Hop Pop drove the fwagon up the mountains, Anne by his side holding a map. She points to a spot on the map. "Hey, looks like we're almost halfway to Newtopia, HP." The human states. Hop Pop chuckles. "Yep! We're making good time."
Folding up the map, Anne gives Hop Pop an almost robotic grin. "I gotta say, this trip has been a lot smoother than I thought it'd be." She says. Hop Pop nods in agreement, never taking his eyes off the road as he returns the smile. "Yep!"
"But the one thing I'd change..."
"The only thing I'd change..."
Loud yelling erupted from the fwagon, followed by loud crashing noises.
"Stop pushing me!" Sprig yells angrily. "You stop pushing me!" Polly spat back. Flossie could be heard groaning loudly. "Would you two please quiet down? Jean is asleep! And you two are being LOUD!"
"Iiiiiiis that." Hop Pop finishes, as Polly scoffs at Flossie. "We're being loud? Have you heard yourself? GET THAT STUPID STUFF OUT OF MY FACE!" She screams at Sprig.
Sprig folds his arms. "Well, sorry for showing you all this cool moss I found!" He states.
A yelp of pain could be heard within the fwagon as Polly hits him. "Ow! What was that for?!"
"I saw a punch bug! Punch bug!" Hitting him again, the two siblings tackle each other. And with Flossie yelling at them, it sounded like she was about to join the two in their brawl.
"Two weeks of nonstop arguing really starting to wear on me." Anne says tiredly. "I don't know how Jean can sleep through that..."
"At least they're keeping it in the fwagon this time." Hop Pop mutters.
That relief was short-lived, however, when Sprig, Polly, and Flossie all burst through the door, landing on the drivers seat. Taking in a deep breath, Polly, wearing her brothers hat, imitates Sprig's voice.
"Look everyone, I'm Sprig! Look at all this dumb moss I found!" Throwing some moss in Hop Pop's face. She starts yelling into her grandfather's ears as she continues to imitate her brother.
Sprig glares at her. "Oh yeah?" He spat as he climbs into Anne's hair. "Well, I'm Polly! And I decided we're all playing punch bug!" He yells in Polly's voice. Hitting Anne in the face, he repeats his statement.
Flossie puts her head in her hands. "Why can't you just be quiet for a day!? Jean needs her sleep, and you guys are-"
She's cut off when Sprig and Polly snicker. "I'm Flossie, and I want everyone to be quiet but me! Ra ra ra!" Polly impersonates Flossie's voice perfectly.
The axolotl gasps. "I am NOT that loud!" She yells loudly. Sprig began to laugh. "Ooh look at me! I'm NOT YELLING AT ALL!" He shouts in Flossie's voice at the top of his lungs.
With an angry yell, Flossie pounces on the unsuspecting pink frog. The two start rolling around on the fwagon roof. Polly soon joins them, jumping into the fight with a war cry.
Anne and Hop Pop stare ahead for a minute, as they tried to ignore the fighting amphibian children. "This is incredibly annoying but I have to say, their impressions of each other are spot on." The teen spoke up. The elderly frog nodded. "Yep, always had a knack for that." He responded.
"Oh, I don't think I can take two more weeks of this. If only there were some way to get them to stop fighting!" Anne said in despair.
Hop Pop spotted something up ahead. Pulling hard on Bessie's reins, he brings her to a stop in front of an unusual fork in the road.
"What the heck, dude? I almost bit my tongue!"
"Shh! Look!" The elderly frog pointed at the sign and the road ahead. The children, who'd all stopped fighting at this point, stared curiously at the sign.
""Quarreler's Pass. A road to reconciliation for weary travel-mates." Okay, so what?" Polly read. Flossie and Sprig share a quick glance. "Guys, you don't think they're gonna-" Sprig started, but was cut off as Hop Pop and Anne both kicked the three kids off the fwagon.
"What!?"
"You're seriously leaving us here?!"
"This is cruel!"
Hop Pop waved them off. "Aw, quit your bellyaching." He said, flipping the sign to show the trio a map. "It says right here that the paths meet up eventually!"
Anne pulls at her hair. "Your fighting is driving us nuts! You brought this upon yourselves!" She states, exasperated.
Polly hits her brother. "This is all Sprig's fault for being so zippy and obnoxious all the time!" She complained. He immediately hits her back, turning to her angrily. "Me? You're the one who's punching everyone!"
"No, you are!"
"No, you are!"
Flossie folds her arms. "I don't see why I have to go. Those two started it all!" She whined. Polly and Sprig gasp, turning to her. "You're the noisiest one amongst us!" Polly shouts angrily.
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
"Am not!"
"ARE TOO!"
Hop Pop nods, barely listening. "Mm-hmm. See you kids on the other side and good luck!" He's about to drive off, when Anne passes Sprig her phone. "Here. If you get in trouble, just call me."
The two flee with the fwagon on the safe path. The trio watch them go, shocked. They really just left three kids alone.
But then again, this was Amphibia.
Sprig looks between the phone and the disappearing fwagon. ""Call me"? I don't get it." He mutters, pocketing his friend's device.
The three amphibians glance further down their own path, the wind whistling eerily in the quiet atmosphere. Polly groaned. "Let's just get this over with."
Turning to Sprig and Flossie, she trips them both before running away. "Try to keep up, slowpokes!"
Sprig grabs his sisters tail, tossing her behind him. "Oh, no you don't!" With that, he charges forward. Flossie and Polly chase after him, the axolotl tackling him to the ground.
——
The three continue to hit each other as they walk along the path. Bumping into a sign, Sprig holds his sore head as his sister reads it.
"The Beam of Balance?"
In front of them lay a log over a large canyon. They looked down at the drop below them. At the bottom of the cliff lay spikey rocks. Polly chuckles. "More like the beam of... race you across!" She yells, colliding into Flossie. Jumping onto the log, she zooms ahead of the pink frog and axolotl.
Flossie raced after her. "Hey! Get back here you little-" she lets out a yelp as the log underneath her starts moving, almost causing her to slip and fall.
Polly, however, did fall, and she cried out to her brother to save her. Sprig uses his tongue to catch her, holding her in his mouth. The trio are silent for a minute as they cling to the log for dear life. "Thanks." Polly finally mutters, as her brother spits her out beside them.
"Polly, I think we're supposed to go across slowly." He explains, getting on all fours and begins to slowly tip-toe across. Flossie and Polly follow his lead, and the pollywog notices how long the log is. She lets out an angry sigh.
"Okay. This works. Yeah. Slow and steady..." Sprig mumbles to himself. Flossie also lets out a sigh. "This is gonna take forever..." she states. Sprig turns to her. "Do you have a better idea?" He asks.
The axolotl looks down at the spikes below. "Uh...no...." She finally answers quietly. Polly waves her hand. "I do! Let's just jump!" She exclaims.
Sprig looks over at the other side of the canyon skeptically. "Jump? I can't make that, it's wider than Croaker's Creek!" He says. Flossie nods in agreement. "Yeah, and I can't jump as far as you frogs, remember?"
Polly begins to laugh. "Oh, yeah. Frogs, axolotls. Hey Sprig, remember when you tried to jump over Croaker's Creek?" She cackled. Sprig grimaces at the memory. "Yeah, don't remind me."
"What happened at Croaker's Creek?" Flossie asks curiously. Polly wiped a tear from her eye as she continues to giggle. "He landed right on a cactus flower!" Flossie began to laugh to, imagining the spikes sticking out of the pink frog.
"All those spikes sticking out of his-" Polly gasps, as if recalling something. "Wait! Remember Croaker's Creek?"
Sprig scowls at his sister. "Yeah! I don't wanna talk about it!" He states angrily. Polly ignores his harsh tone as she continued.
"No, no! There was a rickety bridge, remember? And the only way we got across was..."
"The walk-and-roll! Polly, you're a flipping genius!" Sprig gasps, waving his arms around excitedly. The trio strain to keep themselves upright as the log rolls under them. "Forgot where I was." The pink frog chuckles nervously.
Flossie stares at the two siblings, confused. "What's the walk-and-roll?" She asks. Polly and Sprig share a look, realising their plan might not be so great after all.
"Well, we stack on top of one another, and as we walk Polly rolls on our arms to help keep balance. The only problem is we've only done it with just the two of us..." Sprig explained.
The axolotl hums, thinking. "What if you two balance on top of me? I've walked across my fair share of rickety bridges." She chuckles. Polly shrugs. "We could give it a shot."
"Good. Because we only have one shot at this."
Allowing Sprig to climb onto her back, Flossie helps Polly onto her brothers shoulders before standing up. Stretching out her arms to keep balance, she glances up at the two frogs. "You guys ready?"
"Let's roll! And walk." Polly states.
The axolotl starts walking. Almost immediately, the log rolls underneath her. Letting out a yelp, she struggles to keep her balance. "Okay! Okay! Left!"
Polly pulls on her brothers hat, helping keeping all three balanced as they make progress across the log.
"Right! Left! Right!"
Sprig and Polly lean to the left and right on command, keeping all three balanced. Eventually, the three make it to the other side of the canyon, jumping onto solid ground.
"We're alive!" Flossie cheers, throwing her arms in the air. The two frog siblings cheer with her, as the trio get to their feet. "Now, let's breeze through this thing so we can slap Hop Pop!" Polly encouraged.
"I support that!"
"So do I!"
"Wonder how those three are holding up without us." Sprig wonders, scratching his chin in thought.
——
Back at the fwagon, all was quiet. Save for the gentle howl of the wind and Jean's quiet snores coming from within the moving vehicle.
Anne was leaning back, eyes closed as she rested her arms behind her head. Hop Pop let out a relieved sigh.
"Finally. Peace and quiet."
There was a moment of silence between the two. The elderly frog glances over to Anne, who hadn't moved a muscle.
"Almost a little too quiet."
Still silence. Hop Pop chuckled nervously. He started sweating, trying his hardest to keep his eyes on the road ahead.
"Almost a little awkward, isn't it?"
Anne's eyes open slowly, turning to stare at the elderly frog.
"....So do you have a boyfriend back home?"
Without hesitation, Anne kicks Hop Pop off the fwagon. He lets out a yelp as he rolls off, left laying on the dirt road.
——
"They call us the impossible three."
Flossie scales up a steep tunnel walls, Polly and Sprig clinging onto her tail. Reaching the top, they high five each other with a grin.
"A super-duper amphibian trilogy!"
The three stare up at a cliff, where a ladder lay resting on the top. Snapping his fingers, Sprig tosses Polly up a cliff, and the pollywog grabs onto the ladder, throwing it down for her companions.
"We're a team that can't be beat."
Sprig swings on a cliff using his tongue, as Polly rides on his back and Flossie clings to his feet to help with the momentum. She looks down for a brief moment, gulping at the very big drop if she were to let go.
"Always gonna land on our feet!"
Sprig jumps off a mini waterfall backwards. Landing in the water, Flossie and Polly grab his legs.
"We're almost all the way through,"
Walking along, the trio grin at each other as they reach the end of their path.
"But the end of the pass is fake!"
Sprig and Flossie run into the wall, both letting out yelps as they fall over on top of each other. "It's fake." Polly restates.
Shaking his head, Sprig places a webbed hand on the sky-coloured wall in confusion. "What the heck? Someone blocked off the pass and painted it to look like the end? Weird." He mutters to himself, as he looks down at the still wet paint. Flossie helps him to his feet. The axolotl looks up at the wall, furrowing her brow.
"Something smells fishy here."
"Heh heh. It's probably you." Polly snickers. Flossie gasps, but Polly ignores her, pointing to something. "Must be another test. What if we took that tunnel over there?"
Her brother and Flossie follow her gaze, staring at the tunnel. It looked dark, dirty and dangerous. Not to mention the signs saying, "THiS wEIGH" and "ALsO GuD" with big red arrows pointing inside along the entrance.
The axolotl chuckles nervously. "I think we all agree on this one, right?" She asks. Sprig and Polly nod. "Yep."
"Oh definitely."
"...."
"We're going in!" Sprig announces, walking toward the cave entrance. Polly hops after him excitedly. "Alright! Test pass!" She cheers. Flossie stares at them a moment, shocked. "What?! Why?!" She asks, chasing after her companions. Sprig shrugs.
"It's kinda the only way out." He states before entering. Flossie looks around, realising he was right. There was no other way through. Letting out a sigh, she follows after Sprig and Polly. "Okay."
Polly hums in thought. "That was too easy..." she says suspiciously. Flossie glances around the dark cave as Sprig and Polly keep talking. The only visible objects were the glowing fungus, and the axolotl could hear the faint dripping of water all around.
As they wandered further in and the light from the entrance of the cave became dimmer, Sprig pulled out Anne's phone, turning on the light. Before long, Sprig and Flossie hit their heads on the roof of the cave as it became narrower.
"Oh, perspective." Sprig notes.
"Clever."
The trio squeeze into the small tunnel, cramped together as they moved forward.
"Okay. Not much farther." Sprig says with a bit of doubt.
"Hopefully." Flossie mutters under her breath, but Polly heard her. "Kill joy."
The pollywog let out a yelp as Sprig stepped on her tail. He quickly takes a step back. "Oops. My bad!" He apologises. Without realising, he bumps into Flossie's head, almost knocking her over. "Ow! Watch it!" She hissed.
Polly groaned, hitting her brother. "Watch where you're putting your big, dumb feet!" She yells, spitting all over her brother and Flossie. Sprig kicks his sister into the wall, accidentally kicking Flossie in the face. "You watch where you put your big, dumb spit!" He yells back.
The axolotl had had enough. "You guys are gross! I'm going back!" She states. Turning around, her tail knocks the two young frogs over in the small space.
"Hey! You watch where you're putting your tail!"
"YOU two should watch where you put your feet and spit!"
"Ugh! You two are so annoying!"
"No, you are!"
"No, you are!"
"No, you two are!"
Their voices echo throughout the cave. None notice a large creature slither by as they continue walking and fighting, hitting each other. Flossie had been too caught up in the fight she hadn't realised she'd followed them til they came to a fork in the road.
"Would you look at that. Two tunnels!" Polly says. She points to her brother and Flossie. "Why don't you two take that one and find another Pollywog to step on!" She spat angrily. Sprig crosses his arms.
"Fine! I'm gonna go in this tunnel ALONE, and maybe you two can annoy someone else!" He yells, walking into the tunnel.
"I'm going back! I'm gonna find my OWN way around!" Flossie finishes, heading back the way they came.
"Fine!"
"Fine!"
"Fine!"
They seperate. On the way back to the entrance, she grumbles under her breath. "They're so annoying and selfish! I'm GLAD I'm on my own!" She mutters angrily. With a huff, she crosses her arms as she falls silent.
The dripping of water were the only sounds now. Looking around, the axolotl grew a frown at how silent it was. She hugged herself, shivering in the cold air.
"It's..kinda lonely in here..."
As she thought about turning around, she heard Polly scream.
"THERE'S A GIANT WORMY THNG! IT'S TRYING TO EAT ME!"
Flossie spins around, looking down the tunnel a moment before she started running. "Hang on! I'm coming!"
She couldn't see where she was going. It was getting darker and darker, but still she didnt stop. Not until she ran into a wall. Hard.
With a yelp, she fell back. "Dangit! I should've grabbed a glowy mushroom!" She hissed quietly, rubbing her head. She had her eyes screwed shut in pain. "Being able to see in the dark would be good...
Opening her eyes, she let out a gasp. Instead of pitch black darkness, her vision had turned purple. Not only that, but she could now see the wall and rocks around her.
"Whoa, cool!"
Hearing another scream, this time come from Sprig, she quickly got to her feet. "Right! Polly! Sprig! Hang on, I'm on my way!"
Running down the tunnel, she dodged the obstacles in her path. She couldn't hear her frog companions anymore, and she began to panic. "Sprig! Polly! Where are you?"
"They're with us." A female voice whispered. Flossie skids to a stop as she spots something large blocking her path. "Wha-who are you!?" She asks, backing up. The creature chuckles, sliding closer to her.
"Oh, we're gonna be the ones who'll eat you!" It hissed. There was a moment of awkward silence.
"Oh, such a great line, Lysil." A male voice hissed from somewhere the axolotl couldn't see. "Lysil" groaned. "I already used my best punchline on the other one!" She growled back.
Snapping out of her trance, Flossie ran. She looked back, realising the thing was behind her, chomping at the air she was moments before.
Not watching where she was running, Flossie lets out a scream as she falls through a hole in the floor. She lands on a mountain of bones, alongside Sprig and Polly.
"You guys okay?" She asks, calming her beating heartbeat. Sprig and Polly nod, giving her a weird look. The axolotl notices. "What're you looking at?"
Sprig points to her or, more specifically, her face. "You're eyes are....glowing." he points out. Her vision fades back to normal as the axolotl reaches to touch her face. "They are?"
"Ah, good catch, Lysil!"
The young amphibians look up to see the creatures that had been chasing them emerge from the tunnels. The purple one grins at the others statement. "Yes, Angwin, and they sound juicy!"
"How many of you weirdos are there?!" Polly screams. The two creatures laugh, as Lysil one retreats back inside the tunnels. Angwin slithers out, and the three young amphibians back up against the wall as the two olms reveal themselves to be conjoined. They spoke in unison.
"Only one."
Polly was about to say something when Sprig hushes her. "Shh! I don't think they can see us!" He whispers quite loudly. Flossie stands protectively in front of the young frogs as Lysil leans closer. "No, but we can hear you. And it's only a matter of time before my bro and I find ya!"
"That's how we olms do." Angwin adds. Polly puffs up her chest confidently. "Oh, yeah? Well..."
she doesn't get any further, since both Sprig and Floss covered her mouth. The frog picks her up and jumps back as Angwin chomps at the spot they were seconds before. Flossie falls back, out of reach under the belly of the larger amphibian. Scurrying to her feet, she bolts as Lysil leans down and tries to bite at her. The axolotl joins her two frog companions, who'd found a crack to keep safe in for the time being.
Angwin gnawed at the crack, trying to get at the young amphibians. "Oh, great! We lost 'em in the crack 'cause you were dragging your feet!" He turned angrily to his sister. Lysil groaned. "Okay. A, we don't have feet. And B, I could've helped if you'd bothered to communicate at all!" She retorted.
"I said "Over here!" Try listening for once." He grumbled, gesturing to the crack.
"Ugh! Just help me find a stick to pry them out of the crack. You're literally a pain in my backside."
"Ugh! I'm a pain? You're the pain!"
"No, you are!"
"No, you are!"
"No, you are!"
Sprig, Polly and Flossie listen to the two olms fighting. The axolotl's eye twitched at the annoying argument, and she covers her ears in frustration. "Make them stop! Please!" She begged.
Sprig nodded in agreement, crossing his arms. "All this bickering is driving me crazy!"
"It's like wearing a beehive on your head." Polly added. Sprig chuckled. "Can you imagine having to listen to this for more than an hour?"
Realisation dawned on Flossie and Polly's face, as they looked down at the ground in shame. "Or two weeks?"
"From the back of a wagon..."
"All day and all night...boy, we are NOT fun to be around." Flossie mutters.
The trio are quiet as they listen to Lysil and Angwin bicker. Tossing a rock, Sprig draws his knees to his chest. "Maybe Hop Pop and Anne were right to ditch us here."
Flossie nods solemnly, leaning her head against the wall. "We messed up BIG time." She responds quietly.
"If we get out of this, maybe we can call a truce. Not argue for a couple of weeks? Give them a break?" Polly asks the two amphibians in front of her. Flossie and Sprig glance at each other, before smiling.
"Deal!" The say in unison, spitting in their hands and shaking on it while Lysil and Angwin continued to argue in the background.
Polly turns determinedly to the two olms. "Now then, how to escape two, mostly blind, argumentative siblings?"
The trio stick their heads out of the crack, watching the two olms a moment before the pollywog gasps. "I have an idea that might make an impression!" She winks at her brother. He didnt understand. "Something in your eye?"
"Just follow my lead!"
Angwin lets out a groan. "Okay, whatever. Let's just eat these kids and get back to never talking to each other again." He mutters. Lysil huffs, crossing her arms. "Finally. A good idea out of your mouth. Now, let's find that stick already!"
Polly inhales, grinning manically as she spoke in Angwins voice. "Do it yourself, you smelly dum-dum!"
Lysil gasped, clasping a clawed hand to her chest. "Who you calling dum-dum? Yeah, I found your stick. Right here!" Hitting him with a bone, Angwin lets out a yelp. "Ow! Hey! Watch where you're swinging that thing!"
While they were distracted, Sprig uses his tongue to swing over them, standing behind Lysil. In her voice, he speaks. "Not my fault you've got a humongous swollen head, brother!"
Angwin growled. "Now that's uncalled for! Take this!" Attacking his sister, the two fight, shaking the cave and causing a landslide.
Sprig attempts to dodge the fighting twins and falling rocks. Unfortunately, he falls, landing in Angwin's mouth. Flossie and Polly call out his name in a panic.
"SPRIG!"
Lysil dives into the air, falling on her brother. "Belly flop!" Angwin spits out Sprig as his sister lands on him. Before Sprig could catch his bearings, Flossie and Polly grab him, dragging him toward an exit. "C'mon!"
"Get up!"
The trio make their way out of the caves. Collapsing on the cave floor, they all start laughing, catching their breath. "Holy crud, that was intense!" Flossie chuckles. Polly nods in agreement. "Yeah. Whoo, man. Promise me we never end up like that." she adds.
Sprig scoffs at this. "Us? Are you kidding? We're way too good of a team. Three siblings against the world!"
All three let out a sigh, before Flossie freezes, realising something. She sits up, facing the pink frog. ""Three"? What's that supposed to mean?" She asks curiously. Sprig and Polly share a look.
"C'mon, Floss! We've been through so much together already! Of course we're gonna see you as our sister!" Sprig points out.
Flossie gasps, placing a hand on her chest, eyes sparkling. "You think of me as your sister?" She asks hopefully. Polly groans playfully. "Yes! Now get over here, ya Plantar!" She shouts, bringing Flossie and Sprig into a hug. Flossie starts tearing up comically. "I love you guys so muuuuch!"
"We love you too, ya weirdo."
——
Flossie, Sprig and Polly make it back to the road.
"Hmm, looks like we're back on the road." Sprig points out the obvious. But no one says anything, just in agreement. "Yeah, they should be here by now."
"Wait, do you hear that?" Flossie asks.
The frogs strain to hear what Flossie was talking about. Sure enough, Hop Pop's muttering and mumbling could be heard from around the corner down the road.
"A relationship is like a farm. You plant a seed of trust and it grows into a better relationship." Hop Pop drones on and on blankly. Anne sat beside him, clearly tired of listening to the elderly frog.
The trio run up to the fwagon. "Anne, over here! Anne!"
"We're back!"
"Hi! Sup?"
The human spots them, eyes widening. "You three! Thank frog!" She yells gratefully. Sprig nods. "Anne, you'll be glad to know we've decided to stop-"
The pink frog was cut off as the human grabs them, sitting them on the fwagon. "I don't care! I need you to fill the silences. Hop Pop can't deal with them! He can't deal with them!"
Flossie raises a brow. "Jean's not awake yet?"
The elderly frog seems to notice the grandkids were back. "Oh, hey, kids. Didnt see you there." He states, dazed. "How'd the trials go?"
The trio shrug. "It was fine, except for the bloodthirsty olms." Polly states nonchalantly. Sprig and Flossie nod in agreement. "And you'll be glad to know we've decided to stop arguing-"
"That's great, Sprig." Hop Pop interrupts once again. "Anyway, we were just getting into the nitty-gritty. Now that you guys are back, we can talk about Anne's boyfriend again."
But before the elderly frog could continue, the human kicks him off the fwagon again. He screams as he falls off.
From inside the fwagon, Jean's quiet snores stop, and a groggy voice calls out. "Wha happen? Where am I?"
A/N: So...amphibia's over...
But on the other hand! I'm only 2 episodes away from Marcy at the Gates! After that I have a very, VERY fun episode to write >:)
Seriously this story is now keeping Amphibia alive for me. I'm so glad I started this story. I AM going to finish this. It'll be one of my personal goals lol.
I'd like to say thank you to everyone reading this story. It's been a HUGE honour writing this for you guys.
Another A/N: Flossie might be a little out of character towards the end. And I'm kinda working on a Lego Monkie Kid fic. Id been working on that for a bit while I went on break. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. Its a great cartoon with amazing characters and plot. Just be careful not to get too attached to the emo monkey lol