Another Friend in Amphibia

Chapter 23: Reunion

Drake could see giant toad people charging into Wartwood. The soldiers were corralling the townsfolk. One of the toads turned his attention towards Drake. He had two glowing eyes; one was cyan and the other was light green. He wore a set of bronze armor. There was a cape that covered one of his arms. He was probably the leader.

"Drake Cohen, I presume." he said, looking straight at him.

Drake looked around and noticed a group of toads had surrounded him. Drake hesitantly nodded his head. "Yes..." he was a little nervous, being surrounded by armed soldiers.

"I am Captain Grime. A mutual friend of ours would like to see you. Take him to the commander!" he ordered.

"A mutual friend? What are you talking about?" Drake asked, he noticed the toads were closing in.

"This way sir." one of the toads said, not bothering to answer his question. Drake stood up and allowed the toads to escort him wherever they were going.

They stopped in front of the town where Anne and the Plantars were. With them was a blond girl. Drake knew who it was immediately. "Sasha!" Drake yelled. He ran ahead

"Drake!" Sasha yelled back as she started running as well.

The two hugged each other. "I thought you died but then I heard you might have been at Toad Tower, but I wasn't sure. I'm sorry for leaving you behind."

Sasha consoled him. "It's alright Drake. Everything worked out fine. You survived long enough for me to find you. Just like I asked you to. You did great!"

"So now it's you, me and Anne. I'm guessing Marcy is still unaccounted for?" Drake asked.

"Unfortunately, Marcy will have to wait. While it's great to be back with you two, Grime has an announcement to make. We don't want to keep him waiting." Sasha said, breaking up the group hug.

"Captain Grime? That's the guy who sent me here. I'm guessing he's the leader?" Drake asked.

"Yep, and I'm his second in command." Sasha said proudly.

The group arrived at the town center. The toad captain was standing on a broken stone wall that acted like a makeshift stage. The three humans stood to his right on a slightly lower section of the stone wall. He held out his hands. "Frogs of Wartwood! We toads have come here to..." he grabbed some confetti and threw it into the air. "Invite you to a banquet." the crowd was mostly silent, but Grime ignored them and continued. "The moment we heard that Anne was here, we rushed to reunite these two friends and hold a celebration. Then when we got here, we found out Drake was here as well, and we have yet another reason to celebrate."

"Aw, come here you two." Sasha pulled Anne and Drake into a group hug.

"Really?" Hop Pop asked from the crowd.

"Yes. Despite my rough exterior, I really am just an 'old softy.'" Grime said flatly. His words were clearly faked like he had been rehearsing a script but only remembered the lines and didn't bother getting into character.

Sasha cleared her throat. She put her fingers around the sides of her mouth signaling for him to smile.

Captain Grime growled while he gave out a large smile that showed his razor-sharp teeth. A tadpole in the crowd started to cry upon seeing it.

Sasha quickly pushed him away. "Uh, so, what do you say, Wartwood? You ready to party back at the tower?"

The crowd was silent. An old light purple frog spoke up who Drake recognized as Sadie Croaker. "What does Anne think?"

"Uh... Sasha's been my friend since kindergarten. If she says it's fine, it's fine."

Sasha got in front of Anne. "Whoo! All aboard the party barge."