Chapter 14-Mother Frog

Inside the frog it was dark. And wet. And slimy. And gross. And slimy. And gross, as well as a thousand different adjectives that could’ve described being inside the creature’s gullet. This was a new first, and the start of a new fear. Anjou tried to move, but her arms, legs and even her head were all stuck in place. They weren’t constrained by anything, but were instead frozen in place. She couldn’t even scream.

The only movement came from the frog’s muscles which squeezed and contracted against her. Anjou hoped that the movements were from the thing walking farther into the cave and not from its body getting ready to digest her.

Another thing that made the whole ordeal worse was there was no noise. Being inside a monster, one would think they would hear bubbling or gurgling or some kind of bodily noise, but it was dead silent as if someone had turned off all of the sound to the world.

However long she was in that frog for, it mercifully ended when a jet of liquid shot into Anjou’s face and she was launched out of the mouth and out onto the ground. She spluttered and flailed as sound reentered her ears and shot its way into her skull disorientating her. When she had finally regained her composure, she realized that she was flat on her back and the frog was now standing over her.

As she pulled herself to a seated position, Anjou looked around. The frog had relocated her to a different cavern. This one was taller and wider than the last one with the only light coming from the frog’s blue glow.

For a few moments they both sat there in silence staring at each other. It wasn’t until Anjou pushed herself backwards a few inches that the frog began to croak loudly. It was deep and guttural, almost like a warning of some sort. She moved backwards a little more and the croaking grew louder. Anjou wondered if this was like it was with bears where you needed to keep your eyes on it and move slowly or it would attack.

Anjou managed to get to her feet and into a low crouching position. She was going to try and slowly raise herself up, but before she could the frog opened its mouth and croaked once before jumping high into the air. The suddenness of the movement knocked Anjou back onto her butt.

The frog fell and spread out its legs, mimicking a belly flop. In a moment of panic put her hands above her and mentally activated the ability she received from the Rock Puncher, Stone Hands. A chunk of the ground underneath her disappeared dropping her a couple inches and two hands appeared floating above her, with their palms and fingers splayed out. They intercepted the frog and stopped it in mid-air.

The thing squeak-croaked in surprise and began flailing its limbs around. Anjou tried to control the floating hands by squeezing on the frog, but it was like holding onto a wet bar of soap. Everytime she squeezed just a little bit the frog would almost slip out of her grasp. She closed the fingers around the creature with thumbs acting as a blockade so it wouldn’t fall as she attempted to get herself to her feet.

Anjou managed to push herself up and onto her knees when the frog opened its mouth and shot its tongue directly down at her. Thankfully the aim was off and it hit the ground about a foot off. It retracted and she managed to jump to her feet. Unfortunately since she was keeping an eye on the frog, she did not notice curved rock underneath her foot and she slipped backwards, back onto her butt which sent a sharp pain through Anjou’s spine, knocking her out of her concentration.

The stone hands crumbled to dust and fell to the ground in a splash of sand. The frog fell as well, landing on its feet like an ungraceful cat. Anjou finally jumped to her feet and got into a ready stance. This time when the frog unleashed its tongue, she was ready. She took a step back and watched as the tongue struck against the wall and quickly retracted back.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

“I bet you can’t do that again,” Anjou goaded. She had no idea if the frog could understand her, but she had a plan, which was eerily similar to the one she had come up with for the Rock Puncher.

Anjou watched as the frog opened its mouth to launch the tongue again. As it did she shot a glob of her slime at it and thankfully managed to hit it the first time. The tongue stuck to the wall and stayed stuck.

With a cheer, she quickly formed the stone hands again and punched the frog in the face. And then she punched it again. And again. And again. The thing did not stand a chance. Its face caved in and its croaks became more high pitched with each punch. Dark blood began to spray out of its mouth splashing against Anjou and the floating hands, but she did not stop until the damn thing became an unrecognizable pile of tongue and blood. And even when the core finally popped out of the monster, she punched a few more times just to be safe.

When she ate the core she was disappointed when it did not give her a new skill. “All that for nothing? Whatever.”

Anjou looked around. The cavern had two passages on either side. Unwilling to risk going the wrong way, she yelled for Cereza.

“I’m down here.”

Her voice came from the passage on the left. Without a light, Anjou was forced to walk slowly and keep her hands on the walls to avoid walking into anything. It didn’t take that long to see Cereza’s light. She was now out of the crevice and leaning against the wall.

“Well, good to know you made it out okay. Did the bigger one give you a skill?”

Anjou ignored the question and stomped over to the girl. She slammed her fist into the wall which knocked her health down a decimal and leaned in close.

“What the hell is wrong with you? I agree to be your bodyguard and you almost get me killed.”

“I told you what to expect.”

“You told me nothing, you little runt. Since I’ve gotten into this stupid world, I’ve been stabbed, thrown down a well, punched at by a rock and now almost swallowed by a frog the size of a car.” As Anjou ranted, her voice grew progressively louder. “If it wasn’t for the fact that you’re a child I would either leave you down or knock your ass into next Tuesday, or both.”

Cereza got back into Anjou’s face. “Don’t you dare threaten me. You’re lucky I even took you in. All you’ve proven is that you can barely handle yourself in a fight. Maybe it would’ve been better if you had died in that well.”

Never in her life had Anjou wanted to knock out a kid so much. There were times when she was signing autographs when children would annoy her by asking dumb questions or cry when the line took too long, but this was something else. If she was going to keep being Cereza’s bodyguard something had to change and fast.

“You know what?” Anjou grinned. Without another word she activated Slime Excretion and spread a large glob of it on the wall. This time, when she willed it, her hand became unstuck.

Current Water Level: 98/100 Points

Cereza crossed her arms. “What’re you…?” Anjou picked up the girl by her shoulders and stuck her to the slime. When she let go Cereza tried to flail, but her arms and legs were also stuck. “What is this?”

“You were right. I shouldn’t threaten you, so here's a promise. I’m going to leave you here and walk away. Maybe that will change your attitude.”

“What? You can’t do that. My mother will…”

Anjou took the flashlight from Cereza and walked towards the crevice. “Your mother won’t know. I’m going to leave the kingdom and find my own way. I’m sure they’ll find you in a few days.” In truth she wasn’t really going to go anywhere. She was going to go to the entrance of the cave and then walk back, just to give Cereza a little scare. But before she could take a single step, another voice sounded through the cave.

“Well well. I wondered what all of the commotion was. Turns out it was you, little rabbit. I’m honestly surprised to see you alive.” Anjou turned and shined the flashlight on the cave passage she had just come from. Standing there was a man with black hooded cloak and a very messy beard.

Anjou gave the flashlight back to Cereza. “Hold this and keep it steady.” Then she turned back and raised up both of her fists. “Hello Takrin.”