"Questo posto è andato all'Inferno," said Giorgio, trying to comprehend the sight of the barren, polluted wasteland that was once Amphibia.

"Quick! Back to Wartwood," said Hop Pop. The group ran down the hill and toward the direction of the village.

To their horror, Wartwood had been reduced to a ruin. "Oh no!" exclaimed Anne.

"Not here too," exclaimed Hop Pop.

"Even the statue's gone," said Polly sadly.

"Look for survivors," said Giorgio right away.

They split up, looking for any sign of their friends, but they came up empty. "Guys," said Anne. "I don't think anyone is here."

"Hey," shouted Polly. "I found someone!" Anne, Girogio, Sprig, and Hop Pop quickly joined Polly and found her pointing at a frog dressed in dirty overalls. He was wandering around like he was drunk.

"Anyone we know," Giorgio asked Hop Pop.

"No. I've never seen this guy before."

"Maybe he knows where everyone went," asked Sprig. He approached the frog and asked, "Excuse me, did you happen to see a human around here? She kinda looks like my friends here," he gestured to Anne and Giorgio. "And she has a bad attitude problem?"

The frog slowly turned to look at Sprig, revealing bloodshot red eyes. He mumbled something under his breath. Something did not sit right with everyone else. "Sprig, get away from him," said Anne.

"Why? He's a fellow frog, I'm sure he..." Sprig's voice trailed off when the frog grabbed an axe. Anne grabbed him before the axe could cut off his head and pointed her tennis racket at the frog. "Stay back," she shouted. The frog lunged at her, but she swung the racket at his head, making a loud CRACK! sound. But to everyone's amazement, the frog got back up like nothing happened. He even ignored the blood dripping down his head.

"What's wrong with him," asked Anne.

"I'll take care of this," said Polly. She jumped up into the air and rapidly kicked the frog in the gut, then sent him flying into the pedestal where the statue once stood. "Yeah! That's what you get for messing with a Plantar!"

"What the heck was that," exclaimed Hop Pop. "He just straight up attacked us!"

"I don't know," said Giorgio. "But we can't stay here. Come on, let's get out of here and find our friends. I just hope they didn't run into anymore of these freaks." But they didn't even take two steps when they heard a noise. They turned around to see the frog slowly getting back up, ignoring the wounds he received from Polly. "Oh, stai scherzando." Giorgio summoned DARE, who then proceeded to pummel the frog. "MUDA, MUDA, MUDA, MUDA, MUDA, MUDA, MUDA, MUDA, MUDA, MUDA, MUDA, MUDA, MUDA, MUDA, MUDA, MUDA, MUDA!" The final punch dislocated the frog's neck

But to Giorgio's shock, the frog STILL refused to back down. "It's like he's immune to pain. Maybe I should try a different tactic." DARE punched the frog again, this time taking away his sight. The frog stumbled around and clawed at the air blindly. Then Giorgio himself gave the final punch that knocked the frog's head clean off his shoulders.

"Well, that's going to haunt my nightmares," said Sprig casually.

"What the heck was that," exclaimed Hop Pop. "I've never seen a frog shrug off pain like that!"

A groaning sound made Anne look around and her eyes widened. More frogs started to appear, all of them bloodshot eyed and armed with farm tools. "More of those creeps!"

"What do we do," asked Sprig.

"Hold them off, however we can," said Giorgio.

Anne used her tennis racket to smash a couple of frogs' heads. One of them managed to grab onto her, but she smashed the racket into his gut, sending him flying. Sprig used his Ripple-infused slingshot on another group when they got too close to him. Hop Pop used Ripple on his feet and stomped the ground, sending shockwaves that sent the frogs flying. Polly bounced around like a pinball and kicked them in the gut and head while Frobo tripped them. Giorgio used his vampiric speed and strength to dismember them.

Finally, Anne had had enough and used her Calamity energy to blast them. Exhausted, her legs buckled, but Giorgio caught her. "You alright," he asked.

"Yeah."

The sound of moaning was heard again. "Oh, come on! How many of them are there," complained Polly.

But what Giorgio heard was far more terrifying. The roaring of the engine of a... "CHAINSAW! THESE GUYS HAVE CHAINSAWS!"

"Great," said Anne.

Suddenly, before the frogs could overwhelm the group, they were blasted by someone who was armed with a laser cannon, the same one the frobots carried. The figure was wearing red and green armor, a fur cape, and a red helmet. More helmeted figures appeared, all armed with laser cannons.

"Hey, thanks... whoever you are," said Anne.

Three of the figures took off their helmets, revealing themselves to be Wally, Loggle, and Sadie Croaker. "Well, salt my slugs! It's you five," said Sadie. Her pet spider Archie, who was sitting on her shoulder, made a happy sound.

Anne couldn't believe it. "Croaker! Wally! LOGGLE?! Is that you?!"

"Whoa, you've gotten...uh...big, Loggle," said Giorgio.

"Yup! I've been lifting weights every single day since you've been gone," said the woodcarver as he flexed his muscles. "Who knew I had these kind of gains in me all along?!"

"What is going on around here?!" exclaimed Hop Pop.

"What's up with those frogs," asked Sprig.

"Loggle's buff now," asked Polly.

The first helmeted figure made their way to Anne and Giorgio. "I don't believe it. You're-" She took off her helmet, revealing herself to be Sasha. Her hair and eyes were glowing reddish pink, indicating her powers were active, but her hair was no longer tied in a ponytail and had grown longer. "You're back," she cried. "You both are!"

"Sasha," Anne cried as she ran up to hug her. "You're alive!"

"Of course I am!" And then Sasha's eyes fell upon Giorgio. "JoJo...it's...good to see you," she said nervously.

"Y-Yeah, you too," said Giorgio. Then he cleared his throat and said seriously, "So, what happened here while we were away?"

Sasha cleared her throat, recomposed herself and said, "Follow me, and I'll explain."

Everyone arrived at the Plantar Farmhouse, where Chuck was guarding the door. "Chuck," Sasha greeted him.

"Tulips," he acknowledged.

Giorgio exhaled as they went in. "This place has seen better days. It looks worse than the time Sprig took over."

"You HAD to bring that up, did you," Sprig complained.

"Wait. Our house is your secret hideout," asked Hop Pop.

"Only the basement," said Sasha. She pressed a button on the chimney and it opened, revealing a tunnel.

"No way! The Plantar Family tunnels?" asked Sprig with awe. He, Anne, and Polly had gone down those tunnels before and learned that their family were not just simple farmers, but adventurers, warriors, and scientists.

"Come on!" Sasha led everyone inside and what they saw was something that made their jaws drop. She said, "Welcome to the Resistance!" The tunnels had turned into a makeshift underground version of Wartwood. Its citizens were carrying on with life while many of them prepare for battle. Grime could seen training a group of young frogs, including Bailey. Joan Jett was seen having a drinking contest with Felicia Sundew.

Sasha led the stunned newcomers around. "All right! Let's get you up to speed. Marcy has been taken prisoner. But she's still alive."

Anne and Giorgio felt an immense wave of relief. "Oh, thank goodness," said the former. "So, what happened to the town?"

"What do you think? Andrias destroyed it. Now let's get you settled." Sasha blew on a horn and called out to everyone, "Attention, Wartwood! I'd like to introduce some new recruits!" She gestured to Anne, Giorgio, and the Plantars and they waved.

"It's Anne, JoJo, and the Plantars," everyone cheered.

"The Plantars here came back to Amphibia just in time. To help us kick Andrias right in the big ol' tail!" Everyone cheered to Sasha's speech. She then handed the Plantars sacks full of survival gear. "Here, go find yourselves a nice cave to inhabit."

Hop Pop sighed sadly as he took out an old toothbrush. "I sure am going to miss the electric toothbrush."

"Cheer up, Hop Pop! Maybe we can find a cave with some soft lichen to sleep on!" Sprig's words of encouragement did not cheer Hop Pop up in the slightest.

As they entered what was the war room, Anne and Giorgio confronted Sasha with Anne saying, "So... About what happened before we fought Funny Valentine on that train..."

"Listen. My days of toxic manipulation are over," said Sasha. "And with Amphibia on fire and Marcy in trouble, I figured we could be on the same side for a change."

Giorgio folded his arms and said, "I'll believe it when I see it. New armor, longer hair and some fancy helmet isn't enough to convince me that you've changed in the slightest."

"Hey! I brought all these frogs together because I care about them! Because I wanted to make amends for what happened between us! Also, I saved this." Sasha reached behind her and handed Giorgio the pistol sword.

"My gunblade," Giorgio asked. He inspected it. "And it's in pristine condition."

"I've been taking care of it. Just like I've been taking care of your gang."

Giorgio felt a pang of uneasiness. She and Marcy didn't know the truth he told to Anne and the Plantars. "Sasha, there's something..."

But Anne interrupted him, saying, "Say, what's with the hat?"

"Oh, this?" Sasha took off the helmet. "The helmet of authority. Apparently, Wartwood busts this out during wartimes, so everyone knows who's in charge. Which reminds me..." She then handed the helmet to Giorgio, stunning him and Anne.

"WHAT?!" they exclaimed.

"Wartwood has only been able to hold out this long because they were waiting for you and Anne, JoJo. You both stood up for them. You both protected them. It's time for you to lead them again, JoJo."

Giorgio looked at the helmet, then pushed it back into Sasha's hands. "No."

Everyone gave him an incredulous look. Then Sasha asked, "What do you mean, no?"

"I mean, I'm not cut out to be a leader! I can't afford to make the same mistakes of not being aware of the consequences of my actions again! Find someone else for your crusade!"

"But we need you. You're the only one who can lead us if we want to take out the parasites!"

"Parasites," asked Anne. "What parasites."

"You saw those people outside," said Sasha. "They're all infected with a parasite that Andrias breeds in that giant walking castle. It's how he's controlling the citizens. He created them by crossbreeding various types of insects and combining them with the enzyme of a rare mushroom."

"Gee. Wonder where I heard that before," said Sprig sarcastically as he, Anne, Polly, and Giorgio laid their eyes on Hop Pop, who immediately defended himself, "I turned you into zombies ONE TIME!"

"Anyway, there's a facility here," Sasha pointed to a spot on a map. "Where Andrias' researchers conduct experiments, making more dangerous versions of the parasite. The mission is simple. Destroy the facility. If we're successful, it'll make a big dent in Andrias' army. But we can't do that without a leader, JoJo!"

Giorgio said, "Well, this group seems to be doing fine with you as leader, why don't you do it?"

Sasha growled, then said, "Fine! If you don't do it, Anne will lead!"

Anne sputtered, "M-Me?!"

"Why not? You're our next best candidate!"

Nervously, Anne said, "Uh...okay...let's do it!"

Polly took Anne's phone out and said, "Great! I'll call us a taxi app!"

"Polly, that's not gonna work," said Anne, reminding her that there's no cell phone reception in Amphibia.

She gave up and groaned in frustration. "Ugh, fine! I guess we'll walk!"

Hop Pop looked at his hands and grimaced. "Anyone got any hand sanitizer? I never noticed how dirty Amphibia was."

"Don't worry, HP! I got you!" Sprig took some hand sanitizer from Anne's bag and squirted onto Hop Pop's hands.

"Wow. Earth has made you three soft," said Sasha. "Anyway, get some sleep, everyone. We leave at dawn!"

The Plantars supported her.

"You got it!"

"See you in the morning!"

"Aye aye, captain!"

"And as for you-" Sasha was about to say to Giorgio, only to realize he was gone. "Where'd he go?"

"He must have gone to bed," said Anne. "It is still daylight."

"Why does that matter," Sasha asked, confused.

"Because he's a vampire now, remember?"

The image of Giorgio draining newt soldiers in Andrias' castle replayed in Sasha's mind. "Oh. Right. Maybe we should do this at nighttime, so we don't risk losing him. We were lucky those smoke clouds blocked the sun today." She paused, then asked, "Do you think that's why he doesn't want to be leader? Because he thinks we'll judge him for being...well, an undead?"

Anne shook her head. "Did you not hear him? He doesn't think he's worthy of being leader again. He doesn't care if he's a vampire or not."

"That's stupid. Why would he think that?"

Before Anne could respond, Grime came into the war room. "Welcome, Anne..." When he saw Anne with the helmet on, he corrected himself. "I mean... uh... bu... Commander."

"I know! Weird, right?"

When Anne left, Grime confronted Sasha, "You gave ANNE the helmet?!"

"I had no choice! JoJo won't take it, so she's the next best candidate!"

"But... But she's never led an army. And she has no idea how much Amphibia has changed or what we're up against!" Grime stopped when he processed what Sasha said. "Wait, you were going to give the job to JoJo? But why? You've been doing great so far!"

"Because I can't be in charge. It's just too complicated."

"How is it complicated? You've trained the troops, you taught them how to survive, you-"

"I said it's COMPLICATED," Sasha said with a slam of her fist.

"Fine! Just would have been nice to know that I was demoted. Again!"

"Fine! By the way, there's been a change of plans. Find JoJo. We're attacking the facility tonight."

"TONIGHT?! But Sasha, you know that's when the Infected are at their most aggressive!"

"Yes, but we have a secret weapon. JoJo's vampiric strength and agility."

"Alright. I'll have Commander Anne find him. I still think this is a bad idea." Grime left and Sasha sighed.

Giorgio found the darkest room in the hideout to be in and sighed as he settled in. He looked down at the pistol sword, swung around a little, then pulled the trigger. It made a click, indicating it wasn't loaded. Suddenly, the door opened and light shined in, making him hiss. "Anne? What are you doing here? I thought we were resting for tomorrow?"

"There's been a change in plans," said Anne. "Sasha thinks it would be better to attack tonight because your vampirism might be beneficial."

"Really? Well, what do you think," Giorgio asked.

"I'm all for it! I'll be leading the way! Though I agree with Sasha. You should be wearing this helmet, not me." Anne gave the helmet a tap.

Giorgio said, "I told you, no. I'm not ready to lead again."

Anne sighed. "Fine. But you should at least come with us. We need all the help we can get."

She left, leaving Giorgio alone with the pistol sword. "Semplicemente non ne sono degno..."

That night, Anne went outside, helmet on her head. The Plantars, Sasha, Giorgio, Sadie, Wally, Loggle, and Frobo all waited for their orders. "Ok, guys..." The helmet's visor closed on Anne's face. "Heh. Whoops." She readjusted the visor and said, "Let's go show Andrias what we're made of!"

"Which way, Commander?" asked Sadie.

"Oh! Uh... No idea," Anne admitted.

Giorgio face palmed. "Santo cielo."

"Oh! Didn't you take a picture of the map?" asked Sprig.

"I think Polly has the phone," said Giorgio.

"Nope. I gave it back to Anne," she replied.

Anne exclaimed, "Shoot! Dang it! I'll go back and grab it."

Sasha held up the map. "No need! Here's the map, Anne. With all the important parts labeled," she sang that last word.

Anne took it. "Oh! Thanks, Sash! But are you sure you shouldn't be leading this?"

"No way," said Sasha. "JoJo's the one who should lead."

"And I keep telling you, I'm not!"

"Well, there you have it," said Sasha. "You're leading the group, Anne."

Anne groaned in frustration. Sprig hopped on her shoulder and said, "Come on, Anne! You can do this! You steered us from Earth all the way back to Amphibia, didn't you? Just follow your Anne-tuition!"

She giggled. "Anne-tuition. Cute. Okay, then. Here goes nothing!"

"You know this is a bad idea, right," Giorgio asked Polly.

"It wouldn't be if you were leading."

"Not you too!"

Cue the montage. Anne found a river and tried to drink from it, but Sasha and Giorgio stopped her when they pointed out the bodies floating in the water.

Later, the Plantars were watching a movie on Anne's phone, only to wander into a quicksand bog. Anne tried to rescue them only to get stuck. Sasha, Wally and Sadie pulled them out, only to be ambushed by a horde of Infected. Giorgio chopped half of them to pieces with his blood vein tendrils while Sasha used her Stand, Slash, to skewer them. After that, Giorgio returned Anne's right shoe, which she lost in the quicksand bog.

Later, Anne peered through her telescope and saw a horde of frobot rollers coming toward the group. Giorgio, seeing the telescope was backwards, turned it around. When she saw that the horde was actually closer than she thought they were, she let out a scream and ran off. Giorgio used his eye air jets to slice them in half, then got the surprise of his life when he saw amphibians in the wreckages. Their eyes were foggy with cataracts and their bodies were emaciated.

"What the...?" Giorgio asked.

"Free..." the amphibians croaked. "At last..." They died.

"What's this," asked Hop Pop. "These toads are piloting the robots?"

Sasha said sadly, "They're not the pilots. They're the power supplies." Anne, Giorgio and the Plantars made grim expressions. "The robots were once powered with the music box," Sasha continued. "But since JoJo broke it, Andrias needed an alternate power source to make his robots function, so..."

"He's using the life force of living creatures as the batteries," said Anne with disgust.

Eventually, the weary group of travelers arrived at their destination. "There's the facility," said Hop Pop. It was surrounded by a deep trench lined with pointed rocks at the bottom, and here and there, numerous Infected were on guard.

"How do we get across, Anne?" asked Loggle.

"Yeah! What's your Anne-tuition telling you?" asked Wally.

Anne thought it over. Hmmm... Well..." Sasha held up a grappling hook, but she didn't see it. "How about... we build a bridge. Out of ourselves!" Nobody reacted to that. "I saw it in a movie once. All these tiny mice worked together to steal some oregano from a French restaurant."

Giorgio asked, "Do you even listen to what you say, Anne?" He turned to Sasha, nonverbally asking to back him up, but she didn't.

"Uh... You heard the Commander, everyone! Hop to it!"

The amphibians made a stack with Loggle at the bottom and Sprig at the top. "All right, everyone! Now lean forward into the canyon!" ordered Anne.

Sasha complimented, "Nice! Did you measure the width of the canyon?"

"No. Why?"

Hearing this, Giorgio exclaimed, "YOU IDIOT!"

The frogs screamed as they all nearly fell down the canyon to the sharp rocks below. Sprig hung on to a branch. Quickly, Giorgio grabbed the girls and leaped over the canyon. Then he grabbed the frogs and yanked them all to safety. Everyone panted in relief. "Well," said Giorgio. "At least we made it."

"Still, does anyone think this is going poorly," asked Sadie.

"We're usually a bit more coordinated than this," said Wally.

"Ok. I think it's clear by now I shouldn't be leading this expedition," said Anne. "JoJo, will you please just take command and tell us what to do?"

"I keep telling you, no! Why doesn't Sasha take command, it was her idea to put you in charge in the first place!"

Sasha immediately responded, "Oh, no! It has to be one of you! It can't be me!"

Giorgio immediately fired his pistol sword in the air, silencing everyone. "SHUT UP! All of you! Enough beating around the bush, Sasha! What are you so afraid of that you would give the position of commander to either me or Anne the instant we show up?"

"Me afraid?! Oh, look everyone! The pot is calling the kettle black! I'm not cut out for this leader stuff, not like you!"

"What, just because I'm the son of a gang leader, you think I inherited his leadership skills?!"

"You seemed to be doing fine when you first arrived in Amphibia!"

"I was winging it!"

"Well, your winging made improvements to Wartwood! Stop deprecating yourself and take the role!"

"Ahem," Sadie said loudly. "As much as I like watching you guys argue..." She pointed over her shoulder.

Giorgio and the girls saw what she was pointing at and went, "Oh." All the Infected were staring at them.

"You just gave away our position with all that shouting and pistol sword firing," shouted Loggle.

One of the Infected pointed at them, letting out a shriek. Soon, they all began charging at the group. Giorgio looked around, then saw an abandoned cabin. "I've got an idea! We're going to use the Joestar Family Technique!"

"Joestar Family Technique, what's..." Anne's eyes widened. "Wait, you're not talking about THAT are you?"

"What is the technique," asked Wally.

"I know what it is," said Sprig. "And I think we should do it."

"What's the technique?!" demanded Wally.

Giorgio looked at the mob of Infected, smirked, then turned tail and fled toward the house. "RUN AWAY!"

"WHAT?!" Sadie, Loggle, and Wally exclaimed.

"OH, MAN, I KNEW HE WAS GOING TO DO THAT," shouted Polly.

Everyone ran inside and Giorgio slammed the door. He looked out one of the windows to see the horde of Infected were surrounding the cabin. "Alright, we're here, now what," asked Sasha.

"How should I know," asked Giorgio. "I'm not the one in charge, you are!"

"I shouldn't be!"

"Why not," asked Anne.

"Because the last time I was in charge, I ruined our friendship!" Tears were dropping from Sasha's eyes when she said that.

Suddenly, the Infected broke the windows and began crawling in. "They're coming in," shouted Sadie.

Sasha shouted, "Loggle, find anything you can to barricade the windows! Sadie, Wally, make sure that door holds! Plantars, find any weapons you can!"

Everyone saluted, then ran to do their assigned jobs. "You see," said Giorgio. "You're clearly meant for this! You shouldn't let fear overwhelm you!"

"Would you stop being such a hypocrite," Sasha shouted back. "You're clearly afraid, too! What are YOU so afraid of?"

"It's not fear, Sasha! It's worthlessness!"

"Worthless?! How could you say that, Johan Shiobana?"

"Because I'm just as bad as you and your two friends combined!" Sasha gave him a confused look. Giorgio continued, "I lied about who I am and why I came to America in the first place! My dad never sent me to America to find the Stand arrow, I stole his passport and went there because I wanted to prove to everyone back home that I wasn't JUST his son, because I was sick of being in his shadow and still am! Hell, I lied about my name! It's not Johan Shiobana, it's Giorgio Giovanna! I used an alias to further distance myself from dad. But it turns out, it didn't work, since I kept telling stories about how great Dad is and how he and his friends defeated Diavolo and took over Passione."

Sasha turned to Anne, who gave a confirming nod. "It's true," she said.

Giorgio continued, "But you want to know what the worst part is? It was all in my head. Nobody once ever thought of me as just 'Giorno Giovanna's son'. I did all that simply because I wanted to prove I was better than Dad. That's why I started my own version of the gang, Passione della Rana to begin with. But all I did was make a mess of things when I killed Blue Oyster Cult and started a power vacuum that resulted in a nationwide gang war, and I didn't even know! And to make matters worse, I let you guys get caught by Funny Valentine and then later, Andrias! I made so many mistakes that I'm pretty sure I made things worse for everyone!" Tears started to form as he said, "I know Dad told me that I should learn from my mistakes while leading the gang, but I don't know if I learned anything at all! That's why I'm afraid, Sasha. That's why I can't be leader, because the truth is I'm no more worthy than you and Anne are."

Suddenly, something big and heavy fell out of the chimney. It was one of the Infected. It rose up to its feet and lunged at the group with an axe, but Sasha cut off its head with one of her twin heron swords. But to Giorgio and Anne's shock, a mass of writhing tentacles and a pair of eye stalks popped out of the neck stump, replacing the head.

"Wally! The stun shrooms," shouted Sasha. Wally nodded and threw a mushroom at the Infected. It exploded in a flash of light and the parasite instantly died.

"What the heck was that," asked Anne.

"Remember those parasites I told you about," said Sasha. "That was one of them!"

More of the Infected clambered down the chimney and headed straight for the group. Anne blocked two of them with her tennis racket, then used her Calamity powers to obliterate them...along with a huge section the house. "Oops."

"Oh, great," said Sadie sarcastically. "You just gave them an even bigger entryway. You're right, Sasha and JoJo should be leaders after all. They know what they're doing. And I want to say something to you two," she said to Sasha and Giorgio. "Need to shut up and get over your problems! Yes, you've made a lot of bad mistakes, like arguing with each other when you should be healing, but you have to learn from them otherwise they'll eat you alive...like what these Infected will do if we don't do something!"

Giorgio and Sasha looked at each other, then, realizing that their bickering and their wanting to not lead would get them killed if they didn't put it aside, took action. "I'll help our froggy friends get rid of these Infected," said Giorgio.

"And Anne and I will destroy the facility with our powers," said Sasha.

Anne smiled. Finally. Both she and Sasha activated their Calamity powers and flew toward the facility.

Giorgio led the charge against the horde of Infected, slashing and shooting away with his pistol sword. A couple of Infected pinned him down and began biting him, but he used his blood vein tentacles to push them off. One unlucky Infected had the misfortune of being picked up by Giorgio's bare hands and thrown into a tree. Some of the Infected ended up losing their heads, allowing the parasite inside their bodies to burst out. Their tentacles grew scythe blades that tried to slash Giorgio's body, but he managed to avoid getting hit and then sliced them up with his eye air jets.

Then Giorgio summoned DARE who proceeded to blind a few more Infected, allowing him to finish them off with the pistol sword as they stumbled about. A few more Infected tried to attack him, but he used DARE to amplify their hearing, making them scream in pain as they heard every single sound in the battlefield. This allowed Giorgio to finish them off quickly with his vampiric strength.

Giorgio looked at the amphibians and saw that they weren't slouching when it came to combat. Loggle bashed some Infected with his bare fists; Wally went crazy with boom shrooms; Sadie went to town on some with an iron skillet and a butcher knife while allowing Archie to spit venom in their eyes; Polly and Frobo plowed through the horde while the former slashed them to pieces with a harpe sword, while Sprig and Hop Pop used combined Ripple attacks to destroy the parasites - turns out they were very vulnerable to it.

Giorgio realized something. "Wait, is that my old harpe sword you're using?"

"Actually, it's not yours," said Polly as she held the harpe up. "This belonged to Polliana Plantar! It was thought to be lost in one of her many battles, until that thief Tritonio got his hands on it."

"Oh, yeah, the thief from that phony combat camp. Well, I guess we should give thanks that he found a Plantar family heirloom without realizing it. Oh, and this is the part where Hop Pop says 'Like heck we are!'"

"Like heck we are!" Hop Pop's eyes widened. "WHY WON'T YOU LEAVE MY MIND?!"

Meanwhile, Anne and Sasha flew toward the facility, ready to use their powers on it, but they didn't get the chance. Something large crashed through the wall. It was a frog, one as large as King Andrias. Its skin was a decaying gray, its teeth were crooked, and its only article of clothing was a loincloth. It let out a roar and tried to swat the two girls out of the air.

"Whoa, that's a big boy, isn't he," said Anne.

"Focus, Anne," said Sasha. "We can't let him reach our friends!"

"R-Right!" Anne flew down and swung the tennis racket down on the giant's head, but it did nothing except annoy it. It swatted her aside and she crashed into a tree. "What was I thinking," she muttered.

"Anne, catch!" Sasha threw Anne one of her swords and she caught it. The two girls then proceeded to fly up to the giant and began to attack it. Sasha repeatedly slashed and stabbed its back along with her Stand, Slash; then they went for its skull and drilled a hole into it. "MURI, MURI, MURI, MURI, MURI, MURI, MURI, MURI, MURI, MURI, MURI, MURI, MURI, MURI, MURI, MURI, MURI!" The monster bellowed with rage and pain.

Meanwhile, Anne went for the lower body, stabbing the sword into the giant's feet. It let out a yelp and hopped around in pain. Then she gave the giant a Ripple-infused kick and it let out a roar as the energy flowed into its body, and it fell to its knees and hands. A writhing mass of tentacles burst out of its back, startling the two girls.

"It's another one of those parasites," exclaimed Anne.

"Anne, these things hate sunlight," shouted Sasha. "Use your Ripple!"

Anne nodded and activated her Ripple. "CALAMITY OVERDRIVE!" Blue energy shot out of her hands and into the parasite, completely melting it. The giant roared one last time before it fell flat on its face. The blue glow Anne's hair and eyes disappeared, and she fell out of the air; Sasha flew down and caught her, setting her down. She exhaled, "Whew. That took a lot out of me."

The pink glow Sasha's hair and eyes dimmed as her powers decreased. She smiled and said, "You did good, kid."

Giorgio and the amphibians joined up with them, covered in blood and parasite juice. "That wasn't so bad," said Giorgio. "Although, I'm definitely going to need a shower after this." His wounds healed by themselves, shocking the resistance amphibians and Sasha.

"Sorry, I need to get used to that," she said.

"So, you don't mind me being a vampire," Giorgio asked nervously.

"Dude, I've been around frog people, giant birds, and ate flies for months. Hanging out with a vampire is no big deal to me."

Giorgio smiled. "Thanks." He looked at the charred remains of the facility. "So, that big guy was what they were making in this place. I wonder if there's anything left." He walked in. A few minutes later, he came back, carrying something in his hand. "Look," he said grimly. It was a stone mask of a fanged frog. "This is how the parasites give the Infected their unnatural strength. It also explains their aversion to sunlight and Ripple."

"Is that...the stone mask that turned you into a vampire," asked Polly.

"I don't think so," Giorgio said. "There were dozens of them in the castle's crypt. Andrias probably gave them to his researchers for study."

"But how did Andrias even make them in the first place," asked Anne. "If vampires never even existed in Amphibia?"

Giorgio looked at the mask. "I don't know," he said honestly.

"So, what do we do with this one," asked Loggle.

In response, Giorgio placed the stone mask on the ground and stomped it to pieces. "Nothing really to it. Now we can go home. I mean, return to base."

"Hold it, there's one thing we have to do first," said Sasha. She held up the helmet of authority and held it in front of Anne and Giorgio. "One of you has to take the helmet."

"We're still doing this," asked Giorgio.

"Oh, no, you both are not walking out of this," said Anne. "You two are clearly the better commanders."

"Honestly, if there's one thing we agree on, it's that we're not worthy," said Sasha.

"Not too long ago, you would have fought to keep the helmet. The fact you don't want it now proves you changed."

Sasha and Giorgio looked at each other and the former said, "Yeah, maybe."

Anne grabbed their hands and said, "All in favor as Sasha Waybright and Giorgio Giovanna as your new co-leaders?" All the frogs voiced their approvals.

Giorgio exhaled. "Well, looks like the people have spoken. But if we're doing this, let it be known that we're doing this as partners. All three of us." He coughed a little, then asked, "Should we do a hands in the middle thing?"

"Sure, why not," said Anne. She, Sasha, and Giorgio put their hands in the middle and then raised them up with a cheer. "Looks like this is our new life now, guys," she said to the Plantars as everyone walked back to base.

The froggy family exhaled in exhaustion.

"House guest to Resistance grunt is a harsh transition," said Hop Pop.

"Yup!" said Polly.

"You can say that again!" said Sprig.

Giorgio said, "Hey, Anne, I didn't mention it earlier, but your shoe's making a squishing sound."

"Yeah, it still has mud in it from that quicksand."

Giorgio caught up with Sasha, who said, "So...Giorgio Giovanna, huh?"

"Yep."

"If you don't mind, I still want to call you JoJo. It sounds cooler."

"Anne thinks so too."

After retuning to base, everyone found rooms to stay in. Giorgio returned to his room and began to read the latest "Berserk" chapters he downloaded onto his phone during his stay on Earth. He still could not believe the author, Kentaro Miura, had died during production due to aortic dissection. It was a tragic loss for the manga community. He just hoped that whoever took over for him would stay true to the source material.

The door to his room opened and Sasha walked in. "Hey. Watcha reading?"

"Berserk," Giorgio responded.

"You still like that manga, huh," she asked as she sat next to him.

"Yep."

"So, what else happened on Earth?"

"Let's see, remember that arrow we were looking for?" Sasha nodded. "Well, the guy who took it used his own Stand to have it travel the internet and pierce everyone with the potential to become Stand users. One of them was a girl named Gabby."

"GABBY?! That gossiper from school?! SHE'S a Stand user now," Sasha shouted before she exhaled and sat on a rock to calm down. "Boy, a lot's really changed back on Earth. So, where's the arrow now?"

"Dad found it. It's back in Italy. But the poor bastard who stole it shot himself." Sasha cringed. Giorgio looked up from his phone and asked, "Did you come here to ask me about that, or do you still think neither of us are worthy to lead."

Sasha looked away, shamefully, as tears started to form. "I didn't realize it until now. Being around you, Anne and Marcy, it makes me do stupid things and I wish it didn't."

Giorgio felt tears drop down his face too. "It's okay. I, uh—" He sniffled. "I do stupid things around you too, Sasha."

"So, are we going to learn from this," Sasha asked as she wiped her tears. "Are we going to do better than what we did before? Anne did."

Giorgio looked back at his phone, at an illustration of Guts and Casca, and tried to imagine being in their shoes. "We have to. For the sake of the people we love, we have to. But we can't do it alone. We need each other if we're going to get through this. Stop Andrias, rescue Marcy, save Amphibia, and go home. I hope we can be more than what we are now after this. I hope we stay connected."

Sasha said, "Don't worry, you always have a way of sneaking into people's hearts." And then, she did something unexpected. She kissed Giorgio on the cheek. He stared at her in shock. Her cheeks turning pink, she muttered, "Uh—okay—good to see you! Farewell forever." She ran out the room, whispering to herself, "Why did I do that? Why'd I do that? Why did I do that?"

The phone slid from Giorgio's hand as he remained frozen in stunned silence.

⬅ To be continued...