Author's Note: After a month of some much needed rest and relaxation, I am back to continue the Young Avengers series with the weekly updates of the Black Panther of Amphibia. This time, I won't stop until the end of the events of Season 1. Below is an updated list of the episodes I'll be covering, including this one.
*Trip to the Archives
*Wally and Anne
*Bizarre Bazaar
*Snow Day
*Cursed
*The Big Bugball Game
*Combat Camp
*Children of the Spore
*Anne of the Year
*Reunion
I understand that the Snow Day chapter may be out of place, but I had it specially scheduled so that I can upload it on Christmas Eve with the rest of my Christmas uploads. I know the Amphibia Christmas special isn't for another two seasons, but considering I'm making weekly updates of this season right now, I figured I'd schedule the closest episode to be updated then.
Anyway, that's all I have right now. Enjoy the chapters. Any and all comments are welcome.
T'Challa, Anne, and the Planters rode on top of Bessie riding just outside of Wartwood. The white, snowy mountains were very-much seen in the far distance.
"Now, remember, gang," Hop Pop said, "The mountain pass will clear up in one week. Meaning it's almost time to leave this valley and find Anne and T'Challa a way home."
"Whoo! Love that!" Anne cheered.
"I can't wait!" T'Challa shouted.
"Excitement!" Sprig cried out.
"Sights!" Polly added.
"And you know the best way to start a quest?" Hop Pop asked.
"Danger?" Sprig guessed.
"Weapons?" Polly guessed.
"Research!" Hop Pop answered causing everyone to groan. "Oh, come on, gang. We'll never get Anne and T'Challa home if we get bitten to death by a venomous snake fly. Or eaten to death by a camouflaged sod skink. Or crushed to death by a sand liger."
"Okay, okay, enough death already." Anne said. "Sheesh, I'm beginning to think you guys are obsessed."
"Yeah, it's even scaring me." T'Challa admitted.
"We're here!" Hop Pop cried out as he stopped Bessie. In front of a tunnel entrance with a scholarly newt statue on top. The sign next to it read "The Historic Wartwood Town Archives". The sight of it made Sprig groan loudly.
"The town archives? This place is dustier than Dusty's dustbin."
"Who?" Polly asked.
"Come on. You know Dusty." Sprig said. "Local dust merchant. Friendly. Always smiling. Sells dust."
"Oh, yeah, yeah. Right." Polly said.
"I get this place." Anne said. "It's like a library from my world. Zoo books and manga, here I come."
"I doubt it's going to have all that, Anne." T'Challa said.
"Enough chatter, you four." Hop Pop said hopping off to open the archives door. "Time to hit the books."
"Wait!" Sprig cried out as the others jumped off Bessie. "Wouldn't we be better off preparing by diving headfirst into deadly situations?"
"Huh." Anne said stopping herself. "Maybe Sprig's right, Hop Pop. Research is overrated."
"Overrated, eh?" Hop Pop asked. "How's diving into adventure been working out so far?"
"He's got a point, Anne." T'Challa said. "Remember that giant mole that shot fire out of its nose? Or us rolling off that very steep mud mountain? And the skunk…"
"Ugh! Don't mention the skunk!" Polly shouted. "I can still smell the skunk juice."
"The point is, we barely escape from wild monsters we barely know anything about on a daily basis, and that's just in this small corner of Amphibia." T'Challa said. "Out there, there'll be a thousand times as much danger, and we'll know even less about them. If these archives can give us any information about the monsters out there, it wouldn't hurt to have a heads-up beforehand. Remember, we only have one chance out there."
Anne took a second to contemplate on T'Challa's words. She let out a sigh before answering, "All right. Fair enough. Research it is."
"What?" Sprig asked surprised. "You actually want to look at those dusty, useless books?"
"This trip is gonna take us beyond the valley, Sprig." Anne said. "Who knows what we'll run into out there?"
"And if we look, we might find that these books might not be so useless after all." T'Challa said before he and Anne walked into the tunnel with the latter carrying Polly. Sprig groaned before following them.
After a circle of old stairs, the group walked past a golden gate. They stopped once they entered a massive, two-story room with walls covered with bookshelves. The only sources of light came from the glowing mushrooms and a small ray of sunlight that reflected from the small skylight in the roof.
"Wow. This place is pretty big." T'Challa said.
"Yeah. It actually seems pretty cool." Anne agreed.
"Sure, it SEEMS cool," Sprig said, "Until you realize all you do here is read other people's cool adventures."
"Okay, enough prattle." Hop Pop said. "We gotta get a move on before we're locked in here."
"Locked in here?" T'Challa asked. "How? We didn't see anyone when we walked in here."
"This place doesn't need a guard." Hop Pop said. He turned to the gate there a beam of sunlight shined on a circular bit of glass lens. "The door to this place is set on a sunlight timer. It opens when the sun rises and deadlocks when the sun sets."
"That is some steampunky nonsense right there." Anne said.
"I agree." T'Challa said. "It may not be as advanced as the security measures we have in Wakanda, but it looks like it's just as effective."
"Hey, check it out." Anne pointed at a portrait of a newt scholar with a plague set up beneath it. She gazed at the plague and read it aloud. "'Mycroft Newtback, archives founder. This structure, originally Newtback's home, was turned into the public archives after he died violently attempting to travel beyond the valley.'"
"Yeesh. What a way to go." T'Challa said. "Well, we got ten hours before sunset. Let's see what we can learn in that time."
Most of the gang proceeded to check out the books with enthusiasm, but Sprig was still mumbling and complaining quietly.
While Hop Pop was checking out books about "the old ways" and Polly was greatly drawn in by books about weapons, Anne and T'Challa sat in separate chairs side by side reading up on any books they find.
"Ew." Anne said. "I just found an article about a plant that sank its teeth into a guy's eye."
"Plants have teeth here?" T'Challa asked.
"I don't really know what those are called, but it's gross to look at." Anne said right before Sprig's hand was raised above the book. With eyes drawn, it looked like he was making a face.
"Hi, Anne. What ya doing?"
"Get out of here, man." Anne said with an unamused tone brushing Sprig's hand away.
"Oh, come on." Sprig complained. "Wouldn't it be better if we found some plants to fight?"
"Nope." Anne said. "See if you can find a way to survive a tiger viper attack."
"Hmm." T'Challa asked with a raised tone of curiosity. "Well, this is strange."
"What is it?" Anne asked.
"I found this old journal that belonged to Mycroft Newtback." T'Challa said. "It looks like the reason he left the valley in the first place was so he could look for Atlantis."
"Atlantis?" Anne asked. "Hold up. I thought that was just an Earth story?"
"I'm reading it right here, clear as day." T'Challa said. "It says here that he heard tales of an underwater city called Atlantis, and he was determined to discover it. I'm guessing we all know what happened to him next."
"Uh, did I miss something?" Sprig asked.
"Well, back in our world, Atlantis was an advanced, mythical city that disappeared mysteriously a long, long, long time ago." Anne said. "Some think it's just a myth. But it is strange how the story somehow ended up in this world too. You ever heard of it, Sprig?"
"Nope, because that information is useless." Sprig replied harshly. "It's just the last words of a crazy old newt, and I still say…"
"Let me guess; you want us to go looking blindly for trouble." T'Challa said rolling his eyes. "Sorry, Sprig, but that's a no-go on the adventure thing." He stood up from his chair. "I'm gonna see if there are any more books on Atlantis. This is way too interesting to just ignore."
"Good luck, my dude." Anne said as T'Challa walked off.
Sprig groaned as he walked over to the railings. He hung his legs over the second story mumbling to himself. "Stupid books. Stupid learning. Don't they want a real adventure?" He then fixed his eyes on the sunlight timer and came up with a plan.
"All right, kids. Time for a lunch break." Hop Pop announced after a couple hours of reading. Everyone put down their books and walked with the elder Planter on their way to the door.
"So Anne, did you learn any tips on wild animals and plants?" T'Challa asked.
"A fair amount." Anne said. "What about you? Any new info on Atlantis?"
"Afraid not." T'Challa shrugged. "So far, that journal was the only book that even mentions Atlantis."
"Well, it probably won't come up on our journey, but at least we know that there's some connection between Earth and Amphibia if they share legends." Anne said. "By the way, Hop Pop, thanks for suggesting this trip. I'm learning a ton about your terrifying world."
"Did you guys know that there are 60 weapons in the Morningstar family?" Polly asked.
T'Challa laughed as he approached the door. "Well, I'm sure we'll all be happy to exchange what we've learned over lunch. I—OOF!" T'Challa was cut off when he accidentally hit the closed door of the archives.
"What the hey!" Anne cried out sharing the same surprised and confused expression as Hop Pop, Polly, and T'Challa.
"The door's shut. That's not right." Hop Pop said. He tried to pull the door open, but it wouldn't budge.
T'Challa wondered until he looked up. "Hold on. Guys, the lens on the timer. It's missing."
"What?" Anne asked loudly. She looked up at the sunlight timer with no glass lens. The beam was only shining on a small collection of gears. "Who would trap us in here?"
Their answer came followed by the sound of a throat clearing up. Everyone turned and saw Sprig spinning ominously while sitting on top of a mushroom lamp. "Maybe somebody is trying to prepare us by forcing us to dive in. …Me. I did it."
"Dude, have you lost your frog marbles?!" Anne asked loudly. "Put that piece back!"
"Guys, reading these moldy, old books ain't gonna prepare us for squat." Sprig said. "What we need is a daring escape from an old, underground library." He was grabbed by the back of his jacket by T'Challa who lifted him up.
"Sprig, that's enough crazy talk. We all know you have the lens on you. Or at least, you know where it is, and it won't take much to shake you until you tell us where you hid it."
"T'Challa, come on!" Sprig said. "Why are you against this?"
"Because this isn't a game, Sprig." T'Challa said. "You can't just force us to an adventure. That's not how it works. We're not even diving into anything. So all you're doing is causing an inconvenience because you'd rather do that than read. Now, just put the lens back."
Sprig groaned as he was set back down. "Fine. Party poopers." He reached into his jacket and rummaged around his pockets, but after a while, he started to look concerned. "Uh, mmm, I know I have it… somewhere." He stepped backwards to have some space when…
CRACK.
Sprig stopped when he felt glass shattering under his foot. He lifted his foot up and found the lens, which was broken into many pieces.
"Well, that's not good." Polly said.
"Grrr! Sprig!" Anne growled loudly.
"Uh, maybe I can fix it." Sprig said. He scooped up the lens pieces and carefully grouped them up until they looked good as new. It worked for a second until he sneezed and scattered the glass pieces everywhere.
"Dude!" Anne shouted.
"All right, that's enough!" Hop Pop yelled. "Yelling at each other ain't fixing any of this."
"So what do we do?" Anne asked.
"Well, we wait for someone to visit the archives." Hop Pop suggested.
"Is that really a good idea?" T'Challa asked. "I mean, when was the last time somebody visited this place."
"Well, I checked the logs," Hop Pop said pulling out a piece of paper, "And it says… three years ago."
T'Challa groaned. "I was afraid of that."
"Enough of this negativity!" Sprig cried out hopping to the top of a chair. "Come on, guys. This is our call to frog-venture right here. Did you forget who we are? This gang as been through a lot. And we're gonna make it through this too. I mean, we better, 'cause if we don't, we'll be trapped here for weeks. No food. No water. Until they find our dehydrated, mummified bodies crawling at the door." He stopped when he saw how disturbed his friends and family were. "Yeah, I probably could have ended that speech earlier."
"Let's just find a way out." Anne said.
For the next hour or so, the family tried many methods of escaping with next-to-no success. First, they tried using a mushroom lamp as a battering ram to try and break through the metal door. They just bounced to the wall. They then used T'Challa's Black Panther skills to claw at the ground and dig a way out, but they were stopped by giant worm monsters. Hop Pop used his reading glasses to try and act as a substitute for the lost lens, but it just reflected off and started burning the books.
After being thrown to the wall, attacked by monsters, and nearly burning, the gang was sitting still tired and exhausted.
"So… not good." Sprig stated the obvious.
Polly groaned loudly. "Why did they have to put the door on a stupid sunlight timer?!"
"That's it!" Anne gasped in realization. "Light timer. Timer. Sunlight. Light. Skylight!" She pointed at the ceiling where a little sunlight was still shining through. "I bet we can get out through the skylight."
"Good thinking, Anne." T'Challa praised. "Let's get started."
The gang gathered up all the furniture they could move and piled them up on top of each other at the center of the library. Tables, books, and chairs all barely balancing with Sprig's tongue wrapped around it. T'Challa stood on top of the pile with his Black Panther costume equipped.
"You sure you want to do this, T'Challa?" Anne asked.
"My dexterity has a better chance of making it up there." T'Challa said. "Don't worry. Once I'm out, I'll open the door from the outside."
"Just don't fall." Polly said. "I won't catch you."
"That's okay. You're a baby." T'Challa replied.
With his claws extended, T'Challa slowly bent his knees before leaping up into the air with great force. The impact from the jump caused the pile to fall apart, but he didn't need to worry about falling. With his claws out, he managed to latch onto the sides of the skylight and secure a spot. He then climbed out of the very narrow space until he reached the glass lid that covered the skylight. The pushed it off and managed to stick his head back outside. He tried to go further, but he was unable to move.
"Uh, oh." T'Challa said.
"What 'uh, oh'?" Anne's voice was heard from beneath him.
"Well, I got good news and bad news." T'Challa said. "The good news is, the plan worked. I managed to reach outside."
"And the bad news?" Hop Pop asked.
"I'm stuck. The opening's too small. I can only stick my head outside."
"Can you see Bessie?" Anne asked. "Maybe she can help."
T'Challa looked around until he saw the family snail. "Bessie! Hey, girl! Listen, get help! Get help!"
Bessie chirped, but was drawn away by a wandering butterfly which she then followed.
"Okay, that's no help." T'Challa sighed before hearing a buzzing sound that had him on high alert. "Wait. What's that sound?"
"Oh, no!" Sprig yelled in alarm. "It's cicadas coming out to graze… which is totally fine. If you stay super quiet, they should go away."
T'Challa looked around and saw the giant bugs flying over in their direction. "Yeah, I don't think that's a possibility. They already see me. And my arms are too stuck to defend myself with my claws!"
"Oh, no!" Anne gasped. "Guys, we gotta help T'Challa!"
"How? We're stuck in here, and he's stuck up there!" Polly shouted.
Anne groaned. "I can't believe this! I tried to do things the right way! And now, I'm gonna lose my best human friend up that stupid hole, and we'll never get back home!"
"Wait, that's it!" Sprig cried out. "This building used to be someone's home, which means there was a bathroom."
"Good thinking, Sprig!" Hop Pop congratulated.
"Bathroom? Now?" T'Challa asked as the cicadas crept closer to him. "Can't you just hold it?"
"If there was a bathroom, that also means there were…" Polly stared to say.
"Pipes!" Sprig shouted. He then picked up every book about the archives' plumbing as he could until he found his answer. "Right here! The blueprints!"
"And look here!" Hop Pop said pointing at a certain area. "This is where the bathroom used to be, behind the bookcase. We just need to break it down."
Polly picked up a mace and used it to break through the bookcase. She spun it over her head shouting "WAR CRY".
"You scare me sometimes." Anne pointed out.
"Over there!" Sprig fixed his eyes on an open pipe which he then jumped into.
"Help's on the way, T'Challa." Anne called out. "Don't move!"
"Bad choice of words, Anne!" T'Challa yelled as the cicadas made it to started tasting his head.
The pipe lead Sprig to Felicia's Tea Shoppe where he sprang out of the girls' bathroom. He terrified all the patrons and Felicia as he jumped out dripping sewer water from his body and ran out of the shop as fast as he could apologizing to everyone he passed.
Meanwhile, T'Challa was almost helpless to the cicadas. He was close on being devoured when Sprig jumped in. He knocked one of the cicadas over stopping the others as they fixed their attention on him.
"Sprig?" T'Challa asked. "How did you get out?"
"I don't wanna talk about it." Sprig answered disturbed. He then kicked on the cicada he rode on and used it to knock the others away from T'Challa. Once he was safe and all the cicadas flew away, he bounced right back by his side.
"Thanks for the help, Sprig." T'Challa said with a sigh of relief.
"I'm just glad you're okay." Sprig.
"Yeah, so am I."
"Me too."
T'Challa was surprised again seeing Hop Pop and Polly approach covered in sewer water. "You too?"
"We couldn't wait, so we took the pipes too." Polly said.
"I seen things." Hop Pop said sinisterly.
"What about Anne?" T'Challa asked.
"Unfortunately, she couldn't fit through the pipes." Hop Pop said. "Thankfully, I read that there was a manual switch that opens the archive door from the outside. Let's just yank T'Challa out, and we can get her out after.
"You okay, T'Challa?" Anne asked.
The Wakandan prince scoffed. "Please. I was only nibbled by a few giant bugs. I'll get over it by the next time we face a monster, probably some time in the next three hours."
"Well, we did it!" Sprig cheered. "We dove into another adventure and escaped! I told you it would work."
Everyone glared at Sprig. "We didn't dive in. You pushed us." Anne pointed out.
"And then, you broke the only easy way to fix it." T'Challa added. "You selfishly gambled with our lives and nearly lost."
"Well, when you put it like that, it sounds bad." Sprig said.
"It's bad, no matter how you look at it!" Polly said.
"Sprig, listen." Anne said. "This trip out of the valley, it's more than just another adventure. It's me and T'Challa's chance to get home. I have my family and T'Challa has a whole kingdom, and they're all counting on us to return home in one piece. We can't mess this up. So if it means doing a few things I don't like to help me get ready, well, then…
"And it's not just about us." T'Challa said. "Anne has her family who's probably worried sick about her, and I've got an entire kingdom who's future relies on me, and they're all counting on us returning to them in one piece. We can't gamble our lives with all that at stake. Otherwise, we'll just end up meeting the same unfortunate end as Mycroft Newtback."
Sprig frowned suddenly realizing how selfish his actions have been.
"So if it means doing a few things I don't like to help us get ready," Anne continued, "Well, then…"
"Then that's what we'll do," Sprig said with a little smile, "Together." He hugged the two of them putting smiles on their faces too.
"Thanks, buddy." Anne said.
"Well, now that all that's settled," T'Challa said, "Let's head back to Wartwood and freshen up. We've got sewer water and cicada smell to wash off."
"Sounds good." Anne said. "Hey, Hop Pop, how long until they fix the broken sunlight timer?"
"I'll give them a call when we get home, but it's likely they won't fix anything until after we leave the valley." Hop Pop said. "Not to worry. I'll make some calls and get us some more books delivered to us."
"Well, that's too bad." T'Challa said.
"Oh, come on. It ain't that bad." Hop Pop said.
"It's not that." Anne said. "We just learned that a legend from our world also exists here in Amphibia. But it doesn't look like that information is anywhere in the archives. Hey, you're into old stuff. You ever heard of Atlantis?"
"Atlantis?" Hop Pop asked pondering for a minute. "Atlantis… Nope. Doesn't ring a bell."
T'Challa sighed. "Oh, well. It was a long shot anyway. It's likely not gonna have any stake in our quest anyway. I guess that's one mystery that'll remain unsolved."