Calamity Box

The Calamity Box is a chest used for interdimensional travel or as a teleportation device between Earth and Amphibia. It was held in the store Thrift Stop before being stolen by Anne on her 13th birthday.

Appearance
The box is quite small and can fit atop one's hand. It is ornamented with gold and three different gems (pink, blue, and green), each representing one particular trait (strength, heart, and wit, respectively) which lost their colors once Anne Boonchuy, Sasha Waybright, and Marcy Wu were teleported from Los Angeles, California, USA, Earth to Amphibia. It depicts a frog in the tropical woods, praising the gems behind an engraved sun design. It also has a small key on its right side as a possible accessory.

As of "The First Temple", the green gem has regained its color.

As of "The Second Temple", the blue gem regained its color, but it is only partially charged and flickers.

As of "The Third Temple", the pink gem has regained its color.

Background
It is a magical/technological relic that can be used for dimensional travel between worlds. Over 1000 years ago, King Andrias used it as a source of energy to power his kingdom, though one of Andrias' friends ended up stealing the box, causing not only Newtopia, but all of Amphibia to enter a dark age without energy for many years. At some point, the box ended up on Earth, where it ended up in a thrift store.

Centuries later on Earth, after a notice given by her parents that they were moving away, a girl named Marcy Wu ran away from her home very upset and found the box on top of a thrift store shelf by chance. After recognizing it inside a book from the library that informed her the box could travel to different worlds, Marcy devised a plan and sent a picture of the box to her friend Sasha Waybright. To hide the fact of what the box was believed to do, it was sent as a teasing birthday gift for "the frog lover," referring to her friend Anne Boonchuy, as she was celebrating her 13th birthday with Sasha that day. Shortly thereafter, Anne was forced by Sasha to go meet Marcy to see the box after leaving school, despite Anne's concern that her birthday party at home would begin shortly after Marcy sent the text, adding the fact that her mother and father were expecting her.

Nevertheless, Anne and Sasha met up with Marcy at the store, as Anne went inside and stole the box. The three then proceeded to an old nearby park to open it. Promptly after its opening, multicolored lights began flashing onto the three girls prior to a blinding white light erupting from within the box. This event caused all three to be transported into Amphibia, but none of them landed in the same location (Anne transported to Wartwood Forest, Sasha to Toad Tower, and Marcy to Newtopia), leading Anne to initially believe she was the only one who was transported. The box remained in possession of Anne as she carried it around in her bag, though wrapped in a blanket. It also revealed that after its first use, it became inactive. It seems that because of its dormant status, it is the reason the three gems on top no longer have their color.

In the present at the end of "Anne Vs. Wild", Anne finally decides to reveal how she got into Amphibia in the first place, which was with what she thought to be a music box. Anne asks the Plantars if they know anything about it, but her friend Hop Pop Plantar claims to have never seen anything like it. However, later that night as Hop Pop is researching in his study, he comes across a page of the box with a picture, resembling the one Anne showed him with danger signs around the page titled "Calamity Box".

During the events of "Bizarre Bazaar", Anne and Sprig decide to go to a secret market in the hopes of finding more information about Anne's "music box". Eventually, they find a stand that has artifacts resembling the art on the box, but the box is soon stolen by a thief named Marnie before they can show it to the stand's owner named Valeriana. Luckily, Hop Pop had followed them to the market and is able to win the box back for Anne, but Anne decides to offer it to Hop Pop instead, believing she can wait a little longer if it means finding the right answers, while asking him to keep that promise no matter what. However, to no one else's knowledge, he decides to secretly bury the box in a patch of dirt next to the Plantar Farm due to his suspicion of it being "dangerous".

In "Handy Anne" just before Anne and the Plantars are about to hit the road for Newtopia, Anne suggests the idea of taking the "music box" with them, but Hop Pop, not wanting to reveal to her he buried it, lies by claiming the box will be safer with his "contacts" until they return to Wartwood.

Once the Plantars have arrived in Newtopia and met up with Marcy during "The Plantars Check In," they are greeted by King Andrias, who informs them that without the "music box", he can't be of any assistance in helping Anne and Marcy return home. Anne then mentions that she had possession of the box at one point, and gave it to Hop Pop who claimed his contacts were looking after it. Luckily, Anne had taken a photo of the box on her phone, as Andrias begins to analyze it. He then points out to Anne of the gems' gray state, as he recalls Marcy mentioning to him that the gems were originally colored, to which Anne admits she never actually noticed that point. Andrias then claims he'll need some time to research in the deepest archives for more information about the box, where he will then summon them again once he's found something to make a plan out of. Marcy also notes that she'll try and look for more information herself as Anne is unable to translate ancient amphibian text.

When Anne, Marcy and the Plantars go see King Andrias in "A Day at the Aquarium", he reveals that his ancestors used this box to travel to other worlds and in order for Anne, Sasha, and Marcy to get back home, they need to power up the gems on the box by taking them to three certain temples.

With the Plantars now having returned to Wartwood in "After the Rain", Anne receives a mail fly message from Marcy explaining that they're ready to soon travel to the first temple, along with placing a checklist for the trip that also includes the music box. Later that night as Anne is too excited for the next adventure to sleep, she overhears footsteps from upstairs and notices Hop Pop leaving the house. She then witnesses him digging a hole near the same tree where he buried the box, only for him to unknowingly shout out in front of her that the music box is gone. Confused, Anne tries to clarify what Hop Pop told her about his supposed "contacts" having the box, causing Hop Pop to admit there were never any contacts. He then frustratingly explains he read about the box from a book in his study and saw it to be dangerous, causing him to hastily bury the box as a way of keeping Polly and Sprig safe. Anne becomes furious and ultimately feels betrayed, knowing the music box is her only ticket back to her world. While also believing Hop Pop intends to keep her in Amphibia forever, this causes Anne to run away. Later that morning, Polly and Sprig hear about the situation from Hop Pop, as they then decide to relocate the music box while Hop Pop searches for Anne. As they enter the town, Polly and Sprig notice numerous holes having made a mess everywhere, as Maddie Flour explains to Sprig that someone dug up those holes and stole numerous belongings from the residents of Wartwood. Immediately following her information, Soggy Joe arrives from the bushes and states this is the work of the Magpie Beetle, an underground habitat insect who every 20 years digs to the surface to steal objects to make a shell.

This leads Sprig and Polly to inspect the hole Hop Pop had dug, as upon further inspection they notice a burrow to follow through with the hopes of locating the box. After a small slide through the burrow, they arrive in front of a large hole filled with Magpie beetles known as the "lovenado", but luckily they manage to locate the music box. However, in an attempt to retrieve it back, Polly and Sprig end up surrounded by the beetles. Anne and Hop Pop soon arrive on the scene, as they eventually manage to put aside their differences and rescue Polly and Sprig while getting back the music box. Nevertheless, Anne slips the box back in her backpack with the intentions of leaving once again, but Hop Pop still requests Anne to at least hear him out about his reasoning for hiding the box. He then tearfully explains that a few years ago while he was on a journey outside of Wartwood, a large flock of herons attacked the village that led to the death of Sprig and Polly's parents, and ever since then he swore to never let his family out of his sights again while doing anything to protect them. Then, when Hop Pop learned about the box as a dangerous object, he hid it away because he thought it would be the safest option for protecting his family. He then confesses his realization for his reasoning being flawed since he sees Anne as his family too, and now he's let her and everyone else down.

After Hop Pop's numerous apologies instantly following his confession, Anne decides to forgive Hop Pop, as the family share a warm hug and return home. Hop Hop then shows Anne, Polly, and Sprig the book he was referring to, claiming it to be something that's been in his family for as long as he can remember. He then shows them the same page of the music box titled as "Calamity Box", but without any other specific information to work with, Sprig believes all they can do is wait for Marcy to hear what she has to say about it.

The next day in "The First Temple", Marcy arrives in Wartwood alongside her pet Joe Sparrow to greet Anne and the Plantars. Once Anne shows her the music box, Marcy uses the research she studied on the box and taps in a certain combination on the tiles of the box, causing a small harmony to be played and the three gems to slide loose. Once Marcy takes out the faded green gem, she, Anne and the Plantars depart for the first temple. Once entering the temple, Marcy translates the words on the wall reading "Keeper of the box, one strong of mind, three trials await that will return the stone's shine." The group manages to succeed in the first two trials, but Marcy is forced to throw the game in the final trial out of fear for Anne and the Plantars' safety. After the match, a pathway of green arrows are lit up towards the temple's exit, with Marcy believing the temple is merely directing their way out. However, to the groups surprise, the pathway of arrows continue to glow beyond the exit, as they are eventually guided to a small box originally thought to be an outhouse. As they open it once more, they discover that not only is the box now glowing with art, but Marcy realizes it is in fact the place to charge the gem. As they approach the small hole in the room, a pedestal rises above it with new writing reading "Only the worthy will have the wisdom to choose whether it's more important to win, or have the humility to lose. A choice is made to save thy friends, and honestly doesn't that make you a winner in the end?"

Marcy then places the gem on the pedestal, as a large green light soon flashes upon everyone, which soon leads to the gem gaining its green color back while at the same time, the green glow in Marcy's eyes drains. Before the group can celebrate, a small light ray is shot out of the green gem, allowing Marcy to realize that with a bit of work to triangulate the ray's endpoint location, they can make their way to the second temple. Although Marcy believes they can make their way to the next temple that very night, they all mutually agree they should take a break first.

A few days later in "The Second Temple", Marcy, Anne, and the Planters travel to the Amphibia Arctic to recharge the blue gem of the music box. Following the light ray from the green gem, the group comes upon a gate and there, they meet Valeriana who reveals that she last member of an order dedicated to studying the gems and temples of the music box. Valeriana agrees to take the group to the temple and shows interest in the music box, though Anne refuses to let her have it. As they traverse the mountain on their way to the temple, the group survives various challenges which Anne makes many sacrifices for and Valeriana berates her for them. Valeriana eventually decides to abandon the group and Anne becomes fed up with Valeriana, berating her as well. Seemingly angered, Valeriana kidnaps Anne, taking her atop a platform and tries to take the music box while also reminding Anne of all her past misdeeds, many of which Anne believes to be taken out of context. However, whilst fighting Valeriana, Anne admits her responsibility for stealing the music box reluctantly, and saves Valeriana when she nearly falls from the platform. Once Anne explains that her actions taught her it's best to do the right thing even when you don't want to, Valeriana then reveals that this was all a trial for Anne for to show responsibility as well as empathy, and that she and her friends were in the "temple" all along. Valeriana asks what Anne wants, to which she states she wishes to recharge the blue gem. Valeriana agrees, taking the gem out of the music box and places it inside her staff. A large blue light soon flashes which leads to the gem starting to regain its blue color back while at the same time, the blue glow in Anne's eyes begins to drain.

However, the recharging process is slower than the last gem due to Valeriana's staff being old and Anne soon hears the screams of Marcy and the Plantars from down below. Worried of what is happening to her friends, Anne takes the gem before it finishes charging and impatiently demands Valeriana to send her back. Valeriana does so and Anne reunites with the group who reveal they were simply watching ridiculously cute animals videos on Marcy's phone. Anne shows her friends the seemingly recharged blue gem and they all begin their trip back home. However, unbeknownst to any of them, the blue gem begins to flicker.

In "The Third Temple" Anne, Marcy, the Plantars, and Frobo travel to the location of the third temple to recharge the last gem of the music box. The light ray from the blue gem leads them to the temple entrance, where Marcy notices the unusual language and Frobo opens the way forward. Anne, Marcy, and the Plantars head inside the temple, leaving Frobo to look after Joe Sparrow. Unbeknownst to Frobo, Sasha and Grime sneak past him and follow the group inside. From within the temple, Anne, Marcy and the Planters arrive at the first challenge, to cross a narrow pathway through a moat of lava while also dealing with worm-like lava monsters. The group is provided weapons to deal with the monsters, though none of them are strong enough to lift them properly. Just as they are about to be attacked by a lava monster, the group is saved by Sasha who kills the creature. Marcy is excited to see Sasha, though Anne and the Plantars are hesitant due their past experience. Sasha claims she is sorry for what happened and group continues through the temple. The group eventually arrives at the second challenge, where a barbell must be lifted in order to open a door. Believing there is more to the challenge, Anne suggests exploring the room first. Sasha, however, believes the challenge to be as simple as it appears and proceeds to lift the barbell which does open the door. Arriving at the last challenge, the group is tasked with fighting the Stone Monster which becomes harder when the gravity in the room increases, incapacitating the Plantars and Grime. Anne, Marcy, and Sasha attempt to fight the monster which nearly gets Marcy before Sasha saves her.

Marcy remains immobile due to the gravity and Anne and Sasha press forward. Whilst trying to fight the monster, Sasha states how she knows that Anne still doesn't trust her and the two get into an argument about it. Things become worse when the gravity in the room increases even more, pushing Anne and Sasha to the ground. Sasha begins to lose hope, stating how she was always such a jerk to Anne. Fortunately, Anne encourages Sasha to keep trying, reminded her how she never gave up before. Reinvigorated, Sasha removes parts of her armor to lessen the weight of the gravity and fights the monster, defeating it by cutting it in half. The monster gives a thumbs up before exploding and the gravity in the room returns to normal. Marcy and the Plantars reunite with Anne and Sasha. Soon after, a pedestal emerges from the floor and Anne gives Sasha the honor of placing in the gem. A large red light soon flashes upon everyone, which soon leads to the gem gaining its color back while at the same time, the glow in Sasha's eyes drains. A final message appears which Marcy translates, revealing that the temple was testing persistence as well as strength. With all the gems seemingly recharged, Anne wonders if they should open the music box now, but Marcy interjects, stating they should take the box back to King Andrias.

Once the group arrives in Newtopia to see Andrias in "True Colors", Sasha betrays Anne and Marcy by revealing her and Grime's intention to invade Newtopia with a toad army, as she then takes the music box for herself. After Anne expresses her frustration to Sasha over her betrayal and declares they're no longer friends, Sasha decides to open the box on Anne and Marcy with the intention of travelling them away from the city. However, to her surprise, nothing happens. Later as Sasha and Grime's plans are thwarted and the two are captured, Marcy, Anne, Sprig, Polly, Hop Pop, Frobo Olivia, Yunan, and Andrias return to the throne room as Anne gives Andrias the box so he could send her, Marcy and Sasha home. Instead, however, Andrias proceeds to explain that in the past, he with his ancestors used the box as an energy source to power their technologically advanced empire from Newtopia Castle located at the capital of Amphibia to the rest of the continent as a whole more than a thousand years ago. However, he was betrayed by his own friends and one of his friends stole the box, thus leading to the city to shut down on its technological accomplishments due to the loss of its main power. Andrias was 'glad' the girls got him back the box charged as well, which he uses to power his castle to fly up into the sky. at the same time, it sends a signal to the factories outside of Frog Valley to recreate his Frog-bot military force similar to Frobo, but made differently for combat. Andrias then states that he will not allow the girls to go home now, as he intends to use the box's power to invade all worlds, and he wouldn't want them to warn earth about the coming invasion. As Anne and Sasha begin to intimidate Andrias, he then decides to show them the capabilities of the box, as he uses it to power up a massive weapon atop Newtopia Castle that shoots a large blue beam straight towards Captain Aldo's North Tower, completely obliterating it.

Marcy then attempts to reason with Andrias as he promised to her previously that no one would get hurt. Unsure of what she's talking about, Anne and Sasha ask Marcy for clarification, as she then states Andrias promised to take her and her friends to the other worlds the box had access to teleport to. Still unsure of her reasoning, Andrias then points out to everyone that Marcy knew about the box's teleportation power and had gotten her, Anne, and Sasha stuck in Amphibia purposely, much to Anne and Sasha's disbelief. Forced to reveal the truth, Marcy confesses that earlier on the day they got teleported into Amphibia, she was scared to learn her dad got a new job away from their state of California, and she was going to be forced to move away from Anne and Sasha while believing it would tear apart their friendship. When she found the box in the thrift store, she was unsure if it would actually work, but when it did, she saw it as an opportunity for her, Anne and Sasha to be somewhere they would never have to grow apart and they could remain friends forever. Anne then accuses Marcy of taking her away from her family and life on Earth, while Marcy tearfully attempts to convince her that her actions allowed them all to grow as people, along with giving them new friendships and everything they've experienced in Amphibia. However, as everyone steps away from Marcy, she falls to her knees out of guilt and admits all she wanted was to not be alone. Nevertheless, Anne still decides Andrias is the main adversary to face their attention to, knowing she has to stop his evil intentions with the box, as she then cuts Sasha loose and everyone prepares to fight.

During the fight, Andrias gets a hold on Sprig and drops him out one of the windows, filling Anne with a sudden heavy mix of sadness and anger. This causes the half-charged blue gem's essence on the box to flow back into Anne, only this time it changes her appearance to glowing blue hair and vines coming out of her head, as well as her eye color turning blue. It also triggers Anne to gain abilities to fight Andrias and his robotic military force head on while also beating Andrias tremendously during her sudden rage of power. Eventually however, Anne's powers wear off and she briefly passes out, as Andrias then admits his surprise of Anne still having the 'gift', but now decides he can't let her live because of it. During which time, Sprig is revealed to have been saved by Marcy and runs over to Anne, while Marcy additionally takes the Calamity Box away from the power stand and opens a portal in front of her that could get back to Earth. Seeing the opportunity, Anne and the Plantars (including Frobo's head) quickly evacuate to the portal while Grime and Sasha attempt to slow down Andrias. As the Plantars are within the portal, Andrias manages to shove Sasha and Grime away as he runs for the box. Before Marcy can finish what she's saying and move into the portal, she is stabbed by Andrias' sword from her back right out of her chest. As Marcy apologizes for her actions with Anne screaming to her, Marcy collapses on the floor, causing her to drop the box which emits a bright light, closing the portal that quickly sends Anne, the Plantars and Frobo to LA on Earth, along with Marcy, Sasha, Grime, Yunan, Olivia, Andrias, and the box remaining in Amphibia.

Later during "The New Normal", it's revealed Andrias had managed to re-acquire the box for himself, and placed it back on the charging station. He then orders one of his Frog-Bots to eliminate Anne Boonchuy to ensure Earth doesn't learn about the coming invasion. Once the Frog-Bot acquires the blue gem's energy signature, Andrias uses the box to open a portal to the human world, and closes it once the Frog-Bot has stepped through. At a supermarket, though the box is not present, Anne's connection to the blue gem still allows her to use her newly gained abilities to fend off the Frog-Bot, as it flees from the market soon after with a destroyed arm.

A few days earlier in "Turning Point" during the time Marcy dropped the box after being stabbed, once the flash occurred that sent Anne and the Plantars to Earth, the box is seen next to the unconscious Marcy on the floor with black smoke coming out of it. Andrias then closes the box reclaiming it for himself, while Yunan and Olivia are then stopped from leaving by Andrias, and Sasha and Grime manage to escape from the window with the help of Joe Sparrow.

A few weeks later in "If You Give a Frog a Cookie", it's revealed that on the day Anne, Sasha, and Marcy were teleported to Amphibia, the Calamity Box caused a massive energetic blast which spread throughout the city. This ended up affecting numerous electrical circuits, including the lights in one of Dr. Frakes' research rooms at the Brainasium, which caused a chain reaction that affected two tesla coils. This resulted in a portal to Amphibia to open up and immediately begin sucking in anything close to it, including Frakes' CD Player, while her assistant Terri held onto her to ensure she wouldn't get sucked in as well.

During the holiday season in "Froggy Little Christmas", Andrias uses the box again to send a controllable drone prototype to Earth in another attempt to eliminate Anne, but fails.

Trivia

 * Calamity defines "an event causing great and often sudden damage or distress; a disaster," further implying the box is dangerous.
 * A real-life version of the chest appears at the 2019 D23 Expo. It is presented by Matt Braly, who gives it to Kermit the Frog to look at while advising him not to open it. However, Kermit gets the urge to do so and, after giving in, ends up in Amphibia. He mistakenly calls it the "Magical Calamari Box" at one point and says the journey is "faster than taking the 5 freeway" due to way less traffic.
 * During the episode where Anne shows the box to the Plantar family, the key at the side is missing, but in "Bizarre Bazaar", it reappears.
 * It is shown that each gem has a trait to represent Anne and her friends. This is supported by the challenges and color motifs of the three temples matching the respective gems they represent, and the tests correspond to each of the girls:
 * First temple - Wit: Marcy is tech-savvy and highly intelligent. She willingly gave up the final challenge for Anne and the Plantars' sake upon realizing the Flipwart game is unwinnable.
 * Second temple - Heart: Anne is emotional and cares about others. She was challenged over and over by Valeriana into admitting her mistakes and bad deeds from the past, and vowed to learn from them.
 * Third temple - Strength: Sasha is always bossy and commanding. She used the mental strength within her to get back up and defeat the Stone Monster thanks to believing in Anne and Marcy's encouragement.
 * The gems are removable from the box via a combination on the lid.
 * Due to Anne's trial, the blue gem is currently the only gem not fully charged.
 * Before the box brought the girls to Amphibia, the gemstone colors were blue, green and purple. But apparently, King Andrias' book has the gemstone's colors as blue, green, and pink.
 * In the The Owl House episode "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door", while Luz descents into the basement of the Owl House, the box can be seen on a shelf.

La caja de la calamidad Kotak Bencana