Another Friend in Amphibia

Chapter 20: Phone Odyssey

"Randy, I'm sorry for suspecting you. Please don't do this!" a woman said desperately. She was inside a small hut.

"No Peruvia! You brought this on yourself." A man said in an overly dramatic and clearly fake tone. There was a brief delay, then the volcano erupted, covering the entire island in lava.

Anne, Drake and the Plantars were all sitting on a couch watching Anne's favorite show, Suspicion Island. It was early in the morning as they had all agreed to watch it for the whole night. For Anne this was an exciting moment. She had been trying to convince Drake to watch this show for weeks and now she got to see his reaction.

Anne stopped the video. "Alright, that's the latest episode. So, what do you think? Did you like it?"

"No, it was terrible. I can't believe you made me sit through that whole season." Drake said with clear disinterest.

Sprig jumped in front of Drake. "What? How could you not like it? There's tension!"

Polly jumped in front as well. "Backstabbing!"

"Intrigue..." Hop Pop finished leaning in.

"Anne, I know it's your favorite show, but I just don't understand any of these characters. They just betray each other for no reason." Drake explained.

"Well, what do you find entertaining?" Sprig asked.

"There's a couple of action shows, but mostly video games." Drake answered.

"You think we can see one sometime?" Sprig gave a hopeful look.

"Sorry Sprig, my phone's battery died yesterday. Actually Anne, I've been meaning to ask you. How did you preserve your phone's battery all this time?" Drake asked.

Anne pointed a finger at Hop Pop. "Show him HP."

"I've got a book for that. To the study room!" Hop Pop ran off to the study room to grab a book with everyone else close behind. He looked at each of the books on the shelf until he found the bestiary. He pointed to an illustration of a centipede like creature. "It's called the zapapede. A creature in the Misty Peaks that kills its prey with a deadly zap. That's how we charged Anne's phone. It's half a day's travel."

Drake looked at the book. "Doesn't sound too hard. Looks like I'm going to be gone for the rest of today then. I guess I'll see you all later tonight?" Drake was preparing to leave but Anne got in front of the door.

"Wait, Drake. You shouldn't go out alone. I'm going with you." Anne said.

"You don't need to do that Anne. I've learned a bunch of survival skills. I can take care of myself." Drake replied. He tried to gently push past her, but she firmly held onto the door.

"Last time we split up, you were gone for weeks, and I thought you were dead. I started to cry over you for hours. I don't want to lose you again." Anne said.

Drake was mostly surprised she had cried over him. He hadn't even thought about what Anne must've felt when he disappeared. If he had known she would cry over it, he likely wouldn't have dragged his feet when he first heard she was in Wartwood. "Alright Anne you can come along."

Hop Pop butt in. "Wait just a second! I need Anne to go get some stuff later today. We're gonna try making pizza again tonight."

"Oh yeah that's right!" Anne remembered. "HP, you think you can go with him?"

"No can do, I've gotta clean Bessie's stable today. Been putting that off for too long." Hop Pop said.

"I can go with him." Sprig volunteered.