Avast landlubbers! The Admiral is on deck, and has news to tell! I have completed chapter 14 before I could could make chapter 13. I'll post it soon, but only when I'm finished with the next chapter. I was so excited making it, I wanted to write it to keep the passion of this project going. In other news, I have made a schedule to keep my projects in line every day of the week. So I promise you all I'm working hard on my projects, I'm just working on them at my own pace. Anyway, that's all the news for today. Enjoy the chapter!
After a much needed rest, Dyllan, Tint, and Cronaxx hike south of Frog Valley. After the fiasco in Lily Paddington, the trio get a head start from the angry villagers. Luckily for them, they didn't care much about chasing after the three travelers all across Frog Valley. Dyllan marks an 'X' on the map across Lily Paddington while riding on Clipper's back.
Cronaxx takes the reins on Clipper, while Tint keeps a watchful eye out for their next landmark. Dyllan circles on the three remaining landmarks of Frog Valley, then rolls up the map and stuffs it in his bag. He takes out his compass, and the needle points south, indicating they are in the right direction.
"We're on the right path," said Dyllan.
"But no sign of civilization yet," said Tint.
"We'll get there," replied Cronaxx. "When have I ever steered you two wrong?"
"Not once, since we met," replied Dyllan.
As Cronaxx keeps his hands on the reins, Tint decides to sit back with Dyllan. He rubs his hands and sighs "Hey Dyllan, is there anything else you miss back home?"
Dyllan sighs with a smile on his face. "There is one other thing I miss back home," he replied. "It's my friend's pet cat." He takes out his phone and opens a video of Anne and Dyllan playing with a small black cat with white paws and fur on her chest, and huge yellow eyes. "Her name is Domino, she's Anne's cat."
"She looks kinda weird." Tint said.
"Just watch," said Dyllan as he pushes play.
The video starts with Domino on Anne's lap as she jingles a small cat toy above her head. Dyllan walks over and sits on his knees smiling. Anne laughs as Domino tries to pat the small toy. "Can I pet her Anne?" he asked.
"Of course dude," she replied.
"Hope you're getting this Sasha," said Marcy off camera.
"I'm getting every second of this," Sasha replied.
Anne gives Dyllan the cat toy and he jingles it above his lap. Domino gets hypnotized by the toy. Her pupils grow bigger, she climbs off Anne's lap, and onto Dyllan's. Dyllan gets so excited with Domino he starts petting her head gently. Then he pets her stomach making her stretch her forepaws out. The three girls awe at Domino's cuteness and Dyllan's flustered smile.
"What can I say," said Dyllan. "I really like cats."
Tint smiled, "Ever thought about getting one for yourself?"
"Several times," replied Dyllan. "But the problem being is Matthew is highly allergic to them. I mean just even one strand of cat fur is enough to make him sneeze."
Tint arched with curiosity. "Who's Matthew?"
Dyllan replies quickly, "He's not important." Then he quickly returns to the subject. "But I'm truly grateful that Anne would let me come over to play with Domino from time to time. My friends would do anything for me."
Tint crosses his arms and arches a curious look. "Aside from playing with the cat, have they?"
Dyllan looks up to the sky, trying to think about all the things either Marcy, Anne, or Sasha ever did for him. But then the sky is covered by trees when he realizes they are hiking in the forests. He struggles to think without looking up to the sky, until he glances at the scar on his hand.
But before he could think of anything else, the group comes to a stop. "Here's the next stop," said Cronaxx. The two students look ahead to see a large swamp village. The houses across the misty waters are either made of mud and rock, or they are built into the trees. The skies are covered by thick tree branches that the only sunlight they get is from a hole above the village. The sounds of cricket chirps bounce randomly from the top branches above, to the slimy marshes below.
The frogs in this valley are more muddy and dirty from the other frogs in Lily Paddington. Some of them just bathe in mud or the bog waters outside. As Dyllan takes a whiff of the swamps, all he can smell is a strong foul stench, like wet rotten eggs.
Dyllan coughes and covers his mouth with his cloak, "Gah, Puh, Ugh! Gross!"
"Hey," said Cronaxx. "Some of the frogs may take that highly offensive."
Dyllan nods and tries coughing quietly.
"Better get used to it, we've arrived."
Dyllan and Tint look to a sign covered with mud and mushrooms that say, 'Welcome to Bog Bottom.'
Dyllan sees another sign that says, 'You must be at least this messy to enter,' with a frog covered in mud smiling.
"You must be at least this messy?" he asked. "How much messier can we get?"
"Watch this," replied Tint. He climbs off of Clipper, takes a couple mud pies and splatters them all over his shirt. Then, he jumps into the swamp water and comes out looking all greenish brown. The sight of his messy state almost makes Dyllan hurl to the scent.
"Like I said," said Cronaxx getting some mud on his skin. "Better get used to it."
Dyllan sighs in defeat, realizing that the only way to enter the village is to get down and dirty. "I'm gonna need a really long shower after this." He pulls his hood up, takes a deep breath and jumps into the swamp water. As he climbs out of the water, his body gets covered in duckweeds, mud patches, and catches a scent of swamp water.
Dyllan takes another whiff to adjust to his swampy surroundings, only to find he loses the scent of rotten eggs. "Hey, I can't smell the rotten eggs anymore. I can only smell fresh water."
"That's the benefit to swamps," replied Cronaxx. "They purify polluted waters. And by covering yourself with swamp water, you balanced your sense of smell with a scent much stronger than rotten eggs."
Then, Tint takes a whiff and starts to smell something else. "Speaking of eggs," he said. "I can smell some food not far from here. And it smells like someone's cooking. The three take their bags and head straight into the village. Clipper climbs up onto a tree and takes the time to rest after a long hike.
Dyllan and the Tormaks enter the village and see a batch of soup venting out the windowsill. Dyllan smiles at the very scent of food and not swamp water or mud. Then, they see a light green frog with red short curly hair inside the hut smiling at his cauldron, then turns his attention to the Tormaks.
"Oh, hello there," he said. "Are you three here for the annual potluck contest?"
"The potluck contest?" asked Tint. "What's that?"
"It's a traditional competition to us frogs," replied the frog. "Every year, we cook dishes to present the village, and judge from the best dish to the worst dish. Whoever wins the potluck gets the recognition from all the villagers." The frog points to the curtains drawn in front of the wandering villagers. Some of them gaze at the curtains for motivation.
"But the losers..." The frog points to a cage that is set on the ground. "Have to spend the night in the shame cage, and get thrown shame nuggets at them."
Dyllan and Tint shiver with fear having the thought of spending the night feeling like losers. But lucky for them, Cronaxx steps in.
"As a matter of fact, we won't be participating in the potluck this year," he said. "We're just traveling across Frog Valley to find something unique." Dyllan and Tint sigh with relief.
"That's a shame," said the frog. "Would you guys like to sample my dish anyway? I could use the feedback."
"That's mighty kind of you," replied Cronaxx.
The frog portions out a batch of his dish to the three travelers. Dyllan looks down at the dish and could see crickets and carrots in a sludge of thick water. "What do you call this dish?" he asked.
"Cricket and Carrot soup," replied the frog. "The live crickets make it taste fresh."
The moment Dyllan hears that the crickets were alive, he stares down at his bowl feeling terrified. His face begins to turn a little green, seeing the crickets squirm in the thick soup. But he closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and takes a sip of his soup. He can feel the crickets squirming in his mouth, so he presses his tongue on his teeth to make it stop moving.
He swallows his soup, and instead of feeling sick, Dyllan smiles with delight. "Hey, this is pretty good."
"I'm surprised you like it," said Tint sipping his soup. "Guess this world is growing on you?"
"You could say that," replied Dyllan. "What else did you put in this?"
"Just a dash of worm scales and a few swamp roots," replied the frog. "You'd be surprised that worm scales taste good with carrots."
"What's your name good sir?" asked Cronaxx.
"My name is Pesto Fucilli," replied the frog. He puts on his toque hat as he steps out the door. "I happen to be Bog Bottom's best cook in the village."
"Hey Pesto," called out a pollywog. "Thanks for the tips on how to make my bunion cake rise."
"You're welcome kiddo," replied Pesto. He turns back to the trio and said. "Okay, I'm more of a great teacher than a great cook. But if you like, I can give you guys a lesson free of charge."
"Hey Uncle, maybe you should give it a chance," said Tint.
"I don't know," said Cronaxx. "I think my cooking is pretty spot on."
"Uncle," said Tint blandly. "Get with the times. You need improvement."
"I wouldn't mind you taking a cooking lesson," said Dyllan. "After all it's free. And if it doesn't work out, then that's okay. But you'll never know unless you try."
Cronaxx still doesn't see any reason to take a cooking lesson. But the fact that the soup tastes so good makes Cronaxx think back to the last time he served soup to the salamanders. They were last seen burning the bowls in the ceremonial fire. Then, to hearing his nephew's disappointment, balancing with Dyllan's encouragement, Cronaxx sighs in defeat.
"I suppose one lesson couldn't hurt," was all he said.
"Alright," said Pesto. "We'll begin preparations right away. Please come into my hut."
"Dyllan, Tint," said Cronaxx. "I'm counting on you two to stay out of trouble." The two students nodded as he enters the instructor's hut.
"So what do you want to do in the meantime?" Tint asked.
"Let's go exploring," replied Dyllan. "Maybe someone around here knows where my friends are."
"Sounds like a good idea," said Tint. And so the two go wandering off in the village, hoping to find Anne, Marcy, and Sasha.
Inside the hut, Cronaxx is impressed. The hut consists of twenty shelves of spices, all alphabetized. Frying pans dangling on the ceiling held securely on hooks. Pots from big to small, line up above a big brick stovetop. A cauldron boiling fresh water, and a latch on the bottom of the kitchen floor.
"Please excuse me," said Pesto. He walks to the latch, opens it up, and climbs down the cellar, which reveals to be a store room filled with fresh vegetables and large insect limbs. Surrounded by the fresh produce are a few ice glaciers.
Cronaxx takes a look inside the cellar and is more impressed. "Ice glaciers underground?"
Pesto grabs a couple of cricket limbs and climbs back up. "It helps keep the produce fresh," he replied.
"My family came here long before I was born. My great grandfather, Fernard Fucilli, settled down in this very spot to express his love of food to the village. At first, this place was smashed up pretty good during a heron attack. But when Fernard found the cellar filled with ice glaciers, he knew this would be the place to build his signature kitchen. He had help from the community rebuilding this place. And in return, he cooked them his signature swamp gumbo. After only a few weeks of renovations and helping hands, this place became his cooking sanctuary and passed it down to my grandfather, my mother, and now to me."
Cronaxx smiles as he wraps an apron around his robe. "Sounds to me like you've got a great family," he said. "A family that gives gratitude, will be rewarded with gratitude."
Pesto smiles as he pulls out a meat cleaver and chops a cricket limb in half. "And to show you my family's gratitude, I think it's time to begin today's lesson. First thing's first: wash your hands."
Cronaxx nods and walks over to the sink and starts washing his hands.
"Be sure to wash thoroughly," said Pesto.
Cronaxx rubs in between his fingers, and sees a bar of soap nearby. He uses his magic to levitate it into the water and use it to scrub his hands.
Pesto watches him carefully and says, "You're not a newt, are you?"
Cronaxx shakes his head, "Nope, I'm a salamander that came from the island off the coast of the mainland."
"I always thought the salamanders were long gone," replied Pesto. "My great grandfather used to serve salamanders from time to time in his entry logs. Then when my grandfather took over, they just disappeared."
"My guess is the salamanders like to kept to themselves. Just like some of the frogs around here."
Pesto shakes his head, "Let's get started. And maybe you should wash your hands properly again."
Back in the village, Tint and Dyllan stand in the shadows looking around for any signs of Anne, Sasha, or Marcy. But everywhere they go, everywhere they look, there is no sign of the human's friends. Dyllan starts feeling sad as he pulls out the map and crosses out Bog Bottom.
"No sign of them anywhere," said Dyllan.
"Well, there's still these two villages," said Tint. He points to Swamp Shiro and Wartwood. "They're probably somewhere in those locations. Don't worry Dyllan, we'll find them."
"I know," said Dyllan. "I'm just hoping that we find them before something bad happens."
"Maybe you need some more time to yourself," said Tint. "Let's see if there's anything to do around here."
As they reach the center of town, Dyllan and Tint see the judges table getting set up. Then, the two see a green newt glance at them for a moment. The newt smiles and walked up towards them.
The green newt has a light green underbelly and darker green spots on his tail, red pupils, and has teal hair tied into a ponytail with a purple bow. He has a semi-noticeable Adam's apple. His attire consists of a purple overcoat lined with golden buttons shaped like clovers, black pants and purple dress shoes with yellow buttons, and a black tricorn hat on his head.
"Excuse me," said the newt. "Are you two from around here?"
"Not exactly," replied Tint.
"Good, because we need three judges, myself included, for the annual pot luck today. Things would be more interesting if there are folks who don't live around here." He reaches his arm out to the two, hoping for a handshake. "Are you interested?"
"Could you give us a minute?" Tint asked. "What do you think, Dyllan. Want to judge the pot luck?"
Dyllan thinks for a moment. "Maybe," he said. "Sasha did always say that judging others is a good way to make yourself feel better. But at the same time, I can't risk showing myself to the public."
"What if they allowed you to keep your hood on?" Tint asked.
"I guess that could work," replied Dyllan. "But no magic tricks. We're just judging food."
"Okay," said Tint. He walks back to the newt and says, "My friend and I want to accept your offer to judge today's pot luck. On one condition: My friend keeps his hood on, he's very shy."
"A mysterious judge, and his expressions remain anonymous," said the newt. "I like that. Okay, you've got a deal." He reaches his hand out to the salamander. "My name is Albus Duckweed."
Tint smiles and shakes his hand. "Name's Tint Tormak."
Back in the kitchen, Pesto continues hacking the cricket legs, while Cronaxx chops up the lettuce. Well, more like ripping the lettuce. Using his bare hands, Cronaxx rips the lettuce head until it becomes chunks of leaves. Then, Pesto comes up with another head of lettuce in one hand, and a chef knife in the other.
"Observe." He chops the lettuce in less than five seconds. Then he gives Cronaxx the knife and he chops up the lettuce he ripped up, slowly.
"You'll get there," said Pesto.
In the next lesson, Pesto is scrapping zest of a lemon with his zester tool. Cronaxx takes his lemon and keeps putting pressure on his lemon. He keeps massaging it, pressing it down with a side of his chef knife. The result of his method makes the lemon juice explode like a zit, hitting Pesto's chef jacket. He gives Cronaxx his zester tool and shows him how to zest a lemon.
"Remember the mark of a chef," said Pesto. "Aprons always get messy. So the more clean your sleeves are, the better your chances are keeping your hands from being cut or burned."
With the cauldron boiling, the two drop the chopped vegetables in the water, then Pesto pours water over the fire to reduce the heat. Cronaxx walks over to the spice rack and picks out Worm's wart and gives it to Pesto. Pesto shakes his head and replaces the wart with red mushroom powder.
"Studies show that red mushroom powder is a better spice instead of Worm's Wart," said Pesto. "According to Fernard's cookbook, in every dish my great grandfather creates unpredictable combinations. And those combinations make great taste. I remember most of his recipes."
"So when I cook, I have to make unpredictable combinations?" Cronaxx asked.
"Not exactly," said Pesto. "We chefs follow the recipes. It was his duty to be unpredictable. Not ours."
Cronaxx looks back on his previous attempts to cook for Tint and recently, Dyllan. All the times he looked into his outdated cook books, he tried experimenting new ways. And those ways only worked when he was brewing potions. Sometimes, Tint would go out and find food for himself to heat up.
Cronaxx looks down realizing he may not have what it takes to cook for his students. "What if I can't cook?" he asked his teacher. "I mean, what if I'll never be able to cook for my students?"
Pesto stirs in his cauldron, adding more spices in the brew. "Then that's okay," he replied. "There was a time that I thought I could be as professional as my great grandfather. But then, I fumbled on making my own brand of soup. I caused a few frogs to spit out their meals."
"But when others came to me for my family's original gumbo, I decided to follow my family's traditional recipes." He takes out a copy of his family's cook book and gives it to Cronaxx. "The point I'm trying to make, is that not everyone can be a great cook. But a great cook can come from anywhere, like my great grandfather. Take it."
Cronaxx smiles and takes the book. He stuffs it in his backpack and looks back at his culinary instructor. "What do you say we finish the lesson?" he asked. "And then we'll see what happens next." Pesto smiles and gives Cronaxx another chef knife to chop up some carrots.
As the lesson goes by, Cronaxx follows his instructor's methods, feeling good about what happens next with his life. As he continues chopping up vegetables, he takes a moment to feel a change in temperature. "It feels like it's getting dark out here," he said.
"Then let's wrap things up," said Pesto. "The potluck is about to begin."
Shortly after, the residence of Bog Bottom is gathering in the center of town, with a moat surrounded by mud. Inside the moat, stands a lily pad with a judges table in the middle. Sitting at the judges table are none other than Albus, Dyllan, and Tint. And surrounding the patches of mud surrounding the moat, are tables lined up in a circle. Everyone starts coming together with batches of food. They place their dishes on their assigned tables and wait for Albus to begin the judging.
"Lillies and Gentlefrogs," he announced. "Welcome to the annual Frog Valley Potluck competition!" The frogs of the village croak and applaud with excitement. "My name is Albus Duckweed, Wartwood's top, and only food critic. And it gives me great pleasure to announce that we have included two more judges, ready to try your signature dishes. I would like to say their names, but they wish to remain anonymous." Tint waves hello to the frogs, and Dyllan keeps his face hidden with his hood on and his body hidden in his cloak.
"As you all know the rules. The winner of this year's potluck gets recognized by the good citizens of Bog Bottom. And the loser... well..." Albus looks over to the shame cage, seeing a frog put a black sack over his head and getting the ropes ready. "They know the drill."
"Shame nuggets!" Called out a frog vendor. "Get your Shame nuggets here!"
Just as Pesto and Cronaxx come out with their signature dish, Albus Duckweed smiles.
"Let the annual Frog Valley Potluck begin!"
Albus and the judges get up from their seats and start judging the villagers signature dishes. Their first dish was a frog family's signature mud pies. Their pies were crawling with small earthworms, making Dyllan feel sick to his stomach. Albus took a bite of one of the pies, but then spit it out. "It's like I'm tasting only dirt," he said. "No extraordinary flavors in this dish."
Tint took a bite, but swallows it. "Yep, it's just mud and dirt," he said. "I'm not even tasting the worms."
Not even bothering to taste it, Dyllan whispers to Tint, and Tint steps up. "My colleague says, if it's not food, he won't taste it."
The frogs sob out of disappointment, which make Dyllan feel guilty. But he believes that there are other foods he has yet to try.
They continue the pot luck by judging the caterpillar souffle next. Dyllan tries his best to bite down on the dish. Luckily he tastes more caterpillar, than of the dirt used in the souffle. He whispers to Tint, "Tell them that the flavor of caterpillar counteracts well with the souffle."
"He says the caterpillars tasted strong in the souffle, which makes it the best quality so far," said Tint. "As for me, I believe that this is a good souffle. Not a very easy dish to make."
With the frogs satisfied with two of the judges remarks, Albus takes a bite and hums with satisfaction. "I'm only impressed with the fact that you could make a complicated dish as a souffle," he said. "But I would expect the dish to look more exciting. Just seeing it like that, lacked pizazz."
Dyllan finds his critique to be very hard to swallow. 'Is Albus judging the frogs too harshly?' he thought.
He thinks back to the judging at Saint James Middle School. Inside the school auditorium, Dyllan was sitting beside Sasha at a judges table along with another cheerleader named Yazmin.
Yazmin has bronze skin with black hair reaching all the way down her back. She is wearing the Saint James school cheerleader outfit, and has squared glasses on her head.
The three students were judging for cheerleading tryouts. Yazmin was scratching out a doodle with her pencil out of anger. She was quietly mumbling to herself, and her facial expressions caught Dyllan's attention. But as quiet as Dyllan is around new people, he kept to himself.
"Alright, next," called Sasha.
Another student came out of the left side of the stage with pink pom poms. She had white skin, and black poofy hair tied up in hair ties. She had the Saint James school uniform on with a dark blue shirt collar and matching colored skirt. She cleared her throat to start her audition. "Ahem, uh.. hi. My name is Noelle Napoleon. And I'd like to try out for the cheer squad."
Noelle started bouncing to the beat and shook her pom poms out. She marched up the stage and started to dance to her favorite song. Sasha was tapping her pencil on the table watching carefully at Noelle's routine. Yazmin kept her cool and took a sip of her water. She wrote all of Noelle's qualities gently on her paper. Dyllan watched with his back leaning towards the chair.
Near the end of the performance, Noelle didn't stick the landing and lost her balance. Then the music came to a close and she got back up. It was time for the judges to decide, so Sasha went first.
"Well Noelle," said Sasha. "That was not the cheerleading I want to see. Every time you pump your poms, I want to yank them out and set them on fire. If my eyes had legs, they would turn tail and walk away. I don't see you in our squad."
"Oh come on," said Yazmin. "Noelle you were good. I'm glad that your pom poms were the best feature in your audition. I would include you right away. I say she's in."
Sasha turns to Dyllan waiting for his response. "Dyllan?" Dyllan was a bit scared to speak, but Sasha touched his hand for comfort. "It's okay, just tell her what you think." Dyllan smiled at Sasha and looked up to Noelle.
"I'd have to say that the cheering was okay," said Dyllan. "But to be a cheerleader in Sasha's squad, you have to have more energy, more pep, and lots of practice. Like the landing at the end needs work. So seeing you getting in Sasha's squad, it isn't working with me."
"Yes or no, Dyllan?" asked Sasha.
"Gotta be a 'no', Sasha," replied Dyllan,
"Yazmin?" asked Sasha.
"It's a 'yes' for me," she replied.
"Well, it's a no for me," said Sasha. "And two out of three votes means you're not in, Noelle." She waved her hand like she's swatting a fly. "Shoo shoo."
Noelle got upset and leaves the stage. Seeing her leave made Dyllan kind of guilty. But Sasha got his attention. "It'll be okay Dyllie," she said. "Sometimes tough love helps motivate others better. One day, she'll thank me."
"This is all your fault Sasha," growled Yazmin. "If you hadn't convinced the coach to allow your boyfriend to judge, Noelle would be on the squad."
"Hey don't get all grouchy with me," said Sasha. "If this is about you being jealous of me because I made captain of the squad and not you, get over it! I got more votes than you."
The two argued for almost three stayed out of it by listening to his music to drown out the yelling. And Dyllan closed his eyes to enter his personal happy place.
Dyllan opens his eyes, snapping back to reality, and continues judging for the potluck. Albus keeps downgrading the people's dishes, and Tint tries to keep their spirits up. It all comes down to Dyllan to keep the frogs motivated and inspired.
The three judges reach a dish called Croissant Mealworms, which are roasted meal worms the size of croissants. Tint takes a bite and enjoys the flavors it came with it. "What's in the mealworms?" he asked.
"They have a special blend of swamp root, spice brush, and magnolia flowers," replied the contestant.
"I gotta say, these spices blend well," said Tint. "What do you guys think?"
"Know what I think?" asked Albus. "The mealworms lack potential outside the plate. There's nothing exciting about them. They're just bland and horrifying!"
Now it is Dyllan's turn. He takes a mealworm from the platter, and in his hood, he bites into it. And after 2 weeks of nothing but eggs and fish, he swallows his mealworm croissant. Dyllan smiles behind his hood and he gains the courage to speak out.
"This is the best mealworm croissant I've ever tasted. The presentation is a bit bland, but what truly matters are the flavors inside this delicacy. If this wasn't a competition, I would recommend that the kids eat this meal. They would love this like they would love gifts on birthdays. I give it a ten out of ten."
The crowds applaud their mysterious judge's approval. And the frogs who made the dish are relieved that the two judges liked the dish. Albus however, is not pleased with the outcome, yet they still have a job to do.
"Anyway, we still have one more frog to judge," said . "Last but not least, Pesto Fucilli."
And with a magical flash, Pesto and Cronaxx appear out of thin air and show the three judges two dishes. They are shown to be two bowls of soup. One looks classy, and the other looks like a bowl of messy slop.
"Two bowls of soup?" Tint asked.
"Exactly," said Pesto. "But only one of these soups taste delicious. One of you will have to choose which one it is."
The three look down at the two bowls of soup. Dyllan and Tint observe the soup bowls carefully. Albus however, just goes for the fancy classy one.
"This is clearly the obvious choice," he said. "The texture, the presentation, and the pizazz!" But as he takes a sip of the bowl of classy soup, he feels his stomach churning in his system. Then, he starts feeling sick. So sick, that he runs away from the judges table and throws up his soup.
The crowd laugh at Albus' mishap, along with Tint, Dyllan, and Cronaxx. "Guess he had that coming," said Dyllan.
"Sometimes," said Pesto. "It takes more than just looking to really judge the quality of food."
Tint takes the poor looking soup and gives it a taste. "Despite looking like something you'd find in an outhouse, this is one of the best soups I've ever tasted."
Pesto smiles at Cronaxx and nods his head. "Go ahead Cronaxx," he said.
With a snap of his fingers, the soups' appearances vanish to reveal the real soups.
"Oooh, the old switcheroo spell," said Tint.
"How did you know?" Dyllan asked.
"Because Albus Duckweed always comes here to judge us harshly," replied Pesto. "For the past seven years he's been hounding us for better taste, better quality, better quantities, better pizazz. It was tiring. When your uncle took a chance to brew his own soup, he didn't do so well. So I came up with a plan to make Albus give him a taste of his own medicine. Once I made my personal soup, Cronaxx casted an illusion spell to make one soup look like the other."
"So, you still can't cook Uncle?" Tint asked.
Cronaxx shakes his head, but keeps a smile on his face. "Clearly I can't cook. But that's okay. Not everyone can be a great cook. But I am good at something else; being your magic teacher."
Just as the crowd awe at the family moment, Albus comes back looking angry and a bit pale. "Alright, alright, there's been enough mushy feelings and gut wrenching moments here! Because of you and your trick Pesto, you are disqualified!"
Pesto just shrugs his shoulders, not having a care in the world. "It was definitely worth it to see you lose your lunch," he laughed.
The three judges come together and whisper in confidence deciding who gets the best dish, to who gets the bad dish. The crowd stands by their dishes, waiting anxiously for the results. Cronaxx smiles, wondering who will be the winner of this year's potluck.
Then Albus, Dyllan, and Tint stop whispering and walk up to the judge table. "After careful consideration, and a long discussion with the other judges, we've decided the losing dish is..."
The crowd sweat bullets, grip on their tables, and then...
"The Frogger family, and their mud pies with earthworms," announced Albus.
The Frogger family croak out of sadness and flip their mud pies over on the ground.
"And the winner's of this year's potluck are..."
The rest of the frogs wait for the results, knowing that some of the frogs who got great reviews from two out of the three judges.
"The Mealworm Croissants from the Tadteal family!"
The frogs croak and applaud for the Tadteal family and they receive a blue ribbon for their potluck.
"If it were up to me, no one here would've won," said Albus. "Everyone of your dishes were atrocious!"
"Alright, that's enough!" cried Dyllan. He starts to stand up straight, frightening most of the townsfolk. "If anyone would fit the word atrocious around here, it should be you!" As Dyllan pointed to Albus, he accidentally reveals his hand to the crowd.
The crowd gasp, feeling afraid of who or what their judge is. Then Dyllan realizes what he did and just shivers in fear. "Uh oh."
"MONSTER!" cried Albus Duckweed. The crowd panic, jump, run, and hide, trying to get away from Dyllan and his stature. Some of the frogs want to take a stand and prepare the shame nuggets to throw at the human creature.
Seeing the crowd ready to throw, Cronaxx casts a shield spell on Dyllan and Tint. "Proteus!" With a shield surrounding the two judges, Tint throws down a smokescreen potion on the ground to distract the angry mob. The smoke grows thick, and Cronaxx takes his students out of sight.
Then, Pesto shows up and brings them back to his hut. Dyllan and Tint are most surprised. "Why are you helping us?" asked Tint.
"Remember what I said?" Pesto asked. "It takes more than looking to really see the quality of food. And in this case, character." Dyllan removes his hood, showing the chef frog his smile of gratitude.
"So what do we do now?" asked Dyllan.
"Now, you guys get out of here," replied Pesto. "Luckily, I know a way."
Pesto takes the trio down the food cellar to reveal another passageway. "This tunnel will take you to the other side of the valley. This came in handy in case there were any natural disasters or heron attacks."
Cronaxx shook his mentor's hand goodbye. "Thank you for everything," he said.
"Never forget the lessons I have taught you," said Pesto.
Cronaxx nods and enters the secret tunnel. Dyllan pops out of the tunnel, back into the kitchen, and whistles from the windowsill. The sound of the whistle not only draw a couple frogs to the chef's kitchen, but Clipper as well. The sight of Clipper make the frogs run away and into hiding.
"Clipper," whispered Dyllan. "We're going to be traveling underground. I need you to keep an ear out for us once I reach the other side." He takes out his compass and points him north east of their position. "Just keep traveling that way, and we'll meet up from there. Go!"
Clipper jumps from roof to roof, then starts climbing a large tree stump to the very top of the swamp. Dyllan nods and returns to the tunnels. He catches up with Tint and Cronaxx, who are holding orbs of light and fire in their hands to help guide them through the dark tunnels.
"Clipper's escaped," said Dyllan. "Let's hope he knows where we're going."
"Me too," said Tint. "I was hoping he would carry my stuff for a while."
"Tint Tormak," said Cronaxx. "We should only carry what we can on our backs. Never take anything that we don't need."
"Uh, sure. Starting now," said Tint. He readjusts his backpack, only for Cronaxx and Dyllan to hear a few clinks inside.
"Tint, what's in the bag?" Cronaxx asked.
"Just flasks," replied Tint.
"Dyllan, may you?" said Cronaxx.
Dyllan nods. "Contraband check!" He grabs Tint by his neckerchief, then pulls his bag off his back. He opens it and shakes it down revealing a few cooking utensils he snatched from Pesto's kitchen.
"Tint, you're a wizard, not a thief," said Cronaxx.
"Oh come on," said Tint. "They were just extra utensils that were collecting dust. And besides, someone has gotta cook for us, and it clearly can't be you."
Cronaxx snuffs at his nephew for stealing from his teacher. But in the pile of utensils, he spots a note in the midst of them. He picks it up to reveal a message from Pesto. 'Guess it's my turn to be unpredictable. Tell your nephew what I taught you: Follow the recipe. -Pesto' Reading the note, Cronaxx smiles and places it in his backpack.
"So Cronaxx," said Dyllan. "Did you learn a lot with Pesto?"
"I've learned plenty," replied Cronaxx. "But I think I'm gonna take a break from cooking and stick to magic teaching. By the way, I think it's time to put your skills to the test in these tunnels."
Dyllan smiles as he takes his staff and performs the light spell he learned days ago. "LICHT (Light)!" His words echo throughout the cave, and the staff creates a large orb of light that shoots from the staff and sticks onto the ceiling above them.
Cronaxx smiles and says, "Not bad Dyllan. You're on your way."
"So Dyllan," said Tint. "Aside from all the grub you tasted. What is your favorite food?"
"After every dish I've tasted today," said Dyllan in a relieving tone. "I'd give anything for pizza now."
"Hmm, what is this 'Pee-zza?" Cronaxx asked.
"It's one of the best dishes to ever taste on the planet," replied Dyllan. "And it's big enough to share with family and friends. There are so many toppings you could put on pizza, and it would still taste delicious."
"Could you put grasshoppers on pizza?" Cronaxx asked.
Dyllan sighs, not wanting to argue about the amphibians diet. "When I say anything, I mean anything."
"What about pineapple? Sounds like something that could-" Dyllan grabs Tint by his neckerchief and pins him to the ground. His eyes fume with anger and annoyance.
"That topping is verboten (forbidden) from being on pizza. Whoever decided that was a good idea is out of their mind! NEVER MENTION IT EVER AGAIN!" The sound of Dyllan's demonic tone echoes through the tunnels, it even shakes the ground. The Staff of Lerrad glows brighter, and the light spells turn as red as Dyllan's anger. Seeing the red lights, scare Dyllan's anger off in an instant. Then all the red lights turn back into regular lights.
"Here's another lesson to keep in mind Dyllan," said Cronaxx. "The more you put your heart into your spells, the more powerful they become. You must take in consideration how much 'umph' you put into your spells. But you'll get there."
Dyllan smiles, "Thanks Cronaxx. You really are a great teacher."
Cronaxx smiles back, "Now then, let's get a move on. We should be able to reach the other side of the passageway by sunrise if we don't stop. We'll get rest once we reach the end." Tint and Dyllan nod in agreement as they continue their journey on foot.
Meanwhile, above the tree lines of Bog Bottom, Clipper keeps jumping from tree to tree, eventually reaching the end of the swamp limits. There, Clipper can see a tall tower overlooking not just Bog Bottom, but the other villages as well. Clipper shivers in fear, wondering what goes on in that tower.
Two villages down, two more to go. Keep on Truckin'!