Anne was a hypocrite. Before she came to Amphibia, she would lie to her mom so many times. It'd become second nature to her—all to keep herself out of trouble with her mother and father. She never really cared about the worry and hurt it caused her parents whenever she did lie. She just didn't want to get in trouble, get yelled at, or be grounded. That's what mattered to her.
Now, she understood the pain she inflicted on her parents for all the lying she did. How ironic would it be for her to get this upset from someone that she viewed as a grandfather for lying to her? In Anne's mind, she had every right to be angry. This wasn't about skipping school, cheating on a test, or not doing chores. This was about hiding and trying to destroy the one thing that would allow her and Frank to get home. It meant everything to her that it remained safe and came back to her.
And that's what led her on her new quest: get back to the cave she had Frank use before moving in with the Plantars. The music box was secured in her backpack. She didn't trust Hop Pop anymore with it. Anne didn't trust him anymore with anything. That trust is long gone.
However, she did feel guilty for leaving Frank alone at the house. She could have gone back and told him to leave with her, but Anne couldn't go back—not with Hop Pop waiting to tell her more lies. Anne didn't want to see him and would rather not for a few days.
Exiting the forest, Anne found herself in a large field. Recognizing it, she knew she was going in the right direction. However, before Anne could resume her quest, she saw an amazing sight.
It is said that elephant beetles are the largest creatures of Amphibia. This is true, but they weren't among the biggest creatures in the world.
In the valley, Anne saw titanic turtles walking slowly into the clearing from the west. These massive beasts bore a resemblance to the Galapagos tortoise and walked with the speed of…well, a turtle. But their size allowed them to travel great distances. Each one had one large tree with crimson leaves that grew on the back of their shells, growing with the turtles as they aged. They were also all bluish-green colored with purplish hind legs and tails.
Despite their similarities, they were, in fact, turtles. They had swum across the sea from lands far away and had finally reached the end of their migration.
The leader of the pack let out a loud, groaning roar, signaling for the others who had finally made it. The tired turtles walked to the large watering hole and started drinking. Both parents of the young and older tortoises, who had been around for hundreds of years, quenched their thirst.
As she stared at them, Anne started walking forward, keeping her distance from the massive beasts. The ones who noticed her glanced before going back to their business. They were gathering leaves from the massive trees around the plains, reaching up at the high branches with their long necks to eat.
Stopping, Anne gasped when she felt a bunch of dirt being flung at her. "Hey!" she yelled at the female turtle, who used her hind legs to dig a hole in the ground. A process that all the females in the herd did. Each hole was bell-shaped and shoe-shaped and was dug until the tortoise could have their legs stretched out at the base.
Squatting down, the turtle roared as her big eggs were dropped into the hole.
"Oh, wow," Anne said in awe. Amazed to see the mother laying her eggs, which was pretty cool to the Thai girl. Then, the mother started kicking the dirt back onto its nest. "Whoa!"
Anne quickly jumped out of the way. Laughing, the Thai girl watched with evergrowing wonder as the mother turtle walked up to one of the trees and ate from the fruits that hung from its branches.
"Heh, momma's hunger," she said, thinking about her own mother. "Honestly, Mom would have loved to so all of you."
She was about to start walking away when something from the forest got her attention. Her ears picked up the sound of an animal. And it sounded like it was in pain and anger.
It was coming from a thick brush of foliage, and Anne could hear more of the creature growling and screeching. She tried to reach for her bow, only to remember that it wasn't on her. Anne was only armed with her tennis racket, which wasn't much of a weapon. However, with no other option, she pulled it out and stood ready to defend herself.
That racket would save her life when the creature making that sound came charging out of the bushes at her. It was a frilled-neck lizard, and Anne quickly hit it across the head when it came too close. Sending it flying back before hitting the ground with a nasty crunch that sent shivers up the girl's spine.
To her terror, it got right back up, and Anne was able to see what it looked like. And it would sure to give her nightmares for a long few nights.
Its green body looked like a putrid zombie, actively bubbling and sloughing off into orange-brown sludge, exposing significant portions of its skeleton, including parts of its spine and bones in its left forearm. Its face was especially horrific to look at. There was a large, rotten hole on the left side of its head, a flailing blue tongue, and crooked white teeth in lipless jaws barely held together by rotting sinews. A large amount of bright green mucus/saliva dripped from its mouth and coated its tongue, and its frill was falling apart as well.
But what made Anne's body freeze and lock up was its eyes. It's bulging orange eyes with no pupils and a network of sickly yellow veins. It was inhuman, unnatural, and filled with uncontrolled malice.
The lizard, the same size as her, charged at Anne, shrieking and growling with uncontrolled movement. However, it didn't get far when the mother turtle slammed her foot in front of it. Roaring at it.
The lizard was startled and ran around for a moment. For a moment, all seemed to be okay, as Anne sighed in relief.
But then the lizard turned and sunk its teeth into the leg of the giant.
The turtle roared in pain. Anne gasped. "No!" she screamed, only for the shelled creature to put an end to the lizard's life by lifting her foot up and slamming it down on it. Bringing her full down on the animal and crushing its body, from its chest to its tail, splattering blood all over the ground.
The screeching lizard's head fell to the ground as it finally died. A network of sickly yellow veins left its blood-filled eyes.
Anne sighed in relief before walking over to the giant turtle's leg. The wound was grizzly. A large chunk of it had been removed. "Oh my God, that's gnarly," Anne said, looking at it with disgust as the massive shelled creature looked at it as well. "Well, at least it'll heal."
The turtle groaned and turned around. Anne watched as the mother started walking back to the watering hole.
"I should get some water, too," she said, pulling out one of her plastic bottles from her backpack.
Anne started to walk alongside the tortoise. However, something smelled bad. Her nose stung from the scent of what had to be rotten eggs and liquid shit that was cooked together. That's when she looked at the bite mark on the turtle and saw that it had begun to fester as the rest of the flash began to rot at an accelerated pace.
But how could that be? She was just bitten.
A number of leaves started falling down around her and the turtle. Anne looked up, and her disgust turned to dread and horror.
The giant turtle wasn't just sick; she was in unimaginable pain. Her skin started turning yellow-green and festering, her eyes watered, and mucus began dripping from her nose. As the infection progressed, the skin started to sag and detach from the muscles, tearing open holes along the body (particularly the vertebrae). Even the tree on the beast's back wilted away and started rotting.
Every step it took was pure agony, but it had to get to the water. Rapid and severe dehydration started setting in.
"Oh my God," Anne said, stopping to let the tortoise slip past. Its gait became lethargic, and its flesh continued to decay at unnatural speeds. Having seen more than enough movies to know what was going on. "She's turning into a zombie."
And this wasn't like how Apothecary Gary inflected everyone with his spores. This was a legitimate zombie.
It was too late to save the infected turtle, but there were other turtles around. Anne ran to the nearest one and started waving her racket at it, trying to scare it away from the watering hole.
"HEY! GET AWAY!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, getting the animal to look at her with confusion. "GET AWAY! SHE'S INFECTED!" Anne pointed to the dying turtle belching and gagging.
It then dipped its mouth into the water and started drinking from it.
"Please! You have to leave!" Anne pleaded with the other turtles, which got their attention, but they didn't do anything. "She's turning into a zombie! Please! I'm begging you!"
The infected drank as much as possible before pulling its head back. It coughed as it looked down at the water, growling deeply. Its thirst was not quenched, and it dove back into the water, dripping so much more and making the water bubble.
Anne ran to one of the turtle's legs and started hitting it. "Please!" she yelled tearfully. "I don't want you all to die!" But the turtle pushed her back, and Anne fell to the ground. They didn't understand, and they didn't want to leave.
And they were going to die for it.
The infected turtle wheezed as it pulled its head back and looked at the water again.
Then, it violently vomited its blood into the water hole. Anne watched it happen in pure horror before it stopped. Panting heavily before vomiting blood again. This time, all of the nearby turtles saw what was happening. They stopped driving and stepped away from the watering hole.
When the blood vomiting stopped, the infected turtle growled deeply again.
Watching it as she picked herself back up, Anne watched in growing horror as the victim entered the final stage of the infection. All sense of lucidity faded from the beast's brain. Small pustules and veins begin appearing on her skin. Finally, the once-living mother turtle's eyes undergo a characteristic change; the pupil contracted to the point of invisibility as the rest of the eye became red with yellow veins floating around the edges, giving a vague resemblance to a red sphere covered in thick yellow cracks.
"Oh no," Anne gasped.
The infected let out an agony and furious roar into the air before charging across the water—not walking— charging. It was running faster than Anne could have imagined a turtle running. With murderous rage and nothing to stop it, it ran into the nesting growth.
New mothers had no choice but to get out of the way as the beast started smashing the eggs of every nest, splattering yoinks everywhere across the grass and dirt. The other turtles watched in complete shock and horror. They got out of the way as it ran at them.
Did it know it was killing the eggs? Did it deliberately crush them? Anne didn't even know if it could think anymore. It was on nothing more than a rampage as it knocked into one of the other mothers.
One member of the herd saw the carnage and growled. It roared and charged at the infected, attempting to stop the infected's rampage. Tucking its head inside its shell, the brave creature rammed into the front of the infected, bumping it back and making it stagger.
The infect angrily roared and dove its head into the other turtle's shell, sinking its beak into its retracted neck and pulling it out. Killing the turtle as it screeched in complete agony. Its throat being torn by the infected and thrown away.
Anne watched in complete and total horror as the plagued turtle proceeded to massacre the rest of its former kin. Bitting their legs and necks, stomping on them with force so strong that it broke through their shells, crushing and mashing their guts and bones until they were crumbled.
The last of the herd, consisting of a mother and her younglings, tried to make a run for it, but the infected one easily caught up. Smashing into the backs and skulls of all the slow-moving young, it then body-slammed the mother into a tree, fatally impaling it on the pointed branches.
As the only one left alive, Anne was thoroughly traumatized. The once tranquil forested valley was now covered in the blood of the innocent old and young and the egg yolk of the unborn. Males, mothers, and their babies were brutalized in unimaginable ways. The corrupted herdmate that murdered them panted, catching its breath amid the carnage.
There was only one decision Anne could make. She ran as fast as she could. The infected turtle was blocking the way back to the Plantar's house and Wartwood. She had to stay in the trees and hide, then wait for her chance to get back and warn everyone.
Meanwhile, back at the farmhouse, Frank was really enjoying his time sleeping in. That was until the door to his and Anne's room flew open, and Sprig and Polly came running in.
"Quest, quest, quest!" They chanted together, running down the stairs before jumping up and down on Anne's bed.
"Guys…I just woke up. Please," he groaned, turning over and trying to go back to sleep.
"Come on, we've got a quest to go on!" Sprig exclaimed, noticing how Anne wasn't in bed. "Come on! Anne's probably already up. She's likely in the kitchen."
"Tell her I love her and that I'll be there in a moment," Frank said, eyes still closed.
"Okay!" Polly said, hopping off the bed and following Sprig upstairs.
"Quest, quest, quest!" The two of them chanted again as they ran into the living room.
However, the moment they saw their grandfather, they stopped and looked at him. "Whoa, hold up," Sprig said.
Hop Pop was in an awful state—far worse than ever before. He looked so tired, with bloodshot eyes and bags under his eyes. Hop Pop looked overslept and miserable, holding a coffee mug in his right hand and looking at the window.
And he knew that it was all his fault. Anne had found out the truth about his intentions to destroy the box. The lie had been discovered, and it destroyed Hop Pop, knowing that he'd permanently damaged the trust she had in him. He'd hoped that Anne would have returned, but she never did.
Concerned for their grandfather's well-being, Sprig and Polly glanced at one another and started approaching him. "Uh, Hop Pop, are you okay?" the pink frog asked.
Hop Pop turned around and said in a miserable tone, "I really mucked it up this time, kids." He took a deep breath. "…I have been lying to Frank and Anne about the music box. I tried to destroy it but couldn't, so…I buried it under the tree out front."
"What!?"
Hop Pop chuckled grimly. "Oh, it gets worse. When I went to dig it up last night, Anne saw the whole thing and ran off. I've been waiting all night for her to come back."
"You what?!"
The three frogs looked to the kitchen entrance and became worried and scared when they saw Frank standing there. He was wearing his jacket under his poncho, with the front thrown over his shoulder.
At first, the old frog was so afraid that Frank heard the whole thing. However, when he walked into the kitchen. Frank only heard that Anne had run away and hadn't been back home since last night. His mind shut down to all other concerns and priorities. They all didn't matter to the young boy when he heard Anne didn't come up and no one knew where she was.
"You just let her go alone," Frank yelled. He was angry at the frog for allowing her to leave without telling him. He could be with Anne and make sure she was okay.
"Yeah, because I—!"
Hop Pop couldn't tell him about the box as Frank interrupted him. "You let mi amor go off on her own! Without her bow and arrows?! She could get hurt without them! Oh man, oh geez!" Putting aside his worry, Frank ran back down into the basement.
"Frank, wait!" Hop Pop exclaimed as he got off his chair and walked after him. "We need to talk."
Walking back out of the trapdoor, Frank was armed with his scythe and shield. He carried Anne's bow and quiver. "Where did she go!?" he demanded to know.
"Frank…"
"Hop Pop, whatever's going on, I don't care. I just need to find Anne!" Frank said in desperation. He had to find her. He needed her safe in his arms, knowing that she was going to be safe. Frank had just gotten together with Anne, and the idea of losing her was so dreadful. "She's all alone without me!"
"S-She said she'd be in the cave," Hop Pop said, relenting. He couldn't hide that from him.
Knowing exactly where she was, Frank nodded and turned to walk to the front door. "Come on, guys, we gotta get to Anne and bring her home!"
"Wait, Frank! There's something you should—"
"Look, whatever it is, just tell me on the way! Anne could be in trouble for all we know." The human boy then rushed out the door, leaving the frogs to stare out blankly. "I'm coming, mi amor!"
"Is it just me, or has Frank become overly protective of Anne since becoming her boyfriend?" Polly asked.
"We'll talk about that later. Right now, let's roll!" Sprig says as he uses Polly as a speedy ball to ride on out.
Hop Pop sadly sighed before he, too, ran out of the house. Sprig was right. They will talk about it. Frank was right. They could talk about it on the way. But could Hop Pop? He lost Anne's trust. Losing Frank's trust would be devastating for the old frog. And yet, once they get to her, he may not have a choice.
The truth will come out. The least he could do was be there when it happened, instead of hiding like a coward.
Frank led the family of frogs into the forest in the direction of the cave. He explained that he and Anne had used it before Wally spotted them and alerted the town. It wasn't like living in the basement of the Plantar's house. It was dark and stinky, with bugs that would crawl all over them and even get wet from the constant rainstorms.
"Hop Pop," Sprig said, walking beside his grandfather, his sister on his head. They were far enough back from Frank to allow them to talk in whispers. "Hop Pop, you've got to tell him."
"I know," he said.
"If you keep putting it off, you're only going to make things even worse."
"I know."
"Well, when are you going to do it?"
"I…I don't know," Hop Pop said in defeat. There really wasn't a good way to bring up the fact that he'd lied and tried to destroy the one key Frank needed to go home with Anne and the other girls.
"Come on, keep up," Frank said, walking ahead of the group with a look of determination. "The cave isn't that much further. Just past the giant field."
"Oh, I remember these parts," Sprig said. "The Titan Turtles should be migrating here."
"Titan Turtles?"
"Yeah, colossal turtles that come to Amphibia from faraway lands to nest their eggs," Hop Pop said, smiling. "It's been years since those turtles came to Amphibia from lands far from here."
"There are other lands?"
"Of course, we're not the only…one…oh my frog," Hop Pop said in complete shock and horror as they came out of the forest and into the clearing. At first, Frank and the two frogs' kids were confused until they, too, saw what he saw.
They arrived at the once tranquil forested valley. They arrived at the horror that befell the valley. Birds chirped overhead as they looked upon the carnage of dead Titan Turtles. Their body torn apart and crushed, with their bones sticking out of their skin and their shells smashed. The trees on their backs withered and died.
"Oh my God," Frank said.
"What happened here," Polly asked, being picked up by Sprig and placed on his head. She sounded afraid.
The family moved into the valley slowly. They've seen carnage before, but this was on a level they've never before seen. As they walked into the bloodbath, Frank looked to the right and gasped at the sight of two turtles having had their heads caved in. Each one was as big as his body. Sprig hopped across the grass until he landed in the yellow yoik of smashed eggs. Disgusted, he jumped out of it and tried strapping it off.
"This…I've never seen this before," Hop Pop said, disturbed by the many corpses strewn about. Untouched by scavengers or even flies.
"Anne would have to come past here," Frank said, dreading the idea of his girlfriend seeing this.
"Frank!"
The silence of the valley allowed him and the others to hear Anne's voice. They turned their heads to look across the nesting grounds. They saw her running across the grass, panicking. She'd come back to try and get back to Wartword, only to find her boyfriend and frog family in the middle of the plains, in mortal danger.
"Guys!" she screamed, running as fast as she could. Making Frank and the Plantars happy to see her.
"Anne!"
"Get away! Get away, it's behind you!"
Frank and the frogs didn't know what she meant. That was until the ground started rumbling, and the inflected titan turtle started rising behind the four of them. It's a deep growl that finally got them to realize that there was something behind them. They continued looking at Anne as she came to a skidding stop a few meters away. Looking up at the infected in complete horror and terror.
The infected's condition rapidly worsened even further from when she last saw it. The flesh had begun liquefying and sloughing off of its body, exposing parts of its skeleton as the rest of its body gained an emaciated appearance. The intact areas of skin became covered in throbbing veins and boil-like pustules that audibly pulsed and bubbled.
The sound of liquified skin hitting the ground behind the boy and frogs was nerve-stinging. They looked down to see it had landed between them. They then turned around to see the colossal beast looking down at them with malice in its dead, infected eyes.
It roared at Frank and the Plantars.
"Holy shit, run!" Frank yelled, grabbing Hop Pop's arm.
He and Sprig, who carried Polly in his arms, took off running as fast as they could. Hop Pop screamed with his grandkids while Frank pulled him along. He got out of the way just before they were crushed by the turtle's massive foot. The giant zombie turtle roared and chased after them.
"Hurry!" Anne waved as her boyfriend ran to her. Grabbing his hand when he reached her, they ran together as they could.
"What the hell is that thing?!" Frank yelled.
"It's a zombie! A real zombie!"
"This place has zombies?! I hate this world!"
"I hate it too!" Polly yelled.
"We've gotta get out of there!" Frank yelled. "Let's split up!"
Hop Pop looked at him like he was crazy. "What?!"
"There's five of us and one of them! Divide and conquer!"
"Let's do it!" Anne yelled.
"Kids, that's insane!"
"I trust him more than I trust you," Anne snapped, glaring at the old frog. She then saw out of the corner of her eyes the turtle jumping into the air and coming down at them. "Split now!"
Anne, Frank, and Hop Pop split right. Sprig and Polly split left. Getting out of the way just before the massive turtle came crashing down on the ground. Digging up the earth underneath its weight.
It stood up again and roared angrily before chasing after the three that went right.
Sprig and Polly stopped running and gasped, looking back to see the turtle chasing after Frank, Anne, and Hop Pop. "Oh no!"
Frank looked back to see that the turtle was still on their tail. Luckily, it was further back than before. They hopped over the neck of a dead turtle, only for the infected to crush it after them.
"Where do we go?!" Frank yelled, letting go of Hop Pop to let him hop alongside them.
"We need to get back to the cave," Anne said.
The three of them made it to the forest and ducked between the trees. The zombie didn't slow down. Smashing into the trees and knocking them down.
"Ah, come on!" Anne yelled.
"Keep going!" Frank yelled. "We're nearly there!"
The infected turtle roared, not caring that it was tearing off more of its flesh and breaking off the branches of the dead tree behind its back. It was like a speeding Abrams tank, and with the resilience of one. Frank and Anne zigzagged between the trees, dodging them while Hop Pop hopped from one to another.
"Look out!" Hop Pop yelled.
Just as they were close to the cave, Frank and Anne looked back and saw that the turtle was almost about to crush them. The boy grabbed her hand and quickly pulled her to the left, getting out of the way of the Titan Turtle before it crushed them. Hop Pop landed on the ground with them and hopped behind the two kids.
"How much further?!"
"We just passed it!" Frank yelled, the trees behind them flying as the zombie turtle turned to get back on their trail. Chasing them with angry roars. "Quick, through there!"
Frank led the others through a tree with a large hole at the base, creating an archway for him, Anne, and Hop Pop. They went through it at the same moment the turtle lunged its head at them, only to end up getting stuck.
"What now!?" Hop Pop asked.
"We need to get back to the others and get out of there," Frank yelled. Neither one of them stopped. "Then we—OOOOOH, SHIT!"
Together, the three of them ran off the edge of a cliff and started falling down a ravine. Anne and Hop Pop screamed as Frank pulled out his scythe. He grabbed Anne's hand while she, begrudgingly, grabbed Hop Pop's hand. The moment their feet landed on the slope of the ravine, he swung down and stabbed the blade of Hellcat's Claw into the rock. Stopping their descent just a few feet off a ledge.
Frank looked around before he turned right and gasped. "Look!" he exclaimed, looking at the entrance to a cave in the ravine. Pushing his bloodied and bruised feet off the wall, he dislodged the scythe from the rocks. Allowing him and the others to fall down on the ledge.
Their moment of relief was brought to an end when they heard the loud sound of a tree being ripped out of the ground, followed by the screeching of a zombie turtle. Frank, Anne, and Hop Pop looked back up at the top of the ravine…
…only to see the infected jump off and slide down the ravine after them!
"Inside!" Frank yelled, grabbing Anne's hand and pulling her.
Together, the couple and Hop Pop ran into the cave. Getting out of the way just in time as the turtle slid past them, kicking up dust everywhere. The trio watched as the massive zombie crashed down onto the ground, sending up a large dust cloud into the air that blanketed the entire ravine floor and the turtle.
As the dust settled down, Frank, Anne, and Hop Pop looked down. Gazing down at the beast's big body, as it was lying on its stomach.
"Is it dead," Frank asked.
For a moment, it really did seem like they actually did kill the monster. That was until its infected eye opened.
The turtle tried to stand up again and reached out at the humans and old frog, forcing them to duck back inside. However, it wasn't even able to reach the ledge.
With no way of getting to them, the infected turtle roared and bashed its head into both walls of the ravine. Making it bleed even more and roar some more.
Disoriented on shaky legs, the zombie collapsed after knocking itself out.
Visibly panting for breath after their close call, Frank looked at his girlfriend. "Anne?" Frank said, beyond relieved to see.
His girlfriend reciprocated the feeling. She rushed over and hugged him.
"Frank!" Anne exclaimed, happy to see her boyfriend and that he was safe with her. Frank fell into a lovesick daze, always loving how her embrace made him feel warm inside.
He then snapped out of it and said, pulling away from the hug. "Anne, what in the hell were you thinking?" he asked with great concern. "What happened? Why did you leave?"
"I…I'm sorry, Frank," Anne said, realizing that she should have brought him with her. "I just…I just couldn't stay in the house, not after what happened."
She took off her backpack and opened it. Frank's eyes widened in shock and confusion when she pulled out the music box. The same box that was supposed to be away with Hop Pop's contacts.
"What," he asked. "How did you get it back?"
The girl then glared at Hop Pop and said, while pointing, "Ask him."
Frank turned around and saw the elderly frog with a guilty expression. "Hop Pop?"
"I... I..." Hop Pop started to say. He had to come clean. "I lied about the contacts."
Frank gained a shocked expression. "You…what?"
"When I learned how dangerous the box was, I had to try and get rid of it. I buried it outside the house. But what's worse is that I…tried to destroy the music box."
"What the Hell are you even saying to me right now?" the human boy exclaimed, trying to understand this deeply troubling and devastating revelation. He took a step away from Hop Pop. "You…tried to destroy... the music box?"
Hop Pop was silent.
"...Yes."
"You tried to destroy our one chance to go home? To see our families?!" Frank started to cry, feeling his trust in the kind and wise frog break within him. Anne tried to comfort him, hugging him as he started breaking down. "No... no... No! No! No!"
"Frank, listen." Hop Pop tried to reason with him.
"Please, tell me this is a joke, please," Frank pleaded, starting to become enraged by the frog's actions against him and Anne. "Tell me this a joke, please!"
"It was for Sprig and Polly. I—"
Frank tackled him to the ground, punching him across the face, causing Anne to gasp and cover her mouth. She didn't think it would lead to this. Hop Pop didn't blame him for the punch. He wanted him to punch him again. He deserved it as punishment, but he needed Frank to listen.
"Listen to me, Frank!"
"What could you possibly say that can make this any better?!" the boy asked, his voice hurt and tears in his eyes as he glared and readied his next punch.
"There isn't, just listen!" The old man yelled at him, managing to get him off by pushing him in the chest with his legs. Frank stumbled back, only for Anne to catch him. Looking at him with worry. "I just—"
"You're a liar," Frank said, pointing at him.
Hop Pop stood up, tears forming in his eyes. "I know, but you have to understand..."
"Understand what? That Anne and I matter so little to you? That you would rather choose to take away our only way home just because of some delusion you have? Without even telling us why?!"
"It was to protect Sprig and Polly!" the old frog yelled. Hop Pop then started to explain his actions. "It's called the Calamity Box. I read about it in my study room, and the book said it was dangerous!"
"Oh yeah?!" Anne yelled, joining her boyfriend's interrogation of him. "Did the book even tell you how it was dangerous, Hop Pop? If that's even your real name. Oh, wait. Hop Pop's a nickname?"
"It…it didn't!"
"And yet, at the first sign of danger, you decided you were going to take away our one and only chance of going home?!"
"I know. I know it was wrong, but I became terrified and panicked!" Hop Pop said, tears running down his face. He wanted Frank and Anne to understand. "What am I supposed to do? Just let you and Anne carry that thing around?"
"YES!" Frank shouted in fury, throwing his arms in the air. "The music box is what brought us here! That was the whole reason why we went to Newtopia! It's why we came back to Wartwood! We need to get the music box so we can find the temples and charge the stones! This is what we wanted! You nearly cost us everything! If we lost that box, we'd never see our families again!" Frank yelled, clenching his fists as hot tears ran down from his eyes. "I left my abuela all alone! And now everyone's going to start thinking, what if we're not missing? What if we..."
But the boy halted his words, feeling trepidation.
"If we..."
"And it's a good thing you both aren't," Hop Pop said, walking to Frank and Anne with a look of angst. "I've lost so much. I am not going to lose more. I can't." The old frog tried to grab Frank's hand. "Frank, you know that you and Anne matter a great deal to me."
"But not enough to tell us the truth?"
Hop Pop became lost for words. "I...I..."
The boy yanked his hand away. Tears still falling from his eyes, Frank looked at Hop Pop with anger and said, "We never should've trusted you." He was barely holding it together.
Hop Pop was silenced by Frank's declaration, as was Anne. But she can't even argue with Frank. She was done with Hop Pop the moment he lied to her. Realizing just how little he and Anne mattered to the old frog, Frank turned away and walked deeper into the cave. He didn't get far when he collapsed on the ground to sob his eyes out, feeling just like how his parents abandoned him.
Anne, hating to see Frank, pulls him close and lets him cry into her shoulder, giving Hop Pop a judgmental glare. This causes the elder frog to hang his head in shame.
A few minutes later, their exhaustion took over, and they rested.
When Frank opened his eyes, he was in a void. There was nothing around him but two colors. It was red on the floor that he stood on, and it faded to black upwards. It was nothing but him…
…and the zombie turtle.
The infected roared as Frank ran for his life. This wasn't happening. This couldn't have been real. He was with Anne and Hop Pop. Where were they? He had to find them. They had to get away from the turtle! Where was his weapon? Could he call upon Leif? What was he going to do?
Scream in pain, that's what he did when the turtle caught up with him and bit down into Frank's side.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" he screamed, ripping a huge chunk out of his torso.
Falling to the ground, he panted in utter pain. But there was no pain. He felt its beak ripping into him and crushing his bones and organs, but it was a ghost's touch.
He stood up and gasped in horror when he saw how much was taken from him. His entrails were exposed, his spine and rips were gone, and the rest began to decay.
The boy could only look on in horror as he raised his hands and looked at them. His skin started to bubble and boil. Then, like melting clay, it started melting away from his bones, making Frank scream in complete terror when he saw his skeleton. But soon, even his face rotted before his very eyes.
"FRANK!"
Anne's scream drew his attention to her.
"HELP MEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!"
Anne screamed, hanging upside down, her legs in the mouth of the turtle. Her limbs snapped off, losing her legs. Landing on the ground, Anne screamed out to Frank again before her flesh rapidly began melting off of her bones.
"FRANK!"
"AH!" Frank jolted awake from his nightmare.
"Whoa, it's okay!"
Frank gasped in fear and pulled out his knife. However, to his relief, it wasn't the zombie. Polly and Sprig that woke him up. It was nighttime, but they'd made it to the cave.
"Sprig! Polly!" Frank yelled, grabbing the two kids he saw as his brother and sister and hugging them tightly. Crushing them and cutting off their air supply. "You're okay!"
"Can't…breathe…"
"Right, sorry," he said, placing his friends down. The commotion woke up Anne and Hop Pop. He saw that she was okay and wasn't dying like in his dream. "Anne!"
"Hey—whoa!" Anne was surprised when she felt Frank hugging her tightly. "Well, isn't this a good morning?"
"Sorry. I just…I needed to know you were safe," he said, lightly crying from the traumatic dream.
Anne was confused by this but nonetheless softly stroked his head.
"What are you kids doing here?!" Hop Pop whispered loudly as his grandkids. "You shouldn't be here!"
"Well, when you didn't come back after the sun went down, we had to come and find you," Sprig said.
"That doesn't matter! Nothing else should matter as long as you're safe," he said, drawing enraged looks from Frank and Anne towards him.
"Yeah, nothing at all," Frank said, standing up and helping Anne to her feet.
"No, I didn't mean—"
"Just stop," Anne said. She didn't want to hear it. The two humans walked to the entrance of the cave, wanting to get away from the old frog as Sprig and Polly watched.
They looked at their grandfather. "So, you told them what you did, huh?" Polly asked.
Hop Pop sighed in shame. "Yeah…"
"You can't really blame them for being mad at you, you know," she said. "What you did was…It was just horrible!"
"I know," Hop Pop said. "I don't even know how to make it up to them."
"How about we get out of this situation, and then we can think about it," Sprig said, getting nods from his family members.
Meanwhile, Frank and Anne walked out of the cave and looked down the ravine. At the exact same spot where they last saw it, the infected turtle was still lying there, seemingly dead. This meant that they were all finally safe.
"Alright, this is our chance," Frank said, looking at Anne and the frogs. "If we're careful, we can climb up the side and get out of here."
"Right," said everyone but Hop Pop.
"What? No!" Hop Pop quickly hopped in front of the boy and blocked his way down the slope. He was determined to prove himself trustworthy again and presented a new idea. "It's too dangerous. Why don't we just walk down the ravine until it ends."
"Yeah, and why should we trust you?" Frank whispered harshly.
"Please, Frank, I'm just trying to keep everyone safe," Hop Pop said.
Anne scoffed and said, "Yeah? And how do we know that's not a lie?"
The argument was broken up when Polly hopped over and placed herself between them. "Guys, came we please put this distrust on hold," she asked. "Let's just go with Hop Pop's idea."
Frank and Anne glance at one another. Clearly, neither of them liked the idea of following Hop Pop's plan. Still incredibly bitter about his lying, even as he gave them sad old man puppy eyes. However, with both Polly and even Sprig on board, they didn't have much of a choice.
"Fine," Frank said.
Together, they all descended the side of the ravine by a narrow edge. Sprig picked up Polly and held her. The group kept close to the wall. Descending had to be done with slow, careful steps—especially when one of Frank's bare feet knocked over a small pebble over the side.
Everyone watched with growing fear and anxiety as it bounced off the side of the extremely steep inclined slope. They held their breaths and were ready to start running back to the cave when it landed on the ground. The sound of the impact echoed in the ravine. However, it didn't wake the zombie.
Everyone sighed in relief. "Keep going," Frank said, grabbing his girlfriend's hand and pulling her along as he and the frogs continued their descent. All while looking at the bubbling skin of the living corpse.
Hopping down a series of boulders, the five were able to finally get down to the floor of the ravine.
Now, they were right next to the neck of the zombie.
Keeping their eyes on the bubbling, rotting skin, they cautiously moved around the great beast. It was beyond disgusting. It looked as though it was alive, but it wasn't. A jungle of sickness and bile rot. And it smelled worse from being in the heat.
They finally made it past the skull.
Now free of the zombie and with a path out of the ravine, Hop Pop smiled at Frank and Anne, thinking that all was forgiven. He was old but still naive to feel this way. Both humans frowned at him and turned to walk away, leaving Hop Pop feeling down and even more guilty as his grandson patted his back.
The family walked together down the ravine, and neither one of them looked back toward the cave or the zombie. Both didn't look at Hop Pop, whose lies devastated the humans' trust in him and shook the foundation of their friendship. All they wanted to do was go back to the home.
And so, five of them tiptoed away...
...only to hear the turtle growling and the ground shake as it got back up.
Frank looked back and gasped.
"LOOK OUT!" He grabbed Anne and quickly pulled her out of the way as the frogs jumped out of the way. Dodging the turtle's head coming down, cracking the earth beneath its beak.
The infected turtle pulled its head back up and shrieked.
"Alright, that's it!" Frank yelled, letting go of Anne's hand and making an anime pose. "Anime power: ACTIVATE!" When nothing happened, he looked around. He then looked to Leif, who appeared in front of him. "You gonna help or what?"
The turtle roared again, its body more damaged than before. It turned towards the humans and frogs, only to get shot in the face by multiple arrows by Anne. Including one that hit its right eye, making the giant zombie shriek in pain.
"Come on! Let's go!" Anne yelled, grabbing Frank's hand with her free one and pulling him away from the infected.
Together, they and the Plantars started running as fast as they could down the ravine. Its shape was that of a snake's—wiggling and waving. The humans and frogs made wide turn after turn as the turtle followed them. Its speed was still the same as it had been while it had chased them before. This time, however, it was starting to catch up with them.
Frank looked to his left at the wall. The moon's light shone down on the ravine. The shadow of the zombie was now beside him and the other others.
However, as they turned a sharper right turn, the turtle wasn't able to make the turn without slamming into the wall. Causing the ravine to rumble before it continued its chase. Not at all caring that the ravine was starting to grow narrow. The sides of its shell scraped up against the rocky walls.
"There!" Sprig yelled, pointing out in front of him.
A crevasse was ahead of them, with an open plain on the other side. The passageway was narrow, too narrow for the turtle to pass through.
"We're nearly there!" Frank yelled. "Keep going!"
The turtle roared again, lowering its head closer to the ground with its beak wide open. It drew closer.
Frank's legs were burning. This was the longest he'd ever had to run. He couldn't stop. The turtle was getting close, even as the ravine became narrower.
Then, Frank, Anne, Polly, Hop Pop, and Sprig ran out of the crevasse and onto the flat rock plans. The turtle's head dove after them, but its wide and massive body had become trapped inside the crevasse. Leaving it impotently roaring and flailing its neck.
Realizing that they weren't being chased anymore, Frank, Anne, Sprig (who was still carrying Polly), and Hop Pop stopped running. They turned around, only to jump back when the turtle's long neck stretched out to try to snap at them with its beak. However, it was no use. It'd wedged itself in the narrow crevasse. Furiously roaring at the five of them as it tried to push and pull itself forward. Digging its feet into the ground while using its head to hit the walls with all its might, trying to break free.
Even as it made loud thuddings and made the earth rumble, Frank couldn't help but start to crack a smile. "There…it's over!" he said in relief.
"Yeah," Hop Pop said.
The five of them turned and started to walk away from the trapped zombie. The turtle shrieked again at the living as if challenging them to come back and let it kill them.
However, as they walked away, Frank looked and saw what was up ahead. He looked around at the tall walls of the large bowl-shaped ground depression they were in, making him realize they were inside a massive caldera—created long ago from a volcano that erupted and collapsed. There were two entrances inside this bowl caldera. The zombie was blocking the first one, and the other was straight across.
Between it and the group were multiple geysers filled with molten lava.
Frank would have asked if this geyser field was still active. That was until one of them erupted several feet into the air. The humans and frogs looked up and gasped in fright and shock, getting themselves burnt when drops landed on them.
"Ah!" Anne yelped when her hair started catching on fire.
Despite his own pain and the frogs hopping around and patting themselves, Frank took the time to pat out Anne's fire. The two of them blushed and smiled at each other, until their romantic moment ended with two more eruptions from two more calderas.
More rumbling was heard before Frank looked down. The ground started cracking under his feet. And those cracks were spreading all across the ground of the larger caldera.
"Okay, that's it! We need to find another way out!" Frank said over the eruptions, realizing the instability of the area. So, he took Anne's hand and started to double back. Sprig, Polly, and Hop Pop followed them. The old frog realized he made things worse again by having them go down this path.
And it was about to get so much worse.
The zombie shrieked in pure rage and hatred as it struggled to break free. Especially seeing its quarry coming back. Its need to kill them overrode all other needs. The plague wanted to kill. And it shall kill.
And then, it happened!
The sides of the shell cracked and broke apart, exposing two holes on both sides. The tree on top of its back was ripped out along with the roots, taking with it most of the shells, with the exception of the vertebrae. This was all done by the turtle under the control of the plague. It's madness allowing the beast to break its own body to get free.
The moment the turtle's large feet hit the ground, it roared and resumed chasing after the humans and Plantars.
"Oh, give me a break!" Polly yelled. Everyone screamed and ran back toward the lava geysers. The zombie was close behind, its massive size and weight cracking the ground under it with each running step.
"AAAAHHH! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!" Sprig yelled, still carrying Polly, as he, his sister, and Anne screamed and ran around a geyser.
The infected turtle was going to run over it, but the pit erupted, sending a geyser of lava into its neck and badly burning it.
It reared its head back and roared to the heavens. Then the titan turtle, a creature so large and heavy it reformed the ground where they walked, did the seemingly impossible.
It jumped.
Frank looked back in complete and utter horror as this thing lept high into the sky and across the field of erupting lava geysers. It looked as though the devil had possessed the dead beast and made it come at him like a bat demon from hell.
It landed behind Frank and the others, breaking through the rocky crust and falling into the lava below. The ground was destroyed around the impact point, and lava was sent up, breaking the crush as well. Frank and Anne were on one large rock, while the Plantars were on the other. Together, they rode the resulting wave to safer ground, jumping off when their platforms hit the other side and landing together.
The zombie roared and swung its head down, hitting the earth between the humans and frogs before it sank back into the lava.
"Is it dead?!" Polly yelled.
"No! Let's go!" Hop Pop yelled, grabbing his grandkids, and started running for the exit.
Frank picked up Anne, and the two were about to run too when the beast re-emerged and roared at the sky, visibly burnt but no less determined to kill them.
"Why wouldn't you die!" Anne screamed.
She and Frank jumped out of the way when it swung its head down to crush them again.
Getting out of the way just in time, they ran, following the frogs to the narrow crevasse that was their exit. They did not see the infected Titan Turtle sinking itself back into the lava.
Hop Pop, Sprig, and Polly made it to the other side of the caldera. They looked back to see Frank and Anne still running towards them.
"Kids, hurry!" Hop Pop yelled.
"Come on, you can do it!" Sprig joined in.
"It's gone!" Polly screamed as well.
But it wasn't.
Suddenly, the giant zombie turtle erupted through the ground in front of its quarry, sending Frank and Anne into the air.
"FRANK! ANNE!" Hop Pop yelled in complete fear. Watching as the two people he wronged so deeply fell to their doom. "NOOOO!"
However, they luckily landed on the few parts of the shell that were still intact. Frank landed near the edge of the massive hole on its back, where the tree's roots once were in their symbiotic relationship. Looking down, he was stunned at the glimpse of pure emptiness within the turtle's shell. However, it wasn't completely empty, as lava started pouring into the shell from the side holes.
"Frank! We need to go!" Anne yelled, grabbing Frank's arm and pulling him up to get him to come with her.
The plagued titan roared again before its head slammed into the ground again. Using its neck as a ramp, they reached the turtle's head and jumped off it, avoiding getting eaten or bitten. The monster shrieked at the couple as they made it to the other side of the geyser field unharmed.
"Guys!" Sprig exclaimed with joy and relief as he jumped at them with Polly. The girl frog landed in Frank's arms while Sprig landed in Anne's
"Uh, don't I get a hug?" Hop Pop asked, only to receive stares of disappointment.
It wasn't over yet, however. Climbing out of the lava with a charred red appearance, the plagued titan turtle roared at the five of them. It wasn't finished. Attempting to pursue its prey, it jumped out of the lava and landed on the ground. However, the floor of the field couldn't hold its weight, and it simply sent itself falling back in.
No one wanted to ask if the turtle was finally dead. They were sure it was. But just as they were about to breathe a sigh of relief, it came bursting from the lava again, small fires appearing on different parts of its body as it tried to climb out.
No one was going to help it. Watching only as its skin melted away on its forelimbs. Further efforts to escape were stymied by the complete loss of its forelimbs to the lava.
Fully trapped, the turtle stretched its head up to the sky and howled in pain and maddened fury. Unable to be freed of the madness that had consumed its mind and body. A terrible fate that led to the deaths of many, and it would have taken the lives of Frank, Anne, and the Plantars.
[Play Music: Primal S1 Official Soundtrack | Tragic Death]
So why were they sad?
Sad for a monster? Or sorry for the poor beast that was turned into a monster by a plague no one understood nor wanted to. All they could do as the turtle had finally been stopped. Its body burst into flames as it could only howl in pain and maddened fury.
Frank, Anne, and the Plantars watched on with sympathetic looks as it continued to roar. Smoke and embers danced all around them, all coming from the burning, living corpse that was finally screaming its final death cry as its vocal cords were incinerated. All their anger, pain, and guilt were forgotten for that one belief moment as they watched it start to die.
When it was finally dead, the titan turtle's body disintegrated into ashes and flew into the night sky. The wind carried its fragments across the land. Finally, ending the plague with it.
Frank watched as the ashes flew away before noticing a single piece of ember falling down towards him. With morbid fascination, he held up his hand and allowed the spark to land on his palm. The final remains of the turtle as it lost its glow and became another piece of cinder.
Tears fell from Frank's face and onto the cinder. Blinking, he looked back up at the lava field, staring at the fire that still burned as smoke billowed from it. As he stared, Frank reached for Anne's hand and held it. He needed to feel her skin on his. He needed to know that she was there. This was real, and they were still alive. They were alive and not infected.
He needed to know she was okay, but he wasn't sure if he was.
How foolish they had been to think that they were going to have a happy return to Wartwood. Lies had been uncovered, and trust had been shattered. But most of all, he and Anne were still in Amphibia. They were outside the walls of Newtopia, and tonight was a reminder of what was truly like out in the wilds. This is a reminder of the unforgiving horror and savagery that rested in Amphibia like a sleeping dragon. This wasn't a fantasy world filled with wonder and imagination like in the movies they watched on Earth. This wasn't Middle-Earth or Hogwarts. This world wasn't like how Marcy imagined it was.
This was a world that only spoke one language, and that was death.