The moment the alarm rang, Sprig jumped out of his bed.
"Good morning, world," he said, way too happy for anyone at five o'clock in the morning.
He rushed over to his set of draws and opened them, he looked at the pictures on the wall, there was a photo of him, his sister, and his grandfather, next to them was a picture of a small polliwog in a bucket being held by two frogs, his parents, and kind eyes, the wife had a wide smile, yet there was a fire in her eyes, she was the one holding on to the bucket holding on to the young Sprig.
"Morning Mom, Morning Dad," he chirped, "Guess what, today's the day I start looking for you guys."
The pictures didn't respond, it just hung there on the gray wall.
"I mean I have to wait for the letter to arrive first," said Sprig pulling out the jumpsuit from his draws, "But the moment it does arrive I promise you, I'll spend every moment looking for you."
As he slipped the jumpsuit on he looked at himself In the mirror, something was missing, he clicked his finger and turned to see his room.
It was small like all bedrooms for the farmers in bunker 1, but Sprig thought it was cozy, he had a few toys of monsters and toad mechs, on the right wall were posters that were legally required to be placed in all bunker children's bedrooms, the first was of a toad with one glowing eye holding a sword behind him was a giant humanoid figure, the next one was of a newt scientist standing in the laboratory, lastly there was a picture of a frog holding on to a basket of apples, at the bottom of each poster were the words "Everyone has their place."
Sprig smiled, each played their part true, but he had already settled on his choice.
He was going to be an explorer like his parents and explore the surface.
Beneath the poster lying on the desk were his hat and goggles.
Picking it up, he placed it on his head.
He walked to the door and sighed, "Just need to lie for a few seconds."
He opened the door and entered the living room. It was small and had a small kitchen built into it. He saw his grandfather in the kitchen, mixing a bowl of batter.
"Morning Sprig, today's the day."
"Yeah to today's the day I become a-"
"Farmer," said Hop-Pop beaming with pride, "Oh I have so much planned when you start working full-time, Instead of just helping out in the mornings."
Sprig stood there for a second and nodded, "Yeah sure, farmer, that's what the letter will say."
It wouldn't Sprig knew it, there was no possible way he was going to be a farmer.
The tests that decided where an inhabitant ended up involved a series of tests, one that tested knowledge, physical fitness, and mental state.
The written test was one he was sure he passed, he went for the answers that tried to make him sound like a brave explored, The Physical evaluation had been decent he had proven he was fast. The psychological test had gone…well, he had made his therapist cry.
Now he just needed to wait for the results
The room was full of the stomping of a bucket and Polly entered the room, "Hey guys," Said Polly
"Polly, you got something to say to your brother?" asked her grandfather.
"Yeah, good luck today bro, you're going to need it."
"Thanks, Polly, I'm sure I'll be a farmer," he winked at her, Polly winked back, they both knew what he wanted.
"You both know I can see you winking, right?"
The siblings winked at him.
…
The farm dome ceiling was painted blue, which was in Sprig's opinion a poor substitute.
Looking at the ground he looked at the synthetic soil and made a little hole in the ground, he took a seed and placed it there, before covering it again.
He looked across the field, there was a lot to do, but the supervisor had promised him that once his letter arrived he could leave for the rest of the day.
His letter still hadn't arrived, so he knew he should keep his mind on the job, but man soon he'd be outside exploring the world.
In his mind he was already outside walking the dark forests, seeing the monsters, eventually reaching the dying forests, his best friend by his side, they'd go from Bunker 1 to the ruins of Newtopia, to the dry swamp, eventually, they'd reach the sea and never stop sailing.
"Sprig," called a voice from behind him, he turned to see his grandfather standing there his arms crossed, "Stop dreaming and get back to work."
The boy shook his head, "Sorry, Hop-Pop."
His grandfather shook his head and walked away, Sprig got back to work, trying to concentrate on working.
He dug another hole and took a look around the dome, all around him were farmers working, harvesting, planting watering being the ones to keep all inhabitants of all the domes fed.
It wasn't just plants, in another dome cattle were kept and fed, grain was processed into bread, and one dome was full of fish.
Truth was Spirg knew that a farmer's role was important, he was proud that his grandfather was one, and he loved a lot of it, but it wasn't for him.
No, his life was out there exploring, going out into the world exploring the world and eventually finding them.
He closed his eyes and smiled.
That's when a buzzing filled his ears, he turned around to see something a small bronze thing flying towards him, it was a drone.
The bronze robot grew closer and hovered in front of him, on a small screen in front of it, a picture of a large blue newt that Sprig instantly recognized.
"Greeting Subject," said Overseer Andrias, "today is the day you discover what part you'll be playing in Amphibia's future."
Sprig smiled, this was it, he was going to become an explorer.
"However, first we must remember the past,"
Sprig groaned, "No, come on, Just give me my letter."
"The screen changed to the image of a glorious city, endless towers, a large flying building above them looking down on the rest of the world.
"Once Amphibia was a glorious utopia, technologically advanced, a fair kingdom where Amphibian and human co-existed."
Sprig didn't understand why that was such a big deal, he was best friends with a human, one he should be going to see right now.
"However, one day the world changed."
The image then cut to a news report, the screen was full of dozens of newts and humans running in terror, Sprig had seen the image, and it cut to a newt standing in the street, looking terrified.
"Ladies and gentlemen, Monsters have started attacking the city, for the love of Frog get to-"
Behind the newt a building collapsed towards the crowd, behind the building Sprig could see a large green foot on the building.
The image cut again to one of the Toad towers, all around it were little specs, Sprig knew that they were mechs, some were flying somewhere on the ground, from each of the specs game white lines which were bullets aiming at an unidentifiable foe.
"This is Captain Grime of the Southern tower," said a gruff voice, "If anyone is listening to me, get to the bunkers at one, The enemy it's too big and-"
A large long whip appeared from off the screen and wrapped itself around the building, several of the little specks disappeared in various explosions, something then pulled on the whip and the tower fell.
Finally, there was the town of Wartwood, it was already burning, the fields behind it were a blaze, the sky was red, Sprig could just see the silhouette of a large monster roaring.
Sprig thought it sounded like a scream.
The picture changed again, to the king now looking upset.
"On that day we had to retreat underground to live in one of three bunkers"
The screen now showed a map of Amphibia, on the surface were the ruins of the old world, however, the ruins faded to reveal three circles underground.
"Each bunker offers an important service, One for Agriculture, Two for Military purposes, and Three for Scientific research and government.
"Why were we given number one?" asked Sprig to no one in particular.
"Yes," responded the king, "each dome has its place and every member of the domes is given a role to play, to keep us safe."
Sprig rolled his eyes, "Fine thank you can we please-"
"Today you have the chance to belong to one of four categories, The first Farmer,"
"Nope."
"Second, Military."
"Nah," said Sprig shaking his head, he liked the toads and their cool weapons and vehicles but never really felt he could drive one.
"Third, Science,"
"Nada," he respected it, but he just didn't care for research.
"But for those who are most impressive, you can become an explorer, to go out into the world and discover what's out there."
"Yes," said Sprig excited
"Today's the day you discover the path that has been chosen for you, Good luck, and remember this is the rest of your life."
The screen went dark, and the top of the drone opened, Sprig looked in it and saw an envelope, greedily he snatched it and held it to his chest.
He hopped into the main field, trying to spot his grandfather, standing there next to a large human with purple skin and seemingly no eyes.
"So, How's the crop in your section?"
"Pretty good," said the tall human, "We had no pests this year."
"Yeah, you'd think being trapped in a bunker we wouldn't have to deal with those, but-"
"HOP-POP!" Sprig called to his grandfather, waving the letter around, "I GOT MY LETTER, I'M GOING TO SEE MOLLY-JO."
For a brief minute Sprig thought the older frog was going to admonish him, however to his surprise he only smiled, "Okay Sprig, just come home straight away."
Sprig smiled back and hopped towards the Dome entrance, he hopped into the corridor, passing confused farmers.
In seconds, he arrived at the nearby elevator, to the Administration living zone, waiting outside the elevator were a few inspectors looking at their data pads to pay attention to him.
The elevator doors opened and Sprig hopped inside, the rest of the inspectors walked in, and the doors closed behind him.
He stood there tapping his feet on the floor, and several of the inspectors looked at him.
The view outside the elevator was a line of two-story buildings, one floor per family, they varied from the Farmer's living quarters there were no buildings just
Small rooms.
As he ran through the streets, he saw the various drones cleaning the streets, delivering packages, and some keeping an eye out for dissenters.
Each of the buildings was identical.
Only one stood out.
The one in the middle of its street, the one with a rainbow painted around its door, many of the inhabitants hated it but the man who owned it kept for it was only one of the two things left of his daughter.
Sprig hopped over the fence and to the back of the house.
Sitting on a swing dressed in a sweater vest and skit was a human girl with blonde hair only marked by a pink and green stripe, When she saw him a frown appeared on her face.
"You're late," she said, showing off the letter in her hand.
"No I'm not, I just got my letter five minutes ago, if anything I'm early."
Molly-Jo looked at him annoyed, he knew this was just an act, but it was one he was willing to play along with.
Their friendship was an unlikely one, she was the granddaughter of a Safety inspector, him from a family of farmers.
He still remembered the day they first met, she had snuck away from a fried trip and had gotten lost in the farm dome, Sprig wasn't supposed to be in the farm dome that day, he was supposed to be at walking classes his new legs had just popped in the day before.
He had found her, and they had decided to get some help, they had only gotten more lost, but at least being lost together was better than being lost alone.
They were found late at night and Molly Jo had been gathered by her grandfather and carried her off back to her own world.
That night, Sprig had stayed up all night thinking of his new friend, one he might never see again.
The following day, after his schooling, there was a knock on the door, it was her, she had snuck away from home to see him.
Since then, they were interpretable, nothing could tear them apart, even if Molly Jo could be weird.
They had so much in common, from their desire to escape this place to their dreams of getting to the surface, her parents had been chosen as explorers as well.
On that day, they vowed to find them together.
"Okay," said Molly Jo, shrugging, "I'll let you off only because we're about to become the best explorer team in all of Amphibia."
"Yeah, think of it, going to the surface, exploring the ruins of the old world."
"Sneaking past monsters, finding long forgotten treasure, bringing back glory to the bunkers."
"The perfect combo of Sprijo."
"Sprijo? Asked Molly-Jo confused.
"Yeah, Sprijo, because we're a team?"
"Okay, but why not, Molig?"
Spring stood there for a few seconds and tapped his chin for a second before shaking his head, "Nope, Sprijo is better."
"But your name takes up the majority of it," said Molly Jo, offended.
"Okay, how about this? The first person who kills a monster on the surface gets to keep their name."
Molly Jo stood there and nodded, "Okay."
The two kids looked at the letters in their hands, for the first time Sprig started to worry, what if it wasn't an explorer? What if he was just going to be a farmer?
"Hey, Sprig?"
Sprig looked up and saw Molly-Jo smiling.
"If it's different, We're always going to be best friends, right?"
"Of course," he said, "No matter what."
She smiled back, then held up her envelope, Sprig copied her and took a deep breath, "One," he said
Two," said Molly Jo
"Three," they said together, Sprig ripped open the envelope.
His heart stopped.
On the letter was the word Farmer.
It was over.
His dream was dead.
"Oh," he said flatly.
"What?" said Molly Jo confused, looking at her letter.
"I'm not an explorer, I'm a farmer.
Molly Jo looked up at him, her face was downcast, she rushed towards him and hugged him "Oh no, Sprig I'm sorry."
The frog boy just stood there confused, "What did I do wrong?"
"They do explain why you failed on the back," said the human girl, Why not take a look?"
Sprig turned the letter over and started to read.
"Dear Mr Plantar, Congratulations You are now a farmer, we have judged you to be a perfect fit for this role in life."
"However, We also wish to give you feedback on your attempts to apply for the explorer position."
The truth is that you have no place here, during the psychological tests you mentioned your desire to find your parents who were previous explorers, Sally and Hector Plantar, while we understand what you are after, you lack the qualities they had, the Physical test was also a failure, you lack the physical strength to survive out there, you also failed the written test.
This is why we have placed you as a farmer, please do not try again."
Sprig stood there, he just wasn't good enough.
He sighed and looked up at Molly Jo, the girl looked worried about him, "I'm sorry, M.J, you're going to have to find our parents on your own."
The girl shook her head, "No way, I can't do it."
"No," said Sprig raising his hand, tears started to appear in his eyes, "Don't just stay here for I-"
"I mean, the letter said I'm not an explorer."
Sprig's tears stopped, "What? So you're a farmer?"
"No," said Molly Jo showing him her letter, Sprig read the word
"Inconclusive."
Sprig looked at the word for a few seconds, "What does that mean?"
Molly Jo shrugged, and she turned the letter over "It's blank" she said perplexed
"So what now?"
"I guess we have to wait, You want to go back home?"
The frog boy stood there for a few seconds wondering if he should, He knew Hop-Pop would be happy, but could he lie to the old frog like that? What about Polly?
He let out a breath and started to walk back to the elevator.
"Hey Sprig, How about a sleepover?"
Sprig turned to see the girl standing behind him smiling.
"Really?" he asked,
"Yeah, Only last night of having fun before you become a farmer, and I… do what inconclusive people do."
Laughing the frog boy nodded, he rushed home to tell Hop-Pop he was going to have a sleepover, he just needed to lie to the frog who had raised him.
…
Twenty minutes later, Molly Jo and Sprig were walking to his apartment.
Farmer apartments were different from Molly Jo's there were no buildings just hallways and rooms, in all fairness they weren't so bad, however, the frog boy always wondered why the Administration got better places to live.
"Honestly," said Molly Jo, "It's not that impressive, I just stick to my room all day."
"Okay, and the fact that your room is three times bigger than mine?"
"A slight improvement."
Soon they arrived at his door, Sprig turned to Molly Jo, "Remember whatever you do, pretend that I'm happy about being a farmer."
"Still can't believe he never knew."
Sprig opened the door to see his grandfather standing in the living room, a large smile on his face, next to him was Polly with a bored look on her face holding a flag that read farmer, above them on the ceiling was a banner that read, 'congratulators on becoming a farmer.'
"I knew it," said Hop-Pop excited rushing over to his grandson, he took sprig by the shoulders, "I knew you'd become a farmer, living every day the best way possible, doing your best to manage the land and grow the very lifeblood for the domes.
Sprig had a smile plastered on his face, "Yep, that's it, I'm a farmer now," he said with enthusiasm so fake it had to be manufactured.
The elderly frog hugged his grandson and then turned to see Molly Jo, "Well hey there Molly, What did you get?"
"I don't know," said Molly Jo, "I think something went wrong with the rest, it said it was inconclusive."
"Really?" asked the old frog, that's just weird," The old frog stood there confused for a second then shrugged, "Well I'm sure they'll explain it to you later for now We have to celebrate."
Sprig kept smiling, he couldn't just break his grandfather's heart by saying he didn't want this.
He had never really thought about what to do if it was accepted, but now that didn't matter.
Looking at the table in front of him there was a cake shaped like a field, in each section was different colored icing,
"Like it, I made it from scratch," said Hop-Pop
Sprig swallowed, "Thanks, Hop-Pop."
…
It was 2:00am when Sprig opened his eyes, he and Molly Jo had gone to sleep early, she had tried to cheer him up but away from the party he was forced to face the fact that he would never go to the surface.
He knew Molly Jo's test said inconclusive, but he knew she'd be up there one day, up there looking for their parents.
Deciding a glass of water would help him get to, he stood up and quietly walked out of the room.
He made his way to the kitchen and got a glass out.
"Couldn't sleep?" said a voice behind him.
"He turned to see Hop-Pop standing there, the old frog looked tired, and in his hand was an empty glass of his own.
"Oh, no, I just… wanted some water."
"Well, don't stay up too late, You don't want to be late for Farmer training."
Sprig nodded and walked to the tap, as it poured he turned back to his grandfather.
"Hop-Pop, why do you want me to be a farmer?"
The old frog looked at him for a second and then sighed, "I'm guessing you don't want to be a farmer."
Sprig felt guilt wash over him, Hop-Pop had been excited for him to be a farmer, genuinely happy, Sprig had gone along with it, but he couldn't just live a lie.
"The reason is that I know you'd be safe."
"What?"
"Sprig if you were chosen for any of the other three you'd be in danger all the time. Being a farmer is safer than the others."
"Okay, what about Mike?"
"He shouldn't have slept while a combine harvester was coming towards him."
"Cheryl?"
"You don't eat vegetables just from the ground."
"Ole man Jedidiah?"
"That was more of a gang land-style execution, that was a freak accident."
"The point is that benign a farmer is just as dangerous."
"Yes, but…" the old frog froze for a second, "There's less chance of losing you here."
That was an argument Sprig knew he couldn't win, but he was going to try anyway.
"Hop-Pop… They're still out there."
The old frog was quiet for a second. "Sprig-"
"They're alive," said Sprig sternly, "They promised they'd survive, and they kept their promise, they're up there with Molly-Jo's parents and-"
"If they were alive, they'd be here by now."
It was like Hop-Pop had just slapped him, to his credit the elder plantar looked shocked at what he had just said he was about to say something when there was a knock at the door.
A large, heavy slamming followed, Hop-Pop walked to the door and opened it.
Standing there was a human, one who had just become elderly. he was wearing a scarf despite the warmish night of the bunker, behind him was a human and a toad guard wearing black plastic armor.
"Hopidah," said the old man who then turned to Sprig his face turned from polite to slightly annoyed, "Sprig."
This was Mr Otto, Molly Jo's grandfather.
"Mr. Otto?" said Sprig, confused.
"Robert? What you here for, and who are these two-"
"Is Molly Jo up?"
"She's in my room, I'll go get her."
Sprig walked to his room, he could hear the two adults talking."
"Rob what's this about? Why are you here so late and -"
"It's about here tests, she-"
Sprig didn't hear the rest, he entered his room and saw Molly-Jo sleeping, snoring like a wild beast.
"Molly Jo," he said, gently pushing her, "Wake up."
The human girl murmured and sat up, "Sprig, what is it? Was it the dream about the killer vegetables again?"
"No, your grandfathers here, he… wants to talk to you."
Molly Jo looked at him confused, then stood up and walked to the front room. She was wearing her pajamas, Sprig followed her.
"Grandpa, what's going on?"
There was a smile on Mr Otto's face, not a fun smile, no a sad one.
"Molly, I have news, you're going to bunker three."
The human girl blinked, "What?"
"She's going to be a scientist?" asked Sprig.
"No, it's just…well, the test results were different and-"
"Can't I just get my stuff first?" said Molly Jo.
"Well, we need to go now and-"
"Now? Molly Jo started to sound worried., "Can I have a few minutes to get dressed and-"
"This is taking too long," said a voice from behind Mr Otto.
A small squat human pushed her way in, she looked at the group she was wearing a lab coat, Sprig didn't like the way she looked at Molly, like the girl was something to be despised, the ugly human then looked at him and glared, "Which one of you is Mally Ja."
"Molly Jo," said the young human, and who are you."
"I am Doctor Frakes, and you've been chosen to be a part of the experiment, One so scientifically complex it would be a waste of time explaining it to any of you."
"Including me?" said Molly Jo, sounding worried.
"Especially you," replied the scientist, "Now-"
"Hang on," said Hop-Pop, he turned to Molly Jo a sympathetic look on his face, "Molly, so you want to go with them?"
The human girl shook her head.
"Well that's it," the old frog turned to Mr Otto, "Robert tell these people to leave,"
The older man looked at him for a second, a look of powerlessness on his face.
"Hopediah… it is not that easy."
"This is official business," said Doctor Frakes, clicking her fingers, "We're going now."
The two guards walked to the girl and grabbed her, they dragged her to the door. Molly Jo resisted, struggling to get free.
Without a moment of hesitation, Sprig jumped at the guards, he grabbed the human's head, he let go of Molly, the toad held on tighter and walked her to the door, Doctor Frakes joined him and took hold of her and joined the toad in marching her to the door.
The next thing Sprig knew, someone had grabbed him and placed him on the ground. He turned to see the man holding him was Mr Otto.
"Sprig that's enough," said the old human, "She's going there's nothing either of us can do."
The frog boy looked at the old man and then to his grandfather, the old frog looked weak, Sprig knew he wanted to fight, but he seemed too afraid to do so.
He rushed out the door, only to see Molly Jo being carried away, she turned back one last time, "SPRIG," she called.
He tried to call back before he could two strong arms took hold of his wrist, he turned to see Mr Otto standing there, Sprig felt a shot of anger, "WHY DIDN'T YOU DO ANYTHING?"
That's when he saw the man's eyes, he could see the tears, instantly feeling regret they walked back into the a
…
An hour later the three Plantars were sitting next to Mr Otto, Polly had been woken from the ruckus she was very annoyed.
"So what you're telling me is that three humans came and took Molly Jo away?"
"Yes," replied Sprig
"And you didn't wake me up to join in the fight?"
"Yes."
The Polliwog was silent for a few minutes, "You know I'll never forgive you for this, right?"
"Yep."
"Kids, that's enough," said the old frog, He turned to Robert, "Rob, Who were they, what were they here for?"
The old man shifted in his seat, "I don't know I was at home when this woman knocked on the door, she showed me a paper with orders from Andrias, and they demanded to take her away?"
"Were they on the level?" asked Hop-Pop.
"I called everyone I knew, and they said yes and not to question anything."
Sprig just sat there in his stewing in his anger, His best friend had been captured, and he had been helpless to save her, he turned to Robert, "We have to do something."
In all the stories he read and the movies he watched, Sprig expected a cheer, the three others would stand up and agree with him.
Instead, they all looked at him like he was an idiot.
"There's nothing we can do," said Mr Otto, "She's gone, and we're probably never going to see her again, Sprig turned to his grandfather and sister, both of them were sitting down looking depressed.
They were going to give up and not do anything.
Sprig couldn't believe it, his best friend was gone and there was nothing he could do.
He slumped in the chair, dozens of visions of what horrible fate waited for Molly Jo going through his head.
"It's late," said Hop-Pop walking to Mr Otto he helped lift him up, "You need to go home and get some sleep, I'll visit you tomorrow."
The human nodded and started to walk towards the door, he paused for a second, then turned to them, "She'll be going in an hour, Floor -1, I'll tell her you said goodbye Sprig."
With that, the old man left.
Sprig sat there, and turned his face downwards.
There was nothing he could do to change his fate or save his friend.
"Sprig," said a voice in front of him.
The frog boy looked at the Hop-Pop standing in front of him, in his hand was a plastic card with Robert Otto's face on it.
"You'll need this," he said.
Sprig took the pass gently, "When did you-"
"When I helped him up, Now go save your friend."
Sprig hugged his grandfather then rushed and hugged Polly, the next thing he knew he was out the door.
A few seconds later he ran back in, "I'm going to get changed out of these pajamas first," he said embarrassed.
"Yeah, do that," replied Polly.
Five minutes after Sprig had left properly the door opened, and Mr Otto walked in.
"I'm guessing you took the pass right?"
"Yep, now when he gets her out of here, You won't face any blame."
The old human nodded, then sat on the Plantars coach, "Do you think they stand a chance?"
Hop-Pop stood there before letting out a breath, "I can only hope."
…
Floor minus 01 was the closest to the surface the bunker went to, about ten stories above them was a large blue ceiling, below that were different vehicles, one of them was a large jet with folded-up wings, and at the back was a large open cargo bay door.
Standing in the middle of the doorway was Doctor Frakes watching as their cargo was being wheeled towards the jet.
"Careful," she said annoyed at the two newt doctors who were standing there, she turned away and walked towards the front of the jet, she saw the pilot sitting there, his skin was red, for all she knew beneath that cap there were horns, he was either a demon from Mewni or something from the Boiling Isles, she didn't care.
"When do we depart?"
"As soon as the gir…cargo is loaded."
Frakes scowled at him, "Are you having a crisis of conscience?"
The pilot shook his head, "No sorry it's just-"
"Then keep quiet," snapped the doctor, she turned to see the newts wheel the cargo on board, a smile appeared on her lips, and that's when her phone buzzed, she reached into her pocket and answered it.
"Doctor Frakes," said a loud joyful voice, "Have you got her yet."
"We have her, she gave us some problems thought, We'll be taking off in a few minutes."
"Good, Remember just keep her asleep, and make sure she's comfortable."
"I can just give me time."
She hung up then turned to the pilot, "Let's get out of here."
Frakes walked down the stairs, and walked to the chair next to the cargo, for the first time it dawned on the scientist how young the cargo was, She grunted, she never liked kids in her old life, so why should she care now?
…
As Sprig arrived at the top floor he could just see Molly Jo being loaded into a jet, he started to hop his way towards it, in front of him was a gate, without a second thought the frog jumped over and ran towards the jet.
Slowly its wings started to open up, and from beneath the wings wind started to pick up, Sprig had seen these aircraft in recruitment videos for the army, they were capable of hovering, and once it was high enough it would then use the jets on its rear jets to start flying.
"STOP!" he yelled.
He jumped towards the jet and held on.
As the jet rose, he was surprised to hear how loud it was, he could barely hear himself think.
One of the things he could barely think about was the fact that this might have been the studliest thing he had ever done.
"There had to be a way to get into this thing," he murmured under his breath.
He started to crawl to the back of the door, maybe he could pry it open.
As he started to crawl slowly looking at the jet, after a few seconds the jet stopped rising.
Sprig looked up to see what had happened.
Ten years, he had lived in that bunker for ten years, he had never seen the surface of the world except for those in movies.
It was dark, really dark
He could make out the tree slowly swinging in the darkness, he spotted the mountains, in the far distance he could see the ocean, and looking down he could see the mountain the bunker was buried under.
That's when it hit him, he was outside, out of the dome, he had finally achieved his dream, it wasn't in the way he had expected but still.
"Wow, this is pretty cool, I can't believe I'm-"
Before he could finish his sentence, the jet flew forward.
Sprig tried to hold on, but the force was too strong, he was peeled off and went flying. he tumbled to the ground.
The last thing he saw was a tree.
…
When Sprig opened his eyes he was surprised to see he was hovering above the ground, that was the first thing he noticed, the second was that it was now daytime.
"Oh, man, that was not good," he muttered to himself.
He was surprised his body wasn't screaming out in pain, looking around, he noticed he was lying on a branch.
After a few seconds, he jumped to the ground and surveyed the area.
Looking at the tree again he noticed how strange it was, long and thin, it looked different from the others, and it looked scary, he had spent all night in that.
Driving those thoughts out of his head, he focused on his real goal, to find where Molly Jo was.
He looked around, the jet seemed to have been heading north, now all he needed to do was to figure out which direction north was.
It would be a long walk but to save Molly Jo he would take that risk.
He took a step forward.
That's when he heard the creaking sound
He turned around to see the tree standing there, it looked different.
It was strange really, he was surprised just how after a night of hanging on to a branch it did break.
Turning around, he continued to walk, only for the creaking sound to return.
He stopped and slowly turned around.
One of the branches had moved.
Standing there for a second, Sprig decided there was only one thing to do.
He ran.
The creaking sound returned again, but this time it didn't stop.
When he turned around he could see the tree was running after him on four legs, its branches were arms at the top of the tree was a mouth two mandibles, and very sharp teeth.
He kept running.
"HELP," he yelled.
Shocking something came from his response, something slammed into the creature behind him, Sprig turned around to see a large mantis attacking the wooden monsters, he saw tree bark being ripped off, and beneath it he could see green skin, in seconds the stick creature had been stripped, beneath it was a green skinny creature.
The red mantis stopped in its attack, seemingly confused by the green insect, taking advantage of the momentary distraction it skirted away.
"This place is messed up," said Sprig.
The Mantis turned to look at him, for a brief moment Sprig expected that it agreed with them, then he realized it was looking at him while drooling.
The frog let out a scream and started to run, in response the creature let out a large inhuman scream and chased after him
As Sprig ran he passed between two tees hoping that the creature would be slowed as it tried to squeeze between them.
He turned to see the mantis raise one of its arms and swing at the tree, they were sliced in half and fell to the ground.
Soon they were out of the first and into a clearing, there was no sign of anywhere to hide.
Sprig swallowed, At least it couldn't get worse.
That's when he heard a humming noise behind him, turning Sprig saw a red and green cloud flying towards him.
The cloud landed, and now Sprig was being chased by dozens of red mantises, they were accompanied by green mantises (Sprig briefly thought looked less scary, his mind was in a strange place right now.)
There was no way out of this, He was going to die.
Sprig kept running, driven half crazy by fear, he didn't notice the sign in front of him.
"Welcome to Wartwood," it said.
Looking behind him once again, he saw that the army of insects was now numbered in the dozens.
He let out a scream which sounded quite pathetic, then turned to face forward…and stopped.
In front of him was a giant frog.
Now Sprig had seen large frogs before, in Amphibia but also those frogs that came from places like America or the Boiling Isles, They were odd things that crawled on four legs and could jump, and eat flies, like him.
However, those frogs were small, and couldn't talk, which made them weird, heck just sticking one of them in front of a native inhabitant in Amphibian one could easily see the differences, and also start a very long and complicated discussion on evolution and how nature was just as cruel as any god.
Sprig heard the sound of the mantises behind him stop in their tracks, the silence was replaced with a large hiss.
It let out a moan, then raised a paw and slammed it into the middle of the crowd of insects, at least two of them were squashed.
Sprig didn't even need to wait to see what happened next, he ran towards what looked like an office building, the type he had seen in one of the old movies, hoping the creatures would ignore him and focus on the giant beast.
The lobby of the building was empty apart from rubble, he rushed towards the stairs only to see two of the smaller mantises smash through the glass and chase him, he quickly spotted the stairs and started to climb up them one step at a time, hoping they wouldn't be able to follow him.
He briefly turned to look out the window and saw the frog monster outside was covered in insects. As one flew towards the beast, it spat out its tongue and knocked it down to the ground.
As he reached the first floor, he kept running away from his pursuers, who left a trail of destruction as they followed.
He entered the first door he could see he arrived in a large room full of cubicles, Sprig jumped and landed in one of them, he could see the computer and a desk covered in little dog statues.
The sound of the walls falling alerted him that these flimsy walls wouldn't keep him safe.
Jumping again he landed in another cubicle, this time filled with dolls, creepy
Another jump, this time he landed in another empty one with only a computer and a photo of a human family.
He was going to jump again when something smashed through the ceiling.
The body of a mantis landed in front of him, unmoving
Sprig jumped over it and reached the other side of the room, the mantises were just behind him, opening the double door he kept running, sudden from there loud slam from outside the building, Sprig looked out the window again to see the Giant frog sitting there with several of the giant insects on its back.
It rolled towards him, several mantises were crushed against the window, Sprig briefly enjoyed the fact that they were dead, but his joy was shorted lived when he saw the windows start to crack.
When he reached the top, the glass exploded inwards.
Sprig threw up his arms to protect himself, thankfully he avoided the glass.
The horrified shrieks told him that his pursuers didn't have it as lucky, once again he turned and saw one of the mantises was caught between the wall of giant frog flesh, the trapped insect slowly stopped moving.
The remaining insect chased after him, despite the scratches that covered it.
Sprig kept running, trying to escape the beast.
"Just keep running," he thought, and that's when he spotted a door with the words' stairway on it.
Slamming into the door it opened, he hopped on the banister and then jumped to the one above him, the mantis was large it couldn't fly after him
Sprig kept jumping, after a few minutes he reached the top floor, he took one last jump through the door.
Whatever hope he had of escaping vanished the moment he saw what was ahead
In front of him was a giant face of a giant frog, behind it, he could see a large bird lying on a building, a large spike sticking out if its stomach
Before he could do anything the giant monster opened its mouth and spat out its tongue, Sprig ducked he knew it would catch him, he closed his eyes.
He felt the tongue fly over him, then retract.
Sprig opened his eyes to see the frog, between its lips with the body of the red mantis that had chased him, its body was squirming, for a moment then stopped, the body fell to the floor headless. Before Sprig could react the giant monster spat out a red object which rolled on the floor, Sprig was a little grossed out to see the head's eyes and mandibles move for a few seconds, then stop.
Looking back at the monster he noticed that the rest of the building had been destroyed, only the stairway was standing, for a brief moment he was surprised that it was still standing.
That's when the floor started to fall away from the monster, Sprig tried to jump, but it was too late, he was falling.
Time seemed to slow, as he fell, the ground looked hard, he wouldn't survive this time, suddenly something grabbed and pull him backward, he slammed into something hard and fleshy.
Turning, he saw he was stuck to a large pink tongue, he could just see the eyes of the monster frog looking at him.
The monster frog had saved him.
There were many things he could do, like scream or cry, instead for some reason he didn't know, he just laughed.
And then he fainted.
…
A few hours later Sprig slowly started to wake up, he felt his back on something soft, when he opened his eyes he saw he was sitting on a coach, he tried to stand, but something held him back, he noticed he was covered in…bungee cords.
Looking around the dark room he noticed he was in a room full of shelves, full of different things, stuff like gardening supplies, protein powder, he spotted one of those large swimming pools he saw some videos of the old world.
That's when he heard a step, he looked in front of him to see something walking towards him.
It was a girl, she was tall with dark skin, she was wearing a purple skirt, a white shirt, and a yellow jacket, she had no shoes, and leaves were in her busy hair. On her face was a frown, she glared at Sprig.
In her hands was a crowbar.
"What did you see?" she asked in a threatening voice, "If I don't like the answer I'll smash your face in."