A.N.: So, while I was on break, I found out that this story now has its very own TVTropes page! This is the first story I've ever written that has one and I feel really honored that someone went out of their way to make one, so whichever one of you did it, you have my sincere thanks.
Anyway, on to the next chapter!
Chapter 5: Departure/Arrival
To say that getting a call from someone she hadn't heard from in ten years was a surprise was a bit of an understatement. Especially from someone she never expected to hear from again.
So when Sasha groggily answered her phone that morning, fully expecting to hear some recorded voice on the end, she immediately snapped to full attention when she instead heard the unmistakable voice of Mr. X.
"I hope this isn't a bad time."
Sash'a eyes involuntarily rolled. No, 5:30 in the morning is a perfectly reasonable time to call someone you've had no contact with in a decade. In fact, I was just about to give my former school bully a call. Just because.
She stifled a sarcastic response and simply asked. "What do you want," in a tone of voice that suggested she did not want to be particularly beneficial and was merely observing common social courtesy.
"Well, we've got some trouble that needs the expertise of someone who's familiar with Amphibia."
Okay, he had her attention now. "Talk."
"There isn't much information as of yet. All we have so far is a temple in the Amazon that seems to appear and disappear at random… and the giant talking newt we found inside."
"Giant talking newt, eh? Does she go on and on about sand wars and some guy called Ragnar the Wretched?"
"Mmm, sorry, no, it doesn't seem to be anyone we knew personally. And before you ask, yes, we've already contacted Dr. Boonchuy, but she apparently doesn't feel like answering her phone. We're on route to contact her in person, but in the meantime we figured we'd try reaching you."
"Why? Anne's the amphibian specialist."
"Yes, but we're not talking ordinary amphibians here. You lived amongst them, you would know what to expect. Frankly, if this is the start of a new incursion, we need all the insight we can get."
She sighed. It had been ten years, and while she still missed Grime and the people of Wartwood and yeah, even that annoying pink frog a little, she had essentially moved on with her life. These days, she was too focused on her career, her relationship, and her future to devote much time to revisiting the past. Still… if she was really needed… "Okay, just give me about half an hour to get presentable."
"Half an hour to presentable? Girl, I envy you. *chuckle* All right, I'll be sending my assistant Jenners to collect you, she/they FYI."
"Good to know. Bye." To be honest, a part of her did want to tell him no. She was in a good place right now. Happy. Fulfilled. Stable. Dragging Amphibia and all the associated traumatic experiences back into her life now after all this time could be a bad idea. Intellectually, as a therapist, she knew that this was probably just avoidance, but who said she had to be intellectual all the time?
But on the other hand, it would be nice to go on one last adventure with Anne and Marcy (if she was coming, and hopefully she was), and maybe, just maybe…
No, no sense in getting her hopes up for no reason. This was just some sort of diplomatic deal, right? Some random Amphibian was here in the dimension, and the three of them had experience with them. Getting her back to Amphibia was a matter for the theory guys.
She slid out of bed gently, so as not to wake Dawn. She'd been on call late last night, and needed all the sleep she could get. She'd leave her a note explaining the situation, hoping that –
No, that was stupid. She owed it to her to explain what was happening face to face, even if it made her grumpy.
As an EMT, Dawn knew how to get quality sleep when she needed it… and, as an EMT, tended to be very easy to rouse. Sasha simply prodded her upper arm gently. It worked every time; Dawn immediately stirred, and blinked.
"Hey," Sasha said.
"Hey yourself, babe," Dawn replied. "Since when do you get up first?"
"Ha ha… look… I have to go out of town. It might be a few days."
Dawn blinked in concern. "Well, that's sudden. The mob finally catch up with you?" Dawn joked.
"This is serious. It's… well, you remember what happened ten years ago?"
"Oh, yeah… you told me you were all mixed up in that Frogvasion thing. That you spent a bunch of time in some crazy frog world." She shook her head. "Some talking head was on the radio yesterday talking about how the whole thing was fake. Like… how do you fake giant robots invading downtown LA and a flying teenager fighting a lizard in the middle of the sky to a K-Pop soundtrack?"
Sasha shook her head. "Never underestimate the stupidity of the general public. Though I'm sure Mr. X probably had a hand in pushing the hoax narrative. There's nothing the government loves more than a good cover-up… and there's nothing talk-radio loves more than latching onto a conspiracy theory for all it's worth."
"Right, Mr. X… that was the bald guy with… was it heelies?"
"Yes, and speak of the devil, he just called me. Somehow someone from Amphibia is here, and he called me to help deal with it.
Dawn raised an eyebrow. "Isn't your friend Anne, like, a frog doctor? Wouldn't she be a better choice?"
"She's going too, but thinking about it, I can see where having a psychologist along might be useful," Sasha replied.
"So, just the two of you, huh?"
"I wouldn't be surprised if Marcy also got dragged into this, but…" She gave Dawn a reassuring shoulder squeeze. "Maybe I can convince Mr. X that having an EMT along would be a good idea."
Dawn suddenly burst out laughing. "Oh my god, you think I'm jealous."
"I – I … well, I thought – me, with the ex…"
"Slosh*, honey, you two dated in ninth grade. For like a month. I'm not jealous of the crush you had on Bibsy in kindergarten either."
"…I just thought he was a real good dancer…" Sasha said, blushing.
"Look… I am not gonna play the clingy jealous girlfriend here. You know why?" She stroked Sasha's cheek. "'Cause I trust you, Slosh. I trust what we have. I trust that it's strong enough to take a bit of separation."
"Sorry, D," Sasha replied.
"Eh, I'm actually a little flattered. But I'm not that kind of girl." *smooch* I will be really pissed if you don't come back, though.
"Noted."
The trip to the Amazon wasn't particularly memorable. After Jenners dropped her off at a Project X hangar (blindfolded, to her annoyance), Sasha had about a minute to say hi to Anne and Marcy before they were ushered aboard a transport that quickly took off. Anne and Marcy were sleeping off their hangovers for most of the trip, leaving Sasha mostly on her own. She spent the next hour or so scrolling through her social media and GoobTube until her connection cut out – apparently wherever they were headed was out of her provider's coverage area – and for the rest of the trip, cursed herself for not bringing something to read.
"There wouldn't be an in-flight magazine available, would there?" she asked Jenners. They shook their head.
"So… come here often?" She asked.
Jenners gestured to their mouth and made three motions with her hands that Sasha immediately recognized: A-S-L. Good thing I had to learn that for my job, Sasha thought.
Got it, she signed back. I hope I'm doing this right. It's been a while since I've had to use it.
Your accent's a bit hard to understand but otherwise you're doing fine, Jenners joked. It's okay if you would rather speak. I can hear just fine.
I could use the practice, Sasha replied. Is there anything I need to know before we get there?
Not much, responded Jenners. We haven't yet established any sort of pattern with the temple's appearances and disappearances. Dr. Connelly is still on site trying to determine the cause of the temple's state of flux. Dr.s Barrera and Williams are assisting and watching the creature. Sasha gave an involuntary sideeye at "creature." She didn't live with these people for nearly a year, she reminded herself.
Anything else?
Not really.
The two sat in awkward silence – well, more silence. Sasha really didn't have all that much in common with Mr. X's assistant, and couldn't think of any topic of conversation to bridge that gap. For the remainder of the trip, she listened to a history podcast that she had completely forgotten she'd downloaded and never gotten around to listening to, regarding some unsolved disappearances in Gravesfield, Connecticut. Apparently "witches" had been involved, though Sasha knew very well that they were probably the scapegoat for something else. About five minutes in, she realized the podcaster, Jacob somethingorother, was pretty much completely insane, but his rambling was oddly relaxing. Maybe it would help her get some sleep.
As she half-listened, her eyes drifted over to where Anne and Marcy dozed. The two were dressed much as she was, shorts, T-Shirts (Anne's was purchased from the aquarium gift shop, Marcy's was for some anime Sasha wasn't familiar with), and sneakers. Hopefully Anne can keep hers on this time, she mused.
They look so comfy, she found herself thinking. Like they fit each other…
As Jacob Whatshisname continued to drone on about Martian dentistry and the mind control chemicals in stamp paste, Sasha finally drifted off, only to wake with a start as she felt the jolt of the transport's wheels touching down. "Wha… whasgoin' on… don't let the witches get my teeth.." she mumbled.
"Whoa, that must have been one heck of a dream," Anne remarked.
"We didn't wanna wake you," added Marcy. But we're here."
"So… you gonna tell us what that was about or…"
"Never fall asleep listening to a conspiracy theorist," Sasha advised as they disembarked.
The camp was small, just a couple of tents, much of it taken up by Ally and Jess's equipment. There was no need for a fire, as it was extremely hot and humid. The three girls thanked frog they'd dressed light.
"Anne!" shouted Terri, waving. "Over here! So… heard you answered the siren call of science too."
"Yep. You know, I almost didn't recognize you…"
"Oh, right…" They gave their green hair a fluff. "I like to change it up every couple of years."
"Well, you're workin' it," Anne answered. "So, where's this 'guest' of ours?"
"She's waiting in the tent. She's a bit disoriented but otherwise healthy. Though you'd probably be a better judge of that, wouldn't you?"
"Well… I've studied mostly Earth amphibians… Amphibian, uh, amphibians… boy that sounds weird to say… they're not quite the same. But I'll take a crack at it."
Anne entered the tent to find Earth's newest visitor. Despite not having seen her in ten years, recognition sparked almost immediately. "Hey, I remember you! You worked at that hotel in Newtopia! Becca… no, Bella…"
"Ugh, don't remind me," groaned the messy-haired newt. "There's five years I'll never get back." She blinked. "Oh, wait a minute… you're Anne Boonchuy!"
"Yeah… guess you've heard of me, huh…"
"Well, yeah, everyone's heard of you. You kind of saved the whole world," reminded Bella. "There's a big statue of you and the other humans in the middle of Newtopia. There's songs and poems and plays written about you and paintings and everything. You're kind of a big deal."
"Ohhh… well… that's… nice…" Anne responded, blushing. She'd been a bit of a celebrity in the days after she and her friends had returned from Amphibia for good, but time moved on and so did fame, to other recipients. And though sometimes she still got recognized on the streets, most of the time nobody paid her much attention and she was fine with that. Fame was actually kind of draining.
Getting to be on Fallon had been pretty cool, though.
"So… how'd you get all the way here?" Anne asked.
"Long story," Bella responded. "See, there I was, buried in college debt for a useless degree in exploratory entomology, when all of a sudden, I see a job notice for a biologist needed for an excursion to a newly discovered continent! Turns out your friend Sprig recommended me. Finally, a chance to stick it to my sister, miss big shot economics advisor. Who's laughing now, Zella? I got to go to another planet!"
"Glad you're looking on the bright side, Bella."
"Anyway, a couple of days ago, we found this temple in a part of the continent we hadn't mapped yet., surrounded by all sorts of new vegetation and animals, when this obnoxious little mammal runs up and steals my binoculars! I chased it into the temple, and when I found it and got out again, I was here."
"Can you remember anything about the temple?"
"You know… temple stuff. Weird glyphs and things all over the place. I'm not exactly an expert on that kind of thing. I know a little bit of Old Newtopian but that's about it."
"So, you don't know if you inadvertently activated something in the temple that makes it travel between worlds, huh?"
"Guess not. It just sorta happened."
Anne had known not to get her hopes up. She'd eventually resigned herself to the fact that she would never see her frog family again, even though they would forever remain a fundamental part of who she was, but the thought of some kind of way not only to travel between worlds, but do so reliably… that was mighty tempting. And also too good to be true. She knew that.
"Well, the sooner we get to checking out that temple, the sooner we can get you back home."
"Well, there's the thing. Shortly after I got here, the temple disappeared again. And it still isn't back."
"Maybe it'd help to take a look at the site. I don't know how, but it's… something at least.
The two exited the temple, where they found Sasha and Marcy being accosted by a local monkey who was trying to grab Sasha's granola bar. "Hey!" She warned. "Get your own, Curious George!"
"That's him!" Bella shouted. "That's the thing that stole my binoculars!"
"That?"
"Yeah, the area was crawling with those things." The monkey took notice of Bella, and leapt up to grab her hat. "Hey! That was fifteen coppers at Banana Slug Republic! Give it back!" she commanded. The mischievous little primate responded by placing it on his head and skittering off into the jungle. "Frog damn it!"
"You say the temple area back in Amphibia was full of those?" Anne asked.
"Yeah, and I bet they're all every bit as annoying."
"I'm guessing you have nothing else like them in Amphibia, right?" noted Anne.
"No. Although Sprig said he saw something like them in a zoo on Earth…"
Flashbacks of Sprig, Polly and Hop Pop trying to take a selfie with a lion came to Anne's mind. In retrospect it was funny, but at the time she'd been scared to death. "He saw something exactly like them. They're capuchin monkeys, and they're native to this part of Earth."
Something seemed to click in Bella's head. "They must have gotten to my world through the temple. I bet some of the new species of birds and insects we've found must have too. They're much smaller than usual."
"Ohmigosh!" Marcy added. "An entire ecosystem of Earth creatures establishing itself in another dimension! For all we know, this could have been going on for thousands of years!"
Bella seemed to notice the other two humans for the first time. "Is that MARCY WU?"
"Heh heh, yup… that's m'name all right." She took a step toward Bella, hand stretched out to shake her tail, when she accidentally snagged her foot on a root and tripped, caught by Sasha before she could completely embarrass herself.
"This happens a lot," Sasha assured her.
"And you're rebel commander Sasha Waybright. The bounty on you was twenty million coppers! Not that, uh, I ever considered going into bounty hunting to pay off my student loans… heh heh…"
"Hey, for that kind of money I would've considered turning myself in."
"Well, I hate to say this, because it sounds real stupid… but I think that money might be our best lead right now," suggested Anne.
"I can think of worse things to do on a Thursday," added Sasha.
"Ooh! Can I say it?" asked Marcy. "I've always wanted to say it!"
"Be my guest," Anne replied.
"AFTER THAT MONKEY!"
*Sasha first met Dawn at a party at the college they both attended. She was a little drunk at the time and introduced herself as "Slosha". Since then, "Slosh" or "Sloshy" has been Dawn's pet name for her.
A.N.: So, originally, Sasha was going to stay behind since I felt like she had the least reason to go back, but the more I thought about it, it didn't feel right to leave her out. I've since thought of things for her to do, so hopefully it won't be too obvious that she wasn't originally supposed to be here. In addition, we weren't originally supposed to meet Dawn, but she's an important part of Sasha's life and I figured she at least deserved a scene.
Jose: Marceline was her favorite.
Tall T: Marcy's just so un to write for. I just sorta imagine snorting a whole bunch of sugar.
Lyger 0: Unfortunately the triplets won't be hatching for a while, but I imagine this'd be exactly the way it'd go.
OcelotGamer: There's another Owl House ref this chapter.
MarMarFaane: Yep, Weed is indeed a tribute to the pilot. Dawn does know about the girls' time in Amphibia, and is friendly with Anne; she's only met Marcy a couple of times.
DisneyTVAFan: "Northwest Manor Mystery" for GF, the Darkwing Duck special for DT'17, "Scratch the Surface" for TG&MMcG, and "'Rent Control" for BCG… I'll have to get back to you on the rest.
Reishin: We know Frobo can interface with Anne's phone, so I wouldn't be surprised if Sprig regularly backs it up to his memory banks.
Tall T: Maddie rocks.
Pizza Man: Yes, I saw! I'm flattered.
Pizass Guy: I don't know if I'll ever cover that myself, but all three girls have definitely been through therapy, and it's actually what inspired Sasha to take it up as a career.
Next: The reunion we've all been waiting for!