Skylar's P.O.V

We're almost at Newtopia! We've been travelling for weeks and finally we've almost made it to the grand city. I should be excited but instead I just feel defeated. I pull out the image of me, Anne, Sasha and... Marcy.

'Hey I'm sure we'll find some sign of Marcy soon Sky' Anne comforts, putting an arm around my shoulder, looking at the image too.

'I know, I know but I miss her. I guess I'm just sad that we haven't found her yet' I sigh, leaning into her hug more.

'Girls?' Sprig asks, catching our attention. 'Thought you'd be more excited'

'We are excited, it's just...' I trail off a little.

'We've been travelling Amphibia for weeks. We thought there'd be some sign of Marcy by now' Anne finishes my sentence for me.

'Maybe that's a good thing' he said, catching my attention.

'Huh?' I ask confused. 'Why would that be good?'

'Well your last friend was kinda totally evil' he explains, pointing to Sasha's picture.

'Hey!' Anne yells, swiping Sprig's hand away. 'Look, Sash and I might be going through a rough patch but that doesn't mean I don't still care about her' she defends.

'And she's still my sister dude!'

'That too and anyway since her plus us two got zapped here it must mean Marcy did too' Anne explains.

'Also, Marcy is completely different than Sasha. She's harmless' I says.

'Like remember that time we were playing Volleyball in gym and Marcy was just on her Switch?' Anne asked, the two of us giggling at the memory.

'Or that one lunchtime where I saved her from walking into an opened locker, then you saved her from slipping on the wet floors only for her to fall into the trash can' I laugh at how clumsy our friend could be.

'She's so smart' Anne says as well.

'But super oblivious' I add on to her description.

'And insanely clumsy, like, maybe the clumsiest person alive'

'Mhm' I hum in agreement.

'Wow, that must be horrible' Sprig says as he spills his drink of water.

'Back home we here there to protect her, but here she's alone' I sigh, looking back at the photo. 'And instead of kickballs-'

'She could get mauled by an Elephant Scarab, or crushed to death by a Heron, or worse flayed alive by a-'

'Not helping' Anne glares.

'GUYS!' Polly yells, opening the top hatch of the Fwagon. 'Come! It's, I, not gonna believe...AH JUST GET OUT HERE!' She yells, motioning us to follow.

The three of us poke our heads out of the Fwagon and are met with the sight of Newtopia. Anne and so jump out and run to the edge of the cliff to get a better view of the grand city.

'There she is gang. Newtopia! If there's a way to get you girls home, it's in that city' Hop Pop announces.

'Well then lets get down there!' Anne and I cheer.

'Well. My feet are soaked' I complain as we walk through the water surrounding the city.

We approach the giant gates and wait for something to happen.

'Yo! Anybody home?' Anne asks.

After a few seconds a small hatch, high up on the door opened up. Out of the small hatch poked the head of a small newt.

'You can't come in here. Newtopia's closed' the newt said.

'SERIOUSLY!?' We all day in unison.

'Closed? Like closed closed? Or closed for lunch? Anne asked, hoping this was some kind of joke.

'The city is closed closed to all outsiders' he explains further.

'What the hay hay? Why? Till when?' Sprig asks.

'Till the Barbariants are gone of course. Good luck out there' the newt says before closing the hatch or at least trying to, him almost falling out in the process.

'What's a Barbariant?' I ask.

'Beats me, we don't got em in the Valley' Hop Pop shrugs.

'Pfft, they closed the whole city because of a few little ants-' Sprig says before being attacked by a giant ant from behind. 'BIG ANT! REALLY BIG ANT!'

We rush over to help Sprig from the ant that was holding him down. We launch Anne up and she lands on the ant, freeing Sprig. Polly leaps forward and begins to bite the ants leg, keeping it busy so we could set up our final attack.

'One, two, three!' Anne and I say, firing Hop Pop forward to attack the ant.

'YAY-UH! In yo face ant!' Anne cheers, shaking the water out of her hair and getting me more wet in the process.

Suddenly the ground around us begins to shake.

'Uh do you guys feel that?' Sprig asks.

Ants burst out of the ground all around us, coming to avenge their friend. The quickly surrounded us, completely boxing us in.

'Starting to feel a bit antsy' I joke a little as the ants close in.

Suddenly something is fired in front of us, knocking us all back. When I opened my eyes I saw some sticky oil looking substance in front of us. More small packets fell from somewhere I didn't know, forming a barrier around us. Suddenly the substance was set alight, causing the ants to retreat. We all sit in complete shock of what happened until our attention was turned to a mysterious figure standing on the city wall. The figure shot an arrow down at the Fwagon to establish a zip line.

'Hop Pop can I have a crossbow for my birthday? Please please please' Polly asked.

'Eh, we'll talk' he responded, not keen on gifting Polly another weapon. The figure began to descend towards us using the zip line. 'That is one cool newt' he awed.

I look up at the figure for a second, they don't seem like a newt. I did have to agree that they seemed pretty cool, until the rope snapped and they fell face first in the water.

'Ooh didn't really stick the landing' Polly said.

'Wait a second' I say, stepping towards the person. It couldn't be, could it? After so many months.

'Ok so, Newtopian rope can hold an average human girl for... uh... 2.3 seconds' the person said.

'Is that?' Anne asks, stepping beside me, I can only nod in response. It really is her.

'Maybe I could reinforce the rope with Ironspider silk to increase the tensile strength'

'Marcy?' I ask just to be sure, but I'd recognise her voice anywhere.

She turns around and pulls down her hood, looking just as shocked as us.

'Skylar?' She asks, smiling. 'Anne?'

'MARCY!' Anne and I yell, tackling her in a hug and taking us all to the ground.

'Girls is that really you?' Marcy asks.

'Marcy, I can't believe it' Anne smiles. I can feel tears of happiness threatening to fall, smiling more than I have in a while.

'You, me, here!' Marcy laughs, still completely shocked.

'We know we know we missed you so much!' I smile, all of us tightly hugging again.

'Oh I missed you too!' She laughs a little, hugging us back.

We backed out of the hug and I grabbed Marcy's hands, pulling her up.

'Look at you! Look at this outfit! You're like an Amazon warrior queen or something' Anne says in awe.

'I know I know right, it's nuts! This is real!' She grins, pointing her crossbow directly in my face.

'Yeah, very real' I sheepishly smile, nudging the crossbow away from me.

'Ah sorry' she apologises, putting her crossbow away. 'Isn't this place wild? What an adventure. Aw man! I've really grown out here. Come into my own, levelled up! No more clumsy, klutzy Marcy. Can you believe it?' She rambles but a soft glow at the bottom of her cape catches my attention.

'Your cloaks's on fire' I inform her, causing her to slightly panic and run around. 'Don't swing it around!' I yell, grabbing the cloak and putting it out in the water.

'So girls, who's your friend' Hop Pop asks.

'Note to self, none flammable cloak preferable' Marcy says, writing in her notebook.

'You guy! Meet Marcy!' I say with a massive smile on my face, gesturing to my favourite nerd in the world.

'Oh my gosh, who are these cuties? Are they your surrogate frog family? Did they find you and take you in? Oh I love the found family trope! Gosh, this is just like the hero in my favourite game, Vagabondia Chronicles! The greatest JRPG of all time! Have you played it? Do you wanna play it? Do you wanna borrow it? Just say the word and I'll lend you my copy. Man it'll change your life!' Marcy rants, freaking the Plantars out slightly.

'Uh girls?' Sprig looks to us for help.

'Yup the Plantars here took me in when I got here and we picked up Skylar once we reunited' Anne explains. 'The one you've got there is Hop Pop' she says as Marcy is measuring her head.

'Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh. As I thought, 62 centimetres' she observes.

'Yep! All brain' Hop Pop claims.

'Judging from the size of your cranium and flecks of sediment, you're from frog valley right?' Marcy guesses.

'You can tell all that from my head!?' Hop Pop asks, impressed by Marcy's intelligence.

'Oh girls I'm so jealous you found a farming community. I've been studying Amphibian history and farm culture is super under appreciated in my opinion. You're the backbone of society and do not get enough credit for it' Marcy says, leaving Hop Pop lost for words.

'Hub Bub Bub Bub Bub... thank you!' He cries, shaking Marcy's hand and falling back on on Polly.

'Get off of me!' She yells, pushing Hop Pop off of her.

'Hey a pollywog!' Marcy exclaimed

'Hi' Polly greets as Marcy picks her up.

'Hmm' she ponders, looking at Polly with a magnifying glass. 'I'd say those legs should be coming in in about... bub, bub, bub, buh... two months give or take'

'Can I get that in writing?!' Polly asks in excitement.

'Oh yeah absolutely!'

'THANK YOU!' Polly cries, clutching the note Marcy had given her.

'Oh! And hi there!' Marcy greets as she approaches Sprig. 'Wow, I've never seen a frog your colour before. You're not poisonous, are you?' She asks, shaking hands with him.

'Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. Yeah I literally actually don't know'

'I will iodine that later' she says, holding her hand away from herself.

'Don't worry Marcy, he's not poisonous' Anne confirms.

'So, what about you Mar-Mar? Have you been in Newtopia this whole time?' I ask.

'Here and there, but ah mostly here. I actually warped in right inside the city walls. Pretty lucky, right? I mean what are the odds. OH OH OK OH MY GOSH! Remember that game, Creatures and Caverns?'

'Of course' I confirmed.

'...No' Anne blankly says.

'Well it turns out newts are just like Cephalons. From Shadows of Xel'noth! Anyway I just role played like your typical artificer/rouge and the next thing I know... BOOM! I'm the chief ranger of the Newtopian Knight Guard!' She says, standing proud and rightfully so.

'Uh were those words?'

'Marcy, if you're up in the chain then surely you can get us in the city, right? We tried the gate but they won't let us in' I explain our situation, moving next to her.

'Unfortunately, those gates will stay closed until the Barbariants are defeated' Marcy says, leaning on my shoulder as she speaks. 'Luckily we've got a plan!' She exclaims, firing her crossbow and flying off into the distance.

'Hop Pop, birthday, make it happen' Polly tries to convince him.

We followed after Marcy until we come across a small tent. She walks inside ahead of us and as we enter we see three newts standing around a table.

'Oh are you lost?' One of the newts asks.

'No no, they're with me. The Plantars traveled here all the way from the valley'

'Ah, welcome dirty peasants' he greets. Totally not rude at all.

'And these are my friends Anne and Skylar' Marcy introduces us. 'Ow' she complains as I poke her cheek.

'Sorry' I quickly apologise. 'I just still can't believe you're here' I smile, patting her on the head.

'Sky quit it' she laughs, softly elbowing me.

'Alright alright. Keep doing what your doing'

'You'll be glad to hear we've agreed on a battle strategy' on of the newts speaks up.

'What!' The other two newts interrupt.

'We've agreed on nothing!'

'Well no worries, I think I've got it figured out' she states but I'm too busy playing with her hood. 'Girls, do you remember when we studied insect migration patterns in biology class?' She asks Anne and I.

'Nope!' The two of us said in sync.

'Well, since the weather warmed up those ants have been sending scouting parties deeper into our territory. In fact I predict a full on invasion is just around the corner. The king has asked me to stop them before they turn Newtopia into a giant ant hill!'

'Wait, you work directly for the king of Amphibia?' Sprig questions.

'Uh-huh' Marcy confirms.

'Sprig, behave yourself' Hop Pop orders him.

'Geez Marcy that's really impressive' I say.

'Awe it's not all that, I was getting used to Newtopia and the king practically just gave me the position' she explains, rubbing the back of her neck and acting like working for the king wasn't a big deal.

'I didn't even know you guys had a king' Anne admits.

'Well duh! We're not anarchists Anne' Hop Pop states as-a-matter-of-factly.

'Speak for yourself!' Polly speaks up.

'Ok! Plan is, we're gonna sneak behind the enemy lines and drive the ant queen away. With her gone the rest should retreat' Marcy explains, showing us her book.

'Oh yeah? And how are we gonna do that?' Sprig questions.

'Check it out' she says, pulling out a sash full of small yellow mushrooms.

'Boomshrooms?' Polly asks hopefully.

'Not quite, these are Stinkshrooms'

'Oh' Polly sighs in disappointment. 'Carry on'

'They're designed to release pheromones that should drive the queen away instantly. But we will have to fight our way through a bloodthirsty hoard of ants'

'My interest had been restored!' Polly smiles.

'We'll have to be extra careful. If one thing goes wrong... WHOA! Haha flimsy table'

'Uhh Marbles, this sounds pretty dangerous' I worry for the clumsy girl.

'Yeah why don't you let me, Sky and the Plantars handle this' Anne offers. 'We've been doing stuff like this the whole way from the Valley'

'Urg c'mon you two I'll be fine' she says but it doesn't convince us. 'Anna-Banana, Skittles, I've changed remember'

'Mhm, your cape's on fire again' Anne points out.

'WHAA!' Marcy panics, seeing the fire for herself.

'FIRE! FIRE! FIRE! Somebody do something!' The three newts panicked, running around in circles.

'Hold still' I tell Marcy as I unclip her cloak and stamp on the flames.

'Those capes sure are flammable' Hop Pop comments.

'Sky trust me I can handle this' she tries to ease my conscious but it didn't do a lot. 'Now let's get going, mission engage!' She cheers, running out of the tent.

Anne and I look at each other and both make a silent promise to keep her out of danger before sighing and following after her. We all follow Marcy until we come up on a small ant hill.

'Ok, we should be arriving there shortlyyyyy!' She screams the last bit due to the fact that she tripped and fell down a hole.

'MARCY!' Anne and I yelled, chafing after her.

'Alright let's go' Marcy starts to march off like nothing happened.

'Hold up! Stay behind us' I order, grabbing Marcy's shoulders and moving her behind Anne and I.

'Ok if we could just stay in this formation-' Anne starts.

'MARCY!' I cut her off as she rushes off ahead. 'Wait!'

'This is gonna be a synch guys' she claims, turning back to us. 'I know these tunnels better than anyoooooone!' She screams, falling down yet another hole. I dive forward and manage to grab the end of her cloak before she falls any further. 'Hehe, thanks' she says with a sheepish smile, giving me the thumbs up. 'Ok! Note to self, do not step in holes' she notes, continuing down the tunnel.

'Seriously, let us handle this. You'll be safer in the back' Anne tries to persuade.

'I gotta say I do feel pretty safe back here' Sprig comments, before quickly being grabbed by a giant ant.

'SPRIG!' We all yell, turning our attention to the pink frog.

'Why me! Why always me!' He cries, being dragged away.

'Alright guys, fight mode!' Anne orders

'On it! We say as we pull out our respective weapons.

'Yeah, on it!' Sprig says, appearing out of no where.

'Oh Sprig good, you survived' Polly commented.

'Yeah! I kicked him!' He explained.

'Ok Marcy, stay close' I tell her, only to notice she was no longer by my side. Two ants corner her as she inspects some random plant. I run over, bashing both of them with my shield. 'Marcy! What are you doing!' I ask her, fending off another ant.

'GUYS THIS WAY!' Marcy calls out, throwing a vile of something that blew a hole in the wall. We all followed behind her and she blocked the way behind us with some instant vine potion. 'Insta-Vines Bred em myself' she brags.

'Uh guys?' Polly asks from the opposite side of the vines. 'A little help here'

'NOT THE BABY!' We all yell, diving forward and tearing down the vines, grabbing Polly and moving back.

Two ants poke their heads out of the hole, struggling to get through. Marcy throws another batch of Insta-Vines, stopping them from getting any further.

'Marcy!' Anne complains, referring to the previous events.

'Oh sorry sorry. But it all turned out ok, right? Anyway, isn't vegetation in Amphibia just the coolest?' She smiles, holding up a small cut off from a vine.

'You think vegetables are cool?' Hop Pop asks hopefully. 'Marcy, how'd you like to be adopted?' He asks, walking with her.

We continue walking together further into the nest. Luckily we haven't run into anymore ants, unluckily Hop Pop keeps talking about vegetables. Although it was nice to hear Marcy talking with him, genuinely intrigued in what he was saying.

'Oh yeah I have lots of vegetables back home-'

'Wait shh, get down' Marcy orders as we arrive at the centre of the nest, finally getting a look at the queen. 'Ok here's the plan. We're going to have to plant these around the room, that way she gets a nose full. They're set to go off in five minutes so move quickly. Also the queen is nearly blind but hears really well. So be very, very quiet' Marcy explains, handing everyone a handful of Stinkshrooms.

We all start to walk in different directions, I go to stand up but I feel Anne's hand on my shoulder.

'You got her?' She asks, it being obvious who she's referring to.

'Always' I assure her before standing up and following behind the girl who I'd do anything to protect. Of course I'd do everything I can to protect all my friends but shush, let me be cheesy.

As I catch up to Marcy my attention is drawn to a rock that seemed like it was about to fall. I run forward, tackling Marcy out of the way of the falling debris. The mound sound caught the attention of the queen so I quickly grabbed Marcy and moved us both behind the rock.

'Sky! What're you doing?' Marcy asks, seemingly annoyed with me.

'Um, saving you from a giant rock that was about to crush you' I state.

'Well you didn't have to. I was about to get out of the way myself' she claims.

'No you weren't. I have to protect you, like I always do, just like back home' I argue back.

'But we're not back home Sky. And I've been doing just fine by myself' she defends.

'Yeah, but, but...' I trail off, failing to find a proper reply. She's right, she has been doing great here on her own, but why does her saying that sting so much.