Once they figured out their current location, courtesy of Shirley, they returned back to Angleford.
However, back to the ruins of their battle, it was eerily quiet. A few rogue presences sniffed out the place, but once they found that all parties involved had left, they too left dejected. Free resources were something no one would want to give up on.
Since they left, the place turned quiet yet again, but it was different this time.
Rabid winds swept through the battlefield, directly sweeping up all the fucked up dirt into the crater from the explosion. Then, as if the ground was alive, the crater opened up like a maw, eating up all the scorched earth and snapped trees, belching as it closed. It seemed to grind its rocky teeth as a rumbling echoed through the land.
Soon, new soil found its way to the surface, appearing a rich black.
Rain clouds then crept up to the place and rained down, nurturing the place even further.
And finally, seemingly out of nowhere, buds quickly sprouted from the ground, covering the land in newly born grass, weeds, and other flora. As of now, this place merely appeared to be a large clearing, and practically no signs of the previous battle exist anymore. The thing that was odd was the lack of snow, but it was currently snowing, so that too would return to normal.
Crazier yet, the receiver of the laser cannon appeared to still stand tall despite what had ensued here today. It's dome had been erected, which had been covered in dirt and masked its presence, but it was still there.
And so, after today, no one would know what had happened here.
…
Because Shirley had a map of the nearby landscape, they were able to successfully find the right way back to Angleford.
Yet, along the way, Ran could no longer hold it in and confronted Queenie:
"I‐I'm sorry!"
'Huh?"
Queenie was confused; what was he apologizing for? And why did he take off his hood?
"I'm sorry about what happened to your brother. It's all my fault, I know. I… I just—"
"Just what?"
She sighed. Patting his shoulder, Queenie consoled Ran.
"Look, it's not your fault, don't worry about it. Whoever this person is, she sent my brother against me. You just happen to be a target as well, and if it wasn't for both you and Ann, I would be dead right now."
She gave him a small hug, which he reciprocated, as a gesture of reassurance not only for him, but for herself as well.
However, looking at his downtrodden face, it clearly didn't work too well. He still felt a bit of guilt, which seemed to be a trend for him these days.
He held his head a little low as he walked with the rest, clearly deep in his thoughts. However, this was a mistake on his part. He had taken off his hood because he wanted to be honest with Queenie and not hide behind it, but it backfired.
As Ann watched him, she too began to feel a bit down. So, remedy this, she did the only logical thing possible.
She smacked him upside the head so hard, he went unconscious while shoveling the snow with his mouth.
Gasping, Queenie asked, "Ann, how could you?"
And to that, she only shrugged.
"He always feels bad for everything, making himself feel guilty for nothing. He carries it around and it affects other people, so I usually send him to sleep. Don't worry, he always feels better when he wakes up."
To that, everyone was silent. They could only pity him as she slumped him over her shoulder and continued walking.
Along the way, Ann began to squeeze and caress various parts of Rans body, including… cough, his nether regions. After all, she was only making sure that Ran hadn't been accumulating any fat and was healthy. It wasn't weird (it was) at all! How could the savior be fat? Or even chubby? It would affect his stamina if he gained too much weight.
Only then did everyone finally realize how dominant Ann truly was. Nothing was more terrifying than having complete control over someone else.
…
When they reached the outskirts of Angleford after a few hours of leisurely walking, it was already dark.
At that moment, Ran finally woke up.
"Ugh. What? Where… why am I upside down…"
He looked up, only to see the frilled skirt of Ann's outfit. Only then did he realize what happened; it was all too familiar to him.
"Did you knock me out again?"
"Yeah, you were blabbering too much," she said nonchalantly.
"I… thanks."
"Mhm."
She didn't let go of him though. She just carried him like luggage the rest of the way there.
They were originally planning on leaving, but considering how dark it was, they might as well just stay the night here and continue in the morning.
But along the way back, they went past the farmhouse they originally went to to go into the tunnel. And yet, when they passed it, they saw no tunnel! Not even the hole was there.
"Huh, weird isn't it?"
"Well, the people working there probably wouldn't want their livestock running away into the tunnel, so I guess they plugged it up?"
Shirley wasn't too sure of her conjecture, but it made a certain amount of sense, so they all just went with it. Plus, it wasn't like the hole could plug itself… right?
Anyways! Once they returned to the Fourth inn, they saw how the lights to the bar were still on. Opening the door, they didn't expect to see that the entire floor was empty. All the tables were clean and the chairs were neatly in place.
And in the middle of the bar was a tiny fish-person who walked back and forth. Hearing the door open, he stopped in his tracks and looked in that direction. Seeing the person come in, his hopeless eyes lit up.
He directly embraced his daughter, and she held onto him with one arm, like a child would with their doll.
"Oh sweetie, your back! I looked everywhere for you, and the tunnel you supposedly went into disappeared!"
"Don't worry dad, I'm fine… wait. The tunnel we went through disappeared?"
"What tunnel? Who cares about tunnels! Let me see, are you hurt anywhere? And why did you take so long?"
The father jumped off of his daughter's hug and eyed the toads that she wrapped under arm.
"So I was you that did all of this, huh? Don't worry, you're not getting any frogs tonight, hmph. Wait… why is there more than one of you?"
He eyed his daughter, looking for an explanation for the sudden increase in the amount of toads, but he only got a sheepish laugh as an excuse.
"Pssh, what are you worrying about that for? We're all very hungry, can you please cook for us?"
She let go of the toads and squatted down to her father's level, pinching his shoulders softly as if it was a massage. However, the father was stunned by what she said.
"We?"
Only then did he realize that five other people had been standing behind Shirley's hulking stature.
"What are you doing here?"
Uh oh. Knowing her father's attitude towards these strangers, and specifically one of them, she quickly explained what happened.
Luckily, she was smart enough to omit all of the bad details, only explaining how they got stuck somewhere after finding Peppy the toad and how they "rescued" her. It was really quite convenient, and the father soon reluctantly allowed them to stay the night after dinner.
So, just like that, tonight, they had a scrumptious dinner and fell asleep on warm beds.