Week 12.4 – Frog Boy Redux

Previously: Digger, in disguise as Frog Boy, was fighting with his younger self when he spotted a young man wearing the crystal which had been instrumental in sending him back through time. And now…

Something flashed in the corner of his eye, and then he was hit in the face by something hard. He stumbled back. The younger Digger was glaring triumphantly at him.

“Knew I’d find a hole in your defenses sometime,” he said. He stepped forward for a follow-up blow, but Digger caught his arm, twisted and threw him to slide across the floor.

Digger turned to look back at the guy wearing the blue crystal, but he was nowhere to be seen. Twain had said there would be a sign to show him the way back to his own time. The blue crystal had to have something to do with it.

“Hey, don’t ignore me!” came a shout, and then Digger heard a familiar snap and a rising whine. He spun and brought up his arm, knocked his younger self’s arm straight up just as the Driller blasted with a roar that echoed loudly from the metal ceiling, but did no real damage that far up. Digger deflected a follow-up blow down and to the side, which blew a hole in the concrete floor. He heard a lady’s voice scream with terror from her hiding place in the nearby booth damaged in the blast. It was time to end this. People could get hurt.

He went on the offensive, threw a flurry of blows to gut and solar plexus and face and throat, followed it up with a kick that sent his younger self crashing through another booth.

The younger Digger didn’t roll to his feet quite so quickly this time, stunned by the ferocity of the attack. Digger walked through the path of destruction he’d created, starting to sweat inside the rubber mask. The thing smelled even worse wet. “Let it go, kid,” he said. “Go find your guy.”

[blockquote type=”blockquote_quotes” align=”left”]“Hey, don’t ignore me!” came a shout, and then Digger heard a familiar snap and a rising whine. He spun and brought up his arm, knocked his younger self’s arm straight up just as the Driller blasted with a roar…[/blockquote]His other self glared back him. “No! No way I get beaten by some dick in a stupid-ass frog costume!”

Digger shook his head. “I was right. You really are a douchebag.”

His younger self looked wounded. “What?”

Digger pointed at the door. “He’s getting away.”

His younger self turned to look and started to say something, but Digger didn’t care what it was. He turned and sprinted the other way, in the direction he’d seen the young man with the blue crystal, the swim fins on his boots slapping against the ground. He could not wait to get out of here and out of this ridiculous get-up. He turned a corner and saw the guy, grabbed him by the shoulder to spin him around. The guy jumped, startled by the frog mask. “What do you want?” he asked with an accent Digger couldn’t place.

“Sorry, guy,” Digger said. He whipped the crystal pendant off from around the dude’s neck.

“What are you doing?” the guy shouted. “That’s mine!”

“I know,” Digger said, “and I’m sorry, but this is my ticket home.”

Footsteps pounded up behind him as an odd clattering grew closer, but he could focus only on the crystal.

What will happen next? Be here tomorrow for our next exciting episode!

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