Another Friend in Amphibia

Chapter 61: Situation Report in Newtopia

Anne and the Plantars walked with Marcy to the military district. They were rather surprised to see toad soldiers wearing red, the color of the Newtopian armed forces. Some of the nearby soldiers were confused as to why Anne and the Plantars were allowed in. However, seeing Marcy with them gave them the answer they needed. They continued on with their business and allowed Anne and the Plantars to enter the headquarters.

Marshal Kerry stood at a large oval table. Nearby was General Yunnan, a newt Marcy recognized as Mora the master of arms, and a couple of low-ranking officers. There were even three analysts. Bartley, Branson and Blair whom Anne and the Plantars were acquainted with when they first arrived in Newtopia.

"Sup Kerry, General Yunnan." Marcy greeted, walking up to the oval table.

"Good afternoon, Master Marcy and... friends. I don't believe we've been acquainted." Marshal Kerry replied.

"This is my friend Anne." Marcy gestured towards Anne. "And they are the Plantars."

"Call me Hop Pop."

"I'm Sprig."

"I'm Polly and he's Frobo!" Polly gestured towards the giant robot Plantar in the back of the group.

"Now that we're all here. We should get started." Mora said.

"What is the situation?" Marshal Kerry asked.

"The scouts have returned, and our current situation is horrible." Branson said.

"The toads have us heavily outnumbered. They may even attempt to take Newtopia by force." Bartley explained.

"That is why we should surrender immediately to preserve the lives of those that would be lost in a prolonged conflict." Blair suggested.

"Ridiculous! We can't just surrender!" Bartley yelled.

"Shut up Blair." Branson agreed.

"You shut up!" Blair yelled angrily.

The three started fighting. Which Mora had to come over and break it up.

Marshal Kerry pointed towards the pieces representing the toad position. "I've been sending raiding parties to disrupt the enemy while they make camp. This has definitely bought us a few days to shore up our defenses."

"As for Drake's whereabouts. He has covered his tracks well and there are still no leads." General Yunnan explained.

"I still can't believe Drake would side with Sasha. How could he?" Anne complained.

"I don't know. But he must have a reason." Hop Pop said.

Marcy meanwhile, stared at the board, trying to find a way out of this predicament they're in. "Mhmm... mhmm... definitely a bad situation. If we can't find Drake, he's probably inactive at the moment. We may just have to wait until he makes a move. Until then our biggest threat is the toad army camped outside the walls." Marcy explained.

A guard suddenly barged into the room. "Sir, we've found Drake. He's at the docks."

"We'll take care of this Mar-mar." Anne stood up and sprinted out the door with the Plantars following. However, Anne was running so fast, the Plantars began to fall behind. She wasn't going to wait for them to catch up though. She needed to know why Drake stole the music box and she wasn't going to wait another second to find out why.

The group ran through the city, stopping at the docks where the guards were frantically searching. Anne noticed a familiar axolotl nearby standing behind a cart.

"Gertie!" Anne called out.

"Anne!" the axolotl recognized her.

"Did you see another human around here?" Anne asked.

"I think so but what's going on? The blue cloaks are all over the place!" Gertie looked a little panic stricken.

"Blue cloaks?" Anne was confused.

"The city guards." Gertie corrected herself.

"Oh right. Well I'm helping them look for someone and apparently he was here." Anne answered.

"Goodness me, is this man dangerous?" Gertie asked.

"He's a friend. Or maybe former friend. I don't know right now. I need to talk to him." Anne said.

"The guards say they want him dead or alive, but it looks to me like they prefer dead." Gertie told her.

Anne was surprised. "What do you mean?"

"He tried to buy some gnatchos from me. A couple of blue cloaks ambushed the guy with weapons drawn. They didn't even look like they wanted to arrest him. He managed to get away though. I've never seen anyone move so fast before. He just vanished into the shadows." Gertie explained.

"Do you know which way he went?" Anne asked.

Gertie pointed at a nearby alleyway. "He ran through there. I doubt you'd find him though; it leads to a dead end and the guards already searched that alleyway and found nothing."

"So I guess the trail has gone cold." Anne looked defeated.

"Hey, I'm sure you'll find him eventually. In the meantime, why don't you try my new gnatchos. You'll feel a lot better." Gertie said, trying to cheer her up.

Anne smiled. "Sure."

Gertie poured some gnatchos onto a paper tray and handed it to Anne. "This batch is free of charge."

"Thanks Gertie." Anne sat down on a nearby bench and started eating while waiting for the Plantars to catch up.

Inside the dungeons of Newtopia, Sasha sat inside a lone cell. She could hear the toads conversing among each other, but she didn't pay them any mind. Her mind was focused on Anne. How did things get so horrible between them? She kept thinking back on everything that happened in her life, trying to understand where she went wrong with their relationship.

The sound of armored footsteps echoed throughout the dungeon as a group of newt royal guards stopped in front of Sasha's cell. One of them unlocked the door to her cell. "Sasha Waybright. By order of Marshal Kerry. You are to be executed immediately."

Two of the guards grabbed Sasha by the arms and dragged her out of the cell.

Author's Note

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Well this was a short chapter, but I needed to clearly establish the situation the characters currently find themselves in. Luckily, things are starting to kick off. I was hoping to have the pace go a little slower but as I wrote this chapter, I realized it was moving too slowly.

At first, I was going to heavily focus on Drake for these earlier chapters. However, I realized rather quickly, focusing on him could cause more problems than it would solve. Especially since I kind of want to portray him as this unseen shadow that's running around in Newtopia.

I'm still planning this arc as I write it. Adding new scenes and making changes to already established plans.

I need to confess something. As of writing this chapter. I haven't actually watched Season 3 of Amphibia yet. I know about key moments and certain plot points, but I would be lying if I said I had seen it. Properly watching Season 3 is on the to do list.

I thought about the kind of tone and level of violence I would go for in this arc. I had a lot of options ahead of me, but I didn't want it to be too different from what we've seen in earlier chapters. After thinking about it for a while, I decided to go for Star Wars the Clone Wars levels of violence.