Amphibia: Embrace The Fall

Reality Check

Marcy stretched her arms and legs as she woke up from her nap. "Man, I haven't slept that well in forever! How'd you two sleep?"

Anne and Sasha simply looked back at her expressionless. "We don't sleep MarMar, remember?"

Marcy rolled her eyes. "I really got to get Aldrich to update the simulation. Anne and Sasha are way too robotic and emotionless."

Marcy rolled out of the digital bed she had summoned last night and snapped her fingers. Just like that, Marcy, Anne, and Sasha were dressed in their adventure outfits.

"Ya know, speaking of Aldrich, I haven't met up with the rest of the Core in a while. Might as well see how things are going on the outside."

Marcy snapped her fingers once again and a door appeared from the ground. Marcy reached her hand out to open it. "Huh?" The door was locked.

"Well, that's weird." Marcy said as she tried again to no avail. Marcy clasped her hands around her mouth and yelled into the sky. "Hey, Aldrich! What's going on?"

After a few moments, the former king materialized in front of her. Aldrich looked a little annoyed as he looked down at her. "What is it, Wit?"

"The door to the inner sanctum won't open." Marcy answered, slightly annoyed herself.

Aldrich sighed. "We're busy." Marcy raised an eyebrow. "Okay, and I can't help you guys because...?"

Aldrich rubbed his temples. "Dear frog help me." He groaned in annoyance. "It's nothing you need to be concerned with."

Now Marcy was getting suspicious. "What's going on?" Aldrich furrowed his enormous eyebrows. "Just stay here."

With that, the newt disappeared, leaving Marcy alone with the digital versions of Anne and Sasha. Marcy shouted in anger. "You can't just leave like you own the place! This is still my mind!"

Marcy waved her hands around in fury as she tried to formulate something else to say. After a few minutes to calm down, Marcy sighed. "Well, this sucks."

Several more minutes passed as Marcy paced back and forth, trying to think of a plan.

"This is still my mind." Marcy repeated. "So maybe I can at least observe the outside world through my eyes and ears."

Marcy closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on regaining consciousness in reality. Slowly, the sounds of Marcy's fancy world began to fade away as she began to hear the sounds of the real world.

Marcy slowly opened her eyes. She was in the throne room, typing something on a keyboard while looking at multiple screens depicting different locations on Earth. Marcy tried to move her body, but couldn't. It seemed like the Core was still in control of her movements.

Marcy decided to focus on what the screens in front of her were saying instead. Underneath each image, was an estimate of the human population in the area.

'Okay, that's not too weird.' Marcy thought to herself before looking closer. Below the population estimate was a timer. On its left side, it read: 'ESTIMATED ELIMINATION TIME '

If Marcy could gasp in shock, she would. Aldrich had told her that their plan involved creating a global government on Earth, not killing everybody!

Aldrich and the rest of the Core had promised Marcy that they would stop wars, ensure world peace, end poverty, and most of all, keep her, Sasha, and Anne together forever.

They were gonna build a better world together. One that wouldn't try to tear them apart.

But apparently that was all a lie. Did Anne know about this? Marcy doubted it, but a tiny part of her felt that with the way Anne was acting recently, she might go along with a plan this extreme.

Marcy tried again to move her hands and take off the helmet but to no avail. Before she could think of a plan to regain control over her mind and body, her hands suddenly stopped typing on the keyboard. Marcy felt her own mouth curl up into a grin.

"Nice try, Wit."

Marcy reeled as her mind was forcefully pulled back into her subconscious. When she reopened her eyes, she found herself back in her personal fantasy world.

Marcy looked up as Aldrich once again materialized in front of her, now with a look of disappointment on his face.

"You just couldn't sit here in ignorance could you?" Aldrich sighed as he looked down at her. "We gave you everything you could ever want, yet you had to stick your nose where it doesn't belong."

Marcy looked back up at him with a mixture of both fear and anger. "You're going to kill everyone on Earth, aren't you?!"

Aldrich grunted. "It's standard procedure. We eliminate any intelligent life, then mine the planet for its resources."

"But that's genocide!" Marcy exclaimed. "You promised that you'd—"

"Do what?" Aldrich interrupted. "That we'd make your little fantasy world a reality? That we'd make it so Heart and Strength would always be by your side?"

Aldrich smiled down at her. "Hate to say it, but you've been duped...again."

Marcy furrowed her eyebrows in fury. "You know what, Aldrich? You're right, it was foolish of me to think that you'd give me everything I ever wanted."

Marcy glanced at the virtual versions of Anne and Sasha as she realized her mistake. "The real Anne and Sasha don't want what I want, and it hurts." She looked back towards Aldrich. "But forcing them to follow my dream is wrong."

Aldrich held his hand out to her. "Honestly Wit, this is getting tiresome. Why don't you—"

"NO!" Marcy shouted as she swatted his hand away. "Anne and Sasha may not be the same, but as soon as I regain control over my body, I'm going to stop the invasion and destroy you."

Aldrich laughed. "You underestimate us, Wit. Do you honestly think that it will be that easy to get rid of us?" Aldrich's laugh died out as he adopted a more serious expression. "It really is a shame that our little partnership had to end this way, but alas."

Aldrich put his hands out as Marcy's fantasy world gave way to an infinite, black void. Marcy looked around in horror. "What are you doing?"

"We are sentencing you to spend your life in eternal darkness for the time being." Aldrich replied. "Perhaps in a decade or two, you will be more reasonable."

"NO, WAIT! PLEASE!" Marcy cried out as the void consumed the last of her fantasy. "Goodbye Wit." Aldrich said before he disappeared into the darkness.

Marcy fell to her knees. "No...please don't leave me...not again..."

~~~

Darcy opened their eyes. They sighed as they looked at the screens in front of them. "Well, that could have gone better."

They made their way to the central pedestal where the Music Box sat, waiting to be used. "But it doesn't matter. It's almost time for our invasion to begin, with or without Wit's help."

Darcy turned away from the box and walked to the balcony. "With the full force of our army, all worlds will kneel before us." Darcy said as they looked upon their legions of frobots outside the walls of Newtopia.

Darcy was just about to turn away and continue with their preparations when they saw something in the corner of their smallest eye. There were small dots in the distance getting larger with each passing second.

As they approached, Darcy could make out that the dot in the sky was a bird and the other was a snail. They narrowed their eyes as another dot became more visible. The hive mind gritted their teeth as they gazed upon what could only be the figure of Andrias Leviathan.

"It seems the worms are making a final stand." Darcy snarled as they reached for their scythe. "It's time we show them who the god of this world truly is."

Suddenly, Darcy stopped as realization kicked in. They pulled out a special communication device. "Speaking of gods, there's someone we need to contact first."

Darcy smiled as they pressed a blue button. "It's time for the game to begin."