The Mighty Frog

by Guy Bass

  “King Kroak?” repeated Kryl, as the traceship jetted into the sky. “Impossible! This ship will never make it all the way to Kroakas. We’d need a farship with enough stasis pods to—”

  “Kroakas? Who said anything about going to Kroakas?” laughed General Kurg. “The King is not as far away as you think.”

  Frog saw the colour drain from Kryl’s face.

  “General, please don’t do this!” she pleaded. “If you hand Frog over to King Kroak, you’ll be sentencing him to death!”

  “By the Boot of Oppression, death will be the least of his worries when King Kroak gets his hands on him,” replied the general.

  “Pfff – don’t worry, Kryl, I’ll defeat the cheese out of General Kurg any second now,” said a defiant Frog, although nothing sprung to mind. He didn’t even have his invincible sword or sunder-gun, never mind an excellent and bold-venturous plan. He peered out of the pilot’s view-screens as the traceship climbed higher, beyond the layer of black smoke, soaring upwards until it was clear of the clouds. Then, in the far distance, Frog spotted something glistening. He peered closer.

  It was a waterfall, tumbling down through the sky.

  “What the … what?” he muttered. “I know that waterfall…”

  “Baa?” bleated Sheriff Explosion.

  “I fell down that waterfall! That’s how I ended up in Kingdomland,” Frog continued in a whisper. “But that means…”

  “General!” cried the traceship pilot. “There’s something up ahead. It’s not registering on my scanners, but … it’s everywhere!”

  Above them, floating in mid-air, was a vast ocean of water. It stretched for miles in every direction, glinting silver in the sunlight.

  “No way,” muttered Frog. “Is that… Is that the Inbetween?”

  “By the Plunder, go through it! We have a schedule to keep,” growled General Kurg. The traceship ploughed into the water with a jarring thud. In less than a moment, they were submerged.

  “Silly water… You can’t have sea in the sky,” noted Princess Rainbow, watching a school of whistle fish swim past the view-screen. “It must have gotted lost.”

  “I can see the surface, General,” assured the pilot. “We should be clear in a few seconds.”

  Frog tapped his fingertips together.

  “Wait a miniscule, I think I just— Yep! I just thought of a plan … and it might be my most excellent and bold-venturous plan yet,” he whispered. “Come on, everybody – we’re leaving.”

  “Baa?” bleated Sheriff Explosion.

  “Clamp it, you deviants!” hissed Kroop, pointing his sunder-gun. “I thought I told you to shut your communication holes!”

  “And I told you I was going to defeat the bumbles out of you,” replied Frog. He activated his kroak cloak, disappearing in front of Kroop and Krud’s eyes.

  “He’s cloaked!” cried Kroop. “Shoot him!”

  “How can I, if I can’t see him?” howled Krud. “You shoot him!”

  “I’m not shooting if you’re not shooting!” yelled Kroop. “We’ll shoot together! One … two…”

  “Three!” shouted the invisible Frog. He ducked as both sentries fired at what they thought was Frog … and blasted each other across the room.

  “Who’s firing? We’re in a pressurized container, by Kroakas!” barked General Kurg from the cockpit.

  Frog reappeared. He scooped up Sheriff Explosion and grabbed one of the sentry’s fallen sunder-guns. He turned to Kryl and grinned. Then he took aim at the cockpit window.

  “Oh no,” Kryl whispered, grabbing Princess Rainbow. “Take a deep breath, Princess!”

  “Who wants to go for a swim?” grinned Frog – and pulled the trigger.

  The Return to the Island

  A bolt of energy shot out from Frog’s sunder-gun, shattering the cockpit window. There was a deafening FWHUUSH! as a torrent of water rushed into the traceship. General Kurg and the pilot took the brunt of the force and were slammed against the back wall. Frog hung on to his sheep as the churning water battered and buffeted him. In seconds, the traceship was totally flooded.

  Frog steadied himself, remembering how to breathe underwater. He spotted Kryl, swimming towards the shattered cockpit as she clung to Princess Rainbow. Frog pushed off against a wall – grabbing Man-Lor by the loincloth as the barbarian floated helplessly by – and rushed through the hole.

  Frog looked up and saw sunlight glinting on the surface of the water. With another few kicks, he propelled himself and his passengers to the surface, bursting out of the water with a POOSHH!

  “Baa!” bleated Sheriff Explosion in terror.

  Frog held his sheep tightly as Man-Lor spat out mouthfuls of water.

  “Hold still, Sheriff! I’ve got you!” cried Frog, the waves lapping against his face. A moment later, Kryl burst out of the water with a gasping Princess Rainbow.

  “That was your excellent plan?” cried Kryl. “We could have been killed!”

  “Bad Greeny!” gasped Princess Rainbow.

  “Wasn’t it awe-mazing?” laughed Frog, an excited school of whistle fish dancing out of the water around him. “Sometimes I’m so mighty … it’s…”

  Frog trailed off. He’d seen something in the distance – a small island in the water.

  “That island … that’s my island,” he muttered. “I knew it! This is the Inbetween!”

  “What’s the in-bee-teen?” coughed Princess Rainbow.

  “It’s home! My home!” replied Frog. “This is an even more excellent plan than I planned … everyone follow me!”

  “Baa!” bleated Sheriff Explosion, as Frog began to swim, holding the panicking sheep above the water.

  Man-Lor and Kryl followed behind, with Princess Rainbow clinging to Kryl’s neck. Finally, they reached the shore and struggled on to dry land.

  “Baa!” bleated Sheriff Explosion again, springing on to the soil with relief.

  Frog stared up at the house. It was exactly as he’d left it only a month ago. The Kroakans had ignored the island – that meant Buttercup was safe! He could almost smell the burpy turnips boiling away… Almost hear his best friend singing tuneless lullabies as she stirred the cooking pot.

  “Buttercup!” Frog cried. “It’s me! It’s Frog!”

  “Frog, wait,” began Kryl. “I have to tell you some—”

  “Baa!”

  At the terrified bleat of his trusty steed, Frog spun around. General Kurg’s traceship had emerged from the Inbetween, water cascading from its hull. It hovered ominously in the air a few paces from the shore. Through the blasted cockpit Frog saw General Kurg at the controls.

  “You just can’t keep a good traceship down!” the general roared, as the ship’s sunder-cannons glowed with green energy.

  “Everybody, move!” cried Frog. “He’s going to—”

  The sunder-beams’ shrieks filled the air. Frog prepared for the worst – but the beams passed straight over his head … blowing the house into a thousand pieces.

  The Truth About Buttercup

  “UUuuuhHRRRF!” cried Frog, blown off his feet by the force of the explosion. He skidded to a halt on the shore and lay there for a moment, his ears ringing.

  “Buh… Buttercup?” Frog murmured, looking up at the house. It was gone – reduced to flaming rubble. He struggled to his feet and began stumbling towards it. “BUTTERCUP!”

  Frog clambered over the burning wreckage, blinded by smoke and ash. He heaved chunks of wood and brick, desperately calling Buttercup’s name. Princess Rainbow and Man-Lor joined in, scouring the ruins. Even Sheriff Explosion tried to help, clopping awkwardly over the rubble and bleating loudly.

  “Consider that your final warning, O Prince,” said a voice.

  Frog turned to see the traceship land roughly on the shore. The door slid open and General Kurg strode down the steps. “Now, get back on the traceship. King Kroak is waiting for you.”

  “You… You killed her! You killed Buttercup!” Frog screamed in rage, his eyes fl
ooding red.

  General Kurg drew his sunder-gun but Frog was too fast – he drew his own gun and fired, blasting the general’s weapon from his hands. Frog’s finger hovered over the trigger again … but this time he aimed at the general’s head.

  “Frog, wait!” cried Kryl. “Don’t do it!”

  “Listen to your Keeper, O Prince!” cried General Kurg. “Let’s not do anything rash…”

  “He killed my best friend!” Frog howled, tears welling in his eyes. “And I’m going to kill him back!”

  “But he didn’t kill her!” cried Kryl, as Frog began to squeeze the trigger. “Look!”

  Frog’s eyes flashed towards Kryl. He saw her vanish – to be replaced by a shimmering haze. A moment later someone else entirely emerged. A human someone, with kindly brown eyes and a rosy-lipped smile spreading across a plump, pink face. Frog’s mouth fell open.

  “Buttercup…?” he blurted. “How did… Where did you… What the bumbles?”

  “Magic!” cried Princess Rainbow excitedly.

  “Not quite … kroak cloak,” said Buttercup. She turned to Frog. “I’m Kroakan, just like you, Frog. I should have told you, but…”

  “You’re Kryl? I mean, you’re Buttercup? I mean, you’re ButterKryl?” Frog rambled, lowering his sunder-gun.

  “It’s a long story, Frog, and it began before we ever came to this island,” explained Buttercup. The air shimmered again, and in an instant Buttercup became Kryl once more. “Back when the farship crashed in the lake of the royal palace, back when you were still an egg. I told you that you had floated out of the ship … that I had lost you. But in fact I saw Princess Rainbow pluck the egg out of the water and take it back to the palace.”

  “It’s not my fault you looked like treasure,” tutted the princess.

  “I had to get you back,” continued Kryl. “I used the farship’s lexicron to absorb the native language, the kroak cloak to disguise myself as a human, and the UnSlumber to infiltrate the King and Queen’s dreams and persuade them that they needed a new loyal subject. Once inside, I waited for an opportunity to steal back the egg, but it didn’t come until the rarewolf attacked the castle.”

  “The rarewolf?” uttered Frog. “He thought I was going to make the world end, so he wanted to eat me.”

  “In the commotion, I stole back the egg and fled,” continued Kryl. “But a few hours later, the rarewolf tracked down my scent. He would have swallowed you there and then, but I begged him not to. He agreed to spare your life on one condition: that you never set foot in Kingdomland. He used his power over the winds to carry us to the Inbetween, to the island in the sky … and left us there.”

  “I don’t get it,” Frog said. “If you couldn’t tell me I was a Kroakan prince, why did you tell me I was a prince at all?”

  “I had to tell you something! I had denied you your destiny,” Kryl sighed. “You were born to rule. You are a son of— Look out!”

  Frog spun around. He saw General Kurg leaping towards him, his massive fist swinging towards his head…

  …And then the world turned to black.

  The Return to the UnSlumber

  “WUuUH?”

  Frog opened his eyes. He sat up and looked around. He was lying on a long, raised bed in a round room, lit green like the inside of a traceship. “Where the bumbles am I?”

  Frog hopped off the bed and spotted a circular black door at the far end of the chamber. He made his way towards it, and the door opened like a blossoming flower. Frog wandered through.

  “Yoiks!”

  He was standing at the top of a great tower, higher than any mountain he’d ever seen. Far below him Frog saw row after row of armoured Kroakan troopers – an army, poised and ready for battle. Behind them stood hundreds of bipods, the Kroakan’s towering, tentacled machines of war. And in the air above them hovered a fleet of deadly traceships.

  “Hail, Frog!” the army chanted in unison.

  “Hail … me?” Frog whispered.

  “So it would seem,” said a voice.

  Frog turned, and his jaw fell open. Behind him in the open doorway, he saw a cloaked figure, shrouded in shadow. Atop the figure’s head, Frog noticed the silhouette of a spiked crown.

  “K-king Kroak?” he muttered, his blood running cold.

  “At your service! Not literally – I mean, I am the ruler of the universe,” replied King Kroak. “I just thought I’d drop in and say ‘Hi’.”

  “Drop in?” said Frog. He slapped his forehead with his hand. “Oh bumdrops, this is the UnSlumber, isn’t it? I’m asleep and you’re mentally sticking your nose into my dream business… Ugh! UnSlumbering’s just a way to give people bad news without actually having to face their face.”

  “You may have a point there,” laughed King Kroak. “But once you can enter the dreams of others, you can do all sorts of clever stuff. Like convincing those weak-minded natives to free General Kurg and the troopers you imprisoned…”

  “You did that?” blurted Frog, as King Kroak stepped out of the gloom. “No fair! It took me days to catch all those—”

  Frog gasped. Not only was King Kroak suddenly much smaller, but he was also Frog’s exact double. It was like looking in a mirror.

  “Yoiks!” cried Frog.

  The King inspected his hands. “How about that?” he said. “In your dreams, I, the supreme ruler of the entire universe, look exactly like you. Talk about big-headed…”

  “Look, can we do this later? I really need to wake up,” huffed Frog. “I’ve got a whole world to save thanks to you.”

  “Save? You really got your brain stunk,” the King laughed. “I’m going to be honest with you, Frog. After all the trouble you’ve caused I would have been happy to see you disintegrated. I mean, fighting against the Kroakan army! That is not the sort of behaviour I expect from a son of mine. But then I decided to poke around your dreams. I’ve been visiting you in the UnSlumber for days now.”

  “What? Stay out of my sleeps, you weirdo!” Frog growled.

  “Did you know you’ve been having this same dream for five nights running? This great army you see before you … this is the dream of a conqueror,” said King Kroak. “We’re more alike than you realize, Frog. I’ve decided there’s hope for you yet. I’m giving you a second chance.”

  “Wait, I don’t want all this – it’s just a stupid dream!” snapped Frog. “I’m nothing like you! I’m anti-conquering and anti-slaying.”

  “Pfff – I just tripped over a memory of you trying to execute General Kurg,” replied King Kroak. “Doesn’t seem very anti-slaying to me.”

  “That’s … that’s different,” Frog said.

  “No, you’re different … different from my other nine hundred and ninety-nine sons,” said King Kroak, taking another step towards him. “Look, Frog, I’ll explain everything in good time, but all you need to know for now is that I plan to rule this universe forever … and for that I need you. So, you must allow General Kurg to bring you to me.”

  “Not a chance! If you want me you’ll have to come and get me yourself,” cried Frog.

  “Oh no … you’ll not catch me setting foot on some alien planet,” King Kroak began, wagging his finger. “All that dust. Come on, you must have noticed … millions upon millions of tiny little particles, floating around, getting into your noseholes … being all … dusty. I prefer to do my conquering from a distance.”

  “You’re bonkers,” said Frog. “And I’m not going anywhere!”

  King Kroak took a deep breath and then rolled his neck until it cracked.

  “Fine. I’ll come to you.” The King’s expression hardened. “But when I get there, I’m going to blow that world of yours into a million dusty pieces, right in front of your face.”

  The King pointed towards the sky as the world turned to shadow. At first Frog thought the sky was falling, but then he realized it was a ship – a vast saucer-shaped spaceship, hundreds, perhaps thousands of times bigger than any traceship Frog had ever seen. A city i
n the sky.

  “What the—” Frog began.

  “Look to the skies, Frog! I’m coming for you!” cried King Kroak.

  With that, he shoved Frog off the top of the tower.

  “WUUuAAAAAAA—!”

  The Rescue

  “—AaAARGH!”

  Frog sat up and opened his eyes. He was back in the real world – on the island in the Inbetween – and Sheriff Explosion was frantically bleating at him.

  “Now – ow! – what?” groaned Frog, rubbing a bump on his head. Not far from the wrecked house, Frog saw General Kurg, sunder-gun in hand once more, closing in on his friends.

  “Go ’way, horrid ay’lun!” cried Princess Rainbow, stamping up and down.

  Frog struggled to his feet but a rush of blood to the head sent him tumbling back to the ground. He saw his sunder-gun lying a few paces away and reached out for it – but the general had already taken aim at Princess Rainbow.

  “No!” uttered Frog. Then he felt something he hadn’t felt for weeks.

  A tingle in his toes.

  “What the … what?” he said.

  A bolt of lightning struck the traceship behind General Kurg. The ship exploded in a great fireball, sending shards of metal flying through the air. As black clouds gathered above them and rain began to pour, another bolt struck the ground between the general and Princess Rainbow.

  “Kroak’s teeth! It’s happening again! The planet’s turning on me!” cried General Kurg, stumbling back.

  As more lightning streaked down from the sky, the general raced to the Inbetween, diving under the water to avoid the strikes. Frog looked up. Through the driving rain he saw something fléoat down from the sky.

  It was a large house, built from blue stone.