A Dark Toad Wizard in Wartwood
Wartwood village.
'Slow to accept and even slower to change'.
A motto that was changing, thanks in part to two strange arrivals; monsters in the eyes of the Frogs, Toads and Newt that called the village home.
The first was Anne Boonchuy, a spunky and impulsive Thai descended human girl from California who'd been warped to Amphibia on her 13th birthday by a strange music box she'd stolen on a dare. Taken in by the Plantar family, she'd persevered and eventually helped enough of the townsfolk to be called 'Frog of the year'. She'd even saved the town multiple times and was now seen as one of them, having a part in their 'Chick-a-Lisk' formation.
Apparently, these frogs and toads had a formation for EVERYTHING.
The second, three months later, was Olivier Clawthorne. Born on yet another world, yet partly of the same as Anne: A half-witch half-human hybrid who called the Boiling Isles of the Demon Relam home. The adopted son of legendary outlaw Eda Clawthorne AKA the Owl Lady, he was a brilliant and talented witch…but for reasons out of his control, until recently, he could only do so many spells before collapsing/risking death.
Olivier had also been sent to Amphibia by a music box a strange goat demon had offered him. Unlike Anne, Olivier's reasons for taking the box where more noble; hoping to find a cure for a curse that afflicted his mother. And UNLIKE Anne, Olivier had kept to himself: Unless your were a Plantar, Anne or a certain magic using blue frog, Olivier avoided making friends and the townsfolk in turn treated him like the plague; bad enough for ANOTHER human, but one who had magic?
Long story short, after a slew of adventures both in and out of Wartwood, during which he and Anne had started a restaurant among other things, Olivier had also 'stepped up' and come out of his shell, even saving Wartwood in a rather spectacular fashion not too long ago, finally earning him the acceptance and respect of the village.
But what most stood out?
Anne and Olivier, despite (or maybe because of) all their differences? Had fallen in love with each other. And now that returning to the Human world seemed so close? They wanted to spend as much time as they could with each other.
OWLPHIBIA
"…I've been up here too long." A frog being carried by Mosquitos mused as he and his supposed captors flew through the wee hours of the morning. "Toads flying on brooms…
But the frog was not seeing things; zooming through the morning skies and now floating directly over Wartwood, there was indeed a toad riding a staff.
"Well, the town is still standing, so I suppose they'll have to change that motto. Eh, unlikely." The rider mused, taking out a small compass of odd design as he pointed down. "Now, where are…Ah, there you are."
The compass suddenly glowed blue and the arrow shifted to the west.
"Lead the way to my quarry and introduce yourself to me, Heart? Oh, Yeeeeeees."
OWLPHIBIA
Normally, she'd be sleeping in, maxing out her 'before farm work' hours.
But today? Anne Savisa Boonchuy was up bright and early, beating even Hop-Pop's alarm as she snuck out of the Plantar house and moving towards the edge of town, a giddy pep in her stp.
"Here you go, Anne!"
The girl turned to see Maddie Flour, already up and about, with a basket of freshly baked pastries at the ready.
Maddie was also Olivier's apprentice, best friend in Wartwood and little sister/surrogate daughter in all but blood. Being a magic user and outcast herself, she'd been drawn to the half-witch, who had in turn been a wee bit more tolerable of her than others due to said magic. He'd even started teaching her what his world knew about magic.
Surprisingly, there was a lot he COULD share with her, and they ended up spending a lot of time together. And while there was nothing more that Maddie wanted than squeeze in more time with Olivier, she was a bakery's daughter and big sister; she had duties.
Besides, she'd see him later tonight.
Anne smiled warmly at Maddie and patted her head with a thumbs up before continuing on her way. Maddie smirked as she headed back inside, starting to prep the bakery before her father and sisters awoke…and whipping up breakfast for them.
OWLPHIBIA
'For location, allocation, acquirement and or replacements for all ingredients, see Maddie Flour. Be prepared to pay at least 10 coppers.'
And with that, Olivier finally finished compiling all the potion and Thai recipes he knew into a journal.
Once he, Anne, Marcy and Sasha returned to Earth, that book, which he'd leave here, would become like a national treasure…and Maddie and the Flours would be set for life when the frogs and Toadstool inevitably came to try and replicate them.
Was this a little petty?
Yes.
Had they learnt and respect him by now?
A few, for sure. The ones that mattered to him at least.
But being the son of a witch con-artist extraordinaire, Olivier knew one thing for certain: Forgive, but never forget, especially if you can help your adorable apprentice earn a few extra snails and build her own legend once you're gone.
...Once you're gone.
Three months he'd been here. And in less than a week, Titan willing, he'd be in the Human Realm and find his way to 'Gravesfield', where his mother's portal was connected. And then? Hopefully he'd be home.
He looked around the small house he'd made; a soft enough bed of moss and branches, a window and two tables, one for eating at and one for potion mixing. Decorated on the walls were portraits he'd made or bought…and there was also his mother's gift, which he decided to sneak into his bag now.
'I'm going to miss this old shack.' Olivier mused. 'Sure, it'd barely pass a construction coven inspection, but it was my little piece of Amphibia.'
Stepping outside to grab some fruit for breakfast, the boy enjoyed the early morning of the forest he'd called home: crickets chirping, rustling of leaves and branches, the babbling of a brook that gave him drinking and bathing water….
'Heck, I'm going to miss this place all in and off itself. And not JUST because it helped me prove I am mom's kid. Yeah, some bits were rough…But I don't think I'd change anything….No, actually? Maybe I'd have tried to confess that last day….Oh well, it worked.'
"SCREEE!"
Down flew in Fleetwing, his beak and one of his talons filled with herbs, roots, fruit and a few animals..and a freshly grabbed honeycomb, dripping with sweet honey. Dropping them beside his master the falcon Palisman happily accepted a pet from the boy, who gathered the offerings and took them inside, letting Fleet perch on his shoulder as he mixed some tea.
Olivier was so engrossed with his tea prep that he failed to realize Fleetwing leave his shoulder and someone place something on the table. The witch-boy just about to use a simple fire spell to boil the tea when he was brought out of his thoughts when his vision suddenly went dark.
"Guess who, dude?"
Olivier smirked.
"Well, the 'dude' might've given it away, but…." He decided to play coy. "Let me see; warm and strong hands, the slight scent of hay, manure and farm work, bright and cheerful voice that warms my half-breed heart…Are you perhaps, Annie?"
The room returned to Olivier's view and he turned to see Anne smiling warmly at him, her arms open for a hug he accepted.
"Good morning, Oliie." The Thai girl cooed.
"Its certainly one now that you're here." Olivier responded warmly.
"Oh, I bet you say that to ALL the girls." Anne coyfully and playfully pushed him away, only for Olivier to re-embrace her and nuzzle her nose, making her giggle.
"Only the Titanesses made flesh."
Now without context? That line may have been an insult. No normal person likes being compared to gigantic monsters that were nature's wrath personified, after all. But Anne knew differently: Where her boyfriend came from? Titans were godly, magnificent monsters indeed, but they were also the source of sentient life.
Besides, normal was overrated.
In summary, Olivier was calling her a Goddess made flesh.
"Oh, stop!" Anne giggled.
"But its true!" Olivier kept her in an embrace, motioning for Fleetwing to strike at his phone, which began to play 'I Wanna Dance with you' by Skylar Astinat the first chorus.
Anne squealed in delight as she dragged Olivier outside, breakfast temporarily forgotten as the two danced. It might not have been 'their' song, but she still liked it.
The young couple danced closely and in an embrace for the Chorus, but for the verses, they free styled, Olivier's movements more graceful and almost regal than Anne's spirited and funky, but their eyes never left each other, and they never strayed too far.
Fleetwing smiled and bobbed to the music himself, at the final chorus even flying above Olivier and mimicking his movements as best he could. This made Anne laugh warmly and she cursed leaving her phone inside.
As the final chorus began to wind down, Anne and Olivier returned to an embrace, but moved a little too fast and tripped. Olivier was quick to cushion Anne from the fall, the two even sharing a laugh before realizing how close their faces were from each other…and that Olivier's 'ear scars' where showing.
The half-witch moved to cover them, but Anne cupped his face in her hands and smiled warmly at him, killing his want to hide his scars from her. A final nose nuzzle killed any lingering discomfort.
"I love you." The two whispered, then sneaking in a chaste but sweet kiss.
"My, my, my! Good morning, young lovers."
The two teens looked up to see a warty toad with sharp teeth and even sharper eyes riding what looked like a bat broom…or more accurately a bat Palisman.
"Grunge?!" Olivier asked, a mix of confusion, shock and elation in his words as he helped Anne to her feet.
"Yesss, Olivier." The Dark Wizard smiled as he leapt off his staff, landing perfectly on his feet. "I've heard through the grapevine that you managed to recharge one of the boxes and…Oh, where are my manners?"
The dark wizard gave Anne a gentlemanly bow with his cape.
"I am Lord Grunge, younger brother of Captain Grimothy and Toad Lord Beatrice and mentor to Olivier. Would it be right for me to assume you are the lovely Anne Boonchuy of whom Olivier spoke so highly of?"
"Um…Yeah…" Anne said, not sure how to feel about this Toad: Yes, she'd seen the fruits of Olivier's training under him; how Ollie had gone from barely being able to cast a few spells a day to being able to almost do any spell freely he'd wished now that he knew another way of calling on his magic.
If Anne had to do a comparison: Her boyfriend (frog, it felt amazing to call him that) had gone from being a birthday magician to The Avatar.
But Anne also knew that while fair and encouraging, Grunge had been ruthless and merciliess…She then realized that Grunge lifted his suddenly glowing hand over Olivier's chest, his eyes quickly turning black and red as he smirked.
"I can already sense you've grown stronger….as I predicted."
Oliver handed Grunge several coppers, but smiled all the same.
"Um…Context?" Anne asked.
"Grunge here…kind of demanded I confess to you."
"And why should ne not have? From passion comes power, after all." The Toad explained, as his eyes suddenly widened; his glowing hand now floating over Anne. "And I must say, my protégé; your tales of this young lady's passion and strength did not do her justice!"
"Really?" Anne asked, taken aback by the praise. "I…really haven't done much. Sasha said…"
"Ah yes, the ring." Grunge mused, spying it on Anne's finger. "I gave Sasha those rings to give to you and Ranger Marcy, but I can already tell you have immense great potential."
"SCREEE!"
Fleetwing suddenly dove towards Grunge, an angry look on his face.
"Ah, I see Fleetwing remembers."
Fleetwing was then sent reeling back by what Anne could best describe as a horrifying bat-like creature; far too large for a regular bat and…
"…Ollie." Anne whispered through her teeth. "Why does your master's Palisman look like he crawled out of…the bad place?"
"that's the look he was going for and I guess he got a darker part of the palistrom tree." Was all Olivier could say.
The Bat Palisman, who towered over Fleetwing, smirked evilly, as if beckoning the falcon for a rematch then licking one of the claws on it's wings. All Fleetwing did was glare, raising his wings to shiled Anne and Olivier.
"Dreadwing." Grunge firmly growled, ended the hostility. "Behave yourself."
The Bat Palisman paused and then returned to his master's shoulder, Fleetwing doing the same with Olivier.
"Please forgive him; overstimulated in a new area…" Grunge said, tickling Dreadwing's chin. "The one stop we made before coming here was at the Toad tower Grimothy used to lord over's reconstruction, so al,l this forestry is new to him.?
"Wait, Grime's real name is…Grimothy?" Anne chuckled, Olivier stifling a chuckle of his own.
"Indeed it is." Grunge smiled.
The two teens broke into laughter, Fleetwing stifling a chuckle of his own
"Oh, we are NEVER letting him live this down!"
"Grimothy is here?" Grunge asked with a risen brow.
"Yup." Olivier explained. "Renting a room with Sasha."
"We're actually going to have dinner with them, Marcy and Maddie tonight. You're welcome to come, dude!"
Grunge smiled at that.
"Well, I'll need to find something to bring, but I would be delighted." Grunge bowed, a smirk overtaking his face, before he then sniffed the aur. "Oh Olms, I hope I didn't interrupt breakfast, nooo!"
To be continued…
Didn't expect THIS kind of story from me, I'll wager? Unless you've read the last chapter of BTAB and the message at the end….
Grunge is such a fascinating character in the Ollie-verse; a Noble Demon with Well Intended Extremist thrown in and a dash of the question 'is Dark magic truly evil?'
He has also not yet appeared nearly enough in the original story (as is the plan from MetroXLR, who wants to focus on Olivier opening and warming up to other people at a realistic place), but my mind wonders sometimes.
So, this idea came to me; what if, during the last few days of the kids' supposed stay in Amphibia, he journeyed to Wartwood to check in on Olivier and possibly see him off? How would his presences affect Sasha, Grime and Marcy?
If our favorite Toad antagonist seems OOC in this chapter, my intention here was to show that Grunge does care for Olivier in his own manner and, probably knowing what his apprentice went through before coming to Amphibia, is grateful for those who show the boy kindness and love. Heck, as we may see down the line and was hinted here, Grunge may have actually encouraged Olivier to confess, as love can lead to passion and passion leads to power.
Either all that, or he's just being pragmatic and putting on a nice face. Or as nice as he can…giving his visage….You decide.
From here, the story can go two ways; we either go immediately into 'The Dinner' episode, or have Grunge explore and 'bond' with the frogs and Toads of Wartwood. Leave your choice and any suggestions for interactions in a review, I will credit you!
Disclaimer: This will be a short story, no more than 5 chapters long, unless someone brings up an idea that is too great to pass up. We will also NOT see the events of True Colors, save maybe the arrival in Newtopia.
The canonicity of this tale to either my 'Brought to a Boil' or the main 'Ollie-verse' is undecided until MetroXLR themselves makes a decision.
Finally, apologies for no 'Palisman' speak here, couldn't think of anything.
HAPPY 2024 AND SEE YOU AGAIN SOON!