The next morning came, and after breakfast, Anne and Shadow quickly made for the training field, Anne giving it everything she had, and while Shadow still took it easy on her, he was 'upping the difficulty', as he said, putting more power behind his attacks and putting more speed into his movements, making the Thai girl change her tactics, evading and other such things.
By the time they stopped, they were both drenched in sweat as they sat down for a break, Anne seeming more exhausted than Shadow.
"You're coming along much faster now." The boy commented. "See the results when you apply yourself?"
"Yeah, I definitely feel them." Anne admitted, flexing her muscles. "Then again, I have a great teacher."
"I do my best." Shadow smiled.
Both teens look at each other with blushes, Anne admiring Shadow's smile and beautiful green eyes, while the boy admired Anne's own smile and her dark brown eyes.
Both then snapped out of their fixation as Shadow stood up, "So, wanna go visit the Plantars?"
"Sure!" Anne nodded as she stood up beside her mentor.
As the duo flew through the clouds, Anne was experiencing new feelings whenever she was near Shadow, ever time their hands touch she felt her heart skip a beat. She felt safe when he was near, confident, and determined to show her own strength.
Finally arriving at the Plantar house, the two humans landed outside the door before approaching, seeing Hop Pop exit the house.
"Oh, hey, Hop Pop!" Anne greeted. "What's up?"
"Oh, hey you two!" The old frog returned the greeting. "I was just on my way to Loggle's to get some glue for the family shrub."
"Oh, like a family tree?" Anne asked.
"See, that's why I think everyone in your world is crazy." Hop Pop said. "Anyways, I'll be back soon. Mind looking after the kids 'till then?"
Before either human could respond, Hop Pop had already left, the two looking to each other.
"We don't have a choice, do we?" Anne asked.
"Nope." Shadow replied.
The two then entered the house, seeing Polly and Sprig sat on the couch with the family shrub on the coffee table.
"Hey guys." Anne greeted. "How's it going?"
"Try boring!" Sprig exclaimed. "Hop Pop's got us working on the family shrub and it's a real drag!"
"I've always wondered what your Plantar relatives were like." Anne hummed. "I mean, how boring can they be?"
"Uh, hello!" Polly yelled. "Dirt tillers, single-tiered irrigations systems, whatever that means, just plain old farm frogs! Our ancestors were boring!"
"There's nothing exciting about them." Sprig said in agreement. "I was expecting artists, poets, dreamers, those kind of frogs!"
"Guys, the point of a shrub is to give you appreciation of the past." Shadow said. "The Plantar family has layers, from what Hop Pop told me. You just have to know where to look."
"Layers, huh?" Anne mused. "What about you, Shadow? Do you have some interesting ancestors?"
"Anne, remember what I said about being raised in Amphibia my whole life?" Shadow deadpanned.
"Well, we're not learning anything new." Sprig sighed. "Like how Polli Anna here was a turnip farmer. Lame!"
"Welp, as much as I'd love to help, I'm not gonna find any of my ancestors on your shrub, so..." Anne then pulls out her phone and starts up a game.
"You don't necessarily have to be related by blood to be a Plantar, Anne." Shadow pointed out.
"No, but you do have to be a master stacker to get to level 46. If I can just..." She replied, as she tried to beat her game, only to lose when the sudden death round came, groaning in defeat. "Curse you, sudden death round! Why are you so hard?"
"Anne, this is based on nothing at all, but I'm almost certain that game will rot your brain." Shadow said.
"Lies and slander!" Anne declared. "Video games are actually very helpful in improving your cognitive abilities."
Shadow only rolled his eyes before Polly said, "You're lucky you're outsiders, guys. Our family history is weak!"
"They didn't do anything weird. Or different. Or fun." Sprig said, jumping up to the painting above the fireplace. "I mean, look at this. Even this painting's making me feel depressed."
He then pressed his hand against the center, unknowingly activating a mechanism within the walls, "What the... Whoa!" Sprig fell off the fireplace when the painting turned on its side.
"Sprig!" Shadow exclaimed as he and Anne sprung up from the couch.
"You broke the house!" Polly cried out.
The fireplace then lifted up, revealing a long, dark tunnel that seemed to lead downward underground, looking as though it hadn't been traveled down in years, covered in dust and cobwebs.
"That's new." Shadow said in slight surprise before looking at the Plantar siblings. "Were you two aware of this?"
"Not at all." Sprig said with a shake of his head. "At least, Hop Pop never mentioned it."
"Perhaps he didn't know about it either." Shadow said, before an idea formed in his head. "What say we explore for safety's sake of the house?"
"It looks pretty unsafe." Anne admitted before turning to the siblings with an excited grin. "We have to go down there!"
"There could be treasure." Sprig said.
"Or dead bodies! Let's do it!" Polly exclaimed with excitement.
Grabbing a lantern, the four kids walked inside, but stopped when the entrance sealed behind them.
"Uh, did we just get locked in here?" Sprig asked.
"Everyone, try not to panic."
Shadow's words were ignored, however, as Sprig and Anne ran up to the entrance and started beating on it, yelling to be let out.
"Guys, calm yourselves!" Shadow said. "We'll just have to find another way out."
"Yeah, quit being a bunch of babies." Polly agreed.
Staying close, the group ventured downward, with Shadow leading the way with the lantern. They soon reached a chamber that looked like a laboratory of sorts, with a large table, a workbench filled with scattered papers, and a shelf that had glass jars with strange objects in them.
All four stared in amazement, before Shadow spoke, "I had no idea there was something like this under the house."
Anne walked over to the shelf with Polly in her arm. She ran a hand over the shelf, kicking up dust that got in her face, "Oh, there's dust everywhere."
"This place is amazing." Sprig said with excitement, looking through the shelves. "Whoa! Oh, what this?" He then laid on a table before pulling a lever, which made the table raise upward, sending him upward before he fell back to the floor, laughing, before looking at a sign that said 'SCIENCE! More science'. "Wow!"
"Hey, why do you think the entrance was hidden like that?" Polly asked, looking at a jar.
"To keep it a secret, obviously." Sprig said, looking at some notes. "Who wouldn't want to steal this stuff?"
Anne looked at a jar with a turnip inside, said turnip turning around to show it had a face, making Anne shudder, "Uh, me, me. I don't wanna steal this stuff."
"I wonder who this lab belonged to…" Shadow wondered, looking over some of the books on the shelf.
"It says here this place belonged to Great Uncle Skip Plantar. He was a farmer and a brilliant scientist!" Sprig said, showing them a picture of the great uncle, along with his notes, and a picture of a pumpkin and a brain. "He experimented with all kinds of stuff. This is wild. I wanna know more! Like, what does this do?" Without thinking, he pulled a level.
Everyone froze when a mechanism activated. The four looked over to see a gate being swung open, and two large arms made of entangled vines swung out and dung their claws into the floor. A growling sound was heard before a very large, mutated pumpkin emerged from the dark cage. It had a short, thick stem, and a large orange leaf protruding from the top of its head. It had two slits across its front resembling eyes and a large mouth cut in the shape similar to a jack-o-lantern's with green slime drippling from its mouth.
The mutated pumpkin growled as it approached, stopping just a few feet from them, breathing heavily, as the four just stood with wide eyes.
"Whoa..." Anne said.
"Whoa, mama." Polly added.
"I was not expecting something like this." Shadow said.
"Maybe it's harmless."
The pumpkin monster then roared furiously, the four kids screaming as green slime was sprayed all over them, before raising a claw to swing, the kids jumping back before it started running itself into the walls repeatedly, much to their confusion.
"Wait, can it not see us?" Anne asked.
Curious, Shadow took a step closer, making sure the beast could see him, but it just kept running into the walls repeatedly.
"It must have poor eyesight." He said aloud.
The monster turned in the direction of the sound before charging forward, Shadow moving aside as the beast crashed into a bookshelf, an idea formed in his head.
"Over here!" He called.
Following the sound of Shadow's voice, the monster turned and charged, Shadow once again moving aside as the beast ran right past him unawares, right back into the cage before Shadow jumped and slammed the door back down, trapping it inside.
"Dude... that was ice cold." Polly said.
"I wouldn't say that." Shadow said.
"Now let's get out of here before something else happens." Anne suggested.
Shadow, however, felt the floor was shaking a bit before grabbing everyone as the floor collapsed under them.
"Hang on, everyone." Shadow said as he levitated downward.
Settling on the lower level, lantern in hand, seeing that they were now in an armory of sorts, with swords, shields, axes, and other such weapons hanging on the walls. Polly's eyes widened at the sight as she hopped around.
"This is heaven." She said before looking at a portrait that showed a familiar looking female frog wearing battle armor and holding a sword. Under it was a plaque that said Polli Anna.
"This is the same Polli Anna from Hop Pop's shrub!" Polly declared in amazement. "She wasn't just a turnip farmer! She was a turnt up warrior!"
Looking around, Shadow browsed the various weapons, before his eyes settled on a sheathed katana, resting in its black and silver scabbard. Picking up the weapon, Shadow pulled the weapon from its sheath, looking at the surprisingly clean, silver blade, his reflection reflecting off the surface.
"Impressive." Shadow said before strapping the weapon to his hip, looking at the plaque, which read Black Hope. "This calls for looking into given the chance.."
"Hey, check it out." Sprig called, holding up a book. "I found her diary."
Opening the book, Shadow quickly skimmed through the pages, "The Bogwater Wars of '48. The Western Toad invasion of '53. Amazing, she was in a lot of battles."
"She was the coolest, most terrifying Plantar ever. Like me!" Polly said, holding a flail.
"Wow, we sure are learning a lot. I'd like to learn more." Sprig declared, before spotting yet another lever. "Like, hey, what does this do?"
"Sprig, wait!" Shadow tried to warn him, but Sprig had already pulled said lever.
Suddenly, a suit of armor came to life and swung its ax, Spig jumping back before Shadow cut it in half with his newly acquired katana, before several traps came to life down the hall, involving several suits of armor swinging down axes, spikes popping out of the ceiling, buzzsaw blades going across the hall, a pendulum swinging across and a pair of hammers swinging into each other.
"Will you please stop pulling levers?" Anne exclaimed.
"Levers are for pulling, Anne!" Sprig yelled.
"Doesn't mean you should!" Shadow retorted before they dodged a large, swinging mace. "Why is there a death trap here, anyways?"
Opening the diary, Anne looked through the pages, "Says here this is Polli Anna's training simulator."
"Look out!" Shadow said as he pushed the two down, as several darts zoomed overhead. "Does it say how we turn it off?"
"The shut off switch is by the exit on the other side." Anne said, pointing to an on/off on the other end of the gauntlet hall.
"Okay, this should be easy." Shadow said. "I've done this plenty of times back when I was six."
"Wait, you were six?" Anne turned to him with a raised brow. "And you were doing stuff like this?"
"I've seen things you'd only see in fiction." Shadow declared. "We just gotta be slow and—"
Suddenly, Polly rushed past before they could react, swinging around her mace to knock down the suits of armor, dodging all the traps before reaching the end of the hall, flipping the switch off, much to the surprise and absolute bewilderment of the others as they soon made their way down the hall.
"Well, that was intense." Anne remarked.
"Indeed." Shadow nodded. "You did good, Polly. If a tad reckless."
"Thanks." Polly said. "So, you guys wanna do it again?"
"Nope, nope, nope, nope/How about no?" Anne and Sprig immediately said and Shadow chiming in, before carrying Polly through the doorway.
Walking down the tunnel, Shadow holding the lantern, the group soon entered another chamber.
"Oh, wow. Can you believe it? Another mysterious hidden chamber." Polly said, much less enthusiastic this time. This chamber was filled with maps, paintings, drawings, and game boxes that were stacked high around the room.
"Oh, cool! This place is filled with games and puzzles." Anne said as she pulled a game box from one of the stacks.
"Let's see if we can find which Plantar this stuff belonged to." Shadow said before picking up a book, flipping through the pages before stopping at a page with a picture of a frog family, which included a newt with a hairstyle similar to Anne's, along with a second newt that looked like Shadow with his hair. "No way. Emma and Skylar the Newts? Honorary Plantars?"
"Hey, check this out." Anne said before turning to another page, showing the two newts traveling together. "After meeting, they travelled all over the place, collected all this cool stuff, before falling in love and settled with the Plantars. They weren't even frogs!"
"Wow, so cool." Sprig said.
Shadow turned to Anne, "Do you know what this means?"
"I guess even an outsider like me can be a Plantar." Anne said.
"Same for me as well." Shadow nodded.
"Anne, it looks like you and Shadow have solved the puzzle...of your own hearts." Sprig stated with a smile and sparkles in his eyes.
"Wow, thanks buddy." Anne said as she hugged both boys.
"No, thank you, buddy." Looking as though he was about to cry.
"To be honest, I solved this puzzle a long time ago." Shadow said with a roll of his eyes.
"Hey!" Polly shouted, breaking the moment of friendship with the more pressing matter at hand. "How about we solve the puzzle of getting the heck out of here!"
"Oh, I think the exit is that way." Shadow said, pointing to the direction of the exit.
"Oh."
The group soon came upon a rather large door, with several slabs that seemed to stick out. Unlike the previous doors, this one had no handles, nor levers that could open it.
Sprig tried pushing on it, to no avail, "Well, it's locked."
Anne looked over the door with a careful eye. The design on the door looked strangely familiar.
"Maybe I can smash it." Polly declared, swinging her mace with a 'Hiyah!' against the door, but it didn't even leave a dent. "Well, that didn't work."
"We're gonna die down here!" Sprig started to panic.
"Sprig, calm yourself." Shadow said. "It's obviously a puzzle of some kind."
"Wait a second." Anne said before pulling out her phone, seeing a comparison between the door and the game on her phone before letting out a gasp. "Shadow, you're right! This isn't just a door. It's a puzzle!" Putting away her phone, she approached the door with a confident look. "All right, let's do this."
With a crack of her knuckles. Anne proceeded to move the slabs into order at the bottom of the door, seemingly finished.
"There, I did it!"
Suddenly, a rumbling caught their attention, all four looking up to see the ceiling coming down upon them, the ceiling covered in spikes, causing the kids to scream, except for Shadow, who just seemed mildly surprised.
"Anne, what did you do?" Polly exclaimed.
"I'm fairly certain this is another test of the puzzle, I think." Shadow stated.
"Oh, no! I know what this is. It's the sudden death round." Anne said, glancing at her phone before facing the door. "You can do this, Anne."
While Anne was moving the slabs in the correct order, Shadow kept an eye on the descending ceiling, breaking down the stacks of boxes, before he flew up and began to push against it, slowing its descent.
"Anne, no pressure, but we're gonna die." Sprig said, holding his sister close.
"Almost... there." Anne said before putting the final slab into place, resulting in the door to open.
Woo hoo! I did it!" Anne celebrated. "Take that, Shadow. Who's brain is rotten now, sucker?"
"Time to go!"
With that, Shadow flew down and grabbed everyone, flying out of the room before the ceiling could crush them.
"We had your family history all wrong, guys." Anne said. "The Plantars weren't just farmers."
"Nope, they were twisted." Sprig nodded.
"Try demented." Shadow added.
"Yeah, they were pretty cool." Polly agreed. "Now, can we finally find a way out of here?"
"Yeah, and I think I know how." Sprig said, reaching for a lever.
"Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope." Anne and Polly said, pulling Sprig away and down the tunnel.
"Good grief, the last thing we need is more traps." Shadow said as he followed after.
When Hop Pop returned home, he was exhausted and covered in glue. His trip to the store had somehow resulted in him getting covered in glue and making a huge mess. Regardless, he was just glad to be home.
Upon stepping inside, however, the grandfather clock did a complete turn, ejecting the four kids from inside the tunnels, Anne, Sprig and Polly breathing heavily, while Shadow merely got up and dusted himself off.
"Hop Pop!" Anne declared. "When Shadow mentioned that the Plantar family had layers, he wasn't kidding!"
"Eh? Found them?" Hop Pop said before turning to Shadow. "Are they being literal?"
"It was quite a discovery." Shadow nodded. "There was more to the Plantars than one could think of."
"There was a moving fireplace." Anne said.
"Secret rooms!" Polly exclaimed.
"Crazy science lab." Sprig said.
"Family heirlooms!"
"New weapons!"
"Turnip with a face."
"Family's amazing!"
"Actually proud to be a Plantar."
"I've got a new katana!"
"Games don't rot your brain!"
"Secret rooms? Full of Plantar family heirlooms?" Hop Pop declared with wide eyes and a smile on his face. "Why, this is incredible! And most importantly, once again, I was right!"
"Our ancestors were the most amazing scientist, warrior, farmers ever!" Polly declared before she and the other kids sat at the coffee table, proceeding to work on the shrub.
"Everyone needs to know." Sprig declared.
"Well I want to see these rooms, too!" Hop Pop said with an eager look.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on there, Hop Pop." Anne said. "They're full or traps and super hard but satisfying puzzles."
"There was a pumpkin abomination." Shadow said. "A real affront to nature. And I tricked it."
"No offense, but I'm not sure you could handle it." Polly said.
Hop Pop, however, laughed, "You have no idea what I can or can't handle. What do you say, Loggle? Up for another adventure?"
He then turned around to reveal Loggle glued to his back.
"Absolutely...noooooooot!" Loggle screamed as Hop Pop ran down through the fireplace entrance.
"Hop Pop, no!" Anne called after him, but it was too late.
"Should we go help them?" Sprig asked in a concerned tone.
"I'd give them five minutes." Shadow stated.
Suddenly, there was an ominous shriek, followed by the screaming of Loggle and Hop Pop, the three kids looking up at the older boy.
"Two and a half." He quickly reconsidered. "Come on."
"Oh, oh, oh! Let's adopt that pumpkin monster." Sprig said as all four ran down the tunnel.
After rescuing Hop Pop and Loggle, the two humans decided to retire back to the hut, as Shadow placed his newly acquired weapon near his desk, while Anne was grabbing a towel to go to the bath house, but stopped before looking over at her mentor, with something on her mind.
"Hey, Shadow," She said. "Can I ask you something?"
"Of course." Shadow nodded without looking up.
After some deliberation, Anne said, "Back at the camp, you could've easily killed those cannibal frogs."
Shadow stopped what he was doing, as though to process what she had said, before he spoke, "Yes, I could have."
"So why didn't you?" Anne asked.
"I didn't want to expose Ivy and Maddie to that level of violence." Shadow explained. "They don't need to witness that kind of bloodshed."
"But you did that with plenty of animals and monsters before." Anne pointed out.
"And that's the difference." Shadow countered. "Killing animals is much easier, since they're creatures acting on instinct. People are a lot more complicated than that."
"But you killed before, right?" Anne questioned.
After a moment, Shadow answered, "I did. Some that deserved it, and others who didn't. And make no mistake, Anne, I'm prepared to kill again." There was a pause before he finished. "I just prefer not to."
Anne didn't say a word as the boy continued, "My whole life, for ten years, I was groomed into fighting, and that was all I ever knew. I spent the last five years in this town, learning to restrain myself, to hold back, and only resort to fighting when I had to." He then looked down at his hands. "But that fear of falling back into that dark place remained. If I was ever pushed over the edge, I don't think I could ever come back from it."
Anne absorbed those words, her mind going back to the times he gave some hints about his life, as small as they were. It made her think about what he really went through, growing up.
Walking up behind him, Anne wrapped her arms around her mentor's neck, hugging him close.
"No matter what happens, I promise," She said. "I'll be there to pull you back out of the darkness."
Turning around, Shadow looked into the girl's eyes before smiling, "Thank you, Anne."
The two teens hugged before going to bed, Shadow's thoughts filled with the Thai girl he was looking after, a warm feeling inside his chest.
'She's my anchor.'
Meanwhile, outside of Wartwood, there was a stranger walking down the road, covered by a cloak and seemed to be carrying four swords; two on both sides. The stranger was a green-skinned newt with a yellow underbelly, blues eyes glued to the road as he walked, only to stop and look up, seeing the sigh that said 'Wartwood' and pointing in the direction of said town.
Looking onward, the stranger had an eager grin before walking onward, with a pep in his step.
"Finally, we will soon meet again, Master!"