Also known as the one where I adapt the scavenger hunt episode from season 2A.
Woohoo! New longest chapter I've written so far!
If there's one thing Marcy Wu loved, it was adventures. Whether she was playing video games, reading books, or watching shows and movies, she loved experiencing a good adventure. And now that she had been transported to Newtopia, she could have adventures in real life! Well, not quite the stuff of the fiction she enjoyed. She was only seven years old, after all.
Marcy hasn't been permitted to leave Newtopia ever since appeared almost a year ago. This was mostly to shield her from the dangerous creatures which lurked outside the city, but secretly also so King Andrias could keep an eye on her at all times. She was crucial to his secret plans, and his efforts would be worthless if she died.
Despite her situation, Marcy never felt trapped since Newtopia is such a large and diverse city that there was always something new to do. And she had become quite popular with the locals as well. Nearly everyone she met adored the excitable girl who lived in the castle, and she adored them in return. Some newts even speculated that Andrias might make Marcy a princess if she never finds a way home, though he had no plans of doing so. Marcy's title would remain "Young Master" and if necessary, eventually become simply "Master". Marcy grew taller and her hair got a little longer, and she now had a full wardrobe of Earth-style clothes made by the best tailors in Amphibia, as well as a few dresses for fancy occasions.
Things were going as they normally would this morning as Marcy exited the castle with her caretakers/adoptive parental figures Lady Olivia and General Yunan, ready for her next adventure.
"Prepare to be excited, because we're about to go on a scavenger hunt!" said Yunan with her usual flourish.
"Oooooh…" Marcy was intrigued. She'd only ever done scavenger hunts in video games, so this was bound to be fun!
"King Andrias informed us that he has a surprise for you, Young Master Marcy," said Olivia, "but knowing your love of adventure he decided to hide some clues around the city instead of outright telling you." She sighed as she showed Marcy the document listing the locations of the clues. "Why does he have to be like this?" she muttered under her breath.
Yunan looked down at the paper. "This is a puzzle-gram. We have to go to three locations in a specific order, and each place has a special symbol which we will use to find a clue."
"The first one looks like the trees in Coral Park so we will head there first," said Olivia. "Though I'm not sure what to make of this eye."
"It's not just one," said Marcy. "The bottom symbol looks like a closed eye."
"Good catch." said Yunan.
Numerous Newtopian residents happily greeted Marcy and her guardians as they entered Coral Park, and Marcy waved back. She had been to the park a few times before, but she never ceased to be fascinated by the giant coral formations.
"That eye looks like the barnacles on the trees!" exclaimed Yunan. "Perhaps that's part of the clue."
"Perhaps, but I'm not sure if it'll be something so noticeable," said Olivia. "His Majesty doesn't like to make these puzzle-grams especially easy."
"If I wanted to choose easy stuff, then I would've chosen the very conspicuous yellow paint on some of the trees," retorted Yunan.
"Hmm…" Marcy looked all around the park, trying to notice a closed eye. That seemed to be the most distinctive part of the first picture, so it should lead directly. to the first clue. She gasped when she saw it. "The statue!" Olivia and Yunan looked at the statue of astronomer Ezra Brackish at the center of the park. "One of his eyes is closed!"
"Oh, that's brilliant, Young Master!" said Yunan. "Let me take you up to the telescope."
Marcy climbed up on Yunan's back as the tall newt stood on the statue's tail and took off the cloth hat, allowing Marcy to look into the telescope.
"Do you see anything?" asked Olivia.
"Yeah!" said Marcy. "From this angle, the yellow paint spells out LET'S. That must be the first word in King Andrias' message!"
"Great job, Marcy!" said Olivia as Marcy and Yunan got down from the statue. She looked at the puzzle-gram paper again. "Okay, the next symbol is a moth and a compass pointing west."
"That clock tower downtown!" said Marcy.
"That's right!" exclaimed Yunan. "The clock tower has a weathervane with a moth on top. What a discovery! To the clock tower!"
(One Trip to the Clock Tower Later)
"We're here!" Yunan was in such a great mood.
"Must you always be so high-energy?" asked Olivia.
"Perhaps not," said Yunan, "but I don't know why you're complaining. You love my energy!"
Olivia blushed. "I do."
"Anyway, we should probably focus on this scavenger hunt." Yunan turned to Marcy. "Have you noticed anything?"
"Well," said Marcy, holding a map of Newtopia, "according to the map the weathervane isn't pointing west right now." She pointed up at the vane, which the day's light winds had sent facing northeast. "So maybe we should look at the west side of the building. It looks like there's something going on there."
While the rest of the building was kept in pristine condition, the clock tower's western wall was noticeably decrepit.
"Yes, it appears that King Andrias had this wall deliberately damaged for this scavenger hunt," said Olivia, rolling her eyes at the king's actions.
"This reminds me of a movie where some spies were sneaking into a building and they did it with a loose brick," said Marcy. "Maybe that's how it is here!"
"Good thinking, Marcy," said Olivia.
And so the trio looked over the western wall to find the hidden clue. It was Yunan who found the special brick. "Aha!" She pulled it out and saw that on one side the word BUILD was written on it. "The next clue!"
Marcy squealed in excitement. "Ooh! I knew it!" Her eyes briefly glowed green but Olivia and Yunan didn't notice.
Yunan awkwardly shoved the loose brick back into place as Marcy looked at the puzzle-gram paper. "The last one's a letter M and… a radiation hazard symbol?" Marcy looked up at her guardians in concern. "King Andrias wouldn't send me somewhere deadly, right?"
"No, of course not," said Olivia. "That M matches the insignia on the side of Marcy Bridge. I have no idea what the bottom part could be, but I assure you it doesn't mean what it means on Earth.
(One Trip to Marcy Bridge Later)
You couldn't exactly find something if you don't know what you're looking for. Marcy, Olivia, and Yunan scoured Marcy Bridge and its surrounding area for over thirty minutes but couldn't find anything odd, out of place, or extraordinary.
"This is really hard…" said Marcy sadly.
"Yes, it seems King Andrias is really trying to challenge us on this last clue," said Olivia.
"How about we take a snack break before we start looking again?" suggested Yunan, who pointed toward a nearby cart selling gnatchos.
"Newtopian street food!" Marcy mostly ate food prepared by the royal chefs, so getting a chance to eat casual eats is rare.
"I'll go purchase them," said Olivia. "You two wait here."
Marcy and Yunan sat down on a bench while Olivia walked over to the cart.
"One serving of gnatchos, please," requested the regal newt.
"Just one?" asked Gertie, the friendly axolotl running the cart.
"Yes, we'll all share," said Olivia as she handed Gertie four coppers. "We don't want to thoroughly spoil Marcy's appetite now, do we?"
Gertie shook her head and began preparing Olivia's order. "No we don't. How is Young Master Marcy doing?"
"Marcy is in good health, but I'm afraid she's not very happy at the moment. We're trying to complete a scavenger hunt, but we're completely stumped trying to find this final clue."
"Oh, I think you'll find that clue real soon." Gertie handed the gnatchos to Olivia. "Enjoy!"
"We will." Olivia walked back to her companions with the food and sat down. "I have returned with a fresh batch of gnatchos. Actually, they might not be fresh but they should taste good."
Marcy tasted one and her eyes lit up. "These are great! They're just like nachos on Earth but meatier."
Olivia and Yunan shared a look and nodded. Marcy doesn't need to know that gnatcho chips are made of gnats.
"Wait a minute!" The newts looked down at Marcy, who was holding a chip in one hand and the puzzle-gram paper in another. "Look, the bottom of the third symbol is a gnatcho! And I think there's letters at the bottom of the tray."
"Then we must finish these as fast as possible!" said Yunan, ready to dig in.
"Absolutely not," said Olivia. We are going to eat them calmly so we don't get stomach aches."
"Yes, ma'am."
And so they are their gnatchos calmly. It took a while, but eventually they cleared the tray, revealing the two words printed there: SOMETHING TOGETHER.
"King Andrias must have known we would buy gnatchos!" Marcy's brows furrowed in confusion. "But how did he—
"Don't ask," Olivia and Yunan said simultaneously.
Marcy shrugged. "LET'S BUILD SOMETHING TOGETHER— that's the message."
Olivia hummed in understanding. "A couple of months ago His Majesty mentioned he was working on a special project. It seems he requests your assistance."
Marcy couldn't believe it. "He really wants my help?"
"Looks like it," said Yunan. "You're very intelligent, Young Master Marcy. I'm sure you and King Andrias will create great things together." She and Olivia wrapped Marcy in a tight hug.
Marcy's eyes welled up with happy tears. She hadn't really felt like this before. Is this what pride feels like?
"Lady Olivia!" The trio was interrupted by an approaching frog, one of the few that lives in Newtopia. It was Sal, owner of Sauce, Inc. "I just got this letter from my old friend Hopediah Plantar in Wartwood." He handed the piece of paper to Olivia. "I think he found one of Marcy's friends."
Marcy's eyes grew wide with excitement, her tears vanishing instantly. "Really!?" She had begun to think that she would never see her friends again. But it seems she was fortunately wrong.
"It's true," said Olivia, reading the letter. "Hopediah says he's been looking after Anne Boonchuy after she appeared in Wartwood a few days ago. Excellent. We will make arran— a few days ago!?" Olivia thought she must've misread the letter but that's exactly what Hopediah wrote.
"That doesn't make sense," said Marcy. "Is this a weird time thing?"
Yunan pointed to the back of the paper. "Look, this message was dated almost a year ago."
"Is Wartwood that far away!?" asked Marcy in shock
Olivia shook her head. "Wartwood's all the way on the other side of the continent but it's not that far. The journey's a few weeks at most by cart, and less than a day by bird. I haven't the slightest idea why this came so late."
Sal sighed. "I'm afraid Hopediah used Sloth Postal, the cheapest and worst postal service in Amphibia."
"We will have to take that in account when sending a reply," said Olivia. "Thank you for bringing this to me."
"No problem," said Sal before he walked away"
"I can't wait to see Anne again! And maybe she knows where Sasha is!" Marcy couldn't wait to get back to the castle. She had to share the news as soon as possible!
Andrias had been developing his special project in secret. Normally it wouldn't have taken him nearly a year to design such a thing, but he had to work as discreetly as possible to prevent the Core from discovering his true intentions, so working in brief intervals with large gaps of time in between had to suffice. He'd show Marcy as soon as she returned from the scavenger hunt, which should be right about… now.
"Now announcing the return of Young Master Marcy, Lady Olivia, and General Yunan!" The court herald moved out of the way so that the three he announced could enter the throne room.
"Guess what, King Andrias?" said Marcy happily.
The king stood up and walked toward Marcy, setting his crown down on a table. "Please, when it's just us I'm not King Andrias. I'm just Andrias. But also what?" None of them noticed the orange eye which briefly appeared on the crown, watching them.
"We got a letter from Wartwood. My friend Anne is there!"
Andrias' smile grew even larger."That's wonderful news!"
Olivia handed Andrias the letter. "This was sent days after the girls appeared in Amphibia. It's been lost in transit ever since."
The king put on his glasses and read the message. "We will rectify that situation as soon as possible, then. But first, are you ready for your surprise, Marcy?" Andrias knelt down so he could get closer to the young girl.
Marcy threw her hands in the air in excitement. "Yeah! We're gonna build something!"
"Indeed." Andrias showed Marcy some blueprints of a spherical device. "This is a very important electronic device which will revolutionize the world. I would be honored if you helped me with it."
"I don't know," said Marcy. "I've never built anything like that."
"Don't worry. I know you'll do great," said Andrias. "We will get started soon, Marcy. You've had a long day so why don't you get some rest."
"Okay. See you tomorrow!" Marcy was led out of the room by Olivia and Yunan.
"Guards, leave and come back in five minutes," said Andrias.
The Newtopian royal guards didn't know why their king occasionally requested to be alone in the throne room but they didn't question him.
Andrias put his crown back on and the orange eye reappeared.
"What is the meaning of this, Andrias?"
"According to Marcy, Earth's technology has advanced considerably in the last thousand years." Andrias spoke as calmly as possible. He had a lot of practice masking his fear from the Core. "If my device is successful, then they will revert back to a medieval state. Invading that planet will be even easier."
"Finding the box and the humans takes priority over your personal projects. You know that."
The king gulped. "Well, there is progress. One of Marcy's friends was just found."
"No thanks to your efforts. You couldn't even succeed at that simple task on your own. And your search for the music box has been fruitless as well. It seems you never cease to be a failure, son."
The words stung, they always did. But he soldiered on. "Now that we've found one human, locating the other one should be much easier. And once we have all three, we will be able to use their energies to find the box."
It was about a minute before Andrias heard a response. He realized that must mean the Core was actually considering what he said.
"Hopefully you're correct, for your sake."
But the Core won't find out, right…?
Marcy didn't design the bridge this time around. It was just named after her.