Ch. 1 Wit is Unleashed
"Be Careful. You might get exactly what you wish for." -Indiana Jones
"It is the power of the mind to be unconquerable."-Seneca the Younger
It had all come undone so tragically for Marcy Regina Wu in Newtopia. Not only had Sasha done an even worse grab for power than before, ruining her and Anne's friendship beyond repair, but Marcy had revealed a hidden, awful secret of her own. She had deliberately gotten them stranded there out of desperation and tearfully tried to explain, much to her friend's horror.
That was overshadowed by Andrias's cruel revelation of his true plan for the Music Box and mocking Marcy's foolishness for ever listening to him. Then he crushed sweet lovable Frobo and stabbed Marcy through her chest as she opened a portal to Earth and she fell to the ground after one last heartfelt apology.
Anne and the Plantars were sent to Earth while Sasha and Grime went on the run. Poor Marcy was put into a rejuvenation tank for a sinister purpose to be done in the future.
You know this story.
However, while Marcy was setting up the box to transport Anne back home in a desperate attempt to make up for her mistake, her work with the box unknowingly tapped into a link between her own stone and Anne and Sasha's. Perhaps it was due to the fact that Anne's powers had just manifested and awakened in her aspect of the "Heart" gem and Marcy was right now desperately focusing her own strength of mind (Wit) on her humility and deep affection she still had for her friends despite everything and that they still felt in their hearts for her. Regardless, it sent a subtle surge noticed by no one in the room or anywhere else there.
However, there was a being , more akin to an entity than a normal sentient being, who felt it. The Guardian, a deity who watched over the multiverse, observed this shift with its creation, the Calamity Gems. It had been a tragic experiment to see if any mortals could handle such unlimited power, and one day take its place. The royals who abused these stones and eventually became the abomination known as the Core had twisted their purpose in every way possible, and tragically no Amphibian hero had done the correct course of action with them either. Thus the necessity of the true bearers of this power who would one day come from a different world to end this abuse of power.
The multiverse is a complex concept. It not only had different versions of life, such as a world ruled by sentient amphibians as opposed to humans, a realm of demons and witches, dimensions governed entirely by rules of chance or concepts of living as 2nd-dimensional beongs or other dimensions of perception, but different timelines. The same types of species and worlds, but with differences defined often by a series of choices, or even just one. And here was one for this story.
One timeline had already been won for all of them with an eventual successor for the Guardian, since Anne willingly took on all the power selflessly to end the Core's threat. The Guardian had plenty of time to think and observe while it waited for that, so it did.
The Guardian felt the connection Marcy Regina Wu made. When she connected with the Gem's energy, it recognized a quality related to the purpose of why these girls matched the qualities meant for the bearer. For the Gem of Wit, the qualities were meant to reflect both intelligence and humility. Marcy was highly intelligent to a savant-level degree, mastering a lot of knowledge and facts from both worlds with little effort.
However, she was very oblivious in other areas 'normal' folk had. Super oblivious, obsessed with her interests, clumsy and poor at social skills. It was her fault they'd been trapped on Amphibia.
In spite of that, when realizing her errors, past and present alike, she showed great humility and strove to make amends for errors of hers.
Ashamed and appalled at her betrayal of her friends and how she was betrayed, she not only saved Sprig's life right away from Andrias but apologized with what she thought were her final words. Her qualities were ideal for learning and penitence in someone so young, just as Anne had been steadily growing already as a friend and more responsible young woman.
Sasha was beginning to move past using her strength and charisma for selfish gains and more towards positive purposes.
While the Guardian could act childish and a bit inconsiderate towards mortals, it did understand the nature of the Gems better than anyone else. Focusing on this, it homed in on the poor young girl at this time in her life and took a closer and more personal look at what had happened with the connection to her.
Thankfully, she was alive, but close to death and her hope for life was now in the hands of a king who was unwillingly handing her off to a living nightmare that was going to … "use" her.
Anger filled the Guardian. It hated anyone who misused the Stones. The Core was the worst offender in Amphibia.
It now had deeper understanding for Marcy's pain, one it had seen play out if that possession happened and could've ended so much worse than it did. It saw a chance to make up for the pain its experiment for a successor, a very selfish experiment, had forced her into.
She'd earned her place as the Stone's inheritor first and was remorseful and ready to make amends already before the Core got to her. That was a position of worthy intelligence and humility.
The Guardian also saw an opportunity to both thwart this from ever happening and give the other two Stars a better fighting chance at ending this charade in one different form of this timeline with a chance for a less damaging outcome on both worlds. And perhaps … they could be useful for dealing with other messes in the future for the services of the new Guardian.
A latent defense for Marcy was laid in her body, tied to the box now once again held by those who would abuse it.
After Amphibia was being reduced to a stripped wasteland, Lady Olivia and General Yunan hatched a plan to save Marcy. She was their best chance to thwart Andrias, given her intellect. But they were thwarted as Andrias's master revealed itself, trapping them and Andrias explained its vile plan.
"What the heck is that?"Marcy was grabbed on the head by the creature,"AAAHHH! WHOA!"
"Marcy!"Olivia and Yunan cried out.
"Behold! Our ultimate creation. A collection of Amphibia's greatest minds, preserved for all eternity."
"What are you doing, Andrias?!"Olivia screamed in fear for her.
"Stop it, you maniac!"Yunan demanded.
"Studying the Moss Man improved our medical technology. But it wasn't until we met the Shadowfish that we truly learn to conquer death. And thus, the Core was born …"
"Let me go!"Marcy yelled.
"I wish I could. But my lord craves a host. And it wanted the best, the smartest, the only one who could beat me at flipwart."
Marcy gasped in horror. Andrias had no words of comfort, only regret," Honestly, Marcy, I like you. Always have. I begged the Core to consider an alternative host, but... alas."
"What...? What is this? Huh?"She looked up to see a horrible helmet being lowered towards her.
Olivia and Yunan watched in fear and horror as a helmet was lowered onto her head. A surge of energy into her body and the welding like process to her body made her scream as the Core tried to download itself.
Andrias was unable to make himself watch. He didn't want to. He liked the cheerful girl who had wowed the entire city with her intellect and love for life and had no desire for her to be reduced to this.
This time, this part of the story went differently.
Before the process could be completed, the failsafe planted by the Guardian activated. In another room the Calamity Box glowed.
The energy surges suddenly and unexpectedly fizzled out, and the Core's hideous orange collection of seven eyes widened in surprise. Yunan and Olivia gasped. Andrias turned to look in astonishment.
"What's going on?"Yunan whispered in fear. The Core tried continuing, but nothing happened as it jerked its tentacles.
There was silence for a long moment as it did so. A wisp of green energy rose up from the green Stone to the right of the blue one and flowed down to go inside Marcy.
Far away, the ghost of a certain red-eyed newt felt the shift in the Box's power. She knew the Box better than anyone else down here.
After all, she had made this box with these gems for the purpose of unifying the kingdoms of Amphibia a long time ago, only to watch with regret as the rulers of her own people turned it towards ruin and conquest. Since then, she haunted her world as a ghost, unwilling to move on as penance.
However, what she just felt emanate from her handiwork was unprecedented. Valeriana stared at the Castle in the distance. She did not know if this was for better or worse, and that scared her.
One by one, the eye holes on the Core's intended helmet on Marcy glowed. But instead of orange, one by one, all ten of its eyes glowed a very bright neon green. That glow started to increase in intensity, looking more and more like a green star in the room.
"Marcy?"Olivia whispered.
The Core knew that color. Raw fear consumed its every thought.
Andrias knew that color. "Not possible …"He breathed.
Marcy (in Ranger garb) had been falling down (literally and figuratively) into a prison inside her own mind.
Inside her head, she stopped falling and hovered in place. She looked up in astonishment as her mind space lit up with glowing neon green energy coming in from the top. That energy poured out like a pool of water below her feet. She reached down with her left hand to touch it once and rubbed a bit of it in her fingers. Her eyes flickered into a green color. She promptly dipped both hands in to scoop up. The pool lit up in flames that didn't burn her hands but made her feel very, very alive.
She felt that power as her eyes started to glow with that same green color, and then her hair grew a bit longer and glowed like a neon candle. She felt the fear from the parasitic invader of her body as her mental faculties grew stronger. In spite of the terrifying situation, she smiled and laughed. This miracle gave her a bit of hope.
"No …it can't be!"Andrias said in shock as blue flames gathered around Anne.
She remembered now … Anne had started glowing with Calamity powers. She'd left to go save Sprig while Anne stood up to Andrias with her new powers that flew into her a bit from the Box. Her mind lit up with supernatural fire. Numbers, facts and figures swirled in front of her as the power of Wit claimed it's body and spread out to punish the Core.
The Core and the three Amphibians on the other side of the room heard an almost mocking refrain of Marcy's voice translating a challenge in the First Temple echo around them,"A dangerous room. What to do? Don't be jealous of my hue."
This dangerous room lost all other lights and the green glowing hue on her head grew brighter.
One of the many dislikable traits about the Core was the very reason for its existence in the first place. The collection of great minds and rulers had uploaded their minds into this collective existence to gain immortality and continue to rule Amphibia, deluding themselves into thinking that it was for the glory and good of Amphibia since only they were worthy of it and could work better together with all their minds linked. Instead, the whole lot of them were heartless cowards afraid of death and of change and selfish to a childishly insane degree. Eventually they believed they qualified as a deity, when in reality this thing they became was more like a mechanical devil which was only fit to be feared instead of loved.
When the glow got to a blinding degree and energy started flowing down its own arms towards it head, the cowardly abomination trembled in all that was left of whatever soul nature was left of its various minds.
The three living newts watched this with their own levels of fear and backed up. The tentacled sphere tried frantically to remove the tentacles plugged into Marcy's body but could not. It was not getting off that easy. The energy it desired to control from the box coursed into it .
All the lines and machinery in the room began to glow with this light. It spread out of the room and lit up the whole Castle in neon green. Frobots, officials, soldiers and civilians alike for miles around looked up in alarm and incomprehension at the sight.
The one-armed ghost smiled.
A ghastly mechanical shriek came out of the Core as the energy seared it from the inside and began to build up into an explosion. Cracks formed on its shell as light spilled out and then suddenly released in one massive burst.
No one or nothing in that room could've fully escaped the blast that ensued even if they tried. It wrecked the entire room and halls outside it beyond recognition.
At the source of the explosion, the smoke and dust settled. Rocks and machinery alike were lying around in pieces. Olivia and Yunan lay on the ground barely conscious and burned but still alive and not permanently injured.
A few minutes later, King Andrias pushed himself up from where he had been blasted painfully into the wall, and part of his flesh torn through, almost exposing the machinery underneath (some electricity was beginning to crackly around it) and his robes shredded in various parts.
He deserved that.
Rubbing his large, bruised cranium, he peered towards the center of the room and gasped. The Core's spherical body was shattered, leaving ghastly machinery exposed with white slime and crackling orange sparks coming out of it. Tapping into the link he shared with it on his cracked but still intact crown, he found that the Core still existed on the remaining circuitry left in the Palace but was now in a reboot mode of sorts. Any conscious feelings on its part were now in a withdrawn state of genuine fear and trauma.
Despite being its accomplice, Andrias truly didn't feel sorry for what the Core had just gone through. All his life he had been bullied and pressured into following his family's dark legacy by his own father and his forbears, who were now one and the same. While he had grown into a sadistic shell of his former self, he always resented what they had put him through for a millennium, with no real chance of escaping its influence. He had protested its decisions to first kill Marcy and then use her body, but to little avail. He liked Marcy, the cheerful young human who had made him laugh in genuine heartwarming amusement for the first time since losing his two best friends so long ago.
Then he noticed one person missing from the room. Marcy was not anywhere to be seen.
"What just happened?" the misguided titanic newt asked the quiet room.
The ghost miles away chuckled with pleasure,"So, Wit has awakened. What an unexpected boon."
She picked her staff up and began walking.
In another part of the castle, two newts stood near the library, wondering what in the world that noise had been. One of them wore a classic scholar's robe and was there to update the archives while the other was a foot soldier with a spear and sword at his side.
"Olms have mercy, are we under attack?! Not even the Castle lifting up out of the ground was that rocky!" The soldier grumbled. He desperately wanted a new post.
The scholar chuckled nervously, "Now calm down, I'm sure that there's a perfectly reasonable explanation! We'll just have to contact the teams outside, and the King will surely have the situation … under …" he trailed off as he heard footsteps coming and froze when he looked in the appropriate direction, and the soldier also turned to look.
In the shadows to the left of the door stood an average newt-sized figure, whose form was obscured by the steam coming off of it. The only visible part were its eyes, which glowed bright green and were focused intently on them.
The newts barely had time to feel a chill go all the way down their spines to the ends of their tails before the figure lunged at them. Seconds later she entered the library pulling the scholar's robe over her frame and confiscating the weapons for her benefit.
The Newtopian shell-tipped trident was a keeper.
After browsing the shelves with even quicker observation than usual, she grabbed some informative tomes on a few different subjects and shoved them into a bag which she slung over her shoulder under her new robe. Exiting, she administered a slight application of a memory wiping potion that had been conveniently in the library as an exhibition to the two unconscious newts so they wouldn't remember this and shoved them into a nearby closet tied up.
Then she slipped away into the hallways.
Marcy's bedroom was ransacked to reclaim her phone and other stuff, and so was the medical bay.
10 to 20 minutes later, the Frobots had started converging towards the Castle from miles around, desperately trying to control the situation. They were blindsided by the fact that they had absolutely no orders coming in and were thus running on basic protocol. This was very much to the advantage of the mysterious girl, who slipped outside of the Castle and got off of it.
She flew at high speed to the currently empty Newtopian University on the main city in its original spot and acquired some valuable alchemical and chemistry supplies. Her analytical gaze settled on a lone Frobot, who stood a mere 10 feet away and was conveniently not close to any of its brethren or looking in her direction. Quietly, she grabbed an electric cable from a nearby lamppost and moved towards the machine with a bit of green energy going down her fingers.
The Frobot unit never knew what hit as it was stunned by a shock to the back of its head that was directed to its CPU. It was taken out right away and the figure began to use the green energy of her intellect to control the robot.
She now had a ride to help conserve her energy and avoid attention with easier.
The Frobot flew off away from the levitating city with a passenger on its back, its red eyes glowing green under a new master.
The hooded girl looked back at the city fading into the distance behind it, once an inviting paradise of learning and fantasies, now a very potent nightmare and ruin unveiled. She let out a bitter sigh of regret.
Many miles later, she directed the robot to stop and land just outside a certain rocky mountainous area which had a pass with two alternative routes. But she ignored that and landed at the point where it diverged. Then she made the Frobot shut off. Finally, the figure pulled down the hood of her robe.
Marcy's eyes and hair were still glowing with the vivid green energy of the Wit Gem.
After the explosion, her brain had gone on autopilot mode. Her own personality was still there but the decisive survival instincts of her enhanced brain had been in charge.
The power of the gem of Wit focused on intelligence. At a low level she had used it to plan and execute the best strategy to escape danger and plan a solution in seconds. That instinct was at full power now.
She had used that to escape quietly and effectively with valuable supplies. Calculating that she was reasonably far away from any observation, she could now focus on her medical issues. She removed the robe for to look at what the explosion had done to her. It wasn't pretty.
The cyborg-type body suit she'd been outfitted with to interface with the Core was now burnt on the outside and with several explosive gashes on it, showing holes in several spots, most notably the now destroyed orange gemstone on her chest plate.
Underneath the suit her arms had singe marks from both the attempted hijacking of her body and the reverse flow of energy. Complicating the issue was the fact that she was not only dealing with her still not fully healed injuries from being literally stabbed in the back but also the new internal and external injuries from the attempted possession and the explosive escape.
The armor was still smoking faintly from the aftermath.
Most haunting of all was her face.
Running down her forehead and to her eyes were vein-like trails of purplish scars left by the attempt to merge with her mind and the explosive aftermath of the helmet being blown off her head. These newfound scars were glowing just like her eyes and hair.
Right now, she could tell that the pain and health problems were going to erupt after her power high wore off. She needed to numb the pain and get a temporary medical healing. Unfortunately, she was in no state or position to remove the remains of her armor which were blocking access to her body.
Fortunately, there was a workable, if drastic, solution in front of her. She leaned down and began to take apart the robot.
Working fast but carefully, she converted several parts into different things. For her torso she constructed a thin but well wired vest to replace the fried circuits from the Core's suit for protection and monitoring her vitals. A pair of gauntlets with electric charge pulses and bulky arm coverings served a couple different purposes. Not only did it serve as a weapon with lasers and room for later attachments (like a crossbow replacement), but it worked in sync with her new vest to suppress any pain she would feel. The voice chip and onboard files were cannibalized to use for fooling the machines. Slowly she slid this new gear on, and reapplied the cloak, breathing heavily as it began to take effect in an uncomfortable but painless way.
After that, she took out two of the mixtures she'd swiped from the university. One after the other she downed them. The first would act as an immediate healing agent for her internal injuries. The second would enable her to go on her own for a while without any sustenance, for a week or more. With the immediate problems out of the way, she set off the self-destruct in the Frobot's torso and picked up her remaining tools and walked off away from the machine and its corrupted city, not even flinching as the explosion rocked the surroundings.
Gradually, the light faded from her eyes and hair, leaving her in her normal state of mind. Her intelligence remained heightened slightly above normal level, but she was otherwise back to normal. Unfortunately, the normal state of being for her was darker than ever.
The poor girl wandered aimlessly into the Dry Swamp area of Amphibia, wandering through the desert inhabited by giant sand worms. While normally this could be a fatal course of action for any biological being to take, she was currently in a state of sustainability that could last a while. One sand worm tried to eat her, and she shot it in the mouth with a rapid laser blast that left it lying dead on the ground without even blinking.
Of course, the desert heat did not help with her current state of mind. For a good long while she just thought and remembered and pondered.
The long, complicated but loving friendship she had with Anne and Sasha. Despite all its pitfalls she truly cherished her friendship with them more than anything else on Earth. No one else really connected after all with the poor little Taiwanese American nerd, not even her own parents. Bringing up the music box as an idea for Sasha with the long shot (or wishful fantasy?) of an idea to get out of this world, even though it was Sasha's idea to steal it.
Her dream came true when she warped into Newtopia, a fantasy life come true, and she rocked at it! People there liked her and appreciated her vast skillset. Still, she felt regret for getting her 2 besties into this since even she could see this world was dangerous and she had no idea where they were. Then she'd met up with them again one after the other, overjoyed. But she felt a growing anxiety and fear of rejection, not helped by certain things she observed and witnessed. Andrias had offered her something too good to be true with the Calamity Box's powers, a chance to explore and adventure forever with them. But it was too good to be true.
He'd played her for a fool, and then exposed her in front of everyone. Now they hated her, and then she almost died. Freed briefly only to be haunted by that horrible vision of her 2 friends saying they hated her and never wanted anything more to do with her, which worked all too well. Then the last clear memory was that thing descending on her with horrible body violating intentions. Sure, she was now miraculously free, but she was scarred inside and out, traumatized, sad and walking alone in the wilderness. You didn't just walk something like that off no matter the outcome.
Why did the universe hate her so much?
She pictured this all quite vividly as she trudged along in the sand with the spear over her shoulder and smoke still rising from under her robes and her scars still raw on the face, eyes wide and distant, to the point where she was hallucinating this right in front of her. Eventually she started talking aloud if only to try and dispel it. But it only helped a bit.
"Hehehe … perfect fantasy life … why does it have to be so more complicated than in Creatures and Caverns? … Oh well I guess that's because I can control it to a degree … plan ahead … strategize … work with a team … but WHEN does that really EVER work out for me with the people I care about? … if I'm so smart why can't I figure it out? … what did I do wrong with connecting? … did Andrias ever really mean ANY of it? … what now? … perhaps I can go … go … go …"
At this point the tears and pent-up dam of emotions began to pour out slowly but steadily as she continued," Go where?! Anne's back home if that went right at all … who knows where Sash went … and I can't go back to Newtopia … maybe Wartwood? …. Well, wait wait wait, Anne's the one who connected, had a wonderful found family, so it's her they really like … they'd all probably hate me like she does now … except Maddie ... but wait, if the control over Amphibia is already this widespread, who knows what's happened since? If it's even safe … but what does that l-l-leave me to d-doooo … ARRRRGGGGGHHHH?!" She howled with frustration at the hot arid sky above her, sinking to her knees as she shook her free hand at it.
"I'M IN THE MIDDLE OF A FROGGING DESERT WITH A CLOAK, ROBOT-SCAVENGED ARMOR AND A SPEAR AND I FEEL LIKE THE VICTIM OF THE ODDEST SEXUAL ASSAULT IN HISTORY AND I. DON'T. HAVE. ANYONE OR ANYTHING TO WORK WITH AT ALL! Why does everything I try have to end in DISASTER?! I … I … just want my friends b-b-back, and I MIGHT HAVE LOST THEM ALL … f-f-forever…" the poor girl put her head down and sobbed bitterly at just how wrong everything had gone. From her parents and the awful system that was public school to her friends and Amphibia. She had messed up so badly and was at the lowest point of her existence.
Poor Marcy Regina Wu let out a quiet whisper,"I don't know what to do …"
"You find a starting point of course!" a chipper and personally familiar voice piped up. She looked up and saw a perfect copy of herself in her Newtopian ranger garb, unscarred and intact and still full of life. "Take stock of your surroundings and fight off your opponent with a new plan!"
Whether this was merely a stress and anxiety induced hallucination, a manifestation of her heightened intellect and connection to the Gem of Wit, or both, Marcy never knew. But it turned out to be just what she needed.
She didn't really question it. After all, it was quite tame compared to the other visions. An apparition that could interact with you in a helpful way was far more wholesome than most people would like to admit. If it worked with Anne, it could work with the weirder Marcy.
Chuckling miserably, the real Marcy wiped her eyes. "What plan and purpose would that be? I'm still very alone out here, very upset and scared, and I may have lost all my friends for good. And now all of Amphibia and Earth could be doomed for conquest and ruin! How do I work with that?"
Her mirage avatar replied in a quiet, soothing voice, "I get that, but … you don't know for certain that everything's lost. You don't know that the situation has gotten to the point of no return. The Core hasn't won yet. Right now, you have the advantage of being where no one knows where you are, with some convenient survival equipment, Music box powers and gear you weren't expecting. That's a start. You're the smartest person around, and you are free in mind and body to use all that."
Marcy gasped. That was true. She was free … alive and not trapped by that thing.
Smiling victoriously, the mirage added,"You know Sasha's tough and free for the moment. She'll find a way to survive. Anna-banana will probably stop at nothing to get the Plantars back home, and save Sasha and you! You know already in your genius mind Anne has always been the heart and soul of our group! I bet she hasn't given up on you and Sasha probably hasn't either! I mean, you haven't given up on them, right?"
Turning towards her bag, Marcy pulled out her copy of that special BFF photo all of them shared. Yes, even now she dared to believe in still being friends with Anne and Sasha and be a better friend and make up for her mistakes. Conviction began to flood in her heart and it showed on her face.
Grinning wider, the helpful hallucination whispered slyly, "That a girl! Besides, remember why the Lich King lost in 'War of the Warlocks'?
Her eyes brightening considerably as she turned towards the imagined version of herself, "The heroes had the power of friendship on their side!"
Mirage Marcy snapped her fingers dramatically," You got it! The last thing you need is to be alone right now! Friends and family are the best cure for recovering from this sort of thing! Isn't it also a fact that the majority of all these kinds of stories in any mythical, magical, sci-fi or whatever setting … the heroes beat the bad guys only work because of that factor? An optimal victory works best with a team of allies, friends and family to be by your side. So work to get to that to see what you can get, play with what your strengths are as the smartest girl around and get some allies and shelter, any you can find, to back you up! The rest will follow!"
Inspired, Marcy propped herself up with her spear-weapon and expressed gratitude towards this apparition. "Thanks, Other me!"
Waving a hand, Other Marcy replied, "Don't mention it! Oh, one more thing: you're in an apocalypse type setting of a real warzone with two worlds and more at stake! I would recommend taking your metaphorical safety gloves off and get ruthless and don't be too soft! Balance thought and emotion to be ruthlessly effective! Release that dangerous beast of knowledge you got in you! The sky's the limit!"
With that her doppelganger of the mind winked at her and faded away.
Glancing once more towards the image of her herself with the best friends of her life, Macy clenched her fists tight, gripped her spear to prop herself up and pulled her hood over her face. She had a renewed ironclad resolve to save both worlds she and her friends had called home.
The photo glowed with bright light as she walked along and looked up to the clear blue sky. A distant bug (or bird?) flew miles high in the distance. This sparked a memory of hers.
"Check it out Marcy, I got this cool present to give to my Mom when I get back!"Anne said to Marcy. A blue butterfly trinket with sparkly stars on it was in her hands.
Mrs. Boonchuy liked tea, antiques and butterflies.
"Sweet, where'd you get it?"Marcy asked. The charming story of a Shopper Derby misadventure stuck in the back of her mind.
A childishly silly but sweet idea based on a childhood show came to mind. In her still semi-delirious state,she went with it.
Marcy giggled as flurries of green sparkles rose off her fingers and formed into a trio of sparkling magical and living blue butterflies just like that.
She cleared her throat, and sang a little tune,"Butterfly in the Sky. I can go twice as higgghh … Take a look, it's in a book…a reading rainbooww …"The trio of butterflies left a trail of rainbows and sparkles in the air as they flew around.
She giggled and sang a bit more,"I can go anywherreeee … friends to know, and ways to grow! Reading rainboowwww!"
Two of the butterflies settled on her shoulders. It wasn't the first time butterflies or other insects came to her so readily. She had a way with animals.
"A readddinnng rainbowww!"She ended on a high note as the last one landed on her left index finger.
"You know,"Marcy said to that butterfly as she stroked it,"I've got powers connected to a magic rainbow portal in a box I first saw in a book! Maybe I CAN be anything or go anywhere with friends to know and ways to grow!"
She laughed and kept walking with her usual bright smile back on her face. "Oh man, I loved that show growing up! It made reading even more fun! "
Marcy thought with determination," Hold on girls! Anne … Sash, I believe in you! I'll fix my mistake, one way or another! I promise! And Andrias and the Core, for all they did or will do … will pay!"
She checked her new compass and map system on her gauntlets and headed to Frog Valley.
The Core had sought to thwart the prophecy by manipulating Marcy and her friends away from fulfilling the conditions. Then it wanted to use her body and peerless mind for its own, to harness her capabilities to rule and terrorize the multiverse with. Such a plan could only merit the karma of it all failing and the being in question perishing with its mistakes all coming back to bite it. This time, instead of harnessing her abilities for itself, which it should not and ultimately could not hold on to in the end, her power and brains were now irrevocably turned against it even sooner.
A girl from a world with a lot more knowledge of various fantasies and fictions and ideas than Amphibia did, a genius that had accumulated knowledge of both worlds, was now empowered and out of its grasp.
The Core's drawn-out nightmare had only just begun.
For now, it had to face the Power of Wit that had been unleashed.