Amphibia: Stepford World
By Jawmax
Chapter 1: Home's not as it used to be.
Marcy had the music box and was trying to adjust it for their escape from King Andrias. "Marcy hurry!" Anne yelled.
"I just need to…" Marcy began not seeing Andrias behind her.
"Marcy! Look out!" Sash dove to her friend just before Andrias could stab Marcy in the back, both flying into the portal as the box hit the floor.
There was a bright flash of light and the next thing the human girls and the Plantars knew they were in the middle of a mostly empty road. "What the…?" Polly wondered.
"Oh my Frog!" Sprig said.
"What is this place? Hop Pop asked.
"Home. We're home…" Anne gasped.
A plane flew overhead. "What is that thing?!"
"Just a plane." Marcy said. "Like a mechanical Joe Sparrow, nothing to worry about."
"Guys we're on the freeway!" Sasha said. "A car could be speeding this way right now!"
They ran to a nearby park. "Woah!" the frogs gasped at the sight of skyscrapers.
"Am I dreaming?" Anne asked.
"If you are then you took me along for the ride." Sasha said.
"And me." Marcy added.
"Guess there's only one way to be sure." Anne pulled out her phone and saw it switched from reading no service to 5G. "We're home!" Anne exclaimed echoing through Los Angeles.
The group walked through the city. Polly hopped around enjoying her new legs while Sprig was looking at everything. Marcy and Sasha noticed somethings were a little off. "Sasha do the streets seem cleaner to you?" Marcy asked.
"Yeah, not one speck of liter, and what was up with the freeway being so empty?" Sasha wondered. "It's rush hour! The only time I saw LA's streets that empty and quite were in movies with flesh eating zombies."
"What do we do Anne?" Hop Pop asked. "So much has happened."
"I know." Anne said. "The three of us are back home but Andrias still has the music box and plans on invading our world, but if we try to tell people they'll think we're crazy. More importantly we need to find a way to get you guys back to Amphibia. So, we got to find a way back and stop Andrias."
"Sounds like a plan."
"But before we do any of that, first things first." Anne turned to a house. She was so overwhelmed she didn't notice that the lawn and roof were cleaner than she remembered.
"Anne is this…?" Sprig asked.
"My house, this is really happening. I'm going to see my parents."
"Sooo, it's too early to call them mom and dad. Should I call them Mr. and Mrs. Boonchuy? Are they tongue shake people?"
"Uh no Sprig. No one in this world are." Marcy said.
"Okay, you three should probably hide in here for the time being." Anne said opening a trash bin. "I want to ease them into all of this slowly, and when the time is right, I'll signal. Caw-caw! Do not come out until you hear that. Oh, and I'm not planning on telling them that I'm planning on going back to Amphibia, or that Andrias betrayed us…"
"Or that I did." Marcy said dejectedly.
"Or me." Sasha sighed guiltily.
"And not one word about my crazy blue powers!" Anne finished. "Wow there is a lot going on."
"Blue powers?" Sprig and Marcy asked.
"It was a thing." Polly said.
You can count on us Anne." Hop Pop said.
Anne and the girls went up to the front door when Marcy said. "Guys, about stranding us in Amphibia and working with Andrias… I was so scared of being alone…"
"Marcy, we get it." Sasha said. "If anything, I'm the one who should be sorry; I risked your lives just to stay in control. After we have Anne's folks call my parents neither of you will never have to see me again."
"Sasha! Marcy!" Anne said. "Look we all made mistakes. If I stood up to you before Sasha, we never would have ended up in Amphibia in the first place. But you guys are still my best friends, we may have issues to work out, but we can do it together." Anne's friends nodded as she turned toward her front door. "Okay, here we go."
As Anne knocked, she heard a familiar voice from the other side of the door. "I'm coming, I'm coming!" The door opened and it was Anne's mom wearing a violet dress with a petticoat, stockings, and a white apron while holding a mixing bowl. She was also wearing more makeup than Anne remembered.
"Hi Mom." Anne said quietly.
"Hey Mrs. Boonchuy." Sasha followed.
"Its… been a while." Marcy finished.
Mrs. Boonchuy in shock dropped the mixing bowl and hugged her daughter. "Oum? What was that noise?" Mr. Boonchuy asked. He was wearing a yellow cardigan sweater and khaki pants. "Is everything okay?"
"Dad!" Anne cried out.
"Anne? Anne! You're back! You and your friends are safe!"
There was a meow at Anne's feet. "Domino! Come here my precious baby!" Anne picked the cat up.
"Bless my bloomers, where have you girls been!?" Oum asked. "Are you okay? Are you hurt? Have you eaten? Your hair is a mess!" she began picking the leaves and twigs out of her daughter's hair.
"It's a really, really long story."
A bird squawked and Hop Pop climbed out of the topped recycle bin. "And we're the Plantars! The lovable frog family Anne's told you all about!"
"Hop Pop that was not the signal!" Polly said.
"Well, it sure sounded like the signal!"
Sprig then came up to the front porch and held out his hand. "Hi Mr. and Mrs. Anne's parents. The name's Sprig Plantar, Anne's best friend and walking talking frog." He then caught a fly with his tongue.
Anne face palmed while it looked like Mr. Boonchuy was going to faint but he held onto the railing. "Uh it's swell to meet you?"
"Steady Bee dear." Oum said. "Anne, please explain."
"Short version we've been in another world for five months. Can we wait until our parents get here to tell you the rest?" Marcy asked. "That way we only have to explain once."
"Oh, good heavens, you're right! Your families have been worried sick! Everyone, come inside!"
They were lead inside when Bee got a closer look at Sasha's face and saw her scar. "Sasha what happened? Let me get the Epiregen and we'll fix you right up!"
"The what?" Sasha asked as he went upstairs.
"New product that came out recently." Oum said picking up the phone. "Makes scars a thing of the past."
As she dialed Bee came back with what looked like an electric toothbrush with a light replacing the brush. "Now how did this happen?" he asked as a pink light lit up that he waved over the scar.
"Well, the world we were in, Amphibia, is filled with some… dangerous animals." Anne tried to come up with a lie. "We had to learn to fight with swords and stuff and I… uh, accidently gave Sasha that scar in our first sparing match months ago."
"Well, it's not a problem anymore." Bee handed Sasha a hand mirror.
"Oh my frog! It's gone! Not even a mark is left." Sprig said.
Looking at herself in the mirror Sasha thought. "If only that device could erase the events too."
"That's right Sophia. We'll be expecting you in a few minutes. I better call the Wus now, goodbye." Oum said. "Good as new, Sasha. Perfect for attracting a handsome young man. You and Marcy will be going on double dates with Anne soon."
"Mom!" Anne said with a blush.
Sasha however had a question. "Wait, a few minutes? But my mom lives in San Francisco, that's an over five-hour drive."
Oum was dialing on the phone. "Your mother moved back in with your father who's bringing her. They'll explain when they get here."
"What? But they were about to sign the final divorce papers…"
Mrs. Boonchuy didn't listen as someone picked up on the other side of the line. "Hello? Su Wei? Marcy and the girls are here! You and Li Jing should get over here as soon as you can!"
Soon there was a knock at the door and Mr. Boonchuy opened it. "John, Sophia, Lee, Sue, good to see you."
"Bee, where is Sasha? Where is my little girl?" John, Sasha's father asked. He had blonde hair and a moustache. He wore a red cardigan.
"Both she and Marcy are inside but they brought back some strange new friends. Try not to be shocked by their looks."
"Please Bee." Su Wei said, she was wearing a yellow dress like Oum, her black hair was done in a side part. She stepped inside and saw Marcy and Hop Pop standing right next to her. "Oh, my stars and garters!"
"Are those giant frogs?" Li Jing asked, he had black hair and wore a green cardigan.
"I wish I was giant." Polly said.
"They talk?!" Sophia gasped. She had a beauty mark that Sasha inherited and wore a blue dress like the other woman. Her black hair was done in a bouffant.
"It's okay Mrs. Waybright, they're harmless." Marcy said.
"Marcy!" Lee said as he and Sue hugged Marcy while John and Sophia did the same with Sasha.
"Where have you been?" Sophia asked her daughter. "And why are you wearing armor? You look so strange in it."
"Well Marcy didn't convince us to go LARPing for five months." Sasha said with tears in her eyes. "And we look strange, what about getups all of you are wearing? Is 1950's retro the in-thing right now?"
"You could say that sweetheart." John said.
"Right, well as to where we've been that is a long story." Anne said pulling out the paper her family used for guessing games on game night. "It started with a music box Marcy found on my birthday…" One lengthy explanation later. "… Okay, so where was I?"
"The third temple." Sprig said.
"Right so as soon as we charged the last stone, the music box opened a portal that took us back to earth." Anne then looked at the Plantars. "Before anything else could happen." The Plantar nodded to keep up Anne's secret. "But the Plantars got sucked into the portal too and now they're stuck here until we can get them home. So yeah, you're all pretty much caught up."
All the parents had shocked looks on their faces, Bee was the first to break the silence. "Hold on, back up. You're telling us there is a whole world of talking frogs called Amphibia?"
"Right in one." Sprig said impressed.
"And frogs aren't the only sapient species." Marcy said. "Newt and Toads talk too."
"You made Larb with maggots? Was good?" Oum said.
"You went from prisoner to second in command of an army in one night?" John asked Sasha.
"I don't know whether to be impressed or horrified." Sophia said.
"Trust me Mom, it's impressive." Sasha said.
"My Marcy worked for a king." Sue said with an odd mix of pride and shock.
"It… wasn't that big a deal." Marcy said trying not to think about Andrias' betrayal.
"Marcy, I know you were upset about the move, but I didn't think you would try to run away to another world because of it." Lee said. "But you don't have to worry about that anymore, things have changed, we're staying here."
"What? But you said if you didn't get that new job, we wouldn't be able to afford to keep the house!"
"Like I said things have changed."
"All of this is a lot for all of us to take in." Mr. Boonchuy said. "I wish we could have been eased into it."
Anne shot Hop Pop a dirty look who could only laugh nervously. "Anyway, can the Plantars stay with us until we find them a way home?"
Mrs. Boonchuy laughed. "Wait, you're serious?"
"Oh Mom! Dad, say something!"
"Anne all of this is crazy!" Bee said. "I wouldn't believe a word of it if the small frog weren't kicking me right now!"
The other parents nodded in agreement while Polly said. "New legs, you know how it is."
"The adventure is over Anne." Mrs. Boonchuy said. "The authorities will take care of your friends."
"Like the police? The government?" Anne gasped. "As soon as they see talking frogs they'll be probed and dissected in a secret lab and used for all kinds of weird experiments!"
"What's that now?" Sprig asked.
"Could you elaborate on the probing part?" Hop Pop added.
Polly squeezed Anne's leg tight. "Anne, don't let them take us! Don't let them take us!"
"Don't worry, guys. I'll keep you safe." Anne said pulling the Plantar into an embrace. "I was living in a cave when you found me. The least I can do is return the favor."
The Boonchuy's share as glance. "Honey Bee?" Oum asked. Her husband nodded. "Okay, they can stay. For now."
"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!"
"Well, that's just swell." John said. "But we better get our daughter home."
"Yes, and into some more comfortable clothes." Sophia agreed.
"Us too." Mr. and Mrs. Wu said together.
"Really?" Marcy asked.
"So soon?" Sasha added.
"You can call each other later tonight." Sue said. "Now come along. I bet you haven't had a good homecooked meal in a long time."
"Well not one where bugs weren't a main ingredient." Marcy said.
"Well then I say maybe you ladies should make the girls favorites tonight?" Bee suggested to which all three women nodded.
"Cool! Come on guys, let me show you my room." Anne said to the Plantars. "Sasha, Marcy, I'll call you later."
"And she'll see you at school tomorrow." Oum said.
"What?" the three teens asked.
"But we just got back!" Anne complained.
"Don't you think we need time to readjust?" Sasha asked.
"I don't mind going to school but we're all months behind our classmates." Marcy said. "Shouldn't we spend time getting caught up first?"
"I'm sure your teachers will help you all get caught up." Lee said. "You're lucky most of your time away was during summer vacation."
"Summer?" Sprig asked. "But it's only been spring for a couple of months."
"Earth and Amphibia's seasons don't match up Sprig." Anne said. "When I first opened the music box it was just two weeks before summer vacation."
"In any case we really need to get Sasha home." John opened the front door.
"And Marcy too." Sue agreed.
"See you Anne." Marcy and Sasha said as they left.
"Later girls. Sprig, Polly, Hop Pop my room is upstairs." Anne said leading the way.
Your daughter and her friends have provided very fascinating data. Another dimension with other sapient lifeforms must now be accounted for in the plan. I will enjoy running the new calculations. Mr. and Mrs. Boonchuy heard in their heads.
"Stepford. I'm happy my Anne could make you happy." Oum said with a smile.
And I am pleased you are no longer fighting me Oum.
"Yes, my daughter is home, and I am ready to fully except my role in the new world you are making as a full-time housewife."
"Stepford, how long will it be until Anne and the others accept their places in the plan as we have?" Bee asked.
As you know Bee each human is different. Your daughter, Sasha, and Marcy could accept me right away or it could take months as it did with Oum. However, thanks to the prolonged physical contact from the hugs you, the Wus, and the Waybrights gave your daughters, a sufficient number of my nanites are now in their brains and full physical integration should be complete by morning.
"And then they'll be on their way to lives of domestic bliss like we have. In a few years we'll be grandparents." Oum said as she and Bee held hands and looked at each other lovingly. "But what about Anne's frog friends?"
A lesser number of nanites are studying the Plantars brains now. I do not wish to injure them but in time I will know all I need to integrate with them, and others like them. With their and the girls help, together we will make two perfect worlds. Wil you please say what are the foundations for such a world. I enjoy hearing it from humans.
Oum kept smiling. "Be a good wife, you'll have a happy life."
Bee then smiled said. "A happy wife, is key to a good life."
"Good parents make good children, who grow into good parents." They both said still smiling. "These are the three foundations for a perfect world."
On the car ride back to her house Marcy still had questions. "Dad, I still don't understand how we can stay in California if we can't afford it? Did you or Mom find a different job here? Or maybe you got a raise or promotion?" Lee and Sue laughed. "Did I say something funny?"
"Oh, sorry Marcy." Sue said. "I quit my job at the pharmacy months ago, I'm a fulltime homemaker now."
"What? But that just makes it harder for us to afford to stay! Dad?"
"Marcy, you are a smart girl. You know circumstances can change." Lee said. "The salary of everyone in the company was readjusted and housing prices have gone down. I was able to renegotiate with the bank and now the mortgage will be paid off in two years. You got what you wanted pumpkin, you don't have to say goodbye to your friends. Everything is just swell now."
"That… is a big turnaround. Now I really feel stupid for running away. I put Sasha and Anne at risk for my selfish desires and that was all for nothing."
"Now don't feel bad sweet pea." Sue said as they pulled up to the house. "You couldn't have known. Now I'm going make your favorite dish tonight and I was already making some sweet buns."
"Sweet buns from my sweet bun. I love it." Lee said as they got out.
"I know you do Ginger Snap." The Taiwanese couple were giving each other kisses as Marcy opened the front door.
"All my problems fixed themselves and the girls and I have started to make up. I should be happy, but something just feels… off." Marcy thought.
"Mmm. It's been a long time since I've had your baked chicken, Mom." Sasha said after taking a bite, happy memories flowing over her.
"Well now that we're both back you can have far more often." Sophia smiled.
"About that, why did you come back? Dad, you said you just got the final divorce papers."
"Oh, that reminds me." John said. "Sophia, you tell her, I'll be right back." He left the table.
"Yes dear." She then turned to Sasha. "Well after you disappeared like you would expect we started yelling and blaming each other." Sophia sounded so sad. "We were so sure you ran away to join a gang or something. We know you've been barely keeping yourself out of trouble, but we'd rather blame each other for three years than see it as the cry for help that it was."
"Those… were my own bad decisions, Mom. I was using your divorce do whatever I wanted, and it took going to Amphibia and nearly losing my friends to get me to see what the consequence of my actions could be. How low I really sunk." Sasha played around with one of her potatoes thinking about how Marcy was almost killed and Anne saying she was a terrible person.
"I'm sorry you had such hard time sweetheart but now you can be a better girl. But back to what happened with your father and me, one day we both had an epiphany. You wouldn't have acted out and ran away or as you put it made those choices if we just talked with each other, worked our problems, do the things a married couple is supposed to do. We decided that when you would come home you would get the parents you needed, the parents you deserved. So, I quit my job and moved back in with your father, from that day on I dedicated myself to be a good housewife and mother."
"What?! But you were a successful publisher! You gave up your career for…"
"For you and your father who I love and who loves me. I just needed a reminder of that."
"Here it is." John said coming back holding some pieces of paper. "We kept this so you can see this very moment." Sasha saw it was the divorce papers. John then placed them in a metal trash can and pulled out a book of matches. "Tonight, we are undoing the worst mistake of our lives, forgetting our love for each other and putting our desires over our child." He lit one of the matches.
Sophia got up and stood next to John. "This night we turn back and reaffirm our vows to love honor and cherish each other and commit fully to raising our daughter."
John then threw the match in, and the papers began to burn. "Til death do us part." They both said together as they kissed.
Sasha couldn't believe her eyes. "I, I wished this would happen when I was younger, but I never believed…" she began to cry. "I don't deserve this! After everything I did… I even left Grime behind, without a chance to say goodbye!" She thought about Grime alone with Andrias. "And with how things were when we left, I don't even know if he's alive!"
John embraced his daughter. "Right, you said the third temple was in a volcano. Don't cry Sasha, Daddy's here. I you said this Grime was a tough toad, a warrior. If anyone could get out of that alive it would be him. He protected our little girl and for that we will always be grateful."
At the Boonchuy house Oum was taking the last of Anne's measurements. "And that should do it, you grew a little out there."
"Do I really need a new uniform, Mom? Couldn't I just use the spare one in my dresser?" Anne asked
"The school changed it while you were gone. And while you teachers may understand with you being gone for so long, you and your friends won't attract any boys wearing last year's fashion."
"That is the second time you brought up me and my friends love life since I got back. What happened to "Focus on your studies Anne, there will be time for dating after you graduate."?"
"A mother can't change her mind? Anne, I was so worried for so long… I, I just want you to be happy like how Dad and I are happy."
"And I'm sure I will be someday. But you got to admit…" Anne looked at the Plantars settling in for bed. "I got other things to worry about right now."
"Okay, but don't be surprised if a boy comes calling soon. You are growing into a beautiful woman. Good night, Anne, and welcome home."
"Good night, Mom." Anne said before falling back into her bed exhausted. "What a day!"
"No kidding!" Sprig said. "First we fight an army of toads, beat Grime and Sasha again, only to team up with them when Andrias got his army of robots to attack us, Polly's legs finally grew in, I get thrown out of a window and you get these blue powers apparently, then we travel to your world and meet you, Marcy, and Sasha's family's, and now you go back to school tomorrow like nothing's changed!"
"I'm exhausted just thinking about the whole thing!" Hop Pop yawned.
"Now how do I get comfy with legs?" Polly wondered.
Then Anne's phone rang. "It's Marcy!" Anne said answering. "Hey Mar Mar, are you settling back in okay?"
"Well sort of." Marcy said. "There's something…" then a beeping was heard. "Sasha's calling, I'll put us on three-way calling. Hey Sash, glad to be home?"
"That's the thing Marcy." Sasha said. "Are you sure you worked the music box right and we're not in an alternate version of earth?"
"What do you mean Sasha?" Anne asked. "You didn't see something weird like a dinosaur outside your window or someone drink toxic waste, did you?"
"Hi Anne."
"I'm absolutely sure I did it right." Marcy reassured. "What's wrong?"
"My parents… they… they burned their divorce papers! Right in front of me. They really are back together." Sasha said.
"Sasha that's wonderful." Anne smiled. "I remember how sad you were when you told us they were splitting up."
"But it's too good to be true!" Sasha cried. "After everything I did, all the hurt I caused. I don't deserve to come back after five months and find the anger they felt for three years is gone like someone waved a magic wand and they are all hugs and kisses right now!"
"Wow, she really does feel bad about all the stuff she did." Sprig said.
"Well five months is a long time and maybe your disappearance just made them realize what was important." Marcy reasoned.
"That's what they said but still it is an extreme change guys!" Sasha said. "My mom didn't just get back together with Dad, she said she quit her job and is a homemaker now! I remember her stories of her time in college as a feminist activist before she met Dad. This is going against almost everything she believed in!"
"Sasha, people change." Anne said.
"Wait, Anne." Marcy said. "My mom said she did the same thing! She told me years ago it felt so rewarding to help people get the medicine they need and that isn't the only thing that doesn't make sense. My dad gave me a list reason why he could turn down his new job, but they are things that couldn't happen in just five months. I was afraid he robbed a bank or something but maybe something else is going on here."
"Like how the streets were clean and empty. You think something has affected our parents?" Sasha asked.
"I don't know but we've all seen in Amphibia that anything is possible. Anne has you mom said she quit her job to be a housewife or anything else strange happen?"
Anne thought for a moment. "It hasn't come up and other than all our parents are wearing clothes and hair that are seventy years out of style…"
"I found their outfits quite charming actually." Hop Pop said.
"As I was saying." Anne continued. "The only thing I found odd was that instead of worrying about my studies Mom is more interested in me and by extension you two getting boyfriends. I'll admit some strange things seemed to have happened while we were gone but it mostly seems to be good stuff. We could have gotten so used to being in life threatening danger in Amphibia that we've lost the ability to trust when something good happens. We got school tomorrow, how about we check things out there and afterward go over the news we missed just in case?"
"That sounds like a plan to me." Marcy agreed.
"I really do hope it's just us looking gift horses in the mouth Anne." Sasha sighed.
"Okay girls then I'll see you tomorrow, good night." Anne hung up. "Please let us just be worrying over nothing." She and the frogs then went to sleep.
Oum backed away from her daughter's door and saw her husband was standing in the hall. "From what I could hear Anne say Sasha and Marcy are just as suspicious as we were when we noticed Stepford's work." She sighed.
"You don't have to spy on her honey. Tomorrow Stepford will know all that they know." Bee said.
"I know but, I'm worried her transition into our new way of life will be as hard on her as it was for me so I want to know what I can to help. Look at me, the moment I saw Anne again I realized Stepford is right. I accepted my role but now I'm violating her privacy and for four months I rejected you after your acceptance. I'm a terrible wife and mother!"
"No, my love. You are trying to make sure Anne doesn't suffer as you made yourself suffer and as for me, I knew you wouldn't be ready to be intimate with me again until you accepted the new way of things, but I was willing wait. After all, phom rak khun." (Thai for I love you from a male speaker)
"Chan rak khun." (Thai for I love you from a female speaker)
"Come to bed Oum, we've both waited long enough and the nanites enhancing our brains also enhances pleasure. The ultimate aphrodisiac."
Oum smiled. "Oh yes! Mama made her Honey Bee wait too long." Mr. and Mrs. Boonchuy went to bed smiling that night.