Another Friend in Amphibia

Chapter 45: The Island of Pad

Marcy could see the island. It was a lot smaller than she expected. Having a total landmass less than a kilometer with little to no foliage. It only had a single structure built into it. Some kind of ancient ruin in the shape of a frog. The newt marines began to disembark from their ships and swim ashore while a rowboat was prepared for Marcy. Some of the crew of The Green Lady had served with Marcy before and knew she couldn't just swim all the way to the shore.

One of the marines saluted Marcy as she arrived. "Master Marcy. The island is secured but there's no sign of the enemy."

"They might be hiding inside the ruins. Unload the rest of the troops and have your best teams ready. We're going dungeon diving!" Marcy ordered.

The marine left to spread Marcy's orders while she examined the door. It looked as though someone had tried to force their way in and eventually succeeded. The damage was patched up but still visible. If the cultists really were based here, they were the probably the ones who opened up the ruins. Now the question is, how does she get inside?

Marcy leaned on the door and was about to pull out her journal when the door suddenly opened. She fell down and started to slide down some sort of ramp, only stopping when she hit the bottom. One she stopped, she quickly picked herself up and looked around. Marcy found herself a large hallway. There were three ways to go. The one to her left behind a closed door, the one to her right that collapsed but it looked as though it could be excavated later, and the one straight ahead led somewhere deeper into the ancient ruin.

Marcy heard the sound of armor clanking as the Newtopian marines came down the slide. Soon enough she was met with a full squad of troops. Their leader stepped forward. "Master Marcy. We'll be the first squad to secure the ruins. We have more squads coming down as we speak."

"Alright, go and secure the area while I study the ruins." Marcy ordered.

"Understood. Move out!" The squad marched down the hallway, deeper into the ruins.

While they did their thing, Marcy walked to the nearby door and opened it. Inside was a chemistry lab with all sorts of equipment. There were a few tables with glass flasks and tools of all shapes and sizes. Inside a glass cabinet were even more equipment, sorted by where they could be found. Most of which Marcy was able to recognize during her studies involving alchemy.

There were a couple notes on a nearby table. Upon closer examination, Marcy realized it was a recipe. A poison that can permanently incapacitate a human with only one drop. Was this the poison Drake was inflicted with? That would explain why he hasn't recovered from such a tiny cut.

Marcy was about to take out her journal when someone suddenly collided with her from her right. The sudden and unexpected impact knocked her into a wall. The attacker quickly tried to take advantage by charging at her with a quarterstaff he was wielding. Marcy reacted quickly, grabbing the quarterstaff as well as the two combatants entered a pushing contest.

Marcy slowly but steadily pushed the cultist back. Once she had enough elbow room, she quickly twisted her body and used the momentum to swing the quarterstaff, hitting her opponent in the face with one end. The impact knocked him out.

Marcy quickly looked around, wondering if she had missed any other dangers in the room. She was extremely lucky the guy didn't have a knife, otherwise she would have been dead right then and there.

Once she had composed herself and was certain she was clear of any danger. She turned her attention back to the poison, quickly writing down the recipe and how to make it. Based on her own knowledge of alchemy, it should be easy to create an antidote now that she understood the poison itself.

Marcy walked out the door where she encountered yet another squad of Newtopian marines who were planning to enter the chemistry lab. She didn't pay them any mind; she had a recipe to cure Drake now all she needed to do was create the antidote itself. Time was of the essence, especially since Drake had been asleep with no food or water for days. Frankly, she was surprised he had survived for as long as he did.

Marcy went deeper into the ruins to meet up with the other squad. There were some bodies on the ground, the marines did their job well. She entered into another room where she was met with shelves packed to the brim with ingredients from all over Amphibia. This combined with the tools in the other room was enough to attempt any conceivable chemistry experiment.

She quickly gathered whatever ingredients she felt she needed and ran back to the lab. There Marcy studied the poison once again and was hard at work developing an antidote. She paid no mind to the nearby marines were a little confused by her experiment but had ultimately decided to leave her alone.

"There!" Marcy exclaimed, holding a flask of purple liquid. "Hope this works." she started pouring the liquid into a small vial for transportation. Now all she needed to do was get back to Drake.

Marcy ran up the slide where another group of marines were standing. "Master Marcy! The island is secure." he saluted.

"Good work. I need to get back to Newtopia right away." Marcy hopped onto the rowboat and rowed back to The Green Lady. Then they set sail back to Newtopia.

It was already dark by the time Marcy had returned to Newtopia. Most of the honest folk had already retired for the night but that didn't deter her. She marched to the hospital where Drake was staying. The staff were surprised to see her but nobody made any move to stop her when she marched into Drake's room.

Marcy stood next to Drake pulling out the antidote. She quickly poured it onto the hand where Drake was poisoned. She was practically praying the antidote would work. "Come on, please work. Please..." Marcy whispered as the last drop fell on her unconscious friend's hand and was absorbed into his skin. "Drake?"

There was no response.

Marcy grabbed his hand. "Come on Drake. You're going to be okay." Marcy hoped.

Once again there was no response.

Marcy stood up and started walking away, looking defeated. That was when she felt something stop her. Her hand was stuck to Drake's. He was holding onto it. Marcy lit up immediately. "Drake!" Marcy began to cry.

Author's Note

________________________________________________________________________________

I'm back. This was a rather short chapter but it's great to have it out there. Originally I was hoping to have this chapter out before the new year but writing this chapter was a lot slower than I expected.

There is only one last loose end before we can head into the First Temple. Once we leave Newtopia we're not coming back until True Colors.

A side note. I've been playing Dungeons and Dragons lately. I made a character inspired by Sasha Waybright. Not a one to one recreation (name is different, backstory is different). She is definitely a great player character. She was extremely fun to play and one I would definitely recreate in other campaigns.

I'm also in the process of creating characters inspired by the rest of the Calamity Trio and my oc Drake.

Also I binged Vox Machina. Great show. Really enjoyed it. Looking forward to the next season.

I hope you all enjoyed the chapter.