Another day in the capital city of Amphibia was the start of a new adventure for Frank and his friends. Today's new adventure would take them to the city's shopping district, known to the locals as Newtopia's Markets. It was a long strip of shops and stores stationed on a single stone walkway facing the shallow sea. The Plantars were with him and Anne, with Hop Pop buying a cup of coffee from what looked like an ice cream cart, but for caffeine.
"Dude, this place is amazing," Frank said as he and Anne looked at each of the shops. They were all similar to the ones from home, only with amphibian-themed names to them. "They've got furniture stores, food, arcades, everything!"
"I'll say," Anne said as she placed her hands on her face. "It's just like the outdoor mega mall from back home."
"Mm-hmm. Sure." Hop Pop nodded with a smile as he took a sip of his coffee. They all then walked over to a bench, and the kids sat down. "Since we only have a couple of days left in the city, I figured we could spend the afternoon shopping for souvenirs. Now get out there and buy anything you'd like…"
Frank, Anne, Polly, and Sprig excitedly chattered. Finally, they were going to be able to purchase anything they wanted from the city.
"...for two coppers or less!" Hop Pop finished, ruining the kids' fun, as is tradition for the old frog. Hop Pop tossed the kids each a sack of two copper coins.
"What?!" Polly exclaimed. "This ain't even enough for a candy bar."
"Yeah, what gives? Let's just use that sweet bling-bling from the king-king," Anne said.
"Oh, yeah," Sprig said. "The royal credit card."
Hop Pop, however, shot that down with a shake of his head. "Nuh-uh. Kids, souvenirs are only meaningful if you pay for them yourself," he said, turning to walk off to find his own souvenirs.
"Ah, da, da, da, hold on," Frank said, stopping the old frog before he could go walking away. "Are you forgetting something, old man?"
"What? Did I forget the deodor-ant?" Hop Pop lifted his arm and sniffed his armpit. "Nope, they still smell good."
"Do I need to remind you of a certain list that you made?" Frank asked, raising his eyebrow and placing his hands on his hips.
"Uh…"
Of course, he would forget. He always rags on him, Anne, and Sprig for forgetting stuff, but lord forbid he forgets anything, and it's a problem for everyone else. Frank frowned at the frog as he pulled out a long list on a thin piece of paper that folded like an accordion. A list that he'd found when he stubbed his toe on a loose floorboard in the fwagon.
"Oh…right, I almost forgot about that," Hop Pop said, rubbing the back of his head.
"What's that," Anne asked.
"A list of all the people in Wartwood and what they wanted Hop Pop and Polly to buy for them," Sprig said.
"Right," Frank said, picking up Polly and placing her in the grandfather's hands. The boy then handed them the list. "So you two are going to go out there and make sure you get everything on that list. The last thing we need is to go back to Wartwood empty-handed, creating a big, major problem that we will inevitably cause."
Anne raised an eyebrow. "Like what?
"I don't know, like summoning the giant chicken from the ass-crack of hell," Frank said with his hands on his hips. Was it random? Yes. Could it happen? Yes. He then saw that Hop Pop and Polly were still standing there. "What are you frogs still doing here? Vamonos! Vamonos!"
Hop Pop and Polly walked away.
Sprig jumped up to stand on the bench. "Ooh, exciting. I guess I'd better get an item for Ivy. You know, since we are an item," he said before laughing and snorting.
Frank rolled his eyes with a smirk. "Who are you gonna shop for, Anne," he asked his best friend.
"My mom," Anne said, perhaps more casually than Frank would have expected her to have in her voice.
"Your... mom?" Sprig asked, surprised.
"Yep. I figured if I was gonna go missing in a different dimension, the least I could do was bring back a gift, right?" Anne said to the two boys.
The mention of Anne's mom had the effect of having Frank think about his own. He had gone missing in a different dimension. The least he could do for his mom was do the same. The only thing holding him back was the complex feelings Frank had for his parents. He loved them, but did they even care that he was gone?
And then there was the mural. That damn mural had been haunting every thought of Frank's mind. Looking up, the Hispanic boy saw Leif standing on the other side of Anne, smiling at him.
"This One thinks you should do it," she said with a tone of wisdom. "A token of your existence that she can remember you by. Perhaps your scythe."
"Dude, I'm not giving Mom the scythe," Frank said. "What would she even use it for?"
"What?"
"Huh?" Frank blushed with embarrassment when he realized that he had spoken out loud to the ghost in his head in front of Anne and Sprig. "Ooooooh, did I say that out loud?"
"Talking to your ghost friend," Sprig asked.
Frank sighed, regretting how he told his friends about Leif. "She's not a ghost, she's…well, my powers if they had a mind of their own," he said.
"Not the way I would put it," Leif said, making Frank yell out in shock when she appeared in front of him.
"Stop doing that, Leif!"
Anne watched as her best friend and crush before taking a deep breath. How in the world did she fall in love with him again? Then again, he did have superpowers, so was it really hard to think that Frank could see a ghost that followed him around?
Yes, but she still loved him.
"Right, well, let's go see what they've got for Mom," she said, standing up and walking over to one of the shops, with Frank and Sprig following behind.
The trio, who had been together since May, walked together down the strip. Passing by each shop on the way as Anne tried to pick out the best antique store. All the while, Frank thought about his own parents. What would they want as a souvenir? He didn't need to think of grandma's souvenir, as he already carved out a photo frame and had a lot of photos taken. He just needed to pick one and print it out. What could Frank offer his parents? His sword, maybe? But then he thought about his baseball bat. Dad did love baseball.
Frank would like to believe that seeing their son again was the only gift his parents wanted. So why did he doubt it?
Pushing those thoughts into the back of his head, Frank followed Anne and Sprig into a gift shop. Going over to one of the shelves, Anne picked a cup and looked it over.
"Now, this is for my mom, okay," she told Frank and Sprig. Anne put the cup back and picked up a jar. "The lady who gave me life. So we gotta find something that's one-of-a-kind."
"Well, what does she like," Frank asked, pulling out his knife and examining it. It's been a long time since he'd held it.
"Antiques, butterflies, drinking tea…"
"Well, Rivet should be finished with my new shield," Frank said, patting his palm with his knife. "We can go to Indy and have him make a butterfly-themed knife."
Anne thought about it for a moment. "Let's make that option two."
"Okay, well, how about this box of herbal tea?" asked Sprig, holding the box.
"Too ordinary."
Frank looked around for a moment before he showed Anne a giant blue butterfly taxidermy. "Giant butterfly taxidermy?"
"Too creepy."
"This antique vase?" Sprig brought over a vase before it slid out of his hands, fell to the ground, and shattered. "This broken antique vase?"
Just as all hope seemed lost and Anne was turning around to exit the shop, she stopped when her eyes caught the sight of something. "Wait. Look over there," she exclaimed, pointing to a wall.
Frank looked at the wall she was pointing at. On it was a poster for an elegantly crafted teapot. It had what could only be described as a spiderweb of branches on it, with small blue butterflies. The poster said that it was one of a kind, a prize, and to enter to win. But Anne didn't pay attention to any of it, as she approached the poster with Sprig on her head.
"Whoa. A butterfly teapot?" Sprig pointed at it.
"And a revered Newtopian artist made it? Guys, it's perfect!" Anne yelled before running to the clerk behind the counter. "Excuse me, how much for the teapot?
"Sorry, it's not for sale," the clerk said, much to Anne's horror.
"What?! No!" Anne cried.
"Don't worry, Anne, I've got this," Frank said with a confident smile.
Then the boy walked up to the counter and leaned on it with a smirk, pulling out his coins from his pocket.
"Alright, how about this? Let's say for the price of one copper coin," Frank asked the cashier, showing him one of the two coins Hop Pop had given him.
The cashier looked at him for a moment before he started laughing. "Ha, that's a good one. But no," he said.
Frank continued to smirk as he pulled out the other coin. "Alright, two copper coins!"
"...eh, it's not funny the second time around," the newt said.
Anne sighed in misery. Frank saw this, and the sight of her being so sad made him more determined to get that. "Hey, that teapot may not even be worth it," he said with a smile. "There's probably something even better that you can get her."
The Thai girl raised an eyebrow at him. "Really? What can be better than that teapot?"
"Uh…anything! Look, why don't you go and find a different gift for your mom," Frank said, grabbing Sprig from her head and placing him on his shoulders. "Sprig and I will split up and look at other stores as well."
"But, how will that—" Anne was stopped when Frank placed his finger on her lips and shushed her.
"Trust me, Anne."
For a moment, the Thai girl looked at her best friend and crush. It took her a second to respond. "Alright, I trust you, Frank," she said, before turning around and walking out of the shop.
The moment she was gone, Frank turned back to the clerk and slammed his hands on the counter. "Alright, pal, I don't know how much that teapot cost, but I'm willing to do anything to buy it," he exclaimed with a determined glare. "Name any price, and I'll pay for it with the king's money. No thanks to the royal credit card."
"We don't take credit cards."
"I'll go on an epic quest for it then!"
"Like what," Sprig asked.
Frank said, "I don't know, like slay a dragon?"
"Sorry, fellas. It's not for sale, and we don't use quests as payments anymore. However, if you really want it, it's the grand prize in the market's annual Shopping Cart Smash and Mash Derby," the clerk said, pulling out a poster for the game. He then pulled out a clipboard with a list of names and a pen. "If you want the teapot, you should sign up."
"Done!" Frank grabbed the pen and started writing down his name.
Sprig, however, expressed concern for his friend. "You sure about this? We don't even know what this competition is."
Frank knew he was right. He knew next to nothing about the game other than that it involved shopping carts and was a derby. If it were anything like roller derby back on Earth, it would involve fighting a bunch of other amphibians. "I don't have a choice, Sprig," Frank said after writing his name. "It's the perfect gift for Anne's mom, and this is the only way to get it."
"Yeah, but do you even think you can win," Sprig asked.
"Come on, I've killed giant monsters and beaten anyone who stood in my way," Frank said confidently. "I'll beat this game and get that teapot."
"HA! That's what you think."
Frank turned around to see the source of the voice standing behind him in the form of a tall and buff pink newt with a lighter underbelly and short, white-cropped hair. She wore grey armor and bandages wrapped around her hands along with her tail, which had a bite taken out of it. She also wore various scars across her body from years of battling.
Frank looked her up and down. "And you are," he asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Name's Priscilla the Killa. Champion of the Smash and Mash Derby, 20 years running," Priscilla said with a vicious grin on her face. "This is my daughter Pearl."
The massive newt turned to show her daughter sitting on her shoulder. Pearl was a small, cute, light blue newt with tiny black eyes, blonde hair, and a blue bow. She wore a purple dress with a blue butterfly pendant formerly below her neck and white Mary Janes. Like her mother, she had an X-marked scar on her left cheek.
"Hello," said the young newt.
Frank waved at her. "Hey!"
"And that teapot is mine," Priscilla said.
The both of them laughed together as Priscilla shoved Frank out of the way. Pearl, still on her mother's shoulder, picked up the quill. "Hey, Mom, how do you spell 'winner'?"
Priscilla said, "Just put your name, sweetie."
"How about putting 'loser'?" Frank snapped. "I may not know anything about this game, but I'm going to destroy you!"
The two newts laughed at Frank. "This is gonna be easier than I thought," Priscilla said. "See you in the ring, Scarface." She and her daughter both laughed as they walked out of the shop.
"They seem confident," Sprig said.
"Come on, dude," Frank said as he walked the two of them out of the shop. Determined to beat Priscilla, he said, "We gotta study up on this game."
Luckily for Frank, pamphlets were being handed out for the Shopping Cart Derby. Taking one, Frank and Sprig sat down at a bench near the canal and opened it.
"So, teams of two push carts around and ram into each other," said the young frog boy as he looked over the Smash and Mash Derby's pamphlet. "If your cart tips over, you're out. Other than that, anything goes."
"That sounds like my kind of game," Frank said, pulling out his wooden baseball bat from his poncho. Hellcat's Claw was left back in the hotel room. "So long as we're the last one's standing, that teapot is as good as ours!"
"Hey, guys." Frank yelped and stuffed the pamphlet in his pocket as Anne walked over with a smile. "Found anything cool," she asked.
"Uh, nope! Nothing at all," Frank said with a nervous grin. However, his attention was drawn to a strange, metallic sound coming from his right side. "What's that noise?"
He and the others turned around. They were shocked to see Polly hopping over to them in a gold-plated bucket. It was beautifully orientated, with a snail-carved brim and base and a tapestry-like body that told a newt story.
"Whoa. Polly?" The two humans and the frog boy exclaimed as Polly looked so smug.
"Oh, hey. Like my new bucket," Polly asked.
"That's gotta be worth, like, 50 coppers," Sprig said in disbelief. "How'd you…"
Polly hopped on the bench, got out of her bucket, and twirled it over her head before setting it down. "Haggling, baby," she said, leaning on her new bucket. "It turns out I'm a natural. All you have to do is expose a shopkeeper's weakness and then exploit it until they're on their knees begging for mercy."
As to be expected from the young pollywog, Polly started laughing manically. Normally, the kids would have been concerned about this new ability the chaotic sister now had, but Anne saw it in a different light. "Polly, you're a genius!" Anne exclaimed with a grin.
"She is?" Frank and Sprig asked.
"Yeah, I know," Polly said with confidence while inspecting her flipper. "Wait, what am I a genius of?"
"Haggling!" Anne picked up Polly and held her up. "With your haggling powers, I can find Mom a gift! Let's go turn this mall upside down for that perfect gift!"
"Yeah! Oh, look, bows," Polly said, spotting a stand with bows. She then jumped out of Anne's hands and landed back into the golden bucket. Together, the girls ran over to the stand, leaving the boys.
"Should we be worried," Sprig asked.
"Nah, Anne's with her," Frank said. Nothing could possibly go wrong with Anne and Polly being alone. "We need to focus on beating Pricilla at the derby and winning that teapot!"
"So you're going up against Pricilla the Killa, huh," asked a familiar voice. Frank looked behind the bench and saw a pair of friends walking towards them.
"Indy! Rivet!" Frank greeted them with a smile as he stood up.
"Hello! Special delivery!" Rivet said with a big smile as he held up an object wrapped in a blanket. "Just finished it!"
"Couldn't even wait while the iron was still hot," Indy commented.
Having a very good idea of what it was, Frank took the item from Rivet and pulled on the tail end of the knot, allowing the blanket to come undone. A second later, Frank was laying his eyes on his shield gauntlet. The gauntlet itself was made of leather and fingerless. What made it so special was the bronze shield, which was folded and compact.
"Well, try it on!" Rivet said with excitement written all over his face.
Shrugging, Frank slipped the gauntlet on. He looked it over, noticing how comfortable it was. Then he hit the shield's mechanism, and in a split second, the rounded shield was fully deployed on his arm, showing the Amphibia symbol painted on it in red.
"Wow…this is amazing!" Frank said as Sprig looked at the shield with sparkling eyes as well.
"Right?! You can totally win the derby!" Rivet exclaimed, throwing his hands up.
Indy scoffed and crossed his arms. "It'll take more than a shield to keep him alive out there, Rivet," he said. "Especially with Priscilla in the game."
"You know Priscilla," asked Sprig, hopping on Frank's shoulder.
"Ha! Who do you think was the champion before that showoff?" Indy asked, passing by Frank and Sprig with a grin on his face, his eyes closed, and his thumb pointed at himself.
"Ooo! Ooo! Ooo!" Rivet hopped with his arm raised. "Was it you?"
Indy sighed in annoyance. "Yes, kid! I was the Shopping Cart Derby champion," he yelled at the three kids. "Held it for five years until Priscilla came."
"That's perfect!" Frank exclaimed with a grin as he placed his hands on Indy's shoulders. "Indy, you've got to be our coach."
"Be your coach for a game that's about to start in five minutes?"
"Ahh!" Frank and Sprig yelled, freaking out at how they didn't even have the time to even be coached.
"Look, kid, it's easy. Just pick out a cart," Indy said, pointing to a large number of charts scattered about like a Wal-Mart parking lot. "Once you get one, you'll need to knock out all of the other contestants. Anything goes."
Frank and Sprig both looked at the carts. They looked like the shopping carts of Earth's malls, though made of a combination of metal and wood, with the basket part of the carts looking like wicker baskets.
"Seems easy enough," the frog boy said.
"Attention all smashers," a newt dressed like a cowboy said into a microphone, as he climbed a pole. "The Smash and Mash Derby is about to begin."
And then, in a flash, every single rough and untamed, Mad Max-looking newt that's competing in the derby came out of nowhere. They all then started fighting each other over the charts. They pulled, shoved, and punched each other over any and all charts, while Frank and Sprig looked at the mayhem in total disbelief.
"I would get started on getting your cart," Indy said, pulling his apprentice out of the way of a flying newt.
"Uh, okay," Frank said and quickly ran to try and find a cart.
He ran towards one, but that one got taken by two newts. They hissed at him like snakes, making Frank nervously back away.
Sprig hopped on one cart. "I've got one!" he yelled to Frank, only to be picked up by a muscular newt. The newt growled and dropped him on the ground, before taking the cart and walking away.
Frank grabbed another cart and pushed it back and forth. Annoyed when he saw one of the front wheels spinning around, not touching the ground.
That's when he heard two familiar voices.
"But, Mom…"
"Ah, stop worrying, Pearl." Hiding behind the cart he was looking at, Frank watched as Priscilla and Pearl approached another cart a few meters away. "I've been the Derby champ for 20 years running. There's no way anyone else is winning that teapot."
Wait, how old was Indy before he lost the title? Frank thought.
Her daughter jumped on the cart and turned to her mom. "That's not what I'm worried about," she said, sounding expectantly worried. "It's your tail. It hasn't healed from your last derby."
Frank looked at the muscular newt's tail and saw the injury. Her tail was wrapped in a bandage, and it looked as though someone had taken a bite out of it.
Priscilla scoffed at her injury and said, "Relax. I can beat these chumps without it."
Pearl was far from convinced by her mom's confidence.
"Now, come on. Let's get outta here," Priscilla said, pushing the cart away with her daughter inside of it.
Frank's lips curled into a mischievous smirk. "Very interesting," he said, grabbing another cart and walking back to the others. "Guys! Big news!"
"You got a cart? Awesome!" Rivet said.
"Yes, but Priscilla is hurt," Frank told the group. "She has a tail injury that hasn't healed."
Indy gasped and grinned a great big smile. "That's great!"
"That she has an injury that affects her livelihood," Sprig asked.
"No, that she has an injury that prevents you from losing!" Indy exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. "That tail was her main weapon! With it out of the way, you have a chance!"
"Really?" Sprig asked with stars in his eyes.
"Oh yeah, no. You're still getting fucked," Indy said, much to the annoyance of the two Wartwood residents. "But it's best to be optimistic and realistic at the same time. So go out there, try to stay alive, and see how far you can get before Priscilla takes you out."
"Thanks," Frank said, deadpanning.
Meanwhile, Anne walked out of another store.
"Man, that's the third," she said, disappointed with the choices that each store had. None of them had anything her mom would like. Nothing that she'd seen came close to the teapot. "Maybe I should enter that—Whoa! Polly?!"
When Anne saw the purple pollywog, she found it still in her golden bucket. However, it was being tormented by a small young snail with pink skin, a lighter pink underbelly, blue eyes, and a brown-patterned shell. He wore a vest and gold bow tie.
"Anne, meet MicroAngelo, my private chauffeur," Polly said, introducing the absolutely adorable.
MicroAngelo gave Anne the best puppy eyes she'd ever seen and cooed.
"Whoa…"
"Well, nice chatting with ya, but I've got more haggling to do," Polly said before being pulled away by her new snail.
Anne didn't even try to question it. "Right, so where can I…" she trailed off when the Thai girl saw a large crowd of cheering newts. "Hey, what's going on over there?"
Pushing past the newts, Anne's eyes widened when she saw what had happened. More specifically, she was shocked by who was a part of it.
When the Smash and Mash Derby was about to begin, Frank and Sprig joined the other contestants. The center of the shopping district was turned into a ring for the contest, with a bamboo railing encircling the two boys and the newts, all of whom looked ready to rumble. Looking around at them, Frank stood behind the chart, with Sprig in the basket, holding the baseball bat.
"Frank?!" Anne gasped.
Frank cracked his knuckles and grabbed the handle of the chart with a smirk. "Let's scope out the competish," the Hispanic boy said, confident of an easy battle.
That was until he and Sprig looked to their left and let out a shocked scream when they saw a monstrously large newt and skinny one in the cart holding a mace.
"Teapot! Teapot! Teapot!" they chanted, with the skinny one hitting the chart with the mace.
Frank gulped and looked at his nervous friend. "It's okay, dude. We've got this," he said before pointing to the Easystreet Chairs shop, where Hop Pop was currently sitting in a massage chair. "Look, even Hop Pop believes in us."
The reality was that Hop Pop was being massaged by the worms in the chair. And it was so blissful that he was crying silently.
"Actually, I don't know what's going on there," Frank said.
"Frank!" Frank gasped when he turned around and saw Anne in the crowd. "Dude, what do you think you're doing?"
"Uh…"
"It looks like they're about to lose," said Priscilla. The newt walked up with her cart to stand beside Frank and Sprig, with her daughter in the basket. The cart was completely tricked out, with a face painted on it, exhaust pipes, horns, spiked wheel covers, and a costume handlebar. "You honestly think you two have a chance of winning that teapot, well think again."
The newt laughed again as Frank glared at her. "Game's not even started, Priscilla," he said.
"Yeah, and what are you gonna do with a teapot like that?"
"It's not for me. It's a special girl to give to someone important to her," Frank said, looking back at Anne with a smile. It was then that Anne realized why he'd been doing this. To surprise her with the teapot as a gift. Looking at her best friend/crush with wide eyes, she smiled at him, genuinely touched.
"Kick her butt, Ramirez!" Anne cheered.
Grinning with determination, Frank tightened his grip on the handle, and Sprig took out the baseball bat.
"Players, on your marks…" the event announcer started the countdown as everyone got ready. " Get ready...All right, you crazy animals, smash and mash!"
The crowd cheered all around them as the contestants ran towards the center of the ring. Frank saw Priscilla instantly try to bash into his side, but he was ready for her. He kicked the newt's cart back, getting Priscilla away from him and Sprig.
"Sprig, you attack, I defend," Frank yelled.
"Roger," Sprig said.
Frank then turned the cart and stopped just before the merge, as all the contestants started clashing brutally in the center of the ring. They then spread out and started going after each other.
One pair rushed at Frank and Sprig with a hammer. The Hispanic boy quickly deployed his shield and bashed the hammer away. The newts lost their balance, and Sprig swung at them. The force of the bat knocked them back and tipped them over. Another cart came at him with a pair of nunchucks. However, Frank and Sprig were prepared. Just like before, Frank blocked, and Sprig bashed them off their feet and knocked over their cart.
Frank looked around for another cart to go after, but saw Priscilla taking out three carts with ease. Not even breaking a sweat, she threw the third one over her head.
"Uh, Frank," Sprig said, getting his attention. Gasping when he saw the creepy pair of newts from before.
"Don't worry, hermano," Frank said. "We've got this."
"Who's hermano?"
The boy wasn't able to give his answers when the scary newts charged at them with roars. Frank blocked the mace with his new shield, and then Sprig twirled the baseball and hit the chart. However, out of nowhere, black and red electrical energy was generated from the bat, and it sent the two newts and their chair flying into the sky. Then, they disappeared in a flash of light.
Both boys looked at where they exploded. "Did you do that," Sprig asked Frank.
"No," he said, before turning to Leif, who was standing next to him. "Did you do that?"
"No."
"Oh…He's fine," Frank said, pushing the cart again. "Maybe."
A moment later, he stopped the cart when he saw that there were no more carts left—except for one. Across the ring, Priscilla and her daughter glared at the two boys, and they did the same. The announcer came on the microphone again and said, "This is it, ladies and gentle-newts. Only two carts left. Whoever tips over the cart wins the game!"
"Let's go, you two!" Anne yelled, pumping her fist up and down. With her were Rivet and Indy.
"You can do it!" Rivet cheered, while Indy crossed his arms.
"Come on, Sprig. We can do this," Frank said, grinning as he stared at Priscilla with determination.
Then, the two carts charged at one another. However, Priscilla was so much stronger than the young boy, even with how strong he was. Frank and Sprig screamed as they were thrown off the ground for a second before landing on their wheels. However, before Frank could turn around—
"Look out!" Anne yelled. Frank and Sprig at her, and both screamed when they saw they were heading right for her and the edge of the ring.
Anne and the newt crowd screamed and jumped out of the way. Just in time to avoid Frank and Sprig's cart when they crashed through the bars of the rings.
Getting his sandal-covered feet on the ground, Frank ran with the cart and started to pull it back around when he saw Priscilla and her daughter coming at them like a missile. Frank deployed Rivet's shield and held it up. The force of the impact buckled his arm, but the Hispanic boy gritted his teeth and held strong against his opponent.
"Looks like this battle is too big for the ring," said the announcer.
Priscilla grunted as she tried pushing against Frank's shield, which held strong against the newt Amazon's brute strength.
"Just give up, or we'll scrape you across the wall!"
"Dude, what's your deal?" Frank yelled at Priscilla.
Sprig tried to swing at the mother, but Pearl blocked him with her mace. "Yeah, what's it matter if you win?" the young frog said.
"Win? Ha! This has nothing to do with winning! Even if I do want to win," Priscilla said. "I'm not letting anyone else get that teapot!"
"Why? It's just a teapot!" Frank yelled at her.
"Well, what about you, huh? Why do you want it? Why is it so important to you?!"
"I don't care about that teapot!" Frank yelled, pushing back against Priscilla. "But there's someone that that teapot means the world to! She means the world to me, and that means that her mom is going to have that stupid pot!"
Frank bashed the newt away, but Priscilla rammed into his side again. Another struggle began, until the four of them looked ahead. That's when they freaked out upon seeing Polly and MicroAngelo in front of them, meters away, and they were closing in fast.
"Page two, using the brakes," she said, reading the owner's manual. However, when Polly and MicroAngelo saw the two carts coming down the street toward them, they both screamed, with the little snail hiding in his shell.
"Not the baby!" Frank, Sprig, Priscilla, and Pearl screamed.
"Sprig, hold on!" Frank yelled.
"You better know what you're doing!" he yelled back.
Frank pushed Priscilla back and then slammed his foot down on the left wheel. Causing the chart to suddenly and with no apparent reason jump up into the sky and go over Polly and MicroAngelo. They landed safely on the other side.
However, Priscilla and Pearl both continued as they rocketed to Polly and MicroAngelo. "Ah! I gotta use my tail," the large newt yelled. "It's the only way to not murder that pollywog!"
"But, Mom, your injury!" Pearl yelled.
"Hush. I have no choice."
With no other choice, Priscilla lashed out at a passing light post. Her tail wrapped around the metal bar and pulled back. Screaming as the pain shot through her body. Her spine felt like flaming hot needles were being jammed into it.
"Mom!"
However, despite the unbearable pain she was in, Priscilla worked up the courage and resolve to pull back on her tail, increasing the suffering she endured while also slowing herself and the cart down. Then, just as Polly braced herself to be rammed into and run over, the cart finally started.
Seeing that she was no longer in danger, Polly groaned and leaned back in her golden bucket. "I wasn't worried."
Meanwhile, Priscilla was on her knees, panting while her daughter tried to comfort her. The pain of using her injured tail had proven too much for the muscular newt, and she fell to her knees.
"Hey, you guys okay?" Frank called out to the mother/daughter duo.
"Yeah, we're fine," Priscilla said between the pants.
"Okay, good."
Frank let out a battle cry as he then charged at Priscilla and her daughter. They didn't even have a chance to react and evade the young boy before it was too late. Frank swung himself and the cart into a high-speed spin, before bashing Priscilla's cart in the side, knocking it over.
Everyone, including Anne, Indy, and Rivet, gasped in shock as they watched the champion be defeated by the alien newcomer.
"Scarface wins. Scarface wins!" the announcer screamed into the microphone, as cheers erupted in the crowd. So, they were all chanting—Scarface! Scarface! Scarface!—much to Frank's annoyance and embarrassment.
"Uh, can we not make that a thing," he asked, before the host of the derby ran over to him.
"Here you are, sir, just as promised," the newt said, handing Frank and Sprig the price of the game. The teapot was much more beautiful than any pottery the Hispanic boy had ever seen; merely holding it felt like the highest of honors. However, that honor wasn't for him.
"Frank!" Anne yelled as she ran over to Frank and Sprig, as the young frog hopped out of the chart.
The Hispanic boy presents her with the butterfly teapot. "Anne, we got it!" Frank said, holding out the pot.
Anne stared at it for a moment before her eyes glowed with a squeak. "I can't believe it! You actually got the teapot!" Anne asked with a giant smile as she took it and looked at it.
"Yeah, I wanted to surprise you with it. You're always doing this kind of thing, so--" Frank was then pulled in, as Anne kissed him on the cheek.
"Mmmmmmmmmmmmmwah! Dude, you're the best! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Anne says, hugging him around his neck and rubbing her cheek against his. After a moment, Frank's surprised expression slowly melted into a loving daze, with hearts in his eyes.
"N-n-no problem a..." Frank said in his daze.
"Hey, Scarface!" A voice shouts, snapping Frank out of it. With the love moment ruined, the two kids turned around and saw Priscilla looking down at him and Anne in anger. Frank positioned himself protectively in front of Anne, his left arm in front of him, ready to deploy his shield.
However, a fight didn't happen. What did happen was that the muscular newt held out her hand to him. "Congratulations, you won fair and square," Priscilla said.
This surprised the boy. "Oh, uh, gracias," Frank said, shaking her hand.
"Just make sure you take care of that thing, okay?" Priscilla said, crossing her arms. "The newt who made it was... special, one of a kind."
"One of a kind?" Anne said as she looked at the teapot in her hands.
"The kind who encouraged you to follow your dreams, even if they were wacky and dangerous." The big newt lady chuckled a bit, as though she was remembering some good times. "The kind who cut the crusts off your sandwiches, since she knows you didn't like them. That teapot was the last piece of art she ever made. So, like I said, take care of it."
For a moment, Frank wondered what she was talking about. The way she described the artist who made the teapot almost sounded like she knew her. Her words invoked a motherly figure, and it was then that Frank started to connect the dots. "The artist, she was your Mom, wasn't she?"
Priscilla looked at him for a moment, before turning her head away in utter sadness as she answered. "Yeah..."
This caused Frank to facepalm and say, "Ay, I'm such an idiot."
Anne looked at the pot, thinking how much it mattered more to the Amazon newt. A parent's momentum should not be taken away from a child, so she makes a decision. "You know, I was gonna give this to my Mom when I got home," she said, walking up to Priscilla, "but I think she would want you to have it."
This surprised both Priscilla and Frank.
"No, I couldn't," Priscilla said with her hands up, not wanting to take a prize she hadn't won.
"Please, I insist."
The giant newt lady almost denied the generosity but smiled as she took it and said, "Thank you. This means so much to us," Priscilla said, then she turned to Frank. You're not half bad, Scarface."
Frank chuckled and said, "You can just call me Frank."
"Hey!" Pearl said as she popped up from behind her mother's shoulder, spooking Frank and Anne a bit. "Thank you for being so generous." The adorable newt girl then gave the human girl her butterfly crest. "Here, I'd be honored if you gave it to your Mom. I'm no famous artist, but I made it myself, and it's one of a kind."
Taking the crest, the Thai girl was absolutely awed by it."Thank you; it's perfect," Anne said, teary-eyed, and hugged the two newts.
"Don't be strangers now," Priscilla told them as she and Pearl left.
"Bye!" Pearl waved.
As Anne looked at the butterfly, Frank couldn't help but smile at the girl he loved with even more admiration. It still amazed him that Anne had a big heart and could do what she felt was right. The Thai girl then noticed him staring and asked, with a raised eyebrow, "What?"
"Nothing," he told her, just before Rivet jumped on his back.
"Hey!" he yelled, startling Frank until he saw it was the young inventor. "So, tell me! Did you like it? Huh? Huh? Did you like the shield?"
"Yeah, it was amazing, Rivet!" Frank said, deploying the shield again. "You did an amazing job."
"Yes! I knew it! I knew you'd love my shield!" Rivet cheerfully yelled, before jumping off Frank. "Oh man, I've got to think of more ideas to top this one. Like a grappling hook, but in the form of a crossbow!"
Sprig joined in and said, "You can call it a grapple bow!"
Frank laughed as he watched the two young frogs think of the newest invention together. At the same time, Indy walked over with a smirk on his face, watching his apprentice as well. "Thank you," he said to Frank.
"For what," he asked.
"For giving the kid a chance," Indy said. "It's not every day that someone's willing to give one of his inventions a try. I'm just glad this one didn't explode. That would have had Rivet thrown out onto the streets."
"Doesn't he have a family," Anne asked, taking an interest in the conversation.
"Don't know."
"Then how did you meet him?"
"I didn't meet him; I found him," Indy said, gaining a grim expression. "His parents were killed by a band of psycho in Frog Valley. I took him in, and ever since then, he'd been determined to be my apprentice and learn how to be a blacksmith. Heh, wants to be like me, even if it means being a loser blacksmith who can't even keep the business going."
Frank looked at the toad with a sense of admiration and sadness. Indy really took in a small frog, even though it would have caused a lot of trouble for him. He was still willing to make him his apprentice. It was admirable, and it gave Frank a lot more respect for the blacksmith.
"Well, if it's work you're looking for, there is a little town called Wartwood that would love to have you," Frank said, with Anne nodding in approval.
"They're slow to accept, but once you have their respect, you'll never lose it," Anne said.
"You just tell them you're a friend of Frank and Anne," Frank said, pointing at himself and the Thai girl next to him. "That'll go a long way in them accepting you."
Indy stared at the humans in shock for a moment, before smiling and laughing. "Consider it a deal! Rivet!" he called out to his apprentice. "Let's get the shop packed up! We're moving to Wartwood!"
"Yeah! New places!" Rivet cheered.
Sprig cheered with him. "Yeah! New neighbors!"
Indy and Rivet ran off to prepare for their journey. At the same time, Polly drove over to her family, being pulled by MircoAngelo of course.
"Well, now that that's over, you guys seen Hop Pop," she asked.
Frank and the others looked around. They didn't have to look for long. They spotted the old frog standing outside of the shop, signing a piece of paper as two newts loaded the massage chair into the back of the fwagon.
When Hop Pop saw the four kids walking over, he'd just finished signing the papers and handed them to the newt workers. "Oh, heya, kids. Yoo-hoo," he exclaimed. "Eh, just packing a small souvenir, uh, then we can head out."
"Whoa. You got that for two coppers?!" Anne exclaimed when she saw the not-so-small souvenir.
Hop Pop chuckled nervously. "I sure did. Amazing what you can get for two coppers these days."
"Dude, out with it," Frank said, not buying any of Hop Pop's BS.
Didn't take long for Hop Pop to break down on his knees. "Okay, fine! I used the credit card! I'm so ashamed," he said before that shame turned to a look of bliss. "But if you could just feel this thing, kids. It's heaven on your rump. Nirvana on your tush. Bliss on your buttocks!"
"We got it!" Frank, Anne, Sprig, and Polly yelled.
Why did this memory have to play in his mind again? Frank cursed his damaged mind as he relived one of the most traumatic and painful moments of his life. The aftermath of his arrest.
"God damn it, Frank! What part of 'Don't get in trouble' don't you understand?" His mother, Mrs. Ramirez, yelled at her son in the interrogation room. The moment the police called her and her husband, they rushed to the station. They were obviously told a false version of what happened, especially with how furious they were at him.
"For the millionth time, I didn't steal the shoes, and I didn't hit those people!" Frank said, looking at his parents angrily. Why didn't they believe him? It was the truth. They were his parents, and he was their son. They should be listening to his side!
"That's not the way we heard it," said his father, believing the word of the cops who've been lied to by the CO and his assistant.
This wasn't right. Why was this happening? Why were they doing this?
"How can you believe the cops? None of you know what happened!"
"Well, I do know that we didn't spend years raising a liar and a delinquent."
Mrs. Ramirez pointed at Frank's face. "And don't back-sass us, young man!"
"But you–"
"Shut your mouth!" Frank's father yelled, silencing the room in a thunderous voice. Silencing his son, who looked at his dad in a mixture of shock and hurt. "Do you even know what your mother and I are dealing with right now? The situation you've put us in is going to ruin us!"
"Now we have to pay the fines and get a lawyer because of you," Mrs. Ramirez yelled, ranting while Frank looked at his parents in wide-eyed dread. "Because of you, we're going to lose the house, and we will have to work ourselves to death so we can have a roof over our heads! And it's all your fault!"
"I've never been more disappointed in anyone in my whole life. You are a disgrace to your familia!" Mrs. Ramirez shouted, as Frank looked at her with wide eyes and an open mouth. His face expressed nothing but utter shock. "You can stay behind bars for the night while we do some damage control on what you've caused. Think about what you've done."
Frank wanted to yell at them for being horrible but couldn't. He loved them. He will always love them. But his love was boundless; it could be broken, and in that moment, as his parents turned and walked out of the room, Frank felt that love break.
"But...I didn't do anything."
His parents weren't the best, but they weren't the worst. What mattered to Frank was that they loved him.
But now, that love was fractured. The love he felt for them killed him as they turned their backs on him. Leaving him to fend for himself. He didn't want to believe it was real, but it was. He wanted to believe that they would come to their senses and come back to him.
They never would.
"Ah!" Frank gasped as he sprang up on the bed, covered in sweat and a look of intense fear on his face. Realizing that it wasn't real, he sighed and covered his face. His breathing was shaky. How many more times? Why did he have to continue to relive this damn memory over and over again? The mental strain and trauma that had been inflicted on him was beyond comprehension at that time, and it wouldn't even go away. There were a few nights that it wouldn't replay, but tonight was one of those nights when it came back.
"Frank?"
The young boy looked down and saw Anne laid in the bed with him. It wasn't the ideal position for both members of the opposite sex, but with only two beds, everyone had to bunk together. The Plantars took the bed closest to the door, while Frank and Anne were forced to sleep on the same bed near the window. They were able to separate themselves with a barrier of pills going down the middle.
"Are you okay?" Anne sat up and looked at her best friend with concern. "You're crying."
Frank wiped the tears away and sighed sadly. "No, Anne. I'm…I'm far from okay. I don't think I have been for a very long time," he admitted.
Anne got off the bed and walked around to his side. "Come on, she said, grabbing his hands. You can use some fresh air," she said, grabbing his hands and pulling him off the bed.
Opening the door to the balcony, Anne led Frank to the railing. Together, they looked out at the night sky over Newtopia. There were still lights on in many of the buildings, creating a beautiful scenery.
"It's so pretty out here," Anne said, pulling out the butterfly trinket Pearl gave her. "Hey, thank you for what you did. I'm sure Mom's gonna love it."
"Hmm?" Frank snapped out of his thoughts and looked at Anne. Seeing that she was referring to the butterfly, he nodded. "Yeah."
Anne nodded and continued. "I'm sure your mom would appreciate something. Maybe a box of pens?"
"Pens?"
"Yeah, because she's a teacher."
Frank thought about it as he turned away. Had he really forgotten what his mom liked? Anne's mom liked butterflies, but what did his mom like?"
For another moment, they stood together in silence. Anne tried again to cheer him up.
"You, uh, didn't talk much to your mom, huh?"
Frank's gaze lowered. Wrong thing to say. Very bad thing to say. Anne tried to think of something else to lighten the mood again.
"What's your mom like?"
"Hmm?" Anne looked at him in surprise. Did he even really know her mom? "My mom? Um, kind... in her own way. But strict, too. She wanted me to study more. Though I goofed off too much. We didn't always see eye to eye. She annoyed me sometimes, too. Like, in the kitchen, she'd always sing these goofy Thai love songs, and, man, was her singing bad. Woof! That woman was beyond tone-deaf."
Anne paused for a moment as all her memories of her mom came rushing into her head. Threatening to break the dam, as tears started to well up in her eyes as she tried to keep on smiling.
"You know, the funny thing is, right now, I would give anything just to hear her singing."
There was another moment of silence between the two friends, before Anne looked at Frank. He had his eyes closed shut.
"Whoa, sorry! Here I'm talking about my parents when… well yours…" Anne trailed off again. "Frank…I wouldn't pretend to know how you feel. I'm so far away from my folks, but…never anything like you're going through."
Frank whipped the tears from his eyes. "Yeah…"
Anne looked at her butterfly. Deciding she was done thinking about her sadness, she put it away. "So, do you still think of your mom," she asked, turning around to lean her back against the rail.
"Every night when I go to bed, I take a moment to just think about her and Dad. Honestly, though, I remember when our moms were best friends. They are most definitely the same. Of course, times have changed, and now.… I just have the same memory play out in my head every night. Of my parents yelling at me, saying nothing as my life was ruined, and even when I got out, they still didn't say anything. I was…just a burden to them."
Frank took off his hat and looked at it. Inside the hat was a message written in Sharpie. Anne saw it, and her eyes widened.
Go get 'em! - Mom and Dad.
"That's not even the most fucked up part of this," he said, looking at the hat he'd been wearing for so long. The one he went to practice with, to prison with, and now, throughout his journey. The one his parents gave him. "Every rational part of my brain is telling me to hate them. To hurt them for how they treated me…and then I would just be sad for how much I hated them. I don't want to hate them, Anne. I love them. They're my parents, and I know they love me…or at least they used to love me."
Tears started to well up in his eyes.
"And that's perhaps the biggest fear that I have. When we go back home, how will they react? I mean, any parent would be over the moon to see their lost child again. But would Mom or Dad? I mean, they said it themselves, how much of a disappointment I am. Would they still love me? Do they still want me in her life?"
"I like to think they do."
Both Frank and Anne turned around and saw Sprig standing there in the doorway. Smiling at both of his friends with optimism and comfort.
"You obviously love your family, and they love you! With you gone, they'll have to see how they love you and regret the way they treated you," Sprig said, walking over to stand between the two humans. "You don't know what you have until it's gone, you know?"
Frank looked at Sprig in shock and looked up at Anne. The Thai girl smiled at him, nodding along with what her friend said. This filled Frank's fractured heart with optimism, but only by a small margin.
"How about you, Sprig," Frank asked, putting his hat back on his head. "You never talked about your parents."
Sprig got quiet for a moment. He looked down, uncertain of what to say, as he grabbed the fluffy ball of his night hat.
"Mine passed away when me and Polly were really young."
The revelation hit Frank and Anne hard. It couldn't be true, and yet they were fools not to realize it. They never even saw the frog kids' parents, and they never talked about them. And now, it was obvious why.
"I don't even know what they looked like, or what they sounded like. Can you really mourn someone who you didn't even know, or even remember? That's silly. Of course, you can't—"
Frank and Anne suddenly got down on their knees and embraced Sprig. Feeling their arms around him made Sprig smile and tear up. Together, they mourned their loss under the bright red moon. And in that moment, Frank thought about the family he had in this world. He loved this family and would do anything for them. Sprig was the brother he never knew he wanted, and Polly was the sister. Hop Pop filled the void left behind by his grandparents.
That was why he wanted to make all these special memories with them. Why he'd been going on all these insane adventures around the city, and would continue to do many more with them. Frank wanted his final days to be with the people he loved.
If he was truly going to die soon, the least that he could do was make the last moment he had with his frog family count.
They weren't the only ones mourning. Back on Earth, Frank's mother was on her son's bed, still looking at her phone, hoping and praying that her son would respond to her last text to him.
Isabel Ramirez gazed around Frank's room. It felt…so empty and incomplete. Turning her head aside, she noticed an action-figure knight. It was a toy her son wanted, and she remembered the time and effort she put in just to get it for him. She picked it up and examined the toy, remembering how Frank said he wanted to be a hero like the knight. How could Mrs. Ramirez have so easily forgotten the birthday present for her son when he turned 10?
Alone in the dark, the guilt she felt was indescribable pain, like kitchen knives stabbing her heart. She recounted the words she spoke that horrible day, the horrible things she shouted at her own son.
Teardrops fell down her cheeks. Her grief was immeasurable. Isabel hated the man who framed her son. She hated the justice system that failed him. She hated the prison for what they did to her son.
More than anything, though, Isabel hated herself. The mother knew that she was fully responsible and deserving of her grief. If not for the pain and suffering that her son had endured and the juvenile detention centers, then it was sure for the way that she and her husband had treated their own son.
It was all their fault.
Isabel knew she wasn't the best mother. She knew for sure that her relationship with her son wasn't the same as many others. Life was tough for the small family, but she did everything she could to raise her son the right way, and to make sure that he grows up to be a good and successful man. However, work drove Isabel and her husband away from their son, something that should never be allowed to happen. And her desire to make Frank succeed drove that wedge even deeper.
The day that they turned their back on Frank will be a day that will haunt her in the worst nightmares that she has ever experienced in her life. The words that she yelled at him as she felt deaf to his plea. Yelling and blaming were all that she could remember of that day. And the anger and disappointment she felt towards her own son turned to grief, realizing just how wrong she was lashing out at him.
When they lost the house, thanks to the overwhelming court costs and legal fees, Isabel and Miguel just shut themselves off from the boy they raised together—the boy they were supposed to love unconditionally for all eternity. Was it any surprise that her son would want to leave? She drove him away at home, so why stay in the same house?
When he left for her mother-in-law's, Isabel somewhat believed that once everything had become semi-normal again, she still had a way of contacting her son. Yet, no matter how many times he had texted her, she refused to answer.
And that is what killed her the most.
Isabel has made many mistakes in the past. However, this one will commit her to the grave. It is a burden and a weight that will haunt her to the end of her days. She refused to give up hope, but yet hope was running out.
She also wondered if he wanted her in his life after what she said to him. She looked up at the ceiling, praying.
"Honey?" Miguel, her husband, knocked on the open door. "Are you okay?"
Isabel shook her head. "No. I haven't been alright for a very long time, Miguel," she said, as her husband walked over to sit with her. "Neither of us."
Miguel sighed and wrapped his arm around her. "I know. It's why mom put us in therapy."
"Miguel, I'm serious!" Isabel cried. "I just can't believe I said those things to him. Mi bebé! Now that I know he didn't lie, I wish I could just crawl into a hole and never come out again. I feel like an idiot."
"No, you're not," Miguel said, trying to hold his wife together. But even he felt himself breaking. What she felt was the same thing he felt. "But I know how you feel. We shouldn't have blamed him for our problems. He has every right not to forgive us. I know I wouldn't forgive myself if I were him."
Mrs. Ramirez turned around and embraced her husband. "I miss my hijo."
"... Me too," Mr. Ramirez whispered as his wife then started to cry in his chest. Her husband shed some tears as well, for his grieving wife, and missing son. Their son was gone, and yet they promised that no matter what, they would never lose hope.
They will see their son again, and when they do, they will apologize for never being the parents they should have been.