Skylar's P.O.V.

After we had finished eating all the gnatchos, Marcy led all of us to the grand Newtopian castle to meet with the king. We walk down one of my many hallways of the castle and admire how impressive it all looks.

"Dang girl! This is where you've been hanging out this whole time?" Anne praises.

"I wouldn't say I 'hang out' here, but, yes! Staying at the castle has been awesome!"

"Wow, Icant believe we're here" Sprig smiles.

"And that we're about to meet the king of Amphibia!" Polly adds on.

'Wow! Just look at this place! Am I dressed ok? Should I have worn my silk ascot? I'll got back and get it!" Hop Pop panics, running off to the door.

I grab him to stop him before he leaves. "Relax Hop Pop, you're dressed fine" I reassure him.

"Sky's right, don't stress guys it's no big deal" Marcy claims before being interrupted by the hallway doors slamming open.

"Okay frog family, you're about to meet king Andrias. This is a big deal!" Lady Olivia said, completely contradicting what Marcy had said and causing our worry to rise.

Lady Olivia escorted us the rest of the way to the throne room as we continued to look around.

"Wow..." we all said as we looked around in wonder.

"May I present to you, king Andrias Leviathan, lord of Amphibia, peacekeeper of 1000 years and the first of his name" Lady Olivia introduced, bowing down.

Hop Pop, Polly, Sprig and I shared gasped simultaneously at the sight and sheer size of the king.

"Now that's king sized" Anne even commented.

The king was ginormous, towering over all of us even when seated. He glared down at us and exerted a sense of power and authority, showing no emotion in his gaze.

"Hello Plantar family!" He said in a cheerful manor, making me take back everything I previously thought. "Ha ha ha ha ha! Oh bring it in you guys, bring it in!" He smiled, standing up with his arms stretched out.

"Quick kids, bow" Hop Pop whispered to Sprig and Polly before swiftly being scooped up by the king.

"It's so good to finally meet you!" He said before putting the Plantars down.

"I love this guy!" Polly cheers.

"Ha ha ha ha ha!" The king cheered at Polly's enthusiasm.

"Dear king Andrias. Just once it would be nice if you followed proper castle etiquette" Lady Olivia comments.

"Oh etiquette shmetiquette" the king mocks with a smile. "Oh and what do we have here?" He asks, turning to Marcy, Anne and I.

Hey..." Anne and I nervously wave.

"You must be Anne and Skylar, sup? Am I saying it right? S-u-p?" He asks, turning to Marcy in question.

"You got it!" She confirms with a thumbs up.

"Ho hoo, the thumb of approval! And hers a thumb for you two girls!" Andrias says, moving his thumbs up in our direction, providing enough force that it blows our hair back.

"Oh uh... right back at ya!" Anne responds with a fist bump of her own.

The king breaks out into a fit of laughter at Anne's fist bump. "Delightful!" He cheers, standing up on his tail before crashing down again, the force of which causing Anne and I to fall back. Marcy helped us stand back up and we stood with our arms over each other's shoulders as the king spoke again. "Now lets get back to business shall we? Getting you girls back home safe and sound. Hmm... alas without the music box I'm afraid there's nothing I can do, Marcy doesn't have it and well I assume you two don't have it either"

"Oh uh.. actually I do have the box!" Anne replies.

"What? Are you serious?" Marcy asks in shock.

"Yeah, Anne had it when she first arrived here" I confirm.

"Why this is marvellous news! Come, come, let's see it!" Andrias said enthusiastically.

"Yeah well we don't 'have it, have it'. Hop Pop left it with some contacts to see what they could learn about it" Anne explains, pointing towards HP. "But I do have a photo of it!" She added on, pulling out her phone.

"Yes, yes a Pho-To!" He laughed in interest before pulling out his glasses. "Let's see here... hmmm... how peculiar... Marcy didn't you say the gems were coloured? Look here, they're grey" the king observed.

"Hey you're right, I never actually noticed that" Anne said, looking at her phone again.

"This will require further study in the deepest of our archives. Give me a few days to work with this information. At that time, we shall reconvene and set a glorious plan in motion"

"Great! Mar-Mar, what can we do to help?" I ask her.

"Can either of you two translate ancient Amphibian runes?"

"We sure can't!" Anne answered with a smile.

"Hehe, don't worry dude, I got this"

"Nice, just like group projects back home"

"Until then my dear Plantars, go forth and enjoy the sights of Newtopia. We've booked you a suite at the Hemisphere Hotel, my treat. And here..." the king said holding out two closed fists towards the group of us. "Pick a hand!"

Anne walks up to the king and inspects both hands. The king was not so subtly nudging his head towards one particular hand.

"This hand?" Anne picked the hand that the king had suggested.

"Sike!" The king laughed when he revealed an empty hand. "But wait, what's this?" He rhetorically asked, pulling a golden card out of thin air. "The Royal credit card! It will grant you access to do anything in Newtopia. Be safe with this now, wars have been waged for less" The king said, handing the card to Hop Pop.

"Whoa, ho ho, ho! We get to explore Newtopia with unlimited money!? This is a dream come true!" Sprig smiles, looking at the card "Onward family! Time to see Newtopia!"

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"What do you mean 'no body wants to see Newtopia'?" Sprig disappointingly asks, standing in the middle of the hotel room.

"Not happening" Hop Pop says, eyes closed as he lays on the bed.

"Polly happy right here" Polly adds, laying beside him.

"Anne, you're with me right?"

"Sorry dude. The only thing I want to explore is to at gift basket" Anne said, trying to reach it but not wanting to get up. "Maybe later"

"Sky? How about you?"

"I dunno dude, I think I'd rather just have a nap" I sigh, snuggling further into the sheets.

"But we have the royal credit card, the city's our playground!" Sprig tries to persuade.

"Sprig, the city will still be there tomorrow. Probably" Hop Pop claims, looking back at his book.

"Tomorrow? Or... I could take the card and..."

"Sprig Plantar! Under no circumstances are you to take that card outside of this hotel!" Hop Pop ordered, putting the card in his pocket.

"I won't Hop Pop" Sprig sighed.

"Good" Hop Pop said before promptly passing out.

I looked around the room and noticed that Anne and Polly had also fallen asleep.

"He didn't say anything about using it inside the hotel..." Sprig schemed, swiping the card from Hop Pops pocket. "You gonna join me or not?" He asked turning towards me.

I look down at Anne who had taken over the entire bed before looking back at Sprig.

"Yeah sure why not, what's the worst that could happen?"

"That's the spirit!" He smiled, jumping on my head. "Onward Sky!"

I roll my eyes at his antics before opening the door. When we open the door we're met with the sight of a young newt carrying hotel guest's bags.

"Four years of Newtopia university and a mountain of student debt for this. Oh hi there, Bella the bellhop, at your service. Got the rest of your bags right here" she says, wheeling our bags inside, holding her hand out waiting for a tip. Sprig stands there confused while I rummage through my pocket looking for a loose copper. "How about a tip?"

"Oh sure. If you were to do one thing in the hotel for fun, what would it be?" Sprig asks.

"Well I've never gone but everyone says the view from the top of the indoor Ferris wheel will change your life!" Bella informs.

"Great, thanks for the tip!" Sprig smiles, running out the door.

"Ignore him, here" I say, handing the bellhop a few coppers. "Thanks for bringing our bags up" I say before following after Sprig.

I catch up to Sprig in the elevator and we wait in silence as we go down. Sprig is practically jumping up and down in excitement and I let out a yawn, I would much rather be taking a nap right now.

"Whoa! This place is amazing!" Sprig says in awe when the doors to the lift open up. "Look at that fountain! And ooooh that must be the indoor Ferris wheel! I'm gonna save you for later"

"Excuse me, are you winking at that Ferris wheel?" A posh looking newt asks.

"Yes and we're rich so deal with it! Haha!" Sprig cheers, hopping off to the closest thing of interest.

"Very good sir, ma'am" the newt smiled as we passed.

"Wait up Sprig!" I call after him, laughing as I run to catch up.

"Two ant cream sundaes, my good man" Sprig orders.

"Woah!" We both stare at the marvellous creations in front of us.

"Napkin?" The stand owner offers.

"What do I look like? A slob?" Sprig asks before eating his sundae in the most disgusting way possible.

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"Looking good!" Sprig smiles, looking at his new outfit in the mirror.

Sprig then tripped over the bottom of his shirt causing major property damage around the store. No matter though, cause that royal credit card could get him out of any mess.

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"Nope, nope, nope, yes!" Sprig rated different hairstyles before finally settling on one. "Now to put on my hat!"

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"Care for some Bug-accino, sir? Made fresh daily" a cafe barista offered.

"Five please!"

"No Sprig, you on coffee is a bad idea" I tell him.

"Yeah, listen to your sister kid, these are pretty strong" the barista agreed with me.

"Five I say!" Sprig insists.

"Sprig no. You wouldn't even like coffee, it's too bitter for you!" I try and convince him. It was too late though, he had downed five shots of coffee.

"Disgusting. But maybe Hop Pop will like it, one to go please. And you guys said these were strong, I don't feel a thing!" Sprig claims before he very clearly started to feel the caffeine kick in.

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"Well now all that's left to do is ride the Ferris wheel" Sprig smiled up at the ride. And we've got just the thing to pay for it!" He claims, springing the card on the tip of his finger.

"Careful with that Sprig, if you lose that Hop Pop will kill both of us" I worryingly say.

"Oh relax Sky, it's not like I'm gonna drop it-"

...

He dropped it.

"NO! THE ROYAL CREDIT CARD!"

"SPRIG! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!"

The two of us run towards the elevator to try and get to the card as quickly as possible. The doors were about to close when an elderly newt held the door open.

"Excuse me youngsters, could you push the 19th floor?"

"Uh, sure!" Sprig impatiently agreed, worry clear in his voice as he pushed the button.

The doors closed and the elevator went one floor down to the elderly couples destination.

"Oh shoot, can we try the 18th?" The man asked.

"Here we go, 18th floor" I tried to politely smile as I keep shifting my gaze out the elevator's window to the credit card.

"Nope, this isn't the casino either" the old man observed. "Looks like we'll have to go to every floor until we find the right one"

"It may take hours, but what do we care? We're old and have all the time in the world" the old lady added on, causing the two of them to laugh.

Sprig and I look at each other for a second, seeming to silently agree on the plan. Sprig used the old lady's walking frame to break the glass and dove out toward the card while I ran for the stairs. I run down the stairs as fast as I could and find myself on the bottom floor of the hotel. I look around before I see Sprig hanging onto the bottom of one of the Ferris wheel carts.

"Sprig! Where's the card?" I shout up at him.

"Have a guess, do you think I'm racing to the top of this thing for fun?!" He yells back, continuing to hop up the Ferris wheel.

I try to follow after him but are stoped by a security guard.

"Ticket?" The large newt asks.

"Umm, non existent?" I sheepishly respond before being thrown back and away from the wheel. "C'mon Sprig, you gotta get that card, and also preferably not fall to your death"

I'm waiting at the bottom of the wheel for a good minute before I see the bellhop who brought our bags to our room falling from the top of the Ferris Wheel. In the same time as it took me to blink, a pile of pillows had appeared to cushion her fall and Sprig was standing next to her holding the royal credit card.

"Sprig! Thank god you're ok, and you got the card back. Disaster avoided" I smile, running up to him.

"Yeah I'm fine. Excuse me for just one second" he says, handing me to card and then hopping towards the bellhop who was being yelled at by her boss. "Excuse me! Were you about to fire your best employee?"

"My best?"

"This bellhop recommended the Ferris wheel but also went above and beyond her duty by showing it to me personally!" Sprig explained.

I realised that Sprig was trying to help this bellhop out and decided to do my part as well. "As a matter of fact. I think the newt king, who we happen to personally know, would be upset if she didn't get a raise!" I added on, causing the newt man to wear a completely flabbergasted expression.

"The king?! Uh yes absolutely, sound good Bella?"

"Yes sir! Thanks guys, it's people like you that make me ever so slightly more positive about the future"

"Don't mention it! Wanna go buy like 500 more ant sundaes?" Sprig suggests.

"If you're paying, let's make it a thousand" Bella laughs as we head towards the stand.

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After getting through one of the previously mentioned 1000 each, everyone was full and tired so Sprig and I walked back to our room. Well I walked, Sprig was laying on my head. When the two of us arrived at our room we both face planted our beds and stared to let sleep take over. Unfortunately for us, Hop Pop, Anne and Polly decided to wake up two seconds later.

"Nothing like a nap to feel rejuvenated and full of energy! You guys wanna check out the hotel?" I can hear Hop Pop asks from under the quilt I pulled over my head.

"Rise and Shine guys!"

"Let's go dudes!"

"Time for more crazy hijinks!"

"Go away" Sprig groans in protest.

"Let me sleep" I mumble when Anne tries to shake me awake.

"No way no how, up and at it kids!"

"C'mon Sprig let's milk that credit card!"

"I hear there's a Ferris wheel!"

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😁