Hello people!

I hope you enjoy this chapter of the episode (with the little bits of lore drop) and also the scene set after the episode.  *wink wink*

remember to vote pLEASE

let's get to it!

(warning: this is long asf)

-

Valerie sat on the familiar bird, Joe Sparrow, who currently flew along the sky with the whole group on the seat. Well, everyone but Hop-Pop, who was in a sling that was across the bird like a sweater, and he was in a pocket on his chest.

The group were all currently dressed in winter clothing. All with different color schemes. The brunette wore what seemed to be a thin, puffy jacket, in a kind of orange-yellow color, with thick, black pants underneath it. As well as a dark green beanie with a light green pom-pom.

"hey look, Wooly Mantises!" The pink frog boy called out as he looked down on the giant mantises below them. All of the groups eyes shifted, before the bird flew ahead till they were out of sight.

The bird landed soon after-- but decided to land on ice, which wasn't the best decision. He immediately started to stumble over his own feet, both him and the people on him landing on a nearby snowbank.

Valerie was the first to come up, and she let out a sigh, letting her eyelids drop to make an exasperated expression. "welp, probably wasn't a good idea to land that fast on a frozen lake- or whatever we're on. Could've ended with all of us dying horribly."

Marcy came up next, and responded quickly to the girl, but she didn't turn her head to look at her. "yeah I'll admit I was a little too careless with the reins there, whoops."

As the other's heads starting to pop up through the cold ice, Marcy put her hands up and gestured to the general area they were all in, her big smile returning onto her face. "Welcome to the Amphibian Arctic, everyone!"

Simultaneous sounds of wonder escaped the group as several pair of eyes scanned the world around them. It was... cold, and snowy, and there were lots of trees around as you could imagine. That and mountains all behind them, adding to the whole vibe even more.

"I triangulated the position from the green stone and," Marcy pulled out a pencil case with hamburgers on it as a pattern, picking out the green stone and immediately being met with a bright laser being emitted, which just so happened to point straight at Hop-Pop's head, the old frog had gotten out of the snow.

"hop-pop, move," Polly said quickly.

"oh," Hop-Pop chuckled, his stare blank. "sorry." He then moved as rather than stepping to the side like a normal frog, he layed down on his stomach, therefore clearing the path for the laser which seemed endless from where they were.

"The second temple must be right through there!" Anne exclaimed, pointing to the general direction of the laser which pointed through some trees.

"Wow, you're a genius!" Valerie replied sarcastically from behind view, causing Anne's face to drop as she just shook her head with joking disapproval at the slightly immature brunette's joke.

As the group did make it through the trees, it was found that the green gem was pointing to some kind of blue stone at the top of an old, stone archway. As the laser was this close, there were runes in the ancient amphibian language that got brighter and blue-er.

"Just beyond these snowy gates, a grueling, perilous temple awaits." Marcy read out with her eyes narrowed, tucking the gem somewhere into the back of her light blue coat.

"Uh, no it doesn't." Polly said, referring to the whole lot of nothing that was behind it.

"hm, weird." Marcy said with a hand on her chin to signal intense confusion.

"Could it be invisible?" A certain pink frog boy chirped out as he leaped forward with enthusiasm. He smiled and reached out a hand, trying to feel where it could be. He also tried leaning against it which resulted in him falling over.

"All the ancient texts about this temple were vague," The noirette seemed to now be trying to reason with herself. "They just mentioned the word heart a lot."

Valerie smiled. Of course she already knew what this temple was about, what the tasks goals were and even that Anne had to learn about her gem here, of course, Gold was her insight into magic and was the overseer of the gems. All she knew is that she could hang back for a lot of this.

But she couldn't bear to see her future girlfriend all confused about it.

So, the brunette did the only reasonable thing, walking up to her and casually slinging an arm around her shoulder as she checked her nails. "well, you don't have to get all worried about it, I'm sure we'll find the temple," the girl placed two fingers on the girl's arms, walking them up, "finish all the tasks," as she reached Marcy's face, she playfully tapped her nose. "charge up the stone and get home to finish the other temples."

The Taiwanese girl just squeaked, not only at the contact, but the way Valerie was smirking at her with almost siren like eyes made her heart race. She was red in the cheeks, and it was even worse because the group was in the cold.

She just stammered, unable to get proper words out.

Before Valerie could tease her further, there was a particularly old looking bird that flew past. Anne pointed, quickly exclaiming "Hey, wait! I know that bird!"

The group immediately started to follow, and you could almost hear Marcy sigh as Valerie's arms left her. Would that be one of relief or disappointment? We may never know.

They all came to a stop as the bird landed on some kind of shop.

Sprig shifted his eyes to look at the sign with the shop name, and his eyes widened as he recognized it. "Valeriana? Anne, didn't we meet her in the Bizzare Bizaar?" He asked his best friend, looking up at her.

"Yeah, oh!" Anne said as she put up a finger into the air, signalling that she'd just remembered something. "And she said she's been all over amphibia, right? Maybe she's seen the temple."

The group approached the stand, and while some had hope, it was quickly replaced with mingled disappointment and anger-- especially from Anne, as she spotted sign reading 'out to lunch.'

"ugh, why is she always out to lunch?!"

"Because it's the most important meal of the day!" A deep, feminine voice called out from behind them. Comical gasps were received from the surprise as Valeriana appeared from behind a tree, staff in hand.

"it's been a while, creature," she said, referring to Anne. "what brings you here? Do you by chance," she spun her cane dramatically before pointing it towards the blue-wearing girl. "seek a temple to charge an ancient stone?"

"oh yes!" Anne said, smiling despite the cane being so close to her. "you know about the stones?'

"Indeed, but do you really think you are worthy?"

"well, yeah," Anne replied, only for Marcy to slide up beside her and slide an arm around her shoulders adding on "totally!" before Valerie did the same on the other side of the girl, saying a quick, "heck yeah we are!"

"We shall see."

Valeriana's face seemed to darken. Marcy didn't take notice of it, simply excitedly extending her hand out to the old newt. "Oh, I'm Marcy, BT-dubs."

"Uh nice to meet you." she responded, shaking the hand with her tail.

There were a chorus of introductions that came after, yet Valerie didn't open her mouth.

That didn't go unnoticed however, in fact Valeriana turned to the brunette and smiled. "And don't think I've forgotten about you. It's lovely to see you in any way, shape, or form, young Valerie."

The girl mentioned simply smiled and made two fists, placing them together before bowing respectfully, her hair moving as she did. The noirette next to her looked at her with confusion, blinking a couple of times. "uh, do you-"

"I have never met that woman in my life," She half-lied in response, before replacing her face with another smile.

-

I'm skipping the next scene because Valerie isn't involved. Basically Valeriana is the maker of the music box, the last of an ancient society, and they have to climb a mountain to get to the temple. Oh, and Valerie kept her coat rather than taking the Caterpillar ones, because she's wearing more layers than the others (plus she runs hot) so she insists that she'll be fine.

-

Valeriana shouted from her position above the climbers to hurry up, ushering them and quietly insulting their laziness. Valerie did seem to be a bit ahead of them though, standing on the ledge below Valeriana and helping the others up.

She took Marcy's hand, smiling and helping to pull her onto the ledge. The noirette quickly thanked her, giggling a bit at the chivalrous bow the brunette gave her in return.

"Come on guys, we're almost there!" Anne said, trying to encourage everyone around her and not bring them down like the newt was doing. However, a quick whistle was all it took for a red bird with pitch black eyes to land near the squad.

Anne and the Plantars were leaning back, screaming their heads off, while Marcy was smiling with curiosity and Valerie was looking to the others with confused faces.

"why are you all yelling, it's a bird. Get over it."

"oh relax, everyone." Marcy smiled, looking back as the screaming seemed to subside, Valerie rubbing her ears to try and stop the ringing. "it's just a cardinal. they don't eat frogs," she walked closer to the ledge, and Valerie seemed to switch from chill to alert, stepping closer and somehow feeling something was about to happen. "she's just saying hello-"

Before Marcy could finish, she was scooped up into the birds beak, who flew up just a bit, causing the girl to let out a shriek of surprise-- you could tell she didn't expect that. Anne, worriedly, exclaimed her name.

I know I'm supposed to hang back, Valerie said to Gold in her head. But-

Yeah yeah yeah, don't be stupid, save your girlfriend. Character development is important, Anne will have more chances later.

Valerie's lips upturned into a lopsided smirk, her eyes shadowed by her hair as she glared up at the bird. Her aqua eyes flashed with the familiar color of gold. She moved her neck to one side, which made an audible cracking sound and seemed to trigger something.

It did, the bird seemed to freeze and loosen it's jaw, letting Marcy go in the process. Valerie rushed to catch her, and a gold aura started appearing around said bird before it fell down into the snowy abyss below.

"You alright, Marbles?" The brunette asked the girl in her arms, who seemed suspisciously red in the face from the way their faces were still pretty close with the way she was being held. She recieved a quick "O-Oh! yeah, I think so..." which resulted in her being put down and steadied.

Sprig looked down where the bird must have fallen, confused, raising where his eyebrow would be. "I wonder what the bird wanted, I mean, it's not like it's a flesh eater... right?"

A lightbulb seemed to click in Marcy's head as she quickly clicked her fingers. "It must've wanted our coats! Cardinals eat caterpillars." she paused for a second, letting a hum escape her throat and putting a hand on her chin. "Also, did any of you notice that weird glowing aura around her? I'll be honest, I'm a little creeped out."

Valerie, who was behind her, took a few steps towards the cliff they still had to climb and shrugged before looking back to the others. "well, I wouldn't worry too much about it. I mean, you're alive, aren't you, Mars? Let's just keep moving."

If you moved up, you'd see Valeriana with a twinkle in her eye, looking down at the brunette who had started to climb the cliff's face, taking off at a faster speed then the others.

"My my, it seems we have a worthy protector on our hands."

-

"It's so fortunate that the music box fell into such... average hands," Valeriana said as she walked along, sparing a glance back towards the group of teens and frogs behind her. "How did it come into your possession?"

"Uh..." Anne trailed off, looking to her friends beside her for confirmation if she should tell the old newt. Marcy made disapproving noises, moving her shaking her head and moving a hand to cut across the air in front of her neck, Valerie doing the same but instead of making noises just mouthing 'no' over and over again. Even Gold in her head was basically saying "don't, dear frog, you'll all be screwed."

"You know, I don't remember how we got it." Anne replied quickly, hoping the topic would be brushed off as nothing and wouldn't be pressed any further.

Luckily, before anything else was said, the ground started to rumble. However, it only lasted no more than a few seconds before the ground below them steadied again, and it was quiet for a moment. Like everything was just magically back to normal.

"Uh, what was that?" Polly asked unsurely, looking side to side with a mingled vibe of concern and confusion.

"Oh, nothing much, just an avalanche," Valeriana replied rather calmly for after a natural disaster just happened that close to them while they were all surrounded with snow that could gather up on them any minute.

"WHAT?!" everyone except Valerie exclaimed. The brunette just seemed like she didn't care and already had her eyes on the mountain where the assumed the avalanche was forming. She sighed as Sprig yelled for everybody to run, only to be stopped by Valeriana.

"shush, you loud little frog baby!"

Before anyone knew it, there were cracking sounds starting to pierce the air. Snow started falling from the mountain the aqua-eyed-girl already had her eyes on, causing her to say a soft "called it," to no one in particular.

"phew, looks like it's heading away from us," the warmly-dressed newt said with a sigh of relief. However, said relief was short lived, because Anne seemed to pause and look to a little igloo-style hut that seemed quite lively, and felt the need to point it out.

"wait, look! what about that little hut! it looks like someone's inside! We have to save them!" the Thai girl said with panic laced through her usually laid-back tone of voice. She looked to Valeriana with wide eyes.

The woman looked at her like she was just purely dense for the idea. "How? By running towards  an avalanche?" She threw her tail up like a human would their hands to exaggerate her point, keeping her thick, scottish like accent prominent. "they are lost, child, I say we press on."

"Yeah, Anne, I kinda gotta agree with her here," Valerie looked to the avalanche, which was rapidly approaching. "I mean, that's really not the best way to kill yourself-"

"Nuts to that!" Anne said after seeming to pause and think about both of the girl's words for a moment. She ran off at full speed, not even glancing back as everyone yelled out her name from worry of what could come of this situation. Even Valerie, who in most of these situations just didn't care, yelled out. After all, that was her best friend over there, and she wasn't going to lose someone so close to her to a fucking avalanche.

As everyone noticed Anne hanging onto the ledge and barely making it out of the snow piling up below her, the gang quickly ran to the ledge to help the poofy-haired girl back onto solid ground. She panted for a second, hands on her knees.

"You alright, dude?" Valerie asked with concern in her voice despite the casual name thrown in there. She placed a hand on her back, patting it a couple of times, hoping to offer some kind of support for her wheezing.

"yeah, yeah, I'm fine, Let's just hurry and get to the temple."

"Oh," Valeriana stepped in front of everyone, dramatically, of course. "That won't be happening. I've learned all I need to know about you lot. Disobedient, foolish, impulsive." She spat the words out like venom on her lips. "None of these qualities are worthy of the sacred stones. You don't deserve my help. Good luck finding the temple on your own."

Now, normally Valerie would be angry, angrier than ever at this point, probably throwing hands and possibly even throwing knives, but there was something about that tone that wasn't quite right. Yes, it may have been true, they had acted a bit like that, but out of the good of their hearts. They were being tested. It wasn't rocket science.

Anne, however, seemed to be raging on a soul level. She twisted up her face, looking to the old newt with hate plastered all over her face. And in that same, spitting tone, she managed to reply "You are full of such frog spit!"

There were gasps from behind her, from everyone but Valerie (not entirely surprising,) and rather than that, she stiffled a laugh at the child-like insult. She knew they were technically supposed to be in a kids show, but she was cussing out people at like nine, seriously? the people watching/reading know what swear words are, come on.

"Oh come on, you barely even gave us a chance! Not only that, but you're going to strand us out here?! Well we may be unworthy, but you and your order are even worse. You're nothing but a cruel, judgemental, slob!"

There was an echo. Valerie leaned in closer to Marcy who was next to her, cupping a hand over her mouth to quiet her voice, as she whispered "It's times like these where I wish I had popcorn."

The noirette laughed a bit, trying to stifle it as she lightly hit her 'best friend' on the shoulder with the palm of her hand, trying to give her a stern glare, despite the huge smile plastered across her face ruining the attempt. "Val, stop it! Don't make me laugh right now! This is serious!"

Before the little conversation between the two girls could continue, Valeriana responded.

"Brat! You dare insult the order I have dedicated my entire life to?"

"Yeah? What're you gonna do about it, hm?"

Just as it seemed like it might turn into a fight, or the brunette of the group really thought that this might turn into a diss track freestyle, the newt grabbed Anne's wrist with her tail and she waved her stick in the air, and they both disappeared.

Sprig blinked as they did. "did... you guys just see that?"

The brunette clicked her tongue in response, not sure what to say, but one thing came to mind:

"damn... that's crazy."

-

The air filled with squeals as Marcy kept the phone screen in everyone's view. After a while of sitting around waiting for Anne to magically reappear, they had gotten bored, so Marcy decided to get out her phone and show them all cute animal videos. The noirette had Polly under her arm, Valerie had her chin resting on her shoulder, and the other frogs were gathered around to look at the blue light.

Suddenly, Anne appeared, just the person who they were waiting for, running through the trees and seeming frantic.

"Anne! Marcy's showing us ridiculously cute animal videos on her phone!" Polly exclaimed happily as she looked to the girl who calmed at that statement, but also seemed a little confused.

"we looked for you, but now we're taking a break." Sprig added casually.

"Anne! you're alright!" Marcy said as she turned her head away from her device to look at the girl who had previously disappeared. The girl who's head was still on her shoulder, looked over as well and smiled.

"oh my frog, Anne, you're not dead!" the brunette said with a chuckle.

"And that's not all fam, Whapow!" Anne said as she moved her backpack to her side, reaching in and grabbing out the calamity box, which now instead of one colored gem, it had two. But