“I command we stop being priz’ners this instant!” huffed Princess Rainbow, as Kroop and Krud marched the Defeat All Foes Team through the Desert of Sandy Toes.
“We’re giving the orders!” yelled Krud. “Shut your communication hole!”
A few steps ahead, Frog and Kryl followed General Kurg as he led the way to the rendezvous point.
“I don’t understand,” whispered Frog. “How the bumbles did General Kurg escape?”
“I’m not sure,” replied Kryl. “He couldn’t have done it without help – and someone’s given him new orders. But who?”
“General!” cried Kroop suddenly, pointing to the sky.
Frog looked up to see a dark shape descend from the heavens – a Kroakan traceship. The ship’s retro-rockets sent a storm of sand swirling around them as the craft landed with a crunch on the ground. The door opened and a tongue-like stairwell snaked out from inside.
“All aboard!” boomed General Kurg. “Death to all dawdlers.”
“Fine … but I have to be back for teatime,” added Princess Rainbow. “We’re having plumberry pie.”
Frog and the other prisoners were led up the steps, then herded to the back of the traceship.
“By the Buttocks of Time, what are you waiting for?” said General Kurg, prodding the pilot. “We don’t want to keep King Kroak waiting.”
“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.
