It was another beautiful day in the magical, froggy world known as Amphibia. The sun in the slightly greenish-blue sky. The trees, grass, and lilypads of the marshlands were green and healthy. And a random frog was being carried away by a flock of dragonflies. "Aah! Help! Somebody help me!"
Meanwhile, on the ground, Frank was sitting with Anne as she showed Sprig and Polly her phone. The two kids were wondering why she was always on it, so she decided that it was time to show that it could do. Now she was showing the kids a video of her cat Domino. She was a small black cat with white paws, huge black eyes, white fur on her chest. At the end of her tail, she had a splotch of white.
"And this bad boy is my kitty Domino," she said, showing a video Domino clearing herself, before looking at the camera and meowing. "You guys would like her. She's got fire."
"Ooh!" Sprig awed as he took the phone from Anne and brought it closer to Polly for her to see.
"Aw, she's so tiny! I feel huge!" Yell the hyperactive tadpole.
Sprig turned to Frank and asked, "Do you have any pets, Frank?"
"Hell yeah," Frank said, pulling out his phone. He turned the phone to them and showed a picture of him holding a Lemon Beagle. "His name's Roger. He's a real Curious George."
"Hmm. I see," Sprig said after looking at Anne's cat phone for a moment. He then reached behind his back. "I will..." he suddenly pulled out a hammer. "...set them free!"
Anne quickly swiped her phone away before Sprig could bring his hammer down on it. Smashing the ground instead. "Please stop doing that," she requested sternly. Her partner chuckling a little.
But just then, Frank smelt something in the air. He sniffed the air, and after a few second, cringed when a very foul smell entered into his nostrils. Causing him to cry out in disgust. "BLAUG! The fuck!? What is that horrible stench?!"
"Ugh!" Anne cried in pain, as she covered her eyes. When she removed her hands, she revealed them to be a little bloodshot. "It's burning my eyes! Did something crawl under the house and die?"
Sprig sniffed the air and the horrible truth hit him. "Worse, guys. Much worse. Hop Pop is cooking!"
The four kids walked back to the house, where the smell was coming from. Sprig walked ahead of them and grabbed the handle of the door.
"Brace yourselves," he said.
"Brace ourselves for what?" Anne asked as Sprig opened the door.
The moment he did, the horrible smell that had built up inside the house was immediately released into the world like a flood. Knocking Frank and Anne to the ground while Anne held onto Polly in the bucket. Sprig was sent flying after he was unable to hold onto the door any longer.
"I'm calling it: Hop Pop's cooking is capable of killing more people than cyanide," Frank said with a deadpan expression.
The kids entered the house and walked into the kitchen, where the smell was definitely coming from. Hop Pop peered into a cookbook and was preparing something unholy with only the foulest of ingredients. All while humming to himself. He chopped up some grubs and poured them into a pot of boiling grossness. He steered it up with a wooden spoon, and then took a sip of it to check the flavor.
Sprig then popped up and asked, "What's the plan this year, Hop Pop? Poison the competition?"
That just earned him a bop on the head by Hop Pop's spoon. "The plan is to win."
"Win?" Anne asked, while carrying Polly as she and Frank walked over to the old frog.
"Win what?" Frank asked as the two of them pinched their noses.
Taking a moment from his cooking Hop Pop began explaining. "The annual village potluck. Every year we frogs gather for a great contest." With his spoon, he pointed at a set of pictures that show the potluck winners of the past. "The family who brings the best-tasting dish is showered with love and copper coins. The family with the worst-tasting dish spends the night in..."
Hop Pop pointed at an open window. Outside there was a masked toad pulling up a wooden cage that had the word SHAME on it. Thunder clapped in the sky as the cage was pulled up the tree.
"...the shame cage!"
"Brutal," Anne commented.
"And guess which family ends up there every year," Sprig said sadly, before the three Plantars all collectively sighed.
Frank looked at the frog family and frown. It upset him whenever they were sad and miserable, especially after they took him and Anne in when no one else was willing to give them a chance. He'll be damned if he was going to let them spend another year being shamed.
"Well, not this year," Frank said with determination. "This year's going to be different."
"It's okay, Frank. We've accepted that Hop Pop will never win the competition," Polly said, pointing at her grandpa.
"Hey!" Hop Pop yelled.
"Besides, what's going to make this year any different?" Sprig asked.
"We will," Anne said, pointing to herself with Frank standing next to her. Both of the smiling confidently.
"What?" Exclaimed the three frogs.
"If you think we're gonna let our favorite froggy family end up in a cage, you've got another thing coming. I know we're not technically Plantars, but maybe we can help."
"That's right!" Frank said with a nod.
The Plantars looked at one another before turning back to the two humans. "Frank, Anne, we'd sure appreciate it," Sprig said.
Frank and Anne walked over to the pot and looked down into it. "So, what you making over there, Hop Pop?" asked the girl. She raised her eyebrow, confused at what she was looking at. "Sock gumbo?"
"No, silly," Hop Pop said, closing his cookbook and showed it to the teenagers. "It's a traditional recipe from my family's cookbook. We've been using this baby since I was a pollywog."
Frank placed a hand under his chin before pointing to the book. "Can I look at that?" Hop Pop handed him the book and Frank a moment to flip through the pages. Looking at recipes after recipes. Each one led him to one grim answer. He closed the book and looked at the Plantars. "...Yeah, no. Hop Pop, has it ever accord to you that maybe the reason you keep losing is because you keep using these old recipes that never worked in the first place?"
He tossed it behind himself, and it would have fallen into the pot if Hop Pop hadn't shriek in shock and rushed over to catch it.
However, his grandkids and Anne were in agreement with Frank. "Oh, that makes sense."
"Old things are dumb!" Anne said in realization.
"It's all so clear now," Sprig said.
Hop Pop returned, dusting off his cookbook with a frown. "But we Plantars have always cooked these recipes."
"And have any of them won the potluck?" Frank asked with a raised eyebrow.
"W-Well...no," Hop Pop reluctantly admitted. "But what would my great-gam-gam say?" He pointed to a picture of a really old female frog that was kitting a blanket that said 'TRADITION IS EVERYTHING' on it.
"She'd say 'Move on,'" Anne said with a stern look.
Hop Pop sighed in defeat. "She was a fierce woman."
"Look, if we're gonna win this thing, we need something new..." Anne said, pacing around the room while trying to think of something. "Something revolutionary, something no one in the swamp has ever seen before."
Frank's eyes widened when he thought of something. "I've got it!" He exclaimed with a giant smile on his face. "We'll do pizza!"
Anne gasped in awe. Rushing over to Frank's face, she grabbed him by his cheeks and squished them together. "Frank, that's brilliant!"
"Let go of my face," he said, before Anne's hands let him go.
"What's pizza?" Sprig asked, before Anne pulled out her phone and pulled up a photo of a pizza and showed it to the family. Sprig and Polly both gazed in awe at the delicious food.
"Pizza is the ultimate dish," Anne said with a confident smile. "You haven't lived until you've shared one with your friends at the mall."
Hop Pop quickly interjected. "Now, now, hold on. Before we get carried away, what about this tried-and-true recipe? Swamp mold pot pie!" He said, trying to convince the kids to keep with tradition. However, Frank closed the book in his hands.
"More like tried and failed miserably," he said.
"Pizza! Pizza!" Sprig and Polly chanted.
"Okay, okay. Sheesh." Hop Pop sighed begrudgingly.
"We'll win for sure with this, Hop Pop," Sprig said encouragingly. "Now all we gotta do is-" He pulled out the hammer again.
Anne quickly took the phone away and cleared her throat. "All we gotta do is get four ingredients- dough, cheese, basil, and tomatoes. Are you guys ready to make our pizza dreams a pizza reality?"
"Pizza dreams!" Sprig and Polly screamed.
"Oh! Oh! Maybe we should put pineapple on it," said Sprig. Frank's eyes widened with fear and started shaking his head and waving his hands back and forth. Mouthing 'No!' repeatedly. Trying to get him to stop talking. "Seems like a natural fit."
Anne suddenly grabbed Sprig by his shirt and slammed him against the wall. Glaring at him and nearly choking him, she whispered threateningly. "Don't you dare talk about pineapple on my pizza. Ever."
Hop Pop and Polly stared at Anne with wide eyes, shocked by her sudden aggressive reaction. Frank himself was a little surprised too. He remembered that Anne hated pineapple, but not that much. He always assumed it was because she was allergic. So, he walked over, grabbed Anne's hand, and had her let Sprig go. "Okay. Let's go get those ingredients," he said.
"Pizza dreams!" He and Anne exclaimed, rushing out the door with the Plantars following behind them.
The first stop the family made was to the bakery to get the dough. It was run by Mr. Flour, a blue, short frog, with deep eyebrows and purple eyes. He had purple stripes and dots along his back and a light-sky-blue underbelly. He wore an apron, with several stains, and a baker's hat.
Mr. Flour threw a wad of fresh dough onto the table, before jumping up and started kneading it with his own two feet. While Frank was not sure how sanitary that was, he was busy talking to the baker. "And so we need some dough for our potluck dish," he said, finishing his explanation. "Do you have any that are still for sale."
Mr. Flour jumped off the table, grabbed the dough, and threw it into the oven, before closing it. He then turned towards the Plantars and teenagers and pointed at Sprig. "If you want the dough, the boy has to marry my daughter," he stated, pointing off to his left.
Off in a dark corner of the shop stood a little frog girl with her back to Frank, Anne, and the Plantars. Then she turned around to stare at them, and Frank could almost feel his soul leaving his body.
Maddie Flour was close in age to Sprig and was roughly the same height as him. She was a light blue frog with a lighter shaded underbelly and had a red tongue. Just like the other frogs, she had four fingers per hand and two toes per foot. Her hair was a light pink with dark pink spots and bulbous in appearance with a small knot on her head, making it look like a mushroom cap. It covered one of her eyes, but the one that is visible was big and yellow with black, slit pupils similar to that of a snake. She wore very little; just a black sack dress with a brown rope for a belt and was barefoot.
In one hand she held a voodoo doll that looked a lot like Sprig and a mini wooden stake aimed down at it in her other hand. "Hi, Sprig," she said in a very creepy voice with a smile to match. Slowly stabbing the stake through the doll's heart.
"Ain't she adorable?" Mr. FLour asked, while Sprig looked at her in fear.
"Yeah, whatever you say, man," Frank said, feeling a shiver go up his spine.
"Done," said Anne.
"What?!" Frank exclaimed, coming to Sprig's defense. "Anne, you can't be serious!"
"Come on, Frank." Anne waved. "We get the dough and Sprig finds a wife. That's two wins in my book.
While he was standing aside at first, Hop Pop interjected. "You know, if we used a traditional recipe, we wouldn't have to sell Sprig," he said, holding up his cookbook.
"No! That old book is old. Sprig's eternal happiness is a small price to pay for pizza," Anne argued
"Agreed," Polly said.
"Now hold on!" Frank held up his hands and walked up to the table to talk with Mr. Flour. "Can't we just buy the dough with money? Do we really have to get these two in an arranged marriage?"
"The price is final." The baker said with his arms crossed. "Either the kids agree, or no dough for you."
"Aw, it's not so bad, Frank," said Sprig with his fists on his hips. Frank looked down at him, only for his eyes to widen when he saw Maddie right behind the little red frog. "Maybe we'll learn to love each other. Aah!" He screamed and jumped into Frank's arms Scooby-Doo style when he turned around and saw the creepy girl.
"I've seen your death in my mind," she said
"I was kinda hoping it'd be a surprise," Sprig said nervously with a chuckled.
"It will be..." she whispered. Because Frank was holding Sprig, he was tried to the sounds of sinister chuckle slowing down in his head too.
"Congratulations on your new son. Now cough up the dough," Anne quickly said, not noticing just how creeped out Frank and Sprig were.
"Yay!" Mr. Flour cheered in a monotone voice, before throwing her a ball of dough that Anne easily caught.
"Pleasure doing business with ya," she said before turning around and leaving with Hop Pop following behind her. Frank and Sprig remained in the shop, as Sprig wouldn't let go of the human boy and Frank reached down and picked up Polly in her bucket.
"Well, looks like we gotta go," Sprig said nervously, before Frank booked it out of there as fast as he could. "See ya."
"I wanna be the maid of honor!" Polly yelled as they left.
Maddie watched them leave and waved her little doll's arm at them. "See you soon, hubby."
The next ingredient on their list was cheese. Now, even though there were no cows in this world, cheese still existed. Only it came from caterpillars. Weird and unpleasant? Maybe, but right now, Frank was running for his life.
"AAAAHHHH! RRRUUUUNNNN!" Frank screamed as he, Anne, and the Plantar ran away from a giant bull caterpillar. Roaring as it chased after them while running pass Sadie Croaker, the old lady frog that owned the caterpillar. She was a dull purple frog with a light-dull-purple underside. She had a cataract in her left eye. She used a cane, similar to Hop Pop's. She wore ragged, patched clothing, with a white scarf. She had white hair on her head.
"Thanks again for helping me out! I know Brutus can be a handful," Mrs. Croaker exclaimed from where she stood from the sideline.
The bull bellowed as it chased after its targets. Mrs. Croaker had asked them to give the giant caterpillar a good walk, before moving him to the pen. It seemed like an easy task five minutes along. But all notations of that went out the window when Brutus started trying to kill them.
"What are we here for again?" Sprig asked as he ran/hopped beside Anne and Frank.
"Cheese!" Anne yelled.
Polly laughed as Hop Pop ran behind them. He opened the cookbook again and tried to convince them again. "You know, there's a recipe in here that doesn't need cheese."
"Not now!" Frank yelled at the old frog, before looking around. Trying to find a way to get Brutus back into his pen. Then his eyes landed on a plant that had large, bright red leaves. He gasped with a big smile as an idea popped into this head. "Anne! Get to the pen and open the gate!"
Anne nodded and two broke off from the group. Leaving Sprig, Hop Pop, and Polly to run away from the caterpillar.
Frank rushed over to the plant and ripped off a red leaf. He then turned to Brutus and whistled. "Hey, Brutus!" Brutus stopped and looked at him. Frank stood tall and proud and wave the leaf. "¡Toro! ¡Toro!"
If Brutus had eyes, they would be seeing red. Red hot steam shot out of his nostrils before he roared and charged at Frank at full speed. Frank waved the leaf as the caterpillar charged at him, before stepping out of the wave at the last moment. Letting the bull rush past him. Brutus turned around in a wide circle and rushed at Frank again. And again, the human boy dodged the bull like a professional bullfighter.
"Frank! I'm ready!" Anne yelled and waved from the gate of the pen.
Frank nodded and ran towards the pen, while waving the leaf behind him. The caterpillar released a roar and rushed after him. Anne got out of the way as Frank ran past her into the pen. Baiting Brutus in as well.
Anne immediately closed the gate, before Frank ran over and jumped over the fence. The two friends panted from exhaustion and adrenaline of being chased. Then they looked at one another before laughing together. Suddenly Brutus roared angrily as he slammed against the wooden fence behind them, making the two friends yell and crawl away from the pen.
Mr. Croaker walked over and held out a generously-sized cheese wheel towards them. "Here you go, dearies," she said as Anne grabbed the cheese. "A hunk of cheese-" Mr. Croaker pointed to another pen of angry caterpillars. "-made fresh from the milk of those ca-"
"Please don't tell me where it comes from," Frank interrupted.
About an hour later, Frank was walking back to the group with Anne his mantis scythe. Dragging its blade on the ground as he was covered in insect blood from a hard-fought battle against giant aphids. When they caught up with Hop Pop, Polly, and Sprig, Anne sat down on the ground and placed down the basils that they were able to get. Frank just collapsed on the ground, exhausted from the fight.
Sprig took basils and started stuffing them into the backpack. "Hey, careful with that basil, dude," Anne told him. "We had to fight off like ten giant aphids to get it."
"I. I had to fight off ten giant aphids," Frank said with a frown.
"I helped."
"Yeah, well, I then killed them, so I get the glory," he said with a joking smirk.
"Who knew ultimate flavor could be so painful?" Sprig replied, looking beaten up from the fight.
"Almost lost my behind to those things," Hop Pop added, showing had the insects had bitten off the bottom of his pants.
"This is the price of progress, Hop Pop," Sprig exclaimed, slamming his fist on the ground.
"Exactly. And we've only got one ingredient left. Tomatoes," Anne said.
Frank sat up and pulled out a map from his pocket. "According to this, they should be up ahead," he said, pointing in the direction the map led them.
"Still can't believe I traded my favorite dentures for that map," Hop Pop said, pulling the side of his mouth to show that he was without teeth. He then pulled out another pair and slapped them into his mouth.
"You know, I've never actually tasted a tomato," Sprig said.
"Really," asked Frank, rolling up the map.
"No one in town really sells them."
"There's a reason for that," Hop Pop said, opening his cookbook again and started flipping the pages. "They're in the 'dangerous vegetables' section. It suggests we go for prunes instead. Can't go wrong with prunes!" He turned the book and showed them a page that had prunes.
"Whoa-whoa. 'Dangerous vegetables'?" Anne scoffed lightly. "Come on! How bad can a bunch of tomatoes be?"
Frank and Anne's eyes were widened as they stared at the roaring creature in front of them. It was a giant, sentient, carnivorous tomato plant that resembled a Venus-Flytrap like plant with three heads atop long red stems joined at the base of the plant, where bunches of tomato were located. Each head possessed a large mouth and rows of sharp, white teeth and a green flower-like stalk.
A dragonfly flew close to it, and was immediately was chomped on by one of the plant's jaws. The sound of its exoskeleton being crushed and slapped as it was eaten was heard by the humans and frog, making their stomachs turn as they cringed. Some pieces of the dragonfly's wings and a leg landed in front of them.
"I hate my stupid mouth," Anne said with a slight frown.
"I hate it more," Frank added. He looked at the tomatoes of that base of the plant. One of the heads lowered down to their level and roared at them. He held his scythe in both hands then.
Hop Pop patted his book under his armpit and nervously smiled. "You know, this baby's got some great substitutes, all of which are delightfully harmless," he whispered. The Plantars and Frank all simultaneously stepped back slowly from the plant.
"Couldn't hurt to hear a few options." Sprig whispered back.
"Yeah, screw this," Frank said.
However, Anne ran behind them and blocked their attempts from leaving. "Hold on!" She exclaimed before lowering her voice. "Guys, the shame cage isn't just in the town square. It's up here. You're not gonna change the world without taking a few risks. We need to be bold, groundbreaking, brave!"
"Anne, there's a big difference between courage and stupidity!" Hop Pop yelled angrily, having had enough of Anne's stubbornness. However, as he was yelling at her, Frank turned around and looked at the plant.
"LOOK OUT!" He screamed, moving behind the family and with a swing of his scythe, cuts an elongated red tendril that tried to grab the old frog. "I'll grab the tomatoes," he told them, glaring at the monster plant.
With scythe in hand, he ran straight for the fresh tomatoes.
The tomato monster's heads roared as it shot its tendrils at him. Frank saw one coming at him, but he ducked and sliced it with his scythe. Another one swung at his feet, but he jumped over it, before cutting the tendril two times. A few more came at him, but Frank baseball slide across the ground. Having been a member of his school's baseball team, he was one of the fastest kids on the team, and used that speed to his advantage.
As he got closer, one of the heads lunged forward to kill him. Frank stopped when he saw it and jumped back, making the head crash into the ground. He took the moment to swing his scythe in a wide arc, cutting deep across its head. Killing the head.
Frank looked up and his eyes widened. He ducked behind the dead head as another head came down to bite at him. However, this one didn't crash into the ground, and followed him as Frank ran for the tomatoes. Finally, he had reached the fresh tomatoes at the base of the monster.
"FRANK, LOOK OUT!" Anne screamed from afar.
Frank looked back and saw the head coming closer. Jaws open to eat him. Grabbing some of the tomatoes and pulling them out from the base, Frank jumped and rolled out of the way. Causing the head to slam into its own stem. The sheer force of the impact caused the stem to snap off and fall down onto the ground lifelessly.
Taking the moment, Frank ran back to the others with one arm having the tomatoes in it. The Plantars and Anne were all in awe by what Frank did, before they started cheering loud. Anne ran over to him and hugged him, which to Frank by surprise. "Dude, that was totally awesome!" She yelled with a big beaming smile.
"Yeah, it was!" Sprig yelled, hopping all around Franks as he smiled and turned his body right to left to just look at the excited frog. "That was so cool!"
"THAT WAS THE GREAT THING I'VE EVER SEE!" Polly cheered louder than anyone else. Hop Pop stared at him with a slacked jaw. Too shocked to form a sentence.
Frank looked a little embarrassed as he smiled. "Thanks. It was nothing really," he said as he placed the tomatoes into the backpack they were using. When he was done, he handed it back to Sprig. "Now let's get out of here before-"
Suddenly, his ankle was grabbed by one of the tendrils. He was suddenly and violently pulled into the air as the last and largest head of the tomato monster roared in anger.
"FRANK!" Everyone screamed.
With a violent swing, the tendril slammed Frank into a tree. He screamed as he felt pain exploding from where his body collared with the tree. Then the monster slammed him into another tree. This time his head got hit on the impact, making him drop his scythe. Anne and the Plantars only watch in horror as the head roared and slammed Frank's body onto the ground, before swinging him into another tree, and then the ground again.
The boy groaned in agony as he struggled to stay conscious. His bruised body was dragged across the ground, before the head finally stopped by throwing him into its mouth. Swallowing Frank with one gulp before letting out a roar.
Anne's fists clenched with rage as she ran over and picked up Frank's scythe. "You give me back Frank, you son of a bitch!" She yelled with anger as she charged at the monster.
Hopping on to the head of the first head that died, she jumped into the air at the stem. Yelling a battle cry as she was about to slice it. But then her body was grabbed by one of the tendrils. Anne screamed and dropped the scythe as she was thrown into the mouth of the monster.
"Run, kids!" Hop Pop yelled as the remaining tendrils came at them. Sprig ran in front, held Polly over his head, and Hop Pop ran behind them. He was the first one to be grabbed. Then Polly was snatched from Sprig's hands. The little red frog looked back and screamed as the last tendril came at him. It grabbed his tongue and pulled towards the monster.
Hop Pop clawed at the ground to stop himself, but the tendril was too strong. He and Polly were pulled up and dropped into the mouth. Then Sprig was lifted up by the grinning monster as it held him over its open mouth. Its grasp on his tongue was released, and Sprig fell in screaming.
"MY FIANCÉE WAS RIGHT!"
Meanwhile, when Frank was eaten, his body fell down the throat of the tomato head. As he fell down, he pulled out his knife and stabbed it into the walls of the throat and then stomped his legs on the wall. Frank slowly braked to a stop halfway down the throat. His back was against the slimy wall, his legs braced against the other side, his right hand holding onto the knife, and his left hand pushing against the wall.
He sighed in relief. Suddenly Anne came falling down and the teens were sent falling down the throat again, until they were able to stop themselves. "Anne?"
Anne had landed on his lap and was holding onto the walls with her hands and feet. "Frank? I thought we lost you!" She said with a big smile.
Frank blushed slightly at the awkward position they were both in before smiled. Sprig's scream could be heard slightly above them. "Y-Yeah-"
The two of them were forced down again when Hop Pop, Polly, and Sprig landed on them. Causing the two teenagers to lose their grip entirely. Everyone screamed as they fell deeper into the tomato. Frank tried to push himself against the wall. However, instead of the wall, he pushed against Anne's back, forcing her to put her legs on the wall.
Getting an idea, the two of them linked their arms together and pulled out all the breaks. Pushing against each other with all their might, they stopped just before the end of the throat. The frog family landed on them, but the backpack of ingredients slipped off Sprig's shoulder. Seeing it falling past her, Anne quickly one of her arms and shot it out, grabbing one of the shoulder straps.
Saving it from falling into a familiar bright and bubbly pool of stomach acid.
"Holy smokes! Acid!" Hop Pop yelled, looking down at the acid.
"Man, talk about Deja view," Frank said to no one in particular.
"Well, at least the ingredients are safe," Anne said with a smile. She tried to pull the backpack back up, but with it not closed properly, it flew open.
Every ingredient that they had worked hard to get dropped down into the acid.
Burning away with the backpack.
"NNNOOOOOOOOO!" Anne screamed in despair, before linking her arm back around Frank's. "The ingredients! Everything we've worked for!"
"At least it'll be a quick, painless death," Sprig said.
"Why would this be painless?" Polly asked.
"Just let me have this lie!"
"Will you guys calm down?" Frank looked around for a way to get out of the monster. "Anne, help me figure a way out of this mess." But when he didn't a response, he looked over his shoulder at her. He couldn't see it, but Anne had quite a grim expression. "What's wrong?"
Anne sighed sadly. "How can you not be upset, Frank?" She asked her friend before looking at the Plantars. "Our revolutionary ideas were supposed to save you guys, not get you killed. I shouldn't have been so stubborn. I just really wanted to share a pizza with you guys." She paused for a moment with a slight blush. "And...And you too, Frank. To make up for old times."
Frank was a little surprised to hear her say that. But he smiled and said, "Hey, if we get out of here, how about we try again to make a pizza," he said to cheer her up. "It may not be for the potluck, but just to have fun. That's what pizzas with friends are for, right?"
Anne's expression turned from surprised to happy. "Anne, Frank, I've got to be honest," Hop Pop said. "I didn't care about that pizza stuff anyway. I'm sorry I wasn't supportive of you two. You were really trying to help this family out, and that's worth something in my book."
Frank and Anne smiled at him before an idea popped into the hat-wearing teenager. "Your book? That's it! Does the book of your elders have anything that could get us out of here," asked Frank.
"Well, I don't know," the old frog said, pulling out the book and opening to the page that had information on tomatoes. "Nothing especially useful. Just that the throat of this giant tomato plant is absolutely delicious eaten raw."
That made all of their eyes widened, before they glanced at one another and grin. All having the same idea.
On the outside, the main head of the giant tomato monster plant let out a satisfied burp. It had finally eaten those pesky frogs and weird-looking creatures. Suddenly, there was a gurgling sound that came from its throat. A moment later, Frank's knife blade pierced through its body from inside. Frank then sliced the knife down, before his, Anne's, and the Plantars' heads popped out of the incision and started biting into the flesh of the tomato monster. Creating an even bigger hole caused them to spill out.
All five of them bounced off the fresh tomatoes, before landing on the ground. Completely cover in the juices from inside. The tomato monster let out one last roar before falling down and dying.
Polly spat on the head. "Know your place, plant!" She yelled at it, before Anne picked her up. Frank got his scythe and stood up with Sprig and Hop Pop.
They all then heard the sound of a bell tolling in the distance. Anne gasped. "There isn't much time. Let's go home and make one of your old recipes, Hop Pop," she said.
"It wouldn't get us out of last place. But at least we'll have something," Hop Pop said.
Frank looked down and picked up a fresh tomato. Biting into it, he moaned with delight when it tasted just like the monster. "Maybe it can," he said to the others, holding up the tomato. "We just have to spruce it up with something a little dangerous."
The sun was setting in Wartwood, and the dragonflies that caught that one frog flew across the sky. "Yup. Still up here. Still need help," he said.
Down on the ground, the annual potluck was about to begin. Frogs from all over the town had come out to participate with their dishes and recipes. All with the hope of winning chopper and praises from everyone else, or be placed in the shame cage. On the long table, each contestant placed their food on the table to be presented. And at the very end of the table were our heroes.
Hop Pop baked a gross looking pie, and now they placed the final ingredient. Together, Frank and Anne placed a slice of tomato on it.
"Perfect," the humans and Hop Pop said simultaneously.
A small frog played a little trumpet to signal the beginning of the competition. Mayor Toadstool then slides in, pushing the frog to the ground as he said, "All right! Let the annual potluck begin! Let's get to tastin' those dishes." Frank, Anne, and the Plantars waited together as Toadstool took advantage of the competition so that he could eat the various dishes for free. Beginning from the other end of the table and started working his way down.
"And last, but not least-" He said when he reached the final contestants. But when he opened his eyes, he let out a sigh. "The Plantars with the monsters. What filth have you cooked up this ti-Hmm?" he stopped talking when he saw the tomato slice on the pie. "Tomato? That's awfully dangerous."
He chuckled, before dipping his finger into the pie and scooping out a chunk. He then placed the chunk into his mouth and took the moment to taste it. All while Toadie stood next to him, playing a drumroll. The teenagers and Plantar family stared nervously at the mayor.
"Why, I do declare! This is the best dish the Plantar family has ever brought to a potluck!" Toadstool praised with sincerity.
"What?" Hop Pop gasped, as the other frogs gasped all around them.
"What? Did we do it?" Sprig asked, not believe his ears.
"We won!" Frank cheered, throwing his fists up with a big grin. They all started cheering together, happy to have finally won.
But...
"Win?" Toadstool asked, before waving his hands. "No! No, no, no, no, no, no. Oh, it's better than usual, but it's still terrible. Last place, as usual." With more sympathy, Toadstool pulled out and slammed a ribbon on the pie that said 'Good Grief' on it. Toadie played a sad "wah-wah" theme on his trumpet. "You folks should know the way to the shame cage by now.
With sighs and expression of their disappointment, the Plantars, Anne, and Frank walked towards the shame cage.
"Hurry along. All right, boys, light it up," said Toadstool. A frog with a torch came over and burnt the pie.
As they walked towards the cage with long faces, Sprig was the only one whose mood wasn't dampened at all with their lose. "Cheer up, guys," he said with a smile, hoping up. "Sure we came in last. Again. But thanks to Frank and Anne's new ideas and Hop Pop's old ones, we've done the best we've ever done."
"You know, he's right," Hop Pop agreed.
"Yeah!" Polly said as they reached the cage. The masked frog held open the cage's door for them, and the Plantars turned to face Anne and Frank.
"We did, didn't we?" Anne said with a smile. But as she and Frank watched them climb into the cage and get cosy, they both glanced at one another.
"Hey, pal, can that thing hold two more?" Frank asked the masked toad with a smile.
Hop Pop turned to the toad. "How 'bout it, Carl?"
"The more the merrier," Carl said in a gruff voice.
Hop Pop chuckled. "Hear that?"
"Get in here, you crazy kids!" Sprig exclaimed.
"Whoo-hoo!" The two teenagers cheered. Frank stabbed his scythe into the ground before walking over to join Anne and the Plantars. Taking a seat next to his returning best friend. Carl closed the door to the cage, letting their legs dangle between the bars, before using his surprising strength to pull the rope. Hoisting the cage up with its inhabitants.
"Well, if we can't share a pizza, at least we can share this," Anne said.
"That's what friends do, Anne. Share the experience," Frank said with a smile. Placing a hand on her shoulder. "And you know, this isn't so bad-" Suddenly he was hit in the face with a piece of gunk. He quickly wiped it off. "What the hell?! What was that for?"
"Ooh, I forgot to mention the shame nuggets," Sprig said with a wince.
"What? AW!" Anne yelled when she too was hit with a shame nugget. Down below, the frogs of Wartwood surrounded underneath the shame cage. They jeered at those in the cage and threw more shame nuggets, slime, and other grossness in their general direction while yelling how they should be ashamed.
"Hey! That's my son-in-law!" Stumpy Flour cheered as his daughter stood next to him, smiling and waving in her usual creepy way.
Sprig nervously waved back was said through his teeth. "Hi..."
"Is that the best you got?!" Polly yelled down at the frogs down below.
Hop Pop, however, looked as satisfied he could be in the shame cage. With a sigh, he said, "Tradition is such a beautiful-" He got hit in the face with a shame nugget. "Son of a bitch!"