The Sleepover to end all Sleepovers

It was late evening in Newtopia and in their own room in the castle, the four human girls were all busy cleaning and getting the place ready. Each one of them was dressed in their own pajama: Sasha was wearing a light pink shirt and checkered shorts; Anne's a light grey-white shirt and black short with a violet line; Marcy was wearing a shirt with the image of a mage-like character in front of a castle and the words 'ROLL PLAY' inscribed above and under it, and Amelia was wearing her classic white-and-orange pajama with hoodie and multiple anime drawings all over. Also, while the other three girls were barefooted, Amelia was still wearing pinkish socks.

"I can't believe this is actually happening!" Marcy happily said as she kept running all around the room, unable to stand still as she and her friends waited the arrival of their friends. "A girl-only all-night sleepover! It's been so long since we had one!"

"Well, technically, every night we had ever since we arrived in Amphibia was a sleepover, since we were all sleeping in the same room, be in Hop Pop's basement or on the Fwagon. That is, almost all" her gaze fell on Sasha, the blonde girl grunting in response.

"Considering how much cramped the basement was, I don't regret moving to live with Felicia and Ivy. I got a whole room all for myself, plus-"

The chat stopped as the four girls heard a faint knock on their door, the level of enthusiasm in their blood rising once again.

"Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. They're here!"

"Just in time!" Anne smiled as Marcy rushed to the door, opening it and meeting face with face with Maddie, Ivy, Sprig and Polly, all having excited expression in their faces. Like the girls, they all (minus Polly) were wearing pajamas: Sprig's was a black shirt with the image of a muscular toad wearing sunglasses and the words 'BIG FROG' framing it, and checkered short like Sasha's; Ivy's was light green shirt with the drawing of a hibiscus plant on the front and yellow short pants; while Maddie wore a purple shirt with some unknown character written over and black shorts like Anne's but without any additional color.

"Sleepover!"

"Sleepover, sleepover!"

"Sleepover!"

"A-HEM!" A voice shouted from the hallway, everyone turning their head with irritation, as their eyes met their designed watch-newt, caretaker and babysitter's. "While I do understand your enthusiasm for the night, I remind you all that Lady Olivia have entrusted me to keep watch over you during the night. Follow the basic rules they've given to you, keep the volume at manageable levels and everything will be fine… and I won't be forced to intervene."

"Ugh, come on, Bella!" Sasha groaned, looking over the former bellhop (and Jacob's currently hired assistant and petty officer). "Why are you even doing this? I thought you were supposed to be Jacob's assistant, you have to obey him, not the other way around!"

"Well, I'm not working for him today, remember?"

(…)

Earlier that day:

"Wait, what?"

"Bella, what are you doing here?" Jacob gasped, seeing his newt subordinate walk in sight and stand next to Yunan and lady Olivia. "I gave you the night off!"

"Well, you see-"

"She will be your babysitter for the night." Yunan spoke without hiding the smug in her voice. "Her task will be to watch over you, manage you and keep track of everything you'll do during the night. In short, whatever shenanigans you may do during this whole 'sleepover' thing, she will keep us informed."

"No way!"

"Are you kidding me?"

"I am a grown-up girl now; I don't need a babysitter!" Amelia pouted, the outrage she was feeling shared by the other six humans."

"Bella, you can't do this to me!" Jacob shook his first. "I'm your boss!"

"Sorry, but they… made me an offer I couldn't refuse," the young newt replied, thinking about how much money she had been offered just to watch over the six unruly humans and their friends for one single night. "And besides, since you gave me the night off, legally I'm not obliged to listen to your orders at least until sunrise."

"What? That's ridiculous!" Anne lamented, only for lady Olivia to reply immediately, as she was expecting that kind of protest.

"No, it's a very important rule passed after the Black Bubble Riots of 55. That's why nowadays most bosses don't give 'day off' to their employees at random. I was kind of surprised when you did."

"Because I didn't know this at the time!"

"Really? Oh well, too bad." Lady Olivia smiled, her glance giving Jacob a silent 'my rule-fu is stronger than yours' message. "Originally, I was supposed to stay here and watch over you myself, but since the General reminded me we already had a… previous commitment with each other," Yunan and Olivia looked at each other, "I was convinced to find someone who could take my duties for one night."

"I still say this is not fair!" Sasha refused to give up, "We have proved ourselves to be capable of taking care of ourselves, again and again! How's that we need a babysitter for one night?"

"Because in the time you've been in the castle, we already had quite some…peculiar incidents," Lady Olivia pointed at the report with images of the whole 'flooded tower incident "and I shiver at the idea of what you could be able to do without someone to watch over you."

"Besides," Yunan intervened, "we know that all of you are currently underage, that is, children."

"So, you're fine with us having weapons and going into dangerous missions, but you draw a line at letting us without supervision for one night?" Anne raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"Glad we're on the same page!" Yunan smiled, only to kickstart another violent reaction from Sasha and the other humans.

"No way! This is unfair!"

"You can't force us to listen to anyone, let alone my supposed assistant, just because she's supposedly not working for me tonight!"

"You're such a wet-blanket-"

"ENOUGH." Lady Olivia hissed, the humans stopping suddenly as they saw her gaze turn into a scowl, her eyes filling with so much pent-up frustration as even Yunan and Bella, who were trained soldiers, took a step back. "You will have your sleepover for the night but miss Bella here will be your babysitter and will watch over you until tomorrow's sunrise. I'll give her a list of guidelines for you to follow, and she will remind you anytime you break them. Should you refuse to listen to her, or cause unwarranted chaos, that will be discussed tomorrow morning, BEFORE your meeting with the King. AM I CLEAR?

"Huh-uh!"

"Indeed!"

"Crystalline, Royal Advisor!"

"Good. Now, General Yunan and I are leaving for our da- I mean, our previous appointment, miss Bella will be your babysitter and you will all behave for the night. End. Of. Discussion!"

She then turned around and walked away, Yunan rushing to her side as the six humans (plus Bella) silently watched her leave, all of them showing various face expressions ranging from shock to horror to astonishment. Sasha in particular, having heard those words come from someone else's mouth, now looked like she had swallowed an Amphibia locust whole.

"Is-is that how you girls felt when I used it?" The blonde human turned around and looked at Anne and Marcy, her friends looking at each other with a nervous look. "Huh, kind of?"

"Maybe just a bit?"

(…)

"Look girls, I don't want to be the one spoiling everyone's fun, but you do have to admit that Lady Olivia does have a point, considering your precedents. That said, I'm doing this only for the money so… if you're willing to work together, we can make a deal."

"What kind of deal?" Amelia asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Simply, let's no make each other's work too difficult. As long as you're not making some huge mess or something else I'd have to answer in the morning, I'm willing to turn a blind eye on some of the stuff you'll do. What do you say?"

"That sound like a savvy suggestion." Sprig, who until now had listened in the background, intervened. " Come on girls, let's have fun together!"

"Huh, actually," Anne looked aside, clearly uneasy about how to break the news onto him. "This sleepover if girls-only, that is, no boys allowed. Don't you notice that neither Jacob nor James are here right now?"

"But I'm a frog! It's completely different!"

"Sorry Sprig, but the rules are rules!" Marcy nodded. "That said, how about go with the other boys? Last I heard, they were planning to do some sleepover of their own as well."

"Gretta, two sleepovers to watch over in the same night." Bella groaned, realizing her workload had just doubled with that single piece of information. "I'm starting to think I should have asked more."

"Wait, no, it's not fair! Anne, we're supposed to stay together! Spranne against the world, remember?!"

But the young frog's protests fell on deaf ears as Ivy and Maddie pushed him out of the room and into Bella's hands, the pinkish frog still protesting at the injustice as the newt lead him further down the hallway…

(…)

"I can't believe the girls had the guts to kick us out of the sleepover!" Jacob grunted as he and James were in their room, both boys still pissed they've been refused entry only for the Y chromosomes in their DNA.

Both of them, just like the girls, were now dressed in their pajamas: James' own was a shirt and long pants all checkered in green and brown (that Jacob had already joked about earlier with several Sherlock Holmes-themed wordplays) with bright red shorts, while Jacob was wearing long, deep blue padded pants and a pitch black shirt with long sleeves, a white sketch of Darth Vader and the words 'YOUR EMPIRE NEEDS YOU' written on the front, and he had brown socks on his feet. "We've basically slept together every night ever since we arrived, and now they want to enforce gender separation?"

"I guess being an 'official' sleepover does change things a bit." James replied, he too feeling irked they had been kicked out, yet trying not to show it. "Well, look on the bright side: we now have an excuse to throw our own 'boys only' macho party."

"A party of two?" Jacob snorted, waving his hands around to underline how, beside James and himself, there was no one in there. "Look James, I appreciate you, I really do, you're the best bro some guy like me could ask for, but to have a party, we must be at least three! They even allowed Sprig in that stupid sleepover of them so-"

"Huh, excuse me?" The door opened slowly and the aforementioned pink frog peeked inside, "I didn't want to disturb but since the girls said their sleepover was 'girls only' and apparently not even Anne would vouch for me-"

"Spriggy!" Jacob rushed toward him and hug him, the young frog gasping and panting for air before the human boy realized what he was doing and loosened his grip. "Welcome to the coolest party of all Newtopia, boy! An all-night festival of manliness and testosterone that you will never forget!"

"Thanks, I guess?"

"Welcome aboard, lad," James welcomed Sprig as well. "Looks like you're the surprise guest, right? This is the best all-male sleepover ever!"

"So…." Sprig asked with curiosity, scratching the side of his head. "What does an all-male sleepover usually entrails?"

Jacob and James smirked. The girls may have kicked them out, but they weren't going to be quiet about this.

"First off, we are going to put music from our phones at the loudest volume we can manage to get trough with. Then, we're going to do an old-style burping contest. Then, we'll start dishing out the…forbidden topics."

"Forbidden topics?"

"Girls." James said, and immediately Sprig regretted having asked, as he felt his own cheeks blushing realizing that both boys were now looking at him. "Though I guess you are the most experienced among us, currently. Now only you managed to score, but you did it double time! Two girlfriends, two, at the same time! Two!"

"Well, it's nothing worth… to brag about…" Sprig looked aside, emphatically in direction of the same room where the girls were now having their own sleepover, and Maddie and Ivy were with them. Somehow, whenever he tried to think about it, the whole situation seemed absurd, how the humans' arrival had kickstarted a series of events that led to him and Ivy to realize they saw each other as more than mere childhood friends. Then, thanks to Sasha and Anne acting as a bridge they had grown closer until Maddie ultimately came clean about her own feelings for him. All of this ending with Ivy not ending up angry at such revelation, and instead suggested they could 'share him'.

"That said, I also have some words I'd like to exchange with you, Jacob." James suddenly quipped turning head to his 'bro." About the message you hid in the song you used at the bardic contest, the one addressed to Marcy."

"M-my hidden message?" Jacob gasped, sincerely confused about what he could refer to. "What are you talking ab-"

" I'll do anything for love, but I won't do that ." James sang, Jacob's eyes widening in response as his check too began to redden, Sprig silently thanking that the topic of the discussion has moved as he listened. "You choose to play that song because you wanted to tell Marcy that you won't force the issue between you and her, and thus, she can freely use the time we still have left until we'll be able to get back home, right? To let her think about her feelings for you and how she feels about, well, your crush on her."

"You know?"

"Dude, to not notice it, I should've been so dense I would basically be on the periodic table." James rolled his eyes. "Words of Amelia, not mine."

"She knows too?!"

"Eeeyup! She said that you and Marcy are now her third most favorite couple, and that she'll be shipping you. As for me, I must admit it was quite a nice yet hidden-in-plain sight way to tell her she could take her time to think about her feelings. At first, I assumed that you had decided to be just friends, but in hindsight, I should've known it would be totally against my bro to quit, especially in love. Way to go, tiger!"

"Huh, thanks I guess?" Hidden message? There was a hidden message in the song? I chose it only because it was a song I loved, and I wanted to impress my public… Oh no, did Marcy hear the lyrics and misunderstood them? Just like James did? What had I been telling her without meaning to? Oh my, I am such an idiot…

(…)

"So, what do human sleepover usually entails?" Ivy asked, raising her hand. "I ask because I never had such experiences before."

"Me neither," Maddy nodded. "Back in Wartwood, everyone thinks I was too scary to be invited at such things. Like they were genuinely afraid I would use them as sacrifice to some demonic being."

"Well, you two are lucky on that because..." Anne said with a smug grin, her hand moving to grab Sasha and Marcy, holding her friends on an impromptu friendship hug. "Not only Marcy and I have done tons of sleepovers together, but we also have a true authority in the field! Sasha's a true sleepover queen, she always led any event we have had since we became friends! Right, Sash?"

"Huh, yeah?" The blonde girl replied with a meek voice, looking aside and laughing Once again, the teen was reminded of the girl she use to be. The one she was before swearing to become the best version of herself. Something that she had been able to do only with the help of Ivy, Felicia, and the other members of her family, yet…

I hate this, Sasha thought while everyone's gaze focused on her, as they noticed how uncomfortable she was starting to be. Another reminder of the previous awful me that I need to correct! I want to be the best version of myself, so I must change for the good of everyone else!

"Maybe I have a proposal: how about we let someone else lead this sleepover? Besides, who says there has to be just one queen?"

"Everyone." Marcy replied instantly with a flat tone of voice. "That's sort of how the whole monarchy system works, Sash."

"Sasha, are you ok?" Ivy quizzed, realizing her own big sis was looking nervous and scared. "Is something wrong?"

"It's nothing, Ivy. Just that-"

"-you're feeling all uneasy because recall the memories of your past sleepover does remind you of your past self and how you were unfair with Anne and Marcy?" Polly interjected, the other girls gasping in reaction. "What? It's plain that this is what you're experiencing right now."

"Sasha," Anne walked toward her friends, putting a hand over her shoulder. "I won't deny that our friendship used to be very unhealthy before we ended up in Amphibia, sometimes outright… Yeah, let's not sugarcoat it, it was toxic." She nodded, and Sasha lowered her eyes in shame. "But we still had so much fun together, and we shared so many moments that I've been treasuring in my memories. And our sleepovers are one of the best memories we have."

"That's right!" Marcy couldn't agree fast enough, moving to assist Anne's attempt to cheer Sasha up. "You remember the Scare Dare we always did? You were the only one brave enough to never get her name written in the book!"

"Scare Dare?" Ivy raised an eyebrow.

"Book?" Maddie spoke in her usual tone of voice.

"Huh, I think we need some context here?" Polly asked, her eyes turning to Amelia as she was the wannabe samurai smirk.

"This is something Jacob shared with me once." The girl with the anime pajama replied. "The rules are simple: one of them comes up with a scary dare, and then they all must do it. The first who bails has their name written on the…" she stopped for a dramatic pause, her voice turning cold and deep. "Book of Losers."

Ivy and Polly gasped at the same time, while Maddie only raised an eyebrow with a hint of excitement.

"And once your name is in the Book of Losers, it'll be there…forever." Amelia pushed on her deep tone impressions before suddenly returning cheerful, looking at Sasha with a big grin. "Do you still have it, Sashy?"

The blonde girl took a deep breath as she walked toward her backpack, lying next to her own bed, searching inside it until she found what she was looking for, taking out a black notebook with gem-shaped decorations, the words 'BOOK OF LOSERS' written in red ink. "I-I had with me the day we ended up in Amphibia; though now I wish I had left it at home."

"Wow!" Ivy gasped as she grabbed the book and began to flip trough it, Maddie and Polly peeking from behind as they saw the names of Anne and Marcy signed several times, each one from one previous Scare Dare. "Your names are in here a bunch of times! And Sasha, you never had to write your own name? That's so hardcore!"

"No, it's not." She replied, only for Anne and Marcy to come in her support once again.

"Oh come on, Sash, stop putting yourself down! You've always been the most courageous of the trio!"

"Yeah, remember all those scary dares you suggested? How creative were they? And you were the only ones to never get scared!"

"That's because I cheated!" Sasha yelled back, unable to hold her remorse any longer, the other girls' eyes widening and mouth hanging open in reaction. "I was the one that recommended most- scratch that, all those scare dares! And every time I made us face one, I was already prepared for it! I was cheating, because I had prepared myself to face it before!"

"Wait, prepared beforehand?" Anne asked. "You mean, the time you dared us to go under my house-"

"I spent several days crawling under mine just to get used to it." The blonde cheerleader replied, her eyes looking down in shame yet her lips showing a smirk of victory. "So many huge spiders…" Thought not as big or scary as the ones we saw here.

"The time you dared us to explore the old, abandoned house next to mine?" Marcy added.

"I had already gone on that place several times to check it was safe and what was actually hidden inside. Even unlocked the entrance myself and locked it back when I left so you wouldn't suspect it was my first time."

"The time you had watch all those scary videos from Internet?"

"All videos I had previously watched, they aren't scary anymore if you know what's going to happen next."

"Sashaa!" Both Anne and Marcy said at the same time, realizing that all this time, the odds had been stacked against them without their knowledge.

"Hey, I had to show you that I was brave and never scared of anything, right? You wouldn't entrust me to watch over you otherwise."

"Well, she does have a point." Amelia replied, internally amused by how far Sasha had gone to protect her own reputation. "Just because she trained herself to face her fear doesn't make her less brave for facing those dares. And I remind you she didn't suggest all of your Scare Dares."

"I guess that's right." Marcy conceded.

"Besides," Sasha continued, "nothing of what we faced on those Scare Dares even come close to what I'm actually afraid of."

"Oh, and what would be that?" Anne teased, only to immediately regret her question as she saw the glance Sasha was giving her, and before the blonde girl answered, she knew already.

"To lose you," Sasha spoke as a lone tear ran through her cheek. "I told you, the reason why I forced you to spend all your time with me? I didn't want to spend one second more than necessary with my family. I guess I am kind of like you, Marbles. If I had known we'd end up divided… I don't know how I would have reacted."

"I-I guess that's fair," Marcy replied, now feeling her own shame resurge as shew thought back at the role with the Box and how, while everything ended up working so far, there were countless chances were things could have gone wrong. Like terribly, horribly wrong. "Anyway, we have so many things we could possibly do during our sleepover, if the Scare Dare unnerve you so much how about we keep it as a last-resort option, something to do if we still end up with time to kill and nothing else to do? I remember the first and main rule of a sleepover is-"

"Never, never ever go to sleep." Sasha finished her sentence, Anne repeated verbatim with her. "A true sleepover goes till sunrise!"

"Enough setup." Polly announced, "Let's get our sleepover on, baby!"

"Woo-hoo!"

"Let's do it!"

"Ok Sprig, whenever you're ready!" James announced as the young pinkish frog drank his whole cup of ruby-red drink in one short, slamming the cup on the table before looking forward, feeling the beverage reach his bowels, and then-

BUUUUUUUUUURP, Sprig let out a giant burp, James taking note of the sound's level on his phone while, on the opposite end of the room, Jacob kept mixing the effervescent non-alcoholic beverage he had been able to smuggle inside the castle thanks to Hop Pop.

"Blimey!" James gasped as he saw the numbers on his phone. "That's seventy-tree decibels!"

"Hop Pop taught me well" the frog replied with a smirk, before turning his attention to the other human in the room. "Hey Jacob, it's your turn now! You come here or want to fold?"

"Fold, me? Hah!" Jacob dipped his own cup into the punch, filling it almost completely and walking back to his two friends, focusing as he tried to remember everything the old farmer had taught him, as he opened his mouth and poured the liquid into it. Two seconds, maybe three, then-

BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRPPPPPPPPPPPPP!

"Sweetie molasses!" Sprig was literally blown away by the raw power of Jacob's belch. "That's got to be the loudest belch I have ever witnessed! Even more powerful than Polly's!"

"Ninety-one decibels worth! It looks like we have a winner here!" James grabbed Jacob's right arm and stretched it upward like a wrestler after winning a match.

"That's right! Bow to the king, babies!"

"Great, I guess we can cross out 'loudest burp contest' out of the list." Sprig said as he proceeded to do just that. "What is the next activity of our 'boys-only' sleepover? Do you play arm wrestle, or we go for more loud music?"

"Right, we have to vote!" James nodded. "Ok everyone, all in favor of-"

Yet, the boy's voice was quickly shut up as an insanely loud cheer came from outside their room, the three males tensing up as they could recognize, in that cheer, the voice of the seven girls (four humans and three amphibians) roaming on the hallway. Quickly, Jacob rushed toward the door, but alas, he was too late: by the time the male trio peeked out, the girls had disappeared from their sight, leaving only a trail of damages furniture and wall decorations behind them.

"What the-"

"I guess the girls are getting on with their own sleepover fun." Jacob summarized, stopping James's question before he could fully vocalize it. "Good."

"What do you mean, good?" The British teen looked at his bro, his blood beginning to shiver as he saw the evil smirk blossoming on Jacob's lips. "I thought we all agree to be angry because they suddenly decided that their sleepover was girls-only and they kicked us out!"

"Oh, I am not angry about that. I am livid, mad, furious!" The Canadian-Californian prankster nodded as he walked back into the room, moving toward his bed and starting to check his stuff, while James and Sprig all rushed behind him. They both knew Jacob well enough to know that, when he got worked up like that, it meant serious business.

"Please, don't do something you may end up regretting later." James tried to intervene. "Bella said she's going to report us to lady Olivia and Yunan if-"

"Oh, frog with that!" Jacob suddenly shouted, "Look, I appreciate Bella, she's the best assistant and under-officer I could ever ask for, and I don't regret rescuing her from that crappy job as bellhop back at the hotel, but if there is something I won't stand is to be baby-sat by someone young enough to be my sister! Plus, she said she was going to turn a blind eye-"

"Lady Wu, Lady Boonchuy, lady Waybright!" Bella's voice shouted from the hallway, and through the open door, the trio could see the former bellhop, dressed in light armor and holding a wooden ruling stick in her hand like it was a sword. "Stop immediately that improper use of royal-approved mattresses! And you're being too loud!"

"And there is gone any goodwill we could have used." Sprig rolled his eyes. "Did their sleepover were this loud back in your world?"

"All the time!" Jacob nodded as he kept scavenging among his stuff James nodding before a thou8ght sudden blossomed in his mind.

"Wait, bro, how do you know that?"

"Know what?"

"That their sleepovers are loud. Their girl-only sleepovers." James looked at him with a suspicious look, as Jacob stopped rummaging through his mess before looking back at him, an embarrassed smile on his face.

"I can explain."

"No, you can't." James countered with a snort.

"Wait, you don't understand, I just wanted to make sure that Marcy was okay!"

"Looking at girls through their windows at night?" Sprig added with a teasing voice and a huge smirk on his lips. "That sounds kind of... suspicious"

"I hate you both."

Jacob and Sprig, looking at each other before responding: "No, you don't." James and Sprig replied at the same time, exchanging a laugh while Jacob could only groan, trying not to show his blush on the cheeks.

"Anyway! They used to do it once a month, sometimes even more frequently if they had a chance. But no matter what time of the year it was or how different they were, some things in them never changed. And one of those things was that, during sleepovers, they would often challenge each other with their… Scare Dares."

"Scare Dares?" James and Sprig said almost verbatim.

"Just some playful attempts used by Sasha to strengthen her position as a leader, back before she was good. Usually, it involves challenges where they must do scary stuff together or walk in places with little illumination and where you could get scared by anything."

"So, they, like, go walk in old, abandoned buildings or place that are rumored to be haunted? We have some of them back in England, and while the rumors may not be true, they do look quite scary, especially during nighttime. Or alternatively, they opt to do things less actually dangerous such as watch scary videos on their phone?"

"It depends, but mostly is the former. And by how loud they are right now, I theorize that they will quickly run short of activity to do for the rest of the night. Bringing them back to the only thing left: the Scare Dare they love so much. A juicy temptation, as you can imagine."

"And… what does this have to do with us?" Sprig asked, only to see Jacob's lips turn into a grin as he finally found what he was looking for.

"It's simple, the girls didn't want us to have a sleepover with them because we are boys? Then, I guess that make all fair for us to get some…payback for such discrimination."

"Are those-" James gasped in disbelief, as he saw the masks Jacob was holding on both hands.

"I asked Loggle to make them for me some time ago, before we left the Valley." Jacob smiled, looking at James. "I've been hiding them and kept them from anyone just in case a situation like this was to occur. So, the question now is, are you in or are you out?"

The boys grinned.

(…)

Back in their room, the girls were all lying on their beds or on large makeshift pillows stacks, feeling tired but satisfied by how the whole night had turned out. And to chill out and relax after all the havoc they had caused earlier, they were chatting and talking about one topic all girls of every kind of age, species and interested would often discuss, at least at one point in their lives.

That is, gossip and romance.

"So, how is to share the same boyfriend, lil' sis?" Sasha asked with a teasing voice as she looked at Ivy, she and Maddie feeling a bit nervous that their own relationship with Sprig was the main focus of the conversation. Of the girls in the room, only three weren't actively participating into the chat: Polly (because she was too busy listening and noting down anything she could use for blackmail against Sprig on later occasion), Amelia (who had refused to participate because 'it was grown-up talking') and Marcy, who just wanted to enjoy the sleepover's vibe.

"Well, I won't lie, there are some moments where Maddie and I still find at odds with each other due to our... ahem, different personalities-"

"-but," the spellcaster came in her help, "we've both realized this is the best solution. If we tried to compete for Sprig's heart, not only would that have destroyed whatever shred of friendship there was among us, but we could end up straining our own relationship with Sprig, or even the bonds we share with you all. And as my own dad taught me, sometimes a tie is better than a victory, if the price is too high."

"I guess we're both happy for you." Anne nodded. "Back in our world, neither Sasha nor I had any significant relationship before ending up here. I mean, Sasha had quite a crowd of wannabe boyfriends, but-"

"I never dated any of them for real, Boonchuy! I wouldn't even call them dates; they were flings, at best. Easy come, easy go."

"Yeah, especially if you have your friends handle the break-ups for you."

"So…" Ivy asked, as her eyes fell on the most silent member of the sleepover. "What about you, Mar-Mar? Did you have significant others in your world? Someone you crushed on, or who had a crush on you?"

"Huh?" Marcy gasped as her Nintendo Switch game went 'GAME OVER', feeling numb and scared as the focus of the conversation suddenly moved to her.

"Yeah Marbles," Amelia said, her face showing the smuggest expression ever. "Did you have someone?

The dark-haired nerd felt her blood turn cold and her heart begin to beat faster and faster, as she began to sweat profusely realizing her cheeks and face were turning bright red. She remembered that Amelia knew about Jacob's crush on her, and as her eyes crossed the wannabe samurai's, she realized that she knew that she knew. And now here she was, trapped in a corner with no way out, her hopes hinging on the chance that Amelia was willing to keep her secret.

But before she or Amelia could break their impasse, someone else did it for them.

"Well, Yeah!" Sasha said with a smirk, "Of course she had someone."

What?, Marcy and Amelia thought at the same time, clearly not expecting for Sasha to say that.

"Yeah," Anne added with a giggle, "it was quite obvious! Even if she tried to hide it!"

No way! Marcy screamed in her head as she began to spiral now into full panic, did everyone here notice it long before me? Was Jacob really that open with his feelings, or was it me that I was too dense to notice them before? Oh frog, this is so awkward!

"Oh?" Maddie, noticing the expression that Marcy was making and the micro-movements of her body, decided to join the teasing. "And who was that?"

- awakwardawakwardawakwardawakwardawakwardawakwardawakwardawakward-

Sasha and Anne shared a complicit smile before answering. "It's Prince Edlwheen, of course!"

"Wait, what?" Ivy, Maddie and Polly said almost verbatim.

Wait, what? Marcy stopped cold as the words formed in her brain.

Amelia said nothing, but her eyebrow raised, clearly taken back by the sudden revelation.

"Yeah! Do you remember that elf prince dude from War of the Warlocks?" Sasha kept speaking with a teasing voice. "Our lovable dork friend over her has the biggest crush ever on him, and she had it for years."

"Her locker is filled of pictures of him!" Anne laughed, unable to control her own amusement. "And let's not talk about all the fanarts she does of him. I still have a photo of the merman one on my phone-"

"NOOOOOO!" Marcy wailed, desperately trying to hide her redder-than-ever face on a pillow. On one hand, her friends knew nothing about Jacob's crush; on the other… this was worse!

As she felt the laughs everyone else was having at her expense, the embarrassed ranger/spellcaster looked up from her pillow and in the direction of Amelia, the samurai giving her a wink before she made a small gesture, like locking her lips and throwing away the key. Seeing that, Marcy breathed in relief: her secret would be safe, at least until she and Jacob had the time and occasion to have another deep discussion about themselves. And while she didn't know where her adventures would take her, at least she had friends she could trust to accompany her, and she was going to cherish every moment she was going to spend with them.

Especially the one she was experiencing right now.

"Frog, this sleepover was awesome!" Polly said, as the laugh at Marcy's embarrassment slowly calmed down.

"I never had so much fun in my whole life!" Maddie agreed, a part of her now wishing she had known this earlier.

"Best sleepover ever!" Ivy joined in.

"What do you think, Sash?" Anne asked, looking at her friend. "Was it good as one of our old ones?"

"Well, it was… more than adequate." The blonde girl replied with a grin. "What time is it anyway? 5:00 a.m.? 6:00 a.m.?"

"Let's see…" Marcy pulled out her phone, only for her eyes to widen in shock. "Only 9:00 p.m.?!"

"Wait, what?"

"All that stuff we've done, and we're not even past midnight yet?!"

"Time pass fast for those who wishes it would stand still, but it moves very slowly for those who want to see it pass fast." Amelia said in her best Oogway imitation, sitting on a lotus position over her bed, eyes closed as she tried to meditate. "Such is the tao of sleepover-ing."

"Nice." Grunted Sasha as she looked at the samurai wannabe. "Any other pearls of wisdom you want to share with us?"

"Never eat gas station sushi."

"Ok, but what if you're just-"

"NEVER!" Amelia repeated as she raised her voice of an octave, both Anne and Marcy exchanging a glance. As amusing as Amelia's attempts at Zen philosophy were, they needed something else to do during their sleepover.

"Girls, I think it's time we pull out… the big guns." Anne said, sitting back on her bed.

"Boonchuy, you surely don't mean-"

"I do, Sasha, believe me, I do." Anne replied, before turning to face the rest of her friends, humans and frogs alike. "What do you say girls, are you up for the Scare Dare Challenge?"

"Ready as ever, Anna-Banana!"

"The heart and mind of a samurai are always ready to tackle unexpected enemies and threats." Amelia nodded with a smirk. "Plus, I always wanted to see how your Scare dare looks once you're into it. Count me in!"

"Me too! Me too!" Polly cheered.

"It's not easy to scare me," Maddie grinned as she thumbed up, Ivy agreeing with her.

"Let's do this!"

"Alright, all we need now is the scare dare itself," Marcy explained, "something scary and frightening enough we can use for today's sleepover. Possibly, without having to run into Bella again," she added with a grimace, "for I don't think she has much good will left for us. Sasha, what do you propose?"

"Actually, maybe this time it would be better if we choose something altogether, instead of simply letting me decide it for all of us." The blonde human replied with a shrug. "Plus, whatever we choose, if we end up in some real danger, I say we stop the challenge and retreat: try to look cool is not worthy the risk of being hurt for real!"

"Ok then, does anyone has any idea of what a good Scare Dare could be?"

The girls all got down on thinking, trying to come up with an idea to propose for the Scare Dare, and then-

"Yeah, I got nothing"

"Me neither."

"Sorry, been so long since the last time I suggested one," Marcy apologized. "What about you, Sash? You were the one who always came up with the best scare dares. Don't you have some idea we could use?"

"Well, I may have one, but I'm not sure if we can use it. I mean, is not like the castle has an abandoned cellar someplace, or a long-forgotten room somewhere-"

"Wait, the basement!" Anne shouted as she got up on her feet, walking up to the sketch of the castle with a map of all its interiors. "It fits all criteria!"

"The basement?" Maddie gasped in response. "But both Lady Olivia and Yunan told us not to go there!"

"Yeah, Anne." Marcy agreed, "That place is probably off-limits for a good reason. This may not be a smart idea."

"As much as I don't like to follow the rules, they have a point: we don't know exactly what we may find down there." Sasha took a deep breath. "Plus, even assuming we find nothing actually dangerous, there could be dust, rats or rusty metal. What if we end up hurting ourselves?"

"What, are you too afraid to do some exploration?" Amelia teased. "Looks like someone's ready to have their name added to the Book of Losers!"

Sasha hissed, and for a moment, all the lessons she had learned in the last few months were forgotten, and all that Sasha could see was Amelia calling her 'chicken'. She dared to say that Sasha Waybright, the maker of the Scare dare herself, was afraid of going into some dirty old basement. It was a challenge, pure and simple.

And Sasha Waybright was not one to back down from a challenge.

"Don't you dare use that tone of voice with me, pipsqueak! You want to see what real courage looks like? I hereby accept this Scare-Dare challenge!"

"I also accept this Scare Dare!" Ivy shouted as well, and her enthusiasm soon influenced the others.

"We also accept this Scare-Dare challenge!"

"I am ready!"

"It is settled then." Anne said in a deep voice. "This Scare-Dare challenge is now..."

"OFFICIAL!" All the girls said at once with an ominous tone, like they were swearing some secret fealty.

(…)

A small cloud of dust and filth was released as Anne and Sasha opened the trapdoor, all girls coughing for a few seconds before their view cleared up, and they saw a scary-looking staircase leading into the darkness, some small formation of corals growing on the walls around it.

"So…" Maddie asked, her voice now sounding doubtful. "Who should go first?"

"I vote for Anne."

"Wait, what?" The aforementioned human girl gasped, feeling betrayed by Polly's suggestion. "Why?"

"Well, you were the one that proposed the challenge, Boonchuy." Sasha replied with a teasing smirk. "That's the first obligation one has whenever they recommend a Scare Dare: to prove they're not scared by it."

"Then, why don't you go first?" Amelia quipped. "Even if you did cheat, so far you're the only one who never had to write her own name in the Book of Losers. Plus," she gave one small glance to the staircase and the darkness it led into, "I bet down there is dangerous as much as your hair color is blonde."

"My hair is naturally blonde!" Sasha shouted back, feeling angry at Amelia's insinuation and the memories it brought back to her. "Then, why don't you volunteer instead? Samurai are supposed to be fearless!"

"Fearless is not the same as brainless, as your blonde hairdo-"

"Enough!" Marcy shouted, no more able to stand down the quarrel. "Let's do this way: Sasha, Aelia, you're on the front; Anne and I will be in the rear; Maddie, you, Ivy and Polly will stand in the middle, just like in an adventuring party. Is that ok?"

"Ugh, fine!" Sasha rolled her eyes while still giving Amelia the stink eye. "However, before proceeding, let's all whip out your phones and turn on the flashlights. At least to let everyone know where we're putting our feet The last thing we need is someone tripping and pull everyone else with them. I'm looking at you, Mars."

"Come on, Sash: I got better!"

Sasha added nothing else as they finally ventured through the staircase, leaving the trapdoor open behind them to serve as a potential escape route, ignoring the fact someone had been watching them the whole time and would eventually follow the girls through the same trapdoor and staircase they were currently proceeding.

As the group ventured more and more into the darkness, a strange sense of uneasiness began to grow, and the state of degradation of the structure around them did nothing to ease their worries.

"Geeze," Sasha hissed as he stepped on something slimy and mossy, her face grimacing in an expression of disgust as she realized what it was. "Be careful girls: there are some strange mushrooms growing all over the stairs and making it slippery-"

Too late, her mind informed her as Marcy suddenly yelped and a tumbling sound announced that their resident nerd and spell-maker had not only tripped (again), but also carried Anne with her. Both teens then slammed into the others, the whole group of girls now rolling down the stairs until they eventually hit rock bottom. Marcy and Anne on the bottom of the pile with Amelia was on top.

"Marcy," Maddie said as soon as her head stopped spinning, "take note. Our next focus for magical research and development will be that 'Feather Fall spell' you told me about."

"Ung-" Marcy groaned, turning her face just in time to see a large moth flapping her wings in front of a mirrors', the odd color of the bug's wings and its accidental position (right over the spot where the reflection of Marcy's mouth should have been) making it look like she had huge fangs. "Eeeh!

"Ahh!"

"Eeeeh!"

"Ohhh!"

"Uhh!"

Marcy's scream kickstarted a domino effect, everyone screaming in surprise before they managed to calm themselves down again.

"Okay, that's enough."

"Sorry, sorry!" Marcy began to apologize. "It's just that… it looked just like the cover of an old movie."

"Woah, that's a lot of mirrors!" Ivy said as she looked forward, pointing out to a long hallway with countless mirrors placed on both walls, the moth from before flapping away until it disappeared into the darkness.

"Maybe some old queen of the past loved her own reflection too much? like in Snow White." Sasha joked as she walked to the closest mirror, checking her own reflection. "Mirror, mirror on the wall… who is the fairest girl of them all?" Wow, I could really use a new haircut in the next few days.

"Cryptic and unsettling, yet nothing too scary so far." Amelia nodded. "So, shall we proceed or someone among you feels ready go back and write their name in the Book of Losers?"

"You kidding me?"

"No way! I'm not a coward!"

"You know, all these mirrors remind me some stuff I used to read once, about their connection with the supernatural." Marcy said, looking back at her own magic teacher. "Isn't that right, Maddie?"

"Huh-uh!" The spellcaster frog replied, glaring at the mirrors with a thoughtful expression. "There was a chapter about it in one of my books. It says mirrors are powerful items that can help you ward against malevolent spirits, used to retrain them, strip them of their powers or even detain them if necessary."

"Creepy, but I heard something like that once, during a visit with my extended family." Anne sighed as the group was so focused on fooling around, they didn't see three shadows looking upon them from the dark, all of them wearing crude, scary masks, waiting for the right occasion to strike.

"Hey, Polly!" Amelia said, pointing at a large mirror where both the human girl and the tadpole could see their own reflection. "Do you want to do a silly face-making contest?"

"You're on, Amelì!"

The two began to make silly expressions with their faces, to the amusement of some of their friend and chagrin of others, as they kept moving from one mirror to another, from one frame to the next, until they came across a mirror unlike each other, where instead of simply showing off their reflection, the duo could see the reflected image was of three figures, two tall and imposing as the humans, the central one a bit shorter, all three wearing dirty yellow hockey masks over their faces.

Less than a second later, both girls realized to their horror that the 'reflection' was not reflecting any movement at all.

"BWAHAHAHAHA!" The three figures jumped forward, laughing evilly, the girls screaming in terror at the same time and retreating into a corner, Ivy, Marcy, Amelia and Polly closing their eyes and weeping as the figure surrounded them, yelling and laughing with louder and louder voices, and then-

"Aha!" One of three figures mocked before removing her mask, revealing himself to be Jacob with a mask and black piece of cloth to hide his pajamas. "Seems like you little girlies are not so courageous as you claimed."

"GUYS!" The girls shouted at the same time while James and Sprig also removed their own disguises. "That wasn't funny!"

"Oh yes, it was!"

"Sprig, how could you do that to me?" Anne jerked, feeling betrayed once again tonight.

"Well, you girls were so gun-toting that us boys couldn't be part of your small sleepover, so…"

"-so you decided to follow and prank us!" Amelia hissed in rage. "Very mature!"

"What, were you expecting not to face retribution for kicking us out after so much time and adventures we have spent together?" James rolled his eyes while still smirking smugly. "I believe the choice of words for this situation is, what goes around comes around."

"Come on, boys!" Jacob said, James and Sprig striking a pose with him. "Guys rule!"

"Guys rule!"

"Buffoons…" Sasha hissed, seeing the three of them monkeying around, until her eyes caught sight of something just behind them.

"Hey, what is that?"

"Nice trick, but we're not falling for it sunshine!"

"No, I mean the door behind you!" The blonde girl walked past them, the boys and the rest of the girls all following Sasha with their eyes until they saw it. It was a large door of solid wood, with strong metal chains placed above it to block it from the outside, with two sturdy planks placed over the chains to further reinforce the block. What caught the group's interest, however, was that there were two inscriptions in Ancient Amphibian runes written on the door, the main one a short sentence written with red ink over the final plank while a longer message, written in smaller characters and barely visible among the chains, was on the door's frame proper.

"Shadowfish within?"

"Keep out." Marcy and James proceeded to cross-translate both inscriptions to the benefit of their friends. "Does…someone knows what a Shadowfish is supposed to be?"

"No idea. There was nothing about them on Hop Pop's books anyway." Anne thought about it. "But maybe, in the Royal Library-"

"No, I read all the books contained in there, and there was nothing about something called 'shadowfish'" Marcy shook her head. "Curiouser and curiouser."

The floor suddenly creaked, causing the group to make a collective jump back and scream at the same time.

"Well, we already went quite far by now," James proposed. "How about we all consider the scare dare 'done' and we head back upstairs to watch a movie and drink tea? I mean, if anyone of you want to quit, of course."

"Yeah," Anne nodded, internally screaming for someone but her to gave them an excuse to go back, "somebody's got to want to go back by now."

"I-I ain't going in no Book of Losers." Sprig shivered, even as his body trembled with fear.

"Me n-n-n-neither." Polly shivered too.

"The daughter of Felis the Red can't be scared of a plain ol basement, even if it's dark, and gloomy and scary…" Ivy stopped for a moment before shaking her head. "Mom used to venture into actual dangerous crypt and forgotten ruins and she wasn't afraid, so I shall not be either!"

"I am supposed to be the scary one, not the scared," Maddie laughed nervously. "I won't give up; that said, if anyone of you want to back down-"

"Come on, guys!" Amelia, who apparently was the only one in the group not showing fear right now, mocked them. "Aren't you a little curious to find out what lays beyond the mystery door?"

"Huh, Amelì?" Jacob raised his hand, acting reasonably and mature for once. "There is a large sign fixed to the door that says 'KEEP OUT', there are chains blocking the door and a cryptic warning about 'something' inside. Maybe it would be better to leave it unchecked, at least for the time being?" This is starting to look more and more like a horror movie, and we are the hapless teens breaking into a shady abandoned building before finding out it was filled with zombies, ghosts or some other monsters.

"My, my! I can't believe what I am hearing!" Sasha, wanting revenge for the previous prank, instinctively began to tease him. "The Element of Courage… acting like a coward?"

"Coward?!" Jacob snapped at her.

"Yes, Jacob. Aren't you betraying the value you were supposed to represent?" Amelia added on the teasing with merciless glee. "We faced many horrific creatures and dangerous situation already, yet you're letting yourself be scared by some door just because there is a sign telling us not to trespass? Who are you, and what have you done with my cousin?"

As the harsh words of mockery cut through him, a burst of anger erupted inside the boy, his emotion-filled mind abandoning any reasonable thinking and deciding to once again act on his guts' feelings. Screw safety, screw logic: he was the supposed embodiment of Courage, was he? Then he was going to show them!

"I was only thinking on your behalf, but if that's how you want to play, okay." The boy hissed back. "Let's open this door and see what lies behind it! That is, if you aren't too scared."

"Who, me? Afraid?!" James quipped on his own. "Ridiculous!"

"I guess we'll go a bit further then." Marcy nodded, her eyes looking at Anne, silently pleading for her to give up.

"Uh-huh." Anne replied, unwittingly destroying any hope everyone but Amelia had left by now with a short sentence. "Living my best life right now."

Slowly, the six humans worked together to remove the wooden board and release the metallic chains, before finally opening the door and glancing upon what lied behind it. And as soon as they did, their eyes widened in shock.

"What the heck?"

Behind the door there was large room dug in the hard rock, with coral formations growing all over the walls, some red bioluminescent glowing coral providing light to the group, allowing them to see that the room was flooded (just like the Plantar's basement has been, back at the time of the river lamprey infestation). And to add on the whole creepiness value, several tombstones and coffins floated in the water, broken metal chains (like the ones previously used to secure the door) laying over them while, on the left side of the room, some kind of nightmarish depiction of a face made with rock and coral formations seemed to glance on them.

"That… wasn't here the first time." Amelia said with a low tone of voice, heard by no one, as she took out her phone and began to snap photos of the environment around them, Marcy and Jacob taking images and recordings as well.

"It's some kind of old, creepy crypt." Anne said, looking around. "So, this was hidden under the castle all this time?"

"A crypt?" Polly repeated, "You mean like, with dead bodies? Cool." She, Maddie, Ivy and Sprig jumped forward and started to explore the crypt, while the six humans stood where they were, shock and fear running through their blood.

"I heard that, during the Middle Ages, many royal or noble families had private crypts where they used to bury the members of their own family." Marcy began to speak, trying to use logic and her never-ending knowledge to fight off nervousness "I guess it is the same in Amphibia."

"So, you're saying these are the tombs of members of King Andrias's ancestry, or other families?" James gulped, looking at a couple skeletons emerging from the water. "Welp, I do hope these people are not related to Lady Olivia. Do you think, the line of Royal Advisors-"

"No, at least not recently, otherwise she would have told us." Sasha replied, the whole place feeling wrong with every passing second. "We shouldn't be here."

"Agreed." Anne and Marcy said verbatim.

"Sasha's right."

"We should head back upstairs."

"Yeah, you took the words right off my mouth." Jacob nodded, looking at the coffins like he expected them to open all of a sudden and nightmarish frog zombies to jump out to eat their brains.

"Oh, I see." Sprig smiled smugly, exchanging a glance with Polly, Ivy and Maddie. "So I guess you all are okay with going in... the Book of Losers!" The four frog kids yelled at once.

"Forget that stupid book!" Sasha yelled back. "Even back when I was my old self, I never had my friends do something I wasn't 100% sure it was safe and devoid of any health risk! Look around you: this place had been locked up and cut off from the surface for who knows many years, and judging by the water level, it suffered quite a lot of infiltration! I wouldn't be surprised if we could catch some serious disease just by falling into it!"

"She's right!" James quickly came in Sasha's support. "And besides, even if abandoned, this was once a crypt, dead people were put in here so they could finally rest. We should be respectful of that: how would you feel, Sprig and Polly, if someone desecrated your family's tombs? Or what about you, Ivy: how would you feel seeing someone trespass in a very private spot of your family's story?"

The accuse struck its intended target, Sprig, Polly and Ivy looking down in remorse and shame as they come into realization of what they were doing. Even Maddie couldn't help but agree: even if she and her family had made peace with the loss of her mother, the pain she felt after losing her was still hurtful in her mind.

"I…I guess we were acting quite jerkish, did we?"

"Yes, you were!" Amelia couldn't help but reply, her mind having by now done almost a complete 180 from before opening the door. "Come on, we all ended up to this point without being scared, I guess we can say none of us will end up in the Book of Losers for today's Scare Dare. Agreed?"

"Agreed!" Sasha, Marcy and Anne all said at the same time, all three girls ready to forego the challenge if they got to leave this scary old crypt as fast as they could.

"Wait!" Ivy raised her hand. "Before we go, can't we… take a selfie, all together, to keep as proof of how far we got? Just a small memento of today's adventure."

"I guess we can do that," Sasha shrugged, giving signs for the other to gather. "Come on, gang, move here."

The group quickly reunited all together, just beyond the entrance of the crypt, turning their back to the coffin-filled dirt water behind them as they tried to put their best cheering faces.

"Okay everyone! Say 'Adventure!'"

"ADVENTURE!"

Sasha's phone snapped, taking a photo of the group all nervously cheering together, the blonde girl quickly examining it.

"Nailed it," said Sasha. "No, wait. The photo looks kinda funny, almost as-"

The group gasped as they saw the photo beginning to glow, and then a strange ghost-like creature, with bright glowing eyes, emerged from the screen and floated in front of them. The humans and frogs all screaming in horror, as the crypt's water glowed. Then, more and more creatures of different shapes and dimensions, but all sharing the ghost-like appearance and glowing eyes of the first, began to emerge from the pool.

"What in frog's names are these things?!" Sasha yelled, trying to shield her friends with her body as her mind regretted not having brought her swords with her.

"They must be the Shadowfishes the writing on the door warned us against!" James countered, scared to the bone yet unable to look away from the unholy creatures floating in the air and surrounding them, their ghost-like bodies looking like giant jellyfishes.

Amelia said nothing, her eyes widened by the shock, all her previous bravado having completely vanished by now, as the girl trembled like a leaf and held onto Jacob, the boy too much focused on the creatures to notice.

"Hey," Sprig mused as the first, smallest one floated peacefully in front of him, like he was 'inviting' him to touch it, "they're actually kind of cute."

"Don't touch it, Sprig!" Maddie and Ivy yelled at the same time, pointing to a large 'shadowfish' who had absorbed some frog bones into his body, the bones quickly starting to dissolve under the corrosive effect of whatever substance made up the Shadowfishes' bodies. And as they saw yet, a new yell of horror escape the various humans and frogs' throats.

"They're going to eat our bones!" Polly lamented.

"They're like the Blob!" Jacob shouted. "They melt everything they touch!"

"Screw the Scare Dare!" Amelia suddenly announced, unable to control herself a second longer. "I'm a loser, I deserve to have my name written in the Loser's Book! Let's get outta here!"

"I don't get it." Anne said, "Are they aliens? Ghosts? Or something else?"

"Does it matter?!" Marcy replied with a voice filled with fear. "Let's get outta here, Scoob!"

"Roger that. Wait, what did you just call me?"

"This is no Scooby Doo, Mar-Mar!" Sasha yelped. "This is frogging's Tales of the Crypt!"

It was then that the group realized that even more Shadowfishes had appeared behind them, blocking the door they had unwittingly opened before and preventing them from retreating through the same way they had come.

"Over there!" Polly pointed to the opposite end of the room. "Another exit!"

The group didn't have to be told twice as they jumped on the floating coffins to reach the opposite exit and ran through it, the Shadowfishes in hot pursuit behind them.

Just my luck! Sasha thought as she and the other ran from the blob abominations. This story's genre is shifting from teen adventure to adult horror, and here we are stuck in the roles of the bimbos who run down the alley desperately trying to get away from the monsters. She hissed in pain as running barefoot on the rocky floor started to hurt her feet. I swear, if someone ends up randomly falling and twisting an ankle, I'm going to find Wes Craven and-

"Agh!" Before Sasha could even finish her thought, Marcy slammed on the floor, her hand running to her feet with a pained expression. "I-I'm cut! It hurts! I can't run anymore!"

Seriously?!

"You had to go exploring an unknown underground passage barefooted, did you?" Jacob groaned as he rushed back to her, the Shadowfishes approaching, leaving only a matter of seconds before they could reach them.

"Jacob, what are you-"

Without even letting Marcy finish her sentence, the former prankster grabbed her, one hand holding Marcy's back while the other raised her leg, in a textbook example of a 'Princess Carry', allowing Jacob to carry Marcy to safety while, behind them the Shadowfishes kept on pursuing them.

Oh shoot, Marcy thought as she felt her cheeks blush once again, the reality of the situation hitting her, feelings!

By now the group had reached another section of the hallway, like the ones they traversed through before, completely covered with mirrors and reflective surfaces.

"Man, someone here really loved mirrors." Anne commented, before the sudden arrival of the Shadowfishes prompted the gang to continue their escape. The Shadowfishes, however, seemed hesitant to follow them and quickly phased into the ground.

Not realizing their pursuers weren't on sight anymore, the group kept running, now traversing through what it looked like an underground garden room, with large plants of different forms, shapes and colors growing from vases or designed areas for larger plants.

"What the... A garden?" Marcy gasped as the group zoomed through. "But how are these plants growing so well without sunlight-"

"No time for that, Mars!" Jacob replied, the group quickly left the underground garden behind them, unable to see or hear the chained planetoid creature who they had awakened from their sleep.

Outside of the 'garden', the group passed in front of a discarded painting, lying against the wall, with large cuts on the canva, showcasing three figures, a toad, a frog and a large newt standing next to each other and smiling friendly. However, a large chunk of the portrait, where the newts' head and face should have been, had been ripped apart, making it impossible for anyone to understand who it was.

As the group was currently too focused into escaping the Shadowfishes threat following them, they almost all run past the portrait without even noticing it, but Sprig and Amelia, stopping one second to regain breath, did.

"Whoa, someone really hated this painting."

"Sprig, that's-" Amelia began to speak only to stop as she saw the frog standing on the left, her hand moving to reunite cut pieces and allowing her to see the face of a female frog with a red-pinkish skin and short orange hair, her body color and body trait very similar to the ones of the young frog in pajama standing next to her.

For a brief second, the fear freezing Amelia's brain was forgotten as the girl kept looking at the frog in the portrait. There was something strange with the frog on the portrait, something… familiar, almost as-

"Ah, they're coming!" Sprig yelled, pointing at the Shadowfishes resuming pursuit, once again clouding Amelia's brain with terror, the human girl and the frog running away before she could take a photo of the portrait, missing a chance to uncover a crucial element of a larger puzzle.

Finally, the group arrived at yet another stairwell, climbing them as fast as they could, until they reached the top, the passage now locked by a trapdoor. Immediately Sasha, Anne, James and Amelia pushed on it, to try and open their way out before the Shadowfishes could catch on them.

"Come on, put your backs into it!" James yelped as the old door frame, subjected to the combined push of four teen humans, finally snapped open, the humans and the frog rushing outside only to find themselves in a very familiar interior.

"What the- that's our room!" Marcy gasped. "You mean all that stuff was right under our feet all this time?!"

"You can inquire about it once we're sure we're safe again!" Sasha yelled back, as everyone quickly organized to lock the passage behind themselves, locking the trapdoor and pushing furniture and other heavy objects above it to make it impossible to reopen it from the inside. Even Jacob, after putting Marcy back on her bed, quickly rushed to help his friends, until a small pile of objects laid just above the trapdoor.

"Do you… do you think this will stop them?" Amelia muttered, still trembling as a leaf, hiding behind James.

"Don't worry, unless-"

But the relief was short-lived as the Shadowfishes, holding true to their ghost-like appearances, didn't bother to try and open the trapdoor, but instead phased through it, eliciting new cries of horror from the group.

"NOOO!" Amelia jumped away, her closed eyes dripping with tears of fear as panic took over her mind. "Don't come closer! This wasn't supposed to happen; you weren't down there the first time!"

"The first time?!" Sasha, who had been taking several steps back from the Shadowfishes, noticed the odd sentence, her eyes once again widening in realization. "You mean-"

"Yes, I admit it, I admit it all! This wasn't the first time I went and explored the castle's basement; I already did! Back when I was looking for info about Leif, I stumbled upon some kind of secret passage, and I went on exploring it! But…nothing of what we've met today was there! Especially not the giant glowing jellyfish monsters that want to melt our bones! I hate jellyfishes! And I have seen enough anime cartoon to know how this is going to turn out!"

"Enough!" A voice suddenly shouted as the girls room's door opened with a slam, and Bella leaned inside, a bloodshot look on her eyes. "I told you, again and again, to play quiet-" and then the young newt stopped, all her anger and frustration replaced by surprise and shock, and then by fear, as she noticed the Shadowfishes floating in the middle of the room, some of them focusing on the newest arrival as the former Bellhop gasped.

"What in the King's name is that?!"

"Giant ugly glowing monsters that apparently were living in the basement!" Marcy yelped, lying on her bed as she tried to move even with the pain her cut feet was giving her. "Be careful: they can melt any living tissue!"

"Okay, that's something I never had to experience with my old job." Bella rushed in, taking out a long spear and holding it to try and defend herself, the humans and their friends quickly rushing to arm themselves as well. "Of course, I'll consider this overtime!"

"No way!" Jacob replied. "I gave you a free day, did I? That means you can't expect me to pay for any monster, predator or horrific abomination you fight until sunrise!"

"Guys, less quarreling, more ghost-fighting!"

As on cue, the group tries to improvise a defense against the Shadowfishes, either using their own weapons or anything they could use as one. Sasha held her twin heron Swords, Anne her tennis racket, Marcy managed to grab her crossbow and began to shoot darts at the ghostly creatures and Bella held her spear while everyone else began to throw items as makeshift projectiles. Only Amelia, too terror-struck by the ghostly jellyfishes to control herself, kept hiding and whimpering in fear.

It soon became clear, however, that the group was causing absolutely no damage to the Shadowfishes, swords, tennis racket and spear seemingly unable to cause any kind of visible wound while any object it was thrown at them simply phased trough them.

"This isn't working." Marcy gasped in realization. "Why is everything passing right through them?"

"Duh, because they're ghosts!" James almost felt the need to slap his own forehead as she remembered that. "Ghosts are immaterial, this is how they can phase trough walls and closed doors! Guys, we need to change strategy: we aren't even annoying them! Maddie, don't you have something we could use?!"

"I'm a spellcaster, not an exorcist!" The light blue frog protested. "Even if I could work out some kind of 'turn-undead' spell, I would need time to figure it out!"

"Then I guess we have no choice!" Sasha replied, realizing that, if no conventional weapon would protect them from such monsters, they'd have to rely on unconventional ones. "Anne, Marcy, Jacob, can you focus your powers?"

"Wait, you want to use our Calamity Power in here?!" Anne gasped. "We could risk destroying the whole castle!"

"Do you prefer let these monster melt your bones?!" Sasha yelled back, the emotional rush of the night and the feeling of being useless against these strange creatures now getting the better of her.

"Anne is right!" Sprig screamed in agreement as he pushed Polly out of the way of a Shadowfish who had come too close for the young frog's comfort. "There are other people living in the castle! If you all go overboard, we don't know what going to happened to them!"

Sasha bit her lips in frustration, trying to think hard of an alternative, something, anything they could do to fight back those creatures: We need to hit them, but we can't use our full power? But what should we do? The blonde girl hissed in her own mind. Why did we had to face these things today of all day? I just want to have a nice sleepo- Wait, that's it!

As realization dawned upon her, Sasha ran toward the center of the room, her mind focusing as a familiar mantra began to escape her lips.

«For everyone who can't stand up and fight;

For those who are alone and lost in the night.

Never again tyranny on you would befall,

Strength is here, to protect you all!»

"Sasha, what are you doing?" Marcy yelled from the bed she was currently resting on, but her blonde friend didn't even try to respond. The air around her fizzled as her hairdo began to turn bright pink, the Calamity energy of her gem reawakened in her blood.

One of the Shadowfishes noticed the teen human and turned toward her, coming closer and closer, the other humans and Amphibians in the room either yelling at her to move, as-

POOF!

Sasha, engulfed with the power of the Calamity Gem of Strength and floating in the center of the room, was now holding what looked like a glowing pink pillow. With a swift movement, she quickly moved around and threw the ethereal cushion toward the closest ghostly creature. As the energy-made pillow hit the Shadowfish, the creepy creature immediately lost its intangibility and transparent skin, before dropping on the floor. The beast pathetically attempting to flee as the Element of Strength, with a victorious 'Ha-ha!' continued her gleeful assault on the now vulnerable Shadowfish.

As they witnessed it, everyone was speechless, yet soon the surprise was over, and as the other Shadowfishes tried to reorganize, predatory smile blossomed on the lips of other three humans, eyes glowing in colorful energy as three other oaths began to be chanted.

(…)

"What is happening?!" The voice of King Aldrich resounded through the Core's mechanisms, as the technological union of the brightest mind of Amphibia watched upon the battle happening right now in the tower.

"Seems like the humans have managed to find an entrance to the basement," the voice of the old scholar replied, analyzing the situation with a voice devoid of any emotion. "And during their exploration, they managed to stumble into the Shadowfishes remains that had been trapped down there. Currently, a battle is ongoing onto the humans' quarters, and the four of them who have already unlocked their powers are actively using them to fight the Shadowfishes."

"I can't believe we are forced to witness this insult!" Another voice recalled with evident disgust. "Our sacred power used to fight such small, insignificant creatures! If I still had my old body, I would feel nauseated right now."

"What worries me the most, is that these 'humans' had been able to access the basement and came very close to unheard our most precious secrets, with barley any resistance or block to stop them! That idiot son of yours can't even do something right, does he?" The voice seemed to yell at Aldritch's the previous King saying nothing in response. "Not only his utter incompetent had caused this whole situation to happen in the first place, but they can't even stop it from getting worse! We already had to discharge our previous plan, and not only they have found out about their Powers, but they've started to train and practice them!"

"ENOUGH!" The voice of King Aldrich now sounded…tired, like even he couldn't find the anger anymore to yell at Andrias's countless failures. "As much as we can't discount the utter failure and delusion this useless piece of mud that I had been forced to call 'son' had proved himself to be, again and again, this turn of events could be at our advantage. Seems like the battle ongoing will allow us to get a grasp on our enemies' combat efficiency-"

(…)

"Ha!" Anne yelled, as she channeled her blue Calamity energy to create a tennis ball- construct, before hitting it with her racket at full speed against the closest Shadowfish, the ghost-like creature pushed back by the 'blow' as the light blue energy beanbag penetrated it and exploded inside the creature. A surge of electric energy running through its body for several minutes before vanishing.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the room, Sasha was now wielding two pink cushions made of pure Calamity Energy, using them to 'swat' away the smallest Shadowfishes while, next to her, Jacob held a pretend lightsaber, the yellow energy of his own gem crackling the air as he channeled his inner Sith.

"Peace is a lie; There is only Passion!" Jacob yelled as he stroke with his 'lightsaber' again, hitting a Shadowfish and forcing him back. "Through Passion, I gain Strength. Through Strength, I gain Power! Through Power, I gain Victory! Through Victory, my chains are Broken. THE FORCE SHALL FREE ME!"

"Great, Jacob went full Palpatine," Sprig rolled his eyes as he peeked from behind his hiding spot, standing amid Ivy and James.

"Guys!" From the spot where Marcy was floating amid air, the bright neon-like green energy enveloping her body speeding up her brain process so much she could see every outcome of the battle at the same time. "The Shadowfishes are entangled, now it's our chance to strike back! I need you to push forward and reach for the trapdoor so we can-"

"No way!" Amelia, who was still trembling in terror, yelled back. "I told you I saw enough anime to know what happens next!"

Marcy said nothing to Amelia's outburst. She was clearly frightened by what was happening there, and the dark-haired nerd knew that, by forcing the youngest human into action, it would just put her and the others at risk. Within barely a second, she already changed her plan and, pointing at the fray behind her, shouted "Go get them guys!"

With a valiant roar, James, Maddie, Sprig, Bella, Polly and Ivy rushed into attack, holding cushions, book and whatever item they could use as a weapon to throw at the now very-tangible creatures. Meanwhile Marcy, even if she kept all her focus on the fight, put a comforting hand on the crying teen's shoulder, trying to do her best to help Amelia calm down.

The Shadowfishes, now clearly at a disadvantage, were pushed back to the center of the room and then into the trapdoor. The humans and their friends quickly closing it once again and securing it with several heavy objects.

"Let's get them!" James, Maddie, Sprig, Bella, Polly and Ivy all rushed into attack, holding cushions, book and whatever item they could use as a weapon, the Shadowfishes now clearly in disadvantage as they were pushed back to the center of the room, and then into the trapdoor, the humans and their friends closing it once again and securing it with several heavy objects.

For almost a full minute, no one said anything, taking deep breaths as their bodies purged the adrenaline out of their systems. And then-

"So... anyone think they're going to be able to sleep after that terrifying experience?" Anne asked as she looked around.

"Nope!"

"Nu-huh!"

"That was like a nightmare, but while being awake!"

"Careful now, Marcy." Maddie said as she dropped yet another healing spell on her friend's ankle, the dark-haired human gasping for a second as she felt all the pain disappear and she started to move her feet once again. "Even if my magic can heal you, you should try not to stress it too much, at least until noon."

"I agree, you were quite lucky that master Jacob was able to take you to safety." Bella nodded, giving an aside glance to her human boss. "I guess he does care about you."

"Well, we could really say that." Marcy added with a nervous chuckle, trying not to think about it.

Meanwhile, on the center of the room, an odd conversation was taking place, with Amelia venting up all her pent-up emotions of the night as Sasha, Anne, Ivy, Polly and the boys surrounded her, a hot cup of what Ivy had described as 'stress-remover yellow tea' in her hands.

"So, not only you already had your own basement adventure on your own, but you used that knowledge to tease us into going forward even when we were all secretly wishing to go back?" Sasha resumed Amelia's whole explanation with a hand pressed on her forehead. "Girly, you pulled a me! But not a 'good me' one!"

"I know, and I am now very regretful of having done that!" The young samurai shrugged, taking yet another sip. "It's just that… I couldn't simply pass such an opportunity for adventure. Plus, when you told how you used to cheat during your previous Scare Dares-"

Sasha groaned as the revelation struck her hard, as she realized that Amelia looking at her like a model to follow had led the younger girl to take on some elements from her previous self. "I told you, that was me cheating! And even at my worst, I always was 100% sure to double, heck, even triple-check there would be no actual danger in the first place! You thought you had already seen anything you could find down there, but you didn't! The silver lining in all of this was that we found out how to fight off these monstrous jellyfishes-"

"Ugh, please, don't say that again! I told you, I have a phobia of jellyfishes!" Amelia pleaded, small tears running down her cheeks. "Ever since I was a little girl!"

"I can confirm," Jacob nodded, shaking his head. "Even when we went visiting the Aquarium, back in LA, she's always skipping the jellyfish section."

"Ok, look, I know I shouldn't judge other people's phobia, but…" Anne asked, raising an eyebrow in curiosity, "how did that start?"

"Three words for you, Palmico Beach Incident!" Amelia yelped, new abundant tears running down her cheeks. "Since then, I haven't been able to even look upon a jellyfish without…"

"Well, in hindsight, it was quite a disgusting vision." Jacob grimaced in disgust, thinking back at the blob of dehydrated jellyfishes.

"You know, I have so many questions about those things, whatever they were." James nodded, looking back at the trapdoor and, symbolically, to what laid under it. "What were those things? What's the deal with the basement? Were they simply animals, even as weird and scary as they were, or were they actual ghosts? And if it's the latter… does that mean that other supernatural stuff exists? There is an afterlife?"

Jacob, Sasha and Anne exchanged glances filled with dread. "Ok," Anne spoke, saying aloud what everyone was thinking. "Well, that's going to cause some serious existential dread later on."

In that moment, almost as to 'intentionally' break the tension within the room, the alarm clock on Marcy's phone began to rang, and out of the window and beyond Nerwtopia's walls, the Sun once again began to shine, signaling the start of a new day.

"Welp, we did it."

"We stayed awake all night."

"And we did it without destroying the castle!"

"I guess I'll have to go collect my payment for the night." Bella straightened herself up, marching toward the door before stopping, giving the humans one last glance. "That said, should lady Olivia or anyone else to do this again, I think I'll have to ask for five time the payment. You and your friends were quite something…boss." She looked at Jacob, the boy smiling back at her before she walked out, closing the door behind her.

"Well, one thing's for sure." Sprig cheered. "That sleepover was amazing!"

"It was the best!" Polly agreed. "Even taking into account the whole Scare Dare and the Shadowfishes!"

"Yeah, it was… quite amazing." Ivy nodded before sighing. "Too bad now we have to add our names in the Book of Losers."

"Why?" Sasha stopped her before her little sis could grab the book. "I told you, back when we were in the Crypt that none of us-"

"No, Sash. I do have to add my name in there." Ivy shook her head. "I don't think if I qualify as a loser, but surely I wasn't a winner. And mom thought me to ought my mistakes."

"I guess I'll have to add my own name too." Maddie spoke in turn. "I won't admit it to anyone who wasn't here today, but I today I got scared as well."

"Yeah, let's add my name too!"

"I agree!"

One by one, everyone in the room started to say they deserved to add their own names added in the book, Anne and Marcy blaming themselves for making the sleepover 'girls only' in the first place while Jacob and James wanted to apologize for scaring them and be immature. Even Sasha, with a sigh, walked back with everyone else as they sat on Marcy's bed, their friend opening the book and showing the content.

"Whoa!" Amelia gasped. "Your names are in here a bunch of times."

"Yep, the only one that never got in the book until now," Anne explained, "was Sasha."

"A streak that now I guess has been broken." The blonde girl smirked as she sat down and added her own name with her friend's, a part of her feeling elated, like she no more had to subject herself to everyone's expectations. "Well, I guess it was fun until it lasted."

"And we got a nice adventure without any consequence or shocking revelation!" Sprig nodded.

The group stood silent for a few more seconds, everyone adding their name to the book of Losers and thinking back to the scary experience they had just gone through.

"OH FROG!" Amelia yelled, as the gears inside her head finally clicked, and realization dawned upon her. "The frog! The frog on the portrait! THAT WAS LEIF!"