Scientific Study
"Subject one from world number 0527, also known as "The Demon Realm," Odalys Light spoke into a small recording device as she stood over the witch that was strapped to the table. The witch was restrained but growled back at her.
"Cloakbot's observation has informed us that this species is capable of using magic innately through the use of an organ identified as a "bile sac" attached to the heart," continued Odalys.
"Subject displays average level intelligence, though not clear the exact level of thinking ability," said Alister joining his wife in the recording.
"How about you untie me and I'll show you exactly what my thinking ability is?!" declared the witch defiantly.
"No I don't think we will," said Alister, "but if you can communicate with us, perhaps it would make the following exercise easier. Now how about you tell us how exactly you use magic?"
The witch remained silent.
"If you aren't going to make our job easier then please don't bother interrupting us," said Odalys to the witch.
"Shall we continue calling you subject one or do you have a name?" asked Alister.
The witch thought for a second before replying, "I'm called Raine. Raine Whispers."
"Raine, such a lovely name," said Odalys in a mocking tone. "Of course, not as grand as mine." She went to the witch's left arm and lifted it up, observing a symbol just under the wrist.
"This mark? What is it?" What purpose does it serve?" asked Odalys
At first, the witch was silent, though eventually they spoke, "It's my coven brand. It marks me as a member of the bard coven."
"What purpose do these covens serve?" asked Alister.
Again, Raine paused, though they did speak, "The covens are the right way to do magic, at least according to our emperor."
"You are ruled by an emperor?!" said Odalys. "What is this emperor like?"
"No one knows," said Raine, "he always wears a mask and has never revealed his face in public. He took the throne about fifty years ago and that was when he instituted the coven system. Once you are bound to a coven you are restricted to only being able to use that Coven's magic. The mark seals you off from performing other types of magic."
Odalys and Alister wrote down what the witch said.
"Most interesting," said Alister, "a casual observation seems to suggest that this method is enforced to prevent witches from becoming too powerful. Why do so many agree to this?"
"There are consequences to not joining a coven," said Raine, "if you don't join one, you are labeled a wild witch and hunted down by the emperor's forces. If you're caught, you're either forcibly put into a coven or, in the worst cases, you are petrified, turned to stone forever."
Again, Odalys and Alister wrote down what the witch said.
"Then there is no cure for petrification in your world?" asked Odalys.
"No, there isn't," said Raine flatly. The two newts wrote this down.
"We observed these coven marks on you and the other adult species that we captured, yet the child doesn't have one," said Alister.
"That would mean that she is unrestricted in the types of magic she can perform yes?" asked Odalys.
Raine nodded their head.
"Good, Andrias will be pleased to know that," said Alister.
"Now for the main question of the day," began Odalys, "How exactly do you perform magic?"
"I need my hand free to show you," said the witch. Alister and Odalys looked at each other.
"Before we agree to untie you, I'd like to remind you of the consequences of defiance," said Alister, he nodded to his wife, who pressed a button on a remote she was holding, and a small jolt of electricity went through Raine's body.
"Ahhh! Hey! There was no need for that!" said Raine.
"Yes, there was," said Alister coldly, "that was a mild shock, nothing too damaging, I can make it more painful, and I will if you attempt to escape when I untie your hand. Do you understand?"
The witch nodded their head, and Alister untied their hand. Raine brought up their hand and made a red circle with it, Alister and Odalys watched, intrigued. Out of the spell circle, a cluster of red musical notes came out. They danced in the air before resting and began to play a soft sweet melody.
"Fascinating!" said Alister as he looked up at the notes and listened to the melody.
"This doesn't look that impressive to me," scowled Odalys. "What is that song supposed to be doing?" Though as she said, this her eyes began to feel heavy. The witch didn't answer.
Alister let out a yawn, "Why do I suddenly feel tired?" he asked. Though a second later, he realized the answer and made his way over to the witch, trying to restrain them. The witch fought back with their free arm as Alister struggled to overcome the sleepiness in his form. Odalys had snapped out of her stupor and turned a knob on her remote, increasing the intensity of the shock collar. She quickly pressed the button, sending a wave of pain throughout Raine's body. Raine tried to continue their defiance, but the pain became too much and they finally stopped resisting. The red musical notes disappeared in a puff of smoke and Alister tied the witch back up.
"Alright, I'm sorry, please stop hurting me!" begged Raine. Odalys took her finger off the button and the electricity stopped. Odalys came up to the witch and slapped them hard in the face.
"We warned you!" she yelled, "but now since you've elected to do things the hard way, then I suppose we will too!" She went over to a tray that had some sharp scary looking devices on them. She pulled out a syringe, an evil smile on her face.
"I wish I could say this won't hurt," said Alister with a sinister smile, "but I'd be lying."
"Now let's extract some of that magical bile and see how it works," said Odalys, as she aimed the syringe at the witch's heart. Odalys plunged the syringe right into Raine's bile sac, making the witch let out a loud agonized scream!
A Check-up
"Thanks so much for coming over, Mrs. Noceda," said Anne as Camila walked through the door, "I was worried that we wouldn't be able to make it to Domino's appointment, but it is more convenient when the vet comes to you."
"Well I'm not just here for Domino," said Camila, "I also thought I'd take a look at the Plantars if you'll permit me, and if they're fine with it."
"Oh, really, I mean sure I guess," said Anne.
"Mom's been wanting to have a look at them for a while now," said Luz as she came in after her mother, "Amara is here too. Mom wanted to know just how similar they are to regular frogs."
"Oh, this could be interesting," said Anne, "Can't wait to see what the result is."
Camila and Oum looked at each other.
"Actually, Anne, you won't be here," said her mother. "You have an appointment with the dentist."
"Ah but mom…" protested Anne.
"No buts," said her mother holding up her hand.
"Ah man, that's rough," said Luz, "good luck with that."
"Eh-hum," said Camila making a noise, "you'll be joining her, Luz. I scheduled you an appointment at the same time."
"Wait, what?!" exclaimed Luz in surprise, Oum put her hand on Luz's shoulder smiling.
"Since you and Anne will be going together, you can think of it like a…. couples activity," said Oum.
Anne and Luz looked at each other, both thinking how "couples activities" did not usually involve a trip to the dentist.
"Uh, can we get a couple's pedicure together first?" asked Anne nervously.
"After… maybe," said Oum in a strict voice, "Now come, on you two. We're going to be late." She grabbed Anne and Luz by the collar and began leading them to her car outside.
"But mom," begged Anne, "my teeth only hurt a little bit." Oum didn't listen and heaved Anne and Luz into the car before driving off.
"Hey, Domino," said Camila to the cat, "how are we feeling today?"
Domino meowed in response.
"Well, let's make sure it stays that way then," said Camila taking out her device and looking into Domino's eyes. It didn't take long to give Domino her checkup. For the most part, the cat looked good.
"Domino seems to be doing okay," said Camila as she finished her examination, "I'd like to do a blood test though, just to make sure everything is alright inside."
The cat seemed to understand this as it suddenly became very tense. Camila stroked Domino, trying to get her to calm down. She called the Plantars over.
"Hey, can you guys give me a hand here?" she asked.
"Sure, what's up?" said Hop-Pop.
"I just need you guys to hold onto the cat and make sure she doesn't move," instructed Camila, "I need to get a blood sample from her."
Sprig and Hop-Pop appeared on either side of Domino and held onto her. Camila continued to stroke the cat as she got her needle ready. As soon as it saw the needle, Domino hissed at it and tried to get off the table, but Camila and the Plantars held onto her.
"I promise this will be quick," said Camila, "come on, Domino, don't make this difficult."
Domino hissed again.
"Well, that could have gone better," said Sprig as he put another bandage on Hop-Pop.
"Well, we got the blood sample at least," said Camila, putting a bandage on herself where the cat had scratched her.
"Is it always that painful?" asked Hop-Pop in a weary voice, looking at all the scratches on his body.
"Cats have different temperaments," said Camilla, "but they are usually a lot harder to deal with than dogs. Though some dogs can be difficult too. Luckily, I have plenty of bandages." she handed another one to Sprig, who put it on himself.
"So, uh, are you going to need a blood sample from us?" asked Hop-Pop, getting nervous.
"Um, we can skip that for now if you want," said Camila. "For now, let's just have a look at you and see how you work. Oh, and I also have those x-rays I took of you when you came to my office, so we can look at those too."
Camila used various medical devices to give each of the Plantars a checkup. She looked into their eyes, ears, and mouths wanting to understand them more. Eventually, she took out the X-rays and showed them to the Plantars.
"So you're saying this is what is inside of us?" said Hop-Pop, looking at the X-ray.
"Yes," said Camila, "X-ray technology lets me see inside your body without having to cut you open."
The Plantars all flinched at hearing that.
"I mean, I wouldn't do that without anesthesia," said Camila, "that way, you wouldn't feel anything." Camila turned back to the X-rays looking at them carefully.
"From what I can tell, your anatomy is very similar to that of frogs from this world," said Camila to the Plantars, "you have many of the same organs that humans have: lungs, heart, liver, intestines. The only big difference I see between you and regular frogs is a stronger more pronounced spinal column, and more vertebrate. Both of those make sense as you walk upright rather than crouched like a normal frog."
"Not really sure what any of that means," said Sprig.
"Ah, right," said Camila, "well basically, the three of you have more bones, mainly in the back, compared to an Earth frog."
"Ohhh," said all the Plantars at once. Camila turned back to the X-rays, "Aside from that, you have all the typical organs that Earth frogs have, and I assume they work in the same way."
"So you don't need to dissect us to see how we work?" asked Amara
"Oh heavens no," replied Camila, "that crazy scientist who attacked you is all wrong about how to learn things. Dissection can be a useful tool…"
The Plantars and Amara tensed up at hearing Camila say that, she noticed their expressions and quickly added.
"But dissection should never be performed on a live subject, much less a sapient one," she said, trying to calm them down. "There's a whole lot more I can learn about you as a species just by talking with you. Observation is a much better tool. Although speaking of that crazy scientist, let's have a look at your tail and hand, Amara."
Amara lay down on her stomach and presented her stump to Camila, Camila took off the old bandage and was amazed to see how quickly the new tail was growing. Amara brought up her arm and Camila could see that the new arm was almost fully formed. Her hand was also coming along well, it was tiny and not yet grown but the basic shape was there, at the ends of her new hand were small nubs that would grow into fingers.
"Wow, you already have a new tail coming in," said Camila, "the scars are gone and there's no blood. Your arm and hand look great too. I think a few more days and it should be ready to go."
"I told you, you didn't need to fuss over me," said Amara.
"Yes, but I'm also a mother, and I felt the need to be motherly," said Camila. Amara smiled at that.
"Gotta admit that's pretty cool, Amara," said Sprig, "sure wish frogs could do that."
"Well, we are with a frog expert here," said Polly, " surely she knows. So yeah can frogs regrow limbs or perhaps even grow extra limbs? Could there be like an uber frog?"
"Ha, no, sorry, frogs can't regenerate lost limbs, or grow extra ones, Polly," said Camila.
"Aww, dangit. why do newts get all the cool abilities?" said Polly.
"Hey, you guys can jump a lot better than we can," countered Amara.
"Well, it looks like you're mostly all healed," said Camila, looking carefully at Amara's tail, "I guess all we have to do is wait for your tail to grow back to full size."
"I suppose it will be easier for me to hide it, seeing how short it is," said Amara.
"As for you," said Camila turning to Hop-Pop, "you're pretty spry for a frog approaching seventy. Especially since earth frogs tend to only live for about twenty years at most in the wild."
"You got any medication that can make me look forty years younger?" asked Hop-Pop.
"I wouldn't want to prescribe you anything without knowing how it might affect you, Hop-Pop," said Camila, "I say be happy about the fact that you're so old."
"Oh, I have a question," began Sprig, "Do you know the highest a frog has ever jumped? And does it seem beatable?"
"Well, frogs are more known for the length of their jumps than height," replied Camila, "most frogs can jump between ten and twenty times their body length. Have you ever measured your jumps, Sprig?"
"Huh, now that you mention it, I haven't," said Sprig. Camila came over to Sprig, putting her hand on him.
"I bet if you practiced, you could jump pretty far," she said in an encouraging voice, causing Sprig to smile at her.
At that moment, the front door opened. Anne, Luz, and Oum had returned. Oum walked over to Camila.
"Four cavities each, and a whole bunch of cricket legs," she said to Camila, "they both still a bit out of it."
The Plantars and Amara looked over at Anne and Luz, both of whom had weird expressions on their faces and were walking very slowly.
"Hey, Anne," said Sprig, coming up to her, "Luz's mom finished examining Domino…"
"Domino," said Anne, still out of it, she reached forward and grabbed Sprig, pulling him close to her face and talking directly into his, "Sprig, you know that Domino is not just a cat, right? She is the alpha and omega–an inter-dimensional being across all of time and space."
"Whoa, Anne! That's like… some zen stuff right there," said Luz herself.
"Oh well, that's nice," said Sprig. As this was happening, Luz came over to Anne and grabbed her, looking into her face.
"Anne, Anne, Anne, can you imagine what would happen if our souls fused together? We would become one single entity that would transcend across all known levels of reality!"
"Whoa!" said Anne, "that would be amazing!"
New World, Old Friend
"Okay then, subject four, are you ready to proceed?" asked Odalys.
The young witch didn't say anything in response and simply glared at her.
"Come now, let's not do this the hard way," said Alister, "And in case you've forgotten, we've outfitted you with an electric collar. It's there to keep you from doing any magic we don't want you to, but we could also use it as motivation if you so desire."
The witch glared at the newt for a few seconds before speaking, "What is it you want me to do?"
"We want to see you do magic," said Odalys, "Nothing fancy, just some basic spells, and remember, no trying to escape, are we clear on that?" Odalys held up a remote, putting her finger on the button for emphasis.
The witch nodded and brought her hand up, creating a small spell circle. As she did, a small orb of light appeared in her hand. Odalys and Alister took notes.
"We know from the examination that you have an organ called a bile sac attached to your heart," began Odalys, "this organ is what allows you to perform magic, yes?"
The witch nodded her head.
"Good, now this circle you made, is that required as well?" asked Odalys.
"Yes, we call it a spell circle," explained the witch, "you use your finger or hand to make the circle. The size of the circle determines the strength of the spell."
"Interesting," observed Alister, "then it would also stand to reason that you must have bile in your organ in order to perform these spells, yes?"
"Yes, I suppose so," said the witch in a flat tone.
"Wonderful, what other spells can you do?" asked Alister, the witch glared back at him, not wanting to do anything else, but Odalys held up the remote again. The witch sighed and brought her hand up again, making a circle and forming a pillar of ice.
"Splendid work today," said Odalys to the witch through the bars of her cell, "I think we've gathered quite enough data for now. Thank you for your cooperation."
The witch glared at Odalys, wanting to say something to her, but holding her tongue. Alister shoved a mashed bowl of bugs between the bars of the cell to the witch.
"Don't forget to eat," he said condescendingly, "we need you to keep up your strength for all the other tests that we have planned."
The witch stared at the bowl of mashed bugs. They didn't look appetizing, but she was hungry and had no choice. She picked up the bowl and put one of the bugs in her mouth. It tasted terrible but she forced herself to eat it. The newts laughed at her misfortune and began to leave the room.
"Hey," called the witch, "where are the others? Why am I here by myself?"
"The other witches are in the dungeon," said Alister "We've decided for now to use them to replenish our supply of bile."
"Wait, what?!" said the witch in alarm.
"Oh, that's right," said Odalys, "we're using them to extract that precious liquid gold you have inside you." As she said this she held up a bottle of golden liquid, the witch backed away in terror as she realized it was magic bile.
"Be thankful we need you to run experiments on," said Alister, "otherwise, we'd be draining you for the stuff as well, and if the other witches' screams are any indication, the process is most certainly painful."
The two newts gave a smug laugh and turned to leave before the witch asked them one more question.
"Wait, who's that in that tube? Is that a human?" asked the witch, pointing to Marcy, who was still floating in her medical capsule.
"Oh, you know what a human is," said Odalys, "I didn't think they had them in your world."
"We've heard of humans," said the witch, "I've just never seen one before. Why is she in that tank?"
"She's recovering from an unfortunate accident," answered Alister in a haughty tone, "she's also needed for a different experiment, perhaps you'll see what I mean later." With that, the two newts left, leaving the young witch alone in her cell. She brought her knees up to her face and wrapped her arms around her legs, feeling absolutely miserable.
A few minutes after the newts left, the witch heard a sound by her bars. She went over to investigate, and that's when she heard a voice.
"Hello," said the voice, the witch backed away in terror as the voice seemed to come from nowhere.
"Hey, hey, don't worry I'm not here to hurt you," said the voice.
The witch slowly crawled back to the bars, looking around, trying to see if anyone was there, but she couldn't see anything.
"Who's there?" she asked nervously.
"Right, you can't see me, but trust me, I'm here," said the voice. To prove its point, the bowl of mashed bugs rose up from the floor and began to float in the air. The witch stared at this, transfixed.
"What's going on?" she asked in alarm.
"I'm invisible," said the voice, "you can't see me, but trust me, there is someone here."
"Who are you?" asked the witch nervously.
"I'm a friend," answered the voice, "well to be more accurate, I'm a frog, though again, you can't see me."
"There are talking frogs here too?" asked the witch in surprise.
"Yes, there are all kinds of amphibians here in Amphibia," answered the frog.
"You know, I think there are demons that look like frogs back home, so I guess that's not too surprising," mused the witch.
"Well then I'm sure you'll be fine once you see the other amphibian species here," said the frog.
"How are you invisible?" asked the witch.
"I took a potion," answered the frog, "I had a few spares with me when I got stuck in the castle, I've been using them, plus some hidden passageways to avoid detection."
"You have magic potions here?" asked the witch, "if magic already exists, why does that king want to study us?"
"You use magic differently," said the frog, "I think it's because you have the innate ability to use it, that's why."
"Well, never-mind all that. Are you here to get me out?" asked the witch hopefully.
"Yes… although I can't do that right now," said the frog.
"Why not?" asked the witch.
"Well for one, you're in a castle that's floating in the sky, even if I got you out of your cell, there's not really a way for us to get out of the castle," said the frog. "For two, you have that collar on you, we need to get it off so that they can't hurt you. Finally, I haven't worked out how to free your friends, if we're going to escape then we need to get everyone out of here at the same time."
"Those other witches aren't my friends," said the witch coldly.
The frog paused for a moment, "That seems a little mean, maybe you don't know them personally but they're still from your world."
"You're right, I don't know them personally," said the witch with a hint of malice in her voice, "so can't you just break me out now?"
"Listen, I know it's rough having those two newts force you to do magic, but those other witches have it much worse, they're having their bile extracted from them," said the frog, "we have to get them out of here too."
"I hate it here!" yelled the witch, "please get me out!" tears had formed in her eyes as she looked through the bars. After a second, she felt something touch her face, wiping the tears from it.
"Listen, I'm trying to come up with a plan to get you and the other witches out of here at the same time," said the frog tenderly, "I promise I will rescue you when the time is right. Please be strong and hold on until then."
For a second, the witch was going to protest. She wanted to demand to be free now, but she had calmed down as the invisible frog had wiped the tears from her eyes, she didn't know why, but that touch… it almost felt familiar, as though it was from an old friend…
"Alright," said the witch, "I'll trust you for now, not like I have any other choice."
"I promise I'll get you out of here, but I also need to rescue her too," said the frog, she pointed to the girl in the tank but then realized that the witch couldn't see what she was pointing to, so she added, "that human girl in the tank. I need to free her too."
"Who is she?" asked the witch, "is she a human?"
"She's from another world, like you," answered the frog, "she got stabbed by Andrias, that's why she's in the tank. She's recovering from her injuries. I don't know why Andrias bothered saving her, but I can't imagine it's for anything good."
The witch winced at hearing that the girl had been stabbed, "Are you sure she's alright… I mean, are you sure she's not…. you know…."
"The newts have been checking on her, they've reported back to Andrias that her condition is stable," said the frog. "I'm not sure if she can be taken out of the tank yet, but once I'm sure she can, then I'll rescue you both, I promise," said the frog.
As she finished speaking, she briefly flashed into existence and the witch got a quick look at her, "Ah, I have to go now, the invisibility potion I took is wearing off. I have to find a place to hide before I appear again."
The frog began to hop away, though before she did, she turned to the witch one more time, "By the way, my name is Lilly. What's yours?"
The witch paused before replying, "Amity, my name is Amity."
Sprig's Birthday
"That's all you frogs do for your honking birthdays?!" asked Anne incredulously to the Plantars
"Yes, this is starting to feel a little culturally insensitive," said Hop-Pop smugly.
"Unacceptable," said Anne, spreading her arms wide, "Birthdays should be fun, and memorable especially when you're turning…. Uh… um…."
"Eleven," said Sprig.
"Eleven," repeated Anne, "and I knew that because I'm your friend. And this friend is about to give you the best birthday you've ever had in your life capeesh."
"Well, I'm intrigued, a little scared, but intrigued. Let's do it!" said Sprig excitedly.
"Do you all want to come along?" asked Anne to Polly and Hop-Pop. The two looked at each other before shaking their heads, though Polly did say.
"Maybe you should ask Luz and Amara if they're free?"
"Oh, that's a good idea," said Sprig.
"Okay, one sec," said Anne, pulling out her phone and calling Luz. After two rings, she answered, and Anne explained what was going on.
"So frogs really don't do anything else for their birthdays?" asked Luz over the phone.
"Apparently not," said Anne, "that's why I want to take Sprig out and do a bunch of fun stuff."
"Oh, that sounds great!" said Luz over the phone, she thought for a few seconds before coming up with another idea.
"Hey, are you alone?"
Anne looked over at the Plantars before leaving her room and closing the door, she stepped a few feet away before saying, "I am now, what's up?"
"Let me confirm with my mom, but how about we do cake and presents after you and Sprig go out? Me, my mom, and Amara could make a cake for him and have it ready by the time you two are done with your own celebration. We can be over at your house later and we can all celebrate together."
"Oh, wow, that's a great idea," said Anne, "but I guess that means you can't join then."
"Yeah, but that's fine, you and Sprig are closer anyway," said Luz, "you take him out and have a fun day, and we'll do cake and presents when you're done."
"Okay, see you then," said Anne, hanging up the phone.
With that, she took Sprig all around to many different places to celebrate his special day. The day started at the mall where she bought him some clothes and accessories, then the two rode the train out to Santa Monica to have some fun at the pier. Anne took Sprig on a lot of the rides they had including the roller coaster and the merry-go-round. Next, she took him to a Mexican Restaurant, they wanted to give him a free flan for his birthday, but Anne told Sprig to wait as they were going to have cake later. Finally, she took him up to Griffith Park, while the two walked around the mountains they didn't find the Hollywood sign particularly interesting. Sprig enjoyed the Observatory a lot more and Anne secretly got him a gift to open later, quickly hiding the gift in her pocket.
"Wow, that was fun! Thanks for an incredible birthday, Anne," said Sprig, "You know, at first, I couldn't understand why you'd make birthdays so special, and now I get it! Today was amazing!"
"Oh, it's not over yet!" said Anne slyly.
"There's more?!" said Sprig excitedly, "but it looks like we're heading home."
"Oh, we are," said Anne, "but I think you'll like what will be there waiting for us…"
Anne kept pedaling her bike back to her house as she arrived she put her bike away before coming for Sprig, the two walked through the door and Anne flicked the lights when suddenly there was a loud cry,
"SURPRISE!"
Sprig let out a gasp as he looked into the kitchen, it had been decorated with balloons, streamers, and a banner that read "Happy Birthday, Sprig!" on it. Oum and Camila each blew into a noise maker as they waved at Sprig while Luz, Bee, and Amara threw some confetti into the air. On the kitchen table was a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and the words "Happy Birthday, Sprig" written in pink icing. The Plantars, the Boonchuys, and the Nocedas were all standing around with their arms spread open and there were a few wrapped boxes on the table.
"Whoa, what is this?" asked Sprig, his eyes widening in delight.
"This is a birthday party," said Luz, kneeling down to the frog, "it's what we do here on Earth to celebrate birthdays."
"Luz told us that Anne was going to take you out for some fun," said Camila, "that gave us time to bake a cake for you so it would be ready when you got back."
Sprig looked at his chocolate cake, "Wait, so this whole cake is for me?"
"Well not quite," said Oum, "it's for all of us who are here."
"Though you get the first slice," said Bee.
"And you get to make your birthday wish," said Anne, lifting Sprig up and seating him on the chair facing the cake. Luz came over and placed a paper crown on his head
"Birthday wish?" asked Sprig in surprise.
"Whoa, wait a sec," said Polly suddenly interested, "Do humans get one free wish a year on their birthday?"
"Well, kind of," said Luz, "before we cut up the cake, we put candles on it and sing Happy Birthday to you, then when that's over, you make a wish then blow out the candles."
"And does this wish come true?" asked Sprig, intrigued.
The humans all looked at each other as they considered what to say Camila finally spoke.
"It may come true, though I will say it has a higher chance of coming true if you don't tell anyone. It's more like humans want you to have a good time on your special day and the wish is well a wish that something good happens to you."
"So it may or may not come true," said Sprig.
"I mean I'll admit some of our human traditions are silly," said Anne, "we don't have to do that if you don't want to."
"No, no, I want to," said Sprig, "even if it doesn't, well, I had a lot of fun with you, Anne, so I want to see all that human birthdays have to offer."
Anne smiled at hearing him say that. She looked over at the pile of wrapped boxes on the table, "Aw, you got him presents too, thank you so much!"
"No problem," said Oum, smiling, "if this is his first real birthday, he should get the full experience."
"Hop-Pop, I gotta say, human birthdays look WAY more exciting than frog birthdays," said Polly, looking longingly at both the cake and the presents.
"So wait, you're telling me on your birthday you get cake and presents? And you do it every year?" said Hop-Pop.
"I want a human birthday when it's my turn!" exclaimed Polly, Hop-Pop let out a sigh as he thought of how expensive that would be.
"Is it true you just wear a mud crown and think about your life up to that point?" asked Amara.
"Yes," said Hop-pop defensively, "don't newts do that too?"
"Well, no," answered Amara, "Actually, we're kind of similar to humans. There is a tradition that for a newt's birthday that if they lost any limbs the previous year, they tell the story about that. You're supposed to make the story daring and suspenseful! You wanna make it feel like a life-or-death situation! But after that, your friends make a toast to your daring escapades, then you share a meal with them and you all say how glad you are to be alive and that you made it to another year of life."
"Wow, that sounds pretty exciting!" said Camila.
"Yeah, I guess I'll have two stories to tell at my next birthday," said Amara with a smile.
"Okay, let me light the candles," said Bee, coming over with a lighter, "When we finish singing, go ahead and blow them out, Sprig,"
Bee lit the candles and the group all sang Happy Birthday to Sprig. Once they were done, the pink frog blew out the candles and everyone clapped! Oum came over to slice the cake and handed Sprig the first piece. She then continued cutting up the cake, passing out slices to everyone. After they were done with the cake, it was time for presents. Sprig was excited as he'd never received a birthday present before.
Luz handed him hers and he opened the wrapping to see that she had given him a Good Witch Azura book.
"Anne said you like reading, so I figured I get you the first book in the series," she said, "if you like it, I can get you the others."
"Thank you, Luz!" said Sprig, coming over to hug her. Amara handed him her present and Sprig opened it.
"This is a pocket knife," explained Amara, "it's a knife, but it also has a bunch of other tools on it as well, making it useful to have on you."
"I love it!" said Sprig, "Thank you, Amara!"
"Okay, it's our turn," said Camila and Oum, who handed Sprig their present. Sprig opened it to reveal a gold scarf that was just his size. He looked at the end and saw his name sewed on it.
"Seems that Camila and I are both seamstresses," said Oum, "When we heard it was your birthday, we thought what could we make that was quick but still handmade with love."
"We thought a scarf would be nice, and we put your name on it as a personal touch," said Camila.
Sprig couldn't think of what to say, his eyes started watering as he caressed the scarf, finally, he said.
"My parents gave me my hat for one of my birthdays, I always treasured it since it was the one thing I had from them, but now I have something else from you guys."
Sprig jumped out of his chair toward Oum and Camila, wrapping his arms around both of them.
"Thank you so much!" he said with glee, "I love it!" Camila and Oum both smiled as they hugged Sprig back. Sprig immediately wrapped the scarf around his neck.
"Okay, it's time for my gift," said Anne, "and I think you'll agree I saved the best for last!"
She reached into her pocket and pulled out the gift she had bought from the observatory. Sprig took it and opened it excitedly. It was a small brass telescope with a personalized engraving that had his name and a heart from Anne on it. Sprig was overjoyed at seeing it!
"You were right, Anne! This is the best! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I love it!" exclaimed Sprig.
"YouYou'rer welcome, dude!" said Anne, "I hope you had an amazing birthday!"
"Oh, this is definitely in my top three!" answered Sprig.
For a second Anne was incredulous, wondering how in the world this birthday could not automatically be his number one, though, after a moment, she calmed down and simply asked, "So what are numbers one and two?"
"Well, the first would be the actual day I was born and actually had life," answered Sprig, "and the second would be when Mom and Dad gave me my hat."
Those answers made a lot of sense to Anne, and she was glad she had taken the time to ask before getting offended at Sprig's answer.
"Hey, Anne, can we take a picture to commemorate this?" asked Sprig.
"Of course, dude!" said Anne. She got her phone set up and had everyone get in close so she could take the picture, she then set the timer and ran back over to join in. The group all smiled and the camera on the phone flashed.
Bluff to Win
"So, what is this?" asked Amity as Alister handed her something through the bars of the cell.
"This is a small booklet with the rules for Flipwart," said the newt.
"Flipwart?" asked Amity.
"Yes, it's a game of logic and strategy that we play here in Amphibia," replied Alister, "I'm giving you this booklet so that you can learn how to play."
"Why do I need to know how to play?" asked Amity.
"Because you're going to play a game against me," said Alister.
"What? Why?" asked Amity.
"Consider it another test we need you to do," replied Alister, "I don't suppose I need to 'motivate' you to participate do I?"
Amity didn't reply, as she took the booklet and began reading.
"Good girl," said Alister condescendingly, "I'll give you a few days to familiarize yourself with the game. Then we'll see how good you are."
"What happens if I lose?" said Amity worriedly.
"Nothing," said Alister flatly.
"Well… what happens if I win then?" said Amity.
"Nothing," said Alister again.
"Then what's the point?" asked Amity in frustration.
"The point is to see how smart you are," said Alister.
"Why?" asked Amity.
"So many questions today, don't worry your pretty little head about it, and just focus on playing well," said Alister.
At that moment, two robots entered the basement, both of them holding a red-haired witch.
"No, please! Let me go! Don't do this!" she cried.
The frobots kept dragging her to the operating table, placing her on it, and securing her hands and feet. Odalys came over to the witch syringe in hand.
"Ah, good day, subject two," she said in a faux cheerful voice, "time for another extraction session. Let's get some more of that sweet bile out of you."
"No! Please! Stop this!" begged the witch. Odalys ignored her and plunged the syringe deep into her bile sac, extracting as much bile as she could from her. The witch let out an agonized scream as this happened. Amity turned her head away, trying to block out the scream from her mind. Alister turned once more to her.
"Remember, if you don't want to do what we ask, then we can simply use you as another body to extract bile from," he said in a smug tone, causing Amity to look down at her sheet in terror. She began feverishly reading through the rules of how to play Flipwart.
"Good girl," said Alister, "I look forward to our match."
He turned to check on his wife, the redheaded witch still screaming in the background as her bile was extracted. Amity covered her ears in a desperate attempt to block out the sound!
A few days later, Amity was seated at a table across from Alister, a board set up between the two. Amity had spent the past few days familiarizing herself with how to play this game and hoped that she could win the match.
"Remember, there's nothing at stake here," said Alister calmly as he sat down, "we just want to see how smart you are."
"Forgive me if I don't believe you," said Amity in a sarcastic voice, Alister rolled his eyes.
"You go first," said Alister. Amity made her first move on the board. Alister raised his eye seeing her move, then followed suit. The game continued in this manner, both players engaged and both doing their best to win. Alister managed the first capture of one of Amity's knights, but Amity struck back, taking his toad warrior. For a while, they both seemed evenly matched. Amity took note of Alister's strategy and saw he was playing aggressively. While she was still new to this game, she knew that sometimes pretending that you knew what you were doing was a valid strategy. Her father had taught her that in regard to battling. She decided to use that to her advantage and began playing aggressively herself, though it was all a distraction as she tried to get Alister to mess up and make a mistake she could take advantage of. After what seemed like forever, Alister finally made that mistake and left his wart unguarded. Amity actually smiled as she moved in for the kill
"Well, this has been exciting but I think I'm about to win," bragged Amity. She made her final move to right in front of Alister's Wart and managed to flip it over. Amity looked over at him a smug look on her face.
"And that's game!" she said in a cocky voice. Alister didn't reply but simply kept staring at her. After a moment, he brought up his hands in a slow clap.
"Bravo, Amity," he said while continuing to slowly clap his hands, "I must say your victory was unexpected but still intriguing."
"Hmph, you shouldn't underestimate me," she said, savoring her victory, Alister looked over at her, his face forming into a smile.
"Ha, you know it's funny you remind me of my daughter," said Alister.
"You have a daughter?" said Amity, relaxing a bit.
"Yes, I taught her how to play Flipwart when she was young," said Alister, smiling, "she's gotten quite good at it, though she's only managed to beat me once."
Alister looked closer at Amity before saying, "It's strange you even look like her a bit."
Amity didn't know what to say in response to that but after a bit asked, "So where is your daughter?"
"I don't know," answered Alister
"You're not concerned for where she might be?" asked Amity
"She's almost of age, she can do what she wants," said Alister, "Besides, we're in a flying castle, so it's not like she can visit me."
"Yes, we are in a flying castle, dear," said Odalys, coming over and looking at Amity, "Just thought I'd remind you of that in case you had any ideas of escaping. Even if you got out of your cell, you have no way of getting off this castle. Speaking of which, I think it's time we returned you to your cell."
Amity made a face but complied and got up to return to her cell. As she did, she looked again at the human who was in the tank.
"Curious about her?" asked Alister, as he closed the cell door.
"A little," replied Amity, "you never told me what happened to her."
"It's not your concern," said Alister brusquely. He paused before adding, "And maybe we won't need her for the planned experiment anymore."
"What do you mean?" asked Amity.
"Now, now, Alister, don't go spoiling the surprise for her," said Odalys, coming up behind him. "I'm sure Andrias will be thrilled to hear that this witch might be as smart as that human."
"Andrias, the giant newt who captured us?" said Amity in terror. "Why would he be thrilled about this?"
Before either of the newts could answer, they were distracted by the sounds of the frobots bringing in another witch to the basement chamber. He was a male witch with long black hair
"Let me go, you fiends!" he yelled as he struggled against them. After a bit of struggling, he managed to get his hand free and quickly made a spell circle, he lifted up a large rock from the castle floor and hurled it at one of the frobots, bashing it in the chest. Though as he did it, he brought up a hand to his heart, the spell clearly causing him pain. He worked through the pain and bolted to the stairs that led out of the basement, he had just reached them when suddenly, he collapsed to the floor in agony. Odalys had pressed a button on her remote that sent electricity through the collar around his neck.
"Tut, tut, subject three," said Odalys, clicking her tongue, and walking over to him. "I would have thought by now you'd have learned to stop resisting. Your species must be extremely stupid if you can't grasp such a simple concept as 'trying to escape equals pain.'"
The male witch stared up at her defiantly, still clutching his heart. Odalys continued her taunting.
"It doesn't help that in your case, we've been draining you of bile," began Odalys, "I doubt you'd have much fight in you before we overpowered you and returned you to your cell. But perhaps you need a different form of motivation."
She grabbed his head and turned him towards Amity, making him lock eyes with her.
"In case you forgot, we have a child of your species with us," began Odalys, "and I think that seeing her suffer might cause you to think twice before you consider defying us again."
"Go ahead, hurt her," spat the male witch as he looked at Amity, "she's the youngest of the Blights. Their family does nothing but cause ruin for others. They tried to force my father-in-law to sell his farm to them. I would delight in seeing her suffer!"
Amity was hurt by that comment, her face falling as she heard the black-haired witch say that. Odalys was taken aback by this, but let out a small laugh.
"Ha, you would take a chance to hurt the child of an enemy, how pragmatic. Maybe you have some newt in you after all." she said to the male witch, complimenting him, "Let's see if your resolve holds." She pressed a button on her remote, sending a jolt of electricity through Amity, causing her to fall to the ground in pain.
"Stop! Please!" begged Amity as she writhed on the ground. The male witch's face fell almost instantly as he saw her continue to cry out in pain, part of him had hoped that the newt would call his bluff, but after a few moments of seeing her like that, he finally yelled.
"Alright, enough! I'm sorry, I won't resist anymore, stop! STOP HURTING HER!"
Odalys didn't stop and continued to allow Amity to be electrocuted, flashing a cruel smile at the witch, as Amity continued to scream.
"This is what you wanted isn't it?" she asked in a cruel voice.
"NO! STOP!" yelled the witch to Odalys, "I'll do what you want! I won't resist. Please STOP HURTING HER!"
Odalys continued pressing down on the button, continued smiling her cruel smile as Amity began screaming louder hitting her fists against the ground repeatedly in a desperate attempt to stop the pain. Alister looked down at Amity with concern.
"Odalys stop!" commanded Alister, shooting her a look, "we can't let her be hurt, Andrias has plans for her."
Odalys looked as though she would protest this, but did release the button and the electricity stopped, but Amity stayed on the ground crying from the pain. The male witch felt a deep sense of shame and turned his face away from her. Seeing the young girl suffer had brought him no satisfaction at all. He felt nothing but guilt inside him as he watched Amity continue to cry.
Odalys shook her head in disappointment, "And here I thought you'd let me hurt the girl for much longer. Pity you aren't as ruthless as I'd expected. Now with that out of the way let us hope that this will be the last time we have to resort to this unpleasantness. Are we clear, subject three?"
The witch nodded his head. As he did, he looked over at Amity, feeling terrible, hating himself for what he had put her through.
"Good, now we still have an extraction session to do with you so, chop, chop," said Odalys, clapping her hands. The frobots came over and pulled the witch to the operating table, Odalys readying the syringe. The witch closed his eyes bracing himself for the pain he knew he would feel. It didn't stop him from letting out a loud scream as the syringe plunged into his chest…
The Internet is for Fun!
"So when Anne showed us the internet, she showed us the glory of cat videos," exclaimed Sprig, "what do you have for us, Luz?"
"Well, if you've already seen cat videos, I can find something else. Is there anything, in particular, you want to see?" asked Luz.
"Oh how about something related to Cosmic Frontiers?" asked Sprig. Luz typed on her computer bringing up the results.
"Oh, what is that?" asked Sprig looking at one of the images.
"This is fan art," said Luz, "someone who was a fan of Cosmic Frontiers made images of it."
"Whoa cool!" said Sprig looking at the art, "you know Bee only has a few of the books. I still haven't read the last one. I'm interested to see what happens."
"I read a few of those books," said Anne, "Dad showed me that series when I was younger, he was a big fan of it and tried to get me into it, but I only thought it was okay."
"Well at least your dad had some nerdy interests," replied Luz.
"There are a lot of cool images here," said Sprig as he looked through them, "do humans do this with other things too?"
"Oh yeah of course," said Luz, "there's a very big fandom for Azura art."
"I wanna see that," said Amara, "I'm so glad I read the other books in the series since I've been here on Earth."
"I've read a few chapters of that book you gave me Luz," said Sprig, "I have to admit I am loving it so far!"
Luz typed on her computer and brought up some Azura images, Amara scrolled through them until she got to one particular image.
"Oh, uh she's not wearing very many clothes in this one is she," observed Amara. Anne and Luz's faces both went bright red at seeing the image.
"Ah yes," began Luz, "in addition to regular art there are some fans who prefer to make more….shall we say spicy art of things."
"How is this spicy?" asked Sprig looking at the image as though it were benign, "if you eat it will you feel a lot of pain?"
Anne and Luz looked at each other before Anne replied, "No, it means artists want to draw her in more… revealing attire."
"I mean I can't deny she does look good in this outfit," said Luz, "Honestly this is tame compared to other Azura images out there."
"I mean do people draw her naked?" asked Anne sarcastically. Luz didn't reply instead looking off into the distance, her silence answering the question. Her face had grown quite red.
"Are you serious?" asked Anne slightly horrified, "I thought that series was primarily meant for kids."
"It is," replied Luz, "but it has a set of adult fans too. Some of whom have no qualms about that kind of stuff."
"Huh," said Amara, "so what else is on the internet?"
"Oh I know something you might like," said Luz, "I checked out that band the driver told us about, Oh Geeez, they're actually pretty good, They've got a great selection of songs, and their songs cover a lot of range from upbeat rock to soulful ballads. Check out this song."
She brought up a video of a song.
[Play "Take Me Somewhere New" by Oh Geeez]
The song began to play on Luz's computer, Anne, Sprig, and Amara were all drawn in as they listened to the song. They had to admit it was beautiful yet sad. As the song got to a certain part, Sprig listened more intently.
Where there's
Rolling hills and forest pines
Balconies neath city lights
Mysteries and legends tall, that
Me and all my friends will solve, when
I return I'll know my worth
Oh, won't you say we'll
Leave today?
As the song ended Sprig spoke, "That was really nice, when he was describing those far-off places, I really got sucked into it and could almost see in my mind what he was talking about."
"Yeah, that was really beautiful," said Anne, "I can see why that Driver guy likes them"
"They wrote that song as a tribute to animation," said Luz, "I love the mood and atmosphere he creates with the song. The lyrics about how we long to escape, the melody it sounds so bittersweet. It really brings everything together."
"I bet a group like that must have a ton of followers," said Amara excitedly, she looked down at the stats of the video and was taken aback!
"What?! This song only have around 10,000 views?! That's outrageous!" she exclaimed.
"Unfortunately, that's how it goes sometimes," said Anne to the newt, "You can't really explain the internet. Sometimes, certain things become popular and others don't."
"Ugh, tell me about it," growled Luz, "It's ridiculous how people make "meme," or "out of context," videos and then get thousands of views for those." She switched to a sarcastic voice, "Oh yeah, you essentially made a clip show of parts of a series that are out of context so somehow it's funnier now, that didn't take any skill at all. Or hey I found the parts of the series that have become memes and look I uploaded them. Give my video a million views!"
"Do you really consider memes as art?" asked Amara, "I've seen different discussions on the internet about that."
"I don't," said Luz firmly, "it takes almost no effort to make a meme. Meanwhile, there's creators who are actually trying to make something meaningful and get it out there, and they barely get noticed."
"Oh, hey, what's that video?" said Sprig, pointing to a video in the recommended list. Luz let out a small huff as she realized what it was.
"Oh, that," she began, "that's an Azura Abridged video by TomatoPaste."
"Azura Abridged?" asked Amara with intrigue, "those books are pretty long, I imagine it would take a lot of work to abridge them, but what could you really even cut out?"
"No, not that kind of abridged," said Luz, "it's more like… well here it will be easier if you just watch the video."
After the video had finished Sprig, Anne, and Amara all had smiles on their faces from laughing.
"Oh man, that was funny," said Sprig.
"He pointed out a lot of the flaws and plot holes from the book and made it into a funny video," said Amara.
"You know, I'm not even that big a fan of Azura, but I still thought it was funny," said Anne.
"Yeah, it was funny," said Luz with a bit of a sigh.