The Hero and the Frog
Back in Wartwood, Hop Pop finally got done with his shopping. He would've been done sooner, however, he got caught up in all the sales. As, he left the store, he noticed that a lot of townsfolk were putting up decorations for something, which he thought was weird.
"Heh, another day, another celebration, surprisingly. Come on kids, time to--WHAT THE!"
Hop Pop looked over to see a candy coated Polly laying in the cart. The young pollywog noticed the elder frog staring at her.
"I don't have a candy problem! YOU HAVE A CANDY PROBLEM!"
Hop Pop realized that Sprig was nowhere to be found.
"Polly, where's Sprig," Hop Pop asked, conserned.
"Uh, something-something heros, something-something woods."
"Huh?"
"Well, how do you do Hopediah."
Hop Pop looked up to see the mayor walking towards him. He had his usual "I'm innocent" smile on his face. Hop Pop instantly new something was up.
"Now, I should've known that if the boy was around, you'd be close by."
"Toadstool, where's Sprig. You better not have him going on another one of your 'campaign hunts.'"
Toadstool just simply chuckled.
"Well, he is hunting, but it wasn't my idea this time."
"What?"
"Look over there Hopediah," Toadstool said, pointing.
Hop Pop looked over to where Toadstool was pointing, only to see a makeshift cage with a bunch of toads inside. Wait, those weren't just any toads. Hop Pop rubbed his eyes, thinking he was dreaming. But reopening them told him that this was reality.
"Are those the..."
"The Dragon Toads, yes it is. They were causing a scene at the old Grub n' Go last night, nearly lost Wally."
Hop Pop gasped.
"Is he okay?"
"Luckily, he's fine, because something came out of the woods and stopped them. They were The Whispering Trio."
"But, that's just a present day legend, as well as a myth."
"Believe me, Hopediah, I'm having trouble believing it myself. But I saw it, as well as everyone else who was present that night."
Hop Pop couldn't believe it. The legend was true.
"Anywho, this morning, I was overseeing that these toads be contained when your boy came in all curious."
Hop Pop sighed. That sure sounds like Sprig.
"And so he had the idea to hold a festival in their honor, and he went out to track them down in the woods."
In an instant, Hop Pop's body was filled with fear.
"SAY WHAAAAAT!? OH NO, I HAVE TO FIND HIM! WHAT IF HE'S LOST? WHAT IF HE'S BEEN POISONED!? WHAT IF HE'S DEAD! HANG ON BOY, HOP POP'S A-COMING!!!"
Toadstool instantly grabbed the elder frog.
"Don't worry, I'm sure your boy is fine."
Hop Pop gave Toadstool a confused look. Does he know Sprig.
"He's tracking them down the 'Plantar Family Hunting Way' or whatever."
Hop Pop settled down a little bit. Sprig was the best at that. He even exceeded Hop Pop, and he's the one who taught him it. He figured he'd wait, for now.
"Besides, the woods are calmer than usual today, what's the worse that can happen?"
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Sprig held on to his breath as the blade only sat inches away from his throat. The creature known as Sasha had him pinned to the wall of the cave. Behind her, he could see the other two creatures, known as Anne and Marcy, stood there, Anne holding Marcy close to her.
"WHO ARE YOU? WHAT ARE YOU? AND HOW DID YOU FIND US?"
Sprig gulped before speaking.
"Uhhhhh, my name is Sprig Plantar, I'm a frog, and I followed your trail."
Sasha's expression changed to a questioning look.
"What trail'" she asked the young frog.
"The one leading to your camp."
Sasha looked at the cave's entrance for a second, before grabbing the frog by his jacket collar and proceeded to exit the cave. Sure enough, there was a trail leading to straight to their "home".
"Probably should have covered that up," Anne said as she exited the cave behind Sasha, Marcy close by.
Sasha just kept exchanging glances between the trail and the frog. This tiny frog had tracked them down, and entered their "home" without being noticed. Now she'd seen everything.
"Well, now that that's settled," Anne spoke, releasing the Sprig from Sasha's grip and setting him down on the ground. "What are you doing out here?"
"Proving that I'm responsible!"
"Oh yeah? How?"
Just at that moment, Sprig finally remembered what he came to do.
"Oh, right."
He jumped on a tree stump and cleared his throat.
"For saving us from the Dragon Toads last night, I, on behalf of Wartwood, would like to invite you to a festival in your honor."
He proceeded to bow, only to be met by three confused face.
"What?"
"Oh, a festival is kinda like a party, with decorations, food, and-"
"No, no, we know what a festival is," Anne interrupted. "What we mean is why?"
"Well, we'd like to meet you in person, as well as thank you."
"Yeah, hard pass," Sasha said.
"What? Why?"
"Like, we are going to trust some frog who snuck into our camp, and starts talking about a party. For all we know we know, it could be a trap."
"Sasha has a point", replied Marcy.
"How do we know we can trust you," asked Anne.
"What? Does this look like a face that could deceive you," Sprig spoke, as he began to attempt what appeared to be a puppy face.
Anne was about to say something, but Sasha beat her to the chase.
"Yes, yes it does. Though it is very cute."
"Fair enough. But come on. Are you really going to live your lives out here in the woods, full of dangerous predators that could poison you, eat you, or possibly rip out your organs, AS YOU SLOWLY-"
"OK, WE GET IT. EVERYTHING OUT HERE WANTS TO KILL US," Sasha shouted. Sprig looked over to see Marcy whimpering in Anne's arms.
Too much Sprig, too much.
"Sorry, my bad. It's just, I came all the way out here to bring you back to Wartwood, and if I go now, I'd be letting down everyone, even my Hop Pop."
He took off his hat, and held it up to his chest with a sad look in his eyes.
Anne, Sasha and Marcy exchanged glances for a few seconds. Finally, Marcy smiled.
"Well, I guess it beats hunting for food today," she pointed out.
"Yeah, and we might be able to make some connections with local residents," Anne chimed in. "Plus, someone there might know something about..." She looked to the cave, and then back to Sasha. "You-know-what."
"Exactly," replied a happy Sprig. "Wait, what's "you-know-what?'"
Sasha thought to herself for a second, before sighing.
"Fine, but on one condition."
She stabbed both her swords into the stump on both sides of the young frog.
"If you tell anyone about what we look like, I'll kill you faster than you can even CROAK!"
"F-F-F-FAIR ENOUGH,"Sprig stammered.
She looked to Anne and Marcy.
"And if this is a trap, I'm blaming you two."
"Fair enough"
"Alright then, to Wartwood," Sprig said, as he jumped onto Anne's head. "But seriously, what is"you-know-what?'"
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Hop Pop continued to pace back and forth as he worried about his grandson.
"Calm down Hop Pop," Polly said.
"I just can't help it. What if he's been hurt, or worse?"
"Well if he is dead, I call dibs on his room."
"Frog Dang it, Polly your not helping!"
"Didn't say I was."
Hop Pop was about to scold the young pollywog, but was interpreted by the sound of his grandson's voice.
"Hey, hey everyone, I'm back."
Hop Pop immediately went running and grabbed the young frog by his shoulders.
"Oh thank frog. Are you hurt? Are you sick? ARE YOU DYING?"
Sprig broke away from his grandfather's arms.
"Relax, Hop Pop, I'm fine. I just got a little turned around. Besides, I did it."
"Did what?"
"People of Wartwood, I present to you, OUR HEROS!!"
He held his hands out as if he was revealing something behind him.
"Well, where are they," asked Ms. Croaker, an old frog and also another resident of Wartwood.
"Huh?"
He turned around to see nobody behind him, at least as he noticed.
"Really?"
He noticed a pair of eyes staring out of some bushes.
"What are you doing?"
"Making sure this isn't a trap," replied Sasha.
"This isn't a trap. It's okay."
A hand pointed out of the bushes.
"You positive?"
"If this was a trap, don't you think that you would've been captured by now."
Everyone was quiet for a second. Finally, Anne, Sasha and Marcy emerged from the bushes, and revealed themselves to the townspeople. They were wearing the outfits they were wearing the night before, their masks on so no one could see faces. Everyone muttered to them selfs.
They were starting to think this wasn't a good idea, until Wally walked up to them, holding his hat in front of him.
"I'm, I just wanted to thank you for last night, I would've been a gonner. Also, welcome to Wartwood."
Everyone began clapping. Anne, Sasha and Marcy just stood there, speechless.
At that moment, Mayor Toadstool walked up to the three and held out his hand.
"As Wally said, welcome to Wartwood. I'm Toadstool, the mayor of this here community."
"Pleasure to meet you," replied Marcy, shaking Toadstool's hand. "I'm Marcy. Marcy Wu."
Sasha walked up and shook Toadstool's hand as well.
"I'm Sasha. Sasha Waybright."
Finally, Anne shook Toadstool's hand.
"And I'm Anne. Anne Boonchuy."
"Well, pleasure to meet you three. We are honored to have you as our guest. We hope you enjoy the festival."
Sprig walked up to the trio.
"See."
"Alright then, so what do we do first," Anne asked.
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Outside of Wartwood, a group of toads were watching the events unfold.
"So those are the ones who took down the squad we sent over there," a voice asked behind them.
"Seems that way. I've never seen there kind before. And I know every species of wildlife from flies to Herons. They fascinate me."
"I don't care what they are. All I want to know is who they are. And what they think they will accomplish by attacking my men."
"Scales," a toad called to the big toad. "We found the location of their camp. Doesn't look like they have much to steal."
"Well then, there's only one thing I want you to do."
"What's that?"
The toad known as Scales looked over to the toad with a crooked smile on his face.
"BURN! IT! DOWN!"