24 hours earlier
...Wha...what happened... Annethought groggily as she started to come to. She wasn't sure what was going on or what time it was, but for some reason she felt strange, not to mention kinda cold and...wet?...Or something...she felt like there was some sort of moisture coating her body.
In confusion she slowly blinked her eyes open and found herself staring up at the canopy of a bunch of colorful, bizarre looking trees. But, as she was looking up at the tree canopy, her peripheral vision also extended to everything around her. She could also catch glimpses of the blue grass she was laying in, and the small insects buzzing about to the side of her, and what appeared to be a forest surrounding her.
What the heck is going on...where am I!? She thought, then suddenly, she remembered what happened.
The portal...she had been sucked into a portal that just appeared out of nowhere while she was taking out the trash! That meant she was now most likely stranded in another dimension! Or at least, that was her assumption. She just sincerely hoped that if she had just found herself stranded in another dimension again, that it was Amphibia, preferably somewhere close to Wartwood.
However, that still didn't explain what was going on with her vision. How was she able to see everything going on around her like that?
She slowly sat up, but when she did, she made a very startling discovery. Her body and legs were a LOT shorter than they were before. Not only that, but her legs were blue!
Okay, now this was really starting to freak her out. She lifted up one of her arms to see if it too had changed in any way, and her eyes were met with the same blue colored skin as her legs and a four fingered, very froggy looking hand.
...
...Oh...oh no...
...Oh no no no no no...
She couldn't actually be...could she?!
There was only one way to know for sure. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, immediately switching it onto the camera. As soon as she did, she all but gawked at the blue froggy face staring back at her.
...I'm...I'm a frog?!
How...how was this even possible?! For a few minutes it was all she could do but stare at her reflection in the phone. At one point, she reached up with a slightly shaking hand to gently touch the tip of her snout, as if to confirm to herself that it was really real.
Oh, it was definitely real. When she did finally set her phone down she reached out an arm and felt it with her other hand. When she did, she felt the cold, slimy, all too familiar sensation of frog skin, both from her arm and the hand itself.
There was absolutely no denying it, she was a frog now.
It took a moment for that to really sink in, but once it did, it left her with nothing but questions. How was she turned into a frog? Why was she turned into a frog? And also where the heck was she? It was obvious she was in a forest, but it wasn't like any forest she'd ever seen before, not even in Amphibia.
Perhaps she was in a forest there that she'd never been to? That was possible, right? Either way, she wasn't going to figure any of this out just by sitting around here. So she grabbed her phone, stuffed it in her pocket, and got up.
She was immediately taken aback by just how close to the ground she still was, even standing at her full height. Was she really this small now? It made sense her being a frog and all, but still, she definitely wasn't used to it.
Regardless she started making her way through the forest, hoping that eventually she might come across something that would give her some clue as to where she was. The more she saw though, the more she was starting to become convinced that this was not Amphibia…
When the duo finally reached the unique and very diversified small town, Anne had to admit she was pretty impressed. On the way there Sprig had told her a little more about it, so she knew a little bit of what to expect, but that didn't compare to actually seeing it with her own eyes.
What amazed her the most though, was just how many different types of beings there were, all supposedly from different dimensions. And if what the rock vendor had said was really true, then not necessarily even the same creatures they were born as.
Honestly, it really made her wonder what in this or any other world was causing something like that to happen, and more importantly why? It didn't make any sense! As the two friends walked through the center of town she was amazed by the sights for sure, but she couldn't help but let her mind wander back to those unanswered questions.
That was until Sprig stopped in the middle of what appeared to be a market place filled with stands and shops selling all sorts of things. It kinda reminded Anne a little bit of the streets of Bangkok or Newtopia, but that was when she noticed that he seemed to be staring in the direction of a particular stand.
Her eyes followed to see a strange looking, furry, bug eyed creature who was not so subtlety trying to sleaze potential costumers into buying his rocks. Most of the people on the street seemed to be trying their best to ignore him though.
"Is that the guy you were telling me about?" She asked Sprig.
"Yep." He simply replied, then began walking towards the stand. When the vendor noticed them approaching he spoke.
"Well, well, if it isn't the kid from yesterday, and I see you've brought friend this time. Would she perhaps be interested in some gormean granite?" He said, once again holding up a piece of the sparkly rock.
"Um, no thanks. Actually we were wondering if you could answer a few questions, like say, about the portals?" Anne asked.
The creature sighed and put a three fingered gloved hand up to his face. "Look, I already told your friend here that I don't know anything about the portals other than what happened to myself, and everyone else here."
"Well, could you at least tell us how to get back to our worlds or-" Sprig started asking, but the rock salesman cut him off.
"There is no way back."
"But surely there's gotta be-" Anne began, but was cut off as well.
"No, there isn't. We're all stuck here. So I suggest you just try to make the best of it. Now are you gonna buy something or not?" The furry purple spotted creature asked, his tone of voice suggesting that he was beginning to lose his patients with them.
"But if you could just-"
He sighed in frustration. "Look you frog kid and...whatever the heck you are!" He gestured to the human boy as he said the last part. He was about to continue but this time it was Sprig's turn to cut him off.
"Oh, actually I'm a human being...well, technically I used to be a frog, but... you know..." The boy explained.
The vendor blinked at him. "Wait, you used to be a frog?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, that's what I just said..." Sprig replied, a little confused.
The creature then looked at Anne. "And I assume you used to be one of these "human beings?"
"Uhh...yeah, I used to be human." She replied, confused as to how he knew that.
"Hmm...so you're his antipode then..." He mused.
Now they were both really confused. "His...whaa?" Anne asked.
"His antipode. You see, those portals always transport two people from two different dimensions to this world at the same time, and those two people end up somehow switching species with each other along the way. These swapped individuals refer to each other as their antipodes." The rock salesman explained.
"Wait, why didn't you mention any of this yesterday?" Sprig asked.
"I didn't? Oh well, now you know I guess." The bug eyed creature simply shrugged and then resumed polishing the rocks.
"So, that's it then, you're not going to tell us anything else?" Anne asked.
"There's nothing else to tell you. Look, it's a lost cause, what you're trying to do. Like it or not you two are stuck here forever, just like the rest of us. So I would suggest that instead of chasing the false hope of ever returning home or seeing your loved ones again, you just accept your fate, bury your emotions, and get a job." He replied.
Both kids were silent for a moment before Anne finally spoke. "Fine, I guess we'll find someone else who can help us."
"Didn't you hear what I just said, it's a lost cause. Besides, no one else here is going to help you, trust me." The rock vendor said.
"Yeah, well, just because you haven't found a way back to your world doesn't mean we're gonna give up! If there's a way we'll find it!" Anne proclaimed.
"Yeah, together!" Sprig exclaimed.
"Welp, you two have fun with that. But I can guarantee no one else in a town like Fusiondale is going to care." The creature said.
"Fusiondale? I thought this town was called Paradox?" Anne asked.
"Yeah, wasn't that what you told me yesterday, 'Welcome to Paradox'?" Sprig continued.
The vendor scoffed. "Paradox ain't the name of this town, it's the name of this whole stinkin' world! This town is called Fusiondale. Now, if you'll excuse me…" He said as he turned around and continued polishing, trying his best to ignore the two kids standing behind him.
"C'mon Sprig." Anne said with a sigh as she and her best friend turned and began to walk away.
Well that was a bust. Now what? They were both thinking as they walked away from the rock stand, but they hadn't made it very far before they were stopped in their tracks by a rubber ball that suddenly came bouncing up to their feet.
It looked like an ordinary ball that one might see kids playing with on Earth. It was blue and red and had a white star decal on each side of it. They were both fully expecting to look up and see a kid looking for their ball or that might've tossed it at them wanting to play, but when they did they saw...no one.
Strange. Sprig thought as he looked around. He would've expected to at least see the person who threw it, but there was no one around. He bent over to pick the ball up, intending to call out to anyone who might be looking for it, but as soon as his hand got near it, it grew a mouth, jumped up and bit his arm!
"Gah! What the?!" He yelped, trying to shake it off.
Despite being just as shocked as her friend, Anne immediately tried to help him pry it off of his arm. It had a fairly strong grip on him, but after tugging on it for several seconds they were finally able to get it off.
When they did manage to yank it off and toss it aside, it bounced off of a nearby building and rolled a little before it stopped and shook itself. Both frog and human prepared themselves for a fight, fully expecting it to turn around and attack them the moment it came back to its senses.
But it didn't. Instead the ball bounced away towards the rock stand, and it was then that they realized it was not alone. Others just like it were emerging from various places all around, and they seemed to be closing in on that one particular stand.
The owner of said stand didn't seem too relaxed about it either, if anything, he looked rather uneasy. He began shouting at the balls in an attempt to scare them off, but to no avail. Instead, the living balls swarmed the small stand, chomping down on everything in sight.
They seemed to be going after the rocks in particular but also seemed willing to take a bite out of just about anything and everything else. The vendor seemed to be trying to protect his valuable stock and fight them off as best he could, until several of them jumped at him and clamped down on him, eventually overpowering him and making him fall to the ground as he screamed.
"We have to help him!" Anne shouted. The guy may not have been very nice or helpful to them, but she couldn't just stand by and watch him get maimed.
Sprig seemed to agree as he nodded and the two of them quickly glanced around to see if there was anything at all they could use to fight them off. When they noticed some wooden planks that were laying in a nearby alley they each ran up to grab one.
They could use the planks to hit the balls away from the stand as well as shield themselves from attack, and that's exactly what they did. The balls themselves weren't too thrilled about these newcomers hitting them around, and therefore started focusing less on the stand and more on attacking this new threat.
But as far as Anne and Sprig were concerned, they'd faced far worse things than a pack of killer rubber balls. After smacking enough of them away from the stand itself they focused on the person inside. The vendor was still lying on the ground and completely covered in them, so Sprig got to work pulling them off of the poor guy while Anne defended them from the ones that were still trying to attack them.
It took him a while, but he managed to get all of the balls off and away from the guy. By this point the rubbery creatures seemed to be getting tired of being hit around and were beginning to realize they were fighting a losing battle against the frog and her human companion. So after Sprig had managed to pull the last ball off of the vendor they all retreated, bouncing back into the shadows from which they came.
When Sprig looked over the small furry round figure his heart sank. The rock salesman laid before him, beat up and motionless. The boy was about to assume the worst when suddenly he pulled himself up a bit and started coughing. The first thing he did was look at Sprig, and when their eyes met he said shakily. "Y-You...you saved me...why?"
"You were in trouble, we couldn't just stand by and do nothing." The former frog replied.
The vendor didn't respond, instead he just stared off in no particular direction for a few moments before shakily trying to get back to his feet. Once he did, he turned to look at the damage that had been caused to his shop and the two kids who had quite possibly just saved his life.
He stared at them for a long time, not saying a word, until Anne finally decided to break the increasingly awkward silence.
"Well, now that that's been taken care of, I guess we'll just be going now." She said, turning around to leave as Sprig got up from where he'd been sitting on the ground.
"Wait!" The creature exclaimed, stopping them in their tracks. They both turned around to look at him again, surprised and confused, as he continued.
"...Thank you, both of you, for helping me...if...if there's anything at all that I can do to repay you just...let me know, okay."
Anne jumped down from the counter she had been standing on and walked up to the man, looking him straight in the eyes. "Then please, tell us anything you know that could help us."
He sighed. "Your really not gonna let it go are ya?"
Given the seriousness in her expression, he could tell she wasn't.
"Okay look...I don't know of any possible way of getting you back to where you came from myself, but if there's anyone out there who might know, it would probably be the supurans. They're the original inhabitants of this world, and they're a race well known for their advancements in both technology and magic."
"That's great! So, can you tell us where to find them?" The girl asked.
"Ha ha, no. For starters, they live in the city of Paradizo, but finding that city, well, that's where things get tricky." He replied, saying the last bit in a slightly foreboding tone.
"How so? I mean, don't you have a map or-"
The four eyed rock salesman cut Sprig off with a dark, and maybe slightly menacing laugh. "Map? There ain't no maps here! This world is ever changing and constantly shifting, and so are the locations of various areas. It would be impossible to make a map of this place because nothing here ever stays the same."
"Well then, how are we supposed to find this city?" Anne asked.
"Many have tried, but finding a city in Paradox is like trying to find ebonite obsidian in an avalanche of coal. It's just a waste of time." He replied.
"But not impossible, right?" Sprig asked.
"Well, no, it's technically not impossible, just highly unlikely." The creature replied.
"Well, it sounds like a long shot but it might be our only hope of getting home, what do you think Sprig?" Anne asked the boy in question.
"If we have to search for this place, then that's what we'll do!" He said determinedly.
"...You two are serious, aren't you?" Taking in the determined looks on their faces the rock vendor could tell that they were! But there was something else there too, a certain glint in their eyes. What was that? Could it be?...Was it...hope? He couldn't even remember the last time he'd seen even a glimpse of hope anywhere, let alone felt it himself.
He sighed. "Alright." He said, and went over to grab something from one of the shelves behind the counter, the two kids watching in confusion and curiosity. When he came back up, he walked over to them and held out a small sack.
"What's that?" Anne asked as Sprig grabbed the sack and opened it to look inside. After he did, he reached in and pulled out a couple of glowing green crystal shards and held them up in his fingers, staring at them in fascination.
"That is a bag of money, fifty shards to be exact. That should be enough between the two of you to buy a couple of bus tickets and gather the necessary supplies you'll need for your journey, or at the very least, give you somewhat of a decent start at trying to survive in this world." The round furry creature explained.
They were both taken aback by this sudden act of generosity from this seemingly gruff and somewhat apathetic creature. They didn't really know exactly how much "fifty shards" were worth in this world, but they assumed it must be at least a sufficient amount of money to get them what they would need.
"I-I don't know what to say-"
The vendor cut the blue frog off by saying. "Eh, think nothing of it. Just consider it a little thanks for saving my life gift. Oh, and that reminds me, you might wanna have this on hand too." He then held out his second pair of hands which he had been holding behind his back and held up the object in them for the kids to see.
"...A glowing cube?" Anne asked in confusion as she stared at exactly that. In the creature's three fingered hands was a small glowing white cube.
"This is a storage cube. You can use it to store certain items you might need, like say food, water, weapons, money..." The rock salesman explained, but Anne and Sprig were still confused.
"...But how do you use it to "store" things like that, it's just a cube!" Sprig voiced what both of them were thinking.
"Simple, you just grab the item you want to store," The orange eyed creature said as he grabbed the bag of green crystals out of Sprig's hand. "pick one side of the cube and tap the center of it three times," Once he did, that side of the cube turned green. "then press the item against the green side and presto!" As soon as he did this, the sack disappeared into thin air, but then an image of it appeared on the side of the cube as the green turned white once more.
"Woah!" The two friends were amazed, but that still left one question hanging in the air.
"That's cool, but how do we get it back?" Anne asked.
"Easy, just double tap the item you want and..." as soon as he did that the bag once again materialized next to the side of the cube and the furry vendor caught it in his hand. "there you have it." He then handed the sack of money to Anne and the cube to Sprig, who stared at it in amazement for a moment before looking back at the guy standing before them.
"Th-Thank you!" Sprig said.
"Eh, no problem kid. It sucks that something like this happened to a couple of kids, especially a couple of kids like the two of you. This may not be much, but hopefully it'll do ya some good." The creature replied.
"I'm sure it will, and thanks, we really do appreciate it." Anne said with sincerity.
"Your welcome." The rock vendor said as the human-frog duo turned to leave. As they started to walk away though, Anne stopped and turned around for a moment, saying. "By the way, you never told us your name."
The creature seemed startled for a moment before replying. "...It's Dave...Dave Rockwell."
"I'm Anne, and this is Sprig." She said, gesturing to the latter. "Well, it was nice meeting you Dave!"
"Yeah, nice seeing you again!" Sprig called out as well.
As they walked away, neither of them saw the small smile that spread across Dave's face or heard him quietly say. "...Nice seeing you too, kids."
After they left, the next thing they did was go to the booth that sold the bus tickets. When they asked the lady there if the bus would take them to Paradizo, all she said was that the bus tickets they were buying would only take them as far as the next biome, whatever that meant.
Either way, it was a start. So once they bought the tickets they went around the market place and used the rest of their money to buy the things they thought they might need. Food was definitely a high priority, especially given that neither of them had eaten since the day before and were both starving. So they bought a bag of berries and some type of gourd-like fruits from a fruit stand, and a couple bags of what looked like fried insects from another stand.
The fried insects were Sprig's idea of course. Anne knew from experience when it came to food from another dimension to always ask what it is and what it's made of before you eat it. She figured though that fruit would probably be safe and when she asked about the fried insects, it turned out that was exactly what they were. She then asked what kind of insects they were but apparently they weren't something that she or Sprig had ever even heard of before. Although they did slightly resemble crickets.
The food alone took a fair chunk out of the limited funds that they had, but they still had enough left for a few more items. So in addition to the food, bus tickets, and buying a couple of canteens to store drinking water, Anne decided to get herself a weapon.
Sprig didn't really need one because he had been transported to this world with his trusty sling shot, but when Anne was transported there she hadn't had anything on her but her phone, so at the very least she needed something to defend herself with, right? If the incident with the tree monster in the forest was any indication, not to mention the vicious rubber balls, it was clear that this world was not void of things that would try to kill them.
She did come across a stand selling weapons of all different kinds. They had swords, maces, battle axes, guns, blasters, grenades, bows and arrows, you name it. Anything from medieval type weaponry to modern or even futuristic, even some things that she didn't even know what they were or what they did, but had to assume they would be useful in battle somehow.
She thought about getting herself a sword, since it was the one weapon there she had experience with, but unfortunately all the swords were out of her price range, and as a matter of fact everything else was too. So, resignedly, she sighed and walked away.
She was about to give up her search for a weapon when she saw something she honestly hadn't expected to see. It appeared to be a stand selling a bunch of random, miscellaneous items, and one of the things there just so happened to look a lot like a tennis racket!
It had a wide, green, metallic rim that seemed to be made out some sort of metal alloy. It was surprisingly lightweight, yet durable, and although it was a bit smaller than a normal tennis racket and had a shorter handle, it was actually just the right size for her. It may not have been very orthodox but a racket in her hands definitely counted as a weapon! And it was much cheaper than a sword too!
The sun was setting by the time they had finished their shopping and gathering of supplies. The bus wouldn't be leaving till morning so they both decided to go back into the forest and spend the night in the same little cave that Sprig had spent the previous night in. But despite the excitement of the day, neither of them felt like going to bed just yet, so instead of going straight there they decided to take a more scenic route along the blue grass meadow.
Daylight was quickly replaced by starlight and moonlight as they walked along the edge of the tree line that served as a border between the forest and the meadow. Eventually they came up to the edge of a small cliff that overlooked the whole meadow. Walking up to the edge and gazing out, it was truly a sight to behold.
Not one, but two crescent moons shone in the sky over the valley, one blue, the other pink, and the night sky was alive with brilliant stars and galaxies. The sky was not the only thing alive with light though. Down in the meadow one could see little pink and blue lights floating through the air and around the grass.
At first glance, both friends thought they were fireflies, but when a few of them floated close enough for them to get a better look, they could see that they were not. Instead they were tiny, glowing, jellyfish-like creatures that swam through the night air as if it were water.
It was so beautiful and peaceful that they decided to just sit down, legs dangling over the edge of the cliff, and enjoy it for awhile. After a short time a small flock of the glowing creatures came slowly "swimming" past them. One of the blue ones came floating up to Anne, and she held her hands out gently underneath it as it slowly sank down into them.
It did have short little tentacles but they weren't like a jellyfish's and they didn't sting. She stared at the small creature in wonderment, its blue glow seeming even more vibrant against her own blue skin. It only stayed there for a few moments before floating away, and as she watched it go she said. "I gotta say, this place is pretty cool."
"Yeah, sure is." Sprig replied while gently poking one of the pink creatures that was floating next to him.
They were both silent again as they watched the beautiful creatures swim past, before Sprig started snickering.
"What are you laughing about?" Anne asked.
"Sorry, sorry. I was just thinking of how Hop Pop and Polly would react to seeing us like this." He replied.
This made Anne giggle a little as well. "You think they'd even recognize us, I mean we barely even recognized each other at first."
"Yeah, but to be fair, we had just been running for our lives from a terrifying monster. Plus I think we were both so freaked out by everything that's happened to us and just seeing another one of our own kind that the thought never even crossed our minds until it was made obvious." Her best friend said.
"Heh...true..."
Another moment of silence passed until Sprig looked over and noticed the troubled look on his friend's face. "...Hey, you okay?"
Anne sighed. "It-it's nothing, it's just...do you think we can really do this, find this city even though we have absolutely no idea where it is? And, even if we do manage to find it, what's to say these people can even help us? What if...what if they can't, then what do we do?"
"...I don't know...but, I'm sure we'll figure something out, we always do. Maybe if the answer isn't there, we'll find it somewhere else." Sprig replied.
"Yeah, maybe..." Anne said quietly, not sounding very convinced. It wasn't until she felt a large warm hand on her shoulder that she looked back up at her friend's face, and saw that he was looking her directly in the eyes with a serious yet sincere expression.
"...It's you and me, Anne, if anyone can do this, it's us! I mean, just think of everything that we've already been through, all the impossible odds that we've already beaten! This may be a long shot, and we have no idea what's out there waiting for us, but that's ok. As long as we have each other I'm sure we'll figure it out."
Anne smiled at his little speech, she sure had missed how encouraging he was. "You know, of all the people I could've gotten stuck here with, I'm glad it was you."
Sprig smiled back. "Yeah, you and me both."
She held out her hand and when he noticed she said. "Spranne against the world?"
Sprig's smile grew even wider. "Spranne against the world!"
As the two of them did their signature handshake. It felt weird almost, being each other's species. Almost like they were doing it backwards.
And yet, it still felt right.