Roadtrip
"Newtopia?" Troy asked as they made their way out of the valley. Polly nodded as she watched the roads closely. They had chosen to make their move as they felt confident about the information they had collected from their reconnaissance. The frobots would be switching patrols today. Polly suspected this was because they were running low on power and needed to be replaced with fully charged ones.
"It's been ages since I've been to Newtopia. Last time I was there I was a wanted criminal." Grime said fondly. "Remember Lieutenant?"
"You were there when we defeated King Andrias." Polly reminded him. He scratched his beard confused.
"Yes, I suppose you're right." Grime said slowly as he tried to recall. He looked at Troy. "We won, didn't we?" He asked as he unconsciously put a clawed hand to his stump. Troy glanced quickly to Polly who nodded.
"Yup." Troy said, forcing a smile. He liked Grime but he wasn't sure if he should or not. As time had gone on Grime had brought up a lot of questionable things he had done that Polly had corroborated. He also didn't want to keep being mistaken for whoever this Lieutenant person was. "Uh, how about you remind me of a time we did something good?" Grime smiled and slapped his knee.
"You mean like that one time we extorted that frog village for extra provisions?" He laughed as he reminisced. Polly raised an eyebrow.
"No. Not like that." Troy said flatly. Grime stoked his beard.
"I would say Drawsidoodle but that kind of turned out to be a disaster." Polly snorted.
"Drawsi-what?" Troy asked. Polly waved a hand.
"It was a game where you drew a picture and others had to guess what it was that you drew." Polly explained.
"That doesn't sound like it would be-" Troy began.
"I had almost forgotten I filled the volcakeno with battle hornets." Grime interrupted. "Yes, that was a fun time. Sure, you said you were doing it to manipulate your friends into trusting you again but deep down I knew you really wanted to-" Polly shushed him as they approached the pass. They slowed down and Polly pulled MicroAngelo to the side of the road.
"Stay here. I'll check it out and return when it's safe to go." Polly said, hopping down. Troy glanced at Grime and back at Polly.
"Can I come with?" He whispered. Polly rolled her eyes.
"No. Stay with Grime and stay hidden." She hissed back before running off. Troy crossed his arms and huffed. Grime raised his eyebrows.
"I know that look Lieutenant." He sighed heavily.
"Yeah, I'm sure you do." Troy said sarcastically.
"You always felt the need to keep up your tough act around others." Grime grimaced. "I know you hate hearing it but you have a good heart."
"I doubt that." Troy said as he thought about everything he had heard about the Lieutenant. Grime rested a hand on his shoulder.
"Remember when we fought that Scorpileo?" He said, wiping his eyes.
"Not really."
"Of course you do." Grime laughed. "After we returned, after we gave you that antivenom, you told me about how your parents were divorced. How your mother…" He grit his teeth and growled. Troy blinked. "Had you been my tadpole, no one would have ever laid a claw on you. No one should fear their childhood pond like that. I don't blame you for not wanting to return home."
"Oh." Troy said, taken aback. He remembered how heated his mom would get when she had a client from an abusive home. Maybe his mom could have helped this person? It sounded like they could have used it. His curiosity got the better of him and he decided to probe further. "What else did I open up to you about?" Grime chuckled.
"Don't worry. I won't go telling your secrets to anyone." He beamed and winked. "I remember the time you "didn't" tell me about your crushes." He used air quotes. Troy blushed.
"Okay, maybe I don't want to hear this again." He said quickly.
"You called them nerds so affectionately." Grime teased.
"That's enough." Troy said, covering his ears in embarrassment. Polly soon returned. "Thank frog." He sighed. Polly and Grime looked at him.
"Language!" Polly reprimanded disappointedly. Troy looked confused.
"What? I said frog?" He argued. "You two use it all the time."
"You're a bad influence on him." Polly accused Grime. He gasped in offense.
"It's better than that human word fu-" Grime started to say and then stopped as the frobots flew by overhead.
"Time to go." Polly said, climbing back up and snapping the reins. They sped through the ravine unnoticed. Once safely on the other side Polly let out a sigh of relief. Troy stared in awe around the landscape trying to take everything in.
"What's all out here?" He asked, looking at the rolling green hills.
"A lot." Polly said unhelpfully. Troy raised an eyebrow. "What? I haven't left the valley in a long time. Not since…" She scratched her head as she trailed off. When was the last time she left the valley?
"So what's out here?" Troy asked, turning to Grime.
"Vast untamed wilderness, scorching deserts, deadly forests," Grime began dramatically, "-and a surprisingly pleasant inn." He finished anticlimactically.
"Was the inn run by a family of horned bullfrogs by any chance?" Polly asked suspiciously. Grime nodded and Polly sighed. Troy looked between them with interest. "What?" Polly asked as she noticed his gaze.
"Okay, so what's the story about the inn?" He said with interest.
"Cannibals." Polly said flatly. Troy opened and closed his mouth. He didn't know what to say. He felt like there should be more of a story to this.
"And?" He pushed. Polly considered him for a moment.
"I don't think that story is appropriate for-"
"I'm not a kid." He argued and crossed his arms.
"I mean, don't get me wrong. I'm usually all for telling a good story. Especially one where I saved the day but," Polly chewed her lip, "it was scary." She glanced at Troy who looked disappointed. She felt conflicted. On one hand she wanted to tell all about her adventures with Anne but on the other she didn't want to scare him with all the dangers they faced. There was a long pause. "You know, this is going to be a long journey. Why don't you tell me stories about back home and I'll tell you stories about here." Troy nodded eagerly.
"Hm, okay, so this one time my moms brought me to the renaissance fair." He began. "Do you have renaissance fairs here?" He asked before continuing. Polly shrugged.
"You mean where frogs dress up like knights and stuff?" She replied.
"Wait, you have those too?" Troy's eyes widened. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a journal. Polly glanced over as he started scribbling.
"Are you taking notes?" Polly said, raising an eyebrow.
"It's what my Ma would do. I want to remember everything." He said chewing on the end of the pencil for a moment. "Even if this does turn out to be just a dream."
"What makes you say that?" Polly frowned. He gave her a look.
"Talking frogs? A giant snail? Frog robots?" Troy listed as he counted on his fingers. He was going to add more but stopped himself. For example, the fact that was on a road trip with a toad that somewhat looked like and shared the name of his childhood stuffed animal.
"Fair." Polly admitted. "So tell me about the renaissance fair." Troy finished writing and put his journal away.
"Right, so we go every week or every other week depending on my sisters' schedules." He began. Polly pulled MicroAngelo to a halt. "Woah, why are we stopping?"
"You have a sister?" She asked.
"Sisters. I have two." He said looking around for the reason they stopped.
"I thought you were an only child Lieutenant?" Grime added. Troy shook his head.
"I'll explain another time." Troy said to him before turning to Polly. She was staring straight ahead with a terrified expression. Troy waved a hand in front of her.
"Mother of Olms! อึ! แช่ง!" Polly shouted suddenly, making Troy blush and his eyes widen in surprise. "Are they here too?" She asked urgently. Troy frowned as he tried to think about it.
"I don't know. Maybe?" He said trying to recall everything that happened before they opened the puzzle box.
"Oh my frog, we need to find them." Polly whispered as she clutched her head. "Why did you have to have so many froggin' kids Anne?" She said under her breath.