Chapter 8: Part 1: Chapter 8: Dating Season

It all began about a year ago. The night fell over the city of Los Angeles when Frank was walking down a lonely path that led towards the underpass of a bridge. He took this way every time he came home late from baseball practice for the Saint James Middle School team. His home was in the part of town where many of them middle-class and lower-middle class families lived. His life at home was good, even though his parents could be a little too overbearing and strict with him. Especially his mom, who was a teacher at his school and expected nothing less than perfection from people. But Frank knows that they still love him and just wanted the best for him.

That thought will be put to the test. It was a long and tiring day, and Frank just wanted to get home. He walked under the bridge and just when he stepped out of the underpass, it happened.

As the sound of police sirens started getting closer from far away, something fell from the top of the bridge and hit him on the head. Knocking him down to the ground and knocking his hat off his head. Groaning in pain from the impact, Frank got up and looked behind him to see whatever it was that hit him.

To his surprise, they were shoes. Really nice looking sneakers that were tied together. Picking them up and putting his hat back on, Frank examined the sneakers before looking up at the bridge.

He noticed someone running off.

"Hey! Buddy! You forgot your sneakers!" He called out to the person, before a pair of lights shined brightly on him. Frank turned and to his shock saw a really expensive-looking white car coming right for him.

Frank quickly ran out of the way and onto the sidewalk, before the car could run him over. But instead of driving off, the car came to a shrieking halt right in front of him. The young man stared at the car with wide eyes, before the driver's side door swung open.

Stepping out was a fat-looking man in a business suit with a bald head and very unpleasant glare. "You! I caught you, you little bastard!" He yelled, red in the face as the door on the other side opened and a woman in a business suit came running out. "You thought you could steal from me!?"

"Wait, what?" Frank asked in shock and confusion, taken completely aback by the accusation.

"Don't think I don't know! You're the one that stole those shoes from my store!" The manager shouted at Frank, looking obviously drunk now.

"What?! I didn't steal these things! Someone else did!" Frank exclaimed, pointing to the bridge. "Someone was up there and-"

"Oh, yeah, sure! That's a likely story!"

"Sir, I think he's telling the truth," his nervous assistant said, trying to calm down her boss. "Our surveillance showed that it was another person."

"Shut up!" The manager yelled, startling the woman as he directed his anger at her. "If you had done something to stop this thief, we wouldn't be out here in the first place!" He then whirled back again to Frank and pointed a finger at him. "You've got the shoes, and that means you're guilty!"

"I'm telling you I didn't do it!" Frank yelled back.

"Sir, please-" She was suddenly slapped hard across the face by the manager, shocking Frank as she fell to the ground. The woman let out a cry when she collapsed with a large red mark on her face. She looked to be on the verge of tears.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hey! Hey!" Frank shouted, rushing towards the man. Before he could turn, Frank had placed himself between the woman and the drunk manager. However, his swift movement caused the man to stagger backward before snarling at him. Frank turned to the woman and asked, "Are you okay?"

The assistant nodded meekly at him.

Frank turned back to the manager and glared at him. "I didn't steal these shoes! But I did get them back, so here!" He held the shoes out towards the man. "Take them, get the hell out of here, and don't touch her!"

"You think you're in a position to negotiate, kid!? I'm gonna…" as the older man stepped forward, he lost his balance and slipped on his heel. He tripped over and fell face-first on the ground.

The impact surprised Frank. The woman behind him cupped her mouth in shock as her manager rose up with blood on his face. Coming from his nose, which looked bent out of place.

"Ah! My fucking nose!" He shouted in pain as he cupped his bleeding nose. He glared at Frank hatefully. "I'll sue!"

"S-Sue?!" Frank retorted in anger and worry. "I didn't do anything! You did that to yourself!"

"Leave him alone!" The woman said, standing up with an angered look in her eyes.

"Shut your fucking mouth, bitch! Now, this is what you're going to say to the police." The manager ordered in a nasal voice. He then pointed at Frank. "He was the one that stole the shoes, and when we found him, he attacked both of us. Got it? Say anything else, and you're fired! And I'd think about it before you go against me. After all, who's gonna pay for your son in the hospital?"

"What the hell?! You can't just do that!" Frank interrupted. The woman looked beyond distraught at her ultimatum. Submit to him and sell out an innocent boy, or let her son suffer. "I didn't steal the shoes! Just take them back!"

"Shut up! You're done for, kid." The manager growled as a police car pulled up to them.

"Alright folks," said one of the two policemen that exited the car. "We've got a complaint about an argument-oh! It's you, sir." He said when he saw the manager.

"Well, I caught the thief. No takes to you! But then he attacked me and my assistant!" the fat man said, pointing to his broken nose and his assistant's bruised face.

"No, officers, I didn't do anything," Frank said, trying to get a word in, but was interrupted by one of the cops.

"I'd stay quiet if I were you, especially since you're holding those shoes," he said, pointing to the shoes in Frank's hand. Frank instantly dropped them. The officer then turned to the assistant. "Is this true, ma'am?"

The woman seized up as all eyes fixated on her. Her manager, the officers, and Frank looked at her. Frank looked at her pleadingly, praying that she'd do the right thing. But then his heart dropped when she looked at him with an apologetic look.

"This young man stole from our store. When we caught him, he suddenly attacked me and my manager. He...punched this man in the face...breaking his nose...and slapped me across the face."

At that moment, everything just seemed to go slowly for Frank. He felt his limbs lock up and his body just felt cold. His ears almost stopped working. Feeling like he was punched in the gut and had his heart ripped out, Frank was far too stunned when the officers pushed him onto the ground and clamped a pair of metal cuffs tightly around his wrists. Frank didn't resist as the men pulled him to his feet and dragged him. He was escorted to a police cruiser and forced into the back.

With a pale, dumbstruck face, Frank looked out the window at the woman, who watched with great shame. His face expressed utter betrayal as she was ordered to get back into her boss's car. As he was driven away, Frank's world became a complete blur the second he was framed for the crime he never committed.

It's been almost a year since that fateful night. Almost a year since he was wrongfully convicted and thrown in jail for theft and assault. Turned out the guy wasn't a manager, but a big-name brand owner that had a lot of influence. How that was even possible, Frank had no idea, and he didn't care. He still got locked up for ten months because of some thief. When he got out, he was sure that he would work hard to get his life back on track. Whether it was possible or not was unknown. But things were never really the same.

However, he never imagined his life would take a turn like this.

As the sun rose high over Amphibia, the wrongfully convicted boy looked up at the sky and saw the dragonflies flying overhead. After another day of harvesting the crops, Frank wanted to have some time to himself, so he sat under one of the large lily trees that surrounded the farmer to clear his head. But then the moment was cut short when his friends came running over.

"Frank! Frank! Frank!" yelled Sprig, hopping over to him with Anne.

"Hey, what's up?" Frank asked, standing up.

"We're going to hang out. Wanna come?" Sprig asked.

"Sure." Frank shrugged, getting up he followed them into the woods. Sprig jumped all around the trees, while Frank and Anne walked together behind him.

"Why do we always hang out in the woods?" She asked Frank. "We have a perfectly good living room back at the house."

"Where's the fun in that?" Sprig asked, having heard her. He then showed the two humans a ladybug crawling on a branch. "This place is full of nature. Whoo-hoo!" He went hopping off as a spider can and ate the ladybug, before dragging it away.

"Yeah, exactly," She said.

"Come on, Anne, it's not that bad," Frank said, lightly nudging her with his arm. "It's a beautiful day out and we don't have any work." Suddenly the sound of rustling leaves made him stop, and push Anne behind him.

"What? What's wrong?" Anne asked on alert as Sprig hopped over to them.

Frank held his finger to his lips and shushed her. "There's something in the bushes," he whispered. "Stay here."

"It could be a bloodsucking predator," Sprig gasped.

"You are really not selling me on this place," Anne complained.

Frank waited for them to stop talking before pulling out his combat knife. Twirling it around to hold it in a reverse grip, Frank stalked towards the brush and gently pulled back the leaves. Revealing...a gourd that had a face drawn on it and fake strall hair.

Picking it up, he showed it to the others. "The hell's this?"

"Looks like a squash," Anne said.

"I'm pretty sure it's a gourd."

But when Sprig saw the fruit, his eyes widened. "Oh, no. It's an-"

"Ambush!" Yelled someone from up in the tree. Suddenly, a small, yellow figure jumped down from a hole in the tree and tackled Sprig to the ground, before jumping away into the brushes. Surprising Anne and Frank, who dropped the gourd.

"I'm hit! Sprig down! Sprig down!" Sprig yelled, lying on the ground.

The bushes of the attack rustled again, and Frank stood really for a fight when the figure emerged.

"Haha!" Revealing themselves to a seemingly innocent appearance girl frog that was significantly smaller than Sprig, with yellow skin, a pale patch under her mouth, dark spots on her cheeks, and two visible orange tufts of hair. She wore a turquoise hat with ragged patches, frayed overalls, and light green farming clothes.

When he saw her, Sprig instantly sat up with a big smile. "Hey, Ivy! Nice ambush. Gourd in a wig? Classic."

"Can't take all the credit. Your friend was easy to trick," Ivy said.

"Excuse me?" The two frogs looked back to see Frank staring at her with a raised eyebrow and his arms crossed. Anne on the other hand looked very interested in her for some reason.

"Oh right, Ivy, meet Frank and Anne," Sprig said, presenting his new friends to her. "Oddities from another world. Guys, meet Ivy. Childhood acquaintance and occasional sparring partner." He tried hitting her, but Ivy dodged the attacks and kicked him in the face.

"Hey, Ivy," Anne said.

"Hello." Frank nodded.

"Hey, I've seen you two around. Nice to officially meet," Ivy said, shaking Anne's hand and then Frank's. "Do you like being randomly attacked?"

Frank chuckled for a moment. "You push me, you wouldn't like how it goes," he told her, staring into Ivy's eyes with a deadly serious stare.

But Ivy didn't take him too seriously and just shrugged her shoulders. "Well, too bad," she said, walking back over to Sprig. "See you later, Sprig. But you won't see me." She then jumped backwards and off into the woods, much to the amazement of the young boy frog.

"She seems...nice," Frank said, uncertain.

"Why, yes she is, isn't she Sprig?" Anne said, leaning down at the young frog with a sly smirk. "And she's kinda cute, huh?"

Frank and Sprig look at her strangely. "I don't know what you're talking about," said the little red frog, walking away.

"Well, well, well, well, well, well, well." Anne followed him, moving her shoulders up and down. Frank followed behind her.

"Anne, what's gotten into you? You're being weird," he said to her.

"Oh, I think you'll like it," Anne said slyly, not elaborating any further as she walked ahead of him. This was weird for Frank but he kept walking.

When they arrived at the house, Frank opened the door and called out to the rest of the family. "We're home, Hop Pop!"

Hop Pop came down the stairs. "What have you two been doin'? I've been lookin' for you all morning!" He exclaimed to the kids.

"We were just hanging out in the woods," Frank said, before Anne interrupted him.

"When Sprig was totally flirting with a cute girl!" Anne shouted with a big smile, surprising both frogs in the room and Frank.

Hop Pop gasped before smiling too. "No kiddin'?"

"I'm pretty sure it wasn't flirting, Anne," Frank said as she giggled with excitement.

"He's right Anne," Sprig insisted. "Ivy Sundew and I are just friends."

Hop Pop, however, gasped when he heard Ivy's name, and his excitement went through the roof. "Ivy Sundew? Nobody move! I'm gettin' the courtship kit," he told them and rushed back up the stairs.

"Wait, the what?" Frank asked.

"This is so exciting! I'm gonna go get my dating magazines. BRB!" Anne yelled, running off into the basement to retrieve her magazine. Leaving Frank and Sprig in the living room with Polly. The two looked at the little tadpole wondering what her thoughts on the matter were.

"I don't actually care," she said.

Hop Pop came back downstairs with a small chest and Anne came up with her magazine. The old frog set the chest on the table and opened it, revealing high-class clothes and mushrooms within it. "Here we go. The Firefly Formal is tonight. It's the perfect opportunity to begin the ritual."

"Ritual?" Frank and Anne asked simultaneously.

"What ritual?" Frank asked.

"You see, Frank, only frogs who have performed the ceremonial dance in the ceremonial garb are allowed to be wed," Hop Pop said, showing them an illustration of two frogs in fancy clothes.

Anne took the illustration and looked closer at it. "Huh. Kitschy. I like it."

Frank however, was quick to object. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. You guys aren't seriously thinking about hitching Sprig together with another girl, are you?" He asked, with his froggy friend jumping into the conversation.

"Yeah! We're just friends. Besides, I'm already engaged to Maddie, right? She gave me this nifty ring," Sprig said, showing them the ring on his finger that had a skull on it. The eyes of the skull glowed and admitted a howl.

"Forget her!" Hop Pop grabbed his grandson by his shoulders. "The Sundews have secret proprietary crops. Do you have any idea what that means? If our families merge, WE'LL BE RICH!"

Frank and Polly didn't look too impressed. "Wow. So romantic," said the tadpoles.

"Yeah, nothing like selling out your grandson for monetary gain," Frank said sarcastically.

"Uhh! I love these magazines. Look, Sprig," Anne said, showing Sprig a page from her magazine. "It says here two-thirds of all soul mates start out as 'just friends.'"

"Wait, what? Really? And you trust these things?" Sprig asked with a shocked expression as he snatched the magazine from her.

"Definitely. Magazines never lie," Anne said, showing him a page of a half-cat, half-bat creature.

"Oh really, then when are you and Frank going to become soul mates?" Polly asked sarcastically.

"Huh?!" Frank's head whirled around to look at her with a glowing pink face.

But no one else seemed to notice and were more focused on Sprig, who started to wonder. "Could Ivy be my eternal love, my soul mate, the cat to my bat?" He asked with a small amount of hope.

"Well, we're about to find out 'cause I already asked her family," Hop Pop said. A second later, a messenger mosquito landed on the window sill with a rolled-up piece of paper. He took the paper and read it. "They agreed to a date!"

"And you're sure that none of you are rushing this at all?" Frank asked, still a little uneasy.

"Absolutely," Anne said with a confident smile.

Frank turned to his froggy friend. "Sprig...you sure you want to go through with this?" He asked, wanting to make sure that Sprig was sure.

"Well, missing out on eternal love does sound bad. I...guess one date couldn't hurt," said the young frog.

"Hey!" Anne cheered

"That's my boy!" Hop Pop exclaimed, before noticing that the mosquito was still there. "What do you want? Oh, your tip." He sighed and pulled down his coiler. "All right, here you go. But don't take too much, though. I have chores to do later."

When night came, Frank, Anne, and the Plantars arrived in town for the Firefly Formal. Most of the locals were already there, dancing with one another. Frank had to admit that he was impressed and happy to see everyone having a good time. But there was an expectation.

"Frank, get over here and help us!" Hop Pop shouted. Frank turned his attention back to the old frog and Anne, who were struggling to get Sprig into the outfit. He walked over and assisted in getting Sprig into the tight-fitting outfit as his friend put powder on his face.

"Just a little more...All righty. Cool," Anne said, finishing the final touches on Sprig's face. They stepped back and looked at the young frog. Sprig was stuffed into a dress that looked to have been from the Renaissance.

"My boy, you look incredible." Hop Pop said with a proud smile.

But Sprig wasn't all too convinced about that statement. "Uh... I don't know about this. Ivy's gonna think I look stupid," he said, turning around to look at his reflection in a window. "I think I look stupid."

"Great! You'll have something in common," Anne said, before pushing Sprig's arms down as she turned him around. But they popped right back up. Frank tried and they went right back up. "It's fine." She pushed him towards the town square, while also walking right into a bunch of lanterns. "Ow. Ow. Ow."

Soon, Ivy and her mother, Felicia Sundew, arrived. With the young frog girl wearing a dress that was just as ridiculous as Sprig's with a tall wig.

"My little girl's a woman," Felicia said. She was a skinny, yellow frog with long, braided red hair, and a crown of green flowers sitting in her hair while wearing a dark green dress and lipstick.

"Mom!" Ivy groaned as her mother fixed up her wig.

Sprig gulped nervously when he saw her, which Frank noticed and patted him on the back. "Just be yourself and you'll be good," he said, trying to be supportive.

"All right, boy, go get that lucrative business relationship," Hop Pop said, slamming him on the back. Frank glared at him. "I-I mean, romantic relationship." He quickly said and handed Sprig the mushrooms, before chuckling. "Saved it."

Frank watched from the sideline with the others a Sprig waddled his way over to the young frog girl. Right off the bat, he could tell that they were feeling very awkward. They were talking, but it was clear that they were nervous. For a moment, Frank wondered if Anne was right thinking that they liked one another.

Felicia walked over to him and Hop Pop with a sigh. "I'm so happy we agreed on this merger, Hopadiah," she said, before noticing Frank and looked uncomfortable. The human sighed and walked over to Anne and Polly. "That Sprig of yours looks like a hard worker," she said after the 'monster' left.

"Like we agreed, you'll get Sprig to work at your restaurant, and I'll get the seeds for those Sundew vegetables," Hop Pop said, holding out his hand to her.

"Agreed." Felicia pulled out a handkerchief and put it over his hand before shaking it.

"This is so exciting!" Anne squealed with Polly on her head. "I wonder what their ship name will be. Ivig? Sprigivy?"

"What are you even saying?!" Polly yelled.

Hop Pop ran over and shushed them. "Shh! Let's watch our little love doves fly," he said with a smile. "Love doves are birds that mate for life."

"I got it," Frank said. "Well, there's really nothing for me to do around here, so I'm going to go into the woods." He turned and walked off into the woods, knowing that the others won't stop him. Already too invested in what they were doing.

As he entered the woods, Frank started heading toward a special place in the woods that he found. It was during the night when he was out fishing. Was it dangerous to go into the woods to fish at night? Yes, but it was one of the few times that he was able to do it.

When he reached his destination, he stared at it in wonder as a glowing light shined on his body.

In front of them was a large pond that was glowing a green glow in the night's light, with fireflies flying all around him. Floating on the pond were large lily pads, and the glowing light and the fireflies allowed him to see the fishes swimming in the water.

As he walked towards the edge of the pond, Frank sat down and dipped his bare feet into the water. Letting the dirt and mud be rinsed off his skin. With his shoes gone, there was nothing to protect his feet from the elements. But he's oddly grown used to it. After all, ancient humans didn't have anything to protect their feet, so he had to live with his bare feet.

While watching the beautiful sight before him, he reached into his jacket and pulled out a leather-bound journal that he's been writing in for the past few weeks. He told Hop Pop if he had anything so he could record his time in Amphibia, and the old frog just so happened to have one that was blank.

He took in a breath of air and opened it to a new page, before pulling out a pen. He then started writing.

April, 2019.

It's been sometime now since Anne and I were teleported to the world of Amphibia, and since we started living among the unusual frog people of Wartwood. We are welcomed guests in the Plantar home, even if the other frogs do not see it as such. Mostly I'm seen as a monster by the locals and am treated with a mild neglect. As if I were a stray dog, or an unwelcome guest.

Everyone's afraid of me and Anne. While she is still not happy about it, it is a treatment that I'm all too familiar with. While there are some that have gotten used to my presence, there are still those that are not comfortable around us. Like Ivy's mom. I have no doubt that if residents of Wartwood knew of my imprisonment, they'd be even more afraid of me. Whether or not I was wrongfully convinced wouldn't matter. After all, who'd want to be around someone that was accused of stealing and then assault?

Would Anne still want to be around me if she knew?

"Frank?"

With a startled gasp, Frank was brought back to reality and turned to see Sprig and Ivy standing next to him. Both frogs were out of their outfits. "Oh! Hey, Sprig. What are you two doing here? I thought you'd be at the dance."

"We were, but we didn't want to date each other. We only went along because our families convinced us it was a good idea," Sprig explained.

"Totally, understand," Frank said with a smile. He got up and walked over to a pile of spear-length sticks he made and pulled out his combat knife. "Well, you two are free to hide out here if you want. Anne and the others don't know about this place." He grabbed a stick and tied his knife to the end of it.

"Thanks, Frank. This is way better than that stuffy old dance. Right, Ivy?" Sprig asked, turning to his friend. But he saw that she was gone. He looked around trying to find her.

"Ivy? Ivy?"

"AMBUSH!" Ivy suddenly attacked him from above, and the two started sparing with one another among the glowing fireflies. "Come back here! This'll be your grave!"

"That's, uh... That's pretty dark."

Meanwhile, Anne, the Plantars, and Felicia were desperately trying to find the two young frogs. While Anne thought they were going off to do some PG romantic stuff, Hop Pop and Felicia freaked out, as their leaving meant that they were abandoning the ritual. If they didn't finish the dance, then the courtship was ruined.

The first sign that they found of the kids was their ceremonial clothes, which were on the ground. Hop Pop picked up Sprig's ceremonial hat and examined it. "Hmm. Where are those dang kids?"

He and the group continued walking when two large birds flew over their heads and screeched, putting them all on high alert. They turned to see a pair of giant love doves flowing down, with the male dove holding his female partner in one of his wings.

When they saw them, the girls were amazed by the sight of the romantic creatures. But Hop Pop was frightened. "Love doves. Don't move or we're dead," he said in a hushed tone.

"What? I thought they were all romantic and mate for life," Anne said.

"Yeah, and they spend that life massacring all living things."

The two birds cooed and turned their heads towards the girl and frogs and shrieked at them bearing their razor-sharp teeth. Anne and the others screamed before the doves divebombed them. They first did a synchronized loop together, which they found to be beautiful, before the birds snatched them up.

Frank was fishing while watching Sprig and Ivy when he heard the screams of the others. He and the two young frogs looked up to see the girls and Hop Pop being carried off in the talons of the love doves.

"Anne!" Frank shouted.

"Our families! We gotta help them!" Sprig said, before Ivy threw a stick at his face.

"Way ahead of you. Come on, let's go!" Ivy said, ready for battle. Frank twirled around his makeshift spear, before running off in the direction that the love dove flew with his friend and frogs. Ivy and Sprig followed after him.

Meanwhile, the love doves flew toward their nest and threw their prey into it. They then spat out a greenish goo at them, which they got stuck in. Anne and the others tried to pull themselves from the goo but found it to be impossible.

"We're stuck," she exclaimed, still trying to pull her arms out of the goo. She looked up at the bird, expecting to see the bird getting ready to feed on them. But instead, the love doves nuzzled one another and then flew off. "Uh, so they're not gonna eat us?"

"Not right away. Love doves prefer to let their prey marinate in fear first," Hop Pop explained, already beginning to let fear take hold of him.

Felicia groaned in anger and annoyance. "Can it, Plantar. This is all your fault," she told him with a glare. "If you taught your grandson proper courtship technique-

"My fault?! It's obviously yours!" Hop Pop argued back as the two started shouting at one another.

As they argued, Anne used her mouth to pull her magazine out of her school uniform. She spat it out of her mouth and it opened to a random. "Guys, it says here that our relationships define us, and nothing else. Nothing else!"

But as they all started arguing and talking to themselves, Polly was quickly reaching a breaking point. All night she had to go along with her family's stupid plans and now she's had enough of it and was going to be heard.

"ENOUGH!" She screamed, startling the others into listening to her. "It's all your faults!" They started denying it, but Polly wasn't having it. "Zip it! The only reason we're here marinating is because you all had to play matchmaker." She pointed her little flipper at Hop Pop and Felicia. "You two were greedy, plain and simple."

The two adults look at one another with guilty looks, realizing that the young tadpole was right.

"Maybe a little," said Hop Pop.

"It's nuanced," Felicia added.

"Nice," Anne said with a pleased smile. "Totally innocent for once. You two should be ashamed."

"Are you kidding?!" Polly yelled at her, appalled that she believed she was innocent in all of this. "Sprig only went through with this because of you and this dumb magazine!" Polly then ripped the magazine away from Anne and ripped it to shreds with her teeth, until it was nothing but bits of paper. When she was done, the little tadpole painted from all her built-up anger.

"Wow. I feel lighter somehow, more... free," Anne said with a trance-like look on her face. But then she gasped when she realized that they were missing someone. "Where's Frank!?"

"Right here!" Frank proclaimed, jumping into the nest with Sprig and Ivy. "We're here to rescue you." Frank used his knife to cut Anne's hands free of the goo and helped pull her out of it. He then grabbed Polly as Sprig and Ivy freed Hop Pop and Felicia. They quickly crawled out of the nest, sighing in relief that the danger they were in was over.

"We're also here to tell you we don't want to date each other and we never will," Ivy said, holding up her stick.

"We know. Polly set us straight," Hop Pop said.

"Look, kids, we-" Felicia started

"Sprig, I'm so sorry," said Anne, but was cut off when they all heard the shrieking of the love doves. They turn to see the birds returning and landing in their nest. Seeing their prey having escaped, the two roared at them.

"I always tell them, 'Save the heartfelt apologies for when we get to safety.'" Polly complained.

"Get behind me!" Frank yelled, getting in front of Anne and prepared to fight with his spear.

The male love doves slashed at him with his talons, but Frank dodged it and stabbed it in the foot. The love dove shrieked in pain, as his mate dived in for revenge. The female love dove tried biting at him, but Frank jumped back and thrust his spear at her, but she moved her head back. She lunged her head out to snap at him, but the human smacked her head away.

"I can really use some help over here!" Frank yelled.

"AMBUSH!" Sprig suddenly cried out from high up in a tree. He jumped off and landed on the head of the male dove. The dove ran around, even on its messed up foot as Sprig held on as tight as possible. "Now, Frank!"

"Die, you beautiful creature!" Frank yelled as he jumped into the nest and launched himself high into the air. He landed on the bird and plunged his spear into its neck. The love dove let out one last shriek of agony as blood came out of its mouth, before falling down to the ground.

Frank pulled his spear out of its neck, before he and Sprig were thrown off by the female love dove, who picked up her dead mate and nuzzled him.

When he landed on his back, Frank groaned in pain before quickly getting back up and grabbing the spear. Throwing it at the female. The spear went right through the neck of the bird. Stabbing into the edge of the nest as the last love dove's corpse fell dead with her mate.

The boy let out a sigh of relief, while the others stared at him and the two love doves he just killed. "Whoa! Nice ambush," Ivy said to Sprig as he laid on his back.

"Well, I learned from the best," he said with a smile.

Everyone went over to the nest and looked inside, as Frank hopped in to retrieve his knife. Anne and the frogs stared at the love dove, who was still holding one another in a pool of their own blood. "Amazing. Even in death, they're majestic," Hop Pop said.

After Frank grabbed his makeshift spear, he untied the knife from it and wiped off the blood on his pants. They all then jumped down from the nest, before Felicia turned to her daughter. "Come along now, Ivy. Let's get you home so I can apologize safely," she said, turning to look at Frank as he sheathed down the knife.

Ivy took her hand and the two started walking home. "Okay. That was fun. See ya, Sprig!" She called out to Sprig.

"See ya, Ivy!" Sprig waved goodbye to her and watched her leave.

"Sprig, next time we won't get the courtship kit out until you're good and ready," Hop Pop told his grandson while holding Polly. Then he turned to his granddaughter. "Now I can focus on finding love for Polly."

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Polly cried as she was taken away by the old frog.

"Well, that's the end of that," Anne said with a smile as she and Frank stayed behind with Sprig. "Now you and Ivy can go back to being just friends.

"Yep," Sprig said, turning back to watch Ivy leave. The yellow frog turned her head to look back over her shoulder at Sprig and waved goodbye at him. The red frog waved back at her, but as he did, Frank noticed the way he was looking at her. And he started to suspect something when Sprig continued to stare at Ivy, even when she was out of sight.

"You just fell in love with her, didn't you?" He asked.

"Yeah, I just fell in love with her."