Chapter 1

When Marcy woke up, she had absolutely no clue what was going on. Looking around, she saw that she was in a forest of sorts.

Then, everything came rushing back to her.

Finding that weird music box, Anne buying it, going to the park…

"WH-WHAT IN THE WORLD?!"

Looking around frantically, she tried desperately to find any sign of Anne and Sasha.

When she didn't see them, she got worried.

"Anne?! Sasha?!"

No response.

Panic suddenly set in, as Marcy began running around the area, trying desperately to find one of her friends.

"Come on girls… please be nearby…"

Suddenly, she tripped over something, sending her falling face first into the dirt.

"Ugh… wish Anne was here…" Marcy said as she picked herself up and dusted herself off. "She never would of let me trip over that…"

Then, she saw what, or rather, who she tripped over.

"ANNE!" Marcy cheered as she leapt at the girl and began hugging her.

However, the lack of a response from the unconscious girl was very concerning.

"Uh… Anne?" Marcy asked, shaking Anne a bit.

No response.

"Anna-banana?"

Nothing.

"Come on… this isn't funny." Marcy said. "You can wake up now!"

Nothing at all.

Realizing that something was terribly wrong, Marcy began to panic again.

The first thing she did was set Anne down and check her pulse.

She then breathed a sigh of relief when she felt that Anne's heart was still beating.

The next thing she did was look around, and she noticed Anne's bag, laying right next to the music box they had bought.

"Ok… good thing we still have this." Marcy said as she put the box in Anne's bag.

Then, she slung the bag over her shoulders, the two backpacks on top of each other.

And finally…

"Wait, is that buzzing?" Marcy suddenly asked as she heard a strange sound above her.

Looking up, she was surprised to see a dragonfly…

One that was probably about twice her size.

And one that just got eaten by an even BIGGER bug.

…

The next thing she did was support Anne with her shoulders and ran off to find shelter.

"Sasha… I really hope you're alright… cause we sure as heck aren't!" Marcy said.

Three days later

Marcy was out and about, looking for some berries, fruit… anything to eat.

So far, in the past three days, her efforts have proven to be fruitless… quite literally.

"Still nothing…" Marcy said as she entered a clearing.

The clearing seemed to be on some sort of environmental border, as the land ahead of her seemed a lot more barren than where she was currently.

"Not going to find anything to eat there… at least, nothing that won't eat me first…"

And so, she turned around, and began walking back towards the cave where she was currently calling her and Anne's home.

Speaking of Anne, she still showed no signs of waking up, something that was becoming more and more concerning.

If she didn't wake up to at least be able to eat something soon, she would die of starvation.

On her way back, she suddenly heard something in a nearby bush.

She clutched the spear that she made the other day tightly as she prepared to defend herself from what was surely about to attack her…

Or at the very least, she was ready to run away.

However, what came out was not some vicious beast that she had grown accustomed to seeing in this world, but a turquoise, bipedal one-eyed… frog?

The frog seemed to look like a deer caught in headlights, caught completely off guard by the girl in front of it.

"Uh… hi there?" Marcy asked. "You wouldn't happen to know where I could find…"

Then, it suddenly began screaming.

Then, it ran away, screaming the word "MONSTER!" over and over again.

"… Wait, did that frog just talk?" Marcy asked herself.

She did not expect it to actually respond.

Deciding that waiting around was not a good idea, lest an actual predator came along, she continued her trek back to her cave.

"I'm back Anne…" Marcy said as she entered the cave and sat down next to the unconscious girl.

Then, she began thinking about what had just happened.

The frog she had met. It was wearing clothes, and was able to talk.

Did that mean that this land's primary inhabitants were frogs? Or were there other amphibians that lived here?

Another thing that had crossed her mind was if this meant that there was some kind of town nearby.

If there was, she could finally get herself some food, as well as get Anne some medical help.

However… if her encounter with that frog earlier was any indicator, the townsfolk, if they even existed, would probably call her some kind of monster… meaning that she would probably need to convince them that she was friendly.

Looking at Anne, she sighed.

"I really wish you were awake right now… this is your special skill… not mine." Marcy said sadly.

She then took a deep breath, grabbed her spear, and stood up.

"No… if I want you to ever wake up from this, I need to get you some help. And the only way I am doing that, is if I get through to those frogs!" Marcy said with newfound resolve.

Taking one last look at Anne, she smiled.

"I'll be back Anne, no matter what!"

And with that, she went back into the woods.

The first thing Marcy did was return to the spot where she spotted that frog from earlier. Then, she began running in the direction of where it ran to.

If there really was a town or village nearby, it probably went running straight towards it.

Suddenly, she heard something coming, as bushes were rustling in the distance.

Quickly crouching down low to hide, she peeked through the bushes to see another frog.

This one was half the size of the previous one, probably a kid, and they were pink instead of turquoise. It was wielding some sort of slingshot, and seemed very wary of it's surroundings.

A good opportunity!

Against a whole town, Marcy's social skills would be absolutely trampled! But a single frog? That should be simple enough!

… Right?

"Psst… hey kid!"

The frog suddenly jumped in place, and began pointing its slingshot straight at her.

"Hey hey, please calm down, I am not going to hurt you, I promise!" Marcy pleaded.

"I dunno… how do I know I can trust you, beast?" The frog asked.

Thinking for a second, Marcy put her spear down and stood up, both hands in the air.

"I don't know… but I do know that I really, REALLY need your help!" Marcy pleaded.

The frog squinted its eyes, and pulled back on the slingshot.

"Please! My friend might die if I don't get her help!"

At that, it's expression softened a bit.

Her voice, it not only sounded like pure desperation, but it was laced with terrible anxiety.

This creature he had encountered was absolutely terrified.

Could something that is this afraid really be a threat?

"… Lead the way, but I am staying a bit behind you just in case."

Marcy smiled at this.

"Thank you!" Marcy said, her voice now filled with immense relief. "Oh yeah! My name's Marcy, what's yours?"

"… Sprig, Sprig Plantar."

After leading Sprig a bit, Marcy finally arrived back at her cave, where she quickly kneeled next to Anne.

Seeing the unconscious form of another monster, Sprig became very aware of the fact that her fear was not fake. That she really needed help.

Still being a bit wary, Sprig approached Anne and took a good look at her.

"What happened to her?"

Marcy just sighed.

She turned to her left and grabbed Anne's bag, and took out the music box.

"I… we found this music box. When we opened it, we ended up here, and Anne was like this…" Marcy explained. "Our other friend, Sasha… I still have no clue where she might be…"

"Hmmmm…" Sprig said as he took a closer look at Anne.

One thing he did was force Anne's eye open, something Marcy never thought to do…

It looked lifeless… and yet…

"Wait… her eyes aren't blue…" Marcy realized.

"They aren't?" Sprig asked.

"No… they are a beautiful amber color, that glistens in th-" Marcy said as she stared off into space, before catching herself.

Sprig stared at her questioningly.

"Sorry, rambling… it's a thing that I do." Marcy said as she waved it off.

"Riiiiiight…" Sprig said, deciding addressing the weird creature's weird habits later. "Well I know one thing, your friend here isn't dangerous…"

"Uh, yeah, doy." Marcy said mockingly. "So… do you think you can help us out? You know, convince the town that we aren't a threat so we can get her some help?"

"I dunno… she's not a threat, but what about you?" Sprig asked.

"I don't care about me! I will stay out of the town if it means Anne gets the help she needs!" Marcy pleaded. "So please…"

If her behavior up until now wasn't a dead giveaway that she really was a nice… whatever she was, then this was.

Seeing her want to do everything she could to save her friend, without worry about her own well being… it resonated with him.

For a moment, he thought about…

Shaking that thought out of his head, he looked at her seriously.

"… Alright fine." Sprig said. "It won't be easy, but I'll try to talk Wally's mob down at the very least."

"… Wait, Wally? Mob?"

"Yeah, you kinda freaked him out earlier, so he's gathering a mob to kill you right now!" Sprig explained.

Marcy's shocked expression told Sprig all he needed to know.

"… Yeah, that might be a problem."

Shaking it off, Marcy took Sprig's hands into her own.

"Please Sprig, you are Anne's only hope…" Marcy pleaded.

"Got it, just wait ri-"

At that moment though, they heard screaming.

"… That doesn't sound good." Marcy said.

Deciding that waiting around wasn't a good idea anymore, the two of them ran off in the direction of the screaming.

When they arrived at the source, they saw a group of frogs being attacked by a giant, red praying mantis.

Then, Sprig noticed a couple of frogs in particular were in the group.

"Hop Pop and Polly!" Sprig pointed out. "They must of come to try and find me!"

"We have to help them… but how?" Marcy asked herself.

Then, she noticed a pile of rope nearby, probably dropped by the mob.

"I'll keep it distracted! You use that rope to tie it up!" Marcy said as she jumped out into the clearing.

She then grabbed a small rock and threw it right at the bug's eye.

She may be clumsy, but her aim was top notch!

The rock hit the bug square in the eye, causing it to redirect its anger right at the girl.

"Hey ugly! Pick on someone your own size!" Marcy shouted.

It rushed up to her rather quickly.

"… I am very clearly NOT your size though!" Marcy said as she began running away.

After a bit of dodging, some of it assisted by her accidentally tripping as the mantis swiped at her, she heard someone calling out to her.

"Marcy! Over here! Quick!" She heard Sprig shout as he was holding the rope.

Marcy then quickly changed her direction and ran right towards Sprig.

When she passed him, he pulled the rope tight, causing the mantis to trip over it.

This gave him the opportunity to begin tying it up.

And before long, the bug was no longer a threat.

"Whoo!" Marcy cheered.

"We did it!" Sprig said as he hopped up and put his arm around Marcy's shoulder.

"Yeah we did! Great job Sprig!" Marcy said.

"Ahem!"

The two of them turned around to see a large toad approach them.

"Now that that is taken care of, what do we do with this thing?"

"I mean, it did save us." One of the frogs pointed out.

"Yeah, but it's a monster! It'll turn on us before you know it!" They heard the frog from before, Wally, shout.

"Hmmm… fair points… I say we just run it out of town just in case!" The Toad said before everyone began approaching Marcy.

"Wait!" Sprig shouted as he jumped in front of the crowd. "Marcy isn't a monster! She's just… lost, and needs our help!"

"Sprig…"

"Her friend, I saw her, she's in real trouble! We need to help them!" Sprig said.

The toad's demeanor softened very lightly, but he still didn't look too convinced.

"Still…"

"How's about this, we'll take them in!" An older frog with a pollywog wearing a bow on his head said as he approached Sprig and Marcy.

The toad looked annoyed at this, seemingly wanting nothing to do with Marcy, but he knew there really wasn't a good way to oppose this idea… for now.

"Ugh, fine! Have it your way Hopediah Plantar!" The Toad said as he began leading the group away.

Then, Sprig sighed.

"Guess I am back to just causing trouble for the family again, huh?" Sprig asked.

"Trouble?! Sprig, standing up to that mob to protect this… thing… was one the bravest and most responsible things I have ever seen!"

"That was pretty cool bro… and also really dumb!" The Pollywog pointed out.

"Yes, very dumb…"

"Awesome!" Sprig celebrated.

"Uh, right… hey, not to interrupt but uh…" Marcy interjected.

"OH! Right! Come on! We have to help her friend!" Sprig said as he began hopping away, with Marcy and the others following close behind.

"Hi! I'm Polly!" Polly said from Hopediah's head.

"Oh! Uh, hi there!" Marcy said with a smile and a small wave.

When they arrived at the cave, Hopediah gasped at the sight before him.

"Oh dear…"

He lifted Anne's arm into the air, only for it to drop back to the ground.

He then checked her pulse, and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Ok, so it isn't dead." Hopediah pointed out. "Any idea what happened to them?"

"Nope…" Marcy said sadly.

Hopediah just sighed.

"Alright, uh… sorry, what was your name again?" Hopediah asked.

"Marcy."

"Right, you can just call me Hop Pop then." Hop Pop said. "You think you can carry her into town? We could use Bessie and our wagon to take her home from there."

"Yeah, that shouldn't be a problem." Marcy said as she put Anne's arm around her shoulder. "Think you can take our bags Sprig?"

"No problem!" Sprig said as he took the bags. "Geez, how much stuff does she have in here?"

"Knowing Anne, several changes of clothes, a tennis racket, among a bunch of other things." Marcy said plainly.

The three frogs just looked at her in shock.

"Anne is absolutely AMAZING at making sure everything fits in her bag." Marcy explained.

"R-right… freaky bag magic aside, let's get home."

"Hey, you think I could fit in there?" Polly suddenly asked.

On the way to the Plantars house, Marcy explained the circumstances behind her and Anne being in Amphibia, as she had just learned to call it.

She also learned that she would not be able to leave the valley they were in for a couple of months, so unless Sasha was also somewhere in the valley, there was no way to find her until then.

When they arrived, Marcy quickly brought Anne inside and set her down on the couch.

"Ok, until we get her a proper bed, this will work." Hop Pop said. "As for you Marcy, we have a spare sleeping bag that we can lend you until then."

"That's fine." Marcy said. "So uh… any idea on how we can help Anne?"

"Hmm… well it's getting late, and I don't think any normal medicine will help her, so I'll get Maddie Flour in the morning!" Hop Pop explained.

"What?! Creepy Maddie?!" Sprig asked.

"Wait, what?"

"Maddie studies witchcraft you see. It's clear that some kind of magic from that weird box is the cause of this, so she might have an idea of what to do!" Hop Pop explained.

"W-WITCHCRAFT?!" Marcy suddenly shouted, sounding very excited.

"Y-yes, that is what I just said."

Between the possibility of Anne getting better, and learning a bit about magic, Marcy was really excited.

When Marcy woke up the next morning, she immediately looked around frantically, not recognizing where she was at first.

Then, it all came rushing back to her…

Meeting Sprig, fighting the Mantis, and finally getting an actual roof over their heads.

Then, she relaxed a bit, before getting up and leaving the basement.

"Oh! Good morning Marcy!" Sprig said with a wave. "Come on over! Hop Pop made pancakes!"

"Oh… thanks!" Marcy said as she went over and grabbed a few.

"Hop Pop already left to go get Maddie, as well as a couple of mattresses for the two of you." Sprig explained. "It might take a bit though."

"Ok, that's fine… I guess." Marcy said. "As long as we figure out how to help Anne, I don't really care how long it takes."

"You really care about her, don't you?" Sprig asked.

Marcy just sighed. "She means the whole world to me…"

Then, she started tearing up.

"I… I had… such a bad experience not too long ago and… and if it wasn't for her and Sasha… I-I don't now if I could have made it through it…" Marcy said, choking up a bit.

Sprig and Polly just looked at each other, silently agreeing to comfort their new friend.

"Hey, it's ok, we'll figure this all out!" Sprig said. "Maddie may be creepy, but I just know she'll figure out what to do to help your friend!"

Marcy smiled at this. "Thanks Sprig…"

"I have no idea how to help your friend." Maddie said after a good half hour of examination.

And just like that, Marcy felt the whole world collapse on top of her.

"Come on Maddie, is there nothing you can do?" Sprig asked.

"Sorry, but with my current level of skill, there's no way I can help her." Maddie said. "If you found someone at a much higher level than me, then maybe they'd be able to do something, but I am at a loss."

"Do you at least know what's wrong with her?" Hop Pop asked.

"Oh yeah, that's the easy part." Maddie said as she pulled out a small sack.

She then threw it at Anne, and she was suddenly shining in a blue and green color.

"There is a lot, and I do mean a LOT of magical energy in her system. It is so much, that it pretty much blocked all normal functions of her body." Maddie explained. "If you could find a way to drain that magic out of her, then you should be able to help her."

"And you have no idea how to do that?" Marcy asked.

"Nope, that is level 20 magic. I'm only a level 1 witch right now." Maddie explained.

Marcy just sighed. "Ok… thanks a lot Maddie…"

"Hey, keep your chin up! We know of a way to help her! We just need to find someone who can drain that magic out of her!" Sprig said, trying to cheer her up.

"But… how long will that take?" Marcy asked. "Anne's already been like this for four days… too much longer, and she'll die of starvation or something…"

"Oh, that's not likely at all." Maddie suddenly said.

Marcy just looked at her in shock.

"It's true, that energy is keeping her body from performing normal functions, but it seems to be sustaining her as well." Maddie explained.

"How can you tell?" Sprig asked.

"Cause Marcy said she's been asleep for four days, and her stomach hasn't growled at all since I got here." Maddie pointed out.

"… Makes sense to me!" Sprig said with a smile on his face.

Marcy was about to point out all of the things wrong with that statement, but decided to just leave it.

It was true that Anne didn't seem to lose any weight despite not eating for four days straight… So maybe Maddie was right.

"Alright… so we have time." Marcy said.

"Either the magic will dissipate, or we will find a way to get rid of it. Either way, she is not in any immediate danger." Maddie said.

And with that, Marcy had a huge sigh of relief.

"Anyways, I should get going." Maddie said as she gathered her things. "Anything else?"

"Oh, uh… I hope you don't mind me asking but uh… do you think I could study magic with you?" Marcy asked.

"Oh? Do you also have an interest in the dark arts?" Maddie asked with a creepy look on her face.

"Y-yeah!" Marcy said. "There are these book series called Cynthia Coven and Good Witch Azura back home… some of my favorites and uh… I've always had a bit of an interest in magic!"

Maddie smiled at this.

"Well then, I guess it'll be fine to take you under my tutelage!" Maddie said. "And who knows! Maybe together, we'll find a way to help your friend faster!"

Marcy started shaking her hands in front of her face, clearly excited at both the aspect of learning magic, AND helping Anne!

"Thank you so much Maddie!" Marcy said as she suddenly pulled Maddie in for a hug…

Who quickly pried herself out of Marcy's arms.

"Sorry, not a big hug frog." Maddie explained.

"Right, sorry." Marcy said.

"See you later." Maddie said as she left.

"Bye Maddie!" Sprig shouted as he waved.

At this moment, Marcy took a deep breath.

Anne was going to be alright, she was going to help her…

Things were finally looking up a bit!

End of Chapter 1

And here we are at the beginning!

As you can already tell, yes, this is going to be a full rewrite of Amphibia, but with Marcy in Anne's place. However, Anne herself seems to be in a sticky situation herself, with her being pretty much comatose from the magic of the music box.

Obviously, this means that Anne will not be a major character in this story, but a major motivation for Marcy instead. At least, not for a while.

Now then, this is also a sequel to my story "No Matter What" which, it is what I call the darkest story I have written, but it does lead right into here. The events of that story will be important here, so give it a read, but I wont force you. I will be kinda giving a toned down explanation of what happened some time in this story.

Don't think this is going to be just rewriting episodes from the show though. In fact, a lot changes in this story. More on that next time!

Also, for those of you wondering: Yes, they did go to Amphibia a good month later than in canon… will this effect anything though? No, not really. Things from the show will still happen in the same order.

Another thing I wish to bring up: I actually want to give credit to another author, for doing the swap AU already, and is doing an amazing job of it! Discet on AO3 is currently working through their "Anarchist Marcy Wu" series, which starts with the story "A Witch in Wartwood." It is absolutely amazing, and I highly recommend it. Reading that story was actually what got me thinking about my own take on it, and that eventually evolved into this story. Don't worry though, the path this series takes will be crazy different from that series.

Oh yeah, this will be a Three Act Series btw, one for each season!

So, see you all next time!