In Andrias' floating castle, Darcy had just finished disassembling Marcy's phone to understand Earth's technology.

"As we thought, this technology is pathetic!" Darcy laughed while Andrias walked in with a tray in his hand. "I wonder if the Boiling Isles has pathetic tech?"

"Greetings Darcy." Andrias said. "Yohan has gone to the Demon Realm to understand its world and analyse its life."

"Oh great." Darcy laughed. "Once he's done, we'll prepare for the attack."

"Sounds like a plan." Andrias sadly remarked as he stared at the body his master was inhabiting. He had been very regretful about what happened to Marcy. He cared for her, but he also had a mission to complete. "So, is Marcy in there? Or….."

"No, no, no. This is her body, but we got her locked in a little room…" They pointed to their head. "…up here. We're the ones in control, although we've inherited some of her quirks." They suddenly tripped before getting back up. "How did this girl survive?"

"Speaking of which…." He lifts the tray. "….here are more of those cupcakes you asked for."

Darcy giggled with glee. "Red velvet with ube frosting! Marcy's fave!" They begin eating the cupcakes at once. "We can't tell you how delighted we are to finally have a body. Now then, follow us. We have a very important mission for you!" They trip on their face before pulling themselves back up. "This thing needs some calibration."

Andrias began following his master, whom was humming a theme song to a show about frogs that Marcy liked. But it wasn't just Marcy on his mind, there was another innocent person trapped inside his palace. "So, what are we gonna do about the Titan? Are we just going to leave him out and let him be drained of his blood?"

"Oh, we need him alive." Darcy explained. "We haven't figured out how to make the Titan blood supply unlimited. But then again, we do need him alive and from what I've studied, Titans can regrow blood cells at rapid rates. So, we need him alive but we can't keep him tied to a torture chamber."

"So….."

"I'll get back to that." Darcy said. "So we need to purge our system of some excess data, redundant memories, that sort of thing. This requires a full system reboot, and you're the only one we trust you…" Dadcy then heard that Andrias wasn't walking anymore. They turned to see Andrias looking at a picture of him in his younger days with a dark green toad with a warhammer and a reddish pink frog with blond hair. They smiled sinisterly. "Hmm. Maybe we're not the only ones who need to let go of old memories."

Andrias narrowed at his master. "Nonsense. The past means nothing to me." He said before continuing to follow his master.

Later, Andrias was in his study, after plugging Darcy so they can deal with whatever remains of Marcy. He looked at the old picture of his friends that he attempted to throw into the fireplace. But unfortunately, he couldn't pull himself to do it. He sighed before placing the picture down next to the fireplace.

The newt king looked to the body of Marcy, that his master currently had in their possession. It was at this moment, Andrias knew he lost another friend he could never get back. It also made him realise that this wasn't the only child he was letting get tortured by his master. He knew Marcy would never forgive him for this and so, he decided he'd go and try and gain forgiveness from someone else.

He walked out of his study and straight into the torture chamber which was being guarded by two robots. "Leave me." Andrias commanded. "I wish to talk to the animal by myself." The robots moved aside and Andrias walked in with a tray in his hand.

He stopped as he came face-to-face with the prisoner. King being held by his limbs by four tentacles while a bunch of tubes were stuck in his back since this was where his blood was being extracted from. The baby Titan looked like he was sleeping, exhausted from a lot of his blood being drained from his body.

Andrias didn't know how to start a conversation with someone he captured so he did the first thing that came to mind. "Uh….hey."

The booming voice of Andrias made King wake up, slowly since his eyes felt very heavy from all the torture he was getting. "W…what?"

Andrias lifted a tray. "I hope you like cupcakes. I thought I'd give you something."

"Are you going to throw them down to mock my already prominent pain?" King asked.

"No, no." Andrias shook his head as he grabbed a cupcake. "Here you go." He offered King a cupcake, who ate it as fast as he could.

King licked the filling off of his lips and smiled. "Wow, these cupcakes are delicious." It was then, he began to stare at Andrias with confusion. "Why are you giving me these?"

Andrias sighed with regret. "I felt you needed something to eat."

"Well, you got that right." King said before Andrias fed him another cupcake. "Why are doing this?"

"I did say you needed something to eat."

"No, the invasion of worlds. Why?" King asked. "Like, you seem like the kind of person that doesn't wish to do it."

"You don't think I'm evil?" Andrias asked.

"Oh no, you're a total scumbag." King replied.

"I know." Andrias said with sadness as he sat down on a chair. "The reason why I'm doing this is too complicated."

"It seems simple judging by your reaction." King said. "You don't want to do it, but you feel you have to do it. What for?"

Andrias stared at King with a sad expression. "Have you ever tried so hard to impress your family?"

"Well, my family loves me." King said. "Eda, my adopted mother who accidentally kidnapped me; And my surrogate sister, Luz; And my…I honestly have no idea what Hooty is."

"My dad, King Aldrich, was the only one who raised me. My mother died giving birth to me. Even when he talked about her passing, he never cried. Not once." Andrias said. "He raised me. He made me see that our destiny is conquest and ruling the multiverse. Honestly when I was young, I didn't believe all that important stuff because I had the bestest friends a newt prince could ever ask for. Barrel, a toad who eventually became a Newtopian guard. He always defeated me in a fight due to my lack of combat skills. Well, toad combat. And then, there was Lief. She was, a farmer, a gardener and always had a fascination with whatever fauna she could find and even developed a little dance to summon Amphibia's vast wildlife." King was listening to Andrias, interested with the story. "My old man disapproved of our friendship since he thought of it as a distraction."

"Did you get into all sorts of shenanigans?" King asked.

Andrias smiled. "Oh, a ton. I remember one time, Barrel stole a grubhog on Grubhog day and replaced it with a well made puppet." He laughed. "I remember how confused everyone was when there was no blood coming out of it."

King chuckled. "I have no idea what that is, but it sounds funny."

"Oh, when you get the full context, it is funnier." Andrias assured him.

"Your friends sound fun." King remarked. "What happened to them?"

"One thousand years have passed." Andrias replied. "They obviously passed on."

"No, I meant your…" King then shook his head as he realised what Andrias said. "A thousand years?! How the heck are you still alive?" King asked.

"I'm not like most newts." Andrias replied.

"Oookay, but back to the question at hand." King said. "What happened between you and your friends?"

Andrias sighed. "It began when my father told me my time as king was about to begin. He told me that I had to give up my friends because they'd use me and ask for too many favours."

"That's ridiculous." King argued. "They're your friends. They wouldn't use you."

"That's what I said." Andrias said. "Dad said that friendships don't last."

"He's wrong. While some friendships don't last long, but new ones eventually blossom." King said. "You just need to let the right ones in."

Andrias chuckled. "Wise words, but that never works out. My father showed me, The Core. A being made of the greatest minds in all of Amphibia, including my ancestors. My father was about to join them so that's why he wished for me to take over."

"So, your dad is inside Marcy?" King asked.

Andrias didn't like to think his father completely taking over his friend's body, but he knew the harsh reality. "Yeah. I guess he is. He said that The Core would be my only friend and commanded that I'd invade a medieval world called Earth. That I must exterminate the savages so that we could mine their planet for its resources."

"Wiping out the human race?" King reacted. "That sounds extreme."

"It is, I know." Andrias said. "But this is how we need to survive."

"I think there are better ways." King said. "Have you tried, renewable energy?"

Andrias leered at King. "We have plenty of renewable energy here. We just need the resources of other worlds to conquer them! I mean, it's expensive."

"You have to pay to conquer worlds?" King asked.

"My father's words, not mine."

"Oh."

"Anyway, my father gave me the key to the music box and I began to show Barrel and Lief the box." Andrias explained. "They began to goof around with it until suddenly, Lief saw something that forever changed her. She told me of a planet crashing down on a planet. I don't know if it was Earth or Amphibia, but it does sound bad."

King was intrigued. "Why would the moon crash?" King asked. "Does messing with the fabric of the multiverse really cause moons to crash?"

"Honestly, our top scientists have never said, neither has the creator of the music box." Andrias explained. "She eventually told the council about this. She said she knew the dangers of messing with a fragile ecosystem. And she believed by interfering with other dimensions, we have upset the ecosystem of the multiverse and pleaded us to stop using the box."

"Clearly you didn't listen." King remarked.

Andrias sighed. "Father didn't care, he only cared about our birthright which are the gems."

"Did you even find the gems?" King asked.

"No, my ancestors found the music box and took it."

"Jerks."

"Hey, I'm not them so don't judge me!" Andrias retorted. "I don't need to apologise to what they did."

"I know, but in a way, you're still a jerk." King argued.

Andrias had a face of regret. "I know. My father listened to Lief and then, he told me that Lief was a traitor, saying that she was dictating my life."

"She sounds concerned." King remarked.

"Yeah, she did." Andrias said. "My father was about to join The Core and Lief thought that I could stop this since I'd be the heir, but I couldn't. I shut her down to preserve my ancestor's birthright. While I wasn't looking, she took the key from me and even took the box. I chased after her and even Barrel joined me on the chase. We tried to stop her, but she escaped on a stolen Mossman, destroying my family's legacy in the process. My father was not pleased and demanded that I'd redeem myself by the time the box returns to us. He knew it because of a prophecy which involved three people that would stop our way of life. Their powers, gifted to them by the powers of the gemstones."

King froze and started to feel worried. "Luz. She has those powers."

"I know." Andrias said. "She could ruin my birthright."

"I hope she does." King said.

"I hope not." Andrias said. "After that, I exiled Barrel to the outskirts of a village for his failure to capture Lief. And you're gonna say that was stupid of me, aren't you?"

"You read my mind." King replied.

"And so, for a thousand years I waited patiently for the box to return." Andrias said. "Not only did Marcy bring me the box but also, a body for the Core. Though, I never wanted Marcy to be a body for the Core. She was a sweet girl. Smart, energetic and very likeable. I even offered myself to be a host, but the Core argued that I was dumb and I regrettably gave her up to the Core after I almost killed her." Andrias now had tears falling from his eyes and King looked on with a depressed look.

"You regret your actions don't you?" King asked.

"I do, yes." Andrias replied. "But, it's a necessary evil. To help usher my family's legacy."

"You don't need to do it." King said.

"I do."

"No, you have a choice Andrias." King said. "I mean, you're over 1000 thousand years old, you're very old enough to make the decisions in your life. You don't need to be your father, you can be whatever you want. It's like my sister's girlfriend, Amity." He froze. "Do me a solid and pretend I didn't tell you Luz has a girlfriend."

"Okay. Though I might indiscriminately kill her, but okay." Andrias said.

"You see Amity thought that she had to be on top of things and discard everyone that is below her standards." King explained. "But then, the right people came along and helped her see the error of her ways. Now, she's stood up to her mother and is her own person."

Andrias thought about the tale. He thought the tale of Amity could probably motivate him to stand up to his own father and be his own person. "So, you're saying that if Amity could do it, I can?"

"Yes."

Andrias knew he couldn't do it, but he didn't want to break King's heart so he sighed. "I'll…Think about it."

"Great." King said. "So, what was Marcy like?"

Andrias chuckled. "When she first arrived to Newtopia, she was lost and confused. She even fell down a flight of stairs and broke her leg."

King laughed. "Does she fall a lot?"

"A ton." Andrias said. "Would you believe me if I said I made her a ranger?"

King was shocked. "You made her a ranger?!" He laughed.

And for a while, Andrias and King just talked about their respective humans while sharing cupcakes and herbal tea with each other. King talked to Andrias about Luz's escapades in the Boiling Isles. Such as almost being killed by a scam, swapping bodies, that time they were shrunk and how Luz and Amity got together which Andrias was more invested in than anything else.

While Andrias told how Marcy helped improve Newtopia's city structure, beaten him at Flipwart and how he became a fan of Cynthia Coven.

Then, they were playing Flipwart together. Though, King was tied up so Andrias helped him move a few pieces.

After a while, Andrias and King were laughing. "I have to tell you King, you are the most fun prisoner I've ever had."

"Yeah. Who knew my captor would be so likeable?" King remarked.

"Well, Marcy says I make a good impression." He said.

"You know Andrias, I kind of see us becoming friends if I ever get out and your master stops using my blood as a weapon." King said.

"You do?"

"I mean, look at how we're interacting." He remarked.

Andrias was stunned by what King said. "You consider us friends?"

"Well, even though we have our disagreements, I guess we do."

It was at this moment that Andrias' stunned smile vanished as he looked towards the door in sadness. "Friends? Huh? Friends." While he was happy that he found another friend, he knew in some way, he'd lose him. Another friend gone because of him.

Then, the door burst open to reveal Darcy looking passive aggressively annoyed. "Andrias!"

"Darcy!" Andrias instantly stood up to attention. "You're done?"

"Y-y-yeah." Darcy chuckled. "I was in there for a while. Good thing Olivia was there." The mind controlled Olivia followed the Core with a collar in her hand.

"What are you doing with that collar?" Andrias asked.

"Well…" Darcy snapped their fingers as the tubes were released from King and the tentacles lowered him to be at an eye view with the possessed teen. "….I just thought of a great idea to do with this little specimen."

Andrias stood up. "Father, I don't know what you're doing, but I forbid it!"

It was at this moment, Darcy began to leer at Andrias. "You what?!" Darcy's voice suddenly turned all old and gravelly. "Son, why not?"

"It's just unnecessary." Andrias said. "When Yohan returns, have him open a portal to send him back. We have enough blood."

"What if we run out?" Aldrich asked. "Cause remember, a Titan's blood cell can regenerate at a faster rate than any other creature."

"We are not keeping him!" Andrias demanded.

"Son, are you disobeying me?" Aldrich asked as he leered at his son.

"No, I'm…"

"Being a friend." They leered at King and grinned. "Don't worry son, you'll have your friend." They took the collar from Olivia.

"What are you doing?" King asked in fear. It was at this moment, King finally put the pieces together once he saw that the collar looked similar to the one Olivia was wearing. "No! No! I will not be your servant! I will not be your servant!"

"Don't worry, you'll be fine." Darcy assured him. "I just need more people for my army." They took off King's collar and tossed it aside.

"No! You will not turn me into…." Before King could finish, Darcy attached the collar to King's neck. The baby Titan struggled as he tried to keep control of himself. He tried to take it off, but couldn't since the tentacles that bind him were keeping him from doing so.

Andrias watched on, hoping that the baby Titan somehow breaks free from his control. But then, his eyes turned bright purple.

Darcy grinned before clicking their fingers and freeing King from the tentacles. "King, can you hear me?"

"Yes, my master." Said the brainwashed King.

"Now, why don't you do me a favour and go with Olivia to prepare my cape." Darcy commanded. "It really suits me."

"Yes, my master." Said the brainwashed Titan before following Olivia to deal with the cape.

Andrias looked down at the collar that Darcy tossed aside and picked it up. He stared at it with guilt that tears began to form. Darcy noticed this and narrowed their eyes at him.

"This is why you should never get attached, they damper the mission." Darcy said. "So, are we ready to invade The Boiling Isles?"

"After a thousand years of waiting, why wouldn't I be?" Andrias responded.

Darcy grinned as Aldrich's voice took over. "Why son, I think I'm almost proud of you."

Before Andrias could respond, Yohan burst the door down. He was covered in Abomination goop, dirt, had a dent in his armour, scratches, his cape damaged and his visor cracked. "The Boiling Isles, are off limits!" Yohan collapsed on his face while Andrias and Darcy stared at the sight with shock and confusion.

Thinking back to what Yohan said, Darcy did a nervous chuckle. "Andrias, he didn't say that The Boiling Isles are off limits, right?!"

"Uh…."

Darcy took a deep breath and walked towards Yohan. They lifted their head to their face, their teeth gritted as they gripped their armour. "Explain!"