[Several Minutes Earlier...]
Sprig is crawling on the floor, feeling overwhelmed.
"I can't do this...These things are so cool!" exclaimed Sprig, nearing his breaking point.
Sprig then looked up to the upper level where Anne and Olivier was,
and sees that they are BOTH pre-occupied with some other human.
(("Yeah. and then I said "Dude, you're gonna get caught", right? So obvious!")) spoke the human.
Sprig immediately 'springs' up, grinning behind his mask. "CHANCE!"
Sprig quickly turns around, stands up and goes to the biggest, brightest looking art piece.
"Tooouch..." spoke Sprig, as he touches various parts of the sculpture.
He touches glass, he touches barbed steel, he touches some cottons with his cheeks. "Feeling..."
Sprig then swings with a rope with cotton hanging towards the giant eye, and enjoys himself VERY much.
But, then...The rope he is swinging on suddenly breaks.
The cotton bounces down, passes through the red wheel, passes through a lever
and ends up lowering the lever with a sign that says: [Caution! Disassembly Lever.]
"Uh-oh..." said Sprig, realizing his error.
The Bizarre looking sculpture then falls apart, forcing Sprig ride the giant eye
as it starts rolling, causing serious structural damage as it rolls uncontrollable.
[Meanwhile...]
Back at the 'Construct-a-Carnivore store, Polly is about to finish her doll
(despite the relentless interference of the many human babies present.)
"Almost...DONE!, Ha!" Polly departs, only for more babies to get in her way.
One of the babies push Polly, making the doll fly through the air towards another baby.
That baby picks the doll up. "(*babbles*)" [Translation: "Destroy?"]
"No! Please!" exclaimed Polly, falling to her stubby knees. "I'm so tired...this madness needs to stop!"
"(*babbles*) [Translation: "Destroy."]
The baby breaks the doll...SLOWLY.
And, this is when Polly finally snaps.
"THAT'S...IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!" Polly runs, and screams to the babies.
a fight ensues, and All the now angry babies gang up on Polly.
"Can someone get the manager?!" exclaimed the mother of one of the babies.
[Meanwhile...AGAIN.]
Hop Pop (having finally made it out of the 'Hall of Scammers')
attempts to catch his breath near a large wishing fountain.
"(*chuckles*) Take that, Anne." huffed Hop Pop "Told you your world was easy-pea-(*GASP!*)"
Hop Pop is awestruck upon seeing just how many coins are in the fountain.
"It can't be. Thousands of coppers just there for the taking...FOR FREEEEEE?!"
Hop Pop quickly looks up at Anne and Olivier (who are STILL distracted by someone else.)
(("They didn't know it, but they ended up going to the same restaurant.")) said the Mystery Girl.
"CHANCE!" said Hop Pop...who proceeds to strip off everything but his pants and false glasses.
The Old Frog jumps into the Chlorined water, and starts filling his pants pockets with pennies.
This did NOT go unnoticed...
"(*GASP!*) We got a disrober stealing wishes in progress. Over." said Officer Mark.
[NOW.]
"GANGWAY! ANGRY MOMS COMING THROUGH!" screamed Polly, as angry mothers pushing baby strollers chased after her.
"SORRY!, I MAY HAVE TOUCHED SOMETHING!" exclaimed Spig, as random people leapt out of the way of the giant, rolling Eyeball.
"HELP ME, ANNE!, HELP ME!, OLIVIER!" exclaimed Hop Pop, who had turned GREEN and was being chased by Officer Mark.
"THE CURSED FOUNTAIN DID THIS TO ME!" continued Hop Pop. "YOU BOTH WERE RIGHT: EVERYTHING HAS IT'S PRICE!"
Amidst all the chaos going on, No One paid any attention to the light blue light
that proceeded to streak across the Mall like a living lightning bolt.
The streak headed towards the rolling Eyeball and snatched Sprig in the blink of an eye.
Second later, the giant eye (along with what was stuck to it) impacted a wall,
shattered and created a new, more abstract sculpture in it's wake.
a nearby woman notices it. "Honestly, I can't tell the difference. heeey...bada-bing."
Elsewhere, The bright streak finally comes to a stop.
Sprig looks to see who was now holding him up at arm's length.
At first, he thought it was Anne. But he quickly recognizes the new face. "oh, HEY...Olivanne, right?"
The fusion of Anne and Olivier scowls at the Pink Frog.
"I'll deal with you later." said Olivanne. "Now, where is Polly..."
Olivanne looks, and sees Polly close to being cornered by the angry mothers.
They then draw a circle of light, and tap said circle like a button.
The circle forms and orb that Olivanne grabs, and throws like a grenade.
The orb of light then expands into a large field of energy that slows time to a crawl.
Olivanne then runs like lightning again, grabbing Polly and circling back to Sprig.
Once Time resumes at a normal speed, the group of mothers pause. Confused at what just happened.
They then spot Olivanne sitting with Polly (who was hiding in Sprig's coat) at a bench, and rush over to them.
"Can I help you, ladies?" spoke Olivanne.
"Why, yes. We're looking for a ruffian who was making trouble for our little angels."
"never seen any "ruffians." spoke Olivanne. "but, you might wanna ask HIM."
Olivanne points to Officer Mark (who had just arrived there while chasing Hop Pop.)
Before he could catch the froggy old man, however. the Angry mothers surround him.
"You listen here, mister!" began one of the angry mothers.
"Aaaah!" Officer Mark begins speaking through his Walkie-Talkie.
"Headquarters, I've got a pack of M.I.D.'s. That is "Moms In Distress." Send backup..."
"...the manager!" exclaimed one of the mothers.
"SEND BACKUP!" repeated Officer Mark.
[Later, Outside the Mall.]
It was now sundown as Olivanne and the Plantars ran out of the Mall,
and proceeded to hide some distance away among some dumpsters.
As the group dropped down to catch their breath, Olivanne split back into Anne and Olivier.
(Fleetwing flew over, and perched nearby.)
"Well...guess we failed our trials." said Sprig.
"YOU THINK!?" exclaimed Polly.
"No no. *I'M* the one who failed all of you." spoke Anne, frowning.
"I shouldn't put you guys through all of this in the first place. It was too much, and too soon."
Olivier placed his hand on Anne's shoulder. "don't be too hard on yourself, Anne.
We learn more from our mistakes than we do our accomplishments."
Anne looked at Olivier...and then managed a smile.
"Oliver is right, Anne: You shouldn't feel too bad." spoke Hop Pop.
"As it turns out, we could stand to learn a few things about your world."
Anne breathed out, feeling a little better...but not that much.
"STILL...I really thought throwing you into the deep end would work. I mean, it worked for me in Amphibia."
This statement made the Frogs all burst out in laughter.
"What?!" exclaimed Anne, not getting (or appreciating) their laughter.
"oh, Anne. You barely survived." said Hop Pop.
"Yeah. Remember when she was looking at her phone, and walked right into that pool of quicksand?" said Polly.
[Flashback of Anne being sunk in a pool of quicksand, and the Plantars having to rescue her.]
"Or when she was napping outside and a swarm of Skullsuckers tried to carry her away?" spoke Sprig.
[Flashback of Anne asleep while being carried off by Skullsuckers, and the Plantars are going to rescue her.]
"I don't even remember that last part." said Anne.
"Don't forget that time you turned into a Zombie." spoke Olivier.
[Flashback to a "Zombified" Anne emerging from the Plantar's Basement]
Anne looked at Olivier. "Okay, I DEFINITELY don't remember that happening!"
"Well, *I* do." said Olivier. "It was when you wanted to make and eat a home made Pizza.
And since Tomatoes were 'too dangerous', you used Hop Pop's weird purple mushrooms as toppings-"
Hop Pop grimaced, not wanting to hear *this* story.
"-You then started acting weird for a few days after, before turning into some Fungus Zombie,
and I spent all night picking toadstools off of you, while you kept biting me like a crazed animal."
Olivier then looked at Hop Pop. "say...Why DID you have a vial of that stu-"
"AHEM!..." Hop Pop, cleared his throat LOUDLY.
"the point IS that we were always looking out for you, Anne. Even if you didn't always notice."
Anne smiled at her Frog Family. "Thanks, guys. (*hugs the Plantars*)
I had no idea. And I'll try to do better about easing you into this place."
Olivier stared for a moment...before shrugging, and joining in the hug.
After a long minute...Sprig then spoke: "I think we need to get Hop Pop to a shower."
"Oh, yes, please. My skin is burning." said Hop Pop.
[Later That Night...]
It was nightfall by the time Anne, Olivier and the Plantars got back home.
While Anne's mother was none too pleased over her being absent for so long,
It was quickly forgotten and everyone resumed their usual domestic activities.
Anne was now stepping outside into the backyard, and walking towards her mother's garden house.
Olivier had asked her to meet him inside, and the faint illumination from within
indicated he was indeed inside the glass house, so Anne power walked towards it.
As she opened the door, and entered the jungle-like interior.
She eventually found Olivier sitting at a table with a levitating light orb.
"Hi." said Olivier.
"um...hi." responded Anne. "So, what's up?"
"not much...I just wanted to spend some time with my 'amazing' girlfriend." said Olivier.
"oh..."said Anne, as she sat down at the table. "I'm sorry."
"for what?"
"For not being able to have that date that I promised you." said Anne.
"it's fine...I get it, things got kinda crazy back there." said Olivier.
"BUT, like my mother always said: "Tomorrow is Another Day."
Anne smiled. "yeah...it is."
"Besides, we don't need do anything fancy to have a good time." continued Olivier.
"I am perfectly content with just us...being here. sharing a nice, quiet moment."
Anne smiled, blushing a little. "yeah, I know...but I love you.
And I want to show it by doing something special with you."
Olivier smiled. "I know the feeling."
Anne then took a moment to look at the many levitating light orbs in the greenhouse.
"I still can't get over how beautiful these look." said Anne.
"It is a very simple spell to do." said Olivier "and doesn't require that much energy."
"I wish I could do that." said Anne.
"Who says you can't?, your Calamity powers is it's own kind of magic." said Olivier.
"ye-yeah, but...I can't control it as good as you can." said Anne, looking down.
Olivier looked at his girlfriend with soft eyes.
"Anne. there was I time where even *I* couldn't control my magic very well, either.
I still can't use it as good as my mother and Aunt can...but I am better than I used to be."
"Easy for you to say: You were raised around magic stuff." said Anne.
"But for me, it's still something New and BEYOND weird."
"Weirder than spending five months in a Steampunk Fantasy World full of talking frogs?" asked Olivier.
Anne didn't answer...she just looked away awkwardly.
"here. let me teach you how to do a light spell." said Olivier, scooting his chair closer.
"I'm not sure I can-"
"Lesson One: STOP doubting yourself." said Olivier, sternly.
"Magic is partly Mind over Matter: Keep believing that you can't...and you WON'T."
Olivier then took Anne's hands, holding them gently.
Anne blushed beet red, feeling even more awkward than before.
"Now...as you know, those Calamity Stones are divided by three aspects of the human spirit..." began Olivier.
"WIT, STRENGTH and HEART (or, the MIND, BODY and SOUL.) You hold the power of Heart, so-"
"I don't know WHY I was chosen as the keeper of 'Heart" spoke Anne, frowning.
"not when I used to make so many selfish mistakes in the past."
"Anne, the worst thing you ever did was trying to be a People Pleaser." said Olivier.
"Which 'technically' counts as caring about other people, and not wanting to hurt their feelings."
Olivier stared into Anne's eyes. "you NEVER once put yourself above everyone else.
So, even when you were at your worst...you still had a good heart that cared about other people."
Anne stared blankly at this. "huh...I never thought about it that way."
"now...close your eyes. and focus your heart on what you care for the most." said Olivier.
Anne closed her eyes, and tried doing that. She thought about all the people she cared about the most.
Her Parents, obviously...Sasha & Marcy...Hop Pop, Polly, Sprig...And, Olivier.
But after a few minutes, nothing happened. "I can't feel anything...I can't-"
"Don't use your mind, Anne. Your mind can deceive to you." said Olivier, guessing the problem.
"Don't *think* about what you care for, FEEL it. Trust what your heart tells you...it will never lie."
Anne breathed out, and closed her eyes again. This time, she cleared her mind and shut everything out.
she focused on what she felt DEEP in her heart...
...and strangely, this caused a gentle breeze to blow within the green house.
((*Ay ay ay ya. Ay ay ya...*)) whispered a voice in the wind.
((*Que que na-to-ra. You will understand. Listen with your heart, You will understand..."))
Her eyes still closed, Anne's body faintly glowed light blue (yet nothing else had changed.)
Olivier gently let Anne's hands open...and saw something flickering within her palms.
((*Let it break upon you, Like a wave upon the sand. Listen with your heart. You will understand.*))
Anne finally opened her eyes...and nearly gasped upon seeing a bright blue orb of light floating within her palms.
"I...I did it." spoke Anne, elated. "I DID IT!"
Olivier smiled at Anne. "I knew you could."
With a joyful laugh, Anne embraced at Olivier and kissed him (which made her light orb shine even brighter.)
Olivier blushed, smiling sheepishly. but hugged Anne back all the same.
"I'll do my best to help you with your powers." said Olivier.
Anne was about to say something...when she heard a noise. "what was that?"
Olivier heard it, too. and noticed the door creaked open. "I think...something is in her with us."
Anne quickly parted from Olivier, who then extended his index finger.
Olivier then pointed his now glowing fingertip forward, scanning the area for a threat.
"Whoever you are...SHOW YOURSELF!" spoke Olivier, in a warning tone.
"And if it's you trying to play a joke on us Sprig, then this isn't-"
"W-WAIT, IT'S ME!" exclaimed the mystery figure, as they revealed themselves.
Both Anne and Olivier froze...in shock at who was standing in front of them.
"mah...m-maddie?!"
[End of Part Fourteen]