Skylar's P.O.V

It was currently dark and Hop Pop had turned in for the night leaving Anne, Sprig and I to drive the Fwagon.

'Man this road is treacherous' Anne comments. 'Thank goodness I got you two' she smile back at me and Sprig who were going over maps and scoping out the road.

'Hey, don't mention it'

'Now let's see here... looks like there's a sharp turn coming up on the-'

'SPRIG!' Polly cut him off. 'Guess what time it is! Story time!'

'Not now Polly, this stretch of road is dangerous and-'

'But it's a POP UP BOOK!' Polly opens the book and a giant cutout pops out, almost nocking me and Sprig over and making us drop out map and goggles.

'Guys! Which way!? Left or right!?' Anne panics.

'RIGHT!' Sprig says.

'NO LEFT!' I correct him.

Anne pulls the reins from side to side as me and Sprig continue to bicker. Polly's book suddenly falls on Anne's face making her drop the reins and cause the Fwagon to drive out of control. Anne stops the Fwagon just before Bessie crashed into a tree, making us all sigh in relief.

'WHAT IN TARNATION!' Hop Pop yells, bursting out of the Fwagon. 'This is what I get for letting you kids drive'

'Wait no. This wasn't our fault' Anne protests.

'Yeah yeah whatever' Hop Pop brushes off her comment. 'You four, inventory duty. I'm driving from now on'

We all groan as we head back inside. I pull out the list of things we need to check as Anne and Sprig start counting.

'Alright, how many mushroom bars we got left?'

'28, 29...' Sprig carefully counts before Polly buts in again.

'BOOM! I'm filthy!' She cheers, holding up a bath bucket.

'What the heck dude!'

'Hey I was counting those!'

'Right now, really!?'

'Who wants to give me a bath!' Polly asks before getting ready to make a splash.

'Wait no, not inside!'

'Whoo hoo!' Polly cheers before landing in the water and flooding the entire Fwagon. How so much water fits in one bucket, I'll never know.

'Ah crud! All our mushroom bars are mush!'

'What's all the ruckus!?' Hop Pop asks, clearly on the verge of falling asleep.

'It's Polly, she made a huge mess!' Sprig explains.

'Oh c'mon kids. I'm too tired for this'

'If you're tired Hop Pop, I know what'll wake you up. ZAP TAG! Just gotta build up a charge and...'

'POLLY NO! EVERYTHING'S WET!' I call out but it was too late.

Polly electrocuted Hop Pop which led to all of us being electrocuted too. When the charge finally died down we were all burnt and smoke was in the air.

'POLLY!' We all yell in unison.

'But, you guys loved Zap Tag back home' Polly says sadly.

'Yeah but we're not at home!' Hop Pop explains.

Polly lets out a sad sigh. 'Don't have to tell me twice'

It makes sense that Polly's acting like this, she just misses Wartwood.

'Look, there's a truck stop ahead, we'll pull in and cleans this mess up. Also ima need about 30 cups of coffee'

We kept driving until we pulled up at the truck stop. Hop Pop jumps up and starts to fuel up Bessie.

'Sprig, Anne, Skylar, you three start cleaning out the Fwagon. Polly, go get some paper towel'

'Ok Hop Pop' I hear Polly say as I start moving some boxes.

'Man, what's with Polly today?' Sprig asks. 'Is it just me or is she being EXTRA annoying?'

'I know, Zap Tag? More like zap pest' Anne tries to joke.

'Yeah that joke didn't really land' I chuckle.

'We can't all be winners ok' Anne grumbles.

'Maybe she's just not cut out for this' Sprig suggests.

'It's times like these when I wonder whether I should've left her with Mrs Croaker back home in Wartwood.

'Ok you don't mean that, you're just a little frustrated' Anne cuts in.

'Yeah I'm sure she's got her reasons' Sprig adds.

'You're right, you're right. I'M JUST SO HOPPIN TIRED!'

'Here Hop Pop, have some coffee' I say, pouring him a cup.

He takes a small sip of the beverage and is filled with energy once again.

'WHOA NELLY! NOW LETS GET THAT SHOW ON THE ROAD!' Hop Pop cheered and ran forward to finish preparing the Fwagon.

I chuckled a little and went back to moving boxes in and out of the Fwagon.

'Yo Sky! Help me with Bessie's reigns!' I hear Anne call out.

'Coming!' I yell back, putting down my box and running to Anne.

I grabbed one end while Anne grabbed the other so we could hook Bessie up to the Fwagon. After we finished that Bessie nudged me affectionately causing me to chuckle and pet her back.

'Hey Sky, what'd you think was going on with Polly?' Anne asks me.

'I- I think she's just homesick. She is just a baby after all and we've been away from Wartwood for a pretty long time'

'Yeah that makes sense' Sprig says, suddenly popping up next to us. 'I guess we were a little hard on her'

'We should go talk to her, shouldn't we?'

'That would probably be best' I agreed.

The three of us poked our heads through the roof of the Fwagon.

'Hey Polly, we just wanted to say we understand-' Anne started but was cut off by Sprig.

'Shhhh, she's napping. You never bother Polly while she's napping'

'Oh well, we'll just talk to her when she wakes up then' Anne suggests

'Never......' Sprig said dramatically.

'Alright c'mon, lets finish up out here' I smiled, grabbing Sprig and pulling him with me.

'ALRIGHT GANG! LET'S GET GOING!' Hop Pop yells and we all start to drive off.

We all sat atop the Fwagon mostly in silence as Hop Pop drove. Sprig had to keep Slapping Hop Pop with his tongue ever few minutes to keep him from falling asleep. I was looking at my phone till Anne tapped me on the shoulder.

'Wanna come and read to Polly with me?' she asked.

'Didn't Sprig warn us to not wake her up?'

'What's the worst that could happen? Besides, I'm pretty sure she'll be more happy than upset if we woke her up for story time' Anne reasoned

'Yeah alright, let's go'

Anne and I quietly snuck down into the Fwagon to talk to Polly.

'Psst Polly. I know Sprig told us not to wake you but, we thought you might like a little story time' Anne said, holding up Polly's story book.

Surprisingly Polly didn't respond to what Anne had said.

'Polly?' I asked, tapping her slightly.

Instead of reacting like any standard tadpole would, 'Polly' started to hop around wildly.

'What the?' Anne questions, pulling off the sleep mask and bow to reveal that it wasn't even Polly that we were talking to and instead some purple rock.

'SPRIG! HOP POP! CODE PURPLE!' I yelled up to the two.

'WHAT!?' Hop Pop asked as the two poked their heads down.

Anne held the purple rock in her hand and pointed to it confused and worried. I was feeling the same. Where the hell was Polly!?

'She must be at the truck stop! We gotta go back!'

Just as Hop Pop said that, the 'rock' started to crack. It cracked and rocked more until a singular eye became visible.

'Well, that's mildly concerning' Anne comments before the egg started to burst more.

'C'MON EVERYONE! WE GOTTA GET BACK TO THE TRUCK STOP!' Hop Pop ordered.

Anne put down the egg and we all climbed out of the Fwagon. Bessie started going as fast as she could in the direction of the truck stop. We were speeding for a minute more until we caught site of another vehicle. We all started waving at it, trying to get its attention until a monstrous bird burst out of the Fwagon.

The birds feet stuck out the bottom of the Fwagon, causing us to come to a stop. Bessie retreated into her shell when the bird started to target her.

'Oh no you don't!' Anne yelled at it.

'Hands off our snail!' Hop Pop added.

All four of us jumped onto the giant bird to try and distract it from Bessie. It shook Sprig off, him falling into the Fwagon. A second later he popped up again with a bucket of soapy water.

'Eat suds!' He yelled as he threw the bucket in the birds face.

The bird roared in pain due to the soap in its eyes. The bird continued to thrash around as we kept it from eating anything.

'ZAP TAG ANYONE!' Polly's voice was heard through the chaos.

Suddenly we were all shocked by a giant lightning bolt that came out of nowhere. We were all thrown down and landed together on the ground. The Fwagon, completely toasted from the lightning lay on its side. The bird, now lacking any feathers burst out of it and somehow managed to fly away.

'That's right! You better run! Nobody terrorises my family but me!' Polly yells at the bird. 'You're all ok!' She cheers, pulling us into a hug and giving us a small electric shock in the process. 'Oh and you're welcome! I'd also like to thank Speedy Joe for his help and-'

'Polly Petunia Plantar!' Hop Pop cuts her off.

'Uh oh, full name. Could you give us a minute Speedy Joe?'

'You got it' Speedy Joe replied before reversing his truck, making an annoying beep noise as he did.

'Sooooo.... sorry about the killer bird....'

'Forget the killer bird! Don't you ever run away from us again! Ya hear me? We were worried sick! What if something happened to ya? What if you had gotten hurt or lost or worse!' Hop Pop ranted.

'I really am just trouble aren't I' Polly said sadly. 'You were right, maybe you should've left me back in Wartwood' She sighs, tearing up.

We were all shocked when she said this. She must have heard us when we were talking about her before, no wonder she's feeling like this.

'Heard all that, did ya?' Hop Pop sighs, picking her up. 'Polly? I'd never leave you behind, not ever'

'We shouldn't have been so harsh' Anne said.

'You're such a tough little tadpole, we forget you need a little loving occasionally' Sprig added.

'Thanks guys' Polly smiled a little.

The four of them all went for a group hug. I kind of just stood there awkwardly till Anne pulled me to join in on the hug.

'Sorry to interrupt but do you guys need a tow to the next stop?' Speedy Joe asked. 'Betcha they'll have everything ya need to fix up ya wagon'

'Fwagon' we all corrected him.

'Is that a word?'

We all helped load the Fwagon onto Speedy Joe's trailer and sat inside it as he towed us to the next town.

'Well now that we've got a breather, who's ready for story time?' Hop Pop asked.

'Whooo!'

'Yeah!'

'We're thirteen but ok' Anne answered for me.

'Alright now where were we?' Hop Pop asked himself as he got ready to read. 'Rain poured from the sky as Fergus Frog faced his wife's killer in the deserted alleyway. Takin me out won't bring her back! Growled the assassin. Ain't that a shame said Fergus as he drew his knife!' Hop Pop read as a pop up hand and knife came out of the book, scaring me a little.

'Ho, ho! Get em Fergus!' Polly cheered.

'Man this book is dark!'

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