33. Frobo and the Toads

"Sir are you certain about the decision to reduce stall rents by 10%," asked Toady to the Mayor as he prepared himself for bed.

"I thought we was done talking about the major business of today," replied Mayor Toadstool, "besides it's nearly time for bed. I need my 12 hours of beauty sleep Toady"

"It's just well the whole reason we raised rents in the first place was for….well embezzlement," said Toady, "and then you ended up using that money to fix the potholes on 6th Street."

"Yeah well…." the Mayor trailed off as he thought for a long time, "it's just ever since I saved some lives back at Toad Tower I've been feeling something. I can't quite describe it Toady, but I feel like I genuinely want to help the people of Wartwood, and well a reduction in stall rent would help them all a lot."

"Certainly sir," said Toady, "it's just you know the toads put you in charge to keep the frogs in line. I doubt Grime would appreciate you going easy on them."

"Toady did you miss the part where Grime is gone? Toad Tower is destroyed, no way Grime is coming after me for anything," said the Mayor with confidence.

"True sir, it's just I would hate to see anything bad happen to you, if something happened to you I don't think I could go gone!" said Toady dramatically throwing himself to the floor.

"Now stop that Toady, everything will be alright!" said the Mayor, "besides it's time for bed."

"Of course sir, do you need me to tuck you in?" asked Toady.

"No I can handle that, but what I do need is my cuddly squishy spider," said the mayor his eyes going wide as he said that.

Toady handed him the stuffed animal, the mayor squealing with delight at receiving it.

"Alright that will be all Toady," said the Mayor clapping his hands, "see you in the morning."

"Goodnight Sir! Sweet dreams," said Toady going out the door and closing it.

With that Mayor got into bed holding his squishable spider tightly. The mayor was just starting to fall asleep when he thought he heard a sound. He looked up but didn't see anything and started to again fall asleep. Once again he heard a sound this time looking to the door, he almost thought he heard it open, then quickly close.

"Toady is that you?" he asked a little nervous. Though there was no response.

This time he scanned the room again, but once again didn't see anything. As he lay down a third time though a pair of hands took hold of him muffling this mouth so he couldn't scream and dragging him away.

The sun was just starting to come out as Luz Noceda exited the fwagon, it was decided that Marcy and Luz would share accommodations in the fwagon, it was after all made to house a whole family so Luz and Marcy had taken to sharing it. It would at least ensure they had a place to rest and change in privacy. Luz stepped out of the fwagon and onto the grass taking a deep breath of air as she did. Luz stretched her arms, still a little sleepy, though as she rubbed her eyes she began to notice that something wasn't right. Luz looked out over the Plantar farm and saw signs of destruction, several vegetables were plucked, wagons and farm equipment were broken, and the fence around the farm was smashed. Luz went back inside to rouse Marcy.

"Marcy wake up!" said Luz shaking her sleeping form.

"Huh, what," said Marcy still asleep.

"Something trashed the farm!" said Luz urgently. Marcy got dressed and a few moments later the two were starring at the destruction.

"Holy cow! What the heck happened?" asked Marcy in disbelief.

"I dunno but we should probably wake the Plantars and Anne and let them know about this," said Luz.

"Here I'll do it," said Marcy, "you were still going to go on your morning walk yeah?"

"Are you sure?" asked Luz.

"Yeah it's fine," said Marcy, "go enjoy your walk and when you come back maybe we'll have a plan ready."

"Okay thanks Marcy, be right back," said Luz as she began walking towards the forest.

Luz continued her walk towards the forest. She made her way deeper into the forest finally stopping near a tall tree. Luz closed her eyes and concentrated, finally she opened them and as she did used her wind powers to jump up on to a high tree branch. Then she shot a vine out form her hand latching onto another tree branch, pulling taught to make sure the vine was secured. Letting out a small breath Luz jumped out of the tree swinging on the vine!

As she reached the apex of her swing she reached out her hand and shot another vine at another tree latching on and continuing the process. Again she swung and again as the swing ended she shot another vine grabbing onto another branch. Luz yelled in delight as she made the next swing having the time of her life! After a few more swings Luz let go of the vine as it swung upwards spinning herself into a somersault and landing on the ground on her feet.

That feels so amazing! She thought to herself, I never in a million years imagined I would be able to do something like that! I know there's been some rough parts being trapped in another world, and I know my mom is probably worried sick about me, but even so I'm glad I at least got the chance to do magic like I always wanted! Huh I wonder if these powers will still work back home?

Luz continued walking back towards the Plantar house, as she got closer she realized Marcy, Anne, and the Plantars were already outside. They were all looking at the destruction around the farm and trying to figure out what could have caused this.

"Oh Luz there you are," called Anne coming up to her, "back from your walk already?"

"Yeah, did you guys find any new clues?" asked Luz seeing the destruction.

"Nothing," said Hop-pop, "looks like someone came through here and stole a lot of our crops."

"Hey take a look at this!" called Marcy bringing the groups attention over to a giant footprint in the dirt.

"Huh that looks like a frog footprint," said Sprig, "but I've never seen a frog that big."

"The tracks go off towards the forest," observed Marcy noting where the tracks lead, "Luz did you see anything while you were out there?"

"No nothing unusual," said Luz.

"Guess we should head out and see if we can find whatever it was that made those," said Anne. Just as she said this though a loud shrill voice came ringing towards them.

"Plantar family I need your help!" shrieked Toady as he approached.

"We're kinda busy with something here," said Hop-pop annoyed, "something tore through our farm last night and we're trying to figure our what it was and where it went."

Toady stopped in his tracks looking at the destruction of the farm, his eyes lighting up, "well perhaps we can help each other. Maybe whatever destroyed your farm is the same thing that took the Mayor."

"What?!" said Anne in surprise, "Mayor Toadstool is missing?"

"Isn't that what I just said?" said Toady in annoyance.

"Why should we help you out?" asked Polly smugly, "You had to resort to cheating in order to win against Hop-pop."

"It wasn't cheating," clarified Toady, "it's not my fault that Hopadiah didn't know the rules about who gets a vote in the election. But fine whatever, help me find the mayor and I'm sure we can do something for you." Toady trailed off for a minute before continuing, "Oh I know, what if we give you a 10% decrease on your stall rent!"

"Alright done!" said Hop-pop quickly shaking Toady's hand, "we'll help you find the Mayor."

"Well guess we have two things to take care of," said Marcy.

"Unless it turns out they are both related," said Sprig.

"Still we should probably split up just in case," said Luz, "I can go investigate the forest, I was just there so I know my way around."

"Oh Polly and I will go with you," said Sprig.

"Yeah we'll get to take Anne's other friend out for a test drive and see if we like her," said Polly.

"Oh, I mean I can probably handle it on my own," said Luz not wanting to have to worry about watching over Sprig and Polly.

"Nah dude let them go," said Anne, "this way you can have a chance to bond."

"Oh well….uh, okay," said Luz.

"Is something wrong?" asked Anne, "do you not want to go with Sprig and Polly?"

"No it's not that, it's just…." stammered Luz, she didn't want to admit that the real reason was because she felt she could move faster on her own with her powers. Having Sprig and Polly around would mean that she couldn't use them.

"It's fine," said Luz, deciding to just acquiesce, "you're right we can have a chance to get to know each other."

"Alright well you guys head out to the forest then," said Marcy, "the rest of us will head into town and see if we can't find more info on what happened to the Mayor."

"Good luck!" called Sprig as Anne, Marcy and Hop-pop headed into town, while Sprig, Polly, and Luz made their way to the forest.

Once they were far enough away Sprig and Polly grinned mischievously at each other before looking at Luz.

"So Luz," began Sprig, "Anne's stayed with us for a while, and we've gotten to know her quite well."

"Uh-huh," replied Luz.

"So if you wanted to know any secrets about her well…..20 coppers and I'll tell you everything," said Polly.

"Wait what?" asked Luz confused

"Polly!" chastised Sprig, "this is true love we're talking about! You can't put a price on that!"

"Says you!" countered Polly

"Hold on a sec, what are you guys talking about?" asked Luz.

"Well Anne told us about what happened between you and her," began Polly.

"Oh she did…." said Luz, her face becoming bright red.

"And I just figure I can tell you whatever you want to know about her, for a price" said Polly, "that way if you wanted to write her a romantic poem you would know exactly what to put into it."

"I was going to offer to help for free," said Sprig acting noble, "I can be that person who helps get people together. What do you humans call it? Ah your birdman!"

"It's wing-man," replied Luz, "and listen I don't need either of you to do that."

"Ah but we wanna help," said Sprig, "you might not know it, but Anne actually helped me get together with this frog I had a crush on. You know what the crazy part is, I didn't even realize I liked her until Anne helped me realize it."

"Oh what's her name?" asked Luz.

"Ivy," replied Sprig, "she's the best! I still can't believe we're together sometimes. And well Anne helped me get together with her, so I figure I should help Anne be with the person she loves."

"My interest is purely financial," said Polly, "my offer still stands Luz."

"Look Sprig that's very sweet of you and I appreciate it, but right now Anne and I are just friends," said Luz. "There's a lot going on and right now we just want to focus on getting home. I don't want to put any pressure on her right now. We agreed we'd talk about dating after we got back."

"Okay then I can help you now," said Sprig, "and then you can use my advice after you get back to Earth."

Luz actually laughed at this, "that's….well maybe I'll consider that, but right now we have to find whatever it is destroyed the farm."

With that the group walked deeper into the forest keeping a lookout for anything out of the ordinary. They kept walking until they thought the saw something through the trees.

"Hey I thought I saw some movement over there," said Polly pointing to an area off in the distance.

"Well let's approach carefully and see what it is," advised Luz, bringing up her staff in a defensive position. Sprig followed suit pulling out his slingshot, while Polly pulled out a chain mace causing the others to give her a look.

"Hey you have your weapons I have mine," she said nonchalantly.

The three continued to advance, as the got closer they began to hear a strange noise. Then they noticed some bushes rustling in the distance. As they got closer Luz nodded to Sprig and Polly, the three crouched down then quickly moved forward ready to attack whatever it was that was hiding in the bushes.

"Luz chop!" declared Luz as brought her staff up and hit the object behind the bushes. She connected with it and it made a loud metal clanging sound. Luz looked up and saw a large imposing figure standing in front of her. It was made of metal and had a domed head on top of it's large body. There were two eyes in its head that looked down inquisitively at Luz. Luz glanced to the side and saw a large pile of vegetables gathered beside it.

"Whoa what is that?" asked Polly as she looked up at the towering figure.

"It looks like some kind of robot," said Luz

"What's a robot?" asked Polly.

"Oh I think Anne told me about robots once," chimed in Sprig, "they're supposed to be these super cool powerful things that are like humans, but better because their bodies are made of metal! They can do all kinds of things like shoot lasers, fly, punch things real hard, and even do complex math!"

"Huh, that's not quite 100% accurate," said Luz, "but it's close enough. Wait a second, what the heck is a robot doing here?"

"Huh what do you mean?" asked Polly.

"Well correct me if I'm wrong but Amphibia isn't exactly a technological place is it?" asked Luz.

"No, not really, that's why we were all so taken when Anne told us stories of her world," said Sprig, "she said you have large metal birds that fly, and large metal beasts that roll around on the ground and take you places. Plus there' all those cool things her magic rectangle can do."

"Yeah exactly," said Luz, "if you don't know about planes and cars, then how the heck is there a robot here?"

Sprig and Polly looked at each other as they considered this, before Sprig spoke up

"Oh maybe it came from your world Luz? Have you ever seen something like this before?"

"I don't think so," said Luz taking a long look at the robot, "honestly this thing seems even more advance than technology from my world."

"Hey guys check this out!" called Polly, she was waving her arms up in the air, the robot did the same copying her. Then she blinked a few times, once again the robot mimicked her actions. Finally she let out a laugh and the robot did the same, or at least tried to. Its voice sounded horrifying.

"Ha it's copying me," said Polly, "that means it likes me the most! Hey do you have a name? My name's Polly?

The robot stared at her not making any movement, it didn't seem to understand the question. Though it looked more closely at Polly.

"My name's Pooolllyyyy" said Polly stretching out her name and pointing to herself. Again the robot kept staring at her though finally it made a sound.

"Polly," it said in a heavily synthesized voice, pointing to Polly.

"Whoa it can speak?" said Luz in amazement.

"Yes that's it!" said Polly in delight, "my name is Polly, what's yours?" she asked pointing to the robot. The robot didn't answer instead the eyes in its head transformed into question marks.

"Well if it doesn't have a name I guess we'll have to give him one ourselves," said Sprig.

"You know even though this thing is a robot it still kind of looks like a frog," observed Luz, "I guess that makes it a kind of frog robot."

"Frog robot….." began Polly, "frog robo….Ooo how about we call you frobo?"

The robot eyes lit up at the name and it seemed to smile!

"Huh, Frobo, I guess that sounds alright," agreed Luz.

"Well at the very least we solved one of the mysteries," said Sprig as he looked between Frobo and the pile of vegetables, "seems like this is what tore through our farm. We should probably head back and tell Hop-pop we figured it out."

"We could do that," began Polly, "or we could have a bit of fun out here with our new robot friend."

"I don't know," began Luz.

"The responsible thing would be to return home," added Sprig, "and Anne and I are trying to be more responsible."

"Please….." begged Polly making sure to make her eyes as big and bright as possible.

"No, we need to do the right thing," said Luz and Sprig together.

"Whoaaa-hooo!" exclaimed the trio as they sat on Frobo's shoulders. Frobo was using his extending arms to swing on tree branches through the forest. Luz, Sprig, and Polly were letting out screams of delight as the wind blew in their face!

"This is awesome!" exclaimed Sprig.

"See I knew I had the right idea!" said Polly,

"This is even better than what I was doing this morning!" said Luz.

"Wait did you go swinging through the trees this morning?" asked Sprig.

"Yeah exactly!" answered Luz hoping her answer would be taken as a joke.

"Oh Luz you're just a kidder," laughed Polly, "I think I might like you more than Marcy, but don't tell her I said that. This is amazing though! You are the best Frobo!"

Frobo let out a laugh at this.

"I think you and I are going to get along just fine!" said Polly to Frobo.

"Okay, hang on everyone!" yelled Luz as Frobo swung on the last branch. With that Frobo launched into the air higher than he had ever gone. In fact he was so high Luz, Sprig, and Polly could look out and see the vast world of Amphibia. Sprig was amazed at the sight before his eyes.

"Wow everything looks so small from up here," he said.

"Yeah I know," said Luz remembering the first time she had jumped above the tree tops, and recalling the sensation she felt at being so high.

"Hey look over there," said Polly, the three turned to look and saw signs of smoke coming from deep within the forest. There didn't seem to be a fire, but it still looked suspicious.

"Let's go check it out," said Luz. As soon as they landed on the ground they all went off in the direction they had seen the smoke from. As they got closer they heard voices, and Luz motioned for Polly and Sprig to be quiet. Frobo seemed to have picked up on the intent too as it walked slower with less noise. Finally the three peered through some bushes to see a sight that almost made them gasp! The remains of the Toad Army were camped in a forest clearing. Luz recognized some of them immediately as she had seen them at Tadpole Pond, Sprig and Polly knew them from the tower. As their eyes scanned the camp they caught site of Mayor Toadstool tied to a tree. A fierce looking red Toad approaching him.

"Well, well, the great Frodreick Toadstool how far you've fallen," sneered the Red Toad. Luz, Sprig, and Polly recoiled as they all recognized that voice.

"That's Bog," whispered Sprig to Luz, "he's the one who leads the Tax Collectors."

"Yeah I've met him before," said Luz with a hint of anger.

"Oh right the toads attacked the town you were in didn't they?" said Sprig.

"Yeah they did, and he was there," replied Luz, she coninued to look around the clearing hoping to see a sign of Grime or Sasha, but she didn't see them among the other toads.

"Sasha was with them when they attacked my town," said Luz, "but I don't see her here."

"Hey you're right," said Sprig, also noticing Sasha's absence, "Grime isn't here either."

"Wonder what he wants the Mayor for?" whispered Polly.

"I suppose we're just going to skip the pleasantries then," said Toadstool, "what do you want Bog?"

"I want the money you've embezzled from the town," replied Bog, "us Toads have been living like bandits ever since the fall of Toad Tower, while you've been living it up in a cushy Mayor's role. Last time you tried to hide the money from us, but this time you'll tell us where it is or else."

"Well tough for you Bog," sneered Toadstool defiantly, "I don't have any more embezzled funds, we spent that money fixing potholes on 6th Street."

No sooner had Toadstool said this than he quickly received a swift punch from Bog in the stomach, then another in his face.

"You think I'm stupid?" growled Bog angrily. "Last time we came to collect taxes you sold out your own citizens to try and keep money for yourself! Now you want me to believe that you don't have some stash somewhere hidden in the town?"

"I'm telling ya, the truth," said Toadstool slowly, still recovering from the blows he had been dealt.

"Either you tell us where the money is or we hurt you until you do!" yelled Bog.

"Look, there is no more embezzled money," pleaded the mayor, "but how's about this? I have a large collection of silk pajamas those have to be worth something right? You can have 'em! Heck take anything you want from my house, just leave the town alone."

"Looks like we have to do this the hard way," said Bog, with that he snapped his fingers and two toads who were flanking him stepped forward looking menacingly at the mayor.

"Rough him up until he tells us where the money is," with that Bog turned around and Luz and the others saw that he was now wearing an eyepatch over his right eye.

"Huh that's new," observed Sprig, "wonder what happened to his eye?"

"I'll tell you later," said Luz. The group slipped back behind the bushes.

"Well looks like we found the Mayor too," said Polly, "what are we gonna do? We have to rescue the Mayor."

"Mmmmm, do we have to rescue him now?" began Sprig, "I think he can take a few hits." As he said this the group could hear the sounds of the Mayor being roughed up form behind the bushes.

"Anne told me all about Toadstool," said Luz, "that stunt he pulled with the taxes got her arm broken. So I kind of agree with Sprig."

"Hey he did save a lot of the citizens when the tower was collapsing," said Polly trying to plead a case for him.

"Yeah, but how do we know he didn't have ulterior motives for that?" said Sprig.

"Plus didn't he cheat Hop-pop out of being Mayor?" added Luz.

"I mean for all we know he could be lying about not having any embezzled funds," said Luz.

"Oh but he did actually fix those potholes on 6th street," said Polly.

"Huh really? That is surprising," said Sprig, "Maybe he's not so bad I guess we should think up something."

As the group tried to think of a way to save Toadstool the sounds suddenly stopped and the two toads who had been punching him reported back to Bog.

"He really doesn't want to give you the money, must be tougher than he looks," said one of them.

"He didn't talk," said the other plainly, "what do you want to do Bog?"

"Fine!" growled Bog in annoyance, "get the troops ready! We'll march on Wartwood and find the money ourselves, oh and since we're going there anyway, may as well loot the entire town. Those frogs might not have much, but we'll still take everything they have then burn the town to ground."

With that Bog marched back towards where Toadstool was tied up, "well looks like you leave us no choice Toadstool. We're just going to head to Wartwood and find the money ourselves. As for you, I think we'll leave you tied up here. Some hungry predator can come have you as a snack. Then you'll finally be good for something, Ha ha!" Bog laughed as he motioned for the toads to follow him. Slowly the toads left the clearing heading for the town.

Once they were all gone, Luz, Sprig, and Polly entered coming up to where the Mayor was. As Luz looked into his face she felt pity for the mayor. His face had been thoroughly beaten, making him look not unlike Uodeela after he encounter with the toads. His eyes were black and he had bruises all over.

"Mayor Toadstool are you okay?" asked Sprig.

"I don't know, do I still have my rougeish good looks?" he asked sarcastically trying to shrug off his beating.

"Here I have something for you," Luz reached into her belt and pulled out a bottle full of blue liquid. She brought it up to the Mayor's mouth and tipped it into his. The mayor drank the potion and in an instant the bruises began to fade. They didn't completely disappear, but there was considerable healing on his face, the pain seemed to have subsided too.

"Luz…right?" asked the mayor unsure if that was her name.

"Yes that's me, I think I only met you once before." replied Luz.

"Oh well enough talk, you got to head back to town and warn the people of the invasion….and oh my lord what is that?" he asked having finally noticed Frobo.

"We found him in the woods, he's a robot, long story," said Sprig.

"Well get going," said the Mayor, "you've got to warn them."

"In a sec, first we have to get you free," Luz moved to the ropes that were holding the mayor and used the sharp end of her staff to quickly cut through them.

"Here you guys," began Luz helping the mayor to his feet, "you guys take Toadstool; find Anne and Marcy and go warn the town."

"What about you?" asked Polly.

"I'm going after the toads," declared Luz, "maybe I can slow them down a bit."

"Luz are you crazy!" yelled Sprig quickly jumping in front of her to prevent her from going, "you can't take on the toad army by yourself!"

"I'm not going to take them on," lied Luz, "just going to try and slow them down a bit, maybe I can buy you enough time to get some defenses up for the town. Don't worry I've fought the toads before."

"So has Anne, and that resulted in her getting her arm broken, she's lucky it wasn't taken clean off," said Sprig.

"I'll be alright Sprig, trust me," said Luz getting on her knees and looking Sprig in the eyes.

"Luz…." said Sprig.

"Trust me, I'll be fine, and hey Sprig, look after Marcy and Anne okay, promise?" asked Luz.

Sprig hesitated for a bit before finally replying, "okay I promise, but Luz please be careful. The toads aren't pushovers, they sound like they mean business this time."

"I'll be careful, now go back to the farm and regroup with the others," said Luz before turning and heading off in the direction the toads had left.

"That Noceda girl is either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid," began Toadstool, "which one is it?"

"I guess we'll find out," said Sprig, as he watched Luz leave.

Meanwhile Bog and the Toads had gathered just outside the village, they were all checking their weapons and making preparations to attack.

"I'll head to the Mayor's house and look for the stash there," said Bog, "group one will check the statue and the area around it in case he hid the money near the same place as last time. Group two will loot the town grab anything valuable that you can and get out of there. Group three will burn it all down after you're done. Kill anyone who gets in your way!"

"Stop right there villain! You won't be killing anyone today!" said a voice from somewhere in the trees. The toads looked around trying to find the source of the voice.

"Who's there?" called Bog, "show yourself you fool! You have no hope of defeating the toad army!"

"Do not underestimate me Bog!" said the voice, before a figure jumped from the trees landing on the ground in front of the toads, "for I am the Good Witch Luzura, defender of Wartwood!" Bog looked straight at Luz recognizing her immediately.

"YOU!" growled Bog pulling out his sword and pointing it straight at Luz, "you're the reason we lost Tadpole Pond! I'll make you pay for that!"

Luz returned Bog's stare and got into a fighting stance, "leave this town alone or I'll make you leave!"

As she said this her eyes began to glow purple….several toads noticed this and began to get very nervous, some even tried to warn Bog.

"Uh Bog….I don't think we should mess with her," said a toad staring deep into Luz's eyes.

"That human has some strange power, I remember her from Tadpole Pond," whispered another toad to Bog, "we better just-"

"Enough talk you cowards!" growled Bog, "if she wants to throw her life away against us then I say have at it. Besides doesn't matter what powers she has, she can't beat all of us!"

Luz let out a small laugh at hearing that, her mouth turning into a smile, "you sure about that Bog?"

Bog didn't answer instead he charged straight at Luz. Luz brought out her staff and stabbed it into the ground causing a large sheet of ice to spread out from the impact point right towards the toads who were running at her. Many of the slipped on the ice and fell down. The few that didn't kept charging at Luz only to quickly get entangled by vines as Luz fired them out of her hands wrapping the toads up and causing them to fall to the ground.

A few more Toads ran towards Luz, but she used her wind powers to blow them back onto the ice where they quickly fell down. One toad tried sneaking up behind her, but Luz jumped out of the way and launched a flame at him. While in the air she summoned up a group of fire orbs around her, then launched them at various toads who were still standing causing them to quickly scatter!

As Luz landed back on the ground, Bog powered through and got close to Luz trying to strike her with his sword. Luz brought up her staff in defense and blocked the blow. She and Bog continued to trade blows.

"Where are Grime and Sasha?" asked Luz as she fended off Bog's attacks.

"Hell if I know," answered Bog, as he tried to find an opening, "we ditched them after the debacle at Tadpole Pond. For all I know they got eaten or imprisoned. I don't care, all I care about is killing you."

"I don't see how you're going to do that with only one eye," taunted Luz.

"Oh you think you're funny do you?" said Bog, "well better let Gustav know he's next! If I ever get my hands on that runt I'll take both his eyes!"

"You know the problem with having only one eye, no depth perception," with that Luz launched an orb of light right into Bog's face temporarily blinding him. With him stunned Luz summoned a vine from her hand and wrapped up Bog, taking the pointed end of her staff and pointing it straight at him. By this point many of the other toads had fled leaving Bog by himself. Luz looked down at Bog her eyes still glowing purple and a smirk on her face.

"Well I'd say that about does it for-" Luz suddenly stopped talking, and began to close her eyes, the purple glow fading, all at once she began to feel tired. Luz brought her hand up to her head, she felt pain coursing through her head and struggled to keep her eyes opened.

What's going on? thought Luz, why do I feel so tired?

Bog noticed this and began to break free from the vines that were wrapped around him. He finally succeeded and came up to where Luz was on the ground.

"What's wrong human? Can't use that power forever can you?" he sneered.

Luz looked up and saw Bog approaching her, his sword raised over her.

"Guess you aren't as strong as I thought," with that he gave a swift kick to Luz, hitting her hard in her stomach, "that was for Fens!"

Luz let out a yelp, and looked up to see Bog standing over her, preparing to bring his sword down on Luz.

Suddenly it was blasted out of his hands by a laser beam! Bog quickly turned around and saw Anne, Marcy and the Plantars quickly rushing towards him along with some strange creature that he had no clue about.

"Get 'em Frobo!" declared Polly riding on top of Frobo as it charged into battle. Frobo charged up its eye lasers again and fired them at Bog. Bog was able to jump out of the way, but just barely as the laser set fire to his cloak. Bog yelped in pain and continued running until he was out of site.

Anne ran up to Luz to check on her, "Luz are you okay?"

Luz didn't respond as she was still lying on the ground feeling very tired.

"Luz!" called Marcy running up to her with concern in her voice.

"We better get her back to the house, we can have a better look at her there," said Anne, with that she bent down and scooped Luz up into her arms. Luz was still mostly out of it, but she did smile at feeling Anne pick her up.

A short while later the group arrived back at the house, Anne laid Luz down on the couch and sat close by keeping watch over her. Marcy and the Plantars meanwhile were outside examining Frobo. Anne looked through the window and could see the others talking outside.

"So you just found this thing in the woods?" asked Marcy, looking over the robot with intrigue.

"Yeah it was apparently the thing that damaged the farm, Luz said it's called a robot," said Sprig.

"Can we keep him please?" begged Polly doing her best to make her eyes big, "he said my name, we had fun playing with him out in the woods. I promise to take care of him!"

"I don't know," began Hop-pop, "I mean it did trash the farm. Can it do anything useful?"

"Show 'em Frobo!" said Polly.

With that Frobo took a look out at the farm it had destroyed, it marched towards the farm and began to repair the fence and fix the damage it had done. It then transformed one of its hands into a hoe and began tilling the soil. Then it dropped seeds into the ground that it had tilled. Finally it spread water over the seeds it had planted causing the vegetables to instantly grow. With that Frobo spread its arms wide in a flourish!

"Welcome to the family!" said Hop-pop with eyes wide, "this will make farming so much easier!"

"Wow this thing looks so advanced," said Marcy taking notes and writing in her journal, "I wonder what else it can do. Oh what's this on the back of his head? I think this thing has a serial number. Looks like its number is R66-Y"

"I like Frobo as a name a lot more though," said Polly. Frobo smiled indicating he preferred that name as well.

Anne turned back from the window smiling at the exchange. She focused back to Luz who was starting to wake-up.

"Uhhh," said Luz sitting up on the couch, "where am I?"

"You're back in the Plantar's house after that stunt you pulled with the toads," said Anne with a hint of disapproval in her voice.

"Oh yeah….that," said Luz sheepishly.

Anne came up to her and lightly punched her arm, "what the heck were you thinking?! Trying to take on the toads by yourself!"

"Listen I'm sorry," said Luz, "I just wanted to try and buy you guys some time. I guess I got a little carried away. What happened?

"When we showed up, the toads were mostly gone," explained Anne, "Bog was the only one left, but he was about to kill you. If we hadn't arrived when we did we would have."

"Oh Anne I'm so sorry," said Luz feeling ashamed.

"After that you knocked out, I had to carry you back here, then you woke up just now," replied Anne.

"Oh well thank you for carrying me Anne," said Luz smiling.

"You're welcome," said Anne sitting down next to Luz and putting a comforting arm around her, "but you can't be doing things like that in the future, okay? When I first reunited with Marcy I wanted to keep her safe, I told her how I just got her back and didn't want to lose her again. The same is true with you Luz, especially now that we're so much closer to getting home."

"I know, it's just I….." Luz hesitated, not continuing to talk, for awhile she looked into Anne's eyes not wanting to tell the whole truth. Eventually she decided to say something that was mostly true.

"I was still mad at them for what happened to Uodeela, I wanted to stop them and make sure that what happened to Tadpole Pond didn't happen here. I wanted to prove I could do it on my own, but I guess I got carried away," said Luz. "Plus I was looking for Sasha. She's not with the Toads anymore Anne."

"Yeah Sprig told me she wasn't there," said Anne.

"Bog said that he and the Toads abandoned them after Tadpole Pond, she could be anywhere," said Luz slowly letting Anne absorb this new information.

Anne paused for a long time before speaking again, "Luz….do you think that if she's away from the Toads that maybe she's….gotten better?"

"I….I….I really don't know Anne," said Luz, "from what I heard it wasn't exactly the toads that were the problem, it was her, still maybe you're right? Or maybe I'm just hoping that's true because then we could blame everything that happened on the toads?"

"Heh….yeah it would be a lot easier if we could do that wouldn't it?" asked Anne putting her arm around Luz and leaning her head against hers. The two friends sat in silence as they thought about Sasha and wondered where she could be….

"It shouldn't be much longer until we're at Wartwood, ma'am," said the coachman.

"Splendid!" replied Jacinda, "I had heard there were some bandits in the area, but we haven't encountered any trouble yet." With that Jacinda looked over a scroll she was reading, it had information on the supposed new candidate for Toad Lord, Mayor Frodrick Toadstool, he certainly seemed capable enough on paper, but she wasn't entirely convinced that he would be the right person for the job.

She didn't have long to think about this though as suddenly the coach she was traveling in was violently shook. She heard sounds of fighting for a few minutes before the door to her coach opened and a red toad with a patch over his right eye looked in.

"Give me all your money!" he demanded.

Jacinda was initially shocked, but also intrigued by this toads ferocity, "You must be that group of bandits I heard about. Tell me what would you do if I didn't give you my money?"

"I'd start killing your guards, we already got 'em subdued outside," replied Bog, "after that I'd cut off your tail, I know you newts can grow it back, see if that persuades ya!"

"My my how fearsome!" said Jacinda, "why are you robbing people, it sounds to me like you would be great as a tax collector?"

"Yeah I was one," bragged Bog, "least until the Tower collapsed, I was one of the best too, if people didn't pay their taxes I'd make sure and hurt 'em!"

"I can see that," said Jacinda "here you are threatening me for my money, and doing a dang good job if I do say so myself!"

"Oh well thank you!" said Bog, "now give me the money!"

"All in good time," said Jacinda, "though I wonder if perhaps you might see a much bigger picture here?"

"Huh?" said Bog.

"As it so happens I was on my way to the town of Wartwood to appoint a new Toad Lord for the Southern Area," explained Jacinda, "there's been a lot of lawless rebels running about in the area ever since the Tower fell, and we've been meaning to not only appoint a new Lord but also rebuild the Tower. I was supposed to meet with a Frodrick Toadstool, mayor of Wartwood-"

"That guy?" said Bog in disgust, "he's not cut out for it, he's way too soft."

"I see," said Jacinda, "now you on the other hand seem much more shall we say…determined. Why you attacked a Newtopian coach without any fear of consequence to get what you wanted! And you threatened my life! I think if we can turn that threat around and put it to good use against the frogs then we can make an arrangement of sorts."

With that Jacinda opened the chest she had with her showing Bog the enormous amount of treasure it contained! His eyes lit up at the sight of it!

"How about it? Think you have what it takes to be the new Lord of the South…. Captain Bog?" asked Jacinda

"He he he, Captain Bog….I like the sound of that," sneered Bog.