Please, stop with the guest reviews demanding I update The Mask/Ladybug. It's annoying and I'll update it when I want to.
Sasha and Giorgio called a meeting one morning. "Alright team, we've been on a roll destroying factories, taking down marauders, and shutting down illegal gladiator arenas," said the former. Everyone cheered until she slammed her fist on the table. "But don't even think about celebrating. All of this has barely put a dent in Andrias' armor and if we don't act fast, he'll be ready to invade other worlds soon. We need an actual plan. Ideas, go!"
The rebels thought and thought. Sadie Croaker raised her hand. "What if we had free bagels Fridays and Mondays? Oh, you mean to defeat Andrias."
Anne's eyes widened in realization. "Oh, I almost forgot!" She snatched Frobo from under Wally's feet and placed him on the table. "While we were back home, we saw this old vase with amphibian writing on it." She put her phone in Frobo's mouth, allowing him to project an image of the vase from his eyes.
"Let's see," said Sadie Croaker. "It says, 'Seek the Mother of Olms, she will guide you to your destiny.'"
"Cryptic. What's it mean," asked Sasha.
"We don't know," said Hop Pop. "But we found this message on Earth, so it must be important."
Grime scoffed, "All of this isn't much to go on. Plus, no one's seen an Olm for decades."
"But we do know someone who has," said Giorgio. "Funny Valentine. Do you remember that painting that depicted you, Anne, and Marcy, Sasha?" Sasha nodded. "He said it was based on a prophecy foretold by the Olms."
"Well, that's not much to go on, since we banished him to another dimension." Anne, Giorgio, and the Plantars all made awkward looks. "What?"
"Someone should tell her," said Giorgio.
"You tell her," said Anne. "She's your girlfriend!"
"You should tell her, she's your best friend!" Sprig gave Giorgio the stink eye when he said that. "Best human friend."
"Would someone tell me right now," snapped Sasha.
Polly pushed Giorgio forward. "Go on. She can handle it."
Nervously, he said, "Well, it's like this..."
Outside the tunnels, a vulture was feasting on a carcass only to be scared away when Sasha screamed, "FUNNY VALENTINE IS STILL ALIVE AND ON EARTH?!"
Sasha panted heavily. "Told you she could handle it," said Polly.
"How did this even happen?!" shouted Sasha. "We left him bloodied and banished in another dimension!"
"It was his Stand," said Anne. "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap helped him escape to Earth."
"And technically, it's not the same Funny Valentine we fought in Amphibia," said Giorgio.
"Oh, yeah? What makes you say that?"
"Because this Valentine is human." Sasha stared at him in shock. "Yep. Remember his Stand, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap's power over infinite dimensions? The Amphibia version of Valentine transferred Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap to the human version, and it turns out he's a high-ranking member of the Speedwagon Foundation. How do you think we got back to Amphibia in the first place?"
"We wouldn't have needed his help if he hadn't destroyed the dimensional gate we worked so hard to work on," pointed out Anne.
"Only because the FBI was going to send it to the army who were going to launch nukes on Amphibia!"
"Wait, what," exclaimed Sasha.
"And don't forget that he tried to zap your Dad back to Italy to keep him from stopping his plan," said Sprig.
"Don't remind me," said Giorgio.
"How are we going to break this to Joan Jett," asked Sasha. "When she finds out..."
Grime coughed loudly, getting everyone's attention. "Getting back to the task at hand...aside from Funny Valentine, no one has seen an Olm in years."
"Not true," said Giorgio. "We know two other people."
"Really? Who?"
"WE HAVE!" Sprig and Polly cheered, scaring Grime.
"Lysil and Angwin," said Polly. "The Olms that almost ate us in Quarreler's Pass."
"Huh... Anyone know any friendlier, less murderous Olms?" asked Sasha.
"Meh," everyone said.
"Looks like we don't have a choice," said Giorgio.
"Murderous Olms, it is!" declared Sasha.
"Oh, and about Joan Jett finding out about Valentine..." Grime pointed over his shoulder. Joan Jett was standing in the doorway, looking shocked. Shock gave way to anger as she left the meeting room.
"Joan Jett..." called out Anne.
"I'll go talk to her," said Giorgio. "We'll head for Quarreler's Pass tonight when the sun goes down."
Giorgio found Joan Jett in her room. It was covered with holes, most likely from her taking out her anger using Cherry Bomb's sticker bombs. "Joan Jett," Giorgio said cautiously.
"Just leave me alone," Joan Jett said softly. "I'll be fine."
"Liar. You're not fine. You thought you had gotten your revenge on Valentine, only to have it taken from you. If you want, we can go after him after dealing with Andrias."
Joan Jett lowered her head. "It won't be the same. This human version of Valentine may have his memories, but he is not the one who killed Uncle Rico and put you and your friends in harm's way. Besides, revenge isn't going to make me happy, no matter how much I want Cherry Bomb to punch his face right off."
"So...what are you going to do?"
Joan Jett sighed. "I don't know. I just need to process this. You need to get ready to go find the Olms with your friends."
Giorgio nodded and said, "Okay. But, if you need someone to talk to, give anyone a holler."
"Sure. Whatever."
With that, Giorgio left her alone with her thoughts.
That night...
"So, what are we going to do about Valentine," Sprig asked as he, his family, Giorgio, and Sasha rode on Joe Sparrow's back toward the mountains, using lanterns to light the way.
Sasha exhaled. "As much as I hate to admit it, nothing. Andrias is the bigger threat. Besides, we have to focus on finding the Olms who told Valentine's prophecy in the first place."
"She's right," said Giorgio. "We'll find a way to deal with Valentine after all this is over."
Soon, the group arrived at the mountains and saw the Quarreler's Pass sign. "Never thought we'd be here again," said Sprig.
"Hey! That wasn't there before," said Polly, pointing down.
In the canyon were a group of Infected and one giant Infected armed with a drilling machine. Giorgio quickly doused the lanterns before they could see them.
Eventually, the group found the cave Sprig and Polly met the conjoined Olm twins before and went inside. "So, how do we get these Olms to come out," asked Anne.
Polly, recalling how the Olms were blind as a bat, but had perfect hearing like one, pinched Sprig's leg. "OW! Hey! Cut it out!"
"Yes, good! Whine LOUDER!" Polly's words echoed throughout the cave and the conjoined Olm twins popped out of the darkness, making everyone gasp.
"Hey! It's those squabbling frog siblings," said Lysil.
"This time, we're going to actually eat you," said Angwin. "And your little friends too!" He lunged at him, but Giorgio summoned DARE, who punched him in the face. "Ow! What hit me? Who's there?"
"So, you're not Stand users," said Giorgio. "Good. This will be easy. Try to eat us again and I'll have DARE pummel you from the inside-out!"
"Stand users," exclaimed the conjoined Olm twins. They tried to flee, but Sasha and Slash blocked their path. "You're not going anywhere!"
"Please, don't hurt us," begged Angwin.
"We're not Stand users," pleaded Lysil. "We can't defend ourselves!"
"Easy, easy," said Anne. "We're not going to hurt you."
"We just wanna talk to you," said Sprig.
"Do you guys know the Mother of Olms?"
Lysil gasped. "How do you know about the Mother Olm?"
Angwin slapped her upside the head. "You Dum-Dum! Now they know we know her."
She slapped him back. "YOU'RE THE DUM-DUM!"
"Hey," shouted Giorgio. "Do I have to separate you two?" Then he remembered they were conjoined twins. "Ooh, that would probably kill you, wouldn't it?"
"Anyway," said Anne. "Can you two take us to Mother Olm or not?"
"Mother Olm is the oldest, wisest Olm in the world. Keeper of ancient secrets and prophecies," said Angwin.
"She lives in our homeland, the subterranean city if Proteus," said Lysil.
"Can you take us there," Anne asked.
The Olm twins looked at each other and Lysil said, "We could... but it would be pointless. Olms are famously suspicious of outsiders, especially Stand users. They'd never let you inside."
"Plus, we're sorta banished," Angwin admitted sheepishly.
"What? Why?" asked Sprig.
"One time we were on night watch and well... we started arguing," said Lysil.
"Because we were distracted, a swarm of troglobites snuck past us and nearly destroyed Proteus," said Angwin.
"Not our finest moment," said Lysil.
"And you guys have been living here ever since," asked Giorgio.
"Yep," said Angwin. "Why do you think we eat trespassers? Our people won't give us access to any other food source."
"Wait. They threw you out after one mistake," asked Sasha. "That's totally not fair! Everyone deserves a second chance."
"Yeah, they really do," Giorgio said to Sasha. Blushing, the two of them looked away.
Anne cleared her throat and said, "Well, the fate of Amphibia may rest on us finding the Mother of Olms. If you take us to Proteus, you'd have a hand in saving the world."
"Then the Olms would have to take you back, right," asked Sasha.
"No. Probably not," Lysil said sadly.
Angwin said, "But we don't have anything better to do, so..."
"That's the spirit," said Sasha. "Ish," she finished.
The group followed the conjoined twins down the tunnel with Anne using her phone's flashlight to light the way. She saw some writing on the wall and asked, "Whoa... What are these?"
"They look just like the ones we saw on the pot," said Giorgio.
"It's how we communicate," said Lysil.
"Cool," said Sprig with awe. "What does it say?"
"'Steve's a jerk'?"
Giorgio raised an eyebrow. "It's graffiti?"
"Come on. We're almost there," said Angwin. He and Lysil led the group down another tunnel and at the other end, they saw a vast city made of stone with glowing purple and turquoise lights, and surrounded by an underground lake. "Welcome to Proteus," said Angwin.
"This place is more impressive than Newtopia," said Giorgio.
"It really is," said Anne.
The group stepped forward, but when they reached the front gate, they were blocked by two Olm guards. "Halt," shouted the blue one, who sniffed the air. "Lysil, Angwin, what are you two doing here? You're exiled."
The purple one sniffed the air. "You brought strangers? Ooh, Parisia is not going to like this."
"Parisia," questioned Anne.
"She presides over Proteus," explained Lysil.
"Is she a warm, sweet-natured Olm who will help us any way she can?" asked Hop Pop hopefully.
"You're about to find out," said the blue guard. "Now move."
The guards led them into the city. Sprig, always one to touch everything he sees, put a finger on a nearby fountain. Almost immediately, the cave began to shake. "Sprig, what did you do," asked Hop Pop.
"It wasn't him," said the blue guard. "Mysterious earthquakes have been wreaking havoc on the city for weeks. Water is being diverted, tunnels have become blocked, sunlight has even seeped in."
"Sunlight? No!" exclaimed Angwin.
"That explains the holes," said Giorgio, looking up at the holes in the ceiling. "Lovely moonlight."
"Have you gone out to investigate the cause," asked Anne. "Or asked the surface dwellers for help?"
"We can't go above ground. We'll burn alive," said the purple guard.
"Hey, doesn't that remind you of JoJo's vampirism," asked Sprig. Luckily, the two guards didn't hear him.
"Well, there's no sunlight now," said Giorgio. "You could have gone for help any time."
"We don't associate with your kind if we can help it," said the blue guard.
"Indeed," said a third guard. It was a female, one with red and orange frills and wearing a black headdress and matching necklace. She had an aura of strictness and distrust coming from her. "Insularity is how we Olms survive. Fewer friends, sure. But also fewer foes."
"I take it this is Parisia," said Giorgio. "These people are more close-minded than the folks of Wartwood. I'm surprised they hadn't chased us out with those spears yet."
"Let's hope it won't come to that," said Hop Pop.
"And if it does," asked Anne.
"We may have to beat them up to get our point across," said Sasha.
"I'm with you," said Polly.
"What do you want, outsiders?" Parisia demanded.
"We've come to see Mother Olm," said Anne.
"Mother Olm? How do you know...?" Parisia paused and sniffed the air. She pointed at Lysil and Angwin and shouted, "YOU TWO! I should have known you were involved. For bringing outsiders here, you shall be punished severely."
"You should be thanking them," snapped Sasha, coming to the conjoined twins' defense. "King Andrias is gonna destroy Amphibia if we don't join together and stop him.
"That's none of our concern. We will thrive down here as we always have. By keeping our snouts out of other species business."
"Are you kidding me," shouted Giorgio. "How is hiding underground helping anyone?! There are monsters outside destroying the world, and you do nothing like a bunch of cowards!"
The veins in Parisia's forehead bulged with anger. "WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"
"Oh, boy," said Anne. "You shouldn't have said that."
"For that, I will have you all executed! You and these two bumbling fools!"
Giorgio and Sasha immediately summoned their Stands and Sasha activated her Calamity powers. "Just try it," she said.
Despite being blind, being an Olm, Parisia was able to sense DARE and Slash's presence. "You're Stand users," she gasped. Then she got angry and shouted at Lysil and Angwin, "You two idiots brought Stand users in here?!"
"Uh...but..."
"SILENCE!" Something huge appeared behind Parisia. It looked like a large metallic snake with glowing orange streaks. "I never thought I'd live to see the day I had to use One Foot In The Grave against outsiders."
"She's a Stand user," exclaimed Sasha and Giorgio at once.
"Oh, come on," complained Anne. "Why can't I have a Stand?"
One Foot In The Grave lunged at Sasha and Giorgio, but their own Stands came to their defense. DARE punched it in the face, sending both it and its owner's pain receptors skyrocketing while Slash cut the Stand in half. But instead of getting cut in half along with her Stand, Parisia remained unharmed and instead grinned. "Whatever you two are, you just made a big mistake."
In an instant, the two halves became two whole One Foot In The Graves and wrapped themselves around DARE and Slash. Their users groaned in pain as they felt themselves being crushed. "When One Foot In The Grave is cut up, the parts become whole bodies," explained Parisia. "Now, give me a reason why I shouldn't crush you two!"
Suddenly, the whole cave shook, causing rocks to fall from the ceiling. One of them landed on Parisia's head, breaking her concentration and making her dismiss her Stand unintentionally. "These aren't earthquakes," shouted Giorgio. "There's a giant monster outside with a drill! Andrias is mining for something down here!"
"Got to be iron ore," said Lysil. "Proteus is built on a huge deposit of it."
"He must want it to build more war machines," said Sasha.
"A giant drill? War machines? Monsters? HA! Preposterous. These natural tremors are nothing more than common earthquakes." The other Olms agreed with Parisia's words.
"But what about the holes in the ceiling," asked Sprig. "How do you explain that?"
"SILENCE!" Parisia shouted. "Guards, dispose of these outsiders."
"What about us," asked Lysil as spears were pointed at her and Angwin who begged, "Give us a second chance!"
"No second chances," said Parisia. "This is the Olm way."
And just like that, the group was kicked out of the city. "And stay out," said a guard and he slithered away.
Lysil and Angwin sighed sadly. "Hey. I know what it's like to make a huge mistake you regret," said Sasha softly. "I'm still fighting to make up for it. And I hope you won't give up either."
"We'll try," said the twins. "Easier said than done."
"You know what, forget it," snapped Giorgio. "If these worms aren't going to listen to reason, why should we help them?"
"Because we did the same thing they did," said Sprig. "We treated you and Anne like outsiders because you weren't frogs. Heck, we put you in a freak show!"
"Don't remind me," growled Giorgio.
"But you saved Ivy from a giant scorpion, and she and her family took you in when no one else would. Like how we took Anne in."
"What, you expect to save their asses and all of a sudden, they'll believe us?"
"Well...maybe?"
"How are we going to pull that off?" The cave began to rumble again and more rocks fell from the ceiling. "Hey, is it me, or are the tremors getting worse?"
"The drill!" shouted Anne. "It must be getting close to the city!"
"We have to do something!" Sasha shouted as she kicked a falling rock away.
"Come on," said Lysil. "I know a shortcut to the surface." She and Angwin grabbed the group and carried them through a tunnel that led to the exit. Unfortunately, this tunnel had a pest problem.
"Phew," said Hop Pop. "You didn't say the shortcut was full of stank beetles."
"Don't worry. You'll stop smelling in five days," said Angwin. "Or was it five years?"
The group looked out the tunnel, and saw the giant Infected drilling its way down into the canyon. "All right, team," said Sasha. "Attack plan epsilon."
"Uh, remind me what attack plan epsilon is," said Giorgio.
Sasha face palmed.
"What about us?" asked Lysil.
"We want to help too," said Angwin.
"Well, what can you do," asked Giorgio.
"Uh..." The conjoined twins thought it over. Then Lysil said, "I have an idea. Probably not a good one, but an idea none the less."
The giant Infected continued to drill downward when it felt a rock being thrown at it. It slowly turned around and saw Sprig with a slingshot. "Over here, you overgrown pond scum," he shouted as he slapped his bottom in a mocking manner while Polly and Hop Pop made inappropriate gestures.
The giant Infected roared and chased after them. "Get ready! He's coming," Sprig shouted.
Lysil and Angwin tugged on their bodies like a rope and the giant tripped on them and fell. "ATTACK!" shouted Giorgio as he jumped onto its back and tore open its back, causing the parasite to burst out and try to take a bite out of him. Anne jumped out from behind a rock, activated her Calamity power and Ripple, and flew toward the parasite. "Ripple Overdri- Ow!" The giant quickly recovered and swatted her away.
Johan landed next to her and said, "Okay, we managed to hurt it, but it's still stomping around!"
"It won't be for long!" Sasha shouted as she activated her Calamity power, summoned Slash, and flew up to the parasite where the two of them began to rapidly slice it with their swords. "MURI, MURI, MURI, MURI, MURI, MURI, MURI, MURI, MURI, MURI, MURI, MURI, MURI, MURI, MURI, MURI, MURI, MURI, MURI, MURI!"
The parasite roared and flailed about as it bled. Anne recovered and flew up to it. "Let's try again! Ripple Overdrive!" She blasted a wave of Ripple energy at the parasite and it screeched as it exploded, its host dying simultaneously as it fell flat on its face again.
"Woo-hoo," cheered Polly. "We did it!"
Sasha and Anne dimmed their powers and the former said to Lysil and Angwin, "You did well, guys. Thanks."
"You're welcome," said Lysil.
"Thanks for believing in us even when no one else did," said Angwin. Then he groaned. "I think that giant oaf's foot squished a few organs."
"I still can't believe you would want to defend those Olms even after they kicked you out," said Giorgio.
"Proteus will always be our home," said Lysil. "Even if we don't live in it."
Giorgio smiled. "That's actually...pretty virtuous." Then he glanced at the giant's corpse. "Now, let's drag this big tub of lard into the city."
The group returned to the underground city and with a great heave, Lysil and Angwin placed the corpse in front of Parisia. "You want your proof, here it is," shouted Giorgio. Parisia sniffed the corpse. Anne said softly to Hop Pop, "Gonna be real hard to deny the existence of that monster now."
"This doesn't prove anything."
Everyone's response to Parisia's declaration was an appropriate "WHAT?!"
"How do I know you didn't fake this?"
"But-they-shit-you," Giorgio spluttered. "HOW CAN YOU FAKE A GIANT MONSTER?!"
"Find a giant amphibian and put a monster costume on."
"Questa è la cosa più stupida che abbia mai sentito!"
"I don't know what you said. And this changes nothing. I want you all out of here now!"
Sasha pointed to the conjoined twins. "Look at Lysil and Angwin. They nearly killed themselves to protect you and your dumb city."
"Did they," Proteus asked suspiciously. "Maybe they injured themselves on purpose to make it look like they protected us." The other Olms agreed with her. She pointed to the gate guards and said, "You two, get these outsiders out of our city."
Giorgio let out a screeching "WRRRYYY!" of anger, leaped up to Parisia, grabbed her by the fronds and slammed her chin into the ground. "I'VE HAD IT UP TO HERE WITH YOU AND YOUR STUBBORN ATTITUDE, YOU WORM!"
The veins in her head bulged with anger. She raised her fist to crush him and shouted, "WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?!"
"He's right," said Sasha, her hair and eyes glowing Calamity pink in response to her anger. "You are the biggest moron I have ever met!"
Anne said nervously, "Whoa. Sash, JoJo, I don't think that's a good i..."
"I don't care anymore, Anne! Lysil and Angwin bent over backwards to prove they deserved a second chance. But this snooty despot and her crummy town aren't worth it! JoJo's right. We should just leave them to rot." Sasha's powers dimmed again as she went over to Lysil and Angwin. "Come on, guys. If these idiots wanna perish in denial, that's their business. Let's get out of here."
And with that, the group left with the conjoined twins while Parisia hummed in thought.
"You know, I just realized something," said Giorgio as they headed for the entrance. "Where are Lysil and Angwin going to live? The Plantar Tunnels are too small."
"We'll find a way," said Sasha.
"NOT SO FAST!" Parisia blocked their path.
"Oh, what do you want now," asked Giorgio.
"Twice you dare insult Parisia, the guardian of Proteus, who has ruled over the city for thousands of years?!" Everyone readied for a fight...but she smiled instead. "Impressive. You've all got guts. Especially the fur-clad one and the one with the funny language."
"HUH?!" everyone asked.
"I haven't been yelled at like that for about 500 years, and it kinda shook me up. I don't know what's going on topside, but maybe it's better to be safe than sorry. You shall meet Mother Olm."
"Not until you do us a favor," said Giorgio.
"What?"
"You let those two back in Proteus," he gestured to Lysil and Angwin, who waved.
After a moment's hesitation, Parisia finally conceded. "Ugh. Fine. They shall be granted access to the city." The conjoined twins cheered. "UNDER constant supervision," she added.
The twins went, "Boo. Oh, that's lame." Until Sasha punched them. "Oof. Oh, okay." Everyone bowed and gave thanks.
"Yes, yes. Don't make me regret it. Now then, follow me. Mother awaits."
Parisia led the group to a temple in the center of the city. As the doors closed behind them, Anne, Sasha, and Giorgio fist bumped. Finally, they were going to get some answers.
⬅ To be continued...
Stand: One Foot In The Grave
User: Parisia
Power: C
Speed: A
Range: A
Durability: D
Precision: A
Potential: C
Ability: A Stand that takes the form of a glass lizard, it can snip its body into pieces which become clones of itself. These clones have all the same powers, and are not linked to each other in any way, and are thus not disturbed by each other being knocked out or inflicted pain. Even if entire groups of its clones are destroyed, One Foot In The Grave can survive as long as at least one clone is still intact.
