Anne, Sprig, Polly and Drake were playing outside. Anne wanted to teach the Plantars how to play kickball. Unfortunately, due to Polly's lack of legs. She had a hard time actually kicking the ball. Sprig rolled a ball towards Polly who charged into it as hard as she could. She sent it flying.
"Heads up Drake!" Anne yelled.
Drake lazily raised his arms to catch it, but the ball flew over his head, smashing into a window.
"My baby!" Hop Pop screamed.
The kids ran to the broken window to inspect the damage. Hop Pop was holding onto a small model ship. "Ooh, sorry about that, HP." Anne apologized. "We're trying to teach Polly how to play kickball."
"Which is challenging for obvious reasons." Sprig added.
"Dang it, kids! What have I told you about rough housing near the windows? Now come inside and play a quiet game. Hop Pop's working." He said, wanting to get back to work.
"Yeah, I can see that. Nice toy boat."
"It's not a 'toy boat,' Anne. It's a replica of a famous warship." Hop Pop corrected her.
"Potato, tomato." Anne dismissed.
"I had a bunch of stuff like that back home. Takes me about a month just to finish one of them." Drake said.
Sprig tried to touch the replica but was shooed away by Hop Pop. "Scram!" Sprig slowly backed away still wanting to touch it.
Hop Pop went back to work but suddenly the door swung open.
"Tongue tag! If you get tongued, you lose." Sprig announced.
"Guys wait! We should do this in a different room." Drake said hoping to calm everyone down, but nobody listened to him.
Sprig's tongue hit Drake in the side. "You lose!" Then he started chasing Anne and Polly.
"No. Kids, cut it out. I said a quiet game." Hop Pop yelled in dismay, but Sprig, Anne and Polly ignored him as well.
Polly jumped in front of Hop Pop's ship. That was when Sprig launched his tongue hoping to hit her. She jumped out of the way causing Sprig's tongue to knock the ship off the table where it shattered on the floor.
Hop Pop screamed when he saw the damage, causing everyone to stop what they were doing. He leaned down to inspect the damage. "Why don't you kids ever listen to me?"
Drake thought his heart had stopped. This was usually the kind of thing that would provoke his stepdad into punishing him severely. He didn't know what Hop Pop was going to do but whatever it was, it couldn't be good.
"Ok. Everything's fine. We can still fix her. To Loggle's" Hop Pop announced.
Drake breathed a sigh of relief. Seems like Hop Pop was too busy focused on his broken ship to worry about them.
The entire family climbed onto Bessie with Hop Pop driving. Drake was still rather unfamiliar with the area. He never really felt safe going out by himself especially after town's first impression of him. Luckily, he had the Plantars who were nice enough to let him live with them. Bessie stopped in front of some kind of carpenter shop. Drake mentally took a note of its location. Even though it was on the other side of the town. It was still a short walk.
"Ok, I'm going in. Give Bessie some mushroom treats if she acts up." Hop Pop handed Anne a small bag.
"You got it." Anne said as Hop Pop left for the store. "You guys want to take Bessie out on a joyride?"
"Yeah!" Sprig and Polly said at the same time.
"Wait! Don't you think we're in enough trouble as it is?" Drake asked.
"Don't worry Drake, we'll be fine. Now, you think snail means slow right? Check this out." Anne grabbed the reins and started driving Bessie in a circle. Bessie slowly picked up the speed and Anne let go of the reins. She held her arms in the air. "Show 'em what you got, Bessie!" Anne yelled.
A frog wearing a police uniform showed up riding a smaller snail showed up causing Bessie to stop.
"Boo!" Anne called out, upset that the joy ride ended so quickly.
"My dad was a police officer. Just let me do the talking, I'll take care of this." Drake went forward from the backseat. "Good morning officer." Drake said as politely as he could.
"Good morning to you too. Do you know why I pulled you over?" the police officer asked.
"Unfortunately, no I don't. Could you please explain?"
The officer shook his head. "You were causing a public disturbance and creating a dangerous situation by driving an uncontrolled snail." he gestured to the snail's reins. "Have you or your snail ever received a warning for any animal related violations?"
Drake didn't know how to answer that. He knew he couldn't lie because the officer likely had a record. Although Drake was clean, he didn't know what kinds of violations the Plantars may have had. "Sorry officer, I don't know."
"I'm going to let you off on a warning this. Don't let it happen again." he wrote something into a notebook.
"Thank you, officer, I promise it won't happen again." Drake said.
The officer drove away, and Drake let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. Everyone climbed off Bessie.
"Whoa Drake how did you do that? I thought we were toast for sure." Sprig asked.
"My dad used to be a police officer. Just be polite and you may be able to get off with a slap on the wrist." Drake said.
"Drake's dad is a very touchy subject. It's best not to bring it up if you can avoid it." Anne said.
Hop Pop came out of the store holding a large crate.
"Did you get everything Hop Pop?" Sprig asked.
"Yup. Now all I need is a quiet afternoon to fix this old gal." Hop Pop said.
"Well, listen, we'll be on our best behavior." Sprig promised.
"Yeah. The least we can do is give you the time to fix it." Anne said.
"It's been a long day anyway. We could give you some peace and quiet." Drake added.
"We're sorry, Hop Pop." Polly finished.
"Thanks kids." Hop Pop said.
The four kids rushed to the snail to fight for their seats. The ride home wasn't as urgent as their ride to Loggle's shop. Hop Pop went to the door, but Drake grabbed the handle. "Let me get that for you Hop Pop." He held open the door while Hop Pop walked in.
"Thank you, Drake." Hop Pop said. "I'll be in my study if anyone needs me."
"I'm starving." Anne stated, holding her stomach.
"I think there's one more beetle bite left in the kitchen." Sprig said.
Anne and Sprig rushed to the kitchen with Polly sitting on Sprig's head. They pushed each other and bumped into Hop Pop causing him to drop the box, damaging the model ship again. The ship's sails had dislodged from the hull and although the bow of the ship had snapped the hull was still fine.
"No, no, no, no!" Hop Pop started to cry.
"Sorry, HP. Let me get that for you." Anne tried to reach for the ship, but Hop Pop got to it first.
"Don't you touch her!" he tried to shoo Anne away.
Drake hugged the wall, trying to get around Hop Pop while still keeping as much distance from him as possible. He then retreated back up the stairs and planned to hide in the attic for the rest of the day. He was genuinely afraid of Hop Pop. He laid on his bedroll hoping to relax. Unlike Anne, Drake didn't have a proper bed, but the Plantars did say they were going to get him one as soon as the parts were ready. He still didn't know when that was. After a few hours, he fell asleep early.
Drake wasn't sure what happened to him. One minute he was sleeping soundly and the next as if one command he got up and ran somewhere. He could feel his body was doing something, but he didn't even know what its movements were. The entire world was still black and none of his senses were working. There was nothing to touch, taste, see, hear nor smell. Time didn't have any meaning either. Whatever was going on, Drake didn't have the mental capacity to understand nor care.
The world slowly came back to him. His senses were returning, and Drake began to regain control over his own mind and body. "What happened?" Drake could see he was sitting on the couch in the living room with Sprig, Anne and Polly. He was still barely conscious due to physical exhaustion.
Drake heard Anne groan. "Man, I feel funky." she said cracking her neck.
Sprig shook his head. "Like I was a prisoner in my own body."
Then it was Polly. "I... I have all this anger, and I don't know what to do with it!"
"Well, hey! Wanna shake it off with another game of tongue tag?" Anne suggested.
Sprig jumped up. "Heck yeah."
"Let's play in Hop Pop's room. I like the obstacles." Polly said.
"Wait what?" Drake asked still confused and disoriented. Before he could process what, they were talking about they ran off into Hop Pop's study. When Drake finally managed to pull himself, walked over to the study room hoping to talk to Hop Pop. "Hey, Hop Pop, did something happen?" He noticed the entire room was in chaos. Hop Pop was desperately trying to protect his model warship from the kids.
"Go to bed now, and I'll give you ten coppers each!" Hop Pop announced.
Everyone stopped moving. Then Sprig walked out the door. "Well, good night."
"Sleep tight." Polly said, leaving as well.
"I sure like money!" Anne yelled, running out the room leaving Drake with Hop Pop.
"Hop Pop, I've got a couple of questions-"
"Not now Drake. Just go to bed now if you want the money." Hop Pop interrupted.
"Alright..." Drake went back to the attic. It was pretty late at night which just raised more questions. Did he miss an entire day or was it still the same day? It felt like no time had passed at all. He decided he could ask more questions tomorrow. He laid on the bedroll and closed his eyes, letting his exhaustion overcome him.
The world went black yet again with Drake still barely aware of what was happening. He could feel his body falling then walking somewhere. Whatever it was doing, Drake didn't have any control over it. A part of him knew he was going to have questions about this later, but the other part really didn't care about what was happening.
Then the world started to fade back into existence. Drake noticed he was standing in a barn with a small crowd. It seemed like the entire town of Wartwood had congregated in Bessie's stable. Most of the townsfolk had purple mushrooms growing on their heads. Drake wiped away some of the mushrooms that were growing on his head.
"Ahem!" Anne coughed.
Hop Pop looked to see Anne, Sprig and Polly giving him an angry look. Drake stayed back and had a blank expression on his face, if he was upset in anyway, he was good at hiding it. Hop Pop sighed. "I know. No matter how important my ship was, it didn't give me the right to use mind control on you."
"Uh, no."
"Ya think?"
"Heck naw."
"But I guess we're sorry too." Anne apologized. "Looks like we pushed you pretty far. We'll try to be better about listening to you in the future."
"What about Drake? He was pretty well behaved." Sprig noted.
Everyone looked at Drake which made him a little nervous. "I try to be on my best behavior. Don't want to cause any trouble you know." he laughed while nervously rubbing his sleeves.
Hop Pop had a feeling Drake was hiding something but decided not to pry. He chuckled. "I guess we're even."
"Hop Pop, we broke a model ship. You crossed all kinds of ethical and moral lines!" Polly complained.
"Like I said, even." Hop Pop pulled Drake over to the group and hugged everyone.
"Fine." the other kids grumbled.
Drake just stood there silently. He was rather surprised Hop Pop would pull him into this group hug. Ever since arriving in Wartwood, Drake had feared Hop Pop, but he never lashed out in anger. He could have kicked Drake out at the slightest provocation, yet he didn't. Much of his fears had stemmed from Hop Pop's role with the revolutionaries that tried to kill him weeks ago. Now it seemed those fears were unfounded. In fact, Hop Pop was a lot more reasonable than Drake had expected. He couldn't help but compare Hop Pop to his father. He hadn't felt this loved since his father died.
Hop Pop broke the hug. "Now come on. I'll make you all some mushroom soup."
Drake decided to ask one last question while everyone was leaving. "So quick question... do we still get the money?"
"Sure Drake, I'll get my wallet after dinner." Hop Pop answered as he closed the barn door.