Another Friend in Amphibia

Chapter 79: The Battle of Newtopia

Anne prepared herself with her sword by her side. She thought it would be exciting to finally take the fight to the toads, but the waiting and anticipation was eating at her. She had been placed in the militia; a group made up of volunteer fighters who didn't have time for training but were eager to fight anyway. They would bolster the main attack.

The Great Gates of Newtopia swung open and the troops began to deploy outside the Great Walls of Newtopia. This was it, time to take down Sasha.

The horns sounded and everyone began marching toward the wall that surrounded the toad siege camp. Anne looked to her left, then to her right. She saw Marcy and the Plantars marching along with the rest of the army. Frobo prepared a set of missiles to fire once they reached the wall.

Then, he fired. The missiles collided with the wall, creating a hole and collapsing that section. The militia charged forward, swarming the area like ants. Anne drew her sword and charged alongside them. They kept running until the people in front stopped. That didn't deter them, those in back began pushing each other in an attempt to get into the action.

Marcy and Anne pulled back from the group. Marcy had to yell to be heard. "Anne, this chokepoint is too narrow! We need to breach another section of the wall!"

Anne looked around and noticed the soldiers beginning to spread out. They were planning to attack the entire inner length of the wall at once. "I understand. Frobo! Come with me!"

The entire team ran in another direction. The Newtopian soldiers were all over the place, trying to defend themselves from the rebel's arrows. They found another section of the wall that looked to be lightly defended. Frobo launched another set of missiles at the walls, destroying it with a single barrage. As the wooden wall exploded, it left behind large splinters which would be hazardous to traverse. On the other side Anne saw one person she recognized.

Drake was standing by the shore looking out at sea. Next to him was a large reptilian creature. The two individuals turned around and looked directly at Anne.

"That's Drake!" Anne suddenly called out. She ran to meet him, but a group of toads blocked the path. She prepared to fight when suddenly a massive rock landed on the toads.

Anne looked up and saw vultures carrying rocks. They flew around the battlefield and were fighting the toads. Drake was also looking up at the vultures as they attacked. He narrowly avoided a rock that tried to crush him.

Drake was close enough for Anne to hear him. "I don't believe it... the grubhog lord has betrayed us..." He then looked down at the lizard creature. "Let's get out of here."

"Hey wait! Drake!" Anne called out, trying to get his attention.

Drake ignored her and started walking into the ocean. He then grabbed onto the lizard as they swam far away from the shore. Then they submerged.

The toads around her were in full retreat, scrambling over the blood and corpses all over the battlefield. The cheering of the loyalist army could be heard in the background.

Anne wasn't in the mood to celebrate. Her mind was still focused on Drake. She couldn't believe he had decided to side with Sasha, but the evidence was irrefutable. She stood there for what felt like hours, watching the spot he disappeared from when he and that creature submerged.

A hand was placed on her shoulder. "Anne! We did it! Sasha has been defeated!" Sprig cheered, holding her shoulder while jumping up and down. He then stopped when Anne didn't respond. "Anne?"

"Drake... he really is working with Sasha..." Anne uttered.

Sprig stopped his celebration and tried to comfort her.

Meanwhile, King Andrias was standing in his room staring out the window at the battle taking place far away. He heard the door open but did not turn to see who it was. Only one person was allowed in his bedroom at this time. "How was the battle, Marcy?"

"We managed to defeat the rebels. Newtopia is back under our control!" Marcy said enthusiastically.

"What about the box?" King Andrias asked.

"Sasha didn't have it," Marcy said.

There was a pause. Then he spoke once again. "Very well... you said Drake had a secret base out in the ocean? That's the next place we should look."

"Right!" Marcy was about to leave but stopped. "What about Sasha? Is she going to be okay? Drake said the soldiers tried to execute her."

"They did? I need to have a talk with the marshal about this," King Andrias said.

Marcy wasn't satisfied with the answer. "But what about Sasha? I know she tried to take over the kingdom but... would she..."

King Andrias turned around to face her. "Don't worry Marcy. I will make sure she is treated with the utmost respect. Now run along, you have a mission to prepare for."

Marcy left the room and closed the door behind her. King Andrias' expression immediately changed once he was sure he was alone. "This is quite the setback."

King Andrias could hear thousands of voices speaking to him at once in reply.

"Don't worry, I've spent a thousand years preparing for this day. I can bide my time a little longer," King Andrias reassured the voices.

The voices spoke again.

"I agree. Sasha's stunt was quite the surprise. She had proven herself to be quite the threat to our plans, but not after today," King Andrias said.

All the voices went silent except for one. King Andrias knew immediately it was his father. King Aldrich, the previous ruler of Amphibia placed a hand on his son's shoulder. "After today, the only real threat to us would be Drake. And I doubt that he would be a threat for much longer."

Long claws approached from the darkness and wrapped around King Aldrich. They pulled him backwards into a group of orange eyes.

Author's Note

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This was a very difficult chapter to write. Battles are always difficult, and Anne really didn't get that general role. Showing off the tactics didn't really work out the way I had hoped. I did consider writing from Sasha's perspective but that felt like it would have been rather uneventful.

Luckily for me, there aren't any major battles planned for a while. I'm curious what you all thought of how I handled this battle. There was a lot of buildup leading up to this battle, hopefully it was worth the wait.

Anyway, next chapter is going to be a lot calmer in comparison to this chapter. I gotta give everyone a chance to take a break before the next big action sequence.

Also, the grubhog and the vultures did end up becoming extremely relevant to this story. They betrayed the rebellion and caused the loyalists to win. What did you all think of this twist?