{Play Amphibia's theme: Welcome to Amphibia - by Celica Gray}
The intro opens up with Frank and Anne's hands on the Box of Calamity, mid tug of war for it when the two former friends accidentally open it. Light from inside the box shines brightly before it switches to a scene that shows Frank and Anne have stopped fighting for it, and with Sasha and Marcy, look inside. Suddenly there was a white light and everything went blank.
Frank was on the ground when the light faded, covered in mud with Anne next to him. When he woke up, he looked shocked to see he was in Amphibia with Anne. The two friends stood up and looked at their surroundings in awe.
The camera then zoomed out and showed the entire world of Amphibia.
(Now we find ourselves)
The scene then changes to the town of Wartwood as the frog inhabitants go about their daily lives. As a pair of dragonflies flew past the camera, it followed them until stopping at the Plantar farmhouse while the sun was starting to rise in the sky.
(In the wild unknown)
When the camera changed to show the house's front door, Frank and Anne stepped out from inside and out into the world. Ready to take on the day. But first, they ducked their heads under some dragonflies that passed them.
(With the frogs and toads)
The camera moves up to a window on the side of the house. Sprig opened the window with a telescope in hand. He looked through it at the horizon before slipping off the windowsill and started falling down.
(And we're far from home)
Inside the house, Hop Pop was reading one of his books in his study when Sprig's falling and screaming made him look at his window.
(But there's so much here to discover)
Down on the ground, Sprig had landed in Polly's bucket. His little sister responded by punching her brother in the butt. Sending him flying out of the bucket. She then dove back into her bucket of water.
(One leap after another)
Sprig landed on Anne's head, and the three of them smiled at one another. Then Sprig pointed at something. Frank pulled out his knife, and the friends rushed off into the unknown.
(Hop into the adventure)
The scene changed to show Frank, Anne, and Sprig hopping across multiple mushrooms that lit up when one of them landed on it.
(Gotta ribbit, ribbit)
(Jump on in it)
(Welcome to Amphibia)
The next scene showed Anne, Sprig, and Frank running for their lives from a giant chicken monster. Frank was holding one of the monster's giant eggs after they stole it from her.
(Life don't get much crazier)
The next scene showed Sprig, Anne, Frank, Polly, and Hop Pop fishing together on a lilypad before it suddenly rose up into the air. Underneath it was a giant fish that started swimming around as everyone started screaming. Frank, however, started stabbing it with his knife.
(When you've been hurled)
Another scene showed Sprig in a temple looking at something before Frank and Anne came rushing down the stairs beside him. Anne picked him up as they ran away from a giant boulder that came crashing into the temple.
(To another world)
The next scene showed a red, dark area. Anne and Frank had their backs together, and both had looks of determination. Anne raised her tennis racket, and Frank raised his mantis scythe.
(What're you gonna do?)
Still, in the same scene, the viewer is suddenly pulled back to reveal that they were surrounded by hundreds of giant Man-Bat creatures and a giant Mega Spider crawling up from behind them. Towering over them.
(You gotta ribbit, ribbit)
The Man Bats started attacking as Frank and Anne rushed towards the viewer. Smashing, slicing, and killing any bat that came at them. Just as the viewer watched them go past the camera on both sides, the Mega Spider lunged at the fleeing kids. Its mouth opens as it comes towards the camera before the viewer is in the blackness of the spider's mouth.
(Jump on in it)
The scene changed again to show Anne's photo of herself, Sasha, and Marcy hanging from a tree in the middle of a rainstorm. A flash of light showed the infamous Toad Tower in the background.
(Welcome to Amphibia)
The final scene of the intro showed Frank standing in the middle of a road. He looked to his left and saw Anne walking over to him with a smile. Then Sprig came over to his right and jumped on Frank's shoulders.
(Life don't get much crazier)
Hop Pop and Polly walked/hopped over and joined the trio.
(So ribbit, ribbit live it in)
The camera zoomed out to show some of the townspeople with them. All smiling and staring at the camera. Then some frogs popped out from off-screen, from the sides and corners of the screen.
(Amphibia)
The intro ends with the title of the story.
LIVING IN A FROG WORLD
Part 1: Chapter 16:
Trip into the Archives
It was another lovely day in the world of Amphibia, and Frank, Anne, and the kids were sitting together on Bessie as Hop Pop drove. Where he was taking them was a place Frank and Anne never been to during their time in the valley. They were driving down a road in the middle of a vast grassy steppe with nothing but a few weeds and some cat tails. Much different from the swamps and forest they were used to. Frank looked to the left and saw the mountains. Even from where he was, they were massive.
"Now, remember, gang," said Hop Pop, bringing Frank's attention back to him. "The mountain pass will clear up in one week. Meaning, it's almost time to leave this valley and find Frank and Anne a way home."
"Whoo! Love that!" Anne exclaimed with her bow and arrows on her back, more than ready to leave Amphibia.
"I'll say. I'm ready to leave this world," Frank said, leaning back on the saddle. "So, who's ready for the quest?"
"Yeah!" Sprig said, hopping on the back of the backrest. "Excitement!"
"Sights!" Polly exclaimed.
"And you know the best way to start a quest?" Hop Pop said, eagered to tell them what he was going to say.
"Danger?" Asked Sprig, excitedly grinning.
"Weapons?" Polly added in.
"Nope! Research!" Hop Pop answered with a proud tone. However, the kids, not sharing the same enthusiasm that he had about researching before their journey, groaned together. "Oh, come on, gang. We'll never get Frank and Anne home if we get bitten to death by a venomous snake fly," Hop Pop said, as Frank looked out at the steppe.
Far away from the road, he saw a snake fly that rose up and hissed at him when they made eye contact.
"Or eaten to death by a camouflaged sod skink," Hop Pop said, before a sod skink appeared and killed the snake fly.
"Or crushed to death by a sand liger," Hop Pop, before a sand liger appeared out of nowhere and killed the sod skink. Dragged its body towards it and started devouring it with savage hunger. All while Frank watched from the snail. With a disturbed expression on his face, he turned back to face forward.
"Point taken," he said, clenching onto the seat.
Soon, they arrived at their destination, the Historic Wartwood Town Archives. It wasn't really much to look at from the outside. The stone building was tiny, with a single wooden door. On top of it was a statue of a frog in a robe holding a book. Next to it stood the archive's sign, which, in Frank's own opinion, was in much better condition than the building.
However, Sprig groaned again. "The town archives?" He complained, before slipping down onto Frank's lap with a grunt. The young boy glared at the frog as Sprig continued complaining. "This place is dustier than Dusty's dustbin."
"Who?" Polly asked.
"Come on. You know Dusty," Sprig said, still not getting off of Frank's lap. "Local dust merchant. Friendly, always smiling, sells dust."
"Oh, yeah, yeah. Right." Polly said, waving her flipper at him.
"Yeah, I caught him trying to dig through my pants for lint," Frank said as he grabbed Sprig, lifted him up, before dropping him on the ground. He then got up with Anne and the two hopped down from the saddle.
"I get this place," Anne said with a smile in realization and turned to Frank. "It's like a library from home. Zoobooks and manga, here I come!"
"Enough chatter, you four. Time to hit the books," Hop Pop proclaimed, opening the frog size door to the archives. Anne grabbed Polly from the saddle and carried her as she and Frank walked together to the archives. However, Sprig hopped onto the saddle, determined to change their minds.
"Wait! Wouldn't we be better off preparing by diving headfirst into deadly situations?" He asked the group, holding his hands up with an encouraging smile.
Hearing this, Anne stopped to think about it. This caused Frank to stop and look at his friend in disbelief. "You're kidding me, right?" He asked with an exasperated expression.
"Well hang on, Frank," she said, actually considering what Sprig was suggesting. But this was mostly from her own laziest. "Maybe Sprig's right. Research is overrated."
"Is that right?" Frank raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. "Anne, everytime we dive into an adventure, it alway ends badly."
"Oh please. Name one time that's happened," Sprig said, rolling his eyes with the confidence that Frank would have no example to give. But the frog clearly wasn't paying attention to a lot of their adventures.
"Remember that mole?" Frank asked, calling back to that time that they had a mole problem at the farm. Instead of figuring out what it was that was eating the crops, they just dived in and tried to kill whatever was. The result was having to fight off against a very pissed off fire-breathing giant mole that nearly burned the kids alive.
"Or the mudslide?" Frank reminded them of the time they took Bessie out for a joy ride. They were trying to find a quicker way back home, so they just went through a dangerous mountain pass that had warning signs to turn away. But they didn't listen and drove down the road, getting caught in a mudslide.
"And do I even need to mention the skunk?" Frank cringed, remembering the painful memory of when they were tied up under a giant skunk. How they got there was another story, but it resulted in them being sprayed.
That memory alone made Anne and Polly get the thousand yard stare. "I can still smell that skunk juice," the tadpole said, shuddering just thinking about skunks.
"Yeah. Fair enough. Research it is." Anne said quickly, and quickly walked past him and entered the archives with Hop Pop.
"What? You're siding with Hop Pop?" Sprig asked incredulously, hopping down from the saddle.
"As a matter of fact, we are," Frank said with a stern look on his face. Not liking the little frog's attitude. "Sprig, we're going to be going beyond the valley. To places we've never been to. Who knows what we'll run into out there?" He turned to enter into the archive. However, he didn't duck his head low enough and ended up banging her head on the low door. "Ow."
Anne giggled at this before entering into the archives with him while carrying Polly. Sprig groaned in annoyance, but with little to no choice, he entered in after them.
Down they all went into the dark underground spiral stairwell. Walking past stone walls that were covered in glowing fungi. They then came across a golden metal doorway with a door that looked like it belonged to a vault. Walking through it, Frank and Anne were amazed by what they saw. The inside of the archives resembled a giant library with two floors lined with shelves full of books, ranging from weapons to dangerous animals, to history and plants. There are also chairs and tables for any visitors to use when reading and researching.
"Wow," said Frank in awe as he took in all of the archives.
Sprig, on the other hand, was still not a fan, and made it his mission to make sure the others knew this. "The archives," he groaned.
"This place seems pretty cool to me," Anne told him, not understanding what his problem was with it.
"Sure, it seems cool, until you realize all you do here is read other people's cool adventures." Sprig complained to the two humans.
"Okay, enough prattle," Hop Pop said, putting a stop to Sprig's complaining. "We gotta get a move on before we're locked in here."
Frank turned to Hop Pop with a confused and concerned expression. "Uh, what?"
"The door to this place is set on a sunlight timer," Hop Pop explained, pointing up to a small mechanical device with rotating gears that were ticking. On it was a metal frog head with a glass monocle that had a beam of sunlight shining into it. The beam was coming from a small skylight that was reflecting light off a mirror and a crystal. "It opens when the sun rises and deadlocks when the sun sets."
"That is some steampunky nonsense right there," Anne said as they walked into the library, with Sprig still grumbling about the old smelling old book that he has very little love for.
Walking up to a fireplace, Frank looks up at the painting of an old looking frog. There was a metal plaque under it, which he read from. "'Mycroft Newtback, archives founder. This structure, originally Newtback's home, was turned into the public archives after he died violently attempting to travel beyond the valley.'" That last sentence left everyone silent as they all glanced at one another. It wasn't until Frank spoke up that the silence was broken. "Okaaay, so, let's split up and hit the books."
On that, they all agreed and split off to try and find the right books to read. Frank, Anne, and Hop Pop went up to the second floor of the library while Sprig and Polly stayed on the first floor.
Hop Pop walked up to one of the bookshelves and looked at one of the books there. "'Only nature facts.' Fair," he said, and would have picked out the book if it weren't for another book that caught his attention. "Well, now. Hold on. 'Older than the old ways.' Now this I gotta read." And with that, He piled several books into his arms before walking over to a table to begin his research.
Polly hopped around the archives to find something to research. However, she stopped and looked when she saw something that caught her attention. That something were two flails crossed over one another, hanging over a bookshelf that only had books about weapons. "Hot mama." She said with stars in her eyes.
Meanwhile, Frank and Anne sat together on a couch with a stack of books between the two. As the Mexican-American boy looked over a book about roads and paths to other locations in Amphibia, the Thai-American girl was looking at a book that diagramed carnivorous plants. "Ew," she said upon seeing a plant biting a frog's eye.
As Frank flipped the page of the book he was reading, he stopped when he noticed that it talked about the mountain pass they were going to take. The pass that was blocked by a gigantic wall of ice that wouldn't melt until a few days. As he read more about the pass, Frank saw that the road that it led to would take a traveler all the way to a giant city that was the capital of Amphibia.
"Newtopia, huh?" He asked, but before he could read anymore, he was interrupted when Sprig's hand, which had a pair of eyes drawn on it, placed itself on the page.
"Hi, Frank. Whatcha doing?" Sprig asked in a weird voice, moving his thumb like it was a mouth.
"Man get the fuck out of here and read a book," Frank said, pushing his hand out of the way.
"Oh, come on," Sprig wined, but Frank stands up and walks over to a shelf to get another book. Without him to bother, Sprig turned to Anne, and hopped on the back cushion, getting up close to her face. "Anne~."
"Yeah, Sprig?" Anne asked, annoyed but didn't take her eyes off the book.
"Wouldn't it be better if we found some plants to fight?" he asked her, poking her face.
"Nope. Here, see if you can find a way to survive a tiger viper attack," she said, grabbing a book and shoving it into Sprig's hands.
Sprig groaned at this, earning him the ire of Frank. "Stop being a little bitch, Sprig," he said, pushing the book he was reading back into the shelf. However, when he shoved it in, the book went falling down on the other side, into an empty space just behind the shelf. This got Frank's attention, as well as something metallic. "What the?"
Looking to the ground, Frank saw scrape marks on the ground in a crescent shape that started from the edge of the shelf. Realizing that the shelf opened up, Frank grabbed the edge of it and started pulling it out. Revealing it to be a door to a secret space. When Frank looked inside, he gasped at what he saw.
Covered in dust and a few spiderwebs was a beautifully crafted scythe. The two-handed handle of the scythe was as long as a fireman's axe and was even curved like one, with some leather wrapping and an ornate metal pommel that looked much like a bird's head. And as for the blade itself, it was a crescent shape with a hook-like back end.
"Wow!" Frank reached in and grabbed the scythe off the hooks it was on and blew on it. Getting off some of the dust to reveal that the blade was still in perfect conduction.
"Yes. Yes!" Sprig said, walking up to Frank with his arms out towards him. Frank mostly ignored him and swung the scythe around, trying to get a feeling for it, as the little frog went on with his speech. "This is what I'm talking about. We shouldn't be reading books. We should be exploring. Jumping head first into danger, and using our wits to…."
"Sprig, just shut up and read a book," Frank said, closing the shelf and walking back over to Anne with his new scythe.
Once again, Sprig grumbled about everyone not wanting to do his way. "Stupid books. Stupid learning," he grumbled, sitting on the floor at the edge, with his leg between the railing poles as he pouted like a child. "Don't they want a real adventure?"
However, he then looked at the mechanism that was keeping the door from closing. The light of the sun shining into the monocle as the gears in the device turned and clinked. Seeing this gave Sprig an idea. Sure, the others may say that they want to read and study before they go on their adventure, but Sprig was going to show them that that way was boring and not great at all. He wanted them to have an adventure they can dive head-first into, and he was going to get his way.
Frank yawned as he set his book down. For the past two hours, he, Anne, Polly, and Hop Pop have been hard at work, trying to learn as much as they could about their trip and how to survive the world that awaited them outside of the valley.
"All right, kids. Time for a lunch break," Hop Pop announced to the four kids. However, only three of them joined him.
"I'm actually glad you suggested this, Hop Pop," Anne said with a smile.
"Yeah, I'm learning a ton about your terrifying, screwed up world," Frank said before holding out his new scythe. "And I got a new scythe!"
"Did you guys know that there are 60 weapons in the Morningstar family?" Polly asked as they walked to the metal door of the archive.
Frank was about to go out first when he gasped and stopped just before he hit the door. Backing away to see that it was closed. "The door is shut," Hop Pop exclaimed.
"No duh!" Frank said loudly, freaking out about the idea of being stuck inside the archive. He rushed to the door to try and pull it open. However, to his horror, it wasn't budging. "We couldn't have been in here for that long!"
"Wait, look!" Polly said, hopping onto Anne's head and pointing up. The group looked to see that the lens that powered the mechanism was gone. "The lens is missing!"
"What? Who would trap us in here?" Anne asked.
Her question came in the response of someone clearing their throat. They turned to see Sprig sitting on a mushroom lamp just across the library. He had his back turned to them, with his hands together, and looked at the group over his shoulder. "Maybe somebody is trying to prepare us by forcing us to dive in," he said, letting the mystery of who did it linger for just a moment. "Me! I did it."
He hopped off the lamp and walked over to the group, expecting to be greeted with thanks and appreciation for what he did. However, they were far from happy with the little red frog.
"Sprig, what the fuck!?" Frank yelled at him.
"Have you lost your mind?" Anne joined in, before pointing at the gearbox. "Put that piece back!"
"Guys, reading these moldy, old books ain't gonna prepare us for squat," Sprig said, still believing that he was right, even when everyone was against him. "What we need is a daring escape from an old, underground library!"
All of a sudden, Frank grabbed him by the neck and lifted him off the floor, choking him while glaring into the frog's scared eyes. "Listen, you froggy bastard! I'm not spending all day in this archive just because you don't want to read a book. Now give me back the glass, or else I will have Anne and Polly hold you down while I dissect you!"
"Whoa, dude. Don't you think that's a little much?" Anne asked, a little scared by Frank.
Frank paused for a moment before letting go of Sprig. Dropping him to the ground and letting him suck in breaths of air. "Sorry. Sorry, it's just… I don't like the idea of being a prisoner. Especially when it's because of an idiot!" He yelled, looking at Sprig.
"Frank's right, boy," Hop Pop said, walking up to Sprig with a finger pointed at him. Also not happy with his grandson. "Now hand it over."
Sprig stood up and groaned exasperatedly. "Fiiiine. Party poopers." He grumbled and started looking through the glass. However, when he couldn't find it in the pocket he was sure he put it in, he started to get nervous. Especially when he looked in his other pocket and still couldn't find it. "I know I have it…somewhere." He walked a bit away from them when noticing how much angrier they were getting. However, while doing so, he stepped on something small and made of glass.
Praying to his frog god that it wasn't what he thought it was, Sprig lifted up his foot to reveal that he accidentally stepped on the gearbox's lens and it shattered.
"Well, that's not good," Polly said.
Anne groaned and yelled, "Sprig!"
"Uh, maybe I can fix it," Sprig said, kneeling on the floor to see if that was even possible. And it just so happened, it was. Sprig carefully slid the tiny pieces of glass back together and carefully picked it off the ground. "Aha! Good as new!"
And then he sneezed into it.
Frank and the others watched in muted horror as each of the tiny pieces of glass flew everywhere. Never to be seen again. "Uh…" Sprig turned back to them and saw everyone staring at him with wide, horror-filled eyes as they just saw their one hope of getting out be blown away. And it was all because of Sprig, who was looking very nervous. "…who needs glasses, right?"
"On second thought, I want to cut him open," Anne growled, pulling Frank's knife out from his belt.
Sprig made a frightened noise before Hop Pop came over. "All of you, stop! Killing each other ain't fixing any of this," he said, trying to calm everyone down.
"So, what do we do?" Frank asked, taking his knife back from Anne. "No one knows we're here, and thanks to your grandson, we're trapped inside."
"Well, we have to wait for someone to visit the archives," Hop Pop told him.
"Oh, okay. Well, when was the last time someone came down here?" Anne asked.
Hop Pop pulled out a document and looked over it. "Well, I checked the logs, and it says...three years ago."
There was a silent pause as the group stared in shock, realizing that they were completely trapped, with no one knowing where they were, and they were going to die down there. Anne and Polly started pounding on the door, yelling for someone to help them and get them out, but it was hopeless. They were in the middle of nowhere, with only Bessie outside, being distracted by butterflies fluttering around her head. They were all alone and with no way out.
After Anne and Polly stopped, they laid on the floor, panting in exhaustion. "Alright, we're going to have to figure out our way out of here," Frank said to the others. "And Sprig...just shut up."
"What? What did I say?" Sprig asked, throwing his hands up.
"Nothing, but I know that you're going to say something inspirational, even though you're the reason that we're stuck here!" Frank yelled at Sprig, making him winch. Frank would have yelled at him some more, but knew that would have to wait. "So, does anyone have any ideas?"
Anne looked at a mushroom lamb and smiled. "I've got one."
Together, they tried using the lamb like a battering ram and charged at the metal. But instead of breaking it down, it bounced off and they just ended up catapulting themselves into the door.
Their next escape attempt was to try digging a hole into the floor and tunnel their way to freedom. But suddenly, they were attacked by huge worms, with one of them grabbing Hop Pop. Frank killed two of them with his scythe as Anne shot the other one with her bow. At first they thought it was over, but when they heard strange noises coming from hole, they realized there was no coming. So they quickly covered it back up and abandoned that plan all together.
Hop Pop then came up with a pretty clever idea and tried to use his glasses to replace the lens. However, the light reflected off the lens and started burning the books all around them, causing a fire that destroyed knowledge that was written for hundreds of years.
When they put out the fire, they sat against the wall, their bodies covered in soot. Hop Pop coughed up some smoke as they all realized they were going to die together in the library.
"So...Not good," Sprig said.
Polly yelled in frustration. "Why did they have to put the door on a stupid sunlight timer?!" She shouted.
However, when she said that, Anne gasped in realization as a new idea formed in her head. "That's it! Light timer. Timer, sunlight, light, skylight!" She exclaimed, pointing to the ceiling at the skylight. Smiling, she stood up with Frank. "I bet we can get out through the skylight!"
"And I think I know how we can get up there," he said as he and Anne high-fived.
Anne tied a long rope to one of her arrows and then aimed it up at the sky light. She fired and the arrow flew up towards the sky, shattering the glass cover of the skylight before falling and stabbing into the ground. Frank gave the rope a tug to make sure it was secure, before turning to Anne and offering her the rope. "Ladies first," he said with a charming smile. The young girl blushed with a smile, before grabbing the rope and started climbing up it.
As he watched her, Frank's eyes widened when he realized he was looking right up her skirt. Blushing bright red when seeing her underwear.
"You better not be sharing up my skirt!" She yelled down at him, realizing he was in the perfect position to do so.
"I'm not!" Frank yelled, quickly looking away. Only to see the Plantars staring at him. "Not a word."
Anne made it to the top of the rope and popped her head out. She took in a breath of fresh air before pulling herself the rest of the way out. Climbing out of the archives and onto the surface above, Anne panted for a moment before cheering to herself. "Yes!" She then looked down into the library at the others. "I've made it outside!"
"Try opening the door!" Frank yelled up to her.
Anne nodded and rushed over to the entrance of the archives. Running past Bessie, who was eating grass, she ran down the steps of the tunnel and came to the metal door. However, when she tried looking for a handle to open it, there was none to be found. "Uh, guys! I can't open the door!" She called out to her friends.
"What?" Frank yelled from the other side of the door.
"There's no door handle!" Anne exclaimed. "Seriously! Who makes a door like that?!"
"Damnit!" Frank groaned in frustration. "Alright, go get help from town. Someone's got to know how to open this place up."
"What?! No way! I'm not leaving you guys!... unless. BRB!" Anne yelled before rushing back outside. She then saw Bessie, who was thankfully still there. She ran to the snail and petted her, earning her some coos. "Bessie, the others are stuck inside the archives. I need you to go into town and get help!"
Bessie chirped and turned around, going down the road to get the family help.
"Yeah, you go girl!" Anne cheered. However, that sense of triumph was short-lived when a butterfly fluttered in front of Bessie's face. She veered off course and slithered after it. "No! No. No, Bessie. Get- No! Oh, come on. Never mind."
Walking back down to the gold door, Anne knocked on it. "Bad news, guys. My first idea didn't work," she said.
Frank sighed in frustration. "Alright, then we'll all have to get out through the skylight! Wait for us there!" He called to her before walking over to the rope.
As he started climbing up the rope, Sprig, still convicted that he was in the right for trapping his family in the library to make them do his way, gloated about how he was right. "See guys? How do you feel about diving in now?"
"Now, I suppose, if I'm honest, I do feel somewhat of a rush," Hop Pop said with honesty.
"We can do anything!" Polly yelled.
Frank managed to read the top of the rope and stick his head out through the opening. He tried to pull himself the rest of the way out, but couldn't. Frank struggled to pull himself all the way out, but it was no use. Compared to Anne, who was slimmer compared to his broader body, Frank couldn't fit through the hole. "This isn't good," he said.
"What's wrong?" Anne asked, running over to him.
"Anne, I can't get out!" Frank exclaimed, trying to force himself out. But it was no use.
"Okay, then just go back down," Anne said with rationality. "The Plantar's will come up and we can dig a bigger hole for you."
"Oh, okay." Frank tried to push himself back down, groaning and grunting as he moved his body back and forth. However, he stopped when he realized what was happening. "Uh, guys. I'm stuck."
"What?! Anne cried out.
"I'm seriously stuck!" Frank yelled, thrashing around. "I can't get out!"
"Hang on! I've got you!" Anne proclaimed and grabbed onto Frank's head. She then tried pulling him out of the hole, but all this did was pain for Frank's neck, which he felt was being ripped off his shoulder.
"OW! OW! OW! OW! STOP! STOP!" Frank yelled, before she finally let him go. He panted for a moment "This is not helping!"
"I got this! Don't move!" Sprig said in the archives. Jumping onto the rope, he started climbing up it.
"I don't see how I can, you twit!" Frank yelled, kicking his legs around. However, just before Sprig could make it halfway up the rope, it suddenly snapped. Sprig yelled as he fell to the ground and crashed on the ground. When he heard this, Frank started to become very concerned. "Uh, what was that? What just happened?"
"Uh, nothing. Everything's fine," Sprig said nervously.
"Sprig!" Frank and Anne yelled at him.
"Okay, the rope's snapped, we can't get to you, you're stuck, and blocking our only way out."
"Oh, that's just perfect!" Frank yelled in anger.
"Don't worry. We'll build a tower of books and get you down," Sprig said, before he and the others started making that tower of books.
Frank sighed as Anne sat down next to him. He looked at her and noticed something about her. Not just that the sun made her pretty face almost glow in the light, but he saw that she was tired. "Anne, you can rest for a moment if you want. It's gonna be a while for the others to get me out of here," he said to her.
"I'm not tired, Frank. Besides, we need to get you out," Anne said.
Frank tried his best to shrug. "Suit yourself," he said, shaking his head. "I just don't get why you won't listen to me."
"I do listen to you!" Anne insisted, crossing her arms and looking away from him with a frown. "I just don't like being treated like a little kid."
"You must be patient Anne," Frank said, trying to get her to listen to him. "What are you trying to prove anyways?"
Anne tilted her head down in shame. "That I'm not a burden to you," she said, finally revealing what's been on her mind. Not just at that moment, but for a long time now. Glancing at him, Anne saw Frank staring at her with a mixture of concern and confusion. She could see the scar on his face. "Ever since we came here, I've just been causing trouble for you and everyone else. The lake, Domino 2, the Blood Moon…I just…don't want you to think I'm holding you back."
Seeing that she had teardrops forming in the corner of her eyes, Frank sighed, hating that he wasn't able to hold and comfort her. "Anne, you were never a burden to me," he told his best friend. "Sure, you may have caused trouble, but I'm not going to think any less of you because of those times. Maybe it was dumb luck or God's will, but for whatever reason, you and I are here together. And I wouldn't have any other partner as my best friend."
Anne looked at Frank as he smiled kindly at her. It made her blush as she smiled at him. The two remained silent as they turned their heads away, blushing while glancing at one another.
However, the moment was cut short when they heard a strange, buzzing sound. "Hey, guys, what's that sound?" Anne called down the frogs inside the archive.
Sprig heard the sound and his eyes widened in fear. "Uh, it's cicadas coming out to graze," he said. "Which is totally fine. If you just stay super quiet, they should go away."
"Oh, cicadas, like little cute cigarras." Frank said the Spanish word for the bug as he looked around to keep an eye out for cicadas.
Seeing something behind Frank made Anne very frightened. "Don't look now, man," she said, pointing a shaky finger at the thing approaching him.
"What are you–OH MY GOD! THAT'S HUG!" He yelled when he turned around and came face to face with a giant cicada. Anne yelled when another landed in front of her, causing her to jump up to her feet. However, things are about to turn from bad to worse. All around the two, more cicadas showed up. Flying in from anywhere and landing on the steppe, they started grazing on the plants surrounding Frank and Anne. Causing both friends to yell loudly.
"...Too late," said Sprig.
Anne started freaking out as the cicadas started getting closer to her and her trapped friend. Frank faced the cicada in front of him as it grazed on a bush. However, it looked up and saw Frank's messing brown hair. Some of the other cicadas too notice, as well as Anne's hair. "I'm not food! I'm not food! I'm not food!" She said, stepping back from some of them crawling towards her.
"Anne, stay calm!" Frank suddenly yelled in pain when one of the cicadas grabbed onto his hair and started chewing on it. Knocking his hat off to reveal more of his hair to the bugs.
"Frank!" Anne yelled when seeing her friend in trouble. Thinking quickly. She aimed herself with her bow and aimed an arrow at the cicada. Pulling back before letting it go, she hit the cicada in the eye, killing it and nearly hitting Frank.
"THAT'S MY HEAD!"
"Sorry!" Anne yelled, before getting attacked by another cicada. It flew at her, but Anne dodged by rolling out of the way. She then shot it down. "Man, I'm awesome with this thing. AAH!" She screamed when one of the bugs used its powerful jaws to bite her arm.
"Anne!" Frank yelled. Thankfully she stabbed it in the head before backing up to where her friend was. It made her feel like Legalos from the Lord of the Rings. The main reason she watched the movies with Marcy was that he was hot. As she started shooting at any bug that came too close, Frank once again tried to get himself out of the hole. "Guys! Get me out of here! I need to help Anne!"
"But how do we do that!?" Hop Pop asked.
One of the bugs jumped on Anne's back and started biting on her hair. "Think of something!" She yelled, ripping it off and slamming the bug down on the ground. "Because if we don't do something…" Anne paused to kill the cicada with a shot to the stomach. "No one is going home alive!"
At that moment, Sprig gasped as he suddenly had an idea. "That's it!" he exclaimed, turning to his family. "This building used to be someone's home, which means, there was a bathroom!"
"Now's not the time to take a shit, Sprig!" Frank yelled, yelling when a cicada bit into his hair again.
"No, Sprig's onto something!" Hop Pop said up to Frank's kicking feet.
Polly thought for a moment as she started to see what her family was getting at. "If there was a bathroom. That also means there were–"
"Pipes!" Sprig exclaimed, before rushing off to find what he was looking for. First, he found the book that detailed the layouts of the home. However, the book had now blueprints, but did point in the right direction to find them. As Anne fought to protect both her and Frank's lives, Sprig quickly found the blueprints and laid them on the table.
"Aha! Here it is! The blueprints!" He exclaimed, as his family gathered around him.
"And look here. This is where the bathroom used to be," Hop Pop said, pointing to the blueprints before looking up and pointing to a bookshelf, "behind that bookcase. We just need to break it down!"
Polly had a solution to that, and used the flail she saw earlier to bust down the book shelf and the wall to the bathroom. "War cry!" She yelled, swinging it around.
Sprig ran inside to see a pipe that wasn't connected to anything. "Yes! Don't worry, Anne and Frank!" He yelled before jumping into the pipe and started crawling up it. "I'm on my way!"
"Sprig! Hurry up and help us!" Anne yelled, covered in big blood and almost completely overrun. She reached back to grab another one. However, when she felt nothing, Anne realized that she used the last of it.
"Anne!" Frank cried out. Anne turned to see Frank getting attacked by two cicadas that were chewing on his hair.
"Oh no you don't!" She yelled rushing in and hitting them away with her bow like it was a baseball bat. However, with her arrows to keep the cicadas away, they started to close in on both kids.
Meanwhile in Felicia's lovely Tea Shoppe, business was going great for the mother of Ivy. There were plenty of customers and all of them were enjoying their time. With business slowing down, Felicia told her daughter to keep an eye on things as she goes to use the restroom. She closed the door behind her and a few moments later, the toilet flushed, which would have been a tell-tale sign that she was finished with her business.
But then, all of a sudden, Felicia let out a terrified scream and opened the door after Sprig came out of the toilet. Covered in toilet water, as well as woman's urine, Sprig chanted, "Sorry, sorry, sorry. Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry."
All anyone could do was watch as Sprig ran out of the shop. Determined to save his friend.
Despite her best efforts, Anne couldn't stop all the bugs. She was knocked to the ground as the cicada started piling on her and Frank. They pinned her down and started biting all over her body, but it was mostly her hair. They groaned and yelled in pain together as the cicadas fed on their hair.
Anne groaned in agony as one of the cicadas tried pulling at her hair. "I can't believe this," she said, looking at Frank in despair. "We tried to do things the right way! And now we're gonna die and we'll never get back home!"
"Yahoo!" All of a sudden, Sprig came flying out of nowhere and tackled one of the cicadas off Anne. He climbed on top of it and waved at the humans. "Help has arrived!"
"Sprig!" Frank exclaimed, beyond happy to see his frog friend. However, he then had to ask a very important question. "Wait. How did you get out?"
"And why are you wet?" Anne added.
"I don't wanna talk about it." Sprig grimaced. He then kicked the cicada he was on in the side and it reared up like a horse, before riding it towards the other bugs. Tackling into them like a bowling ball and sending the ones that were still alive flying off. "Whoo-hoo!" He cheered, jumping off with a flip and landing near Frank and Anne. "See you later, cicadas!" He then blew a raspberry and walked back to the humans.
"Thanks, Sprig. That was a close one," Anne said, sitting up.
"I'm just glad you're okay," said Sprig.
"Yeah, so am I./Me too." Said both Polly and Hop Pop as the old frog carried the young taplod over to Frank and Anne, both of them covered in towel water.
"We couldn't wait. So we took the pipes too," explained Polly.
"Where did the pipes go?" Frank asked.
She grimaced. "You don't wanna know…"
"I seen things." Hop Pop said in a haunted voice.
"So we did it!" Sprig cheered in delight. "We dove into another adventure and escaped! I told you it would work."
However, no one was happy with him. "Are you kidding me?!" Frank shouted furiously at Sprig. "We didn't 'dive in'! We were in this situation because you pushed us in!"
Sprig rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Yeah, but–"
"No, no! Shut up!" Frank snapped, startling the young frog and everyone around him. They never expected for the young man to lash out like that, but here he was. Panting in anger and frustration as he tried to calm down. "Sprig, not only did you trap us in the archives, you almost got us killed! You think that this trip is going to be a game. That's it's going to be like all our other adventures, but it's not. This could be me and Anne's only chance of getting home, and we can't mess this up."
After hearing about this, Sprig looked away in shame and grabbed his left arm. Now the full weight of what he could have cost them for his selfish actions was revealed, and he was fully ashamed of what he did. "Guys, I'm sorry. I just… I just wanted to have a fun adventure, like we always do," he said with sincerity. "I should have remembered how important this was for you guys."
Anne placed a hand on his shoulder. "Dude, of course we want to have more adventures with you. So if that means doing a few things we don't like to help me get ready, well, then…"
"Then that's what we'll do, together," Sprig said, looking at Frank with a hopeful expression.
Frank frowned at him for a moment, before sighing and smiling. "Together," he said.
"Yeah!" Sprig jumped onto Frank's head, happy to have been forgiven by the boy.
However, at that moment, the ground underneath Frank, Sprig, and Anne caved in under their weight, and they fell into the archives screaming. Hop Pop and Polly looked down and watched them fall onto the pile of books the frogs were using to construct their tower. The three kids laid on it, groaning in pain and agony.
"We're okay! We landed on books!" Anne called up to Hop Pop and Polly.
"Knowledge hurts," Sprig groaned.
Later on that night, Frank and the others gathered with the other townsfolk for Theater Night, the one night where people gathered to hear stories and forget about their horrible troubles. During their first Theater Night, Anne actually showed the movie 'Love Choice' to Wartwood, thinking that it would be a good choice. It did not go well. The people loved the movie so much that it caused a divide and the town got into a civil war over who the main girl would pick.
It was stupid.
So, when it was theater night again, Frank was in charge of picking a movie. After picking the movie, he placed it on the stage with his hat supporting it. Then Tad, the local glass artist, pushed a giant magnifying glass in front of it. Making the screen of Frank's phone appear bigger.
"Alright everyone. Tonight's movie is one we should have done in the first place!" Frank yelled, glaring at Anne.
"Okay, I get it!" Anne yelled back at him. "Showing Love Choice was a bad idea!"
Frank then cleared his throat and recomposed himself. "This is a story of love and loss, fathers and sons, and science and nature. This is the legendary story of Star Wars. Let's begin with part four."
He reached down to press play when Sprig raised his hand. "Wait, why part four? Why not start with one?"
"Because the fourth movie was the first one," Frank said.
Wally then entered the conversation. "But wait, if it's the first movie, then why is it the fourth one?" He asked, with many agreeing with him.
"Because episodes 1, 2, 3 are prequels," Frank told him.
"Then why aren't they the fourth movie?" Mrs. Croaker added.
"Episode One is the fourth movie!" Frank exclaimed, getting annoyed. "It just canonically comes first."
"Then why not start with the prequels and just work our way to the fourth movie?" Hop Pop argued.
"Because you always watch the original trilogy first and then start the prequels!" Frank yelled, not getting frustrated.
"Is there a sequel series?" Sprig asked.
"Don't you dare mention those movies!" Frank shouted, pointing threateningly at him. "Alright, this is getting us nowhere! Start the movie!" He pressed play and walked off the stage as the opening text appeared on the screen, because John Willian's epic music kicked it and the movie began.
Frank sighed as he sat down next to Anne, who smiled sympathetically at him. "Told you they'd be confused," she said.
"Yeah, no kidding," Frank said, watching the movie as the text crawl started. He then looked at Anne and smiled. The two stayed silent for a moment before he said, "Hey… remember what I said. You will never be a burden to me, Anne."
"...Thanks, Frank," she said, blushing lightly. The two of them turned back to the movie, just as the Tantive IV was being chased over Tatooine by the Devastator Star Destroyer. They continued to watch the movie before Frank realized something.
"Shoot. I don't have any popcorn," he said, before standing up and walking over to the table with the popcorn. As he walked away, Anne watched with uncertainty.
She had to do it. The question has been burning inside her mind for weeks now. She had to know the truth. So, Anne stood up and walked over to Frank as he was picking up a bag with the most popcorn.
He turned back, only to stop when he saw Anne standing in front of him, a few feet away. "Hey, want some popcorn too?" He asked, grabbing a bag for her as well.
"I…" Anne paused for a moment, trying to find the right words as she rubbed her hands together and interlocked her fingers. "I just…wanted to know something."
"Uh, yeah, sure," Frank said, not sure why she was so nervous.
Seeing her chance, Anne knew it was no or never. So, she asked, "Is it true? That you were arrested?"
In that instant, the sound of the world around Frank faded, his expression of curiosity turned to one that was a mixture of different emotions: shock, disbelief, and dread. Shocked about Anne asking him that question. Disbelief that she even knew about his arrest. Dread for what she could be thinking about him. Frank was hoping that Anne would never have learned about his imprisonment, and that she wouldn't just see him as a convict.
"How…?" He asked, the only real response he could give.
"Mostly rumors from school," Anne said, hugging her arms and she explained what she knew. "They said that you stole some new shoes and were arrested. That's why you were gone for seven months."
"Ten months." Frank said harshly, his grip on the popcorn bags tightening.
Anne was slightly taken aback by his response. "Okay, so that's why you weren't at school, right?" She asked, wanting to know what happened. "So what really happened?"
Frank looked down at the ground before looking back up at her. He walked up to her and handed Anne her bag of popcorn. "I don't want to talk about it," he said, and turned back to go back to his seat as the movie continued playing.
Anne frowned at him as he walked away from her. "You did steal those shoes, didn't you?"
Frank stopped in his tracks.
"Dude, you get mad at me for stealing the music box, yet you've stolen a pair off…" Anne trailed off when Frank turned back to her. She instantly regretted what she said when she saw something that she's never once seen Frank do in a long time.
Frank looked at Anne with great sadness as tears started to form in his eyes.
The two friends stared at one another before Frank sniffled and rubbed his eyes. "Frank…" Anne began, but didn't get the chance to apologize when Frank spoke up.
"I did go to prison, Anne…but I didn't steal those shoes."
Anne was shocked by this, but didn't stop Frank when he walked back in her direction, dropped his popcorn on the ground, causing it to spill, and walked past her. Anne turned back and watched as Frank walked almost aimlessly away from her and the townsfolk. Leaving the young girl with more questions than she did answers. But it was clear that something very wrong was going on with her best friend. Something that was affecting him deeply. Something that depressed the normal rational, brave, and kind young boy that she's become fond of.
What it was unknown, and by the way Frank reacted, it wasn't anything good. What could have happened to Frank that would have made him be thrown in prison? If he didn't steal those shoes, then why arrest him? These were questions that would be hard for Anne to get the answer to, but what concerned Anne the most was if he did tell her, would she be able to heal this wound that goes deeper than the skin.