This was written before the release of Marcy's Journal. (For future reference)
I debated whether this should a chapter in this fic or in Calamity Moms and ultimately decided to make it its own thing.
The basic idea of the moms taking the twins to Amphibia was suggested by hunter hewett, though I'm sure I took it in a different direction than he intended.
May 6, 2047
Los Angeles, California, Earth
Today is the twins' birthday, and the Calamity Moms have the greatest gift they can think of prepared for their kids: a trip to Amphibia!
That's right. It took 27 long years, but Terri and Dr. Jan finally managed to rebuild their interdimensional portal. Well, rebuilding the portal itself wasn't too difficult since they still had their designs and blueprints from the Calamity War. Getting enough funding and finding an adequate power source we're the real delays. While Mr. X was on their side, the vast majority of the U.S. government wasn't particularly keen on trying to go back to the place that once attempted to wipe out the planet. But as the flamboyant man rose even higher in the FBI ranks over the years, he eventually got the support he needed. As for the power source, Terri and Jan recently built an efficient antimatter reactor which had an energy output comparable to the Calamity Gems.
There were certainly a few kinks left to work out, but the portal works, and that's what's important. Earth and Amphibia will no longer be separated.
Sprig and Polly sat in the car with blindfolds over their eyes.
"Can you at least give us a hint?" Polly complained.
"No," said Anne. "This is a big surprise and that would be ruined if you saw where we're going."
"I don't know if the blindfolds are necessary Anne," said Sasha. "None of us have ever been to the place we're going so they wouldn't recognize the route.
And that was true. Since the new portal had government funding, Terri was able to build it in a much larger space than her old lab.
"I agree with Anne," said Marcy. "We'll take the blindfolds off their heads and boom! There's the surprise right in front of them."
"Hmmm. I guess so," said Sasha.
The drive took close to an hour, but eventually the group reached the FBI portal lab outside Los Angeles city limits. Sasha parked the car and an FBI agent guided the family through the building until they reached the portal room.
"Alright, kids," said Anne. "You can take your blindfolds off in 3… 2… 1…"
The twins did as Anne asked and gasped as they took in the sight in front of them. At the center of the room was a large circular platform with four metal arms sticking out. Several computers surrounded the platform and a scientist tended to each one: Terri, Jan, and a few others the twins didn't recognize.
"Oh! You're all here!" Terri was the first to notice the family had arrived, and she walked over to greet them.
"What is this place, Miss Miller?" asked Polly, awestruck by all the technology she was seeing.
"This is the portal room, and that," Terri pointed at the portal, "is the culmination of decades of research. For the first time since the destruction of the music box you can travel to Amphibia!"
The twins' eyes widened even more. "We can really go to Amphibia!?" shouted Sprig.
"Ooh! I've dreamed about this so many times but I never thought it would happen!" exclaimed Polly.
"Consider it your birthday present!" said Marcy. "Well one of them, at least."
"Alright! Let's go right now!" Polly started to run away but Sasha stopped her.
"Hold on there," said the blonde woman. "They have to explain the rules and stuff to us first."
"That's right, but since when has this family cared about the rules?"
Everyone turned to see Mr. X standing smugly by the portal. He had a few more wrinkles but overall he'd aged well.
"Real funny, Mr. X." Anne dryly chuckled. "Okay, but seriously, what are the rules?"
"We can keep the portal open for ten minutes at most," said Terri. "We've made quick forays into Amphibia during that window but this'll be the first extended trip."
"You've got five hours," said Mr. X. "You have to return to the exact spot you enter and if you don't we're gonna head in there and fetch you."
"Only five hours!?" Polly complained. "But that won't be nearly enough time to see everything."
"I wish we had more time too, but this portal is still being tested," said Marcy. "If this works, we'll take a longer trip another day."
"Yeah, and we have to come back later so you can have cake," Sasha pointed out.
The promise of cake managed to calm Polly. "Okay."
"Alright, we're ready to go!" said Anne.
Terri nodded and ran over to the computers. "Let's do this! Is the reactor ready?"
Jan, who was watching the reactor, gave a thumbs up. "Everything's good and stable."
"Alright!"
Terri played the special tune on her mini keyboard, a couple of other scientists fine-tuned some instruments and pressed the activation button, and the machine lit up. Electricity shot out of all four metal arms and met in midair. The energy coalesced into a bright blue light, which after a few seconds opened up a grand interdimensional gateway. A bright green forest was visible on the other side.
Everyone in the room looked through the portal at Amphibia in awe, and the Boonchuy-Waybright-Wu family slowly stepped through. Once everyone was on the other side, tears came to Anne's eyes. Finally, after all these years, this was it. They were back.
Wartwood Swamp, The Old Continent, Amphibia
"Ah, another successful shopping trip."
Sprig Plantar was heading back home from Grub & Go. Dinner tonight would be a nice medley of Hop Pop's favorite recipes with some new additions. Sprig was by no means the greatest chef in the world, but he learned a lot from his heroes. He had almost reached the farm when he heard a voice he thought he would never hear again outside of old recordings.
"Sprig!"
What? Could it really be? "Anne…?" Sprig turned toward the voice and he saw them standing by the fields: Anne, Sasha, and Marcy, now full-grown adults. Standing with them were two other humans he didn't recognize. They seemed to be the age Anne was when she first arrived in Wartwood. Oh wait a minute, Anne's running now. She's getting pretty close— "Oof!"
Anne picked Sprig up and squished him into a big hug. "Sprig, you're all grown up!"
"Oh my frog!" Once he got his bearings back, he hugged Anne back. "Anne! And Sasha and Marcy! You're here! You're here! You're all actually here! I can't believe it!"
By this point, the rest of the human family had walked over to Anne and Sprig. "That's right, we finally found a way back to Amphibia!" said Marcy. "Tell me everything so I can log it in my journal! The people of Earth must know! What's the current government structure of Amphibia? How has the loss of the moon affected the tides? Is Yulivia a canon pairing!?"
"Easy there, Mar-Mar," said Sasha. "One thing at a time."
"Oh!" Marcy blushed a little. "I should've started with the most important people that are here today." She presented the twins. "The three of us got married and adopted the two cutest kids in the world. And we named them after you and Polly!"
Sprig the frog was shocked with happiness. "Really?"
"Yep," said Sprig the human.
"It's our birthday!" said Polly the human. "And our gift is getting to meet you, Uncle Sprig!"
The pink frog started crying happy tears. "This is incredible! But we shouldn't just stand outside." He picked up his dropped groceries and gestured for the humans to follow him. "Come inside! Everyone will want to see you!" He entered the Plantar home, with the humans trailing behind him, and called out. "Polly! Ivy! Cherry! Come to the living room! You're never gonna guess who's here!"
"Cherry?" asked Marcy excitedly. She quickly wrote the name down in the journal.
"My daughter," said Sprig Plantar proudly. "She really looks up to the three of you."
The Calamity Moms all had looks which mirrored the frog's from earlier. Surprisingly, Sasha's was the most intense.
Polly was the first to make it to the living room, emerging from Anne's old basement room. She looked very different than she did when the humans last saw her, since she now had hair and a full-size body. "You better have a good reason for— No way!" She immediately leaped into Anne's arms. "You came back! I knew you would!" She then jumped over to Sasha. "Look at me, I have hair!" Once again she jumped, this time to Marcy. "And so do you! You have hair!"
Marcy chuckled. "Yeah."
Just then, two more frogs came down from the upper floors. There was Ivy, who looked mostly the same, just taller. And there was Cherry, who looked to be about ten yen years old, with yellowish skin and orange hair. And she was completely transfixed by the humans in front of her.
"My human aunties are here!" Cherry ran forward and pulled Anne, Sasha, and Marcy into an awkward group hug. "I thought I'd never meet you!" She suddenly gasped and let go. "I have to get you your presents!" Without any warning she sprinted back upstairs.
Sasha raised an eyebrow. "Presents?"
Ivy smiled. "Four years ago she made stuff to give you three if you ever found a way back to Amphibia. And you somehow did! This is amazing!" She turned her attention to the human children. "And who are these two rascals?"
"We're Polly and Sprig Boonchuy-Waybright-Wu!" said Polly the human.
Polly Plantar cheered. "Yes! I've influenced another generation!"
Right after that, Cherry returned with her gifts. They were nice little trinkets crafted out of wood. She handed one to each of the adult humans.
"For Auntie Sasha, a little heron."
"Aww, thanks," said the blonde.
"For Auntie Marcy, a mini sparrow."
"Ooh, it looks just like Joe," said Marcy happily.
"And for Auntie Anne… a pretzel."
"I will cherish this gift forever," Anne solemnly vowed.
"And now you have to make presents for your new cousins when you get the chance," said Ivy, pointing to the twins.
Cherry's eyes lit up. "Wow, cousins!" Now it was the twins' turn to get a tight hug which was quickly reciprocated.
"Say, does Cherry even know the three of us are married?" asked Anne, pointing to herself and her wives. "Why'd she call Marcy and Sasha aunties?"
"Everyone says your crushes on each other were obvious when you were kids, Mæ̀," said Sprig the human.
"Yeah, in the resistance there were some heated arguments over who had feelings for who," admitted Sprig the frog.
The moms naturally all blushed at that.
"Well I still can't believe we're actually in Amphibia!" exclaimed Polly the human. "I've dreamed about this so many times but I never thought it would happen!
"Yeah, you said that earlier…" said Anne. After a few seconds she noticed that everyone around her seemed to be frozen. "What's going on?" She snapped her fingers in front of Sasha and Marcy's eyes and nothing changed. "Seriously, this isn't funny."
Without warning, the walls of the house started distorting and everyone else in the room appeared to melt.
Anne panicked. "What? What is this? What's happening!?" But that only seemed to make the chaos even worse. A weird high-pitched noise began to emit from all around Anne. She put her hands over her ears and closed her eyes. "Someone, please stop this!"
I've dreamed about this so many times.
I've dreamed about this so many times.
I've dreamed about this so many times…
Los Angeles (for real this time)
4:13 A.M.
Anne violently shot awake. Just a second ago it felt like she was really back in Amphibia. "No! Come back! Come back…" She shook, barely breathing as the tears cascaded out of her eyes.
If Anne's quick motions hadn't woken her wives up, then her shouts definitely did.
"Anne? Hey, what's wrong?" said Marcy, carefully putting a hand around Anne's shoulder.
"Easy, Anne. You have to take deep breaths," said Sasha. "Can you do that for me? Please?"
"O—okay…" Anne slowly took a few deep breaths, but her mind was still clouded.
"Alright, good," said Sasha. "I want you to name five things you can see."
Anne's eyes quickly darted around the room. "Uh… you and Marcy… the bedsheets… the TV… the window."
"Great, now four things you can feel."
"The bedsheets again, Marcy's hand, I feel my hand on my stomach." Anne suddenly put her other hand on her head. "And I can feel a headache coming."
"I'll go grab some ibuprofen," said Marcy. She hopped out of bed and went into the bathroom.
"Okay, now what are three things you can hear?" asked Sasha.
"I hear your voice," said Anne. "I hear the rain outside and I hear Marcy getting medicine."
"Uh huh, now two things you can smell."
Anne froze for a few seconds. "Smell?" Then without warning, she leaned into Sasha's hair and sniffed. "I smell your shampoo."
Sasha blushed and chuckled. "Okay and one more." She grabbed some of Anne's hair and held it in front of her face.
Anne smiled. "My shampoo too."
"And lastly, one thing you can taste."
"Does a dry mouth count?" asked Anne. "Because I'm tasting that."
"This should help with that." Marcy had returned with two pills and handed them to Anne along with a glass of water.
Anne accepted it, downed the pills, and took a few sips of water. "Thanks, girls. I needed that." She sighed. "I had that dream again. We took the kids to Amphibia and introduced them to everybody. And Sprig and Ivy had a kid too and she called me Auntie Anne." She closed her eyes. "It felt so real. Why can't it be real!?"
Sasha and Marcy wrapped Anne into a tight hug.
"I'm sorry it can't be real," said Marcy. "I'm sorry our Sprig and Polly can't meet the Plantars. I'm sorry I can't make your dream come true. But…" She let go of the hug and reached for a notepad. "If you tell me more about the dream, I can animate it for you. Then, in a way it'll become real."
Anne smiled. "Yeah, that sounds great. So it started with us driving to Terri's lab…"
Yeah, so it's very heavily rumored that Marcy's Journal will end with the trio finding a way back to Amphibia. That, plus the fact that the journal will certainly contain stuff that contradicts things previously mentioned in this series, means this is officially an Alternate Universe now. That being said, I will try to incorporate stuff from the journal that doesn't significantly contradict this universe.
You might've caught on to the fact that the reunion wasn't real before the reveal, since there were inconsistencies both with the show's epilogue (ex. Polly works in the basement instead of Sprig like in canon) and with previous chapters in this series (ex. Sprig and Ivy's daughter has a different name and appearance). The stuff in Anne's dream is only accurate to what she knows, or at least could plausibly suspect. Some of the dialogue was intentionally similar to the "Return to Amphibia" chapters.
Translations: Din Dæn H̄æ̀ng Khwām F̄ạn (dreamland), Mæ̀ (mom)