Man, to think it's now five years since Amphibia premiered, right? Yeah, I'm a little late for the anniversary party, but hey, better late than never. Honestly, I feel bad for not getting into this show when it first aired. I'm not sure if it's because I'm an old man, yelling at kids to get off his lawn, but it didn't appeal to me at first. But after a friend of mine recommended it to me, I eventually decided to check it out last year. I purchased the first season through Youtube and man, I was intrigued. It had its hooks in me and I eventually bought the whole 6 seasons.
Yeah, Youtube had this weird thing, splitting one season into multiple, depending on how many episodes per season, so for some reason, it split the 3 seasons into 6. Yeah, if only it did get 6 seasons. Oh well, I'm fine with what we got.
Like I said, I feel bad for not getting into it, but looking at all the drama surrounding the fanbase, what Cowboy Alchemist and AdmiraltD8 went through, I'm kinda glad I didn't until last year. After all, better late than never.
So, I wanna thank Matt Braly for making such an awesome show, and I'd like to apologize for not getting into it sooner, as well wish him luck on his future endeavors.
Anyways, enough stalling! On with the new chapter!
Amphibia: Calamity Warriors
Chapter Fifty-One: Growing Pains
"Maddie?" Anne did a double take.
"Duh, why not?" The witch frog said. "Besides, what other option do you have?"
"But how did you know about the mark?" Shadow asked.
"I was still looking for my talisman, when I saw you guys come back to town." Maddie explained. "That's when I saw the mark on your back, Shadow. And then today, when Anne went wild on the toads, that's when I saw hers." She frowned sadly. "And I snuck inside, curiosity getting the better of me, and that's when I heard about your curse."
Shadow and Anne looked at each other before returning their attention to the young witch.
"Bottom line, I want to help." She said with determination in her voice. "Nobody deserves to be cursed, especially when they're trying to atone for their past." She looked to Shadow. "I could tell, you know. That you did something that made you like this, that you greatly regret. And now, here you stand, a better person and friend, and here I am, inspired to return the favor for all that you've done for this town. It's time for your curse to be removed." She looked to Anne. "Same for you."
Shadow gave it some thought. So far, he and his group had reached a dead end, and until they get word from Cody, they were at a standstill. But perhaps Maddie can find something that they missed?
With no other option, he looked to the frog witch. "Very well. I only ask that you try not to push yourself too hard."
The next day…
It was somewhere in the afternoon, as Maddie was in her usual spot in the forest, spell books, cauldron and all, even a few extra books that the Plantars had gotten her from the archives. Ever since hearing Shadow's story and seeing his mark, as well as the mark on Anne, she decided to lend her aid in their quest for some form of cure. The books she had on hand were limited on the subject of curse marks, so she and Kaemon took a quick trip to the archives and grabbed as many books as possible that mention curses and magic.
One book that really caught Maddie's attention was a book that mentioned the salamanders and their history in Amphibia.
"Interesting." She said to herself as she flipped through the pages. "The salamanders have been in Amphibia for the longest time, swearing fealty to the Royal Family after the unification." She then frowned. "But then it seems they were driven out by the Black Purge. If what Shadow said is true, then the answers would lie with them."
She sat in silence with her thoughts. Why did this Black Purge happen? And who was responsible?
"Maddie! Maddie! Maddie! Maddie! Maddie!"
Suddenly, she was jumped by her three sisters, the three polliwogs jumping on her head, much to her surprise at the sudden ambush.
The frog witch let out an annoyed sigh. "Hi, Rosemary, Ginger, and Lavender." She said, her eyes shifting to each one as she addressed them. "What are you doing here?"
The three polliwogs jumped off her head. "Hey, sis! You promised you would play with us, remember?" Rosemary told her.
"I'm in a middle of important research here." Maddie told them. "We can play tomorrow."
"That's what you said yesterday." Ginger pointed out.
"Look, Shadow and Anne are counting on me to find them a cure for their curses." Maddie said. "They're suffering greatly. Plus, these level of curses seem pretty advanced, so it's a chance to-"
"Boo! Magic is boring!" Ginger exclaimed.
"And creepy." Lavender added with a shiver. "Let's play instead!"
"Remember when you used to juggle us?" Rosemary asked.
The three started bouncing up and down as they chanted, "Juggle us! Juggle us!"
Maddie groaned at their insistence, but otherwise complied, "Fine. Give me a few minutes to wrap this up, and we'll play."
The three polliwogs cheered, "Yay!"
3 hours later…
Several hours had passed and Maddie was still doing research, and eventually she started brewing some potions that would help. All the while, her sisters sat off to the side, waiting.
"Almost there..." Maddie said as she added some more ingredients, letting out a creepy laugh.
"What happened to a few minutes?" Rosemary asked with bored eyes.
Looking over, the three saw a log propped on a small rock, looking like a seesaw. An idea in mind, the three hoped over, Rosemary and Lavender jumping on it, making the ends go up and down, all laughing with joy. Then Ginger jumped on Rosemary's side, applying too much force, and sending Lavender flying into Maddie, both girls letting out a yell as they fell over, causing the contents of the cauldron to spill out all over a nearby tree.
"No! That took so long!" Maddie yelled.
The liquid then blended into the tree, turning it into a living tree monster, letting out a roar.
"Uh, oh." Maddie grabbed her sisters and moved out of the way in time to avoid getting crushed.
Meanwhile, Marcy and Apollo were walking through the woods, compiling an encyclopedia of plants before coming upon another plant.
"Croc's-eye conifer. What a find!" Marcy said, holding a magnifying glass before pulling out a rather large book. "And they said compiling a plant-cyclopedia would be boring."
"Go ahead and finish categorizing it and grab a sample." Apollo said. "We need to test its properties for compatibility of potion making."
"Got it." Marcy nodding, having just finished, before pulling out a small pouch and a pair of clippers.
Just as Marcy had carefully collected the sample, a collective scream drew their attention.
"That doesn't sound good." Marcy said, preparing her crossbow and Apollo with his spear before the two ran deeper into the forest.
Shortly, the two saw Maddie facing against the monster tree, her sisters huddled behind her. But before the two could jump into action, there was a whistle in the wind before the tree monster was slashed into pieces, Kaemon appearing from seemingly out of nowhere, three of his swords drawn before putting them back in their sheathes.
"You sure took your sweet time." Maddie remarked, putting away her curses.
"I was grabbing some stuff for your potions, like you asked." Kaemon said, holding up a small bag that he held with his tail. "Where'd the monster tree come from?"
"These three keep getting in the way!" Maddie said angrily, before turning to said three. "What's the matter with you three?!"
"We were just trying to play with you." Rosemary said.
Maddie let out an annoyed groan, followed by a facepalm. "Well now I definitely don't have time." She said. "Go home and help dad with the bakery or something. I swear, sometimes, I wish you three would grow up."
The three polliwogs let out sad sighs before hopping away, Kaemon watching with a frown.
"Harsh much?" He remarked.
"Not my fault they became so annoying." Maddie retorted before beginning to clean up.
Kaemon frowned in disapproval, but said nothing before helping pick up the mess, Apollo and Marcy watching from a short distance.
"Whoa. Actual MAGIC!" She said with excitement.
"We saw this twice, you know." Apollo pointed out, remembering seeing Maddie using her curses during the event with the barbari-ants, the second being the salamander magician that attacked them.
"Yeah, but to see it up close like this!" Marcy said. "I have got to learn more!"
Watching his beloved approach the curse user, Apollo let out a soft sigh before following.
"Hi, there!"
Startled, Maddie threw a curse at Marcy, which Apollo thankfully caught it.
"Try to be more careful with those." The one-eyed prince warned, offering the cursed bag back.
"Oh, oops." Maddie said, taking the item. "Good to see you again, Marcy, your highness."
"No need to be so formal." Apollo said. "Just Apollo will do."
"So, what brings you guys out here?" Kaemon asked.
"We're just out looking for ingredients while cataloging plants." Marcy said. "Also, was that some kind of low-grade fire curse?"
Maddie raised a brow with intrigue. "I'm impressed you knew that! Do you also have an interest in the dark arts?"
"Are you kidding?! I've read every Cynthia Coven book, five times!" The chief ranger declared happily, pulling out a book titled 'Cynthia Coven and the Sorcerer's Stepladder'. "I searched all over Newtopia for someone who could teach me, but magic users are so rare these days."
"I admit, it's certainly a nice change of pace from our usual routine." Apollo said. "Plus, I certainly wouldn't mind seeing how you do curses up close."
Maddie was even more impressed by this. "Wow! No one's ever interested in what I do! They usually run away screaming!"
"Well, brace yourself, she looks like she's running towards you!" Kaemon chuckled. "How do you feel about that?"
"I'm feeling like a beautiful friendship is about to start." Maddie said before turning to Marcy. "Wanna be my apprentice and help me find a cure for Anne and Shadow's curse?"
Marcy pulled her bangs over her right eye, similar to Maddie. "Do I ever!"
"I also would like to lend my aid." Apollo said. "It's my responsibility to help alleviate my brothers curse."
While this was going on, the three sisters watched from behind a tree with jealousy. From a safe distance, there was another watching, his eyes gleaming with schemes in his head.
"How interesting." Scaleson Crat said to himself with a snicker. "This will be a fun experiment."
Meanwhile, back at the manor, Shadow and Anne were in the training yard, sitting back to back and meditating to gather energy from within. Despite Shadow being concerned for Anne's curse, the Thai girl insisted that she was still well enough to train. And for the most part, she kept up well with the physical training. Now they were gonna try spiritual.
After several hours, the two got up and stood a few feet apart, facing each other.
"Alright, time for something a little different." Shadow said. "I think you'll find this interesting."
"I'm ready!" Anne declared.
"Alright, here's what we're going to do." The boy in black said. "We've gone over almost everything in regard to our Calamity powers, but I saved the best for last." He smirked. "And that will be avatar projections."
Anne's eyes widened at the this, the idea of creating a ten-story construct of herself flashing in her mind.
"Awesome!"
"Alright, pay close attention." Shadow instructed. "With the energy we built up, we should be able to create our avatars."
Taking in a breath, Shadow moved his arms upward before moving them in a circle the bringing them into an X formation before waving them apart with an exhale, then clasped his hands together. Just then, his aura expanded and grew in size before taking the form of a samurai warrior made up of black aura.
"Whoa!" Anne exclaimed, staring up in amazement.
Suddenly, the avatar shrank back down, Shadow's aura fading before he buckled a bit, hands on his knees as he breathed heavily.
"Man, I really am out of practice." He mumbled.
"Okay, my turn!"
Anne clasped her hands, repeating the formation Shadow did, her aura glowing a bit, but it quickly faded, much to Anne's confusion. She tried again, focusing a bit harder, her aura flaring up a bit more, only to fade away.
"What the heck?!" Anne shouted in anger. "What am I doing wrong?!"
She then felt the strong hands of Shadow on her shoulders, looking up at Shadow.
"Breath."
At his instruction, Anne breathed in and out, calming down.
"It does us no good to lose our temper." He told her. "We must always take our time and not rush things."
Anne let out a sigh. "Sorry. Maybe I'm just having an off day."
"Let's take five for today." Shadow said. "Maybe a movie or two can cheer you up?"
"Would it EVER?!" Anne declared with glee before rushing inside the manor. Once she was out of sight, Shadow frowned.
"Hopefully, this doesn't worsen."
Back with the four, Marcy was walking with her boyfriend, the swordnewt, and frog witch back to Maddie's house, after spending the majority of the day gathering ingredients.
"And lastly, a high-five from your new best bud." Maddie declared, high-fiving Marcy. "Well, this is me." She gestured to her house, that being the bakery itself, before groaning. "I hope my sisters are asleep. I do not want to deal with them right now."
"What's wrong with your little sisters?" Marcy asked.
"Yeah, it sounds like they just wanna spend time with you." Kaemon added.
"It's a long story." Maddie explained. "I used to play with them all the time. Especially, juggling; that was their favorite." She smiled, reminiscing about those moments. "Then, I got my own interests. Magic became my passion, my calling. I didn't have time to waste on kids stuff anymore. And ever since then, they've been so annoying."
"As someone who goes hard into her hobbies, I relate." Marcy said. "But, don't you think you should still make time for them occasionally?"
"Yeah, I'm with Marcy on this." Kaemon said. "After all, family always makes time for each other. I may not have any siblings myself, but even I know that."
"Nonsense. Being a witch is a big responsibility, you guys." Maddie denied. "I've got more important things to do now than babysit."
Kaemon frowned at this dismissal. Apollo especially seemed displeased with this response.
"Well, you are the master." Marcy shrugged, although still unsure. "See you at the sacrificial grove tomorrow for an unholy ritual!"
The human ranger and frog witch then did their own unique handshake. "Creepy spiders!"
Marcy let out an excited squeal. "Can't wait!"
As the group parted for the night, Maddie's sister watched from behind a tree, fuming with jealousy.
"I can't believe it! Maddie replaced us?" Rosemary exclaimed.
"Hanging out with Kaemon is one thing, he's her boyfriend, and he even makes time for us," Ginger said, before holding up a crudely drawn face depicting Marcy. "But why did she want to hang out with that stupid old lady?"
"Don't even get me started on that prince guy." Lavender added before sighing. "I wish we were older. And then, Maddie would want to play with us like she used to."
Just then, Scaleson Crat stuck his head out from behind a tree. "Hello, little ones." He said with a friendly smile, with his henchmen behind him. "Did I hear that you're looking for something to make you grow up?"
"Yeah, that's right." Rosemary replied.
"How did you know?" Lavender asked.
"Have you been hiding behind that tree, this whole time?" Ginger asked, pointing a flipper at him with a look of caution.
"Good heavens, no." Crat said innocently. "My companions and I were just passing by, and we couldn't help but overhear your pain." He stepped around them. "It must so hard, to have a big sister who ignores you for another. A 'stupid old lady' as you called her."
The three little polliwogs looked down in sorrow.
"But I can fix that for you."
"Really?" The three said, lighting up with smiles.
"Yes, for you see, I can do some witchy spells too." Crat told them, as one of his men gave him the book. "And I happen to know a spell that can make you grow up." He held up a finger. "But, if I do, you'll have to do something afterwards."
"What?" Lavender asked.
"Once you are all grown, I want you to... play a game of tag."
"Tag? With you?" Rosemary asked.
"No silly, with the Four Sword." The newt clarified. "See, once he and your sister see how you have grown, they'll want to play with you again. And what better way to celebrate your maturity, than with a game of tag, hmm...?"
The polliwogs smiled at the idea and started chanting, while hopping. "Grow us up! Grow us up! Grow us up!"
"Oh, ho ho, kay, okay, let's get you little angels all grown up." Scaleson said with a chuckle.
"Yay!" The polliwogs cheered and bounced, happy that they were basically given a solution to their problem.
As they cheered, Crat turned to his henchmen, an evil smirk on his face. "Gather up the ingredients, and the supplies." He told them. "We must help the Four Sword keep his 'playdate'." The men snickered as they went about doing so, the bounty hunter holding up the book and looking at the page with the growth spell. On the next page was an additional spell, written in dark green.
"I don't normally work with extraterrestrial beings," He said to himself. "But I'll make this a necessity, for now."
At night, Apollo was training in the yard, twirling and striking with his spear, destroying several training dummies before coming to a stop, letting out several breaths before sitting on a log. Suddenly, he cringed from a burning pain in the right side of his face, the newt prince lifting his plating a bit to rub on it. For five years, he had to live with that pain, a result of his father's wrath. He remembered waking up from his coma, and not even a minute after waking up, he was brought to the throne room, his father screaming at him for his failure, which not only confused him, but frightened him as well.
It wasn't until after that pain inflicted by his father's fury was when he realized what his brother had done, and soon, the tragic death of his mother. His pain had evolved into great resentment since that day, since his brother had stolen from his family, since Azazel had abandoned him.
"Mark my words, brother," He whispered, venom in his voice. "Your comeuppance will come, and I swear, we will settle things for what you've done."
"Apollo?"
He looked up when he saw Marcy approach.
"Can't sleep?" The prince asked.
"Not really." She said before sitting next to him. "Got a lot on my mind."
"Well, I'm all ears." He offered.
Marcy took a moment to gather her thoughts before speaking, "It's just…everything that's been going on has me worried. The events from the first temple are still fresh in my mind." She looked at the ground with a sad look. "What happened to Anne was…horrifying."
"We were all shocked by it, yes." Apollo nodded.
Marcy's expression turned to that of guilt. "I can't help but feel like this is my fault." She said, drawing a look of confusion from the prince. "From Anne and Sasha getting into a fight, all the way down to Anne getting cursed, I feel responsible for all these things happening, all because…because I'm afraid…" She stopped for a moment, tears threatening to fall.
Apollo wrapped an arm around her should and pulled her into a hug, gently rubbing her shoulder.
"I understand how much it hurts," He said. "But you cannot tell them. They'll never accept it."
"Yeah, but still…" Marcy tried to argue.
"Let's say you do tell them; what then?" Apollo said. "Will they listen? Understand? Even then, will they agree?" He then brought a finger to Marcy's chin and turned her head to face him, looking her in the eyes. "Continue the search for the temples, as is our duty, but you must not tell them, not yet. Otherwise, it may tear your friendship apart."
The prince got up and walked to the manor, Marcy watching him go. She had to admit that there were merits to his words, but deep down, she was having doubts. On one hand, had she not found the music box and accepted her parent's decision, things would have been fine. Maybe she and her friends would have kept contact?
But on the other, she wouldn't have had such an opportunity to experience and explore a whole new world, go on so many adventures, make the new friends like she had. And most of all, she wouldn't have met and fallen in love with Apollo, the prince who may be rough around the edges, but otherwise had a big heart and cared about her.
Right now, she felt like she was stuck between a rock and a hard place.
"Anne, Sasha," She said, almost to herself. "If our roles were switched, would our fates be different?" She looked up at the night clouds above. "Would I have one of your paths? And one of you mine?"
Letting out a sigh, she got up and made her way back to the manor, hoping to get some sleep.
The next day came, and Maddie was already in her usual spot, mixing potions, when Kaemon arrived.
"I brought all the ingredients, like you asked!" He declared.
"Excellent." Maddie smiled. "Now, we wait for the others."
Just then, Apollo and Marcy had arrived, the Taiwanese girl holding a potted flower.
"Check it out!" Marcy declared, holding up the plant to show them, the plant sporting a smiling face and a mustache. "My first successful curse! Some kind of horrible abomination!"
"Abomination indeed." Apollo agreed. "Besides the face, it also yodels."
The flower then proceeded to start yodeling, before Marcy put a hand over its mouth. "Okay, that's enough."
"So, I assume we have everything for the cures?" Apollo asked.
"More than enough." Maddie nodded. "Now, let's get to brewing!"
Shortly enough, the group began brewing potions, with Kaemon mostly standing by and observing. Soon enough, the group had already brewed several bottles of it.
"That should be more than enough." Maddie said, setting the last bottle. "Now, make sure to tell Shadow and Anne that they should only do three times a week, at least two a day; one for the morning, and one before going to bed."
"Sounds simple enough." Kaemon said before noticing a shadow over them. "Huh?"
Looking up, they saw something large and round falling towards them.
"Maddie!" It shouted in a deep voice.
Letting out a scream, the four kids jumped out of the way, the object crashing into the ground.
"Holy cow!" Marcy gasped.
"What in the world?!" Apollo shouted, readying his spear.
"Found you!" The object turned out to be Ginger, only several sizes bigger.
"Wait, Ginger?!" Maddie exclaimed, realizing that it was her sister.
"You wanted us grown up."
"So, here we are!" Rosemary said, as she and Lavender landed next to Ginger.
"Oh, no they didn't!" Maddie said in horror
"Didn't what?" Marcy asked.
"What did they do to themselves?" Apollo demanded, lowering his spear.
"Come on, Maddie, play with us!" The three tadpoles declared happily. "Hide and seek!"
The four kids ran for their lives with the three tadpoles chasing them, not realizing the damage their giant sizes could cause, all the while seeming to grow more in size. The four kids fled to Wartwood before hiding behind a house.
"This is insane!" Marcy exclaimed. "Did they curse themselves with some half-baked growth spell?"
At that moment, Maddie's eyes widened as the word 'growth' echoed in her mind, the frog witch mentally slapping herself.
"Oh no! It's because I told them they needed to grow up." She said. "They only did this to spend more time with me. And it's bad, really bad. They did the spell all wrong."
"How can you tell?" Kaemon asked.
"Because…they're still growing." Maddie explained. "A curse like that should be done already. At this rate, they're going to balloon until they explode!"
"Explode?!" Apollo gasped.
"Found you!" Ginger said, peeking her massive form around the house, making Maddie scream.
"Now we play a new game!" Rosemary said.
"Hey, Kaemon!" Lavender said, gaining the swordnewts attention. "Let's play tag!"
"Oh crud." Kaemon said before taking off running, the three large tadpoles chasing after him.
"Girls, stop!" Maddie yelled.
"You'll crush him!" Marcy shouted.
While all of this was happening, Ina, Valor, Sprig, and Polly were in the Plantar House, watching a movie on Marcy's phone, completely unaware of the chaos outside.
"Isn't it weird that some characters aren't in an episode?" Sprig asked.
"Eh, you don't miss them." Ina shrugged.
Kaemon ran as fast as he was able to, keeping ahead of the ever-growing tadpoles, not daring to stop, until they became too large to move.
The swordnewt finally stopped to catch his breath before looking back at them, "Hey, you okay?" He called up. "You look a little…bloated."
"I'm not sure. We're pretty big." Ginger said with a worried expression. "Maybe a little too big."
"Hey, uh, guys, how much bigger are we gonna get?" Rosemary asked with a scared tone.
"I don't know, but I don't like it! Make it stop!" Lavender said before starting to cry, her sisters crying as well.
"Oh man, this is bad." Kaemon gulped, his face filled with terror.
"We've gotta do something!" Maddie said, her and the newtopian prince and ranger joining his side.
"But what?" Marcy asked.
"There is one solution!" Apollo chimed. "But we must be fast!"
"Already ahead of you, Apollo!" Maddie said. "Come with me, guys!"
"Right behind you, teach." Marcy said, before the boys followed after.
Quickly, Shadow and Anne had arrived in town, having caught wind of the situation from the shaking ground, with Frobo and Echo following behind, their eyes widening at the sight of the enlarged tadpoles.
"Holy moly!" Anne exclaimed in shock.
"What in the world happened?!" Shadow said.
Looking over, Echo pointed in a direction towards the forest. "Over there!"
Everyone looked, seeing an enlarged Maddie marching up to the enlarged trio.
"Maddie?" Anne said with a raised brow.
"Rosemary. Lavender. Ginger." The enlarged Maddie said in a deep voice. "I'm here."
"Maddie! Help us!" The three tadpoles cried as their sister approached. "We made a mistake!"
"I'm the one who made a mistake." Maddie said. "I should've made time for you three." She then picked them up. "But now I'm gonna make up for it."
She then does their favorite thing; juggling them, throwing them up int the air and juggling them, making the tadpoles laugh.
Suddenly, something shocking happened, the three tadpoles suddenly glowing a deep green color, and to everyone's shock, the three tadpoles forms started merging together into a three-headed serpent, the beast letting out a roar before wrapping around Maddie.
"What in the world?!" Anne gasped in shock.
"What manner of witchcraft is this?!" Shadow yelled in horror.
"This is bad!" Kaemon said. "At this rate, the explosion could destroy the whole valley!"
"Marcy, it's time!" Apollo said. "Remember how we practiced!"
"Roger!"
The two performed the same hand gestures Shadow did, and before the eyes of Shadow, Anne, and the robots, their aura expanded in size, creating ten- story humanoid constructs; Marcy's being a light green color, having blade-like appendages on its shoulders, the side of its face, and along its forearms, its right arm wielding a drill-like lance. Apollo's was white, its face was framed by locks of hair, with an appendage on its chin reminiscent of a Pharaoh's false beard.
Shadow and Anne watched as the two constructed approached the amalgamation, taking hold of each head before attempting to pull it off of Maddie, only for the only free head to lash out at them, clamping its jaws onto the shoulder of Apollo's construct, making the prince cringe in pain.
"If only we could help." Anne said with worry. "But I can't get the hang of this yet!"
"And I'm a tad out of practice, so my construct won't last long." Shadow said, before thinking. "Unless…" His face then lit up with an idea. "We combine them!"
Both agreeing on the plan, the couple stood side by side, holding hands before performing the gesture, Shadow moving his left arm, while Anne moved her right. They then brought their hands together and their aura mixed together, expanding in size before forming their combined construct, a light blue body utilizing aura blades, two locks of hair fell on each side of the face and a single horn protruded from the chin, resembling facial hair. It possessed a sharp tengu-like nose and a jagged mouth, giving it a demonic appearance. It also seemed much larger than the others.
The combined construct approached and grabbed the third head of the amalgamation before pulling it away, giving Marcy the chance to shove the antidotes down the throats of each head, each one reverting back to the tadpoles original form.
Apollo then threw the last one at Maddie, shrinking her down and the frog witch catching her sisters with grace before bowing, the others reverting to their original forms as the sisters clapped and cheered.
"Nice job with those antidotes, apprentice." Maddie said with a smile.
"What can I say? I had a great teacher." Marcy said, making Maddie blush.
"So, how'd all that happen anyway?" Kaemon asked.
"Yeah, how did you get so big in the first place?" Maddie asked her sisters.
"The witchy guy." Ginger answered.
This confused all who heard that, looking at each other, Kaemon shrugging. There was only one other curse user, and he was already dealt with months ago. So, who else besides Maddie knew magic?
Apollo knelt in front of the tadpoles and asked, "What did this 'witchy guy' look like?"
"Umm... he was... about as tall as Shadow." Rosemary said.
"He wore a big jacket, and a big hat." Ginger added.
"And he must be really strong too, because he carried a big sword." Lavender chimed in.
Kaemon eyes widen in surprise, then grew angry. "Crat..." He sneered.
"The bounty hunter?" Apollo asked, having heard of him. "Why would he use children to attack you?"
"Because he's a coward, afraid to face me when Master's around." Kaemon growled.
"So, he's using the dark arts, for dark purposes." Marcy summarized. "That scoundrel! He will especially pay for using my sisters like that!"
"We're sorry for causing so much trouble, Maddie." Rosemary said.
"No, I'm the one who should apologize." Maddie said, setting them down and getting on her knees. "Because of me, you three almost exploded!"
"Wait, whaaaat?"
"I got so caught up in my witch stuff that I forgot that being a good older sister is my responsibility too."
"We forgive you." The three said together.
"No, you should be made at me." The witch denied. "I'm mad at me! Let me have it. Really. I deserve it."
Instead, the three tadpoles jumped at Maddie with a hug. "We love you, Maddie."
"Just accept it, you fool." Kameon said with a chuckle.
This surprised Maddie, bringing a smile to her face before embracing them. "I love you too, you little scamps."
Watching the scene, Marcy smiled before sighing, moving her bangs from her eye. "Now that's magic."
"Sorry about the antidote, Shadow." Maddie said, turning to the boy in black. "I used up all that I had previously made to save my sisters."
"No need to apologize, Maddie." Shadow said, waving it off. "Saving your sisters was more important."
Hidden from view, Regina watched the scene, a wicked smile on her face as she raised her hand, letting off a light green glow.
"Now, wanna make some time together?" Maddie said, setting her sisters down.
Just then, the tadpoles froze in place, their eyes glowing a dark green color, much to the shock of the group.
"In this cold north, you will find only death." Rosemary said in a possessed tone.
"The game is yours to play now. Win or lose." Lavender added.
"Just don't say I didn't warn you." Ginger finished.
Once that was said, the tadpoles were released from the possession, the group looking with shocked expressions before Shadow stood up and looked northward.
"We have little choice it seems." He said. "We must prepare for the journey north."
Meanwhile, in the frozen north, a cloaked figure sat upon a frozen throne, looking at an ice shard. Inside it were the events in Wartwood happening through Anne's eyes.
Savisa smiled wickedly. It was only a matter of time before the stars come on stage.
And now, with this chapter done, we move on to the Temple of Souls chapter! Honestly, at first, I was tempted to skip this, but thanks to some suggestions, I decided to do this chapter, as it develops the friendship between Maddie and Marcy, has Scaleson Crat make a move again, more appearances from Regina and the appearance of the next antagonist; Savisa. Hope you guys look forward to seeing her.
And then we have Marcy having doubts with her decision. I have a feeling that, to an extent, Marcy had some doubt in her in regard to her decision, tricking her friends into getting trapped in another world with no way home. Sure, she didn't want to be separated from her friends, but it was still wrong, and to an extent, I think, she knew it was wrong.
And of course, hope you like the avatar projection abilities shown! As Unity told me, this was inspired by the Susanoo's from Naruto. Hopefully, this doesn't make them seem OP, but to show off more of what the Calamity Stones power can do.
Oh, and before I forget, I just started watching Star VS the Forces of Evil on Hulu, and so far, I'm interested. In fact, I have a fanfiction idea thought up! So, be looking forward to when I post the SVTFOE story, The Last Knight!
And with that, I hope you look forward to the next chapter! As always, stay tuned and reviews are greatly appreciated!