Things seemed brighter to Anne, somehow. As if a filter had been placed on her mind that made things seem more vibrant than they used to be. Was this what it felt like to have a someone you liked? Maybe there was something to all those love songs after all? Anne started to listen to a few of them on her phone. She had always had some in case of a situation that called for a love song for whatever reason, who knew that she would be the reason to play them. Since then, a day had passed, it was agreed that the two of them needed some space to process their feelings, and so that Marcy could do a little more research on the music box. Apparently, Marcy and King Andrias were almost ready to present what they found, so it was good thing that they decided to take some time to themselves.

Hop Pop was happy to hear that Anne found love, the old frog felt proud of her, Anne had grown up quite a bit since she arrived in Amphibia. And although he never saw how she was back in her world, Hop Pop was sure that this was the true Anne deep down had finally been brought to the surface. So, to mark the occasion, Hop Pop took the family to the Newtopian Markets. Anne was in awe of the place, it was situated on the outer part of the wall, with a bridge that led to and from it. A platform was created that allowed for a view of the vast ocean before them, and along the platform were several stores that read "Frog Claires", "Hop Topic", "Wetxolotl'z Pretxolotlz", "Seaflora", and a "Croakley".

"Whoa! Look at this place!" Anne exclaimed as she marveled at the sight of the market. "It's just like the outdoor mall from back home!"

"Mm-hmm. Sure," said Hop Pop as he bought a beverage while Anne was marveling.

Hop Pop brought them to a bench where he decided to make an announcement to the kids. "Anyway, since we only have a couple of days left in the city, I figured we could spend the afternoon shopping for souvenirs. Now get out there and buy anything you'd like!"

Anne, Polly, and Sprig cheered in excitement. Their minds already racing with the possibilities of what they could get while they were here. Anne was wondering if she should get something for Marcy while she was here. They were girlfriends now, and couples sometimes give each other gifts just because. But there was something else that preoccupied Anne's mind, something that she needed to do while she was here, and thanks to having the RCC, they could practically take whatever they–

"For two coppers or less!" Hop Pop exclaimed as he threw three pouches filled with two coppers each.

All three of the kids caught the pouches and were instantly disappointed by this revelation. Outraged, Polly stated, "What?! This isn't even enough to buy a candy bar!"

Even Anne was having a hard time understanding why Hop Pop suddenly became a penny pincher. "Yeah, what gives? Let's just use that sweet bling-bling from the king-king!"

Sprig sprang back to life upon the mention of that sacred object. "Oh yeah! The Royal Credit Card!"

Hop Pop immediately shut down that idea. "Nuh-uh. Kids, souvenirs are only meaningful if you pay for them yerself." Hop Pop watched as the kids groaned and decided to help them out a little. "You could always try hagglin'."

"Hag what?" Polly asked.

"You know, bargain with shopkeepers till they lower their prices," the old frog explained.

Polly went wide eyed upon hearing this revelation. "You can do that?! Oh, these newts aren't gonna know what hit 'em! AHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"

The little pollywog started hopping away, still laughing maniacally. Hop Pop's expression changed to one of horror when her realized what he just unleashed. "What have I done?! Wait, Polly! Don't actually hit anyone!"

"Yep, that's not gonna end well," Anne remarked.

"Ooh, exciting. I guess I'd better get an item for Ivy, since we are an item," said Sprig as he laughed at his own joke. "Who are you gonna shop for? Marcy~?"

Anne blushed, it was still a little weird to be thinking of Marcy and her as a couple, but she liked it. However, while Marcy was on her mind, there was someone equally important that she thought about. "Actually, I'm going to shop for my mom."

That caught Sprig off guard. "Your…mom?"

"Yeah. I figure if I'm gonna go missing in a different dimension, the least I could do is bring back a gift," said Anne as she glanced off to the side.

"Seems reasonable to me!" Sprig replied, who was now somehow holding a staff that he did not have a moment ago.

Anne returned her gaze to her surrogate little brother and did a double take. "Wha –When did you?! How did you?!"

Sprig shrugged. "Don't know." He accidentally bonked Anne on the side of her head as he showed off the staff. "But isn't it perfect for Ivy? It even whistles when you swing it! Waaaaaatch this!"

Sprig hopped off the bench and landed close to a pottery stand. He swung the staff around, and with each swing managed to hit the nearby shelf, making the pots that it held fall to the ground and shatter into many pieces. The stand owner watched all this in dismay and cried out, "MY POTS!"

Anne swiftly went into action as she ran towards Sprig and scooped him up into her arms and said, "Sorry! Sorry! Bill the King! Bill the King!"

Anne ran for a good minute before she stopped, panting a little as she released Sprig. "Dude, be careful with that thing."

"Sorry," Sprig apologized.

"It's okay. Anyway, let's see what we can find." Anne looked around the market and saw a shop that read, "Antiquities". "Ooh, that'll do!"

Anne and Sprig walked over to the shop and entered it. Before they went any further in, Anne had Sprig leave the staff with the store clerk. They were already knee deep in damages caused to the city, they did not need to add more to the bill. That's just counting Anne and the Plantars, and not the Kamen Rider related destruction to property. Anne scoured the shelves of the store, looking for something that felt right to her, something that she could deem worthy of giving to her mother.

Anne crouched low and examined some of the items as she said, "Now, this is for my mom, okay? The lady who gave me life. So, we gotta find something that's one-of-a-kind!" Anne opened a jar she found and took sniff, which she immediately regretted.

"What does she like?" Sprig asked.

"Antiques, butterflies, drinking tea…" Anne listed.

Sprig crawled up to the top of the adjacent shelf and brought down a box of tea on his tongue. "Okay, well, how about this box of herbal tea?"

Anne shook her head. "Too ordinary."

Anne continued looking through shelves, and Sprig would come around and show off something he believed met the criteria of what Anne's mother liked. After a minute he came back with a picture frame that had a large blue butterfly pinned to it.

"Giant butterfly taxidermy?"

"Too creepy."

Anne kept walking around, but stopped when Sprig sprang forward and said, "This antique vase?" Unfortunately, his entrance caused him to bump into the drawer that it was sitting on, causing the vase to fall and shatter on the floor. "This broken antique vase?"

Anne knew Sprig meant well, but this was starting to get a little annoying, and it was annoying her that she could not find the perfect gift for her mother. It was more than just a gift; it was also a gift to show how sorry she was that she worried her all these months she was away. Heck, Anne was not sure if time flowed the same way here in Amphibia as it did on Earth. Was a day in Amphibia the same as a day on Earth? What if it was longer? What if months here were years back on Earth? They could think she was dead by now. But there was also the possibility that time moved faster in Amphibia, and that just maybe it had only been a few days back on Earth compared to Amphibia where she and her friends had spent months.

We won't know until we get back. At the very least I hope it's only been some months, thought Anne.

The young Thai girl turned her head, her eyes went wide as they fell upon the perfect item she was looking for. "Wait, what's that over there?!"

Anne hurried over to the picture of the item in question, with Sprig riding on her head. Once they got there, Sprig remarked, "Whoa! A butterfly teapot!"

"And it was made by a revered Newtopian artist! Sprig it's perfect!" Anne exclaimed in joy. "Excuse me, how much for the teapot?"

The store clerk looked at the picture that Anne was pointing to and said, "Sorry, it's not for sale."

"What?!" Anne gasped as she rushed to the counter. "No, two-hundred coppers! No, six-hundred coppers! I will pay ninety-thousand coppers!"

Sprig looked at Anne worriedly. "Uh, Anne, you know you only have two coppers."

"Shh!"

"Let me explain, Miss. It's not for sale, because it's the grand prize in the market's annual Shopping Cart Smash and Mash Derby," the clerk explained as he held up a poster for the derby. "If you want the teapot, you should sign up."

Anne grabbed the quill pen and sighed her name on it without any hint of hesitation.

Sprig looked down at her and asked, "Are you sure about this? We don't even know what this competition is."

Anne smirked. "Sprig, it's the perfect gift, and this is the only way to get it. Plus, did you forget?" Anne looked up at Sprig, letting her eyes shift blue for a few seconds before returning to their dark brown color. "Nothing is gonna stand in my way!"

"Ha! That's what you think."

Anne turned around, and both her and Sprig gasped when they saw the person who had spoken. The one behind her was a tall newt woman, muscular, and riddled with scars. She had a breast plate on, with two large shoulder pauldrons, and a belt with the blue butterfly pattern on the buckle. The newt woman towered over Anne; her crew cut hair nearly touched the ceiling of the establishment.

"Name's Priscilla the Killa. Champion of the Smash and Mash Derby twenty years running. This is my daughter, Pearl." Priscilla turned a little and revealed a little newt girl perched on her right shoulder pauldron.

She was a grayish blue color, opposed to her mother's grayish red coloring, with blonde hair, a blue bow, a violet-colored dress, a blue butterfly broach on the front of her dress, and she also had a cross shaped scar on her left cheek. Pearl waved to Anne and Sprig and said, "Hello."

"And that teapot is mine," Priscilla stated, laughing as she walked over to the counter to sign up.

"Hey, Mom, how do you spell 'winner'?" Pearl asked.

"Just put your name, sweetie."

Anne furrowed her brow as she looked up at Priscilla and declared, "Oh, yeah?! Well, I'm Anne, and I'm gonna destroy you! In this derby thing!…Aaaas soon as I figure out how to play!"

Priscilla and Pearl chuckled at the empty threat. "This is gonna be easier than I thought. See ya in the ring, Mop Top."

Anne narrowed her gaze at the retreating frame of Priscilla.

"Well…They seem confident."

"C'mon, dude! We gotta study up on this game!"

After their little encounter with Priscilla and her daughter, Anne and Sprig headed back out into the market, where they managed to find a guide pamphlet informing on the rules of the upcoming derby.

"So, teams of two push carts around and ram into each other. If your cart tips over, you're out. Other than that, anything goes. Sounds like my kinda game." Anne had a devilish smile on her face as she looked at her hand. Small sparks of electricity danced off her fingertips as her eyes flashed blue for a second. "Oh yeah, I got this in the bag."

While Anne was reading the rules, Sprig was busy practicing with the staff. At some point he lost control of the staff, causing it to fly into the air and smack him on the head. Anne looked down at him, and Sprig, having gone cross eyed for a moment, looked back at her and asked, "Is it bad?"

However, before his question could get answered, they started to hear a strange noise.

"Do you hear that?" Anne asked.

Sprig and Anne looked in the direction the noise was coming from, and were shocked to see that it was Polly, hopping towards them in a golden bucket that had ornate newt drawings on it.

"Whoa! Polly?!" Anne exclaimed.

"Oh, hey, like my new bucket?" Polly asked as she hopped closer to them.

Sprig removed the staff from his head and asked, "How did you get that?! That thing's gotta be worth at least fifty coppers!"

"Haggling, baby," said Polly as she hopped out of the bucket and onto the bench. "Turns out I'm a natural. All you gotta do is expose a shopkeeper's weakness, and then exploit it until they're on their knees begging for mercy! Mwahahahahahaahaha – Oh look, bows!"

Polly hopped back into her bucket, leaving Sprig and Anne behind as she went on her rampage. Anne shook her head, believing that that was an issue to deal with later. "Okay, focus. Let's go win that teapot!"

"Alright!" Sprig exclaimed.

The teen and frog child made their way to the shopping cart corral, as they needed one if they were going to enter the competition at all.

"First, we pick our cart, which should be pretty easy."

Once they arrived at the cart corral, Anne and Sprig found that it was a free for all. Other competitors were fighting over the different carts in the corral, throwing punches, and tossing each other through glass windows. It seemed the contest did not just consist of the battle in the ring, but a battle for the best "vehicle". Anne walked up to one of the carts, a newt was about to charge at her from behind to take the cart from her, but Anne, using her powers, sensed the attacker coming. With perfect timing, Anne threw a backhand fist into the newt's face and knocked him out cold without even turning around. Thankfully that seemed to be a good deterrent as the other competitors stayed away from her after that.

The young teen began inspecting the cart, checking the frame, the wheels, and the handlebar. She even went so far as to sniff and lick the handlebar. After doing so, Anne had a displeased look on her face as she said, "Pass! This one's a C+ at best." Anne stood up and placed the cart next to the knocked-out newt. "You can have this one, dude."

Sprig clapped his hands at her skill as she said, "Wow! You're really good at this."

"Me, Sasha and Marcy practically lived at the mall. So, I'm pretty much a cart whisperer," Anne explained.

One of the organizers of the Smash and Mash Derby, a newt in a black suit and brown cowboy hat, crawled up a pole and said loud on his megaphone, "Attention all smashers! The Smash and Mash Derby is about to begin!"

"Oh shoot! We gotta hurry! Let's split up and find a cart already!"

"I'm on it!"

Anne and Sprig separated and began searching for a cart. While Anne was searching, she spotted Priscilla and Pearl walking towards one of the carts, a newt competitor was about to bum rush her for the cart, but Priscilla sidestepped him, grabbed him by the head, and tossed him over her left shoulder like a ragdoll (cue Wilhelm scream).

"But mom…"

"Ah, stop your worryin', Pearl. I've been the Derby champ twenty years running. There's no way anyone else is winning that teapot," said Priscilla confidently.

Pearl hopped off her mother's shoulder and onto a cart as she looked up at her mother worriedly. "That's not what I'm worried about! It's your tail! It hasn't healed from your last derby! What if you hurt it worse?!"

Priscilla looked at her bandaged tail for a moment before smiling confidently at her daughter. "Relax, I can beat these chumps even without my tail. Now, c'mon, let's get outta here and get this cart decked out right."

Anne watched as Priscilla and Pearl hauled their cart away, meanwhile, Anne chuckled. "Very interesting."

After finding a good cart to use, Anne and Sprig entered the arena where the derby was being held. There was a huge crowd gathered around it, with more than a few competitors inside of it and ready to fight. Anne and Sprig rolled into the arena and took a spot, lining up with the other competitors as she told Sprig what she had found out.

"A tail injury?"

"Yep. Don't know how that's gonna help us yet, but – Whoa, Polly?!" Anne exclaimed as she spotted the youngest Plantar.

On the other side of the guardrails was Polly, still in her golden bucket, but was now sporting four wheels at the bottom, and a harness connected to a small snail. Said snail was bright pink in color, wearing a black vest and a yellow bowtie with orange polka dots.

"Hey guys, meet Micro-Angelo, my private chauffeur, and the cutest little guy, ever!" Polly gushed.

Micro-Angelo chirped happily as he opened his eyes and revealed their blue coloring.

"Whoa…" Sprig and Anne awed.

"Well, nice chatting with ya, but I've got more hagglin' to do. Good luck though. Onward Micro-Angelo!"

The tiny snail chirped and rolled off into the crowd for Polly to continue her carnage.

Anne shook her head of the distraction, again, and said, "Okay, focus! Let scope out the competish."

Anne and Sprig glanced to their left, and their expressions fell as they gasped in terror. Standing next to them was a hulking horned lizard, with spikes growing from different parts of his body. He wore a thick metal and leather chest plate, with large spike studded pauldrons on each shoulder. His eyes were large and glowed an intimidating shade of vermillion. All of this accentuated by his sharp teeth and scar that ran from below his right eye and over his lip. His partner was not a better sight. The newt in the cart was a long and lanky looking thing, his long neck hung out of the cart, and he had stringy black hair that draped over the sides of his head. In his left hand he held a mace that was studded with spikes. He had a wild look his eyes, the kind of person you did not want to meet in a dark alley, or any alley for that matter.

"Teapot! Teapot! Teapot!" the two monstrosities chanted in unison, while the cart rider newt banged his mace against the side of the cart.

Sprig looked back at Anne; his expression was enough to tell Anne that he was sure they were going to get murdered in this competition. And right now, they were questioning if those two were part of the Fallen.

"Hey, it's okay, dude! We've got this!" Anne looked around for something to reassure Sprig and spotted Hop Pop across the way. "Look, even Hop Pop believes in us!"

Sprig turned his attention to Hop Pop, who was sitting in an armchair, and…was he crying? Now that Anne was taking a good look at Hop Pop, she was as confused as Sprig was about what he was seeing.

"Ooookay, actually, I don't know what's going on over there," Anne admitted.

"Yoo-hoo, ready to lose," said Priscilla as she and her daughter rolled up next to Sprig and Anne, after which she laughed mockingly at them.

That seemed to be all the motivation that Sprig needed as he took out his staff, twirled it around, and readied himself for a fight. Anne smirked, the newts in this derby were not going to know what hit them. Despite her achievements thus far, the name of Anne Boonchuy had not made it across the entire city, but it was spreading, but it was times like this that her slight anonymity worked in her favor.

"Players, on your marks…Get ready…Alright you crazy animals, SMASH AND MASH!"

All at once the competitors charged for the center of the arena, and once they reached it, it was a full-on melee. Anne lost track of Priscilla and Pearl, but she decided to worry about them after they managed to knock out the rest of the players. One team came at them from the front, but Sprig parried the opposing cart's metal bat with his staff, right before striking at the wheel below and causing the entire cart to tip over. One down. Two others tried to attack them from the right and left, and they were about to collide.

"Sprig, hang on!" Anne warned.

Sprig did as he was instructed. Anne's eyes glowed blue as her powers surged into her legs, and right before the two opposing carts hit them, Anne dashed away at the last second, causing the two carts to collide with each other instead of their own. Anne used her quick acceleration to spin out with the cart, using the cart itself as weapon to strike the cart that came at them from the right, and then the third one that had tried to attack them from the left, sending them both to the ground at once. Once the spinout maneuver was done, Anne asked, "Are you good, buddy?!"

Sprig rose from the cart and said, "Let's go!"

It seemed another cart deemed the duo as a threat, breaking off from their battle with Priscilla and Pearl and aiming for them. This one's cart rider wielded nunchucks, Sprig cautiously attacked him, but the nunchuck fighter was making it hard for him to get in an attack. Unfortunately, this led to Sprig almost getting nailed in the head by the nunchucks on multiple occasions. The two carts were running parallel to each other, every so often bumping into each other as they ran. Anne glanced off to see Priscilla, and that's when she noticed that Priscilla was fighting too. Not just with the cart but with her body as well, but it also seemed as if she was keeping at least one hand on the cart the whole time. That's when it hit her.

That's right, the driver can fight as well, so long as they're keeping at least one part of their body touching the cart! "Sprig, on my count, I'll hit 'em high!"

Sprig looked back and saw that Anne's gaze was fixed on the nunchuck wielder. Seemingly understanding what Anne was getting at, he responded, "And I'll hit 'em low!"

The message was vague enough so that the opposing team could not figure out what it meant. Sprig had to admit, even he did not know how Anne was planning to attack, but he had faith that this would work out. "One…two…THREE!"

Anne hopped up, keeping her hands on the handlebar as she swung both her legs around. The driver of the opposing cart ducked, missing her double kick, however, his partner was not as lucky. Noticing too late as Anne's feet made contact with his face and sent the rider flying out of the cart. Once Anne swung around and was back on the ground, Sprig popped up and struck the front wheel of the opposing cart with his staff, sending the cart and the driver tumbling to the ground. Anne brought the cart to a skidding stop, panting from the effort, but she was nowhere near tired, her powers were giving her a boost to her stamina and endurance, so she had plenty to spare and then some.

Then came probably their fiercest opponents next to Priscilla and Pearl, who seemed to still be holding their own. The horned lizard and his lanky companion. The monstrous duo growled as they stared down Anne and Sprig. Both the human and frog gulped, not sure how this battle would play out, but if they wanted to stand a chance at taking down Priscilla and winning the teapot, they needed to take out these guys first. The monstrous duo charged for Anne and Sprig, however, unbeknownst to both the human and frog, Anne's energy started to flow through the cart, like an electrical current it flowed from the cart and into Sprig's staff, just as the opposing team attacked.

The lanky newt struck with his mace, but Sprig blocked the attack, stopping its momentum and catching both the driver and rider off guard. After a single spin, Sprig struck the mace of his opponent. The energy that had flowed from Anne into the staff doubled its striking power and sent the monstrous duo flying into the air and over one of the buildings. Anne and Sprig looked at each other in confusion.

"He's fine," Anne assured Sprig as they ran back into the fray.

"This is it, ladies and gentle-newts! Only two carts left!"

Anne smiled, that meant only Priscilla was left. "C'mon, Sprig! We can do this…!"

Out of nowhere, Priscilla and Pearl sideswiped them, nearly causing Anne and Sprig to tip over. Thankfully Anne was able to regain control of the cart, but not before smashing through the guardrails of the arena. Priscilla went after them, not even caring that the fighting was going to take place outside of it, and it seemed that the judges did not care either.

"Looks like this battle's too big for the ring!" the announcer stated.

Priscilla and Pearl came up on their left side, bumping into them as Pearl and Sprig traded blows with their respective weapons. Priscilla threw a few punches with her right arm, but Anne managed to duck each of them. Priscilla was strong, but Anne was much quicker. As their brawl continued, both teams noticed that an obstacle was quickly coming up, an obstacle in the form of Polly and Micro-Angelo.

"Page two, using the brakes." Polly glanced to her left when she heard a noise approaching. And that's when she saw two big shopping carts barreling towards her at full speed. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

"NOT THE BABY!" both teams exclaimed.

"Initiating secret special cart maneuver, Ollie Pop!" Anne declared.

"Ollie what?!"

Anne brought both of her feet onto the bar between the wheels, raised her left foot, and slammed it on the left back wheel of the cart hard. The wheel squealed loudly for a few second before the cart, Sprig, and Anne were airborne, flying over Polly and Micro-Angelo and landing safely many feet away from them. Polly opened her eyes to see what was happening, she saw Anne and Sprig miss her, but when she turned back there was still one more cart about to crash into her.

"I gotta use my tail! It's the only way to not murder the pollywog!" Priscilla stated.

"But mom, your injury!" Pearl warned.

"HUSH! I have no choice!"

Priscilla lashed out with her tail, wrapping it around a lamppost hard. A lightning bolt of pain surged from her tail, causing Priscilla to grunt from the pain.

"MOM!" Pearl cried out in concern.

Priscilla pulled hard on the lamppost, causing the cart to spin out and lose momentum. After a couple of spins, the cart finally came to a stop, with one of the front spikes mere inches from Polly's face.

Polly opened her eyes and chuckled nervously, "I wasn't worried…"

Anne turned the cart around and saw that Priscilla was down on one knee, panting and sweating. Her tail was twitching and spasming from the pain that was no doubt still running through it.

"Hey, are you guys, okay?!" Anne asked.

After catching her breath, Priscilla answered, "Yeah…we're fine…"

"Mom," said Pearl worriedly.

Anne was having some second thoughts about attacking them right now, Priscilla was clearly in a lot of pain, having aggravated her tail injury in order to save Polly. Anything goes in the derby, but Anne did not want to win the teapot like this, especially when her mom asked how she got it. Oh, I beat an injured mother and her grade school aged daughter in a competition after said mother aggravated her injury and I sucker punched them. Yeah, that's not going over too well…

Anne sighed heavily and said, "Hey–!"

Suddenly, the howl of a wolf caused everyone pause. Anne looked up towards the buildings, and that's when she saw it, another Fallen. The creature leaped off the roof and landed between Anne and Priscilla's positions. When Anne saw the creature, she was confused, it was unlike any of the previous Fallens she had fought before. This one was chimeric in appearance, it had a strange combination of dark magenta scales, and gray fur. Its legs were lupine, while its arms were large and had four fingers, and each one tipped with a razor-sharp claw. The scales covered the creature's back, running along its arms and legs, and even formed a kind of scale mail chest plate on its front, with gold depictions of the thirteen eyes of The Night. The scales covered the top of its head, where it had two ears that shifted back and forth like a wolf's, a long muzzle with sharp teeth, and what was stranger still, its tail. The Fallen's tail was not furry or scaly, it was a large snake, the snake tail was about teen feet long, it coiled around so that it could look directly at Anne. The scales around its eyelids curled upwards to form makeshift horns, its maw held two long retractable fangs along with several smaller ones in its mouth. Both their eyes were bright yellow and had a single red slit through each.

"Sprig…"

"Y-Yeah, Anne…?"

Anne reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out her cellphone. "Do you remember how I should you to record video on my phone?"

"Yeah…" Sprig answered.

"Good, 'cause I need you do record this fight as best you can," said Anne.

Sprig shook his head as he asked, "Wait, why?!"

"Marcy's going to want to see this, because there is no way she's going to believe me when I tell what this thing looked like." Anne summoned the MetamorphRing Driver and said, "Everyone, clear out of here, NOW!"

The Chimera Fallen turned its full attention to Anne as both heads spoke, "Calamity of Heart…your death is now!"

"Another talker like Ratel? The Night must be stepping up its game. Henshin!"

Anne pressed on the two devices on the belt and transformed herself into Kamen Rider Amp. The citizens started to panic and ran outwards and away from the impending battle. Sprig hopped out of the cart and got to as safe a distance as he could as he began to record. Priscilla, pushing through the pain, scooped up her daughter, then scooped up Polly and Micro-Angelo, and ran to where Sprig was.

"What's goin' on?! What happened to Mop Top?!" Priscilla asked.

"Anne's a Kamen Rider, just like Marcy! She's Kamen Rider Amp!" Sprig explained.

Priscilla looked back at the blue armored warrior and said, "Amp…like one of the three warriors who saved the world?"

Amp got into a defensive position as she slowly circled the Chimera Fallen. She did not know what this thing was capable of, especially since it was some kind of fusion of two different animals. "I can't imagine the pain that thing must be in." Amp remembered her battle with the Roc Fallen, the day that she gained control of her powers, how it was clearly fighting against its will.

Just then the monster attacked, going down on all fours as it charged at Amp. Using her enhanced speed, Amp dashed to the right to avoid the charge, however, the Chimera Fallen turned on a dime and continued his charge. Amp, surprised by the sudden change in direction, ran off again to put some distance between them, but it was no use. The Chimera Fallen was still in hot pursuit of her, dogging her wherever she ran off to. Amp decided to just go on the attack and figure out what it could do after that. She came to a skidding halt and then ran straight for the monster. Amp came at it with a haymaker right punch, but the Fallen backed away at the last second. The Chimera Fallen spun around and used its snake tail to bash Amp in the side, sending her crashing into a stand.

Amp tore herself out of the destroyed stand as she glared down the Chimera Fallen. You're definitely not like the others. You're faster, and you're stronger. Okay, let's get a bit more serious! Amp dashed straight at the monster again, she feinted like she was going to attack with her fist again, prompting the Chimera Fallen to jump back to avoid it, but left itself wide open. Amp funneled her lightning energy into her legs, giving her a speed boost that propelled her forward, closing the gap between them. Amp was about to hit the monster hard with an elbow strike, but right before her attack could land the monster evaded, again. The Chimera Fallen grabbed Amp's left arm and tossed her like ragdoll up into the air, the Chimera Fallen's snake tail rose quickly, somehow lengthening itself to catch up to Amp.

The snake head tail opened its maw and clamped its mouth around Amp's left leg, causing the hero to wince in pain. The Chimera Fallen's tail lashed back and forth before throwing her back down to the ground, where Amp landed and created a big crater. Amp looked down at her left leg and saw that there were puncture wounds through her armor. "What the hell?! It…It got through my armor?!" Amp hurriedly pressed on the left hip device, changing her into Poison Form. With this power, Amp placed her left hand over the wound and focused her energy into creating an antivenom. Thankfully it only took a few seconds to create the antivenom, neutralizing any of the detrimental effects before they had a chance to take hold.

Amp got up from the ground as she took a moment to assess this new Fallen. It was different from the others, in more ways than one. Its hybrid composition gave it enough strength to pierce her armor and keep up with her. If that was the case, then she needed to go all out now. Amp disengaged her Poison Form, once she did, she pressed on both devices and entered her Trinity Form: Poison Dart. Now a perfect combination of all three of her different form powers, Amp felt that she could more effectively battle this monster. Amp dug her feet into the ground and took off for the Chimera Fallen, her speed increased further thanks to the power of Trinity Form.

The Chimera Fallen seemed to get serious as it narrowed its gazes at her. Amp came in with rapid fire punches, trying to pierce the monster with one of her poison barbs, but the monster was swift, making Amp miss her shots. And when she was certain she was going to hit, the Chimera Fallen let the barb strike against the scales on its arms or chest. Okay, so your scales are tougher and are poison proof. Let's see how you handle this! Amp dislodged two of her barbs and combined them together into the Sting Striker. She twirled the weapon around and slashed at the monster, but the result was the same as before. The Chimera Fallen was matching her blow for blow

The Chimera Fallen saw an opening as Amp attacked from the right with the Stink Striker. It blocked the attack with its left arm and punched her in the chest with the other arm. Amp stumbled backwards for a moment, but a moment was all it needed as the Chimera Fallen ran in and slashed Amp across the chest with its claws. Sparks flew through the air with each consecutive hit, leaving Amp little to no room to counterattack. The Chimera Fallen cocked back its right fist and drove an uppercut into Amp's midsection, instantly throwing her into the air. The snake head tail rose and opened its mouth, a dark magenta ball of energy formed before it was released into a beam that slammed into Amp and exploded, making more sparks shoot off from her armor as she hit the ground, hard.

"ANNE!" Sprig and Polly exclaimed.

"Mop Top…"

"I don't get it, how the heck does it know where she's going to attack?!" Polly wondered aloud.

Sprig looked at the Fallen carefully, the snake head at the end of the Fallen's tail flicked its tongue a lot. When Amp was attacking earlier, it was doing that more and more. That is when it hit Sprig. "It's tasting the air! That snake head on its tail, it's tasting the air, and feeling the vibrations of when Anne moves around! It's like an early warning, allowing the rest of the Fallen to dodge the attacks before Anne lands a blow!"

"Is there a way we can help?!" Pearl asked.

Priscilla looked around and saw something that might do the trick. "I think so. You kids wait here!"

Amp got up from the attack, she combined her Sting Striker barbs together and formed her large shuriken. The lightning hero tossed the shuriken straight at the monster, but it managed to dodge it. Amp took the opportunity to attack, charging in with a knee strike, missing that, and following up with the series of punches. While that was happening, the shuriken boomeranged back, heading straight towards the Chimera Fallen. The creature sensed this coming and jumped out of the way of the weapon, Amp caught it before it could hit her, but then she tossed again at where the monster would land. Right before it did land, the Chimera Fallen's snake head tail fired an energy blast from its mouth, releasing enough force to push it five feet away from where it was going to land, allowing the Sting Shuriken to fly harmlessly passed it.

Amp ran towards the monster again, catching the Sting Shuriken and breaking it down into two Sting Strikers, ready to slice the monster. However, the Chimera Fallen's mouth split into four sections, and when it did, the monster unleashed a powerful howl. The soundwaves were laced with its malevolent energy as it shaped the four prongs of its mouth to direct where those waves would go. Amp skidded to a halt but was too late as the soundwaves crashed into her, causing more sparks to fly from her body. The snake head at the end of its tail rose again and release rapid fire energy blasts at Amp. Each ball of energy exploded on impact, taking advantage of the immobilized hero.

When the barrage was over, Amp was down on one knee, her armor shifted back to Lightning Form as she was too damaged to sustain Trinity Form. "Damn…this was not a one Rider fight…"

The Chimera Fallen got down on all fours as it stalked Amp, like a predator cornering its prey. Right before the monster could make its next move, three bags were tossed towards it. The monster paid them no mind; its senses told it that the bags would not hit it. Fortunately, that worked in Priscilla's favor. When the bags hit the ground, they explode into a large cloud of orange and red smoke. The Chimera Fallen suddenly threw a fit, thrashing about as its nose and tongue were burning like there was no tomorrow.

Pearl looked at her mother and asked, "Mom, what did you throw?!"

"A few bags filled with paprika, cumin, mustard, and a cocktail of some other stuff that will make their noses burn like there's no tomorrow," said Priscilla.

The Chimera Fallen jumped out of the cloud of spices, wailing as its eyes stung with tears, blood shot as its sense of taste and smell were overwhelmed by the spices. However, the monster was not so overwhelmed that it could not make out the one responsible for causing its pain. The snake head tail rose into position and opened its mouth, ready to blast Priscilla, even its lupine mouth split open again, about to add its sonic attack to the mix. Amp saw this about to happen, she was still too damaged from the attack, she would not make it in time.

"MOMMY!" Pearl cried.

The sound of thunder roared through the market, making the Chimera Fallen stop its attack as it turned to face Amp. Suddenly, Amp was cloaked in pure lightning, the silhouette of her armor had changed some as well. The eyes were visible, which glowed a bright azure blue as they stared down the monster in front of her. This was the return of the form that almost brought the Super Phantom, Lich Omega, to his knees, Amp Lightning.

Amp released a roar that echoed like a hundred thunderclaps going off at once, making the Chimera Fallen flinch. The monster was not deterred as it swiftly dashed for Amp Lightning, but as soon as the monster got within an inch of her, she vanished from sight. In the next second the Chimera Fallen was assaulted from every direction. To everyone else watching from a distance, it looked as if it was getting attacked by multiple lightning strikes at once. Amp Lightning appeared behind it and grabbed the monster by the tail, it spun in place for a moment and the tossed it straight into the air. She crouched low and jumped straight into the air, appearing above where the Chimera Fallen would appear for it.

Without any mercy, Amp Lightning flattened her right palm and came down on the Chimera Fallen, using her own hand like a blade as she sliced off the Chimera Fallen's snake head tail, causing the monster to howl in pain. Amp Lightning grabbed ahold of the tail and used it to smack the monster back down to the ground where it formed a body sized crater upon impact. Amp Lightning concentrated her lightning power into her hands and burned the snake head tail into ashes. Once that was done, the symbol of Amp appeared below her as she took her attack stance in midair. That symbol transformed into pure blue lightning that coated her right foot, and once it did, Amp Lightning dropped from the sky, plummeting straight down into a Rider Kick.

The Chimera Fallen could not move, the impact was so strong that it left it stunned, the only thing it was able to do watch as a cerulean bolt of lightning careened straight down from the sky and struck where it was at. A column of electrical energy was shot into the air, releasing many crackling sounds in the process. Priscilla grabbed the children and used her body as a shield to protect them from what she thought was going to be a bigger explosion. Thankfully the column was contained to just that area where the Fallen was. The column of lightning faded away, leaving a ten-foot-wide crater, Amp Lightning walked out of the crater until she was at the edge of it. She fell to one knee as the entire transformation disengaged, leaving just Anne.

The Newtopian Knight Guard came by after the battle was over, they managed to get the area cleaned up and got those who needed medical help to the hospital. Meanwhile, Anne was sitting on a bench, exhausted from the battle, but even more concerned about how that happened again. The first time she entered her lightning form, it was during the battle with Lich Omega, and now it happened again against the Chimera Fallen. Was her power responding to her need for more power subconsciously? Or was this just another facet of it that she was accidentally tapping into?

Sprig and Polly were with her, Hop Pop was a no show for some reason, but they figured they would find him later.

"Dude, where's the staff you were going to give to Ivy?" Anne asked.

"Oh, that thing broke some time ago."

"Sorry, dude."

"That's okay, if it broke that easily during all that mayhem, then it wasn't good enough for Ivy…At least that's what I keep telling myself." Sprig sighed heavily. "Well, looks like we missed our chance to get that teapot."

"Forget getting it, I'm sure it was destroyed during that whole fight," said Anne.

"Not exactly, Mop Top."

Anne turned around and saw Priscilla walking towards them with the teapot in hand. "The teapot survived?!"

"Heh, yeah, a miracle, huh?" Priscilla sighed for a moment and said, "Your friend said you're Amp, the Kamen Rider who helped save the world, and who's helping Ranger fight those monsters."

Anne got up and said, "Yeah, I am."

"You were usin' your powers during the match, weren't you?" Priscilla asked.

Anne sighed next and said, "I was."

Priscilla raised an eyebrow and asked, "Earlier, when I was down, you had enough time to take me out of the game, but you didn't. Why?"

Anne put her hands in her skirt pockets and answered, "Because, it wasn't right to take advantage of you like that. Even if the rules say anything goes, I didn't want to win like that."

Priscilla smirked. "Here."

"What? But the game wasn't over, we never got to finish!" Anne countered.

Priscilla shook her head. "You would have won; we stood no chance against you in that derby the moment you entered the ring. So, here, take it." Priscilla handed the teapot over to Anne, who accepted it gratefully.

"Thanks, Priscilla," said Anne.

"Yeah…Yeah…" Priscilla rubbed the back of her head as she said that. "J-Just make sure you take good care of it. The newt who made it was special, one-of-a-kind."

Anne looked at the teapot. "One-of-a-kind?"

Priscilla crossed her arms over her chest as she explained. "Yeah…the kind who encouraged you to follow your dreams, even if they were wacky and dangerous." Priscilla chuckled as a memory flashed through her head. "The kind who cut the crust off your sandwiches 'cause she knew you didn't like 'em. That teapot was the last piece of art she ever made. So, like I said, take care of it."

Anne could see the forlorn look in Priscilla's eyes, as well as hear it in her voice. She spoke with a fondness of days past with this newt, it sounded familiar, it resonated with her in a very familiar way. "Priscilla, was the artist, your mom by any chance?"

Priscilla nodded her head solemnly. "Yeah…"

Anne smiled as she returned her gaze to the teapot. "You know, I was going to give this as a gift to my mom, but I think she'd want you to have it."

Priscilla looked down and saw that Anne was presenting her mother's teapot to her. "No, I couldn't! You won, or well, you were going to win. It belongs to you! Really, I'm alright with it being with someone I know will take care of it."

Anne could see that Priscilla was the stubborn type. "Hey, Priscilla, are you in the Newtopian army or something?"

"Heh, retired. Ever since I had my little girl, I knew I needed to stay with her, I couldn't get killed on some battlefield somewhere and leave her alone," said Priscilla.

"Okay, so, can you tell me something? How high does a Knight rank in Newtopia?" Anne asked.

"Uh, well, pretty high. I'd say right along there with a general, but in those cases, it's based on seniority."

Anne nodded. "I see, and were you a general by any chance?"

Priscilla chuckled. "Nah, I was a captain, I liked bein' on the front lines."

"Okay, cool, so then I outrank you."

Priscilla and Pearl looked at Anne in confusion.

Sprig hopped forward and said, "Anne was knighted by King Andrias after the Battle of Newtopia a few days go!"

Priscilla's eyes widened as she looked at Anne. "Y-You're a Knight of Newtopia?!"

"Yep, and as a Knight, I hereby use my authority and order you to take this teapot, soldier!" Anne stated

Priscilla, as if on autopilot, stood at attention and saluted Anne. "Yes, Ma'am!" She then took the teapot, after it was done, she realized what had happened. "B-B-But?"

"I insist, and that's an order, soldier," said Anne as she looked up at the newt woman.

Priscilla chuckled and looked down at the teapot, her heart swelling with happiness to have something of her mother's again. "Thank you, this means so much to us. You're not half bad Mop Top–!"

"Anne," she corrected, "my name's Anne."

Pearl crawled up her mother's back and appeared on her shoulder as she said, "Hey!" startling Anne. "Thank you for being so generous, it really does mean a lot to me and my mom." Pearl grabbed the butterfly broach on her dress and handed it to Anne, revealing that the other side was studded with crystals that made it sparkle. "Here, after all you've done, I'd be honored if you gave it to your mom. I'm no famous artist, but I made it myself, and it's one of a kind."

"Thank you," Anne sniffled. "It's perfect."

Anne gave Priscilla a hug, to which the tall newt woman reciprocated, with Pearl hugging Anne's hair. After they embraced, Priscilla said, "Don't be a stranger, Anne."

"Bye!" Pearl added.

Anne waved them goodbye, sniffling still at how emotional that was. Sprig tugged at Anne's shirt and asked, "Are you going to be, okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. Now, let's go find Hop Pop. Last I saw him he was at some furniture store." As the three kids made their way to said store, Anne looked down at Polly and asked, "Seriously, Polly, how the heck did you haggle someone down to get that bucket?"

"Trade secret Anne, trade secret." As they moved along, Polly spotted a newt woman closing her shop. "Oh, hey, its Penelope! She sold me the bucket. Hi, Penelope!"

The newt woman turned around and that's when she spotted Polly. "AAAAH! THE DEMON CHILD! DON'T TAKE MY SOUL!"

Penelope ran away screaming after that.

Sprig and Anne looked down at the little pollywog, to which she replied, "What?"

"Heya kids! Yoo-hoo!"

Anne, Sprig, and Polly saw Hop Pop at the Easy Street Chairs shop and headed towards him, as they did, they noticed that two newts were carrying a large armchair towards a crate.

"Hop Pop, there you are!" Sprig exclaimed.

"What was all the ruckus about, it sounded like thunder, but there ain't a cloud in the sky," said Hop Pop.

"A Fallen showed up, but Anne whooped that thing into oblivion!" Polly revealed.

"WHAAAT?!"

Anne waved it off. "It's alright, kind of a close call, but I pulled it off in the end.

"So, uh, what's up with that chair," Sprig asked as he pointed to the newts putting it into a crate that said, "Ship to Wartwood".

"Oh, just packin' a small souvenir, then we can head out." Hop Pop explained.

"Whoa, you got that for two coppers?!" Anne exclaimed in disbelief.

Hop Pop chuckled nervously as he said, "S-Sure did! Amazin' what you can get for two coppers these days…"

Anne and Sprig glared at Hop Pop with great scrutiny.

It only took a few moments before the old frog finally broke under their withering gazes. "OKAY FINE, I USED THE CREDIT CARD!" he confessed. "Ah'm so ashamed…But if you could just feel this thing kids! It's heaven on your rump! Nirvana on your tush! Bliss on your buttocks!"

"We got it!" the kids said unison.

Anne walked forward and knelt before Hop Pop. She placed her left hand on his shoulder and said, "You don't have to explain, Hop Pop. We totally understand. You do a lot, and you deserve to splurge on yourself once in a while."

Hop Pop sighed in relief. "Thanks, Anne."

"Just like you'll understand why I'm taking the credit card so I can by my girlfriend something nice before the market completely closes up shop! Yoink!"

Anne swiftly removed the RCC from Hop Pop's coat pocket and used some of her power to give herself a speed boost to dash away before the old frog could say anything to her.

Hop Pop was going to, but after that, he really had no room to argue. Plus, considering how happy Anne was that she was with Marcy, he did not mind too much that she snatched the card to go and by her special someone something. Hop Pop looked down at his youngest grandchild and did a double take. "What the heck?! Is that a snail?!"

"Yep! Hop Pop, meet Micro-Angelo," said Polly.

"A snail, even a new, small snail, costs more than a hundred coppers! How did you manage that?!" Hop Pop asked.

"Like you said, haggling. Oh, there's Larry! He sold me Micro-Angelo. Heya, Larry!" Polly greeted.

The newt in question spotted Polly, and reacted thusly, "NOOOOO! STAY AWAY! FROG HAVE MERCY ON MY SOUL!"

Hop Pop and Sprig watched as the newt ran off like he had seen a demon from the deepest, darkest pits of the underworld. The old frog looked down at his granddaughter and said, "Yer hagglin' days are over."

"What?! For how long?!" Polly asked.

"Until Ah'm pushin' up daisies, and Sprig and Anne get married, that's how long!"

Anne used Machine Stormer to pay her new girlfriend a visit. When she got there, the two of them blushed and gave each other a soft, butterfly kiss on the lips before Anne entered Marcy's room. Once inside, Anne explained what happened, which made Marcy freakout about not being there to help Anne fight the Fallen. But when Anne said she entered that Lightning Form again, Marcy was a little less worried, but now worried for another reason. Anne decided to give Marcy the gift she found at the Newtopian Markets, it was an emerald butterfly burette, she could see that the one in Marcy's hair was getting a little worn out, so Anne had found one to replace it. Marcy graciously accepted the gift, her first gift from her girlfriend. To further ease the tension, Anne got onto Marcy's bed and patted the spot next to her, asking her to lay down next to her.

Marcy blushed at the proposition, but she did not say no. She removed her cape, arm mounted crossbow, her boots, and leather chest plate as she crawled up next to Anne and rested her head in the crook of her girlfriend's arm. "This is nice."

"Yeah, I like it, too," said Anne.

"Are you sure you're, okay? We can head to the infirmary and have them do a checkup on you. Or better yet, let me transform and use Artificer to–!"

Anne silenced Marcy by placing her left index finger on Marcy's lips. "Mar-Mar, I'm alright. I neutralized the poison before it could do anything to me. I am concerned about that Fallen. It was like a fusion of a wolf and a snake."

"A chimera…all the Fallen we've faced up until now have been mammals, birds, or reptiles. Or in some cases transformed frogs or newts. The Night must be trying something new to try and stop us," said Marcy. "Thank goodness you were able to use that Lightning Form again."

"Yeah, but again, I didn't do it on command. It just happened."

"At least it happened when it needed to." Marcy reached up with her right hand placed it over Anne's stomach. "Otherwise…I don't know what I would've done if…"

Anne placed her left hand over Marcy's and said, "Hey, don't think like that. It'll take a lot more than that to take down a Kamen Rider. Especially when that Kamen Rider is me."

Marcy smiled a little and chuckled "Such bravado."

"Well, I have a super cute girlfriend I need to impress, don't I?" Anne teased.

"Heh, you don't need to impress me." Marcy reached up and kissed Anne on the cheek. "But I like that you want to. So, what did you do at the Newtopian Markets anyway?"

"Oh, I was looking for a gift for my mom."

Marcy flinched ever so slightly. "Your…Your mom?"

"Yeah, we've been gone for so long. I know she's worried sick, so, I thought I'd bring something back as a souvenir. I know it won't make up for all this time away, but I thought it would be nice," said Anne.

Marcy went quiet for a moment. This happiness that Marcy was enjoying, she forgot about the sadness that Anne's parents were probably feeling. The way she was feeling when this all started, Marcy could care less about how her parents felt, they did not care about how she felt about such a big decision that would change her life, why should she care about how they felt? But…it was not fair to foist that on Anne, she knew Anne and her parents were close. They had a good relationship with each other, she liked Mr. Boonchuy, he was a straight up gamer like her, and even assisted him with some raid bosses. Mrs. Boonchuy was a little strict, but occasionally, she would do something silly or fun with them. Personally speaking, Marcy would not mind having them as in-laws one day. Marcy blushed hard; she was thinking way ahead into the future. She just confessed to Anne, and they were girlfriends now, asking Anne to marry her was a bit too much, plus, they were thirteen, it was way too soon for that.

Yet something else to add to the pile of guilt that was building up in the back of her mind. How was she going to explain this to Anne's parents? How am I going to explain this to Sasha's parents?

"Hey, Marbles, you alright?" Anne asked.

"Huh, what?"

"You got quiet all of a sudden, you alright?" Anne asked in concern.

"Sorry, I was just mulling over everything you told me. Hey, why don't you, Sprig, and Polly come over tomorrow night for a sleep over?!" Marcy suggested as she looked up at Anne.

"Hey, yeah, that's a great idea! We should totally do that! But you think you'll be alright?" Anne asked.

Marcy raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Why wouldn't I be?"

A teasing smile formed on Anne's face as she got up and struck an alluring pose. "You think you can keep your hands off me in front of Sprig and Polly?"

Marcy had a small nosebleed when the implications of what Anne was saying finally hit her. They were girlfriends now, a sleepover back then was different, now, they were a couple, and two people who like each other sleeping in the same room eventually led to, to –

"Marcy, don't think about too hard."

"I'm not thinking lewd thoughts! You can't prove it!"

A knowing smirk formed on Anne's face. "Relax, Mar-Mar, besides. You know the rules of a sleepover."

"Oh…uh…right, no sleeping allowed," said Marcy as she calmed down. "That wasn't fair, I almost fainted from the blood loss!"

Anne chuckled at her girlfriend's dilemma. "Sorry, sorry, you're just really cute when you're flustered." The Thai girl rubbed the back of her head as she asked, "So, does that mean you…uh…you think about doing stuff like that? You know, private couple things?"

"T-Thinking about them and doing them are two different things, but…ahem…" Marcy bashfully looked away and said, "I…I sometimes think about that stuff."

"Uh-huh, I recall you said that you think Sasha is hot."

"If I recall you said that, and I agreed."

"I did, and you know what, I do too."

Marcy blinked. "You do?"

"Yeah, I feel confident enough that I can express that I find Sasha attractive."

Marcy chuckled a bit and confessed. "Well, I don't blame you. I mean, Sasha was my backup plan if this didn't work out."

"So, question, did you write shipfics about me and you?" Anne asked.

"I – uh – I –!"

"How many of them were about you and Sasha? Or me and Sasha?" Anne gasped. "Oooor…me, you, and Sasha, together?!"

"AAAAH! No, I did NOT write anything of the sort!" Marcy stated.

"Heh, we'll see, I know where you stash your shipfics, I'll find 'em when we get back," said Anne.

Marcy sat on her knees and crossed her arms as a smug grin appeared on her face. "Good luck with that because I wrote those in Mandarin! So, good luck reading them! Ha!"

"Marcy."

"Yeah?"

"You just admitted that you had shipfics of all three us."

The hamster on the hamster wheel of Marcy's brain suddenly ground to a halt. Her face turned an even brighter shade of red than before as she grabbed the pillow next to her, curled up into a ball, and rolled off the side of the bed and onto the floor. Anne peeked over the edge and said, "If it makes you feel any better, I'm not opposed to the idea~"

"Don't toy with my emotions, Anne!"

Sprig found himself in a dark void. Before him stood three figures, one blue, one green, and the last one magenta. These three lights took on the form of mighty warriors, they looked like Kamen Riders, but the ones he thought he recognized as Amp and Ranger looked different, for one thing it looked like the ones under the armor were newts or frogs, or maybe toads. These three warriors battled against the shadows that swirled around Sprig and the warriors, beating them back more and more. However, a deep rumble like some ungodly creature bellowed from the shadows. Thirteen glowing eyes appeared overhead, the three warriors made ready as they charged for the owner of those eyes, just as the shadow parted and showed a huge gaping maw with razor sharp teeth, about to devour everything in its path.

"AAH!" Sprig startled awake, panting from the nightmare. "I just had the worst dream! You up, Anne? Anne?" Sprig looked to his left and saw that Anne was not in the bed with Polly.

He then looked towards the balcony and saw his surrogate big sister standing at the railing. He got out of bed and headed towards the balcony, standing next to her as Anne fiddled with the butterfly broach that they had received from Pearl.

Deciding to break the silence, Sprig said, "It's so pretty. I'm sure you're mom's going to love it."

"Hmm…yeah."

"What's she like?" Sprig asked.

"My mom? Um, kind…in her own way. But strict too. She wanted me to study more. Thought I goofed off too much. We didn't always see eye to eye. She annoyed me sometimes too. Like, in the kitchen, she'd always sing these goofy Thai love songs, and, man, was her singing bad! Woof! That woman was beyond tone-deaf! You know, the funny thing is, right now I would give anything just to hear her singing."

The memories of her mother, of her home, started to flood into Anne's mind. And along with them, so did some of the tears she had been holding back this whole time. Anne sniffled as she rubbed her eyes free of the tears.

"Whoa! Sorry, sorry. I just, uh, need a moment," said Anne as she sat on the folding chair and gazed into the starry night sky.

Sprig sat down on the stepstool cushion, playing with the fuzzy ball at the end of his night cap. "It's cool you know your mom, though. Mine passed away when me and Polly were really young."

Anne brought her gaze back to Sprig when she heard him say that. Her heart grew heavy with guilt, here she was talking about her mother, and Sprig's parents were dead. Honestly, the subject never came up, she did not want to assume, but to hear it confirmed, it hurt.

"I don't even remember what she looked like really. Much less the sound of her voice. You know, I've always wondered…can you miss someone you never actually knew?" Sprig chuckled at the absurdity of it. "That's silly, of course you can't."

Without a word spoken, Anne rushed to her surrogate little brother and embraced him tight. The tears Sprig held back were starting to flow as he cried into Anne's shoulder, allowing Anne to cry as well. Both missed their mothers, but for different reasons, but their sorrow for those who were not with them, allowed them to bond even more than before.

Deep under the castle, King Andrias was communing with his lord and master regarding the battle. "Anne Boonchuy's power is evolving, faster than we expected. My lord, I propose that we cease sending the Fallen after them both, for the time being. If Anne Boonchuy or Marcy Wu's powers evolve further before they reach the temples…"

The Calamity of Heart has always been an unknown variable. Although, your proposal is not without merit. We have decided to forgo any more Fallen operations until the Bearers of Calamity have completed the trails of the three temples.

What is the progress of Marcy Wu?

Andrias seemed reluctant to speak about her but did so anyway. "Her progress is astonishing. The power of Calamity of Mind is strong in her. However, the temple will prove whether she is well suited for…for your needs, my master."

Let it be so.

The time of ascension is drawing near.

The divine work that was halted shall once again be set in motion.

Do not fail us, Andrias.

King Andrias bowed to The Night and took his leave. He walked through the underground tunnels and back up to the palace proper. Once he did, Andrias looked out through a window towards the tower that housed Marcy Wu. His brow furrowed at the idea of what was to happen, for more than one reason. But they had come too far to stop now, the prophecy was close to being undone, and if the girls awakened to their true powers before the temples were reached, then their thousand-year plan would be all for not.

"Enjoy your nights of peaceful rest, Marcy. For I'm afraid, in the not-too-distant future, these days will seem like as pleasant dream to the nightmare that is to come for you all."