I see that many of you have begun thinking of certain realities that you wish to see. In this vast universe almost any reality you can conceive of is possible, one needs only look hard enough. There was one by the name of drake wind who was looking for a reality where Luz and Anne arrived in different spots in their journey to Amphibia….
The attributes of the gems are not a perfect match all the time, it is quite possible that some of the lights display more of one trait than another. In Luz and Anne's case they are quite similar in their personality and both are capable of having great empathy and great courage….
So let us look into a new reality one where the gems decided that Anne should be given the power of courage and Luz the power of heart. And once again we will gaze into the vast multiverse and ponder the question….
What If…?
What If….Anne and Luz switched places?
Here we are in the town of Wartwood, a small town in the southern area of Amphibia, a town set in its ways and slow to change, other amphibians are not welcomed easily in this place. So a species that is entirely unfamiliar would be even less welcomed. And unfortunately this is the situation that thirteen year old Luz Noceda currently finds herself in…
The frogs were up in arms over the new creature that had wandered into town after Wally. For a second it looked as though Wally's claim of a monster that had followed him would be dismissed, and daily normal life would resume. The residents were quickly proven wrong however as barely a few minutes had passed before the strange creature Wally had described walked right into town. At first the frogs screamed at seeing it, but Mayor Toadstool had manged to rally them together and they had quickly tied the creature up and hauled it to the center of town, starring at it and trying to determine what sort of thing it was.
"It's so tall and gangly," said one frog.
"It's eyes are so big," said another.
"Do you think it eats frogs?" asked a third.
"Um excuse me, I don't eat frogs," said the creature, the frogs all stopped talking and looked at it. The creature continued to talk.
"Hi my name is Luz Noceda," said the creature, "and I really am sorry to intrude here. The truth is I'm lost, and when I saw that frog with the one eye run away, I thought he might lead me to somewhere I could find help, so I followed him I didn't mean to frighten you."
"It can talk!" said one of the frogs in the crowd in surprise.
"Well of course I can talk," answered Luz as though it were the most obvious thing ever.
"It says it won't eat us, but how do we know that?" asked another frog.
While all this commotion was going on, one particular frog stepped up to where the creature was and looked her in the eyes. Luz starred back at the pink frog unsure of what he wanted, eventually he did speak to her.
"Now that I get a good look at you, you don't look so scary," said the pink frog.
"Thanks, I think," answered Luz.
"My name's Sprig," said the pink frog.
"Pleased to meet you Sprig," said Luz.
"Sprig be careful!" called an elderly frog coming over to Sprig, "we still don't know anything about this creature."
"Yeah," said Mayor Toadstool, "it may sound all nice and pleasant, but that don't mean nothing."
"Is there something I can do to convince you I'm a good person?" asked Luz.
The crowd went silent, no one said anything, but right at that moment a large screech was heard and a terrifying red mantis charged into the town! Toadstool tried to rally the frogs.
"Quick everyone mantis formation!" he called.
The frogs all jumped on top of Toadstool lining up in some sort of formation in an attmept to scare the mantis away, it hardly mattered though as the red mantis swiped at the frogs quickly scattering them. The rest of the frogs ran away in terror! The red mantis looked at Luz and swiped at her, Luz managed to move out of the way at the last second and thankfully the mantis only cut the ropes that were binding her. The ropes fell away and Luz got up, ready to run away. As she did though the pink frog who had talked to her shot a rock from his slingshot at the red mantis catching its attention. The red mantis turned from Luz to the pink frog.
"Uh, oh," said Sprig as he realized he was in trouble. The red mantis screeched and chased after Sprig.
Luz saw what was happening, she looked at the road the lead out of town, she could follow it and get away, but then she looked back at Sprig, as he was being chased by the red mantis. For a second Luz struggled to decide whether to flee or help him, but in the end she made her decision and rushed towards the red mantis, as she did she picked up a stick. The red mantis had cornered Sprig and was preparing to strike him, but Luz came up to the mantis and began hitting it with her stick. The mantis turned its attention away from Sprig and back to her.
The mantis slashed down its claw at Luz, in one swipe it managed to destroy the stick she was holding. Luz looked up as it got ready to slash at her again. as it did she did the only thing she could think of and desperately tried to hold it back. Sprig looked up at Luz in awe as she held back the mantis.
"I can't hold it forever," called Luz desperately, "come on dude do something!"
"Oh right," said Sprig, he looked around and saw the discarded rope. He quickly grabbed it and began hoping about around, over, and through the mantis tying it up. Eventually he succeeded and pulled the rope tight trying to knock it over. Luz saw what he was trying to do and joined him, the two finally managed to tie the mantis up and get it to fall.
The townsfolk returned at the site of the defeated mantis and cheered!
"Well done!" said Toadstool, "now all that's left is to decide what to do with this, weird monster."
"She's not a monster!" said Sprig stepping in front of Luz and raising his hands, "she just helped us stop this mantis."
The townsfolk murmured amongst themselves as they considered what he said. Luz saw them talking and decided to try and plead her case.
"Listen everyone," she began, "I know I look different from anything here, and I guess in your eyes I must look like a monster but I swear I'm not. I'm just a lost girl, the reason I followed Wally was because I was trying to find some sort of town or city to ask for help. All I want is to figure out where I am and how I can get home, if any of you know how to get me home I swear I'll leave right away and won't trouble you anymore."
"Well where in Amphibia are you from?" asked a frog.
"Amphbia?" replied Luz.
"Yeah what town are you from," asked another frog, "unless you're from the capital city of Newtopia. I hear they have all sorts of exotic things there, did you escape from a zoo?"
"No!" said Luz indignantly, "I guess you don't understand I'm not from Amphibia, I'm from a different world. A world where there are more of my kind."
"A different world? Is that even possible?" asked a frog, again the town murmured as they discussed this new information. Finally though Hop-pop stepped up to where Luz was.
"Now, now don't worry, you can stay with us for now," he said to Luz, then he turned to the crowd, "I'll take care of this strange creature, you don't have to worry I'll watch over her and keep an eye on her." The crowd didn't seem reassured by this thought Mayor Toadstool eventually spoke to Hop-pop.
"Alright if you really want to do this I suppose that's fine," he said, "but we'll be keeping an eye on you Hopadiah, you best hope this creature doesn't go crazy and start eating frogs."
"I won't," said Luz in a completely serious voice. Toadstool and the crowd flashed her a look, before deciding to disperse, making sure to take the tied up mantis with them.
"These things taste great with butter," said a frog as they dragged it away.
"Wow this day sure got a lot more exciting than I thought it would," said Polly joining the group, "here I thought we would just be buying things from the store and going home."
"Yeah, I was all set to go into the woods and look for that creature that Wally described," said Sprig, "then it just walked into town."
"Of course you were Sprig," said Hop-pop wearily.
"Listen," said Luz to the Plantars," I don't want to be a burden on you, if you don't know a way to get me home, I'll just leave."
"I'm afraid that's not possible," said Hop-pop, bringing out a piece of paper and unrolling it to reveal a map, "this valley is covered by an impenetrable ice that blocks the only way out. You could go to other towns in the valley, but I don't expect you'd get a warm welcome there."
"What, Really?!" said Luz in frustration, "how long will I have to wait?"
"About two months," answered Hop-pop.
Luz looked between Hop-pop and the road leading out of town, realizing she had no better options she decided to give it a try.
"Alright, I guess I'll stay with you. Thank you, if there's anything I can do to help you out around the house then let me know," she said.
"We live on a farm, so I'm sure we can figure something out," said Hop-pop, "alright we've all had enough excitement for one day. Let's head home!"
As they arrived back at the Plantar hosue Hop-pop showed Luz to the basement and gave her a mat, some pillows, and a blanket for a bed. Luz settled in to her new surroundings and began thinking of what she was going to do. Her thoughts were interrupted as Sprig came downstairs.
"Hey just thought I'd bring some toys to keep you company, I'm too old for these," he said, he picked up what looked like a bird, "oh except this one," he then grabbed a worm shaped one, "and this one too, and also this one." In a few seconds he had picked up all the toys he'd brought with him.
"So basically all of them," said Luz sarcastically.
"Yeah I guess so," answered Sprig, the two glanced at each other before they both started laughing. After a few seconds Sprig handed Luz one of the toys, one that looked like a bird.
"Here you can keep this one," he said, "consider it a welcome gift."
"Thanks, I appreciate it," said Luz.
"Well goodnight, don't let the bed bugs bite," said Sprig as he hurried back upstairs, "seriously, they can drain a body in seconds."
Luz looked around nervously hoping not to see any bed bugs. She eventually sat down letting out a heavy sigh.
Well I suppose it's better than sleeping in the woods, she thought, still I have no idea where I am or how I'm going to get home. But I guess at least for now I have a place to stay.
Well not a bad start for Luz, I'd say. Getting accepted by the Plantars just like Anne did. Luz is in a new environment and will have to take on different challenges. I'm sure she'll be able to overcome them, now as for Anne, well let's check in with her….
"So you're not gonna eat me are you?" asked Lilly timidly.
"Uh no dude," said Anne flatly, "though I am hungry."
"Wow you can talk!" said Lilly in amazement, "that's incredible! Could it be that we've discovered a new species?"
"So then you don't know what a human is?" asked Anne.
"No I can't say that I do," said Lilly continuing to stare at Anne, "so is that what you're called then? A human?"
"Well actually my name is Anne," said Anne, "human is my species."
"Oh I see," said Lilly, she turned to the door and opened it calling out to the toad and newt who had left, "Gustav, Amara come back the creature can talk and it says it's not going to eat us."
The toad and newt slowly walked back into the house still looking cautiously at Anne. The toad was green and wearing a sky blue cloak, while the newt was pink in color with brown hair and grey clothes. She eyed Anne suspiciously.
"So she said she's not gonna eat us," began the newt, "but how do we know that's true?"
"I swear I don't eat frogs, or toads, or newts," said Anne, though right at that moment her stomach let out a loud growl.
"So I know that sounded bad," began Anne, "but uh hey any chance you guys have something to eat around here?"
"Well if you follow me outside I'm sure we can find come bugs," offered Lilly.
"Any chance you have something other than bugs?" asked Anne.
"Oh teacher has a small garden outside, I think she might have a few vegetables," said Gustav, with that he left the living room and went to the kitchen, he returned a few moments later with a carrot and a zucchini. Anne eyed the vegetables greedily and quickly reached out to take them and began eating them. As hungry as she was Anne chowed down and ate rather messily. In no time she had consumed both vegetables leaving the kids starring at her slightly aghast. Anne let out a loud burp!
"Sorry," she said, "but I haven't eaten in days, and honestly I'm still hungry."
"So you're a strange creature that can talk like us, you seem to eat vegetables not bugs, and you have your own name, this truly is astounding!" said Lilly, "are there more of you out there? We've never seen a creature like you in Amphibia before."
"Amphibia?" asked Anne.
"That's the land we live in," answered Gustav the toad, "all manner of amphibians live here. Which is why we were fascinated with you. You don't look like an Amphibian of any sort or really any kind of creature we've seen in the wild before."
"I guess that would be because like I said I'm not an amphibian, I'm a human," said Anne, "and also I'm not from here I'm actually from another world."
"Psss, you expect us to believe that you just came here from another world," said Amara the newt in disbelief, "how exactly did you get from your world to ours?"
"Well I…."began Anne before stopping, she didn't know why but for some reason she had a feeling that she shouldn't reveal the specifics of how she had arrived here. Partly because she herself wasn't exactly sure how she got here, but also because while these people were friendly to her she wasn't sure about trusting them one hundred percent yet.
"I don't really know," answered Anne, "one minute I was in my world and the next I was zapped here."
"Hmm that sounds a little suspicious," said Amara the newt, eying Anne suspiciously, "I don't think you're telling the truth."
"Hey give her a break Amara," said Lilly the frog sticking up for Luz, "I mean even you said you've never seen anything like her before so for all we know her story is real. Hey I just thought of something maybe some magic spell brought her here."
"I've never heard of any sort of spell that could pull a being from another world here," countered Amara the newt, "plus what purpose would such a spell serve except to potentially bring more dangerous creatures here?"
"Hold up a sec," said Anne, "did you say magic? Are you telling me magic is real here?"
The three apprentices looked at Anne, surprised that she was even asking that.
"Well of course magic is real," said Lilly, "the three of us are actually studying with one of the best magic teachers in the land."
"In fact let me go get her," said Gustav, "she can have a look at you and maybe answer more of your questions."
"Don't bother Gustav," said a voice from upstairs, "I've heard enough of the conversation to have a guess at what's going on."
All eyes turned to the stairs as a new figure came down them. The figure was old though how old it wasn't clear. From her appearance Luz guessed she was a salamander of some sort, her skin was bright red with black spots all over. She had a huge mane of long bushy white hair flowing out of her head and was carrying a staff that helped to give her the look of a witch. Though she didn't carry the staff in her hands instead she used her tail to hold onto it until she got to the bottom of the stairs and then transferred the staff from her tail to her hand. She starred straight at Anne and gazed at her for a long time before speaking.
"So you're the creature my apprentices found," she said continuing to look at Anne.
"Hi," said Anne waving sheepishly at her, "are you a wizard or something then?"
"My name is Uodeela," said the red Salamander, "I'm also known as the Witch of the Wilds! I've spent years living out in Amphibia's wild lands learning all I can about magic."
"Wow that's great!" said Anne relived, "so does that mean you can just wave your hands and send me back home."
Uodeela looked at Anne a bit indignantly, "no it's not that simple child, and furthermore even if I could, it's quite rude of you to ask me for help for nothing."
"Oh, well uh…." said Anne, "I don't have any money, but is there something else you want?"
"Actually I need your help with something," said Uodeela, "help me with this task and then we'll talk about sending you home."
"That was crazy!" said Anne as her, Uodeela, and Lilly arrived back at her house, "we almost died!"
"Ah relax," said Uodeela in casual tone, "you were never in any real danger, I had things perfectly under control."
"Did you?" asked Anne looking down at Uodeela's cut off hand.
"I mean yeah, that one toad got the drop on me, but hey losing a hand is no problem for me. Just have to wait a few weeks and I'll regrow another one," said Uodeela.
"Well at least we got some of the taxes back," added Lilly.
"Right now that that's taken care of, you're gonna help me get home?" asked Anne.
"Yeah of course," answered Uodeela, "until I can figure out how to get you home you can stay with me, though it would help speed up the process if you told me how exactly you got here."
Anne hesitated, she wasn't sure if she should she tell this salamander about the box? She had a strong feeling that the box was why she was here, but at the same time she didn't fully trust her, at least not yet.
"Sorry I told you everything I know," said Anne, "One minute me and my friends were in the park, the next I was standing in a swamp, and I guess that swamp mud is pretty thick, looks like I lost one of my shoes." Anne looked down at her right foot which had only a sock on it that was covered in mud. She rubbed her foot against her leg trying to get some of the mud off.
"You said you were with friends, how many friends?" asked Uodeela.
"Well it was me, Sasha, Marcy, and….Luz, but she's not really….I mean, never-mind," said Anne her face falling.
"So four of you then?" asked Uodeela looking hard at Anne's eyes.
"Yeah four of us, does that mean anything?" asked Anne hopefully. Uodeela looked back at her wondering if she should tell Anne her theory, she sensed Anne was hiding something from her, so for the moment she decided not to.
"Not sure, it may be nothing, I'll have to look into it some more," answered Uodeela, "for now, let's get you set up in my basement, my other rooms are full right now."
Anne settled down in the basement lying down on her blanket, she tried to relax, but was still feeling very nervous about how the day had gone. She couldn't believe she had been transported to another world, one full of talking Amphibians. While she was feeling hopeful that Uodeela would be able to help find her a way home, she also knew there might be another way. Anne was about to reach into her backpack when suddenly the door to the basement opened, and Lilly came down.
"Hey Anne," she greeted.
"Hey," replied Anne, quickly putting her bag down and closing it.
"I was just checking on you and wanted to see how you were settling into your new room," she said.
"Oh I'm fine," said Anne, "it's a lot better than that cave I found on my first night here."
"Wow that sounds rough," said Lilly, "I'm sorry to hear about that, but it's good to see you doing better. Also I wanted to say that if you ever want to talk about anything then I'm happy to listen. I know you miss your friends so I was thinking that maybe until you get back to your world I could be your friend while you're here."
"Ha, really? You'd do that for me?" said Anne a little surprised.
"Truth is I've been a bit lonely since coming out here, Gustav is nice, but Amara's been mean to me so I thought I'd ask you if you wanted to be friends," said Lilly.
Anne hesitated, part of her wanted to accept the frog's invitation, but another was hoping that the box would work and send her home immediately. Still she decided to be nice.
"I mean yeah sure, if you want, I'd like that," said Anne.
"Cool, well glad to hear it, I'll see you in the morning then," said Lilly going back upstairs.
Once Anne was sure she was gone she reached back into her bag and pulled out the box. Anne held it in front of her and nervously whispered, "come on, come on," before opening the lid, like she had in the park. But nothing happened. Anne let out a sigh before saying,
"Looks like I'm gonna be here for awhile."
Well now you see how Anne and Luz got started in their new environments. Let's quickly jump through some scenes from the future and see how things went for them, let's start with Luz.
"And so I hereby present this prize for the potluck to the Plantar family and they're delectable dish of, uh, what is it called again Noceda?" asked Toadstool.
"It's called "Pastelon de Platano Maduro" answered Luz confidently, "a traditional Dominican food made of plantains, beef, and cheese."
"Uh yes, well your Pastel de Pantalon was amazing," said Toadstool, causing Luz to roll her eyes, "who would have guessed the Plantars would actually win the potluck this year." With that he presented the trophy to the family causing The Plantar's eyes to widen in surprise!
"I can't believe it we actually won!" said Hop-pop in disbelief.
"Yeah no more shame cage for us!" said Polly triumphantly.
Sprig jumped up onto Luz's head giving her a big hug, "Whoo-ho! That was a great idea Luz. I knew you could come up with a winning dish."
"Hey I'm just lucky you guys have plantains here," replied Luz, "my mom's made this for dinner so many times I figured it would be the perfect entry for this potluck."
"Well you were right Luz," said Hop-pop lifting up the trophy.
"Over here," called a frog with a camera, "let's get a picture for posterity!"
Luz and the Plantars all turned to the camera smiling and holding up their trophy.
"You sure you don't want to try and learn how to drive Bessie?" asked Luz to Sprig.
"You see how big that book is," answered Sprig, "do you know how long it would take to read it all?"
"I mean have you ever actually tried to read it?" asked Luz,
"Eh page five is as far as I got," answered Sprig nonchalantly.
"Well I think it would be great to learn how to driver her, and it's not like I have much else to do here," said Luz, though as she said this she also got an idea.
"So hey Sprig, are there any kind of books you do like reading?"
"Oh yeah lots," answered Sprig, "I mean I love adventure and fantasy stories, especially ones that involve lots of big battles."
"Hmmm, maybe I can interest you in a new series, a human series," said Luz. Sprig looked at Luz curiously. Luz got her bad and pulled out a book.
"Maybe while I get to work on reading Bessie's manual, you can take a look at this," she said handing him the book.
"Good Witch Azura," said Sprig reading the title, "so what's this book about?"
"It's about magic, adventure, romance, and about believing in yourself!" said Luz in excitement, "actually I was about your age when I first read it."
"Huh really?" said Sprig looking more intently at the book.
"So hey how about while I read Bessie's manual, you read my Good Witch Azura Book," suggested Luz, "then you can let me know what you think!"
"Okay, sounds like a deal!" said Sprig.
Luz carefully dipped her feet into the bucket of hot water and wrapped the blanket around her tightly, letting out a few coughs as she did. She adjusted the blanket as she tried to make herself feel better despite being sick. Around the living room the Plantars had done the same all of them sick after working during the storm.
"Well at least we saved the crops," said Luz in a hoarse voice.
"Yeah, I mean it was hours of backbreaking work, but in the end it was worth it," said Hop-pop letting out a cough.
"Was it?!" asked Polly not entirely convinced, letting out a sneeze.
"Luz and I almost got blown away by that large tornado," declared Sprig.
"You know if you don't focus on the fact that we almost died, it was actually kinda fun," said Luz, "I mean I felt like I was flying."
"Only you would find being blown around by a tornado fun Luz," said Polly shooting her a look.
"Eh looking back I can see Luz's point," said Sprig, "and I mean it's not like we were having a lot of other fun out there."
Luz let out a large sneeze, she blew her nose trying to get the snot off her.
"Ugghh, I hope this is just a simple cold," she said after she recovered, "I have no idea what kind of germs you have here, hope nothing here reacts badly with me as a human."
"I'm sorry Luz," began Hop-pop, "we had to save the crops and I knew working in the rain and mud would be difficult. I knew there was a chance one of us might get sick, but I didn't think we all would. I'm sorry for making you help us."
"Aww don't worry about that Hop-pop," replied Luz, "you took me in, and gave me a place to stay. I'm happy to help around the house even if-" Luz was cut off as she once again let out a loud series of coughs. After she recovered she spoke again.
"Hey after we've rested a bit, let's make some soup, in the human world hot soup is just the thing to help when you're sick like this."
"Sounds good to me," said Hop-pop.
"You'll have to miss the fair of course, but it's for a good cause," said Hop-pop, "come on boy! Do it for the family, what do you say?"
Sprig hesitated as he looked hard at Hop-pop, he wanted to accept, but he also wanted to go to the fair and have a good time with Luz. Before he could respond, though Luz spoke up.
"Hey uh just a minute Hop-pop, this whole Grubhog thing, it doesn't have to be Sprig right, you just need someone to watch him right?"
"Well yes, but the point is the family that does gets showered with love and praise!" said Hop-pop, "and ever since we won the potluck the Plantars have been making a comeback! If we can pull this off successfully then who knows where we'll be? That's why Sprig has to do this!"
"What if I did it?" asked Luz
"Wait, what?!" said both Sprig and Polly at the same time.
"Yeah, what if I did it?" asked Luz again, "Sprig was so excited to check out the fair, I wouldn't want him to miss it, so how about I watch the Grubhog?"
Hop-pop scratched his chin as he considered this, finally he replied, "I suppose that could work, I mean everyone in town already thinks you're a Plantar Luz, so why not? Now of course you will have to wear the traditional Costume?"
"Costume?" said Luz in a worried tone.
As Luz stepped out from behind the dressing wall she gave a smile towards the Plantars, though Polly didn't hesitate to immediately start laughing at her.
"Oh man, you look ridiculous!" laughed Polly, causing Luz to roll her eyes.
"Thanks Polly," she said sarcastically.
"Oh don't mind her," said Hop-pop reassuringly, "you look fine. Now all you have to do is watch over the Grubhog until the big moment at the end of the fair."
"Well alright then, I should be able to handle that," said Luz.
"One quick word of advice Luz, he spits acid," said Hop-pop, at which point the Grubhog did indeed spit acid from his mouth forming a hole in the floor. Luz looked over at it with a deadpanned expression.
"I'll remember to watch for that," she said.
"Hey thanks for doing this Luz!" said Sprig coming up to her, "but I'm bummed that we won't get to hang out at the fair together, I wanted to show you all the cool rides!"
"Aww I appreciate that Sprig," said Luz, "but this way you still get to go and have a good time."
Sprig hopped over to Luz and gave her a hug, "I promise to bring you some web candy." Before hoping out of the tent back to the fair.
"Well another year, another loss," said Hop-pop morosely, as he and the rest of the farmers sat down wearing the uncomfortable turkey like costumes.
"These really are itchy," said Luz scratching herself.
"Why do I get the feeling they haven't washed them since last year?" said Sprig
"Hey sorry guys," said Luz to the rest of the team, "I thought I could help you win that game, but I'm just not that good athletically."
"Well it's nothing we aren't already used to Luz," said Ms. Croaker.
"You did you best Luz," said Hop-pop reassuringly, "I mean even offering to join our team was nice of you. You're a bit taller than most of the other townies so I thought that might have given us an edge."
"I still didn't get a chance to score a goal," said Sprig, "well I guess there's always next year."
"You know I wonder if Anne…." began Luz, before trailing off.
"Huh?" said Polly.
"Oh I was just thinking of my friends," said Luz again, she had started thinking about Anne more after her recent trip to the Misty Moors with Wally. "I was thinking if Anne could have done a bit better if she had been on the team. You know she's really good at sports."
"Oh she is?" asked Sprig.
"Yeah she's amazing at tennis, and she's pretty fast and quick on her feet, I don't know if she's ever played basketball before, but I think she'd be good at it," said Luz.
"Wow that's the first time I've heard you talk about Anne," said Polly, "every time in the past when she's been mentioned you're always quick to talk about something else. You never want to talk about her."
Luz thought for a second before responding, "my feelings for Anne in the past were….complicated, but recently I've been thinking about it some more and well, I need to make things right with Anne when I find her. I hope she's not too mad at me."
So as you can see, some things changed from Luz being involved with the Plantars, always interesting to see how a new person in a new environment can cause these sorts of changes. But now we've seen what happened with Luz, let's check in on Anne….
"That was too close!" said Anne as she stood up and brushed herself off, "I cannot believe I almost became plant food!"
"Aye ai ai, I send you to do a simple delivery mission and you almost wind up getting killed," said Uodeela shaking her head, "what the heck happened?"
Anne, launched into an explanation of what happened, telling Uodeela all the details.
"Well I guess I can't be too mad," said Uodeela, "I'm sorry about the town being cold to you, I should have figured, but I didn't think their reaction would be that bad. Still you showed some real moxie by trying to get some tomatoes." With that Uodeela turned to the now unguarded tomatoes bush.
"I guess this day wasn't a total loss," said Uodeela grinning, "I just managed to score a bunch of tomatoes and seeing how rare these puppies are I bet I could make some good coin selling them."
"Hey before you sell them can I have a few?" asked Anne.
"Sure, what do you want them for?" asked Uodeela.
"I have an idea for something I want to make…." said Anne.
"Okay I just got it out of the oven, so let's let it cool a bit," said Anne carefully putting the pizza on the counter.
"Wow it smells great!" said Lilly.
"I can only imagine how it's going to taste," said Gustav.
After a few minutes Anne cut two slices in the pizza and handed one each to Lilly and Gustav. They both took a bite and were instantly impressed!
"THAT IS AMAZING!" they both said at the same time, there's eyes going wide and tears streaming down their face.
"The tomatoes and the cheese mixing together really compliment each other," said Lilly.
"The crust is perfectly baked and the basil adds just a hint of flavor to this masterpiece of a meal," said Gustav.
"THANK YOU SO MUCH ANNE YOU'RE THE BEST!" said both Gustav and Lilly coming over to Anne and giving her a hug that almost knocked her over.
"No prob, dudes!" said Anne happy to see her friends enjoying the pizza, "I'm glad we got to share this meal together."
At that moment Amara came down the stairs and went into the kitchen, to get some water.
"Hey Amara, you've got to try this," said Lilly coming up to her and offering her a slice.
"Isn't that human food?" asked Amara starring suspiciously at the slice of pizza.
"Yeah but it's really good, plus Anne says that on Earth this is the kind of food you share with friends," said Gustav.
"Well then why are you offering me this?" asked Amara coldly, "I thought it was pretty obvious I'm not your friend." Amara turned her head and headed back upstairs. Anne, Lilly, and Gustav watched her go crestfallen.
"Hey don't worry about her," said Anne, "we all got to share pizza together and that's what matters!"
"So then does this mean we're friends?" asked Gustav nervously.
"Yeah I suppose it does," said Anne, "which means we have to take a group photo. Anne got out her phone and turned it around getting all her friends in the shot. They all smiled at the camera and Anne took the picture.
"Are you sure Anne?" asked Uodeela, "I mean you're already staying here you might as well make the most of your time."
"The thing is making potions sound really complicated," replied Anne, "I'm not really cut out for that kind of thing."
"Well the point of the lessons is to learn how to make them," replied Uodeela.
"Yeah but why even bother? There's no magic in the world I'm from so it's not like I'll be able to use them when I get back," said Anne.
"I suppose not," said Uodeela
"You know I bet Marcy would love this though, she'd probably be all into making potions," said Anne, "heck I bet even Luz…." Anne trailed off not saying anything else.
"Yes what about Luz?" asked Uodeela.
"Nothing," said Anne hanging her head, "forget I said anything."
Uodeela looked hard at Anne, noticing how her face fell when she mentioned Luz. She had noticed it before, but kept it to herself, now she wondered if she should press Anne further about this.
"You know Anne, I've been around the block," began Uodeela, "you don't get to be my age without having learned a lot. Is there something bothering you?"
"What? No! nothing is wrong," replied Anne rather quickly.
"Uh-huh, you said that pretty fast," observed Uodeela. Anne didn't reply to that and simply turned her head away.
"Look Anne, I know it's none of my business, but I am genuinely trying to help you here," began Uodeela, "if there's something you want to talk about, then I'm here for you if you want to talk about it."
Anne didn't respond, though she did look back at Uodeela, after a few moments she simply said, "Thanks!"
"This is so cool!" said Anne, "I get to be a newt! Now I'm no longer an outsider in this world."
"Well I'm glad your liking this," said Amara in a huff as she looked over at Anne enjoying herself in her newt body. Amara let out a sigh as she looked in the mirror at her now human body.
"I hope this will help you two to learn how appreciate each other," said Uodeela as she looked over at them.
"I'm sure we'll learn a lot from this," said Anne, "plus now I get to feel what it's like to be a newt."
"I mean your body is so light and frail," said Amara as she again looked at her new body, "you can't climb up anything, you can't quickly move on all fours, and I'll be you can't even swim well."
"Hey I can swim okay," said Anne in a huff, "although that does remind me ever since first coming to this world I've wanted to go for a swim are there any lakes around here that you know of Amara?"
"Uh I think there's one just south of here," answered Amara.
"Oh cool now that I'm a newt I want to check it out, hey you wanna come and go for a swim with me," said Anne.
"WHAT?!" exclaimed Amara her face in shock starring at Anne. Anne looked back not understanding why Amara looked so flustered. She also looked over at Uodeela who's face had also gone wide at hearing Anne's offer, she seemed to be trying her best not to laugh.
"Uh is everything okay? I just asked if you wanted to go swim with me," said Anne, but Amara's face remained in shock, and was now a deep pink. Finally Uodeela burst out laughing.
"Sorry," said Uodeela trying to regain her composure, "but that was just too perfect! Oh Anne, you have no idea what you just said do you?"
Anne now looked extremely puzzled, "I'm gonna assume I'm missing something here, because all I asked was if Amara wanted to go for a swim with me."
"Right I forget sometimes, you're a completely different species who has no idea how things work here," said Amara finally calming down. In the background Uodeela continued to laugh and snort almost falling over to the ground.
"So uh do you want to tell her or should I?" said Uodeela still holding back laughs.
"Okay…." began Amara letting out a long sigh, "does your species have some sort of….romantic courtship?"
"I think you mean dating," said Anne, "it's when you ask someone you like if they'd like to hang out with you and do romantic things."
"Right, well newts and salamanders have something similar to that," said Amara trying to keep her composure, "the difference is that well, asking another newt or salamander to swim with you is a big deal!"
"Okay, how big of a deal are we talking?" asked Anne.
"Well…it's…I mean," stuttered Amara not sure what to say.
Eventually Uodeela came up to Anne and whispered something into her ear, causing Anne's face to go bright red.
"Oh….OH!" said Anne, "I see….Um yeah, no I didn't mean it like that….I…in my world it doesn't mean that."
"I didn't think so," said Amara, "still the fact that you're a newt right now, and that you asked it so casually, well I felt you should know."
Anne and Amara starred at each other for a few seconds before both burst out laughing.
"That was funny then wasn't it?" asked Anne.
"Yeah it was, you should've seen your face when Teach told you what "going for a swim" means to newts and salamanders," said Amara. The two came up to each other and hugged as they continued laughing. Uodeela eventually joining them.
"You know I think you two have worked out your differences wouldn't you say?"
"Yes," said both Anne and Amara at the same time.
"Please switch us back," said Amara.
"So uh what is this again?" asked Lilly.
"It's called girl time," said Anne, "it's when us girls get together and do girly things."
Lilly and Amara looked at each other not sure they fully understood.
"So why are we doing this now?" asked Amara
"I thought it would be a great way to celebrate!" said Anne, "It's awesome that Amara has come around and isn't a jerk anymore."
"Um thanks, I think?" said Amara.
"Sorry, that came out wrong," said Anne, "what I meant was, I'm so happy that you're our friend now! So I want us to have girl time together." Anne came up and enveloped both her friends in a hug.
"So what sort of activities does girl time entail then?" asked Lilly.
"Oh lot's of things," began Anne, "going to mall to hang out together, getting some tea, maybe a massage, buying some new fancy clothes, getting our toes painted."
Both Amara and Lilly looked at each other, then back at Anne.
"Why would we want to get our toes painted?" asked Amara, not understanding it all.
"Because it's girl time!" said Anne proudly, causing Lily and Amara to again look at Anne in confusion.
"You know this sounds great and all," said Amara, "but I think if we're going to have this "girl time" we should do it properly, so here's my suggestions. How about we put this on hold until later. In Newtopia there's this hotel that's very luxurious, my parents have an account there. It's definitely got a place where we can get a massage and get some clothes, and I'm pretty sure it has a fancy restaurant too. So why don't we put "girl time" on hold until we get a chance to go to Newtopia, then we'll do it together, my treat."
"Ooooo, that sounds amazing," said Anne, "okay, I like that plan!"
"Maybe when we're done with our apprenticeship we can head to Newtopia with you Amara," said Lilly, "who knows maybe one of your friends is there Anne."
"Yeah, maybe…." said Anne wistfully.
"So listen Uodeela there's something I haven't told you yet about how I got here," said Anne, as she said this she reached into her bag an pulled an object that was wrapped in a cloth of some sort, as Anne pulled back the cloth, causing Uodeela to let out a gasp.
"You know what this is then?" asked Anne, having heard Uodeela's gasp.
For a second Uodeela thought about lying, but realized it would be pointless to do so, she let out a sigh before finally saying, "yes I do indeed know what that is."
"Okay, great, so do you know how to get me home then?" asked Anne.
Again Uodeela hesitated, in her mind she tried to quickly go through what she should say to Anne, part of her wanted to tell her the whole truth, but the other part wondered whether she should. Still she knew at this point she needed to tell Anne something, so she quickly weighed her options before speaking.
"Anne…." began Uodeela somberly, "I do indeed know how that box works, and I think I might be able to use it to get you home, but…"
"But what?" asked Anne.
"The gems on that box need to be recharged," said Uodeela, "it won't work in its current state, in order to recharge the gems we'll need to go across Amphibia and find certain temples."
"Do you know where they are?" asked Anne.
"I know of the location of one of the temples, finding the others will be difficult," explained Uodeela, "but I think we can do it, also we'll need to find your other friends too."
"Well yeah of course," said Anne, "I wouldn't want to leave them behind."
"Even Luz?" asked Uodeela.
Anne hesitated before replying, "yeah even Luz, I've thought about her a lot ever since going to the moors, and I realize I need to apologize to her."
As Anne spoke her eyes glowed purple for a brief second, Uodeela noticed this looking intently at Anne.
"Listen once I finish my teaching session with the others I promise we can go look for your friends, or start looking for the temples too," said Uodeela, "whatever happens I'll help you find your friends and get you home."
"Thank you so much. You've done so much for me Uodeela," said Anne, she got up and left Uodeela's room closing the door behind her. As she left Uodeela sat down on her bed letting out a heavy sigh.
"Anne you're so young, you shouldn't have the weight of the world on your shoulders. It's not right that you should be forced to fight a battle you had no knowledge of. I don't care what the prophecy says! I'll help send you home so you'll never have to worry about it!"
Uodeela knows a lot more than she's telling Anne, but as you can see she also cares for her. It is hard when you know that someone you care about may have to face unknown danger. Uodeela wants to spare Anne and her friends from having to fight a deadly battle, but that may be inevitable. Oh and remember what I said about knowing when something bad is going to happen to someone? Well unfortunately….we aren't done looking at this reality…
In one swift motion Sasha had disarmed Luz flinging the sword away from her and sending it over the tower's wall. Luz watched the sword fall a deep sinking feeling in her stomach. The rest of the Wartwood citizens watched as well their hearts sinking.
"Well done Sasha, I knew you could do it!" exclaimed Grime.
"I knew beating Luz would be a cinch. I was always the physically stronger one," bragged Sasha, "if it wasn't for me Luz wouldn't have ever passed P.E."
Luz turned glaring at Sasha, she wanted to say something to her, but couldn't find the words.
"It's over Luz!" said Sasha pointing her sword at her. Sasha nodded to Grime who in one motion shot out his tongue at Hop-pop grabbing him and pulling him back towards Grime.
"Ahhh!" screamed Hop-pop as he was dragged over to Grime.
"Please no! Don't do this!" said Luz having fallen to her knees practically begging Sasha.
"Sorry Luz, you lost," said Grime, "We gave you the option of combat, but Sasha won which means we get to execute Freedom Frog!"
"No!" pleaded Polly, "you can't!"
"He's all we have left," said Sprig, "please."
"It's alright kids, don't worry about me," said Hop-pop having accepted his fate, "I know you'll be alright."
Hop-pop turned to Luz, "Luz please look after Sprig and Polly will you?"
Luz didn't respond to that, instead she turned to Sasha desperately pleading, "Sasha…STOP THIS! PLEASE!, I'll do anything! Anything you want, but please don't hurt Hop-pop."
Sasha paused before saying, "you know for a second I thought about asking you to stay away from Anne, but I realize I don't need that. You already screwed up your chances with Anne so much she'll never want to see you again. Which is fine by me, as that means I can have her all to myself. So sorry Luz there's nothing you have that I want."
Luz only had a second to process what Sasha had just said before Sasha turned again to Grime, giving him a nod. Grime held Hop-pop over the edge of the tower….and dropped him to his death.
For Luz, Sprig, and Polly time seemed to slow as they watched him fall. All three ran over to the edge of the tower, none of the other toads stopping them. They looked over just in time to see Hop-pop fall into the jaws of the Venus flytrap plant, and be consumed.
Sprig and Polly both began loudly crying, Luz went numb as she fell to her knees unable to believe what had just happened. Tears streaked down her face as she thought about all the old frog had done for her, how he'd become almost like a father to her. How she had failed him by not being able to defeat Sasha. How right now she'd give anything to have him back.
As she continued to cry she looked over at Sasha and Grim, her grief began slowly transforming into rage. As this happened something clicked and she began to feel an immense power welling up inside her….
It started as her eyes changed color, suddenly they began to glow bright blue. As that happened a blue aura formed around her. Sasha, Grime, and the others finally noticing this turning towards Luz in amazement. The blue aura continued to form around Luz until it had changed her hair to a deep blue color as well. She stood up a look of pure rage on her face as her eyes focused on Grime and Sasha. Finally she spoke in a deep unatrual voice.
"Give him back….give…him….BACK!"
"You're certain that's what happened?" asked Uodeela to Emmanuel.
"All the witnesses I talked to said that this human creature, began glowing blue. After that happened she became incredibly powerful she destroyed Toad Tower with one punch," replied Emmanuel.
Uodeela looked over at the ruins of Toad Tower as she processed what Emmanuel had told her.
"I'm afraid I don't know what happened after that," continued Emmanuel, "Grime hasn't been seen since that happened, but I think the frogs that were there managed to escape. From what I understand they were all from Wartwood, and that human is too, so it's most likely that she's back in the town."
"I see, thank you," said Uodeela to Emmanuel, "if what those witnesses said is true then I have to speed up my plans. I need to get Anne to reunite with her friend immediately and I need to start teaching her certain things."
"Do you know what's going on with that human then?" asked Emmanuel.
"I do, but…well I need to think about this," said Uodeela quickly.
"Well I mean is there any chance she could use those powers to help us?" asked Emmanuel.
"I don't know, we'll see," answered Uodeela quickly, "I never expected one of them would be able to activate their powers. A lot is changing right now, and I need to figure out what I'm going to tell Anne."
"Could Valeriana help at all?" asked Emmanuel.
"She could, maybe I'll seek her out, but I have a feeling I know what she's going to say," said Uodeela.
"Listen, I get the sense that there's a lot going on you're not telling me," began Emmanuel, "I understand if there's a reason for that, but just remember I'm here if you need me."
"Yes, I know, thank you for that," answered Uodeela, "I'll make sure and stay in contact, but right now the most important thing will be finding that human and also reuniting her and Anne, after that I'm not sure, but….I promise to let you know. Actually why don't you see if you can contact Valeriana, tell her to meet me in Wartwood, I'll need her advice on this for sure."
"Done," said Emmanuel.
We're just about at the end of this timeline, or rather the end of what I'm going to show you. For like many things time stretches on and continues indefinitely, but I think we are near the end of what is relevant here. So before we end our story for today let's take a few glimpses into the future.
We see a scene of Anne and Uodeela talking, it's evident from the conversation that Uodeela will be taking her to Wartwood right away.
Next we see a scene of Anne saying goodbye to Lilly, Gustav, and Amara. They are all a bit sad, but all of them give a hug to Anne. Uodeela talks to the apprentices and tells them to head to Newtopia hoping they'll be safe there.
Next is a scene of Uodeela and Anne with a snail slowly making their way towards Wartwood.
Next a scene of Uodeela and Anne arriving outside the Plantar house in Wartwood. Anne and Luz look at each other and after a few seconds they both rush towards each other hugging and crying happy to have finally reunited! They're seen talking and it can be inferred that they're forgiving each other, much like in cannon. As they head back to the house Luz introduces Sprig and Polly to Anne. At first they're happy to meet her, they talk for a bit, though eventaully the conversation turns to Hop-pop and both hang their heads with Luz joining them and explaining what happened to Anne. As she hears what happened Anne puts her hand to her mouth horrified at what Sasha did, finally crying herself and hugging Luz, Sprig, and Polly.
Next we see Valeriana talking with Uodeela, the two are deep in conversation trying to decide what to do. For a moment Uodeela shakes her head not wanting Anne and Luz to have to fight a terrible battle, but eventually she realizes there is no choice. Uodeela and Valeriana turn and begin speaking to Anne and Luz, telling them everything about the prophecy and the box.
Next we see Anne standing barefoot with her eyes closed as Uodeela tries to help her unlock her power, Luz standing close by. Anne breathes deeply and slowly concentrating and trying her hardest to listen to Uodeela. Eventually she succeeds and summons two fireballs to her hands her eyes glowing purple. Anne tosses the fireballs into the air where they explode like fireworks, she's excited by the success and tries concentrating harder. After a few minutes a purple aura surrounds her, her eyes glowing purple as well, there's a big smile on her face and Luz runs forward throwing her arms around Anne happy that she is able to activate her powers too! As the two hug they look into each other's faces before turning away both their faces blushing.
Next we cut to Newtopia, where Lilly, Gustav, and Amara are walking through the street before bumping right into Marcy. As soon as they see her they begin talking, telling her they know where Anne is.
Next Marcy is talking to the King asking if she can use a sparrow to go to Wartwood and find Anne. The king agrees, unaware that at least two of the girls now know the truth about the box.
Finally the last scene we see is of Marcy arriving in Wartwood on Joe Sparrow looking around for her friends. She finally sees them, Luz and Anne run up to her all three of them hugging happy to see her again. Uodeela and Valeriana look on, glad to have found the third girl, though they both wonder what became of Sasha….
"Captain Sasha are we ready?" asked Bog
"Yes we are," said Sasha firmly. "Today we march into Newtopia and take it over for the toads!"
As Sasha said this she began to glow a deep red, her eyes lighting up almost as though on fire! She looked out over the city of Newtopia.
"That city may have it's walls, but I'm willing to bet they ain't ever seen nothing like you," said Fens laughing with delight.
Sasha brought up her hand closing it into a fist, as she did it glowed with a red aura, "no they haven't." Sasha paused as she remembered how she'd first activated her powers. It had been strenuous digging through the ruins of Toad Tower, but after hours they finally managed to locate Grime's body. Sasha couldn't believe he was gone. He'd done so much for her, been like a father to her. The sight of Grime's dead body had awakened something in Sasha, something that caused her to begin to glow red. As Sasha recalled that memory she turned to face the troops.
"Alright listen up everyone!" she began, "today's the day we become the new rulers of Amphibia! Today we avenge Captain Grime! Once we take over the Captial we'll make the frogs pay for daring to defy us and for what they did to Grime!"
The toads cheered raising their weapons and letting out a yell. All of them got ready for battle and Sasha again looked out at the city, as she did a voice began to speak to her.
Good….good Sasha, said the voice, that power you have in you, it means you can take whatever you want, and no one can stop you! Give in to your anger, and let it give you strength!
Sasha smiled as the voice finished talking, once more bringing up her hand and clenching it into a fist, once more seeing it glow red with power! She then brought her hand to her cheek where Luz had cut her during their battle. As she brought her hand back down she noticed some green sludge on her hand, she starred at it wondering how it had gotten there, but as she did her eyes began to glow blue, her face twisting into a cruel smile….
Well I'm sorry to end it here, but perhaps we should stop before anything else happens. I take it many of you may want to see more of this timeline, but sometimes things are better left unanswered. At the very least Anne, Luz, and Mary have reunited. Knowing what you know about Andrias perhaps it's better that Sasha is poised to take over Newtopia for real this time. Though I can't say whether that will be better or worse in the long run. Sasha may get rid of Andrias, but will her lust for power cause her to simply take over his place and begin a campaign to take over all other worlds? One thing is certain though…Belos now has influence and possibly control over a Calamity powered Sasha….
Things do seem to have worked out better for Luz, and Uodeela, but not for Hop-pop, Sprig, or Polly. It just goes to show that changing one thing in a timeline has other changes farther down the line that you can't even imagine. To think that one small change can have such a large affect on things is astounding. Every time I peer into a different timeline I'm always amazed at what I see, how things ended up changing, whether it was for good or bad, and how it affected certain people in it.
But there are always other timeline to explore, other realms where small changes have larger impacts down the line. So keep asking which of these timelines do you wish to see? What happens when one decision changes? And of course keep asking the eternal question of….
What If….?