They wouldn't have become friends in any other circumstance, probably. They definitely wouldn't have been enemies, but they were the type of people that probably wouldn't have anything to do with each other, with no need to do anything other than say 'hello' in the school halls.

For one, Anne didn't have a lot of friends anyway, mostly those that she'd made during preschool, like Sasha and Marcy. Anne had other friends, but those were the ones that she'd been close with from the start. She liked her other friends, the ones at school that shared her common interests, but she wouldn't, say, trust them with her life as they fought an army side by side with nothing but their wits, bravery and incredible violence.

Fei Fei, however, was different. She was friendly enough to most people, too, like Anne, but she wasn't exactly close to anyone at school. She was mostly close to her dad, and also maybe Chin and her new mom, even though she hadn't gotten to know them very well before she was stuck here.

They first met shortly after the two of them were transported to this new place, both on opposite sides of an unassuming but rowdy town. Neither of them had any idea of how they got there, nor where they were, but Anne had a slight suspicion that she was back in Amphibia. This assumption was quickly dashed, however, because no sooner were the words 'Huh. This must be Amphibia!' out of her mouth than a normal human person walked by.

It was only after Anne randomly walked into some random business that she got a better idea of what was going on. The place she had walked into was a tavern (classic), and it was filled with a bunch of middle age fantasy medieval people. So, with that logic, Anne was in an isekai, inspired by D&D. Obviously.

...Stranger things have happened.

Anne didn't know it at the time, but Fei Fei was in that bar, too, but she wasn't visible. Well, trying not to be visible. Fei Fei was hiding in the corner, trying not to be seen, but also trying to gather information. Unfortunately, the bar was loud, and everyone was speaking over each other, so Fei Fei could only hear about every third word, and her English was not good enough at that point to even begin to decipher anything.

At first, Anne and Fei Fei didn't see each other. While Fei Fei tried not to bring attention to herself, Anne walked right up to the bar counter and sat down. The bartender ignored her. Fair enough, she looked underaged and probably like she had no money. Anne didn't worry about it, though, that wasn't what she was here for.

A guy beside her, there was a person sitting who was completely dressed in armour, like a knight, expect his armour resembled the shape of a fox or a dog, like a furry. His armour was a bright red. He gave her a double look when she sat down.

"Uh... I'm not completely sure you're allowed in here," he told her, and his voice was pretty deep, exactly what Anne would expect from a knight. In response to his comment, Anne shrugged.

"The bouncer at the door didn't tell me to go away," Anne replied. Technically, she wasn't really sure he was a bouncer, bars didn't usually have bouncers, and also the guy was asleep.

The knight guy jerked his head irritably. "What does he know? Anyway, I work here, too, and I'm telling you you're not allowed in here!"

"Why not?" Anne asked him back, frowning. "I'm not going to drink anything. Unless you all of water."

"Water costs 1 chaching," the bartender called over to her, and Anne crinkled her nose. What kind of garbage bar was this, to make people PAY for water?

"What else are you here for, if you're not going to drink?" the knight asked curiously, and while he still looked tense, he didn't seem ready to throw her out anymore.

"Uh..." Anne's mind went blank, and before she could think of a proper line, she blurted out the truth: "Information, mostly."

The knight drew back, obviously surprised. "Information?"

"Ha ha, another one, huh?" a person leaned around the fox knight, and Fei Fei saw a nearly identical knight, except this one was a pale yellow and more of a cat. "So many of you young folk come to this town, looking for adventure, and then you just get up and leave because the ones we have aren't 'good' enough! Tell your 'buddies' that if they aren't gonna help, don't come at all!"

Anne blinked. "What?"

The fox knight shook his head. "Sorry, they're still a little bitter. And drunk."

"You look confused," the cat knight noticed. "So, you're not part of that group, are you?"

"Just because you lumped all those troublemakers into the same group doesn't mean they actually knew each other," the fox knight sighed.

"Hah, so you aren't!" the cat knight concluded, even though Anne hadn't done anything to confirm or deny or anything other than look between the two of them, confused. The cat knight elbowed the fox knight. "This one's different! This one will help us!"

For once, the fox knight didn't argue with his friend. He only stared at Anne through his helmet, pondering.

"Hm..." the fox knight mused. "Are you one for adventure, child?"

Anne winced, the word 'child' seemed wrong to her ever since the events in Amphibia, but she didn't bother correcting the fox knight, she only nodded. The fox knight leaned back to his friend.

"Hmm... you might be right about that," he hummed at them, and the cat knight nodded enthusiastically, snickering.

"What kind of adventure?" Anne asked them, tilting her head. Technically, she should probably be looking for a way out of this world instead of taking on this side quest, but what if this side quest WAS a way out?

...Okay, probably not. Anne didn't know what she was doing, she guessing at all of this.

"It's not much," the fox knight told her as he turned back to the bar. Anne guess that that meant he was okay with her being her, now. "It's not even that dangerous. All you need to do is take one of the backroads that goes to the meadow and take out a sword that's stuck in the road there. That's it."

It took a couple seconds for Anne's brain to figure out what he said, as it was the exact opposite of what Anne expected him to say. "...What?"

"Yeah, yeah, not exactly the type of thing you can brag about," the cat knight snarked.

"Wha-Why-Huh?" Anne had to pause to get her thoughts in order. "Why can't you call do it yourselves? Why are you asking other people to do it?"

"Ha!" the cat knight yelled. "So you admit it, you're just like the others-!"

"Calm down, Jon, it's actually a fair question," the fox knight sighed, waving a hand at his friend. "Honestly, it's because moving the sword is a lot of work. We don't have time to do it. Every day, we wake up four hours before the crack of dawn, then work all day as farmers-."

"I thought you were knights," Anne interjected, confused.

"After we work, we only get forty-five minutes to relax at this bar, and then we work even more, and then go to bed," the fox knight finished, ignoring, or not hearing, Anne's question. "We don't have a lot of time to move a sword."

"How long does the sword take to move?" Anne asked. The fox knight had explained some stuff, but on the other hand, made everything else more confusing.

"Probably not long," the fox knight told her. "It's not heavy or big or anything, but whenever anyone touches it, they're plagued with visions."

Huh. That was interesting. "What kind of visions?"

"The kind that gives you madness," the fox knight told her darkly.

"And a massive headache," the cat knight sighed, leaning on the side of the bar on the other side of the table. "So, will you take it already? We'll pay you."

Anne brightened. "How much?"

The fox knight and the cat knight exchanged a glance.

"20 chaching," the cat knight eventually decided.

"Is that a lot?"

"It's... it's adequate for the job," the fox knight told her firmly, though he didn't sound certain.

"Great!" Anne jumped to her feet, suddenly determined. "I've decided! I'll take the job and solve this problem for you! I swear on... I swear on... my...self! I'll take this sword, be plagued with visions, and then finally return home!"

The fox and cat knight, who had previously been nodding along to Anne's declaration, seemed taken aback by the last line.

"Wait, wha-?" the cat knight started, but Anne interrupted them before they could finish.

"So, this sword, where is it?" Anne asked them eagerly, and they leaned back, probably surprised.

"Just go out of the tavern and down the road," the fox knight answered for his friend. "Then turn to the right and to the dirt, beat up road that go into the valley. You'll see it."

"Ok, cool," Anne nodded, turning away. She started out of the tavern. At this point, she had Fei Fei's attention. Actually, she'd had Fei Fei's attention since her strange speech, where Fei Fei didn't really get what Anne had been saying, but it only took one look at her for Fei Fei to guess that Anne was in the same situation as she was. As Anne started out, Fei Fei stood up as well. "I'll get right on that, you can count on me!"

However, Anne didn't get too far before the fox knight was calling her back.

"Hold on, wait!" the fox knight called out, and Anne paused, even if she wasn't happy about it. The fox knight stared at her, tilting his head as if studying her. "You're a strange one, child. I pray that you're not underestimating these visions, but if you're not... what are you?"

Anne blinked. What was she, huh? Even she wasn't sure who she was in relation to these people. She must seem as weird to them as she was to the inhabitants of Amphibia, even though they were all the same species this time.

However, she couldn't just say that. Anne was not some teenage girl, here, she was a mysterious helper, a savior if you will, some strange hero that mysteriously appeared and will just as mysteriously disappeared into the night.

That's what Anne thought in her head, anyway. On the outside, all Anne did was awkwardly shrug and then leave.

Fei Fei had met her outside, slipping out of the bar after Anne did than hurrying after her as Anne was determinedly through the streets.

"Hey... Hey!" Fei Fei called after her, waving a hand. Anne didn't stop, but she did pause, looking backwards at Fei Fei. However, though, as soon as her eyes saw the modern clothes Fei Fei was wearing, Anne stopped, and Fei Fei caught up. She knew that that meant.

"Hey, you're just like me!" Anne cried. "You got stuck in this world, too, right? Like I did?"

As Anne rambled, Fei Fei frowned, and put her hands up. Anne paused, and Fei Fei took a couple seconds to find the right words.

"S-Slow," Fei Fei told her, and after a couple seconds, Anne nodded, even if she didn't really get it at the time.

"Right," Anne said, more calmly. She motioned to herself. "I'm Anne. Anne."

Fei Fei blinked. "Fei Fei."

Anne grinned at her. "So, you're like me, right? You don't belong here?"

After a minute, Fei Fei nodded. "How do we... leave?"

Anne winced. "I don't actually know that, sorry. But I can figure it out! There's a sword, and I think that it can get us out of here!"

Fei Fei gave her an odd look. "I think I misunderstand."

"No, you didn't, it doesn't make much sense," Anne sighed. "But we did get transported here with no reason, so...?"

Fei Fei looked thoughtful. Anne was just grateful she was following along. "Right. It's worth it, then?"

Anne shrugged. "We'll find out?"

Fei Fei frowned at her. "Which is it?"

Anne gave her a sheepish look. "Sorry, dude. I. Know. Nothing."

"...Oh."

Anne pointed down the road. "Come on. It's down this way. Let's go?"

Fei Fei seemed completely done with this conversation. She nodded, and after a minute of awkwardly wondering what to say next, they both started down the road, Anne leading the way with the directions the animal knights had given her before. The fox knight was right, the correct road was easy to find. And even though Fei Fei made a face, she followed Anne down it anyway. Once, Anne had wondered if perhaps Fei Fei didn't have the words to argue, but then she realized that Fei Fei wasn't the type of person to let that stop her. She'd let Anne know.

With that logic, Anne carried forward confidently. But this faltered as the path they were on went deeper and deeper, and the walls on either side rose. It wasn't like they were trapped there, but the space felt enclosed somehow, and as it got darker, the space ahead only turned more ominous.

It's just a sword down there, right? Why would there be anything different, like a monster, or whatever? It didn't make any sense... but with every step, the tension grew more and more, until finally, something appeared out of the darkness.

Fei Fei and Anne stared down at the object in their path. Just like the knights said, it really was just a sword, and an ugly on at that. The entire sword was covered an ugly tarnished rust, even the handle. The only thing that didn't look completely rotten with rust was a shining blue jewel at the top that light up the evening like a beacon.

...Looking back, that jewel on the sword looked a bit like the one Kipo used to find the rest of the people stuck in this world. Anne wondered if they were connected somehow.

However, at the time, Anne didn't pay the jewel really any mind other than: hey, that looks cool.

"So, this is the haunted sword, huh?" Anne mused, more to herself than to Fei Fei. "This does look like the type of thing to give you horrible visions."

Fei Fei frowned, studying the sword closely.

"Why is it here?" she wondered, reaching out to it. Anne's eyes widened.

"Fei Fei wait, don't!" she cried, grabbing Fei Fei's wrist, but at that point, it was too late. Fei Fei's fingers have already brushed the handle of the sword, and as soon as she felt the rough, rusty metal under her fingertips, it disappeared.

"Huh?" Fei Fei cried, jumping back. Anne let go of her arm, looking at the space around them frantically. The valley, the darkness, it had all disappeared. The oppressive atmosphere had dissipated, but it had been replaced with something else, something disorienting and strange that neither Anne nor Fei Fei really understood. Neither of them could say how, but the world around them kept changing.

Fei Fei shouted something that Anne didn't understand, and, searching for the only consisting thing around them right now, the two of them latched onto each other even harder than before.

"What's going on?" Anne cried. Fei Fei glanced at her.

Suddenly, what, at the time, seemed like a million people flashed in front of them. Now, in the future, Anne could recognize them:

There were those two same looking siblings, wandering around a dark forest that were much, much smaller than the woods Fei Fei and Anne were stuck in now. They seemed to be running from a huge monster that Anne and Fei Fei only met later.

There was Kipo, out in a field walking through with a smile on her face. She looked at peace, if a little lonely. Something walked through the grass by her feet, but Fei Fei and Anne couldn't see what it was.

Wirt was there, too, in the same field, but standing by an old decrepit house and peering in through a window.

Coraline was next, witting in what looked like a huge furnace. She did not look happy.

Then there was Mira, wandering around in an empty town which would soon become a makeshift sort of home to all of them.

Adam was next, and he was in the same huge, strange forest Fei Fei and Anne were currently stuck in. He was making a spear. Badly.

There was Kai, who was doing his best to blend into a town, and he already had the clothes to try and blend in, but they fit on him like he was wearing a bad Halloween costume.

Kris appeared, also in a town like Kai and Mira, but this town was destroyed. Kris was battling a huge monster that looked like a devil, looking every bit like a heroic knight.

Norman was there, and he was trying to blend in, too, but unlike Kai, Norman looked like he was blending into the background. He had a cloak and looked a little suspicious.

Tulip appeared after him, and she... was in the same town Mira was. So either they hadn't met or were going to. Tulip was opening up every single door she found, peering in, and then frowning. She appeared stressed, and like she was searching for something.

Luz was next, and she was on a sea of green, rolling hills, looking out into the distance with Six by her side. She looked nervous, and a little sad, but determined, too, and maybe a little excited.

And then there was one that Fei Fei and Anne wouldn't recognize, even now. A blonde little girl in a blue dress who was sitting in a garden of red flowers, the death flowers, Anne realized. It looked like the flowers were inside, but not in a greenhouse. It really just looked like some creepy room.

"What are these little flowers called?" the girl, probably Alice, Anne assumed in hindsight. She was speaking to the thing beside her, and Anne remembered thinking that was odd, because it looked like a creepy, empty, old rabbit costume. It didn't move or say anything for a couple seconds, so when it finally DID move, Anne and Fei Fei recoiled in surprise.

"Once, there was a boy that went through here, and he told me that they were called 'wish flowers," the dark red rabbit told her. "And some people here call them that, but mostly we here call them 'red flowers'. Very simple."

"Oh," Alice said, peering at a flower. "Where is her?"

"He decided to run away," the rabbit said, non-committedly. "There are rumours that these flowers changed the world, you know. Supposedly, they have a lot of power."

"Why did the boy decide to run away?" Alice asked, before she frowned. "Is that why you grow them?"

"You ask a lot of questions," the rabbit noted. "And I don't grow them-Well, I don't mean to grow them, anyway. They grow from... the stuff I put in the ground."

"Seeds?"

"Not exact-Well, yes, I suppose that's right," the rabbit hummed.

"Who was that boy?" Alice asked again. "Why did he run away?"

The rabbit sighed. "He called himself Danny. And, well, we had a disagreement."

Alice seemed to ponder that, but if she said anything more, they didn't hear it. The scene dissipated, and the two were back in the valley. When Anne looked down, she saw that Fei Fei had let go of the sword, but Anne was still griping Fei Fei's wrist in a death grip. At Fei Fei's wince, she let go.

"Ah... that was..." Fei Fei struggled to find the right words. Anne couldn't blame her.

"I..." Anne scratched the back of her head, bewildered. "That was a lot."

Fei Fei nodded, but then her face fell. "But still..."

"No answers to get out of here," Anne finished for her, sighing. At Fei Fei's expression, though, she hastily continued. "Don't worry, though! I'm, like, an expert at getting out of other dimensions! I've done it once."

"That's..." Fei Fei looked judgemental before she shook her head, laughing. "Hm. I guess I have to... to follow you."

"Yeah, you can trust me!" Anne told her with much more confidence than she felt. "I'll get us out of here, I promise!"

Fei Fei beamed, looking suddenly hopeful, and Anne had to stop herself from cringing. She really, really hoped it wouldn't go as bad as last time... But looking at Fei Fei's face made Anne hopeful, too, and later she'd of course learn just how smart Fei Fei was. Anne didn't need to worry about her too much.

Suddenly, Fei Fei shivered and hugged herself. She looked around. "Why are we still here?"

"Good question!" Anne realized. She glanced at the sword. "Well... don't think there's any thing left here to do, since this ended in a dead end."

"I'm hungry," Fei Fei said. "Can we...?"

"I'll get us some food," Anne promised, and with a new allegiance, the two started back towards town.

(Of course, fifteen minutes later, they were back, and finally started trying to remove the sword, something they'd forgotten to do earlier. Whoops.)

They had a lot of adventures after that, and they got a lot better at them, too. Some dangerous, some plain annoying, and some exciting. Some even helped them find other people in their same predicament. None of them helped them get closer to leaving this world, but eventually, THIS place became their world, with escaping getting less and less important. Of course, it was still very important to them, and they were always very homesick, but the two found a new home in here.

Anne and Fei Fei became close, really close. It was a little surprising to both of them. Neither were friends at first, but over time, they became closer and closer out of necessity. It was odd. Anne would trust Fei Fei with her life.

It was just like with Sprig. In her old life, Anne probably wouldn't have become friends with Sprig normally, he was too young, too childish, and Anne hung out with Marcy and Sasha. However, just because they became friends in strange situations, doesn't mean their bond wasn't just as strong as her old friendship with Marcy and Sasha. Sometimes, with both Sprig and Fei Fei, it was stronger.

Suddenly, Anne was drawn out of her thoughts by a muffled, thump. She opened her eyes, as if she'd been sleeping, and looked up to find Fei Fei staring at her through the glass. Anne smiled. Of course Fei Fei would come through for her.

"Anne!" Fei Fei yelled again, and her throat felt raw as she screamed for her friend. Her eyes were hot. She couldn't stop one tiny tear from slipping down her face. How long had it taken Fei Fei to get here? Anne looked awful: her skin was a terrifyingly blue, and it looked like she was wearing blue lipstick on her lips, but it didn't look half as nice. It didn't look like she was breathing.

When her eyes were closed, it looked like she was sleeping, but with her eyes open, it was worse, because it looked like Anne was well and truly dead, sitting on the ground and leaning on the glass like a corpse.

Fei Fei banged on the glass, yelling Anne's name again.

This time, Anne reacted, and Fei Fei froze, careful not to miss a single thing.

Anne raised her hand, and tapped her throat before dropping her hand again, closing her eyes. But it was enough. Fei Fei got what she was saying.

Fei Fei backed up, looking up at the lip of the jar. It was sealed tight, and if Fei Fei had trouble opening the jars of her own shop back at home, she had no chance of doing it when it was closed by a supersized monster.

Luckily, Fei Fei didn't need brute strength, she had smarts. Her dad was always willing to help Fei Fei open tight jars, but Fei Fei knew a couple tricks for opening it herself.

Fei Fei's go to trick was usually to use rubber bands and gloves to try and open it, but since she doubted it would work here, she started searching around for hot water. Hot water would expand the metal, hopefully enough for Anne and Fei Fei to try and open the jar.

Fei Fei suddenly frowned. She found a pot of hot water but...

She turned to Anne, determined.

"Anne, be ready!" Fei Fei called to Anne. Anne didn't react, but Fei Fei didn't try calling out again. Either Anne heard her, or she wouldn't at all.

When Anne felt the glass shake, she opened her eyes again, but it wasn't too much different from when her eyes were closed. Black spots blocked most of her vision, and the small effort of opening her eyes made her dizzy, so Anne closed them again immediately. She felt tired, and like she was going to fall asleep. She probably shouldn't but... but...

Something.

Vaguely, Anne was aware of stuff going on around her. The jar was shaking, violently. Then it was on its side. Then the entire world was turning. Then Anne's stomach dropped, or maybe Anne was the on who dropped, but-.

Suddenly, searing, white hot pain erupted around Anne, and it was like she was on fire. When Anne opened her eyes, she wasn't sure if she was supposed to be seeing anything, because all she saw was black. Oh wait, no, there were bubbles, bubbling up from somewhere below... ah, never mind, they disappeared.

Using the ladle as a lever and her own weight to pull it down and Anne's jar up. But Anne's weight was far more than her own, and it wasn't long before Fei Fei was starting to be raised again, with Anne being lowered down into the boiling pot of soup.

"No, no, no..." Fei Fei stared frantically at the ladle to Anne's jar, which was slowly sinking out of sight. Fei Fei couldn't see what was going on inside, as it was all steamed up from the soup. She had thought that Anne would be able to get up and get herself out, but as the jar got closer and closer to the soup... Fei Fei couldn't wait anymore.

As the ladle was raised, it hit a wall, buying them some time, but not enough. Fei Fei used the rest of her strength in her arms to climb up on the ladle and reach into her pouch of arrows. She quickly took one out and it into the hole in the ladle and through to the wall, holding it in place. For a short while, at least.

"Anne, I'm coming!" Fei Fei called out, running down the length of the ladle. She ran as fast as she dared, the width of the ladle wasn't very long. Anne's jar was still in the ladle, hovering just above the soup. The steam rose up around her, getting into her eyes and making the ladle slippery. As she ran, the metal underneath her socks got hotter, and even though at first it was pleasant, it grew and grew until it was a searing pain. Once, Fei Fei nearly stumbled and fell off, but she forced herself to stay on. The pain, it was like she was walking on knives, and she wanted nothing more than to make it stop. But she forced herself forward, even as her skin under her feet grew red, then eventually black.

"Gods." Fei Fei swore under her breath, and yelled another promise to Anne, more for herself than for her friend. "I'm coming."

Eventually, she got to Anne's jar, and collapsed at the lid. She couldn't feel her feet anymore, but the entire rest of her body... Fei Fei shook her head (it didn't help) and gripped the lid of the jar. Pain. Red hot pain. Fei Fei immediately let go, yelling, before latching back onto it and turning it. But her hands slid off, her sweat and the steam made her hands slip off, and the lid stayed stuck fast.

Fei Fei screamed, and her subconscious moved faster than her brain did. She grabbed more arrows from her pouch and stabbed them in, then turning those. Those arrows didn't slip off, and finally the lid turned.

Fei Fei didn't waste a beat, she kept spinning it until finally, the damn thing came off, rolling off into the boiling soup below, and Anne's eyes shot open.

"Fei-Fei Fei..." Anne wheezed, clearly in pain. Fei Fei ignored her, reaching a desperate hand out. Steam was clogging her lungs, and her insides and outside were on fire, scrapped raw.

"Hurry!" Fei Fei called out, and it was like she was forcing gravel from her lungs. Anne's eyes widened, and she weakly reached out. Fei Fei grasped it, and they both winced.

Together, they had too do it together, they were too weak to do it along, Anne climbed out of the jar and together, they made their way along the ladle, their feet burning the entire way. When Anne looked back, she saw that their bare feet were leaving footprints. A horrible stench filled the air, clogging their nose and hovering around them like flies, or vultures. It billowed around them, covering them like a thin sheet. Both Fei Fei and Anne felt sick and weak, but when they fell, it wasn't because of their sickness. A sudden, alarming SNAP! Was heard, and the arrow holding the ladle level broken, and the floor underneath their feet moved, rising up like a rocket and throwing them off like a catapult.

Fei Fei and Anne clung to each other as they flew through the air. Neither were able to scream or think or do anything, they could only watch as the wall across from them come closer and closer, until it suddenly disappeared under something brown, and Anne and Fei Fei landed on something soft, something that whisked them away to the right. Fei Fei and Anne looked at each other, bewildered. Underneath them, a bird screeched out a loud cry.

Kipo couldn't believe what she was seeing. She didn't understand it, and each passing second was like torture, for Kipo, and for Anne and Fei Fei. Perhaps she was imagining some of it, but she could see Anne and Fei Fei's agonized expressions in perfect detail. She couldn't watch this...

"I want to help them!" Kipo begged Gale suddenly, and Gale looked at her in surprise.

"Huh?"

Kipo stood up. "Pause the-Pause time! Hurry!"

Perhaps the urgency and panic in her voice managed to break through Gale's usually cool façade, because he did as she said immediately.

As soon as he did, Kipo took the case, rummaging around it.

"Tell me what these do," she asked Gale, and he seemed to lean back.

"I-What-That's not what-That's not how this game is played!" Gale spluttered out as agreement, but Kipo glared at him, taking a out a bird.

"What does this one do?" she asked. Gale seemed offended.

"What the hell are you doing-?"

"I'm HELPING them!" Kipo shouted, standing up. "This isn't a game! They're going to die!"

"..." Gale, finally, seemed to pounder for a second. "They wouldn't be able to get the flowers-."

"WHO CARES?!" Kipo shouted. "We need to help them!"

"I will," Gale sneered. He looked down to the bird. "That is the albatross, and it is supposed to carry one person around stealthily around the enemies to attack them from behind."

"I'll use it," Kipo said quickly. She shuffled around the box again, and pulled out a bear. "What about this one?"

By now, Gale had recovered enough to do his usual mysterious act, though he did so without as much confidence. "The Bear: either a curse or a blessing. Once you play the bear, it will not stop attacking, so if you can point it in the right direction, it can take out all your enemies. But keep in mind, it attacks without reason. If one of your allies are in front of it, well..."

Kipo frowned. She hesitated, before placing the bear figure beside the albatross. The next one she picked out was a horse.

Gale's eyes widened as he chuckled. "The Horse. I assume you can tell what that does."

Kipo put it on the table, and started rummaging around again. She had to make this next on carefully. The whale worked out last time, but it might not again. If she picked something like the whale again, it could mean the life and death for Fei Fei and Anne. She sorted through the wooden animals carefully.

She picked out a dog. Gale laughed.

"I see," he said. "The Dog: a person's most loyal friend. It will protect Anne and Fei Fei until the end. You chose wisely."

"No, I just guessed," Kipo corrected. "'Wisely' would imply that I got something to go on."

"Are you ready to start again?" Gale asked her. "Remember, use the animals wisely. This aren't how they're meant to be used, but you seem pretty clever. Just keep in mind, we need those flowers, or else this is all pointless."

"If my friends are alive, that's all that matters," Kipo told him. Gale sighed.

"Don't forget that gods still after you," Gale replied. "If you don't succeed here, we'll all just die later."

"...I know," Kipo said, and she sat down again as the screen started up again.

Anne groaned. "What the..." As soon as she lifted her head, she put it back down again. The wind, which was hot from all the steam in the kitchen, did not feel good against her face. "Fei Fei?"

Fei Fei leaned forward, trying to put up a hand to protect herself from the wind, but her arm felt sore, too. She, she kept it up and peered forward, hissing as the air slapped at the red skin.

"Yes... Anne?"

"Oh good, you're okay," Anne said absentmindedly. "FeI Fei, are we dead?"

"N...No, we were alive, from some... bird," Fei Fei explained, though she didn't understand any better than Anne.

"It's like an angel, huh?"

"I don't know- Sure," Fei Fei replied. Suddenly, the bird swooped down, and Fei Fei's breath caught in her throat and her stomach dropped. "What-?"

Apparently, their ride was over, because when the bird swooped down near the table, it turned, and dumped both Anne and Fei Fei off, painfully.

"Gah-Hey!" Fei Fei cried.

"Oh, god," Anne groaned. "At least it doesn't charge, right?"

Anne complained, but fei fei wasn't listening, instead staring up at something looming above them.

"Anne..." she whispered, interrupting her friend's rambles. "Anne, come on!"

"Huh? Wha-?" Fei Fei grabbed Anne's wrist and tugged her along the metal table the two of them landed on. It felt cool and nice beneath their burns but every movement was agony on their limbs. "Ow, Fei Fei, it hurts to move!"

Behind them, a large green limb that almost certainly would have killed them both slammed down behind them, shaking the table and nearly tripping up Anne and Fei Fei, but Fei Fei managed to keep them both on their feet.

When Anne looked back and saw the giant praying mantis behind them, staring at them with its big horrible eyes that would see them no matter where they tried to run too. Anne started running faster.

Fei Fei was grateful when she felt Anne pick up the pace beside her, and they both started running together. However, the good feeling didn't last long, because Fei Fei could feel the praying mantis at her back, following along closely. When she glanced back, she saw it raise a limb again. This time, it definitely wouldn't miss.

Something else suddenly caught Anne and Fei Fei's attention as they ran, as small dog that ran alongside them, easily keeping pace, which wasn't very hard as Fei Fei and Anne weren't running very fast.

"What the... What the... Is that a dog?" Anne wheezed.

Fei Fei stared at the dog, pondering it. The dog, the bird... they came out of nowhere, didn't they?

"It's Kipo, Anne!" Fei Fei shouted. "Anne, follow it!"

"Kipo... Oh, right!" Anne nodded even though Fei Fei couldn't see her. Fei Fei pulled her along, and the dog, now knowing that they were following, lead them to a place on the other side of the table, where, somehow, a horse was waiting for them.

Fei Fei and Anne were only able to exchange a quick bewildered look before the dog was playfully nipping at their heels, herding them on the horse like a sheep dog. Though it probably shouldn't have worried, because Anne and Fei Fei weren't hesitant for long. The preying mantis was almost above them, so Fei Fei and Anne were scrambling onto the horse pretty quickly.

As soon as they were on, the horse sped off, racing across the connected tabletops and leaving the giant monster in its dust. Fei Fei quickly leaned forward to grab onto its soft mane, but she probably didn't need to, as some magical inexplainable force seemed to keep her on even when she wasn't holding on. Still, she didn't let go. She didn't want to test that at all.

As the horse raced away, it bounced Anne and Fei Fei up and down, and was an altogether unpleasant experience. At the dog hadn't abandoned them, and it ran beside them joyfully, barking happily.

"Where are we going?!" Anne called out to her from her place behind Fei Fei. She was holding on, too. "Fei Fei?"

"I don't know, I can't tell!" Fei Fei called back. The wind was whistling in her eyes and ears, making it difficult for Fei Fei to make out anything around her. "Why?"

"We still need those wish flowers, Fei Fei!" Anne reminded her, and this time, Fei Fei heard her loud and clear as Anne leaned in her closer to her. Fei Fei opened her mouth to ask what 'wish flowers meant, but Anne continued before she could. "Where's this horse going?"

"I told you, I don't know!" Fei Fei shouted back.

"Lead it to the flowers then!"

"How?"

Suddenly, something flew out of the air at them. Fei Fei and Anne screamed, ducking down. At least the horse knew what it was doing, and it pranced around the giant wooden spoon that had been thrown at them. It was barely an obstacle for either the horse nor the dog, who moved around it easily. Unfortunately, though, now it seemed that every preying mantis in the kitchen was after them, and though the horse was fast, it couldn't run forever. The preying mantis' were in hot pursuit.

Fei Fei took a deep breath, and readied her wristbow, letting go of the horse as she did and taking aim. The jostling of the horse and the mind-numbing pain all over her body did not help, but through all that, she steadied the arrow as much as she could. Behind her, Anne lifted a hand, and placed it on her sword, sheathed in its belt. She clutched the handle as much as she could stand with a bloody and raw palm.

Before either of them could do anything, though, something flew at the preying mantis', a blur that neither of them could make out until it stopped on one of the monsters faces, tearing into it like it was digging a hole.

"A... A bear?" Anne called out, confused. She wasn't sure what she was asking specifically, she had a lot of questions, but Fei Fei couldn't answer any of them. Both stared at the carnage of the bear, tearing whole chunks out of the mantis' face. By this rate, the thing would be dead soon.

Both Anne and Fei Fei were so enraptured by the bear that they only looked away when something swooped by them, the large bird from earlier. When it was sure it had their attention, it turned, and flew side by side with the horse. Fei Fei and Anne glanced at each other, and exchanged an understanding.

"Fei Fei-!" Anne cried, trying to stand up on the horse, but she cut herself off as she faltered, and leapt across to the bird before she could lose her balance completely. She landed with a wince and a grunt of pain.

"Fei Fei, cover me!" Anne wheezed out as she rightened herself on the bird. It flapped its huge powerful wings and raised up in the air, and as Anne held on for dear life, she glanced back at Fei Fei, who shouted something at Anne, but Anne lost it in the wind.

"Be careful, Anne!" Fei Fei cried, but all she was left with was a blank look in Anne's eyes before the bird lifted too high. Underneath it, Fei Fei saw the bird carrying the dog in it's talons. The bird yapped at her as the dog lifted it up. Fei Fei frowned, too many thoughts circling around in her head before she forced them out, shaking her head determinedly. She turned around again, raising her wristbow to aim, but this time she forced herself to focus more, steadying the arrow as she watched Anne carefully.

The bird swooped down to the self, and this time, Anne hopped off before the bird could dump her off, hitting the self running. Pain exploded in her feet and legs, but pure adrenaline kept her going on forward, until she hit a jar with a dead kid in it with her arms up, knocking it on its side. This must have been what Fei Fei did with her jar, Anne thought absentmindedly.

Oddly enough, the jar didn't roll when it was on its side, at least not until Anne pushed at it, rolling it to the edge. Anne needed it open, and Fei Fei did thatby dumping it into the soup, so Anne pushed the jar to the edge of the shelf at the spot where a boiling pot waited far below.

Every few second, Anne could hear a body thump against the sides of the glass. She ignored it.

Suddenly, a sudden bark brought her out of her thoughts, and Anne looked to her side to see the dog by her, waving it's tail and sticking out its tongue. Anne was more of a cat person, but she smiled anyway.

"Oh, hey, dude..." she gasped, and she had to stop pushing the jar to catch her breath after those few words strained her entire body. After catching her breath, she looked to the dog again. "What are you doing here? How'd you get up here?"

The dog barked again and Anne shrugged. A mystery for another day.

"Here, help me roll this thing into the soup," Anne ordered the dog, getting back in position herself, but now that she said it out loud, something bugged her about that plan. Anne frowned. "Wait... Why would I dump it in the soup? Then I wouldn't be able to get it! If I just have to open this thing, and I don't have to worry about the body inside, so I can just shatter it! Ugh, why didn't I think of that first!"

Despite feeling really stupid, Anne didn't waste time berating herself, instead moving so she could steer the jar around to a place where it wouldn't fall in soup. A bit of a tall order, considering most of the place under the self was a stove covered in soup, but if Anne moved the jar a little to the left...

Before Anne could start though, something hit the wall next to Anne, and Anne saw the bear slide down the wall. A hit like that almost certainly looked like it would kill the thing, but the bear got up mere seconds after the hit, shaking its head and growling. It turned to Anne.

"Oh good, you're here. Are you gonna help, too? Well-," Anne glanced at the little dog. "I say 'too', but one of you isn't helping at all."

The dog woofed, just happy to be here.

Meanwhile, the bear stepped forward, and Anne instantly stepped back from the jar, her smile fading. She had met many dangerous, and many nice creatures in Amphibia, and at this point, Anne knew how to tell the difference. Normally, Anne wouldn't say she's afraid of bears, but at this moment, as the bear stepped forward and Anne stepped back, she couldn't help but feel like every unprepared human in the presence of a powerful, and wild, animal. Anne took out her sword. She couldn't help but notice, in the corner of her eye, that the dog had moved closer to her, and was growling protectively, like the bear.

"What's going on...?" Anne asked it lowly, carefully. She raised her sword protectively as her back hit the jar, nowhere left to run. "I thought... weren't you on our side?"

As if that was the trigger it was waiting for, the bear lunged.

"Anne!" Fei Fei cried from where she was watching closely. On instinct, she fired an arrow, but the horse jostled underneath her, moving her arm.

On Anne's end, she saw that arrow, but only briefly, as it buried itself harmlessly in the creatures flesh, barely making a dent in the bear's side. The dog lunged, too, in front of Anne, ready to protect her, and Anne angled her sword. She was skilled with a sword, she knew that, and she managed to make it so it blocked the bears lethal claws.

But Anne and her sword skills were no match for a bears might, and when the bear hit her, it managed to toss her, the jar, and the dog right off the side of the shelf, as well as ripping the sword from her hands and throwing it over to the side. Anne grabbed for it, but as if the world had suddenly switched to slow motion, the fell just out of reach.

Just like that, the world sped up again, and Anne and the dog fell into the pot.

Anne and the dog hit the boiling liquid with a scream and a howl, while the jar hit the edge of the pot, cracking it, before it fell into the soup, and the heat shattered the thing completely, showering the inside of the pot with glass.

As Anne surfaced, she screamed. All over her body... knives... steam clouded her vision... Anne couldn't feel anything but white... the liquid around her red... the smell... the popping and cracking of her flesh...she screamed again.

Beside her, something surfaced, but all Anne could see of it was the flower. The flower, of course! Wish flower....

Anne scooped it up, and on the other side of her, the dog, she picked it up, too. She placed the flower in the dog's mouth and it bit onto it, nearly devouring it. Anne told it not to do that... or maybe she didn't. Could she even speak anymore?

Anne looked up. She was in a small pot, but it still dwarfed her. Above her, high above her, the bear was still on its shelf, somehow managing to avoid Anne's fate. But it didn't stay there long, soon, it was jumping after the preying mantis that appeared for a split second before the bear forced it back out of view. Anne watched for a long time, but nothing appeared again. Eventually, she moved.

Standing on her tiptoes, Anne managed to hook a hand around the top of the pot. Almost immediately, it started steaming, but Anne hardly noticed at this point. She used her other hand and the rest of her strength to lift the dog and the flower up, and over the edge of the pot.

With that done, she wrapped her other hand over the edge, too, but she did get to do anything else. The world suddenly went dark, and Anne fell backwards, landing in the hot liquid. She sunk quickly; no fight from Anne to stay afloat.

It felt nice.

Anne raised a hand up, through the water. She was dying, or was she already dead.

'Sprig. Marcy. Sasha. Fei Fei. Everyone. I...'

'I'm...'

"ANNE!" Fei Fei screamed. "NO!"

Fei Fei took the horses hair, ignoring how the sharp locks cut through red fingers and yanked it. Her mind worked quickly, and she forced the horse around to the washing board, where she and Anne came up in the first place. As she rode, she scooped up a sword, Anne's sword, lying on the table and held it up high, like a warning. The handle was slippery and wet, but Fei Fei was gripping it so tight it hardly mattered. The horse thundered down the washing board, and now that they were on the ground, Fei Fei steered it around to the nearest preying mantis. She wove the horse between its legs, using the sword to lash out, just like Anne would have done, as Fei Fei had seen her do a thousand times, cutting the legs carefully and precisely. When Fei Fei finished, she stopped the horse a short distance away, looking up.

The giant preying mantis fell exactly as she expected it to, falling against the stove and knocking the pot down to the floor, spilling its contents all over the floor. Immediately, Fei Fei took the horse and rode to the soup. As soon as the horse rode on the soup, it neighed in pain and forced itself away. Fei Fei didn't care, though, she jumped off its back and ran into the soup, not carry about the pain, barely even feeling it.

Anne was immediately recognizable from the meat and vegetable, but other than her limbs and human shape, there was nothing there to say she was Anne. Her hair, her clothes, her facial features had all been burned off, and now she was a black husk, just, lying there.

Still, Fei Fei ran to her, but she didn't get far. Something suddenly scooped her up, and Fei Fei saw it was the preying mantis.

"No... NO!" Fei Fei cried, and she struggled against it, lashing out at the limbs with the sword. But unlike before, her strength had bled away, and she might as well have been lying still for all the good she was doing. The preying mantis paid her struggle no mind, taking her outside of the little kitchen and throwing her out gracelessly. As Fei Fei hit the floor, bouncing once, the giant door closed, and Anne disappeared from Fei Fei's sight.

"No... ANNE!" Fei Fei screamed, but as she tried to get up, her injuries caught up to her, and she curled into herself as her body screamed. Tears streamed down her face as she struggled. Get up. Get UP! "No... no..."

The cool metal handle of the sword rested under Fei Fei's fingertips. It felt nice under her fingertips but that hardly registered. Nothing registered. Her burns, the pain of the fall, Anne... she felt none of it, nor anything of the outside world. It was like everything had just stopped, and Fei Fei was only just concisions enough to notice it, but nothing else. She could have been anywhere in the world right now, and it wouldn't have mattered.

Anne... Anne was...

As if that shattered the spell, a strike hit Fei Fei like a wave, and she curled into herself, clenching her eyes shut as she physically tried to force the thought away. Anne... Anne....

Something touched her shoulder, and Fei Fei winced, turning just barely to recognize the shape of the animal standing above her. Fei Fei's eyes widened, and her hand lifted, gently touching the dog's snout. It didn't move.

Fei Fei threw herself at the dog, sobbing into it, and it let her, not moving a muscle. As Fei Fei squeezed it, she must have been hurting it, but she barely knew it was there any more.

"Anne saved you, she saved you..." Fei Fei leaned back, cupping the dogs face as she stared at it, looking for answers through her blurry vision, her eyes filled with the tears streaming down her cheeks. As she sobbed, she coughed out questions to the dog, demands for answers, a plea for anything, but the dog didn't react. Still, Fei Fei asked, though forcing every sentence out was like spitting gravel. It turned her throat raw and sore cut her tongue. "WHY...?! Why did Anne save you...?"

Fei Fei reached forward, and with the hand that wasn't cupping the dogs face, she took the red flower out of its mouth, holding it in her fingers, staring at it. "Why... Why..."

Suddenly, as if it hated her, the dog disappeared from underneath her palm, and when Fei Fei glanced up, it was nowhere in sight. Had it... run away? Ceased to exist? Just left?

Fei Fei stared at the spot it had been. The dog that Anne had worked so hard to save, had pretty much traded her life for, it was gone! As if it had never existed in the first place!

"NO!" Fei Fei cried, and she collapsed on the ground again, clutching the flower, and Anne's sword close to her. As she sobbed, she couldn't stop remembering, couldn't stop asking.

"Why has this happened? How could it have happened?"

"Anne... we were supposed to go home together..."