Tonight, was the night of the sleepover and Marcy was super excited, even though she did tell Anne to invite Sprig and Polly so there was not going to be much in the couples department that they were going to do. But that was fine for Marcy, the fact that they were a couple at all was making her happy and giddy. Marcy hummed happily as she thought about all that has happened in just last couple or so weeks, let alone the almost five months they've spent in Amphibia. Becoming a Kamen Rider, a hero of the city, a celebrated architect and innovator, and now, the girlfriend to the best girl she has ever known. It was everything that Marcy could have wanted and more, but…like any dream, she knew it might have to come to an end. At some point, there will be no more battles to fight, no need for heroes in Amphibia, and when that day comes, with the final battle is won, Marcy will have no more excuses to stay in Amphibia, and then she'll be alone.

Marcy shook those dark thoughts from her mind, that day may come but it most likely will be far into the future. For now, all she needed to do was concentrate great time she was going to have with her girlfriend and her girlfriend's adopted little brother and sister. Marcy decided to busy herself a bit and took up a watering can to give her plants a little drink as she sang, "Watering the plants, watering the plants~"

One of the plants, which looked like a Venus flytrap, snapped at her.

Marcy furrowed her brow at the plant and scolded it. "Branson! No, bad boy." Just then she heard a knock at her bedroom door. "Oh, my gosh! Oh, my gosh! They're here!" Marcy stopped to look at herself in the mirror. She was wearing a faded gray-green shirt an image on it that read "Roll Play", and a pair of gray pajama pants. Marcy looked at her hair, having replaced her old barrette with the emerald butterfly one that Anne had bought her, Anne, her girlfriend. Marcy giggled at the thought and rushed to the door to open it.

Once she had, she found Lady Olivia standing there. The refined newt woman proceeded to greet Marcy, "Good evening, Master Marcy. Anne Boonchuy and the Plantars have arrived for your–"

"SLEEPOVER!" Anne, Sprig, and Polly yelled as they rushed past Lady Olivia and Marcy.

Anne and Sprig immediately jumped onto Marcy's bed, bouncing up and down on it while repeating, "Sleepover! Sleepover!" Anne was wearing a gray shirt with a pair of black shorts that had a purple stripe on the sides, and Sprig was wearing a pair of plaid shorts with a t-shirt that read "Big Frog" on it. Polly had gotten ahold of one of the pillows and ripped it in half in an excited state of frenzy as she too yelled, "SLEEPOVER!"

The feathers inside of the pillow exploded out and hit Lady Olivia in the face. She sighed and then finished her sentence, "…Sleepover."

"Thanks for bringing them up, Lady Olivia," said Marcy.

"Not a problem, now, Master Marcy, there is something I'd like to mention to you before I depart."

Marcy raised a curious eyebrow. "Oh, what's that?"

"I know you and Anne are a couple now, but I suggest you keep any…private activities down to the absolute minimum. I know how young ones like yourself tend to be…touchy, when in a new relationship," said Lady Olivia as she chose her words carefully for Sprig and Polly's sake.

For Marcy, however, it did not take a genius to figure out what Lady Olivia meant, which made her blush hard. "W-W-We didn't plan on doing anything like that!"

"I know, and that was more directed at you, rather than Anne."

"Me?!" Marcy exclaimed.

"Anyway, if anyone needs me, I'll be in the kitchen drinking…" Lady Olivia shifted her gaze for a moment, remembering her current audience. "Juice."

Again, it did not take a genius to know what Lady Olivia meant by "juice". Marcy's face still burned scarlet from what the newt woman cautioned her against, did she really look like the kind of person to do inappropriate things, especially when there were two kids in the room? Just then Anne hopped off the bed and rushed to Marcy giving her a big hug and light kiss on the cheek. Okay, maybe she has point.

"Hey, what was Lady Olivia talking to you about a second ago?" Anne asked.

"Oh, uh, well, she was just telling me to be on my best behavior while you were here," said Marcy sheepishly.

Anne gave her girlfriend a confused look. "What did she mean by that?"

"S-She thinks that we might forget that Sprig and Polly are here and might do some…couple-y things…she also told me to not get too…touchy."

Anne smirked as she realized what Marcy meant. "Ooh, why Marcy Wu, was this sleepover just a ruse so that you could get me alone in some weird dungeon somewhere and do unspeakable things to me?"

Marcy's pupils shrank to pinpricks as her mind suddenly jumped to some rather ecchi places. "No! Ugh, not you, too! Do I look like a deviant to you?!"

Anne raised her right hand and made a pinching gesture with her thumb and index finger. Marcy's response was to lightly slap her girlfriend on the shoulder, which resulted in the two of them sharing a laugh.

"Anyway, I'm so excited! This is going to be…"

"Awesome~" Marcy finished with operatic flare.

Sprig hopped off the bed and said, "I'll say! It's the perfect way to spend the night before we hear from the king."

"I wonder what he learned about the music box," Anne pondered aloud.

Marcy smiled as she put her hands on her hips and said, "I don't wanna give anything away, but it's gonna be pretty cool."

Just then Hop Pop appeared in the doorway. "Okay, kids, I'll be back in the mornin' for our meetin' with the king. You enjoy yourselves. I'm off to spend a little much needed me time. And by 'me time', I mean a full body–!"

Sprig and Polly quickly shut the doors as they said, "Later, Hop Pop!" and "Okay, bye H. P.".

Polly dusted off her flippers and said, "Whoo-hoo! Me and Sprig's first sleepover!"

Sprig nodded as he looked to the two human girls. "Yep. Better make it a good one. These will be formative memories."

Anne rolled her eyes at Sprig's dramatics, but then something just occurred to her. "Whoa, Mar-Mar, I just realized, we've never done a sleepover without Sasha."

Marcy just came to the realization herself, and now she was starting to worry about how this was going to go without their third best friend. "Oh…you're right. You think we can pull it off? I mean, Sasha's the sleepover queen, not us. We've never done one on our own."

Anne shook that worry; her confidence was not going to be broken just because Sasha was not here. "Pfft. Who says there has to be just one queen?"

"Everyone. That's sort of how the whole system works, Anne," Marcy corrected.

"Oh?" Anne got closer to Marcy and said, "You're saying we can't both be queens?"

Marcy stammered as she tried to mount a response, but it was not coming to her. Darn it, Anne, you're the only one who can wreck my train of thought!

Anne placed her hands on her girlfriend's shoulders and looked her in the eyes. "Marcy, you and I have done tons of sleepovers. We know everything about them."

Marcy's nervousness about not pulling off this sleepover evaporated as she looked into Anne's eyes, and at that moment, the couple spoke the motto that Sasha had for every sleepover.

"Pajamas, junk food and gossip galore. Pillow fights, movies and tearing up the dance floor. And listen up 'cause this I won't repeat, never ever go to sleep!"

Both girls broke into laughter, remembering sleepovers past just by speaking their old motto.

Meanwhile, Sprig was a little confused by what that was all about. "Sensing, some missing context here."

Marcy turned to the little frog child and explained, "Oh, sorry. Sasha always said falling asleep early means total failure. A true sleepover goes until sunrise."

"Whoa," Polly uttered.

"Enough setup!" Anne declared. "Let's get our sleepover on, baby!"

"Whoo-hoo!"

"Let's do it!"

What followed next was a series of whacky antics that took the kids across the entire castle. Taking a mattress luging down a long flight of stairs, they passed by Lady Olivia just before they collided with a suit of armor at the bottom of the stairs. Another of their hijinks brought them to the king's wardrobe where they tried on various articles of oversized clothing. Lady Olivia heard the ruckus going on and came to see what it was they were doing. It was there that she also found King Andrias, strange as she thought he was busy with some other matter.

"Excuse me, Sire, but I thought you were–"

When the "head" of King Andrias turned, it was revealed that it was not the king, but Polly having stuffed the entire suit full of socks and other clothing in order to fill it out as much as possible. "Yes, pion? What matter of business have you come to discuss?"

Lady Olivia growled angrily as her face reddened, she stomped away and left the kids to their hijinks, which in hindsight was probably not a good idea. The shenanigans continued as the four got into a string shooting fight. Which, also, seemed like a poor idea. Marcy may have cheated a little, as she dual wielded two silly-string bugs and had her eyes glowing green as she fired shot after shot at Anne, Sprig, and Polly, forcing the human and frog children to team up against the sharpshooting teen genius. Their string battle eventually brought them into the foyer where Lady Oliva was trying to relax while reading a book in front of the fire.

The four kids had devious looks on their faces as they decided to halt their fire fight and gang up on Lady Olivia, spraying her with the silly string bugs. The refined newt woman had finally had enough of their hijinks and exclaimed, "Oh for Frog's sake!" before engaging with the children. She high kicked Anne, sending the teen to the floor and making her wonder what the heck just happened. She karate chopped Sprig in the head and knocked the boy out for a moment, drop kicked Marcy, and then uppercut Polly into the air where she bounced on Marcy's stomach before landing on the floor. Her swift actions enabled her to knock out the silly-string bugs from the children's hands and into the air. With the same swift action, Olivia opened a chest and let them fall into it before slamming it shut.

Lady Olivia took a moment to center herself before she addressed the children, who were groaning in pain on the floor. "While I'm glad you kids are having fun, let me remind you that some castle rooms are off-limits, namely the basement, which is strictly – AAAH!"

Anne surprise attacked Lady Olivia with a hidden silly-string bug and fired it straight at her face. "Montage is back on, baby!"

After beating Sprig with pillows, raiding the kitchen for treats, and drawing mustaches on the portraits, the kids returned to Marcy's room where they crashed on some sleeping bags that Marcy had rolled out for them. Marcy glanced to her new girlfriend – it made her giggle every time she though that – and Anne looked back at her with a satisfied grin that they had successfully pulled off the sleepover.

"That was awesome," said Polly as she yawned.

"Best sleepover ever," Sprig added sleepily.

"See, told you ya we could pull off an awesome sleepover without Sasha," said Anne.

Marcy blushed. "I guess you're right."

"Course I'm right. By the way, what time is it? 5:00 a. m.? 6:00 a. m.?"

Marcy took out her cellphone and gasped when she saw the time. "What?! It's only 9:00 p. m.!"

"WHAT?!" Anne exclaimed as she bolted upright. "How the heck did that happen?! We did a montage and everything!"

"Montages don't follow the conventional rules of time, Anne!" Marcy countered.

"What…That early?" Polly asked.

"But I'm so tired," said Sprig.

"NO!" Anne rushed to Polly and Sprig, picked them both up, and began shaking them back and forth in a hysterical fashion. "STAY AWAKE! MUST NEVER EVERGO TO SLEEP!"

"I'm gonna…hurl…!" Polly threatened.

Anne had to think fast, they were going to mess up on a long-held sleepover tradition, and they could not fail this first sleepover without Sasha, she did not want to look that lame whenever they met up again.

That's when an idea popped into Marcy's head, it was a long shot, and attempts have been failed in the past, but dang it this was the last resort. "Anne, I think it's time."

Anne stopped shaking them, glancing back at Marcy with surprise. "Really? Are you sure they're ready?"

Marcy gave her girlfriend a serious look. "Is anyone ever really ready, Anne?"

"Ready for what?" Polly asked.

Suddenly, the lights went out in the room, Marcy brought her cellphone under both her and Anne's faces as the light of the screen illuminated their faces, casting eerie shadows upon them as they said together, "The Scare-Dare Challenge! Oooooh!"

Sprig and Polly glanced at each other; a bit uneasy as to where this was going.

Marcy cleared her throat and spoke, "Listen closely, for these are the rules of the Scare-Dare Challenge. One of us must come up with a scary dare, and we aaaaallllll have to do it!"

Anne gave her adopted froggy siblings a scary look. "But whomsoever bails during the challenge gets their name added to…"

"The Book of Losers!" Marcy finished.

Anne looked down at said book and asked, "You had that thing on you?"

"I am the official record keeper of all of our sleepovers, soooo…yeah."

"Huh, okay then. So, yeah, and once your name is written into the Book of Losers, it'll be there…forever!"

"FOREVER," Marcy repeated.

The Plantar siblings looked at each other a couple of times before breaking out into smiles.

"Well, I'm sold!"

"Let's do this!"

Anne nodded. "Great, now all we need is a scary dare."

All four of the kids thought hard about what would work as a scary dare for them. It took all of thirty seconds for them to come to the same conclusion.

"Yeah, I got nada," said Sprig.

"Huh…I don't remember it being this difficult," Anne remarked.

"That's because Sasha always came up with the best scare dares."

Anne sighed heavily. "Oh…right."

It always came back to Sasha; it was times like this that emphasized to Anne just how much control Sasha had over their activities. Sasha was always at the helm of everything they did, it was a rare occasion whenever the blonde would give up that control and allow her or Marcy to do something they wanted to. But looking back on it, it was not as if neither of them did not have fun. Fun was always had when it involved Sasha, it was just the aftermath of that fun that sometimes ended up not so much fun. But Anne was determined to show that neither she nor Marcy needed Sasha to hold their hands, protect them, or lead them. They were a couple now and that meant they needed to stand up on their own two feet. Plus…

Anne glanced at Marcy, her girlfriend. I can't look lame in front of my new GF like this. I gotta show her that I can take charge!

"Alright, what have we got to work with here?" Anne asked as she searched the room with her cellphone light. The Thai girl looked right at the diagram of the castle that Marcy had on her wall. Her gaze lowered to the torn half of the diagram, as she grabbed onto it, Lady Olivia's words reminded her of somewhere that they could go. "Oh, what about the basement – Ow, paper cut!'

Marcy rubbed the back of her head nervously as she said, "Anne, that place is probably off-limits for a reason. This…This may not be a smart idea."

Anne looked at the small cut on her finger for a moment before looking back at the missing part of the diagram. This was her moment to show Marcy that she could be a leader, and that they did not have to rely on Sasha, but she may have to invoke her name to get things rolling. "C'mon, Marcy. It's what Sasha would do."

That seemed to be last push that Marcy needed to start the challenge. "Well, that is true. I hereby accept this Scare-Dare Challenge!"

"We also accept this Scare-Dare Challenge!" Sprig and Polly exclaimed.

"It is done!" Anne announced. "This Scare-Dare Challenge is now…"

"OFFICIAL."

Anne, Marcy, Polly, and Sprig stealthily made their way to the lower levels of the castle. Marcy directed them to where she believed a hatch was that could take them further down into the castle basement. Along the way they passed by a sleeping Lady Olivia, a drink in her right hand and a book in her left. They quietly walked past her and headed into the wine cellar where there were many barrels of Newtopian mead, wine, and various other drinks. At the center of the room was a wooden door. Anne rushed over to the door and pulled up, releasing a cloud of dust that whooshed from the opening. When the dust cleared, the kids looked down the stairway that led into a dark corridor further beyond, but the rest was obscured by darkness.

"So…who wants to go first?" Sprig asked.

"I vote Anne!" Polly stated.

"What?! Why?!" Anne asked.

"Well…it was your idea," Marcy answered.

"Way to have my back, Mar-Mar."

"Scare-Dare Challenge…"

Anne gulped, she did not know why she was so scared, she was a Kamen Rider, she had powers even outside of her transformation, and has fought several monsters that nearly killed her. What was a creepy basement compared to all that? Nothing, that's what.

Steeling her nerves, Anne led the way, turning on her cellphone light to help illuminate the way. Marcy used her cellphone as well to provide more light in the dark tunnel. Marcy glanced about the stairwell, and unfortunately that proved to cost her as she tripped and fell down the stairs.

"MARCY!" Anne exclaimed as she rushed after her.

Marcy screamed as she tumbled down the stairs, bouncing up and down them the whole way. "Ow! Oh! Aaah! Oh, no! Not again! Why am I going – Umph!" Marcy finally reached the bottom of the stairs, her body aching all over from the fall. She shined her light around to see where she had landed, and when she turned to the left, she saw a moth that had a pattern on its wings that looked like rows of sharp teeth staring right at her. "AAAAH!"

Marcy quickly bolted straight up to her feet and bumped into Anne, causing her to scream again, which also caused Anne to scream, and Sprig and Polly as well.

"Okay that's enough!" Anne stated, breaking up the screaming fest.

Anne shined her light down the hallway and noticed that the entire hall, sides and ceiling, was covered in mirrors. Cobwebs had formed over many of them, along with an accumulation of dust, indicating that no one had been down this way in many, many years.

"Whoa, that's a lot of mirrors," Sprig commented.

"Sooooo…anyone wanna turn back and go into the Book of Losers?" Anne asked.

"You kidding?" Sprig asked nervously.

"As if," Polly affirmed.

"Not me," added Marcy. The teen Chinese girl walked along the hallway with the rest, glancing at each of the mirrors. "You know, some cultures believe that mirrors can ward off malevolent spirits, or even summon them! Mwahahahahaahahahaha!"

Polly and Sprig gulped.

It seemed that they had come to the end of the hall as a large door wrapped in chains blocked their path. The door was chained up, and boarded up, with one of those boards having something written on it in bright red paint.

"Uh, Marcy, what does this say?" Anne asked.

Marcy took a closer look at the Newtopian sigil markings. "Hmm, my command of Newtopian linguistics is limited, but what it says should be fairly obvious."

The kids looked to each other and came to the same consensus. "Keep out."

Suddenly, the boards creaked, and the chains rattled, startling the young lot and causing them to jump back from the door.

"Okay, somebody's gotta wanna go back by now?" Anne asked.

Sprig shivered and said, "I-I-I ain't goin' in no B-B-Book of L-L-Losers!"

"Me n-n-neither," Polly agreed, perched atop Sprig's head.

Marcy glanced at Anne and said, "Guess we'll go a bit further then…"

"Uh-huh. Living my best life right now."

Anne and Marcy went to work, tearing off the boards and chains until the door was clear of obstructions. The two humans opened the large wooden door and gasped at what they found inside.

"What the heck?!" Anne exclaimed.

It was a dank and moist crypt; the only light source was provided by salmon colored coral shoots that grew from the walls and acted as makeshift lamps. Ankle high water filled the room, and in that water were eight giant coffins, if one had to venture a guess, they were just big enough for someone like King Andrias to fit in. Each of the eight coffins had chains wrapped around them, all interlinked with each other. There were some bones and other things towards the back or hanging out of the coffins, skeletal remains of those long since passed.

"What is this place?" Sprig asked.

"It's some kind of creepy crypt," said Anne.

Polly's eyes widened as the realization hit him. "Whoa-ho. You mean like with dead bodies?! Cool!"

As Sprig and Polly hopped down into the crypt, Marcy was feeling unnerved by all of this. There was something about this place, something that agitated the power inside of her. Anne could sense it too, something was not right about this room, and it went beyond just the fact that they might have just disturbed a resting place. For a moment, their eyes shifted colors, blinking from green to blue respectively.

"Anne…we shouldn't be here, like, really shouldn't be here. This place feels all kinds of wrong," Marcy warned.

"Guys, I, uh, I think Marcy's right on this one. We should leave, like, now," said Anne.

Sprig and Polly briefly glanced to each other and then smirked. Sprig crossed his arms and then pointed at the two girls. "Oh, I see. So, I guess you two are okay with going in…" Polly hopped up and Sprig wrapped his right arm around her as they yelled together, "…THE BOOK OF LOSERS!"

Anne tightened her jaw a little, on the one hand, there was something deep inside her that was warning her to leave this place, that they were not safe, but on the other hand, she did not want to be seen as a coward, especially after suggesting coming down here. Anne struck a confident pose and lied, "Pfft. We don't wanna go back 'cause we're scared. This place just isn't our style."

Sprig was not convinced and decided to call her bluff. "Okay, prove it. Take a selfie by…that coffin!"

Anne and Marcy looked in the direction where Sprig was pointing, seeing one of the more ornate looking coffins, which was at the far end of the crypt, causing the two girls to gulp.

"Anne…do you think Sasha would do this?" Marcy asked.

Anne tightened her hands into fists, her ire of looking like a coward in front of her girlfriend, and weaker compared to Sasha, was overriding her judgement in this situation. "Oh yeah, she would. No questions."

Marcy sighed knowing that Anne was wright. So, together, the two human girls walked through the ankle-deep water, being careful as they proceeded as they were barefoot and had no idea what else was hidden in the murky water. As they walked to the coffin, Sprig and Polly were growing more anxious by the second, even though they did not possess the powers that Anne and Marcy did, they too could sense that something was off about this crypt.

"I have to admit…" Sprig started.

"It is pretty creepy," Polly finished.

Anne and Marcy made it to the ornate coffin, and that unnerving feeling only got stronger.

"Let's just do this and go, okay?" Anne asked."

"Y-Yeah, let's do it," Marcy agreed.

Anne took out her cellphone and held it up while Marcy posed and threw up a peace sign. "Alright, say 'desecration'."

"Desecration," they said in unison.

Anne snapped the picture and sighed in relief. "Ha! Nailed it!" Anne looked closer at the picture and realized something was wrong with it. That being that her right eye in the photo was glowing brighter, which she attributed to the flash. "Oh wait, this photo's kinda jank."

However, it was soon proven that it was not the flash that caused her eye to glow. Something else did, and that something was rising out of her phone. When it fully emerged, it showed as an amorphous creature, pale purple in color, transparent, and had one glowing eyeball. Anne and Marcy looked at the floating creature for a moment before screaming in shock of it. Not long after spotting that creature, the room began to shake and glow with the same eerie light as the floating ghost-like blob. Then they appeared, more of these creatures, each one a different shape, some were long like snakes, others blobs like the first one, and others had fish-like or crustacean appearances. All of them either sported one eyeball or multiple eyeballs.

"What the heck are these things?!" Anne exclaimed.

The two human girls backed up against the coffin, only to scream again when they saw a big one come out and snap its pincers at them.

Sprig, on the other hand, did not seem all that afraid of them as he said, "Hey, they're actually kinda cute," as he reached out to touch the closest one.

"SPRIG DON'T TOUCH IT!" Marcy warned.

Anne pointed towards one of them and yelled, "LOOK!"

Sprig and Polly looked and watched as one of the ghostly monsters had ingested some of the skeletal remains that were floating in the water. Those remains were then quickly broken down within just a few seconds of being absorbed by the blob looking ghost.

Polly screamed and said, "THEY'RE GONNA EAT OUR BONES!"

"Forget this mess! We're losers! We lose!" Sprig stated as he hopped around with Polly, trying to avoid the monsters.

Anne was still confused about these things, they did not give off the same feeling as a Fallen, but they were not like any animal that she read about before venturing beyond Frog Valley. "Marcy, what the heck even are these things?! Some kind of new Fallen?! Ghosts?! Aliens?! More Phantom's from Luz's Boiling Isles?!"

The two of the backed up towards the door and Marcy answered, "Does it matter?! Let's get outta here Scoob!"

"Roger that – Wait, what did you just call me?"

"DUCK!" Marcy had seen one the monsters coming at them from the door they came through and quickly pushed Anne down to the watery floor just in time to miss it. "Okay, that's it!" Marcy summoned her MetamorphRing and cried out, "Henshin!"

Emerald wind rushed to her, creating a dome that transformed Marcy into Kamen Rider Ranger. The emerald archer spun the Windmill Wheel twice for the piercing shots and fired multiple rounds at the floating creatures. Unfortunately, the airbolts simply passed through them as if she was just shooting the air itself.

"What the heck?! They're intangible?! Okay, never mind then, I'll just take us into the Shadow Realm and get us the heck outta here," said Ranger as she pressed on the left hip device of her belt. However, nothing happened. "Uh…"

"Marcy, now would really be a good time to use your Shadow Form to get us out of here!" Anne exclaimed.

"I'm pushing the button! See me?! Pushing the button! Okay then, Trinity Form!" Ranger opted to press both of her devices, but just like before, nothing was happening. "Did…Did my powers get reset?! Did these things do something to my powers?!"

"Marcy, incoming!" Anne warned.

One of the ghost monsters came at Ranger. She tried shooting it, but the result was the same as before, no damage at all. The ghost creature passed through her, causing Ranger's armor to release numerous sparks as it damaged her and caused Ranger to go down on one knee.

"Marcy! Are you alright, talk to me!"

"I…I'm alright, my armor protected me. It didn't go through the armor, although it did damage it."

"GUYS THIS WAY!" Polly screamed.

"WE FOUND ANOTHER EXIT!"

Anne and Ranger turned their attention to the two Plantar children and confirmed that they did find another way out. Marcy grabbed Anne and used her wind powers to leap over most of the ghost monsters and land where the frog children were. Once they made it through the entrance, Ranger shifted the Squall Sniper to explosives rounds and fired them at the doorway, causing it to collapse. She did not think that would slow them down, but there was always a chance that their intangibility was limited. Unfortunately, that was not the case as she saw them passing through the rubble.

"Okay, my turn!" Anne came to a stop halfway down the hall and summoned her MetamorphRing. "Henshin!"

A dome of azure lightning wrapped itself around Anne and revealed her as Kamen Rider Amp. The lightning hero pressed on her right hip device to go into Poison Form, but nothing happened, she then tried Spike Form, and again nothing.

"Okay, seriously, what the hell is this?! Why can't we shift forms?!" Amp asked.

"I don't know, maybe those things are causing some kind of interference with our powers?! Or maybe it's this place?! You felt it too, right?! There's something off about this whole place," said Ranger.

Amp did agree, she could feel something, but she was not sure what it was. "Okay, never mind fighting them, let's just get out of here!" Amp dashed to the other end while Ranger used her agility to bounce back forth off the walls to catch up to her. Amp skidded passed Polly and Sprig and scooped them up into her arms as she said, "Hang on, guys!" The two girls made it to the other end of the hall, which opened into another hall of mirrors like the one they came through. "Man, someone really loves mirrors!"

The group ran into the hallway of mirrors, but once they got halfway, they stopped. Amp released Sprig and Polly as she dropped to one knee, and so too did Ranger. A flash of green and blue light went off, and the two suddenly found themselves back in their civilian forms.

"We changed back now?!" Anne exclaimed.

"I am starting to think that those things are doing this to us, but I have no idea how," said Marcy.

"Figure it out later, let's just run!" Polly yelled.

As they got up to run again, Anne could not help but notice that the ghost monsters were not following them anymore. She did not take this lightly, figuring that they were just trying to find another way around to catch up to them. All of them continued to run, eventually ending up in another hall that had many different types of flora, all lush and green with vibrant colors.

Marcy came to a halt as she gazed upon the greenery in confusion. "What the – a garden?! But…how are these plants growing so well without any sunlight?"

"Mar-Mar, I love ya, but we don't have time for this! Come on," said Anne as she grabbed her girlfriend by the wrist and pulled her along.

Neither of them noticed that among the green plants, was a Moss Man.

Their frantic running brought the group into another hallway, it was sparsely furnished with the exception of some small portraits, pots, shields, and a large portrait that had three slash marks going through it.

Sprig stopped before the painting, intrigued by the damage to it. "Whoa, someone really hated this painting."

"AAH! Hurry up, bro!" Polly urged as she pulled him along.

They finally reached the end of the corridors, a staircase that led up brought them to a wooden hatch door. Anne did not know if this would work, but she had to try. She tapped into her power, just hoping that it would respond enough to grant her a boost to her strength. Thankfully it did work, the electrical energy surged through the muscles in her arms as she pushed on the hatch popped it open and found that the hatch opened into…Marcy's room.

"Wait, how did that all lead into my room?!" Marcy asked.

"Don't question it!" Sprig urged as they piled out of the hatch and quickly shut it behind them.

Anne released a sigh of relief as she said, "Oh man, thank goodness that's oooooooOOOOOHH HOLY CRAP!"

The ghost monsters arrived, phasing through the floor and entering into Marcy's room. Out of sheer desperation, Anne picked up one of Marcy's books and chucked it at one of the monsters.

"Take this you overgrown gummy worm!" Anne exclaimed.

The book simply passed through the monster, with the book itself landing on the floor and sizzling as if it had just been burned.

"Quick, more books!" Polly suggested.

"Way ahead of ya, sis!"

The four children threw more and more books at the monsters, but nothing was causing them harm.

"I don't get this! My energy-based attacks don't hurt them, physical attacks don't do anything, our powers are on the fritz…Anne, what do we do?!' Marcy asked desperately.

You knew it was bad when Marcy Wu, the resident genius, could not figure out a way out of this situation. Anne felt that this was all her fault, heck, it is her fault. If she had not decided to go into the basement, they could have just called it a night and slept until morning, but no, she just had to one up Sasha. She had to prove to herself that she was just as strong, just as daring, and just as much of a leader as Sasha was. But in the end, she led her girlfriend and her surrogate siblings into a situation that was about to get them all killed.

Sprig ran out of books, and picked up the next closest thing to him, which happened to be a mirror. The pink frog did not know what else to do, so he used it as a shield, pointing it in the direction of the biggest ghost monster. When he did that, something strange occurred, the light of the ghost shined off the mirror, and when it did, the monster went from intangible to fully tangible as it plopped onto the floor.

"Huh…?"

"What the…?" Marcy grabbed a nearby book and whacked the monster on the head, but instead of passing through it, the book made contact with its head and knocked the creature unconscious. "It's physical? But how?"

Anne and Marcy looked to Sprig, both drawing to the same conclusion. "THE MIRRORS!"

"Both hallways to the crypt were filled with mirrors! That's why they didn't chase after us when we got into that second corridor," said Anne.

"I get it now, the refraction of their own light turns these things physical, which means…" Marcy let that hang in the air as a thought came to mind. Focusing on her power, she summoned the MetamorphRing Driver again. "Please work…Henshin!"

Emerald wind blew through the room, changing Marcy back into Kamen Rider Ranger. Ranger hoped that her luck would hold out as she pressed the right hip device, and it looks like it did as her right arm changed forms into a pure energy construct, entering Artificer Form. The emerald archer dropped to her right knee and pressed Rewrite against the floor and sent a surge of her energy through the entire room. Within a matter of seconds, the walls and ceiling of the room transformed into smooth glass, turning the room into one giant mirror. The effects were immediate as the light of the creatures bounced off the mirrors and undid their intangibility, taking away their only advantage.

"Yes! Marcy you are the GOAT!" Anne looked at one of the mirror walls and frowned when she saw her hair. "Hey, was anyone gonna tell me I have leaves in my hair?"

"Later, Anne, see if you can transform too!"

"Oh, right." Anne concentrated and summoned the MetamorphRing Driver. "Alright, back in business! Henshin!"

Anne was wrapped in lightning as she reentered her heroic alter ego, Kamen Rider Amp. Amp cracked her knuckles as she stared down the monsters and used her amazing speed to blitz attack the now physical monsters, beating them with punches, kicks, elbow strikes, and knee strikes. Sprig and Polly helped Ranger stuff the monsters back down into the hatch, where Ranger used Rewrite to make the backside of the hatch reflective before shutting it, she then pressed her hand against the floor and sent a wave of that same energy to create a reflective glass layer under her floor to prevent the monsters from coming through that way ever again. And just for good measure, Polly threw a mirror onto the hatch, while Anne brought over an armchair and placed on top of the mirror. Everyone was panting hard from the ordeal, scared out of their minds.

Ranger glanced between all of them and asked, "Sooo…anyone think they're gonna be able to sleep after that terrifying experience?"

"Nope."

"Nuh-uh."

"Oh hell no."

Dawn's early light shined through Marcy's bedroom window. All four of the children were huddled into her bed, each of them had bags under their eyes from not having been able to sleep at all. Partially because of fear, and partially because they did not want to run the risk that those ghost monsters might be able to get around Marcy's mirror defense.

"Well…we did it," said Sprig tiredly.

"We stayed awake aaaallll night," Polly remarked.

"I still have SO many questions. What were those things? Why did our powers shut down? What's the deal with that basement? And if those were really ghosts, is there actually an afterlife?!" Marcy questioned aloud.

Anne's eyes widened. "I didn't even think about that one!"

"Well one thing's for sure. That sleepover was amazing!" Sprig exclaimed.

"It was the best!" Polly agreed.

Anne and Marcy fist bumped, despite the almost dying part, they managed to make this sleepover memorable for Sprig and Polly at least.

Sprig sighed as he grabbed the Book of Losers and began writing his name in it. "I just wish I didn't have to add my name to the Book of Losers."

Polly blew a raspberry as Sprig handed her the pen, as she wrote she added, "Me neither…"

"Heh, hand me that pen." Polly watched as Anne reached over. The little tadpole handed Anne the pen and the Thai girl began writing her name into it as well. "You're not the only losers, even with Kamen Rider powers, I was scared outta my mind!"

Marcy chuckled. "Me too," as she wrote her name into it as well. "It's not the first time either."

"Really?" Polly asked.

Marcy nodded. "See for yourself."

Sprig began flipping through the pages, and each time he did, the siblings noticed that Anne and Marcy's names popped up more times than not. "Whoa, your names are in here a lot."

"Yep," Marcy remarked. "The only one who was brave enough not to write her name down was Sasha. Heh, she was always the fearless one, never saying die, never backing down from a challenge even if the odds were slim that she would win."

Anne sighed. "And I tried to be like her back there."

"What?" Marcy asked.

"I…I was trying to be fearless like her, to be strong like her. But in the end, I'm not like Sasha, at least not in that way. Sorry, Mar-Mar, I bet you wished you had a better pick as your first girlfriend," said Anne.

Marcy furrowed her brow and said, "Sprig, Polly, do me a favor. Turn around and keep your eyes shut."

The two young frogs did as she asked.

"Anne Boonchuy, please don't ever say that again!" Marcy scolded. "I don't and won't ever regret asking you to be my girlfriend. I fell in love with you not because you're like Sasha, but because you're you! Whenever your friends are in danger, you become so much braver and stronger that it's honestly astounding. Sasha is always a strong willed and physically strong person, and yes, I admit, I do find that attractive."

"Guilty on that…" Anne admitted.

"But, Anne, don't compare yourself to anyone. Just be Anne Boonchuy, the girl I fell in love with, and the girl I want to keep dating and being girlfriends with," Marcy stated.

The teen genius leaned forward and gently pressed her lips against Anne's, showing Anne her conviction to what she said with a kiss. Anne closed her eyes and pressed back, holding their kiss for almost a minute before parting. Both girls had bright red blushes on their faces, and smiles, too.

"Thanks Marcy, I needed to hear that. Marcy, we have to find Sasha. With everything that's happened, I need to make things right with her. And I know she's probably going to be a little weirded out by our being GFs," said Anne.

"We will find her, Anne. And yeah, she might find it weird at first, but, in all honesty, if she doesn't, then she'll just have to get used it!"

Both girls chuckled at that, while Sprig and Polly glanced to each other and smiled, happy to hear how Anne was happy with Marcy. Just then loud knocking came from the bedroom door, startling them as they hid under the blankets.

The door burst open and standing there was Lady Olivia. Her face had a mustache and goatee drawn on it, with words written on her eyelids that read, "Polly wuz here". "Rise and shine, kids! Because of you, I barely slept a wink last night! Ugh, well, whatever. It's go time! Your audience with King Andrias is about to begin! Get ready!"

Lady Olivia slammed the doors shut, and once she was out of the room, the kids broke into fits of laughter, needing a good laugh after everything they went through last night. However, as they laughed, something appeared between them. One of the ghost monsters, a small jellyfish looking one, happily chirped as if it were laughing along with them. All four opened their eyes and went silent.

"Sprig, Polly, get out of the bed."

Sprig and Polly leaped out of the bed.

"Henshin!"

"Henshin!"

A few explosions and breaking of furniture came from Marcy's tower after that.

It was finally time for their meeting with King Andrias. The kids, along with Hop Pop and Lady Olivia, were making their way to the throne room. As they did, Hop Pop could not help but notice just how tired the kids looked.

"S'matter kids? Didn't sleep well?" Hop Pop asked.

"Don't ask questions…" Anne groaned.

Hop Pop shrugged it off, but then looked at Lady Olivia and flinched when he saw the markings on her face. "Uh…pardon me ma'am but–"

"Not a word, Mr. Plantar," said Lady Olivia sternly.

Thankfully the awkward atmosphere did not last long as they arrived at the throne room, with the Plantars, Anne, and Marcy heading in, while Lady Olivia stayed behind. One of the Royal Newt Guards offered her a handkerchief, which Lady Olivia promptly snatched out of his hand, muttering a low "Thank you."

The group stopped before the giant king's throne, with said king standing at the foot of his throne with a giddy expression on his face. "Wonderful to see you all again!"

"Your Majesty," Marcy greeted with a bow.

"'Sup, King?" Anne greeted also.

King Andrias bounced on his left leg like a child impatiently waiting to tell his parents something important. "So, ask me if I found out anything about the box."

Anne shrugged her shoulders and said, "Okay, did you–?"

"BINGO!" Andrias bellowed, causing all but Marcy to fall flat on their backs. The King brought his hands from behind his back and in his left hand he held a book that had a picture of the three gemstones that were on the music box. "Ta-da! Take a gander." Andrias opened the book to a specific page and put the giant book down for everyone to see.

The group gasped when they saw what was inside the book. On the right-hand page was the image of the music box, with the gemstones grayed out, and below that were the gemstones themselves, each one a different color of green, blue, and magenta. But below the gems was a symbol, one that looked like a brain, another that was a heart, and the last that looked like a closed fist. And under each of those were Newtopian runes that possibly described them. On the page next to it was more ancient writing, but along with it were images of a temple, an archway, and a volcano, alongside an illustration of a sword, a bow, and another sword, and lastly there was a cylinder with musical notes drawn around it.

"It's the music box!" Sprig exclaimed.

"Correct," spoke the king as he laid the book down for them to get a better view. "According to this book, the box is an ancient magical artifact that is thousands of years old. Apparently, my ancestors used it to visit entirely different worlds! They were peaceful explorers, scientists, if you will. My current theory is when you opened the box, it inadvertently triggered the trans-dimensional crossing, bringing you all here."

Marcy tugged on Anne's sleeve as she whispered, "Here's the cool part!"

"I believe that when you and your friends passed through the worlds, your bodies might have been exposed to these mystical energies, thereby granting you the powers you have now," said King Andrias.

"Seriously?!" Anne gasped.

"I know, it's amazing right?! Whatever this power is, it's strong enough that it punches holes in other dimensions! And don't worry, Andrias assured me that the power is not harmful to us," said Marcy.

Anne rubbed the back of her head; she was glad to finally find out where she got these powers from. She had believed that it was that event, but it was good to get some confirmation. However, that also opened up another can of worms. "If we got our Rider powers from this energy, does that mean…Sasha might be a Rider, too?"

Marcy's eyes widened. "Holy crud I didn't even think about that!"

King Andrias hummed in contemplation. "It is a possibility. However, it could be that she doesn't have the powers that you two do. Marcy gained hers on the day she arrived, and you gained yours a few months after arriving to Amphibia. Perhaps each of you was exposed to this energy at different degrees, with some of you getting more than the other."

"That is a possibility, it didn't sit right with me that I got my powers first before Anne. If we were all exposed together, then we should've all manifested our powers at the same time," said Marcy.

Sprig's left eye was twitching at this revelation. Sasha was bad enough as she was, but if she gained the power of a Kamen Rider, oh that would so bad for them. Not that he did not believe in Anne, but Sasha was bit more…ruthless than Anne or Marcy. He just hoped to Frog that Anne did not have to deal with that.

"Anyway, since the energy was sapped from the stones it rendered the box inert. In order to get it working again, the stones have to be recharged," Andrias explained.

"Recharged? How?" Anne asked.

"The book mentions three temples, each one channeling a different kind of energy. And once the stones are recharged–!"

"We'll have a way home?!" Anne asked excitedly.

King Andrias formed a deadpan expression. "Steal my thunder why don't you? But yes. Boom!" The giant newt king flipped the page and showed a fully charged box, and on the other page was a diagram of six different worlds. The center world was Amphibia, judging by the lily pad symbol, and the other looked like Earth. "Eh, eh?"

"I don't believe it, a real chance to get home," said Anne happily.

Marcy intertwined her left hand with Anne's right, looking her in the eyes as she smiled and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. "Right? At least now we'll be able to have that option after we've beaten The Night and the Fallen. Now, let's get out there and conquer these bad boys!"

"Whoo-hoo!" Anne cheered.

Andrias quickly raised his right hand in a stopping motion as he said, "Whoa-ho. Let's rein those snails in for a sec. The book only gives the location of one temple. Besides, you still have a lot of preparing to do before you set off."

Marcy nodded, having got swept up int the excitement. "Good point. Gotta get equipped for a mega-quest like this. Armor to buy, maps to study, training do to do! Huh, wow, this is gonna take a few days."

Hop Pop, who had remined quiet while the girls and the king discussed their findings, decided to chime in. "Few days, huh? Well, Ah hate to say it, but we really need to get back to Wartwood. The harvest is comin' up, and we can't miss it."

Anne looked down at her adopted froggy family and smiled. "Okay, cool, no worries. Marcy, me and the Plantars will head back to Wartwood, and when you're ready we can just meet up."

That caught Marcy off guard. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! It doesn't really make sense for you to go back to Wartwood."

"What?!" The Plantars exclaimed in shock.

"Say what now?" Anne asked.

Marcy gently placed her hand on Anne's shoulder as she explained, "The last thing we should do is separate again, now that we're so close to finding our way home. Plus, I just got you back."

Anne's heart was growing heavy, she cared about Marcy, a lot, a whole lot, but she also cared about the Plantars, too. "I guess that's true…but, uh, I, uh, need to go to Wartwood to get the music box! Right, H. P.?"

"Technically, yes," said Hop Pop.

Marcy waved off the concern. "Nonsense. Once Hop Pop gets the box back, we'll just send a servant to pick it up. More efficient that way."

Anne was struggling, she knew what Marcy was saying was right, but…her heart would not let her abandon the Plantars after everything they have done for her. "Yeah, but…"

"Anne, right now you have to follow your head, not your heart. The Plantars got you here, to me." Marcy gently took hold of both of Anne's hands as she spoke calmly to her girlfriend. "It's time to let them get back to their lives. Why don't you guys take the day to say goodbye?"

Anne and the Plantars became really depressed. After all they had been through, this was how their journey together was going to end?

King Andrias looked upon the sad frogs and human and asked, "You folks want a giant tissue? Seriously, you would not believe the size of these tissues." He chuckled for a moment, but silence prevailed over the sad family. "I'll get you one."

Anne and the Plantars returned to the Hemisphere Hotel, instead of going back to their room they decided to pile into the fwagon. All four of them sat on the couch, crying and saddened by the knowledge that this would be their last time together.

Anne decided to shake off that sadness, this was her last day together before the Plantars had to leave, and she could not spend it moping about. "Hey, guys, c'mon. It not like this is a goodbye forever! We'll see each other again."

Hop Pop smiled at his adopted granddaughter and said, "Ya know what, gang? Anne's right!" The elderly frog got up from the couch and rolled out a map of Newtopia on the table. "The least we can do is have a fun last day together! Now come on, let's pick an activity!" The kids smiled and agreed with Hop Pop, rising from the couch to join him at the table. "Now let's see. There's the opera house, the coliseum, the aquarium."

Anne's eyes were immediately drawn to Hop Pop's last suggestion. "There's an aquarium? That's perfect! Anytime I was feeling gloomy back home, the aquarium would always make me feel better. There's nothing more peaceful than being surrounded by water and sea creatures."

Hop Pop smiled at Anne and nodded to her suggestion. "Oh, good thinking, Anne!"

"Works for me," said Polly."

"Yeah! Let's go have fun and not think about our crippling sadness!" Sprig declared.

Immediately upon reminding them why they were doing this, the group fell back into their depression. Polly glared at her big brother and sarcastically remarked, "Nice one."

With their destination set, the Plantars and Anne made their way to the Newtopian Aquarium. The family entered the facility and were greeted to a spectacular sight, there were many tanks filled with exotic and local aquatic creatures, there were fossils embedded into the walls with a plaque that had written information on the now extinct creatures. At least Anne hoped they were, because some of them were as big as a whale and had more teeth than a great white shark. The patrons were milling about the facility, kids and adults alike enjoying the displays and various rooms that were dedicated to the different types of marine life of their world.

One of the group's stops took them to the "River Room". Inside was a tank that was home to various creatures that one would find near rivers in a forest. One such creature was a beaver bug, which looked like a cross between an actual beaver and some kind of flea looking thing. The family of four watched as the beaver bugs chewed on the wood they were provided, built their dams, and swam around the tank. Polly could not help but gush a little at the adorable little chimeras.

"Look at the beaver bugs, they're soo cute," said Polly.

Anne smiled and patted Polly's head gently. "What'd I tell you? The perfect place to relax and take our minds off–"

Suddenly, a lamprey eel sprang out of the water, startling them all for a moment. Hop Pop, after calming down, knelt down to see it through the observation window below and commented, "Oh, hey. Check it out. It's the same kinda eel that attacked you kids when the basement flooded, remember?" When he did not get an immediate response, Hop Pop turned around. "Kids?"

Anne and Sprig were looking at a picture on Anne's phone, a picture of the flooded basement that had Anne and Sprig celebrating their victory over the lampreys. "Those were good times, weren't they?"

"…Yeah, it's too bad that they're over…" Sprig whimpered as the tears began to spring up.

"No! No, Sprig!" Anne exclaimed as she picked up her surrogate little brother and hugged him close. "Fight the sadness! Fight it! C'mon, buddy. I gotcha. It's gonna be fine. Everything's gonna be fine."

The assurance was not all that assuring as the thirteen-year-old and ten-year-old were about to break into another crying fit.

Hop Pop saw what was about to happen and hurriedly rushed them out. "Okay, River Room is a bust. Let's keep moving." After getting Sprig and Anne out of the room, they wound up in a long tunnel with a see-through ceiling that allowed them to see the underwater world and the various creatures that were swimming around them. "Okay, if we're gonna have a sadness-free day, we need to avoid anythin' that might trigger our very delicate emotional states."

Anne and Sprig did start to calm down as they watched the jellyfish above them swim freely through the water. Prompting Anne to remark, "Actually, this is pretty peaceful."

"Yeah," Sprig agreed.

The gang arrived at a corridor that had an observation window. They took a moment to enjoy the soothing atmosphere, but then they spotted a giant squid swimming past the window.

"Hey, look, a kraken," said Sprig.

Polly saw the giant sea creature and gasped excitedly. "Ha, it is! Anne, it's like the one you tried to cook up at…Stumpy's."

"Who knew fish sauce and fear of death went so well together," said Hop Pop as he reflected on that event.

Of course, this did not help at all as it looked as if they were all about to start bawling any second now. And then they did, for about five seconds before Anne put an end to that nonsense.

"Okay, that's enough. Time to change rooms, everybody." Anne grabbed Hop Pop and Sprig and more or less dragged them away from their current location and brought them into a new exhibit. A room filled with all manner of colorful coral formations. "Oh, cool. A marine geology exhibit. Nothing to remind us of our adventures in here."

As they walked around the exhibit, looking as if they were starting to forget their sadness, something else had to remind them of the past, and unfortunately, it was Sprig who found it.

"Hop Pop's cane!" Sprig, Anne, and Polly exclaimed.

Hop Pop looked in the direction that the kids were and gasped when he saw a coral formation that looked exactly like, "My cane!"

Anne looked to her left and couldn't believe what she saw. "Oh no…That looks like…!" The next coral formation was black with white stripes. "Domino 2!"

Sprig gasped when he laid eyes on two coral formations that resembled a couple of horned frogs, who also looked like an old marry couple. "The cannibal couple from the inn!"

The third formation was yellowish-brown and had green limbs coming out of it. Polly spoke their dreaded name, "Mud Men!"

"Grubhog!"

"Zapapedes!"

"Veggie-Robo!"

Anne turned around and saw more, this time they resembled enemies of the past, more specifically, the Fallen. "That's the Fox Fallen!"

"The Road Runner Fallen!"

"Judro Hassleback!"

"The Pangolin Fallen!"

"The Roc Fallen!"

All four of them gasped when they saw, "The Snake-Wolf Fallen!"

Anne sniffled as she cried, "Who knew coral came in such varietyyyyy…!". Anne reached out and group hugged the Plantar clan as they all sobbed together.

Unfortunately, this was causing a scene that was making the other patrons feel uncomfortable. Finally, a security guard walked up to the sobbing four and said, "Excuse me, folks, but I'm gonna have to ask you to leave. Your misery is scaring the efts."

The guard pointed to a female newt matron who had three young newts with her. One of them was about to start crying, but the matron quickly snapped at him, "Hoop! No emotion!", which immediately silenced the newt child.

Anne stopped her sobbing and sighed as she said to her froggy family, "Sorry, guys. Looks like my grand plan for a sadness-free day at the aquarium is a total bust."

The security guard was feeling kind of bad for them, he did not know what the source of their misery was, but he did feel that he should at least try and offer a solution. "Well, if you folks are feeling blue, you could try the Stingray Stage Show. Always cheers me up."

Anne shot up to her feet, excited by the prospect of a stage show. "Ooh, a stage show? Those are the best!" Then a thought occurred to her. "Wait. Did we have any run-ins with stingrays? Anything even slightly resembling a stingray? Any Fallen that resembled a stingray?"

"Nope," said Polly.

"Don't think so," Sprig answered.

Anne smiled and declared, "Then let's go! This is going to be great!"

It was great, until it was not. During the stage show, they had a run in with giant water snake that, once again, reminded them of a past event back in Wartwood. Surprising absolutely no one, this led to Sprig getting knocked into the pool and nearly got eaten by two stingrays. But thanks to the four of them working together, they were able to defeat the two rays. And then got themselves banned from the Aquarium, just another normal day for the Plantars. Despite how all that went, it did help to alleviate their sadness a bit. However, time passed, and the hour of their departure had come. The sun was starting to set, bathing the sky in hues of yellow, red, and orange. Anne and Marcy watched as the Plantars loaded their last bit of luggage in the fwagon, they knew that at some point this moment would come, but Anne was not expecting it to come this soon.

"Have a safe trip back, Plantars. Let us know when you get the music box, and we'll send someone to come get it," said Marcy.

Hop Pop closed one of the hatches on the fwagon before turning around and offering his hand to Marcy. "Thank you kindly, Marcy. We will." Marcy reached out and shook the old frog's hand gratefully. "Take care of Anne fer us. Y'all are good together, so make sure you cherish what ya have, and don't let those Fallen beat ya."

Marcy nodded confidently. "You have my word. We'll protect each other."

Hop Pop released Marcy's hand, he then joined his grandchildren in one more group hug with Anne.

Marcy watched all this transpire, and now her own heart grew heavy. Am…I am doing the right thing?

"No more tears y'all. We'll see each other again," said Hop Pop.

Anne sniffled. "Will we though? And when?"

Hop Pop sighed. "Ah don't know, but we're family, and family always finds each other." Hop Pop grabbed Polly and brought her with him to the fwagon.

Only Anne and Sprig were left. The two surrogate siblings wasted little time in going into their elaborate handshake as they said together, "Spranne against the world!" The two shared a laugh, but it was brief as they embraced each other for the last time. Sprig hopped away and onto the fwagon, now alongside his sister and grandfather. Hop Pop snapped Bessie's reins and had the large snail move.

Marcy waved them goodbye, all while Anne was still kneeling on the ground. "I'm sorry, Anne. This just made the most sense."

"I know…I know." Anne stood back up and wiped away her tears. "You're right, Mar-Mar. It's the logical thing to do. I mean, we just got back together, and now we're together-together. It'd be selfish of me to just leave you alone after everything we've been through."

Marcy's eyes stung with her own tears. "Selfish"…That's what I'm being right now. Anne's not always a logical person, she follows her heart. I love that about her, it's because she followed her heart that we're even together now, and here I am asking her to not do one of the things that I love about her. What kind of girlfriend am I?! Marcy cleared her throat and quickly said, "Y'know, the more I think about it, maybe sending a servant to get the music box isn't such a good idea. We need someone looking after that thing the second Hop Pop gets it back. Someone we trust."

Anne turned her head to look at Marcy, she could not believe what she was hearing. "Mar-Mar…but…you and me…"

"Anne, I've waited to be your girlfriend since we were little, and now we are. You going back to Wartwood isn't going to change that. We're girlfriends now, and we'll be girlfriends when I see you again. Besides, I'm sure I can handle the preparations here by myself. I'll just come pick you up on the way to the first…" Before Marcy could finish her sentence, Anne quickly embraced and kissed Marcy on the lips. Marcy closed her eyes and basked in the moment of this show of affection. When Anne broke the kiss, Marcy finished her sentence. "…temple."

"I love you, Marcy, and thank you," said Anne.

Marcy blushed and smiled a big smile. "I know. Now go! Follow your heart! Anne Boonchuy!"

Anne took a few steps back, her dark brown irises shifted to blue as azure lightning arced around her legs. "I'll see you soon, Marcy." Anne turned around and dashed after the Plantars, kicking up a dust plume in her wake. Anne ran freely down the street as her heart swelled with joy, Marcy was okay with her staying with the Plantars a bit longer, and Anne was happy to spend just a bit more time with them.

As Anne sped down the road, she passed by Doris and said, "See you, Doris!"

"You go get 'em, girl!" Doris replied.

Gertie saw a blue light approaching and cried out, "Hey, Anne, wanna try my new gnatchos?!"

"Next time, Gertie!"

Priscilla and Pearl spotted the familiar blue glow in the distance, the retired newt solider then cried out, "Next year we'll have a proper endin' to that derby! Until then, don't you go dyin' on me, Anne!"

"Wouldn't dream of it, Priscilla!"

"Say hi to your mother for me, Anne!" Pearl exclaimed.

"I will!"

Anne kept running, but when she got to the gates of the city, she shut off her power, not wanting to electrocute Bessie by accident. The Thai girl kept running and running until she spotted the fwagon and Bessie, she sped up and got in front of the huge snail, bringing the snail and the fwagon to a halt.

Hop Pop was the first to react as he exclaimed, "What in the – Anne?!"

"I'm coming with you to Wartwood!" Anne announced.

"YAY!" Sprig yelled joyfully.

Hop Pop smiled broadly as he said, "Glad to have ya back, Anne."

"Hop on up here, sister," said Polly.

Anne got onboard the fwagon where she was hugged by all three members of the family.

"Thank Frog! I really didn't know how I was gonna make it without you!" Sprig confessed.

Anne sighed happily. "Now, let's go home."

Hop Pop snapped the reins, and the reunited family was back on the road again.

Marcy was still standing there, watching the sun set. She did the right thing, she believed she did, and yet, it still hurt her to know that Anne was gone. A small part of her, the jealous part, resented Anne for choosing the Plantars over her. But that was quickly snuffed out, Anne cared about her, and what she said earlier was the truth. They will be together, and it would not be long before she reunited with her girlfriend.

Still…I finally got her back, and I feel as if I didn't have enough time with her. But once we charge the stones, and defeat The Night, will we still be able to stay together?

Marcy knew the answer to that, it was the only thing she dreaded more than anything. The dream, the fantasy, it would all come to an end the moment that they returned to Earth. Marcy doubted that her disappearance would put a halt to her family moving out of state. Oh sure, it would be delayed a few weeks, maybe a couple of months, tops, but it did not change the fact that Marcy would be far away from Anne. The thought of separating from Anne saddened her, when she compared it to this moment, it was insignificant, the distance between her and Anne here was much shorter compared to what it will be back home. Tears fell from her eyes, Marcy tried to wipe them away, but they would not stop.

"Always sad to see someone go, isn't it?"

Marcy stopped her crying and turned around, and there she saw King Andrias.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I…I don't know…I'm scared…I'm scared that once we recharge the stones and defeat the evil here in Amphibia, that our relationship, all of it, will just be a fantasy when we get back. That the harshness of our world will dissolve whatever we built here in Amphibia." Marcy confessed. "Here, Anne and I can be together, here in Amphibia, we can be heroes! I've changed, she's changed, and I'm sure Sasha has to some degree! Who knows how much more of our potential we can unlock just by being here! …But I can't deny Anne her family. My parents might not listen to me, but Anne loves her mom and dad. I know she misses them…" Marcy started to sob again. "What kind of monster am I that I want to keep my best friend and lover away from her own family?!"

King Andrias stepped closer and got down on both knees. Without really thinking, Marcy ran into the king, pressing her face against his large, armored chest as she continued to sob. Andrias used his right index finger to stroke Marcy's back in a soothing fashion. "There, there, Marcy. It's alright. But, you know, what if this didn't have to end?"

Marcy managed to collect herself enough to look up at the king and ask, "Wha…What do you mean?"

"I have a proposition for you, Marcy, and I think you'll find it very interesting." The king opened his large palm and gestured with his head for Marcy to hop on. When the human girl sat in his right palm, Andrias stood to his full height and began walking back to the palace. "I've been thinking, Marcy. Who says you have to go home right away? The book already says that the music box can open portals to other worlds, and not just to yours."

"Y-Yes, I remember," said Marcy.

"Well then, why don't you both continue your adventures? That older human who came and took back Luz Noceda, he did say that there were worlds with other Riders. And you and Anne still possess your powers, why not continue being Riders, being heroes across the multiverse?" Andrias suggested.

Marcy thought on the king's words for a moment. "I mean…that would be wonderful, amazing even."

"I'm sure Luz Noceda would like some help in her world against those Phantom creatures. You all could hop between your worlds, help each other defeat the evils that plague our world and hers. And, as a bonus, you can also give that girl a way back to her home. Once we study up on the box a bit more, I'm sure you'll be able to operate it so that it can take you to and from Earth and wherever it is you may want to go. The end of one adventure, Marcy, is the beginning of another."

The more Marcy thought about the king's suggestion, the more it excited her. Andrias was right, the end of one journey was the beginning of another. Who said only Amphibia needed the help of the Riders? What if there were other worlds in need of help? Who did not have heroes to fight for them? And what of Luz? She was fighting against her enemies alone, and probably outnumbered. Even Anne could not say no to helping out their new friend.

"But…what if Anne says no? What if Sasha says no, too?" Marcy asked.

"I'll help you, Marcy. We'll convince them together that your time in Amphibia, while harrowing at times, has led them to become stronger individuals then they could ever become back in your world. And so long as you assure them that you all can visit your world any time you wished, I don't see why they would have a problem with that."

Marcy did not want this to end, she wanted to be with Anne forever, she knew she was probably thinking too far ahead into the future, and it just may be teenage hormones and the emotions of the moment. But Marcy did not want her relationship with Anne to end, she did not want their friendship to end, not with Anne, or with Sasha. It was always the three of them, and in the end it would be.

"Okay, King Andrias, please, help me decipher more about the music box. I want to learn all I can from that book!" Marcy pleaded.

"Oh, my dear, we'll decipher the heck out of that book!" Andrias declared.

A wide smile appeared on Marcy's face as she looked forward to the palace ahead. Andrias had a smile on his face too, but a smile that was more akin to a fox who just tricked a little chick into wandering into his den. For a split second, the king's crown had a glowing orange eye that looked directly at Marcy Wu. Everything was going according to plan, so far.