Chapter 4

"Marcy's Journal,

We've made it to Wartwood! Things here are already SO MUCH FUN! On the first day we summoned a demonic chicken! YEAH! NUTS!

Well, there is also the whole story about how we were trying to cover up the fact that the Plantars forgot to bring back gifts, but that's besides the point.

For now, I am actually living in the fwagon, since there really isn't anywhere to stay in the house. It's fine, this thing is actually really cozy!

Though, while I was kinda… settling in, I guess I missed a bit of an adventure. Anne said that Ivy, Sprig's girlfriend, was trying to run away from home with him! It resulted in a fight between Ivy and her mother. I don't know all the details, but I guess it is all good now?

That was a couple of weeks ago, nothing really happened since then. Just a lot of helping the Plantars with farming really. I mean, I guess there was the shut in… that was scary. We all tried telling scary stories to pass the time, but I couldn't really come up with anything. Sprig's story was the best though! That being said, uh… Polly totally won the scare contest. SHE TURNED INTO A BIG HAIRY MONSTER! IT WAS FREAKY! Thankfully, when the blue moon finished, she turned back to normal. But man that was nuts.

Anyways, I don't know how much longer it is going to be until the King finishes the preparations, but I am sure it is coming soon!

Well, better get ready for the day!"

Marcy put her journal away, got up, and kicked open the door to the fwagon, ecstatic about starting the day.

That is, until a small fly flew up to her, a letter in it's tiny legs.

"Oh! Fly mail!" Marcy said as she took the letter, thanking the fly.

"Dear Marcy,

I hope you are well, I am writing you to bring you splendid news! All of the preparations on our end are complete! We will be sending General Yunan along with Joe Sparrow to deliver everything to you. In the meantime, please, prepare some weapons, armor, and of course, the music box for the journey!

They shall be arriving in two days time. I look forward to hearing all about the results!

Sincerely,

King Andrias"

Marcy gasped at the news, and rushed inside the Plantars household.

"Guys guess what!" Marcy shouted.

"What's up Marbles?" Anne asked.

"I just got a letter from King Andrias! He finished the preparations and is sending someone over with everything we need!" Marcy explained.

"That's awesome!" Anne said as she gave Marcy a high-five.

"Yeah! All we need to do on our end is get some weapons, armor, and the music box!" Marcy explained.

Hop Pop physically tensed at this, but no-one noticed.

"So Hop Pop, where is it?" Marcy asked.

"Oh uh… I'll let my contacts know that we need it. It should be ready by tomorrow." Hop Pop said.

"Sweet!" Marcy said. "Let's get packing! We should also bring some food!"

"Sounds great!" Anne said.

The Next Day

Marcy woke up excited, as she kicked the door of the fwagon open… again.

"WHOO! ALMOST TIME FOR THE FIRST TEMPLE QUEEEEEST!" Marcy cheered as she quickly ran inside the house.

When she got to the kitchen this time… she noticed the mood was a lot different than before.

"Uh… is Hop Pop alright?" Marcy asked.

Hop Pop looked… genuinely depressed.

"I… I'm so sorry Marcy…" Hop Pop said. "I really screwed up."

"Why? What happened?" Marcy asked.

Then, she noticed what, or rather, who was missing.

"Wait… where's Anne?" Marcy asked.

Hop Pop just sighed. "I… I lied to you all… I didn't send the music box to any connections of mine… I don't even have any connections like that!"

"Wait, WHAT?!" Marcy asked. "Then, where has it been this entire time?!"

"I… buried it under the tree in front of the house… but when I went to dig it back up, it was gone…"

"It's… gone…?" Marcy asked.

"Mmmhmm…" Hop Pop said. "Anne saw the whole thing… and then she ran off…"

He then closed his eyes, ready for Marcy to yell at him.

"… Hop Pop… I am not about to tell you that what you did was the right thing… but I know you had a good reason." Marcy said. "It's obvious you care about Anne too much to do that without one."

Hop Pop looked up at Marcy with tears in his eyes. "Marcy…"

"That being said, you need to fix this!" Marcy said. "Leave tracking down the music box to us, you track down Anne and try and explain yourself."

"… Thank you Marcy." Hop Pop said. "I'm glad that Anne has a girlfriend like you."

Marcy blushed at this.

"Yeah… me too…"

"So… this is where the box has been this entire time…" Marcy said, looking at the small hole in the ground. "Any chance that Hop Pop just dug in the wrong spot?"

"No way, he may be old, but when it comes to digging holes, he has a perfect memory." Sprig said.

"Wait, really?"

"Apparently. He says it's because he's a farmer. I have no idea how that would help though." Polly said.

"Huh… wait a minute… does he typically dig a hole off to the side?" Marcy asked.

"Off to the side?" Sprig asked.

"Yeah, look!" Marcy said, pointing at a small tunnel off to the side.

"Hey yeah! What dug that?" Sprig asked.

"Whatever it is, it's probably what took the music box." Marcy deduced.

"Ok, we'll follow it below ground, you see if you can figure out where to go above ground!" Sprig said as he and Polly climbed into the tunnel.

"You got it. Be careful." Marcy said as she began running off into the direction of the tunnel.

"Let's see… where could that tunnel lead…" Marcy asked herself.

"Ok, first things first… what stole it? It's safe to say that it is something that would want or need it… but what?"

…

"Wait a minute…" Marcy then reached into her bag, grabbed a bug encyclopedia and began flipping through it. "Let's see… Ah, here it is! The Magpie Beetle… lives underground, every twenty years it steals junk to make it's shell… lovenado dance? Hmmm… well, according to this, this is about the time that they would be performing this dance… Guess it's as good of a lead as any!"

Taking note of a possible nearby mating ground that was listed in the book, Marcy began running in that direction as it begun to rain.

When she got there, she was satisfied… and horrified by what she saw.

She found the Magpie Beetles, and from the looks of it, she was right about the Lovenado dance, which was pretty satisfying to know she was right.

She was horrified to find that Sprig and Polly had found it first, and seemed to be in terrible danger.

"Sprig! Polly! Hang on!" Marcy said as she shot a crossbow bolt at the wall on the opposite side of the giant hole.

She was about to tie the other end to a tree, but the ground underneath her gave way, and crumbled, causing her to fall into the Lovenado.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" She screamed.

The bugs all began to swarm her, and began carrying her away.

"Sprig! Polly!" Marcy shouted at them, as she struggled to make her way over to them.

"Kids!"

"Marcy!"

Looking to the source of the voices, she saw Anne and Hop Pop.

"Oh thank goodness! He found her!" Marcy said. "HELP US ANNA-BANANA!"

"I'M COMING MAR-MAR!" Anne shouted back.

Anne then leaped into action, making her way over to Marcy, Sprig and Polly. She needed Hop Pop's help of course, but she managed to get to them.

Then, she grabbed Marcy's hand, who grabbed Sprig's, who grabbed Polly's, who grabbed the Music Box.

Then, with a mighty swing from Hop Pop, they were flung out of the hole, and to safety.

"Woohoo!" Sprig cheered as he hopped over to shelter from the rain. "We did it!"

"Yeah… we did…" Anne said as she put the Music Box in her bag. "And… now we're done here."

And with that, she began to walk away.

"Anne wait! Where are you going?" Marcy asked.

"I dunno… to stay with someone who isn't a liar… maybe Loggle…" Anne said.

"Listen, I know what Hop Pop did was wrong… but he must of had his reasons." Marcy tried to reason. "At least hear him out…"

"… Sorry Marcy… I just… I can't…" Anne said as she continued to walk away.

"Anne please! Just listen to me!" Hop Pop called out.

Anne just kept on walking.

Then, Hop Pop sighed.

"… Sprig and Polly's parents…"

Anne and Marcy both looked at him in shock.

"Hop Pop…"

"That wasn't your fault."

Hop Pop just sighed, and began to tell his story.

He told them everything, about how Sprig and Polly's parents had died, and how he swore to keep them safe.

After hearing about this, Marcy knew she couldn't really blame the old frog for what he did…

But what really mattered was if Anne could.

Thankfully, Anne thought the same thing as Marcy, and went to give him a hug.

"I forgive you…"

"… Thank you…"

"Oh thank goodness!" Marcy said filled with relief.

"RECONCILIATION!" Sprig shouted as he went and gave Anne and Hop Pop a hug, which Marcy joined in on…

Then Polly promptly tackled the entire group.

"Can we please get out of this rain?"

"Ugh, thank goodness I am out of those wet clothes…" Anne said as she got into her bed, now in her Pajamas.

"Yeah… today was kinda nuts… wasn't it?" Marcy asked.

"Tell me about it." Anne said.

"… I'm happy you forgave him Anne." Marcy said.

"Yeah well… what he did still hurt a lot, but I can kinda get why he did it." Anne explained.

"… Hey Anne… what would you of done if I was the one who lied to you about that?" Marcy asked.

"Where's this coming from?" Anne asked.

"No-where… I just… I just want to know… ok?" Marcy pleaded.

"Well… I'd probably be really mad at you, to be honest." Anne said. "Honestly… I don't know if I would be more or less mad. Maybe less, cause I know you better than Hop Pop, and I know that you'd have a really good reason for it… but maybe more… because I also trust you more than anyone… and that would betray that trust."

"… I… see…" Marcy said slowly.

"Seriously, what's up?" Anne asked.

"I… uh… I'm sorry Anne…" Marcy said.

"Huh?"

"I… uh…"

Then, she looked at Anne's eyes, and all the resolve she had was gone.

"I saw your other shoe in the Lovenado, but I couldn't grab it." Marcy lied.

"Oh what?! That's what you're so worried about?!" Anne asked in shock. "It's fine! I'm doing just fine with one shoe!"

"Y-yeah, I guess that was kinda silly of me, hehehe." Marcy said with a laugh.

"Hey kids! Come up here, I want to show you something!" Hop Pop said from upstairs.

"Well, better go see what he wants!" Anne said as she went upstairs.

Marcy just watched, as a pit welled up in her stomach.

'I… I can't tell her… no matter what…'

The Next Day

When Marcy left the fwagon, she quickly noticed a shadow approaching her.

Looking to the source, she saw Joe Sparrow quickly approaching her.

"Joe! Yunan!" Marcy shouted out with a wave.

When Joe landed, General Yunan quickly dismounted.

"Greetings Captain Marcy." Yunan said with a salute. "As promised, I have brought you the supplies the King prepared for your journey."

"Thanks a bunch Yunan!" Marcy said. "Sorry for making you come all this way though…"

"Oh think nothing of it! I had some business in the area anyways." Yunan explained.

"Wait really? What's going on?" Marcy asked.

Yunan then pulled out a wanted poster, with a picture of a toad on it.

"This toad has recently been branded a traitor by Newtopia." Yunan explained. "As such, it is my job to hunt him down and bring him, and his weird lieutenant, to justice!"

That… caught Marcy's attention.

"Weird lieutenant?"

"Oh yes, rumor has it that he has some weird creature as his lieutenant, I don't know the details." Yunan explained.

After thinking about it… Marcy realized something.

She might know who that lieutenant might be!

"Hey… I know that I have to go to this temple but… would you mind if I came and helped you out?"

End of Chapter 4

Chapterly reminder to let me know if I included anything that someone in the LGBTQ+ community could find offensive. Either through DMs or reviews. I will rewrite the chapter and fix it if that is the case.

This episode was sad bro. Like, dang. I wish I could write something like that!

So, we are officially half way through the story. Yeah, this is going to be an eight chapter long thing. At this point, I want to ask you all a question. Season 3 will be covered in it's own story, a sequel to this one. I have my reasons for separating this season from that one, but I'll go into that later.

For now though, I just wanted to know: What should I call Anne's parents? I was originally hoping that Mr. and Ms. Boonchuy would have their first names revealed in some way before the midseason finale, something that will be released before this story's final chapter. However, it is becoming more and more apparent that they are only going to be referred to as Mr. and Ms. Boonchuy, or "Mom" and "Dad."

I have seen a lot of people calling Anne's dad "Jeff" which… I mean, I am down for that. However, I wanted to ask you all what you thought on this. The current names I have been considering are Jeff for her dad and "On" for her Mom. On is Matt Braly's mother's name, who voices Anne's mom. Of course, I could also just call them Mr. and Ms. Boonchuy, but I'll leave that up to you all!

Back to what's going on right now though, you might be wondering why Marcy wasn't super mad at Hop Pop. Simply put, at least in this universe, Marcy is feeling very guilty about bringing the group to Amphibia. As such, she thinks that what she did is actually WORSE than what Hop Pop did, so she can't really be mad at him about it, but she knows Anne is, so she instead pushed him to try and reconcile with Anne instead of just being mad at him.

And finally, I just want to point out that yeah, I did change up the order of events a bit here, and next chapter… well, I'm sure you can figure it out.

It is going to be something!

See you then!