Amphibia: Calamity Warriors

Amphibia: Calamity Warriors

Chapter One: Anne Meets The Recluse

Today was not a good day for Anne Boonchuy.

The poor thirteen year old Thai girl was trapped in a whole new world, filled with giant insects, separated from her friends, and she was missing a shoe. Anne ran as fast as she could before ducking inside a hollow log, slowing her breathing to avoid the massive preying mantis that was chasing her, which soon passed by the log she was hiding in.

Letting out a sigh, Anne was about to leave the log when she heard another noise come from the bushes. Fearing it might be another giant insect, she ducked back inside the log and held her breath, as the rustling of the bushes got closer.

'Dang it, why did this happen?' The Thai American teenager thought to herself in a panic. 'Is this how I'm gonna die, on my thirteenth birthday?'

Daring for a peek, she looked through one of the small holes in the log to see not an insect, but a humanoid figure emerge from the brush, confusion now filling her mind, as they approached the clearing and seem to be inspecting the area. Anne took notice of the massive black cloak they wore that covered the figure from head to toe, the dirt crunching underneath their boots, but she wasn't able to see their face, their back facing her, as they looked around the area, Anne trying to remain as quiet as she could, before noticing the stranger pick up a familiar pink backpack.

Her backpack!

'Oh crap, not my backpack!' Her mind raced with panic. 'All of my stuff!'

The cloaked stranger held it up and gave it a look, before their head seem to shift in various directions, it was hard to tell with the hood, before they seemed to face Anne's direction. Panicking even more, Anne pushed further inside the log, hoping and praying that this cloaked stranger would just leave. Sadly, her prayers fell on deaf ears, as the stranger began walking in her direction, the Thai American girl's heart rate spiking, desperately trying to keep calm and quiet.

'This is it! This is how I die!' She screamed inside her head. 'There was so much I wanted to do! Like opening a restaurant, going to Thailand, driving a car, eat a cheeseburger one last time! Definitely have one more cheeseburger.'

Her thoughts were interrupted when there was a loud rustling in the bushes, which seemed to catch the strangers attention as well, as they turned to see a massive, green preying mantis emerge from the brush, letting out a roar at it laid its eyes upon its prey. The stranger, strangely enough, didn't seem to react at the fact that a giant insect was towering over him and raised an arm to swing one of its forearms. Anne couldn't look away as the arm came close…

…only for the stranger to vanish, the attack missing completely.

Anne did a doubletake at this. One minute, the cloaked stranger was about to be cleaved in two, then the next, the disappeared.

The mantis seemed equally confused, as it started to turn around in search of the missing prey, Anne raised an eyebrow when she saw the stranger standing on the mantis' back, the massive insect still hadn't notice them before they drew out a rather large knife before jumping to the head and grabbing hold of one of the antenna's, the mantis screeching loudly before it started flailing, trying to buck the stranger off, but to no avail, before the stranger stabbed the bug between the eyes several times before sinking the knife into its throat, decapitating it, and the headless body fell over dead.

Anne watched in awe at what had just occurred; this stranger had just killed a mantis five time their own size like it was nothing! The stranger soon pulled out a cart before they soon started cutting away at the body, cutting off the arms, pulling out chunks of meat and wrapping them up in cloth before throwing them in the cart.

"Ew." Anne whispered in disgust.

The stranger soon stopped their work, their head perking up before turning in Anne's direction, making the Thai American girl yelp in surprise, not able to make out any facial features of the stranger besides their one green eye that seemed to glow in the darkness of their cowl and hood. Upon deciding that she had no choice, Anne slowly crawled out from the log and stood up, her brown eyes locking onto the stranger's green eye, nervously trying to say something.

"Uhhhh…hi?" She waved awkwardly.

The stranger only stared at her in silence, as if studying her with that one eye, taking note of her slender build and tall height, perhaps as tall as they were, having light brown skin and messy auburn hair with several sticks and leaves in her hair. She wore a gray t-shirt with a purple collar and a Saint James Middle School (SJMS) crest embroidered on it, a short purple skirt, a single yellow shoe with white linings on her left foot, and gray socks.

There was an awkward silence before the stranger returned to carving meat from the carcass, Anne standing in awkward silent confusion.

"Soooo, what're you doing out here?" She asked, trying to start a conversation.

The stranger stopped for a moment and looked at her for a second before simply returning to what they were doing, much to Anne's annoyance.

"Can you help me?!" She raised her voice. "I'm completely lost!"

The stranger stopped before standing up, turning their head to look at her, their eye staring from the darkness of their hood.

"I'm serious!" Anne said, sounding desperate. "I'm stuck in a world I know nothing about and the last guy, or frog…thing…I tried asking for help ran off as soon as he saw me!"

"Sounds like Wally."

Anne blinked in surprise that the stranger gave a reply, the stranger sounding like a young male.

"H-Huh?" Anne blinked in surprise.

"Wally came by earlier today, screaming about some 'beast' with a big head, spindly limbs and face bumps." The stranger stated. "I'm guessing that 'beast' would be you?"

Anne blinked at this before frowning and furrowing her brows, "For your information, I'm NO beast! My name is Anne Boonchuy, and I'm an honest-to-God human!"

"Who's God?" The stranger asked.

Anne blinked twice once more at this. Even though she never followed any religious faith, she knew plenty of people that at least heard of the term. But this stranger?

"You don't practice any religious faith?" She asked.

"Not really." The stranger said with a shake of his head. "Now, back to the main point, who are you and where did you come from?"

Suddenly, there was an audible rumbling sound coming from Anne's stomach, making the girl flush with embarrassment.

"Well, before I tell you anything," Anne said. "Do you have anything to eat?"

The stranger's eye blinked before he pointed a thumb at the mantis carcass, "There's a freshly dead mantis carcass right behind me."

"Preferably not bugs…?" Anne gulped with slight disgust.

"Picky much?" The stranger remarked in a snarking, before then pulling a pouch from his belt. "These aren't much, but they're filling."

He then tossed the bag, Anne catching it and opening it to reveal several mushrooms. Believing them to be nonpoisonous, she picked one of them up and bit into it, surprise by the taste.

"Hey, this is pretty good!" She declared before eating another.

"So, if you don't mind answering my questions." The stranger spoke. "Who are you and where did you come from?"

Anne wiped her mouth, "Well, I'm a human being, and I come from…"

She then stood up and moved one arm over her head, "ANOTHER WORLD!" She shouted, her voice echoing throughout the forest.

"Either that or this is a dream." She then remarked, before the stranger then pinched her cheek. "Ow!"

Well, I can assure you, this is very much real." He said before taking back the bag of shrooms. "Now, do you recall what brought you here?"

"Nope." Anne replied with a shake of her head. "One minute I was in my world, and the next minute I was here."

The stranger watched her sit down on a long, hugging her knees close to her chest, "I don't know how to get home, if I even can go home."

The hooded stranger took in her words carefully, as if considering the weight of her words, but he detected no lies…yet.

"Well, that's my story!" Anne stated before looking up at the stranger. "What about you? Who are you and why were you out here in the woods?"

"Hunting, for one." He answered plainly. "As for who I am, only friends know my real name, so you can call me Shadow, for now."

"Aw, come on!" Anne pouted. "Aren't we friends?"

"We just met." Shadow pointed out. "You have to earn my trust first."

Anne didn't like it, but she knew there was some truth behind his words, so she decided not to push it for now.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Suddenly, there was a scream of terror that sounded close by, startling Anne before she saw Shadow take off before following after. The two soon arrived at where she had found Wally, seeing another one of those anthropomorphic frogs that got caught in a rope trap she had set up before, dangling upside down.

This was a pink frog of a small height. He had hot pink skin, with a paler pink shaded underbelly. He had short orange hair underneath his dark forest green hat. His casual frog-like body structure consisted of slightly yellow eyeballs with black pupils and blue irises, a large elongated light green tongue that extends to certain lengths, and four short limbs with four-digit hands and two-digit feet. He was wearing a sleeveless jacket paired with black shorts.

This was Sprig Plantar, who seemed quite happy that Shadow had shown up, but his eyes widened in terror upon seeing Anne, "Giant head, spindly limbs, face bumps! THE BEEEEAAAAST!" He shouted, pointing at Anne in fear.

Shadow looked at Anne before turning back to Sprig, "Calm yourself, boy."

"Well, I've got bad new for you, beast!" Sprig exclaimed in defiance. "I taste terrible!"

Anne blinked before giving a look of disgust, "Ew, I'm not gonna eat you."

"W-Well, you tried to eat Wally!" Sprig pointed at her accusingly.

"I tried asking 'Wally' for help." Anne explained. "He ran off screaming as soon as he saw me!"

"That does sound like Wally…" Sprig admitted with a finger against his chin.

Shadow pulled out a knife and cut Sprig down before setting him down on the ground, the small frog still seeming unsure of Anne.

"You have nothing to fear of Anne, Sprig." The taller young man assured. "She's no monster, but a scared young girl who's lost and needs help."

Anne smiled at this, Sprig looking up at Anne before smiling.

"Well, if Shadow says you're okay, then so am I!" The frog declared before sticking his hand out. "Put 're there!"

Anne gave a small smile before she grabbed and shook Sprig's hand, but when she pulled away, she cringed at the sight of her hand being covered in slime.

"So…your hand just barfed on mine…" She said before wiping it against her shirt.

"Sprig, why are you out here?" Shadow asked with a narrowed eye. "Without Hop Pop or Polly?"

"Proving that I'm responsible!" Sprig declared in a heartbeat.

"By running off in the woods by yourself?" Shadow pointed out.

Sprig gave a nervous chuckle at this, "Well, when you put it like that…"

"Hey, there they are!"

The three turned to see an angry mod of frogs emerge from the brush, all carrying pitchforks and torches, all glaring at Anne.

"Whoa, wait, you've got it all wrong!" Sprig yelled, trying to jump in.

"Ha-ha! You caught the monster, Sprig!" Sprig's grandfather, Hopadiah 'Hop Pop' Plantar declared. Hop Pop was an elderly frog of small stature, having a mostly reddish-orange skin with a light underbelly, with slightly reddish-orange eyes with black pupils, a dark green tongue, four short limbs with four fingered hands and two-toed feet and white tufts of hair on the sides of his head. He wore a grayish-green waistcoat with a buttoned yellow shirt and light blue ascot and grayish-brown trousers with light brown socks that slightly cover his feet.

On top of Hop Pop's head with Polly Plantar, Sprig's sister and Hop Pop's granddaughter, still in her tadpole form, although she had arms instead of legs and was more globular in appearance. She had a yellow bow with lighter white/yellow polka dot. And unlike the other amphibians, she had a blue tongue rather than green.

"Wait, it's a misunderstanding!" Sprig tried to reason with the mob.

His pleas fell on deaf ears, however, as the mob advanced upon the Thai American girl, only to stop when Shadow stood in their way.

"Stop." He sternly said, his glaring green eye making the mob shiver in fear.

Before anyone could speak up, there was a screech as a large, red mantis emerged from the forest, letting out a loud roar that terrified the frogs and causing the mob to disperse, all running in random directions as the mantis swung at them before setting its eyes upon Anne and made to attack her, Anne putting her hands up, but the attack never came, opening her eyes to see Shadow standing in front of her and a hand pressing against the forearm of the mantis, much to her shock.

The mantis roared before making to swing its other forearm, only for Shadow to vanish with Anne, the attack completely missing, Shadow reappearing some distance away, holding Anne bridal style, the young thirteen year old blushing and looking up at his shadow covered face, his green eye focused on the mantis before he sat her down and walked forward, pulling what looked like a rather large katana from his cloak.

Anne watched as the stranger stood before the approaching mantis raised its arm and swung, only for the arm to fly off from the fastest swing one could witness from Shadow, the mantis screeching in pain before it swung its remaining arm, only for Shadow to jump on the arm before launching towards the head, swinging his large katana and severing the head from the neck, killing the mantis as the head landed on the ground.

The frogs that ran slowly returned, in awe at what had occurred, Shadow swinging his sword before sheathing it, Anne in complete awe at what she had seen.

'Who is he…?' This question echoed inside her mind.

She saw the stranger approach, his eye staring down at her before he extended a hand, Anne hesitantly taking a hold before he pulled her to her feet.

"You okay?" He asked politely.

Anne felt her heart skip a beat before replying, "Y-Yeah, I'm good. Thanks."

"Very well played, Shadow!" The town mayor, Mayor Toadstool, a sizeable amphibious toad wearing fancy clothes and holding a golden cane, declared. "As always, you slay the beasts with little issue!"

Shadow said nothing, only staring with his green eye.

"Now that that's settled," The fat toad then pointed towards Anne, who stood behind Shadow. "What shall we do about this creature?" He held his coat with a grin. "What say we run it out of town? Let it be someone else's problem?"

The mob seemed in agreement, but Shadow stood in their way, "You will do no such thing."

"Yeah, she's not a monster!" Sprig nodded as he stood at Shadow's side. "She's just lost and needs help! Like Shadow says! We should take care of her!"

Although Anne couldn't make out any facial features of the hooded stranger, she could have sworn she saw his face shift into a smirk of his own.

"Are you out of your mind?!" Toadstool frowned.

"Yeah, what if it goes crazy tomorrow and starts eating everyone?!" Wally added.

"It will not come to that." Shadow calmly replied. "She'll be staying with me."

Anne seemed surprised by this.

Toadstool, on the other hand, didn't seem satisfied, but then remembered that Shadow doesn't necessarily live in the town.

"Have it your way, Shadow, but I don't like it." He said with his hands thrown up before facing the crowd. "Alright, boys, pack it in!"

The disgruntled crowd soon enough dispersed, leaving Shadow and Anne with the Plantars.

"You sure about this, Shady?" Hop Pop asked with concern. "She could stay with me, since I know you prefer your privacy."

"I'm sure, Hopediah." Shadow nodded. "Besides, it's the least I could do, after everything you've done for me."

Hop Pop gave it some thought, then nodded, "Alright, but let me know if you need anythin', you hear?"

"Always, Hop Pop." Shadow nodded.

"I'm sorry for the trouble." Sprig said, rubbing his arm.

"Don't be, little guy." Shadow waved it off before pointing over at the dead mantis'. "Thanks to you, we'll be eating good tonight."

"So are we still up for sword training?!" Sprig asked hopefully.

"Every morning." Shadow nodded, ruffling the top of the little frog's head, making him giggle.

"What about me?" Polly said before flexing her tiny arms. "YOU KNOW YOU CAN'T TAKE ME!"

"We'll see, tiny tad." Shadow chuckled as he patted the pollywogs head.

And with that, the Plantars left, leaving Anne with the cloaked stranger.

"So, thanks for saving me." She gave a small smile. "But you honestly didn't have to offer me-"

"Yes, I did." Shadow retorted with a raised hand. "No way am I letting you live another night in the wild, and I intend to repay my debt to Hop Pop."

Anne decided not to argue before changing the subject, "So, what now?"

"Now, we head off for my hut." Shadow declared, grabbing hold of the red mantis he had just killed. "Grab the green one and follow me."

Watching how effortlessly the stranger pulled the rather large insect, Anne pulled the smaller green mantis, although she still struggled. Even with most of the meat and limbs removed, it was still quite heavy.

'Just who is this guy?' She thought to herself as she struggled to keep up with Shadow. 'More importantly, what is this place? Are Marcy and Sasha okay?'