The Flower from Brooklyn

Three: The Caterpillar's Curse

When Froggy is very curious, she can become quite persistent. To her surprise, she discovered that her caterpillar friend had the unusual ability to speak like a human, just like the people she would meet in her suburban neighborhood, It's remarkable that Froggy can understand the caterpillar's language despite her inability to recollect his identity or origin. It seems that the small companion of Froggy told him that he had fallen victim to a dreadful curse that turned him into a crawly but adorable insect. The identity of the person who cast this spell on Haru is unknown, but Froggy was determined to find answers immediately.

"I was cursed," he said, his voice low and mournfully gentle. 

"By whom?" Froggy asked, her voice now more forceful, "And how do you know my name?!"

Haru clarified that "Froggy" was a nickname he affectionately used for her during their younger days, indicating that it was not the girl's actual name.

  It just so happens that three years ago, Froggy had come to his palace for a visit on a particularly rainy day. He enjoyed Froggy's visits to The Flower Kingdom, which he ruled himself. In fact, he mentioned that he is soon to merge his kingdom with a neighboring one, which would make him the new king. 

Whenever Froggy arrived, the palace doors would open for her. Despite being occupied with his duties as a future king, he always made time to welcome the young adventurer with the frog cap into his regal abode, even when the weather was unfavorable. One day, Haru felt insecure about his feelings towards Froggy. As a prince, he believed that his emotions couldn't be reciprocated. However, he decided to take a chance and pursue them anyway.

As usual, Froggy made the usual courteous gesture of gently bowing in front of a royal, to which Haru would always be flattered by. He was about to tell Froggy how he felt, but then a koopaling invaded the palace, with malicious intents in mind. Froggy rushed to protect her friend, but she was soon blasted by magic and sent to the ground. 

"I, of course, felt crushed beyond repair," Prince Haru said, " I knew it was too late to save you, but not too late to fight back. But that attempt was futile as well."

"So that's how you've got turned into a caterpillar," Froggy said, " but what did the so-called Koopaling do next?

Haru shared that he had been cursed to become a caterpillar. During this time, he had to witness his dear friend's memories of him being stripped away. To make matters worse, the reptilian scoundrels took a symbol of their friendship, an aquamarine chest piece. This piece represented the strong bond they shared, which was the only thing holding them together despite their different social statuses. Unknown to them, outside the closed door of their sister's room, the Mario Brothers were eavesdropping on their conversation, they were oblivious as to what was going on, but from what they heard, it was horrifying, even to them.

 "We can't leave Froggy to handle this alone, she's our sister," expressed Luigi with concern. This led him to question, "Do we really want to trust this crazy caterpillar?"

However, feeling uncertain, Luigi asked, "What can we do?" But, after a moment of contemplation, Mario confidently came up with an idea.

"Don't worry, Luigi. I know just what to do."