Amphibia: Embrace The Fall

Welcome Home

Two Weeks Earlier

"Anne, wait!" Sprig called out, but it was too late. By the time Sprig, Hop Pop, Frobo, and Polly made it through the portal, Anne was gone. "We have to find her!" Sprig said, turning to the rest of his family.

Hop Pop looked back at Sprig, an expression of guilt plastered onto his face, "I know I know, this is all my fault. If I had just explained better or taken her opinion into account, none of this would have happened!"

"Yah think" Polly deadpanned.

Hop Pop sighed. "Well we won't find her without a plan first. Quick everyone, back to Wartwood!"

As the Plantar family fled through Frog Valley, they noticed something off about everything. The portal had dropped them off at the mountain pass and Andrias' castle was clearly visible. When they turned around towards Frog Valley, they had expected to run into some frobots along the way or at least signs that indicated that Andrias had taken over, but there were none. Instead, they kept seeing flags with an eye symbol on them, the same one that Sasha and Grime had on their outfits before Anne and the Plantars had been sent to Earth.

"Well, this is weird. You'd think Andrias would have tried taking over the valley." Sprig thought out loud.

Hop Pop looked around. "Maybe some kind of resistance stopped him."

"HEY, YOU THERE!" The Plantars turned to see a squad of toads head towards them.

"Maybe they can tell us what's going on." Polly said hopefully.

"What do you frogs think you're doing here! Didn't you hear? This is Toad Valley now and according to Captain Sasha, either you scram or we kill you." The lead toad said as they approached them.

Hop Pop gasped. "SAY WHAAAAAAT!!! That's crazy!"

The lead toad ignored him. "So are you guys gonna leave, or am I having frog legs for dinner?"

Suddenly a voice rang out. "Oi! Bugger off!"

One-eyed Wally stormed into the toads atop Bessie, smashing his accordion into some of the toads' faces. "Fancy meeting you frogs 'ere!"

Sprig was stunned. "Wally! What are you doing here?"

Wally slammed into another toad. "I was scavenging for resources when I saw you lot about to fight a buncha no good toads. Now hop on!"

The Plantars climbed aboard Bessie and they sped away, the toads from before now lying unconscious on the ground.

~~~

After an hour or so of driving, they arrived at the outskirts of Wartwood. Wally turned to the Plantars. "Alright listen up, Wartwood is swarming with toads, but we managed to get most of the frogs 'ere in your home's basement."

Hop Pop looked at him confused. "I don't think Anne's room has enough space for all of you." Wally slapped his forehead. "Not that basement! I'm talking about the Plantar family tunnels. Loggle told us about 'em when the toads first arrived. We even invited frogs from neighboring villages to join us."

The frogs snuck their way to the Plantar farm which thankfully hadn't been occupied by toads. Wally knocked on the picture frame above the fireplace, revealing the staircase to 'New Wartwood' as it had been dubbed.

The Plantars walked through the tunnel and looked on in awe at what they saw. It looked like the whole town had been recreated beneath their home. Even the statue had been recreated down there!

"Alright, let's go tell the commander you're 'ere!" Wally said, leading the Plantars towards the statue. It's there that they ran into a familiar face.

"Hey, Mrs. Croaker!" Sprig yelled out as they approached.

The old frog turned at the Plantars with a look of both surprise and relief. "Thank frog you're finally back! The resistance needs all the help we can get."

She looked behind them expecting to see a familiar, tall, lanky figure but didn't see anyone. "Wait, where's Anne? There's no way that girl would let you come to Amphibia without her."

Hop Pop looked down in guilt. "W-Well you see I uh-"

Sprig interrupted him. "Hop Pop told Anne she wasn't coming with us, but then she got all mad and started glowing blue and stuff, then she beat up some government guys and flew through the portal. We haven't seen her since."

"Hopadiah Plantar! What the frog were you thinking?" Mrs. Croaker scolded him. "Anne is the strongest fighter we got and you were just gonna leave her behind?!"

Hop Pop tried defending himself. "I was just trying to protect her! She's still just a kid, she shouldn't be fighting in a war!"

"But Polly and I should be?" Spring retorted.

Hop Pop was at a loss for words. "Of course not, no one should be!"

Mrs. Croaker sighed. "What's done is done. We'll help you find Anne and together we'll take back Wartwood as well as the rest of the valley while we're at it."

Wally, who had been standing off to the side during this entire conversation, looked at Mrs. Croaker nervously. "Um Commander, are we gonna ask 'em about that secret room we found?"

Mrs. Croaker stared back at him. "Oh right, that."

Sprig perked up. "What secret room?"

"We found some room with the Plantar insignia on its door, but we can't figure out how to open it," Wally answered him.

Wally led the group to the door. "Here we are! You frogs got any idea as to how to open it?"

Polly eyed the door carefully and noticed a large rectangular slot. "Hey, Hop Pop, doesn't that look about the same size as the Plantar family tome?"

"You're right Polly, it does! Let me go get it." Hop Pop said, speed-walking to go retrieve said item.

A few minutes later, Hop Pop returned with an old-looking book. Hop Pop slid it into the slot and a clicking sound was heard. The door slowly opened, revealing a dusty-looking room. Inside was a small bed, a cloak hanging on the wall with the letter L on it, and on the left, a desk with a red envelope on it.

Sprig walked over to the desk and picked up the envelope. He opened it and was confused. Inside was just a blank red sheet of paper. He turned to the rest of the group. "It says....nothing! It's blank."

"Let me see that thing." Mrs. Croaker said, holding her hand out. Sprig gave her the letter as she took out a pair of glasses with red lenses. "This should do the trick. Back in my day, I read all sorts of secret messages."

Putting on the glasses, she began to read. "Looks like this is a letter addressed to King Andrias from someone named Leif. Judging by its contents, I'd say she was an old friend of his."

Sprig gave Mrs. Croaker a hopeful look. "Does it say anything about stopping Andrias from destroying Amphibia?"

"Not exactly, but delivering this letter to him might do just that." Mrs. Croaker said with a smile. "Wally, prepare the coastal kill-a-moths and tell Ivy and Maddie we have a mission for them." She turned back to Sprig. "You'll be going with them. We need small nimble frogs if we want to sneak into the throne room undetected."

Sprig nodded. "You can count on us Mrs. Croaker!"