Quick note: Sorry about the late chapter been having some personal issues and have been creatively burnt out. If events in the past seem different than in canon, remember this is an alternative timeline so things will be different.
Chapter 5: Before the Third Temple
It had been several weeks since that fateful day. The day Marcy met the traveler known as "The Doctor." And that several massive bombshells had been revealed to her. King Andrias, ruler of Newtopia, who had been nothing but nice to her the moment she arrived in his kingdom was really in fact an evil warmonger with a robot army at his beck and call, wanting to take over all of Amphibia and maybe the entire multiverse! Also, there was the fact of the music box that had brought her friends Anne, Sasha, and herself to another dimension was some sort of Time Lord invention which the Doctor called "The Soul of Omega."
The young Flipwart champion had extremely mixed emotions at these revelations. She felt angry that someone who was like a father had deceived her into being merely a pawn. He was like one of those twist villains she saw in films she watched back at home. Why didn't she see this coming? How could she be so naïve?
Another emotion that Marcy felt was fear. The fact that Andrias had a massive technologically advanced army at his disposal and yet had not made any moves with it. Did he have any more hidden weapons or technology than he planned to use in his quest to conquer? She was also afraid would he do to her once she had "served her purpose" to him.
The thirteen-year-old girl also felt sadness that everything that came out of the old newt's mouth was nothing but lies to keep her from discovering the truth. She was unwittingly furthering his plans for domination while lying to her friends (both old and new) about how they got to Amphibia just so she wouldn't have to be lonely. How would she face her friends with the truth?
What have I gotten myself into? What are Anne and Sasha going to think of me? Though Marcy.
While the Flipwart champion was worried about what lay ahead for the future, she did have some hope still left in her. She had met the Doctor, a man (or humanoid to be more accurate) who had been nothing but kind and honest to her from day one, hiding no secrets from her and being supportive of her actions. He had become almost like a second father to her a teacher giving her advice when necessary. The Time Lord had also reassured her that he did have a plan to fix everything and she would have to be patient while also not the true details of it to Anne, the Plantar's, or in fact anyone in Amphibia. While the teen did trust the Doctor's judgment, she did not feel comfortable still lying about things rather than being honest after all Anne was her first and best friend but the Doctor was also her friend. Right?
Everything will be fine Marcy. Just trust the Doctor, he'll fix everything.
"Marcy, could you be a dear and pass me the sonic lance?" asked the Doctor, snapping the thirteen-year-old out of her thoughts.
Currently, the Doctor had opened a panel on the bottom of the ship's console and had started to weld a few circuits with wire together under it. She had come to assist him today as she had some free time from planning to recharge the final gem. The Flipwart champion then looked at the various alien tools in the box they resided in trying to figure out which one the Doctor wanted her to give to him.
"Um, which one?" questioned Marcy.
"The one on the left," said the Doctor as Marcy grabbed the tool from her left side.
"This one?" said the Flipwart champion as she passed it to the Time Lord who took it and was about to use it but stopped when he looked at it and then sighed.
"The other one on my left Ms. Wu," said the Doctor as he handed it back to Marcy who then put it back and grabbed the tool on the Time Lord's left side of the box.
"Oops, sorry," said Marcy sheepishly as she passed the tool to the Doctor. "Is this the one?"
"Yes, thank you, my dear," said the Doctor as he continued his work.
After their discussion several days ago, the Doctor had told Anne and the Plantars of their "work" on fixing the TARDIS and that he would need their help to supply him with resources which they happily agreed to. Even though Marcy and the Doctor had made progress on fixing his time capsule, the old man mentioned to the others that it was not a hundred percent possible to fix his machine fully due to the damage it sustained in the crash, and finishing the last gem might be the last resort to get them home (once they found Sasha as well of course). After hearing this, Marcy, Anne, and her surrogate family got prepared for the final time as a backup if the Doctor's TARDIS was unfixable. The Gallifreyan even helped in some preparations for the temple (when he had spare time).
While they had spent more time together, the Doctor had considered her to become his "honorary companion" which thrilled Marcy. It reminded her of the Doctor Zone Files where the main protagonist, Dr. Hankry Zone would travel with his faithful friend (and later brother) Time Ape fighting evil across time and space. It was like her wildest dreams were finally becoming reality, first being transported to a mystical dimension with her friends and now meeting a time traveler just to become his companion. It was too good to be true!
While working on the time capsule, the old man showed her the insides of his ship which contained various rooms such as a library (which she commonly visited), a workshop with various tools, and a vineyard while even showing her how to open and close the TARDIS doors. She had been amazed by the Doctors ship wondering how his TARDIS could fit all these things inside of a small exterior. The Doctor called it "transdimensional engineering" saying that humans were not ready for the technology yet and it would "muddle the timeline."
Another thing the Flipwart champion would notice is that the Doctor would take Frobo into his workshop for some "upgrades" in order to increase the robot's efficiency and effectiveness. This included a self-repair system, a force field for extra protection a compost grinder/dispenser to help with farming. None of the Plantar family (especially Hop Pop) was opposed to, thanking the Time Lord for his help.
"There, that should do it," said the Doctor as he finished the last circuit then stood up, put the sonic lance into his toolbox next to Marcy, and then shut the panel to start to press a few buttons on the console.
As he did so, the hexagonal console began to light up and Marcy could start hearing a humming sound that filled the room. The Doctor then began to press a few more buttons and pull some levers before looking at the screen on the scanner which then displayed some information in his native language. Marcy then heard the Doctor mutter some things while reading the Gallifreyan text.
"So is your ship fixed now?" asked the thirteen-year-old.
"Well, yes and no," replied the Doctor as he pressed a button to turn off the screen and walked towards the doors. "The good news is that the TARDIS should be able to dematerialize again."
"So what's the bad news then?" asked Marcy as she followed him.
"The bad news my dear is that judging by the readings on the scanner is that I can only dematerialize forward through time," responded the Time Lord.
The Flipwart Champion then sighed as the Time Lord opened the doors. "Well at least we did make some progress, right?" she said optimistically.
"That is true, Mr. Wu," responded the Doctor as they exited the TARDIS together. "and you can't have success without progress is that not correct?"
"Well yeah, but I was hoping that we had made a lot more," replied Marcy feeling a little disappointed. "Considering all the hard work we did over the past few days."
"Oh, don't go beating yourself up about it," said the Doctor in a warm tone. 'You did well considering your age and not many people like you get to work on a functioning TARDIS."
This made the young girl smile. She did like it when the Doctor praised her achievements and efforts. "Anne gonna be disappointed about this," she replied.
The Doctor waved it off "An unfortunate hiccup but I did warn Ms. Boonchuy that it was not full proof." he said nonchalantly as they walked to Felicia's Tea Shoppe for what the Doctor termed a "nice cuppa."
When they had started their work on the Doctor's ship, the man had become very seclusive rarely coming out into Wartwood. He would also let Marcy in whenever he needed her assistance. If he did it would only do so for about an hour or two to either get materials for his TARDIS, help Anne and Plantar family prepare for the final temple, or simply to have a bite to eat with a cup of tea. After a few minutes, they arrived at the front of the tea shop where they were greeted by the owner, Felicia Sundew the owner of the café/hotel.
"Well, howdy do Doctor, Marcy," said Felicia "I assume that you want the usual, two cups of herbal tea?"
"You know me too well Felica," replied the Doctor as he and Marcy walked inside as the frog directed them to a table to be seated.
When they were seated, Marcy was the Doctor who pulled out a small sack from one of his pockets. He then handed it to Felica who gratefully accepted it. When Marcy saw her open it, the frog's eyes then stared in shock at the content inside.
The thirteen-year-old then tilted her head forward to look at what was in the sack and she too was shocked to see what was inside. Inside, she saw that it was full of gold, diamonds, pearls, and many other valuables the Time Lord had probably collected from his past adventures. The young girl then stopped staring at the inside of the sack and focused herself back on the Doctor and Felica whose jaw had almost dropped to the floor at the sight of what the old man had given her.
"Why Doctor, how generous of you," spoke Felica who had snapped out of her initial shock.
"Think nothing of it my darling," replied the Doctor. "Consider it as my way to say thank you for showing such kind hospitality to me and Ms. Wu as well as serving some of the finest tea that I have tasted."
"My, My," responded Felica. "Such a kind and gentle soul just like in the legends."
"Guilty as charged," said the Doctor "Now could you please give dear Marcy and I some privacy? We have an awful lot to discuss."
"Why of course!" said Felicia as Marcy saw her walk back to the kitchen. "I'll just go to prepare your tea while you two chat."
Once the skinny yellow frog was out of earshot, the Doctor then looked at her with a more serious look in contrast to his gentle one from before. Luckily for them, they were the only ones in the café so their discussion would go unnoticed. Some time ago the Doctor had asked Marcy to send her weekly message to King Andrias about his presence to not draw suspicion that she was in league with the Time Lord.
"So has Andrias responded to your message yet?" he asked.
"Not yet," replied the thirteen-year-old. "Strange, he usually responds in around six to ten days to my messages but it's been almost three weeks! Well, five hundred and four hours to be exact."
The Doctor then frowned. "Interesting, it seems that my presence may be altering his plans."
"About that," said Marcy shuffling in her seat. "I am still not really comfortable about all this secrecy. "
"As I have told you before, as much as I would like to tell them we can't," spoke the Doctor. "It's for the best to keep Anne and surrogate family out of danger and you don't want your friends to get hurt do you?"
"It's just that-"
"I know," said the Doctor interrupting the girl mid-sentence. "I understand that you are distressed about all this but you have to trust me. I will set things right and bring the means to an end, after all, I am your friend."
"I'm sorry," responded Marcy nervously. "It's just I'm scared that Anne and Sasha will think of me after all this."
"I'm sure that they will understand," said the Doctor "Besides may I remind you that it's not your fault, after all, your father was not considerate of your feelings by forcing you away from your friends. Anne and Sasha will surely see your good intentions."
Marcy's face then began to brighten up. "Thanks, Doctor."
He always was supportive of her, comforting her when she needed it. As Marcy's worries slowly faded a question popped into her head. "Hey, Doctor, other than Adric do you usually travel with other people?"
"Well, no," said the Doctor thoughtfully "Adric was really my only companion, keeping me company, exploring the stars but since his death, I have travelled alone. I deserve it for letting him die."
"Adric's death was not your fault," said Marcy sympathetically. "It was those Cybermen who killed him remember? You don't have to blame yourself for something you didn't do."
"It is my fault!" replied the Doctor. "I let him travel with me and failed to protect him when he needed it most!"
"Doctor, stop beating yourself," responded Marcy "You don't have to punish yourself by being all alone-"
Marcy then stopped mid-sentence as it dawned on her why the Doctor had bonded with her so closely. She had reminded him of Adric and was trying to prevent her from suffering the same fate as his former fallen friend. Another thing that dawned on her is that the Time Lord probably didn't want her to become lonely like he was currently. He did say he did have another friend called "The Master" but he said that he turned into a monster that wanted domination and destruction after their conflicting beliefs. Was
Before Marcy could say another word, a voice echoed from the kitchen. "Tea's ready!"
The Doctor's expression quickly changed from serious to happy. "And about time too!" he said eagerly.
Felicia came to the table and began to pour tea for the two. The delightful aroma coming from the liquid coming from the pot going to their cups invaded both the thirteen-year-old and the Time Lord's nostrils. The Doctor then took a sip of tea from his cup after which he then smiled.
"Delightful as always, Felicia," said the Doctor as he took another sip. "You know from all my travels, I have never tasted a tea finer than yours."
The tall yellow frog blushed in embarrassment. "Oh, you are too kind. Just out of curiosity what was all the shouting about?"
Before the Time Lord could answer, Felicia's daughter, Ivy came up to him. "Hey, Doctor!"
"Oh hello, dear Ivy!" said the Doctor kneeling down to the young Sundew's height.
"Can you tell me another one of your adventures?" asked the young Sundew with excitement written all over her face. "Like the times when you battled evil creatures and traveled to distant lands? Please?"
Like the others in the town, she was estatic that the legendary traveler and savior of Amphibia known as the Doctor had arrived in Wartwood. However, unlike the other townsfolk who were content living in the swamp, the young frog had dreams of one day becoming an adventurer, wanting to travel across Amphibia and its unknown regions. Every time the Time Lord visited the tea shop, Ivy would come and ask about his many adventures.
"I would Ivy but Marcy and I have some work we need to do," said the Doctor.
Ivy then groaned in annoyance. "Come on Doc. Just one please?"
"Ivy Sundew!" exclaimed Felicia. "The Doctor said that he had work to do, you need to be considerate."
"But mom!" replied Ivy.
"No buts young lady!" responded Felica. "Now you still have your chores that need doing, so I suggest getting to them."
The young frog then grumbled to herself as Felicia, Marcy and the Doctor saw her go back to the kitchen. Felicia then turned to face the two with a sympathetic look. "I apologize for my daughter's behavior Doctor," she said sincerely.
"No need for apologies my dear," replied the Doctor as he stood up. "Children her age are not very patient, it is in their nature."
When the two finished their tea, they said goodbye to Felicia and Ivy then left the tea shop and started to walk back to the Doctor's TARDIS. As they were walking, the other various frogs waved to them to say hello. Strangely it had taken a few days for most of the citizens of Wartood to accept the Doctor appose to Anne and her taking weeks to months to do so. (to be fair he did save the entire world). Another thing that Marcy had noticed during the Doctor's stay is that he had become a sort of celebrity. Frogs would commonly question him like asking about his adventures and trying to get tours of his TARDIS. He would usually respond to them by saying that his ship was still under repair and that would have to wait. Other times he would tell them stories of his various travels across the stars, how he battled creatures such as Daleks, Cybermen, Vashta Nerada, Weeping Angels, and many more sinister beings. The mayor of Wartwood, Toadstool would consistently try to get valuables out of him for payment for his stay but the Doctor would reply by saying that in time they would all be "rewarded for their generosity" and that patience is virtual (which the mayor did eventually let it slide only because the Time Lord had saved Amphibia).
However, not everyone in the town trusted the Doctor. The town's young witch, Maddie Flour was very suspicious of the Time Lord often staying away from him. She would go around saying that someone was not right with the old man, that she sensed a "dark aura' surrounding him, and that he should not be trusted. Another frog who didn't trust the Doctor was Wally, the town's fool. He would often give the Gallifreyan the stink with his single eye when he saw him and like Maddie kept saying something was not right about him. The town's population however ignored their words, often sighting the two frogs' normal weird behavior pattern.
One day, when Marcy, Anne, and Doctor were walking to get some lunch, Maddie and Wally jumped the Time Lord tackling him to the ground, scaring the man half to death. It took both girls to get both frogs off the old man. Anne and herself chastise the two saying that they shouldn't judge the Doctor without getting to know him first like they had done with them when they first arrived. The Doctor however did not take offense to Maddie or Wally's attempt at him, saying that he understood their mistrust in him and walked back to his TARDIS.
A day later, both frogs mysteriously went missing. From what the young girl had heard Maddie's father at first thought that his eldest daughter had gone get some ingredients for her potions but when she did not come back by sundown he reported it. When the Doctor was questioned about her disappearance, the Time Lord said that he had no idea and he had been working all night in his TARDIS (which Marcy could testify to as she was with him the whole time). The two humans and townsfolk looked high and low for the young Flour with even the Doctor pitching in to help but after almost several days with no success from looking around all of Wartwood and its forests, the search had to be called off. Maddie had been presumed lost to the various creatures in the forest, leaving the Flour family devastated over their loss. However not the same could be said for Wally as most frogs didn't really care for losing the one-eyed frog though the Plantar family and Anne did grieve his loss along with Maddie's.
The Doctor and Marcy then arrived at the TARDIS's location and went inside with the young girl shutting the doors behind her.
"So what now?" Marcy said curiously as the Time Lord went to the console and started to press some buttons.
"Well, my dear child it's time for a test drive," replied the Doctor as he then pulled a lever. "I suggest you hold on."
Suddenly the room began to shake, emanating a cyclic wheezing and groaning noise. Marcy's instincts kicked in as she grabbed one of the marble pillars, hanging on as the room continued to shake. She saw the column in the centre of the console go up and down in beat with the alien noise in the background.
"Doctor!" cried Marcy nervously as the Time Lord remained calm. "What's happening are we-"
"Yes, my dear Ms. Wu," replied the Doctor cutting her off once again. "We are traveling through time! There is no need to be afraid!"
The thirteen-year-old girls originally nervously expression then turned to excitement and joy as she let go of the pillar standing as the room around began to stop shaking though still making the same, strange sound. She could not believe that she, Marcy Wu, a normal girl from Earth was actually traveling in time on an alien ship with an actual time traveler in a fantasy setting what not! Marcy then began to giggle and squeal at the thought of this.
OMG I cannot believe this is really happening! Thought Marcy.
"How are you doing my dear?" asked the Doctor looking at the girl "How does it feel to travel through time?"
"It feels so awesome!" shouted Marcy as the Doctor laughed turning back to the scanner.
After a few minutes, the Doctor pulled the same lever again and the strange sound stopped as did the column. He then looked at the TARDIS scanner on the console as Marcy walked up to look at it too. On the screen, the display showed that the TARDIS had landed outside the Plantar's house with Anne and the family staring in shock (probably from the ship appearing out of thin air). The Doctor then pressed a familiar yellow button on the console and the doors opened.
"It's safe to come in," said the Doctor as Marcy saw Anne, Frobo, and the Plantar family slowly walk and entered the time machine with shock written over their faces.
Anne Boonchuy was speechless. After everything she had been through in this strange dimension, surviving by herself in the wild unknown, being adopted by a family of talking frogs, and being almost being turned to wax, she thought nothing to top any of those. Oh, how she was so wrong.
"Marvellous, isn't she?" said the Doctor as she and the Plantar's walked towards the console, with their jaws still dropped in shock.
"I…but how?" said the Thai girl still confused at what she was seeing.
"Time Lord science my dear," replied the Doctor as she saw Marcy next to him, smiling at the old man.
This is impossible! It's got to be some sort of trick, right? Thought Anne.
But before the girl could respond, the Plantar's then appeared next to the Doctor, snapped out of their initial shock, replacing it with excitement and wonder.
"OH MY GOSH! OH MY GOSH! OH MY GOSH" shouted Sprig excitedly, looking around the room and touching everything that he saw.
"IT'S BIGGER ON THE INSIDE!" cried out Polly she looked around, bouncing around the control room.
"LIKE WHAT IS PLACE?!" screamed Hop Pop running around in circles.
Before the Plantar's or Anne could do anything else, they heard a loud cough come from the Doctor who was waiting for them to settle down. "As much as I understand your disbelief at my TARDIS, could we please focus on the task at hand?" He said.
"Right, sorry about that," said Anne as the Plantar family looked down in shame. "So is your ship fully fixed now?"
The Doctor frowned at her. "Unfortunately no as I can only dematerialize forwards in Amphibia's timeline and am unable to exit its universe," he replied.
Anne then gave a sad look at the Time Lord. "So I guess we doing the third temple then," she said as Frobo went back outside to retrieve the supplies necessary for the journey along with Joe Sparrow, Marcy's avian steed.
"Sorry Anne," said Marcy apologetically.
"That's alright Mar-Mar." replied Anne "I just thought we had really had a shot at going home."
"You still do my dear," responded the Doctor from the center console "As you said before there is still the third temple to recharge the final gem, so all hope is not lost."
The thirteen-year-old Thai girl gave a smirk to the Time Lord. "You really like to look on the bright side of everything?" she said.
"What can I say?" responded the Doctor. "Hope inspires others to never give up."
As the Gallifreyan finishes his sentence, Frobo, and Joe Sparrow entered into the TARDIS with Marcy's sachel and many other supplies needed for the journey. (though the frog robot had to give the giant bird a push to fit through the door). Frobo then handed Marcy her satchel and she then proceeded to pull a map out of her satchel and give it to the Time Lord. The Doctor then looked at it carefully before pressing a few buttons before the ship began to shake and emit the same weird sound that it had made when it arrived at the Plantar home.
Anne herself began to lose balance as the room shook and began to fall to the ground but Marcy had grabbed her before that could happen, pulling her up as the shaking stopped. "You alright Anne?" she asked.
"Yeah, fine, thanks Mar-Mar," responded Anne as she looked at the console, seeing the middle column going up and down. "So this won't take long right?"
"Not at all my dear," replied the Doctor as she saw the Plantar's had fallen face-first onto the floor, slowly getting back up. "Should take a few minutes at best."
This gave the Wartwood girl some relief, she was only one gem away from going home.
Another note: Sorry again about the long wait and if the chapter was too short. I will be putting this on hiatus until Amphibia ends so I can make some adjustments to future chapters. Another thing is that the events of Bessie & MicroAngelo did happen in this timeline offscreen so Anne does get her new look. I just didn't want to have to retread a filler episode. Please drop a review down and see you next time.