Fanfic / Loyalty Among Worlds

Loyalty Among Worlds is an Amphibia fanfic created by "AdmiralDT8".

The fanfic is a retelling of Amphibia starring Darrel Loyalität, a thirteen-year-old boy who gets transported to Amphibia alongside the main trio via the Calamity Box. He ends up with a group of Salamander wizards who teach him magic via the Eternal Staff.

It was completed in May 2022 after seventy-one chapters, and can be read here (the original has since been deleted from FFN). A sequel has since been written called Sorcerers Of Signal Hill, which can be read here.

On January 28, 2024, a rewritten version was posted, which among other things changed Darrel's name to Dyllan; it can be found here.

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This fanfic provides examples of:

The original (2020-2024)

• Adapted Out: Downplayed. Some episodes are only alluded to in Darrel's journal like "Lily Pad Thai" or "Plantar's Last Stand". However, the episode "Hop Popular" doesn't get as little as a mention, despite the events of the episode being just as important to events of the fanfiction as in canon.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Downplayed. While Sasha wasn't a very good friend to Anne and Marcy in the canon series before ending up in Amphibia. She did show that she genuinely cares about them. While in the fanfiction, Sasha is portrayed to be a terrible girlfriend to Darrel and barely cared about him and his well-being while they were dating.
• Adaptational Karma:
  • In the show, Mayor Toadstool gets away relatively scot-free for hiding the town's tax. In the fanfic, however, Darrel starts a small fire on his head.
  • Hop Pop gets off scot-free for turning his grandchildren into mushroom zombies in the show. But in the fanfic, Cronaxx punishes him to do all of Tint's chores and Tint casts a smoke spell on his clothes as a prank.
• All for Nothing: Played with. Like in canon, Marcy learned how to decipher ancient amphibian runes while preparing for the upcoming temple quest. However, Darrel butts in and uses his magic to translate the runes to English at every opportunity. Making the amount of time Marcy spent learning the dead language completely meaningless in the fanfiction.
• Amicable Exes: In the past, Cronaxx and Leif used to be a couple before they decided they were Better as Friends. It’s casually stated that she learned to use invisible ink during said courtship, and only started using it to communicate with Andrias after she and Cronaxx broke up.
• Artstyle Clash: Zigzagged. The screenshot edits created by AdmiralDT8 (in which he edits Amphibia screenshots to include his original characters to depict the events of the fanfiction) mostly look as if though they came straight from the actual show. However, there are times when the edits look off due to the inconsistency in quality (Darrel looking HD compared to everything else looking blurry), reused poses and renders, the edits looking forced, and the characters appearing off-model.
• Artistic License – Biology: In Chapter 9, Darrel rescues and later adopts a dragonfly called Clipper whom he feeds milkweeds to. In reality, dragonflies are usually carnivorous, and milkweeds are toxic to most animals.
• Author Avatar: Darrel Loyalität is a self-insert of AdmiralDT8 himself. ^note  Given that Admiral wrote in the first person several times and, during a piece in which he drew himself in several artstyles, had the Amphibia piece be essentially Darrel.
• Big Damn Kiss: Anne and Darrel do this after confessing their love to each other in chapter 22.
• Cosmic Entity: As in canon, Anne is offered the opportunity to become one, which she turns down in favor of living her normal life first. But this time, The Guardian agrees to wait til the end of her natural life and save a place for Darrel beside her, simply by virtue of being her future spouse.
• Delicate and Sickly: Darrel's mother is this, due to her stage 3 pancreatic cancer. She's the main reason Darrel wants to return home so badly. It’s even more apparent in the rewrite, with her having difficulty walking, being pale, and coughing frequently.
  Darrel: If something happens to her and I'm not there, I could never forgive myself!
• Demoted to Extra: Heavily Downplayed. While Anne, the Plantars, Sasha, Marcy, and the people of Wartwood roles remain mostly the same in the fanfiction as in canon. Darrel and his Salamanders take center stage, as they often steal the spotlight and plot lines from other characters. Several episodes involving the Wartwoodian townsfolk such as Lily Pad Thai, Wally and Anne, Croak and Punishment, and Cracking Mrs. Croaker have been Adapted Out with some only getting a mention.
• Dreaming of Things to Come: One of Darrel's prophetic dreams is of his and Anne's own future wedding.
• Easily Forgiven: Despite knowing that Darrel lied about Hop Pop burying the music box, and later hiding his suspension that Sasha had some big plans for the group, Anne is quick to forgive Darrel for his dishonesty despite chewing Hop Pop and Sasha out for their own betrayals just mere moments prior.
• Gendered Outfit: Darrel's design is clearly based on Anne's. He has the same school uniform and messy brown hair as Anne, along with his facial structure and body being built silimar. Upon arriving in Amphibia, he even gets two sticks stuck on his head, similar to Anne getting leaves stuck in her hair. His ripped-off jeans are also meant to resemble Anne's skirt.
• Gut Feeling: Along with having Spider-Sense, Darrel can tell when something isn't right. In Chapter 43, for example, he notices Marcy's hesitation to use the music box get back home and Sasha easily agreeing to wait until they give it to King Andrias, and suspects that the two have other plans in store. But for whatever reason, Darrel opts to keep it a secret from everyone else save for Tint and Cronaxx, despite already knowing that Andrias and the Core have more sinister motives planned for them.
• Horse of a Different Color: Darrel saves and later adopts Clipper, a large dragonfly whom he can ride on, and delivers stuff to Wartwood's inhabitants.
• Hypocrite: Darrel is prone to selfish tendencies throughout the fanfic and can be quite myopic when it comes to calling out those same tendencies in other people. One infamous example is when he unsympathetically calls out Marcy's selfishness while he himself cheats on Sasha for her friend Anne. In the same infamous moment, Darrel also yells at Marcy for hiding the fact that her family were planning on moving away while he himself wasn't honest with the girls about his mother's terminal illness long before they ended up in Amphibia.
• Ice-Cream Koan: Cronaxx has a habit of dropping these when he wants to impart a lesson into the protagonists.
  Those who remain in the dark, fail to see the light.
• Informed Attribute:
  • In the first chapter, Darrel is said to be kind, caring, but also shy and nervous around others. However, he is shown to have no problem in socializing. He is also prone to anger many times when someone wrongs him, such as yelling at the Calamity Trio for their wrongdoings many times.
  • Also in the first chapter, Darrel is said to be a popular video-editor on par with professionals with many subscribers, to the point where when he uploads a new video the other kids at school immediately stop to watch. We never get to see said videos so it's anyone's guess what the quality actually is.
• Info Dump: The first half of the first chapter is nothing more than info-dump, telling the reader near everything about Darrel, that he is a video editor at school, that he has two sisters, that his father is a pilot and mother a nurse he was in a relationship with Sasha whilst being friends with Anne and Marcy, all the while there is very little in the way of showing Darrel's relationship with Sasha, his friendship with Anne and friendship with Marcy in the same chapter.
• Ironic Name: Despite his last name being "Loyaliat". Darrel isn't very loyal as he dances, confesses his love to, and kisses Anne while he's already in a relationship with Sasha. Even though Sasha's not a nice partner to Darrel, it still goes against his namesake. He also has moments of being selfish and hypocritical towards the Calamity Trio whenever their mistakes are exposed (see above).
• Kids Hate Vegetables: Darrel is thirteen and loathes vegetables; he apparently needs to tell himself "Hakuna Matata" before he can bring himself to eat any.
• Last Words: Cronaxx’s are a quiet "I’m sorry, everyone… I tried… "
• Magic Wand: The Eternal Staff counts as this.
• Meaningful Name: Darrel's second name, Loyalität, translates directly to "loyalty" in German.
• Mentor Archetype: Cronaxx serves as this to Darrel and Tint, teaching them about magic and frequently dropping phrases of wisdom that pertain to the theme of the chapter.
• Mentor Occupational Hazard: Cronaxx is impaled alongside Marcy in the fic’s version of True Colors. Unlike Marcy, his wound is ultimately fatal.
• Misplaced Retribution: Despite Sasha being the one who ran off when she had to pay for her and Darrel's food, Mrs Boonchuy gets upset at Darrel who subsequently gets punished.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands: Several instances we have Darrel randomly obtain powers with very little explanation as to how. From firing shadow beams to being able to curse objects, the reader is expected to take it all in without question.
• Playing with Fire: Tint is specifically a Fire Salamander, which translates to having fire powers in Amphibia. However, Tint shows this power more readily than other salamanders due to being trained as a mage.
• Psychic Dreams for Everyone: Darrel dreams about certain canon plot points that he isn't physically around to witness, such as seeing Marcy assimilated into The Core.
• Out-of-Character Moment: There are several moments in the fanfic where the characters (namely Anne) don't act as usually do in the same situations from the canon series.
  • In Chapter 38, Anne has just discovered that Hop Pop buried the Music Box and lied about it with Darrel knowing about it. Anne logically chews Hop-Pop out for dooming her to remain trapped in Amphibia forever, but quickly forgives Darrel not even a minute later despite that his dishonesty making him just as to blame as Hop Pop for her current situation.
  • In Chapter 46 after Anne completely snaps and chews out Sasha for tricking everyone into helping them stage a rebellion on Newtopia, and learning that Darrel and the Salamanders knew it would happen but didn't tell anyone. While Anne was still ready to give Sasha hell for her betrayal, Darrel is still easily forgiven and she even gives him a kiss before foiling the Toad Rebellion.
• Robe and Wizard Hat: Darrel obtains such attire as of Chapter 43, and again when he and the girls get their 11th-Hour Superpower in the finale. The hat bears a strong resemblance to the sorcerer's hat in Fantasia.
• Rouge Angles of Satin: A recurring error is "heron" being "herring," particularly when several salamanders describe seeing a strange creature in the woods (Darrel) that has "the strength of a herring!" A common belief among readers is that the author must have misheard "heron" in the show and thought they were saying the latter instead.
• Satellite Character: Pretty much all of Admiral's OCs fall into this trope. In both his art and his fiction, Darrel and his Salamanders are almost always seen with Anne and the Plantars and Darrel Loyalität is almost always with Anne in every crucial moment (Sprig even lampshades this in Chapter 63). They're often just doing whatever they are doing, while also forcing his OCs in every scene, even when it isn't necessary for them to be there, such as Darrel using Calamity Powers whenever Anne does (even though he's already a powerful wizard), and he and occasionally Tint are often edited into scenes just meant for Anne and Sprig. Tint; when not with Darrel, is often with Sprig, and often gets into the same hijinks and situations with him. Such as both being held hostage by Andrias and nearly gets dropped to their deaths, and later the two become superheroes together. Plus, Cronaxx during Season 1 and 2 is sometimes seen with Hop Pop, and gets stabbed along with Marcy. Subverted though, cause unlike Marcy, who survives her injuries, Cronnax really does die.
• Series Continuity Error: This happens several times throughout the fanfic. One noticeable example is when the Plantars, Darrel, and the Salamanders get sick after working all day in the rain in "Chapter 15." Where Cronaxx states that Salamanders can only use their powers to make themselves feel better and not anyone else. However, Tint was able to use his powers to cure Darrel's mom of her pancreatic cancer in "Chapter 46."
• Shout-Out:
  • To The Lion King (1994); Darrel declares "Hakuna Matata" before taking a bite of a springtail omelette, then declares it "Crunchy yet satisfying."
  • Cronaxx’s last words are the same as Nuka’s in The Lion King II: Simba's Pride.
• Soapbox Sadie: Darrel often lectures Anne whenever he's seen her doing something wrong or uncomfortable. Many of these instances lead to her apologizing to him.
• Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome: Darrel's dragonfly Clipper immediately morphs into an adult just mere seconds after he hatches from his egg.
• Spider-Sense: Throughout the story, Darrel often has visions and senses that something bad may be happening, but despite knowing that something bad has or will happen, does nothing regardless.
• Spirit Advisor: After he is killed by Andrias, Cronaxx appears as a ghost to continue guiding Darrel and Tint to the very end.
• Talented, but Trained: Darrel Loyaliat, the main protagonist, was already a hard worker back on Earth. After obtaining the Eternal Staff, he regularly trains to improve his magical abilities as well as working hard around the Plantar farm.
• Time-Travel Tense Trouble: The story frequently swaps tenses, making it difficult to follow.
• Tragic Keepsake:
  • Upon returning to Amphibia, Tint was given his uncle's hat from Grime.
  • At the last chapter, Tint gives Darrel his neckerchief and a shard from the now-broken jewel of the Eternal Staff. In return, Darrel gives Tint his compass.
• Useless Superpowers: Several times throughout the story, Darrel opts to not use his magic for whatever reason despite that it'd make these situations much easier to deal with.
  • For example, in chapter 6 "Energizing Quest", Darrel needs to rescue Hop Pop from the zapapedes yet instead of using his leviation magic, creates a human ladder alongside Tint, Anne, Sprig and Polly. He doesn't even think to use his levitation magic to lift up the zapapedes to charge Anne's phone in the first place.
  • Darrel often can sense that something bad has or will happen. For example, he was aware that Andrias was up to something and even the Core’s entire existence prior to giving Andrias the music box, and the Core possessing Marcy and dubbing themselves as Darcy. But Darrel only tells others at the last minute and events happen as in canon.
• Wham Episode:
  • Chapter 22: Darrel and Anne profess their love for each other and later reunite with Sasha.
  • Chapter 23: Darrel breaks up with Sasha.
  • Chapter 30: Darrel and Anne reunite with Marcy; Marcy learns of their relationship and Darrel's breakup with Sasha.
  • Chapter 32: Tint, Anne, and Sprig learn that Darrel's mom, Sarah, is sick with stage 3 pancreatic cancer.
  • Chapter 45: Besides the revelation of Marcy being the one who deliberately trapped herself and her friends in Amphibia and her getting nearly killed by Andrias' sword, there are also:
    • Cronaxx being the creator of the Calamity Box, as well as an old friend of Andrias.
    • Cyrus, Tint's grandfather, and Cronaxx' brother, being the inventor of the robots and the one killed by the previous king: Aldrich.
    • Sasha and Marcy learning of Darrel's mom's condition.
    • Cronaxx is killed by Andrias' sword.
  • Chapter 46: Tint uses his powers to heal Darrel's mom, Darrel reunites with her, his father Matthew, and his sisters Amelia and Jane, and them learning of what happened to him and Anne in the past 5 months through the Plantars and Tint.
  • Chapter 50: Besides Dr. Jan discovering the Plantars' and Tint's secret identities and deciding to keep them secret, there's also Darrel's sisters Amelia and Jane learning of Darrel's break up with Sasha and him starting a new relationship with Anne.
  • Chapter 53: Oum, Bee, Matthew, and Sarah learn of Darrel's break up with Sasha and him starting a new relationship with Anne.
• Work Off the Debt: Darrel has been working in Thai Go for quite some time. During one of his dates with Sasha, he was under the impression that Sasha will pay for the food for once since he always pays for their meals every time they go out to eat. Upon receiving the bill, Sasha immediately left Darrel as he was caught red-handed by Mrs. Boonchuy and she forced him to work in the restaurant until his debt is paid. By Chapter 49, his debt is finally paid and he no longer needs to work in Thai Go again.

The 2024 rewrite

• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: In the original, Darrel was well-liked at school, a popular video editor, and had a wonderful relationship with his family. Here, there’s friction between himself and his stepfather, and Dyllan is frequently bullied at school, the Calamity Trio being his only friends.
• Adaptation Name Change: Three of them.
  • Darrel was renamed to Darrell, then Dyllan. This was done to avoid self-insert allegations.
  • Matthew, Amelia, and Jane change surnames from Loyalität to Sampson to justify them being Dyllan's stepfamily.
  • Downplayed for Sarah as she combines her surname with Matthew's.
• Affectionate Nickname: Dyllan calls Sasha “Sashie” as a pet name.
• Dramatic Irony: Sarah and Matthew agree they need to tell Dyllan something important about her illness, implied to be that her time is shorter than they anticipated, and Matthew leaves a voice message for Dyllan to come straight home instead of attending Anne’s party. Dyllan, however, cuts off the message before he hears the whole thing, leaving him completely unaware of the intended conversation.
• I Know Madden Kombat: Dyllan states that he learned to dodge, weave, and get back up after a fall due to being on the school lacrosse team.
• Incurable Cough of Death: Dyllan’s mother suffers from this, as an indication of her worsening illness.
• Malicious Misnaming: Maggie calls Anne "Boobchuy" and Dyllan "Loselität."
• New Parent Nomenclature Problem: Dyllan calls Matthew by his name, refusing to view him as his dad.
• Paper Destruction of Anger: Upon receiving the voicemail from his stepfather, Dyllan walked off into an alley and began destroying trash in a teary rage.
• Rage Breaking Point: Dyllan crosses this when Flaps bullies him a second time and eventually calls him a freak and that he's "nothing." Dyllan flies into a rage at this, pinning Flaps down and punching him in the face. It takes Tint throwing a bucket of water over the both of them to make the fight stop.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Chief Nightoum; despite his son using his relationship to bully others, the chief himself has no such interest in doing so, and when he sees that Dyllan and Flaps got into a physical fight, he's angry that Flaps bullied Dyllan and Tint first. He takes Flaps home after a scolding, and has no interest in punishing Dyllan and Tint for simply defending themselves.
• Sdrawkcab Name: The magical staff Dyllan uses in the rewrite is called The Staff of Lerrad. Or, "Darrel" backwards.
• Silver Spoon Troublemaker: Flaps, the son of the salamanders' Chief Nightoum, is introduced taking all the fish Dyllan and Tint caught, pompously saying that Dyllan should know who he is because everyone does, and threatening him with stronger magic than Dyllan currently has. Dyllan is disheartened that Amphibia also has bullies just like on Earth.
• Unrelated in the Adaptation: In the original story, Matthew is Dyllan's biological father while Amelia and Jane are his biological sisters. Here, he is Dyllan's stepfather and they are his stepsisters.
• Wish Upon a Shooting Star: Dyllan wishes on a shooting star to go back home, remembering his mother told him stars could grant wishes. Needless to say, it doesn't work - this is only in chapter three, after all.

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