Skylar's P.O.V

Anne, the Plantars and I were all sitting atop the Fwagon traveling through a desert landscape. Sprig was strumming on his fiddle and Anne was showing me pictures on her phone. Most of the photos were just of Domino but it was cool seeing some of the adventures she'd had while she was here.

'Geez, how many times have you almost died Anne?' I ask as she swipes through pictures of monster after monster.

'After the tenth I stopped counting' she answered.

I then pull her into a protective hug. 'I'm never letting you out of my sight again'

'Haha, relax dude it's fine' she laughs, pulling away from the hug.

We continue to laugh and look through Anne's phone until we come across a picture of Toad Tower. Suddenly I don't particularly feel like laughing.

'Huh, I don't remember taking this picture of Toad Tower' Anne says, showing the Plantars her phone.

'Oh, that was me. I wanted a little reminder of how we messed those toads up!' Polly explains.

'Heh, we sure did!' Hop Pop smiles.

'Y'know I've actually been working on a song based on the battle' Sprig says, grabbing his fiddle.

'Oh, am I in it?' Hop Pop asks.

'Maaaayyyyybbeeeee' Sprig answers.

'Hehehe, I'm in it' he giggles as he lies down with Anne, Polly and I.

'~there was a little frog who stood for revolution. The toads didn't like that so they tried to execute him. But thankfully our Anne stepped up to take the tower. And she saved Hop Pop, who.......... mostly hid and cowered. And cowered and cowered and cowered and cowered~'

'All right that's enough!' Hop Pop cut him off.

'Woohoo!' we all cheer and clap for Sprig.

'Great song dude' Anne comments.

'Honestly pretty accurate' I said.

'Yeah that was awesome!' Polly exclaims.

'What? Awesome? Accurate? It's missin all the context! Like what about the time I courageously ran for mayor? Or that time I stood up to those nasty tax collectors?' Hop Pop complains.

I'd almost forgotten about those tax collection missions.

'Eh, boring' Anne and Polly said.

'Audiences want cleat stakes Hop Pop. And action!' Sprig explains.

'Feels like just yesterday people thought I was a revolutionary hero' Hop Pop sighs. 'Whoop! Heads up gang! Looks like we're about to stop at our first town!' He says as he points at a sign that said Bittyburg.

'My first town outside of Wartwood! I wonder what it'll be like. Will the frogs be friendly? WILL THEY HAVE A BATHROOM? Hey Sky, did you visit any towns outside the Tower?'

'Uhhh yeah I did, I went to this place called Lily Paddingten but I wasn't there for long'

'Why's that?'

'The whole town may or may not have tried to kill me and Sash cause of their rebellion against the toads' I casually explained.

...

'Hey look we're here!' Sprig says, cutting through the awkward silence.

'OH MY GOSH!' Anne says. 'It's literally a small town!' Anne stands in awe. 'Just look at the wittle buildings' she says as she takes the roof off a building to look inside.

The five of us look around the town before we notice a small crowd on the other end of town.

'What's all the ruckus?' Hop Pop asks.

I see a small frog flying towards me so I catch him before he hits the ground. We look over to where he came from and see a larger frog standing in front of everyone.

'I don't want your excuses, I want your money!' We hear him say as he shakes around one of the little frogs.

'Oh no, those poor Bitties' Anne sighs.

''Dumbass bullies' I grumble.

'Someone should do something!' Sprig exclaimed.

'Yes, someone should do something. Sprig get that fiddle ready. You might have a song to write!' Hop Pop said as he pulled up his pants and waddled forward. 'Hey there! Uh, fella. Who do you think you are, pushing these good people around?'

'I'm Judro Hasselback and this here's my town. Who in the heck are you?' The frog, Judro responded.

'Name's Hopadiah Plantar! The frog that's gonna teach you some manners!' Hop Pop says as he knocks over Judro.

'Hey you better-' he's cut off by Hop Pop again. 'Stop-' 'what in the-' 'you'll pay for this!'

'Nobody's paying you anything anymore!'

'Three cheers for Hopadiah Plantar!' One of the Bitties says.

The whole town ran over to Hop Pop and picked him up. They tried to throw him up but he was too big for them so her fell.

'Wow Hop Pop, nice work!' Anne said.

'Go Hop Pop!' Sprig cheers.

'Why that was nothing. Judro's just a big blowhard. Not like those tax toads I stood up to'

'You stood up to toads?' One of the Bitties asks.

'Tell is the story, please, please!' A small boy asks.

'Aw sweetie, there's not much to tell' Hop Pop said before proceeding to tell the story for a full three hours.

'And then I lifted, not one, not two, but three toads over my head and threw them off Toad Tower!' All the frogs cheered at Hop Pop's story.

'Threw three toads? I don't remember that happening' Polly said.

'That's cause it didn't happen' I whisper to her.

'Oh let him have this. He's just juicing up the details a bit. Back in our world we call this, marketing' Anne says.

'And so, using my frog-given natural strength, I kicked the side of Toad Tower and it exploded!' We hear Hop Pop say.

'Hooray Hopadiah Plantar, here to protect us from the ruthless Hasselback gang' the small frog bay cheers.

'I'm sorry Bailey did you just say gang!' Hop Pop asks nervously.

'Hopadiah Plantar!' A voice calls out causing all of the Bitties to his behind Hop Pop. 'Whoo-whee! You done asked for it, so here it comes! This here's the Hasselback gang!' Judro says before introducing the other terrifying frogs around him. 'My brother Heathro, half sister Ruth, uncle Talbert. And of course the matriarch herself, Mama Hasselback!' After he introduced them all, Mama Hasselback who was three times and big as Hop Pop stepped forward.

'You the frog who dared throw my Judro outta town?' Mama Hasselback asked while towering over Hop Pop.

Hop Pop stood there nervously before Bailey chimed in.

'Yep! And he's gonna run you outta town too! Right Hopadiah?'

'Hop Pop! Hop Pop! Hop Pop! Hop Pop!' The town started cheering.

'This isn't gonna end well' I muttered, Anne, Sprig and Polly nodding in agreement.

'Hahahahahah! Now this I gotta see!' Mama Hasselback laughed and then sat down in front of Hop Pop.

'Ah, ummm, eeeh. Y-you're gonna regret this!' He said with little to no confidence. Hop Pop tried to move Mama with all his strength but couldn't get her to move an inch. He sat there tired for a second until Mama tapped him on the head with her rolling pin, causing him to crash into the ground.

After that Anne, Sprig, Polly and I stood up to try and help Hop Pop. We ran towards him but were stopped by the tongue of another frog. We were all grabbed and thrown into barrels.

'Oh man this is just like middle school' Anne grumbles.

'Not much different from my bucket really' Polly comments.

'Looks like you folks chose the wrong frog' Mama said while holding up Hop Pop. 'Or should I say fraud. Word of advice folks, don't believe everything you're told about heroes. After all, they don't exist'

'Is it true Hopadiah? Are heroes a lie?' Bailey asks sadly.

'It's true Bailey... IT'S TRUE!!!' Hop Pop said dramatically.

Two of the Hasselback frogs turned all our barrels over and rolled up towards Hop Pop.

'I'm gonna be sick' I thought to myself as we all rolled forward.

'Now get lost! And take your garbage with you!' The Hasselbacks laughed as Hop Pop rolled us out of town with him.

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We were all now out of our barrels and sitting atop the Fwagon again. To say the silence was awkward would be an understatement. For some unknown reason Sprig thought it would be a good idea to try and play his fiddle. Just as he took a breath in Hop Pop snatched his fiddle.

'AAHAAAAHAHAHAH!!!' HP yells as he smashes the instrument. After a few seconds he had calmed down and spoke up. 'Not proud of what happened back there, kids. Sprig was right no ones ever gonna write a song about this old coward'

'Not now that you smashed my fiddle' Sprig grumbles.

'Hop Pop you're not a coward' Anne said while playfully punching him. 'Who cares about some dumb old song?'

'Yeah being a hero isn't about songs and glory anyway. It's about just doing the right thing' I added on with a smile.

For some reason us saying that caused something to go off in Hop Pop's mind. He pulled Bessie's reins causing all of us to almost fall off the Fwagon.

'My frog girls you're right! This whole time I was so focused on getting a song that I lost track of what really matters. Heroes are supposed to help those in need and I was only trying to help myself. Well that changes now. WE'RE GOIN BACK!'

'What!' 'Are you crazy!?' Polly and Sprig exclaim.

'Good call HP'

'What's the plan?' I ask.

'Well, it goes a little bit like this ya see'

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Sprig, Polly, Anne and I were currently sitting high up on a cliff side, overlooking the small town. I glared at the Hasselback gang as they continued to push around the townsfolk.

'There's Hop Pop' Anne said 'get ready guys'

'You sure you can hit these shots?' I ask Sprig.

'Are you kidding me?' He laughs ' I'm a slingshot master!' He claims before accidentally hitting himself in the face with the slingshot. 'Ow'

I give him a skeptical look but give him the benefit of the doubt. The Hasselbacks has noticed Hop Pop and had started to charge at him.

'Ready.... aaaaand, NOW!' Anne said as Sprig fired at one of the goons.

The plan was to fire at the frogs just as Hop Pop's tongue hit them so it looked like he was the one doing it. A bit deceitful but it was good intentioned so it's fine.

'Two degrees left' Anne said, looking through her telescope.

'Load me up' Sprig said as I passed him another stone.

We took out another member which just left Mama. We shot one last stone at her but she must have seen it coming cause she caught it and threw it directly into Sprigs face.

'Sprig!' I yelled. I jumped down to help Sprig our from under the two cactuses that had unfortunately fell on him.

'RUN HOP POP!' Polly yelled.

Hop Pop did as suggested and started to run away from the town. He was almost out before he decided to stand his ground. Midway through talking he got knocked out by a tongue to the face.

As the four of us got closer to the town we noticed that the Bitties had finally snapped and had started to attack the Hasselbacks.

'Hop Pop! We gotta go! The Bitties are going nuts!' Anne exclaimed.

'Well I guess after years of abuse even the most timid of frogs might get a little-' he cut himself off when he saw just how nuts they had gone.

Bailey suddenly appeared next to us 'hey Mr Plantar!' He said.

'Bailey? You frogs are fighting back?'

'Yup! All because of what you said'

'Ya mean about how standing up to bullies is the right thing to do?'

'Uuhhhh no. The part about how when someone can't fight for themselves, you need to fight for them! You clearly can't fight for yourself' Bailey said bluntly, causing me to giggle slightly.

'Time to get going!' Hop Pop said as all of us rushed onto the Fwagon and away from the town.

'~Oh Hop Pop stood his ground in hopes he'd save the day! But then the townsfolk went berserk and so we ran away!~' Sprig sang as we all drove off.

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