Chapter 8: Escape
Anne just looked on in shock at what Luz just did, as the broken parts of the music box just scattered around the room.
The three gems that they worked so hard to charge landed in front of Luz, before she picked them up.
"Wh-what did you just do?!" Anne asked.
"Cut off the evil king from our world." Luz explained.
"Yeah! And us too!" Anne shouted.
"Listen, we'll talk about this later, right now, we need to get out of here!" Luz said as she hopped onto Bluebert. "Let's go!"
And with that, she began flying away, dragging Anne along with her.
"Stop her!" Andrias shouted.
The machines all began firing lasers at the two, but they lost sight of them as Luz used an invisibility glyph to hide from them.
Before long, they were out of the castle, and landing on the ground.
Taking a deep breath, the two of them became visible again.
"Sorry about that, I didn't really have much choice." Luz said.
"You could of, oh, I don't know… NOT done that!" Anne shouted.
"Listen, I know that it looks bad, but it was the right call!" Luz tried to reason.
"Yeah! The right call! Trapping us here forever, and trapping the Plantars on Earth forever! Totally a good decision!"
Luz then smiled.
"What makes you think that we're trapped?" Luz asked.
"Oh, I don't know, maybe the fact that you just destroyed the one music box that could get us home?!" Anne asked.
Then, Luz did something confusing…
She laughed.
"Anne… let me ask you something…
Who said that there was just one music box?"
Earth
"So… now what?" Sprig asked. "I mean… they're gone, off to Amphibia."
"I guess we just… hope that they are able to take the music box and come back to us." Hop Pop said.
"And if they fail… well..." Amity said, her voice trailing off. "Luz… I really hope you know what you are doing here."
"She does, you just didn't know it yet." Said a new voice from behind them.
Turning around, they saw…
"Eda?!" Amity asked.
Sure enough, Eda was there, with Owlbert resting on her shoulder.
"Sup boots!" Eda said. "Came here with a special delivery!"
She then held out something that surprised everyone.
"Whoa whoa whoa… isn't that…?" Sprig asked.
"The music box?!" Amity asked. "How did you get that?!"
"Turns out I had this thing just sitting in my basement the whole time." Eda explained. "Luz was the one who told me to dig it out of there just in case of anything."
"Oh! That's what Luz told Hunter to tell you to look for!" Amity realized.
"Bingo! Yesterday, Luz told me to take this thing over here. Don't know why though." Eda said.
"It's probably because it's her ticket home if everything doesn't go well!" Amity said. "This is great! We can use this to go and help her!"
"Uh… isn't anyone going to question why there is a second music box?!" Polly asked.
"Who knows?" Eda said. "I remember stealing this from some chump in the black market… thought I could earn a decent amount from it."
"We'll tackle that later. For now, let's try and get this working." Amity said.
"Then it's a good thing I brought this too!" Eda said as she pulled out the portal door.
"Uh… a suitcase?" Sprig asked.
"It's the portal back to the demon realm." Amity explained.
"Right! Let's go!" Eda said as she opened said portal.
"Whoa…" Sprig said as he stepped through, revealing the Owl House in all it's splendor.
"Now, let's get to work!"
…
…
…
"OH MY GOSH! YOU BROUGHT ME FROGS FOR LUNCH?!"
"HOOTY NO!" Amity screamed.
"OH FROG IT HAS SPRIG!" Hop Pop shouted.
"WHY IS IT ALWAYS MEEEEEEEE?!" Sprig screamed as he was swallowed whole.
"So wait… you really think your friends will be able to get another portal working with that music box in your basement?" Anne asked as the two of them were walking along.
"I know Eda and Amity. They won't stop until they get it done! Even if that music box doesn't help, they'll find a way." Luz said. "Until then though, we need to find a place to rest and plan."
"Right." Anne said.
"Still though… what happened to this place?" Luz asked, looking at all of the dead trees. "It… was a lot greener the last time I was here, wasn't it?"
"… Andrias must be doing this…" Anne guessed. "Sprig and I… we went into what I'm guessing is one of his robot factories once… we think that is where Frobo was built."
"A factory?"
"Yeah… and there were a lot of them…" Anne said. "He… might be sucking this planet dry for it's resources… before going onto the next one."
"That's… that's terrible!" Luz said.
"Yeah… and that's why we need to stop him." Anne said as she began walking faster.
After walking for a while, they heard something.
The sound of fighting.
"Sounds like someone could use some help!" Luz said.
The two of them began running towards the noise, until they reached a clearing in the forest.
And the sight before them, made Anne smile.
"What are the odds…"
"Huh? You know this place?" Luz asked.
"Yeah…" Anne said as she looked up to the sign. "Wartwood… this is where I lived when I was stuck here."
Then, there was an explosion.
"And it is currently under attack so we should probably help!" Anne said before running off.
Before long, they saw a few robots, firing lasers at some sort of barricade.
"Looks like they're pinned down… we should…" Luz started.
"RAAAAAAAAAAH!" Anne shouted as she ran forward, a branch in her hands.
"… Alrighty then!"
Before Anne even got to the robots, Luz used some fire magic to destroy a bunch of them, which gave the villagers the opening they needed to launch a counter attack.
And a couple of moments later, all the robots were destroyed.
"Wow Luz… way to steal my thunder…" Anne groaned out.
"Sorry, didn't want you to get hurt Anne." Luz said with a laugh.
"… Anne?"
Turning to the source of the voice, Anne was very happy to see…
"Sasha!" Anne shouted before running over and tackling her friend into a hug.
"What are you doing here?! How are you here?! Are you alright?!" Sasha asked.
"Long story, another long story, and I'm fine!" Anne said.
"Thank goodness… after what happened to Marcy, I was really worried about you." Sasha said.
"… Oh, you saw that… didn't you…" Anne said.
"Anne…"
"She's alive Sasha… I know that for sure now." Anne said.
"…Huh?"
"One of Andrias' robots let it slip that he has plans for her." Anne said. "Kinda sucks that she's basically a prisoner, but she's alive… we can still save her!"
Sasha just smiled while tearing up. After being so sure that Marcy was dead this whole time, she really needed to hear that.
"Th-that's good to hear." Sasha said. "Anyways… I think there's someone you need to introduce me to?"
"Oh! Right!" Anne said as she waved Luz over. "This is Luz, a friend of mine. She's been helping me out with everything."
"Nice to meet you!" Luz said.
"Yeah, nice to meet you." Sasha said as she shook Luz's hand. "So, how'd you do that fire thing?"
"Magic."
"Gotcha."
"Ahem."
The group looked over to see Mayor Toadstool approaching them.
"It's good to see you again Anne." Toadstool greeted.
"You too mayor… I have a feeling that there is a lot of catching up that needs to be done." Anne said.
"Right, where do we begin?" Toadstool asked.
"Here's a start… where's the Plantars?"
Anne looked over to see Ivy standing there.
"Still back on Earth… Sorry Ivy." Anne said.
"O-oh… Ok…" Ivy said. "Is Sprig alright at least?"
"He's fine… he misses you terribly." Anne said.
Ivy just stayed silent.
"Uh… Who's this?" Luz asked.
"Ivy, she's Sprig's girlfriend." Anne whispered.
"Ooooooh… cute!"
"Anyways, let's go inside and exchange intel." Sasha said as she led them inside the Plantars home.
"So… Andrias no longer has the box." Sasha said. "But we don't have a way home until Luz's friends makes a new portal."
"And you guys started a rebellion from Wartwood." Anne added.
"Yeah... And Marcy's alive, but Andrias might be doing something with her." Sasha said.
"Sasha… we need to go and rescue her right away." Anne said. "I don't know what he's doing with her, but we can't just sit around and wait!"
"I agree, the more time we stand around and wait, the more we risk losing Marcy for good." Luz said.
"Right, first things first, finding the castle…" Sasha said.
Suddenly, Grime burst into the room.
"Sasha! Big news! Andrias' castle has…"
Then, he noticed the other two humans in the room.
"Oh… did I miss something here?"
"Yeah, quite a bit Grimesy." Sasha said. "We'll tell you later, what's going on?"
"Andrias' castle has crashed into Newtopia." Grime explained.
"What?!" Sasha shouted.
"Oh that's right! He used the music box to let his castle fly! Without it, it just crashed!" Anne pieced together.
"Wait, what happened to the music box?" Grime asked.
"I blew it up." Luz said bluntly.
"… Well then. Guess that works." Grime said. "Good on you new girl."
"Thanks!"
"Anyways… this is actually a really good opportunity!" Sasha said. "Andrias doesn't have the music box, his army is in disarray, and he can't rebuild his army anymore!"
"So now's the perfect time to go there and end this!" Luz said.
"… Right." Anne said. "Time to save Marcy."
Little did Anne and Luz know, their fight with the King had a bit of an audience.
"Well, good thing they got away…" Olivia said as she and Yunan began walking away from the throne room.
"Still, destroying the box was a… bold move." Yunan said.
"That witch seemed to know what she was doing." Olivia said. "Let us hope that whatever she has planned will bring all of this to an end."
"… Are you… also against the king?" Yunan asked.
"Of course I am! He is destroying the land for his own selfish gain!" Olivia said.
"Ok… so we are on the same page." Yunan said. "So… what should we do?"
"Well, it's obvious that Andrias is going to lure those two back in for a trap using Marcy as bait… so…"
"Are you suggesting that we rescue Marcy before that happens?" Yunan asked.
"Yes, that is exactly what I am proposing." Olivia said. "His army is in disarray, the castle is plummeting towards the ground as we speak, this is the perfect time to go into the basement and rescue her!"
"… Very well then." Yunan said. "Let's go!"
As they made their down to the basement, they managed to avoid several robots, and met the mossman, a friendly creature who gave Yunan a flower.
Shortly after the whole castle shook from it's impact with the ground, they were in front of a large door.
Just as they were about to open said door though, they heard something.
"Wait…. do you hear that?" Yunan asked.
Turning around, they saw a light source approaching.
"Hide!" Olivia said as the two of them quickly went to hide.
Before long, Andrias appeared, looking quite worried.
"Yes yes, I know that they will be coming soon for her and we need to speed things along, but it is too dangerous!" Andrias said to… seemingly himself. "She still hasn't fully recovered yet! If we take her out of the rejuvenation tank now… yes, I am aware that you'll be able to finish healing her, but you still will be… No! I am not doubting you!"
At this point, Andrias opened the door and went inside the room.
"As great as you are, you will still be using a very-much weakened body… I would hate for you to lose because of that." Andrias tried to reason.
After a moment of silence, he sighed.
"Very well…"
At this point, he pulled Marcy out of the rejuvenation tank, and placed her in a throne, where she was quickly restrained.
"Huh…? Wha…?"
"Good morning Marcy, sleep well?" Andrias asked.
"Bleeeehhhhh…"
"… Guess you are not all together mentally yet… that's fine." Andrias said.
At that moment, a giant spider creature appeared before them.
"Whoa… what's thaaaaaaat?" Marcy asked, very delirious.
"This, is the core." Andrias said. "A collection of the greatest minds Amphibia has ever seen."
"Whoooooaaaaa… but not as smart as meeeeeee!"
"Yes well, that is why you're here." Andrias said. "You see, it requires a host… a very smart one… one who… say, was the only one who could beat me at flipwart?"
At this, Olivia and Yunan's eyes went wide.
"Oh no…" Olivia gasped out.
"We have to…"
"No! You'd never stand a chance against both of them!" Olivia said.
"Please… I am Genera-"
"Not right now!"
"R-right…"
"Oooooooooh! So you want me to host a party?" Marcy asked.
"… You see? This is why I wanted to wait a bit more!" Andrias said to the core.
The Core's eyes all narrowed.
"…Fine…"
"So… how old is he…?" Marcy asked, still thinking that she is supposed to throw a party.
"Oh very." Andrias said with a smirk, as all the eyes on the core rolled. "I'll be honest with you Marcy, I do like you. Always have! I tried to get the core to reconsider it's choice in host but… well…"
"Hehehe… you said butt…"
...
At that moment, a helmet began lowering to Marcy, before it went over her eyes.
And she began to scream.
"Marcy!" Olivia shouted.
"There's no helping her now! We have to get out of here!" Yunan said as she grabbed Olivia and ran.
As the two escaped, Marcy's screams echoed through the halls.
End of Chapter 8
Sorry this took a bit to get out, was gonna post it earlier, but then Xenoblade 3 got announced and I've been geeking out since.
Yup, Marcy still get's possessed…
So, let's continue a topic from last time. The second reason Luz didn't use this plan to bring Anne to Amphibia was actually mentioned a while ago: they didn't know for sure where the invasion would start. As such, she wanted Eda to stay in Connecticut where the portal to the Boiling Isles was, as without Luz and the others, she would be the best defense that the area would have. So this would be bad, especially if Eda brought the portal to California with her. As such, this plan of hers became one only used if they desperately needed to get to Amphibia, just in case she isn't able to destroy the box.
Now then: Sasha has finally rejoined the fray! She will be present for the rest of the story of course. There will be a couple of scenes focused on her, and she will have some pretty big roles and scenes.
Also a slight amendment. I previously said that there was going to be a total of 22 chapters including the prologue. Some things changed, I combined a couple of chapters mainly, so the final chapter number will be 20 including the prologue.
Anyways, see you next time!