It was nighttime and Anne invited the Giovannas to watch a movie with his family and the Plantars: "The Remarkable Tarantulad". And they were at the final scene of the movie.

"In the name of justice, your reign of terror is over, Bufferfish!"

"Why fight me, Tarantulad, when you should join me!"

"What?"

"Like me, you'll never be accepted by this world."

"If that is my fate, then SO BE IT!"

The final battle occurred. Tarantulad punched Bufferfish in the face after dodging his attacks. "You will never be loved," said Bufferfish just before he exploded, knocking Tarantulad off the building they were fighting on. He crashed into the ground, forming a crater. A crowd of people gathered around to see that his mask had fallen off and were repulsed."

"All this time..."

"He's a monster!"

A teenage girl approached Tarantulad and kissed him. "I don't care what you are, to me, you're a hero!"

Tarantulad looked up at the sky and said, "Mother, Father, I finally found, my home."

And cue the end credits.

"And that was 'Tarantulad: The World I Call Home', quite possibly the finest film ever made," said Mr. Boonchuy as he wiped the tears from his eyes.

"Meh, I like the comics better," said Giorgio dismissively.

"Philistine."

"I, I've never seen anything like that! So moving! So, inspiring!" said Sprig with tears in his eyes. He looked out the window and sighed longingly. "I wish I could be lovingly embraced by all of humanity."

Giorgio dragged him away and Anne closed the shutters. "No can do, dude," she said. "Low profile, remember?"

"Which you haven't been doing a very good job of as of late," said Giorno. "Between the rogue Stand users and the FBI, I'm surprised we're not arrested at this point."

"Which is bad."

"I know, I know," Sprig replied to Anne. "But it's not fair! You and JoJo got to make your mark in Amphibia!"

"That's because in Amphibia, we weren't in hiding."

"And we made our mark in Amphibia by accident," said Giorgio. "We weren't even supposed to be there."

"Mr. Giovanna," Sprig said to Giorgio's father. "You agree with me, right? I mean, you made your mark when you killed Diavolo and became the new boss of Passione!"

"I only became the boss to stop the corruption and to stop the selling of drugs to children," Giorno said. "You're just being attention-seeking show-off."

"But what about the Stand user community," asked Sprig. "I mean, you guys have all these powers and yet you don't really do much to change the world! Look at all those videos of Stand users on the Internet right now. Some of them are doing good with their Stands!"

"Yeah, and some of those users ended up getting arrested by the Speedwagon Foundation for putting people's lives in danger because they didn't know how to use their Stands properly," pointed out Giorgio.

Sprig pouted and folded his arms. "Ugh, fine."

"I still can't believe you actually LIKED that movie," said Polly. "It was stuffed with predictable tropes and lazy writing!"

"We have got to cut back on your internet use," said Hop Pop.

"All I'm saying is that you'd have to be pretty dense to think any of that would be possible. First of all, the idea that a vigilante would be given free reign..."

Sprig, meanwhile, was lost in thought. "He was just a mild-mannered frog boy who never made a fuss."

He made his way to the attic to do a training montage. "But he was destined to be something more." He used his mucus secretions to climb a wall and swing across the attic with his tongue...and then crash when the piece of the ceiling he stuck to broke. He quickly got back up and made a pose. "Who knows how long he's got left on Earth? But it's time to put his mark on the world and be adored by all!" He set up some targets and smashed them with his tongue. When morning came, he felt like he was ready.

Now all he needed was a costume. After making his way to Anne's room and going through several prototypes, he finally found what he was looking for. He put on a blue and green tube sock for a mask, placed his goggles over his eyes, wrapped a yellow scarf around his neck, put on a blue shirt with a green frog foot symbol, green long pants, and knee and elbow pads. "All right Earth, get ready to meet, FROG-MAN!"

Polly came in and said, "Hey Sprig, did you see-" She trailed off when she saw her brother doing a heroic pose. "What are you doing?"

"I'm fulfilling my destiny as FROG-MAN, your neighborhood superhero!"

Polly snarked, "You mean neighborhood attention-seeker?"

"The only thing I seek is justice! Hop-hop, and AWAY!" Sprig jumped out the window.

"You're never gonna solve systemic societal problems with a sock on your head!"

"Watch meee!"

Sprig stood on top of a gargoyle, looking at the city. "Here I am. Guardian of the city. No evil shall escape my gaze." Turns out the gargoyle he was on was actually a mound of live pigeons. They flew away, forcing Sprig to tongue swing onto another roof. "Totally meant to do that. And now to search for crime."

He looked down and saw a man wearing a brown vest, a safety helmet, roller blades, and knee and elbow pads. The man was writing a ticket to two kids running a lemonade stand. "All right, I'm writing you kids up. You need permit to sell goods on this street."

The boy groaned. "Mom's gonna hate this."

"Dude, we're eight!" the girl complained to the man.

Sprig jumped down to the lemonade stand and asked, "What seems to be the problem here?"

The man chuckled at his ridiculous costume. "Who are you? Some kind of masked vigilante?"

"Exactly. I am... FROG-MAN! RIBBITER OF JUSTICE!" He stuck his tongue out, forming his sentence, but then it fell down, forcing him to put it back in his mouth in embarrassment.

"Well, these streets don't need you, 'cause they've got me! Robber Otto, Neighborhood Safety Supervisor!" The man did a cool pose, or at least, tried to make one.

The kids running the lemonade stand were unimpressed. "More like Neighborhood Butt Cheek," the girl said.

Ignoring that comment, Otto knelt down to Sprig's eye level and pointed at him. "Listen, this neighborhood ain't big enough for the both of us AND I was here first, so get lost!"

"Hey, I don't need want to fight you, I only want to fight injustice!"

Suddenly, they heard the sound of someone screaming. "Someone's in trouble," they both shouted and ran off toward said trouble.

The two kids running the lemonade shook their heads. "This neighborhood finally hit rock bottom," said the girl.

The trouble turned out to be an out-of-control school bus full of kids that was rolling fast down a hill, and to make matters worse, they were about to crash into traffic. Otto jumped in front of the bus and said, "It's OK! Your Neighborhood Safety Supervisor IS HERE!" The bus collided into him and he crashed through the windshield. "HIT THE BRAKES!" he shouted to the driver.

"THEY'RE OUT! AND NOW I CAN'T EVEN SEE!"

Yep. They were going to die. Just then, Sprig hopped on top of a lamp post and shouted, "Not so fast! RIPPLE TONGUE WEB!" His tongue shot out and formed a safety net, catching the bus before it could crash into the cars. His tongue shot back into his mouth and he fell flat on his back.

The drivers got out of their cars and praised Sprig.

"Oh my gosh... That kid did it!"

"What a hero!"

Otto got up and said, "Hey, what about me? I mean, I slowed the bus down first." But nobody paid attention to him.

"Hey hey. Way to go, kiddo," one of the people said to Sprig.

"Please, citizens, please. It was nothing."

The kids got out of the bus, the first one being a girl with pink and green streaks in her blonde hair and wearing a white with a brown cardigan vest, a green plaid skirt, black boots and carrying a black shoulder bag with a picture of pink cat with a scar over one eye on it. Otto recognized her immediately. "Molly Jo? You were in that bus? Oh, thank goodness you're... safe." His voice trailed off when she and her friends ran by him and toward Sprig.

"Thank you, Frog-Man, for saving me and my Grandpa Robert," Molly Jo said as she shook Sprig's hand.

"Oh, no problem," said Sprig. He tried to let go, but his mucus-coated skin stuck their hands together. It took a few tugs, but they managed to get free. "There we go." They both laughed as everyone cheered him.

Everyone except Otto. "Stupid Frog-Man."

For the rest of the day, Sprig (or rather, The Most Remarkable, Extraordinary Frog-Man as he called himself) started to enjoy his new life as a superhero. The next thing he did after saving the bus was rescue a cat from a tree...though the cat thanked him by scratching his face.

The news reports started coming in.

"Look out, L.A., there's a new frog superhero in town!"

"¡El misterioso hombre rana salva el día!"

Giorgio was out doing his late night exercises when he received a text message from Anne. It read, "HE ACTUALLY DID IT!" Accompanying the message were pictures of Sprig's antics as a superhero. Seeing this, Giorgio got angry and shouted, "RAMETTOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Meanwhile, at Otto's Auto Junk, Otto was fuming as he looked at the various Frog-Man posts on his phone. His anger grew and grew, until he was red in the face and screaming with hate. "I've been taking care of this neighborhood for years and what do I get? NOTHING!" He calmed down and started to think. "Hmm... If only I could prove Frog-Man is a joke." He saw something shining on the ground. "What's this?" He picked it up and examined it. "A metal stick? What's this button do?" He pressed it and various tools popped out of one end of the stick such as a net launcher, a buzz saw, a pair of scissors, and a toothpick. "Whoa! It's a Swiss Army Knife in the form of a stick!"

Actually, it was Mal the Predator's spear. How did it get there? Well, after his battle with the Boonchuys, Plantars, and Giovannas in the greenhouse, the cleanup crew found it. But they didn't know what to do with it, so they threw it away. But Otto didn't know that and he didn't care. "This must be fate," he shouted as he raised the spear in the air. "And it looks like fate wants me to squash that frog boy." He began to laugh maniacally at the thought of finally taking him down.

The next day, after doing some more hero work, Sprig hopped on top of a street lamp and posed as the people cheered him. "Yes. Yes. Adore me!" He hopped down to the ground and made a "simmer down" gesture. "Please Please. No thanks necessary!" They began to shower him with gifts. "OK... Maybe a few thanks necessary."

A pizza man handed him a pizza. "Please, Frog-Man, have a novelty pizza on the house!"

"Ooh, thanks!" Sprig was about to grab it when suddenly, a spear launched and snatched it away from him. It retracted and handed the pizza to Otto who said, "Halt, fiend! Scoundrels like you deserve no such za!" To emphasize his point, he stabbed the pizza with the spear.

"Who or what is that?" asked the pizza man.

Sprig nonchalantly replied as he ate the once slice that he managed to grab. "Huh... It looks like Robert Otto. He said he hated me and was gonna get his revenge. What's he doing here?"

Otto glared at him. "Now frog... let's settle this!" He pressed a button on the spear and it launched a net, but Sprig managed to dodge it. People ran away in panic. Sprig was delighted. "Yes! My very own supervillain! People are going to love me even more! Just like Tarantu-Lad!"

"This is no longer a popularity contest. This is a battle for the soul of a city. A battle I intend to win!" Otto pressed another button and the spear launched a harpoon, but Sprig managed to dodge it and it impaled a car instead.

"Whoa, cool spear," said Sprig. "Where'd you get it?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," Otto retorted as he launched a net at Sprig, but he managed to dodge it and tongue swing onto a street lamp. "Frog-Man, you're but a wart on the face of this city. Get ready for some laser surgery!" Otto pressed another button and the spear fired a laser, but Sprig dodged it. He chased Sprig into the city, still firing lasers as he did.

As he swung across the street, Sprig realized he was about to crash into a semi, so he slid through harmlessly through the gap between the cab and the trailer. Otto on the other hand, used the spear to slice through it. The two of them then ran up a wall, then kicked each other in the leg...and promptly landed on their backs, grabbing their sore legs. After recovering, they resumed the battle, wreaking havoc throughout the city and not really paying attention to the damage they were causing.

Molly Jo, who was exiting a coffee shop, let out a scream when a car landed next to her. She looked ahead and saw her grandfather and Sprig fighting.

"Na na! You can't get me!" teased Sprig.

"WHY WON'T YOU JUST SIT STILL?" shouted Otto as he launched a grenade from the spear. Just how many toys did that one stick possess?

Sprig dodged the grenade and hopped onto a street lamp. "Crime doesn't sit still and neither shall I." Otto launched another grenade, making him dodge. Unfortunately, the explosion caused a huge hole in the street lamp, causing it to topple over. Mary Jo let out a scream as she realized it was about to fall on her. The fighters immediately stopped when they heard the scream and changed their attention to her.

"Molly Jo!"

"Granddaughter!"

Sprig used his tongue to yank Molly Jo out of the way, and Otto said to him, "Oh... good one, Frog-Man."

"Thanks. It was no problem for Frog-Man, Defender of Jus-"

"JERK!" Molly Jo shouted as she pushed him away from her.

"No. Justice. Defender of Justice."

"Justice?! Look around you! Your flashy battle could have really hurt someone. Or worse." For the first time, Otto and Sprig realized the damage they had caused.

Sprig was horrified. "What have I done?"

"That's a lot of property damage," Otto said as he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

"I don't believe this! I thought you were cool," said Molly Jo. "You're both just destructive attention seekers. Nothing more!"

Sprig stopped her and said, "Wait..." Molly Jo turned to look at him. "You're- You're right. It was selfish of me. If I really wanted to help people, there were better ways."

"You're darn right."

"Yeah... I'm sorry too," said Otto, realizing his jealousy caused things to escalate. "We'll clean this up stat."

For next couple of hours, Sprig and Otto did their community service. They replaced broken windows, flipped cars right side up, repaired the street lamps, and much more until the streets were clean.

When they were finished, Sprig approached Molly Jo and offered a handshake. "Friends?"

She shook hands with him. "Friends." His mucus stuck them again and struggled to break free. When they did, they laughed and Molly Jo asked, "Hey... Can I see your face?"

"No," dismissed Sprig. "It would give you nightmares and those nightmares would puke." And with that, Sprig tongue swung away.

A police officer walked up to Otto and slapped the cuffs on him. "You're definitely under arrest."

"Fair enough," Otto replied.

That night, Sprig returned to the Boonchuy residence and snuck in his room, only to be grabbed by the seat of his pants by Giorgio. "You are so busted, Rametto!"

"Uh..."

"No excuses," said Anne angrily. "You put all of us at risk just to play dress up?!"

"Yep, but that's all done now," said Sprig. "It ended up doing more harm than good anyway," he said as he threw the costume away.

Giorgio exhaled and set him down. "You forgot the most important rule of superheroes: With great power, there must also come great responsibility."

"And boy do I feel responsible now," said Sprig as he shuffled his feet in disappointment toward himself.

After feeling a pang of empathy, Anne said, "Looks like you've had a time. I have to admit, it was a pretty cool costume."

"You like it? I cut your clothes to make it."

The anger came back. "SPRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIG!"

⬅ To be continued...