One moment, please. I'm reviewing something. You can join me if you wish; just don't interrupt. I can't show you the full thing, but I can give you the audio. In a way. Pull up a seat.

One week ago…

"Marcy, just get in there."

"I'm not sure about this…"

"Just do it. Quick and easy."

"What if someone sees?"

"The only people inside are an old man and a woman who's asleep. Luz, back me up on this."

"I dunno, Ellie. I don't really see-"

"Seriously? Ms. "Bad Girl"'s wussing out too? Ugh, I'm surrounded by cowards."

"Well, why don't you do it then, if you want it so badly?"

"They already know my face. I stole a bobblehead once."

"Seriously?"

"It was an expensive bobblehead. Expensive like what I'm assuming that box is. I need it for the…thing."

"What's the 'thing'?"

"Not telling."

"Do you know, Luz?"

I'm finished for now. You may go back to your regularly scheduled program. This may affect her slightly, but it'll be relatively harmless.

Marcy jolted upwards from bed, a pounding in her head. Uncomfortable unfamiliarity was the main feeling she felt at the moment. Was that a dream? A memory? Both? A secondary feeling she could feel presently was a slight headache, as if the dream had been shoved very messily in her brain.

She then started to feel watched and turned to the apparent source. Three people stood next to her; two frogs, one orange, one pink. One tadpole in a bucket, holding a rolling pin. The pink frog (Sprig was his name, right?) started to walk over to her.

"Good morning, Marcy. Have a good slee-" He was pulled back by Hop-Pop before he got too close.

"Careful, boy. It might be hungry."

"For your guys!"

"Thank you, Polly." Marcy cocked her head to the side in confusion.

"Uh…first of all, I'm a 'she', not an 'it'. Second, eating an intelligent organism isn't on my to do list. And three, even if it were, I won't eat something that clearly doesn't shower." Hop-Pop paused for a few seconds, narrowing his eyes as he ate a fly midair.

"Fair point." Sprig held his arms out towards her.

"See? I told you it-"

"She."

"I told you she was harmless!" Hop-Pop nodded slowly, unbelieving.

"For now. We'll see soon enough." Seemingly satisfied, he walked over to the stairs and left the basement. Polly quickly followed, though she threateningly brandished a rolling pin towards Marcy first.

"Just give me a reason to use Ol' Doris here." She waited until she assumed the message got across and hopped up the stairs after Hop-Pop. Sprig and Marcy stared for a moment before turning back to each other.

"Is she going to kill me?" Sprig waved it off.

"Nah. Probably not. So, stuck in another world. Exciting!" Marcy nervously chuckled.

"Heh, I guess. I always did find myself feeling jealous of those isekai protagonists on TV back at home." Sprig nodded dimly.

"I only understood half of that, but cool!" Marcy's face slowly turned into a frown, causing Sprig to panic. "Sorry! You can explain it to me in as much detail as you want! I'm sorry for being ignorant!" Marcy giggled at Sprig's overreaction.

"No, no! Don't worry. You're not the one making me feel like this." She pulled the photo out of her pocket and looked at it, prompting Sprig to go up to her and look at it as well. "What's wrong? Who are those people?" Marcy smirked.

"These are my friends. That one to the right of me is Anne, the one next to her is…Sasha, and the one to my left is Luz!" She smiled at the photo fondly. "They were my best friends back home. Or, uh, heh, more like my only friends." Her smile faded slightly. "And now, I don't have them with me. I feel a little bit…lost." After a moment of slightly depressing silence, Sprig jumped in front and pointed at himself.

"Why don't I be your friend in the meantime?" Marcy raised her eyebrow.

"Whuh?"

"Yeah!"

"…Okay!" Marcy's frown turned upside down and widened across her face. "Why not?" Sprig returned the smile.

"Alright! So, what did you like doing with your friends?" Marcy rubbed her chin as she responded.

"Well, we'd watch TV for hours, drink a lot of bubble tea, go to the…beach, I guess." Sprig snapped his fingers.

"We have a lake! Is that close enough to a beach for you?" Marcy wrinkled her forehead with distaste.

"I, uh, never really enjoyed going there that much. I only tagged along. We didn't really go back after Sasha's…" Marcy's expression changed into something hadn't seen on her before: melancholy. It was just slightly downturned eyebrows and a frown, but it was still a jarring sight for him.

"You don't have to tell me, but I can't think of anything else right now. Unless you've got a better idea…" He waited for her input. She stared off for a moment before sighing.

"...Yeah, alright." She held up a stern finger. "But I don't want to swim. I'm really bad at anything athletic. Just running for too long'll make me collapse. I am interested in studying the flora of this world, though." She reached into her backpack and pulled out a book excitedly. "I even bought a new notebook for the coming school year that I haven't been able used yet." She pulled out a pen and clicked it, gaining Sprig's attention.

"That's a weird looking quill. Alright!" He jumped over to the stairs and dramatically pointed upwards. "Let's go!"

They made two feet in front of the door before they were stopped. Hop-Pop held his hand out, palm open.

"And where do you two think you're going?" Sprig excitedly pulled his swim shorts out for emphasis.

"We're going to the lake!" He let it go. He regretted it immediately. "Ow." Hop-Pop held up a finger scoldingly before looking at Marcy.

"Um…I thought you said you were goin' to the lake." Marcy raised an eyebrow before looking down at her school uniform.

"Oh, I don't swim. I'm just going so I can document some lakeside plants. I decided to make a dedicated journal about…well, everything, but I think it'll help to start with flora before fauna." Hop-Pop's eyes widened before shaking his head.

"What? You think plants are…cool?" Marcy chuckled as she scribbled something on the first page.

"Haha, yeah! I even tried to start a gardening club at school with scholastic funding, but they chose against it and invested more in the baseball team. It was state-ranked, so…" Hop-Pop nodded, fingers on his chin.

"No idea what that last part means, but that's amazing! I d-don't even know where to start!" Marcy smiled politely.

"Well, maybe it could start with us actually going to the lake?" Hop-Pop's excited demeanour collapsed.

"Uh, well, I'm not so sure you should." Marcy raised her eyebrow.

"Why not?"

"Now, don't get me wrong. Any friend of plants is a friend of mine. You have no idea how hard it is to find anyone even interested in the craft under the age of forty," He narrowed his eyes at Marcy. "How old are you again?"

"Twelve, almost thirteen."

"Right. But the thing is, I'm still quite worried about how the town would feel." He went to the window and lifted one of the shades to see through. "Frogs in this town can be small-minded and paranoid, as well as incredibly judgemental." He sighed and let the shade fall back down. "I don't think it'd be wise to go out so early, and I don't want to upset any of the townsfolk for no reason." He turned back to Marcy. "Uh, tell you this: stay inside for, let's say, half a week more, maybe less with good behavior, and I'll take you to the best places to find the plants you want. Alright?" Sprig raised a finger to argue, but Marcy waved him down, nodding.

"I understand what it feels like to have that…that pressure of not living up to someone else's standards." She held her shoulder with distraught written on her face. "I'll stay." She looked down at Sprig. "Don't let me hold you back." She walked away and down the basement stairs. Sprig looked back and forth between the two, too shocked to speak.

"Whuh, I, uh, you, ah…Hop-Pop, why!?" He jumped over to the stairs to follow Marcy. Hop-Pop leaned back against the door, sighing with relief.

"...What did she mean by that, anyhow?"

A memory played in Marcy's mind.

Sasha? Please, I don't want to do it…

Well, ███ already chickened out, and you ███████ ████ ███ ██ █████

But-

If you try to leave, I'll tell her.

What?

I'll tell ███ about ███.

She blocked it before she had to hear it again before collapsing on her bedroll, thoroughly demotivated. The semi-soft cushion below her kept a powerful grip. She lay there for a few moments, her head buried in the pillow. Her respite was short-lived as she heard a loud voice.

"Marcy! What was that? We were so close!" Marcy grumbled and rolled over to face away from the stairs. After a few seconds of silence filled the room, she felt something grab her shirt and shake her back and forth. "Marcy, Marcy, Marcy, Marcy, Marcy, Marcy, Marcy, Marcy, Marcy, Marcy, Marcy, Marcy, Marcy, Marcy, Marcy, Marcy, Marcy, Marcy, Mar-"

"WHAT!?" Sprig's face turned from mischievous to terrified in a heartbeat as Marcy scowled at him, inches from his face. He backed up a bit.

"Sorry. I just wanted to know you were paying attention." Marcy blinked twice before groaning frustratedly and massaging her eyelids, speaking in a calmer tone of voice.

"...What?" Sprig splayed his hands out.

"I already asked you; why'd you give up? If you pushed a bit more, we'd already be halfway to the lake!" Marcy's face scrunched up with guilt as she sighed, turning her head to the side.

"It's…something that you wouldn't understand." She felt the empty space on the bedroll fill up, and turned her head to see Sprig next to her.

"Try me." Marcy chuckled.

"I don't know. I literally met you yesterday." An awkward silence filled the space between them before Sprig reached into his pocket and pulled out a red, wrinkly vegetable that looked like a hot pepper.

"Pain pepper? So hot, you'll wish you were dead. You'll definitely be less sad after. Since, y'know…somethign worse to focus on." He held it out to Marcy's disconcerted face as she shook her head.

"No thanks. Maybe later." Sprig gave an exaggerated frown before putting the pepper back in his right pocket.

"If something's wrong, you can tell me. I'm your fill-in friend, right? I'm sure friends also help each other sneak out of houses and into lakes." Marcy, hearing the question, decided not to answer. Rather she thought about it, and an idea popped into her head.

"…Well, Hop-Pop doesn't want his neighbors to judge him for letting us out early. And he left the door unlocked." She pondered for a moment. "How sneaky are you?" Sprig's mischievous grin returned.

Tiptoeing up the stairs was more difficult than either imagined. They were apparently really old, and creaked with each step they took. Neither had noticed this when walking into the basement, but now that they were trying to be quiet, it was very noticeable. With each creak, Marcy reached another level of anxiety. By the time they got to the entrance hallway, her hands were visibly shaking. Sprig looked over at her worriedly.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm good. We're almost there either way, why should I be worried? I'm not. Are you? You shouldn't be. Stop worrying." She took a heavy breath in between most words, only increasing Sprig's concern.

"Alright…" He walked over to the front door and pulled it open a bit too fast. The door grazed a vase on the end table next to it, causing it to spin around and over towards the edge. Everything went into slow motion; Marcy jumped back in horror, Sprig jumped forward in desperation, the vase fell slowly down to the ground. Reaching his hand out, the vase landed in his open palm, his fingers gripping the bottom. Success! Or it would have been if Marcy hadn't loudly screeched out of fear. The two froze in place, Sprig on the floor holding the vase, Marcy leaning backwards, hands over her mouth. No sound was heard and no movement was made for a full minute.

"…You think he heard that?"

"Shh!" Marcy stayed still, closing her eyes and bracing herself for what she assumed would be a screaming old frog in her face. But nothing came. She opened one of them and saw that Sprig was gone, and the vase was back on the end table. To the left of it was an open door that had not been open before. Peeking in, she saw Sprig in front of a fancy chair someone was sitting on. He was blocking her view of the person, but she could see the feet dangling off. She walked inside and her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. Her voice lowered down to an aggressive whisper. "What are you doing?"

"I think he's sleeping. Look." Marcy walked over quietly and saw the full picture. Hop-Pop was bent over a book, eyes fully open. At first glance, she thought he was reading. But then she heard the loud snoring, and realized that he was asleep. Sprig waved an open hand in front of his face, which Marcy quickly grabbed.

"Don't do that! Let's go." Sprig rolled his eyes and jumped over to her. They quickly, albeit still quietly, walked over to the door, opened it just enough for them to squeeze through, and exited the house.

"We're fre-"

"Shh! Not so close to the house. Wait a moment." They ran in noiselessness for a few more seconds before Marcy gave him a nod. "Okay, now you can celebrate."

"We're free! The lake's just a bit away, let's go!" They ran for about a minute before Sprig looked back. Marcy was barely visible in the thick of the forest, but he could see her slouching over as she stumbled forward, barely able to catch her breath. He ran back over to her. "Okay. Let's go! a bit slower, then." Marcy weakly smiled as they shifted gears and started to walk. Thankfully, they had already "run" half the distance, Sprig already noticing the lovely (at least to him) smell of the lake. He looked up at Marcy with a excited spark in his eyes. "So, the lake is just a little bit away, and I'm sure that you're fine on your own, and that you're able to walk the rest of the way by yourself. Sooooooo…" Marcy snickered.

"Yeah, go ahead. I can-" He immediately raced off at a speed that even Marcy wasn't sure he could reach. She was about to follow him as closely as she could until she saw a shiny purple-red flower with a large yellow anther, practically begging her to log it in her book. She stopped in place, turned her head in the direction of Sprig's rabid dash, looked back at the plant, and slowly reached for her notebook. "…Alright, I'll write about one plant." She pulled out her pen. "It'll take juuuust a moment." She started to draw the plant. "Just…a…moment."

Sprig was in the middle of a really cool backstroke when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Marcy walking near the lake. He immediately swam over, shouting and waving at her.

"Hey, Marcy! Why'd you take so long? I'm already starting to get pruny." He held his hands above the water as a form of evidence. Marcy giggled a bit as she removed her face from the book.

"Sorry. I was a little…sidetracked." Sprig raised an eyebrow.

"A little? I've been swimming for almost an hour! Did you not see my prunes?" Marcy's eyes widened a bit, but quickly shook it off.

"Eh. Time well spent. Look at these entries I was able to jot down!" She opened the book again and faced it towards him, flipping at regular intervals. From the little that Sprig could understand, he got quickly bored.

"Uhhh…I guess they're pretty good drawings?" Marcy flipped the book back to her and looked at her diagrams, mostly theoretical little scribbling for the anatomy of most of the flora she came across.

"Yeah, I guess they're okay. Don't worry if you don't understand them. They're not as good as Luz's, though." At the uttering of her name, Marcy felt a pang of…something. It was something she had been feeling since yesterday anytime she thought of her friend. Sprig could feel something wrong and immediately changed the subject.

"So, you gonna come in?" Marcy paused before shaking her head.

"Pbbbt. I told you before, I'm horrible in water. I'm not even dressed for it." Sprig could feel her moving away, so he quickly reached for her hand, grabbing it quite suddenly.

"Come on. Get in 'ere." Marcy, pulling against his grip, added a slight edge to her voice.

"I told you, I'm not going in." His pull only increased in strength, her eyebrows' incline increasing in tandem. "Sprig, what are you doing? Let me go." Sprig's pull seemed to be getting angrier as well. "Sprig. Sprig! Sprig, what are you do-" Not paying attention to her surroundings, she slipped on a mud puddle next to the lake's edge, throwing her headfirst into the water. Sprig threw his hands above the water in celebration.

"Yeah! I knew you'd come in eventually…" His voice became quieter as Marcy's head slowly came out of the water, sporting the biggest scowl he had ever seen in his life, which, by the scowl, seemed quite short.

"Sprig." Her breath was shaky. "Do. You. Not. LISTEN?" Sprig cowered in fear, barely able to speak.

"I-I j…I just…" Marcy put a hand up.

"You know what? I'm done with this." She turned away from him and to the shore, stomping away. Sprig quickly scrambled towards her, a worried look on his face,

"Wait, wait, I'm sorry. I just got really excited, and thought you would like it if you actually got in, and-"

"Mhm. Got it." She wrung out her shirt. Sprig ran after her, the shallows splashing under his feet.

"Please, I just wanted to make you my friend. I was the first person you saw here; it was destined to be! I din't know why, but I feel it in my gut!" Marcy stopped in place, pausing for a few seconds.

"…I tried, Sprig. But I know the type of friends I can make. You're not one of them." The two fell completely silent. Sprig's expression shifted from distraughtness, to sadness, to anger, and then to fury.

"Well, alright. I guess you're not the type of friend I could make either! My friends should like doing fun things, instead of writing boring stuff about plants. Plants! Who the heck thinks that plants are cool!?" Marcy responded by walking away. Sprig tightened his fists in anger. "Yeah! Leave the lake to people who actually want to go inside and not be a…a…a shorehugger!" Marcy raised an eyebrow and turned to him.

"Is that a slur in this world?" Sprig stopped and pinched his chin.

"Uhhhh…nope, not as far as I know."

"Ah. Still leaving, though." She turned back again, with Sprig doing the same a few seconds after, each going the opposite direction.

Seeing as she had nowhere else to really go at the moment, Marcy decided to head back to the house. She'd sneak past Hop-Pop and get to the basement easily enough; he didn't seem like he would wake up soon. She was approaching the edge of the forest when she noticed something she hadn't earlier. A sign was sticking out of the ground a few meters away from the trees. She walked up to it, slightly unsettled by the scrawled letters she could read.

DoN't SWiM_

With a closer look, she noticed the tail end of the M kept going until the line ran off the sign. An uneasy feeling settled in her stomach; something was wrong with the lake. She flipped back over to the lake, where she saw Sprig was near enough to the shore to hear her.

"Hey, Sprig. Have you seen thi…" Her eyes widened to the size of plates, trailing off. Sprig was purposefully facing away. Even while swimming, he kept his eyesight trained down towards the water.

"Sorry, what? Couldn't hear you over the sound of me not caring." Marcy didn't move, but lowered her voice exponentially.

"Sprig." Sprig kept blissfully half-ignoring her.

"Oh, my. This lake is great! It doesn't scold me for wanting to be its friend!"

"Sprig!"

"I could stay here foreeeeeeeeeee…" He angled his head backwards, his voice slowly growing faint, like the words were leaving his throat. "...eeever?" Marcy's heart skipped a beat.

"Sprig. Don't move." A large reptilian face stared down at him and Marcy, its semi-luminous orange eyes unblinking. Its pupils, or rather slits, flitted back and forth between them, narrowing with each passing gaze. No one spoke, and the lake was completely quiet, save for the water drops falling from Sprig and a subtle hiss from the giant snake. Marcy could feel her heart beating as she stood frozen as a statue. It seemed like hours passed before someone broke the silence.

"…You think it's gonna attack us?" A large noise sounded from the snake's throat; a combination of a hiss and a roar. A rioss. Or maybe a hissoar. Either one was an acceptable way to describe the noise. Fortunately, there was a much easier and already defined way to describe Marcy and Sprig's reaction to the noise. Fearful screaming.

Sprig had faced quite a few beasts in his short, slightly-over a decade long life. The ferocious cow-a-pede. Some giant fireflies that attacked the house once. Other off-screen occurrences. Most of those other times, he was never too serious about it. He'd be pushed down, hurt a bit, and scolded by Hop-Pop for getting into unnecessary trouble, but he'd get back up soon enough. As he tried to run through the middle-depths of the lake, he was admittedly taking the situation much more seriously.

"Oh my frog, oh my frog, oh frog, oh frog, oh FROG!" He quickly leaped out of the way as the snake lunged forward to bite him. Narrowly missing him, it reared back to try again. Sprig was quickly approaching the shallows, screaming in fear. "Marcy! I'm sorry! I was being pushy and rude and I'm sorry and please help me!" Marcy stood at the edge of the shore, the subtle waves lapping over her shoes' toes. She had a frightened look on her face as he approached that only became more afraid as he got closer. Turning his head slightly, he saw the snake was about to lunge again and quickly sidestepped before its face suddenly appeared next to him. Before it pulled away, Sprig punched it in the eye, a target nearly as tall as him. The snake hissoared in pain, rearing its head back as Sprig ran over to Marcy's side.

She was rubbing her chin and looking around, her gaze passing by Sprig. He came up to her side and started shaking her.

"Marcy, we need to run away! Snap out of it!" After a few seconds, Marcy did. But with the complete opposite idea in her head. Sprig was too distracted by the snake to realize that Marcy went in and out of his right pocket without him noticing, and before he could even react, she was halfway to the reeling snake. Sprig yelled to her in panic. "What the heck are you doing!?" For a moment, she turned her head around to him and gave him a wink, a small glaze visible in her eye. She turned back to face the lake again before the snake regained its balance and attacked the first thing it saw, which was her. In one swift move, it loosened its jaw and plowed straight at her. Since she didn't have the quick reflexes Sprig had, she was swallowed whole by the lake snake. It closed its mouth over her, raised its head to the sky, and hissoared in triumph.

Sprig fell down to his knees as the snake went up in victory, hissoars from its mouth and a tear from his eye as he yelled.

"Why!? I thought you were smart! Why!?" With a toothy smile, the snake's head descended back to the ground and set its open eye on Sprig, the closed one twitching with malicious glee. Sprig was out in the open and distracted, making him an easy target. It rushed forward, throat agape with anticipation for the little morsel about to fall through it. Sprig saw this and, not geared to jump out of the way, braced himself. It was about to swallow him whole when it suddenly stopped.

The stop was very sudden, like the snake had been pulled back by its tail. It snapped its jaw shut a few steps away from Sprig. Confused why he wasn't falling directly into a snake's stomach at that moment, he slowly opened his eyes to see what happened.

The snake lay still for a moment; blinked its eye in bewilderment. It shook off the feeling and lunged for Sprig again.

It stopped again; blinked its eye again. Sprig stared at this occurrence in complete confusion.

The snake started to shake. It broke into convulsions as its cheeks puffed outward, as if it were going to…breathe fire?

Sprig looked on in awe as it coughed up flames in short bursts. It didn't look like it was having a seizure anymore, but it clearly wasn't having the best time. He had no idea what was causing it, but a large blast from the mouth soon showed him. Flying out of the blast was a familiar human with a charred shirt and skirt, one hand outstretched. She fell face first into the water below as the snake ran off, coughing all the way.

Sprig ran over to her. She was frozen in the water, hand still outstretched.

"Marcy? Marcy! Marcy, are you okay?" He rolled her stationary body to be facing up. She started to cough.

"...You keep asking that in situations when I'm clearly not." Sprig chuckled slightly.

"How'd you do that? With the fire and everything?" Marcy didn't respond verbally, but slowly opened her palm, where Sprig could see some red stains. His elated mood shifted into one of shock. "Oh no. Marcy…" Marcy raised an eyebrow and looked down towards her hand.

"Oh, that's not blood. That's just chilli sauce." Sprig's shocked expression to one of confused happiness, then to one of puzzled worriness.

"You mean that…" He checked his right pocket before turning back to her. "How…Hey! Why'd you pickpocket me? Or…how?" Marcy gave him an embarrassed smile.

"I learned a bit from my friend back at home. Help me up?" Sprig quickly pulled her up to her feet, though not without some difficulty.

"You're really heavy."

"Hey! That's just 'cause you're tiny." They started to walk away.

"I'm not that small. I'm only half your height. You're really tall."

"I'm, like, the shortest one in my class."

"...Dangit."

Some minutes later…

Marcy tapped her feet in uncertainty as she held her knees to her chest. She was sitting on her bed roll, staring at the basement stairs in anticipation. It seemed like he was taking forever, and she was getting antsy. She started to lie down just as she heard a some footsteps from the floor above. Soon enough, Sprig appeared at the top of the stairs before hopping to the foot of the steps.

"He woke up and was about to check the door when he saw me. I told him what you told me to tell him and he looked calm enough." Marcy smiled.

"And he doesn't know?" Sprig nodded.

"And he doesn't know." The two sighed in relief as Sprig walked to the bed roll and sat next to Marcy. "Speaking of, that was wild. I've been in scrapes before, but that was the scrapiest by far. Scrapetacular, it was!" He looked over to his left and saw that Marcy wasn't on the same wavelength.

"...We need to talk. You know what about." Sprig fell to her wavelength with a sudden awkward spike in his stomach.

"...Alright. Let's start with what you said. Did you mean it when you said I wasn't the type of friend you could make? Or was that an 'angry in the moment' type thing?" Marcy sat in silence, unsure how to respond. A few seconds went by before she hung her head.

"I…I meant it." She turned her head away from Sprig, not wanting to see his face. "I'm sorry. You're just…" She waved her hand a bit. "All that. And I'm…not." Keeping her face away, she heard a melancholic response, with a hint of expectancy in it.

"So…I'm too much for you?" Marcy turned back to him very suddenly, shaking her head.

"Oh, nonononono. Trust me, I know what's too much for me. It's more like…I'm not enough for you." She paused for a moment. "… You clearly have an energy and excitement that anyone would be lucky to have, but it's something that I wouldn't be able to enjoy, no…appreciate. I wouldn't appreciate your friendship like I'm sure others would. I don't want you staying in a friendship you're not enjoying out of obligation." She looked down and to the side. "Trust me. It isn't good." Sprig stared at her for a moment, unsure how to respond. He eventually sighed and nodded.

"…I'm sorry for being pushy. I just…I've never had a real friend. The other kids in Wartwood think I'm too much and try to avoid me." He put his hands up in frustration. "I scared them with snake bones once. Once! And suddenly I'm not invited to their little groups during festivals." He brought his knees to his chest. "I thought that, if I couldn't make friends with a complete stranger, maybe I'm just doomed to never have friends." Marcy shook her head and gave him a light punch in the shoulder.

"Nah. You're a cool guy. I'm sure you'll find someone." Sprig let go of his knees and rubbed his shoulder with a smile.

"Why did you punch me?" Marcy grinned.

"It's something that people do in my world to show camaraderie." Sprig's smile grew.

"Alright! Non-friend punch!"

And then he decked her in the face.

That night, in another part of the valley…

Grime stomped down the prison stairs, eyes still half-open. The sound of his footsteps echoed through the large stone tower. He soon spotted two guards at the foot of the steps and shouted down to them.

"You two! Has Lieutenant Bog arrived yet?" The two guards, who's stance was slightly loose, quickly tightened up when they heard their boss' raspy voice, standing straight and giving a salute, though, in their panic, they forgot that they were facing the other way. The one on his right spoke up after a second of pause.

"Yes, sir! He's at the stables waiting for you, sir." Grime stared at the two annoyedly before grunting and walking past them into the next hallway. After pushing through a few more doors, he eventually came to a large stable. Immediately, he saw a battle wagon being unloaded with three familiar toads heading it. A female toad with wild hair bringing down boxes, a…nother toad with a helmet bringing the pack spider back to its cave, and a third horned toad searching his pockets. Grime walked over to the third toad.

"Lieutenant Bog! Report!" Bog jumped into a quick and messy salute as he responded.

"General Grime!" He grinned impishly. "We got the supplies from Ribbitvale, the taxes from the West Valley, and fought off a group of bandits. We just pulled in." Grime's face slowly grew into a scowl.

"If you aren't here to tell me something important, then I am not interested." Bog wasn't fazed by the yelling, his impish grin only widening.

"Well, let me tell you. We were on our way back after beating those thieves into submission when one o' the boys saw something in the woods. We all assumed it was some kind o' bug o' sorts, so we didn't take 'im seriously. A little later, we all started to see this thing in the woods, and we all knew that it wasn't no bug. It definitely wasn't smart neither, given 'ow horrible it was at hidin'. Intrigued, we pulled to the side, chased it down, and captured it. And we were right." He snapped his fingers, causing the frog moving boxes to drop what she was holding. She ran over to the battle wagon and started pulling out a larger box, which Grime could hear noises coming from. As she set it down, Bog walked to it and pulled out an axe. He swiftly brought it down on one end of the wood cover before pulling the rest of it out. Grime looked over Boy's shoulder as he chuckled. "It definitely ain't a bug. Nor a frog, toad, or newt, neither." The creature in the box was covered head to toe in cloth's of all kinds, keeping them from speaking or moving. Its large brown hair was in a bundled mess and the light blue uniform it wore was slightly tattered. Grime stared into the box with fascination. He then looked to Bog, sharing the same impish grin.

"Now I'm interested."

And another episode closes. This is a major milestone for the series since, this is where it starts to split off into unfamiliar territory. What happens from now on is going to be quite different from any of the stories involved in this work. I do hope you end up enjoying it.

In other news, I recently deleted the old version of this story because of a guideline I hadn't seen that doesn't allow older versions of stories. At least, I think that's what it means. I still don't fully understand the rules very well, but my ability to publish a new story is no longer hindered, so I probably did something right.

And in even cooler news, the writer who's fic inspired me to write this in the first place has started posting on the story again! The fanfic they were writing went on a long hiatus making me quite sad until I realized I could just make a story on my own. And now, they just started it up again. I'm very excited to see what they have in store. It's called Fighting the Stars and it should be available on either or Ao3, though they only posted the new chapter on the latter. Make sure to check it out! This story is heavily inspired by that one.

That's it for now. Thirteen-Seven out. Later.