The Origins Of Wonderbeasts

Ritchie ~ 9

The human and mute duo had told Ritchie and Mario that they knew how to get through the maze of the old roads and offered to take them there. However, they wanted some kind of payment since they said the old roads could be pretty dangerous. In the end they all agreed to discuss more in the morning and they ended up making camp under some trees and part of an old building.

"Ritchie, get up!" someone whisper-shouted into his ear, shaking him. He opened his eyes and sat up, seeing that Mario was the one to wake him before the sun was up. He opened his mouth to ask why, but was cut off by Mario covering it with his hand. "Quiet! Now come on, I'm not waiting for us to make a deal with these two." He hissed, gesturing towards Mitch. Ritchie didn't see Kayla, but he assumed that was because she was small.

Mario then snuck out with his death stalker in hand. Ritchie looked at the other human, before sneaking out after him. When he started to push out of the bush in the entrance, he heard buzzing and frogs talking. Peeking out he saw Mario and Kayla in chains as a frog threw them into the back of a limousine as the sun started appearing over the horizon.

He quickly put his hand over his mouth to stop himself from gasping, not wanting to blow his cover. He watched in horror as the group of mob frogs looked around the area and walked towards the bush. When the frogs left to search for him elsewhere he suppressed a sigh. Almost immediately after however, he started to panic again.

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"They took Kayla and Mario?!" Mitch asked, somewhat angry and the burrow boy who had woken him up to explain what happened. Mitch paced around the room quick before turning back to Ritchie and standing in front of him.

"Look, I just wanna know how we're gonna get them back! You know the surface better than me, do you have any ideas?" Ritchie asked, trying to calm Mitch down a little. Yes he was concerned too, but he knew that he couldn't let that worry control him. Mario and Kayla needed their help.

"Usually I just run from the mob frogs, and other mutes! With Kayla! One rule of the surface is to never get too close to dangerous mutes, and if you don't know if a mute is friendly, it's probably not!" Mitch said angrily, keeping his voice down despite clearly wanting to yell. "I doubt the explosion berry trick will work again, I'm still surprised it worked the first time! I- Wait! I have an idea!" Mitch cut himself off, snapping his finger upon getting his idea.

"What is it?" Ritchie asked, hoping he actually had an idea that could help their friends. Wait, was Mario his friend? Whatever, he was in trouble and Ritchie had to help. He just hoped Mitch's idea wasn't just to run away and leave the others behind. Even if it was, Ritchie wouldn't let him run away. He wouldn't let either of them run.

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Ritchie was sitting in the back of one of the Mob Frogs limousines thanks to Mitch's plan. Kayla and Mario, mostly Mario, were both pretty angry that this was their plan to save them, since it seemed to have gone horribly wrong. Ritchie just hoped that Mitch, who wasn't captured, would be able to complete the plan. Once the car was stopped the small group of Mob Frogs pulled the three out of the car.

"So this is supposedly the burrow boy?" A mob frog asked, seeming to be a leader among the mob frogs based on their more fancy suit and tie. They grabbed Ritchie's chin and made it so he was looking at them. They inspected Ritchie, nearly making him gag when they forcefully opened his mouth with their wet, slimy, hands. "Yup, definitely from a burrow. Skin hasn't seen sunlight, and his teeth look pretty clean. Plus he seems pretty well fed compared to that one." They said, gesturing towards Mario at the end. Ritchie wondered for a second if they were calling him fat.

Ritchie saw Mitch peek out from under the lily pads that formed the ground, placing a small ball of fluffy fur on the top before ducking back under the water and, presumably, swimming away. Ritchie took a slightly shaky breath, trying not to give anything away as he glared at the frog in front of him. He glanced over at the frog closest to Mario and Kayla, hiding a smile when he saw it had the death stalker tail that Mario loved so much.

"Well, apparently you don't know burrow people that well because I have lived on the surface my whole life. I've never even seen a burrow, much less lived in one. Maybe you should go back to whatever school you learned about burrow people from, because obviously you shouldn't have graduated!" Ritchie said, trying to distract the frogs as he tugged and pulled on his ropes. He was suddenly very glad his dad had forced him and his brothers to go to rope tying classes, because soon enough he was able to pull the knot apart.

He watched as Mitch burst out of the water and hit the Mob Frog holding Mario's weapon with an old wooden bat. It broke upon impact, but it was enough to catch the frog off guard so Mitch could pull the weapon out of his slime-covered hands and push him into the water. Ritchie then hopped up, moving to untie Kayla while Mitch used the death stalker to cut Mario' ropes.

"WHAT ARE YOU ALL STANDING AROUND FOR?! GET THEM!" The leader frog yelled at the others, who had been too shocked to move. The Mob Frogs then moved to grab them, but everyone was stopped and silenced by a loud, Earth-shaking, thumping of giant paws.