ONE HOUR LATER
"So there's nothing I can do to fix this? Not one thing?!" Hop Pop exclaimed, yelling at Frank and Anne as they faced away from him.
Anne nodded. "Nothing's coming to mind at all!"
"I'm trying to explain myself, but you don't wanna hear a single thing from me?!"
"Not if it's gonna be more lies," Frank said.
"Man, this is a long hallway," Sprig said. This was true, as they'd been walking for what felt like an hour. Making him wonder just how big the temple really is.
Luckily, they finally reached the end of their journey when Marcy suddenly stopped, making Sprig and Polly walk into her back and fall down. All while the smart girl excitedly pointed up and ahead.
"Ha! Here we are. The final puzzle," she said, pointing to the doorway that led to the final test. At the top of it was more Amphibian text. "Oh! I'm so excited."
Excitement almost ended when she realized that Frank and Anne were still arguing with Hop Pop.
"Guys, killing the vibe."
They stopped.
"Thank you. Now, where was I?" Marcy wondered as she looked at the words on the wall. "Few have the brains to make it to this door, but are you wise enough to solve what's in store? Yep! Let's go."
Together, they made their way into the final puzzle room, and Marcy gasped in excitement and wonder. In front of her was what appeared to be a chessboard resting on a pedestal. There were already black pieces on the board, already set up. All of them are Amphibia theme, with the king being a Frog King holding Hellcat's Claw, a queen armed with a lance riding a heron, a bishop with a scepter, a rook with a sword and shield, two big knight toads with maces, two newt archers, and of course the pawns. There was nothing else that could be seen in the room. The only light was coming down from the ceiling onto the chessboard.
"I don't believe it!" Marcy squealed. "It's flipwart!"
Anne gasped and then asked, "What's flipwart?"
"It's a strategy game I learned to play in Newtopia," Marcy said as Frank walked past her and approached the board.
"Marcy, I know you're a bit of a loose monkey wrench, but you do understand this is just chess with a frog theme," Frank said, pointing at the black pieces.
"Yes, but flipwart takes chess to the fucking max!" Marcy exclaimed before acting confident. "I got so good at it. I even beat King Andrias."
"Impressive," Hop Pop said. "They say King Andrias is one of the best flipwart players around."
Marcy walked up to the board, pushing Frank aside as he glared at her eager rudeness. She opened the drawer on her side and pulled out her white king. "So, both sides have a wart, right? And they're trying to flip it," she said, placing it on the board, and then pulled out two archers. "Each piece has a different set of abilities. These archers, for example, can only attack in a straight line. Oh, I love this game!"
"Yeah, I don't care," Frank said, turning away from her.
That's when he saw a new text on the wall to the right of them. It was glowing, just like the other text.
"Hey, Marcy, what does this say," he asked.
Turning away from her favorite game, Marcy said, "Any commander whose wart falls may never set foot inside these temple walls."
"WHAT?!" Frank and Anne yelled, shocked.
"So, you're saying…" Anne trailed off as dread set in.
"We're only going to get one shot at this," Marcy said gravely. Then she grinned. "One shot is all I need. But first, I need to set up the board."
Standing behind everyone, Sprig said to his sister, "Well, I guess we'll just sit back quietly and watch."
"Yeah, it'll be nice to sit this one out 'cause these flippas are tired," Polly said.
Marcy picked out the bishop's piece with the shield and sword and placed it on the board. The thudding of the stone piece on the board echoed in the chamber.
Suddenly, the floor under Polly disappeared, and she screamed, falling through it before the floor reformed.
"Polly!" Everyone screamed in absolute horror and shock.
Suddenly, more lights came on in the chamber from in front of the flipwart. Everyone turned around, and the true extent of the challenge was revealed. In front of them, following a short flight of stairs—only three steps down—was a giant flipwart board. Just like on the original board, the enormous, life-size black pieces of the game were already set up, with the white king on the board and his archers.
"A giant flipwart board," Marcy asked.
One of the black tiles glowed before lifting Polly out of the hole it had formed. She'd been transformed into the rook piece, with two strong arms holding her weapons.
"Polly," Sprig called to his sister, "are you okay?"
"'Okay'? I've got a sword, baby," she said, grinning and hitting her sword against her shield. "I'm doing better than all of you."
This went beyond anything Anne thought this challenge would go. Yeah, the first challenge banged them up, and she could've died in that last one, but this was different. She had no idea how this game worked, and Polly was the precious baby of the family. "Marcy, do you think we should stop," she asked her best friend. "This could get dangerous."
"We don't have a choice, Anne," Marcy said. "You wanna get home, right? Then we've gotta play, or we'll never recharge the stone.
Hop Pop walked up to her. "She has a point," he said.
"I didn't ask you, Hop Pop!" Anne snapped. "Frank, what do you think?"
Frank thought about their odds. "I don't like it, but Marcy's right. I trust her," he said, smiling at Marcy, who nodded back at him.
"Alright, let's do this," Marcy said, pulling out a bishop and paw and placing them on the board.
Just like the little girl-frog, Hop Pop and Sprig screamed as they fell through the floor and reappeared on the board as pieces of the white army.
First, Hop Pop appeared on the board bishop. "Ooh, I got a scepter," he said.
Sprig then appeared on the board as a pawn. Something that Polly chuckled at him for. "Hahaha! You're a pawn."
"Aw, man," he groaned.
Frank grabbed Anne's hand. "Get ready, Anne. There's a good chance we're next," he said, nervous. "I love you."
"Dude, I don't think we're gonna die," Anne said.
"Can't I just say I love you without it feeling like it's the last time I'll get to say it?"
"Frank," Anne said.
"Yeah?"
"I love you, too," she said with a smile, squeezing his hand. "Do it, Marcy."
Marcy nodded to the couple and placed all the white pieces on the board, making all of the pieces appear on the giant board with the Plantars. At the same time, Frank and Anne braced themselves for the fall and were turned into Flipwart pieces. When it didn't come, they opened their eyes and looked around.
"Oh, it looks like we're not in the game," Anne said as she and Frank smiled. Neither of them looked down to notice the ground glowing. "Well, you guys have fun, I guess—
"WAAAH!" Frank disappeared into the floor, just like the Plantars did when they became flipwart pieces.
"Frank? Frank!" Anne screamed when she saw that her boyfriend was taken. She ran to the railing that kept her from falling onto the giant board. Expecting Frank to appear as one of Marcy's pieces.
However, he didn't appear in Marcy's army. On the other side of the giant game board, Frank popped out at the black army's queenpiece.
"Wait, what?" Hop Pop exclaimed.
Sprig yelled. "Frank, no!
"TRAITOR," shouted Polly.
Frank held up his hand. "Wait, wait! This is a good thing," he said, smiling. "I'll just play badly and sabotage the other team."
Anne gasped, and her eyes widened. "You're right, babe! Didn't think of that, did ya, temple? Ha!" she said, smirking triumphantly at the temple.
"Alright, here we go," Frank said, raising his lance over his head to destroy the pawn in front of him. "Sabotage!"
Suddenly, glowing bands of magical energy appeared on both of his wrists. When he felt them, Frank didn't even get the chance to react when the armbands wrestled all control of his arms' movement away from the Hispanic boy. Like puppets controlled by his new master's strings to be their new plaything, he was forced to stand down by having his arms forced to his sides. He couldn't move his head and torso anywhere. Becoming a slave to the will of the temple.
"Okay, I can't move," Frank said.
The hero wasn't the only one who fell under the temple's control. Sprig, Hop Pop, and Polly were also forced to stay still.
"What's going on?!" Anne exclaimed, worried for her boyfriend and the frog family.
"Our hands are tied, literally," said Hop Pop, panicking. Together, they all strained to get out of their bindings. But it was no use. They were stuck like that. And if Frank had to guess, they were only going to move however the game wanted them to move. Meaning that they were going to hurt each other whether they wanted to or not.
"Marcy, what do we do?!" Anne yelled to the smart girl playing the game. She was the smart one, and she had to know something to get them out of this.
"Don't worry, everyone," Marcy said, waving her hand. "I'll just play well enough so that none of you gets hurt. It'll be like hard mode!" She giggled and clapped her hands together. "Fun!"
No one else shared her enthusiasm. "You wouldn't be saying that if you were the pawn," Sprig grumbled.
Anne looked back at the others. This wasn't how she wanted it to be. She should have been taken. Yet the temple had a will of its own, and it chose her boyfriend to be a part of this sick game.
"Okay, Marcy," she said, accepting her role as a nervous spectator. "Just…don't hit my boyfriend."
Leaning over her side of the board, Marcy placed her hands on the edges with a confident smirk. This was it. There was no going back. It was time to show this temple that there was nothing it could do that would make her lose. While it would be accurate to say that Marcy's flaw was being clumsy, her greatest was undoubtedly hubris, and it would be hubris for her to think she had the mind to make it out of the temple while others had failed. A thought that was nowhere to be found in her mind as she focused all her attention on the game.
"Okay, white goes first, so it's our move. Let's flip this wart!" Marcy exclaimed, making her first move with a pawn.
Just as she'd moved it on the normal board, the giant flipwart piece slid forward. Its stone body rubbed against the stone floor, making noise.
"You got this, bud," Sprig said with engagement.
"Now, let's see how they respond," Marcy said.
The base of the knight next to Frank glowed. He blew a raspberry at it, but it didn't stop the piece from hopping over the line of black pawns and landing on the white space beside the white pawn. Watching, Frank expected the piece to knock the other one over, just like in regular chess.
If only it were chess, he thought, watching as the stone toad came to life. To his terror, it raised its mace and slammed down on the pawn's pointy helmet. Smashing it to pieces, with the head rolling over to Sprig's feet.
Sprig sobbed and said, "I don't like this game!"
Marcy, however, scoffed. "Such a basic response. This is gonna be easy," she said, placing her archer a few spaces in front of the toad knight.
The archer on the giant board charged up a beam of energy from its tongue sticking out. Then, it shot the knight, destroying it instantly.
"Whoa!" Frank yelled, imagining that knight being him if he'd been picked.
"Marcy!" Anne exclaimed, running over to her friend's side. "Remember, Frank's still on the other side."
"Yeah, yeah, I see him," Marcy said, waving her off. She was already making her next move.
And so, it began. Frank had never played chess before, but if it was anything like flipwart (or if flipwart was like chess), he didn't want to play it. Polly was having the time of her life, decapitating a pawn. Sprig almost got killed before Marcy acted quickly and moved his piece out of the way. Against her will, Frank swung his lance and smashed the white queen to pieces. A single tap from Hop Pop's scepter blasted the black bishop to pieces. All the while, Anne paced from right to left, nervously biting away at her fingers.
There was no stopping, and Marcy knew it. This was a fight to the finish, and she had to win. However, the temple wasn't a mindless computer game that she could beat in a few turns. Whatever was controlling the pieces on the other side was a master that rivaled King Andrias. She whipped her brow of sweat. How long has she been playing? An hour? How long had they been in this hot temple? All day? Was Joe still outside, or did he get eaten? It didn't matter. None of it mattered so long as they still had the gem to charge. She knew everyone was exhausted. She was, too, but it was all going to be worth it.
Marcy only had one archer and the Plantars. The temple only had Frank on its team. They weren't just exhausted. They were battered and bruised. They wanted the game to be over so badly.
And it was going to be.
"Yes! We're going to win!" Anne cheered, throwing up her fist. "Yeah! Go, Marcy!"
"Gotta admit, this temple's good, but not good enough!" Marcy exclaimed, playing her archer in front of the black wart. The piece on the giant board moved and charged its beam. "Gotcha! We win!"
The wart jumped.
That's right. Frank couldn't even believe it, even though he was seeing it happen. The black stone Frog King jumped over the laser beam, dodging it before landing back on his pedestal. Then, the motherfucker laughed at Marcy, taunting her by sticking out its tongue and then turning and slapping its butt at her. Acting like an 8-year-old sore winner that everyone hated.
No one could believe it, not even Marcy, who stared at the wart for a moment with two small dots for eyes. "HUH?!" She yelled in a mixture of shock and outrage at the game's bluntness. "What?!"
"What's happening," Frank asked, looking around in confusion. Wondering why they were still in the game. "Did we win?"
"No! Guy, this thing cheats!"
Everyone gasped.
"Oh, hell no!" Anne marched to the other side of the game board. "No one cheats on my girl!" she declared and grabbed the wart on the board.
With all her might, she tried to pull it off the board to flip it or smash it or whatever. Anne wanted to break it. But it wasn't budging.
"Why wouldn't you…come off!" Anne yelled with a strained voice.
"Anne, stop!" Marcy exclaimed, reaching over and pushing her back. "You're gonna break something!"
"The game's cheating, Marcy," Anne reminded her. "It's already broken."
"What're we gonna do?!" Frank yelled.
"I-I-I don't know!" Marcy exclaimed, her mind racing to come up with a solution. Was this game cheating part of the challenge? "What kind of challenge cheats?!"
"Well, think of something," Frank said, seeing that there were no other pieces on the board but himself and his froggy family. "Because we're the only ones—"
The base of Frank's queen piece glowed as she slid towards Hop Pop.
"Hop Pop, look out!"
"Huh?" The old frog turned back to see Frank in front of him. His lance raised over his head to hit him. He screamed and held up his lance to protect himself. Only for it to snap like a twig on impact with the larger weapon.
But it didn't end there, as Frank was forced to hit Hop Pop across the face, causing him a great deal of pain. He tried to stop himself, but the lance came back and struck him.
Hop Pop, grunting from the pain and having a swollen face, said, "Man, what a day."
"Hop Pop!" Fearful of his grandfather, Sprig yelled to Marcy. "Marcy, do something!"
Anne gasped and turned to Marcy. "Do something!"
Marcy grabbed Hop Pop's piece. "All right, so what if it cheats?" she asked, slamming it down on the board away from Frank. "It's still not enough to beat me!"
Frank was moved towards the old frog.
"Shit, look out!" he yelled, but it was too late. Only Hop Pop's stone hate was protecting him when Frank's mace slammed down on him.
"OW! Have mercy!" Hop Pop pleaded.
Marcy tried moving him again, but then Frank came after him. Hitting him across the face again. She did it again, but then Frank came after him again. Hit the old frog in the back. Hop Pop was at his mercy, and while Frank didn't want to hurt him, the temple had no mercy to give. This led Hop Pop to scream in fear every time Marcy moved him away from the boy.
"The temple's not gonna stop until it kills him!" Anne exclaimed.
"I know that, Anne! I still have way more pieces. If I can just attack from a different angle, I should be fine," Marcy said, nervously chuckling, still believing that she could win if she just played far. But Hop Pop was running out of time.
He screamed before Frank hit him in the head with his lance, breaking the hat down to its base. Hop Pop shook his head, battered and bruised, and said," "Oh, I bet you're loving this, ain't ya?!"
"What, no!" Frank protested. "Look, I might be mad at you, but I never want to hurt you!"
"Well, you're already hurting me! Every time, you and Anne remind me of the mistake I made. Every time you say I let you down! I mean, what's it gonna take for you to let this go!"
Frank's guilt turned to anger as he glared at the old frog. "Are you kidding me?!" he yelled. "After what you tried to do to the box, you expect Anne and me to forgive you that quickly?!"
"Yes! No! I...I don't know!" Hop Pop said, tired of fighting with him and not being able to speak with the boy. "I just want to know what I can do to make it up to you!"
"There's nothing you can do, Hop Pop!"
"Please! Tell me! How can I make you forgive me!?" Hop Pop shouted, tears welling up in his eyes.
"You can't! You lied to me! You lied to everyone!" Frank snapped back. "You need to learn that there are consequences to your actions!
"I'm sorry! I... I couldn't help myself!"
"I don't want to hear your excuses!"
"But it's true!" Hop Pop insisted. "It…It's not just Sprig and Polly I was trying to protect!"
"Then what is it?!" Frank shouted, tears falling from his face. All of his repressed emotions flowed out. "What's more important than Sprig and Polly?! What could you've possibly been protecting that you would've gone as far as breaking our trust in you ?!"
"YOU!"
The declaration echoed through the room, shocking all who heard him. Anne gasped when she heard it. Marcy looked up with a surprised expression. Shocked by Hop Pop's declaration.
"Huh?" Frank looked at the old frog with widened eyes, not expecting to hear that from him.
"What?" Anne asked.
Seeing that this was finally his chance, Hop Pop lowered his head and sadly sighed. "It all started with the kids' parents, my son and my daughter-in-law. I failed to save them."
The frog kids looked at their grandfather with concerned expressions.
"Hop Pop," Polly said.
"That wasn't your fault." Sprig added.
Hop Pop raised his hand. He had to say this. "It was a few years ago. I was on a journey when herons attacked Wartwood," he said. "Sprig and Polly survived, but their parents weren't so lucky. And it's all my fault."
Frank looked at the frog that's been a grandfather to him in shock. He and Anne knew about the heron attack that killed Sprig and Polly's parents and Ivy's father. But to hear that Hop Pop blamed himself? That made his heart sink.
"If I had just been there... I know things would've been different! Ever since then, I swore I'd never let my family down again and that I'd do anything to protect them. So when I found out the box was dangerous, I lied to you and tried to destroy it. I thought I was protecting my family. But now I realize how foolish it was. It wasn't just Sprig and Polly I wanted to protect. By trying to get rid of the box, I thought I was also protecting you two. Frank, you and Anne are my family, too. But all I've done is let you down. I let us all down," Hop Pop said, breaking down into tears. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry! I'm just so sorry!"
There were no other sounds in the chamber but Hop Pop's sobbing. Sprig and Polly couldn't move to hug and comfort him; all they could do was watch with tears in their eyes as their grandfather broke down, blaming himself for something that was out of his control. For a long time, they knew that he'd held in that blame, yet here they were, seeing its full extent.
As tears flowed down his face, Frank turned to look at Anne. They were shocked, saddened, and guiltful. They were so mad at the old frog for how he'd betrayed them. They were angry because of how he lied to them and hid the box. Destroying the box would've prevented their chance to go home if anything bad happened to the box. They thought they mattered so little to him. And yet, he did it for them.
But could it really erase just how much it hurt them?
Turning to Hop Pop, he looked at him, not with fury, but sadness and conflicting feelings. "I'm sorry, Hop Pop. We shouldn't have been unfair to you. But you also have to understand that this can't be fixed with an apology. What you did…it hurt more than you can imagine. Because if we can't trust you, then…then dammit, who can we trust," Frank asked, crying in front of the old frog. "But I don't wanna lose another grandpa."
Hop Pop's eyes widened. "Does that mean…?"
Frank looked at Anne again. She looked away with an uncomfortable expression.
"No. Not yet. Please understand we…we'll need time," she said, looking down in shame. "I don't know if we can fully forgive you. I want things to be back the way they were, but right now, we need to work through these emotions. I do want to forgive you, but now, this is not the time."
Looking over his shoulder at her, Hop Pop nodded and said, "I'm sorry, Anne. You and Frank take all the time you need."
The Latino boy gently smiled and said to the old frog. "Thank you, Hop Pop."
This wasn't how Marcy wanted her first adventure with her friends to go. In her hubris, she'd ignored all the problems they'd had with each other. Only focusing on her fantasy and enjoyment. But now, there they were, beaten and broken. Amphibia was supposed to be the ultimate adventure, and yet, they were all hurting. How could she not see what was right in front of her?
That question hit her hard. Why didn't she? That's when she realized it. This was just like the ice cream machine. The play incident. The zoo incident. Nothing had changed. She hadn't changed. She was still focusing more on what was in her hands, what she was good at, and what brought her joy than seeing the disaster she was walking into.
"What am I doing," she asked.
Frank wiped away his tears. However, the game took control of his arms again. "No, no, no, no, no! Please!" Frank begged with the game as he prepared to attack Hop Pop.
"No!" Anne and Marcy screamed.
Frank strained, pulled, and pushed his arms. Anything to stop himself from killing Hop Pop. "Please, please, don't do this!" he whispered his pleas to the temple. "Leif…"
He saw her again. She was sitting on the head of the wart.
"Come on, give me something!" he shouted.
"I'm trying to think!" Marcy said, pulling her hair.
"You told me that my story didn't have to end the way the prophecy foretold!" he yelled, catching Marcy and the others off guard. "That it didn't have to end with me dying because of the unknown aggressor! Dying in Anne's arms!"
"What," Anne asked, her eyes widening. "Marcy, what's he talking about?"
"I-I don't know," she said, just as lost and shocked.
"Well, I don't want this kind of ending! I want the ending I want! One that Hop Pop lives," he yelled with his heart pouring out. "If you don't do something, that ending's gonna be gone forever! Please, I'm asking you. Give me your power!"
Leif shook her head.
"Why not, Leif?!"
She said, "You don't need that much power to kill a king." Leif knocked on the white wart. "A worthy King will have the wisdom to choose whether it's more important to win or have the humility to lose and save what's precious."
Frank wanted to yell at her. Demand her to give him the power to save everyone. But then he thought about what she said. It didn't take much to kill a king, even to himself. But a humble king knows when to quit.
"Marcy!" he shouted, struggling to keep himself from killing Hop Pop. "You need to forfeit the game!"
"What?!" Marcy and Anne exclaimed, looking at him like he was crazy.
"You need to quit! It's the only way to stop all this!"
"Wait, no! I can still win," Marcy desperately said.
"At what cost? If you make any more moves," Frank said, "you're going to kill one of us!"
"But…" Marcy looked at the board. "But if I don't win…we'll lose the game. I wouldn't be allowed back in!"
"Marcy, what's more important? Victory or us," Frank asked, his arm ready to strike. It took all of his willpower and strength to hold back the lance. "Listen…I…I don't know how else to explain it, but this game can't be won! You can't win fair and square, not without killing one of us. This is a game where you need to decide whether or not to give up."
Anne asked, "How do you know all this?"
Frank, with a strained face, said, "Because Leif told me."
This shocked Anne. Never once had she really thought Leif was real. She was honestly, really worried that he'd been losing his mind and conjured up someone to talk to whenever he was alone. It was mean, yes, and it's something that the girlfriend shouldn't be thinking about her boyfriend. But this wasn't like all those times he talked to Leif. This was far too real. It scared Anne to know what was going on with the boy she loved. Thinking that his mind's broken.
And yet, that small part of her brain, the part that believed Frank, took over.
"Do it, Marcy!" Anne said.
"Okay, you're right! Who cares about this stupid game? I forfeit!" Marcy declared, knocking over her wart.
"It's not working!" Anne screamed. Frank was still going to hit Hop Pop for the final time.
"Maybe we have to flip the big wart, too," Marcy said.
Her best friend reacted quickly. Taking her bow off her body, Anne notched an arrow and aimed at the back of Marcy's wart.
"Do it," she said.
Anne let the arrow fly. It hit the Frog King with enough force to knock it off its pedestal and fall to the ground. The frog squealed and moved its arms around like a dying animal before exploding.
It was finally over. It would've been much worse if Marcy had continued the way she'd been going. She placed her hands on her eyes and sank to the ground. She didn't see all the pieces on the giant board disintegrate into dust, from the intact ones to the pieces of the smashed ones. Frank and the Plantars were freed from their prisons, and then all the lights turned off.
Standing back up, Frank coughed and looked around. Sprig and Polly were still in one piece. Hop Pop, on the other hand, looked horrible with his injured body.
Walking over to him, Frank knelt and smiled. "Need a ride, old-timer?"
"I'm not that old," he said with a frown but a smile. "But, yes, thank you."
Frank had Hop Pop piggybacking on him as he and the frog siblings walked up the stairs and joined Anne and Marcy. The Thai girl was on the ground, comforting her best friend.
"Marcy? Marcy, what's going on," Anne asked, worried.
"Yeah, we're still alive," Polly said.
"You guys shouldn't have been put in danger in the first place," Marcy said, ashamed. "Even if I could've won, it wasn't worth you guys getting hurt. I got so caught up in proving I was smart enough to win I couldn't see what I was about to lose."
"Well, in your defense, that game was a ding dang cheat," Sprig exclaimed.
Polly joined in. "Yeah! I still think you're pretty smart. A little obsessive, though."
"Thanks, Sprig and Polly," Marcy said, finally getting their names right. Standing up, she looked at Frank with wonder. "But, Frank! How did you know that would stop the game?"
Frank smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Sometimes, all you have to do is ask for help from a friend."
"Sooooo," Polly said, eyes wide, "Frank's ghost friend is…Leif's real, huh?"
"Yeah…I guess she is," Anne said, fully realizing that all those times she denied the existence of Frank's ghostly friend, Leif, could've been standing right there.
"Uh, so," Sprig said nervously, "is she…is she in the room now?"
"Well…" Frank was cut off when a green light appeared out of the corner of his eye. It came from a series of green arrows. The temple was showing them exit signs that pointed to the way they came in.
"I got it, temple," Marcy said, not seeing Leif smiling as she waited for them. "I wasn't smart enough to win, but I can find the exit, okay?"
"So, is that it," Anne asked as they walked down the steps of the temple. It was already night outside, and they were exhausted. "We'll have to try again tomorrow."
"No. And since I lost, I'm not allowed back in the temple," Marcy said miserably. "You guys will have to try it all again without me."
Frank reached the bottom of the stairs and placed Hop Pop on the ground. Polly was the second to make it to the ground. "Hey, guys. The failure arrow wants us to keep going this way," she said, pointing to more arrows that led into the woods.
"Hey, Frank, doesn't Leif know where they go," Sprig asked, only to get a shrug.
Marcy sighed and said, "Well, if we're gonna lose, we might as well lose all the way."
Together, they ventured into the woods. Walking further and further away from the temple. Their journey came to an end when they approached a familiar building.
"What? The outhouse?" Sprig exclaimed.
Frank sighed in relief. "Uh, finally. I've gotta take a leak," he said, walking up to the outhouse. "Been holding it in all day."
But when he opened the door, his eyes widened in shock and wonder.
"Uh, guys," he said, stepping back to allow them to see what he saw. "You're gonna wanna see this."
Gone were the smells and the flies. The small space was glowing on the inside with hieroglyphs, ancient languages, and old symbols that hadn't been seen in thousands of years.
Marcy, with wide eyes, gasped. "No. It can't be. Guys, this is where we charge the stone!"
"Huh?!" Everyone exclaimed.
"But we failed!" Hop Pop said, looking at Frank. "Didn't we?"
Marcy walked into the outhouse and got down on both knees in front of the shit-hole. With her hand, she brushed off the dust.
"Uh, I wouldn't recommend touching that," Polly said.
Suddenly, the stall rumbled for a moment, making everyone gasp and step back. Then, cracking out of the hole, a pedestal with a small cut-out at the very top appeared. On the wall behind it, an Amphibian dialect appeared.
"Only the worthy will have the wisdom to choose whether it's more important to win or have the humility to lose," Marcy read from the text. "A choice was made to save thy friends, and, honestly, doesn't that make you a winner in the end?"
"Huh, they kind of got lazy at the end," Frank said.
"Of course!" Marcy exclaimed. "Frank, Leif was right! Why didn't I think of it sooner? The temple wasn't just testing for intelligence. It was also a test for humility!"
"Well, don't give the temple a chance to change its mind," Polly said on Sprig's head. "Charge that bad boy!"
And Marcy did just that. Pulling the stone out of her bookbag, Marcy placed it into the hole meant for it. Then, she stepped back. Suddenly, the stone glowed a bright green, and so did Marcy's pupils. That coloring went away, just like how water is drained, as the power left her body and returned to where it belonged. This caused a blinding flash of light to emanate from the stone, and a powerful vortex of power pushed them back.
When it was all over, the light died, and the stone became green again.
"We did it," Anne asked.
"We did it!" Marcy cheered.
"Yay!" Everyone cheered together…
…only to scream and duck away when the stone shot out a green laser beam that went into the forest. Going God knows where. But as Marcy picked up the stone, she moved it around. Testing to see if it would make the laser change its trajectory. However, no matter where she moved it, it always pointed in the same spot, where it disappeared into the jungle.
"Guys, it's leading us to the next temple!" she said. "I should be able to triangulate its location with a bit of work." Marcy inhaled and threw her arms up. "Whoo! This just keeps getting better! Hey, do you guys wanna go straight to the next temple tonight or take a break first?
"Break, please," they all said.
"Fair enough," said Marcy as she walked out of the outhouse, followed by everyone else.
However, Frank stopped. The way he'd been treating Hop Pop was unfair. He couldn't stay mad at Hop Pop, especially with his secret. And if all secrets were coming out, he might as well share his.
"Wait!"
Everyone going to Joe Sparrow stopped and looked at him.
"I…I think I should tell you all something. Something that I need to all to see before we go on this journey," he said, pulling out his journal. Opening it, he turned the pages and landed on the first page, which explained his encounter with the mural. It had a drawing by him of the cave.
He showed it to Anne, who took the journal and stared at it with wonder as everyone gathered around.
"Oh, that's a…what am I looking at," Sprig asked, clinging to Anne's arm to look.
"Something I found in the caves of Quarrel's Pass," Frank said as Anne turned the page to the next drawing. Seeing how the mural had every one of their adventures on it. "What I said in the temple…it all has to do with some kind of prophecy. The mural in the cave had all of our adventures drawn. Everything that has happened has been recorded on this wall."
"Whoa," Sprig said as Anne turned the page to the humans destined to fight with the giant frog. "Hey, wait, I don't remember that happening."
"That's because it hasn't happened," Frank said.
"Hey, isn't that what you saw in the temple," Hop Pop asked.
"It's one of two certain events: where we fight something—an unknown aggressor." Frank paused and looked at Anne. He turned the page and showed the final mural. "And my death."
"What?!" Anne exclaimed with wide eyes, glancing between her boyfriend and the drawing.
"That was the last drawing that I saw on the wall," Frank said somberly, waiting for everyone to start yelling at him. Asking him how he could keep this a secret. "Everything else is things that have happened. Leif seems to know as much as I do. But…"
"B-But that can be stopped, right?!" Marcy asked, desperately wanting to know if it could be changed.
"That's what I would like to know. She said that this isn't so much a set future based on a greater power as a future that could happen because of our actions. This prophecy is all based on our actions, and this…this is the end of those actions."
"And you never brought this up," Anne asked angrily. "Why?"
"How was I supposed to, Anne," Frank asked. "This isn't exactly something that I can easily accept either. I mean…Am I supposed to die? That's something someone can just…walk normally without a limb in their steps. I didn't want to say anything because I knew we would all be reacting to something we don't fully understand."
"But does this mean something else, or is it just the first half of the ending," Anne asked, her mind racing for solutions faster than she could process those ideas. "If… this is supposed to be the last drawing, does that mean we don't go home?"
"Anne…"
"No! I don't believe this means you die!" Anne yelled, fists turning white from how hard she was clenching them. "I don't believe this is the end!"
"I…" Frank was almost knocked over when his girlfriend ran into him. Hugging him as tight as possible.
"I…I can't lose you." Anne sobbed, her face on his shoulder. Tightening her hold on him.
Frank hugged her back. "I'm not going anywhere," he said, smiling lovingly and kissing the top of her head. Anne pulled away and kissed him on the lips. Both of them moaned lightly before pulling away.
"Alright, you all wait out here while I use it," Frank said, pointing to the outhouse with this thumb.
Marcy, confused, asked, "What?"
"I've gotta use it."
Now understanding, Marcy gasped in appalledness. "FRANK!"
"Hey, it's their fault for putting a fucking toilet as the end goal. It's staring me right in the eye, and I've gotta take the biggest dump," he said.
"You can't really be thinking about defecating into a two-thousand-year-old temple!"
Blushing, Anne raised her hand and pulled the edge of the skirt down a little. "Actually, I wouldn't mind using it, too," she said.
"ANNE!"
"Oh my Frog, finally," Sprig said exasperatedly. "I've been dying to let out breakfast!"
"I'm not going on one of those brain mushrooms," Polly said.
"I really need to," Hop Pop admitted.
"...All right, fine. I could go too," Marcy said, giving up. "But what are you gonna use for toilet paper?"
Frank looked at her.
"Marcy?"
"Yeah?"
"Are you using your cape?"
Marcy's face turned to a look of horror. "Oh hell no!" she yelled, running away.
"Hey, get back here!" Frank yelled as everyone ran after Marcy. "Don't go setting it on fire again!"
Well, it looked as though everything was back to normal. At least, that's what the salamander watching the group of friends thought. From his spot in the trees, Tenshin was drawing in a sketchbook. His new drawing for the mural. One of what was undoubtedly many, many more.
"I hope you're ready for what is in store for you, star-child," he said, disappearing into the night and forest.
Back in Newtopia, Yunan had returned home empty-handed. She'd never felt more humiliated in all her life. She always gets her man. No matter the threat facing the kingdom, if the enemy was pirates or invaders from other lands, the general always brought back a head and a story to try and flirt with the king's advisor. And yet here she was, matching down the halls of the castle, drenched in water, dripping all over the floor, and looking like the most miserable general in history. What was worse was that Olivia was walking beside her.
The graceful lady-newt was glancing at the general who would have tried flirting with her. Olivia tried desperately to keep her lips closed. To hold in the giggle. A bit of it slipped.
"Not a word," Yunan said.
"I didn't say anything," said Olivia, smirking and opening the door to the throne room.
Andrias was sitting on his throne, lost in his thoughts, when Yunan approached.
"My Lord." Yunan knelt before her king.
"Yunan! I…uh, what happened to you," he asked after seeing the state she was in.
"D-Doesn't matter!" Yunan said, blushing out of embarrassment. "The political situation is worsening, Your Highness. What started as a small valley riot is quickly becoming something more. The frogs are getting bolder. Not only that, the toad lords have agreed to meet. This could spell disaster. If we don't act, we'll be looking at a full civil war.
Andrias sighed. "How disappointing," he said. This had been coming for a long time.
"And the traitor, Grime, is still at large and is currently being aided by a—aah!" Yunan yelped when a messenger wasp entered the room and flew past her.
Seeing that it had a scroll, Andrias laughed and took it. The wasp flew off. Putting on his glasses, he opened the seemingly tiny scroll and read it. "Why, it's a message from Marcy. Looks like they're making progress," he said with excitement and stood up. "That's enough for now, Yunan. I'll handle the rest."
"Sire?" Yunan asked, but she wasn't able to stop him. Andrias was already walking out the door, confusing even Olivia.
Walking down the corridors of the castle, Andrias walked away from all of the busier lanes and hallways. This was a part of the castle rarely visited before—the memorial of his father, the king who came before him, Aldrich.
Looking at the statue was like looking at the sun. He wanted to look away, but forced himself to look to show reverence. Andrias remembered when he was still alive. Despite Andrias' best attempts to please his father, Aldrich showed little warmth towards his son. There was one thing the old king loved more than his own son, and that was Amphibia. More specifically, what his family did for the world, he truly believed in his family's legacy. A mindset and world-view he'd passed onto his son. Andrias failed his father once. He will not do it again.
Grabbing one of the nearby statue's arms (which held a glowing coral), Andrias pushed it up. Activating a secret passageway at the base of Aldrich's memorial. Taking the bright coral, he descended into the darkness. Passing by the many shadowfishes in the underground area of the castle.
He'd been waiting 1,000 years for this moment. The moment when he would finally take what was rightfully his. Fulfilling his own destiny. There had been some setbacks. He was sure that when Frank and Anne came to the city, they would have brought the box with them. They didn't. They instead brought Hellcat's Claw. He shouldn't take the scythe. Said it would be important to have it with him or that it would be better served in a museum. That weapon would serve to unite all of Amphibia against him if Frank became his enemy.
And yet, Frank didn't want to wage war. Not yet, anyway. Andrias needed it to stay that way. At least until the time was right, and that time was coming. He still needs to serve his purpose, he said to himself.
Reaching the end of the spiral stairs, Andrias placed the coral into a holder. The chamber he was in was dimly lit, with small yellow lights coming out of small ventilation holes. In front of him, there was complete darkness. Yet, Andrias knew it was still there.
Two thousand years ago, the Leviathan family overthrew the Frog King. Why? For all the power of Amphibia. They brought forth a glorious new age that was now all but forgotten. All because of Andrias' failures. And from that golden age arose something unnatural. Something the Leviathan family would see for the greatness that it was.
Getting down on his knees, Andrias placed his crown on the ground in the middle of the circular floor. "The prophecy is being undone as we speak, my lord," he said, looking up. Soon, we will have our revenge."
Awakening the beast that would destroy all, Andrias' master opened its massive glowing orange eye. Then, it opened its eight other surrounding eyes, which had smaller, lighter-shaded pupils.
This was an atrocity against God and nature. And Frank and his friends were playing right into their hands.