Hop Pop had screamed his throat raw and was gasping for air after 10 minutes of flight, holding onto Owlbert like his life depended on it.
"You can relax, Hop-Pop." Eda smirked, not even looking at the terrified frog. "It's a long ride but should be smooth sailing…as long as there are no planes."
"Planes?" Hop-Pop asked.
"I think she means that metal bird filled with humans." Maddie said, pointing to such a plane flying a bi away from them. Sprig., holding onto her waist (which made her blush) waved at the people, who, when the group was no longer there, having sped up, would chalk up what they saw to exhaustion or a bad drink.
Polly smiled at the sight of the plane; if Anne's world could do that, fixing Frobo should be no problem, right?
Speaking of Anne, the Thai girl was nuzzled into Oliver's chest as he flew, fighting to stay awake in his arms. She wanted to drink in the sight of her boyfriend in this new form, but he was so warm and buddly this was insanely difficult!
Olivier for his part, while very much enjoying having Anne in his arms and having no problem with her dozing off, was awestruck at the stars he and the others flew under and the clouds uinderneath them. If only they weren't on a mission right now, this would be a beautiful place for flight practice…heck, maybe his magic would work better among them.
But for now, that would have to wait…mostkly because he spied his mother admiring the scene with a gentle smile on her face.
"If you need a break, just lemme know." She smiled. "there are a buncg of small towns and diners we can grab a bite and rest."
"Thanks mom. I think I'm good for a bit." Olivier admitted. "Maddie? You…Maddie?"
Concerned at Ollie's concern, Anne stirr3ed and looked over his winged shoiulder…omnly to squeal at what she saw.
As they flew on Fangora (who Olivier could swear was smiling and looking at the same scene), Maddie and Sprig admired t6he stars, Maddie even grabbing some cloud and flinging in on to Sprig, giving him a moustache. Polly, laughing at this, have herself a judge's wig out of some of the excess cloud.
"This reminds so much of Aladdin and How to Train your dragon." Anne whispered. "But so much cuter."
Oliver smiled at the scene behind him.
"Careful kids!" Hop-Pop called out. "No telling what's in those clouds…Oh, who am I kidding? Have some fun but mind you don't fall!"
The trio of youngsters cleared off the clouds before Polly suddenly asked:
"Are we there yet?"
"No." Eda said. "About…two more hours to go. We should be in Los Angeles for breakfast."
The kids all groaned, minus Olivier, who suddenly found some cloud on his face
"Sorry, dude." Anne chuckled. "Couldn't help it."
Oliver just smirked and did a loop, getting cloud all over a squealing Anne's hair.
"…Eh, I like your natural color better." Oliver confessed, clearing the cloud off. He was rewarded with those words with a kiss.
"Oh come on! There's impressionable youth here!" Hop-Pop called out.
"I've seen kissing before!" Poilly retorted. "And King's asleep again!:"
"No I ain't!" King called out, popping out from Eda's hair. "The ground from here is way more colorful than back home! Also, looking to see if Olivier's new form has any weaknesses I can exploit!"
20 minutes later
"Are we there yet?" Maddie asked.
"Not yet." Anne replied.
30 Minutes later
"Are we there yet now?" Hop-Pop begged.
"No." Oliver replied.
40 minutes later
"Are. We there. Yet?"
"Sprig…if we were there, would we still be flying?!" OIivier snapped, a glow overcoming him.
"Ollie!" Anne gasped, holding onto him for dear life as he and Fleetwing separated.
"OLIVER!" Eda and Maddie gasped, rushing to their son and best friend, especially when they saw that Olivier's 'mangled' arm had barely healed. Fortunately, Fleetwing quickly shifted into staff form and caught his master. Anne landed righty behind Oliver and hugged him…but the boy didn'ty seem in any pain.
"Aw ding dang darn it…I liked having wings!" he pouted. "And relax mom, like I said, my good arm is still…"
WHAM!
"ANNE! OLIVER!"
The two older kids were suddenly knocked off Fleetwing by….
"A robot?!" Sprig called out
Indeed, Cloakbot had finally caught up to his targets, chuckling evilly as they fell. He quickly grabbed Fleetwing and tossed him aside, focused on killing Anne and Oliver. Fleetwing skydived towards the attacker, claws to the ready
"OLLIE!" Anne screamed in fear, a blkue glow overtaking her as she desperately reached for the boy she loved. Cloakbot then grabbed her and m,orphed his free hand into a ray, aiming at her.
"NO!"
Olivier floated upwards, his arm suddenly healed…and what goit Cloakbot to release Anne was that Olivier's magic seemed…. different; what once was pure dark or light magic was now….it looked like the night sky.
Fleetwing finally attacked, ripping out one of the robot's eyes and making it release Anne, who flew over to Olivier and cupped his face, her glow suddenly going away as Oliver's own eyes returned to normal. Fleetwing abanonded fighting the roboit, morphing into staff mode and saving the two….
"HEY! RUST BUCKET!"
Cloakbot turned to see an enraged Eda spinning a spell circle as she fell towards him. She then willed the circle forward, hitting the robot assassin head on and sending him flying back…right into ANOTHER plane's rooftop many meters away. A plane heading to New York City.
BOILING AMPHIBIA
An alarm suddenly went off in Newtopia Castle, pulling Darcy and Andrias from, overseeing their army squash the last of the Grubhog's resistance. the current king made his way over to the screen and watched Cloakbot's utter trouncing by an aged but surprisingly attractive figure (if you liked human, he mused).
"Intriguing." Andrias mused, quickly typing in and forwarding several upgrades to Cloakbot. "Seems you were right after magic being a bigger comncern my…my lord?"
Within Darcy, Aldrich Levithan was having a panic attack. For as harsh as he was on Andrias, the previous king had an embarrassing secret: He had screwed up his first invasion too.
The younger Aldrich, a ruthless warmonger even after, had decided to take a gamble on an oddity within the music box's database: He had gone to a world filled with magic and despite insane weather filled with kind and weak 'savages.' The odd thing was that the world was very close to another planet; Earth.
The moment Aldrich and his army arrived, they had wasted no time in attacking…only for the savages to reveal they had magic.
In the end, all Aldrich got from the Boiling isles was a raging case of accelerated aging and a dislike of anything red and or orange. Sure, his other three invasions were massive successes, but the first failure had always haunted him.
Then there was the fact that several of his soldiers had abandoned the army and taken up residence on the Sunken Isles in the Acid sea, which was populated by frog demons.
And now it seemed like his failure would be coming back to cause them all trouble.
Andrias for his part, delighted in not having to deal with his master, while pondering if this more powerful witch could help free Marcy….
DING!
Getting a notification that Cloakbot had received the upghrades and was repairing, Andrias added another command:
3) Procure and transport the stronger witch
2) get the book (Cynthia Coven 2) and snacks (Potato chips and Cupcakes with Ume frosting)
1) Kill Anne and Olivier
BOILING AMPHIBIA
After the Cloakbot attack, the group landed and spent a few hours at a motel next a greasy but tasty diner that was open late. In doimng such, they wiped out most of Eda's cash, but Anne went to sleep knowing that the remaining trip was now only an hour away.
Mother, son and monster had all shared a simple look and then taken a nap.
When the Plantars and Maddie awoke, they saw they were on the staffs, held together by roots and King while Eda and Olivier commanded them, passing a sign that read 'Hollywood.'
"Oh, hey! Morning guys!" King waved. "Just thought we'd let you sleep in…."
Anne's eyes watered as she realized where they were.
"Welcome home, Anne." Eda smiled. "Just point the way."
BOILING AMPHIBIA
Meanwhile, in Washington DC, a tall man in a purple suit with a green flower in his breast pocket and wearing glasses, known to his superiors as Mr. X, was having breakfast with his husband while squeezing in a few episodes of Judge Judy when he got the notification.
"Oh, new assignment?" his husband asked in a cheerful, curious tone.
"Looks like it. Weird energy and UFOs…huh, humanoid shape…. right here in California, no less!"
The couple smiled; yes, this may be another false alarm, but hey, it was better than being called away for a week or two. Heck, the only time the job HAD been worth it was in that small town, but the OSI had jurisdiction there most of the time, so…
Giving his husband a raised finger to wait a moment, Mr. X grabbed his phone and speed-dialed his number one.
"Jenny, grab your laptop and meet me at HQ in the morning! We got a big one!"
BOILING AMPHIBIA
After some more flying and keeping Sprig out of trouble the assembled group, with the witches wearing hoods, found themselves in a suburb.
"My house..." Anne gasped, fighting to keep her emotions in check. "This is really happening. I'm gonna see my parents."
Oliver gently clasped Anne's hand with his own, offering her a warm smile. Eda smiled as well.
Maddie's smile was a sad one; missing her father and sisters
"So... It's too early to call them 'mom and dad', right?" Sprig realized. "Should I call them 'Mr. and Mrs. Boonchuy?' Are they tongue-shake people?"
"Sprig, for crying out loud!" Maddie groaned, her patience with him growing shorter. "No humans have tongues like us!"
"Well, not entirely true…" Eda mused. "I met two rockstars with almost frog like tongues…"
"Okay... " Anne, opening the compost and recycling bins, motioned for the frogs to enter. "You four should probably hide in here for the time being. I want to ease them into all of this slowly. And when the time is right, I'll signal, "Caw caw!" DO NOT come out until you hear that."
"Or, just throwing this out there," Olivier suggested. "You don'ty come out until you hear Fleetwing and Owlbert."
Anne paused and then smiled.
"Good call, Ollie. Oh... And I'm not going to tell them I plan to go back and stop Andrias. Or that Andrias betrayed us. Or that Marcy did. Or that Sasha did. And not A WORD about my weird glowing blue powers! Wow... There's a lot going on... "
"Got it. So, no magic either?" Oliver guessed, getting a nod in response.
"….Yeah, no. Going to have to say nope to all that." Eda said, surprising the two kids and even herself. "This is huge for you humans, an tyrant from another world? Sure, you have stories about that, but you've never fought one, have you?"
Anne opened her mouth, but no answer came to her. Eda then knelt down top her level, smiling sweetly.
"Anne, sweetie. I get that you want to handle this. And yeah, it's true your parents don't have powers like you do. But….don't shut them out. As someone who's only talking to her folks thanks to Ollie?"
She shot her son a look, and he looked down at his feet in embarrassment and pride as Eda continued.
"….I can't tell you how supportive and helpful they can be, even if you don't realize it. Besides, they raised you, the kind and kick-butt girl who kept my Ollie happy and safe; I think they'll come around. And besides, are you forgetting that Im the Most powerful witch on the Boiling Isle? The Woman who one-shot your robot assassin?"
Anne and Ollie chuckled at that.
"Sorry Eda/mom." They said together, hugging the older woman. Eda sighed into the hug, reaqlzing that maybe she could still cut the kids some slack.
"Fine, we'll ease them in today…but they hear the truth by the end of the week!"
Anne and Olivier saluted as King snuck his way out of Eda's hair.
"And don't forget the king of demons!" The little monster said as he nestled his way into the recycling bin. "Cool! A potential; minion on fire!"
Tensing at that with worry, the trio prepped for getting this over with
"Um, where do we hide?" Olivier asked.
"You don't." Eda and Anne said together, pushing the boy forward.
"Wait, what? Annie, mom, no! Its too soo…!"
Anne kissed Oliver, calming him down.
"I want mom and dad yo meet the mnice, kind, strong and handsome boy yho saved me." She cooed, nuzzling against Olivier.
"I on the other hand? Will stay at the steps!" Eda smirked. "Now. Knock, girl."
Anne took a deep breath, clasped Olivier's hand and rose her knuckles.
"Here we go…"
BOILING AMPHIBIA
It was a day off for the Boonchuy parents; Thai Go was being managed by their trusted manager as they did what they did every other off day; try to keep themselves from worrying about their daughter; Bee by playing his games and Oum by baking another birthday cake.
Their only child, missing for 5 months ever since her birthday. The light of their lives. Where was she? Had they done something?
KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!
Startled out of her stirring, Oum made her way to the door.
"I'm coming! I'm coming!" she groaned, opening the door and praying for it to not be a salesper….
The world went silent. There, standing right there, was her daughter.
"….Hi, mom." Anne waved weakly.
Oum's eyes teared up. She dropped the cake batter bowl and hugged the girl in front of her, opraying this was real…!
It was!
Here was her baby girl, safe and sound and laughing tearfully as they hugged.
"What was that noise?" Bee Boonchuy, taken away from his World of Machina campaign, stuck his head out. "Everything okay?"
"DAD!" Anne called out tearfully.
"Anne?!" Bee gasped, rushing to and joining the embrace. "Anne! You're back! You're safe!"
Anne smiled and kissed her parents before she heard a familiar meow
"Domino! Come here, my precious baby!"
The Boonchuy parents released their daughter so that she could hold her cat, who nuzzled into her before Bee and Oum took Anne into another hug.
"Where have you been?! What happened? Have you eaten?" Oum asked, then spying leaves and twigs in Anne's hair. "Your hair is a mess!"
Anne sighed; she'd missed her mother worrying over.
"It's a really, really long story." She admitted. "All I can say is that….I got lost on my birthday and I'm sorry.
The parents hugged her once again.
"You're here now." Bee smiled.
"I…I had help." Anne admitted, looking over her shoulder to see Olivier trying to sneak away, only top be pushed by his mother and Fleetwing.
"What if they hate me?! What if…?!"
"No what ifs, Ollie! Everyone's got to do this, even you!" Eda smirked, looking up and giving a bow. "Hello, Mr. and Mrs., Boonchuy! My name is Eda Clawthorne and the boy trying to hide from you is the boy who helped get your daughter back home: My son, Olivier."
Fleetwing landed on the railing to the stairs, leaving his master to face the looks of his girlfriend's parents, who, still holding their daughter, made their way to him.
"….Um…I-I…"
Oliver was taken off guard when Bee and Oum took him into a tearful embrace, thanking him in Thai and English at hurried paces and tears in their eyes. Anne managed to sneak in and nuzzle Oliver's nose and reached for his hood. Oliver raced to stop her, but Oum grabbed his arm
"Please…Please let me and my husband see the face of the boy who brought our baby back."
His will crumbled and Olivier let Anne take off his hood, revealing his dual colored eyes, red hair and…
"HEAVENS BOY! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR EARS?!" The Boonchuys gasped in horror and worry.
"A bitch of a brat." Eda growled as Owlbert came to life and cooed at the two humans before joining Fleetwing.
It was then that Oum and Bee realized something was off. Eda smirked as she unwound her scarf, revealing her pointed eyes.
"I'm a good witch, don't worry." She smirked, bowing sluight. "Your daughter saved my son. I know its unlikely, but I swear I'll pay you baclk someway."
Oum's jaw dropped as Bee's lit up. A real witch?!
Any questions he had were postponed when the compost and r3ecyliung bins (the latter of which was smoking) suddenly fell over, revealing….
"AND WE'RE THE PLANTARS!" Hop Pop announced. "The loveable frog family Anne and Oliver have told you all about!"
"HOP MPOP THAT WAS NOT THE SINGLE!" Polly screamed, half chatsizing her grandfather and help keeping Frobo away from, the flaming Furby that King was waving around.
"WAAAH! WAAAH! CALL 9LL! GET THE HOSE!" The little monster beamed. "THIS MINON'S FIRE MAGIC IS UNCONTROLLABLE!"
"Hey there., Mr. and Mrs. Anne's parents!" Sprig smiled with a jaunty saulte. "The name's Sprig Plantar; Anne's best friend and walking talking frog!"
A fly buzzed by before Sprig's tyongue lashed out and swallowed it.
"Sorry, I tried." Maddie, suddenly appearing beside Oum and giving a bow. "Pleasure to meet you, lady Boonchuy."
While Oum's jaw was just slacked, Bee acted like many would in his situation: He fainted.
"….Eh, still better than when I met the Whispers." Eda mused.
"…HOW?!" Oliver gasped.