Anne had only been a Guardian for a few months but she was doing a really good job. There were no major incidents and she had a really good grasp on her powers. She had visited and observed many different types of worlds. Many of them were similar to Earth and Amphibia in terms of structure and civilization, but others were utterly alien in ways her once human mind couldn't have comprehended.

However, even those made sense compared to the world Anne was currently observing. She saw something that she never in a million years expected to see.

"Yo, Anna. What's up?"

Anna looked up from her phone to see the Planter twins approaching. They briefly paused and struck a pose before Molly shook a bucket off her foot.

Anna gave Twig a high five. "'Sup, Twig and…"

"Molly."

"Right. Hey, check this out guys." Anna showed the twins her phone which played a video of a man flying off his skateboard and landing in a truck filled with raccoons which attack him.

Anne couldn't believe it. Not only was this world identical to the one she described to the Plantars during the Blue Moon Shut-In, but everything was happening the same as in her story.

"How? This shouldn't even be possible. That… that was just a story I made up." Anne took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. "I need to talk to the old Guardian about this."

"Once upon a time, in a mythical land called Vagabondia, lived a young boy named Skor. He used to live a life in peaceful seclusion, but that changed when his village Protaxia was attacked by raiders sent by the evil Selach. On that day, Skor vowed to never let what happened to Protaxia happen to anyone else's home. Armed only with a rusty sword, he set off on his quest to defeat Selach.

And of course he isn't alone! Skor met so many allies who joined him, for they too had been affected by Selach's tyranny. There's Astry the floral witch, whose coven was ravaged because Selach despises magic, the warrior Futotta Neko whose city had been attacked much like Protaxia, the tiny metal man Qix who escaped from the evil factories, and the team's pet dragon Rypos, whose species had been subject to poaching.

And those are just the main allies! They all go on an extensive quest around the whole world. They liberate prisoners forced into slave labor who ultimately become a heroic military force. They defeat Selach's military commanders. They meet the powerful witch Lunestra, who teaches Astry how to enhance the party's weapons. Skor no longer has a rusty sword. Now he has a magical sword!

The rebel army storms Selach's fortress, which serves as a distraction so Skor and his friends can sneak in unnoticed. They find the villain hiding in his lair like the coward he is, and then engage him in battle. It's a long and hard fight, but eventually the heroes prevail. Skor, Astry, Futotta Neko, Qix, and Rypos are hailed as heroes, and peace is restored to Vagabondia.

And that is the story of the greatest video game ever created: Vagabondia Chronicles."

Marcy looked at the assortment of amphibian youth who had gathered to hear her story. "So, what do you think?"

"That sounds fun!" said a toad girl.

"Can we play it?" asked a newt boy.

"You certainly can!" Marcy waved her hands and instantly every child sitting in front of her had a copy of Vagabondia Chronicles in their hands which would play on the video game systems Polly Plantar had invented. A thoughtful expression appeared on Marcy's face. "Does this count as counterfeiting? Eh, Gomcom will never know."

"You two are gonna have to explain this to me again," said Sasha. "'Cause it doesn't make sense no matter how I try to wrap my head around it."

"Okay," began Anne, "so every Friday at 1:13 P.M. a baker's dozen of bagels will appear in the center of our base. Sometimes they're all the same type, sometimes they're all different, sometimes it's a mix of the two, but it's always thirteen and always at the same time each week. The last Guardian called it Bagel Fridays."

"It's not overly important," added Marcy. "We don't have to eat them. We can get rid of anything we don't want here." Marcy snapped her fingers and a decoration on one of the walls disappeared. A few seconds later she snapped them again and the decoration returned. "See? Just like that!"

"But why bagels?"

"Apparently the multiverse is shaped like a bagel," said Anne.

Sasha's mind might have completely shut down. She just stood there, practically catatonic.

"Sashy?" asked Marcy reluctantly.

"You're joking?" asked Sasha, clearly hoping the answer was yes.

"I'm afraid not," said Anne.

"This rift we're in right now is the empty hole in the center of the bagel multiverse," said Marcy.

Sasha sat down on the couch at the center of the base. "This is some—"

She was interrupted by a timer going off.

"1:13! You know what that means!" said Marcy.

"Please, no," said Sasha, but her hopes were dashed when a plate of bagels spontaneously appeared in front of her. There were three plain bagels, one with sesame seeds, two with poppy seeds, one everything, two egg, three pumpernickel, and one with raisins. Sasha the everything bagel and slowly took a bite. Her eyes widened. "These are actually really tasty. I still don't understand it, but I guess I can deal with Bagel Fridays."

"Anne?

"Yes, Mar-Mar?"

"Are we capable of time travel?"

Anne and Marcy were lounging on the couch at the base while their duplicates were observing worlds from the central console.

"The big book says we are but I've never tried it," said Anne. "We can't change the past at all, so we can't interfere with our lives and we can't change the circumstances that led us there. So no stopping any of the bad stuff that happened in Amphibia."

"Okay," said Marcy. She had learned long ago that she couldn't change what happened in the past. So learning that it's literally impossible actually felt reassuring. "So if I understand the rules correctly, then we can go back in time and prank Sasha, as long as neither of us were actually present at the time."

Anne pondered that for a moment and shrugged. "Guess so. What exactly did you have in mind?"

Marcy's face suddenly flashed a mischievous grin. "Remember in college when Sashy insisted she was being haunted?

Anne's grin soon matched Marcy's. "I love the way you think."

Sasha had begun semi-regularly meditating after returning from Amphibia. It was a good way to maintain a calm state of mind under pressure and to prevent potentially reverting to her old ways. And she continued this practice for the rest of her life and into her afterlife.

Right now she sat by herself on a serene beach overlooking a vast ocean. There was no civilization here, just Sasha, her thoughts, and peaceful crashing waves.

She wasn't sure how long she'd been here. It could've been anywhere from thirty minutes to thirty hours, but it didn't matter. When she was alone with her thoughts, time became irrelevant.

Nothing can interrupt this peace…

An enormous shark, perhaps weighing a thousand tons, jumped out of the water and closed in toward the beach, toward Sasha. She barely even reacted to the beast. Without opening her eyes, Sasha lifted a hand, freezing the shark in place, and then pushed outward. The enormous fish was sent backward the way it came, almost as if Sasha had reversed some footage. She'd make that shark go forward again when it was time for her to leave, but for now it won't be bothering her.

Once again it was just Sasha, her thoughts, and the ocean.

So peaceful.

It's only natural that when you've got cool and fascinating powers, you find fun things to do with them. Anne didn't get that luxury during her first foray with powers, considering using them literally killed her, but now that potential death isn't an issue she's free to experiment and play around however she wishes.

Duplication was probably the power Anne and her wives used the most, and not always for Guardian duties. One thing Anne started doing after becoming a Guardian was playing tennis against herself. Sometimes she'd up the ante and play a four-Anne doubles match, but today it was just one Anne against one Anne.

And while Anne could easily use her powers even further to never miss and make the game last forever, she didn't cheat like that. These were fair games. Well, as fair as you could be when all players are one person.

"Alright, that's Left Anne- one game, Right Anne- two, said Marcy." She and Sasha sat by the side of the court and kept score.

"I'm not sure why you think this is the ultimate challenge," said Sasha. "I swordfought myself and that's got to be more challenging than this."

"I'll have you know I'm perfectly capable of swordfighting myself and I'll do that as soon as this match is over," said Right Anne. "I'll make you eat those words."

"We'll see, Boonchuy," said Sasha with a smug grin. "We'll see."

Marcy patrolled through Arborea, a world mostly covered in forests. They reminded her of the redwood forests back home, but prettier, with purple bark and periwinkle leaves. It wasn't her first time here, but this particular patrol went a bit different than usual.

There was a man laying on the ground passed out. He wore a giant coat and had an even larger backpack on his back.

"Poor guy must have fainted from dehydration."

Normally she wouldn't interfere with the inhabitants of the worlds she patrolled, but this man clearly needed help. She flew down to him and then conjured a tall glass of water which she enchanted to refill itself. She carefully opened the man's mouth and poured some water in.

After a few seconds, the man's eyes opened, making eye contact with Marcy. He thought he was looking into the eyes of an angel, which admittedly isn't far from the truth.

"Greetings, weary traveler," said Marcy. She handed the glass to the man. "You got dehydrated and passed out. This never-ending glass of water should alleviate your condition."

The man accepted the glass and took several long sips from it. He set it down when he was done. "Thank you. I was on my way to Oak Outpost carrying everything I own. Guess it was too much." Once again he looked into Marcy's eyes. "I must say you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen."

Marcy blushed in embarrassment and moved back a bit. "Oh… I'm flattered, but I'm taken."

The man's hopes visibly deflated.

"In fact, I'm so taken that I don't quite know what my wives would do to you if they found out you tried to romance me."

The man paled. "Uh…"

"You know what, why don't I just teleport you to where you need to go and erase your memory of ever meeting me. That sounds good."

Marcy snapped her fingers and instantly the man was at Oak Outpost. She let him keep the glass, though. It should be a pleasant surprise.

"Stay away from me, you adorable beast!"

"I need you to explain this right now," said Anne, pointing down at Anna's world. "I just told a story with stand-ins for me and some Wartwood frogs. How could they be real?"

"Ah yes," said the former Guardian, yet again sporting a familiar feline image. "This particular dimension is very odd but explainable. That being said, I doubt you'll even believe me if I tell you."

"Please tell me anyway," said Anne.

"Have you ever heard the theory that dreams are just glimpses into alternate universes?" asked "Domino".

"I saw a movie where that was mentioned." Anne's eyes widened. "Wait! Are you saying that's actually true!?"

The former Guardian shook its head. "It's not, but I thought that would be a good introduction to the truth. From your perspective, you were merely telling a story. However, thanks to the multiverse's infinite possibilities, what you described is actually real, on a distant world far from Earth and Amphibia."

Anne crossed her arms. "Alright, fine. I guess with infinite possibilities the idea of that world existing makes sense. What I don't understand is how the exact scenario I described was happening. Right down to the words."

The old Guardian shrugged. "I honestly don't quite know. That's just the way it is."

Anne huffed in annulment. "Well that sounds like something that was arbitrarily decided for the sake of comedy and storytelling."

Anne and "Domino" stared at the house's fourth wall.

I know The Shut-In isn't canon but I figured the part about telling stories might have happened and just not the ending.

Yeah, I created a story from this image. I noticed the main hero's sword looks a lot like Sasha's heron swords, and now I think she might've requested that specific design not just because she defeated herons, but because it reminded her of Marcy.

The tennis/swordfighting one and the pranking Sasha one will both be continued in the next chapter of drabbles.