12. S1: Shrub or Tree, Family to Be

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Family trees. Everyone in elementary school had at least once made these. A simple assignment really; just go back home and start talking with parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles about their bloodline. Some families have a long history, usually with very big names, while others recorded anything beyond their grandparents.

Sasha, the human in another world, remembered making one a few years back. Her parents weren't very informative and she only figured out a deeper familial line when her uncle from the farm visited. Apparently, people in the rural side of the country kept track of that. Too bad by then she already submitted her project and was no longer invested.

With a grip, Sasha squeezed a pea's worth of glue onto the parchment and pasted the picture on top. In a world without plastic, it had her wondering what the bottle was made of. She was never the science geek like Marcy but at least she noticed.

"You know, why shrubs anyway? Trees are all tall and strong while shrubs are just…" Sasha wiggled her hand with a cringed face. "Ehh…"

"Trees are also home to many dangerous predators and wild beasts. Shrubs, on the other tongue, provides nutritional berries and aren't trying to kill ya." The ageing frog known as Hop Pop answered. "Also, quit interrupting me! I almost forgot where I was!"

The human teen huffed. Making family trees— er, shrubs, was supposed to be fun! Maybe even enlightening. Instead, it felt like a chore just like everything else.

"Ah, look at that! Great Aunt Getrude! She was master dirt tiller! Why, no frog could till dirt like she could!" Hop Pop awed, showing her portrait from the family album. He then flipped a page. "Oh, but let's not forget 2nd cousin Alfred. He was the King—!"

"KING?!" Sprig and Polly both shouted. Even Sasha, while quiet, was intrigued.

"—of single-tiered irrigation systems." Hop Pop chuckled, shaking his head. "It was revolutionary at its time."

Sasha immediately lost interest and huffed. Even happy-go-lucky Sprig Plantar was annoyed. "Is everyone in our family just farmers?!"

"Yeah! Where are the warriors?!" Polly shouted.

"And the poets?!" Sprig added.

"Also, who's this newt anyway?" asked Sasha, pointing at the only non-frog in the shrub. "She looks oddly familiar..."

Hop Pop frowned. "Quit yer dawdling! The whole point of making a family shrub is to be connected to those before us, so we don't lose our heritage. The name 'Plantar' has a deep and rich history, spanning hundreds of years!"

"Well, when you put it like that, it actually sounds neat." Sasha exclaimed.

"It's more than 'neat'. And not all of them were just farmers. Polliana here was a turnip farmer! The first of all Plantars!"

"I take it back. It's even less neat than before."

With both hands on his hips, Hop Pop's frown deepened. "Well, I don't see you talking about your family history. What's it like being a... Uh, what's your last name?"

"Waybright." She answered. "Also, there's not much to say. My parents are always busy and we only visit grandma like once a year on Thanksgiving. Most of the time, it's the family that visits us."

She then looked up and tapped her chin. "Though, I guess my uncle's farm is cool. I've only been there a few times."

After hearing her response, the old frog sighed in disappointment. "See, kids? This is what happens when you forget your roots. Being a Plantar and, I assume, a Waybright is more than just a name."

Sasha puppeted his words with her hand. "'More than just a name'. Yeah, yeah, whatever." She then squeezed the bottle of glue again, only to come up empty. "Welp, this one's out."

"I think we're all out." Sprig said, shaking his own bottle.

The old frog nodded. "Fine, I'll go to town and buy ourselves some more glue. In the meantime, no funny business or wacky shenanigans! I don't want to come home and find Sasha turned into a newt again."

"THAT WAS LIKE TWO DAYS AGO!"

"Anywho," Hop Pop grabbed his tote bag and walked up to the front door. "See you kids in half an hour. And remember, no shenanigans!"

Once the door was closed with Hop Pop on the other side, the two Plantar children immediately sighed. Confused, Sasha stared at the siblings with a raised brow.

"What's wrong with you guys?" she asked.

Sprig sighed even louder. "Our family is so boring! I mean, it's just farmers after farmers! No adventurers, no politicians, no nothing!"

"Hey! At least you're not named after a turnip farmer!" Polly argued.

"That's still way better than mine! I'm going to be Sprig the First! My children are going to be named after me! A. Farmer." He argued back. He then hopped onto the fireplace, landing right next to an old picture of a frog couple.

He glared at the picture and slapped it. "I mean, look at these people. They're so boring! With their boring clothes and pitchforks—"

GRRRK! Just then, the fireplace rumbled.

"Uh, what was th—" Suddenly, it flipped inward, opening up and sending Sprig tumbling off. "AAAAHHHH!"

Sasha, Polly and the recovered Sprig watched as the fireplace started shifting, revealing a hidden entrance in the wall. It was dark, making it impossible to see what was in from outside. However, Sasha noticed the long staircase leading into the abyss, surrounded by roots of the house and cobwebs of deceased spiders.

"… Huh, you guys never told me you had a secret basement." Sasha stated.

Polly sharply gasped, her eyes lighting up with stars. "I SENSE AN ADVENTURE!"

"And where there's adventure, there's treasure!" Sprig noted, excitement in his words.

"And dead bodies!" Polly added with glee.

"I don't know... This looks kinda unsafe." Sasha argued nervously.

However, Polly looked at the human teen in shock, her mouth agape. "Wha—! Why are you worried for!? You got us into plenty of super life-threatening situations before!"

Sasha scratched the back of her head, somewhat anxious with tensed shoulders. "Yeah but it's not like I did on purpose. I don't actively look for danger. I just deal with them."

"Well, that's great!" Sprig exclaimed with his cheery voice. "You're good at dealing with problems so when me and Polly get into trouble, you can help us out!"

Sasha stared at the younger frog, processing his reply. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, her hands folded neatly together in front of her like a monk. "… You know... that's the same thing Anne and Marcy would say so I can't refuse that now, can I?"

"Wait, who's Anne and Marcy?" Polly asked.

"Oh, it's Sasha's hooman friends. One of them looks like a tree while the other has a big head." Sprig answered.

"That's what Sasha is? There are more hoomans?!"

Not wanting to deal with this conversation any further, Sasha grabbed a nearby firefly lantern and with the two Plantar kids, the magnificent underage trio head on in and down the stairs into the deep abyss, all without parental supervision. In most cases, these usually led to painful and agonizing deaths but with a parent nearby such as the absent Hop Pop, the deaths could still occur but just less likely.

Slightly.

A few steps in and to their surprise, the door behind them closed up, leaving nothing but a brick wall in its place. Sprig glanced at Sasha as terror slowly crept in. "Uh, did we get locked in?"

Sasha nodded. "Well, heck."

The Grub & Go or everyone else called it, Wartwood's only mini-mart and convenience store. If there were things you wanted to buy but aren't available at the farmer's market or that the artisan behind it wasn't available, this was where you'd go. Sasha's first visit here was nerve-wracking, to say the least. While she did visit here on occasion, it was always with Hop Pop.

Now it was just Hop Pop.

"Morning, Hopadiah!" a blue-skinned axolotl greeted from behind the counter. This was Leopold Loggle, the town's finest carpenter and former metalsmith. "Nice to see ya on this fine day!"

"Morning, Loggle! Say, I'm surprised to see you here. What happened to your woodshop?" Hop Pop asked, a small tote bag slung over his arm.

Loggle sighed sadly. "Some kids went to the Doom Tree deep in the forest and my shop got wrecked by a giant stick bug! I managed to chase it out but then this huge bird came and stole my statue!"

"Thanks for bringing that back by the way." He added before continuing. "Still, emergency funds ain't enough to fix the place so here I am, working part-time!"

The old Plantar looked at his friend, feeling sympathy. "I'm sorry, Loggle. If you ever need any help, just ask."

Loggle, however, waved it off with a laugh. "Ah, it's fine! This ain't enough to take down ol' Loggle! Besides, you Plantars sure have had a stroke of luck nowadays, huh? First tomatoes, then literal gold!"

Hop Pop scratched the back of his head, embarrassed. "Yeah, well, none of that wouldn't have happened if it weren't for Sasha and her pushy attitude."

"Sasha... That's the name of the beast you got at home, right?" Loggle asked.

Hop Pop nodded. "Yep! She calls herself a 'hooman', not beast."

"Well, she can talk. I guess that's a good reason than any." The axolotl noted. "Eh, enough about me and her. What brings you here?"

"Well... I'm looking for glue for a family shrub."

"A family shrub, eh? I remember mine when I was a wee lad. Good times..." Loggle reminisced. "But if you're looking for some glue, then you came to the right place! The glue aisle is just around the corner."

Hop Pop's eyes widened in delight. "Mighty fine of you to help. Thanks, Loggle!"

"No problem but do be careful! There's a bunch of strong adhesives there. Some so sticky that even the mighty King Andrias would have a hard time taking off!"

The old frog nodded. "Got it. I'll keep that in mind."

And so he did. By being careful, nothing particularly bad happened. Nonetheless, Hopadiah Plantar spent far longer than he should at such a small store. The variety of glues, gums and gank were enormous. He wasn't sure where to start!

This took a while.

Back at the Plantar household, Sasha and the two Plantar kids Sprig and Polly, finally reached the bottom of the stairs. The tunnels were surprisingly deep with twisting paths and crumbling walls. Sasha wasn't even sure if they were even under the house anymore. It's even possible that the tunnels led them underneath the lake outside.

Once at the bottom, however, they were greeted with a different sight. An ancient stonewalled hallway, with several closed doors lined up, untouched for decades and equidistant from one another. Unlit torches hung next to them and at the end, more stairs leading down. The roots of the Plantar home stretched deeper than what they first thought and from the looks of it, continued even further alongside mossy green vegetation.

"Woah! What is this place?!" Sprig asked out loud. He never knew such a place existed underneath his birth home.

"Kinda looks like a dungeon." Sasha remarked. "Also kinda weird how we can breathe here."

Polly, who was sitting in Sasha's arm, shifted her body upwards. "Wait, how do you know what a dungeon is? Did you go to jail?"

Sasha shrugged. "Eh, Marcy sometimes invites me to play her fantasy game Serpents and Strongholds. Dungeons are like, the staple there." She then walked up to the closest door and pushed it open. Surprisingly, it wasn't locked. Either that or the lock deteriorated over time. "Come on, let's check it out."

Inside, the three children looked around in surprise. Instead of shackles and dead bodies, the room was a lab of some sorts. Numerous jars and books of unknown contents sat nearby, covered in spider webs and soot. Large shelves nearby held similar glass jars, colourful but dull. In the middle was a wooden operating table and on the far side was the expected jail cell.

"This place is amazing!" Sprig cheered, immediately running off. Like a child at a candy store, he began touching and staring at various objects strewn all over the lab, from the jars to the operating table and of course, the poster with the word 'SCIENCE' written in a delightful artistic ol' English font.

"Huh, I guess this place isn't a dungeon after all." Sasha said, dusting the shelves. The particles flew into her face, causing her to cough. "Ack! A-hem! Ooh, so much dust…"

"Hey, why do you think the entrance was hidden like that anyway?" Polly asked. She then shook the jar in her flipper, giggling at its insides.

Sprig placed a few documents he found onto a nearby table. "To keep it a secret, obviously! Who wouldn't want to steal this stuff?!" He then read the papers and gasped. "Look! It says here that this lab belonged to Great Uncle Skip Plantar! He was a farmer and a brilliant scientist. He experimented with a bunch of stuff."

As if high off of unprescribed medication, Sprig vibrated in excitement. "This is wild! I want to know more! Like, like, what does this do?" Without a care, he pulled a chain dangling from the ceiling. Suddenly, the jail cell flipped open and from within, a hulking pumpkin abomination stomped out.

"… Maybe it's harmless?"

"RAAAAAAAWWWWRRRRR!"

"AAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

Before it could stomp them into a fine paste, Sasha pulled both Sprig and Polly back, narrowly avoiding it. She then dragged their small bodies behind a flipped table, hiding them from view. Angered, the abomination started slamming its body from wall to wall, shaking the lab. Meanwhile, the trio, covered head to toe with the insides of a rotten gourd, quickly began discussing.

"THIS ABOMINATION MUST BE DESTROYED!" Polly screamed with vindication.

Sasha nodded seriously. "As weird as it sounds, I agree. I'm covered in pumpkin juice because of it. It's dead to me."

"Wait, we don't have to anything drastic! I have an idea…"

Slowly, Sprig walked up to the enraged pumpkin, taking very gentle steps. "There, there! Easy does it…"

Sasha watched the whole ordeal alongside Polly from the safety of the flipped table. "Uh, what is happening?"

"I don't know but I want to watch." Polly replied.

"Shhhh… There, there, you beautiful disgusting thing." Sprig whispered, hugging the so-called affront to nature. Steadily, the vegetable calmed down and despite its grotesque physique, it began purring. Like a disfigured and neglected baby finally discovering its parent once more.

"Oh, you horrible, horrible sweet boy… Forgive me." Immediately, Sprig kicked the pumpkin back into its cell before hopping and pulling the cell bars down, shutting the baby jail. The abomination whimpered, its stems clinging onto the wooden bars, betrayed.

A small tear fell from Sprig's eyes and he whispered. "One day you'll understand, my child…"

Once clear, Sasha and Polly walked up to Sprig, surprised at what happened. "Sheesh, dude. Remind me not to get you mad." Sasha said, uncomfortable with what she saw.

"That was not anger, my dear friend. That was love and love is the cruellest weapon of all."

Hearing that, Sasha just stared at him, unamused. "… Yeah, whatever. Now let's get out of here before something else happens."

"Agreed." "Yep."

Back at the Grub & Go, Hop Pop was unable to decide which glue he needed. It shouldn't be that hard of a choice since it wasn't like he needed something extremely powerful but one shouldn't underestimate Hop Pop and his ability to overthink.

"That's a lot of glue you got there, Hopadiah." Loggle commented, staring at the pile of different glues in front of him.

Hop Pop puffed his chest proudly. "Yep, it sure is! There's never anything wrong with buying too much glue. Best part is that I can afford 'em."

Loggle snapped his fingers, pointing at the frog. "Ay, you're rich now!"

"Well, not exactly rich but enough to buy some luxuries from time to time now." He then turned to his pile of adhesives, smiling. "And for today, that's glue."

"U-huh…" Loggle replied understandingly. "Say, since you're here, do you want to sign up for our store loyalty programme?"

Hop Pop raised a brow. "Loyalty programme? What's that?"

"Oh, just the usual. The more you buy from the Grub & Go, the more points you get. You can exchange those points for discounts or heck, even prizes!"

The old frog scratched his chin, deep in thought. "Prizes, you say? Well, how much does this programme cost?"

Loggle slapped his knee and laughed. "Haha, that's the thing; it's completely free!"

Like the whispers of a lost loved one, Hopadiah Plantar felt his heart skip a beat. Several, in fact. For a Plantar, the one word that would immediately catch their attention, regardless of context, was a special one. Standing with four letters and a single syllable, it's what every poor farmer craved.

"F-F-F-FREE?!" Hop Pop stuttered, utterly shocked. He grabbed hold of the counter, having almost fallen but at the same time, shaking the unstable tower of glues.

Loggle adjusted his monocle. "Yeperino, free. All you gotta do is fill up a form and we'll have a card sent to your house in less than a week, hehe!"

Hop Pop slammed the counter with his fists, agitating the pile some more. "WHY DID I NEVER HEAR THIS BEFORE?!"

The axolotl shrugged. "I don't know. Why haven't you?"

"GIMME THAT FORM!"

With that final shout, the pile broke apart, unable to hold its shape. Loggle and Hop Pop watched in terror as the jars and bottles fell onto them, covering them with a thick and sticky white liquid. But Hop Pop was undeterred. No matter how sticky he became, he was adamant on one thing.

Loyalty programmes were great.

Sasha, Polly and Sprig were surrounded by traps.

For context, a few minutes prior and after leaving the lab, the trio decided to check the other rooms. Taking the stairs down, they entered another room, one covered wall to wall with weapons, armour and trophies from unknown lands. The room was imbued with the essence of a hardened hero, one that carried hundreds of battles in its wake.

Polly was ecstatic.

"Look! It's Pollianna! She wasn't just a turnip farmer; she was also a buffed-up warrior!" Polly pointed at the portrait, flexing her flippers.

"She must've retired as a farmer after going on so many fights. That's kinda neat." Sasha exclaimed, noticing the difference between the portrait here and in Hop Pop's family album.

Sprig nodded. "Yep and would you look at that, a mysterious chain from the ceiling!" He said, staring at the aforementioned chain. Iron linked to iron, left undisturbed for years.

He did not hesitate to yank it. "Blep!"

Suddenly, the room rumbled and from all surfaces — the walls, floors and ceilings — a variety of dangerous and deadly traps appeared. From fire spewing from the ground to arrows shooting from the walls and empty armour coming to life, striking their axes to the ground, the entire hallway had transformed into a gauntlet.

Instantly from then on, it was pure chaos.

Sasha turned to Sprig with a scowl. "WILL YOU STOP THAT?!"

"LEVERS ARE FOR PULLING, SASHA!" He protested. A stray arrow flew over and through his hat, narrowly missing his scalp. "AAH, MY HAT!"

"Ugh, I can't believe this..." Sasha groaned, placing her right palm over her eyes and dragging it downwards. Letting out a sigh, she glared at the deathtrap in front of her and then bopped her head one side to the next. Several cracking noises popped out from her body, the tension between her neck and shoulders being released.

There was another lever at the other side and she bet good money it was the off switch. Taking a deep breath, she readied herself. "Let's just get this over with."

"YAAAAAAGGHH!" A voice yelled. Unfortunately, it wasn't Sasha's.

Before she could run through the gauntlet, Polly charged in, wielding a flail she picked up from who knows where. Sasha and Sprig watched in shock as the polliwog less than half her age cleared the room, smacking heads off the knights and dodging the flames, all while crying out with glee.

In less than two minutes, Polly miraculously managed to reach the end, looking delighted. Nonchalantly, she hit the lever with her flail, turning off the obstacle course and allowing the other two to safely pass.

"Woah, didn't think you had it in you." Sasha exclaimed, surprised. The baby frog showed promise.

Polly bowed with a flipper. "I am to please. Wanna do it again?"

Sasha laughed. "HAHAHAHAHA! ... No." She grabbed the polliwog like a soccer ball and plopped her back into her bucket.

Not taking any chances.

Taking another flight of stairs down, the trio entered a new room. While the first was a lab full of abominations and the second was an armoury of a former hero, the third room was surprisingly normal in comparison. The room was plastered with maps, drawings and descriptive posters, while littered on the floor were various boxes, bags and chests.

"Oh look, another hidden chamber. I wonder what could be inside." Polly exclaimed, albeit somewhat sarcastic.

Meanwhile, Sasha grabbed a box and blew away the dust, inspecting its cover. "Oh cool, this room is full of games and puzzles!" She then picked up a satchel and dumped out its contents. "And other junk too apparently. Let's check which Plantar this belonged to."

While Polly and Sprig were checking out the books, Sasha walked to them, sitting beside them. Sprig handed the book to her, revealing a page. "It says here this all belonged to Emma the Newt."

"Hey, that's the newt I saw on the family tree!" Sasha noted.

Polly turned to the human girl. "You mean shrub?"

Sasha shrugged, flipping a few pages. "Same thing. But look, apparently she travelled all over the place, collected a bunch of cool stuff and later settled with the Plantars! She wasn't even a frog!"

"Wow, that's so cool!" Sprig cooed. He didn't know there was a newt in the family. He wondered if he was related to her.

Sasha smiled at the picture, where Emma the Newt was surrounded by other Plantars. The non-frog looked so happy. Even though they weren't related, Sasha could tell that Emma was truly close to the Plantars.

"You know, Emma really reminds me of Anne. With the whole family thing, I mean. I've been to her house hundreds of times and Anne's mom is really close to her." Slowly, her smile faded. "It must be nice to have a family like that..."

Sprig stared at her with sympathy. "Sasha..."

"No, no! No tears! We're here to find a way out!" Sasha said, wiping her eyes. "Now, anyone got any ideas on how to do that?"

"Maybe that weird door over there." Polly answered, pointing her flipper at the stone door. It had weird colourful boxes on it that seemed out of place, seemingly detached.

"What do you think that is?" Polly asked.

Sasha scratched her chin thoughtfully. "If I were a betting girl, I'd say it's a puzzle. Emma seems to like them. Let me just..."

One by one, Sasha filled the bottom of the door's surface with the blocks, sliding them into place. She wasn't an avid fan of puzzles but she wasn't completely bad at it. That's what happened when two of her best friends were avid gamers.

"There! Well, that wasn't so hard." Sasha exclaimed, feeling quite proud.

Suddenly, for the third time today, the room they were in rumbled and shook slightly. "I swear to God, if this is another deathtrap, I'm going to be so mad."

Rule no.2 in Amphibia: don't swear to a god other than the frog gods. They're the jealous type. Rule no.1 was not to swear at all. The frog gods didn't like profanity.

"OH NO!" Sprig yelled, looking up. Above them, the ceiling gradually fell with spikes — stalactites, as they're called — hanging from it, sharp and deadly. It was a wonder how none of them noticed.

"AWH NO!" Polly yelled as well, looking at the entrance. Instead of an opening, a literal brick wall had replaced it, blocking their only escape. Even with her mace, it didn't look like she was going to break through any time soon.

At the same time, Sasha noticed more and more dully-colourful blocks slid down the stone door as if it was a game of Tetris. With impending death on the way and no hiding spots, she could easily guess what this meant.

"... Ah crud."

Immediately, all three kids panicked and screamed for dear life, scrambling to the door and collectively trying their best to solve the inane puzzle.

If there was one thing Hopadiah Plantar regretted today, it was how he was very sticky.

After submitting his form, he was forced to wait as the glue became dry enough that it could mostly be peeled off. However, he couldn't wait too long since completely dried glue was as hard as stone. It had to be if it ever wanted to fix someone's house.

But it wasn't his fault anyway. He was able to get out of it scot-free with a lifetime supply of glue to boot. Something about legal reasons. He didn't understand, however. He was just a theatre major.

"Well, today has been something." He muttered to himself by the front door. Entering his home, he quickly realized that none of the children were around. "Gosh darnit! Where did those kids head off to now?!"

On cue, the living room clock flipped open like a door and from it, two Plantars and a human came rolling out into a heap. They were all sweating and breathing hard, either from exhaustion, fear or both.

Sprig stretched his fists up into the air, tears flowing out of his eyes. "WE'RE ALIVE!"

"It's official; I hate puzzles now. I'll just stick with the classics." Polly said, swinging the flail around and slamming it onto the floor, breaking the wooden panels.

"I... am never... doing that again." Sasha croaked, looking terrifically traumatized.

"What in tarnation are you kids going on about?!" Hop Pop asked, more confused than ever. "And when was there a hidden door behind the clock?!"

"Apparently, all the time." Sasha answered with a groan.

Seeing their patriarch back, Sprig and Polly hopped over to his side, chanting his name. ""HOP POP, HOP POP, HOP POP!""

"We found this secret entrance to an underground chamber—!"

"Polliana was a butt-kicking warrior—!"

"Super cool science lab—!"

"Weapons, flamethrowers and board games—!"

"An abomination of nature that I heartlessly betrayed—!"

"We almost died three times—!"

"W-wait, kids! Slow down! One at a time!" Hop Pop urged. The two voices got mixed up and thus, he was unable to decipher what was said. "Now what was this about a secret underground chamber?"

"Why don't you see it for yourself?" Sprig exclaimed. Walking up to the wall, he hopped up and slapped the picture above the fireplace, pressing a hidden switch. The fireplace shifted and flipped open, revealing the tunnel previously blocked off.

Hop Pop's eyes bulged out and his mouth agape. "WHAAAA?!"

"It's got precious family heirlooms in it~!" Sprig sang. "But also, like, super dangerous."

Hop Pop took a deep breath. Today, he felt grateful. "First the loyalty programme and now this? Sasha, you truly are a lucky charm to this family."

"I didn't do anything."

He ignored her. "Let's go, Loggle! For treasure and history!" Hop Pop rejoiced, daring to take on the challenges ahead.

Sasha, however, noted the new name and looked at him, confused. "Wait, who's Loggle?"

"That would be me!" A voice said from behind. Turning around, it was revealed that there was someone else literally on Hop Pop's back, glued in place. "Hello, Sasha! We've never met but Hopadiah told praises about 'cha."

Sasha blushed. "Aw..."

"Also, this sounds positively..." Loggle stretched out. "NOOOOOOOO!"

Unfortunately, his screams were in vain. Ignoring his weird protest, Hop Pop charged in blind, carrying the axolotl with him like a backpack. The entrance stayed open, probably because Sprig stood nearby. Sasha then walked to his side, smiling at the hole with the kooky old man.

Sprig stared at her smiling face before looking down, a sympathetic look on his face. She sounded so sad back in the puzzle room when she saw Emma's photo. Sprig didn't know much about Sasha's family but from the sounds of it, it was nothing like his own.

"Hey, Sasha?" Sprig called out.

"Yeah?"

"Wait here for a bit."

Sasha raised a brow, perplexed as she watched the young boy hop his way to the table. Grabbing a bunch of different utensils, he began working on something on the table, his back turned towards her. Waiting for a minute or so, Sprig waved his hand at her, calling her over.

As she walked towards him, Sprig turned around, the family shrub they had worked on in his hands. "Ta-da!" He presented.

On the family shrub was exactly the same as how they left it but upon closer inspection, Sasha discovered one minor difference; there at the bottom was her first name, written crudely on a piece of paper and later cut and pasted on. "Sorry about the quality. I kinda don't have a picture of you so the name's all I got."

Sasha stared at the bottom corner of the piece, the place where her name was. It was so clear how it stood out of place, looking so foreign and weird. Yet looking at the entire shrub, she realized something else. There, to see her connected to so many great frogs, even if she wasn't related to them at all, brought in a sense of belonging.

Her eyes began to swell.

"A-are you okay?! Did I do something?!" Sprig asked worriedly.

She shook her head, still crying with puckered lips and a wrinkled face. "nOpE! tHeSe aRe hApPy tEaRs!"

Sasha then wiped her eyes dry, just barely holding back any more wetness, else she'd get dehydrated. "Now come on! Let's get in there before Hop Pop gets himself killed!"

"Let's go, Dream Team!" Polly cheered.

With the polliwog in her bucket and the boy frog tightening his hat, the trio of true Plantars charged straight into the hole. No matter the danger, no matter the obstacle, with a history as deep and adventurous as these farmers, nothing can stop them when they work together.