10. Episode 10: What the Other Lacks

Anne saw herself wandering through a deep forest, it was similar to the forest that she first found herself in when she was transported to Amphibia. She bushwhacked through the thick foliage, using only a makeshift spear she fashioned out of a sturdy tree branch.

As she roamed through the woods, Anne stopped when she caught a glimpse of a hoody that looked like a Saint James Middle School issued hoodie. Anne approached the article of clothing and saw that it was indeed a hoodie, but she wasn’t wearing a hoodie, and neither was Sasha, which meant…

“Marcy!” Anne quickened her pace as she slashed through the foliage at a mad pace. “MARCY! MARCY I’M HERE, CAN YOU HEAR ME?! MARCY!”

Anne continued her search, her heart pounding against her chest as her eyes darted around, looking for any sign that her friend was nearby. After cutting through some bushes, Anne finally found her lost friend, but not how she wanted.

Marcy was slumped against a tree, pale and cold. A small amount of blood dripped from the corner of her mouth but was dried and coagulated. Anne dropped the spear she had made and slowly approached Marcy’s body, her own body trembling as she put her right hand over her mouth, while the other reached out towards her friend. Anne was a foot away from Marcy, and she could see that her right leg had two large puncture wounds in it. The veins around that leg were purple and black, showing that Marcy may’ve been poisoned by some giant bug or creature.

Anne dropped to her knees before Marcy and began to sob hard, she doubled over, bringing her forehead to the dirt as she cried and cried. She was supposed to protect Marcy, she always protected Marcy, from herself and from others. And now, she was dead, she was dead, and it was her fault. Anne spotted Marcy’s journal nearby. She grabbed the spiral notebook and looked inside, Anne didn’t know why she wanted to read it, what good would it do her?

Nevertheless, Anne opened the journal and read the entries.

Day 1: I got transported to a location that’s definitely not Los Angeles. There was a giant Wasp flying overhead, which is strange as the oxygen levels don’t seem to be that much different from normal, so something else must be causing their growth. Ugh, I hope we’re not in a situation like ‘The Island of Giant Insects’, because that would be messed up.

Although…I’m not opposed to Anne and I getting closer.

Anne shook her head and skipped ahead a few entries.

Day 14: I’ve been bitten by something that resembled a snake and a scorpion, it was a fascinating creature, but…I think I’ve been poisoned.

Day 14 – Hour 1: my body’s started to feel heavy, and my breathing ragged. I tried to make a tunicate, but my strength is starting to leave me. It’s an effort to just write this.

Day 14 – 1 hr. & 5 mins.: I’ve lost feeling in my legs, which leads me to believe that this venom is a type of neurotoxin. I’m sure it’ll keep spreading upwards until my lungs have…have been paralyzed and I…I suffocate to death.

Maybe Anne will find me? Yeah, s-she will! S-She’s always there for me…! She might even have a cure!

Anne…where are you…? I’m…I’m so scared…

Anne…please save me…I…I don’t want to die like this…

Anne…where are you, Anne…Anne…

Tear drops fell on the page as Anne sobbed harder, her friend was dying, she died alone calling out her name. Suddenly, Marcy’s right arm snapped towards Anne and tightly gripped her left wrist. Anne froze in terror as she looked at the lifeless corpse of her friend. Marcy’s corpse made a few sickening cracking sounds before her head turned and looked directly at her. Marcy’s eyes opened and Anne found herself staring directly into the pale, lifeless eyes of her best friend.

“You were supposed to protect me. Why, Anne, why didn’t you save me?!”

“M-Marcy…I–!”

“You failed me! You let me die! I’m dead because of YOU!!!”

“NOOOOOO!!!!!”

Anne awoke with a start, startling the other occupants in the fwagon awake. Sprig jumped out of the bed and readied Silverbolt 2.0 for action. Hop Pop fell out of the bed the bed and landed on his face, while Polly removed her sleep mask looked around from the comfort of her bucket.

“W-What’s going on?! Are we under attack?!” Hop Pop asked.

Sprig looked around until his gaze fell on Anne. “Anne?!” The young frog boy hopped over to his surrogate big sister, his expression turning to worry as he noticed that Anne was sweating a lot and had a look of terror on her face. “Anne what’s wrong, are you okay?!”

“M-Marcy…! Marcy’s dead! She’s dead and I couldn’t save her!” Anne cried.

Hop Pop and Sprig looked at each other in confusion.

“Anne, what are ya talkin’ about? Marcy’s fine,” said Hop Pop.

“NO! I-I saw her, she was dead! She was dead in the woods and it’s my fault for not finding her sooner!” Anne argued, still in an emotional state.

Sprig hopped away from Anne and to the window. The ten-year-old drew back the curtains and said, “But, Anne, we’re not back in the valley, we’re in Newtopia.” The morning light poured into the fwagon, making Anne blink her eyes as they adjusted. “And Marcy’s alive, she’s a Kamen Rider like you, remember?”

Anne managed to calm down enough to look out the window. Indeed, it was true, the architecture of Newtopia was before her, they were not in the woods anymore, they were in a grand city. And Sprig was right, Marcy was a Kamen Rider, she was Ranger, and they defeated three Fallen together. Anne put a hand to her forehead as the events of yesterday finally came back.

“Oh jeez…I’m sorry guys. I…I had a nightmare that Marcy was dead in the woods, and I was too late to save her…” Anne explained.

Hop Pop took Anne’s hand and gently patted it in a comforting motion. “There, there, Anne. Everything’s fine, Marcy’s alive and well, and you found her. She’s safe.”

Yeah…Yeah, she is safe, she’s been safe.

After a slightly traumatic awakening, Anne and the Plantars met up with Marcy for lunch. Anne wasted little time in throwing herself at Marcy, hugging her best friend fiercely out of the blue. Marcy was a little surprised by the show of affection, but she was no less appreciative and returned the hug. Anne decided against telling Marcy what she saw in her nightmares, she didn’t want to sour their outing with something like that.

Marcy decided to bring the group to a burger joint, the building was at least three stories tall. The sign out front had the name “Burg” for the establishment, and for some reason there was a newt on the third floor was singing in Latin and in opera-like style. Anne didn’t mind, it added to the ambience. They sat down at the outdoor table, a newt waiter brought out four beetle burgers for the Plantars and Anne,  when the food was brought out, Marcy announced, “Dig in everyone, lunch is on me today! This place makes the best beetle burgers in town!”

Without wasting another moment, Anne and the Plantars did just that. Scarfing down their burgers and silently agreeing with Marcy’s assessment of the deliciousness of the burgers. While the others ate, Marcy made herself busy by taking out her journal and writing down some things.

Once Polly ate her burger whole, she looked at Marcy and asked, “What’s that?”

“Oh, just meh journal. I like jottin’ down theories and observations. You know, all about indigenous fauna, medicinal techniques, customs and nuances of Amphibious species-based caste systems…”

As Marcy went on, Polly began to zone out of the conversation as Marcy’s info dumb was a bit much for her young mind to handle.

“Sometimes I even do drawings.”

Marcy turned her journal around and showed Polly a hand drawn picture of herself eating a beetle burger, a line that was drawn from her was connected to the words “Tadeus Pollus” and the burger was labeled, “Biggus Burgerus”.

Polly gasped at the drawing and uttered, “It looks just like me!”

Hop Pop hummed both in satisfaction of the burger, and because of Marcy’s talent. “Wow! Say, Anne, have you been keepin’ a journal, too?”

The old man’s answer came in the form of Anne shoving two straws up her nose. “Hey, look everyone! I’m a Strawlrus! Like a walrus, but with straws!”

Sprig laughed loudly and slapped his knee. After wiping a tear from his eye and laughing a bit more, he paused and asked, “What’s a ‘walrus’?”

While this bit of hilarity was going on, the waiter came by with the check. He looked to each of the customers and said, “Now who do I give the bill to?” His eyes fell to Anne who was still doing her Strawlrus impression. “Probably not you.”

Not missing a beat, Marcy spoke up and said, “Oh, I’ll take it! Lemme guess, it’s…twenty-eight coppers?”

The waiter flipped the board around and showed the price was indeed twenty-eight coppers. “Right you are.”

Anne, Sprig, Hop Pop, and Polly were impressed by Marcy’s mathematical ability, clapping and “ohing” while the young genius paid for their meal. Anne never stopped being impressed by her friend’s intellectual ability, it was just amazing how she could do that kind of stuff so easily.

“Wow, can you do math like that, too, Anne?” Hop Pop asked.

Anne blew her nose and ejected the two straws before answering, “Uh, you mean like with numbers and stuff?”

Polly rolled across the table and said, “Can you imagine if Marcy came to live with us instead of Anne? We’d be set for life!”

“Hush, Polly, think those thoughts, don’t say them,” Hop Pop admonished.

Anne got a little peeved on the inside, it was the same story as always. Marcy was a genius, while Anne, Anne was just Anne. She didn’t know why people compared them sometimes, was there a rule that stipulated that all Asian people had to be super smart? Now that she thought about it, Anne was sure her mom kind of hoped she would at least be a tenth as smart as Marcy was. This always happened, and she hated it, not feeling that she was the smart one, feeling inferior to Marcy just because she wasn’t a stereotypical Asian genius or whatever.

“Oh yeah, well–” Anne’s eyes caught sight of some movement from her left, “INCOMING!”

A bronze tipped arrow suddenly flew in their direction, Anne’s eyes shined blue as she reached out and snatched the arrow out of the air before it could hit them. Anne scanned the area to see who their assassin was, but she couldn’t find them.

“Someone’s tryin’ to kill us!” Hop Pop exclaimed.

“Geez, we’ve barely been in the city a day and we already ticked someone off enough to want to kill us,” said Anne.

Marcy looked at the arrow in Anne’s hand and noticed something odd about it. “Anne, can I see the arrow?”

Anne handed the arrow over to Marcy, now that she thought about it, maybe the arrow wasn’t meant for her and the Plantars. Maybe it was meant for Marcy? Oh crap…I mean, she is a Kamen Rider, maybe she messed with some criminal organization here in Newtopia, and they’re trying to kill her?!

Marcy, instead of worry, smiled and said, “Guys, relax. No one’s trying to kill us, it’s just a message from the king.”

“The king sends you messages by shooting arrows at you? I love it,” said Polly gleefully.

“That’s kinda twisted, but exciting,” Sprig added.

Marcy undid the seal on the piece of paper and then said, “Oh, correction, it’s a puzzle gram from the king.” This visibly confused the group, so Marcy explained by flipping the paper around to show them. “He’s basically hidden clues around the city, and when I collect them all I get a message. Ah! It’s so fun!” Marcy took another look at the puzzle gram. “Okay, this first symbol is a tree. So, we should head to Coral Park. Now c’mon team! It’s puzzle time!”

Needless to say, this got everyone at the table excited.

“A puzzle tour of Newtopia! Count me in,” said Sprig.

Anne, Sprig, and Marcy all bolted from the table and headed in the direction of the park.

“C’mon, Polly, this might be our most excitin’ adventure yet!” Hop Pop stated.

At that moment the waiter came by and said, “Hey, thanks for coming in. Would you like to join our customer loyalty program? You can get free gifts.”

Hop Pop froze in place when he heard those magic words. “GIFTS?! FREE?!”

Polly knew exactly where this was going. “Oh no…”

As Marcy led the way to their first location Sprig was marveling at the sights of Newtopia, but unfortunately Anne was not. Her gaze was fixated on Marcy as she scanned over the puzzle gram’s symbols intensely, she could practically smell the burning gray matter from here, knowing that Marcy was already trying to decipher the next two clues before they found the answer to the first. But that was just how Marcy the genius was, she could figure out almost any kind of game or puzzle in less than a few minutes, heck, sometimes it just took her mere seconds.

Anne’s prolonged silence did not go unnoticed.

“Anne, you’re not marveling. Is everything okay?” Sprig asked.

Anne sighed. “I don’t know, it’s just…Marcy’s always been the smart one in our group. And I’ve always felt kinda dumb around her.”

Sprig couldn’t believe what he had heard from Anne as he got in her path and exclaimed, “WHAAAAAAAT?!” before Anne silenced him with her finger.

“Shh! She’ll hear you!”

“Sorry, well, hey, maybe if you can solve the king’s puzzle gram before Marcy, it’ll prove you’re just as smart as she is!” Sprig suggested.

Anne thought for a moment and was steadily liking the idea more and more. “Well, I did get us out of that dungeon that one time.”

“Yeah, ya did!”

“Alright, mission: ‘Prove I’m not a Dumb-Dumb’, engage!” Anne declared as she rushed off, only to run face first into a sign.

“I meant to do that.”

“No, no, of course,” Sprig agreed in order to save Anne the embarrassment.

With that little embarrassing moment behind them, Anne and Sprig caught up to Marcy. All three of them finally arrived at the first location of the puzzle gram.

“Here it is guys, Coral Park,” said Marcy.

Coral Park itself was a large platform that had several coral shoots coming out from under it. The majority of the giant coral was colored a different shade of pink, and some were blue and yellow. At the center of the park was a statue of a cloaked newt with a spyglass looking towards the opposite end of the platform near the stairs. Sprig and Anne marveled at the sight of it, and at this time, Sprig gave Anne a double thumbs up, silently telling her that now was her chance.

Anne glanced over her shoulder and saw what Sprig was doing. Okay, you can do this! Anne walked over to Marcy and looked at the first symbol on the puzzle gram. “So, let’s see, one eye open and one eye closed. Hmm…? OH!” Anne ran to one of the giant coral shoots and said, “What if we’re not supposed to look at the trees? What if we’re supposed to listen to them?” Anne emphasized her point by hugging the coral tree and placing her ear against its surface.

“Highly creative, I love it!” Marcy exclaimed.

Nailed it!

“Hmm, but I was also thinking, this statue of Ezra Brackish is looking through a telescope. He’s got one eye open and one closed. Right?” Marcy got on top of the pedestal that where statue stood, she then reached up and, surprisingly, pulled off the stone hood on the statue, revealing a porthole in the back of the statue’s head. “Gotcha!”

The young genius peered through the porthole and as she did, Marcy began to see letters painted on the coral trees. She had to angle herself a bit until the letters came into alignment, but after a second, she was able to discern the first part of the message.

“‘Bring’! So, that’s the first part of the message!” Marcy declared. “Brilliant!” As she said this, Marcy lost her balance and fell backwards onto the ground. “Heh-heh, okay.” She then crossed off the first symbol. “So, the next symbol is…Oh! I recognize this! C’mon gang, let’s motor!”

Anne was still stuck there hugging the coral tree, she knew she shouldn’t be shocked that her friend figured it out before her, but the shock value had yet to wear off after all these years. She really thought she was onto something there, but as it turned out, Marcy had the answer.

Sprig walked up to his surrogate big sister and said, “Maaaybe you’ll have better luck with the next one?”

That bit of encouragement reignited the spark in Anne as a look of determination appeared on her face. “Yeah, I can do this! Let’s go get that next clue!”

“That’s the spirit!” Sprig agreed.

As the human and frog boy exited the park via the stairs, Anne stopped, hearing someone in distress.

“Goblin, c’mon girl!”

Anne glanced to her left and saw a newt girl jumping and reaching up towards something. The Thai girl looked up and saw that a caterpillar had climbed to the top of the coral tree and seemed unable to get back down.

“Goblin, get down from there!” the newt girl begged.

Anne couldn’t stand to see the little girl so sad, nor could she ignore a feline in peril. The human walked over to the newt girl and gently patted her head. “Don’t worry, I got you.”

No sooner had she said that did Anne start climbing the coral tree. She didn’t really need to tap into her powers for a simple thing like this, being naturally athletic, plus her training under Tritonio, allowed her to easily scale the coral tree with ease. Anne managed to get to the top of the coral tree and grab Goblin, she then swiftly made her way down and landed on the ground in the classic superhero landing pose.

The newt girl looked upon Anne with joy as she said, “Thanks lady!”

“No worries,” said Anne as she handed over the caterpillar, “I actually have one just like that back home, but with less legs.”

“Anne, c’mon!” Sprig called out.

“Oop! Gotta go! Don’t let that thing grow up!”

The newt girl smiled and gently waved back at Anne using Goblin’s paw. “Catch ya later!”

Okay, so the first puzzle was a bust. But it was only one out of three, I can still make it up in the next two! Anne thought. I’m not doing this because I’m jealous, I’m doing this just show myself that I can be as smart as Marcy if I try. Yeah, that’s it!

After convincing herself of her priorities, the group managed to arrive at the next location. It was a museum, with a dragonfly weathervane, same as the symbol on the puzzle gram. The group stared at the museum for a moment, trying to figure out what the symbol and museum had to do with each other.

Marcy opened the puzzle gram up and looked upon the symbol again, “Why the ‘W’? I mean, what’s that supposed to mean?”

Anne, admittedly, was a little happy to hear that Marcy was stumped. This was her chance. “Let me take this one Mar-Mar.”

“Okay,” said Marcy as she handed over the puzzle gram.

Anne stared at the symbol, wracking her brain to make any kind of connection to the museum. She stared at it intensely, as if trying to will the symbol into telling her what it meant. This had the opposite effect as her mind somehow made the symbol on the paper come to life and mock her, saying, “You’ll never solve meeeeee!”

“AH!” Noticing that Sprig and Marcy were looking at her funny, Anne recovered and added, “Ah, I see – Hey I gotta go to the bathroom, BRB!”

Anne ran like a madwoman, getting as far away from Sprig and Marcy as she could. After a while, she finally stopped to catch her breath and started to work out her next course of action. She needed to solve this puzzle, by any means necessary.

“Okay, gotta find help! But who?! Umm…” Anne’s eyes roved over the area, trying to find anyone who looked as if they’d be smart enough to at least point her in the right direction. She didn’t need them to outright solve it, she needed a hint at the very least. That’s when her eyes landed on an old newt woman casually sitting on a bench and doing a crossword puzzle. “An old person! Old people love puzzles!”

Anne quickly made her way over to the old newt woman. Side shuffling closer to the bench, upon closer look, she was mustard yellow in color, with a large purple scarf around her neck, a gray sweater, and purple pants. She had wide rimmed glasses, and gray hair with a pin poking through her bun.

“Psst, hey, wanna solve a puzzle?” Anne asked in a conspiratorial tone.

The old newt woman looked to her right upon hearing the request and excitedly tossed her crossword puzzle away in favor of the proffered puzzle. “Oooh!” she then grabbed the puzzle gram and opened it adding, “looks like a juicy one! Pull up some bench dear, the name’s Doris.”

“Anne.” The Thai girl sat down next to Doris and asked, “Okay, any idea what this symbol has to do with the museum?”

“Oh! My son Harris used to work at the museum. Oh, wait, no. Harris worked at the library. Dusty worked at the museum. Or was it, Dave?”

Anne was starting to get confused. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on. How many sons do you have?” To answer her question, Doris pulled out her wallet, when she opened it, many pictures folded out all the way to the ground. “Whoa.” Dang, Doris, someone was busy.

Unfortunately, this led to Anne and Doris getting into a lengthy discussion about the latter’s children. It was actually very enjoyable for Anne as she learned more about the old newt’s many sons, and the life that Doris lived. Before she realized it, several minutes had passed.

“Well, if Dusty is upset about what Buster said, he should just tell him so,” said Anne as she painted Doris’ nails.

“Mmm-hmm,” Doris agreed.

It was about this time that Sprig appeared next to Anne and reluctantly informed her of the current status of the second puzzle. “Hey, Anne. So…Marcy figured out the second puzzle.”

“The puzzle, I completely forgot!” Anne let go of Doris’ hand and said, “Sorry, Doris, I gotta go! It was nice talking to you!”

“You, too, Anne! And don’t forget my offer to set you up with one of my sons,” said Doris.

Anne chuckled and replied, “Doris, stop it!”

A minute later Anne and Sprig joined up with Marcy. “Hey, Anne, glad you could catch up! Take a look at, the final clue! It’s referring to the big bridge downtown, c’mon!”

As they ran towards the bridge, they passed by the Burg shop where Polly and Hop Pop were. Sprig saw them and called out, “Hop Pop, Polly, we’re going to the bridge!”

“Take me with you!”

Was all they heard before they were out of earshot. Along the way, Anne began to notice a few things here and there, the shops they passed by had merchandise in them, she stopped at one of the shops and looked to at an action figure, and not just any action figure, one of Marcy as Kamen Rider Ranger.

“No flippin’ way! Marcy, you have an action figure?!” Anne called out.

Sprig and Marcy stopped in their tracks and returned to where Anne was standing. When they arrived, Sprig peered through the shop’s window and gasped. “You do have an action figure! This is amazing!”

Marcy blushed in slight embarrassment at Anne seeing merchandise based on her Rider form. “Oh, yeah, did I forget to mention I’m also Newtopia’s favorite superhero?”

Anne glanced to Marcy and gaped. “What?! You mean you’re also Newtopia’s superhero?!”

“It’s nothing really, I mean, we’re Kamen Riders, defenders of justice, it just the right thing to do,” said Marcy.

Anne’s right eye briefly twitched. Why was this making her feel jealous? She’d only been Amp for just a few weeks, but according to Marcy, she’s been Ranger for months. It only made sense that the people of Newtopia see her as their hero and would make merch of her. Well, it wasn’t just that, it was part of it though. Because apparently Marcy also gained control of her powers on day one, she didn’t have to go through the struggle of trying to control herself, she basically just knew what to do and did it. Like it came naturally to her.

“Okay, that’s enough of that, let’s head to the bridge!” Marcy insisted as she grabbed Anne by the arm and pulled her along.

Now back on the run, Sprig noticed that Anne’s mood had dampened considerably since the last puzzle, and even more so after seeing the action figures. “Okay, Anne, there’s only one clue left! You can do it!”

“Tch…yeah, right. Marcy will probably solve it before we get there,” Anne replied.

“Oh, c’mon. Sure, she’s good at puzzles–”

“And a city hero.”

“–And a city hero, but that doesn’t mean that you’re dumb, or any less of a Kamen Rider than she is. I like Marcy, but to me, you’re my favorite Kamen Rider,” said Sprig.

Anne smiled down at her surrogate little brother and said, “Thanks, dude – WHAT THE WHAT?!”

Anne and Sprig stopped and gawked at the bridge, whereupon they noticed a giant gold statue of Marcy holding a protractor like a sword in her right hand, and an open book in her left, standing heroically. On both ends of the bridge were two other gold statues, about half the size of the middle one, and both were of Marcy in her Rider form.

“Oh…boy,” Sprig murmured as he realized how this looked.

Marcy chuckled nervously as she walked over to Anne and Sprig. “Oh, yeah, yeah, no, I made a few suggestions on how to increase the weight limit and they kind of, like, named it after me…and, you know, the saving people from Fallen and junk. Now c’mon, let’s see where this triangle fits in!”

Anne just stood there, stunned, utterly stunned by this. Now Marcy literally had a golden statue built in homage to her smartness, in addition to her heroic feats.

“Okay so she designed a bridge…that doesn’t mean–!”

“Please stop.”

“Yeah okay.”

Anne sighed dispassionately and said, “Why don’t you go ahead, I think I need some time alone.”

“Oh…okay…just holler if you need anything,” said Sprig as he hopped along to meet up with Marcy.

Anne walked over to a nearby bench, she really didn’t like feeling this way, but she couldn’t help it. Marcy was her best friend; it wasn’t as if she was doing everything she was doing just to spite Anne; it was just Marcy being Marcy. Anne knew that, and yet, still, it irked her. The feeling of being inferior to Marcy, on a selfish level, Anne believed that she was at least stronger – physically speaking – than Marcy. Evidenced by her natural athletic prowess, while she wasn’t the captain of the cheerleading squad like Sasha, she could hold her own in almost any sportsy activity. And thanks to the backbreaking work she did helping the Plantars with the farm, she’d go so far as to say her current physical ability far surpassed what she had before she came to Amphibia, and that’s not even counting her powers.

But now, Marcy was a Rider, and has obviously proven that she’s a capable fighter, so much so that the entire city loves her as a hero. She knew Marcy flourished here, she figured as much after what happened yesterday, but flourished was an understatement, Marcy had accomplished so much in just the last few months than Anne has ever done.

She started to think what life for the Plantars would’ve been like if Marcy had been with them instead of herself. No doubt Marcy would have figured out a way to help Hop Pop keep his stand open without the need to pull that whole Plantar’s Potion scam. Marcy would’ve been able to figure out some new age way of helping Hop Pop make their farm more efficient, probably would’ve renovated the tax code of Wartwood, and a plethora of other things. And with her Rider powers, she would’ve been able to defend Wartwood against Sasha’s toad army, and convinced Sasha to stop without putting their lives in danger.

Polly was right, if Marcy was with them, they’d be set for life. I couldn’t do much for them other than help out on the farm, and I even lied just to get out of a day of work that probably would’ve gone by quicker if I had helped, and they wouldn’t have gotten sick. Ugh…I’m the worst…

Just then a gust of wind came and blew the paper trays off a gnatcho stand that was sitting nearby. The newt running the stand noticed too late and cried out, “My trays!”

Anne sprang into action as her eyes glowed blue, “I got ‘em!” With near lightning reflexes, Anne rushed towards the trays. They flew in the air in slow motion, at least for Anne, allowing her to easily pluck all four out the air before they ever dropped in altitude. Anne dismissed her power surge and brought back the trays to the cart owner.

“Thank you, sweetie! That was very impressive!” The cart owner, who was purple in color with violet-colored frills on the side of her head, scooped up some her gnatchos and handed them to Anne. “Here you go, have some gnatchos on the house.”

Anne smiled at the newt woman and said, “Thanks, my name’s Anne, by the way.”

“I’m Gertie, nice to meet you,” she said.

With the greetings out of the way, Anne returned to her moping as she sat back down.

This concerned Gertie and prompted her to ask, “Somethin’ got ya down, Anne?”

Anne wasn’t sure if she should talk about this, but she felt like she needed to get out what she was feeling to someone. “Have you ever had a friend that was so smart that they made you feel dumb?”

“Honey, this is Newtopia, everyone here’s a genius. And there’s me…with my dumb ol’ gnatcho cart,” said Gertie disparagingly.

Anne furrowed her brow at hearing that and replied, “What?! Gertie don’t say that! You’re an independent businesswoman! You got it goin’ on!”

Gertie smiled and chuckled at Anne’s compliment; it had been a long time since anyone actually said such kind words to her about her business venture. “Oh, aren’t you a sweet one! You wanna know my trick? Fake it ‘til you make it! If you act like you’re smart, eventually, everyone will think you’re smart.”

Anne raised an eyebrow at that logic. “And that works?”

“Mmm-hmm, I don’t know the first thing about cooking and look at me! I’m a famous chief!” Gertie paused for a moment and then corrected herself. “Well, I’m a chief.” Another pause and she corrected herself, again. “Well, I’m in the food business.”

“HEY, ANNE, MARCY AND I ARE STUMPED! GET OVER HERE!” Sprig called out.

Anne looked to Gertie who gave her a thumbs up. With that bit of encouragement, Anne bolted off the bench and headed in Marcy and Sprig’s direction. Once she got there, she immediately looked at the clue and said, “Okay, what do we got here.”

Upon looking at the third clue, Anne was just as stumped as they were. But Gertie’s word reverberated in her mind, along with her urge to prove to herself that she was at the very least half as smart as Marcy was. C’mon, Anne, you got this!

“Okay, easy! So, a triangle has three sides, right? Three rhymes with, er…‘tea.’ You brew tea with water, and there’s water in, uh…” Anne looked around, desperate for something to make sense of that rambling mess she spouted just now. That’s when she noticed the open manhole. “The sewer! Let’s go down there.”

With little else to go on, Marcy and Sprig followed Anne down into the sewer, and right now Anne was wishing she had some of Hop Pop’s “gross old mama’s tea”, as that was probably the only time she was smart, and it so happened she was smart while tripping on frog tea.

All three descended into the sewer, and upon arriving, Sprig noticed aloud, “Wow, this sewer is shockingly clean.”

“Yeah, and doesn’t really smell at all,” Anne added.

“Oh, there’s actually a reason for that. You see I–!”

“Rehauled the sewer system,” Anne and Sprig said in unison.

Marcy gasped. “How did you know that?”

“Hey, check that out!” Anne exclaimed as she pointed to a valve. “That looks just like the circle in the clue! Kinda…We obviously have to turn it.”

Anne grabbed the valve and gave it a turn. A series of mechanical sounds echoed in the tunnel, and a few seconds after, a large, overhanging pipe released a stream of water, and with that water, came out a giant alligator.

“Speak of the devil! There comes one of my improvements now!” Marcy pointed out.

The giant alligator began chomping down on the bits of trash that were floating in the water, and every once in a while, the beast would release a playful, “Whoo-hoo” as he ate. The large reptilian creature’s beady eyes fell upon the two humans and frog and stared intently at them.

“Did you know in addition to eating a lot of meat, these babies love eating trash,” said Marcy.

“Uh…Marcy, I think we’re in trouble,” said Anne.

“Why do you say…” Marcy looked up and noticed that the alligator was giving them the “I’m going to eat you alive” look. “Oh…yeah, no, I see what you mean now. RUN!”

The giant gator chomped at them as they ran away as fast as they could.

“Just throwing this out there, but maybe you two could transform?!” Sprig suggested.

“Yeah, we’re in a damp sewer, surrounded by metal, do you really want me to transform?! You know, the girl whose element is LIGHTNING?!” Anne shouted.

“Good point!”

“That’s okay, I got this one Anne!” Marcy stated.

The young Chinese girl’s eyes glowed green, a moment later a small gust of emerald wind encircled her waist and made her MetamorphRing appear. Unfortunately, this had the added effect of making Anne’s skirt almost fly up again.

“Marcy, c’mon!” Anne complained.

“Sorry, sorry! I’m not doing that on purpose, I swear!” Marcy admitted as her face tinted red. The young genius jumped into the air and said aloud, “Henshin!”

The emerald wind wrapped around Marcy’s body, transforming her into the emerald sniper, Kamen Rider Ranger. Now armed with the Squall Sniper, Marcy gave the weapon’s Windmill Wheel a single spin. She used the wind to propel herself ahead of the group and took a firing position. Once there, she quickly released a barrage of air bolts, each blast struck against the gator’s tough hide, pushing him back, but not causing him any injury. After all, it was just an animal, doing what it naturally did, there was no reason to kill it.

“Anne, Sprig, make for that ladder! I’ll hold him off!” Ranger stated.

Anne and Sprig did as Ranger said as they hurried to the ladder, Anne made it up first and began pushing on the thing, but it would not budge and inch. “HOLY CRUD WHY IS THIS SO HEAVY?!”

“Gnatchos, get your gnatchos here!” Gertie called out.

Anne recognized the voice and quickly called back, “GERTIE, IT’S ME, ANNE, I NEED HELP!”

“Don’t worry, kiddo, I got ya! Whoa! Who are you – WAAH!”

Anne and Sprig looked up in worry. “Gertie, what’s wrong?! Are you okay?! GERTIE?!”

Suddenly, the manhole was removed, allowing the light of day to pour down over them. The relief was short lived as a navy-blue armored arm dove down into the manhole and grabbed Anne by her shirt. That arm lifted her up and tossed her straight into the air. Now high above the street, Anne and Sprig looked down and saw what pulled them out was not Gertie the gnatcho vendor, but a new Fallen. This humanoid Fallen resembled a rhinoceros beetle, sporting a bulky exoskeleton that made it look similar to a body builder. Its chest had the thirteen-eye symbol of its master etched into the natural armor on its chest. At the top of its head was a single horn that bisected into two other horns, giving it the appearance of a battering ram.

Sprig sprang into action as he launched his tongue at the nearest lamppost. His long tongue made contact, allowing him to reel himself in and away from Anne. “ANNE GO FOR IT!”

Anne understood and quickly summoned her MetamorphRing, feeling the power within, Anne flipped in the air a few times before landing on the ground with ease. She turned her head and noticed that Gertie was on the ground, a little disoriented, but she didn’t appear to be injured. “Gertie, you okay?!”

The newt woman groaned as she got up and said, “Yeah, I think so. That thing just shoved me out of the way and tore off the manhole lid like it was nothin’! That’s one of those Fallen monsters, right?!”

“Yeah,” Anne confirmed.

“We need to run, Ranger will take of it,” said Gertie.

“She’s busy down there. Don’t worry, I’ll protect you. Henshin!”

Anne pressed on both of the devices on the MetamorphRing. Lightning wrapped around her body, changing her into the heroic alter, Kamen Rider Amp. Gertie stood in awe of this, she had heard of Marcy Wu’s transformations, and seen her transformed state in the newspapers, but Anne didn’t look a thing like her, but her form was no less heroic looking.

“Anne…honey…you’re Ranger, too?!”

“No, I’m Amp, Kamen Rider Amp. Get somewhere safe, hurry!” Gertie nodded to Amp and moved for cover. Once Amp was sure that Gertie wasn’t in the line of fire, she spoke to the Fallen. “Hey, big guy, you want me, so come and get me!”

The Fallen made a chittering sound before flaring its wings, it then flapped those wings and propelled itself straight for her. Amp used her speed and quickly dodged the Kabuto Fallen, the beetle monster skidded to a halt and did a quick turn as it charged for Amp again. But Amp was quicker as she jumped up into the air, did a somersault and landed gracefully onto the ground. The creature turned around again, and Amp was ready to dodge, but what happened next surprised her. The exoskeleton plates on the Kabuto Fallen’s forearms lifted and revealed glass-like lenses. Those lenses began to glow red and in the next moment, released two beams of red light that shot straight towards Amp.

Amp was caught off guard as the twin beams struck her in the chest, exploding on impact and sending sparks flying from her body. The lightning hero fell onto her back but managed to get herself back up. “What the hell, it can shoot lasers, too?!”

The forearm lenses glowed again and fired another laser blast, Amp focused her lightning powers into her legs and jumped as high she could, dodging the beams before they could hit. Before she could pat herself on the back for dodging those, Amp saw that a plate on the Kabuto Fallen’s horn slid up and revealed yet another glass-like lens.

“You gotta be kidding me!”

The Fallen’s horn lens fired another scarlet beam, striking Amp in the middle her chest in midair and causing her to fall back to the ground.

“ANNE!” Gertie called out.

“Did you say, ‘Anne,’ the tall gangly creature?” Gertie turned to her right and saw an old newt woman, Doris, walk in on the battle.

“You know Anne?” Gertie turned to her left and saw a little newt girl, holding her pet caterpillar, Goblin. “She saved my Goblin.”

“She’s there,” said Gertie as she pointed to Amp as she got back up.

“What?! She’s like the other human girl, Ranger,” said Doris.

“Anne’s a superhero, too!” the little girl exclaimed.

“Looks that way, and that monster ain’t givin’ her any much chance to fight back,” said Gertie.

“UGH! That’s it!” Amp pressed on the left hip device. Her armor tinted green as spikes grew from different parts of her armor now that she entered Spike Form. In her right hand appeared the signature weapon of this form, the Sting Striker. “You wanna play hard ball, I’m game, buddy!”

Now armed with three lasers, the Kabuto Fallen began a barrage of laser attacks on Amp. Thanks to the enhanced defensive power of Spike Form, Amp was able to tank most of the damage from the Fallen’s attack, however, it was only a stop gap measure. She didn’t have any long-ranged attacks, and even if she did, the Fallen wasn’t going to give her a chance to shoot back.

Dammit I need help, Marcy, I need you!

Suddenly, the blue horn crest on her helmet glowed and emitted an unseen pulse wave.

“That thing’s got her pinned down,” said Gertie.

“We gotta help her,” said the newt girl.

“Deary, that’s a noble thing, but what can we do?” Doris asked.

Gertie looked back and forth between the battle and their group, finally unable to stand it anymore, the gnatcho vendor said, “We just need to do somethin’ to distract it long enough to let Anne do her thing!”

“Say no more, that much I think we can do.” Doris pulled out the pin that kept her bun held together, releasing her long gray locks. “HEY, UGLY!”

The Kabuto Fallen paid the citizens no mind, its target was the Kamen Rider, and right now it was solely focused on completing its objective. Thankfully, this worked in Doris’ favor as she skillfully threw the pin like a dagger straight for the monster’s glowing right eye. The pin made contact with the Fallen’s eye, while unable to pierce it, it did cause enough irritation to make it lose focus.

The little newt girl released her caterpillar and said, “Get ‘em Goblin!”

The hairy caterpillar showed no fear as it rushed at the Fallen, climbed its body, and began clawing at its exposed eyes repeatedly as it yowled and hissed angrily. Gertie decided to get in on this action as she scooped up some of her gnatchos into a tray and charged straight for the monster. Goblin couldn’t hold on much longer and fell off the monster’s face, just in time to watch Gertie come straight at him.

“HAVE SOME GNATCHOS!”

Gertie slammed the tray of gnatchos into the Fallen’s face, obstructing its vision even further. Gertie, Doris, and the little girl all gave Amp a thumbs up, telling her to go and take it down.

“Thanks, you guys, now go before it goes after you!” Amp ran as fast as she could for the monster, spinning the Sting Striker in her right hand and preparing to end the monster.

However, at that moment, another pair of eyes opened below the ones that were obstructed. When this happened, another plate slid open, this time in the middle of the monster’s abdomen, revealing another glass lens that was bigger than the other three. The energy gathered to the lens in less than a second, just as Amp got close enough to strike, and too close for her to dodge it.

“Oh crud…!”

A huge scarlet beam erupted from the stomach of the monster, bathing Amp in its light and throwing her back several feet as her armor released more sparks from the damage she took.  

Down below, Marcy was still firing away at the gator, which hadn’t gotten the hint to retreat. She heard some commotion up top, and she was getting a bad feeling about it. That’s when her curved horn crest began to blink as blue pulse waves struck it. Once they had, Marcy was immediately struck with a sense that Anne needed her help.

“Sorry, big guy, but my friend needs my help!” Ranger switched her right Squall Sniper to her left hand. “It’s time for a base form mode change!”

Ranger pressed on the right hip device of her Driver, her entire right arm changed into a sapphire blue color, made of pure energy, a golden metal ring hovered around the bicep of her arm, and her shoulder pauldron changed into a more box-like shape. This was her Artificer Form.

Ranger knelt and placed her right hand against ground, a surge of blue energy rushed through the surface of the entire sewer pipe, causing the giant alligator to pause. Suddenly, pipes began busting through the walls, coiling like snakes as they whipped themselves towards the gator and began wrapping the creature up until it was completely hogtied.

“I’ll come and let you go once everything is done, so be good!” Ranger scolded.

The gator appeared to understand what she said and at least looked remorseful. With that settled, Ranger jumped straight through the manhole and landed topside. It was at that moment she witnessed three newts engage with the Fallen, each of them working together to blind the Kabuto Fallen before backing away and signaling to Amp that she was good to attack. Despite their efforts, the Fallen had another trick up its sleeve as it blasted Amp with a power laser beam.

“ANNE!” Ranger cried out.

The wind rider spun the Windmill Wheel two times and began firing multiple shots at the monster. Despite the shots now being armor piercing, none of them managed to pierce through the Fallen’s hard carapace. Ranger noticed this and quickly slammed her right hand against the ground, causing the rock and cement to rise around the Fallen and create a shell to keep it distracted. Using this chance, Ranger swiftly made her way over to a still downed Amp. Ranger slid across the ground until she was next to her friend.

“Anne, I heard you! I heard you asking for help! Are you alright?!” Ranger asked.

Amp got up, although it was not without some aches and pains. “I’m okay, Mar-Mar, that last attack caught me off guard.”

“Hang on a second.” Ranger raised her right arm into the air, allowing the metal ring to slip off and hover over Amp. The ring expanded itself and passed over her for a moment before returning to its original size and slipping back onto Ranger’s arm. “Okay, now hold still.”

Before Amp could ask why, Ranger placed her hand over Amp’s chest and released the energy of her right arm into Amp’s body. The lightning rider felt a sudden rush of energy as the aches and pains she was suffering from began to vanish, the damage to her armor was being erased as well. After a moment, Ranger removed her hand and the two stood back up.

“Mar-Mar…did you just heal me?!” Amp asked.

“Yep, one of the benefits of Artificer Form. My right arm, Rewrite, can manipulate and rearrange matter and energy, and I can heal others, too,” Ranger explained. “That thing’s armor is really tough, my piercing rounds didn’t even make a dent. How strong do you think your weapon is?”

“It might be able to do the job, but I’m not a hundred percent after what you just said.”

Suddenly, the cocoon of rock and concrete was blasted away as the Kabuto Fallen flew up into the air and began barraging the two girls with laser beams. Ranger focused, lightning-like energy tendrils shot out of Rewrite and swiftly pieced the particles together to form a barrier around both herself and Amp.

“We need to ground him, but even then, we still gotta pierce through that armor,” said Ranger.

Amp narrowed her gaze at the Kabuto Fallen, and then an idea struck her. “How much you wanna bet that that lens on his stomach isn’t as tough as the rest of his body?”

Ranger looked back and was struck with the same epiphany. “Oh! That’s brilliant, Anne! Okay, I’ll clip its wings, and just in case it’s tougher than we expected, here’s a little boost!” Ranger first grabbed ahold of Sting Striker, she sent a surge of energy with Rewrite, and suddenly, a thin blue aura line formed over the Sting Striker, and Amp could tell that the weapon she was holding was somehow stronger than it was a moment a go. “I just increased the durability of your weapon, along with increasing its piercing power. So, you should be able to take the Kabuto Fallen down in one strike. Also…”

Ranger placed her hand on Amp this time, sending another surge of energy through her and into Amp’s legs. Amp felt lighter now, almost like she was back in her Lightning Form, and she felt sturdier, too.

“I gave you a speed buff to make up for your lack of speed in that form, and I increased your defensive power so you can tank more damage from him. Don’t worry about them wearing off they’ll last a bit so long as you stay in that form,” said Ranger.

“Got it! Now let’s do this, Mar-Mar!”

“On it, Anna-Banana!”

Ranger slammed her hand against the ground and opened a hole underneath them. The Kabuto Fallen lost sight of his targets, unsure where they were going to pop up next.

“OVER HERE!!!” Amp yelled from down the street. “YOU WANT SOME, COME GET SOME!”

The Kabuto Fallen opened fire on her, the beam attacks pelted Amp repeatedly, but unlike before, the damage was lessened considerably. Alright, Marbles, you are the GOAT! While the Kabuto Fallen continued its long-range attack, Ranger was busy preparing as she channeled the power of her Rewrite through the ground. The tops of the buildings slowly morphed until each of them was sporting a ballista. Once she made the necessary amount, Ranger snapped her fingers and had them all fire air bolt energy arrows from them. The Kabuto Fallen saw the attacks and began dodging the bolts, and now turned the beams on the fixed weapons.

That distraction was enough to keep the monster in place as Ranger took aim with Squall Sniper. Her green curved horn fanned out as she gathered energy in preparation for her attack. Ranger aimed high above the Fallen and called out, “Green Rain!” Ranger fired a single shot into the air. That same shot flew above the Fallen, but after a few seconds, that one bolt broke apart and turned into many. The Fallen looked up just in time to watch as several hundreds of dozens of armor piercing energy arrows came raining down on its position. The Fallen didn’t seem too concerned about the attack as her previous rounds didn’t even make a dent in his exoskeleton, however, it wasn’t the armor she was aiming for.

The Fallen realized too late as it felt its wings getting shredded apart by the piercing arrows over and over again. The Kabuto Fallen tried to maintain its altitude, but by this point its wings were completely torn apart. The insectoid creature plummeted straight back down to terra firma, creating a crater upon impact. “Your exoskeleton may be impervious, but even the most hard-shelled beetle has brittle wings.”

The Kabuto Fallen tore itself out of the crater and stared angrily at Amp who was now leering at him from across the street. The monster had had enough and gathered all energy to its abdominal laser. Amp dashed straight for the Fallen, her horn crest fanned out as the lines on her armor glowed with power. The Sting Striker started to glow green as well as Amp took on a thrusting motion. The Kabuto Fallen released the pent-up energy and fired its beam at the same time Amp thrust her Sting Striker forward. The two attacks struck each other, both pushing the other back as they vied for supremacy.

However, the Fallen had forgotten it was up against two Riders.

“Time for the finisher!” Ranger declared as she raised her right arm into the air. The energy tendrils of Rewrite lashed out and then coiled as she created a large drill bit over her forearm. Ranger’s crest fanned out again as the lines on her armor glowed with power. The drill bit began to spin rapidly as Ranger cocked back her arm. “Mega! Drill! Breaker!”

Ranger thrust her right arm forward and launched the drill bit as the light of Rewrite acted as a makeshift jet fire that propelled it forward. The Kabuto Fallen was suddenly struck in the back by the spinning drill , pushing on its back and making its focus falter. The beam attack it was shooting was getting weaker as Amp’s Sting Striker attack advanced, with one more thrust from Amp, the energy lance pierced through the beam and traveled on a straight line right into the abdominal laser lens. The lens started to crack with each passing second, at the same time, the armor at the back of the Fallen was cracking. In unison, the armor and the lens cracked at the same time, allowing the two attacks to meet which caused a thunderous explosion to ring out through the whole area, completely obliterating the Fallen.

Ranger dismissed her drill and Artificer Form, while Amp did the same for her Spike Form. The two girls met each other at the middle, with Ranger raising her fist for a fist bump.

“Pound it?”

“Seriously? You wanna do that from the show?”

“C’mon, please?” Ranger begged.

Amp rolled her eyes inside her helmet, but nonetheless humored her friend as she fist pumped Ranger.

“Pound it!”

“Pound it!”

Hop Pop and Polly finally made it to the bridge, and Hop Pop was now wearing a suit of armor that read, “Best Burger Boy” on the chest. The armor provided very little mobility which it made Hop Pop waddle as he walked.

“Okay, they said they’d be at the bridge. Do you see them?” Polly asked.

“Oh, I see ‘em alright,” said Hop Pop as he scoped out the damage to the area.

A battle had definitely happened here, the Newtopian Knight Guard and the local law enforcement were all over the scene, assessing the damage, taking statements, and making sure that no one caused a scene.

“Typical, I missed this good stuff,” said Polly in irritation.

Hop Pop and Polly walked over to a bench that Anne and Sprig were sitting at. With them were also Doris, the newt girl, and Gertie, whose gnatcho cart was still miraculously intact. Marcy had remained in her transformed state and used her Artificer Form to fix the damage done by the battle.

“Anne what happened?! Are ya okay?!” Hop Pop asked.

“We’re fine, Hop Pop, another Fallen appeared, but it was no match for our two Kamen Riders,” said Sprig.

Hop Pop sighed in relief, although it wasn’t something to be thankful for, he felt better knowing that Anne and Marcy were together to face the Fallen. It really was a relief to know that Anne didn’t have to fight those monsters on her own now.

“But before that we did go into the sewer and almost got eaten by a giant alligator…” Sprig added.

The old frog facepalmed himself. “Can’t ya go ten minutes on your own without gettin’ yerself into some kind of crazy danger?!”

“Aw, give her a break Hop Pop. Anne’s already sad because Marcy’s so smart that it makes her feel dumb.”

“SPRIG!” Anne shouted.

“What…?” Anne turned to her right and saw Ranger standing there, she dismissed her Rider form and looked at Anne with confusion. “Is that true, Anne?”

Anne stood up as she rubbed her right arm, and her gaze went downcast. “I dunno…maybe? I guess I just get a little jealous of you sometimes…I know people are always comparing us, how I should automatically be smart because I’m the other Asian girl in the group, but yeah. I mean, you’re so smart, you’re a hero, you’ve become this total badass, and I’m…I’m not.”  

Marcy had a pained expression on her face as she walked up to her friend and placed her hands on Anne’s shoulders. “Anne…that’s INSANE! If anything, I’m jealous of you.”

That threw off Anne. “Wait, what, me?! Why?!”

“Yeah, why?” Polly asked as well.

“Why? I mean, just look at you. You’re definitely physically stronger than me and can do a lot of cool sportsy stuff that just comes naturally to you. And you’re good with people, you get along with anyone you meet so well! Three people you just met today risked their lives to blind a Fallen just to give you a chance to fight back!” Marcy pointed at Doris, Gertie, and the little newt girl.

“Heck, the Plantars here adopted you and would do anything for you as if you were one of their own. Yeah, sure, I’m good at solving puzzles and calculating the check, but you’re amazing at making connections. Me, I have trouble looking people in the eye sometimes,” she said while blushing, finding it hard to look Anne in the eyes right now.

It also dawned on her that she was holding onto Anne’s shoulders for a bit longer than she probably should have so she let go and gave an awkward chuckle.

Anne chuckled as well but didn’t seem to catch on to the underlying nervousness in Marcy’s chuckle. “Thanks, Marcy. Maybe that’s why we make such a great team. C’mere you.”

Marcy smiled as Anne opened her arms for a hug, a hug that Marcy gladly accepted.

“Hey, you guys want a snack? That nice lady gave me some gnatchos,” said Sprig.

Anne felt her stomach grumble, and after that battle she could use something in there. When Anne grabbed one of the gnatchos she gasped as she understood what the last clue was. “Whoa! Wait a sec – it’s – look! It’s a gnatcho! The clue is a gnatcho! Sprig empty that tray!”

Sprig downed the gnatchos in the tray, and at the bottom was a plate that read “The Plantars”.

“That means the completed message reads, ‘Bring me the Plantars’! Oh, guys, we’ve been summoned! And, Anne, you solved the puzzle gram!” Marcy declared.

“Self-esteem boost, and an audience with the king! Win-win baby!”

“So, what now?” Polly asked.

“Well, if you guys don’t mind, I can show some other parts of the city, to kill some time before we go, ” Marcy offered.

“Lead the way Mar-Mar.”