8. Taking Charge

Chapter 8: Taking Charge

It's been a busy life here in Amphibia. It's not often you get a chance to sit down and take stock… say, go through the phone alerts you've been neglecting. I'm pretty sure I haven't gotten any new ones, since this world hasn't advanced to the telegraph stage, yet alone 5G. But it's kinda nice to have the occasional reminder of home.

Well, to my surprise, it turned out there was an alert I missed! Better yet… it turns out that the alert was that the fourth season of Suspicion Island had dropped the day before my birthday. Thank the stars I set Webflix to auto-download it the second it was out, because otherwise who knows when I would get to see it? The FOMO would be absolutely unbearable, and by the time I did get back spoilers would be everywhere…

So, if you haven't heard of it, Suspicion Island is a series about a group of teenagers that crash-lands on a mysterious island where anything can and does happen, and they sped their time there alternately making out with and betraying each other, all while getting closer to the mystery that is itself the island. The last season ended on a cliffhanger with Brad stabbed in the back – literally – by the island's ruler /scientist guy! And after he'd seemed like such a good guy, too! Serves me right for not being suspicious. Is he really dead? Will his brother Chad avenge him? Will Vivica continue to be just the worst? I can't wait to find out! Months and months of speculation and theories will finally be vindicated! I wonder if Marcy's theory that the island itself is a living entity will be proven true. Honestly, I think she liked coming up with theories more than she liked the show itself; meanwhile, I'm pretty sure Sasha's just been hatewatching for the last two seasons. Every episode, she'd just go on about how stupid everything was… but in really intimate detail, like you just know she paid really close attention.

Oh, you know who'd probably love this? Sprig and Polly! I can't wait to introduce them to Earth's greatest art form… TV.

Well, five episodes down, eight to go. It's been crazy! Dinosaurs, aliens, ghosts, time travel… they're really pulling out all the stops this season. As expected, Sprig and Polly really got into it. Sprig's a total Randy stan, while Polly's team Peruvia. Even Hop-Pop joined us, although I'm pretty sure he hates it. He did nothing but grumble the whole time about what a waste of time it all was and that we don't appreciate fine art. Duh! Where I come from this is fine art!

I almost wanted to keep going, but it was getting late, and I know from first-hand experience what spending the whole night binge-watching can do to you in the morning. Better to start fresh! Besides, the longer I run my phone, the faster the battery will drain, and they don't exactly have outlets here…

It's gone. It's all gone.

While I was asleep, someone stole my phone and watched the remaining eight episodes, and now my phone's completely drained. My photos, videos, games, that Love Choice fanfic I was working on… all gone. Okay, maybe that last one isn't a great loss, 'cause it was going nowhere… but the rest? It was irreplaceable!

To top it off, no one will admit to having done it! They're all blaming each other. But I know it has to be one of them! They're the only ones who would know about Suspicion Island! …well, there's a chance that it could be One-Eyed Wally, I did catch him peeking in the window at one point… but no, he would've made noise coming in. No, it has to be one of them. And since none of them will admit to it, it means that one of them must be lying. At least, one of them. It could be like Season 2, episode 3, where Felicia and Chad accused each other of sabotaging the raft and it turned out they both did it.

Of course, none of that helps with the main problem, my dead phone. HP suggested seeking out some kind of electric centipede that he thinks might be able to do the job. It lies at the end of a long, treacherous journey at the top of a remote, desolate mountain peak. Because of course it does. For once, why can't the answer to our problems lie at the end of a short, pleasant stroll in a safe, picturesque meadow?

What pain this journey was. A trip like this is bad enough on its own, but when you take it while everyone's literally at each other's throats, it's even worse. It doesn't help that all this time, Sprig's been singing this song about how much we distrust each other and the rather blatant parallels to Suspicion Island itself. Like, duh, subtext, we get it… He is pretty good at the fiddle, though. I didn't know he played. I kinda wish I had my bass with me, the two of us could really jam out together…

Where was I? Oh yes. Everyone at each other's throats. Everyone throwing accusations at each other, some of them having nothing to do with anything. At one point, Polly blamed Sprig for being the reason she didn't have legs, which, I'm pretty sure is just biology. But, somehow, in spite of ourselves, we made it to the Zapapede.

Finding it was one thing, though… getting to it was another. The thing was nesting at the tip of a mountain peak across one of those rope bridges that is so badly made and maintained, you wonder why anyone would even bother to put it there at all. So, we're creeping across this thing, and I'm starting to wonder do I even need a phone this bad?

(Rhetorical question. Yes. I need a phone this bad.)

Hey, you know what the worst thing you could do on a precarious rope bridge without any handrails above a deep chasm? Get into a big fight right in the middle of it… so of course, that's what we did! Well, with all of us in the same spot, the bridge couldn't hold our weight and snapped in half, dumping us… actually not that far, by some miracle. Furthermore, there was a whole nest of even more zapapedes right beneath us. One of us could lower the others close enough to get my phone charged… that is, if Polly and Sprig didn't blame each other for the bridge snapping and get into an even bigger fight. Which I got dragged into when Sprig kicked me in the face.

Until, at last, finally the truth came out. See, with all the suspicion going around, what the three of us should have been the most suspicious abut was how little Hop-Pop was participating in all of it. Almost as if he was the one who had the most to be suspicious about.

Because it was him. He was the one who had drained my battery. Because, contrary to the way he acted, he was the most hooked on Suspicion Island out of all of us. So much so that he couldn't sleep without knowing what would happen. And the guilt had been eating us up all this time. So much so, that he grabbed my phone and leapt into the zapapede nest in the hopes of redeeming himself.

…yeah, I think you can guess how that ended up. And, you know, I was kind of upset that HP drained my phone and then lied about it for an entire day until we were literally about to murder each other… but not to the point that I wanted to see him electrocuted! So, the three of us tossed our differences aside and Sprig and Poly lowered me down into the nest so I could pull Hop-Pop out of there.

It was a moment too late that I remembered how electricity worked.

In other words, instead of Hop-Pop getting electrocuted, all of us did. A lot. So much that we were launched out of the chasm like a rocket. It's… kind of miraculous that we survived, actually. Almost impossible, if you think about it.

The good news, is my phone was fully charged! Beyond fully, actually. Way beyond fully. My battery indicator was at 10,000% which, again, I'm fairly sure is impossible. But then I've kind of learned to expect the impossible here.

Well, after that, the air was cleared between us… I mean, after someone is ready to sacrifice their life just to fix your phone, it's pretty hard to hold anything against them.

Now, the only real danger is making it home before Hop-Pop snaps and starts dropping spoilers…

A.N.: Does anyone else kinda want a real version of Suspicion Island?

Snake screamer: I don't remember if the little girl's caterpillar was the same species, but Anne did suggest that she didn't let it grow up.

Jose: Generally a good idea.

Team Gophers: I'll have to go back and check that out.

Next: Anne Theft Auto