Skylar's P.O.V

Spring has just begun in the land of Amphibia which meant more beautiful flowers, which meant more pollen in the air, which lead to my hay fever giving me hell. Great.

Anne has told me that she had the music box when she got transported here and that it was with Hop Pop's 'contacts'. Right now I was sitting in the main room of the Plantar's house, on my phone, trying to pass the time. I had ditched the armour I got back at Toad Tower and went back to my dirty school uniform and shorts with my hoodie around my waist. Anne and Sprig were out front somewhere, Anne had asked me to join but I didn't really feel like it. Polly and Hop Pop had gone into town for something so I was all by myself.

'Yoo Hoo!' I hear faintly hear Hop Pop say from outside.

'Yo Sky! Get out here!' Anne says after.

I pull my earphones out and put them into my pocket before opening the front door to see everyone standing around a Wagon/house thingy.

'This here's an all-terrain, custom-modelled family wagon, calling it the 'Fwagon''.

'Fwagon? Really?' Anne deadpans.

'Cheep too' Hop POP continues to try and sell it.

'The previous owners died in it' Polly said from atop Hop Pop's head.

'That's not terrifying at all' I mumbled, taking a place next to Anne. 'Why do you guys need a new wagon?'

'Fwagon' Hop Pop corrected.

'Not calling it that'

'Well, with the snow melted and the mountain pass open, we can finally travel outside the valley to...' 'NEWTOPIA!' Hop Pop explained.

I had read about Newtopia in one of the random books that were in me and Sasha's room. Usually I don't like to read but after the Lily Paddingten incident I wasn't able to do much else.

'What's in Newtopia' Anne asks.

Hop Pop opened the doors to the Wagon/Fwagon to let us all in. He opened up a map of Amphibia onto the table, showing us where Newtopia was.

'It's the beating heart of all of Amphibia. A bustling metropolis full of ancient knowledge, run by the wisest of Newts. If anyone can help you two get home, it's them!'

'So mystical!'

'I can't believe it. You mean this could actually be our ticket home! Not only that, but maybe out on the road we'll find Marcy' Anne says, giving me a smile.

'You betcha. Pack your things kids. We leave tonight!' Hop Pop declares which caused Sprig, Polly and Anne to cheer.

Polly and Sprig quickly ran out of the Fwagon/Wagon. 'We're going to Newtopia!'

'Say, Anne, Skylar, since you two don't have a lot to pack, could you give Chuck the spare key when he swings by?'

'Who's chuck?' Anne asked.

'We played Bugball together' Sprig tried to remind her.

'He grows Tulips' Polly adds.

'Eeehhhh, Nope, not ringing a bell. Why does he need a key?'

'Because I hired him to protect the house from all the things waiting to destroy it'

'Wait, what?'

'An empty house is vulnerable, Anne. Needs protectin'. Not to mention our crops, the very heart and soul of a farm. Left alone to face wildfires, locusts, tornados, flaming locust tornados. Anyway here you go' Hop Pop said before passing Anne the key and walking back inside.

'I didn't realise you guys are risking so much to help me' Anne softly says.

'Eh, he's just being dramatic' Sprig casually says before our attention was drawn to a house that was completely destroyed by a flaming locus tornado. 'Mostly'

'Starting to feel a little guilty about all this' Anne fidgets a bit.

'Well at least Chuck's gonna handle it' I encouraged. 'Whoever that is' I added on.

The two of us turned around at the sound of a snail chirping followed by a carriage holding an extremely buff frog.

'Chuck!' Anne says in awe.

'Actually I'm Dave' he explained. 'That's Chuck' he points to a smaller frog with a hat.

'I grow Tulips'

Chuck spits at an ant hill looking pile of dirt which caused a scorpion-ant thing to emerge and attack him. How this guy was meant to protect the house I have no idea.

'No, no! There's no way that this guy can handle the job. The house is doomed and it's all my fault. Unless...'

'Where are you going with this?'

'Chuck, buddy, turns out we won't need you after all, because we're gonna disaster-proof the house ourselves'

'We are?'

'Yes. Okay, first we need supplies. They have to be the best supplies. Cause the Plantars are risking everything for us'

'Mainly you' I say.

'Whatever, they're risking their home, livelihood, their frog-hoppin future. And that means they deserve the best, right?'

'I mean... it's a shovel' the store clerk answered.

Oh yeah we were somehow now in the store now.

'I'll take ten!'

Anne passed me half of the things we bought before heading to some wood shop.

'Oh! Hiya, Anne. Let me guess. Disaster-proofing your house?' The axolotl asks as he greets Anne.

'Oh yeah. I got everything I need for the house. Just need something for the crops' Anne explained. 'The very heart and soul of a farm' she added going extremely intense for a second. 'You got anything for that?'

'As a matter of fact, I do' he says. I don't know why but what he said was missing something.

'Hmm, that was weird'

'Yeah didn't feel right' the Axolotl says before pulling back a curtain to reveal a barrel of toxic looking goo. 'Behold! My latest concoction. This gunk won't just protect your crops, it'll awaken a power within them. A power some would say that's better left-'

I roll my eyes at the cryptic warning before I interrupt him. 'We'll take it'

'Wait really? Don't you wanna hear the rest of my cryptic warning?'

'Hmmm Nope!' Anne confirms.

'Works for me. Cash or credit?'

We payed for the goo and rolled it out of the store, back to the Plantars house.

'Thanks Loggle!' Anne calls out as we leave.

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'Looking pretty good if I do say so myself' Anne says as we look at the almost completely disaster proof house. 'How'd you learn to set up defences so well Sky?'

I think back to all the times Marcy had raised my base when we were playing games. 'You'd be surprised how educational videogames can be' I said.

'Ok... now for the final touch' Anne's says before we read the label on Loggle's goo. 'Let's see here, give your crops a fighting chance with Loggle's miracle glob, blah blah blah. Boom Baby!' Anne skips over the warning and kicks the brawl onto all the crops.

The crops glowed a strange green before returning to normal.

'I really hope this doesn't bite us in the back'

'Whelp let's get the Fwagon loaded, shall we?' We hear Hop Pop say as he's followed by Polly and a tired looking Sprig.

'Whoa Sprig, are you ok?'

'Yes. Great, how are you?

'Wow, Chuck really outdid himself. Ain't nothing happening to this place while we're gone' HP says, admiring me and Anne's handy work.

Just then the ground started to rumble like crazy. All the crops suddenly came to life, growing arms and legs and eyes.

'Veggie monsters!'

'I've had this nightmare before'

'Oh wow, how could this have happened?' Anne said in a not so convincing tone.

'I tried to tell everyone that vegetables were evils but they never listened!' I complain.

'Don't worry fam. I got this. Fly true silver-' Sprig was cut off by his slingshot hitting him in the face.

One of the monsters grab Polly and let out a screech.

'All right, everyone, action time!' Anne orders causing everyone to pull out their weapons, mine being my shield.

We managed to take out all the Veggie monsters pretty quickly.

'We did it! And the house is undamaged!' Anne said before the ground started to rumble again.

All the plants merged together to make one giant monster. It started to walk forward before it got its foot stuck in one of the mouse traps Anne and I had set up. I roared out in pain and tried to shake it off it's foot but lost it's balance. In an attempt to stay standing it started to stumble forward. Towards the house... The monster fell over right on top of the roof destroying the entire house.

'NO, Our Home!' The Plantars yelled.

I felt terrible, the Plantars just lost almost everything in a few seconds. I look over at Anne and she was a lot angrier than I was.

'The house. Everything I worked so hard to protect' The giant monster moved its foot to try and crush Anne but she side stepped out of the way. 'Oh you just made a big mistake buddy'

Anne ran up the monster's arm, slicing it as she went and stabbed its head before I could even comprehend what was going on. The monster fell over and fell apart. Anne standing among the rubble thankfully unharmed.

'Eat your vegetables'

'Anne! That was amazing!' Sprig exclaims, jumping into Anne's arms.

'You saved our tails!' Polly adds on.

''That was really cool' I smile.

'Yeah but the house' Anne sighs sadly.

'The important thing is we're all ok. It's not your fault a mysterious green energy turned the crops evil'

'Ummmmm'

'Actually, it is'

'Say what!'

'But why? How?'

'So, uh, funny story. I got rid of Chuck, then we fortified the house and maybeeeeeee... 'fedthecropssomeevilcursemagicLogglemade'

'You what!'

'I just wanted the house to be safe while you guys were taking this big trip for us' Anne explains.

'You guys really are putting a lot on the line for this' I agree.

'Girls, we're not taking this trip for you. We're taking this trip with you'

'We got your back no matter what!' Sprig exclaims. 'Even your back blondie' he adds and I smile down at the small Frog.

'Thanks fam. That... that means a lot to me. We can hold off on Newtopia. I'll fix the house first'

'No need' Hop Pop says before blowing some flower horn.

Suddenly a cloud of dust, tools and tulips comes rushing past, fixes the house and leave Chuck standing there.

'I grow tulips'

'Holy shi-' Anne cut me off with her hand and a family friendly response.

'Hoopa da boopa'

'Why do you think I hired Chuck in the first place?' Hop Pop laughs.

'Sorry we doubted you dude' Anne and I apologised to the tulip growing frog.

'I grow tulips' he replied simply.

'Yes he does' Hop Pop then ran over to the Fwagon and opened the door. 'All right kids. It's a two week journey to Newtopia so we better get going'

'Woo hoo! Yeah' Sprig and Polly yell as they run into the Fwagon.

'Hey Hop Pop. I was thinking, wouldn't it be a good idea to bring the music box with us on the trip?' Anne asked, and it did make sense.

'Oh, uh... no, no, no. Uh, it'll be safe with my contacts for the time being' Hop Pop responded nervously and I started to doubt these so called contacts even more.

'All right HP. I trust your judgment' Anne smiled.

Well let's get this Fwagon on the road!' He yelled, as we all entered the Fwagon. 'No turning back now!'

'Did we end up giving Chuck the key?' I ask.

'We're turning back now!'

This trip is gonna be fun.

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😁