Heroes From Another World!

by Michael Ravencroft

A prophecy will be fulfilled as Anne, Marcy, and Sasha take the first step in bringing it to fruition. The Night seeks their destruction and employs its servants to bring about the destruction of the human girls, however, it did not anticipate them awakening to the hidden power within them. Now the girls must master their new powers, and become the heroes they were meant to be.

19. Episode 19: The Temple of Mind

It was the next day after what happened between Hop Pop and Anne, but it seemed as if things had been smoothed over. Today was more than likely the day when Marcy would arrive, and everyone was up bright and early, and ready to go. Hop Pop was busy making chocopede pancakes, while the kids were sitting at the table scarfing them down. Out of everyone, Anne was enjoying them the most, while she had taken to eating bugs in this world, much to her displeasure, she had yet to find something that reminded her of home. But that ended today when she ate the chocopede, which as its name implies, tasted exactly like the Earthly confection.

"Hmm! Dang! Who knew there was a bug that tastes just like chocolate? Why didn't anyone tell me sooner?!" Anne demanded to know as she pounded her fist on the table. Which inadvertently allowed the chocopede she was about to eat to escape.

Polly finished one of her pancakes and said, "Hop Pop! You never let us have chocopede pancakes. What's going on?"

Hop Pop came back to the table with a huge stack of chocopede pancakes and replied, "I thought you kids deserved a treat after, well…"

"You lied and buried the music box, causing Anne to almost leave the family forever?" Sprig remarked.

Anne and Polly gasped; they had tried not to bring that up since yesterday and had agreed that it was in the past. But, judging from the look on Hop Pop's face, it clearly was not.

"Mm, boy am I glad Anne forgave you. Some people would carry the scars of that betrayal for life. Not you two, though," said Sprig as he ate his pancake.

"Sprig!" Polly chastised as she punched his shoulder.

"What?" he asked.

Anne and Hop Pop gave each other awkward glances. The human chuckled nervously as she began to cut into her pancake.

"…I hope you like pancakes," said Hop Pop in a timid fashion.

"Uh-huh," Anne replied with an uneasy smile.

"Ah-Ah-Ah made the batter from scratch, you know. Uh, been up since the crack of dawn, mixin'."

"Oh…great…!"

The atmosphere was tense, and extremely awkward, making Anne pray internally to whatever deity would listen to her to help her get out of this situation. As if hearing her prayer, the screeching of a bird cut through the tension and garnered their attention.

"I'll get it!" Hop Pop stated as he left the room.

"Oh thank Frog," Anne sighed in relief.

"Kids, somethins' comin'!"

Anne, Sprig, and Polly joined Hop Pop at the front door. All four of them went outside and watched a giant sparrow descended from the sky and landed on the ground in front of their house. The sparrow had white and rust colored feathers, it also had a scar over its left eye, and was wearing an armored helmet and chest plate, and for some reason had a pile of books on its back.

Hop Pop screamed in terror as he said, "A monster bird, ridden by a pile of books! Wait, huh?"

Just then something popped out of that pile of books, or rather someone. "Hiya, Plantar family!"

"MARCY!" the kids exclaimed.

Marcy dismounted the giant sparrow, and in so doing flopped onto the ground. "Big news, everyone. I finished my preparations for the –Whaa…" Marcy's attention was gripped by the Plantar family home, and the farm around it. "Is this your house?! Oh, it's so rustic and cute! When was it built?" Marcy began rifling through her books as she tried to determine the year the house was made. "Third century? No. No, no, no. Second. Yes, of course. Okay, when it was af–!"

"Marcy Wu!" Anne interrupted.

"Huh?"

Anne walked up to her girlfriend, exaggerating her hip movement just a bit as she stood before the teen genius and crossed her arms over her chest. "You haven't seen your GF in weeks, and the first thing you gush over is a house? Wow, glad to know where I stand."

Marcy suddenly realized what she had done and panicked. "OMG! I-I can't believe I did that! Of course, I missed you, Anne! Y-You are important to me! I'm so sorry! I just got caught up in the scenery and-and–!" Marcy was suddenly silenced by Anne stepping closer and planting a soft kiss on the rambling girl's lips.

Anne stepped back a little, blushed, and said, "I'm just messing you. Quit spazzing out."

Marcy shook her head and blushed as well. "S-Sorry, but I mean it. I really did miss you."

"Awww," Polly and Sprig gushed.

"Shoot, I really should've brought you a present. I mean, I'm still wearing the one you gave me, but I really should've been looking for one to bring you, too. Maybe I can fashion one from –?"

"Marbles. Focus. Said something about, big news?"

Marcy shook her head; she was getting sidetracked. "Oh, right. I finished my prep and we're ready for the first temple!"

"Awesome!" Anne exclaimed.

"I just need to see the music box. Then it's go-time, gang! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! Yeah-ya!" Marcy began punching the air excitedly, ready to take on this quest that was laid out before them. After a few seconds she calmed down. "Sorry, sorry. Long flight. A lot of pent-up energy. Anyway, music box."

Anne went back into the house and came back with her backpack. She then placed it on the ground grabbed the music box inside.

"Good thing she didn't show up a few days ago, am I right?" Sprig asked as he lightly elbowed his little sister.

Polly glared at her brother and retorted, "Okay, seriously, you need to stop."

Ignoring that comment, Anne brought out the music box and presented it to Marcy. "Here you go."

Marcy walked up to Anne and cracked her knuckles. She took the offered music box and began scrutinizing the object. "Okay, if my studies are correct, then…" Marcy pressed down on a few spots of the music box and waited.

The music box's key turned around as a little jingle played. After the jingle ended, the three gemstones rose out of the box, and Marcy plucked the dulled out green gemstone, allowing the other two to return to their resting spots. Everyone was impressed by her knowhow of the box, seeing her weeks of preparation and research in action.

"Here you go, bud," said Marcy as she handed the box Hop Pop.

Hop Pop nervously looked at the music box. "Oh…uh…Ah-Ah better not."

"Huh?"

"It's nothing!" Anne quickly interjected as she grabbed the music box and put it back in the backpack. "Don't worry about it."

Marcy shrugged and decided to take Anne's word for it. "Well, we've got a big journey ahead. I'll explain everything on the way. Come on, Joe." Marcy clapped her hands, calling for the bird. "Joe?" Marcy glanced about the area and then gasped, "Joe Sparrow!"

When she located Joe Sparrow, he was busy courting Bessie the snail, flaring his wings, and strutting his stuff as he wiggled his brow at her. Bessie chirped and blushed bashfully at Joe's attempts to woo her.

"Joe! Leave that snail alone!" Marcy exclaimed, which gave Bessie time to leave and head to the barn. "Okay, well, that was embarrassing. Anyway, all aboard gang!"

"Wait, why didn't you bring Machine Zefyr? Can it not do long distance flying?" Anne asked.

"Oh no, it's here." Marcy inhaled deeply and yelled, "COME, MACHINE ZEFRYR!" The familiar sounds of the motorcycle echoed through the air. A few moments later, the bike appeared out of the sky and landed next to Marcy. "Machine Zefyr's good for when I want to get around, but for a journey like this, we needed more room. And although you could ride Machine Stormer to the temple, it can't fly, and I'm not completely sure how good the terrain is around the temple."

"Ah, makes sense," said Anne.

Marcy hopped onto Joe Sparrow, throwing some of her books up there as well. Next came Anne, followed by Polly and Sprig.

Anne was pressed a bit close to Marcy, causing her to blush a little. "Oop, pardon me. Pretty cramped up here, huh?"

Marcy blushed again and remarked, "I don't mind it that much."

Anne was happy to have Marcy back.

Hop Pop walked up and noticed that there was not much room for him now that the kids had piled into the seats. "Oh, uh, eh, so where do Ah sit?

---

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Hop Pop screamed.

The old frog was unfortunately given the assignment of being carried in Joe's talons. The team was high in the sky as they soared through the clouds, on their way to the first temple. Anne had thought to tell Marcy about what she found out about the "Calamity Box" and her theory about it, but figured she save that for when the mission was complete. Besides, the temple might reveal more things about the music box, so Anne wanted Marcy to go into this without any preconceptions. After all, it was just theory, and she did not want to be wrong.

"So, according to my research, these three ancient temples are filled with difficult challenges to keep out the unworthy. All we have to do is complete the challenges, and then we can charge the stone," Marcy explained.

"Nifty. So, what kind of challenges we talkin'?" Anne asked.

Marcy smiled and said, "This first temple is said to specifically challenge your intelligence. So, I'm pretty sure it's full of puzzles. No frog, toad or newt in history has been able to survive it!"

The kids gulped, that was less than inspiring to hear.

Marcy thrust her fist into the air as she proclaimed, "But don't worry, because none of them were Marcy Wu, head of the chess club, master RTS player, straight-A student, except for gym but only because I was reading in class, which only proves my point! And let's not forget, I'm a KAMEN RIDER baby! YEAAH!"

Anne was starting to get a little worried, a bit for them, but mostly for Marcy. "That's all great, Marcy, but be careful. When you get this into something, you tend to tune everything else out."

"Whaatt? Name one time."

"Last year, at the yogurt shop. You were playing and were so focused on your Switch that you kept holding down the lever," said Anne."

Marcy blinked. "Okay, name a second time?!"

"Also, this year, April, you were focused on your Switch during our class's play of 'Peter Pan'. You were supposed to be manning the rope, and because of that, I crashed into the audience."

Marcy blinked again. "Name a third time."

"August, Saturday, five-hundred snakes lose all over the zoo, and you walked straight into it. I saw you, on the news, and rode my bike like a bat of hell to get to you! I had to fight an anaconda, two pythons, one evil eyed boa, and a metric ton of poisonous snakes to get you out of there!" Anne's face turned grim as she said, "I think I may've broken the law as I'm sure some of the ones I killed on the way out were on the endangered species list. And once we got out of there, I swear to God, one of them looked me straight in the eye as if he was saying, 'I know where you live!'" Anne trembled at the memory. "That was the worst Saturday of my life, period."

Marcy, despite hearing of her numerous lapses in judgement, waved off Anne's concerns. "That's called being in 'the zone', Anne. It's pretty much my first superpower before becoming a Rider."

Anne sighed heavily but decided to trust her girlfriend. "Okay, okay. Just don't forget about us. This place is gonna be dangerous, and we're here to help."

Marcy chuckled lightheartedly and said, "Oh, please! Like I could forget you guys. Penny? Sprout?"

"Sprig."

"Polly."

That's a red flag, Anne thought.

"Look, the point is, I'm not gonna let you guys down."

Hop Pop cleared his throat and chimed in. "You know, Ah wouldn't mind being let dOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWNNNN!" Joe Sparrow descended quickly towards a clearing down below. Just before Joe landed, he tossed Hop Pop forward. The old frog skipped on the ground like a pebble on the surface of the water a few times before landing on a giant, green glowing mushroom that looked oddly like a brain. "I'm upside down."

Once Joe was able to land properly, he extended his wing and allowed his passengers to slide down it onto the ground.

"Welcome to Amygdala Woods, everyone, home to the first temple!" Marcy announced.

Anne, Polly, and Sprig "oohed" and "awed" at the sight. There were several more of the strangely shaped mushrooms, as far as the eye could see, in fact, the entire area was littered with them.

"Uh, a little help here?" Hop Pop asked.

Sprig hopped his way over to where Hop Pop was and stared in fascination at the fungus. "Whoa! What are these things?"

Marcy walked over to give him a hand and explained, "Gyromitra esculenta. Also known as brain mushrooms."

Thankfully they were able to unstick Hop Pop, unfortunately, he went flying and landed hard on the ground.

Anne was looking around, with Polly on her head and commented, "A forest full of brains for the intelligence temple? Kinda on the nose, don't you think?"

"Speaking of temples, I think you way overhyped this place," said Polly as she pointed to a dank looking wooden shack a yard away.

Marcy shook her head at the pollywog's insinuation. "No, no, no." The teen genius turned around and pointed at what was behind them. "That's the temple."

The four Plantars turned around and gasped in sheer awe. The temple was enormous, reminding Anne of something close to a Chinese temple of ancient China. There were carvings of newts, frogs, and even some of olms. In front were two waterfalls that spilled into pools, flanking either side of a tall staircase. At the top were three carved frog heads, all three were open mouthed, with two providing the water for the falls, and the middle third being the gateway inside. Above the gate was a brain chiseled from stone, denoting that this was the temple of knowledge. There were some pillars that were scattered about, and they too had carvings, but it was hard to make out as they were broken and damaged, their images worn down by the passage of time.

After seeing that, Sprig headed over to the wooden shack. "So, what's this then?" Once Sprig got there, he opened the door and instantly knew what it was. "Outhouse. It's an outhouse."

Anne was on edge the whole time, they had not encountered any Fallen since they left Newtopia, and from what Marcy told them on the ride to the temple, Newtopia had been quiet as well. It unsettled her. If she was right about the Calamity Box, and The Night's intentions for it, there was a possibility that it would attack them here. But the real question is why the Fallen had stopped at all. Aside from that day Snake-Wolf appeared, there had been no further attacks. It just made Anne worried that The Night was planning something big, and was just gathering its resources, waiting for the right moment to attack. After a couple of minutes, the team made it to the top of the stairs and stood before the temple gates.

"Alright, guys, let's do this thing!" Marcy exclaimed, which echoed for a few seconds.

Hop Pop and Anne both reached for the door and were about to open it but bumped into each other while doing so.

"Oop, sorry about that. After you, dude," Anne insisted.

"Oh, no, no, no. A-After you, my dear," Hop Pop insisted back.

"Oh, don't be silly. I insist."

Marcy watched as Anne and Hop Pop went back and forth insisting that the other go first. This went on for about thirty seconds before Marcy commented, "Those two seem a bit…off. Did something happen?"

"Don't ask," said the brother and sister.

Marcy shrugged and looked around the gate. She found a panel that was sticking out and pressed on it. Suddenly, the doors began to rumble and then both slid open, allowing the team entry into the temple. They marveled at then inside, most of it was covered in moss and vines. One mural was covered in shadow and moss, but if you looked closely, one could see an image of a frog-like monster, and what looked like a human wielding a sword in defiance of the monster.

Before they could go in, Anne held up her right hand and said, "Hold up, I think we should transform before we head inside."

"What? Why?" Marcy asked.

"Who knows what's in there, we should be ready for whatever this thing can throw at us."

Marcy nodded. "You're right, let's do it!"

Anne and Marcy called upon their MetamorphRing Drivers, both girls went into their movements and cried out, "Henshin!" The two teens pressed on the hip devices and were wrapped in domes of azure lightning and emerald wind respectively, and from those domes emerged Amphibia's heroes, Kamen Rider Amp and Kamen Rider Ranger. Sprig was ecstatic to see the girls in Rider form again, the dream team back in action.

However, the moment the two heroes stepped foot into the temple, something happened. The glow of their MetamorphRing Drivers faded, and within seconds their transformations were cancelled, returning them to civilian form within an instant.

"What the heck?! We changed back!" Anne exclaimed.

"Fascinating," Marcy mumbled.

"Did ya lose your powers?" Hop Pop asked.

"I-I don't think so, our Drivers are still here, so…I don't know!"

Marcy hit the flat of her left palm with her right fist and said, "I think it's the temple!"

"Say what?" the Plantars asked.

"The temple must be emitting some kind of energy that acts as a cancelling force against our powers. Maybe it's some kind of failsafe to prevent people who have our kind of powers from using them to cheat," Marcy explained. "I mean, if I used Artificer, I could easily just plow through whatever challenge this temple threw at us, and same for you, you could just smash your way through or melt through whatever is in here."

Anne had to admit, it did make sense. Their powers were like a super cheat code, if this temple was made to test intelligence, then relying on your powers was not a sign of intelligence. Now Anne wondered if this was going to be the same for the other two temples as well.

"I don't like it, but…you have a point. We just need to be extra careful from here on out then."

Keeping that in mind, the group headed inside, and as they did, Polly landed on a panel, causing her to look down. The young tadpole had heard of places like this, and that such places often had panels on the floor that would activate traps, and Polly realized she just might have activated one of them "Uh-oh."

Thankfully the panel did not activate a trap, instead it triggered the lights, making the mushrooms in the chamber emit a green glow that lit up everything inside. In front of them was a giant wall, on the left side was the image of – what looked like – a rubik's cube, below that was some ancient rune markings. On the right was the image of three panels, and below that was more of the rune markings. At the center of the wall was a gemstone carving that linked both sides.

Marcy put her hands against her hips and said, "Did I learn an entire dead language just for today? You better believe I did! Now, let's see." Marcy walked up to the mural, and as if responding to her presence, the markings glowed brighter. "'Keeper of the box, one strong of mind, three trials await, that will return the stones' shine.' Hey, looks like there's three trials, guys." After she was done reading the markings, the wall split into two and revealed a second chamber. "And here we go."

The second chamber had different panels on it, and cobwebs, but nothing else. There was essentially nothing inside it.

"A dead end. Well, we tried our best and that's what counts," said Sprig as he prepared to leave.

Marcy grabbed the little frog boy's head and turned him around. "Hey, come on. There's a puzzle here somewhere. Everyone, look for clues!"

Everyone took a different spot and started searching for anything that could clue them in on what the puzzle challenge was supposed to be. A minute passed and none of them had found a thing, however, as Anne was searching, she stumbled upon something on the floor.

Anne picked up something that looked like a stone rubik's cube. "Guess this is it. Hey-Hey, guess who found the puzzle?" Suddenly, Anne was enshrouded in large green bubble that swiftly lifted her into the air. "Whoa! Whoa! Hey, what's going on?!"

"Frog, help us! A cursed cube possessed by evil magic!" Hop Pop exclaimed.

"No, it's the puzzle! Also, I'm pretty sure that's a magnetic field holding her up," Marcy observed.

"Isn't that what Ah said?"

"Well, whatever it is, all yours, Marbles!" Anne yelled as she tossed the cube at Marcy.

Marcy easily caught the cube, and once she had, the bubble keeping Anne suspended in the air disappeared and immediately wrapped itself around Marcy and lifted her into the air in the middle of the room, letting Anne fall unceremoniously to the ground. "Whoa, this thing's got, like, a zillion permutations. If this temple thinks it can beat me, it's got another thing coming."

Marcy twisted the left side of the cube. When she did, the chamber began to rumble.

"Uh…guys," Polly spoke.

Suddenly, the floor shifted, turning the floor into the wall. Sprig and Hop Pop managed to stick themselves to the wall, allowing Anne to hang onto them both while Polly nested herself in Anne's afro hair.

"Anyone else tasting chocopede pancakes right about now?" Sprig asked queasily.

"Marcy! Can you at least let us know what you're gonna move before you move it?!" Anne cried out.

Does this temple think I'm some kid of amateur? Oh-ho, you have no idea who you're messing with! Okay, I just need to move that there, and move this over here. Yeah, yeah, that's the way. Anne's going to be so impressed with me after this!

It seemed as if Marcy was in "the zone" as she completely ignored Anne's cries and began moving each part of the cube, and in so doing, caused the chamber around her to move along with it. This in turn tossed the Plantars and her girlfriend about like a salad back and forth as the room shifted and moved. Every push of the cube would cause something to happen, pillars rose, the walls moved, the floor shifted, again and again the room would change itself in accordance with the changes made to the cube in Marcy's hands. Anne was really missing the ability to transform, but thankfully, the temple did not take all her power, as she managed to channel the power through her body and into her legs. Allowing Anne to zip around the changing room and move the Plantars out of harm's way.

"MARCY!" Anne yelled.

"Ha! Got it!" Marcy declared as the cube was completed.

The cube glowed in unison with the door, a moment later, it split apart and revealed a staircase that would lead to the next challenge. Anne, Sprig, Polly, and Hop Pop fell from the ceiling and into a pile, since Anne's last position was on the ground, which then changed to be the ceiling upon Marcy's completion of the puzzle.

The bubble lowered Marcy onto the floor and popped, letting her walk about freely. "We did it! One down, two to go. Ha-ha! How fun is this" Marcy spiked the cube like a football and ran to the staircase. "Yeah! Whoo!"

"Wow, Anne, you weren't kidding about her being in 'the zone'," said Polly.

"Not to mention she's a tad overconfident," Hop Pop remarked.

Sprig shrugged. "Still, hard to argue with the results, though."

As the Plantars went to catch up with Marcy, Anne stood there and dragged her right hand down her face. "UGH! Marcy, I swear…I love you, but dang it, you can just…ugh!"

---

Anne and the Plantars caught up to Marcy, who was just standing at the edge of a platform as she eyed the room, and the next challenge. Down below was a floor, with tiles that were different colors, a majority of them were blue, some were magenta, and at least two were green.

"Oh, hey, a dance floor," Anne observed.

Marcy knelt at the edge of the platform and picked up a rock. "Not quite. Watch." She gave the rock a toss over the edge where it landed on a magenta tile.

Upon the rock touching that tile, it sunk in and bellowed out a pillar of flames that incinerated the rock into ashes.

"Woah. Not getting good vibes from this room," said Sprig.

"Welp. Time to turn back. Thanks for playing, everyone!" Polly added.

Hop Pop looked around the room, and when he did, he spotted more of the glowing rune markings, which appeared around the roof of the chamber. "Hold on, gang. Look!"

Marcy looked at where Hop Pop was pointing and immediately began translating the runes. "'A dangerous room. What to do? Don't be jealous of my hue.'"

Everyone looked at Marcy and uttered a collective, "Huh?"

"Who's Hue?" Sprig asked.

"Hmm…I wonder." Marcy grabbed another rock and tossed it directly on one of the blue squares. When the rock landed, the tile sunk, and a five-hundred-pound stone block with spikes fell from the ceiling and smashed the rock to pieces, after a few seconds, the smashing trap was dragged back into the ceiling on a chain.

Anne gulped and then started to think about what she just saw. "Okay, so pink is death by flame, blue is death by crushing. I'm still not following – Marcy!" Anne watched as Marcy jumped off the platform and landed squarely on the green tile. Thankfully, she was unharmed. "Marcy are you mental or something?!"

"Ha! Solved it. Okay guys, listen up. Green is the safe color. Get it?" Marcy asked. She saw the confused looks and clarified, "'Don't be jealous of my hue.' It's a reference to green, the color of envy."

"Ah, yes, naturally."

"Hmm…swell."

Hop Pop raised an eyebrow and said, "I have a lot of green friends who would find that offensive."

Polly looked at the door at the other end of the chamber and noticed that despite Marcy having chosen the right color tile, it remained closed. "But if that's the right color, why hasn't the door opened then?"

Marcy looked around the room and spotted the second green tile. "Hmm. Looks like this is a two-person job. Someone go stand on the other green square."

The Plantars and Anne looked over the edge at the green square. Anne looked at Marcy and asked, "Mar-Mar, are you…sure? Kinda feelin' uneasy about this one."

"Yeah, how do we know that one isn't some kind of trapdoor?" Sprig asked.

"With spikes in it!" Polly added.

"Not helping, Polly," Hop Pop scolded.

Marcy stood up and looked at her companions. "Guys, I've done the research. Plus, it's me, remember? I said I won't let you down and I meant it! Now, who wants to hit that button?!"

Anne, Hop Pop, Sprig, and Polly glanced at each other nervously, each of them sweating bullets. They all figured that Marcy was right, but at the same time, it was still a huge gamble. Who knew if that was the right move or not, for all they knew, the ones who built the temples were a bunch of sadists and just made only one square safe to trick someone into sacrificing themselves thinking it was safe?

The pressure was building, and it forced both Hop Pop and Anne to say at the same time, "I'll do it!"

"Excuse me?"

"Huh?"

Hop Pop raised his hand in a stopping motion and made his way to the edge. "Anne, no. Ah'll do it. The whole point of this is to get you home alive. Ah've already had a good life."

Anne shook her head and quickly said, "Hop Pop. I'll step on the tile. This is my quest. It's my responsibility. Your responsibility is keeping your family safe, not me." Anne pointed to Sprig and Polly for emphasis.

Sprig and Polly could see where this was heading, making Sprig utter an unsettled, "Uh-oh."

Hop Pop turned around and replied, "Ah care about you too, Anne."

Anne chuckled lightly and said, "I mean, to an extent, right? You kinda proved that when you buried the music box."

Hop Pop furrowed his brow. "Now, hold on. That's unfair."

"Listen, Hop Pop, when push came to shove, you made a choice. It's fine. But let's stop pretending I'm part of the family, okay?" Anne asked.

Hop Pop narrowed his gaze as he croaked in irritation of Anne's words.

Meanwhile, Marcy, who was out of earshot while this conversation was happening, patiently waited down below. "Uh…everything okay over there? Can someone please hit the button?"

"Gladly!" Hop Pop exclaimed. "And a-one and a-two–!"

Before Hop Pop could finish his count, or jump, Anne rushed past him and jumped off the platform. Anne could hear Polly and Sprig calling out to her as she fell and hit the green square, but in so doing she lost her balance and fell forward. She caught herself on her hands but touched a magenta tile. Anne screamed as she hurriedly pulled back just before a pillar of scorching flames rose from that tile. Unfortunately, her hurried retreat caused her to fall backwards and touch the blue square behind her. Anne quickly hugged her legs tight as she scooted closer to the middle of the green square just as the half ton spike smasher came down and struck the spot she once touched. Anne kept screaming, wedged between sharp spikes and a blazing inferno. After a few seconds the smasher rose, and the flames died out. Anne chuckled in disbelief that she survived that.

I miss powers. I really, really, REALLY miss my powers! Anne thought.

Suddenly, the square sank in, and right after, all the squares changed to green ones. When the last tile turned, the door opened and revealed a hallway to the next challenge.

Marcy ran to the archway and did a little victory dance, completely ignoring the peril that Anne, her girlfriend, was in. "Whoo! What did I tell ya? This temple is toast! Consider the stone charged, baby!"

"I think I lost an eyebrow," said Anne as they ran to catch up to Marcy.

"Cool!" Polly replied.

Hop Pop, on the other hand, was angry. He had said he was going to jump on the tile, but Anne completely ignored him and did it, despite his willingness to take the risk himself. After he managed to catch up the others, he caught up to Anne and asked, "Why did ya do that?"

"What? I told you why," said Anne.

"Ya don't have yer powers in here, at least not the ones that let ya transform! This whole quest is meant to get ya both back home safe and sound, and that can't happen if ya take such foolish risks and get yerself killed," Hop Pop scolded.

Up ahead, Marcy gasped when she found the stairs to the next room. "This leads to the top floor. That means there's only one puzzle left! Come on, team!"

"Yeah, I get it, but at the same time, neither can you! You have a responsibility to your family, Hop Pop, Sprig and Polly still need you. Yes, I don't have my full Rider powers in here, but compared to you, I'm less likely to get myself killed than you are."

"Ugh, ya keep sayin' 'my family', as if ya don't consider yerself a Plantar," said Hop Pop.

"Again, you kinda already proved just how much you think that. I'm just a human girl from another world, I'm not blood related, I'm just some stranger that you let live in your house. I get it, and I'm grateful that you guys have looked after me, but I'm sure my parents would do the same thing in your shoes, look after their kids first before a stranger."

Sprig was listening to this and tried to get his surrogate big sister and grandfather back on task. "Hey, we kinda need to be a team in here so we don't die, so…"

Hop Pop shook his head. "Ah don't understand, Anne. Ah thought you forgave me?!"

Anne crossed her arms and stared off to the side. "Yeah? Well, maybe I spoke too soon!"

"Spoke too soon?!'

Polly, who was riding on Sprig's head, watched the verbal back and forth between Anne and Hop Pop with concern. Sprig got closer to Marcy, who had her head buried in her journal, allowing Polly to ask, "What do we do, Marcy? This is fun to watch and all, but it could make the last puzzle pretty rough."

Marcy dismissed the pollywog's concern and said, "I'm sure they'll work it out by the time we get there. Probably. Hopefully."

---

An hour, one whole hour had passed, and they were still at it. If anything, it just kept getting worse.

"Ah'm tryin' to tell ya, ya are family, Anne!" Hop Pop argued.

"Yeah, like some obscure distant relative you never heard of who you keep hoping will leave soon," Anne shot back.

"You leave Cousin Rupert outta this!"

"AH-HA! See! That's how you think of me! Well, don't worry, I won't be your problem pretty soon!"

Hop Pop dragged his hands down his face and frustratingly asked, "So there's nothin' Ah can do to fix this?! Not one thing?!"

"Nothing's coming to mind!"

Sprig and Polly were starting to get annoyed by this. "Man, this is long hallway." The young frog boy bumped into Marcy as she came to an abrupt halt.

The group stopped before an archway, and above it was more of the ancient writing.

"Ha! Here we are. The final puzzle. Oh! I'm so excited!" Her excitement was being drowned out by the sounds of Hop Pop and Anne's continual arguing, prompting her to say, "Guys, killing the vibe here." The two quarreling parties stopped. "Thank you. Now, where was I?" Marcy looked at the writing and translated, "'Few have the brains to make it to this door, but are you wise enough to solve what's in store?' Yep! Let's go!"

The team walked the rest of the way in. Once they passed the archway they entered the last chamber, which was mostly empty aside from a table with black and white tiles on it, and on one side were a bunch of frog styled, black chess pieces. Seeing this made Marcy gasp.

"I don't believe it! It's flipwart!" Marcy exclaimed.

Anne gasped as well. "What's flipwart?"

Marcy made her way to the table and explained, "It's a strategy game I learned to play in Newtopia. It's like chess but to the max. I got so good at it; I even beat King Andrias."

Hop Pop was surprised to hear that. "Impressive. They say King Andrias is one of the best flipwart players around."

Marcy nodded and opened a drawer compart under the table, and inside of it were the white pieces of the flipwart board. "So, both sides have a Wart, right? And they're trying to flip it!" Marcy took out a piece that looked like a large toad with a crown on its head and put it on the board. "Each piece has a different set of abilities. These archers, for example, can only attack in a straight line." Marcy took two other pieces that were frogs with open mouths, wearing armor, had a shield, and had their tongue sticking out straight. "Oh, I love this game!"

While Marcy was explaining flipwart, Hop Pop wandered off towards the glowing rune text that was on the wall. "Hmm. Hey, Marcy, what does this say?"

"'Any commander whose wart falls may never set foot inside these temple walls.' Looks like you only get one shot at this." Marcy smiled. "One shot is all I need! But first, to set up the board…"

Sprig sighed, knowing that this next challenge would just be Marcy playing flipwart against the temple came as a relief. "Well, I guess we'll just sit back quietly and watch."

Polly nodded her agreement. "Yeah, it'll be nice to sit this one out cause these flippas be tired."

As Marcy placed another piece on the board, something happened. A green square outlined itself under Polly, and in the next second, that square opened, and Polly fell through it, with the square disappearing right after.

"POLLY!" They all screamed.

At that moment, more lights kicked on inside the chamber, showing that they were on another platform, and below them was something that Marcy had not expected. "A giant flipwart board?" On the other side were the same black pieces that were on the smaller one, but on the opposite wall was the image of a glowing green brain, along with something that resembled circuitry and a spinal cord.

Polly appeared a moment later, except she was on the giant board, and affixed to a stone body that wielded a sword and shield.

"Polly! Are you okay?!" Sprig asked.

"'Okay'? I've got a sword! I'm doing better than all of you!" Polly replied.

Not surprised she'd react like that, thought Sprig.

Anne was starting to get worried, even more than before. The temple seemed to be escalating the stakes with each new chamber, the first one was mild, if they had not been standing in the middle of the chamber when Marcy was doing her thing, then they would have been fine. The second challenge definitely would have killed them if they made the wrong choice, but it was a fifty-fifty gamble, unless you were paying attention, then your odds were higher, and provided you had good balance. This one, well, Anne was not sure what this next challenge was going to bring, but she knew it would not be good.

"Marcy, do you think we should stop? This could get dangerous," Anne warned.

"We don't have a choice, Anne. You wanna get home, right? Then we've gotta play or we'll never recharge the stone," said Marcy.

"She has a point," Hop Pop stated.

"I didn't ask you, Hop Pop!"

Marcy turned around and placed her hands on Anne's shoulders as she looked her in the eyes. "Anne, trust me, okay? You know me. You know how good I am. There's no way I'm going to lose to this thing."

Anne was still reluctant, but she did trust Marcy, more than she did Hop Pop right now. And Marcy was the only one with the genius intellect that could possibly beat this game. "Okay…I hope you know what you're doing."

Marcy continued setting up the board, she placed two more pieces on the board, and the moment she did, both Sprig and Hop Pop were sucked down the floor and reappeared on the giant flipwart board. Hop Pop had appeared with a stone armor chest, a scepter in his left hand, a shield in his right, and a crown on his head.

"Ooh, Ah get a scepter," said Hop Pop.

Sprig appeared next, he too had a stone chest plate, but sported a stone helmet, and wielded a stone spear in his right hand.

"Ha-ha, you're a pawn," Polly mocked.

"Ah man…"

Up above, Marcy glanced over her shoulder at Anne, she had to admit, she was a little worried. One of the next pieces she put down would most likely turn her girlfriend into a piece on the board. "Get ready, Anne. There's a good chance you're next."

Anne squinted her eyes and clenched her fists, prepared to have the floor suck her up and spit her onto the giant board. Marcy set up the rest of the pieces, manifesting them on the giant flipwart board. But when she filled up her side, nothing happened, Anne was still standing there next to her.

"Oh, looks like I'm not in the game. Well, you guys have fun, I guess. AAH!"

She spoke too soon. Anne was sucked down through the floor and reappeared on the giant flipwart board, but on the opposite side. When she appeared, Anne was mounted atop of a heron, wielding a spear, and fitted with a black stone chest plate, and a black stone crown.

"Wait, what?!"

"Anne, no!"

"Traitor!"

Anne shook her head at her friends and said, "No, this is good. I'll just play badly and sabotage the other team. Didn't think of that, did ya, temple?! Ha!" Anne raised the spear weapon and prepared to lop off the head of one her fellow black pieces. "Here we go. Sabotage!" However, before Anne could complete her action, emerald rings appeared around her wrists, and forced her arms to the side. Anne tried to move her body, but whatever the restraints were, they were restricting her movements, she could not even call upon her power. "Okay, this isn't good."

As soon as those appeared, the same thing happened to Polly, Sprig, and Hop Pop.

"What's going on?!" Sprig asked.

"Our hands are tied, literally," said Hop Pop.

Marcy surveyed the situation, she could see that this was not ideal, less than ideal actually. Not only were the Plantars on the board, but now so was Anne, but on the opposite team, and all four of them were somehow being bound to prevent them from making anything that would be determined an "illegal move". This is fine, everything's fine. I can do this, Anne is counting on me, and so are the Plantars. I won't let this temple psyche me out that easily!

"Don't worry, everyone. I'll just play well enough so that none of you gets hurt! It'll be like hard mode! Fun!" Marcy stated.

"You wouldn't be saying that if you were the pawn," Sprig muttered under his breath.

Marcy focused her attention on the board and said, "Okay, white goes first, so it's our move. Let's flip this wart!" Marcy picked up one of the pawn pieces, the none Sprig piece, and moved it forward.

On the giant flipwart board, the designated piece slid forward to the spot relative to the small flipwart board.

"You got this, buddy!" Sprig encouraged.

"Now, let's see how they respond."

One of the black pieces, a chubby toad piece that wielded a mace, glowed and started moving. Anne blew a raspberry in defiance of the piece, since there was not much she was able to do. The piece continued to move until it was right in front of the pawn. The toad piece raised its spiked mace and brought it down on the pawn, smashing it to pieces and strewing it rubble remains across the board.

Sprig watched as the destroyed pawn's head rolled to a stop at his feet. "I don't like this game!"

Okay, that's even more unsettling. So, I can't let any of my pieces check Anne or she'll get blasted, impaled, or…smashed. And I can't let the Plantars be put in check for the same reason…Yeah, this will be like super hard mode. But if this temple is going to make moves like that, than this is going to be easier than I thought.

"Such a basic response. This is gonna be easy," Marcy scoffed as she moved one of her archer pieces across from the toad piece.

The archer's tongue glowed green, and from it the piece fired a green beam of energy that struck the toad piece and blew it up in a single blast. Now the game began in earnest as Marcy made one move after another, countering each of the temple's moves with relative ease, and true to her word, she managed to keep Anne and the Plantars from getting seriously hurt. Unfortunately, they did get scuffed up here and there, but otherwise they were alright. The battle went on for a good five minutes, but for Anne and the Plantars it felt like five hours. All four of them were sweating and panting, completely exhausted from the long-drawn-out battle. But Marcy was a girl of her word, all three of the Plantars were alright, with Marcy retaining a great majority of her pieces, while Anne and the Wart were the last remaining black pieces on the board.

Brimming with confidence, Marcy wiped her brow and took up one of her archer pieces. "Gotta admit, this temple's good, but not good enough!" Marcy placed the piece right across from the black Wart. The archer's tongue glowed as it charged up and prepared to fire. "Gotcha! We win!"

The giant archer piece fired its beam, but right at the last possible second, the black Wart jumped straight up, dodging the beam completely. As if to add insult to injury, the black Wart chuckled mockingly at Marcy, stuck out its tongue at her, turned around, and slapped its butt. Anne's jaw dropped, Sprig was confused, Hop Pop was shocked, Polly was angry, and Marcy, well, she was stone faced for a few seconds before the reality of what just occurred finally hit her.

"NAAAAAANNNNIIIII!? What in the name of 'Two Piece', 'Dragon Claw Mega', and 'My Demon Slayer Academia' was that BS?!" Marcy exclaimed. "This thing cheats!"

After that definitely illegal move, the game continued. The temple moved Anne, bringing her right towards Hop Pop. "AAH! Hop Pop, look out!"

"Huh?" Hop Pop looked up and watched as Anne raised her spear. "AAAH!"

Hop Pop raised is scepter to block the attack, but unfortunately, Anne's spear slashed through the weapon, cutting it in two. Anne hoped that that was enough to sway the temple. It was not, she could feel the temple exerting its will on her, forcing her to attack again. She tried to fight against it, but it was too strong and forced her to strike again. Unable to move, Hop Pop could only stand there as he was struck by Anne's spear again, and again, and again for a total of three strikes.

Hop Pop's face was even more beat up than it was earlier as he tiredly said, "Oo-de-lally, golly, what a day…"

"HOP POP! MARCY, DO SOMETHING!" Sprig begged.

I can't believe this! I won't believe it! This temple is allowed to cheat?! Okay, okay, I get it, you just want to see how I respond when the playing field is unfair, right? That's what you're trying to do! Oooh, you think you're slick, but I see right through you! Marcy thought.

"It's okay! It's okay! So, what if this temple cheats! It's not enough to beat me!" Marcy declared as she moved Hop Pop's representative piece on the small board.

However, whenever Marcy moved his piece, Anne's piece would follow him relentlessly. Each time Hop Pop was given a thrashing by Anne, against her will mind you. Marcy kept trying to make moves, kept trying to figure out a different way to beat this game. "I still have way more pieces. If I can just attack from a different angle, I should be fine! I won't let this temple win, Anne's counting on me! I will not let this temple make me look like a fool in front of my girlfriend!" Marcy muttered under breath.

Hop Pop screamed again as Anne smashed her spear atop his head. The frustration had finally gotten to Hop Pop as he blurted out, "Oh, Ah bet yer loooooooovin' this, ain't ya?!"

Anne shook her head in shock that Hop Pop would insinuate that. "What are you talking about?! No! I'm not enjoying any of this! Am I mad at you? Sure. But I don't want to hurt you!"

"Well, yer already hurtin' me! Every time you remind me of the mistakes Ah made, every time you rub it in my face that Ah let you down. Every time you say that Ah don't see ya as part of this family! Ah mean, what's it gonna take for you to let this go?!" Hop Pop begged.

Anne's mind was racing, she knew he had a point, but at the same time, she could not deny the hurt feelings inside of her from his decision. "Hop Pop, I…I…"

"Just tell me and I'll do it! ANYTHIN'!" Hop Pop asked desperately.

Anne could not take it anymore, all the feelings bottle up inside her, along with her frustration that she knew she could not give him a satisfactory answer, and just let it all out, "I DON'T KNOW!"

Marcy, who was about to make another move, suddenly snapped out of her self-induced trance and finally took notice what was going on before her.

"I just need time. Look, I want things to go back to the way they were. I want to feel like how I used to when we were together…I want to trust and believe in you again…but – but –" Anne could not finish her sentence as she began to sob.

Hop Pop looked upon the young girl and sighed dejectedly. Despite him saying that he wanted to know what to do to make it up to her, deep down, he was just trying to make himself feel better. Hop Pop had messed up royally, and the bond of trust they had forged over these past four months was broken. And that was his fault and no one else's. Begging Anne's forgiveness was not going to help anything if it was just forced, that was not helping her or him.

"Ah'm sorry, Anne. What Ah did, did more than just hurt yer feelins'. Ah broke our bond, and it was wrong of me to try and force it back together. You take all the time you need. Maybe it's enough to admit we still got issues, instead of pretendin' they don't exist," Hop Pop admitted.

Anne sniffled as she smiled down at the old man. "I think that'd be good. I'd hug you except, you know, magical restraints."

Marcy watched this, and everything else that was happening on the battlefield. Sprig holding the severed head of one of the pawns, and Polly bellowing out a war cry. What…What have I been doing…Anne was right, I got so focused on the game that I…I completely tuned everything out. Including her, the girl that I've been pining for since I was little, my girlfriend! Marcy was brought out of her thoughts as she watched as Anne was forced to raise her spear again, and no doubt that would be the final blow for Hop Pop. "No! Hop Pop, Anne! Who cares about this stupid game?! I forfeit!" Marcy tipped her Wart over, throwing the game. However, the game was still happening down below. "It's not working! Maybe I have to flip the big Wart, too!"

Marcy jumped off the platform and onto the giant flipwart board. Upon doing so, red lights began to strobe, along with a klaxon alarm going off around the room. The white Wart turned around to face her, and as it did, the two white archers moved in front of it to defend the white Wart. Their tongues charged up, but instead of green energy, they fired red energy beams right at Marcy. The teen genius called upon her power, granting her greater agility and reflexes as she dodged each of the beams, however, some of the other pieces came in to intercept her, preventing Marcy from getting closer to the Wart. She was forced to retreat, taking cover behind Sprig as he used his shield to block the energy beams.

"What new madness is this?!" Sprig asked.

"I'm trying to throw this game, but it won't let me! I need your help!" Marcy stated.

Sprig raised an eyebrow. "Help? How?"

"Yeet!"

"'Yeet'?"

Marcy picked up Sprig and threw him straight for the white Wart.

"YEEEEEEEEEET!" Sprig screamed as she flew through the air.

The white Wart was taken by surprise, granting Sprig enough time to crash into it with his shield and knock the white Wart off its pedestal and onto the ground. The piece squealed like a pig for a few seconds before it exploded into several pieces. Marcy panted from the endeavor and dropped down onto her rear as she hugged her legs close to her.

Once the white Wart had been defeated, all the pieces, black and white, began to dissolve into piles of dust that littered the playing field. The green brain on the opposite wall, which had been glowing during this entire game, shut down, cutting off some of the light in the room. The Plantars and Anne groaned from their whole ordeal, tired and beaten from just the last challenge alone.

Anne looked up and saw Marcy sitting on the floor. "Marcy! Marcy, I don't understand."

"Yeah, why'd you throw the game?" Hop Pop asked.

Marcy rested her arms on her knees as she said, "Because it wasn't worth you guys getting hurt. I got so caught up in proving I was smart enough to win, I couldn't see what I was about to lose. You were right, Anne, I lose sight of everything that's important to me when I'm like that…I almost lost you, and almost lost your adopted family. I don't deserve to be your girlfriend…"

Anne furrowed her brow and hugged Marcy close to her. "Heh, well, then we're even. 'Cause sometimes, I think I don't deserve a genius like you for a girlfriend."

"Anne…"

"Marcy, the important thing is you realized what was important to you in the end. And it wasn't winning, it was us. I don't care what this temple says, you are and will always be the smartest person I have ever met," said Anne wholeheartedly.

Marcy sniffled as she hugged Anne back. "Thank you."

"Anne's right, and in your defense, that game was a ding dang cheat!" Sprig stated.

"Yeah! I still think you're pretty smart. A little obsessive, though," said Polly.

Marcy chuckled a little. "Thanks, Sprig, Polly." Just then, green glowing arrows appeared on the floor, and three big ones around the exit. Marcy grumbled, figuring that the temple was mocking her by helping her to find the exit. "I got it, temple. I wasn't smart enough to win, but I can find the exit, okay?!"

As the group was about to leave, Hop Pop found himself going down to one knee, mostly out of exhaustion and the pain from the beating he got.

Anne saw that he was having trouble, so she went over to him and asked, "Need a lift old-timer?"

"I'm not that old! But, yes, thank you."

Anne lifted Hop Pop onto her back and gave him a piggyback ride out of the temple.

---

By the time the group made it out of the temple, night had fallen. Anne let Hop Pop down and went over to Marcy who was still beating herself up over what happened in the temple.

"Look, I know we didn't get to charge the stone, but we can try again," said Anne.

"I know. But since I lost, I won't be allowed back into it. You guys will have to try it all again without me. I'm sorry, if I had been more aware of what was happening around me, you all wouldn't be in the states you're in," said Marcy.

Anne draped her right arm over Marcy's shoulders and brought her girlfriend into a half hug. "We'll manage…babe."

Marcy blinked. "'B-Babe'? Y-You called me 'babe'?"

Anne rubbed the back of her hand with her free hand nervously. "S-Sorry, I was testing it out…guess it sounds weird coming from me, huh?"

Marcy blushed and said, "I-I don't think I'd feel right saying that. But, from you, I like it."

"Hey, lovebirds, the failure arrows want us to keep going this way," said Polly.

Indeed, the glowing green arrows were still appearing, strangely, on the earthen ground.

Marcy sighed dolefully and said, "Well, if we're gonna lose, might as well lose all the way."

The group continued following the "failure arrows", they were unsure as to where the arrows were taking them. They had already lost the final challenge, what else could the temple have in store for them? Eventually, the group made it to the end, and where the arrows took them was confusing and a bit insulting.

"What? The outhouse?" Sprig questioned.

Now Anne was angry, it was one thing to have to show them the way out, but now the temple was leading Marcy to an outhouse. "Okay, so, I'm going to go over there and bust a few holes in this temple. No one calls my girlfriend a piece of–!"

"Wait!" Marcy interrupted. The teen genius walked closer to the outhouse and opened the door. "Oh…my…God…" The entire inside of the outhouse was aglow with ancient markings, like the ones found in the temple. The inside was wall to wall marked, the ceiling, all three walls, all of it was glowing with diagrams and ancient runic markings. It was too good to be true, it could not be so, but it was. "No. It can't be. Guys, this is where we charge the stone!"

"WHAT?!" They exclaimed.

"But we failed the last test, how's that possible?" Hop Pop questioned. The group went further in, Marcy knelt before the opening at the back of the outhouse and dusted it off. "Uh, Ah wouldn't recommend touchin' that."

Upon touching the area around the hole, something occurred. A small, winding pillar rose out of the hole to about Marcy and Anne's waist height. And once it had, the mural on the back wall illuminated new words in a blank space that was made for it. "'Only the worthy will have the wisdom to choose whether it's more important to win or have the humility to lose. A choice was made to save thy friends and, honestly, doesn't that make you a winner in the end?'"

"That last part was oddly casual," Anne remarked.

Marcy facepalmed herself as she realized just what the final test of the temple truly meant. "Of course! Why didn't I think of it sooner?! The temple wasn't just testing for intelligence. It was also testing for humility!"

"Well don't give the temple a chance to change its mind. Charge that bad boy!" Polly urged.

Marcy took out the gemstone from her pocket, ever so carefully, she placed it into the slot on the pedestal. Suddenly, green energy began to flow around the stone, building up, becoming brighter and brighter. Marcy could not take her eyes off the charging stone, but what no one noticed was that Marcy's eyes had shifted to her green color, but then that light started to dim. The power was returning to its original vessel. But something else occurred, when the charging reached its apex, the gemstone released a burst of emerald light that shined forth from the outhouse and blinded everyone for a second. In that instance, a spark of green energy, like a twinkling star, floated out of the stone and into the MetamorphRing Driver still around Marcy's waist. The light finally dimmed, and when it was over, the gemstone's luster had been restored, it was no longer a dull green, but a bright shining emerald green color.

"Did…Did we do it?" Anne asked.

"We did…We did it! We charged the stone!" Marcy exclaimed happily as she hugged Anne and kissed her on the lips. "Oh…uh…s-sorry, I got a little overexcited."

Anne smiled, a replied, "Don't be sorry, I knew you could do it, Mar-Mar."

"I can't believe it! The first stone, and it's charged," said Sprig as he looked closer at the gemstone. As he did, the gemstone released a beam of light that made him and Hop Pop duck down. "Whoa!"

"What's this about?" Polly asked.

Marcy released Anne and got closer to the gemstone. She carefully put her hand into the beam, thankfully, it did not burn her. The teen genius picked up the stone and noticed that the beam kept pointing in one direction, no matter which way she did point it, the gem's beam would not deviate from where it was pointing. "Guys, I think this light is leading us to the next temple!"

"Sweet, at least we'll have a magical GPS this go around," Anne commented.

Just then, the team heard Joe Sparrow making alarmed chirping noises outside. Anne, Sprig, Marcy, Hop Pop, and Polly hurried out of the outhouse to see what was going on, and when they did, they gasped. Standing at the top of the stairs of the temple, was a creature. It had large black feathered wings, with a rusty colored fur body that had black lines that formed the emblem of The Night on its chest, its hands had long white claws that stuck out of from the gabs in its knuckles. More bone white spikes came out of its shoulders, and some formed a crown around its head. The monster had a mammalian snout, but its legs were like that of a bird's, black in color, with the only color being its white talons. This new chimera Fallen that had come for them, stared them down with gleaming yellow eyes, growling, and ready to kill.

"You have got to be kidding me…NOW the Fallen appear?!" Anne exclaimed.

"And it's another combo monster, like the one from the market," said Sprig.

"Yeah, but this one's different," said Polly.

Marcy stared at the monster for a moment and said, "If I had to take an educated guess, its wingspan and coloring reminds of a California condor, and the body, snout, and claws, make me think it's a wolverine. A Wolvidor Fallen?"

"Whatever you want to call it, we'll name it after we take it down!" Anne stepped forward but paused as she groaned. Feeling the aches and pains from their ordeal in the temple. "Dang it…"

Marcy furrowed her brow and stepped forward, putting herself between Anne and the Wolvidor Fallen's line of sight. "No, Anne, you sit this one out. Between the two of us, I'm more fit for combat right now. You'll be the last line of defense."

"What?! No! The last time I fought one of these things, I went into lightning mode to beat it! And that just happened on its own! We have to work together to beat it!" Anne stated.

The teen genius kept her back turned to Anne, but glanced over her shoulder as she said, "I'm in the zone, again, Anne. But this time, I'm focused on not just beating this thing, but keeping you and the Plantars safe. Trust me." Marcy returned her gaze to the Fallen at the top of the steps. "I will never lose sight of what's important to me, not now, not ever!"

Suddenly, the MetamorphRing Driver underwent its own transformation as emerald light shined from the crystal at its center. Everyone, even the Fallen, closed their eyes from the blinding light. When it was over, Marcy looked down and saw that the face of the MetamorphRing had changed. It now had a gold triangle-like faceplate on it, with three gemstones similar to the music box. One was magenta and placed at the upper right, another was blue and at the upper left, and the last was green at the bottom of the triangle. The crystal was still shining green, but the devices on the sides of the belt were also green, and no longer had the deep blue or black of the Artificer or Shadow Forms.

"Marcy…what happened to your Driver?" Anne asked.

Marcy could not believe it, but it was right there, staring her in the face, and wrapped around her waist. She turned to face Anne, grabbed her girlfriend's shoulders, and happily exclaimed, "Anne…I think I just unlocked my Super Form!"

Sprig's jaw fell open.

"What's that now?" Hop Pop asked.

"Her Super Form, Hop Pop! Like in Anne's show, it's when a Kamen Rider's powers have gotten way stronger!" Sprig explained.

Anne looked at the new addition to Marcy's belt and then back up at Marcy herself. "Heh, guess I lose the bet, you got yours first."

Marcy leaned forward and kissed Anne on the cheek. "Wait here Anne, mama's gonna clean house."

For some odd reason, Anne got excited from hearing Marcy say that.

The Wolvidor Fallen pointed its right finger at Marcy and proclaimed, "Calamity of Mind, my master wishes you dead."

"Oh, so you can string together a sentence better than your predecessors. This might be good." Marcy changed up her transformation motions, when she was through, the teen genius cried out, "HENSHIN!"

Marcy pressed down on the two hip devices, and immediately, the teen was wrapped in a tornado of emerald wind. Anne and the Plantars backed away as they watched a bright light shine from within the tornado. The center of that tornado bulged out, and in the next moment, it burst apart, revealing a newly transformed Kamen Rider Ranger.

Ranger's white hood and cape were now replaced by one made of pure energy that swayed in the wind that swirled around Ranger. Her helmet still sported the same "V" shaped visor, but on the sides of the helmet were glowing butterfly wing frills. Her shoulder pauldrons had changed into half-moon shaped rings that had ancient sigil markings etched into them. Both of her forearms were covered by gloves that went up her forearms and had a curve at the top. The left side of her chest was covered in silver armor, also etched with sigil markings, and had green glowing lines running through it, which acted as an extra layer of armor. Under that was a green chest plate that had more of the glowing green lines. Unlike before, now Ranger sported two silver-colored greaves, with green lines running down the middle and along the bottom rim with sigils marks. The green glowing lines had taken on more intricate patterns on her legs, and arms to match her chest plate. And finally, her weapon had changed. It was no longer a crossbow, but a full bow. The body was rounded, with a shallow hole in the center, the arms of the bow were connected to the body and had a wide groove that ran from the tip of the top arm all the way down the middle of the shallow hole, and ending at the tip of the bottom arm, strangely, the weapon had no bowstring.

Ranger flexed her right hand, she could feel a great power inside of her, this was definitely her Super Form, the power she felt surging through her body was much more potent than that of her Trinity Form by a mile. But that was not the only thing that had been boosted. Her mind was racing, she could see different angles of attack, possible calculated attack patterns of the Fallen, and could even see the air currents as they flowed around the Fallen, giving her helmet instant data on the monster's micro movements.

"Marcy…are you okay?" Anne asked cautiously.

"Better than okay, Anne."

"So, what do we call this form?" Sprig asked.

Ranger took a moment to think and came up with the name. "Ahura Mazda: Archer Mode! The name of an ancient god of knowledge of myth from our world. My mind is on fire right now, I can tell that this thing might do within an error margin of 1.01%!" Ranger raised her new bow up and aimed it at the Wolvidor Fallen. She moved her right hand as if to draw a bowstring, and as she did, a green energy tether formed between the two arms of the bow. That same energy ran along the grooves at the front of the bow and coalesced at the center. That energy built up until it took the shape of an arrowhead. Ranger drew back on the bowstring, and said, "This is my new weapon, Wind Dancer. Wolvidor Fallen, thank you for showing up. Because you're about to my test subject for this new form!"

The Wolvidor Fallen flared its wings and quickly ascended to avoid the first shot, however, Ranger predicted this and fired her shot straight up. The Wolvidor Fallen saw the incoming arrow and fired the three bone claws from its hands straight at the arrow. The energized claws exploded upon contact, causing an explosion that blew back the Wolvidor Fallen. Ranger took advantage of this and jumped straight into the air, the Wolvidor Fallen managed to stabilize itself, and rose higher into the air to prevent the Rider from getting closer. However, something strange occurred. The wind around Ranger swirled and became denser around her feet. Before she could fall, Ranger kicked off the air itself and began ascending higher, she continued to do this, hopping off the air, jumping higher and higher to catch up to the Fallen.

"Sorry, my eyes are not what the used to be, is Marcy flyin'?!" Hop Pop asked.

"No…I think…she's air jumping?! Like something out of a video game!"

Ranger drew Wind Dancer and began rapidly firing multiple arrows into the air, saturating the airspace in front of her. The Wolvidor Fallen made more of its bone spikes appear from its body and launched them like missiles. The sky erupted with multiple explosions as Ranger's arrows and the Fallen's bone projectiles collided with each other. Ranger air jumped from her current position and began, literally, running on air, hopping, and skipping here and there, as she decided to get a better angle on the monster. Once the angle was right, she fired her arrows yet again.

The Wolvidor Fallen saw this and dodged most of them but used its bone projectiles to counter the ones that were close to hitting it. Just then, the Wolvidor Fallen began making a beeline straight for Ranger. The monster unleashed a barrage of its bone projectiles to try and offset any of her shots and apply pressure to keep Ranger from moving. Ranger took careful aim with Wind Dancer and fired her next shot, however, she held it and turned her back to the monster. The Wolvidor Fallen grinned with grim satisfaction, extending its knuckle claws as it readied itself for the close-range kill. Once it was in range, the Wolvidor Fallen slashed Ranger with all six of its claws, going right through her.

"MARCY!" Anne cried out.

Anne's fears were premature, as upon further inspection, the Wolvidor Fallen was still going through Ranger, or rather, passing through her. The Wolvidor Fallen could not stop as his momentum carried him forward until all his body passed through and appeared on the other end, right where Ranger's bow was aimed. Ranger smirked and loosed her arrow. The arrow struck the back of the Wolvidor Fallen, exploding upon contact, creating multiple sparks that were flung into the air. The Wolvidor Fallen growled in both pain and anger and attacked her again. The beast slashed and slashed, but no matter how many times he swiped his claws, he just kept passing through her, it was as if he was trying to cut through the air itself.

Ranger was about to draw her bow, but the moment she did, the Wolvidor Fallen's claws made contact, slashing at her chest armor, and causing a few sparks to fly as she quickly backed away. The wind Rider touched the spot where the Fallen had attacked and deduced what her error was. "I see, my intangibility only lasts so long as I remain still. I'm vulnerable to attack if I move around. I got too cocky just now, better rain that in." Ranger went still as she sensed the air currents shift, alerting her that the Wolvidor Fallen was attacking again. It was emboldened by its successful hit, and tried to do it again, but just like last time, it passed through her. Ranger willed her energy cape to come to life and wrap itself around the Fallen's leg. "Thanks for helping me figure out my Super Form, but I've gotten all the data I need for now. It's time to put an end to this experiment!"

Ranger used her cape to fling the Wolvidor Fallen high into the air, and with a thrust of her right arm, she focused the wind to gust and strike the monster, forcing him up higher and making the air around him to become so turbulent that it was hard for the monster to regain control. The butterfly wing fins on Ranger's helmet began to shine, along with lines in her armor. Ranger drew her emerald bow string and aimed it high into the sky. Particles of emerald light and wind swirled around the opening of the weapon, and a couple of feet in front of Wind Dancer formed the symbol of Ranger.

"Howling Wind!"

Ranger let loose the arrow, as it passed through the symbol in front of it and howled like a wolf in the night as it soared higher and higher. The wind around the Wolvidor Fallen subsided, just long enough for the arrow to pierce through the monster's chest. A dark halo formed around its head, and right after, the arrow exploded, surrounding the monster in an orb of wind and energy that slashed it into pieces and turned those pieces into ashes. The sphere broke down into particles of emerald light, and when it was over, nothing was left. Ranger nodded; her work was done. The hero of the winds let herself fall gently down to the ground at the feet of the steps to the temple. Upon landing, Marcy released the transformation and smiled happily at everyone.

"Well guys, I'd say overall, today was a very–!"

Marcy passed out and fell flat on the ground after taking only one step forward.

---

A couple of hours passed, but the team had finally returned to the farm. Marcy was brought into Anne's room and laid on her bed. Anne had been sitting on a stool for at least an hour, not leaving Marcy's side for even a second. But their fears were eased when Marcy finally woke up feeling achy and exhausted. After a hardy meal made by Hop Pop, Marcy and Anne decided to hang out outside for a little bit, finding a quiet spot to sit down and looked up into the starry night sky.

"I really should send a letter to the king about what happened today," said Marcy.

"I'll send it tomorrow; you just need to rest up for now. You kinda freaked me out back there when you just collapsed."

Marcy rubbed her sore nose, remembering her fall. "My face is still sore from that."

"That was an epic faceplant," said Anne teasingly.

Marcy elbowed Anne, and Anne gently bumped her back. "Okay, I'll write it up and you can send it to him tomorrow."

Anne smiled as she draped an arm over Marcy's shoulders. "Good. I just hope it's not like that the next time you use that form."

"It might be, I remember when I first used Trinity, I was exhausted."

"Same here."

"I guess it's just like working out a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it gets. Or in our case, the more we use those forms, the easier it is for our bodies to adapt to their power and the strain it puts on us," Marcy theorized.

Anne giggled as she said, "Oh, and what would my precious little nerd know about working out muscles?"

Marcy puffed out her cheeks. "I've read about it! A-And thanks to being the Chief Ranger of the Newtopian Knight Guard, and all this monster combat, I've steadily been gaining muscle mass."

Anne glanced over Marcy for a second. She had to admit, Marcy's physique had changed since their days back on Earth. Marcy was leaner and had some toned muscle where she at one point had none. "I'll give you that, but have you seen this?" Anne picked up her shirt a little and showed off her stomach, which had a bit of a six-pack forming. "Boom!"

Marcy blushed harder and gulped. "Oh…wow…muscles…"

"I'm not getting too buff, am I? I'm trying to stay lean for tennis." Anne asked.

Marcy quickly shook her head. "N-N-No! Y-You're perfect! Y-You look hot – GOOD! – I meant you look good!"

Now it was Anne's turn to blush as she released her shirt, suddenly feeling a bit bashful about having shown her stomach to Marcy. "Wow…uh…heh-heh, I've never been called 'hot' before. I've heard that about Sasha like a gazillion times. But me?"

Marcy turned her gaze towards the ground as she said, "W-Well…I-I think you are. Y-You are hot, to me! Just…um…am I hot?"

"You're cute, like diabetes inducing cute," said Anne.

"I like that, but do you find me attractive?" Marcy asked.

"Don't know, I haven't really paid attention to how you look in the locker room, but if you're willing, we can go into the fwagon, and I can take another look?" Anne teased.

Steam came bellowing out of Marcy's ears as her head felt dizzy. Anne wanted to see her naked, she was asking to see her, without her clothes, did she want to push their relationship that far? Admittedly, I have thought of those things, privately. A-And being in a relationship would entail engaging in such activities down the road, but I didn't think it would this soon! Did seeing me in my Super Form excite Anne?! I do know of some studies that link dangerous situations to increase endorphin levels in one's partner which can often lead to –!

"Bap!" Anne lightly karate chopped Marcy on her head.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"You were spiraling, I could tell. And relax, Mar-Mar, I was just teasing." Anne took Marcy's hand into her own and said, "I won't do anything with you that you're not comfortable with or rush you into anything. I'm…I'm still figuring this whole being a girlfriend thing myself."

Marcy smiled kindly at Anne and added, "That makes two of us. And I promise to do the same. I'm sorry for how I acted at the temple. I was so caught up in winning the challenges, and proving how smart I was, proving my worth to you, that I lost sight of what mattered to me, and I almost ended up losing what I had."

Anne hugged Marcy closer. "You never have to prove anything to me, Marcy. I love you, and nothing will change that."

Marcy snuggled closer to her girlfriend, enjoying this closeness and the serene scenery around them.

"Marcy, there's something I need to tell you," said Anne. "I think I might know what the Fallen and The Night want, but it's just a theory for now."

Marcy nodded her head. "Tell me."

Anne went into her theory, explaining to Marcy the book that Hop Pop's family has possessed that referred to the music box as the "Calamity Box", and how it was dangerous. She also spoke of how she believed that The Night might be after the Calamity Box in order to use it to travel to other worlds and take them over. And after what happened today, with the Fallen showing up not long after charging the first stone, it kind of confirmed her theory that the Calamity Box was the ultimate goal of The Night. Along with how the Fallen have been referring to Anne and Marcy as either "Calamity of Heart" or "Calamity of Mind" respectively, sharing the same "calamity" word with the name of the box.

It was odd, as this contradicted the information that King Andrias had told Marcy. The teen genius figured that the idea of the box being dangerous it might be due to the mysterious power of the box, and how it was kind of unknown. So, it more than likely freaked out those who did not know what it was used for. But going back to Anne's theory about The Night, considering everything that has happened to them so far, maybe it was destiny at work.

What were the odds of that book just falling off a cart and right in front of me? And the odds of me finding that same box at some random thrift store? Maybe it is destiny, maybe this was all meant to happen! Anne and I were meant to become Kamen Riders, we were meant to protect Amphibia – no, the multiverse – from The Night! This could be way bigger than just one world!

Marcy had to reign in her excitement, the prospect that this might end up becoming a battle that could span the multiverse was thrilling, but she had to tone it down otherwise Anne might look at her funny. Still, it meant that their time together, their adventures, never had to end.

"It is a very good theory, and the fact that the Fallen have attacked us now after all this time, means that we might just be on the right track to defeating them," said Marcy. "I think the temples are linked to our powers, and this was the temple's way of granting me the power to take it to The Night! Which means, you're not far behind, Anne."

"That would be cool, but also, I'm a little bit scared. Gaining that much power, you were just…wow. You were on another level, I can't imagine what I'd be like with my Super Form," said Anne.

Marcy gently kissed Anne on the cheek. "Don't worry, we'll figure it all out together."

"Together."

---

King Andrias was sitting upon his thrown as he listened to Yunan talk, she had finally returned after all this time, and was giving her debrief to him personally. Marcy had left for the first temple yesterday, and he had yet to hear a word from her. What was also a bit annoying was that his master had not mentioned anything to him. Now it was nighttime on the second day, and honestly, he could care less about what the toads were doing. It wouldn't matter much in the end anyway.

"The political situation is worsening, your Highness. What started as a small valley riot is quickly becoming something more. Not only that, but the toad lords have also agreed to meet. This could spell disaster," Yunan warned.

Guess I should show some concern. "How disappointing."

Yunan nodded. "Indeed, Sire. And the traitor, Grime, is still at large and is currently being aided by a–!" At that moment a yellowjacket mail carrier came flying through the window of the palace. Yunan quickly moved out of the way of the buzzing mail bug and exclaimed, "What in the world?"

The yellowjacket flew up to King Andrias who let out a hearty guffaw upon seeing the missive it was carrying. Andria's held out his large hand and let the yellowjacket drop the rolled-up paper into his hand, the insect flew away once its job was complete. Andrias took out his glasses and put them on, afterwards he unrolled the letter and read it. "Why, it's a message from Marcy. Looks like they're making progress. Ooh, great progress at that. That's enough for now, Yunan. I'll handle the rest."

King Andrias rose from his throne and began walking out of the throne room, leaving a confused Yunan standing there. Andrias walked down a dead-end hallway. At the end of the hall was a large pedestal with a statue of a bearded newt king, wielding a spear-ax staff. The King of Newtopia stood before the statue and pulled on the arm of a female newt statue that was positioned to his right. Upon doing this, the front of the pedestal slid open, revealing a dark staircase that led downwards. Andrias took hold of the glowing blue coral that was in the statue to his right and began his descent into the forbidden lower levels of castle.

Along the way, Andrias spotted the ghost fish, the creatures that Anne, Polly, Sprig, and Marcy had encountered during their sleepover. However, he did not fear them. As he continued his walk, the ghost fish moved aside for him, as if they were afraid of him. Andrias eventually made it down to the lower levels and placed the glowing coral into a holder off to his left. Most of the chamber he was in was covered in shadows, apart from some glowing orange nodes, and mechanical devices that were all around the room. There was a clear area out in front of him that had several glowing nodes, and it was here that the thousand-year-old king removed his crown and got down on both of his knees.

"The prophecy is being undone as we speak, my lord. Soon we will have our revenge."

A rumbling occurred within the room, followed by mechanical noises. Then, two large glowing eyes opened before him, but when they did, several more opened, for a total of thirteen eyes. His master, The Night, was present.

We have tested the girl.

And her power has evolved.

"Yes, her letter spoke of a 'Super Form'. I was not expecting her power to evolve further once the energy had been drained from her," said Andrias.

A desperate attempt to prevent our rise.

The last fleeting gasps of defiance.

This evolution matters not in their ability to defy us.

However, it does matter in showing that she is the one we need.

Andrias frowned ever so slightly. "Yes, I suppose it does."

Let the prophecy be undone.

Let the day of reckoning come at last.

Let the heralds sing of our return.

Let our reign be eternal.

Forevermore!
Forevermore!
Forevermore!
Forevermore!
Forevermore!
Forevermore!
Forevermore!
Forevermore!

---

A/N: For those of you wanting to see what Marcy's Super Form looks like, head over to DeviantArt. Or just type "Kamen Rider Ranger Ahura Mazda" into Google and it'll pop up.