Hey, everybody. HiddenKurogawa here with a rare announcement at the beginning.

I'm happy to announce that this story now has a cover art. I've reached out to an artist and he's willing to make some art for the story. For now, it's just the cover art, but we'll see if we can add more art. Just don't bet on it too much. I would love to have you guys follow him, but he doesn't have an account to post his artworks as of yet. I'll keep you updated once that is settled.

That's all what I want to say. Enjoy reading the latest chapter of the story.

Update 01/27/2024: The artist behind the cover art just made an account to post his artworks. I appreciate if you could follow him on Twitter under the name BassOnStrike. The guy's talented, if you ask me.

Disclaimer: Amphibia is owned by Matt Brady and Disney. This is a fan-based story purely for fun.

Chapter 22:

The Lost Third Girl

"… Anne?"

The Thai-American girl gasped when she heard a very familiar voice. Turning herself towards the direction of the voice, a shadowy silhouette was found within the thick fog that she somehow found herself in.

Then, the fog started to clear and she was met with the sight of a young girl with short, black hair adorned with a green hair clip, wearing a school uniform that consisted of a grey hoodie and a green skirt.

"Marcy!" Anne exclaimed, smiling out of relief from seeing one of her best friends again after so long. "Oh thank goodness! I was looking all over for you!"

She was about to run up to her with the intent of pulling her into a big hug, even taking a few steps forward to start. However, she stopped when she caught a glimpse at her friend's face.

Marcy was staring at her with eyes filled with shock, fear and sadness. Looking like she was betrayed or something of the like.

"Marcy? What's wrong?" Anne asked as she dropped her smile, feeling concerned for the Taiwanese girl.

"Anne… What have you done?" Marcy asked as she slowly backed away. "What have you done to Sasha?"

"Huh?" Anne was left confused by her question. "Marcy, what're you…"

She trailed off as soon as she looked down at herself and was surprised by what she was wearing.

A chest armour and a left shoulder pad were somehow placed over her usual school uniform. She did not recall ever wearing them before her meeting with Marcy, or even at all. And not only that, she was also wielding a sword in hand.

And the tip of the sword was dripping red.

Anne suddenly felt her head aching, as she groaned and clutched her head. Vague memories started to manifest in her mind. She remembered trying to escape a tower that was occupied by a group of terrible soldiers led by a fearsome-looking captain. She went as far as the rooftop until she was caught by the army.

And then Sasha appeared before her…

Anne was suddenly filled with dread. Looking around, after noticing that the fog had completely disappear, she realized that she and Marcy were standing on top of a tall, stone tower with large horns located on both sides and a tall pole with a raised, red flag with a symbol of a toad's face on it.

Anne herself was standing near the edge of the tower. As she remembered more and more of what led her there, she slowly turned herself around and leaned her head over the wall, a mixture of dread and morbid curiosity influencing her actions.

Besides the fact that the tower was incredibly tall to the point that she could barely see the ground, there was something near the base of the tower that she could not help but notice. It looked like a blot of a dark, reddish colour.

And laying in the middle of the blot was a body shaped like a human, with distinctive blond hair…

Anne gasped in horror, backing away from the edge as she dropped her sword and covered her mouth with her hands.

It was at that point that memories from moments past surged through her head. She remembered how she and the townsfolk of Wartwood were invited to Toad Tower under false pretence, how she discovered that it was a ploy to execute Hop Pop, how they were trying to escape until the Toad Army got them pinned down, and how she was forced to duel against Sasha…

Once she remembered everything leading up to the present, she turned herself back towards the frightened-looking Marcy, now realizing why she was acting strange.

"Marcy, wait! I-I can explain!"

"Sasha was our friend…" Marcy spoke, as she continued to back away slowly from the Thai-American girl. "She was always here for us… Always taking care of us… How could you have hurt her, Anne? Why didn't you save her?"

"Marcy, please! Listen to me!" Anne pleaded as she took a few steps forward. "I didn't want to fight her! I didn't even want to hurt her at all! But Sasha, she… She just…!"

She stumbled on her words, as even she could not understand how everything went wrong. She had no intention of ever fighting her friend, but Sasha forced her to take up arms to defend herself. When Anne came out victorious and Sasha was about to fall off the tower, she tried her darnedest to save her.

And yet, Sasha chose to…

BOOM!

The tower suddenly shook violently, as if a bomb had exploded from within. The structure started to crumble around her as a result.

Anne tried to keep a steady footing even as the floor shook beneath her. However, she noticed that Marcy had continued to back away regardless of what was happening around her.

Seemingly unaware that part of the floor behind her had fallen off. And she was one step away from dropping to her doom.

"Marcy, watch out!" Anne yelled as she ran as fast as she can towards her, even leaping forward with her arm out in an attempt to close the gap between them quickly.

Despite her best efforts, Marcy had already stepped into the void, as she began to fall, still looking at her friend with a betrayed, tearful expression on her face.

"You've changed, Anne… You couldn't save Sasha… And you can't save me…"

Anne let out a frightened gasp as she opened her eyes, her arm raised in an attempt to catch her fallen friend.

However, the only thing that she was reaching out to was the ceiling. After scanning the environment around her, she found herself back inside of the fwagon where she and the rest of the Plantar family were sleeping soundly at their own respective spot.

She was occupying the top bed while Sprig had the bottom bed underneath her. Polly was resting inside one of the shelves of the bottom bed, while Hop Pop had taken the sofa this time around, still looking creepy snoring with his eyes opened.

She sighed as she moved an arm over her eyes. She had just awakened from yet another nightmare in a cold sweat. The same one that she had experienced a few times already since the Toad Tower incident. She could never get over it no matter how many times she dreamt it.

Especially since she had to experience Sasha's demise each time and witness Marcy's horrified reaction to Anne failing to save her.

"Marcy…"

It had been a long time since they had left the valley and travelled through the land of Amphibia to go to Newtopia. She had hoped that they could encounter the Taiwanese girl along the way. But so far, there was still no sign of her anywhere. Truth be told, Anne was getting anxious over her friend's safety.

She pulled out the group picture of her, Sasha and Marcy from the pocket of her skirt and took a long look at it, specifically at Marcy. She looked relaxed and content in that picture, looking at her friends on her right like every day is going to be a good time when she's with them.

Now, Marcy is all alone somewhere in Amphibia, surrounded by the strange and the unknown. If Anne's first few days in Amphibia were harsh enough, then what would they be like for someone like Marcy? She might not have the fortune of being teleported near a place with even a bit of civilization. Perhaps she was stranded in a middle of nowhere with scarce amount of resources within reach. Or maybe she was on the run from the people of Amphibia for being an alien creature even now.

Or she might even be…

Anne shut her eyes tightly and shook her head to get rid of the last thought that came into mind.

Marcy is still alive somewhere. She has to be. Out of the three of them, she was the intelligent person of the group. So it would be a cinch for her to use her smarts for survival. If Anne and Sasha managed to get through these tough few months, then Marcy should not have any problem with it either.

But that was just speculation. She was merely hoping that Marcy was doing alright on her own. And that was all she could do for the time being: hope for her dearest friend's safety.

"Oh Marcy…" she whispered as she turned towards the wall next to her, clutching the picture firmly on her chest. "I'll find you. I promise. Just… Please be okay…"

She continuously wished from the bottom of her heart that she could reunite with Marcy sometime soon, keeping her in her thoughts until she had fallen back to sleep.

She was unaware that the person resting underneath her was also awake around the same time as her, listening in on her as he grew concerned over her having yet another nightmare.

Once again, he was filled with the desire to help his best friend in her time of need. But he wondered if she would even let him still.

BANG!

A hook attached with a rope was shot across the air, flying towards one of the higher branches of a tree until it latched onto it.

The green-clad boy standing a distance away from the tree and who shot his grappling hook in the first place pulled on the rope a few times to see if the hook was firmly secured onto the branch. Once he made sure of it, he set his sights on the rope trail leading up to the branch, holding the device firmly in both hands and taking a few deep breaths.

"Okay, Sprig… You can do this." he whispered to himself in an attempt to psych himself up. "You might be a human now, but you're still a frog at heart. Zipping up there should be a snap. This time, it's gonna work…"

All he needed to do was to get himself up the tree using the grappling hook. If he manages to reach the high point without fail, then he would consider his self-imposed training completed.

He took a moment to mentally prepare himself, and once he felt that he was ready, he pulled the trigger.

He immediately zipped through the air, being pulled by the device as it followed the rope trail at relatively high speed. Quickly closing in on the branch, he extended an arm out to try and grab onto it himself.

The moment that he did grab onto the branch, his body swung forward like a pendulum, until his hand slipped off unexpectedly, causing him to be launched off the tree.

The boy screamed as he was falling down until he crashed into the nearby bushes. He groaned in pain as he rubbed his sore behind, the bushes doing little to cushion his fall.

He stood up from the ground and made his way back to his original spot, intent on making another attempt at getting himself up the tree.

"Oooh! Not even close!" spoke the purple tadpole who had been watching him from the sidelines since the beginning. "That's attempt number 13, and so far, that tall tree is kicking your butt the whole time, Sprig."

"Come on, Polly! You don't have to keep score, you know." Sprig said to his little sister, scratching the back of his head.

"Well, what else am I going to do while Hop Pop's gone taking a dump?" Polly asked while shrugging. "Besides, watching you trying to get up there over and over is pretty funny, if a bit sad."

Sprig frowned at Polly's perception on how his training went so far. The purple tadpole felt offended by his reaction.

"Oh come on, Sprig! Are you really gonna be upset at me for thinking how funny and sad you look after 13 failed tries? You're the one who decided to keep that mini hook cannon around and insisted on doing stuff like this, you know!"

"Okay… Good point." Sprig sighed, as he saw some sense on what she said.

"Look, you wanna feel like a frog again, and no one's got a problem with that. But you should probably give that kind of stunt a rest before you end up breaking a limb or two. I don't wanna be the youngest sibling in history to have to take care of their handicapped big brother."

"I know you're right, Polly. But still…"

Sprig lifted the grappling hook up to his face, looking determined.

"It's just that this is the first time since I've been turned into a human that I ever felt that familiar rush. Call me crazy, but I wanna keep going with this until I get it right, even if I get battered and bruised at the end of it."

He turned his head towards his little sister.

"You understand, right? It's like if you suddenly lost your legs one day and every day afterwards sucks, but then you found something that makes you feel like you have legs again and you're trying to get that normal feeling back no matter what it takes."

"You know I can't relate to that, since I never had legs in the first place." Polly replied in a deadpanned tone, pointing out that she is still a tadpole.

"Well, then how about this? You want me to take a break from it, but it's hard for me to stop even for a second. It's like when you had your first bite of candy for the day and you can't stop eating more of it because you can't get enough of how sweet it is."

"That's kinda a stretch, but yeah, that, I can relate." Polly admitted. "Well, I tried to be the reasonable one of the both of us, but if you're gonna keep putting yourself through this kind of torture, then be my guest. Don't blame me if you screw up big time eventually."

"I appreciate it, Polly." Sprig said as he aimed his grappling hook once more at the tree. "Alright… Let's do this one more time."

Once he steadied his aim, he had his finger on the trigger and began to pull it. In the process of doing so…

"OKAY, KIDS! TIME TO GET A MOVE ON!"

Sprig yelped and nearly jumped when Hop Pop suddenly popped out from behind him and shouted in his ears for no apparent reason, causing him to deviate his aim very slightly before he fired his grappling hook.

As a result, the hook was flying not towards the high branch, but the trunk of the tree instead, where it proceeded to bounce off before heading towards another tree, then it ricocheted off towards yet another tree.

The process repeated over and over to the point that the Plantars had a difficult time trying to keep their gaze at the hook, until it bounced off and was heading their way.

They quickly ducked out of the way, with the hook flying right above their heads, narrowly missing them. The hook kept going forward until it bounced off the ground, right at the feet of a giant beetle.

The beetle became frightened and dashed away from the spot, leaving the rest area and going into the wilds.

Not long after, a frog came out of the outdoor restroom just as he finished buckling up his pants, when he took a look around the area and was rendered confused.

"Lydia? Where are you, girl?" he asked, searching for his trusty companion. He eventually spotted a beetle going off into the distance, far away from where he was, leading to him panicking and running after the fleeting insect. "Lydia?! Come back! Don't leave me like my whole family!"

The Plantars watched as the poor frog tried to catch up to his fleeing ride without knowing that they were responsible for such a predicament.

"Uhh… Whoops?" Sprig sheepishly said.

"Not what I was expecting. Still, what did I tell you, big brother?" Polly stated.

"Well, if you kids are done fiddling around with that darn thing, it's time that we continue our journey onward." Hop Pop said as he made his way towards the fwagon, choosing to ignore the mess that occurred a second ago. "Let's go, everyone!"

After Sprig reeled the hook and rope back into the device, the two siblings followed their grandfather back to the fwagon. Once the entire family were back inside, with Hop Pop at the reins, they proceeded to leave the rest area and resumed their path towards Newtopia.

Inside of the fwagon, Polly hopped towards the map that was pinned on a wall, which showed the geographical picture of the central area of the land, with a path going from their hometown to Newtopia. After looking at the placement of the wooden cutout of a drawn Hop Pop climbing on a bubble with an arrow pointing down and the word 'Us' written on it, she gasped in realization.

"Hey, look at this!" Polly said as she turned towards the boy while pointing at the cutout's position. "According to this, that was our last rest stop before going straight to Newtopia! We're almost there!"

"Really?" Sprig asked as he looked at the map himself, wanting to confirm for himself if what his little sister said was true. "Oh wow! I didn't even realize that we're actually this close to reaching Newtopia! It feels like we've been on this trip for a long time."

"Yeah! We've gone through a lot of wacky adventures during this whole thing. Like having to watch tiny people devouring a really nasty gang, almost being accomplices to a series of bank robberies…"

"Don't forget about the ruins with the weird machines back when we started travelling, our run-in with the Scorpileo, the whole wax museum business…" Sprig interjected.

"Oh, and how we found out that One-Eyed Wally is actually really rich and slightly more sane! That took me by surprise the most out of everything!"

"Haha! Same here!" Sprig chuckled at the memory. "But wow! It's been a long journey, with a lot of stuff that happened to us along the way. But now that we're getting closer and closer to Newtopia, I bet that there's gonna be a lot more adventures waiting for us over there! I'm getting super excited about this!"

"Yeah! Me too!" Polly exclaimed. "Newtopia, here we come!"

The two Plantar siblings shared a high five with each other, both expressing their excitement at what was in store for them in Newtopia.

"Hey, Anne!" Sprig shouted as he turned towards the human girl. "You hear that? We're almost to Newtopia! This is pretty exciting, right?"

They were expecting the curly-haired girl to join in on their excitement. But instead, they were met with the sight of her sitting at the table, looking depressed.

"… Anne?" The boy called out her name, his excitable energy diminished upon seeing how sad his best friend looked.

Anne remained unresponsive, her eyes glued to the picture in her hands.

Polly suddenly jumped on the table, shaking it slightly. "Hello! Amphibia to Anne! Are you still with us?"

"Oh! Hey, Polly." Anne finally spoke, putting down the picture upon noticing the purple tadpole on the table. "What's up?"

"Didn't you hear us? Newtopia is just a stone throw away!" Polly said.

"Really? Huh. I didn't even realize that we're this close." Anne chuckled slightly. "Guess a lot happened between then and now that I lost track of where we are."

"You tell me. But aren't you all excited about all of this?"

"I am excited." The human girl replied, smiling at Polly. "After hearing about how amazing the place is supposed to be, it's hard for anyone not to be."

"Then why did you look miserable just a moment ago?"

"Well, um… It's just that…"

Anne trailed off as her eyes fell back down to the photo in her hands, trying to figure out how to explain herself to Polly.

While the purple tadpole was trying to get some information out of the human girl, Sprig, on the other hand, already had an idea as to the cause of Anne's depressed state. He thought that perhaps it was not a good time for anyone to confront her about it, least of all Polly.

"Hey, Polly?" The boy called out to his little sister. "Do you mind keeping Hop Pop company out there? I think he's been on his own for a while already."

"Uh, I guess I don't mind." Polly replied while turning herself towards the human boy. "But why don't you do it?"

"Oh you know." Sprig said as he massaged his shoulder with his hand. "That last session with the grappling hook really did a number on my body. So I think it's better if I stay inside and take a rest. At least until we get to Newtopia."

"I did tried to warn you about it, you know." Polly reminded him. "Well, fine. I'll go ahead and join Hop Pop up there. Feel free to join in."

The purple tadpole then exited the fwagon through the ceiling hatch.

Once it was just the two of them, Sprig proceeded to join Anne at the table, sitting on the opposite side.

"Hi, Anne."

"Hey, Sprig." Anne replied, smiling at the boy.

"You, uh… You feeling alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, a bit." she replied, averting her eyes slightly from him. "Sorry… I guess I didn't have much sleep last night. Didn't mean to make you guys worry or anything."

"Nightmares?"

"Something like that."

"Um… You know that you can talk to me, right?" Sprig said, reminding her of the conversation that they had long ago back at Wartwood when she last had a nightmare. "If there's anything that's on your mind, anything at all, know that I'm always here to give you an ear."

"Thanks, Sprig. I really appreciate it." she said. "But it's okay. It's just a dumb nightmare. Not really worth talking about."

"Are you sure?"

Anne nodded. "Yeah. Don't worry about it. I'll be good as rain when we get to Newtopia."

Sprig frowned a bit. Once again, Anne refused to divulge her concerns to him, despite him being the best person who could understand what she had been going through. He could not understand why she was being so insistent about it. At that point, it was no mystery to the both of them as to what was plaguing Anne's mind. And yet, she preferred not to speak a word about it.

Although he wanted to get to the bottom of it, he felt that forcing the issue would not be in both of their interest. But still, he had to find something, anything that could get her to talk even if it's just for a tiny bit. That would aid him a lot into truly helping her in her time of need.

Then, he took notice of the picture that was always in Anne's possession. The group picture taken of her, Sasha and the unfamiliar third person.

He recalled what he overheard last night when Anne had a nightmare. She spoke out a name, presumable the name of a friend of hers. Could it be related? Would talking about that friend help in at least scratching the surface of Anne's issues?

"Um, Anne? Are you worried about your friend?" he asked.

"Huh?"

"You know. Your other best friend, besides Sasha." he clarified, pointing at the raven-haired girl in the picture. "You called her Marcy, right?"

"Oh! Marcy…" Anne looked down at the picture, specifically at the hoodie-wearing Taiwanese girl. "Well… Yeah, I guess I am…"

"I kinda had a feeling. After all, you did mentioned that we might be able to find her somewhere along the way, back at Wartwood. And now that we're almost to Newtopia, well, we haven't found anyone who even remotely looked like your friend."

"You got that right…" Anne sighed. "I was really hoping that we'd find her during this whole journey. I mean, we've been through a lot of places! Weird, futuristic ruins, tiny, old western towns, a huge desert, and more! We've explored a big chunk of this world! But… Still no sign of Marcy…"

She looked out to the window and watched the scenery passing by, her thoughts remained on her dear friend.

"I… I just wanna know if she's okay."

"Well, I don't see why she wouldn't be." Sprig said, earning a look from the human girl. "I mean, you're still alive and kicking after a few months. And so is Sasha, last time we checked. If you two can get through our world no problem, then I think it's the same deal with your friend. Maybe humans have a knack for surviving the unknown."

"Normally, I'd think the same way as you, but…" Anne averted her eyes away, feeling disheartened. "Marcy's different… She's helpless on her own…"

"What do you mean?" Sprig asked confusingly. "Is she, like, frail or something?"

"No, of course not." She shook her head. "It's just that, when Sasha and I aren't around, she tends to put herself into trouble."

"She's a troublemaker?"

"No! Well, maybe sometimes, but… Urgh, I don't know where I'm going with this…"

Anne sighed once more, closing her eyes and lowering her head. She was unsure how she should explain it to Sprig.

Silence had fallen between them. It lasted until the boy decided to speak up.

"Hey, Anne… Why don't we start talking about her?"

"Huh?" Anne spoke, raising her head back up.

"You mentioned her a couple of times before, but I don't think you told us much about the kind of person she is. You think maybe now's a good time as any to talk about it?"

"Oh… I guess I haven't, huh?" Anne noted, having realized that fact.

She felt awful. She had been with the Plantars for three months, yet she did not even talk about the people who were transported to Amphibia with her. What kind of best friend was she for not talking about them to the people that she trusted?

Perhaps it was the perfect time to start talking about Marcy to Sprig. At least he would have a good idea on why she still worries even now.

"So… Marcy's been my friend ever since we were kids." she started, turning the group picture around so that the boy had a better view of it. "Not just any friend. She's my very first friend."

"Really?"

The brown-haired girl nodded. "The first time I met her, I had a bit of an idea on the kind of person that she is. I became more sure of it as we grew up. Marcy was a massive geek, always talking about her favourite games, books and movies and knowing a lot about them like she had been in the creators' minds."

"Is that right?" Sprig asked.

"Yeah. If you wanna get an idea on how big of a geek she was, one time, she built a sandcastle based on the one from her favourite video game." she said, recalling a very early memory that she had with her. "She didn't just built it. She made a blueprint in a sand with a stick! When she was just three years old!"

"Wow! That's amazing! And… kinda scary to think about." The boy commented.

Anne chuckled at his reaction. "You have no idea. Anyway, she's also super smart. Like, she's probably the smartest person in the whole world. No joke, up until now, she had been acing all of the school subjects like it's no big deal! Well, almost all of them, anyway."

"Which one is the exception?" Sprig asked out of curiosity.

"Physical Education." Anne replied.

"Oh. So she's a weakling?"

"Well, no. I mean, maybe? I don't really know, to be honest." The human girl shrugged. "It's just that, most of the time, she was either sitting at a bench or in the middle of a match playing video games instead. Not to mention, even if she does do something, she would end up hurting herself instead…"

"Like getting hit in the face by a bugball?" Sprig guessed.

"More like walking right into a dodgeball." Anne elaborated.

"That sounds pretty clumsy." The boy noted.

"You don't know the half of it. In fact, this is why I still worry about her even now." Anne said, as she began to explain herself. "Thing is, Marcy is super oblivious. Whenever she got hyper focused on her favourite things, like video games, she tended to tune out everything else around her. From there, she was attracting all kinds of danger."

"I'm afraid to ask, but how bad are we talking here?"

"Well, to give you an idea, there was this one time where she was walking to a zoo where a bunch of snakes broke out of there. She didn't even realize that the place was blocked off. Or that she was even walking there in the first place."

"Oh, well, that's a relief!" Sprig expressed himself. "Bumping into cute and cuddly creatures like snakes doesn't sound all that bad. At least she wasn't walking right into a den of slippery, deceptive creatures that could poison you in one bite."

"Dude, that's what snakes are." Anne corrected him.

"Oh. Okay, yeah, that sounds really bad." he said, retracting his previous statement.

"Yep. And on top of that, she was insanely clumsy." she continued. "She had the habit of tripping over herself no matter where she was. I lost count on how many times that happened to her on a daily basis. There was even a couple of times that her stuff would suddenly catch on fire."

"How did that happen?" he asked.

The Thai-American girl simply shrugged, since she too had no idea how it occurred.

"Okay, so you're saying that Marcy is a really smart girl who excelled in a lot of things, but was prone to danger that always come in her way whether she was aware of it or not?"

"That about sums it up, yeah." Anne nodded in confirmation.

Sprig crossed his arms, as he took a moment to process the information about the girl in question. Then, without thinking, he blurted out his honest thoughts.

"Yeah, she definitely sounds like a goner to me. I bet she wouldn't last more than a week if she's that much of a danger to herself…"

He realized his mistake a second after he shared his awful opinion. When he took a look at Anne, she had a downcast expression on her face.

"Oh, wait a minute, Anne! I didn't mean it like that! I was just, you know, going by common sense and it just came out of nowhere and-"

"It's okay, Sprig… I kinda already knew…" she spoke sadly, her fears becoming justified after knowing that he shared the same opinion. "I mean, back home, we were always there to protect her, to make sure that she didn't hurt herself. I never thought what would happen if we weren't there for her because we were always together."

She pulled her knees close to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs, as she thought about the assumed circumstances surrounding Marcy.

"But Marcy's all alone, split from the rest of us when we got sent here. And as far as I know, she's been that way for three whole months. Not knowing if she's okay is really gnawing into my head. I want to find her so badly so I can protect her again. But after so long and after a lot of things happened, I…"

"You've changed, Anne… You couldn't save Sasha… And you can't save me…"

Her eyes started to water as soon as Marcy's words from her nightmare passed through her head. She was forced to consider the probability that a grim fate might have befallen the Taiwanese girl, all because she was without her best friends.

"Sorry, I… Give me a moment, will ya?" Anne apologized as she turned her head away from the boy, wiping the tears off her eyes before they leak out. The last thing she wanted was to show how vulnerable she is to the person who looked up to her.

Sprig observed her with a saddened expression on his face. He was able to have her open up to him a little, but seeing her full of misery made him have second thoughts on whether or not he was right to pursue the issue. He wanted to help her, but he was uncertain on where to start with it.

If there was one notable thing that he learned, it was that Anne very much cherished her friendship with that Marcy girl, and she was willing to protect her at every instance possible. However, he could not help but wonder if she was being taken advantage of.

After all, Sasha was also Anne's best friend, and she turned out to be an evil, manipulative person who had no qualms killing innocent people for the sake of a goal or simply because they were in her way, and who was the one to put the misconception of what being best friends is about in Anne's head.

Marcy might be of a similar nature, feigning her obliviousness and clumsiness just so that her friends would come to her aid and fulfill her every whim at the expense of their wellbeing. She might also have contributed to Anne having a skewed perception on friendship.

Despite his suspicions, he knew that sharing more of his honest thoughts would do more harm than good. It was easy to see that Anne really cared about Marcy to be reacting like that, and although he could not comprehend why, she seemed to still consider Sasha her friend in spite of what she had done to them. Perhaps there was more to their bonds than meets the eye.

What Anne wanted the most was to be reunited with Marcy. He obviously could not help with that, since neither of them have a clue as to her whereabouts. What he could do instead was to reassure her by following a hunch that he had in regards to everything.

"I think… your friend is still okay." he said.

Anne turned her head back to the boy.

"But… Just a minute ago, you said-"

"I know, that's what I thought so too, at first." he interrupted her, wanting to explain himself. "A normal person probably wouldn't last long in a strange, new world where everything they knew before is thrown out of the window. But here's the big difference: Marcy is a human being from another world. So are you and Sasha."

"What does us being human have to do with it?" she asked.

"I did say that humans have a knack for surviving the unknown, right?" he said, recalling his earlier comment. "Think about it. You came to Amphibia lost and confused, but within the first few months, you risked your life a bunch of times, mostly to save our butts, and still came out in one piece. Remember when we were almost eaten by the tomato monster while we were trying to make pizza? Or when you lured Domino-2 away so that she wouldn't eat us? Oh, how about when you tamed that giant fish when it was trashing the Frog of the Year party?"

"Dude, the stuff that you're referring to happened because of my screw-ups." Anne reminded him.

"Yeah, but the point is, you survived all of that even though you weren't used to a world as dangerous as this yet. The same thing can be said about Sasha who's been hanging around with a ruthless gang like the toads for a couple of months, which suits a big jerk like her pretty well, if you ask me…" Sprig said while muttering the last part.

"Well, I guess you're right about that. Still…" Anne remained unconvinced.

"And if you want a better example, how about me?" The boy pointed at himself. "I've been turned into a human for weeks and I'm completely out of my depth this whole time. You'd think that a frog being turned into a completely different creature would get themself killed trying to do their usual thing early on, right? Well, I'm still alive and kicking, and even I'm surprised that I survive this long."

"Okay, I'll give you that." Anne conceded. "You've been doing pretty well for a guy who's just being turned into something else. The most damage that you've gotten so far is getting a black eye."

"I have you to thank for it, Anne." Sprig said, smiling at the human girl. "You've been a pretty great human teacher so far."

"Dude, I haven't even taught you a lot of things yet. Still calling me your teacher is a bit of a stretch."

"Well, watching you doing your usual stuff is enough learning material for me. Don't sell yourself short, Anne."

His compliment managed to make her chuckle a bit. "Okay, okay. Whatever you say."

"Anyway," Sprig spoke, returning to the topic at hand. "If you and Sasha, and technically me too, are able to get through Amphibia no problem, then who's to say that Marcy can't? She might be oblivious, clumsy and have no clue on how this world works yet, but being a human, she's tough enough to get past the worst of what it has to offer."

"You… You really think that Marcy's doing okay?" she asked hesitatingly.

Sprig nodded. "Call it a gut feeling, but that's what I believe. And who knows? Maybe Amphibia is right up in her alley and she's living the dream. Or something like that, anyway."

Anne widened her eyes, as she just remembered something important after listening to Sprig. While she was preoccupied with worrying incessantly over Marcy's wellbeing and her tendency to injure herself, she realized that she was neglecting a bigger part of Marcy's personality.

Marcy was a huge fan of the fantasy genre, considering how many of her favourite games and movies were fantasy. And since Amphibia is kind of like a fantasy world, perhaps Marcy would feel right at home. That fact alone was enough to mitigate Anne's worries, making her more hopeful for her dear friend's safety.

She allowed herself to genuinely smile for the first time in a while, thanks to the boy who gave her hope.

"Thanks, Sprig. I feel a bit better about this than before." she said, rubbing the corner of her eyes a little.

"Anytime, Anne." said the smiling Sprig. His heart felt warm knowing that he was able to help out his best friend with the issue that she was having, even if it was just a part of a bigger one. "You know that I've always got your back no matter what."

Anne nodded. "And I got yours too, buddy. Spranne against the world?"

"Spranne against the world."

The two then proceeded to do their special handshake with each other.

Anne leaned back against her seat as she let out a sigh, some of the weight being lifted off her shoulders. She turned her head to the window as she watched the scenery outside going by. Not too different from the last time that she checked.

"We still have a bit to go before we get to Newtopia, right? Any ideas on what we can do in the meanwhile?" she asked.

"Well, I've got nothing in mind." Sprig replied. "Except…"

He quickly hopped over to the other side of the table, sitting right next to Anne.

"I wanna try beating that big, hairy wrestler in a speedo. Mind handing me your phone for a bit?" he asked.

"Sure, dude. Knock yourself out." Anne complied, pulling out her smart phone and handing it to the boy.

"Sweet!" Sprig eagerly took the phone from her hands and started playing on it, attempting to get past a certain stage in a fighting game.

For a minute, Anne was watching the screen as the boy was playing, until her eyes wandered around the group picture still lying in the middle of the table. She proceeded to pick it up with her hand, lifted it up the surface a little and took another look at Marcy in that picture.

Although nothing really changed in terms of how little she knew about the missing girl's whereabouts, she felt a bit more hopeful after a much needed talk with the green-clad boy. All she could do for the time being was to keep hoping that Marcy is safe and that they will meet again someday.

'Hang in there, Marcy. I can't wait for us to be together again. And when we do, it'll be just like old times… At least, it will be for you and me. I hope you're doing okay out there, somewhere in Amphibia…'

"This meeting is completely unnecessary! We all know what we should do about this, right?" stated the pale purple, glasses-wearing newt in a cloak. "Attacking the Barbariants head-on is a sure fire way to eliminate the threat that they're posing!"

"Everyone knows that's suicide, Bartley!" said the pale green, glasses-wearing newt in a cloak. "Why charge in to our deaths when sneaking around and catching them by surprise is the best way to deal with them while keeping ourselves intact?"

"That's just stupid, Branson!" Bartley argued. "They might be mindless, but they're not dumb! You're just asking to be killed this way!"

"Look who's talking!" Branson shouted.

"Why don't you two just accept that both of your plans are needlessly idiotic?" said the pale orange, glasses-wearing newt in a cloak. "We shouldn't be killing the Barbariants. We should be communicating with them instead, learning their ways and forming a compromise together that ensures that both of our kinds can coexist peacefully and expand our cultures together."

"Blair, you're a complete moron." Bartley said.

"Yeah. Only a moron would think to make friends with those monstrosities." Branson commented.

"I'm a man of peace!" Blair yelled as he hit Branson in the face with a book about pacifism. "You uncultured fools should be ashamed of yourselves!"

"That's it! Time to show you how effective a frontal assault is!" Bartley shouted as he tried to pry the book off of Blair's hands.

"H-hey, no fair! I'm supposed to be the guy with the sneak attack strategies!" Branson complained as he joined in on the tug of war for the book.

The three cloaked newts childishly fought amongst themselves over which of their strategy is the best inside of the tent which served as their base of operations. All while they were being watched by a large green axolotl who stood at the entrance of the tent in disbelief.

"I'm starting to think that together, they are ill-suited for the task…" the axolotl noted. "This city is doomed if this keeps up…"

"Excuse me! Coming through!"

Upon hearing a feminine voice behind him, he looked around and immediately recognized the person standing just outside of the tent. He stepped aside to allow her passage.

"Sup, Triple B!" The newcomer waved her hand at the cloaked newts.

They stopped their infighting once they saw who it was and immediately backed off from each other, acting like nothing happened between them.

"Ah! So you have finally arrived!" Bartley said.

"It's good to see that the esteemed chief ranger of the Knight Guard has joined us!" Branson said. "We were just about to start planning our strategy on how to deal with the Barbariants."

"And we came to an agreement that making peace with them is our best solution to our predicament." Blair stated.

"No, we did not!" Branson strongly argued against his statement.

"Do not put your words in our mouths, Blair!" Bartley yelled.

"Okay, okay! Chill out, you guys!" The chief ranger said, motioning her hand up and down to try and calm the analysts down. "Now's not the time to be fighting each other over who has the better idea, especially when the city's counting on us. We should all be putting our heads together and working out a solution, okay?"

"But we ARE putting our heads together!" Blair said.

"It's just that those two wouldn't admit that my ideas are better!" Branson claimed.

"And whose fault is that, huh?! We all know that I'm not the one to blame for this!" Bartley asserted.

The chief ranger turned her head away so that the analysts wouldn't see or hear what she was about to say. "Yikes… These guys are really bad at their jobs when they're bundled up together. At this rate, this city is toast…" she spoke under her breath.

"That's what I was thinking." The large axolotl whispered in her ear.

"Okay, guys! Listen up!" she said loudly, steering everyone's attention towards her. "From the looks of things, there's still a bit of time before the Barbariants make their move. Which means there's enough time for us to do a little team building exercise that I came up earlier today just for the occasion!"

"A team building exercise?" Branson spoke.

"We have no time for this! We need to settle who has the appropriate strategy!" Bartley said.

"Hush, you two! You're not only speaking to the chief ranger of the Knight Guard, but also the royal advisor!" Blair reminded them.

"You hush, you hypocrite!" Branson yelled.

"Come on, Triple B! I think that you all know that whatever dispute you guys have against one another, it won't matter if the city gets turned into a giant anthill. This exercise is gonna help you a lot in settling your differences!" The chief ranger said. "And remember, the king entrusted the city's protection to us. The last thing he wants is you guys fighting each other while everything gets totalled in the background, right?"

The analysts all grumbled, as they begrudgingly agreed that she had a point.

"Fine. We'll do the team building exercise that you have for us." Bartley said.

"As long as this is for the sake of the city, then I have no objections to it whatsoever." Blair said.

"Yeah, right…" Branson muttered at the other's statement. "I guess that explains all the objects that you have in your hands."

"Yep! You got that right!" she exclaimed as she showed the analysts what she was carrying: A large book, a screen, a few miniature figurines of people and objects, and a pouch containing multiple dice.

"Excuse me, ma'am." The green axolotl whispered in her ear once more, gaining her attention. "But are you sure it is a good idea to be doing this at a time like this? The Barbariants might strike at any moment."

"Trust me. I've been observing the Barbariants for a bit and I'm positive that they won't attack until their numbers are big enough to overtake the city." she replied. "I'm not kidding when I said that we still have a bit of time before they make their move, so why not spend that time working out a bit of chemistry with the team? And besides, I already came up with a great strategy on how to deal with them, so we're already well off."

"Is that true? Then I don't see the point of doing such exercise if you have already formulated a plan that is leagues better than what they have in mind." The axolotl said.

"I know, I know. But urgh! It's been way too long since I've played this game!"

"Game?"

"Yeah! We're gonna play my favourite tabletop game from back home!" she explained, her eyes bursting with excitement. "I wanted to scratch that itch so badly, but I haven't found the right opportunity to do so for three whole months. Now I do, and I even found four people to experience it with me."

"Wait. I'm doing this too?" he asked in surprise.

"Yeah, sure! Why not?" she said, smiling at him.

She turned her attention back at the three cloaked newts.

"Alright, everybody! Grab a seat and gather around the table!" she declared as she abruptly put down the materials on the table, grinning from ear to ear as she was about to start her long-awaited game.

"Time for you to learn the magic that is Creatures and Caverns! And I, Marcy Wu, will be your all-seeing Dungeon Master!"

End of Chapter