Chapter 7

Olivia, Yunnan, and Catherine

Flashback

The day Marcy woke up in Newtopia, the first thing she did was fall down a flight of stairs. She broke her leg, but luckily, the newts had free public health care.

When Marcy got out of the hospital, Lady Olivia led her to the castle balcony.

"Holy moly!" Marcy shouted in excitement. "It's beautiful!"

"Once I stood on this same balcony with my mother and had…" Olivia was about to say.

"Whoa, is that a seagull-bug hybrid?"

"Almost the same reaction. I am a descendant of a long line of news who made a sacred vow to care for this land. The trees, plants, animals, they're all under our care."

"Lady Olivia, you newts took me in when I landed here, fixed me up, and cared for me. I promise to do my best and look after this place as well."

"We'll be counting on you, Master Marcy."

End of Flashback

Ever since Matt, Aaron, Anne, and the Plantars ended up on earth, Amphibia became a wasteland.

Factories released smoke into the atmosphere.

Creatures were forced out of their habitats.

Robots were surrounding the area.

Olivia saw everything from the castle balcony. She felt sad seeing what was happening.

"Lady Olivia," called a voice from behind. Olivia turned around to see a robot behind her. "You have been summoned by the king."

Olivia gulped.

Olivia headed to the throne room. General Yunnan was there too.

"Oh, hey," Yunnan greeted. "The king summoned you too? Do you know what this is about?"

"No," Olivia replied. "It's been a long time since Matt, Anne, and the frogs disappeared, and we haven't heard a peep from him since. I wonder what's keeping him."

Olivia opened the door and peered inside.

"Please my lord," Andrias said to the wall. "Things are progressing as fast as they… Yes, I know, but the device hasn't even been tested. Surely we should try it on someone else first." Sigh. "Yes, my lord."

The newts quickly closed the door before Andrias could see them.

"That was freaky," Yunnan remarked.

Andrias opened the doors.

"Ah, come in," he said as he led them inside. "Good news, you're both promoted. Olivia, you'll oversee the construction of our refineries. It's time to sap this pitiful mud bowl of all its remaining resources. Yunnan, we'll need frogs to work in the factories, so go round up some villagers. And if anyone resists…" The newts gulped. "Give them a stern talking to." Olivia and Yunnan sighed in relief. "Just kidding! Terminate them. Alright, get to it. I have business to attend to."

Olivia and Yunnan bowed before leaving the room.

"That does it!" Olivia shouted after she was a short distance away from the throne room. "I made a vow to protect this land, and I can't stand idly by while Andrias destroys it."

She didn't realize Yunnan was still there.

"Lady Olivia!" Yunnan shouted. "If you're going to talk about treason…" She grabbed Olivia and led her farther away from the throne room. "I insist you do it in private! You're damn right he's gone too far. Based on whatever we saw, he's gone mad. I for one will not serve a mad king."

"Agreed, but we can't take him down alone. We need someone clever, someone who understands strategy, someone like Marcy Wu."

"The human? In case you haven't noticed, they're all scheming backstabbers."

"I trust Marcy. Besides, she's the only one who ever beat Andrias in Flipwart. If anyone can outthink him, it's Marcy."

"I'm plenty smart." Yunnan scratched her nose and accidentally activated her claws. She got out of the way just in time. "Whoa, I almost took my head off. Okay, we might need Marcy."

"Glad to hear it."

"But she's under the castle. No one is allowed down there. There's even a rumor she's being guarded by a horrible monster."

"A monster? Don't tell me the great General Yunnan is scared of some ridiculous rumors."

"I see what you're doing," Yunnan blushed. "And it's working. Lead the way."

The two newts walked down the hall. They saw robots guarding the area.

"We won't get past them," Olivia whispered.

"Not with that attitude," Yunna retorted.

Yunnan grabbed Olivia and leaped into the air. She used her claws to stick to the ceiling. They got past the robots with ease.

Yunnan landed on the floor and caught Olivia in her arms.

"Put me down this instant!" Olivia yelled as she blushed brightly.

Yunnan gladly did as she was told.

Olivia and Yunnan made it into Marcy's room. They saw a pink newt with long hair and torn up clothes hiding in there.

"Catherine?" the two newts asked in unison.

"Olivia? Yunnan?" Catherine reacted.

"What are you doing here?" the three asked in unison.

"I've been hiding, trying to come up with a plan to stop Andrias," Catherine explained. "I currently have nothing."

"We might have a way of stopping him," said Olivia. "We save Marcy, so she can come up with a plan."

"Alright. Let's do it."

Olivia found the door to the basement. She opened the door. The three walked inside, but not before Yunnan grabbed Marcy's crossbow.

The three newts found some torches. They grabbed the torches and continued down the stairs.

"Remember, get the human and get out," Olivia whispered.

"I know," Yunnan replied. "She better be worth it."

The first thing they saw was a beautiful garden.

"Did you know this was down here?" asked Yunnan.

"Sort of," Olivia replied. "Even I was strictly forbidden to come down here. But I did sneak down a few times as a girl."

That's when a huge creature with a body made of moss approached them. Yunnan brought out her claws, ready to attack.

"Don't worry," Catherine assured. "It's harmless."

The creature grew a beautiful purple flower on its hand.

"Take it," said Catherine. "It's a friendship offering."

Yunnan took the flower. "Oh, thank you."

Yunnan put the flower in her hair.

The trio continued onwards. They saw these ghostly fish-like creatures floating around.

"What are these?" asked Olivia.

"I think these are creatures from other worlds taken by our ancestors," Olivia replied with sadness in her voice.

The three made it to their destination. They lit three large torches.

"This is it," said Catherine. "There's no going back now."

With the torches lit, the door opened. They saw Marcy in the rejuvenation tank. She was wearing black armor with an orange eyeball on its chest.

"There she is," Yunnan whispered.

The three newts walked towards Marcy. They didn't notice the eyes on the wall staring at them.

Yunnan climbed up and got Marcy out of the tank. The three newts quickly pulled the cords off of her.

Marcy coughed the water out of her system. She slowly opened her eyes.

"Sasha, Anne, Matt?" she muttered.

"She's out of it," Yunnan muttered. She slapped Marcy, grabbed her collar, and shook her. "Wake up, Marcy! Wake up, I say!"

"Yunnan, be gentle!" Olivia yelled. She grabbed a towel and wrapped Marcy in it. She then gave Marcy some tea. "Marcy, it's Olivia, Catherine, and General Yunnan."

"There's no time to explain," said Yunnan. "We have to get out of here."

"Okey-dokey," Marcy replied as she tossed the cup aside. "Lead the way, Lady Olivia, Catherine Parr, Captain Yoohoo." Marcy then slipped and fell on the floor. "I'm okay."

The newts helped Marcy up. Unbeknownst to them, the eyes scanned them. Right as they were at the door, sand flew around them. After a flash of light, the environment changed. They were out in the fields. Factories and drills were all around.

"We're outside already?" Marcy asked.

"It can't be," Olivia muttered. She saw her mother in front of her. "Mother, is that you?"

"Olivia," her "mother" scolded. "The sky, the trees! How could you let this happen?"

"I'm sorry. I did everything I could."

"Well," Olivia's mother shifted into a monster made of dirt, ash, skeletons, and empty cans of toxic waste. "It wasn't enough!"

Olivia made a loud high-pitched scream.

"What sorcery is this?" asked Yunnan.

Marcy looked up and saw a bunch of digital pixels in the sky.

"Oh, this is a projection, like VR," she said, snapping her fingers.

"Ver?" Yunnan asked, unaware of the term "VR".

"I guess she's trying to say this isn't real," Catherine assumed.

"Precisely," Marcy replied.

A small sand twister formed in front of them.

"The room's changing again," said Marcy. "Try not to freak out."

"Please," Yunnan bragged. "Nothing can stop the great General Yunnan! Scourge of the Sand Wars, Defeater of…"

Before she could finish her monologue, she saw her worst fear.

"It's a cute little…" Marcy was about to say.

"GRUBHOG!" Yunnan screamed in fear.

"You're scared of this cute thing?"

"I had a bad experience, okay? When I was a little girl, one of those monsters nearly took my arm off!"

The grubhog turned into a huge demon with glowing blue eyes and veins all around. It then multiplied. Yunnan ran away screaming.

"It's not real," Catherine assured, as she ran after Yunnan. "It can't get you."

Catherine lost Yunnan. She found herself back at her old home in her old town. Matt, Aaron, and Dareth were in front of her, dead.

"It's not real," she told herself. "It can't hurt you."

The dead bodies slowly rose up. Their eyes glowed orange as they reached out to her. Catherine's fear got the better of her as she made a run for it.

Marcy looked around for the three newts. She couldn't find any of them.

After a while, she realized she wasn't in the field anymore. She was in a hallway at Saint James Middle School.

"No, no, no," she muttered to herself. She knew what was coming.

Her three best friends were at the other side of the hall. Their backs were turned. Anne turned around and glared at Marcy.

"How could you, Mar-Mar?" she asked.

"You betrayed us," Sasha continued as she turned around.

"You knew how much we wanted to go home," Matt finished. "How much I wanted to go home. How much I wanted to fix my mistake! You were going to take that away, all because you were too scared to accept change!"

"I know what I did was super dumb," Marcy apologized, tears forming. "I'm so sorry."

Her friends merged into one big amalgamation. With each step they took, they got bigger and bigger. They towered over Marcy with their bright yellow eyes.

"It's too late for that," they said in unison. "We want nothing to do with you EVER AGAIN!"

"No please," Marcy cried.

"Stay back!" Yunnan demanded as she backed away from the demons.

That's when one of them disappeared. Yunnan moved her hand. It was back. She looked behind her and saw an eye. When she covered the eye, the grubhog disappeared.

"These eyes," she realized. "They're making the nightmare guys!"

Marcy noticed an eye on the wall. It realized it was caught and covered itself up. It was too late.

"Guys, take out the eyes!" she shouted.

"You'll pay for using my mother's likeness!" Olivia shouted as she kicked one of the eyes. The top part of the mother monster disappeared.

Yunnan slashed a bunch of eyes with her claws. A chunk of the grubhogs disappeared.

Catherine punched some eyes. The fake Matt, Aaron, and Dareth disappeared.

Marcy ran down the hall. She tripped and incidentally destroyed multiple eyes. A good chunk of the amalgamation disappeared.

After destroying as many eyes as possible, Marcy saw there was only one left. The eye blocked it with an amalgamation of all the illusions.

"Marcy, catch!" Yunnan shouted as she tossed Marcy's crossbow to her.

Marcy caught the crossbow.

"That's what I'm talking about," she said.

She fired an arrow right through the illusion and onto the eye.

The illusion faded away. The room was back to normal. Marcy and the newts cheered.

"I'm not usually one for teamwork," said Yunnan. "But great job everyone. Nice hustle."

"You good," Olivia teased before punching Yunnan in the arm.

"We make a good team, huh?" Catherine remarked.

"Now let's get out of here," Marcy said before collapsing. "Sorry, I might need help."

The newts helped Marcy up. They were about to leave. Fate had other plans, though.

A large hand popped out and pushed them all to the floor. Andrias walked in.

"Leaving so soon?" he asked. "But we have much to discuss."

"How did you…" Olivia was about to ask.

"Simple," Andrias answered. "We've been watching you the whole time."

An orange eye appeared on his crown. A large robot with multiple tentacles and orange eyes appeared. It let out a loud roar.

"What is that thing?" Marcy asked.

The monster grabbed Marcy's face and strapped her to a chair.

"Behold, our ultimate creation," said Andrias. "A collection of Amphibia's greatest minds preserved for all eternity."

"What are you doing?" Olivia asked.

"Stop this madness!" Yunnan shouted.

"Let her go!" Catherine demanded.

Andrias ignored them. "Studying the Mossmen improved our medical technology, but it wasn't until we met the shadowfish when we truly learned to conquer death. Thus, The Core was born."

"Let me go!" Marcy begged.

"I wish I could, but my lord needs a host," Andrias replied. "It wanted the best, the smartest, the only person who could beat me at Flipwart." Marcy gasped, realizing what this meant. "I like you, Marcy. I always have. I begged The Core to consider someone else, but alas."

Cords attached themselves to Marcy's suit. A helmet lowered onto Marcy's head. All the newts stood in horror. Even Andrias couldn't bear to watch. The moment the helmet landed on Marcy's head, the process began. Marcy screamed in pain The Core's code transferred from its old body into her's. Once it was done, both bodies collapsed.

Olivia, Yunnan, and Catherine gasped.

"It is time for The Core to lead us to our destiny," Andrias said. "What destiny you may ask? Well, allow it to speak for itself."

Marcy's body slowly got up. Ten orange eyes opened on her helmet.

"Why, hello there," she greeted menacingly.

Marcy was gone. Darcy was born.