Episode Six: The Vision

Ash sighed as she stared at the Calamity Box. It had been three years since the traumatic events that ensued after her arrival in Amphibia. Three years to think things over. She had found that there were so many more worlds out there than she originally thought, but Anne, Sasha, and Marcy all agreed that it was safer to stay in the realms they know, despite Ash knowing most of the others. She sighed and went to move the box back to the shelf Anne kept it on, but when she did, she immediately dropped it. Marcy saw this and dove for it, catching it before it hit the ground. "Be careful!" she scolded, setting the box on the shelf. She noticed something off about her girlfriend. Her eyes. They were glowing orange. "Ash?" questioned Marcy, "Are you okay?" Ash didn't respond. All she could do was stare in horror at the vision that awaited her.

She found herself looking around at chaos and destruction, and in the middle of it all… was The Core. When Ash moved closer, however, she found that this was not the version of The Core she was acquainted with, but an entirely different being. Ash gasped in horror. It was The Core as Matt Braly wrote it. The much more dangerous and most definitely ALIVE version. They turned and looked at Ash with a sick grin, completely taking all admiration Ash had for Marcy's adorable smile away. They laughed and charged at her. She put up her arms in defense, but they never hit her. She opened her eyes and found that she was surrounded by darkness… just like she was when she was trapped in The Core. Ash curled up in a ball and started breathing heavily, once again feeling the helplessness of being trapped in her own mind. She heard faint voices calling out to her.

Ash's eyes shot open and she fell backwards on the couch, still struggling to breathe. "Ash, are you okay!?" stressed Marcy, "Anne! Get Ash a glass of water!" Anne stepped into the room with water and Sasha wrapped a blanket around Ash's shoulders. "What did you see?" asked Marcy, holding her hand. Ash took a sip of the water and looked Marcy dead in the eyes. "Them," she breathed. "Who's them?" asked Anne. "Them!" Ash repeated. "This is getting us nowhere," groaned Sasha, "Who did you see?" "THEM!" screamed Ash, pointing at the TV. Marcy, Anne, and Sasha all turned and looked, finding a face they never thought they'd see on the TV screen. The Core stared at them with a sick grin. "Is that…" breathed Marcy. "The TV show accurate version of The Core," interrupted Ash, "Darcy."

Ash gasped as she shot up in bed. Her breathing was labored and she was struggling to even move her hands to find her bottle of water that sat on her bedside table. "This is the last time I go to bed early," she groaned. She looked in the mirror and smiled at her thirteen year old self that looked back, rather than the sixteen year old that she had seen in her dream. She stepped out of her room and found Marcy, Sasha, and Anne all watching Amphibia, shocked at all the things Anne and the Plantars would've gone through if Ash and Marcy hadn't found her early. Ash sighed and sat down beside Marcy. "Hey," said the green star, "I thought you were going to bed." "I had a horrible dream," sighed Ash, resting her head on her girlfriend's shoulder. "What was it about?" asked Marcy, pausing the TV. "I don't wanna talk about it…" sighed Ash. "It was about it wasn't it?" asked Marcy. Ash paused before slowly nodding. Marcy hugged Ash tightly. Meanwhile, Sasha and Anne were having mixed feelings about this situation. They both wanted to coo over how sweet Marcy was being, but they also didn't want to ruin the moment. "You okay?" asked Sasha. "I hate to say it, but I think it may have actually been a vision. "Oh no," said Anne, "I'm not falling for the vision thing again." "It was three years in the future and even included me," argued Ash, "There's no way Matt Braly knew to put that in the show." "Look," sighed Sasha, "We're never gonna be able to help you if we don't know what the vision was." "I saw The Core," Ash said with a deep breath, "But it was different…" "Different how?" asked Anne. "I wasn't the host," clarified Ash, "Neither was Andrias." "Then who was?" asked Marcy. "You," sighed Ash, "They were The Core exactly how Matt Braly wrote them! They even had a cord connecting them to some kind of generator!" "What were they doing?" asked Marcy. "They were destroying everything!" exclaimed Ash, "They knew I was watching and attacked me! I came to in my dream as it originally started. We saw Darcy on the TV screen." "If this were going to happen, do you have any idea when?" asked Sasha. "I think in three years," stated Ash, "We all looked to be about sixteen years old." "What do we do?" questioned Anne, "Marcy's gonna be taken by The Core and the world is gonna end!" "I'm not so sure about all of that," said Ash, standing up. She held up her hand and a small recreation of her vision appeared on the table. She zoomed in on the image of Darcy. "Marcy's a lot older than us in this image," stated Ash, "If you look around, you'll find you two on the sides looking the same as in my dream. And if you look all the way to the side… There's Marcy." "Two Marcys?" questioned Sasha. "How is that possible?" asked Anne, "Unless you're wrong about that being Marcy's body." "No," said Ash, "I know that smile anywhere." "Then what do we do?" asked Marcy, "How are there two of me!?" "I don't know," sighed Ash, "But I do know what we do…" She heroically stared out the window at the street outside. "We prepare."