Chapter 6
Scavenger Hunt
The gang were all having lunch at a burger joint.
Polly noticed Marcy writing and asked her about it.
"This is my journal," Marcy explained. "I like to jot down theories and observations, and I sometimes draw too."
"Wow," Hop-Pop remarked. "Anne's been keeping one too."
As it turns out, Anne seemed to be journaling, but only writing on a single piece of paper instead of a notebook.
"She's been writing on that paper a lot since we left Wartwood," said Sprig.
That's when the waiter showed up to hand over the bill.
"Who should I hand this to?" he asked. He turned and saw Anne busy writing. "Definitely not you."
"I'll take it," Matt replied as he took the bill.
He read through the bill and did his best to calculate the total cost. Math wasn't his best subject, though, and he always had to use a calculator. Because Matt's calculations were off, he was unsure of his answer.
"I can't determine the right number, but," he guessed. "It's between 25 and 30."
"So close," the waiter replied. "But what's the number?"
Knowing Matt couldn't figure that out, Marcy took the bill. She instantly concluded, "28 coppers?"
"Right you are," the waiter congratulated.
Everyone in the area congratulated Marcy for calculating the price properly, and also Matt for getting close.
"Could you imagine if Marcy or Matt ended up with us instead of Anne?" Polly remarked. "We'd be set for life."
"Hush, Polly," Hop-Pop scolded. "Think thoughts, don't say them."
Anne was hurt by what Polly said. After all, she was right. Both Marcy and Matt were much better than her at anything. Anne couldn't help but feel jealous of both of them, even her own crush.
"Oh yeah?" she tried to defend herself. "Well… Look out!"
An arrow was sent flying in the group's direction. Luckily, they all dodged in the nick of time.
"Someone's trying to kill us!" Hop-Pop panicked.
"No," Marcy assured. "It's just a message from the king." Marcy opened a scroll attached to the arrow revealing… "Correction, it's a puzzlegram from the king. He's hidden clues all throughout the city and when I collect them all, I'll get a message. The first symbol is a tree, so we should head to coral park. Come on, team, it's puzzle time."
"A puzzle tour of Newtopia?" asked Matt. "Count me in."
With that, Anne, Marcy, Matt, Sprig, and Aaron left the diner, while the rest stayed behind.
Once the scavengers reached Coral Park, the humans looked at the scroll. Anne pointed out the picture with one eye open and another eye closed.
"Maybe we're supposed to listen to the trees instead of looking at them," Anne suggested.
"I like that idea," Matt remarked.
"Me too," Marcy added. "But I was also thinking," she pointed to a statue. "That statue is looking through a telescope. He has an eye open, and another eye closed."
Marcy went to the statue and used the telescope. He found a secret sign that read, "Bring".
Marcy looked at the next symbol, and the group carried on. to their next stop.
The next stop was a museum.
Anne looked at the clue for a bit, and after a while, she handed the script to Matt and ran, declaring she had to go to the bathroom.
Matt looked at the clue. It was a compass pointing west.
"I might be taking this literally," he said. "But the compass facing west and the fact we're at a museum might mean that the key to solving this puzzle is on the west side of the museum."
Marcy snapped her fingers and said, "Matt, you're a genius."
She ran over to the wall and said that the markings on it match Newtopia's street grid. After a bit of analyzing, she figured out the next word in the message. "Me" as in "Bring Me".
The group carried on, found Anne sitting with an elderly newt woman, and the pentet carried on.
The final stop was at the central bridge, which just so happened to have a golden statue of Marcy.
Anne tried to solve this puzzle. The clue was a triangle.
"A triangle has three sides," Anne overanalyzed. "Three rhymes with tea. You make tea with water. Water is in…" She noticed a nearby sewer hole. "A sewer."
"Are you sure that's right?" asked Marcy.
"Breath of the Wild has weirder puzzles than this," Matt remarked. "This is worth a shot."
The pentet went into the sewers, and looked around. Matt noticed and pointed out that the water actually looks clean and the place actually doesn't smell bad.
"There's a reason for that," Marcy explained. "I…"
"Rehauled the sewer system?" everyone else interrupted in unison.
"How'd you know?" asked Marcy.
Matt was about to answer that question when Anne pointed at something and said, "Check that out."
Anne was pointing at a knob.
"It kinda looks like the circle in the clue," Anne explained. "We obviously have to turn it."
Anne turned the knob, opening a hatch releasing an alligator. It started eating the trash in the water.
"Fun fact," said Marcy. "In addition to live meat, these alligators also like eating trash."
What Marcy failed to notice was the fact that the alligator was standing right there in front of everyone, and he looked really hungry for live meat.
The pentet made a run for it until they found a possible exit. Anne tried to open the grate, but it was too heavy. She started yelling for help, and after a bit, someone from the other side removed the grate. Right as everyone was about to climb out, the alligator grabbed Marcy by her cape and ate the cape.
That's when Polly appeared held down by someone.
"Grab on," she said, as Anne took Polly's hand. "Hop-Pop, now!"
With that, everyone was pulled out of the sewers.
The adults approached the children to check on them.
"Are you kids alright?" Catherine asked Matt and Aaron.
"What happened?" asked Dareth.
"Can't you go ten minutes without putting yourself in danger?" asked Hop-Pop.
"Give Anne a break," said Sprig. "She's already upset about Marcy and Matt making her look dumb."
"Sprig!" Anne scolded.
But the damage was done. Marcy and Matt heard what Sprig said.
"Anne, is that true?" asked Matt.
"Maybe," Anne replied. "I guess I get a little jealous of you two sometimes. You're both so smart, and I'm… not."
"That's crazy," Marcy reacted. "If anything, I'm jealous of you. Three people you just met just risked their lives to save you. I may be good at calculating the check and puzzle solving but you're great at connections. Me?" She looked a bit towards Matt. "I can't even look people in the eyes sometimes."
"Same here," Matt added. "Sometimes I am good at interactions, but my social skills are nowhere near as good as yours."
"Thanks, you two," said Anne. "This is why we make such a great team."
The three hugged.
"Now who wants a snack?" asked Anne.
Everyone was about to eat some gnat nachos, or gnatchos for short, but Anne noticed their triangle shape, just like the clue. She emptied the tray to reveal the final words. "The Plantars".
That makes the full message, "Bring Me The Plantars".
"Guys, we've been summoned," said Marcy. "And you solved the last puzzle, Anne."
"Self-esteem boost and an audience with a king?" said Anne. "This is the best day ever!"
A bit later, the group were all at the castle heading for the throne room.
"Dang, Marcy, is this where you've been hanging out this whole time?" asked Matt.
"I wouldn't say that," Marcy replied. "But yeah, it's awesome."
"I can't believe we're here," said Sprig.
"And we're about to meet the king of Amphibia," Polly added.
"Look how nice this place is," Hop-Pop commented before he started panicking. "Should I have worn my silk ascot? I can go back and get it."
That's when Catherine stopped him and assured him, "Hey, I've met the king before. He won't mind what you wear. It's no big deal."
That's when Lady Olivia burst into the room and told everyone, "You're about to meet King Andrias. This is a big deal."
Most people gulped, while Catherine just shook her head in frustration and thought to herself, Why does she always act like that?
The group entered the throne room as Olivia said, "Allow me to introduce King Anrias Leviathan. Peacekeeper for a thousand years and first of his name."
King Andrias sat on his throne, looking down on the group with a menacing glare. That glare shifted to a joyful grin as he happily greeted the group.
"Hello, Plantar family!" he shouted. "Bring it in!" Andrias pulled everyone into a big hug. When he released them, they all had to catch their breaths. "It's so good to finally meet you, and it's swell to see you again, Catherine!"
"Andrias, it would be nice if you followed proper etiquette," Olivia scolded.
"Etiquette, shmetiquette," Andrias replied, before turning to Anne and Matt. "And what do we have here? You must be Anne and Matt. 'Sup? Am I saying that right?"
Marcy gave a thumbs-up, assuring Andrias he's doing good.
"Delightful," said Andrias. "And here's a thumbs-up to you two."
Andrias gave a big thumbs-up, and Anne and Matt fist-bumped him.
"Let's get down to business," said Andrias. "Getting you kids home. Alas, without the music box, I can't do much. Marcy doesn't have it, and I assume neither of you do either."
"I do, actually," Anne replied. "Well, I don't have it, have it. Hop-Pop left it with some contacts so they could do some research."
Hop-Pop giggled nervously.
"But I do have a photo of it," Anne assured, as she showed the photo.
The Music Box had a bright appearance and had 4 gray gems.
"How peculiar," Andrias remarked. "Marcy, you said the gems were colored, right? Here, they're gray."
"Oh I never noticed that," said Anne.
"This requires further research," said Andrias. "Give me some time to work it out. In that time, shall reconvene and set a glorious plan in motion. Until then, you guys enjoy Newtopia. We've booked you both rooms at the Hemisphere Hotel, Newtopia's fanciest hotel. And here, each of you, pick a hand."
Andrias brought out both of his fists. Matt chose his right hand while Anne chose the other one.
"What are these?" asked Andrias as he opened his hands. "They're royal credit cards. They'll grant you unlimited access to everything in Newtopia. Be safe with it. Wars have been waged for less."
"Like the newt superiority bullshit," Catherine remarked under her breath.
A bit later, Matt, Aaron, Catherine, and Dareth entered their hotel room.
"You know how I'm feeling?" asked Matt. "I feel like we had 6 big adventures within the course of a week. In other words, I feel like taking a huge rest."
"Agreed," said Aaron.
"Well, you kids do what you want," said Catherine. "Dareth and I will explore the hotel. Come get us if you need anything."
With that, Catherine and Dareth left the room, and Matt and Aaron drifted to sleep.
A.N.
Like Matt said, "6 big adventures in one week". Definitely a broken record for me.
To be clear, by "exploring the hotel", Dareth and Catherine just agreed to watch over Sprig while he did his own exploring. I would write further, but there's no way I'm rewriting a filler episode like that one. I don't care about the Mabel cameo.
So, I had the scavenger hunt episode end with meeting Andrias, because it felt out of place beginning in the episode right after, especially since it was in a filler episode. It didn't advance the main plot, and we do not need an episode centered around Sprig.
Anyway, I'm planning two original chapters before we get to the sleepover and the aquarium episodes, but first, I'm gonna start the Stranger Things rewrite.
See you then.