18. Chapter 18

Because of how close they were to finishing their research on Anne’s and Marcy’s species, the group had decided to double down and focus on their temple quest. It really helped that Marcy was able to triangulate the location of the next temple so quickly. Apparently it was in the Great Volcano the whole time and no one had ever known! Heck, barely any info existed about the place except that it had something to do with strength.

Thankfully the Plantars had a massive underground complex beneath their house, where there were a whole bunch of weapons and whatnot. All they had to do was transport them up and figure out what they were going to bring. However, the location also meant that Marcy and Anne would need to tackle the place in their true forms again. The extreme heat didn’t exactly agree with amphibians, but their non-permeable skin was generally better at retaining body moisture. Marcy pointed out that them being hairless really helped out with preventing overheating as well! Between the last two temples, it was almost as if their species was specially built for occasionally dealing with extreme temperatures!

The only issue at that point was Anne’s outfit. While the cloak was wonderfully designed and absolutely gorgeous, it definitely wasn’t sturdy enough to defend her in the event of a heavy blow. After confronting her about this, Marcy finally managed to convince Anne to get her a proper set of armour for her true form! Not to mention the fact that Anne had been professionally taught how to fight, but only in her frog form. She needed some extra coaching for her true form.

Sure, she’d already gotten into several fights in said form without much of an issue, but in a temple based around physical strength, one could never be too careful! As the family was sorting through their weapons, Marcy informed Anne that she’d commissioned two different people to come straight to the farm, albeit together, and that it would be best if Anne were in her true form when they arrived, even if Marcy wasn’t.

The princess had also told them that these people would be arriving any minute now, so it’d be best for the Wartwood Creature to just eat a berry right away so that they wouldn’t have to explain the medicine to them. If they did, then they might become suspicious of the princess, so Anne did as requested. Sure enough, the allotted people arrived rather quickly in the same crab-drawn chariot as each other. The first one that stepped out was a short, pink newt in a white outfit, pink glasses, and sporting a black pompadour.

“My name is Bernardo. Who is in need of my services?” He looked around and flinched a little when he saw Anne’s hideous monster face. But then he looked down a little bit and noticed that she was wearing clothes, so he pointed at her and turned to Marcy in a questioning way. The princess nodded at him, which made him give out a sigh.

“I do not normally do monstrous pets, but if the princess requests, then I’ll do the best I can.” He turned to Hop Pop “Just promise me it’ll actually cooperate!” Anne crossed her arms in mild annoyance before speaking up.

“Don’t worry, I’m not some mindless beast.” He was startled a bit at hearing her voice, realizing that she was intelligent enough to speak. He then looked her over, seeing just inside her cloak and assessing her general attire. His brow furrowed in concern, but this time it was directed at Anne’s clothing rather than the fact that she was a monster. It seemed his job as a fashion designer had him already forgoing the obvious in favour of trying to figure out how to dress her. Marcy chimed in, adding to Anne’s comment.

“Her name’s Anne and believe me when I say that she’s completely harmless.” She tried to assure the designer. Before he could say anything back to her, though, a feminine voice came from the carriage as another pink newt (this one a lot taller than Bernardo) stepped out. She was clad in silver armour with badges along her chest. She got to introducing herself right away.

“If that’s truly the case, then I will have to get started right away! For I am General Yunan! Scourge of the Sand Wars, defeater of Ragnar the Wretched, and the youngest newt to ever achieve the rank of general in the Great Newtopian Army!”

“Wooow! That’s really impressive! I. Have. Somanyquestionsaboutallthecoolstuffyou’vedone!” Sprig exclaimed while running up to the general. He’d already made some action figures of various famous war heroes, but those were all toads! After his experiences with toads, he was ready to hear about heroes from other species. The newt looked at him with surprise before smiling and boastfully encouraging him.

“Of course! I’d be willing to tell you everything while the person I’m training is with Bern- wait, what?” As she spoke, she gestured in Anne’s direction and finally laid her eyes on The Wartwood Creature. Instead of disgust or fear, like Anne was used to, the newt just stared at her for a bit before straightening out her stance and asking to speak to Marcy in private.

This just left Anne with Bernardo, who shrugged at Yunan and snapped his fingers in the direction of the carriage a few times. Finally the last newt inside came running out with a bunch of suitcases. With how poofy and curly their white hair was and how it was covering their face, Anne wondered whether they could actually see her or not. They did seem to be actively staring at her, though, so she figured they could actually see without much of an issue! They did so for a bit before taking in a deep breath and continuing on as though they didn’t get paid enough to care if Bernardo didn’t.

“Now let’s go indoors. Changing clothes outside is indecent.” Knowing that he was right, The Wartwood Creature simply followed him with her little brother trailing behind. If General Yunan wasn’t available because she was having a chat with Marcy, then he’d just see what the other newt was up to regarding his big sister. Once they were all inside, Bernardo set up a stepladder in front of Anne so that he was just a little below eye level with her.

“Anne, who do you want to be ?” He asked her. The girl was a little confused, but she at least picked up on the fact that he was referring to what she potentially wanted to look like.

“Uhh… I don’t know? I’ve never really thought about being anyone except me, ya know? Humble life and all that.”

“I see… well in Newtopia right now, it is all about ‘barbarian’! Furs, metal studs, mallets. Everyone looks good in ‘barbarian’, trust me. It’s probably the best thing to fit your terrifying facial features.”

“Hmm… I don’t know. That sounds like something that’ll make me look scarier when I’ve been actively trying to avoid being seen like that.”

“You don’t have to wear it all the time. Just when you’re on the battlefield and actively trying to intimidate your opponents.” The two went back and forth like this for a bit before Sprig chimed in.

“To be fair, ‘barbarian’ sounds pretty cool. And it probably would have scared those tadpole-napping toads way more ‘cause it would’ve made you look even more feral! Why don’t you just… wear a few and see how you feel? It won’t hurt to try.” The monster looked at her little brother with a bit of a deadpan expression. Of course he wanted to see just how fearsome she could potentially look!

“First up, this lovely little number covered with painful, poison barbs.” Bernardo slid back into the conversation with his little assistant pushing over a rack that had a frankly awful looking outfit on it! Sprig retconned his statement a little bit.

“Never mind. That looks like it’ll hurt.”

“SPRIG!!” Anne shouted before Bernardo started asking her to move in specific ways so that they could get the thing on her. Oddly enough, the pain it caused wasn’t actually from the barbs. It was simply too small in most areas and too loose in others. It became obvious when the skin on Anne’s arms and legs were squeezed to the point of looking like it was spilling over.

At seeing this, Bernardo demanded that she remove the outfit. However she needed the assistant’s help because the gauntlets were so tight that they were nearly impossible to get off. Not wanting that to happen again, Bernardo decided to actually measure The Wartwood Creature out a bit first. By the time they were done, General Yunan burst in with Marcy following right behind her.

“Alright creature, you’re coming with me. Finish up here, Bernardo.”

“Brute. I’ve just finished getting her measurements and need to make some adjustments anyways. I’ll let you know when it’s time to bring her back in.” One pink newt waved the other off before Anne just scratched the back of her head and went with Yunan. Sprig jumped up and onto her shoulder, hitching a ride as they went back outside.

“Oh! Anne, one little thing.” Marcy pulled the girl off to the side “Bernardo may not know about the potions and whatnot, but Yunan does . She was there when the… ‘incident’ happened.” Anne knew full well that the princess was talking about the time she got her title of ‘Newtopian Book Beast’.

“Okay, good to know. Thanks for telling me.” The Wartwood Creature said before running to catch up to the taller pink newt. As soon as she did, said newt told her what to do.

“Grab your favourite weapon and come with me to that open field over there, creature. Then I’ll start trying to teach you how to fight!” The general instructed her. It was a good thing that Polly and Hop Pop were loading up on a bunch of weapons, meaning she had quite the selection. As much as a part of her wanted to go with a pitchfork because of the amount of mobs she’d been in, she ultimately decided to go with a simple sword.

After coming up to the general, Sprig finally jumped off of her shoulder and stood off to the sidelines. As interested as he was in talking to General Yunan about her exploits, he also wanted to see how she would train his big sister to fight! It all started with some explanations about proper stance when she was so tall. Not something they expected to have to think about, but Anne was grateful for it being pointed out regardless!

The general seemed to be a bit on edge for the duration of their training, but she still did as Marcy had asked of her. Truthfully, Anne was grateful that she knew about the medicine and possibly the fact that Anne had spent most of her life as a frog. It made the whole thing a lot less awkward whenever a glaring flaw in the creature’s fighting style showed up. All in all, Anne had to admit that the training had been going well!

“Alright, creature! We’re ready for you to come back inside!” Bernardo’s voice rang out.

“I’ll be right there!” Anne responded and then turned to the general “Thank you for teaching me. Maybe we can pick this back up once Bernardo’s done?” The general grunted and nodded, clearly uncomfortable about something. Anne knew her true form was ugly, but did it really cause General Yunan that much discomfort? Sprig started hopping back to the house ahead of Anne with excitement about how she’d look in the end, so there was just a moment where The Wartwood Creature was alone with the general and that was all it took for said general to place a hand on Anne’s shoulder and lean into the side of her head to menacingly whisper in her ear.

“Listen here, creature. You aren't fooling anyone and if you dare to hurt my liege in any way, I swear I will make it look like an accident.”

“Wait, wha-?” Anne turned around to look at her, fear in the girl’s eyes. The general’s hand left the girl’s shoulder as she circled around her and leaned in again to explain.

“I have fought one of your kind before, so I'm perfectly capa-”

“Oh, you've bumped into Sasha too, huh?” Anne deadpanned, letting her shoulders go slack in order to show how much she disliked The Monster of the Tower. General Yunan straightened up in surprise.

“… Huh, that's quite a bit of disdain in your voice, there…” She seemed to think this over for a moment before continuing “Very well then, you may proceed befriending Lady Marcy.” General Yunan stepped back and let Anne go. The creature gave her a gentle smile before running off to go through whatever that fashion designer had planned for her.

She almost wished she hadn’t bothered. Bernardo had her try on a myriad of different outfits, all more awkward or egregious than the last! Everything from a furry set with a horned skull on top of her head to some outfits that would fair better as costumes rather than actual battle armour! It was almost like he was taking the opportunity to play dress-up with her! In the end, they couldn’t decide on anything because none of what Bernardo presented would take into account her shifting size when she drank her medicine.

After a lengthy discussion with him regarding how it needed to be able to shift in size, (she didn’t tell him why because it might put Marcy at risk if he knew) he offered her a chainmail cloak of sorts. The issue was that she already had a cloak! After Anne brought that up and presented it, the newt looked it over as he seemed to start getting ideas. He then assured Anne that he wouldn’t mess it up and the buttons and pockets would still be accessible afterwards. He Sent her back to General Yunan so that he could ‘spruce it up’ while she continued with her training.

She kinda didn’t want to leave it with him, but she also trusted Marcy to hire someone who knew what they were doing. So she decided to focus on her training with the general until she was called back again. This time it seemed as though General Yunan was a lot more into the idea of making her a better fighter. The previous time, she was scared that Anne might turn on Marcy because of how Sasha acted. This time, however, she was a lot more trusting of The Wartwood Creature and therefore she actually taught her a few more advanced techniques.

About an hour passed before Bernardo asked her to come back inside. General Yunan was panting a bit, but Anne still had a lot of energy left. Both of them were impressed that Anne was outlasting her, but the monster just chalked it up to a species difference. After all, it wasn’t like it was the first time she’d far outlasted an amphibian while in her true form! As she left the general, she noticed a certain green newt approaching the pink one. Anne didn’t hear their conversation, though.

When she got back to Bernardo, she found that he’d altered her cloak very minimally by putting a set of ornate designs in a dull metallic colour on the outside. They looked a lot like curling vines in their design, but they looked embroidered into it with special care taken to not disturb the buttons or pockets on the inside. The designs were all over it and made it almost a little gaudy to look at, but they bulged out in a way that just had to be on purpose!

The inside also had a new addition of some small, leather shoulder pads with a bit that drooped downwards in front of her chest. It was just big enough to cover her heart in her true form while being small enough to just cover her whole torso in her frog form! What really caught her attention, though, was these little strings with what looked like rings on the ends. They had a very small hook on said rings that was making them hang from one of the buttons right near the edges of the cloak itself. She unhooked one and looked at it with confusion, so Bernardo went straight to explaining.

“That will help you control the cloak better. Put the ring on your finger as though it were a fashion accessory and then use the string to bring it up as a makeshift shield. I put the iron-spider silk designs on the outside because I realized that the fabric in question was of a very special make that’s already designed to resist cuts and slashes. So all it really needed was the embroidered silk to disrupt any blades that might try to get to you and cause them to chip. A regular spider’s silk wouldn’t do it, but an iron -spider’s silk works perfectly!

“Also I wanted to give a full metal breastplate, but the princess kept telling me that it would be too big for ‘some circumstances’, whatever that means. So I kept on reducing it until she seemed satisfied. That leather will barely cover your heart, but it’s what she insisted on.” So Marcy had been actively looking out for her in making sure she could still wear that armour in her frog form without it becoming too bulky! Anne was seriously impressed!

The Wartwood Creature put the rings on a single finger of either hand and started moving it around. They were relatively tight and clearly stronger than they looked. Maybe they were also made of iron-spider silk? Either way, the cloak returned to its normal appearance whenever she put her hands down to her sides, thus allowing her to move more inconspicuously if she wanted to. But in the end, the rings would make it much easier to actually use it as a shield because she’d be able to control and manipulate it! For someone who didn’t know why she needed it to shift the way it did, Bernardo had done an excellent job!

“Now one last thing. Her highness has also insisted that I find you some proper footwear for your next mission. She states that it needs to be heatproof because she doesn’t want you going barefoot in an area where doing so might cause you to get burns.”

“As much as I love the additions to the cloak, I’m not so sure about me wearing any footwear. I’ve kinda… only really done that when absolutely necessary, to be honest.”

“I understand, but the princess insists that you wear some for your next mission, at the very least. You can wear something like that for one mission, can’t you?”

“Well yeah, I’ve done it before.”

“Good! Now let’s try some on! If it’s a hot place you’re going to, then they must be lightweight!” The fashion designer claimed before bringing in a large rack of shoes that looked like they would fit her. It took them nearly half an hour before they found a pair that would do the trick, but they eventually settled on a pair of sandals with relatively thick soles.

Anne couldn’t see the sandals lasting beyond this upcoming mission, but the changes made to the cloak were an excellent addition that she’d definitely want to keep! When she walked out of the house with her new additions, Marcy looked at her oddly.

“Umm… Anne, I get that you probably don’t want that much of a change, but I at least thought you’d go for a few more temporary things than just the… footwear.” She said as she looked down and saw how exposed her friend’s feet still were.

“Not really. I mean, I’ve been dressed pretty much the same way for my whole life! It’s at a point now where I really don’t want to change much, if I can help it. The thing is that after all I’ve been through, even if I'm not completely sure what I am, I’m finally happy with who I see in the mirror right now and with who I’d see at a different time, ya know? I like all versions of myself equally and I want to keep my options open. Does that make sense?” Anne explained, trying to not mention the form changes because Bernardo was still within earshot.

In the end, she finally got Marcy to relent and simply let her keep her overall look without unnecessarily adding to it. Sure, she got a little bit of an upgrade that was clearly visible, but it was still the same overall appearance that everyone was used to! After that, she just had to get used to wearing some footwear and then learn how to fight in all of that. Thankfully General Yunan seemed to be relatively understanding about the whole situation and even helped Anne keep her balance when relearning how to fight properly.

After a full day’s worth of this training, Anne felt like she’d be ready to take this temple on! Heck, the main reason why she only needed about a day’s worth was because she was already pretty strong thanks to working on a farm her whole life. She just needed a bit of coaching on how to hold herself properly! When all was said and done, Bernardo and Yunan decided to leave overnight while apparently sleeping in the carriage as their driver took them back to Newtopia.

In the morning, Marcy told everyone that it would be best if she and Anne rode Joe Sparrow while in their amphibian forms and then transformed when they got to the temple. This would allow everyone to sit on top of Joe instead of having to get the Hop Pocket vest out and potentially overheating the poor bird. Polly also insisted on Frobo coming along as well, just because he too was actually pretty strong despite practically being a baby when it came to mentality!

This of course meant that Frobo had to be carried in Joe’s talons, but he didn’t seem to mind. In fact, as far as anyone could tell, he seemed to be enjoying it quite a bit! His arms were stretched out and he was slowly kicking his legs like a child on a grubhog day ride would. Thankfully he didn’t seem to mind when Joe dropped him upon landing near the volcano. He wasn’t exactly the lightest weight member of the group, after all.

Before even getting off of the bird, Marcy pulled out the music box, allowing the blue stone to shine its beam right in the direction of the volcano. Once the beam actually hit the wall, a set of indented designs showed up.

“There it is! The entrance to the third temple!” Anne yelled out while grabbing a sheathed sword to take with her. The group finally got off of Joe Sparrow after that and approached the glowing area while gasping. When they saw the ancient runes, Sprig immediately asked about them.

“What’s it say, Marcy? What’s it say?!” The princess’ brow furrowed, almost ignoring the pink frog. She took out her journal, which apparently had some extra notes on how to translate the runes.

“Well this can’t be right. ‘Lift to enter bruh’?” Silence fell over the group as everyone stopped for a moment, the shock of the casualness permeating the air. Except for Frobo, of course, who simply walked over to the door and lifted it up from beneath. He let go of it afterwards and it actually stayed open, so everyone just clapped for him.

“Way to go, Frobo!” Hop Pop congratulated him. Before anyone else could, though, Anne spoke up.

“Alright, time for Marcy and me to transform so that we can crush this temple!” She reached into her cloak pocket and took out two berries, handing one to Marcy while popping the other into her mouth. Before she bit down, she undid the buttons on the inside of her cloak to make it fall to the ground. She then bit it and before she knew it, she was in her true form! Looking over at the princess, she noticed that she’d been watching her with a worried expression.

The green newt took a deep breath and put the berry in her mouth. After taking a moment to hype herself up, she bit down! The pain came over her again, making her hunch over, but she managed to suppress her scream this time. She’d been clenching her jaw pretty hard, but at the very least it was getting less painful.

“Wow, Marcy. I’m actually really impressed! You did that without needing any support this time!” Anne encouraged her. She looked at The Wartwood Creature with a bit of a smile and gave a response.

“W-well it’s like you said. It gets easier each time.”

“Fair enough. Now let’s go!” Anne shouted in response as she started running inside. Everyone else started following with Sprig and Polly yelling alongside their big sister! Just as they were about to keep going, though, Hop Pop turned around to look at Frobo.

“Look after Joe Sparrow, Frobo. We’ll be back soon.” The metal construct gave a thumbs up gesture to show his understanding as the old frog turned around again to follow the kids. Hop Pop saw him walking up to the bird and leaning over to pat him on the head before he lost sight of the big, metal baby. When he finally caught up with the kids, he saw a stone pathway surrounded by magma with four big, pink statues of extremely buff toads and newts around it and a large, spiked door at the end.

“Whew! It’s HOT in here!” Anne commented, feeling her true form’s weird slime coat start to coat her body and permeate her clothing. It kinda stunk, but she’d been surrounded by worse smells, so she ignored it. Thankfully her cloak wasn’t an issue as she was able to just throw the edges back so that it moreso resembled a cape. While she was doing that, Marcy started to give some instruction.

“Alright gang, there should be three challenges, just like the two other tem-...-ples?” She’d paused in the middle of the last word because she noticed the state that the Plantar frogs were in. They were all shriveled up, with their clothing loosely draped over them rather than fitting properly. The three of them groaned as Polly coughed. Both monster girls looked at them with wide eyes as they realized just how resistant their true forms were!

“Woah, are you guys okay?” Anne asked them, hoping it wasn’t as bad as it looked. Hop Pop responded in a raspy voice.

“Just a little dehydrated from the heat. We’ll be alright.” Anne seemed to calm down a little at this, with Marcy throwing out another comment.

“Man am I ever glad I was able to get more used to this form.”

“You said it!” The Wartwood Creature agreed as they turned and continued on through the spiked door. On the other side, there was another long, stone pathway surrounded by magma on either side. It was a LOT like the room they’d just gone through, but without the statues and with a slightly lower ceiling. Just as the group started wondering what was up with this room, some geodes to the left of them lit up to reveal a box that appeared to be sprouting out of the ground. Some runes lit up just above it, so Marcy got to translating them right away.

“‘Woah there boss! Think you’re strong enough to get across?’” The princess still wasn’t satisfied with how casual this temple was, but it wasn’t like there was anything she could do about it. At least Anne seemed to share the same sentiment, given how deadpan her voice was when she commented on it.

“I get the distinct feeling this temple’s about strength.” The pink glow surrounding the box faded and said box opened up to reveal several mallets inside. So the temple was merciful enough to actually expect a group rather than a solo mission. That was good! Upon seeing the hammers, Sprig’s raspy voice rang out.

“Wonder what those are for?” Just as he said it, some sort of centipede burst out of the magma behind him! It appeared to have upward curving horns where the eyes would otherwise be, indicating that it was blind! But it didn’t seem to need eyes in order to find where its prey was! Anne yelled out for her little brother as she grabbed a hammer and brought it over to whack the thing right in the face! The Wartwood Creature panted, barely able to lift the mallet again after that little burst.

“Man, this thing weighs a ton!” She complained as she noticed that Sprig had pressed himself onto the ground seemingly in an effort to get out of her way. Looking at the rest of the path, they all finally noticed the other centipedes breaching out of the magma and jumping over it. Everyone let out a little scream upon realizing what they’d have to deal with.

“Alright guys, it’s hammer time.” Marcy said as she struggled to lift one up, but set it next to Polly anyways. The tadpole reached out and grabbed it, but didn’t appear to be able to actually lift the thing in her dehydrated state.

“Yeaaaah, this ain’t happening.” Her little, raspy voice could be heard. Anne looked at her worse-for-wear family and lifted the mallet to the best of her ability, what with being the only one that had the strength for that. Her life as a farmer combined with the natural strength of her true form made it just barely possible!

“Don’t worry, I’ll defend you guys!” The Wartwood Creature ran ahead, hitting one of the centipedes along the way. Meanwhile the princess grabbed and dragged the one she’d tried to give to Polly while bringing up the rear. It was a useless endeavor, though, as she couldn’t seem to get it off of the ground when one of the centipedes appeared to attack them!

Anne shouted out for them while the thing lunged and they all screamed. But no mandibles, magma, or anything like that hit any of them. Instead, a line appeared up the middle of its body before it split in half! What landed on the ground right where it would have was something that Marcy never expected to actually see in her life! It was another one of her kind! But not just any other one. She looked over them and noticed the pale skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes. Clad in toad-style armour, there was no doubt. This was the ‘Sasha’ that she’d heard so many bad things about, right? Everyone froze, staring at the monster in front of them!

“I-it can’t be…”

“Wh-wha? A-are you?” Anne and Marcy respectively stuttered out while the blonde grabbed Marcy’s hammer with one hand and ran ahead with it while shouting at them!

“There’s no time! Follow me!” Some magma centipedes gave chase behind them, so it wasn’t like the group had any sort of choice as they followed her. Sasha only stopped to either smack or slash at the occasional thing while everyone else didn’t need to be told twice! Confused as they were, they knew how to take an opportunity when they got one. Once they all got past the door at the end, everyone except the blonde started panting heavily as she simply twirled the hammer around then let it fall to the ground.

“It’s you. Sasha!” Anne spat while looking over at her as she grabbed the sword at her waist. She unsheathed it and pointed it at her, waiting for the blonde to try something.

“THAT’S Sasha?!” Marcy went into a defensive stance with her crossbow at the ready. She’d heard enough about the girl to know that she was bad news! However, the blonde actually sheathed her own sword and put her arms up and into a surrendering pose. She spoke as she slowly turned around.

“Don’t worry, I’m not here to hurt you. In fact, I’m here to help.” The princess lowered her crossbow a little and took a step forewards, but Anne put her free hand in front of her to make her stop. She eyed Sasha suspiciously as she started asking questions.

“How are we supposed to believe you? Why are you even here? How did you find us?”

“Woah, woah. Slow down, there. I know you’re suspicious of me, but I’ve learned my lesson.” Sasha seemed to be actively trying to keep everyone calm. Meanwhile Marcy put a hand on Anne’s shoulder.

“Anne, maybe we should hear her out. Keep our guards up, but… hear her out, at least. I mean, she did save us back there.” The Wartwood Creature hesitated, but groaned a little while keeping her sword up.

“Alri-” She was cut off by the door slamming open behind the group! In said door, they saw what was unmistakably the former Captain Grime bursting in!

“Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha! Even in this state, those things were no match for me.” He appeared to be just as dehydrated as the frogs, as the raspiness of his voice was also nearly identical to what came out of them! Still, upon realizing that Sasha was on one side of them and Grime was on the other, they knew they were surrounded! The group all moved a little closer together before The Monster of the Tower actually walked around the group to stand next to Grime.

“It’s okay, don’t worry about him. I just rushed ahead of him ‘cause I saw that you were in danger.” She explained, clearly trying to make it seem like they weren’t about to attack! Anne didn’t buy it for a second!

“Oh? And where are the others?”

“What others?” Sasha furrowed her brow and tilted her head in confusion. The Wartwood Creature wasn’t having any of it, though!

“Oh come on, if Grime’s with you, then how many others from the fallen tower did you bring? At the very least, your parents have gotta be here. I know they were working at the tower during that whole incident.” Sasha flinched a bit while Grime looked up at her. He turned back to the group, looking like he was about to explain, but Sasha unknowingly cut him off.

“Oh. Yeah, after that incident, I realized that all but my… my parents and Captain Grime here actually kinda hated me.” Polly cut in with even more sarcasm than she’d normally have!

“Oh wow. What a surprise.” Sasha gave her a bit of a hurt look before sighing and continuing.

“... Well either way, they… they also eventually decided I was too much to handle and left me with Grime. He’s all I have right now.” She looked downwards, away from even Grime and Anne just barely noticed how her eyes started to water a little. The Wartwood Creature suddenly felt a little bad for her. She remembered telling Sasha that she just needed to open her eyes to the family she already had around her, but if what she said was true, then…

She looked at Grime as his attention seemed to be completely focused on Sasha. The fact that he still stuck by her proved that whatever they had was legitimate. But it was also clear that the two of them had completely gone through the wringer together! Sasha’s shoulders drooped a little when she looked back up at Anne, seeming to ignore Marcy.

“You know, losing them made me think and… reconsider my previous behaviour. And when I heard that you’d found another one of us, I decided to look for you again. I wanted to apologize because it was wrong of me to put your family in danger like that. So I’m sorry. And maybe… I’d like to see and learn what the average individual of our kind is supposed to be like? I mean, if I feel this bad about what I did, then something’s clearly wrong with how I was acting, right?” Anne started to consider what she was saying, but she didn’t know what to do about it. She looked over at Marcy for a bit before turning the girl around to whisper at her.

“I don’t know, Marcy. She tried to kill my family, so I really don’t want to trust her.”

“Yeah and I’ve had trouble in Wartwood because of her reputation… But did you see how easily she lifted that hammer? Maybe we can ask her to prove herself by helping with this temple.”

“Are you insane?”

“Think about it, Anne. She was raised by toads! Since toads are expected to be harsh and cruel, Sasha clearly pretended to be as well. But now that she's away from that and Grime will obviously stick by her regardless of hardship, I think she might start to slip back into her natural self. I mean, she’s already apologized and spilled her heart out to us here, so I think we should give her a chance in this temple. I mean, it’ll at least make the next couple of trials easier, right?”

“W-well… I guess so.” Anne turned back to Sasha and sighed before addressing her “Okay Sasha, let’s get a few things clear right away. First, I don’t trust you. Like, at all. You’re going to have to EARN that and I’d say you’re already in the negatives as it is! Second, if you really want to apologize, then you’ll do so to ALL of us, not just me. Third, I really don’t want to give you a second chance, but if you somehow manage to actually help us with our mission today, then I might consider it.” Sprig startled a bit at overhearing that and he looked up at his big sister.

“Anne, what? You do remember that she tried to kill me, right?”

“I remember, Sprig. We’re not going to take our eyes off of her at all. But you can’t deny that she is physically strong enough to actually be of help here.” The pink frog looked in between the two opposing monsters for a bit before the blonde one spoke up again in a solemn tone.

“I understand. I still remember the offer you made when I was about to fall off of the tower and I get it if that offer’s expired, but I’m REALLY grateful that you’re willing to let me at least try to start making up for what I did… if I may ask, though… What the heck are you doing in a honking volcano ?”

“Well, you see-” Marcy started to explain, but was cut off by Anne.

“We’ll only tell you if you can start to prove yourself.” She stated. With something as sensitive as the music box, the last thing they needed was The Monster of the Tower grabbing it and making a run for it! She would need to trust the others to have a good reason. Her face fell in disappointment for a moment before she shrugged.

“Alright, that’s fair.” Sasha casually said before she turned to look at Marcy “May I ask your name, though?”

“Her name’s Mar-mar.” Anne introduced her, clearly trying to keep the two apart. Marcy knew that letting a fugitive like Sasha know her real name would be a pretty bad idea, so she would’ve used the fake name too. But still, Anne didn’t need to be metaphorically holding her hand like this. She put a hand on the brunette’s shoulder and gave her a reassuring look. She shen took a step towards the other monster and extended a hand.

“It’s nice to meet you.” Sasha seemed to light up a bit as she grabbed Marcy’s hand and shook it.

“Likewise!” She said as she looked Marcy up and down, clearly examining her. Marcy didn’t know what she was looking for, but she hoped that the girl didn’t recognize her as the princess, or anything! After enough looking, she seemed to be satisfied enough to turn back to Anne.

“Alright, the sooner we get done with this place, the sooner we can get the amphibians out of here ‘cause it looks like they’re all suffering pretty hard right now.” Sasha stated, looking down at the frogs and then back at Grime.

“Well, she’s not wrong.” Marcy simply stated. As much as the Plantars all hated her, they had to admit that even the worst of people could still make correct statements.

“I’ll be on the front lines, then. Let’s go!” Sasha stated as she smiled. From what Marcy remembered, The Monster of the Tower had been a lieutenant, which meant that she was used to leading an army. The princess couldn’t blame her for wanting to make sure things went well, but she was still a little cautious about how she seemed to want to take control of the situation. Still, having her on the front lines would actually be pretty useful, so it’d probably be best to just let it happen while the main group kept their guards up.

They passed through a hallway that had more magma in it before coming into another room. This one had what appeared to be a bench press in the middle and a door right behind it. Next to said bench press, a plaque started to glow in pink runes! Marcy was about to translate it, but figured it’d be best to at least let Sasha know that she could translate them.

“Uhh… for the record, Sasha, I can read those runes. But the ones in this temple are… uncomfortably casual. For example, believe it or not, those ones say ‘sup broseph, do you even lift?’” At hearing that, Sasha put a hand over her mouth as she started trying to stifle her laughter. So she had a sense of humour, at least. Anne deadpanned again.

“Okay, whoever wrote that isn’t even trying anymore.” They heard the blonde creature take a deep breath in order to stop herself from bursting out laughing. Aftwards, she shook her head and approached the bench press.

“Well if the mallets from earlier are any indication, I think I should take this one.” As she said that, Anne wondered about whether she should stop her. Given the last two temples, there was no way it could be this simple and easy, right? Swallowing her pride, she started to reach out to stop her, but realized a little too late that Sasha had already lifted the weight and the door was opening.

“Wow, if this whole thing is gonna keep being about physical strength, then it’s gonna be over before it starts!” The blonde smiled before looking over towards the amphibians and starting to look concerned “Grime and the frogs aren’t looking too great, so maybe we should keep going?” Anne noticed how she included Grime in that statement and if one thing was clear, it was how close those two actually were. So her statement had clearly come from some sort of sincerity!

Anne got to see that no matter how bad she was, there was at least a glimmer of hope for her. Maybe she really had changed? It was hard to tell. Either way, the lot of them soon found themselves in a large, circular room that had a platform in the middle, surrounded by more magma.

“Alright! This should be the final room!” Marcy announced before the door slammed shut behind them and more runes appeared on it “‘You’ve definitely got skill, no doubt. But it’s time you learned what strength is all about.’” The room then shook before some sort of stone golem appeared in the center of the room! It flexed a little bit, then extended a flattened hand towards the group and curled its fingers in a beckoning motion. Sasha grinned!

“Stay back, everyone. I’ve got this!” She exclaimed, obviously getting ready for an enjoyable fight! Anne couldn’t help noticing how she sounded happier to be fighting this thing than she ever did back at Toad Tower! Perhaps it was because she wasn’t actually hurting anything with this fight? Maybe she didn’t actually like hurting people and it was like Marcy had said earlier about her upbringing as a toad. Her being away from that culture for a while might’ve started letting a kinder nature bleed through.

The golem roared at Sasha, seeming to recognize her as its opponent. Next thing they all knew, the room was glowing pink and some sort of force pulled everyone downwards! Not having expected it, everyone dropped to their hands and knees with the amphibians hitting the ground even harder due to their dehydration. Grime’s raspy voice could be heard complaining about it.

“Great grasshopper guts, it’s like an elephant tick is standing on my back!”

“That thing has somehow increased the room’s gravitational force!” Marcy helpfully provided with Sprig immediately following up.

“I… I can’t get up!”

“Just sit tight, we’re not weakened by dehydration like you guys are. We’ll handle this!” Anne reassured her family and, by extension, Grime. Heeding her call, both Sasha and Marcy followed her lead and stood up. They all struggled to walk, but approached the golem anyways. Next thing they knew, said golem grabbed at parts of the ground around it and threw two massive boulders at the girls! They rolled along the ground around them, so Anne dodged to the right while Sasha dodged to the left at the first one.

The second one came head on at Marcy, though, and all the princess could do was scream! That was until she was tackled out of the spot she’d been standing at and to the ground by a certain blonde creature who was practically laying on top of her by then.

“Oh. Thank you, Sasha.”

“No problem.” She responded while she got off of her. The princess tried to push herself back up, but couldn’t quite seem to get it. Even though her true form was stronger than her newt form, she still had her limits! It seemed that relative strength still carried over between forms and her being a military trained princess just didn’t hold a candle to a farmer and an actual soldier!

“The gravity’s too much. I can’t move!” She said, worried that the other two might get mad at her for being the weak link. However, they both seemed to reassure her, even though they were struggling to speak. Sasha was the first to do so, but Anne joined in immediately after while Marcy went quiet.

“Don’t worry, leave this to me.”

“I’m not done yet.”

“Huh, it looks like we have a common goal.”

“Well, you’re not wrong about that.” The two kept walking, but were hunched over more than usual as they struggled to stay upright. Anne squinted her eyes as she continued to talk.

“Who would’ve thought? Us actually working together after everything that’s happened.”

“Yeah. I get it. Especially seeing as you don’t trust me.”

“Well can you blame me?” The golem didn’t seem to care about their conversation as it jumped and caused a bunch of stalactites to fall! Seeing as it didn’t move much afterwards, the monster girls just focused on dodging them as they continued.

“I mean, you tried to kill my family, thus isolating me so that my life would revolve around you while you wanted to keep me like a pet. And you expect me to not resent you for that?”

“No, I fully expect you to hate me. That’s why I’ve been trying to help so much here. I don’t even know why doing this is so important to you, but here I am! All I’m asking for is a chance to make up for SOME of the stuff I’ve done.”

“And we’re giving you that chance right now! Don’t get me wrong, I can tell you’re actually trying here!” The golem’s roaring cut Anne off while the gravity increased again “It… it feels like my lungs are going to explode.” At that point, she was almost regretting wearing her cloak because of how much extra it suddenly weighed!

“It… it’s over, we can’t do this.” Sasha said with what Anne could only describe as a primal level of fear behind her eyes. The Monster of the Tower was actually scared for her life, here! While Anne took note of that, the golem walked over and grabbed a spike off of the wall to use as a club. Although it seemed to want to give one of the girls a chance to get up to fight it, so it waited! Anne knew that the only one of them who was physically strong enough to do so would be Sasha, but in her current state, she’d need a bit of a pep talk.

“You’re right, we can’t. But you can! If there’s one thing I can trust when it comes to you, it’s your strength. I believe in you!” Of course she didn’t actually trust the blonde, but she had to say SOMEthing to get her back on her feet! So maybe having the person who put her down the most actually stop to encourage her would do the trick. Sasha was on to her, though.

“What? How can you believe in me? After I was such a jerk to you!” Anne needed to think quickly about what to say, so she tried to come up with a bit of a speech AS she was speaking and ended up getting a little bit deeper than she would’ve otherwise.

“True, you were a jerk. But you also got betrayed and abandoned by nearly everyone you knew and trusted. You felt the kind of pain you were trying to inflict onto others and still you held on! Not only that, it seems you're actually making an effort to do better now because of that! That's something I feel I could admire about you: Despite everything, you never give up!” She gave Sasha a thumbs up before her hand fell again. The Monster of the Tower looked her in the eyes before squinting her own shut and forcing herself back up again!

“... You’re right! I’ll never give up! Not today, not ever!” She shouted while the golem’s expression started to look frustrated. Meanwhile Sasha pulled off her cape that apparently had her single shoulder piece attached and threw it behind herself. When it crashed to the ground, it left a small crater behind and everyone gasped. Not even Grime seemed to realize that she was really just that strong! She then took off the armour covering her boots and threw them behind her, having them land in the wall just above Sprig’s head and making more craters.

“How heavy was that armour?!” He asked out of pure shock. His question was ignored, though, as Sasha pulled out her sword and readied it by dropping slightly into a crouching position. This made yet another small crater, but just beneath her feet this time. The golem responded by swinging its makeshift club down at her, but she was able to run at it in a way that allowed her to climb on top of it! She grabbed on as the club was swung back and at the apex of the swing, she let go. From there, the increased gravity did most of the work for her!

Due to her childhood of hopping around as a toad, she was easily able to reorient herself using the weight of her sword. The trajectory of her fall made it so that she ended up doing a full-on backflip as a result, but the effect was still the same. The Monster of the Tower brought her sword down as she yelled!

“Get croaked!” When she landed, she made a much bigger crater than before and the golem split in half up its middle. Its final action was turning to face Sasha and giving her a thumbs up. At least it knew how to lose gracefully! It then exploded and the shockwave made the gravity return to normal throughout the whole room!

Everyone who was pinned before started slowly pulling themselves up. The amphibians were all holding their heads and a couple even their backs, but the two monsters who were down before got up a little faster. Sure, Anne coughed and Sasha shook as their respective bodies readjusted, but they were overall fine in the end. The latter creature was surprised by a small pedestal rising up from the ground behind her. She was about to question it when she noticed that both of the other two monsters had big grins on their faces!

“You did it, Sasha!”

“I gotta say, I’m pretty impressed. We actually couldn’t have done that without you…” Marcy and Anne respectively said. The brunette gave a sigh before her shoulders sagged and she stared the blonde right in her eyes. She looked over at the pedestal, as if contemplating something, before looking back at Sasha and finally asking her the fateful question.

“Alright, do you want to know why this whole thing is so important?”

“I would LOVE to know! Please, if you’re willing to tell me.” Sasha blurted out the first sentence before recoiling at the potential aggressiveness in her voice and trying to be polite with the second one. Anne took it in stride. After all, it made sense for her to be curious after all she’s been through for this!

“Alright, so it’s a pretty long story, but to summarize… someone who knows more than us thinks that we might have some ties to this thing.” Marcy started explaining, pulling out the music box near the end.

“We? ... And what even is it?” Anne picked up the explanation from there.

“It’s a thing that lets you go to other worlds. Apparently it’s been broken for a long time, but it kinda flared back into working order for a bit around the same time that Mar-mar and I were found by our respective parents. We don’t know when you were found or under what circumstances, but you’re about the same age as us, so we assumed it had something to do with you too. Especially seeing as we’re apparently the only members of our species in this world.

“So there’s the chance we were somehow accidentally displaced from our birthplaces by this music box when it did that. If we completely fix it, then we might end up getting more answers about what we are and where we came from.” By this point, Sasha had wide eyes as she looked back and forth between the music box and Anne. She started bouncing a little bit on the spot, betraying her excitement.

“No way! Really?! Okay, how do we fix it?”

“Well, we’ve just gotta recharge all three of the gems on the top of it. We already finished the first two a little while ago and this place we’re in is the third and final location. And this pedestal that just rose up is the exact spot!” Anne continued as Marcy removed the last grey gem from the box and nearly put it into the pedestal until she stopped and turned to Sasha.

“You know what? We couldn’t have gotten through this place without you and there’s a good chance that if Anne and I were displaced by it, then you were too. I think you earned the right to do the honours, here.” Marcy explained, handing the gem to the blonde. Anne became worried, wondering if Sasha would run off with it. Still, the brunette remained calm because she didn’t want to spook her. She looked at the gem in her hand for a bit before actually doing as requested and putting it into the tiny slot in the middle of the pedestal.

As soon as the gem hit its spot, a pillar of pink light erupted from it while more runes appeared in circles along the ground. This went on for only a few moments before a bright flash of pink filled the room and when the girls all opened their eyes, they saw that the stone was finished charging! More runes appeared on the ceiling, making a low tone as they did so. Marcy got right to translating.

“‘Congrats, brah. You finally know what it takes to go the distance, for what is true strength without persistence?’” Excited to finally have her main mission completed, she held the box out to Sasha with a smile. Anne watched closely as she smiled back and put the gem into the box without even trying to grab onto it! Seeing that she obviously didn’t want to try any funny business at this point, The Wartwood Creature sighed and spoke up.

“I guess that’s that. Do you think we should open it or something?”

“NO, no, no, no! If we turn that thing on, who knows what will happen? We might end up getting teleported to some other world that could kill us in an instant! We should bring it to King Andrias so he can tell us how to use it correctly.” Marcy immediately shut down the idea. Anne realized right away that she was right, but also noticed that she’d referred to her dad by his name and title instead of who he was to her. Realizing that this meant she still didn’t fully trust Sasha, Anne breathed a sigh of relief. Marcy wasn’t about to fall for any tricks!

“King Andrias?!” The Monster of the Tower shouted out while doing a double take. At that point, Anne decided to flex on her a little bit.

“YEP! That’s the person who knows more than us that Mar-mar mentioned earlier. My family and I got to meet the guy when we went to Newtopia for research because my existence caught his attention. Let’s just say he already knew about Mar-mar, so it was pretty easy to get an audience with him. And yes, I told him everything I know about you, Sasha.”

“Oh. I uhh… I didn’t expect that, that’s for sure!” Sasha stuttered a little bit, looking a tad uncomfortable. Anne figured it made sense, though. Nobody wanted to have a bunch of their personal information divulged to a stranger, even if they were royalty! Marcy cut in when she noticed and tried to change the subject.

“Yeah, but first I think we should get out of here so that we can get the amphibians some water.”

“I second that.” Both Anne and Sasha said in perfect synch. The two of them snapped their heads up and looked at each other for a moment with wide eyes. If they were really on the same page like that, then maybe there'd be some sort of hope for a reconciliation between them after all! The two giggled a little bit before going over to their chosen amphibians and picking them up to carry them out. When Anne appeared to be struggling with safely carrying all three of the frogs at the same time, Marcy grabbed Hop Pop to carry solo.

The trip back was silent and even a little awkward as all three of the girls contemplated everything that had happened. Anne thought about how sincere Sasha might be while Marcy debated with herself whether she wanted to try to get her and Grime pardoned because of how much they helped out in the final temple. They didn’t know what Sasha was thinking, but almost as soon as they walked out of the volcano, a wave of humidity hit everyone and rehydrated the amphibians enough for them to start walking on their own again!

“Ugh, finally !”

“Take me to my bucket!” Sprig and Polly respectively groaned out. Marcy followed the frogs over to Joe Sparrow, but just as Anne was about to join them, Sasha put Grime down and cleared her throat to start talking while the toad recovered.

“Thanks for all that stuff back there. You know, believing in me despite everything.”

“Oh, uhh… yeah. You’ve got a bit of a ways to go, but maybe you’re on the right path. I think… I might be willing to give you a second chance, ya know?” When Sasha heard that, her eyes went wide.

“Really? Thank you! I won’t let you down this time!” She shouted in excitement. The two of them then stood in awkward silence for a minute or so before Anne excused herself.

“Well… I’m gonna head home now. My family’s had a bit of a rough day, what with the dehydration and all.” As she turned to look at Joe, she remembered that she would need to take her medicine before boarding or else they wouldn’t all fit. Marcy already had her own bottle in hand and Sasha was traveling on foot, so she’d need to explain the situation to the blonde.

“Uhh, so here’s the thing about Mar-mar. You and I aren’t the only ones who were raised as amphibians.”

“Wait, what?”

“Mar-mar was raised as a newt, using potions just like how you were raised as a toad and I was raised as a frog.”

“Oh wow. That… that can’t be a coincidence anymore.”

“Honestly, I have no evidence either for or against it being a coincidence, but I’m telling you this because… in order for my family, me, and Mar-mar to fit properly on her bird there, she and I need to be in our smaller, amphibian forms. And I didn’t want you to freak out at seeing her transform.”

“I see. Well, thanks for the head’s up! I mean, I’m no stranger to one of our kind transforming into or out of an amphibian form, but… I don’t think I ever saw your frog form before, even though you saw me in my toad form.” Anne was a little taken aback. Was that true? Anne couldn’t actually recall!

“Really? Hmm… well I guess today’s the day, then.” She reached into one of the pockets on the inside of her cloak and pulled out a bottle of her own medicine. She then took a few steps back and turned around to Marcy just to make sure she was ready too. With a nod, the two of them took their medicines at the same time and transformed! When they turned back towards Sasha, Anne had a moment of realization. She’d never been in her frog form with one of her own kind in their true form around.

As she looked up at the looming figure, it finally clicked for her the exact reasons why everyone was always so scared of her true form! She’d always known about the height, disproportionate limbs, predatory features, and everything, but it was a whole other thing when she saw it all through the eyes of a frog! And knowing how much more dangerous Sasha could be when she wanted didn’t help either. Her fears subsided a little bit when the monster spoke up, though.

“... You know, that’s actually exactly what I expected your frog form to look like.” She then finally looked over at Marcy “And it’s good to see what you look like when transformed too… I actually have a few potions left, myself.” The princess perked up at that.

“May we see your toad form, then? Anne told me about it, but I’m still curious.” She asked, but Sasha flinched before responding.

“I would say yes, but my clothes don’t shift very well between forms. Newts are close enough to our species’ size that you don’t seem to have an issue and frankly, I don’t know how Anne makes her clothes shift size. How about this, though? I’m willing to come to Wartwood, just me and Grime! I’ll show up in that form and then I’ll try to make amends, okay?”

“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea…” Anne countered as she started trying to distract herself by doing up the buttons on her cloak.

“I understand, but after hearing what you said about that box, I REALLY want to know more and I think that maybe I could try to prove myself to you a little over there too? I just… after losing my adopted parents like I did and then hearing that that thing might hold some clues that could lead to my biological parents, I… I want to prove that I’m at least trustworthy enough to be able to get some answers alongside you guys.” There was a bit of silence before Marcy approached Anne and asked to speak to her in private. The frog jumped onto the newt’s shoulder and they turned around while the rest of Anne’s family watched to make sure Sasha wouldn’t do anything while their backs were turned.

“Anne, I know you don’t like her and believe me, I’m not about to start trusting her either. But I’ve done quite a bit of psychology research and I think we should give her a cautious second chance. Plus, if all of us are somehow tied to the box, then I think she kinda has the right to know more.” Anne gave her a look before throwing her head back.

“Ugh, fine!” She yelled. Marcy smiled and turned back around to face Sasha, thus also turning Anne around in the process. The blue frog pointed at the Monster of the Tower as she angrily continued.

“Sasha, I’m going. To give you. A second chance.” She then hopped right onto Sasha, putting her feet on her chest and using one hand’s cling pads to grab onto the side of her face. Doing her absolute best to ignore how intimidating the monster was, Anne put on her most angry, serious face and did her best to growl in her frog form as she spoke.

“DON’T blow it, okay?” She then hopped back to Marcy’s shoulder and realized that Sasha had actually been leaning back during that exchange, as if she was the one who got intimidated. Once she recovered, though, she looked back at Anne and stuttered.

“O-okay! Th-thank you s-so much!” Hearing that Sasha definitely took her seriously, the frog nodded and turned to look back at the newt.

“Alright, then. Let’s go, Mar-mar!” From there, they all loaded themselves onto Joe and started flying away, leaving Sasha and Grime behind. Once they were out of earshot of them, Sprig spoke up.

“Okay, Anne. Why’d you encourage Sasha back there?”

“Because I knew that if I didn’t, then we’d all be dead by now. In case you didn’t notice, she’s ridiculously strong! Stronger even than me! In a temple that focuses on strength! I didn’t even fully believe what I was saying, but I needed to say it anyways.”

“Ah, classic theatrics. But still, be careful ‘bout her.” Hop Pop advised. Anne continued.

“I am, but if Sasha is being truthful about all of that, then she won’t actually change for the better unless we actually give her a chance… even if I don’t like it all that much either. Still, I’m going to be cautiously nice for now. I mean, hope for the best, but prepare for the worst, right?” She sighed “Look, I understand if you guys don't share that same sentiment, but just please don't provoke her.”

“I think that’s a good way to think about it! I can’t wait to study her a little bit too!” Marcy tried to look on the bright side of things. She knew that she hadn’t seen the horrors that the Monster of the Tower was capable of, but she also knew that if she played her cards right, then Sasha might just be rehabilitatable. If the day’s events were any indication, then it seemed like she’d already taken the first step on her own! The only problem was that no one on the bird was able to hear the conversation they’d left behind.

“You haven’t forgotten the plan, have you? We only need them in order to get safely into Newtopia.” Grime finally spoke to Sasha after recovering from the dehydration. She deadpanned in her response.

“Of course I haven’t forgotten and I’m pretty sure they bought my act back there.”

“Good. Because the things we’ve set into motion cannot be stopped.”

“If there’s one thing I’m actually kind of worried about, it’s that I might not have acted surprised enough when they told me about Mar-mar’s newt form. I mean, that spy kinda spoiled the surprise for me.”

“If they wouldn’t have told us, then we wouldn’t be here. Now all we have to do is get you into her good graces and she’ll not only get us into the city, but if we play our cards right, then she might even be able to get us near the king, depending on how close she is to him!”

“Yeah, her having a connection with him was pretty unexpected. I’ll make sure to get her under my control rather than Anne’s. I mean, it’s pretty clear that she’s not an alpha like Anne and I are, so having her come to my side is going to be crucial!”

“It’s a good thing you can see that, Sasha. Also, were you actually intimidated by Anne’s puny little frog form?”

“HA! Surprised that she had the guts to do that, sure. But you know as well as I do that neither of us would ever be intimidated by a frog !”

“Good! Now, off to Wartwood!” Grime finished as he and Sasha started their trek towards the little farm town…