It was another sunny day outside and Anne, Charlie and the Plantars passed some old and ruined arches while Sprig was drumming two of his fingers on the map and pretended they arrived in Newtopia. He only did that for a little bit of humor.
"I can't believe it! It's been a long journey, but we're finally almost there." said Sprig.
Sprig looked up and saw that Anne and Charlie were silent. Anne and Charlie were looking at a picture that shown Anne, Sasha and Marcy on there. They were sitting at the dining table.
"Hey guys." said Sprig looking worried.
The two humans looked up at Sprig as if they just snapped back to reality.
"Uh, thought you'd be more excited." said Sprig.
"We're excited. It's just... we've been traveling Amphibia for weeks. I thought there'd be some sign of Marcy by now. But nothin'." said Anne looking at the picture again.
"Same here. I'll admit, I miss Marcy. Just hoping she's alright." said Charlie.
"Maybe that's a good thing. Your last friend was kind of..." Sprig paused pointing at Sasha from the photo. "Totally evil. And she was really mean to Charlie."
"Hey! Look, me, Charlie and Sasha might be going through a rough patch, but that doesn't mean we don't care about her. And since she got zapped here with us, it must mean Marcy did too. Also, Marcy is completely different from Sasha. She's harmless." said Anne showing optimism.
Anne began to explain to Sprig about some examples that proved Marcy is harmless.
One of them was when Marcy was distracted while playing a hand held video game while they were playing volley ball but Anne jumped to prevent the ball from hitting Marcy. The ball missed them but they lost the match.
Another event was about Marcy planning a time for fun for her, Sasha and Anne but Anne was warning her to watch out for an opened locker she almost hit but successfully dodged.
"One of these days, she's gonna get herself killed." said Sasha coldly.
"Ugh! Don't say that..." Anne told her and looked at Marcy with a wide eyed expression. "Wet floor, wet floor!"
Anne went to prevent Marcy from slipping on a wet floor and it even had a wet floor sign. Marcy walked off and even bumped into a garbage can but Anne went to help her. She explained that Marcy was really smart, oblivious and clumsy or clumsier than anyone she knew.
"You knew Marcy was all of the above too, huh?" said Charlie.
They looked at Charlie as if surprised he knew this about Marcy but they did remember that Charlie knew Marcy too.
"Marcy may have been all of the above. But from what I remember being around her, she would often attempt to try and make me laugh or smile but it sometimes worked. We both could compare on anything intellectual. She sometimes made some innocent jokes about her last name which were cute jokes but mostly, she was ether trying to keep my laughing or I would also prevent her from getting hurt. I once had to walk her to the nurse's office." Charlie explained his experience.
"She maybe the clumsiest person alive." said Anne and Charlie in unison.
"Wow, that must be horrible." said Sprig.
Sprig was about to drink some water from a glass but he dropped it and it spilled onto the table.
"Back home, we were there to protect her. But here, she's alone, and instead of kickballs..." Anne began.
"She could get mauled by an elephant scarab. Or crushed to death by a heron. Or worse, flayed alive by a..." Sprig began.
Anne grabbed hold of Sprig's big lips and she did that to get him to stop talking as she knew that those graphic descriptions were not helping anyone feel any better.
"Not helping." said Anne looking annoyed. "Also, do you notice your lips and mouth are kind of big? Not as an insult, seriously, they feel big."
Anne removed her hands from his mouth and lips. Sprig jokingly sucked in a big amount of air in his mouth to make it look like he has a big mouth, making Anne and Charlie giggle. He stopped and jokingly made kissy-faces at them as if to make it seem like his lips were really big.
"Oh Anne, your my soul sister, kiss me under the moonlight." joked Sprig.
"Oh you goofball, you." said Anne and Charlie giggling in unison.
They felt the caravan stopped and this time, nothing and no one fell or toppled over. The topside exit opened and this time, it was Polly poking through as they looked up.
"Guys! Come... It's... I... Not gonna believe... Ah! Just get out here!" stuttered an excited Polly.
Anne, Sprig and Charlie came out of the caravan and when they did, they all saw a huge fortress and a castle surrounded by the walls of a fortress. All of them gasped in wide eyed amazement. Everyone came out of the caravan and walked over to a small hill that they all saw the huge castle that was surrounded by walls. They finally reached Newtopia.
"We made it!" cried Charlie.
"There she is, gang... Newtopia. If there's a way to get you two home, it's in that city." said Hop Pop.
"Well, then let's get down there." said Anne looking excited.
They all jumped in excitement and walked on towards the castle. They walked towards the gates but they had to go through water as there was a shallow sea near it. It was like walking around a shallow part at a beach. Charlie was singing along the way there as he sounded like a song on a car radio.
"I'm on the road to Newtopia. And we won't quit until we get ho-o-o-ome. We keep on tryin', tryin'. Then we try some more. We stay together and find a place worth fighting fo-o-o-o-o-or. I'm on the road, to Newtopia. To Newtopia. We're on the road, we're on the road to Newtopia. We're on the ro-o-o-o-o-o-oad, to Newtopia. C'mon let's go"
Charlie's singing stopped and Anne was chuckling as she knew that Charlie couldn't help but feel excited like she felt as well.
"Well, my feet are soaked." said Anne.
Sprig ran around the water for a bit but Polly saw a sand hole that she bumped into and was curious but Hop Pop advised her to stay away from it and not to find out what made the hole yet Polly knew it would come up later or she predicted it would. They made it to the front gate of the castle.
"We're finally here. Yo! Anybody home?" called Anne.
"Hello! Is anyone there?" called Charlie.
They saw a small compartment of the gate open from above and a male blue newt in a cloak shown himself.
"You can't come in here. Newtopia's closed." said the gatekeeper.
"Seriously?" they all said annoyed.
"Anata wa watashi o kusodesu ka?" said Charlie appalled.
"Does he know English?" asked the gatekeeper.
"Yes and don't ask what he just said." warned Anne. "Like closed, closed? Or like closed for lunch?"
"The city is closed, closed to all outsiders." the gatekeeper specified.
"What the hey hey? Why? Till when?" said Sprig looking appalled.
"Until the barbari-ants are gone, of course." said the gatekeeper. "Good luck out there."
"Keep that window open, now!" Charlie commanded. "We got children, an older gentlemen here. Can you at least get someone to let us in another way?"
"Well, I can't promise anything but I can try something." said the gatekeeper.
"What's a "barbari-ant"?" asked Anne and Charlie in unison.
"Beats me. We don't got 'em in the valley." answered Hop Pop.
Charlie felt a sense of alarm as he placed his hand on the sword handle.
"Psh, they close the whole city because of a few little ants?" said Sprig looking annoyed.
Charlie turned around and saw a huge ant that was the size of a truck coming towards them.
"Behind you!" cried Charlie.
They all turned around to see the huge ant and Sprig managed to run but was struggling to avoid it's jaws.
"Big ant! Really big ant!" said Sprig panicking.
They charged to attack as Hop Pop and Polly helped Anne to jumped up towards the huge ant and she landed on it's head to kick it's head hard and bounced away from it. It distracted the ant long enough for Sprig to get away.
Polly charged at it with a battle cry and was biting on one of it's legs with her sharp teeth. The ant tried to shake her off but to no avail. While she did that, both Anne and Sprig had hold of Hop Pop and launched him towards the huge ant which he puffed up his mouth and used it to strike the ant hard, knocking it on it's back. He bounced off from it. The ant shrieked and attempted to retreat in a hole in the ground but Charlie got out his sword.
"Hey you picnic ant! The picnic is cancelled." cried Charlie.
He charged at the ant and made seven slashes with his sword at the huge ant and jumped away as the ant shown it had it's limbs and body sliced up into seven pieces. Charlie stabbed his sword through it's head and tossed the now lifeless head of the ant towards the hole, it went down the hole without fail.
"Three pointer from down town! And the crowd goes wild!" cried Charlie victoriously.
"Yay-uh! In your face, ant!" cried Anne victoriously.
Anne briefly shook her head to shake the water off her. Her hair shook off water like a dog. They thought the danger was over but they felt a rumbling beneath the ground.
"Uh, you guys feel that?" asked Sprig looking alarmed.
They suddenly saw more huge ants popping out of the ground from more newly sprouted holes and they saw at least five of them coming out. They felt surrounded. Bessie retreated in her shell for safety.
"Starting to feel a bit antsy." said Anne alarmed.
Charlie got out his sword once again.
"All of you ants gonna get sliced and diced. Competition's paying the price!" cried Charlie.
Without warning, there was big brown bags being tossed around them and when the bags hit the water, it a black liquid formed a circle around Anne, Charlie and the Plantars. Than a flaming arrow was fired and once it hit the circles, it formed a fire around them and it caused the ants to shriek and retreat into the ground. They all looked to see where it came from and they saw a hooded figured who fired another arrow without a flame and the arrow hit one of the caravan's wooden wheels.
The figure got out a hook and used it to slide down towards them and half way there, the rope the figure slid on snapped and it landed on the ground near them, making a grunt and splashed. They saw the hooded figure get up and coughed a bit. They could see it's hair sticking out from the hood and it had dark hair.
They heard it speak and it had a girl's voice. Both Anne and Charlie heard her and recognized her voice. Even as she written down notes on a notebook.
"Marcy?" said Anne tears forming in her eyes.
The hooded figure turned to face them and pulled her hood down. It revealed to be another female human with shorter dark hair.
"Anne? Charlie Marly?" said Marcy spotting the two.
They looked at each other and tears of joy formed in their eyes.
"Marcy!" cried Anne and Charlie.
Anne and Charlie raced to Marcy and greeted her with a hug, Anne and Marcy fell over and splashed in the water a bit. But they got back up when Charlie used his strength to pull them up.
"Oh! Anne? Is that really you?" said Marcy looking as though they haven't seen each other in a decade.
"Marcy! I can't believe it!" said Anne relieved to see her.
"I know! I know! We've missed you so much!" said Anne as she hugged her again.
"Oh, I missed you too!" giggled Marcy.
Anne and Marcy chatted for a bit as they were happy to see each other alive and in one piece. The Plantars looked on in grins but Sprig looked as though he suspected something wasn't right. The two girls looked back at Charlie as they realized just now they almost forgot about Charlie. The human male was looking as though he tried to appear stoic but was struggling.
"Charlie. You're here too? You probably got a lot of questions to ask. I wonder how your mom, your aunt and those ladies of the house are or if your dad had-" Marcy paused as she just realized that she brought up something she felt was inappropriate. "I mean I didn't mentioned your da- I mean you know you. Anne don't bring up his dad, it's a touchy subject for him."
"Actually, I'm kind of over the whole dad issue thing." said Charlie looking unfazed. "You can even ask my girl, Anne."
Marcy suddenly smiled in excitement. She knew that Charlie calling Anne her "Girl" meant one thing.
"Wait? No way! You mean you two are finally dating?" said Marcy looking excited to find out.
"It's been a few weeks since we're now dating. A lot has happened." said Anne.
"Same here. Isn't this place wild? What an adventure. Aw, man! I've really grown out here, Guys. Come into my own. Leveled up. No more clumsy, klutzy Marcy. Can you believe it?" babbled Marcy.
"Marcy." said Charlie getting her attention.
"Your cloak's on fire." said Anne and Charlie in unison.
They looked to see that a small part of Marcy's cloak was on fire and they tried to put it out but Charlie got Marcy to stop as he said something in Japanese as he splashed water to put out the flame. The Plantars came over to get to know Marcy as they never met her but only know her from what Anne and Charlie told them.
"So, you two, who's your friend?" asked Hop Pop.
"It's Lucy Liu." joked Charlie. "Just kidding, this our friend Marcy Wu. The woo woo train that never stops when she's on a roll."
Marcy chuckled and she noticed that Charlie wasn't that same shy guy who had no confidence in himself before.
"I see what you mean by a lot has changed." said Marcy.
Marcy looked towards the Plantars and she smiled as if knowing that they had been looking after Anne and Charlie.
"Oh, my gosh. Who are these cuties?" asked Marcy with a gasp. "Are they your surrogate frog family? Did they find you and take you in? Oh! I love the found family trope! Gosh, this is just like the hero in my favorite game, Vagabondia Chronicles. The greatest JRPG of all time. Have you played it? Do you wanna play it, borrow it? Just say the word and I'll lend you my copy. Man, it'll change your lives!"
"Marcy, they don't really have any experience with video games. Unless you count that one time Anne told me about when they found out more about the family tree." said Charlie blushing with a grin.
"Yep, the Plantars took us in. The one you got there is Hop Pop." said Anne pointing one of them out.
Marcy was measuring Hop Pop's body with a measuring tape as if studying him and written down more notes in her notebook.
"Judging from the size of your cranium and flecks of sediment, you're from Frog Valley, right?" guessed Marcy.
"You can tell all that from my head?" gasped Hop Pop looking amazed.
"Oh, Anne, Charlie. I'm so jealous you found a farming community. I've been studying Amphibia history, and farm culture is super underappreciated in my opinion. You're the backbone of society and do not get enough credit for it." Marcy continued.
Hop Pop was wide eyed from astonishment as if he heard something that he wanted to hear someone from a big city say out loud and he hugged her, she hugged back. Than Marcy looked at Polly with a grin.
"Hey, a pollywog!" said Marcy.
The two greeted each other and Marcy picked her up and held her up in the direction of the sun. She was looking at Polly with a magnifying glass. She looked like she could see something inside Polly like an X-ray.
"Hmm. I'd say those legs should be coming in in about...bub, bub, bub, buh... two months, give or take." said Marcy predicting something about Polly.
"Can I get that in writing?" gasped Polly excited to hear this.
"Oh, yeah, absolutely." said Marcy.
Marcy placed Polly down and given her a note that let her know when she'll get her legs growing in. She felt like she was told something that she wanted to know forever. Anne and Charlie chuckled a bit.
"Woo woo." joked Charlie mimicking the sound of a train.
"The Wu station has taken off." joked Anne.
Marcy looked at Sprig while she was talking to him. But Sprig wasn't looking at her, he had annoyed expression as if he didn't trust Marcy since Sasha was not very friendly when he met her.
"Oh! And hi there. Wow. I've never seen a frog your color before. You're not poisonous, are you?" asked Marcy.
"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not." said Sprig giving her a dirty look.
"Wait, really?" asked Marcy looking interested to know.
"Yeah, I literally actually don't know." said Sprig his dirty look fading.
"I will iodine that later." said Marcy writing in her notebook briefly.
Anne and Charlie walked over to Marcy and stood next to her as they wondered what was going on with her since she first arrived.
"So what about you, Mar-mar? Have you been in Newtopia this whole time?" asked Anne curiously.
"Here and there, but, uh, mostly here. I actually warped in right inside the city walls. Pretty lucky, right? Like, what are the odds... Oh, oh, okay! Oh, my gosh! Remember that game I tried to get you and Sasha to play? Creatures and Caverns?" babbled Marcy.
"No." said Anne and Charlie in unison.
"It turns out newts are just like Cephalons. From Shadows of Xel'noth! I just role-played like your typical artificer/rogue and the next thing I know... Boom... I'm the chief ranger of the Newtopian Knight Guard!" Marcy continued.
They were all stunned to what she just said but Charlie seemed to be the only one who understood what Marcy was saying.
"Also, I saw how Charlie sliced and diced one of them barbari-ants like that samurai from the past who got plunged into the future. Wow!" said Marcy looking surprised to see Charlie all confident.
"Marcy, lets slow it down a bit on the Wu Wu train there. We really need to get into Newtopia before more of them big ass ants comes back. Hard to admit but we can only take on so many of them and they're bigger than a Chevy truck. And I don't think we can take on an army of them, even with my sword slashing up their asses." said Charlie informing her.
Marcy was wide eyed at hearing Charlie swearing. She never heard him use swear words before.
"Did he just use a swear word?" asked Marcy surprised.
"Sorry." apologized Charlie.
"So, Marcy, can you get us into the city? We tried the gate, but they won't let us in." explained Anne.
"Unfortunately, those gates will stay closed until the barbari-ants are defeated. Luckily, we've got a plan. Come on!" explained Marcy.
Marcy was about to use her crossbow to fire an arrow to get somewhere but Charlie placed his hand on her wrist to press it down.
"Marcy, if your taking us somewhere to help us, than please make sure we can follow you and see you as you lead. Sometimes you move faster than I can run." Charlie instructed.
"Sure, sure. Wow! Anne, he's not shy anymore. He used to be so quiet. Did you two kiss?" chuckled Marcy.
The two humans blushed and knew she guessed the truth.
"Uhhhhh...a little." said Anne and Charlie in unison.
"I knew you two would end up together. Just follow me, guys." Marcy advised.
As they followed Marcy, they all followed her to a big red tent that had a purple flag on the top with an Amphibia symbol printed on it with a golden Newtopia badge below the flag. It had two tall newts in hooded cloaks standing guard near the entrance of the tent.
Inside, there were three young male newts. One had a pale violet skin shade, one was light blue and the other was a very light brown. They wore cloaks as well but they also wore glasses. They argued about what they should do about the barbari-ant problem. One suggested a full frontal assault, one suggested a sneak attack and the last suggested to make peace with them to co-exist peacefully with them.
They argued like they were brothers on a humorous, good natured sitcom but were interrupted by Marcy as she got their attention. Anne, Charlie, Marcy, Hop Pop, Sprig and Polly walked inside the tent and the three male newts saw there was more humans but what caught them off guard was that they saw Charlie. The first human male they've ever seen.
"Marcy, are these the other humans you told us about?" said one of them.
"And one of them is male." said one of them looking surprised that there was male humans. "And with such a full head of gorgeous locks."
Charlie blushed slightly as if feeling like this would be like the first time he came to Wartwood when so many people in this world noticed him.
"Are these people lost?" asked one of the newts.
"No, no. They're with me. The Plantars traveled here all the way from the valley." said Marcy introducing them.
Polly let out a loud burp and one of them let out a fart. Charlie chuckled at the burp that Polly let out.
"Gnarly burp, Polly." chuckled Charlie.
"Ah, welcome, dirty peasants." said one of the newts welcoming them.
"We're not peasants. We're people like you." Charlie chimed in.
"This is Charlie, and I know what your thinking, you've never seen a male human before." said Marcy introducing Charlie. "And this is my friend Anne."
Anne playfully poke Marcy's on her cheek and she turned to see Anne was smiling as she stated she was just glad to see her. Anne proceeded to playfully and gently drum her fingers on a now chuckling Marcy's head till she stopped and Anne let her continue what she was doing.
"You'll be glad to hear we've agreed on a battle strategy." said one of the newts.
"Got any bug killer bombs?" joked Charlie.
Marcy chuckled at his joke.
"I don't think we got bug fogger bombs here." chuckled Marcy.
"We didn't agree on anything." said one of the newts annoyed.
"Well, no worries. I think I got it figured out." said Marcy looking at a map that was on a table inside.
"Do we have a back up plan?" asked Polly curiously.
"Yeah, me and my samurai sword." said Charlie his hand on the sword handle.
The three male newts looked at Charlie and saw he had a look of no emotion. They saw he had a samurai sword as a weapon of choice and it looked dangerous.
"Did you happen to use your weapon on one of them Barbari-ants?" asked one of the newts.
"We battled one of them at first, fought valiantly, but Marcy drove them off. But one of them huge ants has been slain. You can pretty much guess what I did to it with my sword." Charlie told them. "Būmu no akachan."
"Anne, Charlie, do you remember when we studied insect migration patterns in biology class?" asked Marcy curiously.
"Nope." said Anne.
"I do." Charlie responded.
"Well, since the weather warmed up, those ants have been sending scouting parties deeper into our territory. In fact, I predict a full-scale invasion is just around the corner. The king has asked me to stop them before they turn Newtopia into a giant anthill." explained Marcy.
Marcy placed an anthill model on the center of the map to emphasize what she meant which they understood.
"And me without my bug spray." said Charlie.
"Wait. You work directly for the king of Amphibia?" said Sprig giving Marcy a suspicious look.
"Uh-huh." answered Marcy.
"Sprig, behave yourself." warned Hop Pop.
"I didn't even know you guys had a king." said Anne looking surprised.
"Well Anne, we're not anarchists." Hop Pop responded.
"Speak for yourself." said Polly.
"Okay. Plan is we're gonna sneak behind enemy lines and drive the ant queen away. With her gone, the rest should retreat." explained Marcy showing them some of her notes.
"And if that doesn't work?" asked Hop Pop.
"Than we go with what I've got in mind. But hopefully, it won't come to that." said Charlie.
"Oh, yeah? And how are we doing that?" asked Sprig.
Marcy pulled out a grenade belt that had a series of what looked like yellow boom shrooms Polly looked at it with wide eyes as if excited to blow something up.
"Boom shrooms?" gasped Polly.
"Stink shrooms." said Charlie and Marcy in unison.
"You know what a stink shroom is?" said everyone in unison.
"I some toads use them but they used them as a prank to make it seem like someone farted. Good thing we were outside." explained Charlie.
"They're designed to release pheromones that should drive the queen away instantly. But we will have to fight our way through a bloodthirsty hoard of ants." explained Marcy.
"My interest has been restored." giggled Polly.
"We'll have to be extra careful. If one thing goes wrong..." Marcy began.
The table Marcy had her hands on slipped a bit but she got it back to standing straight as she placed some of the models of locations back on the map.
"Flimsy table." said Marcy.
Charlie looked at Anne with a worried look for Marcy and she noticed. She knew that with Marcy being clumsy, there was a chance that something bad could happen to her and both Anne and Charlie felt the same feeling like it was instinct.
"Uh, Marbles, this sounds pretty dangerous. Yeah, why don't you leave the mission to me, Charlie and the Plantars? We did stuff like this all the time in the valley." said Anne worried.
Anne, Charlie and the Plantars struck a heroic pose while Charlie sung a powerful music note in determination.
"You and I go hard at them ants like we're going to war"
"Ugh. Come on, Anna Banana. I'll be fine." said Marcy reassuring them.
"Banana?" said Sprig confused.
"I've changed, remember?" reassured Marcy.
"Mm-hmm. Your cape's on fire again." Anne pointed out.
They all saw that Marcy's cape was on fire, again, and as others were freaking out by the sight of it. That's when Charlie scooped up a bucket and filled it with water and used it to put out the flames. Everyone was feeling relieved afterwards.
"I can hear the Ohio Players right now." said Charlie.
"Those capes sure are flammable." stated Hop Pop.
"Anne, Charlie, trust me. I can handle this. Now let's get going. Mission, engage!" said Marcy excitedly.
Marcy walked out of the tent to take more notes while Anne followed. Charlie advised something to the newts before he left the tent. Sprig was skeptical of Marcy's sweet demeanor as he remembered Sasha wasn't much of a good person to them. He remembered she was a bully to Anne and that she was a horrible, mean girl friend to Charlie. He suggested they watch Marcy if she tried anything funny but Hop Pop and Polly didn't agree too well on it.
They all followed Marcy out of the tent and across the shallow waters towards a huge hole near the bottom of the hill and on the beach surface. Charlie's face was looking as stoic and lacking emotion as possible as if he sensed that they were about to face something very dangerous like they did back at Toad Tower.
Marcy led the way but she stopped mid-sentence and tripped, falling down the hole that she led them to. Anne, Charlie, Hop Pop and Polly jumped down the hole after her. Sprig told Bessie to be an alert in case Marcy was up to something and advised her to go get help if they're not back in a specifically set time. Bessie just nuzzled her head on Sprig which he figured she understood. Than Sprig hopped down there with them.
They made it inside the anthill which there was some big mushrooms that illuminated the inside of the anthill. Marcy got up on her feet and was about to go forwards but Anne and Charlie advised her to stay behind them. Marcy was a little annoyed by that. Charlie had his sword at the ready as they continued on. Anne was stating an idea but Marcy went ahead of them.
"Marcy wait!" Anne responded.
"This is gonna be a cinch, guys. Trust me, I know these tunnels better than anyone..." screamed Marcy.
She fell down another hole and both Anne and Charlie pulled her out of it. Marcy let out a nervous chuckle.
"Thanks guys." said Marcy starting to write down more notes. "Okay. Note to self: Do not step in holes."
"Seriously, let us handle this. You'll be safer in the back." Anne advised.
"We're in their territory. I doubt anyone of us is safe anywhere in here." said Charlie in that deep and low voice.
"I gotta say, I do feel pretty safe back here." said Sprig feeling optimistic.
Their optimism was cut short when one of them huge ants grabbed hold of Sprig with it's two large jaw like pincers. They saw it drag him off while covering him in glowing green saliva from the looks of it. They saw more of the huge ants coming towards them and got into battle mode.
"Well guys, looks like we exterminators got a job to do." said Charlie popping his neck.
"What Charlie said." came Sprig as he was next to them, wiping the glowing green saliva off his head.
"Oh, Sprig, good. You survived." said Polly relieved.
"Yeah, I kicked him!" said Sprig kicking one of his feet in the air.
"Okay, Marcy, stay close." advised Anne.
"An ū torein o kiku." spoke Charlie.
The two humans saw Marcy wander off while they fought off the huge ants. It looked like Marcy was studying some sort of plant within the anthill and made a concoction that was mixed into a vial and the liquid inside it was a vibrant purple. Charlie used his sword to lop off plenty of the ant's heads at his fastest speed while slicing off some of the ant's limbs and stabbing them in their torso areas, killing the ants instantly while more were coming.
"Hey Wu train, not the time for studying the flora right now." cried Charlie.
"Guys, this way!" called Marcy.
Marcy tossed the vial of purple liquid somewhere nearby and caused a brief explosion that blew up a hole nearby to another tunnel. They followed her in as she went through the hole. While they got onto the other side, Marcy got out another vial that was probably in a green bag as she tossed it at the hole and purple vines instantly formed around the hole and they appeared to be very strong ones.
"Insta-vines! Bred 'em myself." said Marcy looking proud.
"Uh, guys? A little help here." came Polly's voice on the other side of the vines.
"Whoopsies!" said Marcy seeing her idea had an error.
"Not the baby!" said Anne, Charlie and the Plantars in terrified unison.
Charlie was the first to grab hold of and rip the vines out with one swift pull and he pulled out every vine with one strong hand and arm, he reached in and pulled Polly out from the other side to them. Marcy handed Charlie another vial and he used it to toss it at the hole and a bigger, thicker and stronger set of purple vines formed instantly keeping the other ants from going through the hole.
"So Charlie's much stronger than a human should be?" said Marcy looking surprised.
"Stronger than a lion or more." Charlie responded.
"See? That could've been on purpose." said Sprig showing some grim expression.
"It was an honest mistake, Sprig." said Polly in Marcy's defense.
"Marcy!" said Anne.
"Chikushō!" said Charlie.
"Oh, sorry, sorry. But it all turned out okay, right?" said Marcy apologetically. "Anyway, isn't vegetation in Amphibia just the coolest?"
Marcy shown them a purple wiggling plant while Hop Pop felt delighted that Marcy referred to the vegetation of Amphibia to be cool and interesting. He gave an admired grin and pulled them close to hug them. Than they all walked down another tunnel. As Hop Pop told Marcy a little more about vegetation and the crops he grew, that's when they stopped and Marcy advised Hop Pop to put a hold on their conversation for a minute. They all ducked down and saw a big room that shown the queen. The queen appeared to be a lot bigger and stronger than the rest of the Barbari-Ants with razor sharp claws.
"That's one huge motherfucking ant." said Charlie keepng his voice down.
"Charlie!" said Marcy looking surprised.
"Gomen'nasai." Charlie responded.
They saw the queen was laying more eggs from it's eggsack from her rear which had plenty of eggs spilling out in green liquid, she used her green saliva to cover the eggs and shown motherly love towards her unhatched offspring. They all shown a disgusted yet alarmed expression.
"Well, at least she's a good mother." said Sprig nervously.
"Well, at least she's a good mother. Here's the plan. We're going to have to plant these around the room. That way she gets a nose-full. They're set to go off in five minutes, so move quickly. Also, the queen is nearly blind, but hears really well. So be very, very quiet." Marcy instructed.
She was about to hand the stink shrooms over to them but Charlie felt a huge sense of confidence rising inside him and he and the others took some stink shrooms and walked out to set them around the queen's nest. As they went around to plant them in other spots, they could see that Charlie was perfect at being fast yet completely muting his sounds and movements as he went around planting some stink shrooms all while he was moving around like a graceful dancer. Every move he made was not making a sound which Anne and Marcy were surprised he didn't make any sounds or noises with the way he moved around.
Anne and Charlie looked up and saw a big rock from the ceiling cracking and it was about to fall, than the cracks got bigger, causing the rock to fall towards Marcy. The two humans ran to push Marcy out of the way. The huge rock landed on the floor, causing a loud crash. The queen looked to her left and saw no one but Anne, Charlie and Marcy were hiding behind the rock.
"Guys, what are you doing?" said Marcy annoyed.
"Um, saving you from a giant rock that was about to crush you?" Anne argued.
"Well, you didn't have to. I was about to get out of the way, myself." Marcy argued back.
"Detarame!" groaned Charlie.
"No, you weren't. We have to protect you. Like we always do. Just like back home." said Anne showing worry for her.
"But we're not back home, guys. And I've been doing just fine by myself." argued Marcy.
"Yeah, but, but..." Anne began.
Charlie was about to say something but they heard a loud shriek coming from the queen when she heard Sprig screaming to get one of her newly hatched offspring on his arm, he got it off his arm but the queen launched something from it's mouth like a tongue and it grabbed Sprig, pulling him screaming inside it's mouth and swallowing him down. Everyone looked in horror as reinforcements was called by the queen.
"He's still alive! These bugs take a while to digest their food. Look!" said Marcy pointing.
They saw the sun from a hole above them that had the sunlight shining on the queen and Sprig's shadow was seen.
"I can still save him." said Marcy about to walk off.
"No! I'll do it. You just... stay here." said Anne alarmed.
"Guys, only I've studied barbari-ant biology. It has to be me." argued Marcy.
"No, it doesn't! We can handle it." argued Anne.
"Ugh! Why won't you just let me go?" said Marcy getting frustrated.
"Because we just got you back, okay?" said Anne with tears welling up.
Marcy blinked and finally understood what Anne and Charlie meant. Anne had tears forming while Charlie barely had any tears forming out of his eyes.
"Watashitachi wa futatabi anata o ushinau koto wa dekimasen!" said Charlie looking emotional.
Marcy had a word of comfort as she hugged the two of them and gave them a reassuring expression.
"You won't. I promise." reassured Marcy.
Anne and Charlie both let out a sniffle and felt like they can trust Marcy to do what she's about to do. Charlie handed her his machete but she advised him she wouldn't need it. She walked over towards the queen.
"See you on the other side, guys." said Marcy.
Marcy jumped forwards as she bounced on the huge ant's heads and bodies like they were trampolines and Charlie used his sword to fend off more ants as he was shown to be able to move much faster than he ever could run by now, using his sword to slice some ants up into pieces, killing many of them.
"Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack, Jack." uttered Charlie as he killed off more ants without fail.
"Who knew these ants were so bouncy?" said Hop Pop looking surprised.
"I did, 'cause I studied them." said Marcy looking calm.
Marcy jumped inside the queen ant's mouth and they were nervous by the sight of this and waited for a minute or two. Every second felt like an eternity but than they heard gurgling sounds coming from the queen's stomach and they heard Marcy. One last gurgle and the queen vomited a lot of green slime while Marcy shown to come out with Sprig in her arms. Sprig looked at Marcy who winked at him and Sprig finally trusted Marcy as she earned his trust.
Marcy used her crossbow to launch an arrow at the ceiling to swing safely down on the ground but the queen used one of it's claws to cut the rope. Sending her and Sprig falling as Anne, Charlie, Hop Pop and Polly ran to catch them. Marcy and Sprig landed on them but they fell over. But they were okay once they got up. Charlie had his sword ready to kill more ants as there was plenty of now dead ants on the ground, sliced to pieces by him. More ants were coming towards them.
"Marcy, any ideas?" said Anne looking panicked.
"Subete no nanika?" asked Charlie worried.
Marcy had out her phone and saw there was a timer on it and once it got to zero, an egg on the looked like it hatched a chicken. All of the sudden, they all saw the stink shrooms exploding all around the ants like fireworks, it driven them all away and it did the same to the queen, many of them shrieking like monsters as they retreated.
"Huh, you know what? It actually smells kinda nice." said Sprig with a grin.
"I mean, it will liquefy your lungs if you breathe too much of it, so..." warned Marcy.
"Ikimashou!" cried Charlie running.
They all ran out of there and raced their way out of the tunnels.
"Hey. Thanks for having my back." said Marcy feeling grateful.
"Not that you needed it. You're right. You really have changed." said Anne looking relieved.
Charlie got out a canteen and splashed water on Marcy's cape as they saw smoke afterwards. They saw he put out another fire that got to Marcy's cape.
"Are you sure your not related to the human torch?" said Charlie.
"Oh you!" said Anne and Marcy giggling.
They all made it out of the anthill and were outside once more with Bessie waiting for them. Sprig helped Marcy up on her feet and he gave her a sympathetic expression.
"Hey, uh, Marcy? Sorry for all the suspicion earlier. I was wrong about you. You're no backstabber." said Sprig apologetically.
"Hey, I'm just glad you're okay. It's obvious you mean a lot to Anne and Charlie." said Marcy forgiving him.
Sprig suddenly felt a gurgling inside his stomach and he coughed up a green liquid that splashed onto Hop Pop's shirt, making it disolve instantly as he was now without a shirt.
"Nyeh! Dang it, Sprig!" said Hop Pop annoyed.
They began to laugh about what just happened and Charlie let out his madman like cackling laugh as Hop Pop remarked sarcastically how funny it was. Than they stopped as soon as they heard a loud bell tolling like a bell tower.
They all walked towards the gates as the gates of Newtopia opened and Anne, Charlie, Marcy, Bessie and the Plantars all walked inside the gates. Marcy dared Sprig and Polly to race her in there which they took her on that dare. Anne and Charlie were impressed that Marcy has flourished in Amphibia while Charlie and Anne helped Hop Pop get a sweater on him.
As they made it inside the kingdom. They saw many large buildings, artistic statues, plenty of other amphibian species like people there, some young, old, middle aged, male, female and plenty of them were around. It was like visiting ancient city or Rome from the beautiful appearance the city was showing.
"Whoa, look at this place!" said Anne with wide eyes.
"Mighty impressive." commented Hop Pop.
"I want to touch everything!" said Polly eagerly.
"This is just like the city of ancient Rome. Nice digs." said Charlie with a grin.
"This is like a city, city." said Anne.
They were interrupted when they saw some tall and slender bodied newts wearing olive drab cloaks with their hoods up, carrying shields in one hand and arm and their other hands carrying spears. They marched loudly towards Anne, Charlie, Marcy and the Plantars. The surrounded them in a circle as they looked nervous as the newts stamped their spears twice and stepped back a little, leaving an opening for a female newt to come through.
They were met with a female adult who was an aqua-marine newt with a lighter underbelly and long navy blue hair tied into a bun with a shell band. She wore a yellow and purple dress with scale-like designs stitched into a pattern. She also wore white gloves and a golden brooch with a purple transparent shawl. She was slender in the body and appeared to be a young, full grown adult. Marcy greeted her with a curtsy bow.
"Well met, Lady Olivia." greeted Marcy.
"The king sends his greetings, Marcy. He trusts you have succeeded?" asked Olivia.
Marcy pulled out what looked like a now severed head of the huge ants they battled and she tossed it forwards to let this lady newt know she succeeded.
"Ah, still fresh, I see. Excellent work. As expected of the great Marcy Wu." said Olivia as she snapped her fingers.
They saw a slender male newt come over and take hold of the severed ant head and took off with it to dispose of it probably. She spotted Anne, Charlie and the Plantars as she saw they were with Marcy. But she seemed to have her eyes on Charlie more. This was the first time she saw a male human and others nearby were noticing the first human male they've seen in their lives. They probably saw what a female human looked like but never a male human. Many of them were staring at him with wide eyes and looked as though they saw something very beautiful.
"Lady Olivia..." said Marcy with a squeal of excitement. "Meet Anne, one of the friends I was telling you about. Turns out she got transported to Frog Valley. A little town called Wartwood. And this is Charlie, another one of my friends whose been with Anne the whole time. They're officially dating."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Anne and Charlie." said Olivia kindly.
"You too, dude! Oh, uh, I mean... milady." said Anne with a curtsy.
Charlie tried to say something but not words came out of his mouth, he blushed and felt as though he might topple over inside like a cave's walls caving in when a bomb went off.
"Go aisatsu, denka." Charlie managed to say.
"Does this young man speak English?" asked Olivia looking nervous.
"I do, milady." answered Charlie.
"And these are the Plantars." Marcy continued.
The Plantars greeted Lady Olivia and tried to curtsy but they fell over clumsily but Charlie helped them back up on their feet while Hop Pop was carrying Polly. Charlie than mustered up his courage and walked towards the beautiful female newt and he had taken a knee by kneeling down in front of her.
"Lady Olivia, it's an honor to meet you in this beautiful kingdom among these beautiful people who inhabit this land. In the name of the good lord, we are all equal in the eyes of the holy father. The father, son and holy spirit. You probably get the attention of many admirers as they see you as a great ruler. If don't mind me saying so." said Charlie politely.
Lady Olivia was wide eyed with surprise about how Charlie shown to be a gentleman, a polite and obedient young man. This left her blushing with a grin.
"I'm flattered you thinks so." said Olivia giving a brief chuckle. "Also, just so you know, I'm the king's royal advisor."
Charlie was surprised to hear her admit this as he got up on his feet and Olivia couldn't stop staring at him. She couldn't stop staring at his muscles, his beautiful hair and his chiseled face.
"Your not the queen, are you?" asked Charlie looking confused.
"One can dream." said Olivia. "But it's alright that you mistaken me for the queen. Some new visitors to Newtopia have mistaken me for the queen before, as flattering as it may sound."
"Welcome to Newtopia, Plantars, Anne and Charlie. This is an old city, but one rich in history and splendor." said Olivia showing a wide eyed expression but turned back to being stoic. "Please don't touch anything that looks important."
They turned to see something that got their attention as Sprig was on a nearby statue but a piece of it broke off and he fell. He let them know that he was unharmed. Lady Olivia had one of her eyes twitching. But what got Lady Olivia to feel less stressed out was something she didn't expect.
"Sprig, front and center, little guy." Charlie instructed.
Sprig came over to Charlie and the rest of them and Charlie continued. Charlie instructed the soldiers to get a few repairmen and inform them about what they'll need for repairing the damages to the statue and what he advised sounded like something they all knew would work. They gave each other a salute and Lady Olivia was showing a visible sign of amazement. Charlie suggested something that she agreed with and he had such a way of commanding them, even if he was showing compassion with his words. Lady Olivia didn't show it but she was starting to like Charlie yet she understood that Charlie and Anne are dating and she can only be an acquaintance, even though she too expects him to behave.
"Do enjoy your stay." said Olivia.
Lady Olivia and the newt soldiers turned to leave as Lady Olivia smiled at the fact that Charlie was showing respect for for their kingdom, compassion towards others and she couldn't help but admire his beautiful appearance. She felt like she could get along with him.
"What a man." said Olivia to herself.
"She seems friendly... ish." said Hop Pop looking nervous.
"So, are you like a big deal here or something?" Anne asked.
"Let's just say I have a perfect record when it comes to missions.." answered Marcy.
"Okay. So, Marcy, I've got a couple of questions. How'd you get so smart? What's your coat made out of? What's in this pouch? Where'd you get that wrist thing?" Sprig asked eagerly. "What was Anne and Charlie like at home before they came here?"
Hop Pop cleared his throat to get Sprig's attention and he stopped as he got back to Hop Pop's side.
"Kids, will you help me get the fwagon unloaded? Let's give Anne, Charlie and Marcy some space." said Hop Pop.
"You sure don't need a hand, Hop Pop?" asked Charlie.
"We can handle it from here." answered Hop Pop.
Hop Pop walked off with Sprig and Polly following, letting out some groans as the two frog like chldren felt like they could've at least learned more about Anne and Charlie and Marcy. Marcy took Anne and Charlie to a big fountain that was beautifully crafted. Anne tossed a small rock in there, making a loud splashing sound. Marcy had some questions of her own.
"So, you haven't found a way home either, huh?" asked Marcy.
"Nope!" said Anne and Charlie in unison.
"You know, it's funny. We've been hoping to find you for so long, but now that we actually found you, we have no idea what to do next." said Anne having some doubts.
"At least it's safe here though. I was in a coma the first three in a half months here." said Charlie.
"You were in a coma?" said Marcy surprised.
"Lets just say that before I met Anne, I was somewhere I didn't want to be and when I emerged. I was with the wrong people and I escaped. Being with Anne and the Plantars, it's thanks to them and others from Wartwood, that I got over my fear of old men with canes, came out of my shell, got over my dad issues since Hop Pop has been more of a dad to me than my real dad ever was. And I finally confessed my feelings to Anne. And recently, I've been feeling some strange power that I got no explanation for." Charlie explained. "But also, I don't know what's next ether."
"I know what you mean. First things first though. We have to find Sasha." said Marcy.
Suddenly, there was a silence. Anne and Charlie had a saddened expression and they knew that Marcy had no idea what happened between Anne and Sasha or Charlie and Sasha. They knew she'd want to know but they didn't predict it would be this soon.
"Oh! Actually, we did find Sasha. We, uh... we had a fight." said Anne slightly stammering.
Marcy saw Charlie shed a tear out of his eye when they brought up Sasha, she could tell this didn't sound good.
"No... Was it bad?" asked Marcy curiously.
"Er...There were maybe some swords, minor explosions and Charlie almost drove himself to drink but found out he was drinking grape juice, not alcohol. I was a little hurt inside, Sasha probably felt the same but Charlie...well." Anne paused.
Marcy turned to Charlie as he was silent and shed another tear.
"I rather not go into details." said Charlie sadly.
"Anyways, we don't know where she is now." Anne chimed in.
Marcy could tell that there was some emotional hardship involved but she could tell that Charlie went through it worse than Anne since he had more of an emotional reaction.
"Well, even if we find a way home, it's pointless without Sasha." said Marcy attempting to show compassion.
"So, what now?" asked Anne and Charlie.
"I don't know. Back home, Sasha always decided the plan." said Marcy remembering something.
"Yeah. Maybe it's time we started making our own decisions, huh?" Anne suggested.
"Machigainaku." Charlie responded.
Marcy felt a sense of courage inside her from their words.
"Yeah! I mean, it's worked out for us so far, right?" said Marcy getting up. "Come on, stand up!"
Both Anne and Charlie got up on their feet and stood up. Marcy instructed them both to strike a power pose. Anne sucked in a big amount of air and puffed up her cheeks and Charlie stood next to Anne, wrapping one arm around her to hug her. Marcy figured they were doing alright.
"I'm Marcy Wu!" said Marcy powerfully.
"And, uh, I'm Anne Boonchuy!" said Anne with determination.
"And I'm Charlie Matsuda!" said Charlie.
They placed one of their hands in one spot as their hands rose up.
"And together, we're gonna find Sasha and find a way home!" said the humans in unison powerfully.
They struck a pose and a ridiculous one at that, but they stood up straight and stopped posing after they laughed.
"Oh, my gosh. Okay, so I wanna know everything that's happened to you guys since you got here." said Marcy looking excited.
"Sure, but first." paused Anne as she gave a smile towards Charlie. "Hey soul brotha, come to soul sista!"
Charlie blushed as Anne pulled him in her arms and planted her soft, full lips to his in a deep, passionate kiss and Charlie kissed her back. Marcy let out a squeal of excitement to see that they've moved up to kissing in their relationship along with giving each other cute nicknames. They eventually pulled their lips off each other and they started to show Marcy pictures of what was going on with Anne and Charlie since they've come to Amphibia.
Marcy was told their experiences. She was surprised and amazed by Anne's experience before she met Charlie and she was feeling the same when they shown and spoke about what was going on with Charlie after he met Anne. Marcy couldn't help but hug Charlie when she found out that he healed others with medical remedies and the golden, all miracle healing apples, watching out for others kids and helping the elderly and just how physically strong he appears to be and how many times he had shown what Charlie dubbed some of his "Badass" movements when in battle.
She was fangirling on how Anne and Charlie spoke of their time about falling in love with each other and how they confessed their feelings to each other and became a couple. They even told her about some moments they had not just with themselves but with the Plantars and others through out Amphibia which she was delighting in, especially with how Charlie was using more golden apples to give to other towns and cities and communities so they can plant and grow trees to harvest them.
Little did they know, someone from a tall tower nearby was watching them in the dark. There was a tall and large, unseen figure inside and he turned to a table that looked like a chessboard with chess pieces. The figure had three pieces placed on there, one that looked like Marcy, one that looked like Anne and another that looked like Charlie.
"The pieces are starting to fall into place. It's time for the game to begin." spoke the figure in a male's voice.