24. Family Shrub

Disclaimer I don't own Amphibia. Also if anyone would like to help me beta this that be great. But if not I'll try my best. I try to get chapter out as I can.

Thanks to all the all follower and favorite so far. And thanks to Jss2141, redflare5000, Smoking Wrecker, drake wind, Alquimistaarcano77, Kaiju, Nopeknight, TALOS X, Stryker, Mr. Hardcor3, Gojirafan1954, Tearnon, Jason, brentdyedragon, gregorian12, PizzaGuest, Morticon, jjafo2014, schweenieboy, snake screamer, Rodimus973, Pushistaya ten, Shadowcat1083, Liko, Killerbull55858, QuackityFiction, Hamza9236, Guest for the comment.

The Plantar children stared gloomy outside the window as dark clouds covered the sky and rained was so heavy you couldn't see two feet ahead of you. If the stormy weather wasn't bad enough Hop Pop was making them work on Family Shrub. Anne and Marcy were helping, although only Marcy was thril about this. Sasha omitted to sit on the couch and listening to music instead as she quoted "I don't care about a couple dead frogs."

"You know, Hop Pop, back home we call this a family tree." Anne smiled as she glue a picture on

"That's 'cause everyone in your world is crazy." Hop Pop rolled his eyes, then went back to his book. "Now, where was I? Oh, yes, Great Aunt Gertrude. She was a masterful dirt tiller. I mean, how cool is that?"

"Eh." The Plantars children, looks like they rathered be cleaning up Bessie's waste for a week.

"Amazing. All family of farmers!" Marcy smiled.

"Why, thank you, Marcy." Hop Pop smiled, he wished his grandchildren would be into reading, history instead of wasting time with nonsense. He smiled and went back to his book. "Oh, and you can't forget second cousin Alfred. He was the king!"

This caught their attention, "A king?"

"Yeah! The king of single-tiered irrigation systems." And with that their attention was lost again.

"Yep, you lost me."

"Our ancestors were boring!"

"Were they really all just farm frogs? Where are the artists? The poets? The dreamers?"

"Just farm frogs? And what's wrong with that?" Hop Pop shock his head, they have no respect for the small simple folk. They are so quickly to disown there family because they're weren't cool enough. All the action, adventure stuff brings you nothing but pain and death. "Kids, the point of the shrub is to give you an appreciation for your past. The Plantar family has layers. You just have to know where to look."

"Yeah, guys." Marcy smiled, "The Plantars, have been living in Wartwood for hundreds of years. They're have roots to this town."

"Boring!" Polly sang.

Anne rolled her eyes, "Layers, huh? Okay, then. Well, what's so special about her?" Her sarcasm was easily heard.

Hop Pop looked down at the picture she was pointing at, "Polli Anna? Oh, brace yourselves. She wasn't just any farmer. She was a turnip farmer!" Hop Pop smiled proudly, generations had made this house and farm stand tall. Tending to fields that the earliness Plantars have tended to as well filled him with pride. However his grandchildren didn't care, instead seem to loathe there family's history.

Anne had reached her limit, and took her phome to play a game. "Welp, as much as I'd love to help, not gonna find any of my ancestors on your shrub, so..."

"Don't have to be blood to be a Plantar, Anne." Hop Pop signed.

"No, but you do have to be a master stacker to get to level 46. If I can just...[groans] Curse you, sudden death round! Why you so hard?

"Anne, this is based on nothing at all, but I'm almost certain that game will rot your brain! Uh-oh, looks like we're out of glue!"

"Does that mean we have to stop?"

"Can we do something fun now?"

"No fun till the shrub's done. Just gonna run to the store real quick and get more glue. Be back in a jiffy." Hop Pop hums, "Don't go anywhere!"

"Ah! You're lucky you're an outsider, Anne. Our family history is weak!"

"O...O...O..." Marcy smiled believing she might just have the perfect thing. "We could always explore the secret staircase that leads under the house!"

The kids shout their surprise back at her in unison.

"The WHAT?"

"Y'know. The secret staircase. Behind the painting of the Frog version of American gothic in the living room. Hmm I wonder which was made first. Or is Amphibia just a Frog version of Earth. You think's there Amphibia version of us Or human version of the Plantars on Earth?" Marcy smiled her brain thinking of many different theorize. Marcy considereds explaining about the strange, oblong space in the middle of the house that isn't accessible from any of the rooms. She has no idea how to explain to the Plantars that she discovered, while drawing up a detailed plans of their house for fun, without coming off as creepy. So instead she just waves off the question and heads to the living room, notebook under one arm. "Come on, I'll show you!" A mechanism creaks into motion. The shelf beneath flips downward, revealing a long dark staircase. "See! Told you!"

"Yeah?" Sprig asks. "I don't know about that! And I live here!"

"Whoa. Oh, wow. This looks unsafe. We have to go down there."

"There could be treasure."

"Or dead bodies! Let's do it!"

"Beats staying inside," Sasha grabbed a lanterned from the living room, and the five of them head into the dark. Just as they reached about half down the stairs, the secret door closes behind them and locks them in

"Uh," Anne raised an eyebrow, "did we just get locked in here?"

"No, no, no," Sasha was punching the wall, only hurting herself in the purpose. "Crap..."

"Let us out!" Sprig cried.

"Come on, let's just find another way out, you babies."

Marcy isn't particularly concern when the secret door closes behind them and locks them in. After all, they're here to explore, and explore they shall.

Once they reached the end of the dark tunnel; they were in a room of shelves and shelves full of stuff. Glass jars filled with bizarre-looking vegetable.

"Whoa. All this was under your house?"Anne coughed, "Oh, there's dust everywhere."

"This place is amazing. Whoa! Oh, what this?" Sprig was tough everything in sight, while Marcy was reading down notes in her journey.

"Hey, why do you think the entrance was hidden like that?" Polly asked.

"To keep it a secret, obviously. Who wouldn't want to steal this stuff?" Sprig smile as he tapped a jar.

"I know right!" Marcy smiled, taking notes on everything.

Sasha shudders "Uh, me, me. I don't wanna steal this stuff."

Sprig leaps over to the table and found a notes, "It says here this place belonged to Great Uncle Skip Plantar. He was a farmer and a brilliant scientist! He experimented with all kinds of stuff. This is wild. I wanna know more! Like, what does this do?" Sprig pulls on a lever, a metal grate in the far wall lifts up, and a giant pumpkin vegetable monster emerges into the room.

"Whoa..."

"Whoa, mama."

"Maybe it's harmless."

The monster promptly shrieks and spits a load of foul-smelling green goop at them.

"Nope!" Polly yells back. "Retreat!"

Marcy's in the middle of sketching one of the messed-up vegetable in-a-jar when the things roars, Anne grabbed her arm tightly and pulled her along. She casts a look around, for any sort of cover. There. The large table in the middle of the room should do. "Go for the table!" She instructs. Sasha reaches it first and knocks it onto its side, then crouches down behind it, where the rest joined her.

"I think this thing navigates by sound," Marcy whispers to the kids. "We have to stay quiet."

"This abomination must be destroyed!" Polly whispers back fervently.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on a minute." Sprig says, "There may be another way."

But Sasha doesn't stick around to hear the rest of it. Sasha threw the lantern directly at the monster. The monster snaps around, smashing around. Before turning into ash setting on the ground.

Sprig peeks around the table. Somehow, he doesn't seem to happy. "You didn't even let me..."

"Come on let keep moving." Sasha interrupted.

When they enter the next, Polly was in heaven the room was filled with weapon. She smiled at a picture, "This is the same Polliana from Hop Pop's shrub. She wasn't just a turnip farmer. She was a turnt up warrior!"

"Hey, check it out. I found her diary."

"The Bogwater Wars of '48. The Western Toad invasion of '53. Man, she was in a lot of battles."

"She was the coolest, most terrifying Plantar ever. Like me!"

'"Wow, we sure are learning a lot. I'd like to learn more. Like, hey, what does this do?." Pulls a lever, the way to the exit was now blocks by swinging axes, and swords.

"Will you stop pulling levers? Are you trying to get us killed!" Sasha glared, Sprig lower his head from Sasha words.

"Says here this is Polliana's training simulator."

"Look out! Okay, how do we turn it off?"

"The shut off switch is by the exit on the other side."

"Okay, we can do this. We just gotta go very slowly-"

"Just step aside," Polly smiled, however before she could Sasha ran throw the trap, jumping over and ducking the deadly traps. She turns off and disables the machine, the machine whirring down.

"Well, That was intense."

Polly was frowning, she wanted to do this one.

Sasha groaned as they entered another room. "Oh, wow. Can you believe it? Another mysterious hidden chamber. How maybe are there."

Marcy smiled as she picking up some of the games to take. "Oh, cool! This place is filled with games and puzzles. Let's see if we can find which Plantar this stuff belonged to. No way. Emma the Newt? Honorary Plantar? Hey, check this out. She travelled all over the place, collected all this cool stuff, and settled with the Plantars. She wasn't even a frog! She kinda looks like you Anne. Especially with that hair."

"Hey, you're right." Anne smiled.

"Hey! How about we figure out how to get the heck out of here!"

They arrived at door that was covered in different colors.

"Maybe I can smash it. Hiyah! Well, that didn't work."

"We're gonna die down here!"

"Wait a second, " Anne gasps, "Guys, this isn't just a door. It's a puzzle! All right, let's do this." Before Anne could do anything Sasha moved her away. "Sasha? What our you doing?"

"Anne, I can't have you screw up and get us all killed." Sasha groaned, and began to set up up the door. "There, I did it!" The ground began to rumble and the ceiling above them grew spikes and was moving towards them.

"what did you do?" Polly shouted.

"No pressure, but we're gonna die." Sprig screamed.

"Sasha? Please let me." Anne pleaded, Sasha however wasn't listening.

"Anne shut up! I got this... there. Woo hoo! I did it!" The door open and the walls raised, letting them escape.

They all sighed, catching their breath, after barely escaping death. "We had your family history all wrong, guys. The Plantars weren't just farmers. Secret death traps. Awesome!" Marcy smiled.

"Nope, they were twisted." Sprig smiled.

"Yeah, they were pretty cool." Polly nodded, "Now, can we finally find a way out of here?"

Sprig smiled reaching for a lever, "Yeah, and I think I know how."

"Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope." They all grabbed and pulled Sprig away from the lever.

"What was that was that back there?" Anne walked by Sasha, as they walked through another chamber.

"Excuse me?" Sasha stopped her tracks and turns to Anne.

"I don't need you constantly looking over my shoulder for me, Sasha! I can take care of myself! We could have done those puzzles as well."

"I... what?" Sasha said again, shaking her head, " "I..." Sasha started, pausing for a second to consider if this is what she really wanted to say, before deciding that, yes, it was true, especially her ego was telling her it was, "I'm the only reason you're still alive!" "The Plantars are the reason we're still alive!" "I mean before that. You think you would last for a second out there? Without me? How dare YOU get off it? Maybe the reason I'm so protective of you is because I how how useless you are without me!" Spreading her arms, Sasha temporarily threw Anne off, "You think this is easy for me? If it wasn't for the Plantars I would be having to carry the two of you around all the time?"

"You don't have to. I can take care of myself." Anne replied.

"What does that mean?"

"She means leave her alone!" Sprig called out. "She can look after herself, just like us."

"Yeah! Anne can kick butt just fine without you!" Polly glared, she was angry, her voice echoed through the cave."After we took you in. You just see as just something you have to look after."

"Stay out of this FROGS! This doesn't concern you!" She didn't want to talked down to by frogs especially not a baby. They're aren't people... Just creatures to her.

"We aren't going to let you just pick on Anne, right Sprig!"

"Right! Sasha, Anne told me that you're having trouble at home. But that still doesn't give you the right to treat her like this."

Sasha frozen, her hands tight and gave Anne a glare as cold as Ice. "You told them?!"

"What...No." Anne held up her hands, "Just that you're going through some stuff. I didn't tell them what it was."

Marcy just ignored the fight, like she usually did. She wasn't one for conflict, and in the end, Anne and Sasha would probably make up later anyway. There were far more interesting things to focus on right now anyway. That's just what she did. Ignore problems like this until they went away. It was best not to get involved.

"You had no right!" Sasha's laser stare was like a shock to Anne's system . She hadn't meant to, she just... had wanted to give Sprig a reason to why Sasha was like this. She hadn't meant to bad friend to her. She could take care of herself, but Sasha just wanted to be sure she wouldn't need to. She was just being cautious. Being a good friend. She'd been very selfish, she told what was Sasha's business. She was mean.

Taking a shivering breath, Anne finally look away. "Your right... I shouldn't have told them... But I can look after myself Sasha. I'm not that little girl that needs you to stand up to bullies for me."

"Whatever. Come on let just fine away out." Sasha groaned as she walked ahead, as they followed closed

Hop Pop had returned from the store, just as the kids walked out of the fireplace.

"Hop Pop!" Everyone but Sasha, had ran back to go back to work on the Shrub. "We found those Plantar family layers you were talking about."

Hop Pop rubbed his forehead, "Eh? Found them? Kids, I wasn't being literal."

"There was a moving fireplace." Sprig smiled.

"Secret rooms!" Polly added.

"Crazy science lab." Marcy replied.

"And Family heirlooms!" Anne added.

"Turnip with a face." Sprig replied.

"Our Family's amazing!" Polly added.

Hop Pop rolled his eyes, "Hidden rooms. Secret Plantar family heirlooms? What nonsense."

"Seriously?" Sasha argued, "You don't know about this? How?"

Anne turned to Sprig, he was drawing something a piece of paper. "What's that?"

"Oh," Sprig looked down in embarrassed, as he shown her the drawing of Anne, Marcy and Sasha. "I thought... You know because Hop Pop said you don't need to be blood to be family. That... If you wanted to be part of the Shrub." Anne looked stunned, and speechless. It warm her heart that Sprig saw her as family. She was him as her little brother.

Sprig looked away, after Anne didn't say anything for a while. He felt stupid, "Sorry. I should have... Nevermind."

Anne gently touch his shoulder, "Sprig. I'm love to be part of your family shrub."

"Really?" Sprig's eyes watered.

"Totally," She pulled him in for a hug.

"Marcy? Sasha? Can I add you as well."

"Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. I would love too." Marcy was smiling ear to ear.

"Whatever." Sasha rolled her eyes, it hit her with suddenly realizes that this frog boy and his family was treating her better then her own family. Just this little small act was more meanwhile and thoughtful then anything her parents had ever show her.

Late at night when the kids have fallen asleep Hop Pop made his way to the secret painting. Pressing the switch to open the hid the door, taking a lantern with him as he made his way downstairs. He stepped up to a picture of mushrooms and he started to press them in a certain order moving a different pathway. Walking inside Hop Pop punched the shrub light on the wall. Lightning up the room in blue gloon. Hop Pop stond in from of a painting of younger Hop Pop riding Bessie, with young blue frog, and two pink frogs.

Sorry for the wait, having a little writer block and work has started back up. Also been working a few chapters on Season 2 and Season 3 because Idea pop in my head and wanted to write them before I forget.

So. Have you been enjoying Amphibia and Owl House so far. I have. Happy to see new episodes both on the same day although sad as both show will be ending soon. Also waiting a new episodes as some things from Season 1 is affecting Season 3.