Final Fantasy VII

The Gongagan Frog Crisis

By Lucky_Ladybug

Notes: The characters are not mine and the story is! Why do I keep getting these weird ideas lately? This takes place during the Ever Crisis years. I don't think it needs much explanation, except . . . brain, why?

MonthlyWritingChallenges February 2025, Prompt 5: Hidden in Plain Sight

For some reason, the boy had always thought it would be fun to be a frog.

He grinned, staring with sparkling eyes at a frog as it hopped along in the Gongagan jungle. They jumped so high! How awesome would it be to leap that high? He would leap and leap and keep on leaping and not get tired at all!

Of course, no one else in the village thought being a frog sounded fun in the least. They all told him it just wasn't natural to be something other than what they were supposed to be. Everyone was supposed to carry Maiden's Kiss wherever they went, since so many monsters in the area cast Toad. But lately the supplies had all been used up and the delivery trucks hadn't been able to get through to bring more. The boy didn't have any to carry with him when he went to gather fruit in the jungle that day.

He hadn't found any fruit yet when the monster cornered him. "Hi, Mr. Monster," he greeted with a wave.

The monster roared. Just like all the monsters lately, it was pretty mad and mean.

"Are you going to turn me into a frog?" the boy asked.

The monster glowed. It was definitely casting something. The boy's eyes were wide with anticipation. Please be Toad . . . please be Toad! It could end up being Small instead, and he didn't want that. Just being an even smaller human didn't sound fun to try at all!

His body glowed, changing and shrinking as he exclaimed in glee instead of horror. Hands changed shape, feet became flippers, his skin turned green and white, and he had super big eyes and mouth and long tongue. Finally, he would get to see what it was like to be something else!

It all happened in a few seconds. He dropped down to the ground with a loud Ribbit! Yes! He was a frog! Delighted, he began to jump, higher and higher. This was so cool! Why didn't anyone else want to try it?

Boing. Up on a bush! He could never sit there as a human!

Boing. Up the tree!

Boing boing boing. All the way to the top! He gazed in awe across the area. From up here, he could even see the village in the distance!

He hopped back down. He wanted to show everybody what he could do now!

Several frogs were watching him jump back down. "Are you new here?" one asked.

"No, I've lived here all my life!" he replied. Should he tell them he was really a human? That might spoil the fun.

But they immediately figured that out anyway. "Oh, you must be another human then," another said. "Monsters are always turning people into frogs around here."

"Yeah, that's right," he confessed. "But I like it! I've never been able to jump so high before!"

They looked pleased at that. "Come play with us!" a third offered.

He beamed. "Really? Thanks!"

That was great fun! They had jumping contests and find the best lily pad contests and catch the most flies contests! . . . Well, that last one he bugged out of, saying he had to get home. Eating flies . . . gross! He had to be grateful his appetite desires hadn't changed.

He jumped and played alone for some time before it suddenly dawned on him that he had gone deeper into the jungle and not back towards the village. Uh oh. His mom wouldn't like this at all. He'd better get back home.

Would she even know it was him, though? He looked just like every other frog in the area.

A bit of worry rose in his heart.

He hopped and hopped in the direction he thought the village was, but he soon realized he was hopelessly lost. And no matter how much he could jump, he still couldn't cover as much ground as a frog as he could as a human.

This . . . really was a scary situation, wasn't it?

Frantically he hopped more and more, ribbiting desperately as he called for anyone to hear him. When he hopped on a loose tree branch with too much force, it broke under him and he fell to the ground with the branch on top of his leg. It would be nothing to him as a human, but in this form he couldn't make the branch move no matter what he did.

Now he was outright panicking. What was he going to do?

Another frantic ribbit. Would anyone hear him?

If he ever got out of this mess, he never wanted to be anything other than a human again.

Sephiroth frowned as he got out of the Jeep and stood looking at the small village of Gongaga. Everything looked eerily quiet, which was about what they had expected after the distress call had come in from an unknown woman in the village.

"Help! Monsters are everywhere, casting Toad! There's hardly anyone still human left! I . . ."

A roar, a scream, and then a Ribbit!as the call was cut off.

Sephiroth sighed to himself. This had to be one of the strangest assignments he had been sent on. He wasn't even sure why he had been chosen to be sent at first, but Hojo had smirked wickedly and told him, "We're testing your immunity to Toad. Stock up on Maiden's Kiss and go rescue those poor villagers. Find out why the monsters have gotten so incensed! We'll be waiting for your report, Sephiroth."

He walked past the cemetery on his way into the village. It looked lonely and cold, filled with only a handful of graves and lots of frogs sitting on them. They ribbited at him as he walked by and he awkwardly paused. Would he be able to tell which frogs were human and which weren't? He didn't want to waste any of the Maiden's Kisses by trying to use them on actual frogs.

"Hello," he finally said. "If any of you are human, come with me. I've brought help."

Most of the frogs hopped down and immediately followed him. This was encouraging. At least the affected humans apparently still kept their minds.

Soon he had an entire line of frogs hopping along with him. He took them into the first house he found and began administering the Maiden's Kisses. As the items were used, each frog glowed and became human again.

"Oh thank you!" one woman gasped. "But this isn't everyone in the village! I don't see my son here at all!"

"I'll find whoever else needs help," Sephiroth promised. "All of you stay in here for now and keep the doors locked."

"You can't go after the monsters yourself!" the woman exclaimed. "You're only a boy!"

"I'm 17," Sephiroth replied with a frown. "I've been trained all my life to be a SOLDIER. I'll be alright."

With that he headed outside again. The village was small, but he soon found more frogs who followed him. He left them human in another house and kept going.

Soon he was outside the actual village and over by the mako reactor. Monsters had congregated all around it, snarling and attempting in vain to cast Toad on it. When that failed, they turned their attention to Sephiroth.

He was lucky he was indeed immune to the spell. He fought off all the monsters who came at him until they were all defeated. Then he leaned back, frowning. The monsters were angry about the reactor. That was obvious. He would report that to Shinra and they could deal with what to do about it. Meanwhile, he still hadn't found that woman's kid. By now it was getting dark and he hadn't found any trace of other human frogs in the village. That left the jungle.

He knew what Hojo would tell him—forget about the boy and come back. He'd solved the mystery, as he was supposed to do. And he'd turned most of the village back to normal. But that wasn't good enough; he was going to help everyone.

And so he set off into the jungle despite the waning light. His mako-enhanced eyes would help him see in the dark, and he had flashlights and supplies with him as well.

He stayed alert for the sight of any frogs while trying to be quiet in case of monsters. Any time he heard a ribbit, he quietly invited the speaker to follow him. None did; apparently those were real frogs.

It was completely dark before he heard a cry in the jungle, a very pained ribbiiiit! Quickly he followed it, his enhanced hearing soon leading him to a clearing where a frog was laying on its side, one leg pinned by what to it was a heavy branch. No matter how it pushed, the branch didn't budge.

"It's alright," Sephiroth said, kneeling down to remove the object.

The frog looked up at him with what could only be described as awed joy.

"Can you get up?" Sephiroth asked.

The frog tried several times, but could not. The leg didn't seem to be broken, but it was badly bruised.

Sephiroth sighed. This wasn't good. If he used the Maiden's Kiss now, he would need to carry a human child back through the jungle and to the village. He probably could; his strength was already legendary. But it would still be a hindrance if they were attacked by monsters. Maybe the boy would even end up hurt worse in such a case.

Finally he reached down and scooped the frog up in his hands. "I'll turn you back again, but I need to get back to the village first," he said. "Was anyone with you?"

The frog shook its head as best as it could.

"Alright. We'll be back soon." Sephiroth started back the way he had come, carefully holding the frog all along the path. The transformed human snuggled against his fingers and even hugged them, the ribbits sounds of contentment now.

What a strange situation. And yet . . . it was . . . nice, in some odd way. He couldn't remember ever being with anyone who had taken to him this much. It was probably just because he had rescued the kid and any rescuer would have been gravitated towards likewise, but . . . he still liked this. A lot.

What would it be like, to have someone always this happy to be with him? Would he ever know love like this for longer than a moment?

Finally they arrived back in the village and to the first of the houses where he had left people. Now he used the Maiden's Kiss and the frog glowed, turning back into a ten-year-old boy.

The boy immediately glomped Sephiroth around the waist. "Thanks!" he exclaimed. "I thought it might be fun to see what being a frog was like, and it was for a while, but then it wasn't fun after all."

Sephiroth went completely stiff at the hug. He had no idea how to react. Finally he just said, "You didn't cause yourself to change into a frog, did you?"

The boy shook his head. "Nope! The monster just did it to be a jerk. I tried to hop home, but then I got caught under that stupid branch when it fell down. I never want to be a frog again!"

"This village should have plenty of Maiden's Kiss on hand," Sephiroth frowned.

"Yeah, but the supply trucks couldn't get through because of all the monsters!" the boy said.

"I've brought extra I can leave here for now, and I'll make sure the supply trucks can get through," Sephiroth said. He moved to open the door.

The boy's mother was right there when he did, having heard the voices. "Oh thank you!" she cried, holding the kid close. He looked a little embarrassed to be hugged by his mother in front of his savior, but he hugged back.

"I'm okay, Ma! Really!" he said.

Sephiroth just watched for a moment, caught up in the sight of what a mother's love was like. But he tried to shake himself out of it.

"There's some bruises on his leg," he said, "but they should be fine with ice."

She nodded. "We'll get on that right away!" she vowed.

"The monsters are gone, so you can all go back to your homes," Sephiroth added. "I need to go make my report. I'll leave the rest of the Maiden's Kiss at the shop in case there are any more problems. Everyone should stock up on them until we're sure the monsters won't come back."

"There's always a lot around here that cast Toad," she sighed, "but there's been more than usual lately, and much more vicious than normal."

"They don't like the mako reactor," Sephiroth said. "I saw a lot of them out there trying to cast Toad on it."

"Oh no." She frowned. "We can't get rid of that. . . ."

"I know. Shinra intends for it to stay," Sephiroth said. "When I make my report, we'll figure out a solution."

"Will you stay a while?" the boy asked.

"No, I need to get back," Sephiroth said. He wished he could stay, really. But he knew he couldn't.

"Thank you again," the woman smiled. "We won't forget your kindness."

Not sure how to respond to that, Sephiroth awkwardly nodded and stepped back. "I'm glad I could help," he finally said as he headed for the shop.

The boy gazed after him with idolizing eyes. "I'm gonna be like him someday," he vowed as his black spikes bounced. "I'll join SOLDIER and be a hero too!"

"Zack . . ." His mother shook her head. "You've got a long way to go before you can think about that. And right now we need to get your leg fixed up. Okay?"

"Yeah. I'm coming, Ma!" But Zack continued to watch his new hero until he was out of sight.

Seven Years Later

Sephiroth stirred, blinking sleepy eyes at the darkened room. He had slumped on the couch at some point, his legs stretched out on the floor in front of him, and Zack was snuggled against his side, blissfully dozing. Sephiroth had an arm around Zack.

So much had changed in those years, some for the better, some for the worse. Angeal and Genesis had both left him despite their supposed friendships. But Zack was here, and despite their rocky start, they had grown very close now, perhaps closer than Sephiroth had ever been to Angeal and Genesis.

"Seph," Zack mumbled.

"I'm here," Sephiroth assured him.

"Did I ever tell you about the time I was a frog?" Zack asked.

"No, I don't believe you did," Sephiroth deadpanned.

"Yeah. . . . Monsters were casting Toad everywhere and they got me too. It was fun at first, jumping all over the place. But then I fell and got stuck and it wasn't fun anymore. But . . . my hero came and saved me." Zack smiled sleepily.

"I remember," Sephiroth said.

Zack looked up at him. "You do?!"

"You don't think I'd forget the first time we met, do you?" Sephiroth smiled.

"You never said you realized that was me!" Zack said in surprise.

"It never came up," Sephiroth said. "Truthfully, I like you as a human best." A fond smirk.

Zack smirked too. "Same here." He snuggled in more and hugged him close.

Sephiroth smiled. He had wondered what it would be like to have someone always happy to see him and be with him.

Now he knew.