"Now remember, gang, the mountain pass will clear up in one week, meaning, it's almost time to leave this valley and find Anne and Rowena a way home." Hop Pop explains. We cheered in excitement. "And you know the best way to start a quest?" "Danger?" Sprig asked. "Weapons?" Polly asked. "Research!" Hop Pop replied. The rest of us groaned. "Oh, c'mon, gang, we'll never get Anne and Rowena home if we get bitten to death by a venomous snake fly, or eaten to death by camouflaged sod skink, or crushed to death by a sand tiger." "Okay, enough death already." I said. "I'm beginning to think you guys are obsessed."

Hop Pop took us to the archives for some research. "The town archives?" Sprig complained. "This place is dustier than Dusty's dustbin." "Who?" Polly asked. "C'mon, you know Dusty, local dust merchant, friendly, always smiling, sells dust." Sprig explains. "I get this place, it's like a library from our world." Anne stated. "Zoo books and manga, here I come!" I exclaimed. "Enough chatter, you four, time to hit the books." Hop Pop ordered. "Wait, wouldn't we be better off preparing by diving head first into deadly situations?" Sprig asked. "Maybe Sprig's right, Hop Pop, research is overrated." Anne added. "Overrated, huh, how's diving into adventure working out for you so far?" Hop Pop asked. "Fair enough, research it is." Anne said. "What?" Sprig asked. "You're siding with Hop Pop?" "This trip is gonna take us beyond the valley, Sprig." I explained. "Who knows what we'll run into out there?"

Hop Pop took us downstairs to the archives, which surprisingly looked like a library from back home. "The archives." Sprig grunted. "This place seems pretty cool to me." Anne commented. "Sure, it seems cool until you realize all you do here is read other people's cool adventures." Sprig said sarcastically. "Enough prattle, we gotta get a move on before we're locked in here." Hop Pop explains. "Uh, come again?" I questioned. "The door to this place is set on a sunlight timer, it opens when the sun rises and deadlocks when the sun sets." Hop Pop continued. "That is some steampunky nonsense right there." Anne replied. Sprig was mumbling to himself. I could tell that he didn't want to be here. "Mycroft Newtback, archives founder, this structure, originally Newtback's home, was turned into the public archives after he died violently attempting to travel beyond the valley." I read. We all froze for a few seconds and then we hit the books.

I was searching for a couple books. "Rowena, did you find anything?" Anne asked. "I found a book about two teenagers who are learning magic from a witch criminal in another world, who would read a book like that?" I chuckled as I put the book in my bag. At the same time, Sprig was messing around with Anne, but she ignored him and gave him a book.

"Alright, kids, time for a little lunch break." Hop Pop said. "I'm actually glad you suggested this, Hop Pop, we're learning a ton about your terrifying world." "Did you guys know that there are 60 weapons in the Morningstar family?" Polly asked. "The door's shut, that's not right!" Hop Pop gasped. He tried to open the door, but it wouldn't budge. "The lens is missing!" "What, who would trap us in here?" I asked. "Maybe somebody's trying to prepare us, by forcing us to dive in." Sprig explains. "Me, I did it." "Dude, have you lost your frog marbles?" Anne asked. "Put that piece back!" "Guys, reading these old, moldy books ain't gonna prepare us for squat." Sprig retorted. "What we need is a daring escape from an old, underground library!" "What we need is you putting that piece back!" Hop Pop snapped. "Yeah, hand it over." Polly added. "Fine, party poopers." Sprig groaned. "I know I have it, somewhere." But he accidentally breaks it. "Well, that's not good." Polly said. "Sprig!" Anne groaned. "Maybe I can fix it." Sprig suggested, he puts it together carefully, but the dust in the archives caused him to sneeze and lose the broken shards of glass. "Dude!" Anne complained. "Ah, c'mon!" Polly exclaimed. "Seriously?" I added. "All of you, stop!" Hop Pop shouted. "Yelling at each other ain't fixing any of this." "So, what do we do?" Anne asked. "Well, we wait for someone to come visit the archives." Hop Pop explains. "But, when exactly was the last time someone came down here?" I asked. "Well, I checked the logs and it said 3 years ago." Hop Pop replied as Anne and Polly started banging on the door. "Enough of this negativity!" Sprig snapped. "C'mon, guys, this is our call to frog-venture right here, did you forget who we are, this gang has been through a lot, and we're gonna make it through this too!" "We better, because if we don't, we'll be trapped in here for weeks without food or water and with a whole lot of frog abuse." I said. "Let's just find a way out." Anne added. "That's the spirit!" Sprig exclaimed.

After a montage of us trying to escape, we gave up. We were set on fire, electrocuted, and bruised. "So, not good." Sprig said as Polly screamed. "Why did they have to put the door on a stupid sunlight timer?" Polly complained. "That's it, light timer." Anne gasped. "Timer, sunlight, light, skylight!" "I bet we could get out through the skylight." I suggested. "Yeah, that's a great idea, guys." Sprig compliments.

We stacked up a bunch of furniture and books to reach the skylight, but it wasn't very stable. Anne was losing her balance, but she finally reached the top. Anne got stuck in the opening. She failed to get Bessie's attention though. "Good news, guys, I can see the road from here, one of you can go for help!" Anne exclaimed. We all cheered. "Uh, guys, I'm literally stuck!" Sprig released his tongue and tried to help Anne, but the tower collapsed. "Abandon ship!" Polly shouts. "Uh, guys, what just happened?" Anne asked, still stuck with Sprig holding her legs. "Uh, nothing, everything's fine." Sprig lied. "The books fell, and you're stuck and blocking our only way out." I confessed. "What?" Anne panicked. "Don't worry, we'll rebuild the tower of books and get you down." Sprig explains. Suddenly, Anne began to hear a buzzing sound. "What's that sound?" Anne asked. "What sound?" I replied. I don't hear anything." "Uh, it's cicadas coming out to graze, which is totally fine, if you just stay super quiet, they should go away." Sprig explains. "Oh, cicadas, like, little cute cicadas?" Anne asked. "Pretty sure they're not gonna be little." I said as Anne began to freak out. Hop Pop and Polly grabbed onto Sprig and tried to pull her to safety, but failed. "I can't believe it, we tried to do things the right way, and now Anne's gonna die stuck in that stupid hole and we'll never get back home!" I shouted and toned down to a whisper. "I'll never get to tell Anne my true feelings." "That's it, this place used to be someone's home, which means there was a bathroom!" Sprig exclaimed. "Good thinking, Sprig." Hop Pop compliments. "If there was a bathroom, that also means there were pipes." Polly added. I found the blueprints to the archives and showed them to the Plantar's. "Looks like the bathroom used to be behind that bookcase!" I exclaimed. "We just need to break it down." Hop Pop added. Polly pulled out her weapon and destroyed the bookcase. "War cry!" Polly shouts. "Don't worry, Anne, I'm on my way!" Sprig exclaimed as he crawled into the pipe to save Anne. Hop Pop and Polly weren't too far behind. I tried to use the pipe, but I couldn't fit. So I waited for them to come get me but all of a sudden, Anne and Sprig fell through the hole. Sprig landed on some books and Anne landed on top of me. When I saw Anne on top of me, I blushed a little and we both laughed. "We're okay, we landed on books." Sprig said. "And Rowena!" Anne added. "Knowledge hurts."