Yay, you all get more Dalrie!

I merged the two episodes because otherwise there's barely any content.

But quick question before anything else-

when this book ends, I was thinking of making a oneshot book for Val, that way you guys could ask to see more of her relationship with Marcy, or more of her past, etc... maybe even an x reader or two...

would you like that? and more importantly, would you actually request stuff?

alr, onto the story

-

"I can't believe it." Anne spoke in a disbelieving tone, her best friends behind her as she reached out for the box that was being held on a pillar. "we did it. we won."

However, as she went to grab the box, it disappeared. Like it was never there.

Suddenly, the lights switched off. Then several glowing orange eyes powered up through the darkness, black metal tentacles emerging to grab everyone, the amphibians in the back and the three girls in the front.

A large glowing eye opened, revealing a figure that spoke with that familiar voice, and an unnaturally large smile across their face.

"Hello, girls!" Dalrie chirped, hands held firmly behind her back. "Nice of you to fall for our trap."

"Val..?" Marcy asked, clearly horrified at the sight. Her girlfriend... had become... this? She stammered, unable to get proper words out after the mutter of her name.

"Val!" Anne said in a much louder voice, seeming more terrified than the noirette. "What are you wearing? What's going on?"

"We're not Valerie-- not anymore. Marcy hasn't told you about us?" Dalrie asked, holding the real calamity box up high in one of her hands, still smiling. It looked unnatural, it looked sick. It looked terrifying.

Sasha looked at Marcy, before meeting the possessed girl's frame once again. "she, didn't really give us a proper explanation..." she said quietly.

The girl hummed,  then placing the box in one of her tentacles hands, who gladly took it away from the scene as Dalrie made her way down the steps towards the trio. "We are a collection of Amphibia's greatest minds, uploaded into a unified consciousness."

"What, have you done, with Valerie?" Marcy asked, anger starting to seep into her tone as she was approached. After all, the core had taken control over her girlfriend's body, she was more than due to be pissed off.

"She's up here, with us." Dalrie replied, gesturing to their helmet and bending themselves over. "It's actually how we recognized your little ruse. 'War of the Warlocks'!" She chuckled, placing her hands together. "Her little girlfriend's favorite movie, very cute!"

"Give us our friend, or I'll rip that helmet off and take her back!" Sasha threatened, moving around in the tentacle she was trapped in to glare at the villainess, who only popped up between the trio and giggled.

"Ger back your friend? don't be silly. She was the one who chose to be like this." Dalrie said, walking away from them, before turning back to face them, watching the looks on their faces melt into confusion.

"Ah, Marcy still has her lying habits, so I see. Why all the lies, sunshine?" The petname that was usually said with such care was spat out with venom in their tone. "You see, we gave this girl a simple choice-- either she became our host," They paused, gesturing to Marcy. "Or she did. And her being the noble girl she was, of course she picked herself."

Everyone stayed silent.

Until Anne spoke up.

"What..?"

Dalrie simply grinned once again, creeping closer towards the poofy-haired girl. "Ah, the famous Anne. Dumber than a bag of rocks. And yet somehow, this rebellion's last hope!" They flicked Anne's cheek, striding past her before perking up. "Oh! Which reminds me..."

The tentacles suddenly yoinked everyone, and all of the members were being displayed off of the balcony.

"Frogs, toads and newts of the resistance!" Dalrie bellowed, arms spread out side to side, gesturing to her prisoners. "Your leaders have been captured. Your rebellion, is over."

There were murmurs of disbelief before their armies started to retreat. Andrias, who had been down there fighting them, spoke in a loud voice.

"Later, losers! I would say you put up a good fight, but I'm not that good of an actor." The blue newt chuckled, then proceeding to jump up onto the balcony and Dalrie made her way inside with the prisoners in tow behind her.

"Everything is ready, my lord," He said, sounding almost proud of himself. "The rebellion is in shambles and the Earth is ripe for the taking."

At the mention of everything being ready, Dalrie stopped mid step.

"Then all that's left is for us to do what you could not. Kill Anne."

Everyone from the rebellion immediately gasped.

"It's been risky enough using the box up until now," The possessed girl continued, looking up at the King. "Especially having Gold on the loose, who could easily stop us from using it. We don't know what will happen as long as Anne holds a piece of it's power."

As soon as she finished speaking, Anne was thrown onto the ground, smaller metal cords coming to wrap around her and hold her in place instead.

"Let's make this quick. We don't know how long we have."

They grabbed out a small, glowing dagger from their belt, raising it into the air, prepared to stab her.

"Wait!" Anne said suddenly.

Dalrie smirked, moving her dagger to hold it in front of her chest plate. "Amusing," Their tone got more sadistic. "You wish to beg?"

"Just a quick question-- are you sure this will return the stone's power to the box? What if killing me somehow extinguishes the box's power all together. Poof!" A nervous smile made it's way across her face.

"don't be ridiculous." Andrias chimed in arrogantly. "You think the Core hasn't considered-"

"SHUT UP ANDRIAS." Dalrie spoke firmly, tucking away her dagger and glaring at the giant newt. "We may not be Valerie, but the one thing we can actually agree with her on is how it's infuriating dealing with an insolent king!"

They then closed their eyes, placing their hands together as all of the eyes around them also powered down, leaving the room a lot gloomier.

"Interesting," They said after a moment of thought. "We cannot reach a consensus. Therefore, we must confirm that the energy can be safely extracted before killing her."

"wait, did I seriously just outsmart you?" Anne asked with a prideful smile.

"You only bought enough time to watch your planet fall. We look forward to dissecting you. Alive." Dalrie then spun around, walking towards the castle window. "Guards, have the rest of them fitted for collars immediately!"

Before the prisoners were taken off, however, the girl turned making her way towards Marcy, who was now on the ground, still wrapped in a metal tentacle. "Except for this one. We fear that if Valerie somehow escapes the abyss we've put her in and comes out of her insanity, she's going to be the first she runs for. Put her in a cage and starve her to death."

Dalrie then looked back at the King with expectant eyes, walking past him as the prisoners were carried off.

"Andrias, portal, now! It's time."

-

"You're SHITTING us. THEY ESCAPED?"

Dalrie pointed with disbelief to the screen that showed Anne on the back of some kind of... moth...cat?

"Don't worry," Andrias said reassuringly, closing his eyes. "They'll never get past the herons."

-

They did, in fact, get past the herons.

Dalrie had ordered Andrias to go fight Anne, quite threateningly too-- telling him he'd have no place in the core with them if he failed.

What they also noticed was a group that consisted of Sasha, Marcy, Olivia, Yunan and Grime creeping up through their rooms, making them growl in annoyance.

"these kids just don't quit, do they? they really want their little friend back."

-

Only Marcy, Sasha, and Grime managed to make it up to the shield generator.

"This must be it," Sasha commented as the trio slid past the door, abruptly stopping and gesturing to the giant machine in this room. "The shield generator."

 The group started to approach it, but before they could actually get to the piece of machinery-- Marcy spotted something out of the corner of her eye.

"Look out!" The noirette yelled just before all three of them were knocked back, sliding and hitting the ground with thuds and skids.

Metallic chuckling echoed around the room as a familiar helmeted figure ascended from a tentacle. "Dropping by without calling?" They asked with a smile, clicking her tongue disapprovingly. "No manners. Then again, we're not surprised-- Valerie always thought you were a bit of a brute. Although, slightly hypocritical since she may have been one herself."

"I know what you're trying to do," Sasha said, unsheathing both of her swords. "And it won't work."

"Yeah!" Grime chimed in from behind the blonde. "You think you can manipulate, the queen, of manipulation?"

"Awe, how cute." Dalrie said sarcastically at the comment. "Well, Valerie may have been the more resistant of you four, but I don't think you realize just how quickly she could have taken you out of the equation."

"It doesn't matter what Val could have done, or even what she's already done." Marcy chimed in, holding up her crossbow that was already loaded. "It's what's going on now that counts. And what's going on right now is we're going to save her-- and stop you."

There was a pause in the air, before the possessed girl shifted her eyes to Marcy. "Well then," she said, her hands coming up and cracking her neck as a scythe descended from the ceiling, and she took it into her hands, spinning it around for dramatic effect.

"Let's rumble, girlfriend."

-

It seemed to be over.

Marcy's crossbow had been shattered and she was wrapped in one of the tentacles, being held against the floor, Grime was down an arm (quite literally), and Sasha had a nasty wound on her back. It seemed like Dalrie was just about to kill the blonde, but before she could, whispers were heard echoing through the room.

They gasped. "No, it can't be."

With a wave of their hand, a window out of the castle opened. It revealed Andrias, on his knees, surrendering. And boy did that make them mad.

After a bit of an inner monologue, they put their hand out once again, and red waves of energy started to pulse out from Andrias's crown. They smirked to themselves.

"ANDRIAS! STAND UP, AND FIGHT, YOU PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR A KING. WE ARE ALL YOU NEED-- WE ARE ALL YOU WILL EVER, HAVE."

As Sasha, Grime, and Marcy were all on the floor, another figure appeared.

In a flash of golden light, a feminine figure stepped out of a portal, gently walking along the metal floor to make sure she wouldn't make a sound. As she reached the three, she gently grabbed one of Sasha's swords off of the floor and crept up behind Dalrie.

A confused look overtook Grime and Sasha's faces, but Marcy, recognizing her from the description Valerie had given of the entity, just pressed a finger to her lips.

"she's here to help." she whispered quietly, to which the others nodded at.

With a grunt, Gold aggressively swung the sword, which only seemed to hit one of the possessed girl's antlers.

After a second of shock on Dalrie's part and patting herself down, she sputtered, grinning. "You missed."

Gold let out an innocent chuckle, spinning the sword around in her hands before placing it down and kicking it back with her foot. "Did I?"

For a second, nothing happened. Then, the cord fell from Dalrie's helmet, and she let out a loud scream.

"My connection." They said worriedly, before turning to the entity that had just took them down with ease. "YOU FOOL! Do you have any idea what you've done?"

They then collapsed to their knees, orange eyes around them cracking and destroying themselves as orange electricity crackled through the room. After a minute or so, the eyes on the helmet powered down, and the girl collapsed back, her face being revealed from under the molded metal.

Valerie.

Marcy kicked the tentacle that was now sitting loosely on her frame off, running over to her seemingly unconscious girlfriend, quickly scooping her up into her arms. The first thing she noticed was that the gold highlights were missing from her hair, and that her skin was paler than normal.

"bunny," the noirette whispered quietly, clinging onto her for dear life as Sasha came running over kneeling down next to her and placing an arm on Valerie's shoulder. As that happened, Marcy came to a terrifying realization.

Valerie was just unconscious.

No, she wasn't even breathing. The usual heave of her chest just... wasn't there.

Just as that was found out, Anne came flying in on one of the cat-moths, running over to where her friend's were gathered.

"She's not breathing, SHE'S NOT BREATHING!" Marcy cried, feeling tears start to well up in her eyes. She looked down on her girlfriend, her first love, completely and utterly panicked.

Anne was quick to scramble to the girl's neck, pressing to find a pulse. She moved around, but found nothing. Sasha even checked her wrist. Nothing.

The three shared horrified glances as they realized that they've just caused the death of their best friend. Well, girlfriend in Marcy's case, but still.

That was before a bang of someone hitting their heel against the metal floor was heard. Everyone turned, noticing the being who made the noise to be very... gold.

"Move aside."

"woah, who the heck are you?" Anne asked, a mixture of confused and amazed, but also still seeming a little panicked due to her best friend being, y'know- dead.

"If you want Valerie to live, I suggest you move aside."

The three girls did as asked, Marcy still crying quietly into her hands as both Anne and Sasha had their arms wrapped around her, trying to reassure and comfort her. What else were they supposed to do? Even though they both seemed saddened and terrified themselves, they knew Marcy would have it the hardest.

As everyone moved away from the brunette, Gold crouched down and took the teenager into her arms, placing one hand on the back of her head and starting to mutter in some ancient language under her breath.

As she did, the both of them started to glow. After a few more seconds of the light getting brighter and brighter, it faded, and it seemed like the entity had just- vanished.

Valerie, however, looked different. Color started to come back to her face and the golden streaks returned to her hair.

As she opened her eyes, one thing was different. While her right eye eye was still it's usual aqua-leaning-towards-green color, her other iris had turned gold. Not in the glowy kind of way, just the actual color in place of her normal one.

Something told people it was going to stay that way.

She shot up, taking in a lungful of air and blinking aggressively. "what kind of a shitty memory is this?" She asked, before looking up to the three girls, still looking confused.

"BUNNY!"

Marcy quickly rushed over, kneeling down and wrapping her arms around the taller girl, pulling her into a tight hug. It took Valerie to register it, because it felt like an actual hug. Not a fake one like the one in her mindscape.

"S-Sunshine?" She asked, still seeming to be in disbelief before she hugged back just as tightly. "SUNSHINE!" she buried her face into her girlfriend's shoulder, her next words coming out muffled. "You're real..."

"What... happened?" Valerie asked in a groan, sitting up and pushing Marcy up with her.

"Gold... she-"

Hai there-

"yep, I can hear her. I know."

Anne and Sasha were quick to rush over as well, hugging Valerie just as tightly, basically trapping her between the three of them. She smiled, leaning into her friends, before looking at them all as the hug ended.

"you didn't do all the fighting without me, did you?" the brunette then asked. Ah, yes, that was the first thing she worried out after coming out of being trapped in her own brain for like, a good amount of time.

"We did." Sasha replied with a dry chuckle, watching Valerie snap her fingers and wrinkle her nose.

"fuck."

Anne then smiled, looking at all of her friends. "Can you believe we just defeated an ancient invading empire?"

"That's gonna look real good on future job applications." The blonde next to her chimed in with a smirk and a proud nod of her head.

Marcy smiled, placing her arms on top of Valerie's head, using it to prop herself up and make herself taller. "And we'll have videos to prove it!"

"well that's something we can throw in people's faces when they tried to mess with us." Valerie joked, causing all of them to laugh, shoulders bouncing up and down. They were finally all back together to them, the four girls, and everything was perfect.

For now, at least.

"The rest of you," Anne gestured to the groups of amphibians that were hanging around, ushering them over towards them. "Get over here!"

After a little bit of convincing, there was a large group hug-- and soon enough, the four were making a portal big enough for the castle back to amphibia, just to put the piece of architecture in it's rightful place and make sure everything was alright on the other side.

Despite a crash landing, the group managed to make it out onto the balcony. Valerie was exhausted, and still a little confused about Gold being in her head, so as Lady Olivia made the announcement that they had won, she decided to ask.

So, am I stuck with you now?

Yep, basically, I saved your life. You're welcome-- by the way-- but the cost is that we're kind of permanently merged. For this life, at least.

So... will my body ever be my own again?

Oh, don't worry! I can leave you... probably, but I'd say for no more than a week before you'd drop dead again. And you'd probably start becoming pretty sluggish around day five.

Well, that's something, at least.

"Huh, it's all over," Sasha chimed in from next to the brunette, who was resting her head on her girlfriend's shoulder. "looks like we didn't even need that prophecy."

Valerie paused at the words, slowly turning around to look at the blonde, her eyes wide as she blinked. "I'm sorry, huh? prophecy? What the fuck do you mean, prophecy?"

Marcy seemed to be about to explain, but before she could, Sprig accidentally interrupted her.

"Hey, uh," he started, eyes looking up to the sky, very narrowed as he did, his hand moving to point up to the red moon in the sky. "Is it just me, or is the moon getting... closer?"

The moon was, in fact, getting closer, at a rapid rate at that. Gasps escaped the whole group in sync, as Valerie's now mismatched eyes searched looked up at the red light.

Shit. It's that prophecy.

The one gold had warned her about.

Well, here goes her downfall, I