Fanfic / You’re About Seven Years Too Early

You’re About Seven Years Too Early is an Amphibia fanfiction story where Marcy finds the Calamity Box seven years earlier than in canon, sending herself and her two best friends into Amphibia as children, while everyone in Amphibia is the same age that they were at the start of canon, causing major plot divergences.

The fanfic can also be read here on FanFiction.Net.

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This fanfic provides examples of:

• Abusive Parents: Mrs. Waybright is verbally abusive toward Sasha and regards her as a useless disappointment, and if the illusions at the Third Temple are accurate then her father feels the same way. The chapter where the girls return to Earth reveal that they said that she was a parasite and should have been aborted in front of Oum, and her telling the police this, combined with their pre-existing suspicions, get them arrested.
• Actually, I Am Him: Valeriana talks about the inventor of the music box for a while before revealing she was talking about herself.
• Adaptational Heroism: Andrias' Heel–Face Turn and rejection of the Core happens way earlier than in the show due to the change of Marcy's age and his disgust that the Core is trying to order him to kill her. As a result, he is secretly trying to stall the order and is actively trying to destroy it.
• Adaptation Expansion: In this AU Valeriana actually does have an order that we get to see, where in canon that seemed like a lie to cover for her true nature.
• Adaptational Villainy: In canon, Bog joined the Wartwood Resistance and is implied to have reformed during the Time Skip. Here, he remains a villain until the end.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: The younger Sasha lacks the manipulative Control Freak tendencies of her canon counterpart and is much nicer to her friends and even nicer toward the Plantars as well as everyone else in Wartwood. Though this is balanced by her still having her abrasive moments and being even more Hot-Blooded than her older counterpart.
• Age Lift: The Amphibia characters start the story at the same ages they were in canon, including Polly, while the Calamity Trio is seven years younger than canon when they arrive in Amphibia.
• Allohistorical Allusion: There are several nods to events that occur in canon but not in this fic, such as Marcy sending herself and Anne and Sasha to Amphibia on purpose or Andrias not pulling a Heel–Face Turn as soon as he did if the girls were older.
• Anti-Climax: Unlike the first and third temples, which are completed in their entirety just like in canon, the second temple ends up being very short and easy. Since Anne has already proven herself worthy of heart, Valeriana doesn’t really need to test her all that much, and thus the gem is charged immediately after Anne sheds her coat to drive the cardinal away.
• Arc Villain: The Core for Acts One and Two, Bog for Act Three.
• Asleep for Days: Even with the rejuvenation tanks, Marcy and Yunan are knocked out for days after their ordeal against the Core, and that's with the Guardian accelerating things.
• Attack! Attack! Attack!: This is the New Amphibians' only real strategy when attacking Wartwood. Their surprise ambush against the South Tower was more successful, but those plans fail against a town who knew an army was coming.
• Attack Pattern Alpha: When Andark orders the Frobots to electrocute the heroes, he tells them to do "electric blasters maneuver C".
• Bad Boss: Bog kills two of his subordinates for questioning his decisions, and kills another one for nearly killing Grime and Sasha, because he's the only one who gets to do that. When he breaks down, he straight-up admits he never really cared about his army to begin with.
• Big Bad Wannabe: Bog, ultimately. His plans are similar to the Core (on a smaller scale), but he lacks the resources and leadership skills to truly take over Amphibia in any capacity and his army falls apart quickly once he tries to attack Wartwood.
• The Bully: Bog, who fully admits bullying others is what he wants most of all.
• Catapult Nightmare: Sasha has one at the beginning of chapter 20.
• The Cavalry: Karina arrives on Joe Sparrow at the end of chapter 17 to help everyone escape from the Newtopia Castle before it crashes to the ground.
• Chekhov's Gun: Sprig's enchanted slingshot plays a key role in the defeat of the Core, as Marcy uses it to knock the EMP out of Andark's pocket into her hands.
• Cool Big Bro: Thanks to Anne being younger than Sprig in this story, she looks up to Sprig greatly and Sprig himself is shown eager to prove himself to prove to be a fun and supportive big brother. Though it helps that Anne is nicer in return toward Sprig than Polly usually is. On a similar note, it's heavily implied Ivy Sundew views the younger Anne as a surrogate little sister and is just as protective of her as Sprig is.
• The Coup: Bog and his army launch a successful one against the South Toad Tower, with further plans to take all of Amphibia.
• The Cuckoolander Was Right: Puddleford McBucket, the local equivalent of Fiddleford from Gravity Falls, has a rant in chapter 13 that savvy readers will realize references the Core.
• Death by Adaptation: Bog
• Decomposite Character: The canon Grime's desire to form a rebellion seems to have been split off into Bog here.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: In this story, the Core is destroyed when Marcy uses her Calamity powers to supercharge the EMP she and Andrias had made, instead of because Anne used the powers of all three stones to destroy its moon form.
• Disc-One Final Boss: Although the Core is the main villain for the first part of the story, Bog takes up the role as main villain after it's defeated, plotting a rebellion to seize power for himself.
• The Dragon: Fens, to Bog.
• Easy Level Trick: Sprig’s enchanted slingshot serves as one for the second puzzle in the first temple, since he can quickly just shoot rocks at the green tiles without anyone having to step on them.
• EMP: The device Andrias is constructing is one, meant to disable the Core.
• Entitled Bastard: Bog, who claims that with all the change happening in Amphibia, he's "more than entitled" to change stuff for himself.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • The Last Straw for Andrias was being asked to murder a 6-year-old child. After that, he decided to turn against the Core.
  • Mayor Toadstool doesn’t particularly like Anne, but even he knows Anne probably wouldn’t be safe in the hands of Bog and the other tax toads.
• Exiled to the Couch: A variant, Marcy's mother Chen has been crashing on the Boonchuy's couch a few times, but she claims that it's just so she doesn't have to return to the Wu house with Marcy gone instead of her arguments with Stephen after the girls vanished.
• Eye Scream: Bog punches Sasha in the eye in chapter 26 and she later returns the favor by stabbing him in the eye and ripping the eyeball out!
• Free-Range Children: When Sasha first met Anne and Marcy, she was by herself in the playground. Mrs. Waybright just let 6-year-old Sasha leave home on her own.
• Freudian Slip: At one point early on, Sasha slips and refers to Grime as "Daddy" before backtracking.
• Full-Name Ultimatum: Hop Pop gives one to Polly when she wants to battle the Toad Tower toads.
• Gilligan Cut: One occurs after Sprig asks if Hop Pop knows that Polly plans to visit the Newtopian Weapons Guild.
  Polly: What he doesn't know won't hurt him.
  [Cut to Hop Pop in his room]
  Hop Pop: Ouch! I didn’t know there was a nail sticking out of the floor!
• Homing Projectile: Maddie enchants one of Sprig's slingshots so that anything it fires never misses its target.
• Hypocrite:
  • Olivia points out that while Hop Pop's desire to keep his family away from the Calamity Box to make sure they stay safe is understandable, in the process he'd be keeping Anne away from her biological family.
  • Bog calls Grime one, since he brought Bog and other toads into the cruel Toad Tower system and then looked down on them when he changed his ways for the better, even though he was responsible for them being that way in the first place. Grime admits he's not wrong.
• In Spite of a Nail: Although she never encounters Tritonio, Anne still acquires his sword when the group goes to the Toad Tower weapons room.
  • Several of the Earth events, like Mr. X showing up, Dr. Frakes trying to make a portal, and the discovery of the pot with Lief bringing the Box to Earth all happen despite the absence of Anne and the Plantars.
• Innocent Swearing: Averted. Grime says "fuck" in front of the kids in chapter 23, leading to Sasha and Polly casually saying it later in the chapter. The context makes it clear they know very well that it’s a bad word, with hints that they may even become Sir Swears Alot when they’re older.
  Hop Pop: (to Grime) Look what you’ve done! You’ve corrupted my grandchild with your foul words!
  Polly: Nah, I was pretty fucking corrupt already. Now I just know a cool new word.
• Karmic Death: By the time of his Villainous Breakdown, Bog is compared to a bloodthirsty animal and he even bites Wally's arm to escape a dogpile. Fittingly, he is killed by another bloodthirsty animal: a heron.
• Kick the Dog: In the flashback in chapter 24, Mrs. Waybright mutters to herself that Sasha is "just a useless brat", unaware that Sasha was listening in.
• Lifesaving Misfortune: Hop Pop’s poor choice of mail service gives Andrias an extra year to plan against the Core.
• Loose Lips: The Waybrights make some frustrated comments about Sasha being a "parasite" and saying that she should have been aborted within earshot of Oum after the girls disappear, and she makes sure that the police, already suspicious of the Abusive Parents, know, getting Carl and Karen arrested.
• Loved by All: Nearly everyone in Newtopia who meets Marcy quickly comes to adore her, and being ordered to kill her is what fully turns Andrias against the Core.
• Meaningful Name: In this AU the creator of the Core was a newt named Taricha Wenstrik, and their first name is that of a genus of extremely poisonous newts.
• Medium Awareness: In chapter 26 Sprig attempts to explain the tunnels to Hop Pop but stops because he can tell a scene break is about to happen.
• Mirror Character: The Core and Bog both force their way into power by usurping control away from the true leader, but after that initial victory their overconfidence leads them both to a quick downfall.
• Motor Mouth: When Anne and Sasha arrive in Newtopia, Marcy is talking a mile a minute, and it’s mentioned that earlier she did a lecture about Earth that was mainly her gushing nonstop.
• Mr. Exposition: Andrias in Chapter 19 and Valeriana in Chapter 23, as they explain the history of the Core, the Box, and the Prophecy.
• Named by the Adaptation: The Newtopia gatekeeper is named Ted, and the toad who wore his breastplate as pants is named Dennis.
• Near-Villain Victory: The Core's forces actually managed to find the Calamity Box, but fifteen seconds later the EMP hit and took it out for good.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Percy and Braddock banish an insubordinate Bog while in charge of Toad Tower due to Grime's absence. Unfortunately, this just incentivizes him to start his quest for power, and the duo realize their mistake only after he's already gone.
• No True Scotsman: Bog claims that he and his supporters are "true toads", and those who support Grime aren't.
• Not Quite Dead: Both Andrias and Yunan managed to survive the battle against Andark, despite seemingly taking mortal damage.
• Nothing Is Scarier: Just what is so horrific about Mike the toad’s face that he hides behind a helmet all the time? The world may never know.
• Not-So-Innocent Whistle: Lampshaded by Oum when the girls return and Sasha assumes that the older Boonchuy killed her Abusive Parents instead of merely getting them arrested, and the girls whistle when Oum asks them why they would think that.
• Oh, Crap!: Andark panics when Marcy fully unlocks her Calamity form and this is intensified once Marcy activates the supercharged EMP.
• Original Character:
  • Karina, the newt who takes Anne, Sasha, the Plantars, and Grime to Newtopia and helps them escape the castle at the end of Act Two.
  • Franklin Kestro, head of the Newtopian Weapons Guild.
  • Taricha Wenstrik, the newt who created the Core.
• Parental Abandonment: Bog was left behind by his parents when he was young. He would've likely starved to death if a young Grime didn't find him and recruit him into the Toad Army.
• Parental Neglect: The Waybrights are reportedly rather neglectful towards Sasha, her father always dropping her off at the playground and just leaving her there to pick her up later, unlike the Wus and Boonchuys, who always have someone watching their kids. The other two sets of parents don't approve of this neglect, but never say anything around the kids. It certainly makes her latching onto Grime as a father figure so fast more understandable.
• Parental Substitute: Beyond Hop Pop being a surrogate guardian to Anne as in canon, Sasha quickly latches onto Grime as a father figure to the point of slipping up and calling him her dad, and Olivia and Yunan act as parental figures towards Marcy.
• Point of Divergence: The primary nail of the story is that Marcy finds the Calamity Box when shopping with her mom during a sale at the Thrift Shop, seven years before she canonically discovered it on Anne’s birthday and this leads to numerous changes to the plot:
  • Since the Box was set down on a table when it was activated, the girls end up in slightly different locations than canon. Anne appears just outside of the Plantar farm instead of in the woods outside of Wartwood, Sasha literally appears in the middle of Toad Tower, and Marcy appears in the Newtopia throne room instead of outside. Also, because no one was holding the Box, none of the girls end up with it like Anne did in canon, and its location is currently unknown.
  • Anne bunks with Sprig instead of being in the basement, wanting to be close to someone after ending up in a strange new world.
  • Perhaps the biggest change is that Andrias, disgusted by the Core's orders to kill Marcy, a young child, decides to rebel against his father and the others in the Core for her sake.
  • Thanks to Anne uncovering his plot, Toadstool is forced to be honest paying with the taxes.
  • The Core possesses Andrias after his failed rebellion instead of Marcy, as no amount of Calamity powers or intellect could balance out the fact that Marcy is a clumsy seven-year old.
  • The Core is destroyed by Marcy supercharging the EMP she and Andrias had made using her Calamity powers instead of by Anne sacrificing herself to use the full powers of the Gems.
• Poor Communication Kills: Since Hop Pop chose to use Sloth Postal, both the cheapest and slowest mail service in Amphibia, to send his letter to Sal in Newtopia regarding Anne, Marcy doesn't learn that Anne is alive and in Wartwood until nearly a year after the girls arrive in Amphibia. Of course, this also gives Andrias an extra year to plan against the Core.
• Powered by a Forsaken Child: Andark, lacking the music box, harnesses the energy of the Gems directly from the girls in order to reactivate enough technology to make enough Frobots to find the box, causing them great pain in the process.
• Psycho for Hire: The marauders that joined Bog's cause. They don't have any real connection to his ideology but they joined for the opportunity to cause destruction.
• The Quisling: Defied. Bog’s agents try bribing Mayor Toadstool into letting them take Wartwood, but he refuses.
• Rage Breaking Point: Sasha is mostly just saddened by the illusions of her parents taunting her, but once they insult Grime she instantly gets out of her slump and angrily attacks them.
  "All of her sadness disappeared within seconds, and was replaced with strength, with determination, with rage."
• Rasputinian Death: Bog is impaled with a sword, has his eyeball ripped out by another sword, is burned badly when shot out of a cannon, and then dies when he's eaten by a heron.
• Roaring Rampage of Rescue: Karina, against two Marauders who were about to cut up Joe Sparrow.
• Running Gag: Hop Pop not being present for anything involving the tunnels under the Plantar house and always getting cut off when he asks for an explanation.
• Scavenger Hunt: Chapter 4 adapts the scavenger hunt episode of the main show.
• The Scrooge: Hop Pop is called out for delaying Anne's reunion with Marcy by nearly a year by using Sloth Postal to try and save a buck.
• Shout-Out:
  • The title is a reference to a line from Avengers: Endgame.
  • The first Waxing Lyrical moment mentioned below references Centaurworld.
  • Chapter 13 references Gravity Falls, with Frog Soos appearing alongside a frog version of McGucket.
  • Chapter 14 mentions the one about the squirrel and the tin cans. This one becomes a Running Gag in later chapters.
  • Chapter 16 references The Simpsons twice. First, the chapter's title "Some Nutty Cuckoo Super King" comes from the Capital City Song, and near the beginning Aldrich reaches out to strangle Andrias while saying "Why you little!"
    • Also in Chapter 16, Andark introduces himself by saying "You may call me... Andark… in the brief moments that remain to you."
  • Chapter 17:
    • The description of calamity energy building up in Marcy references future Ralphie’s description of his No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on Scut Farkus in A Christmas Story.
    • Marcy quotes Return of the Jedi when she destroys the Core, saying its overconfidence is its weakness.
  • When Marcy hears about the Core's Colony Drop backup plan, she says that it was going to pull a Gerald Robotnik.
  • Chapter 21's title derives from a famous quote from WarGames, and backwards long jumping is mentioned.
  • Chapter 22 is called "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride".
  • When Grime says it’s impossible for Valeriana to be the inventor of the music box, she responds by saying "impossible things are happening every day."
  • Chapter 24:
    • The chapter is titled "Stronger Than You".
    • Marcy compares the final room of the Third Temple to a Bowser battle arena in Super Mario 64 and a Mario Party minigame arena.
  • Chapter 25:
    • This chapter and the next two are titled "The Scourging of the Swamp", referencing the Scourging of the Shire from The Lord of the Rings with how it's a final fight that occurs when the heroes return home.
    • Marcy references the escape sequences in Metroid games and in the same scene Hop Pop calls video games "videos game" like in OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes.
    • The scene with Soggy Joe alludes to Buff Frog and Toffee.
    • Lastly, The Simpsons is referenced again when Grime states "the whole damn system is wrong!"
  • Chapter 26 uses the word "headbonk".
  • In Chapter 27, Percy addresses Grime with "Oh captain, my captain!"
  • Chapter 28's title comes from the song "Morning Glow" from Pippin.
  • Chapter 29 is titled "Don't You Forget About Me" and at one point Grime says "Good news, everyone!"
• Slasher Smile: Andark has one.
• Smart People Play Chess: As in canon, Andrias and Marcy play flipwart together, and the latter beating the former is treated as something fairly impressive In-Universe.
• Super-Strong Child: Sasha keeps unconsciously tapping into her Calamity powers to achieve bursts of superhuman strength. Unfortunately for the toads, she's made a game out of breaking things in Toad Tower, and they realize too late that they should have discouraged her more.
• Synchronous Episodes: Chapters two, three, and four will reportedly take place at approximately the same time.
• Taking the Bullet: Yunan pushes the girls out of the path of Andark's blade, only to be impaled herself.
• Three-Point Landing: During the quest to the third temple, Sasha does what is described as a classic "superhero landing" after defeating the guardian.
• Time Skip: After the first chapter, the story jumps forward to a point about a year after the girls arrive in Amphibia.
• Title Drop: The fic’s title is stated in Chapter 23, when Valeriana is explaining the prophecy.
• Waxing Lyrical:
  • Anne and Sasha say a couple of lines from "I’ve Been Searching For You" when they reunite in chapter 5.
  • Anne says a line from "No Big Deal" in Chapter 11.
• Worf Had the Flu: While Marcy did legitimately well for someone who's never really played before, part of why she beats Andrias in their game is that Andrias was so impressed by her skills that he let his guard down and let her get the upper hand.
• Would Hurt a Child:
  • What cements Andrias' Adaptational Heroism is the Core being very willing to kill the seven year old Marcy and trying to order him to kill her as soon as possible.
  • Bog really wants to murder Sasha and nearly does.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: In the original canon Polly and Grime would be perfectly right to suspect Andrias of being up to something nefarious. Here, he's merely trying to stop the Core and keep Marcy safe. When a Core-possessed Andrias shows up to attack the heroes, the latter acts like he was right before immediately being corrected about Andrias's changed morality.
• You Can't Thwart Stage One: Despite the best efforts of Andrias, the Core is one step ahead of him and foils his EMP plan and possesses him.

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