Living in a Frog World

by Cowboy Alchemist

A long time ago, Frank Ramirez and Ann Boonchuy were once best friends. Brought together again, these two will be magically teleported to the world of Amphibia, a rural marshland full of dangerous creatures and anthropomorphic frog. Bond together into an unlikely partnership, while also living with the local frogs, these two will rediscover what real friendship is and become heroes

37. The First Temple

I'm cowboyalchemist on Discord. Come on over if you want to chat and talk about ideas. If you want an invite to join my Discord server, you only have to ask me.

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"It killed humans, therefore it was a weapon. But radiation killed humans, and a medical X-ray machine wasn't intended as a weapon. Holden was starting to feel like they were all monkeys playing with a microwave. Push a button, a light comes on inside, so it's a light. Push a different button and stick your hand inside, it burns you, so it's a weapon. Learn to open and close the door, it's a place to hide things. Never grasping what it actually did, and maybe not even having the framework necessary to figure it out. No monkey ever reheated a frozen burrito."

— James S.A. Corey, Abaddon's Gate

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Living in a Frog World

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Part 2

Chapter 14: The First Temple

Frank woke up when the morning light came through the window of the Sundew house's guest room. The sun shone through the curtains and hit Frank's face. He groaned and opened his eyes while lying on his back. He sat up and looked at the room, which had the bare minimum when he arrived. It still did, but Frank had some of his things on a shelf, and his weapons were up against the wall near the door.

It wasn't much, but it beats living in the basement. Something that Frank and Anne didn't mind.

It was Hop Pop that drove them away.

Despite having survived the attack of the plagued Titan Turtle, the two humans had no desire to stay with the Plantars. Not wanting to stay in the Plantars' home after Hop Pop's deception, Frand and Anne packed up their bags and left in the middle of the night. They left only a note that said where they were going to be staying and not to try and convince them to come back. It was short and to the point. Sprig and Polly were upset, but they knew it was for the best.

When they arrived at the Sundew house, they told Felicia what had happened. Shock, she nonetheless invited them inside and allowed them to stay with her as house guests. It was only until Marcy came to take them to the First Temple.

Anne, who slept in Ivy's room in a sleeping bag, made this decision with her boyfriend. Ivy's mother, Felicia, made it clear that even though Frank and Anne were dating and were cute together, they would not sleep in the same bed.

Rolling out of bed and slipping into his clothes, Frank stepped out of the bedroom and walked downstairs. It was before the tea shop was open, yet he saw that Anne was already eating. No thanks to Felicia serving her and Ivy each a plate of pancakes.

Pancakes with some bugs in it.

"Who knew there was a bug that tastes just like chocolate," Anne said, stuffing her mouth with more. She then threw her arms up and yelled like Mel Blanc. "Why didn't somebody tell me these things!?"

"Because you didn't ask," Frank said, kissing her on the forehead.

"Morning, Frank," Anne said, giving him a loving smile and grasping her boyfriend's hand.

"Morning, Honeybuns," he said, calling his girlfriend a new cute pet name. One that she loved.

The other pet's name was going to be 'sweet potato', but something told him that a human girl already picked it out for her witch girlfriend.

"So, where's my breakfast," he asked, moving around her.

"Right here," Ivy said, reaching under the table and pulling out a plate with a cover. Removing the cover revealed a stack of chocopede pancakes. "All for you, big guy."

"Thanks," Frank said, taking the plate. He saw Felicia coming out of the back. "To both of you. We really do appreciate you letting us stay here. We would have stayed at the Loggle's, but…"

"Think nothing of it," Felicia said, sitting at the table with her daughter and her human friends. Placing her plate of chocopede pancakes. "When you told me about your situation, I was…troubled."

"I always knew Hop Pop was a good guy, but to lie to you about something like that," Ivy said, just as troubled as her mother. One of the few things they shared an opinion on.

"I just…I just don't understand what could have possessed him to do it! After everything we've been through!" Anne yelled, hitting the table. Frank placed his hand on hers. "And he tries to justify it as protecting Sprig and Polly, but from what?!"

Felicia looked at the two humans with a sad expression. "I…I think I may know," she said, looking down. "Has Hop Pop ever told you about Sprig and Polly's parents?"

This caught the attention of not only her guests but also Ivy.

"Sprig…said they died a long time ago," Frank said.

"Killed," Felicia corrected. "They were killed by a pair of herons that attacked the town."

"Oh my God," Anne gasped in horror.

"They were the only ones that tried to fight them off when they came. If it weren't for them, so many more people would have died. Sprig and Polly survived, but their parents weren't so lucky. Everyone loved them. Sprig and Polly are the spitting images of them," Felicia said, looking at her tea with sad eyes. "Hop Pop does love those kids dearly…and it's that love that would have caused him to do anything to keep them safe."

For a moment, Frank and Anne sat in silence, taking in what they'd been told, their hearts going out to their two best friends. Felicia's comment about Hop Pop also gave them pause, but it also frustrated them. That's all they ever heard. Hop Pop tried to ruin their chance to go home because he wanted to protect Sprig and Polly. But from what? All it took was a stupid book calling it the Calamity Box and a big-ass label that called it dangerous.

That's all it took for the old frog to take action. Actions that shattered the trust Frank and Anne had in him.

"Yeah? Well, I guess we're not good enough to be his family," Frank said, frowning.

---

Breakfast was finished quickly. After Frank and Anne helped the Sundrews with their dishes, they gathered their weapons and left—leaving to go back to the Plantar farmhouse. They weren't excited about this, especially if it meant seeing Hop Pop. However, when they left Newtopia, that's where they told Marcy to look. It was at the frog home that she was supposed to meet them before they took off for the first temple.

The day before, two days after they left the farm, they received the letter. Sprig and Polly were the ones who delivered it. Marcy was coming to Wartwood. She'd made a breakthrough.

Arriving at the house, they were greeted by Sprig and Polly.

"Hey, guys!" Sprig said, waving at them happily as Frank and Anne approached him and his sister. "How'd you sleep?"

"Well, it was nice to sleep in a bed that wasn't…you know, underground," Anne said, pointing at the ground.

Polly closed her eyes and waved her flipper. "I get it," she said.

Frank caught a glimpse of something orange and looked at the window near the door. For a split second, he saw Hop Pop's head ducking back behind the corner. Glaring at it for a second, he looked at the frog kids. "I'm sorry, guy," he said, grabbing Anne's hand. "I know this isn't what we wanted, but…we just couldn't be around. Especially not with Hop Pop."

Sprig sighed with sadness. "Yeah, I know. He hasn't talked much after the two of you left. I mean, I can't imagine what that's like. Being lied to and finding out your friend buried the music box. Who would want to be around someone like that? I mean, I'm surprised you two came back. Some people would carry the scars of that betrayal for life and never want to come back. Not you two, though."

If he was trying to cheer the two humans up, it didn't work at all, as they frowned at Sprig. Polly then elbowed him. "Sprig!"

"Ow! What?" He rubbed his shoulder.

Frank sighed and held up his hand. "Let's just…not talk about it," he said, "As soon as Marcy gets here, we're out of here."

Anne nodded in agreement. That was until she thought of something. "Wait, how's Marcy supposed to get here?"

Frank's eyes widened. He hadn't thought of that. "Uh…"

It didn't take long to get their answer. In the midst of their conversation, all four of them heard a bird call. For a moment, it sounded like an eagle or falcon. Fearing that it was the Harpy coming to finish them off, Frank pulled out his scythe, and Anne notched an arrow on her bow.

But what came down and landed in front of them wasn't the Harpy. It was a giant bird, but it wasn't an eagle. Instead, it was a sparrow that had dark orange wings with a lighter white underbelly as well as a gray beak and feet. Across his left eye was a small pink scar.

Most noticeable was the golden-engraved armor the bird wore. Across the chest, a carved symbol resembling that of Newtopia's flag was engraved, as was a single green feather protruding from his helmet. Strapped across his back was a wooden saddle that held a large stack of books.

"Ahh! A bird knight, being ridden by a bunch of books!" Frank screamed in fear. "...Wait, what am I saying? Books can't ride birds."

The said books moved like a sentient being, spooking Frank enough to have his scythe ready. And from the pile comes.

"Heya, besties!" Marcy said with her arms out.

"Marcy?" the boy and Anne asked, not having been prepared for her arrival, at least not on a giant bird.

"Sorry, it took so long. Getting ready for a quest was not easy—TAH!" Marcy stumbled off the bird and fell off. She would almost land face-first on the ground if it weren't for Frank catching her, princess-style. "Whoa, thanks, dude, that would have been a dozy," she said with a smile.

Frank said, "Can you please watch where you're going, Marbles?"

"No promises," Marcy said cheerfully as she hopped out of the boy's arms.

Anne rushed over and embraced Marcy. "Oh, Mar-Mar, it's so good to see you," she said with a smile.

"Oh, I've missed you all so much!" Pulling away from Anne's hug, Marcy started dusting herself off as Frank came over to join her. She then looked at Frank and Anne, giving them the biggest grin she could muster. "So…"

"So what," Anne asked.

"You know what I mean," she said in a teasing voice, pointing at them with gun-fingers. "Come on, spill! Are you two a couple or not?! I've been dying to know! Please tell me no one rejected anyone. That would kill me so much."

Frank and Anne turned their heads toward each other and smiled lovingly. "Oh, I don't know," Anne said, lopsidedly rolling her head and scooting closer to Frank. "What do you think, boyfriend? Do you think we're official?"

Frank chuckled and grabbed her hand. "I feel more official than I ever felt, girlfriend."

Marcy gasped loudly and jumped up. "YES! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!" she yelled cheerfully while punching the air. "AAAAAAH! I can't believe it!" Marcy ran over to her BFFs and pulled both of them into a bear hug, nearly crushing them with her surprisingly great strength. "I'm so happy for you two! Oooooooh, I've been rooting for you two for so long! It makes the big news I had even—

She stopped when the hyperactive girl looked up and took in the sight of the Plantars' home. Needless to say, she was amazed by it and pushed Frank and Anne aside to the ground.

"Whaa...Is this your house? Oh, it's so rustic and cute. When was it built?" she asked the family, picking up and dropping books at a time to try and find the right one. "Third century? No. No, no, no. Second. Yes, of course. Okay, when it was af—"

Frank stopped her by knocking on the back of her head. "Hey, hey! Marbles, get your ass back on track," he said with urgency.

"Huh?"

"Big news!"

"Oh, right," Marcy said, getting back on track and getting popped up for the quest ahead of them. "I finished my prep, and we're ready for the first temple!"

Frank and Anne gasped with amazement and hope.

"No way!" Anne exclaimed.

Frank joined in her excitement. "Awesome!" Together, the three of them high-fived.

"I just need to see the music box. Then it's go-time, gang!" Marcy yelled, being the most excited to go. This was her first real quest with Frank, Anne, and the Plantars. She was so enthusiastic that she started throwing some punches. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! Yeah-ya!"

Seeing everyone staring, she fell silent and stopped. "Sorry, sorry," Marcy said. "Long flight. A lot of pent-up energy. Anyway, music box."

Turning to his girlfriend, Frank nodded. Anne nodded back, placed her weapon on the ground, and took off her backpack. Unzipping it, she pulled out the mystical artifact.

"Good thing she didn't show up a few days ago, am I right," Sprig asked in a joking manner. Earning himself a punch to the face from Polly that knocked him to the ground.

Anne walked up to Marcy and presented it to her. "Here you go," she said. "Soooooo, what now?"

Marcy cracked her finger joints and then her cracks. "Watch and learn. Okay, if my studies are correct, then…" she trailed off as she got to work. Sticking out her tongue, she tapped her finger on specific places on the music box, like pressing buttons.

Frank stood with everyone else, wondering what that was all about. He got his answer when the wind-up key on the side of the box started turning clockwise, making musical tinkling sounds. When it finished, all four stones were lifted out of their sloughs on claw-like hands holding them from the bottom. Marcy smiled and plucked one of the depowered crystals—the once-green one. Once she had it in her hand, the others retreated into the Calamity Box.

"Woah!" The other humans and frogs said.

A part of Frank wanted to get mad over how easily Marcy got the crystal, thinking that they could've gotten to the temple and home so much sooner if they knew. But then he remembered that they still had to know where the temple was.

Marcy looked at Frank and held out the box. "There you go, bud."

"Thanks," Frank said, placing the box back into Anne's backpack. She zipped it shut before throwing it back on her.

"Well, we've got a big journey ahead. I'll explain everything on the way. Come on, Joe!" Marcy called to her loyal pet/steed. However, the giant bird didn't respond. "Joe?" Confused, Marcy turned around and saw what he was doing. And what he was doing made Marcy gasp in disappointment. "Joe Sparrow!"

Everyone looked up and saw what had to be the most bizarre thing they'd ever seen. And that was saying a lot after months in this world. But nothing came close to seeing Joe Sparrow doing some funny mating dance moves. That's right, a giant bird was flirting with Bessie, a giant snail. And there was no mistaking what he was doing. Birds don't dance like that unless they want to bang. And from the way he winked his eyebrows at her, that's exactly what Joe was doing.

And it was working. Bessie was blushing and chirping like she was embarrassed yet flattered.

"Leave that snail alone!" Marcy yelled at her bird, throwing him off his game.

Trilling, Bessie left while still blushing. Joe Sparrow looked at Marcy like saying Worst wingman ever.

Frank walked over and said, "Marcy, if your bird knocks up our snail, I'm gonna kill you."

"I accept those terms," Marcy said, nodding. Grabbing some of the books she dropped, she tossed them up onto the saddle. She then looked at the others. "Up you go!"

Smiling and standing next to Joe's side, Frank turned to Anne and crouched. Placing his hands together to make a step, he nodded for her to come. Anne nodded and picked up Polly. She climbed up on her boyfriend, making him grunt a bit. Nevertheless, he supported her weight and allowed her to get on first,

"Oop, pardon me," she said, sitting next to Marcy and her books. Frank then climbed on with Sprig hanging on his back. "Pretty cramped up here, huh?"

"Alright! Quest time!" Marcy exclaimed with an excited grin as she pointed to the sky. Joe Sparrow opened his wings and got ready to take off.

However, behind the bird and everyone on Joe, Hop Pop opened the door of the farmhouse and slipped out of it, making sure not to make so much noise. He looked at Joe's leg with determination.

"I'm gonna make things right," he declared in a whisper.

Running at the bird, he jumped across the ground and grabbed onto Joe Sparrow's left leg. He was expecting the bird to start freaking out, kicking and flying around, just to get him off, and Hop Pop braced himself for it.

However, it never happened, and Hop Pop opened his shut eyes. "Huh, that wasn't so bad—"

Joe Sparrow suddenly took off into the sky with a mighty flap of his wings. Hop Pop screamed and held on as tight as he could, wrapping his arms and his tongue around the bird's leg as they flew higher into the sky.

Thankfully, no one heard his muffled gaggle screaming as they flew across the lands of Amphibia, heading away from Wartwood and going northwest.

"So, Marcy, what did you find out about the stones," Frank asked.

Marcy pulled out her bag and pulled out a scroll. "Well, according to my research, these four ancient temples are filled with difficult challenges to keep out the unworthy," she explained to the others, pointing at the scroll. "All we have to do is complete the challenges, and then we can charge the stone."

"Nifty," Anne said, smiling. "So, what kind of challenges are we talking about?"

"This first temple is said to challenge your intelligence specifically. So I'm pretty sure it's full of puzzles," she said before adopting a sinister look and tone in her voice. "No frog, toad, or newt in history has been able to survive it."

Frank, Anne, Sprig, and Polly looked at each other worriedly. "And to be clear, we're deliberately going inside," asked the boyfriend.

"Yes, but don't worry, because none of them were Marcy Wu," the smart girl said with pride. "Head of the chess club, master RTS player, straight-A student, except for gym, but only because I was reading in class, which only proves my point!"

"That point being that you're a scatterbrain that'll get us killed," Frank asked with a critical look.

"How's that?"

"That's all great, Marcy, but be careful," Anne said, more worried about her safety than Frank. "When you get this into something, you tend to tune everything else out."

"Name one example," Marcy said, confident Anne couldn't come up with an example.

"Oh really? What about that one time you were playing Flappy Bird while serving me frozen yogurt," Anne asked with a raised eyebrow. "I had to stay because you walked out of the store without me!"

"That was one time! I was about to beat my all-time record!"

Frank joined in with his own story. "Just like how you single-handedly ruined the school play," he said, referring to when he, Sasha, Anne, and Marcy were doing a school play of Peter Pan. Anne was the titular character, Sasha was Captain Hook, and Frank Tick-Tock the Crocodile. Marcy was a stagehand and in charge of swinging Anne from a rope.

Needless to say, Marcy was playing with her game console backstage when the rope broke, causing Anne to fall into the audience. She hit a pregnant woman. It was ugly.

"And the zoo incident," Anne said, glaring at Marcy angrily. Remembering that day which will live in infamy.

It was supposed to be a simple day for Anne. She was supposed to be staying in her room, lying on her bed, stuffing herself with marshmallows while listening to the news. Then, the news reported that 500 snakes had escaped from the zoo.

Guess who's dumbass was obviously walking towards the snakes.

"That was the worst fucking Saturday of my life," Anne told Marcy.

"That's called being in the zone, Anne," Marcy said, brushing her off. "It's pretty much my superpower."

Frank glared at her. "And a curse on all of us," he said, jabbing her chest. "And that's why you're going to keep your goddamn head up. Remember, this place is gonna be dangerous, and we're here to help."

"Oh, please! Like I could forget you guys," she said, her hand pointing generally at Sprig and Polly. "Penny? Sprout?"

"Polly," said the polliwog.

"Spring," said the pink frog boy.

"Look, the point is, I'm not gonna let you guys down," Marcy said with confidence.

"Good, because one person has already let me down," Frank said, which was heard by Hop Pop. "I don't need another one."

Hop Pop sighed sadly, knowing that he was talking about him. That's why he was coming along, to make up for his mistake. It didn't matter what this temple threw. The old frog had to do something. Something that would finally show Frank and Anne that he made a mistake and he understood how much he'd hurt them. To show how sorry he was—

A large shadow passed the cloud that Joe Sparrow flew over. Compared to the sparrow's shadow, it was massive.

Gasping, Hop Pop quickly climbed as fast as he could. He pulled himself up after grabbing Marcy's foot and then hopped on top of her head, shocking everyone on Joe's back.

"What the?" Marcy asked.

"Hop Pop?!" Anne exclaimed.

"Are you—" Frank was interrupted when the frog pointed to the sky.

"Look!" he exclaimed with fear.

Frank looked at the sky. His eyes widened when he saw the bird Hop Pop saw with the sun to its back, seemingly disappearing.

That was until its massive black silhouette came down and opened its talons.

"DIVE!" Frank grabbed the reins and forced Joe to dive. The violent maneuver shocked everyone, and they tried hanging on.

Not a moment too soon. The Harpy roared over the screams of the girls and frogs as it tried grabbing Joe Sparrow. Reaching out its talons to snatch him out of the sky. However, the smaller bird slipped its grasp before the Harpy tried to snap its sharp break at him. Again, Joe escaped by only inches.

With Joe under his command, Frank wasted no time diving away, trying to get away from the massive eagle coming after them. But there was no way they were going to out-dive the Harpy. It was the apex predator of Amphibia. Herons run in fear of it.

"What do we do?!" Anne yelled over the rushing wide. Marcy was next to her and held onto Hop Pop while he screamed.

"Quick, into the trees!" Marcy pointed to the forest they were about to enter into.

Frank nodded and flew Joe down into the forest of massive trees, diving down through the canopy of trees as tall as buildings. It didn't matter. The dinosaur-sized raptor chased after them, its wings cutting and snapping the limbs of the trees.

Joe Sparrow pulled out of his dive and flew through the first as fast as he could. His wings flapped desperately as the Harpy followed with coolness and predatory confidence. Snapping its beak every moment it could when it thought it was in range.

"What do we do now?!" Polly yelled.

"I have an idea!" Frank yelled, turning Joe to the right.

The Hispanic boy had the bird fly through a wall of vines connected by a break in a large tree's branches. It was too narrow to get through, and the vines would have tangled the Harpy. With this being none, the Harpy stopped its pursuit of the humans and frogs. Roaring angrily at them before taking back off into the sky.

With the threat no longer chasing after them, Frank yanked on the reins and pulled Joe Sparrow to a complete stop. Landing him on the forest floor.

"What…the hell…was that?!" Anne exclaimed. Everyone on Joe Sparrow panted from the scary experience.

Everyone except Marcy. "I can't believe it," said the Taiwanese girl, more exhilarated than scared as she jumped off her bird. Letting go of Hop Pop's arm and dropping him as she geeked out. "I got to see THE HARPY! Oh, man, everyone thought that it wasn't real. They thought it'd died a long time ago, but no! The sacred bird of the last Frog Kings is still alive and kicking!"

Frank jumped down and asked, "Wait, that thing had been around since the last Frog King? That thing was Hellcat?!" he exclaimed, remembering the story Marcy told him about how the Frog King named his weapon after his pet bird.

"I know, right?! It's so exciting," Marcy said as Anne and the others hopped down from Joe Sparrow's saddle. "I mean, no one had seen it since the Leviathan family overthrew the Frog King."

Everyone came to a complete and full stop.

"Alright, let's go—"

"Wait a minute, wait a minute!" Frank yelled as he rushed to get in front of Marcy. "What do you mean that the Leviathan family overthrew the Frog King? You're telling me that Andrias' family was the one that overthrew the Frog King?"

Marcy thought for a moment. "Did I," she asked, looking alarmed. "Oh, wait, Frank…"

"If this is some kind of joke, it's not funny!" Frank yelled.

Anne came over. "Whoa, Frank. Chill. I'm sure Marcy was going to tell us. Besides, I thought you didn't care about the Frog King business."

"I don't," Frank said. "But knowing that Andrias's family were the ones that upturned the kingdom, implemented the caste system, and stole power from the Frog Kings? Sorry, but that doesn't really sit well with me."

"No, no, Frank, you've got it all wrong," Marcy said, trying to calm down her best friend. "Yes, Andias's family overthrew the Frog King, yes, but it happened a long time ago. In the thousands of years before Andrias, the Leviathan family really turned their act around after they seized power."

Frank, Anne, and the Plantars looked at her strangely.

"The usurpers 'turned their act around'," Polly asked.

Frank scoffed and shook his head. "I don't believe it."

It was Marcy's turn to run in front of him. "No, no, it's true. Andrias told me all about it. Oh, man. You would love the history behind it."

"Pass," Frank said, holding up his hand. "All I know is that this doesn't paint the king in a positive light."

"Frank, come on, would I really trust Andrias if I thought he was a bad guy?"

"You trusted Sasha."

"We still do, right Anne?" Marcy said, making Anne laugh nervously. It was the only hiccup in their relationship, yet one that Frank's been trying his damndest to support even though he wanted Sasha to suffer. "But other than that, Andrias is our ally. He's my friend."

Frank narrowed his eyes before sighing. "Alright, I'm trusting you, Marcy. Besides, we got bigger fish to fry," he said, directing his enraged glare at Hop Pop.

The old frog was standing back up when he noticed that Frank and Anne were glaring at him. Marcy didn't know what was going on, so she just glanced between the three of them, wondering in silence if she'd missed out on some major character development. Sprig and Polly were more worried, knowing that their grandfather wasn't supposed to be there, and it would only make Frank and Anne angry that he tagged along.

"Hey," Hop Pop asked.

Frank said, "Hey? After what you did, you have a lot of nerves to tag along on and just say hey!"

"I-I thought you could use help," Hop Pop said weakly.

Anne said, "With what? With lying? Sorry, but I already have that down to a science, and no, I'm…not proud to admit that."

Marcy, worried about her friends, got in between them. "Whoa, what's going on?"

Frank looked at the old frog. "You wanna tell her? About how you stole the box from us and tried to destroy it before deciding to hide it forever?" he asked, making Hop Pop grimace and visibly shrink his head down.

"Whaaaaaa?!" Marcy slowly turned her head towards Hop Pop, looking at him with wide eyes.

"Kids, please," Hop Pop pleaded with sad eyes. "I-I know what I did was wrong, and I know that you can never forgive me, but I want to make it up to you. I want to show you that I'm trustworthy. Please?"

"No!" Frank yelled.

"Come on, Frank," Sprig said, feeling sorry for his grandfather. "Can't you just let him tag along?"

"After what he did?! No dice!" Frank exclaimed, glaring at the guilt-ridden frog. "We need people we can trust."

"But can't he just come along and, I don't know, be there for support," Polly asked.

"I say let him."

Everyone turned to the person who said that in shock.

"Marcy!" Anne exclaimed.

"Look, you two, I understand. If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't trust Hop Pop, but he seems genuine," Marcy said and gestured to the old frog, who was still on his knees, his hands together.

Hop Pop gave them the puppy eyes and smiled, nodding.

"Plus, Sprig and Polly can keep an eye on him. Make sure he doesn't do anything wrong," Marcy said. "Also, needless to say, we're wasting daylight."

With that, Frank and Anne looked at one another, silently asking each other if they were really going to let it happen. They weren't just talking about allowing anyone to come with them. If it were Ivy, she would be awesome to have. Sprig would have his girlfriend with them, and they could compare how they handled their relationships. If it were Wally, he'd sing. And probably be annoying in that lovable Wally way. But this was Hop Pop, the frog that broke their trust and set their journey back by months. Lied to their faces, and all because he read that the Calamity Box was dangerous.

On second thought, that name did sound really bad, but that's not the point. Hop Pop lied and was going to trap them in Amphibia.

So why did Frank relent?

"Alright," he said. "Fine, but on one condition!" Frank poked his finger at Hop Pop. "You don't do anything that'll endanger us or the mission! You screwed us over one time too many! You're not welcome on this mission, Hop Pop. Remember that. We need people we can trust."

It was a hard pill to swallow, but Hop Pop nodded his head sadly.

Frank turned to his smark friend. "Lead the way, Marcy."

"Actually, we're already here," she said.

Confusion turned to shock and wonder as Frank, Anne, and the Plantars finally took in their surroundings. Their eyes widened with wonder as they saw the flora around them. It was truly like being in an alien world—more so than the humans already were. There were the staples of Amphibia, like the giant trees and hanging vines that dominated the southern half of the lilypad continent. There were also the occasional giant centipedes and flies. But what truly stood out were the giant brain-shaped fungi the size of king-size beds, which pulsed a glowing green hue from their centers and spat out a sticky pink liquid from their bends and creases.

Was it wondrous and left the group in awe? Yes. Was it also gross? Definitely.

"Welcome to Amygdala Woods, everyone, home to the first temple," Marcy said. "Fun fact: Did you know it's named after the Amygdalae, the parts of the brain responsible for defining and regulating emotions?"

"Whoa!" Sprig said, running over to one of the brain fungi and poking it. "What are these things?:

"Gyromitra esculenta. Also known as brain mushrooms," Marcy said.

She then started leading the crew through the forest. Behind her walked Frank and Anne, holding hands, with Polly on her head. Sprig and Hop Pop walked behind them.

"A forest full of brains for the intelligence temple," she asked. "Kinda on the nose, don't you think?"

"Speaking of temples, I think you way overhyped this place," Polly said, pointing ahead of them with a sour look.

Ahead of the group was a mossy, rotting, stinky outhouse made of wood with flies buzzing around it.

"No, no, no. That's the temple," Marcy said, pointing to the real temple. Leaving the others gasping in wonder.

The temple, long forgotten by the modern/medieval world of Amphibia, was beyond anything the human couple and frogs could have imagined it to be. Designed much like a Taiwan temple, it was a step pyramid made entirely of stone and covered in moss. Channels of water flowed out of the mouths of stone frog heads bordering both sides of a tall stairway, leading to another frog head's mouth in the middle that acted as the main entrance into the temple. To gaze upon it was like staring at a piece of a lost world. It was oriental, magical, and ancient. Hidden from the world by the trees of the forest and the brain mushrooms.

How did they miss it on the way?

For Sprig, however, there was still one more thing that didn't make sense. "So what's this then," he asked, running over to the outhouse and pointing at it.

That was a valid point. What was an outhouse doing all the way out there? It had to be hiding something.

Frank walked over to see if it was true.

Opening the door, all he saw was a stone hole that smelled like shit that rotted in the sun and a single fly buzzing around it.

"Outhouse," he said. "It's an outhouse.

Closing the door, he walked back over to the group and grabbed Anne's hand. Together, they walked over to the base of the stone stairs. Then, they started the accent. Luckily, the sets weren't too high to tire them out.

Marcy, excited, placed her hands on her hips. "All right, guys! Let's do this thing!" she exclaimed, her voice echoing.

Frank let go of Anne's hand and pulled out his scythe. Hop Pop walked with him. He stopped when Frank halted and turned to shoot him a glare.

"Oop, sorry about that. After you, my boy," Hop Pop said sheepishly.

"Don't call me that," Frank said, continuing to the door.

"Whoa, talk about tense," Marcy said.

Anne sighed. "Yeah," she said, walking over to her boyfriend. Nudging past Hop Pop. "So…how do we get in?"

Almost as if it'd been waiting for them to say that the doors of the temple opened. Sliding apart to allow the group of six inside its dark chambers.

"Wow," they all said as they walked inside.

Something out of the left corner of his eye caught Frank's attention. A wall carving that looks oddly familiar. Covered up mostly by moss. Walking up to it, Frank grabbed the moss and pulled it down. Gasping, he saw the carving complete. It was the same mural drawing he had seen in the ancient tunnels of the mountains. The one of him and the girls battling against the evil giant amphibian.

"Whoa, is that us?"

Frank gasped and turned around, looking in startled shock. Anne, Marcy, and the Plantars were standing behind him. They all looked at the mural with curiosity.

"What's up, dude," Anne asked. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"I…I…"

Anne's expression turned to a worried look. "Frank, are you okay," she asked, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Frank looked down and to his left. Leif was standing there.

"Don't you think it's time," she asked.

"Leif?" Frank asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Isn't it obvious? Part of This One lives in these lives in this temple," she said, holding up her hands. "Yeah, This One won't be leaving any time soon."

"You're not going away this time," Frank asked with eyes widening. "Hey, how come you've gone back to using This One?"

"Uh, Frank?" The boy looked at his worried girlfriend. "You, uh, you okay," she asked. "Are you talking to Leif? Is Leif here with us right now?

"Don't patronize me, Anne, and yes, she's here," Frank said, knowing fully well that Anne didn't believe in Leif's existence. "And Leif, if you're here, that means you can get us through the temple!"

"Only if you and your companions want me too," Leif said.

Marcy, however, said, "No, she can't!"

"Huh?" Everyone looked at her in confusion.

"Guys, what did I tell you? I've got this," Marcy said with confidence. "We don't need some ghost thing to cheat our way through all four temples. Marcy Wu is here, and she's gonna save the day!"

"But Leif is right—" Frank stopped when he saw that she wasn't there anymore. "Dammit, Marcy!" He shouted angrily, marching towards her. "You scared her off!"

His foot landed on a small, protruding floor panel with the Amphibia symbol on it, sinking it into the floor and triggering something within the temple.

"Uh-oh."

Those should've been his last words before a trap killed him. Instead, the room was illuminated by glowing mushrooms lining the walls like torches. Revealing the first chamber they've entered to be massive. In the back were two doors with curved pictures and writing on both at the bottom. On the left-hand door was what looked like a… Rubix club? The other door had three panels. At the top, each had a chess piece. In the middle, they both formed the image of a crystal radiating power.

The writing on the doors wasn't in English, Spanish, Thai, or any known language, making it impossible to tell what it said. Marcy, however, grinned and said, "Did I learn an entire dead language just for today? You better believe I did! Now, let's see," she said, opening her journal and walking up to the wall.

"Uh, Leif, you wanna jump in at any time, please do," Frank said.

Approaching the wall, Marcy, with the help of the old Amphibian alphabet she'd chronicled, deciphered the writing. "Keeper of the box, one strong of mind, three trials await that will return the stones' shine."

She looked back and smiled. "Hey, looks like there are three trials, guys," she said.

Then the doors opened. The wind howled as air escaped from it.

"And here we go," Marcy said, going inside the first test chamber.

This room was strange, to say the least. The walls, floor, and ceiling were exactly 15 x 15 meters. However, the floor, right and left walls, and ceiling were divided into 3-meter x 3-meter squares with decorative carvings. All of them were either a frog, a toad, or a newt—three of each per wall.

"A dead end," Sprig said, ready to leave. "Well, we tried our best, and that's what counts."

Frank blocked him with the Hellcat. "We'll have to solve it," he declared.

"How?!" Polly exclaimed. "There's nothing here to solve!"

Marcy, however, smiled with encouragement. "Hey, come on," she said. "Frank's right. There's a puzzle here somewhere."

"There must be some way to pass through," Frank said with a serious scowl. "Everyone, look for clues."

Together, they spread out to look for their clue—something or anything that would get them through the decorative door with a golden frog holding a cube.

That something came when Anne found it lying on the floor, sitting between the floor's northeast and east squares. Picking it up, it took on the appearance of an ancient-looking Rubix cube that looked like something the Mayans would play with. And the etchings on each square would support her thought. It wasn't colored in any but a dirty bronze, and it was already shuffled and mixed.

Anne chuckled and picked it up. "Hey, guess who found the puzzle?" she proclaimed, holding it over her head and pointing at it.

Suddenly, she found herself encased in a green energy bubble.

"Whoa! Whoa!" Anne yelled as she was lifted off the ground. "Guys!"

"Anne!" Frank yelled when he saw what'd happened.

Jumping up to her, he tried hitting it with his scythe, only for the bubble to bubble off his attack. Anne drew an arrow from her quiver and tried stabbing the bubble from within. Only for her hand and the arrow to go straight through. Almost hitting Hop Pop's foot.

Jumping back, Hop Pop gasped. "Frog, help us. A cursed cube possessed by evil magic!"

"No, it's the puzzle!" Marcy said, grinning, before placing her hand under her chin. "Also, I'm pretty sure that's a magnetic field holding her up."

"Isn't that what I said?"

"Well, whatever it is, all yours, Marbles," Anne yelled, throwing the cube out of the bubble.

That bubble holding her up suddenly disappeared, and Anne screamed, falling to the ground. Luckily for her, Frank put away Hellcat's Claw and held up his hands, catching her before her body weight forced his arms down like springs on a mattress. Anne sighed as she looped her arms around her boyfriend's neck and leaned on him. Smiling with gratitude and love.

Anne's eyes widened. "Uh, Frank, I love you, but where's Marcy?"

"Whoa!" They looked up and saw that Marcy was floating over them within her own energy bubble. "This thing's got, like, a zillion permutations. If this temple thinks it can beat me, it's got another thing coming," she said with confidence.

Marcy turned one select of the cube on its side.

The floor under Frank and the others rumbled. "Uh, what's going on," he asked.

Suddenly, his entire world was turned to its side. The middle selection of the room turned 90 degrees on its side, and everyone screamed and fell to the ground. Groaning from the pain of landing on top of one another.

"Anyone else tasting chocopede pancakes right about now," Sprig asked.

Laying on top of her boyfriend, Anne shouted, "Marcy! Can you at least let us know what you're gonna move before you move it?"

Marcy didn't listen. Already, she was "In the Zone" and was twisting and turning each side of the Rubix cube, trying to reline all of the faces with their correct shapes. However, in doing so, Marcy was sending their friends and their family flying all over the room before they came crashing back down to the floor. No matter how much Anne cried out, pleading for her to stop, or Frank yelling threats of bodily harm, Marcy just wouldn't stop. Determined to finish the puzzle.

Even if it meant the others were almost crushed by the square pillars shooting out of the wall and shifting around every time she pulled out three squares in a roll and pushed them back in.

"Ha! Got it!" she exclaimed, completing the Rubix cube.

The door opened, allowing her and her friends passage. She was lowered to the ground gently before her bubble popped. Everyone else landed on the floor, on top of each other. Groaning in pain while Marcy was like a kid in a candy shop.

"We did it! One down, two to go." Marcy threw down the box, breaking it while laughing. "How fun is this? Yeah! Haha! Whoo!" she yelled, fists over her head, and ran up the stairs to the next testing room.

Back in the first room, Frank groaned as he helped Anne back to her feet. Sprig, Polly, and Hop Pop got up too.

"Wow, Anne, you weren't kidding about her being in the zone," Polly said.

"Not to mention she's a tad overconfident," said Hop Pop

"Hard to argue with the results, though," Sprig noted, following his frog family as they walked away to catch up with Marcy.

"Ugh!" Anne groaned in frustration. She knew this was gonna happen. Marcy had always done this.

"Forget a leash," Frank said, walking with Anne. "We're putting a shock collar on that girl. And chipping her when we get home."

---

"Oh, hey, a dance floor!" Anne said when she saw the room.

She, Frank, Marcy, and the Plantars were standing on a platform overlooking a large floor with square tiles that glowed in three different colors. A majority glowed blue, two were green, and the rest were pink. The green tiles were spread out across the floor. On the other side of the floor was the door.

Marcy was standing on a glowing red tile on the platform, which activated the room by Marcy stepping on it. "Not quite. Watch," she said, picking up a rock from the ground and tossing it.

The rock landed on a pink tile. The square sank an inch into the floor and shot a column of fire out of it that reached the ceiling.

"Woah," Sprig said. "Not getting good vibes from this room."

"Welp. Time to turn back," Polly suggested. "Thanks for playing, everyone!"

Hop Pop, however, pointed to the walls of the room. "Hold on, gang. Look!"

Everyone looked to the walls and saw Amphibian words appearing on them in large glowing texts. Seeing this, Marcy pulled out her journal and wrote down something. Then she said, "A dangerous room. What to do? Don't be jealous of my hue."

Everyone asked. "Huh?"

Sprig asked, "Who's Hue?"

Marcy pondered for a moment. "Hmm. I wonder…"

She picked up another rock and tossed it over to where there were more blue squares than pink ones. When it landed on one, it was immediately crushed by a spiked square flail that came crashing down. Smashing it to powder before raising itself back up by its chain.

"Okay, so pink is death by flame; blue is death by crushing," Anne said. "I'm still not following—Marcy!" she screamed when the girl ran past her and jumped off the platform.

"Doot doot doot doot dooot do!" Marcy mimicked fanfare as she shot an arrow at the ceiling from her arm crossbow, using it as a grappling hook with a rope tied around the shaft of the bolt.

The bolt hit a hanging broking pillar and was embodied deep enough to allow Marcy to swing from it, making everyone scream in shock and fear that she might fall on a blue or pink square.

Instead, Marcy landed perfectly on the furthest green square. It sank to the floor, and everyone waited for something bad to happen.

Yet, nothing happened. She was safe. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"Ha! Solved it. Okay, guys, listen up," she called back to the others on the platform. "Green is the safe color. Get it?"

"No," Frank said.

"Don't be jealous of my hue," Marcy repeated. "It's a reference to green, the color of envy."

Frank thought for a moment. "Oooooooh."

"Ah, yes, naturally," said Sprig.

Polly hummed. "Hmm...swell."

"I have a lot of green friends who would find that offensive," Hop Pop said, however.

Polly pointed to the door. "But why hasn't the door opened then," she asked.

"Hmm." Marcy thought for a moment before looking at the other two green squares closer to the platform. Her brilliant mind instantly came to a conclusion. "Looks like this is a two-person job. Someone go stand on the other green square," she said, pointing at it.

Anne, however, was uncertain. "Mar-Mar, are you...sure," asked the Thai girl.

"Yeah, how do we know that it wouldn't just activate another trap," Frank asked.

"With spikes in it!" Polly exclaimed.

"Not helping, Polly."

"Guys, I've done the research," Marcy told them from her square. "Plus, it's me, remember? I said I won't let you down, and I meant it. Now, who wants to hit those buttons?"

Frank looked at Anne and the square. One of them would have to do it.

"I'll do it," Frank said, stepping back to the wall to give himself a running start.

"Wait, Frank!" Hop Pop said, blocking Frank's path.

Frank was shocked before getting angry. "What the hell, Hop Pop!? Get out of my way!"

"It's too dangerous," he said. "Let me do it."

Letting out a bitter scoff, Frank shook his head. "Yeah, like that's happening," he said. "How do I know you wouldn't step on a tile that'll bring the whole place down?"

"Just let me! The whole point of this is to get you and Anne home alive. I've already had a good life," Hop Pop said rather morbidly.

"Yeah, no way. You're not doing anything. This is our quest. It's our responsibility. Your responsibility is keeping your family safe, not us.

Sprig said, "Uh-oh."

Hurt by his words, Hop Pop said, "I care about you both too, Frank."

Hearing that, Frank's anger flared as he marched up to the old frog. "Oh, you care about us?" Frank asked sarcastically. "You cared so much when you tried to destroy the music box, taking away our one way to go home!"

"Now, hold on," Hop Pop said, getting upset. "That's unfair."

"No, it's not!" Frank shouted in his face, startling the old frog. "Nothing about what you did was fair, so don't you dare go pretending we're part of the family, okay?!"

"Oh, for Pete's sake," Anne said, throwing up her hands in frustration. She then stepped back from the edge. "I'll do it!"

"Yeah, she'll—" Hop Pop stopped himself as he and Frank looked at Anne in shock. "Wait, what?!"

"Anne, wait!" Frank tried to stop her, but Hop Pop was in the way. He could only watch as his girlfriend yelled and ran to the edge.

She jumped off and headed for the tile.

"ANNE!"

"Careful, girl!" Polly yelled.

The Thai girl landed on the tile, just like Marcy. However, unlike her, she was…less than graceful on her landing and couldn't balance herself quickly enough.

Frank saw this and yelled in fear of his girlfriend's life, "ANNE!"

But it was too late. Anne had to stop herself, and she had to do it with her hands. Quickly turning to face the floor, she held her hands out in front of her to break her fall. Only to see that she's pressed down on a pink square.

"Whoa!" Anne yelled, moving back just in time to avoid getting a stream of fire shot into her face.

The fire was a hot hell, and its sudden ignition in front of her face caused Anne to slip on her one show. She fell back and landed on a blue tile.

"No!" Frank yelled.

Anne yelped when she looked to see she'd landed on a blue square. She crab-walked back to the safety of the green square. Dodging the falling flail just before it could crush her skull into a bloody paste.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh…." Anne's scream of pure terror lowered and went away as she squeezed herself into herself and hugged her legs against her chest. The fire in front of her died away when the tile closed, and the flail behind her raised itself back up.

"Anne, are you okay?!" Frank yelled worriedly.

His response came in the form of a traumatized chuckle. How in the name of hell was she still alive?

"AH!" Anne gasped as her green square sank a bit into the floor.

The puzzle was solved and completed, as all the blue and pink tiles turned green, making the entire room safe for everyone to come down and walk on.

"Anne!" Frank ran over to Anne, picked her up, twirled her around, and then hugged her tightly. "Oh, thank God."

"Hey, dude, I'm fine," Anne said, placing a loving hand on Frank's cheek and kissing him passionately. "I think I lost an eyebrow, though."

"You, ah…Not all of it," Frank said when he looked. Trying to make her feel better.

The door opened, allowing the group to pass through. Marcy ran to it and started dancing. "Whoo! What did I tell you?" she exclaimed. "This temple is toast! Consider the stone charged, baby!"

She started humming and skipping off down the pathway leading to the next and final test.

"Dang, girl!" Polly said as she and Sprig ran behind Frank and Anne. Together, all four of them entered the hallway, too.

Hop Pop was the last one to go in, looking at them with a mixture of sadness and frustration. That's it, he thought, thinking that it was finally time to put an end to all this and finally explain himself.

He caught up with everyone as Marcy stopped in front of what looked to be a spiral staircase.

"This leads to the top floor," she said with her journal open. "That means there's only one puzzle left. Come on, team!" Marcy didn't even bother waiting before she was already running up the stairs. Leaving everyone else to walk behind her.

Seeing this as the best chance for him to finally talk to Frank and Anne, Hop Pop said, "Frank, Anne, I think it's time we talked."

"Really, Hopediah? You think it is?" Anne asked with hostility in her voice. "Because I don't remember wanting to talk to you."

"I know that what I did was wrong, but you have to understand that I had to do it," Hop Pop said, begging them to listen to him. "If you just let me explain…"

"No!" Frank snapped, grabbing his girlfriend's hand. "The last thing we need is another lie from your lying old mouth."

"Hey," Sprig said with Polly on his head, "we kind of need to be a team here so we don't die. So…"

"Frank, I promise you that I'm not gonna lie anymore. Yes, I did try to destroy the box, but it was too—" Hop Pop was cut off when Anne glared at him.

"Yeah, we know. You did it to protect Sprig and Polly. You keep saying that, but it doesn't change the fact you don't care for me or Frank. If you did, you never would've done it," she said.

"Yes, I would!" Hop Pop exclaimed.

"How?!" Frank asked. "By throwing everything we've built together in the trash?"

As the tension and argument started heating up, Polly said to Marcy, who was nose-deep in her journal reading, "What do we do, Marcy? This is fun to watch and all, but it could make the last puzzle pretty rough."

Marcy brushed them off. "I'm sure they'll work it out by the time we get there."

ONE HOUR LATER

"So there's nothing I can do to fix this? Not one thing?!" Hop Pop exclaimed, yelling at Frank and Anne as they faced away from him.

Anne nodded. "Nothing's coming to mind at all!"

"I'm trying to explain myself, but you don't wanna hear a single thing from me?!"

"Not if it's gonna be more lies," Frank said.

"Man, this is a long hallway," Sprig said. This was true, as they'd been walking for what felt like an hour. Making him wonder just how big the temple really is.

Luckily, they finally reached the end of their journey when Marcy suddenly stopped, making Sprig and Polly walk into her back and fall down. All while the smart girl excitedly pointed up and ahead.

"Ha! Here we are. The final puzzle," she said, pointing to the doorway that led to the final test. At the top of it was more Amphibian text. "Oh! I'm so excited."

Excitement almost ended when she realized that Frank and Anne were still arguing with Hop Pop.

"Guys, killing the vibe."

They stopped.

"Thank you. Now, where was I?" Marcy wondered as she looked at the words on the wall. "Few have the brains to make it to this door, but are you wise enough to solve what's in store? Yep! Let's go."

Together, they made their way into the final puzzle room, and Marcy gasped in excitement and wonder. In front of her was what appeared to be a chessboard resting on a pedestal. There were already black pieces on the board, already set up. All of them are Amphibia theme, with the king being a Frog King holding Hellcat's Claw, a queen armed with a lance riding a heron, a bishop with a scepter, a rook with a sword and shield, two big knight toads with maces, two newt archers, and of course the pawns. There was nothing else that could be seen in the room. The only light was coming down from the ceiling onto the chessboard.

"I don't believe it!" Marcy squealed. "It's flipwart!"

Anne gasped and then asked, "What's flipwart?"

"It's a strategy game I learned to play in Newtopia," Marcy said as Frank walked past her and approached the board.

"Marcy, I know you're a bit of a loose monkey wrench, but you do understand this is just chess with a frog theme," Frank said, pointing at the black pieces.

"Yes, but flipwart takes chess to the fucking max!" Marcy exclaimed before acting confident. "I got so good at it. I even beat King Andrias."

"Impressive," Hop Pop said. "They say King Andrias is one of the best flipwart players around."

Marcy walked up to the board, pushing Frank aside as he glared at her eager rudeness. She opened the drawer on her side and pulled out her white king. "So, both sides have a wart, right? And they're trying to flip it," she said, placing it on the board, and then pulled out two archers. "Each piece has a different set of abilities. These archers, for example, can only attack in a straight line. Oh, I love this game!"

"Yeah, I don't care," Frank said, turning away from her.

That's when he saw a new text on the wall to the right of them. It was glowing, just like the other text.

"Hey, Marcy, what does this say," he asked.

Turning away from her favorite game, Marcy said, "Any commander whose wart falls may never set foot inside these temple walls."

"WHAT?!" Frank and Anne yelled, shocked.

"So, you're saying…" Anne trailed off as dread set in.

"We're only going to get one shot at this," Marcy said gravely. Then she grinned. "One shot is all I need. But first, I need to set up the board."

Standing behind everyone, Sprig said to his sister, "Well, I guess we'll just sit back quietly and watch."

"Yeah, it'll be nice to sit this one out 'cause these flippas are tired," Polly said.

Marcy picked out the bishop's piece with the shield and sword and placed it on the board. The thudding of the stone piece on the board echoed in the chamber.

Suddenly, the floor under Polly disappeared, and she screamed, falling through it before the floor reformed.

"Polly!" Everyone screamed in absolute horror and shock.

Suddenly, more lights came on in the chamber from in front of the flipwart. Everyone turned around, and the true extent of the challenge was revealed. In front of them, following a short flight of stairs—only three steps down—was a giant flipwart board. Just like on the original board, the enormous, life-size black pieces of the game were already set up, with the white king on the board and his archers.

"A giant flipwart board," Marcy asked.

One of the black tiles glowed before lifting Polly out of the hole it had formed. She'd been transformed into the rook piece, with two strong arms holding her weapons.

"Polly," Sprig called to his sister, "are you okay?"

"'Okay'? I've got a sword, baby," she said, grinning and hitting her sword against her shield. "I'm doing better than all of you."

This went beyond anything Anne thought this challenge would go. Yeah, the first challenge banged them up, and she could've died in that last one, but this was different. She had no idea how this game worked, and Polly was the precious baby of the family. "Marcy, do you think we should stop," she asked her best friend. "This could get dangerous."

"We don't have a choice, Anne," Marcy said. "You wanna get home, right? Then we've gotta play, or we'll never recharge the stone.

Hop Pop walked up to her. "She has a point," he said.

"I didn't ask you, Hop Pop!" Anne snapped. "Frank, what do you think?"

Frank thought about their odds. "I don't like it, but Marcy's right. I trust her," he said, smiling at Marcy, who nodded back at him.

"Alright, let's do this," Marcy said, pulling out a bishop and paw and placing them on the board.

Just like the little girl-frog, Hop Pop and Sprig screamed as they fell through the floor and reappeared on the board as pieces of the white army.

First, Hop Pop appeared on the board bishop. "Ooh, I got a scepter," he said.

Sprig then appeared on the board as a pawn. Something that Polly chuckled at him for. "Hahaha! You're a pawn."

"Aw, man," he groaned.

Frank grabbed Anne's hand. "Get ready, Anne. There's a good chance we're next," he said, nervous. "I love you."

"Dude, I don't think we're gonna die," Anne said.

"Can't I just say I love you without it feeling like it's the last time I'll get to say it?"

"Frank," Anne said.

"Yeah?"

"I love you, too," she said with a smile, squeezing his hand. "Do it, Marcy."

Marcy nodded to the couple and placed all the white pieces on the board, making all of the pieces appear on the giant board with the Plantars. At the same time, Frank and Anne braced themselves for the fall and were turned into Flipwart pieces. When it didn't come, they opened their eyes and looked around.

"Oh, it looks like we're not in the game," Anne said as she and Frank smiled. Neither of them looked down to notice the ground glowing. "Well, you guys have fun, I guess—

"WAAAH!" Frank disappeared into the floor, just like the Plantars did when they became flipwart pieces.

"Frank? Frank!" Anne screamed when she saw that her boyfriend was taken. She ran to the railing that kept her from falling onto the giant board. Expecting Frank to appear as one of Marcy's pieces.

However, he didn't appear in Marcy's army. On the other side of the giant game board, Frank popped out at the black army's queenpiece.

"Wait, what?" Hop Pop exclaimed.

Sprig yelled. "Frank, no!

"TRAITOR," shouted Polly.

Frank held up his hand. "Wait, wait! This is a good thing," he said, smiling. "I'll just play badly and sabotage the other team."

Anne gasped, and her eyes widened. "You're right, babe! Didn't think of that, did ya, temple? Ha!" she said, smirking triumphantly at the temple.

"Alright, here we go," Frank said, raising his lance over his head to destroy the pawn in front of him. "Sabotage!"

Suddenly, glowing bands of magical energy appeared on both of his wrists. When he felt them, Frank didn't even get the chance to react when the armbands wrestled all control of his arms' movement away from the Hispanic boy. Like puppets controlled by his new master's strings to be their new plaything, he was forced to stand down by having his arms forced to his sides. He couldn't move his head and torso anywhere. Becoming a slave to the will of the temple.

"Okay, I can't move," Frank said.

The hero wasn't the only one who fell under the temple's control. Sprig, Hop Pop, and Polly were also forced to stay still.

"What's going on?!" Anne exclaimed, worried for her boyfriend and the frog family.

"Our hands are tied, literally," said Hop Pop, panicking. Together, they all strained to get out of their bindings. But it was no use. They were stuck like that. And if Frank had to guess, they were only going to move however the game wanted them to move. Meaning that they were going to hurt each other whether they wanted to or not.

"Marcy, what do we do?!" Anne yelled to the smart girl playing the game. She was the smart one, and she had to know something to get them out of this.

"Don't worry, everyone," Marcy said, waving her hand. "I'll just play well enough so that none of you gets hurt. It'll be like hard mode!" She giggled and clapped her hands together. "Fun!"

No one else shared her enthusiasm. "You wouldn't be saying that if you were the pawn," Sprig grumbled.

Anne looked back at the others. This wasn't how she wanted it to be. She should have been taken. Yet the temple had a will of its own, and it chose her boyfriend to be a part of this sick game.

"Okay, Marcy," she said, accepting her role as a nervous spectator. "Just…don't hit my boyfriend."

Leaning over her side of the board, Marcy placed her hands on the edges with a confident smirk. This was it. There was no going back. It was time to show this temple that there was nothing it could do that would make her lose. While it would be accurate to say that Marcy's flaw was being clumsy, her greatest was undoubtedly hubris, and it would be hubris for her to think she had the mind to make it out of the temple while others had failed. A thought that was nowhere to be found in her mind as she focused all her attention on the game.

"Okay, white goes first, so it's our move. Let's flip this wart!" Marcy exclaimed, making her first move with a pawn.

Just as she'd moved it on the normal board, the giant flipwart piece slid forward. Its stone body rubbed against the stone floor, making noise.

"You got this, bud," Sprig said with engagement.

"Now, let's see how they respond," Marcy said.

The base of the knight next to Frank glowed. He blew a raspberry at it, but it didn't stop the piece from hopping over the line of black pawns and landing on the white space beside the white pawn. Watching, Frank expected the piece to knock the other one over, just like in regular chess.

If only it were chess, he thought, watching as the stone toad came to life. To his terror, it raised its mace and slammed down on the pawn's pointy helmet. Smashing it to pieces, with the head rolling over to Sprig's feet.

Sprig sobbed and said, "I don't like this game!"

Marcy, however, scoffed. "Such a basic response. This is gonna be easy," she said, placing her archer a few spaces in front of the toad knight.

The archer on the giant board charged up a beam of energy from its tongue sticking out. Then, it shot the knight, destroying it instantly.

"Whoa!" Frank yelled, imagining that knight being him if he'd been picked.

"Marcy!" Anne exclaimed, running over to her friend's side. "Remember, Frank's still on the other side."

"Yeah, yeah, I see him," Marcy said, waving her off. She was already making her next move.

And so, it began. Frank had never played chess before, but if it was anything like flipwart (or if flipwart was like chess), he didn't want to play it. Polly was having the time of her life, decapitating a pawn. Sprig almost got killed before Marcy acted quickly and moved his piece out of the way. Against her will, Frank swung his lance and smashed the white queen to pieces. A single tap from Hop Pop's scepter blasted the black bishop to pieces. All the while, Anne paced from right to left, nervously biting away at her fingers.

There was no stopping, and Marcy knew it. This was a fight to the finish, and she had to win. However, the temple wasn't a mindless computer game that she could beat in a few turns. Whatever was controlling the pieces on the other side was a master that rivaled King Andrias. She whipped her brow of sweat. How long has she been playing? An hour? How long had they been in this hot temple? All day? Was Joe still outside, or did he get eaten? It didn't matter. None of it mattered so long as they still had the gem to charge. She knew everyone was exhausted. She was, too, but it was all going to be worth it.

Marcy only had one archer and the Plantars. The temple only had Frank on its team. They weren't just exhausted. They were battered and bruised. They wanted the game to be over so badly.

And it was going to be.

"Yes! We're going to win!" Anne cheered, throwing up her fist. "Yeah! Go, Marcy!"

"Gotta admit, this temple's good, but not good enough!" Marcy exclaimed, playing her archer in front of the black wart. The piece on the giant board moved and charged its beam. "Gotcha! We win!"

The wart jumped.

That's right. Frank couldn't even believe it, even though he was seeing it happen. The black stone Frog King jumped over the laser beam, dodging it before landing back on his pedestal. Then, the motherfucker laughed at Marcy, taunting her by sticking out its tongue and then turning and slapping its butt at her. Acting like an 8-year-old sore winner that everyone hated.

No one could believe it, not even Marcy, who stared at the wart for a moment with two small dots for eyes. "HUH?!" She yelled in a mixture of shock and outrage at the game's bluntness. "What?!"

"What's happening," Frank asked, looking around in confusion. Wondering why they were still in the game. "Did we win?"

"No! Guy, this thing cheats!"

Everyone gasped.

"Oh, hell no!" Anne marched to the other side of the game board. "No one cheats on my girl!" she declared and grabbed the wart on the board.

With all her might, she tried to pull it off the board to flip it or smash it or whatever. Anne wanted to break it. But it wasn't budging.

"Why wouldn't you…come off!" Anne yelled with a strained voice.

"Anne, stop!" Marcy exclaimed, reaching over and pushing her back. "You're gonna break something!"

"The game's cheating, Marcy," Anne reminded her. "It's already broken."

"What're we gonna do?!" Frank yelled.

"I-I-I don't know!" Marcy exclaimed, her mind racing to come up with a solution. Was this game cheating part of the challenge? "What kind of challenge cheats?!"

"Well, think of something," Frank said, seeing that there were no other pieces on the board but himself and his froggy family. "Because we're the only ones—"

The base of Frank's queen piece glowed as she slid towards Hop Pop.

"Hop Pop, look out!"

"Huh?" The old frog turned back to see Frank in front of him. His lance raised over his head to hit him. He screamed and held up his lance to protect himself. Only for it to snap like a twig on impact with the larger weapon.

But it didn't end there, as Frank was forced to hit Hop Pop across the face, causing him a great deal of pain. He tried to stop himself, but the lance came back and struck him.

Hop Pop, grunting from the pain and having a swollen face, said, "Man, what a day."

"Hop Pop!" Fearful of his grandfather, Sprig yelled to Marcy. "Marcy, do something!"

Anne gasped and turned to Marcy. "Do something!"

Marcy grabbed Hop Pop's piece. "All right, so what if it cheats?" she asked, slamming it down on the board away from Frank. "It's still not enough to beat me!"

Frank was moved towards the old frog.

"Shit, look out!" he yelled, but it was too late. Only Hop Pop's stone hate was protecting him when Frank's mace slammed down on him.

"OW! Have mercy!" Hop Pop pleaded.

Marcy tried moving him again, but then Frank came after him. Hitting him across the face again. She did it again, but then Frank came after him again. Hit the old frog in the back. Hop Pop was at his mercy, and while Frank didn't want to hurt him, the temple had no mercy to give. This led Hop Pop to scream in fear every time Marcy moved him away from the boy.

"The temple's not gonna stop until it kills him!" Anne exclaimed.

"I know that, Anne! I still have way more pieces. If I can just attack from a different angle, I should be fine," Marcy said, nervously chuckling, still believing that she could win if she just played far. But Hop Pop was running out of time.

He screamed before Frank hit him in the head with his lance, breaking the hat down to its base. Hop Pop shook his head, battered and bruised, and said," "Oh, I bet you're loving this, ain't ya?!"

"What, no!" Frank protested. "Look, I might be mad at you, but I never want to hurt you!"

"Well, you're already hurting me! Every time, you and Anne remind me of the mistake I made. Every time you say I let you down! I mean, what's it gonna take for you to let this go!"

Frank's guilt turned to anger as he glared at the old frog. "Are you kidding me?!" he yelled. "After what you tried to do to the box, you expect Anne and me to forgive you that quickly?!"

"Yes! No! I...I don't know!" Hop Pop said, tired of fighting with him and not being able to speak with the boy. "I just want to know what I can do to make it up to you!"

"There's nothing you can do, Hop Pop!"

"Please! Tell me! How can I make you forgive me!?" Hop Pop shouted, tears welling up in his eyes.

"You can't! You lied to me! You lied to everyone!" Frank snapped back. "You need to learn that there are consequences to your actions!

"I'm sorry! I... I couldn't help myself!"

"I don't want to hear your excuses!"

"But it's true!" Hop Pop insisted. "It…It's not just Sprig and Polly I was trying to protect!"

"Then what is it?!" Frank shouted, tears falling from his face. All of his repressed emotions flowed out. "What's more important than Sprig and Polly?! What could you've possibly been protecting that you would've gone as far as breaking our trust in you?!"

"YOU!"

The declaration echoed through the room, shocking all who heard him. Anne gasped when she heard it. Marcy looked up with a surprised expression. Shocked by Hop Pop's declaration.

"Huh?" Frank looked at the old frog with widened eyes, not expecting to hear that from him.

"What?" Anne asked.

Seeing that this was finally his chance, Hop Pop lowered his head and sadly sighed. "It all started with the kids' parents, my son and my daughter-in-law. I failed to save them."

The frog kids looked at their grandfather with concerned expressions.

"Hop Pop," Polly said.

"That wasn't your fault." Sprig added.

Hop Pop raised his hand. He had to say this. "It was a few years ago. I was on a journey when herons attacked Wartwood," he said. "Sprig and Polly survived, but their parents weren't so lucky. And it's all my fault."

Frank looked at the frog that's been a grandfather to him in shock. He and Anne knew about the heron attack that killed Sprig and Polly's parents and Ivy's father. But to hear that Hop Pop blamed himself? That made his heart sink.

"If I had just been there... I know things would've been different! Ever since then, I swore I'd never let my family down again and that I'd do anything to protect them. So when I found out the box was dangerous, I lied to you and tried to destroy it. I thought I was protecting my family. But now I realize how foolish it was. It wasn't just Sprig and Polly I wanted to protect. By trying to get rid of the box, I thought I was also protecting you two. Frank, you and Anne are my family, too. But all I've done is let you down. I let us all down," Hop Pop said, breaking down into tears. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry! I'm just so sorry!"

There were no other sounds in the chamber but Hop Pop's sobbing. Sprig and Polly couldn't move to hug and comfort him; all they could do was watch with tears in their eyes as their grandfather broke down, blaming himself for something that was out of his control. For a long time, they knew that he'd held in that blame, yet here they were, seeing its full extent.

As tears flowed down his face, Frank turned to look at Anne. They were shocked, saddened, and guiltful. They were so mad at the old frog for how he'd betrayed them. They were angry because of how he lied to them and hid the box. Destroying the box would've prevented their chance to go home if anything bad happened to the box. They thought they mattered so little to him. And yet, he did it for them.

But could it really erase just how much it hurt them?

Turning to Hop Pop, he looked at him, not with fury, but sadness and conflicting feelings. "I'm sorry, Hop Pop. We shouldn't have been unfair to you. But you also have to understand that this can't be fixed with an apology. What you did…it hurt more than you can imagine. Because if we can't trust you, then…then dammit, who can we trust," Frank asked, crying in front of the old frog. "But I don't wanna lose another grandpa."

Hop Pop's eyes widened. "Does that mean…?"

Frank looked at Anne again. She looked away with an uncomfortable expression.

"No. Not yet. Please understand we…we'll need time," she said, looking down in shame. "I don't know if we can fully forgive you. I want things to be back the way they were, but right now, we need to work through these emotions. I do want to forgive you, but now, this is not the time."

Looking over his shoulder at her, Hop Pop nodded and said, "I'm sorry, Anne. You and Frank take all the time you need."

The Latino boy gently smiled and said to the old frog. "Thank you, Hop Pop."

This wasn't how Marcy wanted her first adventure with her friends to go. In her hubris, she'd ignored all the problems they'd had with each other. Only focusing on her fantasy and enjoyment. But now, there they were, beaten and broken. Amphibia was supposed to be the ultimate adventure, and yet, they were all hurting. How could she not see what was right in front of her?

That question hit her hard. Why didn't she? That's when she realized it. This was just like the ice cream machine. The play incident. The zoo incident. Nothing had changed. She hadn't changed. She was still focusing more on what was in her hands, what she was good at, and what brought her joy than seeing the disaster she was walking into.

"What am I doing," she asked.

Frank wiped away his tears. However, the game took control of his arms again. "No, no, no, no, no! Please!" Frank begged with the game as he prepared to attack Hop Pop.

"No!" Anne and Marcy screamed.

Frank strained, pulled, and pushed his arms. Anything to stop himself from killing Hop Pop. "Please, please, don't do this!" he whispered his pleas to the temple. "Leif…"

He saw her again. She was sitting on the head of the wart.

"Come on, give me something!" he shouted.

"I'm trying to think!" Marcy said, pulling her hair.

"You told me that my story didn't have to end the way the prophecy foretold!" he yelled, catching Marcy and the others off guard. "That it didn't have to end with me dying because of the unknown aggressor! Dying in Anne's arms!"

"What," Anne asked, her eyes widening. "Marcy, what's he talking about?"

"I-I don't know," she said, just as lost and shocked.

"Well, I don't want this kind of ending! I want the ending I want! One that Hop Pop lives," he yelled with his heart pouring out. "If you don't do something, that ending's gonna be gone forever! Please, I'm asking you. Give me your power!"

Leif shook her head.

"Why not, Leif?!"

She said, "You don't need that much power to kill a king." Leif knocked on the white wart. "A worthy King will have the wisdom to choose whether it's more important to win or have the humility to lose and save what's precious."

Frank wanted to yell at her. Demand her to give him the power to save everyone. But then he thought about what she said. It didn't take much to kill a king, even to himself. But a humble king knows when to quit.

"Marcy!" he shouted, struggling to keep himself from killing Hop Pop. "You need to forfeit the game!"

"What?!" Marcy and Anne exclaimed, looking at him like he was crazy.

"You need to quit! It's the only way to stop all this!"

"Wait, no! I can still win," Marcy desperately said.

"At what cost? If you make any more moves," Frank said, "you're going to kill one of us!"

"But…" Marcy looked at the board. "But if I don't win…we'll lose the game. I wouldn't be allowed back in!"

"Marcy, what's more important? Victory or us," Frank asked, his arm ready to strike. It took all of his willpower and strength to hold back the lance. "Listen…I…I don't know how else to explain it, but this game can't be won! You can't win fair and square, not without killing one of us. This is a game where you need to decide whether or not to give up."

Anne asked, "How do you know all this?"

Frank, with a strained face, said, "Because Leif told me."

This shocked Anne. Never once had she really thought Leif was real. She was honestly, really worried that he'd been losing his mind and conjured up someone to talk to whenever he was alone. It was mean, yes, and it's something that the girlfriend shouldn't be thinking about her boyfriend. But this wasn't like all those times he talked to Leif. This was far too real. It scared Anne to know what was going on with the boy she loved. Thinking that his mind's broken.

And yet, that small part of her brain, the part that believed Frank, took over.

"Do it, Marcy!" Anne said.

"Okay, you're right! Who cares about this stupid game? I forfeit!" Marcy declared, knocking over her wart.

"It's not working!" Anne screamed. Frank was still going to hit Hop Pop for the final time.

"Maybe we have to flip the big wart, too," Marcy said.

Her best friend reacted quickly. Taking her bow off her body, Anne notched an arrow and aimed at the back of Marcy's wart.

"Do it," she said.

Anne let the arrow fly. It hit the Frog King with enough force to knock it off its pedestal and fall to the ground. The frog squealed and moved its arms around like a dying animal before exploding.

It was finally over. It would've been much worse if Marcy had continued the way she'd been going. She placed her hands on her eyes and sank to the ground. She didn't see all the pieces on the giant board disintegrate into dust, from the intact ones to the pieces of the smashed ones. Frank and the Plantars were freed from their prisons, and then all the lights turned off.

Standing back up, Frank coughed and looked around. Sprig and Polly were still in one piece. Hop Pop, on the other hand, looked horrible with his injured body.

Walking over to him, Frank knelt and smiled. "Need a ride, old-timer?"

"I'm not that old," he said with a frown but a smile. "But, yes, thank you."

Frank had Hop Pop piggybacking on him as he and the frog siblings walked up the stairs and joined Anne and Marcy. The Thai girl was on the ground, comforting her best friend.

"Marcy? Marcy, what's going on," Anne asked, worried.

"Yeah, we're still alive," Polly said.

"You guys shouldn't have been put in danger in the first place," Marcy said, ashamed. "Even if I could've won, it wasn't worth you guys getting hurt. I got so caught up in proving I was smart enough to win I couldn't see what I was about to lose."

"Well, in your defense, that game was a ding dang cheat," Sprig exclaimed.

Polly joined in. "Yeah! I still think you're pretty smart. A little obsessive, though."

"Thanks, Sprig and Polly," Marcy said, finally getting their names right. Standing up, she looked at Frank with wonder. "But, Frank! How did you know that would stop the game?"

Frank smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Sometimes, all you have to do is ask for help from a friend."

"Sooooo," Polly said, eyes wide, "Frank's ghost friend is…Leif's real, huh?"

"Yeah…I guess she is," Anne said, fully realizing that all those times she denied the existence of Frank's ghostly friend, Leif, could've been standing right there.

"Uh, so," Sprig said nervously, "is she…is she in the room now?"

"Well…" Frank was cut off when a green light appeared out of the corner of his eye. It came from a series of green arrows. The temple was showing them exit signs that pointed to the way they came in.

"I got it, temple," Marcy said, not seeing Leif smiling as she waited for them. "I wasn't smart enough to win, but I can find the exit, okay?"

---

"So, is that it," Anne asked as they walked down the steps of the temple. It was already night outside, and they were exhausted. "We'll have to try again tomorrow."

"No. And since I lost, I'm not allowed back in the temple," Marcy said miserably. "You guys will have to try it all again without me."

Frank reached the bottom of the stairs and placed Hop Pop on the ground. Polly was the second to make it to the ground. "Hey, guys. The failure arrow wants us to keep going this way," she said, pointing to more arrows that led into the woods.

"Hey, Frank, doesn't Leif know where they go," Sprig asked, only to get a shrug.

Marcy sighed and said, "Well, if we're gonna lose, we might as well lose all the way."

Together, they ventured into the woods. Walking further and further away from the temple. Their journey came to an end when they approached a familiar building.

"What? The outhouse?" Sprig exclaimed.

Frank sighed in relief. "Uh, finally. I've gotta take a leak," he said, walking up to the outhouse. "Been holding it in all day."

But when he opened the door, his eyes widened in shock and wonder.

"Uh, guys," he said, stepping back to allow them to see what he saw. "You're gonna wanna see this."

Gone were the smells and the flies. The small space was glowing on the inside with hieroglyphs, ancient languages, and old symbols that hadn't been seen in thousands of years.

Marcy, with wide eyes, gasped. "No. It can't be. Guys, this is where we charge the stone!"

"Huh?!" Everyone exclaimed.

"But we failed!" Hop Pop said, looking at Frank. "Didn't we?"

Marcy walked into the outhouse and got down on both knees in front of the shit-hole. With her hand, she brushed off the dust.

"Uh, I wouldn't recommend touching that," Polly said.

Suddenly, the stall rumbled for a moment, making everyone gasp and step back. Then, cracking out of the hole, a pedestal with a small cut-out at the very top appeared. On the wall behind it, an Amphibian dialect appeared.

"Only the worthy will have the wisdom to choose whether it's more important to win or have the humility to lose," Marcy read from the text."A choice was made to save thy friends, and, honestly, doesn't that make you a winner in the end?"

"Huh, they kind of got lazy at the end," Frank said.

"Of course!" Marcy exclaimed. "Frank, Leif was right! Why didn't I think of it sooner? The temple wasn't just testing for intelligence. It was also a test for humility!"

"Well, don't give the temple a chance to change its mind," Polly said on Sprig's head. "Charge that bad boy!"

And Marcy did just that. Pulling the stone out of her bookbag, Marcy placed it into the hole meant for it. Then, she stepped back. Suddenly, the stone glowed a bright green, and so did Marcy's pupils. That coloring went away, just like how water is drained, as the power left her body and returned to where it belonged. This caused a blinding flash of light to emanate from the stone, and a powerful vortex of power pushed them back.

When it was all over, the light died, and the stone became green again.

"We did it," Anne asked.

"We did it!" Marcy cheered.

"Yay!" Everyone cheered together…

…only to scream and duck away when the stone shot out a green laser beam that went into the forest. Going God knows where. But as Marcy picked up the stone, she moved it around. Testing to see if it would make the laser change its trajectory. However, no matter where she moved it, it always pointed in the same spot, where it disappeared into the jungle.

"Guys, it's leading us to the next temple!" she said. "I should be able to triangulate its location with a bit of work." Marcy inhaled and threw her arms up. "Whoo! This just keeps getting better! Hey, do you guys wanna go straight to the next temple tonight or take a break first?

"Break, please," they all said.

"Fair enough," said Marcy as she walked out of the outhouse, followed by everyone else.

However, Frank stopped. The way he'd been treating Hop Pop was unfair. He couldn't stay mad at Hop Pop, especially with his secret. And if all secrets were coming out, he might as well share his.

"Wait!"

Everyone going to Joe Sparrow stopped and looked at him.

"I…I think I should tell you all something. Something that I need to all to see before we go on this journey," he said, pulling out his journal. Opening it, he turned the pages and landed on the first page, which explained his encounter with the mural. It had a drawing by him of the cave.

He showed it to Anne, who took the journal and stared at it with wonder as everyone gathered around.

"Oh, that's a…what am I looking at," Sprig asked, clinging to Anne's arm to look.

"Something I found in the caves of Quarrel's Pass," Frank said as Anne turned the page to the next drawing. Seeing how the mural had every one of their adventures on it. "What I said in the temple…it all has to do with some kind of prophecy. The mural in the cave had all of our adventures drawn. Everything that has happened has been recorded on this wall."

"Whoa," Sprig said as Anne turned the page to the humans destined to fight with the giant frog. "Hey, wait, I don't remember that happening."

"That's because it hasn't happened," Frank said.

"Hey, isn't that what you saw in the temple," Hop Pop asked.

"It's one of two certain events: where we fight something—an unknown aggressor." Frank paused and looked at Anne. He turned the page and showed the final mural. "And my death."

"What?!" Anne exclaimed with wide eyes, glancing between her boyfriend and the drawing.

"That was the last drawing that I saw on the wall," Frank said somberly, waiting for everyone to start yelling at him. Asking him how he could keep this a secret. "Everything else is things that have happened. Leif seems to know as much as I do. But…"

"B-But that can be stopped, right?!" Marcy asked, desperately wanting to know if it could be changed.

"That's what I would like to know. She said that this isn't so much a set future based on a greater power as a future that could happen because of our actions. This prophecy is all based on our actions, and this…this is the end of those actions."

"And you never brought this up," Anne asked angrily. "Why?"

"How was I supposed to, Anne," Frank asked. "This isn't exactly something that I can easily accept either. I mean…Am I supposed to die? That's something someone can just…walk normally without a limb in their steps. I didn't want to say anything because I knew we would all be reacting to something we don't fully understand."

"But does this mean something else, or is it just the first half of the ending," Anne asked, her mind racing for solutions faster than she could process those ideas. "If… this is supposed to be the last drawing, does that mean we don't go home?"

"Anne…"

"No! I don't believe this means you die!" Anne yelled, fists turning white from how hard she was clenching them. "I don't believe this is the end!"

"I…" Frank was almost knocked over when his girlfriend ran into him. Hugging him as tight as possible.

"I…I can't lose you." Anne sobbed, her face on his shoulder. Tightening her hold on him.

Frank hugged her back. "I'm not going anywhere," he said, smiling lovingly and kissing the top of her head. Anne pulled away and kissed him on the lips. Both of them moaned lightly before pulling away.

"Alright, you all wait out here while I use it," Frank said, pointing to the outhouse with this thumb.

Marcy, confused, asked, "What?"

"I've gotta use it."

Now understanding, Marcy gasped in appalledness. "FRANK!"

"Hey, it's their fault for putting a fucking toilet as the end goal. It's staring me right in the eye, and I've gotta take the biggest dump," he said.

"You can't really be thinking about defecating into a two-thousand-year-old temple!"

Blushing, Anne raised her hand and pulled the edge of the skirt down a little. "Actually, I wouldn't mind using it, too," she said.

"ANNE!"

"Oh my Frog, finally," Sprig said exasperatedly. "I've been dying to let out breakfast!"

"I'm not going on one of those brain mushrooms," Polly said.

"I really need to," Hop Pop admitted.

"...All right, fine. I could go too," Marcy said, giving up. "But what are you gonna use for toilet paper?"

Frank looked at her.

"Marcy?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you using your cape?"

Marcy's face turned to a look of horror. "Oh hell no!" she yelled, running away.

"Hey, get back here!" Frank yelled as everyone ran after Marcy. "Don't go setting it on fire again!"

Well, it looked as though everything was back to normal. At least, that's what the salamander watching the group of friends thought. From his spot in the trees, Teshin was drawing in a sketchbook. His new drawing for the mural. One of what was undoubtedly many, many more.

"I hope you're ready for what is in store for you, star-child," he said, disappearing into the night and forest.

---

Back in Newtopia, Yunan had returned home empty-handed. She'd never felt more humiliated in all her life. She always gets her man. No matter the threat facing the kingdom, if the enemy was pirates or invaders from other lands, the general always brought back a head and a story to try and flirt with the king's advisor. And yet here she was, matching down the halls of the castle, drenched in water, dripping all over the floor, and looking like the most miserable general in history. What was worse was that Olivia was walking beside her.

The graceful lady-newt was glancing at the general who would have tried flirting with her. Olivia tried desperately to keep her lips closed. To hold in the giggle. A bit of it slipped.

"Not a word," Yunan said.

"I didn't say anything," said Olivia, smirking and opening the door to the throne room.

Andrias was sitting on his throne, lost in his thoughts, when Yunan approached.

"My Lord." Yunan knelt before her king.

"Yunan! I…uh, what happened to you," he asked after seeing the state she was in.

"D-Doesn't matter!" Yunan said, blushing out of embarrassment. "The political situation is worsening, Your Highness. What started as a small valley riot is quickly becoming something more. The frogs are getting bolder. Not only that, the toad lords have agreed to meet. This could spell disaster. If we don't act, we'll be looking at a full civil war.

Andrias sighed. "How disappointing," he said. This had been coming for a long time.

"And the traitor, Grime, is still at large and is currently being aided by a—aah!" Yunan yelped when a messenger wasp entered the room and flew past her.

Seeing that it had a scroll, Andrias laughed and took it. The wasp flew off. Putting on his glasses, he opened the seemingly tiny scroll and read it. "Why, it's a message from Marcy. Looks like they're making progress," he said with excitement and stood up. "That's enough for now, Yunan. I'll handle the rest."

"Sire?" Yunan asked, but she wasn't able to stop him. Andrias was already walking out the door, confusing even Olivia.

Walking down the corridors of the castle, Andrias walked away from all of the busier lanes and hallways. This was a part of the castle rarely visited before—the memorial of his father, the king who came before him, Aldrich.

Looking at the statue was like looking at the sun. He wanted to look away, but forced himself to look to show reverence. Andrias remembered when he was still alive. Despite Andrias' best attempts to please his father, Aldrich showed little warmth towards his son. There was one thing the old king loved more than his own son, and that was Amphibia. More specifically, what his family did for the world, he truly believed in his family's legacy. A mindset and world-view he'd passed onto his son. Andrias failed his father once. He will not do it again.

Grabbing one of the nearby statue's arms (which held a glowing coral), Andrias pushed it up. Activating a secret passageway at the base of Aldrich's memorial. Taking the bright coral, he descended into the darkness. Passing by the many shadowfishes in the underground area of the castle.

He'd been waiting 1,000 years for this moment. The moment when he would finally take what was rightfully his. Fulfilling his own destiny. There had been some setbacks. He was sure that when Frank and Anne came to the city, they would have brought the box with them. They didn't. They instead brought Hellcat's Claw. He shouldn't take the scythe. Said it would be important to have it with him or that it would be better served in a museum. That weapon would serve to unite all of Amphibia against him if Frank became his enemy.

And yet, Frank didn't want to wage war. Not yet, anyway. Andrias needed it to stay that way. At least until the time was right, and that time was coming. He still needs to serve his purpose, he said to himself.

Reaching the end of the spiral stairs, Andrias placed the coral into a holder. The chamber he was in was dimly lit, with small yellow lights coming out of small ventilation holes. In front of him, there was complete darkness. Yet, Andrias knew it was still there.

Two thousand years ago, the Leviathan family overthrew the Frog King. Why? For all the power of Amphibia. They brought forth a glorious new age that was now all but forgotten. All because of Andrias' failures. And from that golden age arose something unnatural. Something the Leviathan family would see for the greatness that it was.

Getting down on his knees, Andrias placed his crown on the ground in the middle of the circular floor. "The prophecy is being undone as we speak, my lord," he said, looking up. Soon, we will have our revenge."

Awakening the beast that would destroy all, Andrias' master opened its massive glowing orange eye. Then, it opened its eight other surrounding eyes, which had smaller, lighter-shaded pupils.

This was an atrocity against God and nature. And Frank and his friends were playing right into their hands.

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AN: And that was the First Temple! Man, I'm super excited to finally bring season 2 to a close as we near the final chapters. Admittedly, I'm very nervous about the next few chapters, as I know they'll need to be done to flesh out Marcy's character better and show her development in the series. I especially want to get the next temple chapters and bring this season to a close.

The idea to have Frank and Anne move out was mostly because I highly doubted they would've wanted to stay with Hop Pop after what'd happened. Plus, it allowed us more time with the Sundew family.

We got the return of Hellcat, aka the Harpy, and more lore about the Frog King. More specifically, I learned how the Leviathan family was the one to usurp them.

The idea of Frank taking Anne's place on the flipwart board came from a reviewer who suggested that Anne still do the second challenge while allowing Frank to help Marcy with the third one. This leads to the tear-jerking moment where Hop Pop finally reveals why he did what he did. Unlike the ending of Plague of Madness, which didn't feel right to have Hop Pop make his tearful reveal without ruining the grime ending, this was a moment that truly felt right.

The biggest change from the episode and my favorite moment overall was Leif's inclusion and how she helped Frank figure out how to stop the game. Of course, Marcy, being Marcy, didn't want her help. But when the moment finally came, Leif was there. Not only does this provide a great moment, but it also gets the others to believe in her existence.

Frank's revelation of his prophecy was another big moment that had everyone on edge, but it allowed him to be truthful with them and become determined not to let that dark future come to pass. Also, Teshin returns!

It's hard to tell what episode I'll do next, but the only ones that are worth it are Friend of Frobo and Toad to Redemption. If you all think that New Wartwood or Maddie and Marcy are worth it, let me know. The Maddie and Marcy episode seems like the most filler, and I could combine them with any other episode like New Wartwood.

Until next time, farewell.