Anne Boonchuy sat in the warehouse, on a small metal fold up chair.
Today, she was going to get to see her best friends for the first time in over a week.
She had meant to call them earlier, but she had been busy, working at the restaurant, preparing to go back into middle school again. Trying not to cry.
Terri was working standing behind her, busily trying to fix the portal machine. Occasionally they made a thoughtful thinking sound.
Anne knew this was just some sort of act, trying to make it seem like there was some sort of hope.
There was no way back to Amphibia, no use denying it, she, Sasha and Marcy were never going to see their other home again.
It stung, but she had to keep going.
The only reason she was here was because she wanted to be there for her friends when they found out.
"You okay?" asked a smooth voice behind her.
Anne turned towards the door to the nearby office. Mr. X was standing there, looking at her worried. It was funny, seeing him being sincere made her worry a little.
"Yeah," said Anne, nodding, "I'm fine."
The government agents nodded, "Remember what we talked about, don't bottle it up."
"I know," said Anne, raising her hands, "It's just It's the first time I've seen them since we got back, I don't know what to say."
"Hello", would be a good idea," said Terri, continuing her inspection of the machine.
A loud BZZT filled the warehouse, Mr.X checked his phone, "That's them," he said, walking to the shutters control panel and pressing the up arrow.
As it opened, Anne spotted her two best friends standing there, Sasha was wearing a blue jacket, a pink shirt and blue skirt, Marcy was wearing a green shirt with an anime character Anne did recognize and blue shorts.
However, the thing that drew Anne's eye was just how tired they looked, Sasha's bravado and coolness had vanished, likewise Marcy's enthusiasm was now missing.
Anne stood up and rushed over to them. The moment she reached them, she gathered both in a hug, which they both returned.
They needed this, after a week apart, they just needed to see each other again.
"Hey," Anne whispered.
"You okay?" said Sasha, releasing the other two from her hug.
"Sorry we didn't call, it's been…a lot." said Marcy, who kept hugging Anne for just a little bit longer, before letting her go.
"I hate to interrupt your little reunion," said Mr.X, walking up to the girls, "But we have some important matters to discuss."
The trio walked over to the device and looked at it.
"So this is what you used to get to Amphibia?" asked Sasha.
Somewhat," said Terri, who stepped out from behind the machine. "Hi, I'm Terri, I made the portal."
"Whoa," said Marcy, interested.
Sasha smiled, "So were you just making portals or-"
"Actually," said Terri, rubbing the back of her head, "My old boss, Doctor Frakes was the one who invented the portal and came up with the theory, I just took her work and improved on it."
"So what are we waiting for?" said Sasha, "Power it up and let's see our friends again."
Terri looked worried and then turned back to Mr.X, he nodded, and the scientist walked over to the control panel
"The day after Anne left for Amphibia, I hired Terri to start working on another portal."
"Hired, Forced to work under the threat of arrest, those are the same things, right?" replied the blue hair scientist as she walked towards the control panel for the machine.
"Well, surprisingly, they did finish it."
"Wait?" asked Sasha, "We have a working portal, why didn't you guys come and rescue us sooner?"
Mr.X looked at them, "That was the original plan, to rescue Anne and presumably you two, but I objected."
"Why?" Sasha asked, offended.
"I've been a government agent for three decades, Hun, I've seen what happens when our country decides to "Help out"
Sasha blushed, surprised just how easily the sassy government agent had shot her down.
"So my plan was to send you supplies, Food and medicine."
"Why not weapons?" asked Anne.
"I saw the Polliwog, Do you want to give her a gun?"
"No," responded everyone else in the room, each trying to fight off the horrific images that entered their minds.
"So why didn't we get supplies?"
Mr.X turned to Terri, "Are you ready, Terri?"
The Scientist gave the man a thumbs up and started to play a familiar tune on a keyboard.
There was a humming noise from the portal, a bright light appeared in the center of it.
Anne's eyes widened.
Sasha's fists tightened.
Marcy covered her mouth.
The light stayed there for a few moments, then closed.
To say Sasha and Marcy's' hopes were shattered would be an understatement. This was just a reminder that they would never be able to go back there again.
Anne just stood there looking blankly, a small tear appeared in her eye, she wiped it away before the others could see.
"I'm sorry, girls," said Mr.X sympathetically,
The three looked at him, Anne was surprised just to see him look like this human.
"We're using three power generators, and we're not even able to open a portal now, without the gem's power, we can't open a portal," Terri explained.
The next hour was full of Mr.X and Terri explaining why using the portal was impossible now.
They didn't listen, the trio just stood there, lost in their mourning.
After the hour was up, Mr.X escorted them out.
"Remember to keep this place secret, I don't want anyone finding out about the portal."
He walked to the shutter and pressed the close button. As the metal barrier started to close he looked at them briefly, a hint of sympathy in his eyes.
"I'm sorry girls."
The three stood there looking at the shutter for a few seconds.
Sasha was the first to break the silence.
"Well, this sucks."
They remained quiet for a few seconds and started to walk away from the warehouse.
"You guys got a lift home?" Asked Anne.
"My parents are picking me up," said Marcy.
"Ditto," said Sasha.
Anne sighed, Mr.X had probably called her parents by now, the three had become oddly chummy.
"So now what?" Asked Sasha.
"Well I've got a new module of Creatures and Caverns to pick up, my parents are taking me to my favorite store to visit one last time."
"Oh cool, so can we play?" asked Sasha
Marcy turned and looked at them, "What?"
" I was asking if we could play, it sounds," Sasha hesitated for a second, "fun?"
Anne looked at the blonde for a second, then quickly nodded, "Oh yeah, I did some research and I kind of want to try it."
Marcy looked at the others for a second, she knew they were trying to be nice, but she nodded, "Okay, just give me a second to call my dad."
The nerd darted off, picking up her phone.
"Are you serious?" whispered Anne.
"Nope, but we've gotta do this for Marcy, we owe her this."
Both girls prepared themselves for something they didn't want to do.
…
Max had almost died several times in the last few days.
They had been horrible, terrifying moments that made him value life more and more.
Right now, however, he would rather experience all of them again if it meant getting out of this.
He heard the giggle from behind him, and turned to see Polly sitting next behind him. In her hands was a hammer, with which she hit the roof tile into place.
"What?" Said Max.
"Nothing," replied Polly, "Hey Sprig, throw me another tile."
"Sure thing Polly," said her brother, pulling out a tile and throwing it towards her. She caught it with her tongue.
Currently, Max, Anne and the Plantars were working on the Orphanage's roof. It was triangular, Sprig was currently standing at the tip and holding on to the bag of tiles, making sure they didn't fall off and crush somebody, and occasionally throwing it to any of his family members who needed it.
"You giggled," said Max, not letting Polly get away with her actions.
"I thought of a funny joke, not everything has to be about you, Max."
"What's the joke?"
"Just the one about you and Anne snuggling," said the frog girl smugly.
Max glared at the frog girl, last night he and Anne had spent the night sleeping out under the stars. It had been rather emotional for the both of them.
They were woken in the morning by the sound of an electronic click. When he opened his eyes, the entire Plantar family were there, Sprig holding on to his phone.
Sprig, Hop-Pop and Frobo thought it was adorable, Polly thought it was funny and had been making fun of him the whole morning.
That had been this morning, since then Hop-Pop had shared the picture with half the town.
For the last six hours, onlookers had walked past the building giggling or going "Awww" whenever they saw him.
In the last two days he had gone from town villain, to hero and now to joke.
"Ah, lay off Polly, it was adorable," said Sprig.
"It was, I'm planning on having it painted," Hop-Pop agreed.
Max groaned, and turned to look at Anne who was currently working on her next floor tile. She seemed to be taking this all in stride, which was something he was grateful for.
Last night, she comforted him. It was strange, he still felt stupid for it, but when she told him he was better than he thought he was, it made him feel strange. Like how Lucian, Marcy and Nicole made him feel at the lake, but somehow he felt safer.
"Hey Anne!" Called a voice from below. Max looked down to see Marcy and Sasha standing below, the blonde was covered in brown dust, Marcy was wet and covered in moss.
Max heard Anne walk towards him and stop beside him, "Hi guys, hang on a second."
Anne jumped off the roof and landed on her feet, "What have you guys been doing?"
"Clearing rocks, making sure the town doesn't have any debris lying in the middle of the road."
"And I" said Marcy, smiling, "Was checking the foundations of the town, no chance of us sinking any time soon."
"Great, we've just fixed the orphanage roof and-"
"Hey Sasha, Marcy," yelled Polly, standing at the edge of the roof and holding Sprigs phone in her hand, "check out this adorable picture of Max."
The young boy tried to grab Polly as she jumped off the roof, he looked down and was about to jump off.
"Use the ladder," Anne said, not looking up.
"You got to jump off," protested Max.
"I'm an adult, and you promised me after yesterday, you'd not do anything extremely dangerous."
Max groaned, he walked to the ladder and climbed down.
The hope that he might be able to stop Sasha and Marcy from seeing the picture faded with the combined "Awwws"
Max sighed, now his therapist thought he was soft.
"That's so cute," cooed Marcy, a grin on her face.
"Nice to see you two made up," said Sasha, smiling.
"Anne, make Polly stop showing everyone that picture," Max whined.
The Herpetologist took the phone away from Polly.
"Hey what the-"
"You've had too much fun with this, Polly, We're giving Max a bit of a break now."
"But I wanted to show Pearl," said the young genius.
"Too bad, you've been a jerk."
Polly glared at Anne then at Max, who stuck his tongue out at her.
"Is that because you feel bad for Max, or the fact that the moment your mom sees it, she'll start badgering you for grandkids?" Said Sasha.
"Yes," replied Anne flatly.
"MAX," cried a voice in the distance.
The human turned to see a small frog in a blue dress come running towards him, behind her was a toad boy in armor, He was wondering when he'd see them.
That's when he heard a scraping noise, "SPRIG, THE ROOF TILES," shouted Hop-Pop, Max looked up to see a bag just about to fall from the slanted roof, they toppled over and fell towards the ground.
Exactly where Marcy Yunan was standing.
Max didn't even need time to think, he grabbed the frog bridal style and moved away from the tiles just before they hit the ground with a loud thud.
"Sorry," yelled Sprig from the rooftop.
"Marcy, are you okay?" asked Max, turning his head to look at the frog girl.
For some reason, the young frog was blushing, probably embarrassed about having to be rescued again.
"Yes," she spat out, "Put me down."
Max was about to when there was the sound of a click, he turned to see Polly holding a phone, one he recognized belonging to Sasha.
"Hey, looks like Max has a girlfriend now," laughed Polly.
"She's not my-" Max started to say.
"HE'S NOT MY BOYFRIEND," shouted Marcy Yunan.
Everyone just stared at the frog girl, shocked by her outburst.
For a few moments the frog girl looked shocked before she awkwardly laughed, "I mean, clearly he's not, I mean he's a human, and I'm a frog, such things are just too weird," she said, leaping out of Max's arms.
Everyone remained quiet for a few seconds before Lucian caught up with them, "Did you ask him yet?" he said, panting.
"Oh," said Marcy Yunan somehow even more embarrassed., "Um, Max do you want to come to our-"
"SLEEEPPOOOVVVVEEERRRRR" shouted Lucian with no regard to being in public, several Amphibians walking by stopped to look at him confused.
"A sleepover?" asked Max, confused.
"Yeah, We're sleeping round Marcy's house tonight, we're going to stay up all night, eat cakes, and tell scary stories."
"I know what happens," said Max, "it's just I've never been to one."
"You've never been to a sleepover?" gasped Lucian. He knew his friend had a tough life, but to be deprived of sleepovers was shocking.
"Well, it means we need to make his first the best ever," said Marcy Yunan, smiling.
Max rubbed his arm, "I'd like to agree, but I've been grounded, something about endangering the town and jumping off a cliff."
Both Amphibian children looked at Anne with big round pleading eyes.
Anne looked at them for a second as she rubbed her chin, she had already made up her mind, but it was fun to string them along, "Hmmm, I don't know."
"Come on, Anne," said Sasha playfully, "let the kids have some fun."
"Remember the nights we had. Video games, Movies, Gossip, Scare Dares." pleaded Marcy, "Don't deny these kids a night of fun."
Fighting back the urge to smile, Anne kept her serious composure, then started to grin, "Okay, but you have to help Polly with the washing up tonight."
"What did I do?" whined Polly.
"It's your punishment for picking on Max all day," said Anne, smiling at her. "Hope you enjoy it."
Polly glared at Anne and jumped back to the roof, mumbling bloody vengeance.
"By the way," said Lucian excitedly, "did you hear about Monty?"
"No," said Max, "What happened? Did he get eaten by a monster?"
"Nope even better, He's working at Miss Croakers farm," said Lucian, holding back a laugh. "He's going to have a miserable time."
"I, for one, don't care." said Marcy Yunan, her nose in the sky, "We should not revel in his suffering."
"So you won't walk past the farm to watch him suffer," said Max, smiling.
"Oh No, I will, I'm only Amphibian," she conceded.
The kids started to laugh, the adults looked at them smiling.
"Remember when we were like that?" asked Sasha.
"You mean young and up to no good?" replied Marcy.
Anne only smiled, the kids were similar to her and her two human friends, though she could also see a part of her relationship with Sprig in them.
"I admit, they do seem like us."
"Yeah… You want to have a night out?" asked Sasha.
"A night out?" replied Anne, "We did that last week, isn't it a bit too soon for that?"
"Sasha shook her head, "Hell no, We're young, and we've spent ten years apart. We're overdue like a hundred Girls nights."
"A girls' night," said Marcy smiling, "You got anything planned?"
"Mar-Mar, we're in our twenties, we get to do whatever we want," replied Sasha confidently.
"Damn straight," said Anne, "We drop the kids off at the Yunans, and then go out for a night of partying."
"Just the three of us." added Marcy.
"LET'S DO THIS," shouted the three in unison.
The trio of Max, Marcy and Lucains looked at them awkwardly.
"Are we going to be that weird when we grow up?" whispered Marcy Yunan.
…
A few minutes later, Anne and Max were in the general store.
"Hmmm," said the sales toad, looking at Max. He was green with a short shirt and glasses, "I'd say we'd need to sow two newt sized sleeping bags together."
"Okay, put it on the Plantars tab."
The toad walked into the back to make Max's sleeping bag.
"Hey Anne? How long have you been friends with Sasha and Marcy?
"Well, I met Marcy first at the beach and Sasha at the playground when she stood up to some bullies for us, so I guess twenty years."
"Woah," said Max, impressed, "Pretty cool considering."
"Yeah," said Anne, smiling before she froze, "Wait what?"
"Oh, sorry it's just… well Amphib-anne had a those moments where you fought Sasha on the tower, and there is the patron comic where-"
"You're paying Marcy?"
"No, I'm pirating it… I'm ten, where Marcy got you stuck in Amphibia. "
Anne's eyebrows rose a little, "Oh, yeah, those moments."
"Yeah, those were pretty-"
Max, I need to tell you something," said Anne sighing, "Remember two days ago, when I got mad at you?"
"Kind of hard to forget," said Max, nodding.
"Well, I made a mistake, and back then they did too."
"Yeah, but It was kind of obvious that they were not your best friends, they made you do what they wanted and lied to you, that's not what friends do."
Anne nodded. "True, but you can be like that as well."
"What?" Said Max, confused, "I saved their butts just yesterday."
"I know, but well… sometimes we do things we don't know that hurt the people we care about. It's something I've done."
The ten-year-old stood there looking confused, then slightly ashamed, "Well I did force Marcy into pulling some pranks, and I did want Lucian to run away with me."
Anne knew she should have pressed for more on the latter, but the guilt over making him upset stopped her.
"Well, maybe you could change, let this new sleepover be the start of a new Max."
The boy stood there for a second, thinking about it, "Yeah, a new Max, one who doesn't get into trouble and causes immense amounts of property damage."
"I'm pretty sure the town would appreciate that," said a deep, booming voice from behind them.
The two humans turned to see a large toad standing there.
"Mayor Toadstool," said Anne with a smile on her face,
"Not the mayor anymore, Anne," replied the toad.
"Yeah but calling you "Ex-mayor Toadstool would be weird," she turned to Max, "This is what I'm talking about, Mayor Toadstool used to be a corrupt political figure, who went from robbing the town to being an upstanding citizen."
"You're telling me that a politician can actually change?"
"Yep."
Max stood there for a few seconds then shook his head, "No, Sorry, I buy the monsters and the talking frogs, but this is just too much to believe."
The toad glared at him then looked at Anne, "Mrs Boonchuy as one of the most influential toads in town I have been elected to invite you to a party tonight."
"A party?" asked Anne, "why?"
"Well your homecoming of course," laughed the toad, "You've been here a week, and we've been planning this for a while now. It would have been two days ago but well the town was attacked by monsters, caused by a certain individual who will remain unnamed."
Max cringed at that.
"That's why we're inviting you and the Plantars to the party…the boy can't come."
"Why," said Max offended, "Is it because I destroyed the town?"
"No, it's because alcohol will be served."
"Oh," said Max, nodding his head, "Fair."
"Anyway, the party's at six tonight, do hope you can make it," said Toadstool, turning away.
"I'll be there," Anne called back, "Wow a party just for me, It'll be like frog of the year again."
Anne stood there for a second and sighed wistfully, having a party alongside all the people she loved.
"Um Anne? Can I ask how you're going to go to a party and hang out with your frog friends?"
The woman stood there for a second, realization dawning on her face.
"Oh no," she whispered.
"Sorry to point out the biggest hole in your plans for the evening, but what are you going to do? It's either the party or the girl's night."
Anne stood there worried, that's when her eyes widened and a smile appeared on her face, "Of course you know there's a third choice."
"Is it you doing both? Like some sort of bad sitcom?" replied Max.
"Oh," said Anne dejectedly, "Yes."
…
"The first rule of Sleepovers, is to not sleep at a sleepover." said Sasha in full military mode, "If a single moment of sleep is had then the sleepover is a failure."
Lucian sat there watching his human hero, only occasionally looking at a notepad to write something down.
"Second rule," Said the human, "Don't back down from a challenge, not once."
"Why would someone challenge me at a sleep-over?"
"Video games, board games, a scare dare, You must be prepared for anything."
"Oh," said Lucian, nodding, he wrote 'What are video games?'"
"Now remember this," said Sasha, the human dropped her military composure, and took on a bright cheery smile.
"Pajamas, junk food and gossip galore. Pillow fights, movies and tearing up the dance floor. And listen up 'cause this I won't repeat, never ever go to sleep." As she said this show moved her arms in a graceful way, After she stopped she turned to Lucian, "You got that?"
He nodded and continued to write down on his notepad, trying to memorize Sasha's poem.
"I think you might be expecting too much from the private," said a voice from behind her.
Sasha turned to see Grime standing there smiling.
"Grimesy If I don't teach him this now he's never going to get it and any sleepover he attends from now on will be lame."
"Yeah, commander, I have to learn this." pleaded Lucian.
The toad shook his head and looked at Sasha, "Well commander, While Lucian shall be enjoying his baby party, we're going to be doing something far more epic."
"Really," said Sasha laughing, "And what's that?"
Grime's smile grew wider.
Coincidentally, all the Polliwogs in town started to cry for no apparent reason.
"We're having a tower reunion," said Grime, smiling.
"What?" said Sasha, smiling, "Really?"
"Yes, I put out the word that you were back and dozens of toads are on their way to visit you, We've got a volcakeno."
"Are we going to use it outside this time?" asked Sasha.
Grime sighed, "Yes, personally I wanted it inside, but apparently burning down a building with a desert is not covered by the towns' insurance.
"Welp, I'm in," said Sasha, "Been a while since I've partied as hard as a toad."
"Good to hear it, now if you don't mind me, I need to prepare for this night of debauchery."
"You're getting your nails done, aren't you," said Lucian.
"Yes," said Grime enthusiastically, "don't wait up."
Sasha smiled, it would be nice to let loose tonight."
"Wow, Sasha, that's amazing, you're going to a party and hanging out with your best friends."
Sasha's look of joy vanished, "Oh no." she whispered.
…
"How do you know if you like someone?"
Marcy Wu was shocked to hear that come from her frog counterpart as they walked down the street.
"What do you mean?"
The blue girl blushed, "Well there's someone I like… a lot, he's weird and can be really annoying but…"
"Wouldn't you be better off talking to your parents about this?"
"No," the young frog said quickly, "They'd try to set me up with them."
"Well, who is it then?"
Yunan's daughter turned away from her, "It's a secret."
"Ohhh," said Marcy Wu, her lips curling, "It's one of those crushes."
"It's not a crush," said Marcy Yunan pouting, "just there's someone I like, and I don't know how to act around them."
"Well why not tell them?" asked Marcy Wu, smiling.
"Because they'd laugh at me, they'd think I'm a freak and then the town would find out and would tar and feather me then chase me out of town."
"Has that ever happened?"
"Once," muttered the frog.
"Wow," said the concerned human, "Well, all I can say is that does that sound worse than keeping it hidden."
"... Yes." Replied the frog girl, "ripping my skin off as I remove the tar sounds horrible."
"Okay, well, I can say…" the human narrowed her eyes, "we're being followed."
"What?" Replied Marcy Yunan, "who?"
"I don't know, maybe some leftovers from the circus. They keep hiding in crowds, but I keep seeing the same large newt."
The blue frog was about to look when Marcy coughed, "No, don't. We don't want them to know, we know."
"So what do we do?"
"Keep walking," said Marcy, who hastened her pace, "don't let them know we know."
The young frog girl swallowed, and kept moving. They passed dozens of crowds, which made her anxious, her time as the circuses' prisoner still on her mind.
Eventually, Marcy Wu took her hand and dashed into an alley. There were some empty wooden boxes lying on the floor.
"What are you going to-"
The frog wasn't able to finish her sentence. The human woman grabbed one of the boxes and threw it at the entrance.
The box was caught by a large blue newt, not as tall as Andrias, only around eight feet. He was wearing simple clothing that made him look more like a farmer than any newt she saw in Newtopia. His face was a neutral look.
What was this sinister newt doing here?
"Oh my gosh…" Macy's shocked face turned to a smile in a second, "FEMUR!"
In response, the newt smiled and walked over to the artist and enveloped her in a hug. Marcy held back a groan."
"Is that the name of the bones he likes to break?" asked her frog counterpart, confused.
"No, he was one of my fellow rangers," explained the human, "what are you doing here?"
"We heard you were back in town," said a voice from above. Suddenly, two figures dropped behind the three, they were both newts, one was an average-sized newt with nice hair, and clean skin, he wore a clean shirt and dark trousers.
The other was a small newt. Only slightly taller than the younger Marcy, she was green with freckles, she wore a skirt and a green shirt.
"JAVI? KETTLE? You're here too?"
The two rushed over and hugged their fellow former rangers.
"It's so good to see you again," said Kettle in her scrappy voice.
"We heard you were back in Amphibia, and well, we had to see you."
"About what?" Asked Marcy.
The three newts let go of Marcy, which was good because she was running out of oxygen.
"Well, first to apologize," said Javi awkwardly.
"During the invasion, we tried to find you, but you see, other people needed us."
"The Newtopia refugees needed help, then we needed to take down a robot factory, and then-"
"We could talk about what we did during the war for hours. But to cut things down a little, we couldn't save you."
"We're sorry," said the two talkative newts, Femur looked ashamed.
"No guys, relax you don't have to apologize," said the human gently, "you helped those in need, fulfilled the ranger way, I'm proud of you guys."
"Excuse me," said a small voice, the four turned to the young frog girl, "hate to ruin this reunion, but Marcy we need to get going, I have a slumber party to prepare for."
The former human ranger slapped her head, "Of course, sorry guys, but I gotta make sure she gets home."
"Okay, how about we meet up and catch up?" Asked Kettle.
"Heck yeah, I'll see you guys tonight."
The three newts walked out of the alley.
"Um, Marcy, can I just point out the fact that-"
"I have a night planned with Sasha and Anne, yeah, I know I'll just find a way to attend both."
"That sounds-"
"Difficult, yes, but I'm great at multitasking,
"But-"
"I know it sounds insane, but I have to do it."
The frog just stood there for a second and sighed, "Okay, you have your fun girls night and try to hang out with your best friends. Me, I'm just going to have the best night with my three best friends."
"Oh, yeah…Where's Nicole anyway? I haven't seen her all day?"
"She's working construction today," replied the frog girl casually.
…
Felicia was walking down the street with a basket full of flowers when she heard it."
"RRRREEEOOOOWWWWW"
The frog turned to where a group of construction toads were standing there looking disappointed at a small eft girl.
"Kid, two things," said the biggest toad, "That's not how you do that, and secondly it's highly inappropriate."
Nicole looked down at her feet, "Sorry."