“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 in 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—!”