miles away.

A part of him wanted to see the reaction his prank would have but another just wanted to get out of here.

He felt guilty, if it wasn't for him, Maybe Anne would still have a job.

The one adult out there he actually liked, and he had ruined everything for her.

"Max?" said a surprised voice.

The young prankster froze as he heard the voice, he turned to see Anne rushing towards him, she wasn't wearing her aquarium clothes but a green shorts, a white shirt and a yellow jacket.

"Anne?" Max swallowed, guilt swallowed him, she was here probably wandering the halls in grief over her old job.

The woman stopped in front of him smiling, "Max, I-"

"I'm sorry." he blurted out.

Anne froze and looked at him confused, "What?"

"I'm sorry, the frog halls closed because of me."

"Oh," said Anne, "you saw that, It's-

Tears started to form in his eyes, "If I didn't suggest that you should say something you'd-"

"Max, Relax, I got the budget."

The tears stopped as quickly as they came, "What?"

"I presented my plans and the board loved it, We're just moving the exhibit upstairs."

Max smiled, "What really?"

"Yeah," she then gestured for him to follow, "Come on I want to show you something."

A few minutes later they had arrived at the second floor, where there had been a restaurant, dedicated to selling fish was a sign saying, "Coming soon, a brand-new adventure, Why not get lost in Amphibia."

"Amphibia?" asked Max.

"Yeah," said Doctor Boonchuy wistfully, "It's a name that means a lot to me, and it's all thanks to you."

Max blushed, "I only just suggested you talk to some old guys, It's not that hard."

"Don't sell yourself short there," said Doctor Boonchuy, she knelt down next to him, "If it wasn't for you, I might have just given up, When Amphibia's open you can visit whenever you want."

The young boy felt himself smiling, "Thanks Doc-Anne."

Without warning there were the sounds of screams from downstairs.

'Oh right the skeleton," thought Max.

"What the-Max we gotta get out of here."

She took his hand, and they ran downstairs, an army of parents was carrying their crying children out of the aquarium, however just as many people ran to the shark exhibit, Doctor Ritt was standing there ushering them away.

"Please leave calmly," said the shark biologist trying to remain calm, "It's for your own good, It's not real."

Max spotted the tank, a group of smaller sharks were swimming around it, however some of them were swimming near a bloody skeleton prop.

Max could hold back his smile, That would teach that jerk.

"Man," said Anne, "Who would do such a thing?"

"I don't know," said Max smiling, but they have a great sense of humor."

Anne glared at him for a second before smiling back, "Yeah maybe they do."

Max heard Jillian land with a thud.

Opening his eyes Max could see that he was neither at the pearly gates nor was he surrounded by fire. In fact, it might have been worse than either of those two.

He was at the lake again.

It was hard to forget the first place where you almost died.

"Yo Max," said Nicole, "Are you coming?"

Max looked down to see that the three frogs were on the ground already, Lucian had already stripped off his shirt, while Nicole was just looking at him, he started to exit his seat.

"LET'S GO" shouted Lucian rushing towards the lake, Nicole followed laughing.

Max was about to warn Lucian about the snake when the toad boy cannonballed into the lake, a few seconds later he surfaced, "It's clear no monster in sight."

"GOOD, NOW TURN AROUND," shouted Marcy before she turned to Max, "You too."

"Why?"

"Because I'm about to change."

The human boy looked at her, "What? Do you have another swimsuit?"

"I'm wearing it underneath my dress, and I don't want a boy to watch me changing."

Max stood there for a second and sighed as he turned around, he heard the fluttering of a dress, "There, you can turn around now."

Max did and saw she was wearing a purple shirt and shorts beneath her dress.

"That's it?" asked Max.

"Yep, Now come on." with that the frog girl turned about to dash into the lake, Nicole was already in there with Lucian splashing around.

"Actually, I'm going to stay here," said the boy trying to sound tough.

Marcy stopped running and turned to him confused, "What? Really?"

"Yeah, I mean it's just swimming," he said.

"Swimming is everything!" said Marcy in shock, "It's like the one thing all Amphibians are good at."

"Well in case you don't know I'm not an amphibian, and I haven't had the best experiences with water," turning around and walking back to the bird.

However before he could Marcy landed in front of him, "Max come on, I promise nothing bad will happen this time, just a small swim, you can swim can't you?"

He stood there for a second, he started to rub his arm in embarrassment.

"You can swim right?" said Marcy, starting to sound a little worried.

"No," he muttered.

"What?" said Marcy

"I Can't swim," he said louder.

"Oh," said Marcy blushing, "I guess it's not the most considerate thing to bring you here."

"No, No it wasn't and-"

"WHAT'S KEEPING YOU LOSERS?" came a voice from the lake.

The two turned to see Nicole sitting on Lucian's shoulders looking at them.

"LUCIAN COULD YOU COME OVER HERE FOR A SECOND?" yelled Marcy.

Shrugging Nicole off his shoulder the toad boy swam over to them, "What's up?"

"Max can't swim," said Marcy bluntly

"Oh shoot, so what do we do?"

Max hoped that Marcy would just leave him alone and let him sit there.

"We show him what he's missing."

A large depressed groan escaped Max's mouth, of course the frog girl wasn't just going to let him off.

"I'll just sit here," said Max sitting down, it's not as if swimming is any fun anyway?"

"Really, have you ever swim with a school of fish?" asked Marcy.

"No!" said Max not admitting that sounded fun.

"You've never swum to the bottom of a lake then swam so fast up you flew when you broke the surface and flew for a few seconds?" said Lucian.

"N…No," Max said unsure.

There was a splash as Nicole surfaced, "You never just spent like an entire day exploring what lies beneath, going on made up adventures?"

"Wh…why would I?" said Max crossing his arms.

"Because swimming is the best thing in the world," replied Marcy who stood there for a few seconds, "Do you want us to help you?"

Max looked at her for a few seconds, "How do I know it's safe?" he said quietly.

Lucian crawled out of the water, "Well the snakes gone, and we're the best swimmers around, At the first sign of trouble we'll swim you back up."

"I can't breathe as long as you,"

"What, you mean three hours?" asked Lucian.

"More like two minutes." replied Max

"Just tap on our shoulder, and we'll swim you up," said Marcy.

Max stood there for a second, the worst part was that they were trying to be supportive, he looked at the lake again, it did look calmer this time, and it might be interesting to see what was beneath the water.

Sighing he kicked off his shoe and removed his jacket and shirt.

"You promise I'll be safe?" he held out his hands.

"I do." replied Marcy taking his hand, Lucian took the other.

As his feet felt the water he was surprised at just how cool it was, not an unwelcome feeling.

They kept walking the water covering more of his body, when it reached his stomach he started to worry.

"Are you okay?" asked Lucian, Max turned to see that the toad boy was already swimming, he turned to see Marcy was also swimming.

"Just kick your legs," said Marcy.

Max kept walking eventually his feet could barely touch the floor, he swallowed and took one more step

He was floating, the two amphibians were keeping him afloat.

"You did it!" said Lucian excitedly.

"Are you okay?" asked Marcy,

Max had to admit this wasn't unpleasant, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"So, do you want to see the below?" said Nicole swimming up to them.

Max looked at her, "it's a little dangerous isn't it?"

"If you don't want to do it, we won't blame you," said Marcy smiling.

It was odd, for the last few days he and the frog girl had a weird relationship, a few days ago she had been annoying, a snitch, a girl who wanted everything to be perfect and anything that went against it was something to be destroyed.

However, he had seen moments when he saw that she had her own problems, she had to deal with a bully, being the adopted child of two newts, and looking out for Lucian and Nicole and now him.

He would never admit, but he was starting to trust her.

Max nodded "Okay."

"Take a deep breath," said Lucian.

Max took a breath.

"A Deep breath," repeated Lucian.

Max took another breath, a deeper on this time and shut his mouth tightly.

Lucian and Marcy stopped kicking their legs, and they sunk, Max closed his eyes briefly, he could feel them getting lower, eventually someone tapped on his shoulder.

Max opened his eyes and saw another world.

The first thing he noticed was just how much life there was down there, he spotted a school of fish swimming around, how green it was here, how so much of the plants above started down here, he looked above and saw the pond bugs skating above him.

Last time he had been here he thought he was going to die, this time he could see that there was so much more.

Lucian and Marcy started to move, they swam closer to the fish, Max reached out and touched their scales.

They swam to see a clutch of eggs there, one started to crack open, and a small insect swam out, Max smiled at seeing the miracle of life.

The insect only swam a few more feet before Nicole ate it.

He started to feel his oxygen start to run out, he tapped Marcy and Lucian's shoulders and they swam upwards.

As soon as he breached the water he took a breath.

"So, how was it?" asked Marcy a smile on her face already knowing the answer

"Amazing," he responded, "Let's go it again."

He took another breath and the three dove back beneath the surface.

An hour later the four were resting on a lily pad, Nicole was lying down with her two little stubby arms behind her back (or neck, Her biology was still confusing) Max and the others were sitting on the edge with their feet in the water.

Max had to admit he was surprised just how much weight the lily pad could take, he half expected it to sink, but no, maybe because it was bigger it felt more solid

"This is the life," said Nicole.

"Yeah, We need to do this more often," said Marcy.

"If I could swim I'd do this everyday," added Max.

"We could teach you," said Lucian excitedly, "We'll have you swimming like an Amphibian in no time."

Max was about to agree when he remembered this was probably his last day here, and for the first time since yesterday he felt something.

It wasn't the fear of going back to earth, it was a different feeling, this weird sad feeling that going away from here would be worse, the idea of this moment with his friends ending, it was possibly worse than anything else.

"I'm not going to be here tomorrow, Lucian," he said.

The toad looked at him shocked, but then stopped and looked sheepish, "Oh."

"You could come and visit," suggested Marcy sadly, "I mean Lucian and Nicole will be here, but I'm going away in a couple of weeks."

"Where are you going?" asked Max.

"Lady Webbington school for proper young ladies," replied Marcy in the snootiest voice possible, "My Mom's went there, and they want me to start this year."

"Yunnan went there?" asked Nicole.

"Didn't say she passed." said Marcy.

"That sounds like something you'd like." said Max

"Oh yeah I get to spend time with a bunch of snooty newts whose parents think it's a shame we have to pay frogs now, I'll fit in with them."

"I keep telling you there is a plan B," said Lucian.

"And I keep telling you I will not disguise myself as a spider and pretend to be your pet, I told you this before I don't like Spider food."

Max laughed, "Well I guess it'll be Lucian and Nicole hanging out."

"Don't count on it." said the toad boy depressed, "My parents want me to start following them, learn one of their jobs, It took a lot of begging for me to come here today.""

"You did almost die," replied Marcy, "Mind you that's becoming kind of a regular occurrence for all of us at this point."

"I guess you could hang out while I work," said Nicole.

"Don't you ever take a break?" asked Max.

"And not help out Wartwood, you crazy?"

Marcy chuckled, "Nicole considers it her duty to help everyone in Wartwood, she wants to find her place here."

"It also helps that basically everyone's my family," said the eft smiling.

"What?" asked Max.

"Well think of it," said Nicole trying to sound sagely, "Anne was a plantar right?"

"Right?"

"And you told us that Hop-Pop considers a Plantar right?"

"Umm."

"Well if two monsters like you can be considered family by them, then I can consider everyone in town my family."

"... Feeling a little insulted by that."

"Too bad you're my ugly brother."

The three Amphibians laughed, Max glared at them for a second before joining in.

"Hey why don't we go to earth?" suggested Marcy.

Max stopped laughing, his eyes widened, "What?"

"Well the Plantars went there ten years ago, and I figured maybe we should go, hopefully without an invisible killer going after us."

"Yeah, we can visit earth, I can finally discover that food that set Grime's mouth on fire."

"Ooohhhh, imagine all the jobs I can get over there," Nicole said in ecstasy.

He couldn't let them go there, they'd discover who he really was, Eddie was probably looking for him now, and if he found them… it did bear thinking about.

"NO" shouted Max.

The three looked at him shocked, "What?"

"You guys can't go to earth, it's horrible, just stay here."

"What do you mean?" asked Marcy, "It can't be that bad?"

"It is," replied Max, "It's a dangerous world full of monsters worse than anything here."

"Pfft," replied Nicole, "Max, have you seen half of the monsters here? We can handle them."

"Our monsters aren't easy to spot, they look like normal people but then… then they strike."

"That's just bad people in general," said Lucian, "besides I'm pretty sure that there are less cannibals over there, what like One in three people?"

"No it's not that I-"

"Max, are you scared of earth?" asked Marcy.

The human turned away, "No, It's-"

"Why can't we go?"

"Is it that bad?"

"IT JUST IS, OKAY!"

The three jumped at his outburst, they looked at him terrified, Max heart sunk.

"I'm sorry," he responded, "But earth isn't safe, and nothing good comes from there."

The lake was quiet for a few seconds except for the chirping of nearby insects.

"What about Sasha?" asked Lucian.

"I mean she's okay."

"And Marcy's pretty nice," added Marcy smiling, mentioning the woman she was named after.

"Fine, her comics are pretty good."

"Anne's pretty nice."

Max didn't respond to that one, at one point he would have agreed, but now he didn't know, she had saved him, but he hadn't seen her since, she probably didn't want anything to do with him, most likely she was probably planning to send him back to earth and hoped she'd never see him again.

"And you're forgetting the best human in the entire universe," said Marcy, "You."

Max looked at her surprised, "Really?"

"Yeah, you stood up for me, you brought Nicole her dress, and tried to help Lucian when he needed it."

"He still went with the Bog and his thugs," replied Max.

"Yeah but after your fight you told her where he went, you're a lot better than you think."

Max looked at her for a second, for a brief moment he believed her, but then the image of an old woman lying at the bottom of the stairs returned to him.

They were wrong, he wasn't a good person, they didn't really know him.

"You're wrong," he said, turning away, "I'm as bad as the rest."

He stood up about to dive then sat down, "I was going to swim, but you know."

"Max," said Lucian gently, "We know you're a prankster, but you're not that bad."

The boy sighed, "I killed someone," he said quietly.

Max had expected their reactions, Nicole looked shocked, Lucian seemed horrified.

Marcy however just sat there, she looked like she was controlled.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

The human boy looked at him for a few seconds, he was scared he didn't know if he could tell them, he knew they'd hate him…but he knew he had to tell them, they were good people and despite everything, they needed to know who he really was, they'd probably take him back to earth and give him to the authorities, or maybe not maybe they'd leave him here on the lily-pad just strand him here.

So he told them his story.

When he was finished he could tell what they really thought of him.

Nicole stood there shocked and confused, over how much of a monster he was no doubt.

Lucian was crying at probably just how stupid he was for making friends with a murderer.

Marcy however still had that neutral look on her face, then she stood up.

He expected her to attack him or insult him or something.

To his surprise she hugged him.

Lucian joined in, followed by Nicole.

The held him tightly.

"Guy, what are you doing?"

"It's a hug you idiot." replied Marcy, "It's what we do when our friends are sad."

"But I-"

"Max, you're not a murderer, The Does are."

"But-"

"You did nothing, you tried to help that lady, and they just pushed her."

"But I lied and-"

"They threatened you," replied Lucian, "And that Eddie Guy, leave me in a room with him and a sword I'd-"

"You're not a monster Max," said Nicole.

Max sat there feeling their hugs, a part of him didn't understand this they looked at him and saw something better there, something kind, tears started to appear in his eyes, despite everything they still wanted to be with him, tears started to appear in his eyes, and he hugged back

He didn't know what it was for the first time in years he felt safe.

"So," said Marcy, releasing him, "What do we do now?"

No one said a world for a few seconds, then Marcy Lucian spoke up.

"We go on the attack."

"What do you mean?"

"Well we find them, beat them up and tell them to never both Max."

Marcy rolled here eyes, "Yeah, that sounds like a great idea."

"Well what's your idea?"

"We could invite them to a tea party?" suggest Nicole

"How would that work?" asked Max

"Well we get them in a room and tell them they can't have Max anymore."

"I mean that sounds-" Marcy started to say.

"Then the poison kicks it, they start choking, white foam appear in their mouth they slacken and die."

Nicole smiled, her three friends looked at her terrified.

"Well," said Max terrified, "that is an option,"

"Hey I'm just throwing out ideas," said Nicole shrugging.

"Guy we're missing the obvious thing, Why don't we just tell an adult?"

"Because they' won't believe us," said Max, "They'd probably think we're lying."

"My moms would listen," suggested Marcy.

"Grime to, he's got a thing against bullies,"

"What about the other humans they'd help."

Max sat there for a second then sighed, "I don't know guys I know it sounds easy but-"

"MAX" came a voice from the bank, the group turned to see three humans standing there.

"Is that Anne?" asked Max, he was slightly terrified of going back.

"Well, come on" said Marcy slipping into the water follow by Lucian and Nicole, "Let's get back and tell them."

Max looked at her for a second then sighed and held on to the frog and toad.

Anne watched as the four swam back, During her run to the lake she had worried that it might be too late and Max would have been captured by the circus, who knows what they would have done if they found them there had been a brief moment of panic when they found them scatted on the ground but that ended when they saw the children.

Sasha and Marcy were standing next to her, Marcy was watching alongside her keeping an eye watching as the kids swam back, Sasha was keeping an eye on the trees out of concern that at any moment the circus might attack.

"Come on kids hurry up." muttered Anne.

A part of her wondered how Max had gotten out there, he had said he didn't know how to swim, a part of her briefly thought that he had lied to her again, but then she noticed the boy was hanging on to Frog Marcy and Lucian and sighed.

"Relax Anne, they're on their way." said Marcy.

"Yeah they'll be okay," said Sasha keeping an eye on the trees.

That's when the kids reached the shore, and started to get dressed, Frog Marcy looked at them confused.

"What's-"

"We've got to get out of here now." said Anne quickly.

"What, Why?"

"There are people out for us," said Sasha, "Some creepy guy name Tim Treller."

Max froze, "You know him?"

"Yeah and-" Anne paused, "wait how do you know that name?"

Max froze, he turned to his friends, swallowed, then turned back to Anne, "He captured me last night, he has a whole army with monsters and traps."

Everyone looked at Max for a second.

"So you came here knowing there was an army of hunters looking for you, and you thought coming out there was a good idea?" said Sasha.

Max stood there slowly rubbing his arm, "I… I wanted to spend some time with my friends before I left."

Anne stood there looking at him, "Max, if there was something wrong you should have told me, I-"

"Wouldn't listen to me, again," said Max, as she slipped on his shirt, a hint of bitterness in his voice.

Anne paused, he was wrong, she would have listened, but he didn't know that. For all he knew she would have done the same again.

"We can talk about this later," said Sasha, "just get dressed, you've got to go back on that bird."

The bird chirped aggressively towards Sasha.

"Her names Jillian," said frog Marcy snootily as she slipped the dress over her shoulders.

"Fine," said Sasha rolling her eyes, "you kids take Jillian and get home."

"Ah do we have to?" said Nicole, "What are the chances that this Time Teller guy will find us?"

Before anyone could say anything else a large landed on Jillian, the bird struggled to get free making terrified noises.

"JILLIAN!" Shouted frog Marcy in fear, she tried to run to the large sparrow trying to free her, the terrified bird knocked her back, Lucian and regular Marcy were instantly by her side and picked her up.

From out of the forest stepped two figures, a frog with a smile on his face, and a cloaked newt.

"Max." said the frog in a jovial voice, "So good to see you again buddy, and you must be Sasha, Marcy and Anne."

Anne glared at the frog, "I'm guessing you're Tim Treller?"

"Guilty as charged," said the frog shrugging, "Max must have told you all about me."

The herpetologist fists clenched, "What did you do to him?"

"Me? Nothing, I just found this kid lost in the woods and took him home, kept him safe, it's not our fault he ran off to a bog."

Anne could see Max in the corner of her eye, he was trying to look small, hoping he would not be noticed again.

"Okay," said Sasha reaching for her sword, "I've been trained to try and settle matters in a non-violent way, but you're testing me."

"Oh, looks like I got under your skin," said Time in a sing-song voice, "still if it's a fight you want."

Tim put his fingers to his lips a shrill whistle escape his lips, from shadows of the trees came thirty toads and newts, appeared, each of them looked tough, each had a weapon, swords, daggers, axes, maces, each wore a scowl, each wore armor, each had a hard look in their eyes.

They had the group surrounded.

Anne scowled, her anger was directed towards the two figure at the front, Sasha also scowled a part of her really wanted to punch the frog in the face. Marcy was the only one looking around trying to figure a way out.

Lucian had picked up a stick, a small one but one that he hoped could be used as a sword,

Nicole was in the same mindset, she might not have muscles, but she had teeth, and as anyone who had ever been bitten by her would attest the marks would last for ages.

Frog Marcy was looking around terrible, she stood close to her human counterpart terrified hoping the human could help her, Max however just stood there his eyes closed.

"I brought the most dangerous army in Amphibia here just for you," said Tim smiling, "I'd consider giving up right now."

"Well I've got bad news, You're dealing with three of the toughest fighters in Amphibia." said Sasha.

"Don't you mean four?" said Lucian said standing next to her holding a heroic pose.

"I repeat, Three," said Sasha glaring at Lucian, in response the boy looked annoyed.

"Well this might be fun," he turned to his henchmen, "Get them."

The army charged towards the girls.

Nicole was the first to run towards the group, she was the first to meet them, she bit the first one in the ankle.

"Ahhhh, My ankle, my one weakness."

Releasing her bite she then pounced towards a newt and bit him on the nose, He let out a blood-curdling scream and tried to swat her off, she jumped off him and ran deeper towards the forest, "See you later jerks." she called back towards the army.

She was running so fast she half expected to fly, despite this she was confused when she started to see that she was leaving the ground.

Something had grabbed her, she tried to turn to look at her abductor but couldn't see them. However, from the sound of the beating of the creature's wings, she could tell it was a beetle vulture, she found herself being flown towards that Tim jerk and his silent partner, in the frog's hand was a bag.

"Dang it," she said sighing.

Sasha couldn't help but smile at the toad's reaction when she unsheathed her sword, many of the stood there looking at her in terror, as much as she tried to bury her past she was glad that her reputation still held weight.

The first one to move was a newt wielding a club, He swung at her, She grabbed it before it connected with her face, the confused newt looked terrified, before she headbutted him, he fell to the floor groaning.

"Who's Nex-"

The ground exploded as a large ball slammed into the earth, just in front of her, it barely missed Sasha, thankfully she wasn't knocked back.

'Okay note to self keep badass line to self next time' she thought as she took a look at the Toad who had just attacked her, they were big, taller than her in fact. They were wearing a helmet which covered their face, one that must have obscured their vision.

The ball was lifted into the air again and swung towards the psychologist, Sasha dodged quickly as the ball slammed into the ground, sending soil everywhere, she wiped the soil off her face, she had a small window of opportunity to attack him.

Before Sasha could attack however there was a scream, she turned around to see a small toad boy running towards her, her eyes widened, Lucian was still here,

Before she could do anything he jumped and landed on the ball and jumped again, he twisted his body around and kicked the helmeted toad in the face.

To Sasha's surprise the giant toad fell and slammed into the ground.

Lucian turned around smiling, "Ha, That'll teach you."

So engrossed in his victory Lucian didn't see the helmeted toad rise, their helmet was now dented, they took another swing at the young toad.

"LUCIAN LOOK-"

The ball swung again…and slammed into a newt running towards Lucian.

Another toad rushed up to the large toad. His hand stretched out.

"MARGIE STOP SWINGING YOU CAN'T SEE!"

In response the toad was smacked by the ball.

Sasha taking advantage of the distraction, grabbed Lucian and beelined to the forest, the toad boy waved his fists at the group, he looked up at Sasha, and tried to free himself, "What are you doing? The fights that way."

"We're not fighting we've got to get you to-"

Sasha then ran into a wall.

It took Sasha a few seconds to stop wondering who would build a wall in the middle of a forest, and see the sight in front of her.

Standing in front of her was another large toad, smaller than Margie, but still tough looking.

She was wearing a leather jacket and had her hair in a bun, she glared at Sasha with a hate filled look in her eyes.

"Ya not Boonchuy, Who are you?"

Sasha glared at her, "Sasha Waybright, former lieutenant to toad tower, hero of Amphibia."

She pointed her sword at the toad, "And right now your worst nightmare."

"Soo coooool" said Lucian star stuck."

The large toad woman grunted, "Sounds interesting, GET EM."

From the first a toad with an eye patch and spurs jumped from the tree, from his mouth an obnoxious laugh escaped his mouth, the laughter stopped the moment Sasha fist connected with his house.

The toad lay on the floor groaning, "Sorry Ma." he groaned.

"Why do ya even try Judro," said Ma disappointed before looking to the tree again, "Heathro Talbert, Git Her."

From behind Sasha two amphibians came running towards her. One was a toad with a hat, the other was a frog with a mustache, both seemed to look somewhat like cowboys, clearly this family had a theme.

Sasha ran towards them, the frog flung his tongue towards her.

The surprise on his face when Sasha grabbed the tongue made the human smile, she pulled on it causing the frog to fall, the remaining toad jumped at her trying to tackle her.

Yanking on the tongue Sasha pulled the frog towards her and used him to shield her, the frog gave a yelp of pain, the toad landed on the floor, ready for another attack however before he could react Sasha threw the frog at him, they both fell to the floor in a pile.

Sasha turned to the large toad "Anyone El-"

The words died as she saw that Lucian was standing next to the Toad woman, between them was a scuzzy looking newt woman, Lucian had a knife against his throat, the look on his face was a mixture of fear and bravery.

"Good job Ruth, nice to know there's one family member I can count on."

"KICK HER BUTT SASHA." Lucian shouted before his mouth was covered by the Newts free hand.

"Let. Him. Go." growled Sasha.

"Hmm, that's a good idea but considering how much harassment you've given my family, I think not."

Sasha just stood there, "If you don't I'll-"

"If I do I have no bargaining chip, and if you attack…Well it would be a shame to see a dead kid."

Sasha stood there, the downed members of the family returned to the toads side, all of them glared back at her.

There was a voice in her head telling her to fight, to take them down, but another part kept reminding her that Lucian was being held by them, she couldn't fight without endangering him.

"What do you want with us?"

"We're still discussing it, how about a deal, You come with us, and we won't kill the kid."

Lucian looked at Sasha terrified he tried to wriggle free, but Ruth drew the knife closer

"Okay," Sasha shot out, "Let him go."

"No until you're in chains." said the large toad.

The toad with the eye patch pull out some manacles, Sasha looked at them for a second and dropped her sword, in seconds the manacles were on her, she was matched back to the lake.

"Bet you don't feel so tough now," said Judro laughing.

Sasha turned sudden and snapped at him, the toad fell to the floor in fright, the psychologist smiled.

This was only a temporary capture, she'd be free soon, and then she'd make these guys pay.

Marcy kept running holding the hand of her frog counterpart, they just need to keep ahead of the others just get back to the path to town, hopefully they'd stop being so near to the town.

"They're chasing us." said frog Marcy.

The former ranger turned and aimed her crossbow, the pursuing Amphibians didn't stop running, she aimed upwards and fired.

A tree branch fell just in front of one of the newts, they tripped and hit the floor.

The other two Amphibians kept chasing them.

"Got any other moves?" asked frog Marcy.

"One," said Marcy pulling out a small glass jar and two vials from her pouch, "But I'll need a few seconds."

"Okay," replied Frog Marcy her eyes narrowing, "I've got the other guy."

Before her human counterpart could respond, she threw her tongue out and wrapped it around a tree branch, she swung in a full circle.

The remaining newt looked at her shocked and turned around to see what she was doing, the next thing he saw however saw the frog's foot colliding with his nose, he fell to the floor unconscious.

The toad tried to grab her, but Frog Marcy had already caught up with Human Marcy, who looked at her smiling, "Nice."

Marcy finished shaking a vial with pink liquid in it and poured it into the small jar, she threw the jar at the toad.

Pink smoke surrounded the toad, who fell to the floor snoring.

"Sleep potion?" asked frog Marcy.

"Yep, he'll be out for a few hours."

"Ha," laughed the frog girl, Marcy quickly joined her.

The two kept running Marcy started to remember this part of the forest, they were close to the Plantars farm, just a few more step and-

Her joy ended with the sound of a scream and a thud.

The Webcomic artist turned and saw her frog counterpart lying on the forest floor, she rushed over to help the girl up.

"Are you okay."

"Yeah I tripped i- What's on my foot?

Covering the frog girl's foot was a yellow substance, it looked dried, she tried to move frog Marcy, but the substance was keeping her stuck to the ground.

"What is this?"

"THAT MY GOOD GIRL WOULD BE ME!"

Marcy turned to the voice and saw an orange frog in a suit standing there, his left eye was covered with an eye patch, he was holding on to an odd gun, there was a bottle attached to it containing a yellow liquid.

"Who are you…and why are you wearing such a nice suit?"

"Well to answer your first question, I'm Stanley ponds, but most people call me the curator, and secondly, I like nice suits, It helps with my man of mystery shtick, I ran a freak show and-"

"Oh I get it, though a circus ringmaster costume might have gone better."

Mr Ponds stroked his chin, "Yeah, It would have, but I don't know a tailor who-"

"Pondyworths" said human Marcy casually, "They're in Newtopia did a good one for me, that was ten years ago, but it was pretty good."

"Huh" said the frog interested, "I'll keep that in mind, anyway you want to be good girls and surrender now?"

"Don't listen to him Marcy," said Frog Marcy trying to free herself, "I just need to free-"

A shot of yellow goo flew towards the frog girl hitting her on the shoulder, a bit of it flew into her mouth, she spat it out.

The human woman pulled out a bolt and loaded it into her crossbow.

"Don't you dare do that again!"

The curator smiled, "Ha, Not the first time an angry woman's aimed a crossbow at me, but at least this time I'm fully dressed, and I have an army of toads and newts willing to help."

From behind the trees toads and newts stepped out each with a weapon.

Marcy gulped this was a bit much for her to deal with, a part of her thought she could run, but that would mean leaving Marcy, she had no more ingredients to make a sleeping potion with, and she couldn't fight off all of these guys with prep time, so she came to the obvious conclusion.

Give up and be taken prisoner, hopefully she'd be able to think of a way out of this.

She lowered her crossbow, "Okay, I give up."

"Huh," said the Curator mildly surprised, "I was expecting some resistance, but you know, never look a gift snail in the mouth, now to free your friend."

The old frog walked up to Frog Marcy pulled out some matches and struck them, He kneeled next to her and held the lit match to the wax.

"Yeah, the only way out of this wax is to melt it, we might be here a while,"

"Like how long?"

"Forty five minutes tops I think, this is strong wax."

"That sounds-"

"Trust me, It works, last time I used the weak stuff I almost got killed by my former exhibits," the toad paused for a few seconds, "Still surprised they were still alive after all that time, speaking of trapping things, Chain her up boys."

Two toads walked over to Marcy and grabbed her hands they pulled them round the back, in the next second there were two clicks, Marcy pilled on the chains, they were tight."

"Don't worry kid, I can promise you'll be safe, until we've decided what we're going to do with you."

Anne kept hold of Max, running through the forest, they had to get away from Tim and his thugs, she needed to get Max to safety, regroup with the others in town and then save that eft girl who was taken.

She turned around to see how Max was doing.

His eyes were closed, Anne could see tears on his cheeks.

What had they done to him?

A part of Anne was angry she didn't stay and fight, she really wanted to punch that Tim guy in the face, but protecting Max was more important.

"Max, keep running." she said, trying to comfort him.

Looking around Anne failed to recognize where she was, maybe ten years ago she would have but now…

From behind her was a roar, the two stopped, Anne looked at the forest behind her expecting something to come from the trees, nothing, but it sounded familiar, was it something from ten years ago.

She turned to see Max's eyes were now open, his breathing was fast and loud.

"Max," said Anne, placing her hands on his shoulders, "What's wrong?"

"It's that monster, it- it was in the cave."

"What cave?"

Anne could hear the sounds of feet thudding towards them, she took Max's hand and started to run.

The thing that was chains them only got closer.

They kept running, eventually Anne spotted the path to town.

That's when a shadow flew over her.

Landing in front of them was a large feline creature, with a scorpion's tail and mandibles, it had four yellow glowing eyes each looking at her full of hate.

It was a scorpileo, the same creature that had attacked her ten years ago.

Anne shielded Max, if it was going to attack then at least she could protect him.

"Good boy Liolidais." said a voice from behind her, "Now sit."

The monster stood there growling, clearly it wasn't interested in listening to the voice.

"LIO SIT!" shouted the voice of Tim Treller.

Slowly the creature sat, it was doing so reluctantly, it kept looking at the two humans like it wanted to kill them, only the voice of its master stopped it.

The two humans turned to see Tim standing with the newt and around twenty different guards.

"Sorry about Lio he's been acting strangely recently, wild monster aren't as reliable these days."

"Let us go," growled Anne.

"No," said the newt, "I've been waiting for this for such a long time."

Anne froze, "That voice,"

"Oh, You remember me, do you monster, you remember the Newt whose life you ruined," said the newt starting to sound manic, "You remember how I was just doing my job as a scholar, how I just wanted to examine you and discover the secrets of your kind, how you attacked me and how ruined my professional reputation."

Anne started to have flashbacks, it couldn't be him, he was gone.

"No I saw you die, you went down with that tower and-"

"But I survived," the newt removed his hood, Anne looked at him, that same superior look in his eyes, however this time there was a scar going down his right one.

"Where were you?"

"I already explained my story to the boy, You can catch up when you're in chains."

Anne glared at him hatefully, "If you hurt him-"

"I don't think you'd be able to do anything about that," snapped Scumdrop, "Now as far as I can see it you have two options, the first is to resist and well die, the other is to come with us quietly."

The herpetologist stood there, the numbers were against her.

Worse yet she couldn't let Max get hurt, the kid was terrified, and it was her fault.

That's when an idea entered her head.

"There's a third option, actually."

Scumdrop laughed, "and that is?"

"I go with you, and Max goes free."

She saw Max's confused reaction in the corner of her eye, after all he went through, he still wanted to be here?

"Well that just the second option with an extra step and…" a random toad started to say, the angry looks he got shut him up instantly.

"Hmm, interesting, and why shouldn't I just send out my pet to kill him now?" asked Tim smiling.

"Because he doesn't belong here, He's just a kid who followed my because…I was too stupid to not send him home."

"Anne," said Max, starting to beg.

"He's not supposed to be here, let him go, and he'll go back to earth, and I'll let you do whatever you want to me."

Tim started to laugh, "What you really-"

"Beg."

Scumdrop's word filled the clearing, all amphibian and human eyes were on him (The scorpileo whose four eyes were on the two humans wondering when he would be able to eat them.)

Anne stood there for a second and fell to her knees, "Please-"

"NO!" shouted Max, He tried to pick Anne up, "You can't do this He's going to ki-"

Max words died the moment Anne put her hand on his shoulder, she looked at him with tears in her eyes, "Max, it's okay."

"No it's not, It's my fault," he said weeping "I should have just stay home, I just came here because-"

She hugged him, Max froze feeling her embrace, he felt safe even in the middle of all this terror, she was still trying to comfort him.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

Max hugged her back, he was openly crying, even after everything she was still trying to look after him.

"Go to the portal," she whispered even quieter, "Tell Mister X about your home."

She released him and turned to Scrumdrop, "Please let him go."

The red newt's smile widened, "Take her."

Five newts walked towards her, one of them holding on to some manacles, in seconds she was chained up.

Scumdrop walked up to her, "No funny business this time."

"I promise," she said bitterly.

The newt scholar smiled.

Then he punched her in the stomach.

She fell to the ground wheezing.

"I have waited ten years for that," he turned to Max and noticed the boy was glaring at him, a murderous glint in his eye, "Oh relax Max, she's not going to die yet."

"Max, don't," Anne begged.

"Listen to her Max," said Scumdrop cheerfully, "I intend to keep my end of the bargain, but if you attack, Lio will eat good tonight."

Two newts picked Anne up and started to drag her off to the forest, she gave one last look at Max, she forced on a smile.

"Well that went well," said Scumdrop.

"Are we really letting this kid go?" asked Tim annoyed, "He might warn someone and-"

"By the time he tells anyone we'll be far away, and who would believe him, the town already thinks he's a monster."

"What are you going to do with her?" said Max, trying to sound brave.

"Well, personally I want her dead, but my friends have some other ideas, but don't worry you'll never see her, her two human friends or your Amphibian friends ever again."

With that the group started to walk away, Tim gestured at his monster to follow.

The scorpileo, followed, giving Max one last hungry look.

Max stood there unable to do anything, after a few minutes he turned and started to walk

Twenty minutes later he was on the road walking back to the portal.

So this was it, this was the end of his adventure, in a few minutes he'd be back on earth, probably arrested for his crimes and waiting to go to jail.

After what happened yesterday he should have been glad, he would be safer there than here, and there was nothing he could do to help his friends and Anne, heck they might hear their own plan to free themselves, they didn't need him.

He didn't belong here.

The portal came into view, and he stopped.

He turned for one last look at the world that he had failed to call his home.

The trees were beautiful, he had never really climbed one, That's something he should have done with his friends.

In the distance he could see Wartwood, it was still damaged, but they were rebuilding, despite what he had done he still felt a smile on his face, he remembered his pranks, just sitting by the fountain with his friends, those robots he fought.

Then he spotted the Plantars farm.

It was funny, how that place had become the closest thing he had to home.

He had people who were worried about him here, people who cared who looked after him. Maybe he was being stupid, but they considered him one of them.

For only a few days he had a family.

One who loved him.

One who would fight for those they loved.

Max stood there, wondering if he should go there. Tell them what-

No it would only end with them in danger. He continued to walk.

They didn't need him, no one did, his friends would be safer without him.

He kept walking and as he did so he thought about 'What if they weren't"

What if one of those monsters caught Nicole? What if Lucian was chased by that army.

He closed his eyes, no they'd be safer without him, they'd be-

He pictured Marcy in the swamp, her head submerging into the bog, crying fearfully.

No.

That couldn't happen. He wouldn't let it.

He stopped walking and looked back at the farm again.

There was only on option.

He started to run.

It didn't matter what happened, he couldn't just let that happen to them, the very idea that any of them going through the same thing again, was too much for him to bear.

He ran towards the Plantars house, he'd tell them what happened and if they didn't listen to them, he'd tell them angina and again and again until they listened.

Years of standing back and letting people get hurt ended today.

For the first time in his life Max was going to do the right thing.

Indoraptorman101: Yeah but it didn't do them much good, who knows what's going to happen to them next.

So, Scumdrop... Let me explain.

Years ago when I was just a new writer still posting of /co/ for attention I wrote a fic where Anne found herself being harrassed by a newt and ultiamte have to change, I wrote a sequel and well while it wasn't good I knew I wanted to bring back the villain.

So why bring him back? Well two reasons really, the first is I needed a villain and secondly I always intended to bring him back in some form, in a way he's Anne's sideshow Bob, a dertermind killer out there to catch her.

But the main reason I did was because well, I've been writing for nearly two and half years now, and I wanted to celebrate it by having my first creation here, I can understand why people won't like this but Eh, I just wanted to use a particular evil O.C I made up when I had no idea what I was doing, (No that there's a difference now.)

You'll find Scumdrops first story on this site titled Anne Plantar, I'm going to upload the rest called Seperation Anxity soon.