Return of The Calamity Trio
Ch. 1 A wonderful Birthday followed by the best Surprise
Anne Boonchuy's life was going pretty well. Who could ever have predicted that the wild and reckless girl who had seemed destined for an uncertain life after being so utterly hopeless in school would wind up where she was now? Of course, no one in her life would've guessed her being transported to a world of talking frogs and magic along with her 2 best friends. All 3 of them had come out of it so much better with both world's being saved in the process. A very unexpected fairytale in a modern-day setting.
It was 10 years later to the day from the starting point. Anne had not only gone to actually succeed in school and move forward, but even actually become a doctor (granted not the kind of doctor her mom pictured but Mrs. Boonchuy was proud anyway). The girl who had once been squeamish around frogs and bugs and probably everything slimy and creepy had become a herpetologist. In a way it was like having a part of Amphibia and her found frog family with her. Heck, the kids knew her as the "frog lady". She wasn't the only one of her friends to choose their calling because of that wonderfully wacky adventure of her first teen year. Sasha had become a child psychologist, much to everyone's surprise (Sasha personally found it irritating that everyone found it surprising). But it fit so well, since she proved quite adept at helping kids who had a lot of baggage like she did. Marcy ended up channeling her passion for fantasy and art into a webcomic about their adventure. It proved wonderfully popular. And best of all, they remained friends. And now on Anne's 23rd birthday, they were all back together again. Marcy even revealed to Anne that she was considering moving back to California again. Sasha was more than willing to help her The three best friends could be close emotionally and distance wise (they had never fully stopped on the 1st level).
The 3 best friends were now gathered at a café with Sasha bringing them all some strong lattes.
Marcy had just finished telling Anne about her plans to move back. Anne tentatively replied,"Mar-mar, you know you don't have to be close to us to keep being our friend. No matter how far or how long, we will always be your friend, ok? Are you sure that's what you want?"
Feeling defensive, Marcy replied," Oh Anne, don't be like that! I am not required to live in Massachusetts anymore, we are all free adults now! Besides, with the way the webcomic is expanding, I think it's only fair to help expand the fanbase to its roots! After all, your character is proving quite popular and educational with the fans who are our age, just like the other 2!" Both of her friends smiled at that. Marcy's comic "Amphibia-Anne" which was very much based on their adventures in Amphibia, hadproven a big hit. There were even plans to make a series of it, probably the closest anyone would come to knowing the truth about the Frog-vasion, which had denials and cover-ups in spite of the live coverage.
Sasha shook her head in amusement and looked at Marcy, proving her knack for reading people once again. "Is that the only reason, Mars?"
Frowning, the young woman replied slowly," Well truth be told, I could use some more input to help get the essence of the better traits for maximum effectiveness. And I … I ... really am not sure to approach the difficult parts of the story yet …"
Now they both looked uneasy. All of them had suffered physical and emotional scars which required treatment and therapy, but Marcy had the worst of it. Impaled, possessed and psychologically tormented by the King and the vile Core entity, the poor child had required weeks of treatment and therapy, during which she had honestly gotten the most support from Anne and Sasha. Seeing some of her nightmare moments while she slept and a truly heartbreaking amount of guilt and long pent-up hurt was painful for them. A few times she'd had a fit, convinced she was still in a fantasy world because she'd truly felt Anne and Sasha could not like her so much or want what she wanted, so she must still be trapped. The 2 girls had truly ignored Marcy all too well, and she deserved better, given how highly she thought of them and stuck by them. She had been reassured quite vividly that they had all become better people just like she had, they forgave her, and that they did LOVE her. They even played her game with her and responded to her continuing fascination with wildlife and the joy around her patiently. But they did worry about her being so far away, wondering if the nightmares would continue. She had not deserved that at all.
Anne's caring eyes stared at Marcy," Are you having nightmares again, Marcy? Do you not have a good therapist? Are you worried reliving those moments by writing about them will trigger them?"
Poor tired Marcy fidgeted, "I can't help but worry about that, yes! And I haven't needed a therapist for a while, and the nightmares are only on rare occasions and quite frankly, no one over there truly can understand the reality of what I went through, not like the people … here … so what good would it do? Remember that doctor from 5 years ago?"
Their faces darkened at the memory. After Marcy had graduated, she had gone on a retreat to a week -long seminar for troubled students trying to find their way in the world in Portland, Oregon. A charismatic psychologist speaker had proven very discerning and charming and seemingly caring for the young adults as he gave them motivational hope. Feeling optimistic since this seemed like a helpful individual instead of someone appealing to her desires, she approached him and asked for some personal advice. She'd really opened up, especially when he'd promised her doctor patient confidentiality. He listened quite well and patiently to her story, suggesting she come back the next day. She'd come in sure enough, only to hear him on the phone talking about her, suggesting she was part of some scam involving the Frogvasion theories or had been so taken by the theories that she had inserted herself as a tragic victim and should probably be committed (even though she had not gone into full detail about Amphibia or Anne, Sasha or anything by name). Paling drastically, she'd listened in horror as he declared it was a shame that such a brilliant mind was so swept up in a child's dream, suggesting that her diary and notes, which he'd swiped from her room while she was up (explaining how he'd figured out about the Amphibia info)would be a good case study and help advance his next round of lectures and sales for people getting too sucked into fantasy lives.
The jerk really underestimated how much smarter than him she was. Frightened and disgusted at the idea of her privacy and trust being violated when looking for help, and at the idea of being locked up and exposed and mistreated at a mental institution, she acted. Thinking quickly, she barricaded herself in an office on the other side of the building, first sending out several frantic emails and text messages to Sasha and Anne (no phone calls so no one could risk hearing her talk out loud) both from her phone and the computer in said office and then cut off the phone services and computers to the building system to give herself some time so he or any accomplices could not call in any backup. Then Marcy hid out of sight and sound as much as possible, clutching a nearby broom tightly just in case.
For several agonizing minutes that began to crawl into hours, she waited with heart pounding. Thankfully, she got some alarmed responses from her best friends (she had the sound off on her phone and had begged them not to CALL her), and she kept feeding them data. About an hour later, she heard shouts of confusion and growing anger as the staff tried to figure out what the heck was going on with their communications off. Then just as people started noticing the locked obscure office she'd chosen; she heard loud noises of federal agents and 2 wonderfully familiar voices in the building. Anne and Sasha had gotten help from the FBI of all people and acquired a helicopter ride. Directed to the office in question by Marcy's texts from earlier, she quickly let herself out and was embraced by her protective and wonderful BFFs. With cooperation from the uninvolved custodians and Marcy's deductions, the scumbag in question, Dr. Kellerman, was found on the top floor. The SWAT-team style officers were busy rounding up the other staff, so the dirtbag was greeted by the sight of a furious Sasha Waybright bearing down on him while Anne Boonchuy was shielding a traumatized Marcy Wu by the door. She'd throttled him and then beaten him up quite thoroughly when he tried to deny it. Anne stopped her before it got too close to killing him or rendering him unconscious as the officers arrived, only to nearly strangle him herself when he made the monumental mistake of trying to pass off Marcy's claims as delusional projections of a fictional sexual assault to the officers. Only the stern warnings of the officers in charge and Sasha's restraint stopped her, and she settled for declaring that she was going to rip up his phony lectures and books instead and Sasha chimed in that she would burn the remains and request that her therapist connections from her classes (which she had a lot of because she was good with that sort of thing) blacklist this fraud's work altogether. He'd reacted viciously and threateningly to that, showing part of his vileness right there.
Thankfully the agents in the room had not disbelieved Marcy's story at all, merely wanting Anne to not be charged with murder, and were content with cuffing him right there, with the lead officer showing his disgust at traumatizing such a nice girl, and Marcy's very nervous and scared behavior really reinforced it.
Instead of a lawyer, 10 minutes later a cuffed and seated Dr. Kellerman had to deal with special agent Mr. X and his silent and aloof assistant Agent Jenners (or "Jenny") Officially involved because the quack's little scheme threatened the government's policy on the event in question and his friendship with Anne and co., the flamboyant man proceeded to toy with the slimeball as he demolished any hope of getting out of this. Jenny casually and quickly pulled up his files while he talked, presenting the evidence of his foul play to his face while staring chillingly at the doctor through mirrored lenses. He was in violation of not 1, 2 or 3 medical laws but multiple and apparently some national security ones he didn't know about or NEED or GET to know about. He was not getting a lawyer or a plea bargain or a tv interview or phone call and honestly, the only real hope he had was to spill the "juicy disgusting details" on whoever he'd been violating a pretty girl's privacy with. The selfish creep desperately tried to stall for time and give a false lead, only for the computers and phones to be reconnect while doing that (thanks to Marcy going over how she'd done so with the FBI technicians during this interrogation in another room). Jenny started pulling the real facts in seconds and Mr. X gave the doomed man a savage grin and chuckle as his life crumbled around him.
Dr. Kellerman was locked up securely in some obscure facility while his public career ended in disgrace as the string of malpractice and various incidents from his lectures and some obscure sessions came out. The entire seminar was vilified in the press, with many of Marcy's fellow attendees and some previous ones suing the parent organization as a whole. His "accomplice" and others soon to be revealed were taken care of quietly and any data they'd gotten from Marcy or any other victim was quietly erased or sealed away.
Mr. X assured Marcy he didn't blame her one bit, since she'd not specifically mentioned any deliberate details about Amphibia or the battle with the Core. He and Jenny were both impressed with how she'd handled the situation and turned the tables on that hack. The entire squad, along with Anne and Sasha, treated her to a cheer-up party at the base. And after that, she visited L.A. and spent the rest of the week and the next at the Boonchuy residence, where the Boonchuys and her friends helped her recover. Mrs. Boonchuy in particular was very comforting to the poor girl, since she had only been trying to get some advice and figure out her life. There was nothing to be ashamed of at all for her. That really cheered her up, and she actually burst out laughing when Sasha actually burned all of Dr. Kellerman's notes and books, not only from the seminar, but everything in print that was in L.A. Oh yes, they loved Marcy Wu a lot, she was a loving person and many people who got to know her loved her right back.
Even so, Marcy never went to a seminar, group therapy session or professional mental hospital after that. Her parents were almost as mortified at the idea of their poor daughter having even more traumas dealt to her and carefully monitored and checked out every local therapist she tried afterwards. After a while, she stopped trying to talk to one altogether, since her new passion with art was much more liberating as she applied herself to the new comic.
Thoughtful and caring as she had been since that trip to another world, Anne smiled softly and put a hand on Marcy's shoulder. "Well, maybe it would be best if you came back! Life may move forward but that doesn't mean things can't come back or be gone for good! And I am not going to let you get hurt anymore if I can help it."
Beaming at how much support she was getting after a childhood of struggling with acceptance, Marcy giggled. She really would have to mention the "AMV Project' she'd been putting together as a gift sooner or later. But she had to make sure it was just right.
The rest of the night was good, the played, laughd and had fun like the true friends they were. And they took another priceless photo of the 3 of them. During said party, Teri called Anne with some "exciting news", which would lead to them meeting her in the lab the next day. Marcy had an idea already. Terri had been doing secret work on portal technology for years, in the hopes of reestablishing contact with Amphibia and scientific purposes. Mr. X and Jenny supported this, but quietly, not trusting any government source to use it wisely. Maybe humanity would be tempted just like the foolish ancient newts were or just be overly greedy for resources. Valid points, and Marcy helped, since she knew more about the Gem technology than any human ever had. And the blue-haired sweetheart had been making progress.
Sure enough, the next day, they had a golden opportunity, one they all wanted. A chance to go back to Amphibia, and reunite with their "wonderful found families". Sure, they were all grown up now, but this was something they could embrace, and they were 10 years older and wiser and continually more loving.
The Calamity Trio was about to return to Amphibia once again.