The Angel flew towards Anne, who stepped out of the way, just in time. "Okay, so whose hallucination is this?"
"Not mine," said Sasha. "I stopped going to church years ago, I'm basically an atheist."
"Agnostic," responded Marcy.
"I met god," added Anne's white head, "They're a cat."
The figure then charged towards Sasha, pulled out their glowing sword, and swung at her. She pulled her head back just in time. "Guys, I felt the wind from that sword."
"Impossible! It's a hallucination, by definition they're not real, right Anne?"
Anne stood there for a few seconds and swallowed. "Well… It might be real."
The figure charged at Marcy, who turned and ran. "WHAT?"
"Last time, Sprig and Polly looked like monsters to me, and me and Hop-Pop might have almost killed them."
Sasha charged at the angel, grabbed them by the waist, lifted them up, and threw them. The angel landed on their feet and charged at Sasha this time.
"So what you're saying is that we might be in danger for real?"
"Or not," stated Anne.
Before Sasha could complain, there was the sound of yelling: "There she is!"
The therapist's eyes widened. "Oh, no."
A large group of toads appeared, all of them wearing stereotypical 1950s high school clothes.
"Okay, why are those toads dressed like that?" asked Anne.
The older Sasha sighed and raised her hand: "That's me, sorry, I think it has something to do with her and how I view middle school."
The two Anne's nodded.
"Makes sense," said Anne.
"Dumb question, really," added the other head.
That's when an army of twisted versions of Wartwoodians appeared, directly opposite to the high school toads.
"Okay, why are they here?" Sasha asked.
"Yo," called Anne, casually raising her hand, "I saw some messed up things last time I drank that tea."
Next to arrive were three odd zombie looking newts. They just pointed at Marcy and the golden angelic warrior. Anne and Sasha turned to Marcy, who nodded. "Yeah, they're with me. They're the newt friends I mentioned… I… meant to see them tonight."
Marcy stood there, looking ashamed.
The angel decided to use this to their advantage, leaping towards Marcy, who shielded herself with her arms.
She heard the sword collide with something, so she opened her eyes, surprised to still be alive, only to see Sasha standing there, a branch in her hands, holding off the attacker.
"Wait, were you seeing them as well today?"
"They came to me earlier today and wanted to hang out… I thought I could hang out with you and them at the same time."
Sasha looked at her for a few seconds, continuing to deflect the attacker's blow, then nodded. "Yeah, same."
"What?"
"Grime and the others were holding a party, I did the same thing, Grime brought a bunch of toads round."
"Well, at least Anne-"
"Nope," admitted Anne flatly, "Party at the mayor's house with the whole town."
"She really sucks at this," said the other head, chipperly.
The golden figure turned around and charged at Anne.
However, they paused as the Zombie newts ran in front of Anne.
"So you recognized me," said the angel.
…
Javi stood there, his heart sank. In front him was a dead newt. He thought back to the battle ten years ago, where he watched his old mentor, his captain, the newt he respected most in the world sink into the ocean
He held back the anger that threatened to overwhelm him. Turning, he could tell Femur was holding back his anger just as well. Javi on the other hand looked like she wanted to pounce on their former commander.
"How did you-" he started to say before Ernst spoke up.
"Survive?" said Ernst, interrupting Javi, "Simple. I took the armor off and swam to the island. I stayed hidden from you, and your new commander left the island on that bird."
"Okay, but how did you get the armor back?"
"I swam to collect it, it was payday for betraying everything I believed in. I wasn't about to let it sink… also I was naked. I didn't want anyone to see me."
"Fine but-"
"I eventually made a raft, and returned to the main land, only to discover Andrias had taken over. I tried to confront him, when he revealed he was the one who paid me to lead the cult to burn the books, destroying all evidence of the Olm prophecy. I had to fight my way out."
"Okay," said Kettle, "But-"
"I was ashamed of what I did, so I came to this town to hide. I had no idea that this was the town those humans frequented, and thus-"
"STOP," yelled Javi and Kettle.
"Stop dumping exposition," said Javi, "Please, Commander, we can settle this peacefully, Just-"
All of a sudden, a large one-armed, one eyed toad slammed into the commander, knocking him to the ground.
"Didn't your mother ever tell you to not turn your back on a fight," said the toad smugly.
"Get away from him," demanded Kettle angrily. Sure, the commander had betrayed them, but it was clear the old newt needed help.
"Oh really," said the one eyes toad scowling at her, "And that's a small fry like you going to-"
Kettle jumped at the toad, landed on to his face, and bit him.
The toad let out a scream.
"Commander Grime's being attacked," called a short looking toad, "ATTACK!"
The crowd of toads charged towards the newts.
…
Anne stood there as she watched the angel talk to the zombies. "Well this is kind of strange," said Anne, confused.
"Yeah, not going to lie, I figured we'd see something surreal, but this is just kind of weird, and not even in a fun way."
Anne snuck away from the newts and angel and walked towards her friends, "Okay, so I'm officially confused. Those are Kettle, Javi and Femur right?"
"Yeah," confessed Marcy.
"Wait. How do you know their names?" asked Sasha.
"I read Marcy's journal while we were stuck on Earth."
"Oh," said Sasha, before she raised her eyebrows, "What? When did you give her that?"
"Just before we went through the portal. I passed it to Anne before she was sent through, I needed to write about how Andrias had betrayed me."
Sasha held her palms up, "You're telling me, that you took time during that fight to write in your journal?"
"Yeah, Well, I was when I caught Sprig."
"Okay, but I never saw a journal," said Sasha confused.
"Sash," muttered Anne, "Don't think about it too hard, I had the journal, just move on."
Before Sasha could continue, she saw Grime tackle the angel.
"Dang," said teenage Sasha, "Grime really should have been a football player."
That's when the small zombie newt jumped onto Grime's face. In response, the High school toads charged.
Sasha just stood there, "Honestly, this is exactly how I expected tonight to end."
…
"Guys, Grime's being attacked," said Polly, "We need to something."
"Polly, don't," pleaded Sprig, "We need to-"
But it was too late, Polly was already rushing into battle. However, before she got there, a large toad blocked her path.
"Out of the way ugly," she demanded.
"Stand back," said the toad, "This is a toad fight, we don't want any weak little frogs getting involved."
"Oh dear," Hop-Pop muttered full of dread
"What?" asked Oum.
"He called Polly weak," said Sprig.
Before any of the Boonchuys could ask why that was bad, there was the sound of a thack, they turned back to see the toad lying on the ground, Polly smiling smugly.
"That'll-"
"Hey, that frog hit Jocon, GET HER!"
A toad with pink Skin grabbed hold of Polly, and lifted her, "Now you're gonna get-"
Suddenly, the toad was lifted off the ground by a large fist. He turned to see a large pink newt standing there, glaring at him, "Sorry, I must be seeing things wrong, Are you trying to threaten my daughters' girlfriend?"
The toad swallowed, "Um no, I was-"
"He was totally doing that, Mrs K," said Polly sweetly.
"Okay, Thanks Polly, sweetie."
"Mrs K?" asked the toad, looking at the large newt.
"As is Killa."
"THAT LARGE MUSCLE BOUND NEWT IS ATTACKING US NOW, TAKE HER DOWN!"
A section of toads pulled away from the newt trio, to attack Priscilla.
This was all the town needed. With a battle cry, All of Wartwood charged towards the toads and newts.
…
The trio looked at the violence that took place in front of them.
"Well, this got ugly quickly," said Sasha.
"Yeah, We should do something," said Anne, "before something else insane happens."
From behind the three there was an explosion, they turned to see a mushroom cloud in the distance.
"Oh," said Anne, "anyone know that that was?"
"Nope," murmured Sasha.
"N...No," Marcy stuttered.
"Nothing good," concluded teenage Sasha, reappearing next to her older counterpart suddenly.
"I don't remember making nukes," admitted Darcy also reappearing, "At least, not yet."
"Well, if it's the end of the world, I guess we need to sacrifice yourself again." quipped Anne's second head.
From the mushroom, Anne could make out dozens of little specks flying towards them, Anne swallowed.
"Oh no."
As they drew closer, Anne could see that they were demons from hell, here to capture her and her friends.
"Guys… We've gotta get out of here."
"You don't need to tell me twice," said Marcy, turning around, followed by Sasha.
None of them noticed the angel following them.
…
Sprig turned to face the explosion from behind them, a pillar of red liquid rose into the sky, the violence briefly stopped as everyone looked at the source of the explosion.
"Huh," said the frog, "That looks really familiar."
That's when Sprig sew the army of chocolate covered hornets flying towards them.
"Damn, the Volcakeno went off," said Grime, "I was hoping Sasha would be here to help fight off the monsters."
"EVERYONE," shouted Hop-Pop, "GRAB SOMETHING AND GET READY TO FIGHT!"
"We were already doing that," said Wally confused.
"Yeah, it's a little redundant," added a toad who had his arms around the musician's neck.
That's when the hornets arrived at the group and started to attack.
In moments, whatever animosity the various groups had, faded.
The majority of Frogs were armed for the night, knowing that parties involving Anne usually ended in violence.
The toads on the other hand were well-prepared, they had all been to parties with Volcakenoes before, they had survived those, they would survive this one.
Grime let Hop-Pop ride on his shoulders, fending off the hornets that flew towards them.
Kettle and Polly bumped into each other, and were fighting off the hornet menace back to back.
Javi and Felicia Sundew were taking down hornets while discussing hair routine: "How do you get your hair so soft?" "Family, secret involving mud." "Ew…give me details after the fight."
Femur found himself fighting next to a tusked frog, who not only attacked the monsters, but was also smashing any nearby buildings.
In a few minutes, the hornets were either dead or eaten.
"Well, that's all of them," said Grime, "And they were all delicious."
"Good," proclaimed Javi, who looked at the corpse of a hornet lying on the floor. Ms Croakers pet spider Archie was chewing on it. "Now who are you frogs and toads?"
"He's Grime," said Sprig, landing next to the toad, "And I'm Sprig. I'm guessing that was a volcakeno."
"The usual mixture of good food and violence every toad party needs," the toad laughed, "SASHA, DID YOU SEE THAT?"
There was no response, Sasha wasn't there.
"Where is she?" said Grime worried.
"Anne's not here either"
"Where did Marcy go?" said Javi.
"You know Marcy?" asked Sprig.
"Yeah, She was with us at the tea shoppe and-"
"Wait, she was seeing you guys? Not Anne?"
"Sasha was doing the same, "I'm guessing Marcy did the same with the newt with the nice hair." Complimented Grime
"Thank you," declared Javi, "But seriously. We need to find them, they might be in trouble."
"They already are," said Sprig worried, "They drank gourd tea, and are hallucinating right now."
"What?" asked Kettle, who ran up to the group.
"Yeah, I remember when I drank one of Anne's earth drinks, I thought I had a robot friend called bolder-tron. He was cool."
Frobo grumbled, "Not as cool as the real robot."
"This is worrying," worried Kettle, turning to her large friend, "FEMUR, HAVE YOU GOT ERNST?"
The large newt just stood there, shaking his head. There was no sign of the golden newt anywhere.
…
Max had never been to a graveyard before, his only real knowledge of them seemed to be honest cartoons and horror movies, which usually had something horrible hiding in them.
He didn't really understand why graveyards were considered scary in the first place. Dead people were buried there, so what? There were dead bodies located everywhere on Earth.
Lucian had taken the lead for this dare, guiding the other three forwards, occasionally stopping to try and see if they were being followed.
Max hadn't mentioned that Yunan was following him. He figured if his friend knew, it might ruin the atmosphere Lucian was trying to build.
Behind him was Marcy, who was starting to look a little worried. She also had the habit of continuing to look at Max oddly once in a while, she was probably scared.
"Hey, Marcy, do you want to hold my hand?"
The frog girl paused, her eyes widened, "What?"
Something then shoved Marcy, "SOMETHING BUMPED INTO ME!" she screamed.
"Yeah," came a voice from behind her, "Me."
Max saw the frog girl look behind her to see Nicole standing there, looking annoyed at all of them.
"Oh, Yes," said Marcy, clearly embarrassed. "I forgot you were there."
"What? Did you think I was a ghost?"
Marcy swallowed. "Yes."
Nicole stood there for a second then nodded, "That's fair, there could be dozens running around this place."
"Floating," replied Lucian.
"What?" said Nicole.
"Floating, Ghosts wouldn't walk, they'd float."
"What about a ghost who was pretending to be human?" asked Marcy.
"Why'd they do that?"
"I don't know, maybe to hang around with the living?"
"I'd still float," said Lucian, "If I didn't have to walk, I'd take advantage of it."
"Wait, is that what you'd do if you were a ghost?" asked Max.
"Yeah, I mean I know it involves a gruesome death but still! I'd be able to fly, go through walls, see what's in the ladies' bathroom."
"Gross," sniffed Marcy.
"Oh, not for creepy reasons," said Lucian, holding up his hands, "I just want to see if it's any cleaner than ours."
"Do you guys actually believe in ghosts?" asked Max.
"Yeah," said Nicole.
"Of course," added Marcy.
"It's the only logical explanation, What about you?"
"Nope, Not buying them."
"Really?" asked Marcy, "You don't believe in ghosts?"
"Why should I? They're not real, just a tourist trap for small towns, like this one in the Midwest, a town run by a woman she says it's full of ghosts, Olly O'Riley."
"Well, Wartwood is full of ghost stories," said Marcy, "Like Zechariah Nettles, the ghost who helps lost travelers."
"Really?"
"Yeah," said Lucian, pointing, "There's a statue of him over there."
Max turned and saw a statue of a creepy frog, with a wild, untamed beard and a hook for a hand.
"Yikes," Max whispered.
He blinked briefly and when he opened his eyes it looked like the statue had moved.
Before Max could respond, Lucian held out an arm, "We're here."
Max looked in front of the toad and saw a grave ahead of him, it read: 'Here lies Bartholomew, Who is really dead, No seriously.'
In front of the grave was a pile of stones. Max could make out that they were around the size of Marcy's fist.
"So, there we are," said Lucian.
"Yeah, standing in front of a grave of a living frog, to claim a hexed stone."
"I thought they were cursed?" asked Nicole.
"No, Lucian made a mistake, they were hexed, Curses are different."
"Well whatever," said Lucian, "Let's pick one up…Nicole, why don't you go first?"
Nicole turned to Lucian. "What?"
"You're the youngest, you go first."
"No," replied the young newt, "I don't want to be hexed first, you go first."
"Fine," groaned the toad, "I will go…after Marcy."
"You jerk," replied the frog girl.
Sighing, Max stepped forward, he was worried about his friends getting hurt, but he knew that if he got this over with quickly, they'd be back home.
"MAX, DON'T" screamed Lucian.
Ignoring the toad, Max picked up the first stone he saw and turned to the others, showing it off.
"Is this what you guys are afraid of?"
The three Amphibians just stood there looking at him, shocked over what he had just done. Marcy was the first to walk towards him, she leaned down and picked up a stone. Nicole then rushed over and copied her older friends, by the end, only Lucian was left.
He swallowed. "You guys aren't possessed, are you?"
"No," said Max, "Because like I said, ghosts aren't real."
"Nope," agreed Marcy.
"BLOOODDD," shouted Nicole, who then just laughed. "Nah, Just messing with you…Or am I?"
Slowly taking a step forward, Lucian reached his friends, then picked up his stone.
"There," said Max, "We did it, we picked up stones and nothing bad happened."
That's when a blood-curdling scream filled the graveyard.
They all turned in its direction.
"What was that?"
"I have no idea," said Max, "But it wasn't a ghost."
"It sounded like…my mom?" Marcy added perplexed.
"It might be a bloodthirsty manic," replied Lucian, starting to panic.
Max stood looking like he was going to correct him, but instead he nodded, "No, that makes sense, kind of tracks with the week I've been having."
That's when he saw the three shadows coming towards them, they were tall, taller than any amphibian, and they moved frantically towards them. He could see a glowing light following them.
"AFTER THEM, THEY'RE CRAZY AND DANGEROUS," said a voice in the distance.
Max didn't need to think for another second. "RUN!" he shouted, picking up Nicole and turning.
The three started to run away from the figures, deeper into the graveyard, passing more and more tombstones, but as they got further in, the large stones got older and more decayed.
That's when they reached the end of the graveyard. In front of them was a large wall.
"We're trapped," said Marcy.
"Don't worry, we just need to run and-" Max started to say as he turned.
He then saw them there, three figures covered in dirt. Their once fine clothes now reduced to rags. Their shoes were missing, hair disheveled and full of leaves and sticks. Each of their eyes were wide and full of panic.
Max swallowed. A part of him knew he was in trouble, but another part wondered how these three could have possibly ended up like this.
…
As the three women ran away from the threat, Anne tried to ignore the screams from behind them. The world slowly started to change, it grew darker. The girls' paranoia started to catch up with them, something was following them.
Anne turned and saw that in the darkness was the angel chasing after them.
"Quick," said Sasha, pointing towards some bushes, "I know a shortcut through the graveyard, there's the entrance to the Plantar family archives over there."
The group headed in her direction. They entered the bushes, the branches tugging at their clothing, leaving rips in them, their shoes got knocked off, and by the end of it, they were covered in leaves and mud.
For Anne, it was somewhat nostalgic.
They continued running deeper into the graveyard, hoping that things would work out, however, that's when they saw a figure in the distance.
It had metal skin, and looked like a newt wearing a white shirt.
The three kept running towards them, at the last moment the figure turned.
"Marcy?" it said in its robotic voice, "What are you-"
Marcy slammed her fist into the creature's face, the android let out a scream and hit the floor.
"Jeez, Marcy!" said Sasha, both worried and impressed by the punch.
"What?" Marcy said confused, "I don't know if they're a threat or not, I'm not taking any chances."
They kept running deeper and deeper into the graveyard, the angel was still following them, however now it was followed by deeper demonic voices.
"AFTER THEM, THEY'RE CRAZY AND DANGEROUS," shouted a booming voice.
"Keep running, we're near the secret entrance, it's an old grave covered in stones, we just need to…" Sasha trailed off the moment they reached the grave.
Standing there were three young girls, one was blonde with a blue jacket, the other had black hair in a pigtail and wore overalls, the last one had bushy brown hair. Next to them was a soccer ball on legs.
"Um…guys? Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"
Yeah," said Sasha, "I think I am."
…
"Are you three okay? Asked Max.
Anne leaned closer towards him, "I don't think I am younger me, right now I've got two heads, and we're being chased by an angel."
"Okay?" said Max confused.
"Yeah, we might be under the influence of a hallucinogen," added Sasha, "You might not even be real."
Marcy leaned in a little closer to her newt counterpart, "Hey you, listen when you're older your mom and dad will tell you're going to have to move and leave your friends behind, for the love of frog don't argue with them just go ahead with it."
"What are you doing?" Asked Sasha.
"Convincing my younger self to not get us trapped in Amphibia."
"Huh. I don't know how to process that," said Anne, "I mean we did grow there."
"I know, but two of us almost died, and you actually did, I don't see changing the past as a downside."
That's when both women looked at Anne, no, not Anne, just slightly off from Anne. Even Anne had her head turned like something was on her shoulder.
Before they could respond, Marcy snapped, at the empty air, "No you're not, she's Anne and even if she did, we don't care."
"They've gone crazy," whispered Lucian.
That's when something jumped out of the darkness between the three humans and children.
"Hah," said the golden figure, "I finally found you, prepare to-"
"Mr Tsnre?" asked Marcy Yunan, "is that you?"
The newt turned, "Marcy Yunan, what are you doing-"
Before he could finish, Sasha leapt forward and wrapped her arm around his neck.
…
When the angel leapt in front of them, everyone jumped back in fear.
"There you are," said the angel, "prepare to die."
"Is that an angel?" Asked the little Marcy.
"Yes, and I shall kill you before you grow up to ruin this world," said the golden figure.
Sasha didn't even need to think, she leapt forward and grabbed the angel, she wrapped her arm around their neck.
"Get away from them, you monster."
"Kick his ass," said the teenage version of her appearing behind the younger version of her, a smile on her face, pride in her eyes.
Marcy grabbed the arm of the angel and knocked the sword from their arm, "I won't let you hurt them."
Darcy appeared behind the younger Marcy.
"Putting your life on the line for others," their voice now different, less electronic. A smile, one full of warmth, appeared on their face, "it's not surprising."
Anne was next, she grabbed onto the angel and pushed them down to the ground and held them there with her friends.
"Still endangering your life, huh?" asked her other head.
"I don't care," said Anne, "I'm going to protect them, It's what Anne Boonchuy would do, It's what I do."
Her other head vanished, only to reappear behind her younger self with her full body.
"Looks like they're about to return to reality," said Darcy, their body starting to shimmer.
"Nice to know we're still best friends after all these years," added the white, fading Anne.
"I wonder, though, how long will it last?" was the last word to come from Teenage Sasha as she faded away.
Instantly, the world changed for the three women, it became less terrifying, the sky returned to its normal color, no longer were there any monsters hiding in the darkness, other than the usual monsters that hid in the dark.
"Guys, the world's back to normal," said Marcy relieved.
"Thank frog," admitted Anne, "Glad to be out of that nightmare."
"Great…" said Sasha, "Just one thing. WHO IS THIS GUY?"
The trio looked at the figure they had pinned on the ground. No longer an angel, he was now just an elderly newt, wearing golden armor.
"Commander Ernst?" said Marcy, shocked.
"So you remember me, From all those years ago and-"
"Oh no," said Marcy, "I just recognized the gaudy armor."
Ernst stopped struggling, and turned to Marcy, "So…you didn't notice me back at the tea shoppe?"
"Nope, not at all," said the woman casually.
Ernst was quiet for a moment, and sighed, "Fu-"
"Max? What are you going here?" said Anne, turning in the direction where their younger selves had stood.
The four children stood there for a few seconds before Max shrugged, "Only if you explain to us what you've been doing?"
The three women looked at each other, then they turned back to the four kids, "Okay, so we're taking this evening to the grave then."
"THERE THEY ARE!" shouted a voice in the darkness.
Anne turned to see the Plantars, her parents, and a dozen other Amphibians walking out of the darkness. With them was General Yunan, walking along dazed.
"Mom? What happened?"
The general looked down at the floor and glared at Marcy, "She knocked me out."
Marcy stood up, and rubbed her arm, "Sorry, Bad trip."
Ernst stood up and sighed, "I surrender."
The town looked at him confused.
"Tsnre, what are you talking about?" said Hop-Pop
"I'm handing myself in for attacking Marcy and my actions ten years ago."
The crowd was quiet for a second, "You mean this isn't about the whole betraying Amphibia thing?" said Ms Croaker.
Ernst nodded, "Yes I… Wait, you knew?"
"Yeah," said Toadie, "We all knew, I mean Two important newts live in the town, one of whom visits Newtopia to work, they recognized you instantly."
"Then why didn't you say anything?" asked Ernst
Toadie shrugged, "You weren't doing anything wrong, and we just didn't want to go after a guy who dedicated himself to working in a tea shopee."
A look of relief appeared on Ernst's face,"Oh well I-"
"However now you attacked the girls we have to punish you," said Toadie more seriously, "Two death sentences for attacking Anne and Marcy and one life sentence for attacking Sasha."
"What the heck?" blurted out Sasha, "Why is so much lesser for me?"
"You invaded Amphibia," said the small government official, "I know you saved it, but you helped doom us all."
Sasha just nodded in response, "Fair."
Two large toads walked towards the newt, but Marcy Wu stepped in front of him.
"Wait," proclaimed the webcomic artist, "Listen. What he did was wrong, but he was used by Andrias like me, and the only reason he attacked me was because he was scared. Can't you guys just let him off?"
Mayor Toadie rubbed his chin, "Okay, how about one month picking eggs."
"Deal," said Tsrne, he turned to Marcy a look of gratitude on his face, "Thank you. If there's anything I can do, just ask."
"Actually. I need to pick your brain later, do you mind talking with me later? I have some questions about the recent wildlife attacks."
Tsnre nodded, then picked himself up.
"So, Girls," said Sprig, "What's with your outfits."
The girls looked down at their tattered clothes, "Yeah, could you go get our clothes please, something tells me we might need to merge our evenings together."
…
An hour later, the girls were changed into the clothes they were wearing earlier that day, all three parties had been merged together.
The center of town was covered in chocolate from the volcakeno, many Toads were currently picking at it with the remains of the dead Hornets, many other Amphibians were dancing to the town band playing on a bandstand brought from the mayor's party.
Music wafted through the air as Polly danced with Pearl, Hop-Pop danced with Sylvia, The Boonchuys dancing looking into each other's eyes.
All around them dozens of Amphibians were talking about the night, new friendships had been made tonight, ones that would last years.
In the corner, Marcy Wu finally introduced her old friends to her ranger friends.
"Anne, Sasha, This is Femur, Javi and Kettle," said Marcy enthusiastically.
"Nice to meet you," said Anne.
"Thanks for looking after Marcy," praised Sasha.
"She looked after us," confesed Kettle.
"I love your hair," said Javi looking at Sasha.
"Thanks, I can give you shampoo if you want."
"Yes please."
"Hey guys, can you stay here for a while? I need to go and talk with Ernst."
"Tell him we need to see him tomorrow," said Javi, "we've got a lot to talk about."
Marcy nodded and walked away.
The three talked for a few minutes, eventually Anne looked around the hall.
All around here were Amphibians mixing with each other, acting like the barrier that had held them back ten years ago didn't exist.
She saw Polly dancing with her new girlfriend, she saw her parents talking to the mayor. Sitting on a rooftop watching over everyone were Max and his friends. He spotted her and waved, she waved back.
That's when she saw him.
Sprig was sitting at a table, looking upset.
"Excuse me," she said to Sasha and the newts, "I've got to catch up with Sprig."
Sasha nodded, "Okay, don't take so long."
Anne stood up and walked to her best friend. Pulling up a chair, she sat down next to Sprig, who hadn't noticed she was there.
"Hey Sprig," said Anne to her best friend.
The frog jumped and put on a smile, "Oh Anne, you're here, good."
"What's wrong?"
Sprig frowned again, "Ivy, she left the party while we were checking up on you, Her mother said she went home."
"Did you do something?"
He shrugged. "I don't know… I don't think I did, she might just be acting weird."
Anne just looked at him, then smiled, "You want me to talk to her?"
He looked up at her, hope in his eyes, "Could you?"
Anne nodded and stood up, "Don't worry, she might just be having a bad day."
She walked off, she needed to get to the bottom of this, she was going to save this ship.
…
The tea shop was dark, just like Ivy's soul.
She had the perfect chance to tell him, it would have been so easy, just to tell him he was going to be a father.
Instead, Anne had started acting weird and ran out the room.
Ivy wouldn't say she was jealous, no she liked Anne, and she knew that Sprig loved her as a friend.
But that was the thing, they had been through so much, back then she had spent everyday together, they had gone to Newtopia together, gone to another world. He had flown into space to try and stop her.
When she came back from the dead, it was probably for him.
She still remembered the days after Anne and her friends had left.
Sprig had become a recluse for a while, burying his emotions, trying to keep it all hidden, Ivy had seen him once, and it was a sight that scared her.
He got better of course, and since then they had a good relationship, apart from that time she broke up for a year to see if they would prefer other people but no, they just stayed together.
She still remembered her last day on the new continent. She and Sprig were walking around the island looking for adventure, that's when they came across a spring, above them were fireflies.
It was just like that time ten years ago, Sprig had told her it was the moment he realized he liked her. Of course, she had known she had liked him a lot earlier, but still.
They had kissed underneath the fireflies, and slowly it turned into more.
The next day, she had felt queasy. When they were back in town, she had gone to see the town doctor, and they had confirmed it.
Now all she had to do was to tell Sprig.
And that's the problem, Anne was back, she was more important to him than she'd ever be.
What was she going to do? She had to tell him, but as long as she was here-
Ivy was brought out of her depression by the sound of a bell, she turned to see the one person she didn't want to see standing there.
"Ivy?"
The frog sighed and turned back to the table, "Hey Anne."
Anne walked over to her and sat next to her, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," she lied.
"You don't sound it," said the human concerned.
"Well, Sorry, It's just… I need to talk to Sprig about something."
"About the eggs."
"Yes about the…" Ivy turned to look at Anne, her eyes wide, her mouth open, "How did you know?"
"Simple. Your dress is slightly larger than when I saw you last, and you look a little paler, and well, there's the fact that you retreated into the darkness of a shop and angst."
The shop was quiet for a few seconds, Ivy just sat there, amazed at what Anne had just said.
"Also, you're getting a little pear shaped."
Ivy looked down, feeling a little self-conscious, before sighing, "You're right."
"So," said Anne gently, "Why haven't you told him yet?"
The yellow frog was quiet for a few minutes, then just sighed, "You're here."
"What?"
"You," said Ivy quietly.
Anne held up her hands, "Oh no, I'm not dating Sprig, I know you're worried but-"
"No not that," said Ivy shaking her head, "It's you, as long as you're here he's going to want to spend time with you."
"What?" asked Anne confused, "No, that's not true."
"Oh yeah, How many times has he come to see me since you got back."
Anne stood there shocked, "...I'm guessing not many?"
"Yep," said Ivy, nodding her head, "He likes you more."
"Are we talking about-"
"No." said Ivy shaking her head, "He's not into you… it's just… I think he's your soulmate."
The human woman stood there looking confused, "Huh?"
"Think of it," she said, "Since you've been back he's been going out of his way to be with you. You're Anne Boonchuy, cool monster who saved the world. He might have been willing to spend time with me but…"
Ivy drifted off, her tears started to fall into the tea beneath her face.
It was stupid, she shouldn't be jealous of Anne, but the way she always had Spring's heart scared her. What would happen if she told him about the eggs, and he just rejected her?
That's when she felt two arms wrap around her.
She turned to see Anne kneeling there, holding her.
"Ivy, trust me, Sprig loves you more than anything, I promise you that."
The yellow frog sat there and gently hugged the human arm.
"Thanks Anne, I don't hate you, it's just…"
"It's understandable, but I can guarantee Sprig won't reject you for being gravid, he'll be excited. Heck, I'm excited to be an aunt."
Ivy laughed, "Yeah, well, If only Sprig was smart enough to figure it out."
"That might be a little hard…unless."
"Unless what?"
Anne smiled, "How about this? Tomorrow, I'll bring him to you, and you pounce on him and tell him you're pregnant."
A smile appeared on Ivy's face, "You mean, you're telling me that the best way to tell him anything is…?"
"Ambush him, yes."
Ivy laughed, "I'm in. It's an insane idea, but I'm in."
"Good," said Anne, sitting up, "Now let's go, we've got to get back to the party."
The two left, Ivy held on to Anne's hand, for the first time in days, hope was in her heart.
…
Back at the party, Marcy was talking to Ernst:
"No, I don't think it's because of an ancient curse," Ernst dismissed, he was currently tied to a chair to ensue he wouldn't run away, "Those usually gave a feeling of foreboding."
"Well that's almost everything," said Marcy rubbing her chin, "What about some sort of super Apex predator?"
"We'd know if there was, the attacks seem random, control would be possible, but I'm not sure how."
Sighing, Marcy slumped in her chair, "Well I'm out of ideas, Tim admitted that he wasn't responsible for this, and I contacted Garry's village, No mind control from them or the other spore."
The two former commanders sat there for a second, then coughed, "So here's a question, When did the monsters start attacking?"
"A few days ago, when we arrived."
Ernst looked at her, then blinked twice, "Well I think it's obvious really."
"What?" asked Marcy excitedly.
"You."
"I'm responsible for this?"
"Well not you, but the maybe it's the portal, There's this thing… I read about it in a scientific journal, a radio wave or this form of energy called radiation could-" the newt started to snap his finder, "Sorry I didn't understand the basics but…"
"I know what it is, but where could it come from?"
"You told me how you got here earlier, right?"
Marcy's eyes widened, "You mean the portal might be doing this?"
"Could be," said the newt, "Hate to say this, but you might be responsible for all this mess."
Marcy sat there, everything started to make sense, things had started attacking weird a few days ago, animals using other animals nests, Hybeenas laying eggs outside a nest, Animals that were natural enemies working together, all of this started a week ago.
"There's only one thing we can do," quavered Marcy, "We need to leave."
The elderly newt sat there, "I know it sounds hard, but for the safety of our world, I agree."
Marcy stood up and sighed, "Thank you for your help, I'll see that you get released from Egg duty."
"Nah," said the newt holding his hands up, "I like it. I was the odd kid who liked giant spiders."
The human smiled and nodded and walked towards her friends. She saw that Anne was sitting with her frog family and the yellow frog called Ivy. She saw her fellow former rangers and Sasha laughing with Grime, and several other toads. Mr and Mrs Boonchuy were talking to Wally, Loggle, Stumpy and more over their food. On a rooftop were Marcy and her three friends, laughing.
"One more night won't hurt," she whispered to herself.
"Hey Marcy," said Anne rushing over, "Hop-Pop wants to take a photo, come on."
Marcy smiled, tomorrow would be another hard day, but they could survive.
"Sure, let's do this."
…
After pleading with Anne, Max and his friends had been allowed to join the party, the four of them had decided to watch the party from a nearby rooftop.
Max looked down at the town below him, all around him, he could see familiar faces, The plantars, The Boonchuys, Loggle, he could spot Beesie off to the side nuzzling Joe Sparrow, hidden in the shadows he swore he saw a something small and wriggling, something with one white eye, however it was gone by the time he blinked.
It was funny, but he had come to love this place, the frogs…the people seemed to view him as one of their own.
"Amphibia to Max," said a voice next to him, "Are you there?"
Max jumped slightly and turned to see Marcy smiling at him, that odd look was still in her eyes, (gas probably.)
"Are you okay?" she asked.
Smiling, Max nodded, "Oh yeah, just… you know… things."
"Is any of those things a prank?" asked Lucian, "Because I was thinking we set the town clock behind one second."
"That's not much of a prank," said Nicole at the very end of the line, "Doesn't sound like it would inconvenience anyone."
"I know," Lucian snickered, "No one would ever know we were responsible."
"I can see the appeal," Marcy nodded.
"Wait," said Max holding up his hands, "You want to pull a prank?"
"Yes," Marcy, rolling her eyes, "Congratulations, You've corrupted me."
"Knew it," Max, laughed.
Lucian and Nicole joined in, Marcy just shook her head but was smiling.
Max was the first to stop, and looked down again, Anne had just rushed over to Marcy who had returned from talking to that old newt, they were both rushing towards Sasha.
"Hey, do you guys think we'll be as close as them?" he asked, pointing towards the women.
"Depends," said Lucian, "I don't think there's any sort of evil monster that want to destroy Amphibia anymore."
"And I talked to Marcy," added Marcy, "from what she told me their friendship had a lot of problems before they came here, and their adventures almost broke them apart."
"And there's like four of us," said Nicole, "I don't know if we can share that much friendship."
"Oh," Max muttered in disappointment, his shoulders slumped, and his face fell downcast.
"Of course there's one thing that we could do," said Marcy
"What?" asked Max
"Pass me your rock," she said pulling out her rock, she then turned to her right, "Lucian, give yours to Nicole."
Max pulled out his rock, and passed it to Nicole, while receiving her own.
"Now think about our friendship and channel it into the rock.
Max arched an eyebrow, "Really?"
The frog girl nodded. "Yes, it's a traditional Newtopia friendship celebration."
The boy slowly nodded and thought of all the moments he had spent with his friends, the time they pranked the fountain, the time they tried to save Hop-Pop, smashing robots together, working for the Boonchuys, just yesterday at the lake.
"Okay," said Marcy, "now Max, swap with Nicole, Lucian to me, and do the same."
They repeated the action, then swapped once more to the person who hadn't held the remaining stones.
"Okay, now swap back the stones to the person who had it," said Marcy.
One last swap and they had their original stones.
"And what did that do?" asked Max.
"Simple, our friendship is now stored in stones, no matter what happens from now on, we can look at these stones, and feel the friendship energy radiate from it."
Max looked at her for a second, "You made that up, didn't you?"
Marcy shrugged, "yeah, but it still counts."
The human looked at her, then back at the stone, a smile appeared on his face, "Yeah, it kind of does."
"Friendship rock," said Nicole, "So when I throw it, I'm hitting people with the power of friendship."
"What-" gasped Marcy shocked, "No I-"
"Yeah," said Lucian excitedly, "the ultimate form of friendship, blunt physical trauma."
"No, please don't throw your rocks," begged Marcy worried, "I don't want anyone to be hurt and-"
"What if it's Monty?" interjected Max.
Marcy stopped talking and thought for a second, "Okay, one exception."
"HEY," said a voice from the ground, "YOU FOUR."
The four looked down to see Anne, Sasha and Marcy standing there.
"We're taking a photo, come on."
"Oh, I get to be at the front." said Lucian jumping off the roof, he landed on his face.
Marcy followed him. Landing in a more elegant fashion.
Max picked up Nicole, looked off the side of the building and smiled, he jumped off the side of the building, he was near the bottom, when he felt something grab him
He looked up to see Anne, on her face was an annoyed look. He smiled. "Thanks."
Anne rolled her eyes and smiled, she put him down.
"Good, Now come on everyone, photo time."
…
A few seconds later, Anne and others were sitting on the fountain, surrounding them were their friends, the Plantars, the Vors, General Yunan, Wally, Loggle, Ms. Croakers, Mayor Toadie, Ex-mayor Toadstool, Javi, Kettle, Femur, Ernst, in the distance were Bessie and Joe Sparrow, joined by Jillian Sparrow.
Oum and Bee Boonchuy were holding on to each other lovingly, next to them were Sprig and Ivy both smiling, though Sprig looked slightly worried. Ivy had told him that she wanted to talk later. Polly was in the arms of her new girlfriend Pearl.
Grime stood proudly next to his former soldiers from the tower.
Femur, Javi and Kettle stood by their former commander, a tired yet grateful smile on his face.
Coincidently, the jailhouse was just on the edge of the photo. The cannibal family and Tim Treller glared out of the window, wondering what was going on out there.
Monty and his two thugs had just finished working and were covered in mud, they were in the back of the photo, but they could just be made out.
In front of the three girls were Max, Lucian, Marcy and Nicole, smiling.
"Hey guys," asked Anne," Remember what happened the day after we took this photo the last time?"
"Don't remind me," said Sasha, "But nothing like that will happen this time.
"Hey guys," Marcy asked quietly, "if you guys went back in time and could stop Anne from opening the box…would you?"
Anne and Sasha looked at their friend, for a moment she worried they might call her stupid, but then they smiled.
"Honestly," admitted Anne, I wouldn't change a thing."
Marcy sat there for a second before smiling, tomorrow would be hard but they'd get through it.
The three turned back to the camera.
"Okay everybody," said the photographer, "Say cheese."
The group yelled back, "CHEESE."
There was a bright flash, and the moment was captured forever.
For the next few days, that photo would become a source of strength for some, for others a source of guilt.
For now, however, it was just the end to a crazy, yet perfect day.
…
The guardian tried to sleep.
Hoping to drift away from this nightmare.
Doctor Frakes was glaring down at it from outside the cage, she turned to the moment at the other end of the room.
"What exactly are we waiting for now?"
"Not much," replied the machine, "Just for our new ally to finish acclimatizing."
There was the sound of two metallic stomps from the other side of the lab. The guardian turned in their direction to see something standing there in the shadow.
"I'm ready," a voice hissed, the figure raised its arm revealing its arm, a large blade jutted out of it.
"Glad to see," replied the core, "Well I don't see why we need to hold back anymore, Tomorrow, we begin our revenge on Anne Boonchuy."
Rotsteinkatze: Eh honestly I'm fine with it, I don't need to have Marcy showing up in Owl House season 3, would be a little distracting, as for this story however, Well stay tuned Thanks for commenting
Also, check out Return to Medicated on AO3 a special April fools day treat.