Outside Newtopia, the robot that had been following the humans and Plantars to the capital city sat on a patch of grass, waiting for them to come out again. It waved its arms, shooing away a flock of seagulls that had been pooping and climbing on it.
Meanwhile, in the heart of the city, Frank, Anne, and the Plantars decided that today was gonna be the day that they took a tour around the great city. And what better way to do a tour than with a tour bus? Well, Marcy was with the king trying to find more information on the music box that brought her and her friends to the amphibian world, they took the "Just look{don't touch} Newtopia Tours" bus, which also acted as the shell of a hermit crab that was pulling it like a chariot.
With the intercom microphone in hand, the tour guide said, "Welcome, ladies and gentle-phibians, to a safe uneventful afternoon of touristy nonsense. It may not be as eventful as other tours but did I mention it's safe?"
Needless to say, it was boring. And no one was more bored than Frank, Anne, and Polly. The humans and pollywog sat together in one see while Sprig and Hop Pop, who was wearing a cheese hat, sat across the aisle from them.
"So what did we learn today, girls," Franked asked with a frown.
"Never let Hop Pop pick the activity," Anne and Polly, simultaneously.
"That's right."
"Look kids, we've got a few days to kill before King Andrias reveals his findings about the music box," Hop Pop told the kids, holding a pamphlet. "And what better way to spend that time than learning?"
Frank, Anne, Sprig, and Polly groaned at the thought of being stuck in the tour bus, not being able to get out and see the city for themselves. A sentiment that was amplified when Anne looked out the window at the various food vendors outside, being sold, and bought by various newts of varying shapes, sizes, and colors. Looking extraordinarily alien to the human girl as she saw all of the fruits, meat, bugs, and worms being sold.
"Oh, wow, what's that place," she asked.
The tour guide, however, rushed in and yelled, "Look away!"
"Why," asked Frank.
"Imminent danger."
Polly complained. "But imminent danger is the best kind of danger."
"Now then," the tour guide said, walking back up to the front of the bus, "what's the most important thing to do when visiting Newtopia? Any guesses?"
Anne raised her hand. "Ooh, ooh! Eating like a local? Looking like a local? Partying with the locals?"
"Nope," the guide said. "It's getting to know the city from a safe distance. Like on this bus."
"Such wisdom," said Hop Pop in admiration.
Anne sighed and leaned back in the long seat. "This is just like when I'd go traveling with my mom," she grumbled.
"You mean that time you visited the Grand Canyon?" Frank said, still trying to wrap his mind why her family wouldn't go see the Grand Canyon if they were already there.
"That was my dad, but she was the same way we went to Thailand. When I was a little girl, I saw all the delicious and awesome food that they were serving, but mom said that my California stomach can't handle it," Anne said, upset as she placed her hands and face against the window. Frank then heard whimpers of sadness. "She…She said…I can have carrot sticks…and trail mix…"
Frank raised an eyebrow at her. "Anne, are you crying—?" He was cut off when Anne started sobbing over the unfairness of her mom's decision.
"I DIDN'T WANT THE BABY CARROT'S, MOM! I didn't want 'em! Why?! Why?! Why?! Why?!" She wailed and banged her fist on the glass. At the same time, the driver next to the bus saw her break down and rolled up their window.
Frank pulled her away from the window and pulled her into a huge, where he held her hand and patted her back. "Sssssh, it's okay. The baby carrots can't hurt you anymore," he said in a soothing voice.
Anne sniffed. "Okay."
After a moment, she stopped and grabbed Frank's shoulders, pulling him into close proximity to her face.
"You know what?"
"What?" Frank blushed.
"This time, I'm gonna experience the city the way the locals do! Not sit on a bus like some dumb tourist!"
The intercom crackled to life as the tour guide got back on the mic. "And now for our tour of the tour bus. This is the ceiling, what a good ceiling! Not to be outdone by the floor!" he said, gesturing to the floor, much to the odd fascination of one tourist. The tour guide then looked up at the people on the bus, and gave them a serious expression. "And just to be clear, this is a safe space. Meaning, no dangerous items are allowed on the bus."
That's when Anne had an idea.
"You mean like this?" Anne said, pulling out Frank's knife. She didn't pull out Hellcat's Claw. "Or like this?"
"Anne!" Frank yelled. "Give me back my weapons!"
Everyone gasped.
"...Oops."
A moment later, Frank and Anne were thrown off the bus by the tour guide.
"You two are the most unsafe tourists I have ever met," he exclaimed. "Your band for my bus!" He slammed the door behind him in a fit of rage.
Knowing that he is going to have to get off the bus as well, Hop Pop sighed in misery. "Why does this keep happening?" he said, taking off his cheese hat. "Now I'll never make it to the cheese museum."
As the hermit crab started, pulling the bus away, Frank and Ann ran alongside the vehicle. The young boy tapped on the old frog's window, getting his attention. "Don't worry, Hop Pop! You stay on the tour! We can head back to the hotel ourselves," he said, pointing to himself and Anne.
"And we're back," Hop Pop said, putting back on his cheese hat. "But you two gotta promise me you'll go straight to the hotel. No detours!"
Anne and Frank said, "We promise!"
The two of them then stopped running along with the bus to, presumably, head back to the hotel. The old frog, unaware of their true intentions, continued to enjoy his tour with his grandkids.
Sprig, however, saw this, saw his chance to get off the bus as well, and stood up. "Actually, Hop Pop, I better go with them," he said. "You know, just to make sure they don't get lost."
He tried to leave, but stopped when he heard a locking sound and felt something metallic clamping around his right wrist. Sprig looked down, expecting to find anything but himself being handcuffed to Hop Pop.
Sprig gasped in utter horror. "You handcuffed us together?!"
Hop Pop said, "Sorry, Sprig, but after the Ruins of Despair incident, you've left me no choice."
Seeing that he was going to be trapped, Sprig sighed and sat in his seat. "Well, at least I have you to keep me company, Polly," he said, looking over to his left at his sister.
Only to see a crudely constructed mannequin of his baby sister, made from a ball, leaves, and wrapping paper for the bow.
"POLLY, YOU TRAITOR!" Sprig yelled.
"Hush," Hop Pop said, yanking his grandson down on the seat and placing a cheese hat on his head. "Now sit your butt down and put on your cheese hat."
"Noooooooo!" Sprig wailed, realizing that he's going to be trapped on the bus, with nothing to do, for a long, long time.
"That was a dirty trick, Anne," Frank said, as he and his crush walked together down the street, stopping at a T-section. "The last thing we need is to get on some kind of no fly list."
"Yeah, but look at where it took us," Anne said, motioning for her best friend, to look down into the intersecting road. "Welcome, Frank, to the bowels of the city."
Frank turned his head in the direction she was gesturing trying to, and his eyes lit up with wonder. The alley was tightly packed between buildings on the right and left side. However, this road was alive with various food tents.
"Come on," Anne said, making them both blush as she grabbed his hand and pulled him along with her into the alley.
The Hispanic boys' nostrils were filled with the vibrant smells of the food of this world, nearly running into some children riding a centipede because he wasn't paying attention. And yet, he never let go of Anne's hand.
"I have to admit," he said, smiling, "this place is amazing!"
"You said it!" None other than Polly popped out from under his hat, much to the shock of both Frank and Anne.
"Polly!? What're you doing here," Frank asked as the tadpole climbed down to his shoulder. How she even got under his hat, he has no idea. "Aren't you supposed to be on the bus?"
Polly groaned and said, "Come on! You guys talked about wanting to explore the city and you didn't think I wanted to get in on it? Also, it's been a long time since you and I had a solo adventure."
"Heck, yeah! We're way overdue," Anne said with great enthusiasm. "Looks like it's finally time for Team P'An'nk to get more screen time!"
Frank looked at her in confusion. "Are you trying to say plank?"
"That's what I said," Anne said. "I said P'An'nk. That means Polly, Anne, and Frank"
"Say plank," Frank said, frowning.
"P'An'nk."
"Plank."
"P'An'nk."
"Plank."
"P'An'nk."
"Plank."
"P'An'nk."
"I'm not getting into this," Frank said, knowing that with Anne, this will go on forever. Especially after that one time he tried to get her to say cool whip. "Anyhoo, how do you two want to start this authentic experience?"
Polly hopped onto a vendor with map guides. "Let's see," she said, about to pick one up. However, Anne picked her up and pulled her away. "Oh!"
"No guides! People will know we're lame-o tourists," Anne said, referring to a frog that, based on his Hawaiian shirt and big backpack, was most definitely a tourist.
Polly gasped as Anne pulled her and Frank away from the vendor. "You're right. Don't wanna be like that guy," said the purple pollywog. Hurting the tourist frog's feelings.
"So how do you wanna do this?" Frank asked, looking at the girl he loved with mild confusion.
"Step one, eat like the locals," Anne said, as she pointed to a food booth with the cook cutting up crab legs and arms. "Street food, baby. Nothing more authentic."
Together, the three of them walked over to the booth. The humans leaned on the counter, while Frank placed Polly on it. They tried looking cool, while the blue green-blue axolotl looked at them, waiting to see what they wanted.
"Hey, buddy. Can you whip us up a couple of…" Anne picked up a menu and looked at it. However, unlike literally everywhere else in Amphibia, the menu was in the ancient language of the world. "Uh... Uh... Actually, we'll just take three of whatever the locals eat," she said, placing the menu back.
The food booth owner squinted his eyes and said, "Uh, are you sure? I mean, we don't usually serve this to outsiders. It's pretty spicy."
Frank chuckled with confidence. "Amigo, my friend here is Thai and I'm Mexican. If there's anyone that knows spicy, it's gonna be us," he said, confidently believing that his years of eating foods with jalapeño, serrano, habanero, and chili made by his dad to be as spicy as possible would be enough to handle anything Newtopia had to give him.
"...Uh, I'm Jerry," the owner said, introducing himself. "All right. Whatever. Three extra spicys. Here you go." He then presented three burritos with pink rice, colorful bits of pepper, and what appeared to be fire ants.
"All right!" Anne cheered as she and her friends each grabbed one.
"Cheers!" They taped each other's burritos togethers, before taking their first bites. Savoring the flavor for a moment.
"Hey, not bad."
That was the last thing Anne said before she suddenly groaned and her eyes started to water.
"What? What's wrong—Oooooooooooh, shit," Frank groaned as he too felt the delayed end and the sensation kick in. What started off as a normal, tasty taco that would have made his parents proud because a wildfire in his mouth the likes of which the pits of hell would only know. His mouth was unable to handle the spiciness as he dropped the burrito and started to cough.
Then, both humans screamed together as fire flew from their mouths. Mrs. Boonchuy was right. They may have been Thai and Mexican, but their weak, spineless California mouths couldn't take the heat. Together, they ran to a glass fish tub and dunked their heads into it. Their screams gulped as they extinguished the spicyness.
Still with the cook, Polly laughed at the misery of the humans. "Weak!"
That's when she went rocketing into the air by a column of fire being shot out of her mouth. Her round body burned a hole through the roof of the booth that incinerated it in a matter of seconds, much to the shock of everyone around them.
Polly landed on the ground next to the humans, burnt from the fire and bruised from the fall. At the same time, Frank and Anne pulled their heads out from the water, gasping for air.
Frank smacked his lips, taking a moment to take in the flavor. "Huh, that's delicious, but painful," he said, the experience being very similar to that of the pain pepper.
"Hey!" The enraged Jerry yelled as he marched up to the three kids. "You little bastards torched my roof!"
Polly turned around and yelled, "Prove it!"
"Sorry, my good man... Eh, newt," Anne said, pulling out the golden royal credit card. "This should cover the cost."
Jerry, however, sighed and held up a sign. "Didn't you read the sign? Cash only!"
Frank's eyes widened as he looked at the sign. "Uh...hahaha. Funny thing you say that. I mean, of course we can read...We just…don't know how…" He said with a nervous, gritting smile. "How about this? We just…"
"RUN!" Anne yelled as she picked up Polly and ran away, with Frank following behind her.
"Hey!" Jerry yelled as he chased after them.
"Why was your first choice to run?!" Frank yelled as he ran alongside his crush.
"I panicked! I panicked!" Anne cried.
The humans and Polly ducked into the double doors of one of the shops and hid inside. Sitting down with their backs against the doors, they waited for Jerry to pass.
"Just wait till I get my hands on you," the booth owner yelled. Once they saw his shadow on the floor passing by the rays of the sun, they breathed a sigh of relief.
"Whew! That was close," Frank said.
"Man, guys, I feel so authentic," Anne said, setting Polly on the ground as she looked at her hands with growing excitement. "I can't feel my face but my heart feels alive."
"Did you see the part where I breathed fire," Polly said, also growing in excitement.
"Right, well, we better—" Frank was cut off when he heard the sound of a voice gasping.
They turned and saw, standing in front of them, a young purple frog boy with a light purple underbelly, and black hair. He had on a pair of blue pants, tan shirt, a pair of goggles on his head, and leather gloves. And over everything, he wore a leather apron that had in it verison tools.
"Uh, hi?" Anne waved at the frog.
"Oh my goodness, customers!" The frog boy said with a big grin on his face. "This is so exciting! I mean, I didn't think that we'd get some. I mean, who would want any weapons in Newtopia? I mean, nothing bad ever happens here. I mean, I—"
"Whoa, whoa, little dude, come down," Anne said, holding up her hands.
"Right, sorry, sorry. Get it together, Rivet!" The purple frog, now known as Rivet, cleared his throat, recomposed himself, and smiled at the turned to the humans and Polly. "Welcome, valued customers, to Indy and Rivet's Blacksmith shop!"
The trio looked up and saw that they were, indeed, in a blacksmith's workshop. In the back of the room was the forge, while on the left hand side near the cash register, and on the right was a wall filled with already made swords, axes, and other weapons. There were also armors as well.
"Whoa, you made all this?" Anne said, standing up with Polly in hand, and Frank standing up with her.
"Well, no, Indy does most of the work, but one day, I hope to be just as great of a blacksmith as him!" Rivet said, before turning around and yelling. "Hey, Indy! We've got customers!"
A groan came from the back of the shop, as a large, muscular toad rose up from his lap on a bed. Just like his apprentice, Indy wore a pair of pants, tan shirt, and a leather apron that had in it verison tools. Unlike his apprentice, however, he had on boots, but no gloves or goggles.
"Fuck, kid," said the grumpy old toad. "I was having the best sex dream in the world, with two twin newts."
Rivet, still smiling, said, "Those are his favorite."
"TMI," Polly said.
Indy groaned as he picked himself up and walked to the group, revealing himself to have blue skin and a light blue skin underbelly.
"Alright, what do ya folks want," Indy asked.
Frank and Anne looked at each other. "I guess I can browse around, if that's okay with you," the Hispanic asked his best friend.
This made Indy scoff and turn away from. "Browse, he said. Never buy or order, they want to browse," said the grumpy toad.
"Well, that's settled," Anne said, smiling. "You stay here and look around. I'll go and take Polly for step two, looking like the locals."
"And how are you gonna do that," Frank asked.
"What's the one thing they've got that we don't?"
Polly raised her flipper. "Cash money."
"Tails! Big, beautiful newt tails."
"Well, actually, I have a tail but I see what you're doing," she said.
Together, they started chanting and walked out of the shop. "Tails. Tails. Tails. Tails. Tails," they said, before the door closed behind them.
"Tails. Tails. Tails. Tails," Rivet said with them, but then stopped when Frank looked at him. "Oh, we're stopping."
His eyes were then drawn to the scythe on his back.
"Woah!" Rivet jumped on Frank's back and took the legendary weapon from him. "Indy look at this!"
"Hey!" Frank yelled.
Indy groaned as his apprentice ran over to him and held up the scythe. "Damnit, Rivet, what did I tell you about…" he trailed off when he saw Hellcat's Claw. Taking form his apprentice, he looked over the ancient blade with wonder. "Sweet Nanna's nethers. What are you…? I've never seen anything like… This has to have been a family heirloom."
Frank walked over and said, "In a way. You've heard of the Hellcat's Claw?"
"What? You mean the scythe of the Frog King?" Indy asked, looking at Frank with a lopsided smirk. However, looking at the human was enough for him to get the idea. "You're kidding… This is… Where'd you even find it?"
"Would you believe me if I said a library?"
"What's a Frog King," Rivet asked.
"I'll tell you later," Indy said, turning back to Frank. "Oh, please, allow me to sharpen this for you! In exchange, we'll fulfill any order you have. Any sword, any shield, and armor. Just you name it."
Frank was taken aback by the offer. "You'd really make me anything if it meant sharpening that old thing?"
"Son, my family have been blacksmiths for generations. Hell, some of the best weapons of the old age were forged by us. The Hammer of Dawn and the Spear of Summer. But nothing came to the perfection of the Claw of Hellcat. Named after the pet bird of the first Frog King."
Frank raised an eyebrow at the idea of a bird being named after a cat.
Indy ran his fingers down the blade. "Hm, the old girl could use a sharpening too. Not to mention polishing. Give us until the end of today, and we'll have it sharpened up for you."
"Cool, thanks." Frank then turned to the wall of weapons and shields. He then remembered the shield that he used during his time in Wartwood, before its destruction when he went berserk. "So, I guess for my order I could probably use a new shield."
"Oh! I know! I've got just the shield idea for you!" Rivet said, before turning and running to the back of the shop. The young frog then climbed onto the workbench, where multiple blueprints for weapon designs hung.
"What are you…" Indy stopped when he saw his apprentice pulling a particular blueprint. "Oh, damnit, boy. Not that again."
"But I've been working on it!" Rivet said, running back over with the blueprints in front of him. "It's gonna work this time."
Confused and curious, Frank took the blueprint and looked at it. To his amazement, the blueprint showed a metal and leather bracer with a retractable shield on it. It would retract down into a side that would've been small enough to carry all the time. When deployed it would transform into a circular shield with a frog's foot insignia.
"Whoa, you made this, Rivet?" Frank asked.
"Yes…well, no," Rivet said, scratching the back of his head. "I've been trying to make it, but most of the time, I can't seem to get the mechanism to work. But this time, I'm sure of it!"
Frank looked to Indy, who glanced between the curious human and his excited pupil.
With a sigh, he threw up his hands. "It's your funeral," he said, taking Hellcat's Claw to a large grinding stone.
"Uh…" Frank was cut off when he heard the sound of Anne and Polly running outside, along with the sounds of police whistles. "Damnit…Okay, yeah! Rivet, you do that. I could definitely use a shield like that!"
He ran out of the shop just as Rivet let out an excited cheer. Frank smiled at how excited he made the little frog.
Running down the street, Frank saw Anne and Polly running away from a couple of guards. He caught up with them and ran away from the guards alongside Anne, who carried Polly.
"Hey, dude!"
"What did you girls do?" Frank yelled over the running.
"Let's just say I picked the longest tail and no one liked it," Anne said.
"I feel like I should be asking questions," Frank said, "but I also know that I'm not gonna like the answers."
Running down an alley, the trio made it out and found themselves at a crowded street and ran past a few of the amphibious people. They hopped over a barrier and hid behind it, as screams, cheering, and blowing whistles came from all around them.
The kids remained silent and out of sight as two guards came out of the alley and looked around. "Damn it! We'll never find them in this crowd," said the guard on the left.
"What? Sure we will," said the other guard.
"Shush. I'm lazy."
"Ah."
They then walked off, allowing Anne to let out a sigh of relief. "That was intense," she said. "Being authentic is more work than I thought."
"I don't know. Seems pretty cool to me. What's next," Polly asked before their conversation was interrupted by the sound of drums and cheering crowds.
Turning their heads in the direction of the crowd, they saw a large parade of newts coming in from up the street. They were all dressed in red uniforms, with instrument players in the front, banner holders behind them, and what appeared to be an axolotl puppet in the form of a Chinese dragon, with newts under it, making it dance around.
"Whoa! That looks awesome!" Frank said with a grin.
"Then it's time for step three, baby. Party with the locals!" Anne exclaimed, pumped up to join the parade. Sure she and the others have had a bit of a rough start exploring the city, but there was positively no way they could mess up a parade.
"Whoo-hoo!" The trio cheered as they ran over to the newts of the parade.
"Hey, can we join in?" Anne asked, grabbing the two front poles of the giant puppet.
"I don't see why not," said the newt, letting her take over. At the same time, Frank was handed over one of the tall banner poles, which he happily took.
"Whoo!" Frank cheered as he took the banner and marched down the street, following the lead of the other banner holders.
"Whoo! Whoo!" Anne cheered with him, as she made the head of the dragon dance. The newts behind her struggled to keep up with the Thai girl's moments, but were nonetheless happy that the strange creature was having fun.
"Go, Anne!" Polly yelled, watching Anne from the side. "You maniac!"
"Oh, hey! Mouth control," Anne said as she used the pole in her right hand to move the mouth of the puppet. Seeing a chance to have even more fun, she started talking in a silly voice, mimicking the mouth. " Hi, Polly and Frank. I'm Freddie the Fish. Fry me up for dinner. "
Anne started mimicking laughter, while Frank and Polly laughed with her. No matter what it was, the Thai girl never ceased to put a smile on the Hispanic boy's face, and it made him love her more than anything.
However, noticing that all of the music and cheering had come to an end, Frank's laughter came to a steady end as he opened his eyes. Seeing what was going on with the crowd, the Hispanic boy quickly became nervous and scared for the safety of himself and his friends.
"Uh, Anne," he said, as Polly too stopped and took note of her surroundings. "Anne, please stop!"
" I'm delicious. " Anne, however, didn't stop, and continued to fake laugh.
This, however, was the worst thing she could have said, as it drew grasps of shock and outrage from the crowd.
"Anne!"
"Huh?" Anne looked at him in confusion, only to realize that every newt in the crowd and parade was glaring at her and her friends in a mixture of shock and outrage over her insensitively. "Uh…hi?"
"Give me those!" the newt that gave her the poles yelled as he snatched them back. "You should be ashamed of yourself."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Anne said, feeling bad for something she didn't even know was so wrong. "I was just dancing with your goofy mascot."
The crowd gasped again.
"How dare you? That 'goofy mascot' is Igor the Brave," the parade newt said, pulling out a drawing of what appeared to be a highly decorated war hero. "He's a great hero who once gave his life to save Newtopia. This parade is in his honor."
"Ooooooh, shit," Frank said, dropping the pole and running to Anne's defense. "Wait! There's been a mistake!"
However, when he dropped the banner's pole, it fell over in the direction of the puppet. And then, in one swift move, it caught onto the fabric of the puppet's face and ripped it off, revealing the metal, skeletal frame underneath.
This accident didn't sit well with the crow at all, as everyone gasped and clamored and young kids burst out sobbing.
Frank looked at what he'd done in shock and covered his mouth, as Polly said, "We should run, right?"
"Hell, yeah!" Anne grabbed Frank's hand and picked up Polly. She and the Hispanic boy took off running as the angry mod took off after the trio. Chasing them down into an alley.
They ran past a pair of guards, with one of them recognizing them. "Hey, it's those two kids," he said, finishing his sandwich. "At least one of them's a kid. The other two are kind of funny-looking…"
"Just chase us already!" Frank yelled.
"You got it!" the guard said as he and his partner got up from their break. Grabbing their shield and spears, they joined the angry mob as they chased the trio.
Frank, Anne, and Polly made a right turn down one alley, and then were forced to make a left turn. All while staying ahead of the crowd of people that wanted to beat them up.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Anne yelled when she looked back at the mob.
Frank, carrying Polly, yelled, "How do you get into this much trouble?!"
"Well it can't get worse!"
That was until they saw they were coming up on Jerry and his roofless food booth. "Spicy wraps here. Get your spicy wraps," he said, lamenting the loss of his stand's roof.
That was until Frank, Anne, and Polly ran past him.
"Hey, it's you two! Get back here!" Jerry yelled before pulling a spiked ball lever. That's when his stand turned into a verdiable car with spikes popping out of the wheels, the front, and the back. The wheel turned and then sped after the humans and pollywog. "Siege mode!"
Ahead of the angry mob, Jerry deployed spinning spiked flails that nearly took Frank's head off.
"Holy fuck!" he yelled.
"Forget authenticity," Anne screamed. "Forget being a local. We should've used a brochure. A guide. Anything!"
"The bus!" Frank yelled.
"Yeah, you're right! We should've never left the tour bus."
"No, I mean the bus!" Frank yelled, grabbing Anne's hand. "'we need to get back to the bus!"
Hop Pop and Sprig were still sitting together on the bus, with the young frog being bored out of his mind. However, all that changed when they heard someone yelling.
"Hop Pop!"
"Huh?" The old frog looked out the wind, in the direction of the voice, and saw two figures running towards the bus from the adjacent street. Hop Pop screamed when he saw them. "Street freaks!" When he looked again, however, he saw that it was only Frank, Anne, and Polly. "Oh, wait. No, it's just my granddaughter and my adopted grandkids."
"Open the doors, Hop Pop! OPEN THE DOORS!" Frank yelled as loud as he could in his panic, as the angry mob was now being seen by everyone on the bus.
When the tour guide saw the two humans running to the bus, he pointed and yelled, "Banned!" He then closed the doors, locking the two passengers he'd banned a while ago out. Getting back on the intercom, he spoke again to the passengers. "Everyone, remain calm. As long as we don't open the doors or windows, this disaster will pass us by."
That was until all of the windows opened. Thanks to Sprig for pulling the emergency lever. "Forget that!" he yelled.
"Quick, get in!" Hop Pop yelled as the three kids made it to the bus.
Frank quickly passed Polly to her grandfather. "Now you!" he said, crouching down with his hands together. "Hurry!"
Anne didn't argue, seeing the crowd coming closer behind her. She quickly stepped on Frank's hands before the boy helped her inside by lifting her up. The Thai girl quickly climbed into the bus, before turning around and grabbing Frank's hand.
Just as the angry mob arrived, the Hispanic boy was pulled inside. A swinging flail from Jerry inches away from snapping his leg in half.
"Pull them out of there!" Jerry yelled, as he and the angry mob surrounded the bus and tried climbing inside. However, thankfully, because so many of them were trying to get inside at the same time, the newts ended up becoming stuck in the window frame. Their arms reached inside as the humans, frog family, and the rest of the passengers backed away from them.
"This is insane!" Sprig yelled.
"What did you kids do?!" Hop Pop looked at Frank and Anne with panic and anger. "You were supposed to go back to the room!"
"We were, but then I decided that me and Frank would take our own tour of the city!" Anne yelled, regretting all of her life choices. "I just wanted to have the experience I never got as a kid!"
"Typical."
Jerry struggled to push his way into the bus to take his revenge on the kids that ruined his still perfectly fine stand. "Don't make this harder than it has to!"
Seeing the guy that sold him, Anne, and Polly the tacos that started this whole mess, Frank suddenly got an idea. Especially when he remembered that the axolotl had driven his food stand over there.
"Girls, to the roof!" Frank yelled, crawling on one of the seats on the other side of the bus. Anne and Polly didn't know what he was thinking, but they followed him as he crawled out of the wind and climbed up the bus.
Together, they made it to the roof, and the angry mob saw this. They yelled at them and threw things at the trio. Some even tried climbing each other to reach the top.
"Okay, what's the plan," Anne asked the boy she loved.
"Depends on how good you can catch," Frank said, looking at the food stand, and the fresh tacos on it.
"Dude, you know that I play tennis, right?"
"Well, today, you're a catcher!" Frank yelled, before shocking Anne and Polly when he jumped off the bus.
"Frank!" Anne yelled, watching in total fear as her best friend went over the heads of the angry mob.
However, Frank made it across and landed on the other side of the crowd with a roll. Quickly turning around, he grabbed one of the tacos. "Yoink!"
The angry mob noticed that he was now within their reach, and started to crowd around him. Ready to pummel him for all the trouble he and Anne caused.
"Anne, get Polly ready!" Frank yelled, preparing to throw the taco at her.
Now realizing what his plan is, Anne grabbed Polly and held her up. The young tadpole grinned with determination and opened her mouth.
With precision, Frank threw the taco at Polly.
Everyone in the crowd watched as the food flew over their heads, only to watch as it landed in Polly's mouth.
Eating it whole, Polly's face turned as red as a tomato as her body puffed up and her eyes teared like crazy.
Jerry, knowing what was about to happen, said, "Oh, shit."
And just like that, Polly let rip and breathed fire. With her best friend aiming her at the crowd, the young tadpole spewed fire everywhere, scaring off everyone from the angry mob as she set the street on fire, some fire to some of the buildings, and completely burnt the puppet of Igor the Brave. It, and Jerry's food stand would be reduced to ashes by the time Polly let out the last of her fire and burped. Finding the taco to have been very delicious.
Amazingly, no one was hurt. The fires were very minor and wouldn't pose a risk to the population of Newtopia. They weren't going to spread, which meant they would have been easily wiped out.
Anne and Polly crawled back in through the window, as Frank got on by the door. Together, everyone retook their original seats. Even the two humans that were initially banned and the tadpole that secretly went with them on their own tour of the city, they weren't asked to leave. Putting an end to that disastrous adventure.
One passenger in the back clapped his hands. "Whoo!"
Seeing that he wasn't going to be getting rid of the humans anytime soon, the tour guide put back on his hat and sighed. "You guys still want to check out that cheese museum?"
After everything that's happened and wanting nothing more than to forget it, the family of five answered together. "Yes, please!"
King Andrias' castle was the home of one of the most comprehensive and rich in knowledge libraries in all of Amphibia. Stainless blue glass over two floors of shelves upon shelves of books, ranging from the oldest of history manuscripts to the newest romance novels. It was Marcy's favorite room in the class, as she devoured hours of knowledge and learning into her mind.
And yet, as she and Andrias tried to find the answers they've been looking for, they found nothing. Together, they sat at a table littered with books and mugs of bug-accinos for the young girl.
It's exactly how it sounds
Marcy groaned and held up the book she'd been reading before slamming it down. "This is the last book and still nothing on the music box!"
"Well, even I have to admit I'm surprised," Andrias said, adjusting his reading glasses. "This is one of the most comprehensive libraries in all of Amphibia. Maybe we missed a book somewhere."
Groaning with her eyes showing her exhaustion, Marcy gathered her mugs together into her arms. "I need more bug-accinos. B-R-B," she said, not looking where she was going because her eyes were closed. Causing her to trip over some books. "Whoa!"
To her horror, they all landed on a tapestry hanging from the wall.
"Ah, dang it! Tell me that tapestry wasn't hundreds of years old," she said, squirming.
"Oh, way older than that, actually."
Marcy squirmed some more. " No! "
King Andrias looked back at the tapestry and saw something was off about it. "But wait! Marcy, look!" He said, pointing to the ruined piece of fabric.
Looking back at the tapestry, the young girl saw that it had something behind it. Lifting it up, she saw that hiding behind it was a button with a frog symbol on it.
Marcy looked at it and said, "I'ma push it. Bop." And just like that, with little regard to what she was doing, she pressed the button.
The library shook before a secret passageway was opened in the wall. Splitting the paintings that had been hanging on it for hundreds of years. Both friends looked inside the doorway and saw that it led down into a dark staircase that curved to the left and became illuminated by glowing coral branches.
"No way. A secret library wing," Marcy said, beyond excited. This was just like in her favorite fantasy books. "Did you know about this?
King Andrias said, "No. It must be thousands of years old, judging by the smell." Indeed, the smell was very powerful and it had the king waving his hand in front of his nose. "Whew!
"Well, come on. I just know the answers are down there waiting for us," Marcy said, determined to see what's down there.
She ran down into the tunnel, with King Andrias following after her. Neither of them bothered when the door closed behind them, thanks to their excitement for new discoveries. What would they find in the secret wing of the library? Only time will tell.