Sasha steeled her gaze as the walls of Newtopia appeared over the horizon. After taking a deep breath to soothe her mind, she turned away from the castle balcony, walking back inside to discuss plans for the upcoming battle.
Sasha knew heading straight for Newtopia was a risky move. Hell, there was a decent chance of it being a complete disaster. However, Sasha also knew that taking the city would open up access to Amphibia's northern regions and potentially eliminate one of the U.S. Military's main bases of operation on the continent. In other words, it would be a massive victory in the war effort.
She stopped in the center of the throne room, staring at where a miniature holographic version of Newtopia was being displayed. She tuned in to the conversation between Andrias, Darcy, Grime, Beatrix, Tritonio, and Mrs. Croaker on what their strategy would be.
Andrias pointed at one section of Newtopia's walls. "We'll have our ground soldiers scale the wall here. With the humans distracted by the castle, herons, and frobots, the rest of you can sneak in and sabotage their ground-to-air defenses."
"That'll never work!" Grime retorted, resetting the hologram back to its original state. "What we need is an attack from all sides. Surround the city with frobots and have the herons break through the front gates."
Sasha shook her head. "Grime, siege tactics won't work in this context. We might as well be sitting ducks with that plan."
Darcy, whose eyes had been closed up until that point, looked up at Sasha. "Waybright is right. As much as we hate to admit it, human weapons are far more powerful than we initially anticipated."
"Says you..." Beatrix muttered under her breath.
The hive mind reset the hologram once more, analyzing every inch of the city's exterior design. Tritonio tapped his foot impatiently. "We could always try using my patented orphan strategy."
"We've been over this, Tritonio." Sasha sighed, resisting the urge to pinch the bridge of her nose in annoyance. "No orphan costume is gonna fool a highly trained soldier, especially if they're not even the same species as you."
The newt rolled his eyes. "Fine, whatever you say, Commander."
SLAM
Everyone looked up in surprise as the doors to the throne room were quickly forced open, both Olivia and Yunan running inside. Sasha turned her gaze between the two newts, fearing the worst. "What's going on? Are we under attack?"
Olivia shook her head as she struggled to catch her breath. "We just received word, Newtopia has been abandoned."
"What?!" Sasha exclaimed, feeling as though she must've heard incorrectly. "Are you sure?"
Yunan nodded. "We sent a small team of Amphibians and frobots to scout ahead. From the images the frobots took, it looks like the humans just packed up and left."
Darcy turned to Andrias. "Pilot the castle to Newtopia at once. There has to be something we're missing."
~~~
As it turns out, they weren't missing anything. Just as Olivia and Yunan had stated, Newtopia was completely abandoned with no sign of the U.S. Military in sight. Sasha flew to the ground with her heron and took in her surroundings.
She turned to a nearby group of frobots. "Check the buildings and the sewer system. There's gotta be something here that we're not seeing."
"Perhaps there's a bomb underground." Andrias offered as he jumped down in his Dyoplosaurus suit. "They may be trying to lure us in before blowing the city up with us in it."
Sasha shook her head. "I told the Olms to keep track of any unusual activities happening under the surface. The only thing they've found is a field of land mines near the Ruins of Despair, nothing about there being a bomb underneath Newtopia."
The second heron landed next to Sasha's, both Grime and Beatrix dismounting from the bird by sliding down the side of its wing. Grime peered up at his former lieutenant. "Find anything?"
Sasha shook her head as Beatrix looked between each building suspiciously. "Maybe the hummuses just don't want it anymore. I'll admit, this place could definitely use some redecorating."
"Newtopia is the largest city in all of Amphibia! It's perfectly located in the center of the continent and it has access to the sea." Sasha stated in full confidence. "Even if they're not from this world, anyone with military knowledge would be able to understand its strategic value."
Andrias opened the helmet of the Dyoplosaurus, moving his hand to stroke his beard in thought. "That begs the question then, why would they abandon the city?"
Sasha sighed in defeat. "I don't know..."
~~~
Anne calmly sat on the side of her bed as she stared at the wall of her cell in thought. Something was going on today, she just knew it. In the past two weeks since her escape attempt, she had fallen into something akin to a routine.
Wake up, train, eat, train, visit the Plantars, eat, train, sleep, repeat.
That was what her life had seemingly become, however, something was off about today. After she woke up, no one came to bring her to the training area. Anne normally would've brushed the change off as Mr. X deciding to give her a break or him just simply forgetting but the logical part of Anne's brain knew that a person like Mr. X wouldn't do either of those things.
On top of that, Anne was able to hear muffled yelling coming from outside her cell so obviously something big was going on. She immediately stood when the door of her cell slid open and Mr. X himself walked inside.
"Come on, Boonchuy, it's showtime!" He said excitedly, pressing a button on his watch that disconnected the cuff on Anne's ankle remotely.
Under normal circumstances, Anne would've just followed Mr. X out of the cell silently, but with all the commotion going on today her curiosity got the best of her. "What's going on?"
Mr. X smirked as he motioned for Anne to follow him, the guards outside the cell walking behind the two of them in turn. The FBI agent glanced at Anne as they walked through a hallway Anne had never been down before. "Playtime is over, Boonchuy. The military thinks that the war in Amphibia has gone on long enough and they need our help to get it done."
Anne froze in her tracks. "You don't mean..."
"Yup!" Mr. X exclaimed. "It's time to put those powers of yours to good use."
The guards pushed Anne forward, forcing her to keep walking alongside Mr. X. "But surely I'm not ready yet! I've only been training for a few months."
"Oh, Anne, honey, you are more than ready for what we need you to do. Heck, our friends at the CIA have been practically begging me to take you out on a test run." Mr. X replied cheekily before opening the doors in front of him, revealing a massive room with a complicated-looking machine at its center.
Anne's eyes widened in shock when she noticed the familiar figure typing away on the control module. She gasped. "Dr. Frakes?!!!"
The mad scientist turned around. "Ah good, you're here! Now we can begin."
Anne took a hesitant step back as Dr. Frakes walked towards her. "Begin what?"
"The next phase of my life's work, of course!" She yelled, grabbing Anne's arm and dragging her in front of the machine.
Mr. X made his way to the control module and watched as Dr. Frakes made a few last-minute adjustments. He looked up at Anne. "When I say go Boonchuy, you're going to use your powers to charge the machine."
"What's it do?" Anne asked nervously.
"This is our Main Portal Operation Terminal." Dr. Frakes explained. "It connects to all of the smaller portal machines we've set up in other U.S. Military bases across the country."
Anne stared at the machine in realization. "So if I power this up..."
"We'll be able to open as many portals as we see fit." Mr. X responded. "We can send thousands of soldiers to another dimension all at the same time."
"No." Anne whispered.
Mr. X's smile fell. "What was that, Boonchuy?"
Anne turned to face the FBI agent directly. "I won't do it. I won't help you invade Amphibia anymore than you already have."
Dr. Frakes scoffed. "But you have to! We—!"
Mr. X held up a hand, his eyes narrowing. "Did you forget our deal, Anne? Did you forget what I told you on the day you arrived? You are government property now, Anne. You don't get to choose what you will and will not do."
He held up the remote for the chip in her brain. "Do you need a reminder of that, or should I bring in one of the Plantars or your parents to serve as motivation?"
Anne's determined look faltered at the mention of her family. She could handle the pain from the chip if she had to, but could she risk the lives of the people she loved?
Innocent Amphibians could die if you do this. A voice inside her head reasoned.
But Mr. X could torture Mom, Dad, Sprig, Hop Pop, and Polly if I don't. The other side of her mind argued.
"DO IT, ANNE!" Mr. X yelled.
Anne sighed internally. I don't have a choice.
Slowly, Anne started to lift her hand toward the machine as she fought to blink away the silent tears clouding her vision. She furrowed her eyebrows as the familiar sensation of her powers manifested within her body. Mr. X and Dr. Frakes watched with intense satisfaction as Anne's eyes and hair changed color and her powers began to channel into the portal machine.
"Power levels are already over 500%!" Dr. Frakes exclaimed in excitement.
Mr. X nodded before turning to one of his subordinates. "Alert General Murphy. Operation Payback is a go." He looked back at Anne. "Come on Boonchuy, let's get you ready for your grand debut. It's time to show off the power of Project Blue."
~~~
Sasha looked around in confusion as she continued to walk down the streets of the abandoned metropolis. "Where the hell could they have gone?"
Grime shrugged as he walked alongside her. "They probably moved the residents to a research facility on Earth or maybe even one here in Amphibia. Based on the reports and from what you've told me about human society, those would be the most logical explanations."
"I guess..." Sasha conceded, effectively ending the conversation there. Deciding that her efforts could be better spent elsewhere, Sasha stuck two fingers into her mouth and whistled loudly. After a few moments of waiting, her heron appeared beside the duo. She looked back at Grime. "I'm gonna do some more scouting from above. See if you can find anything that'll tell us why they left the city."
Grime nodded. "I'll do my best, although I doubt I'll find something given how there has yet to be a single clue."
"I know, I just..." Sasha sighed, struggling to come up with the correct words. "There has to be something going on here. I don't believe for a second that they would just leave the city without any sort of fight."
"Give it a rest, Sasha. We'll figure it out." Grime replied as the blonde climbed onto the back of her heron. "I promise to leave no stone unturned."
"Thanks, Grimsey." Sasha responded with a hesitant smile, her heron flying up into the sky with one large flap of its wings soon after.
She took a deep breath to calm her mind before looking back toward the ground. Grime was right, stressing over a seemingly free victory wasn't gonna help anyone. However, Sasha still couldn't seem to get rid of that same feeling of dread she felt in her gut ever since they'd arrived in Newtopia.
Something was going on here, there was no doubt about it. Sasha wasn't going to stop looking until she found out what.
FLASH
Suddenly, out of seemingly nowhere, a series of bright balls of light appeared around the outskirts of the city. Sasha looked around in shock as what could have been close to a hundred portals expanded rapidly, completely surrounding their army within Newtopia. She looked back down at Grime who was staring at her in confusion, only having seen a few flashes of light but nothing more.
"It's a trap!" Sasha yelled.
"What?!" Grime exclaimed as the blonde continued to watch in horror. "What do you mean it's a trap?"
Sasha guided her heron back to the ground and dismounted. "A whole bunch of portals just appeared surrounding the city. They must have evacuated their forces from Newtopia so that they'd be free to blow us to smithereens!"
BOOM
The ground shook violently as explosive shells rained down upon the city, reducing several nearby buildings into piles of rubble. Sasha grabbed Grime's arm and hauled him towards her heron. "Come on, we've got to get out of here!"
Grime nodded, following Sasha onto the heron as they tried not to die from the destruction happening all around them. The toad grimaced as soon as they were in the air, observing the size of the enemy's forces.
"That's got to be at least 4,000 soldiers if not more." Grime stated as he scanned the cliffs surrounding Newtopia. "That's not to mention all of those airplanes and tanks as you call them."
Sasha shook her head in disbelief as she watched even more soldiers and equipment flood out of the portals. "I knew it wouldn't be that easy, but this is just..."
"Hey, um, Commander?"
Sasha turned away from the growing mass of soldiers at the sound of Grime's voice. "Yeah?"
"Should we be concerned about those?"
Sasha followed Grime's line of sight, pausing when her eyes fell upon what the toad had been staring at. Out at sea, but still visible from Newtopia, was a fucking aircraft carrier as well as several destroyers no doubt a part of the U.S. Navy.
"Shit!" Sasha cursed as the situation became bleaker by the second. "What's next?! Are they gonna try and nuke us? Fucking hell!"
She turned her heron towards where the Wartwood Resistance was stationed near the front gates of the city. Sasha noticed that Andrias was among the troops as she landed.
The newt turned at the sound of Sasha's and Grime's arrival, already having gauged the situation using his Dyoplosaurus suit. "They tricked us."
Sasha rolled her eyes as she and Grime dismounted. "No shit, dumbass. They have us surrounded on all sides."
"In that case, I'll go power up the laser cannon." Andrias replied as he held out his hand, waiting for Sasha to give him the key to the Music Box.
"We can't." Sasha refused, surprising Andrias slightly given the situation they were in. "Our armies are far too close to one another. If we tried to use the cannon, we'd just be blowing ourselves up!"
Andrias scoffed. "Sure we can. The sacrifices of a few will be worth it if we can destroy the humans here and now."
Sasha shook her head adamantly. "Neeee-ope. Not happening."
"Fine then, have it your way." Andrias grumbled as he reentered the Dyoplosaurus. "Just don't come crying back to me when we all die."
Sasha held his gaze, even as bombs continued to rain down all around them. "Don't worry, you would be the last person I would cry in front of."
Andrias rolled his eyes, shutting the helmet of his mech suit and taking off towards the front lines where the Frobot Army had just barely managed to hold off the American ground forces.
Sasha sighed and turned towards her fellow resistance members, beginning to bark out orders. "Wally, Loggle, Stumpy, get on top of the wall and see if you can make use of its defenses. Tritonio, you and your newts go with them and assist in any way you can."
The Amphibians nodded without question, running off to do as they were told. Sasha pointed at the remaining leaders of the resistance. "Beatrix, Croaker, have the frogs and toads use their exoskeleton suits to help Andrias and the frobots. Don't let them push you back an inch."
"You got it, Commander." Beatrix said with a bit too much excitement behind it as she and Mrs. Croaker left to prepare their forces.
Finally, Sasha turned to the two purple-eyed herons behind her. "You two, keep the skies clear overhead. Crush any enemy aircraft you see."
Grime stared in amazement as the birds took off into the sky. "Now that's what I call giving orders!"
Sasha brushed off the compliment. "Never mind that. Now, come on, we've got a battle to win!"
BOOM
Sasha quickly covered her head as a chunk of the wall next to them suddenly collapsed. She coughed as a mountain of dust clouded around them. "You *cough* okay, Grimsey?"
Grime's chest heaved but the toad managed to nod in reassurance. "Never better."
Sasha looked over the damage. "We need to disable their larger guns."
"Agreed." Grime said, using Barrel's Warhammer to hoist himself back onto his feet. "You have any ideas on how to do that?"
"Well..."
FLASH
Suddenly, another explosion of light appeared from behind enemy lines. Sasha groaned. "For fuck's sake, what now?!" Despite knowing the dangers, Sasha peeked out from the now broken piece of wall. What she saw made her freeze.
Sasha watched as a bright blue light began to rise up into the sky, its familiar form becoming clearer and clearer as the blonde continued to stare at it in shock.
Grime paused in his examination of the battlefield when he noticed Sasha's abrupt silence. He followed her gaze. "Is that...?"
"No, it can't be..." Sasha whispered to herself in disbelief.
~~~
Anne looked down over the battlefield as Mr. X spoke loudly through the comm in her ear. "Alright, remember the rules Boonchuy. You do whatever any of our soldiers tell you. Got it?!"
Anne mumbled in affirmation as she felt her powers buzz beneath her skin, just waiting to be released upon her opponents. However, Mr. X didn't seem satisfied with her answer as he yelled even louder in her ear. "WHAT WAS THAT, BOONCHUY?!"
"I got it!" Anne yelled back, just barely keeping her disdain for the FBI agent in check. Anne took a deep breath to collect herself before using her powers to fly toward the front lines in a flash of blue lightning. She scanned the ground below her as she flew, spotting a group of soldiers being pinned down by lasers from a large squadron of frobots.
"Hurry up and do your thing, Blue!" One of the soldiers yelled as Anne landed next to them.
Anne grimaced at the moniker. While Mr. X had been nice enough to call her by her real name, all of the soldiers had taken to calling her 'Blue' now. That was all she was to them: Project Blue, a biological weapon of mass destruction. According to them, apparently, weapons have no need for a first or last name. The blue-haired girl gritted her teeth in anger before slamming her fists into the ground, destroying the group of frobots in an instant.
Anne could hear Mr. X laughing from the comm in her ear. "Wow, Boonchuy! Keep this up and you might just earn a visit with your parents!"
"Yes sir..." Anne muttered as she flew back up into the sky, scanning the battlefield for another group of soldiers she could assist.
Everything about this situation was rubbing Anne the wrong way. She never thought she'd be forced to use her powers to fight her friends. Last she checked, she was still Co-Commander of the Resistance, yet here she was, mowing them down and destroying Andrias' frobots alongside them.
That part of the situation was a bit more confusing. Why would the Wartwood Resistance team up with Andrias and Darcy? It just didn't make sense to Anne. Maybe they had some kind of deal to fight off the U.S. Military, but there was no way to be certain.
The Thai girl shrugged. If she could focus her efforts on just Andrias' forces, maybe she could avoid hurting the people she actually cared about. While she couldn't outright protect them from harm, she could at least ensure she wasn't the one issuing it.
Anne sighed as she landed in front of the gates to Newtopia, raising her hand so that she could blast the entrance wide open. However, something, or rather, someone caused her to freeze in place.
"Anne?"
A familiar voice from behind her caused the blue-haired girl to whip her head around. Her jaw dropped when she saw who the voice belonged to.
Sasha stood in the shallow water, a sword in each of her hands. She stepped forward carefully. "Anne, is that you? What are you doing here? Why are you...?"
"I..." Anne started before inwardly cursing herself. Mr. X could hear everything she said through the comm. Anne couldn't just come out and say she was being forced to fight against her will.
Sasha continued her approach, sheathing her swords and reaching out her hand. "Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"
You have no idea. Anne thought to herself, wanting to simultaneously laugh and cry at the thought of how much pain she'd been through over the past few months. She said nothing, however, knowing it would only distract Sasha from what she needed her to do.
She smacked Sasha's hand away. "Stop, don't come any closer."
"What's going on over there, Boonchuy?" Mr. X's voice spoke into her ear.
"Nothing, sir." Anne replied back, keeping her voice as steady as possible.
Sasha stared at her long-time friend in confusion. "Anne, who are you talking to? What's going on?!"
Anne racked her brain, trying to find some way to let Sasha know that her family and friends were in danger without directly saying it. She steeled her voice and spoke into her comm, hoping Sasha would overhear what she was saying. "Sir, I fear the enemy has planted some tar across the battlefield."
"Tar?" Mr. X questioned. "Why would they place tar on the battlefield?"
Anne glanced up at Sasha, hoping she'd get the message but the blonde simply stared back at her, more confused than ever. "I'm not sure. My parents warned me about it when I was a kid. Maybe they want to capture one of our soldiers and take them prisoner."
Sasha's eyes widened in understanding, finally seeming to comprehend the deeper meaning behind Anne's words. She nodded. "Don't you worry, Boonchuy. I'll come up with something to get them out of there."
Anne smiled at the other girl as Mr. X's baffled response came in through the comm. "How in the hell would the enemy use tar to...? You know what, forget it! Just get back here. That blasted newt your parents told me about is starting to get on my nerves. Take care of him for me, will ya?"
"Yes, sir." Anne said, not taking her eyes off Sasha as she did so. The blonde held her gaze, nodding reassuringly.
Anne slowly rose up into the sky. She turned back to look at Sasha one last time and mouthed 'Mr. X has a remote, destroy it' before taking off in a flash of blue lightning towards Andrias.
Mr. X may have her on a leash for now, but as soon as she got her freedom back, she was gonna make sure the FBI agent never saw the light of day again.