Calamitous Intervention

Feverish Frenzy / Family Shrub

Previously on Calamitous Intervention

After stopping Hop Pop and Sprig from challenging each other, Luz broke it up and asked for an allowance, but the old frog didn't have enough money to do so. This led to her coming up with a way to instantly ripen tomatoes using potions, and she succeeded but a gigantic tomato monster resulted from her failed experiments, causing damage. Working together, they managed to defeat the beast, thanks to Sprig's help.

Days later, the Plantars decided to go on a journey for some intense camping, and Luz took their advice and stayed at the house. During this time, she found out more about the Calamity Box and eventually discovered where Hop Pop had buried it. She experimented on it, causing strange effects to occur. When the Plantars returned, Luz had decided to keep the fact she had found the box a secret from them.

Chapter Seventeen - Feverish Frenzy / Family Shrub

It was a stormy day in Wartwood, which to Luz was a nice departure from the otherwise hot and humid days. In the basement, Luz peeked out the barred window, having felt the splashes of raindrops on her face. The cold water felt refreshing against her skin.

As she was deep in thought, the door to the basement slammed open, making her flinch. Standing there was Hop Pop, who looked irritated. "Luz, move! This is the third time I've called you!"

Luz pulled out her head from the gap in the wall, looking at the old frog with a confused expression. "You did? I guess I couldn't hear you over the rain."

"Let's go!" he said, clapping his hands to get her full attention. "We got work to do!"

The Plantars and Luz all gathered in the living room, Hop Pop wearing a raincoat on his body and plastic wraps on his feet. "Okay, we got a full day of hard work ahead of us."

He handed out identical rain gear to Luz, Sprig, and Polly as well. "Here ya go, put this on! Polly..." He tied Polly up in a layer of plastic to protect her delicate body. She looked uncomfortable and agitated. "There you go, sweetie," the old frog said.

"Rain gear? Hop Pop, we're frogs!" Sprig reminded him, tossing the rain gear onto the floor, before he took off his vest and swung it around. "We should actually be taking off our clothes. Woo hoo!"

"Keep your pants on, boy," Hop Pop told him. "This here ain't no ordinary rainstorm." He gestured to the window, where Wally was desperately trying to walk across the grass with the wind blowing hard, but an uprooted tree flew in and smacked into him, sending him flying alongside it.

"We gotta cover up the crops before they're destroyed!" he continued, having known something like this could become catastrophic if not handled quickly. "It'll be hours of back-breaking work in the mud and the muck. Thankless, hard, character-building labor that will push you to your limits, but it will all be worth it in the end."

"You'd make a great motivational speaker, Hop Pop," Luz said. She turned to look out the window at the storm, before adding, "So... We have to go out... there?"

He nodded, while Sprig put on his rain gear. "With you here to help us, it'll hopefully go much faster. Uh, you don't have any of those potions that could help us, do you?"

She shrugged. "I mean, I still have a resurrection spell, just in case. Maddie and I are still learning level-two spells, but they're pretty complicated. This shouldn't be that bad, though, right?"

As it turned out, it was way worse than she expected. Once they went outside, they had to face the intense weather. The rain came down in heavy buckets, and lightning flashed through the sky, frightening them. Thunder roared in the air, sounding like a cannon firing. Covering up the crops wasn't so easy when a cruel, intense wind was trying to blow you sky-high. Sometimes, Luz wondered how their house was still standing after all the abuse it was taking.