Anne found herself crawling through a corridor of Newtopia's – now floating – castle. So many things had gone wrong, so many of them caused by the ones she trusted and cared about. Before coming to Amphibia, Anne was a selfish person, she wasn't going to kid herself in thinking otherwise. But as she spent time in Amphibia, she gradually learned to be less selfish, thinking about others, their wants and needs. She had always had a great knack for befriending people, so perhaps maybe not as selfish as she thought.
Still, maybe if she had kept being that same selfish person, maybe things would've turned out differently…
(The Second Temple)
Anne had managed to convince the guardian of the Second Temple, Valeriana, that she was indeed worthy and after doing so, managed to have her request fulfilled.
"So, child, what is it that you wish for?" Valeriana asked.
"Oh, right! To recharge the stone and go back home," said Anne.
"So be it."
Valeriana used her tail to raise the Calamity Box up and reached out towards the gems. Her hand hovered over the three stones, and that's when the faded blue gemstone flew out of the box and into her right hand. Valeriana placed the gemstone at the center of the shepherd's crook, letting it float there as energy began to gather to the grayed-out crystal. A moment later, the gemstone shined with a brilliant blue light, making Anne have to shut her eyes.
The tall spire that they stood upon now glowed with ancient carvings and runes as the charging ritual began. Those same ancient markings then appeared on Valeriana's staff, and as soon as they did, the stone's color and luster started to return immediately. But it was charging kind of slow.
"Huh, it's a lot slower than last time," Anne observed.
"Sorry, this thing is pretty old," Valeriana apologized.
"No, no, totally understand. But…maybe you could – I dunno – give it little whack to jump start it?" the Thai teen suggested.
Valeriana shrugged, what was the harm at this point? The newt woman used her tail and slapped her staff with it. Strangely enough, the moment she did, the stone's color and glow started to return even faster. Anne, for some reason, felt a little drain in her strength, but she didn't pay any mind to it. After a few seconds, the gemstone was completely charged and returned to its former glory. Valeriana plucked the gemstone from the center of her staff and returned it to the music box before giving it back to Anne.
"Here you go, my child. You now have two fully charged stones," she said.
Anne gratefully took the music box and smiled.
"Great, we're two-thirds of the way there. Just one more temple to go and we'll finally have a way to get back home," said Anne joyfully.
Valeriana kept her smile, but there was a noticeable concern in her eyes.
"Well, I have kept you long enough, Anne. Return to your friends and be safe my child."
"No problem, dude. We got this."
(1 Day Ago)
Anne was a little disappointed that the three of them didn't win the Battle of the Bands, but really, it wasn't a total loss. Because in the end, Anne got what she really wanted. Despite their earlier dispute, Sasha came back and decided to play with them. And while it was fun to sing and play with Marcy, it was better with all three of them.
The Thai teen was currently outside, alone. Staring up into the night sky on the hill that overlooked the crops of the Plantar farm. Anne could hardly believe it, not too long from now, they would all be able to go back home. As strange and dangerous as Amphibia had been, Anne had to admit, she loved this world. In spite of the numerous times, she nearly got killed by the wildlife, it was the natural beauty of this world that she fell in love with. She could never see the stars this clearly back in Los Angeles, not with all the light pollution, and well, normal pollution. Anne wasn't going to lie, she was going to miss Amphibia, but since they'll have access to the music box, and be able to control it's warping powers, perhaps the three of them could come back?
"Copper for your thoughts, Boonchuy?"
Anne sat up and turned her head, and that's when she saw Sasha walking towards her. She was still dressed in her punk rocker attire, minus the heavy eyeshadow and jacket.
"Just thinking," said Anne as she lied back down.
Sasha took a seat next to Anne and asked, "Thinking you're going to miss this place?"
"Heh, is it that obvious?"
"Eh, kinda. Don't blame you, really. I've kinda grown attached to this place, and that warty gruff toad, Grime." Sasha hugged her legs to her chest as her expression saddened a little. "Spending time with him has been a lot more fun than with my own parents."
Anne raised and eyebrow as she glanced at her best friend.
"Sash, what does that mean?"
"Ugh, sorry. Forget I said anything. It's not anything you need to worry about," Sasha insisted.
Anne sat up and gave Sasha a serious look.
"Sasha, we're BFFs, remember? We've had some problems for sure, but that doesn't mean I don't care about you. Or don't want to hear if something's not right in your life. If there's something wrong I want to know before we head back. Maybe we can fix it?" Anne suggested.
"Can't fix what's been broken…Anne. I tried." Sasha could tell that her best friend wasn't going to let this go, so, with a sigh, she told her. "You know my parents are divorced. But what you don't know is how…alone I feel."
"What do you mean?" Anne inquired.
"They got separated when I was nine, and in the years since then, both my Mom and Dad are seeing new people. Dad is seeing this woman, I don't know. She seems nice, but I get the feeling she might think I'm in the way."
"Okay…"
"Then there's Mom, she's seeing another guy right now. I guess he's alright, but he has two kids, a girl and boy, they're both a year older than me. But, again, I don't know. Sometimes, I feel like Mom and Dad are trying to have new lives without me, and I'm just an inconvenience. Something from their old marriage that they have to deal with because it's their responsibility, like a chore or something," said Sasha, bitterly.
"Sasha, I had no idea you were feeling like this," said Anne.
"Because I didn't want to dump all this on you and Marcy. You two are my safe place, Anne. When I'm with you guys, I can forget all that crap. Why do you think I like spending time at your house and don't go home until it's almost late at night? It's because I like how it feels in your house. Accepting, loving, and I want to keep feeling that for as long as I can before I have to go back…"
Anne had no idea Sasha felt like this, for that matter, she wondered if Sasha's parents were doing this on purpose or if they were genuinely unaware of how Sasha was feeling. Heck, if her friend was able to keep this to herself for this long, then Sasha's parents probably had no idea either.
"Have you talked to them? Like, really sat down and talked to them?" Anne asked.
"No…and maybe it's because I'm afraid of the answer. When I was nine and ten, I tried so many times to try and get my parents back together. Believing it was something I could fix, but after the umpteenth time, my Mom and Dad said that they were not going to get back together, ever, and that I needed to accept that it was out of my control."
Sasha hated saying that, even if it was true, she knew there were things that she could control.
"I guess…I kinda do need to apologize to you and Marcy. I know I've been pushing you two around, and been a total control freak the majority of the time. But…I guess it's because I felt like so much in my life was not in my control, and that you two were the one thing I could." Sasha turned to face Anne, understanding how that may've sounded. "A-And I don't mean that in a bad way…! Damn it, who am I kidding? There's no other way that can be taken. That's why I tried to keep you guys close, in line, and that's why what happened at Toad Tower messed me up…it made me realize that I couldn't keep control, not even with my friends. I'm sorry…Anne."
Anne scooted closer to Sasha and gave her best friend a hug.
"I get it, you were acting all selfish and controlling because we were your 'safe space'. And when you saw how much I changed, you thought I was going to leave you. But, Sasha, we're friends. Best friends. We wouldn't leave you like that just because we changed. Sure, it's kind of scary when things change. But the one thing that won't change is how we feel about you," Anne assured.
Sasha blushed and chuckled as she replied, "Well…there's one thing I wouldn't mind changed."
"What's that?"
"…Being best friends."
Anne chuckled a little.
"Well, if we aren't BFs, what do you want to be?"
"…Girlfriends."
Anne blinked.
Before the Thai girl could respond, Sasha pressed her lips against Anne's. Sasha's hands slowly reached out to the still stunned Anne and hugged her back, rather, embraced her. Anne's eyes were wide open, but Sasha's was closed as she kept their lips together. Slowly, the two of them fell to the grass, now lying down, Sasha managed to get on top of Anne.
Anne felt her best friend's tongue start to prod at her lips, requesting entry. Now, Anne didn't know if it was because she wanted to help Sasha, or maybe she wanted this to continue? But for whatever reason, Anne opened her mouth and allowed Sasha to deepen their kiss. The blonde girl began moaning into Anne's mouth lustfully, her hands keeping Anne's body pressed against hers.
Is…Is this okay? Anne thought. I…I didn't even know Sasha swung this way! Do…Do I swing this way? I mean…I don't hate this, and I don't dislike it either. Maybe…Maybe it is okay to like this?
Anne began actively intertwining her tongue Sasha's, surprising the cheerleading captain for a moment before she happily returned to Frenching Anne with more vigor. Spurred on by the fact that her best friend was reciprocating her affection. Sasha's right hand, which was resting on Anne's lower back, slipped out and began rubbing up Anne's left side. That same hand kept going higher, and soon found itself grabbing against her chest. The Thai teen shivered under Sasha's touch, her heart pounding. Anne was a healthy young teen girl, and she had had "the talk" with her mother a year ago, so she wasn't unfamiliar when it came to self-pleasure. But having someone else touch you in an intimate way was far more exhilarating than she would've thought, and perhaps it was made all the more exciting because it was Sasha, someone she cared about, who was doing this to her.
After a minute and a half of kissing, Sasha finally broke the kiss, allowing both of them to take in life giving air as they panted heavily. Sasha's blue eyes met Anne's brown eyes, both holding the other's gaze. Sasha was very aware – as was Anne – of where her right hand was resting right now. The blonde teen was panicking on the inside, she wasn't thinking when she decided to grope her best friend's chest, heck, she wasn't even thinking when she started this make out session. But what's done is done, and here they were.
"A-A-Anne…I…I…"
"Sash, tell me the truth. Do you like me?"
Sasha wanted to deny it, say it was a goof, that this was just one elaborate prank she was planning for a long time. Oh, who the hell was she kidding? There was no way Anne, or anyone, would buy that BS.
"Yes…Anne…I do. Sasha Elizabeth Waybright is bisexual…and I've had a crush on you for years…I just…didn't know how to tell you that I was bi, or that I liked you like this," Sasha confessed.
"But…all those breakups you had me do for you–"
"I tried to push it down, Anne. I tried to smother these feelings by pushing them onto the first guy who had the guts to come up and ask me out. They were mostly all jocks with one thing on their minds, but still, I tried…but I still can't get over you, Anne. I'm sorry…I'm sorry for what I just did…I didn't mean to force myself on you…I was just swept up in my emotions and–!"
Anne raised her right hand and pressed her index finger against Sasha's lips to make her stop.
"I don't think I disliked or hated it. Sasha, you've had this building up inside for a long time, huh?" Anne asked.
Sasha only nodded in affirmation.
Anne blushed harder as she gave voice to a suggestion that even she wasn't completely sure of.
"Um…Sash…what would you do if I said I was okay with letting you go further…"
Sasha's eyes widened as she looked back down at Anne.
"Anne, are you serious?"
"Please give me an answer before I lose my nerve."
Sasha gulped and answered, "I…I would like to. Only if you were okay with it."
Anne sighed heavily and slowly rose, making Sasha scoot back to allow Anne to sit up fully. The Thai teen glanced about the area before her gaze fell towards the woods.
"I've been around the area. I know someplace in the woods that's safe and…if you don't mind a bed of moss…"
"Anne…I…why not in your room or…"
"Look, I think the last thing we both want is for Sprig, Polly, or Hop Pop to see or hear us. And we definitely don't want Marcy to find out…at least…not until we're sure," said Anne.
"Anne, you don't have to force yourself for me, if you don't swing that way, you don't have to make yourself like it because I want to," Sasha assured.
"I'm not sure either…which…I guess…I'm also using this as an excuse to find out for myself."
Anne stood up and offered Sasha a hand. The blonde teen gently gripped that hand and let Anne lead them into the woods…
(Present)
Anne smacked her fist against the floor as she remembered that night. The night when she gave herself to Sasha. She did it because she wanted to know more about herself, she did it because she wanted to give Sasha something that she had been wanting, but was too afraid to ask for fear of what it would do to their friendship. But mainly, she did it because she wanted to start something new with Sasha. To see if perhaps being together would bring about something new, or at least, soften Sasha's more toxic tendencies. They did say love changed people, so, perhaps being girlfriends would give Sasha a reason to change.
"Oh, Frog, was I so wrong! I did all those things with her…I let her touch me…and she let me touch her, too! And yet…despite all that I gave her…"
Anne managed to get back onto her feet, despite how laborious the task was. She used the wall for support as she trudged down the long, ancient corridor, with only a dim light at the other end as her guide.
"SHE STILL WENT AND PULLED THAT GODDAMN STUNT!"
(A few hours ago…)
Anne burst through the doors of the dungeon, the newt guards that were stationed at the cell didn't bother to say anything, having already recognized Anne as the one who shut the gates and prevented the toad army from invading the city. The Thai teen stomped her way towards the cell that they were guarding, and when she arrived, she glanced at both of the guards.
"Give us a minute, I want to talk to her in private," said Anne.
The guards glanced at each other, nodded, and then left the room. Grime was being held in another section of the dungeon, far from Sasha so that they couldn't plot anything. But that was the least of Anne's concerns right now.
Sasha was slumped against the far wall of the dungeon, her legs brought up against her chest as she hugged them close, keeping her face hidden from Anne.
"Look at me."
"…"
"DAMMIT, WAYBRIGHT! LOOK AT ME!" Anne demanded.
Reluctantly, Sasha raised her head. She could see Anne's face twisted into a visage of mixed emotions. She could see anger, hurt, betrayal, and even sadness in her friend's eyes.
"…Why did you do it?"
"Anne, the why doesn't matter right now."
Anne kicked the bars of the cell in response.
"The hell it doesn't, Waybright! How could you do this?! Did our being together mean nothing to you?! Was all of what you said and did to me just some sick part of your fucked up plan to rule Amphibia?!" Anne shouted.
"Anne, no! I…" Sasha bit her bottom lip. "This coup…it was set in motion long before I met up with you and Marcy. The plan was to…to get you two to trust me and Grime. To get us close to King Andrias so we could enact the plan…"
Anne's eyes began to sting as the tears started to fall.
"You used me…we did something…you were my first…and you used me to get what you wanted!" Anne wailed.
"Anne, I swear to God what we did…it wasn't part of the plan! I never thought I'd confess to you! I never planned on kissing you! I never planned on…having our first time…! All of that was something else! What we did was never part of the plan, Anne! How I feel about you and what we did was special – is special! I wouldn't cheapen it by–!"
"OH, CUT THE BULLSHIT, SASHA!" Anne yelled as she kicked the bars again, and pressed her face against them. "You did it with me, and confessed to me so that I would join your coup attempt without putting up a fight! You are such a selfish bitch! Everything is all about you, Sasha! I gave myself to you! And this is what you do in return?! Do you even understand how much I'm hurting right now?! Do you even give a damn?!"
Sasha started to cry as she lowered her head.
"I know…I knew doing what I did ran the risk of this happening…and I did it anyway…I thought I could change your mind…make you see that ruling here, living here, together, would be better than going back home!"
"Yeah, because you have two crappy ass parents that are probably trying to get rid of you because you're 'in the way', right? You know, if you just wanted to stay, then you could've just told us and Marcy and I would've left your sorry ass here!" Anne stated. "But instead, you had to do all of this! Use me in more ways than one! Well, Sash, is this everything you imagined it to be?! HUH?!"
"NONE OF THIS IS WHAT I WANTED, ANNE!" Sasha retorted. "But that doesn't mean what I told you up on the wall was a lie! I didn't lie when I said, 'I love you' when we went into the woods! And I'm not lying now when I say that King Andrias is the real bad guy here, Anne! He's lying to everyone in Amphibia! I can show you what I found before it's too late!"
Anne moved away from the bars as she fixed her steely gaze on Sasha.
"…I thought we could be more than friends that night. I thought…maybe you might be the person I wanted to be with, that maybe I do feel this way towards girls…but thanks to you, I don't even know if I can trust someone like that ever again," said Anne, coldly. "We're going to see the King, and he's going to send us back."
Anne turned her back and began walking out of the dungeon.
"Anne, please, if there was any time I needed you trust me it's this time! Andrias is evil! He's going to do something bad with the music box, please don't give it to him!" Sasha pleaded.
"SHUT UP! I don't want to hear your damn lies anymore! How desperate can you be, seriously, it's pathetic! You lost, Sasha." Anne paused, turned around, and shot Sasha a narrowed gaze. "End. Of. Discussion."
With those three words spoken, Anne left the room. On the other side of the door was Marcy. Before she came to see Sasha, Anne had confessed to Marcy what she did with Sasha. It was a real shocker for Marcy, but she pushed that aside in order to comfort her best friend.
"Anne…I know this is an incredibly stupid question to ask. But are you alright?" Marcy asked.
"You're right, it is an incredibly stupid question…" Anne walked forward until she was in front of Marcy, and then buried her face in her friend's shoulder. "But…thanks for asking anyway…"
Marcy hugged Anne as she felt the Thai girl openly weep.
"I'm sorry, Anne. What you and Sasha did, it should've been a special moment in your life. Something to look back on and feel happy. But…" Marcy's brow furrowed as tears fell from her eyes. "She went and used you like that…all for this stupid coup. I'm so sorry…"
The Taiwanese girl gently rubbed Anne's back in a soothing fashion as she let her friend continue to cry.
"Anne, I promise, I will never use you like that. You've been my friend since before Sasha came into the picture. You've always looked out for me, and…words can never express how much I appreciate and owe you for keeping me from accidentally hurting myself. I know it wasn't easy, but…things will be different, I promise," said Marcy.
Anne took comfort in Marcy's words as she hugged her best friend tightly. Marcy and the Plantars, they were the only people aside from her parents whom she could trust. Well, the trust between her and Hop Pop was still mending, but if she had to compare Hop Pop to Sasha right now, she'd trust Hop Pop any day of the week over that girl.
A few minutes after that encounter, Anne, Marcy, the Plantars, Frobo, the captured Sasha and Grime, and General Yunan and Lady Olivia stood before the throne. King Andrias had stepped out to take care of some things, considering the city was under toad occupation for a while, there was still a lot to do. Assuring the citizens that the threat was over, for now, making sure the army outside was unable to enter, and of course getting their own forces ready to launch a counterattack against the toads that decided to betray the kingdom. However, King Andrias assured Anne, Marcy, and the Plantars that that was none of their concern right now.
They had done more than enough in the defense and liberation of Newtopia, and that he did not expect any of them to fight against the toads. Anne was happy about that; she really didn't want to have to be conscripted into fighting against the toad army. Freeing the city and stopping the full occupation was one thing, but fighting in a possible war against the toads, yeah, she wasn't about that.
Anne took a moment to glance around the room one more time. She didn't know how long it would be before she could come back and visit, so she wanted to take everything in. Polly was scratching at her rear for some reason, she had been doing that a fair bit lately. Sprig, after telling Polly to stop, looked up at her and smiled. She smiled back, even though this was goodbye, it was only goodbye for now. There was no way that Anne wasn't going to come back to Amphibia. It probably would be hard for her to convince her parents to let her come back, but if she managed to get them to see Newtopia, they might change their tune.
So long as they don't see what's outside the city walls, then it should be easy to convince them, right? Anne thought.
King Andrias entered the room and jovially announced his presence, "OKAY, NOW THAT MOST OF THAT UNPLEASANTNESS IS OVER, I THINK IT'S TIME WE FINALLY SENT YOU BACK HOME."
Sasha took a step forward as she said, "Anne, please! Don't do it! I'm not lying or trying to trick you! He's–!"
"Silence!" Yunan ordered as she slapped her tail over the blonde's mouth.
Anne shot her former friend a glare, she couldn't believe that Sasha was still trying trick her.
How stupid does she think I am? Anne thought.
Shaking that off, Anne happily handed the music box over to the King…
Anne panted, her body ached all over, but continued down the long corridor, the light at the end getting brighter the closer she got.
"Guess I am as dumb as I look…or the universe just has a sick sense of humor." Anne paused as she caught her breath. "Turns out Sasha was right! Because of course she is! Oh, and if that wasn't bad enough…turns out I can't trust even the girl I thought was on my side…"
"COME NOW, MAR-MAR, DON'T YOU THINK IT'S ABOUT TIME YOU STOPPED LYING TO YOUR FRIENDS?" King Andrias taunted.
"NO! DON'T YOU DARE SAY A WORD!" Marcy warned.
Anne looked at her friend and asked, "Marcy, what's he talking about? What does he mean you're lying to us?"
"It's nothing! Andrias is just…he's just making things up! He's trying to divide us!"
King Andrias blew a raspberry as he took his seat upon his throne.
"Puh-lease, Marcy, you three were divided way before coming here. If anything, coming to Amphibia has just made it easier for you all to see just how fractured your 'friendship' really is. I mean, why else would she make a deal with me?"
Sasha glared at Marcy as she shouted, "You made a deal with Andrias?!"
"No, no! You don't understand!" Marcy retorted as she turned to face the others. "I didn't know he was planning on doing all…all of THIS! He said if I could get the music box charged up that he could show us other worlds to explore!"
"Why, Marcy, why would you want that?" Anne questioned.
"WHY INDEED, ANNE. WHY INDEED. TELL ME, DID IT EVER SEEM STRANGE THAT YOU JUST SO HAPPENED TO FIND THE MUSIC BOX? IT WAS HIDDEN ON EARTH FOR A THOUSAND YEARS; IT COULD'VE BEEN ANYWHERE. AND YET, ONE OF YOU FOUND IT IN A LITTLE STORE. NOW, WHAT IF THAT SAME SOMEONE KNEW WHAT THE BOX COULD DO. PERHAPS WITH THE INTENTION OF BRINGING YOU TO AMPHIBIA ON PURPOSE?" King Andrias proposed.
Anne and Sasha looked at Marcy. It was Marcy who sent the text to Sasha about the box and where to find it. And while it was Sasha's idea for Anne to steal the box, it was Marcy's suggestion that they all three meet up at the old playground from their childhood and open it there. At the time, neither Sasha nor Anne understood why they had to go there to open it, or why Marcy seemed a little too eager for Anne to open it at all. But now it all made sense.
"You…have got…to be shitting me!" Sasha exclaimed. "You little bitch! You knew all along?!"
"Marcy…tell me he's lying."
Marcy gave no response.
"Marcy," Anne insisted, "I need to look me in the eyes and tell me that he's full of it! Please, Mar-Mar!"
The Taiwanese girl slowly turned her head as tears ran down her cheeks, an uneasy smile was on her lips, which quivered as if stifling a full-on sobbing fit.
"I…I did it for all of us, Anne…Sasha," Marcy confessed.
Anne felt her heart break at that moment, and in a hollow voice Anne asked, "Why…?"
"When I got home that day…My Mom and Dad told me were going to move – out of state – they were going to take me away from you two!" Marcy explained. "I panicked; I didn't want to be separated from you two! You two are my best friends, we…we belong together! I saw this book at the library, it was a complete coincidence that it had a picture of the music box and said what it could do!"
"So, you did know what that thing would do if Anne opened it!" Sasha stated.
Marcy moved closer to her friends as she said, "I didn't even think it would! It was just a desperate hope! I childish wish that it would isekai us somewhere! But it did – it did work! We were taken to an amazing world where we've had incredible adventures!"
"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MANY TIMES I ALMOST DIED OUT THERE?!" Anne yelled. "HOW MANY TIMES I LIED AWAKE AT NIGHT WONDERING IF YOU TWO WERE EVEN ALIVE?! Or, hell, if you two were even in the same world as me?!"
"Anne's right, Marcy! For all you knew, that damn music box could've thrown all three of us to three different worlds! You were soooo concerned about us getting separated – but guess what? – WE STILL GOT SEPARATED! So, that whole plan failed miserably!" Sasha retorted.
"It's not all bad, you know it's not! Sasha, you connected with Grime, right?! You said he was more like a father to you," Marcy remarked.
Sasha blushed as she glanced over at Grime, who was now looking at her with a surprised expression. The blonde teen looked away, embarrassed that Marcy had just told everyone how she really felt about Grime.
"And Anne, look at what I've given you!" Marcy advanced on Anne, grabbing both the Thai girl's hands into her own. "You found a new family in the Plantars! I gave them to you! I gave you this world where you've become so much stronger, where you've grown so much! I gave this all to you, and I would've given you more if you asked me to! I know Sasha hurt you and sullied what should've been a special moment in your life! And I could've made up for that if you asked me to, Anne! I just want us to stay together, I can fix this friendship! Please give me a chance–!"
Anne ripped her hands away from Marcy as tears fell from her eyes.
"…That overgrown lizard is right…" Anne spoke. "This friendship…it was fractured a long time ago. We really were never friends. Sasha wanted to control us, and keep us close. You wanted to keep us together even if it meant getting us thrown into another world. Both you are selfish as hell, and yet I keep trying to be better and less selfish, but somehow you got worse!"
"A-Anne…" Marcy gasped.
Sasha looked away as she bit her bottom lip.
King Andrias chuckled as he said, "WELP, THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU POUR YOUR HEART OUT DURING A FLIPWART GAME. BUT NOW THAT'S ENOUGH OF THAT." Andrias snapped his fingers and had the numerous Frobots raise their laser cannons. "YOU'LL ALL BE PLACED IN THE DUNGEONS FOR THE TIME BEING. CAN'T HAVE YOU WARNING EARTH OF THE COMING INVASION. HEH, NOT LIKE IT WOULD MATTER ANYWAY, BUT BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY."
Anne gripped the hilt of her sword hard as she glared up at the King. With a mighty war cry, Anne unsheathed her sword and made a mad dash for the evil king, hellbent on making him pay for using her – using all of them – in his little games.
The battle ended poorly for Anne and the others. They were able to fight off the Frobots with some effort. But King Andrias was a different story. The thousand-year-old monarch showed that his battle-scarred armor wasn't just for decoration, it was meant as a warning to any who dared tried to fight him head on. That's when Anne realized that King Andrias had more battle prowess and experience than he let on, and it had her wondering if he just let Sasha and Grime go ahead and do their coup attempt knowing he could take them down whenever he wanted.
Anne's sword fighting skills had greatly improved since her training under Tritonio, and even more so after fighting Sasha one-on-one at Toad Tower. But compared to someone who had no doubt seen many battles and fought several opponents of equal skill and emerged victorious, she might as well have been a newborn swinging around a rattle. For whatever reason, Anne kept ahold of the broken sword that Tritonio gave to her. How ironic that the first time she believed in a teacher, she finds out that it was all just to steal something.
Every person she trusted; they were all looking out for themselves. The Curator wanting to make her into a wax statue, Tritonio's trickery, Hop Pop lying about his "contacts" and almost losing the music box, Sasha's lies about being in love with her just to have Anne get her into the palace, and Marcy getting them stranded in a whole other world just because she overreacted to being moved away. But by far, the biggest selfish bastard of them all, was King Andrias. He played them and every single person in Amphibia like a fiddle. All of them were dancing to his well-crafted tune, no one ever suspecting nor questioning his word, and all so that he could restart a campaign of multiversal conquest.
In the midst of the melee, when Anne was almost delivered a death blow, Frobo came in and saved her. Although, this resulted in the robot losing his life as the mad king smashed him to pieces with his huge fist. Ironic that the only non-selfish person in the room was a robot.
"Damn you…Damn all of them…" Anne finally made it to the end of the corridor, stopping and slumping against the wall as she slid down panted. "Tch, how long would it be before Sprig used me? Or Polly? How long would it be before they got on the 'use Anne to get what I want' bandwagon? Hell…even that newt, Olivia, sent me down here for her own selfish reason…"
Anne glanced to her right, seeing a large room with metal paneling around the walls. At the center of the room was glass orb that had something orange glowing at the center of it. Around that glass orb was an apparatus that kept it secure, along with a control console that displayed some readings regarding whatever was inside of the glass orb.
(Moments Ago…)
Anne was injured all over; she had fought hard against Andrias, but the newt king was her better in combat. Her body was bruised all over, blood trickled from the corner of her mouth, and there were gashes in her armor. The sting of those gashes was very painful, they would surely leave scars, but from what Anne could tell, or rather, from what Olivia and Yunan had told her, the wounds weren't deep as it seems the armor managed to take the brunt of the damage. The two newt women were currently carrying Anne away from the throne room, under the pretense that they were taking her to the dungeons. Olivia had given Yunan a glance, and somehow Yunan understood what the glance meant. Taking it as signal to destroy the Frobots that were near them and quickly grabbing Anne as they ran away.
Now the three of them were moving through a different corridor away from the others. The robot sentries hadn't fully occupied the castle yet, so the three of them were able to move about with relative ease. But even that wasn't guaranteed to last considering that their escape options were extremely limited due to the castle floating a few thousand feet in the air, and the only way down was to either to suicide jump or somehow get one of the robots to fly them down. Neither option was feasible, mind you.
"Why did you get me out of there…?" Anne asked.
"That's a question I'd like answered myself actually," Yunan commented.
"…Because, Anne, after everything you went through, I think you're the one who is the easiest to trust," Olivia answered.
"Honestly, I don't trust any of you humans. No offense."
Anne rolled her eyes and replied, "None taken."
"And because, I think you have what it takes to defeat the King," Olivia added.
The three of them stopped before one of the stone walls. Olivia pressed her hand against it, and immediately after, a section of the wall slid to the side and made a doorway for them.
"Do you think you can stand?" Olivia asked.
"Do I have a choice?" Anne questioned.
"Not if you want the chance to end this madness before it can be fully enacted."
Anne bitterly removed her arms from Yunan and Olivia as she limped to the doorway, and propped herself up against it as she looked down at the green newt woman.
"What do you want me to do?"
Olivia pointed down the secret corridor and said, "Down there, a long, long time ago. I found a secret room, covered in metal panels and with a strange device at the center of the room. I saw the King there, I thought about calling out to him, but thought against it considering I was probably not supposed to be in that room at the time. While I was there, I overheard him having a one-sided conversation with himself."
"Oh, terrific, not only is the King a tyrant, he's also crazy," Yunan commented.
"Possibly. But besides that, the topic of his conversation had to do with what was at the center of the room."
"And…what was it?"
Olivia shook her head.
"I don't know. When you see it, it's a glass orb, and inside of it is something glowing a bright orange. While I don't know exactly what's in it, what's important is during that conversation, he said that the object contained inside the orb was 'dangerous' and 'contained a power unlike anything we have ever encountered'. He said that they believed that 'using it with a means to control the user would be folly'."
Anne raised an eyebrow and remarked, "There's a dangerously powerful weapon in the castle, besides that big ass cannon on the roof? Something that someone can use and that even made him afraid?"
"He certainly sounded the part. At the time, I didn't know where such a power could've originated from, but after hearing about our hidden past, it's possible that this dangerous item may've been something procured from another world entirely. If that is the case, this item may be our best shot at stopping the King," Olivia explained.
Anne glanced down the corridor and then back at Olivia.
"And you want me to find it and use it? That right?"
"If there's anyone I believe who can stop the King, it's you, Anne Boonchuy. You have the will to do it."
Anne sighed and turned her back to the two newts. She said nothing else as she began limping her way down the corridor, keeping her eyes on the dim light at very end while the doorway closed behind her.
"Tch…I know why you had me come here, Olivia. I'm expendable, right? Otherwise, you or Yunan would have your asses in here getting this super dangerous weapon. Selfish bitches," Anne growled.
Reinvigorated by her determination, Anne got back to her feet and limped over to the console. There were words racing across the screen, along with some numbers and readings that only a smart person like Marcy might understand.
"I don't have time to figure this out, so, let's just go for the direct approach!"
Anne raised the broken sword into the air and smashed it against the console. Again and again, she stabbed with the broken blade, or struck with the pommel of the hilt. After a couple of minutes, the whole control console was completely destroyed. The screen was smashed to pieces, the keyboard had some wires showing and some keys missing, and there were even a few sparks coming out of it. Thankfully, that seemed to do it, as the orb hissed and split in two as it opened. Anne moved from around the console and to the edge of the containment sphere. Once there, she shielded her eyes for a moment as the orange light shined brighter now that it was not filtered by the glass.
The Thai teen took a moment to let her eyes adjust but realized that her eyes adjusting was not the reason why she was able to see it clearly. If anything, it appeared as if the object that emitted the light was dimming itself to allow her to see it. When the light was finally dimmed enough for her to see it clearly, Anne tilted her head in confusion. The super dangerous weapon that Olivia overheard Andrias talking about was…a ring. Just an orange-colored ring with a strange symbol in the center of it. The symbol almost looked like an angry face.
"You've got to be kidding me?! This is it?! A stupid little ring?! How's THIS supposed to help me take down a crazy tyrant king and a robot army?! How am I supposed to stop this madness with that little ring?!" Anne complained as she slammed her fists against the containment apparatus, dropping her sword to the ground with an audible clang. "…Can I just get something good for once?!"
{Avarice…detected.}
Anne froze and whipped her head around the room, but saw no one there. She knew she heard a voice, a kind of hissing voice at that. But she was alone in an empty room.
{Anne Savisa Boonchuy of Earth…}
The Thai teen turned her gaze back onto the ring, it was the only explanation, either that or she was finally losing her mind.
"Did you…Did you just talk to me?" Anne questioned.
{Do you want to take everything that you are owed? Everyone has taken from you, in more ways than one. Isn't it about time you took what you deserved?}
Anne's gaze was fixated on the ring, for some reason, it was much more enticing to her than it was earlier. And the ring was speaking the truth, that was how she felt right now. Everyone kept taking from her, using her. Why should she be selfless when everyone around her was just being selfish and getting what they wanted from her through her?
"I deserve it, I deserve it all! It's time I got what's mine!" Anne declared.
{Yes! YOU WANT IT ALL!}
The ring glowed bright orange as it suddenly zipped out of the glass container and slipped over Anne's right middle finger. Upon doing so, Anne immediately felt an incredible rush of power flowing through her entire body. It was so strong, so overwhelming that it almost threatened to swallow her, but at the same time, it felt incredibly good. So much power coursing through her, so much of it begging to be used, urging her to take and take and take and take some more. The Thai teen started to float up into the air as the orange energy coated her entire body, obscuring her for a moment before the layer of orange light broke apart and revealed Anne's knew attire.
Gone was her school uniform and armored chest plate. Her torso was covered in flexible orange armor, at the center of her chest was the same symbol as what was on the ring, with the "V" formation forming the collar of her armor, except this symbol was glowing a brighter shade of range. Going lower, the armor had a glowing line around the bottom half of it, leading to a pair of black mesh pants that had armor plates on the inner thighs. Her lower legs were housed in flexible metal boots that had a groove in the center that was made to look like a crack had formed. Around her waist was a orange colored skirt that was open in the middle but covered the sides and back, and had the hem of the skirt stop just short of her ankles. Her arms and shoulders were bare, with no armor protection.
That wasn't all, Anne's hair looked frazzled, and kind of spikey at the ends. Her teeth had gotten sharper, like the teeth of a meat-eating predator, and her eyes, which were once brown, were now completely taken over by the orange glow, not even a pupil could be seen. But what was most disturbing of all was the manic look on her face.
"Ehehehehehehehehahahahaha…AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHA! This is great?! This is what having real power feels like?! It's amazing! And damn I freakin' hungry!" Anne's gaze narrowed, but her smile persisted as she looked down the corridor. "But first…I need to take what's MINE."
King Andrias looked down from the window in the throne room. The castle and all the technology connected to their ancient past was now starting to come back online. It had taken over a millennium for this moment to come to pass, but now it was here. Finally, the mistake he made so many centuries ago could be atoned for, and Amphibia could return to its former glory. Something strange started to happen with the crown upon Andrias's head, the center of the crown opened and revealed an orange eye with a yellow pupil. That orange eye looked down at him, and that's when he began to hear it whispering to him.
The time to return to our glorious past has finally come at last.
"YES, FATHER."
It is time to begin the preparations.
We desire a new form.
We desire a body.
Andrias glanced up at his crown and asked, "A BODY? WELL, MY LORD, IF THAT IS WHAT YOU WANT…THEN ALL YOU NEED DO IS ASK AND–"
We want the girl…
We want Marcy Regina Wu…
The King of Amphibia felt as if he was knocked off kilter upon hearing that.
"MY LORD, YOU WANT MARCY?! B-BUT SHE'S A HUMAN! AND A CHILD AT THAT," Andrias argued. "SURELY, WE CAN FIND YOU A MORE APPROPRIATE BODY AND MIND TO INHABIT?"
That girl has a brilliant mind.
That girl possesses potential.
Potential that we wish to possess.
Combining her mind with our many will give us greater growth and evolution.
"BUT…YOU DO KNOW THAT'S SHE'S FEMALE, RIGHT?" Andrias pointed out.
The body is but a vessel.
What matters is the mind.
We have grown tired of being inside of this metal cocoon.
It is time we shed it and became something new.
Whether it is female or male, we can always modify and adjust the body to our liking later on, son.
Andrias wasn't sure he liked the idea of having his father, along with the rest of the minds that made up the Core, inhabit Marcy's body. But at this point, he really wasn't in a position to tell them otherwise. After his great blunder centuries ago, he had an obligation to do whatever he needed to in order to make up for it.
"AS YOU WISH, MY LORD. I'LL…I'LL BEGIN THE PREPARATIONS AT–"
*BOOOOM!*
"WHAT IN THE WORLD?!" Andrias exclaimed.
A great rumbling and explosion echoed through the entire castle, and a moment later, something broke through the floor of the throne room, grabbed Andrias, and then flung him to the floor as if he was a ragdoll. The King of Amphibia let out a painful gasp when his back hit the ground, leaving a body sized indention. Andrias was about to get up, but was stopped as something landed on his chest, hard, forcing him back down. The big blue newt craned his neck down to see what it was that hit him, and was shocked to see who it was.
Anne was now squatting on Andria's giant chest, her hands placed on her knees as she flashed the tyrant king a maniacal smile.
"Heeeeey Andriaassss. Guess who's back?!" Anne taunted.
"ANNE BOONCHUY?!" Andrias exclaimed.
"That's my name! Say, got anything to eat around here? I'm staaaarrrving!"
"HOW?! HOW DID YOU ESCAPE?!"
"Huh? Oh, Olivia and Yunan. Hey, the music box!" Anne lifted off Andrias and flew over to the Calamity Box, hovering over it as she fixated on it. "You know, I never really appreciated just how beautiful it was, how shiny it is. I want it bad!"
Andrias growled angrily as he jumped to his feet, broke out his beam sword, and dashed towards Anne. The King of Amphibia raised his weapon and slashed at Anne, but the moment he did, the beam blade bounced off Anne. The newt king was confused, so he struck again, but it was the same result each time. That's when Andrias noticed that there was a thin aura of orange light outlining the teen's body, a protective shield of some kind, or at least that's what he surmised. His gaze then fell onto something else, her right middle finger, more specifically, what was on it.
"NO, IT CAN'T BE! HOW DID YOU GET THAT RING?!" Andrias demanded.
Anne was barely paying any attention to Andrias as she gave a lackluster, "Huh? What? I already told you, Yunan and Olivia." The Thai teen took her gaze off the music box and looked up at a confused Andrias. "Yeah, so, I'm gonna take this now. Yoink!"
Andrias watched as Anne swiped the Calamity Box off the pedestal where it rested. And unfortunately, upon doing so, the entire castle started to power down. Not only that, but the castle itself started to slowly descend from the sky with its power source taken away.
"NO! PUT THAT BACK NOW!" he ordered.
Anne hugged the box close to her chest as she hissed at Andrias and gave him a death glare.
"NO, IT'S MINE!"
Andrias had had enough of this and snapped his fingers. Several Frobots started to enter the throne room, with every single one baring their weapons and pointing them at Anne. The Thai teen did not look scared in the least, not even when the dozens of Frobots started firing on her all at once. Rockets and laser fire zoomed through the air before striking her and causing a massive explosion. A thick cloud of smoke enveloped the room as wisps of that smoke exited through the broken windows. For a moment, Andrias believed that she had been killed, considering the amount of firepower that she was hit with. However, he was quickly proven wrong.
A construct sword made of orange light zoomed out of the smoke and impaled itself in the head of a Frobot. That was followed up by a beam of orange light blasting forth and dispersing the smoke cloud. The beam roared as it engulfed several of the robots at once, setting off multiple explosions as the beam continued on, blasting through several walls before exiting out of the castle, leaving a huge gaping hole.
"You wanted to take from me, Andrias! So, now, I'm going to take EVERYTHING from you! This castle, the music box, your army…" Anne's ring glowed bright, and within seconds dozens upon dozens of construct Frobots surrounded Anne, each one bearing her symbol instead of the mark of Amphibia. "And I'm also going to take your LIFE!"
"FROBOTS! ATTACK!" Andrias ordered.
The Frobots took off to meet their orange counterparts, shooting more rockets and lasers at them. But it was easy to tell which of the two armies was the superior one. The rockets and laser fire did little to no damage against the constructs, heck, they didn't even get nudged. The construct Frobots brandished their own, supped up versions of the original Frobots' weapons, and began firing on them. Their orange light weapons destroyed them, causing several to explode on the spot. Some of the construct Frobots opted for a more up close and personal approach as they formed energy blades and claws. Those constructs attacked the originals and began tearing them apart as if they were wet tissue paper.
Andrias couldn't believe what he was seeing, Anne was just floating in the air, coveting the music box as her construct army busied themselves with destroying the robots. It didn't even look as if Anne was showing any signs of fatigue while the constructs fought. Was she subconsciously controlling them like a hive mind? Or were the constructs sentient enough to know what she wanted without her saying it or thinking it? Either way, it didn't matter, what mattered was getting the music box back, that was what was important.
Just then, the throne began to rumble, and in the next moment several mechanical tentacles burst through the floor, throwing the coral throne into the air. That seemed to get Anne's attention as she shot her ring towards the throne and captured it in a bubble of orange light.
"Hey, watch the throne! It's pretty, and I want it for my collection," said Anne.
It's as if she's become a monster of avarice?! She barely cares about the battle, and is more concerned with the things she wants! Wait…
"HEY, ANNE!" Andrias exclaimed.
Anne turned her head in Andrias direction as he held up his beam sword.
"BET YOU'D LIKE A BIG BEAM SWORD OF YOUR OWN, HUH?"
"Yeah, yeah! That thing looks so damn cool! I mean, you did hurt me with it, but it's badass! GIVE IT TO ME!" Anne demanded.
"OF COURSE…GO GET IT!"
Andrias raised his arm and chucked the beam sword down the hall that led to the throne room. Anne took her eyes off the box for a moment as she quickly shot her ring in the direction of the sword to catch it in a bubble. That moment was all that Andrias needed as the mechanical tentacles shot towards Anne. The Thai teen was caught off guard as four of the tentacles crashed into her, and pinned her against the wall, leaving a fifth tentacle to snatch up the music box as it was brought to Andrias.
"WOW, THAT WAS ALMOST TOO EASY," said Andrias.
"What part of 'I'm taking everything away from you' didn't you get? I'm taking it ALL!" Anne's smile broadened as her gaze now fixated on the three gemstones. "But I think I know what you really want most from that box. Not the box itself, it's what's in those stones that you really want."
"WELL, YOU'RE NOT ENTIRELY WRONG. THE MUSIC BOX CAN ALWAYS BE REMADE, WE'VE ALREADY RUN SCANS OF IT, AND IF NEED BE WE CAN RECREATE IT."
"Proved my point, YOINK!"
Anne pointed her orange ring towards the music box, and upon doing so, shot out a wispy beam of orange light at it. Andrias thought that Anne was going to take the music box back and was ready to hold onto it for dear life, but that wasn't the case. The light didn't hit the music box itself, instead, it struck the three gemstones. Immediately upon making contact with the stones, their light and energy started to flow out of them and towards Anne's ring. Andrias watched helplessly as the three stones, which were bright and colorful, were now completely grayed out.
{Unknown energy siphoned. Unknown energy contained.}
"NO…NO! NO! NO! NO!" Andrias yelled. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"
"I took what was most precious to you. The power of the stones, now the stones' power is MINE!"
A loud shriek echoed through the castle, and a moment after the shrieking stopped, something big burst through the floor and into the throne room. It was huge, its body was oval shaped and completely made of metal. It had six mechanical tentacles, all of which were unoccupied, which led one to wonder where the other five came from. The metal monster had nine huge eyes similar to the one that was showing on Andrias's crown, and this creature did not appear to be pleased.
Upon this creature's arrival, Anne could sense something. She could feel a strong avarice coming from this thing, it had quite an insatiable appetite, a kind of avarice that wished to make everything beyond this world its and its alone. However, compared to how Anne was feeling right now, it couldn't hold a candle to her own desire.
"IF THAT'S HOW YOU WANT TO PLAY IT, ANNE, THEN WE'LL SIMPLY REMOVE THAT RING AND YOUR HAND AS A BONUS!" Andrias threatened.
"HehehehahahahahahahahAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHA! You and what army?"
"MY…MY…" Andrias finally took a moment to look around the room. All of the Frobots that were fighting the construct Frobots were now completely destroyed. The only thing left was their scattered parts. The construct Frobots were now all staring in the Core and Andrias's direction, as if waiting for – or daring – them to make a move. "UH…OH…THAT'S NOT GOOD."
"Now, I think it's time I took your life!"
Anne's ring flashed as a huge construct buzzsaw appeared to her left. That same buzzsaw swiped to the right, slicing through the four tentacles like a hot knife through butter. Once the tentacles fell off Anne, she zoomed across the room and crashed into Andrias again, throwing him back to the floor. She then hovered over him as her grin never faltered. The Core gave another shriek and started to run to aid him, but a wall of orange light sealed that half of the room, preventing the hivemind from getting any closer. It pounded against the construct wall, but none of its efforts to destroy the wall yielded any results.
"Now, Andrias…you're MINE!"
The newt king was about to rise to fight back, but Anne drove a jagged construct spike into his left hand, pinning it to the floor. A second one appeared and pierced through his right hand. Two more formed and penetrated his shoulders, with another two going through his legs, effectively anchoring him to the floor. Anne noticed that there was a distinct lack of blood. Someone as big as Andrias should be gushing gallons of blood from the wounds she inflicted. Well, he was "bleeding", however, the blood wasn't exactly red, it was black like oil.
"Huh, I wonder?" Anne formed another construct, this time a chainsaw. She gripped the construct in both hands as she landed at the top of his chest and revved the weapon. "Let's see what makes you tick!"
Anne took the construct chainsaw and pierced his chest with it. Andrias released screams of pain as Anne cut into his chest, walking down as she cut him open. Strangely, instead of the sickening sounds of flesh being torn and bones shattering and breaking, she only heard metal being torn apart. Add to that the fact that sparks were flying from where she was cutting, and Anne was getting the distinct notion that Andrias wasn't flesh and blood. She stopped at about where his navel would be and created two large construct hands to pull at the sides. Once she had, Anne looked inside and saw that there was barely any organic material inside of him. A little here in there, but about ninety percent of Andrias's body was cybernetic.
"Holy shit! You're a cyborg?!" Anne exclaimed.
"LIVING FOR A THOUSAND YEARS…WAITING FOR THIS DAY TO COME…WAS NOT WITHOUT…SOME SACRIFICES…"
"Huh, well, guess your waiting is over now." Anne looked inside and found what appeared to be his heart. She used her ring to create a claw around the metal power core of his body and crushed it in one go.
Andrias released a choking cough as he felt his "heart" stop, he struggled against his bonds, but it was no use. A moment later, his eyes went dull and lifeless as the former king lay dead on the floor. Anne floated up to his head and pressed her right hand against Andrias's forehead.
{Identity Theft: In Progress.}
A layer of orange light formed over Andrias's body.
{Recreating.}
Anne floated away from the body as the orange light layer took on the shape of Andrias's body before she damaged him. That layer started to shift and change, now taking on a more stylized version of the original armor that Andrias wore, and branded upon its chest was the symbol of Anne's ring. The construct then formed claws on each finger, and when Andrias's face formed, it looked like a deranged monster with sharp teeth and slit irises.
{Identity Theft: Complete.}
The Core could not believe its eyes, Andrias was dead on the floor, but now some feral version of him was floating in the air above his body. It was almost as if she had stolen his soul, corrupted it, and enslaved it.
"Now you're MINE, Andrias." Anne glanced at the Core and dropped the shield wall. "Kill it."
Orange Andrias roared into the air as it flew at great speed towards the Core. The metal hivemind attacked with more tentacles from the hole it came out of, but the moment they got close to Orange Andrias, the construct newt formed his signature beam sword and sliced up the tentacles with little effort. The Core tried repeatedly to contact Andrias, to try and bring his mind under their control, but they felt nothing, his mind was gone. This thing may look like a feral version of Andrias, but it was not him, which meant they had no control over it. Realizing this too late, Orange Andrias took his beam sword and stabbed it all the way through the Core's body. The metal monster shrieked loudly once again, it's final death throes ringing out through the castle and the air outside before all nine of its eyes went black, and its body slumped against the floor. Orange Andrias withdrew his blade and dismissed it as he stood aside, letting Anne float towards the machine and begin her process yet again.
{Identity Theft: In Progress.}
{Recreating.}
{Identity Theft: Complete.}
What now stood before Anne was a feral version of the metal monster. It was the same size as the Core, but now sported several jagged curved spikes. Each of its nine eyes now had the ring's symbol in the middle of them, and all six of its tentacles had six metal talons.
Anne looked around the room, she dismissed the construct Frobots, leaving Orange Andrias and Orange Core still standing with her. They were now hers. They were a part of her Corps. Their thousand-year plan, waylaid by a single thirteen-year-old girl from LA. It was funny, almost sad, but funny. However, Anne wasn't done, of course she wasn't. How could she be satisfied with just this? She wanted it all, she wanted more, and she knew where to get more…
Sasha, Marcy, Grime, the Plantars, Olivia, and Yunan were currently running through the halls. The two newt women had rushed to the dungeons and freed the others when they started hearing the sounds of battle going off near the throne room. After freeing them, Sasha immediately headed to the throne room instead of escaping, with Marcy, Grime, and the Plantars right behind her.
"What are you doing?!" Yunan asked.
"If what you told us is true, then we need to go and help Anne!" Sasha retorted.
"She must've succeeded, the castle is starting to descend," said Marcy. "Even if we wanted to escape, we wouldn't be able to do it without touching down on the ground first. So, either way, we'll need to wait until then, and we can help Anne in the meantime!"
"Pssh, like you two even give a dang about, Anne! You both used her!" Sprig accused. "And Marcy…I thought you'd be different from her."
Marcy hung her head low, feeling a fresh round of tears about to fall. Sasha felt the sting in her heart as well, but she pushed through it. They could be sad about losing Anne as a friend later, right now they just needed to make sure that they didn't lose her to death.
Suddenly, the ceiling collapsed up ahead of them, causing the group to come to an abrupt halt. When they did, they gasped. Anne was floating down from the ceiling, flanked by Orange Andrias and Orange Core.
"There you guys are," said Anne.
"ANNE! You're alright!" Sprig exclaimed happily.
"She…doesn't look alright, bro," Polly pointed out.
"Anne, what…what are those things?! What happened to you?!" Sasha asked.
Anne shrugged as she replied, "I got my hands on an uber powerful ring. Killed Andrias and this mecha tentacle monster thing and made copies of them. Now they're basically my slaves and do whatever I want them to. Oh, and I sucked out all the energy from the stones and now it's in my ring!"
"YOU DID WHAT?!" Sasha yelled. "Anne, that was the only way for us to get back home!"
"Pfft, like you give a shit about going back. You already said that your parents act like they don't want you there. But don't worry, Sashy, I'll give you someplace to belong, although…" Anne started to show a sharp toothed grin. "I'll have to kill you first."
Sasha's blood ran cold when she heard Anne say that, and without even a hint of hesitation.
"Anne…c-c'mon, you don't mean that, we're…I know I hurt you, but you don't have to go that far," said Sasha.
"Oh, I'm over that. Now all I want is you, Marcy, Hop Pop, Polly, Sprig, and…I guess I can throw in Olivia and Yunan. Aw, what the hay, I want it AAALLLL!"
Anne flew straight as Sasha and grabbed her by the throat, flying them down the hallway and away from the others. The two teens landed on the floor, with Anne on top of Sasha, and her right hand squeezed tightly around the blonde's throat. Grime roared with rage as he charged in with his warhammer. However, before he could get close to her, Orange Core shot out one of its tentacles and pierced Grime straight through the chest.
Sasha managed to see this happen and tried to scream out Grime's name, but Anne's grip on her throat prevented her from doing so.
"S-Sa…sha…" Grime croaked as he went limp, the life leaving his body.
"KIDS, RUN!" Hop Pop yelled.
The elderly frog picked up Sprig and Polly, not really waiting for them to snap out of their stupor as he ran away with both of them. Yunan and Olivia grabbed Marcy, forcing the Taiwanese teen to run away with them. The two constructs didn't bother attacking them, it wasn't as if they were going to get far.
"Alone again, Sashy. Kinda reminds of our first time, except with more clothes, and less touchy-feely crap," said Anne.
Sasha made some strained sounds that Anne couldn't make out.
"Oh, you want to say something? Well, too bad."
Sasha's brow furrowed as she yelled at Anne, but suddenly, she stopped. She felt pain shoot through her chest, along with something going through her. Sasha managed to look down, her eyes widening when she saw a glowing construct dagger now imbedded in her heart.
"Don't worry, Sash, it's not as if you're not getting anything out of this – as much as 'giving' anything to anyone irks me – you'll be with me forever. Isn't that what you wanted? Well, it won't be you-you, but a copy, but same def, right?"
Sasha's eyes started to close as the strength left her body, and a moment later, she was dead. The construct dagger disappeared, Anne placed her right hand against Sasha's face, and the process began again.
{Identity Theft: In Progress.}
"WHAT HAPPENED TO ANNE?!" Sprig asked in a panicked state.
"That wasn't Anne, there's no way that was Anne!" Marcy stated in denial.
"I never thought this would happen when I told her about what I found! I'm such a damn fool! In stopping one threat, I may've just created an even worse one!" Olivia lamented.
"We can all wallow in denial and self-pity later! Right now, we have to find someplace safe to hide until the castle lands, and then we can – ACK!"
Everyone froze as they saw a mechanical, orange construct tentacle reach out from the distance and grab ahold of Yunan by the neck. The young newt general tried to cut herself free, but the construct's hard-light body was not budging for anything. Before any of the others could even attempt to help, the tentacle retracted quickly, pulling Yunan away and out of sight.
"KEEP RUNNIN'!" Hop Pop ordered.
As they started, the wall closest to Marcy exploded outwards, throwing the Taiwanese girl towards the opposite wall where she slammed against it. Marcy's vision faded a bit from having nearly been knocked unconscious, but when her vision returned, Marcy's eyes widened. Standing on the other side of the broken wall was Sasha and Grime, but they were also not Sasha and Grime.
Grime already had a pretty fearsome look to begin with, but now he was bulkier, with horns, gnarled sharp teeth, and two glowing eyes. His armor was upgraded, giving him a gladiator look. Upon his right pauldron was the symbol of the orange ring, and in his hands was a copy of Barrel's Warhammer.
Next to Orange Grime's left was Orange Sasha. She too wore upgraded armor, with the symbol of the orange ring in the middle of her chest plate. Orange Sasha's face had a maniacal grin like Anne's. Her hair was undone from its ponytail and allowed to flow down her back in a wild, almost feral fashion. Her eyes were narrowed, and her smile showed that she also sported similar sharp teeth like Anne's. In both of Orange Sasha's hands, she held copies of the heron swords.
"Hey, Mar-Mar," said Orange Sasha. "Why are you running? Didn't you say you wanted to be together with us, forever?"
"Marcy, run!" Olivia shouted.
Orange Grime looked her way and grinned maliciously as he readied to go and kill her. Olivia bit her bottom lip and decided that she had no choice but to run. But as soon as she turned to do so, Olivia found herself getting stabbed in the chest. She looked down and noticed that two long blades were now piercing through her chest. Those long blades were connected to an orange glowing hand. When Olivia looked up, she realized who had ended her life.
A copy of Yunan stood before Olivia. Her armor was upgraded like the others and had the symbol of the orange ring on both shoulder pauldrons. Orange Yunan sported longer hair that was spiky and stopped just in the middle of her back. Her tail had a blade tip to it now, and her irises were now two long slits.
"Y-Yu…nan…"
Marcy was at a loss for words as she saw Lady Olivia die a moment later. That's when Anne floated in from the hole in the wall, flanked by Orange Andrias and Orange Core. The Taiwanese girl was practically wetting herself at this point, there was nowhere to run, and nothing she could do to stop what was going to happen to her.
"A-A-Anne, please don't!" Marcy begged.
"You wanted to keep us together, Mar-Mar. Now, we will be. You and Sasha will be a part of my horde, FOREVER!"
"Y-Y-You don't have to kill me! I-I'll be part of your horde! You can keep me all to yourself, forever! I won't fight back or escape! Just let me live, Anne, I'm begging you!" Marcy pleaded as she got down on her knees.
"Yeah, no. You'll get older, and eventually die. And if something happens to you, I can't fix you. So, easier to just copy you, that way, you won't ever break!" Anne swiftly rushed forward and grabbed Marcy by the face as orange light shined forth.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Hop Pop, Sprig, and Polly were frantically running through the halls of the castle. Searching anyplace they could possibly hide in. But to be honest, Hop Pop wasn't sure if anywhere was safe right now. Anne had gone mad, she was killing people, her best friends, and she even killed King Andrias where before she could barely hold her own against him. Hop Pop could feel it, Amphibia was going to be taken over by Anne, she could see it in his adopted granddaughter's eyes. She was hungry, hungry for everything. She was going to take and take from everyone and everything until all of Amphibia was hers. Heck, there was a good chance that there wouldn't be anyone left alive when that happened, just a bunch of copies like the ones he saw earlier.
What if it's not just their likeness?! What if those things are still themselves, but corrupted?! Is she going to steal the souls of everyone in the world?! Oh, Frog help us! Why did this happen? Hop Pop thought.
"Hop Pop, what are we going to do?!" Polly whined in a frightened tone.
"Ah…Ah don't know, but Ah promise that Ah'll keep ya safe, both of ya," Hop Pop promised.
"Best not to make promises that you can't keep, HP."
"AAAH!" the Plantars screamed as they turned around and saw Anne standing before them.
Construct chains formed from her back, and immediately after they formed, the construct form of Orange Sasha appeared, this time with a collar around her neck that was attached to one of the chains.
The second construct was that of Orange Marcy. Her expression was the same maniacal grin as her friends, her short hair had become spiky and wild. The Night Guard uniform was changed to that of a fantasy warrior. Her outfit consisted of a tunic top, with a chest plate that had the symbol of the orange ring on it. Her shoulder pauldrons, bracers, and greaves had the symbol as well. In her left hand was a bow, and a quiver was strapped to her back that was filled with arrows. Around Marcy's neck was a collar similar to Sasha's, and one of the construct chains that came out of Anne's back was attached to the collar. Anne decided to give her friend the fantasy look she had always imagined.
"It's really not so bad," said Orange Marcy. "I got this cool outfit and bow!"
"Yeah, don't you want to look cool, too, Polly, Sprig?" Orange Sasha offered.
"I'll keep you all close to me, you'll be MINE forever and ever. I want to keep everything that I hold dear close. C'mon, HP, aren't you tired by now? You've done so much, lived a long life. It's time to give me that life," said Anne.
"Anne, Ah know you've been through a lot, been hurt by yer friends, but we're yer family! Please, let Sprig and Polly live, just take me!" Hop Pop begged.
"NO!" Polly screamed.
"Hop Pop, don't, please!" Sprig pleaded.
"Why would I want to split up the family? I'm trying to bring the family together. Don't you want that?" Anne asked. "Because that's what I want. Among other things, but that's definitely in my top three. The first two being these two."
"Awww," Orange Sasha and Orange Marcy gushed.
Sprig walked past Hop Pop and looked up to the girl he saw as his big sister and best friend.
"Anne, I know you're still in there! The girl who's my hero is still there! I refuse to believe you're a monster now! I know those two hurt you, betrayed you, but you can trust me, believe in me! Just stop, Anne, we've won already. Andrias is…dead. The invasion is not happening anymore. Just take off that ring and let us help you," said Sprig.
Anne's maniacal smile fell as she dismissed Orange Sasha and Orange Marcy, floated down, and dropped to one knee before the little frog boy. The Thai teen held out her arms, silently asking for a hug. Against the protests of his little sister and grandfather, Sprig didn't hesitate in giving Anne a hug, holding her tight.
"Sprig…I'm sorry…this…this power is so…so addictive. So, so strong."
"You can fight it, Anne, I know it."
"That's just it, buddy…I…I don't want to."
Anne held Sprig tighter.
"I don't want to 'give' anything. I want to 'take'. And take, and take, and take, and take, and take, and take, and take, and take–!"
"B-But what happens when there's nothing left?!"
Anne paused.
"T-Think about it, Anne! If all you do is take, if you keep taking everything in the world, what will be left?" Sprig questioned.
Anne partly broke the hug as she looked down into her surrogate little brother's eyes.
"Oh, Sprig…" Anne gently cupped the left side of his face as she smiled, normally, at him. "…There's always more to take."
"AAAAAAAH!"
"AAAAHHAAAHH!"
Sprig was about to turn his head but was prevented from doing so thanks to Anne now keeping a hold of his head.
"Shh, don't look, Sprig. It's already over."
"Anne…why…?" Sprig asked with tears in his eyes.
"Like I told Hop Pop, want it all. And what I want is for my favorite froggy family to be by my side forever."
A ball of light formed at the back of Sprig's head, swirling about as it readied to do what needed to be done.
"S-Spranne against the world…?"
"Spranne against the world. Forever…"
(Several Days Later…)
Amphibia was quiet, mostly. Every beast and insect that once roamed the land, every citizen from every corner of the content, all of them had been taken. The land of Amphibia was now nothing more than a world without any living thing aside from plants. Even beasts of the sea were not spared from Anne Boonchuy, the Avatar of Avarice.
It was a given that without the animals that once inhabited the forests and oceans, Amphibia would more than likely die out. While plant life would flourish, taking out the wildlife, an essential part of the ecosystem, from the equation would mean that most of the plant life in Amphibia would die out. Was it possible that she missed some animals? Maybe. But if she did, it would be fun to hunt them down and add them to the collection. In her pursuit for more, Anne discovered an underground city that was inhabited by a race called the "Olms".
They put up a good fight…is what she would say if her Orange Lantern Corps. didn't completely overwhelm them. There was even an old, ancient olm. If she remembered correctly, they called her "Mother Olm", she tried to tell her something, but she didn't care. Score one centuries old giant worm-lizard-thing. The toad army tried to fight back as well, but Anne had Orange Sasha and Orange Grime take care of them, all on their own, which wasn't hard. As constructs, they didn't need to rest, or eat or sleep, so they could mow down hordes of soldiers without any problems.
More and more were added to her collection, she tried to find Valeriana, she liked that mysterious newt woman, and wanted her for the horde. But she couldn't find her. She sent all of her Corps to search every corner of the continent, but none of them found a single thing. Oh well, it was just a matter of time before they did. She had an army in the billions if you counted every single animal and insect she collected, with so many eyes and ears all over Amphibia, Anne knew she was bound to find Valeriana.
For now, though, she was content to stay in the castle. She managed to relocate the entire structure back to Newtopia, and it was here that she kept her collection. All the shiny jewelry, crystals, weapons, armor, gold, silver, copper, crops, utensils, bedding, mattresses, beakers and test tubes, assortments of clothes, candy, and a bunch of other random junk that would be nonsensical to own. But that still didn't mean she didn't want it anyway.
Anne floated in the middle of the throne room, having reconstructed it with her ring and Corpsmen. She held a construct globe that showed the continent of Amphibia, her lips forming a deranged smile at it. Because everything in this world was now hers, and hers alone.
Orange Sprig hopped onto her right shoulder with a collar around his neck connected to a construct chain, and asked, "Hey, Anne, what's next?"
Orange Sasha appeared next, floating on Anne's left.
"Yeah, there's so much to get," said Orange Sasha.
"And aside from Valeriana, we've got pretty much everything here," said Orange Marcy as she floated on the right.
"Can't argue with that, not much left here to horde," Orange Hop Pop commented.
"Didn't I tell you all already? There's ALWAYS more to get. You just need to know where to look."
The globe that floated in between her hands shifted, no longer showing the continent of Amphibia, instead, the globe was now that of the planet Earth.
Orange Polly appeared in front of the globe with a devious expression on her face.
"Oooh, interdimensional road trip!" she exclaimed.
"Mom and Dad are going to be sooo surprised to see me," said Orange Sasha.
"I'm sure all of our parents will be," Marcy noted.
"It's fine. We're all going to be together, one way or another…"
The orange ring glowed brighter, and somehow seemed to be emitting faint glows of azure, magenta, and emerald.
"My life is MINE!
This power is MINE!
My friends are MINE!
No one will take what's MINE!"
A/N: Just as a heads up. Considering that Halloween is almost upon us, look forward to the release of the FEAR chapter of this story on Halloween. Seems appropriate, don'cha think?
