22. Episode 22: Hello Frobo!

Amp and Ranger stared each other down as the wind blew through the trees. Amp raised her fists while Ranger readied her weapon, at that moment, a lone leaf gently fell from the trees above. It was not until that leaf hit the ground did the battle commence, Amp dashed straight for Ranger, but the nimble Emerald Archer jumped backwards and landed on a nearby branch. From her position, Ranger began firing on Amp, forcing the blue Rider to go on the defensive as she backflipped away from each of the arrows that were coming her way. Amp ducked behind some trees, allowing the timbers to act as shields for her the barrage.

Amp decided to use this, running around the trees, using them as cover as Ranger continued to fire at her. Ranger was finding it hard to accurately hit her target, as Amp’s speed, combined with the tree cover, was making it hard to determine where she was going to end up. Part of this training battle was to help Amp learn how to use her speed even with this many obstacles in her way, and Ranger was glad to see that it was paying off already. Amp continued to weave through the many trees in the forest, until she jumped straight up into the air.

Ranger readied her weapon, not certain where Amp was going to come out of thanks in part to the thick canopy of branches and leaves up above. Just then, Ranger managed to notice the small sound of crackling electricity, and with that hint, she jumped off the branch. Her timing was immaculate as Amp came down from the canopy with an ax kick, breaking the branch that Ranger was perched on. Amp flipped in midair, landed on the ground, and dashed for Ranger. The Emerald Archer fired multiple shots at Amp, but Amp focused, she could not keep breaking off and attack from another angle, that only gave Ranger more time to set up for another attack. So, instead, she would just break through.

Time seemed to slow just a bit as Amp saw the gaps between Ranger’s air bolt blasts and began weaving through them. Ranger gasped as she watched the blue streak that was Amp dodge the blasts as they were coming. Ranger could not help but be impressed by how Amp was able to do that, noting that her lightning-based powers must be enhancing her neuro electrical connections, granting her greater perception and reaction time. However, Amp was not the only one who could think and react fast.

Just as Amp managed to close the distance, she cocked back her right fist and thrust it forward, stopping it just a few inches from Ranger’s visor.

“Ha! Gotcha, Mar-Mar!”

“You sure about that, Anna-banana?”

Amp looked down and noticed that Ranger’s Squall Sniper was pressed against her stomach.

“Ah, dang it…”

The two girls disengaged and released their transformations.

Anne sighed as she rubbed the back of her head. “Guess I’ve still got a lot to figure out.”

“I’ve had a lot more time being a Rider than you, so it’s only natural I have a bit more experience than you. But you’ve gotten so much better since we’ve had these little training sessions!” Marcy encouraged. “You caught me off guard a little bit back there when you just ran through my air bolts.”

“Yeah, but I should’ve feinted or something, instead I got tunnel vision and didn’t notice where you were aiming your Squall Sniper,” said Anne.

Marcy walked over to her girlfriend and gave a little peck on the cheek. “Hey, you’ll get better. No one gets to a high level overnight, well, unless you go and do a crazy grinding campaign, but otherwise, it just takes practice.”

Anne blushed at the cheek kiss and replied, “Well, glad I have an RPG master as my girlfriend and training partner.”

Marcy puffed out her chest confidently and said, “Ya darn right you are!”

Anne smirked and poked Marcy in the side, making the Chinese girl release a ticklish yelp as she jumped back and protected her sides.

“Hey, not fair! Anne…?”

Her girlfriend’s smirk only grew.

“Anne…no.”

Anne raised her hands up.

“No…no!”

“Better run, Mar-Mar.”

“AAAH!”

Marcy did as Anne said and ran in the direction of the Plantar house, with Anne right on her tail, hands held out and fingers wiggling in a showing threat of what would happen if Marcy did not run.

Their chase eventually ended with Anne using her super speed and catching up to Marcy in the last stretch as she barreled into her, sending both of the girls tumbling about until they stopped on the front lawn of the Plantar home. Anne managed to end up on top of Marcy, straddling her as she proceeded to tickle her girlfriend on her sides. Marcy howled with laughter as she wriggled and squirmed, trying to free herself from her tormentor’s grip.

“Say, ‘uncle,’ Mar-Mar!”

“AAHAHAHAHAHA – NEVER – AHAHAHAHAAHA!” Marcy retorted, defiantly.

“That’s fine with me,” said Anne as she increased the speed of her tickling.

Around that time Sprig, Polly, and Hop Pop came walking out of the house and noticed the spectacle that was going on in front of them.

“Ha! That’s it, Anne! Bend her to your will!” Polly encouraged.

Anne looked up and said, “Oh, hey guys, what’s up?”

“Oh, we were just headin’ inta town, wanna come with?” Hop Pop asked.

“Sure.” Anne stopped her tickling and asked, “Wanna join them, Marcy?”

After catching her breath, Marcy gave an affirmative thumbs up.

“Welp, Ah’ll go get Bessie.”

Hop Pop placed Polly on the ground next to Sprig and went to the barn to fetch Bessie. After that, Anne went back to her torment of Marcy.

“AHAAHA – SPRIG, POLLY – AHAHAHAHAAHA – HELP MEEEEE!” Marcy begged.

Polly looked upon the scene, humming as she thought. “Depends, what’s it worth to you?”

“I’M ABOUT TO PEE MYSELF!”

“Still not hearing an offer.”

“SPRIG?!”

Sprig looked at Anne, and then back at Marcy. “I’m conflicted…On the one hand, Anne’s my big sister, and I support MarcAnne, and this is a MarcAnne moment, soooo…do I do something or let this play out?”

“FROG HAVE MERCY!!!”

Thankfully, Anne did stop before Marcy could cross that embarrassing line, and the group was on their way to Wartwood proper. It had been a week since Anne and Marcy’s date, and since then they haven’t had another Fallen attack, although, if Anne and Marcy were being honest, they were overdue for an attack.

As they rolled up into town, Polly could not help but comment, “This is so great! Our first day in forever with no responsibilities! So, what are we gonna do?”

Hop Pop chuckled as he remarked, “You’ll see.”

The old frog stopped the cart in front of “The Seed Store.” Upon seeing this, Polly groaned, “Oh noooooo!”

“Yep!” Hop Pop confirmed.

“Oh, come on!” There were a dozen different things they could do that were fun, but instead, this is what she got. “Don’t worry, Marcy. We don’t have to go into the boring old–”

“This is so cool!” Marcy exclaimed.

Polly deadpanned as she looked at the human and said, “Excuse me…?”

“A store just for seeds? Boy, we could be there for hours!”

Hop Pop looked over at Marcy and said, “Don’t tempt me!”

Both of the horticultural nerds laughed together before sighing.

“The humble seed. So much potential for growth!” Marcy began.

Hop Pop’s eyes were sparkling with happiness at the prospect of shopping for seeds and finding a kindred spirit in Marcy. “One of the rare things in life where you actually get out what you put in! It’s BEAUTIFUL!”

Polly was still deadpanning, watching as both her grandfather and Marcy walked side by side towards the store. But to be honest, she probably should not have been that surprised that Marcy would be in Hop Pop’s camp.

“Have fun in there!” Anne called out.

“Yeah, we’re good here in the wagon,” Sprig added.

“Oh, and look after Polly you two,” said Hop Pop as he and Marcy entered the store.

“Perfect!” Polly exclaimed as she hopped into the back of the wagon. “Now that the nerds are gone, you guys want to go make mischief? Guys?…Guys?”

Her older siblings’ attention appeared to be captured by a game that Sprig was playing on the phone called “Robo Ring: World Tour.”

Getting a little frustrated, Polly pushed down the phone and said, “Hey?! C’mon, let’s get into some trouble!”

“You know, in the past, I would have said yes, but I think I’m getting a little too old for that nonsense. Plus, I’m a Kamen Rider, now. I think I should be setting a better example as a hero,” said Anne.

Sprig shrugged at his little sister. “Sorry, Polly. But me and Anne have changed. We’re different now.”

“Some of us even sound different,” Anne muttered.

“What?”

“Nothing!” Anne cleared her throat. “Anyway, I think we should focus our energy on more mature activities. Training for the next Fallen attack, figuring out what The Night is trying to do, and – at least for me – be as best a girlfriend to Marcy as I can –Sprig! Use your kitty cat blasters!”

“ON IT!” Sprig stated as he hit the controls on the phone.

Polly facepalmed herself. “Great, so no one wants to cause trouble with me?”

Anne shook her head. “Sorry, dude, but that’s a no. And if case you didn’t hear, we’re responsible for you.”

Polly rolled her eyes at Anne and added, “Booooo!”

Anne crossed her arms and nodded her head as she said, “You’ll get it one day, when you have someone to look after.”

“DEATH FIRST!”

[You’re Dead!]

“Dang it!” Sprig griped.

Polly turned her back to her siblings as a mischievous grin grew upon her face. “You two are responsible for me, huh? So, I guess that means that you’re responsible for this!”

Polly hopped out of the wagon and splashed into a sack of seeds. The huge seeds shot out in every direction, littering the ground, imbedding themselves into the stone and tiles of the shop, and shattering the window.

“What the?!” The owner of the shop poked his head out of the shattered window and growled angrily. He then stomped towards the door, threw it open and asked, “Who’s responsible for this?!”

Polly pointed at the wagon and said, “They are.”

The owner growled louder and pointed at Sprig and Anne as he ordered, “Yous two! Get over and clean this up!”

Anne and Sprig quickly sprang out the wagon, apologizing profusely as they picked up the scattered seeds. Unfortunately, this attracted the pigeon-flies and all of them started attacking Sprig and Anne for the seeds.

While this was going on, Polly made her escape, leaving her siblings to their fate as she made it to the town square. “Tch, who needs those two, I can make mischief on my own!” The little pollywog hummed as she thought hard on what she could do. “Now, how can I be rambunctious to the max?” That’s when her eyes fell on the town statue, and she gave an evil chuckle.

Polly hopped her way over to the small fountain at the base of the town founder statue and proclaimed, “People of Wartwood! Welcome to the Splash Zone!”

The tadpole hopped high into the air and came down, splashing into the fountain, but instead of the great big splash she was hoping to create, she only managed to make a small droplet of water fall out of the fountain and hit one of the frogs who was sitting at the edge and reading the paper. Which he barely gave notice to before returning to his read.

Polly surfaced and sighed in disappointment. “Huh…really thought that splash would be bigger…” With that bit of mischief denied, Polly looked around for another opportunity, and that’s when her eyes fell on a pie with beetle legs sticking out of it. “Hmm, beetle pie.”

The youngest Plantar hopped out of the fountain and got under the window where the pie was resting. Polly began hopping and reaching for the pie, but every attempt failed as her little arms were unable to reach the pie at all.

“Ugh! Curse these puny arms!” Polly exclaimed as she flailed her arms out, and in the process smacked Toadie into a box filled with bugettes. The tadpole hopped along until she stopped in front of a pile of garbage. “Aww…mischief no dang fun alone. Stupid Anne! Stupid Sprig!”

In her frustration, Polly smacked a tin can with her tail onto the pile of garbage, which rattled unnaturally loud. The little pollywog glanced at the mound of trash, curious as to what could have made that loud clanging sound. As she continued to stare, something stared back, causing her to gasp. This something spotted her and immediately retreated back into the pile.

“What the heck?” Polly hopped closer to inspect what it was that she saw and asked herself, “Is there somebody in there?”

Her question was answered with two bright lights that shined in her face, making Polly jump back in shock. She tumbled down the mound of trash and landed on her back, but when she did, she gasped as she watched something rise from the pile of garbage. It was a couple of feet taller than Anne and Marcy, with studded shoulder pads, the Amphibia sigil attached to its chest, glowing round eyes, and made entirely out of metal.

“OH! MY! FROG! A MONSTER! AAAAAH!!!” Polly screamed. “STAY BACK!!!”

Polly rolled back and raised her arms defensively, shutting her eyes and waiting for the inevitable. However, the metal monster did not attack, instead it mimicked her movements. The little tadpole waited for something to happen, but nothing did. That’s when she decided to peek and noticed that the metal creature was doing the same thing she was.

“Huh?”

The metal monster looked at her.

Polly squinted.

The metal monster squinted back.

Polly scratched her face a little.

The metal monster scratched its face, unfortunately this action caused it to scrape its metal hand against its metal face, which made an irritating screeching sound.

Polly, amused by these actions, exclaimed, “You clown! You’re copying me! Hahahaha!”

The metal monster smiled and laughed as well, although, “laugh” was relative. As when it did “laugh” its head rose, revealing its wiring and tubes as it released a terrifying noise that could be construed as laughter.

Polly stared at the metal monster and noted, “Whoa, you’re laugh is horrifying…I LOVE IT! You’re no monster, you’re just a big tadpole! I’m Polly, by the way. What’s your name?”

The metal monster did not say anything.

“Can’t talk, huh? You really are a baby.” Polly hopped up to the machine and climbed it until she was seated on its left shoulder. “You look like one of those things from Anne’s phone. What was it called………? A robo! Except you’re more like a frog!’ Polly gasped. “I will call you, ‘Frobo’!”

Frobo did a little jig in appreciation for his new name.

“Heh, I know, I know, I’m a genius.” Polly hopped off of Frobo and asked, “So, what else can you do?”

Frobo turned towards Stumpy’s. The mechanical frog worked its fingers under the restaurant and effortlessly lifted the entire structure high into the air and held it up there for several seconds without any sign of strain on its body. Frobo brought the restaurant back down with the same effortless action and plopped it back onto the ground like nothing had ever happened.

“WHOA-HO-HO-HO! I don’t believe this! I have my own frog-dang sidekick! Frobo, how’d you like to have some fun?!”

Polly perched herself atop Frobo’s head as he walked into town, along the way they passed by that same shop where the beetle pie was.

“Frobo, grab that beetle pie for me,” said Polly.

Frobo complied and stretched his mechanical arm towards the pie, but in the process his heavy hand squashed the pie, splattering its contents on the window and inside the shop. At that moment, Mrs. Croaker screamed as she exited the shop, covered from head to toe in the red jelly-like filling of the pie that was just squashed.

“Run Frobo!” Polly exclaimed.

She hopped off Frobo’s head, landed on the ground, and spun out like a bowling ball. Frobo copied her movements, rolling into a ball and following after Polly. The two eventually run far enough away that Polly finds it safe to relax. They ended up at the corner of Mallard and Minnow, prompting Polly to look up at the street sign.

“Hey, Frobo, check this out!”

Polly hopped onto the mailbox, then off the mailbox to the street signs, and flipped once in the air before landing back on the sidewalk. When she was done, Polly hopped up and gave Frobo a high five.

“Woo! Now it’s your turn,” said Polly.

Frobo jumped into the air and ended up crushing both the street sign and the mailbox. Frobo got up and happily walked over to Polly as he held up his left hand for a high five.

Polly, chuckling nervously, high fived him back and remarked, “Oh…a little bit of property damage there, huh?” Just then, sirens could be heard coming from around the corner. “Oh, shoot! Frobo it’s time to Fro-Go!”

As Polly began to hop away, Frobo came up behind her, grabbed, her and put her on his head. Frobo launched his right arm, grappling onto the edge of a roof and hoisting himself into the air. Polly began laughing joyously as Frobo swung from one roof to the other. After a minute of swinging around, Frobo and Polly landed far from the commotion they caused and returned to the town square.

“Whooo! I don’t know what Anne was so worried about, taking care of someone is easy!” Polly glanced off to her left and spotted the fountain again. “Alright, Frobo, time to enter…the Splash Zone!”

Polly jumped off Frobo and landed in the fountain a few feet away.

“C’mon, buddy, your turn!”

Frobo blinked his mechanical eyes, crouched low to the ground, and fired off his thrusters. The mecha-frog was propelled about a hundred feet into the air as about five hundred plus pounds of metal came careening straight down towards the fountain.

“This might’ve been a mistake…” Polly lamented.

Frobo landed with all the grace and force of a wrecking ball, smashing the fountain, and sending water flowing out like a tsunami. The water crashed into several buildings, carrying bits of stone and metal piping along with it as those bits smashed through some of the houses and businesses. The town founder statue was, miraculously, not destroyed, however, it was sent flying straight for the window of one Ivy Sundew. Thankfully, the young frog girl saw it coming and quickly dove out of the way just as the statue crashed into her window.

When it was all said and done, Polly and Frobo were the only ones left at the epicenter. The young pollywog coughed, and when the dust settled, Polly realized the consequences of her actions.

“Oh no…”

Mayor Toadstool came barging out of the hair salon and exclaimed, “Hey, can’t a guy try a new hairstyle in peace?!” That’s when his gaze fell upon Frobo. “Sweet sassy molassy, what is that?!”

The townsfolk began gathering in the square, all of them noticeably angry and perturbed by the destruction that Frobo had caused the town.

Oh no…this isn’t good.

Stumpy, who was standing beside Toadstool added, “It’s some kind of metal abomination!”

Toadstool, now sporting a pompadour, led the group as he remarked, “Well, whatever it is it destroyed the fountain! Sixth time this week, too.”

Polly quickly came to the robot’s defense. “No, no! He’s not dangerous! He’s just a big sweet dumb-dumb! Frobo, show them! Do a trick!”

Frobo got up and turned his head towards a weathervane, his eyes began to glow, and within a few seconds, two blazing red beams of light out of its eyes and struck the weathervane, causing it to explode a second later. That did not go over so well. Now everyone was afraid of Frobo, quickly grabbing whatever items they could use as weapons as they began to advance on the metal frog.

“No! Wait! Stop! I told you he was harmless! Now BACK OFF!” Suddenly, one of the townsfolk, accidentally, struck Polly in the side of her face with his foot. “Wow, you really hit me there.”

That same frog looked down and quickly apologized, “Oh, whoops! Sorry, Polly!”

While it was an accident, Frobo did not see it as such. He looked down at the injured Polly, and then to the frog who harmed her. His sensors locked onto him and the other Wartwood residents, designating them as threats to Polly. Frobo’s eyes shined red, his rounded fingertips shifted to sharpened claws as he entered combat mode.

“Well, that don’t look good,” Toadstool commented.

Frobo let out a mechanical roar before he rolled into a ball and charged for the townsfolk. Everyone began running as fast as they could as Frobo tried to crush them like a fast-moving steamroller. When that did not work, he stood back up and began blasting the closest frogs with his laser eyes. The townsfolk managed to get away from the blasts, taking cover behind whatever they could find.

As this mayhem was going on, Anne and Sprig were walking along.

“Well, that took forever, but it’s finally done! Now, let’s find Polly, I got some words for her,” said Anne.

Just then Anne and Sprig saw the townsfolk running and screaming. That’s when they turned and saw Frobo.

“W-What is that thing?!” Sprig exclaimed.

“Is that some kind of crazy frog robot?!” Anne asked.

“Uh…maybe?” Polly remarked.

Frobo’s eye beams slashed through the air, making Sprig, Polly, and Anne duck as they burned a groove into the wall behind them.

“Great, so The Night’s switching from animals to machines now?! Alright, whatever, it’ll go down like all the rest!” Anne declared as she went into her hand motions and summoned her MetamorphRing. “Henshin!”

Anne pressed both sides of the Driver, wrapping her lightning for a moment before emerging as Kamen Rider Amp.

“Sprig, keep Polly safe! I got this!”

Polly watched as Amp dashed towards Frobo, prompting her to cry out, “WAIT, NO! ANNE, HE’S NOT A MONSTER!”

Unfortunately, Anne was too fast and was already upon Frobo. However, the mecha-frog’s sensors picked up on her movements, and he quickly lashed out with his left hand and grabbed Amp by her right forearm. The Sapphire Fighter was quickly whipped across the way, smashing her into a house before Frobo let her go and retracted his arm. Amp quickly burst through the rubble and reentered her fighting stance as she squared up with Frobo. The mecha-frog’s sensors began to analyze Amp’s energy signature, something was registering with his memory banks, but it was not connecting since his current objective was to eliminate the threats against Polly.

“Okay, big guy, round two!” Amp stated as she, once again, dashed towards Frobo.

Frobo’s eyes glowed as he fired multiple eye beam blasts at Amp. Just like her training with Ranger, Amp weaved around the energy blasts, progressively getting closer to the metal monster. Frobo’s analytic processors were quickly mapping out where Amp was most likely to go, and once he settled on a location, Frobo changed his right hand into a beam cannon and fired it straight at the ground where Amp was about to go.

However, Amp learned from her training with Ranger, and feinted as if she as about to go in that direction, but at the last second, she pivoted to the left just as the beam struck the ground. Question marks appeared in Frobo’s eyes as Amp came at him from his left, striking him in the face with her right fist and making the robot stumble. Amp followed up with another punch, then a knee strike, and into a spinning elbow strike. Each blow made Frobo back up as he took each hit, but right before Amp could land another, Frobo spun in place, lashing out with his arms.

Amp charged in too soon as she got hit with one of his spinning arms, sending her flying back into a cart. The rider of lightning groaned as she sat up, but her time to think was cut short as Frobo’s shoulders produced missile pods. “You gotta be kidding me…”

Eight missiles fired from Frobo’s shoulders, whistling through the air as they all converged on Amp’s location. The Sapphire Fighter quickly pressed down on her left hip device, shifting her form from Lightning, and entering Spike Form. Amp braced herself as all eight missiles hit, exploding multiple times, and sending showers of sparks erupting from her body. Fortunately, the added defense of Spike Form managed to mitigate the damage, but Amp was not sure if she should take another volley like that.

Meanwhile, Sprig was busy holding Polly back. She was desperately trying to wrench herself from her big brother’s grasp in an attempt to get between Amp and Frobo.

“LET! ME! GO! SPRIG!” Polly demanded.

“I’m not letting you get in the middle of that! Anne can’t fight at full strength if we’re in the way! And with the way that thing is fighting, she doesn’t need us distracting her,” Sprig argued.

“But you don’t understand! He’s not a monster! And he’s not with The Night!”

Amp whipped out her Sting Striker, readying herself to pierce Frobo through his head and take him down in one hit. Frobo was bringing its weapons to bare, reloading its missile pods, and charging up its beam cannon right arm. The two combatants were about to go at it, but that was before something else decided to join the fight. A sand tornado swirled about in the middle of town, and when it dispersed, a new Fallen had appeared. This creature was bipedal like the rest, it sported the black armored chest plate and thirteen eyes symbol of The Night on it. It looked like a hulked-out tiger, or lion, really, it looked like a combination of the two. It also had two long fangs that protruded from its upper lip, giving it a sabertoothed tiger look.

“Give me a break…!” Amp groaned.

“ANNE, IT’S A SAND LIGER!” Sprig yelled.

Of course, it is. “Alright, two on one. Great! MARCY WHERE THE HECK ARE YOU?!”

Marcy and Hop Pop were eagerly glancing through the multiple displays of seeds that lined up the shelves.

The human girl raised an eyebrow and looked around, she then asked, “Did you hear something?”

“Nope, not really. Oooh, look, pumpkin seeds!” Hop Pop exclaimed.

“Really?!” Marcy gasped. “Are those tomato seeds?!”

“Eh, Ah wouldn’t recommend gettin’ those.”

Frobo’s head turned towards the new enemy, his sensors analyzed the Fallen and immediately deemed it at a higher threat level than Amp. The mecha-frog turned his whole body towards the Sand Liger Fallen and released another of its distorted, mechanical roars before charging straight for the Fallen. The Sand Liger Fallen brandished its claws and charged for Frobo as well, the two ended up grappling with each other, locking their fingers together as Frobo tried to overpower the Sand Liger Fallen.

Amp, meanwhile, was utterly confused. She thought the robot was sent by The Night, but now a Fallen had appeared, and the robot was fighting the Fallen. Either they’ve got some infighting going on, or that robot is something else completely. Amp had a decision to make, between the robot and the Fallen, both were dangerous threats to the people of Wartwood, but if she was being honest, if the robot deemed the Fallen a big enough threat to switch its target over to the Sand Liger Fallen, then it was probably a safer bet to take down the Fallen First.

Anne stabbed her Sting Striker into the ground and pressed down on both of the hip devices at the same time. Three lights shined from her body, transforming Amp into her Trinity Form: Poison Dart. “Enemy of my enemy, and all that jazz!”

Frobo’s eyes shined as he prepared to fire his lasers at pointblank range. However, the Sand Liger Fallen roared and caused a sandstorm to kick up around them, obscuring Frobo’s targeting systems. That bit of confusion allowed the Fallen to break free from their grapple and strike Frobo in the chest, causing him skid backwards out of the sandstorm. The storm moved with the Sand Liger Fallen as it jumped into the air and prepared to come down on Frobo with its claws to shred the metal frog apart.

Just before the Sand Liger Fallen could land its attack, Amp came flying out from the right and kicked the Sand Liger Fallen in the face through the sandstorm, throwing it straight into the side of a house and causing it to collapse on top of it. The sandstorm was cancelled out as Amp landed next to Frobo, causing the metal frog to look at Amp with question marks in its eyes. Amp looked at Frobo for a moment before returning her attention back to the Fallen. Frobo looked back and saw that the Sand Liger Fallen had not been defeated yet as it burst forth from the rubble and roared at them in a threatening manner.

Frobo decided that the monster was indeed more dangerous, and for now, would not attack Amp. The robot frog made its missile pods appear on its shoulders again, and then fired a full salvo at the Sand Liger Fallen. The Sand Liger Fallen roared again and created another sand tornado around it, the missiles were buffeted by the strong winds and sand granules. They got swept up in turbulent winds and then were thrown into the air where they began to zigzag in different directions.

“DUDE, WHAT THE HECK!” Amp exclaimed.

The lightning Rider jumped straight into the and formed her shuriken. Amp quickly threw her shuriken, the buzzsaw of lightning and metal flew at top speed as it sliced through all eight of the missiles while still in midair before they could hit anything in Wartwood. Amp landed on the ground and held out her hand as she got her shuriken and transformed it back into two Sting Strikers.

“Hey, no more missiles! You’ll just cause more damage to the town and hurt someone!” Amp ordered.

Frobo’s analytic computer brain made the determination that missile attacks would not be effective against this foe and opted for another attack option. Frobo’s right arm transformed into its beam cannon mode, the robot frog took aim and fired a beam straight at the sand tornado. The beam managed to pierce through the tornado of sand, but the Sand Liger Fallen had jumped into the air to avoid the attack, hiding in the sand remnants to avoid getting seen.

Amp spotted the monster and jumped straight for it, lunging with her right Stink Striker. However, the Sand Liger Fallen twisted in midair and caused another sandstorm. The force and strength of the sandstorm kept her weapon from piercing all the way through, and in the end threw her back towards the ground. Amp flipped in the air and stabbed her left Sting Striker into the ground to avoid getting thrown back further. Just then, the Sand Liger Fallen began to increase the amount of sand and wind, causing the sandstorm to expand more and more.

“Oh crud…”

Just then a giant sand tornado formed and swallowed the entire town, the buildings began to shake, threatening to be taken by the wind. The particles of sand were like razor blades as they scrapped across the surface of the buildings and stands, even Frobo and Amp’s armor were getting damaged. Amp looked over to where Sprig and Polly were, and thankfully they had managed to take cover in an overturned wooden crate, but the sandstorm was gradually wearing it down, and the frogs that were still hunkered down would not be able to withstand this harsh storm.

That’s when Amp had a stupid idea that was just stupid enough to work. Probably. She dismissed her Sting Strikers, returning them to her armor as she called out, “COME! MACHINE STORMER!”

Suddenly, Frobo’s red eyes shifted to blue, making Amp look at him curiously. She gave a slight shriek of surprise when she saw Frobo’s body open up as parts of Machine Stormer came flying out of the metal frog’s body, and assembled themselves until her motorcycle, Machine Stormer, was sitting right before her.

Polly and Sprig’s jaws had dropped, Amp’s too, but the helmet made it hard to see.

“Did Anne’s bike just come out of that robot?!” Sprig exclaimed.

“Uh…yes?” Polly affirmed.

Amp shook her head. “Okay, that’s something we need to figure out later.” The Sapphire Fighter hurried and jumped onto her bike. “Hey, robo frog! Hit him with your lasers as soon as you see him!”

The Rider of lightning revved the engine and took off. She weaved through the buildings until she burst out of the sandstorm and emerged on the other side. Amp had no idea if Frobo would do what she said, but she banked on the fact that the robot frog saw the Fallen as the bigger threat. With that determined, Amp revved her engine again, popped a wheely, and then sped off once again. Her idea was simple, the tornado was moving in a clockwise motion, so, if she moved in a counterclockwise motion, then the tornado should come to a stop.

The inspiration for this came not from paying attention in science class, but due to her stirring tea in one direction, and then stirring in the opposite direction to make it stop spiraling. But she had seen enough anime to figure out that it was the same concept. Using Machine Stormer’s greater speed, Amp began circling the tornado in the opposite direction, revving up the speed more and more as she kept going around and around. From a distance, one could see a blue streak of electrical energy moving in a circle around the tornado, going faster and faster until it became a ring of blue light. Amp gritted her teeth as she held on, the g-forces of her rotation starting to hit her even through her armor, but she continued, nonetheless.

“C’mon! C’MON!”

Her efforts were about to pay off as the rotation of the tornado was slowing down. The Sand Liger Fallen was trying to exert more of its power to fight against the counter rotation, but the biological creature could not keep up with the untiring speed that was Machine Stormer. The Sand Liger Fallen gave one more defiant roar before the entire sandstorm collapsed, leaving it exposed in the air.

Frobo spotted the monster and raised his right arm. Once locked on, Frobo fired both his eye beams and beam cannon arm at the same time. The Sand Liger Fallen noticed too late as the three beams struck it, exploding upon contact, and making the Fallen fall from the air and land on the ground. The monster managed to get back on its feet, growling as it readied to attack Frobo. But its counterattack was short lived as the roaring engine of Machine Stormer cut through air.

Amp came speeding towards the Sand Liger Fallen, she brandished her Sting Striker in her left hand as her crest fanned out into six parts, channeling the combined energies of all three of her forms into the lance weapon. Using the extra speed and momentum of Machine Stormer, Amp struck the Sand Liger Fallen like a medieval jouster, sending sparks flying from its body as a huge glowing gash formed on its chest. Amp brought Machine Stormer to a skidding halt, the tires squealing against the dirt and rock. The Sand Liger Fallen had a black halo form over its head before its entire body was obliterated in a fiery explosion, leaving nothing behind of the monster.

Amp panted from the effort but was relieved that that threat was taken care of. Once she dismounted Machine Stormer, her bike sped towards Frobo, and right before it could hit, Frobo’s body opened up again as Machine Stormer broke down and became one with his inner mechanical parts, seamlessly integrating itself until all of it was inside of the robot frog.

“Wait…so…so that’s where my bike goes every time?!” Amp was not sure of anything anymore. “Ooookay. So, now that we just defeated a Fallen, why don’t we just calm down and–”

Frobo shot Amp with his eye beams square in the chest, causing a mini explosion to occur that sent a shower of sparks erupting from that same spot. Amp fell onto the ground, her Rider form cancelling out and reverting her back to civilian form.

“Dude…c’mon! We beat a Fallen together! I thought we connected!” Anne argued.

“ANNE!” Sprig shouted as he hopped towards her.

The rest of the townsfolk saw how Frobo attacked Anne, even after helping to defeat the Fallen, the machine showed that it had no sense of loyalty. The people of Wartwood were not about to let one of their own, let alone the town hero, get killed after she valiantly defeated that monster.

“C’mon! We got to help ‘em!” Stumpy stated.

“Hang on, kids, we’re comin’!” Toadstool cried.

“FROBO, NO!!!” Polly shouted.

The little pollywog hopped as fast as she could, watching as the angry mob was about to close in as Frobo’s laser eyes primed themselves and were ready to blast Anne and Sprig.

Polly managed to get between Frobo and her siblings as she yelled at the top of her lungs, “EVERYBODY, STOP!!!!!!!!” Polly’s cries managed to snap Frobo out of his combat mode, as well as made the angry Wartwood mob come to a halt. The tadpole hopped up to Frobo and caringly spoke, “Frobo, I know you’re just trying to protect me, but everything you did today was because I asked you to.” Polly held out her flippers towards Frobo, prompting the robot frog to bend down one knee and give her his left hand. “But now, I’m asking you stop.”

{P…P…Polly.}

Polly’s eyes widened as she heard Frobo speak for the first time. “Frobo, your first words!”

Toadstool casually walked up to them, along with the rest of the mob. “Well, now that its calmed down…LET’S TEAR THIS THING APART!”

“NEVER!” Polly threatened.

Anne, after getting helped up by Sprig, came to Polly and Frobo’s defense. “C’mon, Toadstool, isn’t there another way? I mean, sure, he sucker shot me after we beat the Fallen. But it prioritized taking down the Fallen, and it only did what it did because it was trying to protect Polly. He can’t be all bad if that’s case, right?”

Stumpy sighed as he said, “Anne, I know this town is no stranger to crazy at this point, but…”

“But c’mon! You saw what it did!” Toadie finished.

“This ‘Frobo’ thing is a menace,” said Felicia.

“It destroyed my shop! I mean, someone’s got to answer for all of this!” Loggle added.

Polly glanced at Frobo, and then back to the mob, they were right, someone did need to answer for all of this. The person who was responsible for teaching Frobo to act this way. “You’re right…so I will. None of this was Frobo’s fault, he only did what he did because I was the one who taught him to. I’m sorry about the damage, and I’ll do whatever it takes to fix it all up. But leave Frobo alone! He’s innocent!” Polly looked back at Frobo and said, “Frobo, say ‘you’re sorry’!”

{S…Sorry,} said Frobo as he gave a slight bow.

The mob looked noticeably less angry after hearing the apology from the robot frog.

“Well, it said sorry and that’s good enough for me, eh,” said the green frog constable.

“We don’t even have handcuffs that big anyway,” the teal frog constable remarked.

Toadstool sighed and shrugged his shoulders in defeat. “I guess we already accepted two monsters.”

“What’s one more at this point?” Loggle slipped in.

Despite all that mayhem, all that chaos and racket, all the destruction, the Seed Store still remained standing, as if deemed untouchable by some otherworldly force, heck, even Bessie, who was parked right next to the store, was untouched, but had no less witnessed everything that went down. That was when Marcy and Hop Pop finally emerged from the store.

“I still can’t believe they had tomato plant seeds,” said Marcy.

“Ah still think you shouldn’t have bought those.” That’s when both he and Marcy finally laid eyes on the destruction, and of course the seven-foot-tall robot frog. “WHAT IN TARNATION?!!”

“Hey you guys,” Polly greeted.

Marcy’s jaw had dropped, one would think it was due to seeing the destruction and the robot, but this is Marcy. “Oh…my…gosh…IS THAT A ROBOT?!” Marcy rushed over to the mechanical frog and began touching, poking, and overall gushing over Frobo. “Where did it come from?! What’s it made of?! Can I have one?!”

Hop Pop joined them and asked out of frustration, “WHAT’S A ROBOT?!”

“Too hard to explain,” said Anne.

“Then explain what in the Sam hill happened out here?!”

[Five Minutes Later]

Hop Pop and Marcy’s jaws dropped after hearing that they somehow missed an entire battle between Anne, Frobo, and a Fallen that was creating a sandstorm around the entire town.

“I. Am. So sorry!” Marcy apologized.

Anne waved it off, “It’s okay, I’m kinda used to this happening, anyway.”

“So…I know this is a lot to take in…but can we please keep him?! I’ll be his big sister! I’m ready to take care of someone.” Polly asked.

“Whoa…” Sprig gasped.

“What a turn around,” said Anne in amazement.

Hop Pop looked at his granddaughter, still unsure if it was a wise idea to keep the metal abomination. “Eh…Ah’m not sure, Polly. Sure seems dangerous. Ah mean, can it do anythin’…useful?”

“Show him, Frobo!” Polly exclaimed.

Frobo turned his right hand into a rake, which he used to, well, rake the ground in front of him. He spun his upper body around and released five fence posts which he quickly assembled into an actual fence around the raked earth. Next, he positioned his arms over the raked dirt and released a small torrent of water that was laced with flower seeds, and within seconds of stopping the flow, flowers bloomed from the newly made flower patch, and Frobo was now holding a hoe and watering can, which he used to sprinkle a little water onto the newly grown flowers.

Hop Pop’s eyes sparkled with glee as he gushed, “WELCOME TO THE FAMILY, MR. FROBO!” Frobo showed his gratitude by lifting Hop Pop and Polly into his right hand like a seat. “So, do anythin’ else?”

Frobo turned his head around, and out from the top popped out two pieces of toast.

Meanwhile, Anne was still trying to wrap her head around everything that just happened. “Okay, first, underground computers. Then a mysterious factory. My powers. Machine Stormer being a part of Frobo…Wait a second…” Anne’s eyes widened as she came to a realization. “Sprig…you don’t think that Frobo and my bike were made in the Ruins of Disaster, do you?”

“I mean…that’d be crazy, right? If that was true, he’s been following us for hundreds of miles, and has been close enough for you to call your bike whenever you needed it,” said Sprig.

Anne sighed heavily; the mysteries of Amphibia were just multiplying. The Night, the Fallen, hers and Marcy’s Kamen Rider powers, the temples, and now it seems the Ruins of Disaster might also fit into all of this somehow.

“Guess we’ll just have to keep an eye on Frobo, and an eye out for anything else,” said Anne. It was then that she saw Marcy start to walk off as she kept examining Frobo. “Hey, Mar-Mar, the town!”

Marcy stopped in her tracks, knocked the side of her head, and blew a raspberry. “Shoot, sorry! I almost forgot! I’ll fix everything up!” Marcy ran up to Anne and kissed her on the cheek. “I’m glad I have you to remind me!”

Anne blushed as she watched Marcy run off, transform, and started repairing the town.

“D’aaaaaaaaawwwwwww,” Sprig gushed as he leaned against Anne.

“Heh, dude, c’mon.”