Chapter Text
The fwagon stopped as Anne watched from the top of it, in front of them was the massive city that the Planters had hoped had more answers for the fungi girl, Newtopia. She had been having more frequent flashbacks while preserving energy, Hop Pop had called them dreams; but Anne doesn't need sleep which she knew caused dreams. The flashbacks were Anne Boonchuy’s memories as they started appearing, where that should be a good thing, but is it? They only made Anne question more if she truly was replacing the girl who three months ago was alive and living her life before finding the spores that would become Fungal Anne and then leaving this world. Anne looked at the shining sun, even if she could ignore the flashbacks; Maddie's notes confirmed not even the glowing mushrooms in her hair were normal. They changed to red on full moons to absorb the energy from the reflective red light and can cause sleepwalk episodes if not active on full moon nights, she could willingly choose to not show her original glowing purple eyes, and had emotions that never existed to her original species but were apparently normal for her vessel. Her thoughts ended when she saw something digging around the fwagon and pulled out a tennis racket as a weapon. Using it to knock against the roof of the fwagon, “we got company!” She said as Sprig jumped out with his slingshot ready and Polly with a mace in her stumps. The tunneling circled the vehicle and snail before revealing massive ants with different colored antennas that glowed like Anne's mushrooms. It wasn't until multiple items were launched from the walls off Newtopia, causing a line of a black liquid to surround the group and be lit ablaze by an arrow lit on fire. Causing Anne to look up at the wall to see a cloaked creature on top and sending a rope arrow down slightly in front of Bessie and sliding down the rope. However the rope snapped in the middle as the creature landed in the water before journaling something about how long the rope could hold a human girl. The voice sounded familiar to Anne, so she couldn't stop herself from shouting a name, “Marcy?!”
The girl turned to face the group, removing her cloak as she looked over the frog family and then her eyes landed on the one that shouted her name and immediately smiled. “Oh my frog, is that you Anna Banana?!” She raced to meet Anne as the two shared a hug, where Anne's part was hesitant. “I am so happy to see you again, I was so worried about you.” Unknown to Marcy, Anne didn't take that well but hid her discomfort behind a smile. “Yeah, you have no idea how happy I am to see you.”
“And we have been looking for you for some time now,” Marcy looked at the elder frog who spoke as he stood with his grandkids while one of them, the purple tadpole Polly continued. “She was having memory trouble when we found her several months ago, we were hoping you could help her.” Marcy giggles as she looks at Anne's brown eyes, “of course I'll help. She helped me with my clumsiness back home, I have to return the favor. But first, I have a mission to do; take care of the ant invasion you just saw.” While walking to the base, Marcy was talking up a storm at the frog family. Even confirming Polly was two months away from getting her legs. Sprig and Anne stayed in the back, “What do you think, Anne?” Anne shrugged, “I can't say yet, she looks friendly; but so was Sasha.. I want to see if we can trust her before telling her the truth.” Sprig nods as the two do their special handshake to seal the deal and catch up with their family.
After Marcy led the Planters to where the base was, the three newts immediately commented on the mushrooms that Marcy never noticed on her best friend’s head. “Why is that here? Oh, that's going to be a worse invasion than these ants..” Marcy looked at Anne as she held a hand up to the mushrooms, looking almost protective of them and hurt by the comment. “What's wrong with my friend having them? It's not like they're growing from her head..”
One newt put a book down for Marcy to read, “those aren't normal mushrooms, they are a rare species of mind controlling mushrooms that control the victim. Are you sure that is your friend?” To Marcy's surprise, Anne walked past her and threw the book off the table. “No, that's not the case with me!”
“Afraid that's not how we see it, now leave this place before we do something you will not like.” Anne growled as she stormed out, leaving the Planters worried and Marcy confused. “Why does she have those mushrooms in her hair? And why did she get defensive?” Marcy saw Hop Pop scratch the back of his head as he spoke, “unfortunately we can't say why she reacted that way. It is not that we don't trust you Marcy, but Anne has to be the one to answer you. But the most I will tell you is we aren't allowed to harm those fungi, the consequences will be harmful.” Harmful? Why would removing those mushrooms be harmful? If they are mind controlling like the newts say, why shouldn't we remove them? That should free Anne from their control right? “Alright, I will save that for later; now we handle these ants.”
Anne had stormed out and was where they parked the fwagon and Bessie the snail looked at the girl confused. “I can't with those newts..” the snail beeped and rubbed against Anne's hair as the girl looked at the snail in conflicted emotions. ‘They reacted to your shrooms, didn't they?’ Anne nods, letting the snail continue giving comfort to the fungi girl. “Anne!” Said girl turned to face Marcy as she ran to meet her. “I’ll apologize for what happened earlier, but what is going on? The Planters said you were going to explain about the mushrooms.” Anne looked down as she felt Bessie again rubbing against her cheek with her hand moving to pet the family snail. “It's a long story, Mar-Mar; but I'm not ready to tell you yet. Can you be patient with me please?” Marcy thought she saw Anne's eyes flicker to a purple glow before returning to brown before nodding. “O-Of course Annie; but can you at least confirm those mushrooms aren't harming you?”
“No..” Anne looked down, “they aren't harming me.” Marcy didn't press any further, but knew from years of knowing Anne; avoiding eye contact told her she was lying. But what part of her statement was the lie? “Alright, but if you feel uncomfortable at any point; you let us know, we are only trying to help.” Marcy had placed her hands on Anne's shoulders as she watched Anne nodded. “It's a promise,” Marcy wrapped her friend in another hug as she made a silent promise to herself. She would do anything in her ability to ensure Anne is safe, it's not an adventure without her longest friend by her side after all.
The tunnels barely had any lights, so to avoid tripping or holes in the burrowing tunnels; Anne was pretty much leading with her glowing mushrooms kinda lighting the way. “Strange, I had to study these kinds of mushrooms for my ranger missions and they never said anything about being able to increase their glow like this..” Marcy had her nose in her journal and was documenting how the mission was going. “We have a local potion maker also helping us with Anne, these last three months have been difficult on the girl when we found her with the mushrooms already sprouted on her head and the ability to be herself despite having them.”
Potion maker? Now that's someone Marcy wants to meet in the future, she wanted to know as much as she could about what happened to her friend while separated from her and Sasha. The mushrooms did flicker once as Anne placed a hand against the wall for a second, but nothing else looked to be wrong. It was almost like it was draining her to light the way. “How about I lead us Anne? You look a bit exhausted there, I do have mushrooms that can light the way better.” Marcy activates one to determine as Anne sighs and lets her place them as lights and markers to find their way out. Quietly grabbing her potion, uncorking it, and taking a gentle sip before continuing down the path. “Just a little longer.. she’ll know the truth soon.” The tunnels opened to reveal a large room that was claimed to be the main chamber as Marcy pulled out several brown mushrooms. “We just plant these special Stinkshrooms to make the ants retreat from the area.” Just seeing the new fungi made Anne look uncomfortable, but she didn't show it as she took one to place in the chamber. If she acted off, Marcy might start questioning her again and she wasn't ready to tell her yet. How would someone who was called Anne Boonchuy's oldest friend react to the truth?
While planting the stinking mushroom, Anne had her senses on high alert for any of the ants’ present. It was unnaturally quiet before several ants came flooding in by one of the other tunnels with the largest one, the queen of the ants roared at the intruders. “Who has a plan?” Anne found herself asking as she quickly raced to Marcy and hoping she knew what to do. She already was feeling uncomfortable with the Stinkrooms ticking before hearing Sprig scream in fear and seeing him being eaten by the Queen. “Sprig!” Before Anne could do something, Marcy stopped her. “Anne, I have a plan. I can save Sprig, you just need to trust me." Trust.. Anne looked at Marcy and knew she had no choice, so she nodded at the night ranger. “Okay Marbles..” Marcy smiles and readies her crossbow to launch an arrow with a rope attached to it. Marcy fire the arrow for the ceiling to launch herself for the Queen's mouth; immediately swallowed much to the horror of Anne. But she didn't move, she had to trust Marcy to save her frog brother. The queen ant stood still for a second before it started gagging and ejected Marcy holding Sprig under her arm riding a bone; surrounded by a green slime-like substance. Marcy landed by Anne as she saw the fungi girl race for them, her mushrooms blinking in a blind panic. Before Anne could question why Marcy did that, they were surrounded by the ants; attracted to Anne's flickering fungi. Marcy held out her phone as a timer went off.
Seconds later, the Stinkshrooms went off in multiple blasts of a nasty fume that made Anne immediately recoil in disgust as they saw the ants leaving the tunnels and after a warning from Marcy, everyone else raced out. “Good thing there was barely any plant life nearby, they said those fungi’s fumes are dangerous to other plants or fungi.” That made Hop Pop freeze as he noticed something in the tunnel they were in, where was Anne? Distance coughing from behind snapped everyone back to reality as they ran to where the coughing was. Hop Pop was immediately on Anne's side as she was on her knees, eyes clamped shut as she breathed heavily, and her mushrooms were sending out the distress set of flickers, but were dimmer than earlier. “Anne? You okay?”
“..No..” Marcy caught the next coughing fit as to her horror, Anne had coughed out glowing purple spores. The same ones that would have created the mushrooms flickering in her hair. “What's happening to her?!” She asked in a panic while trying to figure out how to get Anne to safety.
“You said the Stinshrooms are harmful to fungi as well, right?”
“Yes?”
Hop Pop had pulled a journal out and fingered through it to a page and pressed a finger on it. “We don't have long, we gotta get her to the surface! She can't stay down here for long with those fumes. Anne, did you bring a bottle?” Anne had nodded and even pulled the ⅔ filled bottle out as Hop Pop gently took it. “What is..” Before Marcy could finish her question, she saw Hop Pop gently help Anne drink about half of the drink as her mushrooms regained some glow, but were still flickering. “That just brought us some extra time, now can you walk Anne?” Before Anne could answer, Marcy walks up and bends down to Anne's level. Her back to Anne and her hands cupped, “climb on Annie; I can carry you out of here.” Anne looked at Hop Pop as he nodded at the idea before she shakily raised her hands to wrap around Marcy's neck while she felt her legs being held up and soon they were on their way out of the tunnel and to the bright afternoon sun. By the time everyone got outside, Anne had retreated to her “preserving energy” state, not even the sun’s presence on her mushrooms stirred her out of the state. Marcy was evermore concerned, her friend looked dead to the world and she couldn't feel her breathing on her neck. “We need to get her to a hospital, but I need information about why she's reacting so badly to the fumes.” Sprig was scratching the back of his hat as he looked at Anne once she started coughing again, causing more spores to stain Marcy's cloak. The Planters were all worried, if they did send Anne to get treatment; would that reveal what's really going on? But if they didn't get her help, there was a chance she wouldn't be able to fully recover from the fumes. “And why is she coughing up spores?”
“All will be explained soon Marcy, but we need to get moving. To the fwagon and keep Anne in the sun.” Marcy wordlessly nods as they raced to Bessie as the snail grew concerned for the fungi girl, rubbing her head against Anne's head as if trying to awaken her. “I know Bessie, we need to get a moving girl.” Marcy carefully climbed into the fwagon as she stayed on the top with Anne on her back. She had creaked her eyes open from the sudden movement and Marcy almost wanted to recoil at them. Instead of Anne's brown eyes staring at her, it was a pair of faintly glowing purple eyes with white irises looking at her with a dazed look. One of the signs she is likely not talking to Anne, rather the fungi fighting for their life. “Mar?” Her voice was weak as if she was inches from death which scared Marcy. “Yeah, it's going to be alright; Newtopia has the best hospitals in Amphibia, we can help you. Just hang in there Anna Banana, okay?” Anne had coughed once more, causing more spores to further stain Marcy's cloak, her mushrooms’ glow was fading. “I wonder if this was how she felt..” she slurred out before slipping back into her preserving energy state, leaving a worried Marcy to question who Anne was talking about.
Bessie hasn't gone this fast in her life, but knowing Anne's life was in jeopardy; can you blame her? The gates to the city were opened when Marcy said the ants were gone, but they needed help. Inside the city, Marcy climbed off the fwagon as a light blue newt dressed in a fancy purple dress and a confident expression. “I take it you succeeded Master Marcy?” Marcy nods shortly as Anne began coughing again, which caught the newt’s attention. “Why did you bring an infected mind control vessel?”
“Because she's my best friend, Lady Olivia! The Stinkshrooms fumes are weakening her! We need to get her help now!” Olivia shook her head, “no we let the mushrooms die to save your friend. She'll be freed from them soon enough.”
“Miss Olivia was it? I don't want to counter your idea; but we can't let that happen. She won't be able to survive if those flickering mushrooms die. They are literally keeping her here with us.” Hop Pop said as he gestures to the mushrooms as Marcy registers that information. Anne needed the mushrooms to live? “What do you mean she needs these to live?! I know Anne, she was healthy, even playing tennis back home. What happened to Anne?!”
“It.. it wasn't their fault Marbles..” Marcy looked at Anne's glowing eyes as she spoke before Anne's words were cut off by more coughing, further covering Marcy’s cloak in spores. One mushroom had gone completely out as Marcy put her foot down. “I don't care if she's infected Lady Olivia, we need to help her now!” Olivia doesn't look pleased at the idea, but clears her throat. “Alright Master Marcy, let's go to the one in the castle. I’ll guide you guys there.”
Once they reached the hospital, Anne was sent to a room where the doctors were asking questions on top of questions to the Planters about the girl and her fungi. Meanwhile Marcy stayed in Anne, the girl was breathing heavily as the remaining four glowing mushrooms flickered. Soon Hop Pop had entered the room and had a vial pulled out of his pocket. “Alright, let's restore the lost one..” Gently removing the dead mushroom and putting a small dose of spores where it was as they saw a new one sprout in place as Anne opened her eyes. “Hop Pop?”
“Shh, just because one is back doesn't mean you are out of the woods yet. Now can we tell Marcy about what happened?” The door opened as Olivia came in with a clipboard in her hand. “I want to know as well, I also got a report from the other rangers that she got defensive, why?”
“They were sorting her in with the other mind controlling mushrooms when she's not like them. We have proof too, documented research on her.” Hop Pop showed the notebook as Marcy grabbed it to read it. “One other thing Mr. Planter, we checked Anne's vitals and.. are you sure she's alright?” Marcy stopped reading the notebook and placed her fingers on Anne's neck, recoiling at no pulse and seeing Anne's, no, the fungi’s, glowing eyes staring at her.
“Marbles?”
“No, what have you done to my friend?”
“Marcy please.. let me explain..”
“No, what is there to explain fungus?! Did you do it? Are you the reason she's dead?!” Marcy had stood up and was leaning towards Anne as she saw the fungi girl start to cry and only looked scared. “I.. I'm sorry, but your friend can't come back.. she's gone and I'm the replacement.. I had a good run, I at least got to see her friends and confirm they were okay before giving her up.. at least I got one goal done..” Anne placed a hand over her eyes as she tried to control her emotions, while Marcy watched. The anger she felt just seconds ago was gone, the fungi didn't fight back, only voicing what sounded like it was accepting its fate. So she grabbed the other hand as she felt the stare on her. “Tell me, did you have anything to do with her fate?”
“No, we can't remember our lives as spores; but your friend came into contact with us before losing the fight with life. For three months, we kept the body from decaying as we only wanted answers. Anne's body has altered us.. she changed us possibly for the better. We wanted to at least confirm if her friends are safe..” Marcy rubbed her thumb over her friend’s knuckles, the spores won't lying; but could she trust them? “Let's say I believe you, why did you stay with Anne?”
“Her memories.. They came in slowly and the more they came, the more we wanted to know about her.. but we never wanted to replace your friend. If you feel we are, you can stop us here. The fumes are destroying us… you can have your friend’s body back. But it was nice to get to know you officially, Marcy.” Marcy had a confident look, “no..”
That made Anne look at Marcy in shock, “no, we are not losing you today.. Fungal. I know a healing potion for plants, please let me try to help you.” Not wanting to say anything, Anne simply nods as Marcy wrapped a tear from the fungus girl's eye before racing out of the room. Leaving the confused girl to stare at the door in disbelief.
Olivia quickly followed Marcy to the lab as the girl pulled out a potions book out and was combing through it quickly. “Master Marcy, I know this is hard on you; but why are you wanting to help the fungi? What if they are tricking you?”
“Because it's Anne, she says she's not the Anne Boonchuy I knew; but you taught me how to pick up on lying..” Marcy turned to face Olivia, “she's lying.”
“Yes, they are lying Master Marcy; they are trying to trick you into trusting them.” Marcy shows the notebook to Olivia as the newt fingered through the pages of research. “She's not tricking me, you didn't see how scared she was when accepting her fate. Maybe she is manipulating me, but I want to save her. She has Anne's memories and when I saw her scared of me.. I saw a younger Anne Boonchuy afraid of making friends for the first time. She's scared, like actually scared Lady Olivia. Can those mushrooms mimic fear like you saw Anne showing to us?” Olivia almost nodded before recalling her teaching, “No, there has been no reported cases of the mind controlling mushrooms gaining real emotions.”
“There's one now and she's dying, now either help me make a potion to save her or stay out of my way.” Marcy went back to reading her book as she gathered the necessary ingredients before Olivia decided against better judgement to help. Telling Marcy which ingredient would be best to use to help Fungal Anne.
Half an hour later, a green potion was being poured into a bottle by Olivia and handed to Marcy. “Have her drink this Master Marcy, it should hopefully help reverse the damage done by the Stinkshrooms.” Marcy nods as she gently places the bottle in her bag and races back to the hospital section of the castle. Reaching the room as Hop Pop turned to face her. “How is she?”
“Fighting, we have been giving her Maddie's special potion to keep her energy levels high; but it's not repairing the damage.” Marcy walked up to see Anne was staring out the window before blinking to face her. Marcy saw there was something black, looking like a plush, being held gently by one hand. “Hey Annie, I think I got something to help you; it's just a potion, but you should be back on your feet in no time.”
“You actually want to help me?” Anne asked, generally confused at Marcy's want to help the fungi girl as Marcy only smiled. “You claim to not be the Anne I knew as kids, but you have her memories; so in my mind, you are my Anne and nothing you say will change my mind.” Marcy pulled out the green potion, popping the cork, and handing it to Hop Pop. “She just needs to drink this, it's a healing potion made for plants affected by Stinkshrooms. We hope it can help her recover.” Hop Pop nods as he helps Anne sit up and guides the bottle to Anne's mouth as she gently drinks the potion. Once the bottle was emptied, Anne laid back down and closed her eyes. Her mushrooms, once flickering, began slowly beating like normal. Glowing at a normal light and beating at a steady beat after a couple seconds that Marcy noticed while reading Maddie's notes. “Is it working?” Hop Pop nods with a gentle smile, “Yup, she'll be just fine with proper rest and relaxation. Come on everyone, let's allow her to rest this off.” Marcy was the last to leave as smiles at Anne, “Fungal Anne or just Anne; whatever you wanna be called now.. you will always be my best friend, never forget that.” Marcy then left the room, not knowing Anne had heard her.
Marcy Entry:
"Ants have been stopped Jo, but at a small cost and reveal. Remember when I told you Anne was safe? Yeah, scratch that; she's not completely. Those glowing purple mushrooms are not there for show, they are controlling her body! My Anna Banana, with mind controlling mushrooms in her! And we almost lost her today, the Shinkshrooms actually started hurting the fungus and when this happened. We discovered that the Anne I was speaking with was never her! I got mad at the fungi, but then it broke down completely. Saying things like, “Anne Boonchuy died, I'm the replacement;” and actually accepting its fate. I felt awful getting mad at the fungi, they had nothing to do with Anne's fate; but also were struggling with their own inner demons. So I dropped my previous thoughts and immediately agreed to make a healing potion for the fungi. She's resting right now after drinking the completed potion, and I felt pleased when her mushrooms lit up like a Christmas tree. What has happened to my friend, the fungus sounds like that memory is slipping them as well. But that brings me to something the fungus mentioned when I asked why they stayed in Anne, they said it was because Anne's memories came to them. They wanted to know more about their vessel, but were afraid they were replacing Anne Boonchuy. Why would a mind control mushroom be afraid of replacing someone's life? Should they not care about the vessel? I might have to read through the research done on those fungi while it was in the Frog Valley."